I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
"We've got a conservative, evangelical Christian,Republican governor," he said, enunciating each word as if to get his head around the details, "trying to get a massive turnout of black voters to pass a tax increase so he can raise taxes on Republican constituents."
[emphasis in original]
oh come ON, guy. at least try to thinly veil your racism.
yea, I saw that one too.. I just liked the burning down cities bit more.
Makes sense to me, they gotta pay for that Ten Commandments monument somehow...
And check out this doozy:
But the Christian Coalition of Alabama, which opposes all tax increases, staked out the other side. "We applaud tax relief for the poor. You'll find most Alabamians have got a charitable heart; they want to do that," said the group's president, John Giles. "They just don't want it coming out of their pocket."
[insert Jon Stewart-style "whu?" here]
I don't think this has a chance in hell of passing; I hope to be gloriously proven wrong. If the story could be made to reach the national level in a manner understandable by/in Big Media, we might finally, *finally* begin a coherent conversation about class in America.
"...a coherent conversation about class in America."
That's funny!
Funny to hear a resident of the former Confederacy talking about burning cities. I thought they already had that done for them once.
Al Franken In Sorry State
Comedian apologizes to Ashcroft for "imprudent attempt at satire"
AUGUST 20--Comedian Al Franken last month wrote an apology letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, admitting that he was not truthful when he previously sought Ashcroft's views on abstinence.
In June, Franken wrote to Ashcroft seeking the AG's story for "Savin' It," which the performer described as a book "about abstinence programs in our public schools." On its face, the letter (which you'll find below) reads like a joke, with Franken advising Ashcroft to "share a moment when you were tempted to have sex, but were able to overcome your urges through willpower and strength of character. Be funny!" Franken also asked, "Did a young woman ever think you were homosexual just because you wouldn't have sex with her? Be serious!"
Franken's missive, written on letterhead from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, claimed that he had already received abstinence stories from other prominent Republicans, including Condoleezza Rice and Senator Rick Santorum. However, in his July 11 apology, Franken admitted that he had not received those abstinence stories and called his solicitation to Ashcroft, "an imprudent attempt at satire."
The comedian also apologized for writing on Harvard letterhead: "My biggest regret is sending the letter on Shorenstein Center stationery. I can assure you that no one at the Shorenstein Center had knowledge of the letter before I sent it." Franken, who was a fellow at the Kennedy School this spring, added, "I am very embarrassed to have put them in this awkward and difficult position, and I ask you not to hold this against the Center, the Kennedy School, or Harvard in general."
While an embarrassment, Franken's Ashcroft miscue will probably only help him move more copies of his new book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," scheduled for release this week. Franken was sued earlier this month by the Fox News Channel, which claims that his use of the term "fair and balanced" in the book's title infringes on the network's trademarked slogaN.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
arc...rankenabs2.html
When the pressure's on, your average wingnut lets his mask slip. I'm sure Connors' friends will excuse him, though. They understand that the cities he wants to burn to the ground would be populated entirely by blacks.
Wow, that's an entire chunck of yesterday's Drudge. I actually just got my advance copy of Franken's
book and after reading the first several chapters it seems apparent to me that there are far more important apology's that need to be madedirectly to the American people.
(kind of suspected it before starting the book but Franken has a knack for making you laugh about what you might already know)
shy: Yawn.
Anonymous, you're losing the war. Wow.
You're losing.
Anonymous' approval ratings have gone down as fast as Bush's, and Anonymous started from zero.
Gee, Nonny, too bad you weren't in Judge Chin's courtroom the other day. You could've had your big Perry Mason moment — just when things look bleak for your guy, confront your dastardly opponents with your Smoking Gun printouts and completely demolish their case!
Or not. Try again, my fair and balanced, wholly without merit friend.
On topic: Did someone dump sodium pentothal in the water down there, or what? Amazing to see such unvarnished idiocy.
Sort of on-topic: Everyone should go and read Orcinus today. David Rocks!
I am not the troll named "Anonymous". He is purposely using my name to cast me in a bad light.
Orcinus is a must read this evening.
The Republicans are burning down cities.
They're just not in the United States.
Of course, the question is, if flame consumed Alabama's cities, how long would it take for the rest of the Union to notice?
You guys have GOT to stop making enemies where none existed before. There are A LOT of people in Alabama that are angered at this episode. Quit with the broad brush dismissiveness - you lose support and you look stupid doing it.
I haven't heard of any local backlash against Conners' remarks in WaPo. For the past week, everyone was so caught up in the Ten Commandments issue that anything to do with Riley's tax plan was simply put on the back burner. Not trying to start a conspiracy theory here, but the anti-tax reform lobby couldn't have created a better diversion just weeks before the referendum.
Unless the opinion polls are somehow how way off the mark, the plan has NO CHANCE of passing. September 9th will probably go down in Alabama history as a "Day of Mourning" for progressives. We had a shot here to really change things in Alabama and we couldn't make it happen.
And to top it all off, Roy Moore will probably be our next governor...
Michael:
I figured that must have been Roy Moore's game plan all along. He wants to be kicked off the bench so as to boost his credentials with the Religio-Racist Redneck Right for whichever office that he wants the GOP nod.
Alabama is simply...beyond description. I live in the state and the guy from Riley's office who was quoted in Philly as saying "the people are just too stupid to vote for (the referendum)" may not be "PC" but it is pretty well true. The strongest opposition to the plan is among the poor (who can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea that this time it really isn't their taxes that are going up) and the Limbaugh listening "religious" right.
Looking at the Montgomery media market, I am rather astounded at the amount of money that the anti-reform groups have thrown at this. A good bit of that financing seems to come from out of state.
The thing about the media blitz by these people is how ugly it is. Basically, the message boils down to telling people to not trust the people we elect to government to govern honestly.
There are public schools here where things as basic as toilet paper are in short supply, if not absent entirely. Some schools will give extra credit to students who bring packs of toilet paper to school. (No, I am not kidding.)
So much misinformation and it's all built on the same desire to tear down the governments ability to govern. Alabama is a great place to visit...as long as it's a fast visit.
I see a major campaign issue on tax cuts right there with this issue.
Assuming I understood the article properly, Alabama has the lowest property taxes and the lowest corporate taxes, and yet this incredibly low tax rate isn't being reciprocated by a well functioning economy that hires people and pays well?
Then what the fuck incentive is there for any tax cuts at all, whether at the state or federal level?
Seems to me that Alabama is sound proof of what happens to a locality when you cut the taxes too low.
MYOB'
MYOB wrote: "Seems to me that Alabama is sound proof of what happens to a locality when you cut the taxes too low."
You get it. Now how to move it to the national level.
Romberry wrote: " [the Riley guy says] "the people are just too stupid to vote for (the referendum)" may not be "PC" but it is pretty well true."
Then Romberry goes on to say that there is heavy media manipulation AND that it's being funded from out of state.
Gee, all those stupid people in Alabama. Seems to me I remember another group of stupid people being manipulated by a media blitz. Something about 70% of everyone in the nation and some dust-up in Iraq.
I was one of the 30% who didn't believe any of the pro-war rhetoric. But, I didn't go around saying "All Americans are all stupid all the time." For one, it wouldn't help the anti-war movement on any level, and for another, I recognized that maybe, just maybe, there was a teensy bit of manipulation going on and maybe, just maybe, a lot of its recipients didn't have the same resources I did to research the issues.
If you're poor, where do you get your news from? It sure isn't the internet or the foreign. In fact, where do MOST people still get their news from?
Continuing to call an entire state of people "stupid" is, well, stupid. Not un-PC; just stupid. It...does...not...help...your...argument. Ever.
Riley's opponents also have targeted black voters, airing a radio ad on stations with mostly black audiences featuring a man with poor diction warning, "Our property taxes could go up as much as fo' hundred percent," and blaming "Montgomery insiders who have been ignorin' us for years." The ad was paid for by a political action committee whose top contributors are the state's largest bank, a leading insurance company, two timber and paper companies and county farmers federations
"The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all."
- John F. Kennedy
DEAR GOD! he let the poor know what we are doing! SEIZE HIM. ANNIHILATE HIM! TRAITOR!
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