Say Anything was a cute, innocent 80’s movie about teenage angst and romance. The Say Anything party came to power in the 80’s and 90’s and has been slowly rotting from the top down ever since. Today’s latest installment from Red State:
Attention Virginia. Sure,
John Mark Karr’sJim Webb’s supporters can hide behind the “it’s just fiction” defense. But you really want to do that? Do you really want to defend a guy with that sort of imagination?Well, it’s time to wake up and realize the Democrats have nominated a dirty perv in Virginia. And you guys can send him to the Senate if you want. But I think I’d lock the doors and hide the kids if you did.
While Say Anything was innocent, the Say Anything Party is not. Devoid of principles, bereft of ideals, incapable of civil discourse, the Say Anything party will do just that- say anything to maintain power. That book that ‘proves’ Webb is a pervert- well, take it away Radley:
I just did an Amazon search on the passage in Webb’s book. It isn’t the least bit titillating. It’s in the context of an American in an exotic, backward, remote part of a foreign land. The penis-kissing scene baffles and bewilders the Americans. It is clearly not a “fellating.” It is not a depiction of pedophelia. It’s very obviously scene painting, and the shock and oddity of the act adds to the lead characters’ sense that they’re out-of-place.
Of course, that hasn’t stopped the right wing blogosphere from gleefully calling Webb a pedophile.
This is really despicable on the part of the Allen campaign. It’s little more than a celebration of ignorance, isolation, and fear. It’s a bald attempt to deflect the Foley scandal, not to mention Allen’s own ethnically insensitive missteps in this campaign.
Let’s summarize: While George Allen was discovering his love for the Confederacy in Southern California and at the University of Virginia, Jim Webb was fighting the war in Vietnam, finding himself wholly immersed in a completely foreign culture. Webb was obviously rather profoundly affected by that experience. Because he chose to write about it, in a series of books that have won widespread praise from politicians, from fellow Vietnam vets, and from literary critics.
It doesn’t matter, Radley- this is the Say Anything Party! Also in a starring role in the Say Anything party is Michael Steele, who today said that Cardrin wants to cut and run, but he might do the same in about it in six months. What is in 6 months- well, not the November elections! Everyone cheer the Say Anything Party! For bonus laughs, watch him stutter when Russert asked him if he was going to close down fertility clinics because they destroy embryos.
All you have to do to be a member of the Say Anything party is make lame excuses and keep telling yourself the Democrats are worse and that the end justifies the means. You don’t really have to believe in anything.
The Liberal Avenger
Wasn’t it the integrity-free Mary Katherine Ham who brought us the wonderful tale of the Vietnamese penis kisser?
One wonders what one of the writers at Red State would have done when faced with a Vietnamese villager making oral contact with his toddler’s penis. I would hope that he would shoot the man and burn the village.
Goddamn Vietnamese Penis-suckers.
No wonder we lost the war.
jcricket
Ooh, Say Anything. That was a good movie. Republicans wrote that? I’ll have to vote for them.
But seriously? Vote Democrat? How would you like it if Hitler killed you? QED.
wilfred
This is why I left Red State. Under ordinary circumstances, a man like James Webb would command respect from conservatives because of his Vietnam service. However, as Red State descends ever further into the sewers of Free Republic and LGF it’s clear that they always were a bunch of chickenshit, bigoted scumbags. James Webb had, and has more balls than any ten of the people over there.
GADMAN
John –
Do you, or anyone else, find it ironic that Erick, and the rest of the asshats at RedState are now putting ON THE FRONT PAGE, posts that use language that they banned people for using in the past?
BLAM! Send the whole lot of them to “The Pile” (TM).
KC
Gawd John, you’ve really nailed it. I’ve seen this up close and personal with the John Doolittle campaign. He’s basically been spending millions of dollars sliming an honorable guy, a guy who was a career Air Force officer who earned a Distinguished Flying Cross in Vietnam and then went on to serve in the Roseville Police Department. If Doolittle’s opponent, Charlie Brown, been a Republican, the GOP would have been begging him to run against Senator Feinstein this election.
Unfortunately, Brown is a Democrat. This means means he’s entitled to being called a tax-and-spend, gay loving, ACLU liberal who supports terrorists, despite his moderate-to-conservative political leanings and his record of putting his life on the line for this country. Trust me, every smear in the book has been thrown at him, and I almost wish I still lived in Doolittle’s district just to help send his ass packing.
By all rights, Doolittle should lose this election. With luck, all his smears will crash and burn the way he ought to.
jcricket
Radley’s pulling a “John Cole” this election and voting Democrat to “punish the Republicans”. However, he doesn’t feel the Democrats are really appreciably better. I wonder how little it would take for him to go back to voting Republican? While I’m glad he’s being supportive this election, I wonder how deep/shallow his support is. I’d be fine, btw, if he just voted Libertarian (in the sense that its his right and it’s intellectually honest as a position).
I wonder how many “new Democrats” (the John Coles of the left) would revert to Republican voters after this election. Do the Republicans have to change a lot? Or a little? I’m really curious. What are the issues that issue that could switch John Cole back (i.e. for Radley it’s the Democrat’s support for universal healthcare, smoking bans and hate-crimes laws that make them so terrible). What are the issues that could keep John Cole voting Democrat?
BTW, the rest of Radley’s post is really illustrative regarding some of the deeper issues in Democratic vs. Republican military experience and how they treat veterans. I’m not saying you have to be in the military to support the troops, however, I think it’s fair to draw a conclusion after reviewing the sheer number of Democrats running for office with actual & recent military experience and then contrast with the draft-deferring/dodging Republicans who will go to any length to criticize them is astonishing. In recent memory we can compare Cleland, Kerry, Sestak & Webb to Limbaugh, Allen, Weldon, Cheney & Bush, for starters. Throw in Zinni, Clark & Powell and compare to Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Perle.
One or two are anecdotes. 10, 20 or 30 is clearly a trend. Even within the active military Republicans only have a 70/30 level of support (compared to their claims of 100% support).
Tsulagi
It’s understandable tighty righties like those at Red State would be pissing in their Depends over Webb’s novels. They’ve been so fiction based for so long they can’t tell a difference.
I liked seeing Lynne Cheney, she of the lesbian westerns, trying to say she was outraged, yes outraged at Webb’s writing. When asked didn’t her Sisters novel contain lesbian characters and lesbian sex, the answer was an outraged, righteous “not necessarily.”
The USMC is recommending Fields of Fire by Webb as reading for those aspiring to be officers. Alert the Depends warriors at Red State to launch a campaign to strike that novel from the recommended list. Surely even Marines are not strong enough to withstand the assault from Webb’s fiction.
Pb
Red State is beyond farce these days, so I’d much rather stick to actual parody, it’s more reasonable. For example, can you just say anything?, or … ah… was Colbert in Say Anything?
jcricket
Speaking of Saying Anything and Virginia: Friends, neighbors, and countrymen of the Left: I hate your lying guts
The more the average American gets exposed to Republican propaganda and policies, the less they like Republicans the less the believe them (see every poll in the last year).
Apparently, the more a “true believer” gets exposed, the less attached to reality they beomce and the deeper their hatred. See LGF, Limbaugh listeners, Hewitt, Goldberg, Red State and Bush speech writers.
The Other Steve
I don’t quite understand this latest tactice from Allen. I mean it really just comes off as pathetic.
Anyway, Webb just needs to highlight the differences on Iraq in this last week. I think Allen is going to lose by 10.
Baby Jane
Not to get on top and sit on the penetrating thrust of which this post is erected, but I’d like to pay a little lip service to the exotic escapades of an uninhibited imagination.
Only the dead are spared the horrors of having one.
The rest of us are damned to the sticky-floored seat of our own never-ending midnight movies. I don’t get up to pee.
Some of us enjoy the show while munching away on the salty exploding kernels of our mind. Others confine their freakshow to peeks through the fingers on their hands over their faces.
Either way, we’ve both been to the show. But, only one of us is gonna try to get all the theaters shut down. And, all because of their own projector.
Zifnab
Weren’t they neck and neck just a few days ago? I can’t see it being less than a close race. For whatever reason, people are really stubborn about likeing Allen in Virginia.
Zifnab
Dear Baby Jane,
I’ll say this plane
Your metaphors
Implode my brain
Although your posts
Do not refrain
From making a bit of sense
Thanks,
Zifnab
Chuck Butcher
What actually disturbs me is the cultish aspect of current Republican politics. I’ve never been offended by political differences in philosophy of government, but I am offended by a political culture that seems to be one of personality rather than policy, prejudice rather than reason. I am not of the Conservative frame regarding government, other than being against government interference in personal issues – in general terms. I cannot, however, see that there is a guiding principle in the current “cult of Bushism.”
This lack of a guiding principle would seem to be the root of many of the obnoxious campaign tactics engaged in by Rs. If you do not have a clear and convincing message you are reduced to personal attacks, and if the person is generally upstanding, then accuracy and relevance become irrelevant/impossible.
I’ll get to watch my Congressional District (OR 02) Democratic candidate get smashed by a Republican whose entire campaign is based on voting against the President about 3 times, and not on a single serious issue. But, he’s incumbent, R, has a boatload of money, hasn’t been caught stealing money, or chasing boys. Very few of the votes he’ll get are people voting in their interest or the interest of the Constitution, cultism will rule.
capelza
Good grief. I sent my kid to his room when he said stuff like that. Can I call Erick a shameless wanker now John?
jcricket
Stealing a tactic from Billmon:
Compare:
Contrast?
It’s a “cheap trick” to use this as a debate tactic, but I’m a little scared of just how precisely something written in the 1940s dovetails with how modern-day Republicans act (see the quote about Science, for example).
Zifnab
Political tactics haven’t changed so radically in the past 50 years. Hell, they haven’t changed so radically in the past 1500. Don’t think for a second that Roman Senators and British Parlimentarians haven’t put up with the exact same bullshit of baseless allegations.
Blessedly, in the information age, less and less can stick against the wall when a quick Google search will clear the air.
jcricket
For those of us that have the time, certainly. And one would hope the media would get better at using “THE GOOGLE” before blindly passing on propaganda or lies as fact.
Right now, so much information is being disseminated, and the press is doing such a poor job of properly vetting it, we have all kinds of zombie lies in peoples’ consciousness for years after they’ve been debunked. The Republicans are quite good at “poisoning the well” by exploiting this information overload. It may be all they have (i.e. they can’t honestly defend their positions), but it’s a good short-term tactic.
My only hope is that Republicans will be forced (by their lack of workable/sellable honest ideas) to descend so far to the right and into the gutter to maintain power that they’ll also abandon the people that get them elected (virtually everyone to the left of Tom Tancredo and Katherine Harris). They’ve lose people like John Cole, Radley Balko and Andrew Sullivan already. Hopefully the “soccer moms” and “Nascar dads” are next. Without them, there’s no more Republican majority, ever.
Vladi G
That should be on Red State’s masthead.
Scott Lemieux
Wow. Erickson really is a remarkable piece of work…
demimondian
jcricket — they haven’t lost John Cole, Radley Balko, or Andrew Sullivan, though. They’ve lost their votes for this electoral cycle. I will offer you long odds that at least two of them will bring their votes back to the party in due course.
I’m just hoping that they only do that when the Republicans honestly start offering rational alternatives again.
jcricket
I offered much the same thought in another thread here. How little (or much) would it take for John to go back to the dark side?
Radley, for one, is nowhere near becoming a Democrat, although based on his writing I’d say he’s potentially someone who might actually vote Libertarian before he votes Republican again.
For a long time John’s hatred for Democrats ran strong enough that if they did a single thing untoward, he’s react with the same vitriol he’s now displaying towards the never-ending stream of Republican malfeasance.
I think the next few election cycles will be interesting, and a lot of the long-term Democratic outlook will depend on whether the evangelicals use a Republican loss to seize further control of the party, or the “moderates” somehow get back in charge.
stickler
Hey, now. I’m as righteously angry as any misanthrope who posts on this Godforsaken website. But I’m not a Democrat yet, and I won’t be signing up as one any time soon.
I’m a Republican, whose parents knocked on doors for AuH2O in 1964; whose grandparents cast lonely votes for Willkie. I even voted for W in 2000.
Man, was that a mistake. Something has happened to my party, and a bitter rod of chastisement is well and truly overdue. So I have voted straight (D) for the first time in my life. (I live in Oregon and have already voted by mail.)
The biggest problems for me are the rise of the neocons, and the reliance of the GOP on the Old Confederacy to win elections. The Old Confederacy vote is why the anti-science stuff has such pull nowadays. The fact that it (used to) might rein in votes from Montana to Pennsylvania didn’t hurt.
Right now, I am white-hot with rage at the horrific course the GOP has charted for my Republic. Politically, I fall somewhere between Pat Buchanan and Russ Feingold.
And I’d lay you decent odds that a majority of John Cole’s commentariat is made up not of Leftists(tm), but of disaffected moderates and mainstream Republicans left in the cold by the wild-eyed neoConfederate wingnuts who control (for now, God willing) the GOP.
Steve
I’ve voted for maybe 3-4 Republicans in my whole life, but Wendell Wilkie is one of my political heroes, and he deserves to be better known today. If only some of our modern-day Republicans had taken his example to heart; but to this crew, the only thing they’d deem relevant is that he was a loser.
searp
Bush has destroyed ordinary politics in this country, with the result that people who use logic and analysis in their daily lives (reality-based) are all turning away from the Republicans.
I’d like to propose a standard: we will have a normal political discourse in this country when both major parties are reality-based. At that point, it will be perfectly legitimate and necessary to vote based on the candidates and your personal political philosophy.
Right now, casting a vote for the Republicans supports a faith-based view of the world that cannot, repeat cannot, result in competent government. This is not a left-right issue.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Isn’t this the same political hit machine accusing Tammy Duckworth of wanting to “cut and run” from Iraq?
You know, Tammy Duckworth, the woman who got both her legs blown off fighting in Iraq?
Hell doesn’t have a pit deep enough for these fucking scumbags. I hope they realize that.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Well, to be fair, they backed away from the “cut and run” accusation, in the “we said it just enough for the accusation to linger in the voters’ minds without us having to be held accountable for saying it” SOP for the Republican hit machine. Sort of like Willy Horton, McCain’s interracial baby, and Max Cleland snuggling up to Osama.
Again, Hell must be installing an addition for when these motherfuckers pass on. I don’t think even Dante could conceive of people like this.
demimondian
TAFKAG4M —
Eighth circle — false counselors.
Zifnab
I don’t know. I think with all the big (R) refugees coming into the Democratic party – particularly in places like Tennesse and Kansas – it will start to pull the Democratic party to the right. Whether this “moderates” the party of the left or just dilutes it depends on where you stand on the ideological spectrum. But if the Dems are smart and they can keep their new-found base by playing smart-issue politics (stem cell research, boarder security that doesn’t involve the Berlin Wall, tax reform, pork reform, disaster relief, campaign reform, minimum wage, affordable health care) they can maintain these converts over the long term. If Pelosi runs of and declares gay marriage for everyone her first day in office… it’ll be a short, painful trip off the cliff back to minorityhood. But she’s smarter than that.
Anderson
Eighth circle—false counselors.
Gotta love someone who knows his circles! Amuse yourselves by deciding whether Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. each belong in the 8th, 9th, or 10th “pouch” of the 8th circle.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
Bollocks- it wasn’t nasty enough. Not even getting gummed on by Satan for all eternity would be nasty enough for these fuckers.
Really, we could throw them in a couple levels, couldn’t we? They’re hypocrites, so they could be forced to march in lead-lined cloaks for all eternity. They’re traitors, so we could throw them in the ice-pit.
Or, maybe not.
I just found this online quiz. It’s awesome. I intend to spend several hours tinkering with it. In the next 10 minutes, I’ll be Dick Cheney- we’ll see what level of Hell I end up on.
The Asshole Formerly Known as GOP4Me
I guess you guys were right- using my criteria, Cheney is going to Malebolge. Take a gander:
I had to make some nasty assumptions, though. F’rinstance, I’m assuming Cheney is a hypocritical atheist who only pretends to be Christian. Assuming I’m wrong, this may require some modification.
Then again, I said he doesn’t masturbate, nor has he ever had any homosexual experiences. Those could be wrong, too. Anyway, take the test for yourselves, then imagine you’re Dick Cheney when you’re taking it. I found that his answers to the questions were a lot funnier than mine: “In war, the best thing to do is to beat the Hell out of the other country-true! Rich men and women deserve every penny and should spend it however they wish-true!” Hilarious.
tBone
The most hilarious example of this I’ve seen lately is the Ohio Republican’s attempted smear of Al Franken. They used damaging quotes from Franken about how conservatives are “Nazis” who should “drink poison and die.”
The “quotes” are from a schlocky parody interview in hackmeister Bernie Goldberg’s 110 People Who Are Screwing Up America. Oh, and they also provided a Photoshopped picture of Franken wearing a diaper.
When called on it, their response was “What goes around comes around. … It is what it is, nothing more.”
Seriously, WTF is wrong with these people?
Zifnab
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Bender
Since two of John and Tim’s Least Favorite Things are the evils of religio-politics and politicians Saying Anything, it’s a little odd that somehow they can’t find the time to note the latest Trying-to-Blow-the-Election Sermon by The Right Reverand Harold Ford, Jr.
So “Vote for me, because Republicans don’t love God!” isn’t enough to draw a single post from BJ these days on either of the grounds this blog thrives on? Of course, everyone expected the MSM to steadfastly ignore this (except FOX), but this is right up BJ’s street! I’m sure Ford’s being a Democrat in a razor race has nothing to do with it. Had a Republican in a close election said it, you guys would be equally unmoved, right? Suuuuure. Or will we get the outraged response from the anti-Religionist Democrats the day after the election?
Pb
Bender,
I’m sorry, I don’t quite see where he’s coming from there–could you take it a little bit *more* out of context? Or, better yet, track down a primary source… You see, he’s apparently quoting someone else to make a point, a point which you are apparently determined to ignore, whatever it was.
capelza
Bender…what Ford said was lost one you wasn’t it?
It goes back to the GOP’s love of the OT while neglecting the actual words of Christ…Ford was pointing out, I think, that Dmes (who are Christian…there are quite a lot despite what you might think) tend to be New Testament Chrisitans who get the whole”love” thing and focus on that and not Leviticus.
That’s my take on it anyway. As for being aghast that he said it? And that BJ didn’t comment on it? Here I think the point is..and I may be wrong..Ford was talking about people, not trying to legislate it or force it into policy. There is a difference you know.
Zifnab
To be honest, I think Ford is claiming Republicans are cold, heartless bastards who only follow Christ to avoid being smitten. But that’s just my POV. And while I’m not thrilled with this rhetoric, I’m not thrilled with Ford either. He has a very conservative voting record and he doesn’t hide it.
But then, I also haven’t read the straw-article Bender is refering to. The one where John and Tim nail the Rs purely for their religo-rhetoric. There have been a few posts about the hypocrasy of “Save the stem cells” back-to-back against “Sure a few thousand Iraqis are dead, but Democracy is messy” pillowed in a biblical mea culpa. But Ford is just talking God to his constituency from what I’m seeing, and while it may be rather shallow and empty once you’re off the pew, its not any worse than your generic “I’m a better Christian than my opponent” line you hear cast out in almost every election.
Cyrus
I wouldn’t blame Bush specifically, since it started before him — there was this little fad called impeaching Clinton about eight years ago, there was a newspaper story or two about it, maybe you’ve heard of it? — but I think the rest of this is very true. There are half a dozen different issues these days on which I try to imagine my response if asked about them, but I just have to say “Maybe 10 years ago or 10 years in the future I would have said ‘yes’, but things are just too fucked up right now.”
It would be great if the Axis of Balko, Cole and Sullivan suddenly saw the light and agreed that national health care works, Nancy Pelosi isn’t a horrible person and imminent disaster, and aerial bombing isn’t the only possible tool of international relations. (Well, they seem to have come around conditionally on the last two, but anyways.) But consensus on that stuff wouldn’t really be necessary if we didn’t have a 22-faced executive branch running a one-party government and playing the media like a fiddle.
If Bush, Cheney and Gonzales were willing to come right out and say “habeas corpus is a superfluous relic” and “I don’t especially care about the seperation of church and state” as they obviously think, or if they were forced to match words to actions in those areas by an alert media and an un-defanged Democratic Party, their approval levels would be Nixonian. Bush might not be impeached, but he would wish he was.
So I’d be happy to argue the pros/cons of smoking bans, or the statistics and scientific studies of national health care, and even to accept incremental and compromised change in those areas, once there aren’t any worse items on the national agenda.
Zifnab
Don’t forget the national porn crisis.
Bender
You’re jumping the gun. “Republicans Ignore The Words Of Christ And Are Incapable Of Love” is the next election-week sermon from Saint Harold. More controversial, offfensive accusations, sure to be ignored (again) by the “Let’s Go, Democrats!” Media cheerleaders.
I can’t wait for his examples of what policies of the Democratic party are based on “New Testament” love. I hope there are footnotes, because it should be hilarious!
The Other Steve
Bender quoted Harold Ford, Jr:
Is he wrong?
The Other Steve
But wasn’t Bush ordained by God or something?
Mickeyd
So, Erick has no compunction about showing that he is a Philistine. The premise pushed by Allen and his reptilian supporters, that sexually explicit passages in a novelist’s books reflect the morality of the novelist is beyond ludicrous. It would necessarily impugn the reputations of thousands of great novelists, playwrights, artists and sculpterers. Besides, the scenes described in Webb’s books are not the products of a wild imagination, but scenarios based on real events. Those who served in Viet Nam can attest to that.
Allen, Erick, Drudge and their ilk need take their heads out of their asses, read books, visit other countries, learn about other cultures. After his defeat on November 7, Allen will have time to do that and maybe then he will grow up.
Bender
Duh.
capelza
Bender, don’t know how to break this to you, but it isn’t a “meme” Ford just thought up.
The fact that you don’t think that Democrats (liberals) lean more towards the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes where as the Right tends more towards the OT god and his laws can be summed up in the whole “Granite Calf” Bullhit. GOT TO HAVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE! Even though only three of them are actually illegal in this country…why no push for the Beatitudes? Or any of the actual words of Christ…no, it’s Leviticus (cherry picked of course).
capelza
Note..I know that the 10C’s are not in Leviticus…
Pb
Ok, since Bender is incapable of any intellectual honesty here… for those who actually are interested in more of what Harold Ford really said, here’s a slightly longer clip, posted by ‘fanofbobcorker’. Heh.
jcricket
By “go back to the dark side” I meant vote Republican. I’m not presuming John would call himself a Democrat anytime soon, if ever. I’m just saying, people like Sullivan claim to be “super outraged” with the GOP, and then often end up voting Republican anyway. See Glenn Reynold’s “justification” for voting for Corker instead of Ford.
Now, I trust John and Radley more than Sullivan, but my only point is I think the separation between them and the Republicans should last until the Republicans end their war on science. Voting Republican between now and then is pretty disastrous for any non-solely-faith-based person.
Let’s take Radley’s favorite issue of the drug war, for example. I will grant that Democrats and Republicans are generally equally guilty of supporting this failed policy at the moment. But I see one side with a glimmer of hope that they’ll change their minds. Democrats periodically support marijuana decriminalization, are more inclined to oppose mandatory harsh sentencing and often support things like safe-injection sites/needle exchanges, etc. So there’s an opening with Democrats for people like Radley to influence their policy for (in their opinion) the better.
The past 20 years has been a time of radical conservative Christians aligning themselves with the Republicans to slowly get more of their agenda enacted. I think Libertarians and moderate conservatives are far more likely to have similar success with the Democrats than the Republicans in the next 20 years.
As searp put it:
I don’t see that trend reversing. If anything radical conservative Christians will take anything (loss or win) in this election as a sign they’re on the right track and their party should be more conservative, not less. It’s a remarkable case of circular logic: If things go bad, it’s because we’re not electing enough/true conservative; If things go good, it’s a sign to elect even more/farther-right conservatives.
How do you pull control away from a highly-motivated group that has seen nothing but increased success for 20 years?
Pb
Well, on the one hand, Sullivan endorsed Kerry, which was further away from the Republican party than John Cole and Pat Buchanan were willing to go at the time, but on the other hand, Sully can’t vote in the US period, and he was still a pro-Iraq war hawk at the time, so go figure.
Geek, Esq.
Erickson is the least principled, most dishonest, and completely vile blogger/poster on the rightwing blogosphere. This is a man who celebrated Ernie Fletcher’s corruption, for god’s sake.
People like Erickson are indispensable to corrupt and dictatorial governments.
Geek, Esq.
Here’s a link to his literal cheerleading for lawlessness and corruption.
Of course, he banned anyone who spoke up against lawlessness and corruption.
Bender
I wouldn’t call it a meme. It’s an insane, cowardly, offensive (and politically stupid) accusation that Ford wouldn’t have the balls to make to a Republican Christian’s face. But that’s OK, because he’s a Democrat, right?
That’s just plain stupid. The ten commandments were put in the courthouse because the ten commandments are the ancient laws of Jews and Christians. Get it? Courthouse, laws? Republicans have shown equal disgust with the Democrats removing nativity scenes and crosses. So obviously, it’s nothing to do with the Law vs. the Gospel. Try another straw to grasp.
Bender
Slightly longer? Idiot, that’s exactly the same clip I linked to above, and it doesn’t change a bit what he said, or what he meant — both of which are highly offensive. Maybe if you’d follow links instead of accusing me of being dishonest, you wouldn’t make such a fool out of yourself. Maybe.
capelza
So angry….
Look I’m an Episcopalian (of course some question our Christian bona fides… :p) and I want all religion out of politics. Ten Commandments, Jesus and Frostian the 4th Magi nativity scenes as well.
My point was broader than Ford’s remarks…I am just puzzled by the Religious Right’s focus on the OT stuff and not the, you know, actual words of Jesus..or as one rightie said to me when I asked this (at Red State maybe, someplace like that) with a straight face he said…”The words of Jesus are just suggestions, the 10 commandments are LAWS”… just wow.
The vast majority of people who do not want religion in the public sqaure do not care if it is on church grounds or other private arenas…same with the 10 Commandments…
When that Alabama judge went on tour with the granite cipy of the 10C’s…did it not strike anyone lese as a kind of “golden Calf” kind of thing? And as I said, very few of the laws carved on the damn thing were illegal now.
capelza
That said, I wish Ford hadn’t said it, but you know…it gets REALLY old being told you are a Godless lefty all the time…
RSA
I wonder how the first commandment fits into our legal system?
Are there any lawyers here? What are the sentencing guidelines for the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren of blasphemers?
capelza
RSA…you made my other point, that I totally didn’t explain about the “granite calf” 10C’s that went tour…the irony was thick to me.
A graven image, in a way. People “worshipping” it when they went to see it.
Of course, I “worship” the DOI and the Bill of Rights, Constitution in my civic life…I’m just able to separate the two.
Steve
When Republicans claim they are the party which carries out God’s will, the approved way for Democrats like Harold Ford to fight back is… what, again? “I won’t respond because it would be wrong of me to mix religion and politics”? So much anger in this thread directed at the team which didn’t start the fight, all in the name of partisan hackery, of course.
What a laugh these people are. Try and make elections about the “issue” of which candidate God wants to win, and then get outraged when the other party’s candidate claims that it’s him. Seriously, that’s awesome.
Pb
My apologies, I didn’t see the clip there before–I usually browse without Flash enabled. I saw their short quoted excerpt, and your shorter quoted excerpt, neither of which even attempted to address whatever point Ford was trying to make there. Personally, I had some reservations about even linking that clip, but it was the longest one I’ve seen yet–it’d be nice to see what he said after the clip ends as well. You know, for context and stuff.
RSA
capelza, you scooped me (I type slowly).
Pb, here’s what I saw on Bender’s Stop the ACLU link that floored me:
The only rational response to this, I think, is WTF?
Pb
Yeah, really. Who would dare do such a thing, eh.
Steve
Does anyone remember Pataki’s introduction of Bush at the 2004 convention, when he said Bush had been sent by God to be our President? Seriously.
Mark Raven
From George Pataki at the 2004 GOP Convention in New York City:
“He is one of those men God and fate somehow lead to the fore in times of challenge,” said George Pataki in the high-profile introduction of Bush at the Republican National Convention.
“I thank God that on September 11th, we had a president who didn’t wring his hands and wonder what America had done wrong to deserve this attack,” he added. “I thank God we had a president who understood that America was attacked, not for what we had done wrong, but for what we did right.”
Two nights earlier, from former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at the same convention:
“Spontaneously, I grabbed the arm of then Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and said to Bernie, ‘Thank God George Bush is our President.’ And I say it again tonight: Thank God George Bush is our President.”
photonaton
lets sum this up:
Brown and Chernoff fiddled while New Orleans burned,
Cunningham traded taxpayer millions for personal gain,
Ney and Taft and Weldon and Safavian engaged in various forms of influence peddling,
Abramoff and Reed and Norquist used Native Americans like their own personal piggybank to fund various personal agendas while mocking them,
Delay was a one-man electioneering show,
Frist cynically tried to use a brain-dead woman to propel himself into the presidency while manipulating the stock market,
Bush chose to start an unnecessary war which cost billions while killing many thousands,
Rove used that war and the fears of Americans on behalf of his party like a beer hall putsch,
Rummy’s bankrupt strategies strained the military spirit and ruined at least one country,
Libby violated a national security law and lied about it,
A salty Cheney peppered someone,
Schmidt called a decorated Vietnam vet a coward,
Sherwood tried to strangle his mistress (buy one, get one free!),
Foley became the posterboy for creepy and seamy behavior,
Mehlman played on the fears of ignorant racists in Tennessee,
Rush emerged from a drug-induced stupor to take a trip to a Carribean underage sex brothel and mock a man with Parkinson’s disease,
and Allen was exposed as a racist,
…
but Webb, he, he, he WROTE SOMETHING NAUGHTY IN A NOVEL!
(the horror…the horror…)