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Desperately Seeking a GOP Hero
A true maverick who’s not afraid to stake their career on pulling the Republicans back from the fringe could single-handedly set the party back on track.
At one point during the presidential campaign, John McCain seemed to nominate himself for a version of American political heroism that he never completely inhabited. When he corrected an ignorant and frightened woman who said at one his rallies that she did not trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab, not an American, McCain did not let that pass. His was not the way that Republicans have since let slide any lie or paranoid reading of circumstances that can get some media traction. Feed the fire, their thinking goes, even if it calls for immolating the party itself.
Another great moment for McCain came during the mutual roast with Obama held at the Waldorf-Astoria. McCain probably gave a pleasurable shock to those who do not associate elephants with wit and humor. The senator displayed superb rhythm in the timing and delivery of his material and exuded a kind of democratic warmth special to this nation. He appeared profoundly genuine, expressing pride that the country had made Obama a formidable candidate by having grown far enough beyond its once almost inevitable bigotry at every important level of political choice.
Standing tall might mean going against everything that Sarah Palin has come to represent.
Frank Schaeffer, an ex-Republican and runaway from the plantation of brain rot that is the Christian right, recently told Rachel Maddow that he once had some faith in McCain and worked for his nomination in the Republican primary of 2000. He was completely disenchanted, however, with McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin after a lobbying campaign led by William Kristol, an intellectual fraud so marinated in bile he once spoke of “the elites” as though he is not one of them. Palin was McCain’s cynical way of selling out to the bloated horseflies of the Republican base.
Schaeffer believes that our country is most culturally endangered by what he calls a “Fifth Column of Insanity.” That fifth column stems from the Christian right, a cultish version of the religion devoted to ignorance and denial of facts as fundamental elements of faith. As a man who was reared on the Christian right but eventually cut himself loose, Schaeffer should know. This is common knowledge to almost everyone who has looked into these matters, the most recent being Max Blumenthal in Republican Gomorrah, his exceptional study of the elephant take-down by religious extremists.
Do not zealously generalize. Those who would dismiss Christian faith out of hand are always howling up the wrong tree. Christianity was basic to the abolition movement against slavery and equally basic to the civil-rights movement against segregation. In the first case, Christian abolitionists rejected the highly touted 18th-century science, a tenet of which was polygenesis, or many beginnings.
Polygenesis amounted to a justification for Europeans believing themselves essentially different from the rest of the species. The position of Christian abolitionists was the exact opposite. Their belief was that everyone began in Eden and all were then brothers and sisters. That does not seem radical now, but it was then. In the grandest of ironies consistently missed, that mustard seed of faith foreshadowed every scientific discovery, adding more and more ballast to the modern vision of universal humanity.
If John McCain were to rise to the level of heroism demanded by the decay of his party into loon pandering, he would have to put on his maverick armor and step up to the wingnuts. This is more than a notion and would not work in a version of the crying game run by Glenn Beck, nor could bluster be buttered on the daily bread as easily as Rush Limbaugh does. Standing tall might mean going against everything that Sarah Palin has come to represent.
Tough: Any stand in the interest of actual fact would demand some version of that repudiation. How McCain might do it without condemning his own presidential campaign this soon after the election is the problem that looms before him, but heroes become known for not only staring fear and trouble in the face but spitting into it.
John Talks Joe
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.
Carter's Charge Is a Distraction
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
How Insane Is the Beer Summit?
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
Obama Steps In It
Stanley Crouch's culture pieces have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, Vogue, Downbeat, The New Yorker, and more. He has served as artistic consultant for jazz programming at Lincoln Center since 1987, and is a founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center. In June 2006 his first major collection of jazz criticism, Considering Genius: Jazz Writings, was published. He is presently completing a book about the Barack Obama presidential campaign.
An interesting article as usual for Mr. Crouch, but one thing it didn't address was whether or not the Republican party is worth saving, but rather assumes that it is and can be.
I don't know. Personally I think I new party needs to be organized, a fiscally conservative and socially liberal/libertarian party, with a strong focus on what is in the best interests of the citizens of the United States.
1) A strong national defense, as opposed to war mongering.
2) A well regulated free market, as opposed to whatever it is we have for the moment.
3) Free education including trade schools, community college and university, for the more useful professions such as plumbers, nurses, doctors, engineers, software developers, electricians, police, geologists, and so forth.
4) A fix to healthcare so it no longer costs more to deliver less, to bring us up to at least the level of western Europe of efficiency.
5) The creation of lots of well paying jobs that bring in money from outside of the country, so our trade balance isn't an ongoing joke that damns the value of the dollar.
6) A Wall Street that rewards investment rather than some speculators while damning the taxpayers.
7) An end to the War on Drugs, with a focus on rehabilitating people who have broken themselves with drugs. Making it administrative rather than criminal.
8) Energy independence.
9) And so on...
Sounds a little like you are talking about the Democratic Party. The Republican Party has gone over the cliff and the Dems have moved to the right to fill the void
lol In what universe? Cap-n-trade? Gov healthcare? Those would have been jawdropping gov programs in the 60's!
I wish the Libertarian Party was electable,
unfortunately the power base of the two
party system is so entrenched, so bought off.
Still love Ron Paul.
In fact his son, Rand Paul is entering the Kentucky
Senate race. Maybe there's hope.
sophia
ron paul is absolutely ridiculous.
sorry to rain on your parade.
Yah, I couldn't agree more with you, but I have a hard time thinking this is even close to possible.
whip, this was entertaining. I'll define the New Democrat Party for you. It might go something like this:
1. Lassez faire Capitalism.
2. Preservation of Freedom and the rights of the Individual.
3. Limited Government (strong military, police, and infrastructure).
4. Low to non-existant taxes on individuals and corporations.
5. The preservation of the sanctity of property rights, and contracts.
6. Freedom of Religion
7. Allegience to America (The Greatest Nation in the History of Civilization), American Culture, American History.
And so on....
reardongalt: This sounds a lot like Republicans / Libertarians. I've taken the liberty of putting in Conservative Translations for you.
1. Lassez faire Capitalism. [Greed rules! I've got mine - f*** you!]
2. Preservation of Freedom and the rights of the Individual. [I've got mine - f*** you!]
3. Limited Government (strong military, police, and infrastructure). [No requlation! I've got mine - f*** you!]
4. Low to non-existant taxes on individuals and corporations. [If you were any good, you'd be rich too! I've got mine - f*** you!]
5. The preservation of the sanctity of property rights, and contracts. [Greed rules! I've got mine - f*** you!]
6. Freedom of Religion. [As long as it is fundamentalist Christianity.]
7. Allegience to America (The Greatest Nation in the History of Civilization), American Culture, American History. [My country, right or wrong. Bow down to the great leader - unless, of course, he's black.]
Yeah, I've got to agree with Alan to a large extent. 1, 4 and 5 could've been written by a corporation. It's not something that someone without capital would've written.
2 is often used as code for a certain set of "rights" but often don't include the right to marry if your gay or the right to an abortion. Also, contradicts 1 when actions taken by corporations adversely impact individuals.
3 is almost meaningless. As soon as you say you're for strong infrastructure the questions "what's strong?" and "what's infrastructure?" come up. Roads? Power distribution? Education? Health care?
6 and 7 are also code for a certain kind of religious practice and a certain kind of patriotism. 7 in particular directly contradicts 2 if an individual wants to express displeasure at his or her government.
I like these:
- Establish Justice
- Ensure domestic Tranquility
- Provide for the common defense
- Promote the general Welfare
- Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity
Let me add my own notes, instead of countering Alan and Maspring's arguments. Actually Alan's were kind of silly and didn't really merit countering."
1. Lassez faire Capitalism. Since we haven't really tried it yet, one can only make this argument in the arena of ideas.
2. Preservation of Freedom and the rights of the Individual. There can be no "minority rights" without this one. The individual is the smallest minority. The minority of 1. The right of a gay to marry is a strawman. The real issue is: does anyone have the right to change the definition of a word? As far as abortion goes, I agree with maspring up to a point. In the first trimester it's pretty much the woman's business. At 9 months, though, it's barbarism. That's the problem. But there have to be laws to protect the individual. In this case, the individual is the woman up to three months pregnant, after which the baby becomes an individual, too.
3. Limited Government (strong military, police, and infrastructure). Before Libs got ahold of the word, infrastructure meant: the system of public works of a country, state, or region; NOT people or Health Care bureaucracies or any kind of bureaucracy.
4. Low to non-existant taxes on individuals and corporations. Anyone who's ever made a dime knows how much better our lives would be without the slow bleeding from corrupt Governments, through taxation. The waste is astounding. Is that what you're defending?
5. The preservation of the sanctity of property rights, and contracts. Without property rights, and contracts we have NO rights, and corrupt Governments have a blank check. See 2.
6. Freedom of Religion. Alan, you're being silly now. Without freedom of Religion, sooner or later we'll be killed in the name of one religion or other. Maspring you're dead wrong, too. I have no particular religious affiliation, but I recognize history. More people have been killed in religious wars than through any other means. The Founding Fathers knew this. As soon as you downplay this freedom, next thing you know the State is implementing it's own Religion.
7. Allegience to America (The Greatest Nation in the History of Civilization), American Culture, American History. Alan, this time I agree with you: My Country right or wrong......up to a point, and certainly NOT to the extent that it inhibits Freedom Of Speech and the the rest of the Bill of Rights. No, don't bow down to anyone especially if it's the President bowiing down to a Saudi Sheik. The whole point is that ALL Americans owe allegiance to America over any other external state. An individual has the right to voice displesure to anyone at any level of power. What he doesnt have the right to do is commit treason or sedition.
- Establish Justice - right, laws, contracts, individual rights
- Ensure domestic Tranquility - right, police, laws, and the right to own guns
- Provide for the common defense - absolutely. One Military to protect from external states or regimes.
- Promote the general Welfare - The Libs probably use this one to figure out how they can take over the country, but I'm not buying it.
- Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity - absolutely. Liberty: the quality or state of being free. And "freedom" is not just another word for "nuthin' left to lose" (Janis Joplin).
"Lassez faire Capitalism"
Company up the street from you makes a widget. They pour raw industrial waste into the stream that runs through your back yard. On planet "reardengalt" what happens?
Individual rights: "The right of a gay to marry is a strawman."
Maybe it is unless you're gay and want to get married.
"In this case, the individual is the woman up to three months pregnant, after which the baby becomes an individual, too."
Personhood for the unborn? What happens if a pregnant woman miscarries? If you or I go missing there's an investigation. Is there an investigation when the pregnancy is terminated? Is it murder if it's decided that there was an abortion? What happens if the pregnancy puts the life of the mother at risk? If the two are of equal merit under the law do you sacrifice the weaker of the two?
True personhood for the unborn is really messy stuff.
Limited Government: "NOT or any kind of bureaucracy."
The second you put someone in place to manage it you have a bureaucracy. You can't have infrastructure without people to run it. Arguing for one without the other makes no sense.
Low to non-existant taxes on individuals and corporations. "corrupt Governments... Is that what you're defending?"
No. But government doesn't have to be corrupt. Any time you put more than three people together and try to get organized, coordinated effort out of them you've got government. They can do it well or they can be corrupt about it.
Most countries, the US included, can point to examples of good government and bad. Arguing that all government is inherently bad is something that conservatives have been doing since Reagan. It's not true and it's one of the biggest problems Republicans have right now. They're running for jobs in government while arguing that those jobs are inherently corrupt at the same time.
"sanctity of property rights, and contracts."
Can't argue for or against this one.
"Freedom of Religion."
I agree with this one generally. What bothers me, though, is that there are those who are seeking to define their religion in ways that affect others. A religious right to evangelize in schools for example. A religious right to restrict medication from a dying child. There will be cases where the state has an interest.
"My Country right or wrong."
Yeah, sure. But I believe that it's our responsibility to make our country right. Not simply to pretend it is when it isn't. I think it's patriotic to protest the things that you see your country do that are wrong. In the same way you discipline your child for running into traffic. You confront your child's behavior, not because you hate her but because you want what's best for her. Same for your country.
"President bowiing down to a Saudi Sheik."
Man, conservatives really get worked up over these symbolic gestures. Whatever. You can still be talking about this three years from now during the 2012 elections if you want but I can tell you right now that if you're not a regular Fox News viewer you just don't care.
reardongalt: I rather suspect you have no counters to the greed you support, which is why you call my arguments "silly".
Your points:
"1. Lassez faire Capitalism. Since we haven't really tried it yet, one can only make this argument in the arena of ideas."
Every time we have come close to trying unfettered capitalism, we have had severe economic crashes: the Panic of 1837, the Panic of 1873 and the Long Depression, the Great Depression of 1929, and, of course, the Great Recession of 2007. These are just the highlights - there are lots of others, especially in the 19th century. All caused by the excesses of capitalism.
2. See maspring.
"3. Limited Government (strong military, police, and infrastructure). Before Libs got ahold of the word, infrastructure meant: the system of public works of a country, state, or region; NOT people or Health Care bureaucracies or any kind of bureaucracy."
In the good old days, before liberals took over, basic services such as fire and police were private companies. If you did not contract with a private fire department, they would happily stand around and watch your house burn down. Today, insurance companies happily stand around and watch you die if you can't afford them or if they deny your claims to increase their profit.
"4. Low to non-existant taxes on individuals and corporations. Anyone who's ever made a dime knows how much better our lives would be without the slow bleeding from corrupt Governments, through taxation."
Just how do you propose to pay for "the system of public works of a country, state, or region" in point 3?
"5. The preservation of the sanctity of property rights, and contracts."
I agree for the most part, but the needs of society must override things like property rights.
"6. Freedom of Religion. Alan, you're being silly now. Without freedom of Religion, sooner or later we'll be killed in the name of one religion or other."
I prefer freedom from religion, myself. But I generally agree. Many conservatives do not.
"7. Allegiance to America ... Alan, this time I agree with you: My Country right or wrong..."
"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels": Samuel Johnson. If my country is wrong, I'm going to work to fix it - not hide my head in the sand.
Seriously, Sarah Palin? The woman proved she couldn't find the end of sentence if her life depended on, repeats the same proven lies, stirs racial hatred with glee, and climbed the wall into politics by using men and then turning on them at the first opportunity. If this is the best the GOP has to offer, God help America. The good news is that now I know I never have to bother reading Crouch again if this is the way his mind works.
Umm... you do realize he was talking about the need for someone to challenge Palin and the like? That he was suggesting some Republican stand up to the fringe she represents. You might want to read it again as you apparently didn't understand it the first time you didn't read it.
JeffreyinLA - You should reread the article. I think you missed this part -> "Standing tall might mean going against everything that Sarah Palin has come to represent."
I don't think Mr. Crouch is any more of a Sarah Palin fan that you and I are.
JeffreyinLA...did you even read the column?
Not much for reading, huh?
uhhhhhhh......you can lead a horse to water.....great article and some of the best comments I have seen on Beast in ages....maybe Jeffrey was tweeting when he should have been reading....reread it, buddy.
Sarah Palin is probably the ONLY person who tells it like it is. Obviously you fear straight talk. I'd like to know what lies she keeps repeating, how she incites racial hatred and what men she used to get into politics. Back of your accusations with proof or quit talking. Im tired of reading bloggers who have no proof or solutions.
The only solution is the complete anonymity of Sarah Palin. She contradicts herself, does not make speak plainly unless she is well prepped, is quick to lie and then distance herself from any responsibility, "its the gotcha media." she is so plastic but if you choose to place your faith in her then sorry about your luck, many Alaskans did and they are very sorry for being duped.
Jeffrey- I think he was saying that the Repubs have to stand up against the fringe whackos, represented best by SP.
The Lunatic Fringe is in the final stages of
destroying the Republican Party. There was a time the Party could still be saved but not one Republican had the guts to come forward and tell the crazies ENOUGH!.
The Democrats have moved to the right and will fill this void.
And another party should be in the wings ready to take the Republicans place.
This country always benefits from a two or three party system.
Now is the time for the big change.
I have one big suggestion.... keep the religious
fanatics out of any party. They do more harm than good and should be banished forever.
If the Pastors and the churches continue preaching politics and extreme dissention in this country, they should promptly lose any tax advantages they have.
That will shut them up very quickly.
Bravo I agree completely! It makes no sense that chuches benefit from tax breaks then pump money into political causes (like the Mormons in CA did for prop 8). This country is great because of the separation of church and state. How else can we have religious freedom?
Oh, if only the Christian Right hadn't helped get W elected, twice, I could disagree, but alas, I cannot disagree...
Some more liberal analysis of the GOP... how ration and unbiased that must be, I'm sure the GOP muckity mucks are listening intently!
ThinkAgain - Tell me that you don't miss Bob Dole and William F. Buckley, Jr..
.
Nice One JeffreyinLA, Count my waiting For the rest of the speech that Sarah Palin dilivered to the crowd in Hong Kong to be leaked judging from the part already out in the open it is pure jibberish gold.
Fellow Beasts,
God and religion are mythological plagiarism. Ignorant in as many ways, as wise, it is its own limitation. The double edge sword: one has faith within themselves vs. using religion to control others. Another valid reason to separate Church and State.
That is the problem: people using God to govern. Moose-chip Barbie, (Sarah Palin) is a prime example, not wanting to study issues, '...no one has TOLD me what a vice-president does...', and believing the world is 6,000 years old. While that may have worked, a long time ago, science has proven different.
The Holy Bible is not the answer to everything. The world has discovered many things that can not be answered, by one Book. Hence, the collapse of antiquated ideas that the religious right has promoted.
It be it,
Ronin Kannushi.
Rev. Wright made a good impression on obama and his family 20 yrs of listening to the roosters are coming home to roost, do you slugs have a problem with that. This Rev Wright is a racist pig, and I might add a communist. If you want to get into religion a lot of what this Rev said is pure and simple hate, I call that a fifth column.
Winny - you're a one-trick pony with the whole Rev Wright thing. Give it an effing rest.
Maybe we could talk about the likes of Hagee - an anti-semite; Pat Robertson - 9/11 was because of gays and abortion; Jerry Fallwell - supreme fornicator, and that crack-pot in Arizona praying for Obama to die. Oh, oh - we can't forget Sarah Palin's anti witch-doctor preacher - one whacked out video, dontcha think???
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsDfkAnCvKY
Winston: Here's a good "conservative" preacher for you: Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
"And David, praying, is saying, `As a snail which melteth.' See, I'm very scriptural when I brought up about snails being salted. He said, `as a snail which melteth let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman.' He's saying `like an abortion,' right? Like a miscarriage. Because that's what an untimely birth is. He's saying, let Barack Obama perish like an abortion. Let Barack Obama perish like a miscarriage. - `As the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.'
"Let me tell you something - somebody needs to abort Barack Obama. It's true. Now, I'm not to do it. I'm not saying vigilanteism. I'm not saying that somebody should go kill. I'm saying there should be a government in this country that, you know, under God's authority, that takes Barack Obama and aborts him. On television. For everybody to see in the whole world."
"Let me tell you something: Barack Obama has wrought lewdness in America. America has become lewd. What does lewd mean? L-E-W-D? Obscene. Right? Dirty. Filthy. Homosexuality. Promiscuity. All of the -- everything that's on the billboard, the TV. Sensuality. Lewdness! We don't even know what lewdness means anymore! We're just surrounded by it, inundated with it!"
"And yet you're going to tell me that I'm supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things -- you're gonna tell me I'm supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he's in Phoenix, Arizona."
"Nope. I'm not gonna pray for his good. I'm going to pray that he dies and goes to hell. When I go to bed tonight, that's what I'm going to pray. And you say, 'Are you just saying that?' No. When I go to bed tonight, Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell."
This totally irresponsible and this pastor better pray that the secret service doesn't come knocking at his door. Like Crazy Bachman he shows just how far away he is from true Christianity. He is not being Christ like, just more off the path from sanity and reasonableness.
If anything, it shows how Wright DIDN'T make an impression on the Obamas. Try judging people by their acts. What exactly is it that Michelle and Barack have done that is so horrifying? Refresh my memory.I seem to have forgotten. Is it the organic garden in the back of the WH? Or an emphasis on education? Who are they excluding from their table at Thanksgiving? What name calling have they been involved with?
So you don't like Reverend Wright. Not many people liked him after they saw what he said on YouTube.
But that came out a good six months before the election. Everyone got to see it and decided that it didn't really affect their opinion of who Obama was.
You can continue to complain about Wright and try to make some connection to what this means about Obama, but the country has seen it and we've voted for him anyway.
So, now Barack Obama is president therefore you complaint should be with the country that made him so. Not with Obama or with Wright.
To continue to complain about Wright is to miss the big picture. The country has moved on. You're being left behind.
If any party needs to be pulled from the fringe it's the Dems. Nancy & the gang are showing how radical they really are.
forget my earlier kudos on the quality of the comments....this too shall pass. Name calling etc.
I look forward to your next article, Mr. Crouch. I thought being a Jew sucked, but I guess being black sucks way way more. It is too bad B O didn't choose a Jew as a running mate. Then, we would be able to better see the face of hatred in this pathetic country (don't you love the comments about how 'great' a nation we are?)
Great at what? I think I have forgotten. This country has become a disgrace.
Will of the people....it got flushed down the toilet....I reckon around Watergate or thereabouts, when the credo of the truly powerful elite told themselves, 'Don't ever let yourself get caught again, and that is the lesson.) Been a downhill battle ever since.
DIrty is as dirty gets.
"the plantation of brain rot that is the Christian right..."
"William Kristol... marinated in bile..."
"... the bloated horseflies of the Republican base."
This is great stuff!
Scarborough took a half-hearted stand in refuting Beck a few days ago and was predictably roundly shouted down by so-called conservatives.
You'll know the Republican party is really coming back to life when it can stand up straight and win arguments with reason again instead of having to kowtow to their lunatic fringe in order to get the heavy lifting done.
Until then, they may be moving around, but they're just as dead as Frankenstein's monster. Even if they score a political victory every now and then.
Ma-
I was in the process
Of writing something
Very similar earlier-
But never got a chance
To finish and post.
Bloated horseflies
Of the Republican base
Is a jewel of a phrase-
I also liked the super-subtle
'Glen Beck's crying game' -Ouch.
Deep bows from the waist
For Mr.Crouch's throat-grabbing phraseology.
I did notice that he made no mention
Of the fact that the much-needed
'Hero of the Right'
Doesn't seem to be anywhere
On the horizon.
Sarah Palin (2012!) is my 'Hero of the Right'.
Sort of like MaliciousDisorder loves the idea of David Paterson running for Governor of New York in 2010.
The re-publican party needs to get rid of that Secret Society agenda,Which was in full force,the last 8 years,With both Bush41 &Bush43 being Skull and Bones men makes it so obvious,with Bush41 in 1991 in front of congress calling on a New World Order, does'nt make it any noticable does it "not".
"Now," with Liz Cheney, on ,Tv calling it, the New Global Order does'nt help either,The Freemason secret society agenda ,is ,alive and well in american politics.Conspiracy ,you say, well then Liz Cheney must be conspiring then. Lets "not" pretend they don't exsist,The hiding in plain site is over, Since JFK tryed to expose them,he was right about them,and went after the heart of the re-publican party and its power structure The Secret Societys and paid the price,his life.
"The Evagelics" are going to, "open there eyes" to this trickery and break themselves free from the bondage they have been in for decades. "The scales" are going to, fall off, and are beginning to do so now. My prayer is that God expose this evil to his children and their fraudlent claims of being christians more like false prophets in 1timothy describes them best. True Christianity is under attack by false christianity like the Glen Beck,Mitt Romneys,Orrin Hatch's Mormonism christianity who believe Joesph Smith is the real prophet not Jesus the Christ,which they believe jesus christ and the devil are brothers. The Evangelics need to be freed and create a Third Party. Because the false christianity the Mormons are sucking in the real christians with there half truths and feed them the mormon bible instead of real bible, GLEN BECK is very dangerous to true christianity because he with his mormonism is misleading the Lords children.
The re-publicans and there phony claims of christianity, But instead have this deep secret of evil in there bossom, Since the beginning of our time as a nation we have been under Freemason Rule and the re-publicans want to keep it that way.. Mr.Crouch research my claims and find out for yourself 4out of the last6 presidents have been Freemason or into some other Secret Society like the skull and bones.When John Kerry and Bush43 ran for president they where both Skull and Bones men,Now you tell me whats wrong with that picture.If someone would have had the balls to expose them we may not have went to Iraq,Which is a Secret Society war.
Mr.Crouch do you have the balls to research my claim or are like the rest of them....!
I didn't even read the article because I'm guessing this was not about fixing the insane ideology of the most corrupt and perverse party in the history of this country, but more about whether or not these sleazebags can find a personality big enough to win over the uneducated masses again and fool people into voting them back into power. Not gonna happen due. The GOP is DOA.
The Republican Party hasn't been much since they threw (or drove) Teddy Roosevelt out early in the 20th century. Actually they were pretty corrupt and bloodsucking of the American people before that too (after Lincoln), but one could hope they might change.
Instead they institutionalized selfishness, greed and stupidity, but since their backers controlled 80 to 90% of the wealth in America and most of the media, they continued to have a viability in American politics that they didn't deserve.
Power vested in Republicans has left America in dire straits. We have wars we don't need, we have a $10 trillion national debt and surging annual deficits, we have an economy in collapse thanks to the investment frauds the Republican politicians allowed the banks and brokerage firms to commit, we've had widespread violations of the U.S. Constitution and civil rights, and the nation struggles to find a new employment base to replace manufacturing which has been lost to countries like China and Mexico.
In short, the Republican Party has been a disaster for America, and it's time it was made history.
So, many of us agree that the Republican Party is dying... question is, will the Democrats let it die? Through their inept handling of the health care issue, letting the fanatics control the debate terms and disrupting the town-hall meetings, stuffing their bailout bills with more pork than a Baconator, and boosting the already-stratospherical national debt out of Earth's orbit, the Dems seem to be keeping the brain-dead GOP on life support. Unless they grow some cojones and manage to get a GOOD bill (triggerless public option included) to Obama's desk, my view on this won't change.
tmoverbeck: There is still hope. Tuesday ought to be interesting.
While the Republicans have been conniving and resolute in promoting the enrichment of the rich at the expense of the rest of us, the Democratic Party has continued on it's fractious, schizophrenic ways.
Even FDR had to deal with what amounted to Dixiecrat Democrats in the 1930s and 1940s, and it was painful. But the Dixiecrats are still with us, even though they no longer control the South.
What the current Democrats need is a spine implant and a Dixiecratectomy.
periscope: Why turn into a Republican party clone? Look where their authoritarian model has gotten them.
AlanD2: I'm hardly suggesting the Democrats imitate Republicans. But I want them to be the fighters they were under FDR and JFK.
FDR created labor laws and enforced them. Like his distant uncle, he busted business trusts that were growing too big to fail. JFK told Big Steel what to do when they initiated price hikes that would harm the economy.
We need Democrats to pass a public option healthcare bill and stop trying to recruit Republicans. Republicans are irredeemably venal and perpetually wrong.
I want a Democratic Party that has more Obamas and Feingolds and Schumers and less of the Landriuexs, Feinsteins and Nelsons.
periscope: I have to agree, but I still don't want to be as authoritarian as Republicans.
you know, I hear so much hate about the south. You people afraid of them or something. Not the only blog i hear it on either. What's so bad about the south?
The republican party is going through the natural political life cycle of a party that has been in power for too long. It was a good run while it lasted, as it created incredible levels of prosperity around the world - this cannot be denied. The way things look now is that the Dems will self destruct as they fight to the death over their pet social projects, and the Republicans will be back. I always laugh when Liberals sweet the death of conservatism.
Like a vampire, conservatism may be back to suck the life's blood of the people again, but please don't give me that crap about the Republican Party creating "incredible levels of prosperity around the world..."
The question that should follow such an inane assertion is "Incredible levels for who???" Certainly not the middle-class, which has lost jobs, pension and 401k savings, while the gap in income levels between the rich and everyone else has widened.
The Republican Party and it's conservative ideology have been an historic disaster and should be buried beside Milton Friedman and his predatory economics philosophy.
How do you think you got your car, your house, your clothes, the schools you went to, the ability to do what you want? that is called capitalism and capitalism is makes this country go round. What has killed our country is taxes and stupid lazy politicians on both sides of the aisle who don't give a damn about you or me but about their own personal power and agenda. Have you ever looked to see what your state/local leaders are voting on?
Taxes have driven manufacturers out of this country. Government spending has us in debt up to our eyeballs with China. Do you guys ever think what would happen if China decided to nationalize our businesses over there or demand their money? Everybody wants to blame somebody but the liberal dems are no better than the far right republicans. Every blog is the same - the blame game. It takes years for a new administration to correct or change the previous administration and it always has. Personally, I think Obama has no skills except to speak well but he has a lot of questionable people who do his thinking for him. IF you read his books you see NOTHING! There is nothing remarkable about this man. On the same note, John Mccain is a wuss! He would not have made a better or worse president. We need to scrap the politicians in office, get rid of our current tax codes, bring back term limits and make our officials have a day job!
But it's true about the "incredible levels of prosperity around the world". Neverlate just forgot to put at the end, "INSTEAD of in America". The trickle-down theory works, except nowadays most everything trickles down into China, India and other cheap-labor havens.
neverlate: I certainly deny your contention. Average Americans have done far better under Democratic administrations than they have under Republican administrations . Republicans also created the Great Recession.
I hope you can still laugh after 2012.
Yes and for your history lesson today, Republicans then are today's democrats.
"...the village cannot change the way it does things in order to accommodate the village idiot."
The Democrats tried this with ACORN and it worked pretty well for quite a while.
Was it ACORN that got us into the Iraq War or doubled the national debt or collapsed the economy or violated international laws and the U.S. Constitution?
Methinks it was Bushboy and the reprehensible Republican Party.
You must have been living in a cave the past 9 years or suffer from some congenital mental defect.
Periscope has the "congenital mental defect" of being unable to argue without personal invective. What a moron!
And Penscott
Has the congenital
Mental defect of being unable
To argue without name calling.
What a ___________
(Fill in the blank)
penscott: You certainly display a "congenital mental defect" in your post.
Nice personal attack there, Pen. Any substantive arguments? I though not...
"Whomever is willing must be able to move the Republicans back from the fringe-burdened outskirts of town..."
Crouch needs to learn English grammar and DB needs an editor.
What is "namecalling" to some, is clinical diagnosis to me. Anyone who claims that any of our national problems are the result of ACORN, is in serious need of mental diagnosis.
Perhaps they don't have a congenital mental defect, perhaps it's only garden variety, Fake News induced, paranoia.
periscope: Conservatives look for anything to distract people from the disasters of the Bush 43 administration. Doesn't look like it's working very well...
Anybody up for re-creating the bull Moose party?
Mr. Crouch has it right, though.
Somebody has to stand up to the nut-jobs, whackos, fruitcakes and extremist crazies who have taken over the Republican Party.
Wonder who it will be?
This country does need strong opposing discourse for its fundamental governing principles to operate.
It does not need the current vitriolic insanity spewing from the non-existent minds of the far Right.
Good luck someone, with shutting them down though.
Penscott...
you are foolish to say:Periscope has the "congenital mental defect" I think you are the one that is the Moron.
You never have any facts to back up your silly tirades.
Have you not ever gotten curious about why the Republicans have been out to destroy Acorn for the last ten to twelve years.?
Do you ever wonder why the eternal investigations of Acorn when there are so many Government contracts that need investigating?
Do you not wonder why some of the US Attorneys got expelled from the Justice Department because they would not prosecute cases against Acorn? These Attorneys said they could not prosecute Acorn because there were no reasons to prosecute?
Are you not curious about these things?
Do you just repeat what others tell you and you have no mind of your own?
Do you ever wonder why Acorn is such a pain in the Republican side?
Why the Republicans go after Acorn all the time to cut their funding when Acorn's funding is like pennies on the dollars of all the millions of dollars of Government funding that goes on bogus projects and for bogus reasons?
Look up Acorns budget. Go ahead. Maybe
you are to stupid to wonder about this but give it a try anyway. Ight make you a more informed person.
You need to stop calling everyone Morons and be a little curious yourself...
For instance, there is a book out these days that you should read. Peter Drier has authored a book titled A Study on Acorn.
Go ahead... be my guest... l also link into
http://pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-09-19-11-10-04-news.php
Re: Acorn - Community Reinvestment Group.....
" The right-wing case against the CRA is entirely bogus--a diversionary tactic to take the heat off the financial services industry and its allies, like McCain. The CRA applies only to depository institutions, like commercial and savings banks, but thanks to Congress's deregulation mania, there are now many other lenders, including private mortgage companies like CitiMortgage, Household Finance and Countrywide Financial (which was recently bought out by Bank of America). These outfits, which exist in a shadow world without government oversight, account for most of the predatory loans in trouble today
Well said Mozart (you happen to be one of my three favorite classical composers - Beethoven and Bach are the others)!
The reality is that ACORN is a Republican target because they register poor people to vote. And as dumb as the Republicans are, even they know the poor aren't going to vote for them!
ACORN is also hated by many Big Businesses, because ACORN promotes the enforcement of labor laws and raising the minimum wage.
Rachel Maddow disclosed all of this and more on her show earlier this week.
ACORN is also, as you point out, a good diversion for the Republicans and their criminal friends in the financial services industry.
periscope: I love Rachel's show. She is incisive but doesn't tear people apart like, say, Bill O'Reilly. Laurence O'Donnell has also been good at digging in at Republican politicians when they try to avoid answering a question.
THANK YOU, ALAN .... that spash I heard.. was it Winston drowning in "his wisdom" ?
AlanD2
Winston: Here's a good "conservative" preacher for you: Pastor Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona.
"And David, praying, is saying, `As a snail which melteth.' See, I'm very scriptural when I brought up about snails being salted. He said, `as a snail which melteth let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman.' He's saying `like an abortion,' right? Like a miscarriage. Because that's what an untimely birth is. He's saying, let Barack Obama perish like an abortion. Let Barack Obama perish like a miscarriage. - `As the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.'
"Let me tell you something - somebody needs to abort Barack Obama. It's true. Now, I'm not to do it. I'm not saying vigilanteism. I'm not saying that somebody should go kill. I'm saying there should be a government in this country that, you know, under God's authority, that takes Barack Obama and aborts him. On television. For everybody to see in the whole world."
"Let me tell you something: Barack Obama has wrought lewdness in America. America has become lewd. What does lewd mean? L-E-W-D? Obscene. Right? Dirty. Filthy. Homosexuality. Promiscuity. All of the -- everything that's on the billboard, the TV. Sensuality. Lewdness! We don't even know what lewdness means anymore! We're just surrounded by it, inundated with it!"
"And yet you're going to tell me that I'm supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide, who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth abortion and all these different things -- you're gonna tell me I'm supposed to pray for God to give him a good lunch tomorrow while he's in Phoenix, Arizona."
"Nope. I'm not gonna pray for his good. I'm going to pray that he dies and goes to hell. When I go to bed tonight, that's what I'm going to pray. And you say, 'Are you just saying that?' No. When I go to bed tonight, Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell."
Flag It|Permalink|Reply6:11 pm, Sep 25, 2009
Oh dear, they're all ganging up on me. So frightening!
penscott: Don't worry. Democrats never go in for the kill like Republicans do.
The Parents Rights Amendment has been introduced by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (Mi.-02). Why do we need this amendment? There is good reason because America is now poised to adopt the United Nations Convention on The Rights Of The Child (Obama supports this treaty). If this treaty is ratified the laws of all 50 states on children and parents would be superseded by this international law by virtue of a specific provision of the U.S. constitution.This would declare this treaty to be supreme over state law. Virtually all law on children and parents is state law. They will be able to overrule all parents on any decision concerning the child. If The Parents Rights Amendment is passed it will give parents the liberty to direct the up bringing and education of their children as they see fit. The Parents Rights Amendment says that neither the U.S. or any state shall infringe upon this right without demonstrating that its governmental interest as applied to the person, is of the highest order and not otherwise. To learn more go to parentalrights.org
can anybody tell me what this means to you?
How come TDB is not talking about the biggest attack on freedom of speech since Joe McCarthy? Evidently the Obama administration is threatening health insurance companies that have the temerity to present their side of the debate. This makes the Patriot Act look like a flagship Libertarian initiative. This is pretty scary stuff. For a constitutional lawyer he seems to have nothing but disdain for the constitution.
neverlate: Insurance companies have no right to lie, especially when they are using government money to do so.
Thank you.
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