That [O’Donnell] is a major party candidate for national office, that she is among the brightest stars of a constellation of like-minded cranks — some of them already in office — tells you all you need to know about this moment in our political life. Welcome to the United States of Amnesia.
Somehow we have forgotten the lesson we spent most of the last decade learning at ruinous cost, that faith-based governance, foreign policy by gut instinct, choosing leaders on the basis of which one we’d most like to watch television with, simply does not work.
Some say this is a conservative revolution, but this is no conservatism Ronald Reagan or Barry Goldwater would have recognized. At least their ideology adhered to an interior logic. This ideology adheres to a perverse illogic which posits that the less you know, the more authentic you are. So what triumphs here is not conservatism but rather, mediocrity. The Know Nothings and Flat Earthers are ascendant. …
Some of us are reminded how candidate Bush kept calling Greeks "Grecians." Some of us remember how the electorate shrugged off that evidence of looming gaps in his basic knowledge because he had a folksy way. Some of us remember how that came out.
Others apparently don’t. Others are ready to travel that road again. It brings to mind an old saying: We get the leaders we deserve.
Category Archives: NADA – New American Dark Ages
New American Dark Ages
The Albuquerque Journal Joins the Tea Party: Change Everything Back
Today, the Abqjournal endorsed all three “conservative” Republican candidates for US House offices. Two of these guys are deep in the oil and gas industry. Steve Pearce is rich. What’s wrong with that? Oh, nothing.
Two years ago, “conservatives” mocked the notion of Change We Can Believe it, even after 8 years of unbelievable incompetence. Now, two years later, they want to change everything back. Don’t let them do this.
Note, when I say “don’t them do this,” I don’t mean “take up arms,” as a “conservative” would. The overwhelming number of registered Democrats need to vote for Democrats and stiff-arm the Mad Hatters. We’re not done yet. You had your turn (and fucked up royally).
Dupes of the Rich
Dana Milbank – A Tea Party of populist posers
[…] a radio appeal from the de facto leader of the Tea Party movement, Glenn Beck, who told them: "Put your money where your mouth is. If you have a dollar, please go to . . . the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and donate today." Chamber members, he said, "are our parents. They’re our grandparents. They are us."
They are? Listed as members of the chamber’s board are representatives from Pfizer, ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin, JPMorgan Chase, Dow Chemical, Ken Starr’s old law and lobbying firm, and Rolls-Royce North America. Nothing says grass-roots insurgency quite like Rolls-Royce — and nothing says populist revolt quite like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In describing the big-business group as "us," Beck (annual revenue: $32 million) provided an unintended moment of clarity into the power behind the Tea Party movement. These aren’t peasants with pitchforks; these are plutocrats with payrolls.
There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man.
Influence Of ‘Billionaires Who Write The Checks Give Me Some Concern’
ThinkProgress » Rove In 2004: Influence Of ‘Billionaires Who Write The Checks Give Me Some Concern’
“I am a firm believer in strong (political) parties, and things that weaken the parties and place the outcome of elections in the hands of billionaires who can write checks and political consultants who can get themselves hired by billionaires who write the checks, give me some concern,” [Karl] Rove said [in 2004].
Of course, these days Rove isn’t as big a believer in strong political parties, as he works to build a “shadow RNC.” He also isn’t as concerned about the subversion of democracy at the hands of a few wealthy donors. Instead, when President Obama makes the argument that Rove did in 2004, the Rove of 2010 slams him for having an “enemies list” and engaging in a “desperate political ploy.”
ThinkProgress » Rove In 2004: Influence Of ‘Billionaires Who Write The Checks Give Me Some Concern’
Free Speech Belongs to the Rich – Just ask the Supreme Court
In 2006, Koch Industries owner Charles Koch revealed to the Wall Street Journal’s Stephen Moore that he coordinates the funding of the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks, media outlets and other anti-government efforts through a twice annual meeting of wealthy right-wing donors. He also confided to Moore, who is funded through several of Koch’s ventures, that his true goal is to strengthen the “culture of prosperity” by eliminating “90%” of all laws and government regulations. Although it is difficult to quantify the exact amount Koch alone has funneled to right-wing fronts, some studies have pointed toward $50 million he has given alone to anti-environmental groups. Recently, fronts funded by Charles and his brother David have received scrutiny because they have played a pivotal role in the organizing of the anti-Obama Tea Parties and the promotion of virulent far right lawmakers like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC). (David Koch praised DeMint and gave him a “Washington Award” shortly after the senator promised to “break” Obama by making health reform his “Waterloo.”)
While the Koch brothers — each worth over $21.5 billion — have certainly underwritten much of the right, their hidden coordination with other big business money has gone largely unnoticed.
In the Culture of Prosperity, anyone can get rich, and if you haven’t done so, then fuck you, loser.
Government Shutdown
ThinkProgress » Steele Claims No GOP Candidates Are Calling For A Government Shutdown
In recent weeks, a growing number of Republican lawmakers and candidates have voiced support for the idea of shutting down the government if they win control of the House next year. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Steve King (R-IA), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), and Alaska GOP Senate nominee Joe Miller have openly called for a shutdown, while Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has given a tacit endorsement. Meanwhile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was the architect of the first shutdown in 1995, has already devised a scheme to repeat the failed tactic.
However, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is apparently oblivious to the words of his own party’s candidates, or intentionally trying to ignore them, as he said today on Fox News that he hadn’t heard of “any candidates” calling for a government shutdown. He then quickly pivoted away to irrelevant GOP talking points, without ever denying that he or his party support the idea of a shutdown …
ThinkProgress » Steele Claims No GOP Candidates Are Calling For A Government Shutdown
Well, who can blame Steele for not listening to Republican candidates or ignoring what they say.
“You actually heard the crowd gasp!” – That gives me hope.
Maybe we’re not all as stupid or defeated as we appear.
Yesterday, in a debate with Democratic opponent Chris Coons at Widener University Law School in Delaware, O’Donnell accused Coons of “constitutional ignorance,” saying “perhaps they didn’t teach you Constitutional law at Yale Divinity School.” But when Coons defended his position against teaching creationism by citing the First Amendment’s prohibition against establishment of religion, O’Donnell inquired, “that’s in the First Amendment?“:
Coons said that creationism, which he considers “a religious doctrine,” should not be taught in public schools due to the Constitution’s First Amendment. He argued that it explicitly enumerates the separation of church and state.
“The First Amendment does?” O’Donnell asked. “Let me just clarify: You’re telling me that the separation of church and state is found in the First Amendment?”
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” Coons responded, reciting from memory the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“That’s in the First Amendment…?” O’Donnell responded.
Later in the debate, O’Donnell stumbled when asked whether or not she would repeal the 14th, 16th, or 17th Amendments if elected. She asked the questioner to define the 14th and 16th amendments, adding: “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my Constitution with me.”
“You actually audibly heard the crowd gasp,” said Widener University political scientist Wesley Leckrone, adding that her responses “raised questions about O’Donnell’s grasp of the Constitution.”