The Republican National Convention, to paraphrase Jon Stewart of “The Daily Show,” put on a display of the anger of the enfranchised. They control all three branches of government, they’ve created the first presidential dynasty in more than a century, they got us into a war on the basis of spite, and they’re not going to take it anymore! It’s a… return to article
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Reader Comments (23)Page 1 of 1 pagesI enjoyed this article. Watching the twins briefly that evening (due to low nausea threshhold), they were the female Beevis and Butthead. The angst and angry adolescent mentality of the republican party (who consider themselves the grownups) showed clearly at the RNC.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 16, 2004 at 5:56 PM The outright *hate* we saw during the RNC upset me so much that I couldn’t stand to watch it for more than a minute or two. How can decent Republicans stand watching what has happened to their party?
Posted by Billie Doux on Sep 16, 2004 at 6:27 PM I agree. Note that various bloggers at JohnKerry.com have suggested that we shouldn’t refer to these party leaders as “Republicans” because it misrepresents real Republicans. They pointed out that Eisenhower was a Republican. Nixon favored affirmative action. The party has now been taken over by demagogues and theocrats.
Posted by Jerry Wechsler on Sep 16, 2004 at 6:57 PM I am no fan of the RNC. But i am even less of a fan of people who shamelessly try to stop free speech by interrupting speeches and attempting to intimidate people from going to events such as the RNC (or DNC, for that matter).
Better the protesters get their own forums rather than attempting to disturb the forums for others. . . But then again, i am a very big proponent of the free marketplace of ideas, an idea that appears to be anathema to the left (and to a lessor degree, the right as well).
Posted by iAmNoFan on Sep 16, 2004 at 7:02 PM def: affirmative action (AA) - an idea whose time has come and gone.
AA today is merely a divisive program that serves no real purpose in society. It was a good idea at one time, but discrimination (against Negroes) has long since been abolished*. Negroes born after 1960 have not experienced the sting of discrimination (bur those born in the decades before may very well have, of course).
*Disclaimer - a small amount of discrimination still exists, and some of it is directed against Negroes.
Posted by iAmNoFan on Sep 16, 2004 at 7:08 PM I believe the Republican party “takeover” has been successful b/c their followers support their brand of republicanism. More of a “masks off” than a takeover. I’m in small town TN and the anger, bigotry, racism, ignorance here has always gravitated to the republican party, or at least in the last 50 years. Nixon also used racial slurs, was a liar, crook and thief with his own illegal little wars; any belief he held in AF was simply politicking votes.
The Republican party has merely removed the pretense. What we see today, is the real Republican party.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 16, 2004 at 7:09 PM “...they were the female Beevis and Butthead”
Elita, what do you have against Beavis & Butthead? What did they ever do to you that you would insult them like this? They’re much cooler than the Bush Bimbos!
Posted by g-love on Sep 16, 2004 at 8:14 PM My apologies to Beevis and Butthead fans. Even at my age, B&B are more likeable than the failed comic standup team known as the Bush twins.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 16, 2004 at 8:20 PM In response to elita rr, I’m also in a small town in TN, and can attest to what you said. Its shocking sometimes to see how seemingly normal (if redneck) people just flock to the Republicans and at the same time claim to be the truest patriots of all.
And as to iamnofan, nevermind what planet you’re from, what era? To say something like ” Negroes born after 1960 have not experienced the sting of discrimination” is one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever heard. Racism is as prevalent today as it was in the eighteenth century, its just masked more because most racists know, if they call a black guy a nigger to his face, said black guy will not sit back and mutter, “Oh yessuh, yessuh.” And who says ‘negro’ anymore anyway?
Posted by Josh on Sep 16, 2004 at 11:40 PM The overt discrimination stereotyped by signs in the southern USA restricting certain facilities to “whites only” may be gone, but affirmative action is still needed because of the residual effects of generations of deprivation, especially in education. Both in skills-training and in liberal arts and cultural acclimatization blacks, on average, are at a disadvantage.
The useful point made by intelligent conservatives is, in my opinion, that nothing comes to us totally “free” and thus if an African American is given a job or granted University entry s/he may wonder, ‘am I truly qualified or have I just been given charity?’ This point prompts a conscientious reassessment of affirmative action programs, in my opinion.
The point is, AA need not be considered like an on-off switch, but rather as a dimmer-switch: Is it time to attenuate ? Perhaps. As with all assimilation activities—from riding a bike with training wheels to the transition from one US president to the next—there is a period of maximum support and a period of diminishing support, until the learner is more or less fully assimilated and stands on his/her own entirely.
This seems pretty obvious to me, and equally obvious is that with respect to assimilation of African Americans into our society, we have made progress, but are not finished yet with this transition.
By the way, the same goes in varying degrees for Native Americans, Asians, Spanish-speakers, Middle Eastern immigrant people and of course women.
Posted by Jerry Wechsler on Sep 17, 2004 at 10:21 AM Hmmm….we should end eventually the “afamilyfirmative action” as men like Bush may wonder “am I truly qualified” or am I just riding on my family’s influence?
Posted by elita rr on Sep 17, 2004 at 12:24 PM I can see that there is too much emotion here to really discuss issues (racism is as prevalent (bad?) as when slavery was legal?!?). I should have known better. If it matters, i am neighbours wth elita rr, practically (a medium size city in AL).
Hate is hate, whether spewed by Reps or Dems. I have no great love for either side, and no room for hate for anyone.
Posted by iAmNoFan on Sep 17, 2004 at 3:40 PM As usual, when someone disagrees, points out the obvious repulsive use of terms such as “Negro” the comeback is to accuse others of being “too emotional” and feign superiority of “I should have known better” (with the implied b/c I’m smarter than anyone else). And anything not agreeable to the ego of said intellect as “spewing hate” while same ego is of course without hate for anyone. I’m really impatient these days with pseudo-openminded white folks.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 17, 2004 at 4:01 PM Negro is repulsive? My birth certificate (1958, Alabama) says i am a Negro - am i repulsive to you?
Do you prefer colored? Not me, all people are colored.
How about black? I am not black, more a light chocolate color really.
Afro-American? Too divisive for my personal tastes (i am just plain old American!).
Negro is what i was born and what i remain. And quite proud of it, thank you very much. I heppen also to be hate free - and would recommend it to all. :)
PS - what does you birth certificate say?
Posted by iAmNoFan on Sep 17, 2004 at 6:14 PM My b.c. says nothing but my name, date, and place of birth. Due likely to the fact my mother was Black-Latina and father white (who were unmarried, and before 1958), back in the days when things were done this way I suppose, or maybe my State does it that way. I don’t like Negro b/c it reminds me of the “nigra” drawl I heard as a child.
Colored and African-American sound weak. I prefer Black.
I’m not “hate free” as I hate corruption, liars, despotism, nepotism, that sort of thing, and would recommend it.
Posted by elita rr on Sep 17, 2004 at 6:38 PM Not to mention the ‘performance’ by Der Gropenator. I think it frightened me even more to see Ah-nuld laud the Nixon presidency as one the great eras in American history.
Huhn???
Plus his complete fabrication of witnessing Russian tanks on the streets of Austria. The Russians were gone before he was born.
Posted by canuckistani on Sep 17, 2004 at 6:46 PM Something that keeps intruding on all this conversation and preoccupation: given the chicanery of the last presidential election, and its appalling consequences, I keep wondering why you believe there will be an honest election in November. Electronic voting? With no chance of verification? The Bushies are like the stiff prick with no conscience: they want this so badly that they will stop at just about nothing to get it. I have every confidence that Duh will indeed be crowned, Emperor of all He surveys, in November.
Canuckistani Too
Posted by Jenny Thomas on Sep 18, 2004 at 11:30 AM Spankin’ the Monkey
It’s been a little more than a week since the opulent masturbatory orgy that was the Recorprecon National Convention ended and yet the hangover refuses to go away. Maybe the Kool-Aid was spiked, I don‘t know for sure what it was but something wasn’t right, maybe it was Ecstasy. The crowd swelled to near fanatical fervor by means of petulant self-gratifying slogans and sound bites provided by the finest P.R. spinners the “B” team and their seemingly endless slush fund could buy. The Bushshites rocked the house with the stirring strains of “Taking Care of Business” and the assembled cult of Pimps, Panderers, Prostitutes and the requisite assorted groupies swayed together in perfect time, each sharing a wink and a nod knowing that it was true.Meanwhile out on the street protestors numbering in the tens of thousands, (and some say many more) assembled to voice their opposition to a wide range of Bush policies, all the while being kept safely away from the frenzied mob at Madison Square Garden for their own protection. Who knew what bizarre rituals or strange rights of passage might be going down, deep in the dark inner sanctum of R.N.C. central? Some said there was a heavily muscled High Priest of Austrian decent there, perhaps to conduct ritual sacrifices. No one can really be sure, although it is rumored that he did say something about looking for “girly men” or some such weirdness. Who really knows what might go on beyond the prying eyes of the uninvited and uninitiated at one of these High Octane R.N.C. Party Line Raves?
We can however rest assured that palms were greased, donors were stroked, alliances were made and deals were struck in that cesspool of excess, greed and corruption, where insanity bred of power, privilege and contempt becomes a drug. Make no mistake about it though, amateurs aren’t working this crowd, pushers like Dick Cheney and Carl Rove have been working this mob for years, toss ‘em a bone once in a while and they’re hooked. And sadly enough some stay hooked for life. While this may sound dire and beyond redemption, there is hope, we can act preemptively, we can take the initiative and do an intervention. Then perhaps these poor souls may be saved from the G.O.P. monkey on their collective backs.
So as the mob swayed in unison and the protesters were protected, N.Y.C was locked down under a heightened terror alert color Orange. We were all assured the we were safer than ever because of George’s war on terror. We were all told that the economy was stronger than ever despite deficit spending in the billions and the millions of unemployed. That Operation Iraqi Liberation ( O-I-L ) was going well, despite the fact nearly 1000 U.S solders and an untold number of innocent Iraqi civilians have died. Even as the mob swayed, more died. The short list of close Bush-Cheney business associates keep showing up in the news, you know, Ken who? Or how about, there are no ties between myself and Halliburton.. Heck no we haven’t gouged on the price of fuel or charged for troop meals that were never served, that’s what you call honor among thieves.
However the viable alternative is far from proving to me that there’s much of a difference between Demacons and Recorpracons. The Dems have been in lock step with Bush’s agenda and have blindly rubber stamped his misbegotten policy blunders, just more of the same ol’ Skull and Bones. So while voting from the heart may mean to you going with a third party (Nader) now is not the time. We must break the growing trend of G.O.P dominance in national policy, so vote with your head, stop the madness, vote for Kerry and maybe in the ensuing four years changes can be made. If not changes at least stem the flow. Your Grandchildren are beholden
Posted by Keith Hupp on Sep 18, 2004 at 9:26 PM A wise man once said “Any fool can get on a Tiger, but it takes a wise man to know how to dismount”- I see no sign of that knowledge in our present administration. All of our “Hawks” have shirked or lied about past service- Cheney waa deferred 5 times during Vietnam-his “contribution” to Vietnam was teaching business administration in Springfield, Missouri. Bush was flying paper airplanes in a postal unit in Alabama.
Posted by Jack Petitte on Sep 21, 2004 at 8:40 AM It saddens me that the political climate in the country has become so polarized, so divided, that it is literally tearing families and lifelong friends apart. I remember back in the day, not so very long ago, where you could be a different political party affiliation from your family, neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc. Debate could be engaged in, and, though it may become heated at times, when it was over the family, friendship, work relationship, etc..was intact and strong. Now, with the Re-pug-lican mentality of “You’re either with us or YOU’RE WRONG!!”, those days are seemingly as far removed as black-and-white TV and stores that stay closed on Sunday. That is very sad to me; THAT will be the Bushie’s legacy.
Posted by riki on Sep 21, 2004 at 6:59 PM riki - i agree with your sentiments, but believe the problem is intrinsically two sided. Both the left and the right are behaving unusually nasty. Undoubtedly, this stems more than a little bit from the close election in 2000 (who won is really of no consequence - either way it would have left sore losers on one side or the other, due to its closeness). Of course, the fact that most people are only capable of thinking in black and white is also a contributing factor, but this is nothing particularly new.
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