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Monday, December 31, 2007

AWWMNUUBM - Unity08

From Chris over at OpenLeft we get another take on Unity08 along with a great acronym - AWWMNUUBM or Aging Wealthy White Men for National Unity Under Billionaire Media Moguls along with a good question - what do they actually want to do?

Another posting over at The Washington Monthly points out a little fact that seems to have escaped this group while they make their call for bipartisanship:
I suppose that's fine, but one wonders if the group realizes that Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson have already said publicly that they would have Republicans serving in their cabinet -- a claim no Republican presidential candidate has made.
I'm left to wonder if its bipartisanship for the sake of bipartisanship or a call for bipartisanship because they fear the Dems might actually get control of the place.

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Unity08 - Republocrat - Demopublican come out of the closet to meet in Oklahoma

A brief segment from CNN's Wolf Show this AM lead me to a story about Unity08. Turns out that this group of Establishment Politico's are so concerned that the US is so partisan these days that its necessary for some wise, no doubt straight, white & Protestant, men to get together in Oklahoma and "fix" things for all of us.

Don't know about you but I'm gonna sleep sounder because of their efforts -

My only question is where were those folks a couple of years ago during the Republican dictatorship of Congress, you know those lazy dazy partisan days of Delay and Hastert running the House?

I've got a feeling this has more to do with the Corporate Establishment's fears that they may loose control than some grand desire for unity so we can face our mutual problems.

Consider two distinct possibilities the Establishment faces:

1) the Publicans become a religious party, after all that's what its base really wants

2) the Democrats move back to their base and become a populist party

If 1 & 2 happen where oh where will the Corporations, a.k.a the Establishment, go???

Hmmmmm, if both 1 & 2 happen and the Publicans actually read the Bible and start caring about the poor, sick, and justice imagine what could be done on Health Care, the Environment, and tax policy?

If that's not enough to get the old line Establishment Republicans and DLC folks, the Dem's corporate wing, out of their joint closet and to the table I don't know what is -

Update - Digby does a real job on this gathering of gasbags here. The hypocrisy of this group of irrelevant Elders is simply staggering.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Sorry Andrew but.......

I tend to read Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish daily and sometimes I agree, sometimes I disagree, and sometimes, as I did today, I find total nonsense.

Since he tends to read his email I sent him this:
Andrew:

Sorry but your Republican correspondent simply doesn't understand today's Democratic Party. For some reason the Republicans are fixated on the concept that GW hatred is the main motivator of the Democratic base. They simply don't understand that most of us know a fool when we see 'em and see the damage that GW is doing on a daily basis to the long term future of the US and the rest of the world. While we can't stand the sight of him and hate listening to the moron speak we just want him gone as soon as possible. Since the Republican base sees him as a good guy and thinks he has done a good job they are left to equate the motivations of our response to GW as similar to their response to Bill Clinton. They hated Bill Clinton because: 1) he couldn't keep his zipper closed and had the bad sense to lie about it; and 2) he was a fairly successful President. We're sick of GW because he is a delusional fool. Those are very different things. Personally, I don't hate GW - I just know he is a disaster of biblical proportions and dread the years of effort it will take to clean up the mess he and his minions have created.

Speaking as somebody who has been deeply involved in party politics for years, Hillary's support is totally based on the fact that she was married to Bill Clinton (name recognition) and that she appears to be a smart lady who keeps her cool under pressure. While she does have the establishment on her side the base ain't excited about her at all. Since she is widely seen as the establishment candidate and a supporter of the war its a bit illogical to assume that those Dems who's whole life is focused on GW hatred would flock to her to get back at GW. The anti-Hillary votes in the party are way larger than the pro-Hillary ones. If Edwards or Obama drops out before Hillary "wins" it all over for her because those two factions will quickly merge and be the majority.

Please let your Republican correspondent know that we DEFINITELY understand that GW can't run again and we will be finally shed of him in a bit over a year. We also know we won't be running against him next year. Who gets chosen as the Democratic nominee won't have anything to do with GW hatred - its just plain old politics as usual in the Democratic Party. Everyone I know counts the hours till GW moves back to Texas and hopefully disappears from public view forever.

Re: the Hillary vs. Obama vs. Edwards race - my vote/effort will be for Obama or Edwards. We need change after Bush not a return to the past.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Why the Repubs hate Huckabee

I've been wondering for some time why Huckabee wasn't the beloved child of the Republican Party. You may have noticed that the entire community of mainline Republican pundits have been dumping on the Southern Baptist preacher from Hope lately. It seemed odd to me - from my uninformed position he seems perfect - he's a fundie - he's a creationist - he's a preacher - he even believes - what more do they want?

Certainly they have been dressing up their contempt for Huckabee in some fairly high minded prose. Take for example this fascinating post from Right Wing Nut House where the author agrees with an attack on Huckabee from the rolling gas bag Charles Krauthammer:
I’m not talking about criticizing the idea that faith animates a candidate’s position on the issues. Nor am I calling for a moratorium on talking about religion in a political context. Neither is Krauthammer. What Krauthammer is saying – and what I am agreeing with – is that a line has been crossed, most notably on the Republican side, that seeks to give religion a privileged position in policy debates – absolute moral authority with a vengeance based not on the efficacy of one’s position on the issues but rather on the strength or nature of their religious beliefs:
Problem is - when you strip all the rhetoric away its pretty simple - Huckabee believes all the fundamentalist nonsense and that turns out to be one big problemo for the Republican establishment! They have been using the fundamentalist for years to gain political power and the little people have always known their place. Sure the elites of the Publican Party would throw 'em a bone every once and while when they needed their votes but they never meant for the fundies to have much say besides a bit of gay bashing every now and then. Now they face a fundamentalist candidate who actually believes what he says and has a chance to get elected. No wonder they are taking a collective dump.

Just imagine - religious wacko's in the Republican Party - whoever let them in? Well you did Mr & Mrs Republican Establishment and now they are eating the brie, measuring the windows for new drapes, and getting ready to take control of the Republican Party.
There was a young lady of Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a Tiger;
   They came back from the ride
   With the lady inside,
And the smile on the face of the Tiger.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Michelle does it again -

Michelle Lujan Grisham came to tonights DFNM (Democracy for New Mexico) meeting and once again did well for herself. Since this group contained lots of early and big Martin H. supporters I was curious how they would react. Watching this very, very liberal crowd all I can say is that Martin should be worried. She walked onto his truff, had her say, and came out with a few new supporters. If the left wing of the Democratic Party starts to move to her way Martin's campaign is over.