tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post3589269071882248415..comments2024-01-19T02:23:51.665-06:00Comments on Journal Wunelle: The Trouble With Todd Akin wstachourhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-69466603663365216102012-08-29T17:01:32.733-05:002012-08-29T17:01:32.733-05:00I wish we had another viable party to challenge th...I wish we had another viable party to challenge the status quo.VVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08751403913379728345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-26694044396251522352012-08-28T19:35:35.398-05:002012-08-28T19:35:35.398-05:00I quite agree. There's a vital place in politi...I quite agree. There's a vital place in political systems for conservatism and restraint, even if these are not my default sensibilities. But even our supposedly liberal politicians have moved considerably rightward, and conservatives are waaaay into troglodyte territory. And an alarming number of conservatives--who are pretty much having things all their own way for 30 years--are now so pissed at what they don't have that they're willing to destroy rather than compromise with the half the population that opposes them. Result: gridlock and studied dysfunction with the most toxic propaganda campaign to obscure the blood trail. Rotten, rotten, rotten. I certainly don't think Democrats' hands are clean, but the difference between bumbling and sabotage is all the difference in the world. To me, anyway. wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-33140966979399631742012-08-28T19:19:20.852-05:002012-08-28T19:19:20.852-05:00I have voted across party lInes in the past believ...I have voted across party lInes in the past believing that the individual's beliefs, voting record and capabilities were more important than the party affiliation. I stopped doing that a number of years ago because there's too much lock-step voting on whatever the party says, rather than what is right and good for the constituents. This is happening in both parties, to the point that nothing really gets accomplished. Voting against what your party directs will get funding pulled for your re-election, will make sure you don't get put on select committees and that no legislation you promote will go anywhere. What I'm trying to say, is I used to be able to vote for the occasional moderate Republican. I can't do that anymore, because they will vote on the party lines, and as long as the Republican party is being hijacked by extreme religious nuts who hate women and want to set us back a century, I never will vote Republican again. I wish the moderate, sane Republicans could see what's becoming of their party. If they keep going in this direction, it could take them generations to recover from this foolishness.VVhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08751403913379728345noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-35996875309951910332012-08-23T11:18:55.734-05:002012-08-23T11:18:55.734-05:00Totally agree. I think our media are so fearful of...Totally agree. I think our media are so fearful of charges of bias that they're failing to do their job. We need a 24-hour Repuglican BULLSHIT channel that dissects their ugly hearts in minute, excruciating detail. You're quite right: we should attack and keep attacking until this party is no more and the lunatics at the top are back where they belong on the fringes of society.wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-32345416164337185522012-08-23T09:12:52.442-05:002012-08-23T09:12:52.442-05:00I watch him often. He's been on CNN and MSNBC ...I watch him often. He's been on CNN and MSNBC as well. I love the clips of Republicans saying it was a stupid comment by Akin, meanwhile being mum on the fact that the party platform holds a position even worse than what he espouses.<br /><br />He and Ryan are scum of the earth. The Democrats should attack, attack, attack. Heck, everyday folks should be attacking the Republican party nonstop. That fact that they don't shows that the Overton Window which you discuss is in full effect.<br /><br />I'm reminded that abortion used to involve a fetus, but the anti-abortion argument evolved to calling it a baby, and now it's known as an unborn child. No wonder the nut cases are taking over.<br /><br />A. RandomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-44551758074579408142012-08-23T01:44:05.119-05:002012-08-23T01:44:05.119-05:00Yeah, the videos are excellent. What an eviscerati...Yeah, the videos are excellent. What an evisceration of this scum! I love this Cenk Uygur guy; I've heard of The Young Turks, but I've never watched the show. Very nice! wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-77660164589328741182012-08-23T01:17:52.117-05:002012-08-23T01:17:52.117-05:00I'll take a look at the videos (though I cring...I'll take a look at the videos (though I cringe in advance).<br /><br />I guess the salient point is not so much what HE believes, but what others believe who seek to put him in power. Whether he's a true believer or not, he's saying things that resonate with a large body of voters. THAT's what is so depressing, that a big group of Americans has become hell-bent on dictating the behaviors of people whose views do not align properly with their own. <br /><br />And this has come about, I'm convinced by sheer, cynical manipulation of the unwashed masses: through fear-mongering and hate-mongering and lies and spin and cynical machinations. It works. And because it works, I fear we could be brainwashed to believe and do absolutely anything.<br /><br />I'm trying to decide what it is that anyone can find attractive in the modern Republican party. Honestly, I cannot even see it at this point. I used to be able to grasp what others might see even when I did not find resonance myself; but at this point I think the train is off the rails completely. This seems so patently obvious to me that I'm completely stupefied to encounter this Fox-fed Obama hatred up close. How do you reason with a person who appears, to me, to be completely without reason? How do we retain a faith in our electoral system when these people are exercising the franchise? And even worse, when they're asking the same questions about me--that degree of cynicism can keep a fella awake at night. Whence hope for a positive outcome?<br /><br />I really wonder how we ever achieved any degree of civilization when so many people are vulnerable to their basest instincts.wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-61567163014806347732012-08-23T00:56:29.621-05:002012-08-23T00:56:29.621-05:00Excellent stuff, this.
Two points:
1. The issue...Excellent stuff, this.<br /><br />Two points: <br /><br />1. The issues regarding rape that Akin and Ryan are espousing aren't your typical run-of-the-mill insanity that we can simply dismiss as Tea-Bagger tripe; they are actually a part of the Republican Platform. This is stuff that they simply don't want us to know about (as you mentioned).<br /><br />2. You state that you don't know if Akin actually believes this stuff or not, but he cosponsored a bill that would have codified these very criminally stupid ideas into law. So, yes, I think he actually believes this what he says.<br /><br />Please watch these two films for further information. I find them to be quite excellent and informative:<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEz3c3R9gTg<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mDGsb9h2hU<br /><br />A. RandomAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-25832978141464897912012-08-23T00:54:44.105-05:002012-08-23T00:54:44.105-05:00I'll have to look him up. I think I have rarel...I'll have to look him up. I think I have rarely felt so stupefied at our political state of affairs--and I'm not even the one under attack! It's just such a profound assault on simple justice, and this kind of meddling goes against the very core things that Republicans used to stand for--personal liberty and responsibility, a non-interventionist, non-intrusive government, etc. Those days are long gone. They don't stand for anything anymore but, as the saying goes, Greed, Oppression, and Piety. (I'm intrigued by Gary Johnson's Wikipedia page. He seems to be Ron "government-is-bad-unless-jebus-said-it-then-government-can-meddle-all-it-wants" Paul without the Jebus. I just don't know if I have much libertarian in me, but he seems at least to be mounting legitimate conservative arguments; we're not getting that from anywhere else.)<br />wstachourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12447198404608861357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15935045.post-33142421938178402782012-08-22T22:26:20.141-05:002012-08-22T22:26:20.141-05:00George Lakoff, a cunning linguist at Berkley, disc...George Lakoff, a cunning linguist at Berkley, discusses using the GOP's rhetorical tactics on the left in at least two books that are easy reads and make good sense, and yet no one seems to be in charge of deploying them, either. We have the thinkers, but in the Democratic Party, no one wants to be "The Executioner".payingattentionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02459253960788899702noreply@blogger.com