To give you an idea of what often makes me so incredulous…here’s just a simple list of the top ten ridiculous and disconcerting things I read about JUST TODAY:

1 – Economics with Caribou Barbie: Wednesday, former Alaska governor and former VP candidate Sarah Palin performed her first paid speaking appearance since resigning as governor, in Hong Kong, for an investment firm.  While the press was not allowed at the gathering, smuggled-in recording devices quickly allowed the contents of her speech to be analyzed.  It is not surprising that she spoke for 90 minutes (although it is arguably surprising that anyone would listen for that long).  It is not surprising that she made repeated references to “Main Street, U.S.A.” and tried to play up her “down-homey-ness.”  It’s not even surprising that, despite claims during the Bush administration by her and other Republicans that it is unacceptable to criticize the president while on foreign soil…she did JUST that.  What is surprising…is her claim that the current financial crisis…is the result of “government intervention” and that THAT is the reason why it cannot be solved by government intervention.  When economists stopped laughing they were quick to point out…that the crisis was caused by the systematic removal of government controls and regulation that has been taking place since the Reagan administration, and by necessity…those controls (as well as new ones) must be put back into place.

2 – It’s Not News…It’s FOX News: Ratings are out…despite repeatedly being caught directly parroting RNC talking points…being caught inciting and sponsoring so-called “grass roots” protests…besides being clearly identified as allowing their pundits to use their network as a platform for conspiracy theories, racist sentiments, and wildly false claims…besides brazenly presenting right-wing biased “news“…FOX News placed ahead of all other cable news outlets with an average of 1,405,000 daily viewers.  By comparison, CNN was 21st on the list with 552,000 viewers.  FOX News was 4th, after Nickelodeon, ESPN, and USA…revealing the priorities of Americans to be cartoons, sports, bad tv dramas, and pandering to base instincts…in that order.

3 – This Just In From Bizarro-land: Orly Taitz, the “attorney” filing numerous claims (including two forged Kenyan birth certificates) questioning Obama’s citizenship…has had her latest case thrown out of court by the judge who threatened Taitz with sanctions if there are further “frivolous” claims and said that she “…has presented no credible evidence and has made no reliable factual allegations to support her unsubstantiated, conclusory allegations and conjecture that President Obama is ineligible to serve as president of the United States.  Instead, she uses her complaint as a platform for spouting political rhetoric, such as her claims that the president is ‘an illegal usurper, an unlawful pretender, [and] an unqualified imposter.“  Turns out…Taitz was representing a client…without the client’s permission.  The supposed client, Connie Rhodes, says in a formal letter of complaint that she was never asked for permission by Taitz to file the legal suit…and never gave it.  Rhodes also writes in the same letter that she plans to file a complaint with the bar association.  Taitz…wait for it…thinks the Rhodes letter is a forgery.

4 - They Want To Believe: I don’t know what is more disappointing:  the above piece…or the recent study by Public Policy Polling that shows that 42% of Republicans…believe that Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

5 – Delay…Delay…Oh Good, More Delay: By now, you may have hear that the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the Health Care bill is bogged down as they go through the “mark up” process, where the approximately 500 amendments to the bill (which are often times ridiculous to the point of being bad comedy) have to be individually examined and voted upon.  While the clear intention of Republicans on the committee appears to be to “stall the bill to death,” Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) was more obvious than most in his tactics.  He has called for a “three day delay“…so that LOBBYISTS can read the bill.  This is amusing for two reasons:  one…he is brazenly stating both his intention to cause delay AND to serve the lobbyists’ interests.  And two…it is obvious in reading the Finance Committee’s version of the bill, that the LOBBYISTS WROTE IT, and are therefore already quite knowledgeable regarding its contents.  Jay Rockefeller (D-W.VA) pointed out that these delays, and the inexplicable content of many of the amendments, show that “If there’s anything which is clear, it’s that the insurance industry is not running this markup, but is running certain people in this markup.“  Thank you Captain Obvious…and by the way, at their current pace, the mark-up will be completed…in seven months…

6 – He Was Someone’s Son…Someone’s Friend: A Census worker was found in Clay County, Kentucky…hanged and with the word “FED” written upon his chest.  Local police think it MAY be a homicide…but aren’t ruling anything out.  Meanwhile, sane people are calling for a more “civilized dialogue” before heated, oft violent, anti-government talk leads to violence…and the “wing-nut panderers” on the right, denounce anyone making such a “call to reason” as a “crybaby.”  It is important to realize in the midst of all the “anti-government” venom…that government workers, like this poor individual, have their own stories:  Bill Sparkman was a cancer survivor, and while working for the Boy Scouts of America, he discovered a love of teaching.  While undergoing cancer treatments…he enrolled to get his degree in teaching and eventually became a substitute teacher.  Not some “evil government bureaucrat“…not some “vile socialist“…just a good civil servant and teacher, who wanted to help his fellow citizens.

7 – Tortured Logic: Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) has formulated an interesting concept.  Perhaps sensing that Americans are losing their vitriol towards gay marriage issues…but still have strong reactions to “socialism,” King proposes that : Gay Marriage…is socialism.  King says, “So in the end this is something that has to come with a, if there’s a push for a socialist society, a society where the foundations of individual rights and liberties are undermined and everybody is thrown together, living collectively off of one pot of resources earned by everyone. That is, this is one of the goals they have to go to is same-sex marriage because it has to plow through marriage in order to get to their goal. They want public affirmation. They want access to public funds and resources. Eventually all those resources will be pooled because that’s the direction we’re going. And not only is it a radical social idea, it is a purely socialist concept in the final analysis.“  I’m not usual in favor of news laws regulating behavior or speech…but there certainly ought to be SOME penalty for abusing logic in this way.

8 – We Don’t Need No Steenking Warrants: Today, the Department of Justice’s assistant attorney general revealed that some of the powers that President Bush (and previous DOJ officials) asserted were given by the Patriot Act…really weren’t.  In addition, during the same Congressional Hearing…the assistant AG revealed that most of the powers granted (and assumed) weren’t even used to fight terrorism, but were instead used in drug cases and other criminal matters.  At one point, while the DOJ official attempted to justify the use of “roving wiretaps” which do not explicitly state who or what is to be searched,  Senator Al Franken had to point out that what the official was saying…CLEARLY VIOLATES the Fourth Amendment: “…’no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized’…That’s pretty explicit language.“  The assistant attorney general muttered, “this is surreal,” and then replied, “I would refer to the other branch of government,” by which he obviously meant the courts.  If there is one person who shouldn’t have to be read the Fourth Amendment, and shouldn’t be irritated at having to obey the Constitution…you would think it would be one of the country’s TOP LAWYERS.

9 – Isn’t She Delightful: Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) posted in a conservative blog that they are “proud to serve” with Representative Michelle Bachmann (R-MN).  Any smart, sane politician would be working to distance themselves GREATLY from the increasingly unpopular, idiocy-spewing, electorally poisonous Representative from Minnesota.  That’s your GOP leadership, ladies and gentlemen…it should be said that later, perhaps after coming to their senses, the post was removed.

10 – Asking For Trouble: President Obama’s nominee to head the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is in charge of highway safety…is Anne Ferro.  Ferro…was a lobbyist for the “Big Trucking,” and has been called “an apologist for the trucking industry.”  Really?  You picked a trucking lobbyist?  Three words: easily-avoidable-mistake.  No excuse for it…

It certainly is a strange, turbulent, and maddeningly misinformed nation that we live in…it says a lot about us that so many still have hope for a more reasonable and better time to come.

But those people…aren’t really the heart of the problem, are they?  No one expects the portion of Americans (it appears to be about 30%) who are functionally illiterate, or marginally educated, or ignorant (either as a product of upbringing or willfulness) to react any different to what they are hearing.  We can’t really expect them to perform research, much less to read the actual bill.  We know that many…personally despise the President and will condemn any action he performs, simply on the basis of his race.  We know that some, are religious fanatics who are easily convinced that their opponents are “evil,” or “demons,” or even “the antichrist”…others, are simply mentally unbalanced….some are both.  We can’t even realistically expect them to be able to determine which news sources are reliable or which are not…they are likely to gravitate to the sources that either 1) entertain them, or 2) Reinforce their existing beliefs and prejudices.

No -- the heart of the problem, is THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW BETTER.  It is those people, generally educated and generally informed…who either for political, personal, or financial reasons are disseminating claims that THEY KNOW TO BE both false and dangerous.  And who SHOULD know how the 30% of Americans mentioned above will react when hearing the demagoguery and deceptions.

Just a few examples (certainly not an exhaustive list), from each category:

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR FAME/EGO:

• Glenn Beck: Beck whips his audiences into a furor over imaginary “FEMA Concentration Camps“…he compares health care reform to the work of the nazis, and outrageously claims that the reform plan would kill newborns and children.  He warns of Obama’s “brownshirts” (an ludicrous reference to fascism) and a nonexistent “enemies list.“  He incessantly accuses the current administration of wanting to take away American freedoms so it can rule with an “iron fist.” He even jokes about poisoning the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.  When criticized for his positions…he accuses the people leveling charges against him as using “pure hate” speech…and then proceeds to call the president a RACIST who has a “deep-seated” hatred for white people.  Now…Beck is an educated man.  Any man with any sense knows that these claims are ridiculous and unfounded.  Any man with any sense would know that these words might drive scared, easily-influenced people to consider thoughts of violence and rebellion against the government…even Beck knows this, as recently he started making statements BEGGING his listeners not to do anything desperate.  Why did he try to take a step back?  Because he loves the attention…he loves his ability to control the 30% of Americans who lack the critical reasoning to determine that his statements are plainly false…but HE IS SCARED at the same time, that his words will inspire these people to do the kinds of sick, stupid, and deadly things that HE KNOWS these people are capable of doing.  It is the very definition of “wanton disregard for the well-being of others.”  As Keith Olbermann put it, it is the equivalent of shouting “FIRE” in a crowded theater, and then begging the people to exit in a calm manner as they scream and trample each other to death.
• Rush Limbaugh: Rush Limbaugh…also openly compares the President to the worse genocidal dictator in history, Adolf Hitler.  He claims the Obama health care logo…looks like a nazi swastika.  By making such claims, he is KNOWINGLY inciting the most easily manipulated portion of our citizens to “act against” a president and the democrats who he portrays as “evil.”  Rush paints the adminsitration as ruining this country, destroying the Constitution, ruling through autocracy, and desiring to kill American seniors.  Then…he tells “his people” that they are the true “patriots” and that anybody who criticizes their actions (especially if it’s the president) is a “racist” and a “tyrant.”  Rush knows…that these things aren’t true.  He’s been around long enough and has enough education to know about Hitler and the Nazis, and to know that there is NO reasonable comparison to the current administration.  He also knows that the president and the Democrats aren’t going to put seniors in “Statist Farms,” or to euthanize them. These statements are so false as to absurd to anyone with even the slightest education or even common sense.  He also knows…that 30% of the population, upon hearing these things, will be angered…some to the point of threats and violence.  He knows all this…and says these things anyway, because he longs for the cheers of the vast, ignorant throng that look to him and his words, whose passions flare at his ranting, who will accept as GOSPEL, even the most outlandish utterances…as long as they come from him.

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR POLITICAL REASONS:

• Sarah Palin: Palin tells the people that she just can’t support a reform plan that would send her parents and downs-syndrome baby in front of a “death panel,” a plan that, in her words, is “downright evil.”  Three days later…she says the conversation of health care should be kept “civil.”  She knew there were no “death panels” in the plan, but she said it anyway, to draw attention to herself and in an attempt to increase her political stock through publicly attacking Obama’s plan.  She knew that 30% of Americans would believe her REGARDLESS of how obviously insane the contention was…and when she realized what some of the more unstable members of that 30% might do, out of fear of “death camps,” she quickly backpedalled and called for civility…it’s too late, the damage done, but she still thought worth an attempt to cover her own ass and to distance herself from the actions THAT SHE KNEW some headcase might take because of her words.
• Most Republicans: I could list each Republican by name, along with his or her comments…but why do so, when they are all following the same script.  The RNC provided them with a memo TELLING THEM exactly what to say, and for the most part…they are consistently following with it.  They were told to describe the plan as a “government takeover,” and as the first step towards full “socialism.”  They were told to say that seniors would lose Medicare benefits, and the middle-class will carry the MASSIVE tax burden required to support the plan.  They were told to scare people into thinking that government bureaucrats would now be making their medical decisions and that “rationing” would lead to them dying without treatment.  They were told to tell us that the plan would cause ALL of the insurance companies to go bankrupt.  They were essentially told to paint a frightening picture of a communist America, where all people are poor, and where people…especially seniors…are dying in the streets without proper medical care.  They know better:  they’ve read the bill (or their staff has)…they’ve seen the Congressional Budget Office reports…and STILL they willfully lie to their supporters, stir their supporters’ fear and anger, and risk some of their more-unhinged supporters committing deadly acts.  And they do it so that they can “defeat Obama” and so they can please the health care companies who have paid for their campaigns.   It has nothing to do with the American people…for them, it doesn’t even have anything to do with health care.
• Again…Most Republicans: They have perpetrated similar injustices against the American people on the subject of Obama’s legitimacy.  You need do no more than to watch the two videos made by Firedoglake to know this.  Firedoglake asked several Republicans, on camera, what they thought of the ridiculous “bither” theorists who claim the Obama is not an American citizen.  A DISGUSTING number of them…either supported the theory, or gave non-committal answers.  Now…they have SEEN the Obama birth certificate, and the documents certifying its validity.  They KNOW that Obama is an American citizen…but they also know that 30% of Americans, many out of pure racial hatred for the President, desperately want ANY reason to claim the president is serving office illegitimately.  They know these people are racists…and they know that support of this idea may lead to ANOTHER white supremacist committing a desperate act under the misguided notion that he or she is “saving the country“…but they lie anyway, because these people VOTE FOR THEM, and they know that it distracts people’s attention from the issues the president wants people to focus on.

THOSE INCITING VIOLENCE AMONG THE AMERICAN PEOPLE FOR FINANCIAL REASONS:

• Lobbyists and PR Firms: These groups are easy to understand.  They are paid MILLIONS every year to do three simple things.  One…they must wine, dine, and provide campaign contributions to politicians, in exchange for the politicians support of the health care industry.  Two…they must place tv and radio spots that will convince the American people to accept the positions of the health care industry, EVEN IF those positions are contrary to the person’s own self-interest.  Three…they must organize demonstrations and events filled with people who will disrupt any attempt to discuss health care reform…and to give the false impression that most people in America don’t want health care reform.  They are doing all these things…and they do them very well.  They don’t care about politics…they have no ethical or philosophical position on health care…they don’t even care about the best interests of Americans.  They care about one things…getting paid.  America’s Health Insurance Plans…FreedomWorks…Americans for Prosperity…Conservatives for Patients’ Rights…these groups and others, funded by the corporate, health care, industrial complex, are organizing groups of the most uninformed/misinformed 30% of our population, pumping them full of disinformation (attacks that they KNOW to be false, but effective) to get them scared and angry, and coordinate events where these groups can vent all of their anger and ignorance in the most violent and disrespectful manner possible.  To these groups…this represents “a job well done” and there is no consideration for possible violent outcomes…for deaths…for destruction.

Now, of course…these categories represent over-simplifications.  Rush certainly also gains politically and financially from stirring the emotions of America’s most uninformed demographic.  The politicians I mentioned also benefit financially, in terms of contributions from the insurance industry lobbyists, when they choose to play to their constituents’ baser instincts.

And one thing that they ALL have in common…is that they are thinking of the benefit of themselves, their political party, their company, their bank account…with a wanton and complete disregard for the dangerous, event violent consequences of their actions.

And our “watchdogs,” in the media…are all but asleep.  For example, Palin’s claims of “death panels” that would take the lives of her parents and her baby…were so obviously false, and so obviously intended to do nothing more than scare the more ignorant members of our society, and to spur them to extreme actions.  Any objective news anchor or outlet would be completely justified in condemning the statement in the harshest terms possible…some non-objective, CONSERVATIVE pundits even did so.  But where was the mainstream media to clearly inform the public of its absurdity and recklessness?  As this columnist points out, the reaction from the press was to quote Palin’s comment, and perhaps to describe it as “harsh” or “controversial“….but they would not go so far as to even mention that it is FALSE, which lends the statement unintended credence.  As this columnist writes…the reaction to Rush Limbaugh’s comparisons between Obama and Hitler, were SHAMEFUL in their timidity.  As with the Iraq War, the press is again failing in its straightforward obligation to provide the public with INFORMATION…and when a political or celebrity pundit makes statements that are 1) patently false, and 2) designed to incite hatred and violence, it is the job of the press to inform the public of both the FACTS and to warn against the THREAT to our civil order.

In this…the ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN/FOX news, and a majority of the daily newspapers are as culpable as the fearmongers, as they seem to have ceded their responsibilities to liberal pundits and online bloggers, WHO CAN NOT DO THE JOB ALONE.

On that note, I will leave you with one such liberal pundit…speaking eloquently to this very issue.  Here’s Keith Olbermann’s latest “Special Comment:”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-UxRfmtiI

On one level, Republicans and conservatives seem to understand the need to increase their diversity, and to win the “message battle.”  At the very same time, the message they are currently communicating does not win any battles, and is an anathema to anyone who is not a white, Christian, extremist.  I wrote yesterday, “When your side of the argument does not wish to ‘discuss the issue,’ but rather seeks to ‘prevent others from discussing the issue‘…you are probably on the wrong side of the debate.“  This IS true…but it is also not the only sign that you are alienating the American people.

Here are some other signs that you have lost control, and are alienating moderate Americans:

1)  Your Supporters’ Behavior And Beliefs Makes Them The Subject Of Ridicule:

• This is the mouthpiece of YOUR “birther” movement (people who believe that Obama was born in Kenya).  The tape speaks for itself:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G42vW9UTsC8

• “Birthers“are now spreading a ridiculously forged “Kenyan Birth Certificate” around the internet.  Why “ridiculous?” Well, for starters…we have already seen the legitimate birth certificate from Hawaii (if you are thinking, “it was a ‘Certificate Of Live Birth,’ not a ‘Birth Certificate’” then you are part of your party’s problem AND a jackass).  Also…the forgery states that Obama was born in “Mombasa, Kenya“…and at that time Mombasa was part of Zanzibar, not Kenya.  And the forgery states that it is an official document of the “Republic of Kenya” when Kenya wasn’t even a republic yet…it was a dominion.
• Here’s Bill Maher, making fun of these “birthers:“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4apBc87h5-A

• Here’s Stephen Colbert, making fun of the “birthers:“

• Your throngs of people, bused into Town Halls to create disruption so that civilized, democratic discourse is impossible?  You know, the ones organized by former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey and his lobbying group?  Their behavior is so CHILDISH, UNINTELLIGENT, AND DISRUPTIVE…that Obama and the Dems are using the clips in ADS TO COUNTER YOUR OPPOSITION.

2)  Your Media Figureheads Are Widely Acknowledged To Be Irresponsible Lunatics:

• Again…the clips speak for themselves.  Here’s Glenn Beck…calling Obama a “racist” who has a “deep-seated hatred for white people” in what can only be considered one of him MOST foolish moments:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnGJY0t_h0

• Here, Michelle Malkin explains her belief that unemployment benefits are why nobody works hard or looks for jobs anymore…and they haven’t for three decades…simultaneously revealing that she doesn’t understand unemployment benefits, the economy, or American history:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvevWl-7qr0

• Here’s Ann Coulter…defending the Boston police officer who called black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “a banana-eating jungle monkey“…and she even goes so far as to say that Gate’s behavior when police arrested him in his home was worse because he “delayed” them.  Frightening: Some who posted this clip on YouTube, captioned it “Ann Coulter Teachers Sharpton A Lesson,” including a person going by the pseudonym “GOPatriot.”  Republicans -- these are YOUR supporters.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XG9bsLAl7cQ

• Drudge and FOX Nation did such a bad job of “misleadingly editing” a clip of Obama…that Obama and the DNC are using the clip to launch very effective counter-attacks because nothing undermines an argument more than to have it be revealed as overt deception.  The clip was release with the titles “2007 Video! Did Obama Say He Wants to Kill Private Insurance?,” and “Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will ‘Eliminate’ Private Insurance.“  There’s only one problem…Obama wasn’t even talking about private insurance.  More HERE.  Drudge and FOX (especially Sean Hannity) have been busted for this behavior REPEATEDLY.  Republicans: This is your “news?“

3)  Your Politicians And Their Supporters Could Be Aptly Termed “Religious Fanatics”:

• Have you heard of Jeff Sharlet?  He went undercover to infiltrate the “C Street House” where many Republicans reside while Congress is in session.  It’s essentially a Christian fellowship house…that believes that if you are in a position of power, morality does not apply to you…and who says that “Hitler, Pol Pot, Osama bin Laden, and Lenin” were agents of the Lord, who should not be judged…and that it’s ok to “rape little girls” if you are a person with authority…and who wants to take steps to ensure that our country moves towards “the totalitarianism of Christ.“  Scary.  Scary.  Scary.  These are YOUR elected officials who believe these things…”Senators Don Nickles (R., Okla.), Charles Grassley (R., Iowa), Pete Domenici (R., N.Mex.), John Ensign (R., Nev.), James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), and Conrad Burns (R., Mont.) are referred to as “members,” as are Representatives Jim DeMint (R., S.C.), Frank Wolf (R., Va.), Joseph Pitts (R., Pa.), Zach Wamp (R., Tenn.), and Bart Stupak (D., Mich.)” are just a few names that Sharlet provides.  And yes, there are a couple of “lunatic-fringe Democrats” in there, too.  NOTE: Zach Wamp will be running as GOP candidate for GOVERNOR in my very own state, the Great State of Tennessee.  It’s shameful…
• Palin attended a Wasilla church and participated in a service presided over by a real-life WITCH DOCTOR and another service involving SAMURAI SWORDS.  And…if you were strangely ok with this…the rest of Americans were not.
• Representative Paul Brown (R-Ga.) actually spent some valuable legislative time trying to get a resolution passed to declare 2010…the “Year of the Bible.”  So much for “separation of church and state.”  If you are thinking right now that “the founding fathers intended for this to be a Christian nation,” then again, you are a part of the problem and you need to go back and learn your American history.  A number of the founding fathers didn’t want the Christian church ANYWHERE NEAR the American government, and Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and others made clear statements to this effect.

4)  Your Politicians Espouse “Values,” And Then Self-Destruct In “Values-Related” Scandals:

• Senator David Vitter (R-LA) recently said that a fellow GOP senator was “wishy-washy” for criticizing southern Republicans, and that “I’m on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values.  There are a lot of us from the South who hold those values, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that’s why we performed so badly in the national elections.“  Yes…this is the same David Vitter who was RECENTLY embroiled in a scandal regarding his use of HOOKERS which he termed “a very serious sin.“
• BRIEFLY: Ensign, Sanford, Pickering…adulterers all.  And all of them (along with fellow hypocrite and adulterer Newt Gingrich) vehemently clamored for President Clinton’s impeachment/resignation over his adulterous actions, which they saw as a terrible reflection of his lack of character.  Oh, yeah…none of them have resigned.
• Again…from Tennessee:  Last Tuesday, Republican State Senator Paul Stanley…stalwart abstinence advocate…”family values” moralizer…married father of two…busted for having an affair with his intern and taking pictures of their sexcapades.

5)  Your Politicians Are More Acclaimed For Qualities Other Than Their Intelligence:

• Sarah Palin should never have been able to rise above the post of “small-town mayor.”  Her beliefs are extreme, her professional behavior consistently unethical, her ignorance on most areas of civics are unpardonable…and her speeches indecipherable.  She made the GOP a laughing stock…and the only people who didn’t realize this are the conservative base.  Yes, that’s right…all the rest of the sensible conservatives, moderates, and liberates were laughing heartily at her inane statements and foolhardy behavior.  Conan O’Brien’s brainstorm to have William Shatner read her resignation speech as beat poetry was so successful…he brought Shatner back to read her Twitter posts.
• Three words: George -- W -- Bush. In any reasonable society…they man never could have been a candidate for president.  Sub-par intelligence…sub-par communication skills…a history of monumental business failures, and personal foolishness.  But no…you wanted to “have a beer with” him…so you elected him president.  TWICE, for heaven’s sake.

6)  AND…Everyone Seems To Acknowledge That You Only Represent The Most Ignorant Portion Of The Country -- The South:

• Republicans can’t understand why after repeated racist attacks against Obama (or at the very least a refusal to condemn the racist attacks of their supporters)…and after ethic attacks against Sonia Sotomayor…and after constant “immigrant-blaming” on every subject under the Sun….and after consistent support for the wealthiest 1 % of the population, and the corporations that the wealthiest 1% own or invest in…WHY is it that blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities aren’t signing up to be Republicans?  Oh well…they give up.
• Tom Davis, a former GOP Congressman from Virginia, sees the light and declares that the GOP has become “a rural party and a Southern party:“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kENJUQICss

• Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) says the party’s Southern members like DeMint and Coburn are hurting him in Ohio, where conservatives don’t want to be associated with the South (and its culture of religious fanaticism, racism, and ignorance): “They get on TV and go ‘errrr, errrrr.’ People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?“
• Sorry, South Carolina…I’m sure you’re a very nice state, but you’ve become the poster child of Southern politics:

If right now you are thinking, “Well Democrats commit adultery, too…and say crazy things…and espouse wing-nut beliefs“…then you are in denial and missing the point.  Yes…Democrats can also be ridiculous…no, they have not yet let their party become DEFINED by it.  Democrats, generally speaking, do not elevate their most “batsh-t crazy” members to their most public and most prominent positions….they do not like for their media figures to be zealous at the expense of the truth.  In other words: they keep their “fringe elements“…in the FRINGE where they belong.

Want to know how it is affecting you now…just look at this map:

This map represents Gallup’s latest polling.  The red states…that’s you.  I know, I know…especially if you live in the South and only watch FOX News, it is really easy to fool yourself into thinking that the rest of the nation feels JUST LIKE YOU DO.  Look at the map again:  WE DON’T.  And if you do not take back the reins of your movement, your media outlets, and your party…I see more “blue” in this nation’s future.  You must reject racism, reject extremism, reject moralizing, reject wing-nuttery…and reject the people who practice these things.  Reject it with your vote, with your dollars, and with your TV viewership…these things represent your only real mechanism for saying “these people speak for us…these people over here, DON’T.“