Krugman: 'The madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time'

[Newsjock]

Source: New York Times

... Right now, if inherent importance were all that mattered, I wouldn’t be writing about the effects of sprawl, or the Fed succession, or even, probably, about China’s brick-wall problem. I would instead be writing all the time about the looming chaos in U.S. governance.

In the short run the point is that Republican leaders are about to reap the whirlwind, because they haven’t had the courage to tell the base that Obamacare is here to stay, that the sequester is in fact intolerable, and that in general they have at least for now lost the war over the shape of American society. As a result, we’re looking at many drama-filled months, with a high probability of government shutdowns and even debt defaults.

Over the longer run the point is that one of America’s two major political parties has basically gone off the deep end; policy content aside, a sane party doesn’t hold dozens of votes declaring its intention to repeal a law that everyone knows will stay on the books regardless. And since that party continues to hold substantial blocking power, we are looking at a country that’s increasingly ungovernable.

The trouble is that it’s hard to give this issue anything like the amount of coverage it deserves on substantive grounds without repeating oneself. So I do try to mix it up. But neither you nor I should forget that the madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time.

Read more: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/01/chaos-looms

[wandy]

1. One sentence tells the whole story........

But neither you nor I should forget that the madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time.

[calimary]

10. They're a bunch of sickos alright.

This is a framing job that should be said, read, and SPREAD! As far and wide as we can. Start catapulting the propaganda, as it were, so that imaging seeps in and becomes part of the water table of the national zeitgeist. They're mad. Simply crazy. They willfully defy the real world because they'd rather dream of some sick bizarro-"fantasy" land of total anarchy, every man for himself, and all the guns you can eat. They are truly unfit to govern - in any sense of the word. And how can they be otherwise, since they hate the whole idea of governing? "Nobody tells ME what to do." Okay, well if you want to run the country that way, you're gonna have a nation of selfish, greedy, ill-mannered, thoughtless, spoiled, snot-nosed adult-size three-year-olds, all whining and sniveling at once that they're not getting their way 100% of the time.

ASSHOLES. I hope they eat shit at the polls next year.

[wandy]

11. I do like the way you said that........

republicans tend to live in some alternate universe. The American Dream with whipped cream on top. That great job right on the next appellation. Better still they might just win the lottery. Then they be right up their with the big boys.
Yup gonna be part of that 1%.
Trouble is their be two problems with that......

You see, that ain't the universe they thought up themselves. It's the universe their Alpha critters lead them to believe in.
But that ain't the worst of it. If they ever get what they want they ain't gonna like it one bit.

No minimum wage. No health care. Paying rent to wall street for a run down flat and buying everything they needs at the wally-company store.

FU**ing herd animals.

[mnhtnbb]

13. I've gotten to the point that if a person identifies herself (himself) as a Republican

I wonder why she (he) doesn't get treatment for the illness. Really,
there have been some interesting studies done that indicate people
who identify as Republicans have brains which function differently
than Dems' brains. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/02/brain-difference-democrats-republicans

[matthews]

18. I wonder if one should even go as far as to refer to a Republican 'brain' and use the word

'function' in the same day (let alone the same sentence).

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R

[RainDog]

3. k&r n/t

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Newsjock.

[millennialmax]

5. There goes Krugman serving up a big heaping helping of truth again. eom

[freshwest]

8. +1

[hfojvt]

6. some might consider corporate control of the Democratic Party

to be another central issue.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022085948

I am not sure if opposing Obamacare is a losing issue http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/obama_and_democrats_health_care_plan-1130.html

[SleeplessinSoCal]

7. How many of us are being driven mad by this truth? It makes me nuts to debate on Huffpost

the sort of hard-headed, lying or ignorant defenders of the GOP.

[Cha]

9. Krugman: 'The madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time'

Mahalo, Newsjock!

[Wilms]

12. ^

[Electric Monk]

14. k&r

&u&g&m&a&n

[Politicub]

15. Krugman nails it again

[The Magistrate]

16. Hear Hear, Sir!

[Turborama]

17. K&R & Thanks for sharing! n/t

[Scurrilous]

19. K & R

[kristopher]

20. The Golden Rule for the Right

Do Unto Others As You Just Know They Would Do Unto You - And Do It First

Traits I see embodied in that:
Paranoid
Insecure
Angry
Delusional
Hateful
Lacks empathy

Did I miss any?

[BlancheSplanchnik]

22. arrogant, dishonest, incurious,

Herd animals, as someone else said....

Disinterested in others, willfully ignorant, petty, lacking in self-reflection, mercenary, self-righteous, stubborn, judgemental, hypocritcal, shallow.

[zentrum]

21. Corporatism alone is not enough to explain such rabidness.

The only thing that fuels obessive obstruction at this level is the energy of hatred. I believe they are driven almost solely by racism, fear of women, hatred of those who are sexually different. They're like the henchmen of Yahweh.

It's beyond ideology for them. It's in their guts.

[Chaco Dundee]

25. yes

You said it and you are right.how do they justify thei idiotology and remain in office?blackmail and bribery comes to mind.that usually comes right bevore rape.incest and and murder being openly thaught and practised.

[yurbud]

39. I have another theory. There are two factions among the rich...

One that simply wants everything for themselves and who understand that the pretense of democracy keeps the rest of us form storming the palace, and the other that has no use for the pretense.

Only the first has their hooks in the Democrats, but the GOP has both, and for for the first six or so years of the Bush administration, the second had the upper hand.

I think they actually wanted to pull the trigger and go full fascists, but some of the old school Republicans in Congress balked, if not out of conscience, then timidity and lack of imagination (or too good a capacity to imagine what would happen if they failed).

The "obstruct everything" tactic is certainly from the second school, but they are like a monkey that grabbed a nut in a coke bottle and can't get their hand or the nut out if they don't let go.

[Chaco Dundee]

23. what's new?

I have lived in many countrys on the globe.anywhere I went and stayed the criminal elite of that country was politically conservative oriented.wonder why that is?

[arely staircase]

24. the gop getting ready to party like its 1995

this will not end well for them.

[DonCoquixote]

26. I agree with you,but

The madness of the GOp is not the central issue, it is the fact that the left has been destroyed and cannot counter them.

[DCBob]

28. What exactly does it mean to "counter them"?

This situation is like a hostage taker who is very willing to kill the hostage unless he gets what he wants. Its not an easy situation. There are no simple solutions when dealing with psychos like this.

[DCBob]

27. Its unfortunate so many have lost sight of this "critical issue" being distracted by bogus scandals.

The Republicans have been acting like political terrorists and for the most part getting away with it. Many have gone silent or even worse blaming Obama for not making them behave. We are heading to a serious showdown this fall over the budget and debt ceiling.. both sides appear to have dug in for an ugly battle. In this political war the only loser will be the American people.

[stuarttman63]

29. It's actually not madness!

Their "madness" would be mad if they were trying to actively participate in a democratic system instead of trying to subvert it. Their intransigence and desire to "fiddle-while-Rome-burns" is an alarming indication of their plan to render this country ungovernable, cause people to doubt and detest our system of government and cause them to accept a dictatorship. It was the same process that brought the nazis to power and allowed the Chilean People to ultimately accept fifteen years of military rule after Pinochet's coup. We must not forget that the people want results. They want government to function. They want it to do things. If it does not, the people will accept a substitute for democratic self-government just out of sheer frustration. And the people who've hijacked the Republican Party are all too willing to supply that kind of authoritarian rule. They are counting on it. It is the essence of their plan for America.

[JDPriestly]

41. You are so right, stuarttman6.3.

That's the plan. The corporations want to just install a dictatorship and do away with our constitutional government.

But, of course, if they succeeded, if they achieved a dictatorship by corporation, they would fight amongst themselves for the power. And everyone else would be miserable.

[valerief]

30. Madness? No, it's the wealthy's ownership of government. nt

[Lugal Zaggesi]

31. Republicans hate the Nobel Prizes

because they seldom win one anymore.

[athenasatanjesus]

32. It doesn't matter how bad the GOP is.

The common American belief is that somehow some way the Democrats are equally as bad,no matter what.

The GOP knows this and thats why they feel free to do whatever the hell they want.

[yurbud]

33. unfortunately, their ideas have largely lost public support, but not Democratic support in DC

The form of Health Care Reform came from the Heritage Foundation.

Obama's K-12 education policy is largely about further forcing public schools to privatize.

His trade policy and foreign policy are distinguishable in style not content from his predecessor.

And no one on Wall Street is behind bars or has their head on a pike on the White House lawn where it belongs.

The financial elite are mostly moving their flag from the GOP to the Democratic Party to let the GOP finish choking to death on their own bile and insanity.

Whether we can save the Democratic Party from being simply the more competent corporate tool remains to be seen.

[JDPriestly]

42. We have to take back the Democratic Party. The alternative is as someone here

suggested, total rejection of our constitutional government and reversion to even more of a dictatorship of a wealthy, well born elite.

This is a decision-point. We have to work within the Democratic Party to select and support strong, progressive Democrats.

That is why I support nominating, drafting if we must, Elizabeth Warren for president in 2016.

[blkmusclmachine]

34. .

.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. K&R

[polynomial]

36. Chaos is the firewall to the truth.

Republicans have no recourse but to stall the inevitable shift of money distribution. They are the party of the last minute action people. Notice every issue so far every time issues tied to money it is decided by the deciders only to do something the very last minute. As this type of governance moves forward we the people watch and learn that is not government for the people it is government for the buck.

The Republicans of today are simple straight forward profiteers. They have screwed up so bad they had to create the secret trillion dollar derivative market to be able to flim-flam the public out of tax money because there are very few players in the open so called free market.

That is part of the free market that is still another level of the Romney secret hideaway Cayman Island secret stash ha ha you’ll never get me super cool tax dodging tapping secret war Meta data collecting media complicit multinational loophole driven terror laundering drug laundering banking bandits secret federal reserve banking screw up that bail out everyone including Europe secret Swiss accounts Russian mafia Texas oil billionaire security exchange pyramid scam political soft money labor bribes military industrial complex profiteering and of course the key player the mainstream media that avoids educating the public to all of this free market.

The real problem is we the people can’t afford to put everyone in jail that needs to be there. The free market is the American freedom o scam market.


Making money is the game with these current Republican kinds. Like others yes, we can call them a Species. The Republican Money Species. Krugman is right about HealthCare, and that is a huge shift in operating methods. It all is so funny, so real, and so screwed up.

[kentuck]

37. Crazy like a fox...

They know their electorate. They know how to manipulate them. They know what strings to pull to get them to the polls. Whether it be gun control, abortion, or Obamacare, the nuts flock to the polls. The GOP know their supporters.

[certainot]

38. there's no question- it starts at the local RW radio station. 1200 of them, repeating

think tank-coordinated pro-corporate propaganda.

if they can scream it over and over from every corner and stump in the country for years, decades, and no one gets in their face then it is true, and the madness is acceptable.

but it's ignored by the analysts like krugman because they read and watch, and there's nothing there to read or watch. or we blame the symptoms, like fox TV, or money in politics, which we could regulate if we hadn't ignored the radio and allowed the party of lincoln to be turned into the party of limbaugh.

and the left get our internet ass kicked by it because we read and watch and would rather listen to a scratched barry manilow CD from under the car seat on the way to the protest than what the local and national blowhards are blasting from 1000 radio stations to cause the protest in the first place and what they're saying about the 'stinking' protestors for weeks afterwards to negate most of the benefit that might have come from the protest in the first place.

considering the time lost on global warming, ignoring the talk radio monopoly that's been working for the GOP/ALEC/koch's/rove for the last 25 years is the biggest political mistake in history.

the amazing part is that it depends heavily on our own state funded universities even while it attacks and works to defund public education, by sticking their sports team logos all over those megaphones - here's a ;list of 70+ universities that endorse 170+ limbaugh stations- https://sites.google.com/site/universitiesforrushlimbaugh/
and that's just some of it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. What's funny is when Republicans decide to open their primaries....

They figure that will make it so it isn't just the nuts that show up.

Then we show up and pick the guy the nuts would just to screw them over.