Political Theatre category archive

VOTE

Can’t hurt, might help.

Chris Honore summarizes the takeover of the Republican Party by the Secesh–the ultimate outcome of Richard Nixon’s odious southern strategy–and asks a question:

Going forward, the question raised is: Will the GOP allow this minority of reactionary ideologues to take over their party while referring to the moderate wing of the GOP as outliers, compromisers, lacking ideological commitment to the reframed conservative movement?

My answer is, “You’re damned right they will, because Obama.”

Follow the link for his answer.

Republicans demand, “Say ‘thank you, master, do it again.'”

People woke up Friday in unknown territory, having to figure how the loss of $5 billion in benefits – the equivalent of 1.9 billion meals nationwide in fiscal 2014 alone – will play out on the kitchen tables of the 47 million Americans who get food stamps.

“This is nothing short of catastrophic,” said Bill Clark, executive director of Philabundance, the largest hunger-relief agency in the region. “We’re looking at a whole lot of hurt.”

Because nothin’ says lovin’ like nothin’ in the oven.

Pah!

in the Roanoke Times, F. D. Bloss is fed up:

The teapublican party has become a Fifth Column, a term from Spain’s mid-1930s civil war when four columns of fascist soldiers of Gen. Francisco Franco converged on Madrid to overthrow the people’s recently elected progressive government. Franco sympathizers within Madrid became “the Fifth Column,” which now defines a group of people who undermine a larger group (nation) by any means at their disposal.

(snip)

The tea party-dominated GOP, now a Fifth Column, will continue to provoke government shutdowns unless we defeat tea party candidates at the ballot box.

Remember, voting is not a right, it’s a duty.

Do read the rest.

Although it’s got a distinctly English spin to it, the categories travel well.

Via Mr. Feastingonroadkill.

David Stockman and the Laffable Curve:

Forgetting, of course, that he was one of the propagators of the myth of the magic napkin.

(“Magic napkin.” I love it.)

Via C&L.

The Bangor Daily News considers Republicans’ proposed cuts to Maine’s Head Start and notices something:

It seems each time government proposes cuts, it takes aim at toddlers.

Because they can’t fight back . . .

Preparing the world for a new generation of Oliver Twists.

Via C&L.

Fred Sanford’s war.

Every week, as the U.S. troop drawdown accelerates, the United States is selling 12 million to 14 million pounds of its equipment on the Afghan market.

Returning that gear to the U.S. from a landlocked country halfway around the world would be prohibitively expensive, according to U.S. officials. Instead, they are leaving behind $7 billion worth of supplies, a would-be boon to the fragile Afghan economy.

But there’s a catch: The equipment is being reduced to scrap before it is offered to the Afghan people . . . .

Brian Greenspun thinks he knows:

He lives in Henderson and his name is Bob!

Follow the link to learn why.

Arthur Poskocil isn’t fooled:

Blaming Congress as a whole probably appealed to many uninformed individuals as a sensible and concerned position. Unfortunately, it is just such citizens who make it possible for those truly responsible, such as Sen. Ted Cruz and our own Rep. Bob Goodlatte, to exercise the great negative and obstructionist power that they have wielded.

As the shutdown progressed, national polls showed that a sizeable majority of Americans did realize that congressional Republicans were to blame. Yet 30 percent of respondents still blamed the president and his party. That reflects far too many Americans who are utterly ignorant or ideologically blinded, too many Americans taking the side of political terrorists.

Via PoliticalProf.

In the Roanoke Times, John Winfrey sees precedent for teabaggery, and it’s not pretty. (Unfortunately he trips over Godwin’s Law along the way).

A nugget; follow the link for the rest:

From the beginning, the tea party intended to shut down our government and destroy all of our social programs. Just how far is it willing to go? Its members have gained the power to do that, and it fits their ideology. Surely by now we realize that we are dealing with an ideology, not rational, moral thought.

In the fairly recent past, the world has seen how ideology can trump common sense and basic morality. It happened with the Church and Galileo, and later during the Inquisitions. It happened with Hitler and National Socialism, with Mao Zedong in China and with Pol Pot in Cambodia. We should no longer be surprised that ideology can trump common sense and basic morality; it has been done so many times throughout history.

The usual warnings.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Via BartCop.

Senator Ted Cruz is the reincarnation of Senator Joe McCarthy.

Different topics, same tactics.