Comments Posted By M Beranek
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'SILENCE EQUALS ASSENT:' WHY POINTING OUT CONSERVATIVE LUNACY MUST BE DONE
Todd, you're absolutely right. Fascism and Communism are mutally exclusive, as they occupy opposite ends of the political spectrum. The reason so many who hate the President use these terms is because they sound scary to people who don't know the true definitions. It's always been very easy to fool people who refuse to educate themselves.
Comment Posted By M Beranek On 1.10.2009 @ 09:38
Republicans should follow the advice of Dean Vernon Wormer: "Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
A very good piece. The problem with the GOP today is leadership; who's driving this bus, anyway? Who is the leader of the GOP? It is certainly not Boehner or McConnell...It's not the last President, Bush...it's not the last nominee, McCain...it's not Sarah Palin, or Mitt Romney, or Mike Huckabee...so who is it?
Comment Posted By M Beranek On 30.09.2009 @ 14:49
As long as the party remains without a leader, it will continue to be defined by what everyday Americans see in the videos from the tea rallies: President Obama depicted as a lower primate, eating watermelon and fried chicken, and strung up in a noose. Former President Carter didn't say that "ALL" of those opposed to the President do so because they are racists; he said "SOME". It's not ALL and it's not NONE. So it's somewhere between 1% and 99%. But those "SOMES", many of which will call the President a n##### on national television, are the face of the GOP right now.
Perhaps the GOP "leadership" prefers to let these "SOMES" do all of the dirty work, ginning up dissent and working up the base. However, as noted Republican and former NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip likes to say, it's a "short-term gain but a long-term loss". The people that are turned on by this racial hyperbole tend to be more elderly, and won't be voting in all that many more elections. The people who are turned off, however, are much younger, and will be voting in at least 10 or 15 more presidential elections. And a good number of them are multiracial, just like President Obama.
I predict a schism is the GOP. How on earth will Tim Pawlenty or Charlie Crist be able to stand next to Sarah Palin at a GOP Primary debate? If they agree with her positions, they can chuck the general election out the window. If they call her out as the extremist she is, thier base will crucify them, and on Election night they will be picking up extra bucks as a talking head on one of the networks. Since President Obama will probably have very little in the way of 2012 primary opposition, the whole counrty will be tuned in to watch the Republicans fight it out. The only way for both sides of the GOP to get thier way is to split...the "Tony Lama" Republicans can go one way, and the "Florsheim" Republicans can go another. The only question is, who leaves to strike out on thier own? If the Florsheims leave, they could form the "Conservative" or even "Progressive" Party. If the Tony Lamas leave, they would almost certainly call thier camp the "Christian Party".
Bottom line: the Democrats do police thier own fringe, that's why there was no impeachment of Bush, why single-payer is not part of the Healthcare Reform discussion, and why Dennis Kucinich can run for President until he's blue in the face but will never win the nomination. If the GOP expects to survive in the face of a Democratic President who is extremely smart (they don't give away Harvard Law Degrees in cereal boxes), a master strategist (he did beat the most powerful Democratic operation of the second half of the 20th century, the Clintons), and yes, is an everyman (take a look around, multiracial people are everywhere), they had better tamp down the rhetoric and start to actually present a credible alternative.
