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George W. Bush
Tax Cuts for the rich
Strategery
Invading Iraq
"They will welcome us as liberators"
"The oil will pay for the war"
WMD's
Mission Accomplished
Torture isn't a war crime cause my lawyer says so
Hurricane Katrina
"The fundamentals of the economy are strong"
Sarah Fucking Palin
Katie Couric - But are you ready to become the leader of the free world?
Sarah Palin - Totally. I will totally lead the world. Any world. I will lead Mars or whatever too if those guys need a world president. Or just a Mars president. I took on the ole' boys club in Alaska and I can take it on in Mars.
Katie Couric - But I'm not asking about being president of Mars.
Sarah Palin - But I am answering about being president of Mars because a president person needs to be prepared for anything. I like to reform.
If Republicans and Fox News pundits were embarrassed about looking like birthers, loony bins and white supremacists, well, they just got a whole lot more to worry about.
Recently, a truther organization called "We Are The Change" spoke to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) - a friend of (Glenn) Beck and a frequent guest on his show - about reopening an investigation into 9/11. Chaffetz agreed with the activist, and even noted that he had spoken to professor Steven Jones, leading 9/11 truther, who Chaffetz said had done "interesting work"
At a DNC fundraiser last night, President Obama had an interesting exchange with a Democratic organizer about health care reform, wherein he appeared to suggest that Congress could drop the ball and fail to pass a bill--and that voters should judge them harshly if they do.
"[I]t may be that -- you know, if Congress decides -- if Congress decides we're not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not," Obama said.
In the year 2010, the Republican party has finally, officially, re-discovered racism.
In between demanding to see President Obama's birth certificate so that he can prove for once and for all that he is NOT a secret Kenyan Muslim and Republican demands to be able to racially profile all Muslim-Americans who might be mistaken for a terrorist based on appearance, name or faith, the Republican party has re-discovered racism in America, and all because of this comment by Democratic Senator Harry Reid.
Despite many, many acts on their own part that could be considered racist, Republicans finally became aware of the existance of racism in America again when a Democrat supposedly did it too.
But, just for the sake of accuracy, lets review the year of 2009 in Republican racism and selective outrage.
Wonkette notes that a racist e-mail was sent out by a legislative staffer for Tennessee GOP state senator Diane Black. The staffer, Sherplatfvormri Goforth, e-mailed this composite picture of the country's 44 presidents, which represents President Obama with only a set of eyes:
Of course, America's So Called Liberal Media/Right Wing Noise Machine has had it's own hand in the racism/race baiting game, including the perpetuation of the birthers by Fox and CNN's Lou Dobbs, who tipped his own so called Independant hand in this Gods awful moment.
CNN's Lou Dobbs stopped by the booth and exclaimed, "My wife will love this!" A photo shows Dobbs with a box of the mix in his hand.
GOP politicians have not been ashamed of themselves enough to bite their tongues either. They praise right wing terrorists, they advocate violence and the threat of violence against those whom they oppose, they refuse to tell their base to act like adults and civilized people, and their base just goes farther and farther every day.
"I Want My Country White Back!!!!!"
And the media does not call it out, other than a few hours a night on MSNBC. Instead, they ignore or encourage it.
The master of the RWNM and the GOP's official mouthpiece, of course, is Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, and it's television propaganda arm, Fox News, who didn't even wait for Barack Obama to win the Presidency before they played the race baiting charge, a card they keep hidden up their sleeve in order to cheat the American electorate out of a intelligent political conversation every chance they get.
After the fair and free election where Americans overwhelmingly rejected the Republicans candidates and elected President Barack Hussein Obama, the GOP's media propaganda arm didn't stop the racism there. They can't help themselves. It is who they are. It defines them.
And, of course, the coup de grâce
"This guy (President Obama), is, I believe, a racist."
The Republican party had lost all knowledge of racism after President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves during the civil war. Since then, the Republican party has had a case of collective amnesia on all matters race related, including voting against the Civil Rights reforms in the 60's and their more recent opposition to the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor based on her heritage as a "Wise latina", but that has since changed when a Democratic Senator Harry Reid made some poorly conceived comments regarding the skin tone of current President Barack Obama, who happens to be not 100% white. In a Republican party that prides itself on Purity of ideology, consistancy is optional.
Now that a Democrat has said something that might be racist, Republicans are outraged, OUTRAGED I TELLS YA! that such a thing as racism might exist in America in 2010. Regarding racism in America between the years of 1866 and 2009, prominent Republicans refused to comment, unless it was something a Democrat did or said.
Future Republican re-discoveries that may happen in 2010 include Republican re-discoveries of the Class War, sexism and climate change, but none of these re-discoveries are likely to happen unless a Democrat is accused of something related to it first.
Representative Barney Frank said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's 2008 order to American International Group Inc. (AIG) to suppress disclosures of bank payments is "troubling" and he supports hearings on the issue.
Frank retains confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who led the New York Fed at the time, he said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. The U.S. House last month passed legislation that would prevent the Fed from having the power to bail out companies such as AIG, he said.
Over the past few weeks I have done quite a bit of reading trying to understand what is happening in the progressive wing of the Democratic Party--in order to offer some perspective.
So far, the most helpful text I have come across is Martin Luther King's Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
I want to encourage everyone to take a minute to consider this text as a reflection not just on the specifics of the dilemma the Civil Rights movement faced in the year following the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but as a more general insight into the problems the progressive movement now faces one year after the election of Barack Obama.
This is a problem MLK called the "Second Phase."
#4 As voters return to the polls at the end of the year we may want to remind them that the Republican party has done nothing for this country in the last 20 years. Chris Matthews reminds us of that in this segment with Republican strategist Todd Harris.
What needs to be done in 2010? What can the left do in 2010 to ensure a better, stronger America for ALL Americans?
Before deciding what needs to be done, first we must remember what we are fighting for.
Paul Wellstone
July 21, 1944 - October 25, 2002
The people of this country, not special interest big money, should be the source of all political power. Government must remain the domain of the general citizenry, not a narrow elite.
~ Senator Paul Wellstone
"Politics isn't about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives"
~ Senator Paul Wellstone
"I think this is really a good example of the commercial calculus and ties taking precedence over everything else. It's sort of like the almighty dollar is triumphing over a lot of other values that we have as a nation."
Pre- existing conditions? They are still in there, only now, instead of getting denied they get to jack the price up 3X and you'll be FORCED to buy something, and without competition who are you gonna choose? THEY WILL ALL CHARGE THE SAME CLIMBING PRICE!
Yearly caps? They are STILL IN THERE!
Death Panels? For Profit death panels, you betcha.
And loopholes, loopholes, loopholes!
I'm sorry, but Obama is NOT FDR. This is NOT the same political climate as when Social Security was passed or when Medicare was passed. Hell, this isn't even the same century!
So get over the fact that you have been TOTALLY SCREWED at this point and do something about it. This bill, as it stands, is so poisoned it should be killed and began again from the start, no matter how long and painful it might be. This CAN be dealt with in a year or two when the Conservative Wing of the Democratic part loses in droves, because that is coming one way or another.
I am PISSED, and you should be pissed too, cause we're getting SCREWED on this deal. The ONLY winners are the political class and the special interests. Consumers re getting sold down the river.
The bill, passed in a 223-202 vote, calls for the creation of a new federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers that would police consumer credit products like mortgages and credit cards. It also establishes new rules for the trading of derivatives and increases the transparency of the credit-rating process -- two previously under-regulated parts of the economy that played a large role in last year's economic collapse.
Not a single Republican voted for the bill. Twenty-seven Democrats broke with the rest of their party to vote against it.
Despite breaking down party lines (not even the vote of Joseph Cao can save it), some observers still call this legislation historic and groundbreaking financial regulatory reform
"Today is an important milestone in reversing the decades-long stranglehold Wall Street and big banks have had over our economy. But it is just the first step," said Service Employees International Union Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "Despite the millions Wall Street and the Chamber of Commerce spent fighting the demands of the American people and the dozens of visits by big bank CEOs to strong-arm members of Congress, our leaders found the political will and courage to pass the most historic financial reform legislation in nearly 80 years."
Conclusion
I believe this is clearly a step in the right direction. I'm a bit dismayed that the bill does not go far enough. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the Marshall amendment failed which would have allowed bankruptcy judges to cut principal for homeowners. A judge can alter terms on a vacation home, but not a primary residence. Rep Jim Marshall of Georgia, who offered the amendment, is one of the more conservative Dem members. So how this could fail is beyond my grasp at this point other than we had way too many Dems sellout.
Steven Colbert digs into the cross motives of Conservatives who want to win control of Congress and also want to purify their party of moderates.
That's a constant struggle on both sides of the aisle. To put it in Grover Norquist speak the Republicans can't drown the government in the bathtub if their party is too small to pick the government up by the feet and get the government off the couch. It's a catch 22 if the party were to get big enough they wouldn't drag the government into the b-room they'd probably just tell it to do some push ups and stop smoking so much pot.
Steven Colbert digs into the cross motives of Conservatives who want to win control of Congress and also want to purify their party of moderates.
That's a constant struggle on both sides of the aisle. To put it in Grover Norquist speak the Republicans can't drown the government in the bathtub if their party is too small to pick the government up by the feet and get the government off the couch. It's a catch 22 if the party were to get big enough they wouldn't drag the government into the b-room they'd probably just tell it to do some push ups and stop smoking so much pot.
Did Bush/Cheney face accountability for war crimes and lying us into Iraq?
Did Democrats attack Conservative ideology as totally failed after the roaring 90's for the rich and Great Depression 2.0 for the rest of us in 2008?
No. Democrats would rather "look forward", which is a Carlinesque term for Cover Up.
No. Instead Democrats wanted to use those failed ideas themselves to build bipartisan support for FAILED ideas that have bankrupted America and our middle and working class.
Apparently, elections DO NOT MATTER, because we are getting ANOTHER unpopular war and we are NOT getting a popular program like the Public Option, and all because Corporations have overthrown our democracy. They didn't need bullets, dollars did the job better than bullets ever could.
To be blunt, Democrats are losing on purpose, and I have had enough of the spineless wusses who want to play pattycake with the lunatics who kick them in the balls. If you aren't fighting back you are THROWING THE FIGHT, and that goes for EVERY DEM, top to bottom.
Sorry, my (most) liberal friends: I support the President's decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Yes, I am aware that we have been there for over eight years. Yes, it is true that al-Qaeda is mainly based in Pakistan. Yes, it is also true that Afghanistan has never been (and can never be) a fully functioning democratic nation state. And yes, our "partners", the Afghanistan government run by Karzai, could not possibly be any more corrupt or worthless.
But no, none of that is reason enough to risk a premature withdraw from the region, if for nothing else but for security's sake. I don't care what Michael Moore says. Afghanistan started as a war of necessity, after the attacks on 9/11 by al-Qadea who were based in Afghanistan at the time. It is true that they might be primarily based in Pakistan now, but they continue to launch attacks and have influence in Afghanistan. If we left now, you can bet they would regain control of the already destabilized region before anybody even knew better.
Here's a 4 minute audio clip from Jack Rice's show. I tried to embed it but the link is having problems.
partial transcript
"8 in 10 Republicans say there's no chance they would help re-elect Barack Obama"
"This poll also shows that there is no consensus in the GOP, zero, zip, when it comes to where they should go, what they stand for, who their leader should be, and what should come next. How about that? Now isn't that something? You know what the GOP is like? The GOP is a bad girlfriend where you're going out on a date and you're saying OK where do you want to go for dinner? I dunno, I don't care wherever you want to go. That's what you get right. So you say oh great why don't we go for Italian? "Oh I hate Italian." OK that's fine understand how about Chinese? Chinese is great. "Ctcha the damn Chinese!!" So now we're not gonna do Chinese.. well lets see how about if we go.. umm.. burgers. "Ahahhh I hate burgers!!" You see? That's what you get, so of course you say fine if you don't want burgers, you don't want Chinese, you don't want Italian what do you want? "Errhm I don't care whatever you want." You see that's why the GOP is a bad girlfriend. Because all you get is no idea of where you're going. Completely incompetent when it comes to everything. And then of course you're irrate when somebody suggests how about we do X, Y or Z and then I dunno what I want to do but I don't want that. This reminds me of Dick Cheney. Remember when they were looking at the Valerie Plame case? When all of a sudden when he was willing to be interviewed on this thing, he basically said I have no idea what it is that I said on this thing, but I know what I didn't say. I didn't say anything about Valerie Plame, but I have no idea what I said. So basically that's what you get. It's easy to be against something but it's a lot more complicated and harder to be for something. Not only is that shockingly lazy and intellectually dishonest but it really shows at best, at absolute most, and most importantly a lack of will and leadership.
Here's a 4 minute audio clip from Jack Rice's show. I tried to embed it but the link is having problems.
partial transcript
"8 in 10 Republicans say there's no chance they would help re-elect Barack Obama"
"This poll also shows that there is no consensus in the GOP, zero, zip, when it comes to where they should go, what they stand for, who their leader should be, and what should come next. How about that? Now isn't that something? You know what the GOP is like? The GOP is a bad girlfriend where you're going out on a date and you're saying OK where do you want to go for dinner? I dunno, I don't care wherever you want to go. That's what you get right. So you say oh great why don't we go for Italian? "Oh I hate Italian." OK that's fine understand how about Chinese? Chinese is great. "Ctcha the damn Chinese!!" So now we're not gonna do Chinese.. well lets see how about if we go.. umm.. burgers. "Ahahhh I hate burgers!!" You see? That's what you get, so of course you say fine if you don't want burgers, you don't want Chinese, you don't want Italian what do you want? "Errhm I don't care whatever you want." You see that's why the GOP is a bad girlfriend. Because all you get is no idea of where you're going. Completely incompetent when it comes to everything. And then of course you're irrate when somebody suggests how about we do X, Y or Z and then I dunno what I want to do but I don't want that. This reminds me of Dick Cheney. Remember when they were looking at the Valerie Plame case? When all of a sudden when he was willing to be interviewed on this thing, he basically said I have no idea what it is that I said on this thing, but I know what I didn't say. I didn't say anything about Valerie Plame, but I have no idea what I said. So basically that's what you get. It's easy to be against something but it's a lot more complicated and harder to be for something. Not only is that shockingly lazy and intellectually dishonest but it really shows at best, at absolute most, and most importantly a lack of will and leadership.
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To be blunt, Democrats are losing on purpose, and I have had enough of the spineless wusses who want to play pattycake with the lunatics who kick them in the balls. If you aren't fighting back you are THROWING THE FIGHT, and that goes for EVERY DEM, top to bottom.
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