You'd think rank-and-file Republicans would be jumping ship like rats at this point. I'm struck by the severity of the GOP's ideological bankruptcy. Party leaders an Conservative thinkers appear, in the last few weeks, to be embracing an identity as the party of Failure and the party of "Can't".
First, there is the notion that the GOP's solution to the drumming they received in the last election is to wait for the Dems to fail. As George Will plainly said on ABC's This Week, they wait for failure on the part of the other party. In order to... What, exactly? Get back some votes? When the youth vote broke by 30 or more votes for Barack Obama, that hardly seems like the path to a bright future. So your plan for resurgence is "wait for the other guy to fail"? That's really all they've got?
Next, the "Can't Do" party. Apparently, all Repubs can say to any proposed changes in this country is "No We Can't". I am waiting to hear a good reason why we "can't" put GitMo prisoners in to American supermax prisons. (I'm talking to you, Sen, Kit Bond, R-MO.) If its good enough for Sirhan Sirhan, it's sure as hell good enough for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, no? Also, we "can't" stop using torture, "can't" build the economy in any way other than tax-breaks-to-corporations and -the-wealthy, and "can't" come up with an alternative to free-market health care.
I know I'm not the only person in this country sick to death of "can't". How is this a path to the future for the GOP? Don't get me wrong. I'm totally happy to watch the party pursue this road to nowhere. As happy as I am to let them pick Sarah Palin as their candidate for 2012. Be my guest, GOP!
Don't Repubs at least pretend to think that positive ideology and plans for the future of this country matter to people? Or have they resigned themselves to be the party of the curmudgeonly and hateful (see Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and the musical preferences of Chip Saltsman)?
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3 comments:
Uh, isn't that their base?
Republicans aren't waiting for Obama to fail as much as they are waiting for the slightest crack of weakness and moral ambiguity so they can stick a crowbar in there and call it the Grand Canyon.
This isn't an argument you can win with facts. Facts are twisted to conform with the ideology because they are a party dominated by a vision of a Christian nation where a man can become a king if he has enough money. That is in direct conflict with the Democratic ideology of a country with diverse beliefs dedicated to the liberties of one another. The facts will always conform to support those ideologies because someone can twist them in that direction (i.e. blaming Clinton for deregulation that caused the economic collapse).
The only way I see to fight the Republican agenda is to fight it on an ideological level... not a logical one. Not "this is true and that's not" but "this is worth believing in and that isn't."
Re: "Republicans aren't waiting for Obama to fail as much as they are waiting for the slightest crack of weakness and moral ambiguity so they can stick a crowbar in there and call it the Grand Canyon."
Excellent point, Syd. This is where my frustration with talking points comes in. So often the talking points bear no relation to reason. But I guess the GOP isn't the party of reason, either.
"If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way."
-Bertrand Russell
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