Glenn Beck could just as well have said to his supporters, "Me at last, me at last, thank God almighty ... it's me at last."
Glenn Beck, the far-right Fox News freak, held Beckstock this past weekend in Washington D.C. and delivered words that can best be characterized as "I Have A Scheme" for what it was worth when everything was said and done.
Here is how Beck might have closed his speech as he attempted to hijack the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over the weekend for his own nefarious, self-promoting purposes:
When all of God's children... White ones and gently tanned ones... Filthy rich and very rich ... Conservative and far-right extremist... Will be able to join hands and sing unto me in the words of that old right-wing spiritual ... Me at last... Me at last... Thank God Almighty ... It's me at last!
The Rev. Jesse Jackson speaks to a crowd in this photo.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson was in Detroit (where I was born and raised) over the weekend to march for awareness about issues of great importance.
Sadly, however, the march is not getting near enough attention as much of the nation focused on Beckstock, a production led by Fox News right-wing extremist and fearmonger specialist Glenn Beck. Beck's production, a scheme to grab attention, raise money (I'm sure Goldline is happy) and increase his fame, is a disgrace to everything Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for and died for more than four decades ago. Beck's disgraceful attempts to capitalize on the works and deeds of Dr. King are perhaps overshadowed only by his stunning ignorance of what Dr. King really stood for as he rallied millions.
Beckstock, or "I Have A Scheme" as some people have called his rally in Washington D.C., grabbed all the headlines while the Rev. Jackson marched in Detroit on important issues.
The chants of thousands of people demanding jobs filled the air downtown as UAW President Bob King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson led the crowd to Grand Circus Park.
The UAW and Jackson's Rainbow Push Coalition announced the Rebuild America: Jobs Justice Peace kickoff today at the downtown park.
Jackson said the focus of the initiative is to ensure policy makers put people first when making decisions. The initiative calls for a moratorium on home foreclosures, a push for job creation and for ending armed conflicts overseas.
"Detroit and Michigan are ground zero of the urban crisis," Jackson said. "It's time to enact real change for working families and all America."
About 30 percent of Detroit is unemployed, Jackson said. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also said Detroit was chosen as the kickoff site for the campaign because it is at the heart of the nation's economic fight.
It's great to see the Rev. Jackson marching on such an important issue in Detroit, a place where the message will have a strong impact. It might come as a shock to some people, but Rev. Jackson is about more than race issues. But, that is something you would never know listening and watching the mainstream media and far-right propagandists who seek to demonize him.
Here are some photos from the rally led by the Rev. Jackson as posted by the Detroit Free Press.
The sensationalism of Glenn Beck, promoted by the Republican party communication's team, Fox News, sells better than a march in Detroit for jobs and other forms of economic empowerment.
Many of us already know that Fox News is biased -- but it's actually much worse than that. For years they have used lies, distortions, and race-baiting to divide this country. Recently, it's gotten downright dangerous. Earlier this summer, a heavily armed man got into a gun fight with police after he was pulled over on his way to kill people at the Tides Foundation[1] -- an obscure non-profit that Glenn Beck regularly demonizes on his Fox News TV show.[2]
Fox News is bad news for America -- and it spreads, and is legitimized, partly through TVs in public places.
That's why I've joined the TurnOffFox campaign -- the first part of a larger campaign to diminish the influence of Fox. It's about educating people about Fox and getting it turned off in stores, restaurants, and other public places.
Will you join me? It takes just a moment to declare your own household "Fox free", and at the same time appeal to public establishments in your community to stop playing Fox. And you'll get a FREE Turn Off Fox sticker when you do. Click here:
No other news organization that's considered legitimate consistently wages smear campaigns based on lies and race-baiting. But for years Fox News has done exactly that, and the pattern has only gotten worse since Barack Obama entered national politics.
Here are just a few examples:
-- A frequent Fox guest, Jesse Lee Peterson, said that the majority of Black people have poor moral character, and cited "what they did to the dome" after Hurricane Katrina as evidence.[3] Peterson has also used his platform on Fox to claim that 90% of Black people are racists -- against Whites.[4]
-- In a case of naked race-baiting, Fox host Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" who had a "deep-seated hatred for White people or the White culture."[5] Earlier that week, Beck claimed that the President's health insurance reform proposals were a form of "reparations" designed to "settle old racial scores."[6]
-- Fox host John Stossel argued that the public accommodations section of the Civil Rights Act -- which prevents businesses from discriminating based on race, sex, and other factors -- should be repealed.[7]
-- Fox News hosts Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity were the first to air deceptively edited and incomplete video of Shirley Sherrod's remarks to the NAACP.[8] The video made it seem like Sherrod was confessing to using her position at the USDA to discriminate against White farmers, when she was really talking about the importance of overcoming prejudice. Sherrod lost her job over this misrepresentation, which Fox enthusiastically repeated without seeking the facts. Fox has since tried to pretend it had nothing to do with this smear -- but Fox is the number one reason these kinds of distortions and smears have any part in our national dialogue.
The examples above aren't even a tenth of Fox's vicious lies and smears, and over the years they've just gotten more brazen.
The goal of Turn Off Fox is to reduce the number of public TVs showing Fox News, while spreading the word about Fox's poison (and how it works) to those who don't know.
Signing up for the campaign is just the first step. We make it easy for you to tell us about businesses playing Fox. If you're willing to talk with them, we'll provide you with straightforward materials that explain why they shouldn't be a party to what Fox is doing. And if there are businesses you know that want to tell the world they would never play Fox, you can help them declare themselves a "Fox-free zone."
As businesses Turn off Fox and stand up as Fox Free, and as we encourage our friends and family to do the same, we'll help make clear, to people across the country, what Fox is about. And we'll reduce their ability to do harm.
Please join me in signing up for the TurnOffFox campaign:
Did you know that Glenn Beck is planning a rally to take place on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous 'I Have a Dream Speech'? What's more, Beck's rally is being held at the same location where King gave his speech in 1963 and will feature guests like Sarah Palin!
I just signed a pledge to stand with Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a just, diverse and equal society. We cannot let Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin destroy and distort King's vision. As King once said: 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter'.
Maybe Taylor was more clairvoyant than we all knew.
Sadly, there are thousands of people who will vote for this far-right Republican extremist, Carl Paladino, running to become governor of New York. It's stuff like this, what you will read below, that makes you wonder about the direction that some of the most extreme of the GOP seem to want to take this country.
Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino said he would transform some New York prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients, where they would work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training and take lessons in “personal hygiene.”
Paladino, a wealthy Buffalo real estate developer popular with many tea party activists, is competing for the Republican nomination with former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio. The primary is Sept. 14.
Paladino first described the idea in June at a meeting of The Journal News of White Plains and spoke about it again this week with The Associated Press.
Throughout his campaign, Paladino has criticized New York’s rich menu of social service benefits, which he says encourages illegal immigrants and needy people to live in the state. He has promised a 20 percent reduction in the state budget and a 10 percent income tax cut if elected.
This is the kind of negative stereotyping we're hearing and seeing from far too many people on the far right extreme of the political spectrum.
Notice how he links being a welfare recipient to all of these negative characteristics? He seems to see people on welfare as lazy, unmotivated and having poor hygiene. He wants to put their asses in "dormitories," get them "employment training" and get them "state-sponsored jobs." He wants to put them in dormitories? Hmm... I am guessing these will not be your college dormitories. I wonder ... is that similar to the way we wanted to put Japanese Americans in "resort communities" during World War II? The implications of what this man is saying is chilling and is beyond offensive.
I thought Republicans were all about government getting out of the lives of Americans? This GOPer wants to tell these Americans how they should live while putting them down as being lazy, as moochers, as dirty and so on and so forth.
Fox News has always been bias (as I've written here numerous times ... obviously), but Nathan Daschle (Democratic Governors Association) is correct in that now the network is just flat out funding the Republican efforts (specifically the Republican Governors Association) to defeat Democrats.
Again, Fox News is not even faking their far-right bias. The network is disgraceful as proven by its incredible silence.
Strangely enough, News Corp/Fox News is actually paying the Republicans for the rights to promote the GOP.
Eric Boehlert, of Media Matters, is right on the money with his analysis.
Sarah Palin seems to be OK with the word "nigger" but is not so cool with people saying the word "retarded" because it is offensive line "nigger" is to people. Huh?
Former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin continues to prove why a person would have to be a fool to think of this person as a legitimate candidate for the presidency of the United States of America.
There are people of color in America. We're not all white people, Sarah.
Lets face it, Palin symbolically spit in the face of black Americans recently with her absurd rush to defend the disgraced Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who viciously attacked a black female guest on her radio program who called in for help to set off a racial powder keg after she used the so-called N-word like 11 times during a verbal tirade on the air.
Dr.Laura:don’t retreat…reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence”isn’t American,not fair”)
Dr.Laura=even more powerful & effective w/out the shackles, so watch out Constitutional obstructionists. And b thankful 4 her voice,America!
Palin, posing as a constitutional scholar misleadingly advising us on the first amendment, rushes to the defense of Dr. Laura, who uttered "nigger" the way most humans use the word "the" in conversation. Palin didn't seem to have much of a problem with Dr. Laura dropping "nigger" left and right. Interestingly enough, Palin's defense of Dr. Laura is even more bizarre considering these words Schlessinger offered when Palin was named the vice presidential nominee:
I’m stunned – couldn’t the Republican Party find one competent female with adult children to run for Vice President with McCain? I realize his advisors probably didn’t want a “mature” woman, as the Democrats keep harping on his age. But really, what kind of role model is a woman whose fifth child was recently born with a serious issue, Down Syndrome, and then goes back to the job of Governor within days of the birth?
That Dr. Laura is quite the sweetheart, eh? Sarah sure knows how to pick 'em, huh?
It just goes to show that, for Palin, far-right politics trumps all else - even family.
You may recall that Palin had a fit and called for Rahm Emanuel, President Obama's chief of staff, to be fired for his use of the word "retarded" in a negative way a while ago.
At an August strategy session of liberal groups and White House aides, the Wall Street Journal recently reported, Emanuel told liberals they were "F-ing retarded" for planning to air attack ads against conservative Democrats opposed to health care reform.
Obviously, not good on Emanuel's part in this kind of a politically correct climate. Once upon a time, it might have been OK to use that word in that context, but not anymore (not in his kind of a high-profile position).
Palin, of course, launched a political nuclear war to score points for her side.
"Just as we'd be appalled if any public figure of Rahm's stature ever used the 'N-word' or other such inappropriate language, Rahm's slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities – and the people who love them – is unacceptable, and it's heartbreaking," Palin wrote.
"Heartbreaking," to Palin, is saying "retarded" in a way she sees as hurtful, but it's not apparently "heartbreaking" for "nigger" to be used in a way that is hurtful - if you're Sarah Palin.
Now, not to say Dr. Laura is a person of Rahm Emanuel's stature (spare me that argument Dr. Laura/Palin defenders), but it is kind of interesting to see Palin rush to the defense of someone using "retarded" which she seemed to put in the category of the so-called N-word.
BUT, when Dr. Laura used the N-word so often she sounded like a record on a player that was skipping, Palin did not seem to be quite so offended.
She told Dr. Laura, "don't retreat...reload." It seems that, in Palin's world, saying "retarded" is so horribly wrong and an offense worthy of termination, but "nigger" is no big deal and people who use it shouldn't back down, and instead would be advised to "don't retreat...reload."
This is a quote from Sen. John McCain after a State of the Union address from President Barack Obama as documented by the Republican public relations firm, Fox News:
Sen John McCain, R-Ariz., countering a stinging political attack by President Obama on Monday that Republicans, led by President George W. Bush, are to blame for the recession having driven America's economic car into the proverbial ditch, told reporters Tuesday, "George Bush looks like a piker compared to what has taken place since President Obama has come into the presidency. He can keep 'B.I.O.B.' no matter what it is, 'Blame it on Bush' - he can keep that up. The American people are going to hold him accountable this November, not an administration that went out of power more than a year ago."
Blame it on Bush, said McCain, one of the leading B.I.O.B. whiners. You see, Republicans feel it's wrong to blame all the "bad" things (soaring deficits, war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, a horrible economy, a damaged reputation for the United States, etc.) started during the previous administration on the former president.
On the other hand, McCain sees it differently when something is considered to have gone "well" that Bush started.
In John McCain's world, it's OK to celebrate President Bush's "accomplishments" from his eight years, but it's wrong to criticize him for the problems created during that same period.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is shown here in a photo with a black person. To many conservatives, that is evidence that you can't possibly have racial issues.
When a rich, celebrity radio show host goes on the air to say "nigger" as much as most people say "and" ... it comes down to simple freedom of speech.
BUT, when everyday people protest to express their dislike for such speech from an overpaid and out-of-touch media figure with a major platform ... that is not freedom of speech, but instead is nothing more than angry and hateful people usurping the rights of others.
So, apparently, Dr. Laura has freedom of speech to say "nigger" as often as she wants, but others do not have the right to go against Laura Schlessinger.
Schlessinger is giving up her show of her own free will. The freedom of speech that she used to say "nigger" 11 times is the same freedom of speech others used to protest her words.
It works both ways ... except in the world of Dr. Laura.
Sen. Harry Reid has come out against the building of a so-called mosque in New York near Ground Zero.
I've never been much of a fan of Sen. Harry Reid. Frankly, were he not running against a political nut (Sharron Angle) I would be pulling for his opponent (even a Republican).
The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, "The First Amendment protects freedom of religion. Senator Reid respects that, but thinks that the mosque should be built some place else."
How would Sen. Reid feel if someone said, "We support the right of Asians to eat wherever they want, but we just want them to eat someplace else?"
How would Sen. Reid feel if the people of Nevada said, "We support your right to run for public office, but we want you to do it in some other state?"
Once again, Sen. Reid proves weak and unreliable when it matters most. So often Harry Reid is in a position to do positive things and so often he predictably lets us down.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger is shown here in a screen grab from a Fox News program. Dr. Laura appears somewhat regularly on the network and the network ignores her repeated use of the so-called n-word in a venomous and racial rant.
Think Progressand News Houndsmakes an excellent point about the right and the far right going silent about the crazed rant of Dr. Laura Schlessinger who hysterically and repeatedly dropped the so-called n-word like it was her job.
What has Fox News had to say about Dr. Laura's rant ...
In recent months, Fox News (the public relations firm of the GOP) has made a point of digging up and pointing out as many cases as possible of black racism to scare white people.
Fox News is so quickto accuseblackpeople of racism against whites. Yet, as Think Progress reports, it has ignored Dr. Laura Schlessinger's on-air harangue with an African America caller in which Schlessinger repeatedly used the n-word (Huffington Post counted 11 times in 5 minutes). So where's the "fair and balanced" coverage? Nowhere to be found apparently.
Why has Fox News ignored the story? Perhaps because Schlessinger is a regular guest on the network. Just last year, Sean Hannity hosted the right wing radio host to promote her new book.
Perhaps, but perhaps it's because it is not aligned with the Fox News trend of reporting black racism.
Fox News has predictably been very quiet on this subject, but plays up everything even remotely negative said about their darling, former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (Fox actually pays Palin to, in essence, provide her a media platform to stay in the spotlight ... quite an arrangement when a PR firm pays to represent a client).
Frankly, I have never been much of a fan of Dr. Laura or other right-wing (she may not necessarily think of herself in this way) radio talk show hosts.
Dr. Laura really stepped in it and will probably hear the name "Jade" in her head for a long time as she also hears "nigger, nigger, nigger" repeated in her head for a long time to come.
On her talk show, a woman named "Jade" called to talk about some race-related issues she was having with some people she knew.
While "Jade" called and expected advice, she found herself in a defensive position as Dr. Laura greeted her with skepticism followed by scorn and then an outright attack. It was indicative of the culture of angry and older white conservatives. She was waiting to lash out. Poor "Jade" was the wrong woman in the wrong place at the wrong time.
SCHLESSINGER: Jade, welcome to the program.
CALLER: Hi, Dr. Laura.
SCHLESSINGER: Hi.
CALLER: I'm having an issue with my husband where I'm starting to grow very resentful of him. I'm black, and he's white. We've been around some of his friends and family members who start making racist comments as if I'm not there or if I'm not black. And my husband ignores those comments, and it hurts my feelings. And he acts like --
SCHLESSINGER: Well, can you give me an example of a racist comment? 'Cause sometimes people are hypersensitive. So tell me what's -- give me two good examples of racist comments.
CALLER: OK. Last night -- good example -- we had a neighbor come over, and this neighbor -- when every time he comes over, it's always a black comment. It's, "Oh, well, how do you black people like doing this?" And, "Do black people really like doing that?" And for a long time, I would ignore it. But last night, I got to the point where it --
SCHLESSINGER: I don't think that's racist.
CALLER: Well, the stereotype --
SCHLESSINGER: I don't think that's racist. No, I think that --
CALLER: [unintelligible]
SCHLESSINGER: No, no, no. I think that's -- well, listen, without giving much thought, a lot of blacks voted for Obama simply 'cause he was half-black. Didn't matter what he was gonna do in office, it was a black thing. You gotta know that. That's not a surprise. Not everything that somebody says -- we had friends over the other day; we got about 35 people here -- the guys who were gonna start playing basketball. I was going to go out and play basketball. My bodyguard and my dear friend is a black man. And I said, "White men can't jump; I want you on my team." That was racist? That was funny.
CALLER: How about the N-word? So, the N-word's been thrown around --
SCHLESSINGER: Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO, listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nigger, nigger, nigger.
CALLER: That isn't --
SCHLESSINGER: I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing; but when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing. Don't hang up, I want to talk to you some more. Don't go away.
I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger. I'll be right back.
Well, damn. Dr. Laura came back, but the break didn't cool her off. Her rant reminded me of Uncle Ruckus from the Boondocks:
Anyway, back to Dr. Laura. She came out of the break like Rocky Balboa came out of the corner against Clubber Lang in the decisive round in Rocky III.
SCHLESSINGER: I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger, talking to Jade. What did you think about during the break, by the way?
CALLER: I was a little caught back by the N-word that you spewed out, I have to be honest with you. But my point is, race relations --
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians.
CALLER: But that doesn't make it right. I mean, race is a [unintelligible] --
SCHLESSINGER: My dear, my dear --
CALLER: -- since Obama's been in office --
SCHLESSINGER: -- the point I'm trying to make --
CALLER: -- racism has come to another level that's unacceptable.
SCHLESSINGER: Yeah. We've got a black man as president, and we have more complaining about racism than ever. I mean, I think that's hilarious.
CALLER: But I think, honestly, because there's more white people afraid of a black man taking over the nation.
SCHLESSINGER: They're afraid.
CALLER: If you want to be honest about it [unintelligible]
SCHLESSINGER: Dear, they voted him in. Only 12 percent of the population's black. Whites voted him in.
CALLER: It was the younger generation that did it. It wasn't the older white people who did it.
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, OK.
CALLER: It was the younger generation --
SCHLESSINGER: All right. All right.
CALLER: -- that did it.
SCHLESSINGER: Chip on your shoulder. I can't do much about that.
CALLER: It's not like that.
SCHLESSINGER: Yeah. I think you have too much sensitivity --
CALLER: So it's OK to say "nigger"?
SCHLESSINGER: -- and not enough sense of humor.
CALLER: It's OK to say that word?
SCHLESSINGER: It depends how it's said.
CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
SCHLESSINGER: It's -- it depends how it's said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it's OK.
CALLER: But you're not black. They're not black. My husband is white.
SCHLESSINGER: Oh, I see. So, a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can't do much about that.
CALLER: I can't believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the "nigger" word, and I hope everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: I didn't spew out the "nigger" word.
CALLER: You said, "Nigger, nigger, nigger."
SCHLESSINGER: Right, I said that's what you hear.
CALLER: Everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: Yes, they did.
CALLER: I hope everybody heard it.
SCHLESSINGER: They did, and I'll say it again --
CALLER: So what makes it OK for you to say the word?
SCHLESSINGER: -- nigger, nigger, nigger is what you hear on HB --
CALLER: So what makes it --
SCHLESSINGER: Why don't you let me finish a sentence?
CALLER: OK.
SCHLESSINGER: Don't take things out of context. Don't double N -- NAACP me. Tape the --
CALLER: I know what the NAACP --
SCHLESSINGER: Leave them in context.
CALLER: I know what the N-word means and I know it came from a white person. And I know the white person made it bad.
SCHLESSINGER: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Can't have this argument. You know what? If you're that hypersensitive about color and don't have a sense of humor, don't marry out of your race. If you're going to marry out of your race, people are going to say, "OK, what do blacks think? What do whites think? What do Jews think? What do Catholics think?" Of course there isn't a one-think per se. But in general there's "think."
And what I just heard from Jade is a lot of what I hear from black-think -- and it's really distressting [sic] and disturbing. And to put it in its context, she said the N-word, and I said, on HBO, listening to black comics, you hear "nigger, nigger, nigger." I didn't call anybody a nigger. Nice try, Jade. Actually, sucky try.
Need a sense of humor, sense of humor -- and answer the question. When somebody says, "What do blacks think?" say, "This is what I think. This is what I read that if you take a poll the majority of blacks think this." Answer the question and discuss the issue. It's like we can't discuss anything without saying there's -isms?
We have to be able to discuss these things. We're people -- goodness gracious me. Ah -- hypersensitivity, OK, which is being bred by black activists. I really thought that once we had a black president, the attempt to demonize whites hating blacks would stop, but it seems to have grown, and I don't get it. Yes, I do. It's all about power. I do get it. It's all about power and that's sad because what should be in power is not power or righteousness to do good -- that should be the greatest power.
Dr. Laura fell into that old trap. I should be able to say "nigger" because black rappers and comedians (on HBO) say it.
One of the craziest things about her rant was how she acted as though she expected racism to vanish because Barack Obama was elected president of the United States of America.
In Dr. Laura's utopia, racism ceased to exist on election day in 2008. Apparently, racists did not get the memo. Never fear, however, because Dr. Laura excuses the racist to take aim at blacks who are just whiny and too damn sensitive about this racism thing.
Besides the fact that she apparently watches HBO a lot when they're using the "n-word", what have we learned about Dr. Laura?
She foolishly seems to believe racism ended when Barack Obama was elected;
Dr. Laura believes black people cry too much about racism;
Dr. Laura has little patience for black callers in need of help in race-related issues;
Dr. Laura thinks all black people are good at basketball;
Dr. Laura has black friends (or, at least one, and he works for her); and
Dr. Laura may have seen the movie "White Men Can't Jump";
Like all people who make foolish mistakes (compounded by callously attacking the caller after the caller was off the air) related to race, she apologized:
At least she didn't emphasize, in her apology, that she has black friends.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is taking heat after he told a crowd of supporters Tuesday that he doesn’t know "how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican."
Ah, so let the games begin.
Fox News, with all five minority Republican regulars on speed dial (I am being slightly sarcastic with the number ... slightly), finds one that seems most appropriate to respond: Marco Rubio, who is described by Fox News (leave it to this network to never resist an opportunity to promote one of its own) as "one of the GOP's rising stars."
If you're black, somewhat articulate (Jesse Lee Peterson is an exception that may have been sort of grandfathered in) and willing to say something bad about President Obama, at some point you will find yourself on Fox News.
I digress.
Anyway, here is some of what Rubio had to say, in response:
"You know, Americans of Hispanic descent, you know what the strongest issue there is? That is economic empowerment, upward mobility. There’s only one economic system in the world that that’s possible in, time and again, and that’s the American free enterprise system.
"And the reason why Americans of Hispanic descent should be Republicans is because the Democratic leadership is trying to dismantle the American free enterprise system. The point is he’s wrong."
OK, I was almost with Rubio until he got to the end and he turned hypocrite and tried to use Reid's comments to score political points against the Democrats."
Rubio had the moral high ground and blew it (like George W. Bush after 9/11) by turning the comments of Reid into some sort of opportunity to pull a cheap and ham-handed political stunt.
Rubio, why play politics with it?
Why be so stupid?
Rubio is upset because Reid expresses difficulty in understanding why Hispanics would support Republicans, but then turns around and basically tries to make the case for why Hispanics should not support Democrats and should run with the GOP.
No, Harry, you don't need to say more. In fact, please don't say too much more. As far as this issue, you've said enough. Democrats, still, are probably thanking their lucky stars that Reid's opponent, Sharron Angle, is a Tea Party nut. Angle makes Rand Paul look normal ... OK ... maybe not.
Still, with Angle as an opponent, it appears luck continues on Harry Reid's side. If he loses, and Angle wins, then luck runs out for the state of Nevada.
One has to wonder what was going through Palin's mind when she went to confront a woman holding a sign that read: "WORST GOVERNOR EVER!"The woman carrying the sign was Kathleen Gustafson, a school teacher in Alaska. I have to believe that Palin thought she had a chance to show some toughness by confronting a heckler of sorts. It also is reasonable to assume that the former governor turned Fox News personality (where all GOP presidential candidates get paid and receive a platform to stay in the public light) thought she had an easy mark with Gustafson.
But, Palin found out that Gustafson was maybe a little tougher than anticipated as a couple of stooges walked around and weakly attempted to shield Princess Sarah from the eye of the camera.
Palin appeared to laugh and roll her eyes when the woman said that she was a teacher.
GUSTAFSON: You swore on your precious Bible that you would uphold the interests of this state, and then when cash was waved in front of your face, you quit.
PALIN: OH, you wanted me to be your governor! I’m honored! Thank you!
GUSTAFSON: I wanted you to honor your responsibilities. That is what I wanted. I wanted you to be part of the political process instead of becoming a celebrity so that you could (inaudible). And if that’s the best you could do, then good for you. If that’s the best you could do.
PALIN: Here’s the deal. Here’s the deal. [...] That’s what I’m out there fightin’ for Americans to be able to have a Constitution protected so that we can have free speech…And also there…
GUSTAFSON: In what way are you fighting for that?
PALIN: Oh my goodness!
GUSTAFSON: In what way?
PALIN: To elect candidates who understand the Constitution, to protect our military interests so that we can keep on fightin’ for our constitution that will protect some of the freedoms that evidently are important to you too.
GUSTAFSON: By using your celebrity status, certainly not by political status.
Ted Olson, shown here in this photo, made easy work of Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, who weakly attempted to discredit Mr. Olson's position on Prop 8 in California.
Ultimately, however, it was clear that Wallace (in that old Fox News tradition) was merely advocating an extreme conservative agenda and Olson was a man who was in the way of this runaway far-right freight train.
Wallace's freight train, however, was derailed by a far superior intellect.
Olson, most famous for arguing victoriously for George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore at the U.S. Supreme Court 10 years ago (a ruling which essentially ended any chance of a recount and gave the election to Bush), was simply too tough for the overmatched Wallace (who must of inexplicably thought he had an easy Sarah Palin-like mark ... not that he would be tough on Palin).
Wallace became little more than an appetizer as, in futile fashion, he tried to trip up Olson. But, you don't send your local middle school team to play the NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers.
In this case, however, Fox News did just that with Wallace v. Olson.
When I think of all the haters coming out to take shots at first lady Michelle Obama for her trip to Spain it makes me laugh.
First off, I could care less where she goes on her vacation. It's her right to go on a vacation and, if she so chooses to go to Spain, then more power to her.
If the haters don't like it then they should get off their asses and do something so they can make such a trip ... and quit hatin' on the first lady. Rush Limbaugh, of course, wasted little time as he took his customary racial shot at Michelle Obama. Leave it to Limbaugh to turn someone taking a vacation into something that gives him a green light to introduce slavery, reparations, yadda, yadda, yadda...
They cried when Obama went to Hawaii to visit his sick and dying grandmother.
Basically, they want him to stay in the White House and maybe go to Chicago once in a while.
So, get used to it Obamas.
This is the kind of haterism that exists these days.
It all got me to thinking about a blast from the past.
This whole nontroversy reminds me of the opening from the 2Pac rap, "Holla at Me." (Parental guidance suggested):
Niggas out there jelous cuz we be bailin' with Death Row They try to playa hate but they can't fade us tho' We be mobbin' through tha neigborhood Yeah with that funky sound (so funky) we be throwin' down)
That's right Michelle ... keep throwin' down. Let the haters hate and let the players play.
This is kind of a fascinating story I found at the blog Booker Rising that got me to thinking about how conservatives always accuse non-conservative blacks of playing the mythical "race card."
The so-called "race card" was brought up again as part of a political battle being fought in Arizona's third congressional district in a Republican primary. The battle is between Ben Quayle (who is white), son of former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle, and a man named Vernon Parker, who happens to be black (you will see the significance of the racial factors quite quickly).
The two are going at it and have exchanged more than a few jabs that you can read about in the link provided below. But, something significant was said by Ben Quayle, who uttered the following: "(Parker could) quickly become the national poster boy for the Democratic Party" when it comes to unethical politicians."
Parker's camp soon claimed racism. I didn't see it or hear it at first, but whatever.
Quayle said if Parker wins the primary election he would be a “national poster boy” for the Democratic Party, paving the way for a Democrat, presumably Jon Hulburd, to win the general election.
That’s when things got dirty.
Parker spokesman Jason Rose issued a press release saying Quayle called Parker “boy,” a racially charged word against African Americans.
“To have the 33-year-old son of one of the wealthiest families in America refer to a leading Republican African American as ‘boy’ is over the top,” Rose said.
The only thing “over the top” is Rose issuing that statement.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. ‘Poster boy’ has absolutely no racial content to it. It was just to say that if elected in the primary then he would be somebody who was emblematic of bad ethical behavior,” Quayle said.
OK, now I get it. I don't agree with it, but at least I understand where the Parker folks are coming from with the allegation.
Normally, I do not waste a lot of time on this blog discussing much of anything that comes out of Fox News far-right commentator Glenn Beck's toilet of a mouth.
Fox News doesn't miss many opportunities to race bait (easy to do when you have as your stars the likes of Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity).
First and foremost, I do not consider Beck to be anymore than any entertainer (I don't find him the least bit entertaining, but I understand that some people do) who is given a platform on a "news" channel. To me, Glenn Beck is no different than WWE ... there are elements of realism, but his goal is only to entertain a particular audience by stirring them up into a frenzy. Largely for that reason, I tend to avoid pointing out the offensive things that come out of his disgusting mouth. A secondary reason I avoid trying to document all his offenses against journalism, human decency and humankind is because ... I simply don't have the time to document all of his ignorant wickedness (I leave it to the experts at Media Matters for America).
Recently, however, Beck said something that crossed a line (he is an expert at crossing racial lines) even by his deplorable standards. "It's like the damn Planet of the Apes," he said. It was no accident he made that comment. The same moron who once insanely insisted that President Obama was a racist, once again used race to attack, but this time in a subtle (some might argue not so subtle) fashion.
Either Glenn Beck is the biggest idiot on television (entirely possible) or this was another attempt to use race to take a shot at people of color. Now, I suppose, the answer could be just a little bit of both. Perhaps Beck is a complete tool (as friends I know might say). But, I see little reason to doubt that he relishes opportunities to take jabs at black people. No matter how many fake-ass black men and women he brings on his show to make him look less racist or racially insensitive (depending on how you view), his true colors show through.
In this case, he used a comment that is just as likely to be uttered on the Stormfront Web site or at a Klan rally to attack black people.
It reminded me of a powerful scene from the film in the outstanding 1989 Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing.
The character Pino had a lot of hate built up inside of him. In this scene, somewhat relaxed in the beginning, his hatred comes through.
Glenn Beck and Pino, it seems, have plenty in common. Sadly, Pino is a fictional character in a movie. Beck is a Fox News character, but is far too real for many of us.
Former half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, currently working with her public relations firm (Fox News), had some interesting comments directed at President Obama.
Sarah Palin says President Obama doesn't have "the cojones" to effectively address the issue of illegal immigration.
The ex-Alaska Governor fired the shot by drawing a comparison between the president and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" over the weekend.
"Jan Brewer has the cojones that our President does not have," Palin said. "If our own president will not enforce a federal law, more power to Jan Brewer."
She likes Brewer's balls more than Obama's balls.
Gov. Palin, with all due respect, get off his jock.
If Gov. Palin, a tea bagger hero, spent as much time studying up on her facts (instead of writing down notes and writing on her hand) as she does worrying about the president's balls, perhaps she would be better respected.
Conservatives have been whining about the protests taking place in Arizona as a result of the ill-conceived SB-1070 (in essence a license to racially profile people of Latin American descent disguised as a method for combating "illegal immigration" in the state).
But, for as much as those on the right complain about the protests, some right wingers within the state of Arizona are doing more damage to hurt their state.
This is a small piece of what Republican Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer had to say as she was quoted in the Arizona Guardian.
Appearing on a local television show Sunday morning, Gov. Jan Brewer described how bad Arizona's illegal immigration problem has gotten.
"Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," she said.
People who defend Jan Brewer generally will condemn liberals (who oppose this law) for demonizing Arizona. It seems Gov. Brewer is doing more to demonize Arizona than anyone else ever could if it was their sole objective in life.
The governor is talking about dead bodies buried or lying out and bodies that have been beheaded. With friends like this Arizona hardly needs protesters.
Today, when pressed by guest anchor Harry Smith on CBS’ Face the Nation, SB-1070 supporter Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) called the reports a “gross generalization”:
SMITH: One of the things that’s come to light over the past last couple weeks is that in some of these border towns that were thought to be susceptible to lawbreaking of illegal immigrants. Crime is actually down. Crime in Phoenix for instance is down significantly over the past couple of years.
KYL: Well, that’s a gross generalization. Property crimes are up, certain violent crimes on certain parts of the citizenry are up. Phoenix is a very large source of kidnapping. It’s called the kidnapping capital of the United States…So there’s a great deal of violence and crime associated with illegal immigrants.
Sen . Kyl seems a little overly excited to talk about crime being up and hailing Phoenix as the "kidnapping capital of the United States." Is this going to be a promotional tactic of a convention and visitor bureau in Phoenix ... Come to Phoenix and you too can be kidnapped? (Note: Sen. Kyl's assertions are strongly disputed).
Gov. Brewer and Sen. Kyl are going out of their way to make Arizona look like a frightening place with beheadings, dead bodies lying around, drugs, property crimes going up and violent crimes going up, Phoenix being the kidnapping capital of the United States, etc.
Glenn Beck could just as well have said to his supporters, "Me at last, me at last, thank God almighty ... it's me at last."
