Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
The! American! Freedom! Agenda!
A new group, the American Freedom Agenda, is pushing a list of government reforms, the “10-point American Freedom Agenda,” with things like restoring habeas corpus, eliminating presidential signing statements, restoring access to government information, sharply limiting the use of state secrets privileges by the White House. All good stuff aimed at restoring “the Constitution’s checks and balances as enshrined by the Founding Fathers.”
Except ... they’re CONSERVATIVES.
I read their glowing rhetoric with tired eyes, thinking all the while that if conservatives today were to create a government office called “Save Our Beloved Grandmothers,” the real purpose of it would be to snatch grannies off the street, rob them, and then transfer them to a private game reserve in Texas for Dick Cheney’s hunting pleasure.
I wrote ‘em a letter:
American Freedom Agenda
910 17th St., NW
Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006Bruce Fein
(202) 775 - 1776
bruce@americanfreedomagenda.orgJune 13, 2007
Bruce:
I read your site, and it all sounds good, except for this one teeny thing: Conservatives were the ones who GOT us here.
Collectively, you clowns helped elect Bush and Cheney, you empowered (and continue to empower) venomous freaks like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly and Ann Coulter, you demonized every person who even thought about speaking out against the war or the president, you sneered at straw-man "liberals," and you sat back and let America and its freedoms go to hell.
But you want CHANGE? You want REAL conservatives back in control? Because these conservatives we've got aren't the RIGHT conservatives? (Reminds me of those people who say “But Communism would have worked, if they’d only done it right!”)
I'll bet you STILL think "librools" hate America. And I'll bet you're convinced the United States is a Christian Nation. You probably have the whole conservative package in your head: gays are destroying the institution of marriage, abortion is murder, the country is going to hell because kids don't hear about Jesus in school, and America-hating atheists want to ban Christmas, kill the Pledge, and take "In God We Trust" off our good American money.
I’ll bet you still secretly admire Karl Rove. I’ll bet you still think invading Iraq was a great idea. I’ll bet you still hate Bill Clinton with a blinding passion, and think Hilary Clinton is an evil bitch from hell.
Why all this new fuss? It may not have been what you WANTED, but you got exactly what you worked for. Why not just sit back and enjoy the ride?
I can’t help but think of those Muslims in the middle East who now wave their arms and cry “But Islam is a religion of peace!” Where were they when their raised voices might have made a difference?
Where was your voice when Bush and Congress were runaway horses with nothing but naked power in mind? Why weren’t you working to stop them 6 years ago? What are you doing NOW to stop them? Nothing, most likely.
You’ve made yourselves irrelevant, don’t you think? Conservatism, and the Republican Party, is poisoned for the next decade with the taint of Bush, Cheney, Rove, and all these other unbridled liars, thieves and killers. And America will suffer for the next 50 years from what nice, optimistic, motivated Conservatives just like you helped create.
You people own America, and probably still will after this next election.
Take a break, Conservative Guy. Enjoy what you created.
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No word back from them just yet.
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mcmillan and Toast are spot
mcmillan and Toast are spot on IMO. When I bash the bad conservatives I try to make it a point to call them neo-conservatives because the old conservatives like Goldwater were tolerable and didn't seem to be fixated on only their own interests.
These guys seem to be genuinely pissed off at what the Republican Party has done. Asking them "What were you doing THEN?" seems kind of pressing. I mean, this is something that may have taken years for them to organize and/or get nonprofit status for, or goodness knows what else. Actually, hell, it doesn't even say whether or not it is a nonprofit organization at the site or Wikipedia. I need more background before hammering all of them.
I don't know if you're a bit
I don't know if you're a bit too hasty to jump on them. I do remember hearing about conservatives who've been pissed off at Bush almost from the beginning and I think I recognize a couple names at the bottom of this page as some of those conservatives. Just because someone calls themselves a conservative doesn't neceassarily mean they've been cheering for Bush until things turned sour. That's the problem with dualistic labels like conservative and liberal, they really don't say much.
I could be wrong and these guys are full of it and were rooting for Bush for most of the last six years, but I'd need more background than just that they're "conservative". I don't care enough to start digging into these guys' history, but if anyone has more information it would be good to hear.
Shmoes.
I read your site, and it all sounds good, except for this one teeny thing: Conservatives were the ones who GOT us here.
That's exactly what I was thinking. They should rename their group "Conservatives Cleaning Up Their Own Mess Agenda."
"Please don't beat Teddy." - Teddy, Night of the Seagulls
Hmmmm...
You know, I feel ya, man. I really do. In a just world, every last winger should be forced to do a ten-year penance for the shit they've rained down on this country. During this span they should be excluded from the public debate, forced to walk around wearing dunce caps emblazened with "We Were Wrong" and "I'm Sorry" in 72-point type. Oh, and they should each be assigned a liberal to do menial chores for.
But you know what? We don't live in a just world. We live in a seriously messed up world and, as Americans, in a terribly broken country. And if these idiots want to help fix it -- particularly if they want to address the fundamentals like habeas corpus and signing statements -- I sure as hell won't discourage them. That just seems like the old bit about "cutting off your nose to spite your face" to me.