GOP Divisiveness Continues to Grow

New surveys confirm that political divisiveness continues to grow and that those driving divisiveness the most are Republicans - something that really should be no surprise given the dominance of the Christofascists in the GOP base.  These people are defined by their hatred of others and reaction against anything or anyone who threatens the artificial mythical world view that they cling to.  How the phenomenon can be reversed is difficult to say, particularly because their is no indication that the GOP can exile these people to the political wilderness where they belong any time soon.  Here are highlights from a column in the New York Times:

For an increasing number of Americans, the tenor of politics has reached a near-religious pitch, in which people on opposing ends of the ideological scale take on theological properties: good or evil, angels or demons, here to either save our way of life or destroy it.

[W]hile 27 percent of Democrats see the Republican Party as a threat to the nation’s well-being, 36 percent of Republicans see the Democratic Party as a threat. Conservatives were also more likely to say that it was important to live in places where people shared their political views. Additionally, conservatives were more likely to say they would be unhappy if a close relative married a Democrat than were liberals to say they would be unhappy to have a Republican in-law.

This phenomenon coincides, to a certain degree, with the rise of talk radio and the stridently ideological cable news — profit-driven provocateurs whose livelihoods ride on their abilities to rouse rabble, stir passions and diabolize opponents.

And many of their listeners, viewers and readers become the apostles of passion, enforcing rigid binary ideologies that accommodate little subtlety. Any seeming equivocation is deemed evidence of apostasy. This, in itself, is dangerous.

In the wake of his [Obama's] ascension came the rise of the Tea Party, the incredible assertion by the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, that conservatives’ top priority should be to keep Obama from being re-elected (that didn’t work out so well), the stunning assault on voter rights, the influx of conservative billionaires like the Koch brothers into the political arena, blatant gerrymandering after the last census and the unprecedented levels of obstruction by Republicans in Congress.

There are some moral issues on which there can be no ambiguity. For instance, people cannot be treated differently because of the way they were born, developed or identify;  women must have access to the full range of reproductive options; and something must be done about the continued carnage of gun violence in this country.

There are other areas, however — the continued existence of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, the use of drones, government surveillance — that require critical, nonpartisan examination, regardless of who is in charge, in part because many of these policies overlap Republican and Democratic administrations.

Loyalties too freely given and too uncritically maintained become fertile ground for — and, in fact, issue license for — the corruption of conscience and the betrayal of principle.

Why the Obama Campaign Should Not Let Go of the "47 Percent"

I will concede that I am a political junkie and, as the boyfriend claims, may go into withdrawal symptoms if I'm offline for too long and cannot get my news/politics "fix."   I grew up in a family where politics were dinner table conversation and I spent eight (8) years as a City Committee member for the GOP in Virginia Beach, typically a GOP bastion in Virginia.  Along the way, I also ran my own campaign for public office and narrowly lost only because I was hit with a smear campaign that labeled me as "Christian Right" - obviously, I've had the last laugh on that fictional storyline.  Now, I am technically an independent although I admittedly find it impossible to support today's Christofascist/Tea Party controlled GOP.  

My point in relating this?   During all of this political involvement over the course of several decades, I've come to have a pretty good gut read on politicians and can see through their bullshit and disingenuous apologies.  I also have always been good with facts and figures - even Taliban Bob McDonnell recognized this fact roughly 20 years ago when I was active in the GOP and we knew each other well.  So what's my read on Mitt Romney?  His infamous statements on the "47%" of Americans that he views as parasites and moochers while speaking to his millionaire donors were his real view.  Yes, he's apologized and otherwise tried to disavow his remarks, but those remarks were an unusual glimpse at Romney speaking the truth as he sees it.   During an interview over the weekend Obama adviser, David Axelrod, made statements that indicate that the Obama campaign likewise believes that Romney's comments on the "47%" provide a rare glimpse of Romney's core beliefs.  Politico looks at Axelrod's interview.  Here are excerpts:

[O]n Sunday, the Obama campaign made it clear they’re not dropping their “47 percent” attack just because Romney’s ready to move on from it, now referring to the comments made at a Florida fundraiser in May as “completely wrong.”

David Axelrod, senior adviser to the Obama campaign, called Romney’s fresh attempt to wash his hands of the comments “unconvincing,” demonstrating that the campaign is not ready to let go of one of their major lines of attack against Romney.

“That was astonishing for a whole number of reasons,” Axelrod said of Romney’s response. “The first was, three weeks ago, he was asked this same question and he stood by the essence of what he said.”
Secondly, Axelrod argued, the ‘47 percent’ remarks were a thought-out argument, not a stray word.

“But when you look at that tape that was behind closed doors, it wasn’t just a comment. It wasn’t just a word. It was a whole exposition, it was an essay on how 47 percent of the country were shiftless people who wouldn’t take personal responsibility for themselves and so on. I mean, he slandered half the country. To say, ‘whoops, I misspoke,’ is a little unconvincing.”

On Thursday, Mitt Romney completely disavowed his 47 percent comments — changing his tune after largely defending their substance since the footage was made public in mid-September. “Well, clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of question and answer sessions, now and then you’re going to say something that doesn’t come out right,” Romney said on Fox News

Axelrod’s take echoes what White House adviser David Plouffe told reporters on Friday: “I would take with a huge grain of salt trying to clean something up five months after you’ve said it for the first time and after you doubled down on it.”

Mayor Molly Ward Easily Wins Re-Election in Hampton, Virginia

Our good friend and wonderful LGBT supportive ally Molly Ward (pictured at left) easily won re-election as the City of Hampton's Mayor by a margin of more than 64% to 34% defeating her challenger, City Council member Donnie Tuck.  Molly has been welcoming to HRBOR and the LGBT community unlike some in the various local governments in the Hampton Roads area (which has seven separate cities) "gets it" that to truly move forward, all residents, including LGBT residents and minorities, need to be embraced and welcomed and participants in the city's direction.   Unfortunately, as best I can tell, her opponent courted conservative churches and pushed a divisive message during the campaign.  The election results confirm that the great majority of Hampton residents reject that kind of message and that the "good old boy" policies of the past need to be replaced with progressive, forward thinking.  Here are highlights from the Daily Press:

Mayor Molly Joseph Ward easily won re-election Tuesday night, defeating City Councilman Donnie Tuck by a wide margin.  Ward was first elected to the mayoral seat in 2008. She previously served as the city's treasurer.  During her tenure in office, Fort Monroe was named by President Barack Obama as a National Park Service monument.

Ward has said her greatest strengths include her ability to lobby state and regional officials to help further the city's goals. Ward also serves as chair of the board of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization, a group that sets plans for regional transportation policy.

Tuck's critics have said, however, that he lacked the ability to gather support needed to change the City Council's direction.

Rick "Frothy Mix" Suspends His Campaign

While I view Rick Santorum as a religious extremist lunatic - not to mention a possibly a self-loathing closeted gay based on the new University of Rochester study - I have mixed feelings about his decision to suspend his presidential campaign. Thanks to Frothy Mix, the rest of the GOP clown car was forced to veer far to the right and in the process Mitt Romney may have done some permanent damage to himself notwithstanding his campaign staff's plan to "Etch A Sketch" his image. The Washington Post has coverage on this development. Here are some highlights:

Rick Santorum announced Tuesday that he is suspending his presidential campaign, all but bringing to a close the 2012 GOP presidential contest and effectively handing the nomination to Mitt Romney.

In announcing his decision, Santorum said [his daughter] Bella’s condition caused him to reconsider his campaign but that she “is a fighter and doing extraordinarily well.”

He did not endorse or urge the delegates that he has won to support another candidate, but spokesman Hogan Gidley told MSNBC that the Romney campaign has requested a meeting about an endorsement, which he said Santorum is “open” to.

Santorum called Romney before his announcement Tuesday to inform him of his decision to drop out, according to a Romney campaign official. This race was as improbable as any race you’ll ever see for president,” Santorum said.

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul remain in the campaign, but neither has shown the ability to be a consistent alternative to Romney.

Santorum’s exit virtually assures that Romney will secure the Republican Party’s nomination, though he so far has secured only about 60 percent of the delegates that he needs. In a statement, Romney congratulated his opponent. “Sen. Santorum is an able and worthy competitor, and I congratulate him on the campaign he ran,” Romney said. “He has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation. We both recognize that what is most important is putting the failures of the last three years behind us and setting America back on the path to prosperity.”

I'm sure that there is a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth this evening among the Christianist base of the GOP. One can always hope and dream that the demise of Santorum's campaign is reflective of the coming death of the political role of the Christian Right.

Watching Fox News Worse Than Watching No News At All

While I don't stay on them for extended periods, I do check out the batshitery that passes as news on some of the far rights alleged news outlets. It's a case of knowing what your enemy is doing and being prepared to counter whatever batshit craziness Republicans and Christianists may bring up in conversation should one find themselves stuck talking with them. I generally cringe at some of the craziness that bears little resemblance to actual reality. Now, a new survey conducted as part of Fairleigh Dickinson University's latest Public Mind poll found that individuals who watch Fox News were less informed than individuals who watched no news channels at all. I've always viewed Fox News asa warped propaganda vehicle for the most deranged elements of the GOP and far right and this poll vindicates that evaluation. Here are highlights from Queerty's coverage:

Not only does Fox News do a horrible job covering LGBT stories but, according to a recent poll, watching it actually makes viewers less informed than if they had just sat around watching a red sock tumbling in the dryer.

Fairleigh Dickinson University’s latest PublicMind poll phoned a random sample of 612 New Jersey adults via landlines and cell phones. They then asked them how they get their news and questioned them about about the success of the revolts in Syria and Egypt, the popularity of Republican presidential candidates, the European financial crisis and the political affiliation of Occupy Wall Street protestors.

Researchers found that the best informed respondents watched Sunday morning news programs. Such shows “tend to spend a lot more time on a single issue than other news broadcasts, and… are less likely to degenerate into people shouting at each other.”

They also found that “there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all.” Fox News respondents were:
•18 points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government.
•6 points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government.
•No more or less likely to name the Republican frontrunner in the GOP presidential race.

You can also pretty much count on Fox News not reporting this recent study either.

Could Anti-Gay Politics Sink A Presidential Campaign?

Yesterday Towleroad asked an interesting question, namely whether anti-gay rhetoric - and past actions and statements - could sink one or more of the GOP presidential candidate hopefuls? As noted, when Michele Bachmann appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday, she did all kinds of disingenuous dancing around in an attempt to avoid directly reaffirming her past vitriolic anti-gay statements. It's important that Bachmann and now Rick Perry be pressed constantly on their anti-gay extremism for two reasons: (1) the majority of the public is moving past gay bashing and may be turned off by it, and (2) anti-gay extremism is part and parcel of the Christian dominionism that Bachmann and Perry subscribe to - something the general public must be made to realize regardless of what these extreme candidates may pretend to the contrary. Here are some highlights from Towleroad:

Michele Bachmann did a wonderful job dodging Meet the Press host David Gregory's questions about her homophobic policies this weekend. . . . Bachmann clearly wants to avoid such questions, and the only explanation I can think of is that she's fearful her extreme politics will turn off voters. This got me wondering: could anti-gay politics sink a presidential campaign?

A Gallup Poll found that 53% of Americans support same-sex marriage. The Public Religion Research Institute, CNN, the Washington Post and ABC News have also all found majority support. What's more, most of the nation supported Don't Ask, Don't Tell's repeal and are against DOMA. All of these numbers reflect the fact that LGBT people are becoming more visible, and therefore more accepted, than ever in American history.

With the 2012 race heating up -- and as LGBT activists in states like Oregon and Maine trying to put same-sex marriage on their respective ballots, and as the Proposition 8 trials continue, virtually guaranteeing the issue a national spotlight -- it will be interesting to see if the right starts unearthing and highlighting their archaic, exclusionary politics, or whether they'll try to avoid the issue all together.

And, most importantly, how will the public respond to the possible revival of homophobic politicking on a national level? As voters become more accepting of their gay friends and neighbors, will they be revolted by Bachmann and company's discriminatory ways? Will being seen as intolerant and exclusionary help or hinder presidential candidates?

The Dangerous Myth of American Exceptionalism

Allied with the message of hate that is the product of the professional Christian set is the myth of American exceptionalism which helps set the stage for national hubris and a refusal to lean anything from other nations or, indeed, history itself. Mixed in with Chimperator Bush's desire to "avenge his daddy,"by taking the USA into a needless war in Iraq was this mind set that the USA is special and that it can do what others cannot. (I'm sure many Russians are laughing their asses off now that the USA has been mired in Afghanistan longer than the Soviets during their debacle). Unfortunately, the GOP and the Tea Party drink this American exceptionalism Kool-Aid by the barrel full and it is worrisome what new disasters may be the by-product. In the grand scheme of things, I doubt that God - if he/she/it exists - gives any preference to the USA over for example France. The Washington Post has a story that looks at this false and dangerous myth. Here are some highlights:
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American exceptionalism" is a phrase that, until recently, was rarely heard outside the confines of think tanks, opinion journals and university history departments.
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But with Republicans and tea party activists accusing President Obama and the Democrats of turning the country toward socialism, the idea that the United States is inherently superior to the world's other nations has become the battle cry from a new front in the ongoing culture wars. Lately, it seems to be on the lips of just about every Republican who is giving any thought to running for president in 2012.
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[L]ast week, Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, told a group of College Republicans at American University: "Don't kid yourself with the lie. America is exceptional, and Americans are concerned that there are a group of people in Washington who don't believe that any more." Some, however, wonder whether Obama's conservative critics are sounding an alarm about the United States' place in the world - or making an insidious suggestion about the president himself.
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Democrats have become more squeamish about the idea of exceptionalism in the wake of the George W. Bush years, when spreading American values was used as a justification for unilateral action on the world stage.
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The proposition of American exceptionalism, which goes at least as far back as the writing of French aristocrat and historian Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1830s, asserts that this country has a unique character.
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It is also rooted in religious belief. A recent survey by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution found that 58 percent of Americans agreed with the statement: "God has granted America a special role in human history."
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Pfeiffer contended that the new criticism of Obama on the subject says more about the race for the Republican presidential nomination than anything else. The GOP contenders know that this kind of argument - with its suggestion that Obama is undermining American values - was "a huge piece of what Sarah Palin did in 2008," Pfeiffer said. "They want a little bit of Sarah Palin magic, because she has a lot of enthusiasm and support among the base."
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Sadly, religious extremism and prostituting themselves for votes rather than the good of the country is now the GOP norm. Pretending that America is special above all other nations is merely a way to distract the sheep from the fact that the country is seriously off course in large part because of GOP misrule.

The Media's Role in Divisive Politics

I am sitting at home with MSNBC on with Dan Abrams and sadly the progaram is another shrill and shallow piece trying to make much of Jeremiah Wright's stupid remarks rather that look at the REAL issues that should be under discussion in this campaign cycle: soaring foreclosure rates, families unable to make ends meet, many millions without health insurance, a never ending disaster in Iraq, etc., etc. One has to wonder whether the talking heads are simply lazy, or are they more concerned about generating sensationalism rather than having a critical discourse on the issues that truly impact the nation's future. Personally, most of the talking heads are little better than self-importance cheap whores, frequently hired more for looks, family ties, and other criteria that have nothing to do with intelligence or competency. Tonight's story is basically aimed at ginning up racial disharmony. I find it disgusting and sadly cynical. Which brings me to something my friend Billy at Kenya Worm wrote as he contemplates moving back home to South Africa (a country that is now in some ways far more progressive than the USA). These are the words that struck me:

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The reason why I put this down as an 'opener' to my post is that, if I were one of the narrow minded 'biggots' that came out of Apartheid SA, I would have missed out on so much in my life. I would not have made some great 'local' friends here in Kenya, I would not have had dinner last night with a friend from Vietnam, I would not have met such a diverse and colourful group of people in my remarkable life. It's remarkable not because I've made such an impression on the world, but because the world has made such a remarkable impression on me! How can we truly say that we are better or worse than anybody else, or base our judgements of people on something other than their personality? And then, base this judgement of their personality on their background as well. The old saying about having to walk in somebody Else's shoes before you make up your mind is remarkably true...

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Would that some of us in the USA could learn these concepts. Dan Abrams, I mean you.