Some interesting facts about red vs blue states: The Commonwealth Fund report, "Aiming Higher: Results from a State Scorecard on Health System Performance," examined states’ performance across 32 indicators of health care access, quality, outcomes and hospital use. Topping the list were Hawaii, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. Bringing up the rear were the Bush bastions of Kentucky, Louisiana, … Read More
The “Bush-Is-A-Liberal” Meme
Two great back-to-back posts by Glenn Greenwald — here and here — about the current "great rightwing fraud to repudiate George W. Bush". His thesis? That the conservative moment, upon (finally) admitting the failures of the Bush Administration, are now trying to prop up the theme that "Bush is not a real conservative" or — amazingly — that "Bush is … Read More
Reality-Based GOP?
Hardly: Both former mayor Rudy Giuliani and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) suggested they would support using the [waterboarding] technique. Specifically asked about waterboarding, Giuliani said he would allow “every method [interrogators] could think of and I would support them in doing it.” Tancredo later added, “I’m looking for Jack Bauer,” referencing the television character who has used torture techniques such … Read More
A Really Bad Holocaust Comparison
Tom Delay, on the investigations into his criminality: "It doesn’t matter if it’s 6 million Jews or one man getting investigated, it’s the exact same thing." No, Tom. It’s really really not.
John McCain Is Losing It
He used to be a maverick and a straight-talker. Now he’s completely bonkers. In recent days, he’s been touting how safe Baghdad is, even as news reports have highlighted bombings and attacks in the normally-safe green zone. For his pollyannish comments, McCain was fittingly ridiculed. But rather than let it go, he decided to amp it up. At a press … Read More
Who’s Left In The GOP?
Not many: Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged during George W. Bush’s presidency, as attitudes have edged away from some of the conservative values that fueled GOP political victories, a major survey has found. The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found a "dramatic shift" in political party identification since 2002, … Read More
Hoist, Petard — You Know How It Goes
AP: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group. "The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James … Read More
Walter Reed Scandal Grows
The Walter Reed scandal sheds a spotlight on the basic difference between conservatives and progressives. The conservative’s mantra is that government is necessarily bad, and it can’t do anything right. The progressive’s mantra is that government can do good things, if we just permit it to. Of course, when conservatives control the agencies of government, their mantra becomes a self-fulfilling … Read More
Terrorist Supports GOP
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari pled not guilty in a Manhattan federal court last Friday, denying charges that he’s a terrorist financier. But that’s a matter in some dispute, and not just by the prosecutors. According to The Blotter at ABC News.com, the indictment charges that he arranged for $152,000 worth of bank transfers to fund a terror training camp. … Read More
The Pied Piper Problem
Anonymous Liberal has a coined a great term to describe the great problem facing the Republican Party: For last decade and half, the Republican party has pursued an intentional strategy of insulating its base from reality. The goal has been to create a permanent block of loyal Republican voters who will dutifully internalize whatever the party’s leaders tell them. To … Read More
Dobson Wing Of GOP To Form A Third Party?
There are grumblings: It wasn’t so long ago that conservatives believed that George Bush’s presidency would usher in a political realignment that would last for decades. But as the right looks forward to the next election, something close to panic is setting in. Surveying the leading G.O.P. contenders for 2008, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie pronounces “not a one of them … Read More
Tom Delay.com
Tom Delay started a blog. Here’s why: I have created this blog in order to provide Americans with a new meeting place where such opinions and viewpoints might be better shared, discussed and debated; a place where conservative and traditionalist Americans might speak truth to power and to one another. How successful was this viewpoint-sharing project of Tom’s? Well, It … Read More
Conservatism vs. Liberalism — And The Future
This is so good, I’m reprinting (almost) the whole thing. From the Anonymous Liberal: Over at The Corner today, Jonah Goldberg wrote the following: Now, I don’t say any of this because I’m particularly bullish on conservatism’s immediate future. It’s got problems. But they’re not as fundamental as the problems liberalism faces. Conservatism has a problem putting its ideas into … Read More
Mark Foley’s Movie
Former Congressman and congressional page stalker Mark Foley acted in an action picture called Strike Force (which also went by the name The Librarians). RadarOnline has the clip.
Who Supports The Troops? Republicans Or Democrats?
The answer is Democrats. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — a non-partisan veterans’ group — took a look at 324 legislative votes in the last five years which affected American troops and veterans. Legislative proposals included veterans’ benefits, healthcare, and medical research dedicated towards injured soldiers. Based on these votes, IAVA calculated which senators and congressmen had a … Read More