The Republican National Committee's Lie Factory is working overtime, tossing their fetid chum out wide for any "low info" reader who might bite.
"Obama's America Survey," their disinformation-packed November fund raiser, reached my longtime, notorious Yellow Dog household. Which means that they're really getting desperate.
Seriously. Read this schlock that tries to pass for a "questionnaire." (I've added my responses.)
QUESTIONNAIRE DOCUMENT
Instructions: Please answer each of the following questions by marking the appropriate answer with a blue or a black pen. If you do not wish to participate, please immediately return this REGISTERED document in the postage-paid envelope provided so that it can be accounted for in our results. *Because of the urgency of our cause, it is especially important that you return your completed Obama's America Survey within the next 10 days.
Oh, I'll return it all right. Possibly smeared with an odiferous commentary from my border collie.
- Do you believe Barack Obama has a mandate to forego all public debate, ignore political opposition and use his allies in Congress to force immediate passage of his radical liberal agenda?
Yes, I think absolutely Obama does have a mandate to forego all public debate, ignore political opposition and use his allies in Congress to force immediate passage of a bill. Unfortunately, he's refused to use it.
Unfortunately, Obama has worked hard to accommodate an opposition sworn to defeat or fatally poison any bill that might be touted as a "success." Unfortunately, Obama has, in good faith, invited months of debate, which has allowed the insurance companies and their shills in talk media to disinform and frighten huge swaths of the public.
And oh, if only Obama had a radical liberal agenda. If only.
- Do you believe that Congress should undertake a public investigation of the Obama Administration's attempt to gather information and names of American citizens who publicly opposed their health care reform efforts?
The Obama administration already knows exactly who publicly opposed their health care reform efforts. Insurance industry shills, GOP operatives posing as townsfolk; misinformed, Old-Time tribal Republicans, and racists.
- Do you believe it is inevitable that the United States will "evolve" into a European-style socialist state?
Only if we really want to remain part of the First World, and only if we really want to survive Climate Change.
- Do you believe Obama and the Democrats in Congress when they proclaim that their massive health care reform scheme will be budget neutral, not adding one cent to the federal deficit?
Yes, but I really only need to believe the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
- Do you feel enough has been done to investigate banks and investment firms and hold individual executives accountable for abusive and illegal transactions that caused the financial crisis in America?
Their shenanigans were mostly not illegal, thanks to the Republican Congress' destruction of the Glass-Steagall Act. Nice work, morons.
I think the bank executives should swing from the rafters for sheer greed and stupidity. I'd settle for them being out of a job and stripped of their holdings. As is, aren't you the guys opposed to limits on their compensation?
- Have you seen evidence in your community that the Democrats' 787 billion dollar stimulus package has created economic growth and/or revitalized the economy?
Yes, it got me a job.
But if you're so concerned about the spending, how about going after the 2.3 trillion dollars that Rumsfeld's Pentagon "lost," or the 9 billion that W "lost" in Iraq, or the 12 trillion "lost" on K-Street during Republican reign?
- Do you support the Obama-Democrats' drive to initiate a government takeover of the health care system?
I totally support a complete government takeover--aka, single payer. Sadly, what the Democrats are offering is nothing of the sort.
Should health care reform include what some have labeled as "death panels" staffed by government overseers that will decide whether elderly citizens are eligible for lifesaving treatments that may or may not extend their lives?
I think voluntary end-of-life counseling with a patient's doctor to plan an Advance Medical Directive is a great idea. The "death panels" you describe are already firmly in place thanks to the murder-by-spreadsheet insurance companies.
Do you support the Obama Administration's policy of exposing to the public the methods that the CIA uses to interrogate captured terrorists?
Those "methods" were already public knowledge. They should not only be exposed, they should be prosecuted.
Do you believe that captured foreign terrorists should be given the same legal rights and Constitutional privileges as US citizens?
I believe POW's and suspects should be treated according to the rule of law expressed in Geneva Conventions. If all that were treated to "extreme methods" were indeed terrorists, why did W release them by the hundreds from Gitmo and elsewhere?
Do you believe Barack Obama's foreign policy of apology and appeasement has made the world safer and more inviting for American and American interests?
Obama's policy of respect, responsibility and dialogue has obviously raised the US's stature and trust in the world. It has made us safer from foreign terrorists, but possibly not domestic terrorists inflamed by rhetoric like what you are disseminating.
Do you support the Obama-Democrats' plan for a National Energy Tax that could lead to the average family of four paying as much as $1761 more a year in increased energy costs?
I believe in heavy carbon taxes, yes, though I see no rationale for your figures. Whether or not people wind up paying more depends on how or if they change their lifestyle. Pollution should be taxed heavily. I don't think the Democrats go nearly far enough.
Do you support government ownership and oversight of automobile manufacturers?
If they are taking government money, they need oversight. If the government bailed them out, the government is therefore the primary stockholder and thus "owner."
Do you agree with Democrats that raising income taxes on high-achieving earners--as high as 55%--will provide funds to pay for all the new massive government spending?
I think we should go back to the Eisenhower tax code, where the plutocratic rich were taxed at over 90%. I certainly hope there is massive government spending because the infrastructure is shot and our education system is in shambles. Bring back the manufacturing jobs and end overseas tax shelters, while we're at it.
Do you support Democratic efforts to reduce funding for the anti-ballistic missile defense program that is our last line of defense against terrorist nations such as North Korea and Iran?
STAR WARS never worked. It's a sham project. Defund it completely. End the War on Drugs, defund war contractors, and make war profiteering illegal, while we're at it.
Do you believe Obama will keep his pledge to not raise taxes on 95% of Americans?
Yes, I do. Just because Reagan and Bush I lied about this, doesn't mean we can't trust Obama.
Do you believe the media has given Obama the same intense, critical coverage they would to a Republican President?
Except for independent media, the corporate media talking heads veritably fellated George W. Bush for 8 years. NewsCorps and all its tentacles have bashed Obama relentlessly from the beginning. Other mainstream media outlets have been plenty critical.
That said, I think Obama and the Democrats could get more critique from the left.
Do you realize that a shift of just a few thousand votes from Democrat to Republican in key states could cut Obama's term in half by electing more Republicans to the House and Senate in 2010?
God forbid. But yes, I realize it. Given that the GOP blew a 12-trillion-dollar hole in the economy, shredded the Constitution, ravaged the environment and gutted critical federal programs, I will do all I can to keep you vultures from getting elected.
*The "survey" goes on to ask for my personal information and credit card #. I added a few more polite suggestions about what they could do with the survey, taped two pennies to the page that had a slight odor of the chicken shit I dropped them in (I hope they get the implication) and then I sent it back.
Friends, we need to work every day to counter this disinformation crusade. It's sad that they can't win by telling the truth, they can only win by lying. It means they are no longer any kind of "noble" opposition. But it also means they'll pull out all the stops to save themselves and their precious plutocracy.
We need to do the same in our efforts to preserve a democracy based on facts, science and community building rather than propaganda, lies and corporate feudalism.
While we still can.