Republicans and Fox News have been fantasizing about the prospects of Sec. of State Hillary Clinton challenging President Barack Obama for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination, but a poll released by Gallup today should shatter that fantasy as an Obama versus Clinton rematch heavily favors Obama, 52%-37%.
Bill O’Reilly aired part one of his interview with Bill Maher on his Fox News program, and to put it mildly Bill-O took a beating. O’Reilly tried to defend the Tea Party and Maher responded with, “I mean the teabaggers. They’re the ones, who are so upset about the debt. Most of the debt came from Bush. That’s just a fact.”
Liberty stands for human rights and freedoms. It was appreciation of America’s embrace of liberty that brought Lady Liberty to these shores. If we won’t defend her now, we might as well send her back, because we will have proven ourselves unworthy of her.
The cable news ratings for the third quarter of 2010 were released today, and Fox News is showing signs of decline as their viewership has decreased by 21%, and their top shows all posted double digit losses, while MSNBC’s shows, grew and the network attracted more younger viewers.
On his radio show today, Glenn Beck not only admitted that he hates America, but he laid out the rationale for why it is okay for the Right to hate America too, “No, we’re not always great. Sometimes we really suck beyond imagination, and we have had out and out evil presidents,” so when a president is evil, it is okay to hate America.
Oklahoma is hosting a referendum on Islam – State Question 755 the “Save Our State†amendment, which will ban Sharia Law in the state.
Why do we have a two-party system? It is not enshrined in the Constitution. In reality, the Founding Fathers viewed the creation of political parties with horror. Is changing the system un-American? What are the possible benefits?
According to the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released tonight, the Republican Party might be in for an even bumpier 2012 than they could have imagined, as they are faced with choosing from a slate of very unpopular candidates. Sarah Palin had both the highest favorable and unfavorable ratings at 30% and 48% respectively.
Running against Joe You Lie Wilson in South Carolina is Democrat Rob Miller. Miller belies the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt. In his case, the more people get to know him, the more they think Miller is right for South Carolina, and this was evident on the several days I spent with Miller again this year as he met with citizens of the Second District.
Cognitive dissonance seems to run through the Republican narrative. Since it is impossible that 9/11 could have happened on the Republican watch, it must have happened under a Democrat. In layman’s terms, the Republican narrative is divorced from reality.
Scotland Yard’s evidence indicated that hundreds of celebrities, government officials, soccer stars, etc had been targets of Murdoch’s News of the World cell phone hackers. Scotland Yard looked the other way as Murdoch hacked into phones of both private citizens and the Royal Family, and again as Murdoch’s editor was installed as communications aide to Tory PM Cameron.
Culture warrior Dan Coats is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Brad Ellsworth, 8th District, Indiana. Coats claim is that he is for Hoosier values and this seems to be his clarion call. However, upon examination Coats’ values appeal more to the pro-business, Christian conservative, anti-LGBT and anti-choice crowd than they do to average Joes.
President Obama was on NBC’s Today show this morning and although he was there to discuss education he took the GOP to task for their Pledge to America, “What I’m seeing out of the Republican leadership over the last several years has been a set of policies that are just irresponsible.”
Mitch McConnell was on ABC’s This Week today where he showed us exactly the kind of leadership Republicans will be giving the country if they win control of Congress. When asked how he would lower the deficit, McConnell said, “You get the economy going.” Yep, the big plan is to get the economy going.
New polls released in Kentucky, Nevada, and California show that Democrats are making a big comeback in each state, and the tide may be turning against the GOP. In Kentucky Rand Paul has blown a 15 point lead in less than a month. In Nevada, Harry Reid is up by 5 points on Sharron Angle, and in California the Democrats in both the gubernatorial and the Senate races now lead.
Women of the progressive voting bloc, how long have we been sleeping? I’m not sure how we got here, but our medical rights are not being honored as they should be. The administration is currently going to ban abortion coverage in the newly created Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plans. This ban would prevent women with serious pre-existing medical conditions — like cancer or diabetes — from getting the abortion coverage they need to protect their health.
This time they will be competent, faithful, and have integrity. This time it will be different. He said so. And after all, look at the picture! There they are standing in front of a small business as they make their pledge to us, so they must care, even though they voted against small businesses. Lie to me, I promise, I’ll believe.
On Fox News Watch today, Fox contributor Jim Pinkerton upped the ante and personally attacked Jon Stewart as a demagogue. Pinkerton compared Stewart to Lonesome Rhodes by saying, “Five words A Face In The Crowd, the 1950’s movie starring Andy Griffith…about a talk show host who then thought he was a political and a demagogue.”
It’s like watching dominoes fall these days, as one by one, conservative extremists are outted for lying to the public. Breitbart, O’Donnell, and now Dinesh D’Souza.You know Dinesh, the “intellectual” who wrote the scathingly inaccurate “Obama is an anti-Colonial Kenyan tribe reviving OTHER” Forbes’ cover story that Newt Gingrich embraced and repeated. Dinesh, he was just outted as having not fact-checked his ode to persecution and paranoia that Forbes published without fact-checking.
Out of the madness in a world gone crazy, stepped Ed Buck – straight from central casting as an American citizen standing up for the right to question our candidates. Buck showed up on The Ed Show to take a stand against Republican bully Governor Chris Christie who tried to intimidate him into not asking a question during a Meg Whitman forum in California.
Tonight on MSNBC’s Countdown Keith Olbermann took a unique angle to discussing Stephen Colbert’s congressional testimony today, by actually discussing the poignant message behind all the jokes. Olbermann called Colbert’s testimony, “Along with being funny, he was also serious, even eloquent when testifying about the plight of America’s migrant farm workers.”
I’m tellin’ ya’, you’re going to be hearing a lot about how lame ducks shouldn’t be doing anything – because, well, if they were to do something, it would be more liberal legislation than the Republicans want. In order to avoid this, Republicans are attempting the preemptive strike against lame duck legislation. This is, of course, the opposite of what the Republicans thought when they were the lame ducks and they did small things like impeach a president.
Listening to rants from Conservatives, teabaggers, and Republicans is difficult and insults intelligent people in America. However, it is clear that a large group of Americans believe lies and stupid reasoning from the right, and it signals the decline of intelligence in this country.
Sarah Palin damns Obamacare to Hell and lies in process. Again. If the media wants to let Palin run another two month end game around sanity, so be it, but I’m not going along for the ride this time. Sarah Palin is a menace to civilized debate and a cancer on the morale of this country. Let the revolution begin: Tell the media to leave Sarah Palin’s Facebook page out of our policy debates. Let this be a part of of Stewart’s “restoring sanity” rally.
As a member of Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ staff slurred gays on the internet from the Senator’s office we are reminded once again why Shameless Saxby exemplifies the modern day GOP which has become a purely regional party that represents the dirty underbelly of the South.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have managed to completely freak out Fox News as evidenced on Fox and Friends this morning, when the network had it’s propaganda crew claiming that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s rally won’t outdraw Glenn Beck’s. Brian Kilmeande asked, “How can you possibly outdraw Glenn Beck?”
Republicans are all jacked up on their latest fear crack over reports from Woodward’s new book on Obama, wherein he reveals that the President said essentially the same thing George W Bush said: America can absorb another attack, we are strong.
Jon Stewart was on FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor tonight, and when Bill-O tried to claim that Barack Obama is out of touch with “regular Americans,” Stewart delivered a little bit of truth to Fox News viewers when he said, “I think that sounds like a meaningless thing to say.”
Former President Carter recently called out Fox News as being a source and propagator of paranoia against Obama, including birtherism and Christianism. Even though the Right loves to make fun of President Carter, Fox was scared enough by his accusations to attempt to debunk the former President via their old Breitbart fallback of misleadingly editing footage to cover their sins. Media Matters called them out on it.
A new Public Policy Polling survey of undecided voters released today shows that Sarah Palin’s “leadership” may cause GOP candidates around the country to crash and burn in both 2010 and 2012. The survey revealed that 65% of undecided voters disapprove of Palin, while only 17% approve of her. To put this into context, BP has a 16% approval rating.
The morality police will continue to argue that the reverse is true but in a fact-based world this cannot be the case. Prayer does not reduce crime. Those who pray are more likely to be criminals than those who do not.
The latest piece of evidence that being labeled with the Sarah Palin brand is more of a curse than a blessing comes to us from Republican Massachusetts US House candidate Jeffery Perry who when asked about Palin said, “I don’t want her to come down. She’s an entertainer.”
Today, Palin must have been high on her Tea Party video release, and full of that dangerous combination of arrogance and incompetence, took to twitter to tell the Left off. However, I don’t need to tell you that in the process of this she revealed her utter ignorance — a fact which Keith Olbermann was kind enough to point out to the Tea Party leader.
Last night, Rachel Maddow applied her razor-like intellect to expose the inherent hypocrisy in the modern GOP, hiding beneath a thin veneer of cowardly double-talk. One of her examples was Bob Corker, R-TN. Corker fought to kill the US auto industry. He filibustered the auto bailout, holding it hostage until he could be promised that the auto workers would be paid less and ultimately voted no on it.
CNN managed to track down Christine O’Donnell for a minute to ask her about CREW’s heavily documented allegations that she is a crook. When asked if she was a crook, O’Donnell went part Bill Clinton and part Richard Nixon by answering, “I am positive we have been ethical. I personally have not misused campaign funds.”
On his radio show today Glenn Beck took aim at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s October 30th rally, by labeling at progressive plot to win the election. Beck said of the Stewart/Colbert rally, “They are going to activate the youth to try to get them to vote with the labor unions apparently.”
Bristol has finally made it to opening night and her mama Sarah Palin will be in the audience, making sure her daughter doesn’t become part of that evil “pop culture” Palin blames for our country’s woes. And accompanying the Mama Grizzly Pit Bull is tons of security, who have been warned that if security is breached, Sarah is a higher priority than her daughter.
Beck is attacking Harvard graduate and former Vice President of the American Law Institute Elizabeth Warren, using his usual lamestream media accusations and lies. Beck is upset because the President appointed Warren to oversee the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Warren “is one of our country’s fiercest advocates” for the middle class, Obama said Friday when introducing her. Right there, you see what the problem is.
President Obama participated in CNBC’s Investing in America Town Hall today where he called out the Tea Party and told them to get specific about exactly what spending they would cut. Obama said, “It’s not enough just to say get control of spending. I think it’s important for you to say I’m willing to cut veteran’s benefits, or I willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits.”
Christian and Islamic extremists drink from the same wellspring of authoritarianism – the desire to impose authority, to force submission to dogma, and to compel obedience. Choice is not an option. Submission precludes choice.
I was having a great day today, all chilling out and lovin’ life, when I ran smack dab into Sarah Palin’s twitter bunker wherein she claims she never, ever told O’Donnell to speak only to Fox News. Sarah is super mad at the “lame stream media†and is askin’ them super nice like to “report the truthâ€, like the troops are over in the Iraq fightin’ for.
Colin Powell was on Meet The Press today where he tried to explain to his fellow Republicans that President Obama is not a Muslim. Powell said, Next, he is a Christian. He is not a Muslim.” Powell and other establishment Republicans battle against churchers and birthers is a basically a conservative political suicide mission.
The conservative move to re-write history is not just about politics but ideology. The bogus controversy can’t exist without the bogus history conservative Christians have constructed, and the bogus history is tied into hate and intolerance and a need to justify it.
The press isn’t encouraged when Palin gives her Dominionist talks for anti-choice organizations; she waters down the extremism and wraps it in a Reagan Mommie image palatable if not adored by the average American when presenting her image outside of the closeted, secretive venue of the far Right religious extremism, within which she operates.
The Republicans say taking prayer out of public schools leads to violence. But they offer no evidence, and cannot point to a more peaceful world when prayer was allowed.
This morning, Malia Litman (owner of MaliaLitman’s “A Rebuttal to the Rogue” blog) alerted PoliticusUSA that she had uncovered a rather large lie Sarah Palin has been peddling to the American public. Litman did an exhaustive investigation which revealed that Palin has been fooling the American people about a fundamental aspect of who she is as a person.
On today’s (September 17) edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends, Geraldo points out O’Donnell has no qualifications for office. This moment of sanity doesn’t go over well with the Fox game show hosts and the infomercial hostesses, who are super busy trying to sell the oldsters some Christine O’Donnell as a “common sense conservativeâ€.
In an interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night former President Bill Clinton explained and broke down the true purpose of the Tea Party. Clinton said that Tea Partiers are pawns in a game and, “The people that are funding this Tea Party are trying to weaken the government… so that they can have unaccountable private power.”
Christine O’Donnell is an extremist who believes that a wife should be subservient to her husband. What I find most hypocritical about this, however, isn’t the fact that she and Palin are trying to sell women being subservient as the “new feminismâ€, but that at the very same time they are touting this kind of good girl routine, sucking up to the patriarchs with their winks and cheerleader smiles, they are also engaging in highly emasculating behavior.
Sarah Palin is learning that Fox News and all of its media outlets can be quite the fickle mistress as evidence by Kimberly Guilfoyle’s Fox News Radio appearance where she basically touted Christine O’Donnell as the new Sarah Palin, “She is really becoming an engaging compelling figure. I think she definitely got a little bit of Sarah Palin appeal to her.”
Palin went all Tea Party gangsta on Karl Rove for Rove’s accurate analysis of the threat O’Donnell poses the GOP’s big dreams of taking the senate back this fall. Tonight on the The O’Reilly Factor, Palin called Karl out, issuing a few body blows to the Great White Thug in round one of the battle for the helm of the GOP.
Vice President Joe Biden gave one of his best interviews since he has been in the White House on Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC program, where he expressed why progressives need to get energized about this election, “Our progressive base, you have, you should not stay home. It, you better get energized. Because the consequences are serious for the outcome of the things we care most about.”
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest to my new pals in the Tea Party that we start pushing Christine O’Donnell for President!
After all, Christine has never quit her job. She’s hotter than Palin, younger than Palin, and she puts the cute in cute. Plus, while she doesn’t know anything, at least she has no ethics violations under her belt. Sure, she’s using campaign funds to pay rent and that ain’t legal, but really, who cares? She hasn’t been busted yet, and even if she is, we can just lie and say she hasn’t been.
During election season arguments fly fast and furious. It can be hard to keep up; it can be hard to know what/who to believe. But if you listen carefully, you will find that the Republican narrative has made clear that Republicans don’t know what an argument is.
With the money, the polling and the endorsements breaking her way, it is no surprise that Christine O’Donnell was able to beat Rep. Mike Castle in the Delaware U.S. Senate primary, but polling and modeling shows that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party have taken a likely November victory away from the GOP and quite possibly handed control of the Senate to the Democrats.
The National Federation of Republican Women (NFRW) held its annual fall Board of Directors meeting in Charleston, S.C. last weekend and naturally, trouble ensued. Of the Confederate kind. And the tax-payers paid for this little shindig. Nothing like celebratin’ slavery to say “freedom and libertyâ€, eh?
With the news that the NFL is investigating a claim by TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz that she was sexually harassed by members of the NY Jets organization, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have both weighed in and decided that Sainz deserved because of the shirt she wore and according to Limbaugh she is,”bootylicious.”
Having trouble talking sense to your Republican neighbors and friends? Have no fear, Yuri is here.
Yuri Hertzberg of the San Fransisco Chronicle was fed up trying to talk about the facts behind the issues with his conservative friends, so he came up with a rather ingenious way of forcing an open mind. The trick is making an analogy to purchasing something innocuous like dish soap and then secondly, hiding the party names and just presenting the record.
These are dark days, festering with fear and deliberate manipulation of the masses into a frenzied rage against “the otherâ€. But there are some voices speaking out against politicized hate; voices speaking out for the power of love, tolerance and acceptance. Their names may not be as recognizable as say, Frank Schaeffer, who is also doing plenty to speak out against hate as espoused by the modern day evangelical movement, but they are committed to peace and dialogue.
More and more, Republicans insist on creating a fantasy world that has nothing in common with the reality in which we all operate. They invent something, and then invent “facts†to support the fantasy tale. It’s all as true as a prince rescuing the princess in her tower from a dragon.
But it’s two years later and finally, the press begins their push-back, albeit local press from Missoula, Montana (aka: Real America), who may be stunned to find themselves on the accused end of Palin’s ceaseless witch hunt against the dissemination of information. This is not the Real American Mama Grizzly they thought they knew. No, indeed, Dorothy. These are dark days.
This morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Joe Scarborough and team of analysts laughed hysterically at Newt Gingrich’s birther statements regarding our President. They tried to stop, and even went so far as to read Newt’s entire quote to make sure he wasn’t being quoted out of context, but his entire statement was even more crazy. Hilarity ensued as the entire panel laughed at Newt.
Former part-time Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin has repeatedly demonstrated her lack of knowledge about…well, almost everything, really. If there is an antidote to the European Enlightenment, which threw back the darkness of the Middle Ages and gave birth to the United States of America, it is Sarah Palin. She is to knowledge what kryptonite is to Superman. She is anti-knowledge.
The newest Pew Research Center’s survey of where and how people get their news has been released, and while Fox News is still polling the oldest viewership, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are pulling the youngest. As Stewart educates his young viewers in the ways of FNC on a nightly basis, it is clear that he is the biggest long term media threat to Fox News.
Rudy Giuliani was on Meet The Press today engaging in a bit of GOP revisionist history, as he claimed that it is Bill Clinton’s fault that Bin Laden is still free, “The reality is, in the period of time when we weren’t paying as much attention to bin Laden and al-Qaeda, they were attacking us almost every other year. I’m talking about in the, in the ’90s.”
Sarah Palin put her brand of patriotism on full display on 9/11. Apparently to Palin patriotism means betraying America’s basic constitutional rights, while betraying our commander in chief, and holding a benefit for Sarah Palin Inc., not the victims or families of 9/11. Could it be any more obvious why Palin is a danger to our freedoms?
Recently on her show, Rachel Maddow took on what might be the most childish Republican attempt at gay baiting ever, as Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell has been trying to spread the rumor that her primary opponent Rep. Mike Castle is gay in the clumsiest way possible. It would be funny if it was not so sad.
The Democrats have given us solid economic growth, more money than the GOP’s desperate cries for tax cuts can provide; tax cuts that wouldn’t be an issue if the Republicans hadn’t destroyed our economy in the first place.
It’s not often we get to see a real fiscal conservative in action in the current Republican Party. The rarest of rare breeds, they were run out or co-opted into Bushpublicans who now masquerade as Teapublicans, which is an industry, not a political party. But here we have one in George Voinovich. Look now while you can, because George is retiring.
On her MSNBC program, Rachel Maddow thoroughly took apart Glenn Beck’s and Sarah Palin’s Great Alaska 9/11 cash grab, by saying, “We like to commercialize and exploit everything. And apparently, there are people shameless enough about this American tragedy to turn it into a $200 a ticket “meet and greet” commercial commemorative beer party.”
One of the issues that Republicans have been running on is extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of earners, but a new Gallup poll released today revealed that a large majority of Americans don’t want the tax cuts extended to the richest Americans. 59% favor either letting the tax cuts completely expire, or extending them for those making $250,000 or less.
The evidence is all around us, that change is real, that it is part of life, and that it yields good things. Conservatives the world over, not just our own, are still suffering whiplash. The best they can do is use fear to put the breaks on.
The media (and the Left) are running with the meme that the draw down in Iraq is mere “rebranding” of the war. They buttress this notion with sarcastic references to the “combat troops” leaving Iraq. This misunderstanding is the fault of whoever started to report the drawdown as “combat troops leaving Iraq.” Combat troops have left Iraq, but we still have 50,000 combat troops there. They are no longer there in a combat role, however.
Sarah Palin took to her Twitter account and put her ignorance about Muslims and the Islamic faith on full display. Palin told all the “followers of the book who want to kill innocents to stand down.” Okay, evil doers Sarah Palin has tweeted you out and told you to knock it off. No really, stop laughing.
Conservative groups have said for years that America is a Christian nation, and that the founders addressed the issue in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Nothing could be further from the truth.
There has been much speculation that the flap over the planned 9/11 Quran burning in Florida has created a distraction for President Obama, but instead of a distraction, Obama has been given a political gift, as the man that the the Right loves to label a troop hating , socialist, Marxist is the lone leadership voice defending our troops.
Sarah Palin uses Twitter and Facebook to throw a lit match onto the heightened tensions with Afghans over the Qur’an burning by falsely accusing an Afghan candidate of calling for the death of US Children. Into the craven echoing emptiness of what used to be the moral center of the Republican Party, I now ask just when will they stop trying to harm this country?
yesterday, after weeks of ginning up hate, we had the RNC talking point denial of stoking violence memo via Sarah Palin’s Facebook Page and Boehner tried it on ABC News’ Good Morning America –a mistake- he was obviously more concerned with his tan than any sort of real leadership on this issue and he sounded like a spoiled frat boy. The one thing we heard in all of their CYA talking points puppetry was a rather petty and obvious comparison of burning books to building a community center. Today is the day when we are supposed to forget how we got here.
Michael Joseph Gross recently wrote an accurate article that echoed the fearful voices from Alaska regarding Sarah Palin’s penchant for retribution and revenge. Since publishing it last week, he’s been the subject of endless attacks and revisionism from the Palin camp’s fringes as well as Palin herself. Today, Gross printed a response to the criticism.
Gov. Haley Barbour (MS) — you know, the guy with the confederate flag signed by Jefferson Davis in his office who wants to run for President — was at a breakfast meeting with reporters this morning, where he blamed President Obama for his own failure to grasp Obama’s history and religious affiliations, outing himself as birther adjacent.
The Pastor of the church in Florida that is planning to burn the Quran has a sleazy past in Germany involving both allegations of financial wrong-doing and being convicted for using a false PhD. This is the man the far Right are defending. This is their base, their audience, and the sort of people who are clearly easily seduced by the regular shots of GOP inspired crazy into doing horrific things.
During his speech on the economy in Cleveland, OH today, President Barack Obama destroyed what House Minority Leader John Boehner’s empty economic plan. Obama said, “There were no new policies from Mr. Boehner. There were no new ideas.”
On his radio show this morning, Michael Savage launched a vicious personal attack against Jon Stewart because The Daily Show host exposed the illogical lunacy of the fear mongering opposition to the Park 51 project. Savage blamed Stewart for spreading anti-Semitism, and called him an inbred Jew.
The planned burning of Qur’ans by an Evangelical church sends a confusing message that a violent act by them proves another group is violent, and threatens national security and the lives of American soldiers abroad.
Ever wonder where your elected official’s heart is? In Minnesota, it’s not with jobs; it’s with political ambitions. Last week, MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) issued an executive order that directs state agencies to opt out of discretionary aspects of the new healthcare reform law. And then he turned around and asked for 260 million dollars from job legislation funded by the stimulus he railed against to pay for Medicaid expenses.
It seems like every other week there is a new baseless rumor about when and where Sarah Palin will announce her 2012 presidential candidacy. The latest was that she would announce on 9/11 at an event in Alaska with Glenn Beck, but Palin took to her Facebook page to clarify that what is happening on 9/11 is just another Fox News on air talent cash grab.
The Right Wing is having a super hard time with this whole losing thing and it’s whipping them into a fury of potty-mouth tirades. From Rush Limbaugh to Sarah Palin, they’re obsessed with name-calling and sexual put-downs. Today Rush Limbaugh called Obama “hen-pecked,” “imam-child,” “wrecking ball,” “agitator,” and a “blithering novice,” while Palin calls reporters “Impotent, Limp and Gutlessâ€.
Just like a compulsive liar who can’t keep their facts straight, Fox News slipped up again today by admitting something that everyone already knew. Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor rally was political, On Fox and Friends Andrew Napolitano said, “Glenn Beck assembles the largest gathering in political history the largest political gathering in 40 years.”
“Only in the absence of certainty can we have open-mindedness, mental flexibility and willingness to contemplate alternative ideas.”
Both top US commander in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, and one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, are warning Americans that burning the Quran will endanger the troops in Afghanistan (and around the world), who are there fighting a war started by Republican President George Bush. A fearful nation awaits a leader from the Republican Party to grow enough courage to take a stand for us and for our troops and their mission.
During his Labor Day remarks in Milwaukee, Wisconsin today President Barack Obama took aim at the Republican Party’s November election strategy by labeling it no, we can’t. Obama said, “Remember when our campaign slogan was “Yes We Can?” These guys are running on “No, We Can’t,” and proud of it. Really inspiring, huh?”
It’s a question of productivity versus happiness as the ultimate judge of the welfare of nations. Yes, this is an argument for a socially just Democracy, or as I like to call it, civilization. Nic Marks must surely be a socialist. At TEDGlobal 2010 he suggested that we would be better off to measure success by happiness rather than productivity. Cue the crazy jihad nut job dance from the Right (plus a Glenn Beck cry fest), but meanwhile, I ask you on this Labor Day, have you ever been to a country where they valued overall contentment of the people over their productivity? Because once you’ve seen it in action, it’s hard to deny the validity of Marks’ inspiration.
Republican rhetoric has become so outrageous they have lost the ability to tell fact from fantasy. Clueless, they nod sagely while the rest of the world laughs.
A new CNN/Opinion Dynamics poll released today should provide some hope to Democrats and cause a bit of concern for the GOP ahead of the mid term elections. The poll revealed that a majority of Americans (53%) blame George W. Bush and the GOP not Barack Obama and the Democrats for the nation’s current economic problems.
It’s a Union Tweetfest, peeps. Because nothing says Labor Day like honoring and celebrating this country’s proud heritage of unions. Union workers are the backbone of this country. They span from steel mill workers to Hollywood writers, nurses to auto workers. These are the Real Americans, working hard to provide for their families. The union created the middle class. The Union helped pass pro worker legislation like the Fair Minimum Wage Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Conservative columnist Michael Medved believes that God is on the side of the Republicans, but misses the point that whose side God might be on went out with the Enlightenment and its values upon which the US is established, namely liberty and individual human rights, and not the Bible.
Physicist Stephen Hawking who has raised the ire of every believer in Britain because of his new book, “The Grand Design.” Hawking’s great sin is to suggest that God is not necessary for creation: “the universe can and will create itself from nothing.” Of course, the religious zealots are going nuts, but here is why Hawking is right.
No one in Ohio likes John Boehner (R-OH) much. You know Boehner, the orange man whose tan resembles actor Hamilton, whom Obama referred to jokingly as “a person of color” at the 2009 White House Correspondent’s Dinner. Ah, our President. His wit does fly a tad above the target. Out here in the real world, most people don’t know who Boehner is, even in his home state band those that do don’t think much of him. However, his tan is infamous and the voters in his state report that they would like him more if he spent less time on his tan.
The seduction of the Tea Party for the people on the ground is obvious; they feel politicians are betraying them. They don’t trust Washington. They’re threatened by change. These elements never change; they are always ripe for manipulation by the dirtiest politicians who appeal to fear. All they need is a scapegoat upon which to funnel their impotent rage.
Mobs are forming in America. It takes courage to do the right thing when it’s the unpopular thing to do. A coward finds it easy to go along with the mob and it is the exceptional man who, like President Obama, will say, “Now, hold on just a minute…”
