Political Irony

Maybe the Glenn Beck show is trying to tell us that if we get rid of Beck himself, it might just get worse. Because while Beck was on vacation, his fill-in host, Doc Thompson, said this gem:

For years I’ve suggested that racism was in decline and yeah, there are some, you know, incidents that still happen with regards to racism, but most of the claims I’ve said for years, well, they’re not really real. But I realize now that I was wrong. For I now too feel the pain of racism. Racism has been dropped at my front door and the front door of all lighter-skinned Americans. The health care bill the president just signed into law includes a 10 percent tax on all indoor tanning sessions starting July first, and I say, who uses tanning? Is it dark-skinned people? I don’t think so. I would guess that most tanning sessions are from light-skinned Americans. Why would the President of the United States of America — a man who says he understands racism, a man who has been confronted with racism — why would he sign such a racist law? Why would he agree to do that? Well now I feel the pain of racism.

Of course, if you want to run with his premise, then you should really call it a tax on stupid white people, since artificial tanning as little as once a month can increase your risk of deadly skin cancer by 55%.

© Jim Morin

Well, it looks like Michael Steele might get to keep his job as RNC Chairman. Apparently, Republicans are afraid of a drawn-out fight over their most prominent African-American leader during the build-up to the November elections. Instead, they are going to try to marginalize him. After all, his term as chairman is up in six months.

One blessing coming from all this is that Steele’s tenure — starting right at the same time that Barack Obama became president — strongly demonstrates that politics is not about race. It is about competence. Obama and Steele may be the same race, but in terms of competence they are miles apart. Steele has been dogged by allegations of questionable spending, anemic fundraising, staff shake-ups, and worrisome gaffes. Obama has been dogged by questionable allegations, coming from the same people who appointed Steele their chairman.

From the National Review Online:

An Idea for the RNC: Dump Steele, Hire Palin [Kevin D. Williamson]
Re: Steele and the RNC: Allow me to chime in with my usual observation on this subject: This is a job for Sarah Palin. Palin would be a much better RNC chairman than presidential candidate or freelance kingmaker. She’d raise tons of money and help recruit good candidates, i.e., she’d excel at doing the things Steele should have been doing instead of appointing himself Republican pundit-at-large.

A Chairman Palin would help set the right tone for the Republican party without having to get herself entangled in the minutiae of policy-development, which has not been her forte. Sure, she’d be polarizing, but so is Barack Obama, and these are polarized times. And it’s one thing to have a polarizing party chairman, another to have a polarizing candidate.

Anybody disagree?

Political comedians everywhere will scream their delight. As one comment put it: “Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please”.

UPDATE: NPR has a longer article about Michael Steele’s troubles, and other supporters wanting to replace him with Sarah Palin. Here’s another right-wing blog that likes the idea:

There is no other Republican today that the progressives hate or fear more than Palin. The GOP desperately needs her leadership, star power, and fund raising abilities to accomplish the political victories in November that the party is hoping for to regain either the House or Senate. After the latest foot in mouth incident by RNC leader Michael Steele, the time for Palin may be near if she is up to the challenge.

Two articles caught my eye today that epitomize what’s wrong with today’s conservative movement in America — all they have left is rage. What else could explain this completely bizarre editorial in the Chicago Sun-Times by Terry Savage. While driving through an upscale neighborhood on a hot day she noticed three little girls had set up a lemonade stand. But what has her fuming is that these three little communists were giving their lemonade away for free. According to her:

Three girls giving away free lemonade isn’t cute, it’s indicative of the lack of economic responsibility we’re passing on to future generations. … If we can’t teach our kids the basics of running a lemonade stand, how can we ever teach Congress the basics of economics?

Seriously. Go read the article if you don’t believe me.

Money may be the same as free speech now, but free lemonade is socialism. Greed is enshrined as righteousness.

But that isn’t the only thing that conservatives are raging about. This summer is heating up to be an even crazier version of last year’s conservative assault on our country. Remember when the Texas governor suggested that Texas secede from the US? Well, now they are drumming for a new civil war. Glenn Beck says “I think we’re headed for a civil war“. Bob Owens says you should “Go to your Congressman’s office and scream at him in the most colorful language possible. Hang him in effigy at protests. If you’re willing to do the time for the crime, have a swing at him.” Limbaugh says “This is the kind of stuff that starts civil wars folks; this is not coincidental.” And Pamela Geller warns “If the king decrees that all illegals will be granted amnesty, I can assure you that America will not go quietly. … It is increasingly clear that the most divisive President in history is itching for a civil war. And at the rate he is going, he is going to get one”.

That’s bad enough, but conservative pundits are going absolutely ape-shit about Obama. Among the accusations tossed out are that he is a Russian spy, a thug, a terrorist, that he is deliberately prolonging the Gulf oil spill crisis, that he is working toward one world government, and even that he wants to control “your toilet”.

It’s tin foil hat time.

UPDATE: Gin and Tacos has created a hilarious annotated version of this story. Read it if you want a good laugh.

© Matt Wuerker
Considering that the Boston Tea Party was actually against the East India Tea Company (the then equivalent of a multinational corporation) it is difficult to believe that the founders of this country really intended for corporations to have the same rights as people and for money to be considered protected speech.