Bill Maher: The GOP Is Acting Like a Guy Who Got Dumped | | AlterNet

LOL

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Thanks that was funny. I love Bill Maher.

I don't always agree with him, but he's absolutely right on this one.

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Reading is Fundamental.

That was great! LOL Thanks for sharing.

I was going to say "Loved it!" but since I have to use ten characters, I'll just say very very true.
Oops! There I go showing my assiness again. Linnybop will have another cow. 8-)

I just don't remember the Democratic party going after Laura Bush like the GOP has decided they should go after Michelle Obama. For example, anyone have any idea what Laura Bush's clothing and footwear cost? I'd be willing to bet she didn't scrimp on either.

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Reading is Fundamental.

They went after Hillary Clinton pretty hard. They accused her of everything from being a lesbian to the murder of Vince Foster. They wouldn't be the GOP if they didn't launch a thousand baseless attacks. It's quite like a jilted lover's reaction.

To be fair, Laura Bush didn't do much besides read to children. I don't think that she much cared for politics, though and that is certainly her prerogative.

All part of the divide and conquer strategy.

The one thing I remember criticizing about Laura Bush was the way she got away with killing someone in that car accident. (Well, and her atrocious taste in men -- she seemed to be far too smart to be saddled with old Dubya). I can only imagine the GOP would be wetting itself if they had something like that to go after Michelle Obama for.

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Reading is Fundamental.

It's as if they don't have anything of substance to complain about so they go after Michelle and attack her shoes, her teeth, her shoulders. She is at a food bank, she is doing what she can to help others like they have asked everyone to do to change the way America is going but I haven't seen too many Republican Senators at the food bank. Where are those photo ops everyone can pick apart?

All the complaining..... It is certainly unbecoming and if I may say so......unpatriotic.

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

http://mylifeundertheabaya.blogspot.com/

We had about 14 or more years of over the top Republican snarkiness about the Clintons, if you all remember. So I expect no less for the Obamas. Good losers they ain't.

I've heard rumors about both Bush first ladies. But nothing that ever got more than a little lip service and was generally let slide. Laura drinks and smokes and killed someone. Barbara, (I don't want to say beat), "spanked" the kids when they were young. If I were married to The Shrub, I might drink too. And the Barbara story, who knows? She is evidently a force to be reckoned with. I even saw somewhere that her secret service retinue tried to avoid her. None of this may be true, some of it may be true, all of it may be true. But, for some reason, it's all seldom a topic of conversation.

Well, it's not a rumor that Laura killed someone. That's a fact.

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Reading is Fundamental.

I think the reason Laura Bush wan't faced with lots of criticism is because she really wasn't controversial. She didn't see her role during GWB's campaign in the same way Michele and Hillary did. Hillary tried to cop the same persona that Laura had (albeit before we knew of Laura) when she started sharing cookie recipes instead of opinions. Todd Palin didn't keep quite as silent as most GOP spouses, so had McCain/Palin won the election, I think he'd be fodder for a lot of yik-yak.

I think it's fine for political spouses to share opinions, but they do need to be prepared for them to be challenged if they choose to take that tack. Personally, I think it can become a distraction for the elected official if the spouse is out there stirring his or her own pot. I think of Hillary, and the obstacle sometimes created when Bill was campaigning for her. And when there were hints that perhaps Barbara Bush had a different view on abortion than her husband, that became the news focus for quite awhile. That's why I think it's wise for the political spouse to keep his or her opinions in check until their spouse is no longer running or in office. It has nothing to do with not being able to think your own thoughts or behaving like a Stepford... it's just that thanks to our media, it can quickly derail the message the actual candidate/elected official is trying to get across, and since they're really the only ones with power, they deserve the undivided attention of the American people.

But... once a spouse sticks his/her self out there, I do think he/she is fair game, and the reason I perhaps look at Michele with scrutiny is because she *was* out there making statements while campaigning for him that don't jive with what we're seeing now. Are they earth-shattering political issues? Not on your life. But they are interesting glimpses into the family that resides in the home of the most powerful man on earth.

I've never subscribed to the "If they're talking about something it's because there is nothing else they can come up with" theory of discourse. There are many trillion dollars worth of things to talk about where Obama is concerned. But the existence of those issues doesn't wipe out the presence of Michele. People died in Iraq the day Britney Spears lost her marbles, but Britney was still on the front page because she represents "human interest", just like Michele Obama does.

Michele? Michelle? I can never remember...

I don't disagree that Hillary overstated her importance, but exactly where has Michelle Obama overstepped her First Lady bounds? Working at a food bank? Talking to children of staffers? Maybe it was when she --egads! -- read to elementary school kids?

Pray tell -- what has Michelle done that offends you so?

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Reading is Fundamental.

And the answer to that is "It was in her past so it isn't relevant" Just as the former President Bush being an alchoholic, a former bad boy, McCain being a womanizer, etc. It is sad that the divide gets deeper and deeper. A few years ago, we heard get behind the President or leave the country. It wasn't patriotic to question anything the Bush/Cheney administration did. We need to be together more now than ever, as the previous administration has left this administration a mess to clean up but all some can point to is how much Mrs. Obama's shoes cost as evidence the President is out of touch with the American public. How quickly it has been forgotten that last year, Pres. Bush didn't know we were in a recession or how much gas was. I am betting that Michelle Obama knows how much a gallon of milk costs and I am sure that Bush's debit card hasn't been used at the Piggly Wiggly in years. I would bet that President Obama has pumped his own gas in the last few years more than a few times but I would venture to guess that Bush hasn't.

Obamas out of touch? I don't think so.

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

http://mylifeundertheabaya.blogspot.com/

Well, yeah. Because Bush was the POTUS and Obama wasn't. He probably won't be pumping any gas for the next four years.

Laura Bush was the driver responsible for a fatal car accident when she was a teenager. I certainly believe drivers responsible for fatal car accidents should be held accountable and punished as the law sees fit to punish them.

I would also say that it is my understanding that she did not intend for anyone to be killed when she got behind the wheel. That doesn't make the victim any less dead, but it does certainly place her in a different category than Ted Bundy. If I recall correctly, her crime was running a stop sign.

Looking back at my teenage years, I was a 'good kid' who occasionally drove stupidly. Like most kids, I didn't realize that I was driving a potential weapon. Kids think they have a handle on the wheel when in reality, they don't have enough experience to negotiate unforseen situations like experienced drivers do. Thank goodness I never had an accident... but it's a "but for the grace of God" thing, and I'd venture that that applies to pretty much everyone who got a license at 16.

ETA: For me, the litmus test on past behavior is 'time', whether they still maintain the same stance on the issue that they did when a statement or action occurred, and whether they admit to something or are denying it in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. If you said one thing last week and suddenly change your tune this week while you are running for office, I won't believe you. If it happened thirty years ago and everybody knows you were involved and yet you deny it, you are probably lying. Just come clean. If it happened five years...ten years... thirty years ago and you admit it and state regret and haven't shown a pattern of habitual behavior, you're off the hook with me.

Which might be a reasonable answer if they didn't so delight in the word "Chappaquidick." Hypocrites.

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Reading is Fundamental.

I just had to respond -- someone I know personally(i.e. a relative) was secret service for the Bushes and he said they were great people to work for and genuinely kind so the rumor you heard about Barbara's secret service people avoiding her is probably false.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Here is the thing that is so bothersome to me and maybe you can help me understand it....You say that if someone just admits what they did, they can be off the hook. What if they are telling the truth? Or is it the truth as you want it to be? I have wondered that a lot. The only way some people would be happy is if Obama and his wife got on TV and said "We are radical musllims who are moving the white house to Kenya, my best friend and confidant is Ayers, I am the force behind ACORN, thank you for giving us the control of the country so we can make all people of color in charge".

Overwhelming evidence is not to be had here. I just don't see the overwhelming evidence that all the rumors about Obama were even worth it once he said "no, I was not a good friend of Ayers". He says that he was on boards with him. I have been on boards with people and it doesn't mean that I am friends with them. I have social friendships where we see each other socially but if asked I would have to say I didn't know them. But you have overwhelming evidence that I would be lying because you know we were on boards together.

Gov Palin made some rediculous remarks during the campaign....I don't have to repeat them here, we all know what they are. During 2012, if we are so blessed, she will run again. If she denies what she said or says that she didn't mean it that way, is she going to be an okay candidate?

Pres. Bush never apologized for WMD that weren't. Is he off the hook? Does it only apply to Republicans? I am not being confrontational at all. If I am coming off as such, I am sorry.

Mrs. Obama is a clothes horse...she has said it and she has said that she buys off the rack. For special occasions, she has some little known designers do her gowns or dresses but from what I have seen, she dresses like a mother of two daughters...sweater sets, cropped pants, jeans, shirtdresses. If she didn't, she would be crucified in the media and Fox for not taking her role seriously. She can't win. Can't we give these people some slack? At least for trying to do what they think is best for the country? for putting their money where their mouth is? Where is Cindy McCain? Sarah Palin.... Has she been wearing her keds lately? Has she been careful to not be tactless and insensitive to the American population who are struggling?

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

http://mylifeundertheabaya.blogspot.com/

Bush not only never apologized for the WMD mistake, he made fun of it. Men and women dying and he's making fun of it. That was despicable.

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Reading is Fundamental.

Do you consider the "yellowcake" uranium they had to be a WMD?? Albeit old, prior 2003..... it is still uranium. Seriously wondering what is your take on this?

No one is saying for her to dress like a shlep, and I really think you and the others in support of her know this. But, what fun would we be having if we couldn't bicker back and forth about that untruth??? Her CHOICE of shoes, a pair that cost $540 (no, no price tag hanging from them, but, like all of her clothes, the price comes to light.....) was not appropriate for the "occasion". I really don't know how much clearer I could be on it. As for her wearing Keds, how great would THAT have been??? I love Keds, nothing wrong with them. I don't understand why you can't grasp the shoe situation....... I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

BTW, in response to another ??? you posed on another thread....no, couldn't find any pictures of Laura Bush at the food bank. Found lots of other pictures of her, and other members of her family doing other volunteer work. Any volunteer work, when done from the heart, is honorable, IMO.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Absolutely, but I don't remember anyone giving a run down on what Laura was wearing and enumerating prices of her clothes or saying she was hypocritical because of what she was wearing, do you?

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GO NAVY WRESTLING!!BEAT ARMY!!!
RJB 3/18/60 - 5/22/04
We miss you, sweet brother
God Bless the USA!!!!! Praying for my Youngster son at United States Naval Academy, class of 2014!!

http://mylifeundertheabaya.blogspot.com/

Ah, so the problem with Michelle is not wearing shoes appropriate to the occasion? Wonder what Laura Bush was wearing on her feet when she killed that teenager? Something terribly appropriate, I'm sure.

It's simply pathetic what the GOP chooses to attack her for. Horrors! She was wearing her own sneakers, purchased with her own money. My heavens, what a witch she is!

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Reading is Fundamental.

It was a test. Just checking to see if anyone was paying attention.

Just as long as the volunteer is wearing the right shoes, of course.

I would have to do some digging, but, I'm sure someone had something to b*tch about with Laura Bush and her clothes. It's possible that maybe she was in tune with the political scene enough to know what NOT to wear to certain functions. Maybe if she showed up to the food bank dripping in jewels and wearing a Vera Wang creation you could see the comparison better??? I give up......UNCLE!!!

Tammy, you no longer even warrant a response from me, as far as I'm concerned.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I actually didn't have Obama on the brain when I said that. I had Clinton on the brain... Clinton who didn't inhale, Clinton who hadn't had an affair with Gennifer Flowers, etc. Obama was forthright about his drug experimentation as a teenager. Bush was open about his history with alcohol. Bush hadn't come forward with the DUI story, but to me that wasn't a big deal, simply because it was one of many embarrassing moments connected to his drinking, and many had already come to light. I assumed that during those days he drove drunk whether or not he got stopped for it. And it was all bad.

Clinton has such a history of "deny deny deny", from the blue dress to all the rest. With Ayers, I assume that the truth lies somewhere inbetween the right wing crucifixion attempt and the complete denial of a relationship of Obama. I think Obama was probably a green new politician who was like one of many potential 'rising stars' that Ayers was happy to back, simply because he's a leftist and the Democrats are left of center, and so he surely gladly threw his support to whomever the party urged him to... thus the party launching Obama's career at his house. I think they traveled in the same circles, but I don't think they were necessarily fishin' buddies. There is no evidence that Obama tried to distance himself from Ayers through the years and that he didn't have any moral or ethical problems working with him, and that politically they are in general agreement.

Without going into details, there is a local Republican that I simply cannot stand. Not a politician, just someone I know through non-political venues. He is one of the few people that I know that truly repulses me, and I cringe when I drive by and see signs for "my" candidates in "his" yard. If asked to sit on a board with him, I would probably decline because the things he has done just repulse me that much. For whatever reason.... Obama did not feel that level of repulsion for Ayers. I think if pre-candidacy he had shown a strong negative reaction to an association with Ayers, it would have gone a long ways... but no, I don't assume they were buddies. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if Ayers bankrolled Obama's efforts on occasion (maybe even frequently) and Obama didn't turn down his money. That's just speculation - I can't remember what all was said during the election.

Palin was green, no doubt about it. She wasn't politically savvy when it came to the national stage. She also was not up to speed with national issues in the way I would like a candidate to be. I supported her in spite of that, because I knew that when it came to the issues, the root of her beliefs is quite similar to mine, and I knew that the Obama/Biden ticket absolutely did not represent my views.

If Palin re-enters the national arena I am sure I will support her because her core beliefs mirror mine. Regarding mis-statements she made during this most recent election cycle, my guess is that she herself will be the first one to say, "I didn't fully grasp that issue and was not as prepared as I should have been to respond. Since that time I have studied these matters and now believe..."

See.... I'm still not with you there. I understand why you feel the way you do, but I don't share your feelings or perspective. The substances that they found were building blocks for illegal WMD's and they were in his possession. Unassembled, yes... illegally in his possession, yes. Hussein had lied about their presence. He had shot at U.S. drones illegally. He was in violation of the cease fire. And while Bush was in the White House and pushing it through, without the support of congress and people like Hillary, the war would not have happened.

In other words... while you and those of your same mindset are firmly convicted that he was in the wrong, not everyone shares that conviction. I don't feel he owes *me* an apology.

Where is Cindy McCain? Sarah Palin.... Has she been wearing her keds lately? Has she been careful to not be tactless and insensitive to the American population who are struggling?[/quote]

Since they were not the victors, the media isn't telling us what they are wearing, so I can't speak to that.

Again with the yellowcake lies. It's as though it's just beyond your ability to comprehend the truth, or, maybe, it's just beyond your ability to acknowledge it.

snopes.com: Yellowcake Uranium Removed from Iraq

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Reading is Fundamental.

As far as I know, everything that they ever told us about the reason for invading Iraq were lies.

What's pathetic is that these people are still repeating these lies six years later!

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Reading is Fundamental.

What I find pathetic is that if we stay on track with Obama, we'll all be wearing the burkah's soon.

So, you are OK with the fact that yellowcake was shipped out of Iraq?

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

Shoes, lies, and back to burkahs again. Hmm. The GOP is acting like a guy who got dumped.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

You mean the 550 metric tons of non weapons grade uranium and being stored by Iraq with the full knowledge of the U.N. and the IAEA? The same yellowcake that was left over from Saddam's nuclear power plant and sealed by U.N. weapon's inspector, Hans Blix in 1992?

Yes, I am perfectly fine with Iraq being in possession of that particular pile of uranium.

I can't say that I have ever worn a burkah. How about you? Have you ever noticed how much they resemble a nun's habit?

Truth be told truth be known we entered into this war and never ever ever belonged there. Please God bring our troops home soon and safe and pray that no more innocent bloodshed come to anyone...I still cannot wrap my feelings around anyone who would support this war. Catherine

Well, I don't know of anyone that supports the war either. But I sure as h*ll support the troops that are fighting that war. I am not certain about some one that gets in such a tizzy about it. The poeple voted in a new president, nope I don't like him, yes, I was really upset when he won, but he did. I am trying to give him a chance to change things for the better, but I REALLY get annoyed when all people do is complain about how the war shouldn't have happened. I honestly don't know all the facts and I know that none of us do, the govt will never give us all the details, sadly that is just the way it is. BUT I have family and friends that are serving in this war, and I support them, they are the ones giving up everything so we can sit here and bicker over stupid things. It really bothers me for peopel to sit here and bitch and moan about a war we shouldn't have been in, can any of us change that fact? No! I want every single soldier back home safe, but we here can't bring them home, lbut we sure could be more supportive of THEM!

Please specify which person on this board said they didn't support the troops.

I am so sick and tired of that particular line of BS. That's just garbage and when you spout off lies like that, you start off with zero credibility.

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Reading is Fundamental.

I don't know why, but I thought of Chappelle's sketch, "Black Bush". It's raunchy in places but parallels our involvement in Iraq pretty well.
Black Bush | Chappelle's Show | Comedy Central

I am not as wise as so many of you on politics and national and world events....but I do have a different opinion as to whether we should be in war in Afghanistan with the Taliban and whether we should be in war in Iraq. I don't lump the two together at all.

But, I support troops deployed to both places....as well as Dijbouti, Columbia, Kosovo, Phillipines, etc....

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips