Republicans must think Latino voters are stupid.

As we come out of the Mid-Term Elections of 2010, one thing is absolutely crystal clear: Republicans think Latino voters are stupid . . . really stupid. In state after state Republicans are running ads featuring Latino-looking figures going under, over and around fences which are or are meant to depict our Southern border. Other Republican ads make false and misleading claims about the dangers of illegal immigrants to America. We are urged to be afraid, very afraid of the Republicans’ opponents. Such appeals have even been used by Republican Senate candidate Roy Blunt in Missouri, even though Missouri was a "border state" only during the Civil War. I'll collected quite a few links illustrating this nonsense: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU6Xq56CaCE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qP3DBLUOeQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uvp0Jljh6U&feature=related http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2010/10/roy_blunt_looking_for_illegals.php http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLgZ1LWLlko http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzDlN7VLmXQ&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVheLuooLUw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE6De4VqFfg Republican US Senate nominee Sharon Angle even used pictures of Mexican nationals in Mexico to try to make her point, and she used the images without the permission of the photographer. Republican jingoism and anti-immigrant distortions have been around for a long time, but now we have another far more sinister effort by Republicans to use immigration and immigrant status as a political tool. A recently minted organization calling itself “Latinos for Reform” sought to air TV ads to urge Latinos not to vote in the Mid Term elections. In Nevada, some 25% of voters are Latinos. The Tea Party, Republicans and their supporters claim that because of Republican obstructionism, which requires 60 votes to pass any bill, a comprehensive immigration bill is good reason to punish Democrats in 2010. The man who put this effort together formerly worked for the Republican National Committee and his treasurer is a Republican lobbyist. The Post Office Box of “Latinos for Reform” is the same as that of the group that gave us the “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth” in 2004. These efforts by Republicans and their Tea Party supporters may have borne fruit in the 2010 elections but, with some one third of the US population projected to be of Hispanic descent by the end of the century, such short-sighted efforts will only serve to alienate the Hispanic voters and encourage their voting patterns to tend toward those of the African-American community, which approach 90% Democratic support. Republicans may politically profit by their xenophobic racism, but in the long run they will likely only do themselves extreme long-lasting damage among Latino voters.

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Quo Vadis?

Electoral politics have become the playground of billionaires and corporations bent on ruling, not governing. Identifying and getting out voters in elections for political offices against these interests is noble but, under our current corrupt system ordinary citizens don't and won't have the money resources now or ever which the billionaires and corporate interests have. One way out is to adopt an immediate strategy of the pursuit of structural changes formed from the grass roots which may, in the long run, blunt the impact of the apparent rise of corporate fascism in America and perhaps turn the tide. States have the most critical role to be played in delivering aid to those hardest hit by our current economic crisis. States are where the tires hit the road, and states can act much more efficiently and quickly to meet the specific demands of their citizens. Even after the states have taken action, Congress can support these actions with direct funding and augment the strained budgets the states face with declining tax revenues in our recessionary economy. I’ll use an example of my home state of Missouri. [More . . .]

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Republican and Tea Party efforts to stop minority voting in 2010 elections

The NAACP says the Tea Party has racists, and needs to do a better job of policing its ranks despite Tea Party efforts to kick out avowed racists. But, an even more sinister effort seems to be underway by concealed and veiled contributions to Tea Party efforts in general and those for voter suppression in particular. Two billionaire brothers have seemingly set up the financial foundation for the Tea Party and other groups’ efforts to oppose any change in the political environment that the brothers deem unacceptable to their extreme far right wing philosophy. The efforts of the groups supported by the billionaire brothers apparently are now are focused on voter suppression in states such as Illinois, Wisconsin and Nevada where key Democratic seats in the US Senate are up for re-election in two weeks. The seat once held by President Obama, the seat held by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, and the seat held by the Democratic author of campaign finance reform, Russ Feingold are all in play. Republicans or the Tea Partiers are involved in alleged “voter security” efforts in all three states. See, also, this video. And see here, here, here and here. In Nevada, Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle has run a number of highly charged ads about alleged support by Senator Reid of “illegal aliens.” [More . . . ]

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The reason Democrats might lose is they aren’t partisan enough

Recent polls show that a majority of voters admire candidates which don’t compromise on issues. When we look at the recent political history of compromise within the Democratic Party, we may discern a major source of voter discontent with Democratic candidates in the upcoming November elections. Recently, US House and Senate Democrats failed to call up for a vote the expiration of Bush era tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans. According to a recent CNN poll, 69% of Americans support having the Bush era tax breaks for the ultra-rich expiring on January 1, 2011. Republicans adopted an “all or nothing” approach which clearly favored the wealthiest Americans and which Republican approach would have taken away Middle Class Tax Cuts from the Democrats’ Stimulus Plan and given them to the ultra-rich to the tune of $731 billion. The increase in the total national debt of $13.64 trillion from the Republican plan from continuing these tax cuts alone would be 5.4%. The White House also has adopted a “compromise with ‘yourself’” approach in an attempt to garner Republican support for issues even though the GOP has not supported anything put forth by the Democrats during the Obama Presidency. Witness the pre-legislative demise of the “public option” in health care which is still favored by a majority of Americans. Many Democratic candidates are running away from their votes for healthcare reform when according to a recent Pew Center study a majority of voters and large majorities of Democratic and Independent voters support those who voted for healthcare reform. So, while many believe that the “partisanship” of politics is destructive, it is clear that holding the line on your policies is more favorably viewed by voters than any type of compromise. Democrats are likely to learn a very costly lesson in the value of “NO!” come November, 2010. But, the lesson will mostly inform any future minority in the US House or Senate that obstruction and obfuscation are more valuable than compromise, even when a majority of voters support the other side of an issue.

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Stop the political hate radio insanity!

Ok, I’ve had it! I can't stand it anymore! The foulmouthed fruitcakes have truly taken over the airwaves and it’s time for sanity’s sake to put a stop to it, one step at a time. STEP 1: Every time one of the loonies says something obscene, profane, or indecent on the public airwaves report it to the FCC! I entered “FCC complaint” in the search portion of my internet page and got the FCC home page. I also found helpful the folks at the Parents Television Council (PTC) for how to make a FCC complaint of obscenity. Let’s take our fruitcake buddy Rush Limbaugh for example. Rush hasn’t met an insane hate filled statement he is unafraid to make about the Democratic Party, President Obama or anything democratic. On March 22, 2010, at or about 1 p.m. after the historic passage of healthcare reform, Rush said on his radio program and on the television feed of his program that; “We need to defeat these bastards…we need to wipe them out!” I know, some might say that “bastards” isn’t profanity or obscene or indecent. I sought out an arbiter of taste. I wanted to be supported in my efforts to ban these…people. I went to the PTC website. Yes, I have been there in the past to look up what they say about some kids’ movies and shows, so there! Sure enough, “bastards” is a PTC no-no. Stop the Insanity! [More . . . ]

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