I very nearly scraped my Joe Cunningham bumper sticker off my car today. But I figure if the republicans can hold their nose and vote I can keep my damn bumper sticker on my car.
The headline in today's Post and Courier says that "Joe Cunningham slam's Bernie Sanders' socialism...." Boy, Joe, with friends like you, we might just as well declare Trump the winner in November right now.
But we voters are going to be bigger than you, because the election is much more critical than whether you win again. We are fighting for our democracy. The sad thing is, when Cunningham lets his "conservative" supporters know he is running their party line by slamming Pelosi as a -- god-forbid -- liberal, or voting against raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, he loses those Democrats he needs to show up for him. He may think the Dems in Charleston are outnumbered, or that those women trying to make ends meet on minimum wage will take time out from their exhausting lives to get out and vote just because he is a "D" but he is dead wrong.
The sad thing is that, unlike myself, most of us have chosen not to beat ourselves up by studying the obscene workings of the law and our government these days. Most of us don't know anything about the ACLU other than what those right-wingnuts have been yelling for all these decades (ten decades this year). And too many of us don't have a clue what the difference is between a socialist, a democratic socialist, or a damn commie.
So when Joe engages in Trumpian name-calling, he is doing Trump's work for him. And we should know by now that Donald Trump likes himself nothing more than causing others to fight.
The fact is that whatever you call Bernie Sanders, he has been a respected member of Congress since 1991 (when Joe was not yet ten years old). For that matter, Nancy Pelosi has been a US representative since 1987, when Joe was five. The voters in their states and districts see that as experience, not old age, and happily re-elect them. Which Joe Cunningham can only dream of.
How about this: how about we think in larger terms than who is going to win the Democratic nomination? Let's instead prove that our brains are greater than the republicans who as we speak are working together to figure out how to cheat and steal their way back into power in November. Let's do what we said we were going to do way back in 2018, and work together. We can have a primary where we fight over issues rather than man-caves or "socialism." The very best way to win this thing is for all of y'all, and all of us, to continue to combat Donald Trump and his gang of deplorables (and wasn't Hillary right?). We need to ALL do what Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are doing, and that is to stay focussed on Trump and every single obscenity that he has committed since he and Vladimir Putin stole the election.
This time around, he is going to cheat much, much bigger than he did before, because in the past 3 1/2 years he has been collecting power, just like Roy Cohn taught him when he was a boy-thug. Each time justice has been sacrificed, whether it be the Muslim travel ban, the border wall, cutting food stamps, or firing the heroes in our government, each time he gets away with it, democracy shrinks. When he calls us names, and the media focusses on the tweets and rallies, he can't be any happier.
Except, of course, when we take up his attacks and turn on each other.
So let's not do that anymore. Joe.
Showing posts with label Bernie Sanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bernie Sanders. Show all posts
Thursday, February 13, 2020
Friday, April 28, 2017
I'm With Wendy
Weary with Trump fatigue, I had the good fortune to hear Wendy Davis speak at the 100 year anniversary celebration of Planned Parenthood last night.
I made my way through the half dozen misfits carrying Defund Planned Parenthood signs (the Post & Courier reported two dozen) into Cannon Green, where the event was held. I would have been more disconcerted by the creepy protesters, but it is pretty much the same small bunch that show up at any event where women are celebrating the fight for freedom, privacy and the right to the best medical care. Someone commented, "Well, this is the south." But back in the 80's, when I lived in Stony Brook, Long Island, there was a small clinic in a strip mall a half mile from my home, where every Saturday morning the local scruffy old men and sad looking women would carry their nasty signs. So, South Carolina, don't be too quick to take all the credit for misogyny.
I had been ruminating for a couple of days about the bizarre turn of events wherein Bernie Sanders threw his support behind an anti-abortion mayoral candidate. Apparently he was right on all the other issues, so Bernie claimed his stance on abortion was less consequential than having his opponent win. Apparently Bernie forgot that he was the politician with clout, that he could have stood up to candidate Mello the way he stood up to the Democratic Party last summer. He didn't mind doing the "my way or the highway" until it came down to women's reproductive rights.
After all, the guy had the support of "the labor movement and environmentalists and Native Americans and the African American community and the Latino community" so of course he would offer his support.
Seems he forgot that 1/2 of all those people are women.
And sadly, women who will fight their hearts out for all people whose rights are being trammeled will forget, or make excuses for, not fighting for our own rights.
Wendy Davis spoke last night about her own coming to awareness of this during her run for governor. Once, upon being asked if she was a feminist, she said no -- she still sounded amazed as she recounted the experience. And later, during the dirty campaign in which her parenting was being dragged through the mud, when she was asked if she thought she was being treated differently because she was a woman... she said no.
And she said we have all done that at some point in our lives. We still suffer the cultural bias that our welfare comes second, that it is our job to take care of everyone else before ourselves. That if we stand up for our rights we are being selfish -- and none of us wants to be selfish.
Imagine Bernie saying he would stand behind a candidate who was right on all the issues except that he thought African Americans should not be entitled to the same education as white children. Or that businesses had a right to not serve members of the LGBT community. Or that immigrants should be required to show proof of citizenship whenever asked.
This whole "big tent" argument is so typical of Democrats, who live with so much insecurity about their identity that you can argue them into a pretzel on just about anything. Suppose someone wants to be a Democrat, holds Democratic values in everything but abortion -- do we keep them out of the party?
OMG, don't be ridiculous people. Anyone can be in the Democratic Party. But we don't have to support a candidate who is against any one of those values. Not if we value our values.
I am thinking of the leaders of the Women's March, who initially agreed to partner with the anti-abortion group New Wave Feminists, and then after backlash, changed their mind. Come to our march, we are all-inclusive, stand with us, but you cannot lead us because your cause is against one group's individual rights.
I am not quite as open-minded. It angers me that a group which purpose is to deny women rights would call itself "Feminist." Just as I was appalled that Susan B. Anthony's name had been taken over into the anti-abortion cause.
And there it is again, that double standard. We would not have welcomed marchers who held signs that were anti-Muslim (pro-Christian freedom), or anti-LGBT (pro-traditional families), but there were signs and banners that heralded "Feminists for Life" and other anti-choice (pro-life) messages.
Ayn Rand said it best (!) when she talked about the importance of selfishness. Of course, she got it screwed up pretty badly when profit and greed came in to play. But taking care of ourselves first is a bit like the announcement the flight attendant makes before take-off. If those oxygen masks come down, you need to put one on yourself before you put them on your kids. Otherwise, you aren't going to be around and functioning to take care of them at all.
Last night, Davis spoke about why everyone needs to support women's right to determine their own reproductive path. When women succeed, when they are free to join the work force, make a living wage and work to their potential -- whenever that happens -- the economy flourishes. Our families flourish. Our democracy flourishes.
And I have to say it. I am not as old as Bernie, but I am getting there, so at the risk of offending any men out there, I will speak my mind. Women are smarter. Women are able to learn more and faster, juggle more important tasks, because they have always had to do that. Unless we are Mitt Romney's wife, we don't get away with just raising the kids. When we work, we work harder, but always having to take care of all those important jobs outside of work. We can squeeze a lot into the day, and do it well. And we can prioritize, and get it right.
We empathize. We don't have to be living on $2 a day, as too many Americans are doing, or live without health care. We can understand what that means to our quality of life, and also how the suffering of others ripples through the rest of America.
What we women need to do now is put that oxygen mask on ourselves before we take care of anyone else. We need to stop letting right wingnuts and christian extremists tie our hands, cut off our ability to live well and then criticize us for not working hard enough to succeed.
What do you get angry about? Really, really angry? Take that anger and personalize it. Don't minimize what it means when our Democratic Party suggests that they can support a candidate who won't fight for us just because he will fight for other groups.
And we need to stop trying to find a rational argument that will convince the anti-abortion bigots that it is their right to determine the path of our lives. The argument is: It is my body, and it is none of your business.
After all, that argument has been working quite well for the NRA, despite all the lives lost because of their perceived right to carry weapons. But that is an argument for another day.
 |
| from Post & Courier |
I had been ruminating for a couple of days about the bizarre turn of events wherein Bernie Sanders threw his support behind an anti-abortion mayoral candidate. Apparently he was right on all the other issues, so Bernie claimed his stance on abortion was less consequential than having his opponent win. Apparently Bernie forgot that he was the politician with clout, that he could have stood up to candidate Mello the way he stood up to the Democratic Party last summer. He didn't mind doing the "my way or the highway" until it came down to women's reproductive rights.
After all, the guy had the support of "the labor movement and environmentalists and Native Americans and the African American community and the Latino community" so of course he would offer his support.
Seems he forgot that 1/2 of all those people are women.
And sadly, women who will fight their hearts out for all people whose rights are being trammeled will forget, or make excuses for, not fighting for our own rights.
Wendy Davis spoke last night about her own coming to awareness of this during her run for governor. Once, upon being asked if she was a feminist, she said no -- she still sounded amazed as she recounted the experience. And later, during the dirty campaign in which her parenting was being dragged through the mud, when she was asked if she thought she was being treated differently because she was a woman... she said no.
And she said we have all done that at some point in our lives. We still suffer the cultural bias that our welfare comes second, that it is our job to take care of everyone else before ourselves. That if we stand up for our rights we are being selfish -- and none of us wants to be selfish.
Imagine Bernie saying he would stand behind a candidate who was right on all the issues except that he thought African Americans should not be entitled to the same education as white children. Or that businesses had a right to not serve members of the LGBT community. Or that immigrants should be required to show proof of citizenship whenever asked.
This whole "big tent" argument is so typical of Democrats, who live with so much insecurity about their identity that you can argue them into a pretzel on just about anything. Suppose someone wants to be a Democrat, holds Democratic values in everything but abortion -- do we keep them out of the party?
OMG, don't be ridiculous people. Anyone can be in the Democratic Party. But we don't have to support a candidate who is against any one of those values. Not if we value our values.
I am thinking of the leaders of the Women's March, who initially agreed to partner with the anti-abortion group New Wave Feminists, and then after backlash, changed their mind. Come to our march, we are all-inclusive, stand with us, but you cannot lead us because your cause is against one group's individual rights.
I am not quite as open-minded. It angers me that a group which purpose is to deny women rights would call itself "Feminist." Just as I was appalled that Susan B. Anthony's name had been taken over into the anti-abortion cause.
And there it is again, that double standard. We would not have welcomed marchers who held signs that were anti-Muslim (pro-Christian freedom), or anti-LGBT (pro-traditional families), but there were signs and banners that heralded "Feminists for Life" and other anti-choice (pro-life) messages.
Ayn Rand said it best (!) when she talked about the importance of selfishness. Of course, she got it screwed up pretty badly when profit and greed came in to play. But taking care of ourselves first is a bit like the announcement the flight attendant makes before take-off. If those oxygen masks come down, you need to put one on yourself before you put them on your kids. Otherwise, you aren't going to be around and functioning to take care of them at all.
Last night, Davis spoke about why everyone needs to support women's right to determine their own reproductive path. When women succeed, when they are free to join the work force, make a living wage and work to their potential -- whenever that happens -- the economy flourishes. Our families flourish. Our democracy flourishes.
And I have to say it. I am not as old as Bernie, but I am getting there, so at the risk of offending any men out there, I will speak my mind. Women are smarter. Women are able to learn more and faster, juggle more important tasks, because they have always had to do that. Unless we are Mitt Romney's wife, we don't get away with just raising the kids. When we work, we work harder, but always having to take care of all those important jobs outside of work. We can squeeze a lot into the day, and do it well. And we can prioritize, and get it right.
We empathize. We don't have to be living on $2 a day, as too many Americans are doing, or live without health care. We can understand what that means to our quality of life, and also how the suffering of others ripples through the rest of America.
What we women need to do now is put that oxygen mask on ourselves before we take care of anyone else. We need to stop letting right wingnuts and christian extremists tie our hands, cut off our ability to live well and then criticize us for not working hard enough to succeed.
What do you get angry about? Really, really angry? Take that anger and personalize it. Don't minimize what it means when our Democratic Party suggests that they can support a candidate who won't fight for us just because he will fight for other groups.
And we need to stop trying to find a rational argument that will convince the anti-abortion bigots that it is their right to determine the path of our lives. The argument is: It is my body, and it is none of your business.
After all, that argument has been working quite well for the NRA, despite all the lives lost because of their perceived right to carry weapons. But that is an argument for another day.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Searching for the Democratic Party
If you haven't thrown your hat in the ring for the position of Chair of the Democratic Party, apparently it is not too late. Yesterday I saw yet another candidate being interviewed on MSNBC and I yelled at the television, "And who the hell are YOU?"
While puppet Donald Trump is turning our government over to Vladimir Putin and Steve Bannon, while Americans are protesting the horrors of the promised anti-immigration decrees, our Democratic Party is still debating who will run it.
You may not recall that in Florida, the National Democratic Party last year chose not to waste its time throwing support behind Patrick Murphy, even though Marco Rubio had been scalded during his run for president, and Murphy was a solid candidate. Had they put some energy into that campaign, it might have given us another senator; it might also have helped Hillary win Florida. Just sayin'.
Then, after the election, when the country was shocked at the "victory" of Donald Trump and looking for a way out, the Democrats were nowhere to be found in Louisiana's December runoff for Senate between republican John Kennedy and Democrat Foster Campbell. Unlike a game of Where's Waldo? the Democratic Party wasn't even hiding in the crowd; meanwhile both Trump and Pence were out stumping for what was pretty much an assured win. Here's the thing: it may not have resulted in a win for Campbell, but it would have proven that the Democratic Party wasn't going down without a fight. BECAUSE IT WAS JUST THAT IMPORTANT.
And in Georgia, we now have Rep. Tom Price who is likely to be confirmed for Secretary of Health and Human Services on Tuesday. Two issues here: Price is an animal. He is a physician who wants physicians and pharmaceutical companies to be able to set prices for services under Medicare until, that is, he takes down Medicare. And by the way, he is determined to rid us of the Affordable Care Act once and for all. With Donald Trump's blessing he will fulfill the dream of Speaker Paul Ryan. Number two is that he is leaving an opening on the House of Representatives.
In a district where Donald Trump won by only one percent, there will be a special election for a House seat.
As a Democrat I can barely conceal my excitement. This is an opportunity we surely can't pass up. Can we?
At a time in our country when Americans are more dissatisfied and suspicious of their president then they have been since the end of the Nixon years, and for good reason, the Democratic Party should be front and center of this fight. Instead, I heard one Democrat saying that the people were taking care of things with their protests. WHAT???
Democrats RIGHT NOW have the opportunity to save the country. They should be educating and confronting the media constantly about the freedoms that are at stake in the abomination that is called the Trump administration. There should not be a day when there is not a pronouncement by members of the Democratic Party in our major newspapers and our nightly news.
This is not a time to try to appear reasonable. There are enough reasons for outrage over the actions of this illegitimate president. The author of that uncompromising assessment, John Lewis, is a true leader of the party and the country. But after his comments about Trump's legitimacy, he was invited to meet with Trump. As he answered questions about that upcoming meeting, I was horrified to hear caution instead of outrage, if not actual walking back, a measured, "we'll see." Which, by the way, is how the Trump power game works.
I don't believe I have ever had a criticism about Elizabeth Warren, until now. Apparently, being incompetent is not a reason for a no vote for a cabinet position. She defended her vote for idiot savant Ben Carson in something that sounded like, "at least he hasn't said he wants to get rid of the department he has been appointed to lead." She didn't actually say that, but I am hearing what I've never heard from Warren, compromise and a willingness to accept the low bar of the Trump administration.
Again, to all the Democrats that are trying to appear reasonable by voting for Trump appointees that are not total Nazis: it is not about whether they could be trusted to not destroy the department they will be heading. It is not even about competence. It is about the fact that they are being appointed by a president who is indeed illegitimate.
At this time, Democrats should be refusing to cooperate with republicans until there is "extreme vetting" of this clown president and his minions. Steve Bannon is now running the Oval Office. And in the latest move to privatize and take over the White House, Trump has given Bannon the power to reorganize the National Security Council. The first of these measures will be to remove the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, from NSC meetings. The excuses given are the intention to reduce the bloated council and to free up principals' time. We can also look at it as the logical conclusion by a man who gets bored at Daily Briefings. But this actually represents the consolidating of control of Trump's White House under Steve Bannon, the brains behind the bully. And the exclusion of any members of the security team that might present arguments or opposing views. Or who might feel the need to inform members of Congress or the American people when something is going very wrong.
Democrats, it is absurd that you are still fighting over control of the party when our democratic process is being dismantled. Now is the time to get in the face of the republican Congress and challenge them to investigate -- immediately -- if not impeach -- Trump. This is the time to hound the media constantly about what is going on behind closed doors.
Members of Congress have taken to leaving their mailboxes full and sneaking away from angry constituents. Bernie Sanders, who is no longer a Democrat but an Independent, has sent out the following message:
If you're getting a full voice mailbox when calling your senator or congressman, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to know about it. His office is tracking these, as it appears that some of these full mailboxes remain that way intentionally. Reach his D.C. office at 202-224-5141.
Why are the Democrats not all over this? Perhaps it is because they are still spinning over what is wrong with the Party? Let me suggest that this, in fact, is the answer.
While puppet Donald Trump is turning our government over to Vladimir Putin and Steve Bannon, while Americans are protesting the horrors of the promised anti-immigration decrees, our Democratic Party is still debating who will run it.
You may not recall that in Florida, the National Democratic Party last year chose not to waste its time throwing support behind Patrick Murphy, even though Marco Rubio had been scalded during his run for president, and Murphy was a solid candidate. Had they put some energy into that campaign, it might have given us another senator; it might also have helped Hillary win Florida. Just sayin'.
Then, after the election, when the country was shocked at the "victory" of Donald Trump and looking for a way out, the Democrats were nowhere to be found in Louisiana's December runoff for Senate between republican John Kennedy and Democrat Foster Campbell. Unlike a game of Where's Waldo? the Democratic Party wasn't even hiding in the crowd; meanwhile both Trump and Pence were out stumping for what was pretty much an assured win. Here's the thing: it may not have resulted in a win for Campbell, but it would have proven that the Democratic Party wasn't going down without a fight. BECAUSE IT WAS JUST THAT IMPORTANT.
And in Georgia, we now have Rep. Tom Price who is likely to be confirmed for Secretary of Health and Human Services on Tuesday. Two issues here: Price is an animal. He is a physician who wants physicians and pharmaceutical companies to be able to set prices for services under Medicare until, that is, he takes down Medicare. And by the way, he is determined to rid us of the Affordable Care Act once and for all. With Donald Trump's blessing he will fulfill the dream of Speaker Paul Ryan. Number two is that he is leaving an opening on the House of Representatives.
In a district where Donald Trump won by only one percent, there will be a special election for a House seat.
As a Democrat I can barely conceal my excitement. This is an opportunity we surely can't pass up. Can we?
At a time in our country when Americans are more dissatisfied and suspicious of their president then they have been since the end of the Nixon years, and for good reason, the Democratic Party should be front and center of this fight. Instead, I heard one Democrat saying that the people were taking care of things with their protests. WHAT???
Democrats RIGHT NOW have the opportunity to save the country. They should be educating and confronting the media constantly about the freedoms that are at stake in the abomination that is called the Trump administration. There should not be a day when there is not a pronouncement by members of the Democratic Party in our major newspapers and our nightly news.
This is not a time to try to appear reasonable. There are enough reasons for outrage over the actions of this illegitimate president. The author of that uncompromising assessment, John Lewis, is a true leader of the party and the country. But after his comments about Trump's legitimacy, he was invited to meet with Trump. As he answered questions about that upcoming meeting, I was horrified to hear caution instead of outrage, if not actual walking back, a measured, "we'll see." Which, by the way, is how the Trump power game works.
I don't believe I have ever had a criticism about Elizabeth Warren, until now. Apparently, being incompetent is not a reason for a no vote for a cabinet position. She defended her vote for idiot savant Ben Carson in something that sounded like, "at least he hasn't said he wants to get rid of the department he has been appointed to lead." She didn't actually say that, but I am hearing what I've never heard from Warren, compromise and a willingness to accept the low bar of the Trump administration.
Again, to all the Democrats that are trying to appear reasonable by voting for Trump appointees that are not total Nazis: it is not about whether they could be trusted to not destroy the department they will be heading. It is not even about competence. It is about the fact that they are being appointed by a president who is indeed illegitimate.
At this time, Democrats should be refusing to cooperate with republicans until there is "extreme vetting" of this clown president and his minions. Steve Bannon is now running the Oval Office. And in the latest move to privatize and take over the White House, Trump has given Bannon the power to reorganize the National Security Council. The first of these measures will be to remove the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, from NSC meetings. The excuses given are the intention to reduce the bloated council and to free up principals' time. We can also look at it as the logical conclusion by a man who gets bored at Daily Briefings. But this actually represents the consolidating of control of Trump's White House under Steve Bannon, the brains behind the bully. And the exclusion of any members of the security team that might present arguments or opposing views. Or who might feel the need to inform members of Congress or the American people when something is going very wrong.
Democrats, it is absurd that you are still fighting over control of the party when our democratic process is being dismantled. Now is the time to get in the face of the republican Congress and challenge them to investigate -- immediately -- if not impeach -- Trump. This is the time to hound the media constantly about what is going on behind closed doors.
Members of Congress have taken to leaving their mailboxes full and sneaking away from angry constituents. Bernie Sanders, who is no longer a Democrat but an Independent, has sent out the following message:
If you're getting a full voice mailbox when calling your senator or congressman, Sen. Bernie Sanders wants to know about it. His office is tracking these, as it appears that some of these full mailboxes remain that way intentionally. Reach his D.C. office at 202-224-5141.
Why are the Democrats not all over this? Perhaps it is because they are still spinning over what is wrong with the Party? Let me suggest that this, in fact, is the answer.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Dems Are Asking: Is It Safe to Come Out Now?
I don't know about you, but I just keep asking myself these days, "Where the hell did the Democrats go?" There was a Senate election in Louisiana last weekend, and just as with Patrick Murphy in Florida, nary a Democrat around to throw their support to him. It was that important that, even though the republicans had already won the Senate, both Trump and Pence were out there stumping for their guy. But no Dems.
And we here in South Carolina have resorted to sending thanks to republican Senator Lindsey Graham for taking a stand on investigating Russia's manipulation of our presidential election. Meanwhile, google our own Jim Clyburn and all you come up with for news is that on November 30 he announced his support for Jaime Harrison for head of the DNC. Try googling "Jim Clyburn Russia" and the lack of news will make you want to cry.
Or spit. Which is what I have been doing a lot of lately. With twitter rants that threaten to destroy US / Fill In Country Here diplomacy and major US businesses, our president-elect is just beginning to enjoy the power he will wield on January 20. As we have come to expect, our Democrats in Congress, with a very few notable exceptions, are willing to crawl as one under a rock and wait till it all blows over, at which time we may well no longer have a democracy.
Let us take a moment to remember the Obama Inauguration in 2009. At the very time we were tearfully welcoming in our hope and change president, republican leaders were secretly congregating to figure out how to block him from seeing any of that hope and change materialize. And then they came out in public and said the same thing. It was just that important to them. So all we can conclude is that the threat of disemboweling all the positive change that Obama got through that obstructionist congress is just not worth sticking your neck out for.
And those brave Democrats who are speaking out against this clear threat? The republicans have them in their sights. Elizabeth Warren will be attacked at every turn. Al Franken will be in the crosshairs. Nancy Pelosi, well, they might leave her alone this time because her considerable power is already being eroded by those white men of the Blue Dog conservatives.
Way to stick together, Dems. Don't ever disappoint us.
While creeps like Tim Ryan advise that the reason the Dems lost was that they didn't fawn over the white middle class enough, the Russians and Giuliani's New York FBI got away with the most egregious fowl play ever to happen in US electoral politics. Trump was in charge of misdirecting the uninformed masses, Russia provided the props in terms of constant email leaks, republicans like Trey Gowdy gave the lies the guise of authenticity in Congress, and FBI Director James Comey was coerced into nailing the election with the last-minute sleight-of-hand that kept just enough Democrats away from the polls. Meanwhile, idiots like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd did the dirty work we all thought was the purview of Fox News by prefacing every damn news segment by saying that Trump and Clinton were the most disliked candidates in history, equating the proven crimes of Donald Trump with the mistruths being spread about Clinton.
And when our Democratic Party adds that all up, what do they come up with? That Hillary didn't reach all those white voters; that she didn't show enough of herself; that people don't trust her; that she wasn't genuine; that blah blah blah....
Well, let me tell you, Party Dems. You may be afraid to come out and represent all of us. Or you may not think it is possible to reach out to all those white middle class working folk if you keep talking about what the rest of us need.
Or maybe you think that the country blames you for being in the "do-nothing" congress. If that is true, it is because you have failed to speak up EVERY TIME the republicans blocked progress. This should have been a piece of cake. The republicans gave the narrative to us on a silver platter: "Our economy has gotten stronger since the last failed republican administration in spite of the obstructionist republicans. Just imagine if Obama had had a majority in congress that was willing to work with him to move the country forward -- imagine what he could have done."
But instead, in 2010, Blue Dogs lost in Kentucky and Texas (yes I mean you Wendy Davis), by backing away from both liberal issues and from President Obama.
And here they are, once again, after the incredible popularity of Bernie Sanders, talking about how they are going to cooperate with the takeover of our government by a plutocracy which purpose is to further the wealth of the few, predominantly the Trumps. Admitted ties to Russia, and nobody on our side is yelling for the release of tax returns. Remember Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager? After he was found to have ties to the Ukraine, Trump let him go with a nod and a wink, and sure enough, now that he doesn't need your vote anymore, Manafort is back, bigger and dirty as ever. For gods' sake, Democrats have been heard singing the praises of racist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, likely our next attorney general.
So while Paul Ryan is scheming over taking away our social security and medicare (food stamps is small potatoes these days), the Democratic Party is waiting for the republicans to take front and center against the incoming corrupt regime. That is, when they are not debating among themselves as to whether they should bring a gift or just wave a white flag on Inauguration Day.
Shame on you for not uniting to depose the biggest threat to the country we have had in our lifetimes. Stop fighting over what you think Hillary did wrong and get it together to fight the real bad guy. The voters will remember you if you do; if you don't they may never have the chance.
And we here in South Carolina have resorted to sending thanks to republican Senator Lindsey Graham for taking a stand on investigating Russia's manipulation of our presidential election. Meanwhile, google our own Jim Clyburn and all you come up with for news is that on November 30 he announced his support for Jaime Harrison for head of the DNC. Try googling "Jim Clyburn Russia" and the lack of news will make you want to cry.
Or spit. Which is what I have been doing a lot of lately. With twitter rants that threaten to destroy US / Fill In Country Here diplomacy and major US businesses, our president-elect is just beginning to enjoy the power he will wield on January 20. As we have come to expect, our Democrats in Congress, with a very few notable exceptions, are willing to crawl as one under a rock and wait till it all blows over, at which time we may well no longer have a democracy.
Let us take a moment to remember the Obama Inauguration in 2009. At the very time we were tearfully welcoming in our hope and change president, republican leaders were secretly congregating to figure out how to block him from seeing any of that hope and change materialize. And then they came out in public and said the same thing. It was just that important to them. So all we can conclude is that the threat of disemboweling all the positive change that Obama got through that obstructionist congress is just not worth sticking your neck out for.
And those brave Democrats who are speaking out against this clear threat? The republicans have them in their sights. Elizabeth Warren will be attacked at every turn. Al Franken will be in the crosshairs. Nancy Pelosi, well, they might leave her alone this time because her considerable power is already being eroded by those white men of the Blue Dog conservatives.
Way to stick together, Dems. Don't ever disappoint us.
While creeps like Tim Ryan advise that the reason the Dems lost was that they didn't fawn over the white middle class enough, the Russians and Giuliani's New York FBI got away with the most egregious fowl play ever to happen in US electoral politics. Trump was in charge of misdirecting the uninformed masses, Russia provided the props in terms of constant email leaks, republicans like Trey Gowdy gave the lies the guise of authenticity in Congress, and FBI Director James Comey was coerced into nailing the election with the last-minute sleight-of-hand that kept just enough Democrats away from the polls. Meanwhile, idiots like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd did the dirty work we all thought was the purview of Fox News by prefacing every damn news segment by saying that Trump and Clinton were the most disliked candidates in history, equating the proven crimes of Donald Trump with the mistruths being spread about Clinton.
And when our Democratic Party adds that all up, what do they come up with? That Hillary didn't reach all those white voters; that she didn't show enough of herself; that people don't trust her; that she wasn't genuine; that blah blah blah....
Well, let me tell you, Party Dems. You may be afraid to come out and represent all of us. Or you may not think it is possible to reach out to all those white middle class working folk if you keep talking about what the rest of us need.
Or maybe you think that the country blames you for being in the "do-nothing" congress. If that is true, it is because you have failed to speak up EVERY TIME the republicans blocked progress. This should have been a piece of cake. The republicans gave the narrative to us on a silver platter: "Our economy has gotten stronger since the last failed republican administration in spite of the obstructionist republicans. Just imagine if Obama had had a majority in congress that was willing to work with him to move the country forward -- imagine what he could have done."
But instead, in 2010, Blue Dogs lost in Kentucky and Texas (yes I mean you Wendy Davis), by backing away from both liberal issues and from President Obama.
And here they are, once again, after the incredible popularity of Bernie Sanders, talking about how they are going to cooperate with the takeover of our government by a plutocracy which purpose is to further the wealth of the few, predominantly the Trumps. Admitted ties to Russia, and nobody on our side is yelling for the release of tax returns. Remember Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager? After he was found to have ties to the Ukraine, Trump let him go with a nod and a wink, and sure enough, now that he doesn't need your vote anymore, Manafort is back, bigger and dirty as ever. For gods' sake, Democrats have been heard singing the praises of racist Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, likely our next attorney general.
So while Paul Ryan is scheming over taking away our social security and medicare (food stamps is small potatoes these days), the Democratic Party is waiting for the republicans to take front and center against the incoming corrupt regime. That is, when they are not debating among themselves as to whether they should bring a gift or just wave a white flag on Inauguration Day.
Shame on you for not uniting to depose the biggest threat to the country we have had in our lifetimes. Stop fighting over what you think Hillary did wrong and get it together to fight the real bad guy. The voters will remember you if you do; if you don't they may never have the chance.
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Silver Lining
It occurs to me that Silver Lining is the color of the roofing tiles I am having installed this very minute, with great noise and fanfare, thanks to Hurricane Matthew. There have been a few Hispanic men hammering away since minutes after seven, no coffee break, no stopping to talk, just hard, physical work. I don't know if they are legal immigrants or not, and, honestly, nobody really cares if it keeps the price of their new roof lower. All the protests are bullshit and dog whistles, shamefully attacking and victimizing good people.
But other than the coincidental title of this post, that is not what I need to talk about today. Today I'm not quite through my period of mourning, for Hillary, for our country, for all the mean and ignorant or just naive and foolish voters who hammered their own nails into all our coffins on Tuesday. But I have been commiserating with friends, and posting on facebook, and talking to my kids, and just as with George W. Bush in 2000, there is a day after this one too.
In fact, I have started to compile a list of all the things we have to look forward to during the "presidency" of He-Who-Just-Cannot-Be-Named.
For one thing, once they have worked through their own mourning, our wonderful comedians will have far better fuel than they would have had with Hillary in the White House. I imagine Samantha Bee has only just been getting warmed up during the election season. And Alec Baldwin, after working so hard to nail Trump, surely will be willing to show up (or call in) to SNL from time to time. After all, we did miss Tina Fey's Sarah Palin once we didn't have the original around anymore.
I am also thinking that, given Trump's failure to grasp economics and his need to continue to be adored by those undereducated and underpaid workers, it is just possible that those of us liberals who work hard for too little will also reap the benefits, at least till the crash. And as long as Donald doesn't insist on an ideological test for us white Americans, I should be okay for awhile. It occurs to me with some relief that when the Bush years started I was on the low end of the wage scale, so when they ended I hadn't lost anything. And now that I am attempting to live on Paul Ryan's social security, it seems not that much has changed.
Let's be honest, Donald Trump is a hoot. He is every bit as stupid as W., but without the charm. I am looking forward to those 365 day calendars of Trumpisms, and for a couple of reasons. Not only were those idiotic gems ("More of our imports come from overseas.") something to brighten the dark days, but at the end of the Bush years I had stacks of scrap paper, perfect for phone messages and grocery lists. And I am running low.
The younger generation, those we have been falsely accusing of being disinterested in politics, are infuriated. They have truly had it with people trying to legislate their bodies, and sexual and marital choices. They are sick to death of big corporations getting handouts from the government while they are spending their young lives trying to pay back student loans while failing to get a job that pays what they are worth. They are not going to tolerate intolerance of race or religious choice. The riots and protests over racism aren't going to stop, and women are not going to be forced to choose between an unwanted pregnancy or a backroom abortion. My son, who could be safely ensconced in his Ph.D. program, has told me that as he has become an activist, he knows he may someday be arrested, and it is a risk he is willing to take, a sentiment that fills me with pride even more than fear.
It will be fun to see the reaction of Trump supporters when Congress finally succeeds in repealing Obamacare. They apparently had forgotten that before the ACA insurance premiums rose precipitously each year. That will be a happy thing to watch, for me anyway. As long as the Democrats are ready to yell loud and long when the right wingnuts try to blame it on Obama -- and probably Hillary as well.
And while they are targeting others for their failures, let us also remember that our new "president" gets bored with people when they have outlived their usefulness. I can only imagine that it won't take long for the smugly pious Mike Pence to get under Donald's skin. Imagine the name calling, followed eventually by the inevitable tweets. And wouldn't it be fun at some point to hear that Pence has been "fired."
Of course, once Pence is gone it will be safe to impeach Trump. And wasn't that clever of whichever brains-behind-the-boss manipulated Trump into choosing the white-haired Satan for his running mate? Anyway, point being, nothing lasts forever in Trumpworld.
Along the way, it isn't going to take long for these characters to put the economy into the toilet. And once it is there, I would say by 2018, the voters will be ready to appeal to a Democratic Congress to get us out of the toilet.
Again, though, let us not forget the Bush years. And Trump's reigning philosophy. When some lose, others win. For a couple of years I had been able to afford amazing timeshare rental vacations, weeklong getaways at resorts for $500 a week, the cost of the annual maintenance fee for those who needed to recoup the cost more than take the vacation. That ended with the resurgence of the economy (thanks, Obama). Now, the vacations that went for $60 a night are up over $300 a night. But when the economy tanks, and until they take away my social security, I'll be able to get in on a couple of weeks a year of vacations on the beach once again.
I honestly can't believe that here we are, doing the Bush years over again. But our electorate truly does have a short memory. And they are gullible, easily manipulated. It takes the pain of an interminable war and the tanking of the economy to the point of loss of jobs and homes before they realize that those sugar-spun fantasies of cutting taxes in order to make us rich are just fantasies.
On Tuesday afternoon, before the end, it occurred to me that this race was more like Nixon than Bush. The Trump crowd that adopted "lying Hillary" as their mantra and made excuses for Trump's blatantly illegal and immoral behaviors could have been the same hardhats that chanted that they would rather have a crook in the White House than Hubert Humphrey.
It is hilarious that in retrospect, Nixon doesn't look that bad. It is criminal though, that our memories have been so thoroughly wiped of all the damage done in the Reagan years that Democratic and republican politicians alike would no sooner fail to mention Ronald Reagan than walk onto a stage without a flag pin.
And then there were the Bush years, as we went from a growing economy to the brink of disaster. Bad choices made by a gullible president at the behest of the evil Dick Cheney. And surrounded by a cabinet of ideological idiots.
And finally, here we are again, with a growing economy, a strong military, better foreign relations than we have had for quite a while, more jobs and even wages slowly rising. Instead of Bill Clinton, we have the most admirable couple to grace the White House maybe in my memory. And instead of Al Gore, we have Hillary Clinton.
Instead of the evil capitalist Dick Cheney behind the wheel, we have the evil religious fanatic Mike Pence. And then we have the proposed cabinet of deplorables: Chris Christie, the guy who claims he didn't know about "bridge-gate;" Newt Gingrich, the man who ended his marriage at his wife's hospital bed, and last but truly least, Rudy Giuliani, whose contact with reality is so completely shot that he believes the US was not attacked on George W. Bush's watch. That same Giuliani by the way, who giggled like a madman a couple of weeks ago when he alluded to his knowledge of the FBI re-opening the investigation into Hillary's emails as another surprise. Yeah, he's going to be the next attorney general.
So, lots of reasons to weep, and hopefully lots of comedy potential as well. And lots of reasons to get fired up to fight. It is true that we will be fighting two branches of government rather than just congress. But with a cast of characters as shady and corrupt as this bunch, as long as we fight as fearlessly as did Bernie and Hillary for what is right, as long as we don't let the bullies intimidate us, we can not only survive but win this thing. And by "this thing" I pretty much mean our country and our freedoms.
But other than the coincidental title of this post, that is not what I need to talk about today. Today I'm not quite through my period of mourning, for Hillary, for our country, for all the mean and ignorant or just naive and foolish voters who hammered their own nails into all our coffins on Tuesday. But I have been commiserating with friends, and posting on facebook, and talking to my kids, and just as with George W. Bush in 2000, there is a day after this one too.
In fact, I have started to compile a list of all the things we have to look forward to during the "presidency" of He-Who-Just-Cannot-Be-Named.
For one thing, once they have worked through their own mourning, our wonderful comedians will have far better fuel than they would have had with Hillary in the White House. I imagine Samantha Bee has only just been getting warmed up during the election season. And Alec Baldwin, after working so hard to nail Trump, surely will be willing to show up (or call in) to SNL from time to time. After all, we did miss Tina Fey's Sarah Palin once we didn't have the original around anymore.
I am also thinking that, given Trump's failure to grasp economics and his need to continue to be adored by those undereducated and underpaid workers, it is just possible that those of us liberals who work hard for too little will also reap the benefits, at least till the crash. And as long as Donald doesn't insist on an ideological test for us white Americans, I should be okay for awhile. It occurs to me with some relief that when the Bush years started I was on the low end of the wage scale, so when they ended I hadn't lost anything. And now that I am attempting to live on Paul Ryan's social security, it seems not that much has changed.
Let's be honest, Donald Trump is a hoot. He is every bit as stupid as W., but without the charm. I am looking forward to those 365 day calendars of Trumpisms, and for a couple of reasons. Not only were those idiotic gems ("More of our imports come from overseas.") something to brighten the dark days, but at the end of the Bush years I had stacks of scrap paper, perfect for phone messages and grocery lists. And I am running low.
The younger generation, those we have been falsely accusing of being disinterested in politics, are infuriated. They have truly had it with people trying to legislate their bodies, and sexual and marital choices. They are sick to death of big corporations getting handouts from the government while they are spending their young lives trying to pay back student loans while failing to get a job that pays what they are worth. They are not going to tolerate intolerance of race or religious choice. The riots and protests over racism aren't going to stop, and women are not going to be forced to choose between an unwanted pregnancy or a backroom abortion. My son, who could be safely ensconced in his Ph.D. program, has told me that as he has become an activist, he knows he may someday be arrested, and it is a risk he is willing to take, a sentiment that fills me with pride even more than fear.
It will be fun to see the reaction of Trump supporters when Congress finally succeeds in repealing Obamacare. They apparently had forgotten that before the ACA insurance premiums rose precipitously each year. That will be a happy thing to watch, for me anyway. As long as the Democrats are ready to yell loud and long when the right wingnuts try to blame it on Obama -- and probably Hillary as well.
And while they are targeting others for their failures, let us also remember that our new "president" gets bored with people when they have outlived their usefulness. I can only imagine that it won't take long for the smugly pious Mike Pence to get under Donald's skin. Imagine the name calling, followed eventually by the inevitable tweets. And wouldn't it be fun at some point to hear that Pence has been "fired."
Of course, once Pence is gone it will be safe to impeach Trump. And wasn't that clever of whichever brains-behind-the-boss manipulated Trump into choosing the white-haired Satan for his running mate? Anyway, point being, nothing lasts forever in Trumpworld.
Along the way, it isn't going to take long for these characters to put the economy into the toilet. And once it is there, I would say by 2018, the voters will be ready to appeal to a Democratic Congress to get us out of the toilet.
Again, though, let us not forget the Bush years. And Trump's reigning philosophy. When some lose, others win. For a couple of years I had been able to afford amazing timeshare rental vacations, weeklong getaways at resorts for $500 a week, the cost of the annual maintenance fee for those who needed to recoup the cost more than take the vacation. That ended with the resurgence of the economy (thanks, Obama). Now, the vacations that went for $60 a night are up over $300 a night. But when the economy tanks, and until they take away my social security, I'll be able to get in on a couple of weeks a year of vacations on the beach once again.
I honestly can't believe that here we are, doing the Bush years over again. But our electorate truly does have a short memory. And they are gullible, easily manipulated. It takes the pain of an interminable war and the tanking of the economy to the point of loss of jobs and homes before they realize that those sugar-spun fantasies of cutting taxes in order to make us rich are just fantasies.
On Tuesday afternoon, before the end, it occurred to me that this race was more like Nixon than Bush. The Trump crowd that adopted "lying Hillary" as their mantra and made excuses for Trump's blatantly illegal and immoral behaviors could have been the same hardhats that chanted that they would rather have a crook in the White House than Hubert Humphrey.
It is hilarious that in retrospect, Nixon doesn't look that bad. It is criminal though, that our memories have been so thoroughly wiped of all the damage done in the Reagan years that Democratic and republican politicians alike would no sooner fail to mention Ronald Reagan than walk onto a stage without a flag pin.
And then there were the Bush years, as we went from a growing economy to the brink of disaster. Bad choices made by a gullible president at the behest of the evil Dick Cheney. And surrounded by a cabinet of ideological idiots.
And finally, here we are again, with a growing economy, a strong military, better foreign relations than we have had for quite a while, more jobs and even wages slowly rising. Instead of Bill Clinton, we have the most admirable couple to grace the White House maybe in my memory. And instead of Al Gore, we have Hillary Clinton.
Instead of the evil capitalist Dick Cheney behind the wheel, we have the evil religious fanatic Mike Pence. And then we have the proposed cabinet of deplorables: Chris Christie, the guy who claims he didn't know about "bridge-gate;" Newt Gingrich, the man who ended his marriage at his wife's hospital bed, and last but truly least, Rudy Giuliani, whose contact with reality is so completely shot that he believes the US was not attacked on George W. Bush's watch. That same Giuliani by the way, who giggled like a madman a couple of weeks ago when he alluded to his knowledge of the FBI re-opening the investigation into Hillary's emails as another surprise. Yeah, he's going to be the next attorney general.
So, lots of reasons to weep, and hopefully lots of comedy potential as well. And lots of reasons to get fired up to fight. It is true that we will be fighting two branches of government rather than just congress. But with a cast of characters as shady and corrupt as this bunch, as long as we fight as fearlessly as did Bernie and Hillary for what is right, as long as we don't let the bullies intimidate us, we can not only survive but win this thing. And by "this thing" I pretty much mean our country and our freedoms.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
The Orange-Haired Dog CAN Learn New Tricks
Kellyanne Conway, Trump's newest campaign manager, is indeed the woman behind the man. She is shrewd. She tells him what he needs to do in that soothing manner that women have when attempting to tame their abusive, raging partner. You know, the manner that makes the beast want to change and feel flattered for his cleverness at the same time.
She does it well. Listen to his recent speeches. He is not only reading well-written speeches off the teleprompter, he is reading them flawlessly, more so than W. did in his day. His message is no longer about rage, it is about what he can do for the American people. You know, those folks who have been mistreated by Obama for eight years.
The Trump method of projecting his hate (back in the day, we used to say he's so good at projection you could run a film through him) seems to be working. If Hillary calls him a bigot, he calls her a bigot. I know, it seems simplistic, and it is, but for those who have been fed small doses of anti-Clinton rhetoric for decades, this is just what they are primed to hear. The first few times I heard it, it made my head spin; now it is just more noise. And that is what gives it power.
And here is something that I realized just today, an hour before I heard that the gap between Trump and Clinton continues to narrow. It is the thing we have been missing, as Conway trains Trump to appeal to the more rational of his supporters.
I was scheduling my next appointment at my rheumatologist's office. I don't even know the nice woman's name, but as she scheduled my appointment, we were commiserating about getting on Medicare, and the expense of the drug benefit plan. She said to me, well, we may not have to worry about it depending on who gets into office in the next couple of months.
It took me aback, and not just because we have never had a political conversation of any sort. The best I could respond was that it wasn't likely that Congress would want to spend any money to make drugs more affordable for us. But with that small exchange, a light went on.
I have not been listening to the new Donald Trump, really. And neither has the media. But those long-time republicans out there have been listening carefully. In the beginning it was the absurd message that getting rid of Mexicans would get us all better jobs. But it has lately become a list of all the things Donald Trump will give us if we elect him (his newest theft from the Democrats is the line that he will even help those of us who don't vote for him).
The new Donald Trump isn't claiming he will make us millionaires like him. But he is promising that he will give us good-paying jobs and take care of us in retirement. He is going to protect the cops and the rest of us from criminals. And he will make sure we all have good health care.
It doesn't matter a whit that he is not offering any kind of plan, financial or otherwise, as to how he is going to do that. People are hearing what they want to hear.
So maybe Trump isn't going to build a wall or get rid of Muslims (nudge-nudge, wink-wink, the "deplorables" know he can't say it now, but he'll do it once he gets elected). Maybe he is just going to be a reincarnation of Bernie Sanders, making sure we all have all kinds of security.
And TODAY Trump lays out his plan to give us all affordable childcare! No matter that republicans have fought any kind of assistance for childcare whenever a Democrat has brought it up. No matter that he has no idea how he will fund it.
No matter. All those middle class republicans who have been feeling dealt a bad hand are hearing that help is on the way. And Donald Trump is a businessman, and a millionaire, so he will know how to get it done.
This is what the Democrats need to tune in to, quickly. When he is attacked by Hillary for his gang of deplorables, Kellyanne and her crew will twist it around quite satisfactorily so that it sounds like Hillary is the meanie. And sure enough, Trump's speechwriter will have his candidate stand up to defend all those good Trump supporters.
Trump, the man of the people. He thinks he is, and now he is convincing America.
I imagine that Hitler's speeches had that same ring of, "I will take care of you all." And if you believe strongly enough, you can almost miss the sound of the jackboots.
She does it well. Listen to his recent speeches. He is not only reading well-written speeches off the teleprompter, he is reading them flawlessly, more so than W. did in his day. His message is no longer about rage, it is about what he can do for the American people. You know, those folks who have been mistreated by Obama for eight years.
The Trump method of projecting his hate (back in the day, we used to say he's so good at projection you could run a film through him) seems to be working. If Hillary calls him a bigot, he calls her a bigot. I know, it seems simplistic, and it is, but for those who have been fed small doses of anti-Clinton rhetoric for decades, this is just what they are primed to hear. The first few times I heard it, it made my head spin; now it is just more noise. And that is what gives it power.
And here is something that I realized just today, an hour before I heard that the gap between Trump and Clinton continues to narrow. It is the thing we have been missing, as Conway trains Trump to appeal to the more rational of his supporters.
I was scheduling my next appointment at my rheumatologist's office. I don't even know the nice woman's name, but as she scheduled my appointment, we were commiserating about getting on Medicare, and the expense of the drug benefit plan. She said to me, well, we may not have to worry about it depending on who gets into office in the next couple of months.
It took me aback, and not just because we have never had a political conversation of any sort. The best I could respond was that it wasn't likely that Congress would want to spend any money to make drugs more affordable for us. But with that small exchange, a light went on.
I have not been listening to the new Donald Trump, really. And neither has the media. But those long-time republicans out there have been listening carefully. In the beginning it was the absurd message that getting rid of Mexicans would get us all better jobs. But it has lately become a list of all the things Donald Trump will give us if we elect him (his newest theft from the Democrats is the line that he will even help those of us who don't vote for him).
The new Donald Trump isn't claiming he will make us millionaires like him. But he is promising that he will give us good-paying jobs and take care of us in retirement. He is going to protect the cops and the rest of us from criminals. And he will make sure we all have good health care.
It doesn't matter a whit that he is not offering any kind of plan, financial or otherwise, as to how he is going to do that. People are hearing what they want to hear.
So maybe Trump isn't going to build a wall or get rid of Muslims (nudge-nudge, wink-wink, the "deplorables" know he can't say it now, but he'll do it once he gets elected). Maybe he is just going to be a reincarnation of Bernie Sanders, making sure we all have all kinds of security.
And TODAY Trump lays out his plan to give us all affordable childcare! No matter that republicans have fought any kind of assistance for childcare whenever a Democrat has brought it up. No matter that he has no idea how he will fund it.
No matter. All those middle class republicans who have been feeling dealt a bad hand are hearing that help is on the way. And Donald Trump is a businessman, and a millionaire, so he will know how to get it done.
This is what the Democrats need to tune in to, quickly. When he is attacked by Hillary for his gang of deplorables, Kellyanne and her crew will twist it around quite satisfactorily so that it sounds like Hillary is the meanie. And sure enough, Trump's speechwriter will have his candidate stand up to defend all those good Trump supporters.
Trump, the man of the people. He thinks he is, and now he is convincing America.
I imagine that Hitler's speeches had that same ring of, "I will take care of you all." And if you believe strongly enough, you can almost miss the sound of the jackboots.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Compromising Women's Rights, Again
I was alarmed, but not altogether surprised, to hear that one of Hillary's possible VP choices is Tim Kaine. As I scan through articles about possible VP's, Kaine keeps coming up as the most likely because he is "safe."
Jeez Louise, isn't this the year we ought to finally stop going for "safe?!" We have learned that that idiot with the ducktail can say any damn thing he wants and only garners admiration from his followers for saying any damn thing he wants. Remember W??? He was admired because he said whatever came off the top of his head, and told voters if they didn't like it they didn't have to vote for him.
And this is the year -- this was the week -- that Dems led by John Lewis made history by recalling the sixties with a sit-in on the floor of the House. Finally, finally, we were able to say enough killing, we will risk our careers to do the right thing. Wow. That doesn't happen often among Dems.
Meanwhile, Tim Kaine, along with nearly every other damn Democrat, supports the second amendment. Because you sure can't begin a fight for gun control unless you reassure all the paranoids and wackos out there that you aren't going to take away their guns. The man from the state that in 2007 ended up with 33 young people dead at Virginia Tech would propose to limit high-capacity weapons to ten bullets. That means only ten dead as opposed to fifteen. That's just pathetic.
But I want to talk about Tim Kaine and abortion. Tim Kaine is one of those I don't believe in abortion but I support a woman's right to choose people. Really. What that attitude has gotten us over the years is more and more abortion restrictions as the people who are really passionate about women's rights -- limiting them, that is -- are willing to dig in the dirt to find any wormhole that will allow them to take away another path to access of that right.
The half-hearted support for women's right to choose by those who "don't believe in abortion" has led to an appalling lack of understanding of just how under attack women have been. It has led to women on the Supreme Court joining with men in a 9-0 opinion to reverse Massachusetts' ruling allowing a buffer zone banning protesters around abortion clinics. Nine justices saw the protests as a first amendment free-speech issue rather than the harassment and threat to women's rights that they really are.
Hillary had a number of women on her VP list, but the Dems are afraid that having two women on a ticket would jeopardize her ability to win. I believe it was Amy Klobuchar who was asked by Rachel Maddow whether choosing two women would jeopardize Hillary's chances. She replied that we have a long history of same sex candidates running together successfully on the presidential ticket. Hmmm.
And then there is the fear of going too liberal. Hillary, who won the nomination by claiming that she is a proud progressive. Imagine the Dems surprise when Bernie supporters don't jump on board because Hillary's VP choice is just another safe moderate.
I am hoping that all the excitement about Tim Kaine is a circle jerk by moderate Dems who want to reassure themselves that Hillary isn't really going to try to shake things up the way her fight against Bernie led us to believe. I wonder at the media that continues to act like Bernie doesn't count. After all the people he got out to vote, I have heard it said more than once that he no longer has any power and that he should just concede and get out of the way. This could be the way the Dems shoot themselves in the foot again, this time, when it seems that we have everything, including a hateful batshit crazy opponent, in our favor.
I like Elizabeth Warren in the Senate rattling all those cages, and apparently she likes it too. But Sherrod Brown, another VP possible, is one of my all-time favorite people, fearless and progressive, and with that sexy whiskey voice that I could listen to forever. And then there are actually a number of extremely qualified women, Klobuchar included.
And that takes me, once again, back to abortion. If the first woman presidential nominee does not feel confident enough about the fight for women's rights to choose a solidly pro-choice candidate for VP, she will be telling us all that women's reproductive rights are not important enough to fight for, right from the start. If this is the year of the woman, this should be the year that we no longer allow others to philosophize, proselytize, waffle or opine on how a woman's reproductive life should be legislated. It is time to stop listening, not just to the opinion of the anti-abortion brigade, but to the moderate equivocators. For once, we need to start with Roe v. Wade and fight against all the bites that have been taken out of that freedom since 1973. Ignoring the abortion fight means a lot of women are not going to be voting, because they will see that, once again, politicians are not fighting for them.
Here's another perspective.
How bizarre would it be for someone to say, "I don't believe in being gay for myself, but other people have the right to be gay." Or, "I wouldn't believe in affirmative action for myself, but it's okay if other people want to believe in it."
It's the "believing in it" that has allowed pseudo science, religious bigotry and false facts to twist legislation around against far too many individual rights. Women have the right to privacy, to the best medical care available, to a doctor-patient relationship not impaired by government oversight. They have the right to affordable and accessible health care whether it is for abortion or a head cold, contraception or high blood pressure.
It would be absurd for someone to opine about whether high blood pressure really exists or needs to be treated. Because opinions on abortion by those against abortion have been given validity, we are reaping hundreds of bad laws. The laws that have sprung up around when and where a woman can have an abortion, whether she can access birth control, and forcing her to pay; the laws that force doctors to lie or not answer questions accurately about contraception and abortion; the laws that impose restrictions on clinics that force them to shut down; the laws that allow harassment and threats in the name of freedom of speech. They all come from that crack in the window that lets people whose lives are not affected have opinions on women's reproductive rights.
And all y'all can have your opinions. I don't have to listen to those opinions if I don't want to. Unless you are in charge. This is why we Dems need to fight for candidates that will fight for us. Without compromise. Without equivocation.
And "moderate," "safe" candidates like Tim Kaine just don't cut it.
Jeez Louise, isn't this the year we ought to finally stop going for "safe?!" We have learned that that idiot with the ducktail can say any damn thing he wants and only garners admiration from his followers for saying any damn thing he wants. Remember W??? He was admired because he said whatever came off the top of his head, and told voters if they didn't like it they didn't have to vote for him.
And this is the year -- this was the week -- that Dems led by John Lewis made history by recalling the sixties with a sit-in on the floor of the House. Finally, finally, we were able to say enough killing, we will risk our careers to do the right thing. Wow. That doesn't happen often among Dems.
Meanwhile, Tim Kaine, along with nearly every other damn Democrat, supports the second amendment. Because you sure can't begin a fight for gun control unless you reassure all the paranoids and wackos out there that you aren't going to take away their guns. The man from the state that in 2007 ended up with 33 young people dead at Virginia Tech would propose to limit high-capacity weapons to ten bullets. That means only ten dead as opposed to fifteen. That's just pathetic.
But I want to talk about Tim Kaine and abortion. Tim Kaine is one of those I don't believe in abortion but I support a woman's right to choose people. Really. What that attitude has gotten us over the years is more and more abortion restrictions as the people who are really passionate about women's rights -- limiting them, that is -- are willing to dig in the dirt to find any wormhole that will allow them to take away another path to access of that right.
The half-hearted support for women's right to choose by those who "don't believe in abortion" has led to an appalling lack of understanding of just how under attack women have been. It has led to women on the Supreme Court joining with men in a 9-0 opinion to reverse Massachusetts' ruling allowing a buffer zone banning protesters around abortion clinics. Nine justices saw the protests as a first amendment free-speech issue rather than the harassment and threat to women's rights that they really are.
Hillary had a number of women on her VP list, but the Dems are afraid that having two women on a ticket would jeopardize her ability to win. I believe it was Amy Klobuchar who was asked by Rachel Maddow whether choosing two women would jeopardize Hillary's chances. She replied that we have a long history of same sex candidates running together successfully on the presidential ticket. Hmmm.
And then there is the fear of going too liberal. Hillary, who won the nomination by claiming that she is a proud progressive. Imagine the Dems surprise when Bernie supporters don't jump on board because Hillary's VP choice is just another safe moderate.
I am hoping that all the excitement about Tim Kaine is a circle jerk by moderate Dems who want to reassure themselves that Hillary isn't really going to try to shake things up the way her fight against Bernie led us to believe. I wonder at the media that continues to act like Bernie doesn't count. After all the people he got out to vote, I have heard it said more than once that he no longer has any power and that he should just concede and get out of the way. This could be the way the Dems shoot themselves in the foot again, this time, when it seems that we have everything, including a hateful batshit crazy opponent, in our favor.
I like Elizabeth Warren in the Senate rattling all those cages, and apparently she likes it too. But Sherrod Brown, another VP possible, is one of my all-time favorite people, fearless and progressive, and with that sexy whiskey voice that I could listen to forever. And then there are actually a number of extremely qualified women, Klobuchar included.
And that takes me, once again, back to abortion. If the first woman presidential nominee does not feel confident enough about the fight for women's rights to choose a solidly pro-choice candidate for VP, she will be telling us all that women's reproductive rights are not important enough to fight for, right from the start. If this is the year of the woman, this should be the year that we no longer allow others to philosophize, proselytize, waffle or opine on how a woman's reproductive life should be legislated. It is time to stop listening, not just to the opinion of the anti-abortion brigade, but to the moderate equivocators. For once, we need to start with Roe v. Wade and fight against all the bites that have been taken out of that freedom since 1973. Ignoring the abortion fight means a lot of women are not going to be voting, because they will see that, once again, politicians are not fighting for them.
Here's another perspective.
How bizarre would it be for someone to say, "I don't believe in being gay for myself, but other people have the right to be gay." Or, "I wouldn't believe in affirmative action for myself, but it's okay if other people want to believe in it."
It's the "believing in it" that has allowed pseudo science, religious bigotry and false facts to twist legislation around against far too many individual rights. Women have the right to privacy, to the best medical care available, to a doctor-patient relationship not impaired by government oversight. They have the right to affordable and accessible health care whether it is for abortion or a head cold, contraception or high blood pressure.
It would be absurd for someone to opine about whether high blood pressure really exists or needs to be treated. Because opinions on abortion by those against abortion have been given validity, we are reaping hundreds of bad laws. The laws that have sprung up around when and where a woman can have an abortion, whether she can access birth control, and forcing her to pay; the laws that force doctors to lie or not answer questions accurately about contraception and abortion; the laws that impose restrictions on clinics that force them to shut down; the laws that allow harassment and threats in the name of freedom of speech. They all come from that crack in the window that lets people whose lives are not affected have opinions on women's reproductive rights.
And all y'all can have your opinions. I don't have to listen to those opinions if I don't want to. Unless you are in charge. This is why we Dems need to fight for candidates that will fight for us. Without compromise. Without equivocation.
And "moderate," "safe" candidates like Tim Kaine just don't cut it.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Democratic Insecurity
As our Democratic presidential candidates continue to try to fight a good and honorable campaign, some passionate supporters can be counted on to flare up over the opposite campaign's occasional missteps. I've heard from Bernie supporters about Hillary's emails, and Hillary supporters who claim Bernie is the NRA's best buddy.
This week it's about Bernie. And it is not so much those of us on the ground who are doing the squealing, but those puffed up party officials. This is how it all began:
A few weeks ago, during a taping of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show, Sanders responded to a question about whether the primary process was rigged by saying that "having so many southern states go first kind of distorts reality." Oh. My. God. What is he saying, exactly, about us southerners???
Of course, Bernie being a very white man from a very white state, he has been walking a tightrope regarding racial issues. And racial issues, for good reason, have been very, very hot this election season. Not surprisingly, this became a comment about black southern voters being too conservative for Bernie.
Our own Democratic Party chairman, Jaime Harrison, took it upon himself, along with other thin-skinned Democratic party officials from South Carolina as well as other southern states, to very publicly condemn Sanders for his comments. In a letter to Sanders' campaign headquarters, rationalizations were piled on top of a history lesson about the democratic process and diversity, followed by a statement of support for Hillary. Yes, really.
Fact is, South Carolina's Democratic party is a very conservative bunch. They are unlikely to give up a lot of support to anyone who might make waves. It is not surprising that many good people are discouraged from running for office because of exorbitant filing fees followed by little public or financial support from the party. You kind of already have to be a winner to expect our guys to get behind you.
To be fair, this is the party that continues to try to live down the Alvin Greene fiasco. But as overcompensation for being asleep at the wheel in 2010, the party has refused to even acknowledge potentially controversial potential candidates like Jay Stamper in 2014, and pretty much ignored the dynamic Joyce Dickerson in her run against Tim Scott in 2014, despite the fact that she beat out two male primary challengers.
Let me just add that Dickerson's message was just what would have fired up Democrats in South Carolina. Instead, come election day few had even heard of her.
This year, we have two amazing candidates running for president. We also have too many republicans running unopposed in all levels of government, with a few brave souls stepping up to bring the Democratic message to South Carolina.
Slick pols like Tim Scott rub elbows at Hilton Head with the good ole boys with money, while our candidates aren't allowed to stand at the tournament shuttle bus stop to talk about issues. Most South Carolinians don't ever hear about actual issues; what they get is red meat thrown onto the fire by right wingnuts. They don't have to even learn names; they just vote that "R" just like their daddy did.
It will take fearlessness to ever, EVER turn blue. It will take making running more affordable for candidates and it will take the party using some clout to put those names in front of the people. Republican candidates have learned to make it sound like they are one of us, but they are not. Voters need to understand that what republicans say is different than how they run our government, and they need to know just how that affects us all.
Democrats need a platform, and yes, Democratic Party, that is going to cost you money. I know you run lots of programs to try to get people to join the party, but I think you have it backwards. You need to get the candidates in front of the people so that they will understand what you can do for them if they support you.
And you know what? There is nothing like controversy to get the cameras rolling. How about candidates that aren't afraid to be David to the republican Goliath? How about taking a chance on someone who isn't afraid to speak her mind? How about not being afraid to support a presidential candidate that fights for socialist programs like Medicare and public schools?
Jaime Harrison is probably a nice guy; I wouldn't know because he never seems to stop selling himself. He certainly doesn't stop long enough to listen to anybody. He maybe ought to take a couple of steps back and get some perspective on what is going on. Our Democratic contests are NOT about race. They are about different perspectives on how to get the equality we all deserve. And if he stopped being so thin-skinned, he might actually understand what Senator Sanders was trying to say when he talked about southern voters.
More than once, before the presidential primary, I heard people declare that they liked Bernie, but they were going to vote for Hillary because Bernie couldn't win. And that wasn't about race, it was about insecurity.
That could be what he was trying to tell us.
This week it's about Bernie. And it is not so much those of us on the ground who are doing the squealing, but those puffed up party officials. This is how it all began:
A few weeks ago, during a taping of Larry Wilmore's The Nightly Show, Sanders responded to a question about whether the primary process was rigged by saying that "having so many southern states go first kind of distorts reality." Oh. My. God. What is he saying, exactly, about us southerners???
Of course, Bernie being a very white man from a very white state, he has been walking a tightrope regarding racial issues. And racial issues, for good reason, have been very, very hot this election season. Not surprisingly, this became a comment about black southern voters being too conservative for Bernie.
Our own Democratic Party chairman, Jaime Harrison, took it upon himself, along with other thin-skinned Democratic party officials from South Carolina as well as other southern states, to very publicly condemn Sanders for his comments. In a letter to Sanders' campaign headquarters, rationalizations were piled on top of a history lesson about the democratic process and diversity, followed by a statement of support for Hillary. Yes, really.
Fact is, South Carolina's Democratic party is a very conservative bunch. They are unlikely to give up a lot of support to anyone who might make waves. It is not surprising that many good people are discouraged from running for office because of exorbitant filing fees followed by little public or financial support from the party. You kind of already have to be a winner to expect our guys to get behind you.
To be fair, this is the party that continues to try to live down the Alvin Greene fiasco. But as overcompensation for being asleep at the wheel in 2010, the party has refused to even acknowledge potentially controversial potential candidates like Jay Stamper in 2014, and pretty much ignored the dynamic Joyce Dickerson in her run against Tim Scott in 2014, despite the fact that she beat out two male primary challengers.
Let me just add that Dickerson's message was just what would have fired up Democrats in South Carolina. Instead, come election day few had even heard of her.
This year, we have two amazing candidates running for president. We also have too many republicans running unopposed in all levels of government, with a few brave souls stepping up to bring the Democratic message to South Carolina.
Slick pols like Tim Scott rub elbows at Hilton Head with the good ole boys with money, while our candidates aren't allowed to stand at the tournament shuttle bus stop to talk about issues. Most South Carolinians don't ever hear about actual issues; what they get is red meat thrown onto the fire by right wingnuts. They don't have to even learn names; they just vote that "R" just like their daddy did.
It will take fearlessness to ever, EVER turn blue. It will take making running more affordable for candidates and it will take the party using some clout to put those names in front of the people. Republican candidates have learned to make it sound like they are one of us, but they are not. Voters need to understand that what republicans say is different than how they run our government, and they need to know just how that affects us all.
Democrats need a platform, and yes, Democratic Party, that is going to cost you money. I know you run lots of programs to try to get people to join the party, but I think you have it backwards. You need to get the candidates in front of the people so that they will understand what you can do for them if they support you.
And you know what? There is nothing like controversy to get the cameras rolling. How about candidates that aren't afraid to be David to the republican Goliath? How about taking a chance on someone who isn't afraid to speak her mind? How about not being afraid to support a presidential candidate that fights for socialist programs like Medicare and public schools?
Jaime Harrison is probably a nice guy; I wouldn't know because he never seems to stop selling himself. He certainly doesn't stop long enough to listen to anybody. He maybe ought to take a couple of steps back and get some perspective on what is going on. Our Democratic contests are NOT about race. They are about different perspectives on how to get the equality we all deserve. And if he stopped being so thin-skinned, he might actually understand what Senator Sanders was trying to say when he talked about southern voters.
More than once, before the presidential primary, I heard people declare that they liked Bernie, but they were going to vote for Hillary because Bernie couldn't win. And that wasn't about race, it was about insecurity.
That could be what he was trying to tell us.
Friday, February 26, 2016
It's Not About Us -- Yet
We Dems worry a lot. I know I have been all but losing sleep over the idiots who are running for president on the republican side. Who hasn't, really? But yesterday I (accidentally) slipped into the shoes of a republican voter, and suddenly all this insanity became clear.
Imagine that you have over the past thirty-plus years, after having been knocked around by everything from oil embargoes and gas shortages to war, unemployment, underemployment, unaffordable housing, loss of health insurance, and on and on. Overwhelmed?
Now suppose that you had a work ethic that taught you that with a hard day's work you would be paid fairly, you would be able to raise your children in health and comfort and with the potential for an even better future, and that you would be able to retire someday without worry, to enjoy whatever years remain.
And then think about how little free time most people have. And how exhausted they all are. And worried. And disappointed -- no, angry.
Imagine that there are people who have had wealth and power, and imagine that they are angry too. They are angry because they feel under constant threat of losing that power, and resent that they may not be allowed to create more wealth, with no restrictions. It only took a few evil geniuses to convince others that there are ways to "persuade" the American people that this small group is entitled to all that wealth and power.
From Carnegie to Rockefeller to the Kochs to Art Pope, that has been the goal. They formed clubs and foundations and think tanks where the best and the brightest could strategize. They threw many millions of dollars into these groups and into every aspect of our lives where they could influence us with their newspeak, where freedom really means the freedom of the wealthy to pillage and plunder, but we learn that it means the freedom to be angry at those who might take our jobs. Liberty means corporations enjoy no regulations, no taxes, no obligations, but we believe it means Andy Griffith's "America." Corporations are not just "job creators," but, so we are told, are people.
These great greedy minds have not only figured out how to turn themselves into heroes, but also how to focus our rage away from the oligarchs to those of us who are in their way, and those who are disposable. They have bought much of the media and threatened the rest of it. They have dazzled us with distractions, celebrities and electronic toys, convinced us that we need whatever they have to sell and raised the cost of living so that we are never able to feel secure and end up living in a constant state of worry. We are too exhausted to look at the problem and work at the best solution, and we are all too happy to grab at the solution they have fed us.
This is the message of the plutocrats: the answer to our problems is to rage at the minorities; the answer is to control the behavior of those whose values are different than ours; the answer is to give it up to the leaders who will carry out our rage for us.
In other words, give the power to the likes of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, all the others that have occupied the clown car.
One Trump supporter said it feels like giving the finger to the government.
And who is the government? These days the government is the Congress that has popularity ratings lower than syphilis. The guys whose only goal over the past eight years was to block Obama. The ones who shut down the government in an attempt to deny people health care. On some level republican voters know this, but this is not the message they keep hearing.
Republicans in America know they are angry. They know they are angry at government. They know their Congress has done nothing for them. They feel the anger, but they don't know the details. So they blame Obama and they blame "government." Basically, they are blaming exactly who they have been told to blame for decades. Imagine Ted Cruz' surprise to find out that he is the government he has been telling people to hate.
I once had a conversation with someone as he repaired my washing machine. It circled around money: repairing rather than buying a new machine, pinching pennies after retiring, working as long as possible. And at one point he exclaimed about people on food stamps who are ripping us off. I countered that there are so few, and it is so much less than the corporations that are stealing from us.
His answer: "But we can't do anything about them."
Our republican friends and neighbors know things aren't right. And they are listening to the loudest voices in the room who are happy to give a shape to their anger. Under the guidance of Kochs et al, the Rubios and Cruzes point the finger at Obama, as they have for eight years.
But what is interesting, is that so many of those republican voters know that there is something that doesn't smell right about the Rubios and Cruzes either. They have all too well internalized the message that government is bad and politicians should not be trusted. Trump supporters may not know that Trump has maximized his wealth by ripping off the government, or they may just give him kudos for succeeding at it. What they do know is that Trump is not government and he is not a politician. They know that he is angry at everybody, except for them, because he has told them he loves them.
So that is my little foray into the minds of the republican voters. Their support of Trump and the other idiots isn't about us just yet. And hopefully Bernie and Hillary will be well equipped to offer the less crazy republicans a better choice come November. And we have to remind ourselves that turning out to vote for one or another of the republican clown car isn't really about us. Just yet.
Imagine that you have over the past thirty-plus years, after having been knocked around by everything from oil embargoes and gas shortages to war, unemployment, underemployment, unaffordable housing, loss of health insurance, and on and on. Overwhelmed?
Now suppose that you had a work ethic that taught you that with a hard day's work you would be paid fairly, you would be able to raise your children in health and comfort and with the potential for an even better future, and that you would be able to retire someday without worry, to enjoy whatever years remain.
And then think about how little free time most people have. And how exhausted they all are. And worried. And disappointed -- no, angry.
Imagine that there are people who have had wealth and power, and imagine that they are angry too. They are angry because they feel under constant threat of losing that power, and resent that they may not be allowed to create more wealth, with no restrictions. It only took a few evil geniuses to convince others that there are ways to "persuade" the American people that this small group is entitled to all that wealth and power.
From Carnegie to Rockefeller to the Kochs to Art Pope, that has been the goal. They formed clubs and foundations and think tanks where the best and the brightest could strategize. They threw many millions of dollars into these groups and into every aspect of our lives where they could influence us with their newspeak, where freedom really means the freedom of the wealthy to pillage and plunder, but we learn that it means the freedom to be angry at those who might take our jobs. Liberty means corporations enjoy no regulations, no taxes, no obligations, but we believe it means Andy Griffith's "America." Corporations are not just "job creators," but, so we are told, are people.
These great greedy minds have not only figured out how to turn themselves into heroes, but also how to focus our rage away from the oligarchs to those of us who are in their way, and those who are disposable. They have bought much of the media and threatened the rest of it. They have dazzled us with distractions, celebrities and electronic toys, convinced us that we need whatever they have to sell and raised the cost of living so that we are never able to feel secure and end up living in a constant state of worry. We are too exhausted to look at the problem and work at the best solution, and we are all too happy to grab at the solution they have fed us.
This is the message of the plutocrats: the answer to our problems is to rage at the minorities; the answer is to control the behavior of those whose values are different than ours; the answer is to give it up to the leaders who will carry out our rage for us.
In other words, give the power to the likes of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, all the others that have occupied the clown car.
One Trump supporter said it feels like giving the finger to the government.
And who is the government? These days the government is the Congress that has popularity ratings lower than syphilis. The guys whose only goal over the past eight years was to block Obama. The ones who shut down the government in an attempt to deny people health care. On some level republican voters know this, but this is not the message they keep hearing.
Republicans in America know they are angry. They know they are angry at government. They know their Congress has done nothing for them. They feel the anger, but they don't know the details. So they blame Obama and they blame "government." Basically, they are blaming exactly who they have been told to blame for decades. Imagine Ted Cruz' surprise to find out that he is the government he has been telling people to hate.
I once had a conversation with someone as he repaired my washing machine. It circled around money: repairing rather than buying a new machine, pinching pennies after retiring, working as long as possible. And at one point he exclaimed about people on food stamps who are ripping us off. I countered that there are so few, and it is so much less than the corporations that are stealing from us.
His answer: "But we can't do anything about them."
Our republican friends and neighbors know things aren't right. And they are listening to the loudest voices in the room who are happy to give a shape to their anger. Under the guidance of Kochs et al, the Rubios and Cruzes point the finger at Obama, as they have for eight years.
But what is interesting, is that so many of those republican voters know that there is something that doesn't smell right about the Rubios and Cruzes either. They have all too well internalized the message that government is bad and politicians should not be trusted. Trump supporters may not know that Trump has maximized his wealth by ripping off the government, or they may just give him kudos for succeeding at it. What they do know is that Trump is not government and he is not a politician. They know that he is angry at everybody, except for them, because he has told them he loves them.
So that is my little foray into the minds of the republican voters. Their support of Trump and the other idiots isn't about us just yet. And hopefully Bernie and Hillary will be well equipped to offer the less crazy republicans a better choice come November. And we have to remind ourselves that turning out to vote for one or another of the republican clown car isn't really about us. Just yet.
Sunday, November 8, 2015
Seniors, Tighten Your Belts (Again)
Once again, the republicans in Congress have decided that those who are trying to eke out a subsistence have got to try a little harder. Just as Nikki Haley will give away millions to big corporations but wants to make sure each struggling artist or eBay seller pays taxes on their labors, the US Congress is determined not to let anyone who is not a millionaire catch a break.
Hence the decision to withhold the annual COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) to seniors and veterans. Their rationale is the decline in the price of gas. So if you have been able to catch some relief at the gas pumps, our republican Uncle Scrooges are going to make sure we make up for it elsewhere.
The formula they use is based on the cost of living for a portion of the general public, not seniors, who are spend less money on gas than the public as a whole. What they will be spending more money on in these years of extreme heat and extreme cold is heating fuel and electricity. They will spend more money on medical bills (The affordable care available through Obamacare is NOT available to those 66 and over; Medicare may once have been affordable, but republicans have been chipping away at those benefits for decades.). Those who have a car will see car insurance increase and will pay for costly repairs on older cars; housing -- insurance, maintenance, rental costs -- none of those are going down.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to allow corporations to deduct raises for CEO pay in an egregious tax loophole. CEO's with an annual income of $16 million on average will be seeing raises of 3.9% this year, and those raises will be subsidized by the taxpayer.
Elizabeth Warren explains this large piece of legislative hypocrisy far better than I could:
This is why Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are cosponsoring a bill that would close that corporate loophole, and use the tax income derived from it for a one-time payout to social security recipients and veterans to cover what they would have gotten from a COLA.
The problem, of course, is that our republican Congress, squealing over government waste and entitlements, is unlikely to pass a bill that would close a loophole for their corporate constituents. But we can let them know we know what they are up to. We can make our voices heard and insist that they pass this Senate bill. We can let our friends, families and coworkers know that seniors are struggling without a COLA this year while CEO millionaires and billionaires are getting a tax-deductible raise.
We can write and call our legislators, Graham and Scott. We can write letters to the editor telling our legislators to stop cutting senior and veterans benefits while pandering to wealthy CEO's. We can tell them to support the SAVE Benefits Act.
Let's make it hard for them to ignore us. And let's also let their hypocrisy be known.
Hence the decision to withhold the annual COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) to seniors and veterans. Their rationale is the decline in the price of gas. So if you have been able to catch some relief at the gas pumps, our republican Uncle Scrooges are going to make sure we make up for it elsewhere.
The formula they use is based on the cost of living for a portion of the general public, not seniors, who are spend less money on gas than the public as a whole. What they will be spending more money on in these years of extreme heat and extreme cold is heating fuel and electricity. They will spend more money on medical bills (The affordable care available through Obamacare is NOT available to those 66 and over; Medicare may once have been affordable, but republicans have been chipping away at those benefits for decades.). Those who have a car will see car insurance increase and will pay for costly repairs on older cars; housing -- insurance, maintenance, rental costs -- none of those are going down.
Meanwhile, Congress continues to allow corporations to deduct raises for CEO pay in an egregious tax loophole. CEO's with an annual income of $16 million on average will be seeing raises of 3.9% this year, and those raises will be subsidized by the taxpayer.
Elizabeth Warren explains this large piece of legislative hypocrisy far better than I could:
This is why Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are cosponsoring a bill that would close that corporate loophole, and use the tax income derived from it for a one-time payout to social security recipients and veterans to cover what they would have gotten from a COLA.
The problem, of course, is that our republican Congress, squealing over government waste and entitlements, is unlikely to pass a bill that would close a loophole for their corporate constituents. But we can let them know we know what they are up to. We can make our voices heard and insist that they pass this Senate bill. We can let our friends, families and coworkers know that seniors are struggling without a COLA this year while CEO millionaires and billionaires are getting a tax-deductible raise.
We can write and call our legislators, Graham and Scott. We can write letters to the editor telling our legislators to stop cutting senior and veterans benefits while pandering to wealthy CEO's. We can tell them to support the SAVE Benefits Act.
Let's make it hard for them to ignore us. And let's also let their hypocrisy be known.
Saturday, October 17, 2015
Being Invisible
It was comical after Wednesday's Democratic debate, to watch MSNBC political hosts and pundits dance around the fact that Bernie Sanders has more supporters than Hillary. They have mostly been ignoring his growing and extremely enthusiastic followers despite huge crowds and numbers -- and amounts -- of donations to his campaign. They have been ignoring this despite the fact that he is accomplishing this without the celebrity and fortune of Donald Trump.
So when several focus groups agreed that after the debate they would support Bernie over Hillary, the media continued to report Hillary as "the winner" of the debate. I heard a pundit rationalize that just because people in focus groups say they support someone it doesn't mean they will go out and vote for them. Okay, I guess that could be said for all the brouhaha about Donald Trump as well as his sidekick, idiot savant Ben Carson.
But look who has noticed Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump, the following day, called him a "maniac" that is forcing "poor Hillary" to the left -- "this socialist-slash-communist." And, by the way, this maniac that is pushing Hillary around is just not the "tough, strong leader" that we need.
While we might not call Trump logical or rational, what he does have is a very sharp awareness of threat, and a subsequent instinct about how to attack and manipulate that threat. Call it his cutthroat business sense, or maybe just his success at being a bully. So when Trump takes notice and begins to attack Bernie Sanders, it is safe to assume that he recognizes the threat.
When is the media going to get it? Time and again we have seen the media snowed by the loudest voice, the predominant story, the words of the powerful and/or the wealthy. Take their focus on candidate Trump. How many times did we watch segments wherein the media couldn't believe all the attention Donald Trump was getting from the media? They have their story and by gods they are sticking by it, regardless of the facts.
The facts being that Bernie gets the largest crowds, the greatest number of donations, the most hits on Twitter, the loudest cheers of all the Democratic candidates. That pundits were reporting Hillary as the winner of the debate after hearing the audience response (remember the old applause meter?) meant that they may have been hearing but they sure weren't listening.
Speaking of applause meters, back in 1980, I would watch Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. As the presidential election approached, each night he would ask the audience to clap if they were voting for Carter, and then if they were voting for Reagan. The applause was always, always far louder for Reagan. And Carson would look astonished and chuckle.
The media is doing that now for Donald Trump, and I am not finding it all that funny. My own sense of self-preservation and denial kick in and I think, "Well, that doesn't mean they are going to get out and vote for him." Yes, sadly, the idiots that can find their way to the town halls and the stadiums to cheer for his hate-filled nonsense can -- and will -- find their way to the polls. But I am hoping that there is a lot more noise than substance, that those republicans who are embarrassed by Trump are many, and they are not seeking attention. And that when a strong candidate presents on the other side, all those wackos will stay home and watch Trump and Fox News on TV.
On the other hand, we Democrats aren't comfortable welcoming success to our house. I have talked with far too many who say they like Bernie but can't vote for him because he can't win. And yet the enthusiasm among younger voters is very much like that for Barack Obama in 2008. Are we really willing to reject a candidate we like, refuse to see the groundswell of support he is getting because it does not match our expectations?
When Obama won in 2008, with an increase in the majority of both House and Senate, Democrats were smug in their assumption that the republicans had been put down. Oh we did laugh when John Boehner said "Hell, no you can't!" in his opposition to the health care bill. And we were amazed at the gall when Mitch McConnell in the Senate said that the number one goal of the republican party should be to see that Obama did not get a second term. Well, Obama did not back down on health care, although too many Democrats in Congress did, and the result was that Obama won his second term and became stronger, and the Democrats in Congress were left in the dust. Not surprisingly the ones most likely to get dumped were the ones most afraid to stand tall as Democrats.
So here's the thing about Bernie. I'm fine with him being ignored by the media, but he has shown himself to be quite capable of handling the inevitable attacks on his "socialism." The people know he's out there, and a lot of us are behind him. Hillary is a fine candidate and would make a fine president, but Bernie is that much better for not ever having to be tempted to be beholding to Wall Street and corporate donors. He has made it farther than any of us, including himself, thought possible, so who are we to jump to conclusions about the likelihood of his success?
I am 100 percent for Bernie Sanders. He has as much chance as anyone to win the nomination, and more so if those of us who are worried about whether he can make it stop worrying and vote for him.
If he does not win the nomination, I will throw my support behind Hillary with no reservations. But until then, I believe that Bernie Sanders is our best possible candidate, and that he can win both the nomination and the election (my god, look who he would be running against!). And, as Obama did in 2008, Bernie will help us get back a Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, isn't it wild being the party of the people, fearless and moving forward?
So when several focus groups agreed that after the debate they would support Bernie over Hillary, the media continued to report Hillary as "the winner" of the debate. I heard a pundit rationalize that just because people in focus groups say they support someone it doesn't mean they will go out and vote for them. Okay, I guess that could be said for all the brouhaha about Donald Trump as well as his sidekick, idiot savant Ben Carson.
But look who has noticed Bernie Sanders. Donald Trump, the following day, called him a "maniac" that is forcing "poor Hillary" to the left -- "this socialist-slash-communist." And, by the way, this maniac that is pushing Hillary around is just not the "tough, strong leader" that we need.
While we might not call Trump logical or rational, what he does have is a very sharp awareness of threat, and a subsequent instinct about how to attack and manipulate that threat. Call it his cutthroat business sense, or maybe just his success at being a bully. So when Trump takes notice and begins to attack Bernie Sanders, it is safe to assume that he recognizes the threat.
When is the media going to get it? Time and again we have seen the media snowed by the loudest voice, the predominant story, the words of the powerful and/or the wealthy. Take their focus on candidate Trump. How many times did we watch segments wherein the media couldn't believe all the attention Donald Trump was getting from the media? They have their story and by gods they are sticking by it, regardless of the facts.
The facts being that Bernie gets the largest crowds, the greatest number of donations, the most hits on Twitter, the loudest cheers of all the Democratic candidates. That pundits were reporting Hillary as the winner of the debate after hearing the audience response (remember the old applause meter?) meant that they may have been hearing but they sure weren't listening.
Speaking of applause meters, back in 1980, I would watch Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. As the presidential election approached, each night he would ask the audience to clap if they were voting for Carter, and then if they were voting for Reagan. The applause was always, always far louder for Reagan. And Carson would look astonished and chuckle.
The media is doing that now for Donald Trump, and I am not finding it all that funny. My own sense of self-preservation and denial kick in and I think, "Well, that doesn't mean they are going to get out and vote for him." Yes, sadly, the idiots that can find their way to the town halls and the stadiums to cheer for his hate-filled nonsense can -- and will -- find their way to the polls. But I am hoping that there is a lot more noise than substance, that those republicans who are embarrassed by Trump are many, and they are not seeking attention. And that when a strong candidate presents on the other side, all those wackos will stay home and watch Trump and Fox News on TV.
On the other hand, we Democrats aren't comfortable welcoming success to our house. I have talked with far too many who say they like Bernie but can't vote for him because he can't win. And yet the enthusiasm among younger voters is very much like that for Barack Obama in 2008. Are we really willing to reject a candidate we like, refuse to see the groundswell of support he is getting because it does not match our expectations?
When Obama won in 2008, with an increase in the majority of both House and Senate, Democrats were smug in their assumption that the republicans had been put down. Oh we did laugh when John Boehner said "Hell, no you can't!" in his opposition to the health care bill. And we were amazed at the gall when Mitch McConnell in the Senate said that the number one goal of the republican party should be to see that Obama did not get a second term. Well, Obama did not back down on health care, although too many Democrats in Congress did, and the result was that Obama won his second term and became stronger, and the Democrats in Congress were left in the dust. Not surprisingly the ones most likely to get dumped were the ones most afraid to stand tall as Democrats.
So here's the thing about Bernie. I'm fine with him being ignored by the media, but he has shown himself to be quite capable of handling the inevitable attacks on his "socialism." The people know he's out there, and a lot of us are behind him. Hillary is a fine candidate and would make a fine president, but Bernie is that much better for not ever having to be tempted to be beholding to Wall Street and corporate donors. He has made it farther than any of us, including himself, thought possible, so who are we to jump to conclusions about the likelihood of his success?
I am 100 percent for Bernie Sanders. He has as much chance as anyone to win the nomination, and more so if those of us who are worried about whether he can make it stop worrying and vote for him.
If he does not win the nomination, I will throw my support behind Hillary with no reservations. But until then, I believe that Bernie Sanders is our best possible candidate, and that he can win both the nomination and the election (my god, look who he would be running against!). And, as Obama did in 2008, Bernie will help us get back a Democratic Congress.
Meanwhile, isn't it wild being the party of the people, fearless and moving forward?
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