Surprise: Liberal Group Releases List of Republicans It Hates

CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, not to be confused with the infinitely more awesome crue, released a list of the Mostly Republicans We Hate “Crooked Candidates” for 2010. They’ve been getting play on a couple networks and former Democrat activist and CREW head Melanie Sloane has been insisting at every opportunity that her group is “non-partisan.”

Right.

Non-partisan in that seemingly every person listed as a title-holder on the group’s website is a democrat and that members have worked with SEIU, Tom Harkin, Al Gore’s climate protection initiative, and even Joe Biden (Sloane), which I think is important to mention considering the majority of CREW’s criticism is, momentarily, directed entirely at Christine O’Donnell who is vying for Biden’s old seat. The group is also funded by far left umbrella Democracy Alliance, an outfit founded by two former Clinton operatives who publicly lists George Soros as a major donor.

But hey. NON-PARTISAN.

Their list of crooked candidates lists two from Missouri (but oddly, not a whisper about Russ Carnahan who is now at the center of a controversy being that he voted ‘yes’ on the stimulus and his brother’s windfarm received $90 million dollars in stimulus money) and of course, Christine O’Donnell. They make hay over the allegation from a disgruntled O’Donnell staffer but their website makes no mention of the below, among others:

• The Pigford scandal which could cost Americans billions if passed by congress in invetted USDA claims
• The story of Eleanor Holmes Norton who was caught on tape violating FEC law by calling lobbyists and shaking them down for cash in voicemail
• Geithner, save for this, the most critical of the words written him (previously as reference only) on the website – note the difference in aggression when compared to O’Donnell
• An in-depth look of stimulus waste (it seems they focus mainly on lobbyists)
• An examination of non-elected health panels and the new process by which the FDA will regulate medicine under health control
• The ridiculous disparity between their address to Democrat candidates and their over-the-top, torches and pitchforks approach to Republican candidates. To wit: a letter CREW sent “expressing concerns” over the Dodd-Frank act in the Consumer Protection Act:

Today, CREW and 10 other government transparency advocates sent a letter to Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) outlining concerns with provisions in the recently passed Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Chris Dodd, one of the causes of the Fannie/Freddie disaster and they “express concerns.” Did they send a Hallmark card apologizing afterwards? Meanwhile their homepage is the equivalent of the graffiti on a girl’s bathroom stall wall, subject: O’Donnell. They pay a penance of going after fish-in-a-bucket target Charlie Rangel but a handful of obvious easy criticisms does not make a group non-partisan; consistency and lack of ties to a well-known progressive sugar daddy does.

The Mullet: Worse Than Witchcraft

Hi America! Due to the inane rumblings concerning what a teenager did in her youth, a teenager who in turn upset the establishment apple cart in Delaware, I figured it was time to put some things into perspective.

First, let me reintroduce you to the mullet.

mul·let: n. 1. pl. mullet or mul·lets

1. A hairstyle that is formed by cutting the hair short on the the top and sides and allowing it to grow longer in back.
2. See also Camaro crash helmet, Kentucky Waterfall, the Missouri Compromise.

Often defined as “business in the front, party in the back,” the mullet is the staple coiffure of mostly adult men who will never, ever get a date for who they themselves cannot pay. While the hairstyle was indigenous to the redneckius vir and was thought to have grown unpopular after the 80s, it has seen a recent revival in pop culture thanks to individuals like Bill Maher:

Maher’s hairstyle, despite the clever combing, is clearly a case of Kentucky Waterfall.

Look, we’re all guilty of inane, youthful behavior, some of us continue certain aspects of it (see the above mullet) well into our adulthood. We’ve all had stupid hairstyles, said stupid things, I even campaigned for the Non-Accusatory Knuckle-Pointer Clinton before I could vote and I and millions of other Americans used to tight-roll our jeans. One time my girlfriends and I even got – are you ready for this? – an ouija board out of a game closet during a slumber party at a friend’s house. OMGBBQGASP!!1! If any one of us were required to run for office while teenagers not a single one of us would have passed inspection. We had not the benefit of maturity.

So why is it now that Christine O’Donnell’s teenage admissions from 14 years ago are more relevant today than her positions on policy today? Answer: the left is trying to spin any candidate with tea party backing as “extreme” or as a “kook” and this is the only way they can since the majority of Americans identify with the grassroots more so than with the Democrat congress:

57% of Likely Voters Describe Democratic Congressional Agenda As Extreme

Independent Voters Favor GOP in 2010 Election Tracking

Most Say Tea Party Has Better Understanding of Issues than Congress

So O’Donnell “dabbled in witchcraft.” I thought the left was supposed to be tolerant? Do they not believe in grace for all, as the right believes? Wait – these are the same people who were calling conservatives “homos” outside of Right Nation this past weekend, so that point may be moot.

I wish the left would have made as much of a fuss about the Pigford scandal as they do over what a candidate said as a teenager. Notice how Bill Clinton can advise them on policy, yet nothing is said of his lurid past.

Let this stand as an example of tolerance and grace, but pay attention from what side it originates.

Can we get back to policy now?

Beck to Tea Party: No More Costumes

And of course Olbermann is having a field day with it.

I can’t say that I agree with Glenn Beck on his recent decree that tea partiers should stop wearing costumes and the like to rallies. Keith Olbermann recently featured my husband’s tongue-in-cheek quasi fictions rock band, The Sounding Fathers, in a video montage wherein he criticized Beck’s newfound insistence that ralliers leave the costumes and signs and dress “normally.” What Olbermann doesn’t get is that The Sounding Fathers, who played a set of liberty-infused rock like Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” was entertainment. Rallies of that size are entertainment first and politics second.

What Beck doesn’t seem to get is that it was this stuffed shirt reserve that made conservatism look uncool in the first place. People are finally discovering that conservatism is truly counter culture, rebellious, anti-excessive authority, James Dean, so don’t demand that folks go all pants-suit and abandon the implements which made this movement fun, attractive, and mainstream.

Conservatives lost ground in academics because they gave it up. They lost ground and completely ceded arts and entertainment because they thought themselves above it. They almost ceded social media, were it not for the #dontgo movement. Now you want to take what has been a successful grassroots movement and morph it into a watered-down country club style-protest? I may be exaggerating, but is it not also exaggeration of some extent to focus so much attention on whether or not someone wears a costume to an event? Beck acts like it’s akin to a furry convention instead of a few people here and there.

Who says political revolutions have to be stuffy and solemn? Who appointed an arbitrator to decide what is or is not acceptable dress, performance in what is a self-policing movement? Beck isn’t talking about the rare, if not planted, signs at events here.

Beck says:

I’m saying that maybe it’s time to lose — oh, I don’t know — the Statue of Liberty costume, you know?

Maybe no more dressing up, you know, with Abe Lincoln or, you know, putting the foam finger on your head or something like or the “Obama is a socialist” T-shirt. You might want to put it back in the drawer and let me explain why.

[…]

It’s very important that you understand the image — the image. Do what you want to do, but when you dust off the Statue of Liberty costume and wear it to a rally, guess who gets plastered on the front page of the news? You. And this is a problem.

I was in Seattle about a year ago and there were 10,000 people there. And as I was leaving, I saw somebody who was wearing a Statue of Liberty outfit. And I thought to myself, that’s going to be the one person they pick — just to make you look like you’re crazy. Guess what was in the Seattle P.I. the next morning? That one person.

[…]

And as much as my daughter says, “Dad, I don’t care what people say about my clothing” — well, other people do. Other people do. Don’t give the media even a chance to typecast you.

Why, after all of these months of Beck telling his audience not to measure their success by liberal media accounts does he suddenly backtrack and tell people not to dress up else liberal media will put you on the front page of a publication that no one reads anyway? The media typecasted conservatives BEFORE the movement or a few people in costume, they will continue to do it AFTER because why? They don’t like what we believe or who we are. Period. They typecast us for wanting limited government, for wanting to privatize social security, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I’ll tell you, you know what aides in this typecasting? Beck inadvertently assisting this narrative with the above.

The majority of Americans ALREADY identify more with the tea party than congress. They already think we have a better understanding of the issues. The majority of Americans ALREADY define the Democrats’ agenda as extreme. If this shows anything, it shows that the typecasting doesn’t work. It hasn’t been working for a long time, so why throw them a bone by encouraging people to be less … excited about grassroots?

The directive completely contradicts some hidden ethos of a movement inspired by, in part, a desire for more individual liberty.

I’ve met Beck, I’ve hosted an event for him here in my city when he came in for Bold/Fresh. He’s a genuinely nice guy, but on this, I must disagree. Make the revolution fun, betray the conservative stereotype, don’t feed it.

Mailbag: The Karl Rove Book Return Club

I received this hilarious email from listener Jim with the accompanying photo:

I’m sending his book back. His comments about O’Donnell were the trigger. He made a major mistake, he took off his mask and let us see who he really represents behind the scenes, big government and washington as usual politics. This tea partier has no desire to go back to the glory days of Hastert, Tom Delay, Trent Lott, and a Bush that could never seem to find his veto pen to control his own party.

Jim

There has been some speculation that Rove is setting himself up as the bad guy in order to help fuel conservative voter outrage and assist getting people to the polls this November, which, if true, is bad strategy because it presupposes that voters aren’t already on their own merit sufficiently outraged. They’ve been doing just fine right now without the assistance of any political dark arts. The other alternative is that he is as beltway and blockheaded as they come and has effectively neutered for the future any credibility or influence he may possess. One is obviously less ridiculous than the other, but the more I hear him speak the more I wonder if there really is no spoon and it’s really the latter.

City Uses Trash to Fill Holes

GRODY:

Central Services earlier this week used dirt filled with garbage and debris in 11 spots throughout town. That particular load came from the city’s Waste Treatment Plant.

Gary Sparks, Director of Administrative Services for the city, said only about 10 percent of the fill dirt used to come from there. Effective immediately, the city will not use dirt from that location again for filling purposes.

A resident found and took photos of the garbage, which included broken plastic and feminine hygiene products – after placing it in a pile. The photos were forwarded to city officials.

OH YES, Virginia, that is a maxi pad you see in the photo of the debris.