The "Intellectual Violence" of Repug Attacks

Yes, this was an election unlike any other, and not just because it resulted in the first African-American president of the United States.

This election marked the moment when the incumbent political party cut its last tether to reality, abandoned all pretense of interest in facts much less truth and focused on garnering the votes of people who question the existence of gravity.

Since their thumpin' last week, the far-right has pushed the crazy to eleven and snapped the knob clean off -- an opening salvo of twisted hackery portending an insane four-to-eight years of attacks on the Obama administration. If the last seven days have been any indication, the far-right is shaping up to make the 1990s seem quaint -- even erudite by comparison. That which used to be your basic, off-the-shelf intellectual dishonesty has grown into, as Digby pointed out recently, full-on intellectual violence.

Intellectual violence. While not a new term, it perfectly defines what we're seeing now: accusations and smears that so severely confound logic they literally attack -- violate -- reality and the human intellect. It's like a berzerker dervish of argumentative elbows and fists indiscriminately flailing around, thwacking anything in its orbit, so much so that constructing a counterpoint is literally painful, "Why the hell am I trying to debunk this?! Ow! My head. Aw hell, I need a drink."

(More after the jump.)
In 2004 we learned that shaking our heads at such insanity and assuming people competent enough to vote would know better was not the best response. But the Swift Boat Liars were a Harvard debate team compared to the Psychopaths of 2008.

But that's precisely what makes these arguments so violent. They literally crush logical reality, making it almost impossible to ignore.

In a perfect world, we probably shouldn't react or to take these things too seriously, and yet we'd be making a huge mistake to ignore them altogether -- or to underestimate their efficacy. After all, there's Drudge who somehow remains a bridge between the far-right's intellectual violence and the establishment press. As we've learned throughout the last ten years, it only takes some persistent badgering and a series of red "SHOCK!" headlines for the crazy to travel by osmosis into the mainstream.

So we're in for many more years of insanity from the far-right. They're not dead. They're not as irrelevant as they deserve to be. And they certainly don't suffer from writer's block when it comes to outlandish and illogical attacks and smears.

Put it this way, if President-elect Obama so much as takes a long weekend off this August, you can bet that the far-right will crap their cages about Obama being lazy and shiftless.

This year, with a preternaturally gifted candidate, a flawless campaign and a convergence of anti-republican circumstances, Democrats managed to prevail against even that nuclear holocaust of intellectual violence, Sarah Palin.

But make no mistake, this was just the opening salvo of a constant, non-stop, soul-draining, brain-broiling barrage of reality-defying intellectual violence from the repugs.

Don't despair, but don't underestimate the power of insane up-is-downism. Don't get caught flat-footed by intellectual violence the same way Democrats in 1968 were caught flat-footed by Nixon's Southern Strategy.

Read the whole thing.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

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Cry Me a River, Ya Bastards

Representative Roy Blunt (R-Misery) protests heavy-handed Democratic tactics

When did the he-men of the GOP become such bitch-ass, whiny babies?

House Republicans are fuming over Democrats' decision to hold the next vote on the State Children's Health Insurance Program on Thursday -- when many Republicans will be in California as President Bush tours areas hit by wildfires.

"Five to seven members are going, all of whom would be 'no' votes, and [Democrats] know it," House Republican Whip Roy Blunt told CNN. "This is clearly designed to minimize the Republican opposition to this bill.

Yet, once again, it seems that leading GOPers are...umm...lying.

But Democratic House aides defended the scheduling of Thursday's vote. Stacey Bernards, spokesperson for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, told CNN Democrats are affected by the fires too.

"The fires aren't partisan," she said. "We are very concerned for the victims of the fires but tomorrow's vote outcome will not be affected by Republicans and Democrats who will not be there."

What, Democrats in California? Shut up! Okay, to be completely fair, it is possible that a few members of the Republic Party™ may have had their toes stepped on since being trounced upon in November '06. I wonder where the Democrats might have learned such unfair tactics? Hmmm. Sucks the be marginalized, eh?

...there ain't no more...

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Oxymoron Meets Moron

Just don't expect him to actually answer

Far from a "macaca" moment, but still indicative that the GOP frontrunners for the presidential nom are nothing but a passel of buzzword chanting bastards. Compassionate conservatism has always been known to be a bumper sticker platitude to members of the Reality-Based Community, but naturally the The Gullible Third™ eat this offal like candy.

During an October 7 campaign stop in New Hampshire, Romney was asked a perfectly nuanced question regarding the validity of medical marijuana in treating the worst side effects of terminal illnesses.

Here is a longer piece of video than has been currently making the rounds, with better audio.

When asked "will you arrest me and my doctors if I get medical marijuana?" of course the biatch punts, and turns his back on a terminally-ill man in a wheelchair. "I'm not in favor of medical marijuana," Mitt4Brains™ responds. He's not only a douchebag, but he plays one on tv! This is so indicative of GOPer rhetoric, in this campaign and campaigns past: 1 mile wide and 1 inch deep.

Do the GOPer contenders really want to jail doctors and patients for using medical marijuana? Doubtfully, just in the way they don't actually wish to jail doctors who perform abortions nor the patients who undergo them. It's simply more red meat for Red State [of Mind]™ rednecks. Even the Gullible Third™ deserve better...they just don't want any better.

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Because the Chicken Doesn't Vote for Colonel Sanders

Though it always seems to be a subject of contention (officers seem to trend pro-GOP, while enlisted members trend Democratic), the conventional wisdom seems to hold that the military is overwhelmingly Republican (a CW that wingnuts love to toss out).

But toss in a few...umm...errors in strategic judgment such as the ongoing idiocy of the war in Iraq, the resurgence of the Taliban in Afghanistan, poor treatment of wounded at Walter Reed, etc., and an interesting trend begins to develop.

So far this year and in the 2004 election, about 40 percent of contributions from donors identifiable as military members has gone to Democrats, compared to about one fourth in the 2000 and 2002 cycles, the center's study said. Service members gave about $1.8 million in the 2004 cycle and about $330,000 this year, the study said.

And who is the biggest recipient of the new military largesse? Why, none other than the Democrats own Senator Barack Obama.

Democrat Barack Obama, who is calling for a troop withdrawal to start immediately, has received the most of any presidential candidate from uniformed service members -- about $27,000.

While on the dark side:

Ron Paul, the only Republican candidate who opposes the war, has brought in at least $19,250 -- more than Vietnam War hero John McCain, who supports the war and has raised $18,600 from military personnel.

I have a number of friends who are veterans and to a person they do not and will not be supporting the GOP any time soon. And who can blame them.

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"He Was a Victim of Circumstance, in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time"

Chrismakwanzukkah™ may have come early (no pun intended) for those with hopes of picking up more Democratic seats in the 111th Congress, for it seems that GOP Senator Larry Craig may not resign after all.

"It's not such a foregone conclusion anymore, that the only thing he could do was resign," said Sidney Smith, Craig's spokesman in Idaho's capital.

"We're still preparing as if Senator Craig will resign Sept. 30, but the outcome of the legal case in Minnesota and the ethics investigation will have an impact on whether we're able to stay in the fight - and stay in the Senate."

It does not appear that the Craig camp meant to come out (no pun intended) publicly with these plans so early, but with all things with this bit of scandal, Craig seems to have misjudged who was on the other end of his machinations.

While Craig publicly announced his resignation at a news conference in Idaho on Saturday, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reported that privately he was sending out a very different message.

In fact, just minutes before that press conference, he mistakenly called a wrong number and left a recorded message obtained by the newspaper Roll Call and confirmed by CBS News to be the voice of the senator.

"I'm willing to fight that. I've got quality people out there fighting in my defense and that this thing could take a new turn," he said in a call apparently intended for his lawyer.

This silly drama all started when Craig mistook who was on the other side of a public toilet's partition, and it lives on because he cannot dial a bloody phone number properly.

But, in all fairness to Craig, I hope he wins this fight, because after all he has not been found guilty of an sort of improper conduct in regards to his serving in the Senate, and truly he has only pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, a plea he now regrets and recants. So, why not fight?

In fact, Senator Craig, I ask you please fight! Fight for and retain your Senate seat. Run for the nomination of your party in 2008 in Idaho. Rather than allow your party to abandon and throw you under the bus (then back up and run you down with said bus), let the voters of Idaho decide your fate. And eventually, make room for the new Democratic senator from Idaho, To Be Determined!

Crossposted at Welcome to the Revolution

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