Tag Archives: woodrow-wilson

ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf Confused: Why Don’t Americans Support Awesome Dems?

The folks at ABC News are confused. Democrats are passing all this awesome legislation, they posit, so why are Americans acting so hostile and looking to hand Congress to the GOP? The key problems, ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf deduces , are that Democrats simply have not embraced liberalism enough and Americans have failed to perceive just how great the Democratic agenda has been. “The imminent passage of a tough new Wall Street Reform bill,” wrote Wolf, pictured right, on ABC’s website, “will cap off a wildly productive two years for Democrats in Washington – they will have passed two pieces of sweeping legislation and an enormous $800 billion stimulus bill to deal with the ailing economy.” Wolf goes on to wonder why those three pieces of legislation haven’t benefited Democrats’ electoral prospects. Let’s see: 6% of Americans believe the stimulus bill created jobs, a strong majority favors repealing the health care bill, and almost 80% of Americans polled have little or no confidence that the financial reform bill will achieve its stated objectives. Is Wolf still confused? He goes on to write that Democrats’ problems stem from the fact that they just have not embraced liberalism to a great enough degree. “Rather than energize the electoral base that helped put Democrats in control of Congress in 2006 — and President Obama in the White House in 2008,” Wolf writes, “the accomplishments have often frustrated activists, who see compromised ideals and watered-down bills instead of legislative victories.” If this is supposed to be an explanation for Democrats’ poor prospects in November, it falls well short. First of all, the districts where Dems are vulnerable are by and large ones they picked up in 2006 and 2008 from sitting Republicans that couldn’t shake the tarnished Republican name. Now that Bush is a memory, red state Dems need to court moderate Republicans, not cater to the far left. Furthermore, the number of Americans who identify themelves as “conservative” is at its highest point since 1994 , when Republicans walloped Dems in the midterm elections. Forty-nine percent of the nation believes that Democrats are too liberal, up 10 points from 2008. Only 10 percent believe they are too conservative. A shift to the left is not going to be a winning strategy. Wolf continues: While Republicans  have, since President Bush left office, instituted an almost myopic, party-wide focus on spending and debt, Democrats  have struggled to rally behind their versions of health reform and Wall Street  reform. They could barely find enough votes to pass the bills. And despite millions of jobs Democrats say were created by the $862 billon stimulus bill, the unemployment rate remains high, and is not expected to come down any time soon. “I think the public doesn’t quite perceive (the accomplishments) because they don’t see much change in their everyday lives. They’re still having trouble finding work,” said Donald Wolfensberger, director of the Congress Project at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Got it? Obama and congressional Democrats have made fantastic accomplishments, but the American people are too dumb, distracted, or removed to perceive it. These three defenses of the Democratic Party in the face of intense public opposition — that they have been politically successful, that they have not embraced the far-left elements of the party, and that Americans are generally unable to perceive just how awesome they are — are tired leftist talking points. And with liberal pundits and politicos parroting them nonstop, is it any wonder Americans are ready for some house (and Senate) cleaning?

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ABC’s Z. Byron Wolf Confused: Why Don’t Americans Support Awesome Dems?

A Handy Guide to Renaming the New Jersey Turnpike Rest-Stops [New Jersey]

New Jersey is so fucked, its Department of Transportation is considering selling off Turnpike rest-stop naming rights to generate extra cash . But which rest-stop names get cut, and which get kept? We figure it out. Many people would consider it an insult to be posthumously commemorated with a highway rest stop . Those people are snooty lames. In New Jersey, it’s the highest honor, better even than being “made” in the “mafia,” or moving to New York. There is no better way we can think of to sing the praises of someone like Walt Whitman ( southbound milepost 30.2 ), the father of American poetry, than by placing his name over a TCBY franchise. Plus, he was gay, and it’s a “highway rest stop,” so, you know. It makes sense . But while it’s a huge insult to the memory of America’s favorite bearded poet to consider removing his name from his own personal roadside monument to American ingenuity and obesity, who cares if shitty writer Joyce Kilmer ( northbound milepost 78.7 ) or possibly-nonexistent mythical personage Molly Pitcher ( southbound milepost 71.7 ) get the boot? Take a trip with us down the Turnpike rest stop name list, and decide who gets honors-and who gets confined to the landfill of New Jersey history. Woodrow Wilson Argument For: One of only two U.S. presidents from New Jersey. Gave women the right to vote. Argument Against: Vicious racist. Best Concession: Quiznos. Verdict: Total asshole, but at least he was president, right? Wilson can stay. Richard Stockton Argument For: Was a signatory on the Declaration of Independence. Has a college named after him. Argument Against: Possibly signed oath of obedience to the King during the revolutionary war. Stockton College sucks. Best Concession: Blimpies. Verdict: What did this guy every do for New Jersey, besides provide it with a college and represent it at the Continental Congress? Suggested Replacement: Talk-show host and walking plastic surgery warning Wendy Williams of Asbury Park. Grover Cleveland Argument For: One of only two U.S. presidents from New Jersey. Only president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. Argument Against: Can anyone name even one thing this guy did, besides, you know, “Be President”? Best Concession: Nathan’s. Verdict: If Wilson stays, Cleveland stays, but New Jersey, seriously, you need to start raising better presidents. John Fenwick Argument For: Founded Salem, NJ. Once owned half of New Jersey. Argument Against: Sold half of New Jersey… to Pennsylvania . Best Concession: TCBY. Verdict: Anyone who betrayed New Jersey to Pennsylvania doesn’t deserve a spot on its Turnpike. Suggested Replacement: Misfits frontman Glenn Danzig of Lodi. James Fenimore Cooper Argument For: Wrote Last of the Mohicans . Came up with name “Natty Bumppo.” Argument Against: Was utterly owned by Mark Twain in a hilarious essay . Best Concession: Popeyes. Verdict: Cooper? More like, the DoT made a blooper, when they named a rest stop after this overrated hack. Suggested Replacement: Taxi star Queen Latifah of Newark. Joyce Kilmer Argument For: Wrote one of the most famous poems in the English language. Argument Against: Wrote one of the worst poems in the English language. Best Concession: Sbarro. Verdict: Kilmer’s name should be removed in the hopes that it will lead the planet to forget about his awful poem. Suggested Replacement: Small actor Peter Dinklage of Morristown. Vince Lombardi Argument For: Led the Green Bay Packers to the first and second-ever Super Bowls. Argument Against: Kind of a dick about “working hard.” Best Concession: Popeyes. Verdict: Keep the name, but on the plaque only refer to Lombardi’s time coaching the Giants. And call them the “New Jersey Giants.” Alexander Hamilton Argument For: The United States Treasury Department? Ever heard of it? This guy invented it . Argument Against: Not a very good shot . Best Concession: Carvel. Verdict: Keep, but build a rest stop on the northbound side and name it after Aaron Burr. Thomas Edison Argument For: Light bulbs? You ever heard of them? This guy invented them. Argument Against: Was not very nice to scientific bad-ass Nikola Tesla. Best Concession: Carvel. Verdict: Keep. Come on. Molly Pitcher Argument For: Seems to have won the revolutionary war single-handedly . Argument Against: Probably not a real person . Best Concession: Freshëns Smoothies and Frozen Treats. Verdict: The turnpike needs more female-named rest stops, but aren’t there real women from New Jersey? Suggested Replacement: Ex-convict Martha Stewart of Nutley. Walt Whitman Argument For: Wrote tons of great poems . Was the model for Count Dracula. Argument Against: Inspired tons of awful poems. Best Concession: Nathan’s. Verdict: Keep. Like we said, Whitman would approve of it. Clara Barton Argument For: Founded the Red Cross. Argument Against: How can you argue against a nineteenth-century female abolitionist who founded the Red Cross? Best Concession: Cinnabon. Verdict: Keep. The Red Cross, guys! [ Philly Inquirer ]

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A Handy Guide to Renaming the New Jersey Turnpike Rest-Stops [New Jersey]

Exclusive: The Book Proposal for Larry Flynt’s History of Presidential Sex [History]

A tipster sent us the proposal for One Nation Under Sex , Larry Flynt ‘s forthcoming history of White House coitus . And it’s not bad! Did you know that “George Washington was a famous swordsman in more ways than one”? You’ll be happy to know that One Nation will be “academically sourced,” so Flynt’s claims that Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan were gay and that Louis Brandeis got his Supreme Court sear by blackmailing Woodrow Wilson over a mistress are totally true. You can read the whole thing below. Flynt doesn’t offer any bombshells—it’s more of a breezy overview of old rumors about what George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, and others did and didn’t do with their penises. (Sadly, the word “Nixon” appears nowhere in the document.) And it promises a polemic on how once “Americans finally realize that we really do live in One Nation Under Sex , I’m confident we will be able to fulfill the promise of the Pledge of Allegiance.” Flynt compares the book to Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States , but we’re pretty sure Zinn never wrote sentence like this: “How did this president from Pennsylvania become so proslavery? In two words: Gay Love.” History comes alive!

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Exclusive: The Book Proposal for Larry Flynt’s History of Presidential Sex [History]

Barack Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize As ‘A Call to Action’

Barack Obama knows that the Nobel Peace Prize is as often given as encouragement as it is for accomplishment. So he starts off humble, says he’ll accept the award, and moves on to his international relations to-do list

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Barack Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize As ‘A Call to Action’