I guess it was back in the mid-nineties, before all that impeachment nonsense, when it first began to dawn on me that the Republican Party was really just an unbelievably malevolent force that never said what it meant and whose intentions were always worse than a normal person would consider feasible. This is no longer news to a growing percentage of the country, particularly those in the media who actually have to cover and understand policy. For today’s examples, all you have to do is look at how they want to “fix” the problem with Obamacare incentivizing businesses to give their employees less than thirty-five hours of work a week and how they want to “fix” the shortfall in Social Security revenues by refusing to allow a transfer from the Trust Fund.
If you understand the double game they are playing in both of these cases, you’re enlightened like Yoda.
Unfortunately, you’ll now be condemned to look at this country of 300 million people as a nation of rubes who continue to fall for this shit despite all our efforts to reason with them.
I’ve given up on trying to appeal to reason. If appeals to reason worked the GOP would get fewer votes than the Libertarians or Greens. I’m consistently reminded of the quote by Adlai Stevenson. During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Mr. Stevenson “Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!” Stevenson called back “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!”
Even then…
Ah, if only Illinois still had politicians like Stevenson and Simon.
well Simon also had his problems; they say he once cut the “do not remove this” tag off a mattress
I knew they were out to screw me, you knew they were out to do it to you and every other “merican” outside the top 1%: How come our party’s candidates did not communicate that message to the electorate?? How come?? Looking at 2016, Elizabeth Warren is the only Dem I have confidence in, and she says she has no interest in running. That leaves “us” where the Detroit Lions are (again), on the outside looking in.
Somebody below the age of 65 in this party needs to grow a set!
Sherrod Brown is a better Democrat in the traditional sense than Warren is. Her focus and depth is excellent, but it doesn’t go much beyond that. Brown is with her on that focus but is broader.
I know you don’t particularly want HRC as President, and I don’t either, but would you support a HRC/Brown ticket?
Assuming that the Republican party really is locked out of the White House for the foreseeable future (which I don’t quite buy myself), that kind of ticket could be pretty decent, no?
No. It would be a terrible ticket. But we don’t have to concern ourselves with that because the Clintons never pander to the left that much.
Everybody knows that whatever real powers that can be delegated to a VP will go to Bill in a Hillary administration. The actual VP will be expected to look and act like he’s a partner with Hillary during the campaign and be an ambitious flunkie afterwards. Preferably from a purple state.
No, because Kasich would pick Brown’s replacement, probably.
HELL NO! Don’t you dare propose to take my terrific Senator away, to be replaced by a Republican appointee. What a truly horrible idea.
and I am very glad of that. we need her in the Senate. ppl talk as if all she has to do is agree to run and suddenly she’ll become emperor.
look at this speech – we need it now, not 2 years from now after she’s been on the road campaigning and maybe lost.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/07/1356123/-Warren-Trickle-down-cut-the-legs-out-from-under-Am
erica-s-middle-class
Not understanding the real agenda of politicians, political parties, and all institutions and their associated movements is why we’re in such a fix today. Hasn’t changed much since at least the late 1960s.
The rightwing and GOP has never accepted most of the 20th century changes. And Democrats don’t much like the most progressive of those changes either. If that weren’t true the US income tax would still be steeply progressive instead of getting closer and closer to being a flat tax. Instead we have exorbitant sales tax rates that hit the poorest hardest. Ah for the days of luxury taxation.
Well, I’m surprised.
I’m guessing a prerequisite for a social democracy is some non-trivial number of social democrats.
you’re just guessing, Davis, it’s just a guess
So how many vetoes are on the horizon already? Obviously we’ve got Keystone XL, and this stupid Obamacare “fix” will obviously never become law.
The Social Security “fix” appears to be a different matter, because it’s a change in the House rules, not something that the President has to sign. It does seem kind of redundant, though:
So it only comes up if the House tries to pass such a bill, and how likely is that?
Is this the bill that 35 Democrats voted for today? If so, can someone ask most of those 35 Democrats why?
Luckily for them, the popular media doesn’t see it as any part of their job to clear up confusion, especially confusion deliberately sown. At bottom, it’s not all that hard to suss out and understand, but as soon as you get to your second or third abbreviation (SSI, SSD, SSA), our millionaire media talkers get all tongue-tied, and their audience’s eyes glaze over. There is great chaos under heaven, and the Republicans find that situation to be most excellent.
Fascists want the people to be confused, and want them to sit out elections. They depend on it, even.
Time to raise the SS tax.
Although SS disability has become a bit of a scam.
A nation of 300 million people, most of whom cannot be bothered to vote, who allow the rubes to represent them at the ballot box. That’s closer to reality.
Uhmmm… I think of “the majority” as rubes. Barely literate bare footed rubes drunk on the Ambien, Prozac, Viagra and crotch-shots on Fox Kool-Aid blindly following a charismaic “leader” to suicide.
Until more Democrats bother to go to the polls and vote, we are going to see an array of these “fixes” that will result in harming people. Many Americans can not imagine the future damage because they are either not devious enough or are oblivious to these Republican machinations. Then there are some people who have bought into “The Virtue of Selfishness” and feel no guilt about their neighbor’s suffering. In their minds, these people are all “welfare queens.” Ronald Reagan took office almost 35 years ago. A lot of Americans know nothing else.