For starters:
The party that brought us the worst economy since the Great Depression, that led us into Iraq and the worst foreign policy disaster in American history, that would like to take a hammer to Social Security and a chisel to Medicare, is back in control of the House of Representatives with the expressed mission of undermining all things Obama.
That is from the opening paragraph of his column, Get Ready for a G.O.P. Rerun, in this morning's New York Times
It is a biting column, chock full of reminders of what we can look forward to with the new Republican majority in the House. Even better, his gift for language provides us with phrases that might even get through the right-wing Wurlizter to actually have an effect on the minds of the average Americans.
I will explore a few of those and offer some thoughts of my own.
Anyone who regularly reads Bob Herbert knows he's liberal. Thus the biting quality of this piece does not by itself indicate that the media worm is turning, that we will see the kind of focus on the intentions of the Republicans that were there during the last campaign, which could have been hammered home for a political effect. For that to happen, even now, is going to require some major effort by the Democrats on the Hill. It is possible, be because the Republicans are going to provide the rope with which to hang themselves.
We can perhaps be sorry that Phil Gramm is no longer in office, since Herbert reminds us that Texan once opined We’re the only nation in the world where all of our poor people are fat." This, after all, was the principal economic adviser to John McCain, who is still around, wno, as Herbert reminds us, once described the economic crisis during the last campaign as a "mental recession."
It gets better. We have Darrell Issa first calling Obama "one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times." Issa walks that back, a bit, to "one of the most corrupt administrations."
But what really caught my attention was this:
The fundamental mission of the G.O.P. is to shovel ever more money to those who are already rich. That’s why you got all that disgracefully phony rhetoric from Republicans about attacking budget deficits and embracing austerity while at the same time they were fighting like mad people to pile up the better part of a trillion dollars in new debt by extending the Bush tax cuts.
Consider that. fundamental mission define the Republicans as functioning on behalf of only the wealthy, and support it by appropriate labeling - phony rhetoric - and support that with a concrete example.
fighting like mad people - perhaps you might prefer insane, but I think the more common "mad" works just fine.
There’s a reason the G.O.P. reveres Ronald Reagan and it’s not because of his fiscal probity. As Garry Wills wrote in "Reagan’s America":
"Reagan nearly tripled the deficit in his eight years, and never made a realistic proposal for cutting it. As the biographer Lou Cannon noted, it was unfair for critics to say that Reagan was trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor, since ‘he never seriously attempted to balance the budget at all.’ "
Ohmygod. Attacking St. Ronnie the Reagan! Of course, the problem with this might be the fact that our current Democratic president has expressed some admiration for Reagan and what he accomplished. But using biographer Lou Cannon to make the point might help, except probably most people don't know who Cannon was. So take his name out and just make the charge like this:
Reagan nearly tripled the deficit and never made a serious proposal to address it, because he was trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. And if you don't like my word-smithery, rephrase it yourself.
The paragraph immediately before the foregoing material is also attention-getting:
This is a party that has mastered the art of taking from the poor and the middle class and giving to the rich. We should at least be clear about this and stop being repeatedly hoodwinked — like Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy’s football — by G.O.P. claims of fiscal responsibility.
Of course, the imagery works for those of us who remember Peanuts. The last strip ran almost ten years ago, on February 15, 2000, the day after its creator, Charles Schultz, passed away. Still, the imagery is familiar enough that it has bite.
Perhaps we can come up with other creative phrases while using some of the language of Herbert- Republicans are reverse Robin-Hoods who have "mastered the art of taking from the poor and the middle class and giving to the rich." Again, I defer to the word-smithery of others, although I wish to offer this -
"With the Republicans you and your children won't have to worry about their economic future - you won't have on after the Republicans give all the money to the wealthy." Take that idea, rework it, hammer it home.
For several years we have heard Democrats and Progressives lamenting the effectiveness of the Republican message machine, and the fact that, dating back to the infamous Powell Memo, there has been a concerted and consistent effort ongoing against the interest of ordinary Americans. It is true, but we have never been able to get that into the consciousness of the ordinary American.
This group of Republicans seems to have gone well beyond the subtlety of what Powell proposed. They are so over-the-top, they are so indebted to their Tea-Party wing, that they provide us with an opportunity we have not previously had.
Last night I heard in passing data from a poll that said 61% of Americans want more taxes on the rich. If that is true, if we can hammer that the expense and the debt are both being piled on the non-rich, while the rich accumulate even more at our expense, then it becomes possible to change the political dynamic under which we just suffered catastrophic losses.
All of this could give hope.
But there are several cautions.
And the biggest is what the administration does.
If we are going to see a tilt towards business in the reorganization of the White House staff, for example with the possible appointment of Bill Daley as Chief of Staff, then even thought the Republicans are providing us with all the ammunition we need to destroy them, we will lose the opportunity. Obama might not call it triangulation a la Clinton, but it will have the same effect, and the opportunity will be lost.
Which unfortunately reminds me of Will Rogers statement that he did not belong to an organized political party, he was a Democrat.
Read the Herbert. It might cheer you up. For now. Until the administration does its next stupid thing.
Have a nice day.
I won't.
And it's not just because my sinuses are killing me.