Recently in Conservatism Category

Seems that the 30 pro-rape Republicans are whining about being called pro-rape Republicans because they voted against Al Franken's amendment which would prevent companies from getting federal contracts if they force their employees to use arbitration to settle sexual harassment, abuse, and discrimination cases instead of the courts. You know, denying them their constitutional rights.

Honestly, I am not going to feel sorry for them. These are the same group of Republicans that made no effort to rebuke the statement when one Senator called Al a clown.

I like hearing how the modern conservative movement is divided at the moment. And yet, I am also saddened by this news. I am intelligent enough to understand that today's conservative movement is not really all that conservative, is not interested in what is good for the country, is strictly interested in gaining power, and not actually vested in ruling in the best interest of the country.

All in all, the death of the modern conservative movement can not happen fast enough. My only fear is what ends up taking it's place at the political table. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it is not as bad as we have experienced the last 3 decades

The Republican candidate who was running for NY-23, Scozzafav, dropped out of the race today. All the way around; this is not a good sign for either the Republican party or the conservatives. While the Democratic party has often aired it's dirty laundry in public, and rarely hid infighting, in the end a consensus was build, and the party moved forward. But the Republicans are not infighting. What we are witnessing is disintegration.

The extremists have taken the title of conservatism and pushed out those who are truly conservative. In the process, they have divided the Republican party. The demands of lock-step unity the party pursued during the first 5 and a half years of the Bush presidency prevented the honest airing of policy differences and prevented compromise, creating a buildup of toxic animosity and vitriol.

This is a party that lost any ability to look within itself and see its mistakes and to accept the failures of their ideology. Instead, they cling harder to what they believed is the only way and now walk down a political blind alley. As such, they are not likely to adjust their stance to the prevailing political will of the people.

Instead of seeing politics as simple leadership, they have developed a mindset of their party as a way of life. And at this time in history, they see their way of life as needing to eradicate liberalism. Unfortunately, in their desire to destroy liberalism they have taken to destroying themselves.

This is what the conservatives have done for decades; they spoke their mind, regardless of it's political correctness. Hell, they did not even care if it was based on facts, or simply ignorant opinion, they said whatever they damn well pleased. Nice to see someone follow the conservative's playbook.

Novotny: John, what about this controversy over opposition to Obama's speech to school children?

Harwood: I've got to tell you Monica, I've been watching politics for a long time and this is, this one is really over the top. What it shows you is there are a lot of cynical people who try to fan controversy and let's face it, in a country of three hundred million people there are a lot of stupid people too, because if you believe that's it's somehow unhealthy for kids for the President to say work hard and stay in school, you're stupid.

Novotny: Ouch.

Harwood: In fact, I'm worried for some of those kids, I'm worried for some of those kids of those parents who are upset. I'm not sure they're smart enough to raise those kids.

More of this please. Seriously, we need more people from the progressive side of the isle speaking their mind. Honestly, no matter what, the rabid, right-wing conservatives are going to screech, whine, and basically holler, whatever the subject or issue. So, call them out on their ignorance, their stupidity, and their hypocrisy. The conservatives have shown quite some time ago that they are simply not interested in a civil, rational, educated debate. They are all about being the squeaky wheel looking to get the grease. So, let us simply squeak louder.

Sigh. Slow news day. Nothing stands out as meme changing, or even meme misdirecting. Just the usual pointing out how insanely the current crop of Republicans continue to act, the pointing out of lies by the corporate arm of the conservative movement over health care reform, and the usual past time of comparing the size of a gnat's ass with a conservative's brain.

I do believe the gnat wins.

Never underestimate the power of denial.

(The Washington Monthly) Reading this, it reminded me just how challenging the right's sales pitch was going into the debate over reform. In some ways, conservatives couldn't possibly win the argument -- the status quo is ridiculous. We spend too much and get too little. Tens of millions of Americans go without coverage, and thousands die as a result of not having insurance. The existing private system screws over consumers, is a drag on the economy, and undercuts wage growth. The two groups of Americans best served by the status quo are seniors (in a Canadian-style, socialized system) and veterans (in a British-style, government-run system). Everyone else is in, at best, a precarious position.

[...]

They've pulled it off, so far, by telling almost comically-ridiculous lies, and managing to get scared, gullible people to believe them. It's no small feat. Indeed, it's almost impressive. Conservatives have managed to create a debate out of nothing but partisanship, paranoia, and greed.

Steve misses the most important reason the Conservatives have managed this feat; the ability of people to ignore even the most obvious of facts. Denial makes blind people of us all when we are not diligent of our thinking.

Then listen to the son, and co-founder, of the man who helped build the modern conservative christian movement.

Ian Walsh believes President Obama is just about done being proactive. I agree.

The Republican/conservative brightness before the burn out I keep thinking is happening, only gets brighter and brighter, and not in a good way. As the Birthers, Tea baggers, and generally just mad at the world types, descend upon the town hall meetings, I realize that my imagining of their behavior falls quantitatively short of their capabilities.

Then, Ian had this to say:

They took the lesson of the Clinton administration to be "don't enflame (sic) the fanatics on the right--avoid social issues, and don't slash the military".  They were, of course, wrong: the radical right (and there is hardly a non-radical right left) will oppose Obama no matter what he does and if Obama is unwilling to use to the full might of the administrative apparatus against them, they will simply take advantage of his weakness to escalate.  Tactics which are seen to work, will not be abandoned, to the contrary, they will be used more and more.

don't enflame (sic) the fanatics on the right--avoid social issues

Suddenly, my imagination made a quantum jump that pictured a radical increase in the use of deadly force, with a resultant increase in dead minorities (including gay, lesbian, and transgenders).

Now, I am not about to believe one way or another that President Obama understood this possible scenario. Still, to pick health care as his first major policy push might have been for other reasons besides the time was right. Regardless of whether he recognized it was a policy that could result in the least amount of insanity and violence, in the end, it is what happened.

Ask yourself this; had President Obama picked an African American jurist for the Supreme Court, just what kind of push back do you think would have happened? Unlike health care, an African American nominee to the Supreme Court is a racial element that would have inflamed the radical right even more then the current push for health reform. I don't know about you, but my imagination in this situation includes some serious killings, maybe even a lynching or three.

What? You think that's too far? If there are calls by influential leaders of the radical right for people to bring guns to town hall meetings, my suggestion of lynchings had President Obama attempted to place an African American on the Supreme Court is going to far? Considering how easy it is for the radical right followers to kill gays, lesbians, and transgenders during less politically decisive times, any push to end DADT, or otherwise legislate equal rights for sexual orientation, would suddenly result in a decrease of killings? We are talking about a section of the electorate that thinks it is funny to print out liberal hunting licenses.

So, for whatever reason, President Obama went the path of least resistance. But, Ian is right. No matter what policy the President pursues, the radical right will fight back. And they will use any action they perceive to have already been effective. If the push for health reform does stall, and no bill is forthcoming this year, I too believe the President is dead in the water. He will achieve no further legislative goals. And even if he does pass health care reform, I still believe he's dead in the water, simply because the radical right, already inflamed and instilled with an Armageddon mindset, will simply believe the end is nigh and make a homicidal/suicidal push. They are going to take as many with them as possible.

In my opinion, any further legislative attempts by the President and violence is assured. It is already occurring. If President Obama manages to shove a version of health reform through congress, he's going to be faced with one angry, pissed off radical right. He will pretty much be unable to overcome any further resistance because civil unrest is only going to continue. Chances are, it will take up most of his administration's attention.

So, once he's done with as much of the legislative work he can realistically achieve, I suggest he turn his attention to judicial/legal house cleaning. Unleash the Justice Department and force a searching and fearless constitutional inventory of our government. There is a world of hurt in it, with much latent corruption and incompetence set to cause further decades of pain and suffering, thereby weakening our country. If he truly wants to be seen as an agent of change, the more important task he faces is exposure of the past administration's eight years of malfeasance and criminality. Hell, cleaning up the last 30 years of modern conservative governance is one damn fine legacy, if you ask me.

Now, I do not believe President Obama wants that for a legacy. But most people do not get to choose their destiny, it chooses them.

Proof, once again, that today's conservatives are stupid beyond all reason.

(TheHill.com)"Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.19 million to buy '2 pounds of ham' are wrong," Vilsack said in a statement. "In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191m, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound."

Vilsack put out the statement after the Drudge Report posted several contracts from the government's stimulus website. The contracts suggest the administration spent $1.19 million on two pounds of ham, $1.56 million for mozzarella cheese and $16.8 million on canned pork, among other items. Republicans sent blast e-mails of screenshots from the Drudge Report, highlighting the contracts as wasteful spending.

And they seriously thought they'd have a one party majority?

John Ensign, Mark Sanford, and Sarah Palin are engaged in a game of media leap frog. Obviously it's just been John's turn. But I've lost track and wonder who's next in line? 

That the nation has voted Democratic does not mean they voted progressive. I know, I know. It saddens me as well. After years and years of the Mighty Wurlitzer vilifying the Democrats as liberals, as if such a term in and of itself were a smear, to see the Democrats now voted into office, one would believe liberal values and goals would hold sway. Of course, you would be wrong.

Let us remember also that as the Mighty Wurlitzer labeled Democrats liberals (even those who were obviously not) it labeled Republicans as conservatives (even those who were obviously not). Because of this constant chatter of stratification, our political parties are now seen by the average, non-inquisitive American voter as ideologically split. Obviously, that's not the case.

Now, truth be told, there was a strong, almost successful, push to drive all but the most staunch conservatives from the Republican party. And when I mean almost successful, I mean totally successful, to the point where even nominally conservative members were purged, leaving mostly arc-conservatives. But, that's not really my point. What's important is that the Democratic party did not mount any type of purge of it's own to clear their ranks of conservatives. If anything, there was a concerted effort to move members more to the right.

So, let us remember, boys and girls, just because we have been told by the Mighty Wurlitzer and the Legacy Media that the Democratic party is liberal does not make it true. Indeed, it is a conservative lie. Therefore, let us not convince ourselves that the Democratic majority now seated in congress is liberal, or progressive, because that would be believing in a conservative lie.

(TPM) Bachmann also differentiated between the 28-page American Community Survey, which only a tiny fraction of Americans will receive, and the short form that everyone gets -- and she objected to both of them. "Does the federal government really need to know our phone numbers?" she asked. "Do they really need to know, like you said, the date and time that we leave mental stability?"

I'm sure Ms. Bachmann only has the financial burden of this question in mind because it would take all the census staff from all across the nation to fully record all the dates and times that she took leave of her mental stability.

Assuming, of course, that she was ever present with her mental stability.

You know, just because a person identifies themselves as a conservative doesn't mean they are. After almost 3 or more decades of having Liberals (and progressives) vilified by not just the conservatives, but their willing co-conspirators, the corporate media, to call one self liberal was to be set up for ridicule, derision, and all around abuse. As Ed Kilgore so aptly points out, when you get passed the basic "Are you xxx?" and into the meat and potatoes policy questions, suddenly there is a different prospective.

The CAP survey also found that when you probe deeper in terms of more specific statements of values and beliefs, there's a reasonably solid progressive majority when it comes to most matters of international and domestic policy. The conservative "brand" may still be relatively strong, but it doesn't always translate into issue positions, much less voting behavior.

I honestly thought I was a moderate/centerist until I begain to pay more attention to my positions on policies. Then I learned I was liberal. Since I am late to actually following politics, I suspect many others are still going by the simple label and not really looking at their policy positions.

If it weren't for other blogs, well, I'd never discover the true depth of conservative stupidity.

(TPM) According to Hill reporter Alexander Bolton, "This has prompted some Republicans to muse privately about whether Sotomayor is suggesting that distinctive Puerto Rican cuisine such as patitas de cerdo con garbanzo -- pigs' tongue and ears -- would somehow, in some small way influence her verdicts from the bench."

Curt Levey, the executive director of the Committee for Justice, a conservative-leaning advocacy group, said he wasn't certain whether Sotomayor had claimed her palate would color her view of legal facts but he said that President Obama's Supreme Court nominee clearly touts her subjective approach to the law.

Slightly gobsmacked, I called Bolton earlier today and asked him whether this was for real--whether any conservatives were genuinely raising this issue. He confirmed, saying, "a source I spoke to said people were discussing that her [speech] had brought attention...she intimates that what she eats somehow helps her decide cases better."

Bolton said the source was drawing, "a deductive link," between Sotomayor's thoughts on Puerto Rican food and her other statements. And I guess the chain goes something like this: 1). Sotomayor implied that her Latina identity informs her jurisprudence, 2). She also implied that Puerto Rican cuisine is a crucial part of her Latina identity, 3). Ergo, her gastronomical proclivities will be a non-negligible factor for her when she's considering cases before the Supreme Court.

Got it? Good. This is the conservative opposition to Sotomayor.

See, what's nice about other blogs is that I don't have to wallow through an entire article of standard batshit crazy just to get to this phenomenally stupid conservative talking point. In this particular case, I was able to cull the above piece of "wtf" from TPM by way of Mustang Bobby. The end result, I don't have to wipe up the green discharge of my brain leaking out of my ears.

Oh, and what is it about the people with the last name of Bolton? Are they all naturally insane, or is it a curse that comes with the name?

Honestly, have our conservative brethren deteriorated to a state of second childhood? This age old cry of "tattle tail" is right out of noon recess at the local grade school playground.

Smith: Some of the critics are really labeling this 'Abu Ghraib Part II.'

Herridge: Well, you remember that after Abu Ghraib there was worldwide condemnation for these images of humiliation. And I learned in my research today that there was also a military report in 2008 that concluded that there is a connection between these images and also suicide bombers. Forty-eight bombers, or potential bombers, were interviewed, and they said that these images were a big factor, a big motivating factor, in the decision to become a suicide bomber.

The suggestion by Herridge is that by releasing the photos, we are endangering the service members of our armed forces. However, I think David Neiwert makes the more intelligent, more mature, point:

If anyone thought that photos from those centers would not eventually leak out to the public -- or at the bare minimum, be forced out eventually by the inevitable lawsuits, as was the case here -- they were fooling themselves. Or at least gambling that they'd be out of office by then and could lay the whole mess in the laps of whoever had the misfortune to succeed them.

Indeed, the Obama critics are now out in force shouting that the pending release of these photos will hurt soldiers in the field, including Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. Bill Kristol is claiming that "this would be a gratuitous assault on the well-being and the reputation of our fighting men and women."

Imagine my surprise when I see the names of Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham, and Bill Kristol leading the battle cry from the playground. For Christ's sake, they're supposedly grown men. Instead, we are subjected to hearing excuses I expect from a 4th grader.

President Bush allowed torture to occur under his watch. Torture of which the Great Republican/Conservative God Ronald Reagan himself strongly rejected, as proven by his signing the Geneva treaty banning torture. Now, we are reaping the benefits of torture. Well, actually, al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations are reaping the benefits of torture.

The Bush administration lied about the rational for invading Iraq, then tortured terrorists to acquire proof of a tie between al-Qaida and Iraq (which failed miserably) and now we are faced with this misbegotten horror of a news story.

Some days, I really don't like the human race.

In case anyone is wondering, there are good conservatives out there. One is Meghan McCain. The other is Jack Cafferty. Both seem more intent on looking at competence and leadership for the sake of the country, not for political power and gain.

While even the White House is having fun at the expense of the Republican disarray....



.... you have to recognize the total lack of leadership that exists. How else can you explain the ability of a radio personality outside of the party structure to be able to control it so utterly?

What we have here is a party on the verge of death. Unless a competent, clear headed leader emerges to take charge, the Republican party will soon be dead. Then will Karl Rove's efforts at a permanent one party permanent rule majority be achieved. Though, not exactly as he intended.

CNN

(CNN) -- There's been a lot of sniping and a lot of stories Wednesday about Gov. Sarah Palin's clothes.

Politico.com reports that the Republican National Committee spent more than $150,000 on clothes, hair and make-up for Palin on the campaign trail. Now, these are not your tax dollars.

This is money given by Republican donors to the RNC. But the report questions whether it is legal to use campaign cash for quote "personal use."

My issue? There is an incredible double-standard here, and we are ignoring a very simple reality.

Women are judged based on their appearance far, far more than men. That is a statement of fact.

C&L

C&L sources who are on GOP e-mail lists report that at least a half hour before the debate was even finished, they started receiving e-mails spinning and whining about the format and how it wasn't a REAL town hall -- therefore, it's unfair to poor John McCain. Ben Smith at Politico got the ball rolling:

I wrote earlier that this would likely be an empathy contest, but between the odd rules, the candidates, and the visibly displeased moderator, that's not really happening. The questions are basically impersonal, and the questioners then disappear.

Right. It's not the debater who failed....it's the debate format that failed him.