Old Rocks
Diamond Member
Once again the party of NO has shown itself to be irrelevant to the problems of our nation. What kind of leadership have the Republicans offered on any of the major problems that this nation is encountering today? In spite of the fact that most of these problems were created or excaberated by Republican leadership in the past eight years, all they have to say is NO. And that is precisely the message we must give the Rushpublican party again this election cycle.
Im not going to try. Ive written countless Democrats in Disarray stories over the years and been critical of the left on numerous issues in the past. This year, the liberal insistence on a marginally relevant public option has been a tactical mistake that has enabled the rights government takeover disinformation jihad. There have been times when Democrats have run demagogic scare campaigns on issues like Social Security and Medicare. There are more than a few Democrats who believe, in practice, that government should be run for the benefit of government employees unions. There are Democrats who are so solicitous of civil liberties that they would undermine legitimate covert intelligence collection. There are others who mistrust the use of military power under almost any circumstances. But these are policy differences, matters of substance. The most liberal members of the Democratic caucus Senator Russ Feingold in the Senate, Representative Dennis Kucinich in the House, to name two are honorable public servants who make their arguments based on facts. They dont retail outright lies. Hyperbole and distortion certainly exist on the left, but they are a minor chord in the Democratic Party.
It is a very different story among Republicans. To be sure, there are honorable conservatives, trying to do the right thing. There is a legitimate, if wildly improbable, fear that Obamas plan will start a process that will end with a health-care system entirely controlled by the government. There are conservatives Senator Lamar Alexander, Representative Mike Pence, among many others who make their arguments based on facts. But they have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal. The philosophically supple party that existed as recently as George H.W. Bushs presidency has been obliterated. The partys putative intellectuals people like the Weekly Standards William Kristol are prosaic tacticians who make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obamas political prospects. In 1993, when the Clintons tried health-care reform, the Republican John Chafee offered a creative (in fact, superior) alternative which Kristol quashed with his famous Dont Help Clinton fax to the troops. There is no Republican health-care alternative in 2009. The same people who rail against a government takeover of health care tried to enforce a government takeover of Terri Schiavos end-of-life decisions. And when Palin floated the death panel canard, the number of prominent Republicans who rose up to call her out could be counted on one hand.
Joe Klein on the GOP: “How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? … How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped
Im not going to try. Ive written countless Democrats in Disarray stories over the years and been critical of the left on numerous issues in the past. This year, the liberal insistence on a marginally relevant public option has been a tactical mistake that has enabled the rights government takeover disinformation jihad. There have been times when Democrats have run demagogic scare campaigns on issues like Social Security and Medicare. There are more than a few Democrats who believe, in practice, that government should be run for the benefit of government employees unions. There are Democrats who are so solicitous of civil liberties that they would undermine legitimate covert intelligence collection. There are others who mistrust the use of military power under almost any circumstances. But these are policy differences, matters of substance. The most liberal members of the Democratic caucus Senator Russ Feingold in the Senate, Representative Dennis Kucinich in the House, to name two are honorable public servants who make their arguments based on facts. They dont retail outright lies. Hyperbole and distortion certainly exist on the left, but they are a minor chord in the Democratic Party.
It is a very different story among Republicans. To be sure, there are honorable conservatives, trying to do the right thing. There is a legitimate, if wildly improbable, fear that Obamas plan will start a process that will end with a health-care system entirely controlled by the government. There are conservatives Senator Lamar Alexander, Representative Mike Pence, among many others who make their arguments based on facts. But they have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal. The philosophically supple party that existed as recently as George H.W. Bushs presidency has been obliterated. The partys putative intellectuals people like the Weekly Standards William Kristol are prosaic tacticians who make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obamas political prospects. In 1993, when the Clintons tried health-care reform, the Republican John Chafee offered a creative (in fact, superior) alternative which Kristol quashed with his famous Dont Help Clinton fax to the troops. There is no Republican health-care alternative in 2009. The same people who rail against a government takeover of health care tried to enforce a government takeover of Terri Schiavos end-of-life decisions. And when Palin floated the death panel canard, the number of prominent Republicans who rose up to call her out could be counted on one hand.
Joe Klein on the GOP: “How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? … How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped
