Bad Days in American History: October 10, 1973

I had this written to post on Saturday, but I have been at a conference in Denver that I assure you included no drinking of delicious Colorado beers, and I didn't have time to post this.

On October 10, 1973, Spiro Agnew, Vice-President of Richard Nixon, resigned in disgrace under investigation for a variety of crimes, including tax evasion, extortion, bribery, and conspiracy.

Of course, Agnew had always been a class act. The only reason he was on the presidential ticket in the first place was his first-rate race baiting, under the euphemism of law and order. He was the perfect compliment to Nixon's Southern Strategy and politics of white resentment. He served his four plus years as Nixon's attack dog. Not that Nixon wasn't good at that himself. But Agnew had a great way of hurling insults, insulting hippies and black people, and becoming a hero of the rising conservative movement.

Agnew would have been a tremendously successful politician in the modern conservative movement. Almost totally without scruples except for self-promotion, Agnew almost reads as a precursor for Sarah Palin. Both had meteoric rises to nomination in a position for which they were completely unqualified to serve. Both rose politics of resentment to the top. Both relished personally attacking their opponents. Both had absolutely no clue about foreign policy, much to the worry of the top of the ticket. Both did not get along with the presidential candidate. While we don't know much about Palin's opinions of Jews, Agnew was a virulent anti-Semite. And both were corrupt to the core.

After Agnew's disgraceful resignation, he wrote a memoir published in 1980. In it, he claimed that Nixon and Al Haig planned to assassinate him if he refused to resign from the vice-presidency. While one hardly wants to put anything past Nixon or Haig, in this case, those guys seem pretty above board. Compared to Spiro Agnew, anyone sounds good!

Like a lot of bad things, it was tinged with good. Maybe it was a good day when Agnew resigned. Because I sure would rather have had Gerald Ford take over the Oval Office upon Nixon's resignation than Agnew.

This is What the Honduran Coup Looks Like

This is the Honduran coup and the military that supports it:

Rosamaria Valeriano Flores was returning home from a visit to a public health clinic and found herself in a crowd of people dispersing from a demonstration in support of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya. As she crossed the central square of the Honduran capital, a group of soldiers and police officers pushed her to the ground and beat her with their truncheons.

She said the men kicked out most of her top teeth, broke her ribs and split open her head. “A policeman spit in my face and said, ‘You will die,’ ” she said, adding that the attack stopped when a police officer shouted at the men that they would kill her.

Ms. Valeriano, 39, was sitting in the office of a Tegucigalpa human rights group last week, speaking about the assault, which took place on Aug. 12. As she told her story, mumbling to hide her missing teeth, she pointed to a scar on her scalp and to her still-sore left ribs.

What's even more disturbing is the support the coup is getting from Senator Jim DeMint and many other major Republicans. Sarah has a great article about this at Global Comment. I think some of this support comes from a desire to replicate the neo-imperialistic American relationship with Latin America during the Cold War. I also wonder how much of this isn't a dark fantasy of what conservatives could do in the United States to a popularly elected but (to them) detestable government. I think a lot. I think DeMint might just support this because he thinks such actions, and the beatings of hippies and unionists and anti-war protesters and other undesirables that result, is a desirable response to the Obama presidency. Certainly the violent rhetoric coming out of the teabaggers (when their mouths aren't full of testicles that is...) suggest extremist and authoritarian desires. I don't want to read too much into DeMint's actions, but I do think it's worth considering.

The Fringe Backbenchers Get Scrutinized

As I pointed out earlier today, a real benefit of Joe Wilson's outburst is that we have a reason to examine the true fringe of the Republican Party. What we find out is that these people aren't really even Republicans. They have only a marginal allegiance to the party unless they can take it over. The Republicans know this and thus allow the wingnuts to run the show so the party doesn't collapse.

Joe Wilson's closet friend in the House is Florida congressman Jeff Miller. Miller has proudly put up a pro-Wilson sign in his office. I've been searching to see what connections Miller might have with neo-Confederate ideology. So far I haven't found any, but he is closely connected to the Constitution Party. This is a right-wing extremist party that exists along the Buchananite-Fallwellian wing of the party. In fact, Miller was a featured speaker at 2004 Constitutional Party Chuck Baldwin's megachurch early in the decade (and maybe since then, I'm just not sure). Among other speakers have been Buchanan and Falwell, Roy Moore, Fob James, Howard Phillips, and Joe Scarbourough, among other lunatics.

The Socialist Indoctrination Speech

Well, Obama's attempt to turn our children into socialists seems to have gone off--he sold them such commie values as trying hard, staying in school, working hard, and taking responsibility for your actions. That's some anarchism right there my friends.

The only useful thing that we can take from the wingnut response to the speech is their belief that every time a president addresses an audience, it's to indoctrinate them. And what that means is that they totally support this idea, so long as it's their president doing the indoctrinating. That's what scares me the most about all of this--they actually want presidents sending messages to schoolchildren, so long as they are messages they approve of.

Approval ratings in context...

Honestly, I don't know why I care, but the bloviating asshat wingnut megaphones that have been celebrating Obama's approval rating slide have been really getting under my skin. It seems that this week Obama's numbers have rebounded a bit; Gallup reports a nudge up to 57% from an Administration low of 52% in the previous week.

To put all of this into perspective, here are the ranges of Gallup approval ratings from January to August of the previous eight presidents' first terms:

President..........Low.........High
Eisenhower..........67...........74
Kennedy..............72...........83
Nixon..................58...........65
Carter.................60...........75
Reagan...............51...........68
Bush...................51...........70
Clinton................37...........59
Bush...................52...........63

Interesting to note that Obama, who is dealing with a deeper economic crisis than anyone on the above chart, isn't faring any worse than previous presidents. Yesterday's unemployment surprise seems to be another item pointing to a recovery coming on the horizon, which will only help Obama's numbers.

Teaching U.S. History in Texas

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article on the battle over teaching U.S history in Texas public schools. Mirroring the evolution/creationism debate, this pits right-wing ideologues over those who have sense. One of the conservatives says this:

"We're in an all-out moral and spiritual civil war for the soul of America, and the record of American history is right at the heart of it"

I absolutely agree with this and that's why these right-wingers must be stopped. What do they object to? Including positive discussions of Cesar Chavez for instance.

• Delete César Chávez from a list of figures who modeled active participation in the democratic process

Two reviewers objected to citing Mr. Chávez, who led a strike and boycott to improve working conditions for immigrant farmhands, as an example of citizenship for fifth-graders. "He's hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation," Rev. Marshall wrote.

How's that? Marshall doesn't say, but presumably it is part anti-labor, part racism. They also oppose discussion of Anne Hutchinson as an important person to discuss for colonial America and want to replace discussion of Thurgood Marshall as an important person to study with--wait for it--Sam Houston!!!! There's also a bias against discussing the country as a democracy.

I do agree with the conservatives that studying primary documents should be valued higher. Conservatives always think things like this are going to lead to capital R republican values, but there's no actual evidence of this. One can easily discuss the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution and come to the conclusion that the current Republican party is completely insane.

The moderate reviewers have entirely reasonable proposals such as emphasizing more Latinos, toning down emphasis on the Cold War, and discussing America's historical relationship with Islamic nations and peoples. You know, things that actually make sense in modern society.

So this isn't really a blog post on culture wars.

I'm too tired. But I wanted to share this Guardian piece about Obama's effect on the culture wars.

The president has taken a stand against anti-abortion rules in clinics and legalised funding for stem cell research. He has praised Islam and Iran on his recent overseas trip and held a Passover ceremony in the White House. Meanwhile, a series of states, including Iowa, deep in the American heartland, have legalised gay marriage and more are expected to follow suit.

Yet, for all the sound and fury this has prompted on the extreme right, Obama remains a popular president. That has led some to wonder if the culture wars are finally losing some of their power. "People are tired of this. A lot of them are thinking: let's move on," said Professor Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at the University of California, Riverside.

Read it. Is good.

The 2008 Presidential Election Longshots: Chuck B, Public Piety

I thought it might be fun to look at the non-McBama candidates for this year's presidential race. As usual, there are quite a few third party candidates with varying degrees of ballot access.

First up: Meet Charles “Chuck” Baldwin, your 2008 nominee for the Constitution Party! He beat out perennial wingnut hang-on Alan Keyes in what was surely an exciting, action-packed convention in Kansas City in April.

The Constitution Party’s website claims to be the “largest third party based on voter registration” (though they fail to mention that in the 2004 Presidential election, the Constitution Party’s ticket garnered only 143,630 votes, which is significantly fewer than the 465,650 votes for Nader or the 397,265 received by the Libertarian party). The party has a lot of ideological sympathy for tenets of libertarian political philosophy, only infused with a kind of far-right social policy that libertarians often reject. Basically, it the takes the worst aspects of the libertarians (the asinine economic and tax systems) and marries them with theocratic notions of Christian supremacy.

A few fun items from the CP’s website:

Baldwin takes a cue from Ron Paul on issues like the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and other kinds of federal oversteps of power. He is an ardent isolationist, it seems (even citing President Jefferson's handling of Barbary pirates as a good example of how to handle terrorists).

Baldwin opposes the estate tax. And the federal income tax. And value-added taxes (national sales taxes that are usually touted as alternatives to the federal income tax). And property taxes. Apparently, the only income the government will have will be from tariffs.

He proposes using the “bully pit” of the presidency to force an end to all abortion, even vowing the following if Congress will not cooperate with him:

“I will use the constitutional power of the Presidency to deny funds to protect abortion clinics. Either way, legalized abortion ends when I take office.”

A not-so-subtle "wink, wink" to would-be domestic terrorists that it would now be open
season on abortion clinics.

The word "globalist" appears not quite as frequently as the phrase “New World Order” on the site.

He would not only abolish the Department of Education, but the Food and Drug Administration as well. I'll be ready for a gin and Vioxx cocktail!

Here is my favorite part: The Constitution Party, the party with the word Constitution in its name, espouses the end of “birthright citizenship”. This is in direct opposition to the 14th
Amendment of the Constitution, which begins with the following:

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The granting of citizenship to those born on American soil has been upheld in numerous
Supreme Court decisions over the years. But apparently the Constitution doesn't really
matter to the eponymous political party. At least when it conflicts with an ardent desire to
punish people who are here "illegally".

Oh yeah, and he's a right wing radio talk show host who is pretty keen on Jesus.

Wingnutty goodness.

Keep Your Tim Hortons away from Our Dunkin'

Sometimes, I really appreciate people like Tom Tancredo. Apparently, fencing off Mexico and destroying both relations and the environment isn't enough. Now, it's time to get one on the Northern side, too. It makes me happy when wingnuts undermine their own points, points that have support amidst his crazy brethren, by going overboard in manic paranoia. It's pretty clear that all the people refused refugee status and sent away from Canada have come here to blow us up and steal our jobs, not to mention those crazy Manitobans coming down and making our North-Central states more Lutheran than they already are. Tim Hortons is an institution bound to infiltrate and destroy our Winchell's and Dunkin' Donut franchises and Canadian Club is clearly on the cusp of buying out Jim Beam and Jack Daniels' distilleries simultaneously. I, for one, welcome our new Canadian kings. If only we'd listened to Tancredo, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.

For what it's worth, this is Tancredo's press release from his jackass website.

PTSD: It's Like LSD For Wingnuts

Grim at Blackfire has this lunatic post, which claims to be sympathetic to soldiers with PTSD, but reads like he really wishes he could have such an experience:

"What you need to know, first and last, is that so-called PTSD is not an illness. It is a normal condition for people who have been through what you have been through. The instinct to kill and war is native to humanity. It is very deeply rooted in me, as it is in you. We have rules and customs to restrain it, so that sometimes we may have peace. What you are experiencing is not an illness, but the awareness of what human nature is like deep down. It is the awareness of what life is like without the walls that protect civilization."

I swear that if you replaced a few choice words, you could pass this off as something from Timothy Leary.

He then goes on to compare PTSD with riding horses.

TIDOS Yankee also wishes he could have this mind-bending experience.

Lovin' It

In the blogging world, there has to be nothing more amusing to me than to see my post questioning the value of the American Revolution get spread around the right-wing blogs. I clearly committed 3 crimes for these people--I mentioned Michael Moore, I suggested that Canada might be a good place to live, and I dared say that maybe, just maybe, the American Revolution was not the greatest event in the history of humanity.

Also, this adds proof to my theory that the more half-assed the post, the better chance people will talk about it. Strange world.

It's funny how crazy these people are and disturbing to see their poor levels of thinking. I won't bore you with the details. I'll only say that this guy said my post, "may be the most moronic post in the history of political blogging." But given that his favorite writer is St. Jonah of the Literacy Test and that he thinks this is funny, I'll take his claim with great honor.

Today's Minor Epiphany

Victor Davis Hanson is the Andy Rooney of the new American century. But with more exploded limbs, and less complaining about how difficult computers are.

When in doubt, blame the faculty

In a world where professors at universities are increasingly the object of wingnut paranoia, a "third front" in America, this effort to try to pin the VT shootings on the VT English Department is particularly repugnant, even by the low standards of the David Horowitz group. Of all the factors - gun control, mental instability, the disjuncture between state and federal laws on who can get a gun - the faculty, here or anywhere, has as little to do with these shootings as lyme disease does. As Hilzoy says, the faculty members are not only particularly leftist by any standards, they tried to get Cho to get help. Of all the useless, ineffective, and baseless smear jobs on academia, this is perhaps the lowest of the low.

Now That's Leadership!

I know this will just enhance my reputation for picking on the dead. But...

Charlie Norwood's obituary mentions what he was most proud of in his time as a representative.

"Mr. Norwood prided himself on serving his northeast Georgia district, promoting his success in cutting through federal regulations a decade ago to allow a constituent to bring home a stuffed polar bear the man had killed on a hunting trip in Canada."

Wow--I don't know if Georgia can find that kind of leadership elsewhere!