skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Hasan looks nuts. He doesn’t look like a terrorist. The look on his face says goofy. It reminds me of Oliver North. Was North a terrorist?
Oh, yeah, I guess he was, wasn’t he?
But North wasn’t a terrorist in the way Muhammad Atta was. Atta certainly didn’t have that pseudo-goofy look at Hasan has. Atta could scare people in a horror movie without an axe, a chainsaw or a hockey mask.
In the other photo Hasan looks like Marlon Brando as Kurtz in “Apocalypse Now”. From all accounts so far, Hasan was psychopathic not terroristic.
Michigan gubernatorial candidate and House Intelligence Committee ranking Republican and overall spiller of national secrets, Pete Hoekstra was on Fox yesterday trying to drive home the false point and expand the foundation of this phony issue that Hasan murdering GIs last week was terrorism.
Beck, Hannity and O’Reilly are all trying to beat the same drum—that terrorists in the military is the new Communists in the State Department is the new Kenyans in the White House.
And we know how that’s going.Idiots.
According to MSNBC Obama was not a factor in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. In fact, to extrapolate on that assessment, Obama doesn’t seem to be a factor in much of anything these days—certainly not health care reform.
However, Palin, Beck, Limbaugh and Armey may have been a factor in the very telling election in New York State’s 23rd district. Their candidate, Doug Hoffman, looking like someone arrested on “Dateline: To Catch a Predator” conceded, handing a victory to a Democrat in that district for the first time since the Civil War.
The strange thing about all the brouhaha raised by conservatives in getting Hoffman into the New York 23 race is that district gets absorbed by surrounding Democratic districts in a redistricting based on the 2010 census.
I can’t wait to hear how Beck, Limbaugh and Palin spin the Hoffman loss. Gingrich ought to have a bit of fun with this. Let’s keep the civil war going.
For Democrat losses, Chris Christie is said to be a moderate, a fiscal conservative but not a social conservative, so the Tea Baggers will not make any real headway there until they put tremendous pressure on him and he caves to Birther demands, if that happens.
Bob O’Donnell effectively refused Palin and her brand of conservatism and won anyway over a weak Democrat. However, she will probably take credit for his victory.
Jon Corzine was apparently an unappealing incumbent. His approval was at 39%. There is speculation that his connection to Goldman Sachs may have contributed to his downfall in addition to other issues. The voters are tired of Wall Street.
Bloomberg got a run for his money, literally, by someone without much political power or billionaire bank account. Bloomberg is also another incumbent and is associated with Wall Street.
Bloomberg and Corzine are connected to Wall Street. This does not bode well for Obama in 2010 if he does not get the economy going by then or does not punish Wall Street more harshly than Geithner and the boys have so far.
While the losses of Corzine and Deeds do not necessarily presage the future of the Democratic Party, they do presage the future of similar Democrat candidates—those weak Democrats like Harry Reid, Blanche Lincoln and others who refuse to be tough.
Reid wants to wait until next year on health care. Obama’s response will probably be, “Well, if you say so.”
Some believe this is a bad idea. I entertain the possibility that they want to move Republican refusal to participate in an historic piece of bad bill legislation that the vast majority of Americans want, despite all that poser Tea Bagger nonsense in July and August, as close to the primaries as possible.
A year ago tonight the great Anarchist of Ann Arbor and I discussed our beliefs that the first party to split, thereby creating a third party, would be the Republicans. We may be seeing that materialize right before our eyes. The Tea Baggers will be so incensed by Hoffman’s loss in New York that they will come back in greater numbers and intensity in 2010.
But the Democrats beginning to split between progressive and conservative may become the speculative talk of 2012 if not sooner.
A possible Democrat strategy for 2010—or simply my delusion—is the Democrats may be hoping the conservative wing of the Republican Party will defeat a sufficient number of Republicans in 2010 primaries so that Democrats gain the Republican seat easily in the general election a year from now.
I do not know what the issue for the 2010 general will be right now that will separate the Democrats from the Tea Bagger/Birthers. Certainly health care reform should be decided in favor of the insurance companies by then. There is still time.
And maybe that strategy applies to conservative Democrats as well. Goodbye Lincoln, Bayh and those in the House too numerous to mention. The delusion disclaimer is still in effect.
One thing I believe this election says loud and clear is: Democrats get off your asses, get some guts and do the right things before 2010.
Obama, this means you too.
I remember watching JFK’s funeral on TV when I was six years old and crying and not really understanding why I was crying. I don’t really remember hearing the news of RFK’s assassination but I have always taken pride that he was in my hometown the week before.
Tuesday night when I was writing yesterday’s blog, the news of Ted Kennedy’s death came across. But I knew I did not really know enough about his life and career to write a respectable and respectful piece, and that I would leave it to others.
The one thought I had Tuesday night was on a theme I have touched upon a few times, which is that there are certain people in the world who you feel are pillars of strength to guard you from bad things and you almost take them for granted. Ted Kennedy has always been one of those for me. One did not have to pay as much attention because Kennedy was there to do it for us.
There has been much made today of Ted Kennedy’s greatness as a Senator. I don’t doubt that. I think what contributed to our thoughts of Kennedy’s greatness was his special place in our national family as the only surviving brother of JFK and RFK.
We as Americans will never get over the assassinations of John and Bobby. It will simply fade from our collective national consciousness as those who have any memories of them fade into the night.
Who will replace Kennedy in what he wanted to accomplish? I had hoped Kennedy would have lived long enough to make the difference in the current health care reform debate that seems to have been hijacked away from the passionate, eloquence of Kennedy by the thuggish, screaming of the town hallers.
Kennedy’s death should be a wake up call to those with progressive ideals and the skills, intellect and talent to carry them through.
This means you, Mr. President.
Perhaps your attempt at bipartisanship is learned from Ted Kennedy’s modus operandi within the Senate. Well, I believe times have changed and a different strategy is obviously needed. I don’t believe saying you promised Kennedy and just naming the health care reform bill after him is enough to get Republicans and errant Democrats on board. Many of these people seem to have lost their souls long ago.
This means you, Mr. Hatch—Moonie alumni.
There are progressives waiting to be led if you are so inclined to lead, Mr. President. We need toughness and rapid response to shifting sands caused by insurance and pharmaceutical industry con men. If we see you are waiting too long we are prepared to go it alone.
One of Reagan’s famous quotes was, “Government isn’t the solution to our problems government is the problem.” Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn said Tuesday that government was not the solution. Obviously what they want is to de-regulate corporations and to corporatize America in education, health care and Social Security, among others.
We don’t want America to become corporatized. With Kennedy gone, we must now do it ourselves, trust no one and take no prisoners.
Good luck on Saturday, Mr. President. We will all be watching for more than just a eulogy. You have a lot of rising to the occasion to do.
What would America be like if JFK and RFK had lived with Teddy in the Senate? Maybe Oliver Stone needs a new film?
All that’s left in the immediate is for Glenn Beck to make some insensitive comments about Kennedy’s death and lose even more sponsors.
Hasan looks nuts. He doesn’t look like a terrorist. The look on his face says goofy. It reminds me of Oliver North. Was North a terrorist?
