We really live in a golden age for race-baiting. Back in the day, there was a spectrum of racism of sorts. You knew something racist fell somewhere between Al Jolson in blackface, zip-a-de-doo-dah racism and the move your wallet to your front pocket because you see a black guy walking down the street racism. It was a simpler time.

In the last two years, however, Republicans have been so angry they’ve had to invent new ways to be racist. No longer can we judge racist sentiment simply by its degree of offensiveness. Now there are multiple varieties of racism which have become almost like an ingredient the cupboard of conservative hate speech that’s used to flavor every utterance the way a great Italian chef might finish off a dish with a drizzle of their finest extra virgin olive oil.

You’ve got the birther crowd with their “Faked the moon landing” racism. The Fox News saying Michelle is Barack’s “Baby Mamma” which is more of an “Oh my god, you’ve never really met a black person before have you?” racism. The “Fiscal conservative” / Tea Party “Complain about high taxes while comparing the President to a monkey” racism. The Matt Drudge “Ominously link to a story that incidentally involves people of different races as if to imply there’s racial backlash against caucasians” racism. And the religious extremist “Don’t blame me if the Bible says Obama is the anti-Christ” racism.

Then there’s Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who are like the Thomas Edison and Nicola Tesla of racist bullshit. These guys aren’t just content to be the “Telling a racist joke, but it’s cool because everyone knows I’m not racist” guys. Oh no. They’re innovators. They went out there, saw that America elected a black guy, and said “The old ways being a racist asshole aren’t good enough”.  In the process they’ve erected multimedia empires, doing for the “Aggrieved white guy cries reverse-discrimination” racism what Henry Ford did for auto manufacturing (or, not to change the subject, anti-semitism).

Now if the right wing’s artisans of racial hatred could only devote this uniquely American spirit of ingenuity into endeavors that don’t…well…threaten to destroy the social and political fabric of our nation, then we might get somewhere.

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Presidential Prayer Team. After all, they were the ones who gave us my favorite bit of post-9/11 kitsch :

On a lark, I decided to check in on the organization whose self-described mission was to “pray for our national leaders in accordance with biblical principles, regardless of political persuasion“, but it seems like the election of Barack Obama has dampened the enthusiasm quite a bit. Here’s what the PPT site looked like back in 2006 :



And here’s what the Presidential Prayer Team site looks like today :



Funny how a “non-partisan organization” would go out of its way to avoid using the current President’s name or photo. It’s almost as if members of the Presidential Prayer Team are less likely to pray for President Obama than President Bush. I wonder why that is?

Bonus detail : Notice the site no longer references a Bible quote in the masthead. Is 1 Timothy 2:1-2 not as popular now as it was when Republicans ran the country?

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Roy Edroso’s round-up of wingnut reaction to Joe “You lie!” Wilson contains this hilarious gem (via Tom Tomorrow) :

Riehl World View rushed to interview the Congressman, and though they only repeated one word of his responses (“appalling,” regarding the President’s assertion), they characterized him as open-minded (“he went into the speech hoping Obama would genuinely reach out both to the people and across the aisle to address their concerns”), sensitive to the needs of his constituents (“Wilson also stressed his concern for the existing high unemployment in South Carolina”), and a man of even temperament, at least on most occasions (“Other than the single, short impromptu blurt, Wilson said he was in complete control of himself at all times”).

True. Wilson was “in complete control of himself”, except when he wasn’t. And if you really think about it, with the exception of a few interviews, Sarah Palin has spent the majority of her life NOT sounding like a complete dumbass. Like when she’s sleeping or eating or waiting for others to stop talking.

Add this to the long list of reasons why I will never, ever, ever vote Republican :

It turns out that in eight states, plus the District of Columbia, getting beaten up by your spouse is a pre-existing condition.

Under the cold logic of the insurance industry, it makes perfect sense: If you are in a marriage with someone who has beaten you in the past, you’re more likely to get beaten again than the average person and are therefore more expensive to insure.

In human terms, it’s a second punishment for a victim of domestic violence.

In 2006, Democrats tried to end the practice. An amendment introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), now a member of leadership, split the Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee 10-10. The tie meant that the measure failed.

All ten no votes were Republicans, including Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), a member of the “Gang of Six” on the Finance Committee who are hashing out a bipartisan bill.

It’s a shame that the only chance of getting a “bipartisan” bill is to work with the party that voted en masse to defend insurance companies against battered wives.

I remember those days immediately following 9/11, when we were overcome by a patriotic spirit uniting every American, regardless of party, in the belief that universal healthcare is a socialist plot to kill your grandma.

I guess it makes sense that somebody who would evoke the revolutionary mantra of taxation without representation would be ignorant and self-righteous enough to co-opt everything they can get their hands on. Here’s the logo to Glenn Beck’s “9/12 Project”

Needless to say, conservatives’ Photoshop skills are about as good as their historical analysis in this case. The original (which I love) :



Of course the great flaw that undercuts most of the Revolutionary rubbish that Beck and his teabaggin’ allies casually name-drop is that the Founding Fathers were fighting a monarchy which is, for those who prefer a democracy, tyrannical. For modern conservatives, who waited mere weeks after losing a fair election to carelessly accuse Obama et. al. of a burgeoning despotism, wrapping themselves in the accomplishments of the revolutionary movement don’t make them look like the second coming of Thomas Paine, it makes them look like a bunch of friggin’ babies.

I’ve got a lot of conservative friends and family who sincerely believe that we’re in serious need of health care reform and that it’s unconscionable for the richest country in the world to let people die because they’re too poor to go to the doctor. Though I may vocally disagree with their positions, I won’t second-guess their stated motives for opposing the current plan. Indeed, I could see why a Republican would oppose Democratic health care efforts in the hopes that a more conservative plan emerges at some point in the future.

But here’s the deal : Republican politicians don’t care about heath care reform. They may talk a good game, but look at the past four decades. Ronald Reagan swept into office in 1980 and re-invigorated conservatism. He never tried to achieve universal health care. In 1994, Republicans took back the Congress promising reform in their “Contract with America”. They also never tried to ensure every American had access to quality affordable health care. In 2000, George W. Bush “won” the election and presided over six years in which Republicans had de facto control of the legislative and executive branches. Once again, solving our health care crisis wasn’t part of the agenda.

Seeing a pattern here?

Honestly, I’d rather the health care debate be about reforming a Republican health care bill that has already passed, but the last Republican President to even attempt to insure every American was Richard Nixon. No other Republican President or Congress has made a serious effort to ensure access to health care is a right afforded to everyone regardless of income.

I wish this wasn’t the case. I wish both sides could at least agree that there’s a problem requiring a solution, but the lack of interest among Republicans in Congress has made consensus impossible. At this point, conservatives should stop holding their breath hoping for something better to come along. Republicans have drawn a line in the sand between the various flavors of Democratic health care reform and no bill at all. If that is unacceptable to you, then should probably ask why the GOP hasn’t even bothered trying to protect the uninsured.

“This is the cause of my life. New hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American – north, south, east, west, young, old – will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.”

- Ted Kennedy, exactly one year ago today

We’ve got a poorly-regulated economy that’s stuck in an endless boom-bust cycle, which means we spend a majority of our time either in an economic downturn or slowly coming out of one.

We’ve also got a political system that’s so fractured by partisan rancor that it’s impossible to get anything meaningful done in an even-numbered year due to the overwhelming pressures of midterm and presidential elections.

Something to keep in mind when you hear “sensible” Democrats like Joe Lieberman say things like “I’m afraid we’ve got to think about putting a lot of that off until the economy is out of recession.” If not now, when?

David Kurtz at TPM found this revealing bit from a Politico article on health care :

And this week, he returned to an argument Democratic strategists said shouldn’t be part of the pitch this year — trying to convince Americans they have a “moral obligation” to help people without insurance, a discredited argument from the reform effort under President Bill Clinton.

Yes, if the failure to achieve healthcare reform in 1993 taught us anything, it’s that there’s nothing wrong with letting people die because they’re too poor to go to the doctor. Thanks, Politico!

Comedian 1) Have you ever noticed gay people are like…?

Comedian 2) Have you ever noticed Asian people are like…? “Have you ever noticed black women never date asian men?” Uses this as an excuse to break out an offensive “Yo yo yo…” African-American imitation.

Comedian 3) Started slightly funnier. Best joke : “It’s okay for me to make an abortion joke. I was half-aborted” Descended into “white guy talks about rap” cliches. Would be more offensive if it wasn’t following (2).

Comedian 4) Just what (1) was missing…a British accent. Using too many “funny” voices. Mentions being Persian so he can tell five minutes of “Persians are covered in hair” jokes. And therapy jokes? Really?

Comedian 5) Tired “it’s hard to be a single girl in the big city” jokes and an extended porn story that was sorta funny. Best delivery of the night, but that’s not saying much.

Comedian 6) Joke about blowing a cop to avoid a ticket that drags on forever. A million little jokes that were so groan-worthy they make Laffy Taffy seem like George Carlin in comparison.

This Jake Tapper post on Twitter may be one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen :

The re-tweeting Paula Abdul, the Smurf avatar, the succinct “WORD!” response, the fact that this is from a high-profile White House correspondent…wow.

You know what the healthcare debate could use right now? Profanity.

Seriously. I’m not kidding.

The debate over healthcare has become so poisoned with lies and bitterness, we need something to really shake it up. Something that really grabs attention and is a game changer media-wise. If I were in charge of media strategy for the White House, I’d get Joe Biden on a high profile interview show and when the subject turns to the townhall protests/death panels/etc., I’d have him say that it’s “bullshit”.

Do it on a Monday and the VP’s potty-mouth will be the trivial topic du jour for the entire week. Republicans will spin up the faux outrage machine, reporters will pepper Robert Gibbs about whether or not Obama would repudiate Biden, and news outlets across the country would report the story and its various twists because, like it or not, it would be one of those silly little news stories they can’t help but obsess over.

Sure, there’s downsides. Biden looks like a jackass (again), it would distract from the White House’s wonkish healthcare messaging (that people aren’t really following anyways), but there are two huge upsides.

One, it energizes the base. When Dick Cheney told Patrick Leahy to fuck himself, liberals nearly passed out from all the faux outrage, but at the end of the day Cheney refused to apologize and conservatives respected him all the more for it. With liberal enthusiasm pretty much at a nadir, we could use a galvanizing middle-finger like gesture to feel more empowered (because our majorities in both houses of Congress don’t seem willing to stand up for anything).

Secondly, if Joe Biden calls protester bullshit for what it is, every mention of the story just repeats the association. Death panels, bullshit, pulling the plug on grandma, bullshit, euthanasia, bullshit, socialism, bullshit, Hitler, bullshit. It’s a seed that needs to be planted in the minds of every uninformed person who’s seeing footage of these rabid townhall protests and thinking “If they’re THIS mad, there must be something wrong.”

Ummm…no, it’s just a bunch of bullshit.

A couple of excellent posts from Ezra Klein this week really help filter out the noise that’s been dominating the public conversation. First this post which explains the actual debate that’s happening in D.C.

Here are the things that, broadly speaking, legislators agree about: insurance market reforms, including community rating, guaranteed issue, an end to rescission, an end to discrimination based on preexisting conditions, and an individual mandate. Subsidies for low-income Americans. Delivery system reforms. Health insurance exchanges. An expansion of coverage to about 95 percent of legal residents. Prevention and wellness policies. Retaining and strengthening the employer-based insurance market. Creating some kind of incentive for employers to offer, and keep offering, health benefits. Expanding Medicaid to about 133 percent of poverty.

Here are the things that legislators disagree about, but are discussing, and will probably figure out: whether subsidies should reach 300 percent of poverty or 400 percent. Whether there should be an employer mandate or something milder. Whether medium-size employers should be eligible to enroll in the health insurance exchanges. Whether health reform should cost $1 trillion over 10 years or $1.4 trillion over 10 years. Whether it should be paid for through new taxes on the wealthy or a change to existing tax subsidies in the health-care system.

Here are the things legislators don’t agree about: whether we should have a public option that is open only to the minority of Americans on the exchanges or a co-op option. How to handle abortion. How to handle geographic disparities in insurance costs.
. . .
The Democrats conceded so much up-front that the actual range of debate is strikingly slim. The public option attracts most of the attention, but the reality of the policy, even in the liberal House bill, is that it’s limited to the insurance exchanges and isn’t expected to serve more than 12 million people by 2019.

In part, that’s why the debate has had to move toward fear-mongering and lies: There just aren’t that many scary elements in the bills, because the legislation is oriented toward preserving the existing system and avoiding points of controversy.

This explains what’s so ridiculous about these townhall protests. The various plans that have come out of the House and Senate committees are shockingly centrist. No single-payer, no “socialized” or “government-run” system, simply some no-nonsense, “I can’t believe it’s taken this long to implement” insurance industry reforms and some haggling about cost-cutting measures. Calm down, guys.

Which leads me to this other great post from Ezra. Elaborating on earlier remarks in which he stressed how townhall protesters have an unhealthy view towards our political system (ie. that conservative protesters believe that Democratic healthcare reformers are willing and eager to ensure the deaths of fellow citizens through legistlative loopholes is madness), Ezra laid down a good case against inaction :

[T]here’s no evidence for madness in government health-care systems. Medicare does not have death panels. Medicaid does not promote euthanasia. Dozens of other countries have universal health-care systems, and none of them approaches the health of its citizenry with a tenth the cruelty and capriciousness on exhibit in our system.

Indeed, if any of them made a conscious decision to let 20,000 of their citizens die because the government judged them too poor to deserve health-care insurance and then made a further decisions to force millions of families into bankruptcy because a loved one got sick and cost the state money, that would be an excellent example that nations can indeed lose their minds and do terrible things. But that describes a single year in our system, not in theirs. And we escape judgment because we haven’t made a decision to kill those people or rip through their savings. We have simply made a decision not to stop it from happening.

And unfortunately, that’s where we stand. Despite the fact that serious people are engaged in the actual parameters of the healthcare reform debate (public option, cost, reach of exchanges), the polarization of the debate via the townhall protests has become so heated that there’s a growing portion of the electorate who is vocally supporting the truly despicable status quo.

Behold, the shocking future that awaits us if Obamacare gets passed (h/t):

I don’t want some big-government Sandman standing between me and my Lifeclock.