Were an individual to demonstrate the kind of delusional, violently divisive thought and paranoid rhetoric that all of the GOP candidates -- as well as the party overall -- they'd be put under observation and found to be a danger to society.
One could say that the GOP presidential candidates are speaking as individuals, for and by themselves. But actually they embody the principles embraced by the corporate right-wing juggernaut and speak for the delusional, violently divisive and paranoid collective, never making any effort to dispel the notion that they are anything other than welcoming to a fringe and often dangerous form of political activism, one that seeks a hobbling or outright abolishment of government and the regulations that make living in a civilized, democratic society safe and prosperous for all.
But with the almost comic overexposure (for, as well as lacking genes for constructive creativity and cool there is the vacuum where the essential quality of restraint would normally be) of the weekly installments of GOP presidential debates along with the attendant hourly injections of Fox Fear Fuel into the body sociopolitic, the full extent of the right-wing corporate mentality is on display, its artifice stripped away, its essence denuded.
And in this state it is poised to pull the trigger on a form of behavior it's only hinted at in the past, threats used as incentive to force the opposition to bend.
But by the look and sound of things, it is now so driven and desperate that it will commit the ultimate act; the doom they've been foretelling with the coming of a black president will be what they themselves bring by their own hand, not only to their own tragically debased party but, if they have their way, the nation.
All presidential elections are characterized as "the most important in our lifetime". But given the corporate right's flagrant hostility toward not only the president but America's cherished and fought-for democratic principles themselves; given the scrupulous precision with which truths are turned and realities are twisted by a corporate-controlled media; given the corporate-biased majority on the Supreme Court and the string of democracy-crippling decisions it has made and seems very likely to make in future, wouldn't this election be, truthfully, the most important in our lifetime?
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What's your wager if this wet dream comes true, Steven? Obama by 10%? 20%? 30%?
Of course it doesn't matter which of these pitiful candidates wins the nomination, it's just a question of which one gets beaten the worst in 2012. My bet is Newt would make the best showing, as the Repub who would embarrass his Party the most in November.
By golly, I'm beginning to love the Tea Party! They've almost ensured a total rout of the Repubs this Fall!
Especially after he got his son to make this ridiculous claim against the TSA.
You really have to admire a guy who can be opposed to nearly the entire platform of a National Party, yet run as that party's Candidate every time an election comes around.
That takes REAL PRINCIPALS.
(yes, the misspelling is intentional)
;)
A Democratic primary would have been the best answer by getting rid of Obama without putting a Republican in the WH.
Yeah, you're probably right.
I mean, how big of a deal is it? Really?
Probably not much, after all, the last time we elected someone based on their "likeability" (the guy everyone agreed would be "fun to have a beer with") we ended up okay, right?
America was successfully ATTACKED on our own shores.
We started TWO WARS (off the books) that resulted in the loss of over 6000 American Military Personnel, Hundreds of Thousands of Iraqi Casualties, Tens of Thousands of Afghani Civilian deaths attributed to the war, AND over a $Trillion spent (thus far).
The NEAR TOTAL collapse of our Economy, and the ongoing ripples that are still negatively affecting the World Economic state.
A massive escalation of the Economic Inequality in America.
Millions of unemployed as a result of poor management of the Economy.
Millions of American Homes foreclosed on as a direct result of the Economic Crisis.
The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act of 2006, the Military Commissions Act of 2009.
But you're right, we are probably making a big deal out of nothing.
By-the-way, I'm sure you're someone we should all be taking advice from in regard to "getting rid of Obama without putting a Republican in the WH."
After all, you apparently are so well informed that you are not even aware that there IS a Democratic Primary.
See Candidates:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_presidential_candidates,_2012
Well said, my friend. It's still staggering to read those statistics.
Steven, I don't disagree with your premise in any way. You are absolutely correct; this IS the MOST IMPORTANT Election in our lifetime!
Until the NEXT one!
If the 2010 election should have shown us anything; it's that there are NO unimportant elections.
The Republican Party, as we have known it (in OUR lifetimes), is in its death throes. Clinging to its fervent but aging base, now dying off in ever increasing number, it MUST RECOGNIZE that its days as the home of xenophobic, bigoted, fundamentalist patriarchs are rapidly coming to an end. Like any entity that exists, IT MUST either "evolve or die". They've been through this before. Whether we refer to them as "Federalists" or "National Republicans" or "Whigs" or, simply Republicans, they've been through the challenge of "reinventing" their party, or killing it off and creating a new one.
As I've noted many times, our history is replete with examples of those elements within our society who cling to the baser aspects of their being. Greed, lust, hatred of the "other", and such, are not likely to disappear from the human character anytime soon. We MUST be VIGILANT! We MUST treat EVERY ELECTION as if it is "THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN OUR LIFETIME", if for no other reason than, it just might be.
I think the 2012 elections will sweep away the Tea Party, it was a fad, a poisonous fad, but it's shelf life has expired. One of the big mistakes the Republican Party has made is turning themselves into entertainment. They rely on talk radio and clowns like Limbaugh and Anne Coulter. They promote themselves through a sham news organziation (FOX News), and it's getting increasingly difficult to take them seriously as these organizations and figure have to become more extreme, more outlandish to keep their audience entertained. They passed the tipping point of credibility. Personally, I think the next election will be a disaster for the GOP, and they'll have serious rebuilding to do in the aftermath.
They will have some serious rebuilding to do. And, as always, they will DO IT.
It will likely NOT BE a rebuilding that will encompass the "base" they've relied on for the past few decades. Many of those who powered the Republicans for the past 30 years are either dying or already dead.
You can almost FEEL the power shifting. Racism (tho' still alive) is slowly losing its strength. Homophobia is no longer the desired path for those who still feel that "staying in the closet" is a good philosophy for how to live their lives. The financial inequality has once again reached the critical "tipping point" in American culture. And, the Religious fervor to believe in "mysticism" over "rationale" is finding it difficult to overcome even the modest gains we've made in "basic education" in the past 50 years.
BUT!
That doesn't mean that those (and other) basic aspects of Human behavior have been "eliminated".
They will regroup! They will shed those viewpoints that no longer offer sufficient numbers, and will attempt to find new issues that can be used to motivate larger groups. They will find new fears, new beliefs, and new strategies to exploit. They could "reemerge" in 20 years, as Democrats, OR they could come back in two years, as the "New Republican Party".
We failed this time around, even after the lessons of the "Great Depression", we can ill afford to fail again.
I believe it may be our last shot, Steven. In the Republican's brave new world of "Corporations are people, my friend." (Romney), and the proposed ending of child labor laws (Gingrich), we have seen the absurdity of their master plan.
Corporations must be respected as "people," and our children (certainly not THEIR children, who will attend publicly funded private schools) can work in those "people's" sweat boxes and mines as they did a century ago. Hey, we'll even pay them in script with funny cartoon characters printed on it. They'll love it! And their parents, who's jobs we'll be shipping overseas, will appreciate the extra income!
If voters cannot now see the completely naked all for 1 and none for all corporatist Republican agenda for what it is and always has been, we're doomed.
If this election swings the Repubs way, I fear this bold experiment is over.
But I don't believe it will fall to the Repubs this year. The people's noses have been rubbed in the Republican indifference to their plight and future well being last year. Shown, without anymore attempt at concealment, how their needs and futures are to be sacrificed for the good of corporations and the wealthy.
"...but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln.
Heck as you've pointed out, Steven, they're not even trying anymore. Not a winning strategy.
An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting).
The fallacy of Division is committed when a person infers that what is true of a whole must also be true of its constituents and justification for that inference is not provided.
Logical fallacies are committed when reason and evidence cannot be provided and are an admittance of failure in a debate.
And who knows, had Johnson not played Mr. Hyde to his Dr. Jekll by getting us into Vietnam, he almost certainly would have won reelection. Had that happened, we might have had universal health care these last forty years.
Since Johnson stepped down in 1968, we've had 28 years of Republicans occupying the White House. Of the 15 years Dems have had it, the last three have come after a devastating 8 years of the Bush Administration, and this last year under a constant blockade to progress from the Republican held House.
Gosh, I wonder which party has been the main obstacle standing in the way of progress on the war on poverty since the Johnson years?
The difference is the key distinction between the roles of government that help people up and protect them from mistreatment of exploitation -- which I agree the modern GOP strives to abolish -- and those roles of government that exist mainly to punish people, enforce conformity, or otherwise generally beat people down.
Those *latter* roles of government is the kind of government that they are willing to grow, fund, and expand to indefinite proportions.
Why do we think that the modern GOP is trying every dirty trick in the book to neutralize the Constitution and the power of the federal courts to enforce it? When has a GOP candidate, other than Ron Paul, *EVER* spoken out against the growing prison-industrial complex?
Why of course, because the modern GOP wants total, unfettered government when it comes to government's *NEGATIVE* roles -- punishing, imposing conformity, and keeping the little people down.
Privatization!
If they can figure a way to turn a Government Function into a "Private Industry", it doesn't matter if it's a Negative function or a Positive one, they love it all the same. If they can turn it into a way to "turn a buck" for one of their "friends", it will get their FULL support.
I only mention this because it is SO OVERLOOKED by most people. In the past 30 years, the Republicans have reduced certain Government Agencies by significant numbers, while simultaneously increasing the cost by virtue of "hiring out" to Corporate entities for the functions those Agencies once performed internally.
It has happened so often, in such significant amount, that most people can not keep up with how much of what the Government used to do, is now being done by "for profit" Businesses.
It's a "win-win" for the Republicans. Government (in specific areas) gets smaller, and the Rich get Richer.
Simultaneously and perfectly in the news feed running under his comments unbeknownst to Stossel, was a report concerning how hurricane victims were being denied their insurance claims by the thousands. I've often wondered if the employee who ran that feed lost their job...
Private prisons and private mercenaries are among the scariest. Between the former which can turn the GOP jail-everyone-for-everything mentality into a corporate gravy train, to outfits like Blackwater/Xe which are theocracy-driven Crusaders and Inquisitors at their core, privatization of destructive government roles is *SO* GOP.
That means, of course, any resulting "shrinking of government" is an illusion and a deception. When one delegates *government* duties to private companies, they are still performing government duties. If it looks like a prison, clicks like a prison, has rotten cuisine like a prison, and can lawfully confine people like a prison, it's a prison -- a *GOVERNMENT* function.