(6 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
There has been a lot of talk about bipartisanship. I’m sure the notion has appeal to those tired of the bickering and lack of accomplishment that has characterized our government for lo these many years. Since republicans exist and are going nowhere, they deserve a seat at the table goes one popular argument. Some go so far as to suggest that both parties are equally deserving of the opportunity to govern. Aside from the fact that our party just trounced their party at the polls, there are many reasons to question what might be the just deserts of the Republican Party. It certainly, in my view, does not encompass any right whatsoever to govern. Hell, they don’t even believe in governance. That fact alone should forever disqualify them from any such opportunity.
Let us speak of false equivalencies. These are not two football teams, one roughly the equivalent of the other. No, there are dramatic qualitative differences. Republicans are not even the rough equivalent of democrats. When we compare them we’re comparing apples and zebras.
The Republicans have presided over the systematic looting and dismantling of America. They have caused more harm and done more damage than any enemy foreign or domestic in our entire history. All of their ridiculous, self-serving theories: trickle-down economics, tax cuts as panacea, drowning government in the bathtub, market deregulation and preemptive war have been shown for the worthless tripe that they are. And now we’re supposed to just forget all of that and deal with them as though they were responsible citizens? As if they could be trusted anywhere near the levers of power ever again?
Yeah, right.
One does not compromise with monsters or bargain with fools.
OPOL
These are people who have invaded sovereign nations without justification, stolen us all blind, tortured helpless prisoners and pissed all over the Constitution of the United States – all while pouring our nation’s treasure and the blood of her youth down the black hole of unnecessary and unjustified war. These aren’t people with slightly substandard ideas, these are people with horrible ideas. Virtually everything they have done over the past 8 years has been hateful, bigoted, selfish and anti-American in the extreme. They have all but destroyed this country.
We always knew that they represented Corporate America, the filthy rich, and the forces of discrimination, censorship, bigotry and avarice. We knew they were famous for `dirty tricks’ and criminal behavior (see Watergate and Iran/Contra). We knew they were heartless and uncaring toward the poor and needy. We knew they were the party of social Darwinism and a throwback to an unenlightened age when gay people were viewed as an abomination and women were regarded as chattel. We knew they wanted to impose their narrow, wrong-headed yet curiously self-righteous views on all the rest of us. We knew they represented intolerance, greed, selfishness, hatred and hubris writ large.
What we didn’t know was how complete was their contempt for the American ideals of equality, liberty and democracy.
OPOL
Do I want to see Obama reach across the aisle and work with Lindsey Graham or Phil Graham? No, I want to see him reach across the aisle and throttle the Grahams and their ilk.
Why is it that when republicans win, their ‘mandate’ makes democrats irrelevant but when democrats win we are obliged to share power with the knuckle-draggers? Why? And why would we want to? Do we really want to allow those intent on destroying our government to have an equal say in what happens therein? How does that make sense?
Haven’t these people done enough damage?
Have we not learned anything in these eight years?
Are we going to put Brownie back in charge of FEMA?
We should not enable these people. We should not accommodate these people. We should press our every advantage and help them to self-destruct. We needn’t help them survive. Nobody should. We’ll be better off without them.
The Republican Party deserves to die.
Peace out!
OPOL
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Bipartisanship right now is something like giving cops and robbers equal representation on a jury.
You know only some of the cops will rob you….
is that considered to be “reaching?”
RATAMA?
Bipartisan works when the other side has something constructive to contribute. At this time it is clear that the gop is interested in either the culture war or failed political policies. In either case Obama can patiently reject failed policies and cultural idiocy while continuing to emphasize that his job is the steer the country through a time of crises. The one created by those failed policies, which we are no longer interested in hearing about, thank you. A resounding STFU to the gop.
Salt the earth over the grave of the gop.
and it’s a big but. everything that has happened is also the responsibility of democrats. here’s harry reid talking about the financial market meltdown:
this is just one thing. a big thing. but just one. there’s iraq with a similar MO…
no. i don’t think the democrats are remotely like the democrats.
everybody’s crying about stupid Joe Lieberman not getting sliced and diced in the Senate and yet, Nancy will remain Speaker. and yet there was no real movement, at say dKos, to oust Pelosi to show the power of the netroots movement. nothing.
these people have either been complicit or sitting on their thumbs or too concerned about keeping their jobs they forgot to do their jobs (that’s a line from a movie but i don’t remember which one).
the only thing that grabs me in all this is our President elect. maybe he’s the only one who gets it. if he gets the most influential people around him and gets their loyalty, then maybe he will move us in a better direction. at least he’s saying things i want to hear.
yeah. but then, politicians are good at that.
still. i’ll hope that he’s for real.
of a not-so-bipartisan note from the The Wall Street Journal no less.
Sounds like he basically told these CEO’s to get on board or get left behind. I like it!!!!!
I posted this on ek’s news stream earlier, but it really deserves to be here as support to Opol’s premise. Thanks Opol for another great essay.
The Associated Press writes: (reprinted in Global Research)
here
Is it possible to manifest massive pressure enough to move these nice little boys and girls?
These Congress Critters have authorized and covered up war crimes and are therefore GUILTY of war crimes.
All of these must be held accountable, both the Bush perpetrators and the complicit Democrats.
whether or not the Obama administration is willing to reach across the aisle. They’ve lost credibilty with the American people that they can meet a minimum threshold for governing.
They can’t make moral or rational decisions about going to war.
They can’t win a war.
They can’t rescue their own citizens after a hurricane.
They can’t keep the banking system functioning.
They can’t stay within our moral boundaries when it come to torture.
They can’t treat non-white, non-Christian citizens with a minimally-acceptable level of respect.
They can’t provide us with health care.
They can’t be trusted to protect our environment.
They would have pissed away Social Security in the stock market if Bush had his way.
They can’t function as a national party and are relegated to the South.
(etc.)
The ball is in the Republicans’ court. They have to prove to Obama and the rest of the country that they deserve a chance to keep participating in government. They had their chance and didn’t just blow it, they nearly destroyed the moral, legal, and economic fabric of the country.
. . . provided that one of the parties is the corporate Democratic Party we have today, and the other one is the genuinely progressive party, to the left of the Democrats, that will emerge over the next few years, as the GOP withers away!
Thanks for throwing me a rope over at dailykos. It cost me my TU status, but it was worth it. Little posses are so little.
Don’t like the song???
https://www.docudharma.com/view…
NN
They expect unquestioning obedience when they’re in the majority, and they demand unquestioning equality and influence when they’re in the minority. As for making concessions, that’s a concept that only Democrats are (far too) willing to consider.