Why Republican Crackup Is Bad For America
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Posted by Kelly (+2852) 11 years ago
by Robert Reich

Two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, the Republican crackup threatens the future of the Grand Old Party more profoundly than at any time since the GOP's eclipse in 1932. That's bad for America.

The crackup isn't just Romney the smooth versus Gingrich the bomb-thrower.

Not just House Republicans who just scotched the deal to continue payroll tax relief and extended unemployment insurance benefits beyond the end of the year, versus Senate Republicans who voted overwhelmingly for it.

Not just Speaker John Boehner, who keeps making agreements he can't keep, versus Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who keeps making trouble he can't control.

And not just venerable Republican senators like Indiana's Richard Lugar, a giant of foreign policy for more than three decades, versus primary challenger state treasurer Richard Mourdock, who apparently misplaced and then rediscovered $320 million in state tax revenues.

Some describe the underlying conflict as Tea Partiers versus the Republican establishment. But this just begs the question of who the Tea Partiers really are and where they came from.

The underlying conflict lies deep into the nature and structure of the Republican Party. And its roots are very old.

As Michael Lind has noted, today's Tea Party is less an ideological movement than the latest incarnation of an angry white minority -- predominantly Southern, and mainly rural -- that has repeatedly attacked American democracy in order to get its way.

It's no mere coincidence that the states responsible for putting the most Tea Party representatives in the House are all former members of the Confederacy. Of the Tea Party caucus, twelve hail from Texas, seven from Florida, five from Louisiana, and five from Georgia, and three each from South Carolina, Tennessee, and border-state Missouri.

Others are from border states with significant Southern populations and Southern ties. The four Californians in the caucus are from the inland part of the state or Orange County, whose political culture has was shaped by Oklahomans and Southerners who migrated there during the Great Depression.

This isn't to say all Tea Partiers are white, Southern or rural Republicans -- only that these characteristics define the epicenter of Tea Party Land.

And the views separating these Republicans from Republicans elsewhere mirror the split between self-described Tea Partiers and other Republicans.

In a poll of Republicans conducted for CNN last September, nearly six in ten who identified themselves with the Tea Party say global warming isn't a proven fact; most other Republicans say it is.

Six in ten Tea Partiers say evolution is wrong; other Republicans are split on the issue. Tea Party Republicans are twice as likely as other Republicans to say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, and half as likely to support gay marriage.

Tea Partiers are more vehement advocates of states' rights than other Republicans. Six in ten Tea Partiers want to abolish the Department of Education; only one in five other Republicans do. And Tea Party Republicans worry more about the federal deficit than jobs, while other Republicans say reducing unemployment is more important than reducing the deficit.

In other words, the radical right wing of today's GOP isn't that much different from the social conservatives who began asserting themselves in the Party during the 1990s, and, before them, the "Willie Horton" conservatives of the 1980s, and, before them, Richard Nixon's "silent majority."

Through most of these years, though, the GOP managed to contain these white, mainly rural and mostly Southern, radicals. After all, many of them were still Democrats. The conservative mantle of the GOP remained in the West and Midwest -- with the libertarian legacies of Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft and Barry Goldwater, neither of whom was a barn-burner -- while the epicenter of the Party remained in New York and the East.

But after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as the South began its long shift toward the Republican Party and New York and the East became ever more solidly Democratic, it was only a matter of time. The GOP's dominant coalition of big business, Wall Street, and Midwest and Western libertarians was losing its grip.

The watershed event was Newt Gingrich's takeover of the House, in 1995. Suddenly, it seemed, the GOP had a personality transplant. The gentlemanly conservatism of House Minority Leader Bob Michel was replaced by the bomb-throwing antics of Gingrich, Dick Armey, and Tom DeLay.

Almost overnight Washington was transformed from a place where legislators tried to find common ground to a war zone. Compromise was replaced by brinkmanship, bargaining by obstructionism, normal legislative maneuvering by threats to close down government -- which occurred at the end of 1995.

Before then, when I'd testified on the Hill as Secretary of Labor, I had come in for tough questioning from Republican senators and representatives -- which was their job. After January 1995, I was verbally assaulted. "Mr. Secretary, are you a socialist?" I recall one of them asking.

But the first concrete sign that white, Southern radicals might take over the Republican Party came in the vote to impeach Bill Clinton, when two-thirds of senators from the South voted for impeachment. (A majority of the Senate, you may recall, voted to acquit.)

America has had a long history of white Southern radicals who will stop at nothing to get their way -- seceding from the Union in 1861, refusing to obey Civil Rights legislation in the 1960s, shutting the government in 1995, and risking the full faith and credit of the United States in 2010.

Newt Gingrich's recent assertion that public officials aren't bound to follow the decisions of federal courts derives from the same tradition.

This stop-at-nothing radicalism is dangerous for the GOP because most Americans recoil from it. Gingrich himself became an object of ridicule in the late 1990s, and many Republicans today worry that if he heads the ticket the Party will suffer large losses.

It's also dangerous for America. We need two political parties solidly grounded in the realities of governing. Our democracy can't work any other way.


from: http://www.huffingtonpost...62539.html
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supporter
Posted by Bridgier (+9508) 11 years ago
Anybody who defends the nihlists deserves to be called a fool.

And a pre-emptive "procreate you" to the inevitable "both sides" bullpoop.

The only good that will come of a Republican Senate will be the end of the filibuster the first time the Democrats try and use it.
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
You left wing socialists have always liked to lay the blame on anyone but youself. We'll see what happens in the 2012 elections.....korkyII..
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Posted by Kelly (+2852) 11 years ago
Yes we will Jan, especially since the House Republican TEAtards just procreated 160 million Americans, breaking the HOLY VOW on taxes of the false prophet Grover Norquist.

I don't blame others for my problems. I blame them for warping the playing field so much, that the middle class can't compete.



JESUS WAS A LIBERAL! Happy Holidays!


BTW I love you call me a socialist. I am proud to advocate a yearly 5 week paid vacation for all, free healthcare for all, and all the things that come with socialism. Before you say "move" I'll preempt and say I would if my health would allow and if my mother didn't need me to help her in her golden years. Specifically I'd like to move to Montreal.

[This message has been edited by Kelly (12/21/2011)]
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Posted by Gunnar Emilsson (+18469) 11 years ago
Thanks for weighing in so intelligently, korky, you old white rascist ignorant bastard, you.
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Posted by Bridgier (+9508) 11 years ago
I didn't vote for any of those kochsucking teahadists korky... but I'll bet YOU did, didn't you...
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Posted by SZ (+150) 11 years ago
Shhh, if the American people just stood silent for a moment they would hear what President Obama is really up to. He has capitalized on what he recognizes as electorate ignorance. He and Harry Reid have convinced the American people that tax policy can be done in two month installments....look at the polls. He has duped you again America.
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supporter
Posted by Richard Bonine, Jr. (+15484) 11 years ago
I think that the republican house happened to swerved into doing the right thing here through no wisdom of their own. The payroll tax needs to go back up so that the social security fund is not shorted. The supposed extension of this "cut" was going to be "paid for" by adding a fee to house loans.

And I disagree with Robert Reich. The continuance of the civil war is not a good thing. It needs to be over. If that means the republican party blows up into 10 new little parties, so be it. It will make it that much easier for the adults in the room to govern.
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Posted by Kelly (+2852) 11 years ago
He and Harry Reid have convinced the American people that tax policy can be done in two month installments.


Dems wanted a year extension as well, but the TEAtards kept putting extra chit in the bill, like the environmentally disastrous Keystone XL pipeline. Stop getting all your news from Fox.
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Posted by Bridgier (+9508) 11 years ago
I agree with Richard - the "tax cut" is really a "benefits cut", and needs to expire.

The REAL issue that isn't getting discussed enough is the unemployment extension - but that can't get passed unless it's bundled with a "tax cut", and so we end up in the strange bizarro world we are in at the moment.

The House Republicans are addicted to hostage taking, they just can't help themselves. Usually they wait for something worth their while though - extending the Bush Tax cuts for example. The Keystone pipeline is pure dickitude, as the state dept has already said that demanding an expedited approval process will cause the project to be denied.

AND THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS IS YOUR FAULT KORKY. WHEN YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING AND BELIEVE FIVE CONTRADICTORY THINGS BEFORE BREAKFAST, GOD FEEDS A KITTEN TO A SNAKE.
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supporter
Posted by Bob L. (+5100) 11 years ago
Welfare Queen wrote:
You left wing socialists have always liked to lay the blame on anyone but youself. We'll see what happens in the 2012 elections.....korkyII..



Just keep cashing those government checks, Kork!
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
Look, the "teatards" just gave obama what he wanted, a year on the so called tax cuts. That's what he asked for and the lamebrain senate only gave him a 2 month extension. Plus on the pipeline, it will help cut our dependency on foreign oil plus put a lot of people back to work (just what you people have been crying for) but obama is all about bending to the tree huggers, he's not interested in solving the national debt, the unemployment or anything except his own re-election right now. Why doesnt he take some of that billion dollars he's got in his reelection fund and spread it around ? We have a totally dysfunctional gov't right now and the only way out of it is to replace them all.
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moderator
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Posted by David Schott (+18527) 11 years ago
"Plus on the pipeline, it will help cut our dependency on foreign oil..."

I have not followed the Keystone XL pipeline story hardly at all but isn't it for piping Canadian oil from Alberta to refineries in the U.S.? Canadian oil is foreign oil, no?
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
It will put some canadian oil to houston, but will put the balkan oilfield and a lot of alaska oil there also....korkyII
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Posted by Bob L. (+5100) 11 years ago
Welfare Mom wrote:
Look, the "teatards" just gave obama what he wanted, a year on the so called tax cuts.



Ahhh, the Korkster's just pissed because he can't participate in the payroll tax cut.

The tax cut is real, Korky. Oh yes it is. I saved over $2,000 in 2011. Get a job, loser, and maybe you'll benefit from the payroll tax cut.


And it's BAKKEN, not "BALKAN" you procreateing inbred mouthbreather.
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Posted by Bridgier (+9508) 11 years ago
SHHHHH - if teh evironmentalists find out that the Balkan field is being developed, they'll get Obama to totally SHUT IT DOWN!!!

Idiots. There are days when I wish we could feed boomers to pet snakes.

[This message has been edited by Bridgier (12/22/2011)]
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Posted by howdy (+4949) 11 years ago
Being on the cusp of boomers (born in 45) I really don't wish to be fed to snakes...
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moderator
founder
Posted by David Schott (+18527) 11 years ago
Curious to know, how does Alaskan oil get to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline?
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
Fyi Bob L. I have a job, plus my retirements and am damned proud of it. Somebody has to fill the jobs that are out there and it is evident there are a whole slew of losers who don't want to work, just sponge off of those who do. So don't go tellin me to get a job and that 2000 dollars you saved could've gone to someon who needed it instead of in your own pocket. You don't have a clue about how much I make or don't make and really it is none of your damed business loser.
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
Bridgier fyi I am not a Boomer, I am older than that and still working since the younger generations don't seem to want to do that.
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Posted by Bob L. (+5100) 11 years ago
Oh, so it IS A TAX CUT, huh, Korky! Keep sucking off the government teat while calling everyone else a Socialist, loser.
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
Yep thats exactly what you are.
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supporter
Posted by Buck Showalter (+4454) 11 years ago
Wal-Mart greeter.
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
At least "they" have a job.
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Posted by mtpatriot (+82) 11 years ago
well it is so nice to see the liberal children still calling people who have different views names. BLABLABLA. Gets so old, it would be nice to actually have an adult conversation with people who had different beliefs, where each would listen to the other, without the name calling. The world would be such a better place. We have a country founded upon the constitution, and it was founded one nation under god. Those documents were quite thorough, spelled things out pretty darn clear. The facts are what is wrong is now right, and what is right is now wrong. Can you follow that? Or are you confussed? It absolutly floors me that there is so much division over (dare I say it) ILLEGAL ALIENS. They are breaking the law, but hey that is ok. Can you and I break the law and get by with it, I dont think so, and I have no personal reason to even want to break the law. Yet we are the ones paying the price for it. Do you realize that most of them that are here illegally actually get more government handouts and freebies than our own legal citizens who are poor? Now in order to get Obama relected they are getting their panties in a twist because some states are asking for a picture ID to vote. Well we have to have a picture ID to use just about every day of the week. But someone here illegal-- Erik Holder says that is discrimination. Really? Last time I checked the constitution you had to be a legal, yes legal citizen to be able to vote. So again what is wrong is right (but only for some) and what is right is wrong. No matter what your party is, I dont understand some of the way people think. I went to work the first time at the age of 12 have pretty much worked most of my life, what I have I worked darn hard for, sometimes there were 3 jobs at one time, just so I could survive and put food on the table, I did not ask for handouts because I was not raised that it was everyone elses responsibility to give me what I needed or wanted. I worked hard for it. I am a middle income person, and even tho I balance my budget there are times when things come up unexpectdly that it is a struggle even today, the economy is worse that it was 5 years ago, we are paying more for smaller quantities, fuel prices are high, people unemployed an not many jobs on the horrizon. Obama's first priorty was jobs and economy and he has not done squat for that,he was too busy pushing his health care garbage that will dystroy the system. So when you go to vote, go with a clear head, research and study, and then you vote for who you feel would be doing a better job, because we cannot afford 4 more of this----Can we. Yes both parties have gone into the toilit, but until we get passed the crap we will remain here, so before you start throwing nasty words around about the tea partiers, understand there are democrats, republicans,independants, black white, hispanic, native american, just about every race out there. So they obviously know something you dont know. So I ask you do do soul searching, and ask yourself serious questions, because right now we are at a tipping point, which way do you want it to go, do you want it to be what the constitution was built on, or do you want more of this. If it is this maybe you should remove the excuses and go ahead and move to canada.

[This message has been edited by mtpatriot (12/30/2011)]
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supporter
Posted by Bob Netherton II (+1910) 11 years ago
Sorry, dude. The more anyone researches Ron Paul or Michelle Bachman, the less likely they'll vote for them. On a positive note - Newt floated Sarah Palin as a running mate. What the hell. Sarah's got a TV show about snow machines to sell.

Because you're so learned on the subject, patriot, I'd love to know your recomendation for the next POTUS. Be specific please.
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Posted by Buck Showalter (+4454) 11 years ago
They turned Danny's power back on!!!
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann are'nt the oly 2 in the race for the republican ticket. I doubt seriously that Newt would invite Sarah for his running mate. Ronald Reagan was an actor too. Snowmobile salesman, actor or what ever shouldn't enter the equation. I agree with mtpatriot. I'd rather live by the Constitution than flush it down the toilet than live by some liberal concocted mess and end up like they are in europe........korkyII...
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Posted by Kelly (+2852) 11 years ago
Just curious Jan, when was the last time you were in Europe?
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Posted by Jan Cornutt (+269) 11 years ago
1983
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