R.I.P. Republican Party

[bench]

It's a good analysis and you know it. Hell, I too yearn for the white picket fence days when mom stayed home and out of wedlock pregnancies were kept on the down low. Have I not mentioned that Ike was my favorite president for gersh sakes? And immigrants are still some of the hardest working people in society. Lots harder working than the white trash takers, raised with a sense of dependency and entitlement

It is NOT a good analysis. He described beliefs that do not exist. NOBODY thinks the thoughts he described.

Plus he diminishes the differences between "then" and now and contends that the "then" never existed. It did exist. Not as he described it. But nobody ever thought it was as he described it. But in some of the areas he was talking about (family stability, teen pregnancy, crime) it was better then than it is now.

LEARN HOW TO USE THE GODDAMN QUOTE FUNCTION IN A REPLY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK TO SEE WHO THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU CONCUSSED KID-DIDDLING FUCKWIT.

It's not that difficult! See:

Plus he diminishes the differences between "then" and now and contends that the "then" never existed. It did exist. Not as he described it. But nobody ever thought it was as he described it. But in some of the areas he was talking about (family stability, teen pregnancy, crime) it was better then than it is now. And back then a grown-ass man could fuck 12-year-olds on a semi-regular basis and everybody was too polite and genteel to say shit about it and no one dared call you a creeper in public. I kinda miss that.

I didn't even use the easy button or nothin'. I did that shit the hard way.

[OL FU]

The death of the republican party as it used to be is a blessing. Democrat and Democrat-lite have simply put us on an unsustainable path, Arguments of over whether the top marginal rate should be 35% or 35.9% are quite frankly stupid.

[kalm]

Every Republican politician believes that their base thinks exactly the thoughts that Taibbi described. Or have you not been paying attention to the primary?

I know your frame of reference is somewhere stuck between Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and thinkprogress, but you can't honestly be that blind.

Oh reeeeeeeaaaaally? Conservative columnist David Brooks disagrees with you:

Of course, the professional politicians don’t want to get in the way of this torrent of passion and resentment. In private, they bemoan where the party is headed; in public they do nothing.

All across the nation, there are mainstream Republicans lamenting how the party has grown more and more insular, more and more rigid. This year, they have an excellent chance to defeat President Obama, yet the wingers have trashed the party’s reputation by swinging from one embarrassing and unelectable option to the next: Bachmann, Trump, Cain, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum.

But where have these party leaders been over the past five years, when all the forces that distort the G.O.P. were metastasizing? Where were they during the rise of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck? Where were they when Arizona passed its beyond-the-fringe immigration law? Where were they in the summer of 2011 when the House Republicans rejected even the possibility of budget compromise? They were lying low, hoping the unpleasantness would pass.
Without real opposition, the wingers go from strength to strength. Under their influence, we’ve had a primary campaign that isn’t really an argument about issues. It’s a series of heresy trials in which each of the candidates accuse the others of tribal impurity. Two kinds of candidates emerge from this process: first, those who are forceful but outside the mainstream; second, those who started out mainstream but look weak and unprincipled because they have spent so much time genuflecting before those who despise them.

Neither is likely to win in the fall. Before the G.O.P. meshugana campaign, independents were leaning toward the G.O.P. But, in the latest Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll, Obama leads Mitt Romney among independents by 49 percent to 27 percent.

Leaders of a party are supposed to educate the party, to police against its worst indulgences, to guard against insular information loops. They’re supposed to define a creed and establish boundaries. Republican leaders haven’t done that. Now the old pious cliché applies:

First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opini ... icans.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm a part of the "radical middle". Sorry, but if you're a supporter of the Republican Party these days, you're not invited!

[Ivytalk]

I know your frame of reference is somewhere stuck between Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, and thinkprogress, but you can't honestly be that blind.

Oh reeeeeeeaaaaally? Conservative columnist David Brooks disagrees with you:

Of course, the professional politicians don’t want to get in the way of this torrent of passion and resentment. In private, they bemoan where the party is headed; in public they do nothing.

All across the nation, there are mainstream Republicans lamenting how the party has grown more and more insular, more and more rigid. This year, they have an excellent chance to defeat President Obama, yet the wingers have trashed the party’s reputation by swinging from one embarrassing and unelectable option to the next: Bachmann, Trump, Cain, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum.

But where have these party leaders been over the past five years, when all the forces that distort the G.O.P. were metastasizing? Where were they during the rise of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck? Where were they when Arizona passed its beyond-the-fringe immigration law? Where were they in the summer of 2011 when the House Republicans rejected even the possibility of budget compromise? They were lying low, hoping the unpleasantness would pass.
Without real opposition, the wingers go from strength to strength. Under their influence, we’ve had a primary campaign that isn’t really an argument about issues. It’s a series of heresy trials in which each of the candidates accuse the others of tribal impurity. Two kinds of candidates emerge from this process: first, those who are forceful but outside the mainstream; second, those who started out mainstream but look weak and unprincipled because they have spent so much time genuflecting before those who despise them.

Neither is likely to win in the fall. Before the G.O.P. meshugana campaign, independents were leaning toward the G.O.P. But, in the latest Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll, Obama leads Mitt Romney among independents by 49 percent to 27 percent.

Leaders of a party are supposed to educate the party, to police against its worst indulgences, to guard against insular information loops. They’re supposed to define a creed and establish boundaries. Republican leaders haven’t done that. Now the old pious cliché applies:

First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opini ... icans.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm a part of the "radical middle". Sorry, but if you're a supporter of the Republican Party these days, you're not invited!

Brooks is the NYT "house conservative" these days, which necessarily makes him a centrist.

That said, he has a point. I was embarrassed as hell when O'Donnell beat Castle in that 2010 primary, although Mike wasn't my ideal candidate (I voted for him). I just want a true Goldwater conservative to lead the party, a common-sense small-government candidate who shunts social issues to the side where they belong. Obama is eminently beatable this year, and that's the real travesty visited upon us by poor party leadership.

[AZGrizFan]

It is NOT a good analysis. He described beliefs that do not exist. NOBODY thinks the thoughts he described.

Plus he diminishes the differences between "then" and now and contends that the "then" never existed. It did exist. Not as he described it. But nobody ever thought it was as he described it. But in some of the areas he was talking about (family stability, teen pregnancy, crime) it was better then than it is now.

LEARN HOW TO USE THE GODDAMN QUOTE FUNCTION IN A REPLY SO I DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK TO SEE WHO THE HELL YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU CONCUSSED KID-DIDDLING FUCKWIT.

It's not that difficult! See:

Plus he diminishes the differences between "then" and now and contends that the "then" never existed. It did exist. Not as he described it. But nobody ever thought it was as he described it. But in some of the areas he was talking about (family stability, teen pregnancy, crime) it was better then than it is now. And back then a grown-ass man could fuck 12-year-olds on a semi-regular basis and everybody was too polite and genteel to say shit about it and no one dared call you a creeper in public. I kinda miss that.

I didn't even use the easy button or nothin'. I did that shit the hard way.

Seriously, dude. You have GOT to post more.

Did I quote you correctly?

[YoUDeeMan]

These lowlife bastards are using illegal voter id's to stop ppl from voting.

Jesus Christ, would you stop defending lazy people? We live in the greatest country (ignoring the 20 square foot area around Cap'n Cat) in the world where we have the freedom and priveldge of being able to elect our leaders (as stupid as some of those decisions are) and all we need to do is to get off our azzes to obtain an ID that proves we're Americans.

Should we let every single person in this country vote...including the 20 million illegals? No.

Get a fvckin' ID.

[BDKJMU]

Neither is likely to win in the fall. Before the G.O.P. meshugana campaign, independents were leaning toward the G.O.P. But, in the latest Politico/George Washington University Battleground Poll, Obama leads Mitt Romney among independents by 49 percent to 27 percent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/opini ... icans.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Completely different #s than Rasmussen, dated today, which has Romney over Obama by 9 points over Obama among independents. If the GWU poll had Obama up by 22 then that is a 31 point difference between the 2 polls, which means one of them is likely garbage. Given Rasmussen's track record, I'm going to say the GWB poll is. :

".....As a result, with the president’s overall approval ratings down six points since Valentine’s Day, the general election polling is looking weaker for the incumbent. It remains to be seen, of course, if this is merely statistical noise or a lasting change signaling that the president’s recent bounce in the polls has come to an end.

For the first time since late December 2011, Mitt Romney leads the president in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Romney earns 45% of the vote, while the president attracts support from 43%. Romney holds a nine-point advantage among unaffiliated voters.

For the first time ever, Texas Congressman Ron Paul also leads the president. In that matchup, 43% prefer Paul and 41% Obama. Ten percent (10%) would vote for some other option, a figure that includes 17% of Republicans.

If former Senator Rick Santorum is the Republican nominee, the president leads by two, 45% to 43%....."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... cking_poll" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Baldy]

Oh reeeeeeeaaaaally? Conservative columnist David Brooks disagrees with you:

Is this the same 'conservative' David Brooks who is a self described "moderate"?

[Bronco]

I know conservatives and David Brooks is no conservative

If the New York Times thinks that columnist David Brooks is a “conservative” who balances the overwhelmingly Angry Left bias of its editorial and op-ed pages, it had better think again.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller ... nservative" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[kalm]

Oh reeeeeeeaaaaally? Conservative columnist David Brooks disagrees with you:

Is this the same 'conservative' David Brooks who is a self described "moderate"?

Exactly! You and Bronco do see the irony then.

[mainejeff]

The real reason that the modern Republican Party has become so extreme is because the modern Democratic party has become so extreme.

Not buying it. The tit for tat thing is getting OLD. Republicans have become EXTREME social conservatives.......and it is blinding the party to all other important aspects of governmental responsibility.

[Cap'n Cat]

These lowlife bastards are using illegal voter id's to stop ppl from voting.

Jesus Christ, would you stop defending lazy people? We live in the greatest country (ignoring the 20 square foot area around Cap'n Cat) in the world where we have the freedom and priveldge of being able to elect our leaders (as stupid as some of those decisions are) and all we need to do is to get off our azzes to obtain an ID that proves we're Americans.

Should we let every single person in this country vote...including the 20 million illegals? No.

Get a fvckin' ID.

Um, Cluckie, you've obviously been brain dead since January of 1981. We DO NOT live in the greatest country in the world. Our country is the largest consumer of precious oil, the largest debtor nation and, of the "industrialized", the most violent. Our politics are an embarrassment and we occupy countries and kill their citizens.

Many countries have surpassed us in standard of living, cost of living, and in per capita income, among other things, and they are MUCH more peaceful.

Nice try, Reagan Boy. Put in another quarter and try again, son.

[Baldy]

Is this the same 'conservative' David Brooks who is a self described "moderate"?

Exactly! You and Bronco do see the irony then.

No, I was just making fun of you calling David Brooks a conservative.

[D1B]

Jesus Christ, would you stop defending lazy people? We live in the greatest country (ignoring the 20 square foot area around Cap'n Cat) in the world where we have the freedom and priveldge of being able to elect our leaders (as stupid as some of those decisions are) and all we need to do is to get off our azzes to obtain an ID that proves we're Americans.

Should we let every single person in this country vote...including the 20 million illegals? No.

Get a fvckin' ID.

Um, Cluckie, you've obviously been brain dead since January of 1981. We DO NOT live in the greatest country in the world. Our country is the largest consumer of precious oil, the largest debtor nation and, of the "industrialized", the most violent. Our politics are an embarrassment and we occupy countries and kill their citizens.

Many countries have surpassed us in standard of living, cost of living, and in per capita income, among other things, and they are MUCH more peaceful.

Nice try, Reagan Boy. Put in another quarter and try again, son.

Clucker: The Joltin Joe of the conservative movement

[YoUDeeMan]

Um, Cluckie, you've obviously been brain dead since January of 1981. We DO NOT live in the greatest country in the world. Our country is the largest consumer of precious oil, the largest debtor nation and, of the "industrialized", the most violent. Our politics are an embarrassment and we occupy countries and kill their citizens.

Many countries have surpassed us in standard of living, cost of living, and in per capita income, among other things, and they are MUCH more peaceful.

Nice try, Reagan Boy. Put in another quarter and try again, son.

Standard of living measures are overrated...as is the cost of living thing. And, as long as you and jellybean keep wanting wide open borders so that immigrants can keep coming in droves, then the per capita income is going to stay low. I blame the lower class poverty numbers on you Donks...our own poor can't compete with the new folks.

Most violent? Jeez, I thought you liked the poor and inner city folks...now you're complaining about them and their violence? Chalk up another win for Donks...their supporters have a much higher murder rate then Conks.

And, of course, as far as embarrassing poltics go, you'll be sure to discard any of those countries that also have embarrasing political dictators...you know, the cocaine and oil exporting ones that Obama is cuddling up to.

Yup, you're right. This country needs a change of leadership. The Donks are really effing with our numbers.

[D1B]

Um, Cluckie, you've obviously been brain dead since January of 1981. We DO NOT live in the greatest country in the world. Our country is the largest consumer of precious oil, the largest debtor nation and, of the "industrialized", the most violent. Our politics are an embarrassment and we occupy countries and kill their citizens.

Many countries have surpassed us in standard of living, cost of living, and in per capita income, among other things, and they are MUCH more peaceful.

Nice try, Reagan Boy. Put in another quarter and try again, son.

Standard of living measures are overrated...as is the cost of living thing. And, as long as you and jellybean keep wanting wide open borders so that immigrants can keep coming in droves, then the per capita income is going to stay low. I blame the lower class poverty numbers on you Donks...our own poor can't compete with the new folks.

Most violent? Jeez, I thought you liked the poor and inner city folks...now you're complaining about them and their violence? Chalk up another win for Donks...their supporters have a much higher murder rate then Conks.

And, of course, as far as embarrassing poltics go, you'll be sure to discard any of those countries that also have embarrasing political dictators...you know, the cocaine and oil exporting ones that Obama is cuddling up to.

Yup, you're right. This country needs a change of leadership. The Donks are really effing with our numbers.

[Cap'n Cat]

Dude obviously does not watch TV.

[kalm]

Exactly! You and Bronco do see the irony then.

No, I was just making fun of you calling David Brooks a conservative.

Umm, you do realize that your proving Taibbi's point beautifully? Aint know room for moderates in that there party!

[YoUDeeMan]

Standard of living measures are overrated...as is the cost of living thing. And, as long as you and jellybean keep wanting wide open borders so that immigrants can keep coming in droves, then the per capita income is going to stay low. I blame the lower class poverty numbers on you Donks...our own poor can't compete with the new folks.

Most violent? Jeez, I thought you liked the poor and inner city folks...now you're complaining about them and their violence? Chalk up another win for Donks...their supporters have a much higher murder rate then Conks.

And, of course, as far as embarrassing poltics go, you'll be sure to discard any of those countries that also have embarrasing political dictators...you know, the cocaine and oil exporting ones that Obama is cuddling up to.

Yup, you're right. This country needs a change of leadership. The Donks are really effing with our numbers.

[/quote]

Help me out here:

1) When you have a large influx of cheap, unskilled labor, do wages go up or down? How does a decreasing wage base impact per capita income?

2) Can you break down the murder rates and other violent crime rates as they relate to income level? Can you compare those levels to our European counterparts?

3) Is Obama and our cartoonish government supporting an oppressive government in Afghanistan...providing millions to opium producing, misogynistic warlords? Did Obama organize a Friends of Bahrain alliance to help the oppressed minority civilian people of Bahrain as they were slaughtered by their government...our ally? Did he bother to impose sancations on Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Bahrain, etc., or did he continue treating them as friends...with benefits?

I'm looking for facts D1B and Cappy...got any?

[Cap'n Cat]

Help me out here:

1) When you have a large influx of cheap, unskilled labor, do wages go up or down? How does a decreasing wage base impact per capita income?

2) Can you break down the murder rates and other violent crime rates as they relate to income level? Can you compare those levels to our European counterparts?

3) Is Obama and our cartoonish government supporting an oppressive government in Afghanistan...providing millions to opium producing, misogynistic warlords? Did Obama organize a Friends of Bahrain alliance to help the oppressed minority civilian people of Bahrain as they were slaughtered by their government...our ally? Did he bother to impose sancations on Saudi Arabia, U.A.E, Bahrain, etc., or did he continue treating them as friends...with benefits?

I'm looking for facts D1B and Cappy...got any?

Well, yes we do, but you don't, indicated by the fact that you want to use incendiary words and exaggeration/extrapolation to describe, for example, the government, those warlords, and etc. You need a timeout, son. When you can speak reasonably and use facts without the ConkHate descriptors, well, then, we can talk. And, much of that can be asked of your boys W and Reagan, Burt.

[YoUDeeMan]

Dude obviously does not watch TV.

I don't watch much TV...if I do I watch science and nature programs...certainly not the news or any political party fluff job. Haven't seen a single debate...not a minute...nor any part of any of Obama's speeches. Why bother, it's just a show for the masses and a waste of any wise person's time.

Actions speak louder than words.

[Cap'n Cat]

Dude obviously does not watch TV.

I don't watch much TV...if I do I watch science and nature programs...certainly not the news or any political party fluff job. Haven't seen a single debate...not a minute...nor any part of any of Obama's speeches. Why bother, it's just a show for the masses and a waste of any wise person's time.

Actions speak louder than words.

You are an ignorant, blind man, Cluckie.

[Wedgebuster]

The bird has been angry of late, very angry.

Currently the trend in the primaries also, nothing but negativity and anger.

Great platform, that all that hate, anger, negativity, and despair. Let's call that H.A.N.D. for easy reference. That's what y'all are good for, HAND on your own dickies.

I can see how that could inspire a base.., of asswipes.

[YoUDeeMan]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/world ... lords.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"IRIN KOT, Afghanistan — The most powerful man in this arid stretch of southern Afghanistan is not the provincial governor, nor the police chief, nor even the commander of the Afghan Army.It is Matiullah Khan, the head of a private army that earns millions of dollars guarding NATO supply convoys and fights Taliban insurgents alongside American Special Forces.

In these cases, the warlords not only have risen from anarchy but have helped to spread it.

For the Americans, who are racing to secure the country against a deadline set by President Obama, the emergence of such strongmen is seen as a lesser evil, despite how compromised many of them are. In Mr. Matiullah’s case, American commanders appear to have set aside reports that he connives with both drug smugglers and Taliban insurgents."

That's the New York Times Cappy...not some right-wing journal. And they were kind.

New revelations about a U.S.-backed warlord in Afghanistan are raising questions about whether the United States has violated its own laws in its aim to defeat the Taliban. The Atlantic magazine reports the United States, under both former President George W. Bush and President Obama, has actively supported the police commander in Kandahar, General Abdul Raziq, despite knowing of his involvement not just in corruption and drug smuggling, but also in major human rights abuses including killings and torture.

The allegations against Raziq include responsibility for the torture of two teenage boys and the killing of 15 people in 2006. According to an investigation by our guest, Matthieu Aikins, for The Atlantic, the United States has continued supporting Raziq despite having been aware "of credible allegations that Raziq and his men participated in a cold-blooded massacre of civilians."


http://weeklyintercept.blogspot.com/201 ... .htmlCraig" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Murray is the former U.K. Ambassador for Uzbekistan who was sacked over his protests of the US and UK's use of the country as a torture pit stop in the 'War on Terror'. He is a human rights activist, writer, Rector of the University of Dundee and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Lancaster School of Law.

"Turning the focus of our discussion to the Afghan drug problem, I noted that the U.S. mainstream corporate media routinely suggest that the Taliban is in control of the opium trade. However, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Anti-Government Elements (or AGEs), which include but are not limited to the Taliban, account for a relatively small percentage of the profits from the drug trade. Two of the U.S.’s own intelligence agencies, the CIA and the DIA, estimate that the Taliban receives about $70 million a year from the drugs trade. That may seem at first glance like a significant amount of money, but it’s only about two percent of the total estimated profits from the drug trade, a figure placed at $3.4 billion by the UNODC last year. Meanwhile, the U.S. has just announced its new strategy for combating the drug problem: placing drug traffickers with ties to insurgents —and only drug lords with ties to insurgents — on a list to be eliminated. The vast majority of drug lords, in other words, are explicitly excluded as targets under the new strategy. Or, to put it yet another way, the U.S. will be assisting to eliminate the competition for drug lords allied with occupying forces or the Afghan government and helping them to further corner the market.



Want more?

[YoUDeeMan]

I don't watch much TV...if I do I watch science and nature programs...certainly not the news or any political party fluff job. Haven't seen a single debate...not a minute...nor any part of any of Obama's speeches. Why bother, it's just a show for the masses and a waste of any wise person's time.

Actions speak louder than words.

You are an ignorant, blind man, Cluckie.

Good comeback, Cappy...almost as effective as Wedgie's. You two must be in a race to be the funniest class clown. Good luck!