I noticed today that Barbara Banaian wrote a piece about the recent protests held at Lake George here in St. Cloud. How coincidental that Barbara is the spouse of King Banaian at SCSU Scholars who spoke at the event and is good friends with the event organizers, Gary Gross of Let Freedom Ring and Leo Pusateri of Psycmeistr. The column reads like a propaganda filled infomercial whose premise is that these protests cross party lines implying a Republican/Democrat coalition.
The idea that these protests are anything more than a fringe element of the Republican Party though is completely laughable unless we are talking about the line between the most conservative elements of the Republican Party and the most perhaps slightly more anti-government elements of the libertarians coupled with independent crazies who deny the citizenship status of the President.
The idea that these protests are anything more than a fringe element of the Republican Party though is completely laughable unless we are talking about the line between the most conservative elements of the Republican Party and the most perhaps slightly more anti-government elements of the libertarians coupled with independent crazies who deny the citizenship status of the President.
A few items from the article caught my eye:
According to Gross, we need to send a message to Washington that old-style politics must end. They are patronizing and condescending, he said, and it is wrong to think the average citizen cannot understand what transpires in Washington.
Says the blogger who never misses a chance in his writing to be completely condescending to every Democrat or Democratic idea. If there is one thing I have learned from reading Gary Gross, it is that he is interested only in calling people childish names and demonizing anything and everything that is not a Republican Party idea. Essentially, he is a tool of the local/national Republican Party and exists only to do their bidding. To believe that Gross wants to end "old-style politics" is to be foolishly naive. Gross doesn't want to end old-style politics, he simply wishes that old-style politics would have given his party a win last November and that old-style politics might bring his party a win in 2010.
If there were any clearer example of the partisanship of these protests and their organizers it is this quote:
If there were any clearer example of the partisanship of these protests and their organizers it is this quote:
Pusateri agrees. “The direction of this country since January of 2009 has been a veritable sprint toward ever-encroaching governmental influence and control over many aspects of our lives, and an accompanying erosion of individual choice and liberties. I have spoken with Republicans, Independents and even some Democrats who are alarmed not only at the size and scope of the growth of government, but also its breathtaking rate of growth.”
Really? It is just since the election of a Democrat in January of 2009 that government has "encroached" over our lives? I wonder what specific day to day things/activities Mr. Pusateri or others in this movement are unable to do that they were able to do prior to January of this year. To be honest, though, I would expect nothing less from Pusateri, a leader of the SD15 Republican Party (totally bipartisan), who is perhaps even more partisan and hateful than Gross. A man who has spent the last few months repeatedly calling or implying that this President is Hitler.
I was always under the impression that Professor Banaian was the most sensible of this triumverate but it is becoming increasingly clear that neither he nor his wife is willing to call out the more hateful rhetoric found at these rallies and are more than willing to simply propagandize them. Is there any hope for moderation in the Republican Party?
I was always under the impression that Professor Banaian was the most sensible of this triumverate but it is becoming increasingly clear that neither he nor his wife is willing to call out the more hateful rhetoric found at these rallies and are more than willing to simply propagandize them. Is there any hope for moderation in the Republican Party?
Logging you in...
Holly Cairns · 808 weeks ago
eric z. · 807 weeks ago
Old style is Hamilton and Burr. Can I be your second?
What I don't like about Gary and it's in the quotes you use, he and they have such a short attention span about history. Why in the world start talking about erosion of personal freedom of choice and intrusiveness of the government into our cherished liberties as of only Jan. 2009 [Gary for some reason leaves out the word cherished, to not appear polemic I guess], when I recall the Patriot Act was passed earlier than than that; with others doing drum beating besides the current Peace Prize winner.
I recall Dick Nixon keeping enemies lists; and record deficits being the m.o. of the Gip and the Shrub. Running the national and global economy aground and putting the nation's future in hock seem to have roots earlier than Jan. 2009; or at least fair minded people might say so. Gates and Bernanke, each being continued, means you have to look earlier than Jan. 2009 to see their beginning service in current posts. I do not see change to believe in as much as continuity I can count on, which is to say Obama is disturbingly no different.
If I had to call Gary a derogatory name it would be "flounder" not because he flops around rhetorically, not as much that, as he has both eyes on one side of his head and only sees things accordingly. Gary, however, does seem to be a good barometer of things GOP, in that what he writes often is voiced later in a more widespread way elsewhere.