Sunday Roundup

Next week, Adam and Kris duke it out to see who will be the next American Idol. This week, Republicans duked it out to see who would be the next American Idiot. Sen. Jeff Sessions argued for keeping Guantanamo open by pointing to the "tropical breezes blowing through" the prison. Rep. Pete Sessions claimed President Obama is intentionally driving up unemployment and diminishing stock prices to "inflict damage and hardship on the free enterprise system." And Kim Hendren, a Republican Senate candidate from Arkansas, referred to Chuck Schumer at a campaign event as "that Jew," then dug himself deeper: "I was attempting to explain that unlike Sen. Schumer, I believe in traditional values, like we used to see on The Andy Griffith Show." I guessed he missed the episode about Goober's bar mitzvah. The Grand Oy Party.

Comments

[thucy3]

I was struck by the comment about how at least one Republican leader is nostalgic for those "traditional values, like we used to see on the Andy Griffith Show."

Admittedly, it's been a very long time since I've seen an episode, but even as a kid watching it every week I wondered how it was that a town in North Carolina could exist without one single African-American resident. Was I missing something, or wasn't it the case that Andy, Barnie, Opie, Aunt Bee, Gomer and Guber, Otis, in fact every single citizen of Mayberry was white? Every school kid and teacher, everyone in the barber shop, every single pedestrian taking a stroll down Main Street, all of them white white white. Not even the occasional black visitor, as I recall. It's as if African-Americans didn't even exist.

Strange then, how segregated Mayberry gets held up as the GOP's city on a hill.

But like I say, it could be there are episodes with black characters I simply don't remember. If so, someone please enlighten me. Otherwise, I can't help but see this nostalgia for "the traditional values" of Mayberry as at least somewhat disturbing.

[gisellestwocents]

I am a true fan of yours, Arianna! You know what's going on with American Idol and with the substantive financial, social and poliical affairs of the day. A beautiful, well-rounded, down-to-earth, compassionate and highly intelligent woman of means. I catch you on TV whenever I can. You're such a role model...much respect.

[Kenpasadena]

Sorry Ms. A, the focus is on your speaker, Nancy and how she lies all the time. Like a little kid she finally got caught and it's not pretty. She wanted to put Bush on trail and now she's on trial. Just in time to mess up the spotlight on healthcare. Awww what a shame.

[mypicasso]

Ken,

And what, exactly, does this have to do with the article?

[habajebe]

Actually, Bush is on the 'trail," where he belongs. Pelosi is hardly on trial, except in the wing nut echo chamber.

It is ludicrous to think the CIA always tells the truth. I mean really. They knew what they were doing was illegal, but wanted to minimize exposure at the time. So they told bits and pieces of the truth, embellished their reports and relied on fuzzy recollection to cover their tracks. These people are, after all, pros at this stuff.

[Articulator]

Sorry, Pelosi has not lied. That is nothing but a smoke screen. The right wing is doing everything it can to shirk responsibility for its actions.

[dogwatch]

The office of house speaker is so perishable. There is a long trail of fallen speakers. A truly strange office.

[dogwatch]

The reason they fall is that they trip on their togas.

[dogwatch]

They are desirous of being known as the intellectual party. From GOP to TIP. The intellectual party.

[nickmagoo]

oops, meant Kim Hendren, not Sessions... but Sessions' comment is just as ridiculous...

[nickmagoo]

I find it highly ironic Senator Sessions used The Andy Griffith Show as a signpost for morality when both Ron Howard and Andy Griffith endorsed Barack Obama for president. Perhaps Sessions forgot about that brilliant little video Howard made last year with his old AGS and Happy Days cohorts?

[mypicasso]

Nick,

What a smart comment. Bravo!

[live-aloha]

President Obama has taken the Sunday talk award. I'm so proud of his commencement address today. Way to go Barack Obama.

[KarelS]

I'm old enough to remember the Eisenhower Administration. My memory is vivid of Ike giving my father--a wounded, WWII veteran--free medical care for him, my mother and us kids. Plus, Commissary privileges. Ike knew of the sacrifices my father and other soldiers made and was willing to take care of him--especially since are family was a definite poverty case and could not have survived without these privileges.
Fast forward to the Bush Administration. Complete neglect of our soldiers, plus sending them off to fight a "military/­industrial complex" war that Cheney and his ilk profitted from immensely.
Fast forward even more to the goons mentioned in this article. If Ike, Dirkson, Javitz and a host of other "moderate" and responsible Republicans could see what the likes of Sessions and Hedren are doing in their Party's name, well, turning over in their graves would be an understatement.

[mypicasso]

Well said. I remember this era and Ike, Dirkson and Javitz were all men who were respected by the rest of us, unlike the loser republican idiots of today.

[theclosetconservative2]

Jeff Sessions citing "tropical breezes" wasn't the sort of defense I'd use for keeping Guantanamo Bay open but that doesn't mean there's not a good argument to be made. The prisoners of Guantanamo are much better treated than they would be in foreign prisons. If the worst treatment any of them have had is to have water poured down their noses, I can't concede to the fiction that they've been tortured. http://theclosetconservative.com

[KarelS]

As a Viet Nam Infantry vet who personally witnessed torture of an innocent "combatant", your intellectualizing of torture sickens me. You are not an American! Please leave this country for one that just loves to torture people for political expediency. I'm thinking North Korea, Russia, or Burma would be right up your alley.
I'll even help you pack.

[theclosetconservative2]

KarelS, please take a deep breath. I can assure you I am an American. If you witnessed torture of an innocent combatant, I'd be the last one to minimize your experience or how it scarred you. But I stand by my statements. Abu Graib was an abomination. The guilty are doing time. As far as Guantanamo Bay, what informs your thinking? Do you believe that waterboarding is torture? Or putting a caterpiller in a suspect's cell and fooling them into thinking it's a stinging insect? If you do, we can agree to disagree. Even though I can't figure out how you rationalize such a conclusion given what you've seen in Vietnam. http://theclosetconservative.com

[eilish]

Oh, did you miss the part about the torturing of women by sodomizing their small sons in front of them? Or perhaps that there are videos of the same? Check out Seymor Hersh, Salon.com, July 15, 2004. So, you oughtta try the pretend drowning and see if you wouldn't confess to being gay if they want you to.

[waitforme]

Hersh also said around that time that he saw pictures of dogs actually attacking and biting prisoners, not just being used to scare them as he had reported earlier.

[dianhow]

GOP says ' Obama wants to inflict damage on Free Enterprise ? How ridiculous !
GOP policy is what inflicted the damage - with the Reagan / Bush / W policy of deregulating banks & WAll ST. That planted the seeds to this meltdown. The greed- unethical behavior- lies - credit default swaps derivatives etc were the brain child of that policy - pushed along by the likes of Greenspan and others. GOP has never taken any responsibility for this crisis ?
They have no cajonnes - just a bunch of wimps . How can we prevent this crisis from happening again - if no one tells the whole truth so we can avoid it ?

[theclosetconservative2]

Arianna while you're right to point out how Kim Hendren used anti-semitic language that has no place in civil discourse, you go a bit far by equating the remarks of other Republicans with what she said. Your statement that they're competing to be the biggest idiot was too much. You have more class than that. http://theclosetconservative.com

[waitforme]

Oh, ho hum.

[habajebe]

Being lectured on "class" by a torture defender. Tr0lls never cease to amaze me.

[thepathforward]

The Republicans seem to have amazingly grabbed and are controlling much of the message on the possible torture issues as possibly related to Iraq issues, and have also amazingly turned much of the issue of accountability for possible breaches of law relative to torture and possible connections to the (currently) unjustified war in Iraq into a political shell game (or political whack-a-mole game) regarding their recent Speaker Pelosi accusations.

IMO this seeming successful Republican diversion of the overall torture legal issues, and as possibly related to Iraq, may be a consequence of a to-date seeming lack of involvement of the Judicial/L­egislative Branches (IMO the Federal branches that should be taking on this issue and not the executive branch) in (legally) investigating the overall information streaming in from many directions. One doesn’t get a sense from news reports of all that much legal urgency regarding possible torture investigations and possible connections in justifying the war in Iraq. Noting that over 4,500 of our brave troops gave their lives in Iraq and tens of thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women, and children also lost their lives relative to the (currently) unjustified Iraq war, it seems that would be critically important.

Pres. Obama has enough to do to right our American ship regarding all of the other critical issues going on. The legal issues should be addressed by the appropriate Federal legal agencies to maintain balance between the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.

[dianhow]

Agreed GOP controlling the message ? Yep - With the news media's help. Why isn't the gutless media keeping US advised of the true facts ? That is - or used to be- their job. These highly paid anchors are aligning themselves with the ' other' fat cats of the world. Corp owned news media is self serving, and controls all we hear..I listen PBS BBC NPR Tribune- even C- Span for another view of the news. The Far right is quite good at re framing the argument- and so many fall for it.
We all have to think critically..that is a must.

[gisellestwocents]

They're getting their message out, but they're not controllong public thought on the issue. Their conversation is often illogical and always scary. Uncontrolled executive power is dictatorship. Torture is sadistic. Anyone who justifies either is just plain scary.


Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God.

Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the PURE IN HEART for they shall see God.


That's what my book says anyway. So, brothers and sisters in the faith...be careful of who you listen to...

[waitforme]

You lost me at IMO. I don't have time to try to figure out what a writer means by abbreviations. Why not take a moment to write out what you mean?

[habajebe]

If you can't figure it out, you probably don't need to know, IMO.

[ConnieInCleveland]

Do you think Peggy Noonan purposely showed President Obama disrespect, by referring to him as Mr. Obama, instead of his respected title, President Obama on Meet The Press this morning?

President Obama is no longer Mr., he's President. I thought it was a subtle sign of disrespect for President Obama.

[KayJay90]

"Mr. President" probably would have been more correct than either.

I note that Noonan (hey, I can do this "name dissing" thing, too!) calls Pres. Obama "Mr. Obama" in her columns, too.

Heck, Peggy Noonan is usually one of the neocon right's favorite punching bags because she's not as far right as they'd like her to be. You mean she did something they might APPROVE of?

[davidcannon]

The issue is consistancy. What title did she give the former president when writing about him. Was it President Bush or was it Mr Bush?

[habajebe]

Sometimes, you wish Peggy would just "keep walking."

[ElKabongJr]

I believe the Republican party has suffered irreparable damage from the extreme right....they have pretty much destroyed our economy.....and this happened because the Republicans have been out of touch with the majority of people in this nation..including the majority of Republicans....in the end I think the Republican party can be of great service to the nation, but it must move to the center, to a more moderate more reasonable stance, and a more practical approach to the solution of its fundamental problems such as states rights, abortion, family, and government....there are practical steps that this party can take especially towards reintroducing a "conservative" life style to Americans. But this must be understood as being far different from what conservative politicians have inflicted on the American people so far...that is a radical, anything but practical, almost psychotic agenda that all but destroyed us. We need a return to a practical Republican party with a real politically "conservat­ive"agenda­. There is a real difference between Dick Cheney, and Olympia Snowe for example yet they are both "conservatives" in essence, one is practical, one is radical.

[waitforme]

I don't know if you want readers to understand you or not, but you didn't get much across to this one.

I agree with you about 'psychotic agenda' of the Republican party.

But you don't explain what you mean when you use 'states rights'; 'abortion' (that's the most obvious; I assume you mean abortion rights); 'family' (what is the problem with 'family' or 'families'? are you pro-family or against families? or what?); and 'government'.

And what do you mean by Dick Cheney and Olympia Snowe being conservatives and one 'practical' and one 'radical' -- which is which? What do you mean by those terms? It is a complete mystery to me, especially as applied to those two.

[habajebe]

Well, at least he didn't use any abbreviations.

If you can't tell the difference between Dick Cheney and Olympia Snowe, ideologically speaking, you should step away from the computer, turn off Fox News and get a clue.

[mypicasso]

They're finished. No one cares and none of these people have anything to offer this country or to the world. We need to start another party. I am writing off the republicans. That's all they deserve, absolutely nothing more.