Oh, The Tangled Web

I saw a blog in which the blogger said that liberals who hate Rush Limbaugh should try listening to him. That is a punishment that is easily defined as cruel if not unusual. I have had someone inflict Mr. Limbaugh’s program on me. It quickly became apparent that any resemblance between what he was saying any factual statement was rare and purely coincidental. That is why they call him an entertainer rather than an analyst or reporter. The problem is that he is not even entertaining. The writers of All In The Family were smart enough to realize that their bigoted character, Archie Bunker, needed a foil in order to be funny, and Archie Bunker displayed a lot more humanity than Mr. Limbaugh does. Mr. Limbaugh will not permit anyone to introduce a foil on his show. As a result, the mentally challenged actually take him seriously. The fact that there are people who do take him seriously is the only funny thing about him, and even that ranks right down there with very poor April fool’s jokes.

Glen Beck and Michele Bachmann have an excuse; they are both insane. Mr. Limbaugh, on the other hand, is either stupid or so cynically greedy that he is purposely exploiting the mentally challenged. Unfortunately, the Republican Party has copied a page of Rush Limbaugh’s playbook. We saw it in their opposition to health care reform, and we are seeing it in their opposition to the bill that will impose regulations on Wall Street and the banks. In both cases the Republican strategy is the same. You simply spew a stream of lies that are repeated so often that the lies define the issue. This tactic was somewhat successful in regard to health care reform. But, as I said before, those lies will eventually bite the Republicans. Even fools can only be duped in the same way a certain number of times before they realize they are being had. In the case of the regulation of our financial institutions the bite is likely to come sooner rather than later, and at a time that is most damaging to the Republican Party. The opposition party usually picks up seats in the Senate and the House during mid-term elections. This is particularly true if the voters are angry. The voters are angry, but the Republicans are ignoring one of the major causes of that anger.

A member of a Republican Party stink tank correctly pointed out that people are angry about the so called bailouts. Mitch McConnell immediately went into his bailout song and dance. “This bill will lead to bailouts, bailouts, bailouts!” he sang. This is a blatant lie. The fact that his contention is untrue makes it dangerous to allow a debate that would reveal the falsehood. Fortunately for the voters, he is doing this while hearings are being conducted about the unethical behavior of Goldman Sachs. So far the testimony in that hearing has been devastating. A representative from Goldman Sachs, Daniel Sparks, was absolutely grilled when Senator Levin read an email sent to Mr. Sparks by another employee of the firm. In the email this other employee called Timberwolf a “shitty deal” and asked how many shares of Timberwolf had been sold. The testimony that followed revealed that Goldman Sachs was aggressively selling this toxic waste to its unsuspecting clients while selling short. What this means is that Goldman Sachs was betting against the very stock it was recommending to people who were naïve enough to believe that Goldman Sachs had some ethics.

The combination of this unethical behavior and Republican Party’s refusal to debate a bill that would impose regulations on companies like Goldman Sachs is red meat the Democratic candidates in the upcoming elections can feed to the masses. “Why won’t the Republicans allow an open debate on this important issue? Are they afraid that open debates will reveal that they are representing the very companies who nearly caused an economic disaster? Are they afraid that honest, open debates will actually reveal that the regulations will prevent future bailouts? Ask my opponent if he’ll vote to allow those debates and if he’ll vote for the final bill resulting from those debates!”

As you can see, the Republicans have a tiger by the tail. The Democrats are forcing them to cast daily votes on whether to allow such a debate. Their obstruction will not play well with the voters if it continues into November when the elections take place. The alternative is also dangerous for the Republicans. If the Democrats have learned their lesson from the health issues, they will put forth a bill with tight but reasonable regulations, and they will not let the Republicans water it down. They will let the Republicans filibuster, and they will run against the filibuster. “The Republicans say they hate the bailouts yet here they are refusing to allow a vote on a bill that would force the people who received those bailouts to act responsibly enough to prevent another situation like the one that caused the bailouts!” It is not just the Republicans who can scream about bailouts. The Republicans will bring out their great bogyman, socialism, but I do not think this will help them. The Democrats can always point out that the regulations resulting from the great depression were far more restrictive than any contained in the bills being proposed, and for fifty years we had the most stable and prosperous economy the world has ever seen. It was only after those regulations were repealed that we ran into trouble!

The one thing I can guarantee is that the testimony in the Goldman Sachs hearings will make the need for regulations clear to anyone who is paying even the slightest attention. Furthermore, it is very likely that other banks and investment firms will also face such hearings. It should not take long for the lazy slugs in the mainstream media to jump on this sensational story with both feet. What our financial institutions did because of a lack of regulation was so outrageous that even the idiots running the Fox disinformation factory might feel compelled to report it. You might even think they will get some of the facts right, if you still believe in miracles.

Obama the Janitor

I was standing in the teller line at the bank the other day. In front me was an elderly African-American. I front of him was a man wearing a McCain-Palin tee shirt. President Obama appeared on the screen of the television the bank had set up to give people something to watch while they waited for an available teller. The man in the tee shirt turned to the African-American.

“I’ll bet you think he’s great,” he said in a patronizing tone.

“I think he’s a great janitor.”

“Why did you say that?” I asked.

“Well, he’s cleaning up the mess created by a bunch of dumb ass white people, isn’t he?”

There was no way I could argue with that.

Could It Be?

The elephant is becoming more ponderous. He is a beast of great girth, who is finding it increasingly difficult to waddle a straight line. A deceitful gnome in one of the Republican stink tanks laid out the talking points to use in opposing any reform or regulation of Wall Street and the big banks. The people hate the so called bailouts that were used to halt the crash. Call any proposed reform or regulation a bailout! Say it loud, say it clear, and say it often. Keep repeating it until it becomes the only thing people will remember. That is what the gnome advised. Senator McConnel and Congressman Boehner took the talking points to heart, and both of them started performing the bailout song and dance. Only this time the Democrats were not about to tolerate the out of tune performance of the talking heads.

President Obama pointed out that the proposed legislation would require the banks to provide a fund that could be used to liquidate any of the institutions that failed. Could that be what the talking heads were calling a bailout? When pressed to tell us why he was calling the proposed legislation a bailout Mr. McConnel confirmed that it was that fund. It was such a flimsy explanation that anyone with half a brain must have been embarrassed for him. Making matters worse is the fact that the source of this disingenuous objection was leaked to the press, making Boehner and McConnel look like the fools that they are.

If there is anything the public dislikes more than the bailouts, it is the people and companies that received them. Needless to say that the public is not very receptive to any objections raised in regard to regulations that would make those people and companies behave responsibly. This fact is not lost on some of the brighter Republicans. Some of them are even threatening to break ranks. Could it be that the lock step partisanship that has caused so much gridlock in the Senate is finally beginning break up. Could the Republican Party actually tolerate enough diversity of thought for some its members to try to help govern this nation? I am not holding my breath while waiting for that to happen, but I do think some badly needed reforms will get bipartisan support in this one instance.

Incidentally, whenever I hear someone quoting Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck, I thank God for my big brain. Some people obviously did not get one.

A Return To Sanity?

In an earlier post I entitled “Eating Your Own,” I pointed out that Senator Lindsey Graham criticized the birthers and the idiots like Glen Beck on Fox. Recently, David Frum, a former speech writer for George W. Bush, said Republicans thought Fox worked for them, but they are now discovering that they work for Fox. He also indicated that the Republican Party has to back away from lunatics like Glen Beck and this self proclaimed news organization that has absolutely no regard for the facts. Now we have Senator Tom Coburn saying that Nancy Pelosi is a nice lady, and people should recognize that even though they disagree with her. He also indicated that the Republicans have to back away from Fox. I could not believe my ears! This is the same Tom Coburn I blasted for going on Meet The Press and saying that the anger and vitriol of the tea party crowd was justified. Could it be that the violence and threats of violence stirred up by the outrageous lies and fear mongering of the Republican Party are finally making members of that party think twice about pandering to delusional fears?

I would like to think the Republican Party is now trying to separate itself from the lunatic fringe, but it is far too early to reach that conclusion. What Messrs. Graham, Frum, and Coburn have said is a good start, but there are still Republicans like Congressperson Cantor who actually blame the victims for the violence. Furthermore, even if the majority of the Republican Party joins those senators in trying to tone down the irresponsible rhetoric, doing so is only a start. It does not mean that members of that party will start taking some responsibility for governing this great nation. It does not mean they will negotiate in good faith and help pass badly needed legislation. Regardless of that, I applaud the efforts of Messrs. Graham, Frum, and Coburn. I sincerely hope this is the first step in restoring the concept of the loyal opposition.

As I have said before, I honestly believe that the survival of the Republican Party depends on the ability of its leadership to move it back to the center. I do not envy them. This is going to be a very difficult and risky task. They have danced with the devil, and he is not going to settle for a good night kiss. Their base has shrunk to the point that the extremists have become too influential. Just ask John McCain. He is trying to change the maverick image he cultivated during the presidential election, and he is now trying to convince the extremists that he is and always has been one of them. He is doing this out of desperation. He is in serious danger of losing the primary. Republicans who try to appeal to reason will find themselves in a similar situation. It is almost a damned if you do and damned if you don’t scenario. Reforming the Republican Party may seem hopeless, but I am reminded of something my father once told me. He said that “whenever you are in doubt as to what is in your best interest, set self interest aside. Simply do what you believe is right and hope someone notices.”

I have enough faith to believe that people will notice when you set aside your interests to do the right thing. Setting aside your interests, however, is a sacrifice, and it is likely to take some time to regain what you have given up. It will probably take years for responsible Republicans to get their party on track again, but it is well worth the effort. The fate of their party is in their hands, and their fate is ultimately tied to the fate of their party and their country. My advice to Republicans is to look at the larger picture. If you must go down fighting, go down fighting for the right things. The true patriot is not the person who does what is easy; the true patriot is the person who does what is best for his country. We need two strong parties that are capable of honestly competing with each other, but are still capable of reaching reasonable compromises to do what is clearly in the best interest of this nation.

The Blunderland Looking Glass

There is a magical mirror in blunderland. It reflects the nihilistic, fearful image of the GOP. It is the Republican Party’s distorted view of the world. “That’s not us,” they cry. “What you’re seeing can’t be us. One look at us will tell you that. We look like the men on the money. We look like the men who set up this great democracy and marched boldly into the future. They created a living document called the Constitution. The fact that the document can be changed allowed those nasty liberals to extend the franchise to people who are not white male property owners. Since slavery was an important part of the financial structure of a powerful special interest it took a civil war to abolish it. We suppose that abolishing slavery was something we needed to do. After all, it was the Democrats defending that interest. But the struggle did not end there. Those damn liberals joined the Democratic Party, and they transformed it. They supported the civil rights movement, and the civil rights movement went much farther than we ever intended when we abolished slavery. Now we have a black President. That’s right, a black President! He wants to make more changes for the benefit of all citizens regardless of their race. Well, he won’t succeed. We will block him because the very image of him being our President tells us there has already been too much change.”

This strident and irresponsible obstruction is evident in the battle over health care reform. The Republicans caused a long delay by negotiating in bad faith, even to the point of opposing many of the things they had once advocated. They also used every procedural device they could think of to block the needed reform. They fought to preserve the insurance industry’s death panels, which consisted of actuaries and policy makers who denied medical coverage on the flimsiest of pretenses. And they hypocritically did this while falsely accusing the Democrats of trying to set up bureaucratic death panels. The Republicans felt comfortable doing this because they knew that very few people would actually read the proposed legislation and a large number of people would not know who to trust. Change always involves some risk. The insurance industry’s death panels are what we had and what we knew.

The Democratic Party has changed that. They managed to pass a health care reform bill over the unanimous opposition of the Republican Party. The bad news for the Republicans is that the bill prohibits the insurance industry’s death panels, and people like that prohibition. Many pundits are now predicting that the benefits of this reform will make it a prime example of the blunder the Republicans are committing by opposing virtually everything this President and the members of his party are trying to accomplish. Whether the pundits are proven right about that depends on how well the magical blunderland mirror distorts the image of the Republican Party’s unconscionable effort to make this President fail.

The Republicans are now insisting that they did not oppose the good things in the bill. “We were opposed to health care reform because of our concern about the federal deficit,” they say. They dismiss the fact that most of the deficit was created when they were in power. “A deficit is still a deficit, and it is bad.” All right, so the bill the Democrats passed actually reduces the deficit, but just look at how it does that. It repeals George W. Bush’s huge tax cuts for the wealthy. It does not matter that those tax cuts were largely responsible for turning a surplus into an outrageous deficit. “Taxes are taxes, and no one likes taxes,” the Republicans say. “We will repeal those evil taxes!” Of course doing that will require them to gain control of Congress and win another Presidential election, but a promise is a promise. It is not the fault of the Republican Party if the people do not give them that power anytime soon, or if the Democrats act like Republicans by filibustering such a repeal. It does not matter if reinstating those tax cuts increases the deficit either. “The damn Democrats should have thought about that when they passed that expensive health care reform,” the Republicans will say.

See how the magical mirror works. It is really powerful. Its distortions are capable of hiding a multitude of sins. After suffering devastating defeats in the last Presidential election, the Republicans decided to tap the negative energy of their right wing fanatics. They are doing this by fear mongering and making untruthful contentions about the Democrats and everything the Democrats are trying to do. Yet the Republicans deny that they are the ones who are inciting the violence or the threats of violence. Instead they are trying to convince us that spitting on lawmakers and shouting racial and homophobic epithets are just the actions of a few bad apples and a normal part of the political process. Using this logic means that calling for session from the union and for the violent overthrow of our government are also just the actions of a few bad apples and a normal part of the political process. It is just watering the tree of liberty, don’t you know? Silly me, I thought our Constitution provided a system in which we said it with ballets rather than bullets.

Do not misunderstand what I am saying. I am not accusing the Republican party of supporting attempts to succeed from the union or violently overthrow our government. What I am saying is that pandering to the fears of the lunatics empowers them. By doing this and by refusing to honestly address any of the real issues, the Republicans are ignoring their responsibilities as a major political party. Republican Congressman Cantor even blames the victims for the violence. When House Democrats reported vandalism of their offices, hate mail, abusive phone calls and other incidents after the health care vote, Congressman Cantor said: “It is reckless to use these incidents as media vehicles for political gain. To use such threats as political weapons is reprehensible. By ratcheting up the rhetoric, some will only inflame these situations to dangerous levels. Enough is enough. It has to stop.” I suppose this means that rape victims also incite the violence committed against them. Sadly, there are people who still believe that. I reject that flawed logic in regard to victims of rape and in regard to victims of political acts of violence. I find it outrageous that Congressman Cantor would stoop to such flawed reasoning, if you can call it reasoning.

In regard to the looking glass, all I can say is that Alice returned from her wonderland. Hopefully, what the independent voters of this nation will say with their ballets is that it is now time for the Republican Party to return from their blunderland. All democracies embrace the concept of the loyal opposition. If either party vilifies the other to an extent that it incites violence or makes reasonable compromises impossible, the democracy is threatened. We the people must insist that our politicians act responsibly, and we must vote them out of office when they refuse to act responsibly. That is how a democracy is supposed to work.