This was going to be a far different essay. It was going to be a very top heavy view of the slide towards fascism which is taking place in the GOP primary race
But then I saw a tweet by Matthew J. Dowd.
I will admit this: I had no idea who this person was until yesterday. Then I learned he was a fluffer for the Bush clan. Everything fell into place then.
This was his tweet:
Funny. To which I replied:
And then, for good measure:
To which his reply (and this is key):
Why is this key? Follow on.
See??? He’s not defending Trump! Except his response to me above was all about Trump.
Then:
See?? I’m a “far leftist”, because I call out the rush to fascism which is the GOP today.
Look, I agree with Mr. Dowd, that it would be nice if there could be comity between the two sides of the aisle. But that’s not what’s happening.
What’s happening is that the Right is running pell mell towards a fascism we thought we’d defeated in the 1940s. When the leading candidate of the GOP primary opines quite openly about putting Muslims into a database to be tracked, or yells that a Black Lives Matters protester should be “gotten out of here” at one of his Bund rallies, it seems it’s a bit too late for the niceties Mr. Dowd wants to subscribe to.
His party, in the wake of Barack Obama’s election, has gone on a path of total obstruction, not giving the legitimately twice-elected president of the United States the benefit of the doubt. We see this in the Syria situation, where Pres. Obama is seen as a) appeasing Daesh, and b) wanting to bring sleeper cells into the US in the form of widows and orphans.
Mr. Dowd can whine all he wants about mean liberals being mean and calling the GOP candidates fascists. But that boat has sailed. Fascism is the flavor of the month on his side, and the fact that he and his coreligionists don’t have the moral courage to call it what it is is why his party will have Donnie Trump or Bennie Carson as its standard bearer. They have no one to blame but themselves that men who are supremely unfit to lead a school board much less the world’s only empire are on the cusp of achieving their party’s nomination.
So, dear Mr. Dowd: Fuck off. I will call them fascists, and I will call you and your ilk fascist enablers. I only hope that my fellow citizens are wise enough to cast them aside. Take to your fainting couch, because that seems all that you’re suited to. You certainly don’t seem to be able to bring sanity to your side of the political spectrum, if you even want to.
The Obama Diary 
Happy Sunday TOD Family. Thank you God PBO is President and voice of sanity in the USA.
THIS!!! Good morning jojo!
Hey Mtmarilyn, wish you could be with us in celebrating Sue’s BD.
I wish I could too. I know you’ll have a great time!
Hiya Jojo! Ditto what you said!
Hey Dudette, hope you had a wonderful trip, welcome back.
It was wonderful, jojo! I’m still floating! 😀
🙂
I dedicate this to President Obama:
❤️ warmed my heart when they played this during his campaigns ❤️
❤ Once you start listening to it, you can't stop.
That’s why it’s a perfect theme for our energizer bunny PBO!
OH jackie, I love that song. It has always been one of my favorites growing up and now everytime I hear it, itreminds me of Candidate Obama’s excitng and wonderful Presidential run. Thanks for sharing
Just getting back online – and thanks for the reminder – I shall play the song again!
Thanks for this post LL! Either Dowd doesn’t know what the word fascsism means or it’s just so abhorent to him he’s in denial that anyone he admires could practice or advocate for it. Sometimes the truth hurts.
Black Americans for along time have dealt with their own version of ISIS here in America.
Tell it!
Yesterday I was listening to Jesse Jackson show, and he was talking about how many people the KKK have killed, how they would come from church with their kids and go to a lynching of a black person.
No lie!
Sorry Dudette have no idea how WP did this … First it disappeared, then it appeared here!!
Another comment has disappeared as well.
No time for it today …. will try to be back later, everyone. Several updates in the sidebar, btw.
#Hope4ALL
tell that truth, LL.
tell it.
Legal Weed: White People Get Rich, Black People Get To Stay In Prison
Ever since Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana, people have realized how much of a big business it actually is. So far Colorado has brought in over $200 million in revenue, and now it’s even a bigger hotbed of tourist activity. Just imagine the other states that are noticing the huge success of weed, best believe they’ll attempt to profit off of it.
But what do the faces of those profiting off of weed look like?
White and male of course.
For the longest time, black men and women have faced hefty jail sentences over petty weed cases, and if you think that’ll stop now that marijuana is legalized in a couple of states, you’re wrong.
Just look at the arrests in Colorado as an example. Between 1986 and 2010, more than 210,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession according to a report from the Marijuana Arrest Research Project, and they still remain behind bars.
Earlier this year, Michelle Alexander, associate professor of law at Ohio State University and author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness held an open forum on March 6 with Asha Bandele of the Drug Policy Alliance.
Alexander basically broke it down to the core, as to who will make profits and who will stay behind bars.
“In many ways the imagery doesn’t sit right,” said Alexander. “Here are white men poised to run big marijuana businesses, dreaming of cashing in big—big money, big businesses selling weed—after 40 years of impoverished black kids getting prison time for selling weed, and their families and futures destroyed. Now, white men are planning to get rich doing precisely the same thing?”
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/07/legal-weed-white-people-get-rich-black-people-get-stay-prison/
Black folks don’t make guns or bullets either.
Someone who practices racism is a racist. Some who calls for and supports fascist practices is a fascist. If Mr. Dowd finds both so ugly, maybe he should call the people engaging in that behavior. If not, maybe he’s just bothered more the name than the acts themselves.
… bothered more by the name that the acts… and what does that same about him.
Keep taking them on, LL, as only you can do! Obviously, you hit a nerve.
I am so glad that people are calling it for what it is.
There isn’t a damn bit of difference between what Trump is calling for with regards to Muslims and what the Nazi’s did to the Jews.
NOT.ONE.IOTA.
and, folks aren’t allowing the media to pretend. They are calling it out at every turn.
keep that up
Agree – we will not tolerate it, ever ….
bbl …….
They would all pimp their mothers for ratings………look how fast they sent ALL the talking heads to Paris…….To me they are a pack of ghouls.
Blood thirsty at that!
Republicans, including some political candidates AND elected officials have been calling PBO (and FLOTUS) all kinds of names – Hitler, dictator, terrorist pal, monkey, etc.. And Dowd has had absolutely NOTHING to say about any of that.
But he now finds himself uncomfortable with name calling? Thanks LL for confronting his hypocritical BS!
No idea what happened to this comment ….
Thank you Dudettte for this series of tweets and Rikyrah for pointing to the obvious connection between The Nazis and The Donald.
In Israel, it is Bibi and his friends that are the pitiless fascists and the Palestinians who are suffering.
Which makes me wonder if any group given the ability to dominate and subjugate will ever be any better than the worst we’ve seen.
Last winter it snowed in Gaza and the 6,000 homes the Israelis destroyed in the summer of 2014 with bombs and then bulldozers haven’t been rebuilt because Israel and Egypt have shut the borders down so tightly that no building materials could reach the people of Gaza.
Israel controls the amount of electricity and heating supplies and water and food that gets into Gaza.
The people of Gaza are now facing another winter.
From your essay:
I will call them fascists, and I will call you and your ilk fascist enablers. I only hope that my fellow citizens are wise enough to cast them aside. Take to your fainting couch, because that seems all that you’re suited to. You certainly don’t seem to be able to bring sanity to your side of the political spectrum, if you even want to.
the punch….IF YOU EVEN WANT TO!!!
AWESOME….LL…
your voice is one of the voices must be heard…keep on keepin on…..
There are many comments from the President that sink into my soul…this is one that is reverberating right now…
“Progress isn’t guaranteed. It’s not inevitable. It’s something that has to be fought for.” —President Obama
Trump’s “Brown Shirts.” Trump wants to “make America great again” by restoring “White Supremacy.” To maintain “White Supremacy” white racists have always resorted to terror and violence.
DEVAL Patrick…telling it like it is
I wish he was running, here is my dream ticket Biden/DeVal.
^5
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/donald-trump-says-he-would-bring-back-waterboarding-terrorists-interrogation-n467831
Donald Trump would bring back waterboarding to Americans, all Americans except white Americans. Trump is a disgusting human being.
^5!
To add on to LL’s Fascism list
Thou shalt not criticize the (RW GOP) “government.” Not by word and not by deed. Not in a cartoon or a TV show. Certainly not if you want to work in media.
knock yourselves out however if you want to bash PBO and the (Ds.)
Go ahead and speak TRUTH, Vicki.
LL, as usual that is a well written and on-point essay about Facism taken hold in the Republican Party. Sympathizers like Matthew J. Dowd is even more dangerous to society.
Conservatives in 2010 said a GOP-devised system to have everyone paying for their own health insurance according to their ability to pay and ending insurance company malfeasance around pre-conditions & coverage limits was Hitler-like. Even slavery, according to Ben Carson.
In 2015, calling for registration of people in this country by their religion and requiring special badges for a specific faith (something actual fascists did), can’t be called what it is.
What the cameras all around the property don’t work? LOL!
Bringing this over from earlier thread; Important read by Milt Shook; http://pleasecutthecrap.com/the-importance-of-common-sense/
A moment (or two) of cuteness
😆 🙄 😆 🙄
Too darn Cute!
Some push-back, but what have they been waiting for? The okay from the big donors, apparently. As we understand so well here, the Donald is a spokesperson, not an anomaly.
‘ Nearly a dozen big Republican donors backing different presidential candidates are coming together to help fund an advertising campaign attacking front-runner Donald Trump, who faced sharp criticism from rivals this week for his inflammatory comments about Muslims. ‘
Read more at Reutershttp://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/22/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKBN0TB0UJ20151122#sdILZPQiGBLZTj6q.99
Ho hum! They created that monster. Go ahead and give your shrinking base what they want.
Their response is not out of concern for the things Trump says and stands for; it’s just that he’s getting all the attention.
Exactly!
THIS, susanne
Amen!! They all believe the same. He is just louder and saying what some say in private.
Incoming Gov of Kentucky wants y’all to celebrate with him.
GA TODville.
My heart is heavy with the thought that what Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper faced in “Easy Rider” (almost 50 years ago!), is now mainstream America, enabled by the MSM who can’t get enough Trump! but don’t have the time of day to cover a legitimate Dem candidate (@MartinOMalley).
Saw these tweets in Meta’s timeline:
From last month (Oct 15):
We recently visited South Africa, Zimbabwe, Israel, Palestine (West Bank), and Jordan. Traveling from South Africa (Robbin Island, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, Soweto) and then traveling to the supposed Holy Land was a double-whammy in both the cognitive and emotional senses. Israel is the modern nation of Apartheid. The Roman Empire was to earlier Palestine what the American Empire is to modern Palestine. In many ways, Israel is their local face of American Empire. This is destructive for Israelis Jews as well as Palestinian Christians and Palestinian Muslime. I see no future for Israel in this scenario. All known empires have fallen. The only way our species can survive is learning to live together without killing one another. Either our species learns to adapt, or we cease to exist.
There are MANY groups working together for peace. They don’t make the news. Peace is possible. But it is much more difficult than war.
I write this in response to reading the tweets about Palestine above.
hello Pickle…I am reminded of the address that the President gave in Israel…
Thank you, Pickle. This is a very wise insight.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Heh.
you got to him…LL
Coming from a guy who Never could speak well of anything President Obama does……well, I have not heard it in years from MDowd.
This guy is basically saying that Holding GOPers accountable is stewing in their Hateful Soup. Is there any wonder, Journalism is No longer a Factually based Profession in USA?
Hello TOD on a Sunday Cold Morning.
Congrats Jojothecat on your Solid Au :star:.
Congrats to all the Au ⭐ winners, 3 posts back.
11-22-15
Max Boot, y’all.
Reporters are always pretending and Parsing and to the point of deny what Trump says……..thereby, giving him Cover and making Fascism, Racism and Dehumanizing Others Mainstream.
Excellent Post, LL.
Brilliantly illustrated.
Thank you so very much.
When Trump was allowed to be this Blatantly Racist and the US News Media sought him for bookings and covered him 24/7 with these kinds of rhetoric……why would Trump change now?
BOOM! They legitimized him! Every bit of him today.
“They legitimized him! Every bit of him today.”
Yes they (the so called mainstream media) did, Africatimes2!
I caught it =>
among the things PBO highlights in this clip how the term “political correctness” is used by conservatives to justify challenges to their outright bigotry
Does Charity Not Begin from Home, Matthew Dowd?
By constantly looking for any equivalent, no matter how trial while on a public national forum……instead of now hiding behind the Tweets after folks like LL have called you……..is total misuse of your platform.
^5…….BINGO.
#BrusselsLockdown
These #brusselslockdown tweets are great, Bob!
Interesting analysis– but it doesn’t get to the problem of political writers feeding at the Trump trough for the big juicy sound bites.
‘ Trump’s incessant barrage of outrageous pronouncements is reminiscent of the Gish Gallop strategy of argumentation: keeping your opponent on their heels and unable to debate effectively by throwing out so many false and misleading statements that it becomes too difficult to address any single one of them or make your own case. ‘
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_11/trumps_rhetorical_gish_gallopi058739.php
Subject: I Am A Seenager
Just realized that I am a Seenager. (Senior teenager). I have everything
that I wanted as a teenager, only 65 years later.
I don’t have to go to school.
I don’t have to go to work.
I get an allowance (pensions).
I have my own pad.
I don’t have a curfew.
I have a driver’s license and my own paid for car.
I have ID that lets me buy wine and beer.
The people I hang around with are not scared of getting pregnant.
And I don’t have acne.
Life is great!
Who could ask for anything more????
Life IS Great!
^10 🙂
It is great! Ha!
Bacon comes last! 🙂
That’s right! 🙂
Get on with it then…….!
I concur; I am a very happy seenager as well.
Let’s hear it for good times. 🙂
The animated graphic in this article is astounding– don’t miss it.
‘ American voters won’t cast their ballots in presidential primaries until next year, but super PACs have already spent nearly $63 million influencing this election. In the interactive below, we’ve illustrated this electoral money war for some of the biggest (and best funded) candidates. Each blob that flies across the screen represents a chunk of money a super PAC spent to either attack (in red) or bolster (in green) the target candidate. Small blobs represent small purchases, such as online advertising and press releases, while big blobs represent bigger buys, such as TV ads. Pause the interactive and click a blob to learn more about the expenditure it represents.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/11/super_pac_money_how_political_groups_are_spending_to_influence_the_2016.html
New post.
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/11/22/one-year-ago-today/