Rush Limbaugh

The Conservative Political Action Conference: A Bunch Of Retreads And Future Losers!

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Conservatives are in the third of four days of their annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and it is quite an event, a circus of retreads and future losers, who fail to see that the nation has rejected their ideology when it is presented to them in Senate races, and only holding on to power in the House of Representatives because of gerrymandered districts created by the Tea Party uprising of 2010, which led to a large number of Republican governors and state legislatures at the precisely correct time to affect the shaping of House districts for the ten year cycle following the census figures.

The Tea Party movement has had its heyday, and there are already signs of its future demise, although they will persist in some rural districts in the House, and have their Senators, including Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul, all ambitious to be President of the United States, but none of them should be delusional that they will actually be the next President, while they are all fighting to outdo each other three years ahead of 2016!

Attention at this conference is given to such retreads as Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Newt Gingrich.

Also, such losers as Wayne La Pierre, Grover Norquist and the usual right wing talk show hosts, including Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, are part of the “distinguished” speakers spewing forth their divisiveness.

And the conservatives are making clear that they will not budge in any form on the issue of gay rights, immigration reform,their “traditional” view of women being submissive to men, and refusal to separate science from the influence of religion!

There are differences on foreign policy between the libertarians and the neoconservatives, however, and any suggestion of moderation on ANY issue has led to Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell being denied an invitation to speak.

The ultimate reality is that it does not matter what happens at the CPAC, as it is like Don Quixote battling the windmill! The American people are NOT going to elect any of these “clowns”, even those who seem more “moderate”, such as Christie, to the White House in 2016. The Republicans are fighting a civil war, primarily over who shall represent them in 2016, but it is all for naught!

The next President will, assuredly, be a Democrat—whether Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar or someone else not yet known!

Republican Party Destroys Itself In Mad Dash To The Far Right, In Repudiation Of Chris Christie!

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The Republican Party is destroying itself in its mad dash to the Far Right!

It convinced Maine Senator Olympia Snowe to retire, and defeated Indiana Senator Richard Lugar in his quest for another term,

It put former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel through hell, before he finally, with only four Republicans supporting him, won the Senate confirmation to be Secretary of Defense.

Now the party has declared war on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, because he worked alongside President Obama after Hurricane Sandy; criticized House Republicans and Speaker John Boehner; and showed his independent streak, which is anathema to the far Right!

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other right wing talk show hosts have also attacked Christie, as if he is a liberal, despite his very conservative record as Governor, but showing a willingness to work across the aisle with the state legislature and the President.

Christie should be applauded as a man who has managed a massive public opinion rating in a strong “blue” state, but instead, he has been slighted, by NOT being invited to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference next month, while all kinds of characters, including Sarah Palin and Herman Cain and numerous others who are an embarrassment to intelligent people, were invited.

So Chris Christie, as unacceptable as he is to anyone on the left, is not good enough to be invited to a right wing conference!

Actually, it helps Christie in his reelection battle for Governor this fall, and makes him able to stand out as NOT being owned by the Far Right of the GOP, and it might just help him in future endeavors for public office, including being a sane alternative for the Republicans in 2016, if he can get past the Tea Party loonies!

Republicans Seem To Be Suicidal In Reluctance To Change Course

Ronald 37 Comments

The Republican Party is in its death throes more and more each week.

The country is no longer interested in their agenda, in their candidates, in their goals, and in their promotion of fear and hate!

The GOP has lost five of the last six popular vote totals for President, despite spending inordinate amounts of money, the most ever in 2012, due to the Citizens United case of the Supreme Court in 2010.

But they have elements that are destroying them from within like a cancer!

These destructive elements include:

The right wing conservative talk show hosts on radio and Fox News Channel, who are making massive amounts of money promoting hate, fear and division, and until the GOP tells Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham and their ilk to go somewhere, they will be going down the road to destruction!

The power of the National Rifle Association and Wayne La Pierre, and its campaign to defeat any candidate who wants any reasonable gun regulations, is going to cause the defeat of Senators and Congressmen, who are unwilling to sell their souls to this powerful pressure group!

The Tea Party Movement, which wants to wipe out Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and is furious at Republican Governors, including the latest convert on ObamaCare, Florida Governor Rick Scott, making it a total of seven Republican Governors who have decided to accept that program, has plans to run candidates against anyone who does not wish to support their desire to go back to the 19th century and wipe out all aspects of the welfare state, so Maine Senator Susan Collins is on a hit list, as is even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, for not being conservative enough! Do not forget that the Koch Brothers and other wealthy billionaires are the brains behind this movement, which is lower class populism gone wild, but they have the ability to harm the Republican Party establishment! And Rand Paul and Ted Cruz are the lead elements in this Tea Party uprising, who might cause the Republican Party to go down to defeat in many races, because of their loony libertarianism!

The right wing evangelical Christian movement, which will fight any move toward acceptance of gay rights and gay marriage, abortion rights, immigration reform, and gun regulation, as well as their desire to promote religion in the education curriculum, rejecting science and history, and promotion of a theocracy in states that have large numbers of their believers.

The “NeoCons”, Neoconservatives, who want more money spent on defense, advocate overseas military interventions, and glorify wars in the name of American capitalism and profits! They had power under George W. Bush, but are now trying to defeat Chuck Hagel for Defense Secretary.

And finally, the no tax increase crowd, led by Grover Norquist of Americans For Tax Reform, a group which is starting to see some Republicans abandon them, but not enough, and willing to back corporate loopholes and the wealthy, at the expense of the middle class and the poor, these two groups failing to understand that this elite has no concerns, except to back the establishment on Wall Street and in the corporate world, even at a time when corporate profits are soaring, and the stock market has doubled under Barack Obama!

These are the destructive elements in the Republican Party, and will cause its total dissolution very soon if the direction of the party is not changed to appeal to the moderate center, the tradition of the party under Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and YES, even in the time of Ronald Reagan, when moderates were still a major part of the party success, and Reagan a conservative but not an extremist, as these various elements of the party are in 2013!

The Rehabilitation Of President Calvin Coolidge: Is It Legitimate?

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In an age of conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel, and the constant conservative attempt to transform our law, our science, our history, our politics, our economics, our educational system, the charge is on to rehabilitate a hero of conservatives, including Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, and many others.

That “hero” is our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge, who served five and a half years in the White House, from August 1923 to March 1929, succeeding President Warren G. Harding, and winning an easy victory over Democratic nominee John W. Davis and Progressive Party nominee Robert La Follette, Sr. in the 1924 Presidential Election.

Calvin Coolidge can be given credit for several things:

His administration paid off the national debt by the time he left office, a debt built up by our involvement in the First World War.

His Presidency was a clean one, and the corruption of the Harding Administration, the greatest since Ulysses S. Grant, was fully prosecuted, leading to convictions and prison terms for some of the Harding personnel.

Coolidge picked a distinguished Vice President, Charles G. Dawes, who would have made an outstanding President.

Coolidge selected Harlan Fiske Stone as his Attorney General, and then appointed him to the Supreme Court, and Stone was later elevated to Chief Justice in 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, turning out to be one of the all time, outstanding Supreme Court Justices in American history.

However, Coolidge also was responsible for:

The promotion, by his tax policies under Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, an earlier version of “Reaganomics” and “Bushonomics”.

The raising of protective tariffs to their all time high, leading to the revival of monopoly capitalism in America, harming small business, labor and consumers alike.

The refusal to regulate big business in any form, by his appointments to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission, and his decision NOT to use the Clayton Anti Trust Act and Sherman Anti Trust Act in lawsuits against corporations.

His refusal to help depression ridden farmers, by his veto of the McNary Haugen plan, which was desired by farm state Republicans.

His criticism of organized labor set back the labor movement until the time of FDR.

A new book by Amity Shlaes, is the most detailed and strong defense of Calvin Coolidge, but it fails to recognize that the Great Crash of the stock market, eight months after Coolidge left the Presidency, and Herbert Hoover became President, is not due only to Hoover, but much more to Coolidge and his policies in office.

Herbert Hoover has taken too much blame for the Great Depression. He can be blamed for his slow reaction to the collapse of the economy, but it is clear that Coolidge, with his doctrinal belief in “Laizzez Faire”, would not have been willing to take even the belated actions that Hoover took in 1931-1932, for which conservatives condemn him, by saying Hoover was the forerunner of the New Deal of FDR!

Just because Amity Shlaes, who is connected to the George W. Bush Institute, loves Calvin Coolidge does not make Coolidge, suddenly, a great or near great President. And neither does the fact that Ronald Reagan displayed his portrait, in place of Thomas Jefferson, add to Coolidge’s appropriate rating as, at the best, a below average, or even, a mediocre President.

In fact, to put Herbert Hoover lower really is a miscarriage of justice, as Hoover became the victim of the short sighted Coolidge policies!

A New Racism And Sexism: Controversy Over Michelle Obama’s Derriere

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Barack Obama being the first racially mixed President, but with an image of being totally “Black” even though his mother was white, has been subjected to constant racism by talk show hosts on the RIght, by Fox News Channel, by code language used by Republican politicians, and by ordinary citizens, particularly in the South, who are unable to accept that we have a President who represents a minority heritage, rather than the white Caucasian majority which is rapidly moving toward being a minority itself in the next 30 years.

But now the attack on First Lady Michelle Obama, who is totally African American, unlike her husband, is accelerating on the issue of her appearance, with jokes and criticism being issued by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, the original heavy set “gas bag”; Republican Congressman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who also is overweight; and even by coaches and teachers in their professional roles, something totally inappropriate!

The comment is made that her arms are too muscular, but also her posterior is overly large, forgetting that she is 50 years old, and cannot be expected to have the body of a 25 or 35 year old.

And for Limbaugh and Sensenbrenner, who are both overly heavy themselves, to comment about being overweight in the derriere, is an amazing case of hypocrisy and gall, but what else is new about conservative talk show hosts and Republicans being so?

So now the new racism and sexism is in play without any shame, and shows us how little progress has been made in electing the first minority President in American history twice by popular vote majorities!

But just as Barack Obama ignores attacks, Michelle Obama is also dismissive of stupid, foolish, ignorant statements about her appearance, keeping her dignity in the midst of a flailing opposition which has nothing to offer the nation except personal insults and character assassination.

And meanwhile, the public opinion rating of both Barack and Michelle Obama continues to soar into the stratosphere!

The Extreme Right Wing Vs Barack Obama: The Winner Is Obama!

Ronald 11 Comments

Three months after the resounding victory of Barack Obama in the Presidential Election of 2012, the extreme right wing is still attacking the President, and they are rapidly marginalizing themselves.

We are hearing hysteria that Barack Obama is destroying this country by issuing some innocuous executive orders on gun regulations, and that he is undermining the nation’s security by promoting immigration reform. And we are seeing an African American President compared to Hitler, causing the Anti Defamation League to protest.

We are seeing Rush Limbaugh flailing about in anger that Obama will be around for the next four years, while his audience declines.

We are seeing Fox News Channel decline rapidly in the key 25-54 demographic, as more people realize that they are a station that constantly lies, misleads, deceives,and distorts, and the realization that one learns less about what is going on news wise by watching that channel, than if one watches no news at all!

We are seeing Glenn Beck promoting a separate community that would operate as a haven for those who, like him, claim to be terrified by the government being controlled by a Hitler for the next four years, meanwhile confusing Nazism, Fascism, Socialism, and Communism as one and the same.

The common thread of all these characters is that they are exploiting ignorance and prejudice, and becoming extremely wealthy at the expense of gullible listeners and watchers. They are charlatans who gain by their unwarranted attacks on the President, and they have no ethics, morals, and scruples, and one has to wonder how anyone with any brains in their head could possibly believe a word they say!

But a vast majority of Americans want gun regulations, and a substantial majority want immigration reform, and Barack Obama has 60 percent support in a poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, , despite all of these vicious attacks on him as a threat to the Republic.

So there is real hope that the days of manipulation and deceit are declining rapidly, and that these extremists face a future of being seen for what they are—a menace to American values and decency!

Hillary Clinton Under Attack Even Before Retiring From State Department: The Best Solution For Her Future Is The Supreme Court

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton underwent a massive attack on her testimony on the Benghazi, Libya controversy before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday, primarily from Tea Party Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Eon Johnson of Wisconsin.

But she also was viciously attacked, as in the old days of her husband’s Presidency and during her Senate years, by right wing talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Even the New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch, went after her in its headlines today.

Any idea that, somehow, Hillary Clinton could be “crowned” President, was always a delusion. If she decides to run, she will be under tremendous stress from the opposition Republican party, and they have decided to “soften her up” during the period before she has to decide whether to run for President in 2016.

As this author has already stated at the beginning of this month, it seems highly doubtful that Hillary will run for the nomination, as it could literally kill her in the quest, or if she made the White House, while in office. Her earlier health scare is an excellent reason for a woman of 65 to decide that she has better things to do from age 67-77 than to run for President, and deal with the massive problems of eight tough years in office.

But Hillary Clinton can play a major role in American government, without running for President, and with a lot lower stress level.

When Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg retires from the Supreme Court, likely this June, but certainly during this term of Barack Obama, the President could reward Hillary Clinton with an appointment to the Court, which could last at least 15 years until she is 80, and a position where she would be immune from political attack, help to influence the future of constitutional law, and make a major contribution to the history of the Supreme Court. The only battle she would have is when there would be attacks on her nomination, but with a 55 Democratic seat edge, she certainly would be confirmed.

Once considered one of the top 100 lawyers in the nation in the years before her husband became President, Hillary Clinton would be a wonderful addition to the Supreme Court, and would cap her career in a very distinguished and dignified manner.

So, President Obama, start thinking quietly and privately about consulting with Hillary Clinton on the idea of her becoming the 113th individual to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States!

Obscene, Crude Behavior By Republicans And Conservative Ideologues: No Common Decency!

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Republicans and conservative ideologues have no limits as to their obscene, crude behavior.

Witness the news that Speaker of the House John Boehner, passing by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, uttered “Go F—Yourself”, which startled Reid, and Boehner repeated it. This was done, all because of the frustration of Boehner with Reid and the Democrats over the difficult bargaining on the “Fiscal Cliff”. It is certainly believable that anyone can have such thoughts, and might even state so to his friends and colleagues about someone else, but to use such language directly eye to eye with the person being attacked by such invective, is totally unacceptable, totally crude and obscene, totally unbecoming of a Congressional leader or anyone else in the public eye! Boehner needs to apologize publicly to Reid, but is unlikely to do so, but this makes further communication and negotiation with political rivals all that much more difficult! As a public figure, Boehner needs to set an example of good and appropriate behavior!

Let us not forget that during the George W. Bush Administration, Vice President Dick Cheney said the same words that Boehner utiliized against Reid, against Senator Patrick Leahy in the Senate chamber, and never apologized, and in fact bragged and gloated about his misbehavior and lack of class!

But it is not just foul language as mentioned above, but also the attack on Hillary Clinton by Republicans and conservatives who think her concussion and hospitalization with a blood clot is a lie, designed to prevent her from having to testify about the Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack on September 11, which killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others.

So fun has been made, and accusations have been uttered, that Hillary is not really sick, that it is all a cover up!

Among those saying this on camera are:

Former Florida Congressman Allen West
Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton
Conservative ideologue Laura Ingraham
Charles Krauthammer of Fox News Channel
Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Channel
Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel
Rush Limbaugh, radio talk show host

And this is just a short list of cynics, who have no common decency, no compassion, no humanity, and know very well that the Libya matter is all conjured up, not a real issue. But it is the view of the right wing wingnuts that they must attack Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden and other Democrats, simply because they are alive and breathing!

Nothing will stop the nasty, insulting, disgraceful behavior of Republicans and conservative ideologues in their mission to destroy America through character assassination of our political leaders, as long as they are Democrats!

Some Conservative Activists Recognize Need For Change In Republican Party Views, But It Will NOT Revive Republican Fortunes!

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Imagine this: SOME conservative activists are realizing that there is a need for change in the Republican Party views, but it will NOT have a positive effect on the fortunes of the GOP any time soon.

Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity suddenly thinks that the GOP attitude toward Hispanics and Latinos should change, and that a passage to citizenship for eleven million undocumented immigrants is the answer to this problem.

Bill Kristol, also on Fox News Channel on Sundays, and editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, suddenly believes that it is right to tax millionaires and billionaires, as necessary for the economic growth of America.

Karen Hughes, former adviser to President George W. Bush, has made it clear that Republicans can no longer use the issue of rape and abortion against women, and that women will not accept the extremist views of the Republicans toward the rights of women to be in charge of their own lives.

These are all feeble attempts, however, as plenty of other conservatives and Republicans, such as Rush Limbaugh, Grover Norquist, and Glenn Beck advocate no change in Republican principles or policies..

Also, even if there were unity on changing the ideas and principles of the Republican Party, why would any intelligent voter, whether a person of Hispanic or Latino heritage, a middle class taxpayer, or a woman, believe a word they say?

After all, talk is cheap, and it will take YEARS before any of the groups which voted for Barack Obama will again, if indeed ever, have trust and faith in the Republican Party, so the Democrats have a tremendous advantage as one looks forward to the future of our political system.

After all, the Democrats have won the popular vote now in FIVE of the past six elections, only failing to do so in 2004!

The Republican Party of 1988 under George H. W. Bush and of 1980 under Ronald Reagan is long distant history!

The Right Wing Media Industrial Complex And Christian Extremists Must Be Excised From The Republican Party As A Cancer!

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The only way for the Republican Party to survive long term is to excise the cancer, the poison, that is the right wing media industrial complex, as well as Christian extremists!

This means that Conservative Talk Radio and Fox News Channel needs to be divorced from the GOP! And the same for right wing preachers who promote racism, and are control freaks!

So Republicans must tell Rush Limbaugh to go to hell, as a destructive force!

So Republicans must tell Fox News Channel, its owner Rupert Murdoch, and its self satisfied talk show hosts–including Sean Hannity and Bill O’ Reilly–and all of the other “guests” who spew lies, hate and propaganda, to take a hike!

Republicans must also tell Michael Savage, Michael Reagan, Mark Levin, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and Glenn Beck to drop dead!

And anyone not specifically mentioned above, but willing to enrich himself or herself by causing division and spewing poison, should be told they are no longer welcome in the Republican tent.

And finally, all of the Christian extremists, who think the government is supposed to be a theocracy, and wish to force their bigotry on women and gays, must be told that hell is waiting for them NOW, not later!