Clipmarks | Conservatives Clips

John McCain And The Conservative Base

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:24:44 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: When did McCain get a bump? When he picked an unapologetic conservative running mate. How is Obama winning this election now? By never calling himself a liberal at all, by never mentioning his true allies and mentors, and by pretending not to be a radical Leftist. Conservatives lose when they deny that they are conservatives: When they seek that two percent of America that calls itself moderate at the cost of that sixty percent of America that calls itself conservative. When was the last time an unapologetic conservative ran against a nice, old-fashioned liberal? Twenty-four years ago. The result? The conservative got about sixty percent of the vote.

If Rush lost his guts the way that Republicans have these days, he would lose most of his audience as well. But he sensed, before Battleground Polls said it, that America is a profoundly conservative nation.

Now all we need is candidate and president who understands this.

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

But a couple of weeks ago I was having dinner with Daniel Pipes and a group of collegiate conservatives at the University of Tulsa. Professor Pipes asked me a question that is harder to answer: Why does it feel like we are so much less than sixty percent of the population? If three fifths of our countrymen are conservatives, why do we conservatives feel like a minority?

The Left long ago stopped trying to win arguments. The Left long ago adopted the Alinsky school of political warfare: Destroy your opponent. Portray conservatives as racist, homophobes, wife-battering moronic paranoids and that campaign of political annihilation is largely won. The political movement which sanctimoniously prides itself on rejecting stereotypes smeared sixty percent of America with a savage, humorless defamation.

How does the Left win many of its policy battles? Through unelected federal judges who are appointed for life.

How does the Right win many of its policy battles? By referenda and similar votes

Tags: mccain, palin, 2008 election

Understanding Progressives vs. Conservatives - George Lakoff

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:46:11 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Conservatives model their world view on the "strict father' model while liberals model the "nurturing parent" model. Agree or disagree with his ideas, they are very thought provoking.

Clip Source: www.archive.org

The author of "Don’t Think of an Elephant" and Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at UC Berkeley spoke about his new book "The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain."

George Lakoff is known for his ideas about the centrality of metaphor to human thinking, political behavior and society. In recent years he has applied his work to the realm of politics, exploring this in his books. He is the founder of the progressive think tank the Rockridge Institute.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Lakoff argues that the differences in opinions between liberals and conservatives follow from the fact that they subscribe with different strength to two different metaphors about the relationship of the state to its citizens. Both, he claims, see governance through metaphors of the family.

America Is A Conservative Nation

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:49:57 GMT

clipped by: ColoradoRight
clipper's remarks: When 60% of people identify themselves as somewhat conservative or very conservative - how does a huge liberal like Obama try to get elected? By lying about his background and associations, by relying on the media to run interference for him, by using nuclear destruction on any conservative (Sarah Palin).

Clip Source: www.americanthinker.com

How does the Left win many of its policy battles? Through unelected federal judges who are appointed for life. How does the Right win many of its policy battles? By referenda and similar votes of the people.

When did McCain get a bump? When he picked an unapologetic conservative running mate.

Conservatives lose when they deny that they are conservatives: When they seek that two percent of America that calls itself moderate at the cost of that sixty percent of America that calls itself conservative.

Tags: conservative, liberal, america, media

What Right Wingers Mean When They Call Obama A "Socialist"

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:59:10 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: They're rooted in a history of conservative smears against black leaders.

Clip Source: www.prospect.org

What Right Wingers Mean When They Call Obama A "Socialist"

The hysterical accusations of socialism from conservatives echo similar accusations leveled at black leaders in the past, as though the quest for racial parity were simply a left-wing plot. Obama may not actually be a socialist or communist, but his election would strike another powerful blow to the informal racial hierarchy that has existed in America since the 1960s, when it ceased being enforced by law. This hierarchy, which holds that whiteness is synonymous with American-ness, is one conservatives are now instinctively trying to preserve. Like black civil-rights activists of the 1960s, Obama symbolizes the destruction of a social order they see as fundamentally American, which is why terms like "socialism" are used to describe the threat.

Conservatives, now and in the past, have turned to "socialism" and "communism" as shorthand to criticize black activists and political figures since the civil-rights era.

Tags: race, socialism, communism, malcolm x, mlk, smears

Swift Satire gores both sides

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:04:57 GMT

clipped by: oscarrob
clipper's remarks: I think Jon Swift is one of the funnies guys in the blogosphere. He goes on to say:

"But some conservative “intellectuals” like David Brooks subscribe to the canard that the conservative movement was defined by pointy-headed eastern elites like William Buckley, whose “entire life,” Brooks recently wrote, “was a celebration of urbane values, sophistication and the rigorous and constant application of intellect.....Brooks even goes so far as to claim that conservatives once valued “constant reading, historical understanding and sophisticated thinking.” We did? Since when? Does he honestly believe that the conservative movement was based on people who read books? Reagan wasn’t elected by the Harvard faculty. It was an angry mob tired of welfare queens and pinko fellow travelers selling us out to the Soviet Union that put him in office."

Clip Source: jonswift.blogspot.com

This week pundits were all in a tizzy about the angry mobs showing up at John McCain and Sarah Palin rallies.

This country wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for an angry mob that decided it wanted a tax cut and threw English tea into Boston Harbor.

we would probably all be Muslims now if an angry mob hadn’t chosen Barabbas over Jesus 2,000 years ago.

The Republican Party certainly owes a lot to angry mobs. Angry mobs in Little Rock and Selma deeply concerned about the issue of state’s rights, angry mobs of parents in Boston who didn’t want their kids bussed across town and angry mobs of Chicago homeowners who didn’t want their property values to go down all helped give birth to the modern conservative movement. The Democrats had angry mobs of their own rioting in the cities and burning flags at antiwar protests and conservatives realized that the only way we would win is if we had better, angrier mobs. What was Nixon’s Silent Majority but a very quiet, very angry mob?

Tags: politics, satire, humor, conservative, liberal

Blaming the Victim

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:42:19 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: It seems it's become de rigueur for the Conservatives to blame the victims these days. IMO, it shows how out of touch these conservative pundits truly are.

BTW, for those not familiar, the SPLC is a watchdog organization dedicated to exposing hate groups and suing them out of business. They've done impressive work particularly against the KKK and the American Aryan party.

Clip Source: www.splcenter.org

Fox’s Cavuto Wins SPLC’s Dobbsy Award for Pinning Blame on Minorities for Mortgage Crisis

The first wave of nominations are in, and one man stands head and shoulders above the rest to claim our inaugural Dobbsy Award – Neil Cavuto of Fox News.

The host of “Your World with Neil Cavuto” used his program to put the blame for the subprime mortgage meltdown squarely where he believes it belongs – on the shoulders of poor minorities who have dared try to own a home. In doing so, Cavuto has exemplified what it means to be a Dobbsy winner – a “mainstream” figure who makes utterly false or misleading statements that denigrate or defame an entire group of people.

That’s right. In Cavuto’s world, the real problem isn’t Wall Street greed or lax federal regulation of reckless banking behemoths. No, it’s all a matter of those irresponsible minorities who were willing to destroy the country’s economy for a two-bedroom home in the ‘burbs.

Rational Disagreement or Rabid Hatred?

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:19:57 GMT

clipped by: darkeforce
clipper's remarks: Click the link to read this entire article; it makes some very good points. Drawing equivalences between right-wingers and left-wingers is not a valid exercise. The Democrats (and Liberals) see their differences from the Republicans (and Conservatives) as a nuanced disagreement of ideals, while Republicans see it as an absolute battle of Good vs. Evil. They aren't opposing Obama because they disagree with his platform; they are against him because they think he's evil. He's been called the Anti-Christ (critical study of Revelations will reveal that he's too old). At rallies, people are screaming to kill him, and cut off his head. It's come to the point where you can't even take it for granted that Republicans accept the fact that Obama is human, just like McCain. This Republican base is acting on a very primitive level, like a lizard-brain, with no critical thought about what they're doing or why they oppose him.

Clip Source: www.idrewthis.org

Fear and loathing

posted by Liberal Eagle at 1:57 PM

You see a lot of false equivalencies in the media. It's sort of their creed: if you report that Republicans have done something that makes them look bad, you must immediately find a way to say that Democrats do it also. That is how you seem "fair." If the Republicans are, for instance, lying through their teeth, and the Democrats aren't, you're obligated to say something like "Republicans are claiming that Ted Kennedy is a serial killer, but Democrats today used a very generous interpretation of their tax plan, so both sides lie."

And this is my point. The conservative base doesn't see politics as a clash of competing legitimate ideas. It sees politics, and everything else, as a clash between good and evil. When George W. Bush said "you're either with us or you're against us," he wasn't just talking about that one moment in history. Conservatives think that about literally everything.

Iranian reformist challenges Ahmadinejad

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:49:05 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: First to declare candidacy for the presidency.

Clip Source: www.payvand.com

A leading Iranian reformist says he will run in next year's presidential elections, challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who is widely expected to seek a second term.

Former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karoubi announced his candidacy for the June 2009 poll at a news conference in Tehran Sunday. He said Mr. Ahmadinejad's administration has failed in its handling of foreign policy and economic issues.

Karoubi also criticized the president for denying the Holocaust. He said Mr. Ahmadinejad's past remarks have cost the country a great deal.

President Ahmadinejad has come under strong criticism from fellow conservatives for his handling of Iran's high inflation and other economic problems. Some of his conservative critics may challenge him for the presidency.

However, Mr. Ahmadinejad has won crucial backing from the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The supreme leader has the final say on all of Iran's affairs

Tags: iran

The media's enduring pro-McCain double standard

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:52:37 GMT

clipped by: keeth
clipper's remarks: "The media are only as liberal as the conservative companies that own them." This is more than just a silly liberal phrase; it's the truth.

Clip Source: mediamatters.org

The media's enduring pro-McCain double standard

It isn't surprising that the conventional wisdom is that the news media have turned on Sen. John McCain.

decades of attacks from conservatives have conditioned reporters to believe that they are biased against Republicans -- even when there is scant evidence in the reporting to support such claims.

the McCain campaign has launched an all-out assault on the media, complaining relentlessly about the coverage its candidate has gotten.

The truth is that when John McCain says "jump," the media still ask, "How high?" Think about this: When was the last time McCain or his campaign has wanted the news media to focus on something, and they have refused?

2008 news reports that mention Obama and Ayers: more than 4,500.

2008 news reports that mention McCain and Liddy: fewer than 100.

Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright

161 articles, editorials, and opinion pieces

John McCain and John Hagee

only 12

Obama and Rezko

McCain and his donors' land deals

seven

Tags: mccain, palin, obama, politics, media, liberal, false

Private sector Loans Triggered Crisis not Fannie Mae or Feddie Mac

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:19:36 GMT

clipped by: TJColatrella

Clip Source: www.mcclatchydc.com

Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis

WASHINGTON — As the economy worsens and Election Day approaches, a conservative campaign that blames the global financial crisis on a government push to make housing more affordable to lower-class Americans has taken off on talk radio and e-mail.

Federal housing data reveal that the charges aren't true, and that the private sector, not the government or government-backed companies, was behind the soaring subprime lending at the core of the crisis.

Tags: conservatives, economic crisis, fannie mae, freddie mac, bush, sec, aig, ubs, phil gramm, limbaugh

Moderate Republicans:"Who is John McCain?"

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 05:29:25 GMT

clipped by: blueridge
clipper's remarks: John McCain has a serious problem with his own constituency, moderate republicans. They are crossing the aisle too now, to support his opponent.

Chafee said he has spoken with several other moderate Republican leaders, and "there are a whole lot of us deserting."

About Palin:

As for McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, "there's no question she's totally unqualified," Chafee said.

They would do better, however, supporting third party instead of supporting Obama who will NOT change the neocon "war on terrorism" and foreign policy agenda (where he sounds alot like McCain), and will NOT have policies that improve the economy nor restore our constitutional liberties trampled by Homeland Security policies. (Obama has not promised to rescind any of the Exec orders or legislation pushed by Bush gov't.

Traditional conservatives have a problem with McCain too, and are leaning toward Constitution or Libertarian party cand

Clip Source: www.mlive.com

Former governor backs away from McCain

Former Republican Gov. William Milliken

GRAND RAPIDS -- He endorsed John McCain in the presidential primary, but now former Republican Gov. William Milliken is expressing doubts about his party's nominee.

"He is not the McCain I endorsed," said Milliken, reached at his Traverse City home Thursday. "He keeps saying, 'Who is Barack Obama?' I would ask the question, 'Who is John McCain?' because his campaign has become rather disappointing to me.

Milliken, a lifelong Republican, is among some past leaders from the party's moderate wing voicing reservations and, in some cases, opposition to McCain's candidacy.

Lincoln Chafee, a former Republican U.S. senator from Rhode Island, said he's voting for Obama and urging others to do likewise.

"That's not my kind of Republicanism," said Chafee, who now calls himself an independent. "I saw what Bush and Cheney did. They came in with a (budget) surplus and a stable world, and look what's happened

Tags: mccain, obama, 2008 candidates, palin

Media's Double Standard

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:16:34 GMT

clipped by: thinkingblue
clipper's remarks: I've noticed that the mainstream media still handles McCain with kid gloves. I wonder why that is...? OK, he was a POW, captured by an "enemy" of our government. But why should that give him a one-upmanship over Obama... as far as fair reporting is concerned? Maybe corporate media has more to gain under republican rule or maybe it's just that they fear a McCain attack because they've taken note of how McMean and his Cold-Hearted-VP pick's, mean-spirited, hateful innuendoes launched against Obama have stirred the "Republican base of loathing", to get "physical" with any contrived foe. I believe it's both but they've got the case of the willies when it comes to the ornery right-wing mentality, knowing they might band together and threaten not to buy the goods their sponsors hawk!

Clip Source: mediamatters.org

Media Matters: The media's enduring pro-McCain double standard

It isn't surprising that the conventional wisdom is that the news media have turned on Sen. John McCain. After all, decades of attacks from conservatives have conditioned reporters to believe that they are biased against Republicans -- even when there is scant evidence in the reporting to support such claims. And the McCain campaign has launched an all-out assault on the media, complaining relentlessly about the coverage its candidate has gotten.

McCain historically has been the recipient of the most favorable media coverage of any politician in modern American history

The truth

John McCain says "jump," the media still ask, "How high?"

they uncritically quote McCain campaign attacks on Sen. Barack Obama for things McCain himself has done.

When a campaign does something like this, the media often point out the hypocrisy, and the attack backfires. But those rules don't apply to John McCain.

media have sided with

McCain

Ayers and ACORN

Tags: mccain, palin, politics

Abortion reform clears last hurdle

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:25:53 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: A long battle against the hysterical conservatives is over. Choice is decriminalised.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

ABORTION has been legalised in Victoria.

Just after 10.30 last night, a historic vote in State Parliament gave women the right to choose to have an abortion free from the threat of criminal prosecution.

The conscience vote of upper house MPs prompted tears of joy from veteran pro-choice campaigners, including Jo Wainer, in the public gallery.

Former Labor premier Joan Kirner hailed the vote as a victory for women after a 35-year campaign to take abortion out of the Crimes Act.

But the 23 to 17 vote for decriminalisation was also greeted with cries of "You've got blood on your hands" from anti-abortion protesters.

Four pro-life activists were forcibly evicted from the public gallery amid angry and emotional scenes. They condemned the vote as a green light for "state-sanctioned baby killing" and vowed to continue their vocal campaign.

Last night's conscience vote ended a marathon parliamentary debate that split the major parties.

Tags: good news

The Mask Slips

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:23:26 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: "Remember voodoo economics? That was the derisive term George H.W. Bush used for Ronald Reagan’s fantasy that he could simultaneously increase defense spending, cut taxes and balance the budget. After Reagan became president (with Mr. Bush as his vice president) the budget deficit — surprise, surprise — soared.
Just as they were wrong about trickle down, conservative Republican politicians and their closest buddies in the commentariat have been wrong on one important national issue after another, from Social Security (conservatives opposed it from the start and have been trying to undermine it ever since) to Medicare (Ronald Reagan saw it as the first wave of socialism) to the environment, energy policy and global warming."

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

The lesson for Americans suffused with anxiety and dread over the crackup of the financial markets is that the way you vote matters, that there are real-world consequences when you go into a voting booth and cast that ballot.

For the nitwits who vote for the man or woman they’d most like to have over for dinner, or hang out at a barbecue with, I suggest you take a look at how well your 401(k) is doing, or how easy it will be to meet the mortgage this month, or whether the college fund you’ve been trying to build for your kids is as robust as you’d like it to be.

It’s not just the economy.

Voting has consequences.

The first is how wrong conservative Republicans have been on so many profoundly important matters for so many years. The second is how the G.O.P. has nevertheless been able to persuade so many voters of modest means that its wrongheaded, favor-the-rich, country-be-damned approach was not only good for working Americans, but was the patriotic way to go.

Palin the "darling" of conservatives

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:02:10 GMT

clipped by: georgecf

Clip Source: www.ajc.com

You can already see the mythology beginning to take shape. Palin is being positioned by conservative media outlets as the stalwart defender of the faith, the true believer who is fighting the infidel with all her power but lacks a committed partner in McCain.

Sarah Palin, by contrast, will reign as the party’s crown princess.

Palin’s the one making the arguments that conservatives most want to hear, such as accusing Obama of “palling around with terrorists.” When the McCain campaign decided to pull out of Michigan, it was Palin who repeatedly and publicly disagreed, insisting that the cause was not yet lost and that she could turn things around.

Palin’s star will shine even brighter in defeat than in victory, and that would not bode well for her party.

Tags: mccain, palin