Republicans: continued

[Hermit]

Fuck alternet. I whitelisted it. It still blocks me.

[JimC]

Biden condemns white supremacy and Republicans are offended. Hmm

'Conservatives are accidentally telling on themselves with their new complaint about Biden'

Biden's call for unity is thoughtful and specific. The speech made clear that for him, "unity" isn't about everyone agreeing. We don't compromise with white supremacists, after all; we simply seek to defeat them. Unity is a value that finds itself in opposition to an ideology like white supremacy. And Biden is sounding a rallying cry for the United States to unite behind this value.

It's notable then, that many conservatives took this call as a direct attack. But that doesn't really say much about Biden or his speech. It tells us a lot about them. They're the type of people who hear denunciations of white supremacy and nativism and feel personally attacked. They're implicitly putting themselves in opposition to Biden's call for unity against bigotry.

The most charitable interpretation of this position is that they just don't see nativism or white supremacy as serious threats in the United States, and so they interpret a politician's words denouncing them as being a smokescreen for attacking others. But that's not really a great defense, because it means they're ignorant, at best, of serious threats in the country, threats that affect others. And it suggests they have no interest in uniting to combat these forces, which is a damning indictment in itself.

They see the ultra right, the neo-Nazis and white supremacists as just another political position; perhaps a little too raw and uncultured for a true conservative Republican, but nonetheless their version of "unity" would mean leaving a place at the table for them, even if it's below the salt...

[L'Emmerdeur]

I agree--their site sucks. Some of their writers suck as well. A fair percentage of the article consists of segues between quotes from various right-wingers bristling at Biden's effrontery. I only found it on one other site, which also sucks in its own way:

'Conservatives are accidentally telling on themselves with their new complaint about Biden'

[L'Emmerdeur]

They see the ultra right, the neo-Nazis and white supremacists as just another political position; perhaps a little too raw and uncultured for a true conservative Republican, but nonetheless their version of "unity" would mean leaving a place at the table for them, even if it's below the salt...

I think it's more personal than that. Rand Paul, treading a similar path to his father, is a crypto-and-not-so-crypto racist. As for the paid blowhards of Bullshit Mountain, they're not just taking offence at the idea that racist fucks shouldn't have a place at the table.

The Fox News personalities are taking offence at the idea that a significant percentage of their audience are racist fucks. I think most of them must privately acknowledge that. They also know that certain colleagues regularly spout racist noise. They're taking offence on behalf of Tucker Carlson and the many racist guests and contributors they give a megaphone to. 'How dare Biden say that we must confront white supremacy--it seems like he's talking about us!'

[Tero]

Republicans in state legislatures start process to stop brown people from voting in 4 years. Buzz word: election integrity.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/2 ... aws-461707

Georgia
“I think that has the most likelihood of being signed into law,” said state Sen. Larry Walker, the vice chair of the Republican Senate caucus. Walker said he would be “very supportive” of that change and said his constituents were deeply concerned, saying he has gotten thousands of emails, letters and texts.

“A large percentage of my constituents have lost faith in the integrity of our election system,” he said. “So we're going to try to address some things that we feel like can restore the public's confidence in the system.”

He also rejected that claim that changes would disenfranchise voters, citing the state’s high turnout. “I don’t think any of these ideas are burdensome or overly restrictive or lead to what I would consider voter suppression,” he said.

[Cunt]

Senator still focused on a past election. Highlighted by Dan Bongino here - https://rumble.com/vd8x9t-ep.-1442-this ... -bong.html

[Joe]

I don't think Republicans are heeding Biden's call for unity. From National Review.

Witless Ape Rides Helicopter

Well, that sucked.

Memo to MAGA and all its myriad fellow-travelers: Maybe Death of a Salesman as presented by Leni Riefenstahl just wasn’t the show Americans were dying to tune into this season.

And, while we’re at it, maybe turning your party over to Generalissimo Walter Mitty, his hideous scheming spawn, and the studio audience from Hee-Haw was not just absolutely aces as a political strategy.

Think on it, Cletus. I know this whole thing still sounds like your idea of a good time — how’s that working out for you?

Let me refresh your memory: On the day Donald Trump was sworn in as president, Republicans controlled not only the White House but both houses of Congress. They were in a historically strong position elsewhere as well, controlling both legislative chambers in 32 states. They pissed that away like they were midnight drunks karaoke-warbling that old Chumbawumba song: In 2021, they control approximately squat. The House is run by Nancy Pelosi. The Senate is run, as a practical matter, by Kamala Harris. And Joe Biden won the presidency, notwithstanding whatever the nut-cutlet guest-hosting for Dennis Prager this week has to say about it.

Donald Trump is, in fact, the first president since Herbert Hoover to lead his party to losing the presidency, the House, and the Senate all in a single term. Along with being the first president to be impeached twice and the first game-show host elected to the office, that’s Trump’s claim to the history books. Well, that and 400,000 dead Americans and the failed coup d’état business.

As for the ratings Trump fears and worships, ask the Third Lady: Melania Trump departs the scene the most unpopular presidential wife in recorded statistical history.

You Trumpish Republicans sneered that Joe Biden was too corrupt and too senescent to win a presidential campaign, that he was one part mafioso and one part turnip.

That turnip kicked your dumb asses from Delaware to D.C.

So you rioted. Real smart move, Cletus.

Five Americans are dead. Barricades have been erected around the Capitol. Thousands of federal troops have been deployed to the streets of Washington. State capitols have been obliged to prepare for siege. Americans blame you for this — and they are not wrong.

“Trust the plan,” the QAnon cultists say. Is this what you were planning? I know you are stupid, but you are not that stupid.

“Oh, but he fights!” you’ll say — over and over and over. He didn’t fight — he tweeted. He’s ten feet tall on social media and a pushover in real life. Trade deficit: up. Unemployment rate: rising. Abortion rate: rising. Beijing: rising. The coronavirus body-count: rising.

But he sure did tweet a lot!

[JimC]

"Cletus"

[Joe]

Well, that's one way to get a job after working in the Trump administration.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders announces run for governor of Arkansas

Sarah Huckabee Sanders is running for governor of Arkansas in the 2022 election, CBS News has confirmed. She announced her campaign in a video posted to her Twitter account Monday.

In the nearly eight-minute-long announcement, Sanders highlighted her tenure serving as White House press secretary under former President Donald Trump and called for an end to violence and return to peaceful protest.

"With the radical left now in control of Washington, your governor is your last line of defense. In fact, your governor must be on the front line. So today I announce my candidacy for governor of Arkansas," Sanders said. "As governor, I will defend our right to be free of socialism and tyranny, your Second Amendment right to keep your family safe and your freedom of speech and religious liberty. Our state needs a leader with the courage to do what's right, not what's political correct or convenient."

Hey, it's Arkansas. They've elected worse.

[JimC]

Is she the black sheep of the Sanders clan?

[Joe]

No, she's the favorite daughter of the Huckabee clan.

[Hermit]

In his Inaugural Address Biden said

Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we are all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, and demonization have long torn us apart.

and

A cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. The dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer.

A cry for survival comes from the planet itself. A cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear.

And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.

To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.

It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy:

Unity.

You'd think all those Republicans who deny they are white supremacists and racists would applaud the sentiment expressed by the president. They don't. They feel offended and attacked. Karl Rove, former President George W. Bush advisor, for instance, said: "I was offended by the speech." Senator Rand Paul was more explicit: "If you read his speech and listen to it carefully, much of it is thinly veiled innuendo. And " Biden "is “calling us white supremacists, calling us racists, calling us every name in the book."

I can't see the thinly veiled innuendo, but thanks, Rove, Paul and everybody else who felt accused by Biden's call to do something about white supremacism and racism. The reason you feel accused of being racist fucks is that's what you are. There certainly is sufficient evidence for that, from the very top down. Trump himself told four congresswomen to go back where they come from.



Three of them are natural born Americans, and one is a naturalised citizen of the USA. All four are also women of colour. Coincidence? I think not. As for the senator, he is on record for saying that he'd help pay for one of them to return to the country she fled as a child. Louisiana Republican Congressman Ralph Abraham has said he'd pay for the women to leave, if only they'd tell him where they'd like to go.

There is plenty more of that crap, but I think the point is made. Biden did not accuse any of them specifically of being white supremacists and racists, but they felt attacked because they know that that is what they are.

Mehdi Hasan, a Muslim commentator, illustrated the point with an analogy (at the 2:55 mark).

If every time that George W Bush or Obama had condemned al Queada or ISIS, I, as a Muslim, had responded by calling it an attack on me and my belief, you would rightly assume that I was a member of al Queada or ISIS, or that the ideology of Islam was no different to the ideology of al Queada and ISIS.

Think about that the next time a conservative or right-winger gets offended, takes it personally, when you or I or the President rightly denounces white supremacy. Think about what they're saying, and what message they are sending - wittingly or unwittingly - about t5hemselves, and their party.

In short, by objecting to and feeling attacked/offended by Biden's call to confront and and defeat white supremacy instead of applauding and wholeheartedly agreeing with it, the protesting Republicans have outed themselves as racists.

[Brian Peacock]

Yes

[Joe]

Well, Karl Rove's nickname is "turd blossom" so he might be a little thin skinned.

Seriously, Rove and Paul are just playing the outrage card. They don't give a crap about this, other than to stir up their base and undercut Biden. It's reflexive with these hacks.

[Cunt]

Well, Karl Rove's nickname is "turd blossom" so he might be a little thin skinned.

Seriously, Rove and Paul are just playing the outrage card. They don't give a crap about this, other than to stir up their base and undercut Biden. It's reflexive with these hacks.

So what Paul said about the election fraud evidence is 'playing the outrage card'?

He sounds a lot more informed than most, about what the courts heard, and what they didn't.

Of course, if he is against Biden, the media MUST destroy him.

Not that the media is partisan or anything. It's just the right thing to do...