So.  What is a Republican to do?

Launch a fruitless counter-offensive, that will be hindered by the fact that, over time, Americans are becoming more knowledgeable about the subject of health care?

Launch their own campaign to pass an important bill in some other policy area of their choosing?

Join in health care talks, so at least when the bill passes they can try to claim they were involved, and not simply obstructing?

Keep quiet on policy issues, meanwhile starting their campaigns for re-election back in their home states and districts?

No. No. No. Definitely not.

They’ll do what they have found so effective in the past…they’ll try to distract.

AFGHANISTAN: After a brief hiatus, former Vice President Dick Cheney has again emerged…to question President Obama’s “war credentials” and to claim that we are “less safe,” despite all reports and studies to the contrary.  In his latest effort to both criticize and distract, Cheney accused the president of “dithering” and of hurting the troops while helping the enemy: “Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.“  Perhaps the former veep is simply unfamiliar and uncomfortable with gathering information from generals and experts, in an attempt to make good decisions based on a thorough understanding of the situation, instead of making quick decisions based only on gut feelings and prayer.  Who better to respond to Cheney’s claims than National Security Network Senior Adviser Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.): “The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it.  2.  Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.  The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy ‘experts’ have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes.“  Cheney’s statements also resulted in a rather entertaining exchange between MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Joe Scarborough:

THE ECONOMY: When they’re not claiming that the stimulus has failed, while simultaneously taking credit for its successes (latest example in a growing trend here, courtesy of Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.)), Republicans are either criticizing Obama for failing to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street…or they are criticizing Obama’s efforts to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street.  Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has proposed an amendment to the House Financial Services Committee’s new Consumer Protection bill…that would allow federal bank regulators (who many have claimed are a bit too friendly with the Wall Street institutions) to “veto” any of the protections in the bill if they thought the protections might threaten the “safety and soundness” of the financial institutions.  Translated into normal people-speak: Hensarling thinks that risky schemes, if they provide a bank/institution’s a lot of money, should be allowed…customer protection be damned.  Hensarling said: “The safety and soundness of the system, taxpayer protection, ought to trump the ability to ban financial products. And let’s face it, I understand the chairman said that this new CFPA would not have the ability to set goals, but if you control the product mix, if you can ban products, if you can modify their terms, of what some have estimated could be as much as 10 to 15 percent of our economy, then yes, I conclude you can adversely impact the safety and soundness of these institutions.”  Again…this distraction is not likely to be successful: the American people are less likely to support a legislator saying we ought to protect banks’ ability to make profit at our expense…and more likely to support a president who is about to bail out small businesses, and to restrict the salaries and compensation of bailed-out CEO’s.

IMMIGRATION: When in doubt, the GOP loves to fall back on an old standard: xenophobia.  It’s perhaps odd that there are some within the Republican Party (hint: her name rhymes with Lishelle Mockman) claiming that the U.S. Census is some insidious attempt for President Obama to gather all of your precious personal data…and there are other Republicans, like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT), who now want the Census to ask EVEN MORE questions.  Specifically…they want to add questions regarding citizenship and legal residency status.  Opponents claim that this would dramatically reduce participation in the Census…and that THAT is perhaps the true goal of the amendment’s proponents.  Perhaps the GOP thinks that because Obama has taken few steps to address immigration issues, that the issue is ripe for creating distraction and dissent…they are neglecting, of course, that all polls show that “immigration” is pretty low on a lot of Americans’ lists of “political priority,” and that current studies show that the recession has resulted in fewer and fewer people even trying to come into our country.  It’s also ironic…that the GOP would choose Hispanic Heritage Month, when the media is flooded with positive stories about America’s Latino community and their contributions to our country, as the right time to try to play off of some people’s bigotry towards Hispanics.

RANDOM WINGNUTTERY: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) thought it wise to insert himself into the merry little war between the White House and FOX News.  For those who’ve not been following this story, it began with a statement from a White House advisor, insisting that FOX News contained no actual “news” and was instead serving as a media outlet for GOP talking points.  This was, of course, an unnecessary point to make, seeing as most people already know this to be true about FOX…and those who don’t, will never accept it as true because they never watch anything EXCEPT FOX.  The gauntlet having been thrown, the debate has resulted in a series of back-and-forth retorts amount to little more that “Yuh-huh!” and “Nuh-uh!“  Anyone with any political savvy or simple good sense would know not to become embroiled in such a fray….enter Senator Alexander.  From the Senate floor, Alexander cautioned the President against forming some sort of “enemies list” containing the names of political opponents, and organizations like FOX News.  Of course…there is absolutely no evidence that the President has any such list, nor that he is intending to formulate such a list…which is why many, such as Nashville journalist and blogger Jeff Woods, did not take long to criticize Alexander’s “advice” to the President.  Instead of rushing to FOX’s defense, Lamar may want to do what the rest of his party is doing…distancing themselves from the network, and other rabidly conservative outlets.  Here’s Lamar’s speech, just for laughs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y1FU2WGDrM

It’s easy to see why these tactics will prove less effective than in times past:  America’s attention right now is squarely on health care…and the GOP is partly responsible for that. In stirring up the right to believe that the health care issue is a “struggle to save America from communism/fascism/tyranny“…in scaring seniors into believing that “the government is trying to kill you“…in telling recession-weary Americans that regulating/reforming insurance companies will spell “financial doom” for small businesses and families…the Republican Party has convinced the American people of something that Democrats also wished for our citizens to realize:  our nation’s health care system’s problems are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.  By not listening to the American people, and not realizing that the overwhelming majority of people think health care reform is absolutely necessary and needs to happen RIGHT NOW, Republicans don’t seem to realize that we are locked into this one, particular battle until it is concluded…and little else will draw our attention away.

Let’s get started…

THE HEALTH CARE CARNIVAL OF DESPAIR:

• Most people hadn’t heard of Representative Alan Grayson (R-FL) before…but they have now.  In a wonderful, congressional, “oh, no you didn’t” moment…Grayson laid out in simple terms the terrible truth about the Republicans on Health Care Reform:  tens of thousands of Americans are dying because they don’t have insurance…and the Republicans have offered NOTHING but opposition to changing this…therefore, they must just want people to just “not get sick” and if they do…they should “die quickly:“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usmvYOPfco

• Of course, the Republican backlash to Grayson’s statements was fast and furious, and they demanded an immediate apology, comparing what Grayson did to the actions of Senator Joe “You Lie!” Wilson…despite the fact that the two events have nothing in common, especially in terms of congressional procedures and policies regarding decorum.  Grayson…complied, but not in the way the GOP expected:  he apologized, not to the GOP, but to the dead and the dying and to their families…he apologized for Congress allowing this to happen.  So far, Pelosi has backed Grayson, along with the rest of the Democrats…and now some Democrats seem to be realizing: “Wait a minute…the GOP really HAVEN’T offered a plan…we should point that out!“  No kidding guys…that one was a gimme.
• Want the very definition of “out of touch?“  House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)…says nobody has ever approached him supporting the public option and he therefore doesn’t think most people support it.  Ummm, John…the majority of people in YOUR STATE support it…the VAST majority of the people in the country support it and would be willing to pay higher taxes to pay for it…and unless you, Snowe, and some of the Democratic Senators who voted against it in the Senate Finance Committee realize that the majority of your constituents want it…well, there will be obvious political consequences come reelection time.

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• Senator David Vitter (R-LA) has some new problems…stemming from his old problems.  It’s been very odd to watch a Senator, busted for soliciting prostitutes, question the morality of Democrats and claim that he and other southern Republicans are the ones representing “true values.“  Perhaps he mistakenly believed that the scandal was behind him…well, “not so” says the Louisiana Office of Disciplinary Counsel.  Apparently (who knew?), soliciting prostitutes just might violate the State’s laws regarding professional misconduct for a lawyer.  The law states that lawyers may be charged with misconduct and subsequently disbarred if they “commit a criminal act especially one that reflects adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects.“  Ooops.
• The Health Care bill contains a provision for health clinics to be established in schools, since studies show that access to health services can greatly increase academic performance.  This gave Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) all that she needed to formulate a new “anti-reform” conspiracy theory.  Bachmann tells us…that these would actually be “sex clinics” where kids could go to get ABORTIONS without their parents knowing about it: “The bill goes on to say what’s going to go on -- comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care — is that abortion? Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser.“  Of course…Michelle only read item (II) under section 2511 of the bill…if she had bothered to read item (I) RIGHT BEFORE IT she would have known that the bills says: “SBHC services will be provides in accordance with Federal, State, and local laws governing-- (I) obtaining parental or guardian consent; and (II) patient privacy and student records, including section 264 of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 and section 444 of the General Education Provision Act;“  Your choice: bad reader…or just a liar?
• Governor Sanford of South Carolina…having been asked by both his fellow Republicans and his constituents to resign over his actions regarding the abandonment of his duties to pursue an illicit affair…now asks that the state ethics panel doesn’t release its findings.  I wonder why.  Hear that sound?  It’s the sound of Sanford’s fingernails dragging across the State of South Carolina…clinging on like grim death so that he can stay in office for just a little bit longer.
• The “Republican” brand name?  Not doing so hot…and given the types of things I’m reading and posting each week, this should surprise NO ONE.

THE MEDIA:  PUNDITS, HACKS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• FOX’s Sean Hannity is so consistently wrong in terms of his facts and historical data, that Jon Stewart was able to dedicate almost a third of one Daily Show episode…just to pointing out Hannity’s RECENT mistakes.  I submit this clip for your enjoyment and edification:

• Bernard Goldberg, a media critic, usually appears on FOX shows…to DEFEND the network against the constant stream of accusations that they have an obvious, right-wing bias.  So…you can imagine that people were a bit shocked to see him appearing on the O’Reilly Factor, and saying…that in many ways, FOX is to be held responsible for creating this perception, especially when it does things like “promoting” Tea Party protests rather than simply “reporting on” Tea Party protests:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ztDUgCqXSc

• Once again, Shepard Smith, host of FOX’s “The Fox Report” has chosen to speak the truth rather than simply parrot the talking points.  On a recent segment, a guest tried to levy criticisms at the current Health Care Reform proposals…by pointing out that Canada’s single-payer system is less than perfect.  Shepard is quick to point out that it seems like a false and deceptive comparison, since NONE of the bills in Congress propose a single-payer system.  When Shepard’s guest then tries to create a classic “straw man“/”slippery slope” argument…Shepard wasn’t going to allow that either.  Good for you Shep:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jzr7Nnxjlfs

• Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), at a recent discussion in front of powerful Washington “movers and shakers,” came right out and said that the “birther” conspiracy theorists are “crazy,” that Obama is certainly not a “closet Muslim,” and that Glenn Beck “is not aligned with any party. He is aligned with cynicism and there has always been a market for cynics. But we became a great nation not because we are a nation of cynics. We became a great nation because we are a nation of believers.“  Wow…could there finally be a Republican who might realize that the votes you get from siding with the extremists…ARE NOT WORTH IT.

THE OLYMPIC FLAME…FIZZLES:

• Even after President Obama flew to Denmark to make the case for the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Chicago…the prize went to someone else.  In a shocking turn of events, Chicago didn’t even make it past the first round of voting…Tokyo would fall in the next round…and at the end Rio de Janeiro won over Madrid the right to host the games.
• In a display that can only be described as exceedingly puerile, conservative commentators/columnists including RedState’s Erick Erickson, Michelle Malkin, and Rush Limbaugh have been, quite literally, CELEBRATING the fact that America will not be hosting the 2016 games…simply because it allows them to claim that “Obama failed at something.“  That’s right: Conservatives are CELEBRATING, during an economic crisis, that America will NOT get the projected $22 billion in revenues, the 315,000 new jobs, and the $11 billion in new income that those jobs represent.  They’re willing to cheer against the best interests of the country…if it means a “failure” for the President.  Remember this, when listening to these same people discuss Health Care Reform, or anything else:  these people would rather America suffers…as long as it denies Obama check in the “win” column.
• While the President was unable to convince the voting members of the IOC to permit the games to be held in America…top White House Advisor David Axlerod is correct at saying there is more involved than the President’s charm.  It’s a well established fact that the IOC is an extremely political body, and that its voting process often produces unexpected results.  In recent years, the IOC has come under increasing pressure to allow the games to be hosted in a country OTHER than the United States, the nations of Europe, and the countries comprising Asia…and preferably a South American country.  Given this pressure, the decision to hand the honor over to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil…starts to make more sense.

PALINWATCH -- HOW CAN WE MISS HER IF SHE WON’T GO AWAY:

• Politico’s recent polls suggest that ex-Governor Sarah Palin is not well regarded among her fellow Republicans, Republican advisors consider her to be “electoral poison,” and many of her former supporters either tired of her during the Levy/Bristol business, or don’t respect her resigning the governorship before completing her term…but there is still a demographic that absolutely LOVES her:  Evangelical Christians, and Republicans living in small, country towns…and of course, there’s some overlap between those two groups.  I don’t think I even need to say anything else on the subject…draw your own conclusions.
• The New York Post reports that Palin’s new career as a “highly paid speaker” is not going so hot…perhaps due to the limited number of people (mentioned in the previous item) who still think she’s “bright” and “adorable.”  In fact, one industry expert told the Post: “The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot…Palin is so uninteresting to so many groups -- unless they are interested in moose hunting.  What does she have to say? She can’t even describe what she reads.“  And as with the previous item…I really can’t think of anything that I need to add to that.
• In a surprise move…perhaps due to her inability to book speaking gigs at $100,000 a pop…it was announced that Palin’s memoir would be released November 17, which is four months ahead of schedule.  The announcement regarding the book’s title generated even more surprised looks: “Going Rogue -- An American Life.“  It seemed strange to some…that Palin would want to reference “going rogue,” as it was a comment that McCain campaign insiders made referring to how Palin’s off-book, off-message, inconsistent, and completely unprepared remarks were TANKING MCCAIN’S PRESIDENTIAL BID.  In other words…it wasn’t meant as a compliment.  Pre-orders for the book suggest very brisk sales, causing some on the left to ascribe to a conspiracy theory that conservative groups and churches must be buying up the books in large numbers to increase the sales figures.  In reality…people just need to realize that not everybody who buys the book necessarily admires Sarah Palin…many will get it just for the likely entertainment value, the same way millions of people each day go out on YouTube and watch people ride bicycles into walls, fall off skateboards, and slip and fall while dancing.
• Want a good laugh?  Here’s Ann Coulter, appearing on Joy Behar’s new show on CNN…asserting that the effect of Sarah Palin’s “death panel” tweet shows that Palin is “a powerful woman” and that people listen to her because she is so “coherent.” Joy…took particular exception to the “coherent” part.  Many more excepts may be viewed here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBoP08KPHUc

MISCELLANY:

• Remember Valerie Plame?  The undercover CIA agent whose identity was leaked to the press after her husband criticized the Bush administration?  Remember the Bush administration agreeing to “chat” with investigators, but not on the record or under oath…and how Scooter Libby was eventually “volunteered” to take the fall for leaking the information, despite the fact that conventional wisdom suggested it was Vice President Cheney’s idea?  Thursday, a federal judge, against the wishes of both the Bush and Obama administrations, ruled that the FBI’s notes of their interview with Cheney must be publicly released.  This could be embarrassing…on the upside, if Cheney’s statements are embarrassing/incriminating enough, maybe he’ll finally stop appearing on talk shows.  Fingers crossed…
• Just last week, I was criticizing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for not being assertive enough, in terms of getting Senate Democrats to do what’s right and not “what’s best for insurance companies.“  Apparently, Reid HAS grown enough of a backbone to send letters to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Gates…asking them to finally step up and lend their support to the fight to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which is causing highly trained interpreters, war heroes, technical experts, and other brave soldiers/sailors/airmen, to be discharged from the armed services…just for being gay.  Reid wrote, “As Congress considers future legislative action, we believe it would be helpful to hear your views on the policy,” he writes. “Your leadership in this matter is greatly appreciated and needed at this time,” and then goes on to include stories of highly valuable and distinguished soldiers being discharged under the policy.  Obama has voiced his opposition to both DADT and DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act)…but so far his administration has done more to squelch challenges to the various anti-gay rights policies and laws, than it has done to repeal them.  At a minimum, they should be lending their support to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who has been fighting the good fight in the Senate.
• Turns out that the Secret Service’s investigation of the Facebook user who created a poll asking if the President “should be killed,” has identified a juvenile as the perpetrator.  No charges will be filed…but many are missing the obvious topic for discussion:  while the poll may not have represented a viable threat to the President, doesn’t it say something when the tone of our national discourse has become SO irrational, SO violent, SO hateful…that a child asks such a terrible question?  Glenn, Michelle, Rush, Sean, Ann, Bill, and others…won’t you please think of the children?

That’s all from the Reality Liberation Front for this week -- have a good weekend, and we’ll see you on Monday.

Well…if you are one of those people who is just not quite disgusted enough by the current state of affairs, here are some very recent news items to help you along:

1 -- ENOUGH HYPOCRISY TO GO AROUND: Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee discussed Senator Rockefeller’s amendment to add a public option to the bill.  While it was nearly a foregone conclusion that the amendment would not pass (in fact, four Democrats voted against it)…the discussion leading up to the vote was shameful.  Senator Grassley (R-IA) showed his usual disdain for factual information, citing studies from the conservatively biased Heritage Foundation, as well as a study by the Lewin Group…which is WHOLLY owned by a large health insurance company (it is worth note that he disregards all of the credible studies, including the one done by the Congressional Budget Office).  He joined the chorus of GOP lawmakers who openly admitted that their argument, that the public option would lead to a government takeover of health insurance…was a “slippery slope.”  Of course, this shows (once again) that these politicians don’t know that a “slippery slope” is a type of LOGICAL FALLACY…an indefensible argument, not supported by reason.  And they are openly admitting this.  The second part of their argument is that “government run programs are bad“….but then when confronted with their hypocrisy regarding the government-run Medicare program, they don’t want any of its costs cut, and they say that Medicare is different because Medicare is POPULAR.  Then, they have the nerve to boisterously object to Representative Alan Grayson’s statement on  Tuesday that the GOP health care plan suggests “don’t get sick“…and if you do, “die quickly.“  This, while just last week, Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) suggested to a constituent that her sick family member (who had no insurance and needed surgery) sell everything she own, so she will be poor enough to get on a government program…and then seek charity.  So why are the GOP making such empty and ridiculous arguments?  Why are the Democrats even too spineless to conform to their own principles?  Simple…they are all bought and paid for:

2 -- THE “OBAMA YOUTH” FAUX CONSPIRACY: The latest fake outrage?  A group of school children are on tape singing a song about helping their country and President Obama…for African-American History Month…and the lyrics were sent home to parents ahead of time and nobody objected.  So how does FOX News and the rest of the right-wing media respond?  Of course…they decry it as the worst kind of indoctrination, and go as far as to vehemently claim that this never happened (and never would have happened) under the Bush administration.  Except…it did.  There is a clip circulating of Bush with children…praising him for his handling of the Katrina disaster.  That’s right: it’s kids praising Bush…and over one of his biggest, most thorough SCREW-UPS of his presidency.  Here’s the coverage from Countdown with Keith Olbermann (contains all the clips):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LkE8AuIPkY

3 -- DEMONIZING YOUR ENEMY 101: Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) speaking to a right-wing conference at the inanely titled “How To Take Back America” conference, told the assembled crowd: “Obama’s first act as president of any consequence, in the middle of a financial meltdown, was to send taxpayers’ money overseas to pay for the killing of unborn children in other countries.  Now, I got to tell you, if a president will do that, there’s almost nothing that you should be surprised at after that. We shouldn’t be shocked that he does all these other insane things. A president that has lost his way that badly, that has no ability to see the image of God in these little fellow human beings, if he can’t do that right, then he has no place in any station of government and we need to realize that he is an enemy of humanity.“  Frank says that OBAMA does insane things?  What about a sitting congressman referring to the President and Commander in Chief of his country as “an enemy of humanity?“  How is THAT reasonable or sane?  At the same conference, considerable time was also given to the threat of the “gay agenda,” the “fascist agenda,” and the “communist agenda,” making it a veritable cornucopia of issues best categorized as “things to scare uneducated rubes, entrenched bigots, and homophobes.”

4 -- SCAREMONGERING FOR DUMMIES: Meanwhile, the sick comedy team of Liz and Dick Cheney, would still like to tell you that Obama is making you less safe, that he is going to put terrorists in your neighborhood, and that he is going to let the terrorists kill you.  Even the generals are calling this “nonsense” and “scaremongering.”  Retired General David Maddox, former Army commander-in-chief for Europe, said:  “Some of the fear issues that are being raised in this are really unfortunate. It gets people excited about things they shouldn’t be excited about and impedes doing what is critical to this country. Get that damn symbol off the table.  We take a setback every time somebody, whether it’s the vice president or his daughter comes out and says the things that they say…We have to get out there again and just keep pounding.”

5 -- POLITICS MINUS ETHICS: Remember hearing about the census worker found dead in Kentucky?  Hanging from a tree, bound and gagged, with the word “FED” written on his chest?  No doubt murdered as the result of the litany of “Census Conspiracy Theories” being peddled by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and others of the right-wing fringe?  Well the local authorities…still haven’t ruled out suicide or accidental death.  Now, Kentucky officials may not be the brightest on the planet…but I’m certain that even they don’t think this happened “accidentally,” or that the substitute teacher/cancer survivor/census worker did it to HIMSELF.  No…they are mere petty politicians…who don’t want to admit that the chickens are coming home to roost…that the violent, inflammatory hate speech emitting out of the GOP and the right-wing media has finally claimed its first, and most obvious victim.  The man’s son calls it “shameful“…but it is even worse than that.

6 -- MORE CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST: What is all the outrage and incendiary language producing?  Besides dead census workers?  Incidents like this:  Facebook, the social networking site, has had to disable the “polling” function because someone posted a poll asking if the president “should be killed.“  It’s a simple-to-understand social phenomenon, that has occurred at other times in history (for those willing to learn from history):  violent language, talk of killing political enemies, proclaiming the end of America, labeling opponents as the enemies of humanity, calling for armed insurrection…it invariably leads to public, violent ideation, threats, and eventually…actions.  The Secret Service is investigating because, once again, threats against the president (even if made in jest) are ILLEGAL.

7 -- YES, SADLY, MORE CHICKENS: Need other examples of where this is headed?  Newsmax’s columnist John Perry wrote a piece this week…OPENLY CALLING for an armed uprising against the government.  Perry wrote: “Imagine a bloodless coup to restore and defend the Constitution through an interim administration that would do the serious business of governing and defending the nation. Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars.“  Newsmax would later pull the article…and at the same time attempted to lamely justify the piece saying that the author was only “describing” the scenario…not “advocating” it.  This semantic word-play should only serve as further cause for our disgust…and I would, as I did in the previous item, remind readers that “free speech” is not without constraints, and inciting armed insurrection against the government is CLEARLY illegal.

8 -- PRIORITIES, SHMIORITIES: What does Michael Steele, chairmen of the Republican National Committee, think of the rhetoric, and the threats and violence it’s spawning?  Steele says in response to calls to tone down the level of discourse: “Where do these nut jobs come from? Come on, stop this…To make those equations, examples and put that out there that way, to me is just crazy and yeah, I’m sorry, but if you’re going to approach this discussion, approach it from a rational position.  [They're] saying, because you disagree with the president on policy, that all of the sudden we’re going to make this leap into, you know, assassinations and all this other stuff. I mean, at the height of all this stuff on Bush and people complaining and protesting, and jumping up and down, you didn’t have this kind of conversation.“  See what he did there?  It’s how the conservatives are responding to ALL criticism.  When it was suggested that SOME of the people adamantly protesting the president MIGHT be harboring racist sentiments, the right-wing responded, “They’re saying that ALL people who criticize the president are racists!“  And now, that many are saying that the current level of unreasonable, inciting language by SOME could POSSIBLY lead to violence, the right-wing responds, “They’re saying all people who criticize the president are going to cause an assassination!“  It’s a childish, pat response to an argument…that they are going to lose.  It’s worth noting that the cause that Steele DOES think is worth fighting…is denouncing Obama for taking ONE DAY to travel to Copenhagen to try to get the Olympics to be held in Chicago.  That’s right…Steele, thinks it’s important to attack the president for trying to bring the Olympics (with all the business and prestige that accompanies the event) to an American city.  Not health care…not the increasingly violent tone of American political discourse…not Afghanistan…the OLYMPICS.

9 -- JUST ASK BRISTOL: Teens know that “abstinence programs” are a joke.  Studies show that the government, under the Bush administration, spent MOUNTAINS of our money funding these programs…to NO EFFECT.  Even Texas…the number one recipient of “abstinence program” funds, is now changing their program to a more comprehensive sex education program…because under “abstinence” their teen birth rate stayed the third highest in the nation and they have the highest percentage of teen mothers giving birth more than once. So…it makes ZERO sense that the Senate just approved restoring the $50 million a year of federal funding to “abstinence-only programs.“  That is…it makes zero sense until I tell you it was the Senate Finance Committee led by Max Baucus, the same committee to produce the only health care reform bill out of five currently in Congress that has neither a public option, nor true reform…and that would net billions more in profits for the health care industry.  Suddenly, it all becomes clear how this happened…

10 - AY, DIOS MIO! The Republican Party has failed miserably despite its attempts since the election to attract minority voters.  Its latest efforts related to Hispanic Heritage Month, won’t help very much.  It’s bad enough that the party’s leaders regularly spout anti-immigrant, xenophobic, anti-Hispanic propaganda…but when their press release (in Spanish) to the Hispanic community is literally FILLED with spelling, grammatical, and translation errors, well, it certainly doesn’t make them look very “in touch” with the Hispanic people.  I mean seriously…if they had even had ONE Spanish-speaking person JUST LOOK AT the release…they could have avoided this.  The ad they put out…was in some ways even more insulting, since they failed to deem any prominent non-conservative Hispanics worthy of mention.  You would think they would at least have give some time to Sonia Sotomayor…yeesh.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQzTuJdJNlQ

I read pieces like these and my first thought is, “I wonder if they are ashamed…I wonder if they are embarrassed,” and then I realize that since the behavior of our elected officials, our media, and our fellow citizens reflects on me…that I am embarrassed.  We all should be, because it is only by our permission that people such as these are given power, are given a voice.  And until we revoke the power and the pulpit from those who we do not wish to represent us…it is we who are equally at fault.