Ms. (Robin) Smith, you should face the facts about your party, the party that has now become known as "the party of hate."
Your party
under George W. Bush and Dick Cheney has almost brought America to its lowest ebb of all time. Your party is a party of par-tisan vitriol. Your party has an insatiable desire for power. Your party seems happy to root for the economy to fail and the govern-ment to suffer. You and your party would love to say, "I told you so." Your party issues on a daily basis partisan drivel that is un-American and unpatriotic. You and your gang wince when you hear anything positive about your adversaries. Your party leaders and followers are pessimistic, negative, and boorish. You espouse mostly politically-rooted propaganda. Your party is in utter denial of the truth and dead wrong on every important issue.
Your hatred of liberals is unfounded but palpable. Your mouths water at the hope that Obama will fail. You all are oblivious to reality. To harm Obama and his government, you all would be willing to lose more jobs, more home values, more investment dollars, and more corporate sales. You all have a party-first mentality, whether right or wrong.
It looks as if all of you Republicans and conservatives would enjoy seeing America fail. Obama is having to work to try to solve major problems left by Bush and Cheney and you and your party should try to show a little support and some appreciation. Obama's Nobel Prize has just been one more thing for all of you to hate. That is why you have become characterized as "The Party of Hate."
It looks like the economy is about to turn around, no thanks to any of you, and when it does, will you rejoice or weep? Bah. Humbug.
Mildred Perry Miller
* * *
Democrats seem to love spouting hate and insults while calling others hate mongers, intolerant, etc. Liberals all support free speech, that is unless the speech is something with which they disagree. I seem to recall Democrats being highly critical and often viciously insulting of George W. Bush, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan to the point of being aggressive.
A skit ran on Saturday Night Live years ago in which Santa was not going to deliver toys to the red states (Republican majority) while he referred to the red states as "Dumb ****istan." Isn't that hilarious? I mean, it is not like there was any real insult or maliciousness intended by the obviously liberal Democrat writers, right? I remember Tom Daschle and David Bonior talking about the "draconian budget cuts" the Republicans got passed in the mid-1990's. Never mind the fact that the "cuts" were actually reductions in the increases such as reducing the increase in a program from 11% annually to 7%. Democrats, in their infinite financial wisdom, called that a "cut."
I remember when Newt Gingrich was referred to as the "Gingrich Who Stole Christmas" when the government shut down because Clinton would not sign the budget presented by Congress. It was later disclosed through White House memoranda that this was a tactical move made by Clinton all along to use in his re-election campaign. The exodus of American jobs started when? It was when Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law, something the labor unions who have supported any and all Democrats, seem to have forgotten. Further, has everyone forgotten that it was Bill Clinton who could have taken out Osama bin Laden with a simple "Do it," during his administration? Clinton was busy at a campaign fundraiser at a country club and did not want to be bothered with such insignificant issues as eliminating one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world. Sandy Berger, National Security Advisor under Clinton, has spoken openly and angrily about this incident.
As for the "mess left behind by Bush," again, some facts need to be injected into this issue. It was Bill Clinton, not George Bush, who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act which deregulated banking in 1999. The repeal of this act enabled banks to also be in the securities and insurance businesses. In other words, losses from bad loans, bad investments, and insurance claims could all fall upon one company, the same company where people kept their money. No conflict of interest there. Clinton did this with the assistance of Chris Dodd, D-CT, Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, and Barney Frank, D-MA. It was Barney Frank, after statements made by HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo, D-NY, who pressured Congress into forcing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start including sub-prime mortgages in their secondary mortgage markets so that investors would be buying them as well. Many pension plans and similar investments were invested in the previously secure mortgage markets. Starting in 2004, it was the Democrats who fought against Republicans seeking tighter regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both run by dyed in the wool Democrats at the time, as Republicans were calling into question the financial statements they were seeing.
Who ended up being right? Hint: it was not the Democrats. Republicans also expressed concern over the increase in the sub-prime loans that had been originated for several years prior. Democrats, such as Maxine Waters and, in 2006, a junior senator from Illinois, named Barack Obama, made sure that a Congressional vote on this issue never occurred. Let us not forget that it was the "partner" of Barney Frank, Herb Moses, who was the Assistant Director for Product Initiatives at Fannie Mae. Basically, Barney Frank was pushing something just because his boyfriend happened to serve in that facet of the mortgage business at Fannie Mae. I seem to recall that some really bad stuff happened in the mortgage industry that could have been prevented with tighter regulation but the details seem fuzzy. It could not have been because of something caused by Democrats, could it?
Republicans do not want to see America fail. Republicans do not necessarily want to see Obama fail, although I would not mind it since he is, by far, the least qualified president to ever be sworn in, which is a fact, not an opinion. No, Republicans want to see the destructive policies of the current administration fail. I find it interesting that Senator Obama was saying in September of 2008 that GM filing for bankruptcy was a bad idea no doubt largely because Senator Bob Corker, one of the few congressmen who actually made his money in business, not by suing businesses over "wrongful termination," was saying it was the only way to go about handing the GM situation. After Obama got into the White House, suddenly, GM filing bankruptcy was the only option that made sense. Ah, policy of convenience, the sign of a "true leader." This was of course after the Democratic majority in congress had pushed through billions of dollars to an ailing GM. Long story short is the Mr. Obama is now throwing trillions of dollars (borrowed mostly from China) at problems that he helped create. While Mr. Bush did not do a good job, Republicans had little or nothing to do with the mortgage meltdown that created the domino effect we are seeing. We can all thank Democrats for this situation.
Joel Walker
* * *
Ms. Miller, you sure lay a lot of blame with the Republicans. As I see it from a Republican point of view there is a lot of “hate” from the Democrats' side too.
Amazingly what the Democrats say you take as a whole truth and not a single bit as misinformation. As for seeing America fail, that is not only a farce but the furthest thing from the truth.
But I do take offense in what you did say – “To harm Obama and his government…” It seems to me that the American government is not a one-man show. The government is to represent the people all 300+ million of them. This is not his government - this is his job and he better start doing a better job at it or we will begin to see the split that has already started in the Democratic Party and continue to split this country down the middle as we have seen in the past.
David F. Tippit II
Georgetown
tippcity454@hotmail.com
* * *
The posting by Mildred Perry Miller, is just basically her hate of George Bush and Dick Cheney. She makes no mention of past Republicans and the good they have done.
She ignores Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who ended slavery.
She ignores Richard Nixon, a Republican, who implemented the Philadelphia Plan, the first significant federal affirmative action program in 1970.
How about a fine example of a Democrat? Woodrow Wilson, Democrat. He signed a bill making miscegenation a felony in the District of Columbia. He also authorized that federal employment seekers must have photos with applications in order to discriminate between African American and Whites. Wilson's attitude to race throughout his presidency was the rights of African-Americans were sacrificed, for what he felt would be the more important longer term progress of the common good.
Let's stop the Bush Cheney bashing. It is getting old. Let's face the reality of today's problems.
Dwayne Cales
Hixson
* * *
What has improved in the last year? Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn’t unemployment increased? Isn’t the value of a dollar currently at an all time low? (The dollar bills in my pocket certainly feel that way).
I believe it was the Clinton administration that caused the housing crisis. What has the current administration repaired or solved? It appears to me that they have done nothing more than throw money away. The term “a trillion” has been used more and more. I guess “a trillion” isn’t much when he just can have the printers turned on. The winning of the Nobel Peace Prize was laughable at best. I heard he is in the running for MVP of the Super Bowl as well!
The head of the current administration has made headlines more in the past year than Brittany Spears in the past four years. I thought that would be unobtainable by anyone. He is a “Celebrity”, not a Commander In Chief. He started his career as a “Community Organizer.” What exactly is that?
I am well aware he has a long hard journey to return the U.S. to what it once was. I, however, do not believe it was all caused by the Bush Administration. You can’t simply throw money at things in hopes of fixing them. Anyone in business should know that. I truly feel for our future generations. I feel for my 9 year old son. The current administration’s spending will empty everyone’s pockets for many years to come. The Republican Party is not the Party of Hate. The Republican Party appears to be a little more conservative to say the least and more realistic. People need to take care of themselves and take responsibility for their own actions. I agree health care needs a major improvement, but, however, this bill will be another “trillion” thrown away.
Josh Mantooth
heardacry@yahoo.com
* * *
Was reading Ms. Mildred Miller's article and she was right on what she thinks Of the party wanting our country to fall. It is hard to think after they had it for eight years and now is a no party.
Dorothy Weikel
* * *
Well, let's see, Newt Gingrich had divorce papers served on his wife while she was in the hospital with cancer, John McCain divorced his wife after she stood by him all the years he was a POW, and I thank him for his service, but does that sound like a good party? Not even mention Richard Nixon, war mongering and lying George W., Cheney was an idiot and shoots people he's supposed to be friends with, but you Republicans have a hard row to hoe.
Arlos Dempsey
Signal Mountain
* * *
Dear Mildred,
For years in the American classrooms, students were taught that all sides of issues were worthy of discussion and freedom of speech meant everyone had the right to an opinion without fear of being persecuted. Having read almost all of your lengthy filibusters against President Bush over the years, I find it ironic that you could now aim your vitriolic attacks at anyone who disagrees with President Obama just as you did, so very often in print, with President Bush.
Ralph Miller
* * *
Did Ms. Miller miss the chicanery that Harry Reid pulled in the Senate a few weeks ago, when he compared opponents of this health care farce, which is going to plunge the country deeper into debt, to those who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957? Did Mr. Reid conveniently forget, or does he lack the intelligence to know that it was a Democrat who unsuccessfully tried to filibuster the act?
Our nation’s top historians have revealed that the Democratic Party gave us the Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws and other repressive legislation which resulted in the multitude of atrocities to blacks and whites. On the issue of slavery: Democrats gave their lives to expand it, the Republicans gave their lives to ban it.
The Democrats:
Democrats fought to expand slavery while Republicans fought to end it.
Democrats passed those discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.
Democrats supported and passed the Missouri Compromise to protect slavery and the Kansas Nebraska Act to expand slavery.
Democrats supported and backed the Dred Scott Decision.
Democrats opposed educating blacks and murdered our teachers.
Democrats fought against anti-lynching laws.
Democrat Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, is well known for having been a “Kleagle” in the Ku Klux Klan. Byrd filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for 14 straight hours to keep it from passage.
Democrats passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil right laws enacted by Republicans.
Democrats declared that they would rather vote for a “yellow dog” than vote for a Republican, because the Republican Party was known as the party for blacks.
Democrat President Woodrow Wilson, reintroduced segregation throughout the federal government immediately upon taking office in 1913.
Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first appointment to the Supreme Court was a life member of the Ku Klux Klan, Sen. Hugo Black, Democrat of Alabama.
Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s choice for vice president in 1944 was Harry Truman, who had joined the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas City in 1922.
Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt resisted Republican efforts to pass a federal law against lynching.
Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt opposed integration of the armed forces.
Democrat Senators Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd were the chief opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Democrats supported and backed Judge John Ferguson in the case of Plessy v Ferguson.
Democrats supported the School Board of Topeka Kansas in the case of Brown v The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas.
Democrat public safety commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor, in Birmingham, Ala., unleashed vicious dogs and turned fire hoses on black civil rights demonstrators.
Democrats were who Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the other protesters were fighting.
Democrat Georgia Governor Lester Maddox “brandished an ax hammer to prevent blacks from patronizing his restaurant.
Democrat Governor George Wallace stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963, declaring there would be segregation forever.
Democrat Arkansas Governor Faubus tried to prevent desegregation of Little Rock public schools.
Democrat Senator John F. Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil rights Act.
Democrat President John F. Kennedy opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King.
Democrat President John F. Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI.
Democrat President Bill Clinton’s mentor was U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, an Arkansas Democrat and a supporter of racial segregation.
Democrat President Bill Clinton interned for J. William Fulbright in 1966-67.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright signed the Southern Manifesto opposing the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright joined with the Dixiecrats in filibustering the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright voted against the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Southern Democrats opposed desegregation and integration.
Democrats opposed:
1.The Emancipation Proclamation
2.The 13th Amendment
3.The 14th Amendment
4.The 15th Amendment
5.The Reconstruction Act of 1867
6.The Civil Rights of 1866
7.The Enforcement Act of 1870
8.The Forced Act of 1871
9.The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871
10.The Civil Rights Act of 1875
11.The Freeman Bureau
12.The Civil Rights Act of 1957
13.The Civil Rights Act of 1960
14.The United State Civil Rights Commission
Republicans gave strong bi-partisan support and sponsorship for the following
legislation:
1.The Civil Rights Act of 1964
2.The Voting Rights Act of 1965
3.The 1968 Civil Rights Acts
4.The Equal Opportunity Act of 1972
5.Goals and Timetables for Affirmative Action Programs
6.Comprehensive Employment Training Act of 1973
7.Voting Rights Act of Amendment of 1982
8.Civil Rights Act of 1983
9.Federal Contract Compliance and Workforce Development Act of 1988
The Republicans:
Republicans enacted civil rights laws in the 1950’s and 1960’s, over the objection of Democrats.
Republicans founded the HBCU’s (Historical Black College’s and Universities) and started the NAACP to counter the racist practices of the Democrats.
Republicans pushed through much of the ground-breaking civil rights legislation in Congress.
Republicans fought slavery and amended the Constitution to grant blacks freedom, citizenship and the right to vote.
Republicans pushed through much of the groundbreaking civil rights legislation from the 1860s through the 1960s.
Republican President Dwight Eisenhower sent troops into the South to desegregate the schools.
Republican President Eisenhower appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois, not Democrat President Lyndon Johnson, was the one who pushed through the civil rights laws of the 1960’s.
Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois wrote the language for the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois also crafted the language for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination in housing.
Republican and black American, A. Phillip Randolph, organized the 1963 March by Dr. King on Washington.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act Roll Call Vote: In the House, only 64 percent of the Democrats (153 yes, 91 no), but 80 percent of the Republicans (136 yes, 35 no), voted for it. In the Senate, while only 68 percent of the Democrats endorsed the bill (46 yes, 21 no), 82 percent of the Republicans voted to enact it (27 yes, 6 no).
Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican that introduced legislation to give African Americans the so-called 40 acres and a mule and Democrats overwhelmingly voted against the bill.
During the Senate debates on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, it was revealed that members of the Democratic Party formed many terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan to murder and intimidate African Americans voters. The Ku Klux Klan Act was a bill introduced by a Republican Congress to stop Klan Activities.
History reveals that Democrats lynched, burned, mutilated and murdered thousands of blacks and completely destroyed entire towns and communities occupied by middle class Blacks, including Rosewood, Florida, the Greenwood District in Tulsa Oklahoma, and Wilmington, North Carolina to name a few.
History reveals that it was Abolitionists and Radical Republicans such as Henry L. Morehouse and General Oliver Howard that started many of the traditional Black colleges, while Democrats fought to keep them closed. Many of our traditional Black colleges are named after white Republicans.
After exclusively giving the Democrats their votes for the past 25 years, the average African American cannot point to one piece of civil rights legislation sponsored solely by the Democratic Party that was specifically designed to eradicate the unique problems that African Americans face today.
As of 2004, the Democrat Party (the oldest political party in America) had never elected a black man to the United States Senate, while the Republicans had elected three.
Ms. Miller, you need to do a little research and study before making such comments.
W.G. Stoner
East Ridge
* * *
Please read what you've written here, Ms. Miller.
Now, who's spewing hatred and vitriol?
Royce E. Burrage, Jr.
Royce@Officially Chapped.org
* * *
Mildred, that is a mighty big umbrella to cast over all people in the Republican Party, stereo typing.
Granted the repubs do not like the loss of control that they have enjoyed. Please be reminded that the current administration's practice of giving away buckets of no strings attached, tax dollars and increasing the size of government simply goes against the grain of long held and fundamental Republican principals. It is predictable the repub's would vehemently oppose the current spending practices. What was not expected is that the stimulus spending would be so over the top, even conservative Democrats are raising red flags.
Opposition to an action, differing principals, does not equate to hate.
April Eidson
* * *
Your party under Barrack Hussein Obama has almost brought America to its lowest ebb of all time. Your party is a party of partisan vitriol. Your party has an insatiable desire for power. Your party seems happy to root for the economy to fail and the government to suffer, so government can step in a get more power. You and your party would love to say, "We know everything, the Tea Party followers are crazy." Your party issues on a daily basis partisan drivel that is un-American and unpatriotic. You and your gang wince when you hear anything positive about your adversaries. Your party leaders and followers are pessimistic, negative, and boorish. You espouse mostly politically-rooted propaganda. Your party is in utter denial of the truth and dead wrong on every important issue.
Your hatred of conservatives is unfounded but palpable. Your mouths water at the hope that capitalism will fail. You all are oblivious to reality. To harm Sarah Palin and her followers, you all would be willing to lose more jobs, more home values, more investment dollars, and more corporate sales. You all have a party-first mentality, whether right or wrong.
It looks as if all of you Democrats and liberals would enjoy seeing America fail. Palin is having to work hard to try to oppose major problems that you implement every day.
Obama's Nobel Prize is the biggest joke of the century. That is why you have become characterized as "The Party of Idiots."
It looks like the economy is not about to turn around, like you think. Two of your "experts" on the same day couldn't agree on one statement.
We say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays on the official White House Christmas card.
It's easy to take the same claims and flip them right back.
Mitchell Thurmer
Signal Mountain
mthurmer4300@comcast.net
* * *
Ms. M.P. Miller makes the classic error of judging individuals as part of a group. It can be said that there are a few "hateful" Republicans and a few Republicans that are easy to hate, but one could just as easily and with just as much justification say the same thing about the Democrats.
Ms. Miller should remember that in the past election cycle, it was the Republicans which had the only "peace and freedom" candidate in the primaries, Dr. Ron Paul. In fact, it should be noted that the "Ron Paul R3volution" was and is spelled with "love."
The big spending war mongering George Bush and Dick Cheney Republican administration has been replaced by the big spending war mongering Barack Obama (O Bomb those Iraquis, Afghans, Yemanis, and Paki's, and soon those Iranians) Democratic administration. As the bumper sticker on my car says: "Nothing Changed."
There is hope for the future. The Dr. Ron Paul "Love" Revolution continues through the campaign for liberty. Within the Republican Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus supports the candidates who, like Dr. Paul, support peace and freedom as well as honest money and a federal government made frugal by confining its functions to those confined in the U.S. Constitution.
Peace and freedom are concepts which can be embraced by anybody, regardless of party label.
Rich Beecher
East Ridge
rbeecher@hotmail.com
* * *
Mildred,
"Your party is in utter denial of the truth and dead wrong on every important issue." Yeah, Bush and McCain (among many others) were dead wrong on trying to implement regulation of Government-Sponsored Enterprises (Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac), something the Democrats (Obama included) were dead-set against and actively stopped on multiple occasions. This very issue (lack of regulation of GSE's) is, by nearly all accounts, far and away the biggest reason our economy is in the situation it is currently in.
Now, as for the rest of your opinion, where have you been the past 10 years? Did you pull a Rip Van Winkle and just recently wake up to CNN blaring on your TV? Yes, let me tell you, we Republicans just want oh-so-badly for America to fail. You have got to be kidding me. Do you honestly believe that we want the country that we live in to fail? I understand that you absolutely, unequivocally hate anything that isn't pro-liberal/Obama, but if you really believe most of the things you said, you desperately need to do some sincere soul-searching. It's not that we want America to fail, not even close. It's that we believe that if Obama is successful in implementing the laws/concepts which he thinks will improve America, then that will ultimately result in America taking yet another turn for the worse.
In other words, we disagree with the methods that Obama thinks will bring the country back to where we all want it to be. It's simply a difference in opinion of what actions need to be taken. There is a 'huge' difference between that, and wanting America to fail, which is what you seem to believe. We all want America to succeed, and to suggest that a major party genuinely wants America to fail is more unpatriotic than anything you falsely-accused the Republican party of wanting or doing.
There's a reason why Obama's ratings are as low as they are, and it isn't because of what you accuse Republicans of doing. If that were true at all, then Obama would have never been elected in the first place.
Sam Horn
Chattanooga
SamuelLanghorn@hotmail.com
* * *
It's easy to go to right wing websites and parrot talking points. It's easy to be the party of no. It's easy to call President Lincoln a Republican, even though he would need to be a Democrat today in order to actually do what he did over a hundred years ago. It's easy to blame Clinton, blame Obama, and blame liberals.
However, it's not easy to explain the Iraq war. It's not easy to explain why we attacked a country that didn't attack us. It's not easy to explain "Mission Accomplished" and WMDs. Most of all, it's not easy to explain over 4,000 needless combat deaths at an $800 billion cost.
Or maybe it is: oil.
Herb Montgomery
Hixson
Herbm55@yahoo.com
* * *
Ms. Miller may just be onto something. I hate to see what is happening to our once-great country. I hate to see the imminent tax increase, continued budget shortfalls, further fiscal crises, and constant political tomfoolery.
What I really hate most of all, I probably will not see: that is the wreckage they will leave for my/our children and grandchildren. Remember in November.
Hutch Smith
Signal Mountain
* * *
Yes, Mr. Montgomery, it is easy to explain the "Mission Accomplished" banner… after it's been explained many, many, many times.
The "Mission Accomplished" banner was hung on the aircraft carrier bridge, because the mission of the aircraft carrier was accomplished and
it was returning home.
Bob Bogart
quasi17@comcast.net