Blogblah!!! » GOP

February 2, 2010

John Long — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:12:37 +0000

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I am interested in policy and politics in a way few people share. I try not to bore the few readers I have with much about politics when there are no elections at hand, my frequent posts about the presidential election of 2008 nonwithstanding.
However, I read about politics and policy every single day and I get upset and I have strong opinions whether I blog about them or not.
I didn’t write about the State of the Union Address because I figured anybody who cared about it had better sources than me. I didn’t write about Obama’s Q&A with Republicans last week for the same reasons.
Today, I can’t help myself.
Markos Moulitsas, better known as “kos”, the publisher of the left wing site The Daily Kos, recently commissioned a poll of self-identified Republicans by Research 2000. Some 2,000 Republicans from across the nation were live interviewed. The results of this poll are startling and disturbing — and hilarious and sad and maddening.
The poll and its “crosstabs” (the really, really wonkish part) are available HERE and I really recommend it to you.
Some 39 percent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached and another 29 percent aren’t sure. His high crime or misdemeanor? Who knows? A clue can be found in another finding: 63 percent of Republicans believe Obama is a socialist. WTF? Do they know the meaning of the word? Well, since McCain said he was a socialist, that must be it.
Significant numbers of Republicans think Obama was not born in the U.S. and wants the terrorists to win, but then about a quarter of Republicans would like to see their state secede from the Union (I thought we’d settled that in 1865).
More than half of Republicans (53%) believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President and 31% believe Obama is a racist who hates whites while another 33% aren’t sure whether he’s a racist who hates whites.
More than 3/4s of Republicans (77%) believe that public schools should teach Genesis in science class. I find that gobsmacking.
For some real gobsmacking, however, try this: a third of Republicans (34%) believe the birth control pill is abortion, more than 3/4s believe abortion is murder (76%), and nearly a third (31%) would outlaw all contraceptives.
I just don’t know what to say about that.
How can we have a reality-based dialogue with these people? How willfully ignorant are they? I’m at a loss for words, despite having just written a couple hundred about this.
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November 19, 2009 Part II updated

John Long — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:17:12 +0000

shut up, he explained

A majority of Republicans do not believe that Obama was the legitimate winner of the 2008 presidential election; they believe ACORN stole the election for him — which would mean there were 9.5 million illegitimate votes for Obama, an election fraud that is incomprehensible.
Here is the poll by Public Policy Polling.
Only very few Democrats and Independents think ACORN was much of a factor and this view is held by about 26% of all Americans but 56% of Republicans.
Flabbergasting. I’m nonplussed. Here’s some analysis by TPM since I’m too gobsmacked to really go into it.

UPDATE: The right wingnut Hoffman in NY-23 who shouldered the GOP candidate aside and then lost to U.S. Rep. B. Owens (D-NY) now wants to “un-concede” the election because, of course, ACORN stole his election. At least that’s what he tells Glen Beck.

January 30, 2009

John Long — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 05:02:27 +0000

A lonely blogger types his fingers to the bone

I’m still thawing out and look forward to Friday’s expected high temperature around 60. I don’t have a lot to talk about except that I hope you noticed that I learned to “jump” my posts so that the page loads faster and you can scroll down to previous posts more quickly. You are clicking the “read the rest of the entry” thingy at the end of the posts, aren’t you? In other exciting blog news, I’ll be updating and revising my blogroll at the right — the sites that I link to. I’ve let them get seriously out of date. Before I do that, however, I want to hear from my readers whether they ever use the blogroll at all. Do you ever use my page to jump to another site by hitting one of the links on the right? I suspect many of you do not, for whatever reason. What can I do to be helpful and useful? Do you want links to Google, Yahoo, MSNBC, memeorandum, reddit, Digg, FARK or some other news aggregator? Should my personal blogroll of MCARP, Flibbi, Mary or my daughter be first and foremost? Does anybody care? Am I shouting in the wind to no one?

I’m also struggling not to get too involved with politics, but today’s House vote on the stimulus bill requires that I ask what the hell Republicans are thinking? Vote against massive tax cuts for the middle class? I don’t care what anyone says about the spending side of the bill (and it’s probably chock full of crazy shit), I just don’t think that’s a very smart vote for GOP officeholders who want to come back in 2010. Speaking of potential moments of extra special stupid, what the hell is up with billions in Wall Street bonuses when the financial world is in extra special meltdown? No wonder Obama called it “shameful”! Remaining on political extra special stupid, now former governor Blagojevich’s Nixonian “I’m Not A Crook” plea got what it deserved in the Illinois legislature: a unanimous vote for impeachment. Bipartisan revulsion is exactly what was called for in that situation.

SINATRA SPEAKS

Chariman of the Bored

He finally got out of my house for awhile today, Muffy. Thank God! I was so tired of his interference, waking me up from a good nap just to talk and pet, smelling up the house with his little tobacco fires, refusing to feed me when there are perfectly good cans of wet food in the pantry, all the petty little annoyances of having a human in your house. If it weren’t for their opposable thumbs, there’d be a bounty on them, I swear.
It’s a good thing cats rule the world.

I READ THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY

Heave Ho! “Unfriending” on Facebook

Hacked Sign Warns “Zombies Ahead” in TX

Former OKC Councilman Rev. Goree James died yesterday. James represented Ward 7 and served from 1973 to 1977 and again from 1981 to 1993. He was my friend. I covered him when he was on the council for the newspaper and he always remembered me and spoke to me when he saw me out in public. He was a guy who also liked jazz music and I would see him at places like Junior’s, the old Bianca’s and (that restaurant that used to be the north end of NorthPark Mall).

TODAY’S THOUGHT

I have a new philosophy; I’m only going to dread one day at a time.

Charles M. Schultz

FOR NO REASON EXCEPT I THOUGHT THIS WAS COOL