Showing posts with label Republican Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Republican Party. Show all posts

Friday, January 14, 2022

The Republican Party and its Antics Stink

 

That's right! The Republican Party has a distinctive stench that has been building for the last several years and threatens to develop into a full blown putrid, rancid, rotting cult of denial and incompetence. And they are determined to take democracy down with their ineptitude. CNN says that it is, "The biggest news story of 2021? Our imperiled democracy," with this comment...
"The headlines began in January with the first serious attempted coup in US history and have been running ever since, highlighted by the unceasing machinations by supporters of Donald Trump to either restore him to office or find some extra-legal way to eliminate the possibility he could ever lose if he ran again."

In this piece, Bill Carter, a media analyst for CNN, points out that, even with a raging coronavirus pandemic, "our imperiled democracy is the biggest story of the year." Considering the impact of Covid-19 with 64,789,362 U.S. cases and 868,128 deaths, this statement should scare the hell out of any American that cares about the future of their country. Carter comments further...

"I certainly don't believe I have seen any other news story in my own lifetime, which goes back to the 1950s, that has shaken the nation to its foundations as this one has."

Former President Barack Obama says, "Democracy is at a greater risk today," adding...

“while the broken windows have been repaired and many of the rioters have been brought to justice, the truth is that our democracy is at a greater risk today than it was back then.”

Former Pres. Obama warned about democracy's loss a year ago...


In other words, we, as a nation, learned absolutely nothing from a gang of Trump Republican double-digit hoodlums attacking the U.S. Capitol, doing damage to the premises and making the first real charge on our democracy in years. There are those who support this kind of insurgency, those who don't, and then there are the apathetics. It seems the latter is a growing majority, the ones who stay at home for elections, then bitch and moan when they don't like the results.

Obama puts it all in perspective by chastising the GOP, going all the way down to state legislatures...

“Historically, Americans have been defenders of democracy and freedom around the world — especially when it’s under attack,” he continued. “But we can’t serve the role when leading figures in one of our two major political parties are actively undermining democracy at home. We can’t set an example when our leaders are willing to fabricate lies and cast doubt on the results of free and fair elections.”

CNN's Jake Tapper says, "Americans aren't hearing the 'democracy in danger' alarm," and I believe he would agree that those who have are not doing enough. But the warnings are there...

There is "a dagger at the throat of democracy," President Joe Biden said

 

Thursday.
The country "teeters on the brink of a widening abyss," former President Jimmy Carter.

In her remarks Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris put the January 6 insurrection alongside Pearl Harbor and 9/11 as a wake-up call for Americans.

And here's another important point of view, "Majority of business leaders believe democracy is threatened," a faction that the GOP should be listening to. Karl Evers-Hillstrom of The Hill says...

"Seventy-two percent of business leaders say they are concerned that U.S. democracy is under threat, according to a Morning Consult poll of 400 company executives released on the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot."

That is significant and a group that President Biden should tap into to support his voting rights legislation. Here's the scenario...

“This research clearly shows that the leaders in America’s business community view democracy and voting rights as an economic issue,” said Rhett Buttle, founder of Public Private Strategies. “Now, it is important that advocates, policymakers, and leaders in Congress and the administration engage the business community to advance solutions that will stabilize our democracy and protect access to the ballot for every voter.”

Joe Biden's voting rights legislation hangs with barely a thread and it would appear he does not have the votes to save it. When you think of it, the right to vote is so basic under our Constitution...the way in which individuals express their political preferences. Then ask yourself, why do Republicans want to deny the right to vote for a selected few? The answer, of course, is that they lose elections when these select individuals are allowed to vote. Keep this in mind when voting in November.

 

     








    Wednesday, December 8, 2021

    The Agony of Stupidity: Is our Democracy Finally going Up in Flames?

     

    The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) based in Stockholm thinks so. According to The Daily Beast they have warned about...
    a “visible deterioration” in US democracy that it says began in 2019 and rapidly accelerated after Trump refused to concede the 2020 election.

    And democracy loses out for the fifth straight year to authoritarianism with "only 98 democracies around the world—the lowest number in years." So what the hell is going on? Well, to start with...Donald Trump. Then you compound that with a slew of wingnut Republicans riding on T-rump's coattails and you have the perfect formula for disaster. On top of all this there is conservative media like Fox News and maniac news hosts like Tucker Carlson spreading misinformation.

    With all this you have to wonder if there is any hope for a return to democratic normalcy and, personally, I don't see that happening any time soon. And based on a recent poll from Harvard University's Kennedy School, we may be losing the younger generation. NBC News reports "There was not a lot of youthful optimism in the data...

    "Only a quarter of those who were polled believe democracy in the U.S. is working as well as it should, and only one-third believe democracy is 'healthy' or 'somewhat functioning.' Considering that this group of people includes the country's next set of leaders, those are somewhat concerning findings."
    There's more...
    "Yes, younger people tend to see flaws in the status quo and are often the 
    spark behind change, but when more than half of 18- to 29-year-olds believe U.S. democracy is 'failed' or 'in trouble,' it raises questions about how the next generation sees the future."

    The obvious question here is 'don't they see what is going on?' And the answer is,


    yes, they do, but there are mixed feelings. This could come from the fact that the left has not asserted much clout over the last few years, allowing the GOP to make strides that currently put them in a position of power in state legislatures, which may lead to taking back Congress in 2022, perhaps the White House in 2024. if you are a lefty, it is frightening.

    The idiot Kyle Rittenhouse talks to fellow idiot Tucker Carlson...

    And nothing illustrates better how fragile out democracy is than the Kyle Rittenhouse incident...

    "The acquittal and subsequent adulation of shooter Kyle Rittenhouse—who says he supports the BLM movement and showed it by bringing an AR-15 to a protest and killing two of its supporters—surely isn’t an auspicious sign for the future of our democracy. It is springtime, however, for violent vigilantes and gun enthusiasts who no longer have to wear their hoods in public or abide by laws and election results they don’t like. Republicans in the House are publicly competing to make Rittenhouse their Congressional intern, while Marjorie Taylor Greene has a bill to give him a gold medal."

    There is so much more in these posts from The Daily Beast and NBC that you should read. Maybe this kind of coverage will shock us into the reality that the Republican Party is hell-bent on destroying the democratic system this country has taken so many years to build.

    Thursday, March 26, 2015

    GLENN BECK AND KARL ROVE BUMP DUMBHEADS



    Karl Rove told The O'Reilly Factor that Glenn beck was leaving the Republican Party. He went on to say that the GOP is united on its philosophy. Yeah, sure! That makes you wonder just what planet this fruitcake has been living on.




    According to the Tea Party newsletter, Glenn Beck retorted, "“You guys [apparently KR conservatives] have the spine of a worm, the ethics of whores, and the integrity of pirates. My apologies,” he added, “to worms, whores and pirates.” I don't think any Progressive could have said it better.

    Thursday, August 30, 2012

    Can the Democrats win back the House and maintain Senate control by exposing the GOP relationship to the Tea party?

    Wellington C. Ramos was born in Belize but now resides in the U.S. where he holds BAs in political science and history from Hunter College in New York, a Masters in urban studies from Long Island University, and is currently an Adjunct Professor of political science and history.  Ramos says:

    “If the Democratic Party in the United States does not expose the relationship between the Republican Party and the Tea Party, they will not pick up the seats they need to regain control of the House of Representatives and can risk maintaining control of the Senate.”

    Wellington C. Ramos
    Ramos, who is black, characterizes the Tea Party as “mostly white people,” who fear losing their country to immigrants coming here for a better life.  Much in the same way Americans originally arrived, but minus the part where we “slaughtered” Native Americans in order to take possession.  TPers throw in moral issues like same-sex marriage pandering to a certain base, but Ramos says their goal is “…to control the politics of this country and regain power.”

    Ramos says the Tea Party is for, “…universal gun rights, cracking down on illegal immigration, small government, lower income taxes, sanctity of traditional family values and greater military spending.”  One of its most extremist positions was refusal to raise the debt ceiling or compromise with the Obama administration over the issue.  NY Sen. Chuck Schumer said: "The American people are seeing the Tea Party for what it is. Extreme and their popularity is declining.”

    Video of why the Tea Party must be stopped:

    As an example, I have been getting Tea Party emails for a couple of years and following are some the radical headlines signifying their hate of Barack Obama:

    • America’s demon President schedules deadly takeover

    • Exposing America’s fraud President

    • Obama to destroy America: rebuild in his image

    • Obama plans second term calling for assault on America

    • Rush Limbaugh: Obama hates this country

    • Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the birther issue

    • Rush Limbaugh exposes Obama’s membership in Socialist New Party

    • Obama has admitted to use of cocaine and other drugs—has never admitted he stopped his drug abuse

    
    Tea Party radicals in action
    The above headlines are the epitome of incendiary rhetoric designed to bring down America by a group that, if you listen to some of their demonstrations, is burdened with double-digit IQs.  And this is what is controlling the GOP today.  The TP has been responsible for ousting long-standing stalwarts in the Republican Party like Arlen Specter and Richard Luger, simply for compromising on issues with the Democratic Party.

    Ramos comments, “They have taken over the Republican Party to the point where all the moderates are either retiring or getting kicked out of the party completely.”  It’s the Tea Party way or the highway.  America was not built on that kind of governing but it can easily be destroyed if this gang of fruitcakes is allowed to continue to spew out their idiocy.  Ramos believes firmly that Mitt Romney will “succumb to their demands.”  A message that Dems must convey.

    Wellington C. Ramos might connect Tea Party tendencies toward anarchy with his home country of Belize and the unrest there in 2005 over significant tax increases.  It is certain that TPers would revolt against any proposed tax increase by Democrats and this is probably why the GOP stands so firm against any increase in taxes.  Ramos closes by saying, “…stop this Tea Party madness that is trying to take over our beloved country.”  But will Americans heed the alarm?

    Friday, June 1, 2012

    Washington’s problem is the GOP

    It’s official.  Two top political scientists commented in a recent op-ed, "Let's just say it: The Republicans are the problem."  Further, "We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional.  In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.”

    This is heavy stuff reported by David Frum on CNN, but once again illustrates what President Barack Obama has been up against during his first term in office.  Frum is quoting from Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, “two of Washington's most veteran watchers of Congress. Both men have hard-earned reputations for nonideological independence of mind despite their institutional affiliations.”  Mann is liberal, Ornstein is conservative. 

    Ornstein and Mann continue, "The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition. When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country's challenges."

    In their new book, "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism," Frum states that it is clear that the GOP has acted in a “uniquely irresponsible way.”  He cites a number of examples like Republicans almost forcing a default on U.S. obligations in the debt slowdown; a delay on many actions in the senate; and holding up executive-branch nominations.  Just because of Barack Obama.

    Karl Rove looking for guidance
    It can all be traced back to the master of deceit, lies and fear mongering.  Karl Rove.  His Crossroads group is spending $25 million from donors he will not identify to back Republicans in Congress to denigrate and demonize President Obama.  A media analysis group has indicated that Crossroads GPS is the biggest spender on advertising for the general election up to this point.  So far they have spent $12.6 million in placing 17,000 spots in 47 television markets.

    I did a post back in January of this year, “Can Republican HATE politics bring this country down?”  For the piece I Googled “GOP hate” and “Republican hate” and was able to formulate a list of what some pretty influential sites and organizations think Republicans hate.  The results were as follows:

    Taxes, the poor and hungry, gays, Hispanics, liberals, gun control, animal rights, the truth, women, even those pregnant, the Occupy Movement, Barack Obama, science (as in stem cell research), public education, environmentalism, veterans, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, teachers, unions, and, yes, even other Republicans (as in Newt Gingrich)

    Example of Karl Rove HATE:

    Norman Lear, who abhorred bigotry, and was the creator of the Archie Bunker character on TV, was attacked for his liberal views by ministers Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.  Robertson responded with a threat of God’s wrath against him.  Jerry Falwell told his followers, “I am about to name the man that some people believe to be the greatest threat to the American family in our generation: Norman Lear!"  Lear founded the organization People for the
    American Way
    .

    I also used George Orwell’s novel, 1984, to draw a comparison in my post to the connection between hate and the GOP.  In 1984, Emmanuel Goldstein is the face of the “Two Minutes Hate” which the citizens of Oceania were subjected to on a regular basis.  They were whipped up into a tremendous frenzy to hate Goldstein and anything else that didn’t agree with the Party.  One might characterize Barack Obama as the modern day Emmanuel Goldstein. 

    What Goldstein said made perfect sense in defying this extremely hellish atmosphere and no matter how much hatred was directed against him and his leftist beliefs, his influence never seemed to grow less.  The “hellish atmosphere” cited would be how Republicans hold the White House and the country hostage in attempting to carry out their deranged ideologies.  And we are guaranteed that will not subside until Pres. Obama is re-elected in Nov.  Maybe not even then.

    But closing with another Mann and Ornstein point; the solution to all this must be found outside politics.  They feel the problem “will not be solved until America's rich and America's elderly become either less fearful or more generous.”  These are two terms that are at different ends of the spectrum but explain exactly what this country is up against today.

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