October 2010
“These are hard times, not end times.”
– Jon Stewart
Gil Scott-Heron “B-Movie”. If you have...
The Challenge Of Overcoming Ignorance
Public perceptions aren’t even close to reality — by a 52% to 19% margin, for example, likely voters think their federal tax burden has gone up over the last couple of years, even though it hasn’t. Indeed, Democrats approved one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in American history, and the public has no idea that it even happened. via washingtonmonthly.com...
The Cult Of Beck
According to publicly available documents filed in federal court, a cousin of Charles Wilson — a Washington man sentenced to prison last week for repeatedly threatening to kill Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) after she voted in favor of health care reform legislation — said Wilson’s “fears were grown and fostered by [Glenn] Beck’s persuasive personality.
via...
savingpaper:
By a 2:1 margin, likely midterm voters believe taxes have increased, the economy has shrunk, and TARP lost money it’ll never recover. None is true.
“She got a big laugh when she said, how’s that hopey changey thing working for...”
– Bill Clinton on Sarah Palin and Republican economics (via brooklynmutt)
“Imagine an election in a Third World nation where a small number of millionaires...”
– E.J. Dionne Jr. (via azspot)
Everyone Gets A Piece
Of course, it’s a simplification to see government as a big pool of money. Distributional conflict has many guises. The money in the pool has to come from somewhere, so the battle is waged just as much over who is forced to pay into the pool and under what circumstances. The middle class doesn’t like to get welfare checks, so instead it gets tax credits and deductions for doing things...
Understatement Of The Day
“A majority of Tea Party members, I suspect, are not fans of Islam,” - Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips, when questioned about an email he sent to supporters urging them not to vote for Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) in part because he is Muslim. via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com “I suspect”? I suspect Judson knows a thing or two about identity politics. ...
Barack Obama - The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
—> To view this movie you need the Adobe Flash Player plugin. You also need JavaScript enabled in your browser. —> via thedailyshow.com The entire episode, 10.27.2010 Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com | Comment »
“Let me make sure I understand this. The ad’s contention is that seniors are...”
– Steve Inskeep, on Morning Edition, discussing a campaign ad from Indiana GOP Senate candidate Dan Coats against Democrat Brad Ellsworth. Bill Adair, editor of PolitiFact.com, ranted Coats’ ad “pants on fire.” (via savingpaper)
Snort.
(via inothernews)
“During the 2009-2010 election cycle, more than 30 Fox News personalities have...”
– REPORT: More than 30 Fox Newsers support GOP in 600-plus instances during midterms | Media Matters for America (via robot-heart-politics)
Fair and balanced, you guys!
(via stfuconservatives)
Obama: A Rare Breed - The Philospher President
Harvard historian James T. Kloppenberg on Obama: “The reason, he explained, is his conclusion that President Obama is a true intellectual — a word that is frequently considered an epithet among populists with a robust suspicion of Ivy League elites. In New York City last week to give a standing-room-only lecture about his forthcoming intellectual biography, “Reading Obama: Dreams,...
WatchThis is the world that Fox News has created. Watch this video. So angry, they are on a street corner, yet, have zero facts as to why they are mad. Zero.
One young man insisted that Holder is “the most anti-gun attorney general this nation has ever had.” When Rachel asked how he arrived at this, he had absolutely no idea why he believes what he believes. He referenced...
Pining For The Good Ol' Days: Get Your Facts Right
“When the Tea Partyers get around to identifying how America has changed and to whose benefit, however, they get it almost all wrong. In the worldview of the American right — and the polling shows conclusively that that’s who the Tea Party is — the nation, misled by President Obama, has gone down the path to socialism. In fact, far from venturing down that road,...
“Civil disobedience, that’s not our problem. Our problem is that people are...”
– Howard Zinn (via ageofreason)
“Most of these bodies call themselves “free-market thinktanks”, but their trick –...”
– George Monbiot (via azspot)
WatchThe Big Picture With Thom Hartmann, Episode 9
“The Tea Party movement is a force to be reckoned with. Whether you buy into their rhetoric or not, their movement is changing the political landscape. In this show Tom discusses the potential dangers the Tea Party poses to Progressives, Moderate Republicans and the nation. Then God and Country appear to go hand in hand in King, North...
What The GOP Now Stands For
“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” - Senator Mitch McConnell.
Rarely has the rank nihilism of the current Republican party been better or more accurately expressed.
via andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com
It ain’t gonna happen. Obama will crush any Republican nominee. Palin? Romney? Be serious.
Posted via email...
“God is the reason I am running.”
– — Christine O’Donnell
Then God will be the reason why you lose.
“I almost gag when I hear these Republicans lambasting the president and the...”
– President Bill Clinton
“All systems cultivate fear and encourage silence among its members. This cannot...”
– nakedpastor (via azspot)
Keep Left. The Center Is For Pollsters
“Democrats think in terms of programs, policies, and particular pieces of legislation…. Republicans think in terms of simple ideas, themes, and movements…. Republicans are also more disciplined (ask yourself which party attracts authoritarian personalities and which attracts anti-authoritarians)…. Republicans are cynical about politics…. Democrats are idealistic...
“Now I admit that we Muslims are a pretty powerful bunch. But in all the secret...”
– Reza Aslan - America’s Sharia Hysteria: The Daily Beast
“Bottom line is that we’ve reached the point where nobody in that particular...”
– James Howard Kunstler (via azspot)
“there is no real argument for a libertarian set of beliefs, because all it is,...”
– stfuteabaggers (via supersoygrrrl)
The political unicorn: banished from the GOP, the libertarian exists in an intellectual time machine set to 1963.
Afghan Leader Karzai Admits Cash From Iran. Bush...
President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Monday that his chief of staff had taken money from the Iranian government, confirming a report in The New York Times. He said the cash was used to pay for presidential expenses.via nytimes.com “Presidential expenses”? Hookers and blow in Kabul? Then there is this prime nugget: “This is transparent,” Mr. Karzai said, maintaining that the United...
Three Month Study On Tea Party = Useless Hot Air,...
But a new Washington Post canvass of hundreds of local tea party groups reveals a different sort of organization, one that is not so much a movement as a disparate band of vaguely connected gatherings that do surprisingly little to engage in the political process. The results come from a months-long effort by The Post to contact every tea party group in the nation, an unprecedented attempt...
The Shameless Revisionism Marches On
“In terms of accomplishments, my biggest accomplishment is that I kept the country safe amid a real danger,” George W. Bush in Chicago yesterday via bobcesca.com Except for the biggest, most destructive terrorist attack in America, EVER. It’s like Bush can look at your burned down house and say “At least I did not let your house burn down”. Posted via...
Democrats Do It Better
via thinkprogress.org Republicans are great at starting wars and backdoor drafting vets, but they are horrible at taking care of them for the rest of their lives. “Pro-life” seems to avoid the lives of veterans and their families. Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com | Comment »
Newsweek: Obama Approval Jumps, Dems More Fired Up
President Obama’s approval ratings have jumped substantially, crossing the magic halfway threshold to 54 percent, up from 48 percent in late September via newsweek.com Still going to be close elections, seats will be lost, but this is good news. Posted via email from liberalsarecool.com | Comment »
Vets’ Group: 92% Of "D" Or "F" Grades Went To...
A new report by a leading veterans group has awarded grades to members of Congress based on their support of veterans issues. One party failed miserably.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) gave out 154 D and F grades. 142 of those went to Republicans and 12 to Democrats — meaning that 92 percent of the D and F grades went to members of the GOP.
Of the 94 congressmen that...
“…we cannot afford not to stimulate the economy. So, you know, anybody that says...”
– Nobel-laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz
Bush: Sorry I Didn’t Privatize Social Security
And just like that the worst President ever is back in the news. Former President George W. Bush signaled on Thursday that he sees not privatizing Social Security as his greatest failure from the eight years he served in the White House, the Chicago Tribune reports. The unpopular Republican leader made the suggestion while speaking at a trade conference in the Windy City, where...