February, 2009 archive

For “bipartisan politics” to work, both (“bi” means two, after all) parties must be willing to participate.

I have addressed this before.

Contemporary Republicanism is not only morally, ideologically, and philosophically bankrupt–a demonstrably failed ideology (don’t believe me? Go here) which clouds its failures with the smokescreen of “family values” while concomitantly demonstrating a creepy fascination with the sexual behavior of others (why don’t they just a watch a porno, for heaven’s sake)–it is also so doctrinaire as to be incapable, not just of compromise, but of admitting any other points of view.

Members of the Democratic Party have repeatedly allowed themselves to think that, when Republicans spoke of “bipartisanship,” they meant “cooperation and compromise,” when they meant, instead, “our way or the highway.” My fellow members of Left Blogistan tend to go–how shall I put this?–off their nuts when the Democrats do this.

(It is difficult to keep from typing, “Democrats have dealt in good faith; Republicans have not.” Oops.)

This sums it up (emphasis added):

On the Republican side, Republican policies cannot give rise to bipartisan solutions. When the core philosophy of a party is that government cannot work and should do as little as possible, that philosophy benefits only those who have the resources necessary to sustain themselves regardless of whether the government is massive or whether it’s so small you can drown it in a bathtub. From the chant of tax cuts at any cost to the fanatical focus on depriving the neediest of resources under the banner of “entitlement reform,” Republican governance is aimed simply at helping those who need help the least.

The fundamental flaw in clamoring for a bipartisan process in light of the above is the erroneous belief that the fruit of any open-handed endeavor is necessarily a bipartisan (and universally acceptable) solution. One need only look in the rear view mirror to disprove such a naive notion. It has been the most bipartisan of processes that have sprung forth the most odious and partisan results.

There is no cooperation and compromise with those who will neither cooperate nor compromise.

It is to Mr. Obama’s credit that he tries. By doing so, he allows the Republican Party to reveal the divergence between its words and its deeds.

Oh, yeah, and there is a word for a “divergence between words and deeds.”

The lies do get tiresome after a while.

Whether they are lying to themselves or to others or, more likely, to both themselves and others, the lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths do still get tiresome.

Case in point.

From the Democratic Daily, on why President Obama’s attempt to foster bipartisan solutions hasn’t worked:

Because the Republicans have no interest in working contructively with Obama and the Democrats, because they’ve entrenched themselves, once more, behind extremist ideological lines, because they think they can score political points by being obstructionist.

Republicans have turned on Obama, as expected, but, in so doing, they have sided against the American people. They will end up paying dearly in the end.

One can hope.

Afterthought: The Republican Party lives in a phony world divorced from psychological, economic, or historical reality.

Being sincere about it (to the extent that they are) doesn’t make their world any less phony.

One measure of the sincerity of their beliefs, I reckon, is the extent to which they lie make stuff up.

Video via D-Day.

John Cole on the Republican Party and the stimulus bill (emphasis added):

It still upsets me that this bill of a couple hundred billion in tax cuts (when did Republicans start opposing tax cuts?) and $4-500 billion in spending, mostly as stopgaps for state budgets and infrastructure spending, is characterized as wild spending, when the only reason for it is the horrible economy and there just isn’t a ton of “pork” spending in it. Regardless, it is nice to see that at least some Republicans out there get it- their problem is they simply have no credibility after the past eight years even if this WAS a larded up bill full of pork.

Put another way, it isn’t just dishonest, it is offensive. Having the party of Bush lecture you about out of control spending is like having a heroin addict chide you for putting too much sugar in your coffee.