Why I Still Hate The GOP, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #221
June 10, 2011 Michael Davis 0 Comments
Because we as a nation NEED to know what our elected officials do with their dicks it’s been completely overlooked that Rick Santorum announced he was running for President this week.
That’s not a big surprise; everyone knew he was going to run. His chances? Andrew Wiener has a better chance of winning the GOP nomination with a ringing endorsement from the Vatican than Rick Santorum has of becoming President.
I hate Rick Santorum with the passion of a newly freed slave who just discovered his ex-master’s daughter has a thing for newly freed slaves.
That’s some serious passion.
That’s not the reason I still hate the GOP, THIS is the reason I still hate the GOP; during his “I’m running’ press conference he said; “America was a great country before 1965.”
Really?
A white man in FRONT of a policeman outside of a department store Christmas Eve 1965 punched my mother.
Why?
Because my mother was STUPID enough to stoop down and pick up HIS daughter who had fallen off the sidewalk onto the street.
My mother JUST told me that story the other day. I knew the 60’s were bad for Black people but that story took it to another level. You know what the cop did who witnessed the entire thing? He told my mother to just leave and held the white man back who wanted to hit her again.
I’ve only seen my mother lose it emotionally 3 times in my life. Once when my sister was killed, again when her mother was killed and lastly when a white man rubbed my head for ‘good luck.’ I understood her sadness and utter despair over my sister and grandmother but I never really got why she got CRAZY upset over the white guy rubbing my 6 year old head until now.
My mother cussed this guy out like he was Cain and she was someone who Abel owed a LOT of money. That was in New York City, she was able to get away with it because she was in the hood and he was a white guy who’s family had lived there when it was low income housing before it became the ‘projects.’
Now, Imagine my mother cussing out a white man in Alabama in 1965. It was VERY possible she would have been beat, arrested or lynched.
“America was a great country before 1965.” This from a man running for President who damn well KNOWS the history of Black people in the 60’s.
THAT’S why I still hate the GOP.
Doug Abramson
June 10, 2011 - 5:35 am
MOTU,
Santorum is a bottom feeder that’s so stupid, he makes Palin look like she has average intelligence. As you said, he has no chance of even getting the GOP nomination. He’s just not worth paying attention to. No matter how white trash ready his sound bites.
Martha Thomases
June 10, 2011 - 6:29 am
As long as there is Google, Rick Santorum will not be President. Karma is a bitch.
MOTU
June 10, 2011 - 7:39 am
Martha,
So was his mother.
Jeremiah Avery
June 10, 2011 - 8:24 am
Santorum is also the guy who said that John McCain doesn’t know what torture is. Classy.
Bill Mulligan
June 10, 2011 - 9:09 am
It would make more sense to hate the GOP if rick Santorum had a chance of getting the nomination. Otherwise it’s like hating the Democrats because Cynthia McKinney is, well, Cynthia McKinney.
R. Maheras
June 10, 2011 - 9:48 am
Some experienced politicians and political activists seem to spend their lives saying stupid stuff, and I can’t help marvel at how oblivious they are to what comes out of their mouths. Santorum obviously fits into that category.
I don’t think Palin fits into that category, however. I think she’s “unsophisticated” in some people’s eyes, but I don’t think she’s at all stupid. Yes, she’s said dumb stuff, but not an abnormal amount of dumb stuff — certainly not any worse than the level of gaffes we all utter at one time or another. Her biggest sin is that she did not realize in advance how her jump from the minor leagues (local politics) to the major leagues (national politics) was going to require the learning curve of a Space Shuttle launch, and that the level of sophistication, scrutiny, and criticism (and of course, cheap shots), would be amplified exponentially.
She’s overcome most of that now, but I still think she killed any chance she had at the presidency when she bailed out early from her governorship. Independents, who are the deciders in all major elections these days, do not like quitters.
I always laugh when Democrats, in an effort to puff up their stature and sophistication, try and portray Republicans as inherently stupid and Democrats as inherently smart — as if “smart” is somehow a benchmark of the successful and/or effective politician.
My dad, a union truck driver most of his life, used to say that some of the smartest people in the world end up in the gutter with a booze bottle in their hand. And as I got older and (hopefully) wiser, I have to say there is definitely an element of truth to his observation. I’ve known supposedly very smart people who exhibited zero common sense, were horrible leaders/bosses, and others who did stupid stuff even a grade-schooler had enough smarts not to do (Weiner, anyone?).
Oh the other hand, some of the most effective problem-solvers I’ve known were just “average” people, whose level of “intelligence” and “sophistication” would probably cause most elitists on the coasts to turn up their noses in disgust.
R. Maheras
June 10, 2011 - 11:33 am
Speaking of a supposedly intelligent person saying something that makes him appear to be oblivious to reality, Newt Gingrich says he’s still in the presidential race despite the fact that most of his senior staff jumped ship en masse.
Really, Newt? In what alternate universe would this be possible? After all, you were a long shot in the nomination race to begin with. If you were a 50-to-1 shot before, you’re at least a 1000-to-1 shot now. Wise up and exit gracefully, because you’ve obviously reached your maximum Peter Principle level. You’ve already got it made as an author, lecturer and TV pundit anyway, so move on already.
MOTU
June 10, 2011 - 11:56 am
Bill wrote,
“It would make more sense to hate the GOP if rick Santorum had a chance of getting the nomination.”
No, I respectfully disagree. Seldom if ever does anyone in the GOP leadership do anything but co-sign on whatever stupid,racist,homophobic,hate filled,Obama wants to kill grandma and was born in Russia, speech.
Santorum is just another member of the team who seems to be ‘just following orders’ no matter how asinine those orders may be.
MOTU
June 10, 2011 - 12:09 pm
R. Maheras wrote,
Speaking of a supposedly intelligent person saying something that makes him appear to be oblivious to reality, Newt Gingrich says he’s still in the presidential race despite the fact that most of his senior staff jumped ship en masse.’
Newt was once the baddest mofo on the block bar none when it came to staying on message. He also was just plain smart. I’m bound by law to hate him but I used to respect him.
USED to respect him. Now-I have more respect for crack addicts than Newt, THEY stay on message. Somehow Newt just lost it. it seems one day he just woke up stupid.
Jerome Maida
June 10, 2011 - 1:25 pm
While I can understand your sensitivity, Santorum’s comment was him trying to make the point that Medicare and the great Society programs enacted in 1965 are what have us on the brink of insolvency.
.
Santorum may be many things, but he is not racist.
Doug Abramson
June 10, 2011 - 1:48 pm
Jerome,
Does it really matter? Now we’re just dissecting what kind of asshole Santorum is. No mater what he meant by the 1965 comment, he’s still an asshole.
Mike Gold
June 10, 2011 - 2:10 pm
The romanticized view of our past is always painted in pastel colors. I think of this every time I drive into Chicago, passing Emmet Till Road. Santorum is an idiot for even going there.
As for Ms. Palin’s intelligence, I have but two words.
Paul Revere.
R. Maheras
June 10, 2011 - 3:42 pm
Mike — And Obama recently dated a guest book in London with the year 2008, and during his first year as president, while visiting Oregon, clearly said, during a televised speech, he’d visited “57 states.”
Like I said, we’re all human, and we all slip up.
Palin is no dummy.
Mike Gold
June 10, 2011 - 4:32 pm
I think Obama was thinking about Heinz pickles.
Reg
June 10, 2011 - 4:51 pm
“Palin is no dummy.”
Russ, whereas I have a lot of respect for how you present and support your opinions from a political POV, I confess to being taken aback by this assertion.
Especially when the GOP heavy hitters (having squeezed all of the ‘Rally the Rabids’ cachet and capital they could from her…ahem…’unique charm’)have distanced themselves with such vigor, she might as well be crying out “Unclean! Unclean!”
I would be willing (if I were a betting man) to wager heavily that if one were to give a slew of Palin interviews and info dumps to a pool of non-partisan, educated, and critically minded observers for analysis and comment, the overwhelming majority would come away believing that she pretty much is one.
At least Rove, Rollins, and Williams seem to think so.
Reg
June 10, 2011 - 5:10 pm
mOTu…
Re: Cousin Rick’s nostalgia trip…I suspect that he took the great Louis CK’s bit to heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4f9zR5yzY
MOTU
June 10, 2011 - 5:33 pm
Jerome,
I don’t think Santorum is racist. In fact I don’t think the vast majority of the GOP is either. I do think the Grand Old Party can be insensitive to people of color but that’s a LONG way from racist.
To your 1965 point, he may have very well meant to connect the dots regarding those programs but to say, ‘America was a great country before 1965’ was insensitive to say the least. BEFORE 1965 life was anything but great to millions of Americans because of racism.
I’m a big fan of the film ‘Gone with the wind.’ Frankly I don’t give a damn that most of my black friends don’t like the film.
As a black man some of it is hard to watch but so is every Hollywood movie ever done which depict all black inner city residents as Pimps, Ho’s, Addicts, unemployed single mothers and absent fathers.
Some time ago Radio City Music Hall was screening Gone with the wind. My friend Denys Cowan and I went to see it. We were the only two black people there. During the first few moments of the film someone says to the audience, “Those were the good old days.”
She MAY have meant the good old days before cell phones and McDonalds but regardless of her intent Denys and I were none to happy and I’m fairly sure if she knew we were there she would not have said it.
1965 America is a time where racism was a clear and present danger to African Americans. Santorum simply could have said, “America was a great country before Medicare, etc, etc.”
Nope-he went with a year and all that year signifies. He either didn’t care or didn’t think.
John Tebbel
June 11, 2011 - 5:10 am
The “smart people end up in the gutter” bullshit is the definition of anti-intellectualism. Tell it to Walt Disney and Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.
Sarah Palin has few of the several kinds of intelligence and not one of the several kinds of heart. Deserting the people of her state to run her mouth and get rich is the act of a cruel, selfish person. What slogan is on your vacation vehicle? Mine say Jet Blue and Hertz (and I’m lucky to have ’em).
And nostalgia is always the enemy.
Mike Gold
June 11, 2011 - 6:36 am
John — funny how you note three of the most notorious American bigots of the 20th century. Add Lindsburgh and Coughlin and you’ve got the half-minion of he’ll.
And sometimes nostalgia pays the rent. Ask Joe Franklin. Or anybody in the comics business.
Malcolm Robertson
June 11, 2011 - 7:55 am
“1965 America is a time where racism was a clear and present danger to African Americans. Santorum simply could have said, “America was a great country before Medicare, etc, etc.”
But he did in the full quote of what he said. Before he said “America was great before 1965” He said:
Obama recently discussed “Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance. He said, ’The country is a better country with those programs. I will go one step further,’ he said. ’America was not a great country until those programs.’ America was a great country before 1965.
source: http://news.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view.bg?articleid=1343659
It’s your right to hate the GOP, but you state the guy won’t get the nomination. If he had said 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act, your point might have more substance, but even so it seems like your saying you hold the GOP responsible for the statement of someone they aren’t even going to vote to represent them. It seems like your looking for an excuse.
MOTU
June 11, 2011 - 2:15 pm
Malcolm,
What may surprise you is except for very few blaring issues I’m very conservative. I’ve said many times if the GOP stays out of my bedroom, doesn’t tell me who to worship, and consider social issues something other than a line item best deleted, I’d be a card carrying member of the party.
In fact, I am a card carrying member of the NRA. Clearly a right wing organization where bleeding heart liberals are not welcome.
I’m not looking for an excuse to hate the GOP. I’m looking for a REASON to embrace them. I don’t make excuses for ANYTHING in my life. If I don’t like something or someone there’s a reason.
I’ll say again-his 1965 reference was insensitive to say the least. He’s running for President. Every single statement is vetted by his people and they look at it from every considerable angle. The racial issue was ignored or not even considered.
pennie
June 11, 2011 - 4:04 pm
MOTU, not only race but there’s Santorum’s other fly in the ointment in my hood: His infamous 2003 rants: he has no problem with homosexuals, just homosexual acts. He answered in the negative when asked if the U.S. Constitution sanctions the right to privacy. There was so much more meat in this stew involving sex with animals, sex with priests, adultery, polygamy, incest…Who would be his running mate? Pretzels Bachmann?
Perfect.
pennie
June 11, 2011 - 4:15 pm
PS: Santorum has as much chance of getting elected President as I do.
MOTU
June 11, 2011 - 4:55 pm
Oh Pennie, so do so warm my heart.
MOTU
June 11, 2011 - 4:56 pm
BTW-I’d vote for you.
Martha Thomses
June 11, 2011 - 4:56 pm
Pennie for President? Change you can believe in because you can see it!
pennie
June 11, 2011 - 5:05 pm
MOTU and Martha, thank you both for your vote of confidence. I won’t simply refer to Sherman’s famous, “If nominated, I will not accept…”
Instead, how’s his, “If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world but I am sure we would be getting reports from hell before breakfast.”
Mike Gold
June 12, 2011 - 7:12 am
You certain it was Sherman? I’m pretty certain it was Mr Peabody.
pennie
June 12, 2011 - 9:33 am
Mike, I’d better start up the Wayback Machine and check. On the other hand, some claim I never moved much from where I was…
R. Maheras
June 12, 2011 - 9:50 pm
Reg — Regarding Palin… I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time defending her because I really don’t have a dog in the fight, and because I don’t think she’ll ever be a serious candidate. Suffice to say, the reason her statements are conflicting, inconsistent and may not hold up well under scrutiny is simple: At the national level, she’s still a rookie politician. In the political “major leagues,” things move much faster, are more complex, and the scrutiny is much greater than are things at the state or local level (the equivalent of triple-A ball and single-A ball, respectively). Obama has some of the same problems, which is why he stated quite a few policies a couple of years ago that are the exact opposite of what he ended up actually doing when he was better informed.
And does what Rove, Rollins and Williams think really matter? Political pundits are damn lucky their pay isn’t contingent upon long-term accuracy. If it was, none of ’em would have a job very long.
Mike Gold
June 13, 2011 - 7:28 am
I agree that Palin’s not a good candidate — quitting her day job pretty much nailed that one down. But she can be one hell of a power broker. If she runs, she’ll get delegates she can put into play. If she doesn’t, her support and her stumping can easily make the difference in the primaries.
So the question is — what’s in it for her? Ego, certainly. Money? Not in the short run; she’s doing fine. A cabinet position?
Martha Thomases
June 13, 2011 - 7:39 am
@Mike: My guess is that Palin wants to be the next Oprah. She won’t describe it as such, but she wants that much power (and money).
Mike Gold
June 13, 2011 - 8:54 am
Palin at the Haymarket? That’ll set off another riot!