“Decades from now, Americans will visit the memorials to those who were lost on 9/11. They will run their fingers over the places where the names of those we loved are carved into marble and stone and wonder at the lives they led. Standing before the white headstones in Arlington and in peaceful cemeteries and small-town squares in every corner of our country, they will pay respects to those lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. They will see the names of the fallen on bridges and statues; at gardens and schools.
And they will know that nothing can break the will of a truly United States of America. They will remember that we have overcome slavery and Civil War; bread lines and fascism; recession and riots; Communism and, yes, terrorism. They will be reminded that we are not perfect, but our democracy is durable and that democracy – reflecting, as it does, the imperfections of man – also gives us the opportunity to perfect our union. That is what we honor on days of national commemoration – those aspects of the American experience that are enduring and the determination to move forward as one people.” – President Barack Obama –
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
Today is the eleventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. We remember those who lost their lives on that fateful day. We remember those who answered the call and served their country bravely in Afghanistan and Iraq.
We also remember that the signs were there, and in their hubris the Bush Administration ignored them.
We also remember that those that responded to 9/11 are still waiting for the relief we promised them, which Congressional Republicans blocked and had to be SHAMED into allowing it to pass into law.
Yesterday, the Romney Campaign came out with a full court press against President Obama’s post-convention bounce, saying that it’s all a conspiracy by the media and the pollsters to re-elect the President. NYMag’s always-excellent Jonathan Chait rebutted, saying:
“If this is the Romney campaign’s genuine theory of the race — that political reporters are deliberately trying to mislead America into believing Obama is winning in order to fatten their profits — the Romney campaign is in a lot of trouble.”
Paul “Krugstradamus” Krugman piled on in his blog, saying:
Bear in mind that Romney’s one big advantage is a huge pile of cash. Much of this pile comes from committed right-wing zealots, like the Koch brothers. But a good chunk comes from business interests, Wall Street in particular, that historically try to buy influence with whoever they think will win. They like Romney better than Obama — he doesn’t look at them funny — but they’ve placed a very big bet on the Republicans this time compared with previous occasions, and they have to be feeling nervous.
If they come to the conclusion that they invested in a loser, they will try to cover their position by rushing a lot of cash to Obama in the final weeks of the campaign. And that will blunt the one big advantage Romney still has.
Bingo. The Romney Campaign is trying to stem the bleeding from a lackluster convention while they walk a very, very narrow path to electability in November. The wingnut base can’t turn out in high enough numbers in crucial swing states to elect them. They have to peel off low-information, disaffected Democrats and Independents to do it, and doing that requires lots of cash. If the cash dries up, that’s the ballgame.
So, you all saw the picture of Scott Van Duzer, owner of Big Apple Pizza in Fort Pierce, FL, giving President Obama a big bear hug?
Scott Van Duzer, by the way, is a registered Republican.
Ed from Gin and Tacos takes on Bill Bennett and diversity at the RNC.
Bennett said:
When the Republican National Convention kicks off this week in Tampa, Florida, the nation will notice one thing before anything else: This is not your father’s or grandfather’s Republican Party. Rather, it’s a party with leaders as diverse as the country it intends to represent.
Oddly enough, I agree with this statement. The Republican party from 2008-Present bears little to no resemblance to the Republican party prior to that period. The Democrats had the good sense to exile the nuts and loons that were blocking Civil Rights legislation, and Goldwater and Nixon’s GOP gladly scooped them up. They’ve been riding that crazy train ever since. However, even though that period, there were moderates and pragmatic Republicans that were actual, honest to god politicians, and we somehow as a country managed to get stuff done.
Then, in 2008, we elected a black man to the White House, and the Republican party collectively lost their goddamn minds.
If Bob Dole had come out in 1992 and said “Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Clinton a second term.” the country would have gone BALLISTIC. There would have been calls for his resignation almost immediately. Mitch McConnell said it about President Obama in 2008, and we collectively shrugged.
As to the second point of his quote, he’s dead on: the GOP is a party with leaders as diverse as the country they intend to represent, which is to say almost entirely old, white, male, and Christian. Yes, there are black Republicans. There are hispanic Republicans, and women Republicans, and young Republicans, and even gay and Jewish Republicans. But those groups comprise an infinitesimally small portion of the Republican Party, and perhaps an even smaller portion of their own population groups. Mitt Romney has statistically zero support in the black community. He’s down twenty points with hispanics compared to George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. He’s losing women by ten points. So, all he can do is ratchet up the dog whistles and tell his base what they want to hear, because turning out his party; the party of Old White Christian Men and Their Spouses, in massive numbers, is all he’s got left.
And now, to end on a high note, here’s a story about a guy who owned a car dealership.
Howard Cooper, age 83, announced his retirement in April from the car dealership he’d owned for 47 years. The deal he struck to sell the dealership stipulated that all 89 of his employees would keep their jobs.
This week, Cooper handed out checks to each employee for $1,000 each year they’ve worked for him. One of his mechanics has been there 20 years. His bookkeeper, 46.
The world needs more people like Howard Cooper.
