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An Idiot's Guide to the Radical Right

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As good a tip of a hat to April 1 as any.  This book, Over the Cliff, tries to make sense of the Radical Right, from its "tea parties" to its high priced lobbyists.  Amato and Niewert have a popular blog, Crooks and Liars, which pretty much sums up the Republican Party.  I just wish more persons would take note of these flimflam artists.

Comments

  1. James FergusonApril 1, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    What galls me the most is that here we are two years on and not one Republican has come forward to accept any complicity in the 2008 banking collapse. All they have done is try to deflect blame onto the Democrats, blaming everyone from young Andrew Cuomo, when he served Clinton as Sec. of HUD, to our current President for the debacle, without a single mention of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, that ushered in this new era of speculation. Not to mention all the other nefarious attempts at banking deregulation.

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  2. avrdsApril 1, 2011 at 3:34 PM

    Here's another that rings true to me:

    http://www.amazon.com/Back-Our-Future-Now--Our-Everything/dp/0345518780/

    I heard him talking about this the other night and it seems like we really haven't learned from our mistakes. Plus, we have a VERY short memory in this country.

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  3. James FergusonApril 1, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    Extremely short. I hear persons complaining about the high price of gas, as if it is Obama's fault, forgetting the spiraling price of gas in the spring and summer of 2008. Prices still haven't reached that high.

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  4. James FergusonApril 1, 2011 at 3:52 PM

    "Back To Our Future posits that the 1980s--and specifically 1980s pop culture--frames the way we think about major issues today."

    Interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  5. avrdsApril 1, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    He apparently goes through movies, tv, etc. (like the A Team), pointing out how the story lines focused on renegades or outsiders having to step in to save the nation because government is not up to the task.

    That was Reagan's message -- government is the problem. And it was reinforced (he maintains) throughout our popular culture. And we're seeing it play out again now.

    But unfortunately, no one remembers (or wants to remember) the results of those beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. avrdsApril 1, 2011 at 4:01 PM

    But it still rings true to people at some sort of subliminal level because of the messages they grew up with.

    ReplyDelete
  7. James FergusonApril 1, 2011 at 4:37 PM

    I think there is a lot of truth in this thesis. A Rambo-mentality has pervaded foreign policy since the 1980s. Of course, you can take this back further in time, but for most persons today Rambo is an immediately recognizable symbol.

    ReplyDelete

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