MetaFilter posts tagged with politics and Republicans

The Crack-Up Continues

StrikeTheViol — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:55:05 -0800

The conservative movement continues to suffer problems, within the Republican Party, without, and, well...

The Alex Latifi trial was potholed with crazy.

Non Prosequitur — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:45:31 -0800

The Curious Case of Alex Latifi. "We don’t care if Latifi is innocent. Our goal is to put him out of business." Feds knock; a business is lost: all charges dropped years after the company was charged with violating U.S. export law by sending to China classified drawings of an Army Black Hawk helicopter part and falsifying related tests. "It appears that the principal offense committed by the defendant, Alex Latifi, was breathing while being of Middle Eastern extraction.”

Preparing for trial, Latifi’s lawyers were stunned by the first entry in the lead investigator’s official notebook. “It said Latifi was a Democrat and gave $30,000 to a Democratic politician’s charity for abused children.”

Maybe he needed some lobbyists: “The prosecutors said they knew Alex must be guilty of fraud,” Warren says. “How else could he afford to make Cadillac parts for Kia prices?”

Rush: 2012

Ironmouth — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 09:53:11 -0800

Democrat's efforts to paint Rush Limbaugh as GOP leader pay off. Since Rush Limbaugh famously stated that he wanted Obama to fail, Democrats, led by President Obama, have been trying to paint him as the intellectual and spiritual head of the GOP. Eyeing his low 25% approval rating amongst independents, they have hoped to equate the Republicans with Limbaugh. It appears they may have succeeded. When GOP Congressman Phil Gingery was recently forced to retract his criticism of Rush, it added to the perception that the portly talk show host was running the Republicans. But the real coup was yet to come. Michael Steele, the newly-elected head of the Republican National Committee, was quoted Saturday as describing Rush's brand of talk radio as "ugly" and "incendiary." On Sunday, Rush, rising to the bait, appeared at CPAC, the yearly conservative conference, giving a long and rambling speech. On Monday, Rush struck back at Steele on his show, stating that Steele was attacking him "for wanting [Obama] to fail." Steele caved quickly, saying, he was "saying one thing and it came out differently." Republicans such as Bobby Jindal hastened to praise Rush and indicated that they were glad that Steele apologized. By Monday night, left-leaning commentators such as Josh Marshall were giving "props to the Democratic psyops operation that's paying off Michael Steele to get into a gonzo spat with Rush." Will Limbaugh lead the GOP out of the wilderness, or deeper into the hole they've dug for themselves? Seemingly in tune with the wishes of Democratic strategists, Republican bloggers now want Rush for 2012.

Palin, pancakes, and the straight talk express

madamjujujive — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 05:32:30 -0800

Have the wheels come off the straight talk express? At least one sleeping giant woke up today: the NYT finally gives Sarah Palin a thorough vetting and the results aren't pretty. The McCain campaign's aggressive - and many say dishonest - tactics in promoting Palin may have sparked the beginnings of a media backlash. Camp McCain's reaction: We don't care and intend to stay on offense. And about that offense, they will soon have some help: Group With Swift Boat Alumni Readies Ads Attacking Obama. How low will things go? At this week's Values Voters Summit, 'Obama Waffles' with racial stereotypes were all the rage.

The Political Scene

semmi — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 16:32:04 -0800

Party Faithful. Can the Democrats get a foothold on the religious vote?

Sarah Palin as McCain's running-mate

HaloMan — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:52:01 -0800

Fox, the BBC and CNN have all revealed that Republican US presidential candidate John McCain has picked Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate on his 72nd birthday on the eve of the start of Republican National Convention. Despite being wildly popular in Alaska, Palin has recently been involved in an investigation over whether she dismissed a public safety commissioner because he refused to dismiss her former brother-in-law.

What's the difference between Democratic and Republican congressmen? $55,000.

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:48:36 -0800

Want to live it up at the U.S. party conventions and get access to Senators and Congressmen? USA Today has posted the campaign committee price lists:
Democratic Senate and Congress
Republican Senate and Congress

If you've got the dough, you may conveniently request a convention package online from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The National Republican Congressional Committee and the NRSC have other price lists on their sites, but it seems like the DSCC and DCCC sites keep theirs under wraps.

America the Godly

digaman — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:32:10 -0800

One nation under God. The "bold conservative" GOP Congressman Paul Broun from Georgia is intent upon removing a vexing comma from that phrase in the Pledge of Allegiance, which was amended in 1954 when President Eisenhower was moved by a sermon by one Reverend George M. Docherty on the need to defend America from the "militantly atheistic communism that has already enslaved 800 million of the peoples of the earth, and now menaces the rest of the free world."

Prolonging the Battle

digaman — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:54:13 -0800

The hidden factor in Hillary Clinton's rebound: committed Republicans voting in open primaries who want to prolong the messy battle for the Democratic nomination, encouraged by right-wing radio hosts like Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh. Or is Hillary just suddenly more palatable to conservatives than multi-culti Obama?

"Democrats, do you want this primary season to be over, or do you want it to be hilarious?"

jonp72 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:02:15 -0800

Michigan Democrats for Romney is an effort by mischievous Michigan Democrats to take advantage of the uncompetitive January 15th "beauty contest" primary on the Democratic side by encouraging Democratic voters to vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary so that Romney won't drop out of the primary race after making his last stand in Michigan. Similar hijinks by Michigan Republicans in 1972 led to George Wallace's victory in the Democratic presidential primary that year.

Strange Bedfellows

psmealey — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:29:58 -0800

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani for President Back in mid-2001, when Mayor Rudy Giuliani was busy committing adultery, lurching into his divorce and third marriage and rooming with a gay couple he promised to marry as soon as the law allowed, who among us would have imagined that one day he would be endorsed for president by Pat Robertson? Truly, Sept. 11 changed everything. Odd though this may be, it raises the question of what an endorsement actually means.

Bill Maher: The Decider

McLir — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 14:28:16 -0800

"Bill Maher: The Decider" [Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, YouTube]. Maher at the top of his game.

Republican girls gone wild

madamjujujive — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 11:27:43 -0800

Described as "the View meets the Daily Show and takes a right turn," The America Show, Episode 1 and Episode 2 are pilots that are being floated for possible TV broadcast. Weigh in on their potential. The driving force behind the show is conservative comic Julia Gorin, who also recently launched Political Mavens as "a celebrity-studded conservative answer to Arianna's Huffington Post."

Still The One

jonp72 — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 08:18:02 -0800

The Democrats' Sonny Bono? When George Bush used the 1970s Orleans hit, Still the One, as a campaign song in 2004, John Hall issued Bush a cease and desist order for using his song without permission. A founder of the antinuclear group, Musicians United for Safe Energy (best known for the 1979 concert film, No Nukes), Hall decided to run for Congress in upstate New York, winning upset victories this year in both the Democratic primary and the general election against GOP incumbent, Sue Kelly. Before his Congressional victory, Editor & Publisher posted From Soundchecks to Soundbites, an interesting discussion with Hall about music journalism vs. political journalism.

We’ve never been stay the course

homunculus — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:40:07 -0800

"Stay the Course," R.I.P. (1885-2006).

Breaking news: Tom DeLay drops out of House race

teferi — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 19:50:16 -0800

CNN confirms that Tom DeLay, the scandal-embroiled Republican Congressman from Texas and former Republican House Majority Leader, has dropped out of the race for the 22nd District House seat.

Well, it's an unusual campaign ad...

huskerdont — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 21:33:50 -0800

Vernon Robinson is a Republican candidate for Congress in North Carolina's 13th District. This is his campaign ad. (Links to 2MB Quicktime movie). Both bitterly racist and homophobic, it's straight out of, err... The Twilight Zone. (Via WFMU)

E-shredding the Plame E-vidence

digaman — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 14:28:57 -0800

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald says emails relevant to the Valerie Plame leak investigation have gone missing from the White House. "In an adundance of caution," Fitzgerald wrote [PDF] to "Scooter" Libby's lawyers on January 23, "we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system." Might this help explain why Alberto Gonzales -- now the Attorney General, and lately so busy mustering arguments to assert that Bush's NSA domestic-spying program is "legal" -- waited 12 hours before instructing White House staff to preserve documents relevant to the leak investigation after telling Andrew Card about it? Shades of the late, great yoga instructor, Rose Mary Woods. [More on Plame here.]

Be in the "Republican Values" TV Show Featuring President Bush, and the Wit & Wisdom of Sean Hannity

rodney stewart — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 16:00:37 -0800

Be in the "Republican Values" TV Show Featuring President Bush, and the Wit & Wisdom of Sean Hannity Coming soon to Fox and CNBC. (possibly a hoax.)

AIP reports "unprecendented" republican bullying

about_time — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:06:43 -0800

A news release by the american institute of physics details the "unprecedented" bullying by republican senators of scientists studying climate change. The committee's letter asks for private and public sources of Mann's research funding, location of his data, computer codes, and his response to critical reviews of his work, including "Did you calculate the R2 statistic for the temperature reconstruction, particularly for the 15th Century proxy record calculations and what were the results?" The House web site has a collection of related materials and news articles.

Coin Scandal Rocks Ohio GOP

madamjujujive — Tue, 31 May 2005 23:15:56 -0800

Invest $50 million of a workers comp trust fund in rare coins and collectibles. Lose some of the coins in the mail. Havoc ensues. Prominent Ohio Republican fundraiser and Bush-Cheney 'pioneer' Thomas Noe is under state scrutiny for $10-12 million in missing funds and subject of a federal probe for potential illegal Bush campaign contributions. Oh, and did I mention his wife Bernadette was chair of the Lucas County Board of Elections during the 2004 election? Suddenly the once-popular donor finds himself a political pariah as heads begin to roll - could this be the tip of an iceberg that will unravel the red state infrastructure? Follow the Toledo Blade's stellar investigative journalism as this story unfolds. Maybe the national media can watch and learn.

In God We Trust

blacklite — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 21:03:37 -0800

"In the Name of Politics" (NYT) Rev. John C. Danforth, the outgoing US ambassador to the UN, Republican Senator for 18 years, native Missouran and Episcopal minister worries that the Republican Party is turning very literally theocratic. In this short editorial he states "the only explanation ... is the extension of religious doctrine into statutory law."
(Just as a side note, we're taking applications.)

Science

semmi — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 11:00:47 -0800

Recent neuroscience research suggests that Democrats and Republicans are not nearly as far apart as they seem (NYT). Will an awareness that we are conning ourselves to feel alienated from each other help to close the political gap? Or, are we conned by science and the media?

CNN's

Postroad — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 16:39:19 -0800

CNN's "Undecided" Voter Turns Out To Be A GOP Operative CNN gets duped by Edward Martos. They thought he was an "undecided" voter, but he turned out to be a GOP operative.

cessante causa cessat et effectus

four panels — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 12:22:06 -0800

The summer of Republican discontent. The sudden decline and eventual fall of the GOP.