|
A lot of this article is not really news to anyone who pays attention, but the fact that it was penned by a GOP staffer of 30 years. Thirty years.
The other reason I think it's valuable is because a certain portion of people tend to think that it's only recently that the GOP has gone batshit insane, rather than the entire (modern - the Lincoln thing is pretty worn out, especially in light of all their recent efforts to disenfranchise minorities and bigotry towards Obama) party being founded on plutocratic ideals which are directly opposed to the interests of the vast majority of the country.
I think the article also does a decent job of pointing out the Dems complete incompetence in several cases.
http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779
Some of the best bits:
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.
How do they manage to do this? Because Democrats ceded the field. Above all, they do not understand language. Their initiatives are posed in impenetrable policy-speak: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The what? - can anyone even remember it? No wonder the pejorative "Obamacare" won out. Contrast that with the Republicans' Patriot Act. You're a patriot, aren't you? Does anyone at the GED level have a clue what a Stimulus Bill is supposed to be? Why didn't the White House call it the Jobs Bill and keep pounding on that theme?
Republicans have attempted to camouflage their amorous solicitude for billionaires with a fog of misleading rhetoric. John Boehner is fond of saying, "we won't raise anyone's taxes," as if the take-home pay of an Olive Garden waitress were inextricably bound up with whether Warren Buffett pays his capital gains as ordinary income or at a lower rate. Another chestnut is that millionaires and billionaires are "job creators." US corporations have just had their most profitable quarters in history; Apple, for one, is sitting on $76 billion in cash, more than the GDP of most countries. So, where are the jobs?
Televangelists have long espoused the health-and-wealth/name-it-and-claim it gospel. If you are wealthy, it is a sign of God's favor. If not, too bad! But don't forget to tithe in any case. This rationale may explain why some economically downscale whites defend the prerogatives of billionaires.
This last bit about religion is particularly interesting because I have always wondered how christianity has been transformed from a radical anti-society poverty-embracing message to the gospel of wealth and corruption.
|
Wow. There's a lot of scary shit from the mouths of people who help run our country. I guess I'll end up reading the entire thing. Oh also, damn Republicans, you crazy!
|
I hope there's more to that than this (I expect there is nonetheless).
These kinds of wording and small nuances are heavily influential and yes, it's been known for awhile, didn't Jon Stewart even hint on these changes of terminology awhile back?
|
Tell me, did you make a post like this when Dick Morris quit?
|
Apple use to have a manufacturing plant where i lived, but a couple years ago they moved manufacturing to China. My friends use to work at the assembly line for Apple. Fuck Apple!
|
I bet he's a communist agent provocateur who is completly biased and unfair towards the right.
/sarcasm
The part about language is SO true and something that always gets disregarded. People act like language per se is neutral and can't be used to further someone's goals.
|
God reading articles like these make me pissed off and completely depressed at the same time. I live in a mormon area so I'm surrounded by mouth-breathers who ignore logic and rationality and regurgitate the same kind of nonsense that the author described in that article.
I'm sure we are far past the point where we have become a complete joke in the eyes of the international community, and although I know that there are so many good people in this country, the amount of sheer idiocy, corruption, and greed makes me wish that I didn't have to associate myself with it.
I used to think that once all of the "older generation" died off with their old ideas in about 40 years we'd be left with a more enlightened type of society. With so many people still being indoctrinated, I'm starting to think that this may just be a naive assumption by myself. Everything sucks.
|
Phew, that was a long read.
Anyway, as expected, barely any worthy information that anyone who has been reading all the news coming out of Washington doesn't know or have an inkling about.
If the Democrats acted more like Anthony Weiner (politically), we wouldn't be in this mess. Obama needed to go on TV 3 days a week to lay everything out in the open. He should've told the public exactly what he was doing, exactly what the Republicans in the House were doing, and exactly how his plans could have worked, and how the Republicans care nothing about the general welfare of the American people. He needed to fucking show some spine and fight fire with fire, because the public is stupid like that.
If the Democratic party had not conceded so much, or been so ineffective at their policy making in 2009, the shit in 2010 could have been avoided and we wouldn't have idiots in the House playing "bulldoze the country". I'm so sick and tired of both parties. If the Democrats actually play the game, maybe more Independents would lean their way, especially after the Republican clowns showed their true ignorance and bigotry.
|
in Wisconsin, Republicans have legislated photo IDs while simultaneously shutting Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices in Democratic constituencies while at the same time lengthening the hours of operation of DMV offices in GOP constituencies
Holy shit. Never thought about gerrymandering that way.
This is both awesome and disgusting at the same time. Free talking points combined with skewed election results...will definitely be watching for more stuff like this in the future.
|
The other reason I think it's valuable is because a certain portion of people tend to think that it's only recently that the GOP has gone batshit insane, rather than the entire party being founded on plutocratic ideals which are directly opposed to the interests of the vast majority of the country.
Even though I am fairly liberal myself, I find that characterization a bit extreme. The republican party was most definitely not "founded" on such ideals: it is Mr Lincolns party after all. It was not until the 20th century that the "radical" republicans exchanged roles with the democrats.
The reality is that the republican party is not some secret conspiracy out to support the billionaires at the expense of the people: it is a regional populist party, and they do a very good job at representing the views of their constituents(even if some of those views may be, in my opinion, misguided).
|
you always have to take these exposure pieces with a grain of salt though. they are trying to sell their books and often go to the extreme to do so.
|
Its not like people didn't know some of the people that help run are country are complete lunatics.
|
On September 08 2011 07:05 InvalidID wrote:Show nested quote +
The other reason I think it's valuable is because a certain portion of people tend to think that it's only recently that the GOP has gone batshit insane, rather than the entire party being founded on plutocratic ideals which are directly opposed to the interests of the vast majority of the country.
Even though I am fairly liberal myself, I find that characterization a bit extreme. The republican party was most definitely not "founded" on such ideals: it is Mr Lincolns party after all. It was not until the 20th century that the "radical" republicans exchanged roles with the democrats. The reality is that the republican party is not some secret conspiracy out to support the billionaires at the expense of the people: it is a regional populist party, and they do a very good job at representing the views of their constituents(even if some of those views may be, in my opinion, misguided).
The position of political parties a hundred years ago is fairly irrelevant imo. The fact of the matter is that right now we have a party which blatantly ignores science, spouts religious scripture in official state government meetings, and defends the interests of the super wealthy while simultaneously demonizing the poor. I mean seriously, we have congressmen from NC banging locks together, (as a metaphor for gay marriage) and citing bible verses as supporting arguments for state legislature.
I think calling them fucking crazy isn't too much of a stretch.
|
Well anyone who isn't blind, even a capitalist or such, knows that the republicans are the most devious and calculating manipulators there are.
Christ haven't you people ever watched Fox News? It's propaganda for crying out loud, it fills all the merits.
I say this objectively, nothing I've said is based on prejudice but rather empiric facts that any normal person can track down and prove to be correct.
|
This article is a monstrosity. It's ridiculously cliched and largely unfounded.
Let me resummarize one of the points of this article from a more conservative point of view: "Why won't those uppity conservatives, republicans, and tea-partiers just shut up and play possum like they used to before Ronald Reagan, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Newt Gingrich came onto the scene?"
Every time I see an article like this that bemoans the "lack of civility" in Washington, I just laugh. The democrats were the dominant force in Washington for over fifty years. They held Congress for forty years straight, they owned the media, and they owned the educational establishment. Now their monopolies are disappearing (and in some cases, have disappeared), so they whine. Completely ridiculous at best, and hypocritical at worst.
EDIT: For the record, yes, I understand that this guy is a "republican." However, he clearly comes from the David Brooks wing of the republican party -- the liberal types who were dreamily jerking off to Obama speeches during the 2008 campaign.
|
On September 08 2011 07:14 xDaunt wrote:
This article is a monstrosity. It's ridiculously cliched and largely unfounded.
Let me resummarize one of the points of this article from a more conservative point of view: "Why won't those uppity conservatives, republicans, and tea-partiers just shut up and play possum like they used to before Ronald Reagan, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Newt Gingrich came onto the scene?"
Every time I see an article like this that bemoans the "lack of civility" in Washington, I just laugh. The democrats were the dominant force in Washington for over fifty years. They held Congress for forty years straight, they owned the media, and they owned the educational establishment. Now their monopolies are disappearing (and in some cases, have disappeared), so they whine. Completely ridiculous at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Eh? The article doesn't bemoan the "lack of civility" in Washington so far as I read, and I actually did just read the entire thing right now.
What I took from the article is that Republicans are better tactically than Democrats, and he delineated some of the tactics used. Not exactly "moral" so to speak, but not illegal either so it's fair game if your opposition is going to be as stupid as the Democrats appear to be in this article.
So yea... Republicans are smart bastards at getting votes, Democrats are electorally ignorant in comparison. That's how I would summarize this article.
Most interesting was the quote of President Eisenhower. I would never expect it coming out of a Republican these days, though to be fair I am no student of how the party has shifted in the past 50 years.
President Eisenhower
Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
|
So why is the Democratic Party so ineffective? They must be doing something right, it wasn't long ago that they controlled the President and Congress, and there was a real chance that they would get the Supreme Court. But overall I agree that they never seem to be able to harness the same fire that the Republicans seem to marshal so easily. I can't believe that they are not capable or talented, is there some reason that they always pull their punches?
|
On September 08 2011 07:14 xDaunt wrote:
This article is a monstrosity. It's ridiculously cliched and largely unfounded.
Let me resummarize one of the points of this article from a more conservative point of view: "Why won't those uppity conservatives, republicans, and tea-partiers just shut up and play possum like they used to before Ronald Reagan, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Newt Gingrich came onto the scene?"
Every time I see an article like this that bemoans the "lack of civility" in Washington, I just laugh. The democrats were the dominant force in Washington for over fifty years. They held Congress for forty years straight, they owned the media, and they owned the educational establishment. Now their monopolies are disappearing (and in some cases, have disappeared), so they whine. Completely ridiculous at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Clearly someone lacks basic reading comprehension.
User was warned for this post
|
On September 08 2011 06:39 Fleebenworth wrote:
I have always wondered how christianity has been transformed...[into] the gospel of wealth and corruption.
That is an absurdly simplistic and ignorant claim. Many many Christians would not take their religion to be supportive of wealth and corruption. The opinion of televangelists and whoever else you claim to be mending Christianity to their own ends does not define Christianity to the majority of its followers. Your statement hints at an assumption that Christians are sheep, just like the economically disadvantaged whites who the staffer assumes (emphasis on assumes) to be influenced by televangelists. Anyone with a sliver of knowledge about the religion knows that it can't be simplified into something that is corrupt.
|
On September 08 2011 07:21 wherebugsgo wrote:Show nested quote +On September 08 2011 07:14 xDaunt wrote:
This article is a monstrosity. It's ridiculously cliched and largely unfounded.
Let me resummarize one of the points of this article from a more conservative point of view: "Why won't those uppity conservatives, republicans, and tea-partiers just shut up and play possum like they used to before Ronald Reagan, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Newt Gingrich came onto the scene?"
Every time I see an article like this that bemoans the "lack of civility" in Washington, I just laugh. The democrats were the dominant force in Washington for over fifty years. They held Congress for forty years straight, they owned the media, and they owned the educational establishment. Now their monopolies are disappearing (and in some cases, have disappeared), so they whine. Completely ridiculous at best, and hypocritical at worst.
Clearly someone lacks basic reading comprehension.
Love the TLers who make smug i'm-smarter-than-you comments without explaining.
User was warned for this post
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
