“Some people say” that Barack Obama’s speech of July 1 supporting a new initiative of federal outreach to faith-based good works is pandering. Even if it were pandering, it would be a good thing. But it’s not.
For one thing, it may mean that Barack Obama, unlike the Current President, reads things. His address came nearly as a direct answer to an opinion column in June 28 issue of The Washington Post by former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Jim Towey, “Who’ll Keep the Faith-Based Initiative?” Obama’s plan probably irks Towey for several reasons, first and foremost that Obama’s name is often followed by a “D” for “Democrat.”
No, this is a bona fide policy offering from Obama, not a political peace offering for his being a Muslim and all. First of all, Obama doesn’t do that shit. He’s The Real Deal, capital R, capital D. He will win but without all the bullshit. Period. Second, the proposal as he’s laid it out is perfectly consistent with his history beginning as a community organizer in the hardass neighborhoods of Detroit. There is nothing inconsistent or disingenuous about it. It is directly in line with something that this blogger argued long and hard during the primary regarding Obama’s “experience,” that his state and local experience would, to the contrary of his detractors, actually serve to be downright essential to his presidency. No, this is a genuine policy proposal, unlike some “faith” “based” “initiatives” created by The Current President.
However. If Presumptive President Barack Obama were to try to speak to the evangelicals, I think it would probably be a good idea. Really.
Why not? We have more to offer them than they do. If you’re religious in America and are concerned about preserving religious freedom, you are millions of times better off with the liberals than with the “conservatives.”
Liberals are, by dictionary definition, people who, the first time they encounter Voltaire’s most famous quote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” become weepy and say “That’s beautiful.” When “conservatives” first hear that sentiment, they often exclaim, “Voltaire? Who’s that fag?”
Many liberals are, indeed, godless no-good communists such as myself. But we’d pick up sub-machine guns to stop anyone from forcing or denying worship. This is true. “Conservatives” might think about defending your right ot worship, but only if you believe in Jesus Christ and if you read the right Bible and if you underline the correct passages and if you genuflect left to right and if you claim to oppose abortion (unless it’s YOUR daughter what’s pregnant). It’s liberals, kids, who actually care about religious freedom and who actually understand how to preserve it.
Proof: Look again at failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s speech, entitled “Why Mormons Like To Wear Magical Underpants—Look, I’m Wearing Mine Right Now,” delivered on Dec. 6, 2007. He said the following. In fact, he didn’t just say it. He thought it first, then he wrote it down, and then he actually said this in front of cameras and, presumably, God and everybody. (Emphasis of stupid things said by Mitt Romney mine.)
We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America—the religion of secularism. They are wrong.
No, asshole. We’re right. And we’re right on your behalf and on behalf of all of the faithful in the Untied States of America. Maintaining a wholly secular public square is the only concrete method ever demonstrated for preserving religious freedom. Once you require a deity in the public square, it’s only a question of which deity is the government-sanctioned one and how many goose-stepping, pomade-mulletted Joel Osteens it takes to frog-march you the Official House Of Worship Of The United States Guv’ment. A secular public square allows your friend Herschel to worship G-d, allows me to sleep in Sundays, and allows Mitt Romney to worship God as a Mormon. And it’s liberals who understand that, who would gladly take up arms to allow you talk to your imaginary friends in the sky even though we’re all a bunch of godless communists.
Mitt Romney sure as hell doesn’t understand that. Nor does his party.
Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom.
Now, that is some scary shit.
Further evidence that the Democratic Party understands and reveres religious freedom more than does the Republigoat Party: Did you see 60 Minutes Sunday?
From the time of Jesus, there have been Christians in what is now Iraq. The Christian community took root there after the Apostle Thomas headed east in the year 35. But now, after nearly 2,000 years, Iraqi Christians are being hunted, murdered and forced to flee—persecuted on a biblical scale in Iraq’s religious civil war.
That is a tinderbox that the Untied States of America ignited. Under the watch of the Republigoat Party. Under Sadaam, Christians were fine in Iraq. His Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was a Christian for crissake. Now, after the idiotic meddling of this administration, eh, not so much. So, tell me, which political mindset again is better for religious freedom? Hmmmm?
This case needs to be made, fervently, to the so-called “values voters.” The Republigoat Party is in severe disfavor with this voting bloc—which was based on nothing but a cynical, ineffective political alliance anyway—and it’s time for the Democratic Party to get on its knees and ask these folks for their vote. We can get it, and we should have it, because, honestly, we have much, much more to offer them.
But what about abortion? You ask.
Well. We’re right on abortion, too, and we need to tell them that. We need to explain that we don’t like abortions any more than they do, but that we understand that it’s not even physcially possible to legislate them away or to rule them away in court; that women have been trying to “get rid of it” ever since they’ve been getting pregnant—it is a little-known fact that an anciently censored passage of the Old Testament has Eve throwing herself down a flight of stairs—and that they’ll continue to do so no matter what a bunch of fat pasty dickheads in the mid-atlantic have to say about it; that historically, nobody has actually given two farts about abortion in this country until the mid-1800s, when doctors here decided they no longer wanted to allow pharmacists to practice it and so they trumped up “moral” grounds to oppose it. We need to explain to them that their current regime is not actually interested in solving the problem; that, in fact, they feel very comfortable with it because it gives them an issue to run against libruhls on. Those baby-killing, godless communist bastards.
The Democratic Party has an opporunity to seize and could actually benefit by appealing to evangelicals. Not by pandering to them. But by piping up and actually talking to them. Because, truth told, we have more to offer people of faith than they do. The persistent, loud lies of politically ambitious Republigoats have for years kept Americans in the dark regarding this truth. It’s time that we started telling it like it is and establishing a 50-state strategy across the cultural divide as well.
It is terrible that Wesley Clark’s comments are being framed as if he were Geraldine Freakin’ Ferraro or, worse, as if he were Bud Day, whose full name sounds like the porcelain European device one uses to wash out one’s ass. Because the fact of the matter is that Clark has raised a legitimate question.
For the record, Clark is not a swiftboater. Those folks aimed to purposely distort the record of a genuine war hero. Clark is not questioning the facts of McCain’s record. He is merely daring to ask what the hell that record has to do with being President of the United States, especially in light of this guy’s weird tenacity regarding a long-discredited foreign policy debacle.
Unfortunately, my candidate was quick to publicly misconstrue Clark’s comments and then to distance himself from said misconstrued comments. He and his campaign are likely a bit trigger-happy to distance from controversy, not wanting to live through another Rev. Wright eclipse. But it’s a shame. Because, if McCain is running primarily on his image as a wounded war hero and Prisoner of War, is it not legitimate to simply question whether or not that experience actually qualifies him to be President? Why not? We’ve certainly questioned the hell out of whether or not eight years as a state legislator and two years as a U.S. senator is enough “experience.” What the hell does getting shot down and held captive have to do with being President? It’s a legitimate question. But then again. Republigoats are never ever comfortable with legitimate questions.
One can give John McCain style points for his generous offer of $300 million in tax dollars as a reward to the inventor of a super-duper car battery. But it is what it smacks of. It is a gimmick.
It is a gimmick that for one assumes that electricity grows on trees. The electric car is cleaner than what we have, but it is by no means a one-two punch versus our dependence on foreign oil. Electricity comes from somewhere, often generated with coal, which can lead to other issues, you know, such as horrific deaths of miners when mine operators in this deregulation-mad country get greedy and reckless. (See “Sago.”)
It is a gimmick because this is a problem that will require years and years from which to dig out. There is no one-two punch, there is no single technology that will rescue. This will require a complicated array of solutions and new technologies, a sophisticated amalgam that will make the layman’s brain boggle. It will be good for America because it will recreate industry here. Necessity will once again be the mother of invention.
If only there were a presidential candidate who understood that and who had a plan.
Wait. Look! Up in the sky!…
Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.
You may go look at the energy plan of the next President of the United States here.
Here, wait. Dr. Maddow tells it better:
By the way. Isn’t it funny when Republigoats inadvertently tell the truth? Take McCain Advisor Charlie Black, for instance.
On national security McCain wins. We saw how that might play out early in the campaign, when one good scare, one timely reminder of the chaos lurking in the world, probably saved McCain in New Hampshire, a state he had to win to save his candidacy—this according to McCain’s chief strategist, Charlie Black. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an “unfortunate event,” says Black. “But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.” As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. “Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,” says Black.
It is events such as these that snatches Mad Mike Malloy’s identification of these people as “ghouls and flesheaters” from the beyond of moonbat ranting to a reasonable and accurate characterization. These ghouls, it’s been shown time and again, are only too happy to ride hard the nexus of politics and terror. Seldom, though, do they actually talk about it.
I am pleased to know that one of my oldest friends evar may actually be reading KIAV. She left a comment here and referred of course to Mr. Obama’s “57-state” slip, which the most coarse in our electorate have tried to stretch to include in the “he’s a MUSLIM!” smear. He’s not a Muslim, and he’s not an idiot, either. He was exhausted and transposed a digit holder with another that started in “F.” However, after all the years of ribbing Dan Quayle for “potatoe,” of which this amateur wonk has seen first-hand and has never approved—seriously—I reckon the Next President of the Untied States can take a ribbing for that.
So, thanks, Annie. I’m glad you’re reading.
(I have met Dan Quayle twice. The second time I met him was at a fundraiser I was covering for the newspaper I werked for in sunny North Carolina. As was my usual technique, I inserted myself into the gaggle and began writing in my little notebook. That’s when an asshole reporter next to me decided to ask Mr. Quayle if he could spell THAT WORD. You are for the first and last time in your small journalistic career faced with questioning the Former Vise Prezidente of the Untied States, and this is what you ask him? Believe me you, I am no fan of Quayle. Poking at him for the “potatoe” moment is the kind of gotcha politics that does little else but ruin good men and elect for life bad ones.)
I wanted to point out an excellent opinion column in today’s The Washington Post by David Ignatius, Failing Airlines, Failing Government. Mr. Ignatius points out that the spiraling state of our airlines is the result of years of foolish deregulation that should be reversed should we decide we’d like our airlines to stop nickel-and-diming us and treating us like livestock when we fly. I would go and have gone a step further. The health of a nation’s transportation infrastructure strongly reflects the health of the nation. Or, you could say that a healthy transportation infrastructure is the backbone of a healthy nation. I’m not sure which it is. Regardless. Have you flown lately? We are screwed. It’s a nice read, go see.
Just in case anyone needed a reminder, THIS is what Rudy Giuliani’s run for the presidency looked like:
Remember. Rudy was in the start considered to be as inevitable as was Tweety Monster for the Democrats. Then Bernie Kerik was indicted on 16 counts. And rumors swirled that he had used city resources to bone his mistress. So he retreated to Florida and embarked on the least successful presidential bid since some genius stuffed Dukakis into a tank cab.
So yesterday, this idiot is on the TV machine spouting the Republigoat line on the “war” on “terror.” He says my man Obama has a “Sept. 10 mentality” regarding the problem. He weirdly criticized the U.S.’ failure to react to the USS Cole incident—which happened on The Current President’s watch, by the way—and the reaction to the 1993 WTC bombing (which netted four actual CONVICTIONS).
Why, when his “noun-verb-9/11″ approach failed to net the invevitable Rudy his nomination, why are they dragging this asshole out now to be a surrogate?
“Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake if they seek to win the election by demonizing Barack Obama,” Huckabee told reporters in Tokyo, according to a report by Agence France-Presse.
He doesn’t know his own party very well, do he? McCain has been and will continue to attempt to Obama-Sock the Democratic nominee. I say bring it on. More whispers about his funny name, please. More comments about his refusal to wear a lapel pin, more smack about his hot hot wife. Bring it on. Because I am convinced that, at this point, the American voter is sick to death of it and will prefer the guy who rises above it and tells the truth.
On Oct. 15, 1962, United States reconnaissance photos revealed missile bases being constructed 90 miles off the nation’s southernmost tip, in Cuba. Two weeks later, President Kennedy and UN Sectretary-General Thant reached an agreement with the USSR to dismantle. But the spectre of enemy missiles in our own neighborhood has peppered the American conciousness ever since.
Which is why it is so utterly stunning that the Current Vice President and all kinds of other right-wing idiots have been so utterly careless as to continue repeating the lie about China drilling off of our coast via Cuba. The lie has been so often repeated that Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republigoat from Florida, had to take to the Senate floor to debunk it. No matter what party Martinez is with, he still has to represent his folks, many of whom might just freak out about commies conducting operations in and around the Florida. Even the Dickster had to recant, so it must have been one hell of a lie. And yet. As recently as yesterday, it was repeated by Republigoat henchwoman Mary Matalin.
These people should no longer be allowed on television, let alone in our government.
It’s a crying shame, but this political season has taken the shine off of some political heroes who had really stepped up previously. It has clearly ruined Bill and Hillary Clinton. Mr. Clinton on his way to being head and shoulders above even the likes of President Carter, what with his global focus rising above politick and multi-billion dollar fund raising. Now, he might as well just quit his NGO work and go out seen regularly with large-boobed broads in berets. The Clintons were badly soiled in this primary.
Al Gore yesterday returned to his previous mantle of ho-hum mediocrity and political convenience, coming out at long last to endorse Barack Obama for President. Gore’s endorsement could have been the most powerful political move made since The Current President stood on a pile of rubble and yelled “I Can Hear You” into a bullhorn. Gore’s speech was powerful, but he could have saved his breath and just said “me too!”
E.D. Hill of Fox “News” had to issue an apology and faces demotion, perhaps for her weird characterization of a loving gesture between the Obamas as a “terrorist fist jab” during a broadcast of her brilliant television program, “America’s Pulse.” There is great irony in the name of this broadcast because it is apparent that, if Fox “News” is taking America’s pulse, it is using its thumb. America is tired of all the mongering.
What I do know is that Ms. Hill has just cemented the fate of her eternal soul. Upon her death, her soul will be immediately boxed and shipped miles below to the center of the Earth, where she will be unboxed and placed on the floor in Belial’s apartment, where she will serve the rest of her days as his end table. These people, these gracious, wonderful people whom Hill accused of gesturing as terrorists, these people have children, Ms. Hill. They are a family, one whose integrity and goodness I would stack against yours or that of any of your colleagues at Fox “News” any goddamned day of the week. And if you’d stop for a second and analyze your statement of June 6, you’d see the ugly spectre of racism in your assertion and you’d see the Rovian effort of yours to take one of the cutest things I’ve seen on the television in a long time into something outright sinister.
Dress your soul in short sleeves, E.D. Hill. Where it is going, it will be very, very hot. Sorry about your show. Dummy.
