Once is not a trend. But this isn’t once. And it is a trend. We’ve all noticed.
Of course, I’ve been told by my Republican friends that "both parties" act badly. And they are right. I’m sure you could find a good number of examples of Democrats acting badly.
But, for me, the problem is the degree to which Republicans act badly combined with their higher frequency of acting badly and topped off with their inability to understand they are acting badly, and finally their unwillingness to do anything about their fellow Republicans when they are caught acting badly.
Follow me if you dare as we examine the sheer magnitude of the trend. Because it’s a hell of a lot more than once. (I say "if you dare" because so many of the links tend to erode my faith in humanity)
These are but a few examples that I collected casually over the past 9-12 months... so I can't imagine how much more of this crap is out there. Granted, people like this are a minority. But I sure wish we'd be a little louder in saying that we disagree.
Once is not a trend, but with Republicans it happens more than once and more than a "couple times" and far surpasses the argument of "there will always be a few radicals out there". The Republican Party has an endless supply of hateful people and ideas. Review the short list below (okay, it may not seem short, but it’s all relative) and then see if you still want to tell me it’s just a few isolated incidents. You won’t be able to do that. Hate is part and parcel for Republicans- those without hate as a primary "value" are in the minority. If you don’t believe that, I suggest you read on.
For my Democratic friends, the point here is not the individual items below, since I’m sure most of you are aware of these things. The point is that these things happen with such frequency.
h/t to Pam’s House Blend, where Pam had condense a lot of this material. I don’t know Pam so I hope she doesn’t mind.
Pam’s House Blend
h/t to JR whose recently rec’d diary gave me the impetus to finally post this one. I don’t know JR, either, so I hope he(?) doesn’t mind.
JR’s Diary
And a thanks to snopes.com; I’m sure they won’t mind the links.
Wingnuts Behaving Badly
Let’s Start Here
Republican family values on display. Congratulations – you win the prize for being the most hateful. Something to be proud of. And you’re teaching those kids great life lessons.
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Inland GOP mailing depicts Obama's face on food stamp
LINK
It would be easy to write this off as the work of a single person, perhaps not reflective of Republicans in general, until you realize how many of them just loved-loved-loved it and thought it was hilarious. Newsflash: This is funny for someone with a third-grade mentality. If that’s you then guess what that means? It means you have a third-grade mentality.
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Material linking Obama to Bin Laden removed from Sacramento GOP Web site
LINK
This one is not from some isolated, fringe individual. This material was posted on the GOP’s California website.
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No... no, this isn’t racist at all.... Coward.
This guy is my favorite. I guarantee Mr. "Real" American here would soil himself if he came face to face with a "terrorist"... or perhaps a little girl with nunchuks. And I can also guarantee he wouldn’t hold that thing up in the presence of any people of color. I guarantee he’s a coward of the highest degree.
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Another McCain Palin Rally
I’ll let this one speak for itself, other than to point out this doozy and a favorite of Republicans: "A lot of people seem to have forgotten about 9-11." Yes, you stupid fucks. We have forgotten the worst day in the history of the country. Yes, I am glad you reminded me of that because it is so easy to forget. You have just proven that even idiots can be condescending. Which is sorta ironic, don’t ya think?
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The Ugly Face of Racism
LINK
Ha ha ha. Oh-ho-ho. I can’t stop laughing. That is so funny. Oh there’s even a turban. Isn’t that nice?
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Curious George publisher may sue over T-shirt
LINK
Yes, it’s a free country. And, yes, you have the right to be offensive. But one thing Republicans don’t seem to understand is that other people have the right to disagree, express disapproval, organize boycotts, etc. Those are also parts of free speech. Never, ever trust a Republican when they pull out a free speech canard- because their understanding of free speech doesn’t reconcile with the Constitution. For the slower of you out there: Yes, this guy has every right to make a shirt with Obama portrayed as Curious George. And I have every right to think he’s an asshole.
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John McCain backer dropped from Virginia campaign team due to racially tinged column
LINK
To their credit, they fired him as soon as this came out. But in reality, he’s one of thousands.
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Governor Palin’s Reading List
LINK
So, to be clear: Palin claimed continuously that Obama "palled" around with that Ayres guy... and it worked on a lot of you dumbass Republicans. But it’s perfectly okay for her to approvingly quote a guy who wanted to kill RFK? Please explain how she’s not a hypocrite. And then please explain how you are not a hypocrite.
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Obama Waffles
LINK
Quote: "(O)rganizers cut off sales of Obama Waffles boxes on Saturday, saying they had not realized the boxes displayed ‘offensive material.’" There is only one way to not realize the boxes displayed offensive material: Sheer stupidity.
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Marianna Middle Teacher Removed From Job For Using "N" Word
LINK
Thank you. Thank you, Greg Howard, for setting back race relations another decade.
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"Westmoreland calls Obama ‘uppity'"
LINK
Don’t stop after Westmoreland’s comments. This post has a trifecta for you. Yes, Lynn, "uppity" does have racial connotations. Someone living in Georgia would have to know that. And the guy from Iowa represents true republican thinking. To paraphrase: Election of a guy whose middle name is "Hussein" means we lose the war on terror. I am overwhelmed by his superior grasp of logic. If you want a real laugh, go watch Westmoreland when he was interviewed by Stephen Colbert for his "Better Know a District" series.
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"Local organizer, other supremacists say Obama's run boosts their cause"
LINK
Find me a Democrat in this group. I guarantee you can’t. Republicans and Libertarians across the board. I would put money on it.
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Illustration of Obama in rifle crosshairs draws fire
LINK
Once again, it’s a free country. And I’m free to think this is tasteless. But what is much, much worse to me is the dialogue in the story between Mike Huckabee, who was running for the Republican nomination, and Tim Altork, who I’ve never heard of but is apparently a massive tool. Read that. Go ahead. Isn’t that nice? Joking about shooting someone. And then saying essentially, "too bad we missed." Ah, Family Values.
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Police investigate political confrontation
LINK
Remember the white-girl-McCain-volunteer who was "attacked" by the black guy? Except she wasn’t... she made it up. We heard a lot about that before and after the "incident". But you probably didn’t hear about this, did you? If you did, you’re an exception. Why is that?
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More McCain Palin Rallying
"One man terror cell." "He’s got the blood lines." Sorry to take it to a personal level, but that blond chick is bat-shit crazy. Again, own it Republicans- you will not find this many nutjobs at all the Dem rallies combined.
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Adding To The Previous Vid
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Some McCain Supporters Fight Back Against The Hate – Good For Them!
A nice change. The McCain supporters drove off the hatemongers. I commend them and wish it had happened more often.
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To provide some perspective of the other side, here are some ugly Democrats. I doubt any Republicans have read this far, though.
But the Republican lady with the camera gets it wrong again, trying to employ their usual "free speech" argument. Referring to the McCain people she says, "Don’t they have a right to be here and have a rally of their own?" Yes, lady, they do. And the protestors have a right to be there to. This is a concept that Republicans don’t get. Protesting does not equate to suppression of Constitutional rights. Please go brush up on Civics...
The behavior of some of the Democrats here is not very nice. Watch and learn: We shouldn’t act this way.
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And, of course, we can’t forget the wingnuttiest of wingnuts over at Free Republic. They even go full-racist over the Obama girls. You stay classy!
Racists Rants At Freeperville
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And now, on to the Internets (sic)
Yes, it is true that people of both political persuasions love a good political email. I guess it serves as a way to validate an opinion. It would be nice, however, if those wonderful emails were true. Some of them are. Most of them aren’t.
Most of the lies come from Republicans. And most of those lies are blindly forwarded by Republicans to other Republicans. Again, it absolutely does happen with Democrats, too. But the scale and frequency to which it happens with Democrats simply doesn’t hold a candle to the scale and frequency with which it happens with Republicans.
Let’s dive in, shall we.
snopes Athenian
The bogus claim here: "The poor, lazy welfare states voted for Gore. The upstanding taxpayers who finance all those lazy welfare people voted for Bush." Wrong.
As snopes shows us, the email started in 2000. And our Republican friends conveniently changed the names both in 2004 and 2008 in an effort to propagate their lie for many years. And it worked. Dumbass Republicans believed it each and every time and forwarded it to their dumbass Republican friends. Seriously, Republicans, do you have an intellectually curious bone in your body? Did it ever occur that maybe it wasn’t true???
No only is it not true, reality is completely opposite. In 2005, 31 states got back more money from the federal government than they paid in to the Federal government (I didn’t count Georgia and Rhode Island since they were about break-even in this category). Most Republicans would guess that these are all those liberal welfare states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, California, New York, etc., etc. But they aren’t. Of those 31 States that are the welfare queens of the US, 29 of them voted for Bush while 2 swung for Kerry. In fact, those liberal havens mentioned above aren’t even in the top 39 as far as getting money back from the Feds. Sorry, Republicans, your world-view about how your taxes go to support all those welfare people is dead wrong. Those states that you incorrectly think are welfare states, guess what? They actually finance you. Republican states are the real welfare queens.
Side note: If California wasn’t bankrolling the Red States to the tune of only getting about 80 cents on the dollar back from the Feds, they wouldn’t have a budget deficit.
Take a look for yourself. Tax Foundation
Before we move on, I’ll give my Republican friends a minute to realize that their whole welfare ideology is a crock of shit.
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To be fair, the Democrats had their own little bogus chart email.
snopes State IQ
The bogus claim here was that the more intelligent states voted for Kerry.
Now, Republicans, watch and learn: "This email is not true. It is bogus. Even though it would serve to validate my Democratic opinion and lead me to be believe I am smart because I voted for Kerry, I can’t do that because it is simply not true."
See. It’s not that hard.
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Bush Prays
Oh, the evangelicals ate this one up. And, again, the irony here is that it is a lie about witnessing for Jesus. Congrats, again. Brilliant.
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While the George Bush entries have a mix of Democratic and Republican crap, most of it made-up, the stories related to Bill and Hillary are almost invariably right-wing drivel pulled from thin air. Let’s take just a few for the sake of brevity.
Claim: The Clintons charge rent to their Secret Service detail. Um, no, they don’t. It’s unbelievable how many dumbass Republicans believed (still believe?) this one.
Claim: Hillary helped free two radical Black Panthers. No. She didn’t.
Claim: Hillary refused to meet with the Gold Star Mothers lobby. Not true, even as stated many times by the Gold Star Mothers themselves.
This is one of the most vile, in my opinion: Clinton Terrorism
Playing politics with 9-11 is despicable. Not only did Clinton substantially increase the terrorism budget, but his staff identified bin Laden as a primary terrorist target before the vast majority of Americans had ever heard of him. And he did capture and convict the people associated with the terrorist acts committed during his Presidency, except in cases where Saudi Arabia would not extradite the suspects. Playing the blame game with this is really unforgivable – I mean, should Democrats blame Bush 41 for the first WTC attack?
And this claim is so funny: The Marines at "Marine 1" did not salute Bill Clinton. Unbelievable. All the chickenhawks just loved this one. But get this: Any person who has even a sliver of military knowledge would LAUGH OUT LOUD at this. There is no fucking way a Marine would break protocol in this manner, no matter what he personally thought of the President.
To end, as a comparison, while there were some "positive" emails about Bush, both true and untrue, there was not a single positive email about either of the Clintons.
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Some notes about John Kerry, Democratic nominee in 2004.
Again, while there were some positive emails about Bush interspersed with the negatives, in other words there were both pro-Republican and anti-Republican emails floating around, when it comes to Democrats that’s not the case. Every single item peddled about John Kerry was anti-Democrat and/or pro-Republican. And the vast, vast majority were either 1) not true or 2) used out of context because we know dumbass Republicans are susceptible to out-of-context sound bites.
snopes Kerry
Only Republicans could mock and belittle a guy who fucking volunteered for overseas military service in Vietnam. The dude not only volunteered, but was injured three times. This slowly became a funny joke for Republicans- they accused Kerry of faking his injuries. So let’s get this straight: John Kerry not only volunteered for overseas duty, but had one of the most dangerous assignments in all of Vietnam (piloting a "Swift" boat), on multiple occasions directly engaging the enemy and by his shipmates’ accounts saved multiple lives... and Republicans mocked him?
I’ll straighten out some of the crooked lies:
- John Kerry does not own Heinz Corporation. His wife also does not own Heinz Corporation. And Heinz does not "ship jobs overseas". Again, dumbass Republicans actually believed this... while they continue to shop at Wal-Mart where 99% of the shit on the shelves is made in China. Unwitting hypocrites.
- Teresa Kerry does not donate millions of dollars to fringe political groups.
- John Kerry did not vote against every military appropriation since 1988.
- John Kerry did not disparage Ronald Reagan at Reagan’s funeral. He actually complimented him. But don’t let direct quotes get in your way when you can make shit up.
- There was one email that went around about how, if Kerry was elected, the Secret Service would have to protect all of his houses for the rest of his life. Not true. Funny how dumbass Republicans are so good at changing names and recycling emails-
so why didn’t they, in 2008, replace Kerry’s name with that of John McCain? After all, according to Republican logic wouldn’t the Secret Service have had to protect all the McCain’s houses if he were elected?
- The Communist Party did not endorse John Kerry.
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Nancy Pelosi is a favorite target of the right-wing. But to this day I can’t figure out why they hate her. Let’s take a look: Married to the same man, never divorced. Dedicated mother. Dedicated grandmother. In spite of being wealthy, she took the initiative to get involved in politics instead of resting on her laurels.
Oh, but she’s a woman who has a job. And she has a "D" after name. That’s why they don’t like her. Yes, I’m saying Republicans are misogynists. Even a lot of female Republicans are misogynists and don’t seem to realize it. Self-hate is really sad.
There’s only a short list about her, and they are outright lies.
snopes Pelosi
More lies to straighten out:
- Nancy Pelosi did not spurn the Speaker’s "small jet" and ask for a "big fat one". Again, how do you dumbasses read something like this and not have even a shred of doubt as to the veracity?
- Nancy Pelosi did not advocate a windfall tax on corporate profits. I got this one from a few Republicans. Dipshits. Read the snopes piece on this one and find out who actually proposed a "100% tax"... that’s right- it was the biggest Capitalist of all: Warren Buffett.
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And now to the person who has been subjected to the most vile, hateful messages I’ve ever seen.
Barack Obama
First off, let’s just start with the basic lack of logic behind the people who hate Obama. Literally, in the same sentence, I had a dumbass Republican tell me that Obama was a radical Muslim and a radical Christian. Seriously. Think about that. If you are going to say or think something like that, then you have no business ever criticizing a person who voted for Obama just because he was black.
Anyway, the number of Obama smears and outright lies became almost too much to even fathom during the 2008 Presidential campaign. And they’ve grown and grown since then. Most of the one’s below are from before the election.
First, we see the tax and spend canard rolled out in regards to Obama. This happens every year. And dumbass Republican voters believe it... every year. We are told that Republicans tax less and spend less. Democrats on the other hand, tax more and spend more. And the masses are told that "tax and spend" is bad, ad nauseum, and they associate this negative sentiment with Democrats.
Truth be told, anyone with an Internet connection can download the Federal budget and all its historical tables. You’ll notice that 20 of the last 28 years, the budget proposals came from Republican Presidents. Budgets proposals, in general, rarely get modified significantly by Congress. So it’s safe to say the budget largely reflects the Executive administration’s agenda. Also keep in mind that the first year’s budget for any new President will be influenced by the previous administration since it’s nearly impossible to dismantle someone else’s spending programs in a year or two.
The key stats to note here are: Receipts as a % of GDP and Outlays as a % of GDP.
In plain English, this is the money the government receives via tax revenue (Receipts) and the money the government spends (Outlays). It is important to look at these numbers as a % of GDP because the economy grows over time, so to look at these numbers as adjusted or non-adjusted would not be an appropriate way to make comparisons. In fact, look out for any comparison that does not use % GDP as the base comparator- both Republicans and Democrats like to pull these dirty tricks.
If you look at those numbers as a % of GDP, as you should, reality belies what we have been told for all these years.
Reality:
Republicans tax less but spend more. In other words, they actually do come through when it comes to lowering overall taxes. But they do not balance these tax cuts on the spending side. This leads to deficits that are huge as a % of GDP, especially when comparing to the Democrats. Looking at that number – deficit as a % of GDP – from 1982 (Reagan’s first budget) through 2009 (Bush II’s last budget, which can only projected at the time of writing), even a quick scan shows you that the only President to keep the deficit under control was a Democrat. Yes, he did this with a Republican Congress that significantly curbed many of his proposals. So it was a good mix.
On to 2008, the tax and spend meme came back in full force. And Republican voters believed it.
snopes Obama Taxes
What really amazes me is that they have to resort to lies in order to get what they want. And it’s more amazing that people believe these lies for so damn long.
The big one this year was "Spread the wealth". Oh, Republicans hated that one. It reeked of socialism.
But we have spread the wealth for quite some time in this country. John McCain’s own hero, Teddy Roosevelt, pretty much started the whole thing. John McCain had stated his desire to spread the wealth- until 2008 when, I guess, he changed his mind. Do your own research on that- youtube is handy.
Let’s put Obama’s plans into context:
First off, he was not going to raise taxes, per se. Republicans hate that "per se" because they are easily confused. But go back to 2001 and 2003 and look at the tax cuts passed by the Republican congress at the behest of the President Bush. These cuts were set to expire in 2010.
Taxes will be "raised" because of President Bush and the Republican Congress. They put the "expiration" in the bill and Bush signed it into law. Now they are trying to say Obama will "raise" your taxes by letting the tax cuts expire exactly according to their own bill.
They are playing their base for fools. And it works. That’s why they keep doing it.
Obama will actually renew the middle class tax cuts in this bill and let expire only the cuts for the wealthiest people in the country. If you’re reading this, there’s a 99% chance that will not include you.
So shut up. Obama is not going to raise your taxes, dumbass.
And the tax on small businesses over $250,000? People loved that one, too, without ever bothering to understand what it meant. This is a marginal tax increase. That means the higher rate is only paid on income over $250,000. You would not pay the higher rate on all of your income, dumbass. That’s what marginal means. For a $300,000 business, this would equal an extra $1500, give or take. That’s it. It’s not the end of the world. And unless Fox News gives Joe the Plumber a big pay raise, he will never have to worry about it either. And his name isn’t Joe. And he’s not a licensed plumber. And he owes back taxes. And you probably knew that already if you are a Democrat.
The Biggest Canard of All – "Liberal Media"
Notice to all people: There are liberals and conservatives in the media.
Here is what I have on my radio station in Lincoln, NE: Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Michael Savage.
Zero – repeat – zero liberals on my radio. There are very few of them in the country.
Country wide, how many liberal radio and TV hosts can you name? My guess is that you can’t name 10.
How about conservative (or should I say, right-wing?) radio hosts: Ed Schultz puts the number at 400+. Then add the Fox News Channel for 24-hours of solid right-wing propaganda and tell me that the "media" is liberal. Puh-leez.
So I’ll end my rather long diary with a short summary of a few of the supposed evils of Barack Obama. Consider this in context witrh all the links and videos at the beginning of this diary and agin think about it: I’ll lreadily admit that I’ve seen bad behavior from fellow Democrats at times. But that just cannot compare with what has become a "wingnut lifestyle". Arrogance, stupidity, and gullibility, with a dash of religious extremism and a big old bottle of racism for good measure.
Was Obama "sworn into office on the Quran"? Um, no.
Was Obama endorsed by the KKK? Um, no.
Was Obama’s campaign funded by Hugo Chavez? Um, no.
Was Michelle Obama’s senior thesis restricted until after the election? Um, no.
Does Obama hate the National Anthem? Um, no.
Was the majority of Obama’s campaign financed by wealthy liberals? Um, no.
Did Obama file a lawsuit to demand that banks loan money to poor people? Um, no.
Did Obama fail to address Israel in his Presidential debates? Um, no.
Did Obama fail to pay parking tickets he received at Harvard until 2007? YES. OMFG!!! Traitor! Now the truth is out! How did we let this horrible horrible man dupe us like this!!!! Oh, the agony. A-go-nee!
I’m so disappointed I was fooled. I’m going to go crawl into a bottle of Sailor Jerry and contemplate why I’m such a dumbass gullible liberal moron. And I can't believe the MSM didn;t give blanket coverage of this horrible transgression! Damn liberals!
Why couldn't I have come to my senses before putting together this stupidly long diary that only like-minded Democrats are going to read anyway??? I guess there's no hope for me.