Category: Conservatives

Christine O’Donnell Regrets ‘I’m not a witch’ Ad

Posted on by TL

In yet another bizarre turn in a campaign that has brought us Democratic U.S. Senate candidate for South Carolina Alvin Green, Christine O’Donnell steps in it again on Good Morning America, ABC’s morning fluff show.

From the Sun-Times:

Republican Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell says she regrets making the campaign ad in which she declared “I’m not a witch.”

Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview broadcast Thursday, O’Donnell said the ad was meant to put to rest the controversy surrounding her past statements as a TV commentator but instead simply brought it up again.

Good Morning America, now home to George Stephanopoulos and his mile-wide inch-deep grasp on politics.

Obama Related to Palin and Limbaugh, Franklin’s ‘Big Fat Idiot’

Posted on by TL

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Yup — the president has family ties to none other than Sarah Palin, according to the genealogists at Ancestry.com.

Obama and Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor named John Smith, a pastor and early settler in 17th century Massachusetts. Obama is related to Smith through his mother, as is Palin.

The president is also related to Rush Limbaugh, who’s a 10th cousin of the president — one time removed — through a common ancestor named Richmond Terrell, who was a large landowner in Virginia, also in the 17th century.

Hee hee hee.

(The ‘big fat idiot’ reference is in reference to Al Frankin’s wonderful book, Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot. I highly recommend it.)

‘Rogues’ Gallery’ Report Profiles Far-Right Senate Candidates

Posted on by TL

Help keep crazy people out of Congress.

People For the American Way today released "The Rogues’ Gallery," profiling 15 far-right Republican nominees for Congress. From pledges to radically restrict reproductive choice to demands that the EPA and the Department of Education be abolished, the report makes clear that the Republican slate of nominees is everything the Tea Party or the Religious Right could want. Included in the report are:

  • Joe Miller of Alaska who says that the Department of Education should be eliminated because it’s not in the Constitution.
  • Carly Fiorina of California who pledges that she would "absolutely" vote to overturn Roe v. Wade if given the opportunity.
  • Ken Buck of Colorado who says he "doesn’t know" whether Social Security is constitutional, but calls it a "horrible policy."
  • Sharron Angle of Nevada who says government assistance to the poor is a form of idolatry that violates the first of the Ten Commandments.
  • Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire who says same-sex couples should not have the right to adopt children.
  • Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania who thinks abortion should be illegal and doctors who perform abortions should be jailed.

"After years of tracking the Right, it’s clear that this batch of Republicans is the most extreme slate yet," said Michael B. Keegan of People For the American Way. "These candidates aren’t interested in addressing the serious problems we face; they’re interested in exploiting serious problems to impose their rigid, ideological agenda on all of us. Voters should go to the polls with their eyes open, and that means understanding the kind of extremism these candidates represent."

In addition to the candidates above, the report profiles Christine O’Donnell (DE), Marco Rubio (FL), Rand Paul (KY), Roy Blunt (MO), Richard Burr (NC), Rob Portman (OH), Mike Lee (UT), Ron Johnson (WI) and Dino Rossi (WA).

You can read the report and view a slideshow of right-wing candidates here.

People For the American Way is dedicated to making the promise of America real for every American: Equality. Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. The right to seek justice in a court of law. The right to cast a vote that counts. The American Way. Our vision is a vibrantly diverse democratic society in which everyone is treated equally under the law, given the freedom and opportunity to pursue their dreams, and encouraged to participate in our nation’s civic and political life. Our America respects diversity, nurtures creativity and combats hatred and bigotry.

Source: commondreams.org

Garrison Keillor Comes Out In Support of Tarryl Clark Over Michele Bachman

Posted on by TL

This is no surprise, but it is good news, and a very powerful endorsement from a great guy.

From Garrison Keillor:

Dear Friends,

Thirty years ago, when I started telling stories about Lake Wobegon, I put it smack in the middle of Minnesota – in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, in fact – where staunch Republicans and loyal Democrats know how to live together without yelling at each other and do what needs to be done to work out our problems.

It’s embarrassing to me and a great many Minnesotans that Michele Bachmann, a politician who is so busy grandstanding and giving interviews on Fox News that she doesn’t have time to serve the people who elected her, represents the 6th District in Washington.

That’s why I’m proudly supporting Tarryl Clark – and I hope you will join me by contributing before today’s midnight deadline.

Minnesota’s 6th District has some of the highest foreclosure and unemployment rates in the state, but in an interview with the St. Cloud Times, Congresswoman Bachmann was unable to name any "substantive" legislation she had passed.

Michele Bachmann may still be counting on sliding through to re-election on November 2nd, but this year she is running against a smart and hard-working State Senator, Tarryl Clark, who is determined to make the talking heads of Fox News sit up and take notice.

Tarryl founded Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity and served as youth minister of her church for nearly twenty years. She grew up in a Navy family and has worked on behalf of veterans, families and children in the legislature. Service to her community is a part of who she is, and that spirit of service is sorely needed in Washington these days.

I hope you’ll join me in making a financial contribution to her campaign – $25, $50 or $100 – before midnight tonight!

Tarryl Clark will never embarrass our state in Congress. Let’s restore some respect for the Minnesota tradition of working together sensibly by electing her this November.

Thank you,

Garrison Keillor

P.S. Instead of working to solve problems, Bachmann talks about us as a "nation of slaves" and about the need for smaller government even though she knows better – the biggest part of big government is military spending, Social Security, and Medicare. Which would she do away with? Bachmann’s so-called policies are just the old Bush economics that Alan Greenspan characterized as "disastrous." Help Tarryl defeat her by donating today.

County Board Twits Can Continue to Tweet

Posted on by TL

With all due respect and apologies to the Cook County Board for the title, I think it’s just too funny that this even came up for discussion. I would have loved to have been at the meeting only to hear Elizabeth Gorman call Tony Peraica a twit.

From the Chicago Tribune:

The electronic chirping can continue during Cook County Board meetings, as commissioners shot down a plan today to ban members from Tweeting during meetings.

Several members of the board’s Rules Committee expressed frustration with the messages Commissioner Tony Peraica sends out to followers of his Twitter account as debates rage. In the end, however, only Commissioner Joseph Moreno, D-Chicago, voted to prohibit the practice.

Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston, said silencing the Tweets would infringe on board members’ freedom of speech. "In this situation, we are trying to limit First Amendment access — which has been guaranteed by both the federal and state constitution — between the elected officials and their constituents, and more importantly, between the constituents and the elected officials," Suffredin said.

Peraica, R-Riverside, was not on hand for the meeting, but his presence was felt throughout the debate.

"I’ll chime in, since I’ve been the target of erroneous tweets by the twit in question," said Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman, R-Orland Park.

Gorman said Peraica has inaccurately Tweeted about her positions on county issues, but she acknowledged it’s a "behavioral issue" that shouldn’t be outlawed.

Yes, there was actually action taken by the Cook County Board regarding Twitter.

I think I’ll have to Tweet this.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Stirring Tribute to the Heroes of Flight 93

Posted on by TL

Laura Bush and Michelle Obama

From First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech at the memorial of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania:

The men and women of Flight 93 were college students and grandparents. They were businessmen, pilots, and flight attendants. There was a writer, an antique dealer, a lawyer, an engineer.

They came from all different backgrounds and all walks of life, and they all took a different path to that September morning.

But in that awful moment when the facts became clear, and they were called to make an impossible choice, they all found the same resolve.

They agreed to the same bold plan.

They called the people they loved –- many of them giving comfort instead of seeking it, explaining they were taking action, and that everything would be okay.

And then they rose as one, they acted as one, and together, they changed history’s course.

And in the days that followed, when we learned about the heroes of Flight 93 and what they had done, we were proud, we were awed, we were inspired, but I don’t think any of us were really surprised, because it was clear that these 40 individuals were no strangers to service and to sacrifice. For them, putting others before themselves was nothing new because they were veterans, and coaches, and volunteers of all sorts of causes.

There was the disability rights advocate who carried a miniature copy of the Constitution everywhere she went.

There was the Census director who used to return to the homes she’d canvassed to drop off clothing and food for families in need.

There was the couple who quietly used their wealth to make interest-free loans to struggling families.

And to this day, they remind us -– not just by how they gave their lives, but by how they lived their lives -– that being a hero is not just a matter of fate, it’s a matter of choice.

I think that Jack Grandcolas put it best –- his wife, Lauren, was one of the passengers on the flight — and he said: “They were ordinary citizens thrown into a combat situation. No one was a general or a dictator. Their first thought was to be selfless. They knew ‘There was a 98 percent chance we’re not going to make it, but let’s save others’.”

The men and women on that plane had never met the people whose lives they would save -– yet they willingly made the sacrifice.

Hit the link above and read her entire, very moving presentation.

One in Five Americans Obtusely Assert that Obama Is Muslim

Posted on by TL

Who are these Americans obsessing over the falsehood that Barack Obama is a Muslim? And how can we remain silent as the right wing continues to twist the word "Muslim" into a pejorative?

In the midst of the last presidential election, I spoke with friends of mine who are Muslim. They were understandably disappointed with the rhetoric of those "accusing" then-Senator Barack Obama of being a Muslim. They were equally disappointed with Barack Obama’s vehement denials. What would they have preferred him say? Something like this: "No, I am not a Muslim, but Islam is a beautiful religion, and why should it matter if I was?"

That statement itself would have been twisted by the right. "Obama loves Islam! Obama said it doesn’t matter if he’s Muslim!"

Candidates today are between a rock and a hard place sometimes.

Today, however, the tail wags the dog again. Just as the right tried to turn the word "Catholic" into a pejorative when John F. Kennedy ran for president, the right is working overtime to do the same with the word "Muslim." Everyone knows what happened on 9-11, but what happened was not Muslim, any more than the Crusades were Christian acts of love. In any group of human beings, you will find 95% to 99% of the people who are fine to excellent. You will also find as much as 5% who are either a**holes or criminals. No matter where they are, this 5% will work to pervert their environment for their own sick reasons.

Today, this 5% of the GOP is working overtime and has succeeded in scaring up to 20% of the right wing into believing that Muslims as a whole are people to be feared, and that Barack Obama is a Muslim.

From ENEWSPF:

Two recently released polls show that an increasing number of Americans believe the falsehood that President Obama is a Muslim. According to the Pew Research Center, 60 percent of people who believe this false claim cite the media as the source of that information — and, indeed, the right-wing media have incessantly promoted this lie.

Pew: Nearly "one-in-five Americans" now say Obama is a Muslim. On August 18, the Pew Research Center released a survey on Obama and religion, conducted in early August. The poll found that "nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) now say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009," while "[o]nly about one-third of adults (34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009." The survey also found that "43% say they do not know what Obama’s religion is." Pew went on to state: "The view that Obama is a Muslim is more widespread among his political opponents than among his backers."

This "view" that Obama is a Muslim is "more widespread among his political opponents than among his backers" because this argument is simply ugly politics, at the expense of Muslims and everything good that America stands for.

The GOP should be ashamed.

G.O.P. Denounces Ground Zero Community Center, Silent on Strip Club

Posted on by TL

Ground Zero is sacred ground.

You better believe it is.

So where is the voice of the G.O.P. shouting a unanimous and bombasitic, “NO!!!!!!” regarding the Ground Zero Strip Club?

The G.O.P. wants us to believe that it is wrong for a religious group to openen a community center close to Ground Zero. The religious group should locate elsewhere, not so close to Sacred Ground.

Did the G.O.P. happen to miss the Cordoba House complex at 45-51 Park Place, a mere two blocks away from the World Trade Center site?

A bit more from Forbes.com:

As yet, I haven’t heard anyone wonder why our political class is silent as the sex industry operates on sacred ground. It would be a bizarre complaint: It’s Manhattan, where you can find anything mere blocks from a given location. The closest strip club to Ground Zero happens to be two blocks away, a fact that has nothing to do with our reverence for the place where so many Americans were killed by terrorists. As you’ve probably noticed, it doesn’t even make sense to call it The Ground Zero Strip Club.

But it makes no less sense than naming an Islamic community center “The Ground Zero Mosque”–as much of the media have done–because it’s going to be located a couple blocks away. Even worse, opponents of the project are opportunistically invoking the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even going so far as to appropriate their imagery. “Join the fight to kill The Ground Zero Mosque,” intones a video advertisement released by a group called National Republican Trust PAC. “A mosque at Ground Zero must not stand. The political class says nothing. The politicians are doing nothing to stop it. But we Americans will be heard. ”

As an American in good standing, I’d like to be heard–and to make sure that James Madison, a colleague of mine in citizenship, is heard too. The fourth president of the U.S. once wrote, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” It’s a line that National Republican Trust neglects to remember. Perhaps “the political class” isn’t doing anything to stop the construction of an Islamic community center because the Constitution forbids it. Even worse, the advertisement I’ve mentioned engages in just the sort of religious bigotry that the First Amendment is meant to guard against. “On Sept. 11 they declared war against us,” the narrator says. “And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at ground zero.”

“They” declared war against us? Who is this ambiguous “they?”

A radical group of al Qaeda radicals led by Osama bin Laden attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.

Who are “they” who wish to open the community center?

“They” are an Islamic group that has long run a mosque in the area for New York City Muslims. On 9/11, “they” found their community under attack, too. It is slander to assert that they’ve declared war against us, or that their motive in building a community center is celebrating the murder of Americans.

“They” who wish to open this community center are peace-loving Americans. That’s it.

This is a non-issue, and the G.O.P. should be ashamed.

Roger Ebert Defends the Rights of Muslims to Open a Community Center

Posted on by TL

From Robert Ebert:

As some chant "Death to America," what a mighty message we send if we support the mosque. THAT is the meaning of Freedom.

Also, another Tweet from Roger:

The NYC mosque exposes many on the right who don’t have a clue about the Constitution.

I can’t believe the weird right is protesting this community center.

President Obama Insists Muslims Have Same Rights as Anyone Else

Posted on by TL

Doing another post on this because I’m, frankly, delighted that the President has issued such an unequivocal statement on this issue.

From Anti-War.com:

Finally breaking his administration’s official silence on the matter, President Obama today insisted that he supports the so-called Ground Zero mosque, insisting that Muslims have “the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws,” adding that he believes they have the same rights as anyone else.

The mosque had been backed by New York Mayor Bloomberg, but angrily opposed by a number of people who insist that the community center just blocks away from the site of the 9/11 attack is a violation of “sacred” ground.

Efforts by opponents of the site to get an existing building, a former Burlington Coat Factory covered in graffiti, declared a “landmark” have failed so far, but have sparked further protests and lawsuits.

Mr. President, it’s fun to be Liberal, and we actually make more sense.

Be yourself, and reclaim America for us all, liberals and conservatives.