Having Your Cake and Voting Against It Too

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Robert Barrimond

PolitiFact | Obama criticizes Republicans who opposed stimulus, then claim credit for projects it funded.

– Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky. Davis, a three-term congressman, issued a news release on Jan. 28, 2009, the day of the first House vote on the stimulus, in which he was quoted saying that “this so-called ‘stimulus’ legislation is full of pet spending projects that will do very little to restore confidence in our economy or create jobs.”

But 11 months later, on Dec. 16, 2009, Davis sent out a release announcing the awarding of a $1 million-plus grant for the Carroll County School District. “Congressman Geoff Davis is pleased to announce that the Carroll County School District has been awarded $1,044,140 in funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) Early Head Start Expansion Program,” the release stated. It goes on to say, “In these difficult economic times, it is critical to ensure that vulnerable populations in Kentucky have access to important support services like those provided by the Early Head Start program. This important grant will allow Carroll County School District to expand their ability to provide needed assistance to local low-income families and children. I am very proud of the work that the Carroll County School District is doing to strengthen their community, and I am pleased that our office was able to assist them in obtaining these funds.”

As it happened, on the very same day, Davis sent out a separate release in which he referred to the “failed trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill.”

Breathtaking hypocrisy.

Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Robert Barrimond

Budget Sense and Nonsense « The Baseline Scenario:

“So, let’s recap. The medium-term deficit problem was created by Bush tax cuts and by an unfunded Bush-era expansion of Medicare. The long-term deficit problem is all about Medicare. Yet the only solution that Republicans can think of is reducing spending–but not Medicare spending. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise us; Mitch McConnell gave us this, after all:*”

(Via The Baseline Scenario.)

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Why I’m not into Elephants

Posted on February 3, 2010 by Robert Barrimond

Are African-Americans ready to embrace the GOP? Part 2

Jeff Booker, who is currently on the Gloucester Township GOP committee and previously served as the Executive Director of Camden County GOP (2002-04) stated, “I believe that the GOP is the party that exemplifies responsibility, small government, liberty, and self-determination. Younger blacks are becoming Republican because they see the negative affect of a large out of control government can be. As you get older, people start to change their views. We are starting to see suspicion in the local Democratic Party. However, our party has not done a good job of recruiting people of color and I am apart [sic] of the effort to do better.”

via Examiner.com.

First let me say Jeff is a good friend and I respect him and his choice to be a Republican. Even more I applaud his efforts to recruit better. I have long been suspicious of the party because of it’s deplorable track record regarding race and it’s loud and showy “Christianity” that is short on the values that Jesus taught. Having said that, GOP ideology when reduced to core principles that can flexibly be expressed in policy are compatible with mine which are generally center left. If a GOP candidate focused on the following, which generally deals with how the GOP could handle race and religion, I wouldn’t rule out voting for them. (Hey, after the 2008 campaign where Palinites were shouting, “KILL HIM!” that’s the best I can do.)

You Can Be Tough on Crime…Equally – By the DOJ’s own statistics, blacks in the system face a stacked deck from drug war laws that give poor, lower level criminals longer sentences than the kingpins who supply them to the unequal sentencing of the death penalty to police brutality and murder and racial profiling.
You Have to Have a Job to Have Your Taxes to Cut – It has been scientifically proven that a black man with a clean job history has less of a chance of getting hired than a white ex-con…in New York City. And that’s in a blue, blue, blue state. Imagine the red states where the GOP dominates. You don’t have to be for Affirmative Action. Craft a policy such as class based affirmative action, that you can prove benefits poor black folks and that your ideology can support. Bougie Negroes like Jeff and I might not benefit, but so what? AA wasn’t supposed to be for us anyway!
Come Clean about a Racist Past and THEN Move On (no pun intended) – Ever since Nixon first employed the infamous Southern Strategy, the GOP has used the racial fears and racism in white voters to win elections from Willie Horton to Barack “HUSSEIN” Obama. And despite Ken Mehlman’s apology to the NAACP, I have not seen any serious attempt to change this. Painting Obama as an Arab/Muslim was a clear example of this. Stop providing joy and comfort to racists. And be public about it. We don’t trust you otherwise. It’s that simple.
Know What Christian Values Are and Live Them- Jesus was very specific on being anti-death penalty (John 8:2-11), lending without expectation of repayment (Luke 6:35), giving generously to the poor and uplifting them (Luke 6:20, 18:22), turning the other cheek (Luke 6:29), blessing our enemies (Luke 6:28), providing care to the sick (Matthew 25:34-40), praying in private (Matthew 6:5-6), and visiting prisoners (Matthew 25:34-40). The party really needs to reconsider it’s pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-prison, public prayer, anti-poor, anti-healthcare policies before you can claim a lock on Christian values (Matthew 25:41-46). I mean, really! (Luke 6:46-49)

So if the party can produce a candidate that seriously deals with the four points above, I don’t see why plenty of black people wouldn’t consider the party myself included.

The Party Mans Up

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize today. The Rebs quickly criticized it in the same spirit of us losing the 2016 Olympics. Then comes this from the Dems:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore – it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

I’m not one to cheer the Dems but I clapped…hard…when I read that.

Skin Deep – Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics – NYTimes.com

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

Skin Deep – Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics – NYTimes.com:

“Anyone who thought such preconceptions were outdated would have been reminded otherwise by some negative reactions to the president’s 11-year-old daughter, Malia Obama, who wore her hair in twists while in Rome this summer. Commenters on the conservative blog Free Republic attacked her as unfit to represent America for stepping out unstraightened.”

(Via NY Times.)

So, a black child’s natural hair is unfit to represent America. Only straightening it to approximate Caucasian hair, would. Right. And why should black people trust this party? Ever?

On Liars

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200 | FactCheck.org:

“A few readers alerted us to the fact that a state representative in North Carolina, Rep. Curtis Blackwood, published a version of the e-mail in a newsletter to constituents, telling them that while going through e-mail, he came across ‘some interesting information on the Democrats’ big health care bill, H.R. 3200. … While this is federal legislation and not state, the topic is of enough significance that I thought many of you would be interested in reading it.’ We’d refer Rep. Blackwood to our special report on viral messages titled, ‘That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.’
We can trace the origins of this collection of claims to a conservative blogger who issued his instant and mostly mistaken analyses as brief ‘tweets’ sent via Twitter as he was paging through the 1,017-page bill. The claims have been embraced as true and posted on hundreds of Web sites, and forwarded in the form of chain e-mails countless times. But there’s hardly any truth in them.”

(Via FactCheck.org.)

And this is why I said that the GOP leadership is behaving in a fashion devoid of morals, truth, and decency. A congressman, with access to the actual bill and the staff to read it, sends a chain email (!) from a conservative blogger, one with a reading comprehension problem, to his constituents. Now that’s constituent service for you.

Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

Going Strong on the Wrong Message | The American Prospect:

“But what every one of the 68 percent of Americans who are not both white and male saw, once again, was the deep well of outrage at discrimination that Republicans seem only to summon when it’s a white guy who got the short end of the stick.
The fact of the matter is that a party that builds its foundation on the racial grievances of white men is doomed to defeat after defeat.”

(Via The American Prospect.)

I think the GOP leaders really showed their true colors (no pun intended) on race. It makes Steele look like a straight token and nothing more. It kills any credibility in the claim that the party is not racist. They just can’t seem to help themselves.

Newscoma » Racist And Ridiculous

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

Newscoma » Blog Archive » Racist And Ridiculous:

“Christian Grantham talks to Ms. Goforth, who admits she sent the email.

When I asked her if she understood the controversial nature of the photo, Goforth would only say she felt very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list. When I gave her a second chance to address the controversial nature of the email, she again repeated that she only felt bad about sending it to the wrong list of people.

I sent it to the wrong list of people? Huh.”

(Via Newscoma.)

My problem isn’t with the racists so much as it is with the GOP environment that would give them aid and comfort.

The Importance Of Being Politically Correct – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Posted on May 29, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

The Importance Of Being Politically Correct – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“Liberal Tolerance is the long war, it’s the long game. It’s Barack Obama, at his core. Liberal tolerance–not Jesse Helms–argued for interracial unions. Liberal tolerance is what allowed Obama to neutralize Rev. Wright, and make his race speech. Liberal tolerance is what allowed him to go to Notre Dame and talk with empathy about abortion. Liberal tolerance bets on the future. It presages that world (the world of today) that the GOP has spent very little time preparing for.
Below is a video of Tom Tancredo claiming that La Raza is the Latino KKK. But Tom Tancredo knows very little about Latinos, La Raza or the KKK. He is the embodiment of conservative ignorance. He is the apex of Schiavo, ‘white hands,’ creationist museums, and, presently, the notion that the thrice-married should carry the banner for marriage.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Why conservatives and racist keep ending up in the same sentence. (Go to the main article too. The video says it all.)

The Power Of Appointment – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Posted on May 28, 2009 by Robert Barrimond

The Power Of Appointment – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“More likely, when you have a party, in which people feel comfortable coming to rallies and saying on camera that they won’t vote for a black guy, then that party will have people asserting the right to mispronounce Sotomayor’s name. That party will have people arguing that Sotomayer’s food choices are evil. It’s highly unlikely that that party will have some sort of sophisticated tolerence game at the ready. They are who they are.”