When will we address THIS reason why the Democrats lost the mid terms?

Per usual, Rachel Maddow destroys conservative lies. It bothers me just a bit that while all these reasons why the Democrats got swamped in the mid terms are floating around, very few are calling attention to the right-wing echo chamber which ratcheted up the lies against Obama and the Democrats, thereby scaring Americans and exploiting covert prejudices against Obama.

Saying "that's just how politics is" is a cop-out. Strangely enough, the same people who always claim about how sick they are with Washington or how Washington is broken seems to always be silent when it comes to calling lies out. You can't defeat a disease without naming it.

And don't even get me started on Fox News. The fact that for the first time in history, a political party has an entire "news" network - the number one news network at that - in its back pocket and pushing its agenda seems to escape everyone. This is a shame because it's significant. And ironic. The clarion call against Obama seems to be that he is a dictator and runs a regime.

Who's more of a product of a "regime?" President Obama or a network fueling a political party?

Lastly, the lgbt community really needs to pay attention to this because there is a case to be made - which I will get into later - in how the campaign of lies against Obama and the Democrats are similar to the campaign of lies the religious right wages against us.

How sad is it that those who market in lies can borrow from one another, but those engaged in truth and progressive ideas can't. Or rather don't.


Hat tip to Joe.My.God.

Tea partier challenges me and gets smacked down . . HARD

A certain anonymous member of the tea party didn't like my post, Message to the Tea Party - What took you so long to get angry?, so the person took it upon him or herself to give answers to what was written.

If this person had meant to refute me, that person failed miserably. What this person did show was the nasty callousness and selfishness that defines the tea party.

Below are the original lines, the tea party member's answer and then my answer (which are in red):

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

Bush won. Multiple independent recounts completed in the years since have confirmed that fact. Get over it

Let's see those multiple recounts.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate Energy policy and push us to invade Iraq .

Democrats voted unanimously to send us to war. Twice. And Democrats have approved every spending bill to keep our troops there since.

Everyone, including the Democrats were lied to about weapons of mass destruction. And come on, who in their right mind will turn down spending bills for troops in war?

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

Plame lied. Journalism died.

You are gonna have to do better than that. How did Plane lie? And if there wasn't any wrongdoing by the Bush Administration, then perhaps you should set up the "Scooter Libby went to jail for nothing" fund.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

Of course we didn't. We wrote it.

The Patriot Act was definitely a demonstration what Beck always accuses Obama of doing - taking away our freedoms. How ironic that you don't have any problems with it.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

We invaded Canada?

How was Iraq a threat to us? It had no link to Osama Bin Laden or Al Qeda.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 800 billion (and counting) on said illegal war.

Shame to have all those really cool weapons and not use them.

Cool weapons? That remark was both callous and cruel. You wanna repeat that line to the families of those who died? How about Pat Tillman's family?

You didn't get mad when Bush borrowed more money from foreign sources than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

Actually, that's kind of what started our getting mad.

I missed the protests, marches, and tea party expresses to Washington.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars in cash just disappeared in Iraq.

Yes we did.

Again I missed the protests, marches, and tea party expresses to Washington.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

Yes we did.

Once again I missed the protests, marches, and tea party expresses to Washington.

You didn't get mad when Bush embraced trade and outsourcing policies that shipped 6 million American jobs out of the country.

Yes we did.

Nope. Again no protests, marches, and tea party expresses to Washington. I think this would have been a perfect time for some of those "I want my country back" primal screams. Those seemed not to have taken place either.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

Yes we did.

You all were using the Jedi mind trick to show your anger, weren't you?

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

Yes we did.

You must have been communicating your anger to each other by a huge mind meld, like the Borg on Star Trek.

You didn't get mad when Bush rang up 10 trillion dollars in combined budget and current account deficits.

Yes we did.

That must have been when you all started writing ugly letters to each other rather than protesting and marching in Washington.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

Yes we did.

Let me guess. You didn't protest or go to Washington with signs during this time or any of the other times? You sure you all got angry?

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city, New Orleans drown.

Yes we did get mad -- at the Democrats that ignored 30 years of warnings that the levies were inadequate. We got mad at the useless governor who blocked Federal assistance at every level. We got mad at the useless mayor who refused to evacuate his city. We got mad at the useless Democrat emergency management officials who didn't HAVE an emergency evacuation plan. We got mad at the useless Democrat citizens who sat around waiting for their useless Democrat officials to save their useless Democrat butts. We got mad at those same useless Democrat citizens who re-elected the same useless Democrat mayor. And we're still mad that the same useless Democrat emergency management department STILL HASN'T WRITTEN AN EVACUATION PLAN!

Yes it was the Democrats who told Michael Brown, "you are doing one heckuva job, Brownie." And a lot of those people were either unable to move because they had no transportation or was in the hospital or in nursing homes. But those "stupid people" deserved to die, right?

You didn't get mad when we gave people who had more money than they could spend, the filthy rich, over a trillion dollars in taxbreaks.

No, because those rich folks are our employers. The money they don't send to the government in taxes is what we call "pay checks".

Standard silly line about rich people. You sound like you live in a feudal society. I love the world you live in where rich people should get big tax breaks but people in nursing homes should be left to die in a flood because they are too stupid to get out.

You didn't get mad with the worst 8 years of job creations in several decades.

Because we don't live in the Democrat-controlled states where all those jobs were lost.

So only states controlled by Democrats had high unemployment? South Carolina had an unemployment rate of of 11.5 in August. Didn't know the Republican governor Mark Sanford was a Democrat. Georgia at the same time had an unemployment rate of 10.3. Who knew the Republican governor at the time, Sonny Perdue was a secret Democrat. Need I say more?

You didn't get mad when over 200,000 US Citizens lost their lives because they had no health insurance.

Red herring. Every hospital in the United States is required to administer life-saving health care to all patients, regardless of ability to pay. Look it up.

So you don't refute this fact, you just call it a red herring. And imply the notion that if these people die, it's their stupidity. According to a 2002 study -

* Uninsured people with colon or breast cancer face a 50% higher risk of death.

* Uninsured trauma victims are less likely to be admitted to the hospital, receive the full range of needed services, and are 37% more likely to die of their injuries.

* About 25% of adult diabetics without insurance for a year or more went without a checkup for two years. That boosts their risk of death, blindness and amputations resulting from poor circulation.

But it's okay as long as those tax breaks for the rich keep coming, huh.

You didn't get mad when lack of oversight and regulations from the Bush Administration caused US Citizens to lose 12 trillion dollars in investments, retirement, and home values.

Oh we got mad -- mad at the Democrats who have been in control of the institutions that CAUSED the financial meltdown. We also got mad at Bush for not taking action when the fraud was uncovered. 

Bush was President at the time, but it was the Democrats' fault. That makes sense. Whatever happened to the "buck stops here?"

My friend, you really shouldn't have bothered to answer. If your aim was to defend the tea party, you failed. Your comments, especially the ones about the "cool weapons" demonstrate the real tea party - a group created by resentment and so cowardly that they can't even admit their own prejudices so they wrap it up in jingoism and phony patriotism. Sad.

Belgian Catholic church head says gays deserve AIDS and other Thursday midday news briefs

Head of Belgian Catholic church says AIDS is ‘justice’ for gays - I'm starting to think that some members of the Catholic church just plain don't like us.

Florida Ends Drug Assistance for 350 with HIV/AIDS - This ain't good at all.

Video: Rudy on #DADT repeal: 'You could probably accomplish it now. ' - Rudy Guliani is all for a repeal of DADT. Is it time for the primaries yet, Rudy? Talk about positioning yourself.

Guest column by David Mixner - LGBT Community: What Now? - We do what we always do. Pick ourselves up. Dust ourselves off. And fight like hell.

Alameda County voters elect country's first transgender judge - Congratulations Victoria Kolakowski !

'That's Gay' takes on Eddie Long

Maybe I'm wrong for doing this but I think the mood should be lightened a bit. Yes the Republicans have taken over the House of Representatives and in Iowa, three judges who ruled for marriage equality were voted out. But we will overcome this setbacks. Remember, a record number of lgbt candidates were also voted in AND we have a fourth lgbt member of Congress.

So take a chill pill and watch Infomania's take on the Eddie Long controversy:




Past Infomania posts:

A funny look at lgbt villains

A funny look at 'gay' commercials

An interesting and thought-provoking take on lgbt pride

Elena Kagan 'plays softball like a lesbian'

Conversion Therapy - a video with George Rekers in mind

Advice to closeted politicans - How to keep from being exposed

Why the phrase 'No Homo' is highly needed

Reasons why the 'sanctity' of proms MUST be preserved from Constance McMillen

Why gay marriage is 'wrong'  

Video games are SO gay

Making fun of anti-gay liars is always good therapy

  

The Daily Show focuses on homophobic cyber bully Andrew Shrivell

We all know the story of assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan Andrew Shrivell and his vendetta against Chris Armstrong, the student body president at the University of Michigan.

Now the Daily Show weighs in and words cannot describe how the show tears Shrivell apart. Actually the show lets Shrivell tear himself apart. As such with bullies and homophobes. Give them a platform and sooner or later, they destroy themselves:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Look Who's Stalking
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Rally to Restore Sanity

Record number of lgbt candidates elected to office in mid-terms and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Record number of gay, lesbian candidates elected to office - While the phony grassroots movement called the Tea Party basks in all of the attention, let's not forget that the 2010 mid-terms was a record breaking year for lgbt candiates. Congratulations to all who ran and the victors, especially David Cicilline who became the fourth lgbt member of the United States House of Representatives. Let's get some more and then start a caucus!

Unprecedented: Iowa voters oust three judges over gay marriage ruling - But let's not get too happy. The National Organization for Marriage spearheaded this travesty.

D.C. Leads in Gay, Mass. in Lesbian, Households - Remember this for the times when the opposition wil try to imply that we don't have families. And in this climate, they will.

Fight Back PAC Declares Victory (Updated) - Meanwhile, we whipped ass in New York

Five reasons why I am happy that the Republicans took over the House of Representatives

Well the 2010 midterms have come and gone and as expected, it wasn't pretty.

Democrats lost the House thanks to the infusion of the tea party movement, but managed to keep the Senate thanks to the same circumstances.

Now some of my fellow progressives may feel a bit discouraged but I don't. I was there when the Democrats won big in 2006 and 2008 but personally for me, there was no bigger thrill than last night. This entire election had us as the underdogs and speculation was that we were going to sit it out, but we didn't. We roared as well as we could and fought with a hell of a lot of determination. And though Republicans came out as the victors in the House, I don't necessarily feel like a loser. I feel like wounded warrior who just ended a long, bloody siege, battered, bruised, but ready to fight again. I don't feel that me or anyone on my side of the spectrum has anything to be ashamed about.

Now I know the pundits and bloggers will spin the results for weeks to come while the Republicans and tea partiers will gloat like crazy and hold their noses so high up in the air that they won't be able to smell their own mouthwash.

Meanwhile, Democrats and some of us progressives will either be discouraged (or pretend to be discouraged so as not to ruin the Washington insiders' narrative of a "disheartened Democratic party.")

As for me, I refuse to be disheartened or frustrated. I see positives with what happened on Tuesday. As a matter of fact, I have five good reasons why I am glad the Republicans achieved such a great victory.

5. Let's be honest. Speaker of the House is a job I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy because the person who holds the job becomes so polarizing. Just ask Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston (who resigned before he even got to hold the gavel), Jim Wright, or the new victim of the curse, Nancy Pelosi. Heck, the only reason why Dennis Hastert survived is because no one remembered who he was when he held the job.

Also I bet many of you are like me, wetting your lips in anticipation of constantly mispronouncing possibly soon-to-be Speaker of the House John Boehner's last name in a psuedo accidental, but deliciously naughty way. Plus you just gotta love the way that man cries. It's like Christina Aguilera when she wins a Grammy.

4. If the recent Politico article is to be believed, Republicans are scared of the fact that Sarah Palin doesn't think of herself as a cheerleader, but a serious presidential candidate. Not only are they scared of it, but they aim to stop it, which should make excellent, popcorn consuming viewing. But unfortunately, it also demonstrates the lack of finesse on the behalf of the Republican Party. Not only are you supposed to wait until after the election to get rid of her, but maybe it wasn't a good idea to trot our your plan in front of God and Man alike.

And then Sen. Jim DeMint, for whatever reason, has decided to pit the newly elected Republican senators against the so-called Republican establishment.  My suggestion to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is that he stop trying to make Obama a one-term president and watch his own tush. If he looked behind him, he would see DeMint with a napkin bib, knife, and fork.So much for unity.

I swear if the Republicans worked for that James Bond villain who constantly strokes his Persian cat (Ernst Stavro Blofeld), he would have dropped them all in the pirahna tank for incompetence.

3. Speaking of which, some Republicans are in big trouble with a certain mastermind of the party. When Christine O'Donnell won the Delaware Republican primary, Karl Rove was the voice of reason (proving how weird this mid-term election was) by calling her unelectable. When he was turned on by his fellow conservatives, he backtracked. Then he said something suitably negative about the mentality of the tea party, causing Rush Limbaugh to call him out. Then he said something unsuitable about Sarah Palin being presidential material and she called him out.

Now that the mid-term election is over and he turned out to be correct on O'Donnell, I have a feeling that Rove may answer back in a manner suiting his reputation. I'm serious here, guys. I wouldn't mess with Rove even if I had a crucifix, holy water, and garlic.

2. Now that the Republicans have Congress, they can now reveal that incredibly, wonderful master plan to cut taxes, bring down the deficit, and increase the work force. Apparently the plan is so awesome that none of them wanted to reveal it to the media or each other.

Whatever it is, I only give them six months to complete it. Hey, if they expected President Obama to clean up a mess in less than two years that  former President Bush made in eight, then fair is fair. But remember, keep your government out of Medicare.

1. And finally, the tea party, the American patriots, the ones who led the charge and defeated the socialist, Kenyasian, Islamic, un-American, European plans of President Obama (which I heard was worse than the plans by Darth Vader, Sauron, and those ugly things from the movie Independence Day) dead in its tricks. I have a few request for the tea party. Can you all stop crying about how "you want your country back." And also can you please, please stop bringing guns to Presidential speeches. And above all no more of those annoying signs making fun of the President's racial heritage, but "aren't meant to be racist."

Really though to the victors goes the spoils and I am sure you will reap them all, including possibly Time magazine's Persons of the Year. And that reminds me - do you know who else got that Time magazine designation? Hitler. (Sorry about that. Had to throw a little Glenn Beck in the mix.)

Seriously though guys, while you are feeling like the victors in your pseudo American Revolutionary War fantasies, I have two words for you - Scott Brown.

Remember the Senator from Massachusetts whose election you rallied behind because you were so sure that he would defeat "Obamacare?"  Well he won and you danced in the streets. But then the healthcare bill passed and not only did Brown vote with Obama's party on a jobs bill, but he deserted you all like a prom date dumped before the last dance.

Remember how that felt? Expect to feel it a lot from other Republicans whom you helped into office.

But basically no one should read too much into this election.Don't forget that the record mid-term losses in the House is 71 seats and that's held by Franklin Roosevelt. And we know how he turned out. Also, remember when President Obama was first elected and the pundits were asking is it the beginning of a "post-racial America?"  We should have known that this was nonsense because the majority make up of pundits asking these questions were white. And that didn't change. If America became "post-racial," this characteristic certainly didn't strike the country's newsrooms.

Proving once again that elections are the mothers of bad hyperbole.

The key is to not overanalyze  this election's results and don't get discouraged. Two years in Washington is like three lifetimes. We have only just begun to have fun.

Related post:

A Preview of Post-Election Storytelling