Missing the Forest

I am sympathetic to Frank Rich’s point, but he’s simply wrong about this:

If the right puts its rabid Obama hatred on the down-low, what will — or can — conservatism stand for instead? The only apparent agendas are repealing “Obamacare” and slashing federal spending as long as the cuts are quarantined to the small percentage of the budget covering discretionary safety-net programs, education and Big Bird.

Now, I’m sure that the Republicans will be all too wiling to attack the social safety net when it comes time to fight about the budget, but we just had a debate in the House about keeping the government operating over the remainder of the year. And the Republicans were not attacking Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. They were attacking the Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Appeals Board, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and other regulatory bodies, including the Department of Health & Human Services which has responsibility for regulating the health insurance industry. It’s true that they also attacked some discretionary funding like money for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts, but their primary thrust was aimed at giving businesses a free hand to pollute and screw the customer.

Frank Rich ought to be on this, because it’s proof-positive that the Tea Party movement isn’t really about taxes, which are at 50-year historic-low rate right now. It may seem like the modern Republican Party lacks substance, but their agenda is crystal clear.

15 Comments

donnah on February 20, 2011 at 9:57 am

I’m frustrated and infuriated by this crap! My son just completed ten months with Americorps, serving in Iowa, Michigan, South Dakota, and Illinois to help dig out flood victims, rebuild a YMCA camp, work with Habitat for Humanity, and spend time helping disabled people in a rehab facility. He got paid $175 every two weeks, with an education voucher upon his completed service. It’s a win/win situation.

Americorps is on that chopping block. There were aid projects planned while my son was there that they could not do because funds were already depleted.

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

BooMan on February 20, 2011 at 10:15 am

They are a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America. They don’t even own their own opinions.

Fighting Bill on February 20, 2011 at 10:28 am

Yes, Booman, the modern Republican Party’s agenda is crystal clear and I’d add that, believe it or not, it’s almost always a step ahead. Of course I constantly want to think that Boehner, McConnell and others are dumb and incompetent, and that most people will see them as I do. But they speak to the lizard brain of a great number of Americans. The sheer lunacy and ignorance of what comes out of various Republican mouths causes us to let down our guards a bit, or causes someone as smart as Frank Rich to miss the even bigger picture.

Why does any Democratic politician or Dem-leaning media figure open their mouths to discuss the budget and the deficit without ALWAYS prefacing their remarks with a root cause like tax cuts for the wealthiest ? (And why not ALWAYS point out that the wealthy would get a healthy tax cut on up to $250K in most Dem plans?) Why do those on our side with a media platform so often fail to preface these discussions with the fact that Social Security is solvent, or that the new health care plan CUTS costs over the long haul? Why do they so readily accept a defensive posture regarding unions and public pensions?

The continued inattention to language is killing us. Each time one of these fierce arguments breaks out there is initial resistance and an appeal to reason in our rhetoric, and then, magically, we’re talking in THEIR frames even as we argue against them.

Ed J on February 20, 2011 at 10:34 am

are indeed about taxes – only the ones that don’t effect them, but they ARE about taxes. And Obama hatred.

It’s the regular Boehner Republicans who are the friends and promoters of big business at all cost. To these guys earmark control is anathema.

And you failed to quote Rich’s most salient paragraph:

An opposition this adrift from reality — whether about Obama’s birth certificate, history unfolding in the Middle East or the consequences of a federal or state government shutdown — is a paper tiger. It’s a golden chance for the president to seize the moment. What we don’t know is if he sees it that way. As we’ve learned from his track record both in the 2008 campaign and in the White House, he sometimes coasts at these junctures or lapses into a pro forma bipartisanship that amounts, for all practical purposes, to inertia.

utried on February 20, 2011 at 11:50 am

Rich is wrong on this.
Look at the list that the Repubs are defunding. It is what Obama got passed in the past two years and signed into law.
The ACA is the number one target. The Finreg is number two.
The EPA and FDA are also there.
They want Obama to fail.
No budget has been passed by both the House and the Senate. Obama has no part in this part of the process. It is stagnant right now.
- Ed J on February 20, 2011 at 8:11 pm
  
  of the United States. He can have a “part” in any “process” if he chooses.

Errol on February 20, 2011 at 11:10 am

Enjoyed this –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqnOeatbDWs&feature=player_embedded
Someone is stupid, whether it’s Scott Walker or whoever. Remember how difficult it was a year and a half ago to get anyone to believe the anti-hcr teapartiers were ginned up by Koch bros and the like? thanks to Scott Walker it’s become transparent.

Indianadem on February 20, 2011 at 11:48 am

Enjoyed that and passed along – thanks Errol!
- Errol on February 20, 2011 at 12:28 pm
  
  I ran across it via your link to blksista, not sure though if she had a direct link to it. I have hunter-gatherer approach to the ‘tubes as is evident from my inability, in most instances, to refind what I come across since the wooly mammoth herd has already moved on.
  - Errol on February 20, 2011 at 12:29 pm
    
    (don’t tell me wooly mammoths don’t come in herds; I was there, I saw them in herds)
    - Indianadem on February 20, 2011 at 5:29 pm
      
      Yeah, I tend to wander around in the ether quite a bit too. I always thought the mammoth herds were a flashback phenomenon left over from 60s overindulgence, rather like the sandworm swarms, but now you mention it…
    - Errol on February 20, 2011 at 6:09 pm
      
      We were both there!!!
ask on February 20, 2011 at 11:58 am

Thanks for that, Errol.
Shared on FB.

TarheelDem on February 20, 2011 at 11:51 am

The Republican agenda:

Undo the New Deal; dethrone FDR; enthrone Ronald Reagan or the “President who is to come”

Repeal the 16th amendment

Repeal the 17th amendment (allow rich folks dominating legislatures to elect the ~~House of Lords~~ Senate

Repeal all of the 14th amendment except for this: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

Repeal the 13th amendment and call it “guaranteed lifetime employment”.

Repeal the 11th amendment

Repeal the 15th, 19th, 23rd, and 25th amendments

Repeal the 27th amendment

Repeal the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th amendments.

Rename the Department of Defense as “The United States of America”.

on February 21, 2011 at 8:22 am

Thanks for interesting information. I think that you can use this information for writing Custom essay about this post.

donnah on February 20, 2011 at 9:57 am

I’m frustrated and infuriated by this crap! My son just completed ten months with Americorps, serving in Iowa, Michigan, South Dakota, and Illinois to help dig out flood victims, rebuild a YMCA camp, work with Habitat for Humanity, and spend time helping disabled people in a rehab facility. He got paid $175 every two weeks, with an education voucher upon his completed service. It’s a win/win situation.

Americorps is on that chopping block. There were aid projects planned while my son was there that they could not do because funds were already depleted.

What the fuck is wrong with these people?
- BooMan on February 20, 2011 at 10:15 am
  
  They are a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America. They don’t even own their own opinions.
Fighting Bill on February 20, 2011 at 10:28 am

Yes, Booman, the modern Republican Party’s agenda is crystal clear and I’d add that, believe it or not, it’s almost always a step ahead. Of course I constantly want to think that Boehner, McConnell and others are dumb and incompetent, and that most people will see them as I do. But they speak to the lizard brain of a great number of Americans. The sheer lunacy and ignorance of what comes out of various Republican mouths causes us to let down our guards a bit, or causes someone as smart as Frank Rich to miss the even bigger picture.

Why does any Democratic politician or Dem-leaning media figure open their mouths to discuss the budget and the deficit without ALWAYS prefacing their remarks with a root cause like tax cuts for the wealthiest ? (And why not ALWAYS point out that the wealthy would get a healthy tax cut on up to $250K in most Dem plans?) Why do those on our side with a media platform so often fail to preface these discussions with the fact that Social Security is solvent, or that the new health care plan CUTS costs over the long haul? Why do they so readily accept a defensive posture regarding unions and public pensions?

The continued inattention to language is killing us. Each time one of these fierce arguments breaks out there is initial resistance and an appeal to reason in our rhetoric, and then, magically, we’re talking in THEIR frames even as we argue against them.
Ed J on February 20, 2011 at 10:34 am

are indeed about taxes – only the ones that don’t effect them, but they ARE about taxes. And Obama hatred.

It’s the regular Boehner Republicans who are the friends and promoters of big business at all cost. To these guys earmark control is anathema.

And you failed to quote Rich’s most salient paragraph:

An opposition this adrift from reality — whether about Obama’s birth certificate, history unfolding in the Middle East or the consequences of a federal or state government shutdown — is a paper tiger. It’s a golden chance for the president to seize the moment. What we don’t know is if he sees it that way. As we’ve learned from his track record both in the 2008 campaign and in the White House, he sometimes coasts at these junctures or lapses into a pro forma bipartisanship that amounts, for all practical purposes, to inertia.
- utried on February 20, 2011 at 11:50 am
  
  Rich is wrong on this.
  Look at the list that the Repubs are defunding. It is what Obama got passed in the past two years and signed into law.
  The ACA is the number one target. The Finreg is number two.
  The EPA and FDA are also there.
  They want Obama to fail.
  No budget has been passed by both the House and the Senate. Obama has no part in this part of the process. It is stagnant right now.
  - Ed J on February 20, 2011 at 8:11 pm
    
    of the United States. He can have a “part” in any “process” if he chooses.
Errol on February 20, 2011 at 11:10 am

Enjoyed this –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqnOeatbDWs&feature=player_embedded
Someone is stupid, whether it’s Scott Walker or whoever. Remember how difficult it was a year and a half ago to get anyone to believe the anti-hcr teapartiers were ginned up by Koch bros and the like? thanks to Scott Walker it’s become transparent.
- Indianadem on February 20, 2011 at 11:48 am
  
  Enjoyed that and passed along – thanks Errol!
  - Errol on February 20, 2011 at 12:28 pm
    
    I ran across it via your link to blksista, not sure though if she had a direct link to it. I have hunter-gatherer approach to the ‘tubes as is evident from my inability, in most instances, to refind what I come across since the wooly mammoth herd has already moved on.
    - Errol on February 20, 2011 at 12:29 pm
      
      (don’t tell me wooly mammoths don’t come in herds; I was there, I saw them in herds)
      - Indianadem on February 20, 2011 at 5:29 pm
        
        Yeah, I tend to wander around in the ether quite a bit too. I always thought the mammoth herds were a flashback phenomenon left over from 60s overindulgence, rather like the sandworm swarms, but now you mention it…
      - Errol on February 20, 2011 at 6:09 pm
        
        We were both there!!!
- ask on February 20, 2011 at 11:58 am
  
  Thanks for that, Errol.
  Shared on FB.
TarheelDem on February 20, 2011 at 11:51 am

The Republican agenda:

Undo the New Deal; dethrone FDR; enthrone Ronald Reagan or the “President who is to come”

Repeal the 16th amendment

Repeal the 17th amendment (allow rich folks dominating legislatures to elect the ~~House of Lords~~ Senate

Repeal all of the 14th amendment except for this: “nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

Repeal the 13th amendment and call it “guaranteed lifetime employment”.

Repeal the 11th amendment

Repeal the 15th, 19th, 23rd, and 25th amendments

Repeal the 27th amendment

Repeal the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th amendments.

Rename the Department of Defense as “The United States of America”.
on February 21, 2011 at 8:22 am

Thanks for interesting information. I think that you can use this information for writing Custom essay about this post.

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