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    The Party Of Stupid Rallies Ignorant Authoritarian Followers While Democrats Still Have No Strategy

    By oleeb on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 3:12pm |

    Teabaggers of 2010 above.

    Teabaggers of the past below. 

    And no, this is not exaggerating the case at all.  Make no mistake, today's Teabaggers are the direct descendants of the right wing, racist whites of the past.  The only things that have changed are the date on the calendar, clothing and hairstyles.

    Any political consultant can tell you that a candidate or party with a strategy (even a poor one sometimes) is almost always at an advantage against an opponent with no strategy.  We are seeing this play out for the umpteenth time on the national stage as once again the sell-outs of the Corporate (Republican) wing of the Democratic Party once again utterly fail to provide any leadership or strategy in the midterm elections against a frenzied, near hysterical Republican base of ignorant racists, bigots of all stripes and woefully uninformed crabby, poorly educated, mostly older white people.

    These people who comprise the Teabaggers (modern day Citizen's Councils) see themselves and their disgraceful bigotry and hatred as the sole legitimate heirs of America's founding principles.  Ironically, their know nothingism is literal in that they cling most closely to the portions of the founding principles that have been left by the wayside as America has moved forward into the modern world.  The premier idea they don't publicly proclaim is, of course, that whites like themselves are the "real" Americans and this country is meant for them and everyone else is just being allowed to hang around.

    Clearly, the Republicans have their strategy in place.  It's the same one they've used religiously now since the midterms of 1966.  Only the details change of what nonissue will be used to stir up the bile of their fearful, small-minded, racist base.  Over the years it has been welfare mothers (black people), crime (black people), busing (black people), affirmative action (black people), communism (liberals and black people), immigration (Mexicans), border security (Mexicans), the welfare "cutlture" (black people), the panama canal (liberals and non-imperialists), Willie Horton (black people), ending entitlements (black people, but especially old black people), school "choice" (black people), etc...  I could go on for quite a while with this list but you get the idea.  Feel free to add any of your favorites I may not have included. 

    This cycle it's the manufactured nonissue of the mosque that isn't a mosque that isn't at "ground zero".  The Koch brothers, and the Republican political infrastructure including of course Clusterfox News has been actively engaged in a general whoopin it up agin them thar Muslims who are all crazed, endlssly clever and tricky yet insane mass murderers who intend to conquer the world and make everyone worship Allah, who don't deserve any rights, shouldn't be allowed to be citizens, join the military or enter the USA, who don't value life and so therefore we should kill even more of them over and above the hundreds of thousands we've killed over the past 9 years "to show em who's boss."  They believe this naturally because mass violence for the past 9 years has worked out so well for us and made Muslims the world over respect us and give up terrorism.

    Meanwhile, our President, the leader of the Republican Lite faction in the Democratic Party, came out of hiding for several days last week sounding almost like an actual Democrat but then quickly returned to his cocoon at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  We'll likely be seeing more of him on the campaign trail which would be great if there is an actual strategy involved in what he's doing and what the Democratic candidates running for Congress are campaigning on.  But sadly, as in most past election years for decades, the Democrats are once again, and right on schedule, all befuddled and in shock at what's going on, not really sure what to make of what the Republicans are up to (after all they've only been putting this act on for 45 years so who could expect the DC Dems to have thought of a counter strategy right?), and generally conceding to the Republicans total control of the field of battle for the elections up and down the line. 

    The Republicans have been allowed (once again) to set the agenda for issues while DC Democrats grew fat at the trough of the lobbysists who fund their Republican enemies foolishly assuming the corporate teat would provide enough funds for them to withstand the Republican assault in November.  Their unwarranted sense of security is now suddenly upset.  Even after their disgraceful botching of the Senate election in Massachusetts the fools running the show in Washington didn't clue in and start preparing for the midterms at all.  Their irresponsibility and impotence is an embarassment to the party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. 

    Even as the polls became gloomier by the week the keystone cops in charge of the DLC/corporate centrist leadership remained completely impotent and unable to even feign any competent strategy for the fall elections.  Of course, after the mess they made of healthcare and their almost complete betrayal of the Democratic base on taking action to put people back to work it's understandable that it might be difficult to defend their indefensible and self defeating actions of the past two years.  Still, it's their job and they owe it to the nation to at least try.  Yet they don't try.  Instead, they have now got their back against the wall and are praying at least to hold on to the Senate but one wonders why they care?  Despite their huge majorities since 2008 the President and the Democrats in the Senate handed control of that body to the Republicans instead of running over them as they should have.  Even today I saw a headline that disgusted me saying Obama hopes to get Republican support for his middle class tax cut proposal.  What the hell is wrong with these people?  One wonders if they've ever even considered why the terminology of "campaigning" is all derived from the military?  Hmmm?  Maybe it's about fighting and winning a metaphorical war against an enemy?  Just maybe.

    Paul Krugman said it very well when he wrote about Republican Know Nothingism back on August 8, 2008 but neither Obama nor many of his loyalists were willing to acknowledge the truth in what he said about this whole fantasy of attaining bipartisan cooperation from the lunatic authoritarians running the Republican Party:

    In any case, remember this the next time someone calls for an end to partisanship, for working together to solve the country's problems. It's not going to happen -- not as long as one of America's two great parties believes that when it comes to politics, stupidity is the best policy.

    He was and still is right about this.  But the obvious truth wasn't good enough for our oh so wise corporate centrist leader and his crew in the White House.  He knew better so he just spent two wasted years attemempting to bargain with people who never bargain in good faith, compromising with people who think compromise is having Democrats unconditionally surrender to them on every issue, and whose complete lack of ethics is unrestrained by any hint of a conscience or obligation to act responsibly or for the good of the nation. 

    It's almost frightening to see how the President, even now, keeps sliding into that phenomenally naive bipartisan schtick when he ought to be waving the bloody shirt of how the Republicans destroyed our economy and killed 8 million jobs.  He hinted at that last week in his own weak way which was declared an attack by Olberman and Maddow who were trying, I suppose, to put the best face on the tepid pushback that they could.  It's as though the DC corporate Democrats don't understand that they are dealing with a party of sociopathic exploiters whose core belief is that the rules don't apply to them and that the only thing that matters is power, gaining  power, and keeping power.  How you do it matters not one whit to the likes of Gingrich, Armey, Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, Bolton and the rest of the would be fascisti of the American right.  For them, the ends always justifies the means.

    "He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don't have to be connected," she says. "If you believe that, then yeah, you can run for president."

    Marianne Gingrich, ex wife of Newt Gingrich discussing him in Sep. issue of Esquire

    I would again strongly recommend to one and all (as I have previously) reading John W. Dean's book Conservatives Without Conscience that goes into great detail about the data and studies of authoritarian personality and how the Republican Party has been completely captured by the worst sorts of authoritarian exploiters.  It explains precisely what is going on and provides insights on how to deal with these sociopaths. 

    Yet despite the decades of this same pattern by the Republicans over and over, our leaders seem completely out to lunch on how to deal with these people and they seem equally determined to do little or nothing to counter them until about maybe 3-4 weeks before the election.  That's about the time Rahm and company typically clue in and suddenly a bright light goes on that we should run as Democrats against the incredibly unpopular Republicans and their rotten ideas and that would actually induce our Democratic voters to have enough energy and enthusiasm to cast a vote for us even though we've done squat for the average American the past two years.

    What a concept huh?  Run as Democrats instead of running away from what brought our party to power and what keeps the party popular.  Looks like we have one party of stupid and the other party is run by corrupt, careerist morons.

    Here's a list of authoritarian personality traits as described in Dean's book that I found in the archives of the WAWG Blog .  See if you don't recognize some or all of the most prominent right wingers as fitting this profile for leaders and likewise for the followers who comprise the attendees who show up looking like bufoons and sometimes carrying weapons.  Maybe someobdy in charge over in Washington will see this and get enough of a clue to read Dean's book and come up with a strategy to fight these dangerous extremists before it's too late.

    Authoritarian Personality Traits

    Leaders Followers
    typically men men and women
    dominating* submissive to authority*
    opposes equality* aggressive on behalf of authority*
    desirous of personal power* respectful of those with power
    iconoclastic conventional*
    amoral* moralistic
    manipulative trust untrustworthy authorities
    exploitive uncritical toward chosen authority
    takes advantage of "suckers,"
    tells other what they want to hear    		 gullible,
    moderate to little education
    fear-mongering prone to panic easily
    specializes in creating false images to sell self inconsistent and contradictory
    may or may not be religious highly religious
    knowingly cheats to win highly self-righteous but little self-awareness
    intimidating and bullying bullying
    vengeful severely punitive
    pitiless intolerant, narrow-minded
    highly prejudiced against race, women, and homosexuals prejudiced against women, homosexuals, and anyone of a different religion
    mean-spirited mean-spirited
    nationalistic demands loyalty and returns it
    militant strict disciplinarian,  dogmatic
    dishonest hypocritical
    faintly hedonistic zealous

    * - Denotes those authoritarian Leader and Follower traits that Double High authoritarians always score high on. Those (and there are some according to John Dean) who score high on more of both sets of traits than just these, "are likely to be the particularly alarming Double Highs."

    Let's take a look below at some leaders and some followers shall we?  See if you don't recognize the list of traits above.

    Comments

    John Aravosis has an excellent post up about the President's failure to accomplish anything that his substantial gay contingent of supporters were promised and also the rest of the tens of millions who voted for him and expected him to try to accomplish. You can find the post here:

    http://gay.americablog.com/2010/09/were-quickly-heading-towards-zero-major.html

    I cannot resist posting a little excerpt from Aravosis here:

    "Barack Obama is on the precipice of accomplishing a grand total of none of his major promises to gay and lesbian Americans in return for our supporting his candidacy with our votes and our money. I'm not smelling change.

    "What do the apologists, who criticized our criticism at every turn, say now?

    "1. That it's not Obama's fault that we're about to lose the House? Perhaps, though I would argue that it's precisely Obama's fault that Democrats are in such a sorry state. After all, who's the leader of our party? Who took the lead in setting our agenda last year, and took the lead in dumbing down every single Democratic accomplishment from the stimulus to health care reform so that none of them would have a significant enough impact to win over the American people, cure our economic and health care woes, and thus create a strong case for maintaining Democratic control of Washington?"


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:09pm

    Don't forget this vintage Tea Party protest.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJYSu2OVCGM


    by Watt Childress (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:15pm

    Listen, fella, don't you bother my Senator Amy. She's out there trying to steal babies from Nepal (no I'm not making that up). Don't waste her time.


    by bluebell (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:25pm

    I just saw the most appalling headline posted in my local paper. Here it is:

    Obama Sees Areas For Compromise With GOP

    I cannot believe that! Is he possibly the most gullible sot ever to serve in the office? Does he enjoy being made to look like a sucker? What gives? Does he know there is an election in 7 weeks and that he has nearly single handedly handed the House of Representatives to the right wing of the Republican Party?

    Here's a link to the article:
    http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_46d2f4c4-49bc-5017-b25d-a949dd529807.html


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:36pm

    I just saw the most appalling headline posted in my local paper. Here it is:

    Obama Sees Areas For Compromise With GOP

    I cannot believe that! Is he possibly the most gullible sot ever to serve in the office? Does he enjoy being made to look like a sucker? What gives? Does he know there is an election in 7 weeks and that he has nearly single handedly handed the House of Representatives to the right wing of the Republican Party?

    Here's a link to the article:
    http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_46d2f4c4-49bc-5017-b25d-a949dd529807.html


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:36pm

    This reminds me of Neville Chamberlain waving the paper with Hitler's worthless signature in the air declaring he had secured a compromise guaranteeing peace. Geeeeeez!


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:37pm

    Think of the screeching insane eruptions and attacks from the GOP crackpots if Obama had actually done something liberal, like passed single payer....


    by NobleCommentDecider (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:39pm

    You know what they'll do - cave on the tax increases for the rich and then announce after the election that they have a deficit and have to cut Social Security.

    I cannot in good conscience vote for them.

    Seriously, if you want a list of utterly stupid priorities coming from our Yalie Senator, check out these vital issues on the home page of Amy's site:

    http://klobuchar.senate.gov/

    Could you make up a lamer list of things that matter?


    by bluebell (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 9:42pm

    I have. Many times. And all the more reason for Obama to stand and fight instead of capitulate in advance as he did on every major issue thus far.

    It would have been just what we saw while he was compromsing away everything for nothing and that really is the whole point. The timid President and the DC Dems who are just like him get blamed for socialism and single payer anyway at the slightest hint of any kind of reform. The GOP shouts and screams as loud and long as they are capable of doing anyway. Why not do what is right just once instead of knowingly choosing to be Charlie Brown to the GOP's Lucy promising she won't take the football away this time. Their idiotic decision to continue the same losing strategy is beyond comprehension. What was it Einstein said about insisting on doing the same thing over and over when it doesn't work? The definition of insanity? Yup!


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 10:14pm

    Oh, and by fighting for what is right we could not possibly have ended up in any worse shape than we did on healthcare with the Romney Plan for forcing people to pay the crooked insurance industry and guarantee their profits in return for jack shit.


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 10:18pm

    Just trying to help you get over 50% non-Oleeb comments here....

    I'm not sure what's worse, the Right's insidious attack on the legitimacy of this President, or the constant screeching from the Left that he's the worst thing to happen to Democrats since Herbert Hoover. Talk about counterproductive.

    Someone needs to remind you there's an election in 7 weeks. The President's made his case in the past week, and its a strong one. If the Dems in Congress quit squabbling and adopt Obama's very simple message, November will be a bad one. But not to worry, either way, Obama will still be President and you'll be able to continue holding him up as the root of all Evil.


    by dorn76 (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 10:43pm

    And if we'd won Medicare for all, the Republicans would have been forced to campaign against Medicare. Instead, next they are going to undermine Social Security. It makes you wonder if their plan at all times is to just throw the game. What we need are more pro wrestlers on the ballot to bring some integrity to the sport.


    by bluebell (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 10:56pm

    Why don't you tell my Senator Amy? She thinks the main message is stealing infants from Nepal followed closely by honey laundering. Again, I do not make that up. But much easier to blame the left than notice the total absence of election effort by the faux progressive centrists in Congress.


    by bluebell (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 10:59pm

    Agree. How could it be worse than the garbage they are throwing at Obama now?

    And I GUARANTEE TO YOU, if the Democrats had passed single payer, EVERY SCREAMING REPUBLICAN would be at the sign up office at 5AM to switch policies and save money if it was a buck cheaper than their private for profit insurance!

    That's why the big money fought single payer so hard, it was a huge mistake not to include some form of it in the Bill.


    by NobleCommentDecider (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:09pm

    I had predicted a Cage Fighter would run for President before 2020. Probably as a Republican.


    by NobleCommentDecider (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:14pm

    The other huge mistake was to provide no tangible benefits up front.


    by bluebell (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:18pm

    Another useful post, Oleeb. Maybe the non-extinct reader blog medium is your forte after all.

    I will look for Dean's book. I certainly found "Worse than Watergate" an informative read. The title of the new book bothers me a bit, since it seems to needlessly insult actual conservatives to dignify these morons with a label that applied to the likes of Edmund Burke, William Graham Sumner, Milton Friedman, or even Barry Goldwater.

    Racists of the past at least knew how to spell "nigra."


    by PTroub (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:32pm

    Exactly so!


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:43pm

    It was quite possibly the worst possible plan for faux healthcare reform anyone could have devised. I mean seriously, who the fuck thought it was a good idea to phase in the benefits so that no significant swath of the population would experience any relief and what benefits were planned don't take effect for three fucking years? It's astounding anybody, anywhere could buy that kind of half assed, warmed over pap!


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:47pm

    Hoover, actually, was a Godsend to Democrats from 1932 until about 1980 as Bush should have been to us from 2008-2030 except the President decided to spend a great deal of his time the first two years mimicking Bush, protecting him and his hencmen from their crimes against humanity, and failing to remind people who wrecked the economy. I was actually shocked last week when Obama actually used the word Republican when discussing how we got in this mess. He can barely do that and he can never come up with a simple declarative sentence blaming the Republicans for what is obviously a new depression. His actions in office are just nonsensical and weird.


    by oleeb (not verified) on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 11:51pm

    As for the strong case the President has made, well you're kidding right?

    If that was a strong case then I'm George Washington. It was limp as a rubber chicken but better than the silence of the previous six months I'll grant ya that.

    Do you honestly think Obama has done a good job? Do you think that if those of us who oppose the stuff he's done kept quiet that things would be better? Do you not see how the President himself has undermined, sabotaged, and reversed himself when it comes to almost everything he campaigned on?

    I thought Aravosis put it well when he wrote:

    "It's becoming increasingly clear that Barack Obama is not an agent of change. He's not out to fundamentally transform our government or our country, and he's never going to be anyone's fierce advocate."

    That's hard to argue with given the record.


    by oleeb (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 12:04am

    I don't know how you defend against stupid. All indications are it isn't in the realm of possibility. Never has been. The major problem with stupid is it's variably defined by the parameters of the goal being sought. A whole lot of what our government has 'accomplished' over time can be variably defined as smart or stupid depending upon one or another perspective. Which brings us to the contestation between smart and stupid and right and wrong.


    by thepeoplechoose (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 8:05am

    Oleeb you have a massive ego that needs to be checked. And I believe you are the one that is gullible and plenty foolish. I look at that picture of the people he is talking to (in the link you provided) and I have to wonder what kind of moron thinks its time for the president to spew partisan rhetoric. I know you've called the president a liar plenty of times, typical corporatist whore or whatever, so why is it that you so easily buy into his bipartisanship talk? What arrogance to think that you can see what the GOP really stands for and Obama can't? THEY WORK WITH THESE GUYS!!! HE WAS ONCE A SENATOR!!

    And I love how some of you Progressives just sit around and criticize what the Dems are doing or NOT doing. Where the hell has the Left been in the past 20 months? The Tea Party was YOUR opportunity to get yourselves noticed. Instead you just relied on Obama to save you or bashed him to get attention from the MSM. Where is the Left's spine? Put your money where your mouth is? You guys don't have guts, you just have a lot of mouth. all talk no action. Stop hiding behind Daddy and fight. You think all these blogs are gonna do something? You think the Tea Party is only hurting Obama and the Dem agenda?


    by Viva!America! (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 8:55am

    Hmmm. I was about to ask what language 'Niggar' was; perhaps French, pronounced 'nee-GAR'.
    ;o)


    by wendy davis (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 11:41am

    Smart can easily beat Stupid (eventually, most of the time, and with a bit of effort, as Abe Lincoln told us) but not if Smart is Spinelessly-Smart. Stupid barges ahead as before because it is too lazy to bother rejigging a strategy that was more often than not successful against Smart-but-Spineless. Expecting Spineless to continue forgetting and forgiving past horrors committed by Stupid, the latter now gains strength anew.


    by PTroub (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 11:43am

    Maybe the language of Halfliteracy?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_"niggardly"


    by PTroub (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 11:46am

    I'll keep saying the solutions to our problems lie at the state level. Washington is not going to change. Only a complete fiscal meltdown would prompt any change. If we want solutions to our issues, we need to pull the plug on Washington and have our federal tax dollars returned in block grants to the states, and let them manage their education, health care, etc... This is the Canadian model, and it seems to work pretty well for them.


    by Rick (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 11:53am

    You can't fix stupid.

    Crazy has no limits.

    The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

    We're fucked.


    by TJ (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 12:12pm

    Hoo doggies! I use the word niggardly periodically (it's a useful word, IMO), did so online once, and was called a racist.

    Good grief. ;o)


    by wendy davis (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 12:42pm

    This is one of those little facts of life that nobody ever dares to say. The truth of it is too devastating.


    by thepeoplechoose (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 2:16pm

    Hang on a minute so I can stop laughing at your amazingly naive comment.

    Okay, now let's see... it isn't ego. It's eyeballs and common sense. Something apparently that you and your fearlessly naive leader lack.

    "I have to wonder what kind of moron thinks its time for the president to spew partisan rhetoric."
    You're serious? C'mon now really? Well, if you really can pose such a question with a straight face the answer is anyone with half a brain and some common sense who would like to see Democrats win.

    If your leader sees what is going on why does he continue with his foolish, losing strategy? Something's wrong in DC and alot of it is named Barack Obama. Too bad there are still people like you who prefer to deny the obvious. How do you explain why things are becoming exponentially worse? Hmmmm? And yeah, he was a Senator for less than one term who apparently didn't pay any attention at all to what was happening politically in Washington either before or after he arrived there.

    Then you said: "Where the hell has the Left been in the past 20 months?" At first, the left was the staunchest support Obama had. Then he double crossed everyone who voted for him servicing the rich, the crooks on Wall Street, the insurance and pharmacuetical industries, the oil companies, the telecoms, and of course the Republicans in the Senate. Whilst servicing his favored clientele, the President and his trusted advisors were bad mouthing liberals, the left, organized labor, and generally anyone who raised their voices to point out that the administration was doing the opposite of what it had promised us. the left spent a great deal of time since the beginning (as Aravosis points out) warning Obama and company how disasterous their decisions were and those voices were universally dismissed and ignored. Funny thing though, the left was right on all counts and Obama and his coterie were wrong on every single issue. Every single one. Every tactical move was wrong and every strategic decision was wrong because each of them gave the advantage to the Republicans and the interests of the predator class at the expense of the average American.

    I find your naive determination to stick with the President's losing strategy a sad but interesting phenomenon. Please explain how failing to focus on putting common Americans back to work, keeping them in their homes, and protecting their interests instead of the corporations and the interests of the rich is a good strategy for Democrats. I'd love to hear your analysis of how brilliant the 3-D chess player is now and how magically it will all turn out alright. Go ahead. We're all ears.


    by oleeb (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 2:18pm

    Blame it not on the negligible role of written Ebonics, but rather on niggardly devotion to basic verbal skills in public education relative to niggling political correctness. A case (with reference to comments further down the page) of Stupid meeting Spineless in a mutual salute to dumbed-down public discourse.


    by PTroub (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:06pm

    You can, however, defeat stupid and crazy. But that requires standing up and fighting them. You can't win by trying to appease stupid, crazy people because there is no appeasing them because... they are stupid and crazy!


    by oleeb (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:22pm

    Again: ROTFLMAO!

    (Google with cut and paste if you've forgotten another serviceable Acronym.) ;o)


    by wendy davis (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:44pm

    Not to intrude into the stupid hate-fest, but I wish you'd differentiate between stupid and ignorant. You have some willful ignorance going on here, but ignorance can be sometimes be educated, but condescension doesn't do well as a teaching mode.

    It's how Bob Schieffer (spelling?) got Bone-er to admit tax cuts expiring for the middle class would be a good thing. Shieffer knew the numbers; Boehner didn't, and got schooled. Maybe a poor example, but one on one can work...


    by wendy davis (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 4:51pm

    You're right. There is a difference between stupid and ignorant. Ignorance can be fixed. But willful ignorance and a total disconnect from the facts ("Get the gov't out of my Medicare") is just plain stupid.


    by TJ (not verified) on Tue, 09/14/2010 - 7:15pm

    While you are correct when discussing normal persons I would say you're probably wrong when it comes to authoritarian personalities such as those we are dealing with on the extreme right wing of the Republican Party. They cannot be schooled. The scientific data demonstrate that facts that don't fit their world view are merely rejected out of hand regardless. Thus, global warming is not real all well documented facts notwithstanding. Thus, evolution is only a "theory" all scientific data notwithstanding. Obama is a muslum born in Kenya is the truth despite their being no evidence whatsoever for those claims and that they are demonstrably false. This authoritarian personality stuff is extremely important if we are to beat these lunatics back and re-establish sanity in our public policy and politics.


    by oleeb (not verified) on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 12:34am

    Yah; it just depends on who any of us have in mind, really.


    by wendy davis (not verified) on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 2:34am

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