Mythbusting the Republican Battle Plan

Under the scenario that Republicans gain control of either the House or Senate, exactly what is it we can expect them to do? Even though some have argued they don't need an agenda, a few indicators have begun to peek out - like this tidbit from Congressman Paul Ryan.



In addition to Michele Bachmann who says "All we should do is issue subpeonas", and John Beohner who want's to completely hamstring the Federal Government's ability to do it's job if Republicans regain the House - Senator John (Reverse Robin Hood) Barraso who wants to repeal the Middle Class Tax Cuts to finance the Cuts for the Rich - it seems the Budget Wunderkind Paul Ryan does have a plan - and he's laid it all over for us right here as brought to you by the guys who've gotten everything they've ever done so spot on - (what with their predicting of the location of the WMD's and all) - The American Enterprise Institute.

Reading through this is a lot like a trip through Grim's Fairy Tales, with all the original gory endings in tact - it's just one Myth followed by another, followed by another...

The first myth is that the primary problem we face as a nation have nothing to do with policies enacted - by Republicans.

I have great respect for President Obama, who surely believes his Progressivist agenda is best for the American people. But America’s well-being rests on America’s timeless truths, and can’t be secured by abandoning our principles. This “new foundation” rests on ideas like the following:

•Bureaucratic control over private enterprises’ investment decisions;

•Enormous government spending;

•Forcing worker training into sectors favored by government rather than empowering individual workers to choose their training and pursue their own destiny;

•Imposing upon the economy government’s radical energy and environmental overreach;

•Seizing control and management of the health care sector.

These ideas, in my judgment, reflect not the foundations of America, but of a European-style social welfare state.

This view, as usual, ignores the long, long history of Republican President's since Reagan who have consistently increased government spending (Every budget that the 80's Democratic Congress delivered spent LESS than every budget that Reagan asked for) and ratcheted up the power of Government intrusion in the private lives of individuals (Patriot Act, Warrantless Wiretaps) - it also ignores that there was NO Public Option in the Final Health Care Bill (So exactly where is the "Government Takeover"?) and that moving toward green energy and better environmental caretaking isn't just a Whim it's a abslutely neccesity for the survival of our economy, and in many ways - our way of life as fossil fuels continue to dimish and pollute our air and waterways.

China is investing $Bilions in clean and green energy, in a Market based world, we either keep up or we fall behind.

But then that's pretty much boiler-plate stuff, the really weird stuff comes soon after. Herein Ryan explains the second Myth, that all our recent financial problems aren't the result of naked bare-knuckled greed - it's all because "Government Backed Entities" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

For one thing, whatever greed drove investors to trade in Mortgage-Backed Securities and similar financial instruments – for greed always plays its part – those “securitization” investments were evolved, packaged, and sold by so-called “Government-Sponsored Enterprises,” principally Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The GSEs were heavily regulated by HUD and other agencies, and they were under close Congressional oversight. Congress itself compelled Fannie and Freddie to provide a secondary mortgage market for uncreditworthy buyers. This meant they would eventually have to cover subprime mortgages under quotas targeted by HUD...and they would have to find a way to resell these risky mortgages to investors.

There's one big huge flaw in this revisionist theory - since Fannie and Freedie were heavily regulated by HUD they couldn't issue subprime mortgages.

My only quibble with the gusher of stories this morning on the government’s takeover on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is my usual one—ahistoricism.

Reading all this, one gets the impression that those politically protected mortgage buyers and fee machines caused the global credit crisis.

They didn’t.

The fact is: Wall Street sank Freddie and Fannie, not the other way around.

This Credit Suisse report (from March 2007 and eerily prescient) reminds us that the government sponsored entities’ share of the overall new mortgage market had fallen to 42 percent by the end of 2006 before shooting up to 76 percent at the end of 2007 (on their way toward 90 percent now) as the market collapsed.

And that’s the overall market. As Paul Krugman points out, a "subprime borrower is basically someone whose credit wasn’t good enough to qualify for a Fannie- or Freddie-backed mortgage". The subprime market&the really toxic stuff—was always dominated by Wall Street and Wall Street-backed lenders.

In fact - GSE like Fannie and Freddie were not only blocked by HUD regulations from giving Mortgages to people who couldn't afford them, were prohibited from doing so by law - Cue Paul Krugman.

Furthermore, while Fannie and Freddie are problematic institutions, they aren’t responsible for the mess we’re in.

But here’s the thing: Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with the explosion of high-risk lending a few years ago, an explosion that dwarfed the S.& L. fiasco. In fact, Fannie and Freddie, after growing rapidly in the 1990s, largely faded from the scene during the height of the housing bubble.

Partly that’s because regulators, responding to accounting scandals at the companies, placed temporary restraints on both Fannie and Freddie that curtailed their lending just as housing prices were really taking off. Also, they didn’t do any subprime lending, because they can’t: the definition of a subprime loan is precisely a loan that doesn’t meet the requirement, imposed by law, that Fannie and Freddie buy only mortgages issued to borrowers who made substantial down payments and carefully documented their income.

So you see (in Ryan's Fantasy Republican-World) it wasn't the preditory lending practices and dark pool derivatives of corporate entities like Lehman or Goldman or AIG or anyone on Wall Street that caused the Great Recession. The Market didn't FAIL, just because - the MARKET FAILED - it's was because the Big Bad Evil Gubner-ment made them fail, by enticing them with goodies and cookies of rich creamy poor people with no money? Got it?

Yeah, that's a good fairy tale. But wait it's gets even better - enter the Villians of the Story, the Big, Bad, Dirty, Evil - Progressivists!

The Progressivist tale is wrong because it misstates the very nature of free enterprise. It presumes that free enterprise is materialistic and selfish. The free market is a game of chance. Success or failure depends on the luck of the draw, and the edge goes to the ruthless. The system of free enterprise is unfair. The moral is this: government must step in to redistribute the wealth and equalize the results for all.

We have met Skeletor, and he is us.

Let's be clear - this is the bogeyman construction in full bloom. This is the Myth of the Capitalism Hater, and yet again igores the True Progressive position and view which clearly does support Capitalism, but not without limits and reasonable rules of the Road. No Market can funtion as a Free For All without ground rules designed to protect all the participants from the FEW - repeat: The FEW - who might attempt to gain unfair financial advantage like say - Enron, or Global Crossing, or Adelphia, or AIG, or Goldman.

Caveat Sucktor - Let the Sucker Beware.

No, the progressive view is admit the reality that some individuals within a company and some companies as matter of policy are Irresponsible, and that the larger that company may because the more damage it's irresponsible behavior may create. It doesn't presume that all companies are inherently evil, only that it's neccesary to makesure all the traffic signs and safe speed limits are applied - especially to the largest trucks on the economic road - because when they crash, they can take out hundreds and thousands of smaller cars on the marketing highway with them.

That's all.

But to people like Ryan, the shining Hero on the Hill - is an Unrepentant Unlimited Uber-Capitalist.

But the prosperity of America finds its real source, not in government, but in democratic capitalism... people investing, working, and saving in private enterprise. Homes could not be built without private builders, creditors, and workers under the free enterprise system. It’s the source of all wealth, the satisfaction of all material needs, our means of transportation, instant global communications, access to information, it’s the only spring of progress and innovation in health care, education, and on and on.

Yeah, right and the Goverment providing education and housing loans to GI's returning from WWII, providing the funding to build the Interstate Highway System, and providing the financing and R&D to create a way for computers to share information across distances in order to avoid catastrophic data loss in the advent of Nuclear War had nothing to d with creation of the Internet - other than EVERYTHING.

Sometimes, many times, government can act to plant a seed and nuture an immature element of our culture and economy until it because mature enough to survive on it's own in the market. Some things may never become financial secure enough to function on their own (and some things can become financial successful even though they are completely socially and culturally worthless - case in point Beiber!), nonetheless they may be elements of our society without which our nation could not continue to function, survive or thrive. Elements like our ROADS! But in right-wing Republican Land, that which is not profitable, is not fit to live.

Once he finally finished with Aesop's Fables Ryan finally got to the point, and while some was quite predictable (tax the poor, but not the rich) a few of these point I found rather surprisingly Progressivist!


First there's the return of the Regressivist Flat Tax.

Here are the major components:

•First of all: We cannot rest satisfied with permanently high unemployment. America must begin to create new businesses and jobs. We can begin with a pro-growth tax reform. The Roadmap proposes a simple two-tier low-rate personal income tax system: 10% on the first $100,000 of income for couples ($50,000 for singles) and 25% above that. It abolishes the Alternative Minimum Tax, and nearly all loopholes and credits, except for generous personal and family deductions. Taxpayers can either file under the current tax code or this simplified code. Our uncompetitive corporate income tax code will be replaced by a simple 8.5% business consumption tax and investments will be expensed immediately. The Roadmap creates incentives to foster job opportunities and economic growth, while sustaining the revenues to meet our priorities.

Got that, two tax rates - 10% and 25% - that's it. No Loopholes, NO Credits. This would be a massive shift of the tax burden DOWN to the middle class by eliminate homebuyer credits, interest rate credits, earned income credits which help keep many middle and low income families out of near poverty.

•Next, it is not possible to grow unless we act to reduce the mountain of debt from unfunded health care and retirement entitlements. The Roadmap was put forth during the last Administration, and reintroduced this past year – before the President signed into law his massive health care overhaul. Going forward, the Roadmap is predicated on its repeal – and offers a consumer-driven replacement.

Consumer-driven? I read that as Industry Controlled, owned and operated. No More Health Care FOR YOU. But then again...

•The Roadmap offers universal access to affordable, quality health care by reforming the cost-pushing and discriminatory distortions in our tax code. Along with transparency on price and quality and upfront support for those with pre-existing and chronic conditions, the Roadmap reform tackles the scourge of health inflation with a true patient-centered alternative.

Price Transparency and quality - you mean the thing that the Exchanges you just said you're going to Repeal will do? Then came the Whopper... Medicare for (almost) All.

•Everyone over 54 remains in the current Medicare program. For those under 55, the Roadmap plan provides future seniors with the resources they need to choose from a list of diverse Medicare-certified plans, just like the health coverage enjoyed by Members of Congress and Federal employees. The payment grows each year, with more support for those with lower-incomes and higher health costs. To meet Medicaid’s obligations, the Roadmap reform provides low income Americans with financial resources to buy their own health care coverage like everyone else.

Shiver me timbers, he just suggested lowering the Medicare minimum access age to 55. Also sounds like it supplied subsidies to help people buy plans - WHAT? With MY TAX MONEY? Nooooo!!

In point of fact, most of Ryan's plan actually mirrors the plan signed into law by President Obama, including State Based Exchanges and tax subsidies for those with lower income (although eliminating some of the subsidies for those farther above the poverty line). Better not let on, but he seems to be pretty far Down with the Socialism.

Then comes the Personalization of Social Security.

•Everyone over 54 will stay in the existing Social Security program with no change, but benefits are guaranteed. My plan offers those now under 55 a choice: continue to take part in traditional Social Security, or participate in a retirement system like the one I have as a Congressman. You can invest over a third of your payroll taxes in a guaranteed low risk account which you own, managed by the Social Security Administration, not a stock broker or private investment firm.

So this is a bit of a return to the Bush Social Security Proposal, invest part of your Social Security funds in Wall Street, only without the Stock Broker elements. Yeah, that's a great idea -- how's everyones 401k doing after 2008-2009? Wanna see 1/3rd of your Social Security go exactly the same way? Join up with this plan, it's a hum dinger.

And just for even more fun this plan has been Scored by CBO.

CBO: On Social Security

Traditional retirement benefits would be reduced below those scheduled under current law for many workers who are age 55 or younger in 2011.

The Roadmap would also eliminate the income and payroll tax exclusions for
employment-based health insurance. As a result, more earnings would become taxable for Social Security purposes, thus boosting future benefit payments, and payroll tax revenues credited to the Social Security trust funds would increase.

So basically Ryan's plan would cut benefits, invest them in the risky stock market and raise taxes at the same time - Nice.

On Medicare:

The age of eligibility for Medicare would increase incrementally from 65 (for people born before 1956), as it is under current law, to 69 years and 6 months for people born in 2022 and later. Starting in 2021, new enrollees would no longer receive coverage through the current program but, instead, would be given a voucher with which to purchase private health insurance.

And instead of lowering the access age to Medicare as he claims, their plan would RAISE the minimum age to 69 - and them replace it for younger people with Health Stamps for people to try and buy care they won't be able to afford in the open market. Peachy.

It would also have the lovely gem, Medical Savings Accounts...

The government would provide funding for medical savings accounts (MSAs) for low-income Medicare beneficiaries. Currently, Medicaid pays out-of-pocket expenses that are not, for many low-income beneficiaries, covered by Medicare. The legislation would replace that Medicaid coverage with federal funding of MSAs for those individuals. According to specifications provided by your staff, the federal government initially would contribute $6,600 per year to the MSAs of
qualifying beneficiaries.

Private Health Care This year averages more than $7,000 - so thanks for next to nothing, since this won't cut it.

So what's this do to the budget?

The Roadmap, in the form that CBO analyzed, would result in less federal spending for Medicare and Medicaid as well as lower tax revenues than projected under CBO’s alternative fiscal scenario (see Table 1). On balance, those changes would reduce federal budget deficits and the federal debt.

Yay, he's managed to reduce the defecit on the backs of the sick and elderly. I'm sure his mother is so proud, unless she's on Medicare that is.

So what about actually reducing the cost of Medical Care for all the rest of the population? What about the Bush Era Tax Cuts that have been busting our budget for 9 years and turned what was a surplus into a deficit?

.

.

.

Anything?

.

Anything!?

.

Bueler?

As it turns out CBO actually didn't analyze the impact of the proposal on the overall cost of Health Care as it is very difficult to predict, which means the plan lacks specific proposals in this area designed (as were proposals such as the Public Option) to actually bring the cost down.

I think this plan is a pig-in-a-poke that we've seem several times before. Social Security is fiscally sound until 2030, and by expiring the Bush Tax Cuts then trimming out some of the fat in our Military Budget for bases we no need to maintain overseas we could easily bring the deficit under control as we did in the 90's. Contrary to Ryan's claims that we "Don't want to be like Europe" this is a thinly disguised Austerity Plan that I think we would do well do pound the bloody heck out of the Republicans with this November.

They drew up a "Roadmap" so it were ablidged to run them down with it. Just remember if Republicans take control of the House, besides - shudder - John (Man From Orange World) Beohner becoming Speaker, THIS GUY gets to chair the Budget Committee.

Vyan

Spill Claims not Paid Because BP hasn't Deposited Escrow Money

Ken Fienberg on both CBS and CNN via Crooks and Liars where he talks up the current "success" of the program.


Despite all of Feinberg's happy talk above the Press-Register has revealed this.

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. -- Ken Feinberg said today he hasn't been able to start writing claims checks because BP PLC has not yet deposited any money into the $20 billion escrow fund it promised to create.

Feinberg, who was appointed last month to administer individual and business claims stemming from the oil spill, held an early morning town hall meeting in Bayou La Batre on Saturday before meeting with the Press-Register editorial board in downtown Mobile.

Feinberg said he is leaning toward giving partial payments to companies and people who are indirectly impacted by the spill -- an outlet store in Foley hurt by the decline in beach traffic, for example.

He also said he would do something for real estate owners to cover a decrease in property value.

BP officials and President Barack Obama agreed last month that the oil company would put $5 billion a year over the next four years into an account to pay for spill-related costs, such as claims, environmental restoration and cleanup costs.

This might just be a bureaucratic snafu, and in the long run may not be a big deal, but when we also look at how BP has treated local Scientist and experts by trying to legally shut them up about what the ecological and environment impacts of the spill has really been...

BP PLC attempted to hire the entire marine sciences department at one Alabama university, according to scientists involved in discussions with the company's lawyers. The university declined because of confidentiality restrictions that the company sought on any research.

add to this the very clear fact that clean up workers in the Gulf are still not using Reperators - (after some were threatened with being fired if they brought their own)



Hugh Kaufman just messaged Crooks and Liars the following, along with a link to the video below:

CNN may not know what they have documented. Will anybody tell them? Will they figure it out? ...

CNN documents, on this documentary airing tonight and tomorrow, that the “air smell’s [sic] bad” (it’s full of carcinogenic and other hazardous material in oil and dispersants). None of the cleanup workers are wearing respirators and nobody is testing the air.

Just like 911 WTC, these workers are gonna be in trouble 5, 10, and 20 years down the line.

Where is EPA and OSHA?

Yeah, good question - they've been MIA for quite some time.

Despite the current Right-Wing Meme that "Obama has been to MEAN to Business, and has scared them to too much change", the fact is that he's actually been pretty toothless in regards to BP.

If anything U.S. Officials have been flacking for BP, not keeping their "Boot on their Neck".

And they're certainly not getting in the way while BP hires Prison Labor - working them for up to 12 Hrs a day, 6 hours a day, in 100 degree plus toxic environment.

Work crews in Grand Isle, Louisiana, still stand out. In a region where nine out of ten residents are white, the cleanup workers are almost exclusively African-American men. The racialized nature of the cleanup is so conspicuous that Ben Jealous, the president of the NAACP, sent a public letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward on July 9, demanding to know why black people were over-represented in "the most physically difficult, lowest paying jobs, with the most significant exposure to toxins."

Hiring prison labor is more than a way for BP to save money while cleaning up the biggest oil spill in history. By tapping into the inmate workforce, the company and its subcontractors get workers who are not only cheap but easily silenced—and they get lucrative tax write-offs in the process.

...

Work release inmates are required to work for up to twelve hours a day, six days a week, sometimes averaging seventy-two hours per week. These are long hours for performing what may arguably be the most toxic job in America. Although the dangers of mixed oil and dispersant exposure are largely unknown, the chemicals in crude oil can damage every system in the body, as well as cell structures and DNA.

Did someone say Slavery was over? Fact is - it's not, particularly if you read all of the 13th Amendment which has an bright bold exception for the "Duly Convicted".

The Oil Spill itself may be stopped for now, but it's long term environmental and health impact remains a giant dark cloud looming just under the surface of our full comprehension, one that is likely to continue taking it's toll - for generations.

Vyan

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Calling Out Anderson Coopers False Left/Right Equivalency

Originally posted on Dailykos

Wherein I Call Out Anderson Cooper for his Lies and Smears about the Netroots supposed "Engaging in the same tactics as the Right" - and Officially Call for him to correct HIMSELF and Apologize.



Transcript

Cooper : I mean, I don't -- I don't get -- as somebody who is not particularly partisan on the left or the right, I try not to view things through the lens of being liberal or being conservative. I don't get -- it just seems like, whether you're a conservative or whether you're a liberal and you have a blog, it doesn't seem like the truth really matters. It's just, you say whatever you want to say, whether you're on the left or the right, to prove your point, and if you're wrong, no one ever says they're wrong. No one ever seems to apologize.

The first problem with Coopers construction is that it's based on a false premise, that those on the left - writ large - are deliberately engaging in factionalism where truth and facts becoming secondary to ideology and partisan gain.

Anyone whose spent more than 30 seconds on any major progressive site, particularly this one, knows that's not true because We Self edit and Self Correct. We do point out mistakes, we do even Take Down Posts which other members find racially, religiously or otherwise offensive. I understand Cooper's effort to remain "non-partisan" by proclaim "both sides do it" - but the effort to achieve False Neutrality often leads to creating a False Reality.

Cooper has Smeared us as Liars as bad as Brietbart and he deserves a response.

Certainly, anyone can make an honest mistake, anyone can have an intemperate moment and shoot off the cuff, the question is - can you admit and fix that mistake or do you double-down on it because your ego and ideology demand it?

Can you admit it when you're wrong?

Anderson's charge is that both the left and the right equally fail in this test.

i submit He. IS. Wrong. Not everybody does it. Not everybody lies.

Generalizing this broadly as he has, is just as offensive and wrong-headed as a Racial Smear would be. Bring Specifics Anderson or else you must take back the charge.

certainly there are general tendencies between left and right, but lets be honest here. The general stock-in-trade of the right has been in creating and maintaining a pack of falsehoods that support their economic and social agendas, the general path of the Left has been to counter those falsehoods with Facts, even when they don't necessary lead where we might like them to. If there is a fundamental difference between the two ideologies, it's the one (the Right) operates with absolute certainty, and then fills in the gaps later - while the other (the Left) generally operates with constant questioning, correction and testing of our theories to ensure their provability.

The Left argues with each other constantly and openly, which is why we often seem in disarray even in victory - the Right functions in constant Lock Step, without question, without dissent, without allowing truth to spoil their certainty. Trying to get the Left all going the same direction is literal like herding cats, getting the Right to go all the same way simply requires pointing out "where the Liberals are" and they automaticaly go stampeding the other way at FULL Warp.

This is of course a generalization, and there are clearly exceptions in both directions, but I think it generally holds true.

Wanna see what happens when someone goes off the approved reservation in Right-wing World? This...



As of this very moment Markos Moulitsas founder of this site is currently on suspension from MSNBC for an intemperate tweet, not because what he sais was factually wrong, it wasn't - it's because the facts hurt Joe Scarborough's feelings. Meanwhile conservatives such as Liz Cheney can personally insult MSNBC hosts Olbermann and Maddow and still appear on the network (perhaps because neither of them is the great big Crybaby that Scarborough is or perhaps the Truth of what Markos said stings far more than the Lies of Cheney - take your pick.)

If the Left has been criticized, it hasn’t been because of a lack of facts, it’s been for their inflammatory cartoons and the intensity of their editorial language (yes, we will drop an F-BOMB on a dime) – but that’s it.

In this I think it’s illustrative to note how different the reaction to those cartoons/signs has been coming from left and right.

In 2006, Firedoglake published an editorial cartoon of Joe Lieberman in Blackface – did they apologize? Hell, yes – they did.

I sincerely apologize to anyone who was genuinely offended by the choice of images accompanying my blog post today on the Huffington Post. It’s also important to note that I do not, nor have I ever worked for Ned Lamont’s campaign. However, at their request, I removed the image earlier today.

Unfortunately, Senator Lieberman’s campaign has used this in attempt to hurt Ned and score political points, mustering their own faux indignation in attempt to further distract from the issues important to the voters of Connecticut.

In 2007 someone on Dailykos posted another inflammatory picture of Joe Lieberman with his hand in George Bush’s pants.

Let me ask you something Anderson – whose career did that destroy? Who was lied about? No one in their right mind thinks Joe Lieberman is gay (and frankly around these parts – we wouldn’t care, he might even get a parade if he was) but the TRUTH in that picture is that after 2006 Joe Lieberman became George Bush’s favorite neo-Democrat lackey. Editorial Cartooning has a long history and sometimes the point being made may not be nice to say, they should still be essential true and this one is true. Yet, who took that event and immediately turned it "Racial" when Lieberman's race and religion had nothing - literally NOTHING - to do with the point of this cartoon?

Bill O’Reilly – that's who.

O'Reilly: This is what the Kos traffic's in. The fact that these democratic candidates would support a website with a picture like that - is hard to believe.

Agree with him or not, Senator Lieberman is a Patriot and a man of conviction. Right now he's opposing the loons in the Senate who don't want to protect American citizens who report possible terrorist activity from lawsuits. Lieberman deserves respect, not hatred.

Because of one picture (which by the way was deleted and highly criticized when it appeared) and some intemperate (and massively HR'd) comments he called us a “Hate Site”, he said we were “Worse than David Duke”.

One picture and a 100,000 people who regularly visit and post here are “Worse then David Duke?” I bring this up because this is the standard that Bill O’Reilly and FOX News Set.

One Picture (even if people on your own side complain about it) equals David Duke. Got it? ONE PICTURE!

Here’s shocker for you Anderson, some of the fact checking done on this site is better than that on CNN. We’ve fact checked (Jeopardy Champion) Wolf Blizter, we’ve fact checked Dr. Sanjay Gupta and found them both severaly wanting. Right now I’m Fact Checking You

The accusation that the Left regularly traffics in LIES in order to unfairly smear the Right is False. It can't be backed up, it can't be proven.

If one or two rude pictures of Joe Lieberman equals "David Duke and the KKK" - what's this equal?



We don’t have to lie about them, all we have to do is accurate quote them and teh crazy is obvious for all (or nearly all) to see. Why don't you ask Eric Boehlert about that, because point out their lies is really all that Media Matters does.

You're wrong Anderson, and to help prove my point - I DARE YOU to prove me wrong. In fact, I Double DOG Dare you back up your bogus claim.

It hasn’t been the Left unfairly smearing the Right, it’s been almost entirely the Opposite for quote some time. That's not a partisan argument, it's simply Factual.



Don't think at least Some Conservatives are Anti-Obama because of Race? Check this out.



Does this mean all of them are motivated by Race? Of course, not. Only Janeane Garofalo has suggested such a thing and here on Dailykos - We Disagreed With Her.

I'm not a big fan of false civility or political correctness. The web is blunt, sometimes bitingly so - but that is a completely different proposition from having facts completely out of wack.

The Tea Party isn't being called out simply for being Racist - it's because all of their underlying arguments are Factually Wrong.

There are no Death Panels. Obama was born in Hawaii, not Kenya. He's not a Muslim, he's not a Socialist or Communist or Marxist. The truth is that he's a Centrist/Corporatist with minor Progressive Leanings.

ACORN was not involved in a deliberate massive Voter Fraud Scheme, and they were not Criminally Corrupt - the Brooklyn DA, the California Attorney General and the Congressional Research Service all agree despite what Breibart and his Convict Pal O'Keefe says.

The argument that Joe Lieberman was going out of his way to service the needs of the Republican President and Republican Party is a valid argument, he went so far as to campaign for John McCain - so although the image was rude, IT WAS TRUE in spirit.

But is there ANY TRUTH to any of this...?



Or this?



Or this?



Or this?



Or this?



Or this?



Where is the equivalence on the Left to any of this?

But while all this is going on we've also had outbreaks of violence. The Shooting at the Holocaust Museum by a Racist Birther, Gregory Guisti who threatened Nancy Pelosi's Life, White Powder sent to Rep. Anthony Weiner's Offices, the Hutaree Militia and their plan to Murder Cops and Blow-Up their Funeral, the Pittsburgh Cop Killer who didn't want Obama to Take His Guns Away, James Adkisson who shot and killed Liberals at a Knoxville Unitarian Church, the Wingnut from Maine who was trying to build a Radiological Dirty Bomb, James Stack flying his plane into the IRS Building, the Christian Hate Group Terrorizing Amarillo Texas... and this latest attempted attack on the ACLU and Tides Foundation in San Francisco.

While the Left has occasionally used some off-color visual and verbal jabs, they haven't deliberately and repeatedly LIED, they haven't issued Death Threats, let alone actual violence on anyone. If anything they've been fighting against the lies and rising tide of Hate and Fact-Free Fear that people like Breitbart, Limbaugh, Malkin, O'Reilly and Beck have repeatedly, incessantly promoted.

Congressman Clyburn and Lewis were called the N-Word - there were witnesses! Just as there was tape from ABC News of Barney Frank being called "Faggot". Pretend they didn't say the N-Word, all you want Andrew - they DID say that - that's the truth.

The problem with the Tea Party isn't so much with the ones who made those statements, those are only a few people, it's with the majority of them including Breitbart who refuse to own up to that minority and take responsibility for their still being in their group.

We kicked the Lieberman picture off the site, they stand their and smile with the "Obama the Witch-Doctor/Money" signs, or else try to blame those people signs on Democrats. Are you seeing the difference? No matter what, they refuse to take responsible action unless forced.

It took One Rude Tweet to get Markos bounced from MSNBC, but even after this....

[R]epeat after me: Islam is a 7th Century Death Cult coughed up by a psychotic pedophile and embraced by defective, tail sprouting, tree swinging, semi-human, bipedal primates with no claim to be treated like human beings or even desirable mammals for that matter.

And this...

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don’t cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

Mark Williams didn't quietly finally leave the Tea Party Express, until yesterday.

You think what they do and what we do is equivalent?

Not hardly.

Do some damn Due Diligence and correct the record Anderson, or else be considered as just as much of a Joke as Brietbart.

Vyan

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Fox Non-Stop Smear Campaign against Sherrod Continues...

As much as people would like to kick the President right now for what happened to Shirley Sherrod (even though we now pretty much know he personally had nothing to do with it until after the fact) the real fight to be had is the Non-Stop Bullshit Nozzle that is Fox news, and Conservative Media.

Rather than respond to Maddow's criticism of the politicization of their coverage, they've begun to smear her too. Then they smeared Sherrod, Again...



Let's be honest here - This is what Fox is all about, OPERATION SCARED SHITLESS!



I actually watched most of O'Reilly's show last night - largely because the Daily Show is on hiatus - and it was just plain vile, from start almost to finish. Bill continued his smug attacks on Maddow, and NBC claiming that "Fox creams them in the Ratings" and that's why they're so pissy at Fox.



But wait a minute, Rachel isn't on NBC, she's on MSNBC. Fox creams NBC? In your DREAMs pal.

Cable New Prime Time Ratings for July 21, 2010

P2+ Prime Time
FNC – 2,356,000 viewers
CNN – 687,000 viewers
MSNBC –841,000 viewers
CNBC – 195,000 viewers
HLN – 527,000 viewers

Wow 2.3 Million viewers (for their entire Prime Time Lineup?) How's that compare to NBC?

On the other end of the spectrum is NBC, where "Nightly News with Brian Williams" averaged 9.92 million total viewers for its best first quarter average in five years. ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer" came in second with 8.27 million total viewers, while "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" placed third with 6.45 million total viewers.

Yeah, I'm thinking 2.3 Million is more than 9.9 Million in Fox Math, where they give you "Both Sides" of the equation.

The other stations (including CNN) aren't criticizing Fox out of Jealously, or a desire to steal their thunder - they're criticizing Fox because - YOU LIE.

If voter intimidation is so important to you, why hasn't Fox covered the Minutemen Voter intimidation case? Why do they refuse to admit the New Black Panthers Voter intimidation criminal charges were dropped by the Bush Administration?

Why has Fox failed to report that every law enforcement agency (including the Broklyn DA, California Attorney General and Congressional Research Service) that looked at the ACORN videos has said they didn't break the law, and that in fact - it was O'Keefe the videographer who may have broken several different wire-tap statutes, and is facing several lawsuits in several jurisdictions as well as his recent Federal Conviction in the Landrieu Office Invasion Case?

Maddow didn't say that Fox News deliberately hypes up bogus racial stories - like say the Big Mexican Woman helping Afghanistan go AWOL - because they themselves are Racists, she said - very specifically - that they do it as part of a Political Strategy to fire up the Republican Base.

Big difference there. Here's a TIP: You don't have to be a Racist to use and exploit someone else Racial Paranoia, just a cynical manipulative Douche Nozzle is all. (Although admittedly, it is possible to be both, ala Pat Buchanan)

Also the main criticism of the Tea Party by the NAACP wasn't that they're all Racist, it's that their seemed more than willing to condone and accept it - thereby endorsing and exploiting it - within their rants.

Even Breitbart clearly understands this since the thrust of his counter-attack defending the Tea Party by releasing the Sherrod Video as he's repeatedly claimed wasn't to attack Sherrod, it was to attack the NAACP by showing them accepting Racist arguments in their midst without question or complaint.

Except we now know, that's not what happened - meanwhile, I'm still waiting for the explanation for the "Monkey See, Monkey Spend!" and other signs at Tea Party Rallies which appeared without complaint.

Also it's rather hard to bitch and whine about being called "Racist" (when you weren't) and then turn around and CONTINUE TO CALL SHIRLEY SHERROD A "RADICAL RACIST"!! the way that Laura Ingraham did later in your own program, Billo!



Speaking of Racial Paranoia, where is the evidence that people with Racists sentiments have "burrowed their way into the Obama Administration"? Van Jones was let go for signing a "Let's Fully Investigate 9-11" letter, not a "I Hate Whitey CRakkas!!" letter.

Ingraham : She says that Fox wants to roll back the clock on Racial Discrimination in America.

Yeah, ok - well maybe Sherrod was listening when Fox News Contributor John Stossel doubled down on Rand Paul and said the Civil Rights Act Should Be Repealed!.

No, that's not a mis-quote - listen to him.

STOSSEL: Totally. I'm in total agreement with Rand Paul. You can call it public accommodation, and it is, but it's a private business. And if a private business wants to say, "We don't want any blond anchorwomen or mustached guys," it ought to be their right. Are we going to say to the black students' association they have to take white people, or the gay softball association they have to take straight people? We should have freedom of association in America.

STOSSEL: And I would go further than he was willing to go, as he just issued the statement, and say it's time now to repeal that part of the law

KELLY: What?

STOSSEL: because private businesses ought to get to discriminate. And I won't won't ever go to a place that's racist and I will tell everybody else not to and I'll speak against them. But it should be their right to be racist.

Yes, there is someone at Fox who wants to "Roll discrimination back to the pre-Civil Rights Era" and this isn't a new idea, it's the same idea that Laura Ingraham's ex-boyfriend Dinesh D'souza put in the the mid-90s in his book "The End of Racism", which in his mind required first and foremost Repealing the Civil Rights Act, dismantling Government Anti-discrimination efforts and Affirmative Action Remedies, and just letting the free market work it's "Magic".

That's just brilliant Houdini, brilliant - how well did that plan work for the almost 100 Years between the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments and the Civil Rights Act?

And I really don't recall seeing a lot of people at Fox jumping to their feet to oppose Stossel or Paul's ideas on this matter, do you?

The other part that Sherrod argues about involving Racism within the USDA relates to a recent case from the 90's where they reached $Billion settlement with Black Farmers in the South - one that Right-wingers in Congress have so far refused to fund.

We aren't talking about "long past" discrimination in a "very general sense" - we're talking about very specific discrimination, AGAINST BLACK FARMERS BY THE USDA where NO ONE WAS FIRED that occurred in the last 20 years. This isn't some pre-Civil Rights Era chestnut, it's current. In fact, addressing that long standing and current problem within the USDA is exactly the Job the Secretary Vilsack Offered Her. Sherrod isn't making this up because she's got some long racial grievance with White People, exactly the opposite is true, these are the current circumstances the USDA is under. Calling her a "Racist" for recognizing the problem, certainly isn't going to fix the problem.

But here Ingraham ignores the facts of the matter to yet again misconstrue what Sherrod said into a some kind of bigoted stated on her part - Against FOX.

See, the problem isn't just that Fox is exploitative and (probably) bigoted - it's that FOX puts out LIES!

Vyan

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Operation Scared Shitless - The Fox Race War

Sam just perfectly nails this entire big feces pile that started with Breitbart and landed on the White House lawn like a burning firepie. And then Secretary Vilsack had to panic and stomp on it spread Breitbart's crap all over the place.

Glad somebody finally got the water-hose and cleaned this mess up.

Vyan

Maddow Deconstructs the Race-Baiting of Fox

Maddow on the Fox Fed implementation of the New Southern Strategy



Full Transcript

Maddow: That‘s pretty raw in 1960 comic book form, right?
Well, here‘s what it looked like in 1990. It‘s the same thing, this time in the form of a campaign ad on television.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: You needed that job and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota. Is that really fair? Harvey Gantt says it is. He supports Ted Kennedy‘s racial quota law but makes the color of your skin more important than your qualifications.

You wrote on this issue next Tuesday. For racial quotas: Harvey Gantt. Against racial quotas: Jesse Helms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MADDOW: The balled up white fist, the anger at what‘s being given to black people because it‘s being taken away from white people. It‘s a zero-sum. Black people are coming for you. They‘re coming for your job. They‘re coming to get you. You better band together not surrender, to fight back against the black people who were coming for you.
After the political success in the South, the politicians like George Wallace, who, again, remember, was elected four times as Alabama governor, after the political success of politicians like Lester Maddox, who used as his political symbol when he ran for governor in Georgia the pick ax handle he brandished to defend his segregated restaurant from black people.

That and after the civil rights era, the political strategy of terrifying white people about the threat posed by black people—black people coming to get them, coming to take what‘s rightfully theirs. That strategy got a new name, the Southern Strategy.

In 1970, Republican political strategist Kevin Phillips explained to “The New York Times,” quote, “From now on, Republicans are never going to get more than 10 percent to 20 percent of the Negro vote, and they don‘t need more than that. But Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.” Meaning, if they blocked black people from registering the vote because he says, “The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That‘s where the votes are.”

That‘s where the votes are. That‘s the way to get white votes, by counting on white people being afraid of black people. Make clear where the black people are, politically, and count on what Kevin Phillips calls Negrophobia—locking up all of the white votes on the other side.

Since the 1970's that's what the Republican Party has been - the party of the Negrophobes. It's not that they hate black people - no, not hardly. They just don't want black people taking all their stuff away from them. Their schools. Their jobs. Their money.

That's also the way it's been during the entire candidacy and Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama.

Going all the way back to the cherry-picked and twisted quotes from Reverend Wright, to Obama's big giant Pal the Domestic Terrorist (who was never tried or convicted of anything), his membership in ACORN (even though he was never a member), his "radical communist" buddy Van Jones, Sonia Sotomayor the "Wise Latina" who discriminated against those White Fire-fighters (by following standard judicial precedent), his administration blocking Voter Fraud cases against Black People and the New Black Panthers (except they didn't, the Bush DOJ did) and now fostering the racist (but NOT racist) Shirley Sherrod at the USDA and NAACP - the plan has been to MAKE WHITE PEOPLE afraid of a Black President.

And if you don't see that - you just don't know "the facts!"



See Obama is the Bad guy, and opposing him and his secret hidden agenda to spread the wealth around by TAKING IT FROM HARD WORKING WHITE PEOPLE and giving it to those lazy non-working non-tax paying Coloreds, is simply the right thing to do. It's not racist at all, in fact it's better for the Coloreds themselves, just like Mark Williams said:

Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards.

Yeah, who'd want any of that darn "Freedom" anyway?

Every issue, from the Budget to how Obama has responded to the BP Crisis (Creating a Slush Fund of $20 Billion to give to his "pals") has racial overtones.

Everything Obama does, to these people, is Reparations.

Therefore none of the these signs are "Racist" because their merely a reaction to Obama's Racism against them.



Obviously they're just defending themselves from the Negro-led aggression. (Just like Al Qeada, is merely "Defending Islam" from Western-led anti-Muslim aggression) They're just protecting their way of life. Saving America from the Socialist Hoarde. And Fox News is their Pied Piper.



But while all this is going on we've also had outbreaks of violence. The Shooting at the Holocaust Museum, Gregory Guisti who threatened Nancy Pelosi's Life, White Powder sent to Rep. Anthony Weiner's Offices, the Hutaree Militia and their plan to Murder Cops and Blow-Up their Funeral, the Pittsburgh Cop Killer who didn't want Obama to Take His Guns Away, James Adkisson who shot and killed Liberals at a Knoxville Unitarian Church, James Stack flying his plane into the IRS Building... and this latest attempted attack on the ACLU and Tides Foundation in San Francisco.

From Oakland

Police now say that Williams, an unemployed carpenter, told them that "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," according to court documents.

The ACLU aims to defend civil liberties, and the Tides Foundation partners with nonprofits "dedicated to lasting progressive social change."

Williams' mother has said her unemployed son was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items."

The ACLU has long been a target of the Right for daring to protect those pesky Civil Liberties as they are outlined in that musty old Constitution - but why the Tides Foundation?

Could it be because Glenn Beck says their Evil?



Dirty Commies trying to propagandize our kids with environmentalism. Clearly they have to DIE. (For those of you who are utterly sarcasm-challenged - yes, this mean YOU Red State - most of the above is satire)

Here's what I really think: As Keith said yesterday - this IS. WAR.



It's time we realized that and realized which side of it we're really on... and Fight the Lies, the Hate and the Negrophobia with every fabric of our hearts, minds and immortal souls.

Vyan

Beck inspired attempted Gun Attack on ACLU/Tides Foundation

While many of us are talking about the Fired/Not Fired Status of one USDA employee, another blockbuster story involving the impact of Right-Wing Media is unfolding.

From Oakland.

Police now say that Williams, an unemployed carpenter, told them that "his intention was to start a revolution by traveling to San Francisco and killing people of importance at the Tides Foundation and the ACLU," according to court documents.

The ACLU aims to defend civil liberties, and the Tides Foundation partners with nonprofits "dedicated to lasting progressive social change."

Williams' mother has said her unemployed son was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items." 

I can understand a right-winger disliking and being upset with the ACLU (because they care so deeply about protecting individual civil liberties and freedom) but hardly anyone has even heard of the Tide's Foundation. Hardly anyone who isn't watching Glenn Beck that is.

Beck (at 4 mins 20 secs) : Some would say this was just one crazy teacher, that would be true if the President hadn't worked so hard to mold his image. If the Tides Foundation hadn't made an anti-Capitalist Propaganda Video, you might be able to say "it's just one crazy teacher..."

Here the "Propaganda" educational environmental video from the Tides Foundation that Beck mentioned, which he uses to attack Obama as being Un-American and Extra-Constitutional.



I know, quite well that Beck continues to say he doesn't endorse violence... well he does endorse LIES and bogus accusations against people who simply disagree with him on the importance of environmentalism.

There's no linkage between the Tides Foundation and one bunch of school kids singing a smarmy song about Obama. There's no massive conspiracy to deliberately collapse our economies in order TAKE OVER THE WORLD in the name of environmentalism.

That's just wacky, it's just plain nutty - but it's exactly the kind of ideas that Beck promotes on his program each and every single day, and is often BELIEVED by his somewhat dwindling audience of fellow Liberal Hating Conspiracy Theorists.

Looks like one of them after years of frustration with the job situation, listened to Beck blaming the ACLU & Tides and decided to use some "Second Amendment Remedies" of his own.

And after this week, Fox certainly can't claim that they don't have some influence on events.

Vyan

How Shirley Sherrod got ACORNed!

Wherein Breitbart Doubles-Down on his Bigotry Fueled Partisan attack on all Democrats everywhere... especially the Black ones.



Here's the full 43 minutes of what Shirey Sherrod actually said to the NAACP:



The fact is that Andrew Breitbart got it wrong. He pushed a bogusly edited video into the public sphere without doing ANY due diligence, without doing any research on the issue that he admits he knew about since March, and deliberately instigated this knee-jerk outrage to smeared an innocent women who certainly is NOT a Racist or bigot, just to GET BACK AT THE NAACP for daring to criticize the Tea Party.

And still he proclaims there are NO RACISTS in the Tea Party at all - none. That there's no evidence - like all of us are blind and dumb or something when we see "Obama: Monkey See - Monkey Spend!" signs.



Even after the great Mark Williams' meltdown - continues to deny the obvious.

Breitbart got it wrong (on purpose). The NAACP got it wrong when they initially condemned her comments before they had a chance to review the full tape. Secretary Vilsack and the White House hot it wrong when they decided to force her resignation.

However, some people - unlike Breitbart, or Sarah (Refudiate IT) Palin - are capable of correcting a mistake. This is what NAACP head Ben Jealous said once he had the full story, saw the full tape and spoke with Shirley.

The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.

Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.

Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about "haves and have nots." "It's not just about black people, it's about poor people," says Sherrod in the speech. "We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn't matter."

This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.

Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.

The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.

The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the "internal bigotry" issue.

Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod's speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.

Even Glenn Beck realized that the initial the tape doesn't absolutely show her to be a racist. (Although he does go on into his usual odd communist/marxist conspiracy theories about why she was "Really" fired!)



The only person who still doesn't know he got it wrong - is Breitbart as he appeared on CNN's John King USA and claimed "There are MORE Racist things she says on the tape.."

"This was not about Shirley Sherrod," Breitbart said Tuesday in an interview set to air on CNN's John King, USA.

"This was about the NAACP attacking the Tea Party and this [the video of Sherrod] is showing racism at an NAACP event. I did not ask for Shirley Sherrod to be fired. I did not ask for any repercussions for Shirley Sherrod. They were the ones that took the initiative to get rid of her. I – I do not – I think she should have the right to defend herself."

Breitbart also described his decision to publish the Sherrod video as an effort to expose what he sees as the NAACP's hypocrisy when it comes to allegations of racism.

"[R]acism is used by the left and the Democratic Party to shut up opposition," Breitbart told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, "And [by releasing the Sherrod video] I am showing you that people who live in glass houses should not be throwing stones."

Breitbart's entire argument here is that the NAACP wrongly accused the ENTIRE Tea Party of being Racist, therefore he decided to show them a Racist in their own midst.

On both points he FAILS.

The NAACP and Ben Jealous never said the entire Tea Party was Racists, they simply asked them to discipline and control some of their more Racist Elements like Mark Williams - which they ultimately DID.

Ben Jealous clearly admits he and the NAACP made a mistake with Sherrod, and explains that sometimes a "Zero Tolerance" policy can also mean "Zero Thought".



Shirley Sherrod is about as far away from a Racists as you could possibly find, because she was able - unlike many - to recognizing the wrongness of her own biases and OVERCOME them. She did this despite the fact that her own father was killed in a racial incident by a white assailant, and the perpetrator never indicted by a Grand Jury (She said this to Rick Sanchez on CNN).



But just like the other set of bogus ACORN videos foisted on us by Breitbart and his convict cohort O'Keefe, the over reaction here has again done unwarranted damage to an innocent persons career. Just as Van Jones comments were taken out of context and distorted. Just as Sonia Sotomayor's comments about a "Wise Latina" were turned upside-down. Just as ABC falsely edited the Reverend Wright Tapes to distort and blow his statements out of proportion.

Of all these I think the Reverend Wright situation is most illustrative, because was at least initially handled the way we all would have liked to see this situation handled. With caution and care - soon it became clear that worse of what they claimed about him wasn't true - but after weeks of arguing that things couldn't have been as they appeared on tape, All Hell Broke Loose when Wright himself took his Full-On Crazy Black Man Act to the National Press Club.

I think that experienced burned this administration far more badly and deeply than any of us may truly know, and that's why Van Jones got the boot so quickly, and why Sherrod had to pull over and text in her resignation Immediately. (And yet, for some reason Ken Salizar is still there, and Tim Geithner's inability to file his taxes correctly doesn't seem to matter... I'm sadly going to agree with Beck here - they've stayed (possibly) because They AREN'T Black.

I'm not saying their "Racist" at all, I suggesting that the Administration doesn't want to get bogged down in re-litigating every racial issue in the country, and they themselves might be more than a little over-reactive when trying to block and defuse allegations of pro-Black racial bias on their part, which leads somewhat to the opposite.

Please remember Obama did Sign that silly "Defund ACORN" legislation even though is an obvious unconstitutional bill of attainder.

Just as I was when Obama broke all ties to Wright, I'm Disappointed in Vilsack's decision to sack Sherrod without all the facts (A decision he may soon, like the NAACP be reviewing and correcting) but I do understand it.

In the end, just like the others, Shirley Sherrod is a Scapegoat, yet another scalp collected by the Wingnuts in their never-ending Jihad against the Obama Administration. Just like ACORN, just like Van Jones.

How many more people like this are we going to lose? How many more are going to be hounded out of the public sphere by vicious little partisan turds like Breitbart?

The truth is that Shirley Sherrod is a Hero. She's the kind of person we should all aspire to be. We all have biased, we all have preferences, we all have people we're more comfortable with and those we're less comfortable with. That's just being human, but those who are able to rise above them is exactly who we all could be, and should be.

Not being forced to pull over and send in our Resignation Via Text Message on the Interstate.

We can blame the Administration, Vilsack and NAACP for initially over-reacting - because they did - but the real blame belongs where all of this began, on the back of the guy who with his own words admits he doesn't care about Shirley Sherrod, but instead wanted to torpedo the NAACP and Administration with a bogus smear... the blame belongs with Andrew Breitbart.

Update: Just saw a brief clip of Breitbart on MSNBC this morning - his NEW claim is that poor Sherrod was railroaded unfairly by the NAACP and Administration - but that "the real problem is The NAACP'S RACISM."

Uh, what? If Sherrod was treated unfairly (and she was), it's because she isn't the racist your site proclaimed she is - and that incorrect presentation wasn't the fault of the NAACP or Secretary Vilsack, it's YOURS!
This douche is spinning so fast, he doesn't even know which direction he's pointing anymore.


Vyan