Republican Hypocrisy category archive

Words fail me.

Via The Richmonder.

My two or three regular readers know that one of the things that frosts my cupcake is abuse of the American flag.

It was the subject of one my earliest posts. I have even had a letter to the editor of the local rag published on the matter.

Which raises the question:

Why are those who claim most loudly and vociferously to revere the United States of America and its symbols the first to show them disrespect?

It’s Matthew 6:5 all over again once more redundantly.

The best thing since poll taxes and literacy tests.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of Republicans is their willingness to say whatever seems advantageous at the moment, regardless of the facts and regardless of what they said yesterday or might say tomorrow, because it could help them get what they want! right! now!

You might call it the of-course-I’ll-respect-you-in-the-morning style of campaigning.

Steve Benen looks at Mike Huckabee’s complaint about Jack Conway’s ad in Kentucky:

Yes, Mike Huckabee said, in print, that he disapproves of those who try to “show-off and parade” their faith “for the purpose of getting a vote.”

And we know what comes after of-course-I’ll-respect-you-in-the-morning . . . .

Blue Virginia has the details.

Vivian Page has more. I can’t be quite so charitable as she. Persons who are unable to realize what they can and can’t say in public–and the internet is a public place–are asking for trouble.

It is remarkable that many of those folks seem to gravitate to the Republican Party never mind.

Addendum:

That was quick. The story broke yesterday, when I drafted this post. From this morning’s local rag:

David Bartholomew is not a racist and agreed to resign because the e-mail had become a distraction to the Nov. 2 election, said Gary Byler, the 2nd Congressional District GOP chairman, after meeting with Bartholomew.

The e-mail was dated March 15 and sent from the address that Bartholomew uses as party chairman. Bartholomew forwarded it without reading the contents when “he was first getting familiar with the Internet,” Byler said.

Yeah.

Right.

Some randon related thoughts:

• Racism takes many forms, some much more subtle than others.
• Rudeness is rudeness is rudeness. Politeness includes refusing to do things that others would find hurtful.
• Dumb takes many forms. Really, how many of you forward emails without at least glancing over them?
• Grown-ups should know how to behave in public.

Addendum-Dee-Dum-Dum, Later That Same Afternoon:

It gets moreso.

More Republican fear mongering. It says something that they are afraid of voters.

. . . accusations from conservatives that ineligible voters are fraudulently stealing elections for Democrats have continued to fly in the 2010 campaign cycle, despite the lack of evidence of widespread voter fraud. “Voter fraud” has been the rally cry for conservative groups seeking to make it more difficult to cast ballots and suppress minority voter turnout. In particular this election cycle, Tea Party groups have taken up the issue, and Democratic groups have called for assurances that poll watchers trained by such groups are clear on polling station rules.

Elections don’t get stolen at the polls. They get stolen at the (these days possibly virtual) counting room.

Jamie draws the moral from “pay and spray” so I don’t have to.

There’s more to it, though.

Under extreme Republican economic theory, if something does not profit the Wall Street bonus babies, it’s not worth doing. Republican economic theory admits no room for the concept of public actions for the benefit of the polity as a whole, because such actions are paid for by (gasp!) taxes.

’tis better to let a home burn than to raise taxes to pay for a fire department.

This is Republicanism.

I haven’t said much about Christine O’Donnel (R–Hogwarts) because, well, what can you say about someone who’s first television ad starts out with “I am not a witch”?

But I just had to share this cartoon from Delaware Liberal:

The Philadelphia Inquirer sees through the smoke:

Republican leaders have heard the public’s anger at Washington, and they’ve come up with an election-year prescription: increase the federal debt.

You won’t find “more borrowing” listed as an agenda item in the House Republicans’ pandering “Pledge to America.” But sending the country deeper into debt is integral to their plan.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R., Ohio) and his crew want to extend tax cuts for all taxpayers regardless of income level, which would add nearly $4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. It is a formula for extra borrowing from foreign governments, to be paid by generations of future taxpayers – the very problems that supposedly motivated the GOP’s action plan.

Read the whole thing.

Bob Cesca muses on Republican efforts to make “government small enough to fit into your bedroom.”

The Republican fascination with manipulating the sex lives of others continues to befuddle me.

The Republicans pledge more of the same of what got us here. If AA operated on the same principles, their meetings would open with a round of cocktails.

Talking Points Memo rounds up Republican reactions.

The Booman comments.

It continues.

Addendum:

TPM has more.

There is a reason the Republican Party is afraid of increasing the voting rolls.

My ex-local rag has an excellent analysis of the current place of cap and trade is what passes for political discoarse these days. Among other things, it points out that cap and trade was a Republican Party creation.

A nugget:

Cap and trade.

Long associated with programs born 20 years ago under Republican President George H.W. Bush, cap and trade was until recently a label for complicated market- and auction-based strategies used to control acid rain, smog and greenhouse gases.

Last week, however, cap and trade became a stripped-down surrogate for the running national debate over energy policy, the environmental cost of American dependence on fossil fuels and the price of paying now, or later, for carbon dioxide emissions.

Steve Benen. Follow the link for the evidence (emphasis added):

President Obama wants to extend lower tax rates for the middle class, while allowing the top rate for the wealthy to expire on schedule. Republicans want to make current rates permanent, adding $4 trillion to the debt over the next decade, and is prepared to kill middle-class breaks unless they get what they want. The public is siding with Obama; a few too many cowardly congressional Democrats are siding with Republicans.

A detail that’s doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves is that the policy everyone’s fighting over — the one the GOP will do anything to protect — didn’t work. Bush’s tax policy was a failure, and didn’t deliver on any of its intended goals.

The only reason that makes sense for pursuing a failed policy is that it really is about making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

This, of course, assumes that sense has something to do with it.

Republicans don’t like Elizabeth Warren or her appointment to organize the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.

Senate Republicans view her as too critical of Wall Street and big banks. The business and banking community opposed Warren as director of the bureau, contending she would make the agency too aggressive. Obama praised her highly.

And the business and banking community and their Republican enablers have demonstrated unerring judgment and upstanding integrity over the past decade.

Also, pigs, wings.

Republican Economic Theory got us here. It won’t get us anywhere else.

Scott Lehigh in the Boston Globe:

The longer-term deficits — the yearly imbalances after, say, 2015 — aren’t just the result of overspending. The tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 have also played a very significant role — at least half, by some credible estimates — in creating those problems. If he tries to provide the proper context for all this, Obama will no doubt run into the Republicans’ self-excusing attempt to pretend that fiscal history began in January of 2009. Indeed, one can almost hear that favorite GOP refrain: Quit blaming George Bush. You’re the president now.

But the idea that it’s somehow unpresidential for a chief executive to remind voters of the situation he inherited is silly.

Why, here’s Ronald Reagan, in June of 1982: “Some diehards are now declaring the present recession was caused by our program. May I just point out — we had the recession before we got the program.’’

A couple of days ago I read this column by Steve Chapman in the Chicago Trib.

Before I go on, I have to say that I have no idea of Mr. Chapman’s politics. I don’t read his work very often and frequently he seems to live on the same planet I do. But his column rubbed me every wrong way there is.

You can follow the link to read the whole thing, but here’s the crucial quote:

A sad example is the payroll tax, which impedes job creation in two ways. First, it imposes an extra cost on employers for hiring workers — a cost they don’t incur if they decide to replace workers with machinery. Second, it reduces the take-home pay of those hired, making it less attractive for them to work.

By “payroll tax(es),” he means social security, workman’s compensation (for injured and disabled employees), and Medicare.

By the same reasoning, one can argue against sales taxes, as they deter persons from buying (I am not a big fan of sales taxes, but that is another story); you can argue against income taxes, as they take money from consumers; you can argue against inheritance taxes, as they cause persons not to want to die (oh! wait!).

And so on.

Underlying it all is this: The Republican something for nothing society.

If an employer gets robbed, it wants police to investigate the robbery.

If an employer suffers from embezzlement, it wants the government to apprehend the embezzler.

If an employer manufactures products, it wants the government to provide roads to allow it to deliver the products.

If an employer has vacancies on its rolls, it wants qualified employees from accredited schools to fill those vacancies.

But God forbid anyone should pay taxes to provide for those police, for those qualified employees, for those roads, for anything else that benefits the public good.

The essence of Republican Economic Theory: A Free Ride.

They want something and they don’t want to pay for it.

Also, see this.

Maddow via Raw Story.

. . . and questions their pretty little narrative.

Shorter Cenk Uygur:

You spent it, and you’re not going to give it back.

Via Bob Cesca.