The defense of liberalism

For as long as President Obama has been in the public eye, he has refused to criticize the conservative movement or the republican party as whole. Never has he spoken about an issue on ideological terms, defending or attacking one side of the political spectrum or another. He has, despite not receiving the same gracious courtesy from his critics and despite pressure from his own identifying party, stayed steadfastly above the fray.

That is, until the end of his speech last night. For the first time ever--since this President has been in the eye of the American public--he has offered up a defense of liberalism. But when relentless badgering and distortions of his own ideological views, constant nagging from his identfied party, and an agenda full of issues that boils down to essence of the liberal/conservative debate has failed to stagger his stead fast mentality, what possibly did?

Here is the inspiring, emotional, defensive and beautiful letter Ted Kennedy wrote to President Obama. A letter that was so influencial, President Obama did something so unprecendeted for him, it has caused the media a stir.

May 12, 2009

Dear Mr. President,

I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me — and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.

On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.

You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.

When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the president who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me — and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.

There will be struggles — there always have been — and they are already under way again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat — that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.

And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family's health will never again depend on the amount of a family's wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will — yes, we will — fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.

In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign — and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young president who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young president inspires another generation and once more on America's behalf inspires the entire world.

So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend — and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.

At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.

And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.

With deep respect and abiding affection,

(Ted)

If you want to say batshit-crazy stuff and still be treated as a respectable participant in the national debate, you'd better be a Republican

Mark Klienman provided those words after hearing of Van Jones resignation--and it seems at this point in time in history, he could not be more correct.

For the past two months we have heard nothing, absolutely nothing, but intentionally flawed, disingenuous, dishonest, ridiculous arguments and claims about the President and his agenda. And that's putting it mildly. These out-of-this-world ideas, as stated by this blog, and many other news organizations, have not only been circled by pundits and constituents, but by actual elected political figures on the right who have seemingly escaped any political danger that their radical statements normally would constitute. Yet, the luxury of a political immunity, or whatever you want to call it, is really not the case for Van Jones, the White House's Special Advisor for Green Jobs (which is really nothing more than publicly obscure position in the administration).

So the question becomes two-fold: 1) how does the Special Advisor for Green Jobs make it out of obscurity and into the public spotlight? 2) And what could he possibly do and/or say that would force him to resign.
The first answer might not be shocking. Glenn Beck. I anticipate much of you reading this just sighed in disappointment. Yes, Glenn Beck hand picked this man out obscurity in effort to further his "Red Scare" agenda. Beck did his research and found out that a little over 15 years ago Jones became involved with Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (S.T.O.R.M) after graduating law school. S.T.O.R.M is radical left wing group that, in short supported urban Marxist politics. So Beck hammered away for weeks at Van Jones with the usual Socialist Banner. If your asking yourself, how the hell did Beck get wind about Jones? The answer is simple. You may recall hearing stories of advertisers such as GEICO pulling their ads from his show. Well, Jone's former organization, Color Of Change, were the ones advocating advertisers boycott Beck's program.

After Beck "exposed" Jone's political past, Jones became underfire for essentially three things. First, of course was his past. The second was for a particularly uninhibited statement he made at the Berkeley Green Energy Conference regarding why Dems have such a hard time being effective with a majority in congress, when republicans were dominant when they were in control. His response was,

The answer to that is: They're assholes. That's a technical political science term. And Barack Obama's not an asshole. I will say this, I can be an asshole. And some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama are gonna have to start getting a little bit uppity

While the statement may be true or not, it probably wasn't the most politically correct one. However, what really hit home his affiliation with the "truthers". "Truthers" are people who believed Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks before they happened. Jones basically singed the 9/11 truth statement which, in short, calls for the public's attention to unanswered questions that may suggest that 9/11 was deliberately allowed as pretext to war. However, after lethal criticism, Jones released a statement saying that he didn't fully read the petition and the statement does not reflect his opinion of the war. In fact he issued numerous apologies and explanations in the past week and a half in attempt to squash any radical notion about himself. That was before he resigned.

Eventually, Jones had too much and resigned saying,

"On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum -- urging me to 'stay and fight.' But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future."

I really am not sure who I am more disappointed in. On one hand, I am upset at Van Jones for resigning and the Obama Administration having no objections to Jone's resignation. So your getting a little pressure from the right over, really, stupid crap. While you may have been a distraction then, your even more of a distraction now, and your making yourself, and the Obama administration look weak. People start to wonder if there may have been truth behind the claims, or if Obama really cant handle the heat--which is almost worse because it undoubtedly calls for more nonsense from the right. I thought you said you could be an Asshole like the republicans and take control...were you trying to prove you didnt mean what you said to get you out of trouble?

The Obama Administration not objecting to Jones resigning does not help either. Again it implies that the people had the right to question the motives of Jones as part of the Obama administration, just as Robert Gibbs did when he declined to defend Jones in a press conference.

On the other hand, however, I am upset at conservatives who called for his resignation for their hypocrisy and, really, their silly irrelevant notions.

Honestly, if we take a look at what is pissing so many conservatives off, it really is irrelevant to his job as Special Advisor to Green Jobs. He has past ties, over 15 years ago, to the radical left. Big deal. One, that was four presidential terms ago, and has absolutely nothing to with his job on the Environmental Council.

So he spoke candidly about Republicans, calling them assholes. To be honest, what he said wasn't too far from the truth, especially when you look at how much the use of a filibuster has increased since Dems took congress. Not only was it fairly truthful, but it really isn't worse than senators and elected conservative officials allowing, or even promoting connections between Obama totalitarian dictators.

And then he signed a petition that implied Bush deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen so he could use it as a pretext to the war. First off, he denied the fact he held the views reflected in the statement. Secondly, how can conservatives through an uproar over a radical claim like that, when conservative senators have brought up, endorsed, and promoted claims relating to "death panels", "birthers", and "socialist indoctrination". Are "truthers" crazier than any of these claims?

Either that, or Republicans have some sort of immunity over far fetched, batshit notions.

Yet another reason Why Grassley is a Douche...

Hi everyone, sorry I couldnt give you a po
st today..I am at dealing with a family death. But here is cop-out. Yet another reason why Sen. Grassley sucks... by TMD titled:

Douchebag Defines "Bipartisanship"

On today's "Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan" on MSNBC, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said that even if the committee's final version of a health insurance reform bill gives him everything he says he wants, he will vote against it.

When NBC's Chuck Todd, in a follow-up question on the show, asked the Iowa Republican if he'd vote against what Grassley might consider to be a "good deal" -- i.e., gets everything he asks for from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D) -- Grassley replied, "It isn't a good deal if I can't sell my product to more Republicans."

In short, Grassley says he's willing to walk away from legislation in which he gets everything he wants. Over to you, Max Baucus...

This is what "bipartisanship" means to Republicans. "Give us everything we want, and we will still vote against it because the successful passage of health care reform will be a victory for a Democratic president and a Democratic congress, and we're more interested in regaining power and keeping those big insurance company donations coming in than we are in ensuring easier, more affordable access to health care."

It's time for the President and the leadership in Congress to wake the hell up.

Pass the health care reform bill YOU want. FORGET the Republicans! Leave them on the sidelines to complain and bitch and whine and moan about how nobody listens to them.

If it's a good bill, Democrats reap the benefits and the GOP continues to shrink and dissolve.

If it's a bad bill, we take our deserved lumps.

But for God's sake, if it wasn't time to stop letting a tiny, regional, minority party dictate policy on something so vital to the economy and to the well-being of every American -- hearing that they aren't even interested in PASSING a bill should be a clarion call to the densest among us.

Do you HEAR me, Rahm?

Interesting stuff, No?

Sarah Palin Good Message, Bad Intentions.

In the past few weeks the health care reform has been getting increasingly angrier and more violent, no thanks to the crazy extremist of the Republican. However, at least one Republican will dare to stand up against her party to bring stability and order to angry, mistaken, citizens of the Republican party. Only one person has the intellect, the knowledge of health care, the charisma to dispel these angry mobs and turn the debate back to the issues at hand. Who you ask? Who in the Republican party actually knows about health care? Why none other than Sarah Palin.

Hopefully you picked up on my sarcastic tone. If not, well I need to work on my writing. But anyways, Sarah Palin actually did something useful today. Despite being completely hypocritical, and somewhat impersonal and indirect, Sarah Palin made an attempt to silence the extreme, mistaken, angry Republicans. No she didnt hold a press confrence, she didnt say it in a speech, she didn't even say it on twitter-- she said it on Facebook. Because what better way to reach angry, mistaken, Republicans than on facebook. In a note, she stated,

"There are many disturbing details in the current bill that Washington is trying to rush through Congress, but we must stick to a discussion of the issues and not get sidetracked by tactics that can be accused of leading to intimidation or harassment. Such tactics diminish our nation’s civil discourse which we need now more than ever because the fine print in this outrageous health care proposal must be understood clearly and not get lost in conscientious voters’ passion to want to make elected officials hear what we are saying. Let’s not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us."

Palin is right. Stop making up ridiculous comments about health care. Stop yelling at congressmen! Stop talking about putting old senior citizens out to death! Stop talking about down syndrome babies dying from the new health care reform! Don't call Obama's health care plan a "death panel"! People who do these things are diminishing our nations civil discourse, it sidesteps the real issue. And its down right stupid. People should never say these things right Sarah Palin?

While its pretty clear she is covering for her last pretty outrageous statement on health care, her message is actually a good one and should be listened to. Even if it is ridiculously hypocritical. Cover your own ass, and be praised for restoring society--now that is politics at its finest.

4 Examples As To Why Guillible (Not Dumb!) Old People Shouldn't Listen to Glenn Beck...Or Rush Limbaugh

As many of you, I have been following this debate on health care. As I am watching the news, it seems every time I flip to FOX news someone like Glenn Beck or one of his minions are talking about some bogus government take-over of health care or some other ridiculous nonsense. Oh, well, who listens to Glenn Beck anyways?

Unfortunately...a lot of people. A lot of gullible (not dumb!), misinformed (not dumb!) old people. Recently I have come across a lot of statements made by senior citizens worried about their health care, medicare, or their life that are incredibly disturbing. So, here are top four example as to why gullible (Not Dumb!) old people shouldn't listen to Glenn Beck...Or Rush Limbaugh. Those with weak stomachs...please don't read on.


4) Obama recently received a letter from a concerned elderly citizen. According to Obama, obsurd statements not unlike this one were tossed around:

'I don't want government-run health care. I don't want socialized medicine. And don't touch my Medicare.'"

Now I am going to let the government take over of health care baloney go. While I dont necessarily agree with it, there are bigger, more mistaken remarks. ...Don't touch my Medicare? Are you kidding me? For those of you scratching your heads wondering why this is such an absurd comment...Medicare is administered by none other than the United States Government! "I dont want a government run medicare program!" Give me a break.

3) While Obama was having his town hall meeting in a grocery store an elderly lady actually inquired (and half accused) that under the new Health Care plan older American citizens "will just be put out to pasture"

Put out to pasture? To this persons credit, she did begin this statement with semi-legitamite concerns over whether she will be able to keep her doctor. The preface to this statement is the only reason this isnt a number 2 or 1. Yes, Obama, the evil Muslim, Kenyan Citizen, wants to kill all the old people because they are too costly! That fiend!


2) At a town meeting in South Carolina held by Rep. Robert Inglis (R), a women, very emphatically got up, made all sorts of dramatic noises and movements to attract attention and said this remarkable demand:

"Keep your government hands off my Medicare!"

I belive we went over this one already. Medicare is a goverment administered program. Perhaps Bill Maher put it best. To say something like "Keep you government hands off my Medicare!" is like " driving cross country to protest highways."

The Republican Congressman (Inglis) holding the meeting even had enough. Aparently he tried to explain the truth to the confused citizen by saying "Actually, sir, your health care is being provided by the government."

The best part? The person wasn't having any of it! She didn't believe a Republican Congressman over someone like Glenn Beck! Good Grief!

1) On July 28, Obama heard from another elderly woman who said this incredibly mistaken (not dumb!)

"I heard there is a clause in there that everyone that's Medicare age will be visited and told to decide how they wish to die"

Okay...maybe some of them are dumb. But then again it doesn't help that people like Sarah Palin are saying with the proposed Health Care will kill her down syndrome baby. So, thank you "Renegade", for reducing the intellect of elderly Republicans everywhere.