People who don't pay close attention to politics -- which is to say, the stay-a-beds and muddled swing voters who decide elections -- tend to have "a pox on both their houses" reaction to political stalemates, You know, like the one we're experiencing now as we drift toward the roaring falls of financial calamity. This failure to differentiate is tragic. The two parties have never been more different.
The Democrats are weak, worried, and divided. They are a reality-based party, but each member seems to be concerned with a slightly different corner of reality.
The GOP is strong, ruthless, and disciplined. Most have pledged their sacred honor to an insane plan for keeping the Bush tax cuts in place while passing a balanced budget amendment, in an attempt to defeat President Obama at all costs. This is a course that its leaders now realize is insane. What good would defeating Obama be if in doing so they ruin the country? It is far from clear, however, whether McConnell, Boehner, and their coterie can reverse course before we go over the falls.
As we shoot the rapids, let us pass the time with a thought experiment that may be of interest to any survivors on the rocks below. What if Democrats were like today's elected Republicans? We take you now to a fake Face the Nation on CBS.
Bob Scheiffer: We start this morning with Congressman Wylie Spender, a Democrat representing the 102nd district in Vermont. Representative Spender, Republican Congressmen say that with the recovery faltering this is no time to raise taxes. Don't they have a point?Spender: Bob, taxes are a myth. There's no credible proof that they exist. I've seen websites that prove this myth was cooked up by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve on orders from the international banking elite to kill off our grandmothers who depend on Social Security. It's our grandmothers' money! Let them keep it!
Scheiffer: Uhh, Representative Spender, we all pay taxes.
Spender. Bob, as I'm sure you're aware, that's a Big Media lie. It's an established fact that half of Americans don't pay any federal income tax at all. In fact, CBS News, your employer, has reported this fact.
Scheiffer: Okay, fair enough, that much is true. But what about the other half?
Spender. They are delusional, Bob. They've been brainwashed by the conservative media into thinking they pay taxes, so when some pollster calls them to ask if they pay taxes, well, naturally they say yes.
Scheiffer: Okay, that's your point of view, but the Republicans see it differently. The country has to get through this crisis somehow. What common ground can you find with your opponents to craft a solution?"
Spender: I am not about to betray my country, Bob. I have therefore signed a pledge not to reach any agreement with traitors.
Scheiffer: That's a strong word. Who, exactly, do you mean?
Spender: Republicans. We know they have made secret deals with Austrian banks to sell out our country at fire-sale rates after the default.
Scheiffer: Austrian? Do you by any chance mean Swiss banks?
Spender: No, Austrian. They are controlled by their favorite son, Rupert Murdoch.
Scheiffer: But he's Australian! Or he was until he bought -- I mean, obtained -- U.S. citizenship.
Spender: Ah, NewsCorp would like you to think that. But the truth is, Rupert Murdoch was born Reinhold Muhlbach in Austria, not far from where another short, power-hungry Austrian name-changer was born.
Scheiffer: But... but that's ridiculous!
Spender: Is it, Bob? How hard do you think it would be to change the country on a birth certificate from "Austria" to "Australia"?
Scheiffer: Could we get back to the debt crisis?
Spender: Crisis? There is no crisis. It's been manufactured by the GOP leadership to try to impose their will on the American people, but we're not going to let them get away with it.
Scheiffer: For this thing to end, aren't you going to have to reach some sort of accommodation?
Spender: Look, Bob, we are trying to do the right and responsible thing here. We're open to any kind of deal.
Scheiffer: Really? Then why are negotiations stalled?
Spender: ... Provided it meets all of our demands and none of theirs.
Of course, Democratic officials don't talk this way, because their voters wouldn't re-elect them. That's because Democratic voters get their news from reality-based sources. You know, The Daily Show and Colbert Report.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Republicans Choose None of the Above | ||||
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With Republicans, things are different. For years, party leaders, seeking to promote an agenda for the rich, have cynically pumped up illusory fears to win votes from the middle class. Since the 2004 election, when "Swift Boat Veterans" crossed the Rubicon of indecency to libel John Kerry's military record, empirical reality has all but disappeared from GOP public discourse. And that's come back to bite them.
Now, I want to stress that I don't believe for a minute that all Republicans are insane. I know they are not. But the most motivated GOP voters have imbibed the liquor of talk radio and Faux News for so long that they've lost their moorings to reality. They rage about taxes as if effective rates -- especially for corporations -- hadn't fallen drastically over the past decade. They cry socialism about anti-recession actions of the past few years as if much the same steps hadn't been taken by past Republican presidents, including Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes. (Nixon imposed wage and price controls! Imagine that today.)
Having listened for years to the fear-and-anger mongers, the active Republican base now believes that paying taxes is unpatriotic, that global warming is a religion, that we don't need government so long as we have guns, and that with a secret Muslim and overt Socialist in the White House, we might as well go ahead and default.
So what's McConnell supposed to do? Turn around and say, "Uh, we were only kidding." It's a bit late to start a reality show now.
Follow Clay Farris Naff on Twitter: www.twitter.com/claynaff
Lyle Denniston: Constitution Check: Must the Next Federal Budget Be Balanced?
What a ridiculous statement. It is clear to me that the Democrat ignorance of our financial situation is anything but reality based. I would comment on the rest of your article, but can't spare the time to address the volumes of misinformation and mischaracterization contained within.
Why comment at all if you're not prepared to back it up with substance?
When you live in a crazyhouse, and all around you are crazy people, it's hard to convince others that you escaped the crazyhouse unaffected.
Isn't it?
I think everyone else is crazy except you and me…and once in a while, I wonder about you!
Follow One Man Roaring on Twitter: http://twitter.com/omroaring
"GOP" now stands for "Great Obstructionist Party".
Hey, why not? At the very least, it moves the conversation back to the middle...