The REAL difference between Democrats and Republicans: Dems know how to work the system – by Sebastian Gray for Gray Matters
Dear HillBuzz,
The other night I had dinner with my friend Jessie, where we talked about her applying to law school and how best to structure her application essay to maximize its appeal to the “We Are the World”-styled admissions committee (which, at every university or college, has to be “as diverse as possible”, with a Hispanic, a black, an Asian, a Native American, someone in a turban, a Romulan, a Muppet, conjoined twins, either a flaming gay man or a very angry lesbian (but not both), you name it, on the panel, with as few old straight white men as logistically possible). Jessie’s a Republican, and when I read her first essay draft, it was a standard well-written paragraphed resume of her professional accomplishments — which is what I’d expect a Republican to submit. But, the United Nations of Political Correctness empowered to decide who gets in and who doesn’t at these schools doesn’t care so much about accomplishments as it’s completely obsessed with NARRATIVE.
Liberal (and let’s be honest, almost 100% Democrat) admissions committees don’t want to hear about your running your own fashion design company, surviving as best you can in an adverse marketplace and tough economy. They want to hear about your growing up poor, being abused as a child, overcoming some personal hardship related to your race, gender, sexual preferance, or religion, and essentially seeing how well you manipulate society’s violin on your shoulder, beggar’s cup in hand system.
Jessie, in the middle of dinner, took a call from her mother and told her she was at dinner with me, and then both she and her mother laughed about something that Jessie explained to me once she told her mom she’d call her back.
“I told her I was out tonight with my friend Sebastian, who she doesn’t believe is real because she always hears about but has never met on any of her visits up from Texas. And she said, “Oh, you need to listen to him about law school. I remember what you said he told you, ‘Listen, I’m a lifelong Democrat, and as a lifelong Democrat I know how to work the system while Republicans don’t have the first clue in Hell.’ That is so true.” Remember that?”
Of course I remember that because it’s true.
As a lifelong Democrat, I’m frequently perplexed by some of the behavior of all the Republican friends I made during the McCain/Palin campaign when those of us here at HillBuzz led Democrats for McCain efforts with our whole heart and soul.
Republicans give up so damn easy at just about everything.
That’s surprising to me, because on the whole, Republicans I know tend to have a lot more money than my Democrat friends, so maybe they have more fortitude when it comes to spreadsheets than they do with front line action in the real world.
But it does jive with what Michael Steele said to me a few months back when I met him here in Chicago, and he talked about how Republicans don’t bother thinking about an election until they are almost right upon it, and then the day after the victory party, no matter what the result, they completely forget about politics, organizing, lobbying, you name it until two or four years later when they hobble together an effort again.
Democrats never stop campaigning.
The day after an election, we gear up for the next contest.
If you tell a Democrat “no” to something, we immediately think of (1) how to appeal, (2) who we know that can turn that no into an insta-yes, and (3) what government agencies we can involve to make you do what we want.
Have a problem? The government will fix it. But you just need patience to work the system, and have to invest yourself in writing letters every day until you get what you want, appearing in public with a bunch of signs and recruiting people to stand outside nondescript buildings or busy street corners in the middle of the day screaming and yelling about whatever it is you are mad about.
I can’t even tell you the number of times one of my Democrat friends have called me up and asked, “Hey, can you come down at 11am tomorrow and dress up in a clown suit and dance around in front of the county building because I want to protest the clowns inside who wouldn’t renew my driver’s license.”
Sure!
Because this is what Democrats do. This is what Al Sharpton, the biggest clown in all of clown town, is a childish prodigy at.
And Republicans haven’t a clue.
The reason Al Sharpton can get Don Imus fired in a few days is because Democrats, especially black Democrats, increase the pressure on corporations, in particular, every day that they do not get what they want. Whenever the Al Sharpton call for race-baiting goes out, and the black community joyfully screams RAAAAAAAAAAAAACIST! over a cartoon that wasn’t even about the current president (but was about the idiots in Congress), or Sharpton alleges someone didn’t get a job because that person is BLAAAAAAAAACK!, or threatens anarchy because policemen shot a black youth with a gun who would have killed the cops, every day more and more people in the black community come on board and create a festival atmosphere to the protest.
Democrats see this as fun, while Republicans see protests as an alien annoyance: something that must be done because the situation at hand is so bad, but not something they would want to be seen reveling in.
Democrats have no problem whatsoever with such revelry, and they know the more noise they make, the faster they will get what they want.
Take David Letterman for example, and the vile joke he made about statutory rape this week. Letterman said, on 6/8/09, that the Palin daughter attending the Yankees game was “knocked up” by Alex Rodriguez. The only Palin daughter at that game was 14 year-old Willow Palin. The joke could not have been about the oldest Palin daughter, as Letterman weakly claimed yesterday, two days after the perverse “joke” aired, because Bristol Palin was thousands and thousands of miles away from the baseball game Letterman was talking about. The joke about the baseball game and the forcible impregnation Letterman claims happened there makes no sense if it’s not indeed about the Palin daughter who was actually in the proximity of Yankees player A-Rod.
Now, the MSM is trying to spin this for Letterman, and all the usual suspects are out there defending him, including Joy Behar on The View and the White House propaganda team that is MSNBC, CNN, etc.
Republicans will let them get away with this spin, I’m sure; Al Sharpton would only scream louder and drown this spin out.
To be honest, there probably wouldn’t even be any spin at all if this was an instance of the black community calling someone a RAAAAAAACIST! Because they are so vocal, so well-organized, and so persistent, “explanations” like the one Letterman delivered on his show last night are never even allowed.
If this whole episode involved the current President’s daughters, Malia and Sasha (just three years younger than Willow, FYI), Letterman would not be able to claim he was talking about “some other daughter” or “someone else”. If Letterman made any sort of joke that Sharpton et al could construe as RAAAAAAACIST, he would indeed most likely be forced into early retirement because CBS and its advertisers know the black community, and Democrats who support and enable them, never, ever gives up.
Republicans, I’ve noticed, might get riled up about something for a day or so, and then they say, “there are more important things to talk about” or “I have other things I have to do now”.
Democrats never have other things to do, and seldom think anything’s more important than whatever’s right in front of them.
And I AM A LIFELONG DEMOCRAT TELLING YOU THIS.
Boycotts, letter writing campaigns, protests, this is totally what I am all about, because this is what I was always taught as a child to do whenever I felt someone wronged me or someone I care about.
And. I. Love. The. Palins.
Sarah, Todd, Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and most of all, Lil’ Trig. You mess with any of these people and I respond emotionally, channeling that anger into action by way of mental and muscle memory recalling all of the protests and various campaigns I’ve been involved in since childhood.
In grade school, at a Democrat Catholic School in Cleveland, we used to write letters every week in class to various companies complaining about their use of styrofoam or whatever that was bad for the environment. In high school, my Democrat teachers had me write similar letters to various companies arguing against their support for various political candidates we didn’t believe in or other causes my teachers didn’t like. College, grad school, DITTO.
Southwest Airlines left my friend Mary’s suitcase on the tarmac on a 95-degree day, so all of her cosmetics melted and ruined absolutely everything in the bag. Being a good, make no trouble Republican with better things to do, Mary called Southwest, got frustrated when they wouldn’t pay for her bag (since their excuse was, “we didn’t lose it, Ma’am, because you admit you have it. It’s not our fault your luggage melted. That’s never happened before”), and just decided to give up, “because I have better things to do. Here if you think you can make them budge, then you have a go at it”.
It took me two weeks, but I got everything in that bag covered by Southwest, including the bag itself, and a free flight for her trouble.
And all I did was write three letters to everyone on Southwest’s Board of Directors and the entire C-suite. I stayed professional and polite, but kept hitting Southwest with the facts, including the inconvenient truth that Mary looked out the plane’s window and saw her bag just sitting there on the tarmac — where it was removed from the loading trolley by a Southwest employee so he could sit on it like a chair while he waiting for some problem to be fixed so he could load the plane’s cargo on board. Mary knew the truth: that Southwest’s employee did something he was not supposed to do, forgot about her bag, and nothing inside would have melted if not for that.
What Mary didn’t do was press her case enough. She just gave up at the first puff of resistance. She kept complaining, of course, but didn’t want to really do anything about it.
And that’s what I see in Republicans in general. Sure, they’ll go to Redstate.com, Ace of Spade, or Michelle Malkin and complain about Democrat activists like Lettterman getting away with brutal attacks on women, but do they do anything about it? Maybe they make a few calls one day…maybe they write a letter…but they don’t understand that working the system requires persistence…and that every day that goes by with thousands and thousands and thousands of letters flooding into Mars Candy, The Olive Garden, Kelloggs, Hellman’s Mayo, and Letterman’s other advertisers dramatically increases the pressure for the executives at those companies to cut their losses and dump their Letterman ad buys.
It will take a month to really hurt David Letterman — a month of sustained letter writing and calling to every one of his advertisers letting them know that their decision to stand with Letterman means they support the notion that statutory rape of a 14 year-old girl is “funny”, and that later calling this same 14 year-old girl “one of Eliot Spitzer’s prostitutes” is also funny.
Liberals count on elephants never changing their spots.
Maybe Republicans, like their mascot, can’t actually do such a thing.
But, it’s hilarious for me to coach my new Republican friends like Jessie on things like the law school admissions process because they hang on my every word as if I’m speaking in tongues, amazed at the actual strategy that goes with consistently getting what you want from the system. “Gosh,” Jessie admitted, “here I would have just taken no as a no, and not appealed, or I would have talked about what I actually did instead of WHO I AM, which is the narrative those people really do want to hear.”
And if you don’t believe that’s the case, you didn’t pay any attention to whom these liberals voted for in 2008 and whom they want on the Supreme Court in 2009: it is about the narrative people, and persistence, persistence, persistence.
Yes, it is an absolute pain in the neck to sit at a computer and write letters to corporate America every day. It must also be a giant pain in the neck to be Al Sharpton, and have to wake up every day screaming and yelling, crying and wailing, about something.
But, look how successful Al Sharpton is. And I got into every law school I applied to a few years ago. Unlike my Republican friends, I didn’t have the money to actually go, but I got in to really great schools, because I knew how the system worked and instead of living in the dream world of “that’s not how it should be” I played the hand these schools deal.
So, I’m interested to see how long Republicans can keep the pressure up on The Olive Garden, Mars Candy, and Kelloggs in particular. Losing those three big accounts will make CBS apoplectic. I think it’s a valuable lesson to both CBS and Letterman personally to see how many advertisers drop him if we keep this pressure up for 30 days. To my knowledge, Republicans have never stayed focused on anything that long, losing interest in protesting after a day or two, and then probably going off to play golf.
Meanwhile, on the blue side of the aisle, we continue to be busy, busy, little letter-writing bees…with the busiest and buzziest being Sharpton, a man we personally find as repugnant as Letterman (but for different reasons), but a man no one here could ever claim was not effective.
The advertisers will all buckle in the end…but it will take a few weeks for them to stop listening to CBS’s line that “this will all blow over, just watch”.
If you take this opportunity to use Democrats’ favorite tricks against them and you don’t let this blow over, Republicans could very well be surprised to learn a whole new set of tools to get what they want from the MSM and liberal elite. Jessie sure was surprised to have a glimpse of how things are done on my side of the aisle — you can be pleasantly surprised like that too.
But first you have to work hard to get there.
And say what you want about Sharpton, and he probably deserves most if not all of it, but the man sure does work HARD at whatever he’s up to that day.
Sebastian Gray
Chicago, IL
© 2009, HillBuzz. All rights reserved.
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Sebastian:
As a lifelong Republican, I have only one thing to say about this article:
Thank you.
This article has truly opened my eyes.
Sebastian:
This is one conservative lady who is NOT giving up or backing down.
I watched that pig Letterman last night and he was squirming. A lot.
And I like to see that piggy squirm.
I’m sending at least a letter a day, until this thing breaks. That’s my minimum, as I’ll probably send a lot more than that.
It would help others here if you print as many addresses of these companies on each post. That way, people don’t have to go back to old posts and search for them.
Just a suggestion.
I am one of those Republicans who normally just give up. I’ve got other things to worry about. But not this time. Oh, no sireee!
This kind of behavior, by a piggy, woman-hater like Letterman, has GOT to stop.
I am SICK TO DEATH of the way women and girls are being treated by the misogynistic media, and I am going to FIGHT!
Thank you Hillbuzz.
Thank you for the inspiration.
Now I’m going to fight like a Democrat.
As a lifelong Republican I can tell you that I already know about this. This is why I’m a Republican — or more specifically a conservative. Conservatives want to minimize the amount of intrusion into people’s lives. Why do you think that people in other countries have to show up in huge numbers — flooding the streets — to get the government’s attention? It is because the government is bloated and burdensome! We rarely have to do that is this country, but I suspect we’re going to start seeing protests like that more and more.
Keep government small and non-intrusive. If that can be done, then the individual has more choices. If they don’t like one company, they more on to another. No need to protest or organize — just stop buying the product. Let the market decide. Things might not happen as quickly or exactly the way you want it, but at least there is not some idiot building political capital all along the way.
Jeff says:
” No need to protest or organize — just stop buying the product. Let the market decide. Things might not happen as quickly or exactly the way you want it, but at least there is not some idiot building political capital all along the way.”
Things have changed, DRAMATICALLY! How do you “stop buying” new taxes, stimulus bills, TARP, and a socialized govt?
The tea parties were effective because no one has ever said no or opposed BO and his ideology.
I have never physically participated in a protest prior to 4/15. I’ve written plenty of letters and made calls over the years, but stopped there. But things have CHANGED. the stakes are much higher now.
The tea parties may not seem to have accomplished much, but if they motivated at least one more letter to be written or call to be made by some folks who had previously been content to remain silent or boycott with their dollars, the goal was met. In this case, surpassed by the sheer numbers.
Our next objective must be to stop this nationalized health rationing that will be forced upon us. We can’t afford this financially, physically, or morally.
Like Sebastian says, “Liberals count on elephants never changing their spots.” We can use the element of surprise, we need all the weapons in our arsenal we can get as we are also up against the msm.
We are at a MAJOR TURNING POINT folks. This is not just about the treatment of women, this is about every American.
And this is a DAMN good article supporting Sarah.
Go, Sarah, go!!!
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/06/12/pop-culture-vs-america-this-round-goes-to-sarah-palin/
Andrew Breitbart’s a great guy. I’m surprised that I find him so boring on RedEye, but he does great work.
I LOVE Redeye!
Fantastic advice!
Now, I just called the Mars 800 number again (they have an automated message about David Letterman so I guess there have been loads o calls!) but couldn’t get anyone so I called the CEO. They wouldn’t get me his voicemail, his assistant’s voicemail, his email or his assistant’s email. What do I do now? Is it just letter writing from now on?
I actually got a non automated and personalized email reply from Mars. They said “thanks” and that they would be instructing their ad agencies, to in the future, be more careful of commercial placements.
Congrats Mars!
I have also heard from Mars and Embassy Suites; waiting to hear from the others.
I heard back from Mars and “On The Border” restaurants.
I just made phone calls to the sponsers of letterman – two of them tried to tell me they just bought a block of time and couldn’t be responsible for the content of the program???
Being involved in advertising, I let them know that I understand very clearly that advertisers buy blocks of time specifically during a particular program. Therefore, I wanted to know if they would continue to buy time during letterman’s show?
I also asked for feedback as to their corporation’s position on this.
When I was a child, there was a program called “Queen for a Day” in which the contestant told a sob story and out of three contestants they decided which one was the saddest and that lady was crowned Queen for the Day. Her need (a new washing machine or some other item) was her prize along with a “Mink Coat”!!!
Sebastian’s story about what to write to get into law school reminded me of that old program. We Republicans need to practice our sob stories!!
I LOVED Queen for a day!! The flowers, that tiara, talk about sexist! men couldn’t be contestants.
Remember the applause meter that measured audience reaction to each contestant? Whichever sob story could make the needle go off the charts to the right won. Audience actually chose the winner, not some Simon Cowell-ish panel!
Trivia Morsel: Host of Queen for a Day – Jack Bailey
I wrote this specifically to CBS:
am a Democrat. I am a businesswoman. I am a fan of “CSI”, “Two-and-a-half Men” and “Big Bang Theory.”
While people may disagree politically with eachother, I must strenuously protest when a supposed comedian attacks a young family member of a political candidate — and preparing a joke that includes a reference to statutory rape of a young girl who is targeted because of her mother’s career.
I stopped watching all of CBS News shows after “RatherGate”. I think it high time your people take a good, hard look at your staff and consider that insulting a larger core of the American audience is not going to create a successful business model.
I am applying the “Imus” standard to you right now. If you need a refresher, please click here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/12/national/main2675273.shtml
I will no longer watch any CBS show until Letterman is fired. Period. No negotiation.
You will find many woman, and many Democrats, will not tolerate such disgraceful behavior. Enduring trite, condescending, and ill-informed remarks by the New York and Hollywood glitterati about Sarah Palin is annoying enough. Those about her young family, which seemingly target Gov. Palin because she is an effective American patriot, go beyond the bounds of decency — to the point I feel it is my civic duty to take action.
The day Letterman is gone is the day I will start watching again. Letterman stopped being funny years ago; surely, your team can come up with fresh new talent.
Sincerely,
Leslie Eastman
San Diego, CA
lpeastman@sbcglobal.net
PS I also sent it to the shows I mentioned too — they might want to consider the potential fallout.
http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php
Leslie, I did the same thing with CBS. I wrote to them several times and let them know I will not watch anything on CBS and wrote to shows that I sometimes watch and let them know I will no longer watch their shows. I think we need to remind them every week or so of our boycott.
Sebastian:
I’ll state a couple of reasons for Republicans ‘giving up so damn easy’:
1) Communi[s]ty Organizing is a Dem characteristic;
2) Republicans have, uh, you know, jobs.
RickZ,
We have jobs too. Second and third jobs in this economy. But, we never give up, never surrender.
Republicans can’t complain about losing the culture wars and recent elections if they just give up and make pithy enumerated statements like the above.
Yes, I’m sure you have jobs, even more than one, but Repubs are not the ‘take it to the streets’ kind of crowd. The tea parties were an aberration built out of frustration. Let’s face it, Dems/progressives have the papier mache head protests down pat. When Repubs get pissed, and they are, watch out. Papier mache heads will look tame. Progressives don’t like guns, conservatives do. And that’s what it’s going to boil down to in the end. The questiona are the police/military, the other groups with guns, and what they will do when the SHTF. Because Obama’s crapping into the oscillating fan as I type.
Sorry Rickz but I don’t think guns have any place in protesting. Personally that is the ignorant’s way to protest.
Yes, organizing and collecting is more of a Democrat trait but the Repubs are learning and learning fast.
They certainly are getting a LOT of opportunities.
RickZ,
I think we are heading for a bloodless revolutionary war. Conservatives…and this spans the gamut politically from those who consider themselves to be so to those who live the values…are like that sleeping beast that when awoken, is a force to be reckoned with.
It would seem logical to engage in peaceful protest before you decide to go on a shooting rampage, I believe that’s what our founding fathers (& mothers
did. Most places are having another Tea Party protest on 4 July, so you can dust off your sign from 15 April & reuse it, since things really haven’t changed for the better since then.
Thanks for the slap down. We needed that.
Thank you for this article and thank you Sebastian for your wise words.
I agree entirely with this assessment…but let me share with you why I personally haven’t really done some of the things suggested here.
I had always viewed these to be the actions of a trouble maker and a rabble-rouser. I viewed people like Sharpton as kind of thuggish for using some of these tactics and I also felt that there had to be a more “civilized” way to go about getting the same response.
I think I fell prey to the same notion I fuss at others for….and that’s the fallacy of believing that if we “play right”, we’ll be respected and treated fairly. I don’t know why though, because it’s clear that it doesn’t matter what we do…the other side will lie about us and smear us anyway.
I see this Tiller murder to be abhorrent and yet, because I believe in the right of the people over a centralized government…that I believe that we need to return to a representative government, people in the media and elsewhere paint me in the same mold as that murderer.
When there’s no one in the media that holds these statists responsible for their lies, corruption and cronyism and yet blame regular people like me for Tiller’s murder, it’s just stunning. I know, it shouldn’t be but it is.
So I get stuck…wanting to do something but not wanting to be a troublemaker, or at least what I perceived this to be so.
I say all of this so you know that it’s not necessarily that Republicans give up…I never, EVER will…it’s just that we get flummoxed by the extreme response our intended honorable actions receive and we don’t want to justify any of the vitriol spewed about us…if that makes any sense.
I see now though that I need to reframe my thinking entirely…that there’s nothing dishonorable about getting in the trenches and going bare knuckle and that sometimes it’s actually dishonorable not to do so.
Sorry for the long ramble…I hope it made some sort of sense to you.
I do know that I will do whatever I have to do to help our side form a good offensive strike and prepare for the elections of 2010 and 2012.
You are right, but a big part of it is a difference of opinion on the role of government.
I cringe at the thought of calling any governmental agency. I want as little to do with them as possible. I want them to stay out of my life. I don’t want to talk to them.
Right now my kid sister is pulling out her hair dealing with our mother’s Medicare mess. Know something? As much as I love my sister I’m happy to let her do it. After all, she is in favor of nationalized healthcare. I’m happy to let her find out what she is championing.
I don’t want the government to solve all my problems. I do not want them to intrude in my life anymore than necessary.
Sebastian, you are right about the law school essay, my wife wrote hers about her ten day wait to find out if she had cancer….guess what? She got accepted into every school she applied to. You are absolutely correct about the narrative. We conservative/independents need to listen to this wise man.
Sebastian is a Jedi master
and a miracle worker..
Another Press Release demanding an apology from Letterman.
http://www.mediaresearch.org/press/releases/2009/20090612121356.aspx
And I HAVE to link this article for you Hillbuzz guys.
If Bill Maher is getting sick of Dr. Utopia, can you imagine how sick of him the rest of us are?
Finally. Bill Maher is funny again.
Unlike Letterman.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-maher12-2009jun12,0,7966784.story
Obviously I disagree with Maher. I’m glad that Dr. Utopia isn’t doing more to push through his plans & I wish he’d do even less.
I doubt if Maher has changed his political views. More probably he heard from Larry Sinclair that the only way to get a rise out of Obama is to goose him.
Sebastian,
This is so true. As a life-long conservative, I can tell you that it’s not a part of our political culture to take to the streets in protest. We don’t write letters complaining that we’ve been cheated as part of a big entitlement/identity politics game. To a certain extent, I find that stuff morally repugnant. But you’re right, conservatives could be much more effective if they actually campaigned.
And that is why the tea part movement is a BIG DEAL. Who cares if a bunch of crazy anarchist nutjobs show up in front of city hall? That’s par for the course. But you better believe that something’s afoot when thousands of people who have never protested anything before suddenly decide it’s worth their while to congregate in the middle of a workday to protest economic policy. Hopefully we can take a page from the leftist play-book and learn how to get our message out without devolving into whiny, entitled grievance hustlers!
And here’s Margaret Carlson, another female “journalist” slamming Sarah Palin.
Oh, and if the comments to the story represent the Left, then the hate for women and gay is made clear in their comments.
Absolutely disgusting.
What in God’s name is wrong with these people? They’re worse than Letterman!
Go read it, but get out your vomit bags.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-06-12/palin-cant-outsmart-letterman/?cid=bs:archive5
Margaret Carlson will go straight to hell for her treatment of Hillary, her infatuation with Obama, and her general selling out on every principal in order to be a liberal shill. I used to really enjoy her, but in her desperate attempt to be relevant, she has become a never-was sell-out.
Childish morons are the best thing I can muster to discribe them.
Okay, I promise this is my last link.
I know, I know, I’m getting annoying.
I just fired off some letters and I was all worked up.
I won’t be back for a while. Promise.
But this article by Michelle Malkin is just TOO GOOD not to post.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/06/12/dear_david_letterman_96959.html
Great merciful Zeus! Did he really say all that about Palin looking like… real estate ladies, dip sample ladies at Safeway, Olive Garden waitresses, etc? I never have heard that before. if true, THAT is something else to mention to sponsors. He has essentially called her “everywoman” which extends all of his comments to all women, if you think about it. Did anyone actually hear him say those things themselves? I would hate to misquote him to sponsors if he really didn’t say that, because that would undermine the argument.
I just read that piece by Malkin. She has these Letterman statements in quotes referring to Gov. Palin:
“She looks like the dip sample lady at Safeway.
She looks like the nurse who weighs you and then makes you sit alone in your underwear for 20 minutes.
She looks like the Olive Garden hostess who says, ‘I’m sorry, your table isn’t ready yet.’
She looks like the infomercial lady who says she made $64,000 a month flipping condos.”
Malkin must have scanned through Letterman monologues.
If these are accurate Letterman quotes,and I think they must be-Malkin wouldn’t just pull them out of thin air, please mention it in your Olive Garden correspondences. He’s actually mocking and belittling his own advertiser! I think they should know.
Love that article, Tammy. Michelle blasted that dirty old man. Thanks.
Sort of OT, but very relevant to the Hillbuzzers. Andrew Sullivan continues to come out of his Obama-induced kool-aid bender of the last year. Oh, how fascinating it is that you can she the chameleon’s true colors when it is your pet issue under attack.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/obamas-dadt-betrayal.html
Obama also supports the defense of marriage act, which isn’t a betrayal, since he point blank said he was against gay marriage during the election, but I guess Andrew wasn’t listening or only heard what he wanted to hear.
What did he expect from an Islamic closet case?
*see
My own tale of political correctness:
My son and his girlfriend applied to the same university. GF had a 4.0+ GPA and a list of activities and community service as long as your arm. My son had a low 3 GPA and played a couple sports. In his application essay, my son’s theme was “I am a product of great diversity” (more or less) and went on at some length about his full-Latina mother, his full-Latina gay half-brother, his half-Latina, ADHD-diagnosed full sister, and his half-Latina (but blond haired and blue-eyed, like his sister) self.
GUESS which one of them got accepted and which one didn’t?
Hint: GF was PIIIIIISSSSSED!
OOPS, meant to say “Latino” when referring to the two boys.
I know I am dating myself with this, but for some reason the song, “I am woman” keeps running through my head. In all that has happened it has caused me to remember that no matter what political party I may associate with I am a woman first and I will not stand for second of sexism.
I just posted on the other thread that I have the song “I won’t back down” by Tom Petty!
I just spoke to a very nice woman at the 800 number for Mars, which is a NJ company. I wrote to them yesterday. I told her I was from NJ and that I was speaking daily since Tuesday morning to my VERY LARGE extended Irish family as well as all my friends and colleagues about the national movement to boycott her company’s products because of their sponsorship of David Letterman. I told her I was pretty sure the production numbers of Halloween candy were being discussed if the candy is not already in production. I suggested that they might want to cut those numbers since none of us will be buying any of their products until we hear that they have stopped advertising with CBS, especially Letterman. I mentioned how effective the boycott of France’s products in 2003, 2004, et al happened to be despite their ignoring it, and that Sarkozy’s election was a direct consequence of the priggish arrogant behavior of his predecessor toward the US. The French winery owners, farmers, and producers of agricultural exports took to the streets to protest and shut Paris down because they were not selling anything and were throwing their Beaujolais and Brie into the garbage. The writing was on the wall; the boycott was effective and they didn’t understand that it would hurt their people. I’m almost positive I heard a gulp. She wrote down my name, address, and email and said someone would get in touch with me. Yikes, that felt good!!
You go!
Thats a great example to bring up. In fact I read later on Australia profited mightily from that deal and Yellow Tail outsold French wines like 2 to 1!
Brilliant!
You are good!
Jersey girl Gram, you ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!
Update…
I received the same lame reply everyone else is getting from Mars via email. Disappointed, I replied that it wasn’t good enough. I wanted to speak to a warm body. I will call again Monday.
However, I heard from a young cousin today that he and four of his friends chose to go Friday [last night] to dinner at their neighborhood Olive Garden as they meet often after work; this time, for the express purpose of finding out what the locals knew about the Letterman situation. The people who work there are local.
They asked to speak to the manager and mentioned the “national boycott” energy out there of Olive Garden for not issuing a statement about Letterman’s tasteless and outrageous remarks about Sarah Palin, her daughter, and stewardesses and for advertising with such a . It so happens that one of my cousin’s friends is a steward for Continental. He asked the manager if she thought he looked “slutty”. The manager laughed and said she had heard all about it but apparently looked worried and was seen immediately on her cell phone calling someone and was heard talking about the boycott. At the end of their dinner, they gave their waitress a healthy tip and told her that they wouldn’t be back until the garden acknowledged that they would be pulling ads on CBS. She told them that “everyone” was talking about it and that she would miss their generosity.
Face-to-face discussions with the people who will most suffer from a boycott…I would never have thought to do that, but it makes sense. These employees have a stake in what happens. Any assistance they can provide by bumping up their customers’ concerns and anger to owners/senior management can’t hurt.
I like the Gray Matters segment. I live in your neighborhood and frequent a lot of the places you talk about (Joy’s, Ping Pong, etc…) It’s nice to know you’re out there.
From Mars:
In response to your email regarding MARS SNACKFOOD US.
We are writing in response to your recent communication which objects to the placement of advertising on David Letterman. We appreciate your concern and thank you for taking the time to contact us.
While we do not “sponsor” television shows, we do contract for commercial time months in advance for those programs which we feel effectively reach our consumers. As a matter of policy we make every effort to avoid programs containing exploitative examples of ethnic, racial, religious or sexual stereotyping. We apologize if we were unsuccessful in this instance, and we will share your comments with our advertising agencies.
Our loyal consumers are very important to us, and we thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention.
Have a great day!
Your Friends at Mars Snackfood US
I just got the exact same email. Just tried to post and I guess it went into moderation limbo.
Me too. That email just landed in my inbox…
I got the same one and replied using the link provided that I expect them to stand up for women and children and until they do I will be buying a different chocolate covered nut. M&Ms are the only chocolate I buy so this is a big thing, even if they don’t realize it.
ME TOO! At least they are consistent. LOL They do not intend to do anything. HIT ‘EM HARD!!!
Well, this is their perfunctory response.
They are surely being bombarded with emails.
Now follow those emails up with LETTERS that you mail, which should arrive on Monday or Tuesday, and they will pay even more attention.
The CEO will a big ‘ol mail bag FULL of angry letters, and let me tell you, when they have that shit in front of them, they start to go a little cuckoo.
Yep, I got one from MARS too. Well, fine by me. I will just keep sending the same email to them everyday–along with snail mail and phone calls. I am committing a full month to this.
Sebastian,
Would you be willing to e-mail me so I can give you my phone number so we can strategize about this? I only need to ask a few questions to update my post, then I’ll e-mail it to major conservative blogs to see if they will link it and we can make this happen.
Thanks.
Cynthia
Sebastian:
Wow, you have got some passion and it is contagious. Keep that fire burning. We are behind you.
Thank You,
I might just be the biggest Palin supporter on Earth. Anyone who comes to her aid is a friend of mine for life.
Don’t know if anyone saw this but NOW finally issued a statement regarding Letterman’s jokes as of yesterday, 5/11. Interestingly, it took them couple days for them to write and respond to the jokes on national television. NOW did urge for readers to write a complaint to CBS.
http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of-shame/index.php/television/letterman-palin-daughter
A big FAIL in my opinion for their slow response.
Yes, NOW responded but they had to get Rush in there for good measure. From what I have read this quote about Chelsea is out of context.
“On that point, it’s important to note that when Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old she was the target of numerous insults based on her appearance. Rush Limbaugh even referred to her as the “White House dog.” NOW hopes that all the conservatives who are fired up about sexism in the media lately will join us in calling out sexism when it is directed at women who aren’t professed conservatives.”
Um, as a conservative, I speak up on sexism no MATTER WHAT PARTY someone is from.
I stand for ALL women, not just ones who share my views.
Grow up, N.O.W.
You’re becoming irrelevant.
Newsbusted tried to put Limbaugh’s statement into context in that he was talking about the White House dog & Chelsea & allegedly, his AV guy got the photos mixed up. Apparently, Limbaugh made a better attempt at appearing sincerely apologetic for the insult.
I am not a big Limbaugh fan but if I remember correctly he issued a very sincere apology on his radio show and also his TV show (that he had at the time). He also personally called the Clintons to apologize.
I do know for a fact that he and Bill occasionally play golf together. Who knew???
Just got my first email response, this one from Mars:
In response to your email regarding MARS SNACKFOOD US.
We are writing in response to your recent communication which objects to the placement of advertising on David Letterman. We appreciate your concern and thank you for taking the time to contact us.
While we do not “sponsor” television shows, we do contract for commercial time months in advance for those programs which we feel effectively reach our consumers. As a matter of policy we make every effort to avoid programs containing exploitative examples of ethnic, racial, religious or sexual stereotyping. We apologize if we were unsuccessful in this instance, and we will share your comments with our advertising agencies.
Our loyal consumers are very important to us, and we thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention.
Have a great day!
Your Friends at Mars Snackfood US
MM/HERNLIND010962708A
Please do NOT reply to this email. If you would like to respond to this message, click on the link below.
http://www.econsumeraffairs.com/mars/ContactUsFollowUp.htm?F1=010962708A&F2=MARSC
FoxNews.com has a lead article about CBS firing Letterman! Maybe the pressure is getting through.
I would LOVE to see David Letterman fired..then he can go beg his buddy Obama for a job, then Obama can give a press conference saying that “see the stimulus package does work, I just saved and created one job.” I am glad that FINALLY some in the GOP have grown some balls and are standing up against this garbage
And a poll! Should Dave apologize to women? Currently 82% yes! Go vote:
http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/12/youdecide_letterman_palin_women/
Voted…..Voted…..Voted…Voted…Voted!
“New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, a Republican, is calling on the CEO of CBS to fire David Letterman for crude comments he made about Sarah Palin and her daughter.
In the letter to CBS chief Les Moonves, Kolb said he took Letterman to task for the “shockingly inappropriate” jokes.
“As the proud father of a daughter, and as a husband, I wanted Mr. Moonves to hear from me directly about Mr. Letterman’s disparaging remarks,” Kolb said in a written statement.
“Firing Mr. Letterman would send a clear message that CBS will not tolerate any of its employees — even an established media figure like Mr. Letterman — making demeaning and degrading comments about women.”
The request came after the late-night host stopped short of apologizing for “jokes” he had made about Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee, and her family, including one that referred to her daughter being “knocked up” by New York Yankees baseball star Alex Rodriguez.”
More of those letters please. We need to hear plenty of male voices in this protest too!
First of all, I LOVE Sarah Palin, but I think that she should have stuck to the Gas pipeline and said something, like “I am not going to discuss this and just deal with the pipeline. The people that thought Letterman was inappropriate would still feel that way and the ones that did not will still feel the same whether or not I speak, so to me it is water under the bridge and I really do not want to discuss it anymore. I have other issues that I would like to talk about.”
I think that would have made a stronger point and would have shut up a few people. We know that just because she mentioned her daughters she will probably be slapped with another ethics complaint because she mentioned something other than Alaska. What is it now, 14 filed and 14 that were decided that had no basis in fact. People can be so silly.
The only reason Today invited her on the show was to talk about Letterman. Do you really think they want to hear her views on energy independence?
Josie,
I truly believe that as a woman and the mother of the 14 year old girl who was the brunt of this disgusting statement she needed to do exactly what she did. To not comment is too easy, and everyone would just say ‘hey let’s keep insulting women and girls, especially the Palins cuz nobody cares’. Now that she defended her she can move on.
Re: Your update about how the GOP needs to wake up and make her our nominee; I agree, Hillbuzz.
I am really hoping that many Democrats will cross over and vote for her in the primaries so we can avoid getting a dud like Romney as our nominee.
From that link of Bill Mahrers commentary…
You can relax about that, Mr. President, knowing that there’s a large, rich organization doing everything it possibly can to ensure that you’ll get reelected: It’s called the Republican Party.
So, if we looked at the richest members of congress, which party will they be from? Nope, not republican.
I suspect if you look at the voting demographics *thinking of those who voted for Bush*, a good percentage of republican voters are made up of the middle class…high school graduates…college grads. Last I checked middle class does not equate rich unless your name is Biden or Barak O’Chavez.
Those who voted for Kerry, the majority were at the lower end of the economic spectrum, the ‘over-educated’ (the term the demographic chart used), and the billionaires.
I read an article about a year ago that did the Stats on which party has more money. That is, which congress/senators.
The Democrats win hands down.
Republicans are no longer the country club rich party. I wonder when THEY are going to figure that out!
And the repeat what others have said, and observations you have made, those who tend to vote republicans, just want to live their lives and be left alone from the ‘do-gooders’, and the life intruders.
The left always says that conservatives or those that vote republican want to tell them what to do and how to live their lives. Don’t think so. Just having to ‘learn to play the game’ by (we thought there were rules and honesty and integrity), protesting, whining, and playing the victim…*manipulation*…*intruding*…*trying to tell us how to live by their rules*…is pure projection.
Truly no disrespect intended. But, I can tell you from experience that conservatives are and were just as ‘in your life’ as the left is now.
Years ago, they would constantly come up to my mother and I. Using me, a small child, as an excuse to open a conversation with my mother. Then proceed to ask questions, and based on whatever her particular prejudices, would break off the conversation rudely. Even going so far as not to walk down the same aisle as us later in the supermarket. Or they use the opportunity to snuff disgust at us walking by.
I learned all about sexism, racism, adultery, bastards, mistresses, the power of a wedding ring, the disgust inspired by women in college and single mothers, the fallacy of assumptions, rudeness to strangers, etc, etc, etc. All of these harsh lessons and more were taught by conservative women in the supermarket.
When you see conservatives trying to get rid of abortion. That is the ultimate intrusion into people’s lives which obviously continues today.
I was raped and became pregnant and it was the conservative women and men who were all over me to keep a rape baby. ‘Trying to tell me how to live by their rules’. Being kind at first, and then becoming manipulative, cruel, judgmental, protesting, exclusionary, etc.
They didn’t have to feel it growing in their stomach, changing their body daily. Being constantly reminded of that awful day. Or have huge purple stretch marks across my body that would remind me of that awful day for the rest of my life. While giving a baby up for adoption that has such a stigma tied to it. I even had to deal with people who looked like they wanted to profit from the baby. It was one of the more vile displays I saw only from conservatives, which made my skin crawl.
I am sorry to inform you, but as a young child with a hippie mother in college. I have seen conservatives trying to control my life and my mother’s life for decades.
Geez, you should see the faces of people when they learn I was never baptized. More control and condemnation from conservatives every time that subject came up too.
Sorry, to inform you but the blame is on both sides. You are just feeling it more now than ever before. Like I said previously, I have felt it for decades.
I am sure the gay community can tell you decades of stories too.
Sorry, poorly written. Rereading this it might seem like I had the baby and gave it up for adoption.
I didn’t have the baby, but was forced through quite a lot during the decision process.
“Truly no disrespect intended”
Now THAT’S funny.
You had conservatives just come up to you out of the blue in the supermarket? And they just started to abuse you and your mother out of the blue?
Sounds like the most far-fetched story I’ve ever heard in my life.
If you’ve decided to generalize all conservative thinkers in this way, I feel sorry for you.
You sound like someone who has”I’m a victim” written across your forehead in magic marker.
PulEEEEESE.
It wasn’t meant to be offensive, or anything like ‘I am a victim’.
My mother dealt with those women with honor, kindness, empathy, courage, etc. Showing me many life lessons in the process as those conservative women felt the need to impose their values on strangers in the supermarket.
Every time we went to the store one of these ladies would come up to us and start chatting about a young child. By the time they walked off they very clearly expressed their disdain for my mother and whatever version of reality they viewed our life to be based on that conversation.
They would basically accuse her of being a slut, that I was born out of wedlock. That she was one of those women who wanted a career over a husband. That she was really a mistress dumped by the husband and had to go to work, etc, etc. It was always over their conservative values vs hippie liberal values.
Sorry, you need to assume what my life experiences are about. But no, I do not generalize conservatives. I voted for McCain/Palin this election. This wasn’t the first election I have voted for Republicans either.
Unlike most people, my mother was hip to the dog and pony show of politics decades ago. And she actually predicted an Obama would come on the scene and do this exact thing. Warning that as Russia became more free, America would become more leftist and under control. While pointed out the leftist countries run by dictators have never turned out well for the populous.
She wasn’t fooled by either side. She didn’t raise a fool, a victim, or a bigot.
Like I said, I learned the fallacy of assumptions long ago as a result of them being subjected to us constantly. So why would I employ a failed strategy as an adult?
You also seem to forget that hippies weren’t treated especially well by the establishment/conservatives. And thanks to those tools Ayers and Dohrn, lots of conservatives felt they knew exactly what my mother was about.
In fact, Ayers and Dohrn caused such probelms for hippies, college students, and anti-war protesters that they all started to wonder if they were a CIA program to discredit them. That is how much venom that was shown to anyone who dared wear hippie clothes because like most clothes throughout history, they revealed politics or social standing. They started off nice and quickly revealed themselves every single time. Like it or not.
I really don’t care if you believe me. Those supermarket women had their version of our lives despite the honest answers my mother gave to them.
So nothing new…seen it for years.
It wasn’t meant to be offensive?
That was the whole point of your post, my dear.
Ain’t KARMA a bitch?
I have never heard such a bunch of propaganda in my life.
People approached you in grocery stores…
A stranger.
AHA. Yeah.
I am calling you out as a liar, “Karma”.
You don’t speak for me or for robert.
We are free thinking individuals. Did you notice your own words?
“Conservatives are…”
Oh, and if you haven’t noticed, this post isn’t about YOU, it’s about fighting to defend a woman whose children were defamed.
Got it?
Take your generalizations and complain to the Democratic Underground.
I’m sure they would LOVE you. And they’d love to see Sarah Palin’s children defiled as well.
Go to a site that would revel in your sob story.
Blah blah blah,
Me, me, me.
Not it wasn’t the whole point of my post. It was to refute the notion that only liberals force their views on people. Both sides do and sorry but conservatives have been doing it as well. Like it or not.
Propaganda…LOL. Whatever.
For whatever reason you need to believe it isn’t true is you own problem. I don’t lie in real life or on the net.
There is nothing in that post worth lying about. Which makes your claim lame to say the least.
Conservatives are trying to outlaw abortion. That is being intrusive into people’s lives. Like it or not. Conservatives and liberals are denying gay marriage rights. That is being intrusive into people’s lives. Like it or not.
Clearly you have some problems with the truth.
Oh and by the way, I will not be run off by you. Because I dared speak some truth about both conservatives and liberals from the late 60s and beyond.
You can take you hurt fee fees and assumptions and run off to the Freepers and complain someone dared to share a personal story about their life and your panties got all in a twist because it didn’t fit with your world view.
Oh and in case you didn’t notice my mother was standing up for her and her child when we were defamed. It goes both ways was the point. But clearly you missed that in your indignation.
Since, I can control the voices in your head while you read my post, they must have missed this part.
I VOTED FOR MCCAIN/PALIN why would I go DU to ‘defiled’ the Palins?
Try reading it again without the voices and within context of the anti-war vs establishment era that it was in.
Sorry Karma supermarkets?? Sounds more like second generation blue collar individuals. As far as the gay community, I get more guff from the liberal side because I am not in dogmatic lock step with Obama worship. And please don’t speak of gays like we should agree. I warned my gay padres that Obama was a liar and a Phony from the get go. He continues to sell us down the river. Go read the Andrew Sullivan peice linked above. So just speak for yourself please
You get more guff from the liberal side because you don’t support Obama? What two whole years!?
Sorry but I lived in the bay area, when conservatives were trying to push through Prop 6. Trying to deny gay people the right to teach children. I remember Harvey Milk being assassinated because he represented the gay and liberal communities too well.
Before that there was no one on the news or in the legislature that represented the liberal view accurately. It was always a lame version of the argument without teeth or logic to support it. Harvey Milk changed all of that, making the case for gays and liberals/hippies/anti-war/gay rights/women rights/etc in the news in such an effective way. You would cheer at the tv news for finally representing the argument fairly.
So while you don’t understand why I placed gays into the mix. I lived it. It was the same battle. Us vs conservatives. Which CA was filled with then.
Wearing clothes that were anti-establishment was a huge clue who you were then. The straight people and whatever class and political standing they were in stood out clearly too.
It is nice you didn’t get the same lessons at the supermarket. However, you probably didn’t live in the bay area and live through what we did. And the women in your supermarket didn’t automatically assume thanks to the MSM, Ayers, and Dohrn, who your mother was.
CA wasn’t always liberal.
Karma, it sounds like you can’t move on.
CHOOSE to move on, Hippie child!
Leave the past behind, grow up, and LIVE.
You insult people every time you post.
Are you now calling robert stupid?
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.
And get your history right, girl! Harvey Milk was killed by one of the people who worked for him, not an evil conservative! And he got off on the “sugar” defense.
You are truly an idiot.
“Truly no disrespect intended”.
Tammy, I don’t go around denying what happened in your life.
I didn’t see you screaming at HillBuzz when they shared something about their life.
If you continue to make assumptions about a stranger. You are only revealing yourself to be the same exact women that were in those supermarkets decades ago.
Making assumptions about strangers based on nothing.
No where in that post did I call Robert stupid. Your reading comprehension is your problem not mine. Stop smearing my posts with the voices in your head.
The guy worked WITH him and was that ‘second generation blue collar individual’ that Robert claimed I was confusing with conservatives.
He represented the status quo vs what Milk represented. You didn’t see White’s gradual meltdown on tv every night. As he tried to keep relevant commenting about topics the daily news. His quotes were same old same old and quite conservative. While Milk’s finally represented liberal views with logic, humor, and compassion on the news.
It was the “Twinkie Defense”…not the “sugar” defense. But eh what is yet another error in your assumption based rants. Try some meds to quite the voices and then try and debate on a legitimate level.
Offense intended. See how that honesty works.
Yawn.
More of the same.
YOU spoke for ME, beotch.
You threw me into a category and threw robert into a category.
Oh, you minced my words:
The “twinky defense”
That had to do with being on a sugar high.
Sorry, I’m obviously not as old as you to remember the phrase.
But that guy wasn’t a CONSERVATIVE, he was Milk’s enemy.
Nice avoid.
Nice LIE.
You want to clump conservatives into a neat bunch to fit your pathetic story, but I don’t believe your story.
You were approached by “conservatives” in the supermarket? Just out of the blue?
Riiiiight.
You blame your world for everyone else, including your poor mother.
Pathetic.
AGAIN, the issue is the misogynistic treatment of a fellow sister, Sarah Palin.
But in YOUR world, it’s about MEAN conservatives and you.
GROW THE FUCK UP.
And go back to the DU, you idiot.
Oh, and I mean that with the utmost disrespect, which is what you REALLY intended in your original post.
Phony.
Liar.
Victim.
Wahh wah wahh!
My post got lost in the spam filter. So I’ll make this short.
Stop projecting Sybil, you are the one who twisted my words and spoke for me. Show me where exactly I spoke for you? And use my words instead of your twisted version of reality, it will go quicker.
Once again there is nothing in that post worth lying about. So please tell the ‘others’ it is a lame argument.
There was certainly nothing blaming my mother for anything. I stated that I was proud of her and the lessons she taught me.
Also, I didn’t mince any words. The Twinkie Defense is the proper term. Deal with it.
As far as Dan White, I never said he was a conservative. I said he represented the status quo and his statements were quite conservative. Just like other people make the same statement about Kennedy would be a conservative now despite being a Democrat then.
Dan White wasn’t his enemy the whole time, that is a distortion of reality. They were both Dems and worked together on many projects. Dan even invited Milk to some family events. You don’t invite your enemy to events with you children.
I haven’t lied or avoided anything. The fact you like to call strangers liars when it is YOU who is smearing their words is bizarre to say the least.
Last but not least, my posts have all stated that both sides have issues with trying to control others. The fact you can see that doesn’t mean the rest of the board can’t.
Nite Sybil.
Nuts.
Get therapy.
Karma says:
“CA wasn’t always liberal.”
You’re right. Now we’re broke!
PVG….Here is hoping that they start cutting budget with those nepotism hires. I won’t hold my breath though.
Riddle me this Sybil/Tammy, if you can’t remember the term Twinkie Defense. How are you an expert on the era prior to that?
Here is a hint. They didn’t send unmarried girls out of state to have babies if there was no social stigma from the community. The local store, church, etc is where they dealt with the prejudice from people for having a child out of wedlock.
You can try and deny reality, but there was a whole industry built around it. They were called convents or homes for unwed mothers exactly because of that type of supermarket scorn. The other industry was back alley abortions to hide such ‘mistakes’ from their community.
A friend of mine from my mother’s generation went to one of those homes and gave up her baby for adoption. When she turned 18 she tried to enlist in the army and they turned her down for ‘poor moral turpitude’ because she had a baby as a teenager. They didn’t care she was the victim of rape.
So, please inform the ‘others’ in your head that over the past 40+ years things have changed. However, I have no doubt that pregnant teenagers and single mother still have to deal with passive aggressive conversations with strangers over their lives. The big change is that they don’t have to leave home to have the baby in secret anymore.
And as the joke goes, if you’ve never been subjected to a passive aggressive conversation with a stranger who treated you poorly, differently, etc as a result. It is because it is you who is the passive aggressive stranger.
Sebastian, I love this essay because I am in almost exactly the same boat as your friend Jessie. I am trying to apply for law school, and I am stumped as to what to write for my personal statement. Like her, I’m a white, Republican woman, only I’m worse — I was a stay-at-home mom for years, not a business owner.
I would LOVE to hear what advice you gave to her on how to approach her personal statement. I could use it, too!
(In fact, I blogged about admission committee bias on my blog, if you’re interested. http://30somethinglawstudent.wordpress.com)
AJ,
Email Sebastian directly at:
SebastianGrayMatters@gmail.com and we’re sure he’ll be happy to help you.
Any wiki pedia experts out there:
The David Letterman article is locked but there is discussion of what to include at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:David_Letterman#Sarah_Palin
I did get a boycott section added to the Olive Garden , Kellog, and MArs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Garden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg_Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars,_Incorporated
Wikipedia has a liberal bias, so don’t expect too much from them.
Oh, hey. No mention of a Letterman boycott in any of OG, Kellogs and Mars wiki entries. In fact, the only boycott mentioned is that of the stoners being upset at Kellogg dropping Michael Phelps.
So, either your changes haven’t propogated into the system, or they’ve been removed.
Did you all get this Olive Garden response?
Thank you for expressing your concerns about Olive Garden and allowing us an opportunity to respond.
We understand your concern about Mr. Letterman’s inappropriate comments. Olive Garden screens all network television programs and we plan schedules accordingly, especially in regard to shows with objectionable content. Some shows, like The David Letterman Show, are taped on a daily basis and there is not an opportunity to review the content prior to airing. The content of the dialogue on the June 8th show is not consistent with Olive Garden’s standards and values. We have joined many of our valued guests in voicing our concern to CBS, and we will adjust our plans accordingly as we have done in the past when such situations occur. Your feedback will certainly be taken into consideration as we review our future advertising schedule.
Again, thank you for contacting us with your comments, and we hope you will continue to think of Olive Garden as a place to visit with your family and friends.
Sherri Bruen
Guest Relations Manager
FANTASTIC!
Yes. Much better than the Mars. They’re not admitting any wrongdoing (of course) but it does sound like they’re concerned and you can bet their legal department and whatnot are having serious discussions about this.
Mmmm.. Seems like Olive Garden is blinking. Too early to tell though.
Can you imagine how they’ll be after a month of this?
Keep.The.Pressure.On.
Poll on whether Letterman should apologize:
http://www.newsvine.com/_question/2009/06/12/2922412-should-david-letterman-apologize-for-comment-about-sarah-palins-daughter
I love NBC’s bias. Even though Palin is winning the online poll 55.3% to 44.7%, they only publish 2 pro-Palin comments & a cascade of 14 anti-Palin comments.
I wrote 2 letters today and put them in the mail. One to CEO of Olive Garden and one to CEO of Kelloggs. David Letterman is counting on this going away. I will not go away. Someone needs to stand up to this jerk. He is so arrogant he thinks that this will boost his neilson ratings. I will be watching Conan tonight on NBC.
Sebastian – your words are truly inspiring (when they’re not downright hysterical). Thank you – and all the Hillbuzzers.
I wrote the Letterman show, no answer. I do write, call and fax my Senators and Reps. mostly on illegal immigration and outsourcing jobs.
It took a long time to get them to actually listen to us..then along comes Obama with his amnesty and bingo, we will have millions of new Democrat voters.
I must admit, I am getting very tired fighting planned policies coming out of DC, because it seems like they refuse to listen and now the Republicans cannot do a thing to stop them.
It should never be this way, it is becoming a full time job, fighting our government.
I hate what they are doing, they way they treat Gov. Palin or anyone else that maintains values and common sense…they are made out to be feeble minded and it seems the public wants all the freebies they can get, and to hell with how it is done.
Have we lost a whole generation of people, that actually want to see this great Country turned into a socialist country?
I think many Republicans don’t march in the streets, because we don’t want to appear ridiculous, like some we see on the news..
I don’t know the answer anymore to turn all this around, if you have a government that only listens to certain groups of people, what does it take? A pitchfork & torch, running through the streets of DC?
Forgive me for my down side right now, I just thought sure we had this amnesty thing beat, and now we are flooded with more and more things to fight!
Barbara, hi.
“I must admit, I am getting very tired fighting planned policies coming out of DC, because it seems like they refuse to listen and now the Republicans cannot do a thing to stop them.
It should never be this way, it is becoming a full time job, fighting our government.”
I feel the same way. It HAS become a full time job. It is unbelievable. Remember that an election is coming up. Some of the Dems are getting nervous. We might have a chance to stop or delay some of this stuff until election. We have to vote the bums out.
Pelosi, Frank and Obama are so dictatorial; but, if we keep trying to involve others, we just might be able to pull it off. However, it is going to take all of us. I am with ya.
That’s what they’re hoping…that we’ll get tired and give up; Sebastian’s post sheds some light on that thinking. The more they throw out there, the more determined I am to expose it. Even if I/you/we reach only a few people, it’s a step in the right direction, because it’ll snowball at some point.
Hey, watchful. You and I both “feel” it. It IS going to snowball. wooo hooo
Someone said that we should vote against whoever is in power now regardless of party affiliation. If you have a Democratic Senator or Congressman, vote for the other one, if you have a Republican, vote for the other one. Just completely change Congress and the Senate. I think that is what should be done. The ones there right now are not doing such a good job so we should let our voices heard. Remember, they are there for us, we are not there for them.
Today I went to the grocery store (so mundane and silly) the check out girl was from Peru and she told me that English is no longer the other language to be learned in her country but now it is Chinese. I am seriously thinking about learning Mandarin because the way that this country is going that would probably be a good thing to know.
I love this country, but I do not like the way that it is heading.
CBS executives have not responded to me, either. Time for round 2!
And yes, there are people who would like to see America become socialist. I am embarrassed to say that these morons make up my generation. These are the people who have endured years of liberal indoctrination that tell them they are “citizens of the world” Europe is vastly superior to the hick-ish and unsophisticated US and that multiculturalism is the cure to all of society’s ills.
The difference between these people and me is that I have parents who taught me to have ambition and pride for my country
Some of those indoctrinated idiots should actually spend some time in Europe.
They’ll run home like little babies when they see the quality of life over there and compare it to ours.
Oh, I know it.
I have a friend who actually believes that communism is a “good idea” and thinks Russia is “so cool” I’d pay big money to see her try to last a week in Moscow.
lisarie,
Just one thing to say to your friend since I guess she has not lived under communism: It sucks! I would just love for her to want to travel and leave the country and be stipped searched (even at seven years of age). That happened to me, so I can honestly tell her that it sucks. At least I was only stripped searched but did not have to stand completely naked in a room spread eagled so they could search wherever they wanted (if you get my drift), that happened to my aunt. Oh, God, the horrible things that I could tell you would make you sick.
So, tell your friend that if she wants to live under communism, she has my blessings and I will keep her in my prayers, because she will need them.
Staying in a 3-star hotel would be enough to make this gal want to pull her hair out, let alone a communist country.
Now, when she applauds communism instead of arguing with her, I just laugh and tell her I would like to see her try to survive under communism
Lisarie:
That is SOO funny, because a 3 star hotel in Europe would be like staying in a Motel 6 here!
Yeah, the young have been indoctrinated to believe nonsense. I hope some of them wake up before our own country becomes a communist state. Then it will be too late for them to say anything, because their free speech will be gone.
Tell her to check out:
http://www.therealcuba.com
and see what living under communism is really like
hi barbara…
don’t give up!
BTW.. the CBS letterman … do not bother calling CBS.. go after the sponsors b/c the sponsors care if customers like you stop buying their products and then tell them why you are not planning on buying any of their products..
do not bother with CBS.. they will only do something when their ad venues go down… and their ad revenues will only go down when we call their advertisers and tell them we are not buying what they are selling as long as they associated their brand with a show that makes jokes about statutory rape agn young kids!
New York Lawmaker Calls on CBS to Fire Letterman for Palin Comments
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526055,00.html
“In grade school, at a Democrat Catholic School in Cleveland, we used to write letters every week in class to various companies complaining about their use of styrofoam or whatever that was bad for the environment.”
OMG! I had a teacher like that, too! But this was in South Central Pennsylvania. She made us write to magazines complaining about publishing cigarette ads & write to shampoo companies that allegedly used collagen from aborted fetuses.
Isn’t it amazing that kids didn’t tell their parents this shit?
My mom would have stormed the building and told them to stop using me for propaganda.
Mom is cool….
Hello All,
I usually don’t post here, but I love to come to this site, anyways just wanted to let everyone know that some people are organizing a rally on Monday outside the CBS studio – here is the info – http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2270811/posts?page=17#17
Not only do they quit early, they’re proud of it. Republicans say, “well, I don’t care about Hollywood anyway.” If it was just the one area, I might have some sympathy, but they pull back everywhere i.e. Hollywood, colleges, the workplace, etc. Dems make comments about conservatives that they would never DARE say to me as a Black person. Ex. Palin should be shot. I hate those people, it’s just how I feel. All Mormons are bigots. Imagine the reaction if they used Negro in any one of those sentences.
Sebastian, I have a variation of your plan. It’s called “Going Ghetto!” I’m really great at it. (Going Ghetto has the added bonus of being able to scream, shout, and kick some butt.) I don’t stop until I get what I want plus some free stuff. I’m going to do a combo of emails and letters. I find it very effective to show that my outrage is going to cost them money. Ex. I’m going to include a copy of my receipt from the Olive Garden (last Friday I was there and left a 25% tip). Not happening again while they support Letterman. My friends and I were planning to get those specialty M&Ms for the 4th of July. Not happening. And don’t worry, I’ll be sure to work in how this is just another sneaky tactic to oppress Black people. RAAAAAACIST!!!!!
And you should visit this site too.
http://theblacksphere.blogspot.com/
Thanks. I recently found his blog through this site. I’m thinking about getting the book.
Sebastian, wonderful article and you are correct.. That is why McCain lost the election. Republicans never fight back… ever… for example: Look how many Americans do not pay attention to politics like we all do. The Democrats went on and on and on and on and on about how republicans “got rid of the regulations” and the sheeple fall for this stuff because it goes absolutely unchecked. Too bad they did not take the time to explain to the people what regulations really are… shame, wonder how they like the government control now.
Republicans never fight back is right and that is a cornerstone of Alinsky’s method. He banked on the fact that he could use ridicule to go after a republican and they wouldn’t fight back. He points out that they ‘always take the high road’. He then attempts to use that against them.
That is why Sarah Palin scares them #$%@less. She won’t back down and does fight back. They aren’t sure what to do with her so they just keep ridiculing. McCain refused to fight back and refused to let her. Now that the election is over she is getting her grounding back and she is showing them what she has.
She is not your typical Republican!!!!
Hi, CM. You are right. Sarah is not your typical Republican. She is a conservative. She is a woman with strong principles, integrity, in her conservative beliefs. Wish I could say that about the Republicans…..but no.
Dear HillBuzz Gang,
I do not accept David “Limp Dick” Letterman’s limp dick excuse for an apology…..He doesn’t seem to be able to figure out that it doesn’t matter if he were speaking of a 14, 18 or 28 year old female….His remarks were beyond “out of line.”
There were other parties involved in this scandal other than the Palins and Letterman and what boggles my mind is the lack of input from either one of them.
If Alex Rodriguez were any kind of a man at all, he would DEMAND an on-air heartfelt apology from Letterman, after all Dave insinuated that Alex was a pedophile and a rapist.
Is there such a thing as a Flight Attendant Union?….I’m pretty sure there is and if so, where is the absolute outrage from them.
I am trying to start an Internet campaign to force Alex Rodriguez to get involved in hopes that he will do the right thing and hold Letterman’s feet to the fire…..Justice has not been served on Letterman yet and a high profile celebrity like Rodriguez could cause Dave some serious grief….I doubt that Alex will want to get involved since he has a reputation as a “player” (I don’t mean baseball), but there are ways of forcing it on him….Never take a knife to a gun fight, meaning disregard for whether he wants to get involved or not… All it would take is the right people confronting him about it on camera.
“Mr. Rodriguez, do you condone child rape or have you ever been involved in such an act?….Alex, are you aware that David Letterman, on national TV, portrayed you as a child rapist?…..Why would he do that, sir?…..Mr. Rodriguez, do you fell like Mr. Letterman’s remarks portraying you as a pedophile and a rapist were out of line and do you feel like he owes you an apology?
If he is confronted with these type of questions enough times and from the right people enough times he will have no choice, but to confront Letterman and demand that Dave try to right this wrong.
I know, I know, these may be considered dirty tactics, but not really….He was, after all, portrayed by Letterman just as I wrote it above…..As far as I’m concerned he has a duty here to speak out.
I have not heard anyone from the MSM or even the Internet, for that matter, request that Rodriguez come forward and denounce Letterman.
I am going to be contacting conservative pundits from the MSM and Internet in regards to Mr. Rodriguez’s deafening silence on this important matter.
The rampant sexism, misogyny and downright nastiness from the left has gone on for far too long and it’s time for that crap to STOP.
The effing gloves are OFF!!!!
********************************************
I ask of you and your blog viewers to assist me by joining in an effort to contact anyone who would be willing to help in getting Mr. Rodriguez to come forward….We need some people within the media to confront him…..I’m sure Alex probably has a fan club type web site….I’m also sure that the same goes for the NY Yankees.
Let’s not forget about the flight attendants either….I’m sure they would be more willing to speak out.
It’s time for there to be consequences for one’s own words and actions.
I completely agree.. If AROD were any kind of a decent human being, he would have come out and made a comment about his (good name) used as a butt of a joke like that.. I know I would.
Sebastian -
I just got home after a 14-hour workday and a looong freakin’ week and as tired as I am, I’m energized by your posting.
I like your suggestion of focusing on the key accounts and I think that’s an excellent approach for folks out there who want to join the fight, but are a bit overwhelmed by the number of targets.
If someone simply focuses their fire on Olive Garden, Mars, and Kelloggs and keeps contacting them until they get a response that “we will make some changes to our sponsorship”, that will make a huge difference. Three companies… Contact VP of Sales, VP of Customer Relations, CEO… lather, rinse, repeat
If that’s too many, pick one and focus on them.
Enjoy!
WATCH Letterman’s body language.
He is in full defense pose, shut down pose.
Head down, hands folded, fidgeting.
He KNOWS what is going on.
He makes no eye contact with Sandra Bullock because he is too concerned with his own survival.
Narcissist.
You aren’t even funny anymore, and I have an original t-shirt from “Late Nite” that I will burn in effigy to you.
Bye bye loser
Sorry, “Late Night”
Cool shirt.
Can’t believe it held up for all these years.
Sebastian – I am so proud to know you. Your point is so well explained. You are absolutely right. Thank you so much for your very honest and thoughtful analysis. Spot on!!!!
Sebastian,
SarahPac and Gov. Palin should hire you to strengthen and grow Palin’s grassroots support. You cover all bases.
I keep thinking that if Sarah really wants to take on the liberals she needs to buy and study Rules for Radicals. You are correct that Republicans usually never fight back. Liberals count on that. This is why I think Sarah scares the crap out of them. She is not afraid to fight back and will do it publicly. Liberals don’t know how to handle this.
I think after this month is over and Letterman has paid dearly. We all need to bombard SarahPac and Gov. Palin with positive letters advocating for her to hire Sebastian to organize and strategize her support. We could also let her know how much her leadership means to us.
Just a thought.
We would all gladly work for Sarah Palin in a heartbeat — if ever that offer came from SarahPac or the Guv herself, we’d work for room and board somewhere if it meant being able to help elect her president. That’s the same offer we have out there to Hillary Clinton should she ever run for office again too.
Two people we would do absolutely anything for…and essentially already give up all of our free time for.
Sebastian, you darling, you have hit the nail on the head and inspired me to work hard for something I believe in for the first time in my life.
BTW, what’s next for Dave Lecherman? AIDS jokes? Those are about as funny as what he thinks passes for humor these days. What a worthless SOB he is.
GLOVES OFF!!!!
If you are up late and online tonight, check out the crap Yahoo has on their homepage, those asses. I took a screen shot, but I don’t think I can post it here. It has the headline “Awkward Palin Interview” and a goofy picture of her making a face in the middle of talking in the Matt Lauer interview. That is the kind of crap we are up against, these effers…. I am going to bed mad now!!! Don’t get mad, get even, right?
While I am thrilled that there is so much support for Sarah Palin and decency, it is very suspicious that this episode is happening at a time when the administration is threatening the best healthcare system on earth, controlling the banks, pushing carbon trading, using thug tactics and breaking laws, etc. It is too much of a coincidence!
While we have let CBS and its sponsors hear from us, we should be putting as much effort into saving our freedoms as we do expressing our outrage. Fight the BIGGEST battles first. We are tired, but we must protect our freedoms! Write and call your elected representatives and join the tea parties. We must not get distracted at a time when our efforts are needed so much. The administration’s push for govt. run health care is happening NOW. We must push back, NOW. Go troups!
Daine,
Nice job being a concern troll there. There is plenty of time to address healthcare — but not before we finish off Letterman’s advertisers here.
It’s actually more important than just hitting hard at Letterman: it’s teaching conservatives how to mobilize and stick with something — for once in their lives.
This is a teachable moment, as well as a chance to strike hard against misogyny.
Your concern troll-ing has no place or power here. You are clearly trying to derail a movement by distracting onto something else, and it is not going to work.
What is a “concern” troll? I am a conservative woman who remembers when government wasn’t our biggest enemy. I’m frightened by this administration and its actions. I’m also disturbed by what is happening to Sarah Palin and every other conservative who is popular and effective. I just want all who post here to keep vigilant. The intellegence and energy displayed by the posters here gives me hope that a movement to combat this assault on the American way of life will actually succeed.
My question is, are we going to be so focused on the attack on Letterman, that we are let everything else slide by?
Diane,
A concern troll is someone who, unlike standard trolls, pretends to agree with whatever a thread is about — before then trying to derail it and get people to veer off onto a tangent. You know precisely what you are doing — and you are getting called out for it. Standard trolls just rant and rave and flame when they want people to stop doing something.
You are a more clever troll in that you SAY you want someone like Letterman stopped, and you CLAIM you want to see people stand up for women, but then in your next sentence you tell people to stop doing anything about Letterman and instead nebulously move on to something else without clear direction.
The reason Republicans lose every single cultural battle with the MSNBC is because you are so easily distracted by concern trolls like Diane here — or you fall into the Eyeore trap of listening to the MSM when it says the Republican party is in disarray, is in effective, and demoralized. The MSM keeps repeating that, and you believe them. Concern trolls like Diane emerge from their caves, and you listen to them, getting distracted when you are actually mobilized and being effective.
We see this happen again and again.
And, as Democrats, we love when Republicans behave this way when we’re supporting a good Dem: by all means listen to Diane then. Just give up and surrender.
But, when we are all joined together fighting sexism and misogyny and giving David Letterman hell so the next “comedian” who thinks it’s funny to attack young women will have paused before doing so, people like Diane are a hindrance.
Diane — you are indeed a concern troll, and no one is buying what you are selling.
I’m not buying Diane.
I get it, Hillbuzz guys, and people here are getting it more and more every day.
And I continue to write letters.
I’m doing the hard copy kind, not the emails.
Damn, postage is getting expensive!
It’s kind of fun too!
Diane points out, either advertently or inadvertently, a good point. Whilst boycotting Dave, we should keep an eye on all the other wackiness Dr. Utopia is up to. However, I believe that most people can multi-task.
No. You fight the battles you can win. Should I start quoting Sun Tzu?
Oh, hell:
Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not
expected.
Besides, I can multi-task.
Diane, have you never heard of multitasking?
Diane made some good points. How do we know for sure she was a troll? ISB? Or that she was just voicing another perspective?
This is exactly what BO and company’s about; chaos. The more the better.
I have been “multitasking” since January 18th. It’s not that hard.
PVG -
There is plenty of time to go on to other things in the future. Take a page from Sharpton’s example. His boycotts and protests are effective because they are focused, not all over the board. Diane operates in classic concern trol mode: be believable, say things that seem consistent with a cause, but then at the end tell people to give up and go do something else instead.
If Diane isn’t a concern troll, she sure impersonates one well.
But, but, what about the starving children in Darfur?
Get it, Hillbuzz.
Taking notes from the pros.
Thanks for this great article. Sniffing “Republicans don’t care about Hollywood” and “well, protesting is for people who don’t have JOBS”… it’s like bringing chess pieces to a Pictionary game. The battlefield is on the field of image, vague ideas, public relations. Kind of cushy, compared to the hardships patriots in this country and others have undergone to protect their countries.
Josie Says:
June 12, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Someone said that we should vote against whoever is in power now regardless of party affiliation. If you have a Democratic Senator or Congressman, vote for the other one, if you have a Republican, vote for the other one. Just completely change Congress and the Senate. I think that is what should be done.
—————
Please don’t do this. The groups I belong to, fighting illegal immigration, decided in 2006 to vote out all Republicans because they weren’t closing the borders….but the Republicans were coming online with us and we pleaded with them to not vote out those that were finally coming over to our side…they did anyway….now look!
Each candidate must be investigated, so we know which one will listen to citizens, on several issues.
#54 Peony Moss: “The battlefield is on the field of image, vague ideas, public relations.”
You are absolutely right and republicans must master this battlefield right now.
“Kind of cushy, compared to the hardships patriots in this country and others have undergone to protect their countries.”
Hillbuzz (and me in my own way) articulates the differences between dems and reps. I have a lifetime of experience doing this in the Black/White divide and use these skills to help my republican friends understand how their natural instincts for civility and fair play are used against them. I realized a long time ago that while we were using the same words, we meant two different things entirely. So when I point out that republicans quit early, it’s not because I think they’re afraid of hardships or a fight. It’s the exact opposite. Because our heroes have survived war, slavery, segregation, the Holocaust, etc., our first impulse is to think that it is weak and petty to fight about a dumb joke made by a bitter, mean old man. When you are taught to power thru adversity, letter writing and protesting are considered to be nagging and whining. (John Wayne would not write a letter!) They need to get over it. Here are some of my rules that I recommend to republicans and conservatives.
Rule #1. It is not a “joke.” Always call an insult an insult. Growing up, my older sister had a wicked sense of humor and she could destroy her enemies with words (I learned from the best). She would say the nastiest (and funniest) insults to a person’s face, reduce girls to tears, boys to sputtering fury, and if her victim ever complained, she would say “it was just a joke.” This is why I immediately recognize the tactics and lies used by the Daily Show and the Lettermans of the world. 95% of people don’t have a comeback to it’s a joke. (In fact, civility forces them to drop the subject). 4% get caught in the minefield of debating if the “joke” was funny. Only 1% can or will effectively fight back. Tips: If you’re good at it, then slam them right back with insult after insult. It’s funny how quickly people stop telling conservative “jokes” around me. If you can’t do Coulter, then immediately call them out for being insulting and vicious. Never, EVER refer to it as a “joke.” Calling a powerful woman a slut is an insult. Attacking a child is demented and perverted. This completely undermines their phony “joke” defense. No person is expected to be a good sport about insults. No parent is expected to stand by while their child is attacked. Nobody argues about whether it was a good insult or not. And they look like fools when they try explaining the humor of their attack.
Rule #2. Refusal to fight is seen as weakness, not strength. Republicans understand that weakness invites attack. Just show them how their unwillingness to engage these people is seen as weakness. I call this the Coward of the County argument (or the Fredo moment). Republicans think they’re being strong by not getting into the gutter with Letterman, everyone else sees you as a SAP! This is why democrats own Hollywood and colleges, and Republicans need armed guards. (Let me put it in “Going Ghetto” terms- the easiest way to figure out who has power in the hood— is to see who can walk freely about the neighborhood without fear of attack. That’s why you could deal drugs on the corner but if you were wearing a Catholic school uniform, you took the long way home.) Republicans = Catholic School Uniform. I know, some republicans are thinking that we’re known for being strong i.e. pro-military and national defense. Wrong! Republicans are “known” for sending poor and minority kids off to fight their wars. THAT is the one and only reason the press never mentions McCain’s sons, not out of any concern for their safety.
Rule #3. In a street fight, use whatever weapon works best! Sometimes taking the high road is good. Other times it just makes you a chump. In the world or network television, a letter writing campaign can devastate your opponent. And if you’re the type of person who says “I wish I had said [blank], then letter writing is for you! Republicans know that you don’t bring a knife to a gunfight. So don’t bring a civility to a political battle. Letterman attacked a 14 year old (defends it by saying he meant to attack the 18 year old) and republicans debate about whether it is unseemly to protest. Get over it!
I like your style, Blackredneck!
Ditto! Sebastian and Blackredneck = brothers from a different mother.
Thank you Sebastian, for your advice and efforts. I think conservatives in general, and libertarians in particular, are sort of allergic to government bureaucracies, and working the system for benefits. As private citizens, conservatives tend to keep their politics to themselves, in my experience, and have ceded much of the public sphere allowing entertainers, educators and the media, who are mostly on one side, to define issues and rewrite history. As much as I believe in the tea party protests, I really don’t want to spend my time protesting. Sooner or later, though, there comes a time when you have to stand up for what you believe. Or live with the consequences.
(I could’ve used your advice 20+ years ago, when I applied to a school and was wait-listed due to not playing up my half Filipino background. Although I like where I ended up going better.)
My late, great father forbade us kids to make claim to the Spanish part of our ancestry to get ahead (or, more accurately in many cases, a free pass). It was get by on your own merits or nothing.
Now, however, I’ve begun to lay claim to that aspect of my heritage. If you’ve got the intellectual goods and the work ethic, then I say check off that Filipino (or whichever) box to get the advantage.
Better you (or I) than some unqualified schlub (like Sotomayor, who admitted that she of the subpar grades is a prime example of affirmative action).
Personally, I now see it as my patriotic duty to use the aspect of my heritage that will bar the door to those of similar ancestry who are unfit for the job.
See our opinon on the “nationality question” idiots like to ask here in Chicago in bars. The answer to that “what’s your nationality” is American…and the only blocks to check off that have “American” in them are African American and Native American, so pick one of those if you consider yourself first and foremost American.
Yes, I read that excellent post. You’re right! It’s Native American for me!
And if anyone ever asks what kind of Native American one of us is, Sebastian always says, “I’m from Ohio. I’m a Cleveland Indian. What’s it to you?”.
Seriously, no matter how long we live here in Chicago, having these clowns just come up to people and ask, ‘What’s your nationality?” still boggles us.
They do it in the SF bay area too. Growing up I can’t tell you how many times people would try and open that type of conversation with my friend.
“You have good hair.” While they would say that I had nice or pretty hair.
“Good hair” of course equals, are you black without having the spine to come out and ask.
Karma,
Have you read our posts on the frequent Chicago question, “What’s your nationality?”. It’s disgusting, and something that we’ve only encountered here.
Someone comes over to talk to you in a bar and asks ‘What’s your nationality?” or “What’s your ethnicity?”.
If you give the wrong answer, away they go, after some awkward remark. They want you to confirm whatever they think about you — if they think you are Chinese, but you answer “Eskmio” instead, then that’s the end of that.
Never fails to infuriate us — and it’s so racist it’s not even funny. It’s like you have to show these clowns a DNA test or your family tree for them to consider you worthy of trying to pick up in a bar.
Only happens in Chicago that we have seen so far.
Oh yes…it was a great read as usual.
And it was practically a play by play of what she went through constantly with men and women. While some guys wanted to know exactly what exotic beauty she was, it seemed only for the notch on their belt.
Or like you said, to decide if she was even worthy of being invited to their bed. Completely ignoring the fact they blew any chance to talk her much longer.
With other people the conversation seemed like it was so they could continue with the racist-stereotype-rundown. Like this predictable conversation was their version of being ‘in the know’ and somehow she would appreciate all this ‘inside knowledge’ of her.
Who would be impressed by being labeled and then treated as such? Rather than be discovered and appreciated for who they are as an individual?
Anyway, while living near Atlanta, GA. They would ask a different version of the same type of question. “Who is your family?” Meaning do you have any ties to GA or the south, and what is their social standing? And sometimes it meant “Go home Yankee.” or know your place.
From the country club set to the blue collar worker…same question from young and old. That was 20 years ago, it might have changed now, but it was almost a standard question from everyone. Of course, I didn’t have a southern accent so….maybe that was their excuse to open the conversation. I don’t know.
But I also didn’t know how effectively Yankee could sound like a curse word until living in GA. Blew my mind how much venom they could get dripping off that word. However, the real racism was in a whole different league too. Palpable, dangerous, and quite literally, deadly. Hope time has changed it but most of those people are obviously still alive.
This is dedicated to the fight not only against Letterman and all misogynists but also in protest against the whole damn uber-Leftist takeover. Hope the Foo Fighters don’t mind my borrowing their song (“The Pretender” aka Never Surrender) for this purpose. (Love Dave Grohl…and Nathan Fillion)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVboOdX9icA&hl=en&fs=1&]
I know it’s probably been said in one of the great responses above but I’ll throw in my .02 too. As a conservative, I absolutely despise the squeaky wheel way of getting things done. It seems cheap and low and goes against every instinct as a personally responsible person. However, I think I need to get over that feeling because I’m seeing that fighting fire with fire is the only way anything will change.
I used to think that leading by example, being honest, minding my own business, working hard and having personal integrity was enough and that those values would win out in the end. Now I see that in our society, the ends justify the means, no matter what. It’s depressing, disheartening and honestly, revolting to me but I see it and I’m taking the damn gloves off.
Thanks Sebastian for opening my eyes to reality. I’ve been in denial for far too long.
To me, what sux is that we have to *continually* nip at the heels of people like Letterman and, worse, our elected representatives, whom we should be able to TRUST.
I hope henceforth we’ll work together toward the common goal of electing representatives from among the people–us!–so that we don’t have to spend our precious little free time checking up after them.
BTW, I do appreciate what you’ve said about being repulsed by having to speak up and act out. Perhaps it might help if you view it more as fighting fire with water.
Isn’t there an Association of Flight Attendents that should be taking Letterman to task about his “slutty stewardess” remark?
That remark indicated to me that Letterman is just too old for the job and soooo 1960′s – probably pining for the “old days” when stewardesses were not hired unless they met a certain “standard” that is they were not even interviewed unless they met the age, height, weight requirements and were quite attractive – and he probably couldn’t get a date with any of them.
Riehl world published an alleged anecdote about Dave trying to get an airline worker fired for not bringing him the drink that he wanted:
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2009/06/a-personal-story-about-david-letterman.html
“Letterman demanded that the worker be fired for his affront and alleged incompetence.”
It’s late, my kids are in bed and I just re-watched Palin’s Today show interview while I write and print more letters. I actually notice something new!!
I would LOVE to have been a fly on the wall of the uber left media when these words were chosen (not escaped) and came out of Sarah Palin’s mouth:
“the candidate who must be obeyed”
Has ANYONE on national TV, on a prime morning show, had the balls to say or describe Obama with such a phrase??? To challenge in such a way???
ANYONE?? Sarah Palin from Alaska that is who!!!!
She rocks! I can’t believe that she dished that one out and it appears to have gone over everyone’s head. I don’t even think Matt Lauer got it but if he did or any of his buddies did their jaws must have hit the floor.
What guts, confidence and balls!
Did anyone else notice this??? Maybe I am just slow.
I have seen this happen time and time again. I think the difference (no offense meant, really) is Conservatives are not willing to squander what little time they have with their families or to donate to an interest or to their church or community to spend it hyperventilating about miscellaneous issues.
If it effects us personally, professionally or religiously we go all out. If it’s nonsense like Letterman……..he’s such an non-entity that we’re not willing to waste our valuable time on him.
This time though I think he really bit himself in the butt. Finally.
Way back in the comments, Sebastian seemed to indicate that pithy, bulleted comments were part of what doesn’t work. For reasons of clarity and mercy on the reader, the brevity and pithiness have a natural appeal to me. But I am a newcomer to this stuff – are you saying we should avoid that and be more verbose, perhaps even to the point of punishing the poor reader of our comments?
Thanks for this great article. Sniffing “Republicans don’t care about Hollywood” and “well, protesting is for people who don’t have JOBS”… it’s like bringing chess pieces to a Pictionary game. The battlefield is on the field of image, vague ideas, public relations. Kind of cushy, compared to the hardships patriots in this country and others have undergone to protect their countries.
Sebastian, this article was wonderful and reflects my problems when I realized I no longer could identify with the idiotology of the “New” Left. I was a 60′s radical activist from SF State and then on to Minneapolis. I was working for a Corp Law Dept of a large corp. and met another guy,a vp at Pillsbury and another gal from IDS We 3 strangers met in a little dinner overheard my comments about the war and Johnson and from there organized the first ever Silent Majority March to end the war in Vietnam. The corps. were great allowing information meetings, use of copy machines and supplies. It was amazing how easy it was to get large conference rooms and free supplies. We also utilized the free newspaper which was readily read by downtown workers. We worked the local papers and threatened one boycott at Donaldsons because everyone was wearing a black armband to bring awareness to the March. The store refused to allow the arm bands until we threatened boycott. Then their policy changed, a staff member got to keep her job and it was on the evening news including all the infomation about the coming March of the Silent Majority. Our first meetings were all organizational but it grew fast and big. Our last organization meeting had over 300 people in attendance. Estimates from 50-100 thousand regular working Americans made that treck across the Mississippi. It was really a rush to see all those people converging on the capitol in St. Paul. Of course, lining up speakers was the least of our challenges. I have fighting and never losing in my genes so when I converted to conservatism I felt I was a walking coma patient. I have since learned to channel my energy and mentor people in the ways to being a successful organizer activist but it is kinda hard….it’s like asking them to read a lesson printed in Greek. I feel better about what I done since, just some little local battles, but am looking forward to this election year. I love helping people learn and to inspire. My Congresswoman is a wonderful gal, consistently conservative and very responsive to her district. Plus she is trying to introduce Earmark legislation. She has, of course, in spite of having Democratic support been silenced by Pelosi. I notice my gal is out front now with Boehner, Cantor and Pennce and assuming more leadership. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. I wish she’d run against Patty Murry. WA GOP is just plain dumb in recuriting candidates. I don’t think a Democratic vote is a lock here. A good candidate here just might have a fighting chance. I’m getting a little over the hill but not too old to enjoy this site and the great ideas. You might even inspire me to practice up for one or two more events and maybe in 2012 Thanks for your work and inspiration.