Political Judo

You take your own negative and project it onto your opponent.  It's worked for a long time because most people have short memories where this kinda shit is concerned - which is actually what Willard's campaign guy was talking about when he made that Etch-A-Sketch remark.

Well, Obama kicked off his 2012 campaign at Ohio State's basketball venue (I think), where, according to the wingnuts, "he was preaching to an empty room", or he "failed to fill the seats" or some such hokum.

Here's one view of what that empty room looked like:

Here's one more:

And here's a look at the adoring throngs that showed up for Romney's major economics address in Detroit earlier this year - this is the one the Repubs need us to forget about:

Well, That Sucks

86% of us (per recent polling) think that unlimited donations to SuperPACs has a corrupting influence on our democracy.

Which means there're more than twice as many Americans who don't understand how fucked up Campaign Financing is in this joint than there are who believe the moon landings were faked.

And Jesus wept.

hat tip = Republic Report

To Be Clear

If somebody tells you they think you're sounding a little racist, it doesn't have to mean they're just "playing the race card" and that you should ignore them and go right on being a cheap imitation of a normal human.

Sometimes it means you need to stop for a minute and recheck your assumptions.

France

Lil Nik Sarkozy has lost the French presidency to a Socialist named Francois Hollande, who is expected (by some folks anyway) to ease up on the austerity choker.  So OK, I guess we're about to see something more of a Keynesian approach to the economic side of the house (france is the # 2 economy in the EU - right behind Germany), and that can only mean that the Right Radicals in the US are about to freak the fuck out.

Won't that be fun.

BTW Broad Observation:
The political world is cratering in on the Repubs, so that's why they're doing everything they can to pass legislation that's mostly just plain stupid, and will take a long time to sort thru once they're gone.  I think the strategy is to make it look like it's the Dems who're implementing the "radical agenda" as they work to unravel all this crap, and the GOP can sit on the sidelines complaining about how the Dems aren't doing the things they said they'd do to make things better.

Ya heard it here first.

Progressive Roster

Lifted directly from Crooks and Liars, and with a hat tip to The Professional Left.

Here's a list of Progressives doing their thing in the world of "New Media":

PART 1

All Power To The Positive—Featuring Sensei Gregory C. Lewis and Jacob “The Jacobin” Brown (radio)

Alternet Radio Hour—With Joshua Holland (radio)

The Anonymous Show—With Mr. X aka John Smith (radio)

BearMan Radio Show—Featuring the BearMan (radio)

Blacking It Up—Featuring Elon James White, L. Joy Williams and Aaron Rand Freeman (radio)

The Blatant Minority—Featuring Greg Hanson (radio)

Bob and Chez Show—Featuring Bob Cesca and Chez Pazienza (radio)

The Breakdown—With Richard Eskow (radio)

Brookland Café—(radio)

Captain Jack Show—With Captain Jack (radio)

Clearing the FOG (Forces of Greed)—With Kevin Zeese & Margaret Flowers (radio)

Coffee Party Radio—Featuring Annabel Park and Coffee Party volunteers (radio)

Create the Change—(radio)

The DC Sports Beat—With Mitch Malasky (radio)

DC Voice’s Education Town Hall—With Thomas Byrd (radio)

Democracy Now—With Amy Goodman (video/radio)

Digital Politics Radio—With Karen Jagoda (radio)

The DMZ at BloggingHeads.TV—With Bill Scher & Matt K. Lewis (video)

Earth Radio One—Featuring Doctor Drake and Doctor Truth (radio)

Equal Time Radio—With Frank Blair, Traci Kelly, Andrew Bacon (radio)

The Matthew Filipowicz Show—Featuring Matthew Filipowicz (radio)

Filter Free Radio—With Jacob Dean (radio)

Fireside Chats at BloggingHeads.TV—With various hosts (video)

The Flaming Sword of Justice—With Ben Wikler (radio)

Foreign Entanglements at BloggingHeads.TV—With various hosts (video)

The Richard Fowler Show—With Richard Fowler (radio)

The Frank Factor—With Frank (radio)

Friedersdorf at BloggingHeads.TV—With Conor Friedersdorf (video)

The Glenn Show at BloggingHeads.TV—With Glenn Loury (video)

The God Above God—Aeon Byte (radio)

GoLeft TV—Featuring Mike Papantonio (video)

Green Power—Featuring Akili West (radio)

GRITradio—With Laura Flanders (radio)

The Thom Hartmann Show—Featuring Thom Hartmann (radio)

ill doctrine—Featuring Jay Smooth (video)

In Deep and Live From the Left Coast—With Angie Coiro (radio)

In Your Face Radio—With JD & Greg Zollo (Radio)

The Inside Scoop—With Mark Levine (radio)

Leaning Left—With Rutherford Lawson and Sandi Behrns (radio)

Left Jab Radio—Featuring Mark Walsh and Dave Goodfriend (radio)

Liberal Oasis Radio Show—Featuring Bill Scher & Traci Olsen (radio)

The Josh Lopez Show—Featuring Josh Lopez (radio)

The Luv Lounge—Featuring Jamal Muhammad, aka Dj One Luv (radio)

Majority Report—Featuring Sam Seder (video)

The Leslie Marshall Show—Featuring Leslie Marshall (radio)

Media Matters Radio—With Bob McChesney (radio)

The Stephanie Miller Show—With Stephanie Miller (radio)

Moment of Clarity—Featuring Lee Camp (video)

MOMocrats—Progressive mom bloggers writing about politics from a mom's perspective (radio)

The Shannyn Moore Show—Featuring Shannyn Moore (radio)

The More Me Show—With DJ Downtown and Eddie Herradura (radio)

Moyers and Company—Featuring Bill Moyers (video)

The Nation Conversations—With various hosts (radio)

One on the Right—Maine politics with Gerald Weinand (radio)

The Other Side—With Ron Moten (radio)

The David Pakman Show—Featuring David Pakman (radio)

The Posner Show at BloggingHeads.TV—With Sarah Posner (video)

Power To The People—With Mike (radio)

The Power To The People Radio Program—Featuring The Bedouin (radio)

The Bill Press Show—With Bill Press (radio)

The Professional Left—Featuring Driftglass & Blue Gal (radio)

The Professor Rex Show—Florida politics with Professor Rex aka Kenneth Quinnell (radio)

Progressive Blend Radio—On Radio or Not (radio)

Progressive News Network—Florida politics (and beyond) with Richard W. Spisak Jr. (radio)

Ring of Fire—With Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mike Papantonio and Sam Seder (radio)

Roots Radio—(radio)

The Nicole Sandler Show at Radio or Not—With Nicole Sandler (radio)

The Ed Schultz Show—Featuring Ed Schultz (radio)

The Sara Schulz Show—Wisconsin politics with Sara Schulz (radio)

The Scream Cafe—With Grobeck and Monkeyhead (radio)

The Nancy Skinner Show—Featuring Nancy Skinner (radio)

Soulful Green Living—With Vicki Blues (radio)

SpeakEasy—With Kymone Freeman and Ron Pinchback (radio)

Take Action News—With David Shuster (radio)

Talking Left—With Danielle, the Left Neck Chick, and Shane-O (radio)

This Week In Blackness—Featuring Elon James White (video)

The Trees Radio—With Stone Kawala (radio)

True Blue Talk—With Steve M. (radio)

Turn Up the Night—With Kenny Pick (radio)

Virtually Speaking—Featuring Jay Ackroyd, Stuart Zechman, Alan Boyle, Tom Levenson and various other hosts (radio)

Washington Squares at BloggingHeads.TV—With Michael Brendan Dougherty (video)

PART 2

A World of Progress Radio—(radio)

Worldwise at BloggingHeads.TV—With various hosts (video)

The Wright Show at BloggingHeads.TV—With Robert Wright (video)

The Young Turks—Featuring Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian, Ben Mankiewicz, Michael Shure, Brian Unger, Wes Clark Jr., RJ Eskow (video)

Your World News—From the University of Maryland (radio)

AFGE "Inside Government" — From the American Federation of Government Employees (radio)

The Alyona Show — Featuring Alyona Minkovski (radio)

America's Workforce — With Ed "Flash" Ferenc (radio)

Julian Assange on RT — Featuring Julian Assange (radio)

At the Chalk Face — Education with Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar (radio)

The Big Picture — With Thom Hartmann (video)

The BradCast — With Brad Friedman (radio)

Building Bridges — Labor-themed show (radio)

Cognitive Dissonance the Podcast — With a heavy emphasis on critical thinking (radio)

The Tim Corrimal Show — With Tim Corrimal (radio)

Democratic Talk Radio — Featuring Stephen Crockett (radio)

Electric Politics — With George Kenney (radio)

The Norman Goldman Show — With Norman Goldman (radio)

The Green News Report — With Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen (radio)

Heartland Labor Forum — Radio show about working families from Kansas City (radio)

The Keiser Report — With Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert (radio)

Labor Neighbor Radio — Labor-themed radio show from Washington state (radio)

Local Edge Radio — North Carolina politics and beyond featuring Blake (radio)

The Mike Malloy Show — With Mike Malloy (radio)

The News Dissector — Featuring Danny Schecter (radio)

Progressive Radio Network — With various hosts (radio)

Revolution Boston — With hosts including Jim Lowenstern, Jeff Santos, Samantha Clemens, Brad Bannon and others (radio)

The Randi Rhodes Show — Featuring Randi Rhodes (radio)

RT TV — With various hosts (video)

The Lifeboat Hour — With Michael Ruppert (radio)

The Rick Smith Show — Featuring Rick Smith (radio)

This Is Hell — Featuring Chuck Mertz (radio)

Where Is the Outrage? — Featuring Errington C. Thompson, MD (radio)

Workers Independent News — With various hosts (radio)

Working Family Radio Network — With various hosts (radio)

Your Guide To Natural Living — Featuring Gary Null (radio)

Jay Smooth

I lost track of this guy for a while.  Glad I caught up with him again.

Who Are Those Guys?

The Washington Post has gone from a truly great example of Gutsy and Righteous Journalism in the mid-70s to its current smarmy incarnation as a Bullshit Centrist Rag.  And seeing as how this piece is co-authored by Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein, on the surface, it's just more of the same "both sides do it" malarkey.  But it doesn't just feel different - it says it straight out: "the Republican Party is the problem".

Today, thanks to the GOP, compromise has gone out the window in Washington. In the first two years of the Obama administration, nearly every presidential initiative met with vehement, rancorous and unanimous Republican opposition in the House and the Senate, followed by efforts to delegitimize the results and repeal the policies. The filibuster, once relegated to a handful of major national issues in a given Congress, became a routine weapon of obstruction, applied even to widely supported bills or presidential nominations. And Republicans in the Senate have abused the confirmation process to block any and every nominee to posts such as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, solely to keep laws that were legitimately enacted from being implemented.

Then scan through some of the (>5000) comments - which (by my quick and totally unsubstantiated estimation) appear to be running 10-1 in support of the basic premise that the GOP is the problem.  Tho' I think a more accurate characterization would be that the extremists in the GOP who are masquerading as conservatives are the problem.

So like driftglass and BlueGal have been saying, conservatives are lying to us and those dirty liberals were right all along.

Which brings me to my newest bumper sticker idea:

Give A Listen

Nothing better than smart people talking about stuff that matters.

(this is just a screen shot - click on the link above, knucklehead)

d r i f t g l a s s

Just gotta give a nod to this guy:

Using the 1972 Democratic Party platform as a baseline, note what happened to the Left over the last 40 years. And ask yourself, honestly, in that time, have the Left's policies and expectations tacked consistently towards the 1972/GOP Right...or has the Left seized America's guns?

Have we outlawed religion?

Has the Democratic Party moved to make abortion 100% legal and government funded through the ninth month of pregnancy, no questions asked?

Is pot cheap, legal and available over-the-counter at every CVS and Piggly Wiggly?

Have we sold off our last battleship?

Are our schools impossibly well-funded?

Does every citizen have free, lifetime health care?

Does every building sport solar panels?

Is gay marriage legal everywhere?

Have we nationalized our banks and oil companies?

Do we tax the rich at 98%?

Is there an 18 month paid parental leave by law? And three months of mandatory paid vacation?

Is there a $22/hr minimum wage?

Is union membership now mandatory?

Are fully half of the Democratic members Congress stocked open and committed Socialists?

Are a quarter of the Democratic members Congress stocked open and committed Communists?

No.

None of these things have happened.

And yet unless all of these things and more were true, there is simply no comparison between the slow, depressing rightward slog of the Left over the last 40 years...

...and the rage-fueled, anti-science, anti-environment, anti-woman, anti-freedom, anti-Middle Class bullet train to Crazytown that the Right has been on during this same period:

Libertarian Debunked

I venture into town on the occasional Wednesday (or sometimes Friday) to meet up with some buddies to have a little drink and talk a little treason.  Sitting at the outside tables on a recent evening, I spotted the ubiquitous Driving-While-Cell-Phoning motorist and made the usual comment, "Hey lady, hang up and drive your car".

My Libertarian friend contended that I sounded like "a typical Nanny-State Liberal who needs to tell everybody how to live their lives".  Something else came up and we didn't get into it, but I've been thinking about that for a while now.  His assertion that basically, I was butting in where I didn't belong is one of those great turnaround attacks that tend to stop debate, but here's the thing:  Isn't it really the case that the driver talking on the phone is the one forcing the rest of us to live by her standards?  Why do all the other drivers and bike riders and pedestrians have to accommodate her?  What's so special about her and what she has to do?  Why do all of us have to adjust and be a little extra cautious just because she has to "be in touch"?

If I'm a client or a colleague (eg) on the phone with her while she's driving, I know I'm not getting her full attention, and I think I deserve better.

If I'm her friend and I care about what happens to her, then I think I should tell her to hang up and I'll catch her later - or at least I should tell her to pull over for a bit so we can talk.  After all, there's a lot of boneheads on the roads these days who aren't paying as much attention to their driving because they're distracted by something like - I dunno - TALKING ON THE FUCKING PHONE!