Tuesday Open Thread [8.21.12]
I am really confused as to why Republicans are freaking out about Akin said. What he said is the official policy stance of the Republican Party, and of its presidential ticket.
No abortion. Period. No exceptions for either legitimate, forcible rape or “acceptable” non-forcible rape.
I can see plenty for women to be upset about, and Democrats, but not Republicans. Maybe it is because Republicans know that if they actually have to campaign on what they really believe, they will lose every election.
Something about this report on NPR this morning totally depressed me. It was interviews with people around some county fair in Wisconsin. These are supposed to be salt-of-the-earth types from the heartland, with native intelligence and decency. But they had neither. They had allowed themselves to become so fricking brainwashed by propaganda channels, there was no room left in their heads for a thought of their own. I guess it is a conservative county to begin with (although NPR describes it as a “swing county”). But the empty void where you would normally expect to see critical thinking and human intelligence was soul-sucking. They really do live in another world with its own enclosed news sources. Here are some quotes.
From a farmer who takes federal farm subsidies:
I don’t think this guy realizes he is describing Social Security. I think he thinks he is talking about “welfare” (and he’s wrong about that too). I guess the brazen Romney welfare attack ads are working, despite being debunked.
And then there’s the pro-Romney, getting-older couple making a living with their food vending truck:
Steven is a poster child for Obamacare and doesn’t know it. His health care plan is the emergency room. Later he says his plan for old age is that his children will take care of him.
DelawarePolitics reports Sher Valenzuela scored a prime-time speaking slot at RNC on Tuesday night, which happens to be designated “We Built That” night.
In that case I think we need to share some of what we know about Sher with the rest of the nation. Perhaps some of what we know about her business success can be gathered and re-posted, and cross-posted somewhere prominent like Daily Kos on the morning of (or the next morning, whichever works better).
Interesting that the national GOP thinks Valenzuela is a better fit for selling the party’s message than the Delaware GOP’s choices for Senate, House and governor.
I heard that NPR report this AM, puck, and I think I’ve heard most of those Swing State reports that they’ve done. What strikes me is that the reporters asking these questions ought to be embarrassed to hear from some of these folks. Because there is a good deal of this attachment to misinformation (or disinformation) that can be laid right at the feet of their “view from nowhere” reporting.
co-signed, cassandra.
If NPR (and all our other favorite outlets) didn’t represent everyone in ‘flyover states’ as shoeless cousin marrying morons, maybe the progressive people (who are many) would open up and feel some hope, occasionally.
The depressing thing is that these people in the NPR report didn’t come off as shoeless cousin-marrying morans. I guess you have to listen to the audio to get the full effect. They sounded like normal people, until you started listening to what they were saying. Native skepticism and individual critical thinking had been cored out of these people and replaced with a pre-made artificial skepticism, one that is pointed the wrong way. They were like people with no souls. I experienced a shock like the one at the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. These weren’t de Toqueville’s democratic Americans; these were some kind of engineered political beings.
Heragain, my thinking is that the reporter ought to be embarrassed because the “objectivity” reporting that they cling so fiercely to makes it very easy for “alternate facts” to become the CW among some folks. This is the “view from nowhere” reporting I was referencing a description of the press that Jay Rosen has been developing. A press that is more interested in being seen as outside of the arena and not taking sides is a press that is a vector for whatever BS that comes down the pike.
How awesome is this? Rob Tornoe interviews Matt Groening!
Rep. Akin is on the house science committee. Maybe he can tell us about Adam and Eve running from the dinosaurs. Can’t the GOP find reps who trust science to staff the committee.
tom, i think they dont WANT reps who trust science.
If they trusted science, they would affirm climate change, if they affirm climate change, they would lose money from the k=\Kochs, if they lose funding, they don’t win anymore elections.