The Palin/violence connection runs deep
As we have mentioned on multiple occasions, one of the lowest points in Republican Death Culture politics was Sarah Palin‘s 2010 ad which placed gun scope crosshairs on nearly a score of U.S. Congressional districts, one of which was Arizona’s 8th district, then served by Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. Palin introduced the ad to her Twitter followers with the gun analogy “Don’t retreat, instead- RELOAD!” Several months later, Rep. Giffords was shot in the head, six others were killed, and another 12 were wounded at Giffords’ outdoor political event in Tuscon.
While it has not been proven that the Arizona shooter was directly prompted by Palin’s gun scope ad, many people made this connection, and felt that the shooting was a natural result of Palin’s ad. Of the numerous pieces written about this, one was a New York Times editorial which stated that “the link … was clear” between Palin’s gun scope ad and the subsequent shooting of Giffords. Palin sued the New York Times for defamation over the editorial, but on Tuesday, she lost her court case. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the Times after the judge in the case ruled that Palin had failed to prove that the Times had acted with the required element of “actual malice” towards her.
At the same time, however, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon, who is running this year in Arizona against Gabby Giffords’ husband, Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, has been airing an ugly, violent TV and social media ad. The ad features Lamon shooting at lookalike actors portraying President Joe Biden, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Kelly. The dangers here are obvious and almost too ominous to think about.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Arizona, Bill Clinton, elections, Gabby Giffords, gun control, gun violence, guns, Jim Lamon, Joe Biden, Mark Kelly, Nancy Pelosi, New York Times, Oklahoma City, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Twitter
Flooding in Miami Beach, Florida
As many people feared, Donald Trump yesterday withdrew the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that was signed by 195 nations. Trump has added America to an extremely short list of outliers, including only Syria and Nicaragua. However, all is not doom and gloom as a result of Trump’s bad decision. First, plenty of state officials and companies will continue their commitment to fight climate change, for example, by deploying more clean energy such as solar and wind power. Second, there are many efforts each of us can make to bridge the climate change gap that Donald Trump is creating:
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John Boehner and Republicans at September 2013 rally to shut down federal government
Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner‘s invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vividly demonstrates that, after winning both houses of Congress in last November’s election, Republicans have no desire to work with President Obama or the Democrats for the common good. Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu is Republican political mischief-making in the extreme.
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Republican House Majority Whip Steve Scalise
Republicans, who won big in last November’s elections, have already trotted out extreme positions, statements and behavior for the new year. If this trend of GOP extremism continues, it could be one of the biggest issues of 2015.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Congress, elections, EURO, gay marriage, GOP, immigration, NYPD, Republican Party, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Steve Scalise
Rally for Michael Brown, Minneapolis, MN
Two months ago, we heard from Democratic framing and messaging guru George Lakoff, who reminded us about his “Strict Father” model for conservatives. This Strict Father mindset, which idolizes authoritarian figures who criticize poor people and advocate the use of force, is playing out in conservative and Republican reactions to police violence against blacks, and the resulting protests currently taking place in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, Berkeley, California and elsewhere. In short, the conservative Strict Father mindset, which encompasses a “Scary Brown People” sub-theme, is a key reason why many conservatives side with cops and others who kill unarmed black men.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Berkeley, conservative, elections, Eric Garner, Ferguson, George Lakoff, John McCain, Michael Brown, New York City, Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, Strict Father
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Last night, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) held a conference call featuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, about efforts to pass a Constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions which have flooded our elections with “dark money.” Also on the call were Rob Weissman of Public Citizen, Marge Baker, who is Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, Larry Cohen, the President of CWA, and Bob Master, CWA’s District 1 (Northeast) Political Director.
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Leave a comment! Tags: Citizens United, CWA, dark money, elections, Harry Reid, Karl Rove, Koch Brothers, Mitch McConnell, money in politics, political contributions, Supreme Court, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVSOe-sx2gw
This past Monday, Anthony Weiner scheduled some 13 televised interviews in a last-ditch effort to improve his flagging campaign chances in the New York Mayoral primary that took place the next day. The last of these scheduled interviews was with Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC‘s “The Last Word.” Viewers should have gotten a hint that the interview would not go well when O’Donnell tweeted earlier in the day that:
For his last TV appearance before election Anthony Weiner will grace at 10pm. But I just can’t think of anything to ask him.
Sure enough, as seen in the video above, when Weiner appeared on “The Last Word,” O’Donnell said, “I have really just one question for you…: What’s wrong with you?” The interview devolved from there into what Weiner accurately characterized as a “split screen harrangue” by O’Donnell, who seemed obsessed not with Weiner’s sexting, but with the ex-Congressman’s years of public service and failure somehow to work for free after resigning from the U.S. Congress. It was beyond rude and bizarre. It was poor journalism. By the end, Weiner came off as a completely sympathetic figure and O’Donnell, ironically, was the picture of an ass.
This “interview” should be shown in journalism school with the caveat: If you’re being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to be a “journalist” and you schedule a tv interview with a public figure, either ask real questions or, if you admittedly can’t come up with any, cancel the interview.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released today in the 2013 Virginia Gubernatorial election shows Democrat Terry McAuliffe leading Virginia’s Republican Attorney, General Ken Cuccinelli, by 48-42 percent. These results could be a bad omen for Republicans around the country, for a number of reasons:
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At the Republican National Convention and elsewhere during this election season, the Republicans’ principal attack against President Obama is that he hasn’t fixed the economy or significantly lowered the unemployment rate. The Democrats have failed effectively to call the Republicans out for not lifting a finger to work with them and with President Obama to solve these economic issues.
The story is a simple and compelling one for the Democrats, if they would only tell it:
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