Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook

Sunday, September 12, 2010

The Right Is Wrong and Questions that Demand Answers from Republican and Tea Party Members

I'm always thrilled when I come across a post on another blog that excites me because of its exceptionally precise and discerning analysis. When I hit upon two in the same day, my week or even month is made much brighter. And, of course, I must share them and hope that you too will help spread the word.

These two posts are must reads for Democrats and Republicans, although I don't have much hope that the latter will partake of these words of facts and wisdom. Certainly they will not take the time to reflect upon them. This is predictable but most regrettable and, unfortunately, some of my Democratic friends may be in need of a few reminders.

On Infidel753's  The right is still wrong, the author reminds us, "There's an election battle to fight, and the stakes are high." Indeed they are and the night will be long and turbulent.

Infidel ends with this observation: "The Democrats have certainly disappointed me in some ways. But the simple fact is, there are only two options on the table, and one of them is far worse than the other."

In the body of his article, Infidel links his readers to a very profound piece at The Saturday Evenining Post. Entitled Questions Every Tea-Party and Republican Candidate MUST Answer, Jack Jodell raises 10 questions, each built around seveal more questions, we've probably asked ourselves many times but rarely at the same time and probably not as precisely or  as well articulated.

As Infidel writes:
Everything is there: the systematic obstructionism, the lying, the hypocritical moralism, the too-selective fixation on the deficit, the "pro-life" incoherence, the paranoia, the policies that would benefit the richest and most powerful at the expense of everyone else, the flirtations with atavistic bigotry, the lack of a program to address real problems.
Memorize it for the next time you do battle with someone on the right side of nowhere.

21 comments:

  1. I read both of those posts and they are "right on the money"...and Jack has yet to receive one answer to his questions.

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  2. Thanks for the notice. It is maddening how many people, because they are disappointed in the Democrats (sometimes for failing to do the politically impossible), would stay home on election day and risk letting something far worse take their place.

    I do hope as many people as possible read Jack's post. Even our political candidates could pick up a few pointers from it.

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  3. I doubt the Dems would ask the one about taking our country back, since that was one of their campaign mantras in 2004 and 2008. They'll resurrect it again if they lose in 2010 and 2012.

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  4. both great posts Leslie, I read them last night and will go back and see if Jack has any questions answered.

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  5. Both great posts, living in such difficult and ultimately dangerous times for any on the left to walk away because Obama can't wave a magi wand and fix everything overnight is damn close to suicide.

    The president has angered and disappointed me but that makes me self aware, not some political robot marching to whatever Karl Rove and his acolytes put out.

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  6. JC: I think they're on the money too. I doubt if Jack is going to hear from any Republicans any thime soon. How cqan they come up with an answer when all they can do is obstruct and tear down the country.

    Infidel: I'd love for the candidates to pick this up.

    dmarks: You've said this before. I searched then and I searched today and haven't found one thing to substantiate this claim. I did see references to taking back the presidency - a bit of a difference. Even if someone said it, I doubt if it was meant in the context that the Tea Party means it. That is, to subvert the Constitution and destroy the country in the process. If you are going to make claims such as this, you need to site your sources. I don't any of us has the time to go off on wild goose chases.

    Sue: Thanks - don't think you'll find any. : )

    Beach: ". . . not some political robot marching to whatever Karl Rove and his acolytes put out." And this is what frustrates the conservatives - Dems have the freedom to think and act independently.

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  7. tn: Campaign to Take Back America 2008.

    "Dianne Archer, Robert Borosage, Donna Edwards and Van Jones helped kick off Take Back America 2008..."

    Depends on which side of the aisle at the time, about which side wants to take back America, and which side "That is, to subvert the Constitution and destroy the country in the process.".

    Howard Dean at the Take Back America conference

    Link to Amazon link for Howard Dean's own book with a title on taking back our country

    Unlike the other items, which involve difference in issues, the complaint about "taking back America" rhetoric involves rhetoric that the Dems used for 8 years.

    No wild goose chases necessary. You had to have been asleep during the Bush years to have missed the calls to take back the country, coming from opposition. The searches took me 10 seconds.

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  8. And thanks for the comment on my 9/11 post.

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  9. Also:

    " "It's going to be because of you that we take our country back," Barack Obama told progressives in June 2007."

    - from The Washington Post.

    "When would be a good time to take our country back from the haters?"

    Michael Moore, his current web site, a liberal speaking about modern conservatives.

    "My friends, it is time to take back the country we love."

    Hillary Clinton, August 2008

    ----------------
    I find nothing remarkable, rare, or worthy of criticism when one side that is not in power says that they want to take back the country from the other side. I had zero outrage when liberals said it, zero outrage when liberals say it now (Michael Moore), and zero outrage when conservatives say it.

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  10. Of course as the shit hits the fan we will come together. !0 more years of them, there won't be a Country Left.

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  11. dmarks: Thanks for the cites - just really wish you had provided them to begin with.

    For my own reasons, I really don't care that much for Dean or Moore, so I don't pay that much attention to either of them. I did follow your link to Moore's site but couldn't find that quote. Maybe it was from an earlier post?

    I hardly think that one book based on one conference (or, whatever) or one comment in two speeches by a couple of candidates constitutes a "mantra" by any stretch of the imagination. It isn't like every time a TV reporter stuck a mic in some one's face, they were crying "I want my country back."

    "America's Future Now! is the name of the annual conference which has been run by Campaign for America's Future since 2009. The conference is well-attended by leftist speakers and delegates and was previously known as "Take Back America", running from 2003 to 2008 under this name."

    http://www.keywiki.org/index.php/America's_Future_Now

    I kind of wonder if this organization changed its name to distinguish it from a group of crazies with views diametrically opposed to their own and who usurped the phrase when they couldn't come up with something of their own. If anyone has used it for a mantra, it is the people on the right.

    ----

    I had seen that video before but had forgotten about it. I put it up on my fb, as did many others, because I do think in this age of hysterical noise, it was a dignified and moving tribute to a horrific event.

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  12. Tim, I agree to the extent of moving to Mexico with no plans to return because there would be nothing to return to. Depressing as hell.

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  13. Two excellent posts indeed, Leslie.

    Off topic: sorry about what my Ducks did to your Vols. ;-)

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  14. TC: Had to stop and think a minute about what you were talking about. ; )

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  15. tnlib,
    Thank you so very much for your kind words and the nice plug. You captured the essence of what that post was about beautifully.

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  16. Jack: I think 100% of the credit belongs to In fidel and you.

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  17. "I find nothing remarkable, rare, or worthy of criticism when one side that is not in power says that they want to take back the country from the other side."

    dmarks,

    I think you miss the point. The conservatives were howling about taking back the country 3 months into Mr. Obama's presidency. Didn't you see the signs being carried by Tea Partiers on April 15, 2009? I was at a rally in Boca Raton on that date and heard, with my own ears, people calling to take back the country.

    After 3 months? When you read that sentiment by the Democrats, it was after years of Bush incompetence with the Iraq War and the scandals around his presidency.

    3 months? That is insane. There is no comparison between what the Democrats said about taking back the country or presidency and how the GOP instigated many on the Right to wish for Mr. Obama to fail and to cry to take back the country--after 3 months in office and 8 previous years of disaster.

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  18. Shaw - Thank you for your as usual outstanding analysis. It has been a true mantra (chant) by the Tea Party and the GOP, very different from a few comments by Dems during a campaign.

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  19. "A few comments" is not a fair description of an annual conference using the phrase as its name (with Democratic speakers of the highest level at the conference using the phrase) and the DNC chairman, like him or not, using the phrase in a book title.

    Call it mantra or meme, it was a major idea by the Left during the previous administration. I'm sure they will trot it out the next time a Republican is president.

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  20. tn: As for the Moore link, his site is so junked up that it is impossible to find anything on it.

    However, the external Google link pointing to his site shows the quote. It is from just a few days ago.

    All of the people I quoted were top-level Democrats or active allied high-level media figures, and Fox News, Limbaugh, etc were carefully avoided as any sources.

    This particular question easily falls apart as one of the "Questions Every Tea-Party and Republican Candidate MUST Answer".

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  21. dmarks: I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree and I do not have the time, energy or interest in rehashing everything to the nth degree. Sorry.

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