Well I guess we will continue thoughout this election to have Republican smear literature passed along to our DNC site.  I saw an example of it this morning that has been erased by Matt, but for some reason, when these awful attacks on our presidential nominee are erased, their titles remain in the highest rated posts and thus raise unanswered questions.

The title of this one was "Obama would permit abortions on humans born alive" by Joseph B. 

This sort of Low Information appeal on abortion is exactly where the Huffington Post predicted would be the next line of attack taken the Republican smear machine.  I do think that these hate posts should be deleted.  I commend Matt for doing that.  I also think that in their place the related detail needs to be presented to disprove the incorrect low information appeal thesis. And that follows if you care to know THE WHOLE STORY as opposed to a HALF TRUTH presented by someone whose only goal is to smear Obama.

Below is an old cartoon that looks like it might hail from Franklin Roosevelt's day, if not even earlier in our history as a nation.  Interesting isn't it?  The elephant is crashing through the planks of his own platform (inflation, repudiation, etc.) and falling into the abyss.  (and to note: the donkey is barely escaping himself).

Following on the extended post is detail for all five of those bills and amendments that I listed previously and suggested that 49 Republicans are blocking the democratic agenda every step of the way.  I still hold to that belief and you can see for yourself.  Only on one out of five did they vote for the people, but then their president vetoed that one.

However as Betty Lou rightly pointed out, Ron Paul does consistenly vote on the side of the people and with the Democrats more often than not. AND  the House of Representatives is the more democratic AND bipartisan body of our Congress.  They often pass good legislation that gets hammered by the elitist Senate.  And yes the ones who ruin it for the rest of us ARE by and large the Republicans. Although there are sometimes a few stray Democrats who cross over, it is overwhelmingly the Republicans who block the decent legislation.  So remember that this fall.

This weekend I wote a post titled "Republicans are Fiscally Irresponsible

[ http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/elizabethberry/CB3N]

It is obviously a topic of fascination with me.  In looking back on some of my earlier posts, I see that I was interested in this topic back in October of 2007. 

It's part of the Rovian newspeak strategy that, until now, has worked so well for the GOP.  They scream and spew forth their self-righteous outrage against Democrats for being big spenders who are for big government when in fact it is the Republicans who are the big spenders, the ones for big government (Bush has added more new government agencies than any president since Roosevelt).

As long as they are shouting and spewing indignation, they move the focus away from what and who THEY are:  Big spenders and big government.

Democrats are for government all right:  efficient and smaller government that actually serves the people.  A much smaller welfare program that serves not multinational corporations but individual Americans who need a hand up.

Here is a repost of mine on this topic from October 14, 2007.

I remember, I had just read an outrageous article in Vanity Fair where the Republicans had LOST several billion dollars.  How the hell do you lose several billion dollars?

Yes, I will write-in Hillary no matter what the ballot will look like  on the Election day. Please go on, Hillary!

Those of you who are younger may not remember this, but way back in the stone age when I was growing up, I remember that products once had seals to indicate that they had passed inspection for quality and that we as consumers could trust that product as a safe product to bring into our homes.  In those days of the early 1950's, the phrase "buyer beware" was the equivalent of taking the Lord's name in vain.  [And if  you purchased any product that was stamped "made in Japan" then you were taking a big risk.  Wal-mart would never have been able to succeed in those days because people were actually willing to buy less and pay more for quality products.]

Housewives like my Mom would actually look for these seals on products and they would not buy them if they didn't have these seals.  The two most famous ones that I remember were the "Good Houskeeping Seal"  and the Underwriters Laboratory seal. (If some electrical product did not have that seal, my mother would not purchase it.  She was adament on that point.)  I guess the closest thing we have to that today that people pay any attention to are product expiration dates.

BUT THERE IS A NEW LABEL ON THE SCENE THAT WILL HELP AMERICANS TO PUT GREEN FIRST: 

One of the sources of the problems with the legislation that is being passed in Congress and most of the legislation that has been passed over the past 30 years is the total lack of connection between Congress and the American people.

What we have in Congress are the "haves".  Surely there is a study on this somewhere, but I'll wager that the overwhelming majority of them fit in to the income bracket of the upper 10% of the wealthy in this nation.

This makes for a SERIOUS gap in their ability to understand the needs of the American people whom they are supposed to represent.  They pass bills that work for them and that they honestly think that work for the American people but they are CLUELESS.

What a week!  Only one word for it all:  DISGUSTED. 

I’ve been busy with my work and have not had time to keep my usual close watch and I must say, the FISA vote has greatly dampened my enthusiasm in regard to hope for any real change in American politics and in the ways of our Congress in particular.

BUT my lord!  While I was waiting in a client’s office this afternoon, in my idleness I pick up a copy of The Dallas Morning News from their coffee table and read the latest gaffe from the McCain’s camp—Phil Gramm’s remark! [As a matter of principle, more than anything else, I almost never read the conservative Dallas Morning News. I get too riled up over their viewpoints.]  After returning home I have had time to review the news from the week and it is astounding.

PHIL GRAMM’S REMARK
 McCain’s top economic advisor made the statement that we are a nation of whiners.  And if you think that he is the only Republican who thinks this way, you would be wrong.  This is essentially the viewpoint of the majority of the Republican leadership regarding the economy.  They think the economy is “just fine” (and it probably is for the top 10% of the Republicans).  I remember Mitt Romney saying as much during the primary.  Romney made some statement to the effect that if we stopped looking at the glass as half empty and regarded it instead as “half full” that everything would be just fine with the economy.  LOL.  Phil Gramm took that attitude over the top however and managed to insult 95% of the American population.

Even more surprising is that the Obama people have not said a word about Gramm’s remark—a remark that I consider not only a horrible misstatement, but also an insult to the American people—yet another slap in our faces from the Republican party.

A friend asked me for a user friendly explanation of FISA and here is my interpretation.  [It is not totally in depth, but it covers the high points.]:

The FISA bill contained information that requires the government to get warrants prior to asking Telecoms to gather data on US citizens from telephone, emails, etc.  It was a red herring bill in the first place because the FISA court has been in place since 1978 AND the government has been required by law for 30 years to go to that court to get warrants before tapping any one's phone or asking a Telecom to do it.

Up until a couple of years ago, when a whistle blower called it to the attention of Congress, the Bush administration has been getting Telecoms to tap phones and gather information on American citizens WITHOUT first obtaining warrants.

Not only Bush, but the Telecoms were aware of the right thing to do as these laws have been in place for 30 years.  Not every Telecom who was asked to spy for the Bush Administration accepted. There were some Telecoms who refused to do this.  Qwest was one of them who refused.  Interesting enough they got a government contract taken away from them after that and their CEO is in jail. [I don't know if there is a connection as Qwest had their own shady dealings going as well, but that much is fact that they said no to Bush.]  Also AT&T who is one of the Telecoms who helped with the warrantless wiretaps got a big government contract.

Then after they get caught a couple of years ago, the Republicans came up with this FISA bill. It has two parts called Title One and Title Two.  Title One essentially contains the description of the laws that are already in place.  Title Two, the second section of this bill grants retroactive immunity to Telecoms who may have broken the law in regard to warrantless wire tapping.  Thus this bill would only be effective going forward and they get off scott free for crimes that they have committed for the past 7 years.

There are currently 40 lawsuits pending in the courts from citizens who claim that they had their fourth amendment rights violated by the Bush administration and these Telecoms.

You see,  the bottom line here is that if this fake bill didn't pass, it means that the Bush administration is in deep sh-- because they were ordering the Telecoms to commit a felony--which they were.  (How do you spell immediate impeachment?)

Today Obama voted to approve the bill and Clinton and others (such as Feingold, Bingaman, Leahy, Boxer, even Arlen Specter) voted against it.