I peer into FreeRepublic.com every other week or so to get a feel for right-wing sensibilities for some fiction I’m working on. After seeing the Newsmax clip of Sarah Palin fretting about Iran on Morning Joe this morning, I looked in. A freeper suggested Sarah Palin’s remarks about armageddon would cause liberals to believe she is peddling end-of-days rhetoric. Well, yes. That is the first thing I thought of.
Of course I worry that she may believe Jesus will come sooner if we attack Iran, or if we indicate we wouldn’t mind if Israel did, just as I worry about evangelicals in the Pentagon.
Whether she believes it or not, this kind of talk plays to her base. A Pew poll published this summer said 58% of white evangelicals believe Jesus Christ will return to earth by 2050.
Drill down to her even more devoted base—the undereducated, whether or not they identify as evangelicals:
In addition, those with no college experience (59%) are much more likely than those with some college experience (35%) and college graduates (19%) to expect Jesus Christ’s return. By region, those in the South (52%) are the most likely to predict a Second Coming by 2050.
Palin isn’t just a joke. She’s dangerous because she would put her faith in dominionists while putting her trust in neocons who have a complimentary world agenda. Imagine Randy Scheunemann calling the shots for the world.
Harvard Business School prof Michael Norton talked about a new study of American opinions on income inequality and wealth equality on NPR this morning.
“What we find is really two things. One is that people really underestimate what the actual level of wealth inequality is in the United States right now. And then in addition to that, when we asked them how unequal would you like it to be, they want things to be even more equal than they think they are, which is really more equal than they actually are,” Norton said.
But here’s the crazy thing: most of the respondents, no matter what their political persuasion, thought things should be more equal. So what’s that about? Is it that when you don’t talk about this stuff in a political context people leave their ideology out of it? Or if it’s not coming from Fox News, conservatives don’t know how they are supposed to respond except with an answer that seems fair? I really don’t know.
I like ABC’s Jake Tapper, and thought he was terrific as the interim This Week host. He understands new media so it makes sense he’s doing a new online show, Political Punch, on the ABC site.
Too bad, though, that it’s just videos embedded in the very vanilla ABC News web page template. They must have one of those “It’s about our branding” people over there—one of that breed who is actually listened to. I’d say ABC should take a page from MSNBC where the primetime hosts each have their own branding under the network umbrella. Maddow’s site, for example, is cool, it matches her on-air set, while still fitting in with the overall site’s look.
Nice to see the old campaign-style Obama tonight at UW-Madison.
When he said “Change is gonna come,” I couldn’t help but think of Sam Cooke, including the “It’s been a long time coming” part. Which put things in perspective. Is 20 months a long time? Sure, for people who don’t have jobs. Is it enough time to deliver on all those hopes we had two years ago when we were caught up in the presidential campaign? Nope. Not nearly long enough to dig out from that terrible mess, not long enough to give up and even think about sympathizing with the crazed opposition.
I’ve been disappointed but I can’t sit out the election. Neither can you if you know what’s good for you and every other average American.
You know your base likes Elizabeth Warren. Right? I mean, a lot. Like, she’s a hero.
But it’s not only about politics, so I hope you will be able to find the strength to overrule any naysayers in your circle of counselors who seek to play more ball with interests who feel threatened by her. Won’t you do the right thing for all the regular folks who need her as our watchdog?
It’s almost a prayer: “This is a time of difficulty for our country. And it is often in such moments that some try to stoke bitterness – to divide us based on our differences, to blind us to what we have in common. But on this day, we are reminded that at our best, we do not give in to this temptation. We stand with one another. We fight alongside one another. We do not allow ourselves to be defined by fear, but by the hopes we have for our families, for our nation, and for a brighter future. So let us grieve for those we’ve lost, honor those who have sacrificed, and do our best to live up to the values we share – on this day, and every day that follows.”
Were you watching Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO president, and Todd McCracken, National Small Business Association president, on CNN’s State of the Union this morning? Katrina and I were keeping an eye on Candy Crowley.
The Nation’s Katrina vandenHeuveltweeted, “AFL’s Richard Trumka a strong & welcome voice on CNN this am. Candy Crowley sure seemed skittish w/some of what he said.”
I paid most attention to the last question in the segment. Crowley may have been rushed, but I think she rushed to misjudge the very issue she was trying to straighten out.
She played a clip of Joe Biden countering the Republican argument that raising taxes on the richest 2 percent of Americans would hurt small business. “Not 3 percent of the small businesses in America would benefit one single, solitary penny of extending that top 2 percent tax cut,” Biden said.
Then she said to the small biz association guy, “Mr. McCracken, clear this up for us, because every time we start on this—start down this tax cut thing and the $250,000 mark, what we hear is this is going to hurt small businesses.”
And he gave an answer conceding that only a fraction of small businesses would be affected (pundits on the Right will be ignoring that bit). ”...this is the wrong time to increase taxes on anybody, because the companies that do pay this tax—and it is a minority of small companies, for sure—but the ones that do are the more successful ones who are most likely to be growing jobs and the ones that we want to continue to be successful and we don’t want to put disincentives in place for them to do it. But the vice president is correct that it is only a fraction of small companies that pay taxes at…”
And Candy interrupted, insisting “But those companies that tend to create most of the jobs?”
Trumka, the union guy, inserts “It’s not fair to—it’s not fair to say most of the jobs. They create some of the jobs, not most of the jobs.
And Candy again seeks to support the myth. “Well, most of the jobs within the small-business industry.”
Trumka can’t let it stand, because it’s not true. “Not most of the jobs within the small businesses. They’re not created by the 3 percent. They’re created—the vast majority are created by the other 97 percent. So it’s not fair to say most jobs are created by that top 3 percent, because they are—are not.”
Candy lets the small biz association guy have the last word.
Is she taking a side on this, or doesn’t she understand? Either way it didn’t work out so well (unless this was an audition for Fox News). Sure sounded to me as though she was advancing the conservative (and erroneous) side of the argument, even to the point of helping out the association spokesperson when he was conceding too much ground.
I would like to see Trumka on TV even more. He’s sharp, knows policy—and he looks like your plumber. Can’t hang an elitist label on that guy.
I will embed the video when or if it becomes available. This part of the interview was not included in the clips featured on the CNN site, but once the video podcast has been pushed out maybe you can see it in the whole-show video. Maybe not. They might just excerpt it; it’s a long show. Somebody must capture all of every show. Media Matters? Are you interested in this?
CROWLEY: Let me ask you about one—one final policy, and that is about the Bush tax cuts. As you know, they are scheduled to be—to expire in January. This president wants to keep them for anyone who makes $250,000 per household or under. I want you to listen to Joe Biden a little bit ago on this subject.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: The only argument that our colleagues, our Republican colleagues make is, well, this is really going to hurt small business if you don’t extent the entire Bush tax cuts. Here are the facts: 3, not 3 percent of the small businesses in America would benefit one single, solitary penny of extending that top 2 percent tax cut. So this is just a bunch of malarkey. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CROWLEY: Mr. McCracken, clear this up for us, because every time we start on this—start down this tax cut thing and the $250,000 mark, what we hear is this is going to hurt small businesses. Is this overall a drain on small businesses? Should the tax rates expire on those making $250,000 and up?
MCCRACKEN: We think this is the wrong time to have taxes go up for—for small companies, because they do pay taxes at this rate, so we think Congress should at least temporarily extend…
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: For everyone?
MCCRACKEN: Yes, these taxes, because this is the wrong time to increase taxes on anybody, because the companies that do pay this tax—and it is a minority of small companies, for sure—but the ones that do are the more successful ones who are most likely to be growing jobs and the ones that we want to continue to be successful and we don’t want to put disincentives in place for them to do it.
But the vice president is correct that it is only a fraction of small companies that pay taxes at…
(CROSSTALK)
CROWLEY: But those companies that tend to create most of the jobs?
MCCRACKEN: Exactly. The jobs aren’t spread across evenly across all small companies.
CROWLEY: OK. All right. And you’ve got the last…
TRUMKA: It’s not fair to—it’s not fair to say most of the jobs. They create some of the jobs, not most of the jobs.
CROWLEY: Well, most of the jobs within the small-business industry.
TRUMKA: Not most of the jobs within the small businesses. They’re not created by the 3 percent. They’re created—the vast majority are created by the other 97 percent. So it’s not fair to say most jobs are created by that top 3 percent, because they are—are not.
CROWLEY: I’ll give you the last word.
(CROSSTALK)
MCCRACKEN: Well, there’s the question of job creation versus jobs—jobs that exist. Most small businesses—most jobs exist in—in the other businesses, but I think the more successful, growing companies that pay the higher rates are creating most of the new jobs, so it depends on how you look at it.
CROWLEY: Todd McCracken, it always comes out (inaudible) Todd McCracken, Richard Trumka, thank you so much for joining us. Happy Labor Day to you both. TRUMKA: Happy Labor Day to you.
CROWLEY: Up next, what the numbers say about President Obama’s handling of the economy and why that could erase his Democratic majority in Congress.
