Monday Open Thread
Welcome to your Monday open thread. It’s Monday, so it’s back to the grind. What’s on your mind?
National surveys of the Tea Party have found that explicit racist sentiment is a strong component of the tea-party make up, in addition to economic conservatism and strong Republican partisanship. The April, 2010 New York Times/CBS News national survey of Tea Party supporters found that they are:
– More than twice as likely as the general public (25% vs 11%) to believe that “the policies of the Obama administration favor blacks over whites.”
– Half as likely as the general public (16% to 31%) to believe that “white people have a better chance of getting ahead in today’s society.”
– Almost twice as likely as the general public (52% to 28%) to believe that “too much has been made of the problems facing black people” in recent years.
…
In a broad study of adults in Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and California conducted between February and March, the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Sexuality (WISER) asked a number of questions about “racial resentment” — such as whether blacks don’t try hard enough or have gotten more than they deserve. Conservatives are 23 percent more likely to be racially resentful, and Republicans 15 percent more likely than Democrats. However, the institute found that this racial sentiment isn’t simply a byproduct of white conservativism:
[E]ven as we account for conservatism and partisanship, support for the Tea Party remains a valid predictor of racial resentment.
It is untrue, as political commentator Dave Weigel argues, that racism in the Tea Party is merely reflective of its conservatism. The WISER study found that compared to other conservatives, Tea Party supporters are:
– 25 percent more likely to have racial resentment.
– 27 percent more likely to support racial profiling.
– 28 percent more likely to support indefinite detention without charges.
The new campaigns against building mosques is part of this same isolationist, xenophobic rhetoric. Xenophobia may be big topic right now but apparently the California Prop 8 decision is getting barely a wimper from the usual suspects on the right.
When a federal judge in California last week ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, several political observers braced for a flood of Republican blasts on the issue that could end up resonating in campaigns nationally.
Instead, the anticipated GOP bang over the ban — known as Proposition 8 — amounted to little more than a whimper. There were angry columns and cries of protest from right-wing groups and conservative writers, but the majority of the Republican establishment kept on a bread-and-butter message — and party leaders are encouraging them not to stray.
…
In California, the two leading GOP candidates — gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman and U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina — issued muted statements.
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the day after the ruling, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who opposes gay marriage, said he thought it may come up in a “subliminal” way in campaigns and moved off the topic fairly quickly.
The national committees didn’t touch it in a real way — “I haven’t been following closely,” said one Washington GOP operative who works with one of the committees. Meanwhile Republican leaders made clear their strategy is staying on jobs.
Will we get a civil war between the social conservatives and the Tea Partiers. The social conservatives are being pretty much ignored right now.
Tags: Open Thread
The Theory of Relativity is a liberal plot, according to Conservapedia.
It’s the economy stupid. Everything else is just a sideshow. The mainstream R’s are going to pound the economy. It might work if we don’t get out there and talk to people.
Once-skeptical, Tom Carper now sees signs of a right-wing conspiracy
Is Tom just slow …or is the reality now too obvious to deny ?
Rand Paul — College Stoner Prankster!
That Rand Paul story is really, really bizarre and I think it may hurt him in conservative Kentucky.
That is a deeply weird story — the friend who sent that to me sent another email wondering if the Rand Paul Stoner story could be true. Seriously, who has that kind of energy to abduct someone and have them pretend to blasphemous behavior after you’ve inhaled? He might have been on something, but maybe not pot….
John Atkins’s opponent has illegal immigrant problems? Also, he’s a terrible landlord.
http://www.wgmd.com/?p=8160
It’s the economy stupid. Everything else is just a sideshow. The mainstream R’s are going to pound the economy. It might work if we don’t get out there and talk to people.
Agreed. Why do I feel like liberals are content to let Republicans take over again as long as there is gay marriage?
Except that talking to people won’t help. The only thing that will help are jobs, and even a modest decline in the deficit. And it’s too late for that.
When Republicans win, will liberals say “We’ll fix it later?”
Carpetbagger isn’t slow! He knows exactly who fills his campaign coffers, corporate America. Anon, I dont think liberals are willing to settle for “gay rights” a fundamental right consitutionally.
Liberals wont do much they never do. They talk a lot, but when it comes to putting their feet to the pavement, door knocking they seem to be content to sit behind their computers. My question is where the hell is the Delaware Democratic Party, where are the Democratic Legislators, why arent they out in front of the bandwagon for change. Other than John Kowalko, when was the last time you heard from any of them. 2) Where are the unions? Delaware just got some huge educational grants, got some monies to help the 0-7 children with obstinate definant disorder (9million to be exact). So why are teachers being laid off, why are there no school books in many public schools? Delaware is still a right to work state, our wages are low because the unions are content to do nothing, say nothing but continue to fund the democratic party without any demands.
If the party goes south this election cycle the dems have no one to bang around but themselves. They have to get their talking points on jobs, how will you create jobs? The republicans have no plans, no voting record on anything to run on, this should be a cakewalk for democrats. Teabaggers are all infighting and have no real money, people like Rand Paul and Sharon Angle are just goofy and I dont believe are electable. Yet corporate media would have us believe they are some scary group with millions of citizens and dollars backing them up. Its all a comedy!
nixon resigned 36 years ago today
cake, anyone?
Extravagant meals made by guest chefs, lavish entertainment, vacations galore, flying dogs, five star hotels on the costa del sol with forty friends at tax payers expense. All this during a serious recession, and after telling everyone that they have to tighten their belts.
Are these the actions of somebody who has plans for a second term ?
I think not.
Car Dude lays the wood to CRI on their pout over Fiskers:
Extravagant meals made by guest chefs, lavish entertainment, vacations galore, flying dogs, five star hotels on the costa del sol with forty friends at tax payers expense. All this during a serious recession, and after telling everyone that they have to tighten their belts.
Funny how when the white lady did it it was OK. “A return to elegance,” I think they called it.
The media hammered nancy Reagan for the new china even though tax payers didn’t have to pay for it.
You just had to bring race into this didn’t you. Get over it.
The reality is just the opposite of what you claim, you are dishonest if you say different. If she was a white lady, the media would go into full attack mode, especially if she were a Republican.
Obama is not going to seek another term. His handlers would never allow the extravagant in your face life style during a recession if they planned to run him again. It’s just too much ammunition for the opposition.
The deal was cut when Hillary dropped out of the Dem primary.
Now here’s a good topic for a Delaware Liberal blog post:
“White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’”
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113431-white-house-unloads-on-professional-left
Read it and weep. I guess this is their idea of motivating the base for election day.
What say you, DL writers and commenters?
“White House unloads anger over criticism from ‘professional left’”
Maddening.
We are starting to get their attention. Let’s see if we can bring it to a full boil.
yeah, so what? We criticize the guy we voted in office. At least we don’t goose step to a Dbag agenda.
i understand the frustration. Obama never claimed he would be a left wing version of GWB. Time and again he said he would work to reach out (even though we now see it was a pipe dream). Now left wingers are bitching about him “betraying the mandate” when in reality they are mad at him for not being something he never said he would try to be.
Did you all not pay attention to the campaign?
a. price,
I paid attention to the campaign. And you’re right. “Obama never claimed he would be a left wing version of GWB.” Come to think of it. I can’t remember that he claimed anything. So I voted for Cynthia McKinney.
So on that score, my conscience is clear, how about yours?
i voted for Obama. and while i am less than ecstatic with how things are going, im rational enough to realize there is lots of fault to go around….. most of which can land with a political wing that controls a media outlet which is followed by millions of racist sheep who need to be told they hate the president not because he is black, but because he is an evil socialist bent on forcing their sons to bang each other….
also there is a political party who has no interest in making anything better, or doing anything at all other than exploiting the constitution to bring government to a stop, then blame the party trying to fix the mess GWB created.
so, yeah, i can sleep at night too.
you just wasted your vote.
He ain’t running
questionable birth record
Obama is the only president whose birth certificate I’ve actually seen. I guess that makes it questionable.
BTW, saying a well-known fact is “questionable” makes anything you post questionable IMO.
If you want us to stop saying you use Fox News talking points, quit using them and exercise your brain.
Did you all not pay attention to the campaign?
He promised a public option, and he promised to let the Bush tax cuts for the rich expire (except for the biggest one of all, dividends, but what the hell).
That is the “It’s the economy, stupid” agenda that was the reason I supported Obama.
I’m still waiting.
a. price,
“the party trying to fix the mess GWB created.”
Oh yeah, we got one of those in Congress.
It’s you wasted your vote.
remind me again where in our constitution is says a president has total power to to whatever the most extreme part of his base wishes. oh right…. there isnt such a part.
kaythanksbye
What was “extreme” about the public option?
And what is so extreme about middle-class tax cuts?
To keep his promise on tax cut expiration, all Obama needs to do is pass a bill extending the middle-class tax cuts, while making sure the tax cuts for the rich stay out. Not to mention, such a bill would split Republican unity right in two.
How pathetic is it if you can’t manage to pass middle-class tax cuts in an election year?
And by the way, to keep the tax cuts for the rich from being amended back in, this Congress under Pelosi is probably the best shot we will have for a long time, The next Congress is likely to be weaker on tax cuts for the rich.
You can be so foolish, a.price. Whether or not you agree with what he said or not, do you really think it is smart politics to dis progressive activists like this a few months before an election when you’re gonna need every vote you can get?
And, of course, you ignore all the lies and broken promises that Obomba made that have nothing to do with Congress. So keep nodding your head up and down at anything your emperor does and then blame anybody else but him, even for the words that come out of his own mouth.