12:00 PM | Posted in
To whom it may concern,

I recently joined with five other bloggers who I count as friends in the hope that we could create a different kind of blog. A blog that was less about pandering to one side of the political spectrum and more about a discussion of issues and good campaign politics versus bad campaign politics. I was more excited about blogging than I had been in a long time.

Unfortunately, what began as a fun collaboration turned into an absolute nightmare with the introduction of one post. If you are unaware of the post to which I am referring, then count yourself lucky. If you are aware of the post to which I am referring, then I am sorry.

I did not write the post, I don't know who did, and frankly I don't really care to ever find out. All of that is beside the point of this post though because I bear an equal culpability. Rather than stay silent on the matter or do the right thing and express disappointment I jumped on the twitter account for Northstar Liberal and fanned the flames. I went after Robin Marty and Jeff Fecke for no other reason than they were coming after my blog. I have no other excuse than to say it was a momentary lapse in judgment and I regret it. To both those individuals, I am deeply sorry. I take full responsibility for that behavior and can only hope that those people involved accept my apologies.

To that end, I will no longer be blogging, tweeting, or participating in DFL politics. I have not been very enthusiastic about blogging and politics lately as it is and this event simply demonstrated to me that it is time to get out. To those of you who I have met in person along the way, I hope we can stay in touch. To those of you who I have not met in person, it was fun interacting with you and I wish you the best.
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7:00 AM | Posted in , ,
On Sunday I posted an interesting tweet from Representative Tom Emmer indicating that he would have Minnesota not participate in a "federal health plan". From the statement, it was unclear as to which federal health plan he was referring and I patiently await an answer to clear things up.


There is another, slightly humorous, FAIL element to this story which I conveniently left out yesterday. Very quickly after this tweet and several others by Representative Emmer were sent out and I began questioning them, they disappeared. I was able to preserve them from my tweetdeck and they are featured on the left but why did they disappear? Was there something in them that Emmer thought twice about posting?

Aside from the idea of removing us from Medicare, Medicaid, and Vet federal health plans there wasn't anything I could see which was terribly offensive or inappropriate. What then could be the reason for removing all of these messages?

After some very serious searching and exhaustive investigative measures were taken (not really, but I like to sound like I was putting a lot of time into this) I discovered that it wasn't Emmer after all. Apparently, someone named Harry Niska had hijacked the Emmer account. OK, Maybe he hadn't hijacked it but I still am wondering why he has access to the twitter account of Tom Emmer. Are Emmer's tweets not his own?
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12:00 PM | Posted in ,
I am learning something about this world of #tcot. The vast majority of tweets are to simply express solidarity with some other person who has tweeted something outrageous. That being said, here we go again...



Wait, what? We have hijacked the term Christian? I've got nothing here...



Well of course, nothing says ACORN like Charles Manson. Because apparently the right didn't think they had demonized ACORN quite enough?



Nothing says slavery like trying to extend health care to everyone in the country!
 


Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

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7:00 AM | Posted in
You can read all about the details over at I Don't Hate America but you can view the video right here. While it's slightly difficult to hear at times, this super guy is about to tell you that the Violence Against Women Act is little more than a way for illegal immigrants to gain legal access to our country. And here I thought I had heard everything...

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5:00 PM | Posted in ,
Bring on the crazy...


HA HA, that guy called President Obama a prostitute AND a drug addict. Wait, isn't the guy retweeting this the Secretary of the SD15 Republican Party here in Minnesota? Yep, that's him. You stay classy Leo!



I can completely understand disagreeing with the policy decisions made by this President. Are they really evil though? Sorry, I forgot about cash for clunkers. THAT EVIL BASTARD!



Oh, top conservative on twitter, you are totally policy based and about opposing the agenda of President Obama. You are totally NOT about spreading hate...




So, we learned some very valuable lessons today from the top conservatives on twitter. Barack is a prostitute, drug dealing, secret Muslim while Michelle is a whore and a secret Muslim. 

Now keep in mind that these are tweets I have found by simply giving #tcot a passing glance now and then. Otherwise, they are tweets which have been sent to me. What we are learning is that there is very little substance on #tcot and a whole lot of vitriolic uselessness. So, keep them coming...
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10:13 AM | Posted in , , ,
An interesting tweet scrolled across my screen yesterday from potential Republican Gubernatorial nominee, Tom Emmer, in regards to "federal health care plans":



What is not clear from this particular tweet is to WHICH federal health care plan Mr. Emmer is referring. Is Emmer referring to Medicare which is a federal health care plan? Is Emmer referring to Medicaid which is at least partially federal? Or, is Emmer referring to the federal health care plan for veterans?

One wonders how seniors, the poor, and veterans will react to the potential of having their federal health care plans pulled out from under them by a Governor Emmer in the name of states rights. 
8:05 AM | Posted in ,
A huge thanks to DJ from I Don't Hate America and Sally Jo from Bluestem Prairie for documenting this event at the Capitol:

Watch the slack jawed look on the faces of protesters by the end of the speech. PRICELESS...

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I just visited Gary Gross's website just to "check it out" and not at all to see if there was something, ANYTHING that I could piss and moan about in regards to Gross. While I couldn't put my finger on it right away, I just KNEW there was something missing that I could in turn make political hay about.

Yes, it has the obligatory Tarryl Clark was mean to me once so I am going to whine about it even nearly two years after the fact post. There are 175 other truly hard hitting substantive articles accusing Tarryl of every "liberal" sin in the conservative handbook. There's a "Donate" button too.

Then it dawned on me. Gary doesn't have anything to whine about today so he decided to go to the old standby of obsessing about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING his arch nemesis Tarryl Clark does, says, or sometimes doesn't say.

Why won't Gary just tell us with the authority that only HE has what Tarryl believes on the not at all loaded terms "Cap & Tax" and "Pelosicare"? I would stipulate that Gary has already gone through the trouble of assuming to know what Tarryl will do when it comes to taxes so why put us through this waste of time storyline about how he just wants to see where Tarryl stands on these other issues.

Still, it is entirely possible for Gary to manufacture a list of beliefs for Tarryl because only GARY GROSS knows what Tarryl Clark REALLY believes. And that is not because he spends every waking moment obsessing about more ways to bash Tarryl. He really was just going over to peak at her website and browse around.

Gary Gross knows FOR A FACT that Tarryl Clark wants to institute that communist single payer health care stuff and he knows FOR A FACT that Tarryl Clark would have maybe voted for the Stupak Amendment but she wouldn't have liked it. He knows all this because one time Tarryl attended a forum where the words single payer were spoken! Nevermind the fact that Gary's buddy Steve Gottwalt attended the same forum. TOTALLY DIFFERENT!

Gary Gross knows FOR A FACT that Tarryl Clark would vote to destroy America because she has a 100% rating from some group.

Gary Gross knows FOR A FACT that Tarryl Clark would vote to spend every dime IN THE WORLD because she didn't have the foresight in 2007 to know that Republicans had so screwed up the financial sector that an impending financial crisis would occur in 2008.

Gary Gross knows FOR A FACT that Tarryl Clark will do whatever her union overlords tell her to do because he has been there for every conversation that Clark has ever had with a union member and all she does is say "Yes, master" to them. Nevermind the fact that she was prepared to, as a leader in the State Senate, to cut the education budget far more than even the Republicans. Also nevermind the conversation I had with her at lobby day for Education Minnesota where she told me straight out to prepare for cuts.

There are a lot of blanks that voters need to be lied to about with regards to Tarryl Clark and Gary is more than willing to help. (It's obvious that Tarryl is hiding something by not putting up an issues page).

Gary's assumptions about Tarryl's actions & priorities are way different than they are about Michele Bachmann. For Tarryl, talking to some news outlet (which is obviously a communist rag) means that she already doesn't have time for her constituents. For Michele though, having more press people than policy people and going on every conservative news outlet she can on a daily basis totally means she has time for her constituents.

Hopefully, Gary will find out soon what Tarryl puts on her issues page. That way he can stop pretending to know what Tarryl believes and then lie about it and just simply lie about it.

Stop by this blog frequently to stay updated on the next Gary Gross manufactured Tarryl Clark hit piece. I'm doing the job that Gary Gross will not tell you he is actually doing.
12:00 PM | Posted in ,
Yesterday I rolled out a brand new feature here on Liberal in the Land of Conservative seeking out the stupidest, funniest, or down right craziest comments to be found on the #tcot (top conservative on twitter) stream. Remember, if you run across one of these, then simply send me a link or screen shot by email (political.muse.litloc (at) gmail.com)

Without further ado...


Well, I guess he's not QUITE AS BAD as 9/11 so there's that...



Now, lest you think that these are just silly wackos who do not represent parties as a whole I would like to point out that this fine fellow is apparently the Chairman of the American Reform Party.



 Now I am not entirely clear how someone can be faithless (perfidious) AND Muslim AND a Godking but somehow that damned GodKing does it!



I love it when conservatives say, "SEE I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND". So there are black conservatives. I would be MORE concerned if there weren't ANY black conservatives.
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11:46 AM | Posted in
Have you seen them? The ones that show upper middle class homes being terrorized by intruders. The ones that are supposed to make you so scared that you will invest in one of their security systems. Every time I see one of these I have to roll my eyes and wonder just how many people out there watch and become so paranoid of the criminals running rampant through their suburban neighborhoods that they buy one.

Well, if you are one of those people, then this video is for YOU:



BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!
3:11 PM | Posted in ,
Don't know what #tcot is, you say?

It is a hashtag used by those people on twitter who want their tweets added to a specific stream of tweets thus making them easier to find. There are humorous hashtags, event specific hashtags, and what I would call long term hashtags. Specifically, #tcot stands for "Top Conservative On Twitter" and would fall into the latter category of long term hashtags although a serious argument could be made that it also falls under the humorous category.

Inspired by twitter user @schmiss who began sharing some of the hilarity that can be found on #tcot, I decided to turn this into a regular blog feature.

How will it work? Well, starting today I will post screenshots of some of the more crazy and incoherent claims made by conservatives on twitter through the #tcot hashtag. Your job will be to vote on your favorite in the comments.  If you are on twitter, take a glance at #tcot every now and then and send the links to any particularly humorous #tcot tweets to political.muse.litloc (at) gmail.com and perhaps they will make it onto the next edition of Best Thing On #tcot.

So here we go...


I am not sure if Dear Citizen realizes but we re-vote every four years...


 

I haven't got any idea what sheeple are or how you "suscribe" to sheepledom but Sue damn well ain't gonna do it!


Oh birthers, you provide me with so much enjoyment. NEVER. EVER. CHANGE.
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12:01 PM | Posted in ,
h/t to twitter user, @schmiss for this video...



Seriously, I wonder all the time why, if a libertarian economic system is the best according to Republicans and conservatives, I cannot find a single country in the world actually using such a system. Come on conservatives, help me out here...
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Aren't we proud here in the 6th District of Minnesota? While Democrats came to the floor yesterday prior to the debate on Health Care legislation for simple procedural statements, our very own Michele Bachmann tripped over herself to object to each and every one. In some cases objecting before the speaker had even opened their mouth. Ah, the pride we feel about our freedom loving representative:



Interrupting the legislative process is not something new for Bachmann. Let us hearken back to when she was in the Minnesota State Senate:



You gotta love her definition of freedom...
By Taxpayingliberal

Michelle Bachmann held a press conference on the steps of the Capital last Thursday. It was called a press conference because she failed to get a permit for a rally. Freedom loving Americans won’t allow legal technicalities to get in the way of their right to threaten anybody they see as un-American. This press conference was made to show the power of the mob.

Bachmann loves the mob. It’s this mob that gives her power and she feeds it and it feeds her. The mob is mindless, angry, and confused and in it Bachmann feels that the mob can give her the power that the democratic system has denied her. The mob sends her money and brings her fame. The mob is followed by TV cameras and Bachmann was made for TV. In Congress her vote is meaningless. She has yet to author, co-sponsor, or sign onto a single meaningful bill, a failure by any definition of the word.

But on the street she has power. The mob shouts that the President is both a Marxist and National Socialist and Bachmann smiles and tells them they are “beautiful” and they love her for it. The mob says the President is not an American and Bachmann tells them that they need to be armed and dangerous and they have been waiting years to hear that. The mob says the President is both a Muslim and part of the Jewish conspiracy and Bachmann tells them to go forth and spread the word.

Bachmann didn’t create the mob, that job was done by others most notably Fox News. But Bachmann saw that the mob had no leader and that opportunity was hers for the taking. History is filled with examples where the mob elevated the leader to power. The signs that the mob is carrying show two examples of the mob giving power, Hitler and Mao. The fact that they are using the same technique that elevated these tyrants is lost on them but not on her.

A mob feeds on hate and Bachmann is a master at channeling their fears. Turning the mobs anger towards minorities is her stock and trade and she wouldn’t be standing here today if she hadn’t mastered it. The teabaggers are the mother lode of modern mobs. It’s the first corporate sponsored mob in history since the 3rd Crusade. She’s brought them here under the pretext of opposing a bill. But she knows that they are here for a very different reason. They are here because they fear the future. They say they are here because the future will be controlled by a god hating Muslim, Jewish, Rev. Wright Christian, Maoist, Nazi, new world order liberal. They are really here because of racism. And in Bachmann's home district there is no problem with that.

Bachmann and her mob have no equal. There is no effective response to the mob because the opponents dismiss the mob. They continue to cling to the hope that sanity and reason will prevail and it’s that hope that allows the mob to grow unchecked. “Bachmann is crazy” they say, yet she has not lost an election since her first for school board many years ago. Bachmann knows that she will find plenty of demons for the mob to hate and feed on while her opponents will bank on moderation to inspire their campaigns. In the end as Bachmann knows, hate is her best bet to win.
Representative Steve Israel is calling on Representative Bachmann to apologize for the use of Holocaust imagery during the rally she organized against health care reform on Thursday, November 5th.