Tag: GOP

The Importance Of Being Politically Correct – Ta-Nehisi Coates

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

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.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Indeed. You are what you repeatedly do. Damn the “Party of Lincoln” talk.

Party of the Divorceé

The GOP: divorced from reality – Los Angeles Times:

“And here’s the list of Republican obsessions since President Obama took office: that his birth certificate is supposedly fake, he uses a teleprompter too much, he bowed to a Saudi guy, Europeans like him, he gives inappropriate gifts, his wife shamelessly flaunts her upper arms, and he shook hands with Hugo Chavez and slipped him the nuclear launch codes.
Do these sound like the concerns of a healthy, vibrant political party?
It’s sad what’s happened to the Republicans. They used to be the party of the big tent; now they’re the party of the sideshow attraction, a socially awkward group of mostly white people who speak a language only they understand. Like Trekkies, but paranoid.
The GOP base is convinced that Obama is going to raise their taxes, which he just lowered. But, you say, ‘Bill, that’s just the fringe of the Republican Party.’ No, it’s not. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, is not afraid to say publicly that thinking out loud about Texas seceding from the Union is appropriate considering that … Obama wants to raise taxes 3% on 5% of the people?…
And if today’s conservatives are insulted by this, because they feel they’re better than the people who have the microphone in their party, then I say to them what I would say to moderate Muslims: Denounce your radicals. To paraphrase George W. Bush, either you’re with them or you’re embarrassed by them.”

(Via LA Times.)

Great piece by Maher.

Why Michael Steele Must Stay

Why Michael Steele Must Stay:

“So Michael Steele becomes the saving grace for the mainstream moderates and libertarians in the party (like me) and for those conservatives who ‘get it.’ GOP insiders like to say that Michael Steele works well for Republicans because he is a fresh conservative GOP face who ‘happens to be black.’ They have it wrong. The GOP needs Michael Steele because he is black and because he understands that he must speak for more than 30 percent of the party’s political base.
For the record, there are pro-choice Republicans.  There are Republicans who support gay marriage. There are Republicans like me who support affirmative action policies.  We are in the minority in the GOP, for sure, but if the party is going to survive and eventually thrive, it needs a leadership that acknowledges us. Republicans need Michael Steele. And, protests or not, they know it.”

(Via The Root.)

I’ve long thought that libertarianism is the path of success for the GOP. I’m just not sure the Christian Right will let that happen. They are just not into freedom they don’t define.

Truly Bankrupt

William Kristol – Republicans’ Day of Reckoning – washingtonpost.com:

“Conservatives and Republicans will disapprove of this effort. They will oppose it. Can they do so effectively?
Perhaps — if they can find reasons to obstruct and delay. They should do their best not to permit Obama to rush his agenda through this year. They can’t allow Obama to make of 2009 what Franklin Roosevelt made of 1933 or Johnson of 1965.”

(Via The Washington Post.)

How about offering alternative solutions? Oh yeah, you don’t have any that haven’t been offered! That’s when you know the GOP is completely bankrupt of any ideas. People are hip to the tax cut mantra since it did less than nothing to stop our current economic woes. (Quick note: Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.)

Steele trap?

Steele trap? GOP fears grow – Mike Allen and Andy Barr – POLITICO.com:

“Steadily becoming a dependable punch line, Steele has brushed back Rush Limbaugh, threatened moderate Republican senators, offered the ‘friggin’ awesome’ Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some ‘slum love,’ called civil unions ‘crazy’ and promised more outreach to ‘urban-suburban hip-hop settings’ via an ‘off the hook’ public relations campaign.
He even threw a shout-out to ‘one-armed midgets.’
That’s in just 30 days on the job — and that’s just the PR part.
“

(Via Politico.)

I’ve met the brother. I’m embarrassed for him. I’m not laughing as many of my friend are.

Then Don’t Take the Money

Commentary: If you oppose stimulus, don’t take the money – CNN.com:

“If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama’s economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money. After all, if you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don’t take federal money.”

(Via CNN.)

The Word – Pity Party | Wednesday November 12 | ColbertNation.com

The Word – Pity Party | Wednesday November 12 | ColbertNation.com:

“”

(Via The Colbert Nation.)

Classic conservatism? Victims whenever they lose?

FactCheck.org: GOP Convention Spin, Part II

FactCheck.org: GOP Convention Spin, Part II:

“The bridge reversal is not the only matter throwing doubt on Palin’s credentials as a government waste reformer. Watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has reported that the small town of Wasilla, Alaska, which had not previously received significant federal funds, hauled in almost $27 million in earmarks while Palin was mayor. (McCain has explicitly criticized several of the Wasilla earmarks in recent years.) To help obtain these earmarks, Palin had hired Steven Silver, the former chief of staff for recently indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, as Wasilla’s lobbyist.
And Palin continued to solicit federal funds as governor. A request form on Stevens’ Web site shows that she requested $160.5 million in earmarks for the state in 2008, and almost $198 million for 2009. ”

(Via FactCheck.org.)

Not quite the reformer we though she was. Oh well, she’s done in my book if that’s all she’s got backing her story.

Why the GOP is SOL with Me

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.

In the article, FactCheck.org Radio Ads Accuse Kerry Of Not Helping Blacks, I got a good strong dose of why I think supporting the GOP is misguided at best, at least in this election.
The 527 behind the ads, the so-called People of Color United, exemplify the mudslinging that’s become so distasteful in this election cycle. I assert that both parties are definitely supporting this behavior for short term political ends. Many of the ads contain so many distortions of the truth that I can’t really say they convey the truth at all, even a slanted version of it.
The worst example of this was the ad about how Kerry failed to save a measure to extend unemployment benefits. Words can’t convey my anger at the ad itself, which drips with hypocrisy and lies by omission of key facts. How insulting is it when a party is willing to (indirectly) blame an opposing candidate for not saving a measure that they themselves killed? I will quote the FactCheck.org article for proof [bold emphasis mine]:

However, the main reason the measure failed was that most Republicans voted against it, and because Republicans raised a point of order to ensure that 60 votes, rather than a simple majority of those voting, would be needed for passage. (The vote was 40-59: 60 votes were needed to pass because the measure required a waiver of pay-as-you-go provisions of the Budget Act.) There were 39 Republicans and one Democrat voting against,  with 47 Democrats and only 12 Republicans voting in favor.

My problem here is not one of ideology (although I disagree with much of Republican ideology), it’s one of decency and integrity: simply telling the truth.

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