Political Theatre category archive

Afraid of a few men in orange.

Cenk Uygur sums it up so I don’t have to.

To prevent things like California’s self-induced spiral towards self-destruction.

At Scientific Blogging, Dr. Randy Borum of the Univ. of South Florida considers a typology of extremism. The whole thing is worth a read:

My overly simplistic rendering suggested four main ideological structures, which I summarized with the acronym PATH:

• Polarized: The essence of which is an us vs them mindset, or what some would regard as in-group – out-group conflict.
• Absolutist: The beliefs are regarded as truth in the absolute sense, sometimes supported by sacred authority. This squelches questioning, critical thinking, and dissent. It also adds moral authority to framing us vs. them as a competition between good and bad (or evil).
• Threat-Oriented: External threat causes in-groups to cohere. Good leaders know this intuitively, if not from reading social psychological research. They persistently remind adherents that the “us” is at risk from the “them.” Because the “us” is seen as being good or right in the absolute sense, this works not only to promote internal cohesion but external opposition.
• Hateful: Hate energizes violent action. It allows principled opposition to impel direct action. It also facilitates various mechanisms of moral disengagement – such as dehumanization – which erode the social and psychological barriers to engaging in violence that one believes is “justified” (an important point, since many more people endorse the justification for extremist violence than actually commit such acts).

Looks at lot like a formula for success as a wingnut talk radio host, does it not?

Another edition of What Digby Said.

Excerpt:

I first noticed the right’s successful use of phony sanctimony and faux outrage back in the 90’s when well-known conservative players like Gingrich and Livingston pretended to be offended at the president’s extramarital affair and were repeatedly and tiresomely “upset” about fund-raising practices they all practiced themselves. The idea of these powerful and corrupt adulterers being personally upset by White House coffees and naughty sexual behavior was laughable.

But they did it, oh how they did it, and it often succeeded in changing the dialogue and titillating the media into a frenzy of breathless tabloid coverage.

Madeleine Bunting in the Guardian. It’s about events in the UKofGBandNI, but it just as well be about events in the States:

Entitlement is the word that persists through the parallel story of the role in the financial crisis of the bonuses bankers awarded themselves. One banker claimed he was entitled to his bonus because of the amount of wealth and jobs he created for the economy. But where does his entitlement stand when the wealth and jobs evaporate?

Afterthought: We know the answer to the question: He gets paid for performa–gag, choke, aarrrggghhhh.

No, it doesn’t.

But, even if it did, it is still evil.

CC examines the “but torture works” argument:

If you accept that logic, then you similarly have to accept that it would be equally defensible to torture a suspect’s family to get information. Maybe a suspect is a tough nut to crack. So you drag in his family, and torture his wife and children in front of him. Is that acceptable? Using the above logic, it would have to be, which puts the torture apologist in an increasingly awkward position.

(snip analogy about Neocons)

So why don’t we do that? Because it would be wrong. Simply put, it doesn’t matter if the end result is a good thing. That doesn’t justify the behaviour.

Addendum:

The Booman parses the Congressional hearings.

The Republican Party has abdicated any claim it may have once had on a moral stand of any sort.

Who’s ahead in the clubhouse turn?

Vote here.

H/T Karen for the link.

A retrospective.

Blue Dogs run wild. Follow the link for the full story:

Overall, Blue Dogs submitted more than 2,500 individual earmarks totaling some $20 billion. That underscores the conflict between their eagerness to bring federal money home and the coalition’s criticism of the budget as laden with pork.

Their motto, apparently:

Cut spending. But NIMBY.

Fox News, the Izvestiya of Wingnuttery.

First the “after,” then the “before”:

The Booman on the wingnut campaign against ACORN. ACORN has been excoriated for hiring convicted criminals and for submitting incorrect or duplicate voter registration cards.

What the wingnuts always leave out is that ACORN, as a community service organization, is, as part of its mission, giving released convicts a second chance and trying its best to identify improperly completed voter registration cards and flag them for review and exclusion:

ACORN hires felons because felons need work. If they don’t get work they will be sorely tempted to revert back to a life of crime. I can’t believe it is appropriate to use their work-release program (which is a public service) as probable cause to raid their offices. And those 300 fraudulent registration cards? They’re supposed to get weeded out by the staff before they are submitted to the Board of Elections. But, in some states, ACORN is required to turn in any and all cards they receive. In that case, they try to bundle the ones they consider suspect in a pile.

Fundamental to the campaign against ACORN and similar groups is the Republican Party’s conviction that, the more they can keep persons from the polls, the better their chances.

Dick Polman parses the fundamentals of Republicanism. Detailed analysis at the link:

The party right now has no coherent message, aside from “Do Not Offend Rush Limbaugh.”

Giving into an overwhelming compulsion to keep running into a brick wall.

Secession? Did I Say Secession?
By Madeleine Begun Kane

My Texas is quite independent,
Said Rick Perry — secession-defendant.
Then he called for the feds
To send anti-flu meds.
With hypocrisy Perry’s resplendent.

Republican Economic Theory reductio ad absurdum: Victimize the Victim Dept. Darryl Pease on the proposal in Florida that applicants for unemployment pee in a cup and pay for the bathroom privileges:

Q. But we’re in the worst recession in decades! Is it really a wise time to force people who’ve been laid off, through no fault of their own, to prove they’re not drug addicts?

A. Wise is such a relative term. Remember, many states – like Florida – are running low on unemployment funds. That’s why the bill’s sponsor proposed that jobless folks pay the $30 cost of the mandatory drug tests. That way, it’s not an unfunded mandate.

Q. You’re making this up, right? Are these lawmakers smoking crack?

A. Oh, no. As counterintuitive as their plans sound, these legislators are really the only ones who are facing up to the fact that we have a serious unemployment problem.

Q. C’mon. Who doesn’t know that?

A. I don’t mean the jobless rate. I’m referring to the unemployed themselves. They’re always caterwauling for unemployment checks, job training and – well – jobs. It’s time we take a stand.

Morans.

The Virginia State Police attempt to justify their existence by painting the Hampton Roads area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton, Chesapeake–historically centers of slightly to the right of center moderation, making them “liberal” by Virginia standards) as a hotbed for potential terrorist recruitment because (gasp!) it has colleges and military. (Including two “historically black” colleges and Regents University, which hasn’t been around long enough to be historically anything, but was created by Pat Robertson.)

Yeah. Right. Paranoia based on prejudice does not make for security.

Details below the Fold

The Republican Party used to have room for moderates. They were right-of-center, sure, but, they could reason, be reasoned with, and, when appropriate, compromise for the good of the nation.

Not any more.

The Wayward Episcopalian on the Specter party switch. The whole post is worth reading, but this is the clincher:

When I say I’m a fan of balanced government, I assume that both the parties in question are rational, respectable entities. That’s just not the case right now, given the state of the current Republican Party. Go ahead, smash them. Hopefully the phoenix that arises from the ashes would be something with moderates like David Brooks and the moderate Maine duo on its left and respectful conservatives like Chuck Hagel, Lindsay Graham, and Mike Huckabee on its right, with the authoritarian fundamentalist right-wing stuck in a third-party lurch. This is unlikely, but there’s no way I’m going to settle for giving Eric Cantor and Sarah Palin a dominant voice. Until the GOP gets its act together, bring on the Arlen Specters.

Poliblog summarizes the reasons for Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democratic Party. Follow the link for the details:

1) Being in the majority beats being in the minority. . . .

2) Even better: losing in the primary really stinks (especially for an incumbent) . . . .

3) PA is a solidly Democratic state . . . .

It’s all about Arlen.

I remember listening to KYW on the skip when I was a kid, shortly after it moved from Cleveland to Philadelphia. Arlen was the crusading young Philadelphia district attorney.

A lot of time has passed since then. He’s not a district attorney, he gave up crusading long ago, and he certainly isn’t young.

He’s spent the last eight years talking moderate and voting right(wing, that is). The best that one can expect is that, as a Democrat, he might talk moderate and vote moderate. But he’s smart enough to realize that even a lukewarmed over moderate doesn’t have a prayer of winning a primary among the kooks and wierdos who are what’s left of the Republican Party, long may it wither.

John Cole:

And now, after bitching about the most bloatedest budget proposal evah, after months of masturbatory tea parties and chants of porkulus, when asked what cuts the Republicans would like to make, the answer, as always, is “We’ll get back to you.”

This is government by frat boy smooth talk- there is no situation you can’t just bullshit your way through. Wreck dad’s BMW after doing 17 shots of Patron at the strip club? No problem, just call dad and the lawyers will get back to you.