Drudge Retort: Doc_Sarvis's blog

Will: GOP Losing Security Advantage

Doc_Sarvis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:54:12 -0500

George Will: Through 11 presidential elections, beginning with the Democrats' nomination of George McGovern in 1972, Republicans have enjoyed a presumption of superiority regarding national security. This year, however, events and their rhetoric are dissipating their advantage. ... Few things so embitter a nation as squandered valor; hence Americans, with much valor spent there, want Iraq to master its fissures. But with America in the second decade of its longest war, the probable Republican nominee is promising to extend it indefinitely.

NeoCons' BIG Iran Lie

Doc_Sarvis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:50:43 -0500

The right-wing hawks who thought Iraq would be a cakewalk think it'd be easy to attack Iran. Real soldiers say no.

GOP Fiction-Based "Obama" Goes Absurd

Doc_Sarvis — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:15:15 -0500

Even as commentators start to note the GOP effort to create a fictional Barack Obama - as Bill Mahrer puts it, "His name is Barack X. And he's an Islamo-socialist revolutionary who is coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries, and taking his cues from Europe, or worse yet, Saul Alinsky!" - it looks like Republicans have decided to double down on the stupid. That is, they have strayed from plausible lies (lies that, to the uninformed, could feel true) to absurd ones.

Pol: AIDS Came From Man-Monkey Sex

doc_sarvis — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:18:07 -0500

A Republican state senator from Tennessee claimed in a radio interview that AIDS originated from "one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men." State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) authored a bill requiring only sexuality involving "natural human reproduction" to be addressed in the state's K-8 public-school classrooms. His AIDS claim rates "pants on fire" false from PolitiFact Tennessee.

Bernie Goldberg Unloads on Conservative Bigotry

Doc_Sarvis — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:28:24 -0500

"There's something that needs to be said, no matter how uncomfortable it makes some people listening to us," says Fox commentator and former CBS newman Bernie Goldberg, the liberal-turned-conservative who (at least up to now) has long been a rightwing fave. "There is a strain of bigotry -- and that's the word I want to use -- running through conservative America."

Expert: Riighties "Chicken" and "Stupid"

Doc_Sarvis — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:17:06 -0500

"The enormity of their stupidity is just overwhelming."

Walsh: 98% of Catholics Use Contraception

Doc_Sarvis — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:15:33 -0500

Joan Walsh: The Obama administration is facing a political crisis for making a common-sense decision: acting on the Institute of Medicine's recommendation that health insurance plans cover contraceptive services. ... Since 98 percent of Catholics practice forms of contraception forbidden by the church at some point in their lives ... I assumed many of them would speak out in favor of the new regulations. How could they expect the president to follow church teachings if they did not? I was wrong.

Jesus v. GOP

Doc_Sarvis — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:03:45 -0500

There has never been a more loudly Christian group of presidential candidates than this primary season's GOP contenders.

The only GOP candidate who has not openly pursued this strategy is the front-runner, Mitt Romney. Romney has avoided the subject because as a Mormon, his own Christian credentials are suspect. But as the ultimate political panderer and opportunist, he would play the Christian card if he could...[and] has tried to paint Obama as an alien Other....

But there's just one little problem.

Jesus would have been appalled by the whole pack of them.

Dionne: Citizens United is a Disaster

Doc_Sarvis — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:18:37 -0500

E.J. Dionne, Jr.: We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and it doesn't work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy. Citizens United will go down as one of the most naive decisions ever rendered by the court. But ascribing an outrageous decision to naivete is the most sympathetic way of looking at what the court did. A more troubling interpretation is that a conservative majority knew exactly what it was doing as it set out to remake our political system to strengthen the hand of corporations and the wealthy. In fact, this decision should be seen as part of a larger initiative by moneyed conservatives to rig the electoral system against their opponents.

GOP Pol Vets: GOP Pandering to Ignoramuses

Doc_Sarvis — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:10:35 -0500

David Frum of "Axis of Evil" notoriety and Mike Lofgren, longtime GOP congressional staffer, candidly take their party and its leadership to task for pandering to the ignoramuses comprising The Base.

Eastwood: 'It's Halftime in America'

Doc_Sarvis — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:39:32 -0500

Some Republicans are complaining that a two-minute Chrysler Super Bowl ad narrated by Clint Eastwood was a political ad for President Barack Obama's re-election, a claim he denies. "It's halftime in America too," Eastwood says in the ad. "Seems that we've lost our heart at times. The fog, the division, the discord and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead. But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right and acted as one. Because that's what we do. We find a way through tough times, and if we can't find a way, then we'll make one." The actor, a former Republican mayor of Carmel, Calif., is not an Obama supporter and has not made an endorsement this year.

Konczal: The Privatization Trap

Doc_Sarvis — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:19:22 -0500

Mike Konczal: Privatizing the government is one of the most active projects of the early 21st century. ... Rather than solving problems with government, privatization often amplifies those issues to new extremes. Instead of unleashing market innovation, it often introduces new parasitic partners into the decision-making process. Instead of providing a check on the power of the government, it allows the state to circumvent constitutional and democratic accountability measures by merging with the private sector.

Author: Inside Far-Right Hate

doc_sarvis — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:30:03 -0500

Right-wing rhetoric seems to have reached new heights of xenophobia. But is that true? Arthur Goldwag, author of the new book The New Hate: A History of Fear and Loathing on the Populist Right, argues that the racist and conspiracist approach of today's far-right pundits is largely the same as it was 50 years ago. Their language and theories are taken (sometimes verbatim) from right-wing populist vitriol at early times in American and European history, dealing in tropes well-worn by pre-WWII American Nazis, Joe McCarthy and fanatical anti-Catholic and anti-Masonic Protestant preachers of the 19th century.

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying

Doc_Sarvis — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:30:07 -0500

Bonnie Ware, an Australian nurse who provides palliative care for dying patients, has recorded their most common regrets. One of the top ones is "I wish I hadn't worked so hard." What would your biggest regret be if this was your last day of life?

Bunch: 5 Myths About Reagan

Doc_Sarvis — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:35:20 -0500

Will Bunch: On Sunday, America celebrates the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan, whose presidency is a touchstone for the modern conservative movement. In 2011, it is virtually impossible for a major Republican politician to succeed without citing Reagan as a role model. But much of what today's voters think they know about the 40th president is more myth than reality, misconceptions resulting from the passage of time or from calculated attempts to rebuild or remake Reagan's legacy. So, what are we getting wrong about the Gipper?