Joan Katherine Shaw: We tend to laugh at the lunacy coming out of the Tea Party movement, the clownish costumes, the misspelled signs, and we scoff at the legislation coming from the Tea Party-Republican House that has a snowball’s chance of ever becoming law, but we should be wary of the distraction – what is slipping into our national discourse by stealth while we laugh?
One thing that’s slipped in is the attitude of otherwise deliberative Republicans changing into tea party jokes. For instance, Right Wing Senator Jon Kyl outright lied on the Senate floor when he declared that over 90% of Planned Parenthood services were for abortion and by implication, taxpayer money going for abortions. He could not have NOT known that only 3% of the group’s work involves counseling on abortion and, even then, no taxpayer dollars are used for the abortion itself.
Walking it back the next day an aide explained that Kyl’s remarks were “not intended to be factual,” at which comment comedian Stephen Colbert explained, “You can’t call him out for being wrong when he never intended to be right.” So outright lying is all right now? Senator Kyl is not to be censured by the Senate for acting like a jackass on the Senate floor? No, on the contrary, he’s applauded by his base, and has had seen the almost continuous visibility by way of the video clip of his performance on the Senate floor declaring what is essentially a lie. He has become a media attraction.
By lying .
…..We have already seen how it sends vengeance seekers out with guns to kill people they don’t approve of. It could, as many people feel, mark the end of the Republican party since it seems to be its seed bed, but it could just as well change the country’s political discourse into a raquet-ball game, bouncing ideas and opinions and facts and threats back and forth furiously in a deep well, accomplishing nothing. It could be the Political NewSpeak — say it loud, say it often, lie a lot.
Let’s not let them get away with it.
See the full magnificent post here
I called Senator Kly’s office that day to complain about that inaccurate statement (LIE) and gave the person the information as listed in this article. His response to me was that they have gone undercover and checked these Planned Parenthood offices around the country and found that they are using federal money for abortions due to rape and incest.
Yeh, right!!! :twisted: :P
So, if they have witnessed this “illegal activity”, then why, as a US Senator, has he not launched an investigation and filed charges? These lies are just too much. They have not an ounce of integrity, and the sad thing is that they are teaching the young people who work for them that the ends justify the means. Do whatever it takes to be right and to win - doesn’t matter if you sell your soul to the devil.
Hem… pardon my ignorance, but doesn’t the law permit the use of federal money in those exact two cases, rape and incest ???
Bravo, Bravo Ms. Shaw. Excellent essay. We as President Obama’s supporters are up against his sinister, intellectual adversaries-Not the Palins and the Trumps in this election. President Obama has ruffled the feathers of Big Money people. And they are using the Palins and the Trumps the Kyls to distract us AND they are winning.
I TOTALLY agree that Palin and Trump are just tools for more powerful and sinister forces. The Kochs, and others. Big Money people.
Where I want to disagree with you: I wouldn’t say “they are winning”. Maybe it’s because I don’t want to entertain that thought. I’m very concerned if I’m honest. But the battle is far from over, and if we want to win, we first have to believe it’s possible.
Hey, how about “they COULD win” ? Or, “we have to stop them” ?
Finally, I would like to point out something else. Barack Obama has powerful enemies not only on the national level but ALSO on the global level. I don’t want us to forget about the global aspect of the equation. Barack Obama is NO ordinary POTUS. Big international corporations are not so happy I think about the impact he is having globally. Can you imagine anyone else (except maybe JFK) delivering speeches that went AS FAR as the Cairo speech or the Prague speech ? Yes, Barack Obama will defend the interests of the USA, but his motivation to work for peace and global justice is VERY profound and it shows, in public AND behind the scenes I’m sure. I’m absolutely convinced that behind the scenes, he’s doing his best not to let Big Oil, Arm dealers, etc., have their way. ( To what extent he can limit their influence and what are the compromises he’s forced to make in the short term, I don’t know… but like Joe Biden has said, Barack Obama has always kept his MORAL COMPASS.)
Barack Obama is trying to change the game, nationally and globally. And he will need a lot of help to succeed.
Lovepolitics, Indeed, he is trying to change the game. It is too bad that so many on the left would call him weak and ineffective. BS! He is actually trying to change the game of politics not only here but in the world. We know how great he is, many do, but the doubters, at some point, will be forced to face up to the fact that they tried to destroy a very special man and president.
There was a story yesterday on one of these silly shows about these right wingers destroying art that they don’t agree with. These are symptoms of a bigger problem.
Theo, as an artist, I get very worried about the “ignorant”, puritanical right. I truly believe they have horrible plans for this country. It feels as if part of this country is trying to return to the past of 50-60 years ago.
Excellent post our Joan Katherine!!!
I agree Eleroy. thank you joan.
Chipsticks, what we also need to be concerned about is the actions of some of these Republican held states who are inacting legislation to change the game on who can vote and what documents you need to vote or register to vote. The republicon party is at it again and now the game is to prevent the re-election of President Obama..
It has been almost fifty years since this country was involved in a nonviolent war for civil rights. If you ask almost anyone what the civil rights movement was all about they will give you a variety of answers. Bus boycotts, lunch counters, all sorts of activities that they remember from the black and white tv news. The most important aim of the civil rights movement was the ability to register to vote and to be able to vote, the rights of citizenship. Everything else was a test case for the Supreme Court - all the rights of citizenship granted by the constitution but not honored by the States. The battle of states’ rights or federal rights goes back to the civil war and the question of just who are We the People? Or who gets to vote for our leadership?
Correct!!! Sonja. Now we are beginning to recognize the monster beneath the surface. The Kyls, the Bachmanns and all the straw lineup are pushed forward as detractors for us just to divert our attention from what’s really going on: Voting/Red Lining. The Hispanic vote is what each Party is courting, and Big Money is trying to block via voting rights. Dirty tricks are serious.(Remember the Al Green sage from S.Carolina: brilliantly played by the Republicans and they took the state, again.) RNC Chairman Steele was played to counter President Obama: two Black males, but Steele “screwed” himself. The Black vote is solidly locked down for our Prez except that joke Herman Cain and “The Rent is too damn High” candidate. They might muddy the water a little for some Blacks. MSM is a detractor for us also with their “journalist” i.e., Maddow, Blitzer, O’Donnell and Matthews. Owners/sponsors tell these people how to behave and what to say because Big Money is paying the bills.
Rev. Al Sharpton got it right. Remember how he went after Glenn Beck’s sponsors-Glenn Beck is leaving FOX because his sponsors are leaving. From the looks of Chipsticks Bloggers, we have enough to make a difference also.
I’m remembering the Montgomery Bus Boycott. We went after Big Money/Bus Companies and not the bus drivers and the system “caved”:. We have to forget those loud mouth pundits because they don’t even recognize they are pawns. We have to re-think who to focus on: SPONSORS of MSM, including FOX and not the journalist/pundits.
graciouslady, You were a part of the Montgomery Bus Boycott? I feel privileged to be on the same page with you.
No, I wish I had been old enough to have been on that monumental page of our history. But my Mom was there and she was such an activist I might as well have been there, we heard so much about it. I think ,vicariously, her 9 daughters were there with her. She gave us such a sense of “get involved” in political activism. To have walked along side Dr. King, whew, I would still be using every opportunity to share my experiences with any and everybody that would listen.
I’ve been thinking of this exact issue for a while now. These guys just lie and lie and the media just takes them seriously w/o a lot of push back.
Well said Joan. I often wonder how/why their lies are so easily accepted. Often I find myself just gasping at the absurdity of it all.
Fabulous article by Joan. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Chipsticks.
Folks, let’s send this article to Rachel, and other pundits if we can. Rachel, despite her faults, is the kind of person who could do a great piece on the exact problem Joan is talking about. As for the other “pundits”, maybe it’s worth a try. MSM as a whole is definitively on the side of the establishement. However, as individuals, some of the “journalists”, “pundits” are not bad people. They are simply living in a bubble, in a corrupted “system” of day-to-day mediocrity. They are not very knowledgeable on policy and on economics, they don’t have any historical perspective. They are not well equipped to see reality beyond the noise. They have to be “guided” towards enlightment !!!!!
Excellent commentary by the lovely Joan. Agree 100%
Thank you for your kind comments, everyone. I only just got the photo of Joe McCarthy up on my own site. It’s a great picture shows his thuggish looks. I’d always thought him as a gangster — and he acted like it, too, in clawing his way up to the Senate, bodies strewn behind him, left and right.
I never saw the hearings but only read about them. They infuriated me at the time because of their witch hunt nature. But the main reason I didn’t watch them, besides not having the time — I was working and had a couple of babies, too — TV was really awful at the time. Some of you may recall it, the poor quality of the images, it was like looking through a skim of water.