‘The core of the problem lies with the Republican Party’
Thomas E. Mann of the Brookings Institution and Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, two of the most respected non-partisan political analysts in Washington, go ahead and say it:
“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.
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.”
Yup. That sums it up nicely, I’m afraid.
And as they conclude, the situation is not going to change until the Republicans are forced to pay a very heavy price for their extremism at the polls, and that’s not likely to happen anytime soon. The result is a paralyzed system of governance at a critical time in this nation’s history.
– Jay Bookman
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549 comments Add your comment
JamVet
April 29th, 2012
2:01 pm
I read the title of the article, and just laughed my a$$ off.
What a shocker.
Keep your head in the sand, it’s very safe there. And take comfort that you have a great deal of equally topially illiterate company on this forum…
TaxPayer
April 29th, 2012
2:13 pm
What you Republicans need to do is cut my taxes because right now I just don’t feel like creating any jobs for you. Now start cutting my taxes until I do. I’ll let you know when you have cut them enough.
Tundra Dude
April 29th, 2012
2:16 pm
just come on here every now and then and make fun of his followers that are too stupid to think for themselves.
this, from another one of those Faux Nuze windup dolls….
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
2:23 pm
Is that your general opinion or is that an actual number provided for and backed up by empirical data? Cause from where I’m sitting that looks like a generalized, off the top of the head opinion based on ….
Generalized based on the decreased number of jobs created since the 70’s in conjunction with wage stagnation. Give me a while, and I’ll go find the empirical data that you desire if that’s what you need to convince you.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
2:28 pm
Doom: Thomas Sowell nicknamed it that after their refusal to throw the book at the new black panthers in a clear cut case of voter intimidation.
Lies, thy enemy is TRUTH………….
It was clear from the beginning that this was not a case of voter intimidation against anyone who might vote for John McCain. As many observers noted on that day, no matter how badly those two New Black Panters were behaving (and the police were called and responded), it’s a HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC PRECINCT. , “You don’t typically intimidate your own voters.”
The charges against the New Black Panthers were downgraded by the Bush Department of Justice:
The decision not to file a criminal case occurred before Obama was even in office.
This means that the case was downgraded to a civil case 11 days before Obama was inaugurated, 26 days before Eric Holder became attorney general, and about nine months before Thomas Perez was confirmed as head of the Civil Rights Division.
http://prospect.org/voices/adam-serwer?month=07&year=2010&base_name=when_was_the_new_black_panther
###The Bush administration’s Justice Department — not the Obama administration — made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008;
##### The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center on Election Day 2008;
# ####The Bush administration DOJ chose not to pursue similar charges against members of the Minutemen, one of whom allegedly carried a weapon while harassing Hispanic voters in Arizona in 2006; (PS: Why no faux OUTRAGE over this?)
#####No voters have come forward to claim that they were intimidated from voting on account of the New Black Panthers standing outside the polling center in 2008
Abigail Thernstrom, a commission member and a senior fellow at the conservative Manhattan Institute, called it “small potatoes” and said conservatives should pursue more important issues against the Obama administration. The case, she pointed out, invokes a narrow and rarely used provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which has been used successfully to prosecute only three times since its passage.
“If you want to criticize [Attorney General] Eric Holder, there are lots of grounds on which to criticize him,” she said. “Why waste your breath on this one?”
Thernstrom said that she did not find Adams’s testimony convincing and that the facts of the case raised doubts in her mind, noting that the Black Panthers were standing in front of a majority-black precinct that had voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in previous elections — not a prime spot for intimidating white voters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405880.html
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
2:34 pm
“Generalized based on the decreased number of jobs created since the 70’s in conjunction with wage stagnation. Give me a while, and I’ll go find the empirical data that you desire if that’s what you need to convince you”
Wage stagnation is a myth. Wages may not have improved much but overall benefits including vacation time, personal days, sick days, perqs such as car allowances,401ks, life insurance, ever rising health insurance etc. means that overall benefits have been increasing.
Job creation overall has stagnated since the 60s under both Dem and R administrations. The reason I believe for that is because of the enormous advantage we held over the rest of the industrialized world for up to 2 decades after Europe and Japan were devastated in the wake of WW2. That head start began to significantly diminish in the late 60s and 70s. That and ever creeping govt over both R and D administrations I think puts us at a disadvantage moving forward.
And Brocephus quit worrying so much about outsourcing. As our dollar continues to fall and our country continues to move towards insolvency there will come a point, and its happening now, where it may in fact be cheaper for us to manufacture here and export more. Exports have been climbing since our dollar has been falling.
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
2:37 pm
What we need is the successful supply side economics that propelled us to nearly 30 years of near continous economic growth and prosperity…… We were Keynesians when the economy stagnated under Nixon and Carter, supply siders when it flourished under Reagan, and now Keynesians as it flails under O.
I disagree with you as to what we need. I don’t think either economic model used exclusively will help this country. When we were more of a closed economy and had greater influence over our own direction, then you might have a point. As all countries are interlocked when it comes to the economy, I think we need to quit trying to use what we think worked then and actually analyze how things move today and work from that. Obama’s tried both methods, and any failure could theoretically be tied to both economic models…..
carlosgvv
April 29th, 2012
2:38 pm
Scout – 1:47
You left out one;
You know you live in an upside down land if – One of the two major political parties in your country has sold itself to Big Business in return for election and re-election funds and, in consequence, become lackeys of the rich and utterly useless to the people.
Matters not
April 29th, 2012
2:39 pm
“Anyone But Obama 2012″
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
2:43 pm
“it’s a HEAVILY DEMOCRATIC PRECINCT. , “You don’t typically intimidate your own voters.””
Debbiedoright,
So are you saying that every single voter that came to the precinct that day was a Democrat? Or just the majority of them like 60 or 70%?
I dunno who wrote that point but that has got to be one of the alltime single dumbest points I’ve ever read.
“noting that the Black Panthers were standing in front of a majority-black precinct that had voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in previous elections — not a prime spot for intimidating white voters”
Get back to me when you can provide evidence that there were no white voters. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Going by this absurdly obscene logic I guess its okay for the KKK to start hanging out outside predominantly white or 90% Republican precincts huh? Gawd ya’ll come up with some ridiculously absurd shyte.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
2:44 pm
The problem came when, having successfully pressed charges against Shabazz (i.e. Shabazz was found guilty) the Obama administration declined to press further charges against him. Because, you know, he was already convicted and sitting in jail.
Never mind the fact that the administration DID pursue a successful prosecution against Shabazz or that it was the *Bush* administration that chose not to press charges. And the especially interesting thing is that the Bush administration refused to press similar charges against the Minute Men in Arizona:
DOJ did not pursue allegations that Minutemen intimidated Hispanic voters with a gun in 2006. Perez testified that in 2006, the Justice Department “declined to bring any action for alleged voter intimidation” “when three well-known anti-immigrant advocates affiliated with the Minutemen, one of whom was carrying a gun, allegedly intimidated Latino voters at a polling place by approaching several persons, filming them, and advocating and printing voting materials in Spanish.” [U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 5/14/10]
Anti-immigrant activist in 2006 case reportedly had “9mm Glock strapped to his side” at polling place. A November 8, 2006, Austin American-Statesman article reported (from the Nexis database): “In Arizona, Roy Warden, an anti-immigration activist with the Minutemen, and a handful of supporters staked out a Tucson precinct and questioned Hispanic voters at the polls to determine whether they spoke English.” The article continued:
Armed with a 9mm Glock automatic strapped to his side, Warden said he planned to photograph Hispanic voters entering polls in an effort to identify illegal immigrants and felons.
I believe what this all boils down to is a black man with a stick is frightening. Not pursuing charges against black men with sticks is showing racial bias. A white man with a gun, on the other hand, is doing the government a *favor*, see. Helping to monitor and control the situation. Why on earth would one pursue charges against this white man?
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
2:46 pm
“When we were more of a closed economy and had greater influence over our own direction, then you might have a point.”
A closed economy? Excuse me but exactly when we were a closed economy? We’ve been trading with the rest of the world since day 1.
266 more days
April 29th, 2012
2:46 pm
DDR,
Ask Brian Terry’s family about Fast & Furious, I am sure they would love to discuss Eric;s role in it with you
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
2:54 pm
Doom – you know u should take up defense law. you zero in on one item in a line with 10,000 items and attack that ONE item. Never mind that the other 999999 are TRUE and factual, it’s that ONE ITEM you wish to attack. They teach that in law school you know. that’s why lawyers are paid a lot of money and are so damn good.
unfortunately I actually WENT to law school, so you “can’t play a player”. If, at the time of the incident, a white person standing in the line felt intimidated by the NBP, they, and this is important, DID NOT COME FORTH AND MAKE ANY CLAIMS OF INTIMIDATION.
before you have any perceived amount of injustice such as voter intimidation, you must have a voter come forth to SAY HE WAS INTIMIDATED.
Also, really quick, here’s another point, Shabazz was successfully prosecuted by Holder’s DOJ, BUSH’s DOJ did NOT prosecute the NBP. Again in case you missed it BUSH’s DOJ did NOT prosecute the NBP.
PS: You don’t want to feign any outrage over the Minutemen incident with the Hispanic voters and the lack of prosecution by the DOJ?!! Boy!! Am I Surprised that you don’t!!!
Get back with me when you are just as angry over the Minuteman incident as you are over the Philadelphia incident.
I’ll hold my breath.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
2:56 pm
cons are to blame because they march lock step with the gop.
No questions asked so there is no accountability.
The tea party stood up on spending so they are the first cons to ask questions on spending but still march lock step with their deficit exploding party.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
April 29th, 2012
2:57 pm
carlosgvv:
You’ll have to take that up with the author …………….
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
2:57 pm
Debbiedoright,
They are both wrong in both cases and should have been prosecutred to the hilt. The new black panthers saying racial epithets with batons and the white men asking Hispanics if they were Americans at the polls. Not sure about the gun as I understand that in several states that carrying a weapon openly is legal.
Anyway, Doomy out to head to the gym for a Sunday afternoon workout and then to the park. Yall have fun.
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
2:58 pm
266 more days,
B
O
O
M
!
Midori
April 29th, 2012
2:59 pm
bless your heart Debbie.
you’re a better woman than me.
I have little patience and tolerance for such abject stupidity.
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
3:00 pm
“Get back with me when you are just as angry over the Minuteman incident as you are over the Philadelphia incident.”
wHAT THEY DID IN INTIMIDATING VOTERS WAS EQUALLY UNCOOL dEBBIE. nO DOUBT ABOUT IT. Sorry for the big caps malfunction but in a hurry and not going to worry about correcting it.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
3:01 pm
Anybody but flip flop willard was the con position.
cons got marginalized by the gop establishment again.
JamVet
April 29th, 2012
3:02 pm
Avert your eyes, Republicans…
Today, thanks to the GOP, compromise has gone out the window in Washington. In the first two years of the Obama administration, nearly every presidential initiative met with vehement, rancorous and unanimous Republican opposition in the House and the Senate, followed by efforts to delegitimize the results and repeal the policies.
The filibuster, once relegated to a handful of major national issues in a given Congress, became a routine weapon of obstruction, applied even to widely supported bills or presidential nominations. And Republicans in the Senate have abused the confirmation process to block any and every nominee to posts such as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, solely to keep laws that were legitimately enacted from being implemented.
In the third and now fourth years of the Obama presidency, divided government has produced something closer to complete gridlock than we have ever seen in our time in Washington, with partisan divides even leading last year to America’s first credit downgrade.
On financial stabilization and economic recovery, on deficits and debt, on climate change and health-care reform, Republicans have been the force behind the widening ideological gaps and the strategic use of partisanship. In the presidential campaign and in Congress, GOP leaders have embraced fanciful policies on taxes and spending, kowtowing to their party’s most strident voices.
999 anyone?
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
3:04 pm
Midori
April 29th, 2012
2:59 pm
“bless your heart Debbie.
you’re a better woman than me.
I have little patience and tolerance for such abject stupidity”
Its unusual to see someone that just can’t stand their own self. Self loathing I guess. But I reckon I would be self loathing too if I was the most venomous, nastiest poster on here. Bless your heart Midori that’s the general consensus of just about every con on here about you. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
3:05 pm
Hi Midori!!! Beautiful sunday today here in the A.T.L.!! In a minute I’m gonna head out and take the dogs for a run in the mountains or on the trails (they LOVE our runs — makes them think they’re still in a pack).
Oh I don’t mind “informing the masses”; although deep in my heart i know I’m not making any headway, it keeps my debating skills sharp for when I need them on my real job!
so in essence, when I’m on the blog, it’s like doing homework!!
JamVet
April 29th, 2012
3:10 pm
cons got marginalized by the gop establishment again.
getalife, the dead red “severely conservative” (Huge LOL) Republicans must think they are living in some Heinlein scifi novel these days.
They can’t even nominate one of their own.
And John McCain II is going to be their next RINO nominee.
Too funny…
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
3:13 pm
Not sure about the gun as I understand that in several states that carrying a weapon openly is legal.
Open carry in Arizona IS legal; but “intimidating” someone WHILE you are openly carrying your gun is not.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
3:21 pm
Jam,
Magic underwear, planet kolob, willardcare, cave on immigration with a left leading moderate.
The cons are mandated to vote for that.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
3:44 pm
“Hillary ‘Won’t Stop Drunk-Texting Me From Cartagena’” Aol.
Good one Mr. President.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
3:58 pm
Getting ready to go but i just HAD to post this one for old Doomy Doom Doom. Earlier he was talking about voter fraud, and you know what? I actually found a instance of voter fraud!! And all those whining, poor, poor pitiful me excuses! Whatever happened to personal responsibility? See excerpt from article below:
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana’s top elections official could lose his job and his freedom after jurors convicted him of multiple voter fraud-related charges on Saturday, leaving in flux the fate of one of the state’s most powerful positions.
Secretary of State Charlie White, (R), has held on to his office for more than a year despite being accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms.
A Hamilton County jury found White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud charge.
White expressed no outward emotion as the verdict was read, and later said outside the courtroom: “I’m disappointed for my family and the people who supported me.”
White and his attorneys said the fate of his elected post remains unknown and ultimately may have to be decided by the governor or state Supreme Court. “We will review our options,” he said.
White’s attorney, Carl Brizzi, said after the verdict he will ask the judge to consider reducing the charges to misdemeanors because his client has no criminal background while having a long record of public service.
The jury verdict came after a weeklong trial in which White, who had vigorously protested the charges in hearings before a state elections panel, presented no defense.
Prosecutors said he used his ex-wife’s address instead of a condo he had with his fiancée because he didn’t want to give up his $1,000-per-month Fishers Town Council salary after moving out of that district. He faced seven felony charges, including voter fraud, perjury and theft.
White, 42, has said the charges ignored a complicated personal life in which he was trying to raise his 10-year-old son, plan his second marriage and campaign for the statewide office he won that November. He said he stayed at his ex-wife’s house when he wasn’t on the road campaigning and did not live in the condo until after he remarried.
No sentencing date was set.
State law bars anyone convicted of a felony from remaining in office. It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly White could be replaced or who might succeed him.
A Marion County judge already has ruled that White should be replaced by Democrat Vop Osili, the man he defeated by about 300,000 votes in the November 2010 election, but that ruling is on hold pending an appeal.
But state law allows the governor — in the case, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels — to appoint a successor.
White has resisted calls to resign from Democrats and Republicans, including Daniels.
Attorney Karen Celestino-Horseman, who watched the trial and spoke on behalf of Indiana Democrats following the verdict, said the party believes White’s conviction further affirms that Osili should be secretary of state.
“(White) has been convicted, but the judge has left it open for misdemeanor sentencing. That’s something that’s going to have to be examined,” she said.
During his closing arguments, special prosecutor Dan Sigler Jr. argued that White knew that he was committing voter fraud but did it anyway for political power.
“If we aren’t going to enforce election law against the secretary of state of Indiana, who are we going to enforce it against?” Sigler said.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/15/445292/indiana-supreme-court-rules-secretary-of-state-convicted-voter-fraud/
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
3:59 pm
Wage stagnation is a myth. Wages may not have improved much but overall benefits including vacation time, personal days, sick days, perqs such as car allowances,401ks, life insurance, ever rising health insurance etc. means that overall benefits have been increasing.
Doom
You’re funny… You write “Wage stagnation is a myth.” Then you follow with the very next statement, “Wages may not have improved much” before trying to shift from wages to AND benefits. You can’t spend benefits in the grocery store. You can’t give QT a 401k as payment for gas.
Also, the claim that benefits are growing and better seems to lie in stark contrast with the continuous claim that public sector benefits need to be cut in order to match their private sector counterparts. At one point and time, the public sector had to add benefits to match the private sector. The public sector hasn’t changed much over the years, and now the benefits are better according to popular rhetoric. That would imply that private sector benefits are not growing and getting better. Things, such as 401k’s are left at the peril of the market. Health care costs are increasing just as premiums are increasing. This doesn’t even account for the increase in hiring people as independent contractors to avoid offering any benefits at all.
As to outsourcing, it’s too late to worry about it. I point it out simply as an example of short term thinking causing long term problems.
A closed economy? Excuse me but exactly when we were a closed economy?
When I say a closed economy, I’m referring to our actions having more impact and effect on market tendencies. Remember back when we could lower gas prices simply by decreasing demand which caused a surplus in supply? That’s what I”m referring to. Now, global supply and demand gives us less sway of things even within our own borders. I know we’ve been trading with people. Hell, my old agency used to actually make a profit for the country when it came to trade. Those days, however, are long gone.
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
4:02 pm
**shift from wages to “wages” AND benefits.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
4:04 pm
“Mitt Romney’s Lies
From ‘100,000 new jobs’ to Obama’s jobs record to his first name, Mitt Romney has a truth problem.”
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/01/12/mitt-romneys-lies
Corporate media and you cons never challenge his lies but we will.
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
4:31 pm
SSDD I see. Well I replaced my first dryer motor today. I feel enlightened. Southern Seafood on Hwy29 has some live crawfish that they had trucked in from the Bastian Bay. I’ma gonna go get 8 lbs or so and make them DEAD lol.
4Lb’s will be ate boiled cajun style and 4 lbs. will be flash boiled to make some ettouffee or something later this week. Only a couple more weeks left to get REAL crawfish, after that all you can get is crawdaddies or crayfish or some other fake assed BS they CALL crawfish…………
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
4:36 pm
Damn Fred, just rub it in….
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
April 29th, 2012
4:42 pm
Fred:
Good to see you are here. This is from the other night. Try to remain calm.
“Professor Alan Dershowitz of Harvard Law School is already on the record opining that the arrest affidavit filed against George Zimmerman for the alleged second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin is “so thin that it won’t make it past a judge on a second-degree murder charge … everything in the affidavit is completely consistent with a defense of self-defense.”
http://www.newsmax.com/US/Trayvon-Martin-Zimmerman-killing/2012/04/20/id/436616
P.S.
Many disagree with your assessment of this incident. What will you do if a judge, jury and/or appellate court also disagree with you?
Remember, this is a nation of laws ………… not “Freds” !
Halftrack
April 29th, 2012
5:07 pm
Democrats are at the extreme end of left. Notice how desperate they are. They lie a lot and tell half truths spoken by others. Now they want to get rid of the word illegal and call anyone who uses it a racist or worse. Anyone that does that should be called un-loyal to all the citizens and Constitution. This is still a country of laws. People who break the law are illegal in actions and deeds. Democrats need to compromise to insure that all Americans are safe, secure, and our country is not given away to those who break our laws or those who would not hold officials accountable for the enforcement there of.
Midori
April 29th, 2012
5:16 pm
Oh I don’t mind “informing the masses”; although deep in my heart i know I’m not making any headway, it keeps my debating skills sharp for when I need them on my real job!
I’d love to see your report card, Deb
And to echo your post about “voter fraud”, seems the only fraud I read about is committed by republicans.
Fred — that place has the BEST crayfish!!!! So spicy!!! mouth watering!!
You can tell they know what they’re doing because It’s always packed, too
Midori
April 29th, 2012
5:18 pm
does Elvis talk to you, Halftrack?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
April 29th, 2012
5:20 pm
Midori:
Look ………….. there goes an illegal puppy !
G Mare 71( got the living' the red state BLUES!)
April 29th, 2012
5:22 pm
Oh, Jamvet, that (Don’t look, Ethel) had me roflmao! Thanks!
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
5:57 pm
Democrats are at the extreme end of left. Notice how desperate they are. They lie a lot and tell half truths spoken by others.
For what is probably the only time in history, the presidential election will pit two members of the same party against each other in the general election. That is, if you believe the halftruth from Halftrack.
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2012/01/12/mitt-romneys-lies
As his briefly front-running campaign sunk in the polls under relentless punishment from Mitt Romney’s “super PAC” allies in the days before the Iowa caucuses, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich caused a brief stir by matter-of-factly telling a TV interviewer that Romney is a “liar.”
“Why are you saying he’s a liar?” his apparently shocked interlocutor pressed. The notion that Mitt Romney routinely makes statements lacking a factual basis should not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the campaign. On the left, Paul Krugman has marveled that no other candidate has ever “lied so freely, with so little compunction.” On the right, The American Conservative’s Daniel Larison wondered about why he lies, concluding that the former Massachusetts governor is “so contemptuous of the people he tells lies to that he never thinks he will be found out.”
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
6:02 pm
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,800850,00.html
Africa is a country. In Libya, the Taliban reigns. Muslims are terrorists; most immigrants are criminal; all Occupy protesters are dirty. And women who feel sexually harassed — well, they shouldn’t make such a big deal about it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they’ve been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what’s still the most powerful job in the world.
As it turns out, there are no limits to how far they will stoop….
…It’s horrifying because these eight so-called, would-be candidates are eagerly ruining not only their own reputations and that of their party, the party of Lincoln lore. Worse: They’re ruining the reputation of the United States.
They lie. They cheat. They exaggerate. They bluster. They say one idiotic, ignorant, outrageous thing after another. They’ve shown such stark lack of knowledge — political, economic, geographic, historical — that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein and even cause their fellow Republicans to cringe.
Or, if you want a more “Fair and Balanced” assessment…
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/23/sex-lies-and-immigration-more-gop-candidates-talk-more-out-touch-appear/
Lies
There were too many to count.
No, Mr. Romney, the president did not go on an “apology tour.”
No, Mr. Perry, we do not have the highest corporate tax rate in the world — in fact, we have one of the lowest.
No, Mr. Johnson, our nation is not bankrupt .
No, Mr. Cain, the health care reform law would in no way, shape or form ration your cancer care .
It’s one thing to make grand rhetorical statements to try and get attention in a crowded race. It’s another thing to flat out lie to the American people.
So there you have it. Romney is a Democrat. So is Gingrich, Perry, Cain, Johnson, Paul, Bachmann, and anybody else that participated in the GOP presidential campaign this year. Halftrack, I think you have set the new, almost unattainable, bar for conservative values. Your country thanks you immensely.
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:13 pm
midori
I saw Elvis at Whole Foods and he said to tell you hello and sorry he missed you, wanted to talk to you about Cadillacs…
**********
I don’t have any cut and paste, but can I still come out and play?
Joe the Prophet
April 29th, 2012
6:21 pm
Thulsa Doom
April 29th, 2012
12:45 pm
———————-
No matter how low the jobless numbers get, no matter how slowly the US economy continues to GROW…..This President will N-E-V-E-R be the failure that GW Bush was….Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, nor Dick Cheney….!!!!!!!!
Drives conservatives crazy…but it’s the truth…!!!!!
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:25 pm
Did anybody catch any of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner…? I didn’t much care for the keynote comedian, but President Obama was first class and the First Lady was stunning…
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
6:30 pm
josef
I caught bits of it on replay. There were a few jokes that brought tears to my eyes… The one I can’t stop laughing about is when Obama showed his photo for 4 years from now.
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:36 pm
Brosephus
Say whatever else you will about him, that fellow is funny as all get out…he can tell a joke on himself with a delivery that only Ron White can match for self irony…”a pit bull is delicious!”
cloudodust
April 29th, 2012
6:36 pm
Joe the Prophet : I hope you’re better at prophesy than hindsight but I ain’t gonna hold my breath…Let’s focus on substance : How do you feel about personal fiscal responsibility or how do you foresee that one shaping up in say, two decades..? Make sure you shake the 8 Ball good. I await your prophesy so I’ll know whether to continue to fund my investments for myself and family or should I forget it, live large, file bankrupcy and take somebody else’s hard earned money in my Senior days..? Now, don’t count Social Security because nobody wants that one to go away, right..?
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:39 pm
cloudodust
Buy low. Sell high. Stash the proceeds in the mattress.
Jm
April 29th, 2012
6:42 pm
The kimmel joke about Obama covering his ears “if you can”
Was pretty funny
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:44 pm
Jm
That cut to Michelle when he did that was priceless! I bet she had to answer for that guffaw later…
Jm
April 29th, 2012
6:45 pm
Yep
josef
April 29th, 2012
6:57 pm
Where’d everybody go? I was hoping Bruno would be in for a little class warfare…
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
7:00 pm
josef
Michelle got caught by the cameras a few times. I’ve seen where a few people got their knickers in a twist over the Palin/pit bull joke.
Joe the Prophet
April 29th, 2012
7:07 pm
cloudodust
April 29th, 2012
6:36 pm
Joe the Prophet : I hope you’re better at prophesy than hindsight but I ain’t gonna hold my breath…Let’s focus on substance : How do you feel about personal fiscal responsibility or how do you foresee that one shaping up in say, two decades..? Make sure you shake the 8 Ball good. I await your prophesy so I’ll know whether to continue to fund my investments for myself and family or should I forget it, live large, file bankrupcy and take somebody else’s hard earned money in my Senior days..? Now, don’t count Social Security because nobody wants that one to go away, right..?
———————————-
I think we are in too precarious times economically to worry about idealogical arguments about “personal responsibility” or “taking home more of your own money”……We tried that from 2000-2008…and it ended badly…..so badly, in fact, that 2.2% growth and 8% unemployment looks absolutely STELLAR….!!!!!!
I think if we try risky and reckless tax schemes based on idealogical arguments, we will fail again…It’s pretty clear, actually….It could be written in the Bible as prophecy….and Socialism will be our only default…..
In over 200 years of American history, tax cuts have N-E-V-E-R reduced deficits….LOOK IT UP………….So you can have 4 more years of slow, steady, discliplined, Clinton-style growth…..Or you can have MAYBE some growth, followed by total economic collapse, worse than 2008…followed by French-style Socialism….
Were I a betting man, I would put my money on President Obama, just based on the electoral college, Congressional approval, and Mitt Romney’s charisma…don’t think the Koch money nor American Crossroads can overcome it….
josef
April 29th, 2012
7:11 pm
Brosephus
Folks just can’t lighten up, can they?
Recon 0311 2533
April 29th, 2012
7:36 pm
“The core of the problem lies with the Republican Party’”
Hoping against Hope. Maybe that can become the new Obama campaign slogan
Brosephus™
April 29th, 2012
7:38 pm
Folks just can’t lighten up, can they?
Sadly some can’t…
josef
April 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
Republicans and Democrats both stink on ice. I can’t tell the difference.
Oscar
April 29th, 2012
7:45 pm
Funny, though, all during the primaries , every single canidate kept calling themselves a Reagan Republican. Makes you wonder if they even remember how Reagan was.
_______
Cases of selected memory. Or false memories. Remember or invent the part you want. Ignore the rest that does not fit in with the myth.
Oscar
April 29th, 2012
7:47 pm
Were I a betting man, I would put my money on President Obama, just based on the electoral college, Congressional approval, and Mitt Romney’s charisma…don’t think the Koch money nor American Crossroads can overcome it….
____
Mittt has totally lost the PETA viote. and the women’s vote. and the Latino vote.
Oscar
April 29th, 2012
7:48 pm
josef
April 29th, 2012
7:44 pm
___________
Yoiu should have your olfactory nerve checked. Of it could be a sinus condition.
josef
April 29th, 2012
7:51 pm
OSCAR
Why? They stink. Just look at the partisanship here. Change a name or two and it’s the same old nyanh-nyanh. Which stinks worse, elephant sh*t or jackass sh*t?
Oscar
April 29th, 2012
7:55 pm
josef
April 29th, 2012
7:51 pm
____
Ahh. Now I know the problem. You should try standing in front of them instead of spending all your time standing behind them.
josef
April 29th, 2012
8:03 pm
OSCAR
Stand behind either one of them, literally or figuratively, and get sh*t on!
Normal Free, plain and simple
April 29th, 2012
8:03 pm
Josef,
I still think Democrats stick better…
Normal Free, plain and simple
April 29th, 2012
8:03 pm
stink, damnit, stink
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:07 pm
Oh, And number boy (Scout?), I always am for the rule of law. What made you think otherwise?
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:08 pm
osef
April 29th, 2012
6:57 pm
Where’d everybody go? I was hoping Bruno would be in for a little class warfare…
+++++++++++++++++++++++
He would first have to have class……… :LOL:
Couldn’t resist.
Josef
April 29th, 2012
8:15 pm
Norm
Howzit goin?
Fred…
Now, now. Sois sage! Don’t make me have to condescend to defend Bruno…..
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:15 pm
Recon 0311 2533
April 29th, 2012
7:36 pm
“The core of the problem lies with the Republican Party’”
Hoping against Hope. Maybe that can become the new Obama campaign slogan
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
how typical Recon. How negative. How meaningless. How about the Republicans try announcing what they WILL do instead of what they won’t? I’m all over that message.
But it hasn’t happened. Hannity’s “new’ slogan will be the same old one he trotted out last election, “The Stop Obama Express.”
I know, you see my name and you start foaming at the mouth and can’t think rationally (if you ever could), but come on. How about some IDEAS. Some PROPOSALS? Why is that so hard?
Recon 0311 2533
April 29th, 2012
8:17 pm
Mittt has totally lost the PETA viote. and the women’s vote. and the Latino vote.
And Obama has lost the Independent vote that propelled him to victory in 08. It will be a close election in November and while there is no guarantee Romney will win there certainly isn’t that Obama will.
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:18 pm
My first post to number boy got aten. I don;t know why. Oh well……….
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:20 pm
Recon: You aren’t an independent so how can you state so glibly that obama has lost the independent vote?
I AM an independent and he hasn’t lost my vote. I WISH someone better was on the ballot, but no one better is…….
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:21 pm
Josef: LOl It was teed up. I had to drive it down range. Although I f’ed up the smiley thing……..
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:23 pm
Josef: Got some pretty damn decent crawfish boiled up. A little salty and this batch wasn’t as “live’ as I would have preferred, but I did a pretty damn good job. Only my second time (why would I boil them before, at home they were boiled for me).
Fred ™
April 29th, 2012
8:23 pm
AND since I am the only on typing, I’m gone. Later.
I remember
April 29th, 2012
8:44 pm
Obama has had more fund raisers in office than the last five presidents, PUT TOGETHER. While he might talk about getting money out of politics, his actions utter contradict his words and that is putting it kindly. As is so often the case the Democrats make outrageous commens and the press gives them a pass when it come to actually examining their actions.
This president ran as a post partisan, post racial man who would offer us a “third way” besides the democrat/republican divide. What we got is a old school, traditionall hard core leftie who needs racial division to keep his base fired up and who has only failed, far left policy choices to offer. The premise of his whole campaign was a sham.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 29th, 2012
8:48 pm
Jake Benson
April 29th, 2012
12:30 am
The liberal mindset draws its name calling and intimidation tactics like a six gun.
And an hour and a half earlier, you were throwing around the word “marxist” as if it were a pejorative.
Glass house meet stone, sport.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
8:54 pm
How about some IDEAS. Some PROPOSALS? Why is that so hard?
You DO know who you’re talking to……. right?
Hi josef!! beautiful day today! hope you had a chance to get out and enjoy it!!
Recon – funny thing happened when i was trying to find the information on Fred Tokars like i’d promised i would. it seems there aren’t ANY recent links, stories, etc. about him. HOWEVER there ARE a few semi-recent affidavits of testimonies supposedly by him, that are RESTRICTED in nature. I couldn’t get in them because they’re sealed tighter than Ft. Knoxx — however I had left Lexis/Nexis up and went to get a drink; when I came back an unknown program had downloading unto my computer. I tried to stop it, find it, and i even turned my computer off; but the download happened. It seems when you are too inquisitive about the whereabouts of a Mr. Fred Tokars formerly of Atlanta, Big B wants to know why.
So, he probably IS in witness protection somewhere. Its ashame though — he should be in jail getting gang raped by some guy named Big Joe.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 29th, 2012
8:54 pm
Well, I don’t know about you, but I feel the sorriest for Ziggy Zickafoose. Old Ziggy, he don’t watch TV so he had no idea Obama was one of Those People and a Socialist Muslim to boot. Ziggy voted for Obama because he thought Old Man McCain would croak from cancer within two years if he got elected, seeing as how McCain had cancer so many times. Anyhow, every time Ziggy shows up at Billy Bob’s some wise guy says, “Here comes Obama’s boy.” Ziggy is sure hoping Obama gets beat in November but he says he won’t vote for Mr. Mormon Underpants either. I guess he’ll just being staying home along with the thousands of other people that won’t turn out to vote for a moneybags Mormon RINO. One thing’s for sure, from now on Ziggy swears he’ll need a picture of a canadate before he votes for him.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with having one of Those People in the White House. Long as he’s cooking or serving dinner or maybe on the housekeeping staff.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
8:56 pm
should be WAS downloading. Sorry.
Midori
April 29th, 2012
8:57 pm
Hi Kammy!!
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 29th, 2012
8:59 pm
Hiya, Midori!
Recon 0311 2533
April 29th, 2012
9:13 pm
“I know, you see my name and you start foaming at the mouth and can’t think rationally (if you ever could), but come on. How about some IDEAS. Some PROPOSALS? Why is that so hard?”
No Fred I see your name and think what a pathetic excuse for a man who can only act out his aggressions on a blog. You bemoan your poor physical shape as though you really expect strangers to feel sorry for you. I think you need help and you should do your family as well as yourself a favor by seeking it.
DebbieDoRight - A Do Right Woman
April 29th, 2012
9:15 pm
Any of you ever go to another city’s website to read their local paper? I go to the miami heralds online paper all the time; when you read their blog, say i was reading story about a woman, hispanic, who was an ex-stripper who had her husband killed and in the comments section you get all these people talking about beaners and how they’re ruining society and how the cubans have turned miami into a third world country all of its own; and its funny how prejudice and ignorance is just seeping through their comments.
in seattle? they denigrate the indians and the samoans
in atlanta if the person is black, it’s a big monologue about how the blacks have turned atlanta into this or that.
america has been in existence for 200+ years, but we can never outgrow our own ignorance and bigotry.
amazing ain’t it?
Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
April 29th, 2012
9:22 pm
I am a respected non-partisan political analyst, and I say the problem all resides with the Democrat Party. McGovern, Mondale, Carter, the Clintons, the Kennedys, the Supreme Leader – this is a Who’s Who of morons.
I used to get gibberish like you quoted above from my children when they were around two or three years old. Once they got to be four or five, that stuff pretty much quit. How old are these folks you are quoting?
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 29th, 2012
9:27 pm
I am a respected non-partisan political analyst…
I’ve won five Pulitzer’s, nineteen Grammy’s, forty Emmy’s, twelve Peabody’s, eight Oscar’s and a Noble Peace prize.
JKL2
April 29th, 2012
9:29 pm
-Give me slow, steady, discliplined growth and a budget surplus……. like under Speaker Gingrich…!!!!
getalife
April 29th, 2012
9:30 pm
The Morgan Freeman joke was funny and both are cool, smooth operators.
We will chill out after the election.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
9:34 pm
The newt needs to get out of politics and enjoy retirement.
JamVet
April 29th, 2012
9:41 pm
“The newt needs to get out of politics and enjoy retirement.”
Word up, g.
Lets just say it, these Republican bloggers are the problem.
They have become an insurgent outlier in American blogging. They are ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of their political opposition.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
9:42 pm
Agreed.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 29th, 2012
9:48 pm
I am a respected non-partisan political analyst…
I have successfully argued over a thousand cases in front of the nine justices of The Supreme Court of the United States of America.
TaxPayer
April 29th, 2012
9:57 pm
I am a respected non-partisan supreme ruler of the universe…
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
April 29th, 2012
10:01 pm
I am a respected non-partisan political analyst…
I, single-handedly, painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in under four hours.
getalife
April 29th, 2012
10:03 pm
I am legend.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 29th, 2012
10:04 pm
I have successfully argued over a thousand cases in front of the nine justices of The Supreme Court of the United States of America.
Yeah? Well, I went to the state finals in the beer truck driving contest. So there! Ask anybody what they’d rather have, a shyster lawyer or a six-pack, and see what they say.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
April 29th, 2012
10:12 pm
Fred:
“Oh, And number boy (Scout?), I always am for the rule of law. What made you think otherwise?”
Because you seem to have made up your mind before the jury is in.
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
April 29th, 2012
10:13 pm
RECON:
Check this out. One of my best friends was in this unit and his dog was killed over there. However, he got the NVA who did it !!
http://www.youtube.com/user/CreativeStreetMedia