How Bad Does the "Pledge to America" Suck?

So the long-awaited "pledge to America" was finally released, and surprisingly, it's a sad, flaccid little joke!




You want to know how lame this "pledge" is?

Erick "assclown" Erickson is ripping on it. And he's right! Erickson is right! That's never happened before. Do you know how disconcerting it is to read Erickson critiquing something and think "hey, he's got a point?"

Perhaps the Most Ridiculous Thing to Come Out of Washington Since George McClellan

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Wednesday, September 22nd at 6:47PM EDT

I don't know what his beef is with George McClellan. According to CivilWarHome.com, he was considered "A brilliant engineer and highly capable organizer." But I guess when you're Erick Erickson, you have to lead off with something moronic and jerky so people know for sure that it's you writing.

But anyway, here's the opening of the Wedgie to America:

America is more than a country.

America is also a crappy band from the early Seventies!

America is an idea – an idea that free people can govern themselves, that government’s powers are derived from the consent of the governed, that each of us is endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That free people can crib shamelessly from Thomas Jefferson!

America is the belief that any man or woman can – given economic, political, and religious liberty – advance themselves, their families,
and the common good.<--Communism!

Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course.

Yeah, I think everyone already knew about that. We call them "elections" and in those "elections" we vote for the folks whose agenda we would like to see enacted. And then you assholes filibuster, stonewall and otherwise impede that agenda.

An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down longstanding laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people.

but enough about us. . .

An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.

If by "self-appointed," you mean "duly elected," then yeah, I see your point. Obviously every action a presidential administration takes should be decided by a plebiscite, you know, the way the Bushies did!

Like free peoples of the past, our citizens refuse to accommodate a government that believes it can replace the will of the people with its own. The American people are speaking out, demanding that we realign our country’s compass with its founding principles and apply those principles to solve our common problems for the common good.

Well, you know, THESE American people:




These people are obviously concerned with "the common good"

With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America.

None of that means anything.
Even Erick Erickson can see that:

Yes, yes, it is full of mom tested, kid approved pablum that will make certain hearts on the right sing in solidarity. But like a diet full of sugar, it will actually do nothing but keep making Washington fatter before we crash from the sugar high.
(Red State)

It's really surreal, looking at something Erick Erickson wrote and thinking "hey, that's true. I can't argue with that."

We pledge to advance policies that promote greater liberty, wider opportunity, a robust defense, and national economic prosperity.

We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values.

we pledge to promote greater liberty, and also give the government the power to decide who may marry whom, and restrict reproductive choice.

We pledge to uphold the purpose and promise of a better America, knowing that to whom much is given, much is expected and that the blessings of our liberty buoy the hopes of mankind.

That also means nothing. This is an agenda? It's like saying here is my plan. Step one: Be awesome! Step two: Do really cool stuff. Step Three: Be an inspiration to others.
Wow, I think I've actually met all those goals!

Supposedly, this thing goes on for 21 pages. http://pledge.gop.gov/ only shows the one page.
So I may have to take Erickson's word for it when he says:

The pledge begins by lamenting “an arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites” issuing “mandates”, then proceeds to demand health care mandates on insurance companies that will drive up the costs of health care for ordinary Americans.

and

The plan wants to put “government on the path to a balanced budget” without doing anything substantive. There is a promise to “immediately reduce spending” by cutting off stimulus funds. Wow. Exciting.

There is a plan to cut Congress’s budget, which is pretty much what was promised in 1994. Seriously? In 4 years did the Democrats really blow up the Congressional budget? No — the GOP did that too.

Hey, GOP. Do you have any idea how shitty your plan has to be for Erick "ass-hat" Erickson to rip on it? He's the guy who tweeted this about a dumb TV ad:

Tebow's mom didn't abort. That's enough for Erickson to conclude that all pro-choice groups have no credibility. This is the guy you couldn't excite with your little "Dredge America" agenda. Do you have any idea how hard it is to NOT impress this little nozzle of a man? In a way, it's almost impressive!

Terrible Ad Campaigns - Nationwide Insurance

First of all, This is their spokesman.







This guy.

This is the sort of guy that you would cross the street to avoid, because just by looking at him you know he's going to be fingernails-on-a-chalkboard irritating.

And sure enough, he is.



And they bill him as:

The World's Greatest Spokesperson in the World

That's not funny. Not clever. That's the sort of thing I would come up with if I were pressed for time and sleepy and had no respect for my readers.

And if they have this great deal for safe drivers, why isn't it offered to the general public? You can only get this deal if this creepy turd-bag shows up at your house and you ask him personally for a special deal? That's total bs!

And when they tell him about the special deal, he gags? Who gags at good news? I gag when I see the Nationwide guy, but not out of excitement for the good deals he has to offer. Maybe he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. That would make me gag, if I suddenly was reminded that I was this guy:

And at the end, he says "hook, line and sinker!" as if that was a positive thing to say. Do the copy writers not know what that expression means? It's the sort of thing one says when one has swindled or snookered someone. "Hey, did the sucker buy it?" "Oh, yeah, hook line and sinker!"
Are we to understand that he is proud of having bamboozled this nice lady?


My worst fear is that this guy will end up marrying Flo from Progressive.


Can you imagine the horrible child they might produce?

Buuuuuuuggggghhhhh. . . . . Shudder!

Crazy Candidate of the Day

Today's Crazy Candidate is New York's Jim Russell, seen here edging uncomfortably away from the only normal-looking member of his creepy family



Mr. Russell would like to represent New York's 18th district in the US Congress. Mainly so he can keep them furrners an' dark-skin folks outta here.

Seriously.

Here's the first line of his bio from his campaign website:

I grew up in Jackson Heights, Queens where I witnessed first-hand the destructive effects of uncontrolled immigration. I attended Fordham Prep and Fordham University. . .

Okay? No one was asking about immigration. This was not the domestic policy section of the website. This was just the "tell us a little about yourself" section.

Want to know his economic policy?

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!

We must reverse the increasingly common trend of companies obtaining special visas for foreign workers

As for his views on immigration, here's what he has to say about his opponent:

Immigration

Nita Lowey scores an “F” on the current Immigration-Reduction Report Card… (click here)

The "report card," by the way, is issued by a group called "Numbers USA," an anti-immigration group.

About Us

• Amnesty
• America's Jobless
• Birthright Citizenship
• Black Americans
• Chain Migration
• Environment
• Farmland
• High-tech workers
• Illegal Immigration
• National Sovereignty
• Refugees
• Taxpayer Burden
• U.S. Population
• Unions
• Urban Sprawl
• Visa Lottery

I hope you will come to rely on this website to help you influence Congress to turn away from immigration policies forcing a more and more congested and regimented future for our country, our children and our grandchildren.

And his website even has a special section on HUD housing:

HUD Housing

Jim Russell responds to HUD’s court appointed monitor Attorney James Johnson’s comments about the HUD fair-housing settlement:

[Attorney Johnson's] phrase, “…its overarching goal of building a more integrated Westchester,” does not appear in the settlement document. As Johnson’s interpretation, it should have no bearing on the settlement. Before the County Board of Legislators voted for this disastrous settlement, they claimed that even if all of the selected housing applicants ended up being White, the terms of the settlement would be fulfilled. Now we see slippery Johnson, with his foot in the door, trying to change the agreement into one in which the result would have to be “a more integrated Westchester.” The best solution is to elect a new Congress that will amend all housing laws to exclude any requirement to “affirmatively further fair housing.”

It's kind of hard to tell exactly what he's getting at without seeing the original editorial to which he's responding, but basically, he seems to be upset that there aren't enough white folks getting HUD housing.

Okay, maybe I'm reading more into this than I really should. Maybe he's just concerned about immigration, that doesn't necessarily make him a racist!

But this does!

(from Raw Story)

GOP House hopeful Jim Russell praised racist practices, advocated eugenics in 2001 essay

By Stephen C. Webster
Monday, September 20th, 2010 -- 8:25 pm

Key passages from Russell's essay, all excerpted by Politico, are below.

“(T.S.) Eliot described some conditions for an optimal society: ‘The population should be homogeneous. . . . What is still more important is unity of religious background; and reasons of race and culture combine to make any large number of free-thinking Jews undesirable.

(speechless)

It has been demonstrated that finches raised by foster parents of a different species of finch will later exhibit a lifelong sexual attraction toward the alien species. One wonders how a child’s sexual imprinting mechanism is affected by forcible racial integration and near continual exposure to media stimuli promoting interracial contact.

Yes, only through forcible interracial contact could any pristine white girl find, say, this guy appealing:

It also compounds the culpability of media moguls who deliberately popularize miscegenation in films directed toward adolescents and pre-adolescents. In the midst of this onslaught against our youth, parents need to be reminded that they have a natural obligation, as essential as providing food and shelter, to instill in their children an acceptance of appropriate ethnic boundaries for socialization and for marriage.

Yes, if a white person marries a black person, just imagine what their offspring might look like!


No half-breed child could ever grow up to be successful!

"The sociobiological warfare that our youth is subjected to is likely to be even more diabolical since it appears to deliberately exploit a biological theory of sexual imprinting at the critical period of sexual maturity. Movies like this past year’s spate of miscegenationist titles, Save the Last Dance, Crazy / Beautiful and O, a parody of Othello, appear deliberately designed to exploit the critical period of sexual imprinting in their target audiences of white pre-adolescent girls and adolescent young women.

Movie studios don't make movies for the money! They make them so that they can manipulate white girls into being attracted to black guys! I see it all now!

“There is now afoot a conscious effort to de-Europeanize and to re-Judaize Christianity, through scriptural revision, internal treachery and external pressure.

Um, since nearly the entire Bible takes place in Judea, I don't think a lot of revision is needed to "Re-Judaize" Christianity. It's like re-southernizing Faulkner.

One possible strategy to counter these efforts is to encourage a re-Europeanization of Christianity into a European folk religion. Such a strategy might be bolstered by the argument that Euro-Christians should only accept the folk-affirming form of Christianity accepted by our ancestors

Okay, I don't know what "folk religion" means, so I'm just going to assume it looks something

like this:

“Jean Raspail’s Camp of the Saints . . . should be required reading for all persons of European descent who labor under the pseudo-morality of self-destruction.”

I didn't know what that was either, but here's what I found out:

In his essay, he also writes highly of the book, "The Camp of the Saints," a tome held dear by many white supremacists. First published in France in the mid-70s, "The Camp of the Saints" depicts a mass migration from India into Europe, resulting in a radically altered political reality.

"The book characterizes non-whites as horrific and uncivilized 'monsters' who will stop at nothing to greedily and violently seize what rightfully belongs to the white man," the Southern Poverty Law Center explained.

"Today, 'The Camp of the Saints' is widely revered by American white supremacists and is a sort of anti-immigration analog to 'The Turner Diaries,' the race war novel written by William Pierce, head of the neo-Nazi National Alliance,"

So, if you live in New York's 18th Congressional district, please consider Jim Russel. Consider how truly truly awful he is, then vote for whoever is running against him.

It Begins

The Sarah Palin backlash, that is. That's what's beginning.

This just in from the Values Voters Circle Jerk or whatever they call it, where Palin did not show up because she was attending a taping of Dancing With the Washed-Up Has-Beens:

[Family Research Council President Tony] Perkins, in a bit of candor that some conservative leaders don’t always voice, called Palin “a great spokesman” and added that "she says what a lot of people think."

"But you know a lot of people sometimes realize we shouldn't say everything we think," he continued. "Maybe it is that she is more of a cheerleader and one who rallies conservatives together as opposed maybe to being their top choice for president."

Oh, snap!
No he didn't!

More from the Values Voters Slumber Party or whatever:

The annual Straw Poll of dedicated theocratic nutball voters showed Mike Pence as the crowd favorite potential presidential candidate. Who is Mike Pence? Hell if I know. But he's not Sarah Palin. And neither is second-place finisher Mike Huckabee.

So, really, who is Mike Pence? According to the Wall Street Journal, he's this douche:

Associated Press

Also, he is a congressman from Indiana, which many consider an actual state and not just a swell racetrack for racecars.

Political analysts say Mr. Pence has credibility among establishment Republicans, as well as with the tea-party movement and social conservatives, which could could make him a contender for the presidential nomination

So, he's got cred with the assholes, the loons and the self-righteous prigs.

The tea-party movement has focused heavily on government fiscal responsibility,[and wild conspiracy theories] and many of its activists distrust establishment Republicans after the federal deficit run-ups over the last decade. Mr. Pence, a five-term congressman, is one of the few elected members of Congress to speak at tea-party rallies.

And that is, apparently, a selling point.

Mr. Pence opposes abortion and gay marriage—key issues for social conservatives—and has credentials with fiscal conservatives. In addition to battling President Barack Obama's fiscal policies, he led a failed revolt against former President George W. Bush's campaign for federal prescription-drug benefits for the elderly, saying he didn't want to create new federal entitlements.

I fought to prevent old people from getting medicine! Hell of a campaign slogan!

Palin, by the way finished 5th in the poll behind Pence, Huckabee, Romney and Gingrich. She received 7% of the values vote. 7%. Looks like maybe the long honeymoon is finally over.

Fun Facts about Christine O'Donnell (non-masturbation-related)

She thinks there are mice with human brains being made in labs.

"They are -- they are doing that here in the United States. American scientific companies are cross-breeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains. So they're already into this experiment." -- Christine O'Donnel, 2007.

She "Dabbled into Witchcraft?"





She thought she could give the keynote address at the Republican Convention

Several former aides said that as the Republican National Convention approached, O'Donnell became convinced she could land the coveted role as keynote speaker — the speech was ultimately delivered by former New York City mayor and presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani — and booked an expensive trip to St. Paul on that premise.
"She felt like she had to go and was hoping she would speak," said Keegan, who said he couldn’t believe what a waste of money it was for a little-known candidate who had raised just under $8,000 by the end of June that year. "When she got there, she got lucky and got seated somewhere and said, ‘Did you see me on TV?’

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42321_Page2.html#ixzz1016F65ts

She believes that the only reason a man would want to be in a relationship with her is that he wouldn't know how to get off without her.



Dammit, Christine, if I ever figure out how to work this thing on my own, I'm gonna file for divorce so fast. . .

She's paranoid (a requirement, apparently, for entry into the tea party)

''They're following me. They follow me home at night. I make sure that I come back to the townhouse and then we have our team come out and check all the bushes and check all the cars to make sure that -- they follow me.''

—Delaware GOP Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell, claiming that unnamed political opponents are following her, Weekly Standard interview, Sept. 2, 2010

She has no idea what the word "feminist" means.

Asked if she considered herself a feminist, O'Donnell said: "Absolutely, but let me qualify that -- I consider myself an authentic feminist. Not as defined by the modern movement. And, let me clarify that a little bit more. I was an English major, so break it down: -ist means one who celebrates. As a feminist, I celebrate my femininity."

She thinks condoms spread AIDS

''A lot of the money that we're spending goes to things that we know will not prevent AIDS, but indeed will continue to spread the disease. A lot of our money goes to distribute condoms in high schools, and a lot of our money goes to distribute material that is literally pornographic.''

—Christine O'Donnell, taking issue with government programs on AIDS prevention programs, C-SPAN interview, 1997

She's not real good about paying her bills

When O'Donnell wanted to place an order for hundreds of campaign T-shirts, Keegan [a former campaign staffer] said, she asked him to put the charge on his personal credit card.

"I said, ‘No, how are we going to pay for them? Her famous quote was always, 'have them invoice it.' I said, ‘We can't do that. In 20 days, we're going to have to pay for it.’ And it's not like we had all this money coming in," he explained. "Whenever Christine wanted money for something, she wanted everyone to stop paying somebody else."

That included halting payment of checks to staffers, which eventually led to several of them leaving, including Murray and Keegan before summer's end.

But before Keegan finished his projects in August 2008, he made sure he called all the vendors the campaign was using.

"I said, ‘Don't take any orders from her unless you get cash upfront,’" he warned.

According to published accounts, O’Donnell was using campaign funds for half her rent and $545.98 to purchase a mattress or mattresses from Mattress Giant.

and she had lied about being a graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University, which had sued for unpaid student loans. She also had failed to pay her federal taxes and defaulted on her house payments.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42307.html#ixzz101AcRYLX

(although, in her defense, her financial problems may stem largely from the fact that she has apparently never held an actual job, seeming to always be employed as the spokesperson for one phony wingnut group or another)

She doesn't understand the economy. Or what socialism is. Or very much of anything.

''America is now a socialist economy. The definition of a socialist economy is when 50% or more your economy is dependent on the federal government.''

—Delaware GOP Senate nominee and Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell

She's on Linkedin!

(http://www.linkedin.com/in/christineodonnell)

Christine O'Donnell

Media Consultant and Political Commentator

Greater Philadelphia Area

• Contact Christine O'Donnell

Christine O'Donnell’s Education

• Fairleigh Dickinson University

  1989 — 1993

• Claremont Graduate University

  Constitutional Government

• University of Oxford

  “Post Modernism in the New Millennium”

(There are real doubts as to whether she ever actually took a class at Oxford --see here-- I don't see how she could have afforded to take an Oxford class when she couldn't pay her Farleigh-Dickinson bills, but whatever.)

President and Founder

The SALT

(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

I don't know what the SALT is, I would have said the Soviet Arms Limitation Talks, but that can't be it, so I looked it up.

according to the Daily Beast:

O’Donnell, a former spokeswoman for Concerned Women for America, had founded an organization called The Savior’s Alliance for Lifting the Truth, or The SALT, in 1996; it was meant to organize young people around opposition to abortion, sex education, and homosexuality.

. . . The SALT wasn’t much of an organization. It was run out of O’Donnell’s apartment, where Richards lived for his first month in California, and the two of them seemed to be its only employees. But O’Donnell was good at getting publicity. She appeared frequently on Politically Incorrect and other talk shows, and the two of them toured the country, giving press conferences and speaking at churches and colleges about sexual purity and curing homosexuality.

Toward the end of the Clinton administration, she protested the appointment of James Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg, a posting the religious right opposed because Hormel was gay. “The SALT was concerned about Hormel’s ties to the pedophile-rights movement,” her website said, though there was not a shred of evidence behind the slur. In 1997, in a clip recently unearthed by Talking Points Memo, she appeared on C-SPAN, where, looking fresh, lovely, and innocent, she objected to AIDS sufferers being called “victims” because the disease is the product of their own actions.

Wow! What a horrible person!

O’Donnell’s demonization of gay people is especially striking given the fact that, according to Richards, she has a sister who is openly lesbian.

Aaaaand, she's even worse!


Even the ultra-right Weekly Standard calls her a liar.

On Sunday, John McCormack, a writer for The Weekly Standard, reported that in 2005 O'Donnell filed a lawsuit asking for $6.9 million in damages for alleged gender discrimination and wrongful termination by a conservative nonprofit organization called the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

She dropped the lawsuit in 2008, saying she could no longer afford an attorney.

In addition to raising questions about the alleged harassment, the article questioned her honesty in part by highlighting a claim in the lawsuit that O'Donnell once tried to take graduate-level classes at Princeton University.

According to The Weekly Standard, the lawsuit alleged O'Donnell "lost the increased earning power that a master's degree from Princeton would have created. In the future with proper finances, Miss O'Donnell should probably be able to return and complete that program."

The problem was that O'Donnell never took any graduate courses at Princeton, something she acknowledged to CNN.

I don't know why she lies about going to these elitist fancy-schmancy schools. It's not like the teabaggers are impressed by education.