Daily Archives: September 8, 2010

September 8, 2010 · 9:19 PM

Palin Finally Repudiates Koran Burning: It’s As Bad As Building A Mosque At Ground Zero

TPM Muckraker

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, one of the ostensibly mainstream politicians who has come out vocally against building an Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan, today spoke out against a Florida church’s plan to burn Korans on Sept. 11.

“People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation — much like building a mosque at Ground Zero,” Palin wrote in a press release. “Book burning is antithetical to American ideals.”

Many of the most vehemently anti-Muslim and anti-mosque voices — including Pamela Geller and Bill Keller — have spoken out against the Koran burning. There has not been as much vocal outcry from the politicians who have urged protests against the Cordoba House, which they call the “Ground Zero mosque.”

Palin used her repudiation to speak out, again, against Cordoba.

“Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don’t need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society,” she wrote. “In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?”

House Minority Leader John Boehner today also drew a parallel between burning a holy book and building a community center and prayer space near Ground Zero.

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· 4:27 PM

Right Wing Leaders Plan To Use September 11th Anniversary To Make Money

State Park - CRRNJ Terminal - United we Stand ...

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September 11th profiteers?  So it appears…these people have no shame or respect for the significance of that day.

Think Progress

Last year, Glenn Beck and a variety of right-wing organizations and corporate front groups exploited the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks to stage a protest of President Obama. This year, many of the same groups are planning yet another rally with the same themes as last time.

But in addition to using September 11th as a launching pad to score political points, the right is now using the day to rake in cash. A sampling of the 9/11 profiteers:

– This weekend, Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are hosting a rally in Anchorage, Alaska to mark the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Ticket prices range from $73.75 per person (including taxes and fees) to a high of $225. As the Hill newspaper reports, “there was no indication as to whom or what the proceeds will go.”

– Disgraced lobbyist Ralph Reed is using his consulting firm Century Strategies to host a “Faith and Freedom Conference and Strategy Briefing” with an assortment of conservatives, including Brent Bozell, Tony Perkins, Rich Lowry, Tucker Carlson, Grover Norquist, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA), Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Erick Erickson, and others. The event is on September 10th-11th, and costs $95 for early registration.

– Newt Gingrich is using the September 11th anniversary to unveil a new movie called “America At Risk,” which Gingrich says will drive the “national dialogue” about President Obama’s failure to address the rise of “Radical Islam” and its attempt to impose Sharia law on the United States. Gingrich’s website notes that the public can “pre-order your copy now for just $19.95 plus $4 shipping.”

Watch a trailer for Gingrich’s latest profit-seeking fear film here:

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· 8:17 AM

Liberals, Take Heart

Mario Piperni

No one said it was going to be easy.  After eight years of George W. Bush, they just thought it would be.

Andrew Sullivan.

I can’t for the life of me see how the Democrats retain the House under these economic conditions, but that cannot and does not mean that what Obama has done in his first year and a half is a failure. On the contrary. On almost all the substantive stuff, he has in my view done the right and responsible and sane thing within the almost impossible constraints he was presented with. And given the legacy he inherited, what he has done is simply not enough to perform an economic or political or cultural miracle. That’s the brutal truth and we have to face it. And if Americans thought they were voting for a savior, rather than a pragmatic president, they were deluding themselves.

[...]

In the end, these difficult practical decisions will count because they have to count. And Obama’s persistent refusal to take the red-blue bait still pushed by Fox News like a cheap bump of ideological meth is to his credit. It is emphatically not about his failure to “take them on”. He is taking them on – but on his terms, not theirs’.

In all this, the president deserves constructive criticism, but also moral and political support in engaging actual problems with actual solutions. Those on the left and in the middle who once saw his potential have no reason to abandon him now. If you were one of them, he needs you and this country needs you now more than ever before.

Liberals should take comfort in those words and if they don’t, they’re just not getting what this President is all about.  I’ll make a prediction and say that when Barack Obama wins his second term two years from now, many progressives who were overly critical of the way in which this President handled himself over these first two difficult years will owe him an apology.

As for the GOP and the next two years, I like what Steven Benen had to say.

Republicans have already backed themselves into a corner — they’ve made the president out to be the devil; they’ve all but ruled compromising; and they’ve committed to a path that almost certainly ends in a government shutdown. GOP leaders may have even deluded themselves into thinking that they’re more popular than Obama (they’re not), and that if a shutdown hurts the economy, they’ll avoid blame (they won’t).

There has to be a price to pay for putting party before country, if not in 2010 then surely in 2012.

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· 6:03 AM

NRCC Press Aide Tweets Home Addresses Of Dem Rep’s Staffers

This is how the GOP act.  Just yesterday the New York Times reported a GOP “operative” was recruiting homeless people to run in the Green Party.  The purpose was to split the Democratic vote on the Nov. 2nd AZ General Election ballot.

Huffington Post

A press assistant for the National Republican Congressional Campaign tweeted the home addresses of campaign staffers for Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) Tuesday night.

Andy Sere, a press hand for the NRCC who handles southern congressional races, made the highly unorthodox move after Perriello’s staff called the chief of staff of his opponent, state senator Robert Hurt, a “carpetbagger”. Sere responded with six separate tweets noting each staffer that Perriello himself employed from out of the district and calling on the Virginia Democrat to fire those aides or risk being labeled a hypocrite.

The Republican listed the exact home addresses of those six Democratic staffers, relying on what another NRCC hand said were July quarterly reports.

During a climate season already marked by fevered rhetoric, political threats and even the occasional act of vandalism, Sere’s tweets sparked concern and outrage among Perriello supporters.

“NRCC spokesperson Andy Sere clearly crossed the line tonight, but will Robert Hurt stand by idly while those who recruited him and represented his campaign carry out these dangerous and unethical practices? It’s appalling and outrageous,” Perriello campaign spokeswoman Jessica Barba said. “Robert Hurt should refuse to accept any more support from the NRCC unless Andy Sere is fired, especially given the history here.”

Sere’s tweets also potentially be in violation of Twitter’s privacy restrictions, which allow users to file complaints if someone has posted their private information against their will.

Reached for comment late Tuesday night, the NRCC stood by Sere’s tweets, casting blame for the matter on Perriello’s earlier remark.

“We’re a little surprised that Perriello has reduced himself to attacking staff,” said Ken Spain, a spokesman for the committee. “He’s clearly lashing out after the DCCC practically declared him a political corpse in Sunday’s New York Times and followed it up by releasing a poll showing him down after having been on the air with campaign ads for weeks.”

This is not, it should be noted, Sere’s first brush with political controversy. When tea party activists published the home address of Perriello’s brother online earlier this year, Sere refused to condemn the move, arguing that the candidate himself was not a victim in the matter.

“What you’re seeing is a frustration among his constituents who believe he’s not listening to them,” Sere said.

In January, meanwhile, Sere made remarks about Tennessee state Sen. Roy Herron (D) which some saw as homophobic, declaring that Herron was obsessing about his “body image” and criticizing him for supporting gay adoption.

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· 5:46 AM

Five Favorite Cars Of The Filthy Rich

 

This isn’t news worthy, but it’s sure nice to dream a little…

MSN – Autos

Do you have a million bucks to drop on an automobile? No one here at MSN Autos does, either. But there are those who do. Hate them or love them, the filthy rich drive some of the most enviable rides on the road today. You might be surprised to hear, however, that they aren’t necessarily the sexiest. According to a recent survey by the Luxury Institute, a New York-based research and consulting firm, the wealthy elite are drawn more to conservative offerings from Bentley, Maybach and Rolls-Royce than flashy models from Ferrari and Lamborghini. As an exercise in masochism for those of us without the wherewithal to purchase an ultraextravagant machine, we researched the brands that are most respected by the rich and shameless. Here’s what we found.

Rolls-Royce

If you’re filthy rich and want the respect of your peers, drive a Rolls-Royce. The classic British blue-blood brand, now owned by German automaker BMW, was rated highest in brand clout among respondents to the Luxury Institute survey, based on quality, exclusivity, social status and “self-enhancement,” which means how special it made the respondent feel. The model that many are clamoring for is the Ghost. This stunning sedan is large by normal standards but looks rather moderate in size when seen next to the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the land barge preferred by music moguls and oil tycoons who wish to lord their wealth over passers-by.

Bentley

Bentley is the second-best brand as ranked by the people with enough money to buy a car of its caliber. The company says owners of its Continental line, which starts at $185,395, typically have between $5 million and $15 million in net worth. Real high-rollers — those worth between $15 million and $20 million — go for the Mulsanne. This replacement to the long-running Arnage sedan is the ultimate modern Bentley, re-engineered from the ground up. Its interior is covered in 17 cowhides and ringed in wood that takes up to two weeks to veneer.

Maybach

Mercedes-Benz‘s ultraluxury brand ties Bentley for second-best in the hearts and minds of the wealthy. On style alone, the Maybach wouldn’t get very far compared with its rivals. But the automaker conceived of every extravagance imaginable to appeal to the well-heeled. Take, for instance, the electro-transparent panoramic roof. It changes from clear to frosted to opaque at the touch of a button. But why not forgo that $15,300 option available on the $368,750 Maybach 57 or the $459,250 Maybach 62 S, and spring for the $1.38 million Laundaulet, which has a retractable top over the rear cabin.

Bugatti

To enthusiasts with posters of sports cars hanging on their walls, it doesn’t get much better than a Bugatti Veyron, with its 16-cylinder 1,001-horsepower engine. But to those who can actually afford this $1.3 million beast, the Bugatti brand takes a back seat to Rolls, Bentley and Maybach for status. Maybe that’s what compelled the company to develop the Super Sport model, which recently set a Guinness World Record for top speed in a production car, with an average speed of 267.8 mph. Only 300 Veyron coupes will be built, 30 of which will be Super Sports.

Aston Martin

Like Bugatti, Aston Martin builds sexy cars that possess a certain understated class not always evident in models from its Italian competitors. The automaker’s One-77, which was unveiled back in 2008 and will be shipped this year, has a carbon-fiber chassis and an aluminum body — both of which illustrate that no expense was spared in creating this $1.5 million car. Virtually every aspect of this machine can be customized for the buyer, down to the feel of the paddle shifters that control the 6-speed transmission. Its beauty is more than skin deep, too; every part on the car was designed for optimal performance

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· 5:18 AM

Rachel Maddow: Obama realizes futility reaching out to Republicans

Obama finally gets it!

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· 4:47 AM

What Are Words Worth? (Essay)

Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. [Dr. Ma...

Image by The U.S. National Archives via Flickr

Melissa Harris-Lacewell – The Nation

Many Americans were enraged by Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally in Washington, presumably because Beck trespassed on a sacred day and on holy ground by scheduling his event to coincide with the anniversary and location of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Media framed the anti-Beck dissent as a racial and political turf war. Beck stood before a vastly white, sharply conservative crowd and waxed nostalgic about America’s past—a past he called honorable and righteous but that was, in reality, marked by the legal subjugation of black people. This seems an obvious denigration of civil rights history, but I suspect that the real source of liberal anxiety was different. Many Americans harbor an almost primitive fear of the power of rhetoric in American racial politics. In our collective imagination, public discourse on race is endowed with near magical powers.

King’s famous speech had fewer than 1,600 words. Even with the dramatic pauses and roaring Southern Baptist oratory, it took King just over fifteen minutes to deliver it. Less than a year later Congress passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. King was long-winded compared with Abraham Lincoln, who took about two minutes and spoke fewer than 300 words at Gettysburg. The Union won the Civil War within eighteen months, ending slavery in the United States. In just over 1,000 words Barack Obama conceded the New Hampshire primary to Hillary Clinton, reminding followers that Americans have the unique capacity to face defeat with the simple motto “Yes, we can.” Ten months later he was elected president.

The proximity between these powerful speeches and these landmark events has led to the surprisingly simplistic view that oratory alone can transform the American racial landscape. If Lincoln can bring slavery to an end with 300 words and Obama can become the first black president with three, then what kind of world-altering racial havoc might Beck wreak with a speech that went on for more than an hour?   Continue reading…

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· 3:49 AM

Democrats, Meet Darrell Issa, Likely the Man With the Subpoena

Darrell Issa, in my opinion, has been itching to investigate the Obama administration from day one.  As senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he will possibly become leader of that committee if Republicans win the majority in the House.   Conversely, during hearings on Blackwater, other Iraq contractors Bush era corruptions, Issa was always downplaying the hearings and calling them show trials.

It will be interesting to see Issa’s other political face now that the GOP has a very good chance of taking over the house and possibly gain a few more seats in the senate.  This is partisan politics at its dirtiest.

Newsweek

If Republicans take control of Congress, he will be chairman of the House oversight committee and ready to attack the Obama administration.

California Republican Darrell Issa has made himself a favorite of congressional reporters and a thorn in the side of the Obama administration. As the senior Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa uses his responsibilities as a federal watchdog to push stories critical of the administration and add substance to conservative critiques of the White House, forcing it to respond to charges it would prefer to ignore. Issa’s relentless press operation drives these stories from blogs to Hill rags to the nightly news.

“Issa has become the chief antagonist to Barack Obama,” brags spokesman Kurt Bardella. “He has the best job in Republican politics right now. When he puts an inquiry out there, that inquiry travels from here right to the White House Briefing Room, where [Press Secretary Robert Gibbs] gets peppered by everybody about it.”

And Issa has been a very successful antagonist indeed. He’s unusually skilled at finding just which stories to push—the ones that will drive a news cycle, or six. Most recently he’s been demanding an investigation of the food-safety bureaucracy after the salmonella outbreak. Previously, he insistently harped on the White House’s (clumsy, but not in the slightest bit unusual) attempts to lure Joe Sestak and Andrew Romanoff, Democratic challengers to incumbent senators, out of intraparty election battles by offering them administration positions. While Sestak himself revealed his offer in February, the press didn’t focus on the story until Issa did; Politico, for instance, ran a 230-word item in February, but since Issa started poking around a month later, it has run more than a dozen stories.         Continue reading…

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· 12:46 AM

“The West Wing Always” ‘got it…’

I was looking at clips from my very favorite TV show of all time, The West Wing, when I ran across the clip below.   In this particular post, I will expose my liberalism for all to see and hear.  I usually try not to, on most posts, but now and then, it seeps out.  This, is one such occasion.

To all you sorry “scared of your own shadow” Democrat politicians out there, this one’s for you!  For all you extreme right-wing nuts, this one’s for you as well.  Go get’em Bruno Gianelli! 

The relevancy of both clips with regard to the current political climate is astonishing.

This one is my all time favorite “smack-down” from Jeb Bartlett, the fictitious Democratic POTUS in The West Wing.  This one is about a Dr. Laura “type” and was initially broadcast in 2000, I believe.

 

H/t “mimi and “kate” over at Politijab

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· 12:27 AM

Election Fraud, Republican-style

My first awareness of voter suppression and election fraud occurred in the 2000 election.  In 2004 it was even more blatant against minorities and low income voters.  So this is nothing new to me.  This is what they do.

Crooks & Liars - By karoli

Why, I wonder what’s the matter with Republicans? Aren’t they all confident and all, considering the current narrative that they’re on track to win back the Congress and shut down the government? I can’t imagine why Republican Steve May thinks he has to recruit homeless folks for the Green Party ticket in order to pull Democratic votes away, can you?

That’s not all. Last week there was the Houston, Texas voter suppression schemes. This week it turns out True the Vote is building their case with doctored photos.

If Republicans think they are the party with better ideas, why doctor photos to suppress voters? Let their ideas be tested fairly, or not at all. Yes, that was sarcasm. This is classic Republican behavior. Suppress the vote, put up fake candidates to siphon votes, whatever works. They will stop at nothing to subvert and corrupt democracy for their own ends.

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