A former GOP staffer writes on the current GOP: Where they--and we--are now

"Pandering to fundamentalism is a full-time vocation in the GOP. Beginning in the 1970s, religious cranks ceased simply to be a minor public nuisance in this country and grew into the major element of the Republican rank and file. Pat Robertson's strong showing in the 1988 Iowa Caucus signaled the gradual merger of politics and religion in the party. The results are all around us: if the American people poll more like Iranians or Nigerians than Europeans or Canadians on questions of evolution versus creationism, scriptural inerrancy, the existence of angels and demons, and so forth, that result is due to the rise of the religious right, its insertion into the public sphere by the Republican Party and the consequent normalizing of formerly reactionary or quaint beliefs. Also around us is a prevailing anti-intellectualism and hostility to science; it is this group that defines "low-information voter" - or, perhaps, "misinformation voter." The Constitution to the contrary notwithstanding, there is now a de facto religious test for the presidency: major candidates are encouraged (or coerced) to "share their feelings" about their "faith" in a revelatory speech; or, some televangelist like Rick Warren dragoons the candidates (as he did with Obama and McCain in 2008) to debate the finer points of Christology, with Warren himself, of course, as the arbiter. Politicized religion is also the sheet anchor of the culture wars. But how did the whole toxic stew of GOP beliefs - economic royalism, militarism and culture wars cum fundamentalism - come completely to displace an erstwhile civilized Eisenhower Republicanism? It is my view that the rise of politicized religious fundamentalism (which is a subset of the decline of rational problem solving in America) may have been the key ingredient of the takeover of the Republican Party. For politicized religion provides a substrate of beliefs that rationalizes - at least in the minds of followers - all three of the GOP's main tenets. Televangelists have long espoused the health-and-wealth/name-it-and-claim it gospel. If you are wealthy, it is a sign of God's favor. If not, too bad! But don't forget to tithe in any case. This rationale may explain why some economically downscale whites defend the prerogatives of billionaires. The GOP's fascination with war is also connected with the fundamentalist mindset. The Old Testament abounds in tales of slaughter - God ordering the killing of the Midianite male infants and enslavement of the balance of the population, the divinely-inspired genocide of the Canaanites, the slaying of various miscreants with the jawbone of an ass - and since American religious fundamentalist seem to prefer the Old Testament to the New (particularly that portion of the New Testament known as the Sermon on the Mount), it is but a short step to approving war as a divinely inspired mission. This sort of thinking has led, inexorably, to such phenomena as Jerry Falwell once writing that God is Pro-War. It is the apocalyptic frame of reference of fundamentalists, their belief in an imminent Armageddon, that psychologically conditions them to steer this country into conflict, not only on foreign fields (some evangelicals thought Saddam was the Antichrist and therefore a suitable target for cruise missiles), but also in the realm of domestic political controversy. It is hardly surprising that the most adamant proponent of the view that there was no debt ceiling problem was Michele Bachmann, the darling of the fundamentalist right. What does it matter, anyway, if the country defaults? - we shall presently abide in the bosom of the Lord." -- Mike Lofgren, writer, member of the Republican Party and former staff member of the US Congress. Links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/mike-lofgren; https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&tok=ExReM5_dSQ1A97X7NzYPcw&cp=8&gs_id=w&xhr=t&q=mike+lofgren&pf=p&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&pbx=1&oq=mike+lof&aq=0&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&fp=1&biw=1249&bih=560&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&cad=b

You can't blame him

Mind you, he was joking and he really isn't and can't be that confident but geez, they did give him an awful lot of "ammunition" with these debates, haven't they? And there are still more to come. Yikes. Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Iowa takeaways

Finally, the Iowa caucuses are over, thank goodness. With that and some new developments, it seems there's a lot going on. First things first, the results from last night: 1) Romney technically won, sure--by 8 measley votes. That ain't much, folks. The real winners? That has to go to Rick "I'm a lunatic" Santorum and Ron "I'm really not on the fringe" Paul. How else can you look at it? No one thought Santorum had a chance and to come in so close, in 2nd place? Then, Ron Paul finishes so closely in 3rd? Oh, yeah, those two came out big. What's interesting, too, is that it's been rather correctly pointed out that, with this, it shows 75% of those Iowa Republicans were against the man who is now considered the front-runner. That's not good for Willard. Or Mittens or whatever you want to call him. Also, to add tough insult to this injury, Newt Gingrich said both last night and this morning that he will, in essence, do everything he can to make sure Romney isn't the Republican presidential nominee. Yow. That'll hurt. That'll hurt the Party, for sure. (GOOD). Another winner last night? It had to be President Obama himself. This showed that the Republican Party is tearing itself apart---still. Seriously, President Obama should just use footage of all these candidates from this campaign, all saying horrible things about whoever becomes the Republcan's candidate. It would be easy, there's tons of it (the footage) and it's effective. Shoot, a lot of it is even true. One thing's for sure, it's going to be one crazy political year, made far crazier because corporations and the wealthy can spend all they want on the election, thanks to the Right Wing Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling last year. Yeehaw. Links: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/big-takeaway-iowa-75-republicans-don-t-want-152537896.html;_ylt=AsKtTYH1eCE9i5sAUGdem9eiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTQ0ZTRsMGZtBG1pdANGUCBUaGUgRGFpbHkgVGlja2VyBHBrZwM3NGY1MTYzNS1lN2E0LTMyNWItODMyMC00ZjkwOTZkOTRmNjAEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhU2VjdGlvbkxpc3QEdmVyAzViYWVmMjEwLTM2ZTgtMTFlMS05ZjJmLTg3ODhlODE4NzhmOA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3; http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/newt-gingrich-unloads-mitt-romney-ron-paul-hampshire-184017787.html; http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-celebrates-gop-win-2-rivals-flounder-143626145.html; http://news.yahoo.com/michele-bachmann-ends-her-presidential-campaign-not-her-174809476.html

Lovin' me some Michele Bachmann today

Have a great weekend, y'all.

On last evening's Republican candidate debate

‎"The moment that would have broken my father's heart was the moment when applause broke out at the mention of more than 200 executions ordered by Rick Perry in Texas. It was stunning and brought tears to my eyes. This is what we've come to? That we applaud at executions?" ~Patti Davis, Ronald Reagan's Daughter

Notes to Texas Governor Rick Perry, Rep Bachmann and their ilk

Link to original post: http://mockthedummy.com/2011/09/07/when-dummies-pray-for-a-savior/

Catfight!

Michelle Bachmann's new campaign adviser slams Sarah Palin

Now that I think about it, "Dogpile!" also seems applicable.

President roasts Michelle Bachmann and "The Donald" at Correspondent's Dinner

Quote of the day

         
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."  -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Which explains Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Steve Doocy, the Tea Party and too much of the American populace, sadly. 


Try to have a great weekend, y'all.  (And while you're at it, READ or watch some good, hard news).  :)

Further Obama-bashing has already begun and it needs to stop

The election is 3 days over and already the "Obama-bashing", in order to position for the 2012 election has begun.

From the news today, Mike Huckabee started saying on Fox "News" that the President's trip to India this week was going to cost $200 million per day.  Naturally, Michelle Bachmann repeated it, without either of them doing any research first, so the Drudge report and Glenn Beck spouted it, too.  (Not that Glenn Beck ever did any pesky "research", right?)

Truth be told, the claim came, from all places, from "an anonymous Indian government official."  


As it turns out, the story is absolutely false, no surprise.  At one point in the rumor, it was said that "the U.S. was stationing 34 warships—roughly 10 percent of the naval fleet--off the coast of Mumbai for security reasons."


Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell called the warship claim "absolutely absurd." "That's just comical," he said at Thursday's Pentagon news briefing.  "Nothing close to that is being done."


Additional verification of its silliness:  The nonpartisan FactCheck.org took up the issue, too, saying that even though the administration won't release a price tag, there is "simply no evidence to support" a claim of $200 million a day. One reason to doubt the report, according to the group:  The entire war in Afghanistan costs $190 million a day.


This brings up two points for me.  


The first is that the lies against this President should stop, along with the absurdity, ridiculousness and outlandishness of them.


But they won't stop.  Far from it.  If anything, because of the now-current 2012 election campaign that we'll all be exposed to ad nauseam/ad infinitum from here until that fateful November day, these kinds of things will only flourish.   Instead of all these people working for the betterment and improvement of the country, they will only continue to come up with this kind of nonsense--accusations, lies, attributions, etc.


Employment numbers came out today and they were positive.  Do you think the Republicans are going to celebrate that?  Heck no.  They're not going to be happy, clearly, if the country does well---and this President is re-elected.  Mitch McConnell made it clear when he said "The single-most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."


The second thing this all brings up for me now, today, and for the next 2 years ties in with this and that is that everyone--everyone--in this country--Republicans, Tea Party members, Libertarians, Democrats, Independents, all--should be working together as Americans, first, last and always, to make this country and all our conditions better.


Sadly, nearly unbelievably, this isn't going to happen. 


Between now and November 2012, Republicans are going to do everything they can--and it better not include impeachment proceedings but they may try that again--to see to it that our economy and our legislative process, both, go against the President so they'll "win" and he'll fail.


And to do that goes against this country in a lot of ways.


It seems very nearly treasonous.


Link to original post:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101105/el_yblog_upshot/citing-shady-numbers-republicans-take-aim-at-the-cost-of-obamas-trip-to-india/print
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/25/mcconnell-obama-one-term/

The 10 Most Ridiculous Quotes About Health Care Reform--and then some really ugly stupidity

They speak for themselves.

By Daniel Kurtzman, About.com Guide

1. "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." —Sarah Palin, in a message posted on Facebook about Obama's health care reform plan, Aug. 7, 2009

2. "To our seniors, I have a message for you: you're going to die sooner." –Sen. Tom Coburn (R- Okla.), on what will happen if health care reform passes, Dec. 1, 2009

3. "If ObamaCare passes, that free insurance card that’s in people’s pockets is gonna be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after the war between the states — the Great War of Yankee Aggression." –Rep. Paul Broun (R- Ga.), March 18, 2010

4. "They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God. This is an affront to God." –Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), interview with Glenn Beck, March 18, 2010

5. "Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), summing up the Republican health care plan

6. "Obama's got a health care logo that's right out of Adolf Hitler's playbook … Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate." —Rush Limbaugh, Aug. 6, 2009

7. "You have three people in the White House that are in love with eugenics or whatever it is you would call it today. … Please dear God, read history. Please dear God read the truth of what these people have said in their own words, and ask yourself this one question: Do you trust these people enough to give them control over who lives and who dies? Because that's what health care is when you have no other choice but to go to the state." —Glenn Beck, comparing health care reform to Nazi eugenics

8. "We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma." —Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Aug. 12, 2009

9. "That's why people need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the phone lines of their liberal members of Congress, and let them know, under no certain circumstances will I give the government control over my body and my health care decisions." —Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a pro-lifer who completely missed the irony of using the same slogan as the pro-choice movement

10. "Exercise freaks ... are the ones putting stress on the health care system." —Rush Limbaugh, June 12, 2009

~Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman

Up to now, they've only been saying fairly stupid, outrageous and ignorant things like the above.

They're going batshit crazy now, since health care reform passed.

In Washington, Saturday, as you no doubt know, some of the "Tea Party" protesters starting yelling "nigger" at RepresentativeJohn Lewism ,spat on our own representative Emanuel Cleaver (he waived charges) and yelled "homo" at Rep. Barney Frank, all in their anger. (But no, no, they're not racist or homophobic, right?).

Now it's getting really ugly.

In fact, the ugliest, stupidest and worst of all, that I've seen, to date, is two Twitter posts that suggest assassinating the President.

Here's hoping sanity rules.

Original link here:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/healthcare/a/health-care-reform-quotes.htm