Why the future looks so bleak for the GOP
As I mentioned yesterday, as of mid-December some 53 percent of Americans perceived the Republican Party as too extremist, a record-high number that had jumped 17 percentage points in the two years since the GOP took control of the House in the 2010 mid-terms.
Given what has happened in the three weeks since that CNN poll was released — the GOP House rejected John Boehner’s fiscal-cliff plan as too moderate, and it refused to even vote on an emergency aid package for New York and New Jersey — that number has only risen.
In fact, the party is caught in a long-term downward spiral that will prove difficult if not impossible to escape.
Look at the top issues likely to dominate the 113th Congress: immigration reform, gun control, and the debt ceiling. On each of those high-profile issues, the Republican Party finds itself trapped defending a strongly held but distinctly minority point of view.
In November exit polls, for example, 65 percent of American voters said that illegal immigrants ought to be offered an avenue to legal status. To put it mildly, that is not a position that Republicans can easily reconcile with their base. And in a recent Gallup poll, 58 percent of Americans said they backed stronger gun-control laws; just 6 percent wanted less stringent gun laws, which is the default position of many in the GOP.
The debt-ceiling optics are even worse. The GOP plan is to confront President Obama with two brutal choices: Make serious cuts in Medicare and other entitlements, or Republicans will force the country to default on its debt. Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re trying to shuck a reputation as extremist, that’s not exactly the course I would recommend. As I’ve noted before, even Republican voters oppose Medicare cuts by an overwhelming margin. Yet somehow Republican politicians have convinced themselves that this is a battle that they must fight and can win.
And of course, the group that will continue to define the Republican brand in all these fights will be the House GOP caucus, a group that is considerably more conservative and yes, extremist, than the country at large. It’s not hard to understand why.
Take Georgia’s Republican House members as an example. All eight of them voted against the fiscal-cliff solution that President Obama signed into law yesterday. And all eight are likely to toe the hard-right line on immigration, gun control and the debt ceiling. And the truth is that based on their own narrow self-interest, they’d be fools to do otherwise.
Thanks to gerrymandering, a political evil in which both parties indulge, three of the eight are in such strong GOP districts that no Democrat even bothered to run against them last November. The five who did draw Democratic opposition won re-election by an average margin of 40 percentage points. So none of the eight has anything to gain personally by becoming more moderate.
That brings us to the ultimate question: How can the Republican Party shed its reputation as extremist on the national stage when most of those who create that reputation — the members of the House GOP caucus — have every incentive as individuals to continue on their present course?
I confess I’m stumped by that one.
– Jay Bookman
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823 comments Add your comment
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:13 pm
“other half — ” Barking, Thans for admitting that the Republicans were the only soldiers willing to fight for your PATHETIC FREEDOM.”
Young Republicans sure weren’t willing to fight when George W Bush needed them in Iraq. They sat it out for the most part. All the rah-rah kill them there so they don’t kill us here ‘heroes’ decided their education and careers were more important. Young Republican blog warriors were everywhere, insisting the war they wouldn’t fight was worth it.
Get Real
January 3rd, 2013
12:13 pm
Jay….you should change the title of your article to why the future looks so bleak for the country. Debt as far as the eye can see and Obama has absolutely no intention of stopping now, he will quadruple down over the next four years. I just do not understand why liberals do not get that, tax all you want but it will do nothing. Perhaps the Kool-Aid Lite drinkers will wake up after the next two years and realize what has happened….we can only hope
Stevie Ray
January 3rd, 2013
12:14 pm
Tundra Dude
January 3rd, 2013
11:54 am
I guess my question eluded you in your frenzy to redirect. There is a big difference in the 70 trillion or so unfunded Medicare and SS obligations and the money we borrow. I’m sure you can make that determination alone.
The question is how much total debt (beyond the 16 trillion to wit) can we endure, in your obviously well informed opinion, before the Libs think its a problem?…simple question really.
I have no idea what the question and observation has to do with GOP or Reagan and the like…
Matti
January 3rd, 2013
12:14 pm
Joe Mama,
I’m confused too. Is frog telling us that all the young men in the 1960s who did not enter a draft-avoidance college program (which was btw much more affordable in those days) and joined the military instead to go fight the war in Viet-nam were Republicans? Or is he trying to tell us that the Republican soldiers died at a higher rate than the Democratic, Independent, or non-political soldiers?
Paul
January 3rd, 2013
12:15 pm
Is it just how I’m reading these comment or is it really true that conservatives on the blog will divert to anything – Vietnam, abortion, gun control, – to avoid discussing the topic Jay laid out?
Seems to me Jay hit the nail on the head and some people can’t discuss it because their ears are ringing.
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:15 pm
I remember all the premature prognostications of doom for the Dems back in ‘94. Same shyte, different day. Blah blah blah rightwing extremist. Bah blah blah Republican party done for. Blah blah blah irrelevancy. Guess the 2010 midterms didn’t mean anything right? Same will happen in 2014. ‘12-’14 is strangely familiar to ‘92-’94.
The other half of your brain.
January 3rd, 2013
12:16 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:06 pm
other half — ” Barking, Thans for admitting that the Republicans were the only soldiers willing to fight for your PATHETIC FREEDOM.”
This Democrat and disabled Army veteran would like to know just WTF you’re talking about here.
” Joe, He made a comment that mostly Republicans died during Vietnam and it pissed me off. I was a die hard Democrat in 61 when I joined up and now I’m an independent.
I dislike the libs a little more than the cons and nowhere on this site will anyone find me bashing Obama. ”
However I have been known to bash some of the idiots that post here.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:17 pm
However I have been known to bash some of the idiots that post here.
Tick…tick…tick….
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:19 pm
Towncrier — “I am exercising my First Amendment right to challenge the positions of others.
Actually, you’re exercising your First Amendment rights in order to argue for the *abridgement* of the rights of others.
“If you don’t like that, then that’s just too bad for you.”
Instead of replying with a specious, irrelevant and ill-tempered retort like that, you might have done better to reflect on the fact that I haven’t *criticized* you for expressing your opinion.
That said, you’re clearly criticizing others for *choices and actions* that aren’t congruent with your own, not merely for their “positions.”
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:19 pm
“BTW, I was not a supporter of the Iraq war.”
So what Towncrier, that was not my point. Are those Christian conservatives that supported the Iraq war real Christians in your view? You decided that anyone that supports abortion are not Christians. Does that apply to people who supported the killing of innocent Iraqi women and children?
Nunna Yobinnes
January 3rd, 2013
12:19 pm
Paul – As Jay does not have any interest in the Republican Party becoming more prevalent, why even type in his opinions in the first place? It seems to me it is just a “feel good attaboy” pep talk for the Libs.
Stevie Ray
January 3rd, 2013
12:20 pm
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:13 pm
I can’t seem to get a plausable explanation as to how our “liberties” are protected by sticking our noses and indiscrimminate killing into these harmless countries? WWII I understand…anything since then makes no sense to me..
Matti
January 3rd, 2013
12:14 pm
Unfortunately, those dying in Vietnam et al were too young to likely have a party preference. I do know that the vast majority in Vietnam were kids who were not priviledged…mostly middle to lower middle income with limited education possiblities…the GOP was different than now and I don’t recall they actually started the war…but its clear those of priviledge, like most our politicians, remained safe at home..
The other half of your brain.
January 3rd, 2013
12:21 pm
Danny, I totally disagreed with the wars that Bush got us into, that being said, at almost 70 I would still go if my country called upon me.
To single out any one party is silly. Those weren’t Rupublicans going to Canada during the 60’s or demonstrating around all the colleges.
Williebkind
January 3rd, 2013
12:21 pm
“Actually, the Vietnam War was CAUSED by Republicans…i.e., Dwight D. Eisenhower. His signing of the SEATO Treaty in 1954 obligated the US to come into French IndoChina in case hostilities broke out”
So any war that breaks out involving a nato country the US CAUSED IT? That is what you are saying.
rightwingextreme
January 3rd, 2013
12:21 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
11:59 am
R. W. Extreme — “The Founding Fathers included this as a means by which the People could have a means to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. They understood that too much power in government could become corrupted and potentially used against the People.”
I am sure that your AR-15 will avail you naught against a Predator drone.
If you think for a moment that your popguns, and the popguns of all other Americans who think as you do, amount to much against the weapons and equipment of our military, then you’re simply deluding yourself. And I say this as a gun owner myself.
There was a time when your guns would have made a difference in such a scenario, but that time is long, long gone and not coming back.
I certainly don’t advocate our military firing on civilians, but if David Koresh’s arsenal in Waco couldn’t protect his people against ‘government interference,’ (that didn’t even include the military) then I doubt yours would fare any better.
True…one gun will not stop a tyrannical government…..but 125 million, the estimated number of gun owners in this country, just might. You cite the Predator drone….it can spy on both you and me.
I do believe our government(under both parties) is getting a little to big for their britches. All the more reason for the Second Amendment.
barking frog
January 3rd, 2013
12:22 pm
Matti.JHM
During my service 1964-1968 there was a draft and a great deal of
the country was not college bound and were ‘Ike’ followers.thus
the draftees were largely Republican oriented though not too
many voted I think. I know that most of my colleagues were
not fans of LBJ. Both dems and repubs finally got the best
of LBJ and he quit. also snark.
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
12:22 pm
John Lewis didn’t even vote on the fiscal cliff
How can one be more chicken and useless than that?
Towncrier
January 3rd, 2013
12:23 pm
“The SCOTUS wasn’t opining on abortion as a replacement for birth control.”
Fail. In their decision, they acknowledged that it now serves as a form of birth control in America:
“…in some critical respects abortion is of the same character as the decision to use contraception… for two decades of economic and social developments, people have organized intimate relationships and made choices that define their views of themselves and their places in society, in reliance on the availability of abortion in the event that contraception should fail.”
“For all your carping about Roe vs. Wade, it’s not really the case that kicked people like you out of other’s bedrooms—much to your chagrin.”
Sister, you can do whatever you want in your bedroom – God has given you the right to even go shoot up a bunch of school children if you are so inclined. I am speaking on this blog mainly to people who profess a belief in God and the Bible and who nonetheless advocate for abortion. What weight does anything I have said carry with agnostics or atheists?
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
Totally OT, but an interesting story on several levels.
http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/12/29/tripolis-cinnabon-sales-on-a-sugar-high/
Paul
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
Nunna Yobinnes
“Paul – As Jay does not have any interest in the Republican Party becoming more prevalent, why even type in his opinions in the first place? ”
Jay has written, many times, that a healthy, functioning, capable Republican Party advancing ideas and options counter to the Democratic Party is not only desirable, but essential to the working of the American political process.
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
“Those weren’t Rupublicans going to Canada during the 60’s or demonstrating around all the colleges.”
Brain, a lot of them didn’t call themselves Republican back then, but sure do today.
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
John Barrow (D-GA) voted no
Looks like a GA problem, not a republican problem
The other half of your brain.
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
Darn, I need to start a NEW WAVE.
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
rightwingextreme
So, you really think 125 million gun owners are all that stands between you and a tyrannical Govt.
Just curious. If the Govt. overcame all those guns and “took over”, just what would they(the Govt.)do then?
rightwingextreme
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
Abolitionist Lysander Spooner, commenting on bills of rights, stated that the object of all bills of rights is to assert the rights of individuals against the government and that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was in support of the right to resist government oppression, as the only security against the tyranny of government lies in forcible resistance to injustice, for injustice will certainly be executed, unless forcibly resisted. Spooner’s theory provided the intellectual foundation for John Brown and other radical abolitionists who believed that arming slaves was not only morally justified, but entirely consistent with the Second Amendment. An express connection between this right and the Second Amendment was drawn by Lysander Spooner who commented that a “right of resistance” is protected by both the right to trial by jury and the Second Amendment.
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
“I am speaking on this blog mainly to people who profess a belief in God and the Bible and who nonetheless advocate for abortion.”
What about those who advocate for Shock and Awe?
Erwin's cat
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
Sorry I had to produce for a while.
Jay – Okay ERWIN what can the govt do to create JOBS? (paraphrase)
I didn’t know that was the topic, I thought it was about focus?
I’m sure keeping a focus on Immigration, Gun Control, and the Debt Ceiling will do very little to create JOBS much less increase their focus on JOBS
The other half of your brain.
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:24 pm
“Those weren’t Rupublicans going to Canada during the 60’s or demonstrating around all the colleges.”
Brain, a lot of them didn’t call themselves Republican back then, but sure do today.
” Danny, Very true, I wonder what the reason was for them changing their minds? “
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
How can one be more chicken and useless than that?
You whining about how much you hate it here for two years and professing a desire to move to Singapore and not doing it immediately leaps to mind
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:27 pm
R. W. Extreme — “True…one gun will not stop a tyrannical government…..but 125 million, the estimated number of gun owners in this country, just might.”
I doubt you could even get one percent of that number to go along with you.
“You cite the Predator drone….it can spy on both you and me.”
And blow you to hell into the bargain.
“I do believe our government(under both parties) is getting a little to big for their britches. All the more reason for the Second Amendment.”
The way you’re talking, don’t be surprised if you get a special visit from the Feds.
People who talk like you do on Free Republic and other similar blogs seem to receive more than their share of such special visits.
liberal hack
January 3rd, 2013
12:27 pm
Jay left out that one Democrat in the state of Georgia voted against the “great compromise” that is the new tax law of 2013…
I think it’s rather impractical to make illegals self deport, I say tell them the can fill out paper work to become legal residents, pay a fine for breaking the law of entering illegally, make it easier of those who want to become residents to do so, though I’m not against background checks either, but at some point, make the punishment for illegal residency much stricter and enforce the darn thing!
We have enough gun laws, gun laws don’t stop crazys and criminals from doing heinous things…
We spend way too much, Repubs and Democrats, we give too much in tax credits to wealthy entities like NASCAR, NFL, MLB, and the sort, we subsidize too many products, oil, milk, corn, solar, wind, we even pay farmers not to grow stuff, insane, I’m completely okay with cutting the military personnel down and it’s budget by 30% or more but that also means no more foreign involvement. We need to cut aid to foreign countries period, especially to unfriendlies just to buy friendship,
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:27 pm
Jm — “John Lewis didn’t even vote on the fiscal cliff How can one be more chicken and useless than that?”
Guess you didn’t know that his wife died, jerk.
barking frog
January 3rd, 2013
12:27 pm
the other half of your brain
Darn, I need to start a NEW WAVE.
………………………………………………..
match your brain call it micro….
Williebkind
January 3rd, 2013
12:28 pm
” I am speaking on this blog mainly to people who profess a belief in God and the Bible and who nonetheless advocate for abortion”
That is strange because I dont know anyone who is married that has had abortion. This must be one of those east coast, west coast, or up north places where people do that. I have known teenagers who have gotten abortions.
rightwingextreme
January 3rd, 2013
12:28 pm
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
rightwingextreme
So, you really think 125 million gun owners are all that stands between you and a tyrannical Govt. it’s part of it. If you could go back in time to Nazi Germany, I’m sure the Jews would have loved to have had guns. I’m sure the slaves in the U.S. would have loved to have had guns in Africa as they were being taken.
Just curious. If the Govt. overcame all those guns and “took over”, just what would they(the Govt.)do then? Anything they wanted. Just read history and you’ll understand.
Towncrier
January 3rd, 2013
12:28 pm
“You decided that anyone that supports abortion are not Christians.”
I believe that anyone, in the end, who goes on willfully sinning without repenting will not wind up in heaven. If abortion is a sin and advocacy of it is also a sin, if one persists in that behavior then that person is not really submitting himself to God. Can you provide any scriptures to support your advocacy of abortion? I know of none.
Paul
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
Morning, Joe Hussein Mama
I’ve an app called “Calorie Counter.” Lists chain restaurants, menu items, calories, fat grams, etc.
One cinnabon has 813 calories (41% of one’s total daily calorie requirement) and 32 grams of fat (49% of one’s fat allowance for a day).
But they sure taste good. So split three or four ways it ain’t so bad -
TBS
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
Jm
5 Republicans didn’t vote either? Guess you were going to mention that in your next post.
Glad I could assist you. Do not mention it. You are welcome.
Anytime little buddy
And I guess Lewis being in Atlanta for his wife’s funeral had nothing to do with it.
You are a shameful and bitter fella
The other half of your brain.
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:26 pm
rightwingextreme
So, you really think 125 million gun owners are all that stands between you and a tyrannical Govt.
Just curious. If the Govt. overcame all those guns and “took over”, just what would they(the Govt.)do then?
Indigo, I think it would be interesting to ask the people of Syria, Egypt, and about 20 other countries what they think about their Govt?… Don’t you?
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
Drone strike kills Taliban commander.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
Fail. In their decision, they acknowledged that it now serves as a form of birth control in America
Abortion is a legal procedure and no one has to justify their motives for wanting one.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:29 pm
Towncrier — “Sister, you can do whatever you want in your bedroom – God has given you the right to even go shoot up a bunch of school children if you are so inclined.”
I see. So now doing what one wants in one’s bedroom = shooting up a bunch of schoolchildren?
Lovely.
RB from Gwinnett
January 3rd, 2013
12:31 pm
The Dems true colors coming out of the closet…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/02/illinois-dems-press-forward-with-gun-control-bills-firearms-group-warns-no/
Never mind the constitution, right libs?
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:31 pm
Williebkind — “That is strange because I dont know anyone who is married that has had abortion.”
Yes, you do.
HDB
January 3rd, 2013
12:31 pm
Williebkind
January 3rd, 2013
12:21 pm
“Actually, the Vietnam War was CAUSED by Republicans…i.e., Dwight D. Eisenhower. His signing of the SEATO Treaty in 1954 obligated the US to come into French IndoChina in case hostilities broke out”
So any war that breaks out involving a nato country the US CAUSED IT? That is what you are saying.”
NO…that isn’t what’s being said!! I did not say that the US caused the hostilities!! The French pullout of Vietnam started the hostilities….and because of Eisenhower’s signing of the SEATO treaty, the US was obligated to go into Vietnam to replace the French forces……
Williebkind
January 3rd, 2013
12:31 pm
“That brings us to the ultimate question: How can the Republican Party shed its reputation as extremist ”
Now that is the kettle calling the pot black. The republicans must do the same as Jay is doing here and that is attack the liberals with extreme prejudice.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:32 pm
Starbucks opens first store in Vietnam and Google visits North Korea.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:33 pm
Paul — “But they sure taste good. So split three or four ways it ain’t so bad”
Perhaps, but I simply avoid them altogether.
I did find it interesting how well Cinnabon was doing in Tripoli, and how Benghazi is one of the planned future locations in Libya.
curious
January 3rd, 2013
12:33 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
“Good luck. Hope you don’t want one with a working main gun or ammo.”
How do you expect me to keep the government in check w/o a functioning main gun and ammo?
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:34 pm
willie,
Bring it .
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:35 pm
curious — “How do you expect me to keep the government in check w/o a functioning main gun and ammo?”
I don’t know; I thought maybe you were going to live in it or something.
RB from Gwinnett
January 3rd, 2013
12:36 pm
Hey Keep, it’s coming….
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/01/03/wendy-revamps-value-menu-adopts-right-price-right-size-as-costs-for-ingredients/?intcmp=features
Isn’t it great inflation is so low it couldn’t possibly be affecting food prices?!!!
weetamoe
January 3rd, 2013
12:37 pm
If you do not believe in spending money you do not have, I guess you are *extremist.*
Did you notice the New Year baby in Luckovich’s 1 January ‘toon? He looked remarkably like a little Jorge Zimmerman.
Don Abernethy
January 3rd, 2013
12:39 pm
It is not the future of the GOP that is bleak.It is the future of the USA that is bleak. Why? LIBERALS!!!
Joe Hussein Mama
January 3rd, 2013
12:39 pm
RB — “Isn’t it great inflation is so low it couldn’t possibly be affecting food prices?!!!”
Isn’t it great how nobody but you said anything remotely resembling that?
Lord Help Us
January 3rd, 2013
12:39 pm
TC, religion should have no role in our government.
Proselytize all you want, but keep religion away from my gov’t…
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:40 pm
The house will reward failure and elect the crybaby again.
Paul
January 3rd, 2013
12:40 pm
Joe Hussein Mama
’bout the only time I succumb is traveling thru an airport – and frankly, I can’t recall the last time I ate an entire one. I suppose I’m fortunate that way – years ago I was talking with my secretary, opened a desk drawer, pulled out a Snickers, took a couple bites, wrapped it back up and put it back in the drawer. She looked at me and said “how do you DO that?!!?” I said, ‘well, I had all I wanted. It was just the taste and a bit of hunger hit to overcome.”
As far as Benghazi, well, maybe we’re onto something here. Cinnabon franchises in Gaza, anyone?
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:40 pm
Towncrier – 12:23
15 to 20% of all pregnacies, worldwide, end in spontateous abortion.
In the New Testament, God is said to know even when a sparrow falls.
So, God must know of, and approve of all these spontaneous abortions.
If it’s allright with God, why is it not allright with you?
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
12:41 pm
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
12:22 pm
John Lewis didn’t even vote on the fiscal cliff
How can one be more chicken and useless than that?
.
.
.
.
His wife died Monday.
Aquagirl
January 3rd, 2013
12:41 pm
TC, what part of “in the event that contraception should fail” is unclear to you? If I have a bicycle in case my car breaks down, my bike is not my method of transportation. And as a previous poster said, abortion, by definition, is not birth control or contraception.
Your highlighting of the part about abortion as of the same character as contraception proves nothing but bad reading comprehension.
I am speaking on this blog mainly to people who profess a belief in God and the Bible and who nonetheless advocate for abortion. What weight does anything I have said carry with agnostics or atheists?
Well if that’s your intention I’ll discontinue the conversation. I take posts here as public property unless stated otherwise, and they’re not the creepy blah,blah,blah in yo face things. Nevertheless I think you’re doing yourself (and others like you) a disservice when you fail to argue on the merits of your position. “God told me he wants it that way” won’t win other Christians, never mind atheists and agnostics.
If you’re content to take a losing position, alrighty then. But as Jay points out our country works best with debate, and the refusal to discuss rather than pronounce is not good for any of us in the long run.
I will continue to pray for your lost soul….May you be touched by His Noodly Tentacles my Brother, RaMen.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:42 pm
jm,
A new low for you.
TBS
January 3rd, 2013
12:42 pm
TC
And your sins according to your interpretation of the Bible would be? You are great at calling out the “ones” that appall you.
Hope there are no logs in your eye.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
January 3rd, 2013
12:42 pm
RB, moving the goal posts. Have I ever said that inflation is so low it couldn’t affect food prices?
You are one silly little boy.
food prices are definitely going to increase because of drought and climate change.
But not one mention of Obamacare.
Hows that PJ pizza price? 
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:42 pm
Careful Willie. Getalife may drone strike ya!
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:43 pm
the other – 12:29
That is not what I asked.
I’m asking you what you think OUR Govt. would do after they “took over”
Butch Cassidy (I)
January 3rd, 2013
12:44 pm
Don Abernathy – “It is not the future of the GOP that is bleak.It is the future of the USA that is bleak. Why? LIBERALS!!!”
What time does your flight leave?
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:45 pm
Don’t worry getalife. I’m sure you’ll endeavor to reestablish a new standard of low. Your passive aggressiveness always does.
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
12:46 pm
Getalife
I didn’t know his wife died
That said
I think he still should’ve voted on the most important issue facing his constituents. As painful as a funeral for your wife must be.
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:46 pm
Oh no!! Was that a drone I hear?!
indigo
January 3rd, 2013
12:46 pm
rightwingextreme – 12:28
So, deep down, our today’s Govt. is no different from the US Govt. that endorsed slavery or the Nazi Germany Govt.?
That’s known as paranoia.
Towncrier
January 3rd, 2013
12:47 pm
“Actually, you’re exercising your First Amendment rights in order to argue for the *abridgement* of the rights of others.”
That cannot happen without the consent of the majority of “the people”. And before that can happen. one must challenge and perhaps change the thinking of others. It is NO different than some liberals calling for an “abridgement” of the “right” to bear arms. So I fail to see what point you are trying to make.
“Instead of replying with a specious, irrelevant and ill-tempered retort like that, you might have done better to reflect on the fact that I haven’t *criticized* you for expressing your opinion.”
My friend, I used EXACTLY the same words you wrote to me. If they represented a “specious, irrelevant and ill-tempered retort”, then you I think are finding fault with yourself.
“That said, you’re clearly criticizing others for *choices and actions* that aren’t congruent with your own, not merely for their “positions.”
Shrug. I suspect that most posters here are not still having abortions. It is their advocacy of that practice that I am mostly challenging, so I disagree with your assessment. There is nothing irredeemable with having done a wrong (which I obviously consider abortion to be); it is rather, from a Biblical standpoint, the refusal to admit it’s wrong and the persistence in that behavior what is ultimately (I believe) unforgivable.
‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD;
‘I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the LORD;
‘I will not be angry forever.
‘Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the LORD your God
And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the LORD.
And
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
Prove me wrong from the scriptures about abortion and I will desist.
TaxPayer
January 3rd, 2013
12:48 pm
Why the future is so bleak for the GOP. That one is easy. Just read their blog posts.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:48 pm
“Careful Willie. Getalife may drone strike ya!”
You betcha
Christian Conservative
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
How is believing in fiscal sanity, low taxes, and a strong defense extreme?
HDB
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
Republicans are showing that they favor discrimination again…..no wonder people are looking at them strangely…….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/03/tea-party-republicans-favor-spending-taxpayer-money-on-anti-gay-discrimination/?hpid=z2
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
.It is the future of the USA that is bleak.
Not from my POV
Future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
jm,
Apologize.
TBS
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
Jm
If your wife dies, make sure you make it into work that day. As painful as it might be.
Are you lacking of that much compassion or just being you? Both?
Christian Conservative
January 3rd, 2013
12:49 pm
How is being for traditional marriage and against baby killing extreme?
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:50 pm
“And your sins according to your interpretation of the Bible would be? You are great at calling out the “ones” that appall you.”
Come on Towncrier, fess up. What sins of yours does society need protection from.
And try answering a question. Are Christian Shock and Awe supporters real Christians? Can you be a Christian if you support divorce? If you can’t that will sure clear out your church.
Christian Conservative
January 3rd, 2013
12:51 pm
The obvious reason is because of the far left kook media of which you are a part of Jay. The GOP should concentrate on breaking the legs out from under the media because they have created this false narrative that they are extreme. Sane informed working people know better…..
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:51 pm
I didn’t know his wife died
There’s your sign.
yuzeyurbrane
January 3rd, 2013
12:51 pm
It seems to me that we will all be held hostage in extremist purgatory for at least the next 2 years. As much as I would like to see recalls initiated quickly wherever legally possible for all House Tea Partycans, it is unrealistic to think the effort would be successful considering the gerrymandering that has occurred. P.S.–in the aggregate, Democratic candidates for the House gained more votes nationally than Republican candidates. Any successful effort will have to come from Republican moderates in their 2014 primaries. They should use the same tactics the Tea Party folks used on their folks in 2010–field opponents and/or the threat of opponents to run against extremists who do not moderate their positions. In other words, retake their Republican Party from those fanatics who have usurped control. Another P.S.–interesting how Tea Party has usurped tactics used by European and American Communists in 1930’s and 1940’s to attempt to subvert democratic countries.
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:52 pm
Willie can hide from gatalife amongst the women folk and children. getalife will get more bang for his drone strike buck. Just like “our” ol’ Pres.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:52 pm
“against baby killing”
Are you antiwar, against poverty, hunger and for healthcare?
TBS
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
getalife
I think it is just another symptom of Jm’s ODS flaring up yet again. This time he shows his ignorance and calls out Lewis for not voting the day after his wife passed away.
Granny Godzilla
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
Jm
January 3rd, 2013
12:46 pm
Getalife
I didn’t know his wife died
That said
I think he still should’ve voted on the most important issue facing his constituents. As painful as a funeral for your wife must be.
.
.
.
An apology for your knee jerk nastiness would be nice.
I suspect he would have voted if his vote were needed.
Like Teddy Kennedy did in July 2008
Like Robert Byrd did in 2009.
robert goulet
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
Paul:
“Congress had, months ago, approved the funding.”
This is the problem with government. They “approve” funding even if it is an amount that only budgetary. Then they feel this great need to spend it all even if the project comes in under budget just to ensure that future budgets are protected. If they were to come in under budget, they may not get the same amount (or more) funding next year.
Here is another household analogy for you (sigh…..): If you budget $200/month for groceries and spend $150, what do YOU do with the extra $50? Spend it on candy and unnecessary items? Why is it so hard to ask our leaders to treat OUR money with a little thoughtfulness and austerity?
Towncrier
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
“Hope there are no logs in your eye.”
I hope not either. There certainly have been in the past. I think a good example is just the way I have acted here on this blog – being mean spirited and demeaning. It is wrong. I am sorry to all I have offended.
I guess the main reason I brought this subject up today is that, as a social conservative, I don’t see the “great divide” between Democrats and Republicans (as perhaps Jay and others might argue) as simply an inability to compromise or being too rigid and doctrinaire. There are many things the two can compromise upon, but some (at least for me and people like me) that cannot be compromised upon. In short, it’s not (for me) simply the Republicans are acting “crazy”. There are much deeper issues at stake.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
nero,
Love terrorists much?
Matti
January 3rd, 2013
12:53 pm
Jm,
Fail. You called a man “chicken and useless” without bothering to know anything about the reason he was not at work that day. Then you reiterated that your point was still valid. Big. Fat. Fail. = You.
Kamchak ~ Thug from the Steppes
January 3rd, 2013
12:54 pm
Oh, and:
AL GOREZEERA: Arab news network buys CURRENT TV from former veep…
drudgey spam.
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:54 pm
Kammie loves her some signs.
Towncrier
January 3rd, 2013
12:54 pm
“Come on Towncrier, fess up. What sins of yours does society need protection from.”
Do you profess to be a Christian, DX?
DannyX
January 3rd, 2013
12:55 pm
“How is being for traditional marriage and against baby killing extreme?”
CC, what exactly is traditional marriage? Conservative churches that spout the “traditional marriage” bs are filled with members who divorce, commit adultery and remarry in direct violation of the law Jesus set.
getalife
January 3rd, 2013
12:55 pm
TBS,
How much lower can jm go?
Paul
January 3rd, 2013
12:55 pm
Towncrier
Just checking, not looking for an argument, but do you support abortion if the mother would die without one? Or in case of rape? Or incest?
Nero
January 3rd, 2013
12:55 pm
Oh look more Kammie spam!!
TBS
January 3rd, 2013
12:55 pm
Uh Oh
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2013/01/03/chairman-of-illinois-gop-endorses-gay-marriage/