The Pee-Wee Herman Defense

I know you are, but what am I? Seriously.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen is drawing national attention for remarks he made about the tea party movement in a recent radio interview.
The Commercial Appeal reports that the two-term Democrat said the tea party -- "without hoods and robes" -- has shown an angry, hardcore side of America that's against diversity.

He made the comments Thursday night on The Young Turks, an Internet and satellite radio talk show.

Cohen went on to say tea party members have shown hostility toward anybody who isn't "a clone of George Wallace's fan club," and that he has seen no Republican standing up to appeal for reason.

Memphis Tea Party founder and chairman Mark A. Skoda calls Cohen's remarks "hate speech."

I've run into this while attempting to discuss political matters with a group of Tea Baggers that post on a local news forum. This was posted yesterday as a response to my previous statements:

It's not that you've issued direct threats, it's your tone and rhetoric. Using words like "you people are disgusting", "Tea-bagger", "blatherings" and "little brats" to name a few show your intention is to bait conservatives not debate them.

This town is a hotbed of conservative insanity since Obama was elected. And it's surprising to hear this person is so upset with innocuous rhetoric is used by me and the highly inflammatory and blisteringly false accusations from people like Hannity and Limbaugh are unchecked and unchallenged.

The funny part of all this is, that I'm attending the local Tea Bagger fest on the 15th and I've been threatened - with hugs. People are actually refusing to stand up for their beliefs in favor of feigning compassion.

Lost In Translation

I've been asking this question to conservatives that I know since Obama was elected. Seems that it's a question no one is really keen to answer, or they simply misrepresent what they think they can and can't do.

David Neiwert at Crooks And Liars highlights a video of Megyn Kelly and Alan Colmes talking about "freedoms". Alan poses the question - what "freedoms" have these people lost. Turns out Megyn can't answer, just like every conservative.

Colmes: I'd like to know exactly what freedom -- what freedoms are being taken away from people?

Kelly: People are worried they're going to lose their health-insurance coverage! They're worried the federal government is going to step in, take over, and they're not going to be able to see their coverage.

Colmes: I didn't see any particulars about exactly what freedoms people think are going to be taken away. I would like to know what they are.

Kelly: There is just as much in this survey about health care as there is the Patriot Act!

Colmes: Yeah, but nothing in this survey says particular health care, particular Patriot Act, it's just a general question, "freedoms". I mean, what particular freedoms. People call my radio show all the time, 'My freedoms are being compromised.'

All right, I ask them. What freedom is being compromised? What freedom have you lost under Barack Obama?

Kelly: You tell me, Alan -- do you think the Democrats on Capitol Hill are going into 2010 election thinking, 'The problem with numbers like this is the Patriot Act! It is the Bush administration policies.'

Colmes: They're also not going, 'The problem is health care. If we get health care, my freedoms are being taken away.' How do your freedoms get compromised?

Here are some answers that were given to me by members of my own community while attempting to discuss this on a local message-board.

You asked about loss of freedoms, let me suggest a few: 1) I cannot hunt unless I purchase a permit from the government 2) I cannot fish unless I purchase a permit from the government 3) I cannot improve my property unless I purchase a building permit, you guessed it, from the government 4) The law of the land requires me to wear a seatbelt in my car which is equipped with hundreds of safetly features including about 4 airbags that deploy in the event of a crash 5) Although I am not a smoker, we watched as locally a non-elected body passed legislation that essentially took away private property rights and then watched as the elected body tried to save face and modify the rules 6) We have recently seen the Obama administration expand the definition of streams to include any place that water will run off at all so they can essentially take away our right to make a living in the mining industry.

Here's some freedoms lost: Ever heard of assualt weapons bans? What about school choice? Christian symbols removed? Parental notification in abortions? Must you trust so much in a government that carves and carves away freedom? Taxes by their very nature take freedom from us. The Bush tax cuts gave us 5million jobs (that Obama has erased completely) despite a Democratic congress increasing spending by 42%.

You'll notice that there has was not one "right" listed in any of these responses to my question. People hunt, fish, buy guns, worship whatever God they want, can chose either private or public schools, smoke, refurbish their home, or do any of these things they think they can't. It's this mind-set that somehow, since Obama was elected, the country has changed in such a radical way that it is literally unrecognizable.

And while some will chalk this up to racial divisiveness, I think it has more to do with people's inability to understand that this isn't a country run by conservative law or liberal law. This isn't a country that ordained Bush as Monarch until his death. This isn't a country that is governed by the minority. Conservatives have literally wet themselves in abject fear over what they perceive, not what is real.

My Op-Ed: V 1.0

Just about every week, I submit an Op-Ed piece to my local paper. The Madisonville Messenger is a very conservative publication, as the residency of the county that it serves is pretty much one of the reddest parts of the state of Kentucky. Even though my ideals are greatly outnumbered, I have seen several pieces published, with a great deal of response not only from the readership of the paper, but from members of my community as well.

Here is my latest submission.

EMBRACING FRINGE RHETORIC COULD LIKELY SPELL TROUBLE FOR GOP

We have just recently passed the half-way marker in Barack Obama's first year of presidency and one would assume that, from the fiery invective from the Right, that his administration has completely destroyed any and all facets of this nation for which people have fought, literally and figuratively, and died.. As late-night comedian and political commentator John Stewart postulated, perhaps the GOP is confusing tyranny with losing.

And with such strong feelings, many of which are completely unfounded and are rooted in willful ignorance, you are sure to see many points of view come up that weren't at first expected. Some points of view are even changed to such a degree that the word "hypocrisy" is quite the apt term to use.

From positions on 2nd Amendment Rights, to healthcare, to the preposterous notion that Obama is not an American citizen, and even to economic issues like the wildly successful "Cash For Clunkers" program, the fringe-conservative movement ( most notably the "tea-party" set ) are not just making their voices heard, though that is somewhat limited to simply shouting down their opposition and not engaging is realistic and intellectually honest discourse, but some of their ideals are actually beginning to show signs of traction within their elected officials.

We have just seen a very commonplace, and very important, piece of proposed legislation being removed from healthcare reform. The end-of-life counciling provision - or as Sarah Palin liked to refer to it: "Death Panels" - was removed from each of the 6 proposed bills largely due to massive media coverage in regards to how it had been molested and contorted into a visage of evil that was never even contained within the original language. This, by and large, was a patent lie from the conservative Right.

Two points about end-of-life counciling and the GOP that are somewhat interesting are as follows. The person that originally put this provision into proposed legislation was a Republican, and one of its most vocal opponents, the aforementioned Palin, actually supported end-of-life counciling in her state. While the later is slowing being spun by her rabid supporting base as non-comparable to what was currently being postulated, the very real fact that no-ones grandmothers were going to be euthanized, no special needs children would be put to death, and certainly no government official would be knocking on your door every five years. The language was clear, concise, and is currently being implemented throughout the nation as an option within healthcare that many Americans have no problem with.

The other issue that has gained ground within the GOP, although many Republican officials, when pressed, refused to state whether they believe or not, is Barack Obama's status as an American citizen. Lead by a woman who was born and raised in Communist Russia, Orly Taitz sparked a firestorm across the United States. The two sides being those who believe and those who don't. And while it appeared that this manufactured controversy would soon die out, it began to grow and swell while more and more media outlets embraced this ratings-boosting story. Soon, there were even elected officials that began to speak out, some stating that they needed proof before making a decision. Never before in my lifetime has there been cause for an elected President to provide a birth certificate to prove he is who he says he is.

The utterly silly issue came to a boiling point not long ago with Taitz presenting an obvious forgery that she attempted to pass off as a Kenyan birthcertificate, with so many mistakes of logic and fact that anyone who spent 30 minutes on Google could have debunked. The issue remains a polarizing one within the uber-conservative fringe, and is mentioned almost daily by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Neil Boortz, Micheal Savage, and G. Gordon Liddy.

And the issues don't stop there. From people being afraid that their legally purchased and licensed firearms will be taken away. This should not suprise those that even casually follow our current administration, as there is not even a whisper of gun control legislation being considered. The "Cash For Clunkers" program, recently bolstered by a further injection of $2 billion dollars, continues to be successful despite the inane rambling of Glenn Beck and his paranoid delusion that the average person would have their computers "bugged" by the government in an attempt to gleen any and all information that could be used against them. And even the White House's handling of misinformation is being chided as nothing more than a compilation of an "enemies list". In reference to this, there was never a call for individuals to be turned-in to the White House, merely that concerned citizens, regardless of party affiliation, were urged to send in their questions regarding information that seemed suspect.

All this, coupled with the GOP's utter neglect of their potential young and minority voting blocks means that they are favoring the few while neglecting the many. But there is one variable to should be mentioned - mid-term elections. With this two-year election cycles inching closer, 2010 would likely only show marginal gains for a limited number of Republicans running for office. This isn't due to most issues that are currently being discussed, but largely due to the fact that any party that controls the White House and has a majority in both houses of Congress will likely see control of the later move to the opposition party. This was seen during the Carter and Reagan administration and most famously when Republicans gained majority after Clinton was elected for his first term.

But these gains, and their relevance, will likely mean little to nothing if the GOP continues to embrace mere opposition rather than an alternative, accepts abject ignorance, fear, and shouting instead of reasoned debate and education on the issues.