Stupid is as stupid does

Politico chief political analyst Roger Simon reports that the Republican National Committee is holding a special session next week so they can vote on -- and approve -- a resolution renaming the Democratic Party. After next week, according to the RNC, it will be called the Democrat Socialist Party.

Simon doesn't talk about that, though. His article is about Michael Steele, the black guy the RNC put in charge to make it look like they aren't a bunch of racist assholes but whom they don't give a shit about and regularly kick in the teeth. Steele opposed the special session, which will include passing a couple more idiotic resolutions, and opposes the renaming resolution too, although he does agree that the Democrats “are indeed marching America toward European-style socialism.”

Referring to the Democrats officially as the Democat Socialist Party "will accomplish little than to give the media and our opponents the opportunity to mischaracterize Republicans."

Now there's an understatement. And that's really about all that needs to be said about Steele, but Simon goes on for two pages about how the Republicans don't like him and all. If you'd like to see what he said, click here. Or stick around and let's talk about the real issue.

Simon quotes an RNC member saying the Steele "has a tin ear when it comes to the building (i.e., the RNC staff), the RNC and the party,” but don't you really think it's the GOP that has the tin ear when it comes to the American people?

So, they may be winning on the torture debate, for now. But what else? Those teabaggeries went over like the proverbial lead balloons. Their nemesis, Barack Obama, is still polling unwaveringly high, meaning that folks are kinda liking the president with the funny name. They're latest Big Issue is whether Wanda Sykes went too far at the White House Correspondents dinner, about as big an issue for the average American as the price of a loaf of bread in a London food market. And if Darth Cheney running all over the place bitching about Obama wasn't enough, now his little girl Liz is out doing the same, most recently saying the president is siding with terrorists or some such nonsense.

Somehow, I'm not expecting the Other Daughter, the Lesbian One Mary, to follow Liz's footsteps. I think she's got a Cheney grandchild to be worrying about right now.

Meanwhile, the GOP's still sticking to extremist social issues and name-calling as it's big strategy. GW and John Boehner and Tom Delay and all those truly stalwart individuals have been using "Democrat party" when they should be using "Democratic Party" for some time. It's a perjorative thing, you see, that actually got started more than 100 years ago and comes and goes, depending on how little leg the Republicans have to stand on at any given point in time.

This latest swing of its use began during the 2006 midterm elections, which was just about when folks were starting to wake up to Republican bullshit and shift Congress to the Democratic side.

Saying "Democrat party" is a purposely perjorative thing, though, on account of grammar. Democratic Party, you see, is what's called a proper noun. That's the name of the party -- calling it anything else is wrong, and it's intended to be a slight, an insult.

Add that to "socialist," which the Republicans have decided resonates with people outside their base with no evidence showing that to be true, and you got yourself one humdinger of a throwdown.

So here comes the Republican National Committee with its fancy resolution to make it official -- as if one party can officially change the name of the other paraty -- that will actually serve two purposes -- it will insult the Democrats and jab at Michael Steele.

There's just one teensy weensy little problem. Nobody gives a rodent's derriere. And all it does it make the Republicans look exactly like what they've become -- petty, vindictive little dictators with no ideas and no sense of decency.

Well done, gentlemen. I look forward to your resolution next week. When you keep doing stupid things like this, you make it impossible for my colleagues to present you in any kind of decent light. It's just too much of a stretch. Kind of like reporting that the fire department responded to a call about an intoxicated group of men not only threw empty paint cans into their 55-gallon drum fire, but then added not one, but three 20-pound propane cylinders when they ran out of paint cans. There's just no way you can make that look like a good idea.

As Bertrand Russell once said, "Most people would die rather than think. In fact, they do."

Sadly, the Republicans appear headed rapidly in that direction.

But maybe that's for the best. Then we could split the Democratic Party into two and have a real opposition party, with both parties focused on what's good for the American people instead of what's good for their personal fortunes.

You know, that little thing known as "the greater good."


AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Peace Y'all

Mirror, mirror

Remember when the president introduced his budget, and the Republicans got all high and mighty and decided they were going to introduce a budget too, so they came out and held up an 18-page booklet with no numbers or specific plans in it?

Yeah, I'm thinking that's about to happen again.

See, Obama on Wednesday let it be known that he was cutting $17 billion out of the budget that Congress has actually already passed. And just like they did a couple of weeks ago when he told his Cabinet secretaries to come up with $100 million in cuts, the Republicans all came out like banshees screeching that the cuts aren't enough.

No "good start," no "that's what I'm talkin' about" from the party of budget slashing, at least when they're in the minority. Just the usual NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO from the party of no.

Over the next couple of weeks, you'll have a chance to see what real budget cuts look like,

said House Minority Leader John Boehner -- the same House Minority Leader John Boehner who waved the little GOP budget thing around like it actually meant something. I think he said something similar then.

I don't know about you, but I'm beginning to think if Barack Obama came out and announced he was giving a $100,000 tax credit to any self-employed individual who bought a gas-guzzling, oversized vehicle that weighs more than three tons fully loaded, the GOP would scream bloody murder.

Nothing is good enough for these guys. They seem to not understand that it's gonna take a while to undo the damage they and their boy president did to our economy. They seem to have forgotten that Obama said he had his people going through the budget line by line, and it's a big damn budget. It's not all gonna get changed at once. And having Republicans go through the budget with a red pen makes about as much sense as, oh, I don't know -- maybe putting the former judges and stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association in charge of FEMA.

Of course, some Republicans are starting to get it -- maybe. In what can only be a very bizarre turn of events, Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina -- who was only a few weeks ago leading one of Dick Armey's teabagging parties, stirring up the ill-informed by telling them of the outrageous tax burden they're forced to toil under because of Barack Obama.

But now, a mere three weeks later, McHenry is singing a different tune, telling Time magazine

Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts. The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set.

And that's the truth. Tax rates are lower now than they were when Saint Ronnie was president. And they have been. Since Clinton.

But it's very strange to come out of the mouth of McHenry, an extremist conservative. I'm sure the Ayatollah Limbaugh will have something to say about it.

Maybe it was just an unguarded moment, or perhaps McHenry was suddenly overcome by the spirit of American democracy at its finest and had no choice but to tell the truth. And it's a truth that means the Republican party needs to be redesigning itself soon before some other party picks up the remnants of sanity the GOP has left in the ditches of its road to ruin and becomes a true opposition party.

But there's old Darth Cheney, saying it would be a mistake for Republicans to "moderate," because we all know that extremism is the best way to unite people.

You know, when you add all those things up, the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t. Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren’t eager to have someone come along and say, 'Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.'

Actually, Darth, the way you win is to start acting sane. The way you win is to act like you give a rat's ass about somebody other than yourself and your rich buds. The way you win is to stop wrapping yourself in an American flag and get your hands dirty with the real work to be done around here -- reinventing the country you nearly destroyed.

See, this isn't the land of soak 'em dry and get away while the gettin's good anymore. That's what November 4, 2008, meant. It meant a significant shift away from the era of trying to drown government in the bathtub so that the already rich can get even richer. It meant realizing that the playing field isn't level in this country, and never has been. It meant that a majority of voting Americans wanted to take steps to change what 30 years of conservative misrule had wrought.

Old Darth was right about one thing, though.

Some of the older folks who’ve been around a long time — like yours truly — need to move on and make room for that young talent that’s coming along,

he said. Too bad he doesn't realize that the ideas and attitude of those older folks need to move on too.

I suspect, though, that'll happen anyway. It's just that it's a lot harder when you don't do it willingly. And when you don't do it at all, well, progress doesn't stop if you do. Darth and the others, they stand a pretty good chance of being remembered, if they're remembered at all, as the folks who tried to remake America in their own image -- dark and secretive, bullying and abrasive. It almost worked.

We have a very long way to go to correct the errors of the past 30 years. And Obama isn't going to correct them all. Some of them, in fact, he's going to perpetuate. But he's not likely to send us spiraling back down that potholed path.

We may not know precisely where we're headed now -- but we know where we've been, and what a hellish, painful place that was. And we've got some pretty good ideas about where we need to be.

It'd just be so much easier if this shrill shell of a party would either remake itself for the 21st century, or get out of the way for a party that's ready for the future.

Either way, this Republican Party needs to stop peering into that magic mirror they got from all the closeted gay Republicans on their staffs and find one that'll give 'em a true reflection of what they've become.

Nah. I'm not holding my breath. Even accurate reflections can't sway the delusional.


News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Peace Y'all

Celebrate

I hardly know where to begin. First, happy Cinco de Mayo, a day for all good gringos to head to the nearest Tex-Mex joint, eat up some half-assed burritos and swallow down gallons of what passes for tequila in the states. I tell you this because it's really annoying how many days Americans usurp and turn from their original purposes into a day to get stinkin' drunk.

Can't we do that any day? Do we really have to hijack other people's holidays to do that? I'll bet you don't even know what Cinco de Mayo is about, and no, it's not Mexican Independence Day (that's September 16). And I'm certainly not going to tell you. Look it up. I mean, it'd be a little different if you actually used the day to learn a little something about the culture you're using to justify your binge. So humor me. Go find out what Cinco de Mayo actually is, and then carry on with your bad self.

Next month is Gay Pride Month, or you could add all the LBTQ stuff if you prefer (that's lesbian, bi, trans and queer for the hopelessly heterosexual). There'll be marches and parades and film festivals and poetry readings and all manner of stuff celebrating the Q. The hopelessly heterosexual will avoid any and all of those activities.

Maybe that's our mistake -- maybe if we just had a day, you know, like, Gay Day, then all the hopelessly heterosexual would rush out to brunch and consume mass quantities of mimosas. Or dance the night away at a gay club while sniffing amyl nitrate or some other delicious mind altering substance. They could even take in a lesbian softball game and then go drink beer with the team afterward.

Ah, who'm I kidding? That'll never happen. Because on St. Patrick's Day or OktoberFest or Cinco de Mayo, the gringos aren't askeered of having some of that Irish or German or Mexican wear off on 'em (well, maybe the Mexican a little bit). But they're scared shitless of getting near the Queer. And honestly, I have no idea why. It's not like we'll beat 'em up, tie 'em to a fence post and leave them there to die or anything. If anybody has a right to be scared, I'd think it's us.

Speaking of the hopelessly heterosexual, big ole brave good ole boys are very much afraid of us. For example, the Republicans' quintessential everyman, Joe Wurlzebacher, aka Joe the Unlicensed Plumber and Joe the Uninformed Foreign Correspondent, is terrified of us. I was gonna break down this quote into pieces for you, but I just don't see how. You need to see it as it exists. It's Joe, answering a question from Christianity Today about what he thinks about same-sex marriage laws.

At a state level, it’s up to them. I don’t want it to be a federal thing. I personally still think it’s wrong. People don’t understand the dictionary — it’s called queer. Queer means strange and unusual. It’s not like a slur, like you would call a white person a honky or something like that. You know, God is pretty explicit in what we’re supposed to do — what man and woman are for. Now, at the same time, we’re supposed to love everybody and accept people, and preach against the sins. I’ve had some friends that are actually homosexual. And, I mean, they know where I stand, and they know that I wouldn’t have them anywhere near my children. But at the same time, they’re people, and they’re going to do their thing.

I cannot tell you how relieved I am to know that it's OK with Joe for me to do my thing. But there are a couple of things dreadfully wrong with this comment. Let's start with this "people don't understand the dictionary" thing.

Y'know, I don't even think I can say anything rational about that. I think he's saying that because we're called queer (and who gave us that name, by the way?) and because the dictionary defines queer as "strange and unusual" then that's not a slur? I'm sorry, I can't even make sense of my own interpretation of it.

Next, of course, is the bullshit about "God" being all explicit about "what man and woman are for." I mean, even if you believe that there is a god, at no point in the religious writings of Christians does "god" say anything about that. It's all what the various people say. So, Joe obviously has some of the same reading comprehension problems others of his kind have.

But then we get to my favorite part. "I've had some friends that are actually homosexual," he says. An audible gasp is heard. "They know," he says, "where I stand, and they know that I wouldn't have them anywhere near my children."

RadicalRuss at Pam's House Blend notes what a coincidence that is because he would never let Joe near his kids either. I agree, but more importantly, I'd have to say that Joe also doesn't know what a friend is. Because there's not a damn soul in the world that I would call my friend in one breath and then turn around and say I'd never let 'em near my kids in the next.

Really, though, I had no idea Joe was all into this god stuff. He says that he really likes Sarah Palin a lot, but he's not sure if God's leading her to lead the Republican Party. Maybe their gods aren't on speaking terms, though, since she signed on just today to one of the Look We're a Different Kind of Republican groups, the one with Little Bobby Jindal, I think. It's pretty funny, really, because just a few hours before that announcement, the Ayatollah Limbaugh had gone on a tirade about the group because he thought they dissed his girl.

Maybe Joe learned about the god stuff while he was a foreign correspondent. I know he just went to Gaza, but I'm sure he spoke to some American soldiers before he went over, you know, just to get a feel for the whole war thing. Maybe he talked to Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, who told a bunch of U.S. servicemembers that as Christians, their job is to “hunt people for Jesus” much like "the Special Forces guys ... hunt men." There was also something about bibles in Pashtun and Dari, the chief languages spoken in Afghanistan, but the military says they took all the bibles away because distributing them would be against "General Order No. 1," which apparently prohibits proselytizing.

No word on whether Joe got his medieval attitudes about gay people from the military, but he coulda gotten that from one of the most backwards senators in Washington, James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Inhofe still believes the old canard that having gay soldiers in the trenches messes with morale, apparently more than being forced to lie to keep your job in the military. Allowing openly gay soldiers and sailors and seamen and airmen would "affect the military ranks," he said. Probably totally jumble up the generals and corporals and lieutenants and such.

Despite polls showing a majority of Americans disagreeing with his position -- and those numbers rising -- Inhofe said that most Americans agree with him. Now, if he'd said that most Americans agree with him on the gay marriage thing, then he woulda been right. The latest CNN poll shows that number 54-44 opposed, but here's the kicker -- if you go down the age groups, by the time you get to the 18-34 group, that "support" number, which started at 24 percent with the 65 and over group, rises to 58 percent.

So here's what's gonna happen. James Inhofe and Joe Wurlzebacher are on the losing side of history. So is Sarah Palin and the GOP's Supreme Leader. Their supporters are dwindling. They'll keep dwindling, especially if the GOP can't get a clue that its archaic social ideas are just that -- archaic and outmoded. It's way past time to abandon them.

If they don't, then the Republican Party will be replaced, as it should be, by a better conservative party, one that doesn't demand that its "god" be bowed down before by the entire populace.

Right now, the only intelligent debate on the issues that really matter to this country are taking place within the Democratic Party. And it's just wrong when you have to be your own loyal opposition. It's doubly wrong with my colleagues insist on pretending that the Republicans are still relevant, thus depriving us of the real debate between the business end of the Democratic Party -- which thinks the banking systems and all the other failed systems can be fixed -- and the progressives -- who think that it's way too late for that, and besides, even if they could be fixed, they won't be sufficient to deal with the coming changes.

See, the Republicans (and a few pretend Democrats) can't even admit that the world is changing, but it is, on every level. I've given up on them too, on the idea that they'll ever get it.

But as long as my illustrious colleagues keep parading these throwbacks to an uglier time across our field of vision, we'll keep stumbling -- moving forward, progressing, but stumbling over idiocies and stupidities that are wholly unnecessary.

But there will come a time when the Joe Wurlzebachers and the James Inhofes will not be treated as if they have something important to say, when their bigotry and closed-mindedness are not held up as just another point of view.

And when that happens, you'll all head out to the park for the big Gay Celebration without knowing why we have it in June, when the streets are hot and steamy and it's more than just the weather.

But you could look that up too. Find out how a drag queen and her purse, a butch dyke in handcuffs, homeless gay kids, regular old gay folk just trying to be themselves and even an anti-war folk singer made the last summer of the '60s a time to remember.

News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Peace Y'all

The spectre of change

Call me confused. While Senate Minority Leader Mitch "Dr. No" McConnell was alarming the base by telling them that Arlen Specter's defection was "a threat to the country," the RNC was sending out a fund-raising letter declaring "Good riddance." Only thing I can think of is that they think Pat "I'm bitter and I cling to my guns and religion" Toomey actually has a chance to win a general election in Pennsylvania.

Specter said that he jumped ship because of the hard right turn the Republicans have made recently -- and that is, technically, the reason -- but we all know, of course, that he made the switch to the president's party because that hard right turn means there's no way in hell he'll get the Republican nomination in 2010. And now that Harry "Don't rock the boat" Reid has declared the Democrats won't field a challenger to Mr. Specter in their primary, he's a shoo-in to return to the Senate.

This despite Specter opposition to quite a few actual Democrat policies and ideals. I don't know about you, but I'm betting Pennsylvanians, who already have pro-life Bob Casey in the Senate, might be interested in a real Democrat about now. And Joe Torsella, who had been the frontrunner for the Dem nomination, said he wasn't about to step aside.

And then there's Maine. What's gonna happen to the girls from the Pine Tree State? Sue Collins sounded pretty adamant about sticking with the GOP, but Olympia Snowe -- actually, I expected her to jump first. Snowe said that she has been asked to switch sides "but not recently" and noted that the party apparently didn't learn jack when Jim Jeffords famously switched from Republican to Independent, caucusing with the Dems, a few years ago.

For me personally and then for the party, it's devastating. I've always been concerned about the Republican party nationally, about their exclusionary policies towards moderate Republicans. That's not a secretly held view on my part.

We are heading to having the smallest political tent in history for any political party the way things are unfolding.

So maybe it's still possible she'll give up hoping that the GOP will realized it's proverbially shooting itself in its proverbial foot by pandering to the most backward troglodytes on the planet, and that's probably insulting to actual troglodytes.

But alas, not all of the right sees things the way Senator Snowe does. How 'bout that Sean "I know I said I'd be waterboarded for charity but if I don't mention it again y'all will forget" Hannity, "I think if anything, the Republican Party is moved to the left in recent years."

Just in case y'all thought that Republican Bizarro World wasn't still in full effect.

Then there was Jim "I don't need a stupid quote for my middle name" Deminted of South Carolina, who makes fellow South Carolinian Lindsay Graham look gay ... oh, never mind. But anyway, Jim Deminted said that "I feel that Republicans are starting to get the message of the last two elections -- that the American people don't want a lukewarm agenda. They don't want a liberal light agenda"

That's right, Jim. They want a solidly liberal agenda. Remember November when y'all painted Barack Obama as more liberal than Russ Feingold and Paul Wellstone put together? Yeah. That guy won.

And the party's Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Limbaugh, is calling for John McCain to follow Specter overboard. Like that's gonna happen. And Michael Steele, the bizarro world head of the Republican Party, continued to sound like a throwback to some bad 70s cop show.

If Sen. Specter survives in the fall — get ready to go to the mat, baby, because we're coming after you and taking you out,

he said. Actually. Steele really had quite a day yesterday. Asked about the GOP's removal of $870 million for pandemic preparedness from the stimulus bill earlier this year (led by Maine's Collins, by the way) on CNN, Steele shot back "Did we know this was gonna happen?"

Well, um, no, Michael, but then, that's what preparedness is about. The rest of his comment, in which it appears that he links pandemic preparedness a part of the stimulus bill that was meant to figure out what to do with the incredible stench of hog farms in Iowa, is maybe even more bizarre.

When this package of spending was presented to the Congress and the American people, what was the presentation that was given by this administration? This was to create jobs. This was to restore our economy. It had nothing to do with why pigs stink. It had nothing to do with any of the stuff we spent money on,

he said, thus proving once again that Steele and the rest of the Republicans really have no idea what a stimulus is let alone what it's supposed to do. Not to be outdone, Chuck Shumer, the senior Democratic senator from New York, also inexplicably lumped pandemic preparedness in the stimulus bill with "all those little porky things" he said had been added to the bill by the House of Representatives, thus proving that stupidity knows no party lines.


And speaking of stupidity, get this. A team at Ohio State University conducted an experiment using The Colbert Report to see how satire is viewed along ideological lines. Oddly enough, both liberals and conservatives found Stephen Colbert to be equally funny, but conservatives, oddly enough, tended to think he actually believes the things he says, that he is only pretending to be joking and that he actually dislikes liberals.

The liberals got the joke. And guess who the joke's on?


News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Peace Y'all

Demented

So the television is on this morning. One of those cop dramas, and the case is about a bigoted asshole who shot and killed a black man because he was pissed that a black guy took a taxi he considered "his." Turns out, of course, the guy has a history of racism, like writing letters to his co-op board opposing interracial couples and accusing a black co-worker of stealing his clients. The prosecutors charged him with a hate crime. His defense? Bigotry is a mental disorder.

It is. But it's not one you're born with, or one that just has a later onset. It's a learned behavior. But at any moment you can step out and start unlearning it. Or, you can keep teaching yourself bullshit, and teach it to your children too. That'll make it much harder for them to get along when they get older. Kinda like those assholes in New Jersey who named their children JoyceLynn Aryan Nation, Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie and Adoph Hitler.

I'm just sayin. Plenty of people are obviously batshit insane, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be held accountable for their actions.

Like Fox "News," for example, and a whole bunch of newspapers. They showed you plenty of images from Wednesday's teabaggeries. Images like this one. Now, there's much we can say about the sign behind the taxes sign -- "silent majority no more." Things like, you've never been silent, and you aren't a majority, but we'll let them have that little delusion. Tea-ed off about taxes, that's kinda delusional too, because these same folks want a return to the Reagan years, when taxes were 10 points higher than they will be under Obama's budget. But hey, we can't all have brains and actually use them.

But that was the stated purpose of Wednesday's protests. Unless you were actually there. Then, as CNN's Susan Roesgen correctly pointed out, "This is a party for Obama bashers." She asked a guy holding a sign picturing the president as Hitler why he did so, and his response was "He's a fascist." Several times she tried to ask him why he said that, and his response each time was "Because he is."

That's kinda 8-year-old logic. Because I say so. I'm king a da world! And an asshole. Because you're not 8 years old. You're a grown man.

And that brings us to the images the right-wing media and their blind followers don't want you to see, because they want you to think they're a legitimate group of Americans just complaining about high taxes -- and we won't even go into how America has the lowest tax rate of any developed nation or that what the organizers of the teabaggeries are insterested in is not help for the average American taxpayer, who is getting a tax cut this year courtesy the president, but rather for their rich-ass selves. Go figure.

Nope, they don't want you to see the prevailing attitude at the teabaggeries -- the attitude fueled by the bloviators on the radio and tube. They would prefer that you not see images like this one.

Man, they got pissed off when idiots on the left compared GW to Hitler. Or called him a fascist. Or a torturer -- and we all know how that turned out.

But nobody at the teabaggeries said word one to guys like this one. Pity the photog didn't get his face. I'd like to splash it all over so anyone who runs into him would know what a dick he actually is.

And just like the McCain-Palin rallies during last year's campaign, the anti-Obama folks like to lie and say it's just a small part, that they're not all complete jackasses.

That much is true. They're not all complete jackasses. But most are on the scale somewhere.

Here we see Obama portrayed as some kind of maniacal street thug attacking Uncle Sam from behind. I think the text says "we must resist." How about resisting hyperbole? Somebody hit the panic button and these guys went totally berserk. It doesn't help, of course, that their heroes on the airwaves are telling them this shit.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not advocating that we take 'em off the air. Just that we be more honest about what's going on. It's really hard to have a radio show that keeps its audience by having a rational, intelligent discussion of the issues, a true debate about one approach versus another. Much easier just to say "SOCIALIST!!!!!!" and wait and see what happens.

I mentioned children earlier. Here we return to the Obama as monkey theme that featured so prominently during the campaign, this time with a child.

They like to use children -- and, interestingly, complain bitterly if the left does so. But it's really quite clear that everything is fair game if you're a conservative or Republican.

It's as if they think they own the market on children, that children on the left don't matter, I suppose, because they're parents are so incredibly wrong and perhaps gay on top of that.

Which reminds me ... remember the right wing extremist report from Homeland Security this week? And how the right got all crazy about it -- as if it were talking to them specifically? Apparently, it was, and they're not afraid at all to admit it. But get what Christian extremist Pat Robertson said? Here's a hint -- remember that he thinks gay men and lesbians are responsible for hurricanes.

Give up? Aw, try again. It's not that hard. I mean, it's not like the Bush administration ordered the report ... oh, yeah, they did. Well, it was prepared by Obama's people ... oh right, the department that prepared is headed by a Bush appointee.

OK, here's what Pat said:

It shows somebody down in the bowels of that organization is either a convinced left winger or somebody whose sexual orientation is somewhat in question.

Only a fucking queer would ever question the patriotism of somebody who advocates the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Jeez. What was I thinking.

I might have been thinking that people had a little more sense than that. I'd have been wrong, of course. After all, we're talking about folks who don't accept certified copies of birth certificates as certified copies of birth certificates. Not to mention the idea of impeaching a president after two months in office for doing pretty much what he was elected to do.

It's that whole "taxation without representation" thing again. See, these lunatics like to try to link themselves with the colonists who dumped tea into Boston Harbor. Colonists who had no representation in London. Seems I remember having an election not to long ago in which we chose 435 members of the House of Representatives, several senators, and, oh, yeah, a president.

Are these folks sore losers or what?

Remember when they called Al Gore and Joe "I really am a traitor" Lieberman "Sore Loserman" for taking the 2000 election to court after they won and had the election stolen?

This time we have Norm Coleman still fighting to keep Al Frank from being Democrat No. 59 nearly six months after the vote -- Minnesotans are rightfully getting pissed -- and in New York, the special election for Kirsten Gillibrand's seat is being held up while Republican Jim Tedisco challenges his loss to Democrat Scott Murphy. This week, despite trailing by several hundred votes, Tedisco petitioned the court to declare him the winner.

And then there's the threat of violence. Rick "Gov. Hairdo" Perry of Texas joined traitor Chuck Norris in talking openly about the Lone Star State seceding from the Union. That didn't go over so well last time, as I recall. I wasn't there, but I have read rather extensively about it. The teabaggers seem to be very confused about what constitutes treason too.

But there's that airwaves thing again. When the leaders of your party are media celebrities who command big paychecks as well as your attention, the black guy at party HQ means very little. As does IQ, apparently.

American history, of course, isn't the only thing the teabaggers have trouble with. There's that little thing they keep talking about -- socialism.

By their definition, just about any government program is socialist, including -- especially including -- the military. But given the right's propensity for hired mercenaries, maybe they'd like to open the military to a free market system too. And they'd probably take no-bid contracts on it, which means the taxpayer would be paying wayyyyyy more for the hired hands than what we pay now.

We already know what they think about that other great socialist program -- public education. And the very idea that all Americans have equal access to affordable health care, well, that's just anti-American.

I don't know of Marx would be proud, but I bet he's laughing his ass off.

So, they don't know much about history, systems of economics or government, official documents or the law, and they have no problems displaying their ignorance and bigotry.

Talk about embarrassing. Sheesh. Then there's that little problem of our president's name. It's Barack Hussein Obama. Personally, I love it that we have a black president with a funny name, if for no other than to watch the right spin itself into a frenzy over the very idea of not having a president named John or Richard or Ronald or Herbert.

They do have a problem with this name, though. And we've already addressed the impeachment thing. Although these folk may think he should be impeached just because his name is similar to the guy who ordered other extremists to fly airplanes into buildings several years ago. A guy who, incidentally, is still at large despite our previous president's declaration that we would get him dead or alive.

Really, there's just so much wrong with this group. The good news, of course, is that they didn't quite draw the millions Fox "News" tells us they drew -- that's a lie. Five Thirty-eight compiled as many non-partisan estimates of crowd size for the rallies as it could, and came up with a total of 300,000 in about 350 cities across the country -- although I have some doubts about the non-partisanship of the estimate where I live. Regardless, that's a pathetic turnout. Why, more people than that turned out just in Washington for Obama's inaugural.

But that's just it. These folks think they're right, and they think they're a majority, both of which are demonstrably wrong. The truth is that they can't stand it that they are truly and clearly in the minority -- and it's a shrinking minority.

Must be horribly frightening for them. But it doesn't excuse their irrational behavior.

That behavior may be the most pathetic thing of all, But it's par for the course from bigoted extremists, who, while 100 percent responsible for their 0wn actions, are nevertheless quite demented.


News Writer
AWOP Political Contributing Editor
Author of Stop the Press!

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Sticker Shock

I could almost give 'em this one, except for the "Obama bin" part. That's pretty telling. There were, after all, plenty of "Impeach Bush" stickers around for the past 8 years, although there is that little thing of actual impeachable offenses.

But the Patriot Depot, based in Atlanta, is making quite a name for itself among the dittohead followers of the Ayatollah Limbaugh with its array of items that "unapologetically reflect a politically conservative and/or Judeo-Christian ethic." There are Ann Coulter books, Bernard Goldberg books, Mike Huckabee books, anti-global warming books, something called "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women and Feminism" that I'd be scared to open and bumper stickers galore.

Take this one, for example, riffing on the "Obama is a socialist" meme. Y'know, if these assholes knew what socialism actually is, they might have made up Comrade Bush stickers last year. But that would not have been right, since, clearly, Republicans would never, ever, ever do anything that might bring socialism to America. Whatever it is.

Speaking of change we can't afford, there's also this little gem. At risk of bringing the wrath of a certain segment of feminists upon my head, let me say once again: Sarah Palin would make a horrible president. She lacks the breadth of understanding of the issues facing the United States that is necessary for a president, and has yet to show any desire to obtain that understanding. Stirring up racists and playing to the worst of human nature is not a qualification. At least it shouldn't be. So, thanks, I will keep the "change."

Here's another change I'll keep. Isn't this what it's all about for these guys? Guns, freedom and money. I can understand the guns and money part, but as best as I can tell, when they say "freedom," what they actually mean is "I get to decide who is a real American and who isn't, and if you aren't, you are screwed, and I've got the guns and money to make sure that's true."

Here's another cute one. Notice the little Democrat donkey representing the word "ass." There's the usual uncreative suspects too, like "Don't blame me, I voted for Palin" -- not McCain, mind you -- and "January 20, 2009 -- the beginning of an error." There's an unbelievable number of anti-Hillary Clinton books, not surprisingly since she clearly scares the bejesus out of these folks. And there's a bunch more Politically Incorrect Guides to things like English and American Literature (I'm scared to look at that one, too), Global Warming, Darwinism (what the hell is that anyway?) and Intelligent Design, Hunting, of all things, Science (oh spare me), the Civil War (eegads), the Bible, the Constitution, the MIddle East, Islam (oh my god. this one sounds scary too), Western Civilization and the South (and Why It Will Rise Again), festooned, of course, with a Confederate battle flag. But I'm sure there's not a racist bone in any of their bodies.

Now, far be it for me to deny someone their god-given right to make a buck in this capitalist system anyway they can. I bring this to your attention just so you'll know what we're up against here.

Y'know, I was horrified when the Supreme Court declared George W. Bush our president in 2000. I feared for the worst. But I had feared for the worst before, and things had come out more or less all right then (little did I know that the worst I had feared wasn't actually coming to fruition until the latter years of GW's rule). So I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. Never even considering hoping he failed. And for a few minutes there on 9/11, I thought maybe he'll turn out all right.

It was soon afterward that it became painfully obvious that GW's call to bring us together in our darkest hour was just so much bullshit, the high point of a presidency that would slowly drag the country into the mud of its own creation.

The past eight years were a bit like living in Alice's looking glass, where the economy's in great shape early in the morning and in the crapper by the afternoon, where "nobody could have predicted" was the watchword for things everybody but the administration did predict.

It's a a world where freedom is having your civil liberties stripped away, where a crusade is launched to "install democracy," where reasons for war change as often as the hour.

In that same world, Michael Brown did a "great job" in the Katrina disaster -- which, incidentally, caused no oil spills (!) -- FDA inspections and enforcements were down and reports of tainted food and other products skyrocketed, and dozens of "signing statements" assured that the administration didn't have to enforce or obey laws passed by Congress.

There are still tens of thousands of weapons missing in Iraq, our treatment of many veterans is beyond shameful, Osama bin Laden -- the guy we were gonna smoke out of the caves he was hiding in -- is still hiding, whether in caves or some more comfortable abode we don't know, and we had a Justice Department that wouldn't define torture.

That same Justice Department admitted hiring based on political ideologies, scientific reports were routinely changed or suppressed if they didn't agree with the party line and environmental rules and regulations were routinely eased.

And then there were the constant "Bushisms," "nucular," trying to rub the German chancellor's shoulders. And what was that bit about not reading?

But yeah, turnabout is fair play right? That's all Patriot Depot is doing. Returning the favor of all the anti-Bushies.

I just can't get over this one little difference. We may not have liked the Supreme Court's choice in presidents. We may have been angry about it. We may have even feared for the worse. But our fears and anger weren't about not being in charge. They were about what we wanted for this country.

I know, plenty of conservatives say that's what they want too -- McCain's "Country First" comes to mind. And I'm sure that some of them really believe it, but I'm afraid they're in the minority now. Modern Republicans, who now represent the conservative movement, are only concerned with getting back in power.

There's that lil bumper sticker up there -- "I'll keep my guns, freedom, and money ... " That's what they want to protect. Not the people. Not the citizens of this country. Not even its reputation in the world. Just the guns, "freedom" and money of a ruling class that does not have our best interests at heart.


Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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Cry Me A River

So now the Republicans, led by Sen. John "I Lost" McCain and his bud, Sen. Lindsey "Aren't I Sweet" Graham, are crying that the stimulus bill isn't the bipartisan bill the president promised.

It was a bad beginning because it wasn't what we promised the American people, what President Obama promised the American people, that we would sit down together,

McCain said.

"We"? What "we" promised the American people? John, honey, you promised the American people more of the same. And your whining act on the floor of the Senate last week proved that you're still after more of the same. What, do you think you're gonna run for president again at 78?

No, John, let me remind you again. You lost. You do not get to demand that Obama do things the way they have been done for 30 years -- the way you would have continued to do them had you NOT LOST. But you did lose, John. You did lose.

This is not 'change we can believe in',

Graham said.

Maybe it's not change you can believe in, sweetheart, but Obama promised real change, and that means -- are you ready for this? -- your "tax cuts will solve all our problems" approach -- the same approach Republicans have taken for the past 30 years and look where it's gotten us -- isn't change. Not only that, but it's also not going to get us out of the hole you dug. I don't know about South Carolina, but where I come from "change" doesn't mean "doing the same thing we've always done."

President Obama held unprecedented meetings with Republicans during the run-up to the stimulus bill. And what did it get him? A big fat "fuck you."

Look, I appreciate the fact that the president came over and talked to Republicans. That's not how you negotiate a result. You sit down together in a room with competing proposals. Almost all of our proposals went down on a party-line vote.

Loser McCain said.


Well, duh. What did you expect when your side takes its marching orders from Rush "I hope Obama fails" Limbaugh? Every single Republican congressman and woman stamped their little feet and crossed their arms over their chests and said "NO," just like a toddler that's only now learned the word. Where were you, John, when GW was running up all those bills and crashing the economy like he did? You wanna hear John's answer to that? Here it is:

Republicans were guilty of this kind of behavior. I'm not saying that we did things different. But Americans want us to do things differently, and they want us to work together.

So it was OK when you and your ilk never met with Democrats, held up votes while you twisted arms to get what you want, held secret meetings to decide how best to screw the American people. But you got the first part right, John. Americans do want you to do things differently. And that means not doing what you want. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

This president has always worked in a bipartisan fashion. He will continue to reach out to Republicans. We hope that Republicans will decide they want to reach back.

And, Gibbs noted, not only did Obama invite the obstructionists to the White House, he went "to Capitol Hill to meet with Republicans where they work."

But still they don't heed the message, the one that the American people started in 2006 and continued in 2008. The one that they'll still be delivering in 2010 if the obstructionists don't get with the program.

So, if you want to know who did the bipartisan fail, look no further than the Republican side of the aisle. It was you, John, and you, Lindsey, and John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell and Jon Kyl and John Cornyn and everybody else with an "R" after their name with three exceptions.

Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. Now, I don't like what they and Ben Nelson, who has a "D" after his name, did to the bill. And I sincerely doubt the bill's gonna make enough change happen to prevent the Republicans from getting a big tizzy on screaming "I told you so" as they try to make the case that Obama was wrong and they were right.

Don't be fooled. John McCain is wrong. Lindsey Graham is wrong. All the rest of them are wrong too, all the way back to Ronald Reagan, who set the wheels that have now come off the wagon in motion in the 1980s.

"Bipartisan" doesn't mean you write a bill that has a little bit of what one side wants and little bit of what the other side wants. And it sure doesn't mean bringing to the table the same failed policies that the American people so soundly rejected in November.

And, Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor, "bipartisan" doesn't mean you stand in front of the television cameras and lie. The New Deal failed, my ass. As if the New Deal was some big conglomerate program instead of multiple smaller programs -- some of which worked, and were continued, and some of which didn't, and were scuttled. Where do you get your history, guys? Does Supreme Leader Limbaugh give you that too? Or do you use the same writers who do the science textbooks that pretend evolution is an untested theory?

This economic crisis is far deeper than the Republicans want you to think it is. A couple of tax cuts that will primarily benefit rich people isn't going to help. Neither is Tim Geithner's bailing out the banks, but that's another post.

Republicans, conservatives -- they failed. Miserably. They do not now get to step up to the plate and take another swing at it.

It may well be true that some of the Democratic plans don't work. But we already know about the GOP's tried and false ideas. "Change" doesn't mean doing the same old thing.

This Republican party isn't the loyal opposition. This Republican party isn't trying to help the country and its citizens succeed. This Republican party only cares about making sure Obama and the Democratic Congress fail so they can make a comeback in 2010.

At least that's what they're thinking. As if the American people don't remember what they voted against, Sen. McCain, on November 4.

Maybe now would be a good time for the Republicans to remember that too, because I can guarantee you we're gonna remember what you did in the early days of 2009. And if you continue with this same obstructionist attitude right on through until the next election, well, then, boys, whatever happens to you is on you.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Cross-posted at Stop the Press!

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