Here’s the clip from my appearance on the O’Reilly Factor, discussing the kid who approached Michele Bachmann to defend his gay mom.
Yes, folks, kids know injustice when they see it. And you better believe a kid growing up in South Carolina with a gay mom has seen some injustice against his mom and has an opinion about it.
Meanwhile…. why doesn’t anyone accuse this 13-year-old CONSERVATIVE of being coached??
My take on the Iowa straw poll, Rick Perry’s Texas, caring about Wall Street more than Main Street, and Obama’s bus trip to hopefully find his heart(land). If you want to receive my adVantage Points every weekday morning in your inbox, email info@movementvision.org
Straw (Poll) For Brains - story
Ames straw poll voters selected Michele Bachmann, the candidate most likely to destroy our government and bring about the apocalypse of America’s future. Of course, Bachmann’s campaign presumably spent more money turning out voters than her administration would spend on Medicare and Social Security combined.
Rick Perry Helped Texas, Hurt America – story
The economy in Texas is only crappy, as opposed to downright awful, because Perry created low-regulation, low-pay jobs that sucked opportunity away from other states. That plus high rates of immigration and strict mortgage lending regulations — things most Republicans oppose. Rick Perry’s campaign slogan should be: “I messed with Texas, I’ll mess with America!”
Coddling Investors - story
Why is it that $25 million Americans being out of work isn’t a crisis — but a few drops in the Dow is? Over and over again, politicians and the media seem more concerned about stock prices on Wall Street than suffering on Main Street.
Obama Focuses On Public Opinion: Too Little, Too Late? - story
Perhaps having finally realized that Republicans in Washington cannot be coaxed into a coalition of bipartisan compromise, President Obama is getting on a bus and talking to the everyday Americans he should have been fighting much harder for from the start. For optics, he should be traveling in a tank — showing that he’s finally ready to fight for the middle class against the conservative elite.
If the stock markets continue their roller coaster ride this week, blame 4,823 straw poll voters in Iowa. After all, the S&P made clear that its historic downgrade of America’s credit rating was not a reaction to government debt and spending levels but, rather, the irresponsible and reckless fact that “people in the political arena were even talking about a potential default.” Yet here come 4,823 Ames straw poll voters endorsing Michele Bachmann, head cheerleader for defaulting on our nation’s debts.
Perhaps their judgment was clouded by fried butter. But it’s our economy that will suffer the heart attack. If the markets have yet another precarious week, blame Michele Bachmann.
After all, Bachmann’s the one who led the absolutist Tea Party charge against increasing the debt ceiling and said that default would not lead to a credit downgrade. But Bachmann also said that high unemployment and a struggling economy would help her chances at winning the presidency. “I hope so,” Bachmann quipped, literally cheering on national economic decline.
Republicans are accusing President Obama and Democrats of trying to pass the blame on the S&P downgrade and resulting market declines. But the S&P has made it unquestionably clear that the rhetoric and actions of anti-government zealots like Michele Bachmann caused this disaster.
Still, 4,823 Iowans voted for Bachmann. This week, Wall Street will feel the aftershocks. Going forward, all of us — especially the 25 million out of work Americans — will pay the price.
My take on McConnell’s pathetic punt, Michele Bachmann’s need for therapy, the Republicans’ history of scare tactics aaaaaand…. Michelle Obama’s eating habits. >> If you want to receive my adVantage Points every weekday morning in your inbox, email info@movementvision.org
McConnell Proposes Stupid Deal, Says “I Refuse To Help Obama Get Re-Elected” - story
Apparently, Republicans can’t put our economic best interest ahead of petty politics. And so we’re all going to hell in Mitch McConnell’s handbasket.
Republicans Whimper About Democrats’ “Scare Tactics” – story
It’s pretty hard to try and claim the high road when your party rolled out Willie Horton, WMDs and death panels. Just sayin’…
Michelle Obama Eats A Burger - is it even fair to call this a “story”
Newsflash: The First Lady is a normal human being! She’s never said don’t eat any junk food — just not only junk food — which is no different than George H.W. Bush advocating the food pyramid and the Presidential Fitness Council, headed by Arnold Schwarzeneggers. Yet somehow, conservatives who want to tell Americans when they can and cannot start a family think nutrition programs are an intrusion!?!
Is Michele Bachmann Running To Be President Of Crazy? - story
So they took out the part that said African American kids were better under slavery. Hooray. Though as Mediate points out, the “apology” issued by the Right wing Family Leader was more of the “sorry you misunderstood us” type than a “damn, that was really f*ing stupid of us” type. Though I guess them Family Leader people don’t cuss.
In her “apology” Bachmann clarified that slavery is awful and ”economic slavery is also horrible.” Uh…. Take away that woman’s shovel. Or, if you’re the DNC, buy her a backhoe.
Meanwhile, let us not forget that the Family Leader is a front organization for Bob Vander Plaats, Iowa’s very own homegrown Right wing demagogue. Vander Plaats has called being gay a “public health risk” and regularly compares same-sex relationships to polygamy and incest. Perhaps worried that gay weddings would be more stylish and more fun than his own, Vander Plaats created the infamous pledge to protect marriage — which also protects women and girls (not men, though) from pornography and such, guards against Sharia Law because that’s coming to Iowa any minute, and inveighs against taxes and the federal government as hurting marriage (which is odd, considering the 1,100+ benefits that couples get for marrying, and the fact that conservatives have endorsed programs whereby government forces poor people to marry). The point is, even with the slavery stanza removed, this a deeply disturbing pledge and overall deeply disturbing agenda for any politician to sign.
Yet what’s more disturbing is that Bachmann is being increasingly treated as a mainstream candidate. This goes to the larger phenomenon of the mainstreaming of Right wing ideas — the fact that, just to give one example, our entire economy may be crashed because a very small Tea Party minority holds disproportionate sway over the Republican Party and, thus, our nation.
I worry that, in our reality TV-obsessed 24/7 short-attention-span culture, we give as much attention to salacious and even offensive opinions as we do genuinely substantive opinions — thus dangerously conflating the two. Arguably, Bachmann rose to national prominence in part because she was a heroine of the Tea Party but also in part because of her repeated, self-inflicted gaffes and crazy-talk. But fame is fame, right? Bachmann is proof that a crazy woman everyone knows about has more political cache than a whole bunch of dull, no name others.
Anyone else worried about the future of civilization?
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