RSmitty, who I would call a sane Republican (if he still is officially a Republican), bemoans the lack of civilized discourse, and I share in the grief of its apparent demise. I call him an honest broker around here due to his track record of calling out both sides when he feels it necessary. And recently, he has taken umbrage at Jason’s recent comments lumping Dave Burris in with other perhaps more culpable right wing blowhards, like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michelle Bachmann and Bill O’Reilly. While I and Jason perhaps do not agree with him in his criticism, we can at the very least respectfully disagree with him, because we know he is not just another irrational conservative agreeing with talk of armed revolution and the losing of rights due to the passage of economic stimulus.

When RSmitty criticizes you, I do admit to taking a step back and reevaluating my position. To me, that shows that civilized discourse can return, so long as we have sane Republicans and sane Democrats discussing the issues, and willing to question their own opinions without resorting to the tried and true insult that each one of us has at the ready. I long for more RSmittys. More sane Republicans. Indeed, if the Republican Party wants to return to power, it will have to be under sane and more reasoned leadership.

And that is why I found today’s Rush Limbaugh show most enlightening. For today, for the first time in recorded history, a Republican disagreed with Rush Limbaugh.

For those that wish to only read the transcript instead of listening to the vomit-inducing ducid tones of El Rushbo, then see below.

Sane Republicans must stand up and take back their party from the radicals. They must reject the thinly veiled, or overt, calls to violence. They must reject lies from their elected leadership, such as the reeducation camp lie, the losing freedoms lie, the Obama is a dictator lie, and so on and so on. President Obama has an agenda that can be opposed substantively by the Republicans without resort to outrageous talk of revolution and without conjuring up falsehoods to scare people. You can oppose universal healthcare on the merits. You can oppose stimulus spending on the merits. You can alternative energy on the merits. You can oppose the whole of the Obama agenda on the merits. Lies are not necessary. Fear mongering is not necessary. Calls to arms are not necessary.

But the problem for the insane Republicans is that, right now, their arguments on the merits result in them losing elections. It results in them losing the argument right now. Because the country is in no mood for Republican policy, and they elected a progressive President and a Democratic Congress as a result. American politics move in cycles. There are eras of history where one party’s ideology is rejected by the voters and where their policies are not favored. From 1980 to 2005 we had a Conservative era where Republican ideas dominated and Democrats could only get elected by being moderate. Prior to 1980, we had a Liberal era where the New Deal and Great Society programs emerged and where only moderate Republicans could be elected (i.e. Eisenhower and Nixon).

It happens.

Sometimes your party falls out of favor. And all you can do is diligently oppose the governing party’s plans on the merits and resign yourself to developing new ideas and policies, or wait until the governing party screws up and falls out of favor. And it is guaranteed to happen. In the future, I can guarantee that a Republican, or a conservative, will be elected President. The only question is when. Will be generations, or in 4 to 8 years? The more insane Republicans get, the longer it will be. Perhaps sane Republicans are getting that, and hopefully their voices drown out the fear mongers and provocateurs.

Continue reading →

…we were preparing for the primary showdown in Pennsylvania.

Did we ever think we would see this picture a year later?

Two bitter political adversaries then, now a team. The credit goes to both of them.

For those of you who are unfamiliar what an open thread is, it is a post open to all our visitors as a place to let everyone what’s on your mind — what articles you’ve been reading, what thoughts your having about subjects we haven’t covered, etc.

To help you out, some things you may have missed at Delaware Liberal: Markell shows leadership while ignoring the  flacid Rick Jensen, Michelle Bachmann is doing her best Glen Close impersonation, the Queen is poisonous, and, on a more serious note, the shootings in Pittsburgh which we covered here and here.

So have fun and don’t be shy.

From the Rolling Stone by way of the Huffington Post:

[Ethan] Hawke claimed he witnessed the confrontation backstage at [Willie] Nelson’s tribute concert for his 70th birthday at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The article does not name [Toby] Keith but says it was a country singer who “had a monster hit about bombing America’s enemies back into the stone age.” In 2002, Keith had the song “Courtesy of the Red, White & Blue (The Angry American)” that threatened retribution for the 9/11 attacks.

Hawke said the argument began with [Kieth] telling Kristofferson: “None of that lefty [bullshit] out there tonight, Kris.”

Hawke said Kristofferson then angrily confronted and asked him if he had ever served in the military.

“Have you ever killed another man? Huh? Have you ever taken another man’s life and then cashed the check your country gave you for doing it? No, you have not, so shut the [fuck] up,” Hawke recounted Kristofferson as saying. “You don’t know what the hell you are talking about.”

Damn straight. Only those who have never worn a uniform a day in their life love war.

Piggybacking on Pandora’s post, I must post this video of Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal (D), in blocking a Republican attempt to reverse the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling:

Here is the transcript:

One of my daughters was in the workplace one day, and her particular workplace at that moment in time, there were a whole bunch of conservative, older men. And those guys were talking about gay marriage. They were talking about discussions going on across the country. And my daughter Kate, after listening for about 20 minutes, said to them: ‘You guys don’t understand. You’ve already lost. My generation doesn’t care.’ I think I learned something from my daughter that day, when she said that. And Ive talked with other people about it and that’s what I see, Senator McKinley. I see a bunch of people that merely want to profess their love for each other, and want state law to recognize that. Is that so wrong? I don’t think that’s so wrong. As a matter of fact, last Friday night, I hugged my wife. You know I’ve been married for 37 years. I hugged my wife. I felt like our love was just a little more meaningful last Friday night because thousands of other Iowa citizens could hug each other and have the state recognize their love for each other. No, Senator McKinley, I will not co-sponsor a leadership bill with you.

David Anderson, you have already lost. The future does not care about your hang-ups. Stop standing in the way of love.

To the larger point, perhaps this is why some Republicans and conservatives are resorting to violence and talk of violence. They are conservatives because they are traditionalists. They hate change. That is the basic essence of being a conservative, for you want to maintain the status quo. Well, they lost the election last year. They lost an entire generation of Americans due to their stance on this issue. They know they do not have the numbers to stop President Obama and the Democrats from enacting the budget and universal healthcare. They know they have lost the battle on the merits already.

THAT is why we hear talk of violence. THAT is why we hear talk of rights being supposedly taken away. THAT is why they are lying about Obama’s plans to take away your guns, and Obama’s plans to send them all off to reeducation camps.

They are counting the ballots right now, but with only 213 ballots left, Franken has a lead of 245.

UPDATE: The counting is finished and the final tally is F 198, C 111, O 42, meaning Franken wins by 312 votes. His election will be certified shortly.

Good grief! Rove vs. Blackwater! I am really surprised that Blackwater has survived this far. I must have missed my George Soros newsletter on the evils of Blackwater, I guess. So you know what to do — vote and tell us who you picked.

The Republican Party has backed itself into a regional, ideological and demographic corner — the one marked “rural, conservative, white.” The party is out of step with the nation it aspires to lead, and until room is made for those with a range of views — and those with different racial and ethnic backgrounds — it is hard to imagine how the party can achieve its dream of establishing a new “big tent” majority.

– Eugene Robinson

Today’s top story by Ginger Gibson grips the reader with this compelling opening:

Dozens of state workers had been peppering Gov. Jack Markell for more than a half-hour with questions and accusations about his proposal to cut their salary by 8 percent when a woman who works for the Office of Management and Budget asked why he wasn’t doing more to recruit companies from overseas.
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Markell changed his tone and interrupted her, thrusting out his left arm.

“Stop,” he said sternly.

The room, which had been buzzing, suddenly turned silent.

In Other News About News: the Delaware State News has changed its trim size to better reflect that fact that it is devoid of content.