What the Republicans agree on (scary)

10.03.11 - 2:26 pm | Tim Redmond |

(32)

The most interesting thing about the Republican debates is not where the candidates disagree -- it's where they all seem to agree. And it's pretty fucked up.

My friends at CalBuzz say this is the big story missing from the MSM coverage of the campaign so far. They point to a remarkable article in The New Republic titled "Five Things All The GOP Candidates Agree On (They're Terrifying)."

He notes:

Add all this up, and it’s apparent the Republican Party has become identified with a radically conservative world-view in which environmental regulations and collective bargaining by workers have strangled the economy; deregulation, federal spending cuts, and deflation of the currency are the only immediate remedies; and the path back to national righteousness will require restoration of the kinds of mores—including criminalization of abortion—that prevailed before things started going to hell in the 1960s. That Republicans hardly even argue about such things anymore makes the party’s transformation that much more striking—if less noticeable to the news media and the population at large.

And you wonder why Johnny Wendell wants to change the name from the GOP to the Shit Head Party.

Republicans

Comments

I am convinced you actually

I am convinced you actually believe that.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 3:56 pm

Those nutty Republicans

Yes - we need higher taxes.

We can never get enough Solyndras, turtle tunnels, and $16 muffins.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 4:05 pm

Solyndra

Got their money from tax cutter GW Bush.

You'd know that if you actually read the news and didn't listen to Rush Limbaugh, dreaming of his tiny dong in your slobbering kisser.

Posted by Perkins on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 4:26 pm

Solyndra loan was ultimately turned down by Bush Admin...

revived and APPROVED by Obama Energy Department. But thx for playing...

Posted by Guest on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 7:35 pm

Oh?

Late 2007: Loan guarantee program is funded. Solyndra was one of 16 clean-tech companies deemed ready to move forward in the due diligence process. The Bush Administration DOE moves forward to develop a conditional commitment.

Keep sucking the fat boy's cock.....

Posted by Perkins on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 7:56 pm

Generaly the gay inuendo...

...is attributed to stunted right wingers and the sub semi literate.

But Perkins can make these kinds of comments because stunted gay innuendo is OK from a our progressobot betters?

It cracks me up this foul idiot's biggest put down is this.

Posted by meatlock on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 1:49 am

Meatlock the Moron: How is it gay?

Do you think "Guest" is a man's name?

Aside from your basic inability to reason, we'll assume you agree with Perkins regarding Solyndra's funding originated with the Bush administration.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 6:49 am

I'm not sure the Dems are much better

Obama is waging war in half a dozen nations, if you include Colombia and Mexico (I do). Meanwhile, cities and states are suffering massive cuts while Americans clamor for jobs. Paul Krugman calls his jobs bill "better than expected" but watch it get watered down to nothing as Obama cuts a deal with Boehner . He stages political theatre to appear like he's a populist, then he turns around and colludes with the Republicans in back room deals to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Need I go on?

The scariest thing about the GOP is that they're clever...or just too damn rich. They exploit budget crises to attack unionized workers and drive the economy further into the ditch. Then they use the crisis to orchestrate even greater austerity measures. Then they get ambitious "progressives" like Jeff Adachi or Marcia Fritz to lead the attack (did I say they were clever?). And the rhetoric that comes out of their mouths is indistinguishable from that of the right-wing foundations and billionaires backing them.

At the state level, they have made proposals for pension reform that would strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights. Got to hand it to these fascists. They've managed to pull the wool over our eyes, and pretty much without a fight.

Posted by Lisa on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 5:12 pm

Lisa - still making stuff up...

"Then they get ambitious "progressives" like Jeff Adachi....to lead the attack."

I guess the question is - do you just like to tell stories or are you knowingly lying? I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

The origin of Adachi's fire is the slashing of the PD's budget at the expense of ever-escalating City pension costs. This much is well known. His sig campaign for Prop was falling short and HE recruited Moritz who had previously donated to Gonzales- not the other way around.

Something tells me you'll still make the same sh$t up even though the entire City (yourself excluded) understands pension contributions need to be increased and the only difference is Adachi's plan doesn't protect the City's highest paid workers.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 9:54 pm

Apparently, You Haven't Been Following Wall Street Occupation

There is an uprising all over the country, and all over the world, which puts the lie to your ludicrous claim that the working class is in agreement with pension gouging by corporate and government elites.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 10:53 pm

Regarding "occupation"

Call me crazy but I don't think they're all hangin out because they want lower pension contributions for local govt employees...

Posted by Guest on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 9:31 am

Actually, That Is Exactly What Wall Street Occupation Is About

Yes actually, they are activating for exactly that; higher pay and benefits for workers instead of cuts. It is one of the main themes of the nationwide and global action.

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 10:05 am

If you think a > pension contribution is a cut...

Wait 'til you see what an insolvent pension fund looks like. Funny to see you rail on wall street while City employees/retirees pour their pension fund into wall street...City employees are a helluva lot more pro-wall street than you know.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 1:41 pm

I've got news for you, Guest

If we don't get serious about taxing the rich, we'll have far more to worry about than insolvency. The U.S. economy will tank. You can't go on cutting the wages and benefits of middle-class workers and think that somehow the economy will revive. That's what (liberal) economists like Reich and Krugman have been saying, if you read their blogs.

And yes, upping workers' pension contributions amounts to a cut in wages. As Pulitzer-Prize winning tax reporter David Cay Johnston said,

"Well, it`s real troubling that this kind of basic economics people don`t understand it. Everybody who has a job who gets any kind of fringe benefits, that`s part of their compensation. And once you have performed the services, the money is yours."

"And how the money is divvied up, whether the workers have it direct from the paycheck or its paid directly on behalf of the employee, which is the language in the labor contracts -- on behalf of the employee -- they earned the money. It`s not the taxpayers`. The taxpayers bought their services."

Apparently, the Chronicle sees the value in a story about the antiunion billionaires behind Adachi's measure to put it on the front page of today's paper. Check it~

"..the two main contributors to Proposition D - venture capitalist Michael Moritz and businessman George Hume, who have donated $250,000 apiece - have also contributed to Republicans in Ohio and Wisconsin who supported those states' polarizing, national-headline-grabbing efforts this year to curb unions' rights dramatically."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/03/BA6P1LAOD3.D...

Finally, Eric is absolutely right. I've watched a number of interviews with Occupy Wall Street protesters. And the young people get it. They really do, just like previous demonstrators in France, England, Spain, and Greece. Their message is that we must tax the Wall Street gangsters who crashed the economy instead of scapegoating workers and gutting their pensions. So yes, they are standing with the workers.

Tomorrow you will see a coalition of labor linking arms with the protesters and students to make their demands. And they are demanding real 'shared sacrifice', not the kind that falls solely on the backs of hardworking people (who haven't had a real wage increase in over 30 years). Perhaps someday, it will dawn on Adachi and Gonzalez that they're on the wrong side of this fight. Well, one can always hope...but I won't hold breath.

Posted by Lisa on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 4:42 pm

Lisa- great quote in that article you posted

...in addition to the info that Moritz is a Democrat, donated to the Dem party, and donated to Barack Obama:

...."Corey Cook, a political scientist at the University of San Francisco, agreed but said San Francisco voters shouldn't make the mistake of thinking either pension reform proposition is remotely close to the laws adopted in Ohio and Wisconsin.

"There's a gulf between them," he said. "It's a serious enough issue that you hope voters are talking about it on the merits."..."

Hope you read the whole thing!

Posted by Guest on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 9:46 am

LOL, awesome

Lisa's a total idiot. This happens to her way too often on here.

Posted by Sambo on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 7:13 pm

With all the talk about

With all the talk about higher pay and benefits for workers, always remember that with today's low interest rates, the present value cost of a $60k annual pension paid at age 60 is around $1M. That makes many beneficiaries of such pensions, millionaires. The US is not productive enough to make everyone a millionaire other than to decrease the value of our currency which doesn't help the person getting the "higher" pay or benefits.

The truth is that whatever one thinks about taxes on the "rich", the fact is that the average citizen in the west will experience a decline in their standard of living while those in the developing world will experience a slight increase in their standard of living. The demographics make this inevitable. We can only hope that we have the intelligence to endure this decline in such a way as to not destroy the planet or our civilization with our zeal to try and maintain our current lifestyle.

Posted by Guest666 on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 4:18 pm

Bullshit.

Having a million dollars is the ONLY thing that makes one a millionaire.
What could possibly compel you to make such an ignorant statement?

"the present value cost of a $60k annual pension paid at age 60 is around $1M. That makes many beneficiaries of such pensions, millionaires.'
Posted by Guest666 on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 4:18 pm

Posted by Guest on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 5:32 pm

@Guest Obviously math or

@Guest

Obviously math or reason is not your strong suit.

If one has the right to receive $60k a year for the remainder of their life with inflation escalators, then they have the equivalent of $1M. To think otherwise is a foolish. Taking your viewpoint, it means that someone who owns a diversified bond portfolio of $1M is not a millionaire since they don't have $1M in cash, but merely the interest stream on the $1M.

Posted by Guest666 on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 7:38 am

Nice try.

Repeating your bullshit and making a strawman argument about diversified bond portfolios changes nothing.

A millionaire is someone with a million dollars.
Not someone who is owed something some time in the future, that may or may not total a million dollars before they die.

You were making a bullshit argument in an attempt to mischaracterize people with pensions as wealthy, and you failed miserably.
Stop making an ass of yourself.
It's embarrassing to witness.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 7:05 pm

In your world there are very

In your world there are very few millionaires since the majority of wealth is not cash based. Money is solely a claim on future productivity, as is a right to a pension. It's why in financial statements assets are marked to market and anticipated revenue streams are also stated at the present value of the revenue stream. If one merely included cash, it would not accurately represent a company or persons net worth. I suggest you read up on this subject.

Further, if you don't believe that a pension has any specific value then you must certainly feel it is okay to eliminate the right to receive said pension. This would certainly contradict ERISA and other worker pension protections that do assign a value (lump sum or otherwise) to the right to receive a pension.

Posted by Guest666 on Oct. 06, 2011 @ 7:56 am

Your attempt to portray pension holders as wealthy has failed.

Leaving you scrambling in your own excrement, while making progressively more idiotic statements like:
" if you don't believe X, then you must certainly feel Y"

Tell you what:
Next time I need some unimaginative Tea Party asshole to tell me what I think, I'll let you know.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 06, 2011 @ 9:07 am

I guess that when you can't

I guess that when you can't reason, you must resort to insults.

It's really interesting that one can actually disregard the mathematical underpinnings of our financial and accounting systems when evaluating pensions. It's no wonder the banks have been able to take advantage of so many people if your financial sense is typical of the average American.

Posted by Guest666 on Oct. 06, 2011 @ 10:15 am

To imply that the Democratic

To imply that the Democratic Party is not "owned" by equally distasteful forces is disingenuous.

Plus it is fun to watch certain people paint America in the 1950s as the lowest ring of hell.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 6:03 pm

@Lisa. Agreed, there's hardly

@Lisa. Agreed, there's hardly room to slip a Zig-Zag between the the two parties. Even scarier than how 'clever' the GOP may or may not be, is how 'dumb' so many people are who buy into their BS and vote against their long term best interests. At least some Democrats still talk the talk, a few even walk it. If we don't get some signs of real hope and change next year I'm afraid it's gonna be a hundred miles of bad road ahead.

Posted by Patrick Monk RN on Oct. 03, 2011 @ 9:02 pm

Yes, I think you're on to something Pat

People are ‘dumb’ when they keep doing the same thing over and over when it’s not working for them. Like the Tea Party sots who support policies that work against their class interest. But the same can be said of ‘progressives’ who go on voting for corporate Democrats (like Obama) when we’re getting royally screwed over time and again.

You know what gives me hope? I sense that there’s a major paradigm shift going on in this country and on a global level. When people have the imagination and courage to dream of alternatives to the current system, that’s when we reach the ‘tipping point’ where monumental change takes place. And it’s already happening/ happened in the Middle East, Latin America, and Canada.

You want a lift of spirit, Pat? Check out Greg Kamin’s piece @FCJ~

http://www.fogcityjournal.com/wordpress/2864/canada-hits-political-break...

Just think about it~ What if progressives had enough imagination to vote for the folks they truly believe in, rather than opt for the ‘lesser evil’ every time? Just sit with that for a moment and think of the possibilities.

Okay, okay...we’ll probably have to wade through “a hundred miles of bad road”, as you put it, before we reach that point. No way around it. But even if we lose our shirts, we can say we went down fighting, eh mate? ;-)

Posted by Lisa on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 5:48 pm

Howard Zinn would be proud..

Yes Lisa, the long road may be bad, but at least we have found the "on ramp" I believe.

A sad note regarding the link above, Mr. Jack Layton passed away in August after leading his party to official opposition in the Canadian Parliament.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/08/26/layton-reaction.html

There is a provincial election in Ontario this Thursday. The Liberal Party currently holds power, but the "Progressive (sic) Conservatives" are tied with them in the latest polls. I've debated whether I should vote Liberal (Canada's Democrats) to keep the "PC's" (Canada's Republicans) from power, but I am convinced that I will vote NDP (Ralph Nader equivalent ?) because, as my tag suggests, I am very left leaning. It may let the PC's sneak in and take power, but I figure that will hasten the "revolution". So be it!

I wish you, Eric and Patrick all the best. I leave you with this quote, cut from the Alternative Radio web site, from the late great Howard Zinn....

“People are practical,” Howard Zinn said. “They want change but feel powerless, alone. They do not want to be the blade of grass that sticks up above the others and is cut down. They wait for a sign from someone else who will make that first move. And at certain times in history there are certain intrepid people who take the risk that if they make that first move others will follow quickly enough to prevent their being cut down. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

MB (i.e. Marcel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Posted by CanadianSocialist on Oct. 04, 2011 @ 7:37 pm

Yes Marcel we've not only found the on-ramp, we're occupying it!

Yes Marcel, we've not only found the on-ramp, we're occupying it! Thank you for that marvelous quote by Howard Zinn. Ah, I love Zinn! Just wish he were still here to witness the global uprising. You're right, he would be proud.

Well, I am so saddened to hear of Jack Layton's passing. Hopefully, the Quebekers will heed his last wish and stick with the NDP. If they merge with the Greens, they could be a powerful force for change.

I wish you and my fellow socialists all the best, Marcel. I fully support your vote for the NDP, if that's what you decide...

Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible!‏ (Paris, mai '68)

Posted by Lisa on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

Thanks for the plug, Lisa

I wrote that in the hopes that it would be inspiring, and I was absolutely devastated to hear of Jack Layton's passing in August. He was a charismatic leader who had the capacity to accelerate a progressive awakening. But in the end, the movement doesn't depend on just one person. The fight goes on.

And congratulations to Manitoba for just re-electing their NDP majority in the provincial legislature!

Posted by Greg K on Oct. 06, 2011 @ 10:39 am

Cheers Marcel

Cheers Marcel. Great quote. Fits the moment. Grass is springing up everywhere... ;)

Posted by Eric Brooks on Oct. 06, 2011 @ 12:22 pm

Jerry vetos SF VLF tax....!

There are still a few sane CA Democrats left.

Posted by Guest on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 9:12 am

OCCUPY AS

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK
101 MARKET ATREET
NOON>?

Posted by Patrick Monk RN on Oct. 05, 2011 @ 9:31 am