The World According to Me

Back in October, I blogged here about Barack Obama’s citizenship, and established that he is indeed a United States citizen based on his Hawaiian birth certificate, which has been authenticated by just about anyone who’s seen it, and Kenyan law which does not allow duel citizenship ( http://jawillie.blog.com/4051479/ ).  Of course, for the rage infected right this was wholly unacceptable.  As seen by the recent tirade by conservative Alan Keyes, and comments by
AL senator Richard Shelby, this dinosaur of right-wing talking points refuses to find its way to the nearest tar pit and die off.  So I’ve decided to go about killing this dream of disqualifying Barack Obama’s presidency once and for all. How does one kill a dream?  One does it by exposing it to reality.  I’m going to totally debunk the most persistent myth of the right-wing, and thus murder their dream that Obama is ineligible to be president.  For those of you who are preparing to trek to Kenya in search of the mythical birth certificate of Barack Obama, you may want to unpack.  To wit, you could go to Kenya and find a giant billboard saying, “Here is the spot where Barack Hussein Obama was born” and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.  Barack Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States of America and thus legitimately President of The United States, regardless of where he was physically born.

Ok, now that the snarling from the right has died down, we’ll get on to the explanation.  Let’s start with some previously established facts.  First, Barack Obama’s mother was born in Kansas, and thus a US Citizen.  His father was born in Kenya.  And unless someone can find proof to the contrary, we must accept as fact that Barack Obama himself was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Now here’s the passage from the United States Constitution regarding eligibility to be president.

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Now, we must pay particular attention to the phrase natural born here.  It’s important.

Next, the following from the U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Form Services website www.uscitizenship.info.  This is from their FAQ page regarding citizenship and birth.

Generally, people are born U.S. citizens if they are born in the United States or if they are born to U.S. citizens:

(2) Through birth abroad to TWO United States citizens
In most cases, you are a U.S. citizen if ALL of the following are true:

·        Both your parents were U.S. citizens when you were born; and

·        At least one of your parents lived in the United States at some point in their life.

(3) Through birth abroad to ONE United States citizen
In most cases, you are a U.S. citizen if ALL of the following are true:

·        One of your parents was a U.S. citizen when you were born;

·        Your citizen parent lived at least 5 years in the United States before you were born; and

·        At least 2 of these 5 years in the United States were after your citizen parent’s 14th birthday.

What all of this means is that physical birth location is irrelevant.  One is a natural born citizen by virtue of parentage, not location.  The gist if this is by virtue of his parentage, specifically his mother being a US citizen at the time of his birth, Barack Obama is a natural born citizen of the US regardless of where he was physically born.  (Technically, he held dual citizenship with Kenya until he was 21 when his Kenyan citizenship expired in accordance with their constitution).  So even if you were to find a Kenyan birth certificate stating that Obama was actually born there, it would mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Of course you righties will argue the semantics of “natural born”, whether or not it means “physically born on American soil.”  However the constitution makes no such distinction.  Specifically, it states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”  Nothing more.  In fact, the constitution does not even define “natural born”, just who qualifies as a citizen.  And any lawyer can take the above information and argue that Obama is a natural born United States citizen despite where he was physically born, which probably explains why the US Supreme Court refused without comment to even hear the case that was brought last year regarding his eligibility.  It’s the argument John McCain (who was born in Panama) used regarding his citizenship and eligibility to be the Republican nominee for POTUS (both of his parents were US citizens).  The bottom line is that Barack Hussein Obama is the President of the United States, and once again, righties, you got nothing.  ENDOSTORY!

Now, because I’ve effectively killed your hopes and dreams, I’m going to give you a gift.  Not because I feel sorry for you, or because I’m just a nice guy, but because I don’t think that you have the brains to figure this out for yourselves, and frankly I enjoy watching you chase your collective tail here.  If you still insist in pursuing your quest for the Mythical Obama Birth Certificate, here’s some advice.  You should probably expand your search to include his mother’s birth certificate as well.  Failing that, you should probably direct your attention to finding proof that Obama denounced his American citizenship.  You’re not likely to find either, but like I said, I enjoy seeing you chase your tail on this.

Shelby story:

http://www.cullmantimes.com/local/local_story_052203445.html

The United States Constitution:

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A2Sec1

U.S. Citizenship and Naturalization Form Services – FAQ:

http://www.uscitizenship.info/citizenship-library.htm

The running theme in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.  The running theme for the Obama political climate may be somewhat similar.  Every time Obama has a success, a conservative loses his/her mind.  The signing of the Stimulus bill by President Obama this week provided three indicators that the rubber band currently holding together GOP sanity may have finally snapped.

We start with MN congresswoman Michele Bachmann.  This is the congress woman who went on national TV and called for an investigation of members of congress to see who is “anti-American” during the campaign (and spent the remainder if it since denying she ever said it).  In a recent radio interview she goes on a tirade of every right-wing talking point bashing the stimulus, bashing Obama, and bashing Democrats and liberals in general.  Steve Benen from the Washington Monthly extracted these bullet points from the radio interview.

* ACORN is “under federal indictment for voter fraud,” but the stimulus bill nevertheless gives ACORN “$5 billion.”

 * many members of Congress have “a real aversion to capitalism.”

* the stimulus bill includes a measure to create a “rationing board” for health care, and after the bill becomes law, “your doctor will no longer be able to make your healthcare decisions with you.”

* the recovery package is part of a Democratic conspiracy to “direct” funding away from Republican districts, so Democratic districts can “suck up” all federal funds. Bachmann doesn’t think this will work because, as she put it, “We’re running out of rich people in this country.”

* the “Community-Organizer-in-Chief” is also orchestrating a conspiracy involving the Census Bureau, which the president will use to redraw congressional lines to keep Democrats in power for up to “40 years.” When the host said he was confused, noting that congressional district lines are drawn at the state level, Bachmann said Obama’s non-existent plan is an “anti-constitutional move.”

As you can see, all of these talking points have been debunked ad-nauseum by any rational thinking person (or your average 12 year old) willing to do about 20 minutes of research.  Of course, that doesn’t stop the rage infected right from continuing to spread and believe these falsehoods, much as they would probably believe the e-mails coming from the foreign exchange student from
Zimbabwe promising them $3,000,000.00.

But whereas Bachmann’s shrill was merely indicative of early stage dimentia, the rantings coming from conservative Alan Keyes (who got his ass spanked by Obama for the 2004 IL senate seat) varies from mere screed to borderline incitement to violence.  Still in Stage One of conservative grief over Obama’s election, denial (see my blog entry http://jawillie.blog.com/4572815/), he continues his quest for the mythical Kenyan Birth Certificate.  In commenting on it, he goes into a rant that stops just short of a call for sedition.  In fact, had this been about Bush, and had it come from, say, Louis Farrakhan or Jeremiah Wright, doubtless folks on the right (and probably the left as well) would be calling it treason.  In an interview in Hastings, NE he says:

“Obama is a radical communist, and I think it is becoming clear. That is what I told people in Illinois and now everybody realizes it’s true…He is going to destroy this country, and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist.”

“Is he president of the United States?   According to the Constitution, in order to be eligible for president you have to be a natural born citizen. He has refused to provide proof.”

“I’m not sure he’s even president of the United States, neither are many of our military people now who are now going to court to ask the question, ‘Do we have to obey a man who is not qualified under the constitution?’ We are in the midst of the greatest crisis this nation has ever seen, and if we don’t stop laughing about it and deal with it, we’re going to find ourselves in the midst of chaos, confusion and civil war.”

He goes on to call Obama “somebody who is kind of an alleged usurper, who is alleged to be someone who is occupying that office without constitutional warrant to do so,” and even refuses to refer to him as President Obama.  Putting aside that no less an authority than the Supreme Court has rejected these challenges to Obama’s presidency, and that the birth certificate provided by President Obama has been authenticated by anyone who cared to look at it, Mr. Keyes assertions and rantings make him seem less like a former senate candidate and more like someone who should be dressed in a Pee-Wee Herman suit and selling bean pies on the street corner.

The final ode to Republican insanity comes from the RNC chair himself, Michael Steele.  His latest wacky scheme to win the hearts and minds of the American people: Hip-Hop.  According to a Washington Times article, Steele plans an “off the hook” public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party’s principles to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings”.

From the article:

“We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section … We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”

But, he elaborated with a laugh, “we need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets.”

While it is at least laudable that Steele seeks to include young people in the political process, one needs to look at what he has to work with.  He’s in a party of old White men, most of whom are evangelical Christians.  In addition, he has to contend with people like Rush Limbaugh, Joe the Plumber, Sarah Palin, and David Duke.  This doesn’t exactly scream “SOURCE Awards.”  The best he can hope for is to not come off looking like someone’s middle-aged parents trying to be hip.  Good luck with that.  Meanwhile, I hear Joaquin Phoenix is looking for a rap gig.

In the end, if the GOP ever hopes to regain the hearts and minds of the American people, it would probably be a good idea for it to locate its own mind first.

Michele Bachmann story:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_02/016922.php

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/02/20/bachmann-on-the-attack-again-were-running-out-of-rich-people/

Alan Keyes story:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/02/obama-birth-cer.html

Michael Steele story:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/

In his best selling book Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West gives probably the most apt depiction of both the liberal and conservative views on race in
America.  In his introduction he writes:

The liberal notion that more government programs can solve racial problems is simplistic – precisely because it focuses solely on the economic dimension.  And the conservative idea that what is needed is a change in the moral behavior of poor black urban dwellers…highlights immoral actions while ignoring public responsibility for the immoral circumstances that haunt our fellow citizens.

The common denominator of these views of race is that each still sees black people as a “problem people”…rather than as fellow American citizens with problems.

He goes on to write:

…we confine discussions about race in America to the “problems” black people pose for whites, rather than consider what this way of viewing black people reveals about us as a nation.

            This paralyzing framework encourages liberals to relieve their guilty consciences by supporting public funds directed at “the problems”; but at the same time, reluctant to exercise principled criticism of black people, liberals deny them the freedom to err.  Similarly, conservatives blame the “problems” on black people themselves – and thereby render black social misery invisible or unworthy of public attention.

            Hence, for liberals, black people are to be “included” and “integrated” into “our” society and culture, while for conservatives they are to be “well behaved” and “worthy of acceptance” by “our” way of life.  Both fail to see that the presence and predicaments of black people are neither additions to nor defections from American life, but rather constitutive elements of that life.

The above is probably the best way to analyze reactions to this week’s glaring examples of our aversion to racial issues in America.  At a Department of Justice program Wednesday, the nation’s first African-American Attorney General Eric Holder told the audience that this country is a “nation of cowards” when it comes to discussions of race.  Of course, this had the very predictable effect of pissing off some Whites who often walk around with the attitude of “I’m not prejudiced, some of my best friends are black”.  However, as someone who works in a predominately White working environment, I can tell you first hand that Mr. Holder not only got it right, but described the situation better than anyone, Black or White, ever has.

The controversial New Your Post cartoon that some say depicted Barack Obama as the chimpanzee that was killed by police after attacking a woman, featuring the caption “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill”, provided the most glaring example that racial issues did not go away simply because the nation elected it’s first African American president.  If anything, the election of Barack Obama brought the issue even more to the forefront, complete with all of the resentment and bitterness that accompanies this issue.  The HBO documentary, Right America: Feeling Wronged shows a glimpse of some of this bitterness among the right wing (though the documentary shows this as part of a much larger issue).  And while our first inclination is to view the issue through the usual (and liberal) prism of White on Black prejudice, Blacks are not at all innocent.  During the campaign, some Blacks were resentful of Obama because they felt that he did not speak enough about “their” issues, and sometimes criticized Black men for not stepping up to their responsibilities as fathers.  Much of this came to light when the Reverend Jesse Jackson was caught in an off-mike moment accusing Obama of “speaking down” to African-Americans, and wanting to “cut his nuts off”.  On the flip-side, many Blacks have very strong reactions to any criticism of President Obama, legitimate or otherwise, feeling that such criticism is born of White racism.

The point of all of this is that as much as we’d like to burry this in a post-electoral feel-good moment, the issue of race didn’t disappear on November 4^th 2008, nor is it going away anytime soon.  What we also need to realize is that it isn’t something that should go away.  Race and ethnic diversity are as much a part of the American body politic as straw hats, whistle stop tours, conventions, and political cartoons.  It is something that need not, and should not, divide but be celebrated.  However, if we are to ever get to that point, we need to acknowledge the problems that are inherent in our cultural diversity, and our individual responsibilities for, and to, those problems.  Furthermore, we all have to do the heavy lifting here.  We all, Black and White, liberal and conservative,  have to be willing to put the cards on the table and open ourselves up to the level of scrutiny necessary for a meaningful discussion on race.  As it relates to the issue of White to Black, Dr. West has this to say.

To engage in a serious discussion of race in America, we must begin not with the problems of black people but with the flaws of American society – flaws rooted in historic inequalities and longstanding cultural stereotypes.  How we set up the terms for discussing racial issues shapes our perception and response to these issues. 

In reading the political blogs from the left and the right, I’m noticing something rather interesting in the postings from the rage-infected right-wing.  Their reaction to Obama’s presidency is not unlike the 5 stages of grief.  It is clear that many on the right are going through a process that is not unlike grieving.  Reading the postings in some of these blogs, it’s easy to categorize them into one of the five stages

• Denial – People at this stage are still looking for the mythical Kenyan birth certificate of Barack Obama, thus proving that he was not born in this country, and is ineligible to be president.  Failing that, there was the flubbed oath of office on January 20^th, which some felt didn’t count and he therefore wasn’t president.  Never mind that the constitution states that he became president at 12:00pm on January 20, 2009 whether was taking the oath at the time, or taking a piss.  Still, out of what they call “an abundance of caution”, President Obama and Justice Roberts did the oath again in private.  That’ll shut the right-wingers up, NOT.
• Anger – Folks at this stage are the real whack jobs.  They don’t present any real arguments for their positions.  They just bash Obama, the Democrats, and anyone who supports them.  They’re the most vitriolic, and frankly, bigoted of rage-infected right.  Sadly, they also represent what is left of the GOP base.  They’re the ones who dutifully showed up at the McCain/Palin rallies accusing Obama of being a terrorist, and shouting “Kill Him”.  When Obama talked about people who cling to their guns and their Bibles, these are the ones he was talking about.
• Bargaining – These are the Limbaugh Zombies who are following the directives of Rush Limbaugh in hoping that Obama fails.  They’re hoping that enough scandal (like some of his tax challenged cabinet appointments), coupled with failure of his policies would be enough to make the public want to oust him from office.  At least enough to make him a one term president. 
• Depression – This is the doom and gloom stage.  Folks at this stage are convinced that the country is facing economic, social, and military doomsday.  Dick Cheney is pretty much at this stage, stating his belief last week that America is going to be attacked if Obama dismantles the procedures that the Bush administration put in place to “protect us from terrorist,” otherwise known as TORTURE.
• Acceptance – Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.  Not with these people.  At this point, they’re never going to accept Obama as president.  Whether it’s his party, or his race, or their own affection for Bush and having their patriotism spoon-fed to them, to these folks Obama is the anti-Christ (some actually call him that, no lie).  For them, it’s going to be a very long 4 to 8 years.

I’d give these people one recommendation if I thought for a second that they would take it to heart.  That would be, GET OVER IT!

So I’m watching Keith O. on MSNBC and I get a call from my little brother, who also watches Keith.  He and I both heard Michael Steele’s claim that government doesn’t create jobs, it creates work.  His assessment, “This guy’s BIZZARO,” referring to the villain from the Superman comic books.  For those of you who aren’t into comic books (or cartoons), Bizzaro is sort of this anti-Superman.  He wears a similar costume to Superman’s, but the “S” on the chest is backwards.  His thinking is backwards too.  In fact, in his world, everything works backwards.  He’s the total opposite of Superman in every way.  Likewise, Michael Steele is the total opposite of Obama, particularly in his grasp of reality.  Check this interview with George Stephanopoulos (courtesy www.mediamatters.org).

STEELE: You’ve got to look at the entire package. You’ve got to look at what’s going to create sustainable jobs. What this administration is talking about is making work. It is creating work.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that’s a job.

STEELE: No, it’s not a job. A job is something that a business owner creates. It’s going to be long term. What he’s creating is a –

STEPHANOPOULOS: So a job doesn’t –

STEELE: Well, hold up.

STEPHANOPOULOS: — count if it’s a government job?

STEELE: No, let me — let me — let me finish. That is a contract. It ends at a certain point, George. You know that. Those — these road projects that we’re talking about have an end point.

[...]

STEPHANOPOULOS: Democrats would say that the broader school construction funding will create jobs. Do you accept that?

STEELE: For a short term, yes. It’s a construction job. I agree with that. But, you know, do we need to put — is that what you — we need to put in place right now when you can look at other ways in the economy to stimulate that type of growth?

So let me get this straight.  Forgetting the fact that this is a Black man who has apparently no concept of what a “government job” is, in Michael Steele’s warped view of the world and how it works, jobs like Policemen, Firemen, Social Workers, Teachers, in fact any municipal occupation aren’t real jobs.  They’re just work.  The people just show up, do 8 – 12 (or more) hours, give their all (including their lives), collect a paycheck (which pays taxes to the government), but it’s just work to him. 

And what of contracted positions that aren’t created by the government, or temp jobs, or summer jobs?  I suppose those aren’t real jobs either.  So when Joe [not] the Plumber is on a contract assignment (plumbing, or whatever it is he does these days) those aren’t real jobs, it’s just work.  Somehow I think even he would have the brains enough to disagree with that. 

Is it just him, or are all Republicans this clueless?  Or worse, was he really elected to be the “token” face of the party as I feared?  Admittedly, I tried to cut the guy some slack because he’s a “brotha”.  But seriously, he’s starting to look more and more like the Black SARAH PALIN.

Cowboy Hats to Turbans

Of course when you’re the minority party, you may feel as though you want to launch some kind of insurgency to get your point across.  However, most people aren’t stupid enough to say it in public, and certainly not stupid enough to actually compare themselves to the Taliban.  Enter Republican Representative Pete Sessions of
Texas.  In an interview for a Washington political newsletter Sessions likened the GOP strategy for the 2010 mid-term elections to that of a Taliban insurgency.

(From the Dallas Morning News)

“Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban,” Sessions said during the 60-minute sitdown. “And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person’s entire processes.”

He continued: “I’m not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. … I’m saying an example of how you go about [it] is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with.”

Between Sessions foot-in-mouth moment and the recent tirade of David Duke (see last entry), not to mention comments by Andy Card (dress code), Lindsey Gramm (Obama AWOL), and Dick Cheney (everything else), you have to wonder if Republicans actually THINK about what they say before they say it, or if they simply let the words randomly fall out of their mouths and hope they form coherent sentences with no forethought as to what they could potentially mean.

The Sky Is Falling

In more ‘foot-in-mouth’ news, Dick Cheney continues in his role as “Henny Penny” even after leaving office.  In an interview with Politico, he regurgitates the same tired old “vote for us or die” rhetoric that he used in 2004, with a few variations.

(From Politico.com)

“When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said. 

Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.” 

Further, regarding the “tactics” the administration used in the war on terror, and the likelihood of another attack…

“I think there’s a high probability of such an attempt. Whether or not they can pull it off depends whether or not we keep in place policies that have allowed us to defeat all further attempts, since 9/11, to launch mass-casualty attacks against the United States.” 

The really scary thing about Cheney’s diatribe is that it’s not just rhetoric to him.  It’s more than just “legacy spinning”.  Cheney actually believes this crap.  There is no doubt in his mind, no hesitation in his heart about this.  He truly believes that America, more specifically he, is in imminent danger from the terrorists, whomever they may be.  He believes that the world is evil, and anyone who disagrees with him is complicit in that evil.  Furthermore, he believes that it is his God given duty to combat this evil, much as Hitler probably thought that it was his duty to protect Aryan purity from evil by committing genocide against the Jews in Germany.  One must wonder what the world would be like if HE were actually elected president.

Things I Hate About Obama!

There’s a reason for Separation of Church and State.

I didn’t care for Bush’s “Faith-Based” initiative when he rolled it out in 2000.  Frankly, I’m no more receptive to it now that Obama wants to try it than I was then.  We’ve already got cynics on the right snarkily claiming that he’ll give preference to Muslims, while most of them feel preference should be given to Christians.  The problem that I have with such initiatives is the question of which faith.  Who benefits from these “initiatives”?  Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Satanists, Trekkies?  If you give preference to one, by definition you have to give preference to all of them.  And even then, do you try and influence what they teach, or who gets to speak?  Does Rev. Wright ring a bell.  Do you give taxpayer money to a church where he’s the featured speaker, or Louis Farrakhan, or Rick Warren, or John Hagee?  Are you really ready to bite into this proverbial apple, Mr. President?

Tell us why you picked this guy Gregg again?

The more I hear about him, the less I like him, and the less I understand why Obama chose Judd Gregg for Commerce Secretary.  Of course there was the shamefully obvious and failed ploy of sneaking in a 60^th Democratic seat in the Senate.  But Obama would never do something that political, would he?  Which brings us back to the question of why he picked a guy to head the very department he (Gregg) once pledged to abolish. To quote the song, “The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.”

Open Letter to President Obama

If this week’s back and forth about the Stimulus package taught us (and hopefully, Obama) anything, it’s that the Republicans in Congress are not at all interested in any form of bi-partisanship.  They’re still stuck on the “our way or the highway” mentality that’s gotten them their way for the past 8 years.  I realize it’s very early in his presidency, but if President Obama is to have any chance of making the changes we need in this country, then he’s going to have to drop this insistence on “reaching out”.  The GOP has slapped his hand away every time he’s tried, and frankly I’m rather tired of seeing it.  When the open hand doesn’t work, it’s time for the closed fist (preferably wrapped around a Louisville Slugger).  Hence this open letter to President Obama.  Here’s where I’d like your help.  The whitehouse.gov site has a section where you can send comments, suggestions, and concerns to the President (or at least the people who read them).  I figure that we should tell Mr. Obama that we don’t want compromise simply for the sake of bi-partisanship.  Here’s the letter.  Go to www.whitehouse.gov/contact  and cut-and-paste it into the message field.  If enough of us send it, then maybe he’ll get the message and listen to us instead of the obstructionist in the GOP.  It just makes the 500 character limit on the page.

Mr. President

We understand that you wish to usher in a new era of bi-partisanship in Washington, DC.  However, many of us feel that the Republicans simply aren’t willing to enter into this cooperative spirit.  We urge you to not let your agenda for the country be derailed by obstructionist Republicans who are influenced by right-wing talk radio.  Remember your pledge to us, the voters, and continue to put forth your message of change.  We are all with you.

Sincerely,

The voters.

Let’s work for that change we keep hearing about.

Pete Sessions story:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/DN-sessions_06nat.ART.State.Edition1.4c9e094.html

Dick Cheney story:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html

Well, that didn’t take long.

On Friday, Michael Steele became the first African-American chair of the Republican National Committee.  Of course it was only a matter of time until the nut-jobs in the lunatic fringe found their way onto the public stage.  I actually lost a bet here, as I thought it would be Lord Limbaugh who’d be the first to start the rant-fest.  As it turns out, it was former congressperson and KKK member David Duke who threw the first hissy-fit, first calling Steele a racist (pot, meet kettle), then referring to him as “Obama Jr.”.  Check this out from his website (www.davidduke.com) and see if you don’t piss yourself laughing as I almost did.

I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, “To Hell With the Republican Party!” And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place!

I think the insanity of nominating “Mr. Amnesty” John McCain and now this Black racist — will lead to insurgency in the Republican ranks, and a lot of dissidents getting elected in Republican Party primaries around the country. This will result over the next four years in a real move by millions of Republicans to take the party back to the populist issues that are not only right but can win for the Republican Party. We must end affirmative action, protect our gun rights and all our constitutional rights, have a moratorium on immigration, we must have protectionism, yes I said protect American businesses and their workers from NAFTA and GATT and the lie of free trade, and we must have America First, not foreign interventionism. Our boys should be home protecting the American borders and not being murdered on the borders of
Iraq or Afghanistan. The time has come for the Republican Party to stand up to Obama and defend American heritage, rights, and freedom!

I hate to break this to you, Mr. Duke, but these days you can fit the number of people in America who are still willing to admit to being Republican in the same clown car.  Seriously, Republicans are fighting with down-low Gays for closet space.  Plus, about that “revolution” that you’re hoping for.  News flash, buddy, IT ALREADY HAPPENED.  Remember the tension that was going on in the country a couple hundred years ago, some of us refer to it as the Civil War?  Well, your side lost, and you missed it.  Sorry.

GOPathetic

Ok.  As of now, all of the hopes and dreams of the GOP lie with three people.  Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and now Joe the Plumber.  Get that look off your face and pick your jaw up off the floor.  You read it right.  Joe the Plumber is now a GOP political advisor.  According to Politico.com JTP was the featured guest of the Conservative Working Group Tuesday.  This is a group of GOP staffers that meet regularly to plot strategy.  Joe will be speaking on the Economic Stimulus package (of course he opposes it). 

Am I missing something here?  This is a guy who claimed to be buying a business that he wasn’t buying, was too stupid to realize that he would benefit from an Obama campaign promise that he opposed, and owed back taxes to boot.  And this is who the Republicans want to advise them on the Stimulus package.  OH MY FUCKING GOD, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?   I wonder if he’s going to have to withdraw because of his back taxes.  I’m just sayin’

Things I Hate About Obama

I said I’d make this a regular section, and this week President Obama gave me a couple of things to really hate about him.

Is he even TRYING to vet his cabinet appointments?

So far four of his cabinet appointments have had ethical issues, three of which had to withdraw from the process.  I have to ask, is Obama doing any kind of background checking on his nominees, or is he just closing his eyes and using the force.  Seriously, bro, I know you like these people and all, but for those of us who stand by you, YOU ARE SERIOUSLY EMBARASSING US.  You’re actually making the folks that “vetted” Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate look like they did a GOOD job.  Worse yet, now that two of your nominees just quit on you in the same day (Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer) you’re now left with filling the posts they were initially nominated for with political sloppy-seconds.  Not big in the grandest scheme of things, but to those of us who have to defend you in blogs, let’s just say you’re not making it easy for us.

Thanks for playing, here’s your lovely parting gift.

One of those cabinet positions that Obama had problems filling, Commerce Secretary (that’s the one Bill Richardson had to skip away from) now has a new nominee.  NH Senator Judd Gregg, a Republican is Obama’s latest nominee for the position.  The reason this is an interesting pick is because while Gregg is a Republican, the Governor of NH, John Lynch is a Democrat, and he would appoint Gregg’s replacement in the senate.  Now I’m sure someone in the senate had to be thinking, “YES!  60 at last!”  Not so fast.  It turns out that a deal was made between Gregg and Lynch that would assure that the seat would be filled by a Republican.  Now I wouldn’t begin to accuse Obama of this kind of political gamesmanship to get 60 seats in the senate, but if it was, it was a really sloppy play.  Yeah, like the Republicans just weren’t going to see this coming a mile away.  It does prove one thing, though.  It proves that Obama really doesn’t do partisan politics…at least not well.

They’re just not that into you, O.

I’ve said it before, and now I’m really serious.  PRESIDENT OBAMA, STOP PLAYING UP TO THE GOP!  THEY REALLY DON’T LIKE YOU!

I mean, really.  Dude, you’re trying to talk reason and compromise to people who are taking financial advice from Joe the Plumber.  JOE THE FREAKING PLUMBER!  They’ve taken their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin is their goddess.  In other words, they are catering to the extreme lunatics on the right in their party, and you’re not invited.  You’re like the little Black kid trying to play with the White kids in the playground, and they don’t want you to play.  You can probably guess why.  Whatever the reason, stop wasting your (and our) time with these people.  You can pass the stimulus package through congress without them.  DO IT NOW AND STOP WITH THE BI-PARTISAN BU–SH–.

Joe the Plumber story:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18324.html

So Much for Bi-Partisanship
So, Obama includes House Republicans in the discussion of the Stimulus package, asks for their input, adds more of the tax-cuts they want, cuts funding for infrastructure, and drops funding for contraceptives (admittedly, that one was a little silly).  Essentially, he did everything but strip naked, put his legs in the air, and yell FREE TRICK!  And what do they do?  They totally SHAFT HIM!  Their excuse, they weren’t included in the drafting of the package.  In other words, they didn’t write it.  His stimulus package easily sailed through the House as expected, but without one Republican vote.  It will likely, with revisions, sail through the Senate as well.  So what was their point?  Simple, obstruct the machine into failure in order to bring themselves back to power.  I’ve said all along that Obama needs to quit kissing up to these people.  They’re never going to go along with any of his proposals.  They’ve heard the word from the great Lord Limbaugh, and have now taken a vested interest in Obama’s failure.  He should waste no more of his time, his administration’s time, or the country’s time trying to convince them to come on board.  Obama won, the Democrats won, and America won.  If the Republicans in congress and their lunatic fringe supporters led by Rush Limbaugh can’t get with that program, then so be it.  Leave their ever dwindling number on the tracks of change where they can either get out of the way, or get run over.

Where are my ACORNs?
One of the talking points constantly regurgitated by the right is the alleged provision of funds to groups like ACORN in the stimulus.  The Followers of Lord Limbaugh who often spew such misinformation usually don’t even bother to do any real research, content that the talking point fits in with their world view (and they wonder why I refer to them as “no information voters”).  I took it upon myself to find and read the house version of the Stimulus package (H.R.1) to see where it provides any money to ACORN.  Since ACORN is mentioned so often in these right-wing rantings, I assumed that it would be referenced in the package.  Well guess what.  NO ACORNS IN THE PACKAGE?  Now granted, my eyes aren’t what they used to be when I was one and twenty (that’s 21 for the mathematically challenged), and it is a 600+ page document.  So Friday I issued a challenge on First Read, the MSNBC blog where I often leave comments, to the Limbaugh followers to find any direct reference to ACORN in the stimulus.  After all, we liberals are just a bunch of lazy good for nothings waiting for a handout.  We couldn’t possibly have actually read the thing as thoroughly as our wiser conservative counterparts.  The one response I received, a reference to a New York Post article, was a swing-and-a-miss.  So far, no one else has taken me up on it.  I invite you righties reading here to take the challenge and show me where in either the House or Senate versions (I plan on checking that one out next) ACORN is referenced.  My search continues.

Who’s Your Daddy?
And how pathetic is the GOP anyway?  I mean, you have Georgia Republican Phil Gingrey Saying this past Monday…

(from Politico.com)
“I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party.  You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell,” Gingrey said.

Then Wednesday, after getting slammed by his constituents, and Rush Limbaugh…

(from Politico.com)
“Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, and other conservative giants are the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience. Everyday, millions and millions of Americans—myself included—turn on their radios and televisions to listen to what they have to say, and we are inspired by their words and by their determination,” Gingrey said.

So, is Rush Limbaugh giving the orders to the GOP now?  Are Republicans so pathetically without leadership that they turn to an extremist, racist, right-wing DJ?  Perhaps more to the point, are they actually afraid of him and his extremist talking head cohort.  It seems that the party in desperate need of direction has chosen to follow a lunatic off a cliff to their own destruction.  Really sad, actually.  Especially since it was this narrow focusing of their message that lost them the past two elections.  If the Republicans ever want to be allowed back at the adult-table again, they’ll not only dump the extremist of their party, but they’ll also stand up to them.

…and yet there’s HOPE!
I have to wonder how Lord Limbaugh is taking the RNC’s recent election of Michael Steel as chairman.  It’s certainly a step in the right direction for them, whatever the ulterior motives.  Some on the left (many, actually) prefer to see this as mere tokenism, and that may very well be the case.  However, the larger picture for me is that this represents another milestone for African-Americans.  While his politics don’t agree with mine, and he is a Republican and staunchly conservative, that shouldn’t take away from the fact that this is the first African-American to head the Republican National Committee.  That doesn’t mean that I and other African-Americans are going to suddenly run out in droves and register Republican (it didn’t happen with Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, or Condi Rice), but at least we can take some measure of pride in this.  For you White liberals who may disagree, to quote a cliché, “It’s a Black thing, you wouldn’t understand.”

Sheeee’s Baaaack (like she ever left)
I have to admit something.  I think I’ve really become addicted to Sarah Palin.  No, not in the hard-up horny, sexually perverted way that Rich Lowry of the National Review seems to be.  For me, it’s just a matter of sheer entertainment value.  Think of her what you will, defend her if you must, but at least admit this much: PALIN IS COMEDY GOLD.  The latest wacky Palinism?  She’s formed her own Political Action Committee called SarahPAC.  The website (if you’re interested in a good laugh) is www.sarahpac.com. Check out the first part of the FAQ page:

“SarahPac is a federally registered political action committee that supports Gov. Sarah Palin’s plans to build a better, stronger, and safer America in the 21st century.”

That actually works out well.  After all, she can see Russia from her house.  She’d be the perfect person to keep an eye on those sneaky Russians.