Melissa Harris-Perry Responds To ‘Hateful’ And ‘Vitriolic’ Conservatives

Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and other conservatives just couldn’t believe their ears when they heard Melissa Harris-Perry say, “kids belong to whole communities,” in a recent MSNBC “Lean Forward” advertisement. The fake outrage by these prominent conservatives caused the predictable: their minions sent Harris-Perry countless “hateful, personal attacks” to her inbox.

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Fact of the Day: In 2012, Corporate Profits Hit Record 11.1 Percent Of GDP

Corporate Profits - Percent of GDP - Quarter 3, 2012It might only be four years and change since the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at corporate profits of late. In the 3rd quarter of 2012, corporate profits hit an all-time high of 11.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is at the same time that the unemployment rate is still nearly 8%, and wages are stagnant or worse.

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Justice Alito: Same-Sex Marriage Is ‘Newer Than Cell Phones Or The Internet’

During Tuesday’s “Prop 8” oral arguments, Justice Alito compared same-sex marriage to modern technology saying, it is “newer than cell phones or the Internet.” I don’t know about you, but I find statements like this unconvincing, and actually in this case, just bizarre. Because the whole point of the “Prop 8” and “DOMA” cases is that gays and lesbians are being denied equal rights. If you’ve been denied equal rights for decades or centuries, but only started to gain those rights (state-by-state) in recent years, how can that be used against you? Same-sex marriage is new because it was illegal until recently. Same-sex marriage is not new because it’s the latest trend, fad or what all the cool people are doing.

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Tea Partiers: Fox News Isn’t Conservative Enough

Remember when Fox News couldn’t stop talking about Benghazi? It was Benghazi-gate, 24/7. OK, maybe that’s somewhat embellished, but there is little debate over whether Fox News provided ample coverage of a supposed Benghazi cover-up — well, except for some Tea Party nuts. They believe Fox News is not conservative enough, and they point to their perception of a left turn for the “news” network in the aftermath of the 2012 election.

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The Incredible Dwindling Republican Party

The modern Republican Party is an interesting case study. You have a core that is consolidating itself around some of the most extreme right-wing personalities in the country. This core has a belief system that operates in absolutes: No path to citizenship — America is a Christian nation — Anti-choice — Pro-murderous assault weapons — Anti-gay — Anti-minority — Anti-women — and on, and on. And every member of the Republican Party who seeks local or national office must appease this radical core or face political oblivion.

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A Liberal Case For No Compromise In Washington

Washington D.C. - photo by Patrick NouhaillerNumerous articles on this blog have critiqued Republicans’ unwillingness to compromise. I’ve mentioned that House Speaker John Boehner doesn’t even like the word compromise. So you would think that I believe compromise is a good thing in Washington. Well, if we were dealing with two political parties that gravitated towards the center of the political spectrum, one being center-left, the other being center-right, then sure, compromise is a good thing. That’s not the make-up of Washington D.C. at the moment.

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Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman Says He Now Supports Same-Sex Marriage

Ohio Republican Senator Rob Portman - photo by Jim Gillooly/PEIOhio Republican Senator Rob Portman has reversed his longstanding position against same-sex marriage. Portman said his stance evolved two years ago when his own son came out as gay to he and his wife. “It allowed me to think of this issue from a new perspective,” said Portman ” “[O]f a Dad who loves his son a lot and wants him to have the same opportunities that his brother and sister would have — to have a relationship like Jane and I have had for over 26 years.”

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Conservatives Believe The Sequester Is Moral

George Lakoff, professor of linguistics at UC Berkeley, has a blunt analysis of conservative support of the automatic spending cuts (the sequester). “They [conservatives] believe that Democracy gives them the liberty to seek their own self-interests by exercising personal responsibility, without having responsibility for anyone else or anyone else having responsibility for them,” says Lakoff. “They take this as a matter of morality. They see the social responsibility to provide for the common good as an immoral imposition on their liberty.”

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