Contributors

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Between a Rock and a...Rock

In so many ways, the Republican Party is fucked. As I have wondered previously, what are they good at? And why do people vote for them? They don't really have any solutions for the myriad of challenges our country faces and seem to only be capable of harnessing fear, hate and anger. A recent article demonstrates the problem is much deeper than that.

I've been thinking along the same lines myself since Election Day 2008. In essence, the Republican Party is in the same disaster state today as it was nearly three years ago. I may have been naive back then when I predicted their demise (I must remember to never forget about paranoia, racism, and greed) and certainly premature but honestly, I think their days are numbered.

While it's true that they did win elections in 2010 which resulted in them taking back the House, the only reason they did was because of the Tea Party. Take them out of the equation and the Democrats win every election. Put them into the equation and they primary candidates that aren't far enough right...candidates that can't win a general election because the country simply isn't that far right. This is why I say the Republicans are fucked.

This problem was illustrated quite clearly in the recent special election in NY-26. A Democratic victory in a district that has been largely a Republican stronghold for over 150 years. How did this happen? Blame Paul Ryan and his plan to privatize Medicare which further illustrates the fucked-ness of the GOP. Ryan's plan has now become a litmus test for conservatives. If you don't support it, your ass is going to be primaried by the only reason the GOP has a pulse...the Tea Party. Yet if you do support it, say goodbye to 70 percent of the voters. So, it's not really a rock and a hard place. It's a rock and a rock. Because the only way out of their dilemma is to admit that their party is, quite literally, over.

And we all know their track record on admitting defeat.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blame Paul Ryan and his plan to privatize Medicare which further illustrates the fucked-ness of the GOP.

So instead you support the Democrat plan, which is to... do nothing, apparently. Act like nothing is wrong until it all collapses.

Just like the budget. Keep borrowing and never, ever worry about paying off your debts. If pressed, appoint a commission to look into the problem, and then ignore their recommendations. If that doesn't work, appoint another one and ignore their recommendations.

#Winning the Future.

Anonymous said...

And the Rapture happened last week...

Funny how you admit your shortcomings the LAST time you predicted the demise of the Repubelicants, but this time it'll happen for sure!

Anonymous said...

I predict the total collapse of the Democratic party! The hard right wing Repub Scott Brown just got elected yesterday in Mass.

Kennedy's old seat!

Collapse coming for sure!

Anonymous said...

The Republican Party's demise is not imminent, but over the long term it has structural problems if it continues along its current path. It has aligned itself with a quickly shrinking segment of the American electorate and is trying desperately to maintain control against an irresistible demographic shift.

But, just as the Democratic Party was once run by cantankerous Yankee-hating former slave owners, a party can change itself for the better.

The most likely outcome is that Grover Norquist will die of heart failure and release his vampiric lock on the Republican Party's jugular vein, the Tea Party's anger and rage will peter out (you can be apoplectic only so long before you have a stroke), anti-gay hysteria will completely evaporate when some new revelation hits us (on the order of Karl Rove and George Bush being gay lovers), Hispanic Catholics take the party reins in Texas and the Southwest, and other hot button issues become moot through societal and technological change.

The Republican Party will morph into some shadow of its former self from the 1950s: a fiscally conservative, socially staid organization of businessmen and women who want the country to function properly. They will grow weary of running around screaming bloody murder about abortion and homos and death panels all the time.

But that won't happen until all the bad eggs (Cheney and his ilk) are buried and the rest of the party finally admits that torturing people is evil and was never a good idea, Nixon was not a saint, Reagan actually raised taxes when it was necessary, and guys like John McCain aren't afraid of being lynched at high noon just for telling the truth.

Anonymous said...

Libertarians, are the new cool kids.

Mark Ward said...

The fourth comment in this thread is a one of the finest I have ever had the pleasure. In many ways, it more accurately sums up what I was trying to say. Well done!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'd go read that guy's blog... except this one is too stupid to abandon.

juris imprudent said...

Blame Paul Ryan and his plan to privatize Medicare

Is that really what it was going to do, or do you just get off on that talking point?

In fairness, the Repubs deserve all the scorn they get on Medicare - because they were the demagogues when the Dems proposed a change. So now we have two parties willing to lie about Medicare and what the other guy is going to do and no one that will do a damn thing to make the program viable. Congrats to all you partisan dick-wavers. You will all drown when the ship sinks as you argue about who was responsible.

juris imprudent said...

Oops! But really, who needs facts anyway.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be amazing if the debt limit wasn't raised, and the claims the that the world economy would implode were completely true?

How far would you raise the limit? If you KNEW that was going to happen?

So far, we've raised the debt limit a looooong ways. D's & R's pretty much 50/50.

How big is the US debt market before it gets "Too Big Too Fail"? That has been a frequent slogan for the progressive economic viewpoint. So there IS a number that exists.

Is the US too big yet? We've tried our best...

Damn... failed like every other government, so far. Our Grandchildren will worry about defending the coastline of some other State.

Mark Ward said...

Wouldn't it be amazing if the debt limit wasn't raised, and the claims the that the world economy would implode were completely true?

And your facts to support this are...?

As it stands right now, we are too big too fail. The US economy is the lynch pin to the world in all honesty. This is why we are not Greece and never will be. The games that the anti spending psychotics are playing right now are certainly hindering and not helping. This "War on Spending" is really a load of shit when you think about it.

Anonymous said...

Facts to support?

It was posed a pure hypothetical.

"Wouldn't it be amazing if..."

So if we are too big to fail IYO, are we 'borrowing' money from China, or stealing it from them?

If we don't have to pay it back, then fuck them. Let's take all their money.