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You Down With GOP? (Yeah, You Know Me)
AngelHedgie
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Registered User regular
When I started a thread on the Republicans looking for a new identity after their old one crashed and burned in 2008, there were some things I was expecting. Blaming, finger pointing, pandering to the base - these I expected.
Mass psychosis of the GOP ranks and an institutional schizophrenia were not on my list.
The GOP seems to have completely missed what happened in 2006 and 2008 - they see it as a matter of marketing, of image - not one where the country has rejected their fundamental concepts. Thus the assertions of the US being a "center-right nation" and the move to try to fit into modern culture, without actually grasping it. Meanwhile, when they're behind doors they think are closed, like CPAC, we get to see their true colors come out for all to see. There has become a fundamental disconnect from reality - They honestly are incapable of seeing what is happening, and are attempting to rewrite the history books.
A month ago, I said the GOP lost their identity. Now? They've lost their minds.
Mass psychosis of the GOP ranks and an institutional schizophrenia were not on my list.
The GOP seems to have completely missed what happened in 2006 and 2008 - they see it as a matter of marketing, of image - not one where the country has rejected their fundamental concepts. Thus the assertions of the US being a "center-right nation" and the move to try to fit into modern culture, without actually grasping it. Meanwhile, when they're behind doors they think are closed, like CPAC, we get to see their true colors come out for all to see. There has become a fundamental disconnect from reality - They honestly are incapable of seeing what is happening, and are attempting to rewrite the history books.
A month ago, I said the GOP lost their identity. Now? They've lost their minds.
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the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
...There are no words.
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The best bit of that is that it was a direct attack on Newt. Which means the crazy wing has been declared war on by the even crazier wing.
Now, it seems that was all a charade. They have no leadership, save for a loudmouth talk radio host who is almost universally reviled by everyone who doesn't listen to him. They don't seem to have any coherent strategy, other than stalling for time and hoping things get worse. The party itself is in a state of fragmentation. Their new party chairman is a joke, and their attempts at a new image - "You be da man, Michael!" from Michelle Bachmann - go beyond parody. The only thing I can't figure out is how the hell a party this ridiculous stayed in power for the better part of three decades.
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Obviously Kerry had lots of other problems, which we've debated ad nauseum on here, but I don't see why that was so damaging. Is windsurfing "elitist" now, too?
I know this is a slight tangent, but I found the whole ruckus about earmarks to be remarkably absurd. Bitching about earmarks was basically like saying, "God, it's so terrible that we make sure our federal funds are actually used to serve the public good!"
Of course, the Republicans have actively tried to sabotage effective government before so it shouldn't have been that surprising.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Maybe they were organized, but we've turned tis into a bigger rout than the Dem-Reps did to the Feds when it was discovered that the latter was analyzing whether it could count on it's constituency to support it in succession. It couldn't.
Because, before the past eight years, most people just plain didn't give a fuck.
Bread and circuses...
The earmark process is kind of fucked up. I want a damn infrastructure bank that approves these projects.
Scary thought for the day: Bush was an effective leader...of the right wing propaganda machine.
It's a shame he was President and not Minister of Propaganda.
I wish we had cool sports like that around here - the closest thing we have is jetski riding. I wouldn't give a fuck how dorky I looked on the thing. I'd wear clown shoes if I got to windsurf. Hell, I'd wear a nautical themed, Pashmina Afghan, if that's what it took.
On an anecdotal note, I went to see my parents this past weekend - both of them religious and fairly conservative, my dad a lifelong Pub - and the first thing they started talking about was about how tasteless the New York Post cartoon was, and how impressed they were with Obama's semi-SOTU speech. So when we had those graphs in the last thread that showed Obama with rapidly increasing numbers among Republicans I guess that's what's going on.
Although, both of them voted for Obama anyway. I don't know what some of the McCain voters around home are thinking.
It was the launchpad for a million "going whatever way the wind blows" jokes.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Also, maybe it's the liberal in me, but I think that Kerry picture is pretty cool. Photoshop a SMG in there and play up the Miami Vice angle.
Let's be real here, the financial crash helped along the Democratic victory last year the same way 9/11 helped along the Republicans in 2002. This talk of the election signaling a fundamental rejection of conservatism is just how liberals think the outcome should be interpreted, and want it to be interpreted by the public.
Yeppers. Unfortunately, for whatever godawful reason, a hell of a lot of Americans WANT to be conservative.
And 2006?
Honestly, I don't see how the center can be off center.
... except that one part where he said he changed him name to Bobby because he enjoyed The Brady Bunch a whole lot.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/27/60minutes/main4834864.shtml
But the size of the victory was no doubt enhanced by the economic crisis, and talk about long term realignment is a bit hasty and presumptuous.
That's actually a self-inflicted wound by the GOP. They argued when Bush was in office, that his being elected by slim margins represented a mandate to push his agenda. They failed to understand (or more likely, thought that people would just reverse on a dime) that such an argument would continue on to Bush's successor.
Was this directed at me?
True about the size of the victory, but at the same time, the financial crisis is not an orphan. That's something really important to understand and keep in mind.
not really
general question
What's the presumption here, that no president before Bush billed his election as a reason for the Congress to accept his agenda, and that the American electorate was trained by Bush into this viewpoint?
Come on. The public wants the Republicans to go along with Obama because:
1. It's an emergency and the public almost always wants the government to snap to and follow the President when there is danger.
2. Obama is the one with all the initiative and constructive plans. He's the only one doing anything, and when shit is hitting the fan people favor doing something over not doing anything.
3. He was just fucking elected. Of course he is popular.
I think Obama is going to move to cautiously on reforming the financial sector and the crisis is going to drag out. If they haven't nationalized the banks by Christmas (it seems to me this is the only thing that will ultimately stabilize the situation) then his presidency might be torpedoed.
I mean, think how much this thing hinges on events. If the summer of 2010 rolls around and the Dow is at 5000 and the cities of Iraq are burning it doesn't look good.
That and the fact that most of the GOP is fighting every effort tooth and nail, if we don't recover any skilled campaigners will be able to divert blame onto obstructionists
At the moment they need to set the bone, not try to manage the pain.
I don't much care for the other alternative, buying the toxic assets at above market values, but he needs to do one or the other.
I mean, if the stress tests are a way of making the fucked-up-ness of things clear so there is political will to act - great. But Jesus get one solution or the other in there before the end of the summer. I don't want a lost decade of propping up zombie banks.