If you read *anything* about last night, read this: Charles P. Pierce is a man on fire.

[WilliamPitt]

On RNC Opening Night, Republicans Dare to Build a Lie
Charles P. Pierce
Esquire

TAMPA, Fla. — It was about halfway through the speech given by Mary Fallin, by the grace of a pitiless god the governor of Oklahoma, where I finally came close to losing it. She rolled herself into this remarkable passage:

The history of my great state of Oklahoma offers a great example of pursuing the American Dream. It was built and settled by pioneers movibe west to seek better lives. During the Great Land Run of 1889, thousands of families rushed to put a stake down on empty plots of land. They built tent cities overnight. They farmed the land and they worked hard. And, in 1897, eight years after the land run, a handful of adventurous pioneers risked their own money — not the federal government's money — to drill Oklahoma's first oil well, the Nellie Johnstone. By doing so, these early-day pioneers changed the future and Oklahoma forever and today Oklahoma is one of the nation's key energy producers and job creators. President Obama wants us to believe that Oklahomans owe that success to the federal government — to the Department Of Energy,to the EPA, to the IRS, or maybe even to him. Mr. President, we know better. As we say in Oklahoma, that dog won't hunt.

Handed in as a seventh-grade history essay, this would get no better than a D. Delivered to the convention of one of our only two political parties, it was perhaps the most singularly dishonest speech I have ever seen a politician give, and I grew up in Massachusetts, and Willard Romney was once my governor. My god, Oklahomans wouldn't even have Oklahoma without the federal government, without the Homestead Act of 1889 or the Railroad Act — both, by the way, achievements of a Republican presidents named Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Harrison. And the land wasn't exactly "empty," Governor. It got emptied by a big-government program called the United States Army. You know what your state would be without the federal government, Governor, without the votes for the legislation from congressmen from the east and north, without the soldiers from New England and the Great Lakes? You know what Oklahoma would be?

Sand, with a whole lot of pissed-off Native Americans.

The rest: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/rnc-tampa-night-one-12158408

[Scuba]

1. I would like to respectfully add that it was OUR FUCKING OIL!

That resource belonged to all the citizens, not just those wealthy enough to afford a drilling rig.

[freshwest]

26. And still does, it's just being shunted through the middle man corporations. Who count on the whole

Of the USA to be granted that position in our society. Which should be yanked away if they continue to disrespect the nation as a whole. Ignorance is worse than anything and it's all the GOP is peddling.

[Rustycup]

68. I don't understand why

the democrats don't run on the fact the rich cats are taking our resources for free. Alaska nationalized their pipeline. If they can do it why can't we do it on a national level? If we are going to have the Keystone pipeline then we should get a return on our investment? Frame an issue and lets see the Republicans defend why oil companies making $20,000 a minute can't pay a few pennies to the U.S. government.

[Scuba]

69. Why do the Norwegians get 4X the royalty per barrel of oil as the US?

[Quantess]

70. It might have something to do with the leadership of Norway

actually being interested in their citizens, and wanting to enrich their own country, as opposed to the USA where multinational corporate interests take precedence. Just a guess.

[Scuba]

71. Yeah, you're way out on a limb there.

Sarcasm thingy here.

[Quantess]

72. I really am just guessing.

But I do know enough about the scandinavian governments being invested in their own countries, in their own citizens, in comparison to the USA. So I feel like that's probably a good guess.

[maddiemom]

74. Yeah, the lousy Socialists!

(Spoken as one of Norwegian heritage).

[FSogol]

2. K & R. n/t

[Oilwellian]

3. Kick!

Great piece!

[hifiguy]

4. Charlie Pierce is the best there is

these days. The man is a national treasure.

[LeftinOH]

5. Oklahoma settlement was made possible by forced removal/massacre of native people,

courtesy of the US Army. Thus, the whole damn state is a government giveaway.

[coldbeer]

36. Thanks William Pitt

I have a wonderful life and own my half-acre. Well, of course I
pay taxes and honor that commitment. I know my land was stolen.
But, it is a dog-eat dog world and we have to work together and
share instead of being so selfserving. I could not have been
successful and have the honor of paying taxes without help from
our government. Government represents my fellow citizens.
Not paying taxes is nothing to be proud of.

[heaven05]

75. is

this sarcasm? "I know the land was stolen, but it's a dog eat dog world"? Typical american mentality on the slaughter of nations of human beings.

[coldbeer]

79. no, poorly worded on my part.

"The land was stolen" should have been "this land is stolen".
The intent was for the settlers to take the land. Dog-eat-dog
means this is the way it always happens. Buying Manhattan
with beads is a silly concept. There is nothing I can do about
the past. History repeats.

[heaven05]

80. ten four

on that

[defacto7]

59. It was also the part of trail of tears

where eastern tribes were relocated. They were forced to walk from North Carolina to Oklahoma on foot. Some of my ancestors were lucky enough to have survived it if living on a reservation in OK. was survival.

Sooners... a bunch of Irishmen racing across the west killing anything that moved.

[fasttense]

64. And they didn't create farms from vacant wilderness.

It was already plowed and developed by American Indians. Hell, much of the land had homes, fully furnished and built, crops and fields, all belonging to Native Americans before they were forced off. The settlers just pushed the Indians off and took what the Indians had created and built up.

They didn't build it, they stole it. Thanks to the help of the US FEDERAL Army.

[hifiguy]

6. "the Event Horizon of utter bullshit"

Now that is a stone-cold classic.

[bleever]

11. I was just about to post that.

[longship]

44. What IS the Schwartzchild radius of bull poop?

You either have to compress the Hell out of it; or you have to have a wholly Hell lot of it in one place.

I think I know which one he's alluding to.

[hifiguy]

45. I don't know, but the gravitational pull of bovine excrement

in Tampa is so strong that not even a sub-atomic particle of truth can get out.

[longship]

57. Then that would be, by definition, within the Schwartzchild radius.

Oh! The huge manatee!

[mgc1961]

56. That was good.

I also liked this one:

"After listening to this laughable bafflegab for a spell, you begin to wonder whether or not the U.S. military is a rather large venture-capital concern with anti-tank weapons."

[Lucy Goosey]

7. Everyone should be reading Pierce's election coverage. EVERYONE.

This is a particularly good example, but all of his stuff is good.

See also:

The Ghost of Todd Akin and the RNC Ladyparts Dance
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/#ixzz24wzcgpgj

(Best headline ever, no?)

[Smilo]

8. Ignorance is their forte.

n/t

[steve2470]

9. I laughed out loud at this part:

Did Ted Cruz really quote Martin King in this hall? Did Artur Davis, the newly minted Republican turncoat from Alabama, just cite Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Lyndon Fking Johnson as examples of "leaders" who "reached across the aisle"? Lyndon reached across the aisle? Yeah, he did, and he grabbed their peckers and put them in his pocket, and he didn't give them back until the skinflint bastards coughed up Medicare.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

35. Me too. That's the sort of reaching across the aisle...

I support, not this Captain Bipartisanship bullshit we're witnessing now. I *hope* to retire within 12-17 years, and God only knows what awaits my generation (and those that follow) with regard to Medicare!

[hifiguy]

41. LBJ was an iron fist in an iron glove.

Somebody's memory ain't so good.

[janet118]

73. So Bill Clinton's their hero now . . .

That would be mildly amusing if it weren't such a complete revision of history. The Republicans spent nearly every second of the Clinton presidency trying to beat him to a pulp with any weapons they could lay their hands on. Just like they're doing to Obama now.

[BumRushDaShow]

10. And she is not even a native of the state.

She is originally from Missouri.

[cbdo2007]

12. US Capitalism is really just veiled socialism. Always has been and always will be.

[Hydra]

31. It's a funny veil too

Everyone works together to build something and the 1% come in and steal it afterwards.

The funniest part is that anyone would worship and want to become the 1% after that.

[avebury]

13. Now you see what we have to deal with on a daily

basis. She does as she is told. I don't think she has an original thought in her head.

[LuckyLib]

14. Best article yet -- a stunning summation of

the Republican bankruptcy:


"But the Republican Party did something remarkable at its convention on Tuesday. It set out on an experiment to see exactly how much unmitigated hogwash the American political system can contain on a single evening. The Republican Party has set out at its 2012 convention in search of the Event Horizon of utter bullshit. It has sought to see precisely how many lies, evasions, elisions, and undigestible chunks of utter gobbledegook the political media can swallow before it finally gags twice and falls over dead, leaving the rest of America suckers all the same. What you didn't see in primetime, from Arthur Davis to Ted Cruz, and from one 2016 contender to another, was the GOP embarking upon the task of seeing exactly how much nonsense it could produce at top volume before democracy screams and gives up, like Noriega in Panama when they played the metal music at him.

[Waiting For Everyman]

15. K&R Nothing better can be said to sum up that convention.

Nailed it.

[hfojvt]

16. Her statement was awful, but Pierce's reply not much better

"sand, with a whole lot of pissed-off Native Americans".

My uncle from OKC once commented that my hometown, where streets are named after states in the US, does not have an Oklahoma street. I figured that was because the city of 12,000 was not big enough to have enough streets to include all 50 states.

What I did not know at the time was that Oklahoma, like Vermont, was not even supposed to be a state. As probably most DUers know, before Oklahoma was opened to white settlers in 1889, it was first set aside, (and forcibly populated) as permanent Native American territory.

As Donald J Berthrong wrote in 1976, the settlement looked like this from the Native American side

Of the millions of acres once controlled by the tribes, they now retained only 529,692 acres. Even that small remnant would in another ten years begin to slip away from their possession because of the acts of Congress and the greed of land-hungry farmers and landjobbers. 181

At high noon on April 19, 1892, between 25 and 30,000 settlers made a run into the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation, and immediately began a new era for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes. The tribesmen had long been in contact with white men, but never as neighbors and never in such overwhelming numbers. Within a few hours, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes became a minority, constituting about 10% of the population among the farmers, small ranchers, and inhabitants of the small towns in the six counties that had formerly constituted the Cheyenne-Arapaho Reservation. As citizens of the U.S. and Oklahoma Territory the Indians in theory possessed all the rights and privileges of citizenship with their lands and property protected from alienation under the terms of the Dawes Act and other legislation. In practice, however, it was difficult to guard the Indians against the prejudices and the avariciousness of the new residents and officials of the Cheyenne-Arapaho country. 182


Yet Pierce wants to make sure the Federal Government gets credit for this?

The other part I would scoff at is the Governor's claim that "Oklahoma is one of the nation's job creators".

Oklahoma is one of the poorest states in the region. Oklahoma's neighbors are Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado.
Here's median income in 2010

Oklahoma - 43,400
Kansas - 46,229
Arkansas - 38,571
Texas - 47,464
New Mexico - 45,098
Colorado - 60,442
US - 49,445

Oklahoma's poverty rate of 15.6% makes them 44th. Meaning they have a higher poverty rate than 43 of the other 49 states. (although better than their neighbors Arkansas and Texas who are 45th and 46th http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_poverty_rate)

Oklahoma DOES have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, but seems to have created a mere 60,000 jobs in the last 3 years whereas a state like Minnesota created over 100,000 in the last two, but Oklahoma has clearly been helped in this recession by basically being a member of OPEC.

Still, considering their poverty rate and their median income, I wouldn't brag about their economy.

[xxqqqzme]

17. the picture of her

reveals a very bad face lift. I do not understand why, when the facial reconstruction decision is made, the person the goes w/ the cheapest bid. You have chosen to be a public figure. You lead w/ your face. Spend the extra $7500. Your vanity stops at your wallet?

[Sedona]

18. K&R

NT

[B Calm]

19. Free land from the government, hmmm. . . but

they did it all on their own. . Whoosh!

[Blanks]

54. Doesnt really follow does it.

However, they took the land from someone else. At least that's consistent with their thinking.

[geardaddy]

20. And this gem from Krispy Kreme.

Earlier, though, Christie rang the theme of the evening's overriding demonstrable lie, too. He talked about how his family Built It, his Irish father and his Sicilian mother.

They both lived hard lives. Dad grew up in poverty. After returning from Army service, he worked at the Breyer's ice-cream plant in the 1950's. With that job, and the GI Bill, he put himself through Rutgers University at night to become the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/rnc-tampa-night-one-12158408#ixzz24xKaX9Ot

Does he not hear himself? "[with] the GI Bill, he put himself through Rutgers..."

Talk about an oxymoron!

[Angry Dragon]

24. oxen moron

[geardaddy]

30. Zing!

[get the red out]

21. Re-creating history every day

Maybe that's why so many Republicans favor "creationism".

[Blue_Tires]

22. brilliant

[freshwest]

23. That struck me, too. Empty? Couldn't see 'them injuns'? What paralled universe do they live in?

[tclambert]

49. Empty of white people. Only white people count.

It says so in the Bible. Or maybe the official Republican Party Platform. It's in some sort of Holy Scripture.

[freshwest]

50. I made an OP on that subject from an article here:

In modern GOP, the old South returns

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021225838

Harold Meyerson did a good job of summing up what we are being presented with today, IMHO. Not so much pushing my OP, but this is the mentality they're stuck with.

[Cosmocat]

25. Since 2007, Oklahoma has had 24 presidential declarations for major disasters and five presidentiall

Gov. Mary Fallin said Thursday she is pleased the federal government has approved disaster assistance for one Oklahoma county that was ravaged by wildfires and that she'll continue seeking aid for three others also affected.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/fce9d4ccf8154a189d47d731f5384c31/OK--Oklahoma-Wildfires-Fallin

[formercia]

27. The 'Government' did one good thing for the Native Peoples in Oklahoma

..although it wasn't intentional.

The Trail of Tears ended on top of one of the largest Oil deposits in the Nation.

[defacto7]

60. I don't think my great great grand parents thought much about that

I'm not sure what you're saying, really.

[formercia]

65. The Oil was a financial boon to the Tribe

Last edited Thu Aug 30, 2012, 12:16 PM - Edit history (1)

..what the Oil companies didn't steal first.

I had a Cherokee neighbor in Oklahoma who was rather well off as a result. Without that revenue, the Tribe would have been very poor.

I must admit, it will never make up for the pain, suffering and loss of land, imposed on them by Andrew Jackson.

[nolabear]

28. Yes, you built that. On bodies, with slaves, and by raping the land.

I get that people are proud of their success. But the Party of Whitewash needs to own, humbly, what that success was built on over generations, and give thanks and a hand up to the people whose ancestors were being beaten, robbed, infected, starved, stolen from and killed so theirs could succeed.

[patrice]

29. I have been in OK during one celebration of the Land Rush, to which no American Indians were invited

so they invited themselves and THAT was a sight to see!

Rest in Peace, Chief Wilma Mankiller, knowing you did good work for your people.

Sat nam!

[ceile]

32. Brilliant!! n/t

[closeupready]

33. Big AMEN to THAT. The whole essay. +1000000.

nt

[deutsey]

34. Pierce is tragically a member of the reality-based community

[livingonearth]

37. Don't forget the "Louisiana Purchase"!

That was done by government. All those proud Oklahomans would be part of France right now if the government hadn't bought their state for them.

[WillyT]

38. K & R !!!

[mcar]

39. He is my favorite blogger

Just brilliant

[RainDog]

40. k&r n/t

[Jack Rabbit]

42. Wouldn't it be dishonoring Custer to tell the truth?

??

[Atman]

43. Posted this on FB...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021226157

[Amonester]

46. And "their own money" & "not the federal government's money"

So they traded daily commodities, salaries, with what, then? Home-made gold coins?

That MONEEEEE they invested had to be printed on 'somethin' by 'someone', no?

[Caeser67]

47. Oklahoma is also the state

that ran my Great-Grandparents, my Grand-Parents, and a host of other relatives out of the state during the Tulsa race riots of 1921.

[defacto7]

61. a terrible time...

a lot of lynchings and drownings.

[heaven05]

77. yeah

I read about that. A horrible, horrible TRUE reflection of what america then and the current republican party represents now for minorities, and this time women, school children(headstart)and the chronically ill are at risk. You know mitt robme's religion tells him he's a god walking the earth, what chance do us mere mortals have against a god??!!!

[Cha]

48. That was gross just having to read the LIES The GOP Built..

but, Charlie Pierce makes it ever so palatable. Thanks Will.

A comment under his column from FB..

"My husband, former Republican, got up after listening to Ann Romney for a few minutes and said, "I can't listen to her B.S. anymore," and got up and walked out of the room. And that's a man who did NOT want to relinquish his father's party..... but luckily woke up to the extremity that they have become."

[tclambert]

51. John Galt founded Oklahoma, without anybody's help, cutting down the forests with his own two hands,

and digging river channels to irrigate the farmlands he cleared. How he put the oil there I'm not sure.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

52. Now the native tribes have lots of casinos.

taking the white man's money because of his greed.

Using that money to benefit their tribes. Using it to buy land and putting that land in non-profit organizations, so that the taxing authorities can't tax it. At least in South Dakota.

I love it.

[malaise]

53. Brilliant

K & R

[theinquisitivechad]

55. You'd think that with all the historical fetishism in the Republican party. . .

. . .that they'd actually have a better grasp of history. . .

[Warren Stupidity]

67. They grasp at straws for their invented history.

[xtraxritical]

58. Kicked and recommended.

[TeamPooka]

62. Okahoma! We The People Built That!

We The People Built That! is my new motto.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

63. Good editorial

Charlie Pierce rocks.

[geckosfeet]

66. "That dog won't hunt." She got that much right.

How do people get into American politics without knowing any American history? Once elected they tell inadvertently revisionist stories to the American people who wisely nod their heads and wet their pants in teabagging excitement.

[jsr]

76. Nothing but endless, shameless lies

[SemperEadem]

78. Wasn't Oklahoma populated with First Americans before 1889?

Yeah, I thought so. Just like the rest of this country. It wasn't empty by any stretch of the imagination.