Sarah Palin vs. Reality: Episode 8,912

Yeah, I'm back, it's been awhile (over six months), but honestly, I've been so disgusted with the political dialogue in this country lately, I had to step away for a bit. Luckily, as Republicans get crazier, my patience wears thin and I just have to get a few things off my chest. And no one can wear down my patience faster than good ol' Sarah Palin and her never-ending supply of pure bullshit.

A little backstory to the latest Palin nonsense: as you may have heard, President Obama recently signed a nuclear weapons treaty that decreases our stockpile, but still leaves us with enough warheads to vaporize every man, woman and child on the planet about ten times over. Naturally, the Republican Party pissed their pants over this, because you never know, we might need to bomb Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, every other nation on the planet, the moon, Mars, and the Na'vi on Pandora a few hundred times. Obviously, Sarah Palin had to weigh in on the issue since she has her open forum on Fox News everyday and she wasn't pleased. President Obama was recently asked about her comments, and gave a simple answer, "Sarah Palin is not much of an expert on nuclear issues." I'm sure the "liberal" media will say he was being "elitist" and "dismissive," but what he said was 100% accurate, Sarah Palin can't even pronounce the word "nuclear," and no, that wasn't a joke, she really can't.

Unsurprisingly, Sarah Palin had to respond to Obama's response, and she told the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (lol) this:

"all that vast nuclear expertise he acquired as a community organizer, a part-time senator, and a full-time candidate for president."

Ah yes, the old community organizer meme, going into the Palin Greatest Hits catalog! That may still strike a chord with her audience, but for those of us living in reality, she may want to think twice before traveling to 2008 for her talking points.

Republicans love to attack Obama for never having a "real job," but they tend to leave out the parts where he was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years and a civil rights attorney for six years. Sarah Palin? Local media broadcaster, Jesus Christ, I've had that job!

As for "part-time senator," again, that may have struck a chord in 2008, but considering the fact that Obama only left his senate position to become the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, she doesn't really have much of a leg to stand on anymore. Especially since, ya know, she couldn't even finish a single term as governor of Alaska. Barack Obama left the senate to become president, Sarah Palin abandoned her state to go work for Fox News.

And then "full-time candidate for president," once again ignoring the fact that he now is THE PRESIDENT. This may be news to Palin, but we had an election and everything, she even ran with the guy that lost to Obama, but yeah, the guy is the democratically elected President of America. No, not South America... and no, South America isn't just one country, Mrs. Palin, Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America, your "real America" included.

So, now that we're more than one year into Barack Obama's term as president, he not only has more of that "executive experience" that she talked so much about in 2008, he also has more "nuclear expertise" than Governor Quitter. President Obama currently has the nuclear football, the briefcase with all the launch codes for our nuclear warheads. If he wanted, he could wipe any country off the map before you could say, "you betcha by golly gosh geez!" I'm sorry, once you're the guy who has his finger on the button, you can't get much more "nuke-u-lar expertise."

If only this nimrod had a chance of getting out of a primary in 2012, she's the funniest damn thing to ever happen to American politics. A national embarrassment, sure, but really, really funny.

Barack Obama (R-IL)

Stock market: highest numbers since 08.

Retail businesses: best numbers in a decade.

March: highest job growth in three years.

Nuclear weapons: Ronald Reagan wanted a nuclear-free world, we're taking steps toward that.

Drill baby, drill: now we're drilling offshore.

Why are Republicans so pissed off? Barack Obama is the best Republican president we've ever had!

Why so serious?

Okay, I need a break. You'd be surprised, but tackling the insanity of the right-wing is exhausting when there's just so much of it. So today, I've decided to take on an easy target, this whole fad of Photoshopping Obama as The Joker:


Honestly, I don't really have a problem with this. I don't find it offensive, it's not like when the wingnuts try to make him look like Hitler, and making politicians look like cartoon villains is actually pretty funny:


See? Hilarious! But Jokerbama? I think these posters are good evidence that right-wingers aren't particularly deep and not a lot of thought goes into their outrage. It's not surprising, the Republican Party has gotten people to vote against their own self-interests for decades, just by drumming up irrelevant issues like guns and religion. Yeah, I said it, the right-wing voters cling to guns and religion.

Anyway, why The Joker? Joker is the exact opposite of everything the right-wing claims Obama is doing. Right now, the current lunacy coming from the teabaggers is that Obama is some kind of socialist, communist, tyrannical fascist dictator, that's going to tax you into oblivion and take over American business. Obviously that's absurd, but I'll humor them for a moment... how is that at all related to The Joker? Let's get nerdy!

The Joker has no interest in power, control or money, his only desire is absolute chaos. Yeah, he steals money, but it's only to achieve a goal, he doesn't care about wealth. Go watch The Dark Knight again, once he has all the money from every criminal organization in Gotham City, he simply sets it ablaze! The Joker wants a world that's as crazy as him, he's a terrorist more in line with extreme Libertarianism, so shouldn't we be painting smiles on Ron Paul?

But according to the wingnuts, Obama is now a socialist, communist, fascist, tyrant who wants the country to descend into anarchy. Huh? This is why I have such a hard time taking these people seriously, because they obviously don't know what they're talking about. It's bad enough they're claiming Obama is both a socialist and a fascist, but a tyrannical anarchist? In the words of The Joker: HAhAHahAHAHaHAHahaHAhA!

If you want to dip into Batman's rogues gallery to smear President Obama, may I suggest someone more in line with your ridiculous claims? How about The Penguin? A wealthy, high-society elitist who gains wealth and power through less than legal means. Oh dammit, I just described the Republican Party.

You lie!

If you've been following the news today, congress officially brought up the Joe "You Lie" Wilson situation and voted on whether or not to rebuke him. While I'm all for making this guy look like the assclown that he is, I have to ask, if the guy was willing to apologize, would anyone even want it? A Joe Wilson apology is worth as much as his opinion: nothing.

His outburst during the Obama's speech did serve a purpose though, it proved my point that the Republican Party has no respect for the President or the office he holds. Hell, they obviously don't even have any respect for the House of Representatives, as he blatantly defied the rules and very few Republicans are calling for him to apologize on the floor or to resign. And yes, Wilson should resign, or be removed from office, no one so childish should be allowed to have such an important job. Try pulling that stunt at your place of employment; the next time the boss calls a meeting, shout "YOU LIE!" at him during an important point, you'll be cleaning out your desk before lunch.

It also doesn't help the fact that it wasn't Obama who was lying, it was Joe Wilson! Well, either he lied or he was just flat-out wrong, which makes him a perfect fit for the GOP. Liars, idiots and crazy people, hell of a party they got there. Which brings me back to my original point, why would anyone even care if Wilson apologizes? As a member of the GOP, his apology will be insincere, just like everything else that comes out of that party's collective mouth.

It's fun to watch the right-wing defend this guy, the first elected official in the history of the country to shout at the president mid-sentence during a speech to congress. I've seen some people try to play the "British Parliament" excuse, saying outbursts like that happen all the time over there. So I suppose anyone using that excuse also believes in Britain's National Healthcare System? And naturally, now the Republicans are playing the victim card, whining that the Democrats are turning this into a "political stunt." Uh... yeah, "political stunt" is the very definition of what Joe Wilson did; there are consequences for acting like an idiot, just ask Kanye West. I know it happened on the sacred grounds of the MTV Video Music Awards, but isn't it funny that the entire country can agree that Kanye was a jerk over something so trivial, but we're struggling to come to a consensus about the southern politician with a history of racially-charged remarks interrupting the first black president?

Intellectual Truancy

It's a sad state of affairs when the president speaking to children about staying in school becomes politicized by the right-wing smear machine. I understand why the LOUD NOISES crowd is encouraging parents to keep their kids home from school tomorrow, without the stupid and ignorant, the GOP would lose 90% of their votes and talk radio would lose 100% of its listeners. But what is truly saddening, is that the "liberal media" (lol) is buying into this nonsense (again) and presenting it as legitimate news (again).

After reading the speech (here's the transcript), it's painfully obvious that there is absolutely no controversy here. I don't consider "stay in school" to be controversial, I suppose if you're Sarah Palin, who presided over the state with the highest dropout rate in the country, you could get a little upset. Obviously, this is probably the least controversial thing any president could do, especially considering that George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan all did it, but its only "politicizing education" when the black Democrat does it. Hmmm. By the way, when Reagan spoke to school children, he went off on a tangent about tax rates, but no politics there, right? It's the Gipper!

All this business about "brainwashing" and "Hitler Youth" (yeah, wingnuts are playing the Hitler card again), it's all just another part of the right-wing's concentrated effort to make Obama seem illegitimate. They have zero respect for the man or the office he holds. I'd like to think that it has to do with something other than his race, but I honestly can't come up with anything else.

And before any wingnut jumps in with their list of idiocy, let me stop them right now: Obama's not that liberal, the economy sucked long before he was elected, our spending has been out of control for 25 years (at least now we're spending it domestically instead of in George W. Bush's sandbox), and we're nowhere near "socialism," no matter how much they scream it.

The country is no different than it was on January 19th, so to throw this kind of temper tantrum over something as non-controversial as this, leads me to believe their problems are entirely with the man himself. Not his policies, not his message, just the fact that they can't wrap their feeble little brains around the idea of a leader named Barack Hussein Obama. To hate a President so much that you can't even allow your children to hear him promote a message of "stay in school and work hard"? Yeah, that certainly strikes at something a bit more personal than the friggin' deficit.

Teabaggers: The First Generation

Our current political climate isn't the first time the extreme right-wing used the threat of communism to stop America's progression:


And here we are today:


Poor, pitiful, angry white men... they've always had it so rough.

Keystone Media

Need any evidence that race is still an issue in America? Especially in the parts that Rush Limbaugh's fat ass occupies? Just take a look at the case involving Harvard Professor, Henry "Skip" Gates and the media frenzy surrounding it.

Long story short, Mr. Gates was trying to get into his home after locking himself out or his door jamming (I've read both accounts), then a cop strolls along "investigating a break-in" and winds up arresting Gates. A black man arrested because someone thought he was breaking and entering... his own house. In the interest of full disclosure, Mr. Gates was actually charged with disorderly conduct, although I'd be a little disorderly as well if someone tried arresting me for breaking into my own home, especially when I'm already annoyed at the fact that I'm locked out.

The problem was amplified when President Obama was asked about the incident and called the arresting officer's actions "stupid." The police are now demanding an apology from the president. Really? An apology for being called stupid? Here's a tip, if you don't want to be called stupid, don't do something stupid. Just be glad he didn't call the guy a "fucking moron," you fucking morons.

Of course, if Gates were white, everyone would be laughing at Officer James Crowley and rightfully calling him stupid for arresting a guy trying to get inside his own home. But since Mr. Gates is black and this has become a national news story, all the closet racists are slithering out from under their rocks and onto Fox News/talk radio to say everything short of "this uppity black should've known his place."

Looking at the case, I highly doubt that Officer Crowley himself is a racist, but he did something incredibly stupid. Whether or not this was a case of racial profiling or complete ineptitude, you have to be a pretty bad at your job to arrest someone for breaking into their own house. The leeches (Rush Limbaugh) that are trying to turn this into a political issue are the same subhumans that have been pouring gas on America's racial tensions since Barack Obama became a national figure. As their numbers continue to dwindle, it seems Republicans have no problem being the party of nothing but angry white men.

Bill Maher > Pundits

This is why Bill Maher is smarter than the vast majority of the talking heads that infect TV news. Maybe it's not even that he's smarter, perhaps he just has the balls to speak the truth and doesn't twist himself into a partisan pretzel.



And he's absolutely right about all of it. Obama is trying too hard to please the Republicans... screw the Republicans! They had their chance, they broke America and left it for someone else to fix. That someone else is our current president and he'd be better suited ignoring these nimrods than trying to get us all to come together and "compromise," that's code for "do what the Republicans want."

And don't take this as me being partisan, watch: screw the Democrats too! The Democrats are so obsessed with becoming Republican Lite due to this myth of America being a "center-right" country, all they're doing is just slowing progress. As Maher said, we have no progressive party in this country, any true liberal politicians are looked at as jokes and our lazy media is too busy worrying about the latest adventures of Governor Avon Lady to do anything about it.

Since Maher brought up Sarah Palin in that interview, let's make fun of her. I wanted to write a blog about her "feud" with David Letterman, but then the thing just got so ridiculous that I wouldn't be able to write anything without putting my fist through my monitor. If you're curious about my feelings, here's a quick summary that will keep my blood pressure down:

-The joke was funny and every other late night host has told similar ones.
-John McCain - Palin's runningmate - once called Chelsea Clinton "ugly."
-If Sarah Palin wasn't such a shitty parent, the joke wouldn't have been made in the first place. These jokes aren't about making fun of the children, they're about making fun of the Governor for being a hypocrite.
-Palin once again exploits her children for political gain.
-Palin made accusations about Letterman that were far more offensive than his joke.
-Shame on David Letterman for apologizing.
-Palin should stay in Alaska and do her damn job... or at least only come to "Real" America.
-Sarah Palin is a friggin' moron.

That about sums it up. I'm surprised I made it through that without using the c-word.

So yeah... President Obama, show us a little more Candidate Obama and don't worry about the Republicans, they're too busy killing their party from within. And put Sarah Palin on some kind of no-fly list while you're at it. It'll be good for America and the wildlife she shoots from her helicopter.

The crazies are getting restless

Usually it's just fun to laugh at wingnuts; they're generally harmless, spewing shit so idiotic that no one in their right mind would ever pay attention to them. Whether it's Obama's birth certificate, his choice in mustard, gay marriage leading to the downfall of civilization, or they're named Glenn Beck... they're usually just silly old crazy people, like the kind you'd find pushing around a shopping cart, but not in a grocery store. Unfortunately, the ultra right-wing is growing increasingly frustrated as they become increasingly irrelevant and as a result, they're becoming more dangerous.

All this psychotic rage seemed to begin around the end of the presidential campaign when the McCain/Palin events became glorified hate rallies. We all remember McCain reining in the crazy old woman who called Obama an "Arab," but Governor Avon Lady didn't stop fanning the flames of wingnuttery when she started insinuating that her opponent was a "terrorist." With policemen (in uniform) and various religious leaders to help spread the smears as well, they set the table for the crazies to come feast.

Aligning with psychopaths is a lot like opening Pandora's Box, there is no going back, the toothpaste is out of the tube, insert other cliché here. Obama won the election, but the Republicans had all these new found loonies shuffling around aimlessly like the mindless zombies they are, so they all got together and had themselves a little Tea Party. The tea parties were hijacked from the Libertarian movement and turned into campaign events, funded by neocons like Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey. The teabagging did nothing except show how hypocritical and out of touch the Republican Party was with America; they were essentially complaining that they had to pay for the tow truck after a night of drunk driving resulting in wrapping their Mercedes around a telephone pole. But that didn't stop the crazies from showing up, oh no... the teabaggers weren't just coming to talk about taxes, they had plenty of wingnutty goodness to go around.

But then it got scary, unlike when McCain reined in the racists at those campaign rallies, the Republicans embraced the tea parties and we got a glance at just how fucking insane this party has become. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann wanted her contstituents "armed and dangerous," Texas Governor Rick Perry talked about seceding from the union and Republican strategist (and complete scumbag) Dick Morris, took a page out of G. Gordon Liddy's handbook and said, “Those crazies in Montana who say, ‘we’re going to kill ATF agents because the UN’s going to take over’ - well, they’re beginning to have a case.”

All this crazy boiled over earlier this week when Dr. George Tiller, a doctor who helped women and their families through an agonizing decision, was assassinated by a right-wing extremist. And then, several sick and demented psychopaths celebrated. I'm not going to get into the abortion debate here - if you agree with a woman's right to choose then I'd just be preaching to the choir; if you disagree, neither of us will convince the other otherwise - but if you think Dr. Tiller was performing these late-term abortions just because the mother "changed her mind," then you're a fucking moron. Pro-"life," but only if it's unborn... grown adults are apparently fair game, and killing them in church is a-okay too. Crazy and hypocritical... a dangerous combination.

But it doesn't stop there... in the last two days, a man is roaming around somewhere in the country, armed to the teeth and carrying a small fortune, plotting to assassinate the President of the United States. Today, a different man was arraigned in New York after plotting to "blow up" President Obama and Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Mix this in with all these random shooting sprees that have been popping up all over the place and one might think this country has officially lost its goddamn mind.

A lot of people have placed part of the blame on Fox News, especially Bill O'Reilly, for the assassination of Dr. Tiller. As much as I'd like to blame them specifically, it goes much deeper than that. This culture of fear and paranoia has been growing since 9/11, partially because the Republicans have exploited it for political gain, partially because we still have a lot of racists and bigots living in this country and partially because we'll always have people who are just plain bonkers. That Homeland Security report about right-wing extremists (the one the Republicans went nuts over even though it was authorized by the Bush Administration) was spot-on, and I worry that this problem is only going to get worse before it gets better.

Sean Hannity is great... for me to Poupon

I don't know if you've noticed, but occasionally Fox News is the funniest damn thing on television. Clearly they're not a real news network and their entire on-air staff is composed of the biggest nimrods in broadcast history, but it is a never-ending source of hilarity. If you can manage to watch the network without feeling a need to evacuate your bowels, did you catch Sean Hannity this week? Sean really skewered Barack Obama this time, he caught the president - on camera - ordering a hamburger... with spicy mustard! THE HORROR! Yes friends, this is what the Republican Party has reduced itself to... mocking Obama because of his "fancy burger."

But Vannity wasn't alone, Laura Ingraham joined the promotion of "Dijongate" (seriously), "I don't even like the way the man orders a hamburger. ... What kind of man orders a cheeseburger without ketchup but Dijon mustard?" Apparently, Ms. Ingraham is unaware of the fact that this is America, where you can get a hamburger made out of a fucking donut, there's nothing we WON'T put on a burger.

USA! USA! USA!

Never mind the fact that "spicy mustard" is available in every supermarket in the country and I guarantee you can get some form of it (or elitist Dijon) at the vast majority of restaurants in this country. Even All-American company, French's sells a spicy mustard. OMG! Commie Socialists have invaded our condiments! Next thing you know, Obama will be making us put Worcestershire sauce on our hot dogs!

Fox and the other clowns from the right-wing propaganda machine are free to waste their airtime however they see fit, but really, this? Look, I know you're desperate to make fun of the guy after Bush gave us so much ammunition over the years, but just accept it, Republicans aren't funny. It's okay, you're the curmudgeon party, you're not supposed to be funny. Relish in the fact that you're a bunch of angry old white men shouting at kids on the lawn, it's what Dick Cheney does! Embrace your inner Dick, it suits you.

National Day of Prayer

On this, the National Day of Prayer, I am praying for the end of the National Day of Prayer. There is absolutely no reason to have the government involved in something like this and I'm already tired of the faux outrage from the right because Obama is choosing to pray privately (which is what it says to do in the Bible). We've got too much prayer in this country, too many people wearing their religion on their sleeve, how about a National Day of Secularism? Or a National Day of Logic? And how about we celebrate it 365 days a year?

The funny thing about this bullshit holiday is that it's only been around since 1952. My dad is older than the National Day of Prayer, so it's just more evidence that this country has been hijacked by the religious right and they've been at this for quite a few decades. It is a direct violation of the First Amendment and the exact opposite of what our Founding Fathers intended. Let's take a look at some quotes from our third president:

"Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the time for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and right can never be safer than in their hands, where the Constitution has deposited it. ...civil powers alone have been given to the President of the United States and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents."

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State."
-Thomas Jefferson

Many of our Founding Fathers were believers in one way or another, but they were also very critical of religious institutions and they actually questioned the very idea of religion. Benjamin Franklin once said, "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason," imagine if a candidate today said that. He'd be run out of town, tarred and feathered by the right-wing propaganda machine and his political career would be over. Today, you don't necessarily have to be as crazy as George W. Bush and hear voices in your head, but you do have to have some religion. Of course, this is unconstitutional, but it's an unwritten law, so there's really not much rational people can do about it.

You know what I hope Obama is doing to celebrate today? Working! He's the President of the United States, he's got far more important things to do. Prayer sure as hell isn't going to get us out of recession, get people back to work or solve the crisis in Pakistan (actually I think prayer is the exact cause of the crisis in Pakistan), so I'd much rather him be getting shit done. I know Barack Obama is a man of faith, but for the sake of this nation, I hope he's lying. We had eight years of a man who thought he had magical powers and look where that got us... maybe it's time for an appeal to reason? Pray on your own time, do what makes you feel good, but keep it away from our government.

Pirates of Somalia: Curse of the Republican Party

I'm sure you heard about the standoff between the US Navy and the Somali pirates over the weekend? They had an American ship captain held hostage and they were surrounded by Naval destroyers, which obviously created an uncomfortable situation. Naturally, we wanted our American citizen back alive, but he was also the only bargaining chip these pirates had to make it out of the situation alive. Leave it to the Republicans to turn a scary, volatile and delicate situation into a chance to gain some political ground against the Commander-in-Chief. As always, instead of presenting logical ideas that could work, they went to their tried and true tactics of smear and fear. Yes, in the middle of a hostage situation, Barack Obama had the audacity to send in... a hostage negotiator! Here's Newt Gingrich, Glenn Beck, Fox News and the rest of the right-wing propaganda machine to explain how Obama is losing the battle against piracy:




Unfortunately for the Neocons, the story didn't quite turn out the way they had hoped for; the American captain was rescued and the pirates were killed by Navy SEAL snipers. Of course, I don't think the Republicans wanted the guy to die or anything, they just didn't want Obama to look good after they hinged their bets on this situation ending badly. They wanted a situation that would make the president look weak, this is their latest smear tactic after he showed respect to the Saudi king. As always, never mind the glaring Republican hypocrisy of them not saying a word when Bush would invite the Saudi king to the White House and hold his hand or share a kiss.

The goal of making Obama look weak in this situation was to create the illusion that he was succumbing to the demands of terrorists by sending in a hostage negotiator. However, anyone with a functioning brain (therefore excluding Glenn Beck), would know that there is a difference between hostage negotiations and negotiating with terrorists. The negotiations weren't "give us back the captain and we'll give you a million dollars," it was "keep that captain alive or we will be forced to kill you." There was no escape for those pirates and their only choice was to keep the captain alive and be brought into custody or kill the captain and be blown out of the water. That's not a terrorist negotiation, that's trying to save an innocent man's life. The pirates weren't showing any signs of being willing to negotiate and it appeared they were going to kill the captain, so the SEALs were left with no choice but to take them out, luckily the hostage was not harmed in the process.

The thing that confuses me the post about this latest Neocon phony outrage is what exactly did they expect? Did they just want the Navy to blow the pirates out of the water and chalk up Captain Phillips' death as a broken egg in the omelet? I guess it's like their ideas on friendly fire... it's somehow less sad if a soldier is killed by one of our bullets on accident instead of the enemy's on purpose? This just seems like a very strange story to go after the president on because there was no way those pirates were escaping that situation without being captured or killed. Their only argument that seems to remain is the fact that it took awhile to get the situation resolved, but if you go that route, then Republicans once again prove that they cannot tell reality from fiction. Hostage situations take time, often several days, real life is not like "24" and you can't send in Jack Bauer to single-handedly save the hostages before the end of the hour.

Perhaps instead of rushing to judgment, the neocons should take some of that medicine that they prescribed to people like me the last eight years and not be a part of the "blame America first" crowd. This story had a happy ending, an innocent man was rescued and dangerous criminals were brought to justice, yet the Republican Party just had to open their mouths and make themselves look foolish once again... which makes it an even happier ending for me.

I'm a Uniter, Not a Divider

Wow.

Despite all the ranting over the last few months, I never thought things would turn out like this. Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Nevada and Iowa all turning and giving Barack Obama a decisive victory - a landslide - in this election. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States - the same United States that looked like an entirely different country four years ago. I remember coming home from work the morning after the 2004 election and just having this sinking feeling in my stomach that the Neocons were going to hang onto government for decades, but here we are, just four years later and the world is an entirely different place.

I'm writing today, not to gloat, not to rub it in anyone's face, but just to be happy. I know I've written some harsh things about John McCain in the last few months and I stand by every word, but the man gave a powerful concession speech last night and should be commended for his gracious and classy exit from the race. As I watched McCain last night, it got me thinking about where it all went wrong for the Arizona senator; now there will be plenty of time to place blame, and I will, but there's only one thing that really held him back - he wasn't John McCain.

Think back to the primaries, who was McCain running against? A borderline theocrat, Mike Huckabee; a Bush clone, Mitt Romney; and a cross-dressing, egomaniacal, scumbag, Rudy Giuliani. All three Neocons in every sense of the word and would undoubtedly continue many (if not all) of George W. Bush's policies. Why did McCain win that primary? Because Republican voters came out and voted for the guy that would be least like Bush and given McCain's history, he was the most logical choice. Republicans, Democrats, the entrie country was done with Bush and that's why McCain won the primary, but then as the campaign heats up and Obama gets the Democratic nomination, McCain becomes Bush.

I loved John McCain, I would have voted for him in 2000 if he got the nomination and I would have likely voted for him in 2004 against John Kerry, but that John McCain was not around in 2008. I've been over this numerous times and I'm not going to beat the dead horse, but I honestly don't know what McCain was thinking when he surrounded himself with "Bushies." Hindsight is always 20/20, especially when America overwhelmingly rejects the policies of the last eight years, but these people do this for a living, how could they not have seen this coming? Neoconservatism is dead... I wouldn't be surprised to see them try one more time in 2012 with someone like Palin, but that's another discussion for another day; as it stands now, Americans are done with Neocons.

So let's move forward. Obama supporters - I know after the last four years, you're dying to just let loose and go crazy, but we still have a lot of work to do. Getting him elected was just step one, if we sit back and kick our feet up, then Obama's presidency will be about as effective as Bush's second term. The far-right got Bush re-elected and just figured that everything would be fine and dandy and look where it got them four years later. We have to prove to our opposition that Barack Obama was the right man for the job. When someone calls you a socialist or a baby killer for voting for Barack, instead of just calling them an idiot, tell them why they're wrong. If someone makes an inaccurate statement about Obama, politely correct them. When someone tells you America is doomed, tell them why you voted for Barack.

Non-Obama supporters - I hope you can look at this presidency with an open mind. It was ugly campaign, no question and you may have heard a lot of misconceptions about Barack Obama, I ask that you give him a shot. I know our side freaked out when Bush got re-elected, but we already had four years of the guy, we were pretty sure what was going to happen. Obama's brand new, give him a chance to sink or swim, don't let the blowhards on talk radio sabotage him before he's even inaugurated. They did the same thing to Clinton in 92, but we turned out okay over the next eight years, right? We don't know if Obama will be a good president or not, but we're all in this together and it's not going to help anybody if we let the far-right destroy his presidency before it begins.

Barack Obama ran a campaign unlike any other presidential candidate in history - he took the high road, he surrounded himself with people who weren't the typical Washington insiders, he didn't take a dime from corporate lobbyists, and he ran on a message of hope and change rather than fear and smear. Supporters, let's make our president-elect proud and show the world that we support Obama in a fashion similar to how he campaigns. Those on the other side, we welcome you with open arms and we'd be happy to do whatever we can to inform you about the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Obama 08!

So throughout the history of this blog, I have constantly ranted and occasionally raved about why John McCain, Sarah Palin and the current Republican Party should not be allowed anywhere near the presidency or our government in general. My writings are generally negative because the world we live in is negative - the hypocrisy of our politicians, the lies, the smears, the incompetence, the idea that there's a "Real America," etc. - these things make me angry and my desire is to shine a light on them... but not tonight. Tonight's piece isn't about why I'm voting against the Republican Party and John McCain, this is strictly about why I'm voting for Barack Obama.

When Barack Obama first appeared on the national stage at the 2004 Democratic Convention, I could instantly tell that he would be a major player in American politics, but I never thought he could potentially become president. Honestly, I didn't even think he had a chance of getting the nomination when he announced his candidacy, but his entire campaign has been about bucking the status quo. I'm glad I was proven wrong and I'm proud to say that I experienced history when I cast my early vote for the first black man to ever receive a major party nomination for president of the United States. Does Obama's race matter? We all like to say it doesn't, we especially like to say it shouldn't, but it does. Don't get me wrong, I'm not voting for Obama because he's black, but I do think it will send a major message to the rest of the world if a country with such a racist history like ours elects a black man named Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency.

Obama is the candidate the world wants us to elect; now of course we're not at the mercy of the rest of the world when it comes to who we vote for, but we do need to consider things like this. This isn't the early 1900s, it's 2008, we can literally communicate with the rest of the world in seconds, we live in a global market and when our economy fails, so does everyone else's. I've heard a lot of small-minded people say it doesn't matter what the rest of the world thinks, but it does. Our dollar is practically worthless, our reputation throughout the world is possibly the lowest its ever been and our basic infrastructure - roads, power grids, bridges, and communications - becomes more antiquated by the day as China trailblazes. Barack Obama understands we've lost our standing in the world and that's not a slam on America, that's a fact. You don't get fixes from people who don't think something is broken, but Obama understands that we've lost our way in the world, but watch the video of him in Germany where 200,000 Germans are waving the American flag and cheering him on - the world wants us to lead again, we just have to step up to the plate.

You can run down the gambit of issues and see where Obama stands on everything, but at the end of the day, we're voting on who can restore America's reputation and make the country a better place to live in. Barack Obama is a once in a generation kind of candidate who certainly doesn't have all the answers, he certainly won't fix every problem facing our country, but he's the step in the right direction that we need right now. We're at a crossroads in our history and we can choose to continue down our same path or we can finally make a change. It won't all get better on January 20 if Obama is sworn into office, but it very well could be the day that the world looks back on and says "this was the moment." Again, it's not all about Barack Obama, it's about every person in this country and on this planet that know we can do better as a society and Obama understands that desire.

We can continue to look at America like a child looks at his mommy - perfect in every way and anyone who criticizes her is wrong - or we can look at America like a person looks at their spouse - flawed, but through hard work and compromise, they can come together to improve one another. I choose the latter, I hope you do as well on November 4.

Support the Troops? Vote Obama

You hear it all the time, "I support the troops!" It's easy to say, doesn't cost anything and it makes the person saying it sound noble. Governor Palin is running around saying that Barack Obama doesn't support our troops, harsh words, but John McCain does have that strong military image, so obviously he would support our troops more, right?

Well... no. Not at all.

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America (IAVA) released their scorecard today for the candidates and good ol' troop-loving, "we're winning in Iraq" John McCain scored a D. That's not a typo; Senators Obama and Biden each scored a B, Sarah Palin did not receive a grade because she's never done anything, ever. McCain scored so low mainly because he's missed just about every crucial vote for veterans in the last year (most notably the new GI Bill), he missed more votes than a congressman that was in a coma. In 2007, McCain missed 10 out of 14 votes on Iraq alone, remember that the next time someone you know brings up Obama voting "present" in the Illinois State Senate (which is a completely bullshit line of attack anyway, "present" is used as a protest vote in Illinois).

Cindy McCain has recently been out on the campaign trail attacking Senator Obama for voting "against funding for my son in Iraq," she claims that vote "sent a cold chill" down her spine. But did she feel that same chill when John McCain voted against similar legislation just two months later? To clear up this issue that has been discussed since the VP debate, Obama voted against the bill because it had no timetable for withdrawal in Iraq - the most pointless war in this country's history - Senator McCain voted against a similar bill months later because it contained a timetable for withdrawal.

There's a reason why deployed troops donate to Obama six times more than John McCain, they know that Obama is the steady hand they need as Commander in Chief. Obama knows we're in a different kind of war, there is no "victory" in Iraq, no matter how many times McCain says it. General David Petraeus, a name McCain invokes at every chance, has gone on record saying he wouldn't even use the phrase "victory" in Iraq:

“This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan.”

This isn't World War II, Obama understands it, as do the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. But why even expect any sort of serious discussion about how we treat our veterans when McCain sings little songs about sending them in to bomb Iran? To put it bluntly, if you want to be able to accurately state you support the troops, you should cast your vote for Barack Obama on November 4.

Extremists

I've been listening to a lot of Sean Hannity lately, probably because I'm a masochist, and I keep hearing him talk about Barack Obama being "the most liberal senator" and that really bugs me. You see, in our current political climate, you always hear the right-wing talk about those wacky liberals on the far left that want to murder your babies and kill Jesus, but are there any truly liberal politicians out there?

You certainly hear about them all the time, but the "far left" in terms of American government isn't really all that liberal. The extreme right has far more influence than the extreme left. In American politics, it is perfectly acceptable to go as far to the right, but Liberals who are really more in the middle than anything are labeled as "commie socialists." Look at Obama, he's not really THAT liberal, but I see lots of people running around calling him a "Marxist." This is how pathetic our national dialogue has become - when a guy goes around saying maybe we shouldn't just go out and bomb every country we don't like and suggests that we provide health care to our citizens (you know, like every other civilized nation on the planet), he's suddenly labeled a "socialist liberal."

Meanwhile, you can go out there and run on a platform that conception begins at the moment of ejaculation, everyone should be armed, retarded people should be executed, gay people can't get married or adopt, prayer should be in school, the Ten Commandments should be in the courthouse, free speech should be more restricted, children must be shielded from everything, we should bomb every country that gets in our way, "you're with us or against us" in terms of foreign policy, no assisted suicide, harsher punishments for non-violent drug offenders, and you can not only have a successful political career, you can be president... and get re-elected.

Flip Off

The Republicans are in full attack mode now, using the same methods that worked on John Kerry in 2004, the flip-flop. Yes, Barack Obama has changed his position on campaign financing, opting out for public funds after he promised to publicly finance his campaign last year.

Well wait... not exactly, Obama was open to the idea and said he would try to work out some agreement with the Republican candidate. However, as recently as June 5th, McCain claimed he was not sure if he would accept the public funds or decide to opt out. Of course, we now know McCain is not opting out, and he is using the opportunity to say Obama went back on his word. Of course, the part the "liberal" media isn't reporting is that McCain can't opt out of public finance without approval from the Federal Election Commission due to a loan McCain took out late last year after his campaign went broke. It all gets quite muddy from there, and it could be leading to news coming out that McCain has broken election laws.

You can read all about that here: http://mediamatters.org/

But okay, the bottom line is, Obama said something and decided against it. I'm not going to argue that of course Obama is opting out of the public financing because he's generating a ridiculous amount of money from small donors. He's built up the biggest grassroots campaign of any politician in history and has shattered all fundraising records. So obviously he wants to keep that money and momentum coming for the general election and he's going to need it to fight off the Republican Smear Machine that is just waiting to start playing those Reverend Wright clips on an hourly loop. So admittedly, this is all about Obama doing what is best for the Obama campaign, no argument here.

What bugs me is that all I see on the news today is "FLIP-FLOP, FLIP-FLOP!!!" We've been down this road before and it's just stunning to me that Obama gets called out on this while John McCain has seemingly flip-flopped in the last two years on every issue that made me respect him so much when he ran in 2000. Let's go down the list, shall we?

• The Associated Press reported in 1999 that while McCain was campaigning in New Hampshire as a pro-life candidate, he assured reporters that he would not support repealing Roe vs. Wade. Saying that doing so would force women into dangerous and illegal operations like back alley abortions. So while McCain was against it, he seemed to be more in tune with the Bill Clinton idea of abortion, keeping them "safe, legal and rare." However, as John McCain locked up the Republican nomination, his stance has change - he's flip-flopped. Saying in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, "I do believe that it’s very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should — could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the states"
• In 2002, McCain called Jerry Falwell an "agent of intolerance" and spoke out against radical nutjobs like "Pat Robertson on the Right or Al Sharpton on the Left." In 2006, John McCain gave the commencement speech at Falwell's university.
• During his 2000 run for the Republican nomination, McCain filed a complaint against two Texas businessmen - Sam and Charles Wyly - saying they violated campaign finance laws and used "dirty money" to support George W. Bush. The Wylys are now on McCain's campaign.
  
• McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts twice and now wants to make them permanent.
• McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam who was tortured by the enemy and staunchly opposed the practice for years, now thinks it's okay.
• Bush was blasted by McCain in 2000 for campaigning at Bob Jones University, the Christian fundamentalist school that banned interracial dating and called Catholicism a "Satanic cult" - in 2006, McCain said he wasn't opposed to speaking there, claiming they've made progress. Progress? After the 2004 election, Bob Jones sent George W. Bush a letter saying quote, "God has graciously granted America — though she doesn’t deserve it — a reprieve from the agenda of paganism." Oh... it gets even crazier, "You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you."
• And to tie it all together; McCain, longtime supporter of campaign finance reform, suddenly no longer supported it in 2006 when he was gearing up for the campaign. You know, so he could opt out of public funds if he were legally able to do so.
• If you'd like more information on John McCain the flip-flopper, click here.
  

My point in all this? Obama gets called out on a kinda flip-floppy thing he said a year ago while McCain gets a reprieve for switching his stance on almost every major issue he's discussed in the last eight years. Fucking liberal media!

Welcome - Lay Back and Enjoy

So welcome to my new blog, I'm actually moving up in the blogging world from relying on a laughable myspace blog that maybe ten people will read to this... where I may get up to twelve. My name's Razor and I titled my blog "American Razor" because it seems that in our divided country, we seem to forget that we're all Americans. The Bush Administration has managed to somehow convince people that they're the "real" Americans and anyone with a dissenting opinion is just part of the "blame America first" crowd. Bullshit. This is my country too, and I'm going to exercise my right to free speech in the most vulgar, offensive way possible, because that's what the First Amendment is all about.

So let's talk politics, shall we? I will make it no secret that I'm all about Barack Obama in the 2008 election - yes, I got a mean case of Obamania. Despite that, I try to remain as objective as possible, I really do, although the opposing side just makes it so damn hard sometimes. Take for instance, the current story about Clayton Williams, the man who recently raised $300,000 for John McCain. The problem? Mr. Williams once made this joke about rape:

"If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it"

Wow. One more time, this is him talking about someone being sexually assaulted in the most heinous way possible:

"If it's inevitable, just relax and enjoy it"

So, there was a fundraising event set up between McCain and Williams which was canceled due to this remark resurfacing in the media. McCain still took the $300,00 but he just didn't want to be seen in public with Mr. Williams.

Now, as for the remark, it's horrible and just utterly stupid to say, but if you look through Clayton Williams library of hilariously moronic quotes, you'll see it's par for the course for this particular idiot. I do not think that this guy's views reflect on the opinions of John McCain, but I can't help but still be outraged; if Mr. Williams supported Obama, there would be a firestorm from the right-wing media. The story is hurting McCain a little bit, but if the tables were turned, we'd be talking about this for the next month and a half, just like we did to the Reverend Wright issue.

Oh I know, that was Obama's PASTOR! Shock and horror, a religious man saying crazy shit, I'm stunned! So that gets made into a huge issue while McCain seeking out the endorsement from John Hagee, the crazy pastor who called Catholicism "the great whore," makes minor waves in the media. The corrupt Tony Rezko raises money for Obama, it becomes a huge deal, Obama gives the money to charity; meanwhile, McCain gets $300,000 from a guy who thinks women should just lay back and enjoy their rape and keeps the cash. Are we seeing the picture I'm painting here?

I'll hand it to the Republicans, they do know how to do one thing right - campaign. Even when they have a lame duck president, a weak candidate and are the minority in congress, they can still make the liberals out to be "out of touch" with the rest of America. McCain can still look like the experienced candidate, even while admitting to being in agreement with the worst president in history most of the time. Of course, it doesn't hurt when you have an entire news organization in your party's back pocket to divert attention from your problems while making up ones for your rivals, so I can't say I'm shocked that this story has played out like this.

So while I'm not condemning McCain for Clayton Williams' remarks that were made 18 years ago, I'm not going to cut him any slack over it either. This is merely a message to the Republican Smear Machine - it certainly must suck when those tables are turned. We're in the age of the internet, everything you've ever said in public can be accessed in a quick trip to YouTube, maybe the Right should keep that in mind when they decide to get really dirty this Fall. The internet is a place where a lot of people have a lot of free time on their hands and I bet a lot of them might just be liberals who are still bitter about the one-sided slime-fest that was the 2004 presidential election.

I'm just one of them.