Screwing Soldiers
Jul 14, 2010 chickenhawks, republicans suck
How much do Republicans support our troops? Well, they don’t want to change this:
Young, inexperienced, and often drawing their first paychecks, enlisted men and women are easy marks for sleazy car dealers, insurance scammers, predatory lenders, and identity thieves. So pervasive are the rip-offs—and so troubling the debt incurred by military personnel as a result—that U.S. Department of Defense officials recently labeled the situation a threat to national security. “You don’t want them distracted while they’re out on the front lines,” says Clifford L. Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. “But they will be if they’re worrying about what’s going on at home.”
During WWII, Congress gave service members credit and debt protection while the nation was in conflict. Teh War on Terrorz™ has been no such bipartisan commitment from Republicans — either in charge or in the minority. All a soldier will find in the Grand Old Party anymore are chickenhawks and buddy-fuckers.
DeMinted
Jul 13, 2010 Republican Party, Republican tinfoil hattery, republicans, republicans suck
I am unfamiliar with Stuart Rothenberg, but this rings true:
By beating the conservative drum the way he does — demonizing conservatives who he says aren’t conservative enough, helping nominate candidates more interested in throwing grenades than in passing legislation and belittling compromise in a country built on political compromises — DeMint makes it easier for Democrats to paint his own party in an unflattering light.
A Senate Republican Conference filled after November with DeMint-like ideologues, troublemakers and self-righteous conservatives is a caucus that is sure to sound rigid and uncompromising, arrogant and doctrinaire. Style doesn’t matter to true believers, but it does to the American people.
And that’s why Obama is smiling.
How long have I been saying this about the GOP? A long time. America’s middle will reject a movement built on the demented quicksand of paranoid politics. The more DeMint and Rand and Angle talk, the less likely a Republican comeback becomes.
Can I Have The Money Quote Please?
Jun 29, 2010 Afghanistan, Kulturkampf, Republican Party, republicans, republicans suck, social security
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review characterizes the remarks of House Minority Leader John Boehner thusly: “Ensuring there’s enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country’s entitlement system.” But it’s not in his words, it’s in their words. The money quote linking the “need” for war to the “need” for Social Security cutbacks has been left out of their online video of the interview:
Let’s review: according to a major daily, the House Minority Leader wants to push retirement age back so we can pay for wars. After po-mouthing the president on everything else,
Boehner had praise, however, for Obama’s troop surge in Afghanistan and stepped-up drone attacks in Pakistan. He declined to list any benchmarks he has for measuring progress in the nine-year war, at a time of increasing violence and Obama’s replacement of Gen. Stanley McChrystal with Gen. David Petraeus. (Emphasis mine)
That’s the modern GOP in a nutshell. Victory is unimportant for Republicans; war itself is the object. The price in blood and treasure helps promote their anarcho-Randian domestic agenda. It would be nice if the Tribune-Review put the entire quote online so we could all see it ourselves. It’s already going to be a source of explosive controversy, and ought to be. Such a quote deserves to become campaign ad fodder.
I really hope the newspaper isn’t holding back out of some Lara Logan-like concern for their access.
Tags: Afghanistan, john boehner, Kulturkampf, social security
Out Of Ideas
May 9, 2010 republicans suck
Eric Cantor’s “ideas factory” has closed after one year, one meeting, and zero ideas. Republicans have nothing left but fear, lies, and loud noises.
Choosing Not To Choose
Apr 25, 2010 Republican Party, Republicans Meet The Teabag Terror, immigration, republicans, republicans suck
Senator Lindsey Graham explains his holdup of the bipartisan climate bill:
“Moving forward on immigration — in this hurried, panicked manner — is nothing more than a cynical political ploy,” Graham said. “Let’s be clear, a phony, political effort on immigration today accomplishes nothing but making it exponentially more difficult to address in a serious, comprehensive manner in the future.”
Holding up a climate bill in the face of melting ice? Not a phony political effort to stop reform. Because comprehensive immigration reform might actually address the issue in a serious, comprehensive manner, and Republicans cannot allow that to happen.
Mind you, they know it’s important. Graham and the Republicans also know how bad the optics of the issue are right now, with Arizona jailing brown people who don’t have a copy of their birth certificate with them:
Abdon was told he did not have enough paperwork on him when he pulled into a weigh station to have his commercial truck checked. He provided his commercial driver’s license and a social security number but ended up handcuffed.
An agent called his wife and she had to leave work to drive home and grab other documents like his birth certificate.
Jackie explains, “I have his social security card as well and mine. He’s legit. It’s the first time it’s ever happened.”
Both were born in the United States and say they are now both infuriated that keeping important documents safely at home is no longer an option.
Jackie says, “It doesn’t feel like it’s a good way of life, to live with fear, even though we are okay, we are legal…still have to carry documents around.”
Republicans know all this, but don’t care. The Grand Old Party simply cannot allow Democrats to be the ones who actually, y’know, do something about it. They had their chance to do something under Junior Bush, but chose inaction; if the immigration bill under discussion resembles the one Bush failed to get through a Republican Congress, they’ll denounce it as un-American anyway.
It’s just normal Republican reactionary behavior. The GOP also knew that health care spending was bankrupting families, business, and government; they just didn’t want the Democrats to succeed in doing something about it. But the uglier truth is that a right-wing teabagging base will crucify any Republican who votes for immigration reform, and that has the GOP terrified.
They know the demographics are changing and they could lose the southwest for a generation. But they also know the racist right-wing authoritarian warmongering teabagger fringe will crucify any Republican who votes for reform. Their solution for this dilemma is…nothing. Down the memory hole again! Graham wants to quash any discussion of the issue — and no doubt most Republicans in Congress would really, really like that to work.
They’d rather be free to demagogue in home districts without being on the record in Washington, which is a pretty good argument for Democrats bringing up immigration reform ASAP. It’s also an example of the GOP painting itself into rhetorical corners that guarantee minority status.
What Happened To “No”?
Apr 22, 2010 Mitch McConnell, republicans suck
The Washington Post reports that Harry Reid will hold a cloture vote on financial reform Monday. GOP intransigence on the bill began to collapse on Monday and has now disintegrated. From WaPo last night:
Key members of both parties said Wednesday that they are close to agreeing on the main elements of a bill to overhaul the nation’s financial regulations, raising the prospect that the Senate could begin formal discussion of the landmark legislation early next week.
It appeared McConnell would not get every Senate Republican in line to block financial reform. Then he trumpeted the magic 41 number last Friday, but by Monday even hardliners in his membership were changing their minds. Major Republicans started voting “yes” in committees, even on tough derivatives reform.
They’re being constructive. To what end?
Minority members may not care about promises its leader made to Big Banking. Perhaps they’ve actually begun to realize that “no” has consequences, and won’t let Democrats claim all the credit for fixing the country, after all. From TPM:
Key Republicans, sincere about passing new rules for Wall Street, but intimidated by the notion of blocking financial regulatory reform, let it be known to their leadership that, at some point, they would side with Democrats to break a filibuster. Maybe not on round one, or even round two. But eventually.
[...]
“This issue is not philosophical,” Corker told TPMDC this afternoon. “It shouldn’t be… This is the place where the Senate can function like it’s supposed to. Maybe this is a beginning point towards us actually moving away from the dysfunctional place we’ve been.”
Whatever the GOP needs to tell itself in order to say yes…I really don’t care.
The RNC Meltdown
Apr 2, 2010 11-Dimensional Chess, Republican Party, Republican scandals, republicans suck
The right wing coalition is beginning to fall apart in a way we haven’t seen since the last vestiges of New Deal liberalism died in the Democratic Party. The teabagger fail is complimented by the RNC meltdown and the foibles of C-Street congresscritters.
The optics of national politics are changing, just as our demographics are changing.
“Young” Republicans Go Gaga
Mar 30, 2010 Republican scandals, republicans suck
In a sign of how badly the GOP has fumbled its future with a rising generation of progressive youth, the “Young Eagles” who enjoyed that lesbian-bondage club in LA were all under the age of 45. Yes, that’s what qualifies as “young” in the modern Republican Party.
And did you know that liquor is an office supply? According to the RNC, it is! Meanwhile, Political Carnival has an update on the RNC’s actions:
Our investigation has determined that following a Young Eagles event in Los Angeles, a group of individuals did attend such a club on their own. This was not an RNC sanctioned event and was not associated in any way with any RNC official event.
Subsequently, a request for reimbursement to the private individual was submitted by a RNC staff person. That person was aware that this activity was not eligible for reimbursement and had been previously counseled on this very subject. Accordingly, that staff person has been terminated.
Additionally, we have requested by letter repayment of the $1946.25 from the individual who was reimbursed. He has verbally agreed to repay the funds to the RNC.
Hey, know who else likes to hang out at that club? Lady Gaga:
Let The Purges Begin
Mar 28, 2010 Republican Party, Republican tinfoil hattery, Republicans Meet The Teabag Terror, republicans, republicans suck
At HuffPo, David Frum’s wife recognizes the end of conservative philosophy:
I can categorically state I’ve never seen such a hostile environment towards free thought and debate — once the hallmarks of Reaganism, the politics with which we grew up — prevail in our movement as it does today. The thuggish demagoguery of the Limbaughs and Becks is a trait we once derided in the old socialist Left. Well boys, take a look in the mirror. It is us now.
As I have been saying: the teabaggery is only hurting the party now. Friendly fire is the order of the day.
Talking Point
Mar 24, 2010 Republican Lies, Republican Party, Republican tinfoil hattery, health care reform, republicans, republicans suck
Dozens of GOP congresscritters say “flawed health care bill:”
See what I mean when I say the mash-up is the final act in the evolution of media?
