truman, it’s actually not so much that “there used to be a moderate wing” as it is that there used to be a LIBERAL wing. While the R’s tended to always be conservative when it came to economic policy, there was a fairly liberal group when it came to social policy (which was willing to spend money on social issues that helped people).

The Liberal GOP was somewhat knocked for a loop with Nixon’s presidency but, after Agnew resigned and Gerald Ford became VP, the Liberal wing felt a slight resurgence which was increased after Nelson Rockefeller became Ford’s VP, following Nixon’s resignation. Unfortunately, after the GOP lost so many seats in the 1974 elections (prior to the election, the Dems outnumbered the GOP 242-192; after the election, the Dems outnumbered the GOP 291-144), the Liberal wing wasn’t spared.

Then, in 1976, the GOP’s right-wing decided to challenge Ford and had a very good chance of getting Reagan as the nominee but Reagan, like Ford, was still short enough delegates to win outright, so he thought he could win the extra delegates (especially the moderate and liberal wings who felt Reagan was too conservative) by naming PA Senator Schweiker as his VP candidate, but that pissed off a lot of conservatives. Ford’s nomination was largely assured as Rockefeller declined to run on the ticket and Ford ended up selecting Bob Dole as his VP candidate. Dole was just conservative enough to win over a number of southern conservative GOPers for Ford and Ford ended the night with the nomination.

Then, of course, in 1980, the Liberal wing was upset that Reagan got the GOP nomination, leading John Anderson to run as an independent. Unfortunately, Anderson may have taken as many, if not more, voters from Carter as he did from Reagan; there were still a number of liberal Dems still upset that Ted Kennedy’s challenge wasn’t successful. (Of course, there were also a load of stupid Dems who fell for Reagan’s fake folksy image and, incredibly, many of these “Dems” wear that vote as some sort of misguided badge of pride. Granted, if people knew of the Reagan team’s illegal actions concerning the hostages in Iran before the election, they might have not been as willing to vote for the “tired old man who was elected king”—to paraphrase Don Henley.)

After Reagan’s election, the Liberal wing of the GOP pretty much went the way of the dinosaur as many of the elected officials began retiring (many before they were primaried out—as we’ve seen in the last two election cycles with the teabaggers challenging the incumbents).

The last great hurrah for the Liberal wing was managing to get George H W Bush elected as President in his own right and preventing him from losing the nomination in 1992.

Now, there aren’t any Liberal GOPers and the moderates are being pushed out by the extremists. If these GOPers hope to regain any sort of power, their best bet would be to set up their own party, and be willing to sit out a couple of election cycles until the regular GOP voters realize what kind of utter incompetents are out there calling themselves Republicans.

truman, I doubt it. Unless, Anna’s got her own little “Crying Game” going on.

Aria, let Limbaugh do it. Then let him—or more accurately, the stations carrying his program—deal with the consequences of their actions. Every terrestrial radio station carrying his show is licensed by the FCC and is required to “serve the public” (even if the Fairness Doctrine no longer exists). When the local stations start getting complaints about the “language” Limbaugh’s using (and, if the people who are offended do the right thing and send letters of complaint to the FCC as well as the local station), Limbaugh could find his show pulled from every station unwilling to face the loss of their licenses.

If the FCC was willing to fine each and every CBS affiliate over “Nipplegate,” then Limbaugh’s use of the “n-word” on the air should certainly have repercussions.

(It should be noted that “South Park” had an episode several years ago in which the “n-word” was used very freely and very frequently, but co-creator Trey Parker who wrote the episode made certain that the word kept its edge as a disparaging word. Limbaugh, I feel reasonably safe in noting, most likely doesn’t plan to show even a fraction of a percentage of the sensitivity that was shown on “South Park.”)

Spouting requisite right wing talking points, he spoke of how we “lionize, make heroes out of terrorists” like Angela Davis, Kathy Boudin, Che Guevara and – wait for it – Bill Ayers.

Looks to me like he forgot some terrorists that we (or a good number of Americans) lionize: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, George Custer, J Edgar Hoover, Oliver North. Well, I could go on and on. But why do these men get “acceptable” lionizing and praise?

(As for including Guevara, he might want to remember that Guevara NEVER fought against the US nor did he ever “terrorize” Americans. OTOH, Americans WERE directly responsible for Guevara’s death—or should that be assassination/murder?)

As that Black-Eyed Peas song “Where Is the Love” points out, “Overseas yeah, we try to stop terrorism but we still got terrorists in the USA, the big CIA, the Bloods and the Crips and the KKK.” Maybe Mr Johnson would do well to remember that.

Rivera (from the article):
“So it’s a dark night, a 6-foot-2-inch, hoodie-wearing stranger is in the immediate housing complex. How would the ladies of that jury have reacted? I submit that if they were armed, they would have shot and killed Trayvon Martin a lot sooner than George Zimmerman did. This is self defense.”

Yeah, Gerry, it is—or rather, it would be if (a) the person in question were Georgette Zimmerman and (b) the incident took place at night, instead of broad daylight—albeit a rainy and overcast day.

Care to remind us all why you’re known as “Geraldo Rivera” instead of “Gerald Riviera?” Perhaps it was because your last name was a little, shall we say, too Puerto-Ricany and your first name was a little, shall we say, not Puerto-Ricany enough?

What’s wrong, Gerry? Being half-Jewish (although, under Israeli law, you qualify as “all Jewish” since your mother was Jewish) wasn’t enough for you or your first employer?

Perhaps Gerry’s current downturn into FoxNoise dementia can be traced back to that time when his show featured a confrontation between white supremacists, skinheads, and Black and Jewish activists and Gerry got a chair in the face. At the time, the only perceived injury was a broken nose. Maybe there was more?

An artist really needs to blow up the right-wing and start doing “before and after” type pictures of various “beloved” right-wing heroes in hoodies. Could you imagine pics of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan and John Wayne and then, beside those pics, the same men in hoodies? A caption could read something like “Which of these men would YOU want to see on the street?” Or, there’s the man’s name under his regular picture and “so-and-so in a hoodie” and underneath is the caption, “Does the hoodie really change your image of the man?”

Something tells me the right-wing noise machine (including FoxNoise) would be throwing a fit at the “desecration” of their beloved idols. Of course, the artist/s could just make a whole series, including some more “neutral” names—Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus, George Washington, Marilyn Monroe—in the same vein, especially with the “Does the hoodie really change your image” caption.

Brian, I trust you’re aware of NewsHounds’ motto as it’s right at the top of every page: “We watch Fox so you don’t have to!”

As soon as FoxNoise moves on from being the Zimmerman Defense Network, then NewsHounds will as well. But as long as FoxNoise keeps up the race-baiting, NewsHounds will continue to cover it.

Oh, dears. Turn an exploited illegal alien into a future American citizen and suddenly, there’s going to be a labor problem? Maybe, just maybe, if these companies currently hiring illegal aliens for a few dollars a day were punished* for doing that, then those jobs (which obviously need to be filled) would warrant BETTER pay for the employees.

And maybe former agent Cutler might want to address the problems seen by many states (such as Alabama) which decided to pass “anti-immigration” laws that were nothing but harsh, punitive action against undocumented workers. One of the big results was the loss of tens of thousands of farm workers, and many Alabama farmers complained that they were forced to let produce just rot in the fields because they couldn’t get documented workers to work for the paltry wages being offered.

I do love how the FoxNoise brigade *ALWAYS seem to forget that the laws in EVERY state are supposed to prohibit the hiring of illegal aliens—or other undocumented workers—and that companies which do so knowingly (and, really, does anyone think any of these companies are doing it *un*knowingly?) are supposed to be punished by heavy fines. But when was the last time we ever heard about the employers actually being prosecuted and fined for hiring undocumented workers?

Liberty Bell, I’m REALLY not seeing how the “actual quote” makes things any better. Would you care to clarify how “date a black woman at the prom” (incidentally, during your clarification, you might want to explain that atrocious grammar—it really makes NO sense as you’ve written it and, if you’ve accurately transcribed it, it makes no sense whatsoever) makes the following “take one to the prom” any LESS racially insensitive? I’d even be willing to take the “actual” quote as even MORE of a blatantly racist sentiment than Ellen’s alleged doctoring of the quote.

Given Father Sparky’s current “mission,” maybe it’s not too off-topic to note that the Vatican, under the new “people’s Pope” Francis, has just issued new guidelines punishing whistleblowers or those who receive information (what’s particularly notable about the new guidelines is the fact that it only applies to information that could be considered “damaging” to the Vatican—allegedly to the Vatican’s “diplomatic” relations which makes me wonder if the Vatican’s history of covering up its transfers of pedophiles qualifies under the “diplomatic relations” aspect).

@joe Marsh: My point—which you so obviously missed—was the fact that YOU are condemning Jackson for something he did nearly 30 years ago but you don’t seem to hold any of Rivera’s actions accountable.

And as for your debate “grade,” YOU were the one who brought up something that happened THIRTY F*CKING YEARS AGO as having any relevance to today’s actions.

I’m sure that Carlson and Hannity and Rivera would really appreciate how YOU manage to ignore how people have changed over the past couple of decades and continue to hold their past actions as “relevant” while completely ignoring the horrific and vile actions that OTHERS did in their past.

And I still see nothing about you that suggests you have ever had any “liberal cred.”

@harry: Could you clarify your post, just a wee bit?

The way you’ve written it, I can’t tell if your talk of “gratuitous contempt for other people’s belief systems” is directed at Priscilla or Father Sparky and Tucker.

If your comment was directed at the FoxNoise boneheads, I’m willing to agree. If your comment was directed at Priscilla, you’re woefully misguided. Any “contempt” Priscilla might have had was particularly on point given the fact that none of us know what faith or philosophy the crew and passengers of the flight subscribe but that didn’t stop the FoxNoise kkkrew from deciding that prayer—not really a feature of Buddhism or other traditional East Asian faiths—is beneficial in any and all sorts of crises. (One might choose to remember the woman being interviewed in Oklahoma a couple of months ago who “confessed” to being an atheist when Wolf Blitzer asked a particularly patronizing question regarding faith during disasters.)

Patrick Tolle is absolutely correct. Why does it seem these “Christians” are so eager to credit God for saving their lives but don’t take a minute to ask why the eff He decided to send the crisis in the first place? Or, more amazingly, how they seem so completely blind to the fact that so many of their neighbors may die or those lives may be devastated during their “God was with me” moments.

A comment for James Buchanan’s information: Regarding Zimmerman’s ethnicity, it might come as a shock to you but, in the USA, a Hispanic person can be considered white IF HE SO CHOOSES. You might want to check government documents based on the census. There are lines that say “White” or “White, Non-Hispanic.” Now, why would they use that second form? Obviously, there must be some Hispanics who might “pass” for White. (In fact, look at Martin Sheen, Jessica Alba, Ricky Martin or Christina Aguilera. Ethnically, they’re all Hispanic but, if you didn’t know who any of them were, you’d probably have a hard time labelling any as Hispanic. Incidentally, Charlie Sheen—who’s part-Mexican through his father—is going to be in the upcoming film, “Machete Kills,” under his birth name “Carlos Estevez.”)

Now, getting back to the government forms, the Census forms that we got in 2010 have a question for Hispanic identification (your options were “No, not of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin,” and four choices for “Yes”—“Mexican, Mexican Am, or Chicano”; “Puerto Rican”; “Cuban”; and “Another Hispanic” at which you entered the specific nationality such as Dominican, Colombian, Salvadoran, Argentine, etc). Presumably, Zimmerman answered “Yes” and checked the appropriate box. BUT…..he’s actually under no obligation to self-identify as Hispanic in most other situations (university enrollment, credit applications, job applications, etc) unless he wants to get certain benefits that come from identifying as a minority. But, I really have NOT heard anything where he’s pulled the “Hispanic” card during this whole incident.

It’s too bad these “rhymes-with-witches” didn’t take a minute or three to consider what kind of “government assistance” women are going to need now that we’ve got GOP state legislatures making it next-to-impossible for a woman wanting to get an abortion to do so. A woman who’s forced to carry a fetus to term has to find some way of paying for all that healthcare that’s necessary to bring a HEALTHY baby to term.

It’s funny how when abortion rights come up against government assistance, the GOP and the right-wing get into a problem. They can’t support abortion rights but, at the same time, they can’t support government financial aid to all the “sluts” who get pregnant. So they conveniently ignore the dichotomy and treat the two issues as though they’re not in the least bit related.

(I’m still waiting for the pregnant woman who, because of these new abortion restrictions, can’t get an abortion to go to the ACLU and sue the state—mainly the legislators and governors—just as though they were suing the father for child support. I’m also going to have a major laugh when a man—whose partner was denied an abortion—is taken to court over child support. I just can’t see that a man, whose partner was denied an abortion that she wanted, should be forced to pay child support.)

Greg, it’s only wrong if you want to use your own teeth. (Personally, I wouldn’t want to put any part of O’Reilly’s body in my mouth.)

Man, that must’ve killed O’Reilly when he admitted on national television that he was actually wrong about something when he got that ticket.

Of course, given the situation, it wouldn’t surprised that O’Reilly was lying about the whole incident.

Aria, “God’s” acceptance of wine actually depends on the situation. Check Leviticus 10: 8-9 (“And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:” (this actually formed the touchstone of a “MASH” episode where Major Burns is left in charge and declares prohibition in the 4077—Fr Mulcahy is essentially ordered to deliver a sermon against alcohol and, accidentally becomes drunk on some Communion wine—but his sermon involves the above verse).

Well, if the signs had included the pictures of some known terrorists like Adam Lanza and Jared Loughner and James Holmes and Eric Rudolph and Timothy McVeigh and modern KKK members (the ones who can wear their face-revealing hoods) and Anders Breivik and all the other WHITE terrorists*, then I don’t see the problem.

Of course, we all know that the FoxNoise folkkks would strenuously object to those images because to them, apparently, terrorism only exists when there can be a connection to Islam. Anything else that “terrorizes” a community is merely a different type of crime—usually “mass killing” or “mass murder.”

*When you consider the broad definition of “terrorism,” all of these subjects qualify. “Terrorism” is NOT solely a political thing.