Political Theatre category archive

Dick Polman:

It speaks volumes about the Republican fantasy world that alleged deep thinker Paul Ryan foresees a balanced budget in 10 years – thanks to the repeal of Obamacare.

Will somebody please stage an intervention and tell this guy that Obamacare is here to stay, and that therefore his new budget blueprint is delusional?

Do read the rest.

Warning: Some language.

Mike, a Florida resident with a ringside seat at Florida’s Bush league, wonders whether Jeb Bush can outdo George the Worst.

Jay Bookman considers Rand Paul’s recent filibuster (by the way, kudos to Paul for having the integrity to actually, like, you know, talk through a filibuster, rather than talk of one) and rumors that Paul might be the 2016* Republican presidential nominee:

I didn’t think it possible for the 2016 GOP presidential field to even approach the 2012 field in terms of wackiness, but given early indications, I may have to reconsider that notion.

_____________________

*2016 is a long time away. This type of speculation now is nothing more than the political press pleasuring itself, something most persons do in private.

Via Delaware Liberal.

In a long article in New York Magazine delightfully entitled “Lipstick on a Elephant,” Frank Rich fisks the current media myth-making over Republican attempts to remake/rebrand/reform (depending on the pundit of the day) the party and its image and concludes that it is but a legend of the Village elite, a tinkling cymbal, a sounding bell, signifying nothing.

A nugget:

This is why Karl Rove’s “Conservative Victory Project,” which would oppose rape-obsessed candidates like (Todd “Legitimate Rape”–ed.) Akin when they surface in GOP Senate primaries, was dead on arrival. Republicans vote for candidates like Akin in primaries because they actually believe in them, not because they are duped.

Afterthought:

Branding seems to have been sort of a theme today.

Dick Polman, in his roundup of “the week in crazy,” spots the presence of at least one ghost and several ghoulies. First, the ghost (emphasis in the original):

The winner (of the week in crazy–ed.): U.S. House Republicans: Yeah, I know. You guessed who the winner would be when you were reading about Limbaugh. But how is one to ignore the gem on page 105 of a new GOP budget bill? No need to look it up, I’ve got it right here:

SEC. 8099. None of the funds made available under this Act may be distributed to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) or its subsidiaries.

. . . ACORN died in 2010.

Read the rest for the ghoulies.

. . . and sees that it is good.

The common U. S. view of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is similar to the common U. S. view of any foreign leader whose policies are unpopular with Wall Street’s masters of the universe:

Dictator! Subersive! Threat! And, of course, Commie!

Der Spiegel offers a non-U. S. and certainly more balanced view. A nugget:

There’s no doubt that Chávez felt called upon to carry on the work of the great liberator Simon Bolívar, who from 1813 first beat the Spanish and then freed today’s Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador from colonial rule. As Chávez saw it, the US and the opposition in his own country were modern colonial masters who had to be vanquished. In his deeply ideological claim to gain complete control of his country, he became the epitome of the charismatic ruler.

After meeting Chávez years ago, the writer Gabriel García Márquez said he didn’t know if he had just spoken to a visionary capable of saving Latin America or a dreamer who would turn into a common Latin American despot.

Barbara Ellen calls out the UK government’s “blame the victim” tactics. Seems they have their own variety of Ronald Reagans “welfare queen” lie:

How long would it take for “poor-shaming” to embed itself in the national psyche as borderline normal? Or perhaps it has already done so? The Methodists, the United Reformed Church, the Church of Scotland and the Baptist Union have joined forces to publish a study called The Lies We Tell Ourselves. It highlights myths surrounding people and poverty, including Iain Duncan Smith’s much trumpeted “families out of work for three generations” line (which, it turns out, has never been backed up by data).

The report argues that the government is “deliberately misrepresenting” the poor, blaming them for their circumstances while ignoring more complex reasons, including policy deficiencies. Moreover, they feel that this scapegoating is the result of collusion between politicians, the media and the public.

Micahael Cohen, writing at the Guardian, dares to point the finger of blame.

The reality is that whether one likes Obama or thinks he is the Antichrist, facts are facts: he has offered Republicans a Grand Bargain compromise repeatedly over the past 18 months. He has made concessions on key liberal priorities, like Medicare eligibility and Social Security benefits. He signed into law huge cuts in domestic spending without matching revenue hikes. And in return, all he has asked of Republicans is to support rather tepid increases in taxes. They have refused; and they have refused for the same reason every time.

Why is this so hard to understand?

Via PoliticalProf.

Too true to be funny.

Reg Henry thinks he has found the elusive abominable snowjobman.

Sequestration. It sounds like something that Sasquatch dreamed up. Come to think of it, that’s probably correct.

After all, Sasquatch is not much for the greater community or the common good. He wants no restrictions on his freedom that might come with caring about the well-being of his neighbors. His species just wants to walk the ridges bellowing nonsense and giving off foul odors, stopping only to insert big feet in his mouth. In recent years, the beast has also been sighted in the halls of Congress, lured there by the chance of doing nothing positive.

While small in number, Sasquatch — genus Gorilla Americanus Teapartyus — looms large, and his big footprints are all over the latest crisis.

Media, explained.

Listen to the first segment (about five minutes) of Harry’s Le Show for this past Sunday.

Just listen.

I remember the Saturday Night Massacre (if you don’t, follow the link to understand the rest of this). I was watching television with my parents.

I had followed the Watergate story from its beginnings. I had long since realized that the Nixon administration was corrupt and power-mad.

As the news unfolded, my father disappeared from the living room.

My father was not a particularly politically liberal person, not at all, but he was morally straight and valued honesty, integrity, kindness, and decency.

As my brother said recently, talking of some fairly obnoxious persons of his acquaintance who are fond of describing themselves as “good Christians” (they aren’t–they are selfish, spiteful, and vindictive*), “Daddy was the most Christian person I have ever known, and he would have been the last person to call himself a ‘good Christian.'”

I realized later that he was calling Western Union, sending telegrams to his elected representatives incongruously assembled to inform them that he was done with Richard Nixon and his entourage.

_____________________

*I don’t know anything about their politics, but “selfish, spiteful, and vindictive” screams “religious right.”