And the mainstream media wakes up

[AnnieC 305]

At least they begin to

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/17/17612/?iref=obnetwork

I haven't read the comments yet. But hey, at least someone noticed.

[Kitty]

Is it me, or does every picture of Michele Bachmann make her look batshit insane?

[keeperrox]

Is it me, or does every picture of Michele Bachmann make her look batshit insane?

I think she's a gorgeous, well put together woman, whom I try to model myself after in looks and actions.

Haha, just kidding, she's batshit insane.

[gustava]

She's had face work.

[Deleted02]

I think she's a gorgeous, well put together woman, whom I try to model myself after in looks and actions.

Haha, just kidding, she's batshit insane.

You had me worried there. :)

[FlorenceHamilton]

I was in an airport last week. They have those big TV screens hanging from the ceiling. My gate was quite a distance form the nearest screen. It was closed captioned because they do not play the sound. I was too far away to make out the writing or see any detail. Anyway, I was not paying much attention until this female preson with very bizarre body language started jumpig around. This lady just had the strangest way of moving her head and arms and body. It took me several seconds to fgure out that it was Michele Bachmann.

You just must observe her without the sound. Although I thought the cover of Newsweek was in poor taste, it really did catch the essence of the woman's persona. There are photos on her own website that scream pathology.

Rick Perry, however, presents as fairly normal without sound. His crazy only shows when you can hear him. I would say that he is currently my greatest fear.

[Austin]

I was in an airport last week. They have those big TV screens hanging from the ceiling. My gate was quite a distance form the nearest screen. It was closed captioned because they do not play the sound. I was too far away to make out the writing or see any detail. Anyway, I was not paying much attention until this female preson with very bizarre body language started jumpig around. This lady just had the strangest way of moving her head and arms and body. It took me several seconds to fgure out that it was Michele Bachmann.

You just must observe her without the sound. Although I thought the cover of Newsweek was in poor taste, it really did catch the essence of the woman's persona. There are photos on her own website that scream pathology.

Rick Perry, however, presents as fairly normal without sound. His crazy only shows when you can hear him. I would say that he is currently my greatest fear.

ITA with you on your whole post, FH. That's why I couldn't get too worked up over the Newsweek cover, even though I thought it went too far, and Tina Brown just made herself look bad. But the truth is that Bachmann always looks crazeeee. And it's her whole carriage, not just a couple of face expressions.

I agree about Perry, too, although I've been heartened by some of his recent remarks. It seems like he was for a lot of things before he was against them, and the veneer may not hold up over the long haul. That's my hope, anyway.

[jenny_islander]

Reminds me of an anecdote from neurologist Oliver Sachs about the TV room in the stroke ward. A politician (not named) was giving a solemn speech. Most of the patients were listening with appropriate solemnity, but the ones with receptive aphasia were chuckling. They were trying to figure out what he was saying by his body language and expressions; apparently he looked like a mugging comedian!

[Kitty]

ITA with you on your whole post, FH. That's why I couldn't get too worked up over the Newsweek cover, even though I thought it went too far, and Tina Brown just made herself look bad. But the truth is that Bachmann always looks crazeeee. And it's her whole carriage, not just a couple of face expressions.

I agree about Perry, too, although I've been heartened by some of his recent remarks. It seems like he was for a lot of things before he was against them, and the veneer may not hold up over the long haul. That's my hope, anyway.

My problem with Perry is that he can't back up some of the policies he created as governor. Like the abstinence-only policy, which fucked his state over as far as teen pregnancy goes. "In my personal experience, it works" is NOT a sound basis for any policy-making decision. I wouldn't be surprised if Perry turns out to be another Obama- excellent speaker and obviously intelligent, but a complete pushover who doesn't follow through on anything he says.

[FlorenceHamilton]

I miss Bill.

[Austin]

From reading the comments on Cafferty's opinion piece, it is clear that many people do not understand that their seemingly sensible argument based upon commonly-accepted concept of the separation of church and state does not resonate with Bachmann and her ilk because her type believes the separation of church and state is a myth. The words separation of church and state do not appear in the constitution, they would argue, and they believe that the founding fathers intended for government to stay out of church, but not the other way around because (they would argue) that this country was intended to be a "Christian country".

http://www.creationists.org/myth-of-the ... state.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/971381/posts

http://www.beliefnet.com/News/Politics/ ... ation.aspx

There are a zillion blogs and articles out there summarizing their position.

But basically, arguing with these people using our common understanding of the first amendment does not resonate with them, because they do not agree with the premise of the argument (that the founding fathers intended separation of church and state). They also do some logic gymnastics about Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists, where he actually used the words "wall of separation between church and state".

http://www.schoolprayerinamerica.info/1 ... state.html

http://www.straight-talk.net/socas/s-letter.shtml

[doggie]

I love old Michele Bachmann she was speaking at a subshop and of course she screwed up and called it subway. but anyway she was saying she thinks she wants to reduce min wage and and reduce corporate tax. This would increase jobs. well yes it might but since she wants to stop welfare where are all those people who can't pay the bills on this lower wage going to get enough food to eat? This is like the quiverful mentality keep having babies god will provide. have more jobs and god will help the workers out??

[FlorenceHamilton]

They want to keep certain people in marginally employed poverty with no chance of advancing by keeping them below subsistance. This would require these people who were not born into privilege or were not born into western european skin to have to spin their wheels continuously to just survive. The 1 percenters maintain their power.

They use words like Liberty, Freedom and Small Government. What they mean is that they get whatever they want and non-privileged folks get whatever scraps they can catch.

Bachmann has openly said that she opposes public education. What better way is there to keep down the masses than to refuse to provide an education for them? Marginalize anyone who does not belong to the white, Christian upper class. Keep the lower classes uneducated. They have totaly snowed poor white people into believing that this is good for them. This is something I just do not understand. I live among these poor white people and they are malgnantly opposed to progressive ideas. They believe that the best education they got was with the "switch". They think that government spending is evil. but many of them are getting some sort of assistance. These folks amaze me with their willingness to shoot themselves in the name of white Christian supremacy.

[debrand]

FLorence, I live in NC and there are many people here who support policies that hurt them. They're not wealthy. Many of them live from pay check to pay check and work very hard for the money they recieve. It would be easy to dismiss them as stupid but most aren't. Yet, they have this huge blind spot when it comes to politics. Some of them don't even like to look anything that might contradict their beliefs. I had a friend refuse to watch an episode of the Daily Show because Stewart is too liberal. :roll:

Strangely enough, many of these people really love Bill Clinton. So, they will support a nonrepulican canidate. I think that a democrat who knows how to talk the good ol' boy way, could have a chance in the south, even if he is putting forth very liberal ideas.

In order to create change in this country, these people will have to be reached.

[ChickeyMonkey]

They want to keep certain people in marginally employed poverty with no chance of advancing by keeping them below subsistance. This would require these people who were not born into privilege or were not born into western european skin to have to spin their wheels continuously to just survive. The 1 percenters maintain their power.

They use words like Liberty, Freedom and Small Government. What they mean is that they get whatever they want and non-privileged folks get whatever scraps they can catch.

Bachmann has openly said that she opposes public education. What better way is there to keep down the masses than to refuse to provide an education for them? Marginalize anyone who does not belong to the white, Christian upper class. Keep the lower classes uneducated. They have totaly snowed poor white people into believing that this is good for them. This is something I just do not understand. I live among these poor white people and they are malgnantly opposed to progressive ideas. They believe that the best education they got was with the "switch". They think that government spending is evil. but many of them are getting some sort of assistance. These folks amaze me with their willingness to shoot themselves in the name of white Christian supremacy.

Sounds like we'll have an increase in drug use and distribution, along with other crimes. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and all that. :violence-stickwhack:

(There's a butt-sex smiley but no head-desk smiley? Interesting...)

[FlorenceHamilton]

Barack Obama made a comment that got him in trouble during the 2008 election. He said that the working class was hiding behind their guns and bibles. He left out the third component, which is their racism. the words stung. But they were true. I believe he was in central Pennsylvania at the time.

Working class white folks are willfully blind about the goals of the Tea party that hurt them. The radical right has fueled them with the idea that the TP is all about God, small government, guns, god, saving the unborn, god, liberty, etc. They are buying into the idea that helping the rich get richer in some way is good for them. They believe that if big corportations make a lot of money with little taxation, then the little guy benefits. This is even though they will admit on a smaller scale that boss man doesn't share his profits with worker guy unless he is forced. Working class folks delude themselves into believing. that if the government stops monitoring Boss man, boss man will be more fair.

Working class people who have trouble making ends meet often overexend themselves financially. They have learned that spending more money than they have is a recipe for personal disaster. It is not difficult for the TP to convince them that the librul government has done the same thing to America. Working class people are tough and will ighted their belts for hard times. They think that the TP is demanding that the government do the same. What they do not understand is that for companies, expenses taxed differently for companies and for government than they are for individuals. They do not understand that risk is necessary for businesses to grow, while prudence is needed for families to survive.

I think you will see the mainsstream press begin to "out" the TP and its leaders on all of their hypocracy. It is early in the game. The media will strip the veneer and let all of them see the goal of Dominionism. It is beginning to happen, but the full eposure will not occur until after the primary and a Republican candidate emerges. I think the Dems are prepared to out Rick perrry or Michelle Bachmann (who may unravel herself without any help from her politial rivals). THe strtegy would be a bit different for Huntsman or Romney.

My bet is that people like us have given the strategists food for thought. And they are thinking and planning. It will be fun to see how they call the emporer for having no clothes.

[Rosa]

The problem is, like the Independent Fundamentalist Baptists, when one gets debunked the rest say "Well he wasn't a leader, we don't have leaders, he was an unfortunate individual and that has nothing to do with us."

[Austin]

Never have I seen so many people willing to vote against their own best interests.

[FlorenceHamilton]

My hope is that because voting this way is ultimately against their best interests, there will be a way to get them to see the light.

[Austin]

Barack Obama made a comment that got him in trouble during the 2008 election. He said that the working class was hiding behind their guns and bibles. He left out the third component, which is their racism. the words stung. But they were true. I believe he was in central Pennsylvania at the time.

Working class white folks are willfully blind about the goals of the Tea party that hurt them. The radical right has fueled them with the idea that the TP is all about God, small government, guns, god, saving the unborn, god, liberty, etc. They are buying into the idea that helping the rich get richer in some way is good for them. They believe that if big corportations make a lot of money with little taxation, then the little guy benefits. This is even though they will admit on a smaller scale that boss man doesn't share his profits with worker guy unless he is forced. Working class folks delude themselves into believing. that if the government stops monitoring Boss man, boss man will be more fair.

Working class people who have trouble making ends meet often overexend themselves financially. They have learned that spending more money than they have is a recipe for personal disaster. It is not difficult for the TP to convince them that the librul government has done the same thing to America. Working class people are tough and will ighted their belts for hard times. They think that the TP is demanding that the government do the same. What they do not understand is that for companies, expenses taxed differently for companies and for government than they are for individuals. They do not understand that risk is necessary for businesses to grow, while prudence is needed for families to survive.

OMG, if I hear one person call up NPR and say, "Well, if my household budget is overextended, then I would have to cut back. Why can't the government cut back? Why does President Obama not think he has to cut back?"

Where to even start with this "logic". . .

And btw, when they say they want to government to cut back, they certainly don't mean on anything that affects them. Just all those welfare moms and brown kids. It nearly makes my head explode.

ETA: Obama's comment about God and guns rang so absolutely true to me. It was interesting that so many got so upset about it. Guess it touched a nerve.

[MamaJunebug]

Apropos the comments by Florence and debrand (IIRC) about keeping impoverished workers at the poverty line: I'm seeing that first-hand at the local-district level. There is a person who believes that if you don't have a college degree and a job requiring a college degree, you don't deserve anything more than minimum wage.

Even if you are a peace officer or safety officer.

This person has even ravaged a pension fund, bragged about it and offered to do a similar number on another pension fund -- one that was fully funded by its participants, not by taxpayers.

What's made my insides sink: He won reelection by an 0.5% margin.

I guess that margin also gives me hope, since it means 49.5% of us recognize him for what he is.

But folks, this is in my own front yard and it is not pleasant by any definition. At least not to 49.5% of us.

[Maggie Mae]

It's a problem in everyone's front yard.

For some reason, far too many people are voting against their own self interest. I was a political science major at university, so I'm probably cynical. Not to mention actually interested in politics. So people who aren't interested, or who are willing to just take what is blasted on the television at face value, confuse me. It's not about party allegiance. Yes, I would like for people to vote for the things I want. But mostly I want people to use their brain and think some of these radical ideas through. WHY would someone who is making poverty or below think it's a good idea to cut public education? WHY can't I make everyone realize that no election should be won or lost because of a candidates position on abortion?

There is also a problem with low turn out. I don't have any real solutions to the problem, other than better education. Let people know that state and local elections are important. In fact, local elections are much more influential on your everyday life, yet in my area, only 19% of registered voters bothered to vote.

[Austin]

There is also a problem with low turn out. I don't have any real solutions to the problem, other than better education. Let people know that state and local elections are important. In fact, local elections are much more influential on your everyday life, yet in my area, only 19% of registered voters bothered to vote.

OMG, don't get me started :doh: :shock: