No matter how badly the private sector screws everyday Americans the GOP and the Tea Party (should we just call it the GOPTea Party?) never casts negative aspersions on the private sector.
About the only time you ever see the GOP railing on the financial sector is when someone like AIG ruins the fun for the rest of the obscenely rich and powerful and it affects their investment portfolio.
The GOP doesn't lack in confidence - supreme confidence - that no matter what presciption they propose, no matter what sound public policy they oppose, they are always right, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. It is always the opposition that is wrong. Always.
They act, in fact, like a man on trial for murder, doing whatever they possibly can to obfuscate, confuse, and deny in an effort to stave off the electric chair.
They say this election cycle reminds some of 1994. It reminds me of 1994 too, just not in the same way...
"When things have settled down a bit I will pursue as my primary goal in life the killer or killers who slaughtered Nicole and Mr. Goldman. They are out there somewhere. Whatever it takes to identify them and bring them in, I will provide somehow." O.J. Simpson
I'm not here to revisit the facts of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. But, as the years have passed, let's just say I'm sure there are some staunch O.J. defenders from 1995 who have thought something along the lines of: "Man! He really did do it, didn't he?"
The point is that O.J., even when interviewed after the trials, even after almost copping to the murders in that book, never wavered. He wore his denial like a badge of honor. He was always looking for those "real killers."
Let's bring it back to 2010, shall we?
Death Panels, Fannie & Freddie, ACORN, & Taxes
Man, Frank Luntz owes O.J. Simpson some real money. O.J. was version 1.0 of "My Lie is the New Truth." O.J. was content to let people think what they wanted about him, especially after he had to fork over his money to the Goldmans. But he was never going to give them the satisfaction of admitting his crime. Those "real killers" were a fiction. They never had a name.
Version 2.0 of "My Lie is the New Truth" was "weapons of mass destruction," "the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud," and "you don't raise somebody's taxes in the middle of a recession" and so many other prize quotes from the Bush Administration to drive us headlong into an unnecessary war that was unpaid for. But Bush was a sheepish liar, so his lies didn't have staying power.
Now we sit here, in 2010, looking at Version 3.0. They say "denial is a river in Egypt." It is also, when combined with supreme confidence, unlimited money and media access, and scapegoating, a recipe for keeping one's political party from the electoral version of the electric chair. In 2006 and 2008 - we all thought America had turned a corner from a party identification standpoint.
How wrong we were! WE will find out how severely wrong on Tuesday night.
Let's take a look at just some of the unrtue truths we have been fed from the defendants in our case the past two years:
- death panels/keeping your own doctor - it's not insurance companies screwing you out of good healthcare - IT'S THE GOVERNMENT!
- it's Obama's recession - George Who?
- ACORN is responsible for all voter fraud - voter intimidation doesn't exist!
- The mortgage crisis can be placed squarely on the shoulders of Fannie and Freddie Mac - you can't give poor people loans, duh!
- Government run healthcare is BAD, but don't let them take away your government-run healthcare!
- Illegal immigrants shouldn't be deported! They should be placed in prisons run by private corporations who happen to be major donors!
- Gay mariage is bad for YOUR marriage! Excuse me while pork this hooker!
- I can't believe that stupid sea turtle cause that oil platform to explode... and oil baths are good for animals - and humans!
- Tea Partiers aren't racist or violent - they just stomp on people's heads like Nazi stormtroopers.
- Not only would gays in the military lead to reduced unit cohesion, it would lead to ARMAGEDDON!!!!!
- Government jobs? You can't count on the government for jobs - or the private sector for that matter - at least not as long as the black guy's President.
- This money isn't foreign! It's real money! It's not a "foreign substance" like HGH. It's perfectly clean - especially after we launder it!
- Tax cuts are better than sliced bread - Jesus chased all the money changers out of the Temple just so they could go spread the word about awesome tax cuts!
You get the gist by now.
Version 3.0 is "No matter what - blame the other guy! And blame him for stuff that hasn't happened and ain't ever gonna happen except in people's worst fears!"
I'm just kind of hoping this whole Tea Party ascendance is like when O.J. tried to get his Heisman Trophy back - a really bad idea that will put the GOP out of action for at least a decade.
We can't let these deliberate liars control our fates anymore. I don't want to hear any progressive talk radio host or caller or blogger talking about ANYTHING for the next four days other than how to:
VOTE!!!
VOLUNTEER!!!
CONTRIBUTE!!!
Let's shock the world!
ActBlue - PCCC
A little selfishness for the home district...
ActBlue - Ed Potosnak for U.S. Congress - NJ-7