--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "do.rflex" wrote:
>
>
>
> The Republican base is behaving like a guy who just got dumped by his wife
>
>
> "It's sad what's happened to the Republicans. They used to be
> the party of the big tent; now they're the party of the sideshow attraction,
> a socially awkward group of mostly white people who
> speak a language only they understand."
>
>
> If conservatives don't want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their
> guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being
> bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments.
>
> It's been a week now, and I still don't know what those "tea bag" protests
> were about. I saw signs protesting abortion, illegal immigrants, the bank
> bailout and that gay guy who's going to win "American Idol." But it wasn't
> tax day that made them crazy; it was election day. Because that's when
> Republicans became what they fear most: a minority.
>
> The conservative base is absolutely apoplectic because, because ... well,
> nobody knows. They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore.
> Even though they're not quite sure what "it" is. But they know they're fed up
> with "it," and that "it" has got to stop.
>
> Here are the big issues for normal people: the war, the economy, the
> environment, mending fences with our enemies and allies, and the rule of law.
>
> And here's the list of Republican obsessions since President Obama took
> office: that his birth certificate is supposedly fake, he uses a teleprompter
> too much, he bowed to a Saudi guy, Europeans like him, he gives inappropriate
> gifts, his wife shamelessly flaunts her upper arms, and he shook hands with
> Hugo Chavez and slipped him the nuclear launch codes.
>
> Do these sound like the concerns of a healthy, vibrant political party?
>
> It's sad what's happened to the Republicans. They used to be the party of the
> big tent; now they're the party of the sideshow attraction, a socially
> awkward group of mostly white people who speak a language only they
> understand. Like Trekkies, but paranoid.
>
> The GOP base is convinced that Obama is going to raise their taxes, which he
> just lowered. But, you say, "Bill, that's just the fringe of the Republican
> Party." No, it's not. The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, is not afraid to say
> publicly that thinking out loud about Texas seceding from the Union is
> appropriate considering that ... Obama wants to raise taxes 3% on 5% of the
> people? I'm not sure exactly what Perry's independent nation would look like,
> but I'm pretty sure it would be free of taxes and Planned Parenthood. And I
> would have to totally rethink my position on a border fence.
>
> I know. It's not about what Obama's done. It's what he's planning. But you
> can't be sick and tired of something someone might do.
>
> Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota recently said she fears that
> Obama will build "reeducation" camps to indoctrinate young people. But Obama
> hasn't made any moves toward taking anyone's guns, and with money as tight as
> it is, the last thing the president wants to do is run a camp where he has to
> shelter and feed a bunch of fat, angry white people.
>
> Look, I get it, "real America." After an eight-year run of controlling the
> White House, Congress and the Supreme Court, this latest election has you
> feeling like a rejected husband. You've come home to find your things out on
> the front lawn -- or at least more things than you usually keep out on the
> front lawn. You're not ready to let go, but the country you love is moving
> on. And now you want to call it a whore and key its car.
>
> That's what you are, the bitter divorced guy whose country has left him --
> obsessing over it, haranguing it, blubbering one minute about how much you
> love it and vowing the next that if you cannot have it, nobody will.
>
> But it's been almost 100 days, and your country is not coming back to you.
> She's found somebody new. And it's a black guy.
>
> The healthy thing to do is to just get past it and learn to cherish the
> memories. You'll always have New Orleans and Abu Ghraib.
>
> And if today's conservatives are insulted by this, because they feel they're
> better than the people who have the microphone in their party, then I say to
> them what I would say to moderate Muslims: Denounce your radicals. To
> paraphrase George W. Bush, either you're with them or you're embarrassed by
> them.
>
> The thing that you people out of power have to remember is that the people in
> power are not secretly plotting against you. They don't need to. They already
> beat you in public.
>
> http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-maher24-2009apr24,0,927819.story?=niradgrules
>
Thanks Doc! Maher manages to hit the nail square on while being funny as hell.