What can be more progressive than artists banding together to help causes they care about and an audience of supporters of said cause? This spirit of united humanity is the root of liberalism, the driving force behind liberal policies, and an ideal culmination of the concept of liberalism. It is rarely so perfectly actualized, but endlessly and profoundly worth striving for.
In the fine tradition of Beck, Limbaugh, and Palin, another Republican a has found a way to get rich, by exploitation. Michael Reagan has announced the email address for “real” Americans. For only $39.95 a month, you can send your email from @reagan.com ($34.95 if you do so by Saturday).
For the last, oh my Gosh, almost TWO years since Palin hit the national scene, conservatives have been salivating over the Democrats’ alleged fear of Sarah Palin. Striking “fear” into their “enemies” is part of the entire worldview of these folks. Everything is seen as a war, a power structure of over and under, best exemplified by Palin’s selling herself as a hunter and someone who just got things done in Alaska (contrary to her actual record and her quitting of her job). While I reject this worldview, it’s important to note that their largest strategic failure is not their worldview, but their misinterpretation of the Left’s outrage over Palin.
Glenn Beck has had so many jump the shark moments of late, but he may have topped them all today on his Fox News show when he managed to connect Homer Simpson to the decline of the American family. Beck claimed America was Father Knows Best, but the liberal ideology has turned us all into Homer Simpson.
After President Obama appeared on The View today, Sarah Palin took to her Twitter account to criticize Obama for ignoring national security and instead chatting on daytime
TV, “President w/no time to visit porous US/Mexican border to offer help to those risking life to secure us,but lotso’ time to chat on The View?”
For years, Republicans have been selling themselves as the party of business, using Small Business as the banner from which to launch their tax cuts for huge corporations, think Joe the Plumber, but when push comes to shove as with today’s Senate vote on the small business jobs bill, The Party of No reveals that it is November calculus, not small businesses that really matter.
Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly was on The Tonight Show last night where revealed that he seems to have changed his position on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. When asked about it by Jay Leno, Bill-O said, “Just sign an executive order. I don’t know why it’s taking so long.” Good Lord, even O’Reilly is further to the left than Obama on this one.
While Right Wing screams about liberal media bias, and the scream even louder when they’re busted flat out lying to their audience (Acorn video, Sherrod video, etc), they continue their assault on reality via any means necessary. To this end, The Drudge Report felt compelled to use the Foxian trick of using imagery to lie for them yesterday when they attempted to lay blame for missing Iraq reconstruction money at Obama’s feet.
If you are looking for a reason why CNN was so eager to push Larry King out of his long running talk show and into cable news retirement, look no further than the July ratings where MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow defeated Larry King for the sixth straight month and for the seventeenth time in twenty four months, and her audience continues to grow.
Andrew Breitbart was on Michael Savage’s show today, where he claimed that his own edited video of Shirley Sherrod is really a campaign by Barack Obama to destroy him. Breitbart said, “I believe that he is orchestrating the campaign to destroy me and my reputation.”
There is a battle being waged in America today over the meaning of liberty. The Tea Party has co-opted the language of liberty, but freedom for all does not interest them. They want freedom for the few at the expense of the many. Real choice, real liberty, is devalued by the limited menu offered by the Tea Party. They want to “take America back” but they don’t want to share it.
Fox News’ Brit Hume delivered a commentary on Special Report with Bret Baier, where demanded that the media apologize to Fox News for calling them racist. Fox wants an apology from the NAACP, Howard Dean, and Shirley Sherrod. Hume said, “You might think all this would be the stuff of further apologies.”
Never one to let an opportunity to play the victim pass her by, Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page to blast the media for what she called, “A dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig.” According to Palin, this is why she doesn’t talk to anyone but the friendliest right wing media, and she refuses to do serious interviews because the media is out to get her.
Today on ABC’s This Week, Sam Donaldson joined the growing media chorus telling President Obama to stand up to and take on Fox News. Donaldson said, “President Obama, don’t be afraid of them. Take them on, and let the people judge.”
Howard Dean was on Fox News Sunday this morning, where he blasted the network for what he called racist, phony, crap stories. Dean said, “I think Fox News did something that was absolutely racist…They have been pushing a theme of black racism with this phony Black Panther crap, and this business, and Sotomayor and all this other stuff.”
From the time that Barack Obama campaigned for the Democratic Nomination for President to a year and a half into his Presidency, he has been hammered by the GOP, the media, big corporations, the Tea Party and even some Democrats for not being enough. Every day there is an attack on Obama for never being enough of something. Can we ever be satisfied?
Barack Obama made a surprise video appearance at the Netroots Nation conference today, but the most interesting development to me is what else was in the video with Obama. After saying, “I hope you take a moment to consider what we have accomplished so far,” he cut to a video of Rachel Maddow running down and a list of his accomplishments, and somewhere Ed Schultz blew a blood vessel.
The hypocrisy meter nearly exploded today when on his radio show Glenn Beck attacked MSNBC’s Ed Schultz for engaging in political advocacy instead of journalism. Beck claimed that nobody is watching Ed Schultz because he supports Obama, “Maybe people aren’t watching you because, ‘you busted your ass for Obama.’ That’s not journalism. That’s advocacy.”
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh claimed that it is the Obama stimulus not the Bush tax cuts that wrecked the US economy. Limbaugh said, “George W. Bush is still stimulating the economy that Obama is trying to ruin, which means if not for Bush, we would really be in the tank.”
Last night Bill O’Reilly tried to take on Rachel Maddow criticism of Fox’s Shirley Sherrod story by boasting about FNC’s ratings. Maddow responded tonight by taking him apart, “You were trying to take the attention off me saying that your network Fox News continually crusades on flagrantly bogus stories designed to make White Americans fear Black Americans.”
One of the paranoid theories that Arizona Republicans are floating to support their immigration law is that Hezbelloah is going to recruit Mexican immigrants as operatives to come across the border and attack the US. According to the GOP, Mexicans are not coming here for a better life. They’re coming here as Hezbollah operatives determined to destroy our way of life. Who knew?
On his radio show recently Glenn Beck claimed that the fake racism charges trumped up by Fox News and Breitbart was really a plot by Obama to discredit Fox News. Beck asked, “Is there a possibility that anyone who is involved is going to use this emergency or plotted this as a way to destroy the credibility of Fox News?”
Here we are over a year later and Sarah Palin is still looking for someone to blame for her decision to quit her job as Alaska governor, and cash in on her fame. Her latest excuse is the media, “The media incentivized political opponents to file false ethics charges and expensive, wasteful, frivolous lawsuits against me, my family and my staff.”
In a special comment on the Shirley Sherrod story, Countdown host Keith Olbermann dished out his usual wrath against Fox News and Andrew Breitbart, and he told President Obama that he must stand up against these racist attacks, “You, sir, must stand up against this attack on you and this nation.”
On Special Report with Bret Baier, the host and Charles Krauthammer denied Shirley Sherrod’s claim that Fox News has a racial agenda. Charles Krauthammer said, “She is a victim, but that doesn’t entitle her to victimize others, and to use these kinds of attacks.” In essence, Fox News smeared Shirley Sherrod then claimed to be the real victim.
On his Fox News program today, Glenn Beck attacked the rest of the media and charged that they are engaged in actively promoting propaganda for Barack Obama. Beck’s latest media allegation is not just conservative spin, but he is also engaging in information control. Much like a cult leader, Beck wants to control information in order to keep his audience loyal to him.
Shep Smith once again broke with the party line at Fox News today as he explained why his show Studio B did not run Andrew Breitbart’s edited video of Shirley Sherrod, “Because of the history of the videos on the site where it was posted, we did not, and do not trust the source.” Shep managed to take shots at both his own network and Breitbart.
Glenn Beck dislikes government. He also dislikes social programs – such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. Those who advocate such programs are, for Beck, “cockroaches.” Beck, a radical conservative, thinks he channels Paine, an interesting feat considering Paine was a radical liberal, who is considered the real father of Social Security.
Never mind you evil elites that Sarah Palin can’t speak English – she’s inventing a new language and you’d be wise to adopt it soon, in light of her Second Coming, er Assault, on America. In the name of the troops and New Yorkers everywhere.
Apparently Glenn Beck has been speaking to God again, because on his radio show today, Beck proclaimed that Obama’s policies are the enemies of God, “The policies that are being enacted in Washington. They are not enemies of ours. They are enemies of God, because God is about freedom.”
On CNN’s State of the Union today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) labeled the oil spill in the Gulf Barack Obama’s fault due to incompetence. McConnell said, “This is mainly a failure of the administration… my point is, you can’t legislate competence.” McConnell supported his point with claims that were flat out untrue.
Vice President Joe Biden was on ABC’s This Week this morning, and when he was asked if he thought the Tea Party contained racist elements, he delivered and answer that was the perfect counter to the race baiting of Fox News. Biden said that while there are people in the Tea Party who express racist views, he did not believe that the Tea Party is a racist organization.
Sen. David Vitter, that prostitute frequenting, diaper wearing, family values touting Republican joked Rachel Maddow not looking like a woman on a local New Orleans radio show. Vitter later apologized, and Maddow classily accepted his apology, but this just furthers Vitter’s trend of anti-gay and anti-woman behavior.
In his weekly radio address today, President Obama lashed out at Senate Republicans who are blocking an extension of unemployment benefits. Obama essentially called the Republicans hypocrites, “They’ve got no problem spending money on tax breaks for folks at the top who don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them; but they object to…
In the biggest sign yet that Republicans have very little confidence in their own ability to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, Fox News has started a not so subtle draft Hillary campaign. Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor guest host Monica Crowley declared, “She is totally running,” without a single fact to back up her claim.
On his Fox News program today, Glenn Beck accused the NAACP of using racism as a tactic for political gain. Beck said, “Racism is now being used as a tactic for political gain. The NAACP is now trying to intimidate Tea Partiers passing a resolution to condemn ‘the racist elements in the Party.'” Beck lecturing about racism is like an arsonist discussing fire safety.
President Obama spoke to the media today to give an update on the how the new cap is functioning to contain BP’s oil spill in the Gulf. Obama stressed that the new cap is good news, “The new cap is good news. Either we will be able to stop the flow, or we will be able to use it to capture almost all of the oil until the relief well is done.”
Just when you deal with one bit of insanity, along comes a recent CNN article on Congress debating the biblical stance on immigration. It gives me cause to wonder what would be transpiring in those hallowed halls were we talking about the Heathen stance on immigration.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) showed up on Fox and Friends today to claim that there is absolutely no evidence of racism in the Tea Party. Bachmann said, “The assertions that were made by some of my colleagues during the health care debate, there’s no record of it. Nothing on audio tape, nothing.”
A new Time poll released today found that while voters are skeptical about President Barack Obama’s policies, his personal popularity remains solidly high. When matched up with the most visible and vocal of his GOP critics, Sarah Palin, Obama routs the former half term governor, 55%-34%.
Fox News Network, the champion if not creator of the Tea Party, hung Tea Party “rape can be made into lemonade†nut job Sharron Angle (R-NV) out to dry earlier this week. Perhaps Fox is miffed over losing their favorite, the chicken lady, to run against that evil of humanity, Harry Reid and so felt compelled to use poor Sharron Angle to demonstrate their “balance†by annihilating her on Cavuto’s “Your Worldâ€
The blogosphere is alight with rumors of the upcoming (on again and off again) nuptials of one Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin. While many assume Sarah Palin is upset by this news, this is nothing but predictable for an “abstinence-only†candidate who might have her eye on 2012.
Conservatives often confuse the concept of big government with regulation, but as they rail against government regulation and what they see as control of our lives. They don’t mind the corporations controlling our lives but then conservatives have always been big friends of corporate interests rather than the common good.
By refusing to vote for the Disclosure Act, Brown is ensuring that our elections can be bought by special interests and big corporate powers without any fingerprints. Meaning that groups like, um, FreedomWorks can influence elections masquerading as grassroots movements, when in fact, they are funded by very interested corporate parties. FreedomWorks, doubling as a grass roots movement for the Tea Party, gave quite a pretty penny to old Scooter.
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh made the claim that the Democratic Party is racist just like al Qaeda because they both target Africans and African Americans. Limbaugh said the Democrat Party targets Africans and African Americans to be the victims of their social policy. They don’t do it for suicide bombers of course. Democrats do this to get votes.”
Elected as a Tea Party candidate, Scott Brown has signaled that he will support President Obama’s major financial overhaul bill which passed the House on June 30 and will come up for a vote in the Senate this week. Brown’s vote would be number 59, as in 59 of the now needed 60 to pass a bill….crossing Party lines to help the people? Close to treason, if you ask me.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was on Meet The Press today where she pointed out that the Republican Party is asking voters to make a fatally flawed choice in November, if they insist on portraying themselves as the fiscally responsible party. Maddow said, “If Republicans want to run as this fiscally responsible party, it’s neat, but it’s novel. It’s not how they’ve actually governed.”
Sarah Palin made another rash appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s The Factor Friday night, wherein he grilled her about immigration reform. The half-term governor left the FNC program angry and humiliated as O’Reilly exposed Palin’s limited knowledge for the Fox crowd to see.
Not content to leave it at abuse of his girl-friend, Mel’s rant is peppered with racist remarks reminiscent of his other anti-Semitic rant. Sigh. Mel is also, too, being investigated by the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department in connection with domestic violence charges. I fear this means he may soon run for office on the Republican ticket, as abusing one’s partner is all the rage right now among the GOP
On a recent radio show Rush Limbaugh made the claim that the Left is out to ban Chinese food. He tried to blame Left wing whackos for telling you what to eat. Limbaugh said, “They wanted to ban Chinese food. These people want to get in your life and tell you what to eat.” The only problem is that this isn’t true.
There simply aren’t enough anti-intellectual, conservative religious, racist and bigoted voters to pass the lunatic agenda of the Tea Party. They can believe their own spin if they wish, but even if you ignore facts they will still be there to bite you in the ass at the end of the day. This is the bleak future that the Tea Party faces in November.
This week’s winners of the Patriarchy Award: Sharron Angle and David Vitter. Sharron Angle announced that she’s against abortion even when a girl is raped by her own father, and indeed, the Mama Grizzly Conservative suggests that said rape victims make “lemonade out of lemonsâ€. But hold on to your outrage, my friends, because the compassionate conservatives also bring us David Vitter, who appointed a man who was found GUILTY of stabbing his girlfriend to be in charge of women’s issues.
On his MSNBC show Countdown tonight, host Keith Olbermann critiqued Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies video for her SarahPAC. Olbermann summed up the video by comparing Palin video to Osama Bin Laden messages, as “irrelevant, loud, angry incoherent, and boring.” After watching the SarahPAC video a few times, I began to see Olbermann’s point.
Just as some blame the rape victim for the rape, Republicans have taken to blaming the moral character of the unemployed for their joblessness. To the GOP, unemployment was not caused by the financial collapse, or years of Republican tax cut and spend policies. To the GOP, the unemployed are individuals of poor character who must be campaigned against in 2010.
In a speech about the economy at Smith Electric Vehicles in Kansas City, MO, President Obama set out not only to highlight jobs being created in the green energy sector, but he also jabbed at Republicans for distorting his record on tax cuts. Obama said, “We immediately cut taxes, that’s right. You wouldn’t know it from listening to folks, but we cut taxes for working families…”
Tonight on The O’Reilly Factor Bill O’Reilly, who just so happens to work for Fox News, claimed that the Left and MSNBC lie everyday. While discussing the decline of the Left with Dick Morris, O’Reilly said, “People on MSNBC lie everyday,” I think Bill has MSNBC confused with a certain other “Fair and Balanced,” network.
Glenn Beck opened his Fox News program tonight by diving straight into the echo chamber of propaganda by praising Fox News for covering their own manufactured story about the DOJ and the New Black Panthers. Beck even went as far as to thank God for the existence of Fox News, “No one in the media seems to care a lot, thank God that there’s Fox.”
Many on the Left claim that we should ignore Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin; they believe that speaking out against them is giving them free publicity and helping more than hurting them. I’m not one of those who agree with the silent treatment. If we surrender the argument, we also let people like Palin and Beck dictate the outcome. That isn’t acceptable.
A story on National Journal’s Hotline on Call blog handicapped the potential successors to Michael Steele as Chairman of the RNC in the event of his resignation. Most illuminating were the thoughts of RNC members on Sarah Palin, “they don’t believe she will be a player in the party’s future.” Reid Wilson of Hotline on…
On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, host and Republican Joe Scarborough tore apart Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle. Scarborough claimed that she horrified Republicans with her radical positions, and GOP fundraisers are in no mood to donate to a candidate that looks like a certain, “loser” in November.
Fox News’ Brian Sullivan was filling in for Neil Cavuto today and was running the usual blame Obama for the Gulf oil spill segment, when guest Republican Billy Nungesser accidentally changed the narrative and blamed BP for the red tape involved in the clean up, “You know the red tape. We’ve got stacks of paperwork…
This 4th of July long weekend provides us with a chance to examine our freedom, and how our leaders view freedom, specifically Barack Obama and self styled shadow president Sarah Palin. Examining Palin and Obama side by side paints an interesting contrast. In 2010, Obama put out a statement praising the, “enduring spirit of America,” while in 2009 Palin took to Twitter to and threatened to sue the entire Internet.
As Republicans continue to filibuster extending unemployment benefits, the economic fate of our country hangs in the balance. Their obstruction to extending jobless benefits is a more a result of their ideological contempt for the social safety net that can historically be traced back to the New Deal than their claimed discomfort with a growing deficit.
Sarah Palin stands on her makeshift Presidential platform, ready to “address the nation” or, as she does it, speak without allowing anyone to record her or take pictures except for her chosen photographer. Happy July 3, America. It’s our new national holiday, where we celebrate that great American spirit of Quitting. It’s Palin Quittin’ Day. And she’s not going away.
An exclusive interview with Alicia Lewis, who found herself the unwitting victim of the Sarah Palin attack machine during the Palin Stanislaus speech shakedown. In the course of following a lead about documents which were being disposed of suspiciously, Ms. Lewis stumbled into the middle of another Palin drama and found herself being labeled a dumpster diver and “political operative” by Sarah Palin during Palin’s national speech last weekend.
It was a bonzo gonzo crazy fest on FNC’s Hannity recently as Ted Nugent showed up and blasted the Obama administration as spitting in the face of average Americans. Nugent said, “Then they see an administration that is spitting on the US Constitution, the Ten Commandments, the Bill of Rights and the Golden Rule.”
Glenn Beck celebrated “Founders’ Friday Women’s Day†today. Yes, you know this isn’t going to a good place. Beck, apparently having ran through all of the modern era villains, reached back to the last century to find his latest victim, “one of the most horrible women in American history”, named Margaret Sanger who was a……NURSE! Shudder. A nurse who cared about unplanned and unwelcome pregnancies, a “champion of women’s rights†— clearly a threat to the modern conservative.
On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh was speculating as to why First Lady Michelle Obama did not attend Sen. Robert Byrd’s funeral, and his speculation focused on Michelle Obama’s “pure slave blood,” and President Obama’s “lack of pure slave blood.” Limbaugh managed to not only take a shot at the deceased Byrd, but he also leveled a racial slur at the Obamas.
Sarah Palin recently took to her Facebook page to claim that President Obama does not accept the greatness of America. Palin said, “We have a President, perhaps for the very first time since the founding of our republic, who doesn’t appear to believe that America is the greatest earthly force for good the world has ever known.”
Republicans who are loath to do their own jobs are thankfully not reticent to run around pointing fingers at Obama and demand, “Mr. President! Do your job!†This is said in what I can assure you is not a racist tone, because the only racism we need to worry about is reverse racism, as you would know if you were a rich white man who has suffered mightily trying to get someone to stop you and ask for your birth certificate.
