Aloha Politics

I found this interesting essay online and thought folks might like to read it. I excerpted a piece and you can take the leap to read the whole thingy!
Go here for the full story: The ideological Jiu-Jitsu of the GOP in Hawaii

Ever since moving here I have regarded the political clime as, well, mystifying to say the least. Even for such a Democratic state, the Tea Party/GOP/fearful conservative demographic is exceedingly small but very very vocal, and overly funded. The fact that someone like Linda Lingle could ever become Governor of Hawaii attests to this bizarre dynamic. Two or three times a year (especially on “Tax Protest Day”) I can drive into Kona and see the annoying gathering of Tea Party holdouts, their expensive cars parked close by, shaking signs and waving yellow Don’t Tread On Me flags in anger over how we are not living in 1789 anymore. It is rare that you see a dark face amongst their scrubbed, white and slightly sunburned ones. But occasionally you do, and when that happens you are lured into a true Post Turtle moment. For those not aware of the joke, one guy walking a country road sees a turtle placed on top of a fence post and asks a neighbor what it is. The response is “a post turtle”. He asks again what that means, and is answered that no one knows how he got up there, but he doesn’t belong there and everyone agrees he needs to be helped down.

Do we really need a Lobbyist-in-chief in the nation’s highest office? HUH? DO WE ??????Mitt Romney’s Latest ‘SMH Moment’: Offends All of London While In London

UPDATEThis headline from BusinessWeek doesn’t bode well: International Audition: Romney Faces High Stakes–

Mitt Romney — a one-term governor untested on the world’s political stage — faces high stakes in the coming week during visits to England, Israel and Poland. It’s a trip that amounts to an international audition.

The Republican presidential candidate is seeking to persuade voters back home to elect him their leader in a complex, dangerous world. And his trip will invite comparisons to Barack Obama’s successful overseas 2008 tour before he won the White House.

Note the second paragraph. Obama positively NAILED IT four years ago on a similar trip. Always the statesman, as opposed to Rom the Don Gaffe Juan.

UPDATE X2HuffPo is reporting that Romney was a registered lobbyist for the

His Olympics success was pivotal in his winning run for Massachusetts governor in 2002, and it may turn out to be just as important in his current campaign for the presidency. It’s why he plans on cheering from the good seats when the opening ceremonies commence for the summer games in London this week.But when it comes to the retelling of his Olympics story, Romney never mentions the L word. Lobbyist.

Romney wasn’t just the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney was also a registered lobbyist for the organization, Utah state records show.

Do we really need a Lobbyist-in-chief in the nation’s highest office?

UPDATE X3Oh, the irony…

From The Australian: Mitt Romney UK Trip Mired in Racism

MITT Romney’s attempt to promote his presidential campaign during a trip to London has been marred by suggestions of racism after one of his advisers allegedly told a British newspaper that Barack Obama did not understand the “Anglo-Saxon heritage” shared by Britain and the US….

Perhaps tellingly, the Romney campaign did not deny the accuracy of the quote or seek a retraction from the newspaper.

…

The discomfort did not end there, however. In London to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Mr Romney dumped diplomacy for candour during an interview when asked, given his experience as chief organiser of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, what he thought of local preparations.

Glad to hear foreign newspapers throw the word “racism” around without the egg-shell stepping that goes on in our neck of the woods. And reporting the news without the rose-colored glasses of false equivalencies. Refreshing, to say the least.

This is the full disgusting story: Richard Cebull, Montana Federal Judge, Admits Forwarding Racist Obama Email

U.S. federal judge Richard Cebull. Source: U.S. government.

Montana’s chief federal judge admitted on Wednesday that he forwarded an email comparing African-Americans to dogs and implying that President Barack Obama’s mother had sex with animals.

Richard Cebull’s email, obtained by the Great Falls Tribune, reads: “Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.”