This morning, on the Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends, personality Steve Doocy told viewers to get the coronavirus vaccine because it would “save your life” and noted that 99% of the people now dying from Covid-19 are unvaccinated.
As a Freshman in college at Texas A&M in 1978, the college newspaper ran only two opinion writers.
George Will and William F. Buckley
These two opinion writers swayed a large number of kids from Texas who came from farms to, ostensibly, improve their financial futures.
By the end of my four years, I was solidly Republican all the way to the Invasion of Iraq, where, I had previously been reading, for years, about the inspectors on the ground in Iraq and their work. I knew, from their reports to the U.N., that Saddam had no program in Nuclear Weapons, although, I thought he MIGHT have some of the leftover chemical weapons the United States gave him during the Iraq/Iran war. If anyone remembers, the USA supported Saddam Hussein in that war with weapons.
So, when Bush flew his big lie about weapons of mass destruction on the back of the credibility of the sadly sycophantic Colin Powell, I knew it was a lie.
By then, I had also googled the US deficit as a function of time and understood that all of the shrill proclamations by Ronald Reagan that he would "cut spending" were a lie and that he had burned up $2 Trillion in deficit spending (in 1986 dollars) after a long postwar period of responsible spending by every President. Including Jimmy Carter who not only ran a balanced budget but continued to pay down the postwar debt.
So, at the dawn of the Iraq invasion I understood that I had been duped by the Republican Party beginning with my reading of George Will and William F. Buckley's propaganda.
I exited the Republican Party and have been trying to shower off the dirt and grime and decay of my votes for Reagan, Bush I and Bush II (W).
It really is amazing what propaganda can do with the minds of sincere people who are reading that propaganda for the first time in cultures where those young people are surrounded by people that mostly tell the truth. When a big lie comes along, it is very hard to see.
It took me, a guy who appeared to everyone as intelligent, many, many years to shake off the propaganda and get to the truth.
Republicans foist big lies all the time, and, that started in earnest with Ronald Reagan's big lie of "cutting spending".
Reagan never did cut any spending, never meant to cut spending and lied about cutting spending for 8 years.
As a wife, mother, sister, and daughter of Aggies, and a life-long Texas resident, my journey is very similar to yours. I never voted for a Democratic president until Obama’s 2nd term….read Buckley and all…even listened to Rush. After much discussion, reading, and thinking I came to see the dirt, grime, and decay that has surrounded our country for most of my life. My husband and I feel like strangers in a strange land here in SE Texas, and most of my friends think I have gone off the deep end. While watching Morning Joe this morning, Kevin McCarthy, when asked by reporters if he and the the former discussed his choices for the January 6th committee. He said no. That simple statement which I believe to be an outright lie, sums up everything to me. Lies….”An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those that do”. It’s the lies upon lies…outright lies….tolerated lies...that cause me the most pain, anger, sense of helplessness, disgust…….
Well Deborah. In what McCarthy has shown us, he didn’t lie when he said there was no discussion of choices for the committee. The former gave him the list of 5 and that was that. McCarthy slithered out then back to his office to announce “his” picks.
I registered as Repub only because my folks were & knew no better! From then on voted for Dems, but did finally switch after TFG was elected - what a shocker that was and quite honestly STILL is. Hope there are lots of Repubs out there who have seen the light because will need them in 22 and even more in 24!
I have a similar History with the Republican Party except my family was solid Republican and I was just a Republican by assumption and inheritance.
But my allegiance to the party brought me into conflict when I studied History and Government at UB in the late 1950’s. The incredible role of Government under FDR was irresistible and irrefutable evidence the party clung to discounted theory was obvious.
But when Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy with huge party support in Philadelphia,Mississippi, where the three civil rights martyrs were lynched ended the party for me.
Since then what was mostly antipathy has grown to downright antagonism as I have watched the Party founded by Abe Lincoln promote disastrous candidates, downright racist promotions and feeble economic theory.
I think as a former Republican I have seen the party disintegrate itself to satisfy the ignorant and the prejudiced. It seems, during this Pandemic, with the ridiculous acceptance of sickness and death rather than vaccines the party members ascribe to this macabre reality.
It takes a person with a set of critical thinking skills to be able to say "hey, wait a minute; it isn't exactly like that". Thank you for both the "come around" and your story about it.
Well, Mike, we all can hope that a lot more people like you have the good sense to abandon the mythology that Republicans give a damn about the public health, safety and the commonwealth. It's all being played out over the absurd "freedom-of-choice" statements made by Republicans nationwide, by the vote suppression measures, and by opposing teaching Black history. Reminds me of the cartoon .... some dimwit teacher, adhering to the new politically correct version of history, is at the podium speaking, with a large sign "Slavery Chapter": "After getting free passage to American, they immediately received jobs!" And so it goes.
Thank goodness i had a teacher who brought history alive with humor and personal stories! But the others only made us memorize dates of wars and peace treaties, land acquisitions, names of generals…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thank you. The story supports HCR's observation that in 1980, driven by William F. Buckley's well written nonsense, the Republican Party was "solidly" in the hands of people who demonized everyone but their corporate donors. At that time, everyone but their corporate donors was defined as "Communists".
To add: I can see myself, now at 61, in the long arc of HCR's historical summary. I was fooled by William F. Buckley's writings. Now, in retrospect, I wonder what college administrator chose George Will and William F. Buckley as those writers who would meld our young minds to the Republican Party?
The Republican obsession with branding everybody but rich donors as "Communists" reaches further back than St. Raygun. My late father, WWII veterans of the submarine war in the Pacific, was an Eisenhower Republican, his younger brother a foaming at the mouth Bircher, who got sucked into their perfidy around 1960. The closest they ever came to actual blows was the day my Uncle called President Eisenhower a Communist. I think I was around 14 at the time.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing this. Unfortunately, the second you turn on your computers the slime starts pouring out. The gullible are defenseless against Republican lies. The American spine is crumbling.
Mr. Watson, thank you for reading. I appreciate your time and observation.
I never had time for Facebook when I was working, and, now that I am "retired", but, own a small farm in upstate NY, I remain somewhat distracted from activity that is not some form of education. HCR's page is one of only three entities I interact with online. 1) NY Times, 2) HCR daily writing, 3) two motorcycle forums, one for Kawasaki, one for Suzuki, mostly associated with mechanic work I do on my aging motorcycles. 4) The Department of Environment Conservations Reforestation efforts which I am a part of. :-)
Everyone involved in the above four on-line entities is polite, helpful and I learn something when I participate.
Facebook, honestly, since they don't have much on history, mechanics of motorcycles, or any information on reforestation and invasive species management, which I am doing a lot of, well, I just never "took" to it so to speak.
I think it's a good point that what you'll find depends on where you look.( I apologize if I'm making a wrong assumption here, Mike S.) When HCR talked about online rudeness yesterday, I was thinking that I have heard of that, but have not seen it enough to really be concerned. I am bothered by comments such as the above that "the American spine is crumbling" because I think you'll see that if you look for it. I mean no disrespect Mr. Watson. I see a lot of nice people, a lot of concerned people, and I see a majority of people having voted for Biden. I see a majority of people supporting Biden's policies. And I believe, as the population grows older, and the aging Trump supporters (and Trump himself) succumb , that our majority will increase. Do I have hard evidence for this? No. But just because Trump supporters and anti-government folks have come out of the woodwork and are louder, does not mean there are more of them. I welcome thoughts here.
Kim, I think one of the crucial differences between Democrats and Republicans is that the Republican political machine is willing to out and out lie and drive their lies home using a sledge hammer. The Democrats, on the other hand are at a disadvantage because they lack the tendency to use hyperbole and theatrics. People who are willing to scream and shriek, with spittle flying and veins popping from their foreheads stir up anger, anxiety and fear. Somehow, Democrats need to develop a strong, cohesive and compelling message that penetrates the hard shell encasing the on the fence voters without stooping to hyperbole and scare tactics. A kumbaya moment will not suffice right now.
Overall, Democrats have been unwilling to speak truth to power. The few progressive Democrats that have spoken out are in the minority and they are "shouted" down.
The underlying problem in politics is the candidate that is well funded and cozies up to the wealthy are the ones that prevail more often than not. We all know that the progressives are the exceptions but their message is drowned out by the incessant cacophony of the "own the libs" fanatical right, and the own and paid for Democratic corporate centrists who are weakened by triangulating messaging.
I agree Democrats must unite with a compelling message of hope and prosperity for all. The goal should be to reverse income and wealth inequality and give everyone a livable wage and an opportunity to advance based on their merits and hard work. Some people can't be helped, but that doesn't mean their lives should be one of misery and destitution. There's plenty to go around and helping the most disadvantaged, helps everyone. That's a winning message that the wealthy don't want people to hear or believe in.
Don, you said, "I agree Democrats must unite with a compelling message of hope and prosperity for all". The sooner the better, too. The one advantage Republicans have over democrats is that, as a body, they are willing to stand behind and amplify any dubious message "crafted" by the former president, right wing pundits and lawmakers. Democrats and Progressives are wasting precious time. Midterms are not that far off and we, are not floating a strong cohesive message about anything.
Agreed Daria. And most disturbing is that people have been so brainwashed that they no longer act in their own self interest. We need a message that can overcome a relentless disinformation campaign. No small task.
Kim, I think that , yes, if I had a point, your observation is correct, in my comment about the four main sites I ever interact with.
Most of the folks I interact with are folks that mostly avoid overtly causing pain to others, and the websites I interact with are sort of associated with groups trying to accomplish something together or working on older mechanical systems where parts are hard to find.
In my real life of real people, well, I brought along a few people over the years that are my friends, my family, and fellow older guys (am 61) who started doing mechanical stuff as teenagers.
They are all polite because, well, who cannot love a Suzuki 199 SV650 with no EFI and no chips to go bad? Gotta smile when they see mine.
Not so fast, Randy. The American spine is still there: it just needs some muscle in the right places, and some galloping blah blah (ginko biloba) for the brains. The worst of us always gets in the news. The best of us voted Democrat in 2020.
Mike, sounds like you got to where you are today by looking at the data and thinking for yourself. Do you have any suggestions for how to get more people today who are being duped by propaganda to do the same? Educating them about the facts clearly isn't enough. They also have to think for themselves. That's the hurdle in front of social change.
You are correct. Correct in all aspects. Reagan lied, his dad was a drunk, as was his first wife. My boss Donald T. Regan figured it out and Nancy fired him. The GOP since Eisenhower, exception Ford, has lied. IKE lied about Gary Francis Powers and he chose Richard M. Nixon, a man he deeply mistrusted. He was threatened by Robert Taft.
It's interesting that you mention those two names.
George Will never made any sense to me. And I was blessed by never having encountered William F. Buckley, Jr. in my early life. The first time I saw him was just a few years back, in a televised "debate" between him and a very young Noam Chomsky: the most on-point comment in the whole interminable program was when Chomsky asked Buckley -- interrupting Buckley's interruption -- "Are you going to let me finish a sentence?" Buckley, in that interview, gave the appearance of a man on drugs, or at the least, very drunk.
Raised in a strong Republican family and some how I bent toward the liberal side of my mind. I have been alone in my native family ever since. They are conservatives, not in the Lincoln sense, though they don't realize such. Throughout my college years I followed Bill Buckley on Meet the Press (?) for his elegant arguing and later George Will after his divorce from Madaline. My reason for doing so was to track on conservative thought without having to dig through the babble coming across AM radio and the Chicago Trib. I think they kept me clear on the importance of the new deal and helped me grasp how important government was to enabling good but imperfect solutions to problems surrounding common goods, such as posed in the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's hopes. Nothing like a clearly articulated viewpoint (Buckley's rapier taunts) to force one to carefully articulate one's own, even if only to ones self. 24/7 media like Fox and MSN have too much chaf for my liking.
Yours is a rich and thoughtful assessment as always! Thank you! The first thing that popped into my head upon reading what Brian Kilmeade had said was: Really?!! Pray tell, then why, in your skewed view, is government allowed to control women's bodies?!!!
Nothing the pro-45 Republicans do or say shocks me anymore, but Kevin McCarthy's chutzpah is beyond belief -- putting forward the names of sideline mutineers and Big Lie paracletes to represent his party on the committee looking into the 6th Jan. insurrection! Good grief! What next? And when will they learn that their job is to improve things for their constituents rather than aim to disrupt every single bill put forward by the Democrats -- even after some have taken the credit for the advancements made by the opposition through the American Rescue Plan. Their hypocrisy boggles the mind!
I dont either - werent there 10 Repubs who DID agree to certify the election? Why not pick 5 of them. I hope Pelosi doesnt just go along with McCarthy.
Thank heavens Speaker Pelosi has the veto on McCarthy's appointments. I expect at least 2 will be rejected. The mental image of Jordan yelling & disrupting the process is horrifying.
As I said above, I am thinking more and more that they are not even hypocritical. Because they don't really care about anything but power. So everything they say, is just a campaign slogan. It's not what they believe or even care about. In that vein of thinking, I would love to have a really skilled interviewer sit down with Mitch or Jim Jordan or Lindsey and see what makes then cry. Ask about their childhood, their parents, their school, their children. Get to the heart of the people. They have hearts somewhere deep deep under the calloused layers. What happened to those hearts? What made them crave power and money to the point they support a man like Trump? My belief is that A LOT of people (my self included!) need therapy in this country.
Because they saw that the country was becoming so diverse that they would never win another election unless they rigged it, because they are rascists, because they were just waiting for someone like TFG to come along to allow them to vent anger at economic upheavals of recent years, and because they can. They are running with their emotions, not their minds, and their hearts were torn asunder years ago leaving them in pain and fear.
May I suggest: the publican of an interesting book, “Brown is the New White” by Steve Phillips, published in 2016. The sub-title must strike fear in Trump and Party’s minions:
“ How the Demographic Revolution has created a New American Majority”.
And we have all known ppl who continued to set aside their own best interest for the sake of digging in, like a 4 y/o who continues his tantrum after being told he’ll get his way after all.
Rowshan, in the (present) Republican view it is the primary function of government to protect personal property. Women are property, chattel, which must be controlled to be truly possessed.
We will all have to get used to this nightmare of social rescidivism from “The Handmaids Tale” if we are not effective in stopping it now.
Republicans are replete with endless hypocrisy. When you have a political party that has no other ideology beyond serving the needs and wants of their wealthy donors and "owning the libs" then lies, misinformation and hypocrisy are to be expected. Unfortunately, our political system is rigged for the minority to succeed. As HCR said, the Republicans have an easy job - obstruction wins the day.
Paraclete: Paraclete (Greek: παράκλητος, Latin: paracletus) means advocate or helper. In Christianity, the term "paraclete" most commonly refers to the Holy Spirit. Fun new word for me!
Rowshan, Great and deep down analogy regarding Republican duplicity with regard to 'freedom'. I think McCarthy performs for Trump and his base, fully aware of where his selections are going -- down, down, down!
Rowshan, This evening I learned that it is likely that Pelosi will accept McCarthy's choices for the Commission. She may believe that the commission can do its job with one or two bombs and, perhaps, wants to avoid the political fallout from the Republicans if she rejects one or two. Pelosi is very capable. Of course, I hope she's right and that the Democrats aren't settling for a bad hand, which is something we are all too familiar with.
I hope that, as you say, "she's right," but my gut tells me that it's an exceedingly dicey move which might ruin the entire process. Keeping everything crossed!
So, if we're invaded by a foreign military, it's every citizen's personal choice what to do about it.
Whew! I'm glad that's settled. Now I understand why so many citizens are building personal armories in their homes. I thought it was because they were nuts.
We don't need the Defense Dept. anymore. Think of the savings! (Think of the unemployment!)
Yet these people think defense spending is the holiest of holies.
How much longer can this cognitive dissonance, this in-your-face insanity, keep going on?
Republicans have had the same game plan for the last 50 years; true, it has been more audacious the last 20 years, and the last four years have been flat-out full-blown fascism. It is hard to explain why the good can't overcome the evil, but when it's all about money and the wealthy have money to burn, it's easy for them to orchestrate a divide and conquer strategy to gain complete control over our lives.
As HCR said, "all the Republicans have to do is stop the Democrats." All they have to do is vilify the majority of the population to succeed. So, to answer your question Ralph the insanity could go on indefinitely, I suppose, but the heart and soul of the country are so broken, I fear we are rapidly coming to a disastrous end.
The fact that 600,000 Americans have died as the result of primarily Republican-led malfeasance, and there is no uproar, speaks volumes about our dire situation! What's worse is that profound changes in politics, governing, the Constitution, and most of all our laissez-faire capitalistic system must take place for there to be any hope of solving and correcting the greatest threats to mankind's survival. Going forward, I fear it will be too little, too late. Between now and then, we'll be locked in an endless blame game devoid of facts and common sense.
The Preamble to the Constitution describes civilization. There must be constraints on behavior to protect the vulnerable or NO ONE is safe. Everyone is only an accident or illness away from being helpless. The R’s want the wild, Wild West where anything goes. The people who occupy today’s R party are NOT the party of Lincoln; they have a mindset like the old south planters. Freedom does not mean I have the right to take advantage of my neighbor in order to advance my own ends.
Evidently if you can lie, cheat, steal and rape, and "even shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it", and have complicit police, complicit judges, and brainwashed followers, that's exactly what it means. You can do, whatever the hell you want.
In the right's worldview, the Pentagon budget is to protect commerce and private property and support corporations that produce arms. Also DARPA is for basic research that for-profit corporations can then exploit.
"Brian Kilmeade answered that not getting the vaccine is a personal choice and that the government has no role in protecting the population. “That’s not their job. It’s not their job to protect anybody,” he said." It looks like we have found who really wants to defund the police. It is Brian Kilmeade and those who share his views.
Ha! Good point! The party of hypocrisy. Although I'm not even sure that's true. It just looks true. They really don't care about anything but staying in power it seems. Arguing about funding the police is just a useful campaign slogan.
Look he has a contract with a performance clause that gives him more compensation based on the number of dumb shit things he says. Simple motivation /s
The foxes are going to serve on the committee to protect the hen house? As far as I can see Jim Jordan and his comrades should be charged with insurrection.
I’m disgusted at the vision I have from the past of Jim Jordan wrestling coach par excellence hell bent on disrupting this important work— I hope whoever is moderating the forum is very strict with time limits.
As a Freshman in college at Texas A&M in 1978, the college newspaper ran only two opinion writers.
George Will and William F. Buckley
These two opinion writers swayed a large number of kids from Texas who came from farms to, ostensibly, improve their financial futures.
By the end of my four years, I was solidly Republican all the way to the Invasion of Iraq, where, I had previously been reading, for years, about the inspectors on the ground in Iraq and their work. I knew, from their reports to the U.N., that Saddam had no program in Nuclear Weapons, although, I thought he MIGHT have some of the leftover chemical weapons the United States gave him during the Iraq/Iran war. If anyone remembers, the USA supported Saddam Hussein in that war with weapons.
So, when Bush flew his big lie about weapons of mass destruction on the back of the credibility of the sadly sycophantic Colin Powell, I knew it was a lie.
By then, I had also googled the US deficit as a function of time and understood that all of the shrill proclamations by Ronald Reagan that he would "cut spending" were a lie and that he had burned up $2 Trillion in deficit spending (in 1986 dollars) after a long postwar period of responsible spending by every President. Including Jimmy Carter who not only ran a balanced budget but continued to pay down the postwar debt.
So, at the dawn of the Iraq invasion I understood that I had been duped by the Republican Party beginning with my reading of George Will and William F. Buckley's propaganda.
I exited the Republican Party and have been trying to shower off the dirt and grime and decay of my votes for Reagan, Bush I and Bush II (W).
It really is amazing what propaganda can do with the minds of sincere people who are reading that propaganda for the first time in cultures where those young people are surrounded by people that mostly tell the truth. When a big lie comes along, it is very hard to see.
It took me, a guy who appeared to everyone as intelligent, many, many years to shake off the propaganda and get to the truth.
Republicans foist big lies all the time, and, that started in earnest with Ronald Reagan's big lie of "cutting spending".
Reagan never did cut any spending, never meant to cut spending and lied about cutting spending for 8 years.
As a wife, mother, sister, and daughter of Aggies, and a life-long Texas resident, my journey is very similar to yours. I never voted for a Democratic president until Obama’s 2nd term….read Buckley and all…even listened to Rush. After much discussion, reading, and thinking I came to see the dirt, grime, and decay that has surrounded our country for most of my life. My husband and I feel like strangers in a strange land here in SE Texas, and most of my friends think I have gone off the deep end. While watching Morning Joe this morning, Kevin McCarthy, when asked by reporters if he and the the former discussed his choices for the January 6th committee. He said no. That simple statement which I believe to be an outright lie, sums up everything to me. Lies….”An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those that do”. It’s the lies upon lies…outright lies….tolerated lies...that cause me the most pain, anger, sense of helplessness, disgust…….
Well Deborah. In what McCarthy has shown us, he didn’t lie when he said there was no discussion of choices for the committee. The former gave him the list of 5 and that was that. McCarthy slithered out then back to his office to announce “his” picks.
First. Gig Em AGGIES.
😊
I am from around Palestine, Tx. But. I finally finished up school as Texas went into its oil and S&L disaster.
No jobs in TX pushed me up to Rochester.
Sometimes I miss my old hay hauling buddies and the culture of my youth down there.
All good guys.
I registered as Repub only because my folks were & knew no better! From then on voted for Dems, but did finally switch after TFG was elected - what a shocker that was and quite honestly STILL is. Hope there are lots of Repubs out there who have seen the light because will need them in 22 and even more in 24!
I have a similar History with the Republican Party except my family was solid Republican and I was just a Republican by assumption and inheritance.
But my allegiance to the party brought me into conflict when I studied History and Government at UB in the late 1950’s. The incredible role of Government under FDR was irresistible and irrefutable evidence the party clung to discounted theory was obvious.
But when Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy with huge party support in Philadelphia,Mississippi, where the three civil rights martyrs were lynched ended the party for me.
Since then what was mostly antipathy has grown to downright antagonism as I have watched the Party founded by Abe Lincoln promote disastrous candidates, downright racist promotions and feeble economic theory.
I think as a former Republican I have seen the party disintegrate itself to satisfy the ignorant and the prejudiced. It seems, during this Pandemic, with the ridiculous acceptance of sickness and death rather than vaccines the party members ascribe to this macabre reality.
Hap, the first sentence of your final paragraph dums up perfectly today's 'leading' Republicans.
Sums up....
you could apply the dums up to the Rs tho.
I love a good malapropism.
I like a good slit of the tongue.
Those 6 Jan. perpatraitors never get ‘em.
Feeble economic theory….well put.
It takes a person with a set of critical thinking skills to be able to say "hey, wait a minute; it isn't exactly like that". Thank you for both the "come around" and your story about it.
Critical thinking skills used to be taught in school when our stated objective was to create life long learners. *sigh*
Well, Mike, we all can hope that a lot more people like you have the good sense to abandon the mythology that Republicans give a damn about the public health, safety and the commonwealth. It's all being played out over the absurd "freedom-of-choice" statements made by Republicans nationwide, by the vote suppression measures, and by opposing teaching Black history. Reminds me of the cartoon .... some dimwit teacher, adhering to the new politically correct version of history, is at the podium speaking, with a large sign "Slavery Chapter": "After getting free passage to American, they immediately received jobs!" And so it goes.
Regarding teaching history: I spent a fair bit of time in history classes but I never really learned much at all.
Only later in life did my own interest drive a bit of learning.
Then. A friend of mine pointed me to something called “Letters from an American. Said I might like it.
First, I looked up HCR to see if she was really a Professor. She was. But. I saw a book “To Maje Men Free: A History of the Republican Party.
Reading that book is not for the faint of heart. It is dense and moves along.
But. When I finished I marveled at he Huge amount of history I had been completely ignorant about. Amazing really.
Now? I read her letter every day. I roped one of my sisters in too.
Thank goodness i had a teacher who brought history alive with humor and personal stories! But the others only made us memorize dates of wars and peace treaties, land acquisitions, names of generals…. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You think it’s a cartoon, but it’s actually taught that way in Texas textbooks.
Of course it is! But it's still a cartoon. :)
Thanks for writing. This is an important story.
Thank you. The story supports HCR's observation that in 1980, driven by William F. Buckley's well written nonsense, the Republican Party was "solidly" in the hands of people who demonized everyone but their corporate donors. At that time, everyone but their corporate donors was defined as "Communists".
To add: I can see myself, now at 61, in the long arc of HCR's historical summary. I was fooled by William F. Buckley's writings. Now, in retrospect, I wonder what college administrator chose George Will and William F. Buckley as those writers who would meld our young minds to the Republican Party?
The Republican obsession with branding everybody but rich donors as "Communists" reaches further back than St. Raygun. My late father, WWII veterans of the submarine war in the Pacific, was an Eisenhower Republican, his younger brother a foaming at the mouth Bircher, who got sucked into their perfidy around 1960. The closest they ever came to actual blows was the day my Uncle called President Eisenhower a Communist. I think I was around 14 at the time.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing this. Unfortunately, the second you turn on your computers the slime starts pouring out. The gullible are defenseless against Republican lies. The American spine is crumbling.
Mr. Watson, thank you for reading. I appreciate your time and observation.
I never had time for Facebook when I was working, and, now that I am "retired", but, own a small farm in upstate NY, I remain somewhat distracted from activity that is not some form of education. HCR's page is one of only three entities I interact with online. 1) NY Times, 2) HCR daily writing, 3) two motorcycle forums, one for Kawasaki, one for Suzuki, mostly associated with mechanic work I do on my aging motorcycles. 4) The Department of Environment Conservations Reforestation efforts which I am a part of. :-)
Everyone involved in the above four on-line entities is polite, helpful and I learn something when I participate.
Facebook, honestly, since they don't have much on history, mechanics of motorcycles, or any information on reforestation and invasive species management, which I am doing a lot of, well, I just never "took" to it so to speak.
I think it's a good point that what you'll find depends on where you look.( I apologize if I'm making a wrong assumption here, Mike S.) When HCR talked about online rudeness yesterday, I was thinking that I have heard of that, but have not seen it enough to really be concerned. I am bothered by comments such as the above that "the American spine is crumbling" because I think you'll see that if you look for it. I mean no disrespect Mr. Watson. I see a lot of nice people, a lot of concerned people, and I see a majority of people having voted for Biden. I see a majority of people supporting Biden's policies. And I believe, as the population grows older, and the aging Trump supporters (and Trump himself) succumb , that our majority will increase. Do I have hard evidence for this? No. But just because Trump supporters and anti-government folks have come out of the woodwork and are louder, does not mean there are more of them. I welcome thoughts here.
Kim, I think one of the crucial differences between Democrats and Republicans is that the Republican political machine is willing to out and out lie and drive their lies home using a sledge hammer. The Democrats, on the other hand are at a disadvantage because they lack the tendency to use hyperbole and theatrics. People who are willing to scream and shriek, with spittle flying and veins popping from their foreheads stir up anger, anxiety and fear. Somehow, Democrats need to develop a strong, cohesive and compelling message that penetrates the hard shell encasing the on the fence voters without stooping to hyperbole and scare tactics. A kumbaya moment will not suffice right now.
Overall, Democrats have been unwilling to speak truth to power. The few progressive Democrats that have spoken out are in the minority and they are "shouted" down.
The underlying problem in politics is the candidate that is well funded and cozies up to the wealthy are the ones that prevail more often than not. We all know that the progressives are the exceptions but their message is drowned out by the incessant cacophony of the "own the libs" fanatical right, and the own and paid for Democratic corporate centrists who are weakened by triangulating messaging.
I agree Democrats must unite with a compelling message of hope and prosperity for all. The goal should be to reverse income and wealth inequality and give everyone a livable wage and an opportunity to advance based on their merits and hard work. Some people can't be helped, but that doesn't mean their lives should be one of misery and destitution. There's plenty to go around and helping the most disadvantaged, helps everyone. That's a winning message that the wealthy don't want people to hear or believe in.
Don, you said, "I agree Democrats must unite with a compelling message of hope and prosperity for all". The sooner the better, too. The one advantage Republicans have over democrats is that, as a body, they are willing to stand behind and amplify any dubious message "crafted" by the former president, right wing pundits and lawmakers. Democrats and Progressives are wasting precious time. Midterms are not that far off and we, are not floating a strong cohesive message about anything.
Agreed Daria. And most disturbing is that people have been so brainwashed that they no longer act in their own self interest. We need a message that can overcome a relentless disinformation campaign. No small task.
Morning Diane, a FL friend. How about this message first which can then be followed with typical Dem grassroots messaging with little hyperbole.
“Kill the f-ing filibuster”.
Competing with the Reptiles is non-
productive. Think if the fable about the race between the tortoise and the hare.
Susan, you bring up a good point. Thank you.
Kim, I think that , yes, if I had a point, your observation is correct, in my comment about the four main sites I ever interact with.
Most of the folks I interact with are folks that mostly avoid overtly causing pain to others, and the websites I interact with are sort of associated with groups trying to accomplish something together or working on older mechanical systems where parts are hard to find.
In my real life of real people, well, I brought along a few people over the years that are my friends, my family, and fellow older guys (am 61) who started doing mechanical stuff as teenagers.
They are all polite because, well, who cannot love a Suzuki 199 SV650 with no EFI and no chips to go bad? Gotta smile when they see mine.
:-)
Not sure what that last paragraph meant, but I'll take your word for it! :)
Look for a group
Liberal Greybeard Bikers on Facebook
😂
Not so fast, Randy. The American spine is still there: it just needs some muscle in the right places, and some galloping blah blah (ginko biloba) for the brains. The worst of us always gets in the news. The best of us voted Democrat in 2020.
You are among MANY that were duped. My late husband made the big switchover in the 70's and never looked back.
Essentially correct. 100%.
Mike, sounds like you got to where you are today by looking at the data and thinking for yourself. Do you have any suggestions for how to get more people today who are being duped by propaganda to do the same? Educating them about the facts clearly isn't enough. They also have to think for themselves. That's the hurdle in front of social change.
You are correct. Correct in all aspects. Reagan lied, his dad was a drunk, as was his first wife. My boss Donald T. Regan figured it out and Nancy fired him. The GOP since Eisenhower, exception Ford, has lied. IKE lied about Gary Francis Powers and he chose Richard M. Nixon, a man he deeply mistrusted. He was threatened by Robert Taft.
It's interesting that you mention those two names.
George Will never made any sense to me. And I was blessed by never having encountered William F. Buckley, Jr. in my early life. The first time I saw him was just a few years back, in a televised "debate" between him and a very young Noam Chomsky: the most on-point comment in the whole interminable program was when Chomsky asked Buckley -- interrupting Buckley's interruption -- "Are you going to let me finish a sentence?" Buckley, in that interview, gave the appearance of a man on drugs, or at the least, very drunk.
What fun to fond these two wordsmiths face to face! Ghanks!
https://youtu.be/9DvmLMUfGss
Sadly, you are probably right. The content and interactions were informing for this liberal . Not the adherence to his viewpoints.
Raised in a strong Republican family and some how I bent toward the liberal side of my mind. I have been alone in my native family ever since. They are conservatives, not in the Lincoln sense, though they don't realize such. Throughout my college years I followed Bill Buckley on Meet the Press (?) for his elegant arguing and later George Will after his divorce from Madaline. My reason for doing so was to track on conservative thought without having to dig through the babble coming across AM radio and the Chicago Trib. I think they kept me clear on the importance of the new deal and helped me grasp how important government was to enabling good but imperfect solutions to problems surrounding common goods, such as posed in the Declaration of Independence and Lincoln's hopes. Nothing like a clearly articulated viewpoint (Buckley's rapier taunts) to force one to carefully articulate one's own, even if only to ones self. 24/7 media like Fox and MSN have too much chaf for my liking.
Dear Prof. HCR,
Yours is a rich and thoughtful assessment as always! Thank you! The first thing that popped into my head upon reading what Brian Kilmeade had said was: Really?!! Pray tell, then why, in your skewed view, is government allowed to control women's bodies?!!!
Nothing the pro-45 Republicans do or say shocks me anymore, but Kevin McCarthy's chutzpah is beyond belief -- putting forward the names of sideline mutineers and Big Lie paracletes to represent his party on the committee looking into the 6th Jan. insurrection! Good grief! What next? And when will they learn that their job is to improve things for their constituents rather than aim to disrupt every single bill put forward by the Democrats -- even after some have taken the credit for the advancements made by the opposition through the American Rescue Plan. Their hypocrisy boggles the mind!
THIS!!
"Pray tell, then why, in [Kilmeade's] skewed view, is government allowed to control women's bodies?!!! Why, indeed?!"
I find that a very good question - too bad the gal on that show didnt ask it. But then doubt shes allowed an opinion - especially a different one.
Seems to me like no one on the witness list should serve on the commission.
Amen!
I think I read that 2 or 3 of them DID vote to certify the election tho. Surprise, surprise!
2 of them did.
Well, I dont believe theres much point in installing election deniers on this commission. Especially if they encouraged the insurrection.
I think there is no point in the installing of any of former’s choices.
I dont either - werent there 10 Repubs who DID agree to certify the election? Why not pick 5 of them. I hope Pelosi doesnt just go along with McCarthy.
Like, Government 101. Shouldn't legislators have taken the class in high school?
Thank heavens Speaker Pelosi has the veto on McCarthy's appointments. I expect at least 2 will be rejected. The mental image of Jordan yelling & disrupting the process is horrifying.
As I said above, I am thinking more and more that they are not even hypocritical. Because they don't really care about anything but power. So everything they say, is just a campaign slogan. It's not what they believe or even care about. In that vein of thinking, I would love to have a really skilled interviewer sit down with Mitch or Jim Jordan or Lindsey and see what makes then cry. Ask about their childhood, their parents, their school, their children. Get to the heart of the people. They have hearts somewhere deep deep under the calloused layers. What happened to those hearts? What made them crave power and money to the point they support a man like Trump? My belief is that A LOT of people (my self included!) need therapy in this country.
Because they saw that the country was becoming so diverse that they would never win another election unless they rigged it, because they are rascists, because they were just waiting for someone like TFG to come along to allow them to vent anger at economic upheavals of recent years, and because they can. They are running with their emotions, not their minds, and their hearts were torn asunder years ago leaving them in pain and fear.
Racists
May I suggest: the publican of an interesting book, “Brown is the New White” by Steve Phillips, published in 2016. The sub-title must strike fear in Trump and Party’s minions:
“ How the Demographic Revolution has created a New American Majority”.
Too deep, too far gone. They are shell people now.
They act like old abused children who are ashamed abd being blackmailed.
Ohhh
I think you are right about them not being hypicritical - they are just money machines.
And we have all known ppl who continued to set aside their own best interest for the sake of digging in, like a 4 y/o who continues his tantrum after being told he’ll get his way after all.
Rowshan, in the (present) Republican view it is the primary function of government to protect personal property. Women are property, chattel, which must be controlled to be truly possessed.
We will all have to get used to this nightmare of social rescidivism from “The Handmaids Tale” if we are not effective in stopping it now.
Republicans are replete with endless hypocrisy. When you have a political party that has no other ideology beyond serving the needs and wants of their wealthy donors and "owning the libs" then lies, misinformation and hypocrisy are to be expected. Unfortunately, our political system is rigged for the minority to succeed. As HCR said, the Republicans have an easy job - obstruction wins the day.
Don, you are spot on.,
Doesn’t boggle my mind. It’s pure political oppositional intent. McCarthy does all to set himself up to take Pelosi’s gavel next year.
Good morning Riwshan!
Rowshan😁
And a very good morning to you, Christine!
Some clever young marketing people need to be saving all these sound bites for use in campaign ads in the near future.
Yes!
Someone said they need to grow up.
Paraclete: Paraclete (Greek: παράκλητος, Latin: paracletus) means advocate or helper. In Christianity, the term "paraclete" most commonly refers to the Holy Spirit. Fun new word for me!
Yes, I looked it up as well. It looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't have defined it.
Talk about putting foxes in charge of the henhouse...this one takes the prize.
Rowshan, Great and deep down analogy regarding Republican duplicity with regard to 'freedom'. I think McCarthy performs for Trump and his base, fully aware of where his selections are going -- down, down, down!
Rowshan, This evening I learned that it is likely that Pelosi will accept McCarthy's choices for the Commission. She may believe that the commission can do its job with one or two bombs and, perhaps, wants to avoid the political fallout from the Republicans if she rejects one or two. Pelosi is very capable. Of course, I hope she's right and that the Democrats aren't settling for a bad hand, which is something we are all too familiar with.
I hope that, as you say, "she's right," but my gut tells me that it's an exceedingly dicey move which might ruin the entire process. Keeping everything crossed!
I feel exactly as you do.
Gym Jordan? Are you effing kidding me?
So, if we're invaded by a foreign military, it's every citizen's personal choice what to do about it.
Whew! I'm glad that's settled. Now I understand why so many citizens are building personal armories in their homes. I thought it was because they were nuts.
We don't need the Defense Dept. anymore. Think of the savings! (Think of the unemployment!)
Yet these people think defense spending is the holiest of holies.
How much longer can this cognitive dissonance, this in-your-face insanity, keep going on?
Republicans have had the same game plan for the last 50 years; true, it has been more audacious the last 20 years, and the last four years have been flat-out full-blown fascism. It is hard to explain why the good can't overcome the evil, but when it's all about money and the wealthy have money to burn, it's easy for them to orchestrate a divide and conquer strategy to gain complete control over our lives.
As HCR said, "all the Republicans have to do is stop the Democrats." All they have to do is vilify the majority of the population to succeed. So, to answer your question Ralph the insanity could go on indefinitely, I suppose, but the heart and soul of the country are so broken, I fear we are rapidly coming to a disastrous end.
The fact that 600,000 Americans have died as the result of primarily Republican-led malfeasance, and there is no uproar, speaks volumes about our dire situation! What's worse is that profound changes in politics, governing, the Constitution, and most of all our laissez-faire capitalistic system must take place for there to be any hope of solving and correcting the greatest threats to mankind's survival. Going forward, I fear it will be too little, too late. Between now and then, we'll be locked in an endless blame game devoid of facts and common sense.
I am more optimistic, Don, though I can see no evidence why I should be.
Thanks for such a thoughtful response to my post.
Ralph, as long as Republicans stoke fear and anger, they can short circuit critical thinking. This madness is deliberate.
Ralph, Quite a long time, I'm afraid. Nothing faster than stupid.
A long time, prolly
Stand up comic. Get a program! Fabulous.
The Preamble to the Constitution describes civilization. There must be constraints on behavior to protect the vulnerable or NO ONE is safe. Everyone is only an accident or illness away from being helpless. The R’s want the wild, Wild West where anything goes. The people who occupy today’s R party are NOT the party of Lincoln; they have a mindset like the old south planters. Freedom does not mean I have the right to take advantage of my neighbor in order to advance my own ends.
"Freedom does not mean I have the right to take advantage of my neighbor in order to advance my own ends."
Thank you, this is truth.
"Mans capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.". Niebuhr
Thank you!
Evidently if you can lie, cheat, steal and rape, and "even shoot someone on 5th Ave and get away with it", and have complicit police, complicit judges, and brainwashed followers, that's exactly what it means. You can do, whatever the hell you want.
Excellent observation.
If it is not government's job to protect, then why is the Pentagon's budget more than $700 billion?
In the right's worldview, the Pentagon budget is to protect commerce and private property and support corporations that produce arms. Also DARPA is for basic research that for-profit corporations can then exploit.
It's all about the money folks. The culture war is just a front to seduce the credulous.
Yep, and then follow it. The money, that is. ;)
Exactly my thoughts. I was going to say
It but I am getting worn out
a political scheme to funnel money to the congress-military-industrial complex
"Brian Kilmeade answered that not getting the vaccine is a personal choice and that the government has no role in protecting the population. “That’s not their job. It’s not their job to protect anybody,” he said." It looks like we have found who really wants to defund the police. It is Brian Kilmeade and those who share his views.
He must also be pro-choice, glad to have him onboard!
Ha!
Ha! Good point! The party of hypocrisy. Although I'm not even sure that's true. It just looks true. They really don't care about anything but staying in power it seems. Arguing about funding the police is just a useful campaign slogan.
Look he has a contract with a performance clause that gives him more compensation based on the number of dumb shit things he says. Simple motivation /s
BK having a playground brawl with Carlson. At America’s expense.
He’s espousing lawlessness. What a shock!
The foxes are going to serve on the committee to protect the hen house? As far as I can see Jim Jordan and his comrades should be charged with insurrection.
I’m disgusted at the vision I have from the past of Jim Jordan wrestling coach par excellence hell bent on disrupting this important work— I hope whoever is moderating the forum is very strict with time limits.
I don't think that Pelosi will agree to Jordan.
I hope not. All he does is harangue ppl.
During the impeachments, every time his voice came on my blood pressure skyrocketed!
I believe that she will do everything in her power for this investigation to be the truth to power. It is crucial.
Hey Kim me too— I’ll have to meditate in between sittings.
Haha. Good plan!