DemocratsForProgress

DemocratsForProgress's Journal

August 31, 2012

From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Thursday)

Jeff Rosenzweig: From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Thursday)

When the Republican National Convention began three months – sorry, make that three days ago, I was sure it would be a gag-inducing slop pail of trite slogans, inane speeches, mendacious mischaracterizations, tedious pseudo-piety, outright falsehoods, racist dog whistles, awful video presentations, cornball stagecraft and unselfconscious boorishness. I was wrong; it hasn’t been anywhere near that dignified.

8:05 PM:

Jeb Bush, the only member of the GOP’s “great” political dynasty whom the GOP would allow into the convention hall, draws warm applause when he says, “My brother, well, I love my brother.” It’s not clear whether he means Neil or Marvin. “He kept us safe,” claims Jeb. Ah! Marvin, then.

Bush gives a piece of his mind he can ill-afford to do without to Barack Obama: “It is time to stop blaming your predecessor for your failed economic policies.” This admonition comes mere minutes after Callista and Newt Gingrich cap a tribute to Ronald Reagan by taking an extended swipe at Barack Obama, gratuitously including Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter.

Bush continues with a long and disorganized lament about the state of education in America, something he believes, total lack of evidence notwithstanding, that Mitt Romney can rectify...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/31/from-here-to-anonymity-rnc-2012-thursday/

August 31, 2012

From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Wednesday)

Jeff Rosenzweig: From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Wednesday)

7:15 PM:

“We Can Change It” is the announced theme of the night, but mere minutes into Mitch McConnell’s speech I realize this was a head fake. Having been in the Senate for 28 years, McConnell is a polished and professional prevaricator, so it’s fitting that he be the one to unveil the evening’s real theme, “We Can Lie about It.”

“The President may want to give up on the problems we face and manage the decline,” McConnell muses, seemingly unaware of a spate of recent stories linking the Minority Leader to a deliberate strategy of Republican obstruction commenced the moment Barack Obama won office. I think it’s already safe to declare “Unintentional Irony” a sub-theme for tonight.

McConnell has more, though. “Barack Obama has been working to earn a spot on the PGA Tour,” he quips. I know full well this is another lie; the Republicans would already have denounced the idea if it were true.

And the wit just keeps on coming: “To call this a recovery is an insult to recoveries,” says a man whose party has done its utmost to sabotage this recovery...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/30/from-here-to-anonymity-rnc-2012-wednesday/

August 29, 2012

From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Tuesday)

Jeff Rosenzweig: From Here to Anonymity (RNC 2012, Tuesday)

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus got convention week off to a fine start by having his ass handed to him by Chris Matthews on Monday’s Morning Joe. After a good cry in his hotel room, Priebus re-emerged to gavel the convention to order. Seconds later, the handful of conventioneers who had bothered to show up got a welcome break when he gaveled the session into recess for the day.

Monday also brought a slew of announcements about the hastily rearranged schedule for the rest of the week. Among other happy tidings, the Party of D’oh decided to drop billionaire birther buffoon Donald Trump, while Bobby Jindal and Rick Scott both withdrew voluntarily, citing an urgent need to pretend to be doing something about hurricane preparedness. One prestigious speaking slot for Thursday night still remains unspecified, so it’s not entirely out of the question that they’re finally going to dig up Ronald Reagan and put him in front of a microphone one last time.

The Republicans did, however, get to unveil their snazzy US national debt clock, which immediately put me in mind of the ones they didn’t have at their 2008 and 2004 conventions. It was the finishing touch to what the New York Times giddily described as a “Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired” stage, which I guess would be an apt description if the architect had ever been a set designer for Max Headroom.

Yesterday’s official theme was “We Can Do Better” and of course the balance of the week will demonstrate that, in fact, they can’t. Tuesday, however, was “We Built This” night, so let’s review what the Grotesque Old Party cobbled together from spit, chewing gum and bold ideas lifted from Ayn Rand’s wastebasket...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/29/from-here-to-anonymity-rnc-2012-tuesday/

August 26, 2012

Slouching Towards Tampa (Things Fall Apart edition)

Jeff Rosenzweig: Slouching Towards Tampa (Things Fall Apart edition)

When the first installment of this column appeared last September, it was unclear how the contest for the GOP nomination would unfold, although it was already a certainty that it would be an eldritch spectacle. And so it has been.

The twenty-fifth and final edition of this column finds the triumphant yet stultified Romney, his rodentine running mate Paul Ryan, still-in-it-but-not-to-win-it challenger Ron Paul, 50,000 delegates, sundry other Republicans and media types, and a developing hurricane named Isaac all converging on Tampa.

Their playground awaits. For weeks, Tampa strip clubs have been gearing up for the convention with that yearning spirit of unfettered free enterprise that gets Republicans all hot and bothered:

One place is bringing in a stripper who looks like former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. There are major renovations taking place. And some nude clubs have already been giving potential customers a taste of the talent online…

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/26/slouching-towards-tampa-things-fall-apart-edition/

August 22, 2012

Walter Rhett: A Faith Lesson for Todd Akin

Sometimes, truth is besides the point. In today’s politics, its relevancy is certainly diminished. Its purpose is abandoned, standing as empty and eerie as the giant hollow factory shells of Detroit. We are taught to think of truth as solid and firm, but its integrity sways like the vine bridges built deep in rain forest interiors hidden from view. Truth is adaptable and timeless, which makes it easy to overrun. But in the heat of the moment, the property of truth Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. cited is often forgotten: “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

Its role in this season’s Presidential campaigns is over- and underrated, as one is about fear, the other about feel good. It is true that systems in conflict or competition create a set of their own norms intended to gain advantage and defeat the other, and this determines their options and handicaps their outcomes. Yet one campaign has based its entire strategy on betting against truth’s rise, believing truth’s adaptivity can be twisted and crushed by fear. The truth of truth is that truth expands; it is indispensable, not disposable.

Yet the power of truth is rare as a social or political force; it has always been tied to a sense of shame, a feeling of inner pain, a self-imposed humility, an emptiness and brokenness that rained on a soul telling a lie. Truth, celebrated as a virtue, carried with it a sense of embarrassment that made it hard to look people in the eye. Despair–agony–waited on those who bent or violated its moral faith. All day demons reigned in the lost hearts that told lies, a separation that left these hearts disturbed in out-of-body drift. Truth is the comfort of wholeness. Truth is foremost an inner quality, a force that builds a fabric of trust.

Akin and the ensuing political arguments badly miss this point. His one sentence/word/day violated a larger, higher trust. One New York Times commenter observed...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/22/a-faith-lesson-for-todd-akin/

August 22, 2012

Nance Greggs: GOP: FYI

If you are a Republican who has wondered from time to time why we Democrats don’t take you seriously, let me explain it for you. (And please feel free to ask for assistance when you get to the big words.)

Part of it is your politicians’ penchant for hypocrisy, corruption, and blatant lying. Part of it is your collective attitude towards the poor, the homeless, the disabled and the uninsured, which is basically to ignore their plight. Part of it is your utter selfishness and greed as you demonstrate your outrage when you think someone somewhere – regardless of how dire their need may be – might benefit from a penny of your tax dollars. And a big part of it is the fact that you do all of the above while claiming to be good Christians, following the path of The Nazarene who taught love, tolerance and a clear responsibility to one’s fellow man.

But the biggest reason we have for not taking you seriously is the fact that you are, to put it bluntly, so unspeakably fuckin’ stupid.

Todd Akin’s recent remarks about a woman’s body being able to block an unwanted pregnancy while being raped is, as many have pointed out, a despicable excuse for denying access to abortion, even in such circumstances. What is even more disturbing is the fact that Akin, a sixty-five year old man with a college degree and no small amount of life experience, can be that ignorant about simple biology. And proudly so. There is only one reason for anyone of his age and education to be that ill-informed: he is fuckin’ stupid...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/21/gop-fyi-2/

August 21, 2012

Slouching Towards Tampa (Ryan’s Hope edition)

Jeff Rosenzweig: Slouching Towards Tampa (Ryan’s Hope edition)

Mitt Romney’s “bold” decision to add Paul Ryan to the GOP ticket took his campaign’s previously one-dimensional tapioca flavor and added a distinct note of artificial vanilla extract.

The Romney campaign certainly needed some kind of boost. Following his calamitous Bland Tour of the United Kingdom, Israel and Poland, the increasingly ridiculous candidate came home to polling numbers that probably made him wish he’d stayed overseas. A Washington Post-ABC News poll put his favorable rating at 40%, unchanged since May, but found that his unfavorable, not great to begin with, had climbed from 45 to 49%. Worse still, only 41% of Republican respondents described their opinion of Romney as “strongly favorable” as against 61% of Democratic respondents who felt that way about the President.

Clearly, then, it was time to shore up support among the base, and maybe even create a little excitement. But how, and who? Christie? Portman? Jindal? Palin? Haley? Huckabee? Hutchison? Jointly and severally, no. Enter Paul Ryan, a Dick Grayson to Romney’s Bruce Wayne. Ryan was a surprising pick in a number of ways. For starters, he’s Catholic, making this the first Republican ticket in history not to include a Protestant (or two). Second, he’s part of the Congressional Republican power elite, and while Wisconsin election law allows him to run concurrently for his House seat, his loss in the national race this fall and what’s apt to be perpetual association of his name with Mitt Romney’s will only diminish his clout and tarnish his prestige among GOP true believers. Third, as he set about proving almost immediately after being named to the ticket, he might just end up being a bigger liability than Mitt Romney. Ryan’s tea baggage seems to get heavier by the day.

Ryan’s signature “accomplishment” to date is of course his proposed budget, rolled out to many an “ooh” and an “ah” back in March. Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” (PDF here) is equal parts boilerplate, bromides and bullshit; in essence, the same concoction with which Republicans have been gulling their faithful and hoodwinking susceptible independents since well before the Reagan Revolution. As was the case with earlier heralds of a new and mercifully fictitious Republican Golden Age (Gingrich, Delay, etc.), Paul Ryan has no use for modestly...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/20/slouching-towards-tampa-ryans-hope-edition/

August 19, 2012

Nance Greggs: An Open Letter to Brian Williams

RE your appearance on The Daily Show, August 15, 2012

Dear Sir:

I was at once appalled and amused by your comments during your appearance on The Daily Show. But then, I am always appalled and amused when it comes to the topic of the so-called “news media” these days; appalled by the lack of actual news reporting, and amused that people like yourself continue to pretend that what you offer is even remotely connected to actual journalism.

Stewart opened the interview with, “Let’s talk about Paul Ryan. All I have heard from the news divisions across network platforms is how thrilled they are to have Paul Ryan – now they can finally talk substance. When is that going to start happening?”

Your response, “As soon as we exhaust all of our reporting on his driving of the Wiener Mobile while a young man,” was witty and laughter-inducing, as is appropriate for a “fake news” program. The problem is the remark is much closer to the truth than it should be. And that, sir, is no laughing matter.

The Wiener Mobile story is just the kind of nonsense we have come to expect from the TV news media – not in addition to actual news, but in place of it...

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/18/an-open-letter-to-brian-williams/

August 17, 2012

Slouching Towards Tampa (Big Mac Daddy edition)

Jeff Rosenzweig: Slouching Towards Tampa (Big Mac Daddy edition)

Mitt Romney’s little reminiscence about poking around in his father’s sock drawer and discovering a free-McDonald’s-forever card signed by Ray Kroc himself was, amazingly, not quite the weirdest story from the right-hand side of the campaign trail last week. I’ll get to the weirdest one below, but I’m still fascinated by the runner-up.

Romney was speaking to a crowd at a Chicago fundraiser when an attendee mentioned having worked for McDonald’s, and its head honcho directly, for many years. The invocation of Ray Kroc apparently activated something in the candidate’s personal anecdote database, a database that has served Romney only fitfully to date as he oils his way around the nation in search of cash and votes:

“You know how boys liked to go through their dad’s top drawer, just to sort of see what he has in there, maybe find an old coin he might not miss?” Mr. Romney asked the audience…

“I found a little paper card, a little pink card, and it said this entitles George W. Romney to a lifetime of a hamburger, a shake and French fries at McDonald’s,” Mr. Romney said. “It was signed by the hand of Ray Kroc...”

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/16/slouching-towards-tampa-big-mac-daddy-edition/

August 15, 2012

Walter Rhett: We Want Your Vote So We Can Cut Your Safety Net

“I’m Mitt Romney. I create jobs.” The 100,000 jobs he claims to have created is a number that changes quicker than a stock car’s gears in a NASCAR race. Where’s the video? Where’s the one person who comes forward to say, “I’m employed because Milt Romney created my job”?

There are lots of videos that say, “Mitt Romney eliminated my job, closed my factory, cashed out my benefits, sold our equipment, shipped its pieces, including the jobs, overseas—whether it was outsourcing or offshoring, where it’s beside his money.”

His claim is laughably insufficient beside the number of jobs President Obama created in the last 29 months.

“I never apologize.” Mitt, you should. The list of those offended gets longer daily..."

More at: http://www.democratsforprogress.com/2012/08/15/we-want-your-vote-so-we-can-cut-your-safety-net/

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