Mad_Machine76
Mad_Machine76's JournalWhat killed Dems in 2010 IMHO
was the GOP Tea Party smear machine being kicked into gear via the Koch Bros. in conjunction with the corporate media spreading those smears and lies (that the majority of the people whom actually voted ended up believing), as well as spreading doom and gloom among Dems and making dire predictions of a mass revolt against President Obama and the Democrats and their wicked "socialist" policies that would result in the Republicans taking Congress and reigning in those dastardly out-of-control tax and spending Dems and using their newfound power and control as a springboard for taking back the WH in 2012. Despite their gains in 2010, however, their longer-term plans don't seem to be faring very well and they're facing some severe voter whiplash from their policies and (non-)approach to governance, as well as a severely lackluster lineup of prospective Republican replacements for President Obama.
There are no non-religious reasons AFAIK
to be against contraception, abortion, gay marriage, etc. The problem is that these issues, which used to get fought over and (maybe) eventually settled in the churches have no become explosive issues in the political realm with politicians assuming the role of being the country's (or state's) pastors/spiritual advisers- even though they're SUPPOSED to be making public policy on the basis of rational, evidence-based reasons that are supposed to serve the broader welfare of the citizens of this country, not narrow denominational faith-based reasons. The wall that's supposed to be separating church and state has been ridden with bullet holes (if not larger) since the 1980's and there does not seem to be any indication whatsoever that it's going to get better before it gets (much) worse.
They have a rather hard time getting REALITY in general to accomodate them
but they damn sure are trying! The way the world works just isn't the way they think it can (or should).
That is discouraging
However the Republicans have nothing better or more substantive to offer and, hopefully, as the year wears on and the Republican nominee is actually chosen and people begin to hear what the Republicans are offering (or not offering), people will, hopefully, decide that giving President Obama another 4 years (and maybe even giving him another Dem Congress to work with) is the better choice. The Republicans are devoid of any promise or hope of progress or reform in this country and haven't even allowed President Obama to really do as much as he wanted to do, so the lack of progress in this country and, specifically, in the economy is as much tied to their own obstructionism and unwillingness to do anything productive. I have a hard time believing that people would want to go back to GOP (mis-)rule and worse. We have been getting good news for the past two months but, realistically, there's going to be good news and bad news from here until Election Day. I just can't imagine a huge groundswell of support forming for Romney or any of the other nominees and, frankly, the prospect of a brokered convention with a "White Knight" nominee who might emerge as the party standard bearer to "save" the party and win the WH seems very unlikely IMHO. Articles like this, however, need to help keep the heat turned up on our end so that we work like mad crazy to win not only the WH but do well at the local and state races as well.
I would also add
that Bill Maher is an "equal opportunity offender". He is no ideologue and he ridicules all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons, including President Obama and Democrats in general.
Whatever offensive and/or misogynistic comments Maher might have made were likely one-off remarks and I can think of anything in particular Maher has ever said that is, in any way, equivalent to what Rush said yesterday, said today, or will say tomorrow.
There is absolutely NO equivalence whatsoever between Bill Maher, Ed Schultz, Michael Moore, et. al on the left and Rush Limbaugh other scions of hate on the right.
I really think that we need to get away, both on the left and the right, from "getting the vapors" over one-off remarks made by public figures because, frankly, everybody is going to say something stupid, sexist, bigoted, off-color, politically incorrect (at least could be interpreted by somebody as such) and I hate to see people's careers automatically ruined over them or from being used to damage somebody else by association. I think that, in most cases, if somebody makes an offensive remark and upsets somebody, they should pony up with an apology and then everybody should just move on. This doesn't really apply to the current situation with Rush, particularly since he has been unrepentant about his comments (re: Sandra Fluke) but in general people need to relax a little bit IMHO. The best way IMHO to counter bad speech is with more good/better speech (and to vote with our wallets as well).
That's great!
Now, let's not get cocky!!! 
Let's also not forget the downticket races either. The GOP Tea Party sure ain't going to, particularly since a lot of the *smart* ones have pretty much given up on the prospect of winning the WH this year with their "calvacade of clowns"!
The Tea Party has been one crazy contradiction after another IMHO
They've rail against TARP but they're doing whatever they can to repeal financial reforms put in place in 2010 and have strenuously avoided holding Wall Street accountable for anything. They rail against "Obamacare" but have no plans of their own how to solve problems that lots of people are still dealing with in terms of health care and/or are going to go back to dealing with if PPACA actually gets repealed. They have spent more time trying to simply defund government rather than fix it and make it work better for the people and obstructing economic reforms rather than aiding actual job creation. They have spent more time trying to get government into women's uteruses than they have trying to get government out of people's lives. They have spent more time trying to keep people from being able to vote than doing things that might encourage more civic participation.
The "Tea Party" movement is basically Republicanism on steroids IMHO. Although I still think that they have a limited shelf life due to their extremism in general, as well as the fact that they are basically one long counterattack from the right since the 2008 election of President Obama, as long as they've got backers with deep pockets, they'll continue to be able to keep the crazy cranked up high enough to keep the movement at least somewhat visible, particularly at the local and state levels. As such, we need to avoid the tendency to forget about these other races and be prepared to fight just as hard at the local and state levels as well.
I remain eternally amazed
that he was allowed to keep his show on AFN after he became a full-blown apologist for torture during the Abu Gharib scandal in 2004-though given how what happened was more or less "official" policy I guess I shouldn't be but it surely could not have made the damage control effort very easy to have him on AFN of all places trying to make such behaviour "ok" while the rest of the (mis-)administration was trying to claim that the perps were just a few bad eggs.
......delusional (to the extreme)?
Fox News has literally created and presents an "alternative reality" for it's viewers. If it were actually true, then I might even have to re-think my entire perception of reality. It's scary to think that a LOT of people (too many) actually live in their "reality". It really shouldn't be a surprise that we are in the mess that we are in.
That's true. I know
"........full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"-a perfect description of the modern day GOP. That blank sheet of paper that they kept talking about back in 2010 must still be........blank.
Profile Information
Name: Mara Alis ButlerGender: Female
Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana
Home country: USA
Current location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Member since: Sat Feb 28, 2004, 01:13 AM
Number of posts: 24,437
