The same GOP assholes who think its ok to deprive American citizens of their miranda rights ALSO think that people on the FBI terrorist watch list should be able to buy guns.
Fuck those assholes.
That is all.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Backpedalling Faster Than Deion Sanders
Marco Rubio flip flopping on the Arizona "Papers Please" unconstitutional immigration racial profiling law was as predictable Michael Steele making an ass out of himself. After the teabaggers got after him about his opposition he couldn't wait to "clarify" his remarks and stand with the white supremecists and xenophobes pushing that steaming pile of bullshit. Oh and neither the statistics nor the sherriffs are on his side when he tries to sell that bullshit line about Mexican violence spilling over into Arizona.
Florida deserves a helluva lot better than this.
Vote Kendrick Meek in November and get all of your friends and family members to do the same.
Florida deserves a helluva lot better than this.
Vote Kendrick Meek in November and get all of your friends and family members to do the same.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Honesty
I don't think many people will ever mistake Senator John Thune for an intellectual heavyweight, but today he said something pretty profound:
Maybe it wasn't so much profound as much as it was unintentionally honest. Simply put in Thune's own words Republican leadership in the Senate isn't interested in policy but Corker is so he may disagree with them on policies that may actually be good for the country but were proposed by Democrats.
This SHOULD be the stuff of a million campaign ads.
hint hint...
Sen. John Thune (R) of South Dakota, a member of the Senate Republican leadership, thinks he knows why Corker is willing to occasionally break party ranks and work with Dems."I think he's a guy who's willing to get down into the weeds," said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who is No. 4 in GOP leadership. "Because [Corker] immerses himself in that and understands it so well -- the positions he adopts may not always be the ones that everyone else in our conference comes to."
Maybe it wasn't so much profound as much as it was unintentionally honest. Simply put in Thune's own words Republican leadership in the Senate isn't interested in policy but Corker is so he may disagree with them on policies that may actually be good for the country but were proposed by Democrats.
This SHOULD be the stuff of a million campaign ads.
hint hint...
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Super Centrist Fail
You might have noticed that I haven't been posting as much lately.
So did I.
I bring up my blog every day but I rarely feel the motivation to post anything any more. I mean I see things every day in the news that probably deserve a post but the motivation, especially when it comes to trying to promote the Obama administration's agenda, has waned for me somewhat.
I'm a progressive and a Democrat and maybe not in that order but its getting harder and harder to defend the way the White House treats their base. And I'm not talking about some far left base that throws hissy fits when they don't get any and everything they hope for plus a pony. I am talking about the policy wonks who have proven ideas. Im talking about the people who have worked in the federal government before an know about what they are talking about. Im talking about all the supporters who phone banked and went door to door and blogged to help get President Obama elected because he promised a new kind of politics. And no that new kind of politics was never sold as some bold new "bipartisanship". No we were told that good ideas would trump all no matter which side they came from.
But that isn't what is happening these days. Instead the White House which takes great delight in beating up on cable news shows (rightly so in many occasions) enables those very jack asses by creating and perpetrating all of these false equivalencies between the truly wacky far right and the reasonable and most of the time correct left/liberal/progressive wing of his party. Its like he feels to dismiss idiotic complaints that right wingers will continue to make about his agenda he has to balance it by devaluing constructive criticism from the left that would actually help on policy.
The stimulus bill, health care reform, climate change, financial regulation, immigration reform. Every single issue has all of a sudden become about not doing that which is right and most effective but instead that which looks most "centrist". Unfortunately for us all the because the right wing in this country has gone over a cliff the center has shifted dramatically in that direction. And the result ultimately will be legislation that isn't nearly as effective as it could have and should have been. And an electorate that no longer trusts Democrats.
You see it every day where the Republicans are kicking our asses in the enthusiasm gap. And why shouldn't they? When almost every single day this White House that most of us on the left fought terribly hard for keeps repeatedly kicking us in the teeth and giving us their ass to kiss?
Oh and I know some folks will chime in "but look at all Democrats have done". Yeah, I have used that argument before and on some levels it has standing. But even when we win battles in legislation, we are losing the war of public opinion. And if you think that doesn't matter, just wait and see what happen if the House really does go back to the Republicans after November. Not a got damn thing will get done and there will be investigations on top of investigations over bullshit.
And although I had my reservations last year, I have to say that now losing the House is a real possibility.
Why? Because if the Democratic President and his aides are constantly shitting on his most ardent supporters who is going to not only vote for other Democrats in the midterms, but help get out other voters to vote for Democrats in the midterms?
Just in the last few weeks you have President Obama practically chanting "Drill Baby Drill". You have him perpetrating the fraudulent argument that liberal judges were "activists". You have his White House directing Senator Dodd to weaken the financial regulation bill in the name of bullshit "bipartisanship". And of course we have his weaksauce deficit commission which will no doubt end up wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare rather than defense spending.
I rememeber last year when Paul Krugman was ripping President Obama to shreds because he didn't fight for a bigger, more effective stimulus bill. He presented all kinds of evidence to back up his argument and I remember having some skepticism. I mean I really was excited about Obama's presidency but on the other hand I really respected Krugman on economics so the two were hard to reconcile. Ultimately I figured maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But if you look at unemployment right now there is no doubt that Krugman was right. And here's the thing, having a bigger better bill wouldn't have brought any more scorn than the bill that passed did because the bill that passed was called socialism and every other scary word that Republicans could come up with.
The key difference is that by this time its highly likely that a bigger better bill would have been much more effective and unemployment would have been much closer to 5% than 10%. In that situation its much easier to explain how effective the bill is because the results are right there in front of you. It would have also made it a lot harder for anybody to take the Tea Baggers seriously. But instead we went the "Super Centrist" route and let Presidents Nelson, Lieberman, and Snowe write the bill and now not only did we get blasted on the front in, to this day the majority of Americans don't think the stimulus worked.
Yeah I know whether they think it worked or not SHOULDN'T be a big deal as long as it actually works. But again this is what I am talking about when it comes to the war of public opinion. After the voters toss Democrats out on their ass in November none of them will attribute any subsequent positive changes to the economy to the stimulus bill. For them it will all be magic due to the fact that the shitty socialist Dems aren't in power any more.
And its kinda easy when the White House is pretty much helping Republicans frame it that way.
So I am kind of sitting on the sidelines at the moment trying to get the fire back. The sad thing is its not President Obama's electoral prospects that are being hurt here. The Republicans don't have a candidate that their base will accept that would also be a viable national candidate. So unless everything tanks all at once President Obama will walk in 2012. But every Democratic candidate at the ballot box this year will be weighed down by his rhetoric. They will all be fighting an uphill battle to get Democrats to come out and vote for them even in heavy democratic districts and blue states.
Ironically it may be that the best way for Democrats to get reelected this year is to start standing on Democratic principles and punching the White House from the left at times. Kendrick Meek who has my full support would do well to start punching NOW on off shore drilling. President Obama seems to be dead set on pressing ahead even with a disaster taking shape off the gulf coast. Its time to get Democrats and some true independents fired up by not just following him down this Super Centrist path all the damn time.
Im not talking about any Jane Hamsher FDL firebagger bullshit. Im talking about mainstream consensus progressive/liberal/democratic princples. Off shore drilling has never been a staple of a Democratic agenda and it shouldn't be now just to appease some Republican assholes who will never vote for anything anyway.
My prediction is that those Democrats who decided to break with the administration on serious policy issues from the left will fire up the base and get reelected. Those who decide to back him on every subject are going to get burned. You can't get people "Fired up and Ready to go" with some centrist bullshit that won't work. It just doesn't work that way.
So bear with me while I try to get back into the swing of things. You may notice a shift in tone but for the most part when I post you will see the same passion because I will be more choosey about which topics I get after. But I am going to start being a lot more openly critical of stupid moves by this administration. Its really for their own good and for the good of the Democratic Party because my biggest fear is a Republican Congress at such a critical moment in our history.
It is what it is.
So did I.
I bring up my blog every day but I rarely feel the motivation to post anything any more. I mean I see things every day in the news that probably deserve a post but the motivation, especially when it comes to trying to promote the Obama administration's agenda, has waned for me somewhat.
I'm a progressive and a Democrat and maybe not in that order but its getting harder and harder to defend the way the White House treats their base. And I'm not talking about some far left base that throws hissy fits when they don't get any and everything they hope for plus a pony. I am talking about the policy wonks who have proven ideas. Im talking about the people who have worked in the federal government before an know about what they are talking about. Im talking about all the supporters who phone banked and went door to door and blogged to help get President Obama elected because he promised a new kind of politics. And no that new kind of politics was never sold as some bold new "bipartisanship". No we were told that good ideas would trump all no matter which side they came from.
But that isn't what is happening these days. Instead the White House which takes great delight in beating up on cable news shows (rightly so in many occasions) enables those very jack asses by creating and perpetrating all of these false equivalencies between the truly wacky far right and the reasonable and most of the time correct left/liberal/progressive wing of his party. Its like he feels to dismiss idiotic complaints that right wingers will continue to make about his agenda he has to balance it by devaluing constructive criticism from the left that would actually help on policy.
The stimulus bill, health care reform, climate change, financial regulation, immigration reform. Every single issue has all of a sudden become about not doing that which is right and most effective but instead that which looks most "centrist". Unfortunately for us all the because the right wing in this country has gone over a cliff the center has shifted dramatically in that direction. And the result ultimately will be legislation that isn't nearly as effective as it could have and should have been. And an electorate that no longer trusts Democrats.
You see it every day where the Republicans are kicking our asses in the enthusiasm gap. And why shouldn't they? When almost every single day this White House that most of us on the left fought terribly hard for keeps repeatedly kicking us in the teeth and giving us their ass to kiss?
Oh and I know some folks will chime in "but look at all Democrats have done". Yeah, I have used that argument before and on some levels it has standing. But even when we win battles in legislation, we are losing the war of public opinion. And if you think that doesn't matter, just wait and see what happen if the House really does go back to the Republicans after November. Not a got damn thing will get done and there will be investigations on top of investigations over bullshit.
And although I had my reservations last year, I have to say that now losing the House is a real possibility.
Why? Because if the Democratic President and his aides are constantly shitting on his most ardent supporters who is going to not only vote for other Democrats in the midterms, but help get out other voters to vote for Democrats in the midterms?
Just in the last few weeks you have President Obama practically chanting "Drill Baby Drill". You have him perpetrating the fraudulent argument that liberal judges were "activists". You have his White House directing Senator Dodd to weaken the financial regulation bill in the name of bullshit "bipartisanship". And of course we have his weaksauce deficit commission which will no doubt end up wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare rather than defense spending.
I rememeber last year when Paul Krugman was ripping President Obama to shreds because he didn't fight for a bigger, more effective stimulus bill. He presented all kinds of evidence to back up his argument and I remember having some skepticism. I mean I really was excited about Obama's presidency but on the other hand I really respected Krugman on economics so the two were hard to reconcile. Ultimately I figured maybe it wouldn't be that big of a deal. But if you look at unemployment right now there is no doubt that Krugman was right. And here's the thing, having a bigger better bill wouldn't have brought any more scorn than the bill that passed did because the bill that passed was called socialism and every other scary word that Republicans could come up with.
The key difference is that by this time its highly likely that a bigger better bill would have been much more effective and unemployment would have been much closer to 5% than 10%. In that situation its much easier to explain how effective the bill is because the results are right there in front of you. It would have also made it a lot harder for anybody to take the Tea Baggers seriously. But instead we went the "Super Centrist" route and let Presidents Nelson, Lieberman, and Snowe write the bill and now not only did we get blasted on the front in, to this day the majority of Americans don't think the stimulus worked.
Yeah I know whether they think it worked or not SHOULDN'T be a big deal as long as it actually works. But again this is what I am talking about when it comes to the war of public opinion. After the voters toss Democrats out on their ass in November none of them will attribute any subsequent positive changes to the economy to the stimulus bill. For them it will all be magic due to the fact that the shitty socialist Dems aren't in power any more.
And its kinda easy when the White House is pretty much helping Republicans frame it that way.
So I am kind of sitting on the sidelines at the moment trying to get the fire back. The sad thing is its not President Obama's electoral prospects that are being hurt here. The Republicans don't have a candidate that their base will accept that would also be a viable national candidate. So unless everything tanks all at once President Obama will walk in 2012. But every Democratic candidate at the ballot box this year will be weighed down by his rhetoric. They will all be fighting an uphill battle to get Democrats to come out and vote for them even in heavy democratic districts and blue states.
Ironically it may be that the best way for Democrats to get reelected this year is to start standing on Democratic principles and punching the White House from the left at times. Kendrick Meek who has my full support would do well to start punching NOW on off shore drilling. President Obama seems to be dead set on pressing ahead even with a disaster taking shape off the gulf coast. Its time to get Democrats and some true independents fired up by not just following him down this Super Centrist path all the damn time.
Im not talking about any Jane Hamsher FDL firebagger bullshit. Im talking about mainstream consensus progressive/liberal/democratic princples. Off shore drilling has never been a staple of a Democratic agenda and it shouldn't be now just to appease some Republican assholes who will never vote for anything anyway.
My prediction is that those Democrats who decided to break with the administration on serious policy issues from the left will fire up the base and get reelected. Those who decide to back him on every subject are going to get burned. You can't get people "Fired up and Ready to go" with some centrist bullshit that won't work. It just doesn't work that way.
So bear with me while I try to get back into the swing of things. You may notice a shift in tone but for the most part when I post you will see the same passion because I will be more choosey about which topics I get after. But I am going to start being a lot more openly critical of stupid moves by this administration. Its really for their own good and for the good of the Democratic Party because my biggest fear is a Republican Congress at such a critical moment in our history.
It is what it is.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Where It Came From
Wanna know who wrote that racist Arizona immigration bill? Why white supremecists of course.
No, seriously...
You might want to decided if these are the people you want to be associated with.
No, seriously...
You might want to decided if these are the people you want to be associated with.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
This Ain't What You Want
Imma go wayyyyyyyyyy out on a limb and predict that Bernie Goldberg won't be picking another fight with Jon Stewart any time soon.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Bernie Goldberg Fires Back | ||||
| ||||
Independence Day
Have you gotten the news?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
So at this point I gotta ask, are there REALLY Floridians who would vote for a dude who was too much of a coward to stay and fight in his party's primary when you KNOW, hell he has SAID, that he would vote with the Republican Confederate Party if voted into office? I put nothing past anybody but I certainly hope nobody is that damned gullible.
If you want a Democrat, vote for the one in the race, Kendrick Meek! He is a strong progressive voice and he is running a grass roots campaign taking his message to the people. If you want a Republican you might as well go all the way with the scandal riddled Marco Rubio and be real about what you stand for. The choice here is simple. Progress or obstruction.
I will be voting with progress...
An independent bid by Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate looks imminent. One of his regional chairs and finance committee members, Rep. Tom Grady of Naples, just released this letter to the governor: "This evening, as I reviewed your updated campaign website, I noticed a disheartening fact. Your website has eliminated all references to our Republican Party, or as you frequently refer to it, the party of Lincoln."
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
So at this point I gotta ask, are there REALLY Floridians who would vote for a dude who was too much of a coward to stay and fight in his party's primary when you KNOW, hell he has SAID, that he would vote with the Republican Confederate Party if voted into office? I put nothing past anybody but I certainly hope nobody is that damned gullible.
If you want a Democrat, vote for the one in the race, Kendrick Meek! He is a strong progressive voice and he is running a grass roots campaign taking his message to the people. If you want a Republican you might as well go all the way with the scandal riddled Marco Rubio and be real about what you stand for. The choice here is simple. Progress or obstruction.
I will be voting with progress...
Friday, April 16, 2010
McDonnell As A Whipping Boy In The Midterms
I have a great idea for Democrats in tough midterm election races. I know many races will have a Tea Bagging candidate running far to the right, but other races in purple districts will have Republicans trying to masquerade as moderates so as not to scare off voters. If Democrats are smart they will us Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell as a whipping boy to run against those allegedly moderate Republicans. Pointing out that McDonnell also billed himself as a moderate and then immediately upon taking office showed himself to be a big time right winger going so far as to celebrate a Confederate History Month and then tying him to those moderates would be like found money. Not only will it get voters to look at them suspiciously, it will also force the moderates to take stances on very controversial subjects potentially pissing off their own right wing base. That's what's called going on the offensive and I hope some Democrats at least have the same thought.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Sorry, I Couldn't Resist
I know I said no posts about Sarah Palin and up till now I have held to that, but I just had to post this clip of President Obama treating any criticism from her exactly like it should be treated. Oh and George Stephanopolous is turning into one of the worst political hacks of our generation. Move over David Gregory!
Justice Stevens And Citizens United
With the announcement today that Jusice John Paul Stevens will be retiring this summer there is rampant speculation about who President Obama will select to replace him. Of course the other speculation is about how, not if but how, Senate Republicans will oppose whomever he nominates. But I will say this much and I hope Senate Democrats get this, they have the upper hand now. Last year all throughout Justice Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation process the Republicans kept trying to paint her as an "activist" judge who would rewrite law to fit her world view. It didn't stop her nomination, but I think it did do some damage to her in terms of public perception and also to President Obama as well for nominating her.
Well now the tides have turned in my opinion with the Citizens United decision handed down by the conservative, read Republican, majority on the Supreme Court. By over turning basically 100 years of case law not only did these judges serve as "activists", but they also pissed off the majority of the American people who don't want Congressional and Presidential races to turn into a situation where the corporations by all or most of the elections. Democrats should have a "wish a muthafucka would" mentality right now, hoping and praying that the Republicans are stupid enough to try to use that talking point again. Every time it comes up they should hammer them mercilessly about the Citizens United decision which not only will serve to protect whomever President Obama nominates, but will also serve to permanently connect the GOP to that decision. Basically they could kill two birds with one stone by helping the nominee and by making it a campaign issue.
Now there is a small chance that Republicans won't actually use that tact this go around, but I highly doubt it. These are not smart people for the most part and so their playbook isn't very large. You take away the "activist judges" talking point and what do they have left? Not much.
It will be interesting to see if Democrats finally take the opportunity to go on the offense instead of sitting on the sidelines or strictly playing defense.
Well now the tides have turned in my opinion with the Citizens United decision handed down by the conservative, read Republican, majority on the Supreme Court. By over turning basically 100 years of case law not only did these judges serve as "activists", but they also pissed off the majority of the American people who don't want Congressional and Presidential races to turn into a situation where the corporations by all or most of the elections. Democrats should have a "wish a muthafucka would" mentality right now, hoping and praying that the Republicans are stupid enough to try to use that talking point again. Every time it comes up they should hammer them mercilessly about the Citizens United decision which not only will serve to protect whomever President Obama nominates, but will also serve to permanently connect the GOP to that decision. Basically they could kill two birds with one stone by helping the nominee and by making it a campaign issue.
Now there is a small chance that Republicans won't actually use that tact this go around, but I highly doubt it. These are not smart people for the most part and so their playbook isn't very large. You take away the "activist judges" talking point and what do they have left? Not much.
It will be interesting to see if Democrats finally take the opportunity to go on the offense instead of sitting on the sidelines or strictly playing defense.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Contradiction
I admit I'm late on this one but something just occured to me today.
How is it that last year when Democrats were trying to pass the stimulus bill Republicans kept saying that the government can't create jobs and then when Democrats were trying to pass the health care reform bill Republicans kept saying they should be focused on trying to create jobs instead and nobody ever called them out on this contradiction?
Might be something to remember going forward when Democrats try to pass more jobs bills through Congress to bring down the unemployment rate.
How is it that last year when Democrats were trying to pass the stimulus bill Republicans kept saying that the government can't create jobs and then when Democrats were trying to pass the health care reform bill Republicans kept saying they should be focused on trying to create jobs instead and nobody ever called them out on this contradiction?
Might be something to remember going forward when Democrats try to pass more jobs bills through Congress to bring down the unemployment rate.
A Compelling Story
Ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce you to the next junior senator from the state of Florida, Congressman Kendrick Meek
Update: Here is the longer version
Update: Here is the longer version
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Lies, Damn Lies, And ACORN
Rachel Maddow deserves an award for her segment last night on how the mainstream media failed to fully investigate the video made by which purported to show ACORN engaged in encouraging and in some cases engaging in illegal activity. What's most messed up about the situation is that the damage has been done. The mainstream media egged on by the wingnut blogosphere pushed the story hard led of course by FauxNooz and when the shit appeared to be hitting the fan Democrats, as is their want, ran for the hills and abandoned ACORN, helping to defund them which effectively led to the dismantling of the organization. In a just world someone would pay for such shitty journalism. But considering how accountability free our mainstream media is now, I wouldn't hold my breath...
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Monday, April 5, 2010
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