The American Enterprise Institute has parted ways with David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter and fellow of the Institute. The separation came in the wake of this blog entry by Frum, in which he criticized the Republican strategy opposing health care reform and urged conservatives to accept it as a done deal.
I don't have any sympathy for the man who coined the phrase "axis of evil," the three little words that compressed George Bush's simpleminded, Manichean world view into a sound byte that gave him cover when he invaded Iraq, disengaged from North Korea, and amped up the anti-Iran rhetoric. But, consider what has happened: The so-called intellectual arm of conservatism just turned anti-intellectual. They have in effect fired someone for committing a thought crime. Teabaggery has gone viral within conservative circles...
Although Republican efforts to distance themselves from teabagger vandalism and violence were largely self-serving. Eric Cantor (D-VA), reduced to underlining that he does "not condone violence," accused Democrats of exploiting the attacks on their offices and homes for political gain. But it won't be that easy to turn the table: People know where this is coming from and they know it's not Democrats. The Republicans have a tiger by the tail, and it will be interesting to see who eats who...
I'm as surprised as anyone by the Republican senate leadership's apparent decision to roll over and allow the reconciliation bill to pass without much of a fight. They had blustered about dragging the session out past Easter, but at the end of the day it seems that they just didn't want to miss the vacation that starts this weekend. So much for a last-ditch, Remember the Alamo stand against anti-American legislation certain to end our way of life...
The loud talk of repeal is nonsense. For one thing, the Republicans don't have the muscle. And even if they someday do control the House, Senate, and presidency, they won't have to guts to take away health insurance from 32,000,000 people, not to lifting the bans on rescission, payout limits, and pre-existing conditions. What they will do is use repeal in the same way that they use abortion: As a means to separate the base from its money via red meat fundraising...
Roger Ebert takes on Glenn Beck, taking particular exception to Beck exhorting his followers to leave churches with a commitment to social or economic justice...
According to John McCain, black is white, the sky is blue, and the grass is green. (Thanks, Projections!)...
Notes from the Cracker Barrel: Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose. (Thanks, Editilla!)...
Republicans turned off by the size of Obama's package. Secretly, they're turned on...
What a week! No matter what the vicssitudes of life, though, this song has been bringing a smile to my face since I was in high school. And all in all, this has been a week of blues skies:
Warren and Dicky really feel it on this one!
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I heard that about David Frum this morning on the Diane Rehm Show. More proof that the teabaggers are turning the far right feeding frenzy into a cannabalistic one.
Ditto with Glenn Beck; in fact, his own Mormon church has condemned his remarks and have pointed out to him that the Mormon church does indeed preach and practice social justice and service to the poor. But then as I pointed out earlier this week, the teabaggers (and Beck is the teabaggiest of them all) are a whole different critter than the religious right, and the two often clash. This is an example of that clashing.
I hadn't realized Roger Ebert did political commentary. That's a great article!
Ah! "You're my blue sky, you're my sunny day!" Great band, great tune. And once again Dickie Betts shows why you really don't need a whammy bar on a Les Paul.
Firing Frum is just another example of the GOP holding their hands over their ears and repeating, "La la la. I can't hear you!"
And yes, it's always good to hear Blue Sky.
Always great to meet fellow "Blue Sky" fans! I saw Dicky introduce it once sort of like: "Here's an old from a long time back. You seem to like hearin' it, and we sure like playin' it."
Roy, I was puzzled by Beck's outburst for the same reason. Mormons don't have a dominant presence in Western Washington, but there are enough of them to be noticed, and I know that community outreach is important to their faith. Then it hit me: So what? Glenn Beck doesn't care. He'd dis Jesus Christ if he thought it would goose his ratings.
P. S. I've watched that ABB video about four times since I found it, and I'm about to watch it again. It feels like on that night, on that particular song, they did everything they wanted to do.
The firing of Frum would be laughable if it weren't so outrageous. So much for Freedom of Speech! Paranoia and control go hand in hand.
The apologies were certainly disengenuous. I think they've laid an egg and it ain't golden.
It's downright Stalinist: He was fired for anti-revolutionary incorrectness.
Frum's blog post is pretty mild: all he really wrote was that the Congressional R's had gambled and lost on lockstep obstructionism. That's true. He suggested that they reconsider that strategy in the time ahead. That's reasonable. I think what got him fired was arguing that repeal is an impossibility. He's correct, but that is the last thing the base wants to hear.
I agree Frum was fired for no reason, except the money was being threatened. Some of the contributors said they would withhold funds unless they let him go.. ... As we all know.. Money Talks.
BTW there is now positive proof Cantor lied about the shooting.. It wasn't even his office, There is no name on the building and the police are saying it was a random shot fired in the air that fell into the window of a very non-descript building. He now claims he didn't know all that 2 days after the shot was fired when he gave his presser..
LOL, what a guy. With apologies to John McEnroe, they are the pits of the universe.
What this really means is, if we had any doubts about it, which we didn't, that the rethugz are the rethuz party in truth, run by the extremists.
Love, C.
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