I'm Seeing Green

Republicans Know No Bounds

"Mitt Romney leveled his harshest criticism of President Obama's reelection campaign to date in Ohio Tuesday, declaring that Obama should 'take your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago.' "

The arrogance and the hyprocisy of the Republicans know no limits. For anyone on that side of the aisle to level a criticism like this is to believe in the string theory of multiple universes, one of which they reside in, but us normal people don't.

This is from the party that has its major sages say things like the following; OK, you may say that Romney is not responsible for these statements, but ... he has never repudiated any of it:

"Obama is a communist."

"Obama has a colonial mentality influenced by his Kenyan father." (hence he ain't one of us normal folk in these Yew Nited States of Um-erica.)

"Obama is bringing out country to its knees."

"Obama is a racist."  (now if you could explain that, I'd be grateful.)

And, of course, the not-born-in-America bs.

Romney's lie about Medicare from his latest salvo is breathtaking...to the effect that Obama[care] is taking $700 billion away from it. What's not to realize that Obamacare is dedicated to maintaining all Medicare services, the 700b. is projected savings by controlling future costs?" It's as if I promised to pay for your food costs in the future, and I mentioned that I was looking to save some money by buying local produce. Your food is the same, my cost is less. 

But how difficult may that be to convey to these great masses of people who vote R. and listen to Fox sound bites? That's what Romney is counting on, the short attention span of the American voters of whom a vast majority have not heard of Paul Ryan and have no opinion on him? Guess being Chair of the House Budget Committee is no claim to fame.

Faced with this level of ignorance, what should be the Democratic strategy? They're doing sort-of the right thing, taking the battle right into the enemy camp...disinformation, marignal truths and spin. Do they have a choice? No, I say good fo them. It's time to let the negativity hang out.

Mitt, you're a fool and a charlatan. Obama is indeed lowering himself to near, but not quite, your level (but, as Axelrod said, the Obama campaign will be glad to meet the Romney when they come to the "our high ground.")

Buy the O. bumper sticker: "Save Medicare, Vote Democrat". I'd go for one that says "Vote Republican, KILL Medicare" myself.

 

 

 

Romney and Rand, er, Ryan, Roust the Republicans

So should the celebrations start early? Would hailing Obama's II term cause the Mormon-Catholic Gods to frown mightily and load the dice in favor of the Republicans? Do I believe in magical thinking as I knock wood and drink a toast to Mitt?

On the one hand, Mitt-the-Twit's craven pick of Ryan as his mate, his below-the-limbo-champs bow to the ultra-conservatives, his raising of the class war to tactical-nuclear level, cannot be described as 'brave'. Desperate, maybe, game-altering, possibly, wonderfully expedient, certainly, but not indicative of any newfound steel in the spine.  On the other, it might get enough of us sluggish Democrats to hand the election to Obama.

But enough of Romney. We are all aware of his flip-flops. his exaggerations (I won't use the L-word,) and his total inability to act, even hypocritically, as if he cares about the average American (or anyone who makes less than his millions.)

Let us examine his VP pick. Incidentally, I won't use here the cliché about heartbeats and distance you are no doubt being inundated with. Let's just say it's scary enough that Ryan may be in shouting distance of the President if they win.

A very rich white man. What a surprise. Birds-of-a-feather and all that, Mitt's most comfortable with his own kind.

A lover of Ayn Rand. To anyone left of Attila the Hun, this should be disqualification enough. Rand's evil philosophy is reportedly Ryan's "reason for entering public service," which speaks volumes. Rand, in case you did not go through a (hopefully and mercifully) short period in your late teens when you thought she was the embodiment of coolth, is the force behind Objectivism, a super-libertarian, super-selfish individualism. This is the person whose work, Whittaker Chambers once reviewed, "I can recall no other book in which a tone of overriding arrogance was so implacably sustained." and "[in which there's the constant refrain of] to the gas chambers, go."

A man voted by his teenage peers as the 'biggest brownnoser.' Unfair to mention? No, surely all's fair in love and politics.

A man with a radical agenda to demolish social structures gained over the last fifty years. If Romney-Ryan are elected, and the Ryan budget is implemented, we'll see:

- Social Security privatized.
- Medicare replaced with a voucher system (we know how well that works for its baby cousin, Medicare part D vouchers.)
- Senior assistance, heating help and childhood hunger programs cut.
- Major federal departments such as Education and Justice decimated.
- Taxes on the rich and super-rich cut drastically, the revenue made up by the middle class paying more (surprise!) by eliminating popular deductions.
- Defense, however, sanctified and untouched.

In case you think I exaggerate, please note that a Tax Policy Center study supports much of this.

And, of course he's virulently anti-gay-marriage and anti-abortion. This from Obama's tweet: "Paul Ryan supports banning all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest."

Best quotes on the subject so far:
Paul Begala, "And so Romney Hood has his Friar Tuck."
Unknown blog poster: "Two R's make a Wrong"

Image credit: http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/