March, 2011 archive

A Colorado Republican considers the condition of her party and is disturbed. It is actually a pretty good description of the difference between today’s Republican Party and yesterdays.

She concludes that Republicans have become bullies. A nugget (emphasis added):

Somewhere along the road, Republicans lost their way. The party allowed just one group to act as our mouthpiece in exchange for a strong base of activists. It was a successful strategy for a few election cycles, but it ultimately damaged the Republican brand.

Instead of serving as the party that embraced fiscal restraint, limited government, and personal responsibility, Republicans morphed into the party that pointed fingers at wide swaths of the population, squinted our eyes, and put our hands on our hips, and said, as if in the schoolyard, “We don’t like you.”

And Colorado Republicans may be the biggest playground bullies of all.

Are you pro-life? Are you pro-sanctity of marriage? Are you pro-death penalty? Do you support the deportation of an estimated 12 million illegal aliens? If the answer to any of these questions is no or is nuanced, you are a RINO — a Republican in name only.

The bully theory, the party of “my way or I won’t play,” seems to be consistent with their behavior.

I recommend the column, particularly for those who consider themselves Republican because they’ve been life-long Republicans, by gum.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

American foreign policy, via Comically Vintage.

I was talking with my brother the other day about Libya.

Neither one of it thinks much of the US shouldering its way into another country, though probably not for the same reasons. We did not discuss our personal reasons and neither one of us pretends to be a foreign policy expert steeped in the tortuous ways of realpolitik, international version–I don’t even play one on the internet; I’m just a loudmouth with a website.

We did agree that this has more to do with pulling other countries’ chestnuts out of the fire than it does with direct US interests, specifically, chestnuts belonging to France, the UK, and the members of the Arab League.

Consequently, I find Noz’s thoughts interesting, since he knows much more than I on this topic. A nugget:

. . . when asked why the u.s. is bombing libya and not syria, secretary of state clinton can’t just say, “libya is the low hanging fruit.” military campaigns are always wrapped up in moral language. this operation is allegedly to protect civilians in rebel-held areas. i do think that is one of the actual motives behind the bombing, but just one of them. so is the fact that other countries that the u.s. has important ties with don’t like qadhafi and would like to see him go. it’s hard for the administration to say out loud that we are doing something in libya because an absolute monarch sitting on top of the world’s largest oil reserve gave his blessing to that operation and it is very unlikely that he would give the same blessing for syria. it’s also hard to say that syria is next to iraq and israel and bombing syria will have large negative repercussions in those countries that the u.s. has already invested so much.

Bonus Link:

His take on “doctrine’s” is a hoot. Accurate, also.

When doctrinificating becomes

to every President there is a doctrine,
turn, turn, turn.

it has achieved silliness.

Freedom of speech means the freedom to speak the party line.

Free market place of ideas indeed. Can’t have that.

A free enterprise think tank in Michigan — backed by some of the biggest names in national conservative donor circles — has made a broad public records request to at least three in-state universities with departments that specialize in the study of labor relations, seeking all their emails regarding the union battle in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, TPM has learned.

Wingnut thought police. Only wingnut thoughts are permitted.