Tag Archives: GOP

Political Rants

Blind justice.

As promised, I wanted to scribble a few lines about the loss of Justice Scalia and the consequent shit-storm that has engulfed our nation’s political landscape. I’m sure that most of your conservative friends have shared 10 and 20-year-old speeches by Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden as support for the insupportable position taken by the G.O.P. leadership in the Senate. You could do worse than to remind them that (1) both of those speeches were made in a year when there was no vacancy on the court, and (2) both speeches came something like a year after extremist justices were appointed by a Republican president and approved by the Senate without filibuster – in the case of Biden’s speech, it was Clarence Thomas, who was approved by a Democratic controlled Senate. (Though it’s hard to tell because he’s so deathly quiet, Thomas is to the right of their sainted Scalia.)

The neocon establishment's new little tin car.All that said, Obama’s natural inclination will be to offer an olive-branch appointment, something like the one he trial-ballooned this week, namely the Republican governor of Nevada. Seriously … what is it with this president’s Pangloss-like insistence on attempting to curry favor with the Republicans? Hasn’t he been burned enough times in the last seven years? He’s like freaking Charlie Brown trying to kick the football again. Earth to Obama: they hate everything you want to do … doesn’t matter what it is. Best to nominate someone that might energize the Democratic base for the upcoming election; make the point that the election is, in substantial measure, about this issue. It’s about a lot of things, but the Supreme Court is a biggie.

The remaining G.O.P. candidates discussed this during the CNN debate on Thursday night. I say “discussed”, though it was more a pissing contest. Apparently John Roberts is now too liberal for Donald Trump’s taste. I wish I could say that this food-fight was the worst display of the entire debate, but that’s not even close to being true. Anyone watching was treated to a rehash of John McCain’s health plan (i.e. let insurance companies sell their products across state lines), resurrection of the ultimate neocon foreign policy (apparently Marco Rubio is now the little tin car Bill Kristol drives around in), and rabid celebration of trickle-down economics. And a lot of good yelling and screaming, of course.

One thing’s for certain, people … if anyone on that stage in Texas gets anywhere near the White House, don’t buy any green bananas. You’d just be throwing your money away.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

I-owe-ya.

After more than three years of talking about it, the way-too-long 2016 election is actually under way, and as always, the actual Iowa caucus results don’t look very much like the polls. No surprises there.

The Democratic side was a tie, no two ways about it. One thing you can say for certain about American elections – when they’re very close, there’s no way to sort out who really won, and in this case we may never know. The Clinton camp basically adopted the W. Bush strategy in Bush v. Gore: declare victory and move on. It is remarkable, to say the least, that Bernie Sanders, avowed socialist, 74 years old, no PAC money, etc., was able to take on a political machine that includes a former president stumping for the celebrity candidate.

Yer a looozah!I think one advantage Bernie may have is that he is making a case for something different than the status quo. His presidency would not be a third Obama term, whereas from the sound of Hillary (and what we know of how the Clintons govern), we would have continuity under her guiding hand.

What about the G.O.P.? Well, the biggest bigot-hugger won. Trump learned the meaning of the word “lose”, and Rubio apparently thinks that coming in third is better than coming in first (perhaps because the number 3 is bigger than the number 1 – just a guess on my part). Predictably, the Republican contest appears headed toward producing a candidate with extremist views on a whole range of topics, from abortion rights to foreign military actions and so on. It could hardly be anything else. Trump is an arbitrary billionaire, capable of doing just about anything. Cruz is a sanctimonious wind-bag, in love with his own voice and with the sweet memory of carpet-bombing the darkies. Rubio is the cracked vessel that crazed neocon foreign policy advisers are carried around in. Christie is the somewhat larger container that the anti-Social Security Peterson Institute is carried around in. I could go on.

So, if Iowa demonstrated anything, it’s that the Democratic race is indeed a race. It also confirms what most of us already knew – some crackpot will be running on the other side.

Don’t forget to vote. No, really … I mean it.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Next, the voters.

Getting a late start on this. I had to turn the TV off – MSNBC was showing the ass-clown Trump again. Beats the hell out of me why they feel compelled to give the man so much free airtime, but there you go. In any case, Iowa votes, in a manner of speaking, next week and Trump may walk away with his first big victory … or not. Can’t say that I care which of those strange political objects receive the enthusiastic endorsement of some of corn country’s biggest bigots. It’s basically the same general deal with any one of the Republicans. They like to pretend not – that there are moderates and more serious candidates as well as the extremists and the very silly alternatives – but that’s a lot of gas. They’re all a major threat to peace and prosperity; just listen to them.

Cold war throwbackWho’s the moderate in that race? Christie? Don’t say Christie. He’s vehemently anti choice, wants to provoke war with Russia, and has all the racial sensitivity of Nixon during his drunk period (to say nothing of being a shill for the Peterson Institute, which advocates for privatizing Social Security). Forget Jeb Bush. He’s easily as bad as his brother on the issues, only with less raw political talent. Rubio? He’s the bold “young” candidate who seems to have his head stuck in decades-old Cold War strategy like a bug in amber. Frankly, any one of these candidates would be an unmitigated disaster as president.

How about the other side? I’m a bit agnostic with regard to that, as well. Of course I support Bernie Sanders – he’s certainly the closest the Democratic Party has ever come to someone I can agree with. But a Bernie presidency would only work if it came in ahead of a vociferous mass movement for positive, progressive change. That takes work, way beyond just getting out to vote. I’ll vote for Bernie and encourage others to do the same, but unless we march into Washington on his inauguration day with him on our shoulders, it’s not going to amount to much more than a mild braking action on the downward spiral of American capitalism. Which, come to think of it, is Hilary Clinton’s platform in a nutshell. Saving capitalism from itself, as she puts it. All well and good, but who the hell is going to save us from capitalism?

I’ll tell you who: Nobody but us.

luv u,

jp