New Music

Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes:

The Turnaround

This is what I'm talkin' about.

The Turnaround is one of the great power tools in selling.  This is what it looks like when you apply it to politics:

Go Ahead

...tell me what you think we can't do.

Tell me we can't change a fucked up system and make it work better.  Go ahead.  Tell me.

About That Platform (updated)

(updated) I do actually know what the DNC platform says (as of 10:55 PM, according to democrats.org), and it's not true that the word "god" doesn't appear in it even once.  In fact, the word "god" appears in the DNC Platform more that it does in the US Constitution.

And even if it didn't - get stuffed, you sanctimonious prigs.

GOP Convention Scorecard

A quick look at what FactCheck had to say about the Repubs' get-together last week:

FactCheck.org's Weekly Update for August 31, 2012

New Wire ItemsRomney’s Sorry ‘Apology’ Dig
Mitt Romney wrongly accuses President Obama of going on an “apology tour” in foreign countries.

Romney’s Big Night
There were a few bits of exaggeration and puffery in his Republican convention speech.

Ryan’s VP Spin
Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech at the GOP convention contained several false claims and misleading statements.

Santorum’s Distorted ‘Dependency’ Claims
Rick Santorum faults Obama for 'almost half of America receiving some sort of government assistance.'

Christie’s Fact-Free Keynote
The New Jersey governor made some exaggerations in a speech heavy on generalities, opinion and platitudes.

Republican Retreads from Tampa
The first day of the Republican convention saw a lot of exaggerated, misleading or downright false claims that we’ve heard before.

Spin Detectors: Help Us Monitor the Conventions
We still want you to help us monitor the Democratic National Convention.

Winning? Super PAC Compares Republican to Charlie Sheen
There is less to Majority PAC's claims about Connie Mack IV than meets the eye.

New Ask FactCheck Responses
Q: Is the Democratic National Convention hosting a Muslim “Jumah” prayer service after rejecting a Catholic cardinal’s offer to lead a prayer?
A: No. A Muslim group scheduled an event that was independent of the convention at a city park. The cardinal is leading the convention’s closing prayer. 

Q: Would a “list of Republican budget cuts” by the “new Republican House” slash $2.5 trillion from federal spending over 10 years?
A: The list is real. But so far, there has been no action on the bill, which was sponsored by 33 conservative GOP House members.

Gen Douglass

I'm always pretty skeptical of people moving from one place that's among the top echelons of government to another one that's possibly a position of even greater power.

So it's not without some trepidation that I'm heading into Charlottesville tomorrow to do some volunteer work for John Douglass, who's running pretty well against the latest empty suit installed in the US House by a local Repub party that's anything but clean.

Gen Douglass via TYT:



Here's hopin'.

Pendulum

Here's a guy running in Virginia's 6th District - Andy Schmookler.  He's up against a strongly entrenched incumbent (Bob Goodlatte) and he'll prob'ly get stomped, but it's just possible this speech should be packaged and sent to every Democrat everywhere.



And here's a guy not running this year - Mark Warner - giving a speech that's kinda crummy, but considered OK for a Democrat speaking in rural Virginia.  I still think it's just not what's needed at all.



If you want "regular folk" to get behind you, then you have to get up on your hind legs; you have to go toe-to-toe, and you have to stick it into the other guy's gizzle.  It's called a fight, and they don't call it that fer nuthin'.

RNC Message Explained

Chris Hayes is one of the smartest guys anywhere.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Honestly Conservative

From a piece in The American Conservative by Richard Gamble:

(reminding me that a conservative is somebody who just tries to stay true to the ideals at the heart of our liberal democracy)

In 1814, half a century after the publication of his "Dissertation on Canon and Feudal Law", John Adams wrote to his Southern adversary John Taylor of Caroline. In the course of defending his constitutional principles, Adams issued a warning that the new exceptionalists will never quote, let alone heed: “We may boast that we are the chosen people; we may even thank God that we are not like other men; but, after all, it will be but flattery, and the delusion, the self-deceit of the Pharisee.”

A people, as surely as an individual, cannot stand in the presence of the world and congratulate itself on its unassailable virtue without leading itself into moral blindness and earning the contempt of others. Nothing about the American achievement is “placed beyond all possibility of failure,” as John Quincy Adams boasted. It would be fatal for a republic to entertain such presumption. There is nothing inevitable about our future, and no facile talk about exceptionalism will make it so. A history and a tradition—an authentic, fully American history and tradition—is available to us, but only if we turn away from the myths of the new exceptionalism.

On Boiling Frogs

Learn something new every day.

As Wikipedia puts it, German physiologist Friedrich Goltz “demonstrated that a frog that has had its brain removed will remain in slowly heated water, but his intact frogs attempted to escape the water.” Other 19th Century studies appeared to have different results, but modern experiments (!) show that frogs with brains are in fact smart enough to leap out of water as it is heated up.

I'd heard the Slowly-Boiled Frog thing was bunk, but I'd never looked it up.  So there it is.

Advantage: White Guy

Louis CK on Being White.



From a piece about the myth of voter fraud by Andrew Cohen in The Atlantic:

Last week, as one federal judge after another struck down these new measures, as one court after another called out Republican lawmakers for the lack of evidence supporting the push to stop "voter fraud," it dawned on me that this national debate suffers, as so many do these days, from a lack of a common starting point. There is so much fear. There is so much ignorance. There is so much exaggeration. Here are six of the most frequent comments I get when I write about voting rights followed by my attempts at a few answers that perhaps can get us talking about this in a more productive way.

The Myths:

• We need these new voter ID laws to stop voter fraud
• We need these new voter ID laws to stop illegal immigrants from voting
• The new voter laws do not create substantial burdens on registered voters
• The new Republican voter laws are the results of reasonable compromises between and among state legislators
• There are many restrictions upon the right to vote -- what's so vital about another such restriction?
• Burdening the rights of voters to cast their ballots is not the same as disenfranchising voters

In the end, Voter ID is just not fair - and fairness is one of things American Exceptionalism is really about.

And, oh yeah - I almost forgot.  When voting is outlawed, only outlaws will vote.

Today's Quote

LBJ On Voting Rights:

"It's outrageous that all people do not have the dignity to which they are entitled.  But we can't legislate human dignity -- we can legislate to give a man a vote and a voice in his own government. Then with his vote and his voice he is equipped with a very potent weapon to guarantee his own dignity."

--Lyndon Johnson, 1960; speaking about 1957 Civil Rights Legislation

Without Apology - Part 2

(con'd from Without Apology - below)

If I argue "when healthcare coverage is outlawed, only outlaws will have healthcare coverage", I suspect "conservatives" to scoff and tell me I'm stupid to think they're trying to "outlaw" healthcare coverage.

But they're wrong.  Being against HealthCare Reform and against ObamaCare (and and and) almost always goes with a package that includes being in favor of Free Market Solutions. These guys will always spout the standard suite of platitudes:

• the market will always find a fair balance on its own
• the market brings innovation to satisfy all needs of every market segment
• the competition of the market will force prices down so everybody can get it on the benefits
• everything is good as long as government stays out of it completely

etc.

But outlawing coverage is (effectively) exactly what happens.  In a system of completely unfettered capitalism, the Market is the law, and your paycheck is Law Enforcement.

In that system, what's the difference between being unable to buy it and being forbidden by law to possess it?

Without Apology

Here's what I've been thinking:  "Conservatives" have had a field day with the Clever Turnaround that says it all when it comes to convincing the 30-40% of people who really don't wanna think much more deeply than your basic bumper sticker.  They need to categorize the issue, and file away something that's easy to recall, and sounds more or less like it fits with the standard bullshit that "all we really need is some good ol' fashioned common sense up in here".

We've heard it a thousand times.  In response to mountains of facts and miles of perfectly cogent reasoning about the honest-to-god, real-life need for sensible Gun Control, they say, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns".

So how 'bout we fight fire with fire?  I've been having a lot of fun trolling the facebook posts of my Radical Right friends, and it's a little weird, but it's almost like they just don't expect to get any push back on anything - like they can say any bullshit thing, and nobody's gonna call 'em on it.  It shocks the hell out of 'em sometimes when all I do is hit 'em with the kind of crap they usually come up with.  One guy put up something about how things had gotten so bad under Obama, so I posted a comment saying he sounded like he was being very critical, and then I asked him why he hated America.  I could almost feel the heat when he posted his next comment, which came in very short order, and of course, ended in ALL CAPS!!!!!!!

But here's what I've boiled it down to - this is what I'm gonna try.  Whenever somebody says some wacky crap about repealing ObamaCare (eg), I'm gonna turn it around and just say:
--"When healthcare coverage is outlawed, only outlaws will have healthcare coverage".

--or--

("All taxation is theft")
-- "When taxes are outlawed, only outlaws will collect taxes"

--or--

("Churches and good neighbors should care for the less fortunate")
("The Government has no business trying to force me to look after poor people")
-- "When charity is outlawed, only outlaws will get charity"

--or--

("Government Workers and Retirement Obligations are bankrupting state and local governments.")
--"When law enforcement is outlawed, the outlaws will be law enforcement."
--"When clean water is outlawed, only outlaws will have clean water."
--"When safe streets are outlawed, only outlaws will be safe on the streets."
--"When pensions are outlawed, only outlaws will have pensions."

What else?  Must be a gajillion of 'em.  Roll with me.

Strategy

Can anybody tell me with a straight face that the Repubs are all about truth-telling, and nuance and getting at the real heart of the matter?

From Addicting Information:

Fact: Shark Attacks Increase w/ Ice Cream Consumption

Based on the above, which statement below is true?
A. Sharks hate people who eat ice cream.
B. Sharks love ice cream, so they eat people.
C. Obama is a Muslim.
D. None of the above

If you answered “C” – You already have all the answers and can’t be convinced otherwise.

To everyone else, if you answered “D” – Congratulations, you are correct.