Real Liberal quotes from real Liberals~Sunday Edition

"Well, there's a certain mean spiritness that's out there, not only in Alabama but it's in America. And that makes this election extremely important." ~Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders (D)

Fear can be on hell of a force multiplier, provided it’s impetus is the right one. We can now justify being afraid. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get your fear on. It’s long since time you got your mad on.~Michael Douglas

"One of the things we can't do is, we can't let them distract from what we're all about, and what we're trying to accomplish. We're trying to keep the focus on comprehensive, universal health care reform, and they're going all over the place. They are desperate, uh, they don't have leadership, uh, they really don't know what to do, and so, I think we're going to continue to see a lot of crazy things happening, like all of the, uh, outrage that has been demonstrated at these town hall meetings, like the kind of statement that Congresswoman Jenkins made, and let them define themselves, let them reveal who they are. The American public needs to see that."~Rep. Maxine Waters (D.CA)

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beware of fears racist temptation~Keith Olberman

Alabama is stuck in both a time warp and in a black hole of its own making with regard to race. There can be no change unless people are willing to smash the taboo of cross racial cooperation.~skepticalbrotha

Republican health care plan: Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly.
~Rep. Alan Grayson (D.FL)

Who is WE fundmaker?

Confederate General Robert E. Lee sig line blogger fundmaker has the nerve to ask Does Nancy Pelosi deserve to be Dem leader on the front page at right leaning Left in Alabama.

Nancy Pelosi held a news conference on Friday to announce that she intends to remain leader of the Democrats in the House. While she recieved statements of support from a few veteran Dem's such as Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill), she has drawn multiple comments of criticism from other Democrats, based on concerns that she may not represent the consensus anymore. Other worries are that she has played a direct role in the defeat Democrats suffered at the hands of the Republicans in the recent mid-term elections.

Does Pelosi deserve to remain leader? Do we need fresh blood? Do we need a more mainstream leader?

First of all it should be Does Nancy Pelosi deserve to the DEMOCRATIC leader and secondly who the heck is WE?

Because of the branding issues and stigmas associated with the words, "Conservative, Liberal, Socialist, Right-Winger, Lefty, Yellow" it is very hard to find descriptives to use for ones political mindset. Even if there were no stigmas, the descriptives are so broadly interpreted now that you still have to wonder what they actually mean.

Let me explain. If I call myself a "Liberal", that does not mean I am pro-abortion and anti-gun in my opinion. But, it might mean that to someone else. The definitions of descriptives are far too broad today.

On a personal level, I feel like the most descriptive words to actually describe my ideaological platform would be "Socialist" and "Conservative". No, I am not a Soviet era sympathizer. In fact, I despise communistic principles. I do however support some socialistic aspects. I want to list some of my views on issues and you guys try to describe me using descriptives. Rename me....

Have you been defined yet? And what do you mean by do WE need someone "more mainstream"? Somebody like this?

If I like a candidate, I vote for them. If I don't like the candidate, I don't vote for them. If I like both candidates, I go with the one I like the best. If I don't like either, I either go with the lesser of two evils (if the other choice is truly horrible) or don't vote at all in that particular race.

The letter next to a person's name has little to do with who I vote for. Everyone has good folks and bad folks. I'm not going to vote for a bad candidate or hold back from voting for a good one just because of his party affiliation.

What's up with the race baiting? Never mind, WE know.

While she recieved statements of support from a few veteran Dem's such as Jesse Jackson Jr. (Ill),

Since you have privileges I don't have at LiA let a DEMOCRAT answer your question.
Does Nancy Pelosi DESERVE to the the DEMOCRATIC Leader?

HELL YES. Nancy Pelosi is effective and is reading willing and able to stand up to Boehner. She has proven she is not skeered to stand up to the right wing Bully's. Any other Minority leader will be nothing but a republican enabler. Which is why republicans are skeered to death of her.

Let's revisit the post from yesterday about the Blue Dogs and other conservatives who threw Pelosi-- and the Democratic brand-- under the bus to try to save their own asses. The question was, "did it help any of them?" Well, every single challenger who came out with idiotic statements like, "I'll support Allen Boyd for Speaker" (grotesquely corrupt Alabama lobbyist Steve Raby), was defeated. The three most aggressively anti-Pelosi Blue Dogs, Bobby Bright (AL), Jim Marshall (GA) and Gene Taylor (MS), were defeated. Blue Dogs Mike McIntyre (NC) and Jason Altmire (PA) managed to survive the slaughter. More than half the Blue Dogs were defeated or retired. Only 47% of them, a number which will go down when Jim Costa's (CA-20) likely loss is announced later today) were reelected. Contrast that to the 95% of the Congressional Progressive Caucus members who were reelected.

If WE democrats wanted a republican leader WE democrats would elect republican leader.

The reason the gop infused, media enabled Tea Party hijacked Hope and Change was because republicans were UNIFED in their opposition. Unlike democrats, they put party before country.

I think when you run against your own party in this age of polarization you are begging the electorate to vote for your opponent. We aren't in an age of ticket splitting and the parties are breaking pretty clearly along ideological lines (even if the Democrats haven't figured that out yet.)

When WE democrats stop enabling and appeasing republicats WE democrats will win. Because WE Democrats are for right and THEY are for wrong.

Amen and Amen

The one thing that is needed with the Democrats in the state of Alabama is strength. We have too many Democrats that are afraid to call out Republicans for lying to the people of Alabama. The number one reason that Republicans have dominated this state is: the message of the Republican Party.

Democrats have allowed Republicans to dominate the message in this state. They used the right leaning media in this state. However, when Democrats have the chance to get quality media coverage, the message is one of cow towing instead of calling out Republicans. Sure Ron Sparks called out Dr. Bentley for not wanting kids in this state to get a college education, however, did he truly explain why Republicans feel this way? Republicans feel this way because they want to keep the masses “down and dumb” so they promote the message of “I am pro life guy” and people who have nothing will fall for it every time. From 2001 – 2007 Republicans controlled the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court, however, Roe v. Wade was not overturned. Why did not any Democrat (Sparks, Anderson, Folsom) call out Republicans? Do Republicans really have your best interest?

It's kind of hard for democrats to get their message out and counter the right wing spin out when progressive voices are suppressed and cenosored.

When Censorship Comes to America...

I'm not buying the Keith Olbermann was suspended because he knew the terms of his contract and he knew the rules spin. Keith Olberman is a liberal but he's not stoopid. And it would be different if MSNBC didn't have a pattern of firing progressive voices in favor of go along to get alongs. Remember Phil Donahue?

Gabriel Sherman's piece in New York magazine (10/3/10) on the cable news wars includes a bit of history on MSNBC's firing of progressive host Phil Donahue in 2003; an internal memo at the time worried that the show would be "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Sherman focuses on MSNBC personality Chris Matthews--who sometimes claims he was opposed to the Iraq War--and his desire to get Donahue fired:

Like LiA blogger Dragontide, I wonder if MSNBC was just looking for a reason to get rid of KO;

From the NY Times link:

"The suspension comes at a particularly tricky time for MSNBC. NBC Universal is in the midst of a change of ownership, with its potential new owner, Comcast, seeking final federal approval for the sale. It hopes to conclude the deal by the end of the year."
Maybe Comcast wants a completely different NBC. Seems to me that the proper thing to do would have been to ask Olbermann to not contribute to anymore campaigns and leave it at that. In any event, it's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Then we have Rick Sanchez who was fired from CNN after giving a satellite radio interview in which he called Jon Stewart a “bigot” and suggested that Jews run CNN and the news media in general.

Keith Olbermann was suspended after POLITICO reported he made three campaign contributions to Democratic candidates. POLITICO recently hired former republican Congressman Joe Scarborough and they have a daily segment on Morning Joke, I mean Joe.

Starting on Oct. 1, Politico will run weekly opinion columns by Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC host and former United States representative, and Michael Kinsley, a columnist for The Atlantic.

I smell a rat too.

So let me get this straight; MSNBC suspends Keith Olbermann for donating money to dumbocratic candidates, and their rivals, Radio Rwanda, allows their on air personalities to run for republican office? I swear liberals are getting softer and softer by the day. You all have got to get hard core like the republiclowns. Do you think Radio Rwanda would fire one of their biggest earners over some s^&t like this? Hell News Corp gave over a million dollars to that racist- right out of central casting- Haley Barbour, and didn't even sweat it.

Still, like Aaron Goldstein, I smell a rat. You know the world is upside down when conservatives are ripping MSNBC for suspending Olbermann.

It ought to be against network policy to use the public airways to spread lies and misinformation but I digress. Did Keith Olberman actually violate NBC policy?

Check out the fine print of what NBC policy said, as of 2007, about political activities on the part of NBC employees:

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee."

Emphasis mine. This is a bit difficult to parse. But this does seem to say that those who are worried that their "standing as an impartial journalist" would be jeopardized by political activity should report it. Last time I checked, Keith Olbermann doesn't pretend to be an "impartial journalist."

So let me see if I have this right(pun intended), MSNBc employees have to ask permission from management to donate their own damn money to political candidates? What if management says no? I guess only anonymous corproations are allowed "freedom of speech".

The story behind is the story is Keith Olberman got Dan Rathered by GE. Scared of losing influence with the Republicans in Congress, GE Executives cravenly did what they do best: protect their bottom line. Suspending Olbermann had nothing to do with drawing "a distinction between the journalistic standards of their news division and the standards of Fox." GE's own record of political contributions makes that very clear.

The difference between Keith Olbermann and Juan Williams is that Olbermann is in trouble for putting his money where his mouth is. Williams was putting his mouth where his money is. h/t AllesKlaar

Psst Keith, Rick and Dan! I feel your pain. You should join forces and start your own Network.

I keep on asking: WHERE THE H.... IS THE PRO-DEMOCRATIC MEDIA? (specially radio). I can drive through Texas and listen to at least dozens of Spanish radio stations and I can't find 1 pro-democratic station (only 1 in Dallas).

As long as we don't have "Pro-democratic" (liberal) radio in every major city in the US. Republicans are going to keep on ruling this country.

President Obama needs to speak on this.

Bring. It. On. Update

Dag, I step away from the blogosphere for a little while and all hell breaks loose on the political front.

Update: Sign the petition to put Keith Olbermann on the air now!

MSNBC suspended Keith Olberman without pay because he didn't disclose contributions made to three democratic congressional candidate. Psst KO! Don't you know thanks to the Supreme Court ruling all you have to do is incorporate (become a corporation)and you can donate as much money as you want. And, you can do it anonymously. Or you can be a right wing republican TeeVee Talking Head.

Even if you set aside the hypocrisy of the Joe Scarborough double-standard, Phil Griffin's explanation for suspending Keith Olbermann doesn't add up.

Griffin says Olbermann violated a policy requiring NBC News reporters to obtain approval for making political campaign donations that "jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist." But Olbermann isn't an "impartial journalist" and doesn't claim to be. Neither is Joe Scarborough, a point that NBC itself made in excusing Scarborough's donations.

Yep. There is something rotten in the Cotton over at MSNBC.

MSNBC suspended host Keith Olbermann today, following revelations that he made campaign contributions to three Democrats in the elections -- a violation of MSNBC policy.

But a search of OpenSecrets.org reveals that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and MSNBC contributor Pat Buchanan have also made contributions to political campaigns.

If the democrats had gonads (which we know they don't)Before the 112th Congress convenes, the Senate of the 111th would pass the 400 bills sent to them by the industrious House… That's what the republicans would do. Another thing the republicans would do is pick the member with the biggest gonads to lead them. But do the democrats do that? Nooooo. They want to throw the member with the biggest gonads under the bus in favor of the member with no gonads. The Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads are breathlessly talking about the brewing fight between Steny Hoyer (Blue dog), Jim Clyburn (too nice) and Nancy Pelosi to be Minority leader.

Let me say right off the bat I am behind Nancy Pelosi 100%. Why should she fall on the sword? She did her part. Plus that, she does not cut and run. If mild mannered Harry Reid, who barely won re-election can remain Senate Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi can be House Minority Leader. If Robert Gibbs, David Axelrod, Eric Holder, Tom Villseck and Valerie Jarret can keep their jobs, Nancy can keep hers. Plus that republicans are skeered to death of Nancy Pelosi.

Just because democrats lost the majority and squandered a filibuster proof Senate doesn't mean we should roll over and play dead. On the contrary it should make us fight harder. There are three things in our favor.
1. Democrats are still the majority in the Senate so they can check any craziness that comes from the house.

2. President Obama is still in the White House and has his trusty VETO pen and signing statements.

3. Most of the Blue Dogs are history. Progressives prevailed. The democratic minority is going to be as effective as the republican minority was because they will be UNITED in their opposition. Snicker

We don't need a mealy mouth or a Blue Dog as our leader, we need a proud, courageous liberal leading us. Like lamh32 said;

We need Nancy knocking heads now more than ever, since we are no longer in the Majority. Nancy seems like the ONLY one who can do that and who has a credible chance of being elected.

Sign the petition in support of Nancy Pelosi.

Hmmm...I wonder who 7th district Congresswoman Terri Sewell will vote for?

On October 19th, U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer, the Majority Leader of the House, will be coming to Birmingham as Terri's special guest at a fundraiser for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). She's also made financial contributions to other Dems in Alabama and is campaigning with Alabama Democrats up and down the ballot to prevent a Republican takeover.

It. Is. On.

Redeye's Week in Review

November 2,2010 the day our democracy teetered and fell into the abyss of hopelessness and despair. OK, maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I really don't believe the American people fully realize the implications of what happened Tuesday. In their haste to put President Obama and Nancy Pelosi in their places America was sold to highest bidder under the guise of "Taking our country back". They are taking our country back all right. Back to deficits. Back to all war all the time. Back to tax cuts for the rich. Back to Scooter Libby Justice, Karl Rove politics and Heck of job incompetence. Back to the days of deregulation. Back to the days of states rights. Back to the days of separate but equal. Yep...back to the future here we come! Yee Haw!

They've taken back their country so now do they want all of those of us they hate so much to leave their country?

You get what you voted for.

For all you teabaggers running around talking about ’socialized medicine’ and ‘ Obamacare’, when the GOP brings up giving you a voucher for your Medicare services, STFU.

For all you in Kentucky, when the next mining disaster happens and a group of folks winds up dead, when Senator Paul tells you that it’s ok for a few peasants to die in order to maximize the profits of the Mining companies, STFU.


For all you ‘recently unemployed’ folks who don’t seem to be able to find a job, and are receiving unemployment, when that runs out on the ‘good American’ that you are, and you realize that the GOP says, ‘ too bad’ and won’t extend unemployment benefits, STFU.

For all of you in Michigan who had your asses saved because the Government wouldn’t let the American auto industry die in this country – whatever the GOP does to you, too bad.

For all you parents who have a child with a pre-existing condition, and thought your worries were over because health care had passed and still voted for the GOP, STFU.

When you don’t have a pot to piss in, and you voted for mofos who basically want you to live as 3rd World Serfs, whatever happens to you – STFU.

Let us not forget to thank the media enablers for providing the getaway car for the hijacking of Hope for CHANGE we can believe in. None of this would have happened if they hadn't enabled the gop to portray President Obama as a Kenyan born Muslim miserable failure, and Nancy Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West. The media enablers continue to spin the results of Tuesday's election as proof the majority of the American people believe President Obama should move to the right. That's straight up Bull poo. The right was rejected, renounced and repudiated two years ago by the majority of the American people. White, so called moderate voters aren't the majority of the American people, they are the majority of the people who were motivated, for whatever reason, to vote in the midterms. The majority of the American people were not motivated to vote in the midterms and for that I blame the Obama administration for letting the media set the agenda and not effectively communicating his accomplishment/agenda with the American people.

Psst! President Obama I tried to tell you back in January this day was coming. Sometimes a loss is a victory.

Do you think loosing a filibuster proof majority in the Senate will be a wake up call to the democratic party? (We the people did our part and they squandered it).

Do you think they are going to continue doing the same old stuff hoping for a different result? (Losing in Virginia and New Jersey didn't tell them anything?)

Do you think they are going to grow a spine? (Never underestimate the power of fear and racism)

Do you think they are going to keep silencing progressive voices and criticism? (Put voices from the democratic wing of the democratic party on TeeVee and radio, bring out the big guns and stop taking a kitchen knife to the gunfight)

Do you think they are going to keep rewarding failure and continue to appoint and promote the Brownie's who managed and directed this heck of a job disaster? (We WON with Howard Dean, remember?)

Do you think they are going to continue to misunderestimate the power of the new and improved teabagger infused gop and their media enablers? (Enuff said)

Do you think they are going to continue to let the media and the pollsters spin the message and turn the winners into losers and the losers into winners? (Democrats WON in November, remember?)

Do you think they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, or do they have an escape plan? (Is it time to get rid of the filibuster?)

If tonight's loss strikes fear in the belly of the democratic party then tonight's loss is a victory. If it's doesn't then we're all in trouble.

It's official Sweet Home Alabama seceded from the Union this week. Just kidding. Seriously, the republicans now control the Legislature, The Governors office, the Supreme Court and the Attorney Generals office. Which means we'll probably see more democrats investigated and convicted of corruption. Grown a$$ people still can't gamble with their own damn money in Alabama. Residents in the Black Belt won't have them there evil gambling jobs and they won't get no daggumn welfare either! Residents in Perry County will continue to have toxic ash waste dumped on them. Alabama school children will continue to have separate but unequal schools. Government contracts and government jobs will dry up in Huntsville. The Alabama Education Association will be demolished. Joe Reed, Hank Sanders will probably be indicted for being black, I mean corruption. If Alabamians get sick they probably won't have access to health care. Students can't go to college, but heck they don't need no stinking education to get a job at.... But hey, that what we get for not electing Artur Davis as the republican, I mean democratic nominee, we could have at least put a black face on the situation. Yes that was a snark.

Well at least we have a Governor who is ready, willing and able to work for free, a Congressman from the 5th district who might or might not support earmarks, and a state Senator who has vowed to take out the trash in Montgomery.

Keep hope alive y'all, keep hope alive. There are some rough weeks ahead.