First, let's agree yet again with everything Pierce says; there is no Republican establishment. The party is a hodgepodge of regional beer distributorships. It's possible it nominated the wrong McCain last time.
And what a perfect summation of the last thirty years of "conservatism" this is: the über-rich white guy who thinks he should be President because he understands the needs of über-rich white guys, and the forty-something Randoid posterboy for mendacity. The CEO and the chief ad exec.
Okay, so the move is not without its positives; it's sure to wow the sort of New York Times Op-Ed columnist who is willing to say, for money, that the Republican House is offering solutions to
But, assuming there's some reason other than under-the-table payoffs that made anyone feel good about the Republican party as of yesterday morning, how do you look at this stinkbomb and convince yourself that everything's all right? A bottle of The Macallan 25 and your financial report? Your party is not in possession of Facts, an Argument, or its Senses. And that's its sensible wing. You might win elections--you fucking might win this one, which should scare you, too--but you can't govern. Thirty-two years ago, eight election cycles (which is enough for even "conservatives" to have begun coming to their senses), you got the opportunity to throw a monkey wrench into the machinery of government. Today you're just the fucking monkey wrench. Tax Cuts, Because I'd Really Rather Not Pay Taxes. You've gone from unsustainable to incomprehensible.
You're the party of fucking lapel flags (as opposed to the Democrats, the party afraid to not wear lapel flags). You're the party of facile gestures which in fact put the lie to your principles, and you don't care because your principles are just there to distract people from your lying about them.
Okay, so full disclosure: I found you incomprehensible (and reprehensible) in 1980, but at least you didn't double down every time you hit a roadblock. A lot of people said you lost your way with the collapse of the International Communist Conspiracy (though, of course, you had to've lost your way just to be found there). But I'd propose that in fact you've never recovered from Iran/Contra and the Great S&L Swindle; like Vietnam and Civil Rights, you patched it up with disinformation. And got away with it, to the extent that you won elections, but you lost your minds. And your souls, if any. Which brings us to Romney/Ryan, 2012. This Is What "Opportunity" Really Looks Like.™
You're the party of facile gestures which in fact put the lie to your principles, and you don't care because your principles are just there to distract people from your lying about them.
ReplyDeleteAs perfect a one-line description of these specimens as one might ever encounter.
Romney and Ryan, kind of a reaffirmation of the clash of worldviews. I don't think there can be a reconciliation with this extreme embodiment of cognitive dissonance and sporulation of clusterfuck.
ReplyDeleteR&R don't have to do anything more than provide the illusion of democracy again this November.
ReplyDeleteObama will continue the GOP's policies...protecting (and throwing money at) banksters, blowing up foreigners for corporate profits, and yes, cutting Social Security.
And he's even got the Democratic base falling over themselves to vote for all of this. Eleven dimensional chess, indeed.
USA! USA! USA!
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"Obama will continue the GOP's policies"
ReplyDeleteOkay, tell that to your gay friends, thunder.
In any case, I am just relieved that two wealthy white guys FINALLY get a chance in America!
Riley, you really need a link to, I apologize for mentioning it, facebook. So I can attract my many friend to this deserving site.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I needed a good verbal kick while most other scribes are sleeping late this weekend. Your title is as good as Paul Krugman's, i.e.
Galt/Gekko
He used that rather than Gekko/Galt because of Romney's botched intro.
I think Obama will still squeak out a victory, particularly since nominating Ryan doesn't exactly hurt the Democrats' attack line on Republican economic policy.
ReplyDelete(I mean, the guy has a budget that flays Medicare, Social Security, and welfare to the bone--but not enough to pay for the tax breaks on the wealthy. And then he repeatedly lied about what it would do, how much it would cost, and how we would pay for it.)
But I find him genuinely scary in a way that Romney just isn't. Sure, Romney is a Republican, and both the voter base and the money want policies that would be disastrous for the country, but my overwhelming impression of the man is that his head really isn't in the game--that he's already tired of paying Racist Mad Libs with the base so they forget that whole Massachusetts thing ever happened. His only authentic belief is that he can be President, but he's a lukewarm advocate at best.
But Ryan is, as Pierce says, "an authentically dangerous zealot". He really appears to believe the Randian leeches-versus-producers narrative, and his policy proposals appear bent solely toward hurting the majority of America that represents a drain on the perfect Randian society of oligarch-supermen.
He frightens me, and the idea that there is a statistical chance of the Romney/Ryan ticket winning is very bad news for the country.
"Obama will continue the GOP's policies"
ReplyDeleteClearly not posted by a woman. But then, we're only 51% of the population so why worry about OUR rights?
But then, we're only 51% of the population so why worry about OUR rights?
ReplyDeleteGet back to me after Obama cuts Social Security, something G.W. Bush tried and failed to do.
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