The Guardian: Coverage of the Bradley Byrne vs. Dean Young in GOP Run-Off in Alabama's Congressional District One

The Guardian article is linked below.

The Guardian: The Mainstream GOP vs. The Tea Party in Lower Alabama

"Byrne, a smooth-talking attorney, is up against a gritty, ultra-conservative opponent, Dean Young. On a mission to save Christian civilisation, Young, who describes his supporters as 'pitchfork people', is opposed to gay people 'pretending they're married' and believes Barack Obama was probably born in Kenya.

The contest between Byrne and Young is seen as a fight for the heart and soul of a Republican party licking its wounds after the government shutdown led to plummeting poll ratings. As such, it is being watched closely by political analysts in Washington."

---Paul Lewis, The Guardian 

Is Religious Right Activist Dean Young Surging Ahead Against Mainstream Republican Bradley Byrne in the Republican Run-Off for Alabama Congressional District One?

Alabama

The AL.com article is linked below.

AL.com: Dean Slightly Ahead in Recent Poll

"Buchanan said his firm 'tweaked' its methodology to include a sampling of voters who cast ballots in the 2012 presidential primary. He pointed out that Chief Justice Roy Moore was on that ballot and that there is a likely correlation between Moore and Young supporters."

---Brendan Kirby, AL.com

Politico: Bradley Byrne and Dean Young Locked in Tight Race for the GOP Nomination for Alabama Congressional District One

Alabama Congressional District 1

On November 5, 2013, in a Republican primary run-off, voters in Alabama's Congressional District 1 will choose between establishment-oriented Bradley Byrne and Religious Right activist Dean Young.

Usually a bastion of Republican party unity since the mid-1960s, the special election duel between Byrne and Young bucks nearly 50 years of tradition, and exemplifies the burgeoning splits within the GOP, a Tea Party versus Establishment intra-party civil war, so to speak.

The winner of the November 5th run-off will likely cruise to victory in the special election in December.  The Democrats have nominated a candidate, but will be facing an overwhelmingly Republican electorate in a few weeks.

The Politico article is linked below.

Politico: Byrne vs. Dean in Alabama District 1

"Alabama Republicans Bradley Byrne and Dean Young are running neck and neck ahead of next week’s special runoff primary election in Alabama’s First Congressional District, according to a new survey.

The poll, conducted by the GOP consulting firm Cygnal, shows Young, a tea party-aligned real estate investor, with a 43.2 percent to 40.2 percent lead over Byrne, a former state senator and unsuccessful 2010 gubernatorial candidate."

---Alex Isenstadt, Politico 

CNN's John D. Sutter: East Carroll Parish, Louisiana--The Nation's #1 County in Terms of Income Inequality, and Possible Harbinger of Writ Large National Income Disparity

East Carroll Parish, Louisiana

John D. Sutter's CNN article is linked below.

CNN: East Carroll Parish, Louisiana and Economic Inequality

"A little place in Louisiana takes the title.

East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, is home to 7,500 people, some of whom make six and seven figures and 41% of whom live below the federal poverty line. And is one U.S. capital of income inequality.

The farming community, with picturesque Lake Providence at its center, is a scary window into the future -- a look at where the rest of the country is headed if we don't change our economic policies to work for everyone, not primarily the rich."

---John D. Sutter, CNN

Michael Kazin in The New Republic: The Specter of Ted Cruz's Extremism as a Fuel For Historical Change

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas:
Wacko Bird?
Harbinger of Change?
Both?

Michael Kazin's article in The New Republic is linked below.

Michael Kazin: Ted Cruz Might Fuel Historical Change

"Sometimes, those who take an inflexible, radical position hasten a purpose that years later is widely hailed as legitimate and just. Extremism is the coin of conviction, whether virtuous or malign. It forces middle-roaders to crush the disrupter or adapt."

---Michael Kazin, The New Republic 

National Journal's Josh Kraushaar: Ken Cuccinelli and the GOP Civil War

Ken Cuccinelli,
Virginia GOP Candidate
For Governor
Photo by Gage Skidmore

Josh Cuccinelli's article at National Journal is linked below.

National Journal: Cuccinelli and the Fundamental GOP Problem

"If Cuccinelli fails to engineer an unlikely comeback, it should signal that running an outspoken social conservative in a battleground state is a losing formula. But to the contrary, there are few signs that the message is getting through. If anything, the party's civil war – played out in Virginia between lieutenant governor Bill Bolling and Cuccinelli – is just beginning to heat up."

---Josh Kraushaar, National Journal 

John D. Sutter of CNN: Economic Inequality and Lake Providence, Louisiana

Louisiana

The CNN report is linked below.

CNN: Lake Providence, Lousisiana

"Since the late 1970s, the gap between rich and poor has widened to Grand Canyon proportions -- pushing America toward a two-class society. People have a harder time getting ahead now than at any time since the Great Depression.

The nation is more economically split, according to the CIA, than Iran or Nigeria.

East Carroll Parish, population 7,500 and home to Lake Providence, is worse off still."

---John D. Sutter, CNN

Salon's Brian Beutler: The House GOP Takes the Lily-White Path

House Speaker John Boehner

Brian Beutler's article at Salon is linked below.

Brian Beutler: The House GOP Rejection of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

"The result in either case will be the consequence of Boehner’s decision to let conservative hard-liners kill comprehensive reform. Some of these members are motivated more by spite than by the sum of their concern for the national welfare, the interests of their constituents, and their own partisan allegiances. Others oppose reform more earnestly. But together they comprise a faction that’s pulling the Republican Party in a whites-only direction."

---Brian Beutler, Salon 

John B. Judis of The New Republic: The Tea Party Might Very Well Decline, But Some Other Rightwing Threat Could Easily Take its Place

The Tea Party

John B. Judis' article at The New Republic is linked below.

John B. Judis: The Possible Defeat of the Tea Party

"By 2016, the Tea Party may have gone the way of the religious right of the 1990s or the anti-immigrant Minutemen of the 2000s. And yet the question remains whether the Tea Party’s demise will produce a kinder, gentler, more cooperative America—or whether its constituents will regroup and again threaten a descent into political and social disorder."

---John B. Judis, The New Republic 

The Daily Beast's Lloyd Green: The GOP Has a Race Problem

Lloyd Green's article at The Daily Beast is linked below.

The Daily Beast: The GOP Race Problem

"America’s electoral landscape has shifted dramatically over the last quarter of a century, let alone since the Civil War. In 1988, Democrat Mike Dukakis lost to George H.W. Bush by more than 7 points in the popular vote, even though he won 40 percent of white voters. In contrast, two dozen years later, Barack Obama was reelected after winning only 39 percent of the white vote, the largest deficit of white votes of any successful Democratic candidate… [Moreover,] Obama won 80 percent of the non-white vote."

---Lloyd Green, The Daily Beast 

Gallup: A Significant Decline in the Belief that America Has "Plenty of Opportunity" For Economic Prosperity

Gallup's article on the recent survey is linked below.

Gallup: Declining Faith in America as a Country that Has '"Plenty of Opportunity"

"Fewer Americans believe there is "plenty of opportunity" to get ahead in America today than have said so across three previous measurement points over the last 59 years. A bare majority (52%) say the country has plenty of economic opportunity, down from 57% in 2011 and more substantially from 81% in 1998."

---Gallup

Conservative Columnist George Will Takes a Look at Rick Santorum's 2016 Chances, Along With Recent U.S. Birth Demographics

Rick Santorum

George Will's column at the Washington Post is linked below.

George Will: Thoughts on Ricks Santorum's Potential 2016 Run

"'At any given moment,' wrote George Orwell in 1948, 'there is a sort of all-prevailing orthodoxy, a general tacit agreement not to discuss some large and uncomfortable fact.' Today that fact is family disintegration: 41 percent of American children are born to unmarried women, including nearly half of first births, 53 percent of Hispanic children and 72 percent of African American children. In 2015, these facts will be discussed in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Moynihan Report."

---George Will, Washington Post 

Salon's Kerry Eleveld: Study Claims That Tea Partiers and Evangelicals Are Not One and the Same in the Republican Coalition

The article at Salon is linked below.

Salon: Study Shows that GOP Has Three Large Factions Within

"The GOP is now roughly split into three factions: one-third Evangelical, one-quarter Tea Party and one-quarter moderates. These focus groups, which were purposely assembled homogeneously to encourage participation, were chosen because they comprise the base of the Republican Party.

True, the Tea Party has its own goals and it’s wreaking havoc on the Republican Party and the nation. But what’s striking about the insights gleaned from the groups is that both moderate and Tea Party Republicans view the Evangelical agenda as a total distraction."

---Kerry Eleveld, Salon 

Pew Research Center: People in Mexico and El Salvador View Life in the United States Favorably

Mexico

The Pew Research Center report is linked below.

Pew Research Center: Mexican and Salvadoran Views on Life in the U.S.

"Mexicans and Salvadorans share a positive image of the U.S. Many believe that people who move to the U.S. lead a better life, and most of those who have family or friends who migrated say they have accomplished their goals while there."

---Pew Research Center Report

The American Conservative's Patrick J. Deneen Challenges Both Free Market Fundamentalism and State Benevolence in Matters of Education and Healthcare

Patrick J. Deneen's article at The American Conservative is linked below.

Patrick J. Deneen: Market Fundamentalism and Statist Benevolence are Flawed

"But almost altogether unnoticed are the attendant costs of this transformation, costs that, ironically, make both health and education increasingly the province of the strong and wealthy. The appearance of crisis in each sphere at the same time is not coincidental—it is a consequence of a conscious set of decisions to banish motivations of Christian charity from almost every institution of human life. In their place, we have two deficient motivations and attendant practices—self-interest and depersonalized State-mandated social justice. It becomes clearer with every passing day that neither suffices…"

---Patrick J. Deneen, The American Conservative 

The Republican Civil War: CBS News Examines the Alabama 1st Congressional District Republican Primary Run-off Between Bradley Byrne and Tea Partier Dean Young, and How it Embodies the Battle of the Future of the GOP

Source: NationalAtlas.gov 

The CBS News video report is linked below.

CBS News: Mainstream Republican Bradley Byrne versus Tea Partier Dean Young

AL.com: Coverage of the CBS News Report on the Byrne vs. Young GOP Run-off

"'In south Alabama, most people take pride in their good manners, but the Republican primary for an open House seat has become unusually impolite,' Reid reports. 'The race between Dean Young and Bradley Byrne echoes the party's sharp divide over the government shutdown in Washington earlier this month.'"

---Chip Reid, CBS News, Quoted by AL.com

New York Times Editorial: Americans Are Falling Behind Internationally in Three Key Academic Areas, Those Being "Literacy, Numeracy," and "Problem Solving"

The editorial from The New York Times is linked below.

The New York Times: American are Getting Left Behind

"The research focused on people ages 16 to 65 in 24 countries. It dealt with three crucial areas: literacy — the ability to understand and respond to written material; numeracy — the ability to use numerical and mathematical concepts; and problem solving — the ability to interpret and analyze information using computers.

Americans were comparatively weak-to-poor in all three areas."

---Editorial Board, The New York Times 

William A. Galston in the Wall Street Journal: Tea Party Jacksonians

Andrew Jackson:
The Original Tea Partier?

William A. Galston's article at The Wall Street Journal is linked below.

The Tea Party as Latter-Day Jacksonians

"The tea party is Jacksonian America, aroused, angry and above all fearful, in full revolt against a new elite—backed by the new American demography—that threatens its interests and scorns its values."

---William A. Galston, The Wall Street Journal 

Washington Post: A Majority of Public School Students in the South and West are From Low Income Households, Per the Southern Education Foundation

The Washington Post article by Lindsey Layton is linked below.

Washington Post: Low Income Students in American Public Schools

"Children from those low-income families dominated classrooms in 13 states in the South and the four Western states with the largest populations in 2011, researchers found. A decade earlier, just four states reported poor children as a majority of the student population in their public schools.

But by 2011, almost half of the nation’s 50 million public-school students — 48 percent — qualified for free or reduced-price meals."

---Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post

Washington Post: National Maps Showing Rising Poverty in U.S. Public Schools

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Coverage of the Southern Education Foundation Report

"The South may rise again, but it likely won’t be because of increasing levels of income or educational quality."

---George Mathis, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Baltimore Sun Editorial: Commentary on the Pervasiveness of Low Income Students in American Public Schools

The Baltimore Sun editorial is linked below.

The Baltimore Sun: Low Income Students and American Public Schools

"A study by the Southern Education Foundation reported an astonishing statistic last week: Nearly half — 48 percent — of the 50 million public school students in the U.S. now live in poverty. Moreover, since 2000, poor children have become the majority in public schools throughout the South and West, with Maryland and Virginia the only states in our region where middle-class students are still in the majority. Since it's long been known that academic achievement closely tracks family income, the demographic shifts in the public school population have broad implications not only for the country but for how educators approach the problems that keep disadvantaged children from reaching their full potential."

---The Baltimore Sun, Editorial

American Idle: 15% of Americans 16-24 Years of Age are Unemployed or Not in School, Per a Study Cited by the Associated Press

Philip Eliott's Associated Press story is linked below.

Associated Press: Idle Youth in America

"Almost 6 million young people are neither in school nor working, according to a study released Monday.

That’s almost 15 percent of those aged 16 to 24 who have neither desk nor job, according to The Opportunity Nation coalition, which wrote the report."

---Philip Elliot, The Associated Press, posted at the Chicago Sun-Times 

Salon: The "Duck Dynasty" Beards and What They Say to Red State America

The article at Salon is linked below.

Salon: The Socio-Political Significance of the "Duck Dynasty" Beards

"The show is consumed by a large segment of the American public that is fed up with what they perceive as the modern world’s assault on traditional values and religion. These viewers are willing to commit their time to a little slice of supposedly authentic Southern American-ness to combat the secular hordes of social reformers roaring at tradition’s gates.

The beards in “Duck Dynasty” symbolize this general, supposedly authentic, but actually mass-produced, Southern cultural conservatism."

---Jarret Ruminski, Salon 

Chuck Thompson, Author of "Better off Without 'Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession," Offers His Thoughts on the Southern Role in the Recent Government Shutdown

From John C. Calhoun 
to Strom Thurmond
to Newt Gingrich 
to Ted Cruz

Chuck Thompson's column at Salon is linked below.

Chuck Thompson: The Southern-Fried Gub-mint Shutdown

"It’s part of the same soiled fabric that stretches from John C. Calhoun and South Carolina’s 1832 Ordinance of Nullification...all the way to the Newt Gingrich-led government shutdown and de facto second paralysis brought about by his presidential impeachment campaign of the 1990s. With stops along the way to roll back Reconstruction, stop black kids from entering white schools, dismember the Voting Rights Act, etc., etc.

Yes, I know Michele Bachmann is from Minnesota and Steve King is from Iowa, but all this proves is that in the 150 or so years since the Civil War, the vituperative Confederate agenda of anti-Americanism has managed to spread its irresistible redneck poison into benighted pockets across the country. Kind of like Waffle House."

---Chuck Thompson, Salon

Politico's Alexander Burns: The Near-Extinction of GOP Big City Mayors in an Age of Demographic Change in Which America is Becoming Increasingly Urban and Diverse

Chicago

Alexander Burns' article at Politico is linked below.

Alexander Burns: The Decline of GOP Mayors in Major Cities

"Largely unnoticed in Washington, urban Republican politicians have emerged over the last year as perhaps the nation’s most severely endangered political species, as the party has either failed to compete for high-profile mayor’s offices or has been soundly rebuffed by voters. It’s a significant setback that some Republicans view as an ominous sign for the GOP in a country growing steadily more urban and diverse."

---Alexander Burns, Politico 
.

The American Prospect's Paul Waldman: The Tea Party, Being Equipped With a Manichaean and "Apocalyptic Worldview," Is Not Going Away

The Tea Party

Paul Waldman's article is linked below.

Paul Waldman: The Tea Party is not Leaving

 "But by now we have to conclude that it's been worse this time, and not only because the Tea Party's forebears never got a fraction of the influence within the GOP that it now has. The threat of modernity that Sullivan points to is, for these people, all too real. The world is leaving them behind. And that cosmopolitan, multiracial man in the White House became the embodiment of everything they fear."

---Paul Waldman, The American Prospect 

Gail Collins of the New York Times: In Today's Texas, You Gotta be Crazy!

Texas: Big Crazy

Gail Collins examines the stark reality that Republican elected officials Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Rick Perry, and Representatives Pete Sessions, Steve Stockman, and Louie Gohmert all hail from the Lone Star State.

Gail Collins' column at The New York Times is linked below.

Gail Collins: The Ubiquity of Texas Crazy

"In Texas, there’s so much craziness, it’s hard for a normal crazy to get attention. Imagine an election year with both Perry and Cruz on television every night. To get any airtime, the Texas guys in the House of Representatives would have to call for impeachment while bungee jumping. While waving “Secede!” signs. While carrying unconcealed weapons."

---Gail Collins, The New York Times

Conservative Columnist Charles Krauthammer: The "Redskins" Moniker Should be Dropped by the Washington, D.C. NFL Franchise

National Football League

Charles Krauthammer's Washington Post column is linked below.

Charles Krauthammer: The "Redskins" Moniker Should be Dropped

"Let’s recognize that there are many people of good will for whom 'Washington Redskins' contains sentimental and historical attachment — and not an ounce of intended animus. So let’s turn down the temperature. What’s at issue is not high principle but adaptation to a change in linguistic nuance. A close call, though I personally would err on the side of not using the word if others are available."

---Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post 

The Pew Research Center and The New Yorker: House Republicans and the Geography of the "Suicide Caucus"

In September, The New Yorker has posted an interesting article and map about the 80 Republican House members who demanded in a signed letter to Speaker John Boehner that the defunding of Obamacare be a condition of any appropriations bill in the current Congress.  The Pew Research Center did a follow-up report on the original New Yorker piece.

The Pew Research Center article and map are linked below.

Pew Research Center: The House Republicans Behind the Government Shutdown

"Just over half (41) of the signers are from the South; 22 are from the Midwest, and 13 are from the West; the only members from the Northeast are four representatives from rural parts of Pennsylvania."

---Drew Desilver, Pew Research Center 

The New Yorker: The "Suicide Caucus" in the GOP

"The members of the suicide caucus live in a different America from the one that most political commentators describe when talking about how the country is transforming. The average suicide-caucus district is seventy-five per cent white, while the average House district is sixty-three per cent white. Latinos make up an average of nine per cent of suicide-district residents, while the over-all average is seventeen per cent. The districts also have slightly lower levels of education (twenty-five per cent of the population in suicide districts have college degrees, while that number is twenty-nine per cent for the average district)."

---Ryan Lizza, The New Yorker 

American Demographic Change and Condiments: Salsa Overtakes Ketchup

The Associated Press article on the triumph of salsa is linked below.

The Associated Press: Salsa Surpasses Ketchup

"Salsa overtaking ketchup as America's No. 1 condiment was just the start.

These days, tortillas outsell burger and hot dog buns; sales of tortilla chips trump potato chips...Welcome to the taste of American food in 2013.

As immigrant and minority populations rewrite American demographics, the nation's collective menu is reflecting this flux, as it always has."

---Suzette Laboy and J.M. Hirsch, The Associated Press

Politico: An Obama Victory

President Barack Obama

The Politico article is linked below

Politico: A Victory for President Obama

"In the end, President Barack Obama got exactly what he said he wanted — a debt-limit increase, an extension of the federal government’s funding, and no overly binding strings attached — and he did it by keeping faith with his unusual watchwords: No negotiation."

---Carrie Budoff Brown and Jonathan Allen, Politico 

Demographic Change Coming to the U.S. Senate as Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker Wins a Special Election in the Garden State

Senator-Elect Cory Booker

CNN coverage of Cory Booker's election to the U.S. Senate is linked below.

CNN: Cory Booker Elected to the U.S. Senate

"With 99% of precincts reporting, Booker led Lonegan 55%-44%.

Booker was the front runner in all the public opinion polls throughout the short campaign to fill the remaining 15 months of the term of the late Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in June. With his victory, Booker becomes the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate since Barack Obama in 2004."

---CNN

Politico: New Jersey Special Election for U.S. Senate Seat

As Congressional Republicans Capitulate on Re-Opening the Government and Raising the Debt Ceiling, Rightwing Talker Rush Limbaugh Lambasts the GOP

Rush Limbaugh

Politico's coverage of the Rush Limbaugh tirade is linked below.

Politico: Rush Limbaugh Attacks the GOP

"Limbaugh slammed the Republican Party for consistently failing to offer any 'serious opposition' to the Democratic Party or President Barack Obama. And now the party has made an 'inexplicable political cave-in' with the agreement to reopen the government and lift the debt ceiling, he said."

---MacKenzie Weinger, Politico

The Houston Chronicle: The Wacko Bird is no Longer the Word

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas

The Houston Chronicle editorial expressing its regret of the retirement of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and its corresponding regret of endorsing the senatorial candidacy of Ted Cruz (elected in 2012) is linked below.

The Houston Chronicle: The Regrettable Absence of Kay Bailey Hutchison

"When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November's general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation - that he follow Hutchison's example in his conduct as a senator.

Obviously, he has not done so. Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution."

---Houston Chronicle official editorial 

USA Today: Coverage of the Houston Chronicle Editorial About Ted Cruz

The Daily Beast's Eleanor Clift: Confederate Hauntings of the Republican Party

Eleanor Clift's column at The Daily Beast is linked below.

Eleanor Clift: Michael Ashmore's Confederate Flag, and what it says about today's GOP

"On Sunday, conservatives in town for the Values Voter Summit stormed the closed World War II memorial, tearing down the barricades and carrying them to the White House, where a protester gleefully posed for the cameras holding a confederate flag. Larry Klayman, a fringe player during the anti-Clinton mania of the ‘90s, told the crowd they were being 'ruled by a president who bows down to Allah.' He urged President Obama 'to put the Quran down' and come out of the White House with his hands down, or up. Klayman wasn’t quite sure which one."

---Eleanor Clift, The Daily Beast 

The Washington Post's Susan Brooks: "War by Other Means" and the Confederate Flag in Front of the White House on October 13, 2013

Susan Brooks' article at the Washington Post is linked below.

Susan Brooks: The October 13, 2013 Anti-Obama Rally in Washington, D.C.

"American politics today, however, is the reverse of the Clausewitz analysis.  American politics is now the continuation of ‘war by other means.’ This became crystal clear when Michael Ashmore of Hooks, Texas, waved a confederate flag in front of the White House at a demonstration. As Jonathan Capehart wrote, that flag is 'a symbol of Southern resistance and white supremacy'  and it was 'unfurled in front of the home of the first black president of the United States.'"

---Susan Brooks, Washington Post 

Noam Scheiber of The New Republic: The GOP Disaster

House Speaker John Boehner

Noam Scheiber's article at The New Republic is linked below.

Noam Scheiber: Turn out the lights; the party's over

"But don’t mistake it for anything other than what it was: the final spasm of a still-fresh corpse, the corpse being the GOP’s legitimacy as a political entity, to say nothing of its negotiating position in this particular conflict."

---Noam Scheiber, The New Republic

Edge of Sports' Dave Zirin: Bob Costas Did the Right Thing in Speaking Out Against the "Redskins" Moniker

Washington Redskins

Dave Zirin's column at Edge of Sports is linked below.

Dave Zirin: Bob Costas is both brave and correct

"My view, and I cannot say this forcefully enough, is that whatever problems people may have with the content of what Bob Costas said, the veteran broadcaster seized the moment and was a profile in courage. Costas did the unthinkable: he took a stand against racism on national television. He also openly – as he did a year ago by addressing gun culture after the horrific murder suicide perpetrated by Chiefs’ player Jovan Belcher against Kasandra Perkins – willingly courted the ire of disturbingly violent right wing sports fans and their droogs in the conservative blogosphere."

---Dave Zirin, Edge of Sports 

Esquire: The "New American Center" in U.S. Politics

Results from a broad-based survey of American political attitudes are published in Esquire and linked below.

Esquire: The "New American Center"

CNN Editorial by Conservative David Frum: It Might be a Good Thing for the GOP if the Tea Party Were to go its Separate Way

David Frum's editorial at CNN is linked below.

David Frum at CNN: It might be of benefit to the GOP if the Tea Party were to leave

"Right now, tea party extremism contaminates the whole Republican brand. It's a very interesting question whether a tea party bolt from the GOP might not just liberate the party to slide back to the political center -- and liberate Republicans from identification with the Sarah Palins and the Ted Cruzes who have done so much harm to their hopes over the past three election cycles."

---David Frum, CNN

Politico's Roger Simon: The Government Funding Crisis Has Brought Racism to the Forefront

Roger Simon's column at Politico is linked below.

Politico's Roger Simon: Visible Racism and the Government Shutdown

"Protesters marched through the streets of Washington on Sunday with a Confederate flag and then a protester lounged against the White House fence with one. Displaying the Confederate flag in front of a home occupied by a black family was meant to send a particular, and particularly repellent, message."

---Roger Simon, Politico 

Salon's Brian Beutler: The GOP is Losing in the Government Shutdown, and is on the Verge of a Modern "Gettysburg"

Brian Beutler's column at Salon is linked below.

Brian Beutler: The "Neo-Confederates" are on the brink of a "Gettysburg"

"Conservatives see Sarah Palin and Ted Cruz and imagine a national groundswell is forming. They do not perceive two widely loathed politicians who bespeak the House GOP’s total isolation so exquisitely. They believe the latest small crowd of white conservatives protesting the closure of war monuments (which would be open had they not shut down the government) will upend the whole debate and reverse the tide of public opinion against them."

---Brian Beutler, Salon 

Ashley Alman of The Huffington Post: Rightwing Protesters Employ Anti-Muslim, Anti-Obama Rhetoric as the Confederate Flag Makes an Appearance at the Washington, D.C. Rally

Ashley Alman's Huffington Post article is linked below.

The Huffington Post: Coverage of a Vitriolic Anti-Obama Protest in Washington, D.C.

"Klayman was joined by a group of veterans protesting the memorial closures that followed the government shutdown earlier this month. The demonstrators, who were met by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin, pushed through the barriers at war memorials and carried the barricades back to the White House, Confederate flags in tow."

---Ashley Alman, The Huffington Post 

CNN: Coverage of the Anti-Obama Protest in Washington, D.C.

"Anti-Obama sentiments echoed throughout the crowd Sunday, with one protester yelling out 'punk' to describe the president and one speaker saying Obama is not the president of 'the' people but 'his' people. Multiple signs read 'Impeach Obama.'"

---CNN Report

New York Daily News: Coverage of the Veterans Protest

Salon's Michael Lind: The Government Shutdown is Part of a Larger Conservative Southern-Based Economic Agenda

Michael Lind's article at Salon is linked below.

Salon's Michael Lind: The Southern-Fried Government Shutdown

"So the struggle is not one to convert Southern Baptists to Darwinism or to get racists to celebrate diversity. The on-going power struggle between the local elites of the former Confederacy and their allies in other regions and the rest of the United States is not primarily about personal attitudes. It is about power and wealth."

---Michael Lind, Salon 

Rightwing Icon "Joe the Plumber" Re-Posts Kevin Jackson's Incendiary Comments That a "White Republican" Needs to be President, and Wants People to Admit That They Agree

Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber in 2008

Update:  "Joe the Plumber's" posting was a re-post of an article written by Kevin Jackson.  In short, the words attributed to "Joe the Plumber" by some news outlets were those of another person.  The Huffington Post  earlier identified the post as being authored by "Joe the Plumber."

The actual posting at "Joe the Plumber's" website did not explicitly state who the author was, though it clearly stated that Joe Wurzelbacher ("Joe the Plumber") had posted the writing.  Given that Wurzelbacher made the post, and given that neither Kevin Jackson nor any other person was otherwise identified on Wurzelbacher's site as the author, one could make the simple conclusion that Wurzelbacher was the author.

But it is now clear that African-American conservative Kevin Jackson was the original author.  I am sorry for the error.

The updated Huffington Post article is linked below.

Huffington Post: Joe the Plumber's Reposting of a Call For a White Republican President

Joe the Plumber's Re-Posting of Kevin Jackson's Call for a White Republican President

"And that is why having a white Republican president is best for the country."

---Kevin Jackson, Quotation re-posted on Joe the Plumber's blog

New York Daily News: Coverage of Joe the Plumber's Re-Posting of the Kevin Jackson Article

Rawstory: Coverage of the Joe the Plumber's Re-Posting

"In an article posted on his website, the man known as 'Joe the Plumber' during the last presidential election cycle published an unattributed article whose author assured readers that wanting a 'white Republican president' doesn’t 'make you a racist, it just makes you an American.'"

---Scott Kaufmann, Rawstory 

Salon's Kim Messick: The Southernization of the GOP

Kim Messick's article at Salon is linked below.

Kim Messick: Dixie and the GOP

"Of greater relevance to our present concerns, however, are the implications for the South’s political psychology. Here the region’s history as a slave society left a very particular imprint, one that lingered long after slavery and Jim Crow collapsed. I mean the habit of imagining society as a two-tiered structure, with the “normative” community on top and a degenerate class of outsiders below. The former consists of those who satisfy the prerequisites of citizenship, and can therefore be trusted to fulfill the social contract voluntarily; the latter of those whose inherent debilities ensure that coercion is the only reliable guarantee of cooperation."

---Kim Messick, Salon 

The End of Days for the GOP? John B. Judis Says that Some Republicans Are Scared...With Reason

John B. Judis' article in The New Republic is linked below.

John B. Judis: End Times for the GOP?

"There is a growing fear among Washington Republicans that the party, which has lost two national elections in a row, is headed for history’s dustbin. And I believe that they are right to worry."

---John B. Judis, The New Republic 

Norm Ornstein Interview at Salon: The South Controls the U.S. House of Representatives

The Salon interview of Norm Ornstein is linked below.

Norm Ornstein: The Southern Control of the House of Representatives

"The bottom line was that it’s the House party and the Southern party, which are the dominant forces out there; they are the ones driving the dialogue. And the fact is that in the House party you’ve got people who come from homogeneous echo chambers in their districts and are concerned, most of them, only about primaries. The Southern party has a very different worldview from the rest of the country, and is not moved by broader national opinion. It is much more overtly hostile to Obama, and I suspect that race is a part of it."

---Norm Ornstein, Salon Interview

The Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky: Days of Rage for the Tea Party Right, and a Thursday to Remember for the GOP (October 10, 2013)

The Tea Party

Michael Tomasky's article at The Daily Beast is linked below.

Michael Tomasky: "Mad Dog" Thursday and American History

"This is one of those turning points in American political history, the kind you’ll tell your grandkids you were around to see: a once-respectable party that finally was eaten alive by the cultural rage it had so long used to its advantage but held in check in order to win elections. It was a long time coming and it’s a grand thing to watch, provided they don’t wreck the country along with themselves."

---Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast 

Alternet's Amanda Marcotte: The Tea Party Demographic Characterized by Fundamentalism and "Magical Thinking"

The Tea Party

Amanda Marcotte's article at Alternet is linked below.

Amanda Marcotte: The Magical Thinking of Tea Party Fundamentalists

"Fundamentalist religion is extremely good at convincing its followers to be more afraid of imaginary threats than real ones, and to engage in downright magical thinking about the possibility that their own choices could work out very badly. When you believe that forcing the government into default in an attempt to derail Obamacare is the Lord’s work, it’s very difficult for you to see that it could have very real, negative effects."

Amanda Marcotte, Alternet