(5.26.10) Republicans' new Web site not exactly what they hoped it would be (Dana Milbank, WaPo)

[Foggy]

Republicans want to take over the House in the fall, but there's a problem: They don't have an agenda.

So on Tuesday, they set out to resolve that shortcoming. They announced that they would solicit suggestions on the Internet, then have members of the public give the ideas a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. Call it the "Dancing With the Stars" model of public policy.

Republicans were very pleased with their technological sophistication as they introduced the Web site, America Speaking Out (http://www.americaspeakingout.com (http://www.americaspeakingout.com/)), in a ceremony at the Newseum. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who created the program, said that to get software for the site, "I personally traveled to Washington state and discovered a Microsoft program that helped NASA map the moon."

Using lunar software is appropriate, because the early responses to the Republicans' request for ideas are pretty far out:"End Child Labor Laws," suggests one helpful participant. "We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories."

"How about if Congress actually do thier job and VET or Usurper in Chief, Obama is NOT a Natural Born Citizen in any way," recommends another. "That fake so called birth certificate is useless."

"A 'teacher' told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish!" a third complains. "And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story."
House Republicans, meet the World Wide Web.

GOP leaders seemed to have something else in mind as they rolled out their new site. "I would expect the ideas that come out of this Web site and the involvement of our members will lead to ideas that we can attempt to implement today," House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) proclaimed ...

Such as?"Build a castle-style wall along the border, there is plenty of stone laying around about there." That was in the "national security" section of the new site.

"Legalize Marijuana, cause, like, alcohol is legal. Man. Also." That was in the "traditional values" section.

"I say, repeal all the amendments to the Constitution." ("American prosperity" section.)
More at the source (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/25/AR2010052504396_pf.html)http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee232/foghorn_leghorn_photos/animated/trainwreck.gif






This is the group that's gonna "Take Back America"? :rotfl:

[Kbentleyis]

ha ha ha ha ha... well, they asked for it! Many good intentions can backfire.

However, I will never pass up an opportunity to tell a politician exactly what I think. lol This could have surprising results.

[sojourner]

Republicans want to take over the House in the fall, but there's a problem: They don't have an agenda.

Obama basically ran against Bush under a vague banner of "hope and change" and did pretty well. GOP can get off to a good start by just running against Obama. Their problem is they have a target rich environment and need to narrow it down to a few issues. "Its the economy, stupid" would be a good start.

[foxyladi]

moderation and independent thinkers forget the labels:D

[samurai007]

Sounds like the place is full of liberal infiltrators trying to make it look bad. I gotta wonder how many of those "suggestions" were made by sock-puppets of the article writer?

[Spang]

Tax dollars are funding this shitty website (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_05/023961.php).

AMERICA SPEAKING OUT -- WITH AMERICA FOOTING THE BILL.... Sixteen years ago, House Republicans put together the "Contract With America" based on polls and focus groups. This year, House GOP leaders are launching the "America Speaking Out" project, in the hopes of crafting a new "contract" based on public feedback and interactive social media.

The biggest difference, however, is that this time, American taxpayers are being asked to finance the partisan initiative.

Republican officials will kick off the project with an event in D.C. this morning, and it's been described, accurately, as an initiative intended to help the GOP craft "a set of policy items that Republicans would pursue if they won back control of the House in November."

When asked about this yesterday, GOP Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) was vague about financing. "'America Speaking Out' is not a project of the political" campaign arm, Pence said, reluctant to go into further detail.

Now we know why. Republicans are claiming that the project will be kept separate from their campaign committees, and can therefore be financed by taxpayers.

Congressional scholar Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said it is not credible to say the agenda is not intended for the 2010 campaign cycle.

"Its only purpose is as a campaign document," Mann said in an e-mail. "They are in no position to shape policy before the election. It is a defensive move, to deal with the criticism that they are the party of 'no.'"

But Meredith McGehee, policy director at the Campaign Legal Center, said Republicans have to maintain that the document is not meant for the campaign trail, even if it is only a charade. "If they don't, they are in danger of using taxpayer funds for campaign purposes," she said.

But given what Republicans have already stated publicly, the notion that the "America Speaking Out" project isn't intended for the midterm elections is ridiculous.

This isn't even thinly veiled -- the partisan, campaign-related function is as plain as day.

House Republicans will unveil on Tuesday a Web site they will use to solicit policy ideas from the public, the first step in the development of a platform that they will present to voters this fall. [...]

The Web site formally starts the GOP's process of touting its own vision and policies to voters, after spending most of the last 16 months bashing President Obama and congressional Democrats.

And Republicans, aware that some of the anti-Washington fervor among the public is aimed at both parties, don't want to simply put out a formal agenda without buy-in from voters, particularly conservatives. So, along with the site, House Republicans will hold town hall meetings around the country starting next week. They want to use this process to get ideas for the "Contract With America"-style policy document they are set to release closer to the election, which would list principles and proposals that Republicans would adopt if they won control of the House.

Keep in mind just how transparently silly the argument is. Republicans will argue that all of this -- the website, the social media, the town-hall events, and the document to be released in September -- has nothing to do with the party's campaign efforts in the fall. They have to maintain this fiction with a straight face, in order to justify use of our money to pay for the effort.

This probably isn't the ideal way for the GOP to prove it can be trusted to spend the public's money wisely.

[sojourner]

Sounds like the place is full of liberal infiltrators trying to make it look bad. I gotta wonder how many of those "suggestions" were made by sock-puppets of the article writer?

It was just typical Dana Milbank. He cherry picked the worst examples he could find. There are some good ideas there also.

P. S. I am sure that many here would support the suggestion to legalize pot.

[vagabond]

It was just typical Dana Milbank. He cherry picked the worst examples he could find. There are some good ideas there also.

P. S. I am sure that many here would support the suggestion to legalize pot.

In reading those 'comments" it does look like someone playing games.

For myself, since I'm not a user, so I support legalizing pot for economic reasons (taxes and restrictions as in alcohol)...that's Capitalism at work and far less hypocritical than a conservative who uses then acts as if they have the high moral ground.

[sojourner]

In reading those 'comments" it does look like someone playing games.

For myself, since I'm not a user, so I support legalizing pot for economic reasons (taxes and restrictions as in alcohol)...that's Capitalism at work and far less hypocritical than a conservative who uses then acts as if they have the high moral ground. Only conservatives use but support pot remaining illegal?

[foxyladi]

getting responses from the people is a good thing:thumbsup:

[Spang]

Tea party people, hello! Your tax dollars are paying for this shitty website!

[Foggy]

Doesn't matter, Spang.

The Wonketeers are on the job, and the posters at Balloon Juice are having more fun than should be allowed.

Do the Republicans never learn? Never mind. Stupid question.

[Spang]

I saw a tweet earlier today, and I'm paraphrasing: The person who thought this website was a good idea has no business running a Facebook page, let alone the country.

[Laura Cereta]

"End Child Labor Laws," suggests one helpful participant. "We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories."

"How about if Congress actually do thier job and VET or Usurper in Chief, Obama is NOT a Natural Born Citizen in any way," recommends another. "That fake so called birth certificate is useless."

"A 'teacher' told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish!" a third complains. "And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story."



The last one is my fav! :rotfl:

[CGP]

Below is a link to a non-partisan political website that aims to promote dialogue between voters and politicians via video-based submissions.

http://www.comitium.tv/

[Nichelle]

Wow. I went surfing through the site and ran across these in the Immigration section:

We need an easy, visual way to differentiate between the legals and illegals. I propose that all Mexicans, upon becoming citizens, be given a really cool tattoo of an eagle beating up a panda. This way they can look awesome and avoid detention.

ANYONE AND I MEAN ANYONE who doesn't have TWO generations of ligitimate AMERICAN CITIZEN parents must be sent back to their own home country. I think its fair to pay for air fair and provide two weeks notice.



Empathy, gratitude, oops sorry I forgot glen beck said empathy was bad for america...my bad

I think we all know that you can't realisticly expect to deport all of the illegal at once. Here is a solution that would reduce our illegal population by half: Citizenship-Dome!!! first we make a sweet metal dome with spikes and weapons and stuff. Then when we catch illegals we pair them up, and put them into the citizenship dome. Two mexicans enter one proud american leaves. This way we half the immigration problem and get only the strongest new citizens.


I'm going to just read that site all night.

[CGP]

Wow. I went surfing through the site and ran across these in the Immigration section:

:rotfl:

I think some of those comments are spoofs!

[sojourner]

Wow. I went surfing through the site and ran across these in the Immigration section:

I'm going to just read that site all night.

Funny! Those guys are wasting their talents on that site.

[Nichelle]

:rotfl:

I think some of those comments are spoofs!

Oh definitely! There's some really funny stuff posted. :laughing:

[cinnamongirl]

:rotfl:

I think some of those comments are spoofs!

But...what if they're not? :eek: I see a lot of anti-dolphin-rights marches in the near future. Who do they think they are, mammals with traditional mammal protections?

[Laura Cereta]

But...what if they're not? :eek: I see a lot of anti-dolphin-rights marches in the near future. Who do they think they are, mammals with traditional mammal protections?

Nice. (Worthy of second "unintelligent" laughing emoticon!) :rotfl:

[Spang]

"Dolphin-safe tuna, that’s great if you’re a dolphin. What if you’re a ******* tuna? Somewhere there’s a tuna flopping around a ship going, 'What about me? I’m not cute enough for you?'" - Drew Carey

[mack20]

"Instead of selling the shuttles, send them to the moon to harvest cheese. The government could sell the moon cheese to France and use the profits to pay down the national debt."

"We should stop invading countries so far away for oil. It's like politicians don't have maps. Canada has oil. Venezuela has oil. South America has oil. Much closer."

"The US military should adopt the mullet as the official haircut of the armed forces. Symbolically, this style tells Al Kaida that we're protected from the back. Practically, it offers sun protection and less time on barbershop chairs at military bases and more time kickin' butt."

"We need American-trained pirate dogs to battle the ninja cats at our border."

"To save money on stadium building and renovations, I suggest combining Hockey and Basketball into one sport and calling it "Puckball". Other sports in consideration for merging are Nascar and Olympic Archery (Nascarchery), Baseball and Rugby (Rugball) and Golf and Tennis (Televised Events also double as a non-addictive sleep-aid)."

"If you guys are so smart, how come you haven't caught Osama Bin Laden and made a public display of him stuck up a hippo's butt yet? I'M LOOKING AT YOU JOHN BOEHNER!"

"I think all americans should bathe in Nuclear Waste. This has been shown to be an effective tactic in the past of transforming the human body into something more powerful and superhuman. With a nation of powerful mutants, not only would we prevent ourselves from being invaded, we would have a wildly powerful offense with millions able to fly, shoot lasers from their eyes and take bullets. Ninja Cats would still prove to be a problem."



This could seriously entertain me for hours.