Her latest film examines the aftermath of President Obama's election and its effect on right wing America. I started it and stopped it at least three times (had it on TiVo) because I just could not take the magnitude of the ignorance in the 50 minute piece. Finally, as any political wonk would, I somehow managed to get through it. I'll put up a clip tomorrow from the film but I urge all of you who have HBO to watch this documentary. It will be airing on HBO all month. After you do, let me know if you reach the same conclusions that I did, which are:
- Complete vindication of my assertion that the loons in the Republican Party are far more abundant, organized, and strong than the loons on the left. In fact, they are the base of the conservative movement.
- Just as with the loons on the left, their complete and utter ignorance knows no bounds.
- Their ignorance is willful...again just like on the left.
- Complete destruction of Jonah Goldberg's fucking dumb ass theory that liberals are secretly fascists. Watch this documentary and you will see that the conservative movement is about fervent and warped nationalism fed by very strict views on race, gender, religion, and sexual orientation....all key ingredients to a fascist state (more on this later in the week).
Now, Pelosi says that "while not representative of the entire Republican Party, these are just some of the party faithful who turned out at campaign rallies along the way." Of course she has to say that in an attempt to sound fair and balanced. And even I am willing to admit that, after numerous arguments over the years about Yassar Arafat being a "freedom fighter," the left is full of shit about many things.
But where is the left's equivalent of Rush Limbaugh...or should I say Herr Limbaugh? His speech delivered at the CPAC conference over the weekend was nauseating. He talked a lot about freedom...freedom as long as its his way, mind you. Where is the left's equivalent of CPAC? Or Grover Norquist? Or Sinclair Broadcasting? Or Clear Channel? Oh, that's right. That would be the delusion that NBC, ABC, and CBS are all liberal.
Honestly, folks, I just don't see any sort of organizing principle on the left like I do on the right...like we clearly see in this documentary. To simply say that "there are just as many crazies on the left as on the right" is overly simplistic. Jerry Falwell said it best when he said that the conservative base is the largest minority voting bloc in this country. Guess what?
They all turned out for Alexandra Pelosi.
8 comments:
But where is the left's equivalent of Rush Limbaugh.
He's your Senator-elect.
Assuming you think slightly higher of Franken then I do, may I suggest that you will rue the day when you have a popular ass-clown as the 'leading voice' of the left.
I will give you one point - that sometimes the stupidest of wing-nuts come to their senses, and it does seem to happen more on the left than the right.
But Al Franken exactly proves my point. To begin with, he can't even win an election...very weak candidate. His show, when it was on, was in a constant state of possibly being canceled. Not Rush's...
So, again, compare Al to Rush...I think we both know who has the more organized, abundant, and stronger following.
If you can tell me how to get the morons that think that Arafat was a freedom fighter to come to their senses, I'm all ears.
But where is the left's equivalent of Rush Limbaugh...or should I say Herr Limbaugh?
I suspect many on the right will nominate MoveOn.org. Any organization or individual that is effective at organizing or motivating individuals to oppose the Republican agenda will be immediately targeted as socialist, communist, terrorist, Arab, yada yada...
The GOP has been in "opposite mode" for the last twenty years. They are against anything and everything that their enemies are for (and they are enemies in the Republicans' eyes, not just opponents. Remember Dick Nixon's list?). Regardless of how valid the case is for climate change, environmental protection, energy conservation, wind power, etc., the Republicans must oppose any cause their enemies support. They must attempt to discredit their enemies on every front so as to leave the public with the impression that they are totally and incontrovertibly corrupt to the core.
The Democrats in general have voiced opposition to the majority of the Republican agenda, but to their discredit have pretty much gone along with it because they want government to work, and so they've accepted the bad with the necessary through the dismal Bush years.
But the Republicans have been pretty much wrong on all the major issues. Take energy conservation, for example. Dick Cheney asserted that conservation was a fine personal virtue, but it wasn't an energy policy. True enough. But it can make a huge difference in the price of oil, which is now half what it was last summer (though our consumption has not been halved). Because price and demand do not linearly correlate, marginal decreases in demand can result in drastic price reductions. Conservation could have always reduced prices by large margins during peak demand. Yet during the election the Republican party pushed for more offshore drilling. Oil is fairly cheap again yet we didn't drill a single well offshore.
The price of oil has collapsed, hurting countries like Russia, Venezuela, Iran -- our erstwhile "enemies" -- while saving Americans billions and billions of dollars. Yet for decades Cheney, Bush and the Republicans have stymied attempts to conserve energy and find alternative sources.
Why? They're either incredibly pig-headed and stupid, or they have another agenda. While Cheney is misguided and wrong, he's not flat-out stupid. He and the Republicans have rationalized that an accelerated growth rate must be maintained at any cost -- be it war, pollution, climate change, gross economic inequalities. A growth rate fueled by oil sold by companies Cheney works for.
The "growth at any cost" agenda is really the root of our problems. At some point it has to stop. The planet can support only so many people. American waistlines can withstand only so many billions and billions of Big Macs. Pepsi cannot grow its bottom line every quarter without growing our rate of diabetes. China cannot continue to build another coal-fired power plant every week without giving everyone there emphysema. In a very real sense, our economy is killing us.
At some point our economy and population have to enter a steady state. The end of oil is in sight -- probably no more than 20 to 50 years out. The Republicans just don't seem to get this at all. There are limits to growth, and the sooner we realize it the better we will capitalize on the new paradigm.
The 19th century robber baron idea of the "endless vista" and eternal economic growth is over. On earth. The only way the Republican vision can be sustained is if we aim for space. But they aren't really smart enough to know that -- only big government can kick start something that huge, and the Republicans are ideologically opposed to the very thing that can give them what they want.
Hey blk you should moveon.now. Bush and Cheney aren't in office anymore.
Because price and demand do not linearly correlate, marginal decreases in demand can result in drastic price reductions.
That does not compute. You can have inelasticity just as easily as elasticity. For example,
But it can make a huge difference in the price of oil, which is now half what it was last summer (though our consumption has not been halved).
There was a big speculative bubble in oil last year. The funniest thing is to read all that stuff about how this proved 'peak oil', etc. and we were just going to have to get used to very expensive oil. Ah, not so much.
The "growth at any cost" agenda is really the root of our problems. At some point it has to stop.
You just really haven't studied any economics, have you blk?
...the Republicans must oppose any cause their enemies support. They must attempt to discredit their enemies on every front so as to leave the public with the impression that they are totally and incontrovertibly corrupt to the core.
Yeah, Dems & libs NEVER demonize the other side of the aisle. Nope. Doesn't happen. Ever.
The Dems don't with any real authority or strength in numbers. So they don't do it effectively.
And how the right defines "demonize" also carries with it "uncomfortable truths that me no likey."
Example: When the left says that John McCain is a warmonger...that would be demonizing because he is, in fact, not. However, when the left says that Dick Cheney effectively murdered people for oil, that would be a fact that has been proven time and again.
The Dems don't with any real authority or strength in numbers.
Ah, but what they lack in numbers they make up in passion.
M, I swear I'm gonna nominate you as the John Yoo of leftie apologists.
"M, I swear I'm gonna nominate you as the John Yoo of leftie apologists."
Now, that is funny:) Even though we disagree, you are money, juris.
Post a Comment