The RedState Update boys take a look at birthers and the problems facing conservatives in an Obama era. Makes one think how difficult it must be these days to be a wingnut. There’s nothing out there to cheer for.
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To answer my post question…only the weak-minded ones. A Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos…
Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?
Yes 77
No 11
Not sure 12So 11 percent of Americans are Obama-hating conspiracy theorists. How do they break down?
Yes No Not sure
Dem 93 4 3
Rep 42 28 30
Ind 83 8 9Northeast 93 4 3
South 47 23 30
Midwest 90 6 4
West 87 7 6
Fifty-eight percent of Republicans are buying into the conspiracy nonsense as do 53% of Southeners. You can draw your own conclusions from the data but I can’t think of a better way of putting it than what the Kos wrote,
Once again, Republicans find themselves outside the American mainstream. And reality.
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When you think of the words Middle East envoy and peace, what’s the first name that comes to mind? If you said, George W. Bush, you’re not alone. From Newsweek comes this brainstorm of an idea.
On Sunday, George Mitchell, President Obama’s Middle East envoy, arrived in Israel to confer with its leaders. Also visiting this week are Defense Secretary Robert Gates, national-security adviser James Jones, and Gulf States envoy Dennis Ross. It’s a full-court press on the Israelis, and the American wish list is long. They want Israel to stop expanding settlements; to stop building Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem; and for hawks in the government to chill out while the U.S. is negotiating with Iran. And yet, odds are, they’ll come back to Washington empty-handed, for reasons having to do as much with atmospherics as policy: Team Obama just doesn’t have Israel’s full trust.
But there is someone who does—someone who could use a job, someone who argued straightforwardly for a Palestinian state, and yet someone who has the implicit admiration and regard of Israel. President Obama needs a new envoy to the region who can get results—and George W. Bush is his man.
Brilliant. About as ingenious as appointing Sarah Palin head of PETA.
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And you thought birthers hated Obama…
A 78-year-old Carroll, Iowa woman says she’s so tired of seeing President Barack Obama on the airwaves that she’s selling her television sets – two of them.
Deloris Nissen, a retired nurses’ aide and former Kmart employee who was raised on a farm near Audubon, placed a classified advertisement with The Daily Times Herald for Friday’s paper.
In the $5.50 ad, Nissen tells readers she has two television sets for sale.
The reason: “Obama on every channel and station.”
In an interview Nissen said she is serious about selling two TVs – and genuine about her disgust with what she believes to be an overexposed president.
“I just got tired of watching him on every channel,” Nissen said. “I thought, my gosh, does he ever stay at the White House?”
See? What have I been saying these many months? Obama is driving conservatives to the brink of insanity.
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This little exchange between Don Imus and Fox’s Chris Wallace caught my eye.
WALLACE: You know, I guess what surprises me is that one of our competitors, I’m not going to say their name, but their initials are CNN, they’re saying, well, we really can’t decide for the public what a legitimate news story is, so we’ll cover it; what if a bunch of people decided the earth is flat, we’re now going to report that story and let people vent on that? That’s what news organizations are about, is debunking and editing and deciding what’s relevant and what’s worth talking about, and what isn’t, and clearly the birth certificate story isn’t worth talking about because it isn’t true. And I think to everybody’s satisfaction it’s been demonstrated it’s not true. I’m a little surprised — you know, I’m not surprised that people will do things, because some people will do something for ratings every time.
IMUS: Like, uh, I guess leading the charge is my friend, by the way, Lou Dobbs, who appears on this program on a regular basis, and I like — love Lou, known him for years, but it makes him look like a grassy knoll nut.
WALLACE: Well, exactly, exactly. But either grassy knoll nut or just so calculating in his sense, well, there’s some audience out there and I’ll chase it.
What I found interesting here was not Wallace’s silliness in talking about “news organizations” and using the word “we’re” as if any rational person out there actually believes that Fox is anything but a propaganda right-wing noise machine.
No, of more interest was Imus describing Lou Dobbs as a “grassy knoll nut”. I like that image.
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Ok Tommy, we’re listening…but anyone with any ideas, go for it.
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The politics of fear roars on. Republican Rep. Verginia Foxx on the House floor…
The Republican [health] plan would “make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government.”
And here’s conservative Betsy McCaughey, chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Death…
“Congress would make it mandatory — absolutely require — that every five years people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.”
Politifact gave this one a ‘Pants on Fire’ rating. The House bill actually says…
“such consultation shall include the following: An explanation by the practitioner of advance care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to; an explanation by the practitioner of advance directives, including living wills and durable powers of attorney, and their uses; an explanation by the practitioner of the role and responsibilities of a health care proxy.”
Medicare will cover one session every five years, the legislation states. If a patient becomes very ill in the interim, Medicare will cover additional sessions.
Jon Keyserling, general counsel and vice president of public policy for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, which supports the provision, said the bill doesn’t encourage seniors to end their lives, it just allows some important counseling for decisions that take time and consideration.
“These are very serious conversations,” he said. “It needs to be an informative conversation from the medical side and it needs to be thought about carefully by the patient and their families.”
Leave it to Republicans to take an intelligent and compassionate provision and twist it to the extent of claiming that the government wants “seniors in a position of being put to death.” Fear over truth triumphs once more.
My mom would not have liked these people.
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If you can watch the following video and not feel both moved and angered then you might want to take a walk with Dorothy and the Tinman in search of a missing heart.
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STAN BROCK BRINGS HEALTH CARE TO AMERICANS WITH REMOTE AREA MEDICAL PROGRAM from R2 Studios on Vimeo.
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So while Republicans in Congress play politics and look for new ways to delay health care reform in hopes of taking down a president and while conservative Democrats in Congress look for new ways of watering down the health bill in hopes of getting re-elected in their respective red states, some guy is driving 200 miles and sleeping in a parking lot with his wife and child so he can see a dentist. His crime is not that he’s jobless or a drug addict or without health insurance. He is none of these. It’s that he’s part of a broken health care system.
Saddest part of all is to know that Stan Brock and his Remote Area Medical Program now spend 60% of their time giving basic medical care in the richest country on the planet. And if anyone thinks that that’s not a crying shame, then they may want to take that walk with Tinman to the land of Oz.
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Good little discussion on the current state of the republican part with former GOP Congressman Tom Davis on Hardball. Davis says…
Politics has been defined by culture over the last few cycles, and we’ve become a rural party and a Southern party. We’ve been losing inner suburbs and the like. A lot of this was the policies of the Bush administration.
The high education areas Obama carried – 78 of the 100 counties with the highest education. McCain carried 88 of the 100 counties with the lowest education. As we move to cultural politics, that’s been the shift.
The more one looks at the stats and the reality out there, the easier it is to understand why so many Republicans see their future not as a party of ideas appealing to the masses but instead see their success defined by the failures of the Democrat party. It’s not about being a party for the people with policies which will better their lives. It’s about being a party which has a single goal…get back into power at any cost. And it is this singular focus which allows them to say and do the the things we’ve been witness to these many months. Lies, misinformation and fear-mongering are all standard policy for the party of NO.
Demographics are shifting and none of them are favorable to Republicans. While the party will certainly have minor victories along the way, the long term picture is not pretty for conservatives. Should they choose to not listen to the Tom Davis’ of the party and attempt to take the party further to the right, they are doomed for a long time to come.
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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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NYT’s Maureen Dowd explains her latest Sarah Palin column.
“I love Sarah Palin. I mean, I love her more than anyone. As a journalist she is the best story ever.”
“You’ve got this former beauty queen and sportscaster who’s in the role of Dick Cheney… She is the first person to ever fuse politics with reality tv.”
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