Winning the 'Blah' Vote

I linked to this Think Progress piece yesterday regarding Newtie's desire to head over to the NAACP and lecture them about how they need to have higher standards (pay checks, not food stamps). Embedded within that same article is a link to another recent example of the continued conservative outreach to minorities, this one from professional homophobe and proud American Taliban member Rick Santorum:

At a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa on Sunday, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum singled out blacks as being recipients of assistance through federal benefit programs, telling a mostly-white audience he doesn’t want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”  

[...] 

It is unclear why Santorum pinpointed blacks specifically as recipients of federal aid. The original questioner asked “how do we get off this crazy train? We’ve got so much foreign influence in this country now,” adding “where do we go from here?”

Asshole white Republican says overtly racist thing. Yes, we have seen this story thousands of times before. No point in questioning the motive - this is what they really believe. It is their world view, their ideology, it is part of their repulsive character (not to mention their base usually loves it and feels the same way). But what makes this story unique is what is likely the most pathetic attempt of a walk-back in modern political history (via Balloon Juice):

Santorum allegedly made the controversial comments when discussing welfare in an interview Wednesday night with Fox News, but he maintained that people misheard the word "black" when he stumbled on a word. 

“I looked at that, and I didn't say that. If you look at it, what I started to say is a word and then sort of changed and it sort of — blah — came out. And people said I said ‘black.’ I didn't," Santorum said. 

“And I can tell you, I don't use — I don't — first off, I don't use the term ‘black’ very often. I use the term ‘African-American’ more than I use ‘black' ... I think sometimes you want to give someone the benefit of the doubt if it's a little bit of a blurred word."

Yeah, come on! You know, all of those 'blah' people on welfare! Get your facts straight, liberal media! 

He may as well have pulled one of these:

With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
Get More: SOUTH
PARKmore...

The way these assholes spew this bile and then react to it when people rightly are offended and call them on their bull shit is just indicative of what I said earlier in this post - this is REALLY what they believe. This is REALLY how they feel. It is who they are. Full stop. Otherwise they wouldn't let it roll off of their lips so blithely. If Santorum honestly felt this statement was offensive, he wouldn't have made it in the first place. But he doesn't see that it's racist (not to mention patently false), and he doesn't think it's offensive, so he said it. 

And bear in mind that a good 45-49% of the country will vote for the party that puts these disgusting pigs up for their nomination. We've got a long way to go, America.

More Tea Bagger/Christian Stupidity

Morans:

"The end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell is the signature achievement of our time," Ferguson told Obama and the crowd. 

At that point, a bearded man standing in the front row closest to the stage began shouting: "Christian God is the one and only true living God, the creator of Heaven and the Universe," according to White House pool coverage of the event. 

Someone then threw a jacket toward the stage. 

"Is that his jacket?" Obama quipped. 

The guy was still ranting while being carried out by Secret Service: "I love Jesus. Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is the son of God." 

Obama stopped speaking briefly, smiling uncomfortably as the crowd booed loudly to drown him out. Eventually, police and Secret Service dragged the man through the crowd and out of the theater. 

[...] 

The man was still on his way out yelled one final epithet: "Jesus Christ is god, Barack Obama is the antichrist!"

I have no words. These people are just fucking stupid. And insane.

Sheriff Joe: Racist Asshole

"Legitimate complaints" my ass:

Infamous Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio does -- which is why he announced a five-person "Cold Case Posse" that will delve into the issue of President Obama's birth certificate.
The posse follows a request by the Surprise, Arizona Tea Party, who Arpaio met with on August 17. The Surprise Tea Party believes that the long-form birth certificate released by President Obama in April -- which put the issue to rest for pretty much everyone -- could be a forgery. 

"The Surprise Tea Party is concerned," they wrote, "that no law enforcement agency or other duly constituted government agency has conducted an investigation into the Obama birth certificate to determine if it is in fact an authentic copy of 1961 birth records on file for Barack Obama at the Hawaii Department of Health in Honolulu, or whether it, or they are forgeries." 

[...] 

"This investigation does not involve politics," Arpaio told WND. "I listen to all the residents of Maricopa County who come to my office with complaints, regardless what their politics are. 

"My door is open to everyone, and I don't kick them out. If a complaint is legitimate, I don't dump it into the wastebasket," he continued. "When I get allegations brought to me by the citizens of Maricopa County, I look into the allegations, just like I am doing here."

Uh-huh. So if myself and a bunch of other ignorant mouth breather types demand that Sheriff Joe investigate Gov. Jan Brewer's and the private prison industry's suspicious connection to the drafting and passage of immigration bill SB1070, I am sure he will jump right on it, because after all, this is not about politics! His door is open and actions will be taken if a complaint is legitimate!

Fuck this guy and the people who keep putting him into office. He is a disgrace, a complete failure at his job, and uses his office and badge for little more than to wage political wars against brown people and anyone else he deems an enemy. 

Fox's Idea of Onerous/Job Killing Regulations

Maybe we would have more jobs only if corporations had the freedom to discriminate against people for race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disabilities, and age. THANKS A LOT OBAMA!

Goddamn job killing regulations! We gotta get the fedrul gubmint outta the way so the private market can overcome this socialist Kenyan asshole's tyranny!

I can't wrap my head around the fact that people actually believe this shit.

That Didn't Take Long

Remember what I said the other day?

In the meantime, we will be stuck with Fox News and the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of this world completely losing their shit, spewing hate speech as they watch their precious grip on America continue to unravel as a new generation rises up and rejects their ignorant worldview.

Well, that was fast. Good ol' GB just couldn't help himself:

On his radio show today, Glenn Beck tackled a particularly sticky issue when it comes to race. How does it make any sort of sense, he wanted to know, to refer to all black persons as "African American," particularly when so many black individuals don't live in the U.S.? 

[...] 

So is the term "colored," Beck and co. wondered, really such a "bad thing" as we're lead to believe? "Only here," he lamented, referring to the U.S. "Why are we made to feel bad?"

Yeah, it's so tough being a white man in America, because we are guilted into not calling people "colored" anymore. I mean, why is the n-word such a bad thing either? Black people say it right? Why can't we? Why are we made to feel so bad?

Don't worry, it gets better:

"African American" was not made to do anything except try to create a super man. "Oh don't you dare feel bad about yourself! You're African American!" No. You're an American. Instead of building the country up and saying, "Lookit. We all have the right, here in this country... Look at what happened with Martin Luther King. That makes you an American. 'Judge not by the color of your skin.'" And you weren't over in Africa! Your great-great-great grandfather was, your great-great-great-great grandfather may have been, but you weren't!And sure this country sucked for blacks. Sucked. Beyond sucked, for a long time. But it doesn't now. It doesn't now. Be proud to be an American.I am sure that Glenn Beck knows firsthand just how bad the country "sucked" for African Americans. He emphasized it twice, just to show how empathetic and understanding he is. And it doesn't anymore! Racism is over because of Obama's election! Just be proud and wave the flag!

Fuck that guy. I don't really know what else to say. It's appalling that he has a national audience of millions of people.

Also too, meanwhile:

Minorities accounted for 98 percent of the population growth in the nation’s largest metropolitan areas over the past decade, according to a new report, as the country’s white population continued to stagnate, and in many places, decline.
Hispanics and Asians led population growth in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas over the past decade, growing by 41 percent and 43 percent respectively. The population of blacks grew by 12 percent, and the aging white population was largely flat, increasing by less than 1 percent.
William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution and the author of the report, also said the United States had reached a demographic milestone: About half of all recent births were to minority parents, a shift that will have broad policy implications in the years to come.
The country’s largest cities are changing the fastest, Dr. Frey said, and provide a snapshot of what the country might look like in the future. 

[...] 

“Where these large metro areas are now is where the rest of America is headed,” he said. “The old image of the white and black American population is obsolete.”

You could say maybe this is why the redneck tea bagger white fringe of the Republican party is so unhinged and why they want their country back. They are losing it to an increasingly tolerant, multi-cultural, and diverse America. They could welcome it, but they choose not to because they are scary, other, not like them, not white, and not real murkins.

The GOP's Future Demographic Doom

It's not exactly a novel observation that the GOP is increasingly becoming a rump minority party dominated by whites, Christians, Southerners, and bigots. And don't forget the stupid vote either - they rely on the bull shit they feed daily through Fox News to brainwash the low information types, GOP-leaning "independents,"  or people who otherwise are easily misled and can't be bothered to sift through the noise to find the truth. 

But this is just going to absolutely savage their future electoral prospects: 

The crop of students moving through college right now includes the largest group of mixed-race people ever to come of age in the United States, and they are only the vanguard: the country is in the midst of a demographic shift driven by immigration and intermarriage.

One in seven new marriages is between spouses of different races or ethnicities, according to data from 2008 and 2009 that was analyzed by the Pew Research Center. Multiracial and multiethnic Americans (usually grouped together as “mixed race”) are one of the country’s fastest-growing demographic groups. And experts expect the racial results of the 2010 census, which will start to be released next month, to show the trend continuing or accelerating.

Yeah, an entire generation of scary, non-white, mixed race degenerates are coming to take the country away from all the Jebus loving real murkins. The totally-not-racist-whatsoever tea baggers already want their country back, so I don't know where they will go from here when this group enters the polling booths, the workplace, corporations, and government. And I am sure that this same generation isn't the least bit disillusioned with the constant race baiting of the GOP and the way in which they have gone after President Obama almost daily for not loving America enough, not seeming presidential enough, or for not being born here. You know, because he is black and has a Muslim sounding middle name.

This also proves that Marvel and the Spider-Man writers are clearly out of step with mainstream America and evil liberals that just made the new hero a mixed race individual out of a deep seated hatred for white America. Or they "affirmative actioned" Spidey. Or something.

The only unfortunate thing is that we're years away from these individuals truly integrating into voting blocs and society writ large. In the meantime, we will be stuck with Fox News and the Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks of this world completely losing their shit, spewing hate speech as they watch their precious grip on America continue to unravel as a new generation rises up and rejects their ignorant worldview.

Should Have Let Them Secede

Seriously, fuck the South.

And let's not forget that a plurality of respondents to a poll in Mississippi still think interracial marriage should be illegal. 

And The Gulf of Mexico Is Pristine and Free of Oil Because No One Talks About It Anymore

Different topics, similar lines of reasoning:

KEYES: Do you think that the Fair Labor Standards Act, for instance, would pass constitutional muster?

JOHNSON: I think that they do go overboard, that these protections do really exist. We elected a black president. I think that we clearly have shown that we are colorblind. Colorblind and we’re not a discriminate (sic) nation.

Asshole. This is from Gary Johnson, the Republican governor of New Mexico and a potential GOP 2012 presidential candidate. Although Haley "I Don't Remember The Civil Rights Era Being That Bad" Barbour seems to have realized that there isn't much room for stupid white racist candidates, so maybe this dipshit will come to the same conclusion. Johnson's statement is so patently ignorant that I won't spend much time showing the many ways in which racism is alive and well in our body politic, but rather simply point out what I've already said: our first black president has been subjected to an endless media-cheerlead shitshow about his birth certificate and inundated with accusations that he was born in Kenya. The birther issue is absolutely all about race - they may as well just start calling him the n-word at this point. The Very Serious people at CNN even held a special investigation into Obama's birth certificate. Just to lay the matter to rest, I'm sure! It would probably be too difficult and improper to and mean to simply call birthers for the stupid fucks that they are and move on/refuse to give any further credence or air time to the issue. And not to mention that when the birth status/presidential eligibility of a certain grizzled old white male was called into question, it was categorically and immediately dropped following his campaign's response:

During the 2008 campaign, questions about John McCain's birth in the Panama Canal Zone on a U.S. military base prompted some to ask whether McCain was eligible to be president, since the Constitution stipulates that anyone not born in the United States is not eligible to be president.

Amid a flurry of news reports, McCain's own campaign announced in February 2008 that it was conducting an investigation. When a bipartisan pair of lawyers announced the following month that McCain was indeed eligible, the issue virtually died--apart from a Senate resolution that pretty much laid the question to rest by attesting to the facts surrounding McCain's birth and citizenship.

Does anyone even remember McCain's birthplace coming up during the 2008 campaign? Because I don't, and I pretty much live and breathe current events. It goes to show you how much of a non-issue it was - because he is white. And worse yet - Obama has actually given in to the crazies to some extent and released his so-called "long-form" birth certificate, which of course is now full of forgeries, inaccuracies, and is not good enough. Obama seemed genuinely pissed at the press conference following the release of the document, but I have to believe that it was more or less a shrewd move by his political team. They know that birtherism is a political loser for the GOP, and releasing the document has kept this vile issue in the news and stirred up the crackpots anew. Lucky for us, many in the GOP do not seem to realize that this is a no-win issue for them:

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, declared Tuesday that while he has no doubt that President Obama is an American citizen, it was not his place to tell Donald Trump to drop the issue.

“Trump and the candidates can talk about it all they want, but my position is that the president was born in the United States,” Mr. Priebus said. “I don’t think it’s an issue that moves voters.”

It's absolutely an issue that moves voters, you ass, which is why you won't come out strongly against it - because it roils your base of ignorant racist white degenerates, upon which your party depends heavily for electoral success.

But regardless, this is a day to celebrate. Thanks to the election of Barack Obama and the erudite wisdom of wingnut morons like Gary Johnson, we can rest easy knowing that America is officially racism free.

Also, new tag (shamelessly stolen from Colbert). 

Integrity of Elections!

That's all that this is about! It has nothing to do with Obama! Or race!

PHOENIX — The Arizona Legislature gave final approval late Thursday night to a proposal that would require President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they are U.S. citizens before their names can appear on the state's ballot.

Arizona would become the first state to require such proof if Gov. Jan Brewer signs the measure into law.

Republican Rep. Carl Seel of Phoenix, the author of the bill, said the bill wasn't about opposition to Obama. "This bill is about the integrity of our elections," Seel said.

Thirteen other states have considered similar proposals this year. The proposals were defeated in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine and Montana.

The bill won final approval from the state House in a 40-16 vote.

It's good to see that Arizona remains undeterred in its quest to continue its prominence as one of the dumbest states in our union.

Birtherism hit a frenetic peak shortly after Obama's election, but more or less declined as a prominent GOP talking point going into the 2010 midterms. Donald Trump has changed that. A simple Google search of his name now includes purported presidential ambitions and birther conspiracies among hits on real estate, bad hair, and his inane TV show. It's once again hitting the wingnut mainstream, or at least it will very shortly, as Trump is now leading GOP presidential candidate straw polls.

It's kind of annoying to be rehashing this debate, because these same points were more or less argued back when this non-issue first began it's decline. As John Cole astutely notes, the birther issue is all about race. The most prominent jackholes spewing this nonsense will never admit that, and will bristle at the accusation and screech that the race card is being played against them (This is just about the integrity of elections!) but it is absolutely about race. Two years ago, a black man with an African/Middle Eastern name and heritage was elected president on a Democratic ticket. That event, and that event alone, has precipitated the cries for Obama's birth certificate. You didn't see this under Clinton, you didn't see this under Carter, and you didn't see this under any of the other recent white male presidents on the Republican ticket. It is a cynical effort to cast Barack Obama as "other," as "not like us," as "strange" or "different," or as "un-American." You never saw anyone having Very Serious concerns about "integrity of elections" when a white male was on the presidential ticket. 

And I know, I know - all of this makes me shrill, and I need to put it back in the deck, and there is nothing wrong with validating Very Serious and Principled concerns that a Marxist Socialist Fascist Kenyan Muslim Manchurian candidate usurper does not undermine the fragility of white America our democracy.

The Hyper Partisan Liberal Media

So some NPR executives got caught by conservative darling douche bag James O'Keefe, who rose to teabagger rock star status (which is kind of like being an actual rock star, only more ignorant, untalented, and a big no-no to the sex/drugs because it upsets Jesus) from his purposeful misleadingly edited videos of ACORN employees and his attempt to illegally wiretap a Democratic senator that unsurprisingly resulted in him receiving no punishment. Dressed as a Muslim radical (which, if his costume was anything like his pimp costume, had to be hilarious), he baited NPR executive Ron Schiller into opining on his views of the tea party. Schiller's crime? Stating the plainly obvious truth:

SCHILLER: The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian -- and I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move... it's been hijacked by this group that...

"MUSLIM": The radical, racist, Islamophobic, Tea Party people?

SCHILLER: It's not just Islamophobic, but really xenophobic. Basically, they believe in white, middle America, gun-toting -- it's pretty scary. They're seriously racist, racist people

The immediate result is that Schiller has now resigned his position (voluntarily, I'm sure) and has been blacklisted of sorts in relevant media circles.

If you watch this video closely, you will notice that you do not see any Islamophobic, racist, gun-toting stupid fucks white people. None whatsoever. Schiller is a lying fucking asshole and deserved to be fired.

And this guy isn't white, paranoid, or alluding to being a gun-toting tough guy either:

Also these fellows seem like perfectly reasonable individuals:

And all the rest:

They can't be bothered to spell their racial slurs correctly. I'm sure if Schiller got caught saying shit like this, he'd really be screwed:

This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy — over and over again — who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people, or the white culture. I don’t know what it is. I’m not saying that he doesn’t like white people. I’m saying he has a problem. He has a, this guy is, I believe, a racist.

And I'm sure this would be beyond the pale:

"He chose to use his name, Barack, for a reason. To identify, not with America -- you don't take the name Barack to identify with America. You take the name Barack to identify with what? Your heritage? The heritage, maybe, of your father in Kenya, who is a radical?"

And any media figure going on the record with this would have definitely been facing down a career ender:

Everything that is getting pushed through Congress, including this health care bill, are transforming America. And they are all driven by President Obama's thinking on one idea: reparations. ... These massive programs are Obama brand reparations -- or in presidential speak, leveling out the playing field. But, just in case the universalness of the program doesn't somehow or another quench his reparation appetite, he is making sure to do his part to pay the debt in the other areas." 

Except the speaker of these ignorant, racist invectives has a multi-million dollar contract with Fox News, and boasts a significant (albeit declining) viewership, and spews this bile nightly. Spoiler alert: it's Glenn Beck.

Schiller termed white, gun-toting, racist assholes as white, gun-toting, racist assholes, so he had to go. But making constant references to slavery and reparations in regards to the the nation's first black president and implying he's out to get whitey is just a coincidence, there's really nothing wrong with it, and we should continue to reward this guy for his completely normal and not-at-all controversial behavior. 

More Violent Right Wing Threats

California state Senator Leland Yee receives the following after calling for an apology from Rush Limbaugh:

But both sides do it, because left-wing bloggers say fuck, and Keith Olbermann had a 'Worst Persons in the World' segment.

Can We Call It What It Is Now?

It's funny, sad really, because I have been meaning to write about the Park51 nontroversy for a while now. It's been all over the news and blogs, but with our painstakingly short national attention span, I figured the issue would have fizzled out by the time that I got around to forming a post. Clearly I underestimated the utter stupidity and ignorance of the masses.

Glenn Greenwald has a very thorough (and now, prescient) piece about the debate over the Park51 Islamic community center. Read the whole thing. I don't agree with Greenwald entirely; I do think that the issue is a bit of a distraction and a wedge issue created to bring out the mouth-breathers and generally keep any discussion off of the economy. Let's face it - the midterms will primarily be in large part about economic matters. And Democrats - if they haven't already - will begin hammering away at the Bush/Republican economic legacy day and night in key races. So while the Park51 mosque shouldn't be dismissed as a distraction in its entirety, the label is not without its merits.

The reality is the core of the issue is exactly what Greenwald posits: it's all about good ol' fashioned American racism and xenophobia. Would we be having this debate if the construction in question were a synagogue, a Christian megachurch, or a Catholic church? The fact that the proposed site is near Ground Zero is immaterial, but rather a convenient way to conflate the debate and ignite anti-Muslim sentiment. Don't believe me? Check the links in Greenwald's piece; mosques are now running into anti-Muslim resistance across the nation.

But aside from that, let's let the actions of the bigots speak for themselves: today a NYC cab driver was slashed and stabbed after answering affirmatively to a question of his Muslim faith. Now a mosque in California has been vandalized with a sign decrying the worship of 'the god of terrorism' near Ground Zero. And I am sure these will not be isolated incidents.

I am confident that the Park51 center will go forward as planned, and admirably, a large contingent of families of 9/11 victims have come out in support of its construction. But the path will needlessly ugly.

Racism Is Over (If You Want It)

Arizona is officially hellbent on becoming the most ignorant, regressive state in the Union:

A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school.

The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children's ethnicity. But the school's principal says the request was only to fix shading and had nothing to do with political pressure.

The "Go on Green" mural, which covers two walls outside Miller Valley Elementary School, was designed to advertise a campaign for environmentally friendly transportation. It features portraits of four children, with a Hispanic boy as the dominant figure.

R.E. Wall, director of Prescott's Downtown Mural Project, said he and other artists were subjected to slurs from motorists as they worked on the painting at one of the town's most prominent intersections.

"We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars," Wall said. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics)."

Wall said school Principal Jeff Lane pressed him to make the children's faces appear happier and brighter.

I don't think I have the energy to even come up with a comment for this one. It's just sad. And pathetic. That and the whole 'racism is over/black president' joke has been done.

(h/t Balloon Juice, via Wonkette)