Tuesday, November 2, 2010

The Specifics of Nothing

I have no idea how effective the new Republican Congress will ultimately be. As a patriotic American citizen, I'm hoping that they're extremely effective (I, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, root for the country to do well whoever is in charge). But, I also have tell you here, if the Republican Party is in any way typified by Kentucky Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, then, yeah, we could definitely be in for a rough go of it. Blackburn, folks, went on national television last night and tried to argue that we could majorly reduce the budget deficit solely by reducing discretionary spending (something less than 10% of the Federal budget). It was (IMO) absurd!..........................................................................................Look, folks, I know that the old-style/rank and file/moderate Republican of the past is highly out of style these days. But at least those mellow fellows (Howard Baker, Bob Michael, Gerry Ford, etc.) could count. They could count. You know what I'm sayin'?

17 comments:

Rusty Shackleford said...

Will,you're always on a search for some dinosaur moderate republican.How about finding three moderate dems.
Politics 30 years ago was quite different there was'nt the present vast divide between ideologies there is today.Remember JFK was a tax cutter.

Rusty Shackleford said...

I dont know why any republican would even go on MSNC.Tingles questions to the woman were down right stupid....."tell me,what are you going to cut,tell me right now what programs would you cut?" Friggin idiot.Would he ever ask a dem a question like that? Those five last night were a joke,now onder MSNBC was dead last in the ratings.

Rusty Shackleford said...

Would'nt it be hysterical if at the next state of the union address the "tanman" is sitting next to Goofy Joe with his feet up,smoking a cig and drinking a Jack Rocks while Obie is speaking and never stands up.

Commander Zaius said...

Except for a few they are all idiots and lost in some idealogical time warp and if there is one secret to the US government that is it. The republicans live in the Leave it to Beaver 1950's while the democrats are only slightly better stuck in the 1960's with Woodstock.

Rusty Shackleford said...

I'm going to issue a challenge to Will,Oso,BB amd WD to Google Marco Rubio's acceptance speech,then come back and tell us who it reminds you of.....perhaps someone from the recent past.You may be amazed.

Silverfiddle said...

I think discretionary spending is around 40%, but your point is still valid.

The changes must be structural. I don't know if we as a nation have it in us. We have become too benumbed by government "assistance" that doing for ourselves is just beyond comprehension for many.

We've been conditioned to automatically look to government first. It's a benign, indentured servitude to the state.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

You're right, SF, it (discretionary spending) is about 40%. But Blackburn in her interview said that she did NOT include defense spending (which she's evidently willing to give a free pass) as a part of discretionary spending. When you make the adjustment for that, the pie itself gets reduced significantly.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

You're right, Russ. There AREN'T a lot of moderate Democrats, either. Both sides have been very effective at purifying themselves of late.......I feel your pain, double b. I especially feel your apathy about these 2 rump political organizations. Unbelievable, huh?

IrOnY RaGeD said...

"(I, unlike Mr. Limbaugh, root for the country to do well whoever is in charge)"

Actually Will, Limbaugh WAS rooting for the country to do well. Which was WHY he hoped Obama would fail.

If you knew an arsonist was about to burn down your house, you'd certainly hope he failed wouldn't you?

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I'm cool with him (or anybody else) opposing a policy. But once that policy is in effect, I really think that you gotta hope that it works, no?.....And, really, Volt, how confident are you that the Republicans (Bachman, Blackburn, etc.) are going to be able to put the fire out? I have as many doubts about them as I do the Dems.

Dervish Sanders said...

JFK did NOT cut taxes. JFK was a popular president -- and there is the fact that he was assassinated. For these reasons Republican know they can't get away with trashing him -- therefore their strategy is to rewrite his history.

What JKF actually did was to lower the top marginal tax rate, but close loopholes -- resulting in more tax money being collected.

I hope the Republicans fail. Actually I KNOW that they will fail, because their polices are designed to help the wealthy at the expense of the rest of America. What I'm really hoping is that people's perception matches that reality. They are GOING to fail. Hopefully the voters wake up to that reality and vote the Republicans out of power in 2012.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen this time. People bought the lies and foolishly decided the villains who caused the recession should be given another chance to further their agenda of accumulating debt, killing jobs and funneling wealth upward.

Rusty Shackleford said...

Dervish,you seem to be up on your JFK history.I'm sure you know he had an older brother named Joe who was killed in WWII.I'm guessing you also know that Joe Kennedy Sr. always thought his oldest son would one day be president....unfortunately that dreamed died with Joe jr.The elder Kennedy then turned to John to fullfil the legacy.
The part of the story that is'nt well know is that Jack never really wanted to be in politics,in fact he was quite athletic and always dreamed of pursuing his dream of being a professional athlete.
In fact JFK actually wanted to be a professional boxer...that was his life long dream....there was only one problem....he could'nt take a shot to the head.

I'm here all week,try the veal.

Dervish Sanders said...

Rusty, it's too bad Regan lived when he was shot -- at least his VP knew that Reagan's economic policies were (and still are) voodo.

Will, you've never heard of the Blue Dog Coalition? You can find moderate-to-conservative Democrats there. There's no coalition of moderate-to-liberal Republicans that I'm aware of.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

You're right, wd. There are some moderates in the House. But in the Senate, all that's left there is Nelson and Landrieu (who've both solidly proven that they can be bought off).

Rusty Shackleford said...

Can it get any worse for liberals this week? Oh yea.
MSNBC president today suspended Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay.Seems Keith violated company policy by making donations to people who appeared on his show last week.What a revolting development this is....not really,just tops off a good week.

Rusty Shackleford said...

Looks like Keith leaned foward and fell out of the building.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

I just got done reading the story, Russ....The bad news? The "Nation's" Chris Hayes will be filling in for him.