more grace from the ultra-right

in retaliation for arlen specter leaving the republican party, "americans for limited government" had this charming cartoon up on its website yesterday. for those of you who might care, and didn't know, that arlen specter is jewish.

more hate, please... oh! ok, sure!! the one below was pasted around san francisco during all the fun that was the alg tea parties on april 15th. the text reads, "only with your tax dollars can israelis continue to kill palestinian children."


specter was the only remaining republican senator who happened to be jewish. his parents were immigrants. his father ran a junkyard. he got himself to u of pennand went to yale law school. he was an attorney on the warren commission. he has been a senator for 30 years from a state where politics is way rough-and-tumble. i'd say that's living the american dream, huh? pretty much like our president?

he has never been lock-step, but voted with his party much more than against (70% in the 110th congress), and basically held the reagan philosophy of, "We should emphasize the things that unite us and make these the only ‘litmus test’ of what constitutes a Republican: our belief in restraining government spending, pro-growth policies, tax reduction, sound national defense, and maximum individual liberty. As to the other issues that draw on the deep springs of morality and emotion, let us decide that we can disagree among ourselves as Republicans and tolerate the disagreement.”

he saw the near future and knew toomey would come flinging mud. he knew over 200,000 republicans in his state switched registration in the last election. he knew the people his party needed the most to win seats -- women, married women and hispanics> -- voted overwhelmingly for obama they crashed hard in 2006 and went down in flames in 2008. the big tent under which he had served many years was no more. in a pew research center poll of 7000 americans this week, less than 28% of the respondents identified as republicans.

when george bush defeated john kerry in 2004, it was by 2.4% of the votes. he went on to call it a "mandate" from the american people and moved swiftly to ram his special version of 21st century tyranny down the open gullet of the lazy geese who watched american idol instead of rallying in the streets about the demolition of their civil liberties and the perversion of their constitution.

barak obama defeated john mccain by 7%. he hoped for bipartisan efforts to address the enormously painful issues he faced -- including the tarp fiasco he inherited. from george bush.

while the republicans grow increasingly insular, they work in a leadership vacuum. few are willing to listen to rove or cheney when they pop up darth-vader -like trying to spin their bloody filthy legacy into some semblance of rightness and patriotism.

instead, the loudest voice belongs to rush limbaugh. a fat sweaty former drug addict, divorced numerous times. just a quick google tap unearthed these rushy gems:

• iraq war veterans that favor a withdrawal from Iraq are "phony soldiers"
• that the torture and, in some cases, deaths of detainees at abughraib was akin to, or the result of, harmless "frat pranks"?
• that obama got the democratic nomination because "nobody had the guts to stand up and say no to a black guy"?
• that the democratic party are the "PR spokespeople for Al Qaeda"
• government's been taking care of [young blacks] their whole lives
• ahmadinejad's writings contain "some liberal hollywood jewish people talking points
• democrats celebrate privately this attack in spain - referring to the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.
• that "Halfrican Americans" is an appropriate term for biracial individuals of mixed caucasian and African American descent?
• and of course, that he hopes obama fails

i'm all for free speech and unfortunately that means ignorance gets air-time too.

yesterday, to explore america on obama's 100th day, the bbc went to oklahoma. they interviewed a woman who said, "you never used to even see black people. now they're everywhere and they are taking all the jobs."

they interviewed another woman who played in the tea parties. she is against obama's socialist tax agenda. she suggested instead he follow the irish model of low corporate taxation. (that trickle-down worked great for bush!) the reporter helpfully offered that ireland crashed harder than any other eu country most recently. she replied, "it worked for awhile!" yup. and just like the us, it was phony money and the country is flat broke.

i'm hopeful that those who want the most polarization are becoming a smaller and less powerful group. i'm dreading that the time between election cycles has grown so short. pigheads like gingrich are already tossing their sweaty hats into the ring. so the party of rich old white guys continues to totter on into their john wayne colored sunset. then again, if somebody like meghan mccain is seen as their fresh young blood, even the red cross can't pony up enough bags of plasma to give them new life.