My favorite subversive leftist propagandaist

I love it when I read someone I really respect and they write something that completely captures my feelings.

August J. breaks it down from the front lines in NYC:

Okay, one statement on the closing of the convention. In all honesty, I'm not motivated, or scared, or even angry at Bush and the GOP after Bush's speech tonight. I'm just confused.

I don't get how Bush can talk about being the only defense against terrorism when he refuses to even say "Osama bin Laden." I don't get how he can even pretend to promote compassionate conservatism after the hate-fest of Wednesday night. I don't get how he can cast Iraq favorably, let alone comparing it to Germany- a country that "healed" after it's major war by a massive division with Communist nuclear tension for over half a century. I don't get how he can attack the "liberal Hollywood base" of the Democratic Party when not one, but two Hollywood actors gave prime time speeches at his own convention. I don't get how he can call Kerry a flip-flopper when he's changed his own opinion on the WOT twice in the last 72 hours. I don't get how he can let George Pataki talk of all the promises Bush delivered when he also promised to find bin Laden. I don't get how he could claim Kerry had no record to show for himself when he served merely six years in the most powerless governor's seat in the country and did nothing for this country not related to an unprecedented terrorist attack. I don't get how several thousand Republicans, delegates of a commitment to a love of their country, can sit there and actually believe the man running against George Bush "hates" the military.

And I just don't get how people supporting Bush can pretend they do. Because to actually believe everything Bush said tonight- to honestly believe it as opposed to merely endorsing it for the sake of partisanship- you'd have to be either insane or brain damaged. And even being generous with percentages, there's no way that many people in either of those situations could have found the corner of 34th and 8th for four days in a row.

That was pretty much the point of my post the other day. I understand that people have conservative values. I understand that there are people who think there are better ways to run the government. I understand all of those things. What I do not understand is why anyone think Bush is the man to deliver any of it. No Child Left Behind is a complete joke. More jobs are going overseas than ever before. Money is being poured into Iraq. None of those things benefit any part of a true Republican platform.

I hate to go lesser-of-two-evils and all, but really. Can Kerry really do more damage to this country? People honestly think they can trust Bush for four more years? They don't think that he will continue to lead this country down a path of oppressing freedoms and over-extended resources? I just don't understand how you can honestly believe that.

Because he said so, Part 2

If you missed The Daily Show the other night, when they played the Bush video I love so dearly, you can go here to view it. Props to Atrios for the link!

Unfit for anything

From DailyKos:

The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments makes someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty.

Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty. Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting 45 million Americans go without healthcare makes you unfit to lead this nation. Letting the Saudi Royal Family control our energy costs makes you unfit to lead this nation. Handing out billions of government contracts to Halliburton while you're still on their payroll makes you unfit. That's the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney. And it's not going to change. I believe it's time to move America in a new direction; I believe it's time to set a new course for America.

Word, Senator Kerry. WORD!

He won't be back!

Why haven't I been reading Michael Berurbe?!?!

Well, some of you might just be economic girlie-men! The kind who get their panties in a bunch about a little deficit here and a little job loss there! You people don't have health care? You can't afford a visit to the dentist, you say, and you've got this inflammation that you're worried about? You're a bunch of fags!! Why not just go to Hollywood and become DemocRATS, you lily-livered gum-inflamed liberal whiners?

Enough about you. This night wasn't about you. It was about a President who knows how to terminate terrorism. That's right, you wanted to know if Arnold would say "terminate," and you got your answer– we will terminate terrorism. Terrorism will come at us in a big truck carrying crude oil or liquid nitrogen or something, and we'll crush it in a drill press or maybe shoot it and shatter it into a million pieces, but then the terrorists' metal forearm will survive and provide scientists with the basis for creating a whole new kind of artificial intelligence, or the liquid-metal terrorist will re-form and we'll have to shoot it with one of those huge exploding bullets and make it fall backwards into a vat of molten steel, and then we'll have to send ourselves back into the past (that is, the present) to protect ourselves from the terrorists who want to start a global thermonuclear war, but then it'll turn out that the war happens anyway, which is kind of complicated, because we thought we'd avoided it when we shot the liquid-metal terrorist with the huge exploding bullet and he fell . . . never mind, that's not the point, the point is that leadership is all about "making decisions you think are right, and then standing behind those decisions." Even when it looks like your decision to invade Iraq was based on the advice of a notorious kleptomaniac who was possibly serving as a double agent for Iranian mullahs, you stand behind your decision, because leadership is all about making decisions you think are right and then standing behind them. Um, I said that already. But that's all right, because it makes it even more true!! And I stand firm in repeating what I said about leadership!!

Because He Says So

Goodness The Daily Show rocks. I think that video they just did is even more important than F911. Everyone should have to watch that before they vote. And all the "real" news journalists should have to write 50 page reports on it.

Fafin' hilarious

Are you reading Fafblog? Why aren't you reading Fafblog?!?!?! I laugh at every new post. So funny.

So Your City Is Full Of Republicans!
A Fafblog Guide

So it is Republican National Conventiontime an there are all these funny people in your town all of a sudden. They do not look like you. They do not act like you. They may dress in more cow-an-flag-themed apparel than you are accustomed to. Do not panic!

Heee. My favorite suggestion:

Cultural Bondin! Show your Republican that your home an culture are nothin to be afraid of. Take him to the park or to a Yankees game! Remember to bring lots of umbrellas an sunscreen because your Republican is not used to the harsh light of open nature. He has been raised in dark squalid caves filled with toxic poisons where he hunts bats an small elves for sustenance. Do not take your Republican to a museum! He comes from a "Red State" where all art is banned an has been replaced by very large engines eternally pumpin greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for no reason whatsoever. Exposure to the culture shock of an art installation or even a sidewalk painter could cause him to choke on the industrial waste that flows through his body in place of blood.

Love!

And you call yourself a Republican because....?

From Michael Moore's first RNC column in USA Today:

I've often found that if I go down the list of "liberal" issues with people who say they're Republican, they are quite liberal and not in sync with the Republicans who run the country. Most don't want America to be the world's police officer and prefer peace to war. They applaud civil rights, believe all Americans should have health insurance and think assault weapons should be banned. Though they may personally oppose abortion, they usually don't think the government has the right to tell a women what to do with her body.

There's a name for these Republicans: RINOs or Republican In Name Only. They possess a liberal, open mind and don't believe in creating a worse life for anyone else.

So why do they use the same label as those who back a status quo of women earning 75 cents to every dollar a man earns, 45 million people without health coverage and a president who has two more countries left on his axis-of-evil-regime-change list?

I asked my friend on the street. He said what I hear from all RINOs: "I don't want the government taking my hard-earned money and taxing me to death. That's what the Democrats do."

Money. That's what it comes down to for the RINOs. They do work hard and have been squeezed even harder to make ends meet. They blame Democrats for wanting to take their money. Never mind that it's Republican tax cuts for the rich and billions spent on the Iraq war that have created the largest deficits in history and will put all of us in hock for years to come.

I have a few friends that call themselves Republicans and that is exactly their attitude. Hanging on to every precious little dollar they make is more important than all the other issues combined. They don't care that Bush & Co. don't share a single thing in common with them except a love of money.

How can money be the most important thing? I don't make a lot, myself, but if I have to give up a few hundred dollars a year in taxes, so that important social and environmental programs get funded, I am okay with that. I could certainly live on a lot less.

Tell that to my aunt who lives in Flint. She lost her job 4 months ago and hasn't been able to find a new one. She's got a baby girl and a house. She finally had to go apply for assistance. The nice woman told her that almost 50% of people in Flint are on some sort of government assistance. Are you going to try to tell me that ALL those people are lazy leeches revelling in living on the governments dime?

Is the system perfect? No. Are Democrats automatically better people than Republicans? No. But I would rather err on the side of compassion and hope than wrap my fist around my wallet and throw a temper tantrum.

You can't tell me that the way Bush & Co. run this country is good for your wallet. You can say that you think gays should have less rights and that your Christian God should be considered in every decision in the White House, and that makes Bush good for you. You can say that you believe we should have the right to invade oil-rich countries whenever we feel like it and it doesn't matter that the rest of the world thinks we suck. That makes Bush the perfect president for you.

But if you are voting for him based on what you think he can do for you financially, you better go to church 3 days a week, make more than $400,000 a year and have no qualms about people going without health care, the destruction of the public schools system and your kids and grandkids sucking toxic fumes.

If that isn't you, Bush isn't your man.