New Right-Wing Craze Prays That Obama’s ‘Days Be Few’
New Right-Wing Craze Prays That Obama’s ‘Days Be Few’
The newest far-right craze is an anti-Obama slogan that is making its way onto t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, and even teddy bears: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8,” which reads, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” The meme is also taking off on Twitter, with conservatives calling it “hilarious.” Commentators have noted that it’s unclear whether the intent is to hope for an end to Obama’s time in office — or an end to his life. But a look at the lines in the rest of the psalm hint at the latter:
Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Diana Butler Bass at Beliefnet explains that Psalm 109 is one of the “imprecatory” prayers, “a lament in the form of petition to destroy one’s enemies.” While perhaps intended to be a joke, she notes that the psalm actually “entreats God to destroy the president”:
It is the personal prayer of an individual, someone who has been dealt an injustice by another–and usually more powerful–person. The words of Psalm 109 are those of deep agony, the longings of a victim for retribution and justice. This psalm is considered one of the most difficult of all the psalms–full of violent images of vengeance and death.
Quite a few of the “Pray for Obama” items are being sold at CafePress.com, although many of them have been taken off of the site (here’s a cached version of some of them). Cafe Press representative Margene H. told ThinkProgress that while the site took down some of the “Pray for Obama” items today, it is now in the process of reinstating them:
We initially pulled the Psalm 109:8 content from our products today because broader media dialog indicated that these designs potentially suggested violence towards the president. Based on current public discourse and further review of the actual content, we have determined that it is fair political commentary and we are in the process of reinstating this merchandise. As with all of our content, these designs will continue to be reviewed and if at any time their meaning is construed as advocating violence we will revisit our decision.
On Tuesday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow spoke with “Patience With God” author Frank Schaeffer, who said that while the psalm was “frightening” in a secular context, it’s even “more threatening” in a biblical context.
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Washington Times op-ed: Obama lacks ‘blood impulse’ for what America ‘is about’ due to his ‘Kenyan father.’
Washington Times op-ed: Obama lacks ‘blood impulse’ for what America ‘is about’ due to his ‘Kenyan father.’
In a column today criticizing President Obama’s bow before the Japanese Emperor, Wesley Pruden, the editor emeritus of The Washington Times, claims that President Obama “seems never to have studied much American history” because he apparently doesn’t know that “the essence of America is that all men stand equal and are entitled to look even a king, maybe particularly a king, straight in the eye.” Pruden then claims this lack of understanding of America’s “essence” is “no fault of the president” because Obama’s father was Kenyan and his mother was “attracted to men of the Third World”:
But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy ’60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to “hope” for “change.” It’s no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of “the 57 states” is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.
Pruden has a history of writing racially-charged items. In 2005, he wrote a column criticizing the Senate for passing a resolution that apologized for never enacting an anti-lynching law. As Media Matters noted at the time, Pruden had previously made numerous “sympathetic statements about the Confederacy” and employed “a neo-Confederate activist in the Times newsroom.”
Rove Attacks Obama For Bowing: He Should Do What All Presidents Have Done And ‘Not Bow To Monarchies’
Rove Attacks Obama For Bowing: He Should Do What All Presidents Have Done And ‘Not Bow To Monarchies’
This morning on Fox & Friends, former Bush adviser Karl Rove appeared on the program to bash President Obama for paying a respectful bow before the Japanese Emperor. Leading into the segment, co-host Steve Doocy claimed that there is a “long-standing precedent going back to the founding” of the U.S. that “American presidents don’t bow to anybody.” Doocy might want to do some research on President Eisenhower.
Calling the bow “inappropriate,” Rove wondered, “what’s that all about?” He added that Obama “simply can’t get it right” and that the bow is part of Obama’s “world-wide apology tour.” Rove concluded his assault with this final jab:
I think it’s best if American presidents do what they have always done — which is to stand for our small “r” republican values and do not bow to monarchies.
Watch it:
It’s true. Unlike Obama, Bush did not have a general policy of showing respect to world leaders. Instead, he opted for a special policy of showing particularly reverent displays of affection toward monarchs he liked. Presumably, Rove would have no complaints had Obama kissed and held hands with the Japanese Emperor:
G. Gordon Liddy Says ‘I’m Convinced’ That ‘Barack Obama Is A Muslim,’ Gary Bauer Doesn’t Disagree
G. Gordon Liddy Says ‘I’m Convinced’ That ‘Barack Obama Is A Muslim,’ Gary Bauer Doesn’t Disagree
On his radio show today, G. Gordon Liddy hosted former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer to discuss his Human Events column on the Fort Hood massacre, in which Bauer — echoing his close personal friend Bill Kristol — declared that “[p]olitical correctness has been radical Islam’s greatest asset in its war against America. Let’s execute it.” “Accommodation of Islam pervades our schools,” added Bauer in his column.
In the beginning of their discussion, Liddy said that political correctness towards Islam “precedes the Obama administration” because President Bush proclaimed that “Islam is a religion of peace.” “You know that’s just not true,” said Liddy. Later in the conversation, after Bauer complained that Obama’s Homeland Security adviser John Brennan would lead the investigation into what the U.S. intelligence community knew about Nidal Malik Hasan before his attack, Liddy announced his belief that President Obama “is a Muslim”:
LIDDY: I’m convinced that despite his protestations to the contrary, that Barack Obama is a Muslim. I don’t believe that he’s a Christian at all. I believe he’s a Muslim.
BAUER: Well, you know the church that he famously or infamously attended was, was odd in many ways. Not only the rantings of its pastor, the clear racist rantings of its pastor, which the President chose to listen to year after year with his family and his children. You know something that still in my view has never been adequately explained. But it was also a church that had some real strange ideas about Islam and Christianity. I’ve seen a number of suggestions that there were many people in the congregation that considered themselves both Christian and Muslim. Something that I’m sure both real Christians and real Muslims would deny is possible.
Not only did Bauer not disagree with Liddy’s claim that Obama is lying about his Christianity, he went on to praise Liddy’s contribution to America’s political debate. “You do an outstanding job on your show bringing people the information they need,” said Bauer. “I commend you for the good work you do every day.” Listen to it here:
It’s not surprising that Liddy would hold such a fringe view. After all, he is a prominent birther who thinks that Obama is an “illegal alien.” Bauer, on the other hand, has previously written that he doesn’t want to “question the sincerity of Obama’s faith.” But in playing along with Liddy, that’s exactly what he has done.
Rick Perry Caters To The Far Right: Obama Is ‘Interested In Punishing Texas’ And ‘Hellbent’ On Socialism
Rick Perry Caters To The Far Right: Obama Is ‘Interested In Punishing Texas’ And ‘Hellbent’ On Socialism
Yesterday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) spoke to a meeting of the Midland County Republican Women. He used his speech to portray himself as a stalwart right-wing candidate and endear himself to the Tea Party activists, since he’s locked in a tough fight with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) for the GOP gubernatorial nomination for 2010. In his remarks, Perry accused the Obama administration of trying to single out Texas for special punishment and urged activists to stage even bigger Tea Parties:
PERRY: This is an administration that I see punishing this state. I say it’s time for us to stand up. I say it’s time to make Tea Parties twice as big as what they were. [...]
If you don’t think those Tea Parties really worked, let me tell you something: When they all came home in August and were going to different places and town hall meetings, they got an earful. Then they went back to Washington, DC, and the Senate voted that public option down in Senate committee, with a majority Democrats in the Senate and that committee. You better believe they’re listening.
This is an administration hellbent on taking America toward a socialist country, and we ought not to be afraid to say that.
Watch it:
Earlier this week in a speech to the Lake Travis Republican Women’s Club, Perry similarly praised Tea Parties and attacked Republicans in Washington for losing sight of conservative values.
For months, Perry has been working to bone up on his Tea Party bonafides and appeal to the right wing. He awarded hate radio host Rush Limbaugh with an “honorary Texan” award, signed onto the tenther movement to oppose health care reform, and famously floated Texas seceding from the United States to get away from Obama.
There’s no evidence that the Obama administration is out to “punish” Texas. In his Midland speech, Perry complained “that the federal government plans to dump illegal aliens arrested in California and Arizona along the border” and in the Travis County address, he added that it refuses to give him funding for 1,000 more border patrol agents. But as the Texas Tribune noted, Perry could authorize state money for that purpose at any time.
The federal government has tried to give Texas assistance — such as $555 million in stimulus funds for expanded unemployment benefits (which Perry rejected) and has received federal disaster assistance more times than any other state.
Rep. Steve King calls Obama administration the ‘gangster government.’
Rep. Steve King calls Obama administration the ‘gangster government.’
Rep. Steve King (R-IA), one of the right wing’s most shameless hate-mongers, has propagated all sorts of baseless attacks on Obama. For example, he has said Obama will make America a “totalitarian dictatorship,” that Obama was raised by polygamists, and that “radical Islamists” would be “dancing in the streets” if Obama was elected. In an interview with the Washington News Observer, King offered his latest diatribe, calling Obama’s team of advisers the “gangster government”:
Valerie Jarrett is a product of Chicago politics. This is power politics through Rahm Emanuel and Barack Obama, son and daughter of Saul Alinsky, linked up with Mayor Daley, the one that actually hired Michelle Obama and put her into that link, which may have well been the link that put Barack Obama into that machine. The Chicago Machine, we know what it is. Someone called it gangster government. In Chicago, you have gangester government and Valerie Jarrett’s been in the middle of that. She’s been brokering power for a long time.
Watch it:
King’s attack on Valerie Jarrett comes on the heels of Glenn Beck’s repeated screeds against her on his show.
Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
Westboro Baptist Church Organizes Homophobic Anti-Obama Protest Outside Sasha And Malia’s School
Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that goes around the country staging anti-gay rallies at some of the most inappropriate places (e.g. the funerals of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and U.S. troops) with messages like “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates Fags.”
This week, they’re bringing their hateful message to children in Washington, DC, planning pickets at a handful of local schools. This morning, they showed up outside of Sidwell Friends, the school that Sasha and Malia Obama attend. On Twitter, Megan Phelps-Roper — one of Fred Phelps’ grandchildren — posted a picture of the protest:
Washington Post education reporter Michael Birnbaum said that he spent the morning at the protest, and MSNBC host David Shuster wrote, “Hopefully, some of the more rational conservatives/republicans will condemn this stuff today. It was beyond the pale.” ThinkProgress contacted Sidwell for more details on the protest and are awaiting a response.
In the past, extreme anti-choice activist Randall Terry has also targeted the Obama children’s school, saying, “We will continue to show images of aborted babies at high schools, no matter what the cost.”
Fox News promotes incoherent ‘Obama Change Index’ to argue the President is tanking.
Fox News promotes incoherent ‘Obama Change Index’ to argue the President is tanking.
FoxNews.com, the official website of the Fox News anti-Obama propaganda network, is promoting what it calls the “Obama Change Index.” The index purports to chart “the impact of policies promised by President Obama,” and conveniently graphs Obama’s progress on a scale of 0-700. It appears that Fox’s “change index” is tabulated by asking one Democratic, Republican, and Independent pundit what they think of Obama on 7 different issues: budget, stimulus, homeland security, foreign/military affairs, social issues, dealing with Congress, law and justice. While Obama’s favorable ratings have been going up recently, Fox News’ index unsurprisingly shows Obama tanking. Reddit user KingBeetle writes of the index, “I can’t even figure out what it means, but for some reason this week, Obama is down 271 points.” It’s now 282 points:
A couple of interesting observations from the “Obama Change Index”: On the week of 9/16/09, Obama scored a zero on Homeland Security for no apparent reason. Similarly, Obama scored a zero on “social issues” the week of 6/30/09 because he “tried to placate the gay community.”
Malkin: The content of Obama’s off-the-record meeting with liberal journalists ‘ought to be disclosed.’
Malkin: The content of Obama’s off-the-record meeting with liberal journalists ‘ought to be disclosed.’
On Monday, President Obama met with liberal-leaning journalists and commentators in an off-the-record session that included MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. Reporting on the meeting that night, Fox News’ Bret Baier suggested the White House had a “double standard” and was “playing favorites” after the White House had challenged Fox’s credibility as a news organization. On Fox and Friends this morning, host Brian Kilmeade and Fox contributor Michelle Malkin demanded that the off-the-record session be put on the record for the American people:
KILMEADE: Let’s go to your second question. What did you talk about in your off-the-record meeting with opinion journalists at the White House-friendly media outlet for over two hours and why should it be kept secret? Who was there? What do you need to know Michelle?
MALKIN: Well, we know that a lot of left-wing opinion journalists were invited to this off-the-record meeting that lasted two-and-a-half-hours. That’s a lot longer than General McChrystal got and I think that the news-consuming audience ought to know what was discussed. We ought to know and it ought to be disclosed what was discussed by those attendees when they talk about this White House and its policy. Why shouldn’t this be completely transparent?
Watch it:
As Crooks and Liars’ Susie Madrak notes, the complainers at Fox appear to be “suffering from memory loss” about President Bush’s many off-the-record chats with conservative columnists and radio hosts, including Fox News personalities Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Glenn Beck. Additionally, they seem to forget that Obama shared an off-the-record dinner with conservative columnists, including Fox contributors Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol and Paul Gigot, before his Inauguration. Malkin should note that the dinner lasted two-and-half hours.
Steele refuses to distance himself from Glenn Beck’s ‘racist’ attack on Obama.
Steele refuses to distance himself from Glenn Beck’s ‘racist’ attack on Obama.
In his interview with Univision yesterday, RNC Chairman Michael Steele was asked his reaction to Glenn Beck’s now-infamous racist diatribe against President Obama. Recall, Beck said Obama is a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” (Beck has been unable to clarify what he meant by “white culture.”) Steele refused to offer even the slightest hint of criticism or dissatisfaction with Beck’s comments. Instead, he repeatedly defended it as “one man’s opinion”:
RAMOS: For instance, when you hear commentators like Glenn Beck saying that for him President Barack Obama is a racist, with a deep seeded hatred for white people, how do you react?
STEELE: That’s one man’s opinion.
RAMOS: Yes, but…
STEELE: That’s one man’s opinion.
RAMOS: But should you defend Barack Obama against these types of comments? I don’t know, it’s just a question.
STEELE: No, no, look the reality of it is when I ran for the United States’ Senate and I was called an Uncle Tom by leading Democrats in the country, when I was called a slave by Steny Hoyer who is now the majority leader in the House no one came running to my defense and no one seemed to think that that was racists at the time.
Watch it (en español):
Following Beck’s racist attack on Obama, ColorOfChange.org initiated a successful campaign to convince advertisers to drop Beck’s show. Approximately 80 companies have since deserted the right-wing television entertainer.
Impeach Obama Effort Is Too ‘Ridiculous’ Even For Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
Impeach Obama Effort Is Too ‘Ridiculous’ Even For Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
ThinkProgress reported recently that Republican Party activist Floyd Brown is launching an impeachment campaign against President Obama. What “high crimes and misdemeanors” has Obama committed? According to Brown, the president’s supposed espousal of Marxist ideology makes him “a very dangerous man and one of the greatest threats to your personal liberty today.”
In an interview this weekend at the Western Conservative Political Action Conference, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) supported Brown’s argument, stating that Obama has a “Marxist background.” But, Rohrabacher added, the impeachment effort is just too crazy an idea for him to support:
I think that’s total nonsense and counterproductive, and quite often, people who are making statements like that are trying to put themselves in a position to raise money from the conservative movement. And any talk of that right now is ridiculous.
The fact is that the American people elected Barack Obama. They elected him! We got to face that. He is an elected President of the United States. We disagree with everything he wants to do, but he has to be treated as the President of the United States, and he has not at this time committed “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Rohrabacher did leave the door open to future impeachment. Obama’s involvement in Chicago-style politics means he “could be doing things that are questionable enough that they could lead to his impeachment,” the congressman said. “But for right now, that’s a ridiculous discussion.” Watch it:
It’s telling that for Rohrabacher –- who once said global warming was caused by dinosaur farts and dismissed torture as “hazing pranks from some fraternity” –- impeaching Obama is an idea that is just too absurd to support.
The conservative blog Hot Air similarly denounces Brown’s effort, calling it one of the “worst -– and worst defended –- ideas at WCPAC.”
"The Republican leadership in the House right now is constantly trying to play a political game every day to try and get a headline, and I don't think that's going to take us anywhere," he added. [...] "The American people rightfully think the Republicans are just complaining, because we had power -- we had both houses of Congress and we had the presidency... What did we do with it? All of these changes that we could make to have improved our healthcare system we didn't do during the Bush years when we had both houses in Congress."
Spurned couple responds: ‘If it wasn’t for interracial couples today, we wouldn’t have our president.’
Spurned couple responds: ‘If it wasn’t for interracial couples today, we wouldn’t have our president.’
Last week, Louisiana couple Beth and Terence McKay revealed that justice of the peace Keith Bardwell had recently refused to give them a marriage license because they are an interracial couple. “I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. “In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer.” Today on CNN, the McKays responded to Bardwell:
TERENCE McKAY: He says the only reason he doesn’t marry interracial couple is dealing with — because of the offspring of the marriages. If it wasn’t for interracial couples today, we wouldn’t have our president. So, for him to take that outlook, that’s still 1800s or something.
Watch it:
Both Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) have said that Bardwell should resign, but Sen. David Vitter (R) has refused to join their calls. Bardwell has said he has no plans to step down. (HT: Raw Story)
Fox News’ Neil Cavuto: “Is this now the ‘Bush Recovery’”?
Fox News’ Neil Cavuto: “Is this now the ‘Bush Recovery’”?
For months and months, conservatives blamed President Obama for the slumping stock market. “Obama, since he’s elected, has tanked the markets,” Fox News’ Sean Hannity said in March. Now that the Dow has rebounded to over 10,000, what are the conservatives saying? On his Fox News today, Neil Cavuto claimed the stock market rebound is evidence of a “Bush recovery”:
Bar Owner With Racist Anti-Obama Sign: Obama’s A ‘Half-Breed’
Bar Owner With Racist Anti-Obama Sign: Obama’s A ‘Half-Breed’
The Georgia Peach Museum and Restaurant — which boasts that it is “the original Klan bar” on its website — caused a media firestorm last week when it put up a sign that read, “Obama’s plan for health care – [n-word] rig it.” The restaurant’s owner, Patrick Lanzo, told a local paper that his sign is “strictly about free speech,” and noted that he has in the past been a member of the NAACP and has marched on behalf of gay rights.
Yesterday, radio host Alan Colmes hosted Lanzo and gave him a chance to explain why he chose to use the n-word on his sign. When Colmes chided Lanzo for using the word to refer to Obama, an African American, the restaurant owner responded that Obama isn’t an African American but a “half breed”:
COLMES: No one’s questioning that you have the first amendment right to do it. That’s not the issue.
LANZO: You’re saying it’s not politically correct.
COLMES: It’s not a matter of being politically correct. It’s downright offensive, it’s downright insulting, it’s downright nasty and meanspirited towards a group of people who have been spending fighting for equality. Finally we get an African American president and you’re busy using the n-word to describe something he wants to do in terms of fixing health care.
LANZO: Well, see that would offend me, because I don’t look at Obama bein’ an African American. What’s wrong with him being a Black American? And he’s even a half-breed, he’s not a full black person.
COLMES: Well, again, the word half-breed is rather an insulting term.
Listen here:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution interviewed Lanzo inside his restaurant last week. They took this picture of him, where a “Whites Only” swimming pool sign sits underneath a portrait of Barack Obama:
Limbaugh: Michael Steele Is ‘Off-Message!’
Limbaugh: Michael Steele Is ‘Off-Message!’
In an interview with NBC’s Today Show, hate radio host Rush Limbaugh defiantly stated that he is “not the leader of the Republican Party.” “These people think they can discredit the Republican Party by making me the head of it,” he said. “All they’re doing is elevating me. It’s silly for them to talk about how I’m the leader of anything.”
Well, Limbaugh certainly wants to act like he is a leader of the Party. Just a few moments later, NBC’s Jamie Gangel told Limbaugh that he has a propensity to “scare Republican politicians,” particularly RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who backtracked earlier this year after calling Rush an “entertainer.” Limbaugh responded by instructing the GOP chairman on what he should be doing:
GANGEL: GOP Party Chairman Michael Steele, at his peril, he criticized you. He said you were just an entertainer. And he said you were “incendiary” and “divisive.”
LIMBAUGH: That’s right.
GANGEL: You went after him. I’ve never seen anyone apologize quite so quickly.
LIMBAUGH: Well, you’d have to ask him why he apologized. But, the reason I went after him is not because he said those things about me. It’s because he’s off-message! Michael Steele should be out there raising money and planning more ways to get people to vote for Republicans.
Watch it:
Also in the interview, Limbaugh is asked whether he was moved in any way by the election of the first black President. “Yeah, but I got over it pretty quickly,” said Limbaugh, who declared his desire to see Obama “fail” even before he was inaugurated. Limbaugh said he predicted Obama’s election would “exacerbate racial problems — and it has.” Indeed, Rush has done his part to make sure of that.
Harwood: Anonymous WH adviser says bloggers need to ‘take off the pjs, get dressed,’ and stop criticizing us.
Harwood: Anonymous WH adviser says bloggers need to ‘take off the pjs, get dressed,’ and stop criticizing us.
Yesterday, CNBC’s Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood said that the Obama White House doesn’t view dissatisfaction amongst LGBT advocates — tens of thousands of whom marched in Washington, DC yesterday — as a “serious problem” because officials feel “that if they take care of the big issues — health care, energy, the economy — he’s [Obama] going to be just fine with this group.” As evidence, Harwood cited an anonymous “adviser” who bashed bloggers and dismissed critics as part of the “Internet left fringe”:
HOLT: But in general when you look at the left as a whole, have there been conversations about some things they thought would have been done but haven’t?
HARWOOD: Sure, but if you look at the polling, Barack Obama is doing well with 90 percent or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the “Internet left fringe,” Lester. And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.
Watch it:
On Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner, Obama sent a far different message. “I’m here with a simple message: I’m here with you in that fight,” said the President, candidly adding, “I also appreciate that many of you don’t believe that progress has come fast enough. I want to be honest about that. Because it’s important to be honest amongst friends.”
That sentiment does not reflect White House thinking at all, we’ve held easily a dozen calls with the progressive online community because we believe the online communities can often keep the focus on how policy will affect the American people rather than just the political back-and-forth.
Obama Stands By His LGBT Nominees Under Attack From The Right: ‘I Will Not Waver In My Support’
Obama Stands By His LGBT Nominees Under Attack From The Right: ‘I Will Not Waver In My Support’
President Obama received a warm welcome at the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner tonight, where he promised to sign hate crimes legislation — which just passed the House — into law and repeal both Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, although he didn’t outline a specific timeline. Acknowledging some frustrations that there hasn’t been quicker action on these issues, Obama reiterated that he remains committed to the fight for LGBT equality:
OBAMA: This story, this fight, continues, now, and I’m here with a simple message: I’m here with you in that fight. (APPLAUSE)
For even as we face extraordinary challenges as a nation, we cannot and we will not put aside issues of basic equality. I greatly appreciate the support I’ve received from many in this room. I also appreciate that many of you don’t believe that progress has come fast enough. I want to be honest about that. (APPLAUSE) Because it’s important to be honest amongst friends.
Obama also addressed right-wing criticisms being hurled at his LGBT nominees and staffers, such as EEOC nominee Chai Feldblum and Department of Education official Kevin Jennings. Both have been the subjects of extremely homophobic slurs. WorldNetDaily editor and CEO Joseph Farrah said that Obama must find “people” like Feldblum on “Perverts.gov,” and the Traditional Values Coalition wrote that she wanted “the gay agenda to trump the First Amendment and religious freedom.” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has claimed that Jennings wants to push a “homosexual agenda” in U.S. schools.
While Obama didn’t specifically point to any of his nominees, he strongly reiterated his support for them and condemned homophobic slurs:
OBAMA: For the first time ever, an administration official testified in Congress in favor of this law. Nobody in America should be fired because they’re gay, despite doing a great job and meeting their responsibilities. It’s not fair, it’s not right, we’re going to put a stop to it. (APPLAUSE)
And it’s for this reason if any of my nominees are attacked not for what they believe but for who they are, I will not waver in my support because I will not waver in my commitment to ending discrimination in all its forms. (APPLAUSE)
Watch it:
Transcript: More »
Citing ‘Fascism, Socialism, Obamaism,’ Republican Strategist Launches Impeachment Campaign
Citing ‘Fascism, Socialism, Obamaism,’ Republican Strategist Launches Impeachment Campaign
While the international community is heralding President Obama for his leadership, right-wing activists here in America are clamoring to impeach him. Republican operative Floyd Brown, “one of the nation’s dirtiest political strategists” and the architect of the racially-charged Willie Horton ad against Michael Dukakis, has launched a campaign to impeach Obama. Brown, who registered his impeachment website in August, worked closely with congressional Republicans to push a similar crusade against Clinton, starting in 1994. During the 2008 campaign, Floyd ran commercials claiming Obama is Muslim.
Rather than cite any specific crime, Brown is demanding Obama’s removal for pursuing progressive agenda items like health and clean energy reform. His website blares: “Are you willing to let [Obama] construct a totalitarian regime… fascism, socialism, Obamaism… take your pick?”
Brown, a proud “birther,” explained to radio host Alan Colmes yesterday that he is also outraged because he doesn’t believe Obama was born in America:
COLMES: During the campaign, you were putting out stuff suggesting Obama is Muslim, wasn’t born here, stuff like that. [...]
BROWN: I’m still disputing his birth certificate.
Colmes asked Brown why he had not raised his voice during the Bush presidency, when, for example, Bush went to war in Iraq without a war powers act. Brown failed to dispute that charge, instead mumbling that although he did not want to impeach Bush, “a lot were”:
COLMES: Should Bush have been impeached for going to war without the consent of Congress, without a war powers act being obeyed?
BROWN: You know what, I’m not going to defend Bush because Alan you know as well as I do I didn’t like Bush.
COLMES: Alright, but you weren’t trying to impeach him were you?
BROWN: Uh no, but many were. I wasn’t, but a lot were.
Brown concluded that Obama is “dangerous because he’s not truthful.” Listen here:
Right-wing activists have been demanding the removal of President Obama for months now. In March, tea party rallies featured professionally-produced signs that said, “Obama Bin Lyin’ IMPEACH NOW.” Last week, a Newsmax column argued that a military coup could “resolve” the “radical left…Obama problem.” And right-wing websites, Fox News’ Glenn Beck, and various conservative talk show hosts have floated the idea of armed revolution against President Obama. Some have suggested using violence as a means of “Pulling our government down, pulling our President out, and putting him back where he should be.”
Claiming Brown’s movement is “mushrooming amongst conservative activists,” conservative news site World Net Daily is promoting the impeachment campaign and producing “IMPEACH OBAMA!” bumper stickers. World Net Daily is supported by the national Republican Party through purchases of e-mail address lists.
Brown is a prominent player in Republican circles. The Washington Post reported that Brown helped throw a fundraiser for RNC Chairman Michael Steele when Steele was running for U.S Senate in Maryland. As the former executive director of the Young Americans Foundation, Brown hosted dozens of Republican lawmakers and connected them with conservative youth activists to help them run for office and wage right-wing rallies on college campuses from 2001 to 2006.
Beck: Obama should turn down the Nobel and give it ‘to the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project.’
Beck: Obama should turn down the Nobel and give it ‘to the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project.’
Engaging in a bit of explicit blog-baiting on his radio show today, Glenn Beck declared the naming of President Obama as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize recipient “the last nail in the coffin” for the credibility of the Nobel committee. Beck conspiratorially claimed that the award revealed that “these progressives are extraordinarily powerful and this campaign of Barack Obama, this global campaign for Barack Obama is done by global interests that have extraordinary power. They’re very well-connected.” Beck said that the prize should have instead been given “to the Tea Party goers” who have protested Obama:
BECK: Of all things, the Nobel Peace Prize should be turned down by Barack Obama and given — you ready for this, oh this one’s going to make headlines — should be give to the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project. … Because of the arrogance of the progressives that thought no one would stand in their way. That he would be able to accomplish everything. Two weeks into his presidency, they nominated him for it and said, “oh this is going to be a slam dunk.” Because of the Tea Party goers and the 9-12 Project people that stood in his way and stopped him from accomplishing the things that he thought, “please, I’m the Messiah, I’ll be able to accomplish that.”
Listen here:
Beck’s radio rival, Rush Limbaugh, was more caustic, telling Newsweek, “The Nobel gang just suicide bombed themselves. Gore, Carter, Obama, soon Bill Clinton. See a pattern here? They are all leftist sell-outs.
Pawlenty: The ‘appropriate response’ to Obama winning the Nobel is to say ‘congratulations.’
Pawlenty: The ‘appropriate response’ to Obama winning the Nobel is to say ‘congratulations.’
On his weekly radio show today, a caller asked Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) about his reaction to President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Pawlenty departed from his fellow Republicans and replied that the “appropriate response” is to say “congratulations” to Obama:
I would say regardless of the circumstances, congratulations to President Obama for winning the Nobel Prize. I know there will be some people who are saying “Was it based on good intentions and thoughts or is it going to be based on good results?” But I think the appropriate response is when anybody wins a Nobel Prize that is a very noteworthy development and designation and I think the appropriate response is to say “Congratulations.”
He later added that while concerns about the “process” process of how the award was given out are valid, he still thinks anyone who wins the Nobel Prize deserves commendation. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (R) also said that he thought it was “great” Obama won.
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