David Duke Demonstrates Racism Of The Far Right, Tainting Tea Party

The tea party supporters, like much of the right wing, is tainted with a reputation for racism. It doesn’t help them shed this image to have former KKK leader David Duke make an argument claiming they are not racist. Crooks & Liars has the video and transcript. Here’s a portion:

Tea Party people are called racist because the vast majority wants to stop the massive non-European immigration that will turn America into a crumbling tower of Babel. Most Tea Partiers believe that we in America have the right to preserve our heritage, language, and culture, just as every nation has that human right. The vast majority of Tea Party activists oppose affirmative action and diversity, which are nothing more than programs of racist discrimination against white people. The vast majority of Tea Party enthusiasts despise Hollywood and the mass media.

You know, the unelected media bosses have far more power than any senator or congressman, and are far more alien to America than the British were at the time of the American Revolution. At least the British were of our own, Christian cultural heritage, while the non-Christian ethno-religious minority who dominates Hollywood sees itself as very distinct from the 98 percent of the rest of us.

Thanks to David Duke for reminding everyone that the far right is not only racist. It is also anti-Semitic with their paranoia about the Jewish media and Hollywood. David Duke is certainly not doing the tea party movement any favors.

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Democrats Using Obama To Get New Voters From 2008 To Turn Out In November

The Democrats face a major disadvantage in the 2010 midterm elections compared to the 2008 and presumably the 2012 election–they won’t have Barack Obama on the ballot. In addition, many of the young voters who helped Obama win typically do not vote in off year elections.  Obama also received the votes of many new voters in 2008, including minority voters. The Democratic National Committee began distributing the above video as part of an attempt to get the first time voters who backed Obama in 2008 to turn out in 2010:

“This year, the stakes are higher than ever,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by Democratic officials. “It will be up to each of you to make sure that young people, African Americans, Latinos and women who powered our victory in 2008 stand together once again.

“If you help make sure that first-time voters in 2008 make their voices heard again in November,” he added, “then together we will deliver on the promise of change, hope and prosperity for generations to come.”

While so far Republicans have been winning the spin war despite being wrong on the issues, the Democrats are finally talking about explaining why voters should not return the Republicans to power:

Kaine said Obama plans to frame the elections as a choice between continued Democratic control or a return to Republican power. “Our story begins with: Democrats are results people and the Republicans are political obstructionists,” he said in an interview. “Do we want to continue the direction that sees us climbing out of the recession or do we want to go back to the same policies that put us in the ditch in the first place?”

The Democrats have a tough job considering how far ahead the Republicans are in the spin war.  For example,  Republicans have managed to get a substantial number of voters to tell pollsters they oppose the health care plan despite agreeing on the individual components of the plan. Conservatives have been misled into protesting higher taxes despite  receiving tax cuts from Obama. Republicans have also had success in denying the benefits of the stimulus package while getting many voters to forget which party is responsible for the recession in the first place.

While they are unable to actually govern, the Republicans are far better at distorting the facts to support their goals. Joe Gandelman even notes that this is being done with the above video. Politico ran the video as part of a story entitled  Obama seeks to ‘reconnect…young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women’ for 2010.” This headline is explained in the story:

The Democratic National Committee this morning released this clip of the president rallying the troops, if rather coolly, for 2010. Obama’s express goal: “reconnecting” with the voters who voted for the first time in 2008, but who may not plan to vote in the lower-profile Congressional elections this year.

Obama speaks with unusual demographic frankness about his coalition in his appeal to “young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again.”

Turning out those so-called “surge” voters — who turned out for the first time to back Obama, but who sat out gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia last year — has become the Democrats’ central pre-occupation for the midterm elections, and the new Democratic effort to nationalize the election around Obama and his agenda mark an attempt to energize those voters.

Gandelman then compared this to the spin in Drudge’s headline for the same story: “OBAMA PLAYS RACE CARD: RALLIES BLACKS, LATINOS FOR ‘10 UPSET”

Gandelman explained that the Politico story ” is further confirmation of something many on this site and a zillion other political blogs and mainstream reporters have noted: in order for the Democrats to win they need to get out the vote by getting out people who voted for the Dems last time and won the election.” He then explained why the Drudge story is inaccurate and concluded:

It’s pure, partisan button-pushing — which will translate (just you watch) into blog posts, indignant talk radio hosts, cable hosts asking about plans to play the “race card.” Who cares if it’s accurate or not? It’s a great chance to get indignant and arouse hatreds about an opponent. It’s (these days) as American as apple pie.

It will take all of Obama’s famed oratory skills to overcome the damage caused by the right wing noise machine.

Leno’s Ratings Have Fallen To Conan Levels


Did NBC make a mistake in returning Jay Leno to The Tonight Show? Team Coco claims that “Leno’s losing to repeats of Letterman, and his ratings have dipped below those achieved by Conan O’Brien for the first time since he returned to the Tonight Show stage.” TV By The Numbers has a chart showing how close Leno’s ratings are to Conan’s.