GOP: Jeb Bush to the Rescue

After losing the White House and control of the House and Senate, the Republican party is now turning to Jeb Bush for help.

The former Florida governor took part Saturday in the first town hall meeting for the “National Council For A New America” in Arlington, Va. The goal of the event was to help chart out a new direction for the GOP.

Joining Bush was former Gov. Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor. The group discussed national security, health care and the economy. …

Bush … laid out the group’s goal — to take the GOP in a new more inclusive direction.

“It’s a chance to create a forum for people to truly listen and then create a consensus around 21st century ideas that truly matter for the American families, present them to the American people in elections and all sorts of other ways and lead,” he said.

via WPLG Miami:  GOP Turn To Jeb Bush For Help

Media: Tell the Full Obama Story

Conservative writer Andrew W. Smith, writing in Canada’s Chronicle Herald, reminds us that newspapers are supposed to give us the full story — not only positive highlights.

Will Rogers famously pleaded that all he knew was what he read in the papers. If all a person knew of Barack Obama’s first 100 days as president was what they read of them in this newspaper, it would seem to be a very charmed young presidency.

The Chronicle Herald recently made space for an urgent Associated Press dispatch from Washington informing readers the Obamas had chosen a Portuguese water dog. Not original reporting, of course, but an AP rephrasing of a White House-arranged scoop in the Washington Post online. … And they wonder why folks aren’t buying the papers like they used to.

Smith is spot on about this: Newspapers are dying a vicious death. Last week’s bloodbath at the Baltimore Sun was a harsh reminder to many of us that the journalistic times are a-changing, and it’s happening much faster than many anticipated. Part of the reason behind print media’s decline is that  modern editors  seem to put a premium on connecting stories to the ruling populist paradigm. Intelligent readers are tired of it: celebrities interviewed on issues of state, politicians presented as rock stars, and both being presented as equals on the nightly news, for crying out loud, where images of pop star and pol alike are crafted carefully.

The result: The president doesn’t get the full scrutiny he deserves. Readers and viewers don’t get the whole story — or worse, when they do report a piece, the message is massaged to fit the prevailing zeitgeist or the media outlet’s agenda. That goes against everything J-school teaches: Tell the full story and stick to the facts. Of course, we must acknowledge and accept that space and time are restricted. That being the case, however, it is crucial that the people can trust those who get to judge which facts are most noteworthy. Tragically, modern media outlets have given the people little reason to trust them.

This is dangerous, even for Obama supporters: When important stories are given short shrift, We The People suffer. News consumers need more substance from our media, not less. We need as much meaningful information about as many of the administration’s doings as possible. Without the facts, we cannot know what truly is happening in the halls of power or what the repercussions will be for our future. We don’t get an opportunity to keep the president’s feet to the proverbial fire when he strays off-course or breaks a promise. We instead become a fan club, a sycophantic amen corner, or worse, a tolerated but not respected entity expected to go along with the program or be ostracized.

To that end, the columnist does us a mitzvah by sharing his list of stories about “the most powerful man on Earth [mainstream media] deemed unfit to print.”  Do read it, progressives: We may not be as maligned as right-wingers right now, but like the GOP, we are not the party in power.

I’ll repeat this: We are not in charge. Obama is a pragmatist, not a progressive. Like the GOP, we on the Left have to remain vigilant and adversarial (when necessary) to ensure that our vision is heard by the White House and that the facts see print.

Progressives need to know the bad news — and the good news. Smith, a conservative, notes a few under-reported stories that progressives would hail as positive developments. Knowing the full story allows us to keep progressive ideals a part of the mix: We must have equality in this country. We need universal health care. We have two wars raging that need to end. We have a massive economic crisis. What we need are facts: What are the administration’s plans and what will be their real cost? What is really going on in the Middle East? We don’t need more stories about Bo Obama, not from the serious newsies, even if particular editors decide otherwise.

GOP chair Steele fights for party’s control

In the bowels of the Republican Party, a right-wing move is reportedly on to “embarrass and neuter” the GOP national committee chair, Maryland’s own Michael Steele.

by Natalie Davis, Baltimore Progressive Community Examiner: Embarrassed GOP chair Steele fights for party’s control

Marriage Equality Official in Iowa; GOP Blows a Gasket

… Five of the justices were appointed by Democratic governors; the remaining two, including the author of the opinion, Justice Mark S. Cady, were chosen by a Republican.

“One doesn’t want to psychoanalyze the court,” Mr. Kende said, “but you can see how they drew on the heritage of Iowa in the area of equality and seemed to see their own decision in that context.”

 Indeed, in the opinion itself, Justice Cady cited instances when the justices’ predecessors made rulings involving civil liberties before courts in other parts of the country did, and, in sometimes soaring language, placed the question of same-sex marriage against that backdrop. …

Republicans say they will focus on marriage in coming elections (including retention votes on the Supreme Court justices), and potential opponents to Mr. Culver in 2010 have already begun promising to end same-sex marriage. At least one Republican lawmaker is calling on the state’s 99 county recorders to refuse to accept same-sex marriage license applications, and others are urging judges and magistrates to decline to marry such couples.

 via NYT:   Same-Sex Ruling Belies the Staid Image of Iowa

Shame on the obstructionist Republicans. Their temper tantrums are just pathetic.

GOP: Get a Clue

If conservatives don’t want to be seen as bitter people who cling to their guns and religion and anti-immigrant sentiments, they should stop being bitter and clinging to their guns, religion and anti-immigrant sentiments.

It’s been a week now, and I still don’t know what those “tea bag” protests were about. I saw signs protesting abortion, illegal immigrants, the bank bailout and that gay guy who’s going to win “American Idol.” But it wasn’t tax day that made them crazy; it was election day. Because that’s when Republicans became what they fear most: a minority.

The conservative base is absolutely apoplectic because, because … well, nobody knows. They’re mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. Even though they’re not quite sure what “it” is. But they know they’re fed up with “it,” and that “it” has got to stop.

Here are the big issues for normal people: the war, the economy, the environment, mending fences with our enemies and allies, and the rule of law.

And here’s the list of Republican obsessions since President Obama took office: that his birth certificate is supposedly fake, he uses a teleprompter too much, he bowed to a Saudi guy, Europeans like him, he gives inappropriate gifts, his wife shamelessly flaunts her upper arms, and he shook hands with Hugo Chavez and slipped him the nuclear launch codes.

Do these sound like the concerns of a healthy, vibrant political party?

via  Los Angeles Times The GOP: divorced from reality

My suggestion: If you see an angry Republican, give him or her a hug. Be reassuring that things will be OK. Whatever you do, take the high road and be respectful: Treat them better than they treated those on the Left during the last eight years. Meet their bitterness with kindess and understanding — after all, many of us have been there. We can beat them on facts and principle  –there is  no need for us to be jerks.