Talk me down

Rachel Maddow has a feature on her MSNBC news program that she calls talk me down where she discusses an issue that is upsetting her and brings in someone to understand or help her feel better about it. Okay, this is my talk me down and for those sick of politics, come back another day as it's politics.

The election is over-- at least most of us, win or lose, thought so with a sigh of relief. Now we can wait to see what Obama does. Will he be successful? Will he make mistakes? That is not how all saw it. There is a faction that apparently has only one goal in mind-- either negate the election or back to impeachment. Anything but allow a Democrat to have any successes. Before you tell me Democrats do the same thing, let's save that argument for another day, another blog. This is about today.

What is wrong with Republicans like Alan Keyes and the Rush Limbaugh wing of the far right? What is it with these self-centered, mostly ignorant and fear-filled emails that won't stop giving? Do extreme right wingers only care about abortion, gay marriage, paying taxes on anything, or their political party winning? Is this their idea of patriotism?

One writer on Huffington put it well-- what doesn't destroy the far right only makes them crazier-- and so it would seem.

There is a new email circulating the net from a well-driller, who clearly doesn't know anything about Obama's actual proposed tax policies, but his email is full of resentment of the poor because it's their fault. He brags how well he's done but gives nobody but himself and maybe his family credit for it.

Okay, let's put aside whether the poor deserve help (and ignore things like this: The Bible and poverty. Let's look instead at part of why our deficit has risen so much. Did this well-driller favor the Iraqi War; and if so, how did he expect to pay for it? Or is he going to try and blame that also on Obama? Tax cut or war, either one but both?

What is upsetting me more than circulating resentment soaked emails, and what I need to feel better about is that Keyes (who makes his money off donations through resentments and who lost a senate election to Obama in Illinois by a landslide) and other far righties have filed suits to try to stop the Electoral College from certifying our votes for Barack Obama as president until he shows them a live birth certificate and not just a certified birth certificate proving he was born in Hawaii and not Kenya. Why this story is still ongoing is because of a technicality about the equivalent if someone had gone after McCain's birth in Panama.

The accusation is that Obama's mother made a hurried trip to Kenya, had her baby there, flew back to the United States and registered Obama's birth. In the United States, if you are a citizen and you give birth overseas, your baby is an American citizen if you so designate. Clearly this should have been true for Obama's mother, whatever the case. The complication is her age and when Hawaii became a state. There has been some loosening of the age restrictions which means even if he was born in Kenya, he'd be recognized as a United States citizen from birth and hence qualified to be president; which is likely why we didn't hear anything from McCain, who is not part of the nutcase fringe, about this.

Fact Check went to a lot of trouble to view Obama's birth certificate and certify it as legitimate. They also included, in their analysis, the words of Hawaiian state health director who saw the original certificate on file in Honolulu and certifies that Obama was born there. This is more than is required to prove citizenship, but it's not enough for the wacko fringe of the Republican party. All they really want is some way to negate the vote of the people.

Help me understand what is wrong with extremists like these? Why do they have any credibility with anybody? If nobody donates to them or listens to their programs would they continue to have power?

Hearing what Limbaugh has been saying since the election has made me wonder even more why anybody listens to him with his spewing of hate which along with the Sean Hannitys has led to more death threats against Obama than any president-elect ever.

Thirty million people listen to Limbaugh regularly. How can we get anywhere as a united people with that going on? And, no I don't favor taking him off the air, but it would help if more people just quit listening unless they are also fanatics. Don't give these people money or ratings if you don't agree with them.

Did you read about Rexburg, Idaho, where the children on the school bus were chanting assassinate Obama, adding the names of kids on the bus who had supported him? Or the right wing fear mongers who are rushing out to buy guns? Or the legislator who fears that a worker program in this country would resemble the Nazis more than the WPA (which helped build infrastructure during the Great Depression)? Rush Limbaugh is already calling this the Obama depression.

What is wrong with such people? I hear ingineer here, and I know others who voted for McCain but because they are patriots, they wish Obama well; so I know it's not all Republicans. Why do any Republicans support those who act so selfishly and destructively? Or are Republicans finally going to turn on that fringe?

How about, whatever your party allegiance, the next time you get one of those hate-filled emails, tell the person not to send you more?

I remember when the far right went after impeaching Clinton for lying about a sex act. His lying was wrong but what they did was more about trying to take his power, to distract him. The end result was they distracted themselves also and bin Laden benefited. They, like Newt Gingrich who was busily involved in his own affair at the time, have still not taken responsibility for what they did.

If Keyes is successful in harassing Obama for what is at best a technicality, we're heading for more of the same. I have heard commenters here saying they will impeach Obama immediately. They obviously cannot do that by themselves, but a site out there is drawing those who hope to do so. How is that going to help our nation in a time of so much turmoil and danger?

One reason so many Republicans got thrown out of office was how they voted in lockstep with everything President Bush wanted even when it went against conservative principles. It wasn't all about Obama, McCain or even Bush. It was because those elected officials had not done what was best for this country and instead had party loyalty as their first loyalty. In my opinion, both parties should put the good of the country first not their winning elections. Is that asking too much?

If Obama improves the economy by his policies, doesn't try to turn the country socialist, doesn't try to confiscate all guns, raises our standing in the world, etc etc., will this change these people's minds? Is it possible for any president to be president of all the people as he said the night he won the nomination?

(Young golden eagle from farm yard this week-end.)