Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s campaign just released a web video criticizing her potential Republican challengers for pandering to the radical right-wing fringe. The video employs an excellent compilation of clips from the recent Republican primary debate in which all three candidates practically do a slapstick routine trying to out-Tea Party the other. In it, we see them endorse Creationism in the public schools, side with the climate change deniers, and prove their superior Tea Party bonafides.
The only things missing are the face slaps, head punches, and eye-gouges.
One of these three stooges will be her general election opponent, and it’s never too early to expose them for what they are – puppets to the extreme right-wing fringe. It’s good to see a Democrat not sitting back in hand-wringing mode, too afraid to take the fight to the Republicans.
If you feel so inclined, you can donate to Sen. Gillibrand’s campaign by following this link.
Karoli of Crooks and Liars has a good post up this morning about the frightening policies the Republicans are openly boasting about implementing should they take control of Congress after the 2010 elections.
But these policies are not new. They have just become “mainstreamed” within the Republican ranks. And since they have been getting away with more and more reactionary and regressive policies over the past 30 years, they don’t feel they have to hide the true nature of them as much: they have already created a base that believes that these draconian policies are best for the country – even though they are not in the voters’ economic best interests.
So how did we get here?
Jane Mayer of The New Yorker has penned an excellent expose on the powerful forces behind both movement conservatism and the so-called Tea Party phenomenon. In the article, she pulls the mask off of billionaires David H. Koch and his brother, Charles, who are some of the most prominent behind-the-scenes sponsors of far-right doctrine – no taxes (on the wealthy), no government regulations, climate change denial, among many others.
In reading the article, it is clear that the Koch brothers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to accomplish just one thing – protect their multi-billion dollar empire. But like most conservatives, they are at least smart enough to realize that these policies cannot be sold to the American public as is. They need to put lipstick on these pigs.
How else could they successfully sell the notion that global climate change is a farce or that smog was beneficial because it would help prevent more cases of skin cancer or that lower taxes on the wealthy and corporations will create jobs, among countless other canards?
They accomplish their selfish ends by whipping the masses into a frenzy about the evil government and its fascistcommunistsocialistClintonHillaryObamaHitler Democratic leaders who want to steal your money in order to give it to your lazy neighbor down the street while forcing you to marry the gay man around the corner and throwing you out of work because the multi-billion corporations can’t possibly survive with any regulations.
The Republicans love to scream about “class warfare” in this country whenever anyone suggests leveling the economic playing field, raising taxes on the wealthy (so that they pay their fair share), or providing a social safety net for the unemployed, the elderly, or the infirm, but they are dead wrong about who is being laid siege.
It’s all of us, folks.
It is a war on the bottom 99-percent who have seen their standard of living continue to deteriorate over the last 30 years due to tax cuts for the wealthy that have drained the treasury; deregulation that has led to boom-bust laissez-faire capitalism; laws that have made it easier to ship jobs overseas; and a steady drumbeat of anti-government rhetoric solely designed to shred the social safety net and put that money back into the pockets of the richest 1%. Here is a handy chart (h/t to Paul Rosenberg of Open Left). Pay particular attention to the pale yellow line. It shows that the bottom 99 percent of all wage earners have seen almost no real growth in wages since 1973.
All three tycoons [David Koch, Charles Koch, and Rupert Murdoch] are the latest incarnation of what the historian Kim Phillips-Fein labeled “Invisible Hands” in her prescient 2009 book of that title: those corporate players who have financed the far right ever since the du Pont brothers spawned the American Liberty League in 1934 to bring down F.D.R. You can draw a straight line from the Liberty League’s crusade against the New Deal “socialism” of Social Security, the Securities and Exchange Commission and child labor laws to the John Birch Society-Barry Goldwater assault on J.F.K. and Medicare to the Koch-Murdoch-backed juggernaut against our “socialist” president.
Only the fat cats change — not their methods and not their pet bugaboos (taxes, corporate regulation, organized labor, and government “handouts” to the poor, unemployed, ill and elderly). Even the sources of their fortunes remain fairly constant. Koch Industries began with oil in the 1930s and now also spews an array of industrial products, from Dixie cups to Lycra, not unlike DuPont’s portfolio of paint and plastics. Sometimes the biological DNA persists as well. The Koch brothers’ father, Fred, was among the select group chosen to serve on the Birch Society’s top governing body. In a recorded 1963 speech that survives in a University of Michigan archive, he can be heard warning of “a takeover” of America in which Communists would “infiltrate the highest offices of government in the U.S. until the president is a Communist, unknown to the rest of us.” That rant could be delivered as is at any Tea Party rally today.
So how do we combat this? Unfortunately, it will take a sustained effort over decades (and without end) from progressive think-tanks, academia, and grassroots pressure to force our side of the aisle to toughen up and fight back against these powerful interests. And it won’t be easy due to the massive amounts of money and corporate infrastructure at their disposal. But the very future of our country is at stake. Do we give back all of the progressive gains we have made over the past century, or do we stop the forces of evil in their tracks, no matter what the cost?
But more important, we need an entirely new way of engaging with voters. It isn’t enough to point to the Republicans and say how evil and wrong-headed they are. We need to convince voters that our policies and ideas aren’t just right for the country but will benefit them personally.
One way to start is to say loudly and often that the corporations, bankers, Wall Street denizens, crony capitalists, and the wealthy billionaires who finance these right-wing think tanks and Astroturf movements are stealing from us.
They steal our jobs when they ship them overseas.
They steal our wages when they hoard profits and give huge bonuses to their CEOs.
They steal our money when they gamble with it at the Wall Street casinos.
They steal our power when they constantly foster deregulation and cater to corporate interests.
They steal our standard of living when they cut benefits (health care insurance, retirement plans, et al) and promise to slash Medicare, Medicaid, and privatize Social Security.
They steal our health and sometimes our lives when they gut government regulations on food, water, drugs, and workplace safety.
They steal the future of our planet when they deny global climate change and kill environmental policies – all in the name of more profits.
And they steal our dignity when they whip up xenophobic, racist, or homophobic sentiment in an effort to distract from their real agenda by dividing and marginalizing us.
Of course, not all corporations or wealthy individuals are evil, but those billionaires who manipulate the masses to force their selfish agenda on America are no better than thieves and robber barons. It’s not about what’s good for the country with them: it’s about what’s good for their corporate profits and their ability to amass wealth. Noted economist Dean Baker says it best in his recent article on The Huffington Post.
No progressive movement will make any progress until we understand the battle we are fighting. Our income is a cost to the rich. They will look to cut it wherever they can, whether this is wages for private sector workers, pensions for public employees, or Social Security for retirees. That is their target.
We have to fight back using the same logic. Their income is our cost — the multimillion dollar bonuses for the Wall Street wizards is a direct drain on the economy. So are the bloated paychecks of top executives and their lackey boards. Progressives must be prepared to use all the same tactics to bring down the income of the rich and powerful that they have used to reduce the income of everyone else.
If it’s a class war they want, then let’s storm the gates and eat the rich for a change.
-SF
UPDATE (09/02): I received an email today from progressive hero, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), that openly attacks David Koch for his crackpot views and his insidious attempts to use his outrageous fortune and dirty political tricks to fool the electorate into supporting candidates who do not have their best interests at heart. Thank goodness for The New Yorker expose: it has put a face on the right-wing movement, making it easier for people to understand the villainy behind their wealthy, corporate, elitist agenda. It’s heartening to see our side using it to their advantage for a change. More of this, please!
Here is the text from Rep. Grayson’s email:
A couple of weeks ago, we suggested that Republican Dan Webster isn’t the real opponent in this campaign. He hasn’t been on the ballot in a quarter of a century. Dan Webster couldn’t beat a pair of fives with a full house.
I said that someone else would be the real opponent. Now we know who that is.
His name is David Koch. He has $17 billion. And he is spending $250,000 of that in attack ads against me this week.
David Koch is the owner of the second largest private company in America. He made his money the old-fashioned way: he inherited it. Incredibly, his father got rich helping to industrialize and arm the Soviet Union.
Koch lives in New York. He often attends the theater. As far as we know, he has never been to Orlando. But he wants to choose who represents Orlando in Congress. And it isn’t Alan Grayson.
For many years, David Koch was a member of the Libertarian Party. He serves on the board of directors of the right-wing Cato Institute. He is a reclusive billionaire whose political dirty tricks are exposed in the current issue of the New Yorker Magazine. The title of that New Yorker article is “Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging war against Obama.”
What it comes down to is this: who is going to choose our leaders? Us, or a crackpot billionaire like David Koch?
More on this tomorrow. In the meantime, if you can help, please do. Because if we don’t, then David Koch will buy the House, the Senate and, in 2012, the White House.
I vowed to drop out of Beck University. The weekly “lessons” caused my migraines to flare up. They threatened me with expulsion (apparently talking back in class is a real Bozo No-No). And I had run out of bullshit repellant. But like John McCain to “Jersey Shore,” I couldn’t turn away from watching the train wreck of human ignorance.
So I girded my loins and braced for the most painful and frightening double feature I had ever endured. No, not “The Creeping Terror” and “Troll 2”, but Beck University “professors” James Stoner and David Barton. On second thought, perhaps it’s the same thing.
As with any double bill, the evening began with the “B” movie – still scary enough to give you a few chills but merely whetting your appetite for the hair-raising, spine-tingling, bladder-emptying feature attraction.
In the first “lesson,” James Stoner proceeded to give an 8th grade civics lesson on the Constitution, specifically the Separation of Powers and the system of checks and balances it created. Stoner is the most accomplished “faculty” member at Beck U (he is an actual professor at LSU), and he delivered his lecture in the same manner in which he would an ordinary lesson – boring, verbose, and repetitive.
And like all “B” movies, I kept wondering when the story would start.
Separation of powers creates a divided government… blah, blah, blah… Should I get up and get a soda? Hmmmm… Checks and balances “checks” the powers of each individual branch against the other… Zzzzzzz… I think I still have a package of the Orville Redenbacher Ultimate Butter Microwave Popcorn… Yumm!
Finally… at end of the 2nd Act the monster comes out. Here’s what Stoner snarled about the Necessary and Proper Clause:
Since the New Deal, there has been a presumption on the part of Congress and the president that, if there is a problem, the federal government is the first entity to look for a solution.
Damn right, Skippy. I’d say the government did a good job of bailing us out of the Great Depression, winning World War Two, creating a vibrant middle class, enabling millions to attend college, expanding civil rights… I could go on.
But the monster really popped out of the closet when Stoner wrapped up his lecture on judicial review. Boy, nothing gets a right-winger more worked up than Marbury v. Madison. The horns came out as Stoner spat out the following:
Judicial review was not understood at that time to be power given to the courts to roam through the statute books and strike down whatever injustice they saw.
But I guess in a monster’s world, slavery would still be legal, separate but “equal” would still apply, women and minorities would not have the right to vote, and single people wouldn’t be allowed to use contraception (see Beck U3: It’s Not A Tumor). But I digress.
Our analysis looked at 13 cases in the period since John Roberts became Chief Justice and found a consistent pattern of the Court taking cases it does not need to hear, answering legal questions not squarely before it, making up new law out of thin air, and settling questions best left to fact finders in lower courts.
As retiring Justice John Paul Stevens said in his dissent in the notorious Citizens United case, “Essentially, five Justices were unhappy with the limited nature of the case before us, so they changed the case to give themselves an opportunity to change the law.”
Now that’s the true horror show.
Enjoy Intermission. Be sure to visit the snack bar.
As we all know, the feature attraction is where we get all the pant-soiling goodness, with even bigger creatures lurking around the bend. And “Faith 103” did not disappoint.
But this sequel on limited government was more of a Tingler.
Apparently, limited government = good government = God’s will. And this was just the teaser. I munched my Hot Tamales with renewed fervor. I wanted to hear more about how our Founding Fathers really wanted to create a theocracy based on Biblical Law – with none other than Thomas Jefferson leading the way.
But Barton rode Jefferson like Mothra into Tokyo to “prove” his case. Here now is the…
Sum of Good Government (According to Jefferson via Barton):
1. Acknowledge and Adore God
As we learned in Beck U. 4, we apply the Transitive Property of Christian Fundamentalism and anytime anyone mentions God, Providence, Deity, etc., they are automatically talking about Christ, which means that they are in fact jonesing for a Christian Fundamentalist Theocracy. According to Barton:
[We aren’t] like France where the rights come from groups of people who decide what the rights are and they can change them whenever they want. [But] that’s what we see across Europe and other countries as well.
Holy Freedom Fries. In Barton’s scary world, rights come from God only, and the government cannot intrude on them or regulate them. I wonder if he realizes this sounds an awful lot like what the Islamic Fundamentalists want – an undying fealty to strict Sharia law.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.
2. Exercise Frugality
Again, Barton quotes Jefferson as saying that “public debt is the greatest of dangers to be feared.” True. Jefferson did say this, but if Barton is so frightened of the public debt, why was he a hired as a shill for the RNC and other Republican candidates when they were running up the deficit like strippers in the VIP room during the Smirking Monkey’s administration?
Here’s a visual aid about public debt and the frugality of Republicans:
3. Restrain Infliction Of Injury
Basically, Barton wants to abolish all those icky federal laws and replace them with these ten, which is all anyone really needs because I’ve been known to covet my neighbor’s ass donkey on occasion.
After all, Barton thinks you shouldn’t regulate the good people, just the perverts.
He then cites obstructionist speed limit laws that vary from state to state and how on earth is he to be expected to know the law from state to state and ignorance isn’t a defense and we’re all just screwed. Of course, his argument screams for federal regulations so that the law is consistent from state to state, but I’m expecting too much from the plot here.
4. Encourage Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise
According to Barton, “the free market system came from the religious leaders in Europe and America” but he admitted that he didn’t have time to prove all that now.
After all, the recent taxpayer bailouts “happened to all the most regulated industries” because when the government gets involved in economics, it destroys economies. You know, industries as horribly regulated as banking, real estate, insurance, etc.
5. Protect Property and Earnings of Citizens
For the climax, Barton suggested that:
- God wants us to own property
- Property taxes are evil
- There are no homeowners in Europe because the government owns all the property
And then Barton ended with a quote from his true God:
The Right's Great God Reagan
And that’s when I soiled my pants and let out a bloodcurdling scream.
We at The Donkey Edge are starting yet another feature we like to call Weiner Watch. We have been huge fans of Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY), especially since the health care reform debate of last year.
Never one to mince words, Weiner was a solid advocate for not only the public option but also for the fact that single payer was the most cost-effective and efficient health care system.
Sadly, the Democratic leadership did not listen.
But Congressman Weiner is never one to back down from a fight and continually stands up to Republicans, calling them out for their lies and their bullying tactics. He never adopts right-wing frames and never gives in to conservative dogma.
But last night, Rep. Weiner saved his harshest criticism to date for the Republicans, most of whom voted against the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would have given much-needed health care to those 9/11 first responders and clean-up volunteers who are now sickened by the toxins they were exposed to at Ground Zero.
The Democrats called for a two-thirds majority vote on this issue in order to prevent the Republicans from attaching overly partisan amendments to what should have been a slam-dunk passage of a popular bill. But the Republicans stood behind procedure and voted against the bill, denying these 9-11 heroes the health care they need and so richly deserve.
Here’s Rep. Weiner’s fiery speech on the floor of Congress:
He even went on Faux News later to defend his outrage and to debate his colleague, Peter King (R-NY), who allowed all but 12 members of his caucus to vote against the bill, hiding behind procedure (starts at 7:28 mark).
To those Democrats who think he may have gone too far or ended up showing weakness or ineffectiveness in the face of Republican bullying tactics, I will use Congressman Weiner’s own words against them.
Don’t be one of those Democrats who “bring a library book to a knife fight.”
People’s lives and livelihoods are at stake every day, and we need more people like Rep. Anthony Weiner to defend us.
Yesterday, we talked about a teaching moment for Democrats who constantly give in to right-wing frames and who coddle conservatives, even when Republicans will criticize them no matter what they do. Rep. Alan Grayson is an exception – one of the few courageous Democrats who is not afraid to confront Republicans by calling them out on their (constant) crap.
While the following video is technically not an ad, it perfectly encapsulates the type of messaging fellow Democrats should be adopting. He tells a very emotional story from his own family’s personal experience and frames the Republicans as they truly are – as the out-of-touch defenders of the wealthy and the powerful that have no interest in helping the rest of the 99 percent of America that plays by the rules and watches as their piece of the pie shrinks every day.
Rep. Alan Grayson is one of the strongest voices ordinary Americans have in Congress, and the Republicans would love nothing more than to take him out precisely because he speaks truth to power. If you feel so inclined, here’s an Act Blue page that our pals at Blue America PAC set up to donate to Grayson (and a host of other great progressive candidates).
A generation ago, the myth-making maestro Ronald Reagan conjured out of thin-air the story of a Chicago “Welfare Queen” who had ripped the government off for over $150,000 using nearly 100 aliases, dozens of addresses and social security cards, and a handful of dead husbands. The country was outraged. Reagan promised to roll back welfare. And we found out that…
Unfortunately, like most great conservative anecdotes, it wasn’t really true. The media searched for this welfare cheat in the hopes of interviewing her, and discovered that she didn’t even exist. As a bit of class warfare, however, it was brilliant. It diverted public attention from insider traders in their limousines to Welfare Queens in their Cadillacs.
The beat against the least fortunate goes on. In March Senator Jon Kyle (R-AZ) claimed that jobless insurance “doesn’t create new jobs. In fact, if anything, continuing to pay people unemployment compensation is a disincentive for them to seek new work.” And last week Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) proposed drug testing the jobless: “A lot of people are saying “Hey, it’s about time.” Why do we keep giving money to people who are going to go use it on drugs instead of their families?”
Blame the unemployed: a familiar refrain. All this despite the fact that our economy is sputtering and unemployment insurance is the second most effective way for the government to spend to money to stimulate the economy. Here’s how much one dollar in government spending creates in value to the overall economy versus other programs and tax cuts:
Republicans have for three weeks now blocked an extension of unemployment insurance because of their cynical political calculation that it’s better to see Democrats fail than to help people that are really hurting. Sadly, stupidly and counter-productively, the modern Conservative movement is filled with this misplaced resentment, but no idea is more destructive than the one that I believe lies at the core of their movement. I read this line in Father Greg Boyle’s amazing book “Tattoos On the Heart” and believe it applies here:
“The wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.”
I had lunch at Homegirl Cafe in downtown LA yesterday. The food was amazing, the service top-notch, the salsa had a kick, and most everyone working under the roof here is doing it for free. In the midst of the Great Recession, Homeboy Industries has had to lay off 330 workers since mid-May. 100 are still paid, but most of the staff, administration and Father Greg Boyle himself continue to work at Homeboys without receiving paychecks.
These are people without jobs: the damn, lazy, drug-addled, good-for-nothing unemployed, right? And even worse, they’re former gang members (gasp!) and just like Orrin Hatch predicted… they are working for free. Er, what’s that again?
Yes, many of them are receiving unemployment insurance. That’s what happens when you lose your job in this country. But, they are flying in the face of the Great Right Hoax — these unemployed are working their asses off daily to help save their business — a beacon of hope that got many of them off the streets, out of gangs, and into a better life. This is the only after-prison work program for former gang members in existence. It was founded 20 years ago by a Jesuit priest, Father Greg Boyle. It’s talked about in prisons and as this post from LA Moms Blog states, without this hope there is nothing:
Homeboy serves about 12,000 people a year and if those people don’t get the counseling, drug treatment, job training that they need, where will they go? “We’re the only game in town…This is the only place in LA County and the only place in the state and the only place in the country that offers such services.”
He said he was talking to a gang member who had recently been released from jail and the man said they were talking about Boyle and Homeboy on the inside. Those men need to know that there is hope, that there is something for them on the outside other than the gang life that they’ve lived since childhood.
Because of the Great recession, Homeboys Industries five businesses (a café, a silk-screen shop, a bakery, a construction company, and a gift shop) have taken a hit just like most every other business in America, but unlike other businesses they need donations to handle the needs of 1,000 gang members who walk in the door every month. When donations fall off a cliff, somebody has to take a cut. In this case it’s most of their employees who hail from an area forgotten by most of us. These brave and tireless souls continue to keep the lights on so Homeboy Industries can keep their doors open and their mission alive.
Gang members work beside one another at Homeboys Industries because as part of his mission Father “G”, as they call him, says: “I discovered that it always becomes impossible to demonize someone you know.” More from the book:
“Our locating ourselves with those who have been endlessly excluded becomes an act of visible protest. For no amount of our screaming at the people in charge to change things can change them. The margins don’t get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them. The trickle-down theory doesn’t really work here. The powers bent on waging war against the poor and the young and the “other” will only be moved to kinship when they observe it. Only when we can see a community where the outcast is valued and appreciated will we abandon the values that seek to exclude.”
Years ago Grover Norquist made the infamous neo-con missive claiming he wanted to shrink government “down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” Well, he and his “homies” have succeeded in a way. The selfish and cynical decisions that have been made at the highest levels the last decade – the Bush Tax Cuts, the bank bailouts and the frivolous nation building on all nations but our own – have put our economy, and those who need our help the most, in peril. Class warfare is being waged. And most of America is losing. The decisions we make in this country of ours, the elections we hold, they actually do matter because “the wrong idea has taken root in the world. And the idea is this: there just might be lives out there that matter less than other lives.”
I urge you to buy “Tattoos On the Heart” for you and your friends. All of Father Greg’s proceeds go directly to Homeboy Industries. You can find the book at the Homeboy gift shop or on-line here. And to donate directly to Homeboy Industries here.
- SH
7/20 PM Update: The Senate voted 60-40 today to re-authorize unemployment benefits for the 2.5 million for the long-term jobless. Read the article at HuffPo here.
7/21 Update: DONKEY ACTIVISM! 1st FREE BOOK GIVEAWAY. The first 40 subscribers to our The Donkey Edge e-mail list will receive a FREE COPY of “Tattoos On The Heart”. Click here to find out more.
Sam Stein at The Huffington Post published a story yesterday about a TV ad attacking Harry Reid that was produced by a new conservative group called American Crossroads. At first glance, one might think, “wow, did the sun rise in the east again”? But this ad has the audacity to criticize Reid for NOT BRINGING ENOUGH stimulus money back home to Nevada.
Now here’s what the inside-the-beltway Democratic establishment is probably thinking when they see this ad. Weren’t the Republicans screaming like stuck pigs that the stimulus was wasteful spending? Didn’t they say it would do nothing to help rescue the troubled economy? Didn’t they then race to photo-ops like Kim Kardashian to a football player whenever there was a groundbreaking event due to stimulus spending in their district?
Yes, yes, and yes, but that’s not the point.
So they comfort themselves by looking at the person behind the ad. It’s none other than Mr. Karl “Attack Their Strengths And Turn Them Into A Weakness” Rove. They say: remember the 2004 presidential election? We Dems thought John Kerry was bulletproof on Iraq and on matters of national security. After all, he was a decorated war hero, and they lied about his record. They’ll remind everyone that Karl Rove and his cronies are unethical assholes and are not to be trusted.
There’s a much bigger take-away from this ad, but for the most part, Democrats in Washington are too stupid or too afraid to see it. Simply put, the Republicans will talk out of both sides of their mouths on the same issue and criticize Democrats NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO.
In terms of the stimulus, most every notable progressive economist, from Paul Krugman to Dean Baker, James Galbraith, Eileen Appelbaum and Norielle Roubini, warned that the stimulus package was too small, but the Administration powered ahead with its bipartisan fetish to capture three Senate Republican votes, watering down the bill in the process.
And what happened? The progressive economists that Geithner and Summers shunned were right: the stimulus wasn’t big enough. Joe Biden even admitted it on national television this weekend (again Sam Stein at The Huffington Post). That’s kind of a big fucking deal, because in the process, Biden blamed the Republicans for the size of the stimulus, saying that’s all they would allow. But the reality is the Dems had the political wind at their backs and pissed away a golden opportunity in the name of bipartisanship. Whining about it now just makes Democrats look weak and ineffectual, owing to the fact that they had 59 freakin’ Senators in the caucus at the time (still do).
And now the Republicans are screaming that the stimulus was a giant mistake and that Obama’s policies (and by extension ALL Democratic policies) are failures. Unfortunately, voters are receptive to these lies because they are still feeling the effects of the economic downturn and are afraid it won’t improve any time soon. Emotions trump facts every time, especially when it comes to a voter’s pocketbook or sense of security.
So then what’s the point?
Republicans do not want to extend a hand of bipartisanship across the aisle. They want to ball up their fist and punch Democrats in the face. It’s all about the will to power with them. So stop trying to appease conservatives to attract one or two Republican votes, which you more than likely won’t get anyway.
No matter what you do, the Republicans will ALWAYS criticize you, so if you’re going to go down, then at least go down swinging. Stop pushing half-measures (stimulus, health care, and financial reform spring to mind) and pass the strongest progressive legislation you can because it’s better for America and for your electoral chances.
At least that way you’re seen as principled and don’t have to go on the teevee, wring your hands, and think to yourself “woulda, coulda, shoulda.”
I used to think that facts matter. You remember facts. The things that actually exist. Yup, I used to think that people could look at the facts objectively and see, for instance, that the reason they’re soaking wet is because they’ve been standing in the rain without an umbrella for over an hour. Or the reason we’re in such a deep debt hole is primarily because of the dynamic duo of Bush Tax Cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I know the “very serious people” have decided to make national debt a hot topic these days (and why now, again?) but this chart should make that discussion pretty short. Simply get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and let the Bush Tax Cuts lapse at the end of the year and we will be back on the road to fiscal health (even Alan Greenspan agrees – look!)
Here’s another doozie of a chart that makes up look down and blue look red. It charts the increase in the national debt per president since before Jimmy Carter took office.
So, you mean that the notion of “tax and spend Democrats” has no basis in reality? In fact the exact opposite is true: Republican presidents have run HUGE deficits compared to their Democratic counterparts. Where are those facts being touted in the “liberal” media?
This all brings me to Meg Whitman and her strategy to become the next governor of the Golden State. Last month E-Meg’s campaign put out this incredibly well-crafted buzz saw of an ad that lit up Jerry Brown like that awesome bag of weed we smoked when Moonbeam was elected in the 70′s.
Even KABC could wrestle this one down:
This is only one example. Lying is blanketed across Meg Whitman’s ads which have been criticized by factcheck.org and California Working Families. But this isn’t a big deal. It’s not the end of the world because facts will win the day, right?
Not so fast. The Oracle, Digby, referenced an article from the Boston Globe this week which will mess with your sense of right and wrong, literally: (emphasis mine)
Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.
Go on:
These findings open a long-running argument about the political ignorance of American citizens to broader questions about the interplay between the nature of human intelligence and our democratic ideals. Most of us like to believe that our opinions have been formed over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and that the decisions based on those opinions, therefore, have the ring of soundness and intelligence. In reality, we often base our opinions on our beliefs, which can have an uneasy relationship with facts. And rather than facts driving beliefs, our beliefs can dictate the facts we chose to accept. They can cause us to twist facts so they fit better with our preconceived notions. Worst of all, they can lead us to uncritically accept bad information just because it reinforces our beliefs. This reinforcement makes us more confident we’re right, and even less likely to listen to any new information. And then we vote.
And then this:
On its own, this might not be a problem: People ignorant of the facts could simply choose not to vote. But instead, it appears that misinformed people often have some of the strongest political opinions.
So, we all know that there are lies. And when lies become memes and memes become policy then most everyone suffers, certainly the “small people” who lose our jobs, homes, retirements, and lives. The fact-deniers have known this for a long time. They’ve had decades of success getting their way by systematically lying which culminated in the Orwellian double speak which the Bush Administration took to new (and destructive) heights.
So at the end of the day, it’s simply a strategy. And, sadly, an effective one at that. If you keep telling lies to people who want to believe them they will continue believing the lies. They will also become the most passionate advocates of that lie because of the magic of the human brain. And the great part is that if the truth heads their way they will defend the lies with their lives. Often literally. It is that basic to human behavior.
Meg Whitman has chosen to follow this path. Lying as a strategy. Like dinner parties and fund raisers. Like Twitter and Facebook. She’s not the first, but she may be one of the best.
And I’m afraid it will work.
- SH
8/24 UPDATE: See our new ad that skewers Meg Whitman’s voting record here.
7/17 Update: Even the LA Times has picked up on the up on the fact that Meg lies with impunity in this story. She is full steam ahead in her “Campaign Which Facts Forgot” tour. They report on the “new” policy proposal booklet Meg put out yesterday:
The booklet, which features glossy pictures and graphics, is a mixture of Whitman’s policy proposals and criticisms of Brown. It contains some of the same falsehoods that have been featured in Whitman’s television ads or statements.
It continues:
The booklet is also disingenuous in its discussion of the economic conditions during Brown’s two terms as governor, from 1975 to 1983. It says Brown left the state with “record high” unemployment rate of 11.1%, Unemployment was higher both during the Great Depression and today, and the booklet fails to note that his departure coincided with a recession in which joblessness rose nationwide.
“It’s not new, it’s the same as her old one, just with more pictures, which I didn’t think was possible,” Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford said. “The attacks on Jerry are old lies, new format.”
7/17 Update: First she lies, then she spies. From the Sacramento Bee via the Miami Herald.
The leaders of the California Nurses Association had barely wrapped up a news conference recently slamming GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman when they learned Whitman’s campaign had been watching them the whole time.A volunteer for the Republican had sneaked into the event held at the union’s downtown Oakland headquarters and sent live streaming video back to the campaign nearly 50 miles away in Cupertino. Within hours, Whitman aides were blasting to supporters an e-mail response to the event that featured clandestine video snippets.
7/19 Update: The horns are sounding. Seems like more people every day are on to eMeg. Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts have an excellent list of eMeg’s prevarications here and on their HuffPo piece this morning entitled “The Death of Truth: eMeg and the Politics of Lying” which details her flip-flops:
Indeed, when it comes to killing truth, eMeg is miles ahead in felony flip-floppery. The pro-Brown California Working Families tried to drive that point home last week with the release of an online ad titled “Lies.” detailing just a few recent examples of Megspeak:
She was for double furloughs for state employees before she was against furloughs altogether.
She was against extending benefits to children of illegal immigrants (like admission to state universities and colleges) before she was . . . wait, maybe she’s still against that, but OK with letting illegal immigrant offspring get treated at a hospital.
In her continuing offensive against the truth, “Hitman” Whitman doubles down parading this bubbling cauldron of old and new lies across the state this week:
I’ll let Factcheck.org take it from here: (emphasis mine)
Whitman’s ad ties Brown to the state’s current pension problems. But the attack is misleading and unfair. Whitman’s ad suggests unions are backing Brown because he provided state employees with generous benefits while governor in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When asked back up this claim, the Whitman campaign said Brown signed into law the Ralph C. Dills Act, which gave public employees collective bargaining rights, and charged that the Dills Act “resulted in billions in unfunded pension liability.” That’s not true. The state’s staggering pension problems stem from numerous actions that occurred long after Brown left office.
Yes, the unions are backing Brown and they and others are prepared to raise and spend millions on his behalf, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The paper said in a Feb. 10 article that California Working Families plans to raise $20 to $30 million and spend 70 percent of that on helping Brown’s campaign. But the Whitman ad goes too far when it seeks to blame Brown for the state’s current pension problems.
This is no surprise to us. We posted on her all too-obvious campaign strategy of lie, lie and lie some more here.
For all of the details on this ad and other Whitman fictions go to the article on Factcheck.org here.
First rule of Beck U: you do not learn at Beck U. Second rule of Beck U: you do NOT learn at Beck U. Third rule of Beck U: even if you yell “stop,” the pseudo-intellectual beating continues.
Last night’s faux intellectual was David Buckner, adjunct assistant professor of psychology and education at the Teachers’ College of Columbia University. Now I’m sure Mr. Buckner is an excellent instructor in his field of expertise, teaching courses in “Functions of Organizations” and “Special Topics in Organizational Psychology,” but when it comes to economics, Buckner’s visual aids and real-life examples make the “Dick and Jane” books look like “War and Peace.”
But what can you expect when passing out on the Glenn Beck’s show is your biggest claim to fame (no doubt from the overwhelming stench of the bullshit Beck was peddling).
Last night’s “lesson” started with a rambling seven-minute diatribe (I swear to God, it was seven minutes) about a horrible experience he once had with a gate agent in a busy airport terminal. The punchline of the story seemed to be that we needed to ask ourselves the “why” and not the “how” to get to our “purpose” in life.
The lesson I learned was that the persnickety Buckner would make a horrible traveling partner.
At the ten-minute mark, Buckner finally launched into his kindergarten-esque lecture on economics (pitched to the intellectual level of the average Beck viewer). Terms such as prosperity, profit, efficiency, investment, and corruption were thrown around without much context, meaning, or thought.
Buckner also kept referring to the “rules of the playground” throughout the lecture. But there was no explanation of the “why” or the “purpose.” So, I thought I would help Buckner out.
The school bullies (Republicans) constantly frighten (fear-monger) the other children (the middle and working class) with threats and lies (socialized medicine, the free market is self-correcting, the wealth will trickle down… I could go on) in order to steal their lunch money (tax cuts for the wealthy) so that they can spend it on candy (yachts, mansions, hookers and blow).
But perhaps I missed Buckner’s point.
Buckner then spent the last ten minutes riffing on planned versus market economies and how any government “investment in America” has no value (why do conservatives hate America so much?), creates monopolies that can’t compete in the global marketplace, and results in a transfer of wealth that creates a loss of control, freedom, and efficiency. In short, hope = purpose = wealth creation. Yeah, I’m confused, too.
Of course, I could go on and on about the transfer of wealth from the middle and working class to the rich over the past 30 years or the corporate monopolies that have been created through deregulation or the loss of control over our democracy due to corporate money in politics, but I think I’ll let the gang from Monty Python explain how government investment works with their brilliant “What Have The Romans Done” scene from Life of Brian. Simply insert the word “government” for “Romans” and enjoy.
-SF
UPDATE: Here are the other installments from my time at the “U”: Beck U, Beck 3, Beck 4, and Beck 5.
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