Most Valuable Progressives of 2008

posted by John Nichols on 12/31/2008 @ 8:45pm

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Progressives had more to celebrate in 2008 than in any year since the Supreme Court got into the business of stealing elections. The jubilant mood is dampened, of course, by the fact of a country is stuck in two military quagmires, ravaged by the most fearsome economic downturn in at least a half century and suffering from a serious case of Constitutional degeneration. Perhaps we have not yet reached an ideal champagne moment. But there is still good reason to toast the year's MVPs – Most Valuable Progressives.

Here they are:

MOST VALUABLE UNION: The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America

The big players in the labor movement were trying to figure out what to ask of the first genuinely labor-friendly president since Harry Truman, and they weren't doing a very good job of it in the weeks after the election. Then the Bank of America (having supped prodigiously at Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's bailout banquet) made the mistake of pulling the operating credit for an Illinois-based window manufacturing firm and a small independent union showed the rest of the movement what was possible. When Republic Windows and Doors announced it was shuttering its factory in Chicago, members of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union who worked at the plant borrowed a page from the radical labor activists of the 1930s and refused to leave. Their sit-down strike earned headlines, solidarity support from bigger unions, an endorsement from President-elect Barack Obama and, finally, commitments by the bank and the company to pay the displaced workers what they were owed. The Rev. Jesse Jackson compared the UE members to Rosa Parks and described their bold response to the shutdown as "the beginning of a larger movement for mass action to resist economic violence." Let's hope he is right.

MOST VALUABLE POLITICAL GROUP: Progressive Democrats of America

Paul Wellstone's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party" finally has a functional voice, in the form of PDA, a national group that has over the past several years struggled mightily – and often effectively – to pull the party to the left on issues of war and peace, health-care reform, economic justice and presidential accountability. While Democratic "leaders" in Washington compromised on matters of principle, PDA pushed for a fixed timeline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, questioned Barack Obama's talk of surging more U.S. troops into Afghanistan, worked with Michigan Congressman John Conyers to promote a single-payer response to the health-care crisis and argued that, yes, George Bush and Dick Cheney should be impeached. When Obama secured the Democratic presidential nod, PDA forged an essential bridge to independent lefties, mounting a Progressives for Obama campaign, successfully pressuring party platform writers to improve language on health care and trade issues and organizing (with support from The Nation) a busy program of policy events on the fringe of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In a measure of the PDA's expanding role within the party, those convention sessions attracted a dozen key members of Congress including Conyers and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, actor Sean Penn and dozens of delegates. As 2008 ended, PDA was still taking on the most daunting issues – urging Obama and other Democrats to do more to promote a ceasefire in Gaza – and proving that this group understands the importance of keeping the pressure on party leaders in Washington to serve not just as Democrats but as progressives.

MOST VALUABLE ADVOCACY GROUP: TransAfrica Forum

This group that is still best known for leading the anti-apartheid fight of the 1980s in the U.S. has evolved into a smart, aggressive and deeply principled force advocating on behalf of justice for the people of Africa and the African Diaspora. Under the able leadership of Nicole Lee, who took over as executive director at the end of 2006, and board chair Danny Glover, TransAfrica has taken bold positions on complex and often difficult issues--Zimbabwe, Haiti, the militarization of east Africa, the proposed U.S.-Columbia Free Trade Agreement--and created space for open and honest debate about U.S. foreign policy. As the Obama administration seeks to reengage with the world, no perspective is going to be more useful than that of TransAfrica.

MOST VALUABLE POLICY GROUP: The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

The global food crisis that made a bit of news early in 2008 highlighted the economic pathologies that would come into stark relief as the financial meltdown accelerated in the fall. But most journalists and policy analysts don't understand or much care about farm and food issues, so they missed the story. Steve Suppan, Shiney Varghese, Ben Lilliston and the rest of the team at the Minneapolis-based IATP were so far ahead of the curve that they rarely got the credit they deserved for recognizing and confronting the challenges posed not merely by the spread of hunger but by the financial gaming that underpinned the crisis. An institute report released in November, "Commodities Market Speculation: The Risk to Food Security and Agriculture" was a finer piece of financial journalism than anything produced by the Wall Street Journal or CNBC. It detailed how excessive speculation in agriculture commodity markets contributed to the traumatic twists and turns in global food prices, and the hunger that resulted. As Suppan explained, "It is important to recognize that many of the deregulatory measures that brought on the Wall Street collapse also contributed to the food security and agricultural market crises." This report should be top-priority reading for Obama and his aides, as should another by IATP staffers Carin Smaller and Sophia Murphy: "Bridging the Divide: A Human Rights Vision for Global Food Trade."

MOST VALUABLE STATE OR REGIONAL GROUP: Policy Matters Ohio

Bridging the gap between sometimes esoteric national debates about economic issues and the real-life challenges faced by people living in Cleveland, Youngstown and Dayton, Policy Matters Ohio is a non-profit research and advocacy organization that pushes the envelope on debates about tax policy and the funding of essential education and safety-net programs. Intellectually rigorous, yet always accessible in its approach, this group has produced more than 160 reports that have given Ohio's progressive activists and legislators the tools they need to challenge corporate spin and pressure tactics. In tight economic times, groups such as Policy Matters Ohio are absolutely essential players in life-and-death debates about how state and local governmental agencies should respond to revenue shortfalls and rising demands for services. PMO's founding executive director, Amy Hanauer, is great at making the link between the initiatives of national groups with which she works--the Economic Policy Institute, Demos and the Apollo Alliance--and local and legislative policymakers in Ohio, moving progressive priorities out of Washington to the communities where good ideas can and must be turned into practical programs. As an example of what Policy Matters Ohio does, check out the group's great report: Limiting Loopholes: A dozen tax breaks Ohio can do without

MOST VALUABLE GRASSROOTS INITIATIVE: The Green Festivals

This joint project of Global Exchange and Co-op America organizes huge events in major cities across the country to celebrate "what's working in our communities--for people, business and the environment" with an emphasis on "safe, healthy communities and a strong local economy." You have to attend a Green Festival in San Francisco, Washington, Seattle, Denver or Chicago to fully understand the scope and power of these events, which draw together internationally-recognized thinkers and activists (Van Jones, Cornell West, Barbara Ehrenreich, Majora Carter and Amy Goodman, among others), local small-business owners and thousands of citizens for remarkable explorations of what a sustainable economy can and should look like.

MOST VALUABLE THINKER: Anuradha Mittal

The Oakland Institute's executive director has emerged as an essential commentator on trade, development, human rights and food security issues. When major media outlets – especially The New York Times -- were stumbling around trying to come up with explanations for the global food crisis, Mittal, a former co-director of Food First, calmly explained the deadly role played by free-trade absolutists, international lenders and speculators. Most importantly, she argued that it is time to "stop worshiping the golden calf of the so-called free market and embrace, instead, the principle [that] every country and every people have a right to food that is affordable. When the market deprives them of this, it is the market that has to give." It is this sort of clear-headed assessment of not just the food crisis but a host of international development issues that helps Mittal, who established the Oakland Institute in 2004 with the purpose of increasing public participation in domestic and foreign policy debates, define what an enlightened American discourse about this country's place in the world should sound like.

MOST VALUABLE CABINET PICK: Hilda Solis

It has been a long time since the United States had a Secretary of Labor who had a record of walking picket lines. That's what makes California Congresswoman Hilda Solis, Obama's pick to fill this Cabinet post, so remarkable. She was raised in a union household, cut her political teeth as an advocate for the United Farm Workers union and won her House seat by mounting a primary challenge to a Clintonite Democratic incumbent who had voted wrong on trade and economic issues. In the House, Solis has been a stalwart proponent of economic and social justice--she's a longtime member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus--and an unapologetic defender of the rights of immigrant workers. She is the right person for this job, and her selection serves as the single best signal from Obama that he intends to serve as a pro-worker president. Let's hope that Solis is allowed to renew a Labor Department that has been neglected--and disempowered --by Democratic and Republican presidents.

MOST VALUABLE HOUSE MEMBER: Marcy Kaptur

When Democratic leaders in the House buckled in the face of Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's call for a no-strings-attached bailout for big banks, it was Kaptur who rallied the opposition--successfully blocking Paulson's first proposal in the House and forcing minor improvements in the plan. Ultimately, Paulson got most of what he asked for – and the banks pocketed hundreds of billions without aiding beleaguered homeowners or stalling the downward spiral of the economy. Kaptur warned that this would happen, as part of an ongoing critique of the bailout scheme. Throughout the fight, the Toledo Democrat's speeches on the House floor were as visionary as they were populist--making the longest-serving woman in the House something of a YouTube phenomenon. For this, she will get no credit from Democratic party leaders. That's too bad, as her record on economic issues--especially trade and agricultural policy--is one of consistently being right when just about everyone else was wrong. To a greater extent than anyone else in the House, she has defined the distinction between Main Street and Wall Street as something more than a slogan; and she is one of the few Democrats who actually understands that the only economic "fix" for America will be the one that begins on Main Street.

MOST VALUABLE SENATOR: Bernie Sanders

When just about everyone else in the Capitol was absorbed with the presidential race last fall, the independent senator from Vermont recognized that the biggest story of 2008 was not the election--it was the collapse of the economic house of cards that successive Republican and Democratic administrations had built. Like Marcy Kaptur in the House, Sanders refused to panic in the face of demands for a massive bailout of big banks and bad investors. Instead, he argued, "Don't make working people bail out Wall Street!" The Vermonter framed his challenge to the economic orthodoxy of Washington insiders who still do not "get it" in the right way: as part of a broader battle to defend the middle class. And Sanders never forgets the human side of the equation: "It is one thing to read dry economic statistics which describe the collapse of the American middle class," he argues. "It is another thing to understand, in flesh and blood terms, what that means in the lives of ordinary Americans. Yes, since George W. Bush has been in office 5 million Americans have slipped into poverty, 8 million have lost their health insurance and 3 million have lost their pensions. Yes, in the last seven years median household income for working-age Americans has declined by $2,500. Yes, our country, for the first time since the Great Depression, now has a zero personal savings rate and, all across the nation, emergency food shelves are being flooded with working families whose inadequate wages prevent them from feeding their families. Statistics are one thing, however, and real life is another." Sanders highlights the real-life struggles of working Americans on the best website maintained by any member of Congress.

MOST VALUABLE STATE OFFICIAL: Mark Ritchie

Minnesota's Secretary of State ran for his position in 2006 on a promise to assure that his state would have free and fair elections. Ritchie has been a great advocate for voter registration, verifiable voting and needed election reforms. But he has made headlines as the overseer of the recount fight between Republican Senator Norm Coleman and Democratic challenger Al Franken. In the face of attacks on his politics and character by partisans who seek to game the system, Ritchie has remained steadfast and good-humored, emphasizing transparency, fairness and the principle that democracy is only made real when election officials assure that the intentions of voters are respected and recorded. Ritchie's approach to the Minnesota recount provides an example of how to do elections right, in stark contrast to the abusive approaches of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris to the 2000 presidential recount in her state and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell to the 2004 presidential vote in the Buckeye state.

MOST VALUABLE LOCAL OFFICIAL: Joe Moore

In a city that has been rocked by corruption scandals of the ugliest sort, Chicago Alderman Joe Moore stands out as an example of the sort of steadfast and effective grassroots progressive who has fought the powerbrokers again and again and frequently prevailed. Moore refuses to be constrained by the supposed limits of local government. He has gotten the Chicago city council to oppose the war, defend civil liberties and take on chain-stores that batter local businesses. As the Holiday season approached, Moore was highlighting a "Think Globally, Shop Locally" initiative designed to help local firms compete with the big guys. "In these challenging economic times, retailers, particularly local retailers, often feel the pinch first," declared Moore in a letter to constituents. "We want all of our local businesses to thrive--as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. Vacant storefronts, on the other hand, have quite a different effect on our community. As we continue striving to make our community more sustainable, we need to build a retail environment where most of our needs are met locally." Moore has been active with the great national group Cities for Progress.

MOST VALUABLE HEIR TO WOODY GUTHRIE: Dave Alvin

In hard times, we need a troubadour. And the former guitarist for The Blasters, X and the Gun Club has in recent years displayed the songwriting skills that are required. Along with Texas songwriter James McMurtry, Alvin recognized a good while ago that real damage was being done to millions of working Americans by the policies of successive Democratic and Republican presidents. And he has told the stories of those on the losing end of the class war with a power and a poignancy rarely evidenced by contemporary musicians. Just before the 2008 election, Shout Factory records released a brilliant retrospective of Alvin's solo recordings and his work with a stellar backup band, The Guilty Men: Dave Alvin: The Best of the Hightone Years. Check out the song "California Snow," his remarkably humane yet edgy take on immigration issues.

MOST VALUABLE BOOK (ECONOMICS): James K. Galbraith's The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (The Free Press)

Galbraith, a brilliant University of Texas economist and an even more brilliant writer, argues in this exceptional book that it is time to "free up the liberal mind" when it comes to economic-policy debates. Instead of managing the mess created by so-called "conservatives" such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, progressives should recognize that the obsession with budget balancing and constraining government that so many Democrats have bought into involves otherwise well-intentioned officials in the fools mission of "not merely parroting conservatives" but that of "parroting dead conservatives." A passionate, principled and fact-driven argument for rejecting the failed policies of deregulation, monetarism and trickle-down economics, this is the call for Keynesianism that Barack Obama should read, embrace and implement.

MOST VALUABLE BOOK (CONSTITUTIONAL RENEWAL): Peter Linebaugh's The Magna Carta Manifesto. Liberties and Commons for All (University of California Press)

The end of the Bush-Cheney administration leaves not just our Constitution – and the system of checks and balances it outlines--in a shambles. The most fundamental traditions of restraining tyranny and protecting freedom have been assaulted, and that assault must be understood if the damage is to be addressed. So argues University of Toledo historian Peter Linebaugh is the year's most lyrical and necessary book on liberty. The Magna Carta Manifesto is such a pleasure to read that it is easy to forget that it provides essential arguments for renewing civil liberties in the U.S. and internationally. But those arguments are going to be more valuable, and more needed, than ever in the months and years to come.

MOST VALUABLE BOOK (INTERNATIONAL POLICY): Mike Marqusee's If I Am Not For Myself: Journey of an Anti-Zionist Jew (Verso)

One need not be a Zionist or an anti-Zionist to benefit from the insights contained in this remarkable memoir by Marqusee, the author of such books as Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s. The personal story is rich and exciting, ranging from the Bronx to suburbia to Pakistan, Morocco and finally London. The thinking about "what it means to be a Jew in the 21st century" is bold and innovative. No one can read this book without having his or her perspective on the Middle East, religion and the left, expanded.

MOST VALUABLE NATIONAL MEDIA PERSONALITIES: Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan

Yes, of course, Katie Couric and Tina Fey did away with Sarah Palin, and more power to them for that. But exposing Palin's pathologies was easy work. Veteran Air America radio host Maddow has engaged in the more complex and difficult struggle to explain and challenge the foibles of Republicans and Democrats as the Bush-Cheney age gives way to the Obama-Biden age. Her MSNBC program is an island of sanity in a sea of cable spin. Maddow rejects cheerleading for Obama (she was an early and energetic critic of the decision to have fundamentalist pastor Rick Warren deliver the benediction at the inauguration) and simple Republican bashing (her recent interview with Mike Huckabee appropriately confrontational yet respectful and revealing). The only problem with Maddow's move to MSNBC is that she had been forced to curtail her Air America work. Luckily, Ron Reagan (yes, that Ron Reagan) has filled the gap with a program that is as smart, unpredictable and politically adventurous as Maddow's.

MOST VALUABLE LOCAL MEDIA PERSONALITY: CC (Camille Conte)

When Sarah Palin stumbled onto the national stage, after her selection as John McCain's running-mate, everyone scrambled to figure out what was up with Alaska's governor. A lot of the lower-48 blogosphere (and the major media that followed its lead) obsessed about Palin's family life. But Anchorage radio host Camille Conte, who is universally known in Alaska as "CC," steered the discussion toward Troopergate--the scandal that proved Palin was not the reformer her supporters claimed but a Cheney-esque abuser of power. CC's daily "Cutting Edge" show on Anchorage's Air America affiliate, News-Talk 1080/KUDO: Alaska's Progressive Voice became required fare for journalists visiting the state--she had better access than anyone else to the key players, who trusted the veteran local host--and CC turned up on radio stations across the U.S. No one else contributed as much to 2008's Palintological studies.

Comments (79)

LIBERALS!

LIBERALS!

LIBERALS!

progressives....... what a silly term.

i hear conservatives, after a thorough trouncing of their ideas in 2008, are now going to call themselves "stabilizers".

Posted by frosty zoom at 12/30/2008 @ 3:01pm
Rachel is a doll, she was wasted in radio, her impish smile lights up the screen.

Posted by emile duBois at 12/30/2008 @ 3:56pm
Well, Mr Nichols, I think an Honorable Mention should go to...

President George W. Bush.

Without whom, the Republican Party wouldn't be what it is today!

Posted by Mask at 12/30/2008 @ 4:11pm
We interrupt this post for an important announcement:

Just wanted to point out to Nationheads that Ari Melber's State of Change post from yesterday --"Ask Obama for a Torture Special Prosecutor"-- is an exceedingly important one, and should be visited by readers here interested in the invaluable effort to instigate an inquiry into torture, and illegal wire taps on the American citizenry.

Obama's website, Change.gov, is open (ever so briefly?) for just such an instigation by we the people.

I highly recommend as well, the web only piece --that popped up and promptly got buried yesterday-- by the esteemed Israeli peace activist, Uri Avnery, entitled, "A Memo to Obama on Israel".

Finally, Richard Falk's excellent short piece, "Israel's War Crimes", is also to be found as a web only feature.

Just click on the "The Week in Print" link in the left hand column of The Nation's home page and see Web Only content in the right hand column of print edition online.

Thank you.

As you were.

Posted by b_kool_66 at 12/30/2008 @ 4:22pm
i hear conservatives, after a thorough trouncing of their ideas in 2008, are now going to call themselves "stabilizers".

Posted by frosty zoom at 12/30/2008 @ 3:01pm

And because wing sounds too flighty, they will now go by "Right Leg Stabilizers", as in pull my...

Posted by !immutable at 12/30/2008 @ 5:26pm
Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 12/30/2008 @ 5:02pm

Crooked, dishonest, cheating politicians, what a novelty.

Posted by !immutable at 12/30/2008 @ 5:31pm
How amusing.

Wasn't the Republican Party, once upon a time, all about avoiding foreign entanglements, running balanced budgets, and staying the hell out of your personal life? Ahhh, the good old days.

Pull my finger.

Posted by schnellerheinz at 12/30/2008 @ 7:56pm
!immutable at 5:31pm said:

<< Crooked, dishonest, cheating politicians, what a novelty. >>

Wrong, people like KVH, Falk, Stern, Alterman, are not politicians. That they are egregiously twisted and dishonest, as Progressives, not as politicians, that is the point.

Incidentally, the very term, Progressive is pathetic. It was widely adopted after the USSR crumbled and its very walls revealed the microphones and deceit in the marrow of the socialist system. That put the very term, socialist in disfavor, and so its stalwarts rummaged in their closets and came out wearing the old, less bold, but also less malodorous, Progressive label.

Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 12/30/2008 @ 8:30pm
Incidentally, the very term, Progressive is pathetic. It was widely adopted after the USSR crumbled

this is nonsense. the reaction against the robber barons in the early part of the century was known as america's progressive era.

Posted by emile duBois at 12/30/2008 @ 9:17pm
"Most valuable election Tool?" ... Sarah Palin. "Most valuable distraction?" ... Larry Craig. "Most valuable hype?" ... "CHANGE." "Most valuable propoganda?" ... Countdown with Keith Olbermann. "Most valuable blog?"... The Lawson Review.

Posted by Lander_Aadsel at 12/31/2008 @ 12:25am
Joe Moore is an abomination of a choice.

He is an ineffectual showhorse alderman. Contrary to what youve written here, he almost never "prevails" and certainly not on anything of substance.

His neglect of the pressing needs of his ward have resulted in staggering gang violence and street crime along Morse Avenue. Students at Loyola University are routinely harassed.

Joe has expended his efforts on behalf of the things like the goose liver pate ordinance while virtually every measurable quality of life indicator in Rogers Park has plummeted during his ineffectual service

He damn near lost his last election which would have been good and I can only hope for those trying to make an actual difference to Chicagoans in Rogers Park that he will in the next go-round.

Shameful shameful choice John and insult to true progressivism.

Posted by ChicagoCillen at 12/31/2008 @ 01:27am
I know an even MORE interesting civil war brewing, Darin....between THIS guy and Rush, Sean, and right-wing bloggers----

Dear Chairman Duncan,

I was saddened to learn that at a time of national trial, when a president-elect is preparing to take office in the midst of the worst financial crisis in over seventy years, that the Republican National Committee is engaged in the sort of negative, attack politics that the voters rejected in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles.

The recent web advertisement, "Questions Remain," is a destructive distraction. Clearly, we should insist that all taped communications regarding the Senate seat should be made public. However, that should be a matter of public policy, not an excuse for political attack.

In a time when America is facing real challenges, Republicans should be working to help the incoming President succeed in meeting them, regardless of his Party.

From now until the inaugural, Republicans should be offering to help the President-elect prepare to take office.

Furthermore, once President Obama takes office, Republicans should be eager to work with him when he is right, and, when he is wrong, offer a better solution, instead of just opposing him.

This is the only way the Republican Party will become known as the "better solutions" party, not just an opposition party. And this is the only way Republicans will ever regain the trust of the voters to return to the majority.

This ad is a terrible signal to be sending about both the goals of the Republican Party in the midst of the nation's troubled economic times and about whether we have actually learned anything from the defeats of 2006 and 2008.

The RNC should pull the ad down immediately.

Sincerely,

Newt Gingrich www.newt.org

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 09:10am
I see Chicago Alderman Joe Moore got an award above.

The citation did not say if Alderman Joe is involved with the Stroger or Daley machines that made possible the career of Barack Obama.

It said he fought the "powerbrokers". Does that mean that Mr. Moore is not involved with and opposed Mr. Stroger and/or Mr. Daley?

Is Mr. Nichols not mentioning these "powerbrokers" by name on purpose so people are not reminded of them?

And then he says Alderman Nichols got the Chicago City Council to oppose the war.

Great stuff, for progressives. This is nothing that should concern a city council, however. Why?

Because 1. Free citizens in a free society have the ability to speak for themselves, they do not need city council representation.

Because 2. Since something like that is totally symbolic anyway, what about those Chicagoans who do not oppose the war? Is it fair or right (answer is no) for an entity to make a symbolic statement that is only representative of what part of the population thinks? This is not like a legitimate matter that the council has authority over and thus the will of the people prevails when the council makes a decision, even though some oppose it (whatever "it" happens to be), because the majority rules and alderman come up for re-election and the will of the people decide the council makeup, at each election cycle. This is just a symbolic "opinion" and thus I believe it wrong for City councils to be offering up opinions that may not (and do not) represent what all of the people think. Libs of course, don't care about that- they just like their opinions shoved down everybody's throats.

Some food for thought, Libs.

Posted by sjchermak at 12/31/2008 @ 09:48am
Editor,

President elect, Barack Obama has another pastor problem. This time the pastor of choice didn't shout anti-American slogans. He angered those who like to think of themselves as the guardians of tolerance and progress. He dared to choose politically incorrect beliefs about homosexuality. Freedom? Tolerance? Choice? Not for pastor Rick Warren! How dare Obama invite this Pastor to give the invocation at his inauguration! Doesn't he realize who gave him the presidency? He should know that he owes them everything they demand. To invite unapproved people like Rick Warren is to earn the wrath of the self-professed gatekeepers of tolerance. If Obama doesn't support the political and moral agenda of these "progressives," he will find out the limits to their tolerance---maybe even for him.

With typical seething anger, behind an austere front, the president of the so-called "Human Rights Campaign," Joe Solomonese, wrote to Obama, "Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans," "We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination."

On their own terms, this would clearly be discrimination. Isn't tolerance the ability to treat respectfully those with whom you strongly disagree? These folks redefined tolerance into some kind of intolerance. Lately, we are seeing a lot of this: "Agree with us, or else!" mentality. But in this case, it is the definition of hypocrisy.

SC

Posted by PS at 12/31/2008 @ 10:39am
Posted by PS at 12/31/2008 @ 10:39am

So if Obama had invited a pastor who thought women were inferior to men and shouldn't have the right to vote...

people should be tolerant of that?

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 11:52am
Because 1. Free citizens in a free society have the ability to speak for themselves, they do not need city council representation.---Posted by sjchermak at 12/31/2008 @ 09:48am

Didn't know you opposed representational government?!?!?!?

BTW, did you mind when an entire Congress went off to "save" Terri Schiavo?!??!?

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 11:54am
Posted by sjchermak at 12/31/2008 @ 09:48am

ever insightful commentary as usual.

keep up the good work!

Posted by frosty zoom at 12/31/2008 @ 12:51pm
NARF!

Posted by frosty zoom at 12/31/2008 @ 12:52pm
Mask,

City council resolutions in support of or against something are totally symbolic and have no effect, thus we are not taling about something impacted by representational government in this case. We are talking just symbolic actions.

IN Terri Schiavo's case, you do remember don't you that Florida law said that if the person's wishes were not known (to the standard set by Florida law), which Terri's wishes were not (her wishes were not known to the standard set by Florida law), then the doctors are required to leave the feeding tube in. BY FLORIDA LAW.

And you do remember that in this case, because of rulings of judges acting on their own ideology, Florida law meant nothing.

So you are comparing a symbolic gesture done in the name of all Chicagoans when most certainly all Chicagoans did not agree with it, to a breach by judges (acting on lib belief and impulse) against Florida law, with a person's life in the balance.

An apples vs. oranges situation if there ever was one.

Happy New Year, Mask.

Posted by sjchermak at 12/31/2008 @ 1:29pm
I must say Rachel's a babe! And there has been a distinctive increase in her professionalism since:

A: Her candidate won the election &

B: Since she broke off from the Idiot Olbermann and started doing her own thing.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 12/31/2008 @ 1:42pm
And JOHN NICHOLS, in the interest of truth and objectivity, you might include the Supreme Court in your "heavy lifters for Justice" You may not always agree with them, but thats what they do: dispense justice.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 12/31/2008 @ 1:45pm
Posted by sjchermak at 12/31/2008 @ 1:29pm

1. "comparing a symbolic gesture done in the name of all Chicagoans when most certainly all Chicagoans did not agree with it,"....So unanimous approval for any action by a representational government? You ARE a stickler for pure democracy, aren't you? heheh

2. Gotta love a "State's rights conservative" wanting the US Congress to intervene in local law and even more in a family matter.

And I think we all remember Frist "diagnosing" Schiavo via a video tape and your pals Rush and Sean who suddenly became neuropathologists...

and the fact that a later autopsy showed Schiavo had been brain dead for years.

Oh, wait...if Frist and your friends hadn't interfered with the case, maybe Terri would have "re-manufactured" her brain???

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 2:50pm
Oh, wait...if Frist and your friends hadn't interfered with the case, maybe Terri would have "re-manufactured" her brain???

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 2:50pm

Good one.

Posted by !immutable at 12/31/2008 @ 3:08pm
Posted by !immutable at 12/31/2008 @ 3:08pm

It's not that hard. SJCHER is our admitted ditto-head (HAPPY too, others just leap to Rush's defense, but SJ is a loyal listener and believes everything out of "The Great One's" mouth...even the contradictory stuff).

Rush tells SJ that "universal health care will mean the Government stepping in to tell you and your family how to deal with its health care" and "Politicians not doctors will run the show"....SJ nods.

Rush tells SJ that "the Government (i.e. Congress) HAS to step in and tell Mr Schiavo how to deal with his family's health care" and "Bill Frist can tell from a video that she's still responsive and functional"....SJ nods.

"Oceania has always been at war with EastAsia"---El Rushbo/Minitrue

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 3:32pm
I'm glad that The Nation found out what we in Alaska have known for a long time...CC is our greatest state resource!

I'm proud to call her a friend and fellow community organizer!!

http://alaskansfortruth.blogspot.com

Posted by Celtic_Diva at 12/31/2008 @ 7:35pm
In re Rachel:

Indeed, there is a certain vivaciousness to her.

Posted by schnellerheinz at 12/31/2008 @ 9:23pm
rock on, b__kool! And Mask, do't you find it ironic that Newt is taking a stand now>> i love the fact that he has written all those "novels" (read-wishful thinking) about what would have happened if the South won the civil war-is his stand out of true belief or just another post traumatic cover-up of the real repub/neocon agenda?

Posted by oldintel at 01/01/2009 @ 1:21pm
I just spent 9 days in the Northeast w/2 days in Montreal

•• nice.....

...and I must say, lots of "good work" goes into keeping the sidewalks, streets & roads navigable after major snow storms.

•• cursed be the salt!

Too bad, all that "work" produces nothing tangible but dirty piles and slick surfaces!

•• and happy lawyers and insurance agents.

Curious why don't Northern libs want Global Warming?

•• maybe because life is fun....

I'd bet the farmers would!

•• you need to talk to george.

Posted by HAPPYLonghorn at 12/31/2008 @ 6:22pm

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 2:13pm
oh,

and HAPPYnewyear.

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 2:14pm
18 DAYS

21 Hrs

45 Min

25.4 Sec

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 2:15pm
Rachel Maddow? The Rachel Maddow who indulged in insistent cheerleading for Obama on Air America during the primaries and ignored the misogyny directed at Clinton and Palin by the media (indeed, she contributed) and rabid Obama supporters? That Rachel Maddow?

Sorry, I can't bear to listen to her any more. Maddow's criticism of Obama for his choice of Warren only points out her hypocrisy: attacks on women political candidates based upon their sex and not their policies - good; attacks on gays and lesbians - bad.

Posted by Old Dem at 01/01/2009 @ 5:39pm
Mask,

To refresh your memory, the Schiavo case became public because of a disagreement between her parents, who were willing to care for her, and her husband, who thought the tube should be pulled (and who said that was her wishes, but did not substantiate that to the degree required by Florida law).

So this disagreement snowballed and caused it to become public, and into the courts, and into the public attention.

At that point Republicans, as always, were required to do nothing, this requirement dictated by those on the left. They were not supposed to get involved in a matter where judges are making rulings that do not honor Florida law (thus how does any Florida citizen know they can depend on the law to protect them?), and Republicans were required by libs to not get involved in a matter where some of the leftist philosophy regarding life and death was beginning to hold sway.

All people, not just Florida residents, need to understand that law, the rule of law, and their rights under law, are what "independent" judges say they are. And they are not to worry or care that these rulings may be based on the judges whim, ideology, current societal norms, or what foreign countries do.

They need to also understand and become enlightened about matters of life and death, in the manner that the wise people of the Netherlands are, where some amount of euthanasia is permitted.

If a person is not smart enough to be enlightened, then they need to let libs or lib created government make the decisions for them.

So, through my heavy sarcasm, you can see that the Schiavo case was not the simple family matter you profess it to be.

Happy New Year, Mask.

Posted by sjchermak at 01/01/2009 @ 5:59pm
BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.thestate.com/world/story/634467.html

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 8:40pm
BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It also ceased production of textbooks because there is no paper, ink or glue in Gaza. This will affect 200,000 students returning to school in the new year.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n01/roy_01_.html

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 8:43pm
EEK!

http://panzner.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451591e69e2010536a1f7a1970b-pi

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 9:31pm
if money were only worth something........

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/01/2009 @ 11:54pm
Posted by sjchermak at 01/01/2009 @ 5:59pm

Just glad to see you support "government interference" in family matters. Keep that in mind for the next disucssion on supporting sex ed or Federal health care.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 07:26am
Posted by PS at 12/31/2008 @ 10:39am

Very insightful observation.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 08:53am
So if Obama had invited a pastor who thought women were inferior to men and shouldn't have the right to vote...

people should be tolerant of that?

Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 11:52am

Yes. You should tolerate all non-violent faiths that respect the Constitution. So, if this religion preached that women should voluntarily relinquish their vote (or, more appropriately, follow their husband's directions with regard to voting), or that the Consitution should be amended to repeal the 19th (and probably 14th) amendments, these people should be tolerated.

This seems obvious to me. I think the problem is that by asking Warren to speak, it is perceived that he is being celebrated, not just tolerated.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 09:01am
How about a most idiotic list? I just heard Ms. Michelle Cabrera, CNBC, suggest to Harvey Pitt that the SEC shouldn't exist because they had failed to catch Madoff earlier. This gal has scrambled eggs for brains. How about that for logic? Between this gal and her mentor Lawrence Kudlow????? I guess I had better tune into Bloomberg.

Posted by julien38 at 01/02/2009 @ 09:05am
Posted by Mask at 12/31/2008 @ 3:32pm

Why do you keep bringing up Schiavo? How pathetic would I sound if I were to bring up Reno Kidnapping Elian Gonzolas three times a week?

No laws can capture every single possiblity. The Republicans in Congress thought Schiavo was the equivilent of the little girl trapped in a well and they tried to save her life. And they failed. For the people who supported the Republicans, they were trying to save a liFe. I suppose to you they look as stupid as the college kids wearing the Free Mumia t-shirts who think they are saving a life.

Look people make mistakes. If you make a mistake because you think you are saving a life, that's okay.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 10:05am
Darin-

1. So should a racist preacher from the Aryan Nation be tolerated at a Presidential inauguration?

2. The point was to point out how SJCHER is a classic Orwellian "1984" thinker of the post-Room 101 Winston Smith mode. He is told by Big Rushie to think to completely contradictory things, merely based on the ideological propaganda AND manipulation of Republicans and conservatives.

Same "principle" for Schiavo is completely reversed when it's "universal health care" or "teaching sex education." Same as LVLIB on the other thread....he comes up with a "liberal interpretation" of the Constitution when it comes to the powers of a President to start a war (in direct violation of the Congressional power to declare war)...

but reverses himself when it comes to liberal interpretations of "promote the general welfare" or the equal protection clause.

Re-read your Orwell and see if "IngSoc" was "AmerCon" (American conservatism) instead....and the "telescreen" was "Fox News Channel" and Hannity or O'Reilly...

if it wouldn't work.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 10:44am
John, John, John..

<<sigh>>

I suppose if you live to be 150 you will continue under the illusion that the 2000 election was stolen.

It was not stolen John.

The Supreme Courts intervention showed that the delicate checks and balances system here works. It's what keeps us from having all those nasty coups & revolutions & assasinations all the rest of the world has because they were unfortunate enough NOT to be blessed with the intelligent likes of the Founding Fathers.

Here's a good idea John. Just pretend Gore won. Pretend the Court was wise and simply declared him the winner.

It would have been the worst calamity to befall the country, especially given what we now know about his nation-crushing ideas about how to stop Global Warming, but it might make you feel better John.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 01/02/2009 @ 11:04am
Nichols is a very strange person. Making a Top 10 Progressive List is like making a list of the Most Significant Disasters of the Last 50 years. Every time he writes anything I feel the need to donate to the NRA.

Posted by sntauri at 01/02/2009 @ 11:10am
When this incredible offer hit my inbox, my first thought was that my good pal frosty was gonna want some of this action. ***********************************************************

http://shop.newsmax.com/shop/index.cfm? page=products&productid=635&s=al& promo_code=76B8-1

2009 Sarah Palin [pinup] Calendar

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Newsmax Price: $15.95 List Price: $15.95

The 2009 Sarah Palin wall calendar includes photos from her campaign trail, governorship, and family.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:14am
Darin-

1. So should a racist preacher from the Aryan Nation be tolerated at a Presidential inauguration?

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 10:44am

His presence tolerated? Yes.

Should the new President ask him to speak Probably not. Now, if he had done something terrifically heroic, like donate a kidney (or a heart- or soul) to save VP Cheney's life or something like that, you could let him give an invocation prayer so long as he kept his racial views to himself. (Not celbrated.) But definitely tolerated.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:22am
The point was to point out how SJCHER is a classic Orwellian "1984" thinker of the post-Room 101 Winston Smith mode. He is told by Big Rushie to think ...

Re-read your Orwell and see if "IngSoc" was "AmerCon" (American conservatism) instead....and the "telescreen" was "Fox News Channel" and Hannity or O'Reilly...

if it wouldn't work.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 10:44am

The difference between Rush and 1984 is that Rush and Fox have no guns. They have no State sanctioned power. The people drinking the Kool Aid do so voluntarily and not out of threats.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:27am
PDA is the most valuable political group? Surely you jest.

PDA is one of several groups that tried AND FAILED to move the Democrats to a progressive agenda. I would also list PFAW in the group. It's not that they don't MEAN well, it's just that, well, they can't get anything done.

The background problem is that the 2 party system is corrupt to the core and it needs to be smashed to bits. The 2 major parties will NEVER change the basic structure of our political system as long as they can get away with presenting us a binary choice every 2, 4, or 6 years. For example, if McCain offers a horrible health care plan, Obama just has to offer a SLIGHTLY better plan. Neither has to deliver because they are not held accountable. They just play a Punch-and-Judy game in the Congress and continue robbing you blind while using YOU for the puppets. Meanwhile, my COBRA expires and it now costs me $1200/month to insure 2 people.

The most valuable political group should be Stewart/Colbert and their support team, who raised America's political consciousness out of the stupor with jokes, much the same way The Smothers Brothers did back in the 60s. I still believe that Colbert's performance at the press dinner was one of the most courageous acts of defiance I've ever seen... not quite as big as staring down a tank in Tienanmen Square but somewhat the same.

-Wexler

Posted by WWWexler at 01/02/2009 @ 11:27am
Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:22am

I'll keep that handy for later use, Darin.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:27am

Applications of negative ideas don't have to "backed by the State" to still be negative, Darin. SJCHER and the ditto-heads may "choose" to be brainwashed, but that doesn't mean it's right.

And yes, I do use the term "brain-washed" deliberately due to the cult of personality attached to Limbaugh by his most devoted. Given their idolization and reverance of the man.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 11:56am
I suppose if you live to be 150 you will continue under the illusion that the 2000 election was stolen.

It was not stolen John.

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 01/02/2009 @ 11:04a

hear! hear!

everybody knows it was bought and paid for.

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:39pm
nation-crushing ideas about how to stop Global Warming,

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 01/02/2009 @ 11:04am

hear! hear!

why crush a nation when you CAN SQUISH A PLANET!

YOU should be president! save those pennies.

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:41pm
The 2009 Sarah Palin wall calendar includes photos from her campaign trail, governorship, and family.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 11:14am

thanks, darin.

i think i'll go for the reagan coffee mug, however.

i believe it comes with the koolaid factory installed.

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:46pm
And yes, I do use the term "brain-washed" deliberately due to the cult of personality attached to Limbaugh by his most devoted. Given their idolization and reverance of the man.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 11:56am

So then if you substituted the Limbaugh name and replaced it with Obama...

would you then have described the black voting block? The Main Stream Media? The "Prgressives"?

Posted by YourJomamma at 01/02/2009 @ 12:49pm
Every time he writes anything I feel the need to donate to the NRA.

Posted by sntauri at 01/02/2009 @ 11:10am

i didn't know they maintained a sperm bank......

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:50pm
Posted by YourJomamma at 01/02/2009 @ 12:49pm

So then if you substituted the Obama name and replaced it with Palin...

would you then have described the Desperate White Man voting block?

The Moose Fetish Media? The "Hokey Moms"?

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:53pm
HAPPY NEW YEAR, JM!

hope all are well....

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:54pm
would you then have described the Desperate White Man voting block?

The Moose Fetish Media? The "Hokey Moms"?

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:53pm

No, I would hope for a picture of her in a sexy pose with swimsuits...

Happy New Year to you , too...

Posted by YourJomamma at 01/02/2009 @ 1:29pm
Posted by YourJomamma at 01/02/2009 @ 12:49pm

Really? Obama talked about "family values" and then been thrice-divorced? Obama pushed for "tough drug laws" and "none of that namby-pamby rehab, put 'em in jail"...and then rapidly changed his tune when caught for "doctor shopping"?

Obama call Abu Ghraib a "brilliant manuever"?

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 1:35pm
i didn't know they maintained a sperm bank......

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 12:50pm

Thanks. That was a good laugh.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 2:05pm
Mask,

You said above "2. The point was to point out how SJCHER is a classic Orwellian "1984" thinker of the post-Room 101 Winston Smith mode. He is told by Big Rushie to think to completely contradictory things, merely based on the ideological propaganda AND manipulation of Republicans and conservatives. "

Wow! This is getting deep.

Mask, you are getting way ahead of yourself, or something here. Your stuff is starting to appear as schizophrenic as some of PhillipMcCrevice's stuff a few days ago.

Now, I am not as enlightened as you, (since I am not a lib), and I do not know who Winston Smith is or why he apparently left Room 101 (for that matter I have no clue what building Room 101 is in), but I sure do know B.S when I see it.

You would have no way of really knowing how I develop my thinking or where I get my ideas, but now you just keep redeclaring over and over again that Rush feeds them to me.

It's one thing if you are arguing back and forth with me and just trying to get my goat, but now you are talking to someone else and you make a comment about where I get information, and there are two things readily apparent:

1. You are pulling your ideas and thoughts out of your rear end.

2. In spite of that, for some reason now you actually believe the stuff you make up.

You are beginning to lose any grip you had on reality. You were actually better when you were doing the "truthiness" routine on purpose, because it was amusing to a degree.

But now I am worried about you. You had better check yourself in to a sanitorium of some kind and get help.

Or maybe The Nation could give you a job as a contributing columnist, like John Nichols is. You would fit right in, they might as well make your B.S. official!

And who is Winston Smith?

Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 2:51pm
Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 2:51pm

Well, okay, SJCHER....happy to be proven wrong.

Name 3 or 4 policy matters that Rush Limbaugh is wrong on? Or 2 or 3...

or one.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 3:02pm
FROSTY,

Damn, your right old boy. I SHOULD be President! I'll make it my New Years Resolution. :)

Happy New Year, old Boy, and I hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Chip

Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 01/02/2009 @ 3:08pm
Mask:

I would like to know:

Who is or was Winston Smith?

Where is Room 101?

What was the attraction about Room 101 to begin with, and what happened that caused Winston to leave it?

Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 3:24pm
Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 3:24pm

You've never read "1984"?!?!?!?

Just "The Way Things Ought To Be"?...heheh

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 3:44pm
http://politicalhumor.about.com /library/images/ blpic-limbaughmugshot.htm

"He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose.

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 4:06pm
Mask,

I must have read "1984" at some point in my life, but if I did it was so many years ago, probably in High School or College, that I can no longer remember the details whatsoever.

Remember, I'm not lib. My brain can only hold so much at one time, and I have to make sure to leave all available room for instructions from Rush.

Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 4:45pm
Feliz Ano Nuevo Amigas de Pais, er...The Nation

Just wanted to begin agreeing with you guys again here in the new year, as well as to give a big New Year's plug to, imho, THE MAN of critical commentary, Maddow's television mentor, Keith Olbermann.

His impassioned rants against the malefactors of this too corrupt and none too soon exiting Rovian regime were priceless pools of righteous indignation for we Jerry McGuire viewing, Michael Moore watching, Al Franken hearing, Bob Costas seeing, David Halberstam reading, and Obama voting former collegiate athletes "of a certain age."

Posted by lewwelge at 01/02/2009 @ 5:02pm
Posted by lewwelge at 01/02/2009 @ 5:02pm

Bob Costas? I saw him speak in person once. He is a totally normal human being; not a libral.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/02/2009 @ 6:00pm
Quaere: Valuable to *whom*?

Posted by WWW at 01/02/2009 @ 6:51pm
Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 4:45pm

Suffice it to say that post-Room 101 Winston Smith....

would be much like you and trying to say Rush was wrong about some policy matter.

Posted by Mask at 01/02/2009 @ 7:28pm
Now, I am not as enlightened as you, (since I am not a lib), and I do not know who Winston Smith is or why he apparently left Room 101 (for that matter I have no clue what building Room 101 is in), but I sure do know B.S when I see it.

Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 2:51pm

RATS!

Posted by frosty zoom at 01/02/2009 @ 7:42pm
Yes of course Bob Costas is "normal," and when he and his fellow broadcasting Gator colleague Chris Collinsworth get into dialog it's as edifyingly humorous as any witty badinage between intelligent and compassionate human beings, very often unrepentant liberals such as Nichols, et al, and we.

Posted by lewwelge at 01/03/2009 @ 10:11am
<i>Posted by sjchermak at 01/02/2009 @ 2:51pm </i>

SJ, I think you're missing a far, far better response to Mask here. Regardless of whatever other flaws you think his response has (including the assumption that you live on a diet of Limbaugh), a central problem with his response is that it commits the genetic fallacy. Whenever a person makes claims, and provides reasons to back those claims up, saying "you only believe that because of X" is never an adequate response. Why? Because it doesn't respond to the arguments themselves.

Suppose, just as a really extreme example, that Hitler (somehow alive) got up and declared that the US was acting immorally by not treating its prisoners and its homeless (or as some prefer, unhoused) people fairly. Would we call him out for a giant, steaming pile of hypocrisy? You bet we would. Would this invalidate the claims he was making? Not in the least. Arguments that are made either possess or lack merit independently of who happens to be articulating them.

What's the impact of this? Whether SJ just repeats arguments that Rush Limbaugh makes is completely irrelevant. In order to beat them, you actually have to, well, beat them.

Posted by Thrawn at 01/03/2009 @ 5:52pm
Posted by Thrawn at 01/03/2009 @ 5:52pm

My point specifically was on the CONTRADICTORY positions that SJCHER takes, that Limbaugh himself feeds out to his listeners.

Limbaugh tells them one thing on Tuesday...and another on Thursday...and ditto-heads like SJ spew them out and never realize the contradictions.

Specifically the example I cited about "universal health care" and "keep the Government out of your family's health care choices"...

or take how Limbaugh still feeds the 28% Club who think "Bush is a great President"...but ALSO think "Iran poses a grave threat to us"....as noted on antoher thread, so should Bush be ordering an attack on Iran? IF he is a great President and IF Iran poses a danger to us....wouldn't a "great President" be defending us against a "grave danger"?!??!?!?

Or the switch in Limbaugh's position on drug abusers....pre-Oxycotin exposure it was "lock 'em up"...later it was "rehab of course" and quietly dropping the subject. Or his constant references to Clinton's adultery....and quiet "memory hole" deposits of Limbaugh's THREE divorces.

A reader of Orwell would clearly see the "2 + 2 = 5" and "Oceania has ALWAYS been at war with Eurasia" analogy of Limbaugh and the "telescreen" aspect of his show (as well as Hannity, Beck, Savage, Fox News etc.).

Posted by Mask at 01/04/2009 @ 08:05am
Is it really possible that someone who takes the time to find and read the Nation has either never read or cannot remember "1984"?

Posted by Hllnd at 01/04/2009 @ 5:03pm
Posted by HAPPYLonghorn at 01/04/2009 @ 2:44pm

"for trying to negotiate an end to Iran's nuclear enrichment (likely weaponizing) activities?"

Oh, you mean we CAN negotiate with the Iranians and end their nuclear program, HAPPY?

When has Rush said that?

Posted by Mask at 01/04/2009 @ 10:01pm
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50405S20090105

Hey, congratulations. You guys stole another senate seat. Through illegal vote creation you overrulled the voters for the third time this decade (SD Senate; WA Governor; MN Senate).

And you still bitch about 2000 when the NYT spent 8 months with the ballots and conceded Bush won.

You guys are amazing in your adherance to Stalin; The person who counts the votes determines the winner.

Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/05/2009 @ 08:50am
Progressive means to be an angry, never satisfied, unhappy, judgmental, president disrespecting (unless they're Democrat), love animals more than people, nanny state dependent, earth worshiping, frothing at the mouth global warming believing, radical lifestyle promoting, traditional lifestyle hating, tax raising, intolerant wild-eyed fanatical "messiah" Obama cult member. Sounds like "Benito Mussolini" revisited......how'd that work out for him!

Posted by uPay2Play1 at 01/06/2009 @ 12:19am
Don't listen to these bozos. Joe Moore was a very good pick. He's with us in the streets with every antiwar protest, helped us get the Chicago city council to vote against the war TWICE, and does well by his Ward issues, too. To say he deals in machine politics is just another way of saying he's an Alderman in Chicago. --Carl Davidson, longtime Chicago guy, now in Western PA.

Posted by CarlD717 at 01/06/2009 @ 5:07pm