Leading off the evening, yet another Republican in a sex scandal. Rep. Chris Lee of New York got busted posting shirtless photos of himself on Craigslist saying he was single when he's, in fact, married. The shame is, he could have just kept his job but he resigned as soon as the thing came to light. He could easily have followed in the footsteps of Larry Craig, John Ensign, or David Vitter. It's not like he's a Democrat. Republicans are very forgiving when one of their own gets caught up in this sort of thing.
He was your typical politician. He's got an MBA. He was an executive in the company his daddy started. His family is very involved in party politics. This is all the same for most Dems and Republicans. He just couldn't keep it in his pants as is common among politicians as well. Most aren't stupid enough to post their photos online; that's unique. It still could have been painted as a liberal smear campaign but it's not like he doesn't have a nice chunk of money to fall back on so, whatever.
Much more this week has been made of the current state of affairs in the Republican party. Well, except for more fun news about Glenn Beck totally losing it. For many years now the Republican party has been involved in a nasty internal struggle. Not that the Dems haven't with the Blue Dogs vs. the Progressives, but in the Republican party it's much more volatile.
You have the traditional bank and business loving types, Episcopalian, button-down, country clubbers, versus the whacko far right fringe. The traditional Republicans have typically kept the rabble in check with occasional bills that they know will never be passed: going way too far in attempted abortion restrictions, the Ten Commandments, gun stuff, you know the routine.
The problem now is that the rabble has begun to organize and its voice is getting much louder in the form of the Tea Party. In fact, it's being suggested that the Republican party is looking more likely to go the way of the Whigs as it is increasingly marginalized. There just aren't enough people in America making enough money to keep voting for a party that only serves the interest of the wealthy. It's not enough to vote to put an assault rifle in every classroom to cover the other vote you made allowing some American company to offshore it's operations and pay no taxes. The Tea Party people want the assault rifles in the damn classrooms dammit!
So, while the new Republican controlled House of Representatives has made much of the storyline that they'll be voting to bring JOBS to Americans, their first weeks have been spent on abortion related issues in an effort to pander to the idiots.
The Tea Party is the voice of the real majority in the Republican party. A recent poll showed that something like 40% of Republicans believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim. The vast majority of those, I'm sure, are Tea Party people. Tea Party people are not intellectually curious in the least. They get their "facts" from Beck, Rush, Drudge, Palin .... in other words, they are fed and easily digest a strict daily diet of lies. This makes the Tea Party so dangerous that it scares the crap out of me.
These people know next to nothing about history or politics or even what's actually going on in the rest of the world. They live and breathe a fictitious, alternate reality. The bigger problem though is that mainstream Republicans are having to cater to these lunatics in order to save themselves politically.
There has never been a time in U.S. history when the media has so much on its shoulders. If the U.S. President won't even openly address this glut of misinformation, well, he did at first but FOX News bit back and he backed off in order to "play to the middle", then the media has the responsibility to try to educate the public. They need to stop worrying about the Kardashians, Charlie Sheen, Lindsey Lohan, et al, and get on with the business of actually reporting the news. Save the rest for trash like TMZ.
On a side note, I think it's hilarious how House Majority Leader John Boehner keeps harping on his humble beginnings. The life story we keep hearing is meant to show you how he's one of us, the little people. As if this would keep him in check on Capitol Hill and he would be looking out for our interests and not feeding at the buffet the lobbyists set up for him.
Not saying Boehner is Hitler but it's worth noting the Hitler came from humble beginnings as well. He wasn't part of the East Coast elite. He was from a family of little means, was in the military but never an officer, got started in a grass roots political campaign, etc. Just because you come from humble beginnings doesn't mean you'll always be humble. Just a thought.
I'd also like to say that I don't think Obama is actually religious at all. I don't think many politicians actually believe in any kind of God. I know they have to say that they do because they have to. Unless you're from San Francisco, you have to be part of some kind of organized religion or you're unelectable. Maybe I'm just cynical but I find it hard to believe that you can be in a situation where you've learned and seen so much and been so educated and still believe in the supernatural.
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