There once was a political operative who loved to tell crowds he had a simple way of explaining to children the difference between Republicans and Democrats.
“Republicans get up and go to work,” he would tell his son. “Democrats get up and go down to the mailbox to get their checks.”
This man not only talked to his son about Republican values, he went into public-school classrooms and talked about them as well.
That man is Jim Greer — the same Jim Greer who, as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, just threw a nationwide hissy fit, claiming that the classroom is no place for politics and Barack Obama’s “indoctrination.”
One Seminole County mother, Barbara Wells, remembers the day Greer spoke to her son’s sixth-grade class. “My son said he made some sort of Hillary Clinton joke,” she recalled.
I was intrigued by the links to a Washington Post story about George H.W. Bush speaking to school children on October 1, 1991. My daughter was in school then and I didn’t remember hearing about her watching any such event.
On WESTLAW, I looked up other news stories about the speech. It was reported as 10 minutes in some reports and 12 minutes in others. It was carried live on CNN, PBS, and [the NBC] and Mutual radio [networks]. The Secretary of Education sent a letter urging schools to have their students watch, but I didn’t find any evidence of how many schools followed that recommendation. And most striking: Bush laid out goals — to increase the graduation rate, improve student competency and better prepare students for entering school — and said, “Let me know how you’re doing. Write me a letter. I’m serious about this one. Write me a letter about ways you can help us achieve our goals.”
Miller has identified precisely the process at work in the healthcare hysteria and, increasingly, elsewhere where the GOP thinks it can shove the Obama administration into a ditch. Republican officials such as the Florida state chairman are playing a dangerous game with an unhinged segment of public opinion that regards Obama not as an elected official with whom they disagree, but as an illegitimate usurper of the presidency.
That paranoid fantasy is what’s really behind the “birther” movement and the allegations that the president is — take your pick — a secret Marxist or a secret Muslim.
It’s the kind of fanciful anxiety that produces comments like this, posted on a conservative website this week: “Barack Obama and his left-wing Chicago machine regime are putting into place laws and institutions which will insure that there will never again be free elections in America.”
These are the people who are stockpiling ammunition and keeping their children at home next Tuesday.
I wouldn’t worry about the lunatic fringe. Reason’s glibertarians have assured me it is all left-wing paranoia, and besides, “respectable” Republicans are kinda sorta boycotting WND, but not really. No need to worry about the fact that this anti-Obama movement and attempt to otherize and de-legitimize Obama is actually being fomented by the mainstream leadership of the Republican party.
Nothing to see here. Just keep on walking.
wasabi gasp
It takes a village. A real fucked up village.
JenJen
As I read this, Candy Crowley is on CNN saying that, obviously, the right-wing attacks on the Presidential address to schoolchildren are justified, since the White House has changed the lesson plans in response.
EJ Dionne looks like he wants to bite someone’s finger off.
BDeevDad
Don’t forget Ronald Reagan’s talk to students where he discussed how good tax cuts were for the economy.
El Cid
Yeah, but telling schoolchildren that Democrats are godless communist lazy welfare check recipients and har har har Hillary! Clinton! is not in any way partisan, that’s just sharing civic education.
Whereas some Kenyo-Muslin black dude telling kids to study hard and maybe end up being President like him one day is actually the literal definition of sedition and would make the Statue of Liberty weep at seeing how old Joe Stalin had finally won.
Sloth
Double standards. Huh. Imagine that.
SiubhanDuinne
The thing that kills me about the wingnut reaction to the idea of Obama addressing their kids for, what? 10 minutes or so? — is that they evidently have no confidence at all in whatever lessons and values they have imparted over the kids’ lifetimes. I mean, they’ve reared them from infancy, they’ve had family time around the kitchen table every night, they’ve headed off to church as a family every week, they’ve been there to answer the hard moral questions, and this has been going on for the past 6-14+ years, right? Yet they have so little belief in the efficacy of their own strong values and teachings that they are terrified it will all come tumbling down with one brief presidential pep talk?
I almost feel sorry for them.
General Winfield Stuck
This was a terrific piece to show the astounding RW hypocrisy, not like it isn’t always on display. But they are outdoing themselves this time/ Was watching the wanking on CNN by Frumm And Candy Crowley (resident concern troll) telling us the big difference was that Obama was requesting that kids send him a reply on how they can join his Cadres and contribute to the peoples struggle against the Capitalist pigs.
EJ Dion was there, thankfully to bring a little truth with the fact that Obama’s original request was for kids to write down something to REMIND THEMSELVES how they could help out. NEVER MEANT TO BE SENT TO PRESNIT. Of course the wingut hissy fit required this to be dropped from O’s first letter and now nothing can be written down to propagate the secret Muslim body snatching.
But now the myth of Obama soliciting advice from kids on how to take over America and make us all the new United States of Soviet is spreading like Herpes thru Greater Wingnuttia and beyond.
demkat620
Wake me when we hit peak wingnut. I’ve had enough.
Rommie
You know, I approved of putting the spotlight on the Krazy people because they couldn’t and wouldn’t resist revealing their True Colors.
But there was an understanding that the audience would throw the rotten fruit, not applaud or reason with them. The Democratic leaders (with some notable exceptions) can at least freakin’ Boo!
General Winfield Stuck
@JenJen:
should have read your comment first.
minachica
OT, but have you seen this gem (via commenter rh in le fil francais) yet (before someone gets wise and Orwellianizes it)? Check out the last blurb…
Sorry if I’m being redundant, but I found it frikkin’ hilarious; I think it made my (admittedly shitty) week. Thank you for the find rh!
Alan
What was George Bush doing when the 9/11 attack took place? Oh yeah, indoctrinating school kids. :)
Demo Woman
John, After a long, long week of crap from the right wing, you have to post more. Sometimes there is not enough beer in the world to numb this crap. Now it is your duty to not only post Lily and Tunch but several other pets just to calm us down.
Wasn’t it easier to be a repub?
El Cid
Stephen Colbert is a national treasure.
General Winfield Stuck
@demkat620:
This is only the beginning.
JenJen
@General Winfield Stuck: Actually, it’s nicer to know someone out there got the exact same message out of that CNN segment as I did. :-)
Sloth
I think what this country needs now is a serious Stewart/Colbert split presidential ticket.
Not only do I think they’d be damn good, I think they’d be the perfect tonic for what ails us.
JenJen
MFA’s letter to the School Board in last night’s open thread is a thing of beauty. Wanted to spread it around because it came late, and was probably missed, and shouldn’t be missed:
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=26393#comment-1355812
Skullduggery
I don’t like that the LA Times opinion piece tells me I have to pick between thinking Obama is a secret Marxist or that he’s a secret Muslim.
Demo Woman
@General Winfield Stuck: Actually had a wingnut today ask me today about the NYTimes. That is a pretty big deal down here in the south. I laughed and said do you think that I can come up with facts on my own.
Ash
I yearn for the days of GWB, when we simply indoctrinated our children as to the moral superiority of pet goats.
D-Chance.
… are playing a dangerous game with an unhinged segment of public opinion that regards Bush not as an elected official with whom they disagree, but as an illegitimate usurper of the presidency.
Wow, you could have made the same statement in 2001 (“selected, not elected”) and 2005 (Diebold).
Yeah, these re-runs are getting old. Nothing new under the sun… same old same-old… yaddayaddayadda… etc… whatever.
Demo Woman
@Skullduggery: Down here in the south when wingnuts or whackos quote oped pieces, I do mention that I don’t read them. I am personally more interested in facts. Learning how to respond to wingnuts or whackos is fun.
JK
@El Cid:
Stephen Colbert is a godsend. Can’t wait till he and Jon Stewart to return from vacation.
Last night on the NewsHour, David Brooks gave his typical on the one hand and on the other hand analysis. According to Brooks, the Republican Party has its share of irrational crazies, but the MSM is greatly exagerrating the size of this group. According to Brooks, there’s nothing at all wrong with Obama speaking to students, but Obama is far too overexposed in the media. George Will has also used this line of attack that Obama is doing too many media appearances. Brooks joked to Lehrer that Obama was planning to guest host the NewsHour.
4tehlulz
Wake me when we hit peak wingnut. I’ve had enough.
What peak wingnut looks like.
General Winfield Stuck
@Skullduggery:
He can be both, or neither and a Fascist, or all three, at once, together, or separate. All things are possible in the magic land of what Sarah Saw Through the Looking Glass.
El Cid
@JK: I think it’s always the best idea for the Democratic President to get his advice from Republican pundit ideologues and Republican politicians and conservative media figures in general, because they always have his best interests at heart.
And what’s with Obama being a “secret” Muslim? I mean, hell, look at his damn name! What else is there?
Leelee for Obama
@SiubhanDuinne: They are more aware than we are that their lessons are morally bankrupt. Hence, to let any sunshine or anti-septic be dribbled on their, dare I say it,indoctrinated children might actually cause those children to think their parents were full of shit!
Ash
@D-Chance.: You’re pretty damn dense if you can’t sense the glaring differences.
Chad N Freude
@minachica: I had not seen this before. Thankewthankewthankew! [Begins process of lifting dropped jaw back into place.]
demkat620
@minachica: OMG, I am lolling so hard right now. My kids think I’ve cracked my brain.
Do they have any clue who he is? I will not spoil the joke go read it yourself.
OMG, I can’t breathe.
SiubhanDuinne
@JenJen 7:09 pm
Thank you for reposting MFA’s brilliant letter. I did read it last night. I felt deeply honoured to have the opportunity to read it again.
demkat620
@4tehlulz: That’s what I’m afraid of. And from what I can tell of Mark Potok from the SPLC, so is he.
El Cid
In 2000 there was actually a Supreme Court case, perhaps the most ludicrously decided case in its history, on the subject of who would be the President of the USA. The dispute on who would be President centered on which votes would or would not be recounted and how.
In 2009 there are people who dispute the legitimacy of Obama’s Presidency, and this is centered not on a highly contested vote count, but on nut squads who think Obama was born in Kenya or Indonesia and so either because of that or perhaps because the government spent a lot of money under Obama or maybe just ’cause he’s a skeery black dude with a freaky name who might be planning to resurrect Joe Stalin that he cannot be President.
demkat620
Sorry meant to post this.
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=392
shoutingattherain
@SiubhanDuinne:
Fixed to reflect reality.
Tim in SF
Except that the RNC is renting WND’s email list for outreach and fundraising.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/The_Next_Right_vs_the_current_right.html
Leelee for Obama
@minachica: That. Was. Awesome!
In my opinion, $20.00 is far too expensive for such a small amount of toilet paper, though. How many people will buy it, ya think?
koshkathecat
@JK
What I found amusing/disturbing about Brooks’ remarks is that it’s the media’s fault all the crazies are on tv, but Obama’s fault that he’s on tv. Oh, and that crap complaint about Obama being on tv too much.
I’ve always thought it showed he is working as opposed to hiding or just eating pretzels.
JK
@JK:
Brooks and Will are more rational than Limbaugh and Beck, but they’re still dicks.
I don’t remember Brooks, Wills or any other conservative complaining that George Bush was too overexposed in the media. This is a pure bullshit accusation.
Chad N Freude
@El Cid: The birthy controversy should be passed up to the Supreme Court so that Justice Scalia and the co-jurists that constitute his fan club can use the unacceptable chaos caused by inaugurating Obama as an excuse to seat the rightful winner of the election (that guy who hung out with Sarah).
On another topic: I can’t get over that blurb for the Donohue book. I prose that henceforth we measure cluelessness in units of Donohues.
Chad N Freude
Should have been “propose”. Damn keyboard.
Chad N Freude
@JK: And exactly how can the President of the US be over-exposed in the media?
Good lord, what would they have said about FDR?
JK
Rick Moran: “There is no excuse for the unhinged nature of dissent on the right – something I have written about at great personal and professional cost for years. But when lefties like Klein, Benen, and their hand wringing ilk invade the public discussion with their weeping about how extreme the opposition is without even acknowledging the dangerous, delegitimzing, depressing, maddening, and yes, scary rhetoric coming from their cohorts during the Bush years, one can not only question their judgment but their sanity as well… I see very little difference in how unhinged the opposition is acting towards Obama and those who pilloried Bush. Klein, Benen, and the rest are just being drama queens, solemnly informing us how frightened they are at such rank emotionalism in politics, while intoning warnings of these times being the “worst” this, or the “most dangerous” that. It’s pure poppycock. They either slept through last 8 years of the left’s assault on decency and rational discourse or they have the balls to ignore it in order to make a political point. Get real guys. You’re still part of the problem. The overwhelming number of people who oppose Obama do so in a rational, respectful manner. They are not birthers, or deathers, or any other unhinged faction.”
http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2009/09/04/holy-christ-where-has-joe-klein-been-the-last-8-years
General Winfield Stuck
What the GOP is doing is nothing less than what they tried to do with Lincoln before the Civil War. To zero in on the most primal core of human fear, or that what is most different and unknown to the prevailing pale skin public.
The cartoons and fearmongering about lending equality to black skinned peoples from exotic lands far away was the only real weapon they had against a man who had bonded with so many. Even in the north, that was basically against slavery, racism of the kind lending to full equality was exploitable by southerners and their sympathizers before
Abe was finally elected and then re-elected, so it didn’t really work, but caused much more unnecessary divisiveness beyond Lincoln’s sole promise to end slavery by whatever means necessary.
Lincoln was never about granting full equality to blacks, just to end the practice of slavery. Notwithstanding efforts of his enemies to portray full equality as what he was secretly after. Sorta the same with Obama on about anything he’s for, it is warped into something false.
Now these same nativist whites who fear a loss of power are playing the same cards of rank skullduggery and loud and persistent fearmongering lies to reach that core of insecurity the majority white folks naturally have. Someone different that they, a person representing at once a chance for many to be free from overt bigotry that they have scratched and clawed out of not all that long ago, but also opening the possibility of sliding back into the paranoid grips of racial anxiety.
This second thing is what the wingnuts are banking on, though disguised with labels of commie, muslim, Nazi. or whatever. It is about race, added onto at least semi-legitimate political ideological disagreements. And what is surprising and what makes it so dangerous, is the Right Wing brain trust actively and passively promoting it, in some desperate hope it will win them back in favor and power from a country that has shown them the door without courtesy, for epic failures of governance.
speecking for me only. if my history is off feel free to correct.,
The Grand Panjandrum
@JK: I guess the last name says it all. If he can’t see the difference then it would take too many one syllable words to explain it.
Chad N Freude
New glasses needed? Better lighting?
But they don’t seem to be heard. The New Silent Majority?
El Cid
There were a bunch of nutballs running around calling FDR a traitor and a Communist and a union lackey and whatever, and thankfully, he didn’t give a shit, and he chose to back the policies developed by the responsible upper classes and the liberal and labor reform group instead of reaching out to the NAM-hired nincompoops, the Commie-under-every-bed paranoids, and the American Nazi enthusiasts.
linda
and it’s only 7 months into the obama administration — only 41 more to go….
lordy.
The Grand Panjandrum
From the Volokh Conspiracy post linked to by Cole:
The GOP didn’t heed that advice, did they?
El Cid
Obama should [but won’t] say on Wednesday that “we must not listen to the miniscule masses of meandering menaces of misinformation, but to our silent majority, all that great majority of Americans who prefer real health care reform”.
Chad N Freude
@The Grand Panjandrum: Shucks, Bush was just being modest.
Chad N Freude
@El Cid: I hope he doesn’t say that. It sounds like Spiro Agnew.
trollhattan
Holy crap that Colbert blurb is priceless. Any chance it’s imprinted on the book jacket? (Oh please, oh please, oh…)
Hope somebody has it cached for when the Swiss Guard finds it.
Calming Influence
O/T:
Little Bitsy reminder:
http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=08C91FF88447651C43B224AF9FFC1E6E&page=1
Chad N Freude
I have to admit, something like “menacing masses of misinformation” has a certain appeal.
JK
@The Grand Panjandrum: @Chad N Freude:
On his website, Rick Moran describes himself as a libertine. His brother Terry is a co-host of Nightline.
Chad N Freude
@Chad N Freude: Quoting myself:
“menacing masses of misinformation” can be sung to the tune of “My Favorite Things”. I think there’s a parody brewing in there somewhere.
General Winfield Stuck
@Calming Influence:
thanks for reminder, she’s got 921 votes. That sounds like a lot, unless it isn’t.
Lyle4
@El Cid: I would rather no one ever utter the phrase “silent majority” ever again, thankyouverymuch.
General Winfield Stuck
@Lyle4:
tricky Dickie Lives!
Chad N Freude
@JK: Is being a libertine better than being a libertarian?
It says Moran was born in Born in Libertyville, IL. Obvious plays on “Liberty” aside, Libertyville was the official residence of Adlai Stevenson. Somehow, I think Stevenson would have perceived more of a difference between anti-Obamaism and anti-Bushism than Moran.
Leelee for Obama
@JenJen: Just read it again, thanks to you. It’s better the second time around. Well done, MFA.
JenJen
@Demo Woman:
Probably the best question I’ve ever seen posed here at The Juice.
Calming Influence
@General Winfield Stuck:
The other day I thought I’d go through the pictures to see if any of the other entries had gotten a lot of votes. Around the 21st page of poochies, it was obvious Little Bitsy was in the lead – except there are 2,565 pages of dogs!
Let’s just hope Balloon Juice has more Cute Dog Freepers than anyone else…
Sloth
And we haven’t even made it to the really good stuff, like immigration reform!
We should shut down all free newsfeeds to the rest of the world and sell subscriptions. They’ve got to be just loving watching this stuff. Reality TV writ large. And soon it will be 2010 and time to vote some of the players off the island!
John Cole
Rick Moran is a libertine the same way Glenn Reynolds is a libertarian. They are both Republicans. Moran occasionally chastises some of the obviously crazy nonsense on the right, but only when he can also include a false equivalency about the Democrats. It sometimes seems like he is making sense, but ignore his schtick of not being a party man. Ask him if he voted for McCain or Obama? For Bush or Kerry? For Bush or Gore? For Clinton or Dole?
I read him for years and finally gave up reading him regularly, because the only core principle I could ever find from him was “The Democrats are worse.”
arguingwithsignposts
Watched “Blazing Saddles” again today on Netflix. Can I just say that Mel Brooks is a genius, and it bears a lot of resemblance to the current moment.
JK
@John Cole:
It’s very funny to see Rick Moran describing Joe Klein as a “Lefty”.
sab
My school district says that it’s optional to listen to the speech, and that “alternative activities” will be provided for those students who opt out of the speech. In my day, the alternative activity for opting out of pep rallies was study hall. Hopefully things haven’t changed, and all the wingnut kids will be forced to sit quietly and pretend to study.
General Winfield Stuck
I used to comment over at Moran’s place fairly regularly and not too long ago. But the constant passive aggressive schtick just got too tiresome. Sometimes in the same thread, and other times in alternating threads. And on some subjects he is just as wingnutty as Reihl, Redstate, or any other foaming winger blog. He does get hi marks for allowing open commenting and some of the commenters are worth engaging, but Moran’s erratic false equiv. game just gives me a headache.
DaveInOz
I’m not sure why Republicans are making a fuss about the school broadcast.
I always assumed they were home-schooling their children to avoid them being tainted by librul facts.
minachica
@trollhattan: I’m on my knees praying that Colbert’s quote is already printed on at least 20,000 copies. And that nobody takes it off the intertubes.
Does anyone remember the Ohio State study released back in April? It concluded that “[C]onservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said“? I found that hard to believe, but maybe they were on to something.
Darci
@SiubhanDuinne
Exactly what I wanted to say…
BR
We really need to make the video of Obama’s speech (which should be posted on the whitehouse youtube channel) go viral on Tuesday. Post links to it, embed it on blogs, promote it on facebook, digg, reddit, etc.
There’s nothing kids like more than something they weren’t allowed to watch, and kids have a great bullshit detector. They’ll see that Obama’s message isn’t some indoctrination and will know that the media outlets their parents listen to are full of it.
Leelee for Obama
@arguingwithsignposts:Yup, salt of the earth we’re seeing here, that’s what it is. Wonder which little old white lady will walk up and say “Sorry about the up yours, N—–,” after Obama’s policies start looking good to most everyone. My money is on a pre-medicare eligible 60 yo with major health issues, who screamed like a slaughtered goose on camera at a Town Hall.
HRA
Suibhan Duinee: “The thing that kills me about the wingnut reaction to the idea of Obama addressing their kids for, what? 10 minutes or so?—is that they evidently have no confidence at all in whatever lessons and values they have imparted over the kids’ lifetimes. I mean, they’ve reared them from infancy, they’ve had family time around the kitchen table every night, they’ve headed off to church as a family every week, they’ve been there to answer the hard moral questions, and this has been going on for the past 6-14+ years, right? Yet they have so little belief in the efficacy of their own strong values and teachings that they are terrified it will all come tumbling down with one brief presidential pep talk?”
The scenario you present is a not exactly. Most kids were reared in day care and even from infancy. The kid’s schedules compete with the parent’s schedules. That means its not always a sure thing to have the entire family sitting around the kitchen table every night. By the time a kid gets home from after school practice in any sport or extracurricular activity, they are eating while doing their homework and trying to beat the clock before it’s time to go to bed. After a certain age, it’s rare to see an entire family attend church.
Even if those kids miss the president’s talk, the chances are very good that they will know what he said. It will not be a secret. Someone will tell them.
Comrade Kevin
@arguingwithsignposts: Candygram for Mongo!
Calming Influence
“Mongo not know; Mongo just pawn in game of life…”
Allan
A commenter over at DKos raised a question that hadn’t occurred to me until she put it in my head about Glenn Beck’s obsessive rant about Rockefeller Center.
Is there a bigger point beyond the fact that it is the home to the hated NBC?
Was his repeated recitation of the addresses of the various building whose artwork he was deconstructing analagous to the way the Operation Rescue types like to publicize the clinic and home addresses of abortion providers? Was the whole thing a dog-whistle?
This is the address from which all that is evil and bad about America radiates! It’s very buildings are seducing unsuspecting God-loving patriots to crave Soviet/Italian Commu-Fascism! The buildings are evil! Evil! Will no one rid my city of these meddlesome buildings?
IndieTarheel
@Chad N Freude: Menacing masses of misinformationParanoid and fearful of losing their stationMost likely armed and subject to mood swingsthese are a few of my least favorite things…
IndieTarheel
Stupid edit function…let’s try that again, shall we?
Menacing masses of misinformationParanoid and fearful of losing their stationMost likely armed and subject to mood swingsthese are a few of my least favorite things
IndieTarheel
Dammit!!Menacing masses of misinformationParanoid and fearful of losing their stationMost likely armed and subject to mood swingsThese are a few of my least favorite things…
IndieTarheel
I give up.
MelodyMaker
What this place needs is another election– 6 weeks from today. That might bring some focus.
Ty Lookwell
Has John Cole ever made a long-ish post about his movement away from the republican party and its positions, and what factors led him to it?
I’ve only been reading the blog for the past year or so (and love it, one of my favorites now), and while many posts and comments allude to his change, I’m curious whether he’s ever discussed it in detail?
I’d love to read about his conversion experience, if it’s been previously posted. I’ve grown convinced of the futility of rational argument with regards to family and friends for almost all political matters, and I’m curious as to what did work.
IndieTarheel
Keep on walkin, I ain’t talkin to you anymore
Keep on walkin, keep on walkin (you can just go on)
Keep on walkin, I ain’t talkin to you anymore
Keep on walkin, keep on walkin (you can just go on)
We ain’t talkin no morehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sayb_HLeiaU
MelodyMaker
short of that, allow me to just state that BHO was elected POTUS. Big Time. That’s what I wanted, and my opinion has not changed.
drillfork
@arguingwithsignposts:
If Mongo were at the townhall meetings, we wouldn’t have the finger-biting, that’s for sure.
“Oh, don’t shoot him. That only makes him mad…”
MelodyMaker
@Ty Lookwell:
I’d never heard of John Cole until Digby and a bunch of others said something like “heh hehe, guess who just switched sides?” March or April of last year? maybe earlier.
MelodyMaker
dooowaahh, walkin walkin
dooowaahh, talkin talkin
I’m wonderin, if you’ll come home
I’m hopin that you’ll be my baby
Maus
“I don’t like that the LA Times opinion piece tells me I have to pick between thinking Obama is a secret Marxist or that he’s a secret Muslim.”
I’m sure you can also find that way of thinking in their non-opinion section as well.
Chad N Freude
@IndieTarheel: There, there, those of us with the Da Vinci Decoder Ring can parse it. And thank you for actually springing the Trapp.
Free At Last
@Ty Lookwell:
The definitive date for the Cole Conversion was 10/31/2007, although it had been in the works since after the 2004 election IIRC
This is the post:
https://balloon-juice.com/?p=8971
liberal
@Ty Lookwell:
Of course the easiest thing would be to search the archives, but I don’t know how feasible that would be.
I started reading Balloon Juice after the conversion. But my impression from remarks made afterward it happened was the the Schiavo episode was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Could be wrong about that though.
While some people snark about JC having voted for Bush 43 twice, my assumption is that JC had been a “conservative” all his life. Many of us (like myself) can’t credit themselves on such a turnaround like that.
Deborah
See, what I don’t get about the “write a letter about how you could help the President improve public education” “controversy” is that, if your children are in public schools, you and they should want them to improve. I wanted public schools to improve under GWB. It is flatly counter to your self-interest and the good of the country to yearn for the schools to fail because you don’t like the president.
This has come out with Rush–he wants the economy to fail so Obama fails, he wants health reform to fail so Obama fails–but I didn’t actually expect parents to flagrantly support it for their kids. Perhaps they could instead write dear little letters to Rush:
Dear Mr. Rush,
I want the president to fail and I want public education to fail so everyone will know that the president is a loser who can’t fix anything. In support of the Republican movement I will be skipping school twice a week for the next 7 years. Also I will start using some drugs.
Go GOP!
Your friend, Emily
Capn America
Thanks Free At Last, I was actually looking forward to hearing about too. I first heard about John Cole through links from Greenwald and Sully, starting from about a year ago. Now one of my favorite blogs, and one of the few I check out for the comments as well as the posts.