Republican Hypocrisy category archive

Shawn Day, in my local rag, marvels at how skillfully Republicans have hornswoggled Democrats in the Virginia legislature. A nugget:

But Puckett’s part in his party’s political failure obscures the role that Virginia Democrats, particularly party leaders in the legislature, have played in burnishing their reputation as a bumbling, disorganized lot.

Time and again in Richmond, Republicans have outmaneuvered Democrats, who appear alternately flat-footed or bewildered by their opponents’ organization and preparation. In the House of Delegates, some appear so disconnected that they prevent the party from developing a consistent message.

Left unmentioned in his litany of losing is this: Republicans have consistently caught Democrats flat-footed because Republicans have sunk to depths of skullduggery, up to and including bribery, that even Plunkett of Tammany Hall would have considered beyond the pale. It is a Party without honor, without conscience.

Daniel Ruth, in considering the recent run-off in Mississippi between Thad Cochran and Chris McDaniel, wraps up the subtext of teabaggery in one short paragraph.

It didn’t hurt Cochran’s rapprochement with his black constituents when McDaniel whined: “It’s time to defend our way of life.” That is shorthand for, “Hey Betty Lou, is my klan robe back from the dry cleaners yet?”

The Republican Party has become the party of racism. Chauncey Devega eloquently wonders why the media is unwilling to address that reality.

Jonathan Chait explains why Republicans hate the Affordable Care Act:

In Wingnut World, there is no such thing as the common good.

Corinthians 13:2

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

You can’t make this stuff up.

. . . and Republicanism has birthed a googolplex of scoundrels.

Googolplex. Look it up.

Republican style.

Via just about everybody, but, if you haven’t seen it, you need to.

Steven M. has more to say.

Wingnuttery is a vile and loathsome thing.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

It’s the ultimate metaphor for GOP outreach, and it’s not even a metaphor!

You can’t make this stuff up.

The Republican Party is ducked.

Listen to the “conservative” miss the point.

Dick Polman remembers Shinseki’s political bravery. Had his advice been followed, not only would thousands of lives been saved and tens of thousands of injuries prevented, but also the situation at the Veterans’ Administration would be nowhere nearly so messed up as it is.

Lest we forget, this is the same guy who stood up to George W. Bush’s neoconservative warriors in early 2003. As a four-star general and the Army’s chief of staff, he publicly warned that the Bush team’s sunny forecast of an Iraq cakewalk was a fantasy, that a lot of American soldiers would be needlessly killed and wounded. And that’s exactly what happened. Bush and Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld rewarded Shinseki by speeding up his retirement and boycotting his retirement ceremony.

I bring this up not to traipse down memory lane, but to highlight a cruel contemporary irony. Bush’s reckless invasion of Iraq – and the needless resultant casualties – seriously swelled the VA caseload and exacerbated the problems that landed in Gen. Shinseki’s lap. Given his foresight in 2003, that was the last thing he deserved.

A letter to the editor of the Roanoke Times sums it up:

Republicanized Christianity redefines the biblical view of humanity to include for-profit corporations; it demonizes the poor and ignores their exploitation despite the overwhelming amount of biblical data that teaches about God’s hatred for this practice. These injustices necessitated the prophets’ warnings about God’s intent to punish man.

How did we get from “blessed are the poor” to the republicanized message of “the poor get what they deserve”?

In other words, leave them imprisoned.

Republican claims that they “support the troops” are as clanging bells or tinkling cymbals, signifying nothing.

Dick Polman:

Hard as it may be for some people to believe, the VA’s screwups didn’t begin in 2009 when Obama took the oath. I well remember 2005, when VA secretary Jim Nicholson (an ex-GOP chairman with no government management experience, and no previous experience advocating for vets) had to admit that Iraq and Afghanistan vets were waiting interminably for medical services. Turned out, the VA had severely undercounted – by 80,000 – the number of vets expected for treatment that year. Put simply, the VA had somehow failed to anticipate that Bush’s needless war in Iraq would spark an enrollment surge.

Things only got worse. By mid-2007, the VA’s disability claims backlog exceeded 400,000. Meanwhile, Nicholson had already approved bonuses for top VA officials, totaling $3.8 million. And in spring ’07, when he was confronted with reports of widespread vet treatment shortfalls, he said the evidence was merely “anecdotal,” and he voiced this memorable gem: “When you are treating so many people, there is always going to be a linen towel left somewhere.”

Funny, I don’t remember congressional Republicans calling for Nicholson’s head, or blaming Bush for mismanaging the leviathan.

Do read the rest, in which he also takes some jabs at President Obama.

Kavips.