Washington Post

A storm the GOP didn’t expect

By Eugene Robinson,  Published: AUGUST 23, 7:56 PM ET

Tension between idealists and pragmatists is inevitable in politics, but the struggle taking place within today’s Republican Party is extreme. The GOP believes in limited government that stays out of our business and lets us live our lives — but also wants to police every pregnancy in the land. The party says it wants to cut wasteful federal spending — but also insists on showering the Pentagon with billions for weapons systems the generals don’t even want. The party says it wants to balance the budget — but endorses a plan, authored by Ryan, that cuts taxes for the wealthy without specifying the offsetting budget cuts that would be required to keep deficits from ballooning out of control.

Washington Post

First Thoughts: Not your ordinary August poll – First Read

Countdown to GOP convention: 5 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 12 days
Countdown to 1^st presidential debate: 42 days
Countdown to VP debate: 50 days
Countdown to 2^nd presidential debate: 55 days
Countdown to 3^rd presidential debate: 61 days
Countdown to Election Day: 76 days

First Thoughts: Not your ordinary August poll – First Read

First Thoughts: Not your ordinary August poll – First Read

*** Three macro-conclusions about the race: If you assume that this isn’t your ordinary August poll — where many opinions might already be locked in — the survey offers three macro-conclusions. One, Obama holds the advantage heading into the conventions. “The election has moved from a referendum to a choice,” co-pollster Peter Hart (D) said. “Mitt Romney is starting to accumulate a number of negatives on the personal front and issues front.” Two, the president is still below that all-important 50% threshold for an incumbent. “When a guy gets stuck at 48%, it doesn’t mean they are out of the clear,” McInturff says. “It means they are in an incredibly competitive campaign.” And three, Romney has some work to do in selling himself at next week’s GOP convention. Per the poll, Obama has a 22-point lead (52%-30%) on caring about average people, as well as a 28-point advantage (52%-24%) on issues concerning women. These are what we call our “gut check” questions, and Romney is trailing here — and trailing badly.

First Thoughts: Not your ordinary August poll – First Read

Hee-haw, the jackass brays. Hank Williams Jr. is another nice conservative gentleman. [spit]

Hank Williams Jr: Obama is Muslim "who hates the U.S." – Celebrity Circuit – CBS News

After finishing the song, "We Don’t Apologize For America," the audience started chanting "USA, USA…" According to the Des Moines Register, Williams then told the crowd, "We’ve got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him!"

According to the concert review, Williams’ comments brought on cheers and applause.

This isn’t the first time Williams has spoken out against Mr. Obama. In July, Williams told Rolling Stone that the president "hates America in the first place, forget about the flag."

Hank Williams Jr: Obama is Muslim "who hates the U.S." – Celebrity Circuit – CBS News

Progressives exercised significant power prior to 1968, culminating in the Civil Rights Movement, which echoes on in the Peace Movement, Women’s Rights, and Gay Rights, which still haven’t resolved, but we all know will. In 1968, Tricky Dick Nixon and demagogue Spiro the Crook Agnew rode a wave of conservatism (the so-called Silent Majority) into power, effectively ending the Great Society. It was the time of “my country right or wrong” and “love it or leave it” (don’t bother to try to improve it). Nixon created a constitutional crisis and was not arrested, tried, nor punished. Conservatives stood by him until he boarded the helicopter the last time.

In 1980, Ronnie Raygun represented the Moral Majority, which was neither. Liberalism became the “L word.” The message was “it’s morning in America” for some, the rest of us should shut the fuck up. The gang that surrounded Raygun made Nixon’s posse look like posers. Nixon got caught; Raygun’s crew made sure he wouldn’t get caught red-handed. With the help of tools like Ollie North, King Raygun ran the government any way he chose, surreptitiously when necessary. Raygun ascended to godhood without judgment. His disciples created Fox News and moved farther to the right but not nearly as far as their bastard offspring, the tea baggers.

In 1992, the nation decided 20 years out of 24 with Republicans in power were enough. In 1994, a pimple named Gingrinch put a Contract on America, or on both Clintons, more precisely. The Perfessor who fucked his staffer while his wife died of cancer became our moral authority. The Right kept getting angrier and uglier, in or out of power.

In 2000, Duhbya was appointed president by Scalia, his father’s judge, his veep’s huntin’ buddy. Sore Loserman? Get over it, they sneered, ever sympathetic to the feelings of others, echoing “love it or leave it.” Duhbya mislead, in every sense of the word. The dunce Duhbya dragged us into two wars that bankrupted the nation enough to collapse the house of cards made weak by Raygunnomics.

Every step of the way, we stumbled toward Grover Nordquist’s goal of *destroying* the federal government. Bankrupt the government, fill it with corrupt fools, enrage the mobs and get rich while the rest of us fight over scraps. Now brought to you by the Koch brothers.

So, I’m supposed to be fair and agree that both liberals and conservatives are at fault for our nation’s ills? Nixon+Ford+Raygun*2+Bush+Duhbya*2 = Carter+Clinton*2+Obama? Who are the liberal counterparts to Limbaugh, Savage, Coulter, Rove, Cheney, Nordquist, Koch, Scalia, ad nauseum?  The Right has defined the agenda and set the discussion for most of my life. They’ve been imperial in power and obstructionists out of power. They never stop pushing, they never back down, they despise compromise, consideration, even empathy. They jeer and hoot and bray and they would be funny if they didn’t think they should run the show. Change will come despite Conservative resistance. That’s what they’re afraid of.

Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

it is time to say the obvious thing no one seems to be saying:

America is under attack by right-wing terrorists.

And here, again, it is necessary to say what the point is not. Namely, it is not that conservatism equals terrorism. These criminals are fanatics, and fanaticism is restricted to no particular ideology. Ironically, that’s an argument to which conservatives often turn deaf ears when it is made on behalf of Muslims, but that doesn’t make it any less true — or applicable here.

That said, what’s telling is that we won’t even call this what it is. When the Symbionese Liberation Army and the Weather Underground were committing violence in the 1970s, we were not slow in decrying leftwing terrorism and requiring progressives to disown it. When al Qaida kills and maims, we are not shy about branding it Islamic terrorism and requiring moderate Muslims to disown it.

For some reason, though, we are reluctant to call right-wing terror by name. And you can forget requiring conservatives to distance themselves from it.

Demanding an honest accounting on homegrown terrorism – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com