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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Why does Dick Armey get to single-handedly run Congress?
Posted by Jill | 5:48 AM
Why does an un-elected lobbyist get to control Congress?

It's bad enough that while George W. Bush got everything he wanted with fifty votes and Dick Cheney, the Democrats can't get anything done with nearly sixty votes. It's bad enough that the Democrats cower in the corner in a fetal position every time a Republican says mean things about them. It's bad enough that the Republican idea of governance is to just say no to everything a president wants unless he's of their own party. But now it seems that Dick Armey, a man who is no longer even IN Congress, has decided that those Republicans who dare to refuse to destroy Social Security and Medicatre, will be targeted by lunatics:
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) on Sunday said lawmakers who have not signed onto Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to balance the budget lacked “courage” and could be targeted by the conservative tea party movement as a result.

Armey’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” came just moments after Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sidestepped a question about Ryan’s plan, which looks to balance the budget by reinventing slimmer versions of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and the tax code. Ryan (R-Wis.) is the ranking member of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan’s proposal is controversial for many Republicans who have attacked Democrats over their handling of the federal debt but don’t want to say that they would favor cutting entitlement programs.

“All Paul Ryan is saying is let Social Security be voluntary, let Medicare be voluntary,” Armey said. “The fact that he only has 13 co-sponsors is a big reason why our folks are agitated against the Republicans as well as the Democrats — the difference between being a co-sponsor of Ryan or not is a thing called courage.”

Armey, chairman of the limited-government group FreedomWorks, has been one of the most vocal advocates for the anti-tax tea party movement since it began in 2009.

“We are saying to the Republican Party, you know, get some courage to stand up for the things that are right for this country,” he said. “Don’t stand there and hide from the issue because you are afraid of the politics. The issue of public policy that governs the future of my children is more important than your politics, and if you can’t see that we’ll replace you.”

McConnell, who appeared on the segment before Armey, praised the tea party movement and its dedication to the debt issue.

“I think it’s entirely positive,” he said. “It’s an indication of broad public support for doing something about too much spending and too much debt.”

Except for one thing: The majority of Americans who aren't out in the street spouting gibberish are NOT all that concerned about deficits. In a recent Gallup poll (and Gallup hardly skews left), the primary concern of Americans was the overall economy and jobs, NOT the deficit. Only 7% of those polled even mentioned the deficit as a concern and only 10% of those who identified as Republican mentioned it.

The Republicans have made no secret of their desire to completely eliminate the middle class. Whether it's telling people who were engineers to take jobs flipping burgers for which no one will hire them anyway, or painting the laid-off as being the same as lazy welfare recipients, or eliminating Social Security and Medicare by any means necessary, it's clear that the Republican dream society looks something like the Titanic -- a bunch of very wealthy people dining on foie gras in luxurious suites and being saved when the going gets bad, and everyone else bunked in like sardines in steerage and left to die when things go sour.

It's enough to make me think this is why Barack Obama was allowed to win; why the Republicans didn't really try to steal another election -- because having a black president only helps them. If you can whip white people into a frenzy, you can make them vote for anything, including their own demise.

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2 Comments:
Anonymous mandt said...
---Gives new meaning to the phrase: "You and what Armey."
8/24/10, 2:49 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
Dick Armey gets to run everything because he has a really cool name. But is lack of public concern for the deficit *really* a good reason to ignore it?
8/24/10, 4:17 PM  
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