Comments on The Gift That Keeps Giving

I predict Republicans will adopt the Pat Robertson approach, and that it will work in their favor.

I hope so very much I am wrong.

Well, you are most likely right, but I was looking at the comments on the ABC.com blog and they were mostly of the "ew, Foley is a gross, hypocritcal pedophile" variety without mention of his being gay. Not sure how long that will last, though.

Repeat after me. Corrupt, incompetent, amoral/immoral.

Calling other people names when you already qualify to be called names is just an attempt to spin.

The Truth is what matters. And the coverups.

follow the rabbit.

I am so tired of BOTH parties and BOTH sides of the blogosphere spinning this scandal in their own Machiavellian ways.

If you want to be scandalized, listen to NPR's interview yesterday of Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6196749

The money shot, so to speak, comes in the first two minutes or so, and goes something like this, "Homosexuals are pre-occupied with sex and have no place in public office."

I can't wait for November either, Erica. But that's what I said in 2004 and was dumbstruck that people reelected that boob of a president.

I'm beginning to live in fear of November. The war is a disaster. Congress and the prez are gutting civil rights and the constitution in an attempt to look muscular. We're building a Berlin Wall along the Mexican border. Torture is okay. Hiding pedophiles is okay. Blatant racism is okay (incredibly, "Macaca" Allen is still ahead of his challenger in the polls!). Shooting your hunting buddy in the face (and attempting to cover it up) is okay. Half of New Orleans is still a waste land. We're still debating whether or not global warming, or even evolution, are real (WTF?!).

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Yet still, STILL, it is entirely possible that the Republicans will retain a majority in both houses come November. It boggles my mind. If all of this is okay, what on earth could it possibly take to wake up the electorate? It is enough to make me want to scream.

/rant

SDA: You wanna get real worried? Think about the fact that it doesn't even matter if they have the votes. I'm fully confident they can fix (and have fixed) elections. The worse things get, the harder they'll work on that angle.

Yeah, except most of the Western states now have most people voting by mail with paper ballots that can be scanned.

Makes it a lot harder.

From the Examiner:
Cheney flatly rejected predictions by pundits that Democrats will take control of the House and Senate in November.
“We will retain control of both houses,” he said.

Sounds pretty confident, doesn't he?

SDA,

Most Americans live in a bubble. The level of ignorance when it comes to anything outside their day to day lives is truly shocking.

My prediction: It's going to be high interest rates and high inflation caused by out of control deficit spending and trade imbalances that force people to pay attention. Sounds boring, I know, but right now our economy is so over leveraged that the stagflation of the late 70's and early 80's could come back with a vengeance. We'll know more by this time next year after about a trillion dollars worth of ARM loans reset at the higher current rates, and a lot of people may not be able to afford to live in their houses anymore.

Plus, we've had a negative savings rate for at least the last year and a half, which means most people are spending more than they earn and that simply can't go on forever.

To further your question, what is it about our culture that makes it socially acceptable to be so ignorant?

Andrew, the answer, of course, is that it is easy to be intellectually lazy and a burden to help the ignorant to see the light.

Plus, our education system is failing the entire country, keeping the dimwits dim, just like the Republicans like them.

SB,

It's true, as a core party value and principle for the Republicans:

Ignorance is Strength.