I had a conversation with a Republican friend of mine who said this whole thing was due to redistricting and desires to avoid primaries back home and win local elections.
Bullshit. That is nothing but, utter, mind-blowing bullshit.
His comments highlight the sociopathic and single minded depravity of a party, which I used to belong.
The Republicans are anarchists. Their goal was never about getting rid of Obamacare as much as they would have loved that. In fact, anyone who thinks they would have stopped there is totally delusional.
What the Republicans want, pure and simple, is the end of goverment. The total, complete, elimination of any centralized authority perhaps only with the exception that it exist for the task of maintaining a gargantuan military.
They're not about freedom or liberty or family values or any of the jingoistic shit they talk about. They're about guns, enslavement and giving big business the free hand to do anything it wants.
They're the party of anarchy and fascism
To shut down the government, put 800,000 people out of work and bring us to the brink of default and economic collapse in return for NOTHING shows you how sick they are.
P.S. I'm not giving a pass to the Dems, either. They are a bunch of ball-less pussies who talk about great things, but do nothing. Put out fires that's about it, but only after everything in sight has been scorched.
Come on Mike. Tell us how you really feel. All seriousness aside, I am a registered Republican and I have no use for the Republican Party and less use for the Democrats. The Republican caucus could have sat back and garnered support from public disapproval as they watched the flop opening of the ACA. But instead, the focus is on the Republican caucus responsibility for all this angst and disruption for nothing. One thing that ain't for nothing though that the GOP has the well deserved reputation for being the "Stupid Party".
ReplyDeleteI consider myself a republican and admit that much of the impetus is irrational hatred for everything obama stands for. However, obama-supporters must admit that obama embraces the status quo and does nothing to lead the US to a better future. All he says is, "let's suck it up, lower our standard of living, and defer all world-leadership to the UN." Pretty sorry message, but it's no excuse for republican actions.
ReplyDeleteJoe I'm with you there but imo more and more Dems are starting to realize this but such voices of reason within the GOP seem non-existent...
ReplyDeleteIts like the GOP moderates are afraid to confront these crazies...
rsp,
perhaps only with the exception that it exist for the task of maintaining a gargantuan military. Mike Norman
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the banks depend on government deposit insurance, a legal tender of last resort and sovereign borrowing.
So why aren't Progressives in favor of downsizing that part of government?
I've heard a lot of people say that if the Republicans had not done the shutdown, and had just sat back and watched the ACA rollout, they would have been able to make great political hay out of its many online failures. But I doubt that is the case in any long-run sense.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that despite the IT glitches, within a couple of months there will be several million more people with health insurance who didn't have it in September. The news reports will then be filled with heartwarming stories of kids getting life-saving operations and cures that they couldn't afford before - all due to ObamaCare.
The Republicans simply have nothing serious to offer in it's place - nothing. Obviously they are opposed to single payer and all other similar government-based improvements in health care delivery, and their only political pitch is that healthy people who don't want insurance should be able to opt out so that the program costs more for those kids and their families. That's not going to cut it politically. It might buy them a few extra votes among the white, libertarian brat pack that already supports them, but not much more.
So their opposition to ACA is going to come off as miserly and bigoted hatred of the disadvantaged, just as was the case with their stunt on SNAP. Or else it will be just more perverse and nonconstructive ranting aimed at Obama himself.
Now that ACA is law, all of the political focus will shift to fixing and improving its inadequacies, not trashing it. Republicans just tied themselves to a big political stone made of haters and losers, a stone that has been tossed in the ocean of spilled milk, over which they can now cry as they are dragged down to the bottom. They look ridiculous. And so its going to be pretty hard work for them to win any credibility in this area for some time.
The worst thing about this whole fiasco is it makes the Dem party look good by comparison. In reality they support the 99% not well at all.
ReplyDeleteJoe-
ReplyDeleteObama is a disaster. I agree. I've been saying that all along.