Democrats raise $13,000 to repair firebombed GOP headquarters in North Carolina.

This is the country of freedom & liberty- not of hate & violence. The orange co gop will rebuild and be renewed. #ncpol @NCGOP pic.twitter.com/fiYvFC5Mvx

— Kami Mueller (@kamimueller) October 16, 2016

Courtesy of USA Today: 

A group of Democrats came together Sunday to raise money to rebuild a Republican headquarters that was firebombed in North Carolina on Saturday night. The GOP headquarters in Orange County, N.C., suffered major damage when an explosive device was thrown through a window on Saturday night, according to officials. 

The words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” were spray-painted on a nearby building. 

Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, denounced the attack, calling it “political terrorism.” He said all Americans “should be outraged by this hate-filled and violent attack against our democracy.” 

On Sunday, David Weinberger began a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 to rebuild the Hillsborough, N.C., headquarters. 

“As Democrats, we are starting this campaign to enable the Orange County, N.C., Republican office to re-open as soon as possible,” the page said in the story section. 

The group said that while it’s still unclear who attacked the office, or why, one thing is clear: “This is not how Americans resolve their differences.”

Well put.

There are, as you might imagine, a number of us who are more than a little suspicious as to who firebombed this building.

Of course Donald Trump is convinced that he knows who did it.

Animals representing Hillary Clinton and Dems in North Carolina just firebombed our office in Orange County because we are winning @NCGOP

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2016

Well.....maybe.

However it should be noted that both sides have been known to fake this kind of thing in years past.

Knowing that some people came out very aggressively on social media against liberals who donated.

That included MSNBC contributor Ana Marie Cox who got into a protracted Twitter battle with her detractors.

And, folks, the money wasn't going to directly to them. No one here made a *donation to the GOP* tonight.

— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) October 17, 2016

The Twitter backlash included reminders of some of the nasty political attacks that have some out of this office in North Carolina and charges that they would certainly not do the same for Democrats if the roles were reversed.

Personally I am glad that the Democrats raised money like this.

Sure the Republican approach to a firebombing of a Democratic headquarters would probably be to show up with marshmallows and stand around singing camp songs while it burned, but then again we are not them, now are we?

Besides if we don't take the high road, then who will?

Ana Marie Cox takes on the Sarah Palin pro-Duggar family tirade.

Now I am not sure how many of you know this, but I am a big fan of Ana Marie Cox.

I started to follow her back when she started Wonkette, and I have kept up with her various TV appearances and written contributions ever since.

So when I saw that she was weighing in on the Palin debacle I knew I would need to share it with all of you.

Here is a portion of a much longer article:  

By now you may have read Sarah Palin’s florid attack on Lena Dunham. She and her daughter Bristol both attempted the same pathetic sleight-of-hand to distract from the ongoing grotesquerie of the Duggar family values. Go take a look, if you have time and can get past the all-caps intro. The caps-lock key is the Palin family's rhetorical open-carry, deployed in the mistaken belief that it makes the bearer seem more formidable, when really it underscores the weakness of the case. 

Sarah’s tirade in particular radiates schoolyard smugness, the smirk of a lunchroom bully who thinks she’s scored a sick burn on the class nerd—she doesn’t just think she’s made a devastating point, she’s already figuratively turning around to accept high-fives from her pals.

Yeah Ana Marie does not pull any punches here. 

Cox goes onto differentiate between what Josh Duggar did to his sisters and the more innocent, and far more common, exploration that Dunham did when she was a young child.

But then Cox expands her piece to address the fact that it seems some conservatives are now making outlandish statements in an attempt to attract media attention, and that it seems they find their credibility among their own through a shared sense of victimhood.

A victimization by the way that they perceive as coming from the very "liberal" media sources whose attention they are so desperate to attract.

To illustrate that point further Cox turns back to Palin: 

What does Sarah Palin’s own fame stand on now these days, anyway? A caps-lock key and a sense of grievance. It’s not much, but these days, it’s all any conservative celebrity needs. Ironically, it’s their grievance that makes them worthy of attention from the mainstream media as well. The Duggars’ and Palins’ off-the-map political and world views are what draw attention. Outsiders want to stare at the spectacle.

It is not a new observation, we have made it here on IM ourselves several times in fact, but one has to admit that as the public and media tire of the spectacle, people like Sarah Palin become ever more willing to say and do things simply to shock with no recognition of the damage that it does to what is left of their brand.

Sarah Palin FINALLY reveals her true self on @VanityFair's new cover. @SarahPalinUSA @Caitlyn_Jenner #CaitlynJenner pic.twitter.com/AUE8mvyQHX

— Pin Head (@TomAdelsbach) June 6, 2015

Back in 2009 we used to entertain ourselves by imagining what the end of Sarah Palin's career might look like. Back then it was all just fun and games, but seeing it today in stark reality is actually a little sickening.

Sarah Palin has not simply diminished herself into becoming a punchline on late night TV. She is now the punchline that the host can barely bring himself to share.

And what is even more disturbing is that she has somehow led many of her fellow conservatives down the very same path.

Millennials officially hate Conservatives. Yeah, who doesn't?

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Conservatives are stuck in a perpetual outrage loop. The reappearance of Todd Akin, the horror-movie villain immortality of Sarah Palin, the unseemly celebration of the Hobby Lobby decision – these all speak to a chorus of "la-la-la-can't-hear-you" loud enough to drown out the voice of an entire generation. Late last week, the Reason Foundation released the results of a poll about that generation, the millennials; its signature finding was the confirmation of a mass abandonment of social conservatism and the GOP. This comes at a time when the conservative movement is increasingly synonymous with mean-spirited, prank-like and combative activism and self-important grand gestures. The millennial generation has repeatedly defined itself as the most socially tolerant of the modern era, but one thing it really can't stand is drama. 

Republicans were already destined for piecemeal decimation due to the declining numbers of their core constituency. But they don't just have a demographic problem anymore; they have stylistic one. The conservative strategy of outrage upon outrage upon outrage bumps up against the policy preferences and the attitudes of millennials in perfect discord.

This article is by Ana Marie Cox of whom I am a big fan, and I think she is dead right on this issue. 

Cox goes on to describe the histrionic response by the old white guy club to Obama's election, and how their constant attempts to destroy his character has instead destroyed theirs.

Cox also points out that the very foundation of the conservative movement, smaller government, more self reliance, is at odds with the millennials who think that government should help more people and that we are all in this together.

To sum it all up Cox writes:

Right now, Democrats benefit from both the form and content of conservative message: this next generation is not just inclusive, but conflict-adverse. Millennials cringe at the old-man-yelling-at-gay-clouds spectacle of the Tea Party. Perhaps this comes from living in such close proximity of their parents for so long. If this generation does have a political philosophy, it's this: "First, do no harm." If it has a guiding moral principle, it's simpler: "Don't be embarrassing."

And what could be more embarrassing than Sarah Palin clutching that Big Gulp in defiance of  government attempts to fight obesity, Donald Trump's constant demands to see the President's birth certificate, or Rick Perry playing border patrol dress up?