Archive for April 7th, 2010

Updated with new material (in italics): I just found an amazing quote from conservative Bruce Bartlett. He is a conservative who was an advisor to Reagan. In 2005, he spoke out against some of Bush’s policies. He was fired from a right-wing think tank, much like David Frum was for his bold statement on healthcare reform. Here is what Bartlett had to say after Frum was fired:

It saddened me to hear this. I have always hoped that my experience was unique. But now I see that I was just the first to suffer from a closing of the conservative mind. Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn’t already.

This dementia seems to have set in. Just look at this.

A recent Harris Poll has made me fear for the future of the country. As John Avlon argues, the fringe has come to dominate our political culture. Fear and hate politics have come to dominate campaigns, and campaigns last forever.

But let’s get down to the poll. What Americans think is bad, but look at what Republican respondents thought about Barack Obama:

He is a socialist (67%)
He wants to take guns away (61%)
He is a Muslim (57%)
He wants to sacrifice U.S. sovereignty to a one-world government (51%)
He has acted against the Constitution (55%)
He resents America’s heritage (47%)
He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (40%) – makes you wonder how he’s also a socialist
He was not born in the United States (45%)
He is a racist (42%) – Beck viewers I guess
He wants to use a crisis (economic or terrorist attack) to assume dictatorial powers (41%)
He is doing many of the things that Hitler did (38%)
He may be the Anti-Christ (24%)
He wants the terrorists to win (22%)

Get all that? This is absolutely ridiculous. Over half of Republicans still think Obama is Muslim?! Over half think he wants to give up our sovereignty to a one-world government, and 41% think he wants to be a dictator. There must be no overlap because these are mutually exclusive. Same goes for the claim that he’s a socialist (67%) and that he just obeys Wall Street (40%), but numerically there has to be overlap there. This is akin to telling government to get their hands off of Medicare.

Let’s get to the really fun stuff. Over a third of Republicans believe he is doing many of the things Hitler did. Over a third. Damn near a quarter believe he may be the Anti-Christ. Seriously. Over a fifth think he wants the terrorists to win. This is shameful.

Republicans read and write here. How does this make you feel about your party? Do you like that just under half of your party doesn’t think Obama was born in the U.S.? I am embarrassed that 8% of Democrats think that. How is that number not 0? There is a small contingent of Democrats that answered yes to all of these questions.  What in the hell is going on here?

How can over half believe he wants to give up U.S. power to a (non-existent) one-world government? How? Michele Bachmann? We act like Glenn Beck and Bachmann aren’t scary, but they’re obviously having a large impact. I wish they would have included a question about favorite newsmen. I guarantee a strong correlation with Beck and the craziest of the bunch (crazy minds think alike?).

The poll did find that you were much more likely to hold these views if you had never been to college. So education seems to mitigate the craziness factor. Bottom line: we need to educate people, because this is crazy.

Or perhaps conservative dementia has started to set in.

Enjoy wrapping your head around this poll.

Adam Feser

Update: If more people would realize that what Coburn says is true, we’d have less stuff like this going on.

Tom Coburn had a town hall with some fiery guests, and he shocked many of them with his defense of Nancy Pelosi. When he discussed his policy differences with Pelosi, he called her a nice lady. The crowd booed and hissed, and he replied, “Come on now. She is nice – how many of you all have met her? She’s a nice person.”

He has a great point here, and we’re all guilty of forgetting it. Just because we disagree with someone does not mean they are evil. I try to remind myself (and you) that we all have friends that hold positions opposite our own, and this means that any politician that we disagree with could be our friend.

Although I hate Glenn Beck and Michele Bachmann and believe they are insane, but I don’t have any friends that crazy.

Coburn also had harsh words for Fox News. A woman complained that she would be thrown in jail for not getting insurance, and Coburn quickly said that is not the point. “The intention is not to put any one in jail. That makes for good TV news on FOX but that isn’t the intention.”

He also said, “So don’t catch yourself being biased by FOX News that somebody is no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don’t know what they don’t know.”

A valid point from a man I rarely agree with.

Enjoy a free MLB Extra Innings preview.

Adam Feser

Mind blowing, isn’t it? Mr. Maverick himself now claims that he never considered himself a maverick. He never took pride in his ability to do what he thought was right as opposed to what the party thought. At least now that he’s in a primary with an opponent who is farther to the right with the support of those farther to the right, McCain is not a maverick. Here’s a John McCain-approved message about how unmavericky he is (via Politico):

Here’s McCain himself on how unmavericky he is (also via Politico):

Wait, that was in 2008 when it was politically helpful to distance himself from hardcore Republicans. Now it’s 2010 and it’s politically helpful to put himself with hardcore Republicans. It’s also helpful to say he’s always been that way. Basically, it’s helpful to just lie.

I personally don’t think he was or is such a maverick, and I damn sure know Palin wasn’t and isn’t a maverick (she was for that bridge to nowhere until it was unpopular). But I know McCain loved that title and claimed it all the time. To now claim he isn’t and never considered himself a maverick is just ridiculous.

Here’s a montage showing just how much he loved the term when he thought it was helpful:

Jon Stewart once loved John McCain. He had him on the show constantly and the two had a great time. But Jon and the Daily Show have seen that he no longer is the man they knew and loved, they also had their minds blown when he claimed he never thought of himself as a maverick:

I sort of think of this like a professional athlete that hangs on too long than ruins his storied career by being horrible. Old McCain is making me forget about anything I used to respect about Less Old McCain.

Enjoy the Masters Par 3 Contest.

Adam Feser

It’s a shame that ACORN will forever be known as the group that advised the pimp and prostitute, because that didn’t actually happen. They lost millions in funding because some douche can edit a video. California’s attorney general conducted an investigation and found ACORN had committed no crimes. In fact, the conservative activist, James O’Keefe likely committed crimes. He exchanged the full tapes for assurance he wouldn’t be prosecuted (he has enough on his plate with his other crimes).

The tapes were severely edited to make it look like they were directly advising a supposed pimp and prostitute to break the law. The ACORN officials actually called the police in several instances. This didn’t stop people like Hannity from lauding O’Keefe as a messiah-like figure.

ACORN was not without its problems, but this shouldn’t have become the phenomenon it did.

Watch Maddow break down how dishonest the whole thing is:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here’s Colbert on the editing and pundits’ response:

Enjoy knowing that creatively breaking the law can make you famous and ruin a community organization.

Adam Feser

Measure 13, the South Dakota Safe Access Act, will be on the ballot this election season. The bill would allow authorized patients to have up to one ounce of marijuana or six plants.

I’m curious to see what you all think about this area. Should we allow the sick to legally smoke marijuana? I believe this failed in 2006 – should it or will it fail again?

Enjoy yet another Red Sox year.

Adam Feser