Republican No More

Patiently Waiting....

2006-08-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

I have known for years now that I could no longer support the Republican party as long as they were acting like hypocrites--the out of control spending, the infringement on personal liberties, the total break down of our international persona, etc--and now I'm watching the Senate race in Tennessee with bated breath. The Republican candidate is less of a typical conservative in Tennessee than the Democratic candidate (I'm not thrilled with some of Ford's stances, but I'm working on it) and perhaps, if the stars align correctly, the voters in this state will use their brains instead of their televisions to vote.

For the first time in YEARS (the Fred Thompson campaign, to be exact), I am actually EXCITED about a candidate and that is refreshing, albeit rather surreal since he's a Memphis Democrat.

Word Play

2006-06-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

I cannot help but think, in my own little loaded word-obssessed mind where I often sit back and ponder discussions such as these, that a huge part of the problem in this debate is one of the phrases that keeps coming into play:

Cut and Run

The person that threw that phrase out when the idea of withdrawal came out essentially made the challenge to the rest of the boys on the playground and called them sissies if they decided to wuss out. And in this day and age of blog-a-minute, I've-got-a-schtick (no, that's not code), here-let-me-scream-at-you political debate, it's not good to be the wuss. Or to be associated with a wussy country or a policy, so before the logic can be processed or anything even resembling reasonable discussion can applied, folks are fighting back and forth on blogs and forums and as a result, we (not at OT, but the general "we" of the cyberworld...I've been absent from here, so examples are not intended to be OT-specific in the least)end up with:

REP; You callin' America a bunch of cowards?

DEM: No, I'm saying that Bush is an idiot.

REP: The hell you are. You're saying we should just let them win and admit we're sissies and can have our asses kicked? Kerry and the liberals just want us to roll over.

DEM: You're a dumbass? I didn't say that. I said that your president is a baby killer and an idiot and our Senate is filled with people who....

REP: Baby killer--you want to talk about baby killers? You think it's okay to let people have abortions, but you don't want us to free the Iraqi people and let them have a democracy like we do? Don't you like democracy. What are you? A communist?

DEM: I'm a patriot and a true American who will stand up and scream that they are right no matter what and refuse to even listen to any discussions that go against his or her own political stance because that's what patriots do.

REP: I'll show you patriotism...I've got six purple hearts. No way in hell we should leave Iraq. You don't anything about what a true soldier feels.

DEM: You just like to play with guns, so you'll never understand. If you think Iraq is so worth fighting for, why don't we enlist your adult daugthers to go over there and fight even though they have absolutely nothing to do with any of the decisions that you make or your policies? How would you like that?

REP: Why don't you just move to France or Canada?

DEM: At least we'd have decent health care.

REP: Yeah, and Michael Moore would make a movie about you then.

DEM: I'd rather have Michael Moore's movie than Ann Coulter's book.

REP: Well, Ann Coulter or Janine Turner look a hell of a lot better in a dress than Janeane Garofalo or Barbra Streisand.

DEM: Ann Coulter is a man in drag....send her to Iraq.

REP: If she was there, she'd do a better job reporting than that g.d. liberal MSM who all hate America and are trying to support the terrorists.

DEM: If she was there, the terrorists would surrender immediately...but there aren't any terrorists in Iraq. We're fighting in a civil war of our own making and we're the only enemey. Can't you see that? If we leave, they'll sort it out on their own just to prove they are stronger than we are because everyone in the world hate the United States, except Tony Blair and the government of Namibia.

REP: Civil war? Eff that. You know, if we'd have just nuked about half the damn country in the first place, we wouldn't be worried about this crap. Of course everyone hates America--until they want our money or our jobs. They're just jealous of us because we can whip their ases and they know it. They want to be just like us because we're the best.country.ever.

DEM: I've got dozens of pages of statistics to prove that America is not the best place to live. Here, let me show you all of the reasons why we're all terrible people who don't care about education, health care, civil rights, baby seals or the plight of the snail darter. We have problems of our own to take care of--get the hell out of other people's backyards and worry about our own....and we should be sending money to Africa. They have a lot of debt.

REP: We need to build a fence and forget about everyone else. If the wimpy liberals would just quit kicking and screaming about "human rights" and putting pressure on our glorious troops to be peacemakers instead of kick-a warriors, we could win this war in about three weeks and then get to work on hauling these illegals out.

DEM: And how would they win this battle? With aluminum foil body armor? The administration refuses to give the troops any equipment because they are all just stupid and incompetent. Besides, they don't care about the troops--they just wanted the profits, so as long as the war lasts, they're happy because they're making money. It doesn't concern them if a few thousand people die--Bush laughs at funerals, you know. And, he can't read, either.

REP: Yeah, well, you want to talk about funerals? Let's talk about your boy Teddy Kennedy and that girl he killed. How about HER funeral? Wonder what Cindy Sheehan would say to her mother, huh?

DEM: Laura Bush should be in jail--she killed someone, you know. And Cindy Sheehan is just a grieving mother. How would you feel if your son was killed and no one except every news outlet in the country would listen to you talk about it?

REP: Laura Bush is a saint. You leave her out of this. At least she knows what a First Lady is supposed to do and she does it. I've not seen her on the news spouting off ideas or opinions or anything substantial that means anything about anything and that's exactly how we want our women in the political arena to be. Not like YOUR fine example, Billary.

DEM: You just wish that Bush was half as successful as Clinton. Clinton was the best.president.ever. He'll go down in history as a true American hero who was slandered by the right in a desperate grab for power. He was misunderstood and maligned by the convervative media and the right wing conspiracy who was threatened by a strong woman and a powerful Washington outsider.

REP: Yeah, he'll go down all right. Bill Clinton was a lying adulterer. If he he'd paying attention to Osama on his watch instead of paying attention to that tramp Monica, we wouldn't have to put our brave troops in harm's way.

DEM: It's always about the Clenis, isn't it? And where's Osama now, huh? Your brilliant brain trust hasn't been able to find him yet, but they've blown up half of Iraq. Maybe he's hiding with the WMDs.

REP: I'll tell you where Osama is. He's out there hiding somewhere and taking advantage of the leaks that the MSM is providing him with our military plans. That reminds me, I need to call my sentator and start pushing him to ban all media reports on anything related to the military and the war and terrorism. This information crap is nothing but subversive and treasonist.

DEM: You are incapable of having an original thought that wasn't programmed into your head by Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity. I'm through with this debate because you are simply too stupid for words.

REP: Why do you hate America?

Hmmmm, and what was the policy/issue/problem again?

I've been on both "sides" of the political blanket, so to speak, and am currently rather firmly planted in the Democratic realm on most topics, but I've never understood the prevailing notion in political debates that if someone doesn't agree then they are either:

A. stupid
B. incompetent
C. evil
D. selfish
E. all of the above

Since I've been on both "sides", I'm fairly sure that I'm not stupid, evil, selfish or incompetent, at least not on the things that seem to be debated so hotly in the political fray, but that's not really the point.

I know that Iraq is a very complex problem with shades of Viet Nam and a whole host of diplomacy and miltary issues that I am glossing over here, but the debate at home has become so charged with Us vs. Them that there doesn't seem to be any attempt to actually work together to figure out a solution.

With all due respect to my fellow posters above whom I admire, the idea that we could just pick up and walk out tomorrow or the next day? Not even remotely plausible and, I might also add, throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Yes, I agree that we need to leave Iraq as soon as humanly possible, but to just throw up our hands and leave would be a monumental disaster, not only for us as an international power, but also for the humanitarian reasons that we ARE there. If the ten thousand deaths so far are tragic, then just think about the consequences of a "cut and run" approach.

And, to those who don't want to leave, well, obviously that's not really going to work either, is it? We could very well be there until Doomsday at the rate we're going because our very presence is going to be a catalyst and the problems will never stop. Also, as was pointed out, a homegrown insurgency has to, at some point, have a homegrown solution.

A plan to leave does not require a deadline per say, but it should absolutely outline some specific goals for the Iraqi independence. I think we can all agree that it is highly unlikely that we're going to leave and it's going to look like some sort of Utopia, but we owe it to them to at least make sure that we've put some semblemence of structure in place. What are those goals and those structures? Hell if know. That's not my area of experise. I don't even pretend to claim to be some sort of expert in Middle Eastern culture or political science or constitutional law. I am, however, pretty damn experienced at negotiating and problem solving and this "debate", for all that's at stake, has become more about each side than the central issue. There has to be compromise in this situation and until those who are in the power positions are willing to compromise, then we'll be in this quagmire. It cannot be about "We're right" and "You're wrong" or "Bush sucks" and "Kerry's a puss". I found myself agreeing with Hilary Clinton of all people the other day when she was being soundly booed...and that was rather a turnaround because I'm not exactly a fan.

I do not think it is a smart strategy, either, for the president to continue with his open-ended commitment, which I think does not put enough pressure on the new Iraqi government...Nor do I think it is smart strategy to set a date certain. I do not agree that is in the best interests...If we're going to win in November then we have to be smarter, tougher, and better prepared than our opponents, because one thing they do know how to do is win and we have to reach out to people who may not be able to agree with us.

I included the part about the election and the Democrats because I think she makes a very valid point, but the first two sentences could be applied to those in either party.

I have family in Iraq. My husband was there the first time. I have friends who have spouses and children there and who are more than ready for them to come home. I'm sure there are those in the military who are ready to come home, but there are also those who are willing to stay and fight until the bitter end and who will support them. Who wants whom to come home based on emotional reasonsing is unfortunately irrelevant in this discussion. If we allow ourselves to make this type of decisions based on emotion, then we become no better than those whom we are trying to defeat (and no, I'm not calling anyone here a terrorist).

Words, words, words. Cut and run, stay and fight, bully, coward....at some point, we're going to have to realize that inflaming the other side for the entertainment of our own only ends up screwing both sides.

Fair is Fair

2005-10-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. It was a rousing success. Great little gallery and fantabulous kids' center upstairs. We will return, even if I do have to gag a bit when reading plaques acknowledging Bill and Karen Frist for their sponsorship of various paintings throughout.

Friends in High Places

2005-10-03T22:24:00.000-07:00

Dammit, dammit, dammit. I cannot believe that I am not the next nominee for SCOTUS. I've made significant strides for women in my fair county (for example, I was the first county commisssioner to be pregnant while serving a term...and I did it TWICE). I have met some famous people, some political people and even some fairly smart people. I have umpteen college diplomas. So why not me? Could it be was because I never held the oh-so-legal job of head of my state's lottery. Or, could it have been because I wasn't all buddy-buddy, ass-kssy with GWB? Clearly, I need to start cultivating my friendships with potential presidents because that is one sweet job to get without having bupkus in the qualifications department (well, at least compared to say, forty-eleven plus other possible choices)

A picture is Worth 1,000 Words

2005-09-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

Monday, August 29, 2005

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Go, Chuck!

2005-08-27T11:03:00.000-07:00

From Chuck Hagel:

"We should start figuring out how we get out of there.
I think our involvement there has destabilized the Middle East. And the
longer we stay there, I think the further destabilization will occur."

Amen, brother, amen. Now, can you figure out a way to make the dofus at the helm listen to you? Perhaps you should start by breaking down the big words. I see lots and lots of syllables there and he doesn't seem to cotton to those. Then, I suppose, we need to throw in some dirty words because he apparently DOES cotton to those. Maybe something like this?

We've stuck our fucking noses in there long enough and made a goddamned mess out of the whole Middle East and given all the fuckers over there a reason to hate us(at this point, we probably better show a map to him). If we don't get the hell out of Dodge, things are going to be fucked beyond fixin'.

I'll just sit back and wait for Dr. Rice to invite me to work for the State Department.

I just got a letter, I just got a letter....

2005-08-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

okay, not JUST. It was probably a month ago, maybe more. I just cleaned out a gigantic stack of mail, most of which arrived while I was in London. The letter is a form letter, but still, it's a letter. From his honor Bill Frist. And get this? He wants ME to send him some money. And some opinions. He even included a handy dandy survey that he is insistant that I fill out and return so that I can help shape the Congressional Agenda.

It's chockablock with bold words and all caps: LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES SURVEY, SURVEY DOCUMENT, TENS OF THOUSADS OF DOLLARS, VALUABLE, IMPORTANT, COMPLETE, RETURN. And, tucked in there not once, not twice, but three times, I am assured that my contribution of $500, $250, $200, $100, $75 $50, or even $25 will help the Republicans build a "rock solid foundation of grass roots support for President Bush's Second-Term Agenda" (his caps, not mine).

My favorite quote:

Americans believe in President Bush's and the Republican Party's vision to secure a safer, stronger, feer and more prosperous future for America. They also expect that vision to be translated in action.

I guess those who don't believe are? Aliens? Canadians?

And, never let it be said that our esteemed Senator for Tennessee isn't all about the consensus building. Why heck, he even mentions the Democrats in the letter. Several times:

As Senate Majority Leader I expect the Senate Democrats to obstruct and delay us at every turn and I know groups like MoveOn.org will distort and attack our agenda. And it is my responsibility to protect and strengthen our Republican Senate Majority.

As Senate Majority Leader I will make sure we use your valuable insights to help shape our Agenda and produce the groundswell of grassroots support necessary to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

Our strategy to oversome the Democrats' filibuster in the Senate depends on local grassroots support. So returning your completed survey along with your most generous contribution is critical. Every dollar counts.

The best way to overcome a Democrat (sic) filibuster is to show widespread grassroots support for the issue or nominee.

(bold original to the letter...it's evidently the most important point)

And that's not all, but you get the jist. What I especially love, though, more than anything in the letter, is the complete and utter lack of basic high school grammatical skills. Do you see the sentence fragments? How about the run-on sentences? He's the Senate fricking Majority Leader, as he tells me many times, and he has no one to edit him? He went to uber-schools and has numerous degrees and he can't even write a stinking sentence? Democrat filibuster...uh, the hell? What is that?

Saddest of all is that I'm getting this because I probably signed up for something when he was running for office. Clearly he never wrote me any letters back in the day, eh?

Quote of the Year

2005-08-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

It's ironic, given the attacks leveled at me recently, how some in the media are so quick to scrutinize -- and distort -- the words and actions of a grieving mother but not the words and actions of the president of the United States.

This comes from Cindy Sheehan. You no dounbt know the story, so I'm not going to bore you with the yada on that one. I just felt the need to speak out in her support while the blathering boneheads on television continue to question her and talk about her as if she is some whackjob nutcase.

Justice Redux

2005-08-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, goody! If I get up early enough, I can maybe get a good seat for Justice Sunday II: God Save the United States and this Honorable Court! They'll be filming just up the street in Nashville at Two Rivers Baptist Church.

Insert vomit icon here -------->

I do have to laugh that the senior senator from Tennessee hasn't been asked to speak this time around. It makes me very happy to think of the wailing and gnashing of teeth that must be going on in both camps as a result of the latest pissing mathces that Frist and the FRC are having over stem cells and the like. Frist's presidential dreams are swirling in the bowl and it's just perfectly perfect, if you ask me. That's what happens when one panders to hard to one side for too long. Eventually you have to either give in completely or snap back up before you break. He snapped back to the middle and it's going to cost him. Hugely.

Man the Battle Stations

2005-07-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

And so the battle has begun. I would have said "woman" your battle stations, but frankly, I don't expect W. to appoint a woman. I'm so used to be underwhelmed by him that perhaps this time he will suprise me. Actually, I think maybe I might admire him more if he didn't. At least then it wouldn't look like he was pandering to one group or another. I don't believe that we necessarily have to have XX number of women, XX number of minorities, etc.

I do think the chances of him appointing anyone that the general objective population would consider "moderate" is probably slim to miniscule. And, when you come right down to it, why would he? He's sitting in the power chair right now. Karl Rove has probably been in a constant state of ecstasy since they got the call. They are clearly not going to have any sort of impressive legacy related to this godforsaken military endeavor, the social security fugabaloo is mysteriously quiet and the infamous NCLB is still followed with "and No Teacher Left Employed" in many educational circles, so I guess this is his only shot at making any real impact. Personally, I think I'd rather see him send Laura, Babs and the twins out across the country with a giant vat of flower seeds a la Lady Bird and try to some sort of spruce up project. I mean, really, when you come right down to it, in the end, those pretty flower along the interstate are the best damn presidential legacy of the 20th century and ol' W. himself couldn't even screw that one up.

Deep Eh

2005-05-31T22:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I would have commented on so many things lately, but I've been somewhat overwhelmed with Pedro the puppy, the end of school, dealing with impending knee surgery and other lifey things that I've not really been able to post here much. I haven't really been able to watch television that much, for that matter. I've been sort of out of the news loop. I did manage to catch a bit of the breaking news about the infamous Deep Throat today, though, and I have to say that it was a bit anti-climactic. I don't know who I thought it was going to be. I mean, I read All the President's Men and Blind Ambition and whatever the sequel to APM was. I used to be fairly well-educated on the whole affair, but I sort of hoped for someone a bit more earth shattering than W. Mark Felt. I'm not sure who, though. I think the mystery of it was what was so...well, mysterious. It was what made the story so intriguing. Now it's very much like I've seen the wizard behind the curtain in Oz. Just an ordinary guy. Kind of eh. A disgruntled FBIer who got passed over for a promotion. Eh. Wouldn't it have been really crazy if it WAS Diane Sawyer? I mean, I know it wasn't even remotely likely, but wouldn't that have been a much better story than W. Mark Felt? And who goes by their first initial anyway? I've never actually understood that. If you want to go by your middle name, then fine. Do that. But if you choose to do that, then you just have to drop the whole inital thing altogether. You don't get one. He should be Mark Felt. But I digress.

What I really found rather odd and, I have to say, low class, was his daughter's comment that he "could make enough money to pay some bills, like the debt (she'd) run up for the children's education." Um, hello? Could you look a little less money-grubbing? The man isn't looking especially mentally fit to begin with (okay, I'll say it...he looks daft in the pictures that they are releasing. Positively nutcase crazy in the more flattering and batshit gone in the least) and now his daughter is popping off about spending his royalties on her expenses? It strikes me as being in incredibly poor taste that they are even mentioning money. If he is this great American hero that they are so obviously trying to portray him to be, then let him be that. The story will stand on that and people will buy it. Why would they flap on about having him talk before he dies so he can make some money off of it? Who do they think that will endear him to?

It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out in the media over the next few days. I'm sure we'll see it beaten to death, resurrected and then crucfied again before it's all over with. Me, I think I'll go see if I can find my copy of All the President's Men again...or maybe not.

Hate That, Bill

2005-05-23T18:54:00.000-07:00

It must really suck when the minions won't march in a perfect little line, there Billy Boy.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha.

Lamar! Speaks

2005-05-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

Wooohooo! Maybe we don't have two total pinheads. Lamar! Alexander, you remember him, he ran for president a couple of times, spoke out against national ID card gruidelines that the Republicans dropped in a military spending bill. Isn't Bill clever like that? You can bet your bippy he's fuming over his homeboy being the Republican that's causing a stink about it, too. I love it.
Lamar! Gets Pissy Over National IDs

Now, I'd be happier if he'd voted against the bill, but at least it is being discussed instead of slipped under the rug, which is what you just know the intent was until he and the Democrats started complaining.

Can you imagine letting the lovely folks at the DMV making the decisions about our national ID card? I taught a few of those folks at our local office and the idea makes my blood run cold. All it would take is a hot guy and a couple of $20s and Osama could have an ID that said he was Jerry McGuire.

Whew!

2005-05-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

I know Texas mommies and daddies can breathe a little easier now that the Texas house has taken such decisive action and passed a ban on lewd cheerleading. I mean, there's nothing like a totally redundant and pointless law to make the good citizens of Texas feel as if they are being represented and protected, right (well, some would say that's how we can describe their governor, but I digress).

Newsflash to the Texas house: slutty little girls in too-short skirts with caked on makeup and ho-ed out hair are still going to be two stepping right up to the line of erotica every Friday night all across your glorious state. It's part of football's legacy. I mean, they've been doing that since, forever, haven't they? The problem is, cheerleaders reflect the current society. In the 50s, they wore the long skirts and the saddle shoes, in the seventies, the skirts hit the knee and so on. When I was in school I remember the scandal when the cheerleaders got their first "sun tops"! Oh, the immodesty! They were cheering at football games in August in Tennessee. It wasn't unreasonable to let the poor girls go sleeveless. Cheerleading uniforms continue to evolve because it's big business. FWIW, one of those skimpy little costumes, made of polyester thankyouverymuch, costs well over $100 per girl. The makers aren't stupid.

The dancing evolved, too. It's all about the trends of the times. Cheerleaders want to go out and perform. They want to entertain. They want to look good while they do it. It's not going to take a ridiculous law to change the way that these girls dance, it's going to take a pendulum swing in fad of the day. Unfortunately, acting/talking/looking/dancing like a hooker is part of the cultural norm right now. Humping someone's leg on the dance floor fifteen years ago was enough to get a movie called "Dirty Dancing"...today it would barely even raise an eyebrow at a club. These girls have no shame. When you think it's cute to do pelvic thrusts and booty shakes before a crowd of 10,000, then nothing that the Texas House can do or say is going to change that.

Now, all of that said and done, may I also add that the idea that the cheerleading routines are leading to pregnancy is one of the most ludicrious ones I've heard in a long, long time. Clearly, this was conceived (get it?) by someone who never had even the slightest chance with a cheerleader. I mean, really. She dances, therefore she screws? Puhleaze. First of all, how stereotypically offensive is this? What about the basketball jocks who warm up to music and run around acting like thugs? Doesn't THAT promote the same type of behavior? I mean, who do these legislators think the cheerleaders are out bopping? Second of all, when you break it down percentage-wise, I'd be willing to bet that cheerleaders are no more likely to have sex or get pregnant than the average student. Where did they come up with this "logic". And the idea that the cheerleaders are somehow leading some sort of student orgy at the pep rallies is hysterical. Again, spoken by people who probably never even WENT to a pep rally.

What scares me the most, though, is that some of our nutjob over here in Tennessee are going to get wind of this brilliant idea. Mark my words, if it passes in Texas, we'll have something similar in Tennessee within three years. There are probably some psycho weasely State Reps. halfway in heat drafting up the documents even as I type because we.must.save.the.families.

Phil in '06?

2005-04-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

According to some rumors on my local country radio station this morning, my governor, Phil Bredesen, is being wooed as a potential Democratic candidate for 2006. We've been hearing this since he was featured as a mover and shaker earlier this year.

I like Phil. He's the first Democrat that I voted for on a statewide level. He was VASTLY superior to the weasel Van Hilleary that was his opponent. *shudder*. I would like to see him up against Bill Frist. Both would certainly do wonders to shred the Tennessee hillbilly image (as if either of them are actually FROM Tennessee, but that's neither here nor there) and they would certainly make us important on a national level, which is a good thing. He would also show the world that everyone in Tennessee doesn't have that horrible plastic hair, fake smile and "Damn, y'all are so stupid" drawl. Oh, and some of us even vote before we decide to run for election, too.

I'm not so naive as to think that this is a done deal or anything, but the Democrats could certainly do worse. Bredesen is a Yankee transplant, so he appeals to two different groups. He's a Southern Yankee Democrat governor who managed to beat a Republican in one of the reddest states around these days. He is a businessman with lots of his own money. His wife is smart and does her own thing (and has her own last name, which is sure to send some conservative yahoos into a tizzy). He's taken on the state's liberal sacred cow, TennCare and done what no one thought ANYONE ever would--tried to clean the damn thing up. That alone will get him my vote for LIFE for whatever office he tries to run for.

I shall be watching and waiting to see what happens. Needless to say, if there's a Tennessean in the running, I'd VASTLY prefer him to be it...although the idea of voting against Frist is delicious.

Oh, spare me!

2005-04-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I keep getting the Bible spouted off to me on our local newspaper board and it makes me want to SCREAM! What in the WORLD does the Bible have to do with politics?!?! Why! Why! WHY?!?! When did this happen? I don't understand. It's as if I'm Rip Van Winkle and I fell asleep for too long and now I'm awake in some bizzarro right wing freako world. Every day, it seems to get worse instead of better.

I'm so effing tired of hearing about values and principles I could just vomit. Profusely and projectilely. I mean, the same people who are off screwing God only knows who and taking money for God only knows what have the audacity to try and tell me that they should be the moral leaders of our nation? I don't elect moral to vote on moral matters. I elect people to vote on how to best spend my tax money and to best represent my interests. If I want morals, I go to church or I read books and think for myself. I sure as HELL don't turn to people who get their ideas from the latest poll or think tank.

Somebody pinch me. Please. Surely this is a nightmare.

Someone Missed Kindergarten

2005-04-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Obviously, my esteemed Senator, Billy Boy, missed out on the important lessons in kindergarten where we were taught to share and try to get along with others? Instead of trying to be diplomatic and compromise, he's decided that it makes more sense to stand firm and refuse to compromise on the judiciary nomintaions.

Now, normally, I'm all about standing firm on principle, but when you're just doing it to be an ass? Well, that's sort of annoying. Or when you're just doing it to whip the extremist voters into a frenzy, it's stupid. When you're doing it just to be in some sort of pissing match because you can, it's just the living end of arrogance. Obviously Bill was too busy transplanting hearts and not voting to remember what happened when the Democrats were all about the power and it came back to bite them. Hate that for him.

Polls show that there isn't exactly an overwhelming support for this plan, so I'm still not sure why he insists on putting all his eggs in this rickety basket. It's as if the great Republican minds in Washington have a great think tank meeting each week and deliberately think up ways to alienate the moderates within the party. As if they take some sort of masochistic delight in slicing off great hunks of their support by embracing utterly repugnant causes...just because they can?? I can't even begin to imagine why they do it.

And Tennessee's other Senator is evidently mute on the point. I've not heard one word from Lamar! on the topic. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, but it would be nice to know if he's gone totally off the deep end, too.

Give 'Em Hell, Harry!

2005-04-25T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ah, I love it!!
from Yahoo on the stupid move to ban filibusters on judiciary nominations:

Reid on Monday also repeated his assertion that President Bush promised him that the White House would stay out of the Senate's fight over the filibuster rule. "He either misspoke or was not being honest with me a week ago last Wednesday when he said they would not be getting involved," Reid said.

Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday he would vote to ban the judicial filibuster if the Senate deadlocks, and called the Democrats' filibuster threats "inexcusable."

Senate Judiciary chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on CNN Sunday that it was "really not helpful — and that's a very mild word — for Senator Reid to say that the president was not honest."

But Reid said there was no doubt what Bush meant when he said he would not get involved in the Senate fight. "It's not hard to understand when someone tells you: 'I'm not getting involved. That's a Senate problem, I'm not getting involved,'" Reid said. It's "a little hard to interpret that any other way."

Good for him. Don't let goofy W. weasel his way out of this one. Make him stand by his word or, God only knows where we'll end up. With W.'s penchant for doublespeak, backtracking and embellishing, "not getting involved" might actually mean walking in and pushing the voting buttons for the Senators if we're not careful.

Tennessee's Shame

2005-04-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

I can thank Bill Frist for turning me into a political blogger. I'm so angry with him that I am damn near physically ill.

I have to come clean. I voted for the ninny. Not once, but twice. The first time, I was naive and young and swayed by the fact that I met him in person and he is actually a very charming person. He still had the very dorky haircut and wore the goofy American flag tie. I was working for the local paper and I was the one chosen to interview him. Now I realize it was because I was the only Republican in the newsroom. At the time, I thought it was because of my hard-hitting newswriting. But anyway. I liked him. I bought into the whole "doctor-turns-politico" deal. We were in the midst of sweeping change in Tennessee. Fred Thompson was busy driving his way around the state in a red pickup truck (and I admit, I still like ol' Fred) and the old guard was on shaky ground. "Native" son Al Gore wasn't looking so golden and politics was a hot topic around town. I dutifully took my Frist buttons and bumper stickers (for some reason, I have none for Thompson) and went about my Republican duty and voted for him. I was jubilant when he defeated Jim Sasser. I'd been raised to hate Sasser. I felt I'd done my duty.

Six years later, I hate to say it, but I wasn't much brighter. I voted for him again. Honestly, I wasn't really paying much attention to the Senate. I'd just had my third child, I was in the throes of post partum depression and I, gulp, actually thought George Bush was charming. I was among one of the more rabid Al Gore haters in Tennessee, so I was happy to vote for anyone who would make him and the Democrats look bad. Plus, Frist hadn't really done anything terribly obnoxious at that point. He was still very junior. The only Senator we ever really heard about was Fred. Frist only got mention when he did CPR on someone.

Now I realize the error of my ways. The man is a power-hungry freak with some sort of radical right-wing love affair that I somehow completely missed out on. Contrary to popular belief, everyone in the state of Tennessee does NOT go to church three times a week and we don't wait for our preacher to tell us what to think and how to vote. The idea that a SENATOR, much less the senate majority leader would align himself with a group as repugnant as the Family Resource Center and be a party to this "Justice Sunday" bullshit is just mind boggling. I cannot believe that anyone can stand up with a straight face and try to argue that it is even remotely "fair" to try and change the rules when the game isn't going your way. I can only imagine the wailing and gnashing of teeth that would have taken place had this happened when the Democrats were in power. And to think that it is because he is trying to do the bidding of the smarmy evangelical groups who are demanding payback? I feel ill. I apologize to the American public for my vote back in 2000.

Bill Frist isn't the reason I'm Republican No More. I'll go into that later, but he is most definitely why I'm about to be VOCALLY RNM. He? must be stopped.