The DHS Terror Report and the Future of the Republican Party
Bloggers on Obama's trip to Mexico, right-wing extremism, and the commander-on-leash
Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:
The New GOP
Still reacting to yesterday's protests, bloggers left and right are using the momentum to talk about the future of the GOP. Let's start first, however, with this revealing look at all sides of the controversy over the Tea Party protests (video). Liberal Drew Westen thinks the GOP is unraveling. Liberal Lincoln Mitchell worries about the destabilizing talk of secession and revolution among Republicans. Mark Halperin explains why the big elephant is crying. Jennifer Rubin thinks the Tea Parties should keep Republicans on their toes: "The crowd, if anything, was libertarian in bent rather than conservative." This conservative blogger thinks the mainstream media is ignoring conservative successes. Conservative Reihan Salam says bye, bye, Sarah Palin, you no longer have a place in the GOP. And blogger McKinley writes the prescription for conservative ills: "Conservatism is at its best when it concedes the world is changing in ways it does not favor, but nonetheless resolves to moderate its course."
Extremists and the DHS
This Department of Homeland Security report is drawing some serious and some not-so-serious controversy. The report cautions that right-wing extremism is on the rise (or soon will be). Conservative Mary Kate Cary thinks the report mistreats veterans by painting them as particularly vulnerable to right-wing extremism: "This is the thanks they get from a grateful nation? Apparently not." Peter Roff concurs. Andrew Sullivan is all over this story—and by "this story" we mean the Bush administration's domestic surveillance policy. Liberal Bob Cesca throws rocks at Republicans who are up in arms over the report: "The gang who can't seem to decipher basic high school level social studies concepts, kneejerked into one of their paranoid tantrums—insisting that the report was entirely about them." And liberal Steve Benen thinks reactionary Republicans should have thought this one through.
Down in Mexico
Obama left for Mexico today on his way to the Summit of the Americas, and bloggers—mostly liberal ones—are taking interest in the Americas. Let's start with this op-ed that Obama had published today in U.S. and Latin American newspapers. Robert Schlesinger turns his attention to U.S. policy toward Cuba, seeing opportunity in the "increasing (but uncertain) pressure to bring sanity to our Cuba policy." A different liberal Schlesinger describes the multiple crises Latin America is facing. David Rothkopf talks leadership. Money quote: "Bo the Portuguese Water Dog ... seems to intuitively understand better than anyone the Obama Administration's main foreign policy precept of rolling over on its back and letting the world scratch its belly." Liberal Mark Weisbrot thinks it's time for a real change—a change that Obama doesn't seem likely to deliver: "The collapse of economic growth in Latin America under neoliberal policies has gone unnoticed in Washington, but it's hard to miss in the countries that have suffered through it." And here's what might just be the most serious news item on Latin America.
... Meanwhile ...
The next story that's bound to dominate the blogosphere... Mass suicide by farmers in India are an ominous bellwether... Snakes (actually) on a plane!... And the commander-on-leash has become a media personality already.
Reader Comments
This article
Could we please be real for a minute? The successes of yeterday point to a fact that scares the pants off of the liberal elites. The fact that the liberal media portrays it that way only proves one thing to me, that you are still in the tank drinking the kool aid. The parties yesterday weren't just about being taxed enough already. They were about middle Ameica, and our constitutional right to petition government. We work hard. We are not asking to pay no taxes, just less in taxes. We shouldn't be bailing out AIG, the banks, or the Big 3. That is what bankruptcy court is for. We shouldn't be supporting people who think that they are owed something. No one owes them a thing.
We also don't feel that the Federal government should be doing what they are doing. With the recent power grabs that are going on, our founding fathers are rolling over in their grave right now. The federal government can not give you a single payer health care system, or socialized medicine as it's called. Why? Read the 10th amendment of the constitution, better known as the states' rights amendment. It wasn't given to the federal government it belongs to the states to take up. Could someone please tell me where in the US constitution that it says a president can "fire" a CEO of a company. He can't. How about with the punitive taxation that was attempted to put into place over the AIG fiasco? That is called a Bill of Attainder. They are very illegal and it should make any one want to vote these clowns out!
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