Political Theatre category archive

It is time to pour wind on oily waters.

Teacherken explains.

The surprising thing is . . .

“Our very way of life is under siege,” said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. “It’s time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are.”

According to Mortensen—an otherwise mild-mannered husband, father, and small-business owner—the most serious threat to his fanciful version of the 222-year-old Constitution is the attempt by far-left “traitors” to strip it of its religious foundation.

“Right there in the preamble, the authors make their priorities clear: ‘one nation under God,'” said Mortensen, attributing to the Constitution a line from the Pledge of Allegiance, which itself did not include any reference to a deity until 1954. “Well, there’s a reason they put that right at the top.”

. . . this doesn’t sound like someone had to make it up, does it?

Not being a West Virginian, I don’t have much of an opinion of him one way or the other.

Ed Edroso and Rude Pundit (warning: language) probably have the most balanced comments I’ve seen on his life at the time of his death.

He was the last of a generation.

From the local rag:

To protest of offshore drilling and to promote clean energy, about 1,000 people held hands along the Oceanfront on Saturday.

The event was part of an international campaign called Hands Across the Sand. In Virginia Beach, the event at 31st Street attracted participants with signs and petitions. Starting at noon, the line stretched from 31st Street to 22nd Street with a few gaps, and participants shuffled down the beach and held hands.

“I’m very, very excited. In my book, it was 100 percent successful,” said Eileen Levandoski, organizer of the Virginia events. “This was phenomenal, the fact that we were able to pull this off in the first place.”

From my position, I did not realize how far the line stretched. There were other events at other local beaches, as well as throughout the country.

Read more »

Succintly summarized by the Steven D. in a piece on BP’s wild well:

. . . when you drown the government in a bathtub, it gets hard to find anyone capable of cleaning the bathtub up when someone makes a big mess.

Steve M. muses on movements, marketing, and magickal thinking.

(If you have not seen this one before, do not skip it.)

Via the Richmonder.

Steve Benen on Bobby Jindal’s fantasy world:

The governor (Jindal) asked President Obama two months ago to authorize the use of 6,000 National Guard troops for the disaster, and the president immediately agreed. Jindal, however, only deployed 1,053 — less than a fifth.

When CBS asked why, Jindal said he’s forbidden from deploying more because it’s up to “the Coast Guard and BP” to “authorize individual tasks.”

In reality, Jindal is either deeply confused about something he should understand, or he was lying. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the national incident commander, said unequivocally that there is “nothing standing in the governor’s way from utilizing more National Guard troops.”

Either he does not understand his job or he does not understand facts.

Video at the link.

Hands across the Sand.

Via Steve Benen.

Aside: Fact Check dot org report:

Steele’s reference to “Main Street” was edited out. Frankly, I think that, as far as Republicans are concerned, Wall Street is synonymous the main street, but full disclosure and all that.

Michael Tomasky meditates on race and American political party identification in the light of recent Republican primary results in which a Sikh and an African American both won over white guys. A nugget:

Conservatives want to use these examples to say see, we’re not racists, and on the level of personal belief I suppose that’s completely fair up to a point. But then I think of the guy who called in when I was on C-SPAN who called Obama “a n—-r piece of–” before he got cut off. I’m not saying that guy is representative of conservatism. But he ain’t no lone wolf, either. This suggests that ideology trumps race, doesn’t it? If I’m a right-winger and I see Tim Scott, I see a brave man who has stood up to peer pressure and cultural pressure and declared his independence from a host of bromides. If I’m a right-winger and I see Barack Obama, I see someone I hate. Neither assessment is racial in the first instance, but in the latter case, Obama’s race becomes one more thing not to like about him.

I said last year that we had probably missed the boat in Afghanistan. The United States invaded that country because Osama bin Laden was there; then the chase for Bin Laden got abandoned for the Bushie Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq.

I agreed with President Obama when he said, during the campaign, that we should have finished Afghanistan and not started Iraq. But we didn’t and we did.

It’s been almost a decade and apparently bin Laden has abandoned Afghanistan.

The boat has sailed.

Now, it seems that the United States (and my son) are in Afghanistan (my son for the second time) for no other reason than that we are in Afghanistan.

Catch 22. It’s the best catch there is.

Cynthia Tucker in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

But the general’s sniping also makes clear what many critics of Obama’s Afghanistan policy have been saying for months now: the war isn’t going well. Indeed, it may be unwinnable. If McChrystal were winning, it’s unlikely he’d be freely sniping about his superiors to a reporter.

Anti-immigrant hysteria claims another town:

Under ordinance 5165, which passed in a special election yesterday, undocumented immigrants in Fremont (Nebraska–ed.) will lose the right to rent homes and take up jobs. A new system of licences for property and business will be introduced to catch out those without proper resident status.

The measure was passed on a turn-out of 45% of the population, with 3,906 in favour and 2,908 against.

Fremont has relatively few immigrants: in a 2008 census, 4.4% of its 25,000 population were recorded as foreign born, compared with the national figure of 12.6%. Most are Hispanics.

Brendan asks a question.

Yesterday, I was idly wondering something similar myself. Applying that label to someone today is the all-purpose make-thought-stop-make-knees-jerk insult of our time.

Details here.

Via Skippy.

There is nothing new about teabaggers.

Teabagging is not a movement; it’s a publicity campaign. As a publicity campaign, it has succeeded: it’s attracted and distracted the media most skillfully.

As a movement, it is the same old elitist, corporatist, odiously-Southern-strategic right wing grounds dressed up in new flow-through bags.

From the Denver Post:

Tea Party activists have stormed the GOP state assembly, scrutinized candidates at forums across Colorado and regularly protested policies and politicians they dislike since first splashing into the political pool about 15 months ago.

What they haven’t done is deliver more voters to the GOP ranks, which have instead dwindled a bit and left the much-hyped movement’s impact on the general election even less clear.

This is really clever.

Via Mosquito Blog.

Meanwhile, in Backwards World, the Republican Party of BP is trying to label BP’s wild well a “natural disaster.”