Here is the thing…
Republican’s like Dave and Rick Jensen (let me throw in Rick too because Smitty is having too much fun pretending to not know what I am talking about) got everything they ever wanted from Bush. They were riding high and giving high fives around Baltimore with Tom Delay and life is sweet when you are writing billions of dollars in bad checks and shoving cash in each other’s pockets.
Only, everything they wanted completely fucked the country (and the world). Now they act like guys who burned down their house and the very next day they wake up in a hotel room with amnesia and start saying shit like, “What we need around here are some oil soaked rags and maybe some open containers of gasoline.”
It isn’t amnesia thought. It is calculated. Republicans like Dave and Rick Jensen are already thinking about the next election, because it is always about the election with these guys and never about the country. Their dog whistle rants are still 100% wrong, but they are mother’s milk to the nit wit Republicans who listen to talk radio.
You think I’m being harsh? Well, here is a reality check. In his rant Dave takes his usual “Wah…my taxes are too high..” tact and throws in GOP chestnut, “The government is too big and full of cronies…Wah!
Sounds good right? Reasonable. Except guess how many times Dave called out Nancy Wagner for putting her goofball husband in a cushy state job? Exactly zero times once in a “cover your ass” effort ginned up by the GOP. Never on his blog.
Republicans like Dave don’t give a shit about fixing anything, they care about creating election year issues. it is all a game to them and they play their part, so sleazy scum like Charlie Copeland can lie in wait and beat the same drum on the campaign trail.
“Except guess how many times Dave called out Nancy Wagner for putting her goofball husband in a cushy state job? Exactly zero times.”
MAN, you’re having a bad day.
Not really. You were a real hero signing that letter though. How many times did you call out Lofink?
I think what pisses you off the most is that I’ve taken real stands that achieved real results (HB4, transparency), including those that were not in my best interests (HB177, Atkins)…and all you’ve done is take your shirt off.
Not exactly a fair assessment, since you and others are calling for a doubling down on the ideology, rather than think about how the country got to this place and how this ideology contributed to it. Claiming that Bush wasn’t a real conservative is pretty weak tea when from 2001 to 2006 repubs were running the board and implementing conservative policy right and left.
And — in stead of working on ways to fix the economy in the middle of this crisis, Bush is burning the midnight oil still trying to implement conservative policy that he couldn’t in the light of day.
That’s it. That and I’m mad I don’t have an internet radio station that I can blabber on nonsensically on like you.
Ahhh, an adult.
Who exactly is calling for anything at this time? I’ve said on the radio many times that I’m open to this idea of a severe, sustained stimulus, even if it goes against my natural inclination for limited spending.
And what the Republicans did from 01-06 was not conservatism, it was vote-buying. Conservatism would have cut taxes and cut spending more, continuing to pay off the debt.
“Bush is burning the midnight oil still trying to implement conservative policy that he couldn’t in the light of day.”
If you’re talking about the last-minute regulations, I’m opposed. If you’re talking about the bailout, I’m opposed. So where do I fit in here?
“That’s it. That and I’m mad I don’t have an internet radio station that I can blabber on nonsensically on like you.”
Nope. You had that opportunity and you passed. So it couldn’t be that.
So, conservatives are even incompetent with vote buying? Spreading money around won’t make up for their complete failure of governance.
And what the Republicans did from 01-06 was not conservatism, it was vote-buying.
They bought your vote for a song Dave. Like I said before, shameless.
Opportunities here, Jason!! My door is always open to Jason Scott on my program. Can’t I be considered a sympathetic voice?
“So, conservatives are even incompetent with vote buying? Spreading money around won’t make up for their complete failure of governance.”
And that’s why they’re out of office. Vote-buying is done better by the other side.
“They bought your vote for a song Dave.”
Actually, I voted for Mike Castle, Jan Ting and Ray Clatworthy, all honorable men who I supported free of charge.
Vote-buying is done better by the other side.
And this bit of glibness let’s us see the problem. If the repubs were doing vote buying it was of their wealthy friends and business interests. Why were they doing that? Because that is the crux of the ideology. Tax cuts for the wealthiest and for businesses because some nutjob back in the day said that this creates economic energy and wealth. Which the people pushing this bit of craziness, but did get alot of folks to believe in spite of no data or evidence for it. The little regulation, deficits-don’t-matter, tax cuts for my buddies, and an expensive war that funnels funds to our donors IS the republican ideology. They’ve suckered in a bunch of folks to think that small or limited government is part of the deal — but that was always a lie.
If you spend any time in DC, what you know is that the buildings off of the DC Beltway from the Wilson Bridge to the Vietnam Memorial Bridge on the Virginia side is the reason why small or limited government won’t happen. No one — R or D — will dismantle that network and live with the political problem of being a “job killer”.
The Rs were buying votes — they just could no longer convince enough of those not in on the largesse to keep voting for them. Plus the Rs were giant fuckups in pretty mush every aspect of governing. You can want all of the small government you can create, but there is no reason not to respect and run well what is already there. And that is why they are out — it is clear that not only the ideology is really discredited, but its elected adherents just couldn’t wrap their minds around that. So now you want to say that it wasn’t really Conservatism, when every bit of your Party was crowing that this was the real deal and voting by decisive blocks for damn near everything that BushCo asked for. But now, it isn’t Conservatism.
And even Reagan backtracked on the ideology when he needed to.
And people who have been voted pretty decisively out of office can ill afford to continue to treat voters as though they were idiots.
“If the repubs were doing vote buying it was of their wealthy friends and business interests. ”
Part D?
NCLB?
Which wealthy friends and business interests were those for?
Jason,
You’ve just gone off the rails with this stuff. Please see a therapist, seriously. I’m a nobody, but I am worried about your mental state with this obsession – it’s gone way beyond legitimate political criticism.
LG, DD and the rest of the sane people here – I’ve been a several-times-a-day visitor to DL, because you guys do some damn good stuff. If this is going to be what DL is like in the future, forget it, I’m not coming back.
Somebody please do an intervention with Jason before he really goes nuts. Doesn’t DV know a good therapist?
“Tax cuts for the wealthiest and for businesses”
Our business tax rate is the second-highest in the world, and the top tax rate is higher now than it was from 1987 to 1992. (The bottom rate is lower than it’s been since 1940.)
I’m not going to respond to the rest, because I’m too burned out to hit that many points.
I will say this, though. I have great respect for your opinion and intellect.
heyanonynonny,
Please note that Dave could only find one minor error in my post.
Dave only pointed out one error in your post. I figure people could see the other errors for themselves. They’re not hard to spot.
Part D was for the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Dave,
I’m pretty sure that even you agree with me at this point, but are thinking you need to keep protesting out of misplaced pride.
Only a fool could think that trickle down economics has worked. Only a fool can think that George Bush has not added to the overall amount of misery in the world.
You are no fool, so I hope you are enjoying whatever short term gains you are enjoying by playing your role in the farce you have attached yourself to.
Whatever works for you, man. Just stop whatever it is you think you’re doing, so I can stop having this conversation, which I’ve had by phone, email & text today about 25 times:
“Dude, what’d you do to Jason? Did you run over his dog?”
“No. He’s serious, I think.”
“There’s no way he’s serious. Come on, man. What’d you do?”
“I’m not kidding. He’s serious.”
“Then he’s bat-shit crazy.”
So, I’d rather not keep having that conversation, if it’s all the same to you.
That Randy . What a scamp!
LG, DD and the rest of the sane people here – I’ve been a several-times-a-day visitor to DL, because you guys do some damn good stuff. If this is going to be what DL is like in the future, forget it, I’m not coming back.
*
WHAAAAAAA
Emotional blackmail is all you got?
Burris is an animataton for the GOPer head talking point. Don’t [fake]worry yourself that he isn’t armored up to take some direct hits.
Part D was for the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
*
totally
and NCLB is a verge-disaster for not having been funded and having been punishing-oriented in districts where funding/socio-econ realities are a likely root cause of the failings.
Come on — this is part of the problem. No one is supposed to notice how the looting happens, right?
Part D — a gift to pharmaceuticals since the biggest buyer of drugs on the planet is forbidden to negotiate a most favored rate on those drugs.
NCLB — a gift to the testing industry, and a gift to the supplemental education industry and a waystation to handing over education to private industry. It has the added bonus of unfunded mandates, which is a particular problem now for local governments funding education.
Business Taxes — oy. The statutory rate may certainly be high, but the actual rate paid is certainly much lower due to the massive number of tax breaks provided to businesses. Like various depreciation and expensing schemes to industry subsidies to specific tax exemptions to loan or asset guarantees — American businesses don’t pay the statutory rates by any stretch of the imagination. So have on about the high rates if you like, but don’t think that we don’t know that the government has created a massive tax infrastructure designed to make sure that most US businesses never see the statutory rate.
This kind of looting is a feature of the conservative ideology — it is supposed to provide funds to the wealthy and business owner who is supposed to “trickle down” benefits to the rest of the economy. Which didn’t happen particularly efficiently, as we can see. And as we can see, has not only crashed our own economy, but lots of other countries’ economies too.
Out of all of the Part D was probably the surprise — this was the buying of votes part, and more, the part of governing that was supposed to look like Republicans can also contribute to the safety net. The program is a mess (help someone who is taking meds pick a program once.), it is expensive (by design) and added to the entitlement without finding a way to pay for it. The thing that makes it a conservative policy is the guarantee that the program pays a higher than necessary price for the drugs.
This is part of what is disheartening about this conversation (and watching some similar ones repubs are having among themselves) is that deciding that GWB wasn’t all that conservative after all (after the cheerleading) and now what is needed is greater purity towards the original goals. A hard-headed instance on more purity instead of some analysis of what was done that got us here — it is, after all, how GWB would handle the problem if he had to, right?
Hey Jason, which party has been running this state for the last 16 years? How has that been working out again?
Nancy,
It’s not because he’s slamming Dave, but rather because he’s doing so without providing specific examples, by lumping Dave in with the rest of the GOP and by resorting to ad hominem attacks.
That Randy . What a scamp!
Scamp, yes, but it was not me that had a conversation. I’m just shocked that someone else besides me even cared enough!
Republican’s like Dave and Rick Jensen (let me throw in Rick too because Smitty is having too much fun pretending to not know what I am talking about)…
Well, NOW that you put it in context with Jensen’s name, I am totally on board!
Dave – you freaking anti-christ! 👿
😛
I’m glad to be the one who removed the scales from your eyes.
‘by lumping Dave in with the rest of the GOP and by resorting to ad hominem attacks.’
If you’re a regular reader of DL, that shouldn’t come as a shock.
It’s funny, but my take on Dave’s spout-ation, was that he still lives in an old world order….
From his rant it’s clear that he doesn’t understand it was his party’s policies that destroyed the world as we knew it…. forever.
It is one thing to be absolutely right on all issues and lose the White House, as happened to us in 2004 by a squeaker (it was stolen in Ohio). But it is another thing altogether to be absolutely wrong on every issue; to lose the election electorally by 365 to 173; to be voted into irrelevancy in all the House, in the Senate, in state houses and senates, because your philosophy was tried…. and failed miserably… Not only did it fail… but it FAILED. Not only did it FAIL, but it may (jury is still out) have ruined our nation forever… It certainly set us back from where we would have been had Gore got more…..
Today looking back, it is almost impossible to imagine awed world-wide respect; a balanced budget; new expenses not voted upon unless there was money in place to pay for it;… a competently rebuilt New Orleans, just 3 years after;… disposable income that increased over the past 8 years instead of dropping sequentially; lowered insurance, energy, pharmaceutical prices, giving margins in a family’s expense which could then be spent on goods and services, boosting the economy even more. A zero deficit instead of one approaching 17 Trillion dollars!
I can’t remember who first uttered it… But the line was classic… Post election, Republicans have been reduced to the bitter party of old white men, capable of nothing but the calling of a press conference to rant about how angry they are. As for fixing things?…. they are worthless…
I have yet to hear a better crystallization than that of just where Republicans are right now… Those still speaking out loud, are like the obligatory septuagenarian who stands up at the quarterly town meeting and rails about each new crack in his sidewalk.
So rant your life away…old man…
Whereas you may not see it… the rest of us have all noticed…. life has past you by.
Your party had its chance….it FAILED!
🙂
“Your party had its chance….it FAILED!”
As did yours, last time it had as much power.
One of my biggest problems with (certain) Republicans is their ability to cherry pick, or dismiss, certain facts. When discussing the Iraq War you’ll often hear Republicans say, “Stop arguing over how we got here, what are you going to do about the situation now?” Infuriating – and a complete dismissal of learning from our mistakes while thrusting responsibility on everyone else. The economy equals it’s not our fault, look at the Dems. But then when it comes to terrorism… well, then it’s “We haven’t been attacked since 9/11!”
This mindset of taking total credit for the positive while blaming others for the failures is what drives me nuts. Add to that the darling of the Republican Party – George W. Bush – is suddenly not a “real” conservative and I want to scream.
And Dave… are the failures really comparable?
Dave,
Those Clinton years of peace and prosperity were heartbreaking. I wonder how we got through them.
“I wonder how we got through them.”
With a Republican Congress, that’s how. And a President who was wise enough not to govern from the left.
Hilarious.
Now I know you are pulling my leg.
it’s funny watching the left get in a lather after winning.
love the part about pretending that every republican supports and aplauds everything any republican ever did.