Tag Archives: ABCs of the GOP

The ABCs of the GOP: T is for TRUMP and friends

If you followed the blog closely during the height of our last Presidential race, you may recall my extensive series about the state of the Republican Party– The ABCs of the GOP.  The series was an attempt to catalog just how far party leaders have strayed from what they professed as their essential ideals for the country.  This was of course back in 2012, and when all with that election was said and done, President Obama had a decisive victory in part because of the many internal problems on the other side.

But after everything that Republicans went through in 2012, it doesn’t seem that the party has learned any valuable lessons.  Bolstered by huge victories in 2014 (co-sponsored by all those people that didn’t care enough to vote), it appears that the GOP is preparing to venture down the same rabbit holes which cemented its downfall 4 years ago.

And the guy leading the way to that rabbit hole??  It’s none other than Billionaire media harlot Donald Trump.  As one can imagine, Democrats are enjoying every minute of the chaos, even giving Republicans a new nickname.  Here’s more from Colin Campbell of Business Insider

The national Democratic Party released a new video Thursday that connects the entire Republican presidential field to the immigration remarks made by real-estate magnate Donald Trump.

The Democratic National Committee’s video is titled, “Retrumplican Party.”

The brief clip intersperses some of Trump’s most controversial comments with the other GOP candidates’ own statements against illegal immigration.

“Trump may be running for president,” the video concludes, “but his ideas are running the party.”

The video immediately spread like wildfire among political pundits, and “Retrumplican Party” started trending nation-wide on Twitter.

Of course we know that all Republican leaders do not agree with Donald Trump, and many of the more sensible ones have come out in direct opposition to his heinous comments.  But now for the third week in a row, the top message being conveyed from Republicans is directly from Donald Trump.

Only this week have we finally got a close second from 2016 front-runner Jeb Bush.  Mr. Bush, who was born to a life of exceptional privilege and is the son and brother of two presidents, thinks the rest of us should be working longer hours to help improve the United States economy.  Sheesh!!

But in any event, the point remains.  Once again, Republicans can’t seem to learn from their very recent past.  As long as the Party’s “big tent” is controlled by a ravenous coalition of Primary voters, it’s going to be difficult to ‘Dump the Trump’.  For the sake of our entire political system, let’ s hope that reason prevails this election cycle.

Retrumplicans

We Need the REAL Republicans Back

Hopefully you know that this is a Left-leaning blog. On a whole range of issues, Texas Leftist espouses what most would consider to be “Liberal” values, and those values tend to be more on the Democratic side of the current political spectrum.

All that being said, I really miss the old Republican Party. These folks used to be real politicians, and they used to care about actual issues. The Reagan-era GOP had vigorous disagreements with Democrats, but at the end of the day, they got together, laid all of the harsh rhetoric aside, and came up with common-sense solutions to our problems. Sure, both parties have always had extremes, but there used to be enough sanity in the Republican Party to do the real work of government. This is not the case today, as the Republican party has devolved into a phony coalition between scared Republicans and TEA party members carrying the party name, which I prefer to call TEApublicans. Whatever you choose to call them, one thing is clear… the Republican Party as we know it is over. It’s this takeover of the GOP that has led to most of the dysfunction in Congress, and in many ways is the whole reason for the current government shutdown and default. Now that’s not to say that there aren’t still sensible people on Capitol Hill, but those precious few wouldn’t dare oppose the TEApublican caucus.

In the Senate, slightly more sanity abounds. But even there, most Republican members live in such fear of drawing a primary challenge that even they can’t always do what they know is best for their constituents. So we have to count them in the TEApublican camp too.

But thankfully, there remain a few people on the Right that have both common sense and political courage. In the midst of complete government chaos, Texas Leftist felt it was time to highlight said lawmakers, and remind readers that things don’t have to be the way they are now. One REAL Republican came to mind.

And that Republican is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski.

To be clear, I don’t agree with Senator Murkowski’s views on everything, but I have often admired her courage on Capitol Hill. She’s on record wanting to repeal the Affordable Care Act… we’re never going to agree with that. But what Senator Murkowski was not willing to do? Shut down the government because she didn’t get her way. Here’s a quote from the Fairbanks News-Miner

“As bad as I believe this health care law is for our nation, shutting down the government means lost paychecks for gas, rent and grocery money for thousands of Alaskans who work for the federal government and vital services for our veterans, seniors, children and disabled,” Murkowski said in a statement late Monday. “My opposition to the Affordable Care Act doesn’t mean we stop legislating.

We need to get work. Shutting down the government doesn’t help anybody — and it has a harmful ripple effect on the larger economy,” she said. “It is time for the president and Senate and House leaders to come together and find a solution to fund the government.”

Again, for the record, I support the Affordable Care Act and it’s implementation… I am not advocating Senator Murkowski’s position here. But I am thankful that she is courageous enough to stand against the TEApublican caucus and speak from a point of common sense.

Of course Murkowski has earned the ability to be independent. The true TEA party faction within Congress is a small number of lawmakers, but most Republicans will not oppose them because they fear a “nightmare scenario” of drawing a Primary challenger for the next election. In essence they care more about their own reelection than they do about what is best for their constituencies, which is why we’re in this shutdown/ debt ceiling mess in the first place. But that nightmare scenario is one that Senator Murkowski has already endured. In 2010, she lost the Republican Primary to Joe Miller, a TEA Party challenger and favorite of Former Governor Sarah Palin. Knowing now that Miller had the full support of the Republican Party establishment, almost everyone concluded that Murkowski’s political future was over. But they were wrong… Murkowski launched an historic write-in campaign to keep her seat, and won the election without even being on the ballot. Instead of being controlled by the voices of extremism, the Senator put her constituents first. Whatever your political ideology, you have to admit that it took some brass to do this. Brass that is decidedly missing from the TEApublicans of the 113th.

We spend a lot of time on the Left painting the GOP with one broad brush… all of them are terrible, all of them are intransigent, all of them are dangerous… and sure, a bunch of that criticism is deserved. But I suspect that if more people in Congress were like Senator Murkowski, the government would not be the train wreck that it is today. Let’s hope more messages like hers start to sink in. If they don’t, we’re all in trouble.

Thanks for the leadership Senator.

The ABCs of the GOP: Q is for

Quagmire

To paraphrase from the great William Shakespeare…

Bush Tax Cuts, or Obama Tax Cuts? That is the question.

What’s in a name? That which we call a tax cut By any other name would smell as sweet.

But unfortunately for one political party, it simply doesn’t work that way. The “Bush Tax Cuts” are now much more than a name for the Republicans… they are are a legacy, and a philosophy. For the Republican party in the twenty-first century, the BUSH Tax Cuts have really been the central orb around which all Conservative fiscal policy gravitates. Lest we forget that Democrats now have greater advantage as the party of the new, more diverse America, the party of foreign policy, and the party of defending minority and women’s rights. Fiscal Conservatism is the only real game Republicans have left. Never mind that President Obama has already cut government spending by 1.5 Trillion Dollars and continues to argue for a balanced approach, proving more fiscally Conservative than his GOP predecessors. Hell or high water, Republicans believe in tax cuts. It is their Raison d’etre.

Which is why it may surprise some that House Republicans have continued to be so adamant against the President’s plan to preserve tax cuts for ALL Americans on their first $250,00 dollars of income (that’s right… EVERYONE still gets a tax cut!!). It is quite literally a chance to preserve the GOP’s false identity as the party of lower taxes and cutting spending. This is what’s important about having the name BUSH associated with TAX CUTS.

Here lies the ultimate quagmire for Republicans in the House… come January 1st, that legacy of the BUSH TAX CUTS and of Republicans being exclusively known as “the tax cut party” dies. If they don’t reach a deal to extend the BUSH Tax Cuts, they lose the name Bush forever from the measure. Any tax cuts they pass in 2013 would then be forever known as the OBAMA TAX CUTS. Talk about a tough pill to swallow… do Republicans in this really want to be remembered as the ones who created the Obama Tax Cuts??

As lawmakers, we should expect that Republicans and Democrats don’t care about nomenclature… they care about doing what’s right for the American People. But sadly, this has not been the case at all during the Obama era. The GOP fought this President’s agenda at every chance. They crippled the Senate with filibuster abuse, held the country hostage over the debt ceiling, and basically prolonged the economic Recession by refusing to make any public sector contribution to the Recovery… all in the hope of weakening President Obama, and his chances for re-election. None of it worked.

For all of that malice, November 6th was their reward. There will be no President Romney, and (barring an unprecedented catastrophy that none would hope for) no chance of any Republican taking the White House before January of 2017.

So Democrats… if you want a deal to happen before the beginning of the year that raises tax rates on the wealthy and does not cut social programs, pressure the GOP with their impossible choice. Do they extend the Bush Tax Cuts now for 98 percent of the country, or do they erase the Bush/GOP legacy and CREATE the Obama Tax Cuts later?

For the GOP, it has come to this.

The ABCs of the GOP: P is for…

Partisanship… Nothing “Bi” About it

Election season is tough. Tough on the candidates, of course, but it’s also tough on everyone else. We have to deal with the barrage of political advertising, get into all sorts of vigorous discussions with our friends, watch nail-biter debates, and delve into all of the particular inner workings of government that most of us would just rather do without. But the reason that we must endure through November 6th is because this election year is just too important. Since 2010, the top priority of the Republican Party has not been to improve the lives of their constituents, but to deny President Obama a second term. No seriously!! You don’t have to take my word for it… just listen to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell…

This is the political climate which defined President Obama’s first term in office. On one side you have the Democrats, whom behaved mostly as politicians are expected to. They didn’t always vote as a block on the issues… Each Legislator brought their own personal opinions and constituent needs to influence the way they voted. And of course, Democrats were plagued by the usual scandals, which this time befell outspoken Congressman Anthony Wiener and former Governor-turned-inmate Rod Blagoyevich. But when it came to big things, Democrats were able to get some of them done, despite massive GOP roadblocks… Healthcare reform, the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, unprecedented consumer protections against bank and credit card fraud, and significant reforms for students to make paying their student loans back less of a life-long burden.

But all along the way, Democrats had to fight tooth-and-nail against an unplanned adversary… Republican partisanship. In 2009 and 2010, the Senate GOP launched an attack never seen before in all of American history. They filibustered EVERYTHING… even many bills that members once themselves sponsored and supported. The purpose of these filibusters weren’t because they believed the legislation was bad, but because any legislative accomplishment would be viewed as a positive for Barack Obama and the Democrats. So on legislation like the Dream Act… Something that has long held bi-partisan champions in the Senate, was killed as they sold their souls to the political devil to prevent any notion of American progress. They put party over country in the ultimate display of partisanship.

Finally in 2010, Republicans were able to reap some benefit from making the Democrats look bad. They won historic victories in the House, and now have a say in the legislative agenda. This historic tide came from a skilled combination of economic frustration, Anti-Democratic messaging and partisan-fueled hostility. But when Speaker John Boehner and his Republican colleagues took control of the House, the gridlock didn’t end… not by a long-shot. They wasted the time and money of the American people on useless repetitive votes, and crafted legislation that they knew would not pass the Senate. It was then that the inner workings of the GOP were exposed, and that all of the partisan firewalls were taking an immeasurable toll.

Well immeasurable in one sense, but others see the price they are paying quite clearly. President Obama even believes, as revealed in a recent Des Moines Register interview, that the careful coalition that the GOP created to win the 2010 election is the same one that could cause them to lose in 2012. The party has gone so far to alienate Hispanic voters, that it may very well help the President get re-elected. And if that happens, the coalition will surely fracture. Why? Because they realize that there is nowhere else they can go without getting serious about Immigration reform, and appealing to a more diverse America. So in a way, the perils of Republican partisanship have produced a silver lining for Democrats. They improve the President’s chances for re-election, help Democrats to pick-up House seats, and almost guarantee an important legislative victory for the President in his first year back.

But one important question remains… if Mitt Romney is elected, what becomes of the GOP? Would it still fracture and regroup for 2016? In short, the answer is no. Whether they’d like to admit it or not, the GOP of 2012 is in desperate need of some changes. As Obama said, they can’t continue down a path to total exclusion. A Romney victory means that many Republicans will have to stick to their guns. They’d be forced to keep up the infighting between the Tea Party and the establishment wings of the party. They’d be forced to answer for the massive, outlandish promises Mitt Romney has made about his “magical” tax plan, self-deportation and repealing many of the GLBT rights advances that we’ve lived with over the last four years. They’d be forced to support Mitt Romney’s candidacy during 2016 and prevent a whole slew of much more “exciting” new candidates from running until 2020. They’d face the possibility of Mitt Romney facing off aganst Hillary Clinton, whom the Democrats would surely flock to if she chooses to run. Essentially, if Mitt Romney wins, GOP lawmakers are going to be asked to do the impossible. See that’s the unintended consequence of partisanship… it’s a short-term fix, but in the long-run it leads to more destruction. As crazy as it sounds, the best thing for those that truly care about the Republican Party’s future may be to re-elect President Obama. Of course, I don’t think Democrats would complain either!!

In two short weeks, we’ll have many of these answers. But for now, we have to wait and see just how thick the GOP’s partisan firewall is.

The ABCs of the GOP: O is for…

Obligation

One aspect of life that none of us can escape is our sense of obligation. Whether we like it or not, whether we agree or not, there’s just some things that we have to do. Most of us have obligations to our loved ones, to our selves, and of course to our country. And like our individual lives are filled with tasks that are obliged to, so is our government also obliged to keep the country working as best as possible.

But among Washington Republicans, there has been a growing sense of rebellion toward these obligations. As their war on government continues, many have sacrificed their obligations, and even their own principles to try and damage our country. Regardless of one’s core political beliefs, it’s starting to become clear that these obligations simply are not being met. Caught in the crossfire of the GOP’s war on government and fight for it’s party’s survival, the greatest casualty of this war turns out to be the American people.

As Paul Krugman notes from a recent New York Times piece, public investment has ground to a screeching halt at all areas of government. Federal lawmakers continue their ideological battles, which forced state and local governments to go into all-out austerity mode. As a result, we have cut back on all kinds of public employment… teachers, firefighters, police, construction contracts, and everything else that we need to keep our communities going. This is standard stuff that has never been controversial before… until Barack Obama was elected as President. As a result, we as a government (anyone that pays taxes is a PART of the government, by the way) are not meeting the country’s most basic obligations. After the Federal stimulus bill passed (with overwhelming Democratic support), any further attempts by President Obama to meet our national needs where thwarted by Senate Minority filibusters. So eventhough Democrats where “nominally” in power, the GOP was able to starve most of the legislation.

But sometimes is helps to get the laser pointer out and focus. Let’s boil it down to an issue that all of us understand… TRANSPORTATION.

If you’re reading this, and you live in the United States of America, you are our nation’s roads… and wearing them out. Even for those that don’t own a car, and live in places like New York City or San Francisco, you’re still wearing out our nation’s rapidly-declining freeway infrastructure. Every time you buy groceries at the market, everytime you buy virtually anything that you have to consume, you rely on the country’s transportation infrastructure to get those goods to you. Our country simply doesn’t “move” without our roads, railways, airports and seaports. Virtually everything that you purchase wears out our roads, and we as a nation have an obligation to not only maintain them, but improve them. Don’t forget… the US ain’t getting any smaller… we’re at 314 million and counting.

So when a new study by tripnet.org reveals that nearly half of all Texas roads have fallen into major deterioration, it should be a call to arms for people of all political stripes to step up and invest in our nation’s future. There is a reason why infrastructure spending has always been a “given” in Washington… it’s because everyone in the country depends on it to work. And not to mention, investment in America means investment in American JOBS.

Here’s the inherent danger of the upcoming election… for the GOP, this is no longer a purely ideological fight. Real evidence is now beginning to suggest that the Republican party has lost the ability to meet our country’s obligations. They have lost the ability to actually govern.

For evidence of this loss, look no further than a recent article from The American Conservative. Author Daniel McCarthy writes that the current GOP looks less like a viable party and more like a scam. A conservative himself, McCarthy write about the rapid changes that have occurred within the party, and how it has devolved into several branches that center around Religion and fear. These tactics may be useful when trying to control a militia, but they don’t serve well for governing a diverse nation like the United States. They continue to sign pledges saying that their top priorities are to ALWAYS cut taxes, reverse Roe V. Wade, and REPEAL Obamacare. Never a mention of the obligation to legislate on behalf of their contituents. The only thing that many in the GOP care about right now is the ability to advance their agenda.

As we enter the frenzy of the debates, this question for the GOP needs to be answered… if they were to actually achieve their goal of defeating Barack Obama, what then is their new goal? Would Mitt Romney really repeal Obamacare? If the defecit is their so important, will they continue to decimate infrastructure and education spending until it’s too late? Will we ever be able to meet our national obligations again? I’m kind of scared to find out.

The ABCs of the GOP: N is for…

Negligence

There is no doubt that Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and their campaign staff are working very hard to achieve their goal. The amount of intense dedication it takes to run for President is indescribable… tireless days and nights on the trail, meeting literally tens of thousands of people.

But clearly, some things are NOT working in the Romney campaign, or in the 2012 version of the Republican Party. The discipline and unity of their messaging has been tested during the current campaign cycle, and so far, they’ve failed almost every test. Of course considering how many lies the GOP has had to contrive this year, it shouldn’t be a surprise that staying on message is a challenge.

Romney has had a fair share of gaffes along the way… “I’m not concerned about the very poor”, Corporations are people, my friend” and of course when he said the perhaps ill-fated phrase “there are a lot of reasons NOT to elect me“. Umm, ok… if you say so.

But of course everyone makes gaffes. We all say things we didn’t quite mean to say, and especially having to be in the public eye 24/7, it’s bound to happen. But the Romney campaign is about more than gaffes. There is a serious issue with negligence of the work that they are doing. Many of the critical decisions that they have made have turned out to be very damaging. Some think that they’ve caused more harm than the Obama campaign ever could.

Take the Republican National Convention in Tampa. This convention was supposed to be all about Mitt Romney. Each speaker selected had a primary objective of showing their party faithful (and the American people) why Mr. Romney should be elected President. Yet, they had a barrage of speakers like Chris Christie and Rick Santorum that barely even mentioned Romney, if at all. Plenty of reasons not to like Barack Obama, but very little positives to say for the ACTUAL party nominee. It should be no surprise that Romney received no convention bounce at all after the RNC, given the negligence shown by his leaders to let such under-whelming surrogates take the lead. And of course… this doesn’t even begin to mention the Clint Eastwood “empty chair” fiasco.

And then of course the recent foriegn policy blunder made by the GOP nominee virtually speaks for itself. Political pundits from both left and right have come out to criticize the Romney campaign’s swift and judgemental response to a situation they were not informed of. The sad part of it is, without that huge misstep, the GOP may have been able to capitalize on the a difficult time for the Obama doctrine by simply remaining silent until the facts were known. But clearly, they blew it.

This continued pattern of negligence has left the top of the GOP ticket very weak… perhaps too weak to be able to withstand another big misstep. Which is why the timing of a very revealing leak from Mother Jones couldn’t be worse if you’re a Romney surrogate or supporter. In the video, Mitt Romney is caught on tape describing all Obama voters as “dependent upon government for food, housing and health care.” He literally depicts all supporters of the President as lower-class voters who are lazy and can’t fend for (or think for) themselves. It’s a shocking comment that is sure to garner the attention of voters through November…

But in this particular case, none of the negligent opinions expressed here can be blamed on campaign staff or fixed by “re-tooling”. These comments all come from Romney himself… so convincing that it’s hard to believe they could ever be a gaffe. Negligence, indeed.

The ABCs of the GOP FULL SERIES

Here are links to the full series of The ABCs of the GOP…

A is for Austerity — Jobs in the Private Sector have slowly recovered, but the public sector keeps getting slashed thanks to state and local budget crunches.

B is for Bullying — How Republicans used and abused the Filibuster to cause ultimate Senate gridlock.

C is for Convoluted — The twisting, turning record of Congressional Republicans, and of Mitt Romney

D is for Distraction — How the GOP uses issues like the debt and Contraception to distract voters and control their base.

E is for Extinction — Using Texas as “Exhibit A” shows that the Republican Party’s base is rapidly declining.

F is for Fear — Why the GOP has to work so hard to portray Obama is a foriegn, socialist “other” even when it means voting against their own positions.

G is for Game Plan — How the GOP used a carefully crafted message of fear and hate to make huge gains in the 2010 elections (“Fire Pelosi”).

H is for Hysteria — The party’s inner war with Ron Paul and his supporters.

I is for Illusion — How the GOP manipulates illusions of outrage to get what they want.

J is for Jaded — Why Republicans still can’t except Mitt Romney as their nominee.

K is for Karma — How the GOP’s two-faced positions may come back to haunt them, and Romney spirited defense of OBAMACARE.

L is for Lying — Sure, politicians from both parties lie. But here’s why some of the GOP lies are much more dangerous than Democrats.

M is for Marginalization — How the GOP continues to hasten its route to extinction by shutting out future leaders.

N is for Negligence — How the Romney campaign just can’t seem to get rid of it’s systemic mishaps.

O is for Obligation — Republicans are spending so much time trying to defeat the President, they have let our country fall into disrepair.

P is for Partisanship — simply put, the Republican party in its current state is incapable of governing the country, and why they should be thankful that the President won re-election in 2012.

Q is for Quagmire— After the election, the GOP is now forced with the impossible task of either striking a fiscal deal with Obama on his terms, or letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire. If they choose the latter, anything they pass in 2013 would officially be the “Obama Tax Cuts” and the Republican Party risks losing the signature issue of lower taxes for generations to come.