Archive for July, 2010
The Party of Lincoln has become The Party of Jefferson Davis
Two years ago next month, I wrote one of my most referenced Op/Eds: “Time to put this ‘Party of Lincoln’ nonsense to bed.” I pointed out at the time that present day Republicans take enormous pride in reminding minority voters that Abraham Lincoln… the founder of their Party… “freed the slaves”… the most intrusive, anti-big [...]
The sudden acceptability of racism on the American Right, part 2
Back during the 2008 Presidential campaign, one couldn’t help but notice the sudden surge in racist attacks/jokes/slurs against presidential candidate Barack Obama without a hint of shame. It seemed I would receive about three racist emails a week over the last few months before the election. Suddenly, there was no shame in being a mouth-breathing racist [...]
Mainstream Racism, part 1 – the Bush/Obama/Hitler false-equivalency
This past week, the NAACP passed a resolution demanding that leaders of the Tea Party denounce all the racists signs, statements and activity that appear at Tea-bagger events on a regular basis. Not only have Tea Party leaders (and most Republicans) denied that there are any racists involved with the Tea Party movement, but the former chairman [...]
Conservatives Conflate Immigration with Drug War
Supporters of Arizona’s draconian new Immigration Reform bill (pdf) repeatedly cite ONE reason for the need to clamp down on illegal immigration: Drug crime. And so, they target ALL immigrants (or people who just look Hispanic) in fighting America’s failed “War on Drugs”. This is like passing laws against “automobile passengers” to fight “getaway cars”. [...]
GOP to Steele: Don’t give our war away to Democrats!
Last week we heard from a parade of Republicans denouncing RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s absurd suggestions that Afghanistan is “a war of Obama’s choosing”, that the majority of the country is now opposed to the war there, and that “Obama’s decision” to send “ground troops” into a region known as “where empires go to die” [...]
