Never underestimate the power of denial…in fact, if the Tea Party had a super power, it would be invulnerability…of their denial.
Just as Republicans insisted that the 2012 polls were all wrong and Mitt Romney would win by a landslide, Republicans today are blindly and overwhelmingly confident that the Democrats and Obama will bend to their will and agree to delaying and permanently crippling Obamacare…as well as supporting their war on women and denying women the right to contraception and abortion through their insurance plans.
Yes, it’s crazy and completely out of touch with reality…welcome to the 2013 GOP!
Before going any further, keep in mind that this Continuing Resolution on the budget which Republicans are using to try and extort these extreme demands only funds the budget for less than three months…and then the Republicans get to do this all over again with more extremist demands. Ain’t that just the bestest incentive for Obama to give in on outrageous demands this time around?
Of course it’s unimaginable for the Dems or Pres. Obama to go along with any Republican demands in this situation because it set a horrible and disastrous precedent, it would lead to a never ending slippery slope. If the Republicans, who are de facto the minority party right now, controlling only one of three governing branches of our government, were successful in getting what they wanted through extortion instead of through negotiation and compromise, our democracy would deteriorate into a regime having more in common with organized crime than national governments.
But this obvious, anti-democratic and anti-American thinking doesn’t appear as such to those high on Republican Molly…aka Smoking Tea.
The Tea Party Republicans are especially sealed so tightly in their delusions that nothing can penetrate, not the history of the GOP’s downfall after Newt Gingrich shut down government in the 1990s, not the many polls showing how Americans will hold them hugely responsible for the damage that follows a shutdown, not the urgings of their fellow Republicans who are trying to avert this train wreck.
In the minds of the Tea Party Republicans, they can drive their train right into a mountain, smash right through it and come out the other side because they saw it once in a cartoon.
And…that’s a good thing.
Why?
Because everyone else knows how this all ends, the GOP train they’ve commandeered will continue to steam right toward the mountain and instead of smashing a hole through the mountain, it will crash into it, pile up and derail them and their party.
And that is what looks to be what really needs to happen at this point. They have to have the opportunity to show they have no regard for the well being of the nation so that everyone can see them for who they are…and throw them out of power.
What’s fascinating in the latest Gallup poll, which does show support for the Tea Party at a near record low of 22% (21% is the record low for them), is how many people say they don’t have an opinion one way or another about the Tea Party. That’s right, 55% of people polled said they didn’t have an opinion one way or the other about the Tea Party.
What does that mean when it comes to a Tea Party-caused government shutdown? Well, since one would have to be a low information citizen to have no opinion on the Tea Party, when the pain and disaster that grows from a government shutdown starts affecting those people and they finally turn to the media to find out why and who’s behind it, it’s not that hard to guess which side of the fence they will end up on.
But you can’t convince evangelical Tea Partiers of such things. These are the same delusionals who think that by having lots of guns, they could take on the entire U.S. Military to “protect America”. They are faith-based, they don’t need no stinkin’ facts or history to be on their side, if they wish hard enough, the ghost of Ayn Rand will rise from her grave and after taking food out of the mouths of poor children, will grant them their wish.
The GOP is proving itself to be an undeniably extremist and destructive party and shutting down the government will be the culmination. This will expose them for who they’ve been since Obama won the Presidency in 2008. Amazingly, they think their shutting down government will put Obama in a vise to do what they want, they are too blind to see that they will instead be seen as dangerous, uncaring people who are putting all of America in a vise to get what they want.
It is only a matter of time before the Republicans are forced to fold their tea bags due to massing public outrage. As much as they may have demonized the term “Obamacare”, most Americans are not up in arms about it, let alone in favor of having the government shutdown as a way to extort Obama and the Dems into killing it. Only that narrow minority of voters, Tea Partiers, agree with these Republicans that the American village has to be destroyed to save it from Obamacare.
And feeling forced to follow the nutjobs out of fear of being primaried, the rest of Republicans who aren’t loony are jumping aboard The Nutjob Express and out of desperation, are trying to convince themselves that this just might work because since they’ve locked themselves into this, they need to believe it.
They will all be quite shocked by reality…since ignoring reality is a key requirement of being a Republican nowadays.
Another key reason why this is a good thing is that the disasters that follow shutting down the government are small compared to what refusing to raise the debt ceiling would bring about. If the Tea Party is rudely awakened to their delusions about America embracing their harming our economy and nation as well as Obama’s folding to their demands on the CR for the budget, it could be just what’s needed to prevent them from doing the same sabotage of America’s and the world’s economies by refusing to raise the debt ceiling.
What is pathetic is John Boehner’s total collapse as Speaker of the House, as a veteran politician and as a man. Doing a 180 from this Summer when Boehner assured the media that the GOP had learned its lesson and won’t shutdown the government or refuse to raise the debt ceiling, Boehner looks like a hollow marionette whose strings are pulled by the craziest whackadoo’s in his party. That is flat out humiliating.
Boehner was faced with the prospect of losing his integrity and wounding the GOP for decades or watching the GOP lemmings excitedly scramble over the cliff without him out in front of them. He of course chose to run to the front of the suicidal march so at least he would be seen as leading them.
It’s important that Boehner, the Kochs, the Tea Party folks and the rest of the spineless Republicans be given enough rope to hang themselves, even if it hurts many in the process. Millions more would be hurt and more severely if they continued to retain power for many years into the future (thanks to those low info voters out there who still have no opinion on or awareness right now of Tea Partiers using extortion as a preferred method of legislation).
It is unfortunate that there aren’t more Americans who see it as a duty of being a citizen that they educate themselves regularly on who is doing what in our democracy so maybe going through the difficulties we seem to be heading towards wouldn’t have to happen. It’s also disappointing that in this day and age, gerrymandering isn’t against the law for being the blatant denial of democracy that it is since that is a key way that this extremist minority possesses a disproportionate amount of power and is in this position of being able to demand an extortion payment for not breaking America’s legs.
As a nation, we rarely learn the easy way, we usually choose to learn the hard way. Thankfully, the Tea Party and Republicans are more than happy to oblige.
If history and precedent are any indicators, this could be the beginning of the end for the Tea Party and the GOP in being seen as legitimate and acceptable governing entities. This outcome has always been inevitable, the American public is not comfortable with radicals or anarchists, especially those who threaten their healthcare and secure retirement. This reckoning had to happen eventually but it sure does seem like it’s about to play out over the next month.
It won’t be the end of denial, racism, hatred or conspiracy theories for the GOP, just possibly the end of them as a major national party for a while but at least they’ll have lots of time to figure out ways to deny that it’s even happened and that they had anything to do with it.
Hi, Adlib!
I 100 percent concur with your posting. Only one little amendment:
It’s not one irresponsible, childish, bullyish, egoistic, corrupt party fighting another, responsible, adult, empathic, altruistic, honest party in Washington actually – it’s TWO irresponsible, childish, bullyish, egoistic, corrupt parties fighting each other over their share of the loot they are extracting from the american people.
Obamacare sure is a small, hope-inducing step in the right direction by the Democrats. But what, if this one, small step in the right direction is counteracted by dozends of steps the Democrats have taken in the WRONG direction in many other areas of domestic and foreign politics over the past 5 1/2 years?
In the end, the difference between Republicans and Democrats appears marginal to me. These two parties only seem to exist to drive a wedge between people, to efficiently hinder them from rallying together for the really important causes.
For proof, you only have to look, how the governments of red and blue states have treated the Occupy-movement, when it became obvious, that Occupy was gaining traction among the population and was about to become a real threat to the ruling two-party structure: The peaceful and perfectly legal Occupy-movement was quelled with force, outlawed and criminalized, disregarding the party which was ruling the respective state, until it was finally marginalized again.
Because, when it’s about defending their feeding troughs from new, aspiring eaters, Republicans and Democrats will always act like they are from the same, sorry breed – which, in fact, they are.
Hey Mogamboguru, nice to see you!
I do think there are huge differences between the GOP and the Dems even though both are pretty subservient to Wall Street and the wealthy.
Among the differences is that 100% of the GOP represent the wealthy and banks. 100% of them support tax cuts and oppose tax increases on the wealthy, 100% of them oppose government working successfully and helping Americans, a majority of them support shutting down the government and even defaulting on our debt, causing massive economic destruction, in order to extort the nation to prevent 30 million Americans from getting health care. They want to control women’s bodies using laws, they pass laws designed to prevent Americans from voting and to criminalize being Latino.
Dems and Obama supported and passed raising taxes on the wealthy, they passed the ACA which provides virtually universal health care for Americans (while Repub Governors prevent the poor in their states from having insurance), they passed financial reforms including a Consumer Protection Board, they passed a stimulus package that made a huge difference in stemming The Great Recession, they ended DADT and DOMA, they passed the Lilly Ledbetter law to help protect women in the workplace, they fight against Republicans to protect the rights of women to contraception and abortion…I could go on and on.
I too was very upset at how there seemed to be little difference between Dem and Repub Mayors and Governors in attacking and oppressing OWS, on that count, we agree. There’s no question either at how both parties are beholden to the NRA and dominated by Wall Street. But there are many in the Democratic Party who stand up against those special interets while there aren’t in the Republican Party. There’s Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, on and on.
I don’t see how all other important issues on which the Dems and Repubs are very opposed can be put aside because on some issues, they are both aligned with the wealthy and powerful.
I agree that the Dems do not always support the people over the elite but they do in many cases while the Republicans never do.
When it comes to protecting the rights of minorities, protecting vital social programs and safety nets including Social Security and Medicare, abortion and women’s rights, the environment, rebuilding infrastructure, helping the poor and making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes, there are massive differences between the Democrats and Republicans.
From what we’re seeing now with the Tea Party dominated GOP, the political terrorism, the nihilism, the racism, the chauvinism, the lack of empathy and actually spite for the poor and most Americans and a belief that Americans should not be protected in any way by government and be fully abandoned to the tyranny of the wealthy, it is very scary indeed to imagine what country this would be if Republicans controlled all branches of government.
The Democratic Party is far from perfect and they don’t always put the people first but they do in many cases and that is a huge difference between them and the GOP.
Boehner’s latest stunt is really shady. “Let’s go to conference.” At 11:15 p.m.
This is comparable to a spouse in a broken marriage who has adamantly refused marriage counselling all year. Then, less than an hour before the judge is about to sign the final divorce decree, he suddenly says: “Let’s go to counselling.” When the answer is predictably no, he then feels free to say: “See! She refused to even go to marriage counselling when I wanted to! Look how mean and unreasonable she is! She refuses to negotiate with me!”
Kes, you’re right that this is merely a PR gimmick for Repubs to spin during this disaster they’ve caused and looking towards 2014. “We were the reasonable ones! All we did was suggest that 30 million people should be prevented from having health insurance, they refused to negotiate, we would have agreed to ruining the lives of only 15 million Americans but they wouldn’t even try to work with us!”
The delusion of the Repubs, as I mentioned in my post, is wholly invulnerable to reality. They truly believe that somehow they will get Obama and the Dems to give in and destroy their historic health care reform law if they threaten the safety of enough Americans.
Though many Americans still seem uninformed about what’s really going on, just as in the 1990’s, as the shutdown makes things worse and worse, most fingers will turn to point at the Reublicans and Tea Party as the guilty parties and the dislike of them and pressure put on them will be irresistible.
We’ll just have to wait this one out and let Boehner and his Baggers self-destruct over the next few weeks.
It sure has been a long time coming and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving set of deluded sociopaths.
Il carnivale e finito! 😆
Guess all the Baggers will get into a tiny clown car in 2014 as they drive away from DC?
These nutters should be arrested for treason for willfully causing harm to America and it’s citizens. They are the scum of the earth. This impacts the rest of the world too.
Where are the demos?
—-
Shutdown looms after House approves another delay in Obamacare
http://m.washingtonpost.com/politics/washington-braces-for-the-first-shutdown-of-the-national-government-in-17-years/2013/09/30/977ebca2-29bd-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html
And now, Kalima, at literally the eleventh hour, the GOP wants to “go to conference.”
There’s an interesting debate going on right now between Jeff Sessions and Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings over this. At one point Hastings asked Sessions a question and Sessions (R) said: “Well I can’t honestly answer that.” Alcee Hastings (D) said: “Well answer it dishonestly, then.”
Hastings then added: “I said sometime back that I thought you all had lost your collective minds. Now I can say I know it. This call to conference is nothing more than mere theater of the absurd!”
I love Alcee Hastings! 😀
Couldn’t agree with you more, Kalima.
The polls are all against the Repubs, the Dems are united against this extortion and things can only get worse for the Repubs as the impact of their sabotage hits more and more people.
Ad, Congress is being hijacked by a small group of extremists. Those extremists should be jailed for treason !
Just to back up my claim that the TP is treasonous.
Treason
noun
1.
the offense of acting to overthrow one’s government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2.
a violation of allegiance to one’s sovereign or to one’s state.
3.
the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.
According to the Constitution treason is this.
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
I believe because we are still at WAR the TP faction of the Republican Party is treasonous. They are giving aid and comfort to AQ , our enemy. They have done what AQ has tried to do all along , hurt our economy and disrupt our government.
The definition according to the dictionary and the Constitution differs but what the Tea Party has done fits both definitions.
Each of the people who are disrupting our government should be arrested for treason.
Good comment Nirek. I have been saying for quite some time now that the GOPTP’s goal was to see our president fail. I have said that their proclamation and actions against our president border on treason. Their continued grid locking of congress does not serve we the people. They are clearly far more concerned with party first, and country second.
It kills me when these a holes say they hate government, yet they are members of the government they supposedly hate, and are enjoying
large salaries and free “government,” healthcare, and other benefits that the government they hate affords them.
Kalima, you are exactly correct. There action is giving the enemies of the U.S.A. comfort and happiness. All the while hurting Americans. That is the definition of treason.
Yes Nirek, these domestic terrorists have managed to do what Bin Laden could not, sabotage the country’s economy out of hate and ignorance. They hate the country and it’s citizens as much as the extremist Islamists do. Heck yes they should have been arrested, they are not politicians, they are an embarrassment to all America stands for, and it’s all for nothing. Today the President’s ACA starts for millions of Americans, and I couldn’t feel prouder if I had actually been born over there.
Congratulations Mr. President and Bravo to the Dems who stuck with their principles without letting those cockroaches contaminate the values of people who genuinely care about the welfare of others.
These freaks might have shut down the government like the arse wipes they are, but they broke no one’s spirit in pursuit of a better America for everyone. It’s a good day despite the GOPTP’s insanity.
As always, a wonderful analysis of the situation, AdLib.
I have the same feeling: the Teabillies and the people who voted for them apparently are not going to get it until they get it. They are going to have to personally feel the pain. That seems to be how it works with people who lack empathy.
In the immortal words of Pope Francis (when he saw the wardrobe of the previous pope that was offered for possible use by himself) — as far as the Tea Party is concerned: Il carnivale e finito.
The closest phrase in English would be: The party’s over.
Kes, I think you are absolutely right, it will take the Baggers losing WIC, Head Start, getting hammered by the economic impact of the government not buying products from corporations, local economies being hit hard by national parks and monuments being shut down, etc.
The CNBC poll I saw tonight shows 19% of Americans approving of a government shutdown to force an end to Obamacare while 59% oppose it.
So. it will be just a matter of time until the pressure becomes too huge for the Republicans to maintain their extortion. Could be weeks though, just hope Obama and the Dems in the Senate keep their resolve and let the Baggers lose this one completely (anything they can brag about as a concession or victory will only bring about more shutdowns).
Absolutely, AdLib. This has been a long-festering, infected wound that has to be lanced and cleaned out completely before the healing can begin. Yes, that’s going to hurt, but that seems to be the only course of treatment left.
As a medical professional, you have provided the perfect prognosis, Kes!
As I’ve noted before, unfortunately the American public has trouble looking ahead and making decisions ahead of time that prevent bad things happening, they need to suffer to demand changes. In this case, that looks to be exactly what’s going to happen.
The thing is, the majority of Repubs will be caught in a crossfire, between the American people who are really angry and the Baggers whose gerrymandered constituency are cheering them on to destroy more of America.
I think The House is now absolutely in play for Dems in 2014 despite the gerrymandering. There are not many seats they could grab but if they swept those, they could take the House back and the Baggers are providing all the arguments they’ll need to make a great case for turning them out.
Reid’s giving a good speech now at midnight. He is totally disgusted. They’re about to adjourn now. And they’ll resume in the morning.
Now it’s game on, it seems.
Yes, I was watching him. I think this is the ultimate fight for Reid and Obama. Their self-avowed enemy is the one at the disadvantage, as their extortion plan goes sour, Obama, Reid and the Dems will end up with a major defeat of their enemies and possibly a 2014 take back of The House.
It is awful that this game has to be played out in a way that hurts millions of people but this isn’t Obama’s or Reid’s doing, they didn’t start this but they look to be prepared to finish it.
And all they have to do to come out as victors is to stand on principle while the ground beneath the Repubs’ feet dissolves away.
It’s not often you get the chance to defeat a truly evil entity, hope Obama, Reid and the Dems appreciate that as fully as they should.
Boehner is an ineffective Speaker and his caucus is incompetent.
But, most of them are from safe seats. It will take a powerful GOTV effort and a large swing to the Democrats.
Defeating the apathy will take a major effort.
agrippa, there’s a 10% approval rating for Congress, I have a feeling that winning back the House might not be as much of an uphill struggle as it might have been before. GOTV will indeed be the key for Dems to take it back.
Agrippa, a major effort is correct. And, memories fade with those that didn’t feel it personally or did and it just makes them hate the government more. And, the guy in the White House gets the blame with them. The loudest get a lot of attention, right or wrong. They have a lot of loud mouths! I hope the Democrats can win more seats but didn’t they win more votes but with the gerrymandering they didn’t win? Lots needs to change.
Sally, the Dems did win back seats in 2012 in The House though as you say, far less than they should have given the gerrymandering. The estimate is that there are indeed enough seats that could be won by Dems to give them control of the House in 2014. As you and agrippa mentioned, it will take a huge effort to do so but this latest extortionist plot by the GOP will energize many Dems to GOTV and save the nation from these terrorists.
https://youtu.be/9zPOT8Z3UlM
PERFECT!!! Harry Reid just handed the House a clean CR. Now the ball – spiked to him by Harry – is in Boehner’s court. He has to pretend that there is some reason why he cannot pass this. Every other effort has been to maneuver something out of what is already the law of the land. Now he has the instrument to do what the House must, and internal polling of even the GOP is to join with Dems and pass it.
Will Boenher cave to the extremists and shut down the government or will he pass a clean CR?
We shall see which side he is on. I just hope he remembers that “NO NO NO” is NOT a policy position.
PERFECT song, Sue!
Adlib
I agree with most of what you say here but I keep going back to 2010. Just two short years after the biggest crash since the depression that Republicans prsided over, bam, they were given the majority in the house. From emo progs to tea billies they voted this scum back into office. I am really fearful that a populace who thinks FB should only be for mindless drivel will even get the full scope of what is going on here.
I hope, as in the 90’s, that it goes they way we think it will, but I am not so sure people are really going to grasp the situation unless they are directly affected. I saw on AJA interviews of people regarding the ACA and one guy asked how come he had never heard of it? Allowing that he is probably a fox bot or just plain uninformed there are probably many more like him.
Hey Sue, I think what happened in 2010 was a unique confluence of things that can’t really happen again, especially not in 2014.
We had the first black President in office for not even two years and many people were unsure about him for that reason alone. We had the PTSD from the crash that had happened the year before and the continuing shock as more and more people suffered joblessness and losing their homes. We had the ACA just passed, a major change in our society and change frightens many people no matter how it may help them. We had the Tea Party crashing the nation and town halls, further frightening people and whipping up fear against all the change associated with the first black President drastically changing health care in America. And of course, you had the rest of the GOP cynically attacking Obama as a threat to white people and America as well as aggressively lying about how Obama and Dems were failures for not fixing the economy overnight and promising that if they got the majority, they would be the party of jobs and unicorns.
Well, they got their power and Americans haven’t seen them pass one jobs bill.
Ad being wholly out of power, they had the advantage of blaming the Dems and Obama for everything. They can’t say that anymore, the approval of the Tea Party is at a record low and a shutdown will only hammer that more, they have not only not fixed anything or added jobs but have proven themselves as frauds and liars when it comes to their campaign promises in 2010…it’s an election that just can’t be duplicated.
For all those reasons, I don’t believe 2014 will be a good year for Repubs, especially if there is a shutdown and if they are insane enough to refuse to raise the debt ceiling. They may hang onto The House by the skin of their teeth thanks to gerrymandering but they can’t pretend again to be the White Knight (in every way) that will come from the outside to rescue of the nation. And they will have a horrible, dysfunctional track record instead, people will have to consider that before pulling the lever for them…do voters really like what they’ve seen from the GOP and want more of it? I really doubt that people can be convinced to eat more rotten eggs after having had a bite of them, no matter how much Right Wing propaganda is hammering them, “Don’t believe your taste buds, those eggs taste great! Have more!”
Adlib, I hope you are right but even some liberals I see on FB and other social media seem to be blase about everything except their new iphone or their new notebook that they can take everywhere with them and not have to communicate to one living soul, just keep your head down and don’t miss a thing on your device. I really do hope but I have just about lost faith in the American people to stand up and take back their rights and their livelihood.
Sue, that is something that bothers me too, the level of disconnection so many people have to their society and government. The distractions of personal communication and personal entertainment has allowed people to curl up into their own little personal bubble and stop being good citizens in a country that needs citizenship to function properly.
I too lost a lot of faith in people after the 2010 election but I also have seen a lot more social activism since then after Voter ID, Trayvon Martin, immigration reform, etc. So, though there are way too many Americans obsessed with trivial things, there do seem to be more conscientious people rising up out there.
Sue, I am with you on not being so sure that this will result in the Tea Party shooting themselves in the foot. If they are successful in shutting down the government to get their way, will they stop there? Okay, we are not talking about sane, informed, rational people here. Just like those that created and gained following in the Confederacy, they are for destroying and breaking the country to get things their way. Today, with them, the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, it was about states getting their independence from a government that got too big and controlling. Go back to the Revolution and they call themselves the Tea Party because that was about taxes and independence from the King’s control. These are people that didn’t study in school or were home schooled. Those of us that did study and even liked history know that the original Tea Party (racist even then because they had to dress up like those “heathen” Indians to pull it off) were actually the rich Northern proto-industrialists and merchants (John Hancock’s tea even costed more at the time) plus Southern plantation owners’ struggle against British mercantilism. They don’t look to see that back then the working class males still had to wait 60 years for the right to vote, Blacks almost 90 to be “emancipated” and women close to 150 years. But, the middle class colonist believed that these rich and powerful men were looking out for them. No they weren’t. They were looking to get control of pricing, power, lower taxes on themselves only, and making more money for themselves to stay the riches and powerful in the country. The Civil War was on the same basis. These people that follow haven’t changed all that much, I am afraid. And, the rest are just concerned about their new gadgets and getting them cheap and thinking nothing like that could happen again. I’m not so sure, however, damage will be done. I hope I am wrong.
You have a leg up on me in history there Sally. Some of what you commented on, I did not know or should I say probably have forgotten. Thanks for the reminder and the comment. It gave me even more to think about.
Sherlock, there were Koch brothers even back then. Sometimes our “exceptional-ism and undisputed superiority” get in the way of our actual history. Too many continue to serve and accept our masters who allow those of us, not in prison or starving, enough freedom and satisfaction to prevent our wanting to know the truth and change the system. Repression, ongoing manipulation and destruction of lives and indeed the very planet we occupy are the logical products of an elaborate arrangement of the greedy sociopaths in pursuit of wealth and power. But, when the people wake up to the true going “ons”, we make changes for the better and the changes remain until once again those that want to keep all the good for themselves and even more can convince that the rest are just lazy and if they just tried harder, they can have it all, too.
Dr. Watson is on one today, Sherlock, and my anger is showing. I wish I was back there when and had said, “Look here, you pale faced racist land grabbers, we don’t even like tea and we are smarter than you selfish aholes to throw trash in our rivers! And, if we did, we wouldn’t just throw the tea in, we’d sink the damn boat with you all on it!”
Made my day, Sherlock, for you to say I gave you something to think about. See, you were the one that started me thinking. Dr. Watson is on call. 🙂
Sally, the thing is, slavery was the key issue for the Southern states to be railing against the federal government and insisting on states rights, it is inextricably tied into that agenda.
As for the recent heritage of today’s Tea Party, they are the resurrected Christian Coalition, a group that also was exploited and cynically pandered to by Republicans so they could use them to win elections and then, once the Christian Coalition realized how much power it had gained, took over the GOP and in doing so, devastated the party and itself.
The parallel to today is remarkable and history sure seems to be repeating itself. Can they continue to do real damage to the nation even after a shutdown? Yes but come 2014 and even more so, 2016, as they are fully exposing who and what they are, the GOP will have a heavy price to pay.
Sue, I agree. The hatred of Obama and the “libs,” in general is so strong that these low info voters will put up with anything the TPGOP does. The brainwashing, based on racial hatred, a mindless fear of communism and socialism is more than enough to keep these mindless TP supporters in line. They will continue to tow the radical idealism that is spoon fed to them by the likes of Hannity, O’Reilly, Limbaugh….et al.
They keep screaming about the downfall of America but aren’t informed enough or even curious enough to see that it’s their support of the TP that may just bring that about.
You forgot Muslims or that dreaded Islam. I just cannot get over how ignorant they are and how they will not listen to anything except for what they “want” to know. SMH
Surender Boehner.
httpsh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJNsQPRSWpY
Patsy, I think you’ve got a great theme there for a music thread!
I love the Sound of Music. I also love The Doors
A Renaissance woman you are!
I know. I love several genres of music. From classical all the way to rap and hip hop.