Wingnut insanity

Accuracy in Media is and always has been a misnomer for an insane wingnut pressure group. They aren't interested in accuracy. They are propagandists.

Their December newsletter contains:

• The Ultimate Vindication of Joe McCarthy (a book review)
• an attempt to manufacture a scandal about the UN and AIDS relief funding
• slams at global warming concerns because the UN holds them
  
• hysterical claims that a return to the Fairness Doctrine (which isn't going to happen anyway) would silence conservative voices
• a Christmas and New Years wish

Except for the last, Cliff Kincaid is a loon.

Republicans know they're in trouble

Through no fault of my own, I'm on a pile of right-wing mailing lists (and you know what that pile is made of, right?). The NRSC writes:

Dear Mrs. [redacted],

Already, it's clear how well they know me. If I were a missus, I'd have to be in a gay marriage, and you know what they think about letting sodomites into that sacred institution that Britney is doing so proud. At least they got the redacted part right.

On behalf of the Republican Party, I want you to know that we hear your frustrations and that we know mistakes were made when we controlled Congress.

There has been too much drift from what you expect of your Republican leadership. We need to shrink Washington's power, cut taxes and defend our borders before it is too late.

When a Republican admits error, even in the passive voice, it usually means that someone should be going to jail.

When I saw that your Sustaining Membership ... remains "INACTIVE," I knew at once that you deserve to know you are being heard loud and clear every bit as much as I need your help in putting the past behind us and moving forward.

Ignoring the libelous implication that I have ever given those toadies anything better than a sharp stick in the eye, whew, can you smell the desperation? Smells a hell of a lot better than teen spirit. And who writes crap like "heard ... every bit as much as I need your help"? There is a nugget of ... truth in that though: If they didn't need my $35, they wouldn't be hearing me.

The campaign season is here and sitting on the sidelines today is the same as handing President Hillary Clinton and MoveOn.org a 60-seat "rubber stamp" Senate.

Sure, I'd prefer John Edwards, and I know the GOP wants to scare its lily-livered wingnut followers with the eeevil Hillary and the treee-eeesonous MoveOn (of which I really am a member), but they can't really be worried about a filibuster-proof Senate. Can they? Oh, please, can they? I'll be a good boy.

Please join me ... and [help] me defend 23 Republican seats and defeat at least 2 Democrats in the Senate.

Sure, they're fear-mongering in their base. Fear is what they do. But I am thrilled at the teensy scope of their ambition. Mary Landrieu and Tim Johnson, they're coming for you.

Mostly, though, I enjoy the business reply mail envelope. I can use it to suck at least another half dollar out of their campaign coffers.

Defining Platinum down

More oppo on Republican fund-raising, in this case the National Republican Senatorial Committee...

If it works, the GOPers use it, no matter how cheesy.

Be it known to all who bear witness, that the Chair, by virtue of authority invested in the Executive Director of the Republican Presidential Task Force, confers this warrant of Platinum membership ...

There's more pseudo-official drivel filled with whereases and grand seals and facsimile signatures. In it, I am libeled as a steadfast supporter of President George W. Bush! They wish. Come the great fascist triumph of the homeland, though, I don't think a form letter will help me escape the gulag or dodge the reality of my liberalism.

Faux exclusivity works for Providian, why not for other predatory organizations!

But wait, this is not about me. Chair Liddy Dole is offering me Platinum status for the pittance of $120! She and Executive Director Mark Stephens would even let me pay in $10 installments. The Republicans are still eating our lunch by mining the small-dollar contributions and turning them into something more.

You know, though, my great aunt used to send her small contributions to liberal organizations even if she could only spare $10 a year. We need to be sure to tap our real constituencies, not just the corporate interests that want to buy our support.

So, where is the corresponding Democratic direct mail piece? I get email from my party all the time, and here's what I hope: The good people of the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, and every other organization starting with 'D' have identified me as an Internet donor and are saving their paper and stamps for less techie targets. Why do I doubt this pollyannish thought?

The fundraising letter itself is filled with the kind of right-wing bullshit that has me drinking my second dose of Bombay Sapphire straight from the freezer. Here's a fun example of their complete divorce from reality:

Step-by-step [Duhbya] is cleaning up the economic mess that Bill Clinton left behind and the good economic news continues to mount. Key growth rates are setting records, home ownership is at an all time high, the stock market is up and we are making progress on creating new jobs. Experts credit his tax cuts and low interest rates for this improving picture.

In this tissue of lies is one truth: Low interest rates are instrumental in the rise in home ownership. Thanks, Alan Greenspan. Of course, cautions from Paul Krugman apply, as usual.

The letter also calls Duhbya a respected Commander-in-Chief! Respected? In his own feeble mind!

Still, the GOPers know that even if their bullshit walks, money talks. And they're reloading where it matters - the bank.

(Note: Business reply mail. Yes, another Republican dollar sucked dry!)

Originally posted on DailyKos.

The quiet wingnut raises money

Through no fault of my own, I have found myself on a number of GOP mailing lists lately. Since they generally have business reply envelopes, I send 'em back, minus identifying information. I'll keep costing them money as long as they cooperate.

What the fascist right says when it's raising money is instructive. Here are some excerpts from Dennis Hastert's spiel in favor of KOMPAC, which is already raising money for the 2006 election cycle (emphasis mine here and below):

[W]e must ensure that the liberals cannot seize power in Congress since it is clear they would radically change America's direction.

They are going to attack us as liberals, no matter what. They will call a Democrat who opposes even civil unions but favors hospital visitation rights for domestic partners a heinous liberal. We must redeem the word. A start: "I believe in justice for all. If that makes me a liberal, so be it." Voters take our failure to join this fight as symbolic of our wishy-washiness.

The Goobers Of Projection also charge us with their own ugliness. They have seized power and intend to radically change America, but they want to make us sound like radicals.

Hastert's fundraising also exposes his assumptions and tactics. For example:

Question #11 - The Social Security Administration estimates that by 2018 Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in from payroll taxes. In theory, at that time the Trust Fund will begin drawing on the surpluses that accumulated from previous years. However, for decades Congress has taken the Social Security surpluses and used them to make the deficit look smaller. Some leading Democrats are content to ignore the serious problems facing Social Security to scare senior citizens into supporting their Party and the do nothing approach. Do you think the Republicans should try to explain to the American people the dangers facing Social Security and expose the intellectual dishonesty of those who say everything is just fine?

It's pretty obvious that the Republicans want to break their promise to the American people. What they really mean is that the full faith and credit of America is null and void, that they stole the Trust Fund fair and square and gave it to their rich buddies.

The surpluses are the Trust Fund. The Republicans are going to take both `trust' and `fund' out of Trust Fund, just as they want to take `social' and `security' out of Social Security.

They use the same approach in public, accusing us of:

• scare tactics
  
• a do-nothing approach
  
• intellectual dishonesty

Two of these - fear and dishonesty - are, in fact, their tactics. More from the letter:

[W]e can build an America ... where our commitment to family is demonstrated by having the faith and values that guided our grandparents ... instead of the pervasive sex, drugs and violence that pollute our television, movies and music.

The crusade to keep social conservatives in the middle class distracted is censorship, but the unprincipled GOP doesn't care.

More:

[W]e can build an America where the federal government gets out of our state and local affairs and out of our pockets

Classic Republican appeals to the cryptoracists and homophobes, plus the ever-present tax-cutting, for the rich, of course. More:

They opposed the President on the war, even when our troops were in harm's way. They would have given the United Nations a deciding role in deciding whether, when, where, and how to defend America.

This is just a crazy lie. But it goes on:

They are critical of how we have waged our war on terrorism.

Poor babies. Can't take a little awful criticism. And, of course, they want all the credit for every drop of American blood.

They opposed [Duhbya's] efforts for the Department of Homeland Security.

Another bald-faced lie. They have a lot of experience telling this one. Here's a possible rejoinder: "The Republicans thought it was more important to lavish port security funds on Wyoming than to ensure the government has to treat its employees fairly." Then:

[T]hese liberal Democrats have even announced their opposition to some of the President's programs even before he has announced the program and outlined the details.

Who writes this crap? It's Duhbya's fault he hasn't "outlined the details". Of course, Hastert knows that the White House never discloses details until Karl Rove has found out the limit of what he can get away and he thinks it's too late to stop him. (This is why we must make only political proposals and not careful policy-wonk proposals that contain compromises.)

So... What do we say in response?

Originally posted at DailyKos, where this poll was attached:

Hearing about wingnut fundraising rhetoric makes me:

o Fire-breathing mad

o Jealous of their money machine

o Feel like my head is filled with C4

o Bored beyond belief

o Confused about why this matters

Selling the President

RNC chair Ken Mehlman is selling debit cards:

What makes the Platinum Card so prestigious is that only a very limited number were commissioned and only a select few chosen to receive it: you and other distinguished Americans who helped reelect President Bush ...

Only 300,000,000 made! The same basic con as Who's Who. Asok the intern also recently received the "Intern of the Year Award".

Then there's all this crap about being sure the card arrived undamaged. After that, the GOP's three issues are:

• tax reform - Believe it or not, they're campaigning against special interest loopholes! And they claim that they want a "bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the tax code."
  
• social security - "Doing nothing ... will cost us ... an estimated $10 trillion...." Actually, that's the cost of Duhbya's private accounts, but it's so Republican to use the bad points of their plan to argue against a plan that doesn't have the same feature.
  
• national security - Of course, they're making the world more peaceful through war again.

Here's the money quote, which the GOPers helpfully indent and bold:

As President Bush leads our nation in this time of great challenge, his political opponents are determined to divide America with petty partisanship. Our nation deserves better. That's why your loyalty to President Bush is so important.

The Repubs almost always accuse us of doing exactly what they are doing. It happens way too often to be accidental. They do it to hurt us and, just as important, to immunize themselves. They know that "you did it first/worse" is something the media won't attempt to arbitrate. (Oh, I forgot, the media won't arbitrate the most basic fact any more.)

Then:

Democrats bitter over John Kerry's defeat are now mobilizing a vengeful campaign to sabotage President Bush's agenda. If we don't stand tall against the Democrats, partisan politics will overwhelm President Bush's ...

Compared to Tom DeLay?

I hope they'll write again!

Originally posted on DailyKos.