| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
twotap
F L I N T O I D
|
One should always be prepared. So, if some one asks you
what the main difference is between most of the Obama
supporters, and Romney supporters, instead of stammering,
and stuttering, and looking for an answer ......just tell them
that the Romney supporters sign their checks on the front
and the Obama supporters sign their checks on the back.
 |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
|
Thu Aug 23, 2012 8:58 pm |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
stein@huffingtonpost.com
aterkel@huffingtonpost.com
Mitt Romney's Culture War Distraction: How A Job-Centric Campaign Got Sidetracked
Posted: 08/24/2012 1:22 pm Updated: 08/24/2012 2:20 pm
WASHINGTON -- The 2012 election was not supposed to play out like this.
The Tea Party, with its obsessive focus on the debt, was ascending. Mitt Romney, the consummate boardroom Republican, was the party's nominee. His vice presidential running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), was known as a budget wonk. Virtually every public opinion poll showed the issue most important to voters was jobs. The campaign was supposed to be a referendum on President Barack Obama's stewardship of the economy.
Instead, the past few weeks have been dominated by continuous eruptions of debate over social policy: from the anti-gay politics of the president of a fast food chicken chain, to the racial implications of advertisements about welfare reform, to whether or not contraception should be covered by insurance. The trend peaked Sunday when Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) declared that women who suffer "legitimate rape" have the biological means to prevent themselves from getting pregnant -- a statement almost universally ridiculed, but trumpeted, in some quarters, as proof that the culture wars are far from settled.
Conservative activist Ralph Reed, who heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition, said it was not surprising to see social issues at the forefront of the campaign.
"Here is the irony," Reed said. "We have an election we were told is going to be about the economy and jobs. And I would certainly agree that for the overwhelming majority of voters, including voters of faith, that it is the salient issue of this election. But having said that, look at what we have dealt with so far this year and we are only into August: contraception, Obama's evolution/flip flop on marriage, the Chick-fil-A episode, and Akin.
"These issues never go away," he added. "They are evergreen and they don’t go away because of the size and vibrancy of the community that cares about them, on both sides of the ball."
Indeed, an election that was supposed to be tied to the monthly job numbers has, for the time being, become a litmus test on social issues. It's caused more than a few bouts of heartache for the Republican establishment, with virtually every lawmaker running to denounce Akin's comments, and Ryan being forced to soften his rhetoric on abortion. But it's also energized core constituencies on both sides of the aisle who are accustomed to waging these fights on a biennial basis.
The debate over the Republican Party platform in Tampa, Fla. this past week underscored the extent to which social conservatives aren't willing to quiet their bark. From abortion to marriage to guns to Sharia law, they generated enough support to get nearly everything they wanted into the GOP platform, which still needs to voted on by the full delegation Monday during the Republican National Convention.
On the issue of gay rights, the party's platform once again endorses a constitutional ban on marriage equality and endorses the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
The platform endorses a constitutional ban on abortion, with no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, saying, "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed." The language is similar to what was included in the 2004 and 2008 platforms.
Social conservatives even convinced the platform committee to insert language encouraging the city council of Washington, D.C. to expand gun rights.
"It's a good platform," said Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at the Family Research Council, a group that lobbies for social conservative causes, "a really strong platform."
Whether it's a politically inconvenient platform is another question entirely. Before it had even passed, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus was noting that the Romney campaign didn't agree with all the accompanying language. Privately, top Republican operatives concede that the platform did little to help the campaign with its central message. Publicly, the more socially progressive members of the party predicted it would damage the ticket.
"Electing Mitt Romney isn't their number one priority this year ... because this election is going to be about jobs and economy and we should all be talking about jobs and economy," said Jimmy LaSalvia, co-founder and the executive director of GOProud, a conservative group promoting gay rights. "They are not helping the effort here to elect Mitt Romney because the vast majority of voters aren't focused on those issues. Why do they want to hear a bunch of people talking about abortion when they are worried about putting gas in their car? It gives the impression that Republicans don’t care about issues that affect average Americans."
As LaSalvia sees it, the platform has little actual influence on the legislative priorities that parties pursue once in power. To waste time and energy shaping it and fretting about it, then, is inherently pointless.
But it's hard to deny that social conservatives were able to use the platform-crafting process to reorient the political debate. And in an election season where each news cycle matters, its impact went beyond enshrining certain language into a largely ceremonial document.
FRC was instrumental in getting many of the provisions on guns, abortion and same-sex marriage included. Its president, Tony Perkins, is a delegate from Louisiana this year and was on the platform committee, giving him an important perch from which to push causes important to social conservatives. The expansion of D.C. gun laws came directly from Perkins, who McClusky said has a personal interest in the issue.
Perkins and FRC also worked with the conservative Center for Military Readiness to insert language into the platform stating that military chaplains would not have to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies, and the group contributed to provisions relating to abortion and stem cell research.
"We found the majority of the language throughout the legislation was excellent," said McClusky. "But Tony rewrote the marriage plank to make it a little more stronger and clearer. That passed overwhelmingly in committee."
Some of the top priorities for the fiscal conservatives in the caucus were addressed as well, but to much smaller fanfare. On MSNBC on Thursday, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) insisted that only 10 percent of the platform was devoted to the so-called "traditional" social issues. Language was inserted in the platform expressing support for auditing the Federal Reserve, as well as endorsing a "flatter tax." But other issues, like eliminating specific departments of the federal government, were left unaddressed.
Beyond that, some socially moderate groups were distraught that the platform hadn't ended up presenting a new, more modern Republican Party. The Log Cabin Republicans, a pro-LGBT rights group, initially tried to spin the platform as positive for them, pointing out to BuzzFeed that the document contained the line, "We embrace the principle that all Americans have the right to be treated with dignity and respect."
But that hope was short-lived, and in the end, even they had to admit that the language included by the platform committee on marriage was "abysmal."
"Tony Perkins may be boasting today about having written an anti-gay marriage plank into the Republican Party platform, but it will be a hollow and short-lived victory," said Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper. "The obsessive exclusion of gay couples, including military families, from the rights and responsibilities of marriage, combined with bizarre rhetoric about 'hate campaigns' and 'the homosexual rights agenda' are clear signs of desperation among social conservatives who know that public opinion is rapidly turning in favor of equality."
In a follow-up interview with The Huffington Post, Cooper insisted there were nevertheless some bright spots this year. For example, the platform committee did not call for the reinstatement of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which barred openly gay men and women from serving in the military before being repealed in 2011.
Beyond searching for silver linings in the platform, other Republicans expressed confidence that this current bout of culture war nostalgia wouldn't trip up the presidential ticket. For starters, the upcoming convention would help reset the conversation. Beyond that, they said, the party was far more interested in moving on to other matters.
"If social conservatives were really flexing their muscles," said one Republican campaign official, "then our nominee wouldn't have been Mitt Romney." |
|
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:31 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Bill Maher.
Host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher"
My New Rule for Todd Akin and the Republican Party
Posted: 08/24/2012 8:40 am
New Rule: If your entire party tries to get rid of you, and you stay in, you can't talk about how easy it is for a woman to push a stupid prick out of her body.
I don't want to waste another second thinking about Todd Akin, and his theory that you can't get pregnant unless your eggs are asking for it. Here's the only thing you need to know about Todd Akin and human anatomy: he's an asshole. What I want to talk about is how it's not a coincidence that the party of fundamentalism is also the party of fantasy. When I say religion is a mental illness, this is what I mean: it corrodes your mental faculties to the point where you can believe in tiny ninja warriors who hide in vaginas and lie in wait for bad people's sperm.
Evangelicals might like to pretend that the magical thinking that they indulge in at home doesn't affect what they do at the office, but it absolutely does. The brain that believes in angels and miracles and Jesus riding a dinosaur is trained to see the world not as it is, but as you want it to be.
Republicans would like to pretend like Congressman Akin's substitution of superstition for science is a lone problem but it's not: they're all magical thinkers, on nearly every issue. They don't get their answers on climate change from climatologists, they get them from the Book of Genesis. Hence Sharia Law in America is a dire threat, and global warming a hoax.
Or take the issue that consumes the right these days, our sea of red ink: Republicans are united in their fervent desire to reduce the deficit, but they want to do it in some magical fashion that doesn't involve raising taxes or cutting any spending. When given a choice in polls between these two options, a majority of Republicans check "none of the above" as a way to reduce the deficit. That's like deciding to pay off your student loans by daydreaming.
Or as it's known on Capitol Hill, supply-side economics. Remember that magic beans theory? That you actually bring in more revenue by bringing in less? Ronald Reagan believed it. But at least back in the '80s it was new. The thing is, we tried it, and it doesn't work. Yet, Paul Ryan, who every shit-for-brains pundit in America keeps telling us is a "serious" guy, still believes in the supply-side theory. All the Republicans do. They all believe in something that both science and history have shown to be pure fantasy. The symbol for their party shouldn't be an elephant -- it should be a unicorn.
Paul Ryan is their tough guy on spending but he doesn't want to touch defense -- that's right, a budget hawk who doesn't think there's anything bloated about the Defense Department's budget. It's like being a health inspector and finding nothing wrong with the Asian place that has the chicken hanging in the window
. This is how low we've put the bar for political courage -- that you can just write, "I want a pony" in a binder and call it the "Plan For Restoring Vision For the Future of America's Greatness" or some shit, and then everyone has to refer to you as the serious one in Congress. It reminds me of health care. Republicans are for all the popular things, like covering people with pre-existing conditions, but they're not for the part where you pay for it, like the mandate. Just like they were for our recent wars, but not for paying for them. For the prescription drug bill, but not for paying for it.
How do they get away with it? They know that, because we're already such a religious country, our minds are primed for magical, fantasy thinking. The gullibility comes factory-installed. They've learned that you appeal not to an American's head, but to his gut -- it's a much bigger target. But here's the problem: life is complicated. I mean, I know we know some things for sure, like why Jesus put us here on Earth: to watch Here Comes Honey Boo Boo on a 50-inch TV screen. But what about the Chinese slaves who made the TV? What about carbon from the coal that generated the electricity? What about the Walmart where we bought it, where the workers don't have health insurance? What about racism, or the oceans turning into nail polish remover? The grown-up answer is: identify problems scientifically, prioritize and solve. The Republican answer is: there isn't a problem. And anyone who tells you different is a liar who hates America. We don't have to make hard choices. We just have to ignore the science and the math -- that's why God gave us values.
If rape babies throw a monkey wrench into the whole right-to-life pitch, just make believe rape babies don't exist. If you want to cut down on teen pregnancy, just tell curious kids with raging hormones to practice abstinence. Until they get married. Because everyone knows, that's when the very never stops. Health care? Not a problem if you just keep repeating, "We have the greatest health care in the world." Even though the U.N. ranks it 37th.
What's the solution to global warming? It's that it isn't real, and even if it is, big whoop, just buy an air conditioner, you pussy. Republicans also believe that putting the word "clean" next to the word "coal" creates something called clean coal. Even though there's the exact same amount of evidence for clean coal as there is for Todd Akin's mistaken baby makin' theory.
Republicans also believe if they kick all the Mexicans out of the country, the strawberries will pick themselves, and that if they cut the safety net all the poor blacks are "resting" in, they will fall gently to the ground, stand up, dust themselves off, and get good-paying jobs as Olympic gymnasts.
Next week in Tampa the Republicans must admit that the difference
between a GOP convention and Comic-Con is that the people at Comic-Con have a much firmer grasp of reality.
Bill Maher is the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
Last edited by untanglingwebs on Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:40 am; edited 1 time in total |
|
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:56 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
August 24th, 2012
01:55 PM ET
5 national security issues we should be talking about
By Brian Katulis, Special to CNN
Brian Katulis is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where his work focuses on U.S. national security policy in the Middle East and South Asia. The views expressed are his own
America’s 2012 presidential election has so far generated more heat than light on foreign policy – angry sounding exchanges on “issues” such as the allegations of intelligence leaks by the Obama administration and Mitt Romney’s unforced errors on an overseas trip this summer have garnered more attention than what the next president is going to face in the world. Occasionally, the candidates have found time to make a few substantive points about the Afghanistan war and Iran’s nuclear program, but the major national security questions facing the country have not been high on the agenda.
And, barring an unexpected international crisis, we’re not likely to see much focus on foreign policy through November. With most voters focused on the economy and domestic issues in 2012, the campaigns and independent advocacy groups are spending most of their money and time on that front. The schedule for the Republican National Convention in Tampa next week has very little focus on national security – a sharp shift from the past three conventions.
It’s not uncommon for national political campaigns to oversimplify or skim over the big foreign policy questions. But looking beyond country specific policies on China, Iran, and Syria, there are five broader national security issues that the Republicans (and Democrats) should be talking about next week:
1. Getting our spending priorities in order. The old, clichéd “guns versus butter” debate is very much alive, up in the air, and likely to get worse. Immediately after the election, the country will face urgent budget questions – the Congressional Budget Office warned this week that the economy would fall back into a recession and unemployment would rise if Congress did not act to stop automatic budget cuts and tax increases. Tied up in this budget question is the defense sequestration issue – the prospect of automatic cuts to defense, along with other agencies. President Obama has signaled that he wants to increase investments at home to keep America strong abroad, while Mitt Romney has a different plan on defense spending. America’s leadership role in the world should be an important part of this debate. A top U.S. military official recently told me in a private discussion that America’s inability to resolve this budget debate is having a negative impact on our power and ability to get things done in the world– if we can’t deal with the issues most relevant to our own citizens and taxpayer money, how can we do anything about the world’s problems?
Beyond this immediate challenge, leaders in Washington will need to deal with larger issues on the horizon – a major fiscal crunch looming with the retiring Baby Boomer generation. How America deals with this issue will directly impact the U.S. ability to project power and remain a leader in the world. After a decade of costly, large-scale ground wars in two countries and operations in several other countries costing about $2 trillion, unpaid-for tax cuts, and a financial crash followed by a weak recovery, the United States faces the difficult task of rebalancing its priorities to make needed investments in its own future while effectively and efficiently defending its national interests abroad. How the United States rebalances in the short run will have a significant impact on its long-run national security. Failing to advance fundamental defense and national security reform and continuing to make low investments in domestic priorities such as education, infrastructure, and research and development may ultimately erode American economic strength and human capital – the ultimate sources of power – over the long term.
2. Rebalancing America’s geopolitical focus. The Obama administration has taken the first steps toward shifting the strategic focus of U.S. national security concerns from its current heavy investment in the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific region. However, many details of how to execute this rebalance remain undeveloped. How does America rebalance its overall portfolio? What military and diplomatic resources will the United States need in the short term to fully realize the strategic rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region while mitigating potential risks in the Middle East at the same time it rebalances between domestic and national security priorities? Determining the answers to these and similar questions will assist the effort to rebalance between domestic priorities and foreign policy issues after a decade of overwhelming focus on the latter.
3. Reforming the global economic architecture. For the past five years, the world has stood at the brink of economic collapse – showing the shortcoming in an outmoded global economic system. The financial crash of 2008, ongoing Eurozone crisis, substandard economic recoveries in the United States and other countries, and continuing domestic anxiety about trade have combined to discredit the principles of free capital and goods movement that have dominated international political economy since the 1980s. Despite the failure of the old international economic order, no prominent new ideas on how to re-structure the global economy to be more stable and fair have yet emerged much less been adopted.
4. The new strategy for combating terrorist networks. The Obama administration smartly abandoned the “global war on terror” framework in its strategic communications, and it adopted a much more effective strategy to deal with the threats posed by al Qaeda and its affiliates – with more targeted strikes using drones and special operations forces in the U.S. military. In dozens of countries around the world, U.S. intelligence operatives and Special Forces from the military are operating largely in the shadows to deal with multiple threats. This new approach – quite different from the Bush administration’s “shock and awe” approach – has produced real results. But some have raised the question of whether this current approach amounts to a sustainable strategy – given the risks of potential blowback, the lack of transparency, and the questions of how societies create more lasting solutions.
5. Cybersecurity.Last but not least is an issue that is sorely in need of leadership in Washington – proposed efforts to enhance America’s defenses against cyber attacks were blocked in Congress this summer, even as a wide range of national security experts continue to highlight the risks to America’s infrastructure, economy, and overall security.
The next president will face a wide range of challenges on foreign policy – some will be focused on specific countries like North Korea and Iran, and other unexpected challenges will come up. But these five issues are one worth deeper discussion this fall. |
|
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:17 am |
|
|
twotap
F L I N T O I D
|
| Bill Maher perfect mouthpiece for liberal whack jobs everywhere keep em coming Bill. |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:46 am |
|
|
andi03
F L I N T O I D
|
| All die hard supporters have a screw loose! |
_________________
Build a bridge and get over it! |
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 11:11 am |
|
|
twotap
F L I N T O I D
|
Andi.... check out our new puppy shes Golden Retreiver Alaskan Malamute mix.  A real sweetheart. along with our granddaughter.
|
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
|
|
Sat Aug 25, 2012 12:42 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
