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Holo Lukaloa
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2/13/2009 9:45:21 AM
A letter to Obama written by a former Republican
Dear President Obama: I know that from time to time you read Huffington Post because you've written for it. As a Huffington Post reader you'll know that no one on this web site has more faithfully supported your candidacy and now your presidency than me. As a former lifelong Republican, son of a co-founder of the Religious Right; my late evangelical leader father, Francis Schaeffer, I'm in a unique position to tell you a few things about the Republicans from inside perspective. (As you know I left that movement in the mid 1980s.)
The lack of cooperation you're getting from the Republican Party will continue. You were right to indulge in a little bit of tokenism when you had to Pastor Rick Warren pray at your inauguration. But if you think that the Republicans in Congress and the Senate are going to do more than their utmost to obstruct everything you are and what you stand for you're dreaming.
As someone who appeared numerous times on the 700 Club with Pat Robertson, as someone for whom Jerry Falwell used to send his private jet to bring me to speak at his college, as an author who had James Dobson giveaway 150,000 copies of my one of my fundamentalist "books" allow me to explain something: the Republican Party is controlled by two ideological groups. First, is the Religious Right. Second, are the neoconservatives. Both groups share one thing in common: they are driven by fear and paranoia. Between them there is no Republican "center" for you to appeal to, just two versions of hate-filled extremes.
The Religious Right supply the kind of people who at McCain and Palin rallies were yelling things such as "kill him" about you. That's the constituency to which your hand was extended when looking for compromise on your financial bailout bill.
There's only one thing that makes sense for you now. Mr. President, you need to forget a bipartisan approach and get on with the business of governing by winning each battle. You will never be able to work with the Republicans because they hate you. Believe me, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are the norm not the exception. James Dobson and the rest are praying for you to fail. The neoconservatives are gnashing their teeth and waiting for you to "sell out Israel" or "show weakness" in Afghanistan, whatever, so they can declare you a traitor.
The problem is that when you deal with the Republican Party you're talking to the polished characters in Washington. I wish you could see the hate e-mail's that I have received over the last two years because I supported you, letters calling for God to kill me, telling me that I hate God because I supported you and that I am "an abortionist" and worse a "fag lover" because I've written that I believe that you will be a great president.
What those senators and congressmen are telling you is not what their rabid core constituents are telling them. Their loyalty is to a fundamentalist Christian ideology on the one hand and American exceptionalism of perpetual warfare and hatred and fear of the "other" on the other hand. Between the neoconservatives and evangelical Religious Right Republicans you have no friends.
The good news is that most Americans support you. And if you will just get in the face of the Republican Party and call their bluff you'll be surprised how many individual ordinary Republicans will support you, not to mention the rest of us. America is sick of the Republicans.
The Democratic Party won for a reason: the Republicans failed and have taken us all down with them! You're doing your presidency and America no favor by extending an open hand to the perpetually knotted fist of what has become the embittered lunatic fringe of our country. They would rather go down in flames than "compromise" their ideology.
As you showed us again at your press conference of Feb 9, you are a brilliant, articulate and decent man. Your Republican opponents are not decent people but ideologues bent on destroying you. To quote the biblical adage sir, don't cast your pearls before swine.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.
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Psyche's Muse
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2/14/2009 4:23:35 AM
Holo! How are you today? We all should know that Republican "rhetoric" comes out of the wood-work whenever a Democrat is in office. Yet under them the Patriot Act was "rushed through" with little or no debate and "Fear Mongering" ruled the day for years on end. Everyone should be aware that our representatives haven't actually read the legislation they have passed for many years now. Why is it that suddenly this is seen as a "HUGE PROBLEM!" ...and a "DEMOCRATIC CONSPIRACY!" at that? And remember how "EVERYONE" spoke in dire terms regarding our economy, this since late September of last year. Now all of a sudden it is said that "Obama is talking down our economy". "He should be more positive!" they cry. The Republicans want the blame for our bad economy to be attached to President Obama himself. I am also certain that if Obama were to speak encouragingly about our economic condition that he would be blasted by these same "talking heads" as being "dishonest" or even "foolish". So you see there is nothing that President Obama can say or do which would please the radical "nay-sayers". In the last election Mr. Hannity's vicious rhetoric on his radio talk show stirred people even to the point of saying MURDER OBAMA! The "fairness doctrine" I believe will come to pass because of him alone. -M-
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Holo Lukaloa
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2/14/2009 5:01:39 AM
All they have to cheer about now is negative solidarity and they actually were "emboldened" by the nominee for Commerce Secretary bailing out after he had totally agreed to the terms of the job.
from politico
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama's stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.
"When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today," said Specter, "one of my colleagues said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' My Republican colleague said, 'Arlen, I'm proud of you.' I said, 'Are you going to vote with me?' And he said, 'No, I might have a primary.' And I said, 'Well, you know very well I'm going to have a primary.'"
Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.
"I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation," he said.
Specter was asked, How many of your colleagues?
"I think a sizable number," he said. "I think a good part of the caucus agrees with the person I quoted, but I wouldn't want to begin to speculate on numbers."
Being the 60th and deciding vote isn't easy for a centrist who will likely face a more conservative primary challenger and then a more liberal general election opponent.
"I'd feel less uncomfortable about being the sixty-first and even better about being the sixty-seventh, but I'll take 'em one at a time," he said.
Specter added that his hope was that next time there would be more Republicans joining within him. But is that realistic?
"I didn't say it was my expectation, it was my hope," said Specter, before walking on to the Senate floor.
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Holo Lukaloa
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2/14/2009 5:18:02 AM
You say you don't take sides but secretly you wish Rush Limbaugh and his peers were the only voices on the radio.
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Psyche's Muse
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2/14/2009 5:53:18 AM
Larree, The "fairness" doctrine was enacted long before now and it used to be enforced. It isn't something new. There's just talk of it being re-enacted. With the internet's availability of information I believe this is a waste of time, but with talk radio going over the top in some arenas this is incurring some wrath. -M-
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2/14/2009 6:14:13 AM
Will the "Fairness Doctrine" also be imposed on TV News Broadcasts, Television Shows & Movies??? (I think we know the answer to that already..)
And Judd Gregg walked because of his opposition to the current administration census takeover. And what are the current administration's Chief of Staff's thought on this action???
"If you think redistricting is always partisan and political which it is...it's going to be on steroids this time."
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Psyche's Muse
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2/16/2009 3:28:06 AM
To be "Fair" let us say that neither the Republican nor the Democrat have OUR interest at heart. This may be a gross generalization, but I believe their primary concern is to fulfill the agenda of a few Power Brokers. Now, the "Fairness" Doctrine may be a bad idea. What if we should come to find ourselves living in a totalitarian state? Couldn't it be put to very good use then? Of course it wouldn't be. It wouldn't be worth the paper it was written on in that particular instance. A sense of "fairness" would never be used to justify undermining the propaganda of a totalitarian state. Commercials are a form of propaganda and most of the people are already influenced by them and are ready, willing and able to swallow just about anything and everything. I believe that the current presidency will end in a dictatorship. This has nothing to do with the person who was elected, but relates to an ongoing state of world affairs. McCain didn't have the temperament for a dictator and I am glad that he lost. I just hope that Obama will buck the "system" and do what is truly right for the American people when given the chance. -M-
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2/16/2009 4:21:26 AM
---- Updated 2/16/2009 4:29:33 AM
"I believe that the current presidency will end in a dictatorship. This has nothing to do with the person who was elected, but relates to an ongoing state of world affairs. McCain didn't have the temperament for a dictator and I am glad that he lost. I just hope that Obama will buck the "system" and do what is truly right for the American people when given the chance."
I seriously doubt the American people are ready for any type of dictatorship and anyone harboring such notions has got to have a few screws loose.
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" I just hope that Obama will buck the "system" and do what is truly right for the American people when given the chance.."
Keep dreaming...
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Fade to Black
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2/16/2009 5:28:35 AM
I'll agree that the package has some apparent ridiculous pork in it but if the Republicans were EVER interested in anything besides tax breaks for the wealthy and big business things wouldn't be so polarized. Let's face it guys, both sides slide to the extremes and we have the same old same old mess on our hands. But it is nice for a change to have a pres that can speak in complete coherent sentences!
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2/16/2009 5:48:17 AM
I guess it depends on where you draw the line defining "rich" but small businesses (middle-class) have typically employed approx 80% of all workers in the US.
And on the subject of what constitutes being "Rich".. 80% of all Americans are "rich" when compared to global living standards..
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2/16/2009 5:55:59 AM
And you don't even need a job to be rich... What a terrible country..
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2/16/2009 6:25:18 AM
It depends. Some of the businesses are marginal, others very successful but all important. And you are right that the wealthy, besides paying in excess of 95% of all taxes collected by the govt., are the engine that make a middle class possible not to mention those who create the new industries and products that enrich the lives of everyone. Remove them from the equation and the entire society collapses.
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Holo Lukaloa
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2/16/2009 8:45:34 AM
I think that bipartisanship has proven in this case to be a waste of time. Repubs don't want to contribute, they only want to win their next election.
"The ONLY way we will ever get back on track, is to allow business to flourish. Period."
That's worked real good the last 8 years, hasn't it?
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Psyche's Muse
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2/17/2009 12:31:39 PM
Dick-Tater-Ship! MARK my words... Dictatorship! ...you'll see... but first'll come Marshall Law... -M-
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