Sarcasm likilihood in May Reddit comments

This Morning in the TweeParty

Apparently, there's some drama in Alaska surrounding the "Lamestream Media":

@LibertyLynx: Thanks idiot progs, CBS NON-journalists AND smugbot Amanpour et al! You basically just guaranteed a Joe Miller win!!! Yay!!! #teaparty

@blcamp: Liberals are imploding all over the nation, desparate as all hell. Look at what's happening with the reporters up in Alaska. #tcot #teaparty

And they're wound up about Stewart and Colbert:

@grivno: Wow. If discouraged Americans get a whiff of that Colbert/Stewart pompous arrogance on display yesterday.... oy. #Teaparty #tcot #sgp

Not surprisingly the voter fraud hysteria has continued:

@Dataaide PLS watch your polls! Grassroots org Uncovers Large Amnt of Voter Fraud in Houston !- http://www.truethevote.org/ #tcot #teaparty #vote

@GregWHoward: 27% Believe in Ghosts http://t.co/qIOWKpq but 100% of Dem candidates rely on them #tcot #ocra #sgp #p2 #tlot #phnm

@dhrxsol1234 Dems believe in GHOST voting! #tcot #teaparty #gop #sgp

And the racism has gotten thick at the end of the links: http://bit.ly/bRMKyP (Truth here: http://bit.ly/bbMVlq)

Meanwhile, actual candidates are getting in the act:

ed4congress Voter Fraud: What to look for, what to do - http://ow.ly/328LX #TeaParty #MO3 #StLouis #TCOT

And frighteningly, after the media is destroyed, these idiots intend to target our schools:

@EighthSign Two days until old media, as an indoctrination tool of the socialist left, is declared impotent. #teaparty Public education is next!

I guess because of their Islamophobia (or something):

@Kiowah: 'Islam At Gates Because Of Collapse Of West' ~ http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=221305 #tcot #ocra #teaparty #patriot

Meanwhile, the top tweeple continue to push failed ideas:

@ObotNot: Deregulation, Not Renewable Energy Mandates, Will Best Protect Both Economy and Environment http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/deregulation_not_renewable... #p2 #tcot #teaparty #ocra

And project socialism onto the most pragmatic administration in a generation:

@JosephAGallant: The Obama's donate 1% of their income to charities and 100% of your Tax Money to everyone else. #tcot #p2 #teaparty #Politics #independents

@AlinskyDefeater: Saying NO to socialism and failed policies is not obstructionist, it is your patriotic duty. #ocra #tcot #TWISTERS

Interestingly, they've rediscovered the sources of their own "anti-communist" rhetoric and point to it as proof of Obama's communist plan to destroy America:

@_Pro_America: #Obama is a repeat of #communist #history: This 1939 Chicago Tribune cartoon proves it http://twitpic.com/12vvmt #tcot #cwot #tlot #teaparty

Then they evoke their favorite model of policy, France, to agree with Obama on a blended energy solution, but as an implicit attack on Obama:

@GeneTaylorUSA: 78% of France's power comes from NUCLEAR generation. Why not America? teaparty #twisters #912 #tcot #ocra #sgp #patriot #ampat

Scared yet? What until Wednesday, then.

This Morning in the TweeParty

The TweeBaggers are in a good mood this morning:

CSteven WARNING! If you get an email that says "Pelosi Naked" DO NOT OPEN! It really IS a pic of Pelosi naked #tcot #ocra #teaparty #twisters #ampat

7Lynwood Since science has doc'd. Liberals have a defective gene, do they Q. for Hndicpt. bennies? --> http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/weird/Scientists-May-Have-IDd-Lib... #hhrs #twisters #tcot

Mister_T_Bone Q. How do you starve a liberal? A. Put his foodstamps under his work boots. #humor #tcot #teaparty #tlot

dhrxsol1234: Keep voting legal==>Wear an I.C.E. t-shirt to the voting polls and watch the Dems scatter!! #tcot #teaparty #gop #sgp #ocra #wasen

Ha, ha! Get it! Liberals are lazy foreign retards who look horrible naked!

Oh, and they're still obsessed with imagined voter fraud:

gailtalk Dems Final Recourse:Massive Vote Fraud http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/10/the_democrats_final_recour... Stealing votes threatens the republic itself. In a saner time .. #tcot #teaparty

brooksbayne: Voter Fraud Watch: A Primer on What to Watch For http://grf.me/Dk6 #tcot #teaparty

As I've mentioned repeatedly, the voter fraud crap is hysterical nonsense:

TheLoki47: I know objective reporting is not hip, but TPM has a non-hysterical site for voter fraud stories http://bit.ly/bbMVlq #teaparty #tcot #tpp

This Morning in the TweeParty

This morning, the Tea Party has a serious obsession with imagined "voter fraud"

OGDoccat: The #election theft is under way - TPN: http://www.teapartynation.com/forum/topics/the-election-theft-is-... #teaparty #tcot #pollsters #November #ocra Conservative #republican #FNC #GOP

BACFA Liberals are violating the civil rights of voters by encouraging illegal votes #teaparty #tcot @gopleader #gop #vote #vote2010 #gotv2010

JosephAGallant Sharron Angle campaign: Reid’s trying to steal the election by hook or crook « Hot Air: http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/26/sharron-angle-campaign-reid... via @addthis #teaparty #gop

Wilfner Voting Machine Irregularities - Machines Changing Votes From GOP to Dem (Video) http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/10/voting-machine-irreg... #teaparty #anystreet #twisters

dhrxsol1234 There will be voting recounts and missing ballots "found" (WATCH CLARK COUNTY) !!! until Reid wins! #nvsen #tcot #teaparty #gop #sgp

dhrxsol1234: There will be voting recounts and missing ballots "found" (WATCH KING COUNTY) !!! until Patty wins! #wasen #wcot #tcot #teaparty #gop #sgp

LibertyPundits: Systematic absentee-voter fraud uncovered in #PA http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/patriotroom/eKBL/~3/QAxQWglp18I/?u... #tcot #tpp #teaparty

But don't worry, there's an app for that:

Jess_Bradford: Download the American Majority Action Voter Fraud app for your droid or iphone & stop #voterfraud http://bit.ly/cqW7ar #tcot #tpp #majority

AM_National: Protect your rights, check out @amaction's new Vote Fraud App http://ourameri.ca/VoteFraudApp #tpp #majority #tcot

This is what they do every cycle. As I've mentioned repeatedly, it's not just hysteria, it's a motivator for real GOP-driven voter suppression.

On Communication Across the Gap

I've taken to Twitter recently to see how ideas spread. Twitterfall is pretty cool if you want to follow some hash tags.

At any rate, I was involved tonight in a conversation indicative of the rhetorical divide in the country right now. The conversation eventually grew beyond the scope of 140 characters, so I've continued here.

I'm new to Twitter. I'm operating on the assumption that this conversation is OK to reproduce, since we both have public profiles.

TheLoki47: http://huff.to/cxhxNN // #teaparty and #tcot xenophobes and #gzmosque opponents make no sense, but wonder why we think they're bigots.

HRearden51: @TheLoki47 //we don't wonder. We know you're just too stupid to mount an intelligent argument.

TheLoki47: @HRearden51 // Clearly ad hominem and consistency are not your complaints, since your sensitivity argument is awfully PC! #tpp #tcot #p2

HRearden51: @TheLoki47 //Read this then get back with me. Arguments such as yours are diversionary at best. Dishonest at worse. http://bit.ly/9A8Qsn

TheLoki47: @HRearden51 // I've read that. It's still xenophobia until the argument is more than THEY attacked US. If it's a diversion drop it #gzmosque

HRearden51: @TheLoki47 //No . It's just inappropriate to build it there. Calling opponents bigots and racist is intellectually derelict.

TheLoki47: @HRearden51 // I see. THEY attacked US. Got it. #gzmosque #tcot #p2

HRearden51: @TheLoki47 //You're not making sense. Speak to the propriety.

TheLoki47: @HRearden51 // Now you're not making sense. Where's the "propriety clause" in the 1st amendment? #gzmosque #park51 #tcot

HRearden51: @TheLoki47 There you go. Diversion...or dishonest? If you want to engage me, you'll have to be more honest. 1st amendment is not at issue.

Despite the fact that we begin the conversation with greetings such as "bigot" and "stupid", there is clearly a serious attempt to grapple with the issues here. And, of course, I take HReardon51 at his word that he is sincere in his pursuit of engagement.

But the fact is there can be no engagement, due to radically different assumptions. Indeed, this debate has everything to do with the First Amendment. Since I think much of the defensiveness on both sides comes from the characterizations coming from the other, I will restrict myself to my own position (rather than trying to discern the motives behind those put forward on the other side). To paraphrase, my stance on the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" issue would run as follows:

Since the First Amendment provides for the free exercise of religion, attempts to block religious activity must be motivated by specific concerns about that activity--concerns sufficient to override constitutional protection. At the very least, this means that the burden of proof in this argument lies with those who oppose Park51 and this burden has yet to be met. Until then, there is no "issue" to be addressed.

There is little flexibility afforded to Park51 opponents in this stance. Park51 does not need to argue why they should be allowed t0 build there--opponents need to argue why they should not. To date they have not done so.

I understand that this may be frustrating to those with sharp feelings about Islam or 9/11 (or whatever it is that offends them, in particular) but that's hardly an argument to roll back constitutional protections. The First Amendment, the top priority of the anti-Federalists, protects everything from Salman Rushdie, Draw Mohamed Day and South Park's Mohamed episode to Park51 and the Scientologists. And sometimes people will be offended, but so what?

So, no HReardon51, I don't think you're a bigot. But I'm struggling to understand what your argument might actually be. Since Park51 is not al Qaeda, it is very easy for me to draw the conclusion that you are saying their rights should be abridged simply because they are Muslim. Surely that's not what you're saying. Right?

RIP Senator Byrd

For those of you who are not yet aware who we lost last night (and especially for those of you who are):




Biggest loss since Wellstone. We'll miss you, Senator.

Tribal Racism in the New Right

I've mentioned the teabagger/birther heroes "Oath Keepers" before:

Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, veterans, Peace Officers, and Fire Fighters who will fulfill the Oath we swore, with the support of like minded citizens who take an Oath to stand with us, to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our Oath is to the Constitution

Our motto is "Not on our watch!"

They've got a particularly widespread fantasy that the government is about to start rounding people up and putting them in detention camps (or something ... Wooolverines!!!):

[...]

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control."

[...]

So, I wonder how they'll react to this:

Arizona state Treasurer Dean Martin, a Republican candidate for governor, called on Tuesday for the creation of statewide tent cities to house the expected increase in the number of illegal immigrants expected to be arrested under the state’s controversial new immigration law.

I'm just kidding ... I know how they'll react. Freedom with these teabagger types is not the Negative Rights of egghead libertarians, it's local control on issues of ethnic, religious and cultural homogeneity.

25 Years since MOVE

If you have to ask, you need to watch this segment:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Great American Novel

I can't wait for the new National album, which you can preview here. (If you're expecting genius, listen to Bloodbuzz Ohio). These guys see America as it is:

It was supposed to be the National’s moment. After years of mostly anonymous struggle, the National’s two previous albums, “Alligator” (2005) and “Boxer” (2007), were so full of strangely isolated songs about friendship, romance and work that they had created for this new release the sort of expectant critical murmur that has been rare to hear since the end of the age of record shops. “Alligator” and “Boxer” did what excellent rock ’n’ roll albums did in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s: transcended the sum of their singles to offer something larger. In the National’s case, it was a powerful, probing feeling for the inner lives of average people out in the American heartland. So good was the music that with it came the promise of what might follow, the heady potential that the National would soon take things one step further, go ahead and make the great Middle American novel as music, an album for our time.

[...]

With the National, it’s never only rock ’n’ roll. Watching them record a song is like looking on as a group of skilled chefs make a sandwich together; even in a B.L.T., they can foresee endless possibilities. They are now five men in their mid- to late 30s, with mortgages, children, wives or serious girlfriends and musical tastes that have likewise settled into convictions. Each National song is a microbatch creation integrating their obsessive, often-diverging feelings about rock ’n’ roll. These range from the formally inventive, high-art aspirations of Bryce to the garage-band purism of Matt, who, Aaron says, “is all about if there’s heart or purpose in it. He has no interest if it’s theoretical.” By striving to accommodate these disparate points of view, the National gets what all bands want and few achieve, a sound of its own. Michael Stipe, the lead singer of R.E.M., told me that when he took Mike Mills, R.E.M.’s bass player, to hear the National perform in London, it took Mills only half of one song to exclaim, “This is the most amazing thing I’ve heard in years.” Stipe explains: “It’s instantaneous. It touches you.”

THE NATIONAL SOUND has a layered, seductive quality that is filled with intimate male feeling and uneasy cinematic portent: a storm coming up outside the window; leaves blowing in the road. It’s distinctive music born of an apparent limitation — Matt’s voice. His is a classic baritone with a resonant, melancholy timbre, but it lacks range and tonal variation; Matt often half-talks his vocals in the style of singers like Tom Waits and Nick Cave. Over the years, the band’s solution has been to create shifting instrumental shapes and colors just beneath the vocals. The twins’ signature is a hocketing guitar line, their instruments chiming in and out, mirroring each other as they share the melody. All the intersecting sounds mesh with Matt’s voice in a way that seems to deepen his texture, and with repeated listening the songs achieve emotional intensity. In part this is because the drums are given unusual prominence. A very good drummer controls the beat; a better one defines it. When Bryan’s cymbals splash in a song about a rainy-day loss of faith, you don’t just hear the water; you see a thousand dead umbrellas. Since Matt excels at writing about sensitive people whose lives slump within that chapfallen key, the result is songs that are rich with mood, slow-cooked all the way down. [Emphasis mine.]

Every word is true. There is nothing like it. (OK, maybe Springsteen, but not since the 80s.) Boxer and Alligator are religion. Of course, what do you expect from Midwestern expatriate Gen-Xers?

Update: Musically, very good. Viscerally, though, it falls short of Alligator and Boxer. I'll have to see how it wears with repeated listening.

Quote of the Month

"If anyone this conspicuously unintelligent has ever sought national office, I can't think of who he/she is." Benen (on Palin).

A Well-Regulated Revolution

These people are fucking retarded:

"It is our own fault that we are in this situation," Vanderboegh intends to tell those assembled, according to a draft of his remarks. "Each time these revolutionists of gradualism against the Founders' Republic took another bite out of the Constitution and shoved us back from the natural exercise of our God-given and inalienable rights, we have backed up, grumbling. We have not shoved back."

Gravelly Point, where the demonstrators will take turns going to from Fort Hunt, was chosen because it is as close to the District as they could get while carrying guns and also comply with local and Interior Department regulations.

When they stand on the river banks Monday and preach an activism that sounds to some like sedition, the armed demonstrators will have the full support of the federal government they fear, carefully detailed in the 26-page event permit, complete with the gun regulations of both Virginia and the Interior Department and a commitment to provide fencing, barricades and bike racks for the event.

"We handle tens of thousands of demonstrations of a First Amendment nature annually," said Dave Schlosser, spokesmen for the U.S. Park Police, "and we are handling this event no differently than any of the others. We assess what their needs are to allow us to facilitate a safe and successful demonstration so they can exercise their rights to free speech and free assembly without interference." [Emphasis mine.]

This would be hilarious, if it weren't so damn dangerous.

Point of Personal Privilege

Thank you, Steve!



Detroit will rise again.

But I Said Taxes!!!

The empty rhetorical trick of comparing taxes to tyranny has finally worn too thin to be tolerated by those of us interested in actual problem solving. Tom Schaller simply destroys Jonah Goldberg today:

Goldberg says he "bring[s] this up because many in the Democratic Party and in the news media have a hard time understanding what the 'Tea Party' crowd is talking about when it complains of incipient tyranny and intrusive government." Yes, many of us do, including that uber-Democratic media maven and former Reaganite Bruce Bartlett, who surveyed tea partiers and discovered they have no idea what the true tax burden in the country is. Their average response for what share of GDP goes into the (federal) public sector was 42 percent--more than twice what it actually is.

However, trying to engage Goldberg in an intellectually honest discussion seems like a futile effort at best. He's never struck me as anything more than a partisan/ideological hack, just like his mother.

Return of the Pragmatic Conservative

It looks like Frum is leading the charge. Another conservative speaks out:

I am an old Republican. I am religious, yet not a fanatic. I am a free-marketer; yet, I believe in the role of the government as a fair evenhanded referee. I am socially conservative; yet, I believe that my lesbian niece and my gay grandchild should have the full protection of the law and live as free Americans enjoying every aspect of our society with no prejudices and/or restrictions. Nowadays, my political and socio-economic profile would make me a Marxist, not a Republican.

[...]

I did not like Medicaid and Medicare when they were passed. I was opposed to them. Maybe I was too young, too strong, and too ideologically confined. Yet, over the years, I saw how Medicare helped millions of elderly Americans. I saw how Medicare helped my mom in her final years battling emphysema caused by years of smoking. You have to be blind to oppose those programs. You have to be blind to wish for the suffering of millions of Americans just because you believe in personal responsibility.

[...]

Then something happened in the 1990s. The leaders of the GOP grew belligerent. They became too religious, almost zealots. They became intolerant. They began searching for purity in Republican thought and doctrine. Ideology blinded them. I continued to vote Republican, but with a certain unease. Deep down I knew that a schism happened between the modern Republican Party and the one I grew up with. During the fight over the impeachment of President Clinton, the ugly face of the Republican Party was brought to the surface. Empty rhetoric, ideological intolerance, vengeance, and religious zealotry became the common currency. Suddenly, if you are pro-choice, you could not be a Republican. If you are for smart and sensible taxes to balance out the budget, you could not be a Republican. If you are pro-civil rights, you could not be a Republican.

It started with minorities: they left the party. Then women; they divorced the GOP and sent it to sleep on the couch. Then, the young folks; they left and are leaving the Republican Party in droves. Then, someone stood up and told my niece and my grandchild that they are not fully Americans — just second class Americans because they are homosexual. They wished hell and damnation upon my loved ones just because they are different. Are we led by priests or are we led by rational politicians? Now, we have became the party of the Old Straight White Folks. We should rename the Republican Party the OSWF rather than the GOP.

[...]

We are living through tough times. We are being challenged like I have never seen America being challenged before. China is a formidable foe, and it is out there competing against us on every field and beating us on several fronts. While our education budgets are being slashed in every state across the nation, China is doubling and tripling theirs. These are the challenges and challengers that we are facing. And we need our best and brightest to lead us, not a half-term governor or radio/TV talking heads.

Maybe I am too old and too cynical, but I think the Republican party is in the last stages of agony. If nothing happens, we might win an election or even two, but in the long run we will lose America.

GOP Projection

If you want to see GOP projection at its finest, I suggest reading Breitbart's latest shitpile:

The first Alinsky president is now using surrogates to split this nation into two hostile parties so he can puppeteer the have-nots against the perceived haves.

[...]

Linking the health-care bill, which has nothing to do with black and white, to the divisive civil-rights period, while simultaneously accusing its opponents of being racist, is an evil strategy — literally. Charles Manson would approve.

[...]

The media is doing their job for them by speaking of an unhinged white Tea Party mob. Absent any evidence other than creatively selected hand-crafted signs from the fringe of the audience that are presented to represent the whole, the media is simply repeating assumptions that Democrats and media elites have against fly-over types. What we have here is hardcore media elitism mixed with politically correct class warfare.

[...]

Change the subject, misdirection, their side caught with their pants around their ankles, don’t look there media, there’s nothing to see here.

[...]

The Democratic party has been exposed as trying to create a Kristallnacht to save the Obama presidency along the fault line of race and the essence of the First Amendment. If the GOP does not have the intestinal fortitude to fight back, a growing number of disenchanted and disenfrachised Tea Party participants will have to do it themselves.

[...]

The only good thing to come of this is that we can now officially put to rest the laughable notion that Obama was going to be the first post-racial president.

I imagine it's really painful to be so full of shit. How do we know Breitbart is full of shit? Because he continues to lie about the ACORN affair :

I am still dealing with the same press telling me we didn’t prove that ACORN was aiding and abetting criminal activity because we “did not provide enough audio and video evidence.” (Insert laugh track.)

And objective third-party evidence to the contrary continues to accumulate. The Attorney General of California concurs:

While the secretary of state's office found four instances of voter fraud in San Diego during the 2008 election campaign, the attorney general's report found no "evidence of actual fraudulent votes being cast."

Brown's office did not determine whether the filmmakers violated the state's privacy laws but criticized them for creating "heavily edited films" that overstated the goings-on at ACORN.

"The evidence illustrates," Brown said, "that things are not always as partisan zealots portray them through highly selective editing of reality. Sometimes a fuller truth is found on the cutting room floor."

Objective facts illustrate that the ACORN tapes were entirely fabricated! Nevertheless, Breitbart sees his treatment on that matter as a double standard:

Is there not a blatant double standard at play here? Nancy Pelosi tipped her hand that race was a central part of her strategy. She invoked the Civil Rights Act and compared it with the universally reviled health care bill. Her caucus is doubling down on the civil-rights rhetoric. There are no coincidences. [Emphasis mine.]

It's amazing how often their line of attack betrays subconscious guilt. But why spend all morning on Friday writing an essay arguing that the Democrats are engaged in aggressive propaganda efforts to discredit the Tea Party? Easy ... to rationalize the next move:

Who is calling the shots here? Is it the White House, by way of Chicago? Or is it Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? The press refused to tell you the truth about this president. It refused to tell you of his proud adherence to the teachings of the original Chicago “community organizer” Saul Alinsky. We have now entered the first full-fledged Alinsky presidency. The only way to beat Alinsky is with Alinsky. The Democrats and President Obama will not give up this tack. Do you think the GOP will win the day in November and in 2012 if its strategy is to apologize for every manufactured “right wing fringe” outrage?

With President Obama over the last week calling attention to the Tea Parties and their “heated” rhetoric, he has officially connected himself to the civil war his minions have flailingly attempted to inflame. [Emphasis mine.]

Are you fucking kidding me?

Facts to Fit the Ideology

A large swath contemporary behavior on the right can be explained if we assume that they only believe facts consistent with their ideology. We see this with Fox news, the Kenyan birth certificate and many other less exciting daily domains. A particularly alarming case of this aggressive myopia is discussed in McClatchy Thursday:

In articles and speeches, on radio and TV, conservatives are working to redefine major turning points and influential figures in American history, often to slam liberals, promote Republicans and reinforce their positions in today's politics.

The Jamestown settlers? Socialists. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton? Ill-informed professors made up all that bunk about him advocating a strong central government.

Theodore Roosevelt? Another socialist. Franklin D. Roosevelt? Not only did he not end the Great Depression, he also created it.

Joe McCarthy? Liberals lied about him. He was a hero.

Some conservatives say it's a long-overdue swing of the pendulum after years of liberal efforts to define history on their terms in classrooms and in popular culture.

Update: Benen finds the same theme and runs with it:

If today's conservative Republicans reject reality, it stands to reason that they'll reject history, too.

But it's nevertheless a reminder of why conversations with those immersed in a right-wing ideology tend to be rather frustrating, if not futile, experiences. In order for political discourse to have any meaning or value, there have to be certain agreed upon facts that serve as a foundation for the dialogue. But as the McClatchy piece notes, that foundation is no longer stable -- conservatives frequently choose to believe versions of events that aren't real, because the make-believe version makes them feel better.

The result is an American history in which every era can be distorted to satisfy the far-right ego. Indeed, it continues to apply to more contemporary events -- tell the typical Republican that Ronald Reagan raised taxes in six of his eight years in the White House, and he/she will probably look at you as if you've lost your mind. That is, in fact, what happened, but the right chooses to reject this history, because they don't like it. (Tell these same Republicans that Barack Obama's health care plan is in line with what moderate Republicans have supported for years -- and that the individual mandate was actually a GOP idea -- and you'll get the same reaction, even though it's true.)

For all the talk about getting reasonable people with different ideologies into a room to find common ground on a host of complex issues, it's worth remembering that for many political actors in 2010, there isn't even agreement on the basics. When dealing with a large group of influential conservatives who believe FDR created the Great Depression, Theodore Roosevelt was a socialist, and Joe McCarthy was a hero, what's there to talk about? [Emphasis mine.]

On Actually Governing (Drill Baby Drill!)

Look, I'm no fan of offshore drilling. But I'm amazed at how many smart people don't understand the strategy revealed this morning.

First, let's be clear, Obama never claimed (as far as I can recall) that offshore drilling was an evil to be avoided at all costs. His primary response to the "Drill Baby Drill" refrain from the election was that drilling was "only part of a comprehensive solution for energy independence." Anyone thinking seriously about policy for transitioning to sustainable green domestic energy knows that increased drilling and increased use of nuclear power, as unpopuluar as they are, are indispensible early steps in that transition. What distinguishes serious policy advocates from sloganeers like Palin is their ability to think beyond more drilling to the actual long term solutions. But this isn't my point.

My point is best illustrated by referencing the argument as forulated Yglesias (normally the smartest guy on the internet):

I don’t understand this at all. Increased coastal drilling would be a small price to pay in exchange for actual congressional votes for an overall energy package that shifts us to a low-carbon economy over time. But any price is too high a price to pay in exchange for nothing at all. This isn’t the greatest environmental crime in human history, but it sure does seem like poor legislative strategy.

True. This would be a poor legislative strategy. But as a political strategy, it's a revolutionary application of the same political jujitsu that shocked the Clinton camp with the greatest political upset in half a century. By pre-emptively implementing precisely the policies that the GOP have historically demanded (modulated slightly by reasonable environmental concerns), Obama has created an opportunity for the Democrats to recast themselves as the only adults in Washington.

The American people want results. If the Democrats in Congress can come together a few more times in support of Obama's effort to solve real problems with a healthy mixture of Progressive values, reasonable compromises and common-sense solutions, then November will be nothing to fear. He's already pushed major legislation through during a election year--which Conventional Wisdom took to be impossible--and he seems on track to do it a few more times. His largest obstacle has been the fact that Congressional Democrats are too thoroughly driven by the outdated Groupthink of the Beltway pundocracy to follow through on the gamble.

On Right-Wing Strawmen

The single most frequently used weapon in the arsenal of your standard right-wing propagandist is the Strawman Argument. Close competitors are projection: cast your opponents as weak on your own greatest sin; and caricature: cast your opponents in general as reflective of the most extreme characteristics associated with them.

Barone's defense of the teabaggers today is riddled with all three:

The Progressives' scorn for the Founders has not been shared by the people. First-rate books about the Founders have been best-sellers. And efforts to dismiss the Founders as slaveholders, misogynists or homophobes have been outweighed by the resonance of their words and deeds.

[...]

Polls and recent election results tell us that racial minorities and the so-called "educated class" -- the people who expect their kind will administer centralized institutions -- still take the side of the Progressives. Most Americans, however, are rejecting the path of dependence and are intent on declaring their independence once again.

It is disingenuous to suggest that "good government" and "big government" are synonymous. To suggest otherwise is to commit the worst kind of Orwellian newspeak in the tradition of Madison Avenue and Frank Luntz. We can do better than that, America.

(How brave to stand up for Liberty! It is indeed a time for all of us to put aside petty politics in an effort to make hard decisions. And, by the way, who wants to take Jefferson out of the text books?)

Ha! You're Going to Prison! (Enjoy Your New Swastika Face Tatoo, Boys.)

Eugene Robinson gets to the heart of the equivalency argument currently being trotted out on the right to rationalize their well-armed redneck base coming completely unhinged:

The episode highlights the obvious: For decades now, the most serious threat of domestic terrorism has come from the growing ranks of paranoid, anti-government hate groups that draw their inspiration, vocabulary and anger from the far right.

It is disingenuous for mainstream purveyors of incendiary far-right rhetoric to dismiss groups such as the Hutaree by saying that there are "crazies on both sides." This simply is not true.

[...]

It is dishonest for right-wing commentators to insist on an equivalence that does not exist. The danger of political violence in this country comes overwhelmingly from one direction -- the right, not the left. The vitriolic, anti-government hate speech that is spewed on talk radio every day -- and, quite regularly, at Tea Party rallies -- is calibrated not to inform but to incite.

Demagogues scream at people that their government is illegitimate, that their country has been "taken away," that their elected officials are "traitors" and that their freedom is at risk. They have a right to free speech, which I will always defend. But they shouldn't be surprised if some listeners take them literally.

Wolverines! I couldn't help it. (But seriously ... Go Blue!)

This Is Rediculous

More evidence that the teabaggers don't actually believe anything:

In her speech at the rally, Sarah Palin of course paid homage to the Constitution. “Our vision for America is anchored in time-tested truths that the government that governs least governs best, that the Constitution provides the path to a more perfect union — it’s the Constitution,” she exclaimed. And so it’s extremely puzzling that Palin introduced this new attack line against
President Obama yesterday:

"In these volatile times when we are a nation at war, now more than ever is when we need a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor lecturing us from a lectern."

Ironically, the crowd cheered wildly at Palin’s line.