Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Naked Cynicism



Still working to dig out from the worst economic crisis in eight decades, trying to end two disastrous wars, looking ahead toward energy independence, President Obama will now be facing half of a Congress full of people who think like this:

"So I think what's happened is you've had a real shift of power to the Republicans, de jure in the House and de facto in the Senate," Krauthammer said on Fox News. "But if you're a Republican, I think it works rather well in terms of strategy for '12.

"You really didn't want control of the two houses, because then Obama could do a Truman, where he ran against the do-nothing Congress and won re-election," the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist said. "If you put too much of the actual, official power to the Republicans, it makes them responsible.

"Right now, I think they're in the perfect position tactically: Control the House, object, propose stuff that Obama may veto, and run against him on that in 2012," Krauthammer said.

Right. God forbid Republicans would feel responsible. Or pitch in. Place country first.

Well, it's been obvious for a long time.

8 comments:

  1. The stock market is already up! All it took was some confidence in the people in government--and Republicans obviously inspire confidence. Hope your portfolio is doing well.

    --Bruijita

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, good one. In fact, I'd written a post for today about that very fact, titled "It's all about me," on the assumption that the market would have bounced big today. 26 points? Whoop de doo. It'll take more than that for me to publish the post.

    Fact is, since Obama was elected, the market has nearly doubled in value. My portfolio, under George Bush, lost 50% of its worth. Under Obama, it has grown steadily; though not, sadly, enough to recoup the losses, not by a long shot.

    What, exactly, based on history since (and including) Ronald Reagan, would suggest reasons to have confidence in Republican management of the economy?

    Extra credit question: who was the last president to balance the budget? Which party provided not a single vote for that budget?

    But I can't argue against the evidence that people seem to think like you. For the life of me, I can't see why. Not, certainly, in a single thing any of their candidates said. Ryan excepted, NONE of them proposed a way to fiscal balance that had the slightest twig of a root in reality. And Ryan's ideas wouldn't float a rubber duck in this political cesspool.

    On the other hand, promises of milk and honey for free have been the R version of snake oil for decades; and since the voters have been taught to want everything for nothing, they keep falling for it. I believe that's a popular definition of insanity, not enough of which, evidently, I was able to restore by taking the trip.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sid, I admire your take on many things so can you explain something to me. My impression is that the majority of Tea Baggers are middle class, they have jobs, they pay taxes, they aren't bums. And they support a Republican mindset that among [many] other things wants to continue to let the rich off the tax hook. They aren't rich themselves,yet they seem to approve that the wealthy are exempt from paying the kind of taxes they are being asked to pay.

    Perhaps I am being a simpleton but can you help me understand this?

    ReplyDelete
  4. No, sadly, I can't. In my state, an initiative that would have raised taxes only on the very wealthy and lowered property taxes for everyone, collecting 2 billion dollars to spend on schools, was resoundingly trounced.

    As I've said many times here, I think the teabaggers have been duped, taken in by very cynical and very wealthy people whose agenda is to avoid taxes at all costs, no matter the damage to the country; and they've found easily duped people on whom to lay their false "populist" rhetoric. Why they buy it so easily, I simply have no idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, I'm so sorry. But I'm sure you realize that the stock market was just under 10,000 when W took office. It hit a hight of 14,000 in Jul 2007--just a few months before the Democrats took over the House!

    Hope you do better--Republicans in the House sure helps!

    --Brujita

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yewer rot Say-ed, we tay-baygers r Stew-paid, Ah caint evin tah mah own shews witout mah neffew Cleetis-Monroe heppin'...
    but wat wure yew thankin way-uth awl yewer cay-ush in da day-um yankie stawk markit???
    but ay-eff yew nayd a little hep, ah got sum cun-fade-erette cay-ush burred in the bay-uck fawhty, but y'all hay-eff tuh mate may dawn bah da ole fishin hole the nay-ext tahm theres a full Mooon...

    haha that was fun..if you don't use a language you lose it...

    and btw whens Gitmo closin???

    Bueller? Bueller? anyone??

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bj: post hoc ergo propter hoc, eh?

    So you're saying the market crash was the Ds fault. Excellent. I like the way you think. Let's keep it in mind...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sid, Charlie Krauthammer and I went to GWU Med School together, and I was suspicious even then of him being a "Vulcan" not a Klingon... Charles has a way with words that most Klingons would not have in their vocabulary. He is board certified psychiatrist.

    ReplyDelete

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