I guess we're supposed to forget the right-wing memes that were propagated for the past 3 years or so...
John Boehner is the Speaker of the House, a major figure in the Republican's political chain.
If the "poor" didn't cause the financial crisis in the Republicans' tiny corporate-addled minds, then why are they going after Medicaid, Social Security, W.I.C. and other social programs that have existed for decades? Why are they going after infrastructure and public education? Why are they trying to dismantle collective bargaining rights for America's workers who grow poorer and poorer each decade after Reaganomics became the "golden measure" while wealth disparity, probably the NUMBER ONE indicator of a terminally ill economy, continues to grow?
So others are whining because they are distressed that words are being put in poor John Boehner's orange-tinted mouth. Yet these words "The poor caused <insert current economic problem here>" are part and parcel of the right-wing's agenda.
I'm sick and tired of the right-wing's Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome and the apologists who enable them.
I had to sit and listen to MSNBC's coverage of the Republican's "Budget" proposal. I could have easily taken that until they trotted out some Congressional teabagger who started off with a glowing epithet to how Ryan is a hero and is brave and yada,yada,yada. I sat there with my mouth open waiting, hoping that some form of rebuttal would also be presented. Nothing, nada, zilch. The douchebag just kept prattling on with his glowing praise. So finally I turned it off and won't be turning it back on.
So some here on DU think that we should all be "ashamed" because a thread about a Boehner satire piece was recced to the top of the list. Big hairy frickin' deal. He may not have said it but it was a "too-close-to-home" cut at a meme that has been a cornerstone of right-wing economics since the Gipper lamented the "welfare queens" living high on the hog.
So cry me an orange river Boehner-bots...
Did the Poor Cause the Crisis?Republicans claim that poor homeowners are to blame for the global financial collapse. New economic evidence proves they're wrong.
By Simon Johnson
Posted Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011, at 4:52 PM ET
The United States continues to be riven by heated debate about the causes of the 2007-09 financial crisis. Is government to blame for what went wrong, and, if so, in what sense? In December, the Republican minority on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, weighed in with a preemptive dissenting narrative. According to this group, misguided government policies, aimed at increasing homeownership among relatively poor people, pushed too many into taking out subprime mortgages that they could not afford.
http://www.slate.com/id/2281718ARE THE POOR TO BLAME FOR THE ECONOMIC CRISIS?by Kristen French on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Republicans lay much of the blame for the collapse of the financial markets in 2008 and 2009 on low-income homeowners–or rather, on misguided government policies that encouraged home ownership among the relative poor. But in a column for Slate, Simon Johnson says this line of thinking is totally misguided, citing new research from Daron Acemoglu of MIT , who presented his findings at the American Finance Association’s annual meeting in early January.
http://blog.registeredrep.com/copsandcrooks/2011/02/02/are-the-poor-to-blame-for-the-economic-crisis/More Than Half of Republicans Don’t Believe Banks Are to Blame for the Financial CrisisBy Megan Carpentier | 03.22.10 | 5:36 pm
A new ABC News poll asks what Americans have to say about the newest economic villains — banks — as they return to profitability well ahead of America’s burgeoning unemployed population. There are few surprises there: The vast majority of people don’t believe the banks have done enough to “make up” for their role in the economic meltdown — and Americans think the best way for them to help is to lower credit card interest rates, simplify their paperwork requirements and, to a lesser extent, hold off on foreclosures until the economy improves. Notably, only the last bit has been part of a government program to aid Americans during the crisis, and only to a very limited (and often paperwork-choked) degree.
More interesting than the fact that nearly 80 percent of Americans polled are angry about bonuses at banks that got bailed out is the political breakdown, at least insofar as the economic crisis is the stated reason to undertake the financial reforms that Republicans are opposing. Participants were asked whether it was “fair” that the bailed-out companies have started making money again even as non-bailed-out Americans are struggling. About 47 percent called it unfair and 48 percent called it fair — but Republicans and Democrats hardly agreed.
Republicans call the outcome fair by 55-39 percent; Democrats call it unfair by a narrower 54-44 percent. (Independents split down the middle.)
http://washingtonindependent.com/80022/more-than-half-of-republicans-dont-believe-banks-are-to-blame-for-the-financial-crisisRepublicans Blame Blacks for Financial CrisisConservatives are looking for a scapegoat upon which to blame the failure of Wall Street; it's the fault of black people. Fox News is the biggest culprit.
By Ed Knudson
Update: The cable news shows have been constantly talking about Sarah Palin calling Wiliam Ayers a terrorist with close associations with Obama, and Acorn, which Republicans are accusing of voter fraud in its campaign to register new voters. The news coverage has been constant on this since Palin started the attacks.
But on October 14 in an interview with Rush Limbaugh Palin agrees with Rush that the major media, the "drive-by media" Rush calls it, are refusing to cover the story:
RUSH: This is an attempt by the media to make you stop being who you are. What it means is, they're really worried about the effectiveness that you have.
GOVERNOR PALIN: Well, yeah, I guess that message is they do want me to sit down and shut up. But that's not going to happen. I care too much about this great country. Now, yes, speaking of some of those associations -- and you're right; mainstream media is not holding Barack Obama accountable -- let's talk quickly about ACORN and the unconscionable situation that we're facing right now with voter fraud. And given the ties between Obama and ACORN and the money that his campaign has sent them and the job that he had with them in the past, Obama has a responsibility to rein in ACORN and prove that he's willing to fight voter fraud. We called him on it.
Acorn is an umbrella group of community organizations which work on the benefit of poor and black communities. To attack Acorn is to attack the idea of justice for black people. McCain in his debate called Acorn a threat to the future of democracy in this nation, a ridiculous charge. It represents the classic conservative effort to blame everything on the weakest members of society. Now a little voter registration is going to destroy democracy!
http://www.socialdems.com/page.asp?PID=1069Republicans Blame Minorities/CRA for Financial CrisisThe latest meme coming out of the right-wing is that the current financial crisis should be blamed on African American and Latino low-income home buyers, and/or on the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). That's right, they want to blame the victims of predatory lending as well as the law that was designed to prevent banks from practicing discrimination (by only making loans in wealthy neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining).
Both claims are patently false, and as we near election day and talk to our family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, it is important to know the facts about these two bogus claims.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/03/618604/-Republicans-Blame-Minorities-CRA-for-Financial-CrisisConservatives try to dodge responsibility for financial crisis by blaming poor people, minorities.In the aftermath of the financial crisis, conservative commentators have blamed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), low-income people, minorities, and past Democratic administrations for the sub-prime mortgage meltdown:
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/30/conservative-poor-blame/Did Poor People Cause the Global Economic Crisis, as Republicans Contend? No, Not if You Look at the Evidence.
posted January 20, 2011 - 11:17pm