Editorial: Eight myths to chill an old-school Republican soul

By today's standards, Teddy Roosevelt was a liberal commie pinko marxist socialist muslim terrorist. I say this in the name of our lord and savior, Ronald Reagan (Peace Be Upon Him), and as such it can not be contested with facts Amen.

By today's standards, Eisenhower would be considered a leftist within the Republican Party. He was the true fiscal conservative to look to, not Reagan. Eisenhower paid down most of the war/national debt in his two terms in office, and had no hesitation about taxing the rich to help that happen. That was a time of SHARED SACRIFICE. Full employment war time industry converted to full employment peace time industry based on production of tangible goods with no outsourcing - one of our strongest economies ever.

On the other hand, Ronald Reagan was the first post WWII president to substantially increase the national debt.

Regressive party? It seems so. I can't figure out why so many people in the Republican Party want to call themselves traditional conservatives as if they have short memories and forgot about George W Bush nearly doubling the national debt and growing the government and military payrolls to gargantuan size. Tax cuts to the rich while starting two unfunded, multi trillion dollar quagmires in the Mideast. That wasn't fiscal conservatism, that was fiscal insanity.

What's wrong with this picture? John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were there in congress to vote for all of that Bush spending binge and voted for raising the debt ceiling repeatedly. Now they have reinvented themselves as spending cut expert fiscal conservatives.

I'm not holding my breath for a landslide victory. Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, their sheeple still believe. That right-wing money machine is cranked up already, and they aren't close to wide-open throttle yet. I'll be happy with a victory, period.

The republican party of Bachmann, Palin, Pawlenty, Bonerboy, Lipless Mitch and old crankypants McCain has become a JOKE.

In response to that the Democratic party has had to slide much further to the right as well. There is very little representation for true progressives any more.

ZIP: By today's standards, Teddy Roosevelt was a liberal commie pinko marxist socialist muslim terrorist.

Mountainmike: By today's standards, Eisenhower would be considered a leftist within the Republican Party.

So that would make Lincoln Satan incarnate. After all, look what he did to the non-existent States rights. And yes to all you rightwingnuts non-existent States rights. States don't have rights they have Powers, rights are only associated with people in the Constitution. Try reading it some time. It wasn't until the 1880s that the SCOTUS started getting confused about people and corporations. Must have been the ergot in the rye bread.

That right-wing money machine is cranked up already

It is Obama's goal to raise a billion dollars for his campaign. And you're talking about a "right-wing" money machine? Conservatives won't come close to that billion dollars, but I'm sure Obama will. WHO is it again that is beholden to rich people contributing to their campaigns? Sorry, but there's no way Obama will raise that much money from small time donors. No, that will be from all his rich limosine lib friends and his rich union buddies. But hey, they all care about you, the little guy. LOL!

Deb: What are you smoking? Seriously, you should share....

Considering what the SCOTUS and GOP governors have unleashed, the Dems will be hard pressed to match the GOP's fundraising capacities, and you know it. Why else have they declared war on collective bargaining and unions?!?

So that would make Lincoln Satan incarnate.

To today's modern republican, Lincoln makes Satan look like a saint.

The war isn't on collective bargaining and unions. It's the principle of public sector unions which is fundamentally immoral. The problem is that the bargaining doesn't take place with the people who pay the bills (taxpayers) but rather with people who are writing checks with our money who have no skin in the game. This is how we wound up with public sector employees making more money in retirement than they ever made while working.

There's a trillion dollar gap in what public sector workers have been promised in pensions and what the government is able to pay in these future obligations. The overly generous benefits promised were promised to public sector unions by politicians who have no skin in the game and they're leaving the beleagued taxpayers holding the bag.

Already the government has passed WEP (Windfall Elimination Program) which tries to eliminate double-dipping into both a public sector retirement and social security for retirees who are living like Kings on the backs of the taxpaying public.

Public sector unions had a good little scam going, but we cannot afford to remain on this path of fiscal destruction.

Mean,

How many people do you know retired from the public sector? I know many and many of them are family members. I can guarantee you they are not making more than they did working and none of them are living like kings. Try another talking point.

You have fallen for the divide and conquer propaganda in this class war. Open your eyes. It is not the public sector workers that moved or rewarded companies to move to slave wage countries and close businesses here. It is not the public sector employees that sold off the real assets of this country for capital gains and moved it off shore. It is not the public or private sector employees that are destroying the middle class. Try taking a look at those controlling the strings, buying the politicians. Those are the ones trying to turn you into a serf. Not the guy living in the house next to you.

"Frankly, I identify more closely now with Democrats because despite their issues, problems, foibles and penchants for overspending, at least they move forward with an eye toward the good of the nation and concern for the welfare and prosperity of its citizens."

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As a lifelong Democrat I am afraid we are losing this fight. At least for now. Even should we win the presidency again there is a huge portion of this country that wants corporate America to dominate this country. They think the wealthy among us truly have the interest of Americans at heart. That they will provide for the rest of us if they are give free reign. They believe that these people are simply smarter and work harder than the rest of us and inherently know what is best. We need not elect them they will simply rise above the rest. Then they present us with political candidates like Sarah, Michelle and (though yet to enter the race) Gov. Rick Perry. It is almost as if this is a test to see if we are sufficiently dumbed down.

Big Government is not the answer but nationalizing healthcare simply puts us on par with the rest of the civilized world. I read just a simply pathetic letter in my local paper this morning that was essentially another warning we are descending into some sort of socialist madness and inevitable disaster. This thinking is insanity.

Just weeks ago we saw a survey showing some of the happiest citizens of the world live in Northern European countries that easily blend social and democratic beliefs. But we have long been made to fear the Stalinist model which has nothing to do with the model these countries follow.

So what has led so many to believe America is in such decline? It is the pessimism, negativity and fear presented by the Right.

Unfortunately fear generation is the primary weapon in the Republican toolbox as of late. Fear keeps the masses docile and easily controlled so that they'll readily believe the BS, lies and rhetoric fed to them on a daily basis by Flush Limbaugh, Hannity et al.

I honestly don't think repubs are happy unless they have the brunt of the country scared of their own shadows. There always has to be SOME new boogeyman to be terrified of on a nightly basis.

This is SATIRE but this paragraph from the clipped article on my page kinda proves the fear point. The theme is if Jesus returned to earth-

"I can't wait for him to leave," announced Conservative radio host Bill Rushbeck, during a special broadcast during this morning's visit. "I mean, the guy is obviously a socialist. Healing the sick? They don't have health insurance, that sure sounds like Marxist Obamacare to me! And he kicked over the tables of the money counters, so he's obviously a pro-regulation, anti-business commie pinko abortionist! Where's his birth certificate? He's just another illegal immigrant trying to take martyrdom jobs from hard-working Americans! Reverend Wright! Anthony Weiner! Death Panels!"

Any distraction, and anything that can be said to keep people in fear is gold to these folks.

The current GOP is starting to believe that we still have the "Feudal System" and our corporate barons will have our best interests at heart.

If they get their way, we'll really "owe our soul to the company store".

What really confuses me, is how the lower income republicans are buying into this crap. Do they really believe the wealthy are going to look out for them? No - the wealthy are in need of cheap labor to replace their servents that they hired and knew they were here illegally.

And now their buying into "the only way the economy is going to improve is to do away with minimum wages and the rich pay no taxes"???

vox

penchants for overspending

I am sorry you have fallen for this line, lie. There is a good post in #1 that shows that the deficits and debt ballooned under the "fiscal responsibility" policies of the republicans by about $9 trillion not counting interest on that debt. We are approaching the $14.3 trillion limit now. That means a ratio of about 5 to 2 for relative spending by the republicans. And that is not determining how much of the democrats debt is interest on the Republican spending.

Tim S.-560036 -

Democrats DO have a penchant for overspending because they draw on very liberal social thinking to get them there.

That is NOT to minimize the gop's penchant for THEFT!

The Democrats have a large redeeming feature to their overspending though, most of the time it's on US on the citizens of the United States, while the gop spending really boils down to the handover of the national treasury to the already obscenely rich, the CORPORATIONS and to the one thing that DDE dreaded the most, the military/industrial/congressional complex.

The very largest problem with Democrats is their seeming inability to reach determined, steely eyed, gritted teeth, heels dug in quorums. Until and unless they grow choans as big as their hearts and minds, they will get NOWHERE with the schoolyard bullies and criminals!

I would like to be able to call myself an independent as I recognize the issues with both parties related to corporate money. I can even say that I am for disciplined spending, spending cuts and paying down the national debt. I'm just not willing to do all of that on the back of the middle class and working class alone. Then there is the economy and the left over issue of the recession and what caused it. Undeniably, it was the Republican congress in 1999 deregulating Wall Street with the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Both parties can share the general blame on that. Democrats wanted a compromise deal where they got their legislation passed related to the Community Reinvestment Act in return for Republicans getting their legislation passed, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. But undeniably, the three legislators that wrote that legislation were Republicans. Then the Republican controlled congress in 2000 passed the single most horrific financial legislation in our history, the Modernization of Commodities and Futures Act. That was a set of loopholes specifically designed for Wall Street white collar criminals to exploit. For example, the Enron Loophole was contained in this legislation. Any random accident that Phil Gramm, the master mind of this legislation, was an ex Enron lobbyist? Then it had specific loopholes for derivatives, predatory lending and credit default swaps. Without one single doubt, both of those bills were 100 percent directly related to the 2008 recession and housing market collapse.

And the Republicans are still spouting all of the deregulation dogma. Give them the opportunity and they'll do it all over again.

The unemployment benefits one is an obvious one since if there is only 1 job for every 4 unemployed people that only means it should take a normal person 4 times longer to find unemployment than it would if the economy were at full employment...

Interesting interpretation of statistics. Let me try to wrap my brain around it ... no, not happening. Analogy? Hmmmm .... If there is only 1 space available for each 4 freshman applications to Yale that only means it should take a normal person 4 times longer to get into Yale.

Nope - that doesn't work either.

I'll see if I can get that 1:4 thingy down. Let see I have 1 banana and 4 people. One of those people gets the banana first and the other three have to wait, um er ......., forever to get their banana. Nope I can't get that to work either.

No the only way I can see to improve this is to have 3 or 4 jobs available for every 4 people looking for one. Especially considering that the longer you are unemployed the less likely you are to get the job that is available. Something about employers thinking your skills have atrophied over time.

Not necessarily a bad idea. I remember learning about public education and SS from my grandparents that lived and raised their family through the Great Depression. They explained the strength of a nation working together and the debt we owed to each other and previous generations. This was told to me while working on their farm and as part of their conservative values. Conservative in the same sense as the Amish where they get together for barn raisings. To help each other as a community.

Maybe it is time we went through this again. So that these rugged individualists can learn how interdependent they are on the rest of society as they loose every thing they ever worked for and all the bad decisions they made that result in their loss. After all, that is the reason anyone is ever in those circumstances, bad personal decisions. If everyone made decisions like they did, nothing bad would ever happen to them.

Yes, I too am beginning to feel this is the only way to cure the sickness: let the fever run its course. The sad part is all the suffering that will needlessly transpire along along the way. I wonder what kind of a future my sons (ages 10 and 6) will have?

How long before this selfish and destructive mindset recedes?

and yet by todays warped standards, even "Saint Reagan" wouldn't pass muster as a GOP candidate!! lol He probably would decline to sign Grover Nordquists little no tax pledge, which would brand him as NORMAL.

FDR saved us from the Depression by creating public works projects.

Wrongo chance. We got out of the depression only when we went to war.

juststeve,

Not by going to war. By going to a world war with sacrifice at home and on the battle field and a tremendous amount of public spending putting practically the entire nation to work to build the weapons of war, i.e. public works.

That was the only way to get the fiscal conservatives to go along with the spending. But if one looks at history, it is clear that public works were successful as far as they went in the first term. Unemployment dropped from 25% to 10% in the first term. Then spending was cut in the first year of the second term at the insistence of the fiscal conservatives. Unemployment rose back to 15%.

I am not by any means claiming that all his programs were successful. Many of the policies implemented by the NRA were counterproductive. The main one of building inventory in order to keep people employed is the biggest failure. That is why unemployment insurance was implemented. The excess inventory slowed recovery until the inventory was sold down. I could go on, but that should be sufficient to demonstrate that your analysis is weak and superficial.

By going to a world war with sacrifice at home and on the battle field and a tremendous amount of public spending putting practically the entire nation to work to build the weapons of war, i.e. public works.

Funny how that part is so frequently overlooked.

The economy had started to turn around before we got involved in WWII. It's a common misconception that WWII ended the Depression.

It started to turn in 1934-36. Then the fiscal conservatives got FDR's ear and it turned back the other way, Then FDR started to ignore the fiscal conservatives in 1938 and the economy started to grow again. So which one are you referring to?

tyler-1708225

You seem to be missing the element of "zeitgeist," that circumstances and personalities change over time. Economic situations change depending on local and world markets; social expectations change. Some politicians are better managers than others, some are more inspirational than others. All of these interplay. It's not false memory to say that there are a lot of differences between the 1960's and 20-teens.

Are trolls permitted to have written samples of talking points or is it necessary for them to memorize?

tyler-1708225

Sure, sure, sure. How many times have we heard the democrats good, republicans bad.

So how come the reverse of that spews out of every talk-radio show in the country, not to mention Faux? That's quite a megaphone they've got shouting their message to the rooftops.

Report the reregs

liberal ignarance:

"liberal ignorance" is a known one line troll. - "Ignore This Author"!

DEFINITION: Troll — A "troll" is someone who posts mainly one-liners usually using foul language and vilifying someone.

YOUR Newsvine is replete with them! Practically ALL, in fact!

Here is one of your posts: "Him calling Obama a dick is actually quite refreshing."

ERGO, a troll is someone EXACTLY like YOU!

Exempli Gratia:

"And that "we" you mentioned, Libby; are you still carrying that big turd around in your purse?"

you mean like your lame one line zingers? you don't argue anything or add to the discussion or take a side, nor, seemingly do you stand for anything, excellent, keep widening the divide...

ben needs to be commended for not quoting ed schultz

Stein first said this a couple of months ago on Sunday Morning (CBS). Iwas surprised considering he said the opposite 6 months before.

Wow. Someone changing their mind as new facts come to light! What a revelation.

The Nixon administration. I don't know if you think it was taxes that were responsible for the problems of the 70s, but you might want to look into a little thing called the OPEC oil embargo.

In 1973, the U.S. and the Western world were in the midst of an inflationary spiral. The world had become highly vulnerable to commodity cartels, as twenty years of prosperity and accelerating population growth had created heavy demand for raw materials. In the U.S., consumer prices were rising at an 8.5% clip, while inflation rates in other nations were often much higher. The demand for Middle Eastern oil had been increasing throughout the industrialized world and the needs of these countries grew far faster than production. OPEC was growing stronger and it was determined to increase its share of the profits.

President Nixon, as part of his ill-fated price control program, had slapped controls on oil in March 1973. The U.S., which had been self-sufficient in energy as recently as 1950, was now importing some 35% of its energy needs. U.S. petroleum reserves were nearly gone. Governments, corporations and individuals were entirely unprepared for what happened next.

What country was he in during that decade.

I meant that ALL countries in the world were being affected by uncontolled inflation.

— immungus is a known one-liner troll — Ignore This Author!