GOP Whiffs... is the conservative movement in collapse?

The last month or so has not been kind to the Republican Party. Starting with an election they could have won, the GOP has had as much political competence as Barney Fife did with his one bullet in the fictional setting of Mayberry USA. All they had to do to defeat President Barack Obama was nominate a candidate who could seem at ease with common folk and was not afraid to be critical of some of the ways the party has treated minorities in the past. Instead, they put forth an auto-matron who was about as comfortable in his own skin as one of those guys in Disney’s Hall of Presidents.  Come to think of, most of those robots seem more life like than did Mitt Romney. This, along with some less than stellar Senate and Congressional candidates got them spanked pretty hard on November 6. Elections.  Strike 1. As we inched closer to the so-called fiscal cliff, essentially a self-imposed deadline to come up with a plan to address a growing federal deficit, they dropped the ball again. Mitch McConnell, trying to embarrass the Dems, as opposed to actually trying to legislate, decided to hold a vote on the pending debt ceiling.  This was a naked political stunt, and everybody knew it, but that did not dissuade McConnell, who is forever looking for ways to legislate gotchas, instead of actual policy. But a funny thing happened on the way to the vote.  Apparently Senator Mitch missed an episode of School House Rock.  If he had seen it, he would have known you needed a majority to get a bill passed.  Seemingly unfazed, or unaware of this little requirement, he forged ahead, only to find out late he did not have the votes. So what does Senator Mitch do?  Does he admit defeat?  No. He filibusters [a polite way of saying thanks, but no thanks to a bill] his own bill.  That’s right, he uses a stall tactic to essentially kill his own bill because he cannot get it passed. But Senator McConnell is small potatoes compared to the debacle Republican House Speaker John Boehner presided over last night.  Boehner you might recall has been “locked” in negotiations with President Obama over this fiscal cliff issue.  At some point he got frustrated and decided he, and the House of Representatives needed a backup plan, should those negotiations fail.  A sort of Plan B, if you will. Sadly, it appears our Speaker was with Senator McConnell when they ditched the showing of that School House Rock video, because he too forgot that you need a majority of votes to pass a bill. And so last night, Speaker Boehner, after his Plan B failed in his own party, turned out the lights on Congress and sent everyone home for the holidays, because the GOP would not support raising taxes on a few, to benefit the great majority of Americans. Legislating. Strike 2. Which brings us to this morning and the amazing press conference by NRA President and spokesman Wayne LaPierre. Mr. LaPierre said earlier this week, after the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut that the NRA was ready to offer “meaning contributions” to the ongoing dialogue about gun control and gun access in the United States. After numerous other shootings around the country, the NRA has typically followed a strategic formula that called for lying low a few days and then issuing a statement that said essentially that “now was not the time for any type of discussion.” But this was different.  Because most of the victims were children, many in the country are calling for something to be done to limit assault type weapons and over sized ammo clips.  The NRA heard this and signaled a few days ago that they were ready to respond. We were all waiting as the NRA President stepped up for his moment and then it happened.  Not only did he not offer any meaningful contributions, he essentially called on the federal government to fund armed guards at every school in America. Understand what he was saying.  A conservative leader in America was calling for more federal spending so that we could have a retired police office or an ex-war vet with a gun at every school in America. I’m not sure this could have gone worse for the gun lobby, the conservative movement, or the GOP.  It was breathtakingly bad. In essence, the conservative movement, and by extension the GOP, had a week to study for an open book test and failed... epically. Politics.  Strike 3. And with that, just like Mighty Casey, the Grand Old Party struck out.  Frequent Democratic critic and conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post says the Republican Party is incapable of governing. Sadly, at this point, I would have to agree.  What we are seeing is the schoolyard equivalent of a bully getting upset that everything is not going his way.  Rather than try to get along, he decides to just take his marbles and go home. That’s too bad because we need a strong two party system.  America functions better when both parties are serious and capable of governing.  It keeps the other guys honest. Too bad the GOP can’t seem to figure out how they can do that these days.

Liars, Lies and Stinking Lies... tearing at the fabric of America...

The Supreme Court colluded to steal the election from Al Gore. Barack Obama is a Muslim loving commie who was not born in the US, and thus has no right to be President. George Bush lied to take us into war in Iraq.   Barack Obama hates American and wants to destroy her. The attacks on 9/11 were an inside job, planned by Israel or the Bush Administration. This will be the last free election we will ever have if Barack Obama wins because he is going to impose martial law so he can be dictator. George Bush is happy every day an American soldier dies in the war in Iraq. The recent unemployment numbers are the result of a conspiracy on the part of the Obama Administration to win the argument. And now, if Obama does well in the next debate, it will be because the networks gave him the questions ahead of time. Really? We could laugh this type of stuff off if political leaders on the side of the people making these charges would step up to the plate and refute these crazy charges, but they won’t. For some reason, as a society, we’ve decided to let the inmates run the asylum.  We are letting the idiots get the last word. We have no evidence that any of the above statements are true. SCOTUS awarding the presidency to Bush?  Al Gore lost his home state!  The people that know him best did not want him. The birth certificate issue? You’ve seen everything you asked for and you are still not satisfied. 9/11? Bush happy with dead Americans? Obama hates America? Are the people that believe this stuff idiots? I don’t think so because I personally know some folks that passionately believe these stories. But something has seriously gone wrong with the ethos of our country if we can cavalierly choose to demonize a president or government when things do not go as we wish.  And let’s make no mistake about it.  The people that promote these views are demonizing our government and our presidents with their words and their actions. These are not simple protests against a point of view.  These are not peaceful protests aimed at changing a point of view with an intellectual argument. These are attempts to change a point of view by demonizing the other side.   These are attempts to change a point of view by assigning the most heinous interpretation, reason, or understanding to the other side.  This is school yard bullying taken to nth degree. It is ruining America, and worse, our politicians refuse to step in and take a stand, for fear of alienating their supporters who are making these charges.  Rather than do what’s right and good for America, too often our political “leaders” have instead chosen to not just remain silent, but fan the flames of discord. When the President’s place of birth was questioned, where was one leader of the Republican Party to say he believed President Obama and those that thought otherwise were not just misguided, but wrong?   When Harry Reid called President Bush a liar, why did the Democratic Party allow him to remain as head of the party?  How is that being respectful to a President? Why is the night when Senator John McCain took the microphone away from a woman who was being disrespectful towards candidate Obama about the only profile in courage we can cite from our elected leaders these days? Does our government make mistakes?  Yes they do.  And like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, sometimes our government lies to cover it up.  Like they did in the Vietnam War.  Like they did at Watergate.  Like they did in Iran-Contra. But this is no reason, or excuse to treat every bit of information that does not support your personal world or political point of view as a vast right, or left wing conspiracy. Get some meds, get a life, take a vacation and get some perspective. And then call your Congressman or Senator and tell him or her you are sick of this stuff and want them to stand up and do what’s right this election season, not for themselves, but for America. Once you've done that, resolve yourself to be part of the solution.  If people are saying President Bush was happy to see black people dead after Hurricane Katrina, tell them they are wrong, just as you should when people say President Obama is guilty of treason. Because these views are not only wrong, they tear at the very fabric of the cloth that holds America together. What say you?

Where are the GOP Leaders? Is What we are Seeing the Fringe, or the Mainstream?

You be the judge. Last night before some friends arrived, I was watching the GOP Debate from Florida. Most of you know I tend to lean more to the left politically than many of my friends. However, you also know I am not reflexively anti-GOP, have worked on Republican campaigns in the past, and on occasion, when I believe it is the best option, will vote Republican. But last night, I was stunned. After hearing GOP partisans cheer the death penalty a few weeks ago, I was taken aback. After hearing people say "Yeah, let him die" if someone does not have health insurance, I wondered how far the GOP might go. Last night I got my answer. The crowd in attendance booed a US Serviceman serving in Iraq, simply because he said he was gay and was in support of the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. If you don't believe it, follow this link to Andrew Sullivan's commentary where he has posted the video. And just like in previous debates, not one candidate for President from the GOP said that type of response was wrong. We have watched over the years as many conservative pundits and politicians have tarred and feathered Muslims for their faith. We have been told that in the absence of any public rebuke of extremist Muslim views, that we can safely view the entire religion as extremist. We have been told that at least 10% of the Muslim people are terrorists. And we have been told that we, as Americans, have a right to look suspect on an entire people group. Why? For two reasons. One, a relatively small number of the followers of Islam have gone off the deep end and believe in terrorism. And two, the apparent lack of Muslim leaders who will publicly say that the actions of that relatively small number of terrorists are wrong and have no place in civilized societies. It is time that those that advocate this type of stance, step forward and accept their due. Unless and until we see national leaders from the Republican Party stand up and disavow the words and attitudes of people like Mr. Santorum and the crowds that cheered the death penalty, said "yeah, let him die" and then booed a gay serviceman, it is safe to assume that these views are representative of the entire party. Where are the national GOP leaders that will say these people do not represent our party? Where is one elected GOP congressional leader who will publicly state that what we have been watching the last three weeks is wrong? Republicans, this is your dancing in the streets Palestinian moment. Your masses are booing US Servicemen, celebrating the death penalty, and saying let 'em die to your fellow citizens. In the absence of any leaders stepping forward, why should we not tar your entire party with the same brush you have used for years to tar Muslims?