NBC's First Read reported the following article today. My, my, it does say a lot about Republicans and Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Choice and you know, all those other silly, socialist/democratic ideas, huh?
Liberty University, the school in Virginia founded by the late Jerry Falwell, has expelled the Democratic Party club on the campus, saying that the national Democratic Party's views contradict the university's mission.
Said a school official in an email to the Democratic club, according to the Lynchburg (VA) newspaper: "The Democratic Party platform is contrary to the mission of Liberty University and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the "LGBT" agenda, hate crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc.)."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe held a conference call with reporters in support of the Democrats at Liberty University.
Of course, one must ask: Just how many Dems attend Liberty?
Sylvia's world in thoughts and pictures
I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!
Showing posts with label Republicans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Republicans. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Neanderthal Two-Step
That was Bob Herbert’s very apt description of Republican behavior in his Op-Ed Column, as they tried their best to derail the economic stimulus package working its difficult way through Congress. And making sure no one would mistake him for a “class act”, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina ranted and raved about how “This bill is stinking up the place.” That should do it, Lindsey, puts you right up there with the eloquent Bushie!
Obama has gone out of his way to get Republicans to make a genuine effort towards cleaning up the miserable mess that resulted from the long, dark night of GOP control in Washington, but he was rebuffed, and in some cases contemptuously.
Thursday night he struck back, attacking Republican intransigence and its failed policies of the past and then, of course, everyone started complaining that he wasn’t being the nice guy anymore!! Well, whatever, the bill did get passed, although by a very slim margin and a small number of Republicans did finally come aboard.
It’s been clear for years that the GOP is a party without a heart. But, according to Herbert, its pointless obstructionism, its overall lack of any serious response to what is a clear national economic emergency, seems to indicate it’s also a party without a brain. Oh, I’m so glad someone besides me has said that! Someone with a lot more credentials than I have.
Republicans in Washington have behaved like a milling crowd standing in the way of firefighters trying to respond to a devastating blaze. The best that can be said for the party is that a few senators seem to have been able to part the crowd enough to let the rescuers begin to inch forward.
On the front page of The Times on Friday was an article that said the number of women on the nation’s payrolls is poised to pass that of men for the first time in American history. This isn’t necessarily because women have been doing so well, but because men have been doing so poorly Yeah, those guys who used to lap up Rush Limbaugh’s slimy crap while driving to or from work are now having to tune in from their living rooms because the benefits of the GOP’s right-wing, tax-cutting ideology never trickled down to them and they are now jobless. The price of stupidity!
They just don’t get it. Most act as if they don’t understand that in this radical economic downturn the demand for goods and services has fallen off a cliff and that government spending is needed, and needed quickly to replace a large portion of the lost demand. If you haven’t read my post “A Different Take on Recession”, you might take a look and you can see why this actually applies to all of us.
The goal is twofold: to alleviate some of the enormous suffering (something that is easily understood if you have a heart), and to revive the battered economy (equally easy to understand by anyone with a brain – a functioning brain, that is).
John McCain indignantly sputtered that “This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.”
It was an objection that had been addressed by an incredulous President Obama on Thursday night. “What do you think a stimulus is?” he asked. “Spending is the whole point.”
Wake up guys!
Obama has gone out of his way to get Republicans to make a genuine effort towards cleaning up the miserable mess that resulted from the long, dark night of GOP control in Washington, but he was rebuffed, and in some cases contemptuously.
Thursday night he struck back, attacking Republican intransigence and its failed policies of the past and then, of course, everyone started complaining that he wasn’t being the nice guy anymore!! Well, whatever, the bill did get passed, although by a very slim margin and a small number of Republicans did finally come aboard.
It’s been clear for years that the GOP is a party without a heart. But, according to Herbert, its pointless obstructionism, its overall lack of any serious response to what is a clear national economic emergency, seems to indicate it’s also a party without a brain. Oh, I’m so glad someone besides me has said that! Someone with a lot more credentials than I have.
Republicans in Washington have behaved like a milling crowd standing in the way of firefighters trying to respond to a devastating blaze. The best that can be said for the party is that a few senators seem to have been able to part the crowd enough to let the rescuers begin to inch forward.
On the front page of The Times on Friday was an article that said the number of women on the nation’s payrolls is poised to pass that of men for the first time in American history. This isn’t necessarily because women have been doing so well, but because men have been doing so poorly Yeah, those guys who used to lap up Rush Limbaugh’s slimy crap while driving to or from work are now having to tune in from their living rooms because the benefits of the GOP’s right-wing, tax-cutting ideology never trickled down to them and they are now jobless. The price of stupidity!
They just don’t get it. Most act as if they don’t understand that in this radical economic downturn the demand for goods and services has fallen off a cliff and that government spending is needed, and needed quickly to replace a large portion of the lost demand. If you haven’t read my post “A Different Take on Recession”, you might take a look and you can see why this actually applies to all of us.
The goal is twofold: to alleviate some of the enormous suffering (something that is easily understood if you have a heart), and to revive the battered economy (equally easy to understand by anyone with a brain – a functioning brain, that is).
John McCain indignantly sputtered that “This is not a stimulus bill; it is a spending bill.”
It was an objection that had been addressed by an incredulous President Obama on Thursday night. “What do you think a stimulus is?” he asked. “Spending is the whole point.”
Wake up guys!
Friday, January 30, 2009
What Are Politicians in General Thinking These Days??
I posted this briefly earlier, then took it off thinking that everyone is as sick of politics as I am, but that turning away from the things we don't want to think about, don't want to deal with is one of the reasons we're in the mess that we are today. So, I re-posted it. We can't afford to keeping looking away from things we don't want to think about and saying, 'there's nothing I can do anyway'. I will continue to post beautiful things because they are what give us the courage to do what we can about the ugly things not only in our own country but in the world today.
In the daily email yesterday morning that I get from MSNBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, he seemed to be asking the same question. Unfortunately, the Democrats are acting as childish as the Republicans. This in turn leads me to want to ask, isn't our country's future more important that this petty, small-minded view that seems to be running rampant in Washington right now?
Despite Obama traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with them in private, despite including one of their former members (Ray LaHood) in his cabinet, and despite inviting their leaders over for cocktails last night at the White House, not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package, which cleared the House yesterday by a 244-188 vote. Predicting that GOP outcome before the vote, the Washington Post notes, House Republican Leader John Boehner put his finger and thumb together to signal the big, fat "O" -- zero. House GOP leaders seemed to go out of their way to make sure reporters knew the message they were sending was directed at Speaker Pelosi, not the president. (As one snarkily noted to First Read, the president met with House Republicans on the stimulus bill more times than Pelosi did). But how closely does the American public follow congressional politics? Won't this look like they are snubbing a president who just days ago reached out to them? Republicans are taking a risk by looking so defiant, especially if this package ends up working. The last thing the GOP needs is another "O" -- obstructionist" -- being tagged to them.
Another Obama Olive Branch: That said, in his statement last night, Obama said that he wants "to strengthen" the stimulus plan before it gets to his desk. It was an interesting word choice and yet another olive branch to House Republicans. (And get this -- Obama didn't include the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" in his statement.) There are a number of Democrats scratching their heads at the House GOP goose egg; we even learned that LaHood was calling his fellow House Republican asking for them to support the legislation. After all, the president has a 70% job approval rating and the package itself has the support of a majority of Americans, who in general appear to believe they want government to do something -- rather than nothing -- when it comes to the economy. Interestingly, the president may have his own issues to deal with in his own party. The more defiant Democrats are thinking, "I told you so," when it comes his GOP outreach efforts. In addition, we've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans. Meanwhile, a coalition of liberal groups is launching a new ad campaign that urges moderate Republican senators to support the economic stimulus.
Status Quo You Can Believe In? Just askin', but what kind of message would the GOP be sending after its 2008 losses by keeping Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, keeping John Boehner as House leader, and keeping Mike Duncan as RNC chair? If that all happens, it's an odd message to send to the party and American voters. Not much change.
In the daily email yesterday morning that I get from MSNBC's Political Director, Chuck Todd, he seemed to be asking the same question. Unfortunately, the Democrats are acting as childish as the Republicans. This in turn leads me to want to ask, isn't our country's future more important that this petty, small-minded view that seems to be running rampant in Washington right now?
Despite Obama traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with them in private, despite including one of their former members (Ray LaHood) in his cabinet, and despite inviting their leaders over for cocktails last night at the White House, not a single House Republican voted for the stimulus package, which cleared the House yesterday by a 244-188 vote. Predicting that GOP outcome before the vote, the Washington Post notes, House Republican Leader John Boehner put his finger and thumb together to signal the big, fat "O" -- zero. House GOP leaders seemed to go out of their way to make sure reporters knew the message they were sending was directed at Speaker Pelosi, not the president. (As one snarkily noted to First Read, the president met with House Republicans on the stimulus bill more times than Pelosi did). But how closely does the American public follow congressional politics? Won't this look like they are snubbing a president who just days ago reached out to them? Republicans are taking a risk by looking so defiant, especially if this package ends up working. The last thing the GOP needs is another "O" -- obstructionist" -- being tagged to them.
Another Obama Olive Branch: That said, in his statement last night, Obama said that he wants "to strengthen" the stimulus plan before it gets to his desk. It was an interesting word choice and yet another olive branch to House Republicans. (And get this -- Obama didn't include the words "Democrat" or "Democratic" in his statement.) There are a number of Democrats scratching their heads at the House GOP goose egg; we even learned that LaHood was calling his fellow House Republican asking for them to support the legislation. After all, the president has a 70% job approval rating and the package itself has the support of a majority of Americans, who in general appear to believe they want government to do something -- rather than nothing -- when it comes to the economy. Interestingly, the president may have his own issues to deal with in his own party. The more defiant Democrats are thinking, "I told you so," when it comes his GOP outreach efforts. In addition, we've been hearing chatter from congressional Democrats that they'd like the president to act as concerned about winning their support as he acts when it comes to the Republicans. Meanwhile, a coalition of liberal groups is launching a new ad campaign that urges moderate Republican senators to support the economic stimulus.
Status Quo You Can Believe In? Just askin', but what kind of message would the GOP be sending after its 2008 losses by keeping Mitch McConnell as Senate leader, keeping John Boehner as House leader, and keeping Mike Duncan as RNC chair? If that all happens, it's an odd message to send to the party and American voters. Not much change.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
G.O.P. – Brain Dead???
Don’t they have a clue that it is their policies that have sent this country hurtling down the road to ruin? Are they so removed from reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more tax cuts for the rich? It’s still all about them and they are totally blind to the fact these are the things that got us into this deplorable mess that we’re in today.
Bob Herbert, Op-Ed columnist for the NYT had another great column today. He writes about the fact that the GOP’s latest campaign is aimed at undermining President Obama’s effort to cope with the national economic emergency by attacking the spending in his stimulus package and repeating ad nauseam the Republican mantra for ever more tax cuts.
John Boehner, Ohio Republican and House minority leader speaking on Meet the Press said to “put him down in the ‘no’ column.” According to him “given the concerns Republicans have over the size of this package and all the spending in the package, we don’t think it’s going to work.”
But, if anything, the stimulus package isn’t large enough. Not with more businesses closing, the huge number of jobs being cut. But then Republicans may be just be deaf, dumb and blind if they can’t see that there is, not just an emergency – it’s a huge emergency. But then wasn’t it Phil Gramm, McCain’s economic guru that said it was all in our heads, that all of this was just a “mental recession.” Yeah, tell that to the tens of thousands who have lost their jobs, their homes and are wondering how they’re going to feed their families, to the young people who can no longer afford to go to college. Our country is hemorrhaging jobs and Americans are heading to the poorhouse by the millions. The stock markets and the value of family homes have collapsed and there is a virtual across-the-board agreement that the country is caught u in the worst economic disaster since at least World War II.
And the Republicans answer to the turmoil?
Why, tax cuts, of course!
I couldn’t agree more when Herbert says that the Republicans need to go into rehab!
So, when the GOP talks, absolutely NO ONE should listen. This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of war. This is the party that still wants to put the torch to Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.
So, why is ANYONE still listening?
Bob Herbert, Op-Ed columnist for the NYT had another great column today. He writes about the fact that the GOP’s latest campaign is aimed at undermining President Obama’s effort to cope with the national economic emergency by attacking the spending in his stimulus package and repeating ad nauseam the Republican mantra for ever more tax cuts.
John Boehner, Ohio Republican and House minority leader speaking on Meet the Press said to “put him down in the ‘no’ column.” According to him “given the concerns Republicans have over the size of this package and all the spending in the package, we don’t think it’s going to work.”
But, if anything, the stimulus package isn’t large enough. Not with more businesses closing, the huge number of jobs being cut. But then Republicans may be just be deaf, dumb and blind if they can’t see that there is, not just an emergency – it’s a huge emergency. But then wasn’t it Phil Gramm, McCain’s economic guru that said it was all in our heads, that all of this was just a “mental recession.” Yeah, tell that to the tens of thousands who have lost their jobs, their homes and are wondering how they’re going to feed their families, to the young people who can no longer afford to go to college. Our country is hemorrhaging jobs and Americans are heading to the poorhouse by the millions. The stock markets and the value of family homes have collapsed and there is a virtual across-the-board agreement that the country is caught u in the worst economic disaster since at least World War II.
And the Republicans answer to the turmoil?
Why, tax cuts, of course!
I couldn’t agree more when Herbert says that the Republicans need to go into rehab!
So, when the GOP talks, absolutely NO ONE should listen. This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of war. This is the party that still wants to put the torch to Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.
So, why is ANYONE still listening?
Friday, January 2, 2009
The Party of Whiners
From Alberto Gonzales to Rush Limbaugh and everyone in between, the Republican Party is whining as Obama prepares to move into the White House. So, Bush just had bad luck with bad things happening on his watch? Or maybe the GOP’s bad luck just happened to send Bush to the White House in the first place???
But according to Paul Krugman, click here to read his entire column; and I agree, the fault lies with the Republican party itself. Forty years ago the GOP decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as their champion, to the pervasive incompetence of his administration, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision. The conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new 2000 team to make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.
There was contempt for expertise and it in turn rested on contempt for government in general. Ronald Reagan declared that “Government is not the solution to our problem, Government IS the problem. So why worry about governing well?
The Republicans back in the 80s began to take advantage of the situation in the south which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” Or, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People.
Krugman says the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances! Is that outrageous or what!
Still there are some commentators warning President-elect Obama against bold action and have held up Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale.
But America today is very different country from what it was in 1993 – not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes – and lost the rest of the country. It was, indeed, a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the GOP into a cul-de-sac.
Krugman believes that Obama has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1992-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.
Of course Republicans will make a comeback, that’s a given. But barring some huge missteps by Obama, that's not likely to happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. When and if they do that they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.
Obama has an enormous task ahead of him and while I surely wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, I do have total confidence that he has the wisdom, the courage, the foresight and the determination to lead this country out of the incredible mess we find ourselves in today due to the contempt that the Republicans have had for government in general.
But according to Paul Krugman, click here to read his entire column; and I agree, the fault lies with the Republican party itself. Forty years ago the GOP decided, in effect, to make itself the party of racial backlash. And everything that has happened in recent years, from the choice of Mr. Bush as their champion, to the pervasive incompetence of his administration, to the party’s shrinking base, is a consequence of that decision. The conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation specifically urged the new 2000 team to make appointments based on loyalty first and expertise second.
There was contempt for expertise and it in turn rested on contempt for government in general. Ronald Reagan declared that “Government is not the solution to our problem, Government IS the problem. So why worry about governing well?
The Republicans back in the 80s began to take advantage of the situation in the south which originally focused on opposition to the Voting Rights Act but eventually took a more coded form: “You’re getting so abstract now you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is blacks get hurt worse than whites.” Or, government is the problem because it takes your money and gives it to Those People.
Krugman says the racial element isn’t all that abstract, even now: Chip Saltsman, currently a candidate for the chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, sent committee members a CD including a song titled “Barack the Magic Negro” and according to some reports, the controversy over his action has actually helped his chances! Is that outrageous or what!
Still there are some commentators warning President-elect Obama against bold action and have held up Clinton’s political failures in his first two years as a cautionary tale.
But America today is very different country from what it was in 1993 – not just a country that had yet to see what happens when conservatives control all three branches of government, but also a country in which Democratic control of Congress depended on the votes of Southern conservatives. Today, Republicans have taken away almost all those Southern votes – and lost the rest of the country. It was, indeed, a grand ride for a while, but in the end the Southern strategy led the GOP into a cul-de-sac.
Krugman believes that Obama has room to be bold. If Republicans try a 1992-style strategy of attacking him for promoting big government, they’ll learn two things: not only has the financial crisis discredited their economic theories, the racial subtext of anti-government rhetoric doesn’t play the way it used to.
Of course Republicans will make a comeback, that’s a given. But barring some huge missteps by Obama, that's not likely to happen until they stop whining and look at what really went wrong. When and if they do that they will discover that they need to get in touch with the real “real America,” a country that is more diverse, more tolerant, and more demanding of effective government than is dreamt of in their political philosophy.
Obama has an enormous task ahead of him and while I surely wouldn’t want to be in his shoes, I do have total confidence that he has the wisdom, the courage, the foresight and the determination to lead this country out of the incredible mess we find ourselves in today due to the contempt that the Republicans have had for government in general.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
What Can I Say?
I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.