Republican Madness

Republicans: Dumb But Not Stupid

February 18, 2012 By mario piperni

In the face of Republicans reluctantly ending their opposition and allowing the payroll tax cuts measure to pass through Congress, Senator John McCain described his political party in this way:

“We’re dumb, but we’re not stupid. We did not want to repeat the debacle of last December. It’s not that complicated.”

While there’s not much difference in parsing dumb and stupid (they pretty much have the same meaning), I think most of us can agree on what it is McCain was admitting. Basically, he’s saying that Republicans never do anything because it’s the right thing to do. Never. It’s always about politics for them.

Did anyone believe for a second that Republicans backed down from their obstructionist ways this one time because they honestly cared about the tens of millions of middle class workers who would benefit from a two percentage point increase in their paychecks? Or because they care a damn about the millions of jobless who will see their benefits extended in a time of economic crisis? I hope not for you would have to either be a complete moron or a blind partisan fool to believe that Republicans are anything other than self-serving, heartless bastards who finally understood that opposing a tax cut at this time was detrimental to their chances of winning in November.

Essentially, if an individual is not part of the one percent of society who fill their election coffers, Republicans don’t care much for them or about them. While trying to steal their vote in any way they can, the vast majority of Americans are little more than political pawns in the eyes of the modern GOP. Pawns who for whatever reason cannot see the manner in which they are being manipulated in the worst of ways. Republican policy which favors health insurers’ profits over the millions who cannot afford any health insurance. Policy which favors big oil’s record profits over the safeguarding of the environment and a fragile warming planet. And policy which favors the taking down of a president over the basic needs and welfare of Americans.

The Republican party is dumb but not stupid? Yeah, most rational thinking people get it.

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Filed Under: Republican Madness Tagged With: tax cuts

Saving the RINO

February 14, 2012 By mario piperni

From The Onion:

Saying the now critically endangered species of politician is at high risk for complete extinction within the next 10 years, Beltway-area conservationists announced plans Monday for a new captive breeding program designed to save moderate Republicans.

According to members of the Initiative to Protect the Political Middle (IPPM), centrist Republicans, who once freely roamed the nation calling for both economic deregulation and a return to Reagan-era tax rates on the wealthy, are in dire need of protection, having lost large portions of their natural terrain to the highly territorial Evangelical and Tea Party breeds.

“Our new program is designed to isolate the few remaining specimens of moderate Republicans, mate them in captivity, and then safely release these rare and precious creatures back into the electorate,” said IPPM’s Cynthia Rollins, who traces the decline of the species to changes in the political climate and rampant, predatory fanaticism. “Within our safe, enclosed habitats, these middle-of-the-road Republican Party members can freely support increased funding for public education and even gay rights without being threatened by the far-right subgenus.”

Nice idea although some would argue that it’s too late for any kind of recovery plan; the RINO, they’ll tell you, has already gone extinct. I don’t agree. I believe there are moderate Republicans out there but they’re too afraid to show their faces for risk of getting their heads blown off. Understandable. Simply stating, for example, that one agrees with the 97 percent of the world’s climatologists who point to man-caused global warming is enough to force a Republican to surrender their IDR (Idiot Decoder Ring) and tinfoil hat at the nearest GOP headquarters. Sanity and rational thought are not looked upon with great favor in Wingnuttia.

So what’s it going to take for moderate Republicans to make a comeback in a political party that has veered so far to the right that Ronald Reagan would be asked to return his decoder ring if he was around today? A thorough thrashing at the ballot boxes in November would do the trick, I think. Nothing ~~repudiates~~ refudiates behavior and policy better than a majority of citizens telling politicians to take their Stone Age, regressive ideas and shoving it.

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Filed Under: Republican Madness Tagged With: political humor

All In Favor Of Public Hangings, Say “Aye”

January 29, 2012 By mario piperni

From the compassionate conservative wing of the Republican party, Rep. Larry Pittman of North Carolina speaks out.

“We need to make the death penalty a real deterrent again by actually carrying it out. Every appeal that can be made should have to be made at one time, not in a serial manner,” Pittman wrote in the email. “If murderers (and I would include abortionists, rapists, and kidnappers, as well) are actually executed, it will at least have the deterrent effect upon them. For my money, we should go back to public hangings, which would be more of a deterrent to others, as well.”

How long before execution by guillotine for liberals and atheists is proposed by Republicans?

The surprise or concern is not that wingnut politicians say stuff like this. Republicans have been running on CRAZY for a while now. No, the real worry should be that enough Americans voted for this guy to get him elected.

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Filed Under: Abortion, Republican Madness Tagged With: capital punishment

Do Republicans Care About You?

January 24, 2012 By mario piperni

Saw this on Bartcop and at first glance, I thought it was cute but somewhat of an oversimplification…

…and then on further reflection, I realized it was in fact an accurate depiction of the Republican mindset. They would never admit as much but every policy proposal they make is geared toward helping the rich at the expense of the middle class and poor. The entire claim to fame of trickle-down economics, for example, as put forth by conservatives is that top-bracket tax cuts leads to a vibrant economy, more jobs and higher wages for the working class. Thirty years of trickle-down economic policies tells a different story but that doesn’t faze these people. They never let facts mess up a good story.

If you’re a Republican lacking either a fat bank balance or an umbilical cord, at least be aware that your political party doesn’t give a damn about you. And if you think differently, then you deserve exactly what you get from the politicians you elect into office.

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Filed Under: Republican Madness Tagged With: Abortion

Barry Goldwater’s Warning About Conservatives Without Conscience

January 2, 2012 By mario piperni

Yes, Virginia, there was a time when a degree of sanity did exist within the ranks of the Republican party, a time when sanity had not yet been overrun by delusion and madness…

“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.”

~ Barry Goldwater, November 1994, as quoted in John Dean, Conservatives Without Conscience (2006)

And now the religious right has been joined by the Tea Party crowd whose understanding of compromise and its crucial role in a functioning democracy is as deficient and dangerous as that of the Pat Robertsons of the party. I would go as far as to suggest that the Teapublicans in Congress pose a greater threat to the welfare of Americans than the combined efforts of every terrorist group in the world. The first requirement in dealing with danger is recognizing its presence and no one has a problem understanding that terrorists pose a threat. Not so with recognizing the danger presented by the slew of Tea Partiers in Congress where only a handful of conservatives have come to realize the destructive role these people play in making Congress an even more dysfunctional body. As well-meaning as some within the Tea Party may be, their dogmatic and intolerant attitude to compromise and understanding (as that of the religious right), only aids in weakening the political system.

Incidentally, I just finished reading Dean’s Conservatives Without Conscience over the holidays. It’s a good read if you’re at all interested in the evolution of the conservative movement and learning how the Republican party turned into the authoritarian entity it is today. Dean’s culprits are the religious right and the neoconservative wing of the party which have moved the GOP so far to the right that he believes the core principles of conservatism have been trampled upon and left unrecognizable – so far to the right has it shifted, says Dean, that he, a Goldwater conservative who has not altered his basic conservative beliefs, now finds himself stranded at the left of center.

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And I did want to say thank you to all my readers and a sincere wish that the new year (and if we’re to believe the New Agers interpretation of the Mayan calendar, our final year as we know it) is a good one.

Thank you.

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