Michael Steele's comments on Afghanistan unconsionableFollowing Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's recent comments on Afghanistan, a storm is brewing within the Republican Party that could well blow him right out the door.In a clear and blatant effort to cast Afghanistan as Barack Obama's war, Steele mischaracterized the United States' involvement in the region, treating them as if it was actually Obama's doing."This was a war of Obama's choosing," Steele insisted. "This is not something the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in.""During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama made clear his belief that we should not fight in Iraq, but instead concentrate on Afghanistan," Steele later explained. "Now, as President, he has indeed shifted his...
Rick Barber, a candidate for the Republican Party's nomination in Alabama's 2nd district (the fightin' second!), has managed to set the bar high for political narcissism with his now-infamous "gather your armies" ad.He clearly took the well-deserved criticism he received for that ad as encouragement to continue stroking his ego. Little else really explains his most recent ad.Entitled "slavery", Barber continues his conversation with George Washington. He counters arguments that Washington would have supported Obama's health care bill by pointing out that Washington's taxation record was largely relegated to key and basic government functions -- for example, the retiring of federal debt from the Revolutionary War.He then turns to a rather scary-looking actor playing Abraham Lincoln. "Hey...
A campaign ad produced by Republican hopeful Rick Barber -- a Tea Party activist running in a run-off election to become the GOP nominee for the Congressional seat for Alabama's Second District -- is an illustration of why it's unwise to allow one's rhetoric to run away with them.In the ad, Barber sits himself at a table with George Washington and Samuel Adams. What is imagined to be the original copy of the Constitution of the United States sits atop an American flag draped across the table. Washington's hand pats a single-fire flint lock pistol while he listens to Barber plead his case.He begins by expressing his desire to impeach US President Barack Obama and then cotninuing by railing against progressive income taxes and the IRS. In the end, he compares Obama's health care reform...
Never has a lop-sided, hastily-erected fence sparked such speculation in the not-so-hallowed falls of the internets.Yet when Todd Palin set to work feverishly constructing a fence between the home he and his wife Sarah Palin -- the former Governor or Alaska, and former Vice Presidential nominee -- share with their children and the property currently being occupied by author Joe McGinniss, it didn't take long for a photo of a section of that fence to appear on the internet.The photo reveals a massive gap under the bottom of the lop-sided fence, indicating the clearly-poor crafmanship of the work.Then again, quality craftsmanship requires time. And when a would-be journalist is watching your family's private moments from the house next door, you start building fast.The incident has...
Republicans need to erase memory of SchwarzeneggerIn the California Republican Primary, it seems that Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner aren't merely running against one another.They're also running against the incumbent -- Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger."Schwarzenegger" has become rhetorical shorthand for "bad Republican" in this primary election. When one considers what has become of California's finances under Schwarzenegger, it isn't hard to understand why.The financial commitments of the California government continue to grow, while revenue becomes harder and harder to come by.Republicans have responded by effectively re-casting Schwarzenegger as a Democrat."Conservatives want to make him look like a Democrat as much as possible, so they can distinguish their own mantra from...
North American Union disappears down the memory holeThose paying attention to the mainstream media (smearjob) coverage of Rand Paul's bid to win election to the US Senate may have noticed a rather peculiar thing regarding coverage of Paul's comments on the North American Union.Notably, that they site Talking Points Memo as a source:Using TPM as a source without fact-checking is a serious mistake.As it turns out, one only needs to look to the Canadian "no deep integreation with the US" movement to realize that it wasn't merely Paul that shared concerns about some of the things that were being discussed.Rather, it seems that opposition to the various "North American Union" initiatives was actually quite commonplace across ideological divisions.The only mistake Paul actually makes is when he...
Cory Gardner wins Republican nomination in ColoradoRunning as an underdog candidate in the race for the Republican nomination for Congress in Colorado's 4th District, Tom Lucero needed an edge.Lucero must have thought that he had found an edge by running on his role in the firing of University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill. Churchill was fired for multiple cases of academic misconduct in an investigation that followed the publishing of his infamous "little Eichmanns" essay.By running on his role in that affair, Lucero was effectively running against Churchill rather than his opponents in the race. That may have been a mistake, as Cory Gardner was the only candidate to surpass the 30% of votes cast to appear on the ballot at the Republican GOP's nomination meeting.Gardner received...
Rand Paul set to challenge Jack Conway in KentuckyIf the Tea Party movement hadn't yet achieved political relevance in the eyes of mainstream politicians, it certainly should have moved a step closer when Rand Paul claimed the Republican Senate nomination in Kentucky.Paul, a respected figure among the Tea Party movement, defeated Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson. His next opponent will be Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway.Even though some of his views -- particularly on foreign policy and security policy -- diverge from mainstream GOP views, Paul hopes that Republicans will united behind his candidacy come November."Primaries divide people, but I think generals bring us together," Paul said. "The general election, I think Republicans will pull together and we've already had...
Joe Wurzelbacher blames John McCain for his "screwed up" lifeMany of those following the 2008 Presidential Election found themselves resigned to sheer annoyance every time the spectre of "Joe the Plumber" popped up in the discussion.Joe the Plumber, whose real name is Joe Wurzelbacher, was picked out of a debate audience by John McCain.Following that brief brush with greatness, Joe the Plumber simply refused to go away quietly, becoming something of a conservative media darling, despite the fact that he repeatedly showed himself to have nothing to contribute.Apparently, all the attention has made Wurzelbacher's life somewhat uncomfortable, and he blames McCain for it.“I don’t owe him shit. He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it,” Wurzelbacher complained. “McCain was...
Ward Churchill practically endorses Tom Lucero for Repbulican nomineeA recent campaign ad from Tom Lucero, who is seeking the Repubican party nomination for Colarado's fourth district, envoked the spectre of the firing of Ward Churchill, the plagiarzing and data-forging "academic" fired from the University of Colorado.There was a certain petulant brilliance in the ad: taking advantage of a popular public branding of Churchill as a loud-mouthed asshole, and branding Lucero has the kind of guy who will stand up to an asshole.The branding message of the ad is crystal clear: if Lucero can deal with Churchill, he can deal with anything the Democrats may throw his way in Washington.More recently, Churchill himself lent Lucero a hand in his effor to brand himself as the ideal Republiican to seek...
One year ago, the Democrats appeared unbeatable. They had captured all three houses, had a slim supper majority in the Senate, and were being buoyed by popular support. The Republican Party resembled a snake trying to eat itself and many liberal bloggers speculated that this was the final end of the GOP. Now with the senate election in Massachusetts, the seat of the late Ted Kennedy, an almost certain victory for the Republicans and polls indicated the Republicans poised for an amazing recovery, commentators are asking “How did this happen?” The answer is surprisingly simple– the Democrats are pussies.It’s not like the Democrats haven’t had several opportunities to appease and even re-energize their base. For example, easy motions for them would have been to repeal “Don’t...
...But Canadians will make our own decisions about health careEver since she was vaulted into the international spotlight during the 2008 Presidential Election, Sarah Palin has made a bad habit of coming out on the wrong end of interactions between herself and various comedic pranksters.In November, 2008, Palin was pranked by a Montreal radio host.Just over a year later, Palin has now been burned by Mary Wash, also known as This Hour Has 22 Minutes' Marg Delahunty, who solicited some health care-related advice from Palin."We told her we're from Canada, and we're just looking for a few words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so tirelessly to destroy the socialized medicare that we have," Wash later recounted.Palin's answer was frank."Canada needs to dismantle...
To succeed, the Republican Party needs moderate conservativesWriting recently in the Los Angeles Times, Jonah Goldberg notes that many American left-wingers believe these are very, very good times for them.Why are these very, very good times for the left wing? Certainly not because they're implementing their agenda on issues like health care reform. As Goldberg notes, and certain less-than-gifted bloggers are more than willing to confirm, many left-wingers -- particularly socialist progressives -- think these are good times for them only because they believe the conservative cupboard to be effectively bare:"If there's one thing liberal pundits are experts on these days, it's the sorry state of conservatism. The airwaves and the Op-Ed pages brim with more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger...
Obama casts finger of blame in wrong placeAugust 2009 will be remembered as a very bad month for the President of the United States.With September 2009 not beginning on any better a note, US President Barack Obama lashed out against his adversaries yesterday, accusing them of using "scare tactics" to curtail his health care reform package."Instead of honest debate, we have seen scare tactics," Obama thundered. "Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise. Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned."Obama insisted he's as determined as ever to pass his reform...
Meghan McCain drops the gloves againThe last time Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham took aim at Meghan McCain, things did not turn out well for them.Ingraham especially embarrassed herself when she mocked McCain as a "plus-sized model".The latest battle comes after Michelle Malkin identified McCain as a conservative commentator who needs to "shut up" during a live public online chat about her new book."So Michelle Malkin successfully rounds out the trifecta of extreme female conservative pundits, following Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter, who believe that I, and Republicans like me, need to shut up and get out of the party," McCain wrote on her blog. "Is this surprising? Not really, given my father’s complicated history with the extreme right of the GOP.""What do Malkin and...
Sarah Palin invokes accusations of "evil" in health care debateIf Sarah Palin has any intentions of reaching out to moderate Democrats in preparation for what many speculate will be a run for the Presidency in 2012, she certainly hasn't started off on the right foot.Writing on her Facebook page, Palin denounced Barack Obama's health care plan as "evil".Alluding to a clause dealing with "advance care planning consultation" that could deal with "living wills" and "termination of life services", Palin seemed to have started out with a rather peculiar interpretation of the clause that led her to speak about the rationing of health care."Who will suffer the most when they ration care?" Palin asked rhetorically. "The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course."The America I know and love is...
...The second is to see what the record actually tells usWith the public health care debate heating up in the United States, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is continuing to peddle horror stories about the Canadian health care system.The horror story most frequently being peddled right now is the sad story of Shona Holmes, who was unable to procure treatment by Canadian cancer specialists and was forced to borrow $100,000 in order to obtain treatment at the United States' Mayo clinic for a brain tumour.Aside from the fact that this case is fairly similar to thousands of cases in the United States, where individuals without health insurance are forced to burden themselves with gargantuan debts in order to receive treatment -- and in some cases, shady insurance companies simply...
PZ Myers decries "anti-science, anti-intellectual" cultureSpeaking regarding a reported shortage of American post-graduate science students, University of Minnesota biologist accuses a rather vague culprit for the problem."The problem is we have a strong sub-cultural thread that is simply anti-intellectual, anti-science," says Myers."...In Germany, that kind of debate is considered trivial," Myers compared. "In the U.S., anti-intellectualism is not a trivial problem. We have a culture war that isn't happening in Europe."Of course, it's extremely convenient for PZ Myers to note the existence of an alleged culture war. He, after all, is a dedicated cultural warrior.Myers, as anyone knows, is a fierce advocate of atheism, and is among an extreme cabal of fundamentalist atheists who often...
Many American conservatives don't get Stephen ColbertThere is no doubt that Stephen Colbert is a comic genius.In just a few short years on the air, the Colbert Report has managed to eclipse Jon Stewart's Daily Show in popularity, and has endeared itself to many people around the world -- within the United States and outside of it -- as a masterful parody of American arch-conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and "Papa Bear" Bill O'Reilly.Yet for concerned American conservatives -- those who probably love Colbert's show as much as anyone -- a recent study conducted by the University of Ohio has revealed a disturbing factoid about the show. It seems that a majority of American conservatives may believe that Colbert is actually one of them.Colbert's parody may be more stunningly close to the...
Bill Bennet favours McCain over PalinSpeaking on CNN recently, senior Republican Bill Bennet frames with unequivocal clarity the choice that lays before the National Committee for a New America, the organization providing the thrust behind the efforts to re-brand the GOP.That choice is very simple: rebuild the party around a Palin-esque image, or rebuild the party around a McCain-esque image. No matter what Rush Limbaugh may have to say about it, not rebuilding the party at all is not an option.With equally unequivocal clarity, Bennet also has his own preference in terms of the identity the party should pursue -- a youth-oriented moderate image, as best exemplified by Meghan McCain.However, Bennet contends that the media isn't doing the Republican party any favours by continuing to focus...
PZ Myers' claims of a Republican "science agenda" wilt under scrutinyWriting on his blog, Pharyngula, biologist PZ Myers seems to think a recent Hardball segment has provided him with a smoking gun by which he can prove the Republican party has an anti-science agenda.In the segment Chris Matthews -- only one among MSNBC's increasingly-louder and FOX-esque stable of demagogues -- asks Republican Mike Pence whether or not he believes in evolution. Pence answers by explaining that he believes in a creator, but will not speculate on whatever method that creator may have used to create "the heavens and the Earth".Pence goes on to speak about the growing scientific skepticism regarding issues like global warming -- or climate change, as alarmists call it everytime someone reminds them about the...
Sarah Palin joins GOP rebuilding effortRush Limbaugh is an incredible ass.Limbaugh is such an incredible ass that he all too often fails to understand who is on his side, who isn't, and generally what's really going on.Such must have been his shock when he learned that former Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin has officially joined efforts to re-brand the Republican party, mere hours after Limbaugh insisted that the GOP leadership is afraid of her.Oops."Something else you have to understand is these people hate Palin too," Limbaugh had mused. "They despise Sarah Palin, they fear Sarah Palin, they don't like her either. She's, according to them she's embarrassing. McCain said, 'I was there with Ronald Reagan'…. No Reagan voter ever believed McCain was a Reaganite.""And I think… a...
McCains call for space for moderates within GOPWhen Arlen Specter left the Republican party for the Democrats, Rush Limbaugh had one request for him:"Well, Specter, take McCain with you. And his daughter."Limbaugh's words underscore what has become an increasingly-hostile environment toward moderate conservatives in the Republican party -- a trend that began in the 1990s as the Republican party increasingly courted the religious right. Demagogues more interested in ideological purity than the pragmatic nuts-and-bolts of politics have increasingly led the Republican party astray.John and Meghan McCain want to lead it back to the centre -- a task increasingly difficult with individuals like Limbaugh and Ann Coulter trying to drag the party even further to the right, and insisting that...
Russel Simmons promotes political power of hip hopWhen Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele suggested the GOP needed to reenvision itself in a hip hop mold many people assumed he was either crazed or simply delusional.After all, hip hop and the Republican party could be expected to mix about as well as oil and water.But hip hop may be the most inherently political genre music has to offer. Because of its uniquely political character, hip hop provides political organizers with invaluable opportunities to mobilize grassroots urban youths -- a demographic that not only is becoming more politically active, but one that Republicans are practically entirely alienated from.Russel Simmons provides an example of precisely how powerful hip hop can be as a political organizational...
Meghan McCain's same-sex marriage appeal likely to win few friends in GOPIn a recent post on the Daily Beast, Meghan McCain has issued some advice to the Republican party that some people in the GOP will almost certainly not like.She insists that Repblicans need to support same-sex marriage."Of all the causes I believe in and speak publicly about, this is one of the ones closest to my heart," McCain writes.She goes on to note how important the Log Cabin Republicans are to the GOP, re-connecting them with some of their most important values."The Log Cabin Republicans’ mission 'is to work within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans, including gays and lesbians,'" she continues. "The group is centered on core Republican values, such as limited government,...
If Arnold Schwarzenegger can survive economic crisis, conservatism can tooOf all the conservative leaders staring down the barrel of a deepening economic crisis, few have more reason to sweat than California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.When Schwarzenegger won the 2003 recall election replacing then-incumbent Governor Gray Davis he did so with widespread public support for two ballot propositions. One, Proposition 57, authorized the government to borrow $15 billion to pay off operating deficits. The other, Proposition 58, required the government of California to run balanced budgets.Schwarzenegger has already had to address significant challenges in his tenure. Perhaps the most threatening was a confrontation with California teachers wherein circumstances forced him to abandon a deal he...
Tommy de Seno calls for John, Meghan McCain to leave the Republican PartyAs one continues to assess the current state of the American Republican Party, one can't help but think that some honest, heart-felt criticism is certainly in order.The Republicans have lost the White House and lost control of both Congressional houses. To make matters worse, far-right ideologue Rush Limbaugh seems to have seized control of the party's public image.At a time like this, when times are so dark for the Republican party, Justified Right's Tommy de Seno wants to drive some of the party's most concerned supporters out.John and Meghan McCain are in de Seno's sights. Their unforgivable sin is purported to be criticizing the American conservative movement and working with the enemy."I grew tired of McCain...
Meaghan McCain is the anti-CoulterIn the wake of the Republican party's electoral meltdown, some rather curious icons are beginning to take dominate centre stage in the Republican Party.In the wake of any strong leadership in the Republican party, American conservative icons like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are quickly becoming the face of the party as well.American centrist conservatives have plenty of reason to be alarmed.Few people seem to understand this more than Meaghan McCain, the daughter of John McCain. Recently McCain denounced Coulter in no uncertain terms.According to McCain, Coulter is “offensive, radical, insulting and confusing all at the same time. If figureheads like Ann Coulter are turning me off, then they are definitely turning off other members of my generation as...
Obama delivers on day one, but the hard work remains ahead of himOf all the speeches a politician ever has to give, the one given on the day one becomes leader of their country is the one to get right.Barack Obama certainly did that today.Before an estimated crowd of four million people, Barack Obama took the oath of the office of President of the United States and gave a rousing, ambigious inaugural address -- one that was truly worthy of the historic occasion."The challenges we face are real," Obama announced. "They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met."It's no surprise that Obama understands the work that needs to be done. Now, all that's left is for him to actually do it.Obama certainly feels...
Barack Obama solidifies his place in American Civil religion by retracing Lincoln's footstepsWith just two days before his Inauguration as the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama has arrived in Washington.Considering the messiah narrative surrounding Obama -- a narrative wrought with racial overtones -- it may only be fitting that Obama arrived in Washington via a six-city train trip that followed the same route Abraham Lincoln used to travel to Washington in 1861.As anyone with even a passing familiarity with American politics knows, Lincoln is revered in the United States for ending the civil war and for ending slavery.However, as Molly Worthen notes, Lincoln's significance to American political culture goes deeper than this simple reverence. In fact, Lincoln is a...