Chicken-fried commentary smothered in gravy
We need to give up trying to make sense of Glenn Beck. Here’s what he says about Obama in the same breath:
I’m not saying he doesn’t like white people . . . . this guy is, I believe, a racist.
Then, what the heck does “racist” mean to Glenn Beck when talking about Obama? Apparently, “racist” means “someone who does things I don’t like.”
If Kay Bailey Hutchison is going to make the governor’s mansion a whorehouse, it’s no big deal since Rick Perry has already made it a nuthouse and halfway house.
At least, we can look forward to an entertaining governor’s race, something to remind us of Claytie Williams. Maybe Perry will say something about Kay laying back and enjoying it.
Gays are a greater threat to America than terrorists.
Right. With the wars and possibilities of war, gays are joining the army just to cruise for sex.
So, if al Qaeda is more of a threat than the Nazis were, then gays are worse than the Nazis, who put gays into concentration camps.
This morning, Mike Gallagher was on the warpath because the Department of Homeland Security issued a report that stated rightwing groups represent a threat to the U.S. As you might imagine, the wingnuts are up in arms about this report. As Gallagher said, these are nothing but Obama cronies trying to silence the right. But let’s consider a couple of things here before that tantrum explodes.
First, this is not some vague threat the Obama administration made up.
The Bush administration pushed that leftwing groups were the most dangerous threat to America, but calling attention to the very real threat of rightwing violence is just politically motivated fear-mongering?
Second, the most recent cases of domestic terrorism or the threat of it came from rightwing groups.
Now, Gallagher wants to get everyone fired up because the report appeared to highlight veterans. Only 203 veterans, Gallagher argues, have joined extremist groups. Please note that two veterans committed the worst case of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
Third, words have meaning, and Gallagher described himself and his beliefs in violent terms. In contrasting himself with Michael Medved, Gallagher said, “I’m a pitchfork and torches kind of guy.” Now, just in case you think this is some metaphor for orderly debate, check again: The image is one of people rising up and using their farm tools as weapons. It is a statement for violent uprising, a very poor choice of words when trying to convince people that Gallagher wasn’t advocating violence.
Later, to make the point clearer, Gallagher said that Obama supporters “will not be persuaded.” So, if this is a revolution of “ideas,” as Gallagher claims, then how exactly will these ideas work when persuasion is not possible? Are we supposed to believe that increased guns sales due to Obama’s election are a sign of peaceful discourse?
I believe that words have meanings. And Mike Gallagher’s words are full of a meaning of violence. He might say that he’s against violence. Then, again, the prisons are full people who claim innocence, so denial is hardly evidence of good intentions.
Gallagher and the other members of hate radio have been on a fear-mongering rampage since Bush’s number nosedived and a Democrat was likely to become the next president. They are trying to distance themselves from the violent rage that they have been stoking.
I realize we have more serious matters to concern ourselves with, but the wingnuts have come unhinged about a playset. Vicki went off about a supposedly $16,000 playset while claiming not to know if the Obamas or the taxpayers footed the bill.
But the Internet being a hard thing to understand, she obviously didn’t see a real news report on this swingset:
Forget how the Bush administration dealt out no-bid contracts. We gotta get mad about playsets!
What’s funny is that Vicki calls out “Obama-bots” for “feeling and not thinking.” Uh huh. Carry on with your rage.
John Cole recently posted a very informative graph of the top tax rates since 1920. I added to that red lines to indicate depressions and recessions to make another, related point: most of America’s recessions occurred after the top margin taxes were lowered, with the worst recessions taking place during or after the top tax rates were at their lowest. The recessions of 1953, 1957, and 1960 were one-year recessions while the others lasted 2 or more years. The Great Depression, the 73-75 recession, and our current recession are arguably our worst of the last 100 years and came when the top margin taxes were at their lowest rates.
While it is foolish to argue cause and effect between lower tax rates and economic hardships, the counter argument that lower taxes on the wealthiest are better for everyone is equally foolish, proven wrong by this chart. Lowering tax rates at the top margins are far more likely to hurt the country than help it.
Top margin tax rates & recessions
On Friday, 2/23/09, Dennis Prager had a caller who asked what posed a greater threat to the U.S.: Obama and his socialist agenda or Islamofascism. Prager said that it was Obama and socialism. Think about this answer and its irresponsible implications.
Prager has said repeatedly that Islamofascism is our country’s greatest threat, surpassing even the threats we faced from the Nazis and the Soviets. But now, that threat is nothing compared to the Obama administration. Prager and his ilk have told us that defeating Islamofascism is worth dying for because its threat is so dire, mortal, and imminent.
But now, tap the brakes because we have an even greater threat in Obama. And if Islamofascism is worthy dying to defeat, where does that leave Obama?
Prager exemplifies the irresponsible, even insane behavior that is much of talk. For example, consider Glenn Beck as he gives credibility to a revolution waged by the “bubba factor.” Even though Beck is “horrified”
My U.S. representative sent email first falsely claiming that 2/3 of the stimulus package would be spent after 2012. Then, in another email, he detailed all the horrible pork that is this list. Yet, these items amount to a total of 2% of the overall stimulus package. The Republicans are playing party politics and obstruction over 2% of the proposed spending.
You see, the de facto head of the GOP has already said that he hopes that Obama fails because, if he succeeds, then the Republicans would be in danger of being a minority party for years to come.
The Republicans have taken “opposition party” to heart: They oppose Obama for any reason they can conjure, even if it means hurting Americans.
I guess when you find some “regular” guy outside the Beltway that still likes the GOP, you ride him into the ground. The guy used as a campaign mouthpiece is now taken as some font of knowledge.
When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.
Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. He’s apparently not a fan of the economic rescue package, according to members of the group.
What, a republican tool who’s not endorsing a Democrat-led proposal? Who would imagine such a thing.
Wurzelbacher is the mythical Joe Six-Pack who is paraded around as what regular guys think, which makes him whoring him far worse than following polls and focus groups, which at least involve several people. Wurzelbacher is treated as if his opinion is somehow informed when, in fact, he’s just a guy with, at best, a cursory understanding of the issues. (Then, again, the same can be said of conservatives like William Kristol.)
Like Sarah Palin (and so many liberal celebrities that conservatives often criticize), Wurzelbacher thinks his fame means that he has something to say.
Why do conservatives like Dick (“Barney Fag”) Armey and Mike Gallagher immediately think of women guests as wife material?
ARMEY: I’m so damn glad that you can never be my wife because I surely wouldn’t have to listen to that prattle from you every day.
GALLAGHER: It’s hysterical. Do you know how many times a week I say, “thank God I don’t have to wake up next to her.” I mean some of these callers, these shrews that call.
Last year, Limbaugh said, “Edwards might be attracted to a woman whose mouth did something other than talk.”
But think about it: these guys judge women based on what kind of wives they would make. Armey couldn’t shut his yap while Joan Walsh talked, which was particularly hypocritical given that he said that we should be focused on the real issues.
The fact is that these guys can’t persuade by their meager reasoning and have to rely on reducing women to sex objects. Armey said that Limbaugh’s “I hope Obama fails” comments and the like are just politics, trying to dismiss any critique of these rhetorical tactics. Yet, he employs them without hesistancy, showing exactly why conservatives should be flogged for making them because they are essential to their strategy.
Bubbablog 