GOP Pre-Convention Tweets: If We Had a Real Media

The 2012 Republican National Convention gets underway in Tampa, Fla., tomorrow, and we have decided to be both objective (in the Charlie Rose sense) and subjective as can be (in the Cenk Uygur sense). So, I guess for the next five days, we will essentially be like Fox News in reverse.

On Twitter tonight, east coast USA time, one of the main trending topic was #IfWeHadARealMedia; though most tweets were right-leaning, some liberals chimed in as well.

Before we post tweets ranging from right wing comic, talk-show host Dennis Miller, who will perform in Durham, NC, on Sept. 8, ironically the most liberal zip code in the Tarheel State, to Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist who was part of Bill Clinton's War Room, let's go over the images:

1) Travis Tritt: The country singer has let his conservative views be well-known, but to our knowledge he has not resonated the same hate speech rhetoric as Hank Williams Jr. Tritt will be the feature performer at the Shenandoah County in Woodstock, Va. on Aug. 31st.

2) Big Splash. At $1.5 million, this Tibetan mastiff is the most expensive dog in the world, which means Mitt and Ann Romney could afford to have the dog as a pet. Today (Sunday) is incidentally National Dog Day.

3) Vincent Lecavalier. We don't know the political views of the Tampa Lightning captain, which is just as well, as he is a Canadian, and presumably can't vote in the American presidential election.

Here are the tweets:

1) @DennisDMZ (Dennis Miller): "Biden told Obama that's not how you spell Phio. You've got the O's switched around."

2) @LisainDallas (Lisa in Dallas): "#IfweHadARealMedia: They would report on the wars the same way they did under Bush."

3) @word_34 (Spread the Word): "If.......: You would know that Bush kept 1.2 trillion off the books for two unfunded wars."

4) @noiwillnotbe (I Will NOT Be Quiet): "#If......the republican war on women would be covered."

5) @exrepublicans (Ex-Repubs for Obama): "#If......: Bill O, Hannity, Hush, and Beck wouldn't exist."

6) @Reagan-Girl (Marjorie Haun): "#If......: Keith Olbermann would be behind glass in a "Ripley's Believe It or Not" museum."

7) @PaulBegala (Paul Begala): "Sure, Romney's humor is lame & offensive. Could it be strategic_ to distract from new docs on Caymans tax dodge?"

http://www.shencofair.com

http://www.travistritt.com

http://www.dennismillerradio.com

http://www.visittampabay.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.gopconvention2012.com

http://www.nationaldogday.com

http://www.twitter.com

http://www.vinny4.com

And, for more tweets from tonight about the GOP Convention, and see an image of a Tampa Bay Bucaneers cheerleader, visit our sister blog at:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com

The Republicans Are Coming! The Republicans Are Coming!

Since this Shark Week on the Discovery Channel here in the United States, and the Republican Party National Convention will be starting on Monday, Aug. 27th in Tampa, Fla., we thought we'd make fun of our friends on the right. Of course, not all of them are as radical, fringe as Michele Bachmann, but then again, quite a few of them are indeed like sharks, and we don't mean the nice, friendly sharks one sees in the comic strip "Sherman's Lagoon."

As of today, many right-wingers are skewing Vice President Joe Biden for controversial remarks he made in Danville, Va., a town I'm a bit familiar with, in which he told a largely African-American audience that the Republicans would put them back in chains. The right immediately saw this as a reference to slavery. Biden also thought Danville is in North Carolina, but when college basketball season comes along, many residents in Danville pretend they are in the Tarheel State as well (for those of you in Dubai, the University of North Carolina and Duke University, both in North Carolina, are national powerhouses in the sport).

Of course, the partisan party faithful will be more likely to get excited if they see Chuck Norris as opposed to the likes of Congs. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky), Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), then they will accuse Chevy Chase of having too much power and influence in the Democratic Party.

Then, some convention-attenders may have one too many bourbons and have to call Yellow Cab of Tampa (a real taxi company), and hence miss out on the prayer breakfast the next day.

There have been some folks who are new Republicans like Cong. Artur Davis (R-Ala.), an African-American party who quietly switched sides in June. But, one has to wonder if this is genuine or if Cong. Davis just wants to stay in office as Alabama is a red state even by the South's standards.

And, assuredly, tonight Gov. Mary Fallin (R-Okl) will sleep well tonight having decided to execute an inmate named Michael Hooper last night. We will admit that Hooper's crime, which was the murder of his girlfriend and her two young children was very heinous. But, isn't hypocritical of Fallin and those who proclaim to be fiscal conservative to spend at least one million dollars per execution (according to a 2011 column in "Tulsa World," Oklahoma has not released figures on how much capital punishment costs), not to mention that executions seem to certainly contrast the teachings of Jesus Christ.

But, we look forward to posting several entries about it here and our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Times" as we include voices ranging from Cenk Uygur, a Current-TV progressive talk show host who used to be a Republican, and Dennis Miller, a comic/talk show host who switched stripes from liberal to conservative. Perhaps, now he even shares a Pabst Blue Ribbon or two with his pal Bill O'Reilly.


http://www.dsc.discovery.com/sharkweek

http://www.gopconvention2012.com

http://www.yellowcaboftampa.com

http://www.slagoon.com

http://www.godanriver.com

http://www.ok.gov/governor

http://www.okcadp.org

http://www.dennimillerradio.com

http://www.current.com

http://www.pabstblueribbon.com

The links above are for: 1) Shark Week; 2) Republican Convention; 3) Taxis in Tamps; 4) "Sherman's Lagoon" (comic strip); 5) Danville Register and Bee; 6) Oklahoma governor's home page 7) Oklahomans Against the Death Penalty; 8) Dennis Miller; 9) Current TV; 10) Pabst Blue Ribbon

Right-Wing Radicals Say the Darndest Things...

This comment was actually posted on Youtube against my fellow Turkish-American progressive Cenk Uygur, a talk show host with "The Young Turks" (he was once a Republican!). It is in reference to a segment that Uygur ran featuring Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller (he used to be sane!) discussing how President Barack Obama has been hypocritical with his policies:

"all I can do is laugh at that smug, dirty arab when HE calls oreilly smug."

The kicker here is that not only Uygur openly agnostic (as am I), Turks are NOT Arabs. We are completely different ethnic groups.

This illustrates one of my main points of contention with the right, especially the whacko tea partiers, they believe that racism and xenophobia in America are not a part of society.

While I would agree that there are times when the left cries wolf when there might be other factors to explain a situation like the Cambridge, Mass., incident between a police officer and an African-American Harvard professor besides racism, there are also times when it is very clear and very apparent. And, this is one such example.

Know Your Congress Reps and Senators (Entry 20 of 21)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is the second U.S. Senator we're profiling who is also a published novelist. Our very first entry featured Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va) who also like Boxer has a journalism background. Boxer's two novels include "A Time to Run" (2005) and her most current work "Blind Trust" (2009).

Boxer, 69, is one of several senators from both parties that I'm following on Twitter along with the likes of Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Along with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Boxer is one of two female Jewish senators.

In one of her recent tweets, Boxer said she is determined to prove Karl Rove wrong as the former George W. Bush aid wrote in the conservative-leaning "Wall Street Journal" that Boxer's seat is one of six that Republicans could pickup in the 2010 mid-term elections. Rove predicted that the seat could be grabbed by former Hewitt-Packard chair Carly Fiorina, even though she has no political experience.

On her personal blog, Boxer said that each time GOP insiders predict her demise she pulls through because California residents support her stands on job creation, health care and the environment.

Comedian/actor/talk show host Dennis Miller, who became a Republican after Sept. 11th, told politico.com that he was actually recruited by then Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who was unseated by Webb, to run against Boxer. Another former stand-up comedian/actor/talk show Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), whom we've also written about in this series, later wound up getting a senate seat himself.

Boxer's official senate web site advocates her work helping small businesses and working to prevent violence against women in conflict zones. Boxer, who was previously a member of Congress, replaced Sen. Alan Cranston (R) (who retired from the senate) in 1993. Boxer beat conservative commentator Bruce Herschensohn by five points in part because of her opponent's revelation that he had gone to a strip club. Recently, Boxer became the first female chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee replacing Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD). She also chairs the Select Committe on Ethics, and Boxer is the only senator chairing two committees.

Boxer became known as a member of congress when she insisted that Anita Hill's sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas (now the most conservative justice on the court) be taken seriously.

According to wikipedia.org, her current approval ratings are hovering in the mid-forties. And, she is a target of right-wing activists for her stances on a woman's right to choose abortion, carbon emissions caps, stem cell research and gun control. Boxer also supports a moratorium on the death penalty.

Boxer is also known as an advocate for health care and education, and she has worked aggressively in addressing the rise in autism rates among children.

Besides being a novelist, Boxer has made cameo appearances in tv shows ("Curb your Enthusiasm" and "Gilmore Girls) and films ("Traffic"). She was also featured in a 2007 documentary about female senators from both parties called "14 Women." The film may actually seem a bit dated now since two of the featured senators, Hillary Clinton (D) and Elizabeth Dole (R) are no longer in the Senate. Dole was defeated by Kay Hagan (D) in the 2008 elections, and Clinton stepped down to become Secretary of State.

UPDATE- The California Republican Party is now following me on Twitter. I wonder if that was the result of this entry!