Keep America Afraid

This is a dope web ad. Hope it spreads like wildfire!



By the way Democratic ad people, that song at the end of the ad, you know the same song featured prominently in the movie "Donnie Darko"? Yeah, that's good background music for attack ads.

Just sayin

Byrd Still Has Some Bite

Check out this excerpt from a letter to the editor sent by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, he of 90+ years of age.

With all due respect, the Daily Mail's hyperbole about "imposing government control," acts of "disrespect to the American people" and "corruption" of Senate procedures resembles more the barkings from the nether regions of Glennbeckistan than the "sober and second thought" of one of West Virginia's oldest and most respected daily newspapers.

If only some of his younger collegues showed such chutzpah!

Who Does This Sound Like?

The California man who opened fire last night outside the Pentagon was a property rights extremist who railed against the government's ability to "confiscate the resources of their citizens to fund schemes that need only be justified by lies and deception," and wanted to "eliminate the role of the government in education."

In a recorded manifesto called "Directions To Freedom", the audio of which he posted online in 2006, John Patrick Bedell, of Hollister, California, praised private property as "the most successful basis for structuring society that humanity has ever known."

Bedell shot two police officers last night during the rampage, before being mortally wounded himself.

"Communist and socialist governments that abolished or disregarded private property," said Bedell in the recording, "created poverty, repression and murder on a truly enormous scale." But, he continued, "Even in the United States, however, there has been a continual erosion of protection of private property justified by the belief that government is an efficient instrument for the positive direction of society."

Bedell added: "Governments lack the profit and loss incentives that individuals and private organizations must use..."

And he warned: "When governments are able to confiscate the resources of their citizens to fund schemes that need only be justified by lies and deception enormous disasters can result."

Bedell also denounced the monetary system, a frequent bete noir of anti-government extremists. "When the government can control how private property is used," he said, "and especially when the government controls the monetary system that is use to exchange private property, the government has the mechanisms and the motivation to control individuals to the smallest detail."

Bedell even railed against the concept of public education. "Government control of the schools that shape minds is pervasive in today's world," he said. "The imperative to defend the freedom of conscience must lead us to eliminate the role of the government in education and leave parents and communities free to raise their children as they see fit." He denounced public education as "no more legitimate than a government-run church for universal religious training."

TPM

I wonder how many people are going to have to get hurt or killed before the mainstream media starts calling a spade a spade.

A Real Grassroots Campaign

Boynton Beach, Fla. - Kendrick Meek joined supporters and volunteers in Boynton Beach today as the campaign's historic effort to help Kendrick qualify for the ballot by petition comes to a close later this month.

"From day one of our petition drive we have been focused on people of this state, not on their political parties or ideology. Our fight is for the hard working individuals in this community who want good paying jobs to support themselves and their families. Retirees in this community are searching for work or their savings are going down. Both of these situations were never a part of their retirement plans. We are reaching out to Floridians from all communities who want a future that is better than their present, that rejects the status quo, and puts the interests of people ahead of the powerful," said Kendrick Meek, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.

Kendrick Meek and his campaign are entering the final month of an unprecedented petition drive. By collecting 112,476 petitions from Florida voters, Kendrick will be the first statewide candidate in Florida history to earn his place on the ballot by petition.

In recent weeks, Kendrick has met with citrus growers in Dover, students in Gainesville, young professionals in Tallahassee, veterans in Pensacola, unemployed families in Orlando, scientists and engineers in Daytona Beach, and received endorsements from Florida's teachers, firefighters and police officers.

They're Not Embarrassed

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Jon Stewart Once Again Practicing Journalism

There is at least one person on TV willing to challenge FoxNews' bullshit line about being fair and balanced without any false equivalence. Unfortunately that person happens to be a comedian by trade...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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My Bill Halter Messaging Manifesto

I left this comment over at The Plum Line explaining how Bill Halter can win the messaging war with Blanche Lincoln. There is no other Democrat I would love to see get kicked to the curb this cycle than Lincoln and I for one want to see her go down in glorious fashion.

Aye, Bill Halter or Bill Halter’s people. If you are reading this let me give you some free advice to beat Blanche Lincoln. I know you might ask why you should follow my advice, but hey I have been right about messaging if not policy most of the last year. So here’s what you do.

Use Republican tactics to paint Lincoln as a Republican.

You see she is basically overlooking the primary right now and already going for the center for the general election. That could and should be a fatal flaw for her but only if you exploit it. In her web ad Blanche Lincoln just, say it with me, “disparaged all the Democrats in Arkansas” and you should DEMAND an apology. Every time Blanche Lincoln says something bad about Democrats in Congress or President Lincoln, what YOU want to do is conflate that with every day hard working blue collar Democrats in Arkansas. And when I say every time, I mean every time. Hit her so many times with this that she ends up having to either stop bashing President Obama and his agenda OR declare her intentions to switch parties. In point of fact you should ask, over and over and over again, what makes her different from any Republican. Point to President Obama’s words at the Senate Democratic caucus a few weeks ago when he said voters are going to start asking why should they vote for a Democrat over a Republican if they vote exactly the same.

Stay on the offensive. Always always punch first. No matter what she says in public find a way to make it a bad thing. If she sides with Republicans point that out and say thats who she really is anyway. If she sides with Democrats say she is a flip flopper just running to the left to try to get the nomination only to have 6 more years of standing against her party. Get big bold signs printed up that have quotes of her bashing the Democratic Party and especially Democratic issues like health care reform and the clean air act. Remember hunters and fisherman don’t much like pollution in Arkansas.

Lastly turn the big tent around on Blanche Lincoln. In order to keep her from pigeon holing you has an ideologue which is what she is now going to try to do, paint HER as the ideologuy who only wants conservatives in the Democratic party. Say you will work with Democrats of all stripes but at the end of the day being a Democrat should come with some unity on big issues. Lincoln on the other hand throws tantrums when people disagree in her party and she has nothing but disdain for Democrats who aren’t conservative. Say that maybe somebody as rigid ideologically as her would fit in better with Republicans.

Again, link her to Republicans over and over again especially against big issues like Health Care.

Every shot she is going to try to take at you anticipate and turn it back on her. She will try to link you to outside interest groups. Instead of responding and defending yourself like you have in recent days, turn it around on her and say she is bought and paid for by special interests. Point out the small average size of your donations with out denoting where they are coming from and point out that your views on stuff like health care and the public option coincide with the people of Arkansas, while Blanche Lincoln takes special interest money and votes against the will of her constituents. So who should the people of Arkansas believe? A guy who gets small donations and runs on issues that enjoy an overwhelming majority of support, or a woman who gets big donations and finds every opportunity to bash the Democrats and vote against the will of the people of Arkansas?

Offense offense offense.

Oh and to keep from getting accused of being too rough with Lincoln because she’s a woman, and yes they are going to try to do that once you gain ground, don’t always attack her directly. Instead say something to the effect of “Its not so much Blanche Lincoln I have a problem with, but the special interests that continue to influence her votes.

ATTENTION do not in anyway say anything that could be construed as her taking money for favors or being a “whor*”

Welp that’s it. If you follow that plan you win going away and you still haven’t gone too far left for the general. Lincoln’s mistake is her hubris in thinking she won’t have to go left at all until its too late.

Thank me later

Righteous indignation should be the buzz word every day for the Halter campaign in my opinion. Turn Democratic voters off to Blanche Lincoln in such a way that they can't wait for election day to get her ass out of there. Drive voter turnout by saying that if Lincoln wins the primary its guaranteed a Republican will represent Arkansas whether she wins the general or not.

Somewhere Michael Eric Dyson's Head Just Exploded

Jay Z went by the White House yesterday and had a short meeting with President Obama.

I can't imagine the hell thats about to break loose with the "Soul Patrol" behind this! LOL

Black History Month Fail

If you are a teacher that sincerely believes its appropriate to have your students "celebrate" O.J. Simpson and RuPaul for black history month then you are too dumb to teach MY kids.

Also, if you are a parent who thinks this is no big deal then you are too dumb to raise YOUR kids.

real talk.

The Politics Of Fear

Leaked RNC document reveals that the GOP will attempt to fundraise off scaring the shit out of their donors with words like "socialism" and pictures of President Obama as the Joker.

Also water is still wet, and ice is still cold.

Yawn

Pass The Damn Bill!!!

President Obama calls for an up or down vote on health care reform.

You Had Me At Your First Graff

My gut reaction on reading Marc Thiessen's new book, Courting Disaster, was: "Why is a speechwriter who's never served in the military or intelligence community acting as an expert on interrogation and national security?" Certainly, everyone is entitled to a voice in the debate over the lawfulness and efficacy of President Bush's abusive interrogation program, regardless of qualifications. But if you're not an expert on a subject, shouldn't you interview experts before expressing an opinion? Instead, Thiessen relies solely on the opinions of the CIA interrogators who used torture and abuse and are thus most vulnerable to prosecution for war crimes. That makes his book less a serious discussion of interrogation policy than a literary defense of war criminals. Nowhere in this book will you find the opinions of experienced military interrogators who successfully interrogated Islamic extremists. Not once does he cite Army Doctrine—which warns of the negative consequences of torture and abuse. Courting Disaster is nothing more than the defense's opening statement in a war crimes trial.

Former Senior Military Interrogator "Matthew Alexander"

Trust me, it only gets better from there. You will want to read it all the way through.

She Goin In, She Goin In, She Goin In

...and she gone go hard, and she gone go hard, and she gone go hard.

Rachel Maddow pretty much ethered the whole Republican caucus in the Senate tonight, it was magnificent to behold!

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Dan Hasn't Lost His Touch

Froomkin calls bullshit on all the Rahm love circulating in the media at the moment as only he can lol.

Chris Matthews Is a Dick

So Tweety decides that he wants to talk about Jim Bunning blocking unemployment benefits for millions of Americans today. But instead of hitting Bunning for being an asshole, he invites on the Democratic nominee for Bunning's seat to bash HIM because the Democrats are being mean to Bunning.

No, I'm not kidding.

Its bad enough that Tweety ambushes the guy and acts like he is in the wrong because Democrats are exposing Bunning's hypocrisy, he also gets damn near every fact of the situation wrong proclaiming that Bunning wants to borrow from TARP to pay for the benefits when in point of fact Bunning is trying to kill the stimulus bill by borrowing from it. And of course Matthews TOTALLY forgot to mention that a few weeks ago when PAYGO was up for a vote, his baseball idol Bunning voted against it.

This kind of shit is beyond the pale and it would be helpful if people punished bad journalism like this rather than rewarded it with multi million dollar deals.

MSNBC and Chris Matthews should fucking apologize for such biased behavior.