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Monday, April 13, 2009

"Stop laughing", sayeth Krugman
Posted by Jill | 5:33 AM
It's hard to believe that a party which has been marginalized into a small band of Glenn Beck-fueled crazies, gun nuts, and the Christofascist Zombie Brigade, could ever return to power. Americans proved last November that enough of us are sane enough to realize that Sarah Palin is not a brilliant and insightful leader, that Joe the Plumber is not qualified to be an adviser, and that however much we may have thought John McCain really didn't believe much of what he was saying, the fact that he was saying it was distasteful enough to not vote for him. Besides, what do the Republicans offer but more of what we've seen over the last eight years that got us into this mess -- more tax cuts, more deficits, more wars, less respect in the world?

But we Americans are spoiled. That ad for widescreen TVs that screams "I want it NOW"? That's us. So far we've been willing to give this president the benefit of the doubt, particularly since the Republicans have shown themselves to be so utterly tone-deaf. But if economic conditions aren't significantly better by, say, 2011, there's no guarantee that the Glenn Beckians aren't going to rule the day and we won't find ourselves with some gun-crazed religious fanatic like Sarah Palin in the White House.

Paul Krugman warns today:
But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble. So it behooves us to look closely at the state of what is, after all, one of our nation’s two great political parties.

One way to get a good sense of the current state of the G.O.P., and also to see how little has really changed, is to look at the “tea parties” that have been held in a number of places already, and will be held across the country on Wednesday. These parties — antitaxation demonstrations that are supposed to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution — have been the subject of considerable mockery, and rightly so.

But everything that critics mock about these parties has long been standard practice within the Republican Party.

[snip]

...it turns out that the tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They’re AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey, the former House majority leader, and supported by the usual group of right-wing billionaires. And the parties are, of course, being promoted heavily by Fox News.

But that’s nothing new, and AstroTurf has worked well for Republicans in the past. The most notable example was the “spontaneous” riot back in 2000 — actually orchestrated by G.O.P. strategists — that shut down the presidential vote recount in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

So what’s the implication of the fact that Republicans are refusing to grow up, the fact that they are still behaving the same way they did when history seemed to be on their side? I’d say that it’s good for Democrats, at least in the short run — but it’s bad for the country.

For now, the Obama administration gains a substantial advantage from the fact that it has no credible opposition, especially on economic policy, where the Republicans seem particularly clueless.

But as I said, the G.O.P. remains one of America’s great parties, and events could still put that party back in power. We can only hope that Republicans have moved on by the time that happens.


I'm not optimistic about that. Are you?

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4 Comments:
Blogger Charles D said...
I hope Krugman does a follow up on the idiocy of the Democratic Party that allowed a bunch of crazy lunatics to take control of the government in 1980, a stupidity that still exists.

Sure, Democrats don't setup astroturf organizations to gin up phony public anger, they ignore grassroots organizations with righteous anger. The Democratic Party's problem is that it is phony. It talks about its commitment to labor, women, minorities and the middle class, then it backs down on EFCA, single-payer health care, and bank bailouts and trades worthwhile infrastructure jobs for meager tax cuts.

The Republicans for all their stupidity on the issues are united. They all vote in lockstep and if any of their number gets out of line, that person is punished by spending millions to defeat them. The Democrats actually work hard to elect people that oppose their alleged signature issues and then bend over and kiss their right-wing asses instead of whipping them into line.
4/13/09, 9:28 AM  
Blogger Mule Breath said...
What we call memes today were called dittoheads before Limbaugh discredited himself. Nothing has changed. Beck, O'Reilly, et al are being parroted at these tea parties.

A woman planning to attend the tea party in Burleson, Texas was quoted in this AM's Star Telegram as admiting to not knowing the name of her Congressman, yet ranting about the sins of deficit spending and taxation. One must wonder how the woman voted if she does not know the names.

Indeed the D's have little to worry about unless they step in the same pile of crap that cost them the majority the last time, and that which is likely to have been the issue that defeated Gore in 2000. Gun control is a killer. Avoid that and the D's will stay in office.
4/13/09, 4:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Mule,
Why do you think she voted?
4/13/09, 8:16 PM  
Blogger Mule Breath said...
Possibly she didn't, but considering the importance of the Presidential election, it seems reasonable to make the assumption that she did. In Texas, however, you can still pull a straight party ticket lever. Thus I would further assume that she does not know the names of many for whom she voted.

We must remember, however, that ignorance is not the exclusive domain of the right. An abundance of the residents of Wingnuttia, both left and right, suffer from some degree of the malady.

http://muledungandash.blogspot.com
4/14/09, 7:28 AM  
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