The Great Divide

Never Heard Of 'Em

History Lessons ala Beck

The people Glenn Beck has in his thrall are thirsty for knowledge - they see things are going wrong in their lives but they can't quite accept that they've just been voting for the wrong people.  They need their favorite opinion makers to explain how they can let themselves off the hook, and find somebody to blame for their troubles.  Beck is really good at playing the "don't be naive" card.  "Wake up, America!" is something the guy says on his shows a lot.

He draws it out on his blackboard and always presents his doctrine as if he's just eager to share this new-found information with all of his friends.  The visuals and the presentation style are (I think) purposeful and well thought out - they're aimed at evoking a Sunday School feeling in the audience.  Here's good ol' Glenn; all he wants is to help regular people understand some things.

So now he's all about rewriting US History, but of course what the Beckies are actually learning is a Politically Branded version of history; instead of learning the facts or something as close to the facts as possible.

Read this from Will Bunch at CNN.

The revisionist message behind "Restoring Honor" is nothing new for the conservative shock jock. In the year and half since President Obama took office, Beck has led his loyal followers on a journey not just to "reclaim" civil rights but much more audaciously to rewrite the sweeping narrative arc of American history from the time of the Founding Fathers forward.

The backbone of the Tea Party is over-55s and especially retirees -- some planned, some forced -- with the most valuable asset of all, time.

They see studying U.S. history as a powerful reconnection with their youth. Waiting for Beck's "American Revival" show in Orlando, Florida, in March, 70-year-old fan Joseph Cerniglia told me he was way too busy for civics lessons when he was raising kids and working as a stockbroker and then cider-maker. "I have learned more from Glenn Beck -- learned more about American history and government, from Glenn Beck -- than in the previous 40 years of my life," the retiree told me.

After 8-28

8-28

Not long after the real thing happened on August 28 in 1963, a young Curtis Mayfield sat down and wrote a tune that would become one of the enduring anthems for people who just need a little hope and encouragement from time to time.

I can't wait to see what some yahoo comes up with after today's clown parade in Washington. Just so ya know, this is a taste of what you're up against. Covered here by Eva Cassidy at one of the joints in Georgetown, this is part of her only known live performance ever captured on video.

Cassidy died of cancer in 1996. (see Wikipedia article)

Ten Years Of Hell

Ken Mehlman

...is a complete asshole.

He presided over a political party whose platform was openly hostile to the basic principles of equality at the foundation of the USofA.

He led the re-election team for Jr Bush in 2004 which had, at it's core, a campaign strategy of fear and hatred - with one of the main themes being the demonization gays and gay marriage in order to motivate voters.

From Ambinder at The Atlantic:

"It's taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life," said Mehlman, now an executive vice-president with the New York City-based private equity firm, KKR. "Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I've told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they've been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that's made me a happier and better person. It's something I wish I had done years ago."

What a dick.

It's The Hypocrisy, Stupid

Whenever you get a politician like Gingrich or Little Quayle preaching "this great nation" or "Family Values" or harpin' on "I was raised right", remember this little tidbit about Leo Strauss and see if you can catch just a glimmer of the truth hiding behind the tower of bullshit.

Betcha Can't

Krugman Speaks

Under no circumstances should we revert and put the Repubs back in charge - they're either crazy or evil or something else.  When I look back on what was happening all thru the 90s and then especially what was going on with Junior Bush, I feel a little sick.  It's important to remember that it's possible Junior wasn't the fuckup he seems to have been.  There's a fair probability that he did it all on purpose - he didn't really know what was going on; he's just an empty vessel, incapable of fully understanding the damage resulting from his policy decisions.  He did what he was told to do by all those really smart guys he had around him.

Those smart guys are still with us, and Professor Krugman explains a little about what they're up to.

Late last year the conventional wisdom on economic policy took a hard right turn. Even though the world’s major economies had barely begun to recover, even though unemployment remained disastrously high across much of America and Europe, creating jobs was no longer on the agenda. Instead, we were told, governments had to turn all their attention to reducing budget deficits.

Skeptics pointed out that slashing spending in a depressed economy does little to improve long-run budget prospects, and may actually make them worse by depressing economic growth. But the apostles of austerity — sometimes referred to as “austerians” — brushed aside all attempts to do the math. Never mind the numbers, they declared: immediate spending cuts were needed to ward off the “bond vigilantes,” investors who would pull the plug on spendthrift governments, driving up their borrowing costs and precipitating a crisis. Look at Greece, they said.

Don't get fooled again.