gwojtowy's Blog

Disrupting Town Halls... The Absence of Reason

2009-08-12T23:50:09Z

In all my 50 years, I have never seen anything as shocking and pathetic as the irrational opponents of health care reform! I remember as a boy how proud I was to see a copy of Norman Rockwell's series of paintings known as "The Four Freedoms." Freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of faith - freedom of speech!"
]]> It was a depiction of a young man in a light brown calf-skin work jacket, with a shock of black hair, unsure of his articulation, rising from his seat in the town hall and having his say. Around him were men who were better dressed and no doubt by their demeanor, leaders of the community.
The man in front of the young man had files, charts, and graphs with him. Behind the young man, was a wizened old man, some banker, or something? The young man had only a rolled up newspaper stuffed in his coat pocket. But it was stuffed in neat - as if he had just finished reading it. In addition, he stood erect as he spoke, looking the presiding entity square in the eye.
Moreover, all the other men listened to the young man with deference if not respect. They let him have his say.
That was how Norman Rockwell was depicting his America.
And what kind of America did I see before me this month, this year, this century?
That young man could stand up in that hall with a quiet dignity a say his piece without fear.
I saw no place for that young man in today's assemblies.
I saw instead people who had no dignity. Those people were not there to have any meeting! They were there simply to force their fears and ignorance down the throats of others who came to discuss their concerns and have their fears answered.
We were robbed!
They stole our Freedom of Speech!
They robbed us of the ability to discuss a dire problem, and the consequences of not addressing it.
I began this column wanting to defend health care reform, but after what I saw happening at Claire McCaskill and Arlen Spector's affairs, they could have been discussing new drapes in the library for all that mattered.
I heard people screaming at the top of their lungs and not letting the speaker get a word in edgewise. I heard otherwise intelligent people spout the old wives' horror stories fed to them by the vested interests intent on keeping the status quo. And I felt depressed as if I were watching rats following their Pied Piper to their doom.
In addition, nobody can tell me that they were not duped by special interests! I posted one of the smoking guns, an instruction manual for disrupting town hall meetings. Only one town hall meeting, that of the President had any civility, but even that one was not immune as someone brought a gun to the vicinity along with a sign quoting Jefferson.
The instances of racism and ignorance at these meetings are frightening not only in and of themselves, but also because all of us will lose due to this. In 10 years, when their premiums reach 50%, and they have no Medicare to speak of, will that 30 year old woman who "suddenly woke up" this year, will she "wake up" again to see how she mortgaged her children's futures, and see what a dupe she was?
In addition, was it racism as well as ignorance that sent her over the edge?
Swastikas and depictions of Obama as Hitler serve to show how poorly educated people have become, but they portray as well the paranoia of these people.
And I must lose my health care system to them?
Let it be known then, that after 60 years of talking of the need to establish a health care system, when it came down to it, they gave in to fear.
Let it be known that after decades of complaining they were serfs in the insurance fiefdoms, that woman was ignorant enough to put the shackles back on.
Let it be known that the future of my two little nieces, will be sacrificed because this country lost it's nerve.
Confront these people.
Agitate their leaders! Demonstrate in front of their headquarters! Confront them one on one everywhere you see them! Whenever you see a lone demonstrator ask that person to list all the reasons, why they oppose health care reform. Then item by item show them why they are wrong.
But above all else, make them see the damage they are doing to the country they claim they want to save! A democracy can slowly erode due to expediency and surrendering to impulses and rash actions!
When they wake up in 10 years to the bleak country they've created, they will seek whom to blame. They will find that person in the mirror.
We are saving our democracy now! Restore the civil discourse!

Astroturfers - a Strategy Session

2009-08-06T20:42:29Z

Originally posted on Daily Kos:

I have found the Right Principles instruction booklet from ThinkProgress and posted the text here, and highlighted certain portions that I feel need to be addressed, in order to come up with countermeasures to expose the tactics the Right uses to disrupt constituent's meetings with their Representatives.

1. Digitally record everything. I mean everyone brings a DV camera! And take photos!

2. If they want to "pack the hall," then the local chapters of every organization must pack it first. Better yet, host the meeting. The turfers will have to be on their guard inside a union hall. Spread out everywhere. Occupy the front row seats!

]]> 3. Make sure your witnesses are in the front row seats as well. Personalizing the meetings with individual anecdotes of how the insurance companies and health companies have victimized you, or someone you love will put the turfers in a corner. If the turfers act up, everyone should firmly and in unison ask them to be quiet! Keep filming!

4. During your Representative's presentation, if he or she is for healthcare with the Public Option, clap at every talking point to let your Representative know you are on his or her side! If anyone interrupts, firmly and in unison ask them to be quiet! Our goal is to encourage our Representative! ... And keep filming!

5. During the question and answer period, after the turfer asks his or question, challenge them on the premise of their question, ask their friends to be quiet, and then declare to everyone why you think they are wrong.

6. Since my countermeasures depend on organizations already in place, like SEIU, AFSCME, your local union, etc. Make arrangements before the meeting to get media coverage of your point of view

7. After the meeting flood the outside vicinity. Do not let the turfers go unaccompanied! Don't deny them their right to a press conference, but be vocal in your disagreement! LET THE PRESS KNOW HOW THE REAL CONSTITUENTS FEEL ABOUT HEALTHCARE!

8. Finally, Post your videos! Spread'em out! Blog'em! face book them! GIVE THEM TO THE MEDIA! SEND IT ALL OVER THE DISTRICT!

ADDENDUM:

Thank my main Kossack gsadamb for this: A little Socratic questioning: If they hate government involvement in healthcare so much why won't they clamor for DOING AWAY WITH MEDICARE? TRICARE? THE WHOLE VA?

And now, without further adieu, I give you - Right Principles The bold highlights are mine, not the author's.

Rocking the Town Halls - Best Practices

A Political Action Memo
We here in Fairfield County Connecticut conducted an action at Congressman Jim Himes's Town Hall meeting in May 2009. We believe there are some best practices which emerged from the event and our experience, which could be useful to activists in just about any district where their Congressperson has supported the socialist agenda of
the Democrat leadership in Washington.

Our objective was to "pack the hall" with as many of our people ready to challenge the Congressman, put him on the defensive, and give him a reality check from we-the-people. We were successful in organizing about 30 people and we spread out among the crowd of about 150 people in the hall. We used some techniques early on which immediately made Himes uncomfortable, and several of us got our chance at the microphone to ask questions. Himes clearly left the hall staggered, as the meeting, billed as a progress report for his economic solutions, clearly did not go as he had planned.

We humbly submit tile following as a potential playbook to conduct similar events to achieve similar outcomes in most any targeted district.

Organize for Success

> Alert people in the district to watch for tile first announcement of a Town Hall - there may be as little as a week's notice. Have a central person advised so that the alert can be distributed to as many potential supporters as possible.

> The organizer should go to www.proiectvotesmart.orc and obtain the Rep's voting record. It can be copied, pasted into Word, cleaned up, highlighted and readied for distribution.

>Questions should be prepared. Most pols are pros at deflecting off-the-cuff questions. The questions should contain facts and numbers (which are embarrassing and damning to the Rep and his voting record). They can run up to five sentences or so - you will not be cut off at that length. The questions should put the Rep on the defensive and demand a specific answer. Also, anticipate the evasive, deflective answer and be prepared with a quick follow-up. The questions should personalize the Rep e.g. why did YOU vote for a budget that immediately carried with it a $1 .7 trillion deficit? Use the Alinsky playbook of which the Left is so fond: freeze it, attack it, personalize it, and polarize it. You only need to distribute five or six well constructed questions. There are some questions attached here which apply to most any Democrat that is supporting the Socialist agenda.

> The voting record and questions and any relevant articles which would place the Congressperson on the defensive should be distributed to all indicating a willingness to attend. People should be asked to meet in the parking lot of the hall a half hour before the scheduled start. Should you seek visibility for your group voicing opposition to the Rep's voting record and agenda, you could schedule a press conference 20 minutes before the Town Hall is scheduled to begin. Write and distribute a press release to local newspapers and TV. Have someone available to read a prepared statement and answer questions. We actually issued the press release and were prepared for the conference. However. the media were following Himes and did not show up until the Town Hall started. We distributed the statement to some of the people arriving at the hall. Copies of both the press release and our statement are attached here.

Meet and Deploy

> The team should meet outside the hall with voting record and questions distributed. Everyone should be asked to use one of the questions or a similar one that boxes in the Rep. The team should also be advised to spread out inside the hall but should try to get seats in the front half. The Rep will inevitably start picking people toward the front.
> The use of protest signs outside is an option if people bring them. However, those without signs should go in the hall early enough to get good seats. Those wanting the Rep to see the signs will end up entering the hall at the last minute and will likely end up in the back with less chance to be picked for a question. Do not bring the signs into the hall if you want any chance to be picked for a question.

Inside the Hall

> Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington. They need to leave the hall with some doubts about their agenda. The other objective is to illustrate for the balance of the audience that the national leadership is acting against our founders' principles which are on the other side of the debate - and show them that there are a lot of solid citizens in the district who oppose tile socialist approach to the nation's challenges. We want the independent thinkers to leave the hall with doubts about the Democrat solutions continually proposed by the national leadership.

> You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation. Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early. If he blames Bush for something or offers other excuses - call him on it, yell back and have someone else follow-up with a shout-out. Don't carry on and make a scene - just short intermittent shout outs. The purpose is to make him uneasy early on and set the tone for the hall as clearly informal, and free-wheeling. It will also embolden others who agree with us to call out and challenge with tough questions. The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. lf he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.

> When the formal Q&A session begins get all your hands up and keep them up - be persistent throughout the entire session. Keep body language neutral and look positive to improve chances of being selected. When called on, ask a specific prepared question that puts the onus on him to answer. It can be a long question including lots of statistics/facts. You will not be interrupted from reading a solid question. If you ramble on too long without a focus, you will be stopped. After the Rep answers, or more likely diverts or dodges, be prepared with a follow-up - take the initiative and you will be able to follow-up. The balance of the group should applaud when the question is asked, further putting the Rep on the defensive. If the Rep tries a particularly odious diversion, someone from the group should yell out to answer the question. These tactics will clearly rattle the Rep and illustrate some degree of his ineptness to the balance of the audience.

In Summary

When the session ends, those who asked effective questions should seek out any press remaining at the hall, providing their names for attribution - you may be quoted in the press article. lf the gameplan above is implemented the resulting impact will likely be:

> A Rep and his staff set back on their heels, recognizing that people in their district can see past the charade and are angry about the socialist agenda, infringement of our liberties, and profligate spending. After a couple of these sessions one of the weaker ones may consider swaying from the party voting line.

> Audience members expecting business-as-usual go home recognizing that many of their neighbors oppose the agenda, see the dire financial impact, and see a Rep exposed to some degree as a charlatan, and put on the defensive.

> Articles appearing in the local press will amplify the above points to the local community, rather than being puff pieces for the local Representative. Two local newspaper articles about the Himes Town Hall are also attached. We believe we achieved the desired impact with a modest amount of planning and the dedication of only a few hours to attend the event. We will be travelling the state to provide a similar reality-check for all five of the Reps, and of course Chris Dodd. Just imagine what we can achieve if we see to it that every Representative in the nation who has supported the socialist agenda has a similar experience!

In liberty.

Bob MacGuffie

bobmac@rightprinciples.com
www.Rightpripçiples.com

Diva Sarah

2009-07-17T14:17:48Z

The Right Wing idiocracy has gotten the Left wrong concerning Sarah Palin.
We are not afraid of Sarah Palin. Far from it. Sarah Palin is the butt of a joke. We wish to continue laughing.
]]> It is she who takes herself too seriously. As if she was some prodigious intellect and moral paragon. She assumes that she is the one who has all the answers, and that the whole world, jealous and insecure - is out to get her. Martyr complex anyone?
She has her defenders, like Michelle Malkin and Anne Coulter, who are as delusional as she is in that they manifest denial fantasies identical to those of Germans after both World Wars: Malkin's is the one about a valiant warrior being "stabbed in the back," while Coulter's is the one where Germany has some secret plan to confound the enemy and save itself. Only it's all about their fallen savior Sarah. But all of them, including Diva Sarah, are reality challenged.
Palin narcissistically looks at the base that is following her and assumes that she is some kind of Robin Hood out to fight for oppressed Republicans everywhere, quits her job with a bully pulpit, and now expects the Right Wing community of the Lower 48 to throw open it's arms in joy! And the Democrats would love nothing more than to have Diva Sarah on the stump. Sarah's defenders like Malkin and Ann Coulter are positively paranoid
The finks turned to Newsweek and Fox News to spread petty rumors about Palin's intellect and character. The magazine peddled anecdotes from sources horrified that Palin greeted top advisers at her hotel room -- gasp! -- "wearing nothing but a towel" and "wet hair." Fox News reporter Carl Cameron breathlessly reported that his unnamed McCain sources told him Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate" because, they claimed, she didn't know which countries were parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement and "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.
Sooo defensive! Coulter borders on madness in her denial
The truth is liberals are furious they won't have Sarah Palin to kick around anymore -- at least not with Palin's hands tied behind her back by her public office.

Something tells me Keith Olbermann isn't going to be pulling any big numbers this summer attacking Eric Cantor and Michele Bachmann. I don't anticipate any sudden outbreaks of "Mitch McConnell Derangement Syndrome."

Soon we'll only hear about Keith when his creepy e-mails using his mother's death to hit on chicks start making the rounds again. (Tip to Keith: When a girl refuses to give you her phone number, her assistant's phone number or her personal e-mail address, and only gives you her assistant's e-mail address, you're not halfway in the sack.)

Bonus: If Olbermann gets canceled as a result of Palin's resignation, that will put her in a really good position for 2012.

Yes, and back in '45, the Germans were drawing Allies deep into Germany to spring a trap on them! Of course, neither the German's nor Miss Coulter's aspirations panned out in season of defeat. You see Annie, it's Palin herself who is her own worst enemy. When she was first introduced as McCain's running I was worried when I heard the crowd cheer. Then I heard about how she tried to sell the state jet "on Ebay." I heard about how she was - to paraphrase John Kerry: "for the 'Bridge to Nowhere,' before she was against it." In a week I was telling my brother that Palin was an empty coat. Palin replaces the need for intellect with self - deluded narcissism. She knows what she knows, and if not, then her simple charm and a wink of an eye will win the media over. In Diva Sarah's world, there's always a second chance to make a first impression. This is exemplified by the Charlie Gibson interview where when confronted with her lack of knowledge of affairs of state, responded to Gibson that she'll "get right back to him." Her attitude was not to worry, she'll get it right next time. While it may play well in Midwestern suburbia, we are not electing the average suburbanite to national office. As Ronald Reagan's speechwriter and acolyte Peggy Noonan put it:
Here's why all this matters. The world is a dangerous place. It has never been more so, or more complicated, more straining of the reasoning powers of those with actual genius and true judgment. This is a time for conservative leaders who know how to think.
Noonan, who supported Palin at first, understand how much of a "empty coat" Diva Sarah has turned out to be. In that same article she takes apart one-by-one the myths that the Malkins and Coulters cling to. In answer to the fallacy that the elites hate Palin Noonan says: "The elites made her." Not only that, but according to Noonan, they put her up, defended her, and in my view, put her up to shore up a sagging campaign headed by a man who was greatly insecure when comparing himself to a young, vibrant Obama.
Now she can prepare herself for higher office by studying up, reading in, boning up on the issues." Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone. She can memorize the names of the presidents of Pakistan, but she is not going to be able to know how to think about Pakistan. Why do her supporters not see this? Maybe they think "not thoughtful" is a working-class trope!
In response to the myth that Palin makes the GOP look inclusive, Noonan says that she makes it look like "a party of the easily manipulated." Now Diva Sarah wants to show the world what brains she has! So she writes this 6th grade book report on Cap and Trade for energy, and how it will lose jobs, and destroy the economy. It's all about regulation, government takeover, Ronald Reagan and our God mandated obligation to drill baby drill. She just doesn't get it that the aim of Cap and Trade is to nudge our economy off of fossil fuels and onto second generation energy. The Alaska Dispatch puts it nicely:
What the governor is missing is that with cap and trade, Obama attempts a course correction in our national energy policy. Certainly there are other possible strategies, but in her criticism Palin has revealed (in case anybody still had any doubts) an appalling lack of vision and poor grasp of complex realities. Energy is the lynch pin of modern society. And what human history and business and evolution (oops, the governor doesn't believe in evolution) have shown us in a billion ways, is that we have to adapt or perish. Palin argues for the refusal to adapt. Her only answer to Obama's cap and trade is, as the cheering thousands put it at her convention speech drill baby drill.
Of course, Palin will be guaranteed some success in her new ventures. After all, she will be a loud cacophonous noise in an ever shrinking utility closet. Her books will sell, she'll make expensive appearances, write other op - eds, maybe a TV deal on Fox and her followers will adore her, make a to - do, and faun all over her. But she can't go much further than that small base. Too much water has passed under the bridge. Michael Smerconish gave a "hell no" to the idea that any local Philly pol would invite Diva Sarah to campaign for them. And, by the way, Diva Sarah is just as lucrative as a symbol of Republican intractability for the Democrats and Progressive 527s who will use her to fire up their base, and raise new donations. Thank's a bunch! You betcha!

Letter to Senator Schumer

2009-07-02T00:52:32Z
Dear Senator Schumer: There are no more excuses! Al Franken has given you the critical 60th vote. Please understand that "bipartisanship" is dead. It was murdered by the Republican party, who put it on life support during the last administration, then delivered the death blow at the beginning of this year. Now that we have to worry about fixing what was broken by the Republicans, we do not need their obstructionism to solve our problems.
You have the chance of a lifetime to deliver something long wanted by the people of New York who's health and welfare have suffered at the hands of corporate greed. D.I.N.O.S. like Max Baucus and Joe Lieberman should not be allowed to dictate the legislation coming from our party.
I don't want you to be conciliatory. If compromise means weakening of Public Option, then that would not only be wrong, it would be undemocratic as 70% of the American people want a Health care system, and are sick and tired of being prisoners of the insurance companies. Senator, take the blinders off, see sense!

The Leaderless Republican Implosion

2009-06-18T14:18:55Z

A funny thing happened on the way to Michael Steele's Republican resurgence - Kevin Stevenson lost his job. Here he was, a spokesperson for the Marathon County Republican Party for -- years, a hard working good Republican not in lockstep with Obama and yet he was fired - for criticizing Rush Limbaugh and being a moderate! Mr. Steele must be feeling like a jinxed aerialist.
You see, this is paranoia mode. How does a party in a paranoid state deal with adversity? It crawls deeper into itself, and even though that paranoia was the seed of it's destruction, the party clings to it all the more to the self-destructive exclusion of any other outlook that mlght save it. The hardcore party members say to the moderates, "We have the canon of the party! We are the pure, who damn the unbelievers! Moderates are back stabbers, and weak-willed fellow travelers!" Limbaugh:

We have a really huge tent in California, right?' Limbaugh said on his show. 'I mean, Schwarzenegger describing how to put the Republican Party together after helping destroy the state. And you know how he helped destroy the state? He fell for his own talk about big tents. If he would have just stayed the course that he was talking about when he announced his candidacy on Leno and when he had all these people out there to start his administration, when he was on the conservative path, he could have taken this by the gangbusters and maybe gotten the Supreme Court to change the Constitution so that foreigners could run for president. He had that opportunity, and he blew it big time going moderate.
So, on the one hand, it's okay to accuse the President of not being bipartisan, but on the other, if you're a Republican trying to be bipartisan, the Limbaugh Taliban will pick you apart! Not quite the way to attract the lndies! Maybe Obama gauged this intollerance well as he chose to pursue a fifty state strategy during the election. He separated out the Indies from the GOP. Independents must be really disgusted with the ideologically pure Right and the GOP politicians who all but ceded leadership of the party to it. How disgusted are moderates and Independents with the Right Wing mafia? USA Today and the Gallop company

So the dominant faces of the Republican Party are all men, all white, all conservative and all old enough to join AARP, ranging in age from 58 (Limbaugh) to 72 (McCain). They include some of the country's most strident voices on issues from Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court to President Obama's policies at home and abroad. Two are retired from politics, and one has never been a candidate. came out with a report that broke down the demography of the GOP's public image, give demography and compared it to the present "leadership" of the GOP. Would the present leaders resurrect the GOP?

Only McCain holds elective office, and his age and status as the loser of last year's presidential election make him an unlikely standard bearer for the party's future.

And Indies would be - alienated.

But what about the moderates who are left in the party? Aren't they restless enough now to finally take a stand and wrest control from the ideologues who tyrannize them? Obama is going after the low - hanging fruit of the disillusioned moderates and poaching Spector, Huntsman and others from the GOP. And they are listening: The Washington Examiner:

The Republican strategist who helped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman prepare for a possible presidential run says the Republican party is in for a devastating defeat if its guiding lights are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. 'If it's 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we're headed for a blowout," says strategist John Weaver, who advised Huntsman and was for years a close adviser to Sen. John McCain. "That's just the truth.'

That leaves the wide-open GOP presidential field even more open than it had been before. Whatever happens, the way forward won't likely be smooth; Weaver's 'headed for a blowout' comment indicates the depth of division over the GOP's prospects. 'I firmly believe that Huntsman and people like him are the prescription for what ails us,' says Weaver. 'But I have the feeling that our party maybe won't order that prescription in 2012.
In my opinion, either the Republican party will renew itself or implode. Something tells me its going to be the latter. And it will be a quiet implosion. The Right won't go easily. They have the money, and enough of a base to be a regional party. However in places like New York State, New England and California, l'm sure enough people will be so disgusted as to bolt. What the Right doesn't understand, is that by shoring up the base to the exclusion of everyone else, they are ceding the opportunity to expand it. According to Republican strategist Mike Murphy, in a telling article for Time Magazine, the changing demographics does not bode well for Right Wing thinking. In 2008, Obama lost no opportunity to exploit the situation. Time Magazine:

t was a huge shock to the GOP when Barack Obama won Republican Indiana last year. The bigger news was how he did it. Latino voters delivered the state. Exit polls showed that they provided Obama with a margin of more than 58,000 votes in a state he carried by a slim 26,000 votes. That's right, GOP, you've entered a brave new world ruled by Latino Hoosiers, and you're losing.
Murphy goes on to say that while in 1980, Latino cast 2% the vote, in 2008, they cast a whopping 9%. Obama took their vote by a 35-point margin. And the GOP's response would be denial.
Rather than face up to all this, too many in the GOP are stuck in a swoon of nostalgia. Most of our party leaders come from bloodred GOP states or safe districts, so they are far more at home in the tribal politics of Republican primaries than in those of the country as a whole. You could say their radio dials are stuck on AM. The result is we hear a lot about going back to "the winning ways of Ronald Reagan." Well, I love Reagan too. But demographics no longer do. In 1980, Reagan beat Jimmy Carter by 10 points. If that contest were held again today, under the current demographics of the electorate per exit polls, the election would be much closer, with Reagan probably winning by about 3 points.
The opportunity cost of such a head - in - the - sand attitude is that the Republicans are ceding fertile electoral ground with panicky, exclusionary denial. But courting the minority would require major changes in their attitude on things like welfare, privatization, health care, and of course, immigation. According to Salon.com, Democrats are taking full advantage of the changing voter demographics in the Hispanlc community.

By 2008, the Hispanic share of the electorate had increased by a third, to 41 percent, and voters in the demographic were much more Democlratic, going 69-30 for Obama over McCain. That change by itself can account for almost all of Obama's advantage in the state, especially since the white vote stayed essentially the same (though whites' share of the electorate was down by 7 percentage points) and the African-American population is small.

And if I may go back to my attitude argument, I don't see the Republicans getting any progress done precisely because of their past history with any minority and the obstacle of livng it down. From Bobby Kennedy marching with Cesar Chavez on down to Jesse Jackson, the Clintons, finally on down to Obama himself, we've had a history of breaking bread with the poor, acting on their behalf, and organizing with them. Political action on the street level is part and parcel of being a Democrat.
What do I expect will happen to the GOP? I expect either a civil war within, or over the years there will an exodus of the dissatified to the Democratic party, or the rise of a viable third party, with the GOP becoming a shadow of it's former self. I can't expect any moderate to stay in a party that keeps shooting itself in the foot, a party the has killed the better angels of it's nature. No wonder moderates will in the future, refrain from joining the party. And let me leave you with this:
The Republican Party can thank Karl Rove and George Bush for their current descent in obscurity. By injecting ideology into every personnel and policy choice, they cut their followers adrift. The constant historical lesson is that the American polity recoils from extremism. No matter the political bent of ideological excesses, Americans get a belly full and return to the middle as surely as the leaves turn in the fall.

To All in the Professionally Angry - Easily Offended Club:

2009-03-28T19:53:23Z
GET OVER IT! Can't you surmise that your President is human? Well, in the immortal words of Steve Martin: "Well excuuuuuuuuse Meeee!!!" What do you want from the guy? I know people expect him to have a halo and shoot thunderbolts from his butt; however, walking on water must be reserved for saving the economy, and not for role modelism.

]]> Well, to the gist: President Obama is trying to be an apostle for his formula for saving the nation. What did he talk about on Leno? Saving the economy. What did the media pick up? That he made an ill-advised joke that involved the Special Olympics! Again, in an interview for 60 Minutes, he was explaining his position on the economy, and how the job felt for him. What did the media pick up? That he "laughed" during the segment. A good journalist should sense exasperation in an interviewee's voice when he hears it! The gene has not yet evolved that allows us to check our emotions at the door for our chosen careers. As Presidents go, Obama's joke and giggle are not even in the pantheon of Presidential gaffes. He didn't give an overly long speech while ill-prepared for the cold January weather. Unlike William Henry Harrison, he made it past one month. He didn't challenge anyone to duels like Jackson. So far, there's no "Mah, mah, where's my pah!?" like with Grover Cleveland. He doesn't need Taft's bathtub, never parsed the word "sex" like Bill Clinton, and let me make this perfectly clear never argued with hippies on the White House lawn like Richard Nixon. All of these examples of Presidential frailty became cause for ridicule, and yet they were inevitable because each President could only be the man he was. Kennedy was a womanizer, so was Clinton. So far, Obama seems like a pretty stable person. Not like his predecessor, W:

Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003 6. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" President George W. Bush, joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004 5. "If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000"
I'll be the first to say that the Special Olympics are no laughing matter. I'm for anything that promotes normalcy and respect for disabled people. For God's sake, they build special equipment like racing wheelchairs for paralyzed athletes! However, while it is true that most causes people advocate are serious, and merit the attention of our hearts and consciences, I take great exception to the idea that in these dire times, there are still people who's egos are so fragile that they must be offended at every instance that a public official inadvertently forgets to mind the particular p or q stipulated to by the offended party. Moreover, I really get irritated when 24-hour news networks feel it necessary to querulously bite their nails at every hem and haw of even the most inconsequential public figure. Nice of people dedicated to noble causes and the overly cautious media to try to legislate human nature. King Canute tried something similar with the motion of the tides. Here's where I get my Steve Martin on: The dirty little secret is that human nature is far from pristine. Unfortunately, we are prone to prejudices, stereotyping and their resulting restrictive or destructive behavior. We may be learning to deal with prejudices that are destructive, but in the gray areas of stereotyping the disabled, almost all of us fail the test. We still consider the disabled as capable of less without assistance. In addition, we still set restrictions for safety. Let a blind cross the street with a dog or a cane? Sure! Let that person drive a car? Not where my little nieces are walking! Likewise with deaf people! Was that a Neanderthal way of thinking? You bet! Cars or any other vital appliances can be modified to accommodate the safety needs of almost any disabled driver. Paraplegics can be allowed by some modification to compensate for a useless limb control the car like hand breaks. Still, how does this knowledge change 150,000 years of emotional hardwiring? It could just as well have been me there opposite Leno. And that's something the Politically Correct and the Professionally Angry set should remember.

Rush Limbaugh and the GOP Nervous Breakdown

2009-03-21T19:58:16Z

It seems that the Republicans are suffering from a nervous breakdown.
It's cause is deep insecurity, which manifests itself in denial, as exhibited for example, by the attempt to obstruct the American Rescue and Recovery Act, and congratulating themselves for being irrelevant regarding it's passage.
A symptom is confusion, loss of self identity. What direction do they go in? Who is the leader? Do they go in a direction that puts them more in touch with the majority of people? Or do they retreat inward and hold on for dear life to the one core constituency they have left, and risk consigning themselves to a doctrinaire niche? Do they follow the lead of a chairman who wants to reorganize the party, and show some backbone, or do they turn into little lemmings and follow a pompous overinflated blowhard "with talent on loan from God," over the narrow cliff of their doctrines?
Well, the Republicans chose the latter of each set of choices.

]]>
Instead of choosing to at least not commit to a policy, they have no choice but to shore up their base of their ultraconservative hard right core.
And the hard right core is now one twitching ball of nerves!
Anyway you poke them they give a galvanic response.
Obama's election, let alone the union of a Democratic Presidency with a Democratic Congress at a time of dire economic crisis is the Republican 9/11.
And now they are given to all sorts wild imaginings when we are finally addressing all of the wrongs of a flawed system that still works, but needs to be made responsive to the people.
And so, the Right is drawing up all kinds of paranoid barricades, pulling wagons in a circle, waiting for some imaginary version of the Left to impose it's dark ideology on these United States.
So scared are they that they aren't just on full vigil for any large movements in general, but they perceive the "real" treachery, and "true liberal agenda" in the smallest most insignificant anecdotes ever.
On March 3, on Larry King Weekend, radio talk show host Stephanie Miller was simply stating that when Rush Limbaugh said about the President: "I hope he fails," he was behaving with incendiary irresponsibility, and all to get himself more attention. Miller then gave this analogy:
If I could say something tonight that gets me that kind of attention, like maybe Rush Limbaugh should be executed for treason. How about that?
But the Right Wing blogoshere, eager to pounce on anything that proves their point, misread the quote, and then missed the point.
CNlN, the Right Wing blogsite came out with this on March 6:
This is the real face of the left and it is one that they rarely expose in public. This is the LIBERAL FASCISM that I always speak about.
Rush Limbaugh should be executed? Because he does not want socialism in America?
NOW you know why Socialism always leads to revolution. Communism has killed 120 million people and NOW you know why.
Just imagine if Rush Limbaugh said that Keith Olbermann or Christiane Amanpour should be executed for their treasonous reporting of the Iraq War.

On March 6, World Net Daily said this about Miller:
Radio talker Stephanie Miller, outraged that Rush Limbaugh wants Barack Obama's policies to fail, has called for the nation's top talk host to be charged with treason and executed.
She made the call, not on her rather obscure radio program but on CNN's "Larry King Live" show Tuesday.
King seemed unfazed by the suggestion, neither following it up with a challenge or a question.
"To me that seems treasonous," Miller said. "If I could say something tonight that gets me that kind of attention, like maybe Rush Limbaugh should be executed for treason. How about that?"
Red State perpetuates the self-delusion:
It never surprises me when an angry Liberal spews hate and hostility. They call us haters, racists, and a variety other harsh adjectives, when they are the hostile, angry ones. They are so misguided and uninformed and confused by an unsatisfying ideology. It is so sad.
What is sad is that the hideous truth that the author of this last diatribe is unwilling to concede is that it was his own party's "unsatisfying ideology" that lead us to this dire situation, and that people are now open to the new and untried.
In their highly fragile state, the Republicans have manifested their self-delusion in choosing an extremist for a leader.
Which leads us to the de facto chairman - Rush Limbaugh and the entailing embarrassment for the party and Michael Steele.
Nothing could make me happier than to crown El Rushbo king of the Republicans!
When Limbaugh said twice on the air and once in a speech for CPAC that he hopes that the President fails, and the Republican leadership apologized to Limbaugh for attempting to admonish him, that made me see that if we can keep King Rush on his absolute throne, the Democrats can effectively neuter the opposition by tying this odious, unpopular can to their tails.
And the beauty is, El Rushbo doesn't care. In fact, he's more than happy to take the job!
In this case, the egg definitely preceded the chicken.
The Right was definitely cultivating the Bible Belt, but could not control the one man on secular radio who made himself the spokesman for all ultra-conservatives.
And what perfect fit for angry hate-filled Right Wingers Rush is!
He's bombastic, narcissistic, arrogant with an inflated sense of importance and delusions of both godhood and martyrdom!
On March 9, Limbaugh himself said on his show:
I must present an obstacle. if I had no impact, if I had no influence, if, if, I was such an extremist appealing to such a small number of people, why then what they'd be doing is laughing. And what they'd be do ... or ignoring. But they are running TV ads against me! Newt Gingrich wishes they'd be running TV ads against him! But they're running TV ads against me! So, I love it. I'm up for it. I raise my hand. I'm the last man standing. I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to stop saying what I say, or what I believe, 'cause I'm a American, I'm a citizen, and I happen to have the good fortune of having a microphone to blare what I believe, and I'm ... I happen to have the opportunity to be able to do it very well, with talent on loan from God. And I know that if we just keep plugging away hard enough, we're going to break through.
As for being pompous and arrogant, well, this year at CPAC he could merely manage some false modesty as illustrated by this joke.
One of the things that is totally erroneous about me -- and I just want to get this up front -- is that I'm pompous. [Laughter]
And that I am arrogant. Neither of these things are remotely true. I can tell you a joke to illustrate this. Larry King passed away, goes to heaven. He's greeted by Saint Peter at the gates. Saint Peter says, 'Welcome, Mr. King, it's great to have you here. I want to show you around, give you an idea of what's here, maybe you can pick a place that you'd like to reside.' King says, 'I just have one question: Is Rush Limbaugh here?'
'No, he's got a lot of time yet, Mr. King.' So Saint Peter begins the tour. Larry King sees the various places and it's beyond anything we can imagine in terms of beauty. Finally, he gets to the biggest room of all, with this giant throne. And over the throne is a flashing beautiful angelic neon sign that says 'Rush Limbaugh.' [Laughter]
And Larry King looks at Saint Peter and says: 'I thought you said he wasn't here.'
He said, 'He's not, he's not. This is God's room. He just thinks he's Rush Limbaugh.
Well, if this is the person a desperate GOP wants to cling to as flotsam, with Steele, Gingrey et al. kowtowing to him, then maybe Pelosi and Reid should negotiate new legislation with him and forget all the bit players.

Rush Limbaugh and the GOP Nervous Breakdown

2009-03-16T23:08:05Z

It seems that the Republicans are suffering from a nervous breakdown.
It's cause is deep insecurity, which manifests itself in denial, as exhibited for example, by the attempt to obstruct the American Rescue and Recovery Act, and congratulating themselves for being irrelevant regarding it's passage. A symptom is confusion, loss of self identity. What direction do they go in? Who is the leader? Do they go in a direction that puts them more in touch with the majority of people? Or do they retreat inward and hold on for dear life to the one core constituency they have left, and risk consigning themselves to a doctrinaire niche? Do they follow the lead of a chairman who wants to reorganize the party, and show some backbone, or do they turn into little lemmings and follow a pompous overinflated blowhard "with talent on loan from God," over the narrow cliff of their doctrines? Well, the Republicans chose the latter of each set of choices.

]]>
Instead of choosing to at least not commit to a policy, they have no choice but to shore up their base of their ultraconservative hard right core.
And the hard right core is now one twitching ball of nerves! Anyway you poke them they give a galvanic response. Obama's election, let alone the union of a Democratic Presidency with a Democratic Congress at a time of dire economic crisis is the Republican 9/11. And now they are given to all sorts wild imaginings when we are finally addressing all of the wrongs of a flawed system that still works, but needs to be made responsive to the people. And so, the Right is drawing up all kinds of paranoid barricades, pulling wagons in a circle, waiting for some imaginary version of the Left to impose it's dark ideology on these United States. So scared are they that they aren't just on full vigil for any large movements in general, but they perceive the "real" treachery, and "true liberal agenda" in the smallest most insignificant anecdotes ever. On March 3, on Larry King, radio talk show host Stephanie Miller was simply stating that when Rush Limbaugh said about the President: "I hope he fails," he was behaving with incendiary irresponsibility, and all to get himself more attention. Miller then gave this analogy:

If I could say something tonight that gets me that kind of attention, like maybe Rush Limbaugh should be executed for treason. How about that?
But the Right Wing blogoshere, eager to pounce on anything that proves their point, misread the quote, and then missed the point. CNlN, the Right Wing blogsite came out with this on March 6:

This is the real face of the left and it is one that they rarely expose in public. This is the LIBERAL FASCISM that I always speak about Rush Limbaugh should be executed? Because he does not want socialism in America? NOW you know why Socialism always leads to revolution. Communism has killed 120 million people and NOW you know why. Just imagine if Rush Limbaugh said that Keith Olbermann or Christiane Amanpour should be executed for their treasonous reporting of the Iraq War.
On March 6, World Net Daily said this about Miller:

Radio talker Stephanie Miller, outraged that Rush Limbaugh wants Barack Obama's policies to fail, has called for the nation's top talk host to be charged with treason and executed.
"To me that seems treasonous," Miller said. "If I could say something tonight that ge
ts me that kind of attention, like maybe Rush Limbaugh should be executed for treason. How about that?" She made the call, not on her rather obscure radio program but on CNN's "Larry King Live" show Tuesday. King seemed unfazed by the suggestion, neither following it up with a challenge or a question.
Red State perpetuates the self-delusion:
It never surprises me when an angry Liberal spews hate and hostility. They call us haters, racists, and a variety other harsh adjectives, when they are the hostile, angry ones. They are so misguided and uninformed and confused by an unsatisfying ideology. It is so sad.
What is sad is that the hideous truth that the author of this last diatribe is unwilling to concede is that it was his own party's "unsatisfying ideology" that lead us to this dire situation, and that people are now open to the new and untried. In their highly fragile state, the Republicans have manifested their self-delusion in choosing an extremist for a leader. Which leads us to the de facto chairman - Rush Limbaugh and the entailing embarrassment for the party and Michael Steele. Nothing could make me happier than to crown El Rushbo king of the Republicans! When Limbaugh said twice on the air and once in a speech for CPAC that he hopes that the President fails, and the Republican leadership apologized to Limbaugh for attempting to admonish him, that made me see that if we can keep King Rush on his absolute throne, the Democrats can effectively neuter the opposition by tying this odious, unpopular can to their tails. And the beauty is, El Rushbo doesn't care. In fact, he's more than happy to take the job! In this case, the egg definitely preceded the chicken. The Right was definitely cultivating the Bible Belt, but could not control the one man on secular radio who made himself the spokesman for all ultra-conservatives. And what perfect fit for angry hate-filled Right Wingers Rush is! He's bombastic, narcissistic, arrogant with an inflated sense of importance and delusions of both godhood and martyrdom! On March 9, Limbaugh himself said on his show:
I must present an obstacle. if I had no impact, if I had no influence, if, if, I was such an extremist appealing to such a small number of people, why then what they'd be doing is laughing. And what they'd be do ... or ignoring. But they are running TV ads against me! Newt Gingrich wishes they'd be running TV ads against him! But they're running TV ads against me! So, I love it. I'm up for it. I raise my hand. I'm the last man standing. I'm not going to back down. I'm not going to stop saying what I say, or what I believe, 'cause I'm a American, I'm a citizen, and I happen to have the good fortune of having a microphone to blare what I believe, and I'm ... I happen to have the opportunity to be able to do it very well, with talent on loan from God. And I know that if we just keep plugging away hard enough, we're going to break through.
As for being pompous and arrogant, well, this year at CPAC he could merely manage some false modesty as illustrated by this joke.
One of the things that is totally erroneous about me -- and I just want to get this up front -- is that I'm pompous. [Laughter]
And that I am arrogant. Neither of these things are remotely true. I can tell you a joke to illustrate this. Larry King passed away, goes to heaven. He's greeted by Saint Peter at the gates. Saint Peter says, 'Welcome, Mr. King, it's great to have you here. I want to show you around, give you an idea of what's here, maybe you can pick a place that you'd like to reside.' King says, 'I just have one question: Is Rush Limbaugh here?'
'No, he's got a lot of time yet, Mr. King.' So Saint Peter begins the tour. Larry King sees the various places and it's beyond anything we can imagine in terms of beauty. Finally, he gets to the biggest room of all, with this giant throne. And over the throne is a flashing beautiful angelic neon sign that says 'Rush Limbaugh.' [Laughter] And Larry King looks at Saint Peter and says: 'I thought you said he wasn't here.' He said, 'He's not, he's not. This is
God's room. He just thinks he's Rush Limbaugh
Well, if this is the person a desperate GOP wants to cling to as flotsam, with Steele, Gingrey et al. kowtowing to him, then maybe Pelosi and Reid should negotiate new legislation with him and forget all the bit player

Obama's Inauguration - A New Day For Hate

2008-12-09T16:11:59Z
I don't want to scare anyone, but I am concerned. Think that Progressives and Center Lefties are the only ones celebrating the election of Barack Obama? Think again. The Lunatic Right is overjoyed! And that makes me nervous! I'm not talking about loudmouths like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, or Limbaugh. They are crying in their beer. I'm talking about the true nut cases who espouse violence in the name of "racial purity." The Nazis, the White Nationalists and the Klansmen are still here friends. Too much prejudice and narrow mindedness has been ingrained into our psyche to be wiped out in my lifetime. When I was born, the Civil Rights movement was only three years old. In 1964, the Voting Rights Act was signed, but on the way, Schwerner, Cheney, Goodman, Medgar Evers and Viola Liuso were murdered. Four years later, Martin Luther King was martyred. As I recall, a massive cultural effort was needed to make white America confront it's prejudices. And always there was that violent paranoid extremist element that stubbornly refused to open their minds. Tom Metzger, David Duke and Thomas Robb all started their careers in hate early under the John Birch Society and George Lincoln Rockwell. My point is this: We lost Abraham (Lincoln,) Martin (Luther King,) and John (F. Kennedy,) to the bullets of ignorance. Let's not lose Barack. Am I talking nonsense? The ban on assault weapons was repealed. Anyone with money and know - how can acquire weapons for a small army. And calling an act of domestic terror a hate crime doesn't make it any less lethal. Anyone who doesn't believe that can ask the ghosts of Oklahoma City if it's nonsense! We as a people are capable of violence. All we need to do is get on our high-horses to feel we have the right to do almost anything. That is the nature of most kind of extremism. The ultra-extremist, the revolutionary goes beyond that. That person deals in totalities. They want to create "new societies." In order to do that you must regiment society. Democracy is tiresome to the White Aryan. But the White Aryan / Nationalist must also defend the purity of the race, and this, as far as the racist revolutionary is concerned, can only be done with revolution and radical action. The problem is as far as the racist is concerned, it is the white race that is being oppressed, not the "so called" (by them,) minorities! And to make matters worse, white people don't know they've lost power, and are duped into participating in their own pollution! So now the Nazis, Klansmen and White Supremacists are overjoyed at the election of Barack Obama! In their eyes, now has come the right time to expose the "oppression of the white race." In the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report, Mark Potok writes:
Even before the campaign was over, racial rage, clearly driven by fear of a black man in the White House, began to break out around the country. Effigies of Obama appeared hanging from nooses on university campuses. Angry supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin shouted "Kill him!" at a campaign rally and even screamed "nigger" at a black cameraman, telling him, "Sit down, boy!" The head of the Hillsborough County, Fla., Republican Party sent an E-mail warning members of "the threat" of "carloads of black Obama supporters coming from the inner city to cast their votes." A reporter who has covered every presidential election since 1980 told me he had never seen such fury. Similar scenes were reported nationwide.
Improbable in the era of Cumbaya? Not for Dave Stancliff of the Eureka Times-Standard:

How far have we come? I'd say we've come a long way. We've elected the first African-American/Caucasian president. There are a lot of hate laws on the books now. Most people seem more aware of our diversity and are more respectful of different skin color. We should celebrate the upcoming changes we expect President-elect Barack Obama to bring about for the good of all, but that soft underbelly of hatred and intolerance shows signs of new growth. White supremacist anxieties over a black leader in the White House have grown rapidly with the worsening economic crisis and demographic trends that indicate whites will cease to be a majority of Americans within a generation, according to the FBI.
Thomas Robb's Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is a case in point In a post for his blog,

the author states:

The president elect now stands as a symbol to our people throughout this nation that change is indeed coming. What will it mean for those who are being disenfranchised from the very nation purchased by the blood of their forefathers? It could mean an awakening of our spirit and blood. Every time the television shows an image of Obama it will be a reminder that our people have lost power in this country. We actually lost that power 40 years ago, but with a white president people would go to sleep thinking at least white people were still running things. Now there is no reason to believe this. The betrayal will stare them in the face each time they watch the news and see little black children playing in the rose garden.

We are not asking you to hate anyone! We are not asking you to commit an illegal act. We are not asking you to hurt anyone. We just want you to love your people and do that which your forefathers did - give your children a bright future.

So we have to admit that this may be the best thing that has happened to us. It perhaps comes as a wake-up call to the sleeping giant deep in the heart of our people.

The author goes on to state:

So don't despair! Don't be discouraged! We have been saying this would happen. We have said that there is a growing subtle hatred for our people. This has not been a battle between Republicans or Democrats. This was not a battle between liberals and conservatives. This is a race war - a culture war - being waged against white people. As more and more non-whites come into this country the hatred for the founding people will grow.
Now Robb sees himself as a non-violent person and he may be right: But there is no denying the gist of his message - racial conflict is coming. Unfortunately, if it were simply a matter of propaganda vs. propaganda I'd say fine, bring it and let democracy decide, but not everyone on the extreme Left or Right are civil. And trust me, neither Commie or Nazi understand civil. They know guns though. Greg Evensen seems to think a civil war in the U.S. is inevitable.

I am faced with the certain realization that no matter how I may try to sugar coat it, this time -- those who voted or supported the socialist left, the democrats, the liberals, the "elitists" in the universities and business, the apostate "liberation theology" or do nothing church, and politics everywhere--are my enemy. It can be stated in no other terms. That's a fact, Jack.
Even before Election Day, Evensen said he must begin to view neighbors, co-workers as potential enemies. In his article for News with Views, THE NEXT CIVIL WAR FOR HISTORIC AMERICA: ARE YOU MY ENEMY? he states: But what he says a little later is chilling:

Minutemen and the militia were responsible for their own arms, ammunition and supplies. Can you muster with others and provide the essentials? Can you carry all that you need for two to three days at a time? Can you sleep with your back to a tree on cold, wet ground? Can you be still for an hour or two just watching and listening? How will you communicate with your fellow patriots--safely? When the bad guys start shooting, what will you do? Will you give away your position by firing randomly to "scare" them off? Will you remain defensive and not set yourself up for being killed? Will you learn how to move with stealth? Can you disarm someone and take them as a prisoner?
These are but a few examples of the rabid paranoia that is out there. But we are now in a new era, in new territory that most everyone in America but an ignorant, bigoted minority wants to explore. Mostly everyone in that minority won't act, but there is that militia fringe. All it took was one Lee Harvey Oswald to kill Kennedy, and one Timothy McVeigh to bomb Oklahoma City. The SPLC's Mark Potok is quite clear about this problem.

David Duke, the former Klan leader and convicted felon who is the closest thing the radical right has to an intellectual leader these days, believes this could all work to his benefit. In an essay this summer, the neo-Nazi ideologue argued that an Obama victory would serve as a "visual aid" to white Americans, provoking a backlash that Duke believes will "result in a dramatic increase in our ranks."Even as we embark on a new national adventure, the signs are worrying. It may be that the hate mongers are wrong, that Americans' better angels will prevail and the changes that are sweeping America will not result in a growing rage on the right. But experience tells us that while we hope for the best, we also must prepare for what could be a dangerous, racially motivated backlash of hate.
Look, we have to be vigilant ourselves. Use my links. Monitor the sites. Read what those people are writing, and what they are reading. Talk to whomever it is you must talk to if you hear something. I've already lived through the assassination of one President. I don't need another.

John McCain's Glass House

2008-10-25T19:47:05Z

The nerve! Last week, we heard cries of "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!" when McCain or Palin rhetorically asked who Obama was, or what to do about him. It wasn't just that the crowd yelled these things, it was also that neither candidate repudiated, or even mildly corrected the crowd until three days later. Instead, McCain stood there with his stupid smile. And Palin? Her accusing a political opponent of "palling around with terrorists," not only crossed a line, it shows a tremendous lack of understanding and intellect. Then there are the McCain surrogates who feel free to slander and insult their opponent with the seemingly tacit approval of the principals.
Which makes the crocodile tears and false indignance of McCain over John Lewis's protest all the more galling.

John Lewis lived through the era he is comparing McCain's campaign with. I know that McCain's absence from the Freedom Rides or Mississippi's Freedom Summer was excusable, but didn't the public schools of Wasilla, or the five colleges that Sarah Palin attended teach about those things?

The brutal reception by the Klan of the Freedom Riders at every stop was a result of the atmosphere created by men like George Wallace, Orville Faubus and Lester Maddox. In the South, many politicians gave a wink and a nod to Klan activities. With the atmosphere that the McCain / Palin ticket is creating, such politicians may soon be returning.

McCain accuses Obama of having more negative ads than him, but answer me this Johnny, did Barack ever associate McCain any characters of ill repute? No! Obama took the high road in his attacks, and did not engage in innuendo and character assasination!

And yet to listen to John McCain's whine over John Lewis's written words, you'd think that Lewis was some Democratic Sarah Palin claiming that McCain was "palling around with Klansmen."

This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign," Powell said. "But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him?

Colin Powell just gave his endorsement of Barack Obama. The above quote illustrates that he considered the behavior of his long-time friend McCain to be unconscionable.

What McCain & Co. have done is paint themselves into a corner, and now that they have run out of any talking points with any hint of verisimilitude, they have been reduced to a dog and pony show.

The loss of Powell for John McCain betrays another weakness in him that we don't want in a President, an inability to adapt.

MR. MATTHEWS: If you have liberal views, does that mean you have anti-American views? What's the connection? I don't get the connection. What's the connection between liberal and leftist and anti-American?

REP. BACHMANN: Anti-American is the point, because --

MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, if you're liberal, are you anti-American?

REP. BACHMANN: Well, the liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and that are Bill Ayers, they're over-the-top anti-American. And that's the question that Americans have. Remember, it was Michelle Obama who said she's only recently proud of her country. And so these are very anti-American views.

MR. MATTHEWS: Okay.

REP. BACHMANN: That's not the way that most Americans feel about our country. Most Americans, Chris, are wild about America, and they're very concerned to have a president who doesn't share those values..

And now we have the latest episode of Republicans shooting themselves in the foot with their attempts at slander as '>Michelle Bachman gets her Joe McCarthy on.

This is the same person who blamed the Minnesota Democrats for failing to pass a bill that she herself voted against - The Protect America Act.

She also has this fetish for old-fashioned light bulbs, introducing a "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act" to combat the government intrusion of phasing out conventional light bulbs! Will the A.C.L.U. back her? Will the onslaught of incandescent bulbs lead to communism? Stay tuned!

Anyway, her jaunt into McCarthyism will cost her her job now that the RNC has pulled out of her campaign, and people incensed by her remarks have contributed enormously to her opponent's campaign.

John McCain: Meet Hank Martin - And Morris Dees: Part Six

2008-10-12T22:07:22Z
It didn't take long for the mean to come out. No sooner did the Republican National Convention end, then did the broad brush lies about how Obama would raise taxes on "you" came out. Never mind that only one percent of the people would feel the pinch, McCain had buttons to push. At the time, he was twenty points ahead of Obama. There was no earth - shattering economic crisis then. McCain's insecurity was showing. And of course, that meant that the showmanship had to start. It started with the stunt casting of Sarah Palin as his running mate. My what a feminist our Johnny is! Of course, it pleased McCain's adopted by necessity base that she was against taxes, pro-drilling and pro-life! Well, I'm sure the base enjoys Sarah's endless verbatim repetition of the same stale talking points.

John McCain: Meet Hank Martin - And Morris Dees: Part Six

2008-10-12T22:02:49Z
It didn't take long for the mean to come out. No sooner did the Republican National Convention end, then did the broad brush lies about how Obama would raise taxes on "you" came out. Never mind that only one percent of the people would feel the pinch, McCain had buttons to push. At the time, he was twenty points ahead of Obama. There was no earth - shattering economic crisis then. McCain's insecurity was showing. And of course, that meant that the showmanship had to start. It started with the stunt casting of Sarah Palin as his running mate. My what a feminist our Johnny is! Of course, it pleased McCain's adopted by necessity base that she was against taxes, pro-drilling and pro-life! Well, I'm sure the base enjoys Sarah's endless verbatim repetition of the same stale talking points.

John McCain: Meet Hank Martin - And Morris Dees: Part Five

2008-10-12T21:57:14Z
Out came Sarah Palin with all the beauty and superficiality of a Miss Alaska runner-up. As she cheerleaders her way around the lower 48, with her Stupid Smile and her script of tired catchphrases, has stoked up the base, some of whom wish that she'd run for the top of the ticket, instead of that tired old man hiding behind her! That brings me to the worm in this apple. The real inner insecurity of John McCain. McCain is competing against a younger, more energetic opponent called Barack Obama, not old Kankles Clinton. He is afraid that when people compare him to Obama, they will see a decrepit old man, devoid of possibities, trying to beat a younger man - who is out to change the world. This makes him desperate. And in an election that's favoring the Democrats, a desperate Republican feels rotten and mean.

John McCain: Meet Hank Martin - And Morris Dees Part Four

2008-10-12T06:30:51Z
And the economy continued to fail. While people and yes, mortgage and investment banks continued to gorge themselves on the high cholesterol of subprime mortgage loans, McCain said "OK" to continued deregulation of the securities market. With this bankruptcy of ideas, McCain has sought to lead his soulless party to four more years of Bush's madness. Only how to do it? His campaign, his party and his allies were going to be out organized, outspent and outproduced by Obama and the Democrats. The answer? Free publicity! How to get it? Stunts! You see, if you don't have thought one on how to change the country, you have to follow the old magician's rule of misdirecting the audience in order to scam them. Now, a magician only wishes to entertain the audience with his illusions. McCain wants to pull the Presidency out of his magic hat.

John McCain: Meet Hank Martin - And Morris Dees Part Three

2008-10-12T06:26:22Z
And so, in 2007, John McCain, the maverick who in 2004 opposed Bush's wartime tax cuts for the upper 1%, decided in 2007 that it just as "maverick-y" to suddenly be for them! Again regarding the Iraq War, McCain showed his convenient ambivalence. Though he wasn't against the war, he made noises like he was reluctant to go to war. The U.N. was to referee the end game, and the pitiful few troops in lraq had to be reinforced. But after the Surge, McCain was all ready to jump into the war bandwagon. Suddenly it wasn't important that we rendered the U.N. helpless, and were continuing a military adventure that was bleeding our economy. We needed "victory!" Despite that, people are still unmoved about the war, and want it to end.