![[image description: black background, white text “I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is ‘class warfare’. I think it’s just the right thing to do.-barack obama”]
leftish:
The GOP’s definition of “Class Warfare” is like their definition of “Clear Skies” or “No Child Left Behind”…Black is White, Up is Down, Right is Wrong…it’s just more of that famous Republican Doublespeak.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrsmdyXlGU1qeawdho1_500.jpg)
[image description: black background, white text “I reject the idea that asking a hedge fund manager to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is ‘class warfare’. I think it’s just the right thing to do.-barack obama”]
The GOP’s definition of “Class Warfare” is like their definition of “Clear Skies” or “No Child Left Behind”…Black is White, Up is Down, Right is Wrong…it’s just more of that famous Republican Doublespeak.
I have a project that is to compare Democratic ideals with Republican ideals. So what was the first thing I did? I went to their individual websites which are:
and
Click on those. look around. The Democrat page opens up and you see tabs that say “who we are” and “what we stand for” and has a flipping banner that talks about the American Jobs Act and the end of DADT. when you scroll down, you see a sticker about how you can get involved in the 2012 election, another that says “the real cost of photo ID laws” and another that says “see progress in your area”
Now look at the GOP front page. You may notice that you are automatically redirected to a site called Debt End Tour, which solely blames obama and the liberal media for everything going wrong at the moment, followed by a way you can donate to the Republican National Party. You have to scroll all the way down to click on a link that says “continue to GOP.com”. On that site, the first thing that caught my eye was the “Obama debt watch” which showed how much debt had been wracked up. The next thing I noticed was a link to “RNC women”, so I clicked on that. All I can say is that I am happy it wasn’t pink.
The light blue layout shows you how you can get involved, and includes 96 testimonials about why some women are proud to be Republican Women.
I then noticed another widget that led you to RNClatinos.org, a recently launched Republican National Party Website aimed at the latino population. So I went there, hoping to find what they stand for. Obviously, since I do not read spanish well, that didn’t help either.
So maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but I’m going to say this:
The Republicans don’t really want you to know what they stand for. I went through 4 separate Republican National Party websites, and not one of them gave me the lowdown about where they stood on any subject. Most of it was Anti-Obama rhetoric. It was a bit like navigating a PETA website. it kept redirecting you to bright colors and big text, but at the end, you come out not knowing any more then when you entered and feeling a bit odd, like you’re about to be indoctrinated into a cult.
The Democrat website, however, was quite different. I could find the information I needed and wanted quickly. It was easy to navigate, didn’t redirect you asking for money to defund a current politician, and it was inclusive. The Republican national party had three separate websites and weren’t inclusive at all about the African American population, the disabled population, or any other group. There is an entire tab on the Democrats website dedicated to every minority and how current things that are happening in politics effect them and how they can get involved.
This was frustrating, as I am sure it is for GOP-ers who want to know what is going on with their party. Propaganda doesn’t help your cause, it only harms it. Take a lesson from the Democrats, GOP. An easily navigable site might actually get you somewhere.
[image description: photo of an older blonde woman in a beige suit]
Kathryn Lehman is an unusual pick for a lobbyist to help repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. A Republican lobbyist, she helped write the controversial law 15 years ago.
Now, Lehman has essentially switched sides on the issue and is working with other lobbyists to repeal DOMA. She’s holding on to her GOP affiliation, but she’s realized how important it is for DOMA to disappear - she came out to herself and to the world some time after the law was put in place.
“I’m not an activist personality. I’ve been a staffer my whole career,” Lehman explained of her new involvement in lobbying for the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA. “It’s not a secret that I’m gay, it’s not a secret that [Lehman’s partner] Julie [Conway] and I have been together for seven years. … But I really felt like it was time to step up, to step out. And I’ve recognized the work of people who I don’t really agree with politically in the gay and lesbian community, but who have done a lot of work to make my life better.”
The Advocate.com profile of Lehman, linked above, has more information about her lobbying career and what it means to have a Republican fighting against DOMA. All in all, this is pretty impressive. Better late than never.
According to a 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, Americans think GOP means:
- Grand Old Party (45 percent)
- Government of the People (35 percent)
- Grumpy Old People (7 percent)
- God’s Own Party (3 percent)
- Gauntlet of Power (1 percent)
The House Appropriations Committee today called for eliminating more than 30 education programs, including President Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” initiative. The panel proposed slashing the Department of Labor’s budget by one-fifth, slicing funds for the National Labor Relations Board by 17 percent and barring funds to implement Obama’s health-care overhaul. It would also withhold funding for Planned Parenthood unless it says it will stop providing abortions.
The provisions are included in a $153.4 billion measure needed to fund the departments of Health and Human Services, Education and Labor for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The Republicans’ plan would amount to $4 billion cut or about 2.5 percent less than this year
Plus, these very same clowns have recently tripled funds for legal fees to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.
PRIORITIES!
(via bohemianarthouse)
CHATTANOOGA — Ninety-six-year-old Dorothy Cooper has been voting for about as long as she can remember.
That’s why she was eager to get a photo identification card when she heard it would be required for the next election.
But Cooper was denied the card on Monday at the state driver’s license center, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. That’s because the name on her birth certificate did not match her married name and she did not have her marriage certificate.
Asked about the problem, Hamilton County’s administrator of elections recommended Cooper vote with an absentee ballot so she wouldn’t have to stand in line with her walker again. Absentee ballots don’t require photo ID. […]
You wanna add another candidate? It’s like the Republican primary is like a season of American Idol in reverse, where every week, you just add another idiot. …First you guys wanted (Michele) Bachmann, then (Rick) Perry — now (Chris) Christie? You know what, Republican base? Meet me at camera three!
(To camera three.) Have you ever considered the possibility that maybe your candidates aren’t the problem — maybe it’s you? You’re hard to please or figure out! You’re unrealistic! I mean, you’re pro-life, yet — (rolls tape of GOP members applauding Texas’s death penalty) — what was that? You’re afraid of ‘death panels,’ yet for uninsured coma patients — (rolls tape of GOP members shouting ‘YEAH!!!’ when Ron Paul was asked if a patient without health insurance should be allowed to die) — that’s the crowd: ‘YEAH!!!’ You guys ‘support the troops’ — well except for Captain Creatine over here (rolls tape of gay U.S. Army soldier who asked GOP candidates if they’d repeal DADT — and was booed by GOP debate crowd).
It’s like the Republican base is at war with its own talking points: ‘I want someone who’s gonna cut taxes — and balance the budget! Someone who’s a skilled orator — that doesn’t talk all fancy! The child of poor immigrants — who will build a fence to keep them out of this country! Someone who’s strong enough for a man — but Ph-balanced for a woman!
…It’s like your ideal candidate is a rare, super-heavy element that can only exist in a particular particle accelerator. And even then, only for a fraction of a second. Before you all remember how much you hate science.
You guys need to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and not come away thinking ‘Hey, there’s something wrong with this mirror.’
”JON STEWART, on media-fed rumors that New Jersey governor Chris Christie may enter the GOP presidential race — as well as the hypocritical sentiments of the Republican party — on The Daily Show (via inothernews)
so fucking spot on.
In a move without precedent in the modern era, Republican congressional leaders including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) have penned a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urging him not to take any steps to help the economy.
If I lived in a city, I would be printing copies of this to leave around unemployment offices, on random bus seats, in laundry mats - places where folks who may not pay that close attention to politics, but who are hurting might find and read it. The regular news programs people are more likely to watch than the 24 hour news programs we junkies follow, probably won’t cover this.
Important.
Just in case yall forgot..
What the goddamn fuck, GOP.
Oh my blood is boiling now…
you have to be kidding me. you have to be fucking kidding me. GOP=bullshit. just bullshit.
(Source: andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com, via whipporwill-deactivated20111220)
Representative Michele Bachmann’s penchant for exaggeration has been getting more exposure, raising questions about her judgment and maturity.
Senator Bill Nelson of Florida has been pushing the Interior Department to enact regulatory curbs on the importation of Burmese pythons into the United States. Apparently they’ve been infesting the Everglades and doing a great deal of damage. And according to the House GOP, this sort of thing is exactly why unemployment rate is over 9 percent:
But in a report released Wednesday, Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee denounced the proposed rule as part of the Obama administration’s “regulatory tsunami.” They said the snake ban could “devastate a small but thriving sector of the economy.”
I, personally, am an invasive species sympathizer (who are we, humans, if not the ultimate invasive species?) so I see where the critics are coming from, but this highlights precisely how petty and absurd efforts to tackle mass unemployment purely on the supply side are going to be. We don’t need four jobs selling snakes somewhere. We need millions and millions of jobs. We need well over a million new jobs per year just to keep up with the growing population rate. To get the employment-population ratio back up to its late ’90s peak would require hundreds of thousands of jobs per month for years. Snake imports aren’t going to cut it. Trade deals with tiny countries like Panama aren’t going to cut it. Picking nits about where Boeing does and doesn’t open factories isn’t going to cut it. The United States of America is a gigantic country with a gigantic economy and a gigantic labor force and a gigantic problem of joblessness. You need to move it with big levers. Snake-led growth doesn’t cut it.
(Source: letterstomycountry)
American voters are symbolically conservative but operationally liberal…When asked about specific government programs and specific social goals, the American public generally wants the government to do more, spend more, and redistribute more. But at the same time, citizens are considerably more likely to identify themselves as conservatives than as liberals. The American public, in other words, generally wants more government-based solutions to social problems, but overwhelmingly identifies with the ideological label that rejects those solutions.
Politicians know this fact to be true. The GOP talks and talks ad nauseum about reducing spending, but cannot articulate any spending cuts of substance they would actually make if they could. This is precisely because they know that voters like the idea of small government in principle, but love individual government programs in practice.
