Marshall (TPM): Regular Daily SegmentFox News did a poll of what Americans think of an American president bowing to the Japanese Emperor.
You'll remember, this is when Obama shamed America and sent a signal of weakness to emperors worldwide by bowing to the Emperor Akihito, as is the custom in that country.
Oddly enough, Fox phrased the question in a pretty fair way. And Americans answered overwhelmingly that it was fine: 67% to 26%.
We just had that new daily segment on Fox News where they apologize for getting caught using phony video to inflate GOP crowd sizes the previous day.
Fun new segment.
The new national poll from Public Policy Polling (D) has an astonishing number about paranoia among the GOP base: Republicans do not think President Obama actually won the 2008 election -- instead, ACORN stole it.
This number goes a long way towards explaining the anger of the Tea Party crowd. They not only think Obama's agenda is against America, but they don't think he was actually the choice of the American people at all! Interestingly, NY-23 Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman is now accusing ACORN of stealing his race, and Fox News personalities have often speculated about ACORN stealing the 2008 Minnesota Senate race for Al Franken.
The poll asked this question: "Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?" The overall top-line is legitimately won 62%, ACORN stole it 26%.
Among Republicans, however, only 27% say Obama actually won the race, with 52% -- an outright majority -- saying that ACORN stole it, and 21% are undecided. Among McCain voters, the breakdown is 31%-49%-20%. By comparison, independents weigh in at 72%-18%-10%, and Democrats are 86%-9%-4%.
Now, the obvious comparison would be that many Democrats felt that George W. Bush didn't legitimately win the 2000 election. But there are some clear differences.
First of all, Al Gore empirically won the national popular vote in 2000, and lost in a disputed recount process in Florida. By comparison, John McCain lost the national popular vote by a 53%-46% margin.
In order to believe that Obama wasn't the true winner of the 2008 election, one would have to think that ACORN (and perhaps other groups) stuffed ballots to the tune of over 9.5 million votes, Obama's national margin.
PPP communications director Tom Jensen says: "Belief in the ACORN conspiracy theory is even higher among GOP partisans than the birther one, which only 42% of Republicans expressed agreement with on our national survey in September."
- Kevin Drum adds:
I understand that constantly calling the Republican base batshit crazy gets old. I really do. Honest. But via TPM, check out this survey result from Public Policy Polling: 52% of Republicans now think that ACORN stole the 2008 election from John McCain.
There aren't words for this. Something like 40 million Republicans are now convinced that ACORN (!) somehow managed to steal an election that McCain lost by seven percentage points. Another 20 million think they might have stolen it but aren't sure. The Fox/Limbaugh/Palin axis, which probably directly reaches maybe 10 million people on a regular basis, has nonetheless convinced six times that number to buy into a conspiracy theory that makes the Area 51 crowd look sane by comparison.
This is craziness. I could understand 10 or 15% believing this. That's sort of the base level of people who will believe any nutty idea. But 52%? Someone in the GOP needs to take a deep breath and a long look in the mirror, and then try to rescue their party. Condoning insanity is not a long-term electoral strategy.
Arianna Huffington went on MSNBC's Countdown to discuss a new report from the Anti-Defamation League on anti-government rage, that calls Glenn Beck the "Fearmonger-in-Chief."
The report calls Beck "the most important mainstream media figure who has repeatedly helped stoke the fires of anti-government anger."
Arianna argued that although Beck may not be legally liable, he is "morally liable" for the violence and anger his show may provoke.
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Think Progress: Foxx: Republicans ‘Passed Civil Rights Bills Back In The 60s Without Very Much Help’ From Democrats
During a debate on the House floor today over designating 21 miles of the Molalla River as “wild and scenic,” Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who opposes the legislation, tried to claim a progressive environmental record for her party. “Actually, the GOP has been the leader in starting good environmental programs in this country,” said Foxx.
Foxx then extended her claims of the GOP’s progressive history to the issue of civil rights. “Just as we were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the ’60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle,” said Fox. “They love to engage in revisionist history.” When Foxx finally yielded her time on the floor, Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) passionately rebuked her:
CARDOZA: Today, what I’m hearing on the floor really takes the cake. The gentlelady from North Carolina, in her statement just now, indicated that the Republican GOP had passed the Civil Rights Act legislation with almost no help from the Democrats. I can’t believe my ears. It was the Kennedy and Johnson administration where we passed that Great Society legislation. It was over the objections of people like Jesse Helms from the gentlewoman’s state that we passed that civil rights legislation. John Lewis…
FOXX: Would, would the gentleman yield?
CARDOZA: No, I will not yield. John Lewis, a member of this House, was beaten on the Edmund Pettus bridge to get that civil rights legislation passed. Tell John Lewis that he wasn’t part of getting that legislation passed.
When she was given a chance to respond, Foxx could only say that Jesse Helms wasn’t elected to the Senate until 1972. Watch it:
Foxx’s claim that Republicans were the real engine behind the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a common notion among conservatives. But as Cardoza points out, it was President Lyndon Johnson who “choreographed passage of this historic measure in 1964.” In fact, the Republican presidential candidate in 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), voted against the legislation.
To support the claim that Republicans were actually the architects of civil rights, conservatives often point out that a “higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats supported the civil-rights bill.” But this ignores the “distinct split between Northern and Southern politicians” on the issue. When this is taken into account, the facts show that “in both the North and the South, Democrats supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act at a higher rate than the Republicans.”
Anti-Islam paranoia the new McCarthyism Nov. 19: Rachel Maddow is joined by Suhail Khan, senior fellow for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Institute for Global Engagement, to talk about the right wing's apparent anti-Islam sentiment.
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Freelance journalist Nick Martin has an update on Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff’s Deputy Adam Stoddard, who last October was caught on video swiping a file in open court from defense attorney defense attorney Joanne Cuccia.Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe held a hearing on the matter, and on Tuesday ordered Stoddard to hold a press conference to apologize. It’s a weak and odd way of admonishing Stoddard for such a brazen trespass on attorney-client privilege (not to mention Stoddard’s arguable violation of a number of other laws, rights, and rules of procedure).
You really have to watch the video. The cop just walks up, starts snooping through her notes, calls over another deputy, pulls stuff out of her folder, hands it to another cop, and he walks out with it.
And, he will most likely get away with it. Time to break out the foam USA fingers. You can’t get justice like that in a Banana Republic! Oh, wait.
Blue Texan (FDL): Late Night: Fred Thompson, Defeatist Underminer of US Troops, Says We’ve Lost the War in Afghanistan
Why has Fred Thompson lost faith in our troops in the field?
Former Sen. Fred Thompson today intensified his party’s criticism of President Obama’s long deliberation over policy in Afghanistan, announcing that Obama’s delay signals that “the war has been lost” and that nothing the president now does will “make any difference.”
I wonder if the Anchor Baby will solicit letters from active military accusing Thompson of treason?
I wonder if Ollie North will write angry op-eds for Faux News accusing Thompson of embracing defeat?
I wonder if Bill Kristol will call Thompson a “disgrace”?
I wonder if Rick Moran will accuse Thompson of “giving aid and comfort to the enemy“?
I wonder if Sean Hannity will say that Thompson wants American troops to die?
Nah.
Still, it is worth revisiting this.
Related posts
As many as 300,000 veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder and other mental disabilities. The suicide rate for soldiers is now five times higher than in the Persian Gulf War and 11% greater than during Vietnam. Crimes of violence are skyrocketing on military bases, making the surrounding communities some of the most dangerous cities in the country.Thank God, Senators Burr and Webb have identified the source of the problem: "mentally incapacitated" veterans are angry and frustrated because the Gun Control Act of 1968 bars them from owning firearms.
Yes, that's right, the federal government uses mental competency as a litmus test for whether a person should own a gun or not.
Unbelievable, but that's socialism for you.
Fortunately, Burr, Webb and 18 other senators are sponsoring legislation to right this wrong. The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act will allow mentally incapacitated vets to buy guns unless a judge diagnoses them to be psychologically unfit to own firearms.
It's nice to see that the Senate isn't spending all it's time on crazy things like a public health care option.
Elsewhere: Sen. Burr wants to protects us from the threat posed by due process.
Getting to know Sen. Tom Coburn Nov. 19: TMI: Kent Jones joins Rachel Maddow to take a closer look at Republican Sen. Tom Coburn
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