tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40995348677217108562024-02-06T18:05:30.043-08:00Sean's Brain JourneysThis is the place to come to follow the chronicles of my journey through life. You'll find observations of events (both good and bad) with me pondering who I choose to be in relation to those events. This is also the place for me to record my motorcycle journeys. Hope you enjoy the ride!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger619125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-8940147948270972322012-11-27T18:29:00.001-08:002012-11-27T18:29:46.521-08:00Doubling Down on StupidityYou may recall a few weeks ago I outlined exactly how the GOP lost the election. By alienating one voting block after another (except rich white guys, of course). I mentioned that perhaps they should consider not doing that if they want to win elections. But there are two words standing in their way: Tea Party. And they've decided that they forgot about a group: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/santorums-new-cause-opposing-the-disabled/2012/11/26/9ab0605a-3829-11e2-b01f-5f55b193f58f_story.html">The disabled</a>. I wish this was an Onion article but it's for real. <br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-82444173776780209992012-11-26T23:12:00.000-08:002012-11-26T23:12:07.318-08:00Actively Punishing ConservativesBruce Bartlett <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/told-you-so.html" target="_blank">learned the hard way</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-4556216202836779882012-11-24T12:36:00.001-08:002012-11-24T12:36:56.161-08:00There are still moreThere are <a target="_blank" href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/the-view-from-your-thanksgiving-1.html">still more</a>.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-26027200207836685762012-11-20T13:18:00.001-08:002012-11-20T13:18:17.303-08:00Reason within the PartyReason within the party. Let's hope <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/20/barack-o-fraudo.html">these voices</a> rise loud enough.<br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-82906114662673545732012-11-20T08:26:00.001-08:002012-11-20T08:26:46.982-08:00Quote of the day"Change is a motherfucker when you run from it. And right now, the conservative movement in America is fleeing from dramatic change that is certain and immutable. A man of color is president for the second time, and this happened despite a struggling economic climate and a national spirit of general discontent. He has been returned to office over the specific objections of the mass of white men. He has instead been re-elected by women, by people of color, by homosexuals, by people of varying religions or no religion whatsoever. Behold the New Jerusalem. Not that there’s anything wrong with being a white man, of course. There’s nothing wrong with being anything. That’s the point.<br /><br />This election marks a moment in which the racial and social hierarchy of America is upended forever. No longer will it mean more politically to be a white male than to be anything else. Evolve, or don’t. Swallow your resentments, or don’t. But the votes are going to be counted, more of them with each election. Arizona will soon be in play. And in a few cycles, even Texas. And those wishing to hold national office in these United States will find it increasingly useless to argue for normal, to attempt to play one minority against the next, to turn pluralities against the feared “other” of gays, or blacks, or immigrants, or, incredibly in this election cycle, our very wives and lovers and daughters, fellow citizens who demand to control their own bodies," - <a target="_blank" href="http://davidsimon.com/inevitabilities-and-barack-obama/">David Simon</a>, channeling Edmund Burke.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-1474842119182158442012-11-18T11:30:00.001-08:002012-11-18T11:30:26.567-08:00How Closure WorksI've written before about epistemic closure. Think of it like mad cow disease but instead of cow being fed cow, it's one belief system feeding on its own information and rejecting all outside information. The way it works is, you have a belief, you get people to tell you what you want to hear and reject people who tell you things you don't want to hear. Two things will likely happen: People with new information will stop coming to you and you will stop inviting people with opposing views into your information circle. If you want to see it in action, just watch the video clip attached to <a href="http://freakoutnation.com/2012/11/17/conservative-economist-we-need-to-raise-taxes-fox-host-youre-a-communist/" target="_blank">this article</a>.<br />
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The result is increasing ignorance which feeds more ignorance to the point where you are <i>very</i> confident that you are right when you are, in fact, <i>very</i> wrong.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-30786415350416439842012-11-18T00:31:00.001-08:002012-11-18T00:31:01.502-08:00Where's My Gift?Inquiring minds <a target="_blank" href="http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49830315">want to know</a>. <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-56431161096100802532012-11-15T16:46:00.002-08:002012-11-15T16:46:38.799-08:00Excellent Information for White Men Everywhere<a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/11/12/some-quick-and-final-post-election-notes-to-some-but-not-all-white-men/" target="_blank">This</a> is well worth a read.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-818477766068547652012-11-09T14:24:00.001-08:002012-11-09T14:24:36.057-08:00The List of IgnoreesAndrew Sullivan nominates people for a <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/awards.html" target="_blank">variety of awards</a> that are named after their poster children. Each year, his voters vote on the winners. And yes, he gets nominated also when he blows it. He has an award called the Dick Morris award which is given for "stunningly wrong political, social, and cultural predictions." Keep in mind, the people nominated are paid to do this for a living. So they're either really bad at their jobs or they see their jobs as trying to lie to us to influence our opinion which means we're paying the price with bad information.<br />
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Check out <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/dick-morris-awardgasm.html" target="_blank">the list here</a> to see if any of your regular sources of information are in it. Also check how often these names appear on Fox News.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-48354293712904786602012-11-09T08:11:00.001-08:002012-11-09T08:11:06.721-08:00Creators vs. Takers"One thing that is disgusting about the current GOP and something you've not touched on much since the 47% tape faded away, is that a core tenant of the GOP is that they are the makers and everyone else (the Democrats) are the takers. Look at most any of the commentary from the right since the election night and this is pushed over and over again: America is lost because now the takers outnumber the makers. This premise is patently and outrageously false.<br /><br />And this is their default worldview now. Certainly the welfare state is not anywhere near as small as most everyone wants it to be, but to presuppose a Democratic voter is nothing less than a leach on society is flat out disgusting. The GOP starts with contempt for their fellow citizen and go down from there. They make it a practice to insult everyone in the middle and lower classes then wonder why nobody wants to join their team.<br /><br />They insult women for caring about their personal health and freedom and viability in the workforce and wonder why there is a gender gap. They assume a successful person of color is a result of affirmative action and wonder why they don't get credit for Condi Rice and Colin Powell. They refuse to accept that an effective safety net does not create mass poverty. Jesus had a lot to say about the poor in his day, yet I don't think there was much of a safety net back then. The right wing today will demonize anyone who needs help and they demonize anyone who wants to give help. How is that American? How does any of that solve our real issues? <br /><br />The last two Democratic presidents were honest-to-goodness American Dream success stories. Men who came from broken homes and poverty only to transcend their status to become brilliant and powerful forces in America. They should be heroes to every little kid growing up in a tough neighborhood or boring suburb.<br /><br />But not on the right. They degrade both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama while at the same time trumpeting the privileged soft-handed sons of power. How is that American? How is that patriotic? How does this appeal to those of us who believe in our public schools and our dart league at the our favorite tavern and our "dinner for eight" every Saturday night at our church? Just because a person decides to write code for a living or they have to wait tables or they are promoted into middle management in some shitty corporation instead of "taking chances" and "sticking their neck out" as entrepreneurs or "Job Creators" doesn't mean we are not good, loving Americans. And we vote Democratic now because we don't want to hate our neighbors for simply being normal people. <br /><br />Not to say the Dems are the best ever - they are not - but at least they seem to want to reflect the diversity of experience that is uniquely American. From that broad base they have the mandate to solve America's issues as a cohesive force in it together. The Republicans are looking more and more like quasi-apartheid rulers insistent that their ideological and racial and gender purity is the only thing that will hold this country together. Frickin stupid." - Anonymous reader of Andrew Sullivan's blog<br /><br /><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-15051265053758681612012-11-08T15:05:00.001-08:002012-11-08T15:30:20.813-08:00Bubble Popping (Edited)[Edit: I originally only posted a pic of the quote, but the entire thing is worth watching. I could not agree more with what she's saying. Put aside your partisan "ignore Rachel Maddow because she's liberal" thing and just watch.]<br />
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The skin on this bubble is thick and it appears impenetrable but here goes anyway:<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-54474217232210699642012-11-08T12:57:00.001-08:002012-11-08T12:57:45.678-08:00The Right's FeverI agree with <a target="_blank" href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/andrewsullivan/rApM/~3/66Fw2UHLYR0/will-the-rights-fever-break-ctd-1.html">this</a> wholeheartedly.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-7282090015611298912012-11-08T08:02:00.001-08:002012-11-08T08:02:36.370-08:00In Case You Thought I Was Kidding<a target="_blank" href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/alex-massie/2012/11/the-view-from-the-cocoon-of-denial-and-epistemic-closure/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-view-from-the-cocoon-of-denial-and-epistemic-closure">This</a> is what epistemic closure looks like. And it's alive and well. If you don't want to read the article's quotes, at least read the author's summary. <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-65535307593714315952012-11-07T22:45:00.000-08:002012-11-07T23:20:16.393-08:00How Romney Lost<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><b>Epistemic Closure -</b> "Reality is defined by a multimedia array of interconnected and cross promoting conservative blogs, radio programs, magazines, and of course, Fox News. Whatever conflicts with that reality can be dismissed out of hand because it comes from the liberal media, and is therefore ipso facto not to be trusted. (How do you know they’re liberal? Well, they disagree with the conservative media!) This is epistemic closure." - Julian Sanchez, Cato Institute</i></blockquote>
With Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's loss last night in the presidential race, a discussion is in order about what caused the loss and how to make the GOP stronger. I want to be clear here that I believe the country benefits from two parties with two approaches to our challenges but only when those parties work together to compromise. Up to now, the GOP has decided not to do this. There are two moments that stood out for me in this regard (As much as possible, I'm going to link to clips of the actual people saying these things in their own words lest I be accused of making things up):<br />
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You'll have to forgive me when I chuckled during this part of the first presidential debate when Romney lectured the president on compromise and bipartisanship:<br />
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Why did I chuckle? This self-proclaimed bipartisanship cheerleader vetoed 844 pieces of legislation while Governor of Massachusetts - a majority of which were overturned by the state legislature. Towards the end of his term, his vetoes became so annoying that he even lost the support of the Republicans in the legislature. And his party openly admitted that they were willing to stall progress for the entire country so that Obama could fail. Their hatred for this man coupled with their desire to win, came at our expense as a nation. That's not un-American?<br />
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But let's not digress. I want to stay focused on how Romney (and the GOP) lost this election.<br />
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<h3>
GOP in Crisis</h3>
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Whether they know it or not, the GOP has lost its way. The country is becoming more socially accepting, more diverse culturally, and less religious. What's left of the white, religious (some would argue racist) demographic is being shoved firmly into southern red states. Uneducated voters make up the largest segments of these constituencies. I don't just mean personal education, I mean "low information". Epistemic closure is the reason. Fox News has created a narrative that if you don't hear it there, you're hearing left wing propaganda. This means that the message is controlled by Fox. If you hear something there, then start tuning into other right wing media outlets such as Rush, Drudge, AM Radio, etc, you are firmly caught in an echo chamber where the same talking points bounce around under the guise of "some people say". This chamber just doesn't allow unmolested facts in. The problem with this is you begin to believe what you're told instead of what's really happening. There were GOP pundits who were <i>genuinely shocked</i> last night that Romney didn't win by a landslide even though polls were showing Obama leads or, at the very least, that it was a close race.<br />
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As Andrew Sullivan said, "Fox deserves a great deal of credit for re-electing president Obama. Because they refused to see who he actually was, they could not effectively counter him. They countered a figment of their imagination - and it was a particularly nasty, bilious, mean figment. Their universe became a black hole last night, sucking almost all of them in."</div>
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What's shocking to me is how faithful these viewers are. If I'd been misled this badly by any network, I'd be <i>very</i> distrustful of them right now. But because of epistemic closure, the reality can't make it in. The victim stories were already starting last night. It was hurricane Sandy's fault. It was Chris Christie's fault. It was the liberal media's fault. Everyone's fault but Romney's and the GOP's. If this keeps up, Republicans better like losing and being surprised by it. There isn't a big conspiracy to keep the election out of the GOP's hands. They did it all by themselves and I'm going to walk you through how they did it right now. </div>
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There are at least seven demographics at play in any election in the United States:</div>
<ul>
<li>Racial Minorities</li>
<li>Gays and Lesbians</li>
<li>Youth</li>
<li>Women</li>
<li>Lower and Middle class</li>
<li>Whites</li>
<li>Upper class</li>
</ul>
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To understand how Romney lost, you need to understand how he and the GOP around him systematically (and politically suicidally) alienated themselves from all but the last two of these demographics. Buckle up.</div>
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<b>"We're outnumbered." - <i>Rush Limbaugh, November 7, 2012</i></b></div>
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<h3>
Racial Minorities</h3>
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Obviously, Romney had a natural (but not insurmountable) disadvantage here by running against a black man. I've heard some accuse the black community of reverse racism because they "automatically" vote for the black candidate (93% of black voters representing 13% of the electorate voted for Obama). But that's just silly. White (and black people when they were allowed to vote at all) have been voting for white presidents since the founding of this nation. Black people are willing to vote for white presidents. Just not millionaires whose idea of struggle would be considered luxury for many minorities. The black vote for Obama is all the more reason for Romney to have avoided alienating other racial minorities. Latinos represent 10% and Asians represent 3% of the electorate. 71% of Latinos voted for Obama and 73% of Asians did so. So how did the GOP screw this up? Like this:<br />
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This hard-assed approach to immigration is not popular in a country that is increasingly becoming a minority based demographic (2011 was the first year that more minority babies were born in America than white babies). I'd also ask you to look behind Romney in that clip above and tell me how many minorities are in the room?<br />
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<h3>
Gays and Lesbians</h3>
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Romney supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage. And don't even get me started about the GOP in general which adopted the following language into its official platform:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"We recognize and honor the courageous efforts of those who bear the many burdens of parenting alone, even as we believe that marriage, the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage. <i>We embrace the principle that all Americans should be treated with respect and dignity.</i>" (my emphasis)</blockquote>
Yes. <i>Treated with respect and dignity by denying LGBT relationships any respect or dignity</i>. I think it goes without saying that the GOP has zero interest in LGBT rights. I've heard an argument that goes something like this, "Yeah Sean, but Obama just recently changed his mind about this." Those who make this argument are inferring that Obama's support is not genuine and is all politics. I find this argument amusing coming from a group of people who voted for arguably the least genuine of all politicians. A man who flip flopped on 18 months of campaigning so hard on the first debate, he left the president almost speechless. But aside from that, we're still talking about a president who got DADT repealed, signed new rules preventing deportation for HIV+ immigrants (begun by Bush Jr.), and stopped defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This all happened <i>before</i> the President announced his support for gay marriage so there was quite a bit of rubber on the road by that point. I believe that the President will follow through on his position because I've already seen him do so many times. Plus with potentially two Supreme Court justices retiring in the next four years and some very important gay rights cases headed their way, gays are not going to be taking any chances with Romney appointees.<br />
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<h3>
Youth</h3>
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Voters 18-29 made up 19% of the voting population (2008 it was 18%) and Obama took 60% of the vote from that group. The youth vote greatly revolves around concerns about their future (retirement, climate change, etc). This is not helped by ads like these:<br />
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The entire GOP seems to be in denial about climate change (and science in general). Instead of walls to keep illegal immigrants out, how about walls that prevent the kinds of storm surges we just saw? The younger voters are sitting in their houses with snorkels on having a difficult time believing the denials.<br />
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During the first presidential debate, you heard Romney clarify over and over that his plans for Medicare do not affect current retirees, only future retirees. He was so defensive about that point that it looked pretty obvious that the plan would be painful for whoever <i>was</i> affected by it. The youth vote couldn't help but see this and think that Romney had it out for them.<br />
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Lastly, the youth in this country consider gay rights to be a non-issue - even in red states. Many young people have gay siblings, uncles and aunts, etc., and they are personally affected when gay rights are threatened. This influences many votes. The GOP decided to shoulder this issue and they need to accept the lost votes as a result.<br />
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<h3>
Women</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxekixRtX-D0Ip6SyunuS8X5N7ahuX-vcaQKCy2auZKvwH67BHXzOCHaKl_Mf7regIiLG8m9hLZ6PH_FCnpwl8MMpTC4v9644pNQItE0x03Y-sa3o4MGttc-ll76ngs0dW7lgY2nQdMuw_/s1600/579020_487688354594827_696108577_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxekixRtX-D0Ip6SyunuS8X5N7ahuX-vcaQKCy2auZKvwH67BHXzOCHaKl_Mf7regIiLG8m9hLZ6PH_FCnpwl8MMpTC4v9644pNQItE0x03Y-sa3o4MGttc-ll76ngs0dW7lgY2nQdMuw_/s640/579020_487688354594827_696108577_n.jpg" width="560" /></a></div>
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Nowhere did the GOP screw the pooch more than with this demographic. Romney's binder comment aside (I think this was overplayed by the Dems the same way the GOP overplayed Benghazi), he didn't support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act - or at least refused to state a position on it. But Romney was a saint compared to some of the rest of the GOP. When you have a squad of ignorance running around saying things like what's shown above, it should not be a surprise when you have a difficult time getting women to vote for you. That doesn't even include people like Rush Limbaugh who began the downward slide during the birth control debacle. Don't believe these comments matter? Check this out:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNz4IHooK8AFSoZEagTycqoD94agyVkc5Nnez9lGeEOmkNbcOkwB_9kxV7og3y44QgJn5AQFRMs3pVdsxf2WOzQImpwzfMERN8oRmlwoQStxHwXpNEG5csndfwraXAS9RqjaS-AIyzMKRu/s1600/6a00d83451c45669e2017c33339dfa970b-800wi.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="497" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNz4IHooK8AFSoZEagTycqoD94agyVkc5Nnez9lGeEOmkNbcOkwB_9kxV7og3y44QgJn5AQFRMs3pVdsxf2WOzQImpwzfMERN8oRmlwoQStxHwXpNEG5csndfwraXAS9RqjaS-AIyzMKRu/s640/6a00d83451c45669e2017c33339dfa970b-800wi.png" width="560" /></a></div>
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Tell me it didn't matter. All this resulted in ads like this one:<br />
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How the GOP can allow their party to alienate over <i>half the U.S. population</i> without rebuke is just beyond me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rmSWgKIPqDE_eFClKsqPUSoGQwaDbcm6xe5B29_q7bMH8f8_nv0y-8f12r-1erMVWHGRVqp4rXwNEA53HqGNUUhHe0bqh83nYwtqPd7bk5klOvQ5xqrTyuorowGy2aqOWsFFZWAQAbiW/s1600/IMG_0566.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9rmSWgKIPqDE_eFClKsqPUSoGQwaDbcm6xe5B29_q7bMH8f8_nv0y-8f12r-1erMVWHGRVqp4rXwNEA53HqGNUUhHe0bqh83nYwtqPd7bk5klOvQ5xqrTyuorowGy2aqOWsFFZWAQAbiW/s320/IMG_0566.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h3>
Lower and Middle Class</h3>
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Obviously there are a slew of examples for this one. Here we go:<br />
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People who've recently been fired or laid off could simply not relate to the joy of it all.<br />
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How exactly? Oh by disenfranchising minority and lower class voters. Thanks for being honest about that. I'm sure that didn't drive a whole bunch of minorities to the polls.<br />
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Yes. a $10,000 bet. Small potatoes. Make a friendly bet for an amount that's just under half the median income for an American family. Then there's the mother of all videos:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M2gvY2wqI7M?rel=0" width="560"></iframe><br /></div>
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Nice job Mitt! You're either a total snob or a seven-faced lying monster. Great way to turn supporters against you. Surely many of them are part of that 47% including seniors on social security and medicare, military veterans, unemployed, etc.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Conclusion</h3>
</div>
<div>
I want to be really clear about something: I'm not advocating that the GOP "change their message". I'm advocating that they change their <i>party</i>. You don't fix this by finding a "better nominee". You fix it by changing the appeal to the above demographics at a <i>party level</i>. I don't want the same out-of-touch people just telling America what it wants to hear. I want these people out. I want the tea party out. I want the GOP to go back to its roots of <i>fiscal</i> conservatism instead of clinging to <i>moral</i> conservatism as if there are enough prudish people to put them in office every election. If you want that too, then push for change in the Republican party. You do that by writing to your congressman and the leaders in your party and telling them to drop these social issues and focus on honing the size of government. You tell them to expel these religious fanatics from their ranks. You tell them to disown stupid people like Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump with their idiotic accusations of the president being "un-American". You tell Fox and the rest of the right wing media machine that you want facts, not spin. You want the <i>whole </i>story not the part that makes democrats look bad. You want news, not opinion. You want support for America, not support for a party.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And maybe, just maybe, if all these entities started behaving this way, the American people would follow. Because the red vs. blue thing is not working. It's not solving problems, it's keeping them around. Don't make Romney's defeat mean nothing. Use it as a wakeup call that your party needs to rally around its core fiscal principles. Maybe next election, it will be a tougher choice for me.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-67318718258847960472012-11-05T19:20:00.001-08:002012-11-05T19:20:07.112-08:00Posted without comment<a target="_blank" href="http://blog.duchessstrollins.com/2012/11/05/an-open-letter-to-america/">An open letter to America</a><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-35868058717107501552012-11-03T10:00:00.001-07:002012-11-03T10:00:43.634-07:00The Big Lie"I love my gay friends but I'm <a target="_blank" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/christopher-hennessy/the-big-lie-i-love-my-gay-friends-but-im-voting-for-romney-anyway_b_2030629.html">voting</a> for Romney anyway."<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-84825534486306963152012-11-02T15:50:00.001-07:002012-11-02T15:50:26.589-07:00Romney Style<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tROHK1x-a8k?rel=0" width="640"></iframe><br />
<br />
Now you can blame "liberals" for coming up with a video like this... or you can blame Romney for giving them <i>so much material to work with</i>. The question I'm posing is simple: Do you want to elect a man as president who lied his way into office this profusely? You can wink and nod and say, "Oh he doesn't mean it. He'll do what I want him to do when he gets in office." How can you be so sure? The man changes his position more often than a man with ants in his pants.<br />
<br />
Instead of hearing how bad Obama is, why isn't anyone asking what makes Romney so much better? And asking him to tell the truth about it?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-33506837763614543992012-11-02T11:43:00.001-07:002012-11-02T11:43:16.159-07:00Mr. Romney? Your Father's Calling...On December 21, 1964, George Romney (Mitt's father), sent a letter to Barry Goldwater. It's worth a read. <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/rethinking-george-romney.html" target="_blank">This</a> blog post has it. It's amazing to me how different his father's conservatism was to his own.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-27901002140545257332012-11-02T11:40:00.000-07:002012-11-02T11:40:18.176-07:00Why I Read SullivanIt's for the analysis like <a href="http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/11/case-romney.html" target="_blank">this</a>. I hope you'll all read the full link but here's a good quote from the article:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">premise</em> of <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/01/why-i-ll-vote-for-romney.html" target="_blank">[David Frum's] argument</a> is that Romney is a liar of massive proportions whose campaign David accurately describes as "one long appeasement of the most selfish and stupid elements of the Republican coalition," but who actually, in private, doesn't believe a word of it. So not to worry. The "real" Romney will emerge - compassionate, moderate, practical and data-driven, as in Massachusetts - the day after he is elected.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Some questions. First off, he worked in Massachusetts with an 85 percent Democratic legislature. That's a guide to how he'd run the entire country with a Republican Congress? Not buying it. But secondly, if Frum is right, then Romney does not have the character to be president of the US. Someone who lies his way to the top will have no credibility with the American people and no mandate from his party. I do not believe we should elect a fathomless cynic to the White House. David's argument for Romney is even worse than David Brooks': Brooks predicts that circumstances will force Romney into pragmatism. Frum simply says that nary a jot of what Romney said in the primaries is what he actually believes.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
To wit:</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom-color: rgb(193, 193, 193); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-top-color: rgb(193, 193, 193); border-top-style: dotted; border-width: 1px 0px; font: inherit; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 20px 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 20px 10px 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline;">
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I don't want to see Obamacare repealed. I don't believe it will be, not even if the Republicans retake the Senate, which I don't expect either.</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And yet Romney has said it will be his <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">first priority</em> on Day One to end the program despised by every element of his far right party. He says this <em style="border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">almost every day</em>. David thinks Romney is cynical enough to make that clear, binding pledge day after day, ad after ad, and then instantly renege on it, even with a Republican majority in both Houses. Again, if David's right, Romney lacks the character to be president. If he's wrong, he's voting for the wrong presidential candidate.</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-12076273794265947782012-11-01T17:50:00.001-07:002012-11-01T17:51:00.851-07:00The Choice<br />
<blockquote>
"This election does not represent a choice between left and right. It represents a choice between balance and a new, extreme form of conservatism. This new conservatism cannot accept any tax increases as part of a deal to reduce the deficit. For all his attempts to sound moderate in the campaign’s closing days, Romney has not altered the response he gave during a Republican-primary debate rejecting a hypothetical deal involving a 10-to-1 ratio between spending cuts and tax increases. This refusal to acknowledge the need for more revenue is a recipe for eviscerating government—and the cuts, as Ryan’s budget shows, would fall disproportionately on programs for Americans with the lowest incomes.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
The new right has broken with conservatism’s past—and our country’s most constructive traditions—by adopting a new and radical individualism that largely ignores our country’s gift for community." - <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/01/the-case-for-barack-obama/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+timeblogs%2Fswampland+%28TIME%3A+Swampland%29" target="_blank">E.J. Dionne Jr</a>.</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-38312465011969879862012-11-01T10:40:00.000-07:002012-11-01T10:40:01.394-07:00Liberal Media BiasI think <a href="http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/real-time-with-bill-maher-blog/2012/11/1/does-fox-news-know-what-media-bias-is.html" target="_blank">this</a> pretty much explains it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-52934488342416947672012-10-31T00:02:00.001-07:002012-10-31T00:02:13.674-07:00Exactly. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/10/31/3.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/10/31/s_3.jpg' border='0' width='158' height='281' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-64430483067477342322012-10-24T21:00:00.003-07:002012-10-24T21:00:27.431-07:00Please De-Friend Me<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kergan-edwardsstout/romney-lgbt-rights_b_1980231.html" target="_blank">This</a> is exactly how I feel.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-61386009482529181132012-10-06T10:12:00.001-07:002012-10-06T10:12:36.249-07:00Yeah. Pretty much. <br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/10/06/1455.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/10/06/s_1455.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='187' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4099534867721710856.post-4906138444558830342012-10-05T11:20:00.001-07:002012-10-05T11:20:20.745-07:00Find your understandingIt matters.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ThzdsnXeE28?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0