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Ka-Ching! GOP Goes For Big Flight 253 Payday
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In a move that would have been hard to imagine in previous years, the GOP has launched multiple fundraising efforts in the wake of the failed attack on Flight 253, seeking to turn the Christmas Day event into not just a political attack on the Obama administration, but also a boost for their year-end fundraising.
• The first fundraising play was done by Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), who is running for governor, and sent out this e-mail for his gubernatorial campaign: "My promise to you, as your governor, my first duty and most solemn responsibility is to keep Michigan safe! ... If you agree that we need a Governor who will stand up the Obama/Pelosi efforts to weaken our security please make a most generous contribution of $25, $50, $100 or even $250 to my campaign."
• The NRSC sent out a fundraising e-mail signed by NRSC Executive Director Rob Jesmer: "Remember right after the inauguration, it was revealed President Obama no longer wanted to acknowledge the 'global war on terror' and referred to terrorist acts as 'man-made disasters'? Back then you and I knew that showed a remarkable lack of understanding of the threat America faced but in the face of what nearly happened a couple days, it is even more infuriating. To you and me and our friends throughout America, the healthcare bill is a man-made disaster. And when a foreigner tries to blow up an airliner, it is an attempted terrorist attack."
• House Minority Leader John Boehner also sent out an NRCC fundraising letter that discussed the topic of terrorism, promising that donations would go towards preventing the transfer of Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States, by financing candidates who would "prevent the Obama Administration from importing dangerous terrorists into American communities." This was done on the same day as a separate Boehner press release blasting the Obama administration, tying the Flight 253 attack to Obama's terrorism policies.
Just imagine if the Democrats had sent out fundraising letters after the shoe-bomber case in December 2001. It's not hard to think of what the Bush administration and Fox News crowd would have said.
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NobleCommentDecider
December 31, 2009 1:29 PM
GOP Credo: You can't make money without a bogeyman!
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Silence
December 31, 2009 2:57 PM in reply to NobleCommentDecider
Yup. The terrorists are really Disney characters in the land of make believe. Just ignore them and they'll go away.
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Duck Stab
December 31, 2009 4:10 PM in reply to Silence
There certainly are threats to our country and to our security, this is true and of course they should be taken seriously.
But this idiot with his Underoos bomb is the face of terror that is supposed to bring down the USA? Please.
The conservatives just piss their pants and cower in fear and run to the nearest TV camera to scream and yell about how dangerous they are, and that is EXACTLY what the terrorists want. They want you to be afraid. They want you to run and hide under your blankee. They love all the attention they get because we're making them out to be much more of a threat then they really are.
That's the goal of terrorism, to intimidate and frighten and the right wingers give in every single time, crying like schoolgirls about some inept loser who couldn't blow up a sex doll.
Why are right wingers such chickenshits?
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Forrest
December 31, 2009 5:37 PM in reply to Silence
"Just ignore them and they'll go away. "
Actually, to some extent, yes.
Why do people commit terrorist acts? To draw attention to their cause, and to rally more participants. To instill fear in their targets. To cause chaos and mayhem.
Which of these scenarios do you think enables the terrorists and furthers their goals?
A. Scream as loudly as you can from every rooftop that we're all going to die in fiery plane crashes. Fill every possible media outlet for days with coverage of the aftermath and the pundits and blowhards on every side of the issue.
B. Publicly minimize its impact and importance while privately figuring out how and why it happened, and what can be done in the future to prevent similar attacks.
Terrorist acts are more powerful than ever these days, mostly because people WON'T SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT THEM.
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NobleCommentDecider
December 31, 2009 6:40 PM in reply to Silence
IF THE TERRORISTS GO AWAY, HOW WILL REPUBLICANS GET ELECTED?...that is why you gotta keep the wars going, forever.
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RocketEngineer
January 2, 2010 2:30 PM in reply to Silence
If Bu**sh** (Cheney/Rove) had taken out Al Qaida at Tora Bora when we had a chance, instead of letting them live to be the convenient boogie man, maybe we wouldn't have a**-wipes like this trying to set-off their undies.
Gutless conservative troll.
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Marinus van der Lubbe
December 31, 2009 1:38 PM
They have the fucking morals of a clam.
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mentok
December 31, 2009 1:52 PM in reply to Marinus van der Lubbe
You're being WAAY too generous. Christ...imagine if it had been, god forbid, successful. Would they still be pulling this shit? Most likely...
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CityGuy
December 31, 2009 1:54 PM in reply to Marinus van der Lubbe
I will repeat, they're Fucktards!
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The Watcher
December 31, 2009 2:02 PM
The GOP's blatant disregard for security, their ape-like chest beating, and flat out sleaziness after an attempted terror attack pretty much proves that their party is really based only upon two simple statements; NO and FEAR.
Can anyone seriously have any regard for people like Dickless
Cheney when he talks about protecting the country when the biggest attack outside of Pearl Harbor occurred on HIS WATCH, or Hoekstra's pathetic 'I'll keep you safe' load of bull? I guess so since it's now the talking point for the Republican's this week.
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ETSpoon
December 31, 2009 2:06 PM
Clowns!
These lying clowns care nothing about the security of the so-called "homeland." All they care about is political gain and getting fat defense contracts to their buddies in the military-industrial complex for fat campaign contributions. War is, as Smedley Butler aptly said, is a racket. And it is very good for the Pentagon, the military-industrial complex and the Republican officer corps of our uniformed armed services.
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cwnidog
December 31, 2009 2:10 PM
Contrast the GOP's current fundraising efforts and bloviation and a complicit media's silence with the GOP and media reaction in 2001/2002 to even the slightest suggestion that W might have made an error WRT the September 11th attacks.
Nothing like the raw stench of hypocrisy leavened with mendacity and cupidity.
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Michael A
December 31, 2009 2:16 PM in reply to cwnidog
Media complicity is attributable to the huge corporations running the media for profits as opposed to performing the function of a journalist, investigative reporting. The media is just another propoganda arm for the repukes. They have to break up the media conglomerates or we will never get real news again.
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cwnidog
December 31, 2009 2:44 PM in reply to Michael A
That would be the cupidity part (or at least part of the cupidity part)
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AnswerFrog
December 31, 2009 2:13 PM
Terrorist incidents are like a shot for an alcoholic. The GOP just can't resist having another feargasm. They really do wish it was 9/12 every day. In a strange way, the Republicans and Al Qaeda are basically political allies.
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cwnidog
December 31, 2009 2:42 PM in reply to AnswerFrog
"feargasm" - I love it and will shamelessly steal it.
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ericf
December 31, 2009 2:27 PM
The GOP reaction isn't just reflexive fearmongering. National security and terrorism still work better for Republicans, and it's the only issue the lead on. Remember though that polls showed the same thing in 2004, Kerry and Democrats led on every other issue, but the one issue was enough. If people get scared, that overrides all else. Republicans seem to get this intuitively, but I'm sure they've also analyzed their polls.
So if we assume the public can see through the distortions and lies, we do so at our electoral peril.
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docrocktex
December 31, 2009 2:40 PM in reply to ericf
Scaring the crap out of people for political gain is so tired and most Americans seem to be sick of it. If the election of 2008 taught us anything it's that the majority of Americans are smart enough to see through it and vote on the real issues at hand. McCain/Palin did everything they could to portray Obama as a terrorist sympathizer, a Muslim, soft on Iran, soft on the war on terror, and it didn't work.
I don't see how escalating the war in Afghanistan, prosecuting the terrorists we already have in custody, issuing orders to take out the Somali pirates, reviewing and improving our entire intelligence apparatus = Obama is weak on national security. Maybe in the minds of the teabaggers, but they're irrelevant at this point.
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willdabeast
December 31, 2009 5:41 PM in reply to docrocktex
The problem, though, is Obama and the democrats are so afraid of the Retardicans that they will compromise up the ass until any kind of potential progress instead becomes a ticking time bomb filled with promises.
I'm not exactly fond of the Democrats, but the retardicans can be likened to monkeys that shit into their hands, throw at their constituents who will gladly open their mouths to catch it. And to me that's Obama's biggest failing is trying to please a bunch of monkeys and their pets.
So as long as the democrats are without a spine and the retardicans are still in congress they're going to have too much sway in what kind of progress we as a nation can make.
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Jackster
December 31, 2009 2:32 PM
Just think the cash they'd pull in if the bomber had been successful. Seems their deepest darkest wish is that we have another 911 on Obama's watch. Cold hearted bastards.
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Silence
December 31, 2009 3:10 PM in reply to Jackster
What are you going to do stop another 911 from happening? Show the terrorists how to dance around to Grateful Dead music in hemp robes with frizzy, flowered headed girls who don't shave?
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Jackster
December 31, 2009 3:25 PM in reply to Silence
Thanks for making my point. What can you do to stop someone determined, backed and equipped? If it did it would obviously be the fault of the Prez. Especially when the Sec. of State has a memo on her desk predicting who would do it.
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Silence
December 31, 2009 4:42 PM in reply to Jackster
You could give them free health care - with no restrictions on pre-existing plans to kill innocent people.
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Signalman
January 1, 2010 3:33 PM in reply to Silence
"with no restrictions on pre-existing plans to kill innocent people. "
The GOP already has this. It's called 'resist-all-attempts-at-retrying-capital-cases-even-when-new-evidence-surfaces.'
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mrCurmudgeon
December 31, 2009 3:42 PM in reply to Silence
Is every single Conservative still living in the 60's? Jesus.
No wonder they suck at governing. They're still fighting bogeymen that ceased to exist decades ago.
"Flower children", seriously? lol
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Silence
December 31, 2009 5:11 PM in reply to mrCurmudgeon
It's kind of like the way libs paint all conservs as characters from an old Annie Oakley movie.
That could be why they can't seem to connect with productive, self-reliant, hard-working Americans.
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Duck Stab
December 31, 2009 5:18 PM in reply to Silence
The movie I had in mind was Deliverance actually.
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Silence
December 31, 2009 5:29 PM in reply to Duck Stab
So, don't complain about the LSD licking, Birkenstocks and tiny glasses wearing, frizzy haired, crab infested, naked flower child, back to nature communist liberal stereotypes.
Tit for tat.
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Duck Stab
December 31, 2009 6:07 PM in reply to Silence
Man, those are some zingers. I am sure the bitter impotent old white men who watch Fox News would find that knee-slapping hee-larious.
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ETSpoon
December 31, 2009 6:37 PM in reply to Duck Stab
Duck Stab, I'm a bitter old white man and I haven't laughed so hard in a while.
Silence if he/she is for real is a total whack job. If not he/she's one of the best satirist I've ever read in any Internet discussion board.
I would hope Silence is a clever satirist and, for the sake of his/her mental health, doesn't believe a scintilla of the bullshit he/she spread here. lol
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Silence
January 1, 2010 11:08 AM in reply to ETSpoon
Cat men. Good gawd.
Peace bro'.
http://ammaryasir.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/haight-hippie.jpg
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Signalman
December 31, 2009 6:39 PM in reply to Silence
Yeah, um, I *live* near Deliverance territory, and the conservatives down here look
just
like
that
If you think you know where some hippies like the ones you describe are, then hop on over there and get us some photos. And let us know if you need a ride on the time machine to get there, Champ.
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Signalman
December 31, 2009 6:37 PM in reply to Silence
Well, it's pretty clear that waterboarding folks and locking them up without trials doesn't work.
We've done both of those things, and Abdulmutallab *still* tried to blow up a plane.
Man, you're stupid.
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Silence
January 1, 2010 11:38 AM in reply to Signalman
Hey. I'd love to sit around drinking lattes, topped with fluffy whipped cream mounds with while discussing 'moral' social programs and trading funny cat stories, but I've got a date with a .22 and 100+ squirrels in my backyard.
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Signalman
January 1, 2010 3:09 PM in reply to Silence
It figures you'd be shooting squirrels instead of strapping on a pair of nuts and enlisting in the Armed Forces, like I did.
But you're just not enough of a man for that, lattes and whipped cream notwithstanding.
Wuss.
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Silence
January 1, 2010 5:49 PM in reply to Signalman
It's Raining Squirrels! Hallelujah! - It's Raining Squirrels! Amen!
I'm gonna go out to run and let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It's Raining Squirrels! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Squirrels! Every Specimen!
Short, fuzzy, dark and tasty
Rough and tough and strong and lean
God bless Mother Nature, she's a squirrel shooter too
She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the nests
So that each and every man could find his perfect squirrel
It's Raining Men! Squirrels! - It's Raining Squirrels! Amen!
It's Raining Squirrels! Hallelujah!
It's Raining Squirrels! Ame---------nnnn!
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Signalman
January 1, 2010 6:56 PM in reply to Silence
We get it. You're totally hot for squirrels. But there are laws against that in very state, and somehow, I bet the squirrels just aren't that into you.
Anyway, real men enlist. Pretend men -- like you -- go huntin' squirrels.
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Silence
January 1, 2010 7:38 PM in reply to Signalman
Um. Your manicurist called. Apparently, the metroboy polish that you ordered last month just came in. Better skip on over and pick it up.
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Signalman
January 1, 2010 8:29 PM in reply to Silence
Yeah, there's a reason that manicurist has *your* number on speed-dial and not mine.
Drop the purse, grow a pair of nuts and enlist, wussy.
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Silence
January 1, 2010 8:41 PM in reply to Signalman
My answer translated into left-wing loon speak.
Two, one, two, three, four
Ev'rybody's talking about
Bagism, Shagism, Dragism, Madism,
Ragism, Tagism
This-ism, That-ism, is-m, is-m, is-m
All we are saying is give piece a chance,
All we are saying is give piece a chance
C'mon
Ev'rybody's talking about ministers,
Sinister, Banisters
And canisters, Bishops, Fishops,
Rabbis, and Pop eyes, Bye, bye, bye byes
All we are saying is give peace a chance,
All we are saying is give peace a chance
Let me tell you now
Revoluton, evolution, masturbation,
Flagellation, regulation, integrations,
Meditations, United Nations,
Congratulations
Ev'rybody's talking about
John and Yoko, Timmy Leary, Rosemary,
Tommy Smothers, Bobby Dylan,
Tommy Copper,
Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer,
Allen Ginsberg, Hare Krishna,
Hare
Krishna
Got that?
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farnsworth
January 2, 2010 3:02 PM in reply to Silence
Do you actually have a point?
No?
Didn't think so.
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Signalman
January 8, 2010 9:29 AM in reply to farnsworth
+1
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Signalman
January 8, 2010 9:30 AM in reply to Silence
I've got you so well beaten down you can't even make sense any more.
You are right to fear me, troll.
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rbe1
December 31, 2009 7:17 PM in reply to Silence
Actually, I think your suggestion would work ! How to go, silencio !
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rbe1
December 31, 2009 7:03 PM
I have to wonder if the GOP would have tried this degenerate approach had the attack succeeded.
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CityGuy
December 31, 2009 7:48 PM in reply to rbe1
Yes. Another simple answer.
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USgreentech
January 1, 2010 4:01 AM
That's a piss poor idea.
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Tosh
June 6, 2010 1:49 AM
I'm not exactly fond of the Democrats, but the retardicans can be likened to monkeys that shit into their hands, throw at their constituents who will gladly open their mouths to catch it. And to me that's Obama's biggest failing is trying to please a bunch of monkeys and their pets.
So as long as the democrats are without a spine and the retardicans are still in congress they're going to have too much sway in what kind of progress we as a nation can make.
m65 kamagra
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