I'm a fighting liberal

I saw this post today. It was written by the late Steve Gilliard, who died in early 2007. It meshes so well with what I wrote yesterday, and I subscribe to Steve's points so thoroughly that I decided to reprint the whole thing here.

I'm a fighting liberal

You know, I've studied history, I've read about America and you know something, if it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.

What has conservatism given America? A stable social order? A peaceful home life? Respect for law and order? No. Hell, no. It hasn't given us anything we didn't have and it wants to take away our freedoms.

The Founding Fathers, as flawed as they were, slave owners and pornographers, smugglers and terrorists, understood one thing, a man's path to God needed no help from the state. Is the religion of these conservatives so fragile that they need the state to prop it up, to tell us how to pray and think? Is that what they stand for? Is that their America?

Conservatism plays on fear and thrives on lies and dishonesty. I grew up with honest, decent conservatives and those people have been replaced by the party of greed. It is one thing to want less government interference and smaller, fiscally responsible government. It is another thing entirely to be a corporate whore, selling out to the highest bidder because the CEO fattens your campaign chest. They are building an America which cannot be sustained. One based on the benefit of the few at the cost of the many. The indifferent boss who hires too few people and works them to death or until they break down sick. Cheap labor capitalism has replaced common sense. "Globalism" which is really guise for exploitation, replaced fair trade, which is nothing like fair for the trapped semi-slaves of the maquliadoras. In the Texas border towns, hundreds of these women have been used as sex slaves and then apparently killed,the FBI powerless to do anything as the criminals sit in Mexico untouched by law.

For the better part of a decade, the conservatives made liberal a dirty word. Well, it isn't. It represents the best and most noble nature of what America stands for: equitable government services, old age pensions, health care, education, fair trials and humane imprisonment. It is the heart and soul of what made American different and better than other countries. Not only an escape from oppression, but the opportunity to thrive in land free of tradition and the repression that can bring. We offered a democracy which didn't enshrine the rich and made them feel they had an obligation to their workers.

Bush and the people around him disdain that. They think, by accident of birth and circumstance, they were meant to rule the world and those who did not agree would suffer.

Liberal does not and has not meant weak until the conservatives said it did. Was Martin Luther King weak? Bobby Kennedy? Gene McCarthy? It was the liberals who remade this country and ended legal segregation and legal sexism. Not the conservatives, who wanted to hold on to the old ways.

It's time to regain the spirit of FDR and Truman and the people around them. People who believed in the public good over private gain. It is time to stop apologizing for being a liberal and be proud to fight for your beliefs. No more shying away or being defined by other people. Liberals believe in a strong defense and punishment for crime. But not preemption and pointless jail sentences. We believe no American should be turned away from a hospital because they are too poor or lack a proper legal defense. We believe that people should make enough from one job to live on, to spend time on raising their family. We believe that individuals and not the state should dictate who gets married and why. The best way to defend marriage is to expand, not restrict it.

It was the liberals who opposed the Nazis while the conservatives were plotting to get their brown shirts or fund Hitler. It was the liberals who warned about Spain and fought there, who joined the RAF to fight the Germans, who brought democracy to Germany and Japan. Let us not forget it was the conservatives who opposed defending America until the Germans sank our ships. They would have done nothing as Britain came under Nazi control. It was they who supported Joe McCarthy and his baseless, drink fueled claims.

Without liberals, there would be no modern America, just a Nazi satellite state. Liberals weak on defense? Liberals created America's defense. The conservatives only need vets at election time.

It is time to stop looking for an accommodation with the right. They want none for us. They want to win, at any price. So, you have a choice: be a fighting liberal or sit quietly. I know what I am, what are you?

"Bipartisan" my ass

Check out this drivel by David Broder:

Bipartisan Group Eyes Independent Bid

First, Main Candidates Urged To Plan 'Unity' Government

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, a potential independent candidate for president, has scheduled a meeting next week with a dozen leading Democrats and Republicans, who will join him in challenging the major-party contenders to spell out their plans for forming a "government of national unity" to end the gridlock in Washington.

Those who will be at the Jan. 7 session at the University of Oklahoma say that if the likely nominees of the two parties do not pledge to "go beyond tokenism" in building an administration that seeks national consensus, they will be prepared to back Bloomberg or someone else in a third-party campaign for president.

Conveners of the meeting include such prominent Democrats as former senators Sam Nunn (Ga.), Charles S. Robb (Va.) and David L. Boren (Okla.), and former presidential candidate Gary Hart. Republican organizers include Sen. Chuck Hagel (Neb.), former party chairman Bill Brock, former senator John Danforth (Mo.) and former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman.

Boren, who will host the meeting at the university, where he is president, said: "It is not a gathering to urge any one person to run for president or to say there necessarily ought to be an independent option. But if we don't see a refocusing of the campaign on a bipartisan approach, I would feel I would want to encourage an independent candidacy."

Let me make my views on this effort at bipartisanship clear: FUCK YOU.

Bipartisan is clearly supposed to mean "Republicans get everything they want, while Democrats get nothing."

These "elder statesmen" complain about "gridlock" but they don't note that the lack of action is ALL one way -- Republicans stopping Democrats.

More importantly, here's what I want to know. Where were these fuckers for the last eight years? Where were they when Republicans stole the presidency in 2000 and 2004, and when the "liberal" media and the Republican apparatus conspired to wreck the reputations of Al Gore and John Kerry?

Where were they when genuine heroes like Max Cleland were accused of being traitors simply because they disagreed with the Bush administration on some obscure point?

Where were these bastards when Republicans used all the machinery of the Justice Department to ruin administration opponents and affect the outcome of elections through their bad faith prosecutions?

Where were they when the Bush administration made public the identity of a covert CIA operative simply because her husband questioned them?

Where were they when it became more and more clear that the Bush administration lied us into war with Iraq? Where have they been as it's become more and more clear that the Bush administration's Iraq policy is "we're staying because we won't leave, and we won't leave because we're staying?"

Where have they been as the Bush administration and its allies piled tax cuts onto rich people while doing nothing to alleviate the burden on the middle class?

Where were they as the budget surplus turned to deficit and the national debt exploded?

Where have they been as the Bush administration has allowed more and more corporate consolidation in virtually all industries while providing less and less oversight?

The specter of "bipartisanship" and "unity government" only rears its head when it appears that Republicans won't have unfettered power. When they do have power, they don't care about "unity," they grind their opponents faces into the dirt.

So fuck you Gary Hart, David Boren, Chuck Robb, Sam Nunn, Christie Whitman, John Danforth and all the rest of you. You're nothing but fucking cheerleaders for the Bush administration and its enablers. This whole effort is nothing more than a preemptive strike to make sure the Bush administration never has to answer questions and is never held accountable for its misdeeds.

Democrats, liberals and progressives are RIGHT on the issues, and they have significant public support. If they campaign sincerely and don't follow the advice of these hacks to pander to the "middle" and the "moderates," they'll sweep into power in the 2008 elections and begin to undo the damage of the Bush years.

What George Bush got for Christmas

Ed Henry, CNN Correspondent:

WASHINGTON (CNN) – It's hard to imagine a tough guy from Texas shopping for a pocketbook, but President Bush gave his wife a new purse and a silver tray for Christmas, according to an aide to First Lady Laura Bush.

It's easy to see what George Bush got for Christmas -- a blowjob from Ed Henry, a member of the so-called liberal media.

Dickheads of the year, by Bill Maher

This is AWESOME.

Romney lies, media yawns

December 6, 2007 - Romney, in a speech about his Mormon faith in Texas, declares: "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

December 16, 2007 - Appearing on Meet the Press, Mitt Romney declares: "My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights."

December 19, 2007 - The Boston Phoenix reports that it could find no evidence that George Romney and King ever marched together. "While the late George W. Romney, a four-term governor of Michigan, can lay claim to a strong record on civil rights," the paper notes, "the Phoenix can find no evidence that the senior Romney actually marched with King, nor anything in the public record suggesting that he ever claimed to do so."

December 20, 2007 - The Detroit Free Press reports that, it too, cannot turn up records of Romney and King marching together. Fehrnstron tells the paper that Romney was "speaking figuratively, not literally."

Later in the day - Romney is asked about the discrepancies in accounts. "Did you actually see -- with your own eyes -- your father marching with Martin Luther King?."

Romney: "My own eyes? You know, I speak in the sense of I saw my dad become president of American Motors. I wasn't actually there when he became president of American Motors, but I saw him in the figurative sense of he marched with Martin Luther King. My brother also remembers him marching with Martin Luther King and so in that sense I saw him march with Martin Luther King." He added, "You know, I'm an English literature major as well. When we say, 'I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily mean you were there -- excuse me, the Super Bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No, it's a figure of speech."

Later in the day - Speaking to reporters in Iowa, Romney tries again to explain the historical record. "If you look at the literature," he says, "if you look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of in the sense I've described. It's a figure of speech and very familiar, and it's very common. And I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes, but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort."

Here's my observation:

1 -- The stories about Romney's blatant, repeated lie and his lame explanations contain relatively passive headlines such as "Romney shifts rhetoric," and "Romney fields questions." Contrast that with what the media did to Al Gore. He DID NOT say certain things, the "liberal" media put lies into his mouth, and then the same media called Gore a "serial exaggerator."

Let me repeat that -- Romney LIED, and the media treats it neutrally. Gore DID NOT lie, and the media branded him a liar. How? They simply fabricated falsehoods, attributed them to Gore, and then called him a liar. Don't believe me?

Gore DID NOT say "I invented the Internet." See here.

Gore DID NOT say he "discovered" Love Canal. See here.

Gore DID NOT say his wife and he were the inspiration for "Love Story." See here.

Never mind that Romney doesn't know his football from his baseball. never mind that he wants to discuss the definitions of "saw" "marched" and "with." He simply lies. A lot. Yet the "liberal" media allows him to get away with it.

Screw you, LIEberman

Senator Joe LIEberman, July 6, 2006, Connecticut Democratic Primary Debate:

"I want Democrats to be back in the majority in Washington and elect a Democratic president in 2008. This man [Ned Lamont] and his supporters will frustrate and defeat our hopes of doing that."

Joe LIEberman earlier today:

"Being a Republican is important. Being a Democrat is important. But you know what's more important than that? The interest and well-being of the United States of America."

"Let's put the United States first again, and John McCain is the man as president who will help us do that," he said.

Lieberman said the next president needs to "break through the reflexive partisanship that is poisoning our politics today and stopping us from getting anything done in Washington."

First, the "reflexive partisanship" is the fault of George W. Bush and his Republican supporters, including John McCain.

Second, Lieberman is clearly going back on his word from 2006, yet doesn't even acknowledge that he said in 2006 that he would back a Democrat for president in 2008.

Third, Lieberman has also supported Republican Senator Susan Collins in her reelection campaign.

Joe Lieberman is a whore who will say anything to get elected and who can be counted to show disloyalty at every turn.

It's time for Harry Reid to quit supporting Lieberman, and it's time for Democrats to kick Lieberman out of their caucus.

Best Protest Sign Ever

This is awesome.

Fuck you, Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell, campaigning in Grayson County, Kentucky:

“Our brave soldiers have protected us for six years successfully. If we brought all of them home today (terrorists) they would be back here, so we need to stay the course. It's gotten better and there is a dramatic decrease in causalities and we have begun to withdraw troops.” said McConnell. ”The polls are reflecting that there is a 15% increase in optimism in American's views about the war.

“I won't tell you everything is great in Iraq; it is not. But we want to keep a steady flow of funds so that we don't disrupt the military,” said McConnell. “Unfortunately, most of our friends on the other isle are having a hard time admitting things are getting better; some days I almost think the critics of this war don't want us to win. Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers.”

Here's the deal, you cavalier jackass: the first rule of military leadership is that you DO NOT needlessly get your soldiers killed or wounded. You do everything possible to minimize casualties.

Only someone immoral could commit the lives of others in a needless war that can't be won. Only someone with no conscience could be so casual about the loss of life for which he bears some of the responsibility. In other words, Mitch McConnell.

Rudy Giuliani rewrites history

GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani says in a new TV ad that it took Ronald Reagan just "one hour" to win the release of Americans held hostage by Iran for 444 days from 1979-1981.

"The one hour in which they released them was the one hour in which Ronald Reagan was taking the oath of office as president of the United States," Giuliani says. "The best way you deal with dictators, the best way you deal with tyrants and terrorists, you stand up to them. You don't back down."

The hostages were released as Reagan was sworn in on Jan. 20. 1981. Giuliani is correct on that point. What he does not say is that the Algiers Accord that ended the hostage crisis was negotiated by the outgoing Carter administration. The Algiers Accord was agreed to on January 19, 1981 -- the day before the release of the hostages. State Department records confirm this.

And let's not forget the October Surprise and Arms for Hostages deals of the Reagan campaign and the Reagan administration.

If Rudy really plans to emulate Reagan, I say pass on that.