An Affront to Democracy

fail, democracy, free speech, same sex, marriage, gay, traditional, mccain,

Good Sense Politics is deeply concerned about the state of democracy. Yes, democracy itself. Apparently, if Cindy McCain supports same sex marriage, democracy just disappears. Possibly leaving a hole in the very fabric of space time itself, though (s)he didn't specify.

Cindy and Meghan McCain have been published in ads supporting the overthrow of California's democratically approved proposition 8. Not only is this an affront on traditional marriage, but on the very foundations of democracy and free speech.

Apparently, rich people supporting same sex marriage will . . . um, yeah, I dunno. I mean, if challenging established laws is an affront to democracy, well, then . . . it's not actually democracy. That's how democracy works. The people have the right to change existing laws. That is, in fact, the very basis of democracy.

As for free speech, I'm not sure how the McCains' use of their right to free speech is an affront to free speech. I keep rereading the First Amendment, and there's nothing in there about it being limited to speech that agrees with anyone in particular. So, fail and fail.

Does anyone get the impression that most of the people bleating about protecting democracy and free speech don't actually like democracy and free speech?

I Stole Food from a Hotel, But Socialism Sucks

mccain, journalism, begging, stealing, theft, thief,

I can't quite figure out wingnuts. Why is it that so many of the people that regard any form of governmental help for those who need it as socialismOMGtheCOMMIESWON! are, in fact, people who need governmental help?

The Other McCain, a/k/a* Robert Stacy McCain, apparently has to steal food now. Seriously, he stole food from a hotel. On a trip to Kentucky to the learn the truth about the murdered census worker (I guess the real journalists are all on vacation or something), he stole food from a hotel:

Hang on, Freda Collins. Just another 390 miles to go today, and I should be there by nightfall. As for the rest of y'all -- hit the tip jar.

I can scavenge pretty well when I have to. They serve a free continental breakfast here at this motel, and everybody evidently assumes I'm a guest, even though I just pulled off the I-79 exit and walked in the door. But professional journalism savvy like that will only get me so far . . . hit the tip jar.

And, in typical wingnut fashion, theft becomes "professional journalism savvy"**, and the kind of begging that would piss off a wingnut in the subway is capitalism. Seriously, how many times have you seen me beg for money from my readers? Twice in two paragraphs, no less.

Here's a clue for you, Other Mr. McCain, if you can't afford food, don't go on cross-country journeys to repeat the work of people far more qualified than you.




*Why, yes, I am a legal secretary, in case that looks odd to you.

**If it's something homeless people typically do, it's not professional journalism savvy, it's just desperation.

Calling Rush Limbaugh for Spiritual Advice

subtitle: If you didn't hear about Obama's baby-killing ways, you were in a coma for the last year.


BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Terri in Charlotte, North Carolina, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Thanks, Rush. I'm so happy and nervous to talk to you. Yeah, I'd be nervous to talk to Rush, too. Of course, I'd be worried about having a stroke or a seizure out of pure, unadulterated hatred, but yeah, nervous.

RUSH: Don't be nervous. Don't be nervous. I bet vampires say this, too.

CALLER: I have a question for you. I know you're not a spiritual advisor, but perhaps you can help me out. *7up spewed all over my screen at this point* When I found out that the majority of Catholics voted for Obama I've had trouble as a Catholic attending church without some animosity toward my fellow parishioners. This woman wants Rush to help her feel less hateful? lollerskatz! Besides, which fellow parishioners is she hating? How does she know who voted McCain, who voted Obama and who didn't vote at all? Is she just resenting everyone? This lady has some serious issues if she is walking into church on Sunday, and her first thought is, "I don't know which one of you did it, but I hate you all." And I was wondering if you had any advice as to, you know... the name of a good psychiatrist?

RUSH: Yeah, I do.

CALLER: Okay.

RUSH: I'm not a spiritual advisor, nor am I a spiritual counselor, but you can't control what they do anyway and as such you should not let anything they do make you feel, I mean, it's going to make you feel sad or unhappy but it shouldn't ruin your day. It's their life that they're toying with, not yours. They haven't messed with your values. They didn't. This is, and I'm choking as I write it, good advice overall. He's right. Somebody else's values don't affect yours. I don't know if the word's corrupt --

CALLER: Right.


RUSH: -- your beliefs and so forth, but, if anything, after you get mad at 'em, you might want to spend some time feeling a little sympathy for them because it's inexplicable to people who are fervent believers in the sanctity of life -- and we're off. Why is it that prolifers only seem to care about life up until the point it exits the womb? They're against birth control and abortion, and also against welfare, wic, food stamps, school lunches, section 8, homeless shelters and an end to war. Is life no longer sacred once it's breathing?

CALLER: Right. just say it. Ditto.

RUSH: -- and are members of a religion that is unbending on that, Here's the funny thing, Rush. Thinking people allow more than religion to inform their choices. Also, a local Catholic priest pointed out something very true (and surprising from a priest) about values and the sanctity of life. Voters voted more on the economy than anything else. Abortions increase significantly in a poor economy, because abortion isn't about not wanting a child or promiscuity, it's about economic reality. So, voting in a way that you believe will improve the economy will save lives, perhaps more than voting prolife. (After all, the Republicans have controlled the White House for 8 years and controlled everything for 4 and abortion still legal.)to sit around and vote Where did these people get to vote? There were no seats at my polling place. for somebody who's not just pro-choice. This is a man who voted three times for legislation to allow babies born alive in botched abortions not to be saved because the mother's original intent was to abort the child. I mean, that's infanticide. Actually, Obama voted against a bill that would have undermined the legal right to abortion. The bill was also unnecessary. Doctors do not choose to save or not save a baby born alive after a failed abortion (this almost never happens, by the way) based upon the mother's original intent. Once the baby is born alive, it becomes a patient, as well, and the doctor is honorbound to follow the directives of their oath and the AMA to attempt to save it.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: You know what? I'd give them the benefit of the doubt, based on what we have learned from polling data. A lot of Obama voters simply didn't know anything about what he stood for, and I would bet you a bunch of the Catholics that voted for him don't even know what his pro-abortion position is, because he wasn't asked constantly. Abortion was barely mentioned in debates. I bet a lot of people didn't know about it, Terri. While it is true that abortion was not mentioned in the debates, Obama's votes and his stance on abortion could not have been mentioned more often unless every person appearing on the news wore a sign that read, "Obama is prochoice." Catholic priests and bishops all over the country were hammering on this in the weeks leading up to the election. If you didn't know Obama was prochoice prior to the election, you were in a coma for the previous 2 years.

You know what this is about? The conservatives are unwilling to believe that Obama won, fair and square, because the majority of USians wanted him to be President. Conservatives also don't want to admit that their "values" and tactics are no longer held by the majority of USians. So, they resort to these mental tricks of pretending that no news station ever told anyone that Obama was prochoice. It wasn't that the US was sick and freakin' tired of letting the Republicans ruin this country, it's that people just didn't know what they were getting into.

HAHA! WE WON!

Rush Limbaugh, Bound and Gagged

No, not really. That would be awesome, though. *sigh*

We're going to read a transcript of a Limbaugh show in which we learn that Limbaugh does not exist in the universe we exist in. Clearly, Limbaugh lives in some alternate dimension populated by duplicates of people in this universe who do/did things that never happened here. Basically, the Limbaugh Show is a news report of events in that alternate universe. (or Limbaugh didn't do as well in rehab as he says he did.)

CALLER: Me neither. We have Ms. Palin back so we're happy here. I had a question about what I see as an unusual amount of pressure by the Obama pre-elect staffers and how much they're trying to get done prior to Obama becoming the actual president. Do you see this as different in situations in the past, that there is an excessive amount of pressure to get Bush to do things that he wouldn't normally do such as more aid and bailouts and stuff?

Yeah, I don't get Alaskans either. I'd be way happier with Palin gone. I especially like "more aid and bailouts and stuff?" What stuff? Acting like a decent human being? Being presidential? As for what Bush "wouldn't normally do", ummm . . . what is a "normal" response to an extreme situation? Our economy hasn't been in this much trouble since the great depression. That would be like saying that your coworker, whose mother, father, wife and six kids all died in a fire last week, was acting "a little off."

Obama is thuggish (BLACK!) blahblahblah thuggish behavior (BLACK!) blahblahblah Chicago thugs (THEY'RE ALL BLACK!) and then . . . I think Bush could teach Obama a lot reality about what's going on in the world. I'll bet there was some of that, but we've heard... Julie, it's a great question, because do you remember when Senator McCain, decently and graciously suspended his campaign to fly to Washington to save the country during the financial crisis? Do you remember that?

*Wipes coffee off of screen* I'm not even going to address whether or not Bush exists in this universe, though vacationing through Katrina and reading through 9/11 points to NO. Senator McCain decently and graciously suspended his campaign? How? By giving interviews and running political ads? And then attending the debate he said he wasn't going to attend? Hey, I'm going to be out of work for the next few days . . . but I'll continue to show up and do my job, the difference will be all in my attitude!

And, when did the financial crisis end, exactly? Layoffs continue, unemployment mounts, the real estate market is fading faster than a freshman at his first frat party and the stock market is doing its best impression of a pinball machine. But really, the financial crisis ended the moment McCain "resumed" his "suspended" campaign.

NEXT: Limbaugh misses the point entirely

There's something "creepy" about the guy. In fact, he has created this "creature" that we all see. I'm quoting Newsweek here, by the way, if you're just tuning in. Jon Meacham, Evan Thomas wrote he's creepy; very creepy, very singular. He makes that acceptance speech and kicks the kids and the wife backstage. Scram, Michelle! Get the hell outta here; it's my time now! You come back when I'm finished. And, by the way, go unlock Biden, he's in the bar. And when he go off the airplane yesterday in Washington to go meet the president, got off the plane alone. We know Michelle was there because she ended up getting out of the limo at the White House. (interruption) You gotta be kidding me! You have got to be kidding. I did not know that! They took separate flights? They took separate planes? He chartered...?

That's not creepy, Limbaugh. That's a sad commentary on this country and the nutballs you and Palin worked up into frenzies. (The natural result of Palin constantly calling Obama a terrorist and Hussein was a crowd calling a random camerman the "n" word.)

Obama was worried that he was a target for assassination. He was afraid that anyone else on the stage with him would either (1) also be a target, or (2) be shot by accident. That's not "creepy" gesture, that's a loving gesture. I wouldn't put my loved ones in danger, either, Limbaugh, but I guess you're ok with it.

NEXT: Limbaugh is "shocked" and "stunned" that Michelle and Barack Obama arrived in separate airplanes. Then, I will be both shocked and stunned that the sky is blue, water is wet and Limbaugh is an asshole.

You know, sometimes it's the way people with families think. There's something creepy about this, though, folks, I must admit. I am stunned. I am shocked. I'm... I'm... Well, I'm not speechless. That never happens. But they took separate chartered flights, because you know she didn't fly commercial. There was no way she was going to fly commercial. So he chartered two airplanes. She has to have gotten in early. She's waiting for him in a limo, he gets off the airplane waving singularly -- very, very creepy -- and he gets in the limo, and she's there? And then they're drive there? Oh, well, I know she was in the same limo because they got out together. But, there was a decoy limo as well.

Again, what is it about legitimate security concerns that is creepy, shocking and stunning? The Pres and VP never travel on the same airplane, is that creepy, shocking and stunning? Ah, they're BLACK! BLACK!

Oh, Limbaugh, I'm shocked! stunned! creeped out! at how consistently you manage to entirely miss the point, then catch it, then mangle it beyond recognition, then mount it on your wall, still bloody.