The Koch Bros. and THE TEA PARTY and their derivative Right-Wing enterprises are too mad and cynical for sane, responsible people who BELIEVE IN GOVERNMENT to believe that they could possibly do the sinister things that they are doing for sinister political reasons: They have to be IDEOLOGUES. Naive, yes. Ignorant, yes.
Not sinister, though, REASONABLE progressives may say.
THAT'S DEAD WRONG. They are playing us for the fools that we are if we believe them, if we believe that they are simply Right of Center ideologues. President Richard M. Nixon practiced Right of Center politics when he created the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] by Executive Order. President Eisenhower did so when he funded the Interstate Highway System that we enjoy today.
There's no logic to what Republicans value today if we do not understand that their manifesto is to bring misery to so many Americans that they will vote Republican for dog-catcher in 2012.
Those who oppose the "Stimulus" or Health Care or individual mandate or anything else that might be good for the greatest number of people were NOT and ARE NOT opposed to these things, per se: THEY ARE OPPOSED TO ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP OBAMA TO SUCCEED AT ANYTHING.
They are the MUGGERS that Chris Matthews talked about in "Let Me Finish" Tuesday evening. Has the drum-roll begun? Rep. Barney Frank has said it. Sen. Bernie Sanders has said it. THEY HAVE SAID IT ALL! ALL WE HAVE TO CONNECT THE DOTS.
Republicans who did not vote for the debt ceiling plan did not do so only because their plan is for OBAMA TO FAIL. They've no interest in saving "this" government, "this" USA, "this" economy, or "this" administration. None of these is theirs. They can now go back to their constituents and say that they have not been out-Bachmanned by Rep. Michelle Bachmann. They voted "NO." If it hadn't passed, there'd be chaos and misery. THAT'S GREAT! they'd say.
Sen. McConnell’s plan to make Obama a one-term president is on schedule. He's doing the bidding of the Koch Bros. He’s using their Tea Party to great advantage while he appears to be the Mediator. If the economy "tanks" and continues to hurt blacks, Hispanics, the poor, and the Middle Class, Obama will begin to lose his base. That’s the beginning of the end for him. That's their plan.
Republicans are willing to destroy the economy because the argument has never been about the economy but about creating CHAOS and FAILURE and MISERY after the default date. They've linked the "debt ceiling" to government spending and so have perversely linked it to NOT helping Americans in their hour of greatest economic need. Cut spending. Cut government jobs. Cut grants for students. Cut Medicare for invalids, the elderly, and children.
Dismantle the New Deal. Reverse the Great Society. Ruin Obama. Blame everything on Democrats. On him.
One day, somebody will explain better than I can how cynical and perverse their plan has been, and few will believe it. One cannot believe that HATRED FOR OBAMA is so deep that EXTREMISTS prefer an "End of the World" scenario for the USA as long as it happens on OBAMA’S WATCH.
Undo FDR’s New Deal? YES.
Undo LBJ’s Great Society? YES.
Undo Obama's Affordable Health Care plan? YES.
Undo his legislative compromises? YES.
Undo, oppose, ruin. The greater the misery, the greater the victory.
Republicans today are not Right of Center: they are Right of Reason. They are off the Wall. They are Ripe for Ridicule. They ought to be voted out of office en mass in 2012. Only a broad repudiation of the 2010 election of Tea Party candidates can redeem the idiocy that the electorate indulged in -- in 2010 -- by bringing their novice and shallow Tea Party candidates into power.
Ask yourself if the following positions or Conservative Talking Points have anything in common: The only common thread that I find is to beat Obama at all costs in 2012. Nothing else makes sense. Everything else is self-contradictory. Or it is hypocrisy and madness. However, Republicans are neither. They are Machiavellian.
Nothing that they've done makes sense until you say, "Make it impossible for Obama to govern. Make it impossible for Democrats to fund the legislation that they have passed. Make it impossible for Obama to win a second term. DO THIS WHATEVER IT COSTS. Do this at the expense of logic or common sense. JUST DO IT. It will work."
I've listed the following "points" in no particular order; yes, some are angrily redundant:
cut spending dramatically,
ignore the debt ceiling,
link the debt ceiling bill to the budget,
squeeze spending down to a bare minimum,
use Grover Norquist’s pledge as cover for not raising Revenue
do NOT raise revenue, not even on the top one- or two-percent,
because the plan is to . . .
Starve the Beast,
choke state and Federal government treasuries,
bring an end to unions, fair wages, and safe working conditions,
increase misery, unhappiness,
oppose Federal agencies that Regulate safe air and water. Why?
boost corporate profits,
do not raise revenue to create jobs, that’d lessen misery,
weaken the economy by any means possible,
do not build American infrastructure; it creates jobs,
create chaos,
create despair,
shrink the government,
while Obama is in the White House, tell Americans that government is bad,
while the Senate is in the hands of Democrats, tell Americans that government is bad
create misery by taking from S.S.,
create misery by taking from Medicare,
create misery by taking from Pell Grants,
create misery by taking from Obama’s Health Care Act,
misery hurts Obama,
do not expect banks to lend to small businesses,
redefine the RICH as Job Creators,
redefine the POOR as Freeloaders,
perversely suggest that the Rich are Job Creators
do not tax Job Creators,
block young, old, and new voters from registering as Democrats,
do not encourage small business to invest in America,
do not put money into the pockets of the Middle Class, they’ll spend it,
do not help the Middle Class to spend money and boost the economy,
do not stimulate the economy,
do not help Middle Class Workers, they’ll spend and boost the economy,
Are these not their positions? Do they make sense for the USA? Yes, but only if the Republican plan is to win the White House and all branches of government in 2012 -- to win AT ALL COSTS. If an America that succeeds for the Great Majority of its PEOPLE is an America with Obama and Democrats at the helm, it is NOT their America. If it is not their America, these mad IDEOLOGUES -- with the blind zeal of Crusaders -- will bring the Nation to its knees, even as they drop in Ecstasy to theirs.
Nothing else makes sense.