Interviews with the Invisible: The Narcissistic Website Runner

Today’s interview guest is me. Now since I own, operate, and regularly shoot my mouth off on a political website I might not be a great candidate for “invisible” status. However, I’ve had the privilege to interview almost a dozen great people since the site got started, and today I open it up for them to ask me a question. I asked all the interviewees to ask me one question, but only some were able to get back to me in the time provided. That’s okay, because those that miss out will have another chance. Next week I plan to open it up to everyone. I’ll receive your questions and run answers in next week’s interview.

1. From Michael Baranick, aka “The Welfare Bum” (at this point I hate giving him such an unflattering title as some people don’t get that it’s ironic) “Several of the big name Republican candidates have dropped out of the race for President in 2012. Who do you see as the most likely nominee?”

Brody: At this point, I would surely hate to be a betting man as I would have lost my money twice by now. Originally, I really thought (along with Obama) that Mike Huckabee would win the nomination and be his primary opponent. I’m genuinely surprised the Huckster bowed out and take it as a sign he doesn’t think any Republican can beat Obama, and the big guns are waiting until 2016 where there will be no Democrat successor if Obama sticks with Biden as VP (which he shouldn’t). Then I really thought the nominee would be Mitch Daniels, but he also decided not to run. So again, my top pick isn’t even in the running.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw an unknown dark horse enter the race and clean up because people are definitely not satisfied with the candidates that are in there (Tim Pawlenty? Rick Santorum? Herman Cain? Are they even trying?). But as for the candidates that are currently in the race, I think it’s Mitt Romney’s to lose…and he will probably do just that.

2. Also from Michael, “What do you make of the recent criticisms that Obama is favoring the Palestinians over Israel? And also that he spent the week in England instead of areas affected by the tornadoes? And will the recent rash of tornadoes finally wake people up to climate crisis?”

Brody: I take those criticisms of Obama the same way I take all criticisms of him at this point (including the “controversy” that he invited Common to the White House and his birth certificate isn’t real): as bullshit. The people that hate him are so desperate for a reason to hate him, they’ll manufacture anything. The Palestine/Israel thing is just common sense and a compromise. The GOP solution–via Herman Cain–is to give Palestine nothing, which isn’t a compromise, it’s what they’ve been getting and that hasn’t worked. The tornado thing is even more ridiculous as Obama handled the Alabama tornadoes very well, much better than Bush’s FEMA handled Katrina…much better being the understatement of the century.

As for will people finally start believing in climate crisis, I doubt it. The science has been in for years, there is less than 1 percent debate about this in the scientific community, and there’s still doubters up to this point. Just this week, post-tornado and May 21st “rapture” I pointed out that true believers are so busy looking for The Rapture they ignore the manmade armageddon at their front door in climate crisis. And I had people argue with me. So fish dying, the oceans turning more acidic, the atmosphere having more moisture, the water getting warmer, the ice caps melting, and the carbon monoxide levels being off the charts aren’t enough to convince them. I guess they’ll have to die ignorant.

3. Tony Beaird, The War Veteran, asks “What do you think about the death of Bin Laden? Should the government have released pictures?”

Brody: I think the right people probably do have photos, I understand their reluctance to release those to the American people because 1. They’re trying not to incite more violence against troops. They just wanted Bin Laden dead, buried at sea so his followers couldn’t visit the grave, and hopefully forgotten by them in no time. Without an image to cling onto–people are very visual–Bin Laden will be hard for the lower level associates to care about as the years go on. 2. The only reason to do it would be to prove he’s dead, but we know he is, and more importantly, Al-Qaeda knows he’s dead. They’ve released statements saying it, so there can be no doubt within the organization he’s toast.

I think we’ll see Al-Qaeda begin to deteriorate now as it’s basically an organized crime family, and every time there’s a power vacuum in something like that there’s a lot of infighting (the Yemen branch is going to cause problems for the original guys hiding in Pakistan), and since they basically have no political branch low level thugs will start abandoning them in favor for more nationalist rivals like The Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas. Arab Spring and the push for Arab Democracy has put Islamofascist thugs like Al-Qaeda on the way out, and Bin Laden’s death perfectly coincides with that.

4. Nick Melton, “The Liberal Preacher” asks “Where did your political beliefs come from? How big a role did your parents shape your political beliefs? And what can you tell us about your spiritual background or why you are a bit skeptical of religion?”

Brody: You won’t believe this but actually I pulled my parents more towards the liberal side. My mom has always been very centrist and usually votes right down the middle, splitting her ticket, and my dad was pretty conservative for a long time, usually voting Republican. I was able to pull them more towards the Democrat side by making it largely about economics, showing them that Republicans mostly had wealth on the brain and fiscal conservatives really call the shots in that party. Also, George W. Bush really helped, because everyone in my family thought he was a complete failure as president, and it caused everyone to really take a hard look at the GOP.

As for where my political beliefs come from, they have really come from a fire trial. It is in no way, shape, or form been easy to be a liberal or even a Democrat in the Alabama town I came from (in a mock high school election in 2000, I was one of 18 kids that voted for Al Gore, several hundred voted for George W. Bush). It would have been much easier to just not investigate things and go along with everyone else, even though they never spent much time thinking about what they believe. I wasn’t always a Democrat, but the more time I spent actually thinking about things, the clearer it became. Climate crisis was real, the age of oil should be over, income inequality was/is driving America off a cliff, taxes should be higher for the richest 1 percent because they keep wages down for the bottom 50 percent (you can’t accumulate wealth unless it comes from somewhere else), eliminating social security/medicare/medicaid or any entitlements sinks more people below poverty line which is killing the country, making abortions illegal wouldn’t do anything and would create another underground industry we can’t regulate/control, the Iraq War was an epically stupid decision, and the list just kept piling up. And my religious beliefs? We don’t have time for that novel.

5. Jeffrey Ioimo, “The Pollster,” asks “The Republicans leading up to the 2010 elections made the argument that Democrats had misinterpreted their mandate from the historic 2008 elections. Republicans are now trying to eradicate unions, change Medicare to something that will be unrecognizable and cost seniors more money, change Medicaid in such a way that people will lose benefits, and all while supporting big oil and the rich. What allows Republicans in your opinion to court middle class voters while directly attacking their livelihood and economic future?”

Brody: That’s a great question, as I’m often stumped myself to answer this. The big thing is cultural issues. People are just not voting their wallets when they should be. If I really polled a majority of Alabama voters, they would say illegal immigration, abortion, gay marriage, and gun control are their top issues. They only think about Medicare/Social Security/job benefits when they’re forced to, and then it’s sometimes too late (like waiting until the union is stripped of all power to run interference against the GOP, then complaining when the GOP takes things from them…when they voted for them in the first place). Also, too many see the Democrat agenda as exclusively about social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, and think all politicians are for the rich. Of course, all politicians get backing from the rich for their campaigns but there is a difference between Obama being backed by GE (green tech, domestic energy) and Republicans getting backed by big oil. Dems need money too but they’re getting it from different places like unions over the corporations favoring Republicans that are outsourcing jobs to our competitors.

6. Also from Jeffrey “Special elections on the congressional level tend to center on local issues but in the past several weeks we have seen the special election for NY’s 26th congressional district come to the national stage. With Democrat, Kathy Hochul, winning the special election in NY do you feel that this can be seen as a referendum on the Republicans push to change Medicare? Also, with Tea Party candidate, Jack Davis, pulling roughly 8% of the vote and mainly from Corwin do you expect more of this Tea Party affect or will Republican leadership find a way to deal with the Tea Party? Or–since Obama lacks any heavy hitters–will the GOP’s big money guys dump money into the congressional races to try to take back the senate?

Brody: That’s also something I’m fearing. If Republicans truly feel they can’t beat Obama and the competition remains as weak as it is today, the big money guys like the Koch Brothers could just try to pick up more seats in the senate to control it. There are several senate races I’m worried about (particularly if GOP big money gets infused into it) but for now I’m remaining cautiously optimistic the tide keeps turning against Republicans.

By this stage it’s become apparent the Tea Party has become a problem. They ran as a cure but are really a more extreme version of the disease. People want more middle ground and compromise, and they’re offering less. They were supposed to be a breath of fresh air, but they’re just toxic fumes trying to choke out the last moderates in the GOP. This is a movement that has been around for TWO years and they’re going after the GOP’s longest serving lawmakers like John McCain and Orrin Hatch for being too moderate. This has officially become the kid’s table telling the adults what food to serve. John Boehner is a coward that will try to appease, appease, appease these lunatics but in the end, a civil war might be unavoidable. I’m just laughing because once again social conservatives get shut out–all of the Tea Party’s big platforms weren’t things they were asking for–and I wonder how long they’re going to put up with this shit before they finally decide to stay home or vote Democrat.

7. Adrienne Lieu, “The Obama Defender,” asks “Ted Nugent recently said more guns equals less crime. I was thinking quite the opposite–less guns equals less crime–but what does a silly liberal like me know? I guess only liberal criminals need guns to be successful, while conservative criminals rely on their charm and amazing people skills. Who knew? What do you think about the Republicans’ views on gun control?”

Brody: Actually, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m not for gun control. Let me explain: I know that gun control is sensible, the right thing, and the most morally responsible thing we can do. Hell, it’s really the only sane thing to do. BUT I’m against it the same way I’m against making abortion illegal, prostitution illegal, gambling illegal, and marijuana illegal, because it’s unenforceable. Currently, America has the highest prison rate of any industrialized nation. More than 1 in 100 citizens will do time before the end of their lifetime, and that number has to go down, not up. Making assault rifles or handguns illegal won’t make criminals not own guns, but it will make gun owners criminals.

8. From Juan Doe, “The Illegal Immigrant,” “Do you think Obama is sincere about wanting immigration reform and legalizing the 11 million immigrants currently living here illegally?”

Brody: Yes I do. Keep in mind, some people believe he is an illegal immigrant, so he can probably identify on that basis alone. Since a lot of people believe Obama is an ultra liberal socialist with Islamic tendencies, I think he can identify with being unwanted just because you’re different than what people are used to. So if people want to believe he’s liberal in cases it doesn’t benefit him, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on cases where it does benefit him.

9. From mom, “The Veteran Teacher,” “What do you think about the bill currently being considered by the Alabama state legislature that would take tenure away from teachers?”

Brody: I hate it is the short answer. I really hate it is the long answer [laughter]. As I said in the editorial I ran last thursday about teacher unions, taking away tenure doesn’t insure you get “good” teachers, so much as it does cheaper ones with less experience. And even among the ones that have been doing it a while, it’ll be a lot easier for a hack that’s sucked up to the principal to keep a job than a great teacher who’s disagreed with the superintendent. It’ll be about playing the game more than being a truly great teacher.

10. Also from mom “Of course, as a mother I wonder if you’re happy doing the site? Do you enjoy doing it?”

Brody: I do. It’s really been surprising how much I’ve gotten into it. I picked the design layout, the name, the address, the color scheme, the categories, what each segment has been about, etc. so if this thing had failed or no one had showed up, there’s  really no one I could have blamed but myself. Amazingly, a lot of people have shown up. The Huffington Post won’t lose any sleep yet that I’ll surpass them, but if I’m able to accomplish a tenth of the money they have, I promise I will at least pay any contributors I would get. I don’t want to just cash in on being a liberal, I want to actually be a liberal.