astroturfing » My Take

Sisyphus Shrugged

astroturfing, Hope, Hypocrisy, Politics, the media, Truth 4 Responses »

Nov 032010

Progressive angst, irritation and ultimate victory…

When I was a very young man it was still shocking to the general population to see interracial couples, the civil rights amendment was shiny new and almost all homosexuals were deep in the closet.

Almost my whole life I have known that it wasn’t cool to treat people differently based on the color of their skin. People who love each other should be allowed to love each other even if they came from divergent racial backgrounds.

Almost my whole life I recognized that individual qualifications were exactly that, individual! Skills, knowledge and talent were a factor of luck and desire and had no connection to race other than access. I knew that it was wrong to deprive anyone the access and opportunity of fully realizing potential.

From very early on I recognized that homosexuality wasn’t about a perversion it was about self and identity. People say “be true to yourself” yet shrink when that truth is at odds with what their religion says about human behavior. I knew that that these humans were just as American, honorable, fragile, human, valuable and necessary as any other in our union and that perfection of that union would never be complete until they enjoyed the same rights, freedoms and respect that every other member of this society should enjoy.

The point is that enormous progress has been made in all these issues, and though it has been frustratingly slow and ridiculously uneven, (particularly from the standpoint of KNOWING what the right thing was), progress has been made. We always knew that eventually a majority of people would come to the same conclusion but that didn’t make the struggle any less difficult or painful.

So now we stand on the edge of the most recent battle looking at the carnage and we ask, (logically, cause that IS what progressives do), what now?

What now?

You don’t stop fighting for the things that you know are right just because you didn’t win the argument

You don’t stop fighting for the things that you know are right just because someone else convinced enough people that we were just not ready for that truth

You don’t stop fighting for the things that you know are right just because someone bet the American people would vote emotionally and not logically, and won that bet.

You don’t stop fighting for the things you know are right until enough people acknowledge that it IS right and you can take up the cause further down the road to progress.

They beat us back this time. They beat us back with hate. They beat us back with fear. Most of all they beat us back with a relentless assault on the truth, a media enhanced, fact optional, trigger phrase, dog whistle assault on the truth. Eventually we will win, we know it, they do NOT. They have not the vision, they have not the imagination, they have not the facility to escape their fear to recognize the awesome potential of human beings…
Truth will eventually prevail… The earth is not flat, it is also not the center of the universe, Galileo would have had to lived almost four hundred years to experience an acknowledgment of that with respect to the Church. Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long…
I’d like to leave you with a thought from The Talking Heads…

Facts are simple and facts are straight
Facts are lazy and facts are late
Facts all come with points of view
Facts don’t do what I want them to
Facts just twist the truth around
Facts are living turned inside out
Facts are getting the best of them
I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting
I’m still waiting, I’m still waiting

It is not enough to be right… we still have to struggle to MAKE IT RIGHT!

We still fight because it is our calling, our curse and our quest (Monty Python reference deliberately avoided…)

I’m not dead yet! (damn!)

D/ANGER

astroturfing, Birther, Glenn Beck, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, Teaparty, the media, Torture, Truth Comments Off

Mar 302010

The teaparty movement is supposed to be taken as a serious phenomenon because their anger is genuine, but what is genuine about their anger if it isn’t based in fact?

I hear news report after news report about the populist anger of this movement, frequently the reporters will even bother to ask the participants why they are upset and the reporter gravely nods while they regurgitate some crap they heard Glenn Beck spew in one of his deluded rants about fascism or Marxism or socialism or communism acting like the words actually were interchangeable. The real insult is that after interviewing the protesters for their views, the media doesn’t even bother to weigh in on the veracity of their statements. What the hell? Is everyone supposed to go to factcheck.org to check it out on their own?

I am angry.

I am angry at the media.

I am angry that teabaggers get press and I get to rant alone with facts.

I am angry that a farce like Sarah Palin can still claim credulity and air time from the press after demonstrably false claims over and over again.

I am angry that the media is more interested in scoring the political game than informing the public.

But mostly I am angry that the lack of exposure by the media to the absolute vacuum of truth coming out of the teaparty movement has encouraged the entire Republican Party to swing into nonsense land where they see voter enthusiasm and virtually no fear of reprisal.

The danger of course is that to play in nonsense land you first must cede reality to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill Kristol, Michelle Malkin and Sarah Palin. In nonsense land things that Americans should be proud of and those which should be shamed are flipped around in a twisted nationalism of symbols over substance.

Pulling yourself up by your boot straps is laudable to these people but educating yourself is not? Being strong is an asset but being smart is elitist? Wielding a gun is a right but legislating as a democratically elected majority is tyranny? Torturing prisoners is not only necessary, but it preserves our freedom even though the United States was instrumental in crafting the international prohibitions on the use of torture? Using the filibuster at a rate that has never been seen in the history of the country is their patriotic duty but spending a painful year to pass legislation that was promised in the campaigns they won is somehow the legislative equivalent of rape?

At what point does fact and truth have any bearing at all in the process? Is the game of politics more important than the policies with which we as a nation govern ourselves?

Sarah Palin wants to browbeat the media for reporting on very real threats to law makers, threats from people who are angry, people who are angry about things that frequently aren’t even true? Let me be clear Sarah, if you have to explain that “taking up arms” doesn’t mean literally “taking up arms” but rather going to vote, then how much more could YOUR message be misunderstood by angry people?

Rush, Beck and Palin are like the idiots in Southern California with matches when the Santa Ana winds blow, fascinated with starting something up, completely enamored with their power to incite and with absolutely no responsibility to the heartbreak and devastation that might erupt from their callous handling of fire. If the media is going to give these idiots matches to play with the least they could do is correct the more incendiary statements so that the American people don’t get burned.

“When anger rises, think of the consequences” – Confucius

Palin around with Hatriots…

astroturfing, Birther, Dick Armey, Dick Cheney, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, Politics, Sarah Palin, Teaparty, town halls, Truth Comments Off

Mar 282010

The Republican Party has been hijacked. It was not intentional, there was no plan, there was no malice, no forethought, specifically, tragically, no forethought.

John McCain facing a tough election threw caution to the wind and chose an exciting yet irresponsibly under qualified Sarah Palin to revive his flailing candidacy. I am positive that the intent was to raise Sarah Palin to the level of Republican national politician but truly the effect was to lower Republican national politics to the level of Sarah Palin. That one selfish act by a bitter old man may have killed thoughtful conservatism in the United States for the foreseeable future.

Justifying Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate was quite literally not possible so the campaign focused strictly on damaging Obama, biggest celebrity, paling around with terrorists, the secret Muslim and the birther movements were all born out of the necessity to portray Barack Hussein Obama as dangerous, elitist or other. Matters of serious policy and issues were largely buried because they were completely outside the realm of serious discussion with the farcical vice presidential candidate. The further the campaign strayed from their stated principal of “Country First” the less credible John McCain became as a presidential contender and the more popular Sarah Palin became in the ranks of the gullible bigots that would become the fodder for the tea party movement.

The campaign was a disaster and Barack Obama won the presidency with more popular votes than any other president ever…

Of course historic presidential elections command more attention from the populace than governance and governance in the face of financial collapse and severe recession is tough. Tougher if those who professed “Country First” in the election absolutely refuse to assist in the painful decisions necessary to shore up the economy and avoid more carnage. The GOP wasn’t satisfied to merely let the Democrats do all the heavy lifting alone, oh no they took every opportunity to play to the populist anger of those who already desperately wanted to believe that the government wasn’t even legitimate to begin with. The financial collapse, became the health care debate, became the closing Gitmo debate, became the underwear bomber, became Dick Cheney insisting Obama was endangering our safety, became Liz Cheney channeling McCarthy, became hateful angry bigots screaming at our democratically elected officials and feeling justified in doing so, after all the GOP told them that the majority party was doing unspeakable things to them, not for them, to them…

This weekend Sarah Palin was once again on the stump with John McCain, it was the final capitulation of the once proud Senator to the dark side that is tea party politics. I don’t feel sorry for McCain, he made his political bed and deserves his fate, it is the loss of a serious core of honest conservative politics at the heart of the Republican Party that should be mourned. The base of the right doesn’t hold serious conservative principles, the base of the right centers around beliefs like;

That the President holds Socialist views and wants to destroy America

That the President is secretly a Muslim

That the President might not be the legitimate leader of the country

That the Democratic Party violated the constitution to force health care reform

That legislation of the elected majority IS in fact tyranny.

If you want to energize a base like that, be prepared to check your principles at the door. So far it appears that there is no shortage of Republicans willing to jump down that rabbit hole (insert Mad Hater and “shoot off their heads from a helicopter” analogies here).

Ultimately the problem is that the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln as they are proud to point out, have finally, fatefully, fearfully embraced the hate, the vitriol, and the idiotic rhetoric of Sarah Palin and the mindless minions that still consider her relevant. A sad day for America, a sad day for the world and a sad day for thinking people across the political spectrum.

The fall from here will either be the Republican Party or the United States of America the choice is crystal clear and the stakes could not be higher, so here it is America, what will it be, a constitutional scholar of color or a small town bigot who happens to be white?

I await your answer with fascination and horror, in that order.

Sincerely,

credit for the “hatriot” term to it’s creator @Shoq

If at first…

astroturfing, Birther, debate, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, MediaFail, Politics, town halls, Truth Comments Off

Mar 232010

The United States has had one of it’s toughest years in a generation.

We are engaged in two wars. We live daily with the threat of global terrorism, a belligerent Iran, a fragile Iraq, a defiant North Korea, a precarious Afghanistan and oh yes the worst financial crisis since the great depression…

This year we have faced challenges that may be less dramatic but ultimately just as devastating as the tragedy in the fall of 2001. At that time I might remind everyone the nation came together to face our challenges despite ideological differences. Coming together then required the left to put aside differences from a contentious election for the unity of the country and that is exactly what happened, at least for a time. The Democrats were willing to work with the GOP for the good of the country, hell they were willing to go along with the asinine invasion of Iraq based on manufactured evidence that never exceeded incredulity at least in the eyes of this observer.

But I digress, we were talking about unity… Where has the right been this last year in the face of our enormous challenges? Checked out, whipping up the base, opposing everything that moves all in the name of political gamesmanship. I might also remind the GOP that George W. Bush presided over both the crashing of the planes and the crashing of the economy and even if they despise the idea of Barack Obama their responsibility is to the governance of the country and the problems they were so culpable in creating.

Not that I was present but on a smaller scale it feels like the secessionist movement, a man of color has achieved a status that cannot be processed by an admitted minority of the country and they are ready to stop all functions of the country… even rip the country apart before acknowledging the legitimate leader of the United States of America and work with him in the honest business of the country and it’s people.

Meanwhile Democrats in the face of this hateful rhetoric and fearful hyperbole have passed health care reform without any Republican votes only to have the GOP claim that the Democrats have poisoned the well and they are unlikely to cooperate in the future… are you freaking kidding me? The GOP is threatening not to cooperate? I wonder if “country first” ever meant anything to the GOP and so I can’t resist asking “does it anymore”? The very least the GOP owes this country is a good faith effort at honest debate so let’s start with this. The people didn’t send your sorry asses to Washington so that you could act like petulant children. This is a government of the people by the people and for the people. You work for the people so get off your asses and get to it, step up or step off, secession from the responsible engagement in our government won’t work any better than the south trying to leave to retain attitudes that the country was ready to abandon. If you insist on making yourself useless, the American people would be happy to relegate you to the position permanently, and I for one will help them.

Beware the lies of March…

astroturfing, debate, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, media, MediaFail, Politics, Torture, Truth 1 Response »

Mar 152010

The situation has reached the level of absurdity. The right in what can only be described as a fit of desperation has decided that for the GOP to survive, the truth must die.

Rewriting history books in Texas.

Purging the “liberal” portions of the Bible.

Agreeing to disagree when presented with indisputable facts that contradict public ascertains.

The GOP seems to have unilaterally decided that the truth has a liberal bias and therefore has no useful place in their politics or pursuit of policy.

Here is the problem, if they manage to gain even a little bit in the mid-terms it will in their mind validate the methods and practices that they have been employing. Can you imagine what the GOP would do if their behavior in the 111^th Congress yields electoral benefit? Can you imagine how much more dishonest, vitriolic and hyperbolic they will get if what they have been doing since the election of Barack Obama is the basis for a comeback with respect to legislative power?

The truth must be defended but in order to accomplish that the narrative must be shifted. Politics in the media has devolved into reporting on a competition. Truth has no place in the conversation it is strictly winners and losers. Oh sure the media may give a passing reference to the veracity of a claim here or there but day in and day out the meme continues to be about sound bites and winning the news cycle. The media will not change the narrative if we ask them to. The media will not change the narrative if we scream it in the streets. The media will change the narrative when the truth wins. The media wants to report the results and if the truth wins, that will be the narrative.

So here’s the deal…

We must see to it that truth wins the debate over health care.

We must see to it that truth wins in the debate for real financial reform.

We must see to it that truth wins in the debate for immigration reform, torture, student loans, economic stimulus, Guantanamo, campaign finance, protection of our constitutional values and a hundred other things that the government must deal with…

Then we must see to it that truth wins in the mid term elections.

Beware the lies of March, make certain that that they are not rewarded, not now, not in November, not ever.

11 Answers…

astroturfing, debate, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, town halls, Truth 1 Response »

Mar 112010

There has been a list of questions bandied about on Twitter today asking for “Thoughtful Obamacare supporters” to answer 11 questions. Starting the conversation with the “thoughtful” challenge while insisting on the “Obamacare” handle is a little petty, but what the hell, you asked, I’m answering.

What does it say that the American polity has consistently rejected a wholesale government takeover of health care for 100 years? What did it say that the country rejected the abolition of slavery for a hundred years?

What does it say that it took one hundred years to secure the abolition of slavery? Are you trying to suggest that a just cause is negated by the time it takes to overcome?

What does it say that public opinion has been consistently against the Democrats’ health care takeover since July 2009? It says that the description “government takeover” is frightening, what public opinion has been against is your demonization of reform. Of course “takeover” is NOT the reality of the legislation, if it were, we would be talking about single payer and you would have some VERY happy progressives.

What does it say that Democrats are having this much difficulty enacting their health care legislation despite unified Democratic rule? Despite large supermajorities in both chambers of Congress, including a once-filibuster-proof Senate majority (see more below)? Despite an opportunistic change in Massachusetts law that provided that crucial 60th vote at a crucial moment? Despite a popular and charismatic president? This battle has been going on, as you pointed out in the first question for a very long time, if it were easy, it would have been done already. Are you claiming that only things that are easy are worth doing?

What does it say that 38 House Democrats voted against the president’s health plan? It says exactly what every legislative vote says… that someone has a tough election, that someone doesn’t agree with the language, that someone can’t stand the bill. Just like every other bill that has ever been in Congress, to suggest that it “means” something specific and unified is disingenuous at best.

What does it say that Massachusetts voters elected, to fill the term of Ted Kennedy, a Republican who ran against the health care legislation that Kennedy helped to shape? Mostly it says that more people voted for Scott Brown than Martha Coakley. Since many of those who voted for Scott Brown claimed they were dissatisfied with the Democratic choice because the Dems were not supporting a strong public option in the health care bill would indicate that what you want it to mean doesn’t really fit.

What does it say that the only thing bipartisan about that legislation is the opposition to it? It says that no Republicans voted for a bill that is pretty much what they claimed they wanted the last time health care reform was defeated in 1993… Move the goal post much?

What does it say that 39 senators voted to declare that legislation’s centerpiece unconstitutional? It says that there are three branches of government and the legislative is not who you consult to determine constitutionality, that would be the judicial.

What does it say that health care researchers — a fairly left-wing lot — think the Senate bill is unconstitutional? See the last question… Seriously.

What does it say that the demands of pro-life and pro-choice House Democrats, each of which hold enough votes to determine the fate of this legislation, are irreconcilable? It says that abortion is a very contentious issue, pretty much why Republicans have been using it as a wedge issue since the passage of Roe V Wade.

What does it say that House Democrats are actually contemplating a legislative strategy that would deem the Senate bill to have passed the House — without the House ever actually voting on it? What does it say that you ask questions that are not based in fact for the purpose of eliciting a predictable response? YOU asked for thoughtful, you might have tried harder with the questions.

Given that ours is a system of government where ambition is made to counteract ambition, what does it mean that the only way to pass this legislation is for the House to trust that the Senate will keep the House’s interests at heart? What does it say about your questions that the interests of the American people are at best a distant second to the politics of the situation? What does it say that the Republicans have done nothing to solve the health care crisis since they scuttled health care reform seventeen years ago? What does it say that Republicans insists they “want” health care reform and yet rarely add anything, including honest effort at debate to the process? What does it say?

What does it say that public opinion has been consistently against the Democrats’ health care takeover since July 2009? It says that the description “government takeover” is frightening, that of course is NOT the reality of the legislation, if it were, we would be talking about single payer and you would have some VERY happy progressives.

What does it say that 38 House Democrats voted against the president’s health plan? It says exactly what every legislative vote says… that someone has a tough election, that someone doesn’t agree with the language, that someone can’t stand the bill. Just like every other bill that has ever been in Congress, to suggest that it “means” something specific and unified is disingenuous at best.

What does it say that Massachusetts voters elected, to fill the term of Ted Kennedy, a Republican who ran against the health care legislation that Kennedy helped to shape? Mostly it says that more people voted for Scott Brown than Martha Coakley. Since many of those who voted for Scott Brown claimed they were dissatisfied with the Democratic choice because the Dems were not supporting a strong public option in the health care bill would indicate that what you want it to mean doesn’t really fit.

What does it say that the only thing bipartisan about that legislation is the opposition to it? It says that no Republicans voted for a bill that is pretty much what they claimed they wanted the last time health care reform was defeated in 1993… Move the goal post much?

What does it say that 39 senators voted to declare that legislation’s centerpiece unconstitutional? It says that there are three branches of government and the legislative is not who you consult to determine constitutionality, that would be the legislative.

What does it say that health care researchers — a fairly left-wing lot — think the Senate bill is unconstitutional? See the last question… Seriously.

What does it say that the demands of pro-life and pro-choice House Democrats, each of which hold enough votes to determine the fate of this legislation, are irreconcilable? It says that abortion is a very contentious issue, pretty much why Republicans have been using it as a wedge issue since the passage of Roe V Wade.

What does it say that House Democrats are actually contemplating a legislative strategy that would deem the Senate bill to have passed the House — without the House ever actually voting on it? What does it say that you ask questions that are not based in fact for the purpose of eliciting a predictable response? YOU asked for thoughtful, you might have tried harder with the questions.

If fate hands you a lemming…

astroturfing, Birther, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, MediaFail, Obama, Politics, Torture, town halls, Truth Comments Off

Mar 102010

Though the long term arc of politics of the United States has trended to the progressive, short term politics is cyclical. The pendulum started to swing back to the Democrats shortly after Bush won the 2004 election (yes the avoidance of the term re-election is deliberate). The high mark for the swing of the pendulum was of course the election of the county’s first African American President. The financial crisis, the extreme partisan battle for health care reform and extreme anger and worry with the state of the economy conspired to start the pendulum back toward the right. Populist anger manifest in the astroturf tea party movement set the tone for the meme to gain traction in the media. The long August of angry town halls got the pendulum swinging harder, there was no reason to believe that the trend would not continue. The voices got louder, the charges more vitriolic and increasingly hyperbolic. Then something interesting happened, they went too far.

Maybe it was the defense of torture.

Maybe it was the histrionics of Glenn Beck.

Maybe it was the race baiting of Rush Limbaugh.

Maybe it was the public disagreements of John McCain, with himself.

Maybe it was Orrin Hatch’s demonstrably false statements about processes in the senate.

Maybe it was Liz Cheney going full McCarthy with her jack booted “Keep America Safe” crowd trying to play guilt by association with the DOJ.

Maybe it was all of it…

But the tide has turned, the Democrats are coming back. As evidenced in the latest Gallup numbers the Democrats hold a slight advantage in 2010 election preferences, and this is still while the messy healthcare debate rages. What happens to the right when health care passes? What happens to the right as the economy improves? What happens to the right as the debate moves forward on financial reform and the GOP once again end up defending those that abuse the system on the backs of taxpayers? The right has blown their comeback peaking between election cycles and now they run the very real risk of exacerbating their minority status into what could be a progressive nirvana.

By remaining reasonable, many would say to a fault, Obama has managed to push the right into positions that a year ago they would have considered unfathomable. And each time they stir up controversy with hyperbole whether it is health care, stimulus, race or diplomacy … Obama continues to speak to the American people, the pendulum swings back and the GOP is left looking like a bunch of petulant children. Each time the right escalates the crazy Obama comes back with the same reasonable, measured, discourse. With simple language and methodical logic he ties them up in their obstructionism and intellectual dishonesty with mind numbing grace and fairness that drives the left crazy and the right completely mad.

If Obama keeps on being so fair, so reasonable with such deference to the minority party they might just jump completely off a political cliff, like lemmings into the sea.

I don’t know if this is just the way it is shaking out or if President Obama is a pure political genius. If the Republicans continue to press themselves closer to that cliff we could be witnessing the beginning of the most aggressive move towards progressive politics in the history of the nation.

Think about it, the republicans are parroting talking points that are becoming less and less reasonable while Obama remains maddeningly consistent. We may be witnessing the suicide of a political party who cannot under any circumstances bear to see the President accomplish anything. Each cycle makes them look smaller and less capable while Obama grows in stature and appears more pragmatic.

Six weeks ago right after the Massachusetts Senate race it looked like health care was a heavy lift. It looked like the Democrats were facing a very tough election cycle in which control of the senate was at risk and not just the margin of majority. It looked like a desperate ineffectual dysfunctional party, not so much anymore.

The future is much less certain now for the Republicans, if they keep reaching further to the right in an idiotic attempt to placate FreedomWorks and their ilk the damage of the 2010 elections could be devastating. The tide is shifting, I think the Republicans are starting to feel it. Will they be able to change course in time to salvage credible minority status?

I don’t think so, and you can quote me.

Teabaggers, a primer

astroturfing, debate, government, healthcare reform, Hypocrisy, Politics, the media, town halls, Truth 1 Response »

Mar 092010

Teabaggers (in the political sense) break down into three distinct types, very different in method, motivation and madness. Let’s bring them out into the light so we can see them for what they really are.

The first are the organizers and lieutenants, they are fully cognizant of the stakes, goals and truth in this battle. The leaders work for very well funded lobbying and advocacy groups largely funded by corporate interests with very real financial motivations, health care reform could cost them literally billions of dollars. For them, the debate was never about a “government taker over” or “death panels” is was always about stopping any restrictions on the obscene abuses of the American people. Denial of claims, dropping coverage, rescissions, pre-existing conditions maximizing their profits on the suffering and not uncommonly death of their customers. The real “roots” of this so called grass roots movement is money in the soulless pursuit of more.

The second category of teabagger is what the country sees, what the media reports on and what largely gets mistaken for a ground swell of populist anger. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t deny that the anger is real it is, the point is that it’s not based any rational understanding of policy proposals let alone disagreement with them. The anger among these people is based in their own fear and prejudices and though some of it is directly manufactured by the ludicrous talking points of the aforementioned lobbyists, they manage to bring plenty of their own hate to the party. These are the group that can do the most damage to the prospects for health care reform but only of we forget who is pulling the strings and what their motives are. Populist anger in the tea party crowd is propaganda, fabricated by power to take more from the powerless.

The final group of teabaggers is the group I worry about, the unstable, impressionable, depressed, repressed, angry misfit just waiting for someone to work them up enough to lose the last tenuous grip on peaceful co-existence in our society. These are the people that hear “government takeover” and start stock piling guns, talk about death panels and they buy and extra ammunition, references to Fascism and re-education camps and who knows what’s next.

The fact that groups like FreedomWorks spread their lies and distortion for greed is bad. Deliberately stoking hate, fear and prejudice for political advantage is deplorable. Wild hyperbole that holds the possibility of inflaming passions in the less stable in the population is stupid, irresponsible and should be called out by everyone along the political spectrum for the good of the country, our democracy and our citizenry.

So as we push through this last hurdle in this battle of the ongoing war for social justice in the perfection of our union. Let’s make sure we maintain a clear vision of exactly who we are going up against, how they are organized, funded, motivated and what their goals are. Let us also make sure that the media cares enough to report to the country not just the anger but the players and the increasingly staggering price of the status quo.

CPAC Can’t Pretend At Conservatism

astroturfing, government, Hypocrisy, Obama, Politics, the media, Truth 1 Response »

Feb 182010

CPAC started this morning in Washington DC. For those of you who might not know CPAC stands for Corporate Policy Acting Conservative… No that’s not right, Crass Pigs Advocating Corporatism? Crappy Politicians Aiding Corporations? Corporate Pretenders Acting Centrist? Callous Pariah Advocating Crap? Causing Paralysis Above Consensus? Now I remember, it stands for Conservative Political Action Conference and the annual meeting started today.

The hot topic for the first day of CPAC seems to be that the President of the United States has used, on more than one occasion, a teleprompter! It is also reported that he frequently makes use of the wheel and indoor plumbing. What the hell is wrong with these people that they try to make something out of nothing? Isn’t there some substantive policy issues that you would like to cap on the President for? Has Obama robbed you of all validity and you really are left with nothing but made up crap to harp about?

The United States is in two wars. The economy is recovering from the worst recession since the great depression. The President just had to create a deficit commission because the Republicans refused to vote for an initiative they co sponsored. Health insurers across the country are threatening to raise premiums up to almost 40%. The filibuster is being abused like at no time in the history of the nation… And the Conservative Political Action Conference is obsessed with the use of teleprompters. Heaven help us if these people ever regain power.

Snap out of it! The two party system only really works if there are two parties and the right is driveling on about nonsensical bullshit at a time that we need adults to solve real problems. It reminds me of a quote from “The American President” that one of my readers sent me recently.

Being President of this country is entirely about character. For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important question is why aren’t you, Bob? Now, this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a senator, his party’s most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, folks, then you’re smarter than I am, because I didn’t understand it until a few hours ago. America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the “land of the free”. I’ve known Bob Rumson for years, and I’ve been operating under the assumption that the reason Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he simply didn’t get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob’s problem isn’t that he doesn’t get it. Bob’s problem is that he can’t sell it! We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who’s to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections… We’ve got serious problems, and we need serious people, and if you want to talk about character, Bob, you’d better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card. If you want to talk about character and American values, fine. Just tell me where and when, and I’ll show up. This is a time for serious people, Bob, and your fifteen minutes are up. My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I *am* the President.

Truth and consequences

astroturfing, Fox News, government, Hypocrisy, Politics, the media, Truth Comments Off

Feb 042010

The truth is under serious assault in our society on a scale that would horrify you if you paid any attention at all to the facts on the ground. I am not being hyperbolic even though I am sure that even some of my readers will respond with “yeah, yeah, both sides stretch the truth to advance their ideology”.

Fox regularly sells hate and vitriol to its viewers, day after day until surprise we find out that not only are Fox viewers amongst the worst informed when it comes to actual facts… but amazingly they believe, really believe all kinds of absolute crap that the Fox and friends have fed them for advancement of… News Corp, a company run by a man that only became a US citizen to satisfy regulatory requirements that stopped him as a non-citizen from owning even more media in the United States.

I would not have anything to object to if a foreign interest created a network that yielded the best informed viewers in the United States but what kind of a citizen would I be not to point out the obvious danger with the reality that Fox has wrought?

You reap what you sow… And what exactly do we expect Fox and their ilk to reap? An angry, ill informed mob of undereducated white people that desperately cling to the concept that president Obama is foreign because the concept that a man of color however well qualified or educated could honestly hold the office of president offends their very sense of being.

What happens when these same people find out that they are only cannon fodder for the moneyed interests that would use their prejudices and fears to gain political advantage, to transfer even more wealth to the obscenely wealthy to strip away the last vestiges of power from those who barely have any to wield. Will they strike back? Will their anger be brought to bear on those who have manipulated them? Will they stand with the opposition or simply stop voting out of disgust and disappointment.

In either case Fox and the GOP are facing a day of reckoning. Every time the president gets up in public and tears down the opposition like so many con artists the day gets closer. Every time there is another poll that proves how desperately misguided the radical right tea party crowd has gotten the day gets closer. Every time someone with facts, stands up and presents those facts in the face of lies and distortion the day gets closer.

We need to do everything in our power to bring that day, the sooner the better.

The truth will set you free, but you have to free it first…

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