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TechnoratiRepublicans, a Threat to the Republic?
Sarah Palin's abrupt decision to resign as Alaska's governor - and her rambling explanation - underscore again how the Republican Party over the past dozen years has put up candidates for top national offices who are unqualified or ill-suited for those sensitive positions.
Like Palin, George W. Bush was a charismatic underachiever who hadn't accomplished much in life and showed little intellectual firepower but was nevertheless presented by the GOP as its candidate for one of the most powerful jobs on earth.
However, unlike Palin who lost her vice presidential bid, Bush won the presidency for two terms - in two dubious elections - with disastrous consequences for the nation.
Then, even amid the wreckage of the Bush administration's final days, the Republican Party enthusiastically nominated first-term Alaska Gov. Palin to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, which they hoped would be filled by 72-year-old cancer survivor John McCain.
The Republican Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, was a glimpse into Crazy Town, with a national party gone giddy over the folksy Sarah Palin, who we were told could "field-dress a moose." The dominant chant of the convention - sometimes led by Palin herself - was "drill, baby, drill."
On the campaign trail, Palin tossed out the reddest of red meat, accusing Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists" and whipping angry white crowds into anti-Obama shouts of "kill him" and "traitor." She seemed oblivious to the demagogic passions that she was unleashing - or she simply didn't care about the possible consequences.
Palin finally unraveled with her simple-minded answers to simple questions during network TV interviews.
In trying to burnish her foreign policy expertise she famously declared, "you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska." In elaborating on the point, she later said, "As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."
As Palin flamed out, her defenders claimed that the "liberal media" was picking on her. On one radio talk show, a caller complained to me that CBS News' anchor Katie Couric had asked Palin unfairly tough questions. I responded by noting that one of those "tough" questions was what newspapers Palin read, to which Palin couldn't manage a coherent answer.
By the end of Campaign 2008, most American voters had concluded that Palin was simply not ready for prime time. But she remained beloved by many rank-and-file Republicans and had staunch advocates among the GOP establishment, including leading neoconservative voice William Kristol.
In looking toward Campaign 2012, political commentators counted her among Republican top-tier presidential candidates. (So, too, were Sen. John Ensign of Nevada and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford before those moral-values champions admitted to extramarital affairs,)
Now the impetuous Palin has decided not even to complete her first term as governor, quitting with 18 months to go. In her stream-of-consciousness resignation statement - that veered from self-righteous to self-pitying - Palin seemed to suggest that she was quitting so she could avoid the lame-duck temptation to take junkets.
"I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks, travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade - as so many politicians do," Palin said Friday from her home in Wasilla, Alaska. "And then I thought - that's what's wrong - many just accept that lame-duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck and ‘milk it.'
"I'm not putting Alaska through that - I promised efficiencies and effectiveness. That's not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old ‘politics as usual.' I promised that four years ago - and I meant it. It's not what is best for Alaska. I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable."
So instead of completing the job that the people of Alaska hired her to do - be their governor - Palin announced her decision to quit by the end of July. Amazingly, there's still hope in some Republican circles that Palin will use her free time to mount a campaign for the White House in 2012. (Kristol said Palin may have been "crazy like a fox.")
And given the GOP's continued media clout and its sophisticated attack capabilities, it surely is not out of the question that the Republicans might regain the White House in the not-too-distant future with another high-risk candidate, possibly even Palin herself.
Democratic Comparisons
While the Republicans send up light-weights like Bush and Palin, the Democrats generally select candidates with strong credentials in governance.
By comparison to Bush in 2000 and 2004 and Palin in 2008, the Democrats correspondingly put up Al Gore, John Kerry and Joe Biden. While those three men surely have their shortcomings, they all are highly qualified and deeply experienced individuals.
Even a Democratic newcomer like Barack Obama demonstrated a first-rate intellect and impressive organizational skills as a candidate.
Yet, the idea that the Democrats are the "responsible ones" and the Republicans are the "crazies" is disconcerting for someone like me who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s in a Republican household with Barry Goldwater's Conscience of a Conservative on my nightstand.
Then, the Republicans were the party of Rotary Club businessmen who met payrolls, balanced budgets, led community charities and - while supporting necessary government investments in roads, schools and other public works - held a reasonable skepticism about Washington's ability to solve all the nation's problems.
Though there were imbalanced and dangerous GOP leaders then, too, like Sen. Joe McCarthy and Vice President Richard Nixon, the most powerful Republicans were generally solid characters like President Dwight Eisenhower and Sen. Everett Dirksen. Only over the past three decades has anti-intellectual anti-empiricism transformed the GOP into a modern-day know-nothing party that disdains facts and reason.
Ronald Reagan, with his loose relationship with reality, was an early version of this new Republican, but George W. Bush and Sarah Palin have taken Reagan's tendencies to new heights. Over the past eight years, Bush and his neocon advisers treated information as something to be twisted and falsified, all the better to mislead a gullible public.
For Republicans, dogma regularly overrode reason. The GOP response to the federal debt and the growing gap between America's rich and the rest of us has been to advocate tax cuts and more tax cuts, to let the wealthy consolidate an equity imbalance not seen since the pre-Depression days of the 1920s.
In the face of the record deficits spurred by Reagan and Bush tax cuts, the party simultaneously embraced the neocon agenda of expanding America's global empire and settling international problems through the costly option of military force.
Despite the resulting harm to the nation's economic health and to the stretched-thin U.S. military, the Republicans have refused to rethink either their tax cuts or their overseas military commitments. Instead they have opted for a political strategy of attacking anyone and any proposal that seeks even a mildly different approach.
And the pattern of rejecting science and objective evidence continues. Recently, during a House debate about cap-and-trade legislation aimed at reducing global warming, GOP members cheered a claim that the science regarding this deepening environmental crisis was "a hoax."
Scaring the Democrats
Perhaps, the Republicans' greatest success has been in intimidating Democrats, many of whom are scared away from charting a different course out of fear that they will be targeted by the Right's potent attack machine.
Even in the midst of a budget crisis, worsening unemployment and the harmful disparity between the rich and the rest, mainstream Democrats won't broach the idea of restoring the top marginal tax rate of 50 percent, which prevailed during most of Reagan's presidency, compared to the 35 percent now.
The best the Democrats can muster is to sit back and let some of Bush's tax cuts expire next year, letting the figure rise a few percentage points but not nearly enough to address the nation's looming budget crisis. (During the Eisenhower years, the marginal tax rate - the percentage that the richest Americans paid on the top end of their income - exceeded 90 percent.)
Sometimes, it seems Democrats would prefer to see Obama's reform agenda fail - and the United States careen toward bankruptcy - than face the prospect of more GOP attack ads accusing them of "tax-and-spend."
Another key factor in this political dysfunction is that journalists in the mainstream media have their own career fears about being accused of "liberal bias" if they challenge right-wing canards or investigate GOP crimes.
With a few exceptions - like MSNBC's experimental evening lineup of liberal hosts - the U.S. news media continues to cower before the Right's demonstrated ability to destroy journalists who get in the way.
The American Left has contributed to the crisis, too, by failing to invest much in building media outlets that will stand up to pressures from the Right, even as pro-Republican financiers were pouring billions of dollars into the construction of a vertically integrated right-wing media apparatus ranging from books, magazines and newspapers to talk radio, cable TV and the Internet.
This combination of factors has enabled the Republican Party to guide a large portion of the American population into a never-never-land of made-up facts and raging paranoia.
And, as Palin's bizarre resignation statement made clear, the GOP was excited over possibly handing the reins of national power to someone who was clearly unstable and unfit for high office.
After eight years of George W. Bush and last year's nomination of Sarah Palin, the question must now be asked whether the Republican Party in its current form has become a clear and present danger to the security of the United States and to the future of the American Republic.
70 Comments so far
Show AllWhat "Republic?" Where has Parry been?
Once more time: In the democracy I envision there are neither political parties nor politicians, and you vote to decide issues, not to choose surrogates.
Under such arrangements we would be free of all these problems and misadventures.
In the spirit of observing the obvious, people gather their data points and connect the dots that illustrate their perception of reality. What I find interesting is that any pool of data points can be tainted by the concupiscent behavior of those charged with creating and/or illuminating the data facts supporting what they lust for. When people debate the reality of one set of data points over a conflicting viewpoint they use their version of logic. These days arguments frequently do not appear to employ much classical logic, which is the science of argument through the identification and processing of fallacies.
It's a great truth that logic and democracy were born in the same part of the world, were tied together at the hip, and that propagated ignorance for personal benefit or gain significantly affects them both.
That's one of the biggest issues. The propagation of ignorance for personal gain. This is marked by concupiscent behaviors with the related cognitive distortions. These cognitive distortions have been studied and have names with definitions. Please Google "Thinking Errors" to learn more. Then please look at which political party manifests them more.
In our world, ignorance is not bliss, it's malignant. Malignancy eventually affects the health of the host. Share the truth and fight it.
Very well written article. Yes, the GOP is constructed of a bunch of baffoons who applaud things like war, and a small group of CEO's aspiring to trillionair status while firing half of the country and moving overseas. The issue is that, if you're a liberal, you must be very dissapointed with Obama so far. Is he a conservative dressed in a liberal's clothing? His actions have confirmed this so far.
Okay, I give. Had Gore been appointed, I doubt we'd have had Iraq. That said, BOTH parties are no threat to this "republic", constituted as it is under a Constitution dedicated to government by the plutocrats, for the plutocrats, and of the plutocrats. If people like you and me want a government suited to our needs, this one ain't it, nor has it been since 1789.
But VP Joe Lieberman would have pushed for Iraq just like Obama is pushing for more wars and spying more than even Bush and Cheney could have dreamt of.
Why are we wasting time talking about Sarah Palin when Obama/Biden and the Democrats are the ones in charge? If Obama/Biden were actually doing their job, Sarah Palin would be less of a media distraction but since Obama, Pelosi, Reid, etc ... have nothing to show for their "majority" victories in 2006 and 2008 other than giving the GOP more toys even when we adults voted NO NO NO, we have to be suddenly subject to her. I don't like what Sarah Palin has to offer but can we please just leave her alone already ? It's not as if she is going to run for president unless Obama fails really miserably by moving further to the right though he's already gotten there so maybe the elites are scared of a growing number of disaffected voters ?? Why am I not surprised ? And no, I'm not a Republican or a Palin supporter.
Democrats are already as bad a threat to the Republic by taking single payer health care off the table and even trying to force liberal advocacy groups to back off trying to get the pols to put it on the table. Obama even censors progressive dissent on his own website but not rightwing nonsense. And with Obama planning to expand on Dubya's Big Brother programs, we might as well have been stuck with Mccain/Palin who we'd know would have continued it. Then again, I'm not so sure Palin would have gone this far. She may have eventually caved in to some of what the neocons wanted but not so fast unlike Obama. Maybe I'm losing my mind but maybe we need Sarah Palin for president to make us all cry and learn the real meaning of freedom and independence the hard way !!
"and even trying to force liberal advocacy groups to back off trying to get the pols to put it on the table. "
And the fact that there are liberal advocacy groups that are pushing Obama and other Dems is a good thing. As is the fact they are effective enough for the president to call them out on it. Did you ever think MoveOn.org would be chastised by Obama?
I am truly sick an tired of all the carping on this site about Obama. This is what cheers the cold hearts of Republicans. Divide and conquer is their strategy. On the other hand, the rightwingers take orders and march to the tune. They listen closely to the words of their fuhrer, der Rush Limbaugh, and parrot the talking points. They do not think, they do not talk about how bad their politician is, they do. This is part of how Republicans have been so successful recently - obedience of their masses to the republican propaganda of lies and smears. And then they divide the opposition into tiny, warring camps. Voila, they win many battles. Democrats and Independents think for themselves sometimes too much. But in the end, the Democrats are the only ragged edge of progressivism of ANY viable sort left in this country, so just keep pushing that party leftwards. Or just throw in the towel and go off a bridge. (My proof of no-god: Bush and Cheney and Limbaugh live and thrive.)
And, just as that last 'voting opportunity' that gave California bankruptcy simply because only 20% of the eligible voters voted AT ALL and 11% voted NO to a hammered-out compromise (which sadly gave Gubernator Arnold the opportunity to say "the people have spoken"... yeah, 11% of the people), the people that say 'hell, I'm not voting because it is between tweedle dum and tweedle dee,' actually Surrender and Capitulate to the right-wing Nutjobs that DO vote out of pure spite, and vote from pure hatred of every 'liberal' (hate word synonymous with 'Commie') thing. Though by much of the commentary on this site you'd never know it, for the Rightwing Republiklan, Obama is a Dirty Socialst and a Terrorist-Loving Muslim Commie. Are we talking the same person? This is how far the ideological divide has gotten. Civil War II anyone?
Obama is very far from perfect, and there is work to be done in PUSHING him to realize a progressive agenda, but saying one would rather have Palin or McCain or that it makes no difference leaves me abjectly disgusted. So why don't you people instead start NOW with forming a new and VIABLE party, not just a McKinney at a coffe klatch and then wonder why everyone doesn't just vote for her. Don't be so delusional!
Like averting a potential catastrophe, you can never be sure what you have averted. But following here is a little snapshot of what we probably avoided by electing Obama (who by his very nature is by himself a measure of progress).
For one, we would be At War with Russia now if McCain had been elected... if we were still around and not vaporized. And the troops for Afghanistan? Make it an even 500,000, along with another couple of Trillion Dollars a year for defense contractors, as they are sorely underfunded now for patrolling the world for potential (maybe) future bad guys at all times. And drilling for oil? Anywhere beyond your front door is a-ok. Drill baby drill.
And taxing the rich and corprations? How about NO TAXES for the rich and for corporations, for after all, they 'provide' the jobs and the 'capital' for growth, and you might scare them out of the state or even the country, if you have the gall to, heaven forbid, TAX them! And healthcare? How about a $5,000 line-of-credit (re-payable in simple installments with compound interest)a year towards buying your own damn health insurance from a friendly insurance company. And unions? How about a national 'right-to-work' law outlawing unions.
And that pesky Roe V Wade? Say, "Chief Justice Pat Robertson," and say goodbye to freedom of choice. In fact, to protect your 'freedom', say goodbye to liberty and free speech, too. There you have the McCain/Palin presidency in a NUT shell. Still think Obama's election made no difference at all?
I am cynical, but I can't be completely cynical unlike some, and I do think the Democrats are Center-Right and sadly dominated (like we all are) by the factor of money, but that is way way better than Republiclan Rabid Crazy, and the howling loons of the Far Right are exactly that, and, whether Palin or Gingrich or McCain or Cheney or Kristol or Rove et al, they are all Dangerous to the very existence of the Nation. And if you can't see that difference, you are willingly blind, and will do no good in helping progress forward. So cut the carp.
Well said FVHorn,
If I have to choose Dems over repubs, it will be dems.
The Repubs have had the white house 28 years of the last 40, and thanks to them and a complicit ddemocratic party, they have ruined America and turned us into a right wing religous police state.
Our supreme court should be impeached just based on the fact that they would allow the Patriot Act and give immunty to warrantless surviellance government agencys.
Baam!!!!, Right there, Impeachment.
But , because of this rediculous and arrogant ignorance of our Constitution, we now have local , state , and federal support of community watch gang stalking warrantless surveillance of unsuspecting Americans.
This community watch law breaking is being overseen and run by your local Fire departments and EMS first responders.
Apparently , they can come into your homes, follow 24/7, wire tap your phones , bug your house and cars, and invade every inch of your privacy.
No Accountabilty while they slander your name , and destroy your life, because they operate under the DHS umbrella of National Security Letters.
Two years latter, they are still at it, and they wont arrest me , because I am innocent of all their lies, and by giving me my day in court they would be exposed for the criminals that they are, and I could win huge amounts of money in damages for what they are doing to me.
Make no mistake about what I am about to say, these people are the right wing religous uppercrust of your comminty, and were given these powers by the Bush/Chenney regime, along with grant money to build a nation wide spy network of right wing stazi informents.
WHY , to protect you??, but more to insure that they could control political opponents with intimadation and slander.Baically , insure republican domination.
These poeple are drunk with unchecked power, and they are domestic terrorists.
BornFreeMen ,
Gang stalking Domestic Terrorist victim , Bradenton Florida , 2.7 years.
And no , I wont shut up, not till every last government domestic terrosist is exposed.
PS, These lunatics are up my butt, the second I get in my car, and have been for two years, since I drive 150 miles a day on average, three to four hours a day in my car for my job, I would concider what they do as extreme psychological domestic terrorism. I dont have a choice, if I could find a job that paid as well , where I could sit in an office 8 hours a day, I would, but they know I cant, and to some extent would interfere if an oppertunity came along, they want me in my car so they can torture me to my destruction.
Oh by the way, they have been trying to conceal what they do to me since Obamas election, they are actully trying to be covert.
Since I work for Rebulicans , that are very well connected, and I know they know whats happening to me, and might even be involved, my sservice calls are manipulated to insure maximum exposure to gang stalking domestic terrorists.
Let me help you guys out, you fail. You have tortured me to the point where I am extremely aware of all my surroundings and activitys. You see, torture just made me a better survivalist, and you guys suck at what you do.Because you are Domestic Terrorists. You are law breaking eveil doers hired by the decider.By the way , he got fired, for lieing, putting us in two wars and fear mongering.
Here's another rant from an Obama apologist. If FVHorn had actually taken the time to look up everything Obama has done so far and compared it to what Bush did in the last 8 years, FVHorn would have realized that Obama has done nothing but continue Bush's policies and even moved to the right of Bush. War with Russia? If Iran is any indication, Russia can't be too far off.
"And taxing the rich and corprations? How about NO TAXES for the rich and for corporations, for after all, they 'provide' the jobs and the 'capital' for growth, and you might scare them out of the state or even the country, if you have the gall to, heaven forbid, TAX them! And healthcare? How about a $5,000 line-of-credit (re-payable in simple installments with compound interest)a year towards buying your own damn health insurance from a friendly insurance company. And unions? How about a national 'right-to-work' law outlawing unions."
Obama's keeping it that way in case you didn't notice.
"And that pesky Roe V Wade? Say, "Chief Justice Pat Robertson," and say goodbye to freedom of choice. In fact, to protect your 'freedom', say goodbye to liberty and free speech, too. There you have the McCain/Palin presidency in a NUT shell. Still think Obama's election made no difference at all?"
Every Republican always promises to overturn Roe v Wade but they never do that once in office because if they did, they'd lose a social issue that attracts more voters to the polls. And what about the Democrats? Last year, Obama botched the debate on abortion.
Apparently, you have learned nothing about the folly of voting for the lesser of the two evils. We have a right to critique Obama. If Obama would actually move slightly progressive which he has yet to do, then we might have less to complain about. Either you get your facts straight or please go to an Obama loving site like Huffpost.
JenniferBedingfield,
Obama and his gang ought to be impeached for continuing war crimes and assaults on the U.S. Constitution!!!!!! And continuing with the Bush Doctine of pre-emptive war and secret detentions and not repudiating the Patriot Act!!!!
Not to mention the constant war crime of threatening other nations with military force if they do not do X, Y or Z. Yes, those are commonly known as Hitler Laws in which a nation threatens another with the use of military force and death. Obama is GUILTY as Charged on this one as his minions like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden continually threaten Iran and so too has Obama done it as well.
These are war criminal actions by Obama and his administration. Thus, yes, Obama ought to be impeached for violating internatioal treaties enshrined into the U.S. Constitution, let alone his continued practice of torture and secret detentions around the globe.
I don't know if you read my longish comment above-- or below, depending on how you view the thread.
Somewhere in there I was pointing out that Palin has indeed been demonized to an extent which can't be explained by her apparent lack of qualifications.
IMO, the moderate liberal Democrats' virtual obsession with Palin serves to distract from the glaring flaws and deficiencies in their own house-- the White one. That's why they can't or won't leave her alone, or let her find whatever destiny she is seeking without accompanying her journey with boos and catcalls.
· Yr Obd't Servant
OS,
My apologies for getting taken over by the article I forgot to read the comments alongside. Now that I read that post and actionjackson's, I think you two said it better.
GREAT thread, posts, sharing, smart, funny now and then, cordial, shucks you all,
On three, all you threaders take a bow...
Three! Cool, got a picture. mercimerci
My pleasure, but I wish you'd given us a heads up-- these pants make my ass look big.
At least I'm pretty sure it's the pants.
· Yr Obd't Servant
the republicans are a danger to the republic for one reason
they religiously believe all that nonsense about stimulating the economy by not taxing the rich
and about so called free unregulated trade, and free unregulated markets
to have a thriving economy you need to worry about the distribution of wealth issue, i put money in hands of people who will actually have to spend it...... and "investing" doesn't count as spending
the republicans are a danger to the republic for one reason
they religiously believe all that nonsense about stimulating the economy by not taxing the rich
and about so called free unregulated trade, and free unregulated markets
to have a thriving economy you need to worry about the distribution of wealth issue, i put money in hands of people who will actually have to spend it...... and "investing" doesn't count as spending
"While the Republicans send up light-weights like Bush and Palin, the Democrats generally select candidates with strong credentials in governance."
Sure, Parry, those strong Demok credentials serve the elites well. But you won't say so, will you?
The U.S. under Obama continues to erode and in a big way, too. Under Obama, the war crimes and extrajudicial measures continue. Obama is no saint and needs to be hekd account for his crimes against humanity, just like his predecessor, George W. Bush. Yes, I am calling out the Obama administration on their war crimes and continued threats against Iran with military action which is a war crime, as well. Thus, Obama and his gang ought to be impeached for continuing war crimes and assaults on the U.S. Constitution!!!!!! And continuing with the Bush Doctine of pre-emptive war and secret detentions and not repudiating the Patriot Act!!!!
Obama like Bush is a law breaker of U.S. Law and International Law. Obama, Biden, Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Eric Holder, and Leon Panetta are all war criminals and many more in that administration as well.
"Republicans, a Threat to the Republic?"
More accurately, both Republican and Democrat conservatives are the threat. The modern conservative is a bit different than those the author knew:
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
John Kenneth Galbraith
Screw Sarah Palin.
She isnt neurotic enough, and her part time governorship is too much of a qualification for the presidency.
FrANNken C(O)Un(L)TER for President!!!!!!
Love
Zero
I hope no one really believes this twaddle. republicans all bad and stupid.....democrats all good and smart.
This is a swing of fortunes that is politically normal. Thinking like this will get your head handed to you in the next election.
People that kid themselves about reality don't last long.
ActionJackson62:
-- As one wordy commenter to another, I caution you to pace yourself. It's hard to get a word of agreement in edgewise! ;)
__________________________________
In the comments to Frank Rich's article posted on CD today, there is some discussion of whether it is right to characterize Madoff as a "scapegoat", insofar as it suggests that he himself is not responsible for his crimes. My view is that blame or guilt is not a zero-sum quantity, and that one can both blame Madoff as an individual AND still understand that he is the product or symptom of a corrupt system.
I feel the same way about Sarah Palin. When the Republican Party pulled her out from under her Alaskan rock, I thought of Katherine Harris-- another ditsy, ambitious Republican wingnut serving the reactionary cause.
Still, over the campaign period, and even into the present, I was shocked by the absolute brutal animosity that arose in the Democratic ranks.
My 2¢ pop-psychology opinion is that at least some of this unremitting animus and rancor was a reaction of the PUMAs and less obstreperous Hillary supporters. It was as if choosing an obscure WOMAN as Veep was considered the dirtiest of tricks-- an attempt to steal the identity-politics game that Democrats had owned for decades.
It was as if HILLARY, like Glinda the Good Witch, was SUPPOSED to be the first woman vice-president! And now those loathsome Goopers summoned the Moronic Witch of the Northwest to steal Hillary and the Democratic Party's Place in History!
For instance, the mushy moderate liberal Joan Walsh, editor of Salon.com, to this day pounces on every possible twist and turn of Palin's peculiar life to mock and deride her. Strictly speaking, I don't know if Walsh herself oversees this almost daily scourge. But Google for yourself to see the avalanche of Palin-sneering and criticizing published there.
Last summer, I mentioned to my brother, an Obama-supporter, that I was horrified by the anti-Palin overkill arising from both political opponents and the moderate-liberal blogosphere. He shot me down by snarling that it certainly WAS contemptible and outrageous that the Republicans would resort to picking a provincial nitwit as a "Hail Mary" strategy to gain political traction.
My own brother, otherwise intelligent and perceptive, treated my observation as if I were "supporting" or commending Palin. I tried to explain that even if Palin was as pathetic and unfit for high office as it seemed, the hostility and rancor was a quantum leap greater than that elicited by other trashy opportunists, e.g. Katherine Harris.
I think Palin critics doth protest too much, and make her a Poster Child for depraved politics to displace and deny the depravity in their OWN politics.
And speaking of women in politics, reading Parry's laudatory descriptions of her Democratic "competitors" reminds me of a CD poster last year who rejected Cindy Sheehan's congressional campaign because of her lack of "credentials".
I pointed out that conventional contemporary Amerikan "inside politics" advocates make a virtue of technocracy and professionalism. Thus, our process eschews and excludes "amateur" politicians in favor of incumbents and other professionals with a curriculum vitae brimming with institutional qualifications: academic, military, business, and of course political experience.
The critic opined that it was far more sensible to elect a "qualified", i.e. experienced politician who knows the ropes and can play the machiavellian game of obtaining sufficient power to actually "get things done".
I noted that the status quo was filled with "distinguished" professional politicians with extensive and impeccable qualifications for playing the inside game-- including ALL of the bums and reprobates we both agreed were Part of the Problem!
Furthermore, isn't it generally the case that conventional "qualified" expert politicians abandon support for anti-war, anti-military, anti-bankster, anti-authoritarian positions in direct proportion to their success in acquiring political power?
My interlocutor would not stay for an answer.
Parry, like many other political reporters and analysts, has some worthwhile insights, but remains trapped in the conventional status quo bubble and buys into the naïve or superficial belief that the Democratic Party is home to the Best and the Brightest.
How did that work out for the JFK administration?
· Yr Obd't Servant
Naw, the Doomocrats be the larger threat: they're elected.
It would seem that the GOP would much rather have a republic that is more akin to it's earlier pre-1842 incarnation (when there was a property requirement to vote, as well as race and gender qualifications), or better yet, what Plato called for, a relatively small empowered and supposedly enlightened elite who decide and run things based on votes instead of the will of an oligarchy or autocrat. It would not surprise me if during an honest moment, they wish the USA was like the early Roman Republic before plebeian tribunes.
Among Parry's many ridiculous statements there's this:
"The American Left has contributed to the crisis, too, by failing to invest much in building media outlets that will stand up to pressures from the Right, even as pro-Republican financiers were pouring billions of dollars into the construction of a vertically integrated right-wing media apparatus ranging from books, magazines and newspapers to talk radio, cable TV and the Internet."
Yeah, Parry, too bad people on the "left" didn't pour billions of dollars into the construction of a vertically integrated left-wing media. It must be so hard for the "left" to figure out what to do with their billions and billions of dollars.
the talk radio monopoly has made the difference. democracy can handle some pressure from the big biz/big money and was doing all right until reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine 20 years ago. the left's failure wasn't one of subsidizing a left wing propaganda operation, it was ignoring talk radio because it attacked them constantly and gave them headaches to listen to it while it swiftboated their candidates and causes, lied and distorted their positions, made excuses for GOP corruption and incompetence, lied us into wars, laundered lobbyist talking points into the mainstream like no other medium could, intimidated and threatened politicians, and on and on.
the rest of the media has to at least pretend to present one other side. talk radio can pound the red states with coordinated uncontested repetition and their call screeners make sure the liars are never challenged. 1000 radio stations reaching a crowd the size of the one that voted for obama. fox tv is just visual icing on the lie turd pie it serves up every day. the ignorance of bush and palin to our highest offices were made possible by limbaugh and hannity and sons (they wouldn't have been where they were without it) and it wouldn't suprise me palin ends up on her own show soon if she's not charged with something.
the right did subsidize the radio monopoly with billions, gave limbaugh and hannity a billion, and got trillions in deregulation, tax breaks, war profiteering, and still lead the way in global warming denial. and until the left starts calling, complaining, picketing, and boycotting those 1000 lobbyists offices and their local sponsors it will continue to play politics without a front line.
What incorrectly passes for the "left" in the USA is Democrats. It is ridiculous to think that this one face of the two-faced Corporate rigged system is either left, or progressive. When the operating political paradigm narrows the end-points within a hair of the narrow extremes and is stretched to represent only what it allows in the thought spectrum, what it in effect becomes, is a One Party system offering the illusion of vast differences. And the media pontificates the delusion. The public sucks it up.
What Republicans and Democrats in power never take into consideration, nor are they willing to debate/discuss, is class. Of course, they never would, as that would entail the public revelation that there might be something other than the ruling class, i.e., both so-called parties, that possibly could run the show. And the sheeple, well, they never get it, with their so-called party loyalty. As the last election showed, nothing will change until the Empire's and world economic system collapses. A learned financial friend advises to. "look out for the next wave of mortgage foreclosures and banking failures." And, I would add, credit card debt repayment defaults.
Look closely at the world geo-politic situation and consider that a massive world war, is being slowly orchestrated. After all, destruction is good for those who own the means of production (military industrial complex, etc). Rebuilding is, after all, profitable. The rest of us don't matter.
scarcity: the winners win and watch as the losers die, tearing at each other's throats
after all is said and done :
however much libertarians and "individual" freedom and "choice" discourse tries (as if individual choice by itself is actually the be-all and end-all of existence - just ask Nature - and takes precedence over COMMUNE - that dreaded word) -
the ONE word that sums up the FAILURE of american IDEOLOGY is:
CONSERVATISM.
that's -- it.
let's be sure that concepts such as "progressive" , "liberal" are only concepts in relation to Conservative.
and even they are subject to LIMITS eventually, without which the balance between "individual" and society or a "community" or "communIST" - again , look at Nature -
but CONSERVATISM's IDOLATRY of "individual choice" - so-called - as opposed to what IT describes as BAD "progressive or liberal" ideas about "taking away INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND CHOICE" because THOSE concepts PLACE SOCIAL welfare in balance or even OVER that of the INDIVIDUAL's UNcontrolled desires to TAKE PRECEDENCE over the needs -- the NEEDS - of the social whole -
IS the root of all the mess.
it is like having a CELL in the body = INDIVIDUALLY - as it tries or transforms into taking MORE of what is NEEDED and then METASTASIZES into a CANCER, infecting everything around it - until the entire body DIES - ouf to "individuals" GONE MAD and out of control and destroying the organs of which THEY are ONLY "little parts" .
CONSERVATISM puts THIS concept ABOVE that of the HEALTH of the WHOLE.
in a COUNTRY it explains itself in VAST concentrations of power and wealth in "individuals" who Deem THEMSELVES or their CLASS "more worthy" and so are willing to sacrifice EVERYONE ELSE for THEIR bloated desires .
ni a GLOBAL economy or society - it expresses itself in TRADE imbalances, wars, invasions, impoverishment of other countries for the sake of the "individuals" of ANOTHER country...
and eventually expresses itself in the PLANET being UNABLE to sustain everyone's NEEDS because of the DESIRES of a FEW.
THAT is what Conservatism NURTURES.
Sarah Palin, the "Field Dressed Moose." (Minnie Pearl oufit with combat boots, 'n' all.)
LOL
Thanks to socialist, action jackson, obusha and others for sharp minded responses. Parry had seemed a writer who did his homework in what I'd seen before, but when he writes ". . . Bush won the presidency for two terms--in two dubious elections-- . ." one wonders. It should read "Bush STOLE the presidency for two terms--in two DOCUMENTEDLY FRAUDULENT elections--" Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 were clearly shown by the likes of Harvey Wasserman, Bob Fritakis and others as manipulated and stolen elections, in response to which the Democrats did little or nothing. Not that either Gore or Kerry were then or are now exemplars of representing and fighting for the needs of the US citizenry as opposed to Korporate Amerika.
Later Parry takes note of Gore, Kerry and Biden as having shortcomings but being highly qualified and deeply experienced. But highly qualified and deeply experienced at what? Largely being dependable corporate errand boys and taking positions to keep and maintain the US attempt at global military dominant superpower. Folks fighting mountain top removal right in Gore's home region in Appalachia have sought his support and action based on his claimed deep concern for global warming evidenced in his film and book and with coal fired electric generation as a major pollutant source. Last I knew he has said or done nothing publicly, probably due to avoidance of getting publicly and directly crosswise with others in the democratic political fraternity. That is, it is fine to talk the issues and heartfelt concerns, but when the chips are down on corporate coal mining, or single payer health care, or extending wars for control of Middle Eastern oil and gas resources, the Democrats and Republicans are joined at the hip. The demands and needs of the ruling corporate elites are first and foremost for 99% of national political figures, D. or R. And the corporate lobbyists have we mere citizens ouflanked and outspent. The lobbyists outnumber the members of Congress by 10 or 20 to one and they are there in DC and active near 24/7 with bags of money and influence ready and willing to divert and corrupt every effort toward a government of, by and for the people---and the earth on which we are all dependent. It will take a mighty people's earthquake to dislodge them.
Whether you call it the Duopoly or the Two Party System or the OneParty, two brandnames system or you actually see it as two dominant parties that overlap to some degree, you have to be able to at least catch the stylistic differences.
I'm surprised that it took Robert Parry this long to figure out that the GOP had gone rogue. I date it to '68 and Nixon.
It isn't even really about the parts of the political process that are visible. The real power has been usurped by Corporations and the people that own and control them. For the past thirty+ years, the Corporate world has allied itself with the "conservative" ideology and have dragged society and the polity far to the right. End Corporate personhood.
"Merkins," "Merka," Bush pronunciations of Americans, America. A "merkin" is an actual thing, but you'd better look it up yourself.
I haven't washed my merkin in months and it itches horribly. This is probably why I write such offensive posts. Tell me, do they grow if you water and fertilize them?
Well, it's fair to say that a "merkin" is a kind of Bush, no?
· Yr Obd't Servant
Or, more precisely, Bush is a kind of merkin.
What Parry has described here is a nation run by two political parties - a party of ignorant bullies and a party of cowards.
Joseph McCarthy, a bully par excellence, ruled for years because no one had the courage to call him out. Today the entire Republican Party follows his lead, and the Democrats once again stand back, chew their nails, and stare at their shoes.
Gimme a break: It is more like a good cop, bad cop charade, a well-rehearsed show for the masses. Right now the Ds control both houses and the presidency, yet we still get more of the same. The Pentagon has an even larger budget, the Empire is expanding, Single Payer is not even "on the table", the Israelis continue their crimes, the USA continues its criminal policies in Af/Pak and the Empire of military bases around the globe expands.
The specific mission of capitalism is to deny the masses what they require.
The Republican Party, like Heaven's Gate, has become a dangerous cult.
The Democrats have moved too far to the right to fill the void.
The Democratic Party are the new threat to this country. The Democratic Party are as hawkish as the Republicans. The Democrats have just given the Green Light for Israel to attack Iran as a proxy war for the U.S.
The Democratic Party is disgusting. Joe Biden is putrid and supports more war allowing Israel to attack Iran. Everyone knows that whether Israel attacks Iran, it is actually an American attack and that it is a proxy war fought on behalf of the U.S.
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/07/05/biden-israel-entitled-to-attack-iran/
Biden: Israel ‘Entitled’ to Attack Iran
US Won't Stand in the Way of a Military Strike
by Jason Ditz, July 05, 2009
“In an interview today on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulus,” Vice President Joe Biden said it was up to the Israeli government to decide if Iran constituted an existential threat and that the nation was “entitled” to launch a military strike against the nation if they wanted to….Biden said the United States would make no effort to dissuade the Israeli government from launching an attack on Iran, but was deliberately evasive on the question of whether the US would provide Israel with access to Iraqi airspace for the strike, saying he didn’t want to “speculate.”…Israel has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran over the past several years, and the right-wing coalition government elected earlier this year won largely on a platform of taking an even more hawkish position toward Iran than previous administrations had….At issue is Iran’s civilian nuclear program, which despite a lack of evidence Israel claims is being used to construct a nuclear weapon in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Israel is itself not a signatory of the NPT, and has a large, undeclared nuclear arsenal….US defense officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have warned that a military attack on Iran, whether by the US or Israel, would be blamed on the US and would create a “disastrous backlash.””
Yes, Biden has just given the Green Light to World War III, and the idiot-spineless, so-called "liberals-progressives" think the Democratic Party are some fantastic alternative to the equally disgusting Republicans.
Anyone who thinks the Democratic Party is not dangerous is sleepwalking through history. Check out the Gore Vidal Interview with David Barsamian in the August, 2006 issue of the The Progressive magazine.
David Barsamian: Today the United States is fighting two wars, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq, and is now threatening to launch a third one on Iran. What is it going to take to stop the Bush onslaught?
Vidal: Economic collapse. We are too deeply in debt. We can’t service the debt, or so my financial friends tell me, that’s paying the interest on the Treasury bonds, particularly to the foreign countries that have been financing us. I think the Chinese will say the hell with you and pull their money out of the United States. That’s the end of our wars.
David Barsamian: Talk about the role of the opposition party, the Democrats.
Vidal: It isn’t an opposition party. I have been saying for the last thousand years that the United States has only one party—the property party. It’s the party of big corporations, the party of money. It has two right wings; one is Democrat and the other is Republican.
http://www.progressive.org/mag_intv0806
And of course, the Democratic Party led by the Obama administration of Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are "now threatening to launch a third one on Iran," and no longer is it just the Bush administration leading in this way.
Uzi Mahnaimi and Sarah Baxter write in the Times from the UK in an article entitled: "Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran" from July 5, 2009:
"The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites....Earlier this year Meir Dagan, Mossad’s director since 2002, held secret talks with Saudi officials to discuss the possibility....The Israeli press has already carried unconfirmed reports that high-ranking officials, including Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister, held meetings with Saudi colleagues. The reports were denied by Saudi officials....“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,” a diplomatic source said last week....Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations” with the Saudis....John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical” for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace....Bolton, who has talked to several Arab leaders, added: “None of them would say anything about it publicly but they would certainly acquiesce in an overflight if the Israelis didn’t trumpet it as a big success.”"
Article can be read @: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6638568.ece
WELCOME TO WORLD WAR III FOLKS!!!!
GET READY FOR WORLD WAR III FOLKS!!!! WORLD WAR III WILL BE HERE VERY SOON SO GET YOUR ASS READY BECAUSE YOU MAY FIGHT AND DIE IN IT!!!!
The U.S. is hardly "exceptional." America is a war mongering nation which promotes the militarist-corporatist-police state. The U.S. like Israel has adopted a program of martial law with the Homeland Security Department and the Patriot Act. There has certainly been an Israelization of American Foreign Policy as the issue of Iran demonstrates so clearly. The Zionists have hijacked American Foreign and Domestic Policy. Most of the surveillance technology used on American citizens is made and produced in Israel as well.
The Democratic Party led by the Obama administration of Rahm Emanuel, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton are "now threatening to launch a third one on Iran," and no longer is it just the Bush administration leading in this way.
President Obama is a BIG FAILURE and War Mongerer! Obama is enabled by Israeli Firsters, Zionist Rahm Emanuel, Crypto-Zionist Joe Biden and Crypto-Zionist Hillary Clinton.
Is Obama really a big failure, or is he merely doing and saying what he is told? Do you have any doubt that true psychopaths are really in control? Judge by the results. For example, denial of global warming can only be the reaction of someone clearly out of his mind, or someone who thinks he is too rich and powerful to care, which is merely a different kind of un-reality. Yet supporters of this self-damaging escape from truth are encouraged to be our leaders. I suppose, but do not really believe that Obama could be insane himself. Perhaps this is required of anyone wanting be the leader of the largest outdoor lunatic asylum on the planet. But I think he only failed our expectations that he be a human being and not an automaton serving the same masters as all the other presidents.
thanks for the prolific posts; the truth is not convenient. Time to pull our heads out of the sand.
Let's quit blaming republicans for the Democrats' lack of integrity. They are running the show now, and their true colors are showing.
Its true that the Democrats, with some notable exceptions, and with a vastly more civilized rank and file, have ably collaborated with the Republicans to bring us to the present pass. But what makes the Republicans dangerous, much more dangerous, is that they are ferocious and fully armed.
The Republican party is the embodiment of Death. They will most certainly be back. They will, with substantial aid from the Democrats, destroy the United States.
This article's cynical. The biggest of its lies (among many) is that Democrats are "scared" of Republicans. Democrats aren't scared of Republicans, they are simply trying to find ways to also profit on the crimes without looking like Republicans.
It's time to stop blaming Republicans for the mess we're in. During 8 years of Bush, there wasn't one single ONE SINGLE filibuster from Democrats. Now Democrats have their 60 senators and the White House. The result? A continuation and in many cases an intensification of all Bush policies. Let's stop the BS and expose the Democrats for what they really are: war profiteers, career criminals and vandals of the US Constitution just like their clones the Republicans.
I really am tired of repeating this: the democrats do NOT have 60 votes in the Senate - they have 58 plus Bernie Sanders. Joe Lieberman is hardly a democrat and Arlen Specter is still a republican regardless of what he may claim.
It's a bit more accurate to say that most of the current dems - the progressive caucus excluded - have cloned themselves after Reagan republicans.
q
Don't forget the illnesses of Byrd and Kennedy. But that is no excuse. Let the GOP filibuster everything...then let them get tossed out in 2010.
Stop making excuses and apologies for Democratic crimes and lies. By that I mean ALL Democrats, including the so called progressive caucus, which doesn't really exist, except in fairy tales.
You're conveniently forgetting Al Franken. Are all Dem Party Apologists and Kool-Aid Drinkers living in a parallel universe?
"...the question must now be asked whether the Republican Party in its current form has become a clear and present danger to the security of the United States and to the future of the American Republic."
Only to about 90% of us...
Black and white, false dichotomy thinking: how simplistic of Mr. Parry! And you fell for it? What have the Democrats done?
Is Bush/Cheney et al. being prosecuted for High Treason and crimes against humanity?
Is Tim Geithner being prosecuted? Did the Banksters get rewarded for their crimes?
Are derivatives being banned or regulated?
Is there any talk of raising taxes on financial transactions and increasing income tax rates for the filthy rich?
Billions more for the Pentagon approved by the D Congress?
Continued support for Israeli war crimes?
Continued support for drone attacks and war crimes?
Single-payer "on the table" by D Congress?
Please tell me exactly what the Democrats have done to ameliorate, rather than exacerbate the situation?
thank you socialist, but you're making too much sense, Democratic voters, supporters and Obamobots don't appreciate that.
Mr. Parry, as so many mainstream liberal writers, is trapped within the narrowly circumscribed discourse and mindset of the ruling Duopoly. He can't see the forrest for the trees here. This article, for me, is absolutely uselesss, and misses the larger point.
As other posters have pointed out, this aint about the details of political actors or parties, or the views of the sycophantic punditry; Our system is institutionally and culturally corrupt. We either need to re-build our public and private instituions, legal frameworks, economic system, or we as a nation will continue to descend into a form of a neo-Fascist Empire, with "democratic" window-dressing.
After all, the democratic process in our country is nothing more than a very expensive PR stunt, complete with entertainment and loads of lies and propaganda. Ed Bernays and Walter Lippmann would be proud.
What Republic? The Rubicon was crossed LONG ago.
good point, Hail the Empire! Hail Caesar!
The greatest threat to the republic - and to human existence - is unchecked corporate power and greed. Sometimes they wear a republican face but they're just as pernicious when they look like democrats.
q
Hear Hear!
Democrats and Republicans have always been a danger to the republic--whores for their corporate pimps, working to establish predatory capitalism everywhere and especially over working Americans. That they survive into middle age is testimony to the niceness of average Merkins.
POP QUIZ:
Which party gave us Social Security, Medicaire, the Freedom of Information Act, rural electrification, food-labeling laws, environmental laws, the GI Bill, civil rights legislation, the Peace Corps, and workplace safety laws--and which party fought these things tooth and nail?
The party doesn't matter. It is the political persuasions that matter.
The Republican Party abolished slavery in this country, and fought to preserve the country and the Constitution. But back then they were the relative progressives. Now of course, you would never think the Republican party ever stood up for minorities in any way.
Mr. Logan;
NO PARTY "gave" us anything! Ordinary people had to suffer, organize and demand those programs over years and years. That is where progress comes from, not from some elite party members who benevolently grant us rights from on high.
BTW, those programs are from decades ago, either before I was born, or when I was a small child. What has the venerable democratic party done for us lately? Have they listened to folks like Barbara Lee or Dennis K.?
Socialist wrote: "NO PARTY "gave" us anything! Ordinary people had to suffer, organize and demand those programs over years and years. That is where progress comes from, not from some elite party members who benevolently grant us rights from on high."
Sodialist:
I have to agree. But the Republicans in Congress fought tooth and nail to STOP Medicare, and LBJ was able to push it through anyway. Who is our LBJ now? and LBJ killed babies in Vietnan....
the PEOPLE are now organizing and demanding single-payer healthcare (or the default "public option") and their spokespersons are kicked out of Congressional hearings and arrested. When has that happened before?
Why don't they listen to Dennis K and Barbara Lee? because the Corporations paying for their re-election campaigns don't want them to.
No party will be relevant until they get rid of their corporate sponsors. We need clean elections. Who will stand up for that? What candidates, what party?
Five corporations own 80% or so of ALL MEDIA OUTLETS
No matter how many demonstrations there are, unless they are covered by the MEDIA, they will have no influence
And who is giving us another Vietnam in Afghanistan, a fantasy called clean coal, a climate bill written by the biggest corporate abusers, FISA and TARP, secrecy legislation which now has rendered FIA impotent, covert attacks targeting non combatants, assassination general McChystal, increasing Blackwater black ops types worldwide; moreover what party is currently fighting tooth and nail agaisnt Single Payer, and taken criminal investigations of Bush era corruption off the table?
godistwaddle, thanks. I had to check my dictionary to find out about 'merkins' and I am still laughing! Do you suppose Parry fits the mold when he continues to ignore that it is the duopoly that is a threat?