Not Ready To Make Nice
By Nicole Belle Wednesday Nov 05, 2008 4:02pmOh boy. I guess they've forgotten how all of these Republicans were crowing about a "mandate" after Bush's 2004 "win", despite the smallest margins for an incumbent president in nearly 100 years. Because rather than see Obama's victory as a call for a change to business as usual (including flipping some red states--hello North Carolina, Indiana and Florida!--and key Senate seats), the Republicans see the election results not as the time to reach across the aisle in the spirit of unity and bipartisanship, but to "gird their loins" and fight:
Senator McCain is an American hero, a remarkable man. I can think of few I respect more. But he's likely to be the first to be leading the charge toward bipartisanship. This would be a mistake of galactic proportions. This must be resisted.[..]
Republicans and conservatives will be taking a needed hard look at ourselves. Losers usually do. We must reassess, recalibrate and argue.
But in the meantime, we still have principles to defend and we must defend them vigorously. Particularly in the first 100 days when many of the most objectionable bills will likely be brought up. For those inclined to make nice, which of the following Democratic agenda items are you prepared to sign on to so that you'll get invited to the right parties?
- Employee Free Choice Act
- Fairness Doctrine
- Freedom of Choice Act
- Nationalization of health care
- Estate tax increases
- "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" (driver's licenses for illegals)
- Capital gains tax increases
- Defense cuts
- Liberal judicial appointments
- Racial and ethnic preferences
- Income tax increases
- Bans on oil drilling
- Global poverty tax/Kyoto
[..]In many cases, the congressional math may preclude Republicans from little more than voicing principled opposition. But that's not nothing. It's imperative. Republican politicians for too long have been spectacularly inept in communicating their ideas, principles and positions. They've been unconscionably silent in defending their own.
They've been unconscionably silent? Good lord, what color do you suppose the sky is in his world? And even in the face of this, there are conservatives still whining that we don't respect Bush enough. Not even January 20th and the honeymoon is over for the Republican punditry. This is going to be a long four years.
Login or Register to post comments.
Only if the Democrats make the mistake of listening to their whining. They made their beds, now they can bloody well lie in them.
How can you respect a President who starts 2 illegal wars, brought this country into a recession and put his unqualifed cronies into all the departments of government?
bunch of wankers. Which principles must they defend? That in itself if hilarious.
Where's the 'Send the Wingnuts to Re-Education Camps Bill'? I was looking forward to that one.
are already rallying to oppose anything President-elect Obama wants to do (and congratulations to him, by the way).
What annoys me are the so-called progressives who can't wait to attack him. (See the bitterness expressed a few threads below because Pres. Obama slected Representative Emmanuel.)
I fully expect the Republicans to filibuster every bill that comes before the Senate, every Judge to come up for conformation, every appointment made by Obama. Reed has proved to be ineffective in his role. They are hoping to run on the record of Democrats doing nothing for the next 4 years. A record they hope to create. That is why I would love it if Senator Hillary Clinton were made majority leader. Kick some ass.
And the only people I ever hear talking about the fairness doctrine is the Republicans.
I'm still laughing about that one.
He was gifted his first Presidency by his dad's lawyers and the Supreme Court.
Then he squeaked out a win in the next-closest election in this century. But that proved that America was giving him a mandate.
Now, they're suggesting that, after being voted out of the Senate, the Congress AND the White House, they shouldn't try to work together, but still stick to their guns.
I say, go ahead. Keep pulling a Terry Shiavo. Keep living in your bubble. Soon the Republican party will be rendered irrelevant.
I know what you mean. Over on our BSG group, someone just rather congratulated us all on a peaceful election and several jumped straight in about no unity (until the left apologizes), how Palin is the best thing since sliced bread and so much more experienced than Obama (expect they won't say his name - refers to him as that senator), about how the women of America betrayed their sister (Palin) and agggg!!
I gently reminded them that some women didn't agree with Palin's views and would have thought that I insulted Mother Mary.
They want her to run in 2012 - so do I but I didn't tell them why.
Palin, the gift that just keeps giving.
Not just some women but many women I know wouldn't vote for Palin. Just because she's a woman doesn't mean I have to automatically vote for her. Her views are so far right of what I believe that if she runs in 2012, I think she would loose by the biggest margin in US history. She is so unqualified for any office.
Not as long as Rove and Gingrich are considered respected members of the party.
Senator Jack Danforth gave an interview with a local reporter on PBS last night.(he is a local boy in St. Louis.)
I have always had mixed feeling about him. Occasionally he has shown signs of being intelligent and principled. Last night he was nasty to the young woman who was interviewing him concerning bi-partisan efforts that he might support (at the time) if Senator Obama won.
He's not ready to make nice either...the wanker. We're gonna have to watch these people. They don't play well with others. Particularly when they don't get their way.
Was hoping for a little better, frankly....
My mother has already claimed that Barack Obama should be blamed for her losing $1500 in stocks in the last week. Then she went into a rant about how she didn't vote for Obama because of all the other black people in her life that were mean to her - but then put in the disclaimer that I shouldn't be upset over this.
When I called the bitch out on her racism and told her it wasn't going to fly with me anymore to the point where if she couldn't grow out of it, she couldn't call me her son anymore, she actually had the nerve to proclaim that I shouldn't be tossing threats just because she had a difference of opinion.
As if being open-minded meant being gullible or that her "opinion" granted her exemption from the consequences of her actions.
I loathe the conservatives in this country and I do mean Every. Single. One of them.
I was sick of them tossing the N word around and making racist jokes. When I was 20 I sat down with them and had the talk - I told them basically the same thing you told your mother and I got the whole "tossing threats" crap thrown at me with a healthy bit of "how our generation was taught to see things" as well. The only thing left to tell them was my statement wasn't a threat. It was a promise.
Although things were a bit rough for a while they did make an attempt to keep their racial comments to themselves when I was around. I haven't heard them make a comment like that in years now and I suspect they may have learned after a time. I hope your mother does the same.
So she voted for McCain, despite all the white people who've been mean to her?
I reckon the best way to get people to recognize that they're wrong is by posing questions to them. That's what I use with my family. Then they're forced to come to their own conclusions.
I still think he and the rest of his mob should get a fair trial.
That's kinda respectful, isn't it?
and quite funny, too!! LOL
If the man gave me even one reason to respect him do they think I wouldn't? Simply holding the office of POTUS isn't enough.
Reporting
Esme Murphy MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― Allegations have surfaced of voter irregularities involving a paid staffer of Sen. Norm Coleman, and the ramifications could have a profound effect on the outcome of Coleman's race against Al Franken.
A reporter for the Minnesota Independent, a progressive online publication, was working on a story about voter turnout when she overheard that Republican poll challengers monitoring voting at the precinct had brought in Mahamoud Wardere to help voters translate.
The Coleman campaign confirmed that Wardere is a paid member of their staff.
"I made some calls, found out his name and I confronted him and I said, 'Are you Wardare?' And he said, 'Yes, I am,'" said Priesmeyer. "At that poin I said, 'Are you working for Norm Coleman's campaign?' And he said, 'No, I am on vacation today.'"
However, Priesmeyer said voters told her that translators were telling them to vote for Coleman.
"I had already spoken to at least three people who told me that translators were telling them to vote for Norm Coleman," she said.
Here is the link -
http://wcco.com/election/voter.irregularities...
Are these people insane or what?
At any cost, that's all. To me, that's a form of insanity. Most of us learn to play by the rules. Some learn to cheat.
Let's see. Those values so highly prized by conservatives would be:
Hate
Bigotry
Violence as the answer to all conflict
Disregard for human life
Lying
Jealousy
Stealing
Murder
War Crimes
. . .
You forgot -
Sexual predation of minors
I'm sure others can help complete the list....
election fraud?
Spiritual: Theological Socialism
Social: Social Paranoia
Economic: Sociopathic Opportunism
Political: Totalitarian Corruption
Every one of these hit the nail on the head.
Silent? They believe their SILENCE is the problem?
Considering that their loud, uninformed gibbering about all kinds of logical fallacies over the past decade were the cornerstone forming the revived stereotype that Americans are all 'ignorant, superstitious bigots'...
Considering the world wide celebration that a progressive is on the way has a lot to do with ending the very kind of nonsensical rule and detachment from reality these fools say our nation needs more of...
I respectfully disagree in as strong a manner as possible.
I flipped on faux news briefly last night and had to laugh, they were talking about how they had lost and not how the dems had won
We're not teams wearing red and blue.
People sit there cheering for a team, not knowing what the hell they're cheering for. They've managed to turn the most important responsibility in our democracy into a mindless competition, complete with slutty cheerleaders and play-by-play announcers.
When in doubt, stick you fingers in your ears and chant, "drill, baby drill"
In 2004, the Republican Party was actively pursuing its strategy to destroy the Democratic Party as a political institution in this country for once and for all. They killed the Fairness Doctrine and used its demise as a garrote around the neck of liberal speech in the media. The bastards better wish the Fairness Doctrine comes back because--at this juncture--they're lucky they live in a country that respects the right of free speech. They've done more harm to this country in the past twelve years than any terrorist could hope to accomplish.
They crippled one presidency, stole another, mounted a war on false pretenses, took away our basic freedoms, subverted our laws by letting industry lobbyists write them, allowed the looting of our treasury, allowed the city of New Orleans to languish for personal and political gain, set us against one another, ruined our standing in the world, turned us into torturers, and they've been SILENT?!!!
As for the guy who wrote that Wall Street Journal article about the treatment of George W. Bush being "disgraceful," he's either disingenuous, deluded, or a brilliant satirist.
This about sums it up.
If the conservatives want lower taxes, stop running up the deficit while your in power. It's really getting tiresome.
Than any president in history.
I was actually surprised Obama didn't mention this every time McCane called him another "tax and spend" Democrat.
The sad thing is, like Bush Sr. who was left with Reagan's Trickle-Down mess, Obama will probably be forced to raise taxes to pay off some of the debt Bush Jr.'s created. Which is probably built into their plan to win back the White House, since their policies suck.
Why would the liberals want to 'give up' their 'advantage' in the media by re-instituting the fairness doctrine?
I know...snark is hard when you are overtired from partying.
To call Faux News out on their false-advertising claim, "Fair and Balanced."
That's about as truthful as Coca Cola saying, "100% organic ingredients with no additives or preservatives."
To my friends that are republicans? Absolutely.
To the GOP and all the ignorant assholes who are responsible for the condition the country is in? Not A Fuckin Chance.
Never Forget The McCain/Palin campaign tactics.
Never Forget Bush/Cheney and all they have done.
Never Forget Bachmann, Schmidt, Rove, DeLay,Craig, Ney, Abrahmof(or whatever the fuck his name is),Santorum,Coulter,Malkin,Limbaughlls,Billo the Clown,Stevens,Rumsfeld, shit, This list is to fuckin long.
Never Forget Katrina or Ike.
Never Forget WMD's.
Never Forget the deregulation bullshit that caused the economy to collapse.
Never Forget the artificial Gas Prices we all paid. And the conveniently came back down just in time for the election. That was the October surprise we were supposed to get. But the economy collapse pushed it out of political view.
Never Forget how the media went along with everything Boosh said in the build up to invading(illegally) Iraq.
Never Forget that Boosh didn't bother reading the PDB from Aug 01.
Never Forget all the money big oil made on our tax dollars.
Never Forget Halliburton. And Blackwater.
Never Forget, because they will return to try it again.
Never Forget how the FDA let the quality levels of our food source drop.
And, Never Forget all the drugs pushed through the FDA without proper testing. That was Boosh's way of giving the Drug Company's a kickback.
Never Forget, that 9/11 happened on their watch
Never Forget, that they lied about the air quality in NY after 9/11 which has caused serious illness and death to many rescue workers.
Never Forget, that they wouldn't help pay health costs for those rescue workers even though a fund was set up for that reason.
I say, let them keep digging. That way we can bury them in their own hole.
These people cannot change their basic nature and WILL sting when they get the chance.
Egad, do they even know that this list just illustrates, in vibrant day glow colors, what kind of total ASSHOLES they are and always have been?
Dog help these idiots, because in spite of President Elect Obama's admonitions, I really don't want to shake hands with people who have been tripping me and mine in hallway, throwing spitballs at the backs of our necks and spreading ugly rumors about us during study hall. I'd rather just ignore them or slap some sense into their vapid, angry faces.
Really, let them all go off in the corner and wring their hands while we get together and get this country moving in the
rightcorrect direction again.I can still hear Georgie's words at his first press conference after the last election: he threatened, as he sneered at all those present, "I earned political capital in this election and now I intend to spend it!" Contrast that with the humility and grace evident in Barack's speech last night as he called all Americans to common purpose.
The Repugs seem to have genetic disorder which results in sociopathic tendencies, coupled with arrogance, greed and stupidity. Not such great qualities in political leaders.
stupidities. I can't quite decide which of your links connects to the most demented wingnut. On reflection it probably isn't the Corner although his observation that Obama will be applauded for walking to the podium without falling down is perhaps the most clinically precise example of Bushian transference I have ever seen. The Malkin assurance that her e-mail account was overrun with piteous cries for emergency instruction while risible merely reflects her innumeracy. It was some amount greater than three hence a flood. I guess the prize must go to the WSJ screed by one J.S Shapiro. I am unlikely to survive long enough to witness the historical Rapture that is to turn George Bush into a president of Trumanesque quality. Thank The FSM. I believe they already made a movie about that future time called Idiocracy.
Let them speak like this. Please, please, PLEASE let them speak like this. It's honest. It's what they really mean. And people need to see that.
Frankly, I'm not ready to make nice either. And I will not be for a VERY long time.
And yes, McCain, and a bunch of others who have NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in bipartisan cooperation will be extolling the virtues of civility for no other reason than it's the best way to cajole Democrats into doing what they want during the Obama Administration. And if the Democrats fall for that, everything will have been for naught. Because the Republicans are not interested in working with us. They're interested in undermining us. They do not see us as legitimate government participants.
Republicans need to take a back seat for the next two years, at least. They don't get to come to any of our parties. Relegate Joe Lieberman to a basement office without lights, bring back the genuine, talk-til-you-drop filibuster, and call out the Republicans for their lethal bullshit every time they open their mouths. We have lived through criminal administration, propped up by a complicit Congress, and which will be held accountable for none of its crimes. Indeed, they'll make out like bandits. I'll hold a grudge over that, but deal somehow if the Democrats can discipline themselves to begin healing the nation.
So, no. No making nice. And let them speak their true colors.
NEGATIVE MANDATE, BUSH LOST THE POPULAR VOTE, THAT IS A NEGATIVE MANDATE.
The empire strikes back ;)
They didn't just lose an election.
They permanently lost the younger voters.
The vast majority of younger voters look at them as a bunch of jackals and war ciminals. You cannot change a perception like that with smoke and mirrors.
The only demographic where the Republicans did well was with the old people; or as, I like to call them, the diaper voters.
Every election the Republicans will get fewer and fewer votes as more and more of their loyalist die from old age.
That's like a Christmas wish list.
Amercia has to do two things ASAP: unite and stop spending (pay debts.) Of course, some spending will be needed to boost the economy: things like infrastructure projects, but those are also investments in the future.
...bipartisanship means little more than my way or the highway.
...who posted this?:
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/08/15/more-rea... Now there's some good journalism!
She caught on to Coulter's money-making machine by being a hot-headed right-wing freak and that's really about all anyone needs to know about her.
It's sad she doesn't expend her energy in more useful and constructive ways, instead of spewing hate and divisiveness.
Several of us here in Chicago offer this musical "good riddance" to W and Company . . . .
CRAWL BACK TO CRAWFORD
(Matt Farmer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I9-BJtvQzE
VERSE
Well, for eight long years we've been payin' your rent
But now your lease done run
And all our money's been spent
So pack up your bags
And take a last look around
At how you drove a great nation straight into the ground
CHORUS
And don't let the door
Hit you in the [rear] on the way out
Don't bother with the goodbyes
Just make sure that you stay out
There ain't no need to call
No need to write
We don't even need you to turn out the light
Just crawl back to Crawford, brother
Promise that you'll leave us alone
VERSE
Every step of the way, your story's been the same
Just cruisin' through the world
On your daddy's name
You had the oilmen friends
You had the Skull and Bones
But it never would have happened if your name was Jones
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
Slam dunk, privatize, deregulate
Tax cuts, trickle down
The politics of hate
Flag pin, waterboard
Intelligent design
You were handed your throne by just five of the nine
REPEAT CHORUS X2
I agree -- so-called bipartisanship needs to go out the window. To bring this nation back from the brink, the following things (amongst others) need to happen during the next four years:
1) A minimum of four Supreme Court retirements whose slots are filled by Brandeisian jurists. (This is not possible unless #2 happens)
2) Send Harry Reid to the back bench of the Senate and put in an arse-kicking LBJ-style leadership team. HRC, Russ Feingold, and Chris Dodd spring to mind. Screw 60 votes. Twist their arms behind their backs until they cry uncle.
3) Out of Iraq
4) Universal health care
5) Wean the MIC piglet. Get them off building killing machines and put them to work rebuilding this country's crumbling infrastructure. That equals jobs.
6) Solar/Wind/Geo. More jobs.
7) Roll back the transfer of wealth to the already-wealthy nonproductive leeches that has taken place since 1981.
8) Enact legislation that a) enforces criminal penalties for corporate principals who commit theft and/or fraud (the penalty being more than just giving back part of the money you stole); b) reinstates the "death penalty" for corporations that act badly (i.e., disincorporation); and c) forbids off-shore tax shelters and actually requires corporations to pay taxes.
9) Replace so-called free trade with fair trade policies.
10) Repeal the patriot act and all its misbegotten brethren.
11) Put the treasonous war criminals of the past eight years on trial. A fair trial, in full view of all.
.
I sort of remember the mandate sent to the Democrats in 2006...
... End the Iraq war, accountability for Constitutional violations.
But, eh... shoes never look good when worn on the other foot, so why bother noticing... NO?
I mean, funding and appropriations to keep the troops in harms way continued.
Constitutional violations were endorsed and given a green light, and in some cases, immunity granted for impeachable felonies.
But, eh...
.
.
Bipartisanship to these Fascists appeasers currently serving the Corporations of the United States of America is about wrestling as many personal Liberties from Americans while restricting as many Freedoms, too.
R E M E M E B E R:
THEY(sic) HATE US FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE; OUR FREEDOMS...
And so THEY(sic) have lobbied, debated and legislated away many of our Foundational Freedoms, forever altering our way of life.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~ Benjamin Franklin
... And yet, Americans tolerate this much from their Congress.
Sad, but true.
.
Absolutely, while it's on everybody's mind, the first task is to nationalize and secure the electoral apparatus for federal elections.
The hours-long lines and antiquated machinery serve the interests of only one, corrupted party, and that party has been allowed to drag its heels and disenfranchise voters for long enough.
Please, folks, before you turn to other pressing matters -- and I know there are many -- remember that the right to vote is the bedrock of any democracy.
I'd put it high on the list.
You do it by holding our current lawbreakers accountable.
Nancy Pelosi has come out and stated Obama needs to "lead & govern" from the Center...well, so much for your "Progressive Agenda"!
This should come as no surprise. Modern conservatives have a Manichean worldview in which they must be engaged in a constant us-vs.-them fight to the death. They can't conceive a nation in which we work together for the common good. I'm not sure how we bring them around, but we need to try.
I'd sign on to all of those and most conservatives from more then 40 years ago would have too. These new 'conservatives' are nothing more then corporate propagandists and those too stupid to see who's leading them around by the nose.
So what exactly is wrong with that list of initiatives? Oh, I suppose as a well-off New Englander, I WOULD be puzzled by those who are not willing to share with the less fortunate, goddamned liberal that I am...
Login or Register to post comments.