GOP Failure Watch Part II

But if you're struggling right now that is the fault of the government, or more specifically, the fault of President Obama. All of the blame, none of the credit.

 

Basically we're becoming a nation of rich, spoiled, self absorbed, whining pussies.

I watch a lot of youth soccer, I recognize the type.

 

They were just stealing from the past. Remember this great moment at the 1948 Republican Convention in Philadelphia? It was sure to put Dewey over the top:

 

I actually had not seen this clip until tonight. That is sadder than The Who at the Superb Owl.

 

I've never been to the Superb Owl. Sounds like a club where the Mods and Rockers would put aside their differences to beat up people listening to skiffle bands. So The Who playing there would be a sad thing indeed.

 

Jim Fallows would not be happy with this post.

 

IMO the US has always been more right wing than other developed countries but, viewed from outside, it seems to have become increasingly polarised since the abandonment of the fairness doctrine. After that, news coverage became more a part of the entertainment industry.

I suppose the truth is, in a democracy, it's not necessary to appeal to a majority of the people that CAN vote... you only have to appeal to a majority of those that DO vote. So if you can stir up a part of the group that, left to themselves, probably would NEVER vote, (let's say it's about 20%), on some basis, however ridiculous, they can tip the balance between the ones that vote right-wing for a plausible reason and those that left-wing for a plausible reason. IOW if you can convince a quarter of the 20% that wouldn't normally vote that will give you the 5% swing you need to get elected. The ones that broadly agree with your policies, (but aren't actually batshit crazy), will go along with it because they dislike the OTHER lot even more.

The problem is that, increasingly, people in the west see themselves not as part of a group or class of people but as individuals. I mean everything around them tells them that's the case, particularly the marketing and advertising industries that act as the sales arm of the capitalist system. Even while they're classifying people as A2, B1, C3, etc. and pushing the crap we're all supposed to buy to make us feel worthwhile on the premise that 'we're worth it'. It's all based on the myth that WE are special as individuals. We're not LIKE the fella next door, despite him having exactly the same crap we've got.



Yeah, 32 shades of rather dodgy brown... because you're worth it.

 

Obama isn't centre left. Not in any meaningful way. I'd say he's roughly about where Nixon was.

Just look at his policies and those of Nixon. I haven't been through it in any depth but I'd be surprised if you'd see a vast amount of difference.

 

Well yeah, maybe, except for the evil.

 

Well, they were both arguably willing to expand wars for diplomatic advantage, althugh the flavors were quite different; and Nixon had his litlle public conversion to Keynesianism, but if memory serves that was used to justify moving money from federal control to state.

Beyond that it gets hard. Can't imagine Obama refusing to expend funds apportioned for environmental cleanup. Can't see any resemblance at all on civil rights or states rights. Nixon was Romneyesque in his willingness to say anything he thought would make him popular. Obama's talked a better fight on WOD than he's fought, but Nixon was positively medieval. If Dick Cheyney wrote the book on crony capitalism, Nixon wrote the outline and the foreword-- despite the fizz about Obama, its comparing bbs to cannonballs.

By the time he actually was President, Nixon wasn't really a moderate at all-- his administration had closer ties to the Birchers than to the Rockefeller wing of the party.

 

I wasn't alive during the Nixon Administration, and I hear he was not a nice guy, but besides the racism thing, I find it hard to believe that Nixon was anywhere close to as evil as Obama.

 

Well, we've been trying to tell you that your sense of proportion is off...

Besides "the racism thing" there was also a "crooked" thing, a "law and order" thing, a "madman theory of war" thing, etc etc.

(The "law and order" thing included a "detention of thousands without arrest and arraignment" thing and a "pot users should be locked up forever" thing, btw, as well as a "policemen should always be obeyed no matter what" thing." Those alone should put him farther onto your shit list than Obama.)

 

Perhaps mastershake should google "Kent State National Guard shootings.". It would be worthwhile to look into Jackson State, too. Of course, those weren't calls made directly by Nixon, but it would give him an idea of how to compare RMN to BHO in a way that won't solicit forehead slaps.

 

Yes, and much more, but, we're looking at Nixon in comparison to Obama.

Let's see:

• Detention of Thousands without Arrest & Arraignment - Um, Guantanamo? And for anyone who says Obama wanted to close that, sorry, no. He wanted to close the building, but he never supported not being able to detain people indefinitely at his sole discretion.
• Drug War - I don't think any states had medical marijuana laws during Nixon's time, so what he would have done, I don't know. But we know Obama raids medical marijuana dispensaries that are completely legal under state law, which is one of the most evil things one can do. Screwing with sick people rules!
• Police State - Obama loves the police state. No, he didn't invent the TSA, but he's happy to keep it around, and supports the national groping program. He continues the Pentagon program of selling military equipment to local police, and what do you think that does? It gets people killed.
• Pretty sure Nixon never ordered the death of an American teenager convicted of no crime. I fail to see how you top that on the evil scale.
• And, if you like free speech, I'm sure Nixon was awful on that, but Obama has prosecuted more whistle blowers than any other President ever. That's a record to be proud of.

So yeah, you were saying? You never hear much about these things because this in the group of issues that most members of the Democratic and Republican parties agree on, and to most discussing anything outside those perspectives is not even considered.

 

You're pretty stupid. That entire list pales in comparison to Operation Menu and the subsequent cover up. You know, aside from all the other things Nixon did.

 

Yes, well, maybe I shouldn't have said "perspective." Perhaps its a failure of "imagination..."

 

I wish there was a mute button for mastershake. He's not as good as nicklaino

 

I think you are a terrorist. According to the man you think is less evil, all I need to do is get elected and I can shoot you.

So, Nixon bombed Cambodians. This pre-dates me, and since I'm stupid, educate us: did Nixon bomb an area, wait for first responders to come, then bomb them? Surely, that's a pretty f'ed up tactic, Nixon would do that, right?

 

I have failed you all. Please don't make me do the liberal-conservative chart, the Politifact rankings showing how many of his campaign promises he's carried out...please don't make me do this all over again. The guy's a ********ing LIBERAL. Please get used to it. He's a traditional center-left politician in the tradition of FDR, LBJ, and JFK. He's a great deal more successful than Carter, and a great deal more successful/liberal than Billy boy. Please, please, PLEASE don't make me do this again.

 

That's how Eric Rudolph did it. He was pretty much your typical libertarian leaning Right winger

 

You've got a link and you're not afraid to use it, eh?

Fair enough.

I was thinking more in terms of economic rather than social or foreign policy, tax rates in particular. Bear in mind this was in the context of the point the other guy raised that...

Governments have slowly shifted to the right during the last 30 years without people noticing, and now the left wing is basically center left if that much...

There's no WAY Nixon would have been elected if he'd suggested dropping top rate taxes down to the levels they are now.

 

As mastershake said, that was before he was born, and nothing happened before then, so he doesn't care.

Look, you keep saying this, and it's still false. It doesn't get any truer when you repeat it ad nauseum. You're like Paul Ryan - a habitual liar. At least Paul Ryan is smart though.

Nixon solved that problem by bombing the first responders at the same time as he was bombing the rest of the ********ing country. Oh, and then he lied about it to Congress and had military commanders testify to Congress that they knew nothing about it.