Republican Hypocrisy category archive

Persons who live with volcanos erupt.

All seriousness aside, Duncan summed it up here.

Moral: Republicans have no clue about what government is for.

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.

Blame the media for telling persons about it.

H/T Karen for the link.

One of the most amazing traits of the Republican Party is its ability to look a fact square in the face and, in chorus with Sgt. Schultz, say, “I see nuttink!”

I have spent a lot of time there, most of it in that fantasy called Southern California, a place that has no vegetation not imported from Florida and no water not stolen from Colorado.

SoCal was best described in Two Years before the Mast as a wasteland that no one would want to live in and where no one wanted to do real work.

It has since become a wasteland that many want to live in, thanks to Edison’s Magic Lantern. Real work, well, that’s another topic.

Now the California Republican Party is determined to destroy Cali before it drops into the sea.

Apparently, I don’t dislike California as much as its own resident Republicans do.

(Aside: Are all Republicans nutcases, or just most of them? No. Really. How can supposedly sentient beings be so Godforsakenly stupid?)

From D-Day, reflecting on the Unitarian Church shootings last summer.

. . . this (the church shootings-ed.) is the fruit of a conservative movement which wraps its attacks on Democrats and liberals all too frequently in the language of eliminationism, preying on resentment (“Liberals are taking your hard-earned money for nothing”) and fear of the other to cast the opposition party as an enemy to be fought, physically if necessary. With the economy sure to be on the skids for a while, it won’t be long until the anger from the right builds, and seeks blame in their opponents. And obviously, this can lead to the kind of incidents we see with Jim Adkisson, who specifically cited conservative media for giving him a road map to channel his anger.

Unspoken but clear is his concern of more violence from the Right.

What I find truly maddening is that many of these haters wrap themselves, not just in the American flag, but also in the Christian flag.

Doesn’t seem right. But it is Rightwing.

I’m not sure that “rip” is the right word. ThinkProgress:

Obama went on rip Republicans who now lecture about the need for fiscal responsibility. “It’s a little hard for me to take criticism from folks about this recovery package after they presided over a doubling of the national debt,” he said. “I’m not sure they have a lot of credibility when it comes to fiscal responsibility.”

Via Atrios.

Facebook Friend: [redacted] is dumbfounded at Sen. McConnell’s statement that the spending in the New Deal didn’t work. Are. You. Kidding. Me?

Me: Republicans lie. Get used to it.

Over at Techfun. Read the whole thing for context:

When it comes to the current stimulus package, Obama should learn from the words – if not the actions – of George W. Bush: “”I really don’t care what polls and focus groups say. What I care about is doing what I think is right.”

The Coyote’s Byte:

You’ve just got to love how the Republicans changed their tune once they were taken out of power. All the sudden they’re all about “fiscal responsibility” – nevermind the billions and billions of earmarks they doled out (esp. to firms like Halliburton and Blackwater) while they were the party in control.

And this surprises us how?

If you think my language is sometimes intemperate, read this:

Warning. Language.

Please read Mr. Cole’s observations.

Brendan sums it up:

But instead of actually DOING anything about it, these wealthy and out-of-touch fools are more concerned with playing political games, and clinging to their rigid ideologies.

And why not? after all, it’s only the little people who suffer.

The Republican Party wants to do us again. Harder! Harder!

Republican Economic Theory is as bankrupt as Circuit City. But it appears the Republican Party is genetically unable to learn from the past.

Frank Rich in the Toimes:

We also now know conclusively that the larger Bush tax cuts, besides running up record deficits and exacerbating income inequality, were also at best a placebo on our road to ruin. In a January survey of economists, including former McCain advisers like Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Mark Zandi, The Washington Post determined that the job growth the Bush administration kept bragging about (“52 straight months!”) was a mirage inflated by the housing bubble. Job growth — about 2 percent — was in fact the most tepid of any eight-year period “since data collection began seven decades ago.” Gross domestic product grew at a slower pace than in any eight years since the Truman administration.

But even if tax cuts alone could jump-start a recovery, they couldn’t do the heavy lifting that Obama has promised and the country desperately needs: a down payment on a new economy to replace our dilapidated 20th-century model and bring back long-term growth. The Republicans don’t acknowledge the need for this transformation, or debate it in good conscience, preferring instead to hyperventilate over the contraceptives in a small family-planning program since removed from the stimulus bill. All it takes is the specter of condoms for the party of Vitter, Foley and Craig to go gaga.

The Republicans’ other preoccupation remains Rush Limbaugh, who is by default becoming their de facto leader. While most Americans are fearing fear itself, G.O.P. politicians are tripping over themselves in morbid terror of Rush.

Addendum, Sometime during the First Quarter of Super Bowl whatever it is:

On ABC’s This Week:

(Congressman Jim) DEMINT: Well, I’m not sure what economists you’re talking to … We have to decide if we want to be a free market economy and let the money stay there or be a government-directed economy which is where we’re headed with this plan.

(Congressman Barney) FRANK: …Let’s agree that we’re all Americans here, Jim. Nobody’s got the “American way” versus presumably the “non-American way.” And as far as spending versus tax cuts, I think we need to fix some highway and bridges. I never saw a tax cut fix a bridge. I never saw a tax cut give us more public transportation…

But wait! There’s more! Follow the link.

Video here.

Via Instaputz.

No more sense of history or self-awareness than a box of rocks.

. . . and he paid the price of being right in the Bushie World.

He lost his job.

Josh Marshall reports that he has a new job:

Democratic officials say President-elect Barack Obama has selected retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary.

Waiting for reactions from Rummie.

. . . requires the light of day. Burt Neuborne, Esq., has some ideas:

Via Josh Marshall.

Barney Frank first came to my attention during the Clinton BJ hearings, when the Republican Party, which has no problem with solicitation of homosexual sex in public men’s rooms, went all ga-ga over a blue dress. Congressman Frank has quite a way with words.

Indeed, he has a way to cutting to the quick (emphasis added):

Frank, who has been dealing with both the bailout of the financial industry and a proposed rescue of Detroit automakers, said Obama needs to play a more significant role on economic issues.

“At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time,” Frank said. “I’m afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that situation.”