RNC Members Want To Escalate The Name Calling

Considering the degree to which the Republicans are being rejected by most Americans outside of the south and Mormon belt, one would think that they might be trying to reevaluate their policies in the hopes of obtaining more support. With the Republican Party moving to the extreme right wing, I doubt we have ever had a major political party which has been so wrong on virtually every issue. Instead of trying to come up with rational answers to today’s problems to replace their failed policies, a group of Republicans has decided to stick with the one thing that Republicans do best: name calling.

The Politco reports that a faction of the Republican National Committee has proposed renaming the Democratic Party the Democrat Socialist Party. Note that these are members of the RNC, once again showing that there is no longer a real distinction between the kooks of the right wing and the Republican Party.

There are three problems with this plan:

  1. The Republican Party has no say over what the Democratic Party is named, even though they have not gotten the name right for years with their mistaken idea that they are being clever by calling it the Democrat as opposed to the Democratic Party.
  2. The Democratic Party does not support socialism. Besides, the Republicans have no business positioning themselves as supporters of the free market. As libertarian Will Wilkinson has pointed out, “the great success of the GOP over the last eight years has been to destroy the reputation of free markets and limited government by deploying its rhetoric and then doing the opposite.”
  3. The more Republicans claim that Democrats are socialists and attack socialists, the more American voters start thinking that socialism is something desirable, as a recent poll has demonstrated.

Being Karl Rove Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

One of the successes of Obama’s first one hundred days has been to start repairing some of the damage done to our reputation due to the policies of the Bush administration. Karl Rove offers us a reminder of why he and his boss had to go to restore the integrity of our government. Rove spins Obama’s European trip as The President’s Apology Tour.

We can be certain that those who really owe America and the world an apology, i.e. Rove and the president he worked for, will never make any apologies. Rove’s op-ed shows once again that he does not understand either what was wrong with the way his party governed or why his party is rapidly turning into a regional party which will have a difficult time winning a national election. Fortunately, thanks in part to Barack Obama, the rest of the world no longer blames the United States for the misconduct of the Bush administration.

Americans Feel We Are On Right Track After 100 Days of Obama Presidency

It remains to be seen how well Obama’s policies will work, but all the talk of hope really is showing up in the polls. For the first time since January 2004 (after the capture of Saddam Hussein) an AP poll has found that more Americans believe we are on the right track (48 percent) than wrong track (44 percent). This is an increase from 40 percent who thought we were on the right track in February.

It isn’t only AP. Pollster.com shows the trend:

Why Do Texas Republicans Hate America? Half Want Out of US

A Daily Kos/Research 2000 Texas Poll finds that an equal number of Texas Republicans think that Texas would be better off as an independent country. In the poll 48 percent of Republicans chose independence while 48% would remain as part of the United States of America. As majorities of both Democrats and Independents prefer to remain as part of the United States the overall result was 35 percent for independence and 61 percent for remaining in the United States.

Times Change

George Bush in 2003 via The Plank (emphasis added):

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2003

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

Today, on the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the United States declares its strong solidarity with torture victims across the world. Torture anywhere is an affront to human dignity everywhere. We are committed to building a world where human rights are respected and protected by the rule of law.

Freedom from torture is an inalienable human right. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, ratified by the United States and more than 130 other countries since 1984, forbids governments from deliberately inflicting severe physical or mental pain or suffering on those within their custody or control. Yet torture continues to be practiced around the world by rogue regimes whose cruel methods match their determination to crush the human spirit. Beating, burning, rape, and electric shock are some of the grisly tools such regimes use to terrorize their own citizens. These despicable crimes cannot be tolerated by a world committed to justice….

The United States is committed to the world-wide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example. I call on all governments to join with the United States and the community of law-abiding nations in prohibiting, investigating, and prosecuting all acts of torture and in undertaking to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment. I call on all nations to speak out against torture in all its forms and to make ending torture an essential part of their diplomacy. I further urge governments to join America and others in supporting torture victims’ treatment centers, contributing to the UN Fund for the Victims of Torture, and supporting the efforts of non-governmental organizations to end torture and assist its victims.

No people, no matter where they reside, should have to live in fear of their own government. Nowhere should the midnight knock foreshadow a nightmare of state-commissioned crime. The suffering of torture victims must end, and the United States calls on all governments to assume this great mission.

I won’t argue with Bush on this. Let’s begin the investigations and the prosecutions for the torture committed by the Bush administration.

Posted in George Bush. Tags: . 4 Comments »

Pseudoscience From The Left

While denial of modern science has become commonplace on the right, unfortunately we still have examples of pseudoscience from the left blogosophere. Now Jim Carrey, blogging at Huffington Post, is suddenly an expert on vaccines as he repeats the debunked claims connecting them to autism.

While conservatives often stick together in their promotion of views contrary to science, liberal bloggers are frequently willing to condemn the pseudoscience of people such as Jim Carrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Deepak Chopra. PZ Myers criticizes both those who promote pseudoscience along with the Huffington Post for posting material from celebrities without knowlege of the topics they write about:

I know how much Orac dislikes the Huffington Post — I despise it myself as the doman of airheaded woo of the type represented by Deepak Chopra, and the only time I glance at it is to remind myself that the left can also sink into sloppy stupidity as deeply as the right. But poor Orac — his head might just explode into flames when he reads this simperingly stupid piece on vaccines from Jim Carrey.

The Huffpo is a little island of pampered fluff, where celebrities are asked to ‘blog’ (it really isn’t, though—they tend to drop these little turds of pseudo-wisdom, and then never hang around to interact with their readers) simply because they are celebrities, and we are expected to pay attention despite their lack of substantive authority. It’s the People magazine of the lefty blogosphere, and I’m really ashamed to see that as one of the showpieces of my political affiliation.

Pelosi Backs Truth Commission, Limited Immunity

The Washington Wire reports that Nancy Pelosi is calling for a truth commission to investigate the use of  torture during the Bush years. She also stated she would consider offers of immunity to some in exchange for cooperation but stated immunity “should not be granted in a blanket way.”