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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Fables Of The Reconstruction / Naming The Elephant In The Room

Naming The Elephant In The Room

by Zandar|  November 16, 201110:14 am| 119 Comments

This post is in: Fables Of The Reconstruction, Republican Venality, All we want is life beyond the thunderdome, Our Failed Political Establishment

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Via ABLC comes this video of California Democrat Loretta Sanchez outright accusing her GOP colleagues in Congress of wanting to sabotage the economy for political gain.

Interviewer: You’ve heard them say that?

Sanchez: Yes. They have said that. They’ve said that! They’ve said that behind closed doors to me! They said, “Nothing is moving.” They said, “We want to make him look bad. We want to get rid of him. We want to get rid of the health care reform bill.” They only way they believe they can get rid of health care reform is to get rid of President Obama.

Interviewer: Who is saying that, Congresswoman?

Sanchez: Well, I’m not gonna … these are actual friends on the other side who have said, “This is what is happening in our conference”, in their groupings when they’re meeting.

She does stop short of naming names, but let’s remember that my state’s Senator, Mitch McConnell, has publicly gone on record as saying the most important goal for Republicans is not jobs, not fixing the economy, not helping the American people through the housing depression and economic crisis, but defeating President Obama. That is his stated top priority. All other concerns are incidental to Republicans and they fully understand that continuing to hamstring the economy is politically damaging to the President.

It’s the worst kept secret in Washington DC that Obama Derangement Syndrome is so pervasive among the GOP that they will resort to any measures to defeat him, up to and including throwing us into another recession through legislative inertia.

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Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    Poopyman

    November 16, 2011 at 10:19 am

    As you said, McConnell openly stated it on camera to a reporter.

    So why hasn’t that tape been played over and over on Democratic campaign ads? Why has the media buried this story?

    Two rhetorical questions, with different and familiar and depressing answers. I’m still hoping that the answer to the first is still up in the air since it’s early in the campaign cycle.

  2. 2.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    November 16, 2011 at 10:21 am

    I find it increasingly difficult to not flat out hate Republicans completely…

    I don’t like a lot of Democrats…

    But I’m starting to HATE Republicans..

  3. 3.

    Unsympathetic

    November 16, 2011 at 10:22 am

    This “we shall stop everything!” nonsense is precisely the same technique that the Whig party pulled in the last years of their existence.

    I’m sure the current Republican leadership is well aware of the parallels.

  4. 4.

    jafg

    November 16, 2011 at 10:22 am

    Yawn…..this story is so last season. What else is new?

    Fortunately the economy has other plans and nothing the GOP can do short of having a filibuster proof majority and outlawing all commerce will make much difference.

    The economy is getting better. They can slow it down a bit but they can’t stop it.

  5. 5.

    The Moar You Know

    November 16, 2011 at 10:23 am

    It’s not the health care bill they want to get rid of. It’s the black man.

    The economic numbers today have to be killing the GOP. They’ve done everything they can to destroy the economy and it’s slowly turning around anyway.

  6. 6.

    redshirt

    November 16, 2011 at 10:24 am

    Why are liberals so shrill and mean? HOW DARE THEY?!?!?!

    Cue the outrage machine…

  7. 7.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    November 16, 2011 at 10:29 am

    @redshirt:

    This.

    Okay, we expect the Faux “News” Outrage Machine to kick it into high gear. But all the rest of the serious people at corporate media outlets will simply tut-tut in their best Tom Brokaw tones about how shrill the Dems are and bemoan the lack of bipartisanship in our gubmint.

    Instead of actually following up on the “Repups Want To Wreck The Economy In Order To Oust The Moooslim, Kenyan, Islamofascists Soshulist” story that underlies this.

    Plus, as of right now, it’s one congress person. The corporate media stenographers will simply write that off as the shrill screachings on an uber-partisan Dem, much like how they treat Barney Frank who’s also been pretty blunt about this.

    Now, if you could get the Dem party leadership to start on this and stay on script, *then*, maybe, the story will gain traction. But that chances of that happening are…

  8. 8.

    kindness

    November 16, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Worse yet, the MSM is in on this ‘secret’ and continues to question it’s validity.

    Just this morning NPR had two segment on the ongoing debt reduction super committee where they first led with a statement saying it was Democrats who aren’t willing to compromise since Democrats have refused Republicans proposal to increase fees $350M. They mentioned later that the Republican proposal was also tied to Democrats allowing the bush43 tax cuts to be permanent but they didn’t mention the $3.7T deficit that would bring. Then to back up their point they allowed Senator McConnell to say how Republicans are bending over backward and it’s all Democrats fault.

    Fuck NPR. Who is still giving these assholes money? I know some of you are. This is what you are paying for, your own demise.

  9. 9.

    redshirt

    November 16, 2011 at 10:36 am

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Yep. That’s our only chance – enough people have to start speaking truthfully and forcefully, and most importantly, REPEATEDLY.

    Push the message. Take on these traitorous pukes rather than hiding behind the “Congressional Comity” shield.

    That said, I suspect the reason we don’t hear much pushback is most Dems are just as tied to the present system as the Repukes.

  10. 10.

    John Weiss

    November 16, 2011 at 10:36 am

    @The Republic of Stupidity: A few years ago, I was willing to give the Republicans the benefit of doubt.

    These days, I despise them. Bad attitude, I suppose.

  11. 11.

    cleek

    November 16, 2011 at 10:38 am

    @kindness:
    that NPR story was an epic fail. apparently, their only goal was to tell listeners “the two parties are bickering”. everything else they said was misleading half-truth and spin. worthless.

  12. 12.

    williamc

    November 16, 2011 at 10:38 am

    @kindness:

    THIS. I have been complaining to friends for years about how NPR is constantly blowing Republicans and has slid into a right-tilting “view from nowhere” mindset. I just can’t decide if its fear of the right-wing wurlitzer attacking them again, or if they just can’t believe that an American political party could be as decadent and amoral as the GOP has become.

  13. 13.

    The Moar You Know

    November 16, 2011 at 10:38 am

    But that chances of that happening are…

    @comrade scott’s agenda of rage: Zero, of course.

    Why “of course”?

    There’s an ugly truth here. Democrats have spent so much time cowering before Republicans that they are no longer capable of mounting even a cursory fight. Ever wonder why we have “Blue Dogs”? It’s Stockholm Syndrome writ large.

    We’re willing to console ourselves with a set of beliefs that our elected Democrats have never even thought about holding, and the idea that we somehow are “taking the high road” by being unwilling to fight these bastards using their own dirty methods. These are nice consolation prizes, folks, but they don’t feed anyone or help people in trouble.

    Good for Ms. Sanchez, but this shouldn’t be extraordinary. Dems should be saying this every day. I say it every day, why can’t my representatives in Congress?

  14. 14.

    neil

    November 16, 2011 at 10:41 am

    Now, to be fair, Republicans would be doing this no matter which Democrat was President.

  15. 15.

    Lex

    November 16, 2011 at 10:41 am

    I’m pleased Rep. Sanchez spoke up, but it’s past time she and her colleagues started naming names. The pattern needs to become too clear and common for the MSM to ignore, and as long as you don’t name names, they’ll continue to blow it off.

  16. 16.

    Davis X. Machina

    November 16, 2011 at 10:42 am

    Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to get that awful Negro out of the White House.

    Hier standen wir. Wir konnen nicht anders.

  17. 17.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 10:44 am

    This is SOP for the Left, Stalin used to blame his economic problems on “right-reactionaries”, “hoarders”, and “saboteurs” as well. Hugo Chavez does the same thing today, and i was just a matter of time before the Democrat Party would try this line here.

    ETA: Wow, only to post number 5 before the race card gets played. Is that some kind of record? Sometimes I think “progressives” believe that electing a black guy gave them some kind of infinite race

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    November 16, 2011 at 10:47 am

    She does stop short of naming names…

    Then she is wasting everyone’s time.

  19. 19.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 10:48 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s not the health care bill they want to get rid of. It’s the black man.

    This goes a bit too far. I doubt the republicans care whether Obama is black or not, although the fact of it causes some interesting confusion and cognitive dissonance on their part.

    What pisses them off is that he is a Democrat. The wreckage and destruction of the United States is preferable to them than eight or more years of Democratic Party control of the executive branch. There is all this money pent up in the think tanks and super-Pacs, and nowhere to spend it. No way to get another generation of politically correct chuckleheads into positions of power, no way to advance their program – because they are authoritarians, it kills them to be out of authority.

  20. 20.

    Epicurus

    November 16, 2011 at 10:48 am

    The poster is absolutely correct, Rep. Sanchez has virtually confirmed it. Why is this not the top story on the network news every night? Why is this not the lead story on every left-leaning blog on the ‘Net?? The truth shall set you free….too bad our corporate media won’t permit such a thing.

  21. 21.

    cleek

    November 16, 2011 at 10:49 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    why can’t my representatives in Congress?

    because their loyalty to the club is greater than their loyalty to the public.

  22. 22.

    geg6

    November 16, 2011 at 10:50 am

    @Unsympathetic:

    I’m sure the current Republican leadership is well aware of the parallels.

    Really? You have more confidence in their historical knowledge than I do.

  23. 23.

    dr. bloor

    November 16, 2011 at 10:51 am

    @Unsympathetic:

    I’m sure the current Republican leadership is well aware of the parallels.

    Actually, I’d be pretty surprised if the majority of the Republic leadership knew who the Whigs were.

  24. 24.

    sherparick

    November 16, 2011 at 10:52 am

    McConnell made the original statements in late October 2010 in an interview with Major Garrett at National Journal. The article is behind National Journal’s pay wall, but Think Progress has an extract of this interview, and others, here: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/10/25/126242/mcconnell-obama-one-term/

    Why have the Democrats not been stating this relentlessly. Because as Will Rogers once remarked: “I don’t belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”

    One of the maddening things in the current “Supercommittee” media circus of the next two weeks is that the Republican proposal to trade deep cuts and the Democrats to accept (and politically inoculate Republicans) a move to means testing Social Security and voucherization of Medicare is an offer of “$300 billion in tax revenues.” The suppercommitted is talking about spending and revenues over the next 10 years. It is left out in the reporting that this is only $30 billion a year. (Apparenlty putting things in the context of 10 x 30 is to much Math for the talking heads and elite university graduate reporters.) Where this revenue will be coming from is left unspecific (but knowing Republicans, that will probably mean cut backs to the earned income tax credit and middle class tax breaks). In return, with the spending cuts, the Bush tax cuts are not only locked in, but the upper rate on the personal income tax is dropped even lower to around 25% to 28%. Inequality on steroids. I guess this plan seems great when you are in the media elite like David Gregory and John King and see yourself paying tens of thousands dollars less a year in taxes while sounding the theme of “common sacrifice.”

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 16, 2011 at 10:53 am

    @neil:

    That’s true, because they did it to Clinton. Any Democrat in the White House is, by definition, illegitimate in Republican eyes. The White House was taken in 1980 and now it is Republican sacred ground.

    The name “Republican” is a misnomer. They’re actually monarchists.

  26. 26.

    geg6

    November 16, 2011 at 10:53 am

    @cleek:

    Which is why I agree with kindness that anyone that gives to that piece of shit is too stupid to live. They are financing the very worst kind of false equivalence bullshit there is. They are no better than CNN. In fact, worse because too many people expect better of them.

  27. 27.

    B1FF

    November 16, 2011 at 10:54 am

    Loretta Sanchez is, of course, a Blue Dog who played coy until the very last minute as to whether or not she was going to vote for health care reform. Looks like having her eternally safe district redistricted out from under her has caused her to suddenly rediscover the fact that she’s a Democrat!

    Maybe sometime soon she’ll feel desperate enough to actually name names and call out her ‘friends’ …

  28. 28.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    November 16, 2011 at 10:55 am

    @Xenos:

    What pisses them off is that he is a Democrat.

    Yup. It’s pretty much a repeat of the Clinton years in that regard.

    The fact that he’s black is simply gravy on the “Hate The Democratic President” cake and probably expands the reach of their message to grab the unrepentant racists out there who might have voted for Clinton once.

  29. 29.

    jafg

    November 16, 2011 at 10:56 am

    @Reality Check: lol…..your childishly simplistic attempts at trolling are not even very amusing anymore.

  30. 30.

    karen marie

    November 16, 2011 at 11:00 am

    @Brachiator: That was my reaction. I watched the video last night because it had an “eleventy!!11!” headline, and it ends up being so much “meh, tell me something I don’t know.”

  31. 31.

    Chris

    November 16, 2011 at 11:00 am

    let’s remember that my state’s Senator, Mitch McConnell, has publicly gone on record as saying the most important goal for Republicans is not jobs, not fixing the economy, not helping the American people through the housing depression and economic crisis, but defeating President Obama. That is his stated top priority.

    If anyone ever needed any evidence of who the real patriots and who the real unpatriotic ones are, this is it. Last time a Republican president had to deal with a crisis of this magnitude, it was 9/11, and Democrats reacted by rallying around the flag, because it was no time for partisanship. The economic crisis rolls around in 2008, the Republicans have a chance to do the same thing, and instead, it’s “I hope he fails,” not as slogan but as policy.

    It’s like Solomon’s judgment. Republicans love their country in the sense that the “mother” who wanted her son cut in two rather than alive in another family “loved” the baby.

  32. 32.

    harlana

    November 16, 2011 at 11:06 am

    well, i can’t speak for all of Washington, but Robert Reich has been jumping up and down lately on the teevee saying this very thing, word for word, they are trying to sabotage the economy to destroy Obama.

  33. 33.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:07 am

    So how is “hate the Democrat President” any different from Bush where the left called him everything from a moron to a “war criminal”? A movie was even made about him being assassinated, and Sean Penn said he should be in “fucking jail”. Let’s just imagine what the left would say if conservatives were repeating even 1/4 of what the left said about George W. Bush.

  34. 34.

    kindness

    November 16, 2011 at 11:07 am

    Following up my NPR experience. I used to comment on their web site pretty often but I’ve found over the last month the site isn’t letting me comment or even see the comments listed. Has anyone else had these same issues? I’ve not been 86’d as far as anything official but I suspect my login/cookie has been spiked to keep me out.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    November 16, 2011 at 11:08 am

    You can’t peak too soon; if we made a fuss over this back when McConnell first said it, it would have to be revived.

  36. 36.

    Palli

    November 16, 2011 at 11:08 am

    With friends like these…who needs enemies?
    and when does truth telling preclude naming names? I thought Republicans were proud of themselves.

  37. 37.

    WereBear

    November 16, 2011 at 11:09 am

    @Reality Check: Well, he WAS a moron and a war criminal.

    NEXT!

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 16, 2011 at 11:09 am

    @Reality Check:

    By the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth, you are pathetic.

  39. 39.

    Chris

    November 16, 2011 at 11:10 am

    @Reality Check:

    So how is “hate the Democrat President” any different from Bush where the left called him everything from a moron to a “war criminal”?

    Because Democratic politicians didn’t make it their mission in politics to overthrow George W. Bush by any means necessary no matter what harm it did to the country?

    Let’s just imagine what the left would say if conservatives were repeating even 1/4 of what the left said about George W. Bush.

    We don’t have to imagine. You outstripped them and left them behind in the dust before Obama was even elected.

  40. 40.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:10 am

    So….any “progressives” have anything to say about the sentiments of this OWS protester?.

    For those of you who can’t watch videos where you are, the full quote is

    “No more talking. They’ve got guns, we’ve got bottles. They’ve got bricks, we’ve got rocks…in a few days you’re going to see what a Molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s.”

  41. 41.

    The Other Bob

    November 16, 2011 at 11:11 am

    @Xenos:

    This goes a bit too far. I doubt the republicans care whether Obama is black or not…

    I doubt the MAJORITY OF republicans IN OFFICE care whether Obama is black or not…

    Before there was Obama Derangment Syndrome, there was Clinton Derangment Syndrome.

  42. 42.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:12 am

    The same protester also says “On Nov. 17th, we’re going to burn New York City to the ground“. Nice people, huh?

  43. 43.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 11:13 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The name “Republican” is a misnomer. They’re actually monarchists.

    L’Ancien Regime. H.T.M.L. Mencken had a great screed about ‘The Wreck of the Medusa’ back in the day…

  44. 44.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 11:14 am

    @Reality Check: Nice day for nutpicking?

  45. 45.

    catclub

    November 16, 2011 at 11:14 am

    @harlana: “Robert Reich has been jumping up and down lately on the teevee”

    and almost getting his head above the podium.

  46. 46.

    handy

    November 16, 2011 at 11:15 am

    @Reality Check:

    So how is “hate the Democrat President” any different from Bush where the left called him everything from a moron to a “war criminal”?

    They did, because he was, but…the left wasn’t in power then. And they aren’t now, either.

  47. 47.

    redshirt

    November 16, 2011 at 11:15 am

    Here’s our chance to ignore Reality Check! Bet it doesn’t happen though. Too many urges to try and “correct” him, but before trying, ask yourself: Do you think there’s any chance he would ever be corrected?

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 16, 2011 at 11:16 am

    In the 1940’s, Japanese officers were put to death for using the “enhanced interrogation techniques” on US POWs that the deserting coward authorized during his misrule.

  49. 49.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:17 am

    @Xenos:

    “Nutpicking” now means inconveniently pointing out that OWS is full of anarchist shitheads who want to repeat the London Riots in NYC, I guess.

  50. 50.

    Chris

    November 16, 2011 at 11:19 am

    @Reality Check:

    As opposed to the other side, which wants to reenact the Rodney King beatings and then wonders why people riot.

  51. 51.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 11:20 am

    @handy: Point of fact- Bush was, effectively, a moron, and is indisputably a war criminal.

    The truth being an absolute defense to a complaint of defamation…

  52. 52.

    Chyron HR

    November 16, 2011 at 11:21 am

    @Reality Check:

    You seem upset. What’s wrong, was the tree of liberty not adequately watered with Congresswoman Giffords’ blood?

  53. 53.

    Poopyman

    November 16, 2011 at 11:21 am

    @catclub: Shame on you! It’s not politically correct to pick on our OompaLoompa-Americans.

  54. 54.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 11:22 am

    @Reality Check: You are confusing anarchists with nihilist. Anarchy, at least, is a frickin’ ethos.

  55. 55.

    ed drone

    November 16, 2011 at 11:25 am

    @Overdrawn Check:

    So….any “progressives” have anything to say about the sentiments of this OWS protester?.

    To start with, who knows whether he’s an “OWS protester” or an agent provocateur? The cops aren’t above using such folks as excuses. There’s film of a cop breaking a car windshield (I think in London, but the technique’s the same) to “prove” that the “mob” was violent. Wash, rinse, repeat. It works a lot, especially on small minds. Need I say more?

    That someone claiming to be part of a mass movement is, or acts like, an idiot, does not negate the honesty or integrity of the mass. It’s like saying “all football coaches (or Catholic priests) are pedophiles,” based on a small number of same. No one would honestly claim that, but you insinuate that “progressives” must agree with the sentiments of a random nut-job.

    Then again, agreeing with random nut-jobs is the name of the game for right whingers, isn’t it?

    Ed

  56. 56.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:26 am

    @Chyron HR:

    Giffords was shot by a leftist loon. I dare you to try to find ANYTHING from a Tea Party really like “We’re going to burn NYC to the ground” or “Soon you’ll see what a molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s”, or even any clashes with police. They were totally, 100% peaceful and law abiding unlike this leftist trash.

  57. 57.

    Chyron HR

    November 16, 2011 at 11:30 am

    @Reality Check:

    Water the tree of liberty with Democrat blood! Next time we’re coming armed!

    I’m glad the tea party protests were 100% peaceful (except for where you keep shooting people, crashing planes into government buildings, etc).

    P.S. As long as you’re actually answering questions today, how many states did Herman Cain win when he tried running in the 2000 Republican primaries?

  58. 58.

    C. Isaac

    November 16, 2011 at 11:30 am

    @Reality Check:

    “I hope that’s not where we’re going, but you know if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I’ll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out.” —Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle, floating the possibility of armed insurrection by conservatives, interview with right-wing radio host Lars Larson, Jan. 14, 2010

  59. 59.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:31 am

    @Chyron HR:

    Which Tea Party member shot anybody? Name names.

  60. 60.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 16, 2011 at 11:31 am

    @Reality Check:

    “Second amendment remedies”

    Wow, that didn’t take long!

  61. 61.

    Xenos

    November 16, 2011 at 11:32 am

    @Reality Check: What leftist trash? The dork put on TV with “leftist trash” under his name?

    And how about I threaten some second amendment solutions applied against you. You might take offense at such a statement.

  62. 62.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:32 am

    @C. Isaac:

    Yeah, that’s totally the same thing as “In a few days you’re going see what molotov cocktail can do to Macy’s” and “On Nov. 17th, we’re burning New York City to the ground”. Except its not. Notice one has the language of imminence while the other is a hypothetical far into the future.

  63. 63.

    LAC

    November 16, 2011 at 11:32 am

    @Reality Check: WHAAAAA!! Mommy, they were mean to Bush! I wanna be mean too! WHAAAA!!!!

    God, the quality of trolls has really gone downhill.

  64. 64.

    maya

    November 16, 2011 at 11:33 am

    @Unsympathetic: “This “we shall stop everything!” nonsense is precisely the same technique that the Whig party pulled in the last years of their existence.

    I’m sure the current Republican leadership is well aware of the parallels”.

    Not necessarily. But they could hire Newt @ $1.6 million for an historical consultation.

  65. 65.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:34 am

    “Second Amendment remedies” means if, at some future point the state becomes so tyrannical that it tries to take away basic rights, that people will fight back. Now please try explaining how throwing a molotov cocktail into a department store where mothers are doing Christmas shopping for their kids is totally the same thing.

  66. 66.

    C. Isaac

    November 16, 2011 at 11:35 am

    @Reality Check: When it’s a senatorial candidate vs. a random loon on the street, the senatorial candidate tends to carry a bit more weight.

    Stick microphones in enough anonymous people’s faces and you can get any spin you want.

    Much like your trolling on the internet, anonymity brings tends to bring out the worst.

  67. 67.

    The Moar You Know

    November 16, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Nice going, dickheads. You let Reality’s Bad Check derail another thread.

  68. 68.

    beergoggles

    November 16, 2011 at 11:38 am

    What’s wrong with you militants? You should be more accommodating and compromising. Agree to not elect Obama now for a promise from Republicans to re-elect him at a later date.

    Sorry, couldn’t resist the snark.

  69. 69.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:38 am

    @C. Isaac:

    Stick microphones in enough anonymous people’s faces and you can get any spin you want.

    Then it shouldn’t be to hard to get a Tea Party protester saying the same thing. Right? Am I right?

    Anyway, guess who said this?

    “That [Rick] Scott down there that’s running for governor of Florida,instead of running for governor of Florida, they ought to have him and shoot him. Put him against the wall and shoot him.

    Who said that? Democrat Congressman Paul Kanjorski.

    Read it right here.

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    November 16, 2011 at 11:39 am

    So, let me get this straight:

    Talking about throwing molotov cocktails is somehow more reprehensible than brandishing firearms at meetings with your congresscritter.

    Am I getting this right?

  71. 71.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:40 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    There have been guns and “Occupy” events in Arizona. AR-15s even. Just like Tea Party events in Arizona had some. Not that I care. Guns don’t have some kind of evil sentience of their own. Open carry is perfectly legal under Arizona law and in several other states. Throwing a molotov cocktail at a department store is, well, not.

  72. 72.

    cleek

    November 16, 2011 at 11:41 am

    @LAC:

    God, the quality of trolls has really gone downhill.

    really?

    because the purpose of a troll, as usually understood, is to derail and then dominate the conversation. by that measure, RC is spectacularly successful. every time he shows up.

    apparently, people here just can’t get enough of him.

  73. 73.

    Bludger

    November 16, 2011 at 11:46 am

    Name names or it didn’t happen.

  74. 74.

    Chyron HR

    November 16, 2011 at 11:46 am

    @Reality Check:

    Shooting Democrats is is perfectly legal under Tea Party law. Talking about molotov cocktails is, well, not.

    Sounds like somebody enlisted in the PC Police. Are there any other words the OWS protesters shouldn’t use for fear of hurting your fee-fees?

  75. 75.

    kindness

    November 16, 2011 at 11:47 am

    Why are you people bothering with the trolls? This was a good thread but now it’s just a back & forth bickering with idiots.

    There is a difference between honest discussion of differing opinions and trolls. Trolls only want to disrupt communication and hijack a thread to something other than the subject at hand. This thread is an excellent example. Don’t feed the Trolls. Please ignore them.

  76. 76.

    Judas Escargot

    November 16, 2011 at 11:50 am

    @Reality Check:

    “Second Amendment remedies” means if, at some future point the state becomes so tyrannical that it tries to take away basic rights, that people will fight back.

    So you’d approve of the ‘leftist trash’ if they had brought firearms to OWS?

  77. 77.

    Steve

    November 16, 2011 at 11:52 am

    I thought we established on election night that Reality Check is just a parody troll. Oh well, feeding the troll is a long-standing BJ tradition.

  78. 78.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 16, 2011 at 11:52 am

    @kindness: No shit, if you don’t reply it will slither off eventually. God what saps.

  79. 79.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:52 am

    @Judas Escargot:

    If its legal under the law where they live, I wouldn’t give two shits. But open carry AFAIK is illegal in NYC.

  80. 80.

    boss bitch

    November 16, 2011 at 11:53 am

    Its amazing how you guys keep wasting time replying to attention whore reality check.

  81. 81.

    harlana

    November 16, 2011 at 11:54 am

    uh oh, Reality Check has opened the floodgates for a veritable library of teabagger quotes inciting violence and murder, it’s gonna be a long thread. =)

  82. 82.

    Reality Check

    November 16, 2011 at 11:56 am

    @harlana:

    So far all we have is some weak sauce from Angle about “second amendment remedies” easily countered by a Democrat Congressman who openly called for lining the Governor of Florida up against a wall and shooting him.

  83. 83.

    The Thin Black Duke

    November 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    As much fun as it might be to metaphorically dump Reality Check into a cage and repeatedly poke his naked carcass with sharp pointy sticks, I submit that the most merciful thing to do is starve him to death. Please.

  84. 84.

    Chyron HR

    November 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    @Reality Check:

    You forgot to claim that Angle is a “leftist loon”. Or do Tea Party Patriots only become Leftist Loons when a Democrat puts their head in the way of your second amendment remedies?

  85. 85.

    Bludger

    November 16, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    That’s the beauty of trolling, it always works.

  86. 86.

    The Moar You Know

    November 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    I guess that Republicans openly admitting that they’re sabotaging the economy in order to get Obama out of office is just not that big a deal to you guys, since you’d obviously prefer to discuss other things.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    November 16, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    @harlana: nah..
    The topic at hand is whether or not the repubs want to tank the economy. The answer is yes. Party first! Long live Grover Norquist… How long before they change the pledge..
    I pledge allegiance to Grover and his lovely wife.

  88. 88.

    gbear

    November 16, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Although it’s been said many times many ways,

    Christ, does this comment thread suck.

  89. 89.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    November 16, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Apropos: Headline on Yahoo News a minute ago:

    * White House (AP)
    Bullet that hit White House stirs worries.
    A round stopped by ballistic glass may be tied to a man with a fixation, sources say.

    So, a man with a fixation. Could be any Republican Congressman, I guess.

  90. 90.

    Jeff Spender

    November 16, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    As a relatively young American, I have to say that the Republican tactics on display now are very wearisome.

    I’m still young enough to want to blame old people for all of our problems because, well, I’m not really old enough to have caused any of them.

    I wonder what compels the older generations to fight for their own well-being over future generations. They vote selfishly, think selfishly, and spend selfishly. It’s like the case of the old farts who sit on school boards who haven’t had children in the school system for decades.

    I became jaded when Bush was President, in my teens. Now I really can’t say I hold much hope that any of this is going to change. I voted for Obama on the off-chance that maybe some good could come out of it. I will vote for Obama again because I think he’s done a good job with what he has (and the GOP candidates terrify me because of how damn ignorant they are).

    The question I have is this: how will the world look in 50 years? I am excited at the prospect that other countries will rise and share equal power with the U.S.

  91. 91.

    C. Isaac

    November 16, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    @JPL: Well, most Republicans’ actions would show that their allegiance to Grover is more powerful than their duty to assist their constituents.

    It’s like the overriding need of Gollum to find the ring again.

    Suddenly I see a caricature of Grover holding onto the Bush tax cut text, petting it, hissing out, “I lovesssss the precioussssssssss….”

  92. 92.

    Brian R.

    November 16, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    @kindness:

    Fuck NPR. Who is still giving these assholes money?

    People who like being put to sleep, but don’t respond well to sleeping medication.

  93. 93.

    Gex

    November 16, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    @cleek: Shades of Penn State.

  94. 94.

    Brian R.

    November 16, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Hey, why don’t you all stop arguing with Reality Check and start trying to win over that wall behind you?

  95. 95.

    rikryah

    November 16, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    name those names

  96. 96.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 16, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    @Jeff Spender: how will the world look in 50 years?

    good luck with that

  97. 97.

    harlana

    November 16, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    @JPL:

    I pledge allegiance to Grover and his lovely wife

    . Who just so happens to be a mooslim!! Fancy that.

  98. 98.

    Jeff Spender

    November 16, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred):

    No, I’m serious. I have no idea what will happen, and that’s what I find exciting. It could go horribly wrong, or it could get better.

    It’s that uncertainty that makes me want to set out and try to make an impact, you know?

    I think that as soon as the U.S. finds itself among equals, the world will be a better place.

  99. 99.

    JPL

    November 16, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    @C. Isaac: Mustn’t tax the job creators because someday they might create jobs.
    MSM has to start asking why jobs haven’t been created since the tax rate is so low.

  100. 100.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 16, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    @Jeff Spender: Jam on grasshopper, if you can make the world a better place more power to you. Just realize that change is incredibly rapid and it will only accelerate so don’t worry do much about trying to look into the future. Some guy named Petty said “most things I worry about, never happen anyway”.

  101. 101.

    Gex

    November 16, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    @Jeff Spender: Finding ourselves among equals is going to be a hard transition for the US. It is not just the older folks who cling hard to their American exceptionalism.

    For a while I was wondering if the future will be the rest of the world forming some sort of alliance to protect themselves from military attack by us. Just because you are a friend today doesn’t mean you will be tomorrow when the next Republican becomes president…

  102. 102.

    El Cid

    November 16, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    @JPL:

    MSM has to start asking why jobs haven’t been created since the tax rate is so low.

    It’s because the tax rates are so high, and also because when they aren’t, the job creators are worried that in the future taxes might go up.

    We need to cut taxes and make it a flat tax and also stop taxing so much. Because.

  103. 103.

    MomSense

    November 16, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    @95 rikryah

    YES!! Name those traitorous names!!!

  104. 104.

    Ecks

    November 16, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    @Gex: Nah, normally when the world catches up with a hegemon it takes a long time for them to notice, and their population internally keeps thinking of themselves as the most important people evar for at least a couple of generations, if not indefinitely. There are still quite a few British people with a deep seated understanding that the world revolves on what England does (not that many, but there were a lot more of them in 1950).

  105. 105.

    Raven (formerly stuckinred)

    November 16, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    @Ecks: This is England

  106. 106.

    Ecks

    November 16, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    @Raven (formerly stuckinred): English History X?

  107. 107.

    RJ

    November 16, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    They’re not our friends, Rep. Sanchez.

    Name names.

  108. 108.

    g

    November 16, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    Hell, they’re saying in on the record. It’s no surprise.

  109. 109.

    TenguPhule

    November 16, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    Step 1: Execute All Registered Republicans

    Step 2: Party.

    Step 3: Profit!

    /this actually makes more sense then half the thread and the troll.

  110. 110.

    Tone in DC

    November 16, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    String theory written in 14th century Mandarin makes more sense than the troll.
    ;-)

  111. 111.

    The Other Chuck

    November 16, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    STOP.

    FEEDING.

    THE.

    FUCKING.

    TROLL.

  112. 112.

    William Hurley

    November 16, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    The problem is that Obama have eagerly aided and abetted the GOP’s long standing, publicly stated goal “#1 goal” (s/o to Mitch McConnell).

    Might I remind you and the rest of the deluded o-bots here that Obama chose to not just open but kick-in the door to insane deficit hawkery. Yes, kicked-in – meaning that after the Congress rejected this nonsensical idea, Barry decided to exercise his judgment regarding the critical importance of trimming the deficit and the merits of enforced austerity on the nation all by his Unitary Executive lonesome.

    Today, President Obama will sign an executive order establishing the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and announce that former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles and former Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson will serve as the Commission’s co-chairs.


    President Obama Establishes Bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

    Executive Order [135310] — National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

  113. 113.

    Chris

    November 16, 2011 at 1:40 pm

    @Ecks:

    There are still quite a few British people with a deep seated understanding that the world revolves on what England does (not that many, but there were a lot more of them in 1950).

    This is pretty much all of the reason for James Bond novels and movies: Britishers living in a post-imperial age, feeling nostalgic for the glory days of the Empire and living vicariously through a superhero in a fictional world where Britain still saved civilization again and again.

    (As it turned out, it was wildly popular in the rest of the world too, but that’s how it got its start).

  114. 114.

    Chris

    November 16, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    @Ecks:

    I’d have to say, though, that the British were pretty good about the whole transition-from-superpower-status. Not every country is. Spain essentially spent all of its decline in deep denial, with more and more intense conservative/Catholic backlashes against any attempts to modernize the system so it might actually work (culminating in Franco’s half-century long dictatorship).

    I don’t know what America’s decline will look like, but I doubt if the country will take it as well (relatively speaking) as Britain did. We already live in an environment where any weakness is perceived as the work of liberal saboteurs and proof that we should be even more rigorous in enforcing conservative ideology.

  115. 115.

    ed drone

    November 16, 2011 at 2:41 pm

    @JPL:

    I pledge allegiance to Grover and his lovely wife, for which he stands.

    Fixed

    Ed

  116. 116.

    AxelFoley

    November 16, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    @redshirt:

    Here’s our chance to ignore Reality Check! Bet it doesn’t happen though. Too many urges to try and “correct” him, but before trying, ask yourself: Do you think there’s any chance he would ever be corrected?

    It’s not so much as correcting him as it is ridiculing him.

  117. 117.

    AxelFoley

    November 16, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    @Reality Check:

    “Second Amendment remedies” means if, at some future point the state becomes so tyrannical that it tries to take away basic rights, that people will fight back. Now please try explaining how throwing a molotov cocktail into a department store where mothers are doing Christmas shopping for their kids is totally the same thing.

    By Ymir’s frozen balls, you’re dense.

  118. 118.

    AxelFoley

    November 16, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    @William Hurley:

    Oh, do shut the fuck up, bitch.

  119. 119.

    RGuy

    November 16, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    I’d find it note worthy if she’d name names and start calling people out but she’s not going that far.

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