As my esophagus fills with vomit after watching the exchange between Rev. Al Sharpton and Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) that just took place on MSNBC, I feel the only way to keep the sickness down is to regurgitate, here, for you, a few of the most glaring examples of how terrible the Republicans in Congress are – right now, as it stands, right this minute. Because every linguistic cartwheel this good-ol’-boy-next-door-lookin’ motherfucker pulled off was not just an isolated feat; rather, each was indicative of a tactic that is used by members of their party on a daily basis.
Okay, let’s do it:
1. The word “compromise” has more than one meaning. And they know it. Sharpton asks Graves about his public stance against compromising in this deal, and Graves responds as if the question was, “Would you compromise the health and stability of American families?” One means “make a deal.” The other means “put in danger.” Smoothly implemented.
2. They whined all spring for the President to “lead”…just so they could deflect all criticisms of their bloodlust to dismantle the big 3 social programs – Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (like you didn’t know) – onto him. Remember this nonsense? This was no accident. I can’t count how many times I heard this ridiculous argument from Boehner and Cantor, knowing full well what their intentions were: get the President to propose the cuts first and you no longer own them. It’s almost unbelievable but that’s exactly how it was meant it to go, and that is exactly how it went.
3. Congress passes a budget. Then, instead of the debt ceiling being automatically adjusted to accommodate the budget that they just passed, they hold an additional, separate vote on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling. Now this gripe is more with procedure than anything, but I do think that it’s important to realize that Congress already passed this goddamn budget – and now the same goddamn people are deciding whether or not we can borrow enough to actually use the money in said budget. This spending? That everyone’s so bent out of shape about? Remember, we passed that budget a few months ago. You know, that deal where we got, like, Planned Parenthood and a cracker or something in exchange for massive cuts?
Well played, Republicans. Well played indeed.
I have the same kind of respect for what these soulless pieces of shit are doing to this country right now as I do for, say, Hitler. Yeah, that’s right. They are blatant, they are immoral and they absolutely do not have the best interests of the American people at heart. And they are winning.
So what state is our republic in right now? What does it say about us when we are split down the middle for a party that – admittedly falteringly – generally stands up for the people, and a party that is clearly only representing the wealthy and the powerful?
Look, America, I love you…but it is time to walk off that tea party hangover and wake the fuck up.
Amen Brother!
Excellent. I appreciate your passion and your paying attention. We do need to find a way to fight back, and hard.
The government needs to stop spending so much money. New taxes only provides money for new wasteful spending. Enough is enough!
You nailed the essence of the GOP double-speak and their agenda. I really wish the left side of the aisle would acquire that messaging discipline and the spine to call the other side out on their prevarications.
@Dondre: FYI… We are already taxed at the lowest percent of GDP in almost 80 years. Indisputable fact. The most prosperous times in our nation’s history included tax rates of up to 90% on the wealthiest among us.
I am stunned about the lack of reporting on the fact that the simplest, most pain-free solution to our deficit pain is to end the tax holiday for the wealthiest 2% and end our involvements in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I’m watching this House and Senate Kabuki dance on C-SPAN and I don’t know whether it’s the hypocrisy or the ignorance of the freshman Republicans that stuns me more. Their lack of understanding of how our government and economy really work is becoming more obvious each day. It’s clear to me (based on Rand Paul last night) that they are going to stumble through this process, miss any sort of opportunity to get out of it in time and pin it all “squarely on the President.”…good luck. All I can do is sit and watch as my nest egg goes up in smoke. I guess I should have listened to Glenn Beck when he was telling me to buy gold!