Republicans Change Their Talk, but Still Walk Their Hateful Walk

Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:53 am

There is a proverb, “actions speak louder than words” that many people refer to when they feel they are being scammed, and it means it is more effective to act directly than to speak of action. It also can be associated with a related adage that, “if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck” and it is very apropos to the Republican Party and their recent assertion they are changing to attract more voters as a response to their crushing defeat in the recent election, but they are adhering to same hateful agenda. The sad fact is regardless the GOP’s words that they heeded the voters’ message, they are plotting the same course with the same players the voters rejected two weeks ago.

Republicans have lambasted Willard Romney for his comments in a call with donors that President Obama won because he gave gifts to women, minorities, and students, while they plod ahead with Romney and Ryan’s failed recipe to save the economy from “takers” by proposing harsh austerity measures to avoid the so-call fiscal cliff. They have also said they have to start reaching out to those groups and let them know they “like them,” but their actions belie their pathetic words. The Republican Party has tried this tactic before in 2010 when they promised their focus was on creating jobs, but like 2011, they are lying.

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After the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans stayed on message with their Pledge to America that they would create jobs right up to the first day of the 112th session of Congress when they shifted their focus from jobs to reading the Constitution, repealing Obamacare, redefining rape, and assailing women’s right to choose their own reproductive health. Within a week of voters rejecting more tax cuts for the rich in 2012, Republican leaders asserted they would maintain the wealthy’s tax cuts that Romney and Ryan campaigned on and lost. Shortly afterward, they spent their time looking for a scandal in the Benghazi attack the killed four diplomats, and promoted Romney’s tax plan to cut taxes and close loopholes (read limit middle class exemptions). It is 2011 all over again, and Speaker of the House John Boehner proved he was serious about pushing tax cuts and austerity measures when he appointed Ryan as point-man for talks to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Ryan immediately said the Romney-Ryan plan voters rejected was very popular and that his Path to Prosperity budget was the message voters mandated in the election. Republicans either did not get the voter’s message, or they are totally disregarding the will of the people and moving forward with their hateful agenda while their message machine expresses love and affection for Americans Romney disparages when he thinks no-one is listening, and Republicans are fully behind him; in private.

In twelve states, Republican governors are refusing to create health insurance exchanges to stonewall implementation of the Affordable Care Act  to show their opposition to President Obama and to protect themselves politically from accusations of abetting a law conservatives fervently oppose. On Wednesday in Ohio, Republicans on the House of Representatives Health Committee advanced a bill to strip $1.7 million in federal funding from Planned Parenthood to show their new-found love for women. Teabagger darling Marco Rubio said Republicans have to reach out to Latino voters who overwhelmingly supported President Obama in the election, but he supports the GOP version of the Dream Act that falls well short of the plan Republicans have opposed, and besides restrictive requirements, it has no path to citizenship the Dream Act offers and is being panned by advocates.

Republicans have not learned anything from the election except to say they do not like Romney in public despite moving forward with his agenda. They had a stellar opportunity to garner support from the groups who abandoned them at the ballot box, but they have proven they still support Romney’s hateful agenda while they criticize him in public. If they were sincere about their newfound love for Americans they would have, upon returning November 13, passed the Dream Act, the farm bill, middle class tax cuts, and all of the President’s jobs bills. Instead they focused on Benghazi, Romney’s tax plan, Ryan’s austerity budget, and opposing the Affordable Care Act. All that is missing thus far is a secret meeting and agreement to oppose all of the President’s economic policies, but their renewed love for Romney-Ryan is evidence they already planned their obstructionism.

The GOP cannot admit they lost the election and Americans are not going to be fooled by their rhetoric until they start backing it up with actions that speak louder than words. The people should have noticed that when John McCain’s daughter lashed out at Republican insensitivity toward women and gays, she prefaced her outrage with an admission she wept when Romney lost the election. However, she should take refuge that despite the GOP’s crushing defeat, they are moving forward to implement the Romney-Ryan agenda that belies their love for Americans who rejected them in the election, and with two years to contradict their newly discovered friendlier rhetoric, the people will have plenty of time to see their deceit and reject them again in 2014.

 



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