Recently in Republican Party Category

But not for being a sexist.

Alan Simpson's comment is not in the least bit sexist. But it is derogatory, insulting the majority of American's that have worked hard to support a family.

My father, who is probably one of the hardest working persons I have ever had the privilege know, worked a full-time job at an oil refinery (now Flint Hills Resources, but then simply known as Koch Refinery) while also working an 80 acre farm, mostly by himself. If you have ever known anyone that worked an oil refinery, they often are working 12 to 16 hour days during turn-a-rounds, which could last for weeks. He did this for 4 or 5 years back in the 1970s. All the money he earned was taxed, some of which was paid into Social Security. Meanwhile, my mother, who was taking care of me and my three siblings while dad was either in the fields or at the refinery, was also working part-time as a waitress. Some of her earnings likewise was paid into Social Security. At the end of the 70s, and through the 80s, my parents then ran a restaurant, which in and of itself is almost four full-time jobs. They once again paid into Social Security.

Today, they are enjoying the twilight of their years on the measly benefits that they more than earned. Over the last 30 years, working as a waitress nearly broke my mother's back. My father has had several heart attacks because of the physical demands his work put on his body. And what does Alan Simpson do? He implies they are ne'er-do-wells living off the government's teats.

While many on the right seem content to call Social Security recipients lazy, unproductive members of society, I have the belief that most of them are hard working fathers and mothers who struggled to put food on the table for their family and, having reached the twilight of their years, are simply reaping the benefit of having worked hard and paid Social Security taxes.

You see, not only did I witness my parents work hard, I also witnessed the parents of my friends, the neighbors in my town, and my co-workers struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads, all the while paying Social Security taxes. So, it is unconscionable for Alan Simpson to claim that over 300 million American's are lazy, unproductive members of society. For that he deserves to be fired.

While the Republican/Conservative movement has relied mostly on the megaphone style of political persuasion, I see the Whisper Campaign as a more effective style of political persuasion for the Democrats/Progressives. Let the Republicans blast away with the few megaphone mouths (Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, et. el.). The Democrats can simply walk softly and whisper quietly to individuals among the masses. You know, do the grassroots thing.

Granted, the Teabagger's movement was a type of grassroots in that the corporate/conservative elites were able to tap the anger of the intellectually ignorant; feeding them misinformation and out right lies. But it only created a squeaking wheel. It did not constitute any huge majority, or even a respectable minority. Instead, it brought together a whole bunch of crazy, that left a poor impression on the general population.

From what I can see, the Republican/Conservative grassroots movements have been an abysmal failure, easily falling short of fund raising as accomplished by comparable progressive movements. And in what is no doubt the greatest irony of all; the Republican/Conservative grassroots rely on funding from individuals comparable to their rich, liberal, villain De jour, George Soros, the man supposedly funding the entire progressive infrastructure.

I just can't help but see the Republican/conservative elites losing power. Not when their efforts include the manipulation of ignorant, intellectually lazy people. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of the human race is not ignorant. If it was, we would still be Neanderthals living a stone age existence.

Sigh. Yes, I understand Rush, Hannity, and Beck might exemplify the modern Neanderthals, but they really are still a minority.

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.

Representative Buyer:


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Thank you CBS for showing you are capable of doing hard hitting stories and asking the tough questions.

Am I the only one who is noticing that the Republican party is currently purging the very type of people Ronald Reagan successfully brought into the party back in the 80s? Without the Reagan Democrats, there would not have been a Reagan victory. So, I guess this means the Republican party is now more focused on ideological purity than on winning elections.

Oh man! 20%?!?!?! That has got to hurt.

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.

MN Progressive Project has a post up about Minnesota Republican infighting that has gotten ugly. It is the usual personal attacks on character that we have come to expect from today's Republican party. It is reminiscent of the attack George W. Bush's campaign made against John McCain back in 2000

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no doubt that Democrats of days gone by have engaged in the same personal attacks and will do so in the future. Currently, though, it appears to be a Republican trait. If anyone has done any reading on Karl Rove's past, you learn that he started his dirty, character assassination tricks at a young age, and at a local level.

I know, for myself, that in the past I never paid attention to these kind of low brow political attacks. I considered myself above them, or just felt it was not important enough for me to take into consideration. But I have come to learn that it is important these types of antics be exposed and brought to the attention of the electorate, and at a local level. Just imagine a world where Karl Rove's sleazy campaigning were exposed when he first started out, and had not been at the helm of George W. Bush's campaign, and by extension, his administration.

Eight years of George W. Bush in the White House has taught me that all politics is local. Any and all personal attacks, whisper campaigns, and other Lee Atwater dirty trick antics, whether by Republicans or Democrats, must be exposed early on at the local level, or else we can look forward once again to an incompetent and immoral presidency.

It's insane here. Noisy, crowded, and full of life. Since I am here, it's only appropriate that I "borrow" a pic from Norwegianity.

Like acid in the face; the stupidity burns.

Less than half of Republicans believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America, a new public opinion poll finds.

Only 42 percent of Republican respondents in a Research 2000 survey, conducted for the liberal website Daily Kos, said they thought Obama was a natural born citizen; 28 percent said they did not believe Obama was born in the United States; 30 percent said they were not sure.

My God, no wonder the Republican party is floundering in the wilderness. After the exodus of rational, thinking people, all that is left of the Republican party are sheep too stupid to know they are being lied to.

For a short period of time we lived on a farm, where I learned to shovel hog manure, horse manure, cow manure, and sheep manure. That's right, I know how to fling shit. I also know it when I smell it. Hence my not being a Republican. Anyway, from time to time, we'd have a deformed animal born, usually a hog or a cat. In all cases, we'd have to "put them down" in mercy because they'd never be able to live anything approaching a reasonable life.

The Republican party, from it's office holders to it's remaining electorate, has become politically deformed to the point of being unsustainable. It seriously needs to be politically put down.

The Democratic Party spent many a year wandering in the wilderness, away from power, because of a lack of strong leadership, and an inability to develop a backbone in the fight against conservative propaganda. But through the years, other then Hillary's pronouncement of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, the Democratic party never actually fell under the control of people who believed in conspiracies like the Republican party has fallen under sway of the Birther movement.

And just out of curiosity, why do people with the last name of McCarthy seem to suffer from paranoia? Case in point: Joseph McCarthy. My apologies to anyone named McCarthy who happens to stop by my humble blog. Unless, of course, you think I am out to tarnish your good name. Point made!

Well, back to my original point.

I understand every system goes through a period where there is a lack of strong leadership, or they just happen to be out of step with the prevailing winds. But the Republican party seems to be suffering from something far worse than either of those two problems; it appears to have incompetent leadership which is unable to purge the worse possible scourge from it's membership. And I am not talking about their base in the electorate, I mean the rank and file politicians who ultimately define and shape the values and messages of the party.

At a time when the country is suffering from the worse recession in it's history, we have congressmen in the Republican party focusing on an already well discredited theory of President Obama's place of birth. Do they honestly believe that an unemployed mother of two, who's worried about where the next meal is coming from, or whether they will have a roof over their heads tomorrow, or - God forbid -  how to get medical help for a sick child, gives a rat's ass about President Obama's place of birth? Do you think a construction worker, who's wondering when he will be called back to work cares? Or the small business owner who's wondering when his customers will resume placing orders?

This, then, is what's wrong with the Republican party. While the Democratic party may have been out of step with the prevailing winds and lacked strong leadership, they never lost sight of what their job was -  to focus on the problems of Americans and work towards solutions. Meanwhile, the Republicans continue to serve up the latest monster under the bed, continues to ignore the problems of average Americans, and fails to offer even halfhearted solutions.

This is fail on so many levels as to be too painful to watch. The Republican party, no longer so grand, but obviously very old, is just too far removed from the majority of the electorate. The are floundering in the wilderness, and some time in the future, when our future electorate stumbles across their fossils, they will be classified as a missing link and examined in amazement and wonder, and maybe with a touch of pity.

Oh, okay, so maybe 'touch of pity' is taking it too far.

I've been hearing, and reading, a lot lately on how investigating law breaking by the Bush administration would end up distracting Obama from his job of stewarding the country. How, exactly would Obama be distracted. It's not like the White House will be running any investigation. Let's remember, the Justice Department is an independent agency, not beholden to, or controlled by, the White House.

If memory serves me well (large amount of drugs and alcohol years ago make it not so much a possibility), when Nixon tried to control an investigation, he actually sealed his fate and ended up resigning.

Honestly, I think the village idiots are confused. It's they who would be distracted. We are talking about people who willingly, and easily, walked hand in hand with the Bush administration into the Greatest War Against Terror. And by hand in hand, I mean lead by the Bush administration because the villagers seem unable to walk and chew gum at the same time.

Okay, that was unfair. But it felt soooooo good to type.

Anyway, Obama's concern, which does hold merit, is that the American people would be distracted by the investigations, and the Republicans in the congress would step up their obstructionist behavior (and possibly a few complicit Democrats). However, is an increase in obstruction by Republicans any more of a problem then what they are doing now? And with the Blue Dogs already complicit in obstructing Health Reform....., well, I don't think it would be much worse then what he already faces. As for the American people? For the most part they are always distracted by something. Usually with the Legacy Media's help.

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.

Damn, I guess the Republicans didn't want to be out done:

U.S. Sen. James Inhofe dug himself in deeper Tuesday trying to explain why he called Al Franken "the clown from Minnesota" last week: "He kind of looked like a clown when I was talking to him."

Hat Tip: MN Independent

While it appears the Legacy Media continues to beat the drum about signs of recovery (because the corporate masters believe it will make the masses believe and the economy will magically improve) I am listening to the bloggers and economists (in two cases, both) who called the housing bubble and the financial meltdown. You see, I tend to listen to people who actually have a track record of being right.

Interesting that in most cases, they turn out not to be Republicans...........

Meghan McCain is impressing me more and more.

CNN

King: Do you consider yourself a moderate? Are you moderate liberal?

McCain: I consider myself a progressive Republican. I am liberal on social issues. And I think that the party is at a place where social issues shouldn't be the issues that define the party. And I have taken heat, but in fairness to me, I am a different generation than the people that are giving me heat. I'm 24 years old. I'm not in my 40s, I'm not in my 50s and older.

King: Therefore, you must, based on what you said, disagree with your father? ... Do you discuss it?

McCain: We have a very big generation gap between me and my father. Yes, we discuss them. He's very open-minded. I was raised in an open-minded home. I was raised a Christian, but I was raised open-minded Christian -- one to accept people, love people, not pass judgment. ...

I believe in gay marriage. ... I personally am pro-life, but I'm not going to judge someone that's pro-choice. It is not my place to judge other people and what they do with their body.

I really hope she is the future of the Republican Party, because as is stands now, it's dying a slow painful death.

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.

Someone needs to redo the old Paul McCartney song "Uncle Albert" and switch the lyrics to say "We're So Sorry, Uncle Limbaugh. We're so sorry if we caused you any pain." etc., and so on. Seriously, it could become the Republican's new theme song.

And while we are on the subject of apologies.

Maybe I am wrong about this, but when you elevate people into a position of leading your party, don't you think it would be better to select people who, you know, actually helped someone decisively win office?

Welcome to the era of MN Republican Fail.

CNN

The jury found Stevens guilty of "knowingly and willfully" scheming to conceal on Senate disclosure forms more than $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts from an Alaska-based oil industry contractor.

Stevens faces a maximum sentence of up to to 35 years in prison -- five years for each of the seven counts.

Legal experts note the judge has the discretion to give Stevens as little as no jail time and probation when he is sentenced.

As Stevens left the defense area, he and his wife exchanged a kiss on the cheek. Stevens said: "It's not over yet." Stevens' defense team said they will move for a new trial.

CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- House Republicans on Monday objected to new spending measures that congressional Democrats are considering as they draft a $150 billion economic stimulus package.

Eschaton

I think at some point the wingnuts stopped having a conversation with the country and started having a conversation amongst themselves. It makes sense to them, but is gibberish to to the rest of us.

With one sentence, Atrios sums up the Republican party's failure.

Maureen Dowd can be a real misogynist at times. But damn! when she's on, she is on

New York Times

The cheap populism is really rich coming from Karl Rove. When was the last time he kicked back with a corncob pipe to watch professional wrestling?

Rove is trying to spin his myths, as he used to do with such devastating effect, but it won't work this time. The absurd spectacle of rich white conservatives trying to paint Obama as a watercress sandwich with the crust cut off seems ugly and fake.

Obama can be aloof and dismissive at times, and he's certainly self-regarding, carrying the aura of the Ivy faculty club. But isn't that better than the aura of the country clubs that tried to keep out blacks? It's ironic, and maybe inevitable, that the first African-American nominee comes across as a prince of privilege. He is, as Leon Wieseltier of The New Republic wrote, not the seed but the flower of the civil rights movement.

Unlike W., Obama doesn't have a chip on his shoulder and he doesn't make a lot of snarky remarks. He tries to stay on a positive keel and see things from the other person's point of view.

He's not Richie Rich, saved time and again by Daddy's influence and Daddy's friends, the one who got waved into Yale and Harvard and cushy business deals, who drank too much and snickered at the intellectuals and gave them snide nicknames.

This is probably propogating a sexual stereotype, but damn, she sure did castrate Rove. Well, she would have, if he actually had any balls to begin with.

The Minnesota Independent

The Humane Society, the largest animal welfare organization in the world, slammed Rep. Michele Bachmann for her vote last week against a bill outlawing the sale of apes, monkeys and other non-human primates in the exotic pet trade. The group took Bachmann to task for the primate vote as well as votes to allow trophy hunting of endangered polar bears and to allow the slaughter of wild horses for human consumption.  The Captive Primate Safety Act, H.R. 2964, prohibits the sale of apes, monkeys and other primates as pets.

What's the big fuss? It's obvious she is simply looking to keep her career options open after politics. I am sure she will make a nice household primate pet to some deserving family. Are baboons good household pets?