Conservatives Waking Up in Droves
BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
Conservatives Waking Up in Droves
Well, it seems that the GOP is finally coming into its own. Both its numbers, and its rhetoric, reflect that its rapidly becoming more of a cult than a political party. Recent polls indicate that now only 20% of the American people will even admit to being Republican these days. That's down from 32% in November. If its current rate of decline continues, after the 2010 election there won't be enough Republicans left in Washington to throw a card party - and that's with good reason.
History doesn't lie, at least, until Republicans get a hold to it. But with their desperate attempt to regain power at any cost, this current crop of GOP 'leaders' have inadvertently betrayed their true agenda - to promote the interest of big business at the expense of the American people. Every initiative that they champion is transparently designed to do just that.
And this is not a new agenda for Republicans. It's just that this current group of Republicans are so inept and blinded by greed that they've allowed their animus to be revealed. Alexander Hamilton, the father of Republican thought, advocated that the poor didn't even have sense enough to think, therefore shouldn't be allowed to govern - and the Republican attitude towards the average American hasn't changed a bit. Hamilton said the following:
"All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people.... The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive an advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government." (Debates of the Federalist Convention, May 14-September 17, 1787).
Thus, the GOP, literally, treats the American people like mindless children without the capacity to remember what took place the day before. So many well-educated and thinking conservatives are falling over one another as they leave the Republican Party. The reason for that is that they've been given a front row seat to witness how undereducated Republicans and wing-nuts are being manipulated through use of the "isms" and xenophobic fear by the Republican leadership to act against their own interest.
They're beginning to recognize that internal American politics is no longer driven by race or ideology. In the new world order the GOP leadership no longer sees any profit in such nonsense. The GOP even sees America's eternal fight for freedom in terms of dollars and cents - THEIR freedom to make a dollar. In short, it's all about class, stupid.
A perfect example of that can be found in the case of a young lady by the name of Jamie Leigh Jones. This young woman had the ridiculous idea that she wanted to do something for her country, so she went to work for KBR, a subsidiary of Dick Cheney's old company, Halliburton. But as soon as she hit the ground in Iraq, she was drugged, gang raped, and thrown into a shipping container under armed guard for twenty-four hours by KBR employees. She was only 19 years old at the time.
Now Ms. Jones is seeking justice, but she's being blocked by a stipulation in the Halliburton/KBR contract indicating that her only recourse is to go through arbitration - a kangaroo court designed to protect the contractor. In response, a newly elected Democratic senator, Al Franken, drafted an amendment to the senate defense appropriation bill to reverse the policy that's preventing Ms. Jones from seeking legal recourse. The amendment passed by a 68 to 30 vote, and all 30 votes against the amendment was cast by White Republican males.
This is only one of thousands of votes that are routinely cast in the United States Senate. But this vote holds particular significance, and should certainly go down in the annals of political infamy. Because it clearly demonstrates that the Republican Party has crossed the line that separates their advocation of a thriving and robust business environment, to a position that promotes the primacy of business interests over the justice and welfare of the American people. Thus, it's no wonder true conservatives are leaving the Republican Party in droves. The GOP has literally embraced a philosophy that is clearly, and blatantly, un-American.
But this has been the case for some time. It's just that only now are Americans beginning to believe their lying eyes.
If the American people ever started looking back through history they'd notice that the same policies, the very same names, and the same corruption is recycled by the Republican Party every generation. As I've pointed out in a previous articles, as far back as October 29, 1929, the Republican Party ushered in the Great Depression under President Herbert Hoover, and it took Democratic president, Franklin Roosevelt, to bail the nation out; then on October 19, 1987, under Republican Ronald Reagan, the stock market fell 508 points due to the excesses of Reaganomics. Then, again, due to the continued freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions with assets of over $125 billion.
Then in 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement.
Then there was the Lincoln Savings and loan scandal in 1987 involving John McCain. The scandal was very similar to the one that is currently playing out on Wall Street. He was one of a group of senators dubbed "The Keating Five" involved in a scandal by the same name.
In 1976 Charles Keating moved to Arizona to run the American Continental Corporation. In 1984, shortly after the Reagan era push to deregulate the savings and loan community, Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan and began to engage in highly risky investments with the depositors' savings. In 1989 the parent company, which Keating headed, went bankrupt, and it resulted in over 21,000 investors losing their life savings. Most of the investors were elderly, and the losses amounted to about 285 million dollars.
After having received over a million dollars from Keating in illegal campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, and other gratuities, the Keating Five--Senators John Glenn, Don Riegle, Dennis DeConini, Alan Cranston, and Sen. John McCain--attempted to intervene in the investigation into Keating's activities by the regulators. Later, they were admonished to varying degrees by the senate for attempting to influence regulators on Keating's behalf. Charles Keating ended up being convicted for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, for which he received 10 years by the state court, and a 12 year sentence in federal court. After spending four and a half years in prison, his convictions were overturned. But prior to being retried, he pled guilty to a number of felonies in return for a sentence of time served.
Now, even at this writing, Sen. John McCain is involved in a bill that would allow telecommunications companies to partition off the internet for profit, and Dick Cheney is pressuring Obama to go off half-cocked like he did in Iraq, yet again: "Come on, wimp, lets get this war rollin'. You must me scared, or something." And of course, I'm sure that Cheney's hurry to 'get it on' has absolutely nothing to do with Halliburton's profit line.
And these are the people who want us to turn our backs on President Obama, and place our faith in them: "Just trust us . . . again."
Yeah, right.
Eric L. Wattree
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
Thus, the GOP , literally, treat Americans like mindless children without the capacity to remember what took place the day before.
CleverBullDog remembers he voted for George W. Bush. Eight years of the Bush administration have convinced him it was a smart choice: "better than the alternative".
October 24, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm still trying to find your point in this article. What are you trying to say? The flow is abhorrent at best
October 24, 2009 7:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe the point is that conservatives are leaving the Republican party in droves because they are realizing that the GOP is littered with greedy and corrupt ass hats.
It seems pretty clear to me.
October 24, 2009 8:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Except that there's no proof that they are leaving in droves. And even if they are, where are they going??? They're certainly not going over to the Dark Side to root for Obama. So what's your point?
October 24, 2009 11:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
They're going Independent, which could lead them anywhere.
October 25, 2009 1:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
More independents are becoming anti-Obama. No surprise there.
http://news.aol.com/article/obama-approval-rating-among-independents/652324
October 25, 2009 8:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm an Independent, MCB - and I have been for over twenty-five years. We're not becoming anti-Obama. We're simply putting pressure on him to be more forceful against the Republicans. But if an election was held tomorrow, believe me, Obama would win with much greater numbers than he did in the last election. At this point, he'd literally slaughter the Republicans.
Independent voters are thinking people. So ask yourself, what new idea has the GOP come up with that is worth thinking about?
October 25, 2009 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
So, you are somehow representative of all independents? Independents lean about fifty-fifty liberal versus conseravtive. More broad brush analysis, Watree, that doesn't advance the conversation.
October 25, 2009 10:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let me say this, JEM.
I think that I am representative of Independents in one respect. The very fact that we are independent clearly demonstrates that we're not knee jerk supporters of either of the major political parties. And since those who identify with the Republican Party is only at 20%, that number would indicate that the GOP has even lost part of its die-hard base. It suggests that more indepentents are disenchanted with the GOP than they are with the Democratic Party.
Then there's the issue that congress's numbers are in the toilet as well, while President Obama is at 57% with an upward trajectory from the Summer. That would tend to indicate that the American people would like congress to be more in line with the policies of President Obama. Thus, the rationale behind my comment.
October 25, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's why I say the increase in independents of all stripes is a measure of dissatisfaction with both parties. By the way, your numbers might be alittle bit off according to Gallup's latest polls.
We have arrived at much different conclusions based on the available evidence. I think the fact that Obama is now under 60% when he was 70+ following the inaugaration is a sign of just how badly the democratic Congress has misjudged the country.
If they don't get their act together and start appealing to common sense moderates in both parties - meaning those who eschew orthodoxy from either camp - I am not sure how we can ever achieve meaningful progress on a number of very important fronts.
October 25, 2009 10:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
"That's why I say the increase in independents of all stripes is a measure of dissatisfaction with both parties. By the way, your numbers might be a little bit off according to Gallup's latest polls."
JEM, you've got a nice false equivalence going there. That very same Gallup poll shows party ID now as follows:
R 25 I 41 D 32.
A year ago it was
R 33 I 32 D 34.
Guess which party is bleeding -- losing substantially more people?
October 26, 2009 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am not painting a false equivalence, no matter how many times you level the charge.
I am saying that just because the republican party has shed 8 points in the last year, that doesn't mean an equivalent rise in democratic or liberal leanings for the country.
If anything, you are suggesting that because the republican party no longer represents true conservative principles that somehow the entire country is more liberal as a result.
I would suggest that the last nine months has actually proved the exact opposite.
October 29, 2009 11:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
"the increase in independents of all stripes is a measure of dissatisfaction with both parties"
As a measure of dissatisfaction the loss by the Republicans of 8% is greater than the loss of 2% by the Democrats.
The 'measure' is not the same and that is where your equivalence is false.
Something the Republicans have done has disgusted their own party members as well as the rest of the country.
And for you to pretend that this is the same as the much more limited fall off from the Democrats is ridiculous.
October 30, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
The democrats held huge majorities for more than sixty years. Before the GOP went of the rails, most independents were refugees from the democratic party rather than the republicans.
Again, you put words in my mouth that I never said. There is no false equivalence here and I never suggested one, as evidenced by your lack of an actual quote stating or even implying that.
At least you have the right holiday for offering your standard strawman argument.
October 30, 2009 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
You implied that the rise in independents was due to dissatisfaction with BOTH parties. I present a quote from YOU to that effect and label that a false equivalence because the rise in independents is clearly driven by more people leaving the Republican Party which has indeed gone off the rails.
When you write that something is due to both factors and go no further the implication is that both factors are of equal weight and that is false in this case.
You keep trying to make the currently existing Republican party look more acceptable than it is by implying that it retains good characteristics that it has long since shed and by impugning the current Democrats. Good luck with that. Voters judge parties by what they expect them to do next, not on the basis of their histories of which most voters know little or nothing.
October 30, 2009 10:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wrong. Oh, wait, WRONG.
October 31, 2009 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Contentless.
I have noticed that you can't abide not to be the last commentator and that you are REALLY sensitive to criticism.
The capitalization was an attempt to emphasize that you were running away from the logical implications of your own words.
Like the time you attempted to claim that you didn't insult people ...LOL
October 31, 2009 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is that why you keep replying with conjecture and out of context statements that have nothing to do with my true opinions, goading me to respond.
You capitalize shit when you have nothing to say. When your comments are particulary contentless, you start bolding things too.
Transparent and immature, but carry on liberal warrior.
November 1, 2009 6:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
You fail to acknowledge error and make false claims about what you yourself have said and about what are reasonable inference and implications of how you have stated things. I bold so that other people than you can see how I have drawn my inferences about what you are stating. Your use of language reminds me of Christopher Robin who believed that he was hidden if all that could be seen was his toes and his hair. I believe that you intend the inferences that flow logically from your statements although you deny anything that you have not specifically stated, so I find you very disingenuous. An example on point was your apparent belief that you would be taken at all seriously when you claimed that you did not insult people. You seemed to think that most people defined insult as the application of an epithet whereas most people define insult as causing an unpleasant characteristic to be attributed to the person addressed which was something that you were doing big time.
As to why I keep responding, I dislike facile illogic being presented as logic.
November 1, 2009 8:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Pot, meet kettle. We're done.
November 2, 2009 7:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, really? Didn't think you were such a control freak you'd fall for that one.
November 2, 2009 7:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Word.
November 3, 2009 8:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good luck with that.
November 3, 2009 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Slaughter anybody else? That's easy for you to say but highly debatable. McCain was not a very strong candidate and it was easy for any Democrat to win since the state of the economy was so poor that most voters were looking for a change in direction. I don't think the '08 election was a slaughter and I think the next election will be won by a similar margin.
October 25, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not clear that that is the case. We can't tell from the data as presented whether independents are becoming more anti-Obama or whether more folks who used to be Republican and anti-Obama are becoming Independents.
October 26, 2009 8:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
And we also can't tell if Wattree is right that conservatives are "waking up in droves" and presumably fleeing their ideals.
October 27, 2009 6:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Conservatives are NOT fleeing their ideals - the GOP has. It no longer has any ideals, and now, many conservatives are asking themselves have they been hoodwinked all along - like on healthcare.
Is helping one's own family really a form of socialism? Is always enriching the rich what capitalism is all about? Are these jackleg preachers REALLY speaking for God? Does the Republican Party actually corner the market on morally? Can they trust the likes of Rush Limbaugh? And why is it that I like this president that their trying to demonize much more than I do the demonizers?
I'd say thinking conservatives are in deep contemplation at this point, and the GOP knows it. That's why they're desperate - and becoming increasingly dangerous.
October 27, 2009 7:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill,
How do you think President Obama was elected? And further, his approval rating is close to three times that of the GOP. So where do you think they're going - not all, but many?
I've gotten a pretty fix onconservative thinking. As I've pointed out before, one of the publications that I write for is very, very conservative. And I often get email from conservatives, many conservatives, saying that they no longer consider the GOP representative of their values.
The fact is, many thinking conservatives have become, at least, ashamed , and in some cases, outright hostile towards the Republican Party.
October 25, 2009 9:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Obama's approval rating is three times higher than the democratic Congress's as well.
October 25, 2009 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Take your hat off. You'll find a point there!
October 24, 2009 9:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ha!
Chuck, you're incorrigible. you just made me spit coffee all over my screen.
October 25, 2009 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rightoverhere,
If you don't get the point, perhaps it's only because your intellectual acuity only allows you to see what you want to see. But maybe your ears are in better working order. shout "Republican" and listen to the reverberating echo.
If the numbers continue to decline for the Republican Party, within a year you're going to have to change your screen Name to "RightoverWHERE".
October 24, 2009 11:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
If the numbers are declining, where are they going to? Do you think the Republicans are leaving to go root for the Socialist Obama? I don't think so. So what's really your point?
October 24, 2009 11:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
“The older we grow the greater becomes our wonder at how much ignorance one can contain without bursting one's clothes”
Mark Twain
October 25, 2009 1:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
The Republican Party is currently a train wreck.
October 26, 2009 9:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not challenging your ideas, eric, but I think there are a lot of GOP drop-outs who did so to escape being thought of as a loser - given the Winner/Loser pseudo-ideology of the right.
October 24, 2009 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
You may be right, Neoboho.
And please feel free to challenge my views. My posts are not intended as a lecture to the "little people', but rather, an offering of my views for discussion among peers.
I've long since recognized that I corner the market on neither intellect nor wisdom. Whenever I post to this site I come away with much more insight than I contributed. That's why I post here.
Most of my articles come directly from comments made on previous articles right here on TPM. In fact, this is where I learned to always make a distinction between true conservatives and the GOP leadership, and it was the most sensible lesson I've learned in years. It allows me to discuss the GOP with conservatives without their feeling that they have an obligation to defend GOP policies. And the best part is, I think conservatives are learning from it as well.
October 24, 2009 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Eric - you say that your posts are not meant to be a lecture to the "little people", yet you chastise those who don't agree with you. I find that contradictory.
October 24, 2009 11:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wait a minute, Bill...ok, I'll admit that the term "little people" gave me pause, but thinking it through I think Eric's use of the term is friendly and honest. The man has compiled some considerable moxie in the course of his career, and his claiming peerage with us here at TPM is a real compliment in my book. My sense is that Eric enjoys argumentation and debate, as I do, and I would expect him to rigorously defend his position. Maybe that's what you mean by "chastize."
That said, there really wasn't anything I disagreed with in his blog, but wanted to add my idea to the pot - I really do believe that political positions follow the grammar of fashion systems to a degree, and on all sides of the political spectrum.
October 25, 2009 2:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Neoboho. that's exactly what I meant.
If you notice, I have "little people" in quotes. That was intended to mean that while many writers think of us as the little people, I never allow myself to forget that I'm writing to my peers.
A writer should always assume that the reader is at least as intelligent as he or she is, and has just as much knowledge on the subject being written about. That forces the writer to double check for accuracy, and stretch to bring something new to the discussion.
October 25, 2009 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
I did not take offense to the "little people" quote. I took offense to your trying to pin certain independent events like the stock market crash as a response to "Reaganomics". Your writing is extremely partisan. It would be nice for you to at least point out all of the Democratic mis-steps over the last few decades, but I won't hold my breath on that one. Calling us a "cult" is meant to accomplish what exactly?
October 25, 2009 2:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it's the truth, Bill. Legitimate conservatives are leaving the Republican Party in such numbers that the people who are left and continue to support the GOP are so radical, and are in such lockstep in their views, that they are indeed beginning to resemble a cult.
Just like a cult, they seem to be saying, "We don't care what the rest of America thinks; we know the truth - we have God on our side." So they're not only beginning to resemble a cult, but a dangerous one at that.
October 26, 2009 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
If what you're saying is true, then the ex-Republicans that have left are just calling themselves independent but still can't stand the direction that Obama and the Democratic Congress is taking us in. They are not changing their principles.
October 26, 2009 3:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm sorry, Bill
But those weren't 'mis-steps'- they were blatant acts of political fraud.
October 26, 2009 7:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Political fraud? Those are big words for a simple guy like me. My point is that you only highlight the Republican ones and don't acknowledge the Democrat ones. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't think (for example) that the stock market crash was because of Reagonomics. I also didn't realize that the S&L crisis was squarely on the shoulders of the Republicans.
Why did you leave out the Holocaust, the dot-com bubble bursting as well as the current credit/housing crisis? I'm sure you think those are all also the fault of Republicans.
October 26, 2009 8:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
MiddleClassBill,
If I sound like I'm chastising those who disagree with me, please accept my apology. That is not my intent.
I consider the comments on this site a discussion among peers. I have absolutely no credentials are special knowledge that leads me t believe that my opinions are any more valid than yours. I simply try to put my opinions forward as forcefully as possible - not because I assume that I'm always rght, but because when I do, I get equally forceful responses.
There's one thing I want you to know about me, MCB. I'd rather be come away with new knowledge than to gloat over winning a debate, any day. Only the former that has any value.
October 25, 2009 9:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wrote to my reps today about McCain's bill that he names in the typical republican fashion of irony 'The Internet Freedom Act'. Apparently corporations need more freedom to make more profits off of the internet. I guess when you use the word freedom the right will blindly support you. We should take note of this and include it in every bill.
However I suspect it is also politically driven. I am sure that they would like to able to control what we have access too by using cost and speed to prevent us from being 'too active' online.
It seems insane to me that McCain would offer such unpopular bill that will never pass. If he does this it seems to me it's so he can be the target of the public's ire like Beck and Rush so that he can regain some status as a 'leader' among the republicans by being the asshole who tried to restrict our internet access.
I am relieved that the nutwing edge of the right is not highly populated and is diminishing. It restores my faith in humanity and evolution.
October 24, 2009 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Most Americans, particular those who haven't yet reached the conclusion that McCain is a dimwit, will not know or care what McCain is up to until they find all they can get fast on the internet is pay-for-view content requiring extra fees or sites for big retailers.
October 24, 2009 9:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Typical Republican fashion of irony, indeed!
I hereby award you the comment of the night award (if there is such a thing).
October 24, 2009 9:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain is also using the new catch-all GOP talking point that his bill is preventing 'a gov't take over' of the internet: McCain link
This government takeover of the Internet will stifle innovation, in turn slowing our economic turnaround and further depressing an already anemic job market.
...as if keeping the internet the way it is, is a takeover, and as if Mr. "Our economy is fundamentally strong' beer heiress marrying John McCain knows jackshit about the economy.
October 24, 2009 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, the "government takeover" of the Internet started with DARPA who fucking created the thing and developed it to what gave birth to WWW with government-funded universities and groups around the world...
October 25, 2009 8:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
30 Names to Remember:
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
October 24, 2009 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know where you're going with this, AJM,
but please expand on your reasons why we should remember these people, for everyone's benefit.
October 24, 2009 11:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
They voted against Franken's Amendment.
October 25, 2009 5:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
No...they voted in favour of allowing corporations to require their employees to consent to being raped.
October 25, 2009 8:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
... which is the point of Franken's Amendment.
October 25, 2009 10:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just helping you with framing :)
October 25, 2009 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
"their true agenda - to promote the interest of big business at the expense of the American people"
There is, of course Eric, no question that the Republicans are all you say they are in your post above and more. They have always been the repulsive collection of self serving authoritarians they are today. But in previous times they were able to gloss over their true nature with a patina of solid, stable, and authortiative sounding leaders who were oh so serious, etc... and who could be trusted. Now, having gone wild with their crackpot free market theories and business uber alles policies they have worn that veneer away. Now everyone can see the right wing extremist peddlers for what they are.
But getting back to your quote above, there is a harder truth to face. That truth is that the Democrats have now, in large part, been infected with the corruption that was the essence of the years of Republican dominance between 1980 and 2008. The Democratic Party is little different from the Republican Party in key respects now.
Sadly apropos of your post, there is no difference at all between the corporate Republican policy of stealing the wealth of the American people in broad daylight in order to cover the bad bets Wall Street's con artists made. The Obama admiistration has coddled the thieves of Goldman Sachs, et al exactly as their predecessors in the Bush administration did. As millions now go jobless as a result of their greedy malevolence, Wall Street's biggest crooks are getting paid off with our money in amounts bigger than ever before seen in the past. Nothing that the Obama administration does to try and make up for this sell out of the common people can even approach adequately doing so. Worse yet, the Obama administration allows Wall Street to continue to tell the government what to do instead of the other way around and continues without so much as a squeak out of Washington, to buy and sell the risky derivatives that brought the entire world economy to it's knees only one year ago.
Few are the Democrats in Congress today who can say they carry on the tradition of FDR in protecting the common people from the relentless greed of the bankers and other business parasites. As just one more example, look at how the alleged reform of our healthcare system has been twisted into an insurance subsidy bill! If we are going to move forward in this country and really change things we first must admit how deep and widespread the corruption of our party is and since we are now moving into an era of Democratic dominance (by default if nothing else) we little people must make clear to our leaders that we will not tolerate more of the same from Democrats except not quite as bad as things were under the Republicans. We cannot claim to be the kind of Democrats who saved the nation in the 30's or who established Medicare in the 60's if the majority of our elected leaders are just as beholden to the same corporate masters as the Republicans are. We must make it exceptionally clear to them that we demand they stop kowtowing to every whim of the business classes and start acting in the interest of the working classes including most of the middle class.
It does us no good to condemn Republicans only to have Democrats carry out the same agenda in a slightly more palatable fashion so the poison goes down easier whether pertaining to the obscene heist of tax dollars handed out to Wall Street crooks or if it is continuation and escalation of the wars we now wage for no apparents reason, that should never have been started to begin with. We must demand more and better than what we've seen out of the DC Democrats and the Obama administration in particular.
October 24, 2009 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Democrats are sorta bad, while the Republicans are horrendous. Until we get public funding of elections that's the way it's going to stay.
October 25, 2009 5:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Until we get more than 20- to 30-percent turnout for primary elections it will never change.
October 25, 2009 10:17 AM | Reply | Permalink
I fully agree, Tlees2.
October 25, 2009 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Oleeb. I was scrolling down the comments to make sure someone had posted this. There may be only a handful of Democratic Senators who aren't sold out to business and banking. We get a few bones tossed our way, mainly in the social issues arena. But there really isn't any justice for 'the little people,' the 'ordinary Americans' without economic justice, and not too many in DeeCee are helping us with that. The one true bi-partisan policy issue is the hijacking of the economy, and our needs are getting swept off the table like yesterday's toast crumbs.
If there ends up being true health care reform, it will be because a) the economy requires it and b)people made enough ruckus to get it, or at least get a little of it.
October 25, 2009 7:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
AMEN, Oleeb.
Your analysis is right on target. That why I pointed out in the article that "it's all about class."
I've written two or three articles on this issue. Politicians have become a class unto themselves. We've allowed them to give themselves too many perks, and way too many raises. They've gotten to the point now where they can't even identify with the people they represent.
If we ever want to get this government under control, we're going to have to snatch these politicians down a notch or two. We need to come up with a formula that makes it illegal for them to make any more than median income of America's middle class, and with a ceiling at a given amount above the minimum wage.
They also need to be FORCED to work five 8 hour days per week, and 11 months a year.
In short, they should be forced to live like we do.
October 25, 2009 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
The short cut to accomplishing this is, of course, to elect people who are not elitists or elitist wannabes. Democrats are notorious for electing people with lots of brains, but without lots of common experience. Personally, I attribute the isolation of organized labor and it's diminishing influence among the Democratic elite for this. We used to see a whole helluva lot more people elected to Congress who were real live workers. The lack of regular workers in the ranks of elected officials is also what makes plain speakers like Alan Grayson such a rarity among Democrats IMHO. The typical cowardly DC Democrats frown very seriouslly upon any of their peers standing up for regular people and actually fighting for what is good for the people. They consider it terrible form. It exposes them for the whores they are and it also upsets their paymasters in the corporate world. Howard Dean shocked them with talking and acting like a real person and they destroyed him as soon as he became a threat to the status quo.
October 25, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your right.
They also tend to look down their nose at Dennis Kucinich like he's some kind of wild-eyed radical, while he's just trying to bring a little common sense to the table.
Just the fact that Bush and Cheney are not in irons says it all to me - and contrary to popular belief, that's the issue that has many independents looking askance at Obama.
Once we've lost equal justice under the law, we lost America.
October 25, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rec'd
October 25, 2009 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
AMEN, Oleeb.
Your analysis is right on target. That why I pointed out in the article that "it's all about class."
I've written two or three articles on this issue. Politicians have become a class unto themselves. We've allowed them to give themselves too many perks, and way too many raises. They've gotten to the point now where they can't even identify with the people they represent.
If we ever want to get this government under control, we're going to have to snatch these politicians down a notch or two. We need to come up with a formula that makes it illegal for them to make any more than median income of America's middle class, and with a ceiling at a given amount above the minimum wage.
They also need to be FORCED to work five 8 hour days per week, and 11 months a year.
In short, they should be forced to live like we do.
October 25, 2009 11:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Eric - I think you can add another reason to your list that explains the Republican's 'take no prisoners' approach to health care reform.
During the 1993 attempt at reform, Bill Kristol sent out a strategy memo to Congressional Republicans advising them that they should:
The memo gave Republicans not only the method to defeat the bill, but provided the impetus for their 1994 takeover of Congress.
Because it worked so well then, I'm betting all they did was change the date on the memo before circulating it again.
October 25, 2009 3:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent point, Seashell.
Call me naive, but seeing these words in memo form and knowing that they are true quotes from real memos, it just makes my skin crawl.
I know the two-party system is supposed to be a good thing, for checks and balances, but to see them actually putting into memo form their "stratagy" for killing such important amendments as this, in a way that sounds so much like any marketing strategy from any given corporation trying to sell it's product, it's just....it's just way beyond what should be the norm, even in politics.
It's one thing to talk like that when you're competing in high school for class president, but for people we've placed in such high power to be talking about strategy over their constituents' lives with such total disregard of said constituents (i.e., us), it's chillingly mind-boggling to me.
October 25, 2009 4:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
I hereby tender unto you the Knightly Quote of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe Site, given to all of you from all of me.
THE PEASANTS ARE REVOLTING. HA!!!
October 25, 2009 6:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Says who?
October 25, 2009 6:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsV2O4fCgjk
Lest we forget...
October 25, 2009 6:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, LisB.
That a beautiful video.
October 26, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you, Dick.
I hereby accept this great honor on behalf of this TPM site. I just hoped we're not attacked by the GOP for being unworthy.
October 25, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just so we remember: The Senate ethics committee decided that McCain had 'shown poor judgement' in the Keating affair. (snort, guffaw!)
The cynical (realistic) view is that in order to clean himself up for a Presidential run in 2000, he co-authored the Campaign Finance Bill with Russ Feingold. With holes big enough to drive McCain's personal car fleet through. (Oh, those tricky-devil lawyers who write bills.)
I wish my memory were about ten times better, but I heard yesterday (on Maddow, maybe?) the dollar amount of contributions McCain has received in the past year from telecom industries. And it warn't just chicken feed.
The part of the meme about Disappearing Republicans is that all that can change practically overnight. One 'terrorist act' on the Homeland, and plenty in the country might be screaming to draft Mary Cheney and Newt Gingrich, hell, maybe even Bill Kristol or Sarah Palin.
These are simply abby-normal times. I ain't goin' with conventional wisdom on this one.
Sorry.
October 25, 2009 7:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
Potentially the movement of people from self-identifying as Republican to Independent is hugely important.
They are different populations. Significantly Independents are worried Obama won't succeed in his goals vs. Republicans worried he will.
The votes of the former can be influenced by Administration achievements in a way the (most of) the later can't be.
That's why the Republican "leadership" and their financial supporters are desperate to not allow healthcare reform to succeed.
October 25, 2009 9:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo!
Isn't it amazing what you can see when you open your eyes?
October 25, 2009 2:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
very few people have a clue to what is going on and the ones that do cant overcome the cult of racists that is the republican party.
so elections will be won at the national level as they always have by how good the person is getting on in their own life financially and how they view national security.
american people only care about how much money is in their pockets and how many people need to be killed to feel secure.
(present company excluded. I hope!)
October 25, 2009 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Jade,
And it is that very selfishness on the part ofthe American people that going to be our demise.
October 26, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink