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August 23, 2009

Opposing Views

Katherine Kersten of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says:
Citizens are speaking truth to power. Aren't Democrats supposed to like that?
Protesters and citizens asking angry questions have flooded the "town halls" where congressional representatives have tried to sell President Obama's health care reform agenda to the American people.

The protesters have stolen the show, with 69 percent of Americans telling pollsters they are following the story closely. Town-hall-goers -- some raucous -- are probing costs, are raising questions about government encroachment on private life, and are deploring the fact that few legislators seem to have read the 1,000-page health care reform bill. Democrats have often had trouble answering credibly.

The protesters are having an impact. Last week, the administration appeared to pull back on the "public option" as a centerpiece of Obama's reform agenda.

I thought folks on the left loved protesters -- the rowdier, the better. Liberals are fond of reminding us that free speech is sacred, and that dissent -- "speaking truth to power" -- is a patriotic duty. Remember the 2008 Republican National Convention? The ACLU of Minnesota went to court to win a parade permit that would have allowed thousands of protesters, including anarchists who had vowed to shut down the convention, to encircle St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, where delegates convened.
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Frank Rich of the New York Times says:
The G.O.P., whose ranks have now dwindled largely to whites in Dixie and the less-populated West, is not even a paper tiger — it’s a paper muskrat.
“It is time to water the tree of liberty” said the sign carried by a gun-toting protester milling outside President Obama’s town-hall meeting in New Hampshire two weeks ago. The Thomas Jefferson quote that inspired this message, of course, said nothing about water: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” That’s the beauty of a gun — you don’t have to spell out the “blood.”

The protester was a nut. America has never had a shortage of them. But what’s Tom Coburn’s excuse? Coburn is a Republican senator from Oklahoma, where 168 people were murdered by right-wing psychopaths who bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. Their leader, Timothy McVeigh, had the Jefferson quote on his T-shirt when he committed this act of mass murder. Yet last Sunday, when asked by David Gregory on “Meet the Press” if he was troubled by current threats of “violence against the government,” Coburn blamed not the nuts but the government.
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15 comments:

Opus #6 said...

Paper muskrat? We will see. Odd that they would say this about the GOP and not a democRAT.

WomanHonorThyself said...

The Right will continue to take the battle to their front porch...indeedy Nickie!..and weve got our battles cut out for us dont we?!:)

Anonymous said...

Woman, in the next few months we'll either be exhilarated or grief-stricken.

LL said...

The time for the Democrats honoring themselves will end.

There is a core of people in America who are watching things closely now. And thank God for common sense people who make up the spine of the nation and can tell gold from bullshit.

2010 will tell the story. Do we keep the republic? Or will we become a true ObamaNation?

Anonymous said...

"Gold from Bullshit"

Sounds like the DNC slogan machine is full speed ahead.

Ron Russell said...

The old phrase from a few years back is beginning to ring true again, "Thunder on the Right."

Anonymous said...

Ron, you're giving me goosebumps!! Nice one!

AFRICA EM POESIA said...

WANT


Want ...
And not like ...
Ser ...
And do not be ...
Go ...
And do not go ...
But continuing to dream ...
And the dream ...
It's beautiful ...
But ...
Not real ...
The real ...
Not dream ...
It's true ...
Truth ...
Wanting ...
Be ...
Go ...
And most ...
Truth ...
It's like ...
But ... do not want! ...

Lili Laranjo

JihadGene said...

We must continue to fight these maggots at every opportunity. If they don't hold town halls then find where he or she or it (Barney Frank) is speaking and picket there! If ya gotta be a one man mob then JUST DO IT!

Anonymous said...

Gene... Maggots? C'mon man, can't you write poetry like Lili. I searched through her whole poem and, nope, not one maggot.

I agree about tracking them down. They've made themselves into a protected class who cannot, and should not, mix with the unwashed rabble.

Anonymous said...

Lili, thanks for adding a heaping dollop of classy culture to my blog.

Maria said...

Oh ~ Thanks for posting the youtube video of Marine David Hedrick.
Perfectly spoken words...

All the best, Maria

Anonymous said...

It was my honor, Maria.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Would someone please tell the "ASS-HOLES" that the guns are to keep the government from becoming all too powerful.

Anonymous said...

No, Woody... For Libs, the only purpose for a gun is to hunt free-range radishes.