I found this on Facebook today so I thought I'd share it here. When I heard that Michelle Obama had made a surprise appearance (via satellite) during the recent Oscar telecast, I knew some on the right would go on the attack. Sadly, some people have to make damn near everything political.
During her husband's race for the White House in 2008, soon-to-be First Lady Michelle Obama made a controversial comment about her being proud of her country for the first time in her adult life. In the 2011 clip below, Melissa Harris-Perry discusses how the media portrayed Ms. Obama's comments vs. similar ones made by Republican congresswoman Michele Bachmann. You may be wondering why I'm posting about a topic that should be dead and buried. The reason is because while most people have either forgiven or forgotten about Michelle's
statements, people on the right like my good friend "dmarks" can't
let it go.
Here's my question for the righties who continue to trash Michelle Obama for this: How is what she said any different from the comments made by Congresswoman Bachmann?
On the January 13th edition of Meet the Press, David Gregory questioned Colin Powell on whether or not he's still a Republican. Along with saying he still is, Powell also outlined why he thinks the GOP has lost it's way. Among the reasons Powell discussed were Romney surrogate John Sununu referring to President Obama as “lazy” and Sarah Palin accusing the president of shucking and jiving in regards to the Sept. 11 2012 attack against a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya. You can watch the segment below:
Colin Powell could have gone on, but don't fault him. After all, he only had approx. 30 minutes. Sadly, Powell seems to be the exception instead of the rule when it comes to prominent Republicans. The far right will likely dismiss his comments, label him a RINO, etc. However, unless the GOP wants to continue losing national elections, they'll listen to him. There are solid reasons why Mitt Romney lost to President Obama and no it's not the fault of the so-called mainstream media or any other BS excuse conservatives have used. The GOP is in trouble, but it can be fixed. So in the words of the Captain (played by Strother Martin) in the movie Cool Hand Luke, my message to the GOP is simple: "It's all up to you".
Leading up to the 2012 presidential election, I had planned on doing some gloating if President Obama won. Some would argue I should be bigger than that and it's a fair point. However, after all the shit President Obama has taken from the right over the last 4 years, they deserve to have their noses rubbed in it! On his show last Friday, Lawrence O'Donnell put together an awesome montage of the various conservative pundits who predicted a Romney victory. Some of them were right in one regard: they predicted 300+ electoral votes for the winner. They just picked the wrong candidate. Just to recap, here is a tally of the electoral votes for each candidate:
President Barack Obama- 332
Mitt Romney- 206
Don't worry conservatives/Republicans. Just turn back the clock to the night after the first debate when you were all smug and self-satisfied because of Romney's "victory". Like I said back then, a poor performance in the first debate by President Obama would likely be irrelevant. If the conservative media's colossal failure in predicting the 2012 presidential election doesn't make it's followers pissed, it should.
Here is the Lawrence O'Donnell clip I mentioned earlier. Liberals/progressives/Democrats, enjoy!
Four more years, four more years! Come on righties, say it with me!! Although it was touch and go for awhile, President Obama managed to defeat Mitt Romney. Although it wasn't a blow out, I thought the electoral college tally would be closer than it was.
Outside of the obvious, I can understand why righties are pissed off because President Obama was beatable. Even though I think the president deserved a 2nd term, this was a winnable election for the GOP.
Here are some of the reasons I think Romney lost:
Alienating Hispanic voters, the fastest growing demographic in the country. The number of Latinos who voted for President Obama in the 2012 election was over 70%, while Romney got less than 30%! Unless Republicans want to keep losing presidential elections, they better come up with a new game plan to woo Latino voters.
Four words... Let Detroit Go Bankrupt. Although Romney didn't choose the title of the op-ed, he echoed its sentiments. The fact that President Obama saved the auto industry while Romney was content to kiss it off virtually guaranteed that Michigan and Ohio would go to O.
47%... need I say more?!
Besides the obvious, there are two other reasons I'm glad President Obama won a 2nd term. Had Romney won, it would give license for future candidates to constantly change positions and brazenly lie about it. Romney went back and forth and back so much, he probably lost track of which "Mitt was Mitt" himself! An Obama defeat would also have sent a message to the GOP that obstruction is a winning strategy. Since there is work to be done to get this country back on track, being the "party of NO" isn't going to cut it.
Hopefully, the GOP will do some serious soul searching and get their act together. If they don't, this could prove to be the beginning of the end for them. Since right-wing pundits and bloggers aren't likely to realize that moving farther to the right is not the way to go, it'll be up to one of the GOP politicians to take the reins and be the proverbial adult in the room.
While the right stews in its own juice, please enjoy President Obama's victory speech.
