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One for you Ahnold fans out there!
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 7:28pm PT  

Thanks to "Berry's World" for this item. I'd heard it referred to last night, but didn't have the exact quotes:

The L.A. Times reports that Arnold Schwarzenegger became a Republican whilst listening to the famous Nixon-Humphrey debates. Here are two classic quotes from the story:

Fresh from Austria, a socialist country, Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to become a Republican after listening to "the debates of Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon when they were debating for the presidential race," or so he told television talk show host Bill O'Reilly in May 2001. " Hubert Humphrey spoke about things I heard in Austria under socialism."

"having watched a 1968 presidential debate for which a friend provided the translation. "[Hubert] Humphrey stood for the government [that] will solve all your problems," Schwarzenegger recalled. "[Richard] Nixon said no, free to choose, let the people decide. So I said to my friend, which party is Nixon? He said Republican. OK, I said, I'm a Republican."

The Times also points out that the Nixon-Humphrey debates are famous, mainly, for the fact that they never took place.

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In the words of a Teddy Roosevelt Republican
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 7:07pm PT  

It's not often that I repost BRAD BLOG comments here as their own item.

But in honor of the nutty Zell Miller's jump to the Republican Party tonight, it seems only "Fair and Balanced" to highlight a spot-on comment from a Republican, or at least somebody who was one up until George W. Bush and his Theocrats came along and hijacked the party. Teddy was once a proud member of the GOP. However, unlike the whacky "cross-dressing" Senator Miller who will give the RNC keynote tonight, Teddy is anything but nutty.

In an attempted bi-partisan spirit, I highlighted his excellent "Bull Moose Forum" blog earlier today. I realize that this would be two pops in one day, but when one chances upon that rarest of creatures --- an intellectually honest Republican --- it seems only proper to give him his due. Especially in this fierce, Crazy World we seem to now live in.

Teddy was replying to Paul's parrot about the GOP's "Big Tent" sham on this item concerning the hypocrisy of Dubya's several flip-flops over the last two days about being able to win, and then not win, and then win the "War on Terror".

Paul is one of the BRAD BLOG's notably intellectually dishonest fake conservatives slash Bush suck-ups slash GOP apologists for those of you who may not bother to read the comments.

Here's Teddy's on-the-money reply:

Paul,

I am one of those socially-moderate fiscally conservative people you have mentioned. I was a Republican ever since I was in the third grade and we held an election between Reagan and Carter (not surprisingly, Carter was trounced). And for a long-time, I believed in the "big tent."

But no more. The big tent is a sham, a myth and a lie. This Administration has gone out of its way to demonize and marginalize every moderate Republican. Calling them "RINOs". Dennis Hastert mocking John McCain on the steps of the Capitol. Trying to pass anti-gay Constitutional Amendments. Ignoring every call to fiscally responsibility made by McCain, Snowe et al.

The "new" Republican Party doesn't want moderates like me, Paul. So fine. I'll leave them, just like TR did when he saw corruption spreading throughout the party he once loved. And maybe, just maybe, others will join me. Not only disaffected GOP moderates, but those moderate Democrats who feel marginalized as well.

And God willing, we'll stomp out both parties, because they've become walking jokes, available to the highest bidder.

Keep drinking the Kool-Aid, Paul.

Keep up the good fight, Teddy. Your party and country will thank you some day. The BRAD BLOG goes ahead and thanks you now.

We also thank Paul for his contributions here, making the difference between your father's GOP, and George W. Bush's GOP painfully clearer each and every day.

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Does the GOP have anyone else left to slur?
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 6:37pm PT  

The Republican Party had the entire United States of America from whom to chose their nominee for the US Senate seat in Illinois. Demonstrating quite clearly the kind of party they are, they chose Alan Keyes. From Maryland.

On Tuesday, Keyes called the "Vice-President's" lesbian daughter Mary Cheney, a "selfish hedonist" apparently solely because of her sexual identity.

He did both that, and took a swipe at married couples who either can't, or choose not to have children all in one fell Republican swoop.

Said Mr. Keyes in a satellite radio interview this week:

"The essence of ... family life remains procreation. If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage, we are saying that it's possible to have a marriage state that in principle excludes procreation and is based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism."

Asked whether that meant Mary Cheney was "a selfish hedonist," Keyes said: "That goes by definition. Of course she is."

So there ya go. You folks in the "married state" out there who have no children, are apparently "selfish hedonists" along with lesbian Mary Cheney. You, like those homosexuals who'd like to simply be recognized as a legitimate American family seem to have an "improper basis" for your marriage according to your party's national pick for the U.S. Senate.

Bush/Cheney '04: What's not to be proud of?

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RNC Day 2
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 12:58pm PT  

FOX News Primetime Convention Speech Coverage

Courtesy of Media Matters

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And why Arnold didn't.
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 12:04pm PT  

Teddy, the erstwhile BRAD BLOG commentor and author of the excellent "Bull Moose Forum", a right leaning blog in the true TR/Conservative sense (as opposed to the "Fake Conservative" nonsense one often sees parrotted in comments from the Right on this blog and elsewhere) has an excellent analysis of last night's speech by the Governator.

Using quotes from William Saletan's Slate commentary today on why Republicans like him, should reject George W. Bush, Teddy points out that there is no "Big Tent" in the Republican party. No matter the smoke and mirrors they haul out every four years to appear as though they are either "compassionate" or "conservative".

Of note, along with his own insight and analysis, Teddy ran these quotes from the Slate story:

Schwarzenegger applauds Bush for taking a hard line on terrorism. So do I. Bush's clarity on this subject is his finest quality. But it doesn't make his foreign policy wise, any more than liberal piety about compassion makes liberal social programs effective. In Iraq, Bush has confused a mortal enemy with a less urgent one, and he has botched the worthy idea of American military leadership by biting off more than we can chew.

On the nosey, my boy. And this one...

I'm no huge fan of John Kerry. He sees two sides of every one-sided issue, and four sides of every two-sided issue. But the alternative is a president who sees one side of every issue, no matter how many sides it has. Given the how many sides there usually are, and given how little effort Bush makes to learn about each issue, the odds are that, on average, he'll pick the wrong side.

Right again. And, as the Bush daughters might say, "it's like, provenly knowable!"

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(Originally published 6/24/03 after the GOP announced their convention site)
By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 11:15am PT  

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By Brad Friedman on 9/1/2004 1:03am PT  

I've heard it suggested of late by several Conservative commentators that the real reason the RNC has chosen to give all of their primetime speaking slots to their largely Pro-Choice, Pro-Gay, Anti-Gun superstars like McCain, Schwarzzeneger, Guliani etc., is because they are the most popular Republicans in America.

So can someone please explain to me how so many of the Neandercons can keep a straight face when they keep trying to tell us that they and the policies they support are the "Mainstream" beliefs in America?

In other words, the most popular Republican Leaders in the country are the ones who wholly disagree with a bulk of the Republican Platform, most of the Ditto Heads, all of the Freepers, and certainly George W. Bush on issue after issue after issue.

Isn't that proof-in-the-very pudding that in reality, it is George W. Bush and his Rightwing Gang of Theo-Neo-Neadner-cons who are the real outside fringe minority group in this country?

I'm just askin'.

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By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 9:39pm PT  

"Franklin Roosevelt didn't want to go to war, but he knew defeating tyranny demanded it. And my husband didn't want to go to war, but he knew the safety and security of America and the world depended on it."
- Laura Bush at tonight's RNC Convention on the Iraq War.

FDR and George W. Bush. Yes! Exactly what all of America is thinking! Two peas in a pod those two! Last night he was Churchill and tonight he's FDR!

Abe Lincoln spins in his grave in anticipation of tomorrow night's speeches! But, I digress...

Can anybody here demonstrate a single shred of evidence to support Laura's contention that her "husband didn't want to go to war" in Iraq?

While you're at it, I'll take any shred of evidence that "the safety and security of America and the world depended on it".

Anybody?

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Please Stand By
By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 6:50pm PT  

Doing a few code tweaks in the background! May cause an error or two momentarily! Please ignore!

Blog should be usable as always despite the possible error messages!
Apologies for any inconveniences!

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By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 2:36pm PT  


Brad the Fisherman!


Brad the Tree Hugger!


Brad the Fireside Blogger!

...And a few other photos from our recent Pacific Northwest Road Trip now available online for those who may care.

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The Gay Homophobic Republican
In case, unlike the McGreevy story, you missed this one...
By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 2:27pm PT  


"You're in the showers with them, you're in the bunk room with them, you're in staterooms with them," Schrock told the Virginian-Pilot. "You just hope no harm would come by folks who are of that persuasion. It's a discipline thing."

So said Virginia's Republican US Congressman, Edward L. Schrock when trying to change Clinton's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. Schrock, in October of 2000, told the Virginia-Pilot the he supported asking enlistees whether they have had homosexual experiences in an effort to try to keep gays from serving.

Yesterday, Schrock suddenly dropped out of his race for a third term in Congress due to unspecified "allegations", and now the Republicans are scrambling to find a replacement to run for what had been considered a safe seat.

What were those unspecified "allegations"? That the Married with Child "conservative" US congressman lived a double life as a gay man and tapes existed of him cruising gay phone lines for sex.

Still waiting for the "Liberal" media to give the same type of coverage to the story as they did to McGreevy. Have a feeling we'll be waiting for a while.

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(Actually, the moment was last week, but I was out of town!)
Supporting the 'President' in Portland, Oregon...
By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 1:56pm PT  

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Bush Spins, Rush Helps
The "Liberal" Media Takes the Year Off
By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 1:31pm PT  

As has been pointed out by Josh Marshall and several others, imagine if it was Kerry who said about the "War on Terror" that "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world –- let's put it that way."

Think about it. What if John Kerry had said that yesterday in a speech?

Do you suppose the Republicans, and therefore their handmaidens in the Media, would condemn John Kerry for saying "we can't win the war on terror"? That this war is not about "creating conditions" to make terror "less acceptable in parts of the world"? That it's about defeating and destroying the enemy. Period! And only George W. Bush is strong enough to understand that!

Can you imagine what would have been said about John Kerry capitulating to the terrorists?!

Well, it was Bush who said it. Not Kerry. And so he and his spinners have been out all day trying to spin themselves out of this mess, even though the Media has done little to hold Bush accountable for his statements. None the less, he realizes he screwed up when he was interviewed, as one of his spinners described it, "on a moving bus". (That can be horribly confusing you know!)

But when Dubya shows up on Rush's show, as he did today, you know Dubya realizes he needs to staunch some heavy bleeding.

The hardball interview with Rush (yes, that would be "irony" for those of you Right Wingers not familiar with the concept) included this lie from Bush:

See, I think it's very important for your listeners to know, Rush, that the commander-in-chief ought to try all avenues of diplomacy prior to committing troops and we did that. And so I'm sitting in the Oval Office, and I've seen a threat. I now see that he's ignoring the demands of the free world, he had no intention of disarming, as a matter of fact was systematically deceiving inspectors, and so I made the decision, a very difficult decision.

So exactly how was Saddam "systematically deceiving inspectors"? How is it, that with no arms in the first place, as we've since discovered, Saddam had "no intention of disarming"?

I, personally, refuse --- no matter what the rules are about it --- to give up my Assault Rifle to the Authorities! Trouble is, I don't have an Assault Rifle. According to the practicalities of the "Bush Doctrine", it sounds like someone needs to throw me in jail!

It's amazing how the "Commander-in-Chief" can lie and the media says and does nothing about it. But a War Hero can tell the truth, and he's held accountable and charged with lying by the same media.

There is no more 4th Estate. There is no more investigative journalism. There are only sychophants who repeat the Press Releases of those in power. And those, like Rush and Bush, who complain about the Free Speech of Americans as expressed through the legal 30 second ads of 527's even while they have 24 hours a day of 30 seconds ads around the clock, on every radio (and virtually every television) frequency in the land where they can express any and every lie they feel like. Over and over again.

But take heart America Lovers! Don't be cowed by liars, sycophants and spinners! As Bush might cynically say, whereas I actually mean it; Have faith that Good will triumph over Evil. It will. There is no doubt. I just hope it happens by November 2nd.

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By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 12:42pm PT  

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or, the Bush on the Bus Goes Round and Round...
By Brad Friedman on 8/31/2004 12:12pm PT  

Today, George W. Bush told Matt Lauer on Today that the "War on Terror" cannot be won.

Actually, he said "I don't think you can win it". Here's the exact transcript:

Lauer: “You said to me a second ago, one of the things you'll lay out in your vision for the next four years is how to go about winning the war on terror. That phrase strikes me a little bit. Do you really think we can win this war on terror in the next four years?”

President Bush: “I have never said we can win it in four years.”

Lauer: “So I'm just saying can we win it? Do you see that?”

President Bush: “I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world –- let's put it that way."

Not being able to win this "war" is a new position for Bush who has said over and over that "we will win" it.

As recently as July 30th of this year he said in Springfield, MO., "We have a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."

And yet that's not what he said on the bush to Matt. So the rest of the day Team Bush went apoplectic contorting to explain that Bush didn't really mean we couldn't win the war on terror...he was...referring to something else. To not being able to win, because there is nobody available to sign a surrender document. But other than that, we'll win. Or something.

They said a lot. They apologized a lot. They spun and danced and twisted and flip-flopped. Even McCain and Guiliani had to change their speeches to try and make sense of the torturued logic and apparent lack of clarity from the "Commander-in-Chief" they tell us should be re-"elected" due to his "clarity of vision". Or something.

Much was said. I'll let you go and figure out how they're now trying to spin it. Spinning is what they do well.

The statement (and I not only read it, but saw it several times) seemed very clear to me, but the Bushies say it wasn't. Bottom line: Apparently, it all depends on what the meaning of "it" is.

Go figure.

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