U.S. Senate

The Looming Threat of Republican Destruction of This Economy

Last updated on August 4th, 2010 at 11:26 pm

Why Would we Trust Republicans at The Helm of This Economy?

As the fall election nears, the buzz is that if the economy doesn’t recover, the Democrats will take a hard hit. Apparently the American people are too ignorant and lazy to remember exactly how we got into this mess in the first place, and will cast their reactionary votes of anger this fall against the “party in power,” thereby reelecting the clowns who are not only voting no on their own ideas in order to keep this economy a mess and help themselves politically, but also the very people who put their clown shoes on the gas pedal of recklessness that got us here.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, they then spent a year and a half in willful self-delusion denying there was any problem.

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GPD Scale Courtesy of Maddow Blog

GPD Scale Courtesy of Maddow Blog

Image Courtesy of Maddow blog.

If one Republican gets elected in a non-Southern Bible belt home-schooling red state (where they also, too have the most porn consumption and the highest divorce rates and oh, yes, the highest rates of teen pregnancy), then we deserve what we get. Those states are write-offs essentially; those are the same poor, misguided folks who defended McCain’s ex-economic advisor Phil Gramm saying we were not in a recession and declared their own selves to be whiners in order to fall into line with the Fox Republican talking points of 2008. Yeah, there’s no hope for them.

But the rest of us? Anyone who reads and as access to the Internet should know better than to vote for a Republican this fall. When the recession started, they spent a year and a half telling us it was psychological and asserted that our country’s financial problems would be solved with the right attitude and some happy words. The gulf between Republican rhetoric and reality grew by the day.

In the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary debates, the candidates were asked about the recession. Five of the six Republican candidates denied there was a recession. Mitt Romney claimed that a recession could be averted through tax cuts. Mitt also attacked McCain for saying, “some jobs have left Michigan that are never coming back.”

Yes, Mitt who was from Michigan did not know that some jobs really have left Michigan. In fact, Mitt, Michigan has the highest rate of unemployment and Detroit one of the highest rates of home foreclosure. Gosh, this should be embarrassing, but I fear Republicans are never shamed by their own willful ignorance and failure to govern. Perhaps Mitt’s 500 million dollar glasses from running a company that takes over other companies (and kills jobs) puts a rosier spin on reality.

Lest you think it was all Romney, McCain claimed that Bush’s lifting of the off-shore drilling ban lowered oil prices which made the country feel better and essentially took care of that pesky recession thing, but he also admitted that his own off-shore drilling plan was mainly “psychological”. Luckily, his base of Fox viewers never caught on that he told the truth on that one and they’re still brazenly touting drill, baby, drill as the way to freedom for this country.

And who can forget McCain’s infamous, “by the way, I don’t believe we’re headed into a recession. I believe the fundamentals of this economy are strong, and I believe they will remain strong. This is a rough patch, but I think America’s greatness lies ahead of us.”

Of course, McCain said this from one of his 13 houses. If you stop and think about it, it should not shock the average American that people who are incredibly wealthy tend to not understand or believe the effects of a recession. You might think they’re being callous and cruel when they vote no for unemployment extension benefits just so they can win this fall, but if it’s any consolation, you should be aware that they have no idea what it’s like to actually not have money to pay the mortgage with. And since they can’t imagine it and Republicans are short on compassion and imagination, they assume it must be your fault. They then explain any disparity and the lack of necessity for compassion via the Jesus loves them and they are entitled to be rich theory.

Mike Huckabee, Rudolph Giuliani and former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson joined ostriches McCain and Romney in denying reality and refusing to discuss any real solutions for the problem. The only Republican who admitted the recession existed was Ron Paul, who then went on to explain why the government should not and could not intervene in the great Free Market. I’m sure this argument is familiar to you, as it became the Tea Party mantra (even though we were told not to believe that the Tea Party was partisan, the root of their rhetoric could always be found in the annals of the far Right).

For an example of just how dexterous Republicans are at denying responsibility and reality simultaneously (and if you vote for them for any reason, let it be this, because this is truly an incredible feat), let’s go back to any time in 2008. We’ll just pick a few days.

“House Republicans on Tuesday said their protest of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) decision not to allow a vote on expanded offshore oil drilling has helped lower gas prices.”

Uh huh.

How about this gem from a February 2008 Guardian UK article:

“George Bush today admitted the US economy is in a slowdown but rejected claims it is heading for a recession, opposing for now any economic aid other than the $150bn tax rebate package that will take effect this spring.

“I don’t think we’re headed to recession,” Bush told reporters at the White House. “But no question, we’re in a slowdown.”

Bush’s remarks came as Democrats press for more action to jumpstart the economy, including relief for Americans facing foreclosure on their homes and extension of unemployment benefits.

The president, appearing sceptical, urged Congress to let last month’s tax rebates “have a chance to kick in”.

Bush’s view of the economy was decidedly rosier than that of many economists, who say the country is nearing recession territory or may already be there.”

Uh huh. His view of the economy was rosier than economists. Translation: Bush was in denial about the failure of his own ideology and hence decided to bury his head in the sand while Rome burned. Republicans joined him and fought off Democrats who were trying to HELP THE ECONOMY EVEN THOUGH THE OTHER GUY WAS IN POWER.

Hey, just imagine if the Republicans would have listened back then……..and just imagine if the Republicans would govern like the Democrats do and actually vote for the good of the country once in a while.

I was going to finish this up with more economic shenanigans, but honestly, the Guardian article from February says it all:

“Bush also ordered Democrats in Congress to give telecom companies legal immunity for helping the government eavesdrop without a warrant following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Bush administration officials insisted last week that the telecom companies might not continue cooperating with surveillance requests if legal immunity were not given to them.

But the White House later conceded that full cooperation from private businesses was continuing despite Democrats’ resistance to the demand for immunity.”

Interesting how these positions have been spun and re-narrated, eh? Now we have Republicans screaming about a recession they are blaming on Obama, but they still refuse to do anything to address it (again, for political reasons; that motive never changes). They blame Obama for the Gulf oil spill and for drilling there, even though it was Bush who lifted the ban and Republicans who pushed for offshore drilling against strong Democratic resistance. And it was the high windfall profits tax that Palin initiated in Alaska that drove more oil companies to the Gulf, not environmentalists.

While Democrats were trying to deal with the economy in 2008, Republicans were busy getting immunity for their rich buddies for their illegal wire tapping programs and pushing for off shore drilling for their other rich friends.

They resisted Democrats efforts to stave off the bleeding in 2008 because they wanted to pretend there was no recession. They resist Democrats financial recovery efforts now because it behooves them for Americans to be broke and terrified this fall.

Republicans are always campaigning and never governing.

The very words “Republicans helm economy” should strike fear into the hearts of all thinking Americans. Get thee to the precinct this fall and cast thy vote for sanity.

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