People on the winning side struggle to sound gracious and not overly smug, and people on the losing side struggle not to sound like a bunch of sad and bitter malcontents desperate to spin defeat into some sort of “longer term victory”. Pundits now bereft of a horse race to talk about, will go on and on for the next month about demographics, who should have done what and when. Was the VP pick a factor? Did Hurricane Sandy actually vote? Etc…etc.. ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
Yet I have been in the rather lonely chair that many of my more conservative friends now find themselves sitting in. On this day in 2004 many people felt much as the GOP feels today. The re-election of George W. Bush seemed like some sort of bad dream that we all wanted to wake up from as soon as we could. I imagine many Republicans are feeling something along those lines today. So I can empathize…. But I cannot sympathize.
I could with considerable glee, post the various and assorted head exploding freak outs that are currently happening in the right wing nut-o-sphere, but to be honest, I don’t’ care. I didn’t care what these lunatics thought before the election , and political schadenfreude aside, I still don’t care what they think. If you are really curious , or are just looking for a good chuckle, you can find most of that sort of thing – HERE
Obviously I am very happy with the results of last night. The decisive re-election of President Obama and the resounding defeat of a number of right wing/tea party buffoons, combined with impressive wins for Marriage Equality across the United States made for a very upbeat evening for people on my side of the political spectrum.
Obviously I am very happy with the results of last night. The decisive re-election of President Obama and the resounding defeat of a number of right wing/tea party buffoons, combined with impressive wins for Marriage Equality across the United States made for a very upbeat evening for people on my side of the political spectrum.
The republican Party ( and I use the lower case “r” deliberately here, ) has lost more than just a Presidential election. It has lost the Country.
The GOP has cast itself as the party of angry irrelevance. The Karl Rove play-book as seen its last election. Gone forever is the idea that you can win 50% plus 1 of the electorate if you just get enough middle aged underemployed white people angry enough about issues that have nothing to do with their lives.
The GOP has cast itself as the party of angry irrelevance. The Karl Rove play-book as seen its last election. Gone forever is the idea that you can win 50% plus 1 of the electorate if you just get enough middle aged underemployed white people angry enough about issues that have nothing to do with their lives.
So at the risk of joining the chorus of Monday Morning quarterbacks that are currently sifting through the debris of the gop, I will offer a view words of advice as to how the republican Party might, just climb out of the very deep, very dark, and very dank hole it has so enthusiastically dug for itself.
First the Economy - Trickle down economics does not work. It has never worked, and it will never work. Your bizarre insistence that it does, just makes you look either really stupid or really greedy, and like you hope the American Public isn't really paying attention. Let it go. Asking the top one percent to pay the same tax rates they did under Bill Clinton, (which by the way are still less than they were under Ronald Reagan) is not “class warfare”, it’s asking the those who have benefited the most from American Freedoms to give back in a fair measure.
That is called Patriotism.
Health Care - The United States of America is going to have some form of National Health Coverage for our Citizens. Every other western industrialised nation has one, it is not socialism it is not Nazism or Communism or any other number of -isms the Glen Becks and Michelle Bachmann’s of the world can spew without understanding what they mean. It is, common sense. It’s happening, and it is a good thing. It saves money, it improves health care, and it is the right and moral thing to do. Get over it.
Your mindless opposition to Universal Health Coverage just makes you look , (again) stupid and mean. You have staked your claim as the party of Economic Darwinism, - Survival of the Richest. This isn’t the late 19th Century and we are not living in a Dickens novel. The idea that Government is there to help poor people is not evil. But blind opposition to the idea, makes you look it.
Women’s Reproductive Rights - First of all , understand this; Nobody is “pro-Abortion”. Abortions are a dangerous painful and horribly invasive procedure that everyone hopes would never be needed. But sometimes they are. So they need to be safe, and they need to be legal. Your shrill cries that all abortions are just done as a convenient after-the-fact form of birth control is just plain idiotic.
The issue is about CHOICE. You claim to be for small government, but want the government to force a woman to have a child. You decry “Government getting between you and your Doctor” but DEMAND the government get between a woman and her OBGYN. You want to stop abortions? Great! Then support REAL sex education that tells young women and young men how to prevent unplanned or unwanted pregnancies
This actually leads us to a larger isuse. The gop's unnatural obsession with other people’s sex lives. . "|Abstenence Only" education doesnt work, the facts (remember those..?) prove it. It's time you accept fact that Birth Control is never going to be illegal, so stop your sad bitter attempts to make it so. Again, this is 2012 not 1912 , catch up.
Speaking of your Party’s obsession with sex; lets talk for a moment about LGBT rights. First, my marriage does not affect, threaten or attack yours or anyone else’s in any way, and your shrill cries that it does just make you look creepy and jealous. Like you are really mad that Gay and Lesbian couples have marriages that seem to be happier than yours. (Hello Maggie Gahallager.... ).
It’s here I will mention demographics. The overwhelming majority of people who will be voting in future elections DON’T CARE if “the Gays” get married.
You are truly standing on the rubbish heap of history on this one. You are sitting on the same stinking pile of hatred and ignorance as the racists and segregationists of the last century. It’s time to climb down from that ash heap and accept the fact that CIVIL Marriage is a civil right. For all Americans Gay or Straight.
Finally , Immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. Unless your family is 100% Native American, you are the product of immigration. Yes we need border enforcement, EVERYONE agrees on that. But we also need to accept the REALITY that we cannot round up and deport everyone who is here who didn’t come across the border with visa.
There as to be a path to legitimacy for these hundreds of thousands of people living here, working here, and paying taxes here. Your mindless opposition to the Dream Act just makes you look petty and racist. Get over it.
The time when the republican Party could win the White House by defining as "American" only those people who conform to a particular limited , fearful view of the world is over.
The time has come to abandon this failed legacy of "fifty percent plus one." Gone is the time when the key to victory was to divide people as much as you can, then prevent any who oppose you from having equal access to the political process. (Be they people of color, people who don't speak English, or people who are not Conservative Evangelical Heterosexuals. That time is over, last night proved it.
It’s time to join the rest of America on the road Forward. Or be forever left behind. It is time for the republican Party to leave the bubble of delusion and denial they have been living in and join the rest of us in the real world....
Think about it, won’t you ?
In the meantime, the last word on the 2012 Election goes to Rachel....
That is called Patriotism.
Your mindless opposition to Universal Health Coverage just makes you look , (again) stupid and mean. You have staked your claim as the party of Economic Darwinism, - Survival of the Richest. This isn’t the late 19th Century and we are not living in a Dickens novel. The idea that Government is there to help poor people is not evil. But blind opposition to the idea, makes you look it.
The issue is about CHOICE. You claim to be for small government, but want the government to force a woman to have a child. You decry “Government getting between you and your Doctor” but DEMAND the government get between a woman and her OBGYN. You want to stop abortions? Great! Then support REAL sex education that tells young women and young men how to prevent unplanned or unwanted pregnancies
This actually leads us to a larger isuse. The gop's unnatural obsession with other people’s sex lives. . "|Abstenence Only" education doesnt work, the facts (remember those..?) prove it. It's time you accept fact that Birth Control is never going to be illegal, so stop your sad bitter attempts to make it so. Again, this is 2012 not 1912 , catch up.
It’s here I will mention demographics. The overwhelming majority of people who will be voting in future elections DON’T CARE if “the Gays” get married.
You are truly standing on the rubbish heap of history on this one. You are sitting on the same stinking pile of hatred and ignorance as the racists and segregationists of the last century. It’s time to climb down from that ash heap and accept the fact that CIVIL Marriage is a civil right. For all Americans Gay or Straight.
There as to be a path to legitimacy for these hundreds of thousands of people living here, working here, and paying taxes here. Your mindless opposition to the Dream Act just makes you look petty and racist. Get over it.
The time when the republican Party could win the White House by defining as "American" only those people who conform to a particular limited , fearful view of the world is over.
The time has come to abandon this failed legacy of "fifty percent plus one." Gone is the time when the key to victory was to divide people as much as you can, then prevent any who oppose you from having equal access to the political process. (Be they people of color, people who don't speak English, or people who are not Conservative Evangelical Heterosexuals. That time is over, last night proved it.
It’s time to join the rest of America on the road Forward. Or be forever left behind. It is time for the republican Party to leave the bubble of delusion and denial they have been living in and join the rest of us in the real world....
Think about it, won’t you ?
In the meantime, the last word on the 2012 Election goes to Rachel....
1 comment:
You have listed all the reasons the republicans lost, lost, lost. These tea partiers are completely crazed humans yelling about being strict constitutionalist, and then claiming what they want the country to look like is ACTUALLY what the framers had in mind, but they just forgot to write it down, or thats what they really meant, etc.......
This was a well thought out, well written post, a joy to read, but then yours always are!
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