American Exceptionalism, Republican Tea Party Style

by Sunnyjane

Name one American who lost a freedom when Michael Sam kissed his partner.  

The Tea Party radicals in what passes for today's GOP has two pat phrases in their anti-democracy arsenal: Taking Back America and American Exceptionalism.  Obviously, they believe that by accomplishing the former, they can achieve the latter.  Was the USA considered exceptional way back in 1780?  I forget.

These days, Tea Party American Exceptionalism seems to consist of, but is not limited to, being first in gun deaths, first in starting wars, first in preventing women from securing proper health care, and first in denying anything that has the slightest whiff of that scientific stuff.

Let's look at a few examples.

When Religion Trumps Science

(Image courtesy of The Daily Beast)

After years of exhaustive research, Biblical scholars have unanimously determined that not all modern advances in gynecology can be found in the New Testament.  And yet, the fate of American women's health is in jeopardy because of five Roman Catholic justices -- Kennedy, Roberts, Alito, Thomas, and Scalia.  Sorry, guys, but your religion is not supposed to harm other Americans.

Let's get something straight here:  The Supreme Court's decision favoring Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood in this suit is not about their religious beliefs.  Hobby Lobby buys their craft-crap from China, where abortion is frequently mandated by the government; the company's pension plan holds $73 million that invests in pharmaceutical companies that manufacture emergency contraceptive pills, intrauterine devices, and abortion-inducing medications;  and their former healthcare plans provided for these same medications, without objection.

No, this is about putting the first scalpel to the Affordable Care Act, and it is just the beginning.  The President's enemies will continue to employ death by a thousand cuts to slowly rip  apart a badly needed -- and very popular -- healthcare law that covers millions of people in this country, all out of spite.

Is that American Exceptionalism?

Needlessly Poisoned by the Air We Breathe

A bunch of science (eek!) advisers is imploring the Environmental Protection Agency to enact stricter limits on ozone, which is adversely affecting the most vulnerable in our country.  Children, the elderly, and citizens with asthma are experiencing a decrease in lung function and an increase in respiratory symptoms and airway inflammation.

Of course, the GOP wants to do away with the EPA because they don't care to hear news like that and they don't believe in all that sciencey stuff anyhow.  Isn't that sort of like burning down your house because you dislike the color it's painted?

So what if Grandma and the kids are sick?  Take 'em to the doctor and get 'em some medicine!  Unless, of course, they don't have healthcare, and then...

Is that American Exceptionalism?

Who Needs Gun Control?  We Need People Control!

The gun lobby's creed.

Several posts ago we had some, um, out-of-town pro-gun visitors to Politicalgates. They didn't hang around long and, in general, were not terribly obnoxious.  For one thing, those of us who replied to their comments kept asking for citations to their statements; few were forthcoming.

But I did take the time to research some of their assertions and found one that was correct: The sale of guns is going down.  It certainly does not seem that that is the case, considering all the crazies who are open-carrying and shooting anything that moves.  However, here's the key: the NRA, gun dealers, and gun manufacturers are in a panic over this situation, and have resorted to appealing to the fringe elements in our society. 

The NRA fully supported universal background checks -- including at gun sale events -- after the Columbine High School massacre in 1999.  Today, however,  background checks are too cumbersome, too intrusive, and too inefficient.  (Translation:  Holy Shit, those damn background checks are lowering our sales!)  So bring on the likes of Ted Nugent to appeal to the fringe.  And though not exactly how he wanted it, Glenn Beck exposed the NRA as anti-government extremists.

How's that for American Exceptionalism?   

Some Exceptional American 2014 GOP Candidates   

We're not going to have any more candidates who are unelectable!

Which one of these two headlines is a Daily Currant satire piece and which is real:

    
      Todd Akin Claims Breastmilk Cures Homosexuality

or

    GOP Candidate Charges Opponent Is Dead, Represented By A Body Double
 
I know, I know...it's difficult.  Actually, the Todd Akin headline is from the Daily Currant; the other one is true, and that is scary.  Timothy Ray Murray believes that Oklahoma GOP Rep. Frank Lucas was found guilty of something or other and was put to death in Ukraine several years ago.  All you have to know here is Frank Lucas as never been to Ukraine and he appears to be very much alive.  Snort!

Cesar Chavez -- the Arizona guy who changed his name and his party to try to win an election -- didn't even get a chance this time: a judge disallowed half of the signatures on his nomination forms because they were illegible.  Oops!

A Michigan slug wants citizens to forgive and forget about his criminal activities and his weird sexual fetishes and vote for him to join the state legislature.  Uh huh. 

     
And speaking of slugs people who want to be a candidate, you have to wonder what Priebus thinks the GOP's chances are when three potential 2016 saviors -- Christie, Walker, and Perry -- are embroiled in Grand Jury investigations.  Added to them, of course, is once-golden boy Bob McDonnell.  His trial starts July 28.

What wonderful GOP representatives of American Exceptionalism.

End Note

Today's GOP: The Inmates are Still Running the Asylum - UPDATE: Daniel Schulman's book on the Koch Brothers

by Sunnyjane

The Republican Tea Party is in disarray, and oddly enough, that's a good thing.  It's a little late in coming, but hey, at least the moderate Republicans have become frustrated with the Baggers and the Democrats are becoming bolder in calling them out on it.  More citizens who have always proudly aligned themselves with conservatives are stepping out of that dark hole and seeing the light of liberal policies.

We constantly fight that battle here at Politicalgates.  Let's see what others are saying on the issues in succinct and sometimes humorous ways -- ways that make you nod and think, That's right!

Gun Control

As governor, Ronald Reagan was all for gun control when the Black Panthers were making uncomfortable noises about armed revolution for social change in the 1970s.  Then Reagan decided to run for president in 1980 and reversed course and said citizens should be well-armed.  The NRA endorsed him.  He was shot by John Hinkley two months after his inauguration.  A lesson learned?  Unfortunately, NO.

See Ronald Reagan, above.

Energy Independence

One of the biggest Drill, Baby, Drill fallacies in this country is that by sucking oil out of every available piece of land in North America that we will decrease our dependence on foreign oil by standing next to the rigs and pumping it directly into American gas tanks.

Canada is particularly keen to run the XL Pipeline right smack-dab through America's heartland.  You get that, right?  Americans assume all the risk, Canada and the Kochs get all the money   From the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska through Native American sacred tribal lands, somewhere that sucker is going to spring a devastating leak; it's too late then.  And Americans benefiting from the pipeline?   Really?  Here's the truth...

Let's sail, boys, before these idiots figure out they've been lied to!

Immigration Reform -- or the Lack Thereof

One Montana county Tea Party group wants absolutely nothing to do with candidate Drew Turiano.  It seems Mr. T has gotten into a lot of trouble with this bunch for slinging around a heap of racial slurs, aimed primarily at Hispanics.  It is his contention that the U.S. should not just adopt a pathway to citizenship, but should also just send undocumented immigrants -- and their American-born children -- back to where they came from, via Operation Wetback.  [Note to Mr. Turiano: It's illegal to do that, you ignorant creep.] 

Of course, he's not the only GOP asshole to use the term wetback.  So have Don Young in Alaska and Chris Mapp in Texas because in both cases, it's perfectly normal.  Does this sound like your teenager saying, But Mom, everybody says it! 

Priorities, priorities, priorities.

Equal Pay for Women

   

     














  

Now, About the IRS Targeting the Republican Groups

Oh, and that Imperial President and His Executive Orders?

The Far-Right and Voting Rights

It's always dangerous when Tea Partiers start using big words.  You  know, like constitution and sovereignty, for example.  Rep. Ted Yahoo Yoho of Florida is no exception.  He loves his pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution, but has obviously never read it.  He cares about the sovereignty of this country, but has no idea that it necessitates a moral imperative to do right by its citizens.  Yoho was recently heard opining that only property owners should be allowed to vote.  Um, I recommend checking out the 15th Amendment, Congressman.  Oh, and he's awfully fond of voter ID laws.

Benghazi, Benghazi, Benghazi

And we'll take it all the way to 2016, if necessary!

Climate Change?  No Such Thing!

They don't know where babies come from, either.

Raising the Minimum Wage?  No, No, NO!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

End Note

+++

UPDATE (by Patrick):

I received an email-message by Daniel Schulman, a senior editor in the Washington bureau of "Mother Jones", in which he promotes his new book about the Koch brothers which was published yesterday, called "Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty", and it is my great pleasure to bring this email-message to your attention:

Hi everyone,

Excuse the email blast, but I wanted to alert you that my biography of the Koch brothers, Sons of Wichita, hit book stores this week. I poured the past (almost) three years of my life into this project, so needless to say I'm pretty excited to see this book leave my computer's hard drive for the real world. The early reviews have been great. Vanity Fair calls Sons of Wichita "never less than engrossing" and "a stylishly written saga." The American Prospect says "despite Schulman’s often-superb eye for the revealing and/or juicy detail…he never stoops to caricaturing his subjects as the Koch Ness Monsters of popular lore." If you'd like a preview, Vanity Fair published a short excerpt on Monday that chronicles my surreal visit with the elegant, elusive, eldest Koch brother, Frederick. Mother Jones published a longer excerpt Tuesday that covers the brutal legal battles among the four Koch brothers. (You can also catch me on NPR's Fresh Air today chatting about the book with Terry Gross. See here for air times in your neck of the woods.)

It takes a village to launch a book, so I'd certainly appreciate your help in spreading the word. Tell your friends. Tell your neighbors. Talk loudly about it at crowded places where strangers will overhear you. Tweet it. Tumble it. Facebook it. Forward this email to anyone you can think of. Anything helps. And, if you're so inclined, buy a copy of the book. You can purchase it online from Barnes & Noble, Amazon, or via iBooks. It should also be available at your local book store (and if it isn't, ask them why not!). If you do buy the book, please make sure to let me know what you think.

Best regards—and thanks,

Dan Schulman

I also want to use this opportunity to promote my video-clip about the Koch Brothers from 2011, which features the secret recording of one of their super-secret meetings:

Don’t Get Me Started: Mitt Romney and His Human Rights Hypocrisy

by Sunnyjane

Every day in this country, another irksome bit of far-right rhetorical bile flows from the Republican Party and its presidential candidate, Mitt Romney.  We read it or hear it, share it with our Politicalgates community, and then move on to the next contemptible piece of right-wing garbage.  Most news is old after twenty-four hours.

But on this particular issue, I have not been able to move on.

The Backstory

For me, Romney’s inexhaustible hypocrisies melded into one massive clump of horseshit horse excrement in the middle of the sensitive situation playing out last week in China during Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s trip there.  The original goal of the visit to Beijing was to implore China to support international efforts to persuade North Korea to end provocative actions, get Iran to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful, and end fighting in Syria and the two Sudans.  The visit soon became about Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese civil rights activist who works on human rights issues in rural areas of the People's Republic of China, particularly in support of women's rights and the welfare of the poor. 

We will probably never know the entire story involving Chen's issues and how it was eventually resolved.  But having the United States Secretary of State sitting on potentially hostile soil is not the time for fools to begin yammering about what the President should be telling the Chinese regarding how wretched their record on human rights is.   Romney simply confirmed that he knows nothing about delicate international policy negotiations.  


A Fool's Mouth is Always Open

It is typical of Romney's ignorance and out-of-touch nature that he could so "tactfully" state for the benefit of his base, It's not the language I would have used when Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut, but took it upon himself to openly slam President Obama for carefully saying of the situation going on in China, I am obviously aware of the press reports.

Romney decided it was a dark day for freedom -- IF the reports out of China were true.  No need to keep his mouth shut until the tense situation was resolved.  And at the same time, he made this inane statement:  I really love America.  I love what it represents, and I love that a Chinese dissident who fled the policies in his country, I love where he went -- to our embassy.   Oh, and don't we love the idle chatter of an idiot.


He liberally chastised the American embassy in Beijing for failing to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would assure the safety of Mr. Chen and his family and didn't hesitate to add that, it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration. We are a place of freedom, here and around the world, and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack.


But this slap-down advice to President Obama was the most egregious:  He should speak one on one with the key leadership in China and make sure they understand that we're entirely committed to the principle of human rights…that the [Chen] family is given protection from authorities that have apparently been abusing their civil and human rights, and we should make it very clear that  and for the people of the world.


You may be sorry you said that, Mitt.


Hypocrisy, Thy Ugly Name is Mitt Romney


Mitt Romney criticizing China for its human rights deficiencies is closely akin to Adolph Hitler had he condemned genocide.  Romney has made himself the candidate of the party that is committing the most grave offenses against human rights in America's history.   Never has one party so savagely destroyed the fundamental rights to which people are inherently entitled.  To name only a few, they have suppressed peaceful protests; disenfranchised segments of the population by enacting restrictive voter laws; presented budgets that protect only the wealthy; legislatively attacked the LGBT community; stripped labor unions of  their collective bargaining rights; and unmercifully enacted repressive laws against women.


Remember Romney's words regarding the China situation: stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack...We're entirely committed to the principle of human rights...This [human rights] is an important priority for the United States of America.


And yet, this is what he promises to do if elected president:  Of course get rid of Obamacare, that's the easy one. Planned Parenthood, we're going to get rid of that.   And he loves the Ryan budget that protects the rich.
      
It doesn't sound like you really believe that human rights are so important in America, Mitt.

End Note

Severely conservative, severely unfit for the presidency of the United States of America