Political Theatre category archive

Via Job’s Anger.

Via Balloon Juice.

(Emphasis added.)

. . . what the NHampsters refer to as “tourism.” One of the richest “tourist” lodes is the quadrennial presidential Running of the Candidates, . . . .

AKA, “running of the bullshit.”

Follow the link.

Froma Harrop marvels at the myth of the middle:

Some time ago, I heard a power company executive arguing that humans have played no role in global warming. Actually, he went further, “demonstrating” that global warming isn’t even happening. (This is often done by cherry-picking dates to start with an unusually warm year.) He ended by spreading his arms and beseeching us in his common-sense voice, “Can’t we meet in the sensible middle?”

To which I thought, “If I say the moon is made of lunar rock and you say it is made of green cheese, is the ‘sensible middle’ that the moon is half lunar rock and half green cheese?”

That’s the problem with sensible middles. You can’t do the give-and-take without agreeing on facts.

Read it.

In the Guardian, Gustavo Arellano examines the efficacy of Republican outreach. He finds it less than prepossessing.

You gotta hand it to the Republican Party. When one of their own makes history in the diversity game – say, Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, Sarah Palin as a vice president nominee, or Ronald Reagan becoming our nation’s first actor president – that trailblazer is so noxious that their origin group largely disowns them, leaving the party to lick its affirmative-action wounds. That’s exactly what’s going to happen to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, the first-ever Latino Republicans to seriously campaign for their party’s presidential nomination (sorry, Ben Fernandez).

Juanita Jean.

Once again, a Libertarian is a Republican who is ashamed to admit it.

There is no such thing as a “humane” execution.

Most of the time, folks are sentenced to death, not because of what they have done, but because of who they are.

Certainly, the argument can be made that some deeds are so heinous that their perpetrators forfeit the right to live amongst society–I’ve made that argument myself–but I have realized that, until and unless the justice system stops getting it wrong over and over and over, the death penalty must end.

Via Alternet.

Take Dick Polman’s quiz on Hilary Derangement Syndrome.

My two or three regular readers will recall I was no fan of how she conducted her campaign in 2008, but I believe she redeemed herself with her conduct subsequent to the 2008 Democratic Convention and her competent and honorable service as Secretary of State.

Amanda Marcotte thinks the has found a method in the mads. Emphasis added:

It’s the libertarian thing: Paul gets fussy and starts throwing his pacifiers any time someone prods him over what exactly he means by this “libertarian” thing. Whether it’s when they’re prodding to find out where his supposed libertarianism conflicts with the Republican Party platform or whether it’s when they’re exposing the hypocrisy of a “libertarian” who opposes abortion rights and legalized same-sex marriage, Paul gets angry and insists that their job is to simply glide over any of these friction points.

In other words, Paul wants his “libertarianism” to be a cipher. He wants you to believe he’s a freedom-loving freedom freedomer, but doesn’t want you to actually know what he means by that, but instead to just assume that whatever his views are, they must align exactly with yours. As a strategy, it’s actually pretty smart. Paul wants younger, more independent voters to think he’s a different kind of Republican but he also wants older, more religious voters to think he’s the same kind of gay-hating, woman-suppressing Republican they prefer to vote for.

One more time: A Libertarian is a Republican who is ashamed to admit it.

Part One:

Part Two:

Via Kos.

Daniel Ruth eagerly anticipates Mario Rubio’s announcing his candidacy for the Presidency:

Unlike some of his opponents, Rubio can point to a significant piece of legislation he proposed that would have addressed sweeping immigration reform. Bold. Visionary. Courageous. That’s the good news.

But Rubio turned and ran away from his own bill — immigration reform, what immigration reform? — once the tea party crowd started getting all twitchy. Now there’s a profile in quivering for you. And this guy thinks he can stare down Vladimir Putin?