I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
WTF?
A conservative actually reading a book written by a liberal?
Oh my!
Holy Shit! They exist! Thanks Becky for partially (I'm going to need a lot more proof based on the size of the Right's recent transgressions) restoring my faith that there *are* some real conservatives out there in the wild. An endangered species no doubt.
Becky Miller is now fair game.
wow! I'd be really interested in hearing more from her, whoever she is. I had really given up thinking there were any true blue honest and thinking conservatives out there. Now I'm curious to hear what they actually think about what is going on, and where they would like things to be going if, as she seems to say, they recognize that things are going wrong.--aimai
Franken is as foul-mouthed and crass as his reputation would lead you to believe (and quite mistakenly believes Christians love Israel because it is the center of prophecies that include the fiery deaths of all Jews) -- but read it anyway
Great review. But it seems like Ms. Miller isn't aware of Hal Lindsey and his merry band of fundamentalist crackpots who actually do support Israel for exactly the reason she cites above. Of course, most Christians don't buy that crap, but enough do to scare the hell out of me (oh yeah, that's what they want isn't it?).
Why does Becky Miller hate "America®"?
I'm looking forward to the day when the words "liberal" and "conservative" are rarely used anymore to describe incredibly large and diverse groups of people. The words that have more meaning to me are - honest, caring, and trustworthy.
I believe that one of the ways the current politicians (and democrats have done similar tactics also) keep the blinders on "we the Public" is by continuing with this false dicotomy.
The key to solving problems isn't to bash the persons who oppose you, it is to sit down, listen to each other, and build own our common human ground.
Wow. I knew a Becky Miller back when she was the lone Reaganite in our college class at SIU. I always wondered how an intelligent woman could believe the crap the Republicans were spouting at the time. She was quite the empiricist, as I recall. It seems as if reality has caught up with her, to her benefit.
I knew this when happen when conservatives learned to read!
[Note to self: it has become clear that the public schools are doing too good a job, The answer is to make them buy some crappy textbooks, and divert their funding to vouchers, pronto!]
The other day on talk radio, I heard a guy tell an incredulous Lars Larson that he wouldn't believe Rush Limbaugh was a drug addict involved in a drug ring even if Limbaugh himself admitted it. If you're that guy, don't bother reading Franken's book. You will really just drive yourself even more crazy.
Yes. True, love my country conservatives are just as horrified, disgusted, and angry as true, love my country liberals.
So, can we just unite and boot the fundie, crazy, pnac MINORITY out forever?
am i still banned?
This is worth a thousand shitty Jonathan Chait essays. good link
Has Becky been hanging out with Huck Finn agin?
The key to solving problems isn't to bash the persons who oppose you, it is to sit down, listen to each other, and build own our common human ground.
Dare we hope that the right people will listen, unite us, and make this country stronger than it's ever been?
I think people are sick of the division, hate, and controversy.
Sick to death.
What was up with the crack about her former boss being greedy and dishonest? Was this a scandal or something?
JonME, I appreciate the sentiment of your post, but the words "liberal" and "conservative" are quite appropriate to use in an overview description of our American political landscape. It's just that in the last 20 to 25 years, since Reagan's first term, the right has so poisoned the rhetorical well by suggesting that anybody who disagreed with them wasn't really an American, that there's been real problems with using the two words to identify yourself in broad strokes. And despite their incessant insistance that the "Liberal Media" controls all thought, it's been a long time since even honest-to-god liberals have so identified themselves without fear of being called traitors. For example, check out the course catalogs of your favorite public university. Most of them have changed the title of Liberal Arts to something like Arts and Sciences out of fear of loss of support from right-wing ideologues who will call the local AM Radio screamer with stories of how the college is being overrun by commies.
The back story to the piece is pretty interesting. Some of it's there, but not all.
Bill Sizemore is one of three to five anti-tax crusaders who have dominated Oregon politics for the last 10-15 years. (His people have never gained complete control, but the Dems and moderate Repubs have been on the defensive the whole time).
His own career is Limbaughesque with one or two bankruptcies and no real successes. He's been living off his political groups for most of that time.
Miller was central to one of his groups and ended up testifying against him in court. As it seems, not to avoid prosecution, but because she had become aware that he was a crook. He had been shuffling money from one foundation to another and into his own pocket for some time.
Sizemore's going down was a big relief for the state of Oregon. Unfortunately, his type still control the legislature.
More conservatives like her, please.
The fact is most Democrat's in office are just as corrupt as the Republicans have been lately. It's why Dem's have been so damn spineless. Bush has done some of the most criminal acts in office that I have ever seen. Cheney's unbid contracts have gone nostly without voice and it's NOT legal as the idiot Josh Marshall believes (and Marshall only believe this because the Dem's simply aren't saying anything about these unbid contracts so he figured it must be okay.)
Marshall hasn't been getting his info from lawyers just his friends. What Cheney is doing with Halliburton and Betchel while lining his pockets at the same time should be unthinkable.
So what the HELL happened to American citizens that they can't even question this fact? WHERE ARE THE FUCKING LAWYERS (besides John Dean) Where are all the conservatives, HELL were are all the people that ARE honest and like their goverment at least to be somewhat mostly honest? HOW can Americans wave a flag at a parade when they know what we have allowed the US to become.
People just don't care that congress and Bush are so horribly corrupt but certained that we will all pay for there looting of taxpayer money in the end. When the babybooms need retirment funds surely they should not complain about the blight (it was self-imposed) so when middle age individuals say nothing now the we pay for it later. I'm tired of people who defend what Bush and Cheney have done to this nation and are still doing to us.
Bush just got a resolution from the UN that is simply worthless. We have neither funds nor military aid at lest that isn't coming from a Turkey because of a 8.5 billion dollar under the table act from a fund whose source is undisclosed to all Americans and this administration also promised the Turks oil (Iraqi oil) to get them to send troops.
THERE has NEVER been a US President more dishonest in office then either Bush and Cheney EVER. So like columnist John Dean, I wonder why the SCOTUS place such dishonest men into power to began with? The whole thing simple looks and feels so corrupt from beginning to whatever end this horrid administion has in mind.
Also on NPR tonight the news said that US lost a lot of international business after Bush trashed the UN prior to the war in Iraq. I'm sure that's true. I don't understand how Bush was allowed to practice open outright, visceral hate toward companies that are our business partners. I'm sure other countries will take our money but I'm sure they'll stop if they haven't already stopped buying US products.
...right-wing ideologues who will call the local AM Radio screamer with stories of how the college is being overrun by commies.
Communism is no longer a threat. but the fear-mongering that plays on small minds is alive and well.
Enough.
Unnamed sources have forwarded to me Becky Miller's criminal record of prostitution and drug use.
Becky's friends have come to me privately, disgusted with what they see as a once great mind rotted away, delusional, in need of serious medical help.
Becky Miller is not unbiased, there is a record of her donation of $25 to UNICEF in 1985. She is an agent of the international movement of fasco-liberals to undermine the authority of the United States and to prevent it from defending itself.
More later, as sources reveal the true partisan anti-American character of Becky Wilson.
People just don't care that congress and Bush are so horribly corrupt but certained that we will all pay for there looting of taxpayer money in the end.
Cheryl, some people are clueless, but those who are paying attention fully understand what's going on.
I understand your anger, but what are you doing to enlighten those around you? You're preaching to the choir here. The trolls are surprisingly absent.
squiddy
That maybe satire, but it is not funny.
Becky Miller doesn't deserve to see that come up with Google.
Well, she does share the last name of that other traitor, Joseph Wilson. 'Nuff said!
Good for this brave woman.
Al Franken the lying liar
Rich Lowry 's column tells the humorous story of the time Al challenged him to a duel. Well, sort of. A fistfight, or perhaps a wrestling match. Physical violence, anyway. (Weren't liberals supposed to be against fighting, it being bad for children and other living things and such? But I digress.) Lowry:
In his book, Franken describes me as "terrified" when he challenged me over the phone. He knows this is false. During that conversation and a subsequent one, we were both jocular, which is why we eventually ended up having lunch instead of combat. But I was amused and tempted by his offer, and talked seriously to people about taking it up on grounds that it was an open invitation to bruise an obnoxious twerp. This represented a rare and lucky opportunity -- Howard Dean, for instance, will probably never ask me to punch him.
And it would have been a decidedly low-risk encounter. Franken stipulated during his challenge that he was nearly 50 years old and suffered from chronic back pain -- a kind of plea for mercy before we even got started. If you would have to pick the male "type" represented by Franken, you would put him in the "Richard Simmons category." The short, bespectacled, curly-haired actor's film career consists of playing a lisping character named Stuart Smalley. John Wayne he is not.
Ouch. WUSS! Which is kind of the point.
You can tell the tide is turning when they start eating their own.
Vote for Janeane for Governor!
http://www.nj.com/search/index.s...starledger?
life
touchy, I can see why you were banned. Your drivel has become boring and useless. Get a freaking clue. Work toward making this a better country or chip away at its foundation.
You're wrong.
I wouldn't doubt the existence of a lot of people like Becky. From my experience, it's the trash-talking, money-making toadies in the conservative press who are so hot for Rush, O'Reilly, Hannity and the rest of that ilk.
It's their bread and butter. Of course, they'll going to stick together.
It's us vs. them -- us being regular, sane people vs. them -- the callous, no-soul, hate-as-a-cash-cow sell outs. It just happens that a large portion of the conservative press falls in that category right now.
I want their time to be past. That's all I know.
Hey, Touchy? Which "wuss", ultimately, backed down from the fight?
Personally, as amused as I was by this whole story, I can't support the notion of fighting on a whim--it's serious business, to be engaged in only when you don't have a choice. But Lowry's column is clearly just a means of covering for his own cowardice, as is evident to anyone who hasn't guzzled the Kool-Aid.
Yay, touchy's back! I suggested his nickname, you know. I'm a bit offended I haven't seen you comment at my place since the McGruder thing.
On topic: finally, a real, thoughtful conservative taking an honest look at Franken's book and not just keeping it to herself. They're the voters we need to win over, folks. And I think they'll be receptive to a reasonable message from a candidate opposing Bush.
We need more clear-thinkers like her all around.
Victoria Miller should have known better than to expose the skeletons in her closet before she publicly attacked the United States...
squiddy, huh?
She'll find jesus and recant. Just you wait.
More later, as sources reveal the true partisan anti-American character of Becky Wilson.
also, her husband bought it for her!
& she read it while sipping mint tea!
so you can see she has no credibility!
Just to dot the i's and cross the t's -- Miller changed her mind when it turned out that she's been personally implicated in criminal activities (though never charged, I don't think). On the one hand, not all conservatives will change their minds under those circumstances; and on the other, that's a very difficult way to change minds, one mind per prosecution. So the story is a bit of a fluke.
peggy, I thought squiddy's trope WAS funny. And you may have missed his point. It's satire with bite because it is very, very close to home--something similar probably WILL be said about Miller, if it hasn't already has been.
It's something they do all the time, and we need to talk about it, not avoid the subject out of delicacy. If somehow, we can get our expectation of their reaction out on the airwaves before the actual winger reaction hits--we've gotta be quick, but, like, they're dumb so we can do it--we can really make them look ridiculous.
In any case, I don't think many googlers are going to take that for real. It's sufficiently over-the-top to be readily identifiable as satire.
The Senate floor remarks from Sen. Kennedy is pretty much right on point.
MoveOn.com should have done for Kennedy speech what they did for Al Gore.
You should read this speech, it's really quite good.
Here is the LINK
Kennedy says that he isn't voting for the 87 billion in aid and he says why he isn't doing so and I agree with most of his speech except the time table part-Iraqis must have some voice and that voice has to start now. I wish more Democrats practiced what the preach especial the one running for president.
Senator Kennedy,
We should never have gone to war in Iraq when we did, in the way we did, for the false reasons we were given. But now that we are there, two imperatives are absolutely clear: America cannot withdraw now, leaving Iraq to chaos or civil war, becoming a danger to us far greater than it did before. The misguided policy of the past is no excuse for a misguided policy for the future.
We need a realistic and specific plan to bring stability to Iraq, to bring genuine self-government to Iraq, to bring our soldiers home with dignity and honor.
Until the Administration genuinely changes course, I cannot in good conscience vote to fund a failed policy that endangers our troops in the field and our strategic objectives in the world instead of protecting them. The greatest mistake we can make in Congress as the people's elected representatives is to support and finance a go-it-alone, do-it-because-I-say-so policy that leaves young Americans increasingly at risk in Iraq.
So when the roll is called on this $87 billion legislation, which provides no effective conditions for genuine international participation and a clear change in policy in Iraq, I intend to vote no. A no vote is not a vote against supporting our troops. It is a vote to send the Administration back to the drawing board. It is a vote for a new policy – a policy worthy of the sacrifice our soldiers are making, a policy that restores America as a respected member of the family of nations, a policy that will make it easier, not far more difficult, to win the war against terrorism.
the words "liberal" and "conservative" are quite appropriate to use in an overview description of our American political landscape. It's just that in the last 20 to 25 years, since Reagan's first term, the right has so poisoned the rhetorical well by suggesting that anybody who disagreed with them wasn't really an American, that there's been real problems with using the two words to identify yourself in broad strokes.
Charles V.
I disagree. Perhaps from an academic point of view, the use of these words may be "useful". However, I again restate that I find that these words are being bandied about to manipulate behaviors, as opposed to REALLY describing points of view.
1) I'll bet most Americans, when asked to define the words "liberal" and "conservative" would have wildly different definitions.
2) When most people use these words they are used as a "battle axe" to insult the "conservative" or the "liberal" person thus labeled. In other words, they are used like swear words.
3) The continued use of these words and other similar words maintains the problem, as opposed to moving an issue toward a solution.
Sometimes I carry values which are defined by others as either liberal or conservative. Quite frankly, I think many people use them as a substitute for thinking. THEREFORE, I encourage everyone to stop using them; to push ourselves to really describe what we are pointing to when we want to use the words "liberal" or "conservative".
The perpetuation of this kind of language dicotomy is part of the manipulation (consciously and unconsciously done) to keep us stuck in battle mode.
The perpetuation of this kind of language dicotomy is part of the manipulation (consciously and unconsciously done) to keep us stuck in battle mode.
Consciously done. Why should words like liberal (more often) or conservative seem to have such negative connotations? It's deliberate and destructive. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better.
Too many people are allowing themselves to be manipulated. Some aren't smart enough to realize that. I don't know what it says about the others.
I've come to prefer progressive vs. conservative in expressing the main differences, but the trouble is people who are genuinely conservative are fast losing claim to the description because of the neoconservative neofascist types who claim to be conservatives and have hijacked the Republican party. Waaaay back in the '60s, when I was growing up, leftists scorned the liberal label because it represented an entrenched, much troubled Democratic majority that led us Vietnam and into lots of other mischief. Real conservatives -- who I can at least respect for sticking to principles even as I reject their philosophies -- have been marginalized in the GOP aong with moderates. The new GOP's appeal is based almost solely on indulging greed and promoting macho revenge fantasies.
That makes two honest conservatives with functional brains I've encountered in two days!! Check out http://www.newsday.com/news/opin...oints-
headlines
As Billmon says, it's "a withering, eloquent, take-no-prisoners attack on the administration and its mindless puppets in Congress." http://billmon.org/archives/000791.html
The author, James Pinkerton, is a former Bush I staffer and VERY disillusioned former Bush II supporter.
"The short, bespectacled, curly-haired actor's film career consists of playing a lisping character named Stuart Smalley. John Wayne he is not."
"Ouch. WUSS! Which is kind of the point.
touchy | 10.17.03 - 9:19 pm"
touchy, John Wayne wasn't John Wayne. He was Marion Morrison, who played a cowboy, soldier and boxer in the movies. But he was never any of those. If I remember correctly, he had some trouble with wife beating.
And he said something to the effect that Native Americans were greedy because they didn't want to share this country with the white people. Something at least as stupid as that.
Franken is more manly and braver than John Wayne ever dreamed of being.
John Wayne is a role model for fakers.
|
The other Oregon-specific comment (I think) is her reference to Lars Larson. In case you think she is a closet liberal, the admission that she listens to Lars establishes her wing-nut bona fides beyond a shadow of a doubt. Lars is sort of like a less-articulate, less-original, yokel Rush Limbaugh.
The local BORDC finally got the Portland City Council to consider a resolution opposing parts of the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T act, Lars got wind of this and urged his listeners to make harassing phone calls to city hall, which they've been doing.
The vote is on 10/29, btw. Wish us luck,
http://portland-or.bordc.org/
John Wayne, if I remember correctly, also avoided service in the military.
(In wartime.)
Yes, he Acted like a brave soldier.
Chickenhawk?
Yes, just like the rest of the Bush cabal.
John Wayne = Wuss
Wow, a bit of local interest.
This article from last year's Portland Tribune is, I think, the definitive coverage of Becky Miller's split with Bill Sizemore and his organization. It was a fascinating story to follow.
http://www.portlandtribune.com/a...ew.cgi?
id=13827
even John Chaffee considered himself a republican(old school). there are some honst ones out there and we must help them see the light.
Uri, thanks for the info and the link on the Portland city council resolution opposing parts of the Patriot Act. I signed the petition and forwarded the link to several fellow Portlanders.
I looked for an e-mail link to Becky Miller and couldn't find one. Anyone have it? I think it's important to send positive feedback to such folks.
After reading the Pinkerton editorial, I immediately fired off an enthusiastic e-mail to the chap (his address is at the bottom of the editorial), encouraging him to keep at it. This is important folks, let's encourage those who speak the truth, and also send e-mail to the whores, letting them know we're on to their game and won't stand for it anymore. The wingnuts have been known for many years for their mail campaigns to influence (intimidate) media outlets. How can we be any less diligent?
"I heard a guy tell an incredulous Lars Larson that he wouldn't believe Rush Limbaugh was a drug addict involved in a drug ring even if Limbaugh himself admitted it."
This is important because for a lot of these people, believing in the whole conservative package tour is the basis of their politics. It's not different from the kind of Elvis fan who keeps an alter to him or, in extreme cases, a spare bedroom ready for his return. Some of the dittos went round the bend during the Reagan years and are hard cases. I don't know how the worst of them could be reached but the ones on the edge of sanity would listen to someone pointing out who is robbing them of their lives. These show some glimmer of putting two and two together when you point out that their parents or grandparents could support a family, with a house, on one income. You've got to keep pointing out that it's the Republicans who are robbing them, not the poor, black welfare, straw woman they've been taught to hate so much. Not the eggheads too.
When I read Atrios' into I thought it was Judith but her owning up would have been too much to ask for.
That should read not the eggheads either.
Who was touchy before he was banned?
Sounds like Becky Miller is one of the Republicans who will be crossing party lines and voting for Howard Dean, like millions of others who are fed up...
The leaders we conservatives have trusted have taken advantage of our trust to line the pockets of the wealthy and powerful, and it's time we rose up and drove out these greedy liars. They've hijacked and distorted our belief system for their own gain, and in doing so are destroying our credibility.
Wow! Throw in an expletive every third word and you have my Never-Voted-For-A-Democrat-In-His-Life-Before father-in-law.
More liberal liker her, too. While I am glad we are fighting back and I have thoroughly enjoyed the new books we have to be ready to accept concervatives like Becky Miller ot into our ideological ranks, but into our discoursive ranks. I think she is right, people are getting tired of how the right has characterized "true-blue, patriotic, descent, honest, hard-working" liberals and want an honest discourse again. But liberals will not stop the O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity's of these world, conservatives will.
Speaking of conversions to reality by conservatives, read THIS column from this morning's Boston Globe.. it is a total mind blower!!
http://www.boston.com/news/globe...age_to_bush_jr/
(Sorry for the crappy URL, it is by Georgie Anne Geyer in the 10/18/03 Opinion section.)
"WASHINGTON -- IT'S NOT AS THOUGH Osama bin Laden gave a Jihad Award to Ariel Sharon, or Donald Rumsfeld gave his Good Pal Award to Condoleezza Rice. It's not even as though Dick Cheney gave his Favorite Foreigners Citation to the French. But the news from College Station, Texas, this week -- that the First Father, former President George H.W. Bush, has given his own most treasured award to Senator Edward Kennedy -- is nearly as astonishing."
Read it all. It's almost too good to be true.
SAJ
Well dave the pro, reads as if Miller is already in that process you describe (trying to reacreate an 'honest discourse').
squiddy
That maybe satire, but it is not funny.
Becky Miller doesn't deserve to see that come up with Google.
Peggy | 10.17.03 - 9:15 pm
I agree, Peggy!
Thanks for that link, SteveO, to the article about the award being given to Kennedy. I had heard about it, but this is better than anything I'd heard:
[With this award, Poppy] has revealed the depth of his disagreement with his impetuously uninformed son.
....
More curious, and in many ways depressing, is the fact that this President Bush has embarked upon a policy designed to counter, or even to wipe out, his father's entire political legacy.
....
The father lived his life in the service of moderate and intelligent internationalism. His manners were always meticulously courteous, as he wooed even critics overseas to see the American position. He was even-handed in the Middle East and thus brought the area to the verge of peace for the first time in history; he was capable of using force but preferred to do it supported by coalitions of friendly states, thus cementing international cooperation.
She left out a few things Bush I did that liberals didn't like, but all in all it's quite shocking.
italics should be off after 'cooperation.'
I say about 20% of Republicans are people like Ms. Miller whose principal allegiance is to the well-being of America, with a secondary allegiance to whatever rubbish the Republicans are offering. These people are appalled by reckless, gratuitous imperialism, by fiscal irresponsibility/immorality. We have to refrain from being so disdainful in our arguments that we repel these people.
Write to Becky Miller here:
letters@news.oregonian.com
Which is the best I could find. I sent them a letter markeed To Beck Miller a letter in support, probably a good idea for her to receive many more.
Opposition to the Limbaughs, et al should not be a left/right thing, but a concerted opposition to the peddling of lies in order to advance an extremist agenda. Glad she understood.
the words "liberal" and "conservative" are quite appropriate to use in an overview description of our American political landscape. It's just that in the last 20 to 25 years, since Reagan's first term, the right has so poisoned the rhetorical well by suggesting that anybody who disagreed with them wasn't really an American, that there's been real problems with using the two words to identify yourself in broad strokes.
The New Right has debased both "liberal" and "conservative". These days "conservatism" has come to mean nothing more than opposition to "liberalism". Whatever "liberals" favor, "conservatives" are against, and vice versa. If "liberals" came out in support of crocheting or the Infield Fly Rule, you can bet that the very next day Rush Limbaugh would be denouncing those things on his radio show.
Today's "conservatives" would be more properly labelled reactionaries, and their programs simply illiberalism.
heybales wrote:
Uri, thanks for the info and the link on the Portland city council resolution opposing parts of the Patriot Act. I signed the petition and forwarded the link to several fellow Portlanders.
You are welcome.
Something else for any Portlanders still looking at this thread:
Please forward this letter to your distribution lists (and friends
and family) asap.
13 October 2003
Hello to all;
Thanks for your support of the resolution put forth by
the Portland Bill of Rights Defense Committee (PBORDC).
At long last, it's time! Thanks to the office of Dan Saltzman,
a resolution opposing parts of the USA PATRIOT Act is on the agenda.
City Council plans to vote on this resolution on Wednesday, October 29.
Please mark your calendars and make plans to attend.
Before the 29th, however, the PBORDC needs your help. It's very
important for our City Council to know that Portland truly and
strongly supports making a statement against certain aspects of
the USA PATRIOT Act. Lars Larson has called upon his sizeable
audience to phone City Hall in opposition to our resolution,
and City Hall has been getting some negative calls. It's
important to counter these with positive calls. So let's call them!
Please take a moment out of your day to make a few brief and
pleasant calls to the offices of City Hall. Tell your
representatives that you support the strongest anti-PATRIOT Act
resolution that they are willing to support. Contact information
is included below.
With your help, we have gotten this far. We're almost there and
we CAN succeed. I believe that with a bit more of your help, we
WILL succeed!
Sincere thanks,
William Pickard
Portland Bill of Rights Defense Committee
link to website: http://portland-or.bordc.org
link to proposed resolution: http://portland-or.bordc.org/
res...resolution.html
Mayor Vera Katz
1221 SW 4th Avenue
Room 340
Portland OR 97204
503-823-4120
mayorkatz@ci.portland.or.us
Commissioner Jim Francesconi
1221 SW 4th Avenue
Room 220
Portland OR 97204
503-823-3008
jfrancesconi@ci.portland.or.us
Commissioner Randy Leonard
1221 SW 4th Avenue
Room 210
Portland OR 97204
503-823-4682
rleonard@ci.portland.or.us
Commissioner Dan Saltzman
1221 SW 4th Avenue
Room 230
Portland OR 97204
503-823-4151
dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us
Commissioner Erik Sten
1221 SW 4th Avenue
Room 240
Portland OR 97204
503-823-3589
erik@ci.portland.or.us
Its just amazing when self proclaimed "conservatives" pretend that conservatism is about something other than greed. Its the "lying liars" that define conservatives, not those who delude themselves into thinking that 'tough love' is anything more than self-rightous justification trying to mask their greed.
spek's point is the central one, re: Limbaugh, though I've not seen the idea clearly enough presented in any of the progressive columnists' takes on the matter.
It's not that Rush talked tough against other addicts while he was an addict himself, or that he's not going to be punished the way many, many other addicts have been and will continue to be.
It's much, much bigger than that. Because the entire Limbaugh (and what is called "conservative")worldview is based around one idea: that individuals are completely the masters of their own destinies. Each of us is Howard Roark. There's no room for the role of circumstances in the worldview. One either "succeeds" or "fails" on the merit of his moral and other virtues alone. Even though not perfect, such "virtuous" individuals can only truly lay claim to "virtue" if they take full responsibility of their frailties, rather than make excuses for them.
And therein lies the rub. For Rush to truly be "in recovery", he must be honest with both himself and his followers. And the only way for him to do that is to publicly say, "I've been wrong about everything I've said. The course of people's lives are, to greater or lesser degrees, partially the result of circumstances. Every person is an individual and each reacts differently to his circumstances. Some who experience moral failings under bad circumstances in their lives would be fine under good circumstances. That's exactly what happened to me - I became addicted because of chronic pain. But for another person, the death of a family member, financial or other problems might be stressful enough to bring on an addiction. It's for this reason that the social safety net, quality education, access to health care and higher wages with a reasonable minimal standard of living are the values to which we, as a nation, should strive. So to all my listeners I am sorry; I was wrong."
Either that, or he could just come on and announce, "I'm a big fat hypocrite." Which, now that I think about it, might qualify under the 12 Steps, since it would be truthful.
And if we decent, honest, hard-working, patriotic, true-blue conservatives of this country neglect the duty we have to our children and grandchildren, we will never be able to work with those decent, honest, hard-working, patriotic, true-blue liberal Americans that these lying creeps have taught us to despise. We will never be safe to debate them or, when warranted, to listen to them and maybe even agree with them. We will never be safe to work out our differences or to work together. And we will never be able to build on the all-American sense of unity that burst forth following 9/11, only to disappear shortly thereafter in a cloud of lying, greedy partisan politics.
THAT'S BEAUTIFUL. By the way liberals come from a long line of liberals who would step into the alley if you wanted. The current liberal crop in Washington is weak as water. They have no sense of history. Liberals are tough you have to be to go against the conservative onslaught. LaFollete of Wisconsin. I think he was called "Fighting Bob" or something.
Yes, the piece about Bush I dissing Bush II is incredible. He gave the 2003 George Bush Award for Excellence in Public Service to Ted Kennedy, who calls the Iraq war "a fraud cooked up in Texas" and similar terms. I don't know why every left blogger in the world (and the "real" media, to the extent that there still is such a thing) isn't shouting this from the rooftops. (I am, but I ain't no Atrios.)
Becky Miller is posting on alt.radio.talk.dr-laura if you want to discuss her article with her.
Tristero - thanks very much for the e-mail address. I've written a letter of support for Ms. Miller, too. I think it's an important action to take. The wingnuts are probably spewing filth about her through the ether already; we need to do our best to counteract that.
By the way, I was surprised to actually receive an e-mail response from Mr. Pinkerton (a "thank-you note" in reply to my letter of support). While it was brief, I had the distinct impression it wasn't merely some automated program.
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