Monroe Anderson

And now for some upside-down, inside-out racial thinking

 

    In this pretend post-racial era, there are those who argue that Black History Month should be a thing of the past. Since we're all getting along so well in our newfound colorblind society, why muddle things by celebrating Black History with its taint of slavery, lynching, segregation and all that over negative stuff  when we've finally leveled the playing field?

Just yesterday, Lionel Canterbury posted a comment on a post entitled "Is Obama really the magic one?" that ran on this blog a year ago. His comment is deeply rooted in the same twisted thinking that rationalizes racial bigotry and discrimination. Click on Lionel's name if you want to read his comment or reply to what he wrote. To make it easy for you, I've cut and pasted it below. You can also reply or comment about it at the end of this post.

Here's Lionel's comment:

racism cannot be confined to prejudice and injustices by whites towards blacks. in the larger scope of things, it is not necessarily unnatural for any human whatever their race, to harbor some feelings of racism simply by being. Indeed, it seems plain to me that blacks are in general much more inclined to make decisions, form opinions, or take actions towards others based on their race than most other races do. perhaps they feel more threatened by race, perhaps they feel they are superior.

there will be a racism problem as long as blacks keep talking about. imo many blacks would lose a deep sense of purpose if they could no longer claim they were being discriminated against based on their race.

In case you're having trouble figuring out the point of the comment above, allow me to shorthand it for you: He's blaming the victim.

His logic, if you want to call it that, goes something like this: It's natural for human beings to be racist and naturally black people are more racist than others. And, without pointing out racism when it happens, black people wouldn't have anything else better to do with their lives.

Well, at the risk of seeming both racist and purposeless in Lionel's mind, I'd like to rant about the photoshopped picture at the top of this post. IMO, a photo with the POTUS shining the shoes of a half-term Alaskan governor is racist--should he happen to be black and she happen to be white.

This racist little photo ran on Sarah Palin's Facebook page. It speaks volumes about those who are so enraptured with what she doesn't have to say and what she does represent.

I don't know if Lionel is a wingnut, a racist, an idiot or all three, but I do know that contrary to what he thinks, it's very much the duty of black folks to call out this stupid, ugly behavior--during Black History Month in particular and during the other 11 months in general.

Come to think of it, we're not so much in a post-racial era are we're in a neo-racial era.  The N-word is now considered too gauche in polite society so code words have replaced it. Instead of publicly calling him the nigger president, Barack Obama is monumentally magical in the wingnut definition of him, code-worded as the socialist-fascist-racist-tyrannical-punk-shoeshine boy-illegal immigrant POTUS.

All this tortured thinking from the far right immediately brings to mind what Malcolm X had to say nearly half a century ago. Check him out:

This column was also published on the African American Opinion.com website.

In Search of Intelligence in the Multiverse--Not in the minds of the GOP

 
  

    Whether it's Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh, you can almost always count on Republican leadership to say something stupid.

In some cases--take Palin for example--the simple-minded statements come from an uniformed mind. In other cases--take Limbaugh this time--it's a matter of fabrications, deceptions and out-right lies.

In the end it really doesn't matter rather it's an imbecile stuck on stupid or a madman on a misinformation mission: there are low-information Americans out there soaking it all up.  They all seem to be conservative and think they alone have ownership of all things American. Even so, I was shocked to find out how many Americans who call themselves Republicans know so little about so many things--or are just plain mad as a hatter.

And with that, I give you--

The 2010 Comprehensive Daily Kos/Research 2000 Poll of Self-Identified Republicans

OBAMA and AMERICA

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?

Yes 39 
No 32 
Not Sure 29

For what? Who the heck knows. Who needs high crimes or misdemeanors when...

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?

Yes 63 
No 21 
Not Sure 16

That's the power of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, after one year of relentlessly claiming Obama is the second coming of Lenin ... and Hitler!

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?

Yes 42 
No 36 
Not Sure 22

We still have over a half of Republicans who don't think Obama was born in the US or think it's a matter open to debate.

Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?

Yes 24 
No 43 
Not Sure 33

Not just a quarter of Republicans believe this ludicrous premise, but another third think it's a matter open to debate. How do you negotiate with a party whose rank and file are that divorced from reality? And speaking of divorced from reality...

Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?

Yes 21 
No 24 
Not Sure 55

One in five Republicans think ACORN is so powerful as to magically make 10 million votes appear. Another55 are open to the theory. In other words, just 24 percent of Republicans have an even passing relationship with reality.

Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?

Yes 53 
No 14 
Not Sure 33

Sigh...

Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?

Yes 31 
No 36 
Not Sure 33

I bet more people think Obama is racist, but were too afraid to tell a live operator the truth.

Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?

Yes 23 
No 58 
Not Sure 19

42 percent of Republicans aren't really patriotic. They pretend to love America only when they approve of the president. These traitors don't believe in democracy, in our nation's founding ideals, or in our flag. To them, those colors run. They are cowards.

Note, secession sentiment is MUCH stronger in the South than elsewhere -- 33 percent want out, compared to just 52 percent who want to stay. In the Northeast, "just" 10 percent want out, in the Midwest, its 18 percent, and in the West, it's 16 percent. Can we cram them all into the Texas Panhandle, create the state of Dumbfuckistan, and build a wall around them to keep them from coming into America illegally?

The comments following the polling numbers came with the Daily Kos report. To read more--and weep or laugh depending on your mood--click here.

I'm assuming the more extreme moronic thoughts belong to the Tea-baggers and wing-nuts. Other than that, what can I say? I could paraphrase Moma Gump with a "Stupid is as stupid thinks." Or I could point out that this proves the current axiom "Garbage in, garbage out?" 

But mainly it informs us that the GOP may not so much be the Party of No as it is the Party of Know Nothings.

 

 This column was cross-posted on the AgoraVox and UK Progressive websites.

Movie Monsters, Barack Obama, Mother Nature and other terrifying things

 

The original The Mummy, starring Boris Karloff, was on satellite TV the other morning. My wife, Joyce, watched. I didn't.

Even when I was a young, easy-to-frighten child, The Mummy didn't scare me much. As long as I didn't let myself get cornered, The Mummy wasn't about to get me. I could outrun the dead man walking. Same thing with the Frankenstein Monster. He was way too slow and clumsy to catch me with the quick reflexes and the fast feet.

But, the Werewolf was different. He was fast, strong and vicious. Unlike the embalmed moving mannequin and the blockhead assembled from the booty of grave robbers, The Wolf Man was VERY scary--when the moon was right.

I remember my eight-year-old imagination playing havoc with me after seeing a rerun of the 1941 Wolf Man on our black-and-white TV set. During the next full moon, as I undressed for bed, I'd stare at my feet, just checking to make sure they were not sprouting wolf hair ala Lon Chaney. And I had no interest in wandering around our small, Gary, Indiana backyard when the moon was bright and round. I often would toss and turn before finally getting to sleep.

That fear, of course, was a once a month or so event. The rest of the time, I lived a fairly fright free life--unless I happened to catch a Dracula movie on the boob tube.

Talk about scary; there was no movie monster more blood curdling than the Count. He was lightening-fast. He could morph into a bat. He could vaporize into a mist and slip underneath your bedroom door. There was no evading or escaping him.

Thank God he feared the cross. I took to wearing one for weeks after seeing any of the Hollywood reincarnations of Bram Stoker's masterpiece. The Crucifix was comforting but not a panacea for the lingering terror the movie had injected into my psyche. Even now, as a card-carrying AARP member who's on the brink of senior citizenship, celluloid vampires can put me on edge. I watch True Blood for fun and for the sheer adrenaline rush.

All that's to say, when I hear the wingnuts going on about President Obama and how they fear for America, I understand. Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Sarah Palin routinely contribute to the mass hysteria by summoning up imaginary monsters that make The Werewolf look like the family Labrador retriever and Dracula look like the Count Muppet on Sesame Street.

To hear the Birthers, the Deathers, the Tea-Baggers and the Republican leadership tell it, President Obama is a James Cameron creation. Or as Kyle Reese put it: "Listen, and understand. That terminator is out there. It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead."

The wingnut terrors, of course, are about as real as my youthful fears of the wolf man and the vampire.

Meanwhile, today's headlines force me to recall another low-budget movie monster: The Zombie. In these old black-and-whites, Voodoo sorcerers from Haiti summoned up the dead to wreak havoc and to reckon revenge.

The devastation and horror of the worst earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years, and the countless number of lives lost, put fear and power in the proper perspective: There are real horrors in life; horrors that don't come with popcorn or silly little tea-bags hanging from your straw hat.

---

 

 This commentary was cross-posted on the AgoraVox and Newsvine websites.

Citigroup's reverse bank robbery

 
 

I read the letter three times and still didn't see them. Where were the words "Stick 'em up!?"

I suspect Citibank intentionally left them off, writing instead:

Dear Monroe Anderson III,

We are making changes to your account terms.

To continue to provide our customers with access to credit, we have had to adjust our pricing. The terms of your account will be changing. These changes include increases in the variable APR for purchases to 23.99 per and will take effect December 29, 2009.

That .01 percent that Citibank isn't charging me on my credit card is what it gives me on my interest-bearing savings account. Citibank's generosity is awe-inspiring.

My tax money--and yours--mercifully bailed out the financial corporation and its incompetent top management. Citigroup was kept from going under by our TARP funds. So Citigroup shows its gratitude by doubling my interest rates, giving an AVERAGE of $6.2 million last year to each of its failing top executives.

Nice work if you can get it.

Something doesn't add up here. Usury laws in Illinois have a nine percent limit. In Sarah Palin country, the Alaska state legislature "has established the general usury limit on personal loans at a maximum rate which is no more than five percent above the Federal Reserve interest rate on the date that the personal loan in question was made," according to Usurylaw.com. Maybe Citigroup came up with its gold standard in Soprano-land, New Jersey, where the usury limit is a back-breaking 30 percent.

I don't know. All I know is that the Credit Card Act of 2009, which kicks in next month and is supposed to protect us from loan sharking banks, seems to be a day late and a few hundreds of millions of dollars short. In anticipation of the so-called credit card protection law, Citibank raised my APR rate from 11.24 percent to the Willie Sutton-like 23.99 percent.

Fortunately, I am able to take matters into my own hands against the notorious Wall Street Gang. Since Citibank seems hell-bent on emptying my pockets, I'll going to retaliate by emptying my Citigroup bank and equity accounts. 

And while I'm at it, I'm going to cut up my Citigold card, wrap it in newspaper and mail it back to them. They made me an offer I could refuse. 

May their business soon be sleeping with the fishes.

_{This post has also been published on Newsvine.}

In Search of Intelligence in the Multiverse--Not in the muddled mind of Alan Keyes

When it comes to the rabid right, perennial loser Alan Keyes comes off effortlessly as the big dog.

I witnessed him spouting his coo-coonalities while foaming at the mouth on a regular basis back in 2004 when Illinois Republicans, for want of ANYBODY to put up a pretend challenge to State Sen. Barack Obama for the U.S. senate seat, recruited Keyes from Maryland.

I immediately saw it as a cynical move by the state Republicans to pit their Black against the Black Democratic candidate, reasoning that one African-American was as good as the next. I would later come to that same conclusion when the Republican National Committee would con Sen. John McCain into partnering with Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin, figuring since the Democrats failed to put Hillary Clinton on the Obama ticket, their woman candidate was as good as the junior senator from New York would have been.

Both gambits proved to be the undoing of the Repubs. 

Obama went on to become the second Black U.S. senator from Illinois within a decade. Oh yeah, and with a big hand from the lipstick-wearing Pitbull, he's now the POTUS.

As Obama's challenger for the U.S. senate seat, carpetbagger Keyes came off as whacked out on peyote-laced Jesus juice. Keyes accused Obama's position on abortion as the "slaveholder's position." Keyes asserted that Obama's Lord and Savior wouldn't even vote for the Democrat. Before it was over, Keyes had throughly embarassed the Illinois Republicans, exposing how dim-witted their decision to draft Keyes had been. And when it was over, Keyes lost to Obama, 27 to 70 percent.

Now, he's back at it. In a video that surfaced yesterday, Keyes calls President Obama "a radical communist" and said he refused to acknowledge the validity of Obama's inauguration because the President is not a U.S. citizen. You've got to hear him to believe him before coming to the conclusion I came to long ago: Alan Keyes is all babble and all psycho too.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Blagojevich's gold-plated greed

Gov. Rod Blagojevich has outstripped Sarah Palin as the nation's most laughable governor. Comedians see his absurd reported antics as pure gold. As with Gov. Palin, they don't even have to rework his words to get a rash of chuckles. So far, for comedians, political pundits and politicians alike, the only challenge Blago is presenting is whether to play him as stupid or crazy or both.

Christopher Rabb's Afro-netizen, one of the oldest black blogs around, is now contributing the running joke known as Illinois' governor. In its latest post, it claims to have FBI tapes of Blago wanting to cash in on the Barack Obama in more ways than just the vacant senate seat.

According to the blog, it a transcript of Blagojevich expressing his interests in muscling in on the Obama memorabilia craze by becoming the Victory Plate czar. Here's Rabb's full post, complete with the as-seen-on-TV Victory Plate YouTube video and what his blog claims is the FBI transcript of yet another Blago plot. I'm not sure if this is serious or a joke but, either way, it's definitely amusing.

FBI confirms Blagojevich sought 'Victory Plate Czar' cabinet post in Obama administration

An anonymous source has leaked to Afro-Netizen information from the FBI sting on embattled Illinois governor, Rod R. Blagojevich (D) that confirms the recently arrested governor sought to become Obama's "Victory Plate Czar", a position Blagojevich believed could be the dark-horse position in the incoming administration to revitalize the national economy currently mired in a historic recession.

Transcripts obtained by Afro-Netizen reveal that Blagojevich believed that in exchange for appointing whomever President-Elect Obama wanted for his vacated senate seat, the governor could secure what he was confident would be the most coveted Executive Branch position outside of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

According to a transcript of an exchange between Blagojevich and an unnamed advisor, the governor was caught exclaiming:

"This f@#ing black guy s#its gold bullion! And you're telling me he's not getting a f@#$ing taste?! Well, that's b@llsh*t. And if it's not, I'm definitely getting a f@*ing taste for sure. Those shut-ins, old f@#^ers, the blacks and f@#$in' hippies are all buyin' that commemorative sh@t like f@#*ing crazy. We get some of our boys to take over that Victory Plate biz, run it through some new b*llsh#t federal program, and nobody'll even know what's goin' on. Besides, Obama and those f#$*ers on Capitol Hill will be greeting us as liberators, throwing f@&#in' flowers at our feet when we f@#*in' save the Godd@mn economy with this f#$@in' plate stimulus idea! Now, back to rubbin' my feet, f#$*er -- and get out of the way of the TV. I'm tryin' to watch 'The Honeymooners' without your big f@#$in' melon in the way!"

When reached for comment on this unsuccessful scheme, Telebrands founder and infomercial king, AJ Khubani, whose company markets the Obama "victory plates" stated, "That's the most stupid f@*#in' idea I've ever heard. And trust me, if there's anyone who knows about stupid f@#*in' ideas, it's me."

Okay, it's a put-on.

Except for the voting and the celebration, it's all over

     

     This is the historical day we've been anxiously awaiting. If you haven't voted yet, read my post then go do it. I'd suggest that you vote early and often but, apparently, that's only legal in Chicago. 

     Here's my ebonyjet.com commentary and have I got a prognostication for you. It was posted on the website this morning.

A Simple Prediction
a bold proclamation on Election Day 
November 4, 2008 

By Monroe Anderson

At the risk of ending up with egg on my face and having to eat crow come tomorrow morning, allow me to go out on a limb and make this prediction: This time, it won't be close.  Barack Obama's margin of victory is going to be so wide that the GOP won't be able to steal the election.

To make myself perfectly clear, can you spell l-a-n-d-s-l-i-d-e?

That's what I see coming and that's what the Republicans no less deserve.

In one national opinion poll after the next, from last week to last night, Obama has enjoyed somewhere between a double-digit to a high single-digit lead over John McCain. The O-Man also had an edge in six of the eight battleground states.

The advantage to Team Obama doesn't stop there.  More than 153 million Americans, a record, have registered to vote with about 10 percent being newbies most anxious for a change. You've seen, maybe even waited in, those long lines of early voters in state after state, night after night, as seen on TV. Nearly a third of the Americans registered to vote have already been there and done that, giving Obama a 20 percent advantage even before the polls opened this morning.

But McCain and the gang would like to have you believe that all the polls are wrong; that the Mavericks have better than a chance of drawing an inside straight for ending up with the winning hand. "They may not know it, but the Mac is back," McCain has taken to boasting in his final-hour rallies.

Believe not what they say, but what they don't do.  The Republicans have not been campaigning in Obama country because they've been working overtime in defending their own turf. Since the credit crisis hit and the stock market did a belly flop, McCain and Sarah Palin have been forced to campaign in the states that George Bush owned in 2000 and 2004.

But eight years of Bush have proven to be eight years too many.  After lying about the weapons of mass destruction, mishandling the New Orleans rescue after Hurricane Katrina and driving America to the poor house, the president has thoroughly ruined the Republican brand.

There are scores of other reasons why any politician with an R at the front of his party's name is wearing a scarlet letter.  But, I'll just tick off three color-coded terror alerts for McPalin and the rest of the GOP.

*Black pride. The enthusiasm among African American voters alone may help turn some red states blue. In North Carolina, for instance, half of the state's registered African American voters have already cast their ballots.

*Brown anger. The incessant rants against illegal immigration by the rabid right's pet radio hosts, Rush Limbaugh, Lara Inghram et al have infuriated Americans of Mexican descent—seventy-five percent of their votes will be cast for the black man.

*White fear. The hockey mom from nowhere may have ginned up McCain's presidential prospects in early September, but by late October Gov. Palin was a total drag on the ticket. Once she'd been exposed as the pitbull who was all bark with no intellectual bite, true blue white American patriots shuddered at the thought of her possibly having her hand on the nuclear trigger.

That's why I'm predicting an Obama blowout--with one not-so-minor caveat: For those of you who haven't voted yet, it's up to you. If you don't go out to vote and encourage all your family members and friends to do the same, by Wednesday you'll find me plunging off the end of a broken limb, gagging on a nasty breakfast of raw egg and cold crow.

Monroe Anderson is an award-winning journalist who penned op-ed columns for both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. 

     And, before you go, take a look at this hilarious YouTube video, Hockey Moms Against Sarah Palin, which is just one more bit of evidence as to why the Republicans won't rule this day. (h/t to An Average American Patriot)

Hey, Blue States, why don't we secede from the Union?

       We're got an old wound that Sarah Palin and her running buddy, John McCain, have ripped off the scab and torn open and exposed for all the world to see: The Divided States of America.
    Although George W. Bush contributed mightily to the whole Red State/Blue State development and, before him, Ronald Reagan launched the Southern Strategy, until recently we sorta, kinda thought of ourselves as the United States of America.
    No more. Thanks to McPalin, we've now come to realize there are real Americans and the rest of us. We now know there are pro-American parts of America and then there are those other parts in our nation.
   Channeling Joseph McCarthy, Michele Bachmann, a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, even pointed out that Barack and Michelle Obama are anti-American and called for the MSM to do a congressional investigation to discover which of her Democratic colleagues were anti-American.
    This may sound like a bunch of nonsense to many of you, but I suggest we think about it. If the McCain, Palin, Bachmann crowd really don’t think we’re one of them—then maybe we shouldn’t be.
   I’m startin to believe that the First Dude, Todd Palin, was on to somethin when he was pallin around with members of the Alaska Independence Party and lookin into the movement to have his and Sarah's state secede from the Lower 48.  I’m now believin that he was right in spirit, but wrong in who ought to be leavin who.
   I'm figurin that those of us in the Blue States should let all those true Americans in the Red States keep it real. And I just received a viral email from my Jewish, suspected socialist-sympathizing friend, Chuck Halevi, spelling out just what we should do and what we'll get in the process and what we'll be leavin to the not anti-Americans.

   Read it and smile:

Dear Red States:
We've decided we're leaving.  We intend to form our
own country, and we're taking the other Blue States with
us.  In case you aren't aware, that includes California , Hawaii ,
Oregon , Washington , Minnesota , Wisconsin , Michigan ,
Illinois and the entire Northeast.
We believe this split will be beneficial to the
nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New
California

To sum up briefly:
You get Texas , Oklahoma and all the slave states.  We
get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get the Statue of Liberty.  You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft.  You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard.  You get Ole' Miss.
We get 85 percent of America 's venture capital and
entrepreneurs. You get Alabama .
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue; you get to make
the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower
than the Christian Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy
families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be
pro-choice and anti-war, and we're going to want all our citizens back
from Iraq at once.
If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals.
They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for
  no purpose, and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their
 children's caskets coming home.
 We do wish you success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs
  turn up, but we're not willing to spend our resources in Bush's
Quagmire.
  With the Blue States in hand, we will have:
 firm control of 80 percent of the country's fresh
 water more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce
92 percent of the nation's fresh fruit
95 percent of America 's quality wines (you can serve
 French wines at state dinners)
90 percent of all cheese
90 percent of the high tech industry - most of the
  U.S. low-sulfur coal all living redwoods, sequoias and condors all the
Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus ... - Stanford , Cal
Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have
 to cope with:
   -  88 percent of all obese  Americans (and their
 projected health care costs)
   -  92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes,
   -  nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes,
  -  90 percent of the hurricanes,
  -  virtually 100 percent of all televangelists and
their buddies like Rush Limbaugh, as well as Bob Jones University ,
Clemson College and the Univ. of Georgia.
We get Hollywood and Yosemite , thank you very much.
Additionally, 38 percent of those in the Red states
believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62 percent believe
 life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws,
44 percent say that evolution is only a theory, 53 percent that
Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61 percent of you nincompoops believe
you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
 
 
Finally, we're taking the good pot, too. You can have the Mexican stuff when they knock your wall down.

 
Peace out, 

     Oh, and one last thing. Keeping in the spirit of who gets the short end of the stick, y'all can have Mavericks John McCain and Sarah Palin. We get Vice-President Joe Biden and, the Leader of the Really Free World, President Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

 

For GOP, scary is as scary does

 
    Pity the poor right. The party faithful's fear and smear machine that has worked in the past--quicker than you could say Swift boating or Willie Horton--just doesn’t possess that same old white magic.
    Right wing-imagined Bogey men Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers ain’t scarin’ ‘em this Halloween season. Nor are those old, tried but untrue Republican boos about higher taxes and big government. Bald-faced lying doesn’t even work—Did you hear the ones about the Michelle Obama tape where she speaks ill of whitey or that Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. was born in a village in Kenya, not the good ol’ USA?
    It must be frustrating. For the longest the Right has had a bulging bag of dirty tricks and a mountain of mud it summoned at will to muck things up.
    This time, it’s not working.

  "All of a sudden, the economy was on life-support and the Republicans were still prescribing that we take two aspirins and a tax cut for the rich."

    Obama just isn't as scary as they believe he should be.
    The Democrat is cleaning McPalin’s clock in Red states that should readily be in the taken-for-granted column.  In Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Democrat enjoys a commanding lead in the polls. In Florida and North Carolina, he and John McCain are tied. Even bloody red Indiana is in play.
    This time, real-world fears got in the way of the Right’s manufactured ones: The housing crisis, the credit collapse and the plunging stock market.
    All of a sudden, the economy was on life-support and the Republicans were still prescribing that we take two aspirins and a tax cut for the rich. Why worry about what might be, when you’re trying to survive what is?
    Spooky tales about Obama raising your capitol gains tax just aren’t the same when you’re staring at your portfolio and seeing equities that have lost all their gains.  Screaming “welfare” sounds dumb when you’re worried about how well you and your family are faring. Crying wolf has no bite once you realized that it’s the foxes in the hen house who have ruined the day. Or that George W. Bush is our national gremlin. 
    That’s why the Republicans are running scared. Paper-tiger warnings and scary tales of yore sound like off-key whistling in the graveyard while the Repo man and the sheriff with an eviction notice are both banging on your door.  And then there’s Sarah Palin—the thought of her sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office is the most frightening thing of all.

 (If the photo-shopped pix of Obama as a tattooed gang member didn't scare you enough, perhaps this viral YouTube video of Obama as Hitler will. BOO!)

(This post, minus the YouTube video, is also on Huffingtonpost.com.)

Obama unmasked as terrorist

    You wouldn’t think that being a terrorist in America would have much commercial appeal. The very thought of one—whether he’s hiding in the badlands of Pakistan, just a rocket launch from the Afghanistan border, or is a well-respected educator who did bad, bad things four decades ago—is enough for any true, blue American to want to spill a little blood.
    So why would Amazon.com expect to get $49.95 for a terrorist Halloween mask? That price is more than the change we need. Could it be because, in this case, the “terrorist” was none other than the man poised to win the U.S. presidential election by a landslide?
    You betcha, my friends.  If you were willing to shell out more than half a C note, after shipping and handling, you could have bought a terrorist mask that has an uncanny likeness to Barack Obama—the guy McPalin and their hateful hordes have been  mislabeling for the past few weeks.

    We don’t know if this is more wingnut subterfuge or an honest mistake, but the folks at Amazon.com have since removed the classification, thanks to the L.A. Times blog, Top of the Ticket. (Hat tip to the Black Political Thought blog.)

Amazon.com listing had Barack Obama Halloween mask under 'terrorist'

You know that argument the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign has been relentlessly making that Barack Obama "pals" around with terrorists such as '60s ex-radical William Ayers?

And they say this reflects on his poor judgment because of other associates such as Rev. Jeremiah Wright and newly-convicted Tony Rezko?

And worried Obama PR folks jump right on the e-mail whenever Obama and Ayers and the word "friend" appear together anywhere, even though Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Obama chief strategist David Axelrod have called them friends or friendly.

Anyway, a listing on Amazon.com, one of the largest and most successful online merchandisers in the world, seemed to come down even beyond the Republicans' side -- for a while anyway. With Halloween just days away, they're making a bundle off a $49.95 Barack Obama mask.
Which was displayed on the "terrorist costume" page.

You read that right!

To read the rest of the Top of the Ticket post, click here.

    As it turns out, the Democrat Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama Full Vinyl Mask, which is listed as a Jerkyll and Hyde item, can be purchased for a mere $19.95.

    Hurry, All Hallow's Eve is just five nights away--although April Fool's Day is about 10 weeks after the presidential inauguration.