GOP Failure Watch Part II

Nixon 4 sure.

 

And Superdave might be busy today, so allow me to recommend Rick Perlstein's Nixonland for a brilliant history of that transformation Ceezmad hinted at in post #3048.

 

Well, those "solutions" in the last paragraph only help people who are middle class or better, but I guess we shouldn't be surprised about that. In general the republicans like all the benefits of ACA, they just don't like the provision that pays for it. Again, no surprise from the party that promises something for nothing.

 

Apologies for another rather OT post but, (and I realise I'm stretching the point here), this is kind of on topic because it relates to how a legislature can be held to account and also reflects deeper sense of..... er.... oh, screw it! It's bloody funny...

 

An entertaining annihilation of a former Bush speechwriter turned opinion writer's column/fantasyland invention

 

http://www.gop.gov/policy-news/11/10/27/summary-of-jobs-bills-stalled]Summary of Jobs Bills Stalled in the Senate[/url]

Now remind me when the Senate last passed a budget?

 

I will go with last time a party had 60 votes.

 

i am simply speechless... and yet i was not censored by the reeps, whom dare tell the stupid media of ours how "dictatorial" Obama is.... (just read some of the comments on the article..i was already telling myself quite sarcastically "well, there's always immigrants who can get blame and.... voila!") Ugh....

 

I also liked the other article J. Chait wrote about Gerson.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/11/agony-of-the-moderate-republican.html

The best thing is the caption to the pic of Gerson: "A victim of cognitive dissonance speaks out."

 

Huh. I missed this one:

Allen West: "“So once again we are creating the sense of economic dependence, which, to me, is a form of modern, 21st-century slavery.” When Vets Receive Disability Benefits, that is.

But West, a retired Army colonel who wears a Master Parachutist lapel pin wherever he goes and often weaves his military service into speeches and interviews, may not be aware that close to a million disabled veterans rely on these benefits. In 2011, there were 828,000 veterans under age 66 who reported receiving Social Security disability benefits, a spokesperson for the Social Security administration told Salon. Disability benefits are available to both active-duty and retired members of the armed services who cannot work, just as with civilians, and are meant to supplement TRICARE and benefits provided through the VA.

“Allen West’s comment is offensive to the over 850,000 disabled veterans who are under the age of 60 that are anything but a slave. They are American patriots who deserve our thanks, not slights from extremists like Allen West,” former Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democrat who was the first Iraq veteran to serve in Congress, told Salon, citing a different measure of vets on Social Security benefits. “You would think the congressman actually knew what the hell he was talking about before he threw over 850,000 American veterans under the bus,” the former Pennsylvania lawmaker said.

He said he’s heard from others on West’s comments too.

“I was literally just on the phone with a guy in Pennsylvania who is a fellow veteran, who said first it was Joe Walsh attacking veterans last week, now Allen West this week — it’s like a pattern.”​

​

 

I thought the budget was immune to filibusters.

 

This Congress is really a disgrace to America...

 

I took a couple of 19th century American South history courses in college, from an African-American professor. He reserved special contempt for those who compared the injustices found in late 20th century U.S. to that of official slavery. He said that was an affront to all those who suffered through the genuine article, that it belittled their struggles.

Which is another way of saying maybe Allen West needs a horsewhipping to understand what slavery actually meant.

 

I dunno, can you pummel a party for the comments of a couple of fringe Congressmen? Seems to me you can drum up something that feeds the core, which already believe that the opposition is Satan, but the centrists surely would realize that West and Walsh are straw man, that as bad as today's Republican Party it is not *that* bad. These two men are idjiots by any standard.

 

Except it isn't a few fringe Congressmen. Sure West is out there, but a significantpercent of the freshman class of Representatives is also out there cheering him on. I can definitely see discounting Rand Paul because he's the crazy Senator, but the House has been largely taken over by the crazies.

 

Paul Ryan's a douche but he doesn't talk about Dems putting people into slavery.

 

Heh. Based on the media (I know, I know), it doesn't sound like the House leadership is actually leading the House. They might have the titles, but the reality is that very few things get done without first going through the Tea Party faction and getting their approval first.

 

Ummm. Yes. Make them publicly disavow, apologize for it, distance themselves from it. Either they do it or they can be one of the crazies. It works.

 

Dear Lindsey -

Actually, it's American to fulfill your obligations to society, and Greek to dodge them.

 

It is patriotic and good for society to pay your fair share of taxes, it is unAmerican to weasel out of them like a reality show contestant.
Lindsey Graham, you disgrace your office.
btw, Lindsey is a girl's name

 

Funny how the Senator who is probably best on civil liberties in the entire Senate is the crazy one, and those who support things like the Drug War and the Patriot Act are... normal?

 

Rand Paul: Excellent on the Patriot Act. Typical GOP when it comes to pandering to the base.