Bachmann Praises Obama's Win... Now....

It's so depressing that someone as stupid as Michele Bachmann could possibly be re-elected but it's nice to know that she appears to no longer regard Barack Obama as anti-American, indeed she now thinks his election is a thing of almost wonderment. The woman who believes that "all cultures are not equal" gives us her astute political take on what this event means.

Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told Politico Thursday that she was "extremely grateful that we have an African-American who has won this year." She called his victory "a tremendous signal we sent."

"I have not seen the United States as a racist nation," said Bachmann, who represents Minnesota's 6th Congressional District, in the east-central part of the state. "In my district, I don't sense racism, and that's why I'm thankful that hopefully this will send a national signal across our country that America is not a nation made up of racists. ... On the same hand, I hope that the national media will not confuse disagreement with Obama's policy positions with being consumed [by] racism."

This has occurred a lot this year where, now that the election is over, the Republicans seem to want to let us know that they didn't really mean it when they said Obama was a socialist, unfit to lead the nation.

McCain made a very gracious concession speech welcoming the election of the man he told us was a socialist intent on "spreading the wealth". Joe Lieberman now says that he "completely agrees" with Obama and that bygones should now be bygones and that he now supports "our new president", a man who he previously claimed did not put country first.

And now Bachmann thinks "a tremendous signal" is being sent as the man she suspected might be anti-American takes charge of the White House.

I just wonder why anyone should ever listen to any of them ever again.

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Tags: Bachmann, Lieberman, McCain, US election 2008, Republicans

Obama on patriotism.

He makes so many great speeches that we now take it as routine that he will do so. Here he promises that, at no point during this campaign, will he question anyone's patriotism. Nor will he stand idly by if anyone questions his.

He also asks that surely we can all agree that "no political party or philosophy has a monopoly on patriotism."

Now, this is the very thing that certain Republicans will never agree with him on, as they do believe that their political philosophy makes them uniquely patriotic and that anyone who disagrees with them is instantly a traitor.

Obama does well to call them on this early in the election, but they won't listen, as playing the patriotism card is the only way that Republicans ever manage to get America's working class to vote against their own economic interests.

UPDATE:

I've managed to find the full version of this speech which includes this great Mark Twain quote, "Patriotism is defending your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it".

Tags: Barack Obama, patriotism, US election 2008

Will the right condemn "The American Conservative"?

After the controversy surrounding the MoveOn.org ad and the flurry of calls for legislation condemning the advert and it's accusation that Petraeus had betrayed Americans, Instaputz has asked the very good question of whether or not the same people who condemned MoveOn.org will now rush to condemn "The American Conservative" for this article?

"David Petraeus is a political general. Yet in presenting his recent assessment of the Iraq War and in describing the “way forward,” Petraeus demonstrated that he is a political general of the worst kind—one who indulges in the politics of accommodation that is Washington’s bread and butter but has thereby deferred a far more urgent political imperative, namely, bringing our military policies into harmony with our political purposes." -- Andrew Bacevich in The American Conservative.

I won't be holding my breath... John Cornyn (R-TX) is apparently not going to sponsor any legislation to denounce this attack on Gen. Petraeus by TAC. As Instaputz notes, he's possibly simply been stunned into silence.

Click title for Instaputz's article.

Tags: Instaputz, The American Conservative, General Petraeus, Iraq war, sruge and accelerate, Republican hypocrisy

Obama Dropped Flag Pin in War Statement

An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., lapels.

"You don't have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?" the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. "Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001."

The standard political reply to that question might well have been, "My patriotism speaks for itself."

Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War.

"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. "Instead," he said, "I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism."

Cue for right wing nutcases to go bananas.

Said Sean Hannity: "Why do we wear pins? Because our country is under attack!"

Quite how Sean thinks wearing a pin helps ward off attackers was a point he chose not to elaborate upon.

Patriotism is surely about more than wearing a pin? Blind allegiance to one's country is surely the very thing that despots feed upon. I would say it's much more important that we stand up and challenge our leaders when we think they are wrong than swear some blind allegiance to a flag or pin, which renders our opinions worthless and demands that we back our governments because it is our governments that are taking a particular action, rather than examining the morality of any particular action which our governments choose to take in our name.

For they are acting in our name. Surely a true patriot says what he actually thinks rather than agree with something because it is my country that is doing it?

The greatest contributors to the human race have often been people who opposed what their government were doing and were vocal in their opposition.

Emmeline Pankhurst changed Britain for the better because she refused to accept the status quo. Martin Luther King did the same in the United States. Mandela is the most obvious example. A man who his own government - and Dick Cheney and Margaret Thatcher - labelled a "terrorist" because he refused to accept the Apartheid's regime's logic that he was by birth inferior.

Sean's badge does not say that "the United States is under attack", it says "I back Bush and will publicly defend his every action."

Good for Obama for daring to widen the debate. Patriotism, as he says, is about much more than wearing a bloody badge.

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Tags: Barack Obama, Flag pins, patriotism