If you are a liberal Democrat how can you disagree with Frank Rich? Only if you are a not so thoughtful LD who looks at things only superficially.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/why-donald-trump-is-saving-our-democracy.html
Here is another great example. We all know about Trump's refusal to criticize some birther questions at his rally last week that suggested Obama is both a Muslim and not born in this country.
Now this is not a fringe view within the Republican party. Mitt Romney had did it too in 2012; there were some birther comments at a Rick Santorum that didn't get criticized much.
When you realize that 54% of Republicans believe the President is a Muslim and only 29% think he's an American citizen then Trump is playing to the base.
To be sure the problem with Trump is the birther stuff is supposed to be a dog whistle not Trump's bullhorn. And it's supposed to help the base ignore the regressive GOP economic policies but Trump actually is repudiating those policies which is the whole basis for the dog whistle in the first place.
"Trump does take heretical economic positions for a Republican — “The hedge-fund guys are getting away with murder!” — but on the matters of race, women, and immigration that threaten the GOP’s future viability in nonwhite, non-male America, he is at one with his party’s base. What he does so rudely is call the GOP’s bluff by saying loudly, unambiguously, and repeatedly the ugly things that other Republican politicians try to camouflage in innuendo, focus-group-tested euphemisms, and consultantspeak."
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/why-donald-trump-is-saving-our-democracy.html
Here is another great example. We all know about Trump's refusal to criticize some birther questions at his rally last week that suggested Obama is both a Muslim and not born in this country.
Now this is not a fringe view within the Republican party. Mitt Romney had did it too in 2012; there were some birther comments at a Rick Santorum that didn't get criticized much.
When you realize that 54% of Republicans believe the President is a Muslim and only 29% think he's an American citizen then Trump is playing to the base.
To be sure the problem with Trump is the birther stuff is supposed to be a dog whistle not Trump's bullhorn. And it's supposed to help the base ignore the regressive GOP economic policies but Trump actually is repudiating those policies which is the whole basis for the dog whistle in the first place.
"Trump does take heretical economic positions for a Republican — “The hedge-fund guys are getting away with murder!” — but on the matters of race, women, and immigration that threaten the GOP’s future viability in nonwhite, non-male America, he is at one with his party’s base. What he does so rudely is call the GOP’s bluff by saying loudly, unambiguously, and repeatedly the ugly things that other Republican politicians try to camouflage in innuendo, focus-group-tested euphemisms, and consultantspeak."
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/on-birtherism-trump-is-not-exactly-out.html
But now that Trump again had his bullhorn out, all the other GOP caniddates have gotten embroiled in this.
Ben Carson says that Muslims aren't fit to be President as they are all theocrats. Carly Firoina says Muslims can be POTUS but not secular Americans.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/carly-fiorinas-answer-on-muslim.html
Then Ted Cruz further muddies the water in answering the Muslim POTUS question by going birther again.
As Talking Points Memo says, how can an error be more unforced than this? There are no Muslims running so why get into such speculations? Well because Trump's supporters at his rally in NH last week got the ball rolling.
"This week has epitomized the bizarro world American politics has become. It’s a week during which the media and politicians have been enraptured by a debate over whether or not a Muslim could become president."
"Never mind that no Muslim candidates are running. Never mind that this is, legally speaking, a settled question, as our constitution forbids religious tests for office. Never mind that the guy who claimed otherwise, Dr. Ben Carson, is a vanity candidate with no real chance of winning office. Never mind that his attempt to clarify his position involved invoking a hysterical right wing conspiracy theory about “sharia law” being imposed on the U.S., which is this century’s version of the old fluoride-is-mind-control John Bircher nuttery."
"Nope, our entire national press has to be riveted to a hypothetical question for which there is already an answer."
"Why? Well, Ted Cruz’s answer to a question about this new controversy hinted at what is really going on here. After affirming that he can read by noting that the constitution requires no religious test for office, Cruz said, “The broader question, and what I think Ben was trying to get at, is what are the consequences been in the last six and a half years of the Obama presidency?”
"Say what? Carson said he didn’t think Muslims should be allowed into the office and then he backtracked saying that he just meant that members of that mythical cabal of sharia-law-in-America politicians should be barred. Obama is neither a Muslim nor part of a larger conspiracy to impose sharia law on the United States. So how, exactly, was Carson talking about him?"
"Obviously the answer is that both Carson and now Cruz are referencing the widespread belief amongst conservatives that Obama is secretly a Muslim but is concealing his true beliefs for nefarious reasons, possibly to impose sharia law on the nation. (Any day now.) The last public poll on this belief showed that 86 percent of Republicans are warm to it, with 54 percent believing that Obama is a Muslim and 32 percent saying they are unsure. Only 14 percent of Republicans correctly describe Obama’s religion as Christian."
But now that Trump again had his bullhorn out, all the other GOP caniddates have gotten embroiled in this.
Ben Carson says that Muslims aren't fit to be President as they are all theocrats. Carly Firoina says Muslims can be POTUS but not secular Americans.
http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2015/09/carly-fiorinas-answer-on-muslim.html
Then Ted Cruz further muddies the water in answering the Muslim POTUS question by going birther again.
As Talking Points Memo says, how can an error be more unforced than this? There are no Muslims running so why get into such speculations? Well because Trump's supporters at his rally in NH last week got the ball rolling.
"This week has epitomized the bizarro world American politics has become. It’s a week during which the media and politicians have been enraptured by a debate over whether or not a Muslim could become president."
"Never mind that no Muslim candidates are running. Never mind that this is, legally speaking, a settled question, as our constitution forbids religious tests for office. Never mind that the guy who claimed otherwise, Dr. Ben Carson, is a vanity candidate with no real chance of winning office. Never mind that his attempt to clarify his position involved invoking a hysterical right wing conspiracy theory about “sharia law” being imposed on the U.S., which is this century’s version of the old fluoride-is-mind-control John Bircher nuttery."
"Nope, our entire national press has to be riveted to a hypothetical question for which there is already an answer."
"Why? Well, Ted Cruz’s answer to a question about this new controversy hinted at what is really going on here. After affirming that he can read by noting that the constitution requires no religious test for office, Cruz said, “The broader question, and what I think Ben was trying to get at, is what are the consequences been in the last six and a half years of the Obama presidency?”
"Say what? Carson said he didn’t think Muslims should be allowed into the office and then he backtracked saying that he just meant that members of that mythical cabal of sharia-law-in-America politicians should be barred. Obama is neither a Muslim nor part of a larger conspiracy to impose sharia law on the United States. So how, exactly, was Carson talking about him?"
"Obviously the answer is that both Carson and now Cruz are referencing the widespread belief amongst conservatives that Obama is secretly a Muslim but is concealing his true beliefs for nefarious reasons, possibly to impose sharia law on the nation. (Any day now.) The last public poll on this belief showed that 86 percent of Republicans are warm to it, with 54 percent believing that Obama is a Muslim and 32 percent saying they are unsure. Only 14 percent of Republicans correctly describe Obama’s religion as Christian."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/ted-cruz-ben-carson-muslim-obama
Finally Jeb! He, of course, knows the right thing to say on these questions-which in my book earns him no kudos. While everyone is singing Hosannas to McCain for not taking the birther bait in 2008 his future record on immigration was awful as he championed the notorious Arizona anti immigration law SB 1771.
But Jeb always gets pulled down the rabbit hole anyway.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned America is “creeping toward multiculturalism” during a campaign stop Tuesday, and said he worries about areas where the assimilation process is “retarded.”
In response to a young woman’s question about how to empower immigrants as Americans, Bush said at an event at a Cedar Falls, Iowa diner that multiculturalism should not be the goal.
“We should not have a multicultural society,” Bush said. “When you create pockets of isolation, and in some cases, the assimilation process has been retarded, it’s wrong. It limits people’s aspirations.”
He said Americans’ national identity is defined by the “set of values that people share,” rather than race. Bush also said learning English is an important part of the assimilation process."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-multicultural-iowa
This is not about birtherism but we again see that this is Trump that got him down this particular rabbit hole just the same. Remember Trump's rebuke of him for speaking Spanish to voters?
So this is Jeb assuring the base that he believes in English immersion too.
Finally Jeb! He, of course, knows the right thing to say on these questions-which in my book earns him no kudos. While everyone is singing Hosannas to McCain for not taking the birther bait in 2008 his future record on immigration was awful as he championed the notorious Arizona anti immigration law SB 1771.
But Jeb always gets pulled down the rabbit hole anyway.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned America is “creeping toward multiculturalism” during a campaign stop Tuesday, and said he worries about areas where the assimilation process is “retarded.”
In response to a young woman’s question about how to empower immigrants as Americans, Bush said at an event at a Cedar Falls, Iowa diner that multiculturalism should not be the goal.
“We should not have a multicultural society,” Bush said. “When you create pockets of isolation, and in some cases, the assimilation process has been retarded, it’s wrong. It limits people’s aspirations.”
He said Americans’ national identity is defined by the “set of values that people share,” rather than race. Bush also said learning English is an important part of the assimilation process."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jeb-bush-multicultural-iowa
This is not about birtherism but we again see that this is Trump that got him down this particular rabbit hole just the same. Remember Trump's rebuke of him for speaking Spanish to voters?
So this is Jeb assuring the base that he believes in English immersion too.
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