Obama: Dems Are ‘Fact-Based, Reason-Based’ While The GOP Denies Science
During a comprehensive interview with The New York Times, President Obama attacked modern conservatism and the GOP for being too ideological and extremist. He continued by describing the Democratic Party like so:
And by the way, it generally is fact-based and reason-based. You know, we’re not denying science, we’re not denying climate change, we’re not pretending that somehow having a whole bunch of uninsured people is the American way.
Using Politifact‘s ranking system, I give this quote a “Mostly True.” For now.
I’m glad the president qualified his observation with the word “generally” because although the Republicans have slowly allowed the lunatics to take over the asylum throughout the last 14 years or so (mostly in the last five), the far-left wing of the Democratic Party is beginning to give the tea party a run for its crazy money. Put another way, yes, the Republican Party has ceded control to its crackpot tea party flank, almost irrevocably disconnecting it from reality and reason, but the far-left is growing louder as well and there’s a serious danger that the Democrats could repeat the GOP’s idiotic validation of its extremist wing.
By in large, America has gone nuts and it’s unclear exactly why. Our political cheese has slipped off our political cracker.
The discourse has grown so utterly dysfunctional and incoherent — so up its own ass in reaction to every minuscule social media blip and every hyperbolic political headline, it’s difficult to find an actual “fact-based and reason-based” discussion anywhere. Everything on the far-right and, yes, the far-left has become, to one degree or another, a conspiracy theory. The NSA, drones, Benghazi, healthcare, Guantanamo, Gaza, Syria, immigration, teleprompters, the word “folks” — you name it and there’s a privileged crank being paid to spam Reddit with scare-headlines about it. And it almost always involves predictions about the end of America as we know it, with a perhaps-Kenyan, perhaps-conservative, perhaps-liberal, perhaps-pacifistic, perhaps-war-mongering president accelerating the inevitable death of the nation.
Is the tea party far-right more guilty than most for amplifying the nincompoopery? Absolutely, yes. While it was obvious five or six year ago that the ascendancy of the first African-American president… CONTINUE READING
Click here for reuse options!Copyright 2014 Liberaland
By: Bob Cesca
Bob Cesca is the managing editor at The Daily Banter (www.thedailybanter.com) and a Huffington Post contributor since 2005. He's worked in journalism since 1988 as a print writer/editor, a radio news anchor, a digital media columnist/editor, a book author and blogger. He's the co-host of the Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show podcast and a Thursday regular on the syndicated Stephanie Miller Show. He's appeared on numerous other radio shows including the John Phillips Show and Geraldo Rivera Show in Los Angeles. Bob has been a commentator/analyst on the BBC (TV and radio), MSNBC, Current TV, CNN and Sky News. Following him on Twitter: @bobcesca_go
Denise August 11th, 2014 at 09:00
The GOP are liars!
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 09:28
I’m GOP.
Commence the Epimenidean paradox.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:36
Point for cleverness.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 12:28
He had to look that word up before using it.
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 15:37
If I have a scintilla of personal hubris at all, it’s in regard to my eruditeness and natural proclivity toward all things sesquipedalian.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 11:29
Boo! You smell! Made any grandmothers eat cat food lately? Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah! . . . . something, something, something Benghazi!
Pfffffft!
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:39
your nanny breast fed you paint chips!
WHITE
paint chips!
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 15:37
LOL!
John Tarter August 11th, 2014 at 09:37
And Obama’s lies are legendary. ” You can keep your doctor”. “Your premiums will drop by $2500.00.” “There is not a SMIDGEN of corruption at the IRS.” And the biggest Obama whopper of them all: “This will be the most transparent administration ever”. Obama has got the entire G O P beat in the lying department all by his self.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:50
Spoken like a truly hateful delusional fanatic.
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 09:52
Obama didn’t say any of those things? Crap, now I can’t even trust YouTube videos.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:59
No. Like all politicians, the President bends the truth to his purposes once in a while. But to say that he lies anywhere near as much as the tinfoil asshats flat-earthers of the Republican Party? You have to be an insanely rabid right-wing partisan to say that.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 12:27
Actually, the President was speaking generally not specifically; in which case is was truthful. 85% or better can keep their doctor, AND you can keep your insurance, though it might costs more now that it’s worth what you pay for it.
John Tarter August 11th, 2014 at 16:35
Oh, he was speaking generally, now that clarifies everything. But what about when he added that word PERIOD after he said the healthcare stuff? That was pretty emphatic if you ask me. Or was that just a general emphatic lie?
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:37
Bad word choice in his part. But still, given the exaggerations and distortions, and out right lies of the lying stream media over at FakeNews, WND, and NewsMax, Obama’s a paragon of virtue.
Rocket Don August 11th, 2014 at 15:50
Four years of Obama’s lies in one video:
http://youtu.be/o8R5GvwUFU8
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 10:47
the President made the $2500 claim before he was elected and when there was a possibility we would have a public option with single payer universal coverage.
it is profoundly hypocritical for anyone who opposed the public option to criticize the President on that score,
as far as transparency, how about citing which administration was more transparent and more importantly why that is true.
oh and has anyone from the IRS been indicted for a crime?
having contempt for Congress is not a crime. if it were, millions of Americans of both parties would be in jail.
fahvel August 11th, 2014 at 12:11
he is pathetic – no argument there JJ.
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:36
another well known WHITE RACIST who will destroy the whole forest to remove a brown twig.
Denise August 11th, 2014 at 09:00
The GOP are liars!
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 09:28
I’m GOP.
Commence the Epimenidean paradox.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:36
Point for cleverness.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 12:28
He had to look that word up before using it.
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 15:37
If I have a scintilla of personal hubris at all, it’s in regard to my eruditeness and natural proclivity toward all things sesquipedalian.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 11:29
Boo! You smell! Made any grandmothers eat cat food lately? Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah! . . . . something, something, something Benghazi!
Pfffffft!
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:39
your nanny breast fed you paint chips!
WHITE
paint chips!
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 15:37
LOL!
John Tarter August 11th, 2014 at 09:37
And Obama’s lies are legendary. ” You can keep your doctor”. “Your premiums will drop by $2500.00.” “There is not a SMIDGEN of corruption at the IRS.” And the biggest Obama whopper of them all: “This will be the most transparent administration ever”. Obama has got the entire G O P beat in the lying department all by his lonesome self.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:50
Spoken like a truly hateful delusional fanatic. So full of bile he can’t even type properly anymore.
R.J. Carter August 11th, 2014 at 09:52
Obama didn’t say any of those things? Crap, now I can’t even trust YouTube videos.
jasperjava August 11th, 2014 at 09:59
No. Like all politicians, the President bends the truth to his purposes once in a while. But to say that he lies anywhere near as much as the tinfoil asshats flat-earthers of the Republican Party? You have to be an insanely rabid right-wing partisan to say that.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 12:27
Actually, the President was speaking generally not specifically; in which case is was truthful. 85% or better can keep their doctor, AND you can keep your insurance, though it might costs more now that it’s worth what you pay for it.
John Tarter August 11th, 2014 at 16:35
Oh, he was speaking generally, now that clarifies everything. But what about when he added that word PERIOD after he said the healthcare stuff? That was pretty emphatic if you ask me. Or was that just a general emphatic lie?
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:37
Bad word choice in his part. But still, given the exaggerations and distortions, and out right lies of the lying stream media over at FakeNews, WND, and NewsMax, Obama’s a paragon of virtue.
Rocket Don August 11th, 2014 at 15:50
Four years of Obama’s lies in one video:
http://youtu.be/o8R5GvwUFU8
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 10:47
the President made the $2500 claim before he was elected and when there was a possibility we would have a public option with single payer universal coverage.
it is profoundly hypocritical for anyone who opposed the public option to criticize the President on that score, here is the President’s statement “””I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.””” so the only way to for the President to keep that promise was to deliver what most of his base wanted, a public option. as far as I am concerned, the real lie is for conservatives to accuse the President of lying when the fact is that it was right wing opposition which prevented delivering on the promise.
yes it was a promise broken thanks to gutless Democrats caving to right wing hysteria about “tyranny” and “socialism”.
as far as transparency, how about citing which administration was more transparent and more importantly why that is true.
oh and has anyone from the IRS been indicted for a crime?
having contempt for Congress is not a crime. if it were, millions of Americans of both parties would be in jail.
fahvel August 11th, 2014 at 12:11
he is pathetic – no argument there JJ.
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:36
another well known WHITE RACIST who will destroy the whole forest to remove a brown twig.
Red Eye Robot August 11th, 2014 at 09:20
The looters in Ferguson looked like they were making decisions based on reason
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 10:38
no different than the Cliven Bundy cultists. other than the fact that you do not have Democratic governors or members of Congress defending breaking the law.
so yes, the Democratic party does operate on reason. your pathetic attempt to argue otherwise simply highlights the accuracy of the President’s statement.
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:34
damn! -you beat me to it arc. Guess there is some truth to the “early bird catches the LYING WHITE Racist first” phrase?
Lets see now, how many outraged US Citizens who support the USA have been arrested in Ferguson vs. how many WHITE REPUBLICAN ‘patriots’ who refuse to even recognize the existence of the USA while blockading interstate commerce and threatening the lives of Law Enforcement Officials by force of LOADED ARMS?
and WHITE REPUBLICAN Religious leaders themselves DENY that Racial Genocide by Incarceration is not being committed daily in America?
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 18:11
RedEye inadvertently confirms the overall point of this post.
Bundy is a criminal. Right wingers hailed him as a hero.
The looters are criminals. No one is calling them heroes.
Those are the facts which apparently play no part in his opinions.
Red Eye Robot August 11th, 2014 at 16:12
Remind me how many of the bundy ranch protesters were filmed looting businesses? The bundy ranch protesters had guns and not a single shot was fired. In Ferguson they was shooting. And certainly the Democrats Cultish devotion to gun control is based on reason. As demonstrated by chicago. or The presidents repeated claim that 97% “Consensus” among climate scientists that climate change is man made even though all of the surveys used to arrive at the 97% figure have been debunked. Let’s not forget the repeated claims by the administration that if the stimulus was passed we would never go above 8% unemployment and by 2014 we would be at -5% unemployment. Or how about the Administrations claim that Obamacare would save the average family $2500? The reality is, the Ferguson rioters are the physical embodiment of Democrat Liberal Progressive Reasoning. That being, there is no reasoning or even thought.
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 18:02
every person at the Bundy ranch was supporting a man who was breaking the law.
I am not surprised that you are changing the subject. No one on the left is portraying the looters as heroes.
You can throw out all the stupid ad hominems you like. Does not change the fact that it is you right wingers who were cheering and supporting a criminal.
Every looter should be arrested and tried. Cliven Bundy should be arrested and tried.
As far as your $2500 talking point, the President made that claim before he was elected anticipating the passage of the single payer universal coverage public option that his base supported.
Typical of you right wing hypocrites to condemn the President for a broken promise when you opposed the very policy which was intended to deliver on that promise.
No reason? No thought? Take a look in the nearest mirror for an illustration.
William August 11th, 2014 at 19:39
And here we were just wondering what sort of clown would support a welfare racist rancher whose supporters pointed rifles at sworn officers. Probably the same clown that would try to compare global warming with a racist welfare rancher. Could you please post a link to that -5 percent unemployment rate claim?
Thanx in advance.
DieselJohnson August 11th, 2014 at 21:41
Are the people you are referring to Democrats? How do you know this?
Red Eye Robot August 11th, 2014 at 09:20
The looters in Ferguson looked like they were making decisions based on reason
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 10:38
no different than the Cliven Bundy cultists. other than the fact that you do not have Democratic governors or members of Congress defending breaking the law.
so yes, the Democratic party does operate on reason. your pathetic attempt to argue otherwise simply highlights the accuracy of the President’s statement.
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:34
damn! -you beat me to it arc. Guess there is some truth to the “early bird catches the LYING WHITE Racist first” phrase?
Lets see now, how many outraged US Citizens who support the USA have been arrested in Ferguson vs. how many WHITE REPUBLICAN ‘patriots’ who refuse to even recognize the existence of the USA while blockading interstate commerce and threatening the lives of Law Enforcement Officials by force of LOADED ARMS?
and WHITE REPUBLICAN Religious leaders themselves DENY that Racial Genocide by Incarceration is not being committed daily in America?
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 18:11
RedEye inadvertently confirms the overall point of this post.
Bundy is a criminal. Right wingers hailed him as a hero.
The looters are criminals. No one is calling them heroes.
Those are the facts which apparently play no part in his opinions.
Red Eye Robot August 11th, 2014 at 16:12
Remind me how many of the bundy ranch protesters were filmed looting businesses? The bundy ranch protesters had guns and not a single shot was fired. In Ferguson they was shooting. And certainly the Democrats Cultish devotion to gun control is based on reason. As demonstrated by chicago. or The presidents repeated claim that 97% “Consensus” among climate scientists that climate change is man made even though all of the surveys used to arrive at the 97% figure have been debunked. Let’s not forget the repeated claims by the administration that if the stimulus was passed we would never go above 8% unemployment and by 2014 we would be at -5% unemployment. Or how about the Administrations claim that Obamacare would save the average family $2500? The reality is, the Ferguson rioters are the physical embodiment of Democrat Liberal Progressive Reasoning. That being, there is no reasoning or even thought.
Red Mann August 11th, 2014 at 16:29
Those looters were wrong in their behavior, but how many on the left positively supported them and made them into heroes? How many left leaning, not that there are very many, had them on a guests and fawned over them?
This “The reality is, the Ferguson rioters are the physical embodiment of Democrat Liberal Progressive Reasoning” is flat out nonsense.
No one outside of RW sites like the Murdoch owned WSJ has debunked the 97%. This meme has been flying around the RW echo chamber, one site parroting another. A more rational take: http://www.salon.com/2014/05/28/wsjs_shameful_climate_denial_the_scientific_consensus_is_not_a_myth/
arc99 August 11th, 2014 at 18:02
every person at the Bundy ranch was supporting a man who was breaking the law.
I am not surprised that you are changing the subject. No one on the left is portraying the looters as heroes.
You can throw out all the stupid ad hominems you like. Does not change the fact that it is you right wingers who were cheering and supporting a criminal.
Every looter should be arrested and tried. Cliven Bundy should be arrested and tried.
As far as your $2500 talking point, the President made that claim before he was elected anticipating the passage of the single payer universal coverage public option that his base supported.
Typical of you right wing hypocrites to condemn the President for a broken promise when you opposed the very policy which was intended to deliver on that promise.
No reason? No thought? Take a look in the nearest mirror for an illustration.
William August 11th, 2014 at 19:39
And here we were just wondering what sort of clown would support a welfare racist rancher whose supporters pointed rifles at sworn officers. Probably the same clown that would try to compare global warming with a racist welfare rancher. Could you please post a link to that -5 percent unemployment rate claim?
Thanx in advance.
DieselJohnson August 11th, 2014 at 21:41
Are the people you are referring to Democrats? How do you know this?
labman57 August 11th, 2014 at 10:10
It’s a curious position being taken by representatives of the social conservative movement — the idea that a college education is a waste of time and that intellectuals are elitists and should be shunned.
Reality-challenged politicians and pundits — especially those affiliated with the tea party movement — have embraced ignorance of the modern world, and they regard a distrust of the well-educated as an attribute to be used in their desire to be perceived as “just one of the common folk”.
Lord knows we don’t want our children to go to college and have their heads filled with all kinds of IDEAS. Before you know it, they’ll be thinking for themselves, challenging the status quo, and developing new points of view.
And we certainly don’t want our national leaders to be eloquent, scientifically literate, and generally well-informed about the world in which we live. Much better to derive scientific theories based on the teachings of the Bible, and to form national public policy based on the rumors, gossip, urban myths, and unverified anecdotal accounts described in supermarket rags and online blogs.
labman57 August 11th, 2014 at 10:10
It’s a curious position being taken by representatives of the social conservative movement — the idea that a college education is a waste of time and that intellectuals are elitists and should be shunned.
Reality-challenged politicians and pundits — especially those affiliated with the tea party movement — have embraced ignorance of the modern world, and they regard a distrust of the well-educated as an attribute to be used in their desire to be perceived as “just one of the common folk”.
Lord knows we don’t want our children to go to college and have their heads filled with all kinds of IDEAS. Before you know it, they’ll be thinking for themselves, challenging the status quo, and developing new points of view.
And we certainly don’t want our national leaders to be eloquent, scientifically literate, and generally well-informed about the world in which we live.
Much better to derive scientific theories based on the teachings of the Bible, and to form national public policy based on the rumors, gossip, urban myths, and unverified anecdotal accounts described in supermarket rags and online blogs.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 11:26
This kind of nincompoopery is the result of both sides being short sighted and all to eager to dehumanize their opponents. How does the GOP expect to make any in-roads into Democratic voters by claiming all it’s elections were won by takers willing to sell their vote for a free cellphone. In similar parlance, once you claim the all GOP voters are know-nothing racists who are told who to vote for by their talk-radio overlords.
What this radicalism does is take away any reason for bipartisanship. Comprimise becomes a dirty word and as Cesa’s article points out political discourse is reduced to heated rhetoric hashtagged out over 140 charactars.
Red Mann August 11th, 2014 at 16:20
Not all GOP voters are blatant racists, but many are and the current right plays to that racism, in fact the RW media plays to fear and hatred fairly consistently. There is nothing in the left that comes close to a Limbaugh, a Fischer, and Alex Jones, a Jim Garrow, a Glenn Beck and the list goes on. I don’t know of any left wing internet sites the are the equivalent of Brietbart, American Thinker, WND, FreeRepublic etc, etc. I see no leftist cable outlet the comes close to Fox News in demagoguery. lies and distortions. CNN is attempting to be Fox Lite.
It seems that no lie, no scandal and no bad behavior from the leaders on the right have any negative ramifications, their base eats up everything that they are fed and question nothing. There are many on the right that vote the way they are told by the right wing distortion sources and by their preachers
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:33
Republicans have played the fear card for a very long time.
‘The Russians are coming’ was a common theme during the 50’s. ‘The blacks are coming’ was heard during the middle/late 60’s. The paranoia of Nixon is not news to anyone who was paying attention. The list goes on.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:20
I’m pretty liberal by most people’s standard and I don’t feel at home in the new Democratic part. I spent the last 27 years of my life knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes, making calls and driving voter turnout for liberal causes and yet, if a single one of my views is a bit more subtle than the latest talking point being parroted, I am told the party doesn’t need people like me. If I dare say that the GOP can’t be defined by it’s fringe any more than we can by the ‘meat is murder’ crowd I get called a DINO. Alan Colmes himself is constantly abused for ‘working with the enemy,’ simply because he voices his opinions on FOX. The fact that he has a platform that allows him to reach out to people who haven’t heard our views is almost always ignored. If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t liberal enough. That is just silly. That is the dehumanizing element of modern politics. That’s a bipartisan problem.
OldLefty August 11th, 2014 at 21:33
The Democrats have
certainly moved to the right. They are far to the right of Eisenhower, now. As
for, “. If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t liberal
enough.”….
_________
Some truth to that.
They are nowhere near the
right side of the aisle, but always hate to see that.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:42
The Democrats have moved to where the money is, that is all. The limousine liberals now fund most of our elections and we have turned our back on the working class because they don’t contribute enough to campaigns. We sit idly by and allow 2.3 million of our citizens to stay incarcerated because our benefactors won’t let us do anything about it. Our reaction to Citizen’s United was to gather together our own set of millionaires and billionaires to fund us despite the corrupting influence of money in politics.
OldLefty August 11th, 2014 at 22:12
The Democrats have moved to where the money is, that is all.
_______
That is because we the people have allowed it, perhaps even passively encouraged it, since if they can’t raise money, they can’t win.
It is up to us to get the money out and demand public financing of elections.
It will only change when they hear from thousands of voter.
Instead, too many voters sit it out.
I think the problem is that we seem to be locked into this cycle whereby the younger people, who are less driven by emotional, partisan incentives, know what they want, and work for it in the big national elections.
Then they pat themselves on the back and think that their job is done. (It’s REALLY hard when THEY are the ones who are busy, and don’t follow what I believe to be the increasingly more difficult to follow sausage making of legislation.)
The older people who are driven more by emotional, partisan
incentives, (Remember the “visceral givers”?), DO vote in EVERY election, often out of revenge for losing the last election.
The young voters don’t realize that they cede power to their opponents along with the ability to get anything that they voted for, done, and thus become more apathetic. The older voters, vote for people who make everything worse, usually leading to a backlash in the next big national election, and thus the cycle repeats.
We can overcome the money, but not if we simply sit home and whine.
Time for me to conclude my broadcast day.
Good Night.
Red Mann August 11th, 2014 at 22:22
The GOP is defined by the far right elements, especially the Tea Party. What few mature Republicans that are left are in hiding. Any Republican within shouting distance of rational is primaried out of existence. There is nothing on the left that even comes close to the insanity on the right. If you want me to believe there is an equivalence you must provide some actual, verifiable instances.
“If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t conservative enough. That is just silly. That is the dehumanizing element of modern politics.”
FIFY
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 23:27
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Spirit of America August 12th, 2014 at 08:32
I liked your post. Most Americans are basically centrist with a few leanings more left or right. Most don’t want socialism but neither do they want unregulated capitalism; most want a safety net but most don’t want folks getting craddle-to-grave money for nothing; most want a strong military and use it to help others or defend ourselves but don’t go rampaging all over the world… and if a person does as you stated, isn’t a ‘purist’ to their side, they are ostracized.
It’s almost as if the ‘side’ is more important than the policy, that ‘winning now’ is more important than what is left for the next generation.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 11:26
This kind of nincompoopery is the result of both sides being short sighted and all to eager to dehumanize their opponents. How does the GOP expect to make any in-roads into Democratic voters by claiming all it’s elections were won by takers willing to sell their vote for a free cellphone. In similar parlance, once you claim the all GOP voters are know-nothing racists who are told who to vote for by their talk-radio overlords.
What this radicalism does is take away any reason for bipartisanship. Comprimise becomes a dirty word and as Cesa’s article points out political discourse is reduced to heated rhetoric hashtagged out over 140 charactars.
Red Mann August 11th, 2014 at 16:20
Not all GOP voters are blatant racists, but many are and the current right plays to that racism, in fact the RW media plays to fear and hatred fairly consistently. There is nothing in the left that comes close to a Limbaugh, a Fischer, and Alex Jones, a Jim Garrow, a Glenn Beck and the list goes on. I don’t know of any left wing internet sites the are the equivalent of Brietbart, American Thinker, WND, FreeRepublic etc, etc. I see no leftist cable outlet the comes close to Fox News in demagoguery. lies and distortions. CNN is attempting to be Fox Lite.
It seems that no lie, no scandal and no bad behavior from the leaders on the right have any negative ramifications, their base eats up everything that they are fed and question nothing. There are many on the right that vote the way they are told by the right wing distortion sources and by their preachers
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:33
Republicans have played the fear card for a very long time.
‘The Russians are coming’ was a common theme during the 50’s. ‘The blacks are coming’ was heard during the middle/late 60’s. The paranoia of Nixon is not news to anyone who was paying attention. The list goes on.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:20
I’m pretty liberal by most people’s standard and I don’t feel at home in the new Democratic part. I spent the last 27 years of my life knocking on doors, stuffing envelopes, making calls and driving voter turnout for liberal causes and yet, if a single one of my views is a bit more subtle than the latest talking point being parroted, I am told the party doesn’t need people like me. If I dare say that the GOP can’t be defined by it’s fringe any more than we can by the ‘meat is murder’ crowd I get called a DINO. Alan Colmes himself is constantly abused for ‘working with the enemy,’ simply because he voices his opinions on FOX. The fact that he has a platform that allows him to reach out to people who haven’t heard our views is almost always ignored. If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t liberal enough. That is just silly. That is the dehumanizing element of modern politics. That’s a bipartisan problem.
OldLefty August 11th, 2014 at 21:33
The Democrats have
certainly moved to the right. They are far to the right of Eisenhower, now. As
for, “. If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t liberal
enough.”….
_________
Some truth to that.
They are nowhere near the
right side of the aisle, but always hate to see that.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:42
The Democrats have moved to where the money is, that is all. The limousine liberals now fund most of our elections and we have turned our back on the working class because they don’t contribute enough to campaigns. We sit idly by and allow 2.3 million of our citizens to stay incarcerated because our benefactors won’t let us do anything about it. Our reaction to Citizen’s United was to gather together our own set of millionaires and billionaires to fund us despite the corrupting influence of money in politics.
OldLefty August 11th, 2014 at 22:12
The Democrats have moved to where the money is, that is all.
_______
That is because we the people have allowed it, perhaps even passively encouraged it, since if they can’t raise money, they can’t win.
It is up to us to get the money out and demand public financing of elections.
It will only change when they hear from thousands of voter.
Instead, too many voters sit it out.
I think the problem is that we seem to be locked into this cycle whereby the younger people, who are less driven by emotional, partisan incentives, know what they want, and work for it in the big national elections.
Then they pat themselves on the back and think that their job is done. (It’s REALLY hard when THEY are the ones who are busy, and don’t follow what I believe to be the increasingly more difficult to follow sausage making of legislation.)
The older people who are driven more by emotional, partisan
incentives, (Remember the “visceral givers”?), DO vote in EVERY election, often out of revenge for losing the last election.
The young voters don’t realize that they cede power to their opponents along with the ability to get anything that they voted for, done, and thus become more apathetic. The older voters, vote for people who make everything worse, usually leading to a backlash in the next big national election, and thus the cycle repeats.
We can overcome the money, but not if we simply sit home and whine.
Time for me to conclude my broadcast day.
Good Night.
Red Mann August 11th, 2014 at 22:22
The GOP is defined by the far right elements, especially the Tea Party. What few mature Republicans that are left are in hiding. Any Republican within shouting distance of rational is primaried out of existence. There is nothing on the left that even comes close to the insanity on the right. If you want me to believe there is an equivalence you must provide some actual, verifiable instances.
“If you don’t hate your opponent you aren’t conservative enough. That is just silly. That is the dehumanizing element of modern politics.”
FIFY
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 23:27
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
Spirit of America August 12th, 2014 at 08:32
I liked your post. Most Americans are basically centrist with a few leanings more left or right. Most don’t want socialism but neither do they want unregulated capitalism; most want a safety net but most don’t want folks getting craddle-to-grave money for nothing; most want a strong military and use it to help others or defend ourselves but don’t go rampaging all over the world… and if a person does as you stated, isn’t a ‘purist’ to their side, they are ostracized.
It’s almost as if the ‘side’ is more important than the policy, that ‘winning now’ is more important than what is left for the next generation.
tiredoftea August 11th, 2014 at 11:48
Really, Bob? Both sides do it??
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:40
not really (yet) – but it does make it seem like he’s attempting to be ‘reasonable’.
tiredoftea August 11th, 2014 at 11:48
Really, Bob? Both sides do it??
granpa.usthai August 11th, 2014 at 14:40
not really (yet) – but it does make it seem like he’s attempting to be ‘reasonable’.
Herb Sarge Phelps August 11th, 2014 at 12:31
No the far left is not affecting the party anywhere close to what the far right is. That is buying into the right wing propaganda that “both sides do it”. Just like people on the left started believing “Obama is the most liberal …” which he wasn’t and still isn’t, but liberals are constantly wondering what happened. Simple he was and is a centralist with some left ideas, and is very much a pragmatist. Personally to say such as the writer is saying is just helping add to right wing hopes to stop people from voting Democrat in the elections since neither side is trustworthy and so people just give up. Such talk is not good.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:30
The wacky right has managed to pull the goal posts so far to the right that anyone who was or is a moderate is now labeled ‘leftist’.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:25
Beware of hubris. It is happening. We have better party leadership than the GOP did when the Tea Party came to power and have been able to fight it off but if we lose power look out because there is a whole group of bomb throwers are waiting in the wings if we lose another national election and just itching for the chance to purify our ranks.
Herb Sarge Phelps August 11th, 2014 at 12:31
No the far left is not affecting the party anywhere close to what the far right is. That is buying into the right wing propaganda that “both sides do it”. Just like people on the left started believing “Obama is the most liberal …” which he wasn’t and still isn’t, but liberals are constantly wondering what happened. Simple he was and is a centralist with some left ideas, and is very much a pragmatist. Personally to say such as the writer is saying is just helping add to right wing hopes to stop people from voting Democrat in the elections since neither side is trustworthy and so people just give up. Such talk is not good.
Dwendt44 August 11th, 2014 at 17:30
The wacky right has managed to pull the goal posts so far to the right that anyone who was or is a moderate is now labeled ‘leftist’.
Eric Trommater August 11th, 2014 at 21:25
Beware of hubris. It is happening. We have better party leadership than the GOP did when the Tea Party came to power and have been able to fight it off but if we lose power look out because there is a whole group of bomb throwers are waiting in the wings if we lose another national election and just itching for the chance to purify our ranks.
Robert M. Snyder August 11th, 2014 at 13:01
“A new poll from the Pew Research Center and Smithsonian magazine offers a degree of insight into American scientific literacy on natural selection, the age of the earth, and climate change, although there were no questions directly addressing evolution in the sense of common ancestry or climate change in the sense of anthropogenic global warming……..There were only minor differences with regard to political opinion (63% of independents, 58% of Republicans, and 56% of Democrats correctly identified carbon dioxide as responsible for atmospheric warming)”
http://ncse.com/news/2013/04/polling-american-scientific-literacy-0014818
Robert M. Snyder August 11th, 2014 at 13:01
“A new poll from the Pew Research Center and Smithsonian magazine offers a degree of insight into American scientific literacy on natural selection, the age of the earth, and climate change, although there were no questions directly addressing evolution in the sense of common ancestry or climate change in the sense of anthropogenic global warming……..There were only minor differences with regard to political opinion (63% of independents, 58% of Republicans, and 56% of Democrats correctly identified carbon dioxide as responsible for atmospheric warming)”
http://ncse.com/news/2013/04/polling-american-scientific-literacy-0014818
Obewon August 11th, 2014 at 13:49
I’ve fact checked both parties statements since 1980 when GOP would electioneer and rarely if ever keep their word, while attempting to hide their Big Oil Billionaire anti-science agenda. In the 21st century the tea party crazy just hides repubs unanimous failures at everything. ‘Vote for GOP “Worst on Jobs in US History” GWB 1.08 M & GHWB 2.5 M jobs. Greatest Recessions and longest recovery time.’ GOP the basket case party~!
To anybody paying attention it’s obvious why 55% of scientists are democrats. Only 6% Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html 55% of Scientists call themselves Democrats. By comparison, 23% of the overall public considers itself Republican, while 35% say they’re Democrats. The ideological discrepancies were similar. 9% of scientists said they were “conservative” while 52% described themselves as “liberal,” and 14% “very liberal.”
Obewon August 11th, 2014 at 13:49
I’ve fact checked both parties statements vs results since 1980 when GOP would electioneer and rarely -if ever keep their word, while attempting to hide their Big Oil Billionaire anti-science agenda. In the 21st century, the tea party crazy just hides repubs unanimous failures at everything: ‘Vote for GOP “Bush Worst on Jobs in US History”-WSJ! GWB 1.08 M & 2nd worst GHWB 2.5 M jobs. Greatest Recessions and longest recovery time.’ GOP remain the basket case party of irresponsible fools yelling “Jesus!”
To anybody paying attention it’s obvious why “55% of (our best and brightest) scientists are Democrats. Only 6% Of Scientists Are Republicans”-Pew Poll! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/only-six-percent-of-scien_n_229382.html 55% of Scientists call themselves Democrats. By comparison, 23% of the overall public considers itself Republican, while 35% say they’re Democrats. The ideological discrepancies were similar. 9% of scientists said they were “conservative” while 52% described themselves as “liberal,” and 14% “very liberal.”
William August 11th, 2014 at 19:35
Well now lets see what the fair and balanced people have to say.
William August 11th, 2014 at 19:35
Well now lets see what the fair and balanced people have to say.
GunTotingLib August 11th, 2014 at 20:09
Liberals believe fact , conservatives believe their opinion
Judgeforyourself37 August 11th, 2014 at 20:35
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but…..not their own facts1
GunTotingLib August 11th, 2014 at 20:09
Liberals believe fact , conservatives believe their opinion
Judgeforyourself37 August 11th, 2014 at 20:35
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but…..not their own facts1