Hinessight

Here’s a classic example of how political talk radio picks up a falsity and then proclaims it as the Gospel Truth to gullible listeners. Yesterday I forced myself to listen to Michael Savage as part of my ongoing effort to understand the workings of the extreme right-wing mind. Savage was ranting on about how former President Bill Clinton had called for the conviction of the publishers of the infamous Mohammed cartoons. That seemed highly unlikely to me, but Savage was reading from a news story and, hey, we all know that you can trust whatever news outlets say, right? Wrong.…

Now that the Supreme Court has said that it is all right to use a hallucinogen to better understand God, I expect that the Church of Reality and Church of the Universe are going to have an upsurge in membership. When marijuana is a sacrament, you’ve got a darn good recruitment tool. Plus, it’s been proven: Jesus used marijuana. But seriously…does it make sense that the Supreme Court has ruled that it is illegal to use medical marijuana for clearly evident health problems, while it is legal to use an otherwise illicit drug to worship an invisible God?

A political groundswell back towards the middle is underway. This is great. May the center not only hold, but expand. Here in Oregon, Ben Westlund has dropped out of the Republican party and is running for governor as an Independent. Moderate presidential candidate Michael Smith wants to go to the Republican National Convention in ’08 and shake up the party’s right wing. Perhaps most significantly, John and Leah Frohnmayer are organizing The Independent Bandwagon that, they hope, will reach voters in every community in Oregon. I learned about this much-needed movement from their recent letter in the Portland Oregonian: Your…

Yesterday I learned that Corvallis resident Michael Smith is running for President of the United States on the Republican ticket. Today we at HinesSight have endorsed Michael, using “we” liberally in the typical blogging sense of “me, myself, and I.” After I saw the Smith for President web site I knew that Michael was my kind of candidate. His official campaign photo shows him holding a tuba! Because, he plays the tuba. As if that isn’t enough of a qualification to become President of the United States, I was taken by the sum total of his “endorsements” page: "Love you…

Here's why the Islamic over-reaction to the publishing of Mohammed cartoons is so ridiculous: Muslims have been depicting the Prophet for centuries. So if it's true that any caricature of Mohammed is blasphemous, Muslims have been some of the worst blasphemers of their own religion and should be boycotting themselves, not Denmark. Check out this archive of Mohammed images, some from the Islamic world and some from Western sources. The creator of the archive says: While the debate rages, an important point has been overlooked: despite the Islamic prohibition against depicting Mohammed under any circumstances, hundreds of paintings, drawings and…

It’s not often that I see eye-to-eye with William Bennett, aptly described as a right-wing “self-appointed moral compass for America.” But his take on Islamic anger over the Mohammed cartoon controversy is right on. Today on CNN I heard him tell Wolf Blitzer: “Look, it just turns out that there are people who are acting in the world, cutting people’s heads off, putting jetliners into buildings, and saying they are doing so in the name of Allah. You know, this is what people say…they’re saying they’re doing this because of the Koran, because of the Prophet. Now, others argue it…

Once again, Karl Rove is kicking the Democrats’ ass. This happens with disturbing regularity, and even though I’m an Independent, I can’t stand it. So how is that the Democrats themselves are fine with the ass-kicking?

“Tell me where I should stand, Mr. Rove, so you can have the best shot at me. Do you want me to look weak, indecisive, or unfocused? If you want all three, no problem. We Democrats have been working hard at honing our political incompetence ever since Clinton left office.”

It sickens me to watch the Democrats lie down in the middle of the road and let the Rove Machine crush them. Then they stay put and Rove turns around to ride over them again. I’d blame this annoyingly repetitive crushing for their lack of backbone, but the sad truth is that Democratic spinelessness is almost entirely their own doing.

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd says it a lot better than I can. In the continuation to this post you’ll find “Delusion and Illusion Worthy of Dickens” and “Looking for a Democratic Tough Guy or Girl.” She hits the Dems right where it hurts: on the truth-bone.

Some excerpts follow. Read them and weep (if you’re a progressive). Then read the entire columns and get angry. At Rove and the neo-cons. And also, at the Democrats who allow the party to flounder along without the guidance of their own Karl Rove.

I can’t believe that there isn’t some ruthless political genius out there who the Dems can hire to be the anti-Rove, a countervailing force with not only equal but superior savvy. Until you find him, Howard Dean, and pay him or her whatever exorbitant salary it takes to get this wunderkind on board, I’ll continue to ignore your frequent email messages asking me to sign an online petition.

Karl Rove kicks ass. He doesn’t circulate petitions. Observe and learn, Democrats. Here’s some of what Dowd has to say in her two columns:

The [Democratic] party simply seems incapable of getting the muscular message and riveting messenger needed to dispel the mud, fog, drizzle and soot emanating from Karl Rove’s rag-and-bone shop on Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Dems need to drum up a decent message so they look as if they know what the Dickens they’re doing before the November election. Otherwise, they’ll look like bowed supplicants holding out gruel cups to Karl Rove and pleading, “Please, sir, I want some more.”

To lead, and not just conduct campaigns that parrot the liberal elite’s editorial pages, you have to shape your own identity and political destiny. And ever since the 2000 race, the Democrats have let Republicans caricature them as effeminate. The Democrats have let the G.O.P. give them their shape, and it’s an hourglass.

If the Democrats are like the dithering ”Desperate Housewives,” the Republicans have come across like the counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer on ”24”: fast with a gun, loose with the law, willing to torture in the name of protecting the nation. Except Jack Bauer is competent.

[1/26 update: Courtesy of Liberal Oasis, here’s a good example of Democratic spinelessness–the Alito nomination.]