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The GOP's Suicide Mission
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Memo to my party: Blasting targets like Sonia Sotomayor and Colin Powell is a surefire strategy to guarantee our extinction.
Plus, more Daily Beast contributors react to Sotomayor's nomination.
If the GOP is ever to be resurgent, it has to pick its fights carefully. The tendency is, unfortunately, to shoot at everything that moves.
Here are a couple of fights we don’t need: Colin Powell and Sonia Sotomayor.
Let’s face it, Sotomayor is a political trifecta. Woman. Hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H. W. Bush.
Yes, Mitch McConnell has to make his pro forma gestures about doing due diligence. And it is important to fully examine Judge Sotomayor’s judicial record. But, every day this confirmation battle gets unreasonably extended is a good day for Democrats and a bad day for Republicans.
We should be on our knees praising Colin Powell for declaring that he has not, despite the desire of some narrow and vocal forces within the GOP, left the party. Because if he does, we might as well turn the lights out.
Sotomayor is going to be confirmed. There is little doubt about it. So, going into weeks or months of paroxysms and hysterics about alleged “judicial activism” is just going to make the party look bitter, mean, tone deaf, and out of touch.
And we should be on our knees praising Colin Powell for declaring that he has not, despite the desire of some narrow and vocal forces within the GOP, left the party. Because if he leaves the party, we might as well turn the lights out. This is a man who, arguably, could have been the first African-American president had he made the decision to run against Bill Clinton in 1996.
Powell is a man of unquestioned military experience and diplomatic skill, the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of State under a Republican president. And yet, some attack him as just not “Republican enough.” Not a good message for independent and swing voters.
No one is suggesting that Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh leave the party. So why are they insistent on defining the party as such an exclusive club? Because if they keep it up, they’ll offend enough Republicans so that’s just what the party will be: exclusive. It’s a recipe for permanent minority status.
I admittedly and proudly align myself with the more centrist, Powell wing of the party. But I think it’s great that there are strongly conservative voices in the party. Hell, I loved seeing Liz Cheney out burning up the TV circuits defending the policies of President Bush. She’s a superstar in the making. I don’t agree with everything she says, but I think it’s good that the party has a broad chorus singing the hymns. Even if it’s not in perfect harmony.
So, for the good of the party, after applying reasonable due diligence, we ought to be prepared to wave a white flag on Sotomayor, give Colin Powell a big bear hug and sincere thanks for sticking it out, and move on.
Xtra Insight: More Daily Beast contributors react to Sotomayor's nomination.
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, causes, and individuals, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today’s rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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Jacob Bernstein is a senior reporter at The Daily Beast. Previously, he was a features writer at WWD and W Magazine. He has also written for New York magazine, Paper, and The Huffington Post.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Jeff Madrick is a contributor to the New York Review of Books and a former economics columnist for the New York Times. He is editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at Cooper Union, and senior fellow at the New School's Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis. He is the author of Taking America, The End of Affluence (Random House) and The Case for Big Government.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
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As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
What did it take Rove four seconds to start in on her? I wish you luck with you plea to your party. No comments yet here that say they get your line.
McKinnon is another one of Tina's apparently large stable of RINOs. If there are no Republican principles to defend, why bother having a party. Powell walks and talks like a Democrat. Why take his word for it that he is a Republican?
RINO my eye numb skull. Republicans actually are allowed to have brains, really.
Hey, keep it up, Banjo, you're exactly what the Dems need!
LOL.
No, Banjo1! Powell walks and talks like a human being first, a man second. I know being human is rather foreign to that Grand Ole-Ass Party, but I'd be careful before trying to kick out the only person in your group who speak with some semblance of humanity and a little commonsense. Bless your hearts -- Christians are not welcome in your party (unless Pat Roberts gives his seal of approval), anyone who is not staunchly entrenched in the ditches of the conservative insanity are extremely suspect; certainly everyone of color is villified, and penis-less humans are a big no-no (unless they are Bachman-like insane). So, what is the criteria? Pill popping? Friend shooting? One foot in the grave? Corporation owning? Global warming dismissing? Thinkers? Users of Commonsense? Who's left?
Banjo, the RINOs, if you must, are indeed a " large segment"- of the party as a whole. I was registered Rep for 22 years, [now Independent, check the stats! ]Why can't you see that the extremist hard right should not get to say who is a Republican? Your kind is maybe 40% of the party, maybe 10% of the voters? You have to realize, without the RINOs, you are OVER!
I had to change party affiliation when the Christian Coalition gained too much power. I am a Left-Leaning Libertarian, but many of my values are reflected in the ,former, party of Reagan. I would like to support more conservative policies, and legistators, but the stranglehold of Extremist Ideology prevents me sometimes.
How are you gonna build your party and dismiss so many?
they listened to your advise Dick Cheney said he welcomes Colin Powel to the party, well at least it's a start.
To be welcomed anywhere by Dick Cheney is an insult! Powell had better not accept any invitations to go hunting!
Leftist enjoy preaching inclusion to the Republican Party but I am wondering where are the pro-life, peace through strength, anti-illegal immigration persons in the Democrat Party? Republicans sided with Arlen Spector against a conservative candidate and were rewarded by his joining the opposition party. Colin Powell endorses the most left-wing Democrat to run for President and has the audacity to tell conservatives that they are hurting the Party? Obama wanted to fillibuster Alito and Roberts yet Republicans must stand aside for his controversial nominee? This kind of nonsense is what has gotten the Party to where it is. Why anyone would consider this man's opinion to be worth much is beyond me.
Well a college drop-out like Rove is certainly qualified to assess intelligence! Why isn't this man in jail?
Good advice, But there are bigger problems to solve. How do you reconcile the differences between the libertarian wing and the social-religious segment, the fiscal conservatives and the deficits-aren't-all-that-bad folks, the neo-conservative hawks and the isolationists, the ethnocentrists and the tolerant?
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i give mark credit for not being totally delusional like most members of the GOP, but if he's going to be a total kiss- ass and say that Liz Cheney is a "superstar in the making", he should just shut the hell up.
what a dolt...
Exactly. If McKinnon thinks Liz Cheney is a superstar in the making then he has missed the entire point of the GOP's massive fail.
Liz will not only be a superstar, she'll be a state governor someday, then a POTUS. She's the next best thing to Palin in our party; Palin's advantage is that Palin can connect with average voters in a way that noone else can.
I look for Liz to run for something in 2012-indeed, I wouldn't be surprised to see her on anybody's VP shortlist. However, she needs executive experience first.
Silly Democrats, you need to get back to ruining the currency, trashing our AAA bond rating, and selling out the country to the Chicoms and the North Koreans before you waste time beating up on Republicans.
Speaking of missing the point...
section9, the Dems don't ave to focus on any of those things you listed because the Reps had already done them...
section9 -- "next best thing to Sarah Palin" -- sometimes these clowns inadvertently speak the truth, ROTFLMAO....
Yeah, she'll be President like I'll be the first man to jump a unicorn over ten schoolbuses full of Sasquatches. ; )
Doko84: Do all the Daily Kos Kids agree with you on Liz?
And do all the ditto-heads stink at logic as badly as you?
LOL.
Is that "Sarah Palin" like superstar? Hmmmm. I must have missed the star that makes Liz super.
If the sad, Lizzy Cheney, who has no credentials to comment on anything is the best the GOP has to offer then it will be a long, long time before the "rising." Perhaps, someone could find her a hair dresser. At least she could scratch of poor grooming from her deficits.
I think it's time to let the tinfoil hat bearers of the republican party head off and form their own elite, "Bears no relation to reality party" and let everyone else not be dragged down by them.
The GOP will ignore you Mark and this makes me very very happy. They can't embrace these people, it will piss off the base. They can't afford to live without voices likes Powell or Meghan McCain either but they'll turn up their noses at them and continue with the same policies. It's all they know. And I for one will be hoping that they do because we'll need your party to be extinct for awhile in order to clean up the mess that your buddy George, Dick and the rest of the neocon cabal left us. In this case extinction is the best favor you people could do for us.
How does Powell qualify as republican other than the "R" next to his name? Liberals are a threat to my freedom, and my grandsons freedom, and I will not support them.
There is a difference between disagreement and disparagement.
Be nice if more politically interested persons learned it.
Are you supposed to be polite to people that utterly and finally destroyed a once great nation? It's my first time.
Yes, you are always supposed to be polite. Politeness is not the same as weakness. You can politely throw someone into jail for war crimes, for example.
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Unfortunately, if you are polite to diseased rats they will eat all your food and piss on what they can't have and give your children rabies.
Sometimes politeness in the face of rabidity is overrated. The Jews were pretty polite to the Nazis, for the most part, snicker-chortle.
Unfortunately, "moderate Repubs" is a smaller and shrinking group. Your advice would only be prudent if it weren't. The bulk of the Republican party thrives on this negative frenzy and they rely on it to reinforce the tribalism that they have cultivated these past ten years or so. Their biggest problem is that they will become too predictable with this kind of attack. And their second biggest problem is that they don't solve problems that need solving. But they can complain and attack like nobody's business.
"The bulk of the Republican party thrives on this negative frenzy and they rely on it to reinforce the tribalism that they have cultivated these past ten years or so."
Brilliant, toddanthonydirect, because you've said it like no one else, and that's hard to do. And yes, their biggest problem is that they have made themselves into a predictable caricature---the party of hell no!
Some may want to cheer McKinnon on for his plea to cool off on Sotomayer and Powell, as if this is the apex of smart thinking for the GOP, but to which I can only respond to with DUH.
How about cool off on trying to push the efficacy of torture down our throats, since you can't win on the legality issue? How about calling torture for what it is instead of giving us the ultimate banality of evil euphemism---"enhanced interrogation techniques." How about standing up and admitting we as a country have agreed torture is illegal in many ways and having the cajones to say, change the law. Having the cajones to run a campaign under the banner of "We want torture to be legal."
For me, Mckinnon undoes any good by cheering on Liz Cheney, who has appeared on the scene as intractable as her father, and who has rudely talked over, filibustered over, everyone who she's been paired against. Just like dear old dad.
I agree, toddanthonydirect. I was struck as well by your clarity in calling the problem tribalism. It sums up the "fear of the other," the "us vs them," the "with us or against us" and "dead or alive" mentality that really is becoming a illness of sorts. It is based in fear as an operation mode. The only thing one can trust in such a situation is a member of one's own tribe.
I believe another way to think of this is that the GOP is suffering from a profound and debilitating personality disorder. It is what we call Cluster B in psychiatry, and they have it really bad. When in power they were narcissistic and anti-social. Now, out of power and humiliated, they devolve into histrionics, borderline quasi-psychosis and grotesque projection or denial of their own culpability.
After eight long years it's such a relief to be able to watch all of this with interest rather than the dread and horror I felt while they were in power. I believe that in many ways it is a primitive and even a savage mindset. See for example their arguments for torture. Even relatively benign apologists for the party spend a surprisingly transparent amount of time talking about "pride" and "contributions to the USA" and other easy forms of Patriotism (e.g., Meghan McCain in today's "My Brother's Big Day"). What we don't see is the deep and painful examination of what Patriotism means to an "Adult." This would be a process where an ideal or an abstraction like "Justice", "Rule of Law" and The Constitution would trump the child's desire for control, domination and omnipotence.
What is so chilling is that the sadism and savagery shown by children is seen in these adults every day, and it has become acceptable behavior. Rather than getting the spanking they deserve for such childish behavior, people like Limbaugh and Rove are taking over. The party literally doesn't have a mature "parental" influence, either in the abstraction of ideas and concepts and or in the form of a strong, mature and moral leader with character. There is no one.
The best they can offer is a man from the past named Reagan who played to the magical thinking that childish people exhibit when they want to get away with something. He shifted America's moral compass with this psychology and told us we could eat cake and ice cream for dinner and not get fat. It's ran argument as to how unevolved were are as a species that the greatness started so long ago by our founders could be sold so cheaply.
Good lord. So much analysis of the shortcomings of a party with whom none of you sympathize. There is no reason in the world they should listen to any of you. Do you enjoy your echo chamber?
eat5vegetables--Excellent psychoanalysis of the Repugs and their unending selfishness, outbursts of temper and unpleasant, infantile behavior. Of particular importance is the phrase "denial of their own culpability." For the "liberal," self-rebuke is inevitable. For the "conservative," self-rebuke is impossible. For the "cons," a problem, any problem, personal or otherwise, is ALWAYS the fault of someone else. Blame others and never take responsibility is their enduring motto and mode of action. Now, their behavior may seem to be "childish," but I know too many wonderful children to completely buy into immaturity as being the best explanation for the actions of Bush, Cheney and their ilk. Instead, I prefer to think of the Republican Party as a self-dealing criminal organization much like the Mob. The Bushistas, in the spirit of Patriarch Nixon, stole the 2000 and 2004 elections, started an illegal war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, looted the U.S. Treasury, gave sweetheart no-bid contracts to their cronies, broke international and domestic laws, spied on U.S. citizens, engaged in kidnapping and torture and committed sundry other villainous illegalities. It was said of Hitler and his Nazi henchman that they were criminals first and then politicians--political criminals, which is a good description for Bush, Cheney and all the rest of their Repug enablers. Starting with these thugs (who of course used paid muscle to do their killing for them), the entire leadership of the Republican Party should be prosecuted under 1970s-era Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act federal statutes that provide for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Mark McKinnon, you need to face up to the fact that you belong to a criminal society--the dying rump remnant of the greatest criminal conspiracy in U.S. history: the Old Confederacy. Oh you perfidious assassins of Lincoln and co-opters of his GOP, may you finally succeed in seceding and at last go away completely and forever.
"Moderate Republican" is virtually oxymoronic.
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So is "Intelligent, non-Kool-Aid-taking Democrat."
Where are the so called moderate republicans screaming at the way democrats are treating Burris ? What are colin powells positions on anything ?
No one knows. We know less about him than obama.
Republicans had the most moderate republican running for president against who was the strongest proponent of comprehensive immigration ever. He and every other moderate republican joined him in the chant. If that couldn't get the Hispanic vote I don't know what will. Why bother trying to court the hispanic vote. Moderate republicans are not conservatives. Democrats should take them into there party.
And they will!Mcain backtracked [in a Democrat, you know this as "flip-flopping!] on immigration reform,[that HE introduced], during the campaign. I am not that surprised that you don't know much about President Obama! You don't know much about your own candidate!
The Dems didn't thrive on Bush Hate for 8 years? Michael Moore Films. Insane attacks from the left. Give me a break.
Thrive? No. Endure? Yes. Like it? No. Comment? Yes. Like chimps flinging sh*t regardless of merit? No.
But of course, if you folks could logically differentiate, you wouldn't hold the views you do at all, LOL.
wow mark. did you really have to bring liz chaney into this discussion? otherwise good points burned beyond recognition on the spittle of a twit.
This guy is kissing so many butts his lips must be chapped. Pal, GHWB also appointed Souter. How'd he work out for us?
I would love to hear a chorus of people singing the Republican hymns: "Torture is good, torture is great, torture solves all our prooooooooblems!" Give it a rest man. To defend the Bush administration is up there with defending Fascism or Nazis.
what torture are you speaking of? Waterboarding? I played football in high school and college. Waterboarding would have been easier than the torture we received to earn our varsity letters.
We treated the sub-humans much nicer than our soldiers who had their heads removed -- while alive.
And all those lovely Europeans that you are trying to be friends with. They don't want any of the sub-humans we have locked up either.
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Hey, at least you said *Soviet* Socialism! Extra points for clear distinction!
your such a fool, jack ass nazi
Another moron with zero grasp of history. Unless, that is, you can locate the death camps on a map for all of us to check out.
The GOP has been driven mad from lack of power. In my lifetime I've never seen anything like it.
And Mr. McKinnon, you are delusional if you think that the big mouthed, uber egos of Cheney and Limbaugh will allow you to blend them into a bigger tent.
The Bush/Cheney regime (and they so deserve that term vs. "administration") came way too close to dismantling everything this country stands for. And the majority clearly knows that.
The fact that you cheer Liz Cheney on shows that you have no grasp of the anger and yes, bitterness, many of us feel at having been so diminished by her father.
"The GOP has been driven mad from lack of power. In my lifetime I've never seen anything like it."
You must have been asleep from 2000 to 2006 to make such an asinine claim...
StellaRay, you must be rather young. The same story plays itself out every time the party in power gets voted out. What is amazing is that so many of my fellow Americans fall for the two party game. We can "Vote the Bums Out", but still end up with just more bums from the same pool of entrenched elites.
How quickly you forget how the Democrats wandered in the wilderness until 2006. Guess every dog has his day
The big difference is, we didn't change who we are during the Bush Years. We just sat back and watched you slowly destroy yourselves.
And mad dogs with rabies usually eventually get put down. But only after they lash out and bite at everything in sight including their own flanks. !!! GOP as Cujo.
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YES WE CAN Prop 8 wins
Yeah, slavery carried a few referendums too.
But every time there's been an attempt to keep down a minority in this country, it's eventually failed. Blacks in slavery, women's voting rights... no one denies stupidity has momentum. But it *does* roll to a stop eventually. If your great-grandchildren were to discover your posts here, they'd burn them in shame and hope what you suffer from is not hereditary. ; )
McKinnon, people like you have NO right to lecture. You have a foot already in the Democrats door just like Powell. You are an opportunistic elitist inside Washington politician. Just keep straddling the fence. And who cares about Sotomayor anyways. I don't care what they decide. But quit lecturing. You don't own me or my views.
I am glad at not being associated with an opportunistic elitist Washington whiner like McKinnon. The rednecks and southern hicks and christian evangelists aren't voting for people like you and you have no power now eh.
"I loved seeing Liz Cheney out burning up the TV circuits defending the policies of President Bush."
Yeah it's just great seeing Liz out there defending war crimes and war criminals. Keep up the good work, Liz, letting everyone know what the Republican Party really stands for.
McKinnon, is this an "either you are with me or against me" declaration? You are welcome by me to have "your party". You and Colin can keep the Republican name. Run with it. Good luck.
I'm with you Mark, this nominee is a lock (though I think HW made his nomination as a compromise). I do not fear the GOP without Limbaugh though. What a tool. Chaney is painted with a brush so thick no one listens any more. Bring the party back to center and appeal to the educated thinking man.
I think you and Markie forget the HW gave us souter as well so saying HW nominated her for anything is more of a joke then anything else.
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So you agree this is not about nominating a qualifed person so much as nominating a person that fits the boxes instead. I believe you have just proved every point the republicans are making in your post. You could care less what this woman has said or done as long as she colors in enough boxes on the application. I have no doubt you agreed with her stance on the white firefighters in New Haven? Right? Those whites should not get promoted unless some minority's can get the job over them first even though they could not pass the test, right? Typical identity politics from the left, never what is best but always what box you check.
Lynn Cheney is a terrible person. I am glad to see her crashing and burning on TV as well. She is everything that is bad in America: a Chickenhawk, an idiot, and out of touch with the American people.
I want her waterboarded. I want her slapped and thrown against a wall. She is every person who shrugged when black people were being hung. She is every person who looked the other way when the Indians were being massacred. And America has moved on.
Liz Cheney?
Ah yes, the educated thinking-man appeal of the centrists and liberals. You demonstrate it well.
It's even funnier
With the Lynn typo.
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Lord-
I'm thinking
He meant Liz since
She's been doing the
Talking lately
But we'll have to wait
For bain
To weigh in.
Xbainx: Still comparing a taste for anal intercourse with African slaves being transported on death ships to slave on plantations for generations. I suppose you also compare Abercrombie & Fitch to an inner-city ghetto.
Normally I would not agree with anything a political surrender monkey like McKinnon says, but on the Sotomayor part, I say confirm her now. From a strategic position, it does the Republicans no good to try to hold her up. 1) they don't have the votes, and there is no advantage. One liberal being replaced by another liberal. There will be no change in the Court's make up. Forget all the other stuff, in fact McConnell should tell his people to grill her in committee but make sure she gets confirmed with little to no obstruction and then throw the confirmation thing in Schumer's face and Obama's face and show them that Republicans respect the prerogative of a President to have his nominee confirmed. All of these fights that the "progressives- liberals" have done since Bork is really disgusting - by the way, Bork's record at the time of his nomination was no different than Anthony Kennedy's. It's not a fight that need be had.
As to the Powell thing. I know that Powell is some sort of sainted figure and finally, a military man that you military hating liberals can like, especially since he is a "Republican" who went against his party. But Mark, no one, not Limbaugh or Cheney are suggesting that he should not be Republican and that he is kicked out of the party. I would suggest that Powell was a nominal Republican at best. consider his position on many things in the past and recently.
Pro-Choice-The Republican Party has been the pro-life party, That's how it is and they are not about to change( also, how long have we been having this argument???? last I checked abortion is still legal)
Affirmative Action - Powell has no problem with quotas - Republicans have been against them for years.
Taxes - Powell recently said that the American people do not mind paying more taxes if it means government runs more effectively. Sorry, General, but that comment pretty much puts you at odds with Republicans and Conservatives.
But Mark whilst, you extol the virtues of Powell and Tom Ridge, has anyone actually asked Powell what his views are on key domestic issues like the bailout and the GM / Chrysler debacle and the ever increasing presence of government over reach in our society. Come on, what is General Powell's philosophy?
He's a moderate? What does that mean? Does that mean we need not hold to our principles? Last poll done shows more Americans are pro life vs. pro choice. I've always been pro life, I'm not moderate in my stance on the issue. By the way if your pro choice, I don't expect you to moderate your position although I find it a wishy washy position ( I'm against it myself, but I support a woman's right to chose--oooo courage).
Also , Powell a good Republican? let's see, he voted for John F. Kennedy - OK Kennedy would probably be considered a Reublican today( cold warrior and tax cutter) he said he voted for Carter and also that he voted for Bill Clinton. We know he voted for Obama. But the Clinton thing is problematic, because if he voted for Clinton in 1992 then he was undermining his boss George H. W. Bush who appointed him and if he did it in 1996 after giving a big address at the Republican Convention, then he is not to be trusted and dare I say it....OK I dare.... a liar with no honor ( I can say it, #1 I'm an American, , #2 I'm a former Marine Major who has seen action and suffered wounds from it).
Mark, the General was good commander during Desert Storm, but from a political standpoint on the domestic end he is wanting. In the military I HAD to respect and obey my commanders. That did not mean I agreed with them. But, I am under NO obligation to support Colin Powell now that he is a civilian. What he proposes is the Democrat Party. We have a Democrat party and a Republican party in this country because people want that choice. We also have the choice of chocolate or vanilla ice cream - people have different tastes.
I will say this, it's so nice of you "progressives"...err independents and Democrats to worry about the future of the Republican party. It's so.... so touching.
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Please show me three Republican politician in the past 20 years that have told anyone whom to hate. Provide precise quotes with proper attribution.
Failure to do so will only reveal you to be a weak minded libtard who resorts to hyperbole because your mind is too simple to actually debate.
Anothing fine tolerating lefty spewing their hate. But I guess that is ok because they are a democrat.
Dear asshole,
I am a proud liberal who comes from a multi-generation military family that served overseas in two world wars. No draft-dogers in my lineage. Every single one of them signed up voluntarily.
So, kindly don't cast aspersions on all liberals as military hating, terrorist-coddlers, traitors, etc.
Your party's leaders have proven themselves history's most infamous traitors.
Bush faked his 'military career', went AWOL and the documents are still sealed to this day, as he did with his education, documents still locked in the safe at Andover. Cheney simply dodged the draft....five times. They threw away the lives of over 4,000 good Americans for profit and personal revenge and in pursuit of some grand crackpot neocon Project for a New American Century scheme, outed a ranking covert intelligence agent in a time of war (who so very ironically specialized in WMD proliferation). Tortured and murdered and displaced countless mostly innocent foreigners without benefit of any kind of due process while simultaneously opening the gate and ushering in every available terrorist in the world into Iraq, and then abandoned and denied treatment to thousands of loyal and brave military veterans.
Now they would have us believe they 'made the tough decisions to protect the country' and trot out there children to protect them from prosecution, pre-trying their case in advance in the court of public opinion. Cowards all.
You and your kind are despicably inhumane torturers and murderers.
The whole world knows it. You don't deserve the privilege of calling yourself an American.
Where do Clinton and Obama fit in with their military service?
By the way, I thank you and your family for their military service to our country.
"So, kindly don't cast aspersions on all liberals as military hating, terrorist-coddlers, traitors, etc."
"You and your kind are despicably inhumane torturers and murderers."
Really? I was with you until you, rather unkindly, started casting aspersions on all conservatives...
@Carole65: Bill Clinton was at least consistent... he didn't serve in the Vietnam War but he actively protested it and fought against it. Compare that to Dick "5 Deferments" Cheney, who cheerled that war while saying he had "other priorities" when it came to actually serving in it. He's the epitome of a chickenhawk, something you could never accuse Clinton of being.
As far as President Obama, he is of a generation that thankfully did not see a draft, so your're comparing apples to oranges here.
Since we like to live in the past so much what party put American CITIZENS of Japanese descent in internment camps? What party killed thousands of civilians by dropping nukes?
My point here is that often times in war things are done that are regrettable. We should evaluate these regrettable things and put policies in place to ensure we don't make the same mistakes. Gripping and using it for political gain gets us nowhere.
I am in the army in Iraq for my second time and have not murdered or tortured anyone yet. Quite the contrary we spend the majority of our time giving out humanitarian assistance and trying to help the people.
ps: name calling and lumping people into one group and calling them murdered is not the best way to get your message across.
I thank you and your family from the bottom of my heart for your service. I also worship the ground that my two-tour Vietnam combat vet husband of 31 years walks on. What I do not agree with (and this might not be a point for you, personally) is that anyone who has not served in a war is somehow diminished as a human being. I truly believe that while military service is one of the highest honors available to Americans, it is not the only way to serve your country. All who do not serve are not somehow unpatriotic by virtue of the fact that they may have done something else in their lives. I believe that John McCain got a lot more "passes" than he should have because of his capture. As Americans, we are very quick to put the "hero" button on just anyone. Remember, Hitler was a military man also.
GM2009.....I think I love you!
"I've always been pro life"
Only till they are born, then who gives a shit, right? Pro-life my ass.
Conservatives are pro-death.
While you are using the expletives, shithead, it would behoove you not to paint pro lifers with the broad brush of "until they are born" most of us care deeply about post natal. Catholic Charities probably is the largest facilitators of adoption in this country. Also they are very engaged in taking care of the mother pre birth and post birth, finding them places to live and job training as well as setting up healthcare. There are many non denominational Evangelical churches that do very much the same thing - Rick Warren comes to mind. So do a little research before you crack wise on the subject.
Also, the enhanced interrogation or torture techniques you speak about, while distasteful to you and your sensiblities probably saved innocent lives. I would suggest that even absent the torture issue you would have problems with what the previous administration did with the detainees. You sit in the comfort of your safe home separated from the crap of the world by large oceans and fail to understand that there are real bad guys out there that make Jeffrey Dahmer look downright respectable. When it comes to Iraq, I'm no fan, I thought it was ill advised and that if Saddam was playing with al Qaeda he was probably the dumbest dictator ever - he was not. The WMD thing was always something I questioned, but I can tell you that the intelligence guys I know in ONI to this day stand by their 2002 assessment.
By the way, Valerie Plame was not outed by anyone in the administration like Libby or Cheney, that honor goes to Richard Armitage, Colin Powell's good friend. Also, Plame was not covert at the time in fact she had not been covert since 1999 get your facts straight. All Libby was guilty of was lying to the FBI which when dealing with them could mean you forgot something. Someone might want to ask Armitage why he outed Plame- hell he admitted to it and it short circuited Fitzgerald's investigation.
GM2009 hates to admit it, but Republicans are more generous when it comes to charity, meaning they care more for their fellow man than Democrats. Republicans are also more willing to adopt children, meaning GM2009 is just plain full of crap.
Imagine that...a liberal making up dishonest generalizations about conservatives when he has no real points to make.
I like "While you are using the expletives, shithead." Very convincing.
steve-
I'm crying
As I type this.
Make my day.
"You military hating liberals..."
While I did find a few of the things you posted to be compelling, This statement alone kind of undermines, in my opinion, whatever it was you were going to say that may have been worthwhile. That said, there are a few points I'd like to comment on.
The General's voting record....
92-Being the Chair of the Joint Chiefs makes one basically the top Military Advisor to the POTUS, whomever that might be at the time. It's supposed to be an A Political job. Just because he served under the first Bush doesn't mean that he was supposed to have voted for him. Much that I assume that not all of the POTUSs top Generals will be voting for him in the next elecion cycle. That said, they're still going to do their jobs, win or lose.
96-Now that would be something....That's why I think it's probably more likely that "it" happened in 92.
His Politics as a whole
The General isn't a politician. He never has been. Never (to my knowledge) professed any real desire to be one. That said, I'm not sure why we're supposed to really give a darn about his views on key "domestic issues."
His view on Taxes
I never saw or read his views on this matter so I can't speak for him here. That said, this whole tax issue is the kind of issue that I refer to as oversimplification of a complex issue so I won't get into it here. Simply put, not all taxes are bad taxes. While I agree that one cannot simply tax citizens into oblivion, simply saying no, no, no all the time doesn't really help matters much. That's the kind of thing that keeps jails, schools, libraries from either being built, maintained or staffed properly. It's my contention that when these things happen society as a whole suffers.
On Abortion
Your view there is ironically enough the entire point. At least mine anyway. There are many things in this world in General and in this country that are perfectly legal that I myself would not engage in for one reason or another. Nor do I have any real desire to see to it that other citizens are deprived of these things, whatever they may be. What I myself, take issue with is the thought process that says that since I don't agree with it, it must be made illegal...for everyone, no matter the circumstances.
Choice (the other on)
I truly believe that for the most part, most Americans are somewhere in the middle. They don't belong to the extreme of either of the parties but on a couple of issues, there just is no turning back. I think it'd be wise for the Republicans to take note of that.
I'm not worried. You're irrelavent.So what?
Powell stated on Sunday that, before Obama, he voted for the Republican candidate for the past 20 years. So he didn't vote for Clinton. So you should check your facts before calling him a liar with no honor. Being a vet is not an excuse for anything.
The damning fact Colon made though was that he did vote for the first carter. So I guess that is the reason he voted for the second coming as well.
I watched Colin Powell say that he had voted for JFK, LBJ, Carter and Obama. Where did you hear him say Clinton? If you are mistaken, then you should man up and apologize for saying Gen. Powell is a liar with no honor.
Nixon's "southern strategy" was to appeal to the religeous ideologies of the south to cross them over the the Republican party. Since then, Reagan, the Bushies, and all the cohorts in the senate and the house have been feeding off that frenzy, using the poor religious folks to advance the cause for the minority rich. What they didn't realize is that the south ate the GOP. There you have it. You've been GULPED.
Liz Cheney, torture apologist extraordinaire. A superstar in the making.
Tell you what, McKinnon. Hand over Bush, Cheney and every last one of his co-conspirators to Spain and I will join your crappy near-extinct party.
"I don't agree with everything she says"
Jesus. Don't you mean she is a serial liar?
You guys can sell shit sandwiches as peanut butter and jelly with a smile on your faces without breaking stride.
With a side of Yellow Cake?
Dick Cheney deserves the MEDAL of FREEDOM for doing what it takes to protect Americans. I doubt Obama would do the same. My family felt safer with Cheney.
He can show it off to his prison husband.
The Aryans felt safer under Hitler, but a society is judged by how is lowest members are treated. Compare how Bush and Chaney behaved to the Cold War - the govermental repression and human rights abuses we fought for 40 years to end came back in our own country as the "Patriot Act".
It was and is a great embarassment to this country.
to have a small party of die-hards is the republican wet dream. they want to have that rugged individualism, the lone cowboy sillouetted against the sunset, abandoned by all because they held steadfast to their principals. unfortunately there won't be anyone left to impress.
I agree, toddanthonydirect. I was struck as well by your clarity in calling the problem tribalism. It sums up the "fear of the other," the "us vs them," the "with us or against us" and "dead or alive" mentality that really is becoming a illness of sorts. It is based in fear as an operation mode. The only thing one can trust in such a situation is a member of one's own tribe.
I believe another way to think of this is that the GOP is suffering from a profound and debilitating personality disorder. It is what we call Cluster B in psychiatry, and they have it really bad. When in power they were narcissistic and anti-social. Now, out of power and humiliated, they devolve into histrionics, borderline quasi-psychosis and grotesque projection or denial of their own culpability.
After eight long years it's such a relief to be able to watch all of this with interest rather than the dread and horror I felt while they were in power. I believe that in many ways it is a primitive and even a savage mindset. See for example their arguments for torture. Even relatively benign apologists for the party spend a surprisingly transparent amount of time talking about "pride" and "contributions to the USA" and other easy forms of Patriotism (e.g., Meghan McCain in today's "My Brother's Big Day"). What we don't see is the deep and painful examination of what Patriotism means to an "Adult." This would be a process where an ideal or an abstraction like "Justice", "Rule of Law" and The Constitution would trump the child's desire for control, domination and omnipotence.
What is so chilling is that the sadism and savagery shown by children is seen in these adults every day, and it has become acceptable behavior. Rather than getting the spanking they deserve for such childish behavior, people like Limbaugh and Rove are taking over. The party literally doesn't have a mature "parental" influence, either in the abstraction of ideas and concepts and or in the form of a strong, mature and moral leader with character. There is no one.
The best they can offer is a man from the past named Reagan who played to the magical thinking that childish people exhibit when they want to get away with something. He shifted America's moral compass with this psychology and told us we could eat cake and ice cream for dinner and not get fat. It's ran argument as to how unevolved were are as a species that the greatness started so long ago by our founders could be sold so cheaply.
Remember when Colin Powell was standing in front of the UN general assembly pointing at black and white satellite images of Iraqi warehouses and telling the world they were WMD manufacturing plants? Or that stunt with the vial in front of the security council? It was Powell's "unquestioned military experience and diplomatic skill" that brought together that shockingly effective "coalition of the willing" in 2003. The nicest way you can describe Powell's role in the run up to the Iraq war is as that of an overly loyal and poorly informed subordinate who was manipulated by his political masters. I'm surprised democrats, not to mention all Iraqis or any member of the UN, could forgive him for using the trust he built up over decades of distinguished service to so publicly advocate for an open-ended war based on intelligence that ranged from shaky to imaginary. If Republicans are going to kick him out of the party for being too liberal they must have fallen somewhere well off the deep end.
Not to put too fine a point on it, Mark McKinnon is a Quisling. I don't want to compare him to Tokyo Rose, since she was pardoned.
The problem with people like McKinnon is that they've unwittingly internalized far-left dogma. Many Dem leaders have done that intentionally, but people like McKinnon don't realize the extent to which their ideas are those of Antonio Gramsci and the like. McKinnon has neither the intellectual capacity nor the integrity to oppose far-left concepts like identity politics, ethnic nationalism, and affirmative action. Instead, all he can think about is how to profit from ideologies that are incredibly harmful to the U.S.
If you're a Republican, help drive people like McKinnon, Matthew Dowd, and the rest out of the party.
Here's more on Sotomayor. If you have some more information, please leave a comment:
http://peekURL.com/zqsyxn5
Markie was a dem, so he is just spewing bs. I wish Markie would state then what republicans should stand up for? He thinks this woman should get a pass because she is a woman and latino and that is what the dem party thinks as well. Her biography should allow her the job, just ignore the writings and video the biography gives her a pass. That is how the dems feel about everything. It has nothing to do with content or character but color and gender and sexual orientation.
Oh stop. McKinnon is not a Quisling; he's a Moderate Republican.
You can't drive moderates out of the Party. If you do that, you increase the Universal Set of Democrats.
We need to remember that Reagan was about the business of defining conservatism in a way that increased liberty and economic growth. This business is about addition, not subtraction. Politicians that get this, like Palin for example, end up winning elections.
Nice link. If that's the kind of argument that you think is going to win you any voters, go right ahead.
I think I speak for all in the liberal camp when I say, keep castigating the voices of reason in your party, NMBDC, until you drive them all out. It just confuses reasonable people to see a few reasonable guys trying to save you from yourselves. Really, I encourage you. Post loudly, publicly and often. Puh-leeeez.
Thank you.
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