The Republicans own hate

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Friday November 12, 2010 · 5:48 PM PST

2010/11/12 · 17:48

They own anger.

Anger and hatred is their brand.

It doesn't matter what Obama or other Democrats do to disappoint you, unless you frame your critique positively -- as in, "Health care reform was a step in the right direction, but a lot more work needs to be done" as opposed to "I can't believe what a POS legislation these loser Dems stuck us with! What a sellout to big pharma!" -- the message is a win for Republicans, because negative messaging is always a win for Republicans.

McJulie

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Friday November 05, 2010 · 10:19 AM PDT

2010/11/05 · 10:19

The House Republicans are at it already -- making noises about their agenda, talking about repealing health care reform, making deep cuts in important social services, and zeroing in on a personal anti-Obama vendetta. (They're sure he can be impeached for something!)

We can't let them set their agenda this way. We can't let them frame the public debate as "HCR: good or bad" or "Obama: impeachable or not?"

Whenever they advance their agenda -- talking about it in the media, or by putting out legislation -- we need to ask them the only question that matters.

How is this going to create jobs?

McJulie

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Thursday November 04, 2010 · 7:54 AM PDT

2010/11/04 · 07:54

Drinking heavily on election night has become one of my personal traditions. That means, no matter what happens, I'm hungover the next day. It just seems... appropriate.

So, I spent the day brainstorming a path to a more positive future, because otherwise the only thing in my head was my burning desire to take a cheese-grater to Boehner's smug face.

There's a problem with my anger, other than just the fact that I get all trembly and weepy and can't really function when I'm angry. The problem is: anger sells the right, it doesn't sell the left.

McJulie

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Sunday November 15, 2009 · 8:16 AM PST

2009/11/15 · 08:16

Part 1 of a 13-part memoir about growing up in the evangelical Protestant church in the 70s and 80s.

One of the things I never do anymore is skip church. That used to be one of my favorite things to do when I was a kid. I couldn't do it on my own -- it had to be because my parents had decided we were going to skip church. We would skip church as a whole family. It was one of those things that really brought us together.

Sometimes we would skip church because we were doing something special, like camping or Disneyland. Sometimes we would skip church for reasons that were never really explained at the time. In some ways that was my favorite. You could skip church just because you weren't going! I will forever associate lingering over the Sunday paper with skipping church.

Poll

89 votes Show Results

The best part about skipping church is...

89 votes Vote Now!

The best part about skipping church is...

Donuts

0 votes

Waffles

4 votes

Sleeping in

13 votes

Sunday paper

8 votes

Avoiding the hypocrisy and angry right-wing politics

60 votes

Other (Share below)

4 votes

I (heart) the dailyKos party

McJulie

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Saturday August 27, 2005 · 10:41 AM PDT

2005/08/27 · 10:41

I goof off here at dKos way too much. I goof off when I should be working. I goof off when I should be doing the dishes. I goof off when I could be outside in a park. I don't think I'm alone in that.

dKos became a major source of emotional support after November 2, 2004 (a date that will live in infamy). For the first couple of days after the election I spent hours and hours reading every liberal and anti-Bush site on the 'net. Kos was the one that stuck. The quality of the writing was high, and the level of discourse in the comments was amazing -- like being at a party with a lot of really smart people. (Plus, I guess I like orange.)

Just like at a real party, every once in a while an argument breaks out -- even among people who mostly agree on stuff. Sometimes the argument gets so heated that key individuals storm out of the room after throwing glassware at the wall. Read More

Losing our tempers

McJulie

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Tuesday May 17, 2005 · 11:27 AM PDT

2005/05/17 · 11:27

Okay, I want to know something. If I am arguing with a winger and lose my temper, the common wisdom goes that he has just won the argument.

I buy into that. I feel shame. I slink away and hide, gnawing on my considerable moral failures. He gets to go home feeling smug(er -- if it's possible for him to feel any smugger than he already did, because it's usually the insufferably smug types that send me over the edge. They're like live-action trolls. But in e-mail I can just IGNORE people.)

But is that true? Really?

Because if you look at the most powerful right-wing pundits, they are all perpetually angry. I've started calling them "the angriest dogs in the world." Many of them are famous for shouting down their opponents, for blustering and yelling and even using profanity.

So, is anger one more example of the Republican double standard? They get to do it, but we don't? Or is it one more example of deception, of the right wing using the liberal tendency to play nice against us?

Christianity, the Apocalypse, and me: Part II: The Late, Great Planet Earth

McJulie

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Thursday April 21, 2005 · 7:45 AM PDT

2005/04/21 · 07:45

Part I: Going to Hell

Part II: The Late, Great Planet Earth

When I was ten, in 1976, we moved to the city of Orange and started going to North Orange Christian Church. The head minister there was the junior minister from our previous church (you know, the one whose son I conked with a play stop sign). The church building was about a hundred years old, with a real belfry, and windows made of small diamond windowpanes that had solarized to topaz yellow and amethyst purple. Read More

Christianity, the Apocalypse, and me: Part I: Going to Hell

McJulie

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 18, 2005 · 10:50 AM PDT

2005/04/18 · 10:50

Introduction
I've been working on this for a couple of weeks now -- then I almost didn't post it because I was sick of all the religious talk -- then I decided that was a dumb reason not to post, so here it is. I broke it into pieces because it's long.

Part I: Going to Hell
Read More

Below the fold

McJulie

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday January 21, 2005 · 9:33 PM PST

2005/01/21 · 21:33

I pulled a wad of newspaper out of the recycle bin, to sop up water on the bathroom floor from the toilet overflowing. It turned out to be the "Bush wins second term!" edition of our local daily.

Seemed appropriate.

Tonight my husband and I stopped by the local independent bookseller. I noticed they had stacks of USA Today, The New York Times, the Bellingham Herald (local rag), and the Seattle PI (nearest domestic big city rag). I observed:

"Each one of those papers has a lead story about the inauguration. We know it was marked by protest, objection and rancor. But you'd never know it from just looking at the stuff above the fold."

My husband thought that was the perfect way to talk about liberal disenfranchisement in the media today. We're below the fold.

RSS

The Republicans own hate

How is this going to create jobs?

We all need some cheering up

Skipping Church

I (heart) the dailyKos party

Losing our tempers

Christianity, the Apocalypse, and me: Part II: The Late, Great Planet Earth

Christianity, the Apocalypse, and me: Part I: Going to Hell

Below the fold