Let's indulge ourselves for a change. I've grown enormously weary of hearing and writing about all the assaults on our Constitution, the denigrating of my sisters, the falsehoods, the hysterics, and the doom and gloom that are the Republican's modi operandi. I'm sick and tired of hate-filled pastors, of lawmakers who want to tax abortions, and punks like Rush Limbaugh referring to the President of the United States as "our little boy president."
The time has come to look for those little signs of hope that are beginning to pop up here and there.
What better place to start than with the 50 advertisers who have dropped Limbaugh since his three days of misogynist attacks on Sandra Fluke. What ads are left are PSAs and at one one point there was just the refreshing sound of silence.
Another crude bully (what is it about these overweight blowhards?) may be following Limbaugh's path to self- destruction after overshooting the runway when he shot off his big mouth to a former Navy SEAL. I doubt that the electorate will "forgive and forget" anytime soon and we've recently seen what happens to people with health problems who blow their stacks.
A Wisconsin judge temporarily blocked the voter photo ID law as part of a lawsuit brought by the NAACP.
The Florida Supreme Court rules that proposed maps for the state senate violates anti-gerrymandering rules.
In a very tragic case, a Reagan-appointed appeals judge did not simply revive a lawsuit brought by a prisoner's survivors against Herr Arpaio, he also suggested that the sheriff's policy of choosing pink underwear intended to demean his inmates violates the constitution.
Several Republicans have had the unheard of courage, at least of late, to blast the Norquist anti-tax plan as "disingenuous and irresponsible." Is this the beginning of a trend?
54 percent of North Carolinians oppose Amendment One, which would ban same-sex marriage.
Far be it from me to gloat when a person has a run of bad luck, but in a snort-worthy case of delicious irony, the lead, but uninsured, plaintiff in the health care reform suit files for bankruptcy due to accumulated debts, including her husband's medical bills.
The Food Stamp President - and all Americans - should be happy to learn that the program cut the number of extremely poor children in half in 2011.
Personally, I've never understood how any woman with a lick of sense could vote for a Republican anytime, anyhow. I just don't get it. Do they like being abused? Now polls are showing that the fragile gains Republicans had been making have been erased due to the contraceptive debate.
Despite an unfortunate choice of words - "Obama quietly prepares for fall as Republicans fight" - this CNN article emailed by our friend B.J. sounds very promising. But babies, we cannot afford the luxury of sitting on our laurels.
Look what you did! Strung it all together. Delicious indeed. But, since I try to catch some of this stuff as it flies off on a tangent, and don't pay attention all the time in the interest of my own well-being, I completely missed the "our little boy president." I guess I'm used to the other crap, but this is utterly shocking to me. How very loaded. May he rot in hell.
ReplyDeleteApparently, Limbaugh's vile remarks are having a negative impact on other right-wing talk shows as well. Raw Story reports that "Ninety-eight major advertisers—including Ford and Geico—will no longer air spots on Premiere Networks’ ‘offensive’ programs. Insiders say the loss will rock right-wing talk radio."
DeleteThe biggest demographic are women and they are fleeing these shows.
OOPS! That link doesn't work - probably operator error. :( Try copying and pasting this.
Deletehttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/rush-limbaugh-scandal-proves-contagious-for-talk-radio-advertisers.html
That's all well and good but in Ohio they have cut assistance to low-income older Americans.
ReplyDeleteOuch. I know this hits hard for you and so many others. I know it seems hopeless at times but we just have to keep fighting and hope that saner minds prevail.
DeleteWell, I think you know that I won't back down. Come Monday, I will on the phone to everyone I can think of hollering.
DeleteGood. It's a slow process but every little effort is so important.
DeleteThanks for posting these. While we must be careful to avoid complacency, we also need to avoid pessimism and cynicism, as they too can become excuses for inaction. There are a lot of sensible people out there who know full well what this madness is when they see it, and when they fight hard, they can stop it in its tracks and roll it back.
ReplyDeleteI really do think we're beginning to see signs of a groundswell of push back against the excesses of the GOP. Maybe, in a convoluted way, RL did us all a big favor.
DeleteI, too, missed the "little boy president," and that anyone would say that is shocking and sad. I am so angry with all the things the conservatives are trying to do that I don't know which way to turn. I live in a VERY republican and VERY Bible belt area, and it is discouraging because everyone I meet just assumes I feel the same way they do. They can't conceive of someone believing differently. What to do. What to do.
ReplyDeleteAnd they're tone deaf to facts and reason. I sympathize because I too live in the buckle of the Bible belt. It can get pretty lonely out there.
Delete"I, too, missed the "little boy president,""
DeleteI missed that too. But I did catch Limbaugh declaring that Obama was a Muslim many many times per day.
Not that there is anything wrong with being a Muslim. But our President is not one. Has Limbaugh done a half-ass apology for this yet?
Excellent! Thanks for giving me reason to live and fight on another day.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jayne. I think we need to stop and take a look at the good things - no matter how few and far between they are - or we'll go batty.
DeleteMy hope is that the Right keeps on doing what it's been doing. If so, well, I don't need to state the obvious.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Leslie!
I'd agree, but the problem is that they are (very deliberately) tearing the country apart and I'm not sure it's anything we'll recover from anytime soon, if ever.
DeleteWonderful commentary as usual. It's nice to hear good news very now and then.
ReplyDeleteThe good news has a way of getting lost, doesn't it?
DeleteI appreciate this balancing of news. I've been going back and forth between detached listlessness to active disgust lately. Sometimes I think if I have to endure one more smarmy, boastful lie from Gingrich, one more transparently deceitful position switch by Romney or see any more pandering to paranoid religious bigots by Santorum, I'm going to lose whatever my last meal was.
ReplyDeleteSometimes it seems as if it wasn't for bad news, there would be no news. So good for you, L.P.
"I've been going back and forth between detached listlessness to active disgust lately." Me too, along with a hell of a lot of depression and outright fear. Articles like this one at truthout.org don't help:
Deletehttp://www.truth-out.org/republican-implosion-myth-how-republicans-are-winning/1331221630
I will hasten to add that I find this site so often full of hysterics and conspiracy theories that it's hard to take everything they say seriously.
I think, for the first time since I can remember, a group of politicians have learned to simply be quiet and let the idiots destroy themselves, all by themselves.
ReplyDeleteUnlike the boisterous conservatives, who apparently can’t control their mouths, progressives have a propensity for not speaking loudly, thereby avoiding being obnoxious and in this case, that's a very good thing.
Isn’t it a bit ironic that a Republican made the statement “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Nice job putting all this together
Good point. I love that quote but for some strange reason, I always thought it was from Benjamin F. LOL. But Franklin did say, "A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant blockhead."
DeleteIt's not surprising that 52% of Mississippi GOP voters believe Mr. Obama is a Muslim. It's about the same percentage in Alabama.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting to know that Mississippi and Alabama are two of the poorest and least educated population states in the US.
Is there a connection between ignorance and allegiance to the GOP?
We ask; you decide.
"Is there a connection between ignorance and allegiance to the GOP?"
DeleteEvery page I check, as with last year, seems to be all over the place. One with more Democrats being educated, and the other with more Republicans being educated.
This page shows the overall "Obama is a Muslim" perception. While 14% of Republicans is higher than 10% of Democrats, if you round to the nearest 10%, the proportion is very roughly the same. It's embarassingly high for the Dems, and even more embarassingly high for Republicans. The obvious increased likelihood of more Republicans being uncritical Dittoheads (believing it when Limbaugh specifically calls Obama a Muslim cleric over and over again), what can explain so many Democrats believing this also? Even 5% of liberal ones?
I wonder if there's anything more recent than this early 2008 poll?
DeleteThen too, there's the interesting correlation of states that receive federal tax dollars well out of proportion to what they pay in federal taxes, and being predominantly Republican/Tea Party states.
DeleteOh yes. Very interesting, isn't it?
DeleteThere is this poll from a few days ago which puts 45 to 52% of Alabama and Mississippi likely GOP voters who think he is a Muslim.
ReplyDeleteHow can the fact that about 50% of likely GOP voters think Obama is a Muslim be anything but ignorance? These people are just plain STUPID,!
DeleteMS has the highest rates (#1) in poverty, teen births and church goers, and the 2nd lowest number of HS grads in the country. AL does slightly better, ranking 6th in poverty, 8th in teen births, 5th in HS grads and 2nd in church goers. I'm not sure I'd classify all of them as stupid but they're certainly ignorant. I don't really need a poll to tell me this because I live around it day in and day out. :(
Delete“It's not surprising that 52% of Mississippi GOP voters believe Mr. Obama is a Muslim.”
ReplyDeleteI spend a fair bit of time in the comment streams of Right-wing blogs.
So often… I have seen someone declare that Obama is a Muslim… and I know… that maybe half the people commenting there themselves know… that that is a lie… and yet they do not challenge it… because the person who said it shares their broader political views… and therefore they are comfortable to let that lie go unchallenged… and to let the lie stand.
The lie suits them. They’re fine with a lie that is useful.
That bugs the shit out of me.
I don't know how you stomach those sites; they make me want to throw up. Unfortunately, I personally know a lot of people who really do believe this claptrap. How is the religious war going at your place? ;)
Delete“How is the religious war going at your place?”
DeleteWell I think it has run its course for now.
I’ve been having related exchanges for a while now I’m kind of religioned out
How many ways can you say “look I don’t have a problem with your religion per se, I don’t even really care, I just don’t want it invading my life”.
Or “no, me supporting the rights of people to have non-heterosexual relations is not an attack on your religion”?
Or “no, me defending the freedom to have OTHER religions is not an attack on your religion”
And especially… “NO, me not believing in God is NOT itself a religion! I’m just not religious. Earth to fundamentalist, are you reading me? I’m - just - not - religious”
They are a bit invasive, to say nothing of being tenacious. Once they lock their jaws around your throat, they just can't see to let go - much like pit bulls.
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete