Pledge to America

[brix11]

What say you on the GOP's Pledge to America (PDF link)?

This article highlights what's not in it. To that list I would add the word diplomacy, which doesn't even rate a mention under the section that begins, "National security is more than just war fighting..."

And I am strangely fascinated by the image selection, which seems to equate patriotism with angry white people.

[Chefguy]

Boring, rehashed populist bullshit. A pundit referred to it as the "plague on America".

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by Chefguy

Boring, rehashed populist bullshit. A pundit referred to it as the "plague on America".

That was not a pundit. It was the senior Congressman from South Carolina. Can't remember his name.

Looks like a lot of fluff. I guess they now have something they can point to and say, hey, we have a plan! Funny how they went "outside the beltway" to announce this. They drove a whole 20 miles or so outside 495, and took their ties off, too. Regular common folk, these guys!!

[howye]

Originally Posted by brix11

And I am strangely fascinated by the image selection, which seems to equate patriotism with angry white people.

Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American.

[Chronos]

Remember back in high school or college, when you had an assignment to write (say) a ten-page paper, and you only had enough material for 3? That's what this reads like. Two and a half title pages, then three pages of meaningless fluff, then a foreword (complete with a full page of nothing but the announcement that a foreword is coming), plus similar heading pages for all of the other sections, plus all of those pictures (which contain no content other than re-affirming the Republican party's commitment to pretending brown people don't exist), plus even a completely blank page at the end where they apparently ran out of ideas for filler. All told, I count 15 pages with any content on them at all, out of a 48-page document.

[Chronos]

Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American.

Really? Where? I saw one or two who might be Hispanic or Asian, but the only brown I saw was on horses.

[descamisado]

Originally Posted by howye

Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American.

Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning.

[Chronos]

Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning.

Nah, she's in favor of immigration, so she's obviously not a real American. Probably one of them evil socialist French, or something.

[otternell]

The first section before the forward sounds pretty aspirational. Is there anything policy oriented - like an actual goal that they are trying to achieve? Someway to measure accountability?

[joebuck20]

Jon Stewart, as usual, did a brilliant evisceration of this last night.

http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-ste...-different-day

[BrainGlutton]

An excellent sign for Jon Stewart's "Restore Sanity Rally" would be, "America Is Not More Than A Country."

[howye]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Really? Where? I saw one or two who might be Hispanic or Asian, but the only brown I saw was on horses.

Pages 12 and 44, if I remember correctly. I went through it three times, I am not doing that again, not after lunch. Both instances though were in crowds listening to a melanin challenged speaker. The asian lady I was able to pick out was dancing, red dress.

Still, it is pretty damm telling when you have to scrutinize the document to find non-whites. Despite what Repubs/Tea Partiers are saying, they are very lily white bunch. Also, did anybody else notice the cowboy hats and the one back-lit shot of a cowboy twirling his rope?

Originally Posted by descamisado

Unfair. There was a Verdigris-American at the beginning.

Yeah, but as already noted she is French, and she has lived her entire life on government property, supported by the government. Welfare Queen!

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by joebuck20

Jon Stewart, as usual, did a brilliant evisceration of this last night.

http://tv.gawker.com/5646612/jon-ste...-different-day

that was devastating

[Sinaptics]

Originally Posted by howye

Pages 12 and 44, if I remember correctly.

Close 14 and 46. Both are part of a panel behind a conference table. None in the audience.

[Chronos]

There's still more horses than black folks, though.

(I'm sure there's a Paladino joke in there somewhere, but I can't quite find it).

[joebuck20]

Originally Posted by Chronos

There's still more horses than black folks, though.

(I'm sure there's a Paladino joke in there somewhere, but I can't quite find it).

What, about Paladino fucking some Palamino horses?

[elucidator]

A mare, not a stallion. Important distinction, nothing queer about Paladino.

[control-z]

Honest question, why are people so fascinated with the number of black people they can find? Is there a quota? Is having more in your photos better? According to the US Census, black people make up 12.9% of the US population. And they don't typically vote publican.

[howye]

Originally Posted by control-z

Honest question, why are people so fascinated with the number of black people they can find? Is there a quota? Is having more in your photos better? According to the US Census, black people make up 12.9% of the US population. And they don't typically vote publican.

Because its a "Pledge to America", but the photos reflect the reality that is a "Pledge to White America." Because non-whites make up more than 12.9% of this nation, but the pictures of Pubbie events show clearly that non-whites make up a much smaller percentage.

Because its easier than going through the document text itself and refuting each specific point, not because it can't be done but because it makes me feel dirty for having waded in the Boehner/DeMint cesspool.

[Chronos]

Some of those pictures have hundreds of people in them. If the pictures were of a cross-section of "Real America", as they'd like us to think, there would be dozens of blacks in in them. You can't even excuse this by pointing out that most blacks are not Republicans, since this is supposed to be a pledge to America, not just a pledge to the Republican party.

[BrainGlutton]

The interesting question is where they got those pix of big crowds with no dark faces in them.

GOP events, perhaps?

[Merijeek]

Originally Posted by Chronos

Some of those pictures have hundreds of people in them. If the pictures were of a cross-section of "Real America", as they'd like us to think, there would be dozens of blacks in in them. You can't even excuse this by pointing out that most blacks are not Republicans, since this is supposed to be a pledge to America, not just a pledge to the Republican party.

Clearly they meant "real" America.

-Joe

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by BrainGlutton

The interesting question is where they got those pix of big crowds with no dark faces in them.

Hockey games? I live in one of the most non-white areas in the country (Asians and Hispanics, not Blacks), and if you ever go to a SJ Sharks game, it's the Whitest crowd you can imagine.

[Merijeek]

Originally Posted by John Mace

Hockey games? I live in one of the most non-white areas in the country (Asians and Hispanics, not Blacks), and if you ever go to a SJ Sharks game, it's the Whitest crowd you can imagine.

The hockey mom bulldog mother grizzly's influence is everywhere. Dead fish.

-Joe

[Chefguy]

A good op-ed by Krugman today. I particularly like the following from the Tax Policy Center:

Howard Gleckman of the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math. As he points out, the only way to balance the budget by 2020, while simultaneously (a) making the Bush tax cuts permanent and (b) protecting all the programs Republicans say they won’t cut, is to completely abolish the rest of the federal government: “No more national parks, no more Small Business Administration loans, no more export subsidies, no more N.I.H. No more Medicaid (one-third of its budget pays for long-term care for our parents and others with disabilities). No more child health or child nutrition programs. No more highway construction. No more homeland security. Oh, and no more Congress.”

[Merijeek]

Originally Posted by Chefguy

A good op-ed by Krugman today. I particularly like the following from the Tax Policy Center:

So? That'll just mean a total victory. Everything they've been shooting for all these years. Finally, the megacorporations will be able to step into the light and take over in name as well as in fact.

-Joe

[Digital Stimulus]

Originally Posted by otternell

The first section before the forward sounds pretty aspirational. Is there anything policy oriented - like an actual goal that they are trying to achieve? Someway to measure accountability?

Of course not. Boehner says:

Once Americans understand how big the problem is, then we can begin to talk about potential solutions.

Actual meaning: Forget about what we did before. Here, look at the monkey. Look at the silly monkey!

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by howye

Without looking I knew this would be the case. Then I went and counted the non-white people I could find in the pictures. I found two black people, one asian - I think, and one orange-American.

I saw just one brown person featured in the whole thing. (There may have been others in the background in shots of multiple people.) And that one brown person was grinning and bowing, in a servile uniform, to an older white gentleman in a suit.

I mean, they don't even have a token black person in the whole thing.