Prairie Recommends: wesgpc on Jefferson's reality

.
Here's what the muttonheads, teabaggers, rightwing hate radio screeders, shallow stenoing big media parrots, and big money corporate monopolists don't want you to think about...ever, ever...ever.

A reality check on what Jefferson said...and the full context of his words...about the tree of liberty. And our responsibility.

kudos to wesgpc for this must read.
.

One of the Family

.
One of the stark lessons of Stefan Forbes’ riveting documentary of the life of Lee Atwater, Boogie Man, which aired last night in Fargo on PBS' Frontline, was that the era of the Cliff Notes-loving media didn't begin with George W. Bush and Karl Rove and the Dancin' Daves [“backup dancer” David Gregory—the iconic statement of everything that is the incestuous life of the Village].

Watching the rise and demise of the master of Republican dirty tricks as he built his resume on lie after lie was demoralizing indeed. Spokesperson after spokesperson—folks like Sam Donaldson, Tucker Eskew, Mary Matalin, Ed Rollins, Robert Novak—rationalized those lies in an tone of “politics ain’t beanbag,” as if the fact that he could sweet-talk the media into not checking into his audacious b.s. was something to be lauded.

It says a lot about Atwater that he got away with it. It says even more about the sorry state of the media that they let him. Hell, they enabled him.

They're still doing it.

Seeing younger versions of Karl Rove and Grover Norquist hovering in the wings of the stage Atwater played on, we're warned that the vipers known as College Republicans are still goin' strong. They may have lost this round, but they're regrouping and preparing for the next election. It's a testament to the political skills of Barack Obama and his team and the organizational skills of Howard Dean and his 50-State Strategy that Democrats prevailed against the Republicans and their enablers in the media.

It comes of this: when you merely sit and serve as a vessel for a politician to spout off "factiness" without correcting the record then you are in fact serving as a tool/pawn/shill of a politician or a political agenda.

Yep, Sit! Wolfie, today I'm talkin' about you and that "interview" with Sarah Palin—the hockey mom turned governor who is fit neither to govern nor to parent. Earlier this week, Matt Lauer provided yet another opportunity to pimp Piper by Gypsy Mom who apparently didn't think that thar book-larnin' was any more important for her kids than herself while she was off gallivantin' with John and Cindy and giving pfffft to her children's education. Not to be outdone, Greta Van Susteren added her own Foxy-loxy love fest to the mix.

A role model to lead the Republican Party? Anjelica Huston's Grifters mom more like.

But the media like process, we're told. They liked seein' Atwater slam Dukakis with race-bating strokes...hey if he didn't like that Willie Horton/weekend passes smear campaign, he shoulda fought back.

Yeah, he shoulda.

Shoulda said the weekend passes were modeled on another state, another governor. Name o'Reagan. And now the adopted son of Ronald Reagan, Michael, adopts the Atwater School, right along with the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and lets the hate times roll.... Because the Republicans can't govern, can't win on policy, so they play divide and conquer...only not this year.

But that doesn't mean they won't come right back again, hoping for a weaker opponent next time. And they know they can count on the media to go along to get along, 'cause you gotta get the story, even if it's a lie, doncha know.

And the biggest lie of all was the life of Lee Atwater. This hyper Southern skell was all surface and show and no soul. Even his protestation at the end that he was going to go with any religion just in case was as phony as the man. The Bush family retainer who was never really going to be part of the family was himself a useful tool...and that's the denial the folks who remain don't ever want to face.

Matalin, Rove, the other political operatives, willingly compliant Cliff Notes journalists, you've all been useful tools to advance the Bush family agenda. You just haven't been one of the family.
.

Krugman's Question

.
This morning the punditocracy are all huffin-puffin about what it could mean to have a Democratic White House and Congress. I won't belabor the spin--if you know who was talkin', you can fill in what their spin was. Right now, it's all the same ol' same ol'.

Even the last-ditch piss-in-our-bed Rethuglican airing of the Rev. Wright attack ad has a tired, worn quality to it. Sure it'll gin up the base and GOTRV, but let's face it, that segment of rightwing screeddom is getting smaller and smaller by the hour.

Just look at the Republican--former Republican or temporary independent--endorsements Obama has picked up. Iconic Republican names: [Susan] Eisenhower, [Ron] Reagan, [CC] Goldwater, Hagel's wife, Senator Pressler, Governor Carlson....

So instead of handwringing with faux concern over what the Democrats may do, perhaps it's time to consider what the Republican Rump will do. Krugman certainly thinks it's more than time.

This is the core Rethuglicanism -- and like a bloated, rotting corpse with maggots feeding in its belly, there is nothing right now that would appeal to any but the most ideological...or willfully ignorant.

Or as Krugman puts it:

But the G.O.P.’s long transformation into the party of the unreasonable right, a haven for racists and reactionaries, seems likely to accelerate as a result of the impending defeat.

This will pose a dilemma for moderate conservatives. Many of them spent the Bush years in denial, closing their eyes to the administration’s dishonesty and contempt for the rule of law. Some of them have tried to maintain that denial through this year’s election season, even as the McCain-Palin campaign’s tactics have grown ever uglier. But one of these days they’re going to have to realize that the G.O.P. has become the party of intolerance.

Win or lose, will new life emerge from that fetid corpse? I guess that would depend on whether the Greedy Ol' Party is capable of evolution...or cutting off the mutated cancer that is the GOP today.

Time will tell.
.

The War of the Rogueses

.
As the intramural fingerpointing ratchets up between McCain and Palin factions, some say this pair are like the ultimate bad, bad, bad divorce.

And some say, they deserve each other.

Little did McCain know, when he started preachin' the gospel of "the other," the fearmongering of "them" vs. us, when Palin started talkin' up the real and the anti-...just what a cosmic joke ol' karma would have in store.
.
As for the rest of us...GOTV, GOTV, GOTV....
.

"Share the Wealth"

.
McCain and Palin havin' their say this morning, mocking Barack Obama's comment to "Joe the Faux" that it's about time we share the wealth of this nation.

Now, not being of the sheep persuasion, I don't buy the argument that we should keep following the "piss on us" concept of economics that is Republican trickle-down dogma.

And I've read the stats that show America currently has the greatest disparity of wealth between John McCain's bazillionaire base and the rest of America. And we're falling behind the rest of the world...in education, in healthcare, in too many ways.

And I've read the headline about the bonuses being handed out right now for the beneficiaries of the $700 billion bailout that both candidates voted for.

We've had too much wealth redistribution upwards under Republican orthodoxy. Long past time for some Reformation... and you can call it "socialism" if you've a mind to. I call it fairness... and common sense... oh, and while you're at it, real Jesus.
.
UPDATE: Nobel winner Paul Krugman cuts through the McCain malarkey on the economy like a plumber cuts through, well, Republican sludge...

Where's the Beef?

.
The Republicans threw a whopper of a round of after-dinner speechifyin' last night -- Romney, Ghouliani, Sister Sarah... and this mornin' the pundit class are all busy talkin' about all the red meat.

As Mark Whittaker, NBC's new news bureau chief called it, New York strip from Rudy, a whole side of moose from Palin.

But strip away the partisan sarcasm and division and dogwhistling, and we're right back to the same ol' same ol'...

And Sarah Palin? Mika Brezinski's luvin' all of it...
well, Mika, what exactly is she saying?

I'm askin'...where's the beef?
.
UPDATE: Turns out pollsters have been asking pretty much the same thing of women voters and here's what they're learning--outside the Republican Convention Hall and Mika's brain--American women are not buyin' what Palin's pimpin'. And here we go again on Nation Building at Home...this link/story appears in an Aussie newspaper.
.

That Dangnabit Congress

.
Yep, it's all the fault of that dangnabit Democratically controlled Congress that we're in the oil mess we're in...they've sat on their Democrat hands for the past month doin' nada....

at least that's the way Dubya tells it in undoing Daddy's executive order against offshore drilling. And nevermind the past seven-plus years of oil/war profiteering that have vampired the economy.

Once again, a moment of opportunity to unite behind a common purpose and resolve that "we're all in this together" and here's stuff each and every one of us can do to make the pain at the pump a little bit easier on all of us. [Drive 55!]

Yeah, a moment. A moment p'ed on yet again by this president who is seemingly forever arrested at the age of seven on the playground squabbling over whose turn it is at bat. His answer? It's his bat, so it's always his turn.

Except Americans have grown weary these last almost eight years of the Petulant in Chief turning every event post-bullhorn into a moment of partisanship and division and calculation for electioneering opportunism. At least he's true to pattern.

There's a new team comin' up to bat, and the BushCo equivalent of the Black Sox can't be benched soon enough.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

.
Respect is not something you are given.

Respect is something you earn.

And yet Hillary supporters are going around right now demanding respect for her.

While she goes around blaming everyone else but herself for her appalling RFK assassination reference. A reference she has made multiple times. A reference that has now given license for the likes of Liz Trotta of Fox News to suggest that "knocking off" Obama would be just swell.

Let us dispense with the niceties.

I do not respect Hillary Clinton.

She has not earned my respect. She lies. She makes up facts. She tries to change rules after the game has been played. She pulls out meaningless scorecards...for example, winning the "popular vote." That is meaningless, because it has not been one single election in one time frame. No, it has been caucuses and primaries, votes among 2 candidates, votes among 8 candidates, votes among 7 candidates, votes among 6 candidates, votes among 5 candidates, votes among 4 candidates, votes among 3 candidates....

I do not respect Hillary Clinton because she bases her metrics not on herself, but on the likelihood of her opponent being struck by catastrophe. And since her oppo research team doesn't seem to be finding something sufficiently nasty to use, then has she got an alternate idea for you.

I do not respect Hillary Clinton because even now she is lying to us via her supporters who say this will all be wrapped up in mid-June after the primaries. If her supporters believe that, they're nuts. This woman has absolutely no intention of quitting...subconsciously or otherwise...she references back to 1968 because that campaign season was undecided into the convention. She intends to proceed there with a fight over rules or the floor or the price of the catered coffee.

She is "in it to win it..." and anyone who believes otherwise, well, let me introduce you to another politician who foreshadowed: "I don't have a problem with dictatorships, as long as I get to be dictator." How's that workin' out for ya?

What was She Thinking?!?

.
That's the question making the rounds right now about Hillary Clinton and her intemperate reference to the assassination of RFK..."took place in June"... TPM has YouTubes here of her comments to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and her followup "revise and extend" remarks in a grocery store later.

Intemperate, of course, doesn't begin to describe the appalling depth of making this kind of reference. And it's beyond troubling to me that she exhibits in the followup clip all the emotional authenticity of Mike Dukakis' clinical response to a what-if debate question about his reaction if his wife were raped.

Maybe it's because I was in Los Angeles...in June...that night. Not working for RFK, but for Senator Eugene McCarthy, and I remember the visceral pain of that night for all of us.

But for Hillary Clinton to use that event in some glib justification for why she should keep on with her campaign just leaves me absolutely, well, not speechless. But certainly more determined than ever to do my part to elect Obama, and his sound judgment and judicious temperament, as the next President. And more and better Democrats across the land, in this election, and those to come.

What Was She Thinking? What is she saying?

I want no part of her. Not on the ticket. Not in any leadership position at all.

Is this Hillary's "macaca moment"?

Hysteria in Hillaryland

.
Today Hillary and her followers didn't just jump the shark, they're starting to drown the bunny in the hot water.

There, I said it.

I am beyond fed up with the rants of "it ain't fair" coming from the Hillary camp.

I am beyond fed up with the posturing by Clinton and her surrogates trying to whip into a frenzy the Florida voters, the super delegates, the rules committee so that she can fulfill her own destiny.

I am beyond fed up with the threats that smack of BushCo style bullying and cheating.

Get over yourselves.

If you tell us you can act like one of the guys, toss back the shots, stand toe to toe, be a fighter, then stop with the below the belt kidney shots.

When Edwards knew he couldn't win, when Dodd knew he couldn't win, when Biden knew he couldn't win, when Richardson knew he couldn't win...each in their turn had to suck it up, and step aside graciously.

But not Hillary.

There's a difference between "fighting" and wanting special circumstances...wanting the loophole...wanting the bending of the rules...the technicality...the unwinding of the process...the changing of the game at the end of the season.

Just say no to Hillary, Rules Committee. Just say no to Hillary, super delegates. Just say no to Hillary... like 54% of the voters always will to Hillary.

Put us out of her misery...leave the fuzzy math with the Republicans...after all, it hasn't done them—or the country—so good the last almost-eight years.

'cause sometimes life ain't fair...until it is.

Ostensibly

.
Tuned into Hardball tonight for the first time in a long time, because I'd missed seeing live the endorsement of Obama by John Edwards. I expected that would be a reliable source for seeing the replay.

Unfortunately, what I also got was what Hardball has become a master of playing of late. The race card, courtesy the Tweety-Buchanan double-team. And cheap shots, courtesy Andrea Mitchell.

First the race card. They're really pushin' it at Hardball. Kentucky, it's all about Kentucky, because Kentucky is full of all those "you know"s. Evidently there are no hardworking Americans nor white people either in Oregon. One thing this campaign season has proven, it hasn't been just Hillary Clinton getting increasingly brazen and ham-handed about pushing the race card.

And then there's Mitchell, who brings up a fundraising letter sent by Edwards today to his supporters. Only after several minutes elapsed did she say "Ostensibly" it's about raising funds for college students. Caught with your ham-handed fist in your mouth, too, Andrea? One wonders who made the call that got the producer whispering into her ear piece sayin' you better clean up your mess, Mrs. Greenspan.

That's my scenario, and I'm stickin' to it. Here's the Edwards letter. Judge for yourself if it's "ostensibly" about fundraising for college students:

I want to begin by thanking each of you for all of your support and commitment over the last year. It has meant so much to Elizabeth and me. We have been very busy since January working on the causes that got us into the campaign in the first place -- helping to build the One America we all believe in.

You may have heard me talk about one of those programs called College for Everyone -- a scholarship pilot project that Elizabeth and I started a few years ago in Greene County, North Carolina.

The program is based on a simple promise to students: make good grades, work at least 10 hours a week, and stay out of trouble -- and the program will help pay for your first year of college. Since we launched this effort in 2005, the percentage of Greene County high school graduates attending college has increased from 54 percent to 74 percent.

As I write you, 165 high school seniors in Greene County are set to graduate in May and 94% have been accepted into N.C. colleges and universities. Most of these young people are doing just what many of us did -- sitting around the kitchen table with their parents, wondering how they will pay for tuition.

Every parent wants to give their child the opportunity that comes with a college education. But for too many American families, the dream of a college degree is just that -- a dream. Now, I need your help to make the dream of a college education a reality for some hard-working students in rural Greene County.

That's why I need your help today -- with a tax-deductible donation of $10, $25, $50 or $75, whatever you can afford -- to bring us one step closer to our goal of College for Everyone. By contributing now, you will help fulfill the college dreams of deserving students in Greene County and show the world that if we work together on big and important issues, change is possible.

But change can only come with your help. Please contribute now and bring us closer to building One America where every child has the opportunity to go as far as his or her talents and hard work will take them.

Thank you,

John Edwards

P.S. Contributions made by Friday go towards scholarships for the students graduating in May.

The link takes you to Network for Good, not the Edwards campaign.

Shame on Chris Matthews and Pat Buchanan and Andrea Mitchell...and Hardball and MSNBC and NBC.

Maybe I could watch to learn if they mend their ways, but why waste the time? Instead, I think I'll go read Evan Thomas' review article in the new Newsweek, "Divide and Conquer"--which tells us about Nixonland, "a stunning new book that argues that Nixon was also the grandfather of today's politics of hate."

And Nixon's philosophical grandchildren are alive and well on Hardball these days.

Somewhere in America

.
Somewhere today, a family is planning a joyous family celebration, a wedding, lots of hoopla, maybe some barbeque. In the family backyard, designer gowns and lots of bridesmaids. The details are sketchy, so far. Intimate, private.

Somewhere in America today, a family is wondering how it will make the mortgage payment, put food on the table. The celebrations are few. Graduation from high school? Not happening in this family. Like too many, this family's child dropped out.

Somewhere in America today, a parent is learning the job they counted on is pink slipped. Hey, you're a statistic. One of a thousand. Laid off.

Somewhere in America today, a tow truck is coming to take away the car the family can no longer afford to pay for or put gas in.

But don't worry, things are looking up. The Very Important Pundits told me so.

Somewhere in America today, a political campaign is wearing on, and one candidate talks "electability" and I've got the working class white vote and points fingers at the other guy and works to make him "other" and refuses to see that dividing the working folks and those who need to work and those who need a government that works instead of always dippin' its beak for its cronies on the backs of the working class is the pathway to disaster in November again.

Somewhere in America today, a weary man sits back and begins to plan for the next long stretch of the road.

And somewhere in America today, a lost soul who needs an opportunity, a hand-up, not a hand-out, walks down the sidewalk to the Salvation Army for a free breakfast before heading to the day labor center to see if there'll be some work to get him through the rest of the day.

Musts

.
Spring cleaning time in Prairie Country, so we'll probably be light on content hereabouts. But we do want to steer you to some "musts" this weekend.

Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times on what Jon Stewart dubbed the Reverending Story. Herbert's pretty pointed: can't we get back to the issues?!? Would that the Sunday morning punditocracy actually reads and heeds, because Herbert speaks for a lot of us who are absolutely fed up to the hair follicles with the push-pastoring. Enough.

Arianna Huffington visits Firedoglake 's Book Salon this afternoon to discuss her new book, Right Is Wrong: How the Lunatic Fringe Hijacked America, Shredded the Constitution, and Made Us All Less Safe. [5 pm ET to 7 pm ET] If you've never "met" Arianna or visited Firedoglake, what better time to start.

And we've learned that 60 Minutes will be reporting on the Pat Tillman story this Sunday night. Mary Tillman speaks out, saying the government still has not told the truth about her son's death. 60 Minutes has been bringing their A game of late to reporting. We'll definitely be watching.

Oh, and have we mentioned that Senator Obama will spend an hour with Tim Russert Sunday morning live on Meet the Press? We'll be watching. Won't take long to tell whether Russert's read Herbert's column...or just the McCarthyist screeds from Blumenthal and the Clintonistas and McCainiacs.

UPDATE:
Snuffy will be questioning Hillary Clinton Sunday morning. We saw his idea of "tough, but fair" in the ABC-sponsored debate. We'll be looking for "tough, but fair" when he questions Hillary. Substance, not shiny objects. And tough but fair follow-ups, too.

We'll be watching.

And then they came for me

.
Here in Prairie Country, we like to flatter ourselves that we're pretty much removed from the kind of race-baiting, code-wording crapola that's re-emerged in this election campaign via voices as disparate as Rush Limbaugh and Bill Clinton and Lou Dobbs and John Hagee and, well, the list, sadly, goes on...and on...and on...and....

We see it in the subjects the media choose to focus on. The endless Rev. Wright. Hmmmm, just who is actually going to be on the ballot this year? Hillary Clinton, or Bill? Barack Obama or his former pastor? John McCain or George W. Bush? The lines are way too blurry these days.

Maybe in your neighborhood, you, too, have thought, hmmm, it can't happen here.

Until it does. Switch off the news about the gang shootings in Chicago, or the punditizing about the Alabama section of Pennsylvania or the upcoming Appalachian spring back to a previous century, and it's still right here.

Here in the Red River Valley of the North the ugly head of bigotry and hate emerges, too. North Dakota not-so-nice at the University in Grand Forks these days. A Jewish student has lived in fear, subjected to a swastika painted in the stairs at his dorm, a pellet gun shooting at his dorm room door. A school administration too slow to respond, to investigate, to do anything until the glare of publicity forces their hand.

So, hate radio is merely "bombast" and political campaign tactics merely "this ain't beanbag" until each and every one of us must say, enough.

Enough of smear by association. Enough of the politics of fear and hatemongering. Enough of screed and slime in the name of furthering a personal agenda of power or privilege.

Because the more we let ourselves be divided against "them," whoever "them" may be, the weaker we all become.

The collapse, right here in the heartland, of a major bridge across arguably the most important river in America, the Mississippi, is omen of these times. Neglecting the ties that bind us, the power that is "We, the people..." invites collapse and ruin.

Together, we are stronger, we are, yes, our brother's keeper. We are the exemplar of living toward a more perfect union, not division, of states.

Too often, it's easy to forget the lessons of history, or give them short shrift. And then comes an episode that reminds us of one pastor's call*:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The version inscribed at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. reads:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -

because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out -

because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out -

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.

New England Holocaust Memorial

The version inscribed at the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts reads:

They came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

* Martin Niemoller's poem, in various forms can be found at Wikipedia.