Mann and Ornstein: Let’s just say it - The Republicans ARE the problem

[rdean]

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

Of course, there were larger forces at work beyond the realignment of the South. They included the mobilization of social conservatives after the 1973Roe v. Wade decision, the anti-tax movement launched in 1978 by California’s Proposition 13, the rise of conservative talk radio after a congressional pay raise in 1989, and the emergence of Fox News and right-wing blogs. But the real move to the bedrock right starts with two names: Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist.

Norquist, meanwhile, founded Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 and rolled out his Taxpayer Protection Pledge the following year. The pledge, which binds its signers to never support a tax increase (that includes closing tax loopholes), had been signed as of last year by 238 of the 242 House Republicans and 41 of the 47 GOP senators, according to ATR. The Norquist tax pledge has led to other pledges, on issues such as climate change, that create additional litmus tests that box in moderates and make cross-party coalitions nearly impossible. For Republicans concerned about a primary challenge from the right, the failure to sign such pledges is simply too risky.

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem. - The Washington Post

It's nice to see what we've all been talking about put into words in such a descriptive and logical manner.

Pledging to Norquist over the constitution. What a shame.

 

[rdean]

Former senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraskacalled his party “irresponsible”

And Mike Lofgren, a veteran Republican congressional staffer, wrote an anguished diatribe last year about why he was ending his career on the Hill after nearly three decades. “The Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe,” he wrote on the Truthout Web site.

 

[Stephanie]

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

stopped reading right there..but right up Rdeans alley
and who the hell is Mann and Orenstein?

 

[hjmick]

Mann and Ornstein's neutral bonfides? I mean, they are completely unbiased, right?

Let's be real, Dean, just once...

Both parties are the problem.

 

[rdean]

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

stopped reading right there..but right up Rdeans alley
and who the hell is Mann and Orenstein?

Don't you ever bother to look anything up on your own? Do you always have to be spoon fed? When I respond to Republican's links, I go read them. I check out their facts. That's how I'm able to come up with "real facts". In fact, many times I have to correct Republicans on this very site. They post a link and then imagine what it says. I'm always asking if they read their own link. Seems like most of the time they haven't bothered. They just go by the title.

 

[rdean]

Mann and Ornstein's neutral bonfides? I mean, they are completely unbiased, right?

Let's be real, Dean, just once...

Both parties are the problem.

Obviously you didn't read the article. Why comment on something you don't bother reading?

 

[hortysir]

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

stopped reading right there..but right up Rdeans alley
and who the hell is Mann and Orenstein?

I stopped reading because it was obviously not his writing!

 

[hjmick]

Mann and Ornstein's neutral bonfides? I mean, they are completely unbiased, right?

Let's be real, Dean, just once...

Both parties are the problem.

Obviously you didn't read the article. Why comment on something you don't bother reading?

I read the article.

 

[Stephanie]

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

stopped reading right there..but right up Rdeans alley
and who the hell is Mann and Orenstein?

Don't you ever bother to look anything up on your own? Do you always have to be spoon fed? When I respond to Republican's links, I go read them. I check out their facts. That's how I'm able to come up with "real facts". In fact, many times I have to correct Republicans on this very site. They post a link and then imagine what it says. I'm always asking if they read their own link. Seems like most of the time they haven't bothered. They just go by the title.

I said I stopped reading from what you posted so why would I go to the link to read the rest of the crap?
and there are many links I won't bother with, hufferpost, thinkprogess, mediamatters, and a few others..I don't want my computer to be infected with cooties

 

[whitehall]

Will they ever stop whining? Ignorance and left wing hatred is the problem. How in the freaking world can republicans be the problem when democrats controlled both houses of congress for four years and had a ultra left wing president to sign any junk they put in front of him for the last two years? If you believe leftie hysteria you would think republicans ran the government when in fact they only have a majority in 1/3 of it. For the sake of your mental health lefties stop the whining. You are getting scary.

 

[Dot Com]

Good article.

Today, thanks to the GOP, compromise has gone out the window in Washington. In the first two years of the Obama administration, nearly every presidential initiative met with vehement, rancorous and unanimous Republican opposition in the House and the Senate, followed by efforts to delegitimize the results and repeal the policies.

Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

 

[Stephanie]

Good article.

Today, thanks to the GOP, compromise has gone out the window in Washington. In the first two years of the Obama administration, nearly every presidential initiative met with vehement, rancorous and unanimous Republican opposition in the House and the Senate, followed by efforts to delegitimize the results and repeal the policies.

Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

ah so that means we are suppose to care what they say?

 

[rdean]

Good article.

Today, thanks to the GOP, compromise has gone out the window in Washington. In the first two years of the Obama administration, nearly every presidential initiative met with vehement, rancorous and unanimous Republican opposition in the House and the Senate, followed by efforts to delegitimize the results and repeal the policies.

Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

ah so that means we are suppose to care what they say?

Not you.

 

[rdean]

Mann and Ornstein's neutral bonfides? I mean, they are completely unbiased, right?

Let's be real, Dean, just once...

Both parties are the problem.

Obviously you didn't read the article. Why comment on something you don't bother reading?

I read the article.

Good, then you know they were also critical of Democrats.

What keeps the Democrats in check is the fact they are a coalition party. For instance, when Republicans insist blacks are being "led" around and brainwashed by Democrats, the question becomes, "Which democrats?", because blacks are also in the leadership of the Democratic Party. Because it's a "coalition".

Republicans simply can't grasp that concept. They keep asking why 90% of blacks vote for Obama. Well, 90% of Republicans vote for their white candidate and Republicans are 90% white.

Another difference. Democrats aren't making things up when they say Republicans believe in let him die, and feed the poor and they will breed, and education is for snobs and so one. These are things said by Republican leaders NOT taken out of context.

When Republicans say Democrats are "Soviet style Marxists", they are simply making that up. First, I don't know any Democrats who believe that, especially since the Soviet Union isn't even around any more. And second, I believe most Republicans don't even know what that means. In fact, I bet many Republicans don't even know the old Soviet Union is gone.

 

[Stephanie]

Good article.

ah so that means we are suppose to care what they say?

Not you.

from the looks of the not so many participants of the thread, it doesn't look like many others care either..anyway...off to bed, some of us work early

 

[Stephanie]

Obviously you didn't read the article. Why comment on something you don't bother reading?

I read the article.

Good, then you know they were also critical of Democrats.

What keeps the Democrats in check is the fact they are a coalition party. For instance, when Republicans insist blacks are being "led" around and brainwashed by Democrats, the question becomes, "Which democrats?", because blacks are also in the leadership of the Democratic Party. Because it's a "coalition".

Republicans simply can't grasp that concept. They keep asking why 90% of blacks vote for Obama. Well, 90% of Republicans vote for their white candidate and Republicans are 90% white.

Another difference. Democrats aren't making things up when they say Republicans believe in let him die, and feed the poor and they will breed, and education is for snobs and so one. These are things said by Republican leaders NOT taken out of context.

When Republicans say Democrats are "Soviet style Marxists", they are simply making that up. First, I don't know any Democrats who believe that, especially since the Soviet Union isn't even around any more. And second, I believe most Republicans don't even know what that means. In fact, I bet many Republicans don't even know the old Soviet Union is gone.

 

[skookerasbil]

 

[California Girl]

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

stopped reading right there..but right up Rdeans alley
and who the hell is Mann and Orenstein?

I stopped reading because it was obviously not his writing!

I didn't read it at all. My bad. I'd rather watch paint dry than read his repetitive ranting.

 

[rdean]

ah so that means we are suppose to care what they say?

Not you.

from the looks of the not so many participants of the thread, it doesn't look like many others care either..anyway...off to bed, some of us work early

You know, people who get paid in crumpled singles don't get Social Security.

 

[Katzndogz]

The best thing to happen to the nation is for democrats to start taking action to rid the country of evil republicans. They have voter registration rolls, they can start the arrests any time they want. They are moving to that direction, almost to a point where they have no choice.