The American Conservative: Republicans are "a barking-mad pack of ideologues"

[Faryn Balyncd]

a rather remarkable article from, of all places, The American Conservative:

"When President Obama sees negotiating with Iran as a more reasonable option than negotiating with Republicans over the debt ceiling, we are through the looking glass. . . . It is pathetic. . ."

Republicans, Over the Cliff

Republicans . . . are a barking-mad pack of ideologues, is what they are. . . . These guys are taking the government and the economy to the brink of crisis, and for what? For the sake of rebel yells and the Lost Cause?

. . . When I think of the Republican Party, I don’t think of principled conservative legislators who are men and women of vision strategy. I think of ideologues who are prepared to wreck things to get their way. They have confused prudence — the queen of virtues, and the cardinal virtue of conservative politics — with weakness. I know I’m very much a minority among conservatives in this, but the behavior of Congressional Republicans pushed me out of the party two years ago, even though I almost always vote Republican, or withhold my vote. I am not a liberal, and do not want to vote for liberals, especially on social policy. But I told a Louisiana conservative friend the other day that the Congressional Republicans are making me consider the previously unthinkable: throwing my vote away by voting for a Democrat in the special election next month to replace my GOP congressman, who just resigned to take another job. The GOP candidates in this local race are hot and heavy to overthrow Obamacare. I think about how poor this district is — 26 percent of the district lives in poverty, making it one of the poorest Congressional districts in America — and how badly we need jobs and economic growth, and I think: What kind of world do these people live in?

By the way, political analysts rate the Louisiana 5th district safe Republican; my frustration with the GOP candidates is almost certainly a marginal phenomenon. You could probably put all the conservatives in this district who are fed-up with this mess on my front porch, and still have room for the tuba players from the LSU Tiger Band. Still, there it is. I’m considering voting Democratic not because I believe in the Democrats, but because it has gotten to the point where they don’t unnerve me like the Republicans. As poor as our district is, these guys would make our economic situation even more parlous by shutting the government down to overturn what in any stable political environment would have been a settled law?

. . . What are the probable long-run consequences of shutting the US Government down over Obamacare? Do the Congressional Republicans care? Do they care what kind of damage they are doing to the ability of Congress to legislate effectively on all kinds of matters? The damage they are doing to the economic stability of the United States? This kind of brinksmanship might — might — have been defensible during the Obamacare fight, but today? I can’t see it. I can’t see any good coming out of this, at least any good that stands to outweigh the bad. . . . there’s no doubt in my mind who is responsible for the government shutting down: the GOP.

. . . Divided government used to work—it created the Marshall Plan, civil rights legislation, and all the accomplishments of the Reagan era. Independent voters like me have traditionally voted for divided government in the hopes that it would restrain any one party’s impulse to ideologically over-reach by imposing common sense checks and balances. But divided government now looks like dysfunctional government. And despite the political security created by the rigged system of redistricting, Republicans may suddenly find the congressional midterms a referendum on their ability to get things done. The scorecard is ugly on that front, providing yet another reason for Democrats to accept a government shutdown, however painful.

. . . Republicans are realizing that the angry conservative populist forces they empowered to achieve power have turned on them and are now actively restricting their ability to be taken seriously as a governing force. When President Obama sees negotiating with Iran as a more reasonable option than negotiating with Republicans over the debt ceiling, we are through the looking glass. . . . It is pathetic that is has come to this: a great power that cannot agree on practical ways to keep its government functioning.

. . . The Republicans cannot govern. These people aren’t conservatives. They are radicals. What on earth would Russell Kirk say if he were alive to see this?


http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/republicans-over-the-cliff/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=republicans-over-the-cliff

[DCBob]

1. wow.

[johnnyreb]

2. I love it.

Maybe this will all be worth it. I just wish all Americans could make it through alive.

[Faryn Balyncd]

5. What if every GOP Rep. got this in the mail with request to read it into Congressional Record?

[Scootaloo]

3. That's a polite way of phrasing it

What they actually are are enemies of civilized society. They want carnage and chaos, because they think they will be the top dogs of it all. They engender and welcome this shit, and have no concept of the well-being of people - not even themselves. For them, it's the joy of seeing someone else hurt, and feeling powerful over that person.

They aren't even radicals. Radicals have a goal, a purpose, and are often idealists seeking a better world, even if their ideas and methods are wrong. The Republicans are nihilists and psychopaths.

And they're more involved in running your government than you are.

[chill_wind]

7. Very well said.

Nihilists- perfect description.

[Douglas Carpenter]

4. knr - now this is an article worth posting on your FB and everywhere

[Warren DeMontague]

6. You know when The American Conservative doesn't support American Conservatives anymore

American Conservatism is in trouble.

[nxylas]

8. The American Conservative seems to be a slightly more moderate conservative publication

The bits I've seen of it have never really reached Glenn Beck/Michelle Malkin levels of crazy.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Still, not a good sign for 'em.

[King_Klonopin]

10. Clever, albeit distorted, GOP rhetoric:

A Fantasy Letter from President Obama to House Republicans

"When President Obama sees negotiating with Iran as
a more reasonable option than negotiating with Republicans..."

Dear House GOP members,

That glibly crafted statement says more about YOU, ironically,
than it does about me. I am not foolish; I won't waste time trying to
reason with the unreasonable, or to negotiate with those who don't
understand or can't follow the simplest concepts of negotiating.

What is it, exactly, that you believe entitles you all to negotiate
with me, House Democrats or Senate Democrats? Negotiations were
finished months ago. The ACA is now the LAW. Regarding your bitter
refusal to accept these fact, at this point you have two options: You
can either let go, or be dragged.

If this situation were reversed, how would you respond to House
Democrats shutting down the Federal Government (i.e. not passing
a budget bill or raising the debt ceiling in order to prevent default) as
a means to repealing Citizens United -- which, by the way, we
Democrats all believe to be a heinous piece of legislation that harms
the country ? You would call it for what it is: extortion. You are aiming
to circumvent and nullify our Constitutional process. I will not allow it.

Entitlement; thine face is Republican.


Sincerely Yours,

B. Obama POTUS


p.s. Y'all can kiss my ass.

[mnhtnbb]

11. I have been shouting this--wrote to POTUS--since yesterday.

"You would call it for what it is: extortion. You are aiming
to circumvent and nullify our Constitutional process. I will not allow it. "

These a$$hat tea party Repub reps took an Oath of Office to support
and defend The Constitution of the United States. They are all in violation
of their oath. There has to be some way, some how, laws (surely there is something in the Patriot Act) that can be
used to jail these jerks for their actions...and that becomes the ultimate
negotiating ploy for POTUS.

Clean CR NOW --or you will be arrested and thrown in jail for dereliction of duty, conspiracy to destroy
the US government....etc.