nemesis2010 - As I wrote it, your interpretation is
right.  However, as of now the Democrats have yet to
unveil a “Pledge to America” - which is the topic of
Mr. Robinson’s post. And, of course, to think that
Democrats aren’t lobbied and don’t in turn do the
bidding of the lobbyists is beyond naive.

Vulnerable House Dems Declare Their Independence. Run From The Disaster Party

Majority of Americans Reject Progressive Agenda
CRISTINA SILVA | 09/26/10 02:25 PM | AP

LAS VEGAS — Rep. Dina Titus has been a loyal soldier in pushing the Democrats’ ambitious agenda, voting for health care legislation, extended unemployment benefits, new energy taxes and a repeal of the military’s ban on gays serving openly.

Her campaign signs, however, proclaim Titus an “independent voice” for Nevadans.

Aware that their stock has taken the same tumble as home values, Congress’ most vulnerable Democrats are declaring their independence from their party’s agenda in Facebook profiles, television advertisements, news interviews and campaign websites leading up to the Nov. 2 election

Anyone remember Tom Lehrer?  He had a song called “George Murphy,” about the actor-turned-Senator from California.  The lyrics to the song include the following:

“The movies that you’ve seen
On your television screen
Show his legislative talents at a glance.
Should americans pick crops?
George says “No”...
‘Cause no one but a Mexican would stoop so low
And after all, even in Egypt, the Pharaohs
Had to import…Hebrew braceros”

Eerily prescient, no?

Peace.

Hey Roy,
Did you listen to what Colbert had to say when he got serious?  What specifically do you disagree about regarding the points he made?  Are you going pick beans for us after your ilk rounds up the migrant workers and gets rid of them one way or the other?  IMO, your fake outrage is outrageous.  Please stick to the substance of Colbert’s testimony which is no doubt left out of your Fox “News” wisdom.

Raylan:

“Nationalistic crowing about freedom is the typical gloss and rhetoric to justify every sort of corporate greedy imperialistic agenda -  gutting countries like Iraq waving the banner of democracy and nation-building.  All of it favors only the top few percent of the oligarchy who have actually prospered during this war-torn bankrupt decade.”

Dr. Lawrence Britt’s “14 Characteristics of Fascism, Nos. 1 and 9: Powerful and Continuing Nationalism, and Corporate Power is Protected.”

Roy:

“Millions have given the ultimate sacrifice in fighting for the liberties enshrined within our founding documents.  And in present time, well over 2 million of our fellow citizens voluntarily serve within our Armed Forces, ready to defend our Nation and Constitution.”

Setting aside the occasional “good” reason for using the military (e.g., WWII), this is unquestionably the biggest crock that the right has sold for decades.  In actual fact, the vast majority of what our military does is protect “U.S. interests,” not “protect our liberties” or “defend our nation and Constitution.”  And those “interests” are almost always imperialistic in nature.  (“Imperialism: The creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.”)

Your revisionist history won’t wash here.

Peace.

Nationalistic crowing about freedom is the typical gloss and rhetoric to justify every sort of corporate greedy imperialistic agenda -  gutting countries like Iraq waving the banner of democracy and nation -building.  All of it favors only the top few percent of the oligarchy who have actually prospered during this war-torn bankrupt decade.

The problem with Mr. Robinson’s analysis is the same
problem that bedevils President Obama and the
Democratic party:  The American people are not
looking for policy solutions.  We seek leadership that
inspires us to believe that the benefits of being an
American are not simply social and economic, but are
moral and, dare it be said, spiritual as well.  This is
not a matter of wanting to be better than others;  it is
a matter of yearning to believe that freedom and
equality are more than rhetorical terms.

We want to feel that the sad old joke, “all men are
created equal but some are more equal than others” is
not true.  We want to feel that freedom is not a
function of political power or money.  We want to
believe that civic virtue is possible and that virtue
includes the capacity for both compassion and self-
reliance.

We want to feel that we are more than the 9 digit
numbers that are our social security numbers, that we
are not victims waiting to be victimized or
perpetrators waiting to take advantage of someone
weaker than ourselves.  We want to feel that we have
the respect of our neighbors, our colleagues, and our
employers and our employees.  We want to feel some
control over our lives and at the same time to feel that
we have support when the unpredictable and
catastrophic occurs. 

We want to spread democracy because we genuinely
believe that people have a right to rule themselves,
but we do not want to be controlled by nameless
forces hiding behind forms, politicians, and
corporations who seem to elude all efforts at
accountability. 

We want to believe that, although some people can
amass great wealth in this country, one does not
require money in order to voice his opinion and
expect that it will be heard. 

We want to believe that truth itself is accessible to
everyone and that one need not be either a scholar or
journalist to uncover it. 

In other words, we want to be the Americans that the
Founders of our country hoped we would be. 
Although they are liars and cheats, the Republicans
seem to understand our need to feel this way better
than the Democrats who seem unable to fathom the
depths of the American soul.

A country fighting multiple foreign wars against terrorists, suffering depression era unemployment, with a $13.4 Trillion National Debt and with 1 out of 7 living in poverty, naturally (under a Congress controlled by Democrats), invites Comedy Central’s, Stephen Colbert to testify on immigration reform. 

Stephen Colbert performing as comedian Stephen Colbert in front of a Congressional Sub-Committee, while under oath, is a mark of shame and embarrassment.  Mocking the system inside the very governmental institution that is suppose to represent our country’s shared ideals of freedom, liberty and justice is inexcusable.

Those who lead congress – have they forgotten about their honor and Constitutional oaths?

Millions have given the ultimate sacrifice in fighting for the liberties enshrined within our founding documents.  And in present time, well over 2 million of our fellow citizens voluntarily serve within our Armed Forces, ready to defend our Nation and Constitution.

What took place in Congress today is an outrage, a moral outrage and one that is a disgusting display of contempt encouraged by both Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Obama administration.

The democratic leadership that allowed this travesty to take place today are nothing short of bastards and should be immediately reprimanded and relieved from leadership.  Are these strong words?  You bet they are.  And when the November mid-terms come, we will see just how disgusted the American electorate has become with Speaker Pelosi and her congress. 

After the Republicans take control of the House, the investigations into the stench of Speaker Pelosi’s Congress will begin ~ We’ll see who’s laughing then, Mr. Robinson.

I can’t get my head around the idea, the religious conviction, that the government caused the economic crash, and retrenching government will restore it. I wonder what planet such people are dreaming on. Yes government contributed to Wall street insanity by its deregulation, but it’s the nation of individual consumers and their economically flaky spending of money they don’t have, that caused the near-depression - not just the government.

<<Fussing over silly details.  Was not the above
mediated through politics (i.e. bought and paid for
“representives”)?  The point I believe is that we are
not held hostage to sovereign debt in the same manner
as Greece or the many 3rd world countries our bankers
have raped.>>

Your definition of politics, comprising as it does
all human social effort including the machinations of
private cabals and incorporations seeking personal or
institutional gain through deception or bribery or
the criminal behavior (not “mediation”) of key
elected officials, is too broad and elastic to have
any real meaning. Such a broad definition would have
to also include the Mafia or criminal gangs as
political organizations. Now that’s silly.

As for the US not being held hostage to (foreign and)
private bankers, or suggesting the “rape” is
happening only to others, or the alleged
dissimilarities economically between the US and
Greece, I would suggest you listen to someone who
knows what they are talking about, vis.:

http://fora.tv/2010/07/28/Niall_Ferguson_Empires_on_t
he_Edge_of_Chaos#Niall_Ferguson_Will_Debt_Trigger_the
_Collapse_of_the_US

Most political observers understand that mid-term elections are about local issues and the economy.  If the economy is up the party in power stays in power.  If the economy is down, well, ....... This mid-term election is no different.

There is another issue at play this election cycle.  The White House, in fact the president himself, is attempting to make this election cycle a national referendum.  Unfortunately for democrats this stratagem is not a winning one.  Not only is the economy pulling down the democrats, it’s also the solutions that are being roundly and soundly denounced this election.

There is not one single major piece of legislation, proposed or passed by democratic legislators, which has enjoyed the support of the majority of American voters.  Not one in over 18 months.

Unfortunately for Mr. Robinson the “party of no” is looking rather appealing to the majority.

Apparently a lot of individual Dems realize this is serious and are finally willing to get down in the mud where the GOP has been for years:

Today’s NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/us/politics/26dems.html?hp

If a guy has been cited hundreds of times for violations in his business, he merely considers it the cost of doing business, not anything wrong.  He’ll do the same in Congress….

LAND OF THE LOTUS EATERS

Gerard: One of the most revealng things about contemporary American politics is that any (either) party can “pledge” anything they want and a very large number of people will not raise a finger to demand details.

Each country has a level of political acuity and ours is rather low. We’ve let Congress get away with just less than bloody murder without the slightest whimper.

Living in France, one can see more clearly how political activism works. The French are out demonstrating in the streets against the government’s attempt to lengthen the retirement age to 62—largely led by union activists try to maintain worker rights. Now, this is foolishness because the French work the fewest number of hours per year of any European country. Perhaps they think retirement funding grows on trees?

But that is not my point. These demonstrations are widely covered on TV and they rarely amount to more than two or three hundred thousand people—out of 65 million. But the polls show that the French people support those demonstrators to a level of about 70%. No government can overlook taking that national sentiment into consideration, even if only a poll.

Whilst Americans haven’t gone into the streets since Vietnam, which was more than a generation ago. What’s become of us? Lotus Land?

Want to bitch-in-a-blog? Fine. But it’s just mental masturbation and will bear no consequence whatsoever. The electoral process will remain as warped and undemocratic as it has ever been.

And any pretense to the opposite is pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking.

More “lesser of 2 evils” kool aid. Thanks, but no thanks. Would like to see 1 M progressives/indies/ disaffected Dems burn their ballots for TV. Kind of like draft card burning, only better. With proper media coverage, it could help propel a VIABLE third party (c.f., Naomi Klein) into being for 2012.

A “Contract With America.”  A “Pledge to America.” What next, “A Promise, Cross My Heart and Hope To Die” with America?

In the meantime, The Times takes on “The Pledge”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26sun1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Peace.

Frothus,

“the United States DOES NOT issue its own sovereign currency,...It has at times, most notably Lincoln’s “greenbacks”, but has not since 1913…as that power was unconstitutionally signed over…to a private banking cartel”

Fussing over silly details.  Was not the above mediated through politics (i.e. bought and paid for “representives”)?  The point I believe is that we are not held hostage to sovereign debt in the same manner as Greece or the many 3rd world countries our bankers have raped.

“As a nation that issues its own sovereign currency,
the United States government can only ever go
bankrupt by choice. It is a political question; not a
fiscal one.”

Bankruptcy a political choice?  Tell that to the
Hapsburg empire of Spain.  They owned their own
currency.  Tell that to the Bourbons of France who
owned theirs.  Countries that coin their own currency
go bankrupt and their empires fall.  The mint and the
printing press do not a sovereign make. 

Further, the United States DOES NOT issue its own
sovereign currency, does not “own” it.  It has at
times, most notably Lincoln’s “greenbacks”, but has
not since 1913 to the present, as that power was
unconstitutionally signed over and farmed out to a
private banking cartel (privatized) with legislation
written by that selfsame international banking
cartel, and pushed through by their bought-and-paid-
for inside man, Aldrich, in the waning hours of 1913,
while most of Congress was home for the holidays. 
Since that time, the United States borrows, at
interest, every dollar issued.  It will borrow, at
interest, every dollar used to pay that debt, and
will thus ever owe and never escape from that debt,
nor regain its sovereignty until this usurpation is
undone.

Thus, Thomas Jefferson’s warning has been ignored,
and we are all the worse for it.

“If the American people ever allow private banks
to control the issue of their money,
first by inflation and then by deflation,
the banks and corporations that will
grow up around them,
will deprive the people of their property
until their children will wake up homeless
on the continent their fathers conquered.”

Americans are not given the opportunity to vote for leaders that will repair our broken system.  No good choices are allowed.  The Party of Nonsense will run a campaign of well financed advertising lies to sell their ridiculous “Pet Rocks” to an ignorant brainwashed public.  The other Party of Little Sense will run a campaign that de-emphasizes their minute accomplishments and focuses on fear over Tea Party extremists taking over the country.  In reality an election of either “choice” will amount to little change because gridlock will not allow either party’s agenda differences to manifest themselves with much force.

Progressives are faced with a disgusting choice.  They can vote for the rare good Dem / 3rd Party alternative based on their clearly better platforms, or they can go along with the “don’t waste your vote” Corporate Dem mantra, hold their noses, and vote the Party across the board.  However, the unspoken negative of ignoring one’s principals is that it reinforces Democrat political strategist’s calculation that more votes (and money) can be garnered by moving to the Right because the Left is captive.  So this “don’t waste your vote” concept comes with the heavy price of trapping us into an ever strengthening Corporate State.

One of the most revealng things about contemporary American politics is that any (either) party can “pledge” anything they want and a very large number of people will not raise a finger to demand details. They just suck in the big ideas like “create jobs”, “reduce the deficit”, “win” the wars,  “repeal health care,” promote “fair” taxation,” “support the military,” “stabilize the economy” “kill the terrorists” etc. etc.
  Here’s where “don’t ask, don’t tell” works another kind of havoc:  Because the people don’t, won’t, can’t ask, the politicians never have to tell more than convenient lies and threats to persuade the people to remain ignorant by choice.
  The potentially catastrophic political crisis America is going through now is the logical result of decades of 1. widespread popular ignorance and 2. behind-the-scenes manipulaton of politicians by monied interests which excludes public knowledge and participation.
  Viewed overall, there is plenty of blame to go round, but as yet neither citizens nor politicians/business interests are willing to take any responsibility at all.
  The vacuous “pledge” is an attempt to fill the void. If it works, it is proof that both the manipulated “general public’ and the military/industrial/political ruling minority refuse to take any real responsibility, even though most of them are now aware of what is happening.
  Both faction are self-deceived:  The rich and powerful think (hope) they have enough power to control any contingencies.  The poor and manipulated think (hope) they are powerless.

PLEDGE as in like PROMISE as in like TREATY? We all know about the treaties that this government made with the Native populations in America, they broke every one of them. The same thing will happen with this PLEDGE too.

We spend over 60% of every tax dollar on the MIC that they admit to. We spend about 6% on all the social programs which include health, education and welfare, that includes social security, medicare and medicaid, food stamps, etc.

Now where is the excessive bloated spending going to be cut from? The people who need it the most. Yes sirree America, you really are showing the world what a shining beacon on that hill they brag about. With such a brilliant example you display to the rest of the world, I can see why other nations do not want to assimilate western ways in their countries.

It is nothing to be proud of when you keep adding to the ultra riches incomes, who have more money than they will ever use, while striping the less than survival incomes of those who need it in the name of war and greed. Good example is John McCain, so rich he doesn’t know how many houses or cars he owns, so would it really hurt if he paid his former tax levels before the Bush tax cuts were in place. No! And it is not a tax increase Party of NoBrains, it is a return to former tax rates, that is not a tax increase but simply setting things as they were in the past. What doesn’t the GOP and it’s ilk not understand about that? It is like when a store has a sale on an item for a week, when the sale is over, the prices return to their former prices, what is so hard about that to understand? And these people-in government- should have at least a 4th grade education, as most 4th graders would be able to comprehend this and don’t most people in government claim to have some college learning and many are lawyers?

It is time to make the jobs in running the country just like any job I have had. They need to be tested to see if they are knowledgeable as to the job requirements, what experience they have, what they expect to accomplish, schooling and higher education, other additional job experience that could be helpful for this field of work, aptitude testing, physicals, drug testing, background checks and much more. After all, these are the people elected to represent us to the world who should be able to pass these requirements with at least a 92% or higher, anything less than a 92% is not qualified for this line of work and should not be allowed to run for office. Until we demand some qualifying skills for these people, we will continue to see the creeping incompetences that the GOP and the T.P.ers are promoting.

socialismworks: “...so many Americans want them back in office.  They must have short-term memory issues I suppose.”

Alzheimers and other forms of dementia seem to be increasing. There are multiple causes, I believe, but not using your brain seems to contribute. Wasn’t it Gore Vidal who called it The United States of Amnesia? Americans can’t seem to remember anything, including that their children may die or be maimed when they ship them off to wars of invasion.

Lafayette:

Ayn Rand predicted pretty much the breakdown in society that we are seeing.  However, she made ONE colossal blunder: She figured it the Liberals, the Progressives and the Socialists who would bring it about, not the Conservatives, Republicans, and rampant de-regulators!

While the ship is sinking the Democrats continue to argue who’s playing “Nearer My God To Thee” off-key—it’s no secret why the Repub, with their insane, stupid, contradictory ideas and lies about who’s at fault are gonna win.

One side is prowling, unscrupulous hyenas.  The other is preening, puffed-up Dodo birds.

I fail to see how any change to Social Security would have any effect on the budget, since Social Security is off-budget, self funded. About the only thing they could do would be to shut it down and steal the money, but that would difficult legally, since the money doesn’t and never did belong to the government. It comes from workers and employers, period. Not that that would place any moral constraints on the Republicans, but legally and politically I don’t see it happening.

The Republicans have shown time and time again that they no longer have to be constrained by the bourgeois need to make sense. They have created a propaganda machine based in the advertising industry, that sells using emotional triggers rather than logic or information. The target is the heart, not the brain.
Nobody is more aware of this than the Republican spinmasters. It’s been a while now since they abandoned any attempt at making sense, with no apparent dip in credibility whatsoever among the rubes, or of course the media.
Looking for sense or logic places one squarely in the “reality based community” scornfully described by a Bush aide, explaining that the new “empire” created its own faith-based reality.

A BANE UPON GOOD GOVERNMENT

Interesting comments Felicity, it appears that in your opinion it is only the republicans that lobbyists are interested in, (since I don’t see anything about dem dems)

Washington lobbyists are a bane upon good government. Vested interests (heads of corporations) have understood that corporate entities have no constitutional right to vote. So, to sidetrack this obstacle, they decided to buy the votes they felt necessary to manipulate a market economy in order to pursue profits—and thus enrich themselves.

And the body politic be damned, because we were generally uninterested in what happened in LaLaLand on the Potomac. Nothing could have been more stupid on our part and it all happened right under our blind eyes.

But whilst bitching-in-a-blog may provide cathartic relief, it does absolutely nothing to change a fundamentally corrupt process. That can only happen at the ballot box.

More so, it can only happen when Congress passes legislation that tightens the screws on political funding. Which will require also a change in the Supremes, since any such legislation will be challenged in that court, where the preponderant weight changes from Conservative to Progressive shoulders.

And that change cannot happen under a either a Republican Administration or a Republican dominated Congress.

The Dems are not angels. The Dems don’t walk on water as regards policy making. But after thirty years of the Devil’s Handiwork, that has finally landed us in one Great National Mess, one would think we’d had enough.

Maybe not, however ...

POST SCRIPTUM

The founding fathers of this nation instituted a political system of checks and balances by distributing certain powers amongst the Legislative, the Executive and the Judicial branches of government. This power sharing is one of the main pillars of our system of government and a solid reason why our democracy has survived.

But it is also cumbersome system and it can lead to gridlock—which is why change can be so arduous when the voting public is so evenly divided between the Right (Conservative) and the Left (Progressive).

We should remember those facts before pointing the finger of blame just at the Executive (PotUS) or their party.

INQUIRING MINDS?

{ER: Inquiring minds demanded to know just what the GOP proposed to do if voters entrusted them with control of one or both houses of Congress.}

This above is, indeed, a great presumption. “Inquiring Minds”? Where?

The electoral public is inept at understanding the fundamental economic changes that surround it. But Americans are very diligent at wanting to point the finger of blame.

So, though BO & Co was handed a stacked deck, and played their cards as best they could with a Troglodyte Right, the Dems will be punished by their supposed inability to right the wrong inflicted by the Longest Postwar Recession in history. What puerile nonsense, not only of the Republicans, but the American body politic.

We deserve a better class of politicians in LaLaLand on the Potomac, that has been clear for thirty years, but we will not get one by staying away from the polls. The flip side of having democratic rights is the responsibility of voting competent politicians to represent us, whether at the local, state of federal level.

You don’t get good government without good politicians—and staying away from the polls in disgust is Neglect of Duty. Let’s continue what the Dems were brought into the Oval Office to bring about – significant reform in an America that badly needs significant reformation. That can only happen by giving the Dems a clear majority in both Chambers of Congress.

The other option is the slippery slope to hell – that is, the continued erosion of our economic vitality, the inability to create new jobs for those entering the market and the persistent withering of those jobs that exist.

The world is changing under our feet. We’d best get on with the difficult hardship of keeping up with it by reforming our institutions, enforcing market oversight, fundamental infrastructural investments and decent Public Services. None of which is Pledged to America by the Right—who think more of the same past thirty years of Ayn Randian Individualism (greed is good) is just what the Doctor ordered.

The choice is ours to make; but we assume its consequences. If one wants to see at whom to point the finger of blame, then they should look in the mirror.

I am in constant awe of how easily the loyal democrats can ignore the last two years of do nothing democratic party leadership ( that is fast becoming an oxymoron by the by).

Last month almost 400,000 homes were foreclosed.Unemployment races on unabated. The money continues to migrate to fewer and fewer and the families living beneath the poverty line continue to increase. War rages on, torture continues, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib remains open and an open sore on our democracy.

But all is well because democrats can point to the increasing insanity of the right wing of our American Eagle and the deterioration of the GOP’s sanity typified by the ‘Jim Demints’ of that party.

Of course the loyal opposition, as typified by our very own rightie, GRYM, continues to muddle the issues with half truths and three quarter lies. So I guess our republic muddles on,huh?

70 Years of Democratic Economic Success Versus 70 yrs of Republican Fubar -the 4 big Republican lies-

Republicans come in a distant second to Democratic economic accomplishment see: http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/eco ...
and lay claim to being economic wizards.

Republicans explode the National Debt. see:http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/nat ...
and lay claim to being fiscally responsible.

Republicans CRUSH job creation see: http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/job ...
and claim to understand how to control the business cycle.

Republicans have been in charge when 9 of the last 10 recession have occurred see: http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com/p/his ...
and claim to be experts on the economy

Democrats have the record, the facts and history on our side. Republicans have fear, failure and falsehood on theirs. And when they win, working people lose. And that’s how they like it.

mike kohr
Bureau County Democrats
http://bureaucountydems.blogspot.com

Coupla interesting articles.

Paul Krugman on the “Pledge to America”:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/opinion/24krugman.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

And an analysis of the Pledge’s financial piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/us/politics/24repubs.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=print

Peace.

By felicity, September 24 at 2:54 pm

”Lobbyists have instructed Republicans that if they
expect their campaign chests to grow exponentially,
they must legislate with the end result that the
incomes of the magic 2% of us increase, exponentially. 
In other words, they must redistribute UP. 
Since admitting this closeted instruction would be a
tad difficult for them to argue or for the average
American to support, they are forced to devise artful
cover-ups - and they’re not very good at it.

Interesting comments Felicity, it appears that in your opinion it is only the republicans that lobbyists are interested in, (since I don’t see anything about dem dems), is that a correct understanding of what you’re saying? I ask because the democrats have had control of the House since 2006 and all three branches of government for a year now and I haven’t seen any changes that would indicate a more egalitarian distribution of the nation’s wealth.

Perhaps you can point out some of the changes by this democratic Hope and Change administration that I’ve overlooked.

There’s no need to panic about what would happen if the Republicans take control of Congress in November. Think back to 2005, when Geo W Bush, flush with “political capital” from the 2004 election, set out to privatize Social Security. With Republican majorities in both houses, nothing happened. Republicans are too scared to cut social security and medicare because they depend on the votes of elderly white voters. They won’t cut the military because they are ideologically committed to maintaining the American Empire. They may succeed in extending the Bush era tax cuts, but they would have to overcome a veto from Obama, if he has the guts to do it. Ditto for repealing the healthcare legislation. So nothing much would change, but meahwhile the country would continue its downward spiral of disinvesting in American infrastructure, education and industry, while spending our way to bankruptcy on foreign wars, military bases and armaments. That’s all just a little bit worse than what’s been going on with the Democrats in power, but it’s not different enough to moblilize the passions of Democratic voters. Hey, it’s not like the Democrats had just finished enacting universal single payer health care, free college tuition, card check union voting, total withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, the closure of hundreds of foreign military bases, a two-thirds cut in military spending, the dissolution of the CIA and the prosecution of torturers and war criminals, plus constitutional amendments up for ratification confirming that corporations do not have the constitutional rights of citizens, all citizens have the right to marry, and the only right to bear arms conferred by the 2nd Amendment is the right of all citizens, including gays and lesbians, to serve in the (radically diminished) armed forces. If the Democrats had given us any of this, or even tried, we would have something to lose, and something to get out and vote for, fight for, and contribute to. But we haven’t gotten anything like that. What’s the use of paying attention to this futile political charade? We might as well just join the Californians and vote ourselves the liberty to spend our lives pursuing happiness in our little backyard marijuana plots.

I love the teabaggers.
I love watching them destroy the republicons as a relevant political force.
This is better than Looneytoones…..

The difference is that the Tea Party members are focused pretty much on economic rather than social issues - and their demographic albeit older and white, is not necessarily wealthy. It’s a kind of masturbation fantasy to believe that all the ills of the present economy were the result of excessive government spending/deregulation and NOT Wall street financial brinkmanship.

The reality is that deregulation is what started the downward spiral in the first place. Blinded by their narrow self-centered ideologies, the dangers of their gaining power are real and ironically threaten our financial system with total collapse.

Lobbyists have instructed Republicans that if they
expect their campaign chests to grow exponentially,
they must legislate with the end result that the
incomes of the magic 2% of us increase, exponentially. 
In other words, they must redistribute UP. 

Since admitting this closeted instruction would be a
tad difficult for them to argue or for the average
American to support, they are forced to devise artful
cover-ups - and they’re not very good at it.

The Party of Nonsense

”All right, I’m being slightly disingenuous. “

Yes you are because democrats calling the republicans the party of nonsense is a pot calling a kettle black.

They both suck and they’re perfect examples of ineptitude, hubris, and pornographic policy making.

The Party of Nonsense

”To create jobs, the Republicans vow to make all of the Bush administration’s tax cuts permanent—as opposed to the Democrats’ position, which is to make the cuts permanent for the middle class but allow taxes to return to Clinton-era levels for households making more than $250,000 a year “

Correct me if I’m wrong, but haven’t the so-called “Bush tax cuts” been in effect since implemented? I ask because if we’ve been bleeding jobs by the millions since even before the tax cuts how exactly does this create jobs?

I thought it was market demand, not government, that creates jobs.

The Party of Nonsense

”The GOP also would give small-business owners a new 20 percent tax deduction on their business income. The Pledge also tosses in the perennial Republican promise to curb “excessive federal regulation.”

A 20% reduction for small business owners does not help to create jobs if the demand for products and service isn’t there. They’ll just realize greater profits due to less liability. This is a form of vote buying.

The Party of Nonsense

”the GOP also promises to “stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of government.”

This is the same pack of lies from that 1994 “Contract With America” reworded.

The GOP HAS NEVER nor will it EVER reduce the size of government or reduce government spending. Government is a parasite that kills its host.

In England the government there is proposing to have all employee pay sent to the government who will deduct the “proper” amount of taxes due and then forward the remainder to the recipient electronically. We probably aren’t too far behind in hearing some dumbass democrat propose the same.

It doesn’t really matter what Republicans say or do if it draws media attention and demonizes opposition or opposition views.

What is painfully relevant is how inattentive, under-informed and irrational that voters are.

The Republican demagogic character will not change until voters wise up.

President George W. Bush left office with the lowest approval ratings since Richard Nixon.

Two weeks ago President Obama did the unthinkable: He praised Bush for his past efforts to reach out to Muslims. Vice President Joe Biden went further and blurted out, “Mr. Bush deserves a lot of credit.” Biden topped that off with, “Mr. President, thank you.”

Even liberal pundits have now called on Bush to help Obama diffuse rising tensions over the so-called Ground Zero mosque and Arizona’s illegal immigration law.

What’s going on?

Recent polls show an astounding rebound in the former president’s favorability — to the extent that in the bellwether state of Ohio, voters would rather still have Bush as president than Obama by a 50-42 margin. Louisianians have, for months, claimed Bush handled Katrina far better than Obama handled the Deep Water oil spill. Nationwide, Obama’s approval ratings continue to sink to near 40 percent — a nadir that took years for Bush to reach. It has become better politics to praise rather than to bury Bush. -Excluding TruthDiggers, of course.

According to the White House Iraq seems on the road to success, with a growing economy and a stabilizing government. Vice President Biden. recently claimed that the way Iraq is going, it could become one of the Obama administration’s “greatest achievements.” Obama himself seconded that when the former war critic called the American effort in Iraq “a remarkable chapter” in the history of the two countries.

Then there are the growing comparisons with Bush’s supposed past transgressions to Obama today.

On the war on terror, Obama has dropped all the old campaign venom. Bush’s Guantanamo Bay facility, renditions, tribunals, intercepts, wiretaps, predator drone attacks, and policies in Afghanistan and Iraq are no longer dubbed a shredding of the Constitution. All are now seen as national security tools that must be kept, even expanded, under Obama. - Nancy Pelosi is no longer talking about a “constitutional crisis” in America. Eugene Robinson is completely quiet on the many “war crimes” of the Obama administrations.

Eugene Robinson likes to forget how completely unhinged many on the Left had become in November 2000.  How criticisms got out of hand immediately after the election. - Throwing things at the President-Elect on inauguration day, writing novels and making documentaries about killing the president, or libeling him as a Nazi bent on destroying the world as we know it.  Today, according to Eugene, criticisms can ONLY be explained as rooted in racism. - Only bigots believe in such idiocy.

With the exception of roughly 8% of the American public (a minuscule minority on the Left) the frenzy of Bush hatred and Obama worship that crested in the summer of 2008 is over.

“If the GOP were somehow to enact its full plan, one of the only conceivable ways to keep the country out of bankruptcy would be to make radical changes to Social Security—perhaps privatizing the program, which George W. Bush tried and failed to accomplish. “

Bankruptcy is not a concern for a country that issues its own sovereign currency. Insolvency would be a political ‘choice’ and not a fiscal necessity.

Senate candidate Warren Mosler and others familiar with Modern Monetary Theory have detailed extensively the policy options available to a nation that is monetarily sovereign.

      A. Non-Affiliated
      Counter Insurgency, Deficit Terrorist Unit

The only people who would believe this stuff are people who vote based on wild generalizations and no specifics. Hmmmm. How many people reading this voted for Obama? I listened to his campaign speeches and heard no specifics, just feel-good words like hope. He was specific about some things, such as stepping up the war in Afghanistan, and still the antiwar people I know voted for him.

However much I may dislike the Democratic Party, in particular the DLC, I WOULD NEVER vote Republican. How stupid are people that they can only think of voting for a worse candidate because it would mean a “change”? I have no fondness for my congressman, but will probably vote for him because, for all his failings, he’s much better than his Republican opponent.

I agree with BarbieQue. “Disingenuous” is much too gentle a characterization.

The Republican Party is a fundamentally evil, anti-American movement, designed to coop the liberal message of freedom and equality (not to mention religious dogma of goodness and virtue) in order to “throw the bums out” and replace them with people who craft laws to advantage themselves or disadvantage everyone else.

Better to say “Buh Bye” to conservatism. It’s on its last legs.

In a few weeks, we can kick it to the trash heap of history where it belongs, not by a huge turnout, but simply by a good one. By you turning out. Shrink Republican representation only a couple of seats, and the beast will be dead for a long, long time. Maybe forever.

Vote. Vote Democratic. Punish Republicans.

MSNBC yesterday brought up an item in the “Pledge” pertaining to another anti-missile system. Are the Republicans, while calling for deficit reducttion, installing a new toilet?

Those nincompoops in the GOP think it’s 1994 all over again. Well, the world has changed in 16 years, in case they haven’t noticed—and any economic “pledge” to this country that plainly does not promise an end to the seemingly endless state of war against “terrorism” and badly-needed cuts in the military (and I mean real, deep ones, not smoke and mirrors disguised as cuts) is hooey.

OK, BarbieQue: YOU explain how the Republican plan can even POSSIBLY add up.  How are they going to balance the budget by adding 3 trillion to the deficit?

The bottom line is it CAN’T work, the Republicans KNOW it can’t work, but they are counting on the buzzwords of “Lower Taxes”, “Lower Government Spending” and “Balancing the Budget” to fool people who want to believe you can do all three at the same time.

Every time there’s been a tax cut, going back to Ronald Reagan’s original one in 1981, the deficit has ballooned.  (Semi-)Honest Republicans knew this, going back to David Stockman, who was then “taken to the woodshed” by Reagan for his honesty.

EVERY tax cut has lead to an expansion of the deficit.  NOBODY likes paying taxes.  But I HATE paying a huge portion of my income while the richest Americans pay a much smaller percentage—and while oil companies STILL get subsidized by you and me!
(BTW, every attempt to end subsidies and tax breaks to the Big Oil companies get squashed by their paid-for boys and girls in Congress—mainly Republican).

ER: “All right, I’m being slightly disingenuous”

Yes Eugene. Some of us are well aware of this trait of yours. That is the problem. But by admitting it you’re taking a baby step. Congratulations.

dis·in·gen·u·ous? ?

–adjective
lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous; insincere.

39 days left to spread the word: Buh Bye Incumbents (lets call them Encumberments)