We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
In These Times
How
did the Party of Lincoln and Liberty transmogrify into the party of
Newt Gingrich’s evil spawn and their Etch-A-Sketch president, a dull
and rigid man, whose philosophy is a jumble of badly sutured body parts
trying to walk?
By Garrison Keillor
Something
has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the
party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles
who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and
supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships. They were
good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their
party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and
Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element. The genial
Eisenhower was their man, a genuine American hero of D-Day, who made it
OK for reasonable people to vote Republican. He brought the Korean War
to a stalemate, produced the Interstate Highway System, declined to
rescue the French colonial army in Vietnam, and gave us a period of
peace and prosperity, in which (oddly) American arts and letters
flourished and higher education burgeoned—and there was a degree of
plain decency in the country. Fifties Republicans were giants compared
to today’s. Richard Nixon was the last Republican leader to feel a
Christian obligation toward the poor.
In the
years between Nixon and Newt Gingrich, the party migrated southward
down the Twisting Trail of Rhetoric and sneered at the idea of public
service and became the Scourge of Liberalism, the Great Crusade Against
the Sixties, the Death Star of Government, a gang of pirates that
diverted and fascinated the media by their sheer chutzpah, such as the
misty-eyed flag-waving of Ronald Reagan who, while George McGovern flew
bombers in World War II, took a pass and made training films in Long
Beach. The Nixon moderate vanished like the passenger pigeon, purged by
a legion of angry white men who rose to power on pure punk politics.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
|
||||
|
Recent Articles
Search
Login Daily Archive Categories
Powered by BlogHarbor
 |
Tuesday, August 31
We’re Not in Lake Wobegon Anymore
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 31 Aug 2004 05:52 PM CDT
The Banner Seen Round the World
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 31 Aug 2004 02:12 PM CDT
The Banner Seen 'Round the World
AlterNet.org In case you were wondering how protesters in NYC got that <--Bush, Truth--> banner onto the side of that building, here's the story.  It was an audacious idea. Whack the Republican invasion of New York with a stiff upper cut, even before the R's got off of their stool. Fire a preemptive shot seen around the world – and especially in swing states – that would strike the public imagination. Create and execute a clean, clear and inspiring act so cool that the media would be compelled to carry the message. But so many things had to go right, especially in those early morning hours when the anxiety was pulsing through the veins of crack climbers Terra Lawson-Remer and David Murphy, hanging at the top of the Plaza Hotel, and ready to unfurl their giant "Truth-Arrow North; Bush-Arrow South" banner. The highly organized activists – including compatriots Cesar Maxit and Rebecca Johnson – started their stealth effort at 5:00 a.m. from a cozy room inside the Plaza Hotel. At 6:15 a.m. they began rappelling down the face of the opulent building, a symbol of New York aristocracy and a favorite City landmark anchoring the Southeast corner of Central Park. Finally at 9:30 a.m. – more than three excruciating hours later – the banner was unfurled. (Click here to read the complete story.)
DFA/DFIA Meet Up This Week
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 31 Aug 2004 07:52 AM CDT
DFA/DFIA Meet Up This Week
Cedar Rapids Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 7:00 PM at Brewed Awakenings Coffeehouse - 1271 First Ave. SE Des Moines Grounds for Celebration, 2645 Beaver Ave, Des Moines, is the location. Wednesday, September 1, 7 pm Iowa City Wednesday, Sept. 1 at 7pm, UPSTAIRS at PIZZA on DUBUQUE, 5 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA (a few doors down from Prairie Lights) Bettendorf Thursday, Sept. 2 at 7pm at the home of Alta Price. Phone call with Howard Dean at 8:30pm. Email Alta at aprice@democracyforiowa.com for directions to her home. (Please don't RSVP at MeetUp.com for this event - it's a combo Meet Up and DFA House Party.)
Good News and Notes from Iowa and DFIA
by
Linda Thieman
on Tue 31 Aug 2004 06:11 AM CDT
Good News & Notes from Iowa & DFIA
This great design is by Darrell Lewis of Clear Lake
DFIA Signs Pop Up in Scott County It is not widely known (because it got lost in the shuffle) that a couple of weeks ago, when John Kerry came to the Quad Cities, DFIA Founding Member Darrell Lewis suggested that we make up some signs for the Kerry rally. So, DFIA Co-founder Dr. Alta Price had some special Kerry/Edwards DFIA/BFIA signs made up for the occasion (11 x 14, thick, shiny paper). The signs (see above) were designed by Darrell Lewis and can be downloaded from the right sidebar of Blog for Iowa in pdf format. (There’s also a great rainbow design.) The signs were a huge hit, according to DFIA Environmentalist Molly Regan, who distributed them at the rally, and many Dems asked to take them home. Molly agreed to this as long as they promised to use them again somewhere. Well, Alta reports that last Saturday, when she and Molly were marching in a parade in Molly’s hometown in support of the Democratic candidates, they saw a pick up truck that the Scott County Democrats take around to all the parades. The truck has all the candidates’ posters down the sides. Says Alta, “Prominently displayed on the windows of each side of the SCD truck, to my surprise, I [saw] the Kerry/Edwards/DFIA/BFIA posters. This is a surprise because no Deaner put those posters up.” The Kerry people had put them up! Well, that just goes to show that you can’t beat a good design. "But not this year" For those of you working hard out in the heat and humidity, day in and day out, I add this cheering report from John Drury, Dean Dozen member and Democratic candidate for Iowa Senate in the 6th District: While going door to door in Hampton [the other day], I talked to an elderly gentleman who told me that he was a Republican and that he had voted Republican his entire life. And then he said, "But not this year." Folks, that seems to be the theme for this election year. Republicans, young and old, are saying that they are fed up with the way this country is being run, and are fed up with the partisan bickering in Des Moines. Everyone realizes that the bickering accomplishes nothing for the people of Iowa and they simply want it to stop. John told me that this man, who must have been in his mid 80’s, admitted that he AND HIS WIFE had agreed to vote a straight Democratic ticket this year, and John added, that it’s not really that unusual for him to find people who feel that way. Oh, and by the way, the Drury campaign has really been picking up steam lately. Democratic Iowa Senate leader Mike Gronstal says that the seat Drury is running for is now one of the top senate seats that Gronstal's office is targeting. And there's excitement in the air as the Drury blog, run by Darrell Lewis, reaches all new levels of daily visitors. The Drury blog has the great distinction of not only drawing folks into the campaign but at the same time, creating a real sense of community - not to mention it frequently offers up hard-hitting exposés of right-wing Republican incumbent Thurman Gaskill. And believe you me, there is a lot to expose. Click here to take a look. Kerry Gets Solid Lead In Iowa Looks like what John Drury is discovering on the ground is finally showing up in the Iowa polls. According to the Centre for Public Opinion, John Kerry could carry the state of Iowa in the 2004 United States presidential election. A poll conducted by Zogby Interactive and published in the Wall Street Journal Online found that 52.2 per cent of Iowa respondents would vote for the Democratic nominee, while 45.2 per cent would support the junta. Go Iowa! Linda Thieman |
Blog for Iowa 
BFIA Writer's Guidelines We welcome Submissions Iowa Sites Child & Family Policy Center - Iowa Genetic Engineering Action Network Iowa Citizen Action Network - ICAN Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility Iowa Public Interest Research Group Midwest Environmental Justice Advocates Progressive Action for the Common Good Progressive Coalition of Central Iowa QCAD (Quad-Citians Affirming Diversity - GLBT) Iowa Blogs The Deprogrammer (Quad Cities) Iowa True Blue (Gordon Fischer's Blog) Iowa Voters for Open and Transparent Elections Political FalloutFight Iowa Rapid Response Network - Iowa
Iowans for Better Local TV
Air America
The Counterpoint
National FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Media Matters for America
|
||
|
||||
