With the debate over a strike on Syria heating up, we see our friends in the Republican Party, as usual, taking their responsibilities seriously. Fox News had former Field Marshall Von Rumsfeld on waxing eloquent after his brilliant managing of the invasion of Iraq and our welcome as liberators. His magnificent handling of the conflict makes his input on Syria invaluable.
Representative Joe Wilson(R-SC)usual reasoned, insightful questioning of Secretary of State John Kerry was a revelation.
Speaking of revelation, the eerie resemblance of current happenings to the "End Times" needs more exposure and deep, serious discussion since it is indisputable fact.
The actions of the Republican officeholders and supporters gives such hope to the rest of the world that we will behave as they have come to expect.
Former Sec Def Rumsfeld went on Fox and Friends to share his insights on how to run a successful military operation in the Mideast. The astute trio of hosts tossed softball questions to him to slam the President.
Donald Rumsfeld did praise Secretary of Defense Kerry for a forceful, passionate presentation to the Senate Committee. He then cited American support for the clear policies of the Bush Administration. He slammed President Obama for playing Golf not mentioning the guy that threw him under the bus spent most of his tenure as POTUS on vacation. He said the GOP version of Beetlejuice, Benghazi. He called the President weak and indecisive.
The blonde guy Steve Douchey noted that Senator Obama and Senator Biden opposed the Iraq war while The President is being supported by the GOP in Syria. Douchey's grasp of nuance never ceases to amaze me. The Spokes-model chimed in teeing up shots at the POTUS for Von Rumsfeld. Kilmeade added his usual inane questions and comments undercutting President Obama. All in all it was an average Fox News hatchet job masquerading as hard hitting journalism. It had the depth of a saucer of milk and was as classy as bringing a hooker to your Mother's funeral.
The Honorable Joe Wilson of South Carolina. Still a piece of work.
During the House Committee questioning he postulated the President was using Syria as a sequel to "Wag The Dog". Wilson noted there was a gas attack in April. So, he wondered did the President wait till now to divert attention from the Administration's many scandals. Such as the NSA, IRS, the failure of Obamacare enforcement, the White House drafted sequestration and the upcoming Debt Limit debate. Kerry, rather than call Wilson a raving, meth snorting gas bag, answered the query about April and ignored the batshit crazy part. John Kerry, as always is a classy guy. Wilson, not so much.
For what seems like forever the Evangelical end of timers have drawn on the similarities to the Middle East today and 2000 year old prophecies concerning the war that triggers The Second Coming will be fought there. They have been preaching fire and brimstone sermons, raising mountains of cash, hammering this view home for decades. With the drumbeat for war with Iran pounding last year in the GOP Primaries it resurfaced with a vengeance again. Now with Syria, it is being treated by some in public life as viable historical and current insight concerning the region.
Not being a member of the faith based community, I prefer the reality based community,hus when someone mentions Isaiah:17 I gaze at them with a blank stare.
That's when I am told about "The Burden Of Damascus". To which I reply, huh?
It seems this is a prophecy penned a couple thousand years ago. So of course I must take it seriously since all the other prophecies have proved so accurate. So what is it and why would any sane person not hallucinating their ass off even care?
OK. A Middle Eastern war will leave Damascus, Syria's ancient capital city, destroyed. The result will be a move closer to the conflagration that will bring the Second Coming. Naturally this confluence of unrelated happenings have the Televangelists and the end of the world is yesterday fans buzzing. They may also be stocking up on canned goods and burning porn to DVD.
It seems the destruction of Damascus is a precursor to the very last war. The expected US action may be the match to set off said war.
There is an author named Joel Rosenberg who as written a series of books dealing with the end of the world as postulated by Revelations. Somehow they wound up on the NYT Best Seller List. Fine. At least it's sold as fiction so no one will mistake him for an expert on nukes or the Middle East or anything.
When he appeared on Fox, Rosenberg was introduced an expert on nuclear policy and a modern day Nostradamus. He has appeared on Rick Sanatorum's radio show. Rick also penned a blurb on one of Rosenberg's books. He has also met with Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Louis Gohmert in Austin. Gohmert presented a copy of one of Rosenberg's books to the Israeli PM.
With a Congress full of Biblical literalists, this may cause issues as we try to find any kind of sensible solution to the Syria issue.
These guy are expecting Iran and Russia to team up to strike Israel. This will set up the final showdown at Megiddio and Armageddon.
It is reassuring their worldview is shaped by a Roman era text that has absolutely no relevance to today's pressing Geo-Political issues. However, our weapons are based on science, not magic, so will we get our asses handed to us when Obama the Anti-Christ leads his Gay/Lesbian/ Secular/ fornicating army into battle on the Megiddo plain.
What's next, I wonder.
Where's the popcorn and pass that peyote tea.
Showing posts with label Liberal Political analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liberal Political analysis. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
GOP Domestic Policy: Brinksmanship, extortion and ignorance
Speaker Of The House John Boehner (R-OH) is in a quandary. His Caucus seems to be beyond his control. At times it resembles herding cats.
The Republican House Caucus has a plethora of avowed Tea Party aligned members and those pushed to the extreme right by fear of a primary challenge. Many are Freshman or on their second term having been elected in the weird frenzy of 2010. So, many are inexperienced in the way politics and governing actually works. They are also proud of that.
These Republicans came to office after vowing to burn down the House if necessary to undo the socialism and secularism that has in their view ruined America. Compromise, the lifeblood of American politics, is surrender. Everything seems to be a test of ideological purity.
Speaker Boehner, who stumbled into the position after Hastert left the House, seems uniquely ill suited to reign in these maverick members.
The apparent weakness may be that he has a Caucus that rejects politics as usual. Previous Speakers had a caucus that actually attempted to accomplish something. This has been the least effective Congress in history. The Speaker has said success should be measured by how much they repeal not what they pass. By that metric they are an abysmal failure.
Republican policy has been extreme to say the least. They annually pass a budget that has zero chance of clearing the Senate. They have, to date, passed a bill repealing The Affordable Care Act forty times. They have done this knowing it would not even hit the Senate floor and if by some miracle it passed the Senate would be vetoed in a heartbeat. This can only be simple political posturing. These votes are cited at home as proof of their conservative bonafides. The evil Washington Establishment is thwarting the will of the people.
The conservative movement seems to have devolved to the point any theory or conspiracy is treated as a serious issue. Statements that would have sent previous politicians home in ridiculed humiliation are now commonplace. It seems the more ignorant, xenophobic, sexist, racist and absurd the better. And this Speaker allows it.
Rep. Michele Bachman and others send a letter to assorted Federal Departments like the DOJ, Department Of State and Homeland Security, among others, demanding an investigation of deep infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood. This was reminiscent of what Senator Joe McCarthy used to do. They did this with no repercussions from the Speaker. Used to be if a Member embarrassed the House or Party they could expect to be disciplined. Boehner seems loathe to exert any authority based on fear of repercussions. So, they all say anything they want no matter how ill conceived.
We are seeing what unbridled House Members will do or say. I admit at times I find it amusing anyone could be in a position of responsibility and say or even think some of these things. Then I remember these people are in power and cringe.
There are members of The House Science Committee that basically don't believe in science. One decried Evolution and the belief the Earth is over four billion years old, "Lies from the pits of Hell". Others feel climate change is a liberal conspiracy to get grant money and is scientific fascism.
They also are politicizing the peer review grant awarding process by wanting to make sure no money wasting grants are funded. One area they deemed worthless was Social Sciences.
They are ignoring how science actually works by putting a cost/benefit slant on research from the onset. This is what happens when people who are hostile to science are put in charge of funding research. Had they been in power there would have been no funding for research into things like lasers, robotics, chip design, archeology, climate, biology and a myriad of other discoveries. Luddites on the Bridge of the Enterprise.
It seems ignorance is now considered a career path and is worn like a badge of honor. They are going after women's reproductive rights(denying basic biology as they do it) equal rights for LBGT, voting rights and the biggies. Social Security and Medicare. They are taking the entire social safety net along for the ride.
The goal seems to be who can make the deepest, most draconian cuts.
Unemployment compensation causes unemployment so cut it. After all it is just a paid vacation and all these lazy slackers are partying their asses off on that big money.
SNAP is used to buy drugs and high priced food poor working stiffs can't afford.
Women have more babies just to get more benifits and not work. So, let's cut off contraception. That'll do it. Poor women having babies and not working is one reason for the decline of America. Get a job.
Abortion is a direct challenge to the will of God. Make these women stay home and have babies. Women working and not being stay at home mothers is one reason for the decline of America.
Social Security is a ponzi scheme. It needs cut because we can't afford it.
Medicare creates dependency. Why should there be government run healthcare. That's socialism.
The list goes on and on. Now the big idea is defunding the ACA.
Speaker Boehner received a letter from eighty members of his caucus demanding no funding for it in the continuing budget resolution. Basically, shut down the Government to stop Obamacare. They are being egged on by presidential hopefuls and others in the Senate. Also conservative groups that donate lots of money to campaigns and Sarah Palin are chiming in. Expect any votes not to defund to be used as a reason for primary challenges. Again, any compromise is surrender.
The Speaker and other leaders in the not quite batshit crazy wing of the party see this as a mistake.This is one time the are right. The voices are strident though. The zealots see this as a last stand. They may mutiny and the Speaker will be helpless to deal with it without relying on Democratic House Members.
Boehner is trying to get them on board to forget this extremely bad idea. He is going with a promise of a whale of a battle over raising the debt limit to mollify them.
So, shutting down the government over the ACA is a bad idea in a chamber that has cast forty meaningless repeals of the law. It may be 50/50 he can pull that off.
However tanking the economy, crashing a fragile recovery, ruining the credit of the United States with a default is a wonderful idea.
Boehner is going back to the well again in his strategy to gut the social safety net and also cut programs the not rich benefit from. He feels that the House version of negotiation which is give us everything we want or we'll wreck the Nation is viable. President Obama has already said he will not negotiate to have the House do their Constitutionally mandated job. protect the full faith and credit of The United States Of America.
The Republicans feel however if push comes to shove the Dems will fold. Or, if they stand firm and we default America will blame the President for not giving in to blatant extortion. Somehow they have developed the view if they act like Tony Soprano they will be well liked and seen as heroes. They will take us to the brink and beyond to get their venal view of spending to happen.
The Caucus may take Boehner off the cliff over defunding the ACA and seem gleeful as they shred what's left in the Debt Limit fight. Seems reasonable to me.
Good luck with this plan, Mr. Speaker.
The Senate was devised as a more temperate counterbalance to the House. It's purpose is to slow things down. To basically tamp down a House led plunge off a cliff. Unfortunately this time several of the cliff divers are in the Senate.
Right now three possible GOP Presidential contenders are the ringleaders of a glorious last stand to stop the ACA by defunding it. The plan is defund ACA or shut down the Federal Government. There is enough support for this bit of extortion to give the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) heartburn.
Mitch has a Tea Party challenger in the Primary. He also has a formidable Democratic opponent ready to go after him in the general election. McConnell is already catching heat for not being on board for a defund based hostage crisis. He's being painted by the rabid right as a sell out. Not a strong enough foe to the liberal, socialist, UN backed, secular attack on God and Country.
So, with an insurrection at home and a high profile possible mutiny in his caucus he is trying to walk a thin line between madness and absurdity.
Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) has already called those not on board the Surrender Caucus. Conservative groups are cranking up the pressure to force this doomed gesture into being. The Republican Senators are looking at attacks by well funded groups that can make their political life dangerous.
Senators Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Lee are willing to grind America to a halt to throw their temper tantrum. They see this as the last chance to stop the law from going into effect. The opponents believe the President will sign legislation crushing a major accomplishment before it takes effect. These Senators are quite comfortable with extortion.
With the arcane rules of the Senate they may be able to delay action well past the deadline. They are pushing the extreme members of the House to sign on and defund or shut down the Federal Government. Patriots all.
This backfired in the 90's when they did this to President Clinton. They expect a different result this time. One must remember though you can't reason with zealots.
This is another example of Republicans refusing to accept election results they don't like. Some are trying to figure out how to impeach the President, which worked out so well for them the last time.
Here we go.
Two cliffs. Two chances to be responsible and take care of a couple bookkeeping issues with no muss, no fuss. No. Let's turn it into the Alamo instead. Why be reasonable when you can act like Sonny Corleone and put a horse's head in America's bed. Go to the mattresses. After all this is why you ran, right?
The Republican House Caucus has a plethora of avowed Tea Party aligned members and those pushed to the extreme right by fear of a primary challenge. Many are Freshman or on their second term having been elected in the weird frenzy of 2010. So, many are inexperienced in the way politics and governing actually works. They are also proud of that.
These Republicans came to office after vowing to burn down the House if necessary to undo the socialism and secularism that has in their view ruined America. Compromise, the lifeblood of American politics, is surrender. Everything seems to be a test of ideological purity.
Speaker Boehner, who stumbled into the position after Hastert left the House, seems uniquely ill suited to reign in these maverick members.
The apparent weakness may be that he has a Caucus that rejects politics as usual. Previous Speakers had a caucus that actually attempted to accomplish something. This has been the least effective Congress in history. The Speaker has said success should be measured by how much they repeal not what they pass. By that metric they are an abysmal failure.
Republican policy has been extreme to say the least. They annually pass a budget that has zero chance of clearing the Senate. They have, to date, passed a bill repealing The Affordable Care Act forty times. They have done this knowing it would not even hit the Senate floor and if by some miracle it passed the Senate would be vetoed in a heartbeat. This can only be simple political posturing. These votes are cited at home as proof of their conservative bonafides. The evil Washington Establishment is thwarting the will of the people.
The conservative movement seems to have devolved to the point any theory or conspiracy is treated as a serious issue. Statements that would have sent previous politicians home in ridiculed humiliation are now commonplace. It seems the more ignorant, xenophobic, sexist, racist and absurd the better. And this Speaker allows it.
Rep. Michele Bachman and others send a letter to assorted Federal Departments like the DOJ, Department Of State and Homeland Security, among others, demanding an investigation of deep infiltration by the Muslim Brotherhood. This was reminiscent of what Senator Joe McCarthy used to do. They did this with no repercussions from the Speaker. Used to be if a Member embarrassed the House or Party they could expect to be disciplined. Boehner seems loathe to exert any authority based on fear of repercussions. So, they all say anything they want no matter how ill conceived.
We are seeing what unbridled House Members will do or say. I admit at times I find it amusing anyone could be in a position of responsibility and say or even think some of these things. Then I remember these people are in power and cringe.
There are members of The House Science Committee that basically don't believe in science. One decried Evolution and the belief the Earth is over four billion years old, "Lies from the pits of Hell". Others feel climate change is a liberal conspiracy to get grant money and is scientific fascism.
They also are politicizing the peer review grant awarding process by wanting to make sure no money wasting grants are funded. One area they deemed worthless was Social Sciences.
They are ignoring how science actually works by putting a cost/benefit slant on research from the onset. This is what happens when people who are hostile to science are put in charge of funding research. Had they been in power there would have been no funding for research into things like lasers, robotics, chip design, archeology, climate, biology and a myriad of other discoveries. Luddites on the Bridge of the Enterprise.
It seems ignorance is now considered a career path and is worn like a badge of honor. They are going after women's reproductive rights(denying basic biology as they do it) equal rights for LBGT, voting rights and the biggies. Social Security and Medicare. They are taking the entire social safety net along for the ride.
The goal seems to be who can make the deepest, most draconian cuts.
Unemployment compensation causes unemployment so cut it. After all it is just a paid vacation and all these lazy slackers are partying their asses off on that big money.
SNAP is used to buy drugs and high priced food poor working stiffs can't afford.
Women have more babies just to get more benifits and not work. So, let's cut off contraception. That'll do it. Poor women having babies and not working is one reason for the decline of America. Get a job.
Abortion is a direct challenge to the will of God. Make these women stay home and have babies. Women working and not being stay at home mothers is one reason for the decline of America.
Social Security is a ponzi scheme. It needs cut because we can't afford it.
Medicare creates dependency. Why should there be government run healthcare. That's socialism.
The list goes on and on. Now the big idea is defunding the ACA.
Speaker Boehner received a letter from eighty members of his caucus demanding no funding for it in the continuing budget resolution. Basically, shut down the Government to stop Obamacare. They are being egged on by presidential hopefuls and others in the Senate. Also conservative groups that donate lots of money to campaigns and Sarah Palin are chiming in. Expect any votes not to defund to be used as a reason for primary challenges. Again, any compromise is surrender.
The Speaker and other leaders in the not quite batshit crazy wing of the party see this as a mistake.This is one time the are right. The voices are strident though. The zealots see this as a last stand. They may mutiny and the Speaker will be helpless to deal with it without relying on Democratic House Members.
Boehner is trying to get them on board to forget this extremely bad idea. He is going with a promise of a whale of a battle over raising the debt limit to mollify them.
So, shutting down the government over the ACA is a bad idea in a chamber that has cast forty meaningless repeals of the law. It may be 50/50 he can pull that off.
However tanking the economy, crashing a fragile recovery, ruining the credit of the United States with a default is a wonderful idea.
Boehner is going back to the well again in his strategy to gut the social safety net and also cut programs the not rich benefit from. He feels that the House version of negotiation which is give us everything we want or we'll wreck the Nation is viable. President Obama has already said he will not negotiate to have the House do their Constitutionally mandated job. protect the full faith and credit of The United States Of America.
The Republicans feel however if push comes to shove the Dems will fold. Or, if they stand firm and we default America will blame the President for not giving in to blatant extortion. Somehow they have developed the view if they act like Tony Soprano they will be well liked and seen as heroes. They will take us to the brink and beyond to get their venal view of spending to happen.
The Caucus may take Boehner off the cliff over defunding the ACA and seem gleeful as they shred what's left in the Debt Limit fight. Seems reasonable to me.
Good luck with this plan, Mr. Speaker.
The Senate was devised as a more temperate counterbalance to the House. It's purpose is to slow things down. To basically tamp down a House led plunge off a cliff. Unfortunately this time several of the cliff divers are in the Senate.
Right now three possible GOP Presidential contenders are the ringleaders of a glorious last stand to stop the ACA by defunding it. The plan is defund ACA or shut down the Federal Government. There is enough support for this bit of extortion to give the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) heartburn.
Mitch has a Tea Party challenger in the Primary. He also has a formidable Democratic opponent ready to go after him in the general election. McConnell is already catching heat for not being on board for a defund based hostage crisis. He's being painted by the rabid right as a sell out. Not a strong enough foe to the liberal, socialist, UN backed, secular attack on God and Country.
So, with an insurrection at home and a high profile possible mutiny in his caucus he is trying to walk a thin line between madness and absurdity.
Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) has already called those not on board the Surrender Caucus. Conservative groups are cranking up the pressure to force this doomed gesture into being. The Republican Senators are looking at attacks by well funded groups that can make their political life dangerous.
Senators Cruz, Paul, Rubio and Lee are willing to grind America to a halt to throw their temper tantrum. They see this as the last chance to stop the law from going into effect. The opponents believe the President will sign legislation crushing a major accomplishment before it takes effect. These Senators are quite comfortable with extortion.
With the arcane rules of the Senate they may be able to delay action well past the deadline. They are pushing the extreme members of the House to sign on and defund or shut down the Federal Government. Patriots all.
This backfired in the 90's when they did this to President Clinton. They expect a different result this time. One must remember though you can't reason with zealots.
This is another example of Republicans refusing to accept election results they don't like. Some are trying to figure out how to impeach the President, which worked out so well for them the last time.
Here we go.
Two cliffs. Two chances to be responsible and take care of a couple bookkeeping issues with no muss, no fuss. No. Let's turn it into the Alamo instead. Why be reasonable when you can act like Sonny Corleone and put a horse's head in America's bed. Go to the mattresses. After all this is why you ran, right?
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
The Crazy Train is in the Station.
OK I know it's 2013 I am also aware there is no Presidential election until 2016. However the speculation is rampant and the GOP hopefuls are starting to work to raise their national profiles. Part of this I feel is media driven, After all a 24/7 news cycle is hungry for topics to pretend are actual news.
I may as well have some fun too.
On the Democratic side it's rather quiet. The reason being the idea the Nomination is Hillary Clinton's to lose if she decides to run.
Now. the Republican side is quite different. Already you have potential candidates making moves, much earlier than usual. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are making the usual potential candidate noises.They're visiting the early Primary States. State Fairs, County GOP dinners and evangelical Christian conferences that normally don't surface into news coverage until the Primary season. These venues are attracting a slew of National Republican figures.
The search for support this early is usually done more quietly. Nixon ,while he was in the wilderness after losing in California, perfected this. He went anywhere. State GOP gatherings. Small county gatherings. He campaigned for anyone. Did fundraising. In '68 he'd accumulated a stack of IOU's which he cashed in for the nomination. The tradition continues.
It appears the Republicans have been listening to the pundits who say the reason they were unable to defeat Barack Obama was their candidate wasn't conservative enough. I've never understood that reasoning. John McCain and Mitt Romney both lost to a left/center Democratic candidate by convincing margins.So. someone more conservative could pulled more voters who were sitting out to overcome the lead and win? I find that idea dubious at best. So, if they decide to go off the edge this election cycle will be interesting.
The early hopefuls are very conservative.
Rand Paul, Freshman Senator from KY, feels the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional. Paul is Ok with shutting down the Government over ACA. He's an isolationist. That ideology peaked just after Pearl Harbor. He is also perhaps the most visible exponent of Libertarianism. See we tried that in the 18th Century and said Hell No, scraping it for Federalism.
Ted Cruz is the freshman Senator from Texas. Rabid abortion foe, proponent of shutting down the Government to defund ACA. He brags about not being a team player in the Senate. Now, that can only help as you may need local politicians while you run for President. Oh,he was born to a Cuban father(who fought with Castro) and an American born Mother. In Canada. He just renounced Canadian citizenship.(Dual Citizenship) I am still waiting for all the birthers to go batshit.
marco Rubio Freshman Senator from Florida. A fan of shutting down the Government over ACA. For immigration. Against immigration. He has no problem with wet foot/dry foot policy towards illegal immigrants from Cuba.His support of the Ryan budget may be hard to explain to the retirees in Florida.
John kasich the Governor of Ohio is being touted on Fox as the way to rebrand the GO. On the surface he seems reasonable. An illusion. He has presided over a failed attack on Unions. He's cut taxes on Ohio's wealthy. He has signed reprehensible, regressive abortion regulations. He flies his pro life flag for the National base. He's come out in favor of the Balanced Budget Amendment, a perennial conservative favorite. We'll forget his abysmal 2000 run.
Rick Santorum is lurking about. He was front and center in Iowa again. He was front and center in the Abortion debacle in Texas. If restoring 8th century feudal Catholic policies and the Inquisition is that popular on the right he could be viable. As the runner up in '12 he should be the traditional GOP front runner. Guess they're abandoning tradition.
Rick Perry. He'll run. He forgot why he lost in '12.
Bill Kristol thinks Sarah Palin should run for Senate in Alaska to rehab her image. Does she even realize her image needs rehabbed? All I can say is..please.
And old Mike Huckabee is staying visible perhaps hoping to become a king maker.
So let's sit back and watch. This will be interesting. I am a big fan of right wing political cannibalism. If the GOP bans CNN and NBC from debates, it will be even more interesting. If Fox is the lead in GOP debates it will showcase the extreme positions being passed of as sane.
So it is time to sit back and wait for the train wreck.
Remember though, there is a lot of money out there ready to be thrown around we can't be complacent
The GOP States will try to suppress the vote.
We need to control the message. Truth versus their lies, misrepresentations and paranoid fantasy.
We must hold the Senate.
We need to take the House.
We need to out work them.
We need to out organize.
Out vote them.
2016 starts today.
2014 started yesterday.
I may as well have some fun too.
On the Democratic side it's rather quiet. The reason being the idea the Nomination is Hillary Clinton's to lose if she decides to run.
Now. the Republican side is quite different. Already you have potential candidates making moves, much earlier than usual. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are making the usual potential candidate noises.They're visiting the early Primary States. State Fairs, County GOP dinners and evangelical Christian conferences that normally don't surface into news coverage until the Primary season. These venues are attracting a slew of National Republican figures.
The search for support this early is usually done more quietly. Nixon ,while he was in the wilderness after losing in California, perfected this. He went anywhere. State GOP gatherings. Small county gatherings. He campaigned for anyone. Did fundraising. In '68 he'd accumulated a stack of IOU's which he cashed in for the nomination. The tradition continues.
It appears the Republicans have been listening to the pundits who say the reason they were unable to defeat Barack Obama was their candidate wasn't conservative enough. I've never understood that reasoning. John McCain and Mitt Romney both lost to a left/center Democratic candidate by convincing margins.So. someone more conservative could pulled more voters who were sitting out to overcome the lead and win? I find that idea dubious at best. So, if they decide to go off the edge this election cycle will be interesting.
The early hopefuls are very conservative.
Rand Paul, Freshman Senator from KY, feels the Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional. Paul is Ok with shutting down the Government over ACA. He's an isolationist. That ideology peaked just after Pearl Harbor. He is also perhaps the most visible exponent of Libertarianism. See we tried that in the 18th Century and said Hell No, scraping it for Federalism.
Ted Cruz is the freshman Senator from Texas. Rabid abortion foe, proponent of shutting down the Government to defund ACA. He brags about not being a team player in the Senate. Now, that can only help as you may need local politicians while you run for President. Oh,he was born to a Cuban father(who fought with Castro) and an American born Mother. In Canada. He just renounced Canadian citizenship.(Dual Citizenship) I am still waiting for all the birthers to go batshit.
marco Rubio Freshman Senator from Florida. A fan of shutting down the Government over ACA. For immigration. Against immigration. He has no problem with wet foot/dry foot policy towards illegal immigrants from Cuba.His support of the Ryan budget may be hard to explain to the retirees in Florida.
John kasich the Governor of Ohio is being touted on Fox as the way to rebrand the GO. On the surface he seems reasonable. An illusion. He has presided over a failed attack on Unions. He's cut taxes on Ohio's wealthy. He has signed reprehensible, regressive abortion regulations. He flies his pro life flag for the National base. He's come out in favor of the Balanced Budget Amendment, a perennial conservative favorite. We'll forget his abysmal 2000 run.
Rick Santorum is lurking about. He was front and center in Iowa again. He was front and center in the Abortion debacle in Texas. If restoring 8th century feudal Catholic policies and the Inquisition is that popular on the right he could be viable. As the runner up in '12 he should be the traditional GOP front runner. Guess they're abandoning tradition.
Rick Perry. He'll run. He forgot why he lost in '12.
Bill Kristol thinks Sarah Palin should run for Senate in Alaska to rehab her image. Does she even realize her image needs rehabbed? All I can say is..please.
And old Mike Huckabee is staying visible perhaps hoping to become a king maker.
So let's sit back and watch. This will be interesting. I am a big fan of right wing political cannibalism. If the GOP bans CNN and NBC from debates, it will be even more interesting. If Fox is the lead in GOP debates it will showcase the extreme positions being passed of as sane.
So it is time to sit back and wait for the train wreck.
Remember though, there is a lot of money out there ready to be thrown around we can't be complacent
The GOP States will try to suppress the vote.
We need to control the message. Truth versus their lies, misrepresentations and paranoid fantasy.
We must hold the Senate.
We need to take the House.
We need to out work them.
We need to out organize.
Out vote them.
2016 starts today.
2014 started yesterday.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Kasich in '16? The branding of the meritocracy of mediocrity.
Governor John Kasich(R-OH). has utilized the non-denials from election playbooks to play down a supposed groundswell of support for a future run at the Presidency. Let's remember that in 2000 he left the US House of Representatives and started a campaign for the White House.
He tried to position himself as the guy who single handedly balanced the Federal budget. John boy has never been shy about taking credit where credit isn't due. His campaign collapsed under massive indifference.
So. He took a job with Lehman Brothers(Yeah, those guys), hired on at Fox News and was considered a viable political commentator. Kasich had a Fox show called "The Heartland" until he started running for Governor. He subbed for Hannity and O'Reilly. He was seen all over the Network.
During his run he was on with Sean. The appearance was basically a telethon for Kasich's fundraising efforts. Not surprisingly Hannity tossed Kasich softballs and mused about how important "we" win the Ohio Governorship. Sean has never been shy about overt partisan campaigning on his show. The only real surprise is Fox allowed it for so long.
John ran a campaign against Democratic Governor Ted Strickland that was the usual GOP,Tea Party infused, fact challenged travesty that 2010 was so noted for. It was vicious. He blamed the meltdown of Ohio's economy on Governor Strickland, ignoring the catastrophic collapse caused by his former employer Lehman Brothers and Wall Street using the market as a casino. As it was he barely won by about a percentage point in a year when The Tea Party and GOP bitch slapped complacent Democrats across the country.
To plug an 8 billion dollar hole in the Budget (exaggerated, some reports said) Kasich slashed State Jobs(as he gave large raises to political appointees) cut school funding by nearly 12% and funding to local governments by 50%. This lead to layoffs of teachers.firefighters and police officers and curtailment of other vital services. All this did was move the need for funding to local property tax levies. The administration also thought it was a good idea to eliminate the Estate Tax and cut taxes for the wealthiest Ohioans.
The 2010 electoral massacre gave Kasich a nominally GOP State Senate and House.The reality though was most of the freshmen were Tea Party members or sympathetic to them. This caused issues for the leadership in both Houses. Zealots are notoriously tough to keep in line. A lot like herding cats.
Like George Bush in 2004, Kasich felt a razor thin victory was a mandate to over reach. They decided it was an amazingly good idea to take on Organized Labor. Bills were introduced and passed stripping bargaining rights for Public Sector Unions. Kasich pitched this as a way to save local governments money and make Ohio more business friendly. We Democrats knew if this passed Private Sector Unions were next.
The protests I attended at the Ohio State House were the largest I'd seen since the opposition to the Vietnam War. I liked the fact there were no clubs and tear gas. Union members from across the State voiced their opposition. A Delegation from Wisconsin arrived in a show of solidarity. You know you have issues when WI feels sorry for you. After assorted Republican political shenanigans the bill passed and was signed into law.
Immediately those opposed to this scathing strike against traditional Union rights sprang into action.
A petition drive to put this law on the ballot for repeal garnered a record amount of signatures in a record amount of time.
Panicked by poll numbers the GOP tried to negotiate. They said they would remove restriction on Police Unions in a blatant attempt to divide and conquer. To their credit the Ohio Fraternal Order Of Police told them to shove it. The Republicans offered to repeal if the ballot measure was dropped. They basically said, trust us. We'll change the bill. Since all opposing committee testimony was ignored, the decision was made not to trust them.
So, as massive amounts of out of State money poured in, The Right tried to paint the supporters of repeal as unreasonable for not negotiating. This ignored the Legislature's steamrolling this bill through.
Kasich stumped for the law. GOP contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry came out in opposition to repeal. A Republican operative I know said the poll numbers was only an education problem. Voters needed to be taught why repeal was bad. He predicted the repeal would fail. He also predicted Romney would take Ohio by 5 points.
The repeal won 61% to 39%. Kasich and the Republicans had their asses handed to them.
So the Legislature looking at the vicious fight going on over the repeal and the impending defeat of their law they continued business as usual. They basically outlawed abortion.
The Ohio House introduced The Heartbeat bill in the Spring of 2011. This bill banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat was detected. This usually occurs around five or six weeks before most women even realize they are pregnant. There was also no exemptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. At the time it would have been the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
The Republicans had testimony from fetuses via ultra sound in committee. They heard from supposed "abortion survivors", and women who said they were mislead about the effects of abortion. Opponents' testimony was given short shrift.
The House Speaker admitted the bill was designed to challenge Roe v. Wade. Right to life groups were split on the bill. It passed in the House along party lines.
When asked about the bill the Governor's Press Secretary said the Governor doesn't take a position on every bill and took the opportunity to fly Kasich's pro life banner for the base.
On the same day the House passed three abortion bills. One banned abortion after 20 weeks. One prohibited the coming insurance exchanges from having abortion coverage in any policy sold there. And the Heartbeat bill.
The first two passed the Senate and became law. The heartbeat bill languished in the Senate and died there at the end of the session.
2012. Social issues were debated in the Presidential campaign. The President won Ohio, convincingly.
Social issues were also debated in the Ohio United States Senate campaign. Democrat Sherrod Brown spanked challenger Josh Mandel the Eddie Haskell of Ohio politics.
Due to the gerrymandered districts in Ohio more extremist right wing State Reps and Senators were elected. There is a veto proof majority in both Houses. Following the rejection of their social agenda they did the only logical thing. The GOP immediately went after abortion, again.
They passed regressive attacks on women's health and rights in the biannual budget bill. This stops a ballot repeal. Many Dems I know felt these were so restrictive that the Governor would use the line item veto on them. I disagreed. I would have rather been wrong. He let them stand. Texas was on stage at the time and Ohio sorta slid under the lights not getting the outrage it deserved.
Prior to signing the Budget Kasich took every opportunity to mention his pro life credentials. By signing that bill he was presenting himself as a fearless defender of the unborn and a champion of marginalizing women. This was for the National conservative base.
He has received presidential endorsements(meaningless this early). He's already appearing on Fox and getting softballed. He came out in support of a balanced budget amendment, a perennial conservative favorite.
So I don't care about denials. John's preparing a run.
The best way to derail him is to make him a one term Gov. However his tendency to go off script would have been fun to watch as he crashed and burned.
The people here in Ohio have to take back our State from the extreme.
Ohio was once reasonable.
It must be again.
He tried to position himself as the guy who single handedly balanced the Federal budget. John boy has never been shy about taking credit where credit isn't due. His campaign collapsed under massive indifference.
So. He took a job with Lehman Brothers(Yeah, those guys), hired on at Fox News and was considered a viable political commentator. Kasich had a Fox show called "The Heartland" until he started running for Governor. He subbed for Hannity and O'Reilly. He was seen all over the Network.
During his run he was on with Sean. The appearance was basically a telethon for Kasich's fundraising efforts. Not surprisingly Hannity tossed Kasich softballs and mused about how important "we" win the Ohio Governorship. Sean has never been shy about overt partisan campaigning on his show. The only real surprise is Fox allowed it for so long.
John ran a campaign against Democratic Governor Ted Strickland that was the usual GOP,Tea Party infused, fact challenged travesty that 2010 was so noted for. It was vicious. He blamed the meltdown of Ohio's economy on Governor Strickland, ignoring the catastrophic collapse caused by his former employer Lehman Brothers and Wall Street using the market as a casino. As it was he barely won by about a percentage point in a year when The Tea Party and GOP bitch slapped complacent Democrats across the country.
To plug an 8 billion dollar hole in the Budget (exaggerated, some reports said) Kasich slashed State Jobs(as he gave large raises to political appointees) cut school funding by nearly 12% and funding to local governments by 50%. This lead to layoffs of teachers.firefighters and police officers and curtailment of other vital services. All this did was move the need for funding to local property tax levies. The administration also thought it was a good idea to eliminate the Estate Tax and cut taxes for the wealthiest Ohioans.
The 2010 electoral massacre gave Kasich a nominally GOP State Senate and House.The reality though was most of the freshmen were Tea Party members or sympathetic to them. This caused issues for the leadership in both Houses. Zealots are notoriously tough to keep in line. A lot like herding cats.
Like George Bush in 2004, Kasich felt a razor thin victory was a mandate to over reach. They decided it was an amazingly good idea to take on Organized Labor. Bills were introduced and passed stripping bargaining rights for Public Sector Unions. Kasich pitched this as a way to save local governments money and make Ohio more business friendly. We Democrats knew if this passed Private Sector Unions were next.
The protests I attended at the Ohio State House were the largest I'd seen since the opposition to the Vietnam War. I liked the fact there were no clubs and tear gas. Union members from across the State voiced their opposition. A Delegation from Wisconsin arrived in a show of solidarity. You know you have issues when WI feels sorry for you. After assorted Republican political shenanigans the bill passed and was signed into law.
Immediately those opposed to this scathing strike against traditional Union rights sprang into action.
A petition drive to put this law on the ballot for repeal garnered a record amount of signatures in a record amount of time.
Panicked by poll numbers the GOP tried to negotiate. They said they would remove restriction on Police Unions in a blatant attempt to divide and conquer. To their credit the Ohio Fraternal Order Of Police told them to shove it. The Republicans offered to repeal if the ballot measure was dropped. They basically said, trust us. We'll change the bill. Since all opposing committee testimony was ignored, the decision was made not to trust them.
So, as massive amounts of out of State money poured in, The Right tried to paint the supporters of repeal as unreasonable for not negotiating. This ignored the Legislature's steamrolling this bill through.
Kasich stumped for the law. GOP contenders Mitt Romney and Rick Perry came out in opposition to repeal. A Republican operative I know said the poll numbers was only an education problem. Voters needed to be taught why repeal was bad. He predicted the repeal would fail. He also predicted Romney would take Ohio by 5 points.
The repeal won 61% to 39%. Kasich and the Republicans had their asses handed to them.
So the Legislature looking at the vicious fight going on over the repeal and the impending defeat of their law they continued business as usual. They basically outlawed abortion.
The Ohio House introduced The Heartbeat bill in the Spring of 2011. This bill banned abortion once a fetal heartbeat was detected. This usually occurs around five or six weeks before most women even realize they are pregnant. There was also no exemptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother. At the time it would have been the most restrictive abortion law in the country.
The Republicans had testimony from fetuses via ultra sound in committee. They heard from supposed "abortion survivors", and women who said they were mislead about the effects of abortion. Opponents' testimony was given short shrift.
The House Speaker admitted the bill was designed to challenge Roe v. Wade. Right to life groups were split on the bill. It passed in the House along party lines.
When asked about the bill the Governor's Press Secretary said the Governor doesn't take a position on every bill and took the opportunity to fly Kasich's pro life banner for the base.
On the same day the House passed three abortion bills. One banned abortion after 20 weeks. One prohibited the coming insurance exchanges from having abortion coverage in any policy sold there. And the Heartbeat bill.
The first two passed the Senate and became law. The heartbeat bill languished in the Senate and died there at the end of the session.
2012. Social issues were debated in the Presidential campaign. The President won Ohio, convincingly.
Social issues were also debated in the Ohio United States Senate campaign. Democrat Sherrod Brown spanked challenger Josh Mandel the Eddie Haskell of Ohio politics.
Due to the gerrymandered districts in Ohio more extremist right wing State Reps and Senators were elected. There is a veto proof majority in both Houses. Following the rejection of their social agenda they did the only logical thing. The GOP immediately went after abortion, again.
They passed regressive attacks on women's health and rights in the biannual budget bill. This stops a ballot repeal. Many Dems I know felt these were so restrictive that the Governor would use the line item veto on them. I disagreed. I would have rather been wrong. He let them stand. Texas was on stage at the time and Ohio sorta slid under the lights not getting the outrage it deserved.
Prior to signing the Budget Kasich took every opportunity to mention his pro life credentials. By signing that bill he was presenting himself as a fearless defender of the unborn and a champion of marginalizing women. This was for the National conservative base.
He has received presidential endorsements(meaningless this early). He's already appearing on Fox and getting softballed. He came out in support of a balanced budget amendment, a perennial conservative favorite.
So I don't care about denials. John's preparing a run.
The best way to derail him is to make him a one term Gov. However his tendency to go off script would have been fun to watch as he crashed and burned.
The people here in Ohio have to take back our State from the extreme.
Ohio was once reasonable.
It must be again.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
You can't fix stupid.
I've been known to sit back and relax at times. I'll fire up the blu-ray and watch a whole season of a favorite show. Fringe. SG-1. Doctor Who. Sometimes I do it with movies. A bit of Film Noir. The Duke. Star Trek and numerous others. A wonderful way to enjoy the small pleasures of life.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night. Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.
Then I will turn on the news or hit a news site on the web. Perhaps a link on Twitter. My calm is then seriously damaged.
All it takes is hearing the latest GOP attack on voting or women or any other insanity du jour.
Ron White is right. You can't fix stupid.
What I try to do is decide how much is stupid, how much is simple willful ignorance and how much is planned political partisanship. A chance to gain power through intimidation and fear. Unfortunately I think it's all of the above.
There are extremist evangelicals who have won seats in Congress, Statehouses and Legislatures. There have been Tea Party members elected with them. So, we have reactionary ideologues in power. Single issue zealots. People who would burn down the house rather than fix a leaky pipe. People who believe women are the reason for the so-called destruction of the traditional family. People who believe their version of God needs to be inserted into American life by law. Some because they dislike or disagree with history and feel it didn't happen that way. It is some kind of conspiracy to hide the truth.
There are others who reject science on religious grounds. They feel they have a right to impose their vision on everyone.
So let's take a trip through their alternate reality.
Since the Eighties we have seen an unprecedented rise of a strain of conservatism that would appall William Buckley and Barry Goldwater. The intellectual conservatives that founded the American Conservative movement knew that the extreme fringe were antithetical to the American values
Buckley and others were espousing. Thus the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society and the American Nazi party were pushed out and banished from mainstream conservatism.
As the thoughtful leaders of the movement died they were replaced by men without the intellectual discipline needed to maintain the right's integrity as a viable, sane political power. So without an ideological standard the movement started to splinter into assorted factions. Some stayed true to the Buckley/Goldwater view of America. Others wandered off into the weeds of single issue or uninformed, reactionary views of what America should be.
These splinter groups mostly fell into two categories.
1) Reactionary evangelicals. Those who believe The United States was founded as a Christian Theocracy favored by God to spread our way of life.
2) Single issue and extremist reactionary political ideologues.
Down the rabbit hole we go.
Both are the result of Nixon's play to the so-called "Silent Majority" in the 1968 election. It was a blatant attempt to woo Southern voters angry about the Civil Rights Act. By claiming the mantle of "traditional American" values they fostered an us versus them mentality. Us being white men and them being everybody else. George Wallace went after the same voter and was far less subtle in his appeal to racism and the anti youth/Peace movement sentiment.
After Lyndon Johnson decided not to run there was a bloody Democratic Primary fight between Bobby Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy.
In April of 1968 Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. in Indianapolis, Indiana Robert Kennedy heard the news right before a scheduled campaign stop in the African American area of town. Local police said they couldn't protect RFK in the heart of the Ghetto. His aides urged him to leave. Kennedy refused and gave what many feel is one of the best speeches in modern political history. The speech lasted four minutes and fifty-seven seconds and was given off the back of a flatbed truck. Bobby spoke of King's vision and told the crowd he could understand their grief and anger since his brother had been gunned down in Dallas. This was the first time he had referred to John's murder in a public forum. Kennedy quoted the Greek playwright Aeschylus, he called for peace, wisdom and compassion.
Cities across America burned that night. Indianapolis was not one of them.
Bobby Kennedy may have clenched the Democratic nomination that night. Two months later RFK fell to an assassin himself in Los Angeles after winning the California primary.
The Days of rage turned the Chicago Democratic Convention into a war zone on TV. Humphrey won the nomination in a bruising floor fight with the Kennedy delegates. Even with this baggage Humphrey barely lost.
Nixon decided to go after the older, angry white voter. "The Silent Majority". The Southern Strategy. This was the first openly racist campaign waged by the modern GOP. Us vs. them equaled Black and young vs. white and angry. It was worse in '72. Almost overt. Code words flew every time Nixon or Agnew opened their mouth.
After Nixon was kicked to the curb Ford ran a rather clean campaign. It was about the last.
Southern Dixiecrats and many Dems became Republicans. In the North the same thing happened as white voters felt threatened by black political and social gains. The Southern Strategy had matured into a solid generational Republican voting block.
The Evangelicals and extreme conservatives were used as ground troops in knocking on doors and getting out the vote.
In popular culture these people were derided as hillbillies and holy rollers. As I've said before many looked at "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Hee Haw" as documentaries.
In the movie "Oh God", God got snarky with the Televangelist.
In the anger over how they were treated and lack of political power in a country they saw slipping away the GOP solidified this population.
Ronald Reagan used his folksy charm to wage a campaign of covert racism. He also demonized the Democratic opposition. They made the word liberal an insult. Anyone who disagreed was smeared as being Un American A socialist bent on destroying traditional American values and waging war on Christianity. Even reasonable moderate voices were tarred as Liberals.
During the papacy of St. Ronnie a war on Unions was declared. Corporations and the rich were vaunted as the basis of the American post war economic miracle. Union workers were lazy and overpaid. Taxes were cut. Deficits exploded and taxes were raised.
The cultural war against secular life was heating up. Hollywood was destroying American life. Homosexuals were plotting to take over America. Women were abandoning their traditional roles upsetting the natural order of things.
The Robertson's and Falwell's were being taken seriously. The expert use of Television was spreading their word, filling their coffers and growing their political clout. These preachers were frequent guests at the White House. Political endorsements were sought and turned elections. Fewer people
identified as members of the traditional Religious denominations and were calling themselves Born Again.
Evangelical conservatives railed against the secularization of the United States. Hollywood and Collegiate elites were condemned for destroying American values. Women no longer stayed at home. They wanted careers.They enjoyed sex. African Americans no longer knew their place. They were uppity and wanted equality. Homosexuals were plotting to convert everyone and let their pedaphile prolictivities loose. Lesbians were going to beat up men and take their jobs in construction, law enforcement and the military.
The nation had fallen from the path of God and there would be dire consequences if the Almighty wasn't restored to daily life
The political conservatives were natural allies of the evangelicals. They both distrusted change. So they joined forces.
Both groups felt the GOP was simply paying lip service to their causes and taking advantage of them. They were right. The Republicans were not about to turn the party over to zealots. So, the insurgents took it. They ran against incumbents in primaries and won.
Since the late 90's we have seen moderate voices driven out of the party. The result is as they came into power they were lurching farther to the right. With no moderate power structure to keep them in check they reveled in their newfound ability to legislate to their heart's content.
There were no old warhorses to teach them how to govern. These neophytes saw the lifeblood of government(compromise) vilified as selling out. There was no one to tell them their concept of the Constitution was flawed at best, completely wrong at worst. Most fell over themselves running to the worst case scenario.
This coalition has decided to undo all the progress made over the last century plus. They are fed validation by media sites that would have been laughed out of existence a generation ago. The Fox news model of disinformation, half truths and lies has been adopted and expanded. We are deluged by a tsunami of willful ignorance, lies and hate, 24/7.
The audience that receives most of their information from these sites are deluded into believing we are on the verge of civil war. They are convinced they are under attack.
This has gone from people not understanding how governing works to wanting to destroy what they see as a monolithic, secular government wishing to establish a godless, socialist utopia.
Never underestimate the stupidity of people in large groups. Even more so if they are frightened. They latch on to anything that makes them feel safe.
I lived through the sixties and I have never seen division and hatred the way it exists here today.
Rather than make fun of the Militias we should be concerned at their explosive growth. How many McVeigh's are out there?
Rather than make fun of these extremists we should be concerned. There are likely people North and South who would love to fire on FT. Sumter again.
We need to out work them.
We need to out vote them.
We need to out evangelize them.
Too long have we let the right control the message. We need to fight back against the the lies with cold hard facts.
We can no longer be concerned with hurting their feelings. We've been punching bags for too long. Time to punch back.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Ohio joins up with Pregnancy Centers for Women's health. What??
In the rush to judgement over the abortion restrictions in Ohio we have lost sight of the deep, caring commitment the GOP legislators are showing to Ohio women. After all, these rules passed in Ohio's budget are for the health and safety of Ohio women. Just ask them.
Clinics that provide abortion services are required to have transfer agreements( A precaution in case of medical complications). These clinics are now forbidden from having transfer agreements with Public hospitals. Since most private hospitals in Ohio have religious affiliations clinics may have problems fulfilling this requirement. It is an excellent idea in a medical emergency,when time is a critical factor, to increase the distance a patient needs to be transported. After all any life saving procedure would be tantamount to an abortion and we can't have public money used to save a woman's life. We all know if she had not had sex she wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously it is the stance of the State of Ohio that sluts don't deserve compassion.
Another way to prove there is no war on women in Ohio is to defund Planned Parenthood. Or sorta defund.
What Ohio has done is change the funding priorities. Any family planning service provider, even if they don't offer abortion services, move to the back of the line for funding if they even make abortion referrals. This includes Rape Crisis Centers. Everyone knows children of rape are gifts from God. Since being a Republican legislator in Ohio makes you a de facto OB/GYN, you can decide if medically responsible treatment can even be mentioned. Once again, had the tramp not gotten knocked up there wouldn't be an issue.
So under these rules Christian anti-abortion, push for carrying to full term propaganda groups are funded. Planned Parenthood, not so much.Thus to ensure the health and safety of Ohio women, which is what these regulations are all about, contraception services will be provided by groups that don't believe in contraception. Natural methods are front and center. Rhythm and abstinence. Two methods that are proven to control a women's reproductive options.
Now, just because these groups have been caught lying in other States doesn't mean they will lie in Ohio. They won't tell women that condoms don't protect against STD's or pregnancy because they are naturally porous. They won't tell women that birth control causes mental health issues. They won't claim abortion can cause the formation of antibodies possibly forcing her immune system to reject a fetus causing a miscarry. Side effects not on the warning sheet are possible.
I am so very proud to live in a State that feels women need to be lied to, humiliated and considered too stupid to make important decisions concerning her health and future. Facts are stubborn things. They only get in the way of caring for women. Giving faith based groups public money to advance their anti-science agenda is needed. God knows women are willful creatures needing a strong hand to guide them. Now, let's go after other rights that are an affront to God. It's the new American way.
Clinics that provide abortion services are required to have transfer agreements( A precaution in case of medical complications). These clinics are now forbidden from having transfer agreements with Public hospitals. Since most private hospitals in Ohio have religious affiliations clinics may have problems fulfilling this requirement. It is an excellent idea in a medical emergency,when time is a critical factor, to increase the distance a patient needs to be transported. After all any life saving procedure would be tantamount to an abortion and we can't have public money used to save a woman's life. We all know if she had not had sex she wouldn't be in this situation. Obviously it is the stance of the State of Ohio that sluts don't deserve compassion.
Another way to prove there is no war on women in Ohio is to defund Planned Parenthood. Or sorta defund.
What Ohio has done is change the funding priorities. Any family planning service provider, even if they don't offer abortion services, move to the back of the line for funding if they even make abortion referrals. This includes Rape Crisis Centers. Everyone knows children of rape are gifts from God. Since being a Republican legislator in Ohio makes you a de facto OB/GYN, you can decide if medically responsible treatment can even be mentioned. Once again, had the tramp not gotten knocked up there wouldn't be an issue.
So under these rules Christian anti-abortion, push for carrying to full term propaganda groups are funded. Planned Parenthood, not so much.Thus to ensure the health and safety of Ohio women, which is what these regulations are all about, contraception services will be provided by groups that don't believe in contraception. Natural methods are front and center. Rhythm and abstinence. Two methods that are proven to control a women's reproductive options.
Now, just because these groups have been caught lying in other States doesn't mean they will lie in Ohio. They won't tell women that condoms don't protect against STD's or pregnancy because they are naturally porous. They won't tell women that birth control causes mental health issues. They won't claim abortion can cause the formation of antibodies possibly forcing her immune system to reject a fetus causing a miscarry. Side effects not on the warning sheet are possible.
I am so very proud to live in a State that feels women need to be lied to, humiliated and considered too stupid to make important decisions concerning her health and future. Facts are stubborn things. They only get in the way of caring for women. Giving faith based groups public money to advance their anti-science agenda is needed. God knows women are willful creatures needing a strong hand to guide them. Now, let's go after other rights that are an affront to God. It's the new American way.
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Erick Erickson is a nattering nabob of nihilism. Abortion Barbie? What a maroon.
I've never been a fan of Erick Erickson. Honestly. I'd never heard of Red State or Erickson till CNN signed him. He's caused me one face palm and head desk after another since then.
It is amazing to me that anyone even reads Red State. I know I don't have a lot of readers but at least I strive for accuracy.
During '12, unlike so many on the others on the right, he wasn't convinced President Obama was going to be swept aside by righteous Conservative anger. He blamed Rove, the Gop establishment and the Romney campaign. Again with the standard not conservative enough meme. He said Rove was still using Lee Atwater's playbook. Rove spent a mountain of cash for zero results. It wasn't right for the 21st century. Valid enough as far as it goes. Like the other pit bulls on the right Erickson has grabbed the idea that if a "True Conservative"ran the GOP would win hands down. That assumes everyone is really a closet RWNj who wants to roll back a century of progressive thought and reestablish the Gilded Age. He's really saying every white in America is racist and sexist We are all also historically and scientifically illiterate.
You would think that once CNN kicked him loose for being a bit crazy that even Fox would thingk twice about hiring him. Nope. Instead they've turned him loose on the air.
This is a man who thinks women are going against the natural order by working. Their purpose is to tend home and hearth and drop a baby as often as possible. It is a scientific fact women should not be the primary breadwinner as they are in 40% of American households. He sees it as troubling. I doubt he approves of more women than men getting a degree either. He has no standing to push that idea. He's assuredly not any kind of scientist. Also, I've read him. He's not mush of a writer either.
When the Texas Legislature passed that horrendous Abortion bill he showed his class. Erickson tweeted a link for liberals. It was to a supplier of wire coat hangers. When called out on it he used the anger as proof we have no sense of humor. He then said that death from self abortion was basically an urban legend pushed by the left.Funny fella.
So now we have Abortion Barbie.
State Senator Wendy Davis misspoke concerning Gosnell's chamber of Horrors. So obviously she's an air head and ignorant. I guess he never listens to Rush or or his compatriots on Fox. Erickson claims she's building a career on abortion.A political stand based on taking the life of the innocent. He also doesn't understand why Barbie is sexist.
So Erick, is it OK to call Limbaugh a drug addled gas bag? How about Caribou Barbie for Sarah? Histrionic Hannity? May I call you a Nattering Nabob of Nihilism?
Erick, a word of advice. Pull your head out of your ass and look around. The economy built by Saint Ronnie and his successors at the Holy See of Supply Side has made the single income family an an anachronism. To move ahead or stay even requires two incomes. Leave it to Beaver was cancelled before you were born. The housewife greeting her husband at the door with a martini, wearing a dress, heels and pearls never happened. Deal with it.
You really should stay quiet unless you have something insightful or even accurate to say. You may as well take a vow of silence considering your track record.
It is amazing to me that anyone even reads Red State. I know I don't have a lot of readers but at least I strive for accuracy.
During '12, unlike so many on the others on the right, he wasn't convinced President Obama was going to be swept aside by righteous Conservative anger. He blamed Rove, the Gop establishment and the Romney campaign. Again with the standard not conservative enough meme. He said Rove was still using Lee Atwater's playbook. Rove spent a mountain of cash for zero results. It wasn't right for the 21st century. Valid enough as far as it goes. Like the other pit bulls on the right Erickson has grabbed the idea that if a "True Conservative"ran the GOP would win hands down. That assumes everyone is really a closet RWNj who wants to roll back a century of progressive thought and reestablish the Gilded Age. He's really saying every white in America is racist and sexist We are all also historically and scientifically illiterate.
You would think that once CNN kicked him loose for being a bit crazy that even Fox would thingk twice about hiring him. Nope. Instead they've turned him loose on the air.
This is a man who thinks women are going against the natural order by working. Their purpose is to tend home and hearth and drop a baby as often as possible. It is a scientific fact women should not be the primary breadwinner as they are in 40% of American households. He sees it as troubling. I doubt he approves of more women than men getting a degree either. He has no standing to push that idea. He's assuredly not any kind of scientist. Also, I've read him. He's not mush of a writer either.
When the Texas Legislature passed that horrendous Abortion bill he showed his class. Erickson tweeted a link for liberals. It was to a supplier of wire coat hangers. When called out on it he used the anger as proof we have no sense of humor. He then said that death from self abortion was basically an urban legend pushed by the left.Funny fella.
So now we have Abortion Barbie.
State Senator Wendy Davis misspoke concerning Gosnell's chamber of Horrors. So obviously she's an air head and ignorant. I guess he never listens to Rush or or his compatriots on Fox. Erickson claims she's building a career on abortion.A political stand based on taking the life of the innocent. He also doesn't understand why Barbie is sexist.
So Erick, is it OK to call Limbaugh a drug addled gas bag? How about Caribou Barbie for Sarah? Histrionic Hannity? May I call you a Nattering Nabob of Nihilism?
Erick, a word of advice. Pull your head out of your ass and look around. The economy built by Saint Ronnie and his successors at the Holy See of Supply Side has made the single income family an an anachronism. To move ahead or stay even requires two incomes. Leave it to Beaver was cancelled before you were born. The housewife greeting her husband at the door with a martini, wearing a dress, heels and pearls never happened. Deal with it.
You really should stay quiet unless you have something insightful or even accurate to say. You may as well take a vow of silence considering your track record.
Friday, August 2, 2013
What a world, what a world...
I've tried to avoid this. Really. This topic is embarrassing, even for me. So, here we are. Self restraint has never been my strong suit. It may be time to plunge in, so to speak.
Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia has done amazingly stupid shit. During this campaign he is striving to outdo himself. An odious task indeed, but one he is intent on accomplishing.
In order to protect children from predators, he has decided to enforce the Virginia Crimes Against Nature law. This prohibits Sodomy between consenting adults. Give me a moment to stop laughing.
OK.
Virginia's statute was struck down as unconstitutional in March. Virginia appealed. The appeal was denied and is now on the way to SCOTUS. This week AG Cuccinelli asked SCOTUS to stay the lower court's decision during the appeal so enforcement can continue. A decision is pending.
I'm going to start by applying conservative logic to this. Did I say that out loud? Wow. Let's try.
What is the main reason gun control laws shouldn't be passed? That's right. Criminals don't obey gun control laws so there is no reason to pass laws. Scofflaws. Now to use this logic we need to expand our suspension of disbelief. We need to ignore the idea bank robbers rob banks in spite of statutes prohibiting that action. Yet we still have laws. There are laws against theft yet thieves steal. We still pass laws. You see where I'm going, right? I hope I get there soon, this hurts.
So having laws on the books prohibiting consensual sexual acts between adults will somehow prevent sexual abuse of minors by predators?
A). Won't every abuser ignore this statute? So why have a law they won't obey and has nothing to do with that crime anyway?
B)Why have a law nearly every sexually active adult in Virginia will ignore? And ignore gladly.
C) Therefor there should not be a law.
I'm a-no th- Wait. Done with this "logic".
Cuccinelli says don't worry he won't enforce this on consenting adults. Right. A reactionary law that won't be enforced. Right. This has nothing to do with the fact he believes homosexual conduct is a crime against nature.
Sodomy statutes were used across the United States to oppress and harass gays. It could also be used on Heterosexual couples for assorted reasons. Sodomy was widely interpreted to be anything other than the Missionary position.
Here in America enjoying sex is frowned on, still. Insereting yourself into something other than a vigina, man on top, is sinful. And those laws stop the pursuit of pleasure. What a very Puritan American ideal.
This fight is nothing other than a wink and a nod to evangelicals that Cuccinelli intends to make Gay sex illegal Why not make it a throat cancer prevention bill. That makes as much sense. After all it's only gays who practice oral and anal sex. Everyone knows oral sex isn't part of heterosexual foreplay. Yes, I said that with a straight face.
I've even heard rumors of consenting hetero couples having anal sex. It seems to have caught on in younger generations than mine. At least that's what I hear.
I am always amazed at the judgemental American attitudes on sex. That it's dirty. We are far more Victorian than the Brits that invented Victorian. Sheer sexual schizophrenia. If it feels good do it but shhh, don't let anyone know.
Oh, when he had a chance in 2009 to remove consensual adult use of anal and oral from this law, he voted no. So I am sure we can count on any enforcement pledges he makes.
Cuccinelli, rather than, I don't know, support passage of laws to protect children, would much rather criminalize common sexual practices between adults. Maybe if he'd ever had a blow job he'd be a bit more understanding of life. And happier. If he ever performed cunnilinguis on the Mrs. maybe our lives would be better. Just sayin.
Well, I'm staying out of Virginia. Just in case I can, well, polite society and all...
Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General and Republican candidate for Governor of Virginia has done amazingly stupid shit. During this campaign he is striving to outdo himself. An odious task indeed, but one he is intent on accomplishing.
In order to protect children from predators, he has decided to enforce the Virginia Crimes Against Nature law. This prohibits Sodomy between consenting adults. Give me a moment to stop laughing.
OK.
Virginia's statute was struck down as unconstitutional in March. Virginia appealed. The appeal was denied and is now on the way to SCOTUS. This week AG Cuccinelli asked SCOTUS to stay the lower court's decision during the appeal so enforcement can continue. A decision is pending.
I'm going to start by applying conservative logic to this. Did I say that out loud? Wow. Let's try.
What is the main reason gun control laws shouldn't be passed? That's right. Criminals don't obey gun control laws so there is no reason to pass laws. Scofflaws. Now to use this logic we need to expand our suspension of disbelief. We need to ignore the idea bank robbers rob banks in spite of statutes prohibiting that action. Yet we still have laws. There are laws against theft yet thieves steal. We still pass laws. You see where I'm going, right? I hope I get there soon, this hurts.
So having laws on the books prohibiting consensual sexual acts between adults will somehow prevent sexual abuse of minors by predators?
A). Won't every abuser ignore this statute? So why have a law they won't obey and has nothing to do with that crime anyway?
B)Why have a law nearly every sexually active adult in Virginia will ignore? And ignore gladly.
C) Therefor there should not be a law.
I'm a-no th- Wait. Done with this "logic".
Cuccinelli says don't worry he won't enforce this on consenting adults. Right. A reactionary law that won't be enforced. Right. This has nothing to do with the fact he believes homosexual conduct is a crime against nature.
Sodomy statutes were used across the United States to oppress and harass gays. It could also be used on Heterosexual couples for assorted reasons. Sodomy was widely interpreted to be anything other than the Missionary position.
Here in America enjoying sex is frowned on, still. Insereting yourself into something other than a vigina, man on top, is sinful. And those laws stop the pursuit of pleasure. What a very Puritan American ideal.
This fight is nothing other than a wink and a nod to evangelicals that Cuccinelli intends to make Gay sex illegal Why not make it a throat cancer prevention bill. That makes as much sense. After all it's only gays who practice oral and anal sex. Everyone knows oral sex isn't part of heterosexual foreplay. Yes, I said that with a straight face.
I've even heard rumors of consenting hetero couples having anal sex. It seems to have caught on in younger generations than mine. At least that's what I hear.
I am always amazed at the judgemental American attitudes on sex. That it's dirty. We are far more Victorian than the Brits that invented Victorian. Sheer sexual schizophrenia. If it feels good do it but shhh, don't let anyone know.
Oh, when he had a chance in 2009 to remove consensual adult use of anal and oral from this law, he voted no. So I am sure we can count on any enforcement pledges he makes.
Cuccinelli, rather than, I don't know, support passage of laws to protect children, would much rather criminalize common sexual practices between adults. Maybe if he'd ever had a blow job he'd be a bit more understanding of life. And happier. If he ever performed cunnilinguis on the Mrs. maybe our lives would be better. Just sayin.
Well, I'm staying out of Virginia. Just in case I can, well, polite society and all...
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Send in the Clowns. Don't bother, they're here. Ohio. Again.
In 2004 one of the things Karl Rove and company, in an effort to rally and get out the far right vote, supported so called Defense of Marriage ballot measures which sprang up across the United States. Not unlike foul, poisonous hallucinogenic toadstools.
Here in Ohio the ballot measure for an Amendment to the State Constitution banning Same Sex Marriage and recognition of such unions from other States may have been the driving force in the loss of this battleground by John Kerry.The issue passed. For the first time Ohio's Constitution bans equality of a certain portion of the population. That was then.
This is now.
Currently there is a petition drive to place a Marriage Equality Amendment on the ballot in 2014. As the GOP extremists are fond of saying, "Repeal and replace". This should galvanize the progressive vote in Ohio. It will likely help the Democrats in The Buckeye State. It is actually garnering support from former Republican officeholders. Why this sudden show of sanity here after our inmates running the asylum politics of the last few years? In my opinion I'd say demographics, image,jobs and the economy.
Younger people in American society simply are not fixated on sexual orientation. They know and are friends with out homosexuals. They have other worries than what someone is doing in their bedrooms.
When it comes to jobs and the economy Ohio is at a disadvantage. Highly educated members of the LBGT community leave to live where they are not objects of legally mandated discrimination. High Tech and other cutting edge firms are less likely to relocate for the same reason. In the 21st Century institutionalized discrimination is bad for business and image. Those jobs and companies go elsewhere.
This Amendment makes Ohio look intolerant, backwards ignorant. Oh believe me it can be all of those things when poked in the right place.
So how do the people who pushed this anti gay law to begin with feel about this?
Governor John Kasich does not support gay marriage. You will likely see him come out in opposition to a ballot issue.
Your national organizations are again wringing their hands over the destruction of the religious foundations of America and the coming outlawing of religion.The arguments are stale and repeated ad nauseum.
What they miss in the cacophony of the noise machine is that this has nothing to do with religion. Period. Religious ceremonies are not mandated. It does not effect a single religion. Not one. This legalizes CIVIL marriages.
Civil marriages are performed all the time. Inter faith marriages are not a threat to "traditional" marriage. They aren't illegal or condemned.
The big stick that's always used is traditional christian values. This was the argument used to justify and support slavery. It was used to prevent inter racial marriages. Religion is always used to support the status quo and oppose progress.
The other specious argument is the will of the people. It was voted on. Historical perspective says that voting on what rights a minority should have is always a good idea.
An election in Ohio always attracts media attention and tons of outside money. Civil discourse on the issue is already a casualty
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) now supports gay marriage. Unfortunately, like too many conservatives. it took his son coming out. He was immediately attacked by the right wing blogosphere and groups. It was suggested gay reversion therapy was an option. As was denouncing and turning his back on his boy. Always classy.
With midterms,elections for Governor and the other Statewide offices happening this won;t be pretty. There is a visceral anger in the electorate following the GOP attacks on women. Those members of the Legislature are all up for reelection also.
So 2014 will here in Ohio be caustic, vicious, filled with personal attacks and lie filled ads. In other words, business as usual..
.
Here in Ohio the ballot measure for an Amendment to the State Constitution banning Same Sex Marriage and recognition of such unions from other States may have been the driving force in the loss of this battleground by John Kerry.The issue passed. For the first time Ohio's Constitution bans equality of a certain portion of the population. That was then.
This is now.
Currently there is a petition drive to place a Marriage Equality Amendment on the ballot in 2014. As the GOP extremists are fond of saying, "Repeal and replace". This should galvanize the progressive vote in Ohio. It will likely help the Democrats in The Buckeye State. It is actually garnering support from former Republican officeholders. Why this sudden show of sanity here after our inmates running the asylum politics of the last few years? In my opinion I'd say demographics, image,jobs and the economy.
Younger people in American society simply are not fixated on sexual orientation. They know and are friends with out homosexuals. They have other worries than what someone is doing in their bedrooms.
When it comes to jobs and the economy Ohio is at a disadvantage. Highly educated members of the LBGT community leave to live where they are not objects of legally mandated discrimination. High Tech and other cutting edge firms are less likely to relocate for the same reason. In the 21st Century institutionalized discrimination is bad for business and image. Those jobs and companies go elsewhere.
This Amendment makes Ohio look intolerant, backwards ignorant. Oh believe me it can be all of those things when poked in the right place.
So how do the people who pushed this anti gay law to begin with feel about this?
Governor John Kasich does not support gay marriage. You will likely see him come out in opposition to a ballot issue.
Your national organizations are again wringing their hands over the destruction of the religious foundations of America and the coming outlawing of religion.The arguments are stale and repeated ad nauseum.
What they miss in the cacophony of the noise machine is that this has nothing to do with religion. Period. Religious ceremonies are not mandated. It does not effect a single religion. Not one. This legalizes CIVIL marriages.
Civil marriages are performed all the time. Inter faith marriages are not a threat to "traditional" marriage. They aren't illegal or condemned.
The big stick that's always used is traditional christian values. This was the argument used to justify and support slavery. It was used to prevent inter racial marriages. Religion is always used to support the status quo and oppose progress.
The other specious argument is the will of the people. It was voted on. Historical perspective says that voting on what rights a minority should have is always a good idea.
An election in Ohio always attracts media attention and tons of outside money. Civil discourse on the issue is already a casualty
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) now supports gay marriage. Unfortunately, like too many conservatives. it took his son coming out. He was immediately attacked by the right wing blogosphere and groups. It was suggested gay reversion therapy was an option. As was denouncing and turning his back on his boy. Always classy.
With midterms,elections for Governor and the other Statewide offices happening this won;t be pretty. There is a visceral anger in the electorate following the GOP attacks on women. Those members of the Legislature are all up for reelection also.
So 2014 will here in Ohio be caustic, vicious, filled with personal attacks and lie filled ads. In other words, business as usual..
.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)