The American two-party system is fracturing, as both sides are struggling with immense war debt, a crippled manufacturing base, and a Federal Reserve that is devaluating the currency in order to prop up financial institutions that gambled trillions and lost; their bets became our losses as they were “covered by the house”. Progressives have been decrying the centrist wishy-washiness of so many Democrats for years, and there was an outspoken expectation that once the Democrats were in power, new, more liberal parties could emerge to challenge the old-guard Democrats to veer left or be shown the door. The surprise is that the right beat them to it (and here's why that's fine...)

Normal
0

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }

Josh Marshall highlights the deep divide within the GOP that has been exposed by Sonia Sotomayor's nomination:

Torture is what distinguishes civilization from barbarism. It is a moral issue that allows no compromise. Who supports torture, or refuses to oppose it?

Institutions 

Wall Street Journal (1/6/09)
Washington Post (1/7/09,1/10/09)  

"Pundits" and "Experts"

This morning Joe Scarborough had a segment that was unconsciously amazing. He replayed a comment he made on yesterday's Meet The Press about how deeply the Republican Base hates President Obama - and how counterproductive that hatred is for the Republican Party. "You can't scare children and dogs," he said. Then he explored that topic with his Morning Jo(k)ers.

When Barack Obama won the Democratic Party nomination and the general election campaign began, there were really only two questions: (1) was Barack Obama "ready" to be President, and (2) was white America ready to elect a "black" (i.e. off-white) man.

Obama answered the first question himself through his thoughtful and "Presidential" campaign, which contrasted sharply and decisively with McCain's cheap, nasty, dishonest, and erratic campaign.

But the second question could only be answered by the American people. And the answer is in: white America is ready to elect a black man.

Matt Stoller published a letter from rightwing financier Howard Rich threatening to publicize the names of donors to progressive causes. Rich offered no reason for publicizing the names, but suggested they would be tied to any criminal actions these causes might engage in, including voter registration fraud.

Obviously these threats against progressive donors are outrageous. But let's use Rich's framework and turn the mirror around to conservative causes and their supporters.

Check out this Flash animation of the song "My Favorite Things (conservatives' version)"

http://truthsite.org/politics/Presentations/FavoriteThingsGuitar.html

In the last 23 months 10 Republican perverts have been exposed: Richard Curtis ®WA, Larry Craig ®ID, Bob Allen ®FL, Mark Foley ®FL, Michael A. Flory ®MI, Glen Murphy ®IN, John D.R. Atchison ®FL, Dennis Gallagher ®NY, Randall Tobias ® DC, David Vitter ® LA.

This rogues gallery accounts for at least 7 cases of infidelity, 6 cases of homosexual sex, 5 cases of prostitution/solicitation, 3 cases of rape/sexual assault, 2 cases of pedophilia, and 10 cases of hypocrisy.

The Republican party is the party of "Family Values," if your idea of a family is the Manson Family.

mike kohr

hwc notes that the biggest winner of yesterday's Republican debate was... Hillary!

I think it is more than fair to say that our girl Hillary has well and truly gotten in the heads of the angry white men in the Republican party.  She has them in a full-blown tizzie and that is the best thing that could ever happen for Democratic Party chances in November 2008. Why?

I would suggest three reasons: