JASPER, Ind. — At a candidate forum here last week, Representative Baron P. Hill, a threatened Democratic incumbent in a largely conservative southern Indiana district, was endeavoring to explain his unpopular vote for the House cap-and-trade energy bill.God, that makes my head hurt (and kudos to Hill for doing what all Dems should be doing, and that’s taking on the wingnuttery head on).
It will create jobs in Indiana, reduce foreign oil imports and address global warming, Mr. Hill said at a debate with Todd Young, a novice Republican candidate who is supported by an array of Indiana Tea Party groups and is a climate change skeptic.
“Climate change is real, and man is causing it,” Mr. Hill said, echoing most climate scientists. “That is indisputable. And we have to do something about it.”
A rain of boos showered Mr. Hill, including a hearty growl from Norman Dennison, a 50-year-old electrician and founder of the Corydon Tea Party.
“It’s a flat-out lie,” Mr. Dennison said in an interview after the debate, adding that he had based his view on the preaching of Rush Limbaugh and the teaching of Scripture. “I read my Bible,” Mr. Dennison said. “He made this earth for us to utilize.”
And as we continue in the Times story – well, it actually gets worse…
“This so-called climate science is just ridiculous,” said Kelly Khuri, founder of the Clark County Tea Party Patriots. “I think it’s all cyclical.”Ugh – as noted here…
“Carbon regulation, cap and trade, it’s all just a money-control avenue,” Ms. Khuri added. “Some people say I’m extreme, but they said the John Birch Society was extreme, too.”
Republican mainstream unhappiness with the Birchers intensified after (JBS founder Robert) Welch circulated a letter calling President Dwight D. Eisenhower a "conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist Conspiracy." Welch went further in a book titled The Politician, written in 1956 and published by the JBS in 1963, which declared that Eisenhower's brother Milton was Ike's superior within the Communist apparatus and alleging that other top government officials were also communist tools, including "ex president Truman and Roosevelt, and the last Sec. Of State John Foster Dulles and former CIA Director Allan W. Dulles." Conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr., an early friend and admirer of Welch, regarded his accusations against Eisenhower as "paranoid and idiotic libels" and attempted unsuccessfully to purge Welch from the JBS. Welch responded by attempting to take over Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative youth organization founded with assistance from Buckley.So yeah, I hate to break the news to Kelly Khuri (another teabagger who is utterly clueless when it comes to the history of this country), but the John Birch Society IS extreme (and as Source Watch tells us, it is very much still with us).
In October 1964, the Idaho Statesman newspaper expressed concern about what it called an "ominous" increase in JBS-led "ultra right" radio and television broadcasts, which it said then numbered 7,000 weekly and cost an estimated $10 million annually. "By virtue of saturation tactics used, radical, reactionary propaganda is producing an impact even on large numbers of people who, themselves, are in no sense extremists or sympathetic to extremists views," declared a Statesman editorial. "When day after day they hear distortions of fact and sinister charges against persons or groups, often emanating from organizations with conspicuously respectable sounding names, it is no wonder that the result is: Confusion on some important public issues; stimulation of latent prejudices; creation of suspicion, fear and mistrust in relation not only to their representatives in government, but even in relation to their neighbors."
…
Today the John Birch Society still sees communism as a threat, and sees the collapse of communism in Russia and Eastern Europe as false and "planned" by the Russian/Eastern European governments which it sees controlled by "the insiders". The Society has been active in supporting the audit of and eventual dismantling of, the Federal Reserve System. The current legislation was initiated by Ron Paul. The Birch Society believes that the U.S. Constitution only gave Congress the ability to coin money, and did not intend for it to delegate this power to a banking monopoly, or to transform it into a fiat currency not backed by any precious metals.[6]
The (Associated Press-GfK poll’s) key findings among likely voters show:Also, we learn that “neither party is popular. But likely voters view the GOP a bit more positively than they do the Democrats.”
_50 percent say they will back the GOP candidate in their House district; 43 percent say they'll support the Democrat. The edge has slightly narrowed over the past month as Democrats presumably have grown more energized.
_61 percent expect the GOP to win control of Congress; 33 percent think Democrats will maintain control.
_49 percent want to see their House representatives re-elected; 44 percent want to fire them.
_54 percent disapprove of Obama's job performance; 45 percent approve.
_Just 20 percent approve of how Congress is doing its job.
_59 percent think the country is headed in the wrong direction; 39 percent say it's going the right way.
_52 percent have a favorable impression of the GOP; 44 percent view the Democratic Party positively.
Even though I'll grant that these are worrisome numbers, I’m not at all sure that they point to “huge” Republican victories (again, as we’ve said before, the Repug energy is formidable this time around, with the party out of power typically revved up and aided this time in no small way by a 24/7 diet of wingnut propaganda from the usual suspects).
And this is typical for Sidoti, by the way, who screeched here about how terrible Obama is even though 73 percent of those who voted for him approve of his job performance (noted by Media Matters here…and by the way, nice job by Sidoti and the AP to include that demonic-looking pic of our president – wonder what kind of outcry there would be if they tried that with Dubya?).
Also, here is something else to keep in mind concerning our chief executive (and as far as the election goes, just take everything from every pundit in the world and toss it in the ashcan – kos tells us the bottom line here).
At an April 2008 fund-raiser in San Francisco, Barack Obama let loose with his famous "they cling to their guns or religion" line. Last Saturday at a West Newton, Mass., fund-raiser, the president said, "facts and science and argument [do] not seem to be winning . . . because we're hard-wired not to always think clearly when we're scared."Well, after reading this, all I can say is “stupid is as stupid does.”
Memo to White House: Calling voters stupid is not a winning strategy.
Update 10/23/10: Here is more from "do as I say, not as I do" Karl.
Also, in response to the relentless attacks on Patrick Murphy’s Catholicism in the pages of the Bucks County Courier Times, I put up a bit of a “faith” challenge to Mikey to which he never responded (yeah, like he would, I know…also, it’s funny that the Courier Times claims it doesn’t print “personal attacks” – gee, they didn’t have any problem waiving that little editorial guideline way back when).
Oh, and the Courier Times also told us the following today (here)…
Murphy wants to keep Social Security a government entity, while he says his opponent wants to privatize it.Gee, Mikey, I hate to break the news to you, but you said/did the following…
Last week, Fitzpatrick denied the allegation and said, "Patrick Murphy has lied about my position on Social Security. I have always been adamant about my opposition to privatization. And no amount of press conferences on his part can change that."
(Note: I will admit that I got the bulleted items above from the Patrick Murphy campaign, and I’m sorry I don’t have links because I cannot locate them.)“On Social Security, Fitzpatrick favors private savings accounts, saying the system needs to be better secured. However, he wants to see a more detailed plan from the president. That's a different stance from the one Fitzpatrick took during his election, when he came out against privatization. Fitzpatrick insists there's a distinction between privatization (or partial privatization) and the proposed savings accounts, and that he hasn't broken campaign promises. He couldn't name the distinction.” [Bucks County Courier Times, 02/20/05] “Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick said he agrees with the president's plans for Social Security. ‘The president talked about how to strengthen the system for the future. The system is broken and it must be fixed and I believe he said all ideas are on the table,’ Fitzpatrick said.” [Bucks County Courier Times, 2/3/05] “We had three entitlements. They were all broken.” [Bucks County Herald, 5/6/10] “Fitzpatrick says he favors the private accounts, but he's been unwilling to go much further on what should be done with the 70-year-old safety net, saying ‘I haven't seen anything in writing.’" [Bucks County Courier Times, 04/10/05] “And he defended President George Bush's efforts to revamp Social Security. There are too many seniors receiving and too few young workers to support the program, he said. ‘We don't have as many children as we once did,’ he said.” [Bucks County Courier Times, 04/23/05]
I know it’s hard to believe, but we have less than two weeks to go in this election. Please click here to provide whatever support your means allows to Congressman Patrick Murphy (and once more, what kos sez here).
Update 10/23/10: By the way, one of my "senior correspondents" alerted me to this letter that appeared in the paper yesterday with some rather interesting insights into the Courier Times' coverage of the Murphy/Fitzpatrick campaign (not surprising though, I must say)...
Kudos to Shir Ami Synagogue for hosting the debate between congressional candidates Mike Fitzpatrick and Patrick Murphy.And by the way, here is an important message concerning our congressman...
I agree with Courier Times reporter who covered the debate that it was mostly an occasion for the presentation by each candidate of his party's talking points. That and the many interruptions by self-appointed cheerleaders in the audience assured that the event would cast more heat than light, so I left a little more than halfway through.
Unfortunately, the reporting lacked balance in my view. He repeatedly characterized one issue that was debated as the "death tax." "Death tax" is a buzz term used by opponents of what is officially called the "estate tax" in the United States. The estate tax only applies to millionaires, as both the candidates and your staff writer failed to point out.
Further, he devoted four paragraphs to reporting what he indicated were factual inaccuracies in candidate Murphy's presentation, without offering any indication whether or not candidate Fitzpatrick had overstated his facts, or whether he had presented any.
Max Roesler
Morrisville, PA
And to help "get Patrick back," click here.
1 comment:
At the debate at the Bucks Campus Fitzpatrick said he would not vote to privatize social security.
His word has no worth, his record defines him.
Also, this race seems to me to be more like a grudge match, the home town boy beaten by an "outsider" who wants "his" job back. As if anyone has exclusive rights to a territory.
Post a Comment