3/19/12 - Young Voters, Political Blogging, ASAP, and the War on Women

HUffpost: Mitt Romney Doesn't See How Young Voters 'Could Vote For A Democrat'

So, Mitt can't even begin to conceive how a young person in this day and age could consider voting for a Democratic Candidate. And you know what? I have to agree with him. Let's face it, the Democrats are completely out of touch with America's modern youth to such an extent that it is practically inconceivable that a young adult of voting age would somehow feel that the Democrats have their best interests in mind. That is, of course, unless that young person can't afford health care because of skyrocketing insurance premiums, can't afford to go to college due to skyrocketing tuition costs, has recently been called a slut an a whore by a GOP mouthpiece for using birth control, wants to retain their reproductive rights, is gay or has a friend or parent who is gay, masturbates to pornography, are non-Christian or Muslim, believes in Evolution, knows somebody who is unemployed, are still living with their parents, or has a family member or friend who is currently dependent on one of the many social programs that Republicans keep trying to abolish. But really, what are the odds of that?

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In the past, I've done my best not too spend too much time on only politics. This is partly because this is not a political blog, and partly because I have so many interests other than politics. However, it is getting harder and harder to focus on anything else these days. Not only are we in a very politically volatile moment in our country's history (due in no small part to the biggest recession since the Great Depression while orchestrating wars in multiple countries with no clear strategy to speak of), but we are also in a weird era in which politics is rapidly becoming a parody itself. Honestly, how can an rational human being watch such jaw-dropping theatrics and not pause to remark on them? The Republican Party has decided to double down on its efforts to take back the White House by adopting political platforms that sound like Archie Bunker Soliloquies, while the Democratic White House spends most of its time doing its best to not look too liberal, which is no small feat in of itself.

Seriously, how am I expected not to comment on this stuff?

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And now, a few words from Lee Camp.

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If you use the term ASAP, be it in an email or on a post-it note, no matter what the circumstances, you are a complete and utter douche. Stop it.

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The GOP has become an exercise in how not to carry on a logical debate. Take what many people are starting to frame as the Republican War on Women. Republican lawmakers have been stirring up their minority base of angry white men this election cycle (and attempting to distract from the slowly losing economic arguments against Obama) by focusing on anti-women legislation that feels like a retread of everything we've already gone through during the first half of the twentieth century. If they aren't demanding that women receive medically unnecessary ultrasounds before being allowed to have legally protected abortions in order to show them the error of their ways, they're fighting for the right of their employers to decide whether or not their medical insurance should include birth control coverage, and telling them to keep their legs closed if they don't like it.

Then, a law student who was blocked from testifying at a Republican-run Dog & Pony Show that birth control coverage is necessary by sharing a personal anecdote in which a fellow student died from her inability to afford prescription birth control medicines was called a slutty little whore who should film her sexual escapades for men to leer at if she expects them to pay for her sex pills by Republican mouth piece Rush Limbaugh. Needless to say, this (and the refusal of any Republican candidates or politicians to openly repudiate Rush's comments) proved to be the final straw for a lot of people who hadn't yet been drawn into the argument.

Naturally, the resulting claims that the GOP is waging a "War on Women" began to irritate the Right, and so they responded to the justified and wholly demonstrable label the same way that they always do: single out a Democrat who has done something vaguely similar and cry "But they did it, too!" Of course, it's kind of hard to find a Democratic politician who acts like a stereotypical misogynist from the 1940's, so the closest they could come was to complain that controversial political comedian Bill Maher, who recently donated one million dollars to the Democratic Campaign, called Sarah Palin naughty words not once, but twice!

Ignoring the fact that Maher's name-calling and Limbaugh's slander are incomparable (mainly because explaining the logic of this to Limbaugh Ditto-heads and Right Wing Loyalists is both exhausting and pointless), it's also plain to see that hanging their defense of a systematic attack on Women's Rights that have already been fought for and won in the past century on one comedian's foul mouth is a rather flimsy defense. So, what does the GOP do? They double-down on it in hopes of winning back female voters.

There! The Democrat Party is the true enemy of the lady folk! Bill Maher called Sarah Palin names and then donated money them, and somebody called Obama's White House a Boy's Club! That's far worse then our attempts to systematically erode a women's right to make decisions regarding her body without the government or her employer giving her permission to do so! Honest!

This is the kind of defense that only makes sense to you if you are desperate to find validation for your indefensible views.

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One Bimbo Down, One to Go: From Prejean to Palin

Miss California has finally gotten the boot for not living up to her contractual obligations, and

Image by danagraves via Flickr

quite possibly for not being smart enough to know exactly how far you can push something until it blows up in your face. Granted, we definitely haven't sen the last of her. On top of whatever talk or game shows she exploits herself over the next year, you can be sure that the anti-gay marriage organizations will be holding her up as a martyr for the cause, claiming that she was fired because of her religious and moral beliefs, and not for being stupid.

That's one over-sensationalized airhead out of the way. But we still have another one taking up airtime, and I have a feeling that she won't be receiving a pink slip anytime soon.

There have been a lot of celebrity ego battles taking place in the past six months or so. Most of them have been political in nature, and all of them have been highly entertaining. Rush Limbaugh alone has supplied half of the ego conflicts, as he has forced one Republican politician after another to apologize for implying that he might be wrong or out of line. Then you have Jon Stewart, who has drawn heat from television news media personalities by criticizing their performances. The conflict there usually involves them bad mouthing Stewart on their shows, followed by Stewart promptly handing them their asses on his.

The latest one, of course, is the little brouhaha between David Letterman and Sarah Palin over some admittedly off-color jokes about her older daughter, Bristol.



You remember Bristol Palin, right? The one that managed to get knocked up in an Abstinence-Only household, outed by her own mother's campaign managers, then paraded around by Palin during the presidential primaries as some sort of testament to teenage morality because she didn't get an abortion? The one that appeared on the today show to preach abstinence with her newborn daughter in tow? Yeah, we all remember Bristol.

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As we all know, the Palin's didn't take too kindly to the jokes, and released statements saying as much. But they also accused Letterman of making the jokes about their fourteen year-old daughter, and not Bristol.

Now, my immediate reaction is to claim that Palin knew very well that the jokes were about Bristol, and that she merely took advantage of Letterman's omission of her name in the jokes to make up this whole kiddie-rape-isn't-funny argument. Of course she knew the jokes were about Palin. Anyone with half a brain and a sense of humor knew he was talking about Bristol.

But then again, whether Palin has half a brain is debatable. Remember, this is the same woman who couldn't name one newspaper or magazine she reads when asked. The one who said she knows about foreign policy because she can see Russia from Alaska. The one who gave a TV interview about animal compassion while a turkey was killed right behind her. The one who didn't realize that saying she 'chose' not to have an abortion actually implied a belief in the pro-choice movement's arguments. The one who... I could go on, but you get the idea. Sarah Palin, for the most part, is about as smart as a box full of retarded mice. And that's giving her the benefit of the doubt.

With this in mind, we really can't assume that Palin was smart enough to realize that Letterman's jokes about her daughter getting knocked up were a reference to her older daughter, who was actually knocked up. There really isn't enough evidence to convince me that she isn't that dense. And I really doubt her snowmobiling hubby is the thinker in the family, so the idea of him explaining the joke to her is out of the equation.

So Letterman addresses the issue on his show. He admits that the jokes were in poor taste, but clearly explains for the dimmer viewers in his audience (like Palin) that the jokes were about Bristol, and that he would never make sex jokes about a fourteen-year-old girl. Granted, he read the jokes again, and refused to apologize for the 'Slutty Air Hostess' crack. But that's why Letterman is still around. He knows what to apologize for, and when not to back down.

With that taken care of, what are the odds that Palin is smart enough to take the apology and bow out while she is ahead?

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Are you kidding me? The same Palin that reacted to the magazine debacle by blaming 'gotcha journalism', responded to the 'I can see Russia from my House' debacle by reiterating that it was true, that explained the Turkey fiasco by insisting that no one knew turkeys were being slaughtered behind her, and complained about media coverage of her knocked-up daughter while parading her around on the campaign tour?

So, instead of taking the smart way out, Palin and Todd (why the hell is Todd Palin giving out any kind of press releases? Who cares what this jackass thinks?) refuse Letterman's apology, turn down his invitation to come on his show, and then imply that he is a pedophile by stating that they don't want to let young Willow Palin near him.

Palin on Alaska HDTV" style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="240" height="160">Image by AlaskaHDTV.com via Flickr

You think that was a stupid move?

This morning, Palin makes an appearance on the Today Show. In the same interview, she tells Matt Lauer that he is "extremely naive" if he accepted Letterman's explanation of the joke, then defends her statement about keeping Willow away from Letterman by saying "You can interpret that however you want to interpret it." Of course, because Lauer would have to be extremely naive to think that she was implying that Letterman was a baby-raper.

Its funny, but all of Prejean's senseless babbling over the past month still makes more sense than Palin's idiotic attempts at being clever and astute. She then put the cherry on top of the Moron Sundae by replying to Lauer's question about whether she is the future of the GOP with the convoluted phrase "Absolutely not necessarily." Then, after showing herself to be as vapid and mindless as Miss California, she goes on to say that she wants to "be able to help the cause" of the Republican Party.

Man, and I thought Michael Steele was stupid.

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Are All Republicans Racist?

Let me start by flatly stating that I don't think that all Republicans are racist. I've never been a big fan of blanket statements, having snuggled warmly under dozens tossed over me by other less scrupulous people. It would be foolish of me to assume that someone thinks a certain way just because they belong to a certain group or organization.

Image via Wikipedia

But I have to ask: Are Republicans racists?

I don't know any hardcore Republicans myself. I know a couple of conservatives, but both of them differ enough with the party that they tend to hesitate when asked their political affiliation. So I really don't have anyone I trust that I could ask directly. I suppose I could ask some random Republican, but I a feeling that walking up to a stranger in a parking lot and asking them if they are a racist because of the McCain/Palin bumper sticker on their car is a good way to test the limits of my current medical insurance.

This leaves me to base my opinion of Republicans based on how their political and media spokespersons behave in the public eye.

This, as you can well imagine, where I would get such an idea from.

Ever since (actually, even before) Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his Supreme Court pick, talking heads from the far right have been complaining about the ludicrousness of picking a Hispanic woman to sit on the Supreme Court. You've got Pat Buchanan expressing outrage that all four of the potential picks were women, and Tom Tancredo claiming that her membership in the largest Hispanic civil rights organization in America was tantamount to belonging to a "Latino KKK." Some of them have stooped to making fun of the pronounciation of her last name, questioning her love of ethnic food, and racial stereotypes drove one to refer to her as a sing

Image by marsdencartoons via Flickr

le mother without checking if she actually has any children.

The overriding implication, spearheaded by a majority of older white men, is that we can't trust a Hisanic woman on the court, because she might let being a Hispanic woman influence her decision-making abilities. Furthermore, the big argument that just picking a Hispanic women is a form of Affirmative Action has been fearlessly spearheaded by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and other unrestrained commentators that have positioned themselves as the unofficial official spokespersons of the Republican Party.

Can you blame me for asking?

So please, if you are reading this, and you happen to be a Republican, let me know. Are you all a bunch of completely out-of-touch cold-hearted bigots? Or am I just reading too much into your party's handling of Sonia Sotomayor nomination. I'm begging you, please lay these concerns to rest. Because the people leading your organization aren't helping.

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Right Wing Radio Running Scared?

It’s almost sad how Right Wing Radio has been hunkered down in defensive mode for the past few months. Granted, they’re always in a perpetual state of self-appointed persecution, which is bound to happen when you spend the majority of your time insulting callers, smearing opponents, spreading misinformation, and downright lying to your audience. But lately, things are getting downright dangerous.

It all started back in April, when Imus bad mouthed the wrong black female basketball team and lost his job due to a sudden lack of advertising revenue. Racial slurs always guarantee you the most airtime (Just ask Kramer), and everybody gleefully ganged up on the sickly looking elderly cowboy wannabe in an effort to see who was more righteous and socially relevant.

Oddly enough, as soon as the words “Hate Speech” and “Talk Radio” starting cropping up, the world as a whole nearly gave itself whiplash looking over at the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly, Coulter… the list is so long, it didn’t really take long to find a name whose angry ranting made Imus’ little ‘hoe’ slip up pale in comparison.

The spokespersons for Right Wing Radio, Right Wing Radio themselves, snapped into action by immediately blaming the ‘Left Wing Media’ for singling them out. They cried that they were the victims, and warned that the people criticizing them just wanted to control what you hear and think. They then held up the defunct Fairness Doctrine, warning that if the American public wasn’t careful, the LWM would bring it back. The warning backfired, however, as a rather large group of people shrugged and wondered why that would be an overly bad thing.

That’s where the waters get muddy, because they can’t tell the real reason the Fairness Doctrine sends a shiver down their spine. Forcing equal air time for these Right Wing Blowhards would essentially force them to debate their opponents. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but to people who have built their careers and reputations on a firm foundation of uncontested lies and misinformation, the presence of an educated opponent that you can’t shout over or cut the microphone on threatens the very fabric of their false cloak of legitimacy. The foundation on which the giant Talk Radio Empire has been built can be easily taken down by simply forcing it to adhere to the rules of an average high school debate team, and they know it.

Fortunately for them, the fires started by such minor racial slurs may blaze bright, but they burn out quickly. Things seemed to be getting back to normal recently, and Right Wing Talk Radio had settled back into its comfortable pattern of slandering Democratic Politicians and pretending that no one knows Lieberman is going to defect to the Right by 2008. Then, just when you thought it was safe to sing “Obama, the Magic Negro,” a report from the Center for American Progress titled "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio" told us what we already knew; 91% of the total daily talk radio programming is conservative. They also told us something that a lot of people probably didn’t know; 257 of the Right-leaning news/talk stations are owned by five organizations: Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Citadel Broadcasting, Cumulus Media and Salem Communications.

Lord Limbaugh and his Errant Knights quickly leapt into action and declared victim status for themselves yet again. But the role of underdog is hard to assume when your legion of mouthpieces are all leashed by the same handful of corporate masters, and the Fairness Doctrine is once again the bogeyman of the day. Only this time, instead of screaming Freedom of Speech, the fall back argument has become the Free Market. This is America, the eagerly point out, and the Free Market always works things out. If people don’t really like Hannity and his ilk, they can easily listen to something else. Of course, the ‘listen to something else’ argument tends to fall flat when your owners have a stranglehold on the market so there isn’t anything else to listen to.

The Free Market argument does hold some truth, but it’s a bitter pill to swallow when you consider that outrage and controversy trump substance and accuracy when it comes to ratings. The Fairness Doctrine may feel a bit heavy-handed, but maybe it’s a lesser evil than allowing our Nation’s political discourse to align itself with the same broadcast philosophies of Howard Stern and American Idol.

Maybe the Right Wing Radio focus is just another distraction from the true culprit here, which is that the institutions that were once dedicated to seeking out the truth and reporting it to the people are now more dedicated to ratings sweeps and shareholders, or even more frighteningly, media robber barons doing their best to deliver their own ideological message while sidestepping the long-forgotten monopoly laws.