Mission Impossible: Rand Paul to 'Engage' African Americans

by Sunnyjane

Here I come to save the day -- Mighty Rand is on the way!

(Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey via The Daily Kos)

 
Save Detroit and Bond With Minorities

Rand Paul's going to Detroit to -- I kid you not -- unveil his new legislative proposal to remove bankrupt Detroit and other economically blighted areas from poverty and the shackles of big government.  Uh huh, that's right: Another Republican who never held elected office before being swept into the U.S. Senate by old white people with safety-pinned tea bags on their XXL-sized clothing  in 2010, is going to set Detroit free!  (What the hell does Rand Paul know about this subject, anyhow?)

But never mind all that.  Sen. Paul's real mission is to unshackle African Americans from the Democratic Party.  That he might be an odd choice may have occurred to you, dear readers.  This is, after all, the same guy who believes that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 went a little too far in ensuring that minorities had unfettered access to the same rights that the cream-colored citizens of this country have always enjoyed.  Notably, the senator from Kentucky doesn't think that the federal government should tell businesses that it is against the law to discriminate against anyone who wishes to engage in legal commerce inside their establishments. 

Paul's comment so enraged Kentucky's Republican State Senate -- as well as Democrats, of course -- that the members immediately adopted a resolution declaring any form of discrimination to be inconsistent with American values.  The only African American senator said that Paul's "extreme belief" has made Kentucky "a laughingstock."


 The Ignorance of the Arrogant
 

OK, forget all that, folks.  This is my Etch-A-Sketch moment.

Picture this:  The Republican Tea Party is sending a Kentucky know-nothing/do-nothing quasi politician into a city that voted 98% to reelect President Obama last year.  His assignment: to convince Detroit's African American citizens that they will be much better off voting for the GOP in the future.

Yes, dear turkey eaters, the party that has voted to repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act forty-seven times, has cut the SNAP program, wants to take a woman's right to choose what is right for her and her family away from her -- while depriving her of all contraception methods, of course -- refused to pass the President's jobs bill (and has not proposed one of their own), and made it harder for minorities to vote, expects to attract the African American vote!

Even Michigan Republicans hate the idea of an African American Engagement Office.  One said,  It sounds like we're 'separate, but equal' office in Detroit...it's absurd, offensive and pathetic. 

The Michigan Democratic Party was, of course, equally harsh, saying that the GOP has repeatedly proven they are so far out of touch, they can’t even see it. 

It will be interesting to see how Senator Paul's visit to Detroit turns out.  Stay tuned!

End Note

Mitt Romney: Of Hurricanes and Ground Games and the Arrogance of a Fool in Denial

by Sunnyjane

I did not have sex with that papaya! *

Mitt's back.  Yay.  With hubby-hand-holder Ann. Oh goody.  Sadly, neither has gained a scrap of insight into the real reasons why Americans went to the polls and re-elected President Obama last November.  See, even Pat Robertson promised the Romneys that God said Mitt would win and serve two terms, and when you've got both Karl Rove's polls and God on your side, what could go wrong?  We know all about Rove's polls, but perhaps God was just having the Romneys on a bit, because Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, and Michelle Bachmann all proclaimed that God had told them to run for president in 2012.  Haven't we talked about keeping religion out of politics?  Yeah, I thought we had.

*In an interview with Miami’s most prominent Cuban-exile station during the 2012 campaign, Romney informed his hosts that he loves Cuban fruits and is a big fan of papaya.  Papaya is Cuban slang for, um, vagina.

Here We Go -- Again  

Like another former governor we could name, Mitt Romney has obviously not been perusing any of them, all of them reading materials during his self-imposed exile in one of his many homes.  Perhaps when he and Ann are not shopping at Costco, he's been spending his days building a new house in Utah or doing something or other to the house in La Jolla.  I dunno.  But had he paid any attention at all to the gazillion postmortems of his failed campaign -- including from his own party -- he would have had some inkling as to why he is not referred to today as President Romney.

And it's as simple as this: 

Moving Forward to the Past

Mitt is extraordinarily disappointed in President Obama's second term performance, so he's inserting himself back into the political arena to help shape national priorities.  Well, that's certainly a relief!  I mean, the stock market is at an all-time high and unemployment is going down, so certainly the nation needs his expertise.  Oh wait...

No, what the flip-flopper is hot on right now is helping the GOP with their Latino problem.  Well, who else could stop the Republicans from spewing the verbal diarrhea of their racism but their 2012 candidate?  Sure, he insisted on continually calling undocumented immigrants illegals and recommending that they self-deport and get in line in their own countries, but...

Although he was asked many times to state his policy ideas for immigration reform, he consistently hedged, at one point telling a Latino group that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president's temporary measure.  From the results of the election, it seems that the attendees were not particularly impressed with that illuminating revelation.

No Fair!  Obama Was Being Presidential!

Pandering to the smaller-government faction of the Republican Party has rarely worked out very well.  During one of the endless Republican primary debates of 2012, Romney answered Absolutely when asked if disaster relief should be transferred to each individual state and added:  Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that’s the right direction.

Still unable to acknowledge that it was his -- and his party's -- policies that turned the majority of Americans toward the Democratic candidate in 2012, Romney's has recently emerged to whinge about the reasons for his loss.  Of the several excuses he's given lately, what may be the most massive and destructive hurricane in our history arrived one week before the election and that haunts him still.  

It's not quite fair to say that Romney believes in the Alex Jones bullshit conspiracy theory that the government (read: Obama) has a weather disaster weapon, but it may have crossed his mind.  No, Mitt's beef is two-fold: #1, the hurricane came at a bad time for his campaign; and #2, the fact that FEMA is a big-government program allowed President Obama to fly into the affected states -- New Jersey and New York -- and act all, uh, presidentially.  So Mr. Romney learned a good lesson: be careful what you wish for; next time it may be a Republican president who has to be presidential during a natural disaster.

And what was the GOP candidate doing during this crisis?  He was soliciting canned goods and clothing for the victims, which were not needed or wanted.  The Red Cross was asking for cash, a commodity Romney certainly understands but one which he is always reluctant to hand over.  It never occurred to him to call the White House and say, Mr. President, what can my campaign and I do to help the people affected by this terrible disaster?  That would have made him appear presidential, at least to a small degree.  Mitt Romney simply has all the wrong instincts when it comes to political leadership.

Experts and Enthusiasts Conference -- What?

 Wanna kill some innocent skeet with Rand Paul?  Play putt-putt with Paul Ryan?  Split a two-foot hoagie with Chris Christie?  Sorry, you missed your chance.  Maybe next year.

But that's what potential puppets and puppeteers were doing at Romney's second-act shindig in Utah earlier this week.  For $5,000 you could have spent three days listening to Mitt tell attendees that they had to become less partisan and develop strategies for 2016.  And there was that Latino thingy, too, as you remember.  Well, telling Paul and Ryan to become less partisan is pretty much like telling a dog in heat to practice abstinence-only in her social life.    

Since it was a private conference, no media was allowed to report on it.  As a result, there's no indication on which of the Obama Administration's policies Romney was advocating for.  Healthcare?  Immigration?  Gun reform.  Yeah...riiiight.

But the conference was also an opportunity for two hundred Republican donors to take a look at what may well be shaping up to lead the ticket in 2016.  I'm not sure which were the experts and which were the enthusiasts in this crowd, but it sounded much like giving two hundred wealthy donors an opportunity to choose which loser they would throw money away on come the next general election.

And although not one of them has solicited my advice, I have some...  

End Note

...Make sure you offer Republican  voters a better choice than was presented to them in 2012.

You're welcome.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T (All I’m asking for is just a little…)

By Ebbtide

Remember when it was imperative that we respect the office of the President, even if we weren’t totally wild about the occupant of that office? That seems to have been a constant theme/meme throughout the early 2000s. Ah, but that’s so “last decade” isn’t it. What could have changed? Hmmmm.

We’ll put aside the ugly cartoons, “jokes” and rabid exposés by total nutters like the “journalists” at such places as Wingut Daily and the Breitbart consortium of conspiracies. And we won’t even go into the ugly things that have been said and written about our charming First Lady and the innocent, polite Obama children.

Let’s just take a look at how Right Wing celebrities, and even elected officials have exhibited their utter disrespect for the office of the President since Barack Obama has assumed the office, and see what kinds of repercussions they have suffered as a result.

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!

Right-wing celebrities, though as rare as hens’ teeth, do like to shoot their mouths off whenever possible, and no matter how vile their comments, seem to be welcomed back to the fold and nestled in wingnut warmth.

Motor City Madman? Wingnut Warrior? You decide.

That delightful creature, Ted Nugent began his charm offensive back in 2008 when, waving his guns, he said, "Hey, Obama, you mightwanna suck on one of these, you punk." He continued, "Hillary, you might wanna ride one of these into the sunset, you worthless bitch."

NOTE: When Nugent made these comments, Obama was not yet President. I have included them merely to provide background on what a respectful person Nugent has always been.)

“The Nuge” pretty much continued his charming commentary after Mr. Obama became President, comparing Obama and his administration to coyotes, called them criminals, etc. and was rabid enough to earn a visit from the Secret Service for his rhetoric.

The result? He was lauded by the Romney family when he endorsed Mitt, earning a tweet from fanboi, Tagg:

Donald Trump—where to begin. I’m not sure how to even classify him, as, in addition to being a “celebrity,” he was actually even considering a run for the presidency. Frankly, I consider him a giant hairball, but I digress…

So how did Trump exhibit his respect for the President of the United States? First, he received widespread media opportunities to spread his ugly birtherism nonsense and made such disrespectful comments as:

“Obamaand his attack dogs have nothing but hate and anger in their heartsand spew it whenever possible.”

He calledObama a foreign candidate.

He said Obama was a "terrible student" and therefore too dumb to have legitimately gotten through college and law school.

And on it went, with a new Trump crusade every week or so, culminating in his totally obnoxious “dare” to the President of the United States to release his college transcripts.

And during all of Trump’s shenanigans, he was a fundraiser for Romney, who never once disavowed any of Trump’s ugly talk.

Then, after the election was won by Obama, this miscreant actually calledfor revolution.

No disrespect there—nah. (Oh, and Donald, maybe you should wait for the results before getting your hair all in a tizzy, as Obama won the popular vote by quite a nice margin.)

So what’s next for the Donald? Well, the hairball is still bloviating, and his ridiculous television show will once again be aired on NBC later this year. (Payback is such a bitch.)

Clint Eastwood, despite everything in his career that came before, will long be remembered for his stellar madlib at the 2012 Republican convention, when, talking to an empty chair that was supposed to represent the President of the United States, he uttered suchrespectful phrases as

“What? What do you want me to tell Romney? I can't tell him to do that. Can't do that to himself. You're absolutely crazy.”

Repercussions? None that I’ve noticed. The wingers still think he’s the best thing going.

Hank Williams Jr. has quite a history of “respect” for the President.

(photo available, but too repulsive to post)

It began in 2008, when he was campaigning for John McCain, and said to an audience in Colorado, "Join me now in our national--you know, that song that, uh, Mr. Obama's not real crazy about, we're singing it right now."

(Again—this was before Mr. Obama became President, but is mentioned merely to set the stage.)

ESPN thought it would be a great idea to include him in their Monday night football coverage. Then, in October 2011, Williams Jr. was on Fox and Friends, saying about Obama playing golf with Boehner:

"That would be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu. Not hardly. In the shape this country is in?"

Even Brian Kilmeade didn’t understand what he was talking about, so Williams went on to explain (sic), "I'm glad you don't brother, because a lot of people do. They're the enemy... Obama! And Biden!” (He also referred to the two men as the Three Stooges, so apparently math is also not a strong suit.)

That, apparently was a bridge too far even for ESPN, which removed Williams from their football broadcast. But did it kill Williams career? Did country stations stop playing his music?

Of course not. Some comments at the time on Huffpo (apparently spelling and cogent thought are not strong suits of Williams’ fans):

Go Hank, I'm with ya. A country boy can survive. To celebrate, all my routy friends are comin ova tonight!

Hank williams is a real american who did nothing but express his oppinion. If you dont like it maybey your not a real american

And, just this past September, 2012, Hank Jr. was right back at it:

"We’ve got a Muslim for a President who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him," Williams Jr. bellowed. The Dallas Sun reported, “The crowd responded with a loud cheer.”

Victoria Jackson—OK, probably not fair to include her as a celebrity, because her career couldn’t be damaged by her idiocy since it pretty much ended years ago, but still…

Victoria says Obama is a communist and explains all that she has learned from Glenn Beck. (WARNING: Watching this video may cause a deterioration of brain cells.)

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO…

How should we classify pundits or radio yakkers? Are they celebrities or newspeople? For our purposes, we’ll just think of them as public figures, OK?

If I went into all the bile that has been spewed about the President by right wing yakkers, you’d still be reading this when it was time to vote in the 2016 election. So just a brief recap:

Neil Bortz—. Boortz stated that "Barack Obama is a bigger disaster to this country than 9-11."

Bill O’Reilly interrupted the President 48 times during a 15 minute interview.

Neil Munro interrupted Obama mid-sentence to shout out an obnoxious question

MARK HALPERIN CALLED HIM A DICK ON LIVE TV!

(He was suspended, but was right back at it shortly thereafter.)

Fox “star” Eric Bolling compared Obama to a drug dealer who opens “Barry’sPot and Coke Emporium.” When Bob Beckel was discussing Allen West, he referred to West as…well, Allen West. Without any sense or irony (or shame) Bolling came back with:

“Can I just point something out? You're calling him Allen West. Either call him Representative Allen West or call him Lieutenant Colonel Allen West because he was in the Army -- a war hero.” (NOTE: West was charged with violating articles 128 (assault) and 134 (generalarticle) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The charges were ultimately referred to an Article 15 proceeding rather than court-martial. Quite the hero.)

For further proof that Bolling is a total tool, during another conversation between Bolling and Beckel, Bolling referred to Obama as "Barry." When Beckel objected, Bolling replied: "That's his name, right? Barack. Barry Soetoro. I think he called himself Barry Soetoro when he was a model in college."

At other times, Bolling has called the President Comrade Obama, The Socialist Spewing Policy Maker and accused him of chugging 40's" and hosting "a hoodlum in the Hizzouse."

So respectful of the Presidency, right? And Bolling’s still going strong as we speak.

Glenn Beck has of course, always showed total deference to the President, withsuch comments as "I don't know what the KGB handlers thought they were sending Barack Obama to do. ... Did I say that out loud?"

And calling our President “a racist with deep-seated hatred for whitepeople.”

Now, Glenn did lose his show on Fox, but there were so many reasons for his shedding advertisers that I don’t think we can necessarily attribute that to his disrespect of the President.

And then there’s Rush Limbaugh—where to start. From his “Barack the Magic Negro” song to “I want this president to fail” the hits just kept on coming. And, although Limbaugh continuously inspires fear and loathing (fear from right wingers that he’ll hurt their careers; loathing from sentient humans everywhere) it was his disrespect for Sandra Fluke that created far more backlash than any of the ugly things he’s said about the President.

OATH OF OFFICE OR OAFS IN OFFICE?

Are you thinking to yourself, “Well, those are just some big-mouthed yakkers. What can you expect?” (I don’t believe you ARE thinking that, but merely included it for conversation’s sake.)

Well then, let’s see what some of our fine elected and wishing-to-be-elected officials have had to say about our President.

We’ll begin with everybody’s hero, Addison Graves Wilson, Sr., better known as Joe Wilson, the South Carolina rep who infamously yelled, “You lie!” during an Obama 2009 address to Congress. What could possibly be more respectful than an actual member of Congress shouting at the President on live, prime-time television?

RESULT—Wilson used his obnoxious outburst as a fund-raising device and raised a ton of cash. In 2010, he won re-election with 53% of the vote and in 2012, he ran unopposed.

Allen West—without comment, some of Allen West’s words.

Always a hit at CPAC

“We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table.

“Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.”

Watch:

Hey, at least he called him PRESIDENT Obama when telling him to get the hell out of the country.

A few “outliers”:

KansasHouse Speaker Mike O’Neal publicly cited a Bible verse calling for President Obama to be killed, his wife to be widowed, and his children to be orphaned. (He’s also the swell guy who forwarded an email to state house Republicans referring to the First Lady as “Mrs. YoMamma.”)

Marilyn Davenport, Orange County, CA Republican Central Committee, forwardedan email of a doctored photo of the President and his parents asmonkeys.

ColoradoCongressman Doug Lamborn said during a radio interview that he didn’t “even want to have to be associated with … (President Obama). It’s like touching a tar baby …”

And on it goes.

Respect? How about John Boehner?

On August 31, 2011 Boehner became the first speaker in history to tell a sitting president that he would not be permitted to deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on the date specifically requested by the White House

As Rachel Maddow described it:

“Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner did something that has never before been done in the history of our nation: he said no. He said it would be inconvenient for the House, because, he said, there were votes scheduled in the House for Wednesday night.”

“This is unprecedented,” she added. “No speaker, no Congress, has ever said that to any president in U.S. history.”

The votes Boehner felt were so important: a roll call vote on letting the Special Olympics conduct a torch run in Washington, D.C., and speeches congratulating a girls’ softball team on reaching the world championships.

Even the lack of title used when they talk about PRESIDENT Obama is disrespectful, as Howard Fineman once pointed out:

“They don’t accept the President’s legitimacy in many ways. I have never heard Newt Gingrich call President Obama ‘President Obama.’ It’s usually just ‘Obama.’

“And I know that sounds like a trivial thing,” Fineman added, “but it’s not. It’s very important.”

AND THEN THERE’S JAN BREWER

TIME TRAVELING

Yes, I think we can all see how perilous and dangerous it has been for wingers to hurl invective after invective at our President. Oh, it’s true that Allen West lost re-election, and Rush lost some sponsors, but overall, they’ve gotten away with some heinous things and kept on going.

Compare them to a simple 16-word statement made by Natalie Maines in 2003 and then compare the repercussions.

After expressing that she was against the upcoming invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chick had the audacity to say, “Just so you know, we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.”

And what happened?

Dixie Chicks Boycotted on Country Radio

As WDAF-AM in Kansas City, Missouri, encouraged listeners to toss their Dixie Chicks CDs into garbage cans set up outside their studio. The Dixie Chicks were dropped from WTDR-FM in Talladega, Alabama.

In Shreveport, Louisiana, protestors used a tractor to smash CDs and other Dixie Chicks items. The local country station, KRMD-FM, subsequently dropped all Dixie Chicks songs. The same goes for KIZN-FM in Boise, Idaho - and that's just a small sampling.

Limbaugh called for a boycott, Free Republic set up a special page to coordinate boycotts. After Maines called Toby Keith’s “we’ll put a boot in your ass” song ignorant (truer words were never spoken), Keith began displaying a backdrop at his concerts showing a doctored photo of Maines and Saddam Hussein. (Aw, she hurt the big guy’s fee fees.) It was a groundswell of grassroots hate for the Chicks (think Tea Party.)

Paul Krugman had some other ideas about how the boycott tied in with the war cheerleading and got so HUGE.

One of the most striking (pro-war events) took place after Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, criticized President Bush: a crowd gathered in Louisiana to watch a 33,000-pound tractor smash a collection of Dixie Chicks CD's, tapes and other paraphernalia… (my note: This was a Cumulus radio station event.)

Who has been organizing those pro-war rallies? The answer, it turns out, is that they are being promoted by key players in the radio industry -- with close links to the Bush administration…

Most of the pro-war demonstrations around the country have, however, been organized by stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, a behemoth based in San Antonio that controls more than 1,200 stations and increasingly dominates the airwaves.

The boycott of the Chicks was even a main feature of the Congressional hearings about radio consolidation.

At times likening the embargo to Nazi book-burnings and McCarthy-era blacklists, lawmakers said Cumulus' action illustrated the potential danger of allowing corporations to amass nationwide broadcasting networks.

Back in 2003, when John McCain still had some of his marbles, he said:

"It's a strong argument about what media concentration has the possibility of doing," McCain told Cumulus Chairman Lewis W. Dickey Jr. "If someone else offends you, and you decide to censor those people, my friend, the erosion of our 1st Amendment is in progress."

The Chicks suffered greatly for those 16 words. Shut Up and Sing is a documentary about what happened to them before, during and after those words were spoken. Directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecila Peck (Gregory Peck’s daughter), I highly recommend it.

The Dixie Chicks Not Ready To Make Nice was their rebuttal/explanation of what happened, and it won three Grammy Awards-- Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 2007. But the climb back was certainly hard…

On Thursday, October 27, 2011, at 5:49 a.m., Kicks 101.5 played “Cowboy Take Me Away.” This is the first time in years the country trio has been heard on a regular basis on Atlanta radio.

Kicks’ move wouldn’t be so momentous without context…The Dixie Chicks were one of the top country acts from 1998 to 2003, with 14 top 10 country hits, from “Goodbye Earl” to “Ready to Run.” Prior to the boycott, from 1998 to 2003, Kicks played the Chicks a whopping 16,000 times. That’s almost two consecutive months of Chicks songs.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY?

If you’re a right-wing mouthpiece of the entertainment, talk-show or political ilk, you have pretty wide latitude to say and do whatever you like in disrespecting the President, but if you’re the number one selling female band of all time, you’d better watch your Ps, Qs (and Ws) at all times.

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

Find out what it means to me

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

Take care, TCB

In Republicanworld, the Times They Ain’t A'changing

by Sunnyjane

Christ Almighty!  I hope the Mayan calendar's got  
its act together this time!

As I write this post, the Mayan calendar is ticking away, predicting the End Time will happen on or about eleven days from now, December 21.  (Should you cancel your dental appointment?)  Well, either the Second Coming will occur or the regular calendar will flip over and alert us that the Winter Solstice has officially arrived.  Fine!  Then we can get on with winter, let it have its say, and move forward into spring and summer.

Moral Rehab for a Can of Mixed Nuts

The fifty or so people in this country who actually thought the Republican Party would change after it got bopped so badly in this last election are similar to the star-spangle-eyed idiots [full disclosure, including yours truly] who thought racism in this country had died with the 2008 election of Barack Obama.  Lord, what fools we morals be...  A modern-day next line to Shakespeare's quote should be As we drown in our own stupidity.


Anybody who actually thinks the GOP can/will/wants to change is smoking an illegal substance that I'd like to try.  No, no, this divided party of ideologues is not about to change their stance on the way they view America.   And of course, for the far-right adherents, Fox Noise is the only fair and balanced network worth watching.  As has recently been reported, a four-year study concluded that Fox watchers have an IQ that is twenty percent lower than the average American.  That's pretty scary, considering not only do these people vote, but they procreate, sometimes at an alarming rate.
 

Fox News should have sidelined Karl Rove and Dickless Morris before the election.  Rove is still wandering in the political wilderness muttering about his polling numbers and trying to come up with a plausible explanation for why his expertise in that arena deserted him.   Morris, who once said he'd leave the United States if Hillary Clinton won in 2008, predicted six days before the November 6 election (with careful adherence to his stupidity) why President Obama would lose by a landslide.  As an example of his complete misunderstanding of the campaign and his misjudgment of the national electorate, it's definitely worth reading.  Yes, dear readers, this is the same fool who wrote on November 7, that while he been wrong that Romney would win by a landslide, President Obama only won by a squeaker.  That Dick Morris.  [Note to Morris:  Obama 332, Romney 206; it was not exactly a squeaker, moron.] 

Smaller Government Still Demanded by Far-Right -- Sort Of

 
The race to the past continues unabated.  Even though some Republicans want us to believe that they're having a sudden and dramatic change of heart on immigration, women's rights, LGBT issues, etc, etc, etc, there is little reason to believe them.  Hell, out of nothing but sheer spite, they just recently refused to pass the United Nations treaty to ban discrimination against people with disabilities.  

Those who want the party to change have even come out against legislators and candidates who say stupid things, like Akin and Mourdock.  [Translation: think, feel, and believe whatever you want, just don't let the voters know it!]

And, of course, the far-right Christianistas believe that the GOP was not conservative enough for voters in 2012, which was why they lost.

Ya think this is a party that will survive four more years?

END NOTE

This Office is Still Occupied: President Obama enters the Oval Office on January 21, 2009

  

FORWARD FOR FOUR MORE YEARS

Why Republicans Are Losing the Battle They Started

by Sunnyjane

Hmph!  'Those women' who were making my Inaugural Ball gown are out of work.  Serves them right for voting for Obama!

Losing the War on Women: Do Not Resuscitate

Ignoring women is no longer a winning strategy, and Ann Romney may have been instrumental in making that point during the 2012 election cycle.  She was, for all intents and purposes, more damaging than helpful.

The Republican campaign insisted on trotting her out to win the women's vote.  But by rattling around in the echo chamber of hypocrisy, she gaffed far more than she got her point across.  The problem: she had no viable point to make.  Ann Romney was, and remains, ignorant of the broad scope of issues that concern women.  She stated in one interview that, I've been on the campaign trail for one year, and guess what women are talking about. They're talking about jobs ... That's what I'm hearing.  Well, she must have been talking about jobs for men, because this is the woman whose husband-candidate refused, throughout the entire campaign, to even say whether he was in support equal pay for women.  Women were left to assume that he did not believe that women should be paid the same as their male counterparts for performing the same job. 

In all fairness to Mrs. Mitt, she had nothing to offer women.  The Republican Party started a fight with women by legislating their healthcare options, promising to defund Planned Parenthood, drastically limiting or entirely eliminating contraceptive choices, overturning Roe vs. Wade, forcing a rape victim to carry a baby to full term, and refusing to enact the latest iteration of the Violence Against Women Act.

Neurotic Inertia Posing as Moral Rectitude

The Republican Party has not yet reconciled themselves to their loss on November 6.  Oh, to be sure, some of their, ahem, leaders are making noises that sound as if they are willing to change out of nothing but sheer desperation. I don't believe we should expect a sudden GOP flash mob performing Kumbaya in the Capital Rotunda any time soon.

The GOP implemented a great winning strategy -- for 1950

The Republicans desire -- and determination -- to govern women's issues is ingrained in their collective psyche and reflected in their legislative positions.  All eight GOP primary candidates were adamantly against abortion.  Because the Koch Brothers' brother by another mother, Herman Cain, took an early flight to Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, his view on the issue did not receive the attention it should have: He has repeatedly stated that life begins at conception, and that if he was elected President, he would sign legislation to protect the sanctity of life. He supports the defunding of Planned Parenthood, and has noted that the organization was started by someone with the stated goal of lowering the number of African-American children.  Yes, dear readers, that's exactly what he believes.  And if you have the stomach for it, you can see the other six presidential nominee hopefuls' views here:  Michele Bachmann, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.  [Mitt Romney doubled down on his views on women's rights when he selected the most far-right anti-woman legislators in the congress, Paul Ryan.]

GOP Moralists, Wannabes and  Knuckleheads

The Republican Party will never again be a Grand Old Party until it purges itself of the current bunch of self-appointed right-wing moralists like Paul Ryan, Michele Bachmann, Darrel Issa, etc.  While Todd Akin was roundly defeated, too many remain.  Grover Norquist would do more good for the party were he to encourage more moderate candidates to support rather than using his Gestapo tactics to force candidates to sign ridiculous no-more-taxes pledges. 

Wannabe candidates such as Richard Mourdock should not be supported, nor should people like Sarah Palin; again, memo to Norquist, see above.

When the GOP stops taking its cues from the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Donald Trump, they may be able to move forward.  Otherwise, their party will continue to be nothing more than one that is Only for white men of property, circa 1800.

Diversity 2012, Republican Style

The New Republican House Committeemen

 vs.

Change We Can Believe In:  The New Women in Congress

 Future Post (perhaps):  Why Democrats are Winning the War on Women  
 

END NOTE

With 55% of the women's vote, Barack Obama won a second term.