From Think Progress:
Today, House members are back home to begin their month-long recess. The far right has indicated that they plan to welcome many of their representatives with large, angry throngs (“town halls gone wild”). The corporate lobbyists engineering these “grassroots” efforts have indicated their harassment strategy is to “yell,” “stand up and shout,” and “rattle” the members. Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being confronted by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls.
And you can bet that the first time a liberal says or does something intemperate in response it will be all over the national media.
We live in a political culture that is insane. People expect and accept this sort of behavior from the right wing, because they’ve always done it. If there is one hallmark of movement conservatism, it is crude, aggressive and threatening behavior bankrolled with scads of corporate money.
Then when the debate turns sour newspaper editorial boards get to bemoan “partisanship,” as if nothing that came before had anything to do with what is happening in the present. The only strategy conservatives have left is to make rational discourse impossible, and the traditional media has always let them get away with it. We’ll see if anyone in the tradmed calls them out this time.
“People expect and accept this sort of behavior from the right wing, because they’ve always done it.”
No, people expect this sort of behavior from African tribes because they’ve always done it, and America’s violent and irresponsible rightwing is now trying to import the Dark Continent’s murderous behavior into our country.
How much farther do we have to let these sociopaths go before the authorities recognize them as the clear and present danger to society that they are, and invoke the involuntary commitment laws to lock them up?
The traditional media’s pandering to this mob is only a temporary problem, Goldy, because it’s clear the traditional media is going away. Probably sooner than you (or they) think. The traditional media will not survive this recession.
This all bears a high resemblance to the Nazi playbook of the early 1930’s.
Tyranny fueled by ignorance. The American experiment may well be near its end.
I think it’s time for the FBI to investigate these people as potential terrorists. At the very least, law enforcement should maintain intelligence files on these groups and individuals. They should also be put on Homeland Security’s “do not fly” list to prevent them from hijacking planes and flying them into buildings.*
* Har! har! har! I bet when you wingnuts read this, you thought I was serious! Made ya look! Made ya look! Har! har! har!
Palin Bails From Reagan Library Speech
Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC-TV reports that ex-mayor Palin has canceled her highly publicized scheduled appearance at a Republican women’s dinner at the Reagan Presidential Library. The women’s group is offering refunds to those who purchased $100 tickets for the event.
KABC-TV said, “The former governor’s spokeswoman declared on her Facebook page Thursday that Palin had never committed to her attending the event next weekend, despite an apparent commitment made before her resignation to keynote the event.” Palin apparently is not offering any further explanation.
Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/st.....id=6943864
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Leaving your own supporters in the lurch is a strange way to run for president, if that’s what she’s doing.
If Palin does leave the campaign trail, we liberals will miss her. The GOP certainly isn’t short of buffoons and laughingstocks, but as an object of derision she’s in a class of her own.
whatever. rational discourse amounts to little. democrats have all the power of the votes in congress so if they don’t use it to pass single payer healthcare then their political brand will be as dead to voters as the republican brand. the only hope is 100% public campaign finance. why doesn’t ha promote this?
6.8 Quake Rattles California
Mrs. Rabbit says she heard on TV that a powerful earthquake has shaken southern California. (No, she’s not referring to the cancellation of Palin’s planned speech; this is a physical earthquake.) At this time, I can’t verify this information because I’m unable to open any news sites. My AOL connection is horribly slow this morning, in fact, HA is about the only website I can get into. Yes, I know AOL is crap, but it costs only $9.95 a month plus I have security concerns about high-speed access. When I want to view videos or other large files, I can go to the public library.
Roger @ 8: MSNBC headlines say the quake was centered near San Isabel at Baja California (which is actually in Mexico, for those not familiar with the geography). They said it rattled the windows at City Hall in San Diego, which was evacuated as a precaution.
The problem with the health care issue is that on the “reform” side, it’s complicated (lots of options, experts on both sides offering opinions on efficacy and cost).
On the “anti-reform” side, all they have to do is create fear of change through sound bites and key words. They don’t have to prove anything, all they have to do is slow things down to a stop.
A few weeks ago, even the Republicans were being advised to say they were “in favor” of health care reform, because the GOP thought they would be rolled over by the popularity of reform. Of course, their idea of “reform” was no reform, or putting things in reverse (one guy on TV was arguing that everything would be peachy-keen if the “government just got out of the health care business”. But this week they seem to have more confidence, and aren’t even claiming to be in favor of reform any more.
Art @ 3: The Soviets used to use these tactics, also, as they subverted the attempts at European democracy post WWII and turned Eastern Europe into their client states. In Germany in 1948, they closed factories and promised ration cards for food if the workers went downtown to surround and protest the democratically-elected municipal government there. They stormed city hall, and skilled political operatives crowded the counsel chambers yelling and chanting slogans until the council members, fearing for their lives, slipped out the back door. The Berlin police, most of whom were then under control of the Soviets, did nothing. Some loyal police officers barricaded themselves in the office of the French military within City Hall, but after a day or so of standoff the police turned themselves in to the leaders of the crowd on the condition that they wouldn’t be harmed. The policemen were observed being loaded into Red Army trucks, but after that they were never heard of again.
That was the last meeting of the democratically elected city council of Berlin for many decades, after that the Soviets installed their own counsel on their zone, and the Americans, French, and British installed their own city council in their (combined) sector.
Oh, the French got back at the Soviets a few months later. When the Soviets cut off West Berlin and attempted to starve it into submission, the Berlin Airlift began. Tempelhoff airport couldn’t begin to meet all the needs of the city as winter set in and even coal needed to be transported in by air. So the western allies started building a new (additional) airfield in the French zone. But blocking the flight path were two very high radio transmission towers operated by the Soviets (the towers themselves were on French soil). The French made frequent warnings to them that the towers had to be dismantled by a certain date, all of which the Soviets ignored. When the deadline came, the French military drove up to the towers, placed the small number of Soviet soldiers serving as operators in a truck, and then blew up the towers.
The Soviet commander, furious, rushed over to the French commander’s headquarters, and started yelling in his face. “How could you do such a thing!” he screemed. The French general, unperturbed, pulled himself up to his full hight, tilted his head back so he could look down his long Gallic nose at the general, and responded calmly: “Simple. With high explosives. At the base.”
Sounds like you are one of those right-wingers scared of the obama administration.
Out of view of the wife. You’re one slick rabbit.
Do you mean like when “they” claim there’s 40 million uninsured but won’t release the data so we can see how the uninsured breakdown. How many are old, how many young, etc.
@8 Why even bother to shell out the ten bux a month? NoCharge Internet is free (as in beer) and its connection speeds are certainly no worse than AO(hel)L’s.
(Disclaimer: I’m in no way affiliated with NoCharge. I just know of them and thought you should, too.)
Marvelous Marvie the Welfare Queen doesn’t worry about his health care. He’s sucks at the public teat even as he complains about it.
One word: brownshirts
Let’s talk about Cash for Clunkers.
Um, it’s a success. As such, it angers the irrational Republicans no end.
But WHY is it so evil?
Well…
– The average fuel economy of the cars purchased through Cash for Clunkers is 9 mpg higher than those turned in. I think it should be designed such that it is higher still, but that’s not bad. Republicans smash!
– 85% of the vehicles turned in are trucks (translation for non gov-speak: trucks AND SUVs)
– Only 40% of vehicles purchased are trucks (probably real trucks, but there are hybrid SUVs and the like)
– the program is wildly popular with (dare I say it?) real Americans
– the program supports the American auto industry
No wonder Republicans hate it!!
In an afterthought, the first checks just got cut for the Veterans Educational Assistance Act (better known as the “new GI Bill,” introduced by former Secretary of the Navy, Democrat Jim Webb). Who passed this historic bill supporting our troops? Yeah, Democrats bitches! Fucking Republicans love to praise themselves about the troops that they put in harm’s way without an exit strategy, proper equipment, or education after they get out. Bastards.
I read these post and I have to smile. I am a 65 year old man on medicare . Do I apreciate medicare, you bet I do. I don’t consider myself an overly intelligent man,but I do know that you can’t increase services to 50 million people without raising more revenue, more than the top 5 percent. Obama would not be in this situation if he would just tell the people we need to raise taxes to do this. The only other way to keep the spending deficit neutral is to cut services. I think the second option is what makes us seniors a little bit nervous.
@14 FREE internet??? I gotta check this out!!!
@18 You’re overlooking something: The private health insurance industry takes 25% of our health care dollars, and delivers no health care. Their only function is to deny claims. Medicare, by comparison, has administrative expenses of less than 1%. All we have to do is eliminate the useless private insurance middlemen and achieve Medicare’s administrative efficiency. Then there’ll be enough money to cover the uninsured AND improve health care AND give everyone a premium cut.
18 t
You are assuming that “50 million” people will be covered by the public option. Why do you think this? Please answer in some detail; quote from a bill, cite relevant research, give us SOMETHING.
It makes me think that perhaps you know very little about the various bills giong through COngress, or that you are a propagandist attempting to appear as a mild-mannered senior citizen alarmed about a made-up issue.
What 2-faced horseshit. Obama told the left to “get in their faces” and some leftist asshole Senator said that dissent is patriotic. But, just for your side? Assholes!
Further, the White House now has Gestapo plans and tells supporters to report dissenters to the WH.