Will Tea Party's Legacy Be in Splitting GOP Tickets Straight into Defeat?

Oh what a difference two years can make. Back in April '08, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist enjoyed sky-high approval ratings over 70% and was a serious candidate for Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. Along with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, he was considered one of many rising stars of the Republican Party. Whether justified or not, they were packaged and marketed as moderates; Republican light. But they're all fairly hard-line conservative politicians. Yet to today's far-right-extremist Tea Party fringe, these guys might as well be Barney Frank. And that's great news for Democrats, who stand to benefit hugely as the misguided, small-minded passions of Tea Baggers serve to split GOP tickets across the country....thus sabotaging the party's chances of regaining power in November.

Jump to April 2010, and Crist can't get himself arrested as he tries in vain to win the Senate seat vacated by Republican Mel Martinez and currently held by George LeMieux, his former aide and appointee. This week he announced he was defecting from the GOP and will run without party. Back in the Fall Crist held a huge lead over his Republican challenger, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. Rubio went from trailing 22 points to leading by 18. The Democrat in the race, U.S. Congressman Kendrick B. Meek, is running third. Rubio is a Tea Party favorite. So is Crist's defeat a Tea Party victory? Hardly.

What we're seeing in various national campaigns is a foreshadowing of the Republican Party's ruination. The party has been hijacked by Tea Bag radicals; super-duper hardline right-wing fanatics who comprise the absolute smallest wing of the party yet have the loudest voice. They've handed over the reins to rabble-rousing propagandists like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich, and in the process effectively kicked out pols who now do appear moderate/centrist by comparison. As former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean asked this week, "Is this a sign that people, perhaps centrists or moderates, like Charlie Crist, have no place in this new emerging Republican Party?" The answer is yes. And that will be the GOP's final death knell.

Consider what former President Ronald Reagan said after he defected to the GOP: "I didn’t leave the Democrat Party, it left me." That's exactly what's been happening to the more moderate conservatives across the nation as the Tea Baggers have ratcheted up their racist, homophobic, xenophobic, anti-government radical attack rhetoric. And Crist is not alone in his defection. Arlen Specter switched parties last year after realizing he could no longer win as a Republican. To be sure, the Tea Party is making political life very difficult for candidates who would've been shoo-ins prior to this movement's controversial emergence last year. Over in Utah, Bob Bennett faces an extremely tough primary race even though he's conservative enough to have earned an A grade from the National Rifle Association, an 84% rating from the American Conservative Union and 98% from the Chamber of Commerce.

In Arizona, Sen. John McCain is seriously threatened by primary challenger J.D. Hayworth, watching his once sizable lead shrink to around 5 points. For Indiana's Senate seat being vacated by Evan Bayh, former Senator Dan Coats is facing a stiff challenge from state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, who's got far-right backing and support. In Kentucky, Rand Paul (son of Ron) is the Tea Baggers' favorite, yet it is Trey Grayson who has the support of party leaders. There are similar stories elsewhere such as California, Colorado and of course the swing state of Florida.

In a year when Democrats are supposed to be shaking in their boots over the GOP Bogeyman's big gains in November that'll sweep them back into power, it is the Tea Party that Democrats may be thanking a few months from now for pouring scolding water on the Republican "revolution."

Keep up the good work, Sarah, Michelle, Glenn, Newt and the rest of ya. Keep splitting those tickets. We Democrats just love 3-way races...


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

This Jew Says 'Sorry Sarah, America is Not a "Christian" Nation'

Sarah Palin apparently hasn't heard of Separation of Church and State. Here's what she said at a Women of Joy conference in Kentucky last week, attended by 16,000:

"God truly has shed his grace on thee -- on this country. He's blessed us, and we better not blow it. And that's why I talk about politics. Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our founding fathers, they were believers. Hearing any leader declare that America isn't a Christian nation . . ."

In her usual obnoxious, snarky, grating manner, Palin's "any leader" reference was clearly directed at President Obama, who in a 2006 speech said, "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation--at least not just--we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of non-believers."

Well, I happen to be one of those Jews Obama was referring to. And until The Wasilla Wonder regrettably slithered onto the national political scene I, like many people, had this crazy notion that America is the great Melting Pot. Not a Christian nation, but a secular one with a majority of citizens who just happen to practice Christianity. Big difference. The truth is, the number of people calling themselves Christians has declined 10% over the last 15 years. And maybe this decline can be attributed to the polarizing rhetoric of good Christian folk like Palin and others before her who've served to turn many off to religion. Which may explain why the fastest growing group in America are the non-believers. Sarah Palin: Poster Girl for Atheism.

Right wing radio blowhard John Gibson on Wednesday vehemently supported Palin's exclusionary statements on the premise that a majority of Americans call themselves Christians, therefore America's a Christian nation. Gibson is certainly not alone in this belief. I wonder, since there's a Democratic president and a majority of Democrats in both houses of Congress, if Palin, Gibson & Company would agree that we're a Democrat nation? To the contrary, these propagandists believe, as Sean Hannity claimed Wednesday for the umpteenth time, that America is a "center-right nation." Apparently, these hate-mongers' definition of "majority" is rather convoluted.

Someone needs to give Palin a history lesson (along with all the other lessons she needs for the myriad areas for which she is woefully ignorant) focusing on the doctrine of Separation of Church and State, which the Founding Fathers very intentionally created to keep government out of religion, and vice versa. Specifically addressed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, government is prohibited from establishing a national religion and giving preference to one religion over another. "Our Constitution established a secular government and has no mention of Jesus, Christianity, or a god of any kind, despite the false message spread by figures such as Sarah Palin who claim that America was founded as a Christian nation," reminds Paul Fidalgo of the Secular Coalition for America.

How ironic that the very same leaders who incite so much Tea Party passion about "small government" and "freedom" are the very same people who (a) want government to make decisions about religion and (b) want minorities to feel as if they're less American than those nation-owning Christians. But Palin, like Hannity, Gibson, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Bachmann, Newt Gingrich and all the other conservative and Tea Party instigators, is dangerously pouring gasoline onto her base's guns/God/gays flames in a shameless campaign to divide the nation and demonize all those who disagree with her gangster government-in-exile. Now that she's done her Arctic best to turn whites against blacks, she's desperately trying to rile up Christians and turn them against Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and Atheists to name a few. Her religious and racial rabble rousing--and that of her cohorts--is despicable. Get ready gays, you're the next stop on the Palin & Co. hate train.

I'm sorry Sarah, but this is my America too, dammit. I want people like you to stop telling the rest of us what America represents and to whom. I want you and your myopic, small-minded thought-bandits to stay out of my body, my bedroom and my religiosity or lack thereof. I want you to stop claiming "we need to take America back." Back from what...blacks, Jews, atheists, gays? You want America back? How about putting together a serious platform of ideas and candidates and get elected, just like Obama and the Democrats who control both houses of Congress. Palin obviously needs to be reminded that in the last election, voters overwhelmingly rejected her brand of "history" and vision for the future.

On a side note, to further illustrate the utter ignorance emanating from the right lately, consider what Gibson had to say Wednesday on whether America is a racist country: "We know that it isn't. It's just down to a couple of Klansmen....There essentially is no racism left in America...and Democrats need to keep racism alive to hold onto the black vote. They know that black people love to hear that racism is running amok." Sorry Gibson, you narrow-minded racist nitwit, black people don't need to "hear" about racism from arrogant white fools like you...they live it. Thanks for showing us firsthand just how alive it really is. You should be ashamed of yourself. In fact, I'm embarrassed for you.


Onto another subject...we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Dangerous Right Wing Rhetoric: There Will be Blood

Republicans are angry. Bitter. Hostile. Resentful. Desperate. Hungry for power. And ratcheting up the hate-speak to such irresponsible and reprehensible levels that one day soon they may have blood on their hands if they don't stop.

We can blame the Tea Party and its de facto leaders--Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachmann, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Rep. Eric Cantor to name a few--for riling up Republicans with relentless attacks on President Obama and Democrats using code language and euphemisms like "take our country back,""reload," and "gangster government." We've witnessed racial and sexual slurs, threats, intimidation, violence, Democrats hanging in effigy...all in an attempt to delegitimize Obama's presidency through accusations of radicalism and socialism. As Cantor disingenuously claims, Obama wants "to remake America in the image of Europe."

Palin opens every speech by shouting to her audience, "Do you love your Freedom?," as if those very freedoms are truly at risk of being taken away. She force-feeds her misguided groupies with propaganda that Obama's "un-American" policies make America "less free." One Tea Party organizer over last weekend threatened: "To the elites....we're not going to be worried so much about shooting the folks who come to shoot us. We will skip several levels and go straight for their throats." The rhetoric has intensified to the point where a new poll shows that 74% of Republicans fear that their rights and freedoms are under imminent threat, vs 52% in 1996, after the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

There's even a Facebook page, with over 200,000 "fans," urging violence against Obama: "DEAR LORD, THIS YEAR YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTOR, PATRICK SWAYZIE. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE ACTRESS, FARAH FAWCETT. YOU TOOK MY FAVORITE SINGER, MICHAEL JACKSON. I JUST WANTED TO LET YOU KNOW, MY FAVORITE PRESIDENT IS BARACK OBAMA. AMEN." Amen? Really? As if this violent sentiment is somehow a Christian tenet? Jeez, what the hell is wrong with these people?

Former President Bill Clinton, who occupied the White House when anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building fifteen years ago killing 168 people, last week condemned the right's dangerous rhetoric:

"There can be real consequences when what you say animates people who do things you would never do," warned Clinton, adding that monsters like McVeigh and those like him "were profoundly alienated, disconnected people who bought into this militant anti government line." And in a NY Times op-ed Monday Clinton urged those in power to consider the potentially grave consequences of their inciting rhetoric: "...We must all assume responsibility for our words and actions before they enter a vast echo chamber and reach those both serious and delirious, connected and unhinged."

In response, right wing radio blowhard Limbaugh over the weekend attacked Clinton and warned, "You have just set the stage for violence in this country. Any future acts of violence are on your shoulders, Mr. Clinton." So what we have here is a righteous condemnation not of the despicable acts of rabble-rousing conservatives, but of Clinton's warning of their consequences. Classic case of shoot the messenger.

Make no mistake: the political landscape is an arid tinderbox that could ignite at any moment. Those like Palin, Bachmann and Limbaugh who are stoking the flames of hate will be the ones responsible if this relentless instigating turns into a heinous act of violence. It's hard to imagine how this reckless inciting of the disaffected, using the lowest common denominator, will not result in tragedy; how one of these brainwashed "patriotic" loons is not gonna pick up a gun one day and do something horrible, just like McVeigh did, for love or hate of country.

And it's a damned shame that not one legit Republican in power is willing to publicly condemn this dangerously over-the-top rhetoric. But why should they, I guess. They hope to benefit by it come November.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Tea Baggers: Republicans in Wolves' Clothing

So according to the NY Times poll released this week, we now know that a majority of "Tea Baggers"--the foot soldiers in the Tea Party army--is little more than a collection of rich, educated, white men. Translation?: Republicans. Is this really a surprise?

The "grass roots" rage of the Tea Baggers recalls another faux-populist movement in recent history. Remember the "Brooks Brothers Mob?" The angry, belligerent, bullying rich, educated white males who descended on Miami-Dade County in 2000 to disrupt the Bush/Gore recount? They were Republicans too. And most in fact were GOP operatives sent on a specific mission to undermine the Democratic process. See any parallels between these thugs and the Tea Baggers?

The Tea Party, despite what its de-facto leaders like Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich would like us to believe, is but a very small, fringe mob of hate-mongers like their Brooks Brothers counterparts. Poor Gingrich only had 500 'Baggers to preach to at the Austin, Texas Tea Party rally Thursday. In Manhattan, only about 700 protesters showed up. At their big D.C. rally, about 5000 attended. Hardly a "tsunami of conservatism," as Tea Party candidate Sharron Angle boasted to protesters at her Nevada rally.

No, the Tea Baggers are not stupid, as some have claimed and which the poll cites to the contrary. But they are terribly misguided and perhaps embarrassingly manipulated; manipulated by the GOP and its disingenuous spinners into harnessing all of their frustration and rage at President Obama into their underlying not-so-subtle-racism. While they can't use the N-word outright, they instead have adopted code language like "socialist," "Muslim," "radical" and "un-American" while tapping the "birthers" and "truthers," to delegitimize him and his presidency. All the Times poll did this week was put some stats and facts to this theory.

Consider what Bachmann told the D.C. crowd: "We're onto them; we're on to their gangster government." Did she really want to say "gangsta" government perhaps? Is this just another racist code word? It's pretty clear what the goal is behind this sort of dangerous rhetoric.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Tea Party Movement Isn't About Racism? Read this...

The Tea Party movement is not about Sarah Palin: most Tea Baggers, while they love her inflammatory rhetoric, think she's unqualified to be president. The movement is not about taxes: most think the amount they pay is fair. And Tea Baggers really aren't angry about big government either: most love their Social Security and Medicare and wouldn't want to lose it. These and other unsurprising revelations are part of a NY Times poll released this week which reinforces the ugly truth about the role racism plays in the Tea Party movement.

Contrary to how the movement is portrayed as a non-partisan, multicultural, age/gender-diverse "big tent," most Tea Baggers are wealthy, white Republican males over 45, according to the poll. The poll chillingly illustrates what's really at the core of the movement: intense frustration, anger and resentment over the belief that a black president is giving taxpayer handouts to other blacks. In fact, 25% believe the Obama administration favors blacks over whites. As the Times reports, they believe that "too much has been made of the problems facing black people."

There's no denying the level of ignorance that permeates the Tea Party movement or the rampant racism in which it's rooted. Here's a classic example of Tea Bagger "populist rage:" "I just feel he’s getting away from what America is," said Kathy Mayhugh, 67, of Jacksonville, Fl. "He’s a socialist. And to tell you the truth, I think he’s a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don’t care what he says. He’s been in office over a year and can’t find a church to go to. That doesn’t say much for him."

Clearly, in Ms. Mayhugh's America, blacks aren't supposed to hold positions of power. They're not supposed to benefit more than white people. In fact, white people are supposed to get all the goodies. And good, patriotic Americans are white, Christian and go to church regularly. So it's no stretch that in this America, if you're black and not a church goer, well then you must be a socialist, a Muslim (can ya be both, for Pete's sake?) and anti-American. Well, at least that's what shameless demagogues like Palin have brainwashed them to think.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Here Comes Another Colossal Republican Lie

In a hotly contested election year where the stakes are huge, how will Republicans fight financial reform without appearing to defend Wall Street's interests at the expense of Main Street? The answer is simple: lie. And lie big, as always. Craft a disingenuous campaign to convince voters that regulating big banks--and thus the GOP's rich fatcat pals--will hurt the little guy. Brilliant. Turn financial reform into a populist movement. Convince the Average Joes to get all fired up, march in the streets, and fight against the very reforms that will in fact help them considerably. Turn them, once again, against their own self-interests by lying to them. As Lenin said, "A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

And where have we seen this before? If you said health care reform, you're right. The Republicans may be the Party of No, and may not have a lick of ideas of their own, but they are very effective liars, highly adept at framing issues to turn public sentiment their way. The recent health care battle is a stunning example of this. How else do you explain all the Tea Bagger rage over legislation that truly protects them and their families?

A perfect illustration of this duplicity is the "death panel" lie, where the "government takeover" of health care, according to the GOP, would result in President Obama getting to decide whether Granny lives or dies. Makes a great soundbyte. Republicans are masterful at creating devastatingly effective talking points.

Which brings us to financial reform and the Senate bill proposed by Democrats. A bill which seeks to place further regulations on Wall Street and aimed at the sort of high-risk trading practices that caused the meltdown of 2008. Here's the lie which we can bet will become the new ad nauseum "death panel" talking point:

"We cannot allow endless taxpayer-funded bailouts," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell this week. "That’s why we must not pass the financial reform bill that’s about to hit the floor. The fact is this bill wouldn’t solve the problems that led to the financial crisis. It would make them worse."

That's right. Get out there and fight, Mr. and Mrs. Average American. Fight for your Wall Street executives! We need to protect them. We need to make sure they stay rich, fat and happy, because if we attempt to rein in their reckless cowboy investment activities, that'll be bad for you and bad for America! It'll cost you in taxes! No! We must let them do whatever the hell they want, without restriction! No more 'big government' intervention! Power to the people! The Wall Street people! Financial reform, like health care reform, is terrible for you! No more death panels and bailouts! Don't let Democrats hurt you. We Republicans are looking out for you. Have your best interests at heart. And by helping us protect the insurance industry, the big banks and corporate America...we're really protecting you. God bless America!

A note of interest: McConnell himself supported President Bush's emergency $700-billion Wall Street bailout back in the Fall of 2008. Oh, how quickly those pesky little Republicans forget...

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin

Dear Sarah:
Let me start off by saying I am not a fan. Quite the contrary. In fact, I think you're terribly misinformed, misguided, intellectually deficient, woefully unprepared, sarcastic and mean-spirited... and with a voice that is a gazillion times more grating than nails on a chalkboard. There is absolutely nothing I like, admire, or respect about you. Nada. Zippo. And I am not alone. Even most Republicans agree with me, judging from how your stint as John McCain's ill-fated running-mate was the kiss of death for the majority of conservative voters. The idea of you running for president in 2012 is laughable. A joke. A Fairbanks fantasy. You are beyond ill-equipped for the job. You stand as much chance of winning the presidency as I do. Which is exactly why I am begging you to run. Please. Run for president. And somehow also brainwash enough of your fellow misguided Tea Baggers that folks like me are dead wrong about you so they'll vote for you in the GOP primary. This is my fantasy.

In a perfect political world, you'd be President Obama's Republican challenger in the 2012 election. I'm soiling myself just thinking about it. Because you would make history. And not in a good way. Not in any way that would make Michelle Bachman proud.

No, the truth is, you would become the GOP's debacle heard 'round the world. It would be the sort of landslide they'd be talking about in Poli Sci classes for years to come. You'd become an American political case-study. Because outside of a half-dozen wacko Tea Baggers, no one would vote for you. And then you'd be a universal laughingstock and maybe then you'd finally go away for good.

So Sarah, please run. Do it for America. Give us the kind of hopey-changey stuff we're truly longing for....

Ya Wanna Talk "Radical" Behavior Newt? How About Looking in the Mirror?

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is out spreading the GOP gospel with the most outlandish, false and incendiary accusations about President Obama. At the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans Thursday, Gingrich gravely, and with quite the dramatic flair of Sir Laurence Olivier, warned the staunchly conservative crowd:

"This is the most radical administration in American history. The most radical president in American history has now thrown down the gauntlet to the American people. He has said, 'I run a machine. I own Washington, and there's nothing you can do about it.'"

To be sure, Republicans are lock-stepping all over the "radical" talking points right now as if Karl "Turd Blossom" Rove is still emailing missives from the West Wing. But exactly where does this unconscionable, unpatriotic, unfounded claim come from? Just what exactly has Obama done that merits such an outrageously inflammatory label?

Is Obama "radical" because he's still fighting George W. Bush's Iraq war? Is he "radical" because he's authorized a 30,000 troop surge in Afghanistan, just like the John McCain-prompted Bush did in Iraq? Is he "radical" because his terrorist-targeted Drone attacks into Pakistan total more than Bush during his entire eight years? Is he "radical" for increasing the debt, as did Bush and Ronald Reagan? Is he "radical" because he wants to appoint liberal justices to the Supreme Court the way Bush placed hardline right wingers Samuel Alito and John Roberts on the bench? Is he "radical" for lowering taxes on the poor and middle class, unlike Bush, who gave the rich the biggest tax cut in history? Is he "radical" for cutting a deal with Russia and hoping to end nuclear proliferation, as Reagan championed? Is he "radical" for ushering in the same model for health care reform that Richard Nixon advocated?

The truth is, the right has been on a racism-fueled campaign since January 2009 to deligitimize Obama's presidency. They've employed every dirty, shameful trick in the book in an attempt to undermine his reputation, his patriotism and his ability to lead. The latest vitriolic salvo, over health care reform, is simply another ruse manifested from this intense racial hatred. And they will not stop as long as they believe they can succeed.

Gingrich's "radical" histrionics are to be expected, no matter how offensive or patently false his claims. As we get closer to November's midterms, we're sure to witness a ratcheting up of this sort of dangerous rhetoric. Strap your seatbelts on, because the political landscape is going to get even much uglier.

But as long as we're on the subject of "radical" behavior, perhaps we should remind Gingrich, and the good old fashioned Tea Baggin' American patriots he preaches to, that it was he, not Obama, who is a thrice-married serial philanderer who cheated on his cancer-stricken wife; was investigated and reprimanded by the House Ethics Committee; and was shamed out of office by his Republican brethren. Sounds like pretty "radical" behavior to me. I'll take Obama any day...


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

McCain's Mavericky Maverick Denial: The Videotape, Unlike the Senator, Doesn't Lie...

What the f**k is happening to Sen. John McCain? This dude's starting to resemble a bad train-wrecky realty show. Could "Mortifying Missteps by the Maverick" soon be giving "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" a run for its money? The once highly-respected independent-thinking "maverick" seems to have gone bonkers, no doubt brought on by his cornered-rat-like panic and desperation as August's GOP primary nears and many signs point to a stunning re-election loss to challenger J.D. Hayworth. I suppose fear of unemployment makes a man do crazy things...

The unraveling is reaching a bizarre peak. A couple of weeks ago McCrusty did the unthinkable: he brought hopey-changey mavericky Sarah Palin to Arizona to campaign with him. By golly, this is the same Palin who almost single-handedly imploded McCain's 2008 presidential bid. The same Palin who, you betchya, was called a diva and a nit-wit by top McCain advisors post-election. But also the same Palin who seems to be the Tea Baggers' porn star. And without those angry, deficit-hatin' Tea Baggers, who prefer Hayworth, McCain's reality-show days could be rapidly approaching. But, the Arizonans who voted for McCain all these years aren't Tea Baggers. In fact, they like him because he's a maverick.

Which brings us to meltdown #2. Over the weekend McCain shockingly claimed to Newsweek: "I never considered myself a maverick."

Excuse me? Really? Never considered himself a maverick? Are you kidding? As Jon Stewart pointed out, this would be like Rudy Giuliani saying "I never said 9-11." So just in case Sen. McCain, or anyone else for that matter, needs a little reminder as to the Senator's awesomely mavericky status...the video above gives it to ya straight from the maverick's mouth.

Oh Johnny boy, I guess we hardly knew ye....


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Can We Fire the Pope?

The Catholic Church is diseased right now. Amid the mounting global scandal over pedophilia, it's suffering from epidemic proportions of denial and enabling. It seems to care more about protecting its own image and interests than the faithful innocents it's been called to serve under God. Perched atop this mess is Pope Benedict XVI. And if it is ultimately proven that he was negligent in turning a blind eye to years of sexual abuse by priests under his charge--when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and as head of the oversight body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1981-2005)--then he must step down or be removed from the papacy. The corner office of the Vatican is certainly no place for sexual abuse cover-ups.

There are now unconscionable abuse cases arising out of Ireland, Germany, Minneapolis and Wisconsin, where over 200 deaf boys were sexually molested over a span of perhaps 25 years by then-Father Lawrence C. Murphy. The charges are beyond shocking and the acts they describe are heinous. And these are just the cases made public and over the last few weeks. To be sure, this is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

Despite being plagued by years of sexual scandal, the Church remains cavalier in its denial and arrogant defense of itself and of its failed self-policing mechanisms. It acts as if it's above the law and shrouds itself in secrecy, and its predatory monsters are afforded leniencies and forgiveness no other common criminal would receive. For example, Murphy, in a letter to the CDF, begged "I am seventy-two years of age, your Eminence, and am in poor health. I have just recently suffered another stroke which has left me in a weakened state. I have followed all the directives of both Archbishop Cousins and now Archbishop Weakland. I have repented of any of my past transgressions, and have been living peaceably in northern Wisconsin for twenty-four years. I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood. I ask your kind assistance in this matter." He died in 1998, still a priest. After his death, Archbishop Weakland appealed to the Vatican to close the case: "...This Discastery commends Father Murphy to the mercy of God. And shares with you the hope that the Church will be spared any undue publicity from this matter."

What's infuriating here was Murphy's unbridled arrogance; after sexually violating over 200 young boys he felt confident enough in the Church's tolerance of these despicable crimes to ask to live out his years with the "dignity of my priesthood." Were the 200 boys left with any dignity? And it's nice to know that the Church apparently cared more about bad PR than deaf kids being attacked by this 'dignified priest.' As an aside, Rule #1 of effective PR is this: first admit the problem, then describe the aggressive measures being taken to fix the problem, and then assure that the problem won't ever happen again. That's what the Church should be doing if it's truly concerned about PR.

Upsetting as well is the excuse-making and bait-and-switching coming from the lay community. Case in point William McGurn's op-ed piece in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal in which he writes that Jeff Anderson, a victims' lawyer in the Milwaukee abuse case, has a history of suing the Church in other abuses cases: "...it's hard to think of anyone with a greater financial interest in promoting the public narrative of a church that takes zero action against abuser priests, with Pope Benedict XVI personally culpable." McGurn clearly finds it more relevant to assassinate the character of the lawyer in this abuse case rather than be outraged over the abuses, and the abusers, themselves. His position is symbolic of the overall unwillingness of the Church, and its supporters, to directly address its sexual abuse problem while blaming others.

There's also this preposterous notion that priests will not molest little children if we simply allowed them to marry and have opposite-sex relationships. The ridiculousness of this supposition is just another example of the colossal denial in religious circles. Let's be very clear about one thing: heterosexual marriage does not cure homosexuality and pedophilia. Our prisons are filled with lots of "normal" married folk who just also happen to sexually abuse children. We've got to stop looking for reasons to justify and excuse this vile behavior and instead focus on implementing real reforms that will identify, prosecute and punish the abusers.

Perhaps most infuriating is how Church officials have vociferously defended the Pope, who they claim has been a harsh and outspoken critic of the "filth" that infests the Church, citing him as an architect and promoter of reform. But it's gonna take a helluva lot more than mere words or public outcries from the Holy See to end the rampant molestation of children by its priests. We can no longer live with the double-standard that currently exists and which protects priests from punishment for their disgusting crimes and does so in a shameful covert cover-up manner. Repentance, demotions to desk duty, and other meaningless slaps on the wrist are inexcusable. These undeserved courtesies are an outrageous insult to victims, and do nothing but perpetuate the circle of horrific abuse. One thing must change immediately: whether your white collar comes from JC Penney or the Vatican, if you sexually abuse children you should rot in jail. Period.

On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Conservative Lynch Mob Gunning for Michael Steele: More Political Racism?

I'm willing to bet my life's savings that, back in 2008 when Michael Steele was elected head of the RNC, many people on both sides of the aisle were as incredulous as I in seeing a black man leading this almost entirely white political party. A party that seemingly cares about the struggles and needs of blacks and other minorities about as much as Saddam did Shiites.

At the time, it was painfully clear that Republican officials focused not on Steele's qualifications and overall merit in putting him in charge, but rather their sense of urgency and political expediency in having a black face of the party as they battled fiercely with the Democrats and then-candidate Barack Obama. It was, and embarrassingly/shamefully so, their proud "see, we have black folks too!" moment. But they couldve put rapper Jay-Z atop the RNC and it still wouldn't have attracted black voters, which was clearly their goal with Steele's dubious appointment.

And now, in the wake of the RNC's new sex club scandal, these rueful conservatives are calling for Steele's head, all too happy to throw him under the bus and effectively reversing a decision that no one truly liked in the first place. I mean, a black man running the RNC?! A party with not one elected black U.S. Congressman or Senator? A party which received just 4% of the black vote in '08's presidential election? Gosh darnit, what were these crazy whiteys thinking!? What kind of boneheaded 'hopey-changey' thing was that?!

So now the Voyeur club scandal--where party officials expensed thousands of dollars at this Los Angeles sex and "bondage" emporium--is conservatives' chance to fire the black dude nobody ever really wanted anyway, and who had a bulls eye on his back from day-one. And this campaign, like the ridiculously disproportionate Tea Party vitriol over healthcare reform, is no doubt heavily rooted in racism.

Now of course, in their defense, Republicans will say, "How can we be racist in axing Steele if he was black when when we elected him?!" Normally, that would be a fairly plausible argument. But in Steele's case, his appointment was just as racist, for he was handed the reins not because of his overwhelming qualifications, but because of his skin color, which was a cheap, calculated ploy in seeking minority voters. The intended message was clear: "We'll put this unqualified black man in charge of an all-white party and you dumb minority folk will be duped into our make-believe 'big tent' and magically come out Republican." That's not racist, you say?


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

SpitGate: It Was Just Projectile Drool, I Swear!

As the controversial healthcare reform bill was being debated in Washington two Sundays ago, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a black Democrat from Missouri, claims he was spit on outside the Capitol by an enraged white Tea Party protester. The accusation has sparked heated passions on both sides, with Democrats condemning the vile behavior while Republicans uniformly accuse Cleaver of lying. Right wing talking heads Sean Hannity and others have spent hours of radio and TV time mitigating the circumstances and denying the despicable act occurred. Tea Party groups have even offered cash rewards for evidence of said spitting. One conservative lightweight, Sirius Satellite Radio's Andrew Wilkow, arrogantly barked "This did not happen," as if he was there and witnessed the whole thing, and claimed it was more of a "say it don't spray it" fluke in which a "spit-like" fluid came out of the angry, screaming protester's mouth as the Congressman passed him on the Capitol steps. Yes, my Republican friends, this is nothing more than projectile drool, right?

Well, below is new video of the alleged spitting. I admit, it's pretty hard to tell if the enraged Tea Bagger intentionally spit on the Congressman. But some highly suspect circumstantial evidence clearly exists: (1) Cleaver obviously is either a great physical actor or some "spit-like" fluid definitely hit him in the face as he passed the protester, causing his entire body to jerk away from the accused; (2) the angry, visceral reaction from Cleaver to the protester clearly signals that something very bad had just happened. Something beyond simple partisan, anti-reform shouting; (3) notice how the protester's hands are strategically cupped over his mouth, which would conveniently conceal the act of spitting. Keep in mind that both men at this point are perhaps two feet away from each other, which would mean the rabid protester's vein-popping shouting at Cleaver would easily be heard sans hand-cupping, and that such distance might also make the "spray it" theory a bit of a stretch; (4) After he passes, Cleaver begins to wipe something off his face in disgust. Again, great acting?



Maybe, just maybe, this cretin actually did spit on Cleaver. And to be sure, he clearly did something highly offensive to the Congressman. Why can't Republicans then, out of simple human decency, just acknowledge and condemn this unacceptable behavior? They can't. It's not in their DNA. The vitriolic response from the right over SpitGate is therefore no surprise. The rush to unequivocally deny the occurrence, while simultaneously attacking Cleaver's credibility, reputation and motives, is despicable and shameful.

If Democrats Were Republican

Bi-partisanship. In the current political climate, it's but a mere fantasy. While President Obama and the Democrats seemingly want it, Republicans would rather choke on their own vomit than support anything brought into the Beltway on a Donkey. Fortunately, the left controls much of the power these days, but if it took a page out of the GOP playbook, it might throw down a much tighter, more effective offense. In an age where fight fire with fire is needed more than ever, Democrats typically take the higher road.

The simple truth is, when Republican politicians want to get something done--be it pass or prevent legislation, defeat opposition candidates, or wage war--they march in lockstep down Pennsylvania Avenue, doing everything in their power to succeed including exaggerate, deceive, cheat, lie and character assassinate.

Republicans are masterful at labeling, framing debates, and creating catch phrases and crafty soundbytes that are quite effective and stick with voters. Some of their greatest hits: birthers, truthers, "death panels," cries of "socialism," "radical agendas," "healthcare rationing," "government takeovers," "Armageddon," "aiding the terrorists," WMD and "mushroom clouds."

The recent highly contentious battle over the health care bill is a prime example of this main difference between Republicans and Democrats. They've somehow convinced a majority of voters that the bill will force them to give up their preferred healthcare provider, switch doctors, pay more, kill Granny and have Obama dictate which procedures they can have. Of course, this is all pure, unadulterated GOP bullshit, but it works.

So I have an idea for Obama and the Dems as they embark on financial reform, the next mission on the progressive/liberal agenda: How about ramming home the following talking points:?

-"If financial reform fails, Republicans will succeed in doing away with the FDIC, and your savings will lose this guaranteed protection."

-"We need financial reform because Republicans want to allow Wall Street executives to put your bank savings into high-risk investments and you could lose your life savings."

-"Republicans allowed Wall Street executives to steal from the government and are now paying themselves big fat bonuses with YOUR money."

-"While you're struggling to make ends meet, or may even be out of work, Republicans and their fatcat Wall Street pals are making more money than ever...off of YOUR back."

-"Republicans want to allow banks to raise credit card interest rates to 30% if you're late with one payment."

-"Republicans want to raise the minimum down-payment on home purchases to 30% or higher."

-"Small businesses will suffer if Republicans have their way and allow banks to restrict credit lines to only the largest corporations."

Sounds a lot like dire warnings of "death panels," "government takeovers" and "Armageddon" you say? Exactly. Oh yeah, that's right, I forgot. Democrats take the high road....


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

What's Really Behind the Health Care Hate?

Can it really be that health care reform in and of itself is the true cause of the massive vitriolic rage spewing from conservatives today? Is the Tea Party movement really about runaway government spending? Have the chilling faces of hate seen at protests across America truly been about a public option? If you ask me, it has way more to do with an ugly truth that few are willing to acknowledge: it's about a bunch of angry, bigoted white racists who see reform as little more than a black president doling out more welfare to other blacks and minorities (as the photo above, which is all over the 'net, suggests).

It's shocking to me to witness this rage over health care reform when not a peep's been uttered by these right-wing loons for the past seven years over an unjust war in Iraq that's killed thousands of U.S. soldiers, wounded and maimed tens of thousands of others, and squandered nearly a trillion dollars. Health care reform is what's heatedly brought these heretofore silent Americans into the political ring? I'm not buyin' it, sorry. Once again, racism is rearing its ugly head. Have you seen these protesters? The things they do and say? Shouting racial epithets and anti-gay slurs, and spitting at lawmakers. So angry that blood vessels are popping in their necks. Faces contorted in hatred. Screaming like animals and calling for the deaths of elected Democrats. All over health care? Really? Have we become so politically correct as a nation as to be so afraid to call this shameful behavior exactly what it is? Not me. This blatant racism makes me sick, and I'm not afraid to call it out.

The grass roots bigotry mobs first surfaced during the 2008 presidential campaign, and included the birthers/truthers (denying President Obama's citizenship) and those who attacked him and Michelle on every conceivable despicable level. The post-election movement picked up steam during last Summer's Town Hall meetings where the flames of intense anger and hatred were recklessly stoked. Almost one year and the passage of the reform bill later, and things have sadly and shamefully gotten much worse.

Former Alaska Governor and GOP presidential running-mate Sarah Palin has become perhaps the biggest perpetrator of rabble-rousing hate-speak more than anyone save for media blowhard Rush Limbaugh. She started this campaign during the election when she relentlessly incited her ignorant lemming base with claims that Obama was a radical socialist who palled around with terrorists. This week she announced her "target list" of vulnerable Democrats, marking a U.S. map with reprehensible rifle-scope bulls eyes of the districts she believes are in play. "Don't retreat, re-load," she urges. Is she speaking in code to the psychos who showed up at Obama rallies last year with rifles and machine guns?

This ruthless campaign of disrespect and hate continued and built momentum last fall when Rep. Joe Wilson (SC) barked "You lie" during Obama's address to Congress when he assured that the health care bill would not cover illegal aliens.

More recently, in the House Chamber during last week's health care debate, Texas Rep. Randy Neugebauer shouted "baby killer" as Michigan Rep. Bart Stupak, who reversed his vote on the measure after receiving a compromise over the controversial abortion-funding issue, took the podium.

This week alone, in the wake of the reform bill's passage, there've been numerous verbal attacks, acts of vandalism and death threats aimed at Democrats. A caller to Stupak's office left this outrageously offensive message in the lawmaker's office:

"Ah yes, um, congressman Stupak, you baby-killin' motherfucker...you turncoat son-of-a-bitch piece of shit. I hope you bleed out your ass, get cancer and die, you motherfucker. You do not...you do not say that you're pro-life and then for a few bucks, go turncoat and hurt the country, you motherfucking piece of shit. You bastard. Motherfucker. I hope you die."

A female caller left this voicemail on Arizona Rep. Harry Mitchell's machine: "Hi Mr. Mitchell. For the rest of your life, with the vote that you cast, you are going to have to look over your shoulder for as long as you live in this district. You are always going to have to look over your fucking shoulder because people in your district hate your fucking face. And don't you forget it. You have riled up peoples' rage. We are filled with rage and hate, today, towards you, hate like we have never, ever felt. I love my insurance company, and to have you come in between me and my fucking doctor. I cannot tell you how much I wish a panty bomber would come, would come in and just blow your fucking place up." Listen to her venomous rage. It'd perhaps be 1/10th understandable if she had a fucking clue what the hell she was talking about, which makes these attacks even more infuriating and shocking.

In Brooklyn Thursday, FBI hazmat crews were dispatched to New York Rep. Anthony Weiner's office after he received an envelope containing a suspicious white powder. Additionally, Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello's brother's house was vandalized after conservative blogs incorrectly identified it as belonging to the Congressman.

And what does ubiquitous House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA) have to say about these despicable acts waged against the opposition? "It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain....By ratcheting up the rhetoric, some will only inflame these situations to dangerous levels." So let's get this straight: Cantor's chosen to condemn what he believes is the left's exploitation of these heinous acts, not the actual acts themselves. Talk about posturing for political gain.

Adding insult to injury, Fox's resident wackjob Glen Beck accused Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats of trying to get themselves killed for political expediency's sake: "I can guarantee you they walked out and said...what the hell do you have to do to these people to get them to kill us?"

Jeez Louise, what the hell is wrong with these people? Have they all gone mad? It's become abundantly clear that the Republican Party has been utterly hijacked by its far, far, far right-wing fringe lunatic faction. And the only notable voice of reason on the right to highlight this dangerous, suicidal behavior is former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, who was fired Thursday from conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute a day after he had the balls to criticize his own party in an op-ed piece for CNN: "We went the radical way looking for Waterloo and it looks like we arrived at Waterloo." There's obviously no room in the party for voices of reason.

When will the madness stop, when the incendiary rhetoric and violent metaphors turn to actual horrific violence? Before the unthinkable occurs, the leaders of the Republican Party--Cantor, Rep. John Boehner, Sen. Mitch McConnell, RNC Chair Michael Steele, etc--have a moral obligation and civic duty to put an end to the hate speak flame-fanning amongst the electorate and within its own ranks. Enough's enough.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Republican Crybabies Meet Their Waterloo

In the wake of the passage of President Obama's historic health care reform bill, and over the next seven months before the midterm elections, the administration and the Democratic Party must effectively educate the American public on exactly what comprises the measure and how it will affect individuals and small businesses alike. Obama must convince voters of the significant benefits, especially as the Republican party gears up its "repeal" engine.

Fortunately for Democrats, seven months in politics is an eternity, leaving plenty of time for voters to actually decide for themselves whether or not the bill, as House Minority Leader John Boehner in an Oscar-worthy performance gravely warned, will have caused "Armageddon" and will "ruin our country." They'll see, for example, that they didn't have to switch insurance plans or doctors, as GOP propaganda has claimed. Or that the dreaded "death panels" were nothing more than Republican scare tactics. It's more likely by November that voters will no longer be operating in the current vacuum, and will be more knowledgeable about reform and the positive impact on their lives.

But make no mistake, it's going to be an ugly seven months. Republicans are like scared, cornered powerless rats right now, and they've already begun to show their campaign cards. Seething over Democrats' unilateral passage of the bill, Arizona Sen. John McCain angrily vowed this week to defiantly oppose everything Obama and the party puts forth going forward. "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year." And Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander (TN) gave a sneak peek into the sleazy GOP playbook by suggesting that routine insurance problems will be deceptively attributed to reform. "Insurance premiums are going to go up normally, and millions of Americans are going to experience higher premiums. All this is going to be coming, and the health care bill is going to get blamed for a lot of it."

Personally, if this is the tact the GOP is going to take in its insatiable hunger to regain power, I'm all for it. Nothing like positioning yourselves as crybaby, sore-losing, self-serving obstructionist do-nothings hellbent on selling your souls, and the nation's best interests, in order to win a few House and Senate seats. So much for McCain's "country first" campaign promise. As we've seen this week, what truly comes first is the coffers of their fatcat corporate special-interest pals and the personal bank accounts of their rich, tax-loathing constituency. Fuck the poor, the middle class, the sick, the needy, the uninsured. I got mine, now go get yours. At least we know what matters most to these selfish elitists.

Last July Republican Sen. Jim DeMint (SC) arrogantly predicted that health care reform would fail and become Obama's "Waterloo" and that "it will break him." With this week's victory and the political capital its bestowed on the president, even conservatives like American Enterprise Institute fellow David Frum fear that Republicans have not just blown an unprecedented opportunity to help shape major policy, but also served to empower Obama, which is the exact opposite of what they aimed to accomplish. "The political imperative crowded out the policy imperative. And the Republicans have now lost both." He said Obama's health care victory is now the Republicans' Waterloo. "We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat."

Yes, I'd really love to see the GOP run on a repeal platform. Because I wonder exactly which parts of the bill Americans will want to give up next year. The ban on being denied coverage due to pre-existing illness? Doing away with lifetime caps? The ability to keep children on the family plan up to age 26? The subsidizing of senior citizens' "donut hole" prescription drug coverage? Seems pretty unlikely that enough voters beyond the hard-core Tea Bag zealots will hop on the "hey-let's-repeal-all-these-awesome-new-protections" bandwagon.

So what happens next? Obama needs to craft a propaganda campaign of his own. He can start with what I call the "Repeal the Lies" PR campaign:

Lie #1: The reform bill is a government takeover of the health care industry:

There's no government takeover of anything, just an extension of the existing system. A system that includes programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans benefits/coverage, and Social Security. People will still get to choose their own private insurance, doctors and procedures.

Lie #2: The health care bill is nothing but socialism or socialized medicine:

Ridiculous. How can a bill which hands 32-million new customers to private, for-profit insurance companies be socialism? What's more, if this is socialism, then the true socialists are U.S. Senators and Congressman, who are current beneficiaries of this "socialized medicine." Fear-mongers like McCain, Alexander and Boehner conveniently forget to tell Americans that they are current recipients of this "governemnt takeover", and quite happily so. I guess it's a cool perk when you get free government health care but it's a socialist nightmare when those lazy poor and middle class folks get it.

Lie #3: Health care reform will swell the nation's already massive debt:

Untrue. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill will reduce the defecit by $143 billion over ten years.

Lie #4: The bill will result in higher taxes for small businesses:

Again untrue. The majority of small businesses in America employ less than 50 people, and these companies will receive tax credits, not increases. It is the large health, drug and medical device companies, as well as tanning salons (yes, tanning salons) who'll be hit with tax hikes.

Lie #5: The bill is the result of corrupt back-room "Cornhusker" deal-making and bribes to states like Nebraska and Louisiana for extra Medicaid money:

There are no such deals in the bill. Period.

So, Obama has a great story to tell here, and a lot of lies to dispel. And as NY Times columnist David Brooks wrote Tuesday, the president can remind America that thanks to this 100% Democratic bill, "millions of working families will go to bed at night knowing that they are not an illness away from financial ruin."


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

What the Health Care Vote Says About the Parties

Let's face it, what the health care reform bill vote really boils down to is this: Democrats want to help people, Republicans only care about their personal wealth and keeping their taxes low. There's no other way to explain a 100% partisan vote on the historic legislation that passed in the House Sunday night.

I'll take it even an ugly step further: it's about racism. Bigotry. Anger over welfare, which is precisely how the anti-reformists and tea baggers see the measure. It's all about ignorant middle-class whites frothing at the mouth over the belief that they'll have to pay for someone else's coverage...in particular poor minorities.

It was horrifying to witness these protesting tea bag cretins spitting at and hurling vile racial and anti-gay slurs at Reps. Barney Frank (MA), Andre Carson (IN) and John Lewis (GA) as they entered "the people's House" to cast their votes. Carson reported hearing the N-word fifteen times. How surreal it must've been for Lewis who, forty-five years ago, was beaten and bloodied as he marched for civil rights. And while prominent Republicans like House Minority Leader John Boehner (OH) condemned Sunday's behavior as "reprehensible," it's been precisely their propaganda and incendiary rhetoric that's fueled the "grass roots" vitriol for the past year.

The healthcare debate is a lesson in fear-mongering. Chock full of GOP scare tactics from death panels to government takeovers and socialized medicine. I'm still waiting for one of these shameless distortionists to explain how handing 32-million new customers to private insurance companies constitutes socialized medicine, or a government takeover of anything. In fact, a convincing argument could be made that the health care bill is actually pro-business. Those who stand to gain the most are the insurance companies, the pharmaceuticals, hospitals and doctors. Not exactly what you'd call a Marxist revolution.

In the wake of defeat, Boehner and Company are whining over other objections as well. They say the bill defies public opinion, and that President Obama and Democrats are arrogantly and unilaterally deciding what's best for America. But these are the same pols who cheered and rallied when former president George W. Bush proudly boasted that he governs with his conscience and not according to public opinion polls.

The Boehner crowd also decries the parliamentary tactic known as budget reconciliation, where just 50 votes instead of the filibuster-proof 60 is needed, and how the healthcare bill will pass in the Senate this week. But it's been Republican majorities who've pushed through 16 of the 22 bills that have passed under this process. I guess reconciliation's a bitch when it's not your party doing the bomb-dropping.

There are other arguments as well, such as how the bill will lead to skyrocketing costs and massive debt. But the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis made public last week concluded that the measure will actually reduce the deficit by $143-billion over 10 years. But why let facts spoil GOP opinion, right?

Look, we already have Medicare, Medicaid and government-funded health insurance for veterans. We also have government-mandated auto insurance. So there's nothing terribly ground-breaking or radical here. Which is why all the drivel about socialism and radicalism is equal parts despicable and laughable.

The message from Sunday night's vote is quite simple, and it should be aggressively and relentlessly pounded into Americans' heads at every possible turn by Obama and the party as it moves closer to November's election: "The Democratic Party once again is the party that cares about you, your children, your elderly parents, your health, your education and your overall welfare. Which is why it took 219 of us, without one single vote from Republicans, to ensure that you will never ever again have to worry about not having health insurance or being denied coverage. Americans owe Democrats a big Thank You." That's right, a big thank you. Obama and the Democrats must proudly take 100% credit for this historic piece of legislation and run with it all the way to the midterms. Let the GOP run on repealing it, as Boehner threatens. Let's see where that gets 'em.

Representing his sore-losing, crybaby party, Boehner Sunday night lamented, "The American people are angry. This body moves forward against their will. Shame on us." He's right. He and his party should be utterly ashamed of themselves for being a bunch of lying, deceiving, self-serving elitists who don't give a shit about anything but their pocketbooks. That's right John, shame on you.

What "Pro Life" Really Means

A coalition of Catholic nuns took a very brave stand this week by defying church hierarchy in support of the Senate's healthcare reform bill. In a letter to Congress, the leaders of more than fifty Catholic women's orders and organizations, including the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents over 53,000 American Catholic nuns, urged lawmakers to pass the measure.

The bill is opposed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, conservatives, and the Congressional Republican minority, mainly over whether government-funded/subsidized insurance policies should cover abortions.

In supporting the bill, the nuns have taken the controversial abortion issue, the subject of intense and often violent debate since 1973's Supreme Court passage of Roe v Wade, and are using the Catholic Church's "pro-life" stance as the very same justification for passage of healthcare reform.

"We agree that there shouldn't be any federal funding of abortion," said Sister Simone Campbell, of Sisters of Social Service, and also executive director of Network, the national Catholic group behind the effort. "From our reading of the bill, there isn't any federal funding of abortion."

But here's the truly incredible, groundbreaking part of Campbell's comments: "For us, first of all, tens of thousands of people are dying each year because they don't have access to healthcare, so that is a life issue."

Finally, a logical, practical interpretation from some in the religious community of what it truly means to be "pro-life." Kudos to Sister Campbell and the 53,000+ other nuns for focusing on the millions of uninsured Americans, and those who die each year as result of poor or no healthcare, and for considering what their lives are worth.

Tiger Woods: 18 Holes Here I Come!

Isn't America great!? It's truly the land of Evelyn Wood-style public relations rehabilitation. In announcing his April 8th return to the Masters tournament Tuesday, golf legend Tiger Woods proved once again that, when it comes to money over morality, it's all about the Benjamin's, and always will be.

As "Wall Street's" Gordon Gekko famously opined, "Greed is good." And Tiger's comeback clearly demonstrates how quickly the greedy, bored, desperate golf industry--fans included--will welcome him back with open arms,

Americans have short memories, and debauching celebrities and politicians are all too happy to give the public what it wants. The scandal pages are littered with famous folk who've done the crime and seemingly not paid much time. Pervy back-biting sodomizing NBA announcer Marv Albert was "fired" by NBC yet back less than two years later. Uber-hypocrite slut-hound Eliot Spitzer, New York's former attorney general, returned to the spotlight after a two year absence and is now a broadcast political analyst and bizarre defender of hooker-cheating vs. cheating-cheating. And Woods' extramarital Olympics has taken infidelity to a whole new dimension. Yet, here he is, back after a measly four month self-imposed exile, ready for Main Street and Madison Avenue to fall in love all over again. What's next, John Edwards running for Congress this Summer?

I'm no PR guru, but it's become painfully clear that a high-profile fall-from-grace needs only to follow a very simple road to redemption: issue a quick website-based public acknowledgement of the scandal and ask for privacy for your family; stage a dramatic and controlled press conference a few weeks later to offer up your half-hearted mea culpa; spend a few weeks in rehab; tease the media-whores about a possible return; and then a few weeks later announce said return. Yes, Virginia, it's that easy.

So let's just stop all the dramatic death-knelling every time one of our beloved heroes is literally caught with his proverbial pants down. They'll come back. They always come back. Just ask the crack-smokin, hoe-bangin' Mr. 3-Hour-Motel-Room-Special himself, Marion Barry.

The Presidential Cigarettes

President Obama last Sunday had his first medical exam since becoming commander-in-Chief. The results? He's in great physical shape, albeit for high cholesterol and a continuing nicotine addiction. The president wants to quit smoking, but he simply can't.

Last June, Obama called himself a "former smoker" who occasionally "slips up" and has a cigarette. And on Monday Press Secretary Robert Gibbs admitted Obama "occasionally falls of the wagon when it comes to that," but added that the president "continues to chew nicotine gum."

I find the president's failure to quit smoking fascinating. Obama's a man who's seemingly been able to accomplish in life everything he's wanted, demonstrating unwavering discipline, resolve and ambition. Born of mixed race parents who divorced when he was young, Obama's defied the massive odds against him to become America's first black president. He was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He became a U.S. Senator at age 43 and almost immediately began campaigning for the most powerful job in the world. This is a guy who looks adversity in the face and says, bring it on. Someone who says, I can instead of I can't. So why the heck does he find it so hard to quit smoking?

Truth be told, I will never be president. I'm just not smart enough, and I lack the temperament and self-control needed. I would've called John McCain a dick in the opening minutes of the very first debate. Or when Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yelled "You're a liar!" at Obama during his health-care address to Congress last year, instead of mentaly counting to five and then responding with a sheepish "Not true" as the prez did, I'd have grabbed my nuts and yelled "Lie this, asshole!" But, I did quite smoking 18 years ago, and cold turkey no less. So why can't Obama, a guy who seemingly can do anything he sets his mind to?

The answer is simple: cigarettes are the glue that keeps Obama sane. It's his one major vice. It's how Mr. Cool-as-a-Cucumber keeps from losing it. When Obama lights up a butt, it's not just smoke that gets filtered, but an ungodly amount of negativity and stress heaped on him from two wars, a near economic depression, the burden of health care reform and the looming November midterms, where his far-reaching coattails will likely carry his party to success or failure at the polls. So when he exhales that smoke, he's also exhaling the monumental pressures of the job. Honestly, I think without smoking, this guy cracks.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Obama/Democrats: Stop Kissing Republicans' Asses and Just Pass the Dang Health Care Bill Already!

For an incredible, unprecedented six hours Thursday President Obama presided over a much ballyhooed health-care forum with Republican rivals who have as much intention of helping him pass his reform bill as I have of slicing off my own lips with a box-cutter. So why the effort then? Because for some apparently deeply-psychologically-rooted reason, Obama and the Democrats are on an embarrassing, futile quest for bi-partisanship that's starting to make them look about as emotionally needy as an insecure 5-year-old relentlessly seeking parental adulation and approval. But with Republicans, it's never going to come. Ever. Period. The only thing they are going to help him do is fail. So to the president and Democratic leaders I have three words: stop...kissing...ass. Just drop the nuclear option--reconciliation--on 'em and get this damned health-care bill passed already. Enough's enough.

Reconciliation is a parliamentary tactic which in essence allows the majority party to pass certain legislation--that which impacts the federal budget--with just 51 Senate votes instead of the filibuster-proof 60. With Democrats in control and threatening to use this weapon to ultimately pass reform, Republicans are outraged and crying foul. Yet 16 of the 22 bills passed this way since its adoption in 1974 came under Republican majorities, including former President Bush's tax cuts. Reconciliation is so popular among Republicans that New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg said in 2005, "Is there something wrong with 'majority rules'? I don't think so." He was referring to his support of the GOP using reconciliation to pass legislation allowing drilling in Alaska's Arctic Wildlife Refuge.

But Sen. Gregg now sings a different tune over health-care reform: "The purpose of the Senate on something this complex and this comprehensive is to be a place where you have debate and you have amendments. And if you have a decent bill you shouldn’t fear them." Sorry pal, can't have it both ways. If reconciliation was acceptable under Republican majorities, then so shall it be under Harry Reid's Democratic Senate. Can you say, colossal hypocrite?

Obama needs to stop pussyfooting around with The Party of No. He needs to stop seeking the Republicans' approval on everything he campaigned on and believes in. He needs to stop wasting precious time trying to convince the unconvincable that they should partner with him on his historic health-care legislation. He needs to grow some balls, quite frankly, and just get the job done, one way or another.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.