The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. -Albert Einstein
Point made.
Tag Archives: The Republican Party in disarray
Robert Reich Says “The Party’s Over”
I watched about 20 minutes of the vote for speaker of the House of Representatives. Rather boring, but I felt compelled to watch a bit of it, anyway. Within those 20 minutes or so, it was clear that there will be a second vote. Democrats unanimously voted for Hakeem Jeffries, while on the right-hand side of the aisle there were several votes for Andy Biggs of Arizona and a few for Jim Jordan of Ohio. Neither Biggs nor Jordan will have more than a handful of votes, but it will be enough to keep Kevin McCarthy from sliding right on into the Speaker’s position as he had hoped to do … in fact, I hear he has already moved his belongings into the office! The vote confirms what we already knew: the Republican Party is in chaos. Robert Reich takes it a step further and says the party’s over, that the legitimacy of the GOP, the initials of which once stood for ‘Grand Old Party’, is null and void. I’m inclined to agree with him, if saner heads don’t step up and take control, and there probably aren’t enough of those saner heads left in the Republican Party.
The Party’s Over: The end of the GOP
It has gone through three phases over the last four decades, and no longer has any reason for being
Robert Reich
03 January 2023
Today, as House Republicans convulse over electing their next Speaker, the civil war in the Republican Party comes into the open. But it’s not particularly civil and it’s not exactly a war. It’s the mindless hostility of a political party that’s lost any legitimate reason for being.
For all practical purposes, the Republican Party is over.
A half century ago, the Republican Party stood for limited government. Its position was not always coherent or logical (it overlooked corporate power and resisted civil rights), but at least had a certain consistency: the GOP could always be relied on to seek lower taxes and oppose Democratic attempts to enlarge the scope of the federal power.
This was, and still is, the position of the establishment Republican Party of the two George Bush’s, of its wealthy libertarian funders, and of its Davos-jetting corporate executive donor base. But it has little to do with the real GOP of today.
In the 1990s, Newt Gingrich and Fox News’s Roger Ailes ushered the Republican Party into cultural conservatism — against abortion, contraception, immigration, voting rights, gay marriage, LBGTQ rights, and, eventually, against teaching America’s history of racism, trans-gender rights, and, during the pandemic, even against masks. At the same time, the GOP was for police cracking down on crime (especially committed by Black people), teaching religion with public money, for retailers discriminating against LBGTQ people, and for immigration authorities hunting down and deporting undocumented residents.
Gingrich and Ailes smelled the redolent possibilities of cultural conservatism, sensed the power of evangelicals and the anger of rural white America, saw votes in a Republican base that hewed to “traditional values” and, of course, racism.
But this cultural conservatism was so inconsistent with limited government – in effect, calling on government to intrude in the some of the most intimate aspects of personal life – that the Party line became confused, its message garbled, its purpose unclear. It thereby opened itself to a third and far angrier phase, centering on resentment and authoritarianism.
The foundation for this third phase had been laid for decades as white Americans without college degrees, mostly hourly-wage workers, experienced a steady drop in income and security. Not only had upward mobility been blocked, but about half their children wouldn’t live as well as they lived. The middle class was shrinking. Good-paying union jobs were disappearing.
Enter Donald Trump, the con-artist with a monstrous talent for exploiting resentment in service of his ego. Trump turned the Republican Party into a white working-class cauldron of bitterness, xenophobia, racism, anti-intellectualism, and anti-science paranoia, while turning himself into the leader of a near religious cult bent on destroying anything in his way – including American democracy.
A political party is nothing more than a shell – fundraising machinery, state and local apparatus, and elected officials, along with a dedicated base of volunteers and activists. That base gives fuels a party, giving it purpose and meaning.
Today’s Republican base is fueling hate. It is the epicenter of an emerging anti-democracy movement.
The Republican Party will continue in some form. It takes more than nihilistic mindlessness to destroy a party in a winner-take-all system such as we have in the United States.
But the Republican Party in this third phase no longer has a legitimate role to play in our system of self-government. It is over.
What we are seeing played out today in the contest for the speakership of the Republican House involves all of these pieces – small-government establishment, cultural warrior, and hate-filled authoritarian – engaged in hopeless, hapless combat with each other, and with the aspirations and ideals of the rest of America.
The Week’s Best Cartoons 12/11
It’s been a rather crazy week … but then, this is a rather crazy world we live in, isn’t it? The crazier it gets, the more material the political cartoonists have to work with, and they haven’t let an opportunity slip this week. I just wish I had a teensy portion of the talent they have to say so much with few or no words. Our friend TokyoSand over at Political Charge has, as she always does, gone out and found some of the very best ones for our enjoyment. Here are just a few, but be sure to click the link at the bottom to see all the rest! Thank you, TS!!!
It was a very bad week for Republicans and Trump. Here’s how editorial cartoonists covered some of the biggest political news stories of the week. You can enjoy more of each cartoonist’s work by clicking on their hyperlinked name.
By John Buss
By Pat Bagley
“Have You No Sense Of Decency?”
My grandfather fought in WWI, my father fought in WWII … both would be absolutely horrified to see what has happened in this nation in the past decade. People whose ancestors sacrificed time, money, and self for a greater good, have now become whining, petulant adults who cannot see past the tip of their nose, and don’t bother to try.
It was 1954 when attorney Joseph Nye Welch faced then-Senator Joseph McCarthy and uttered the words that would live forever in the annals of history …
“Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness…. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
I pose the same words today to the likes of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, Marge Greene, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs, Louis Gohmert, Matt Gaetz … to candidates Herschel Walker, Kari Lake, Blake Masters, Mehmet Oz, Doug Mastriano and J.D. Vance and others … HAVE YOU NO SENSE OF DECENCY???
I’ve done some thinking over the past few days, and perhaps the best thing would be for all the aforementioned people, people without a clue how to govern “for, of, and by the people”, to actually get elected next week. Let them show their followers, their rabid base, just how inept they are, how unqualified and inexperienced they are. Let them make a bloody shambles of this country, and then perhaps in 2024, the ignorant will have been enlightened, the proverbial light bulbs will have come on over the heads of those who fell for the lies and rhetoric. Perhaps then … people will have learned and will elect qualified people, whether Republican or Democrat, to office to repair the damage and clean up the mess left by McCarthy and his band of merry thugs.
Meanwhile, though, how many of us will lose our life’s savings? How badly damaged will our relations with those we now call allies have become? How much worse will the ravages of climate change be in two years if the Republicans have their way in rolling back all environmental regulations? How many of us will be dead … because we couldn’t afford the insulin and other medications we require to stay alive? How many children will have died of starvation, or seniors because their Social Security was cut, or women because they died of an ectopic pregnancy because removing the non-viable fetus would be rendered ‘murder’ in her state? And how many asylum seekers … human beings … will have died because the U.S. refused to consider them as … human beings?
Sometimes lessons can only be learned the hard way. Sometimes the child will only believe that the stove burner is dangerously hot after he places his hand on it and lands in the emergency room for 2nd degree burn treatments. And sometimes, maybe you have to destroy something, burn it to the ground, before you can rebuild it from the ground up.
So, pull up a chair, bring popcorn, and watch the destruction of a nation that our ancestors once fought for.
A simple question
Accountability. Responsibility. Truth. Our friend Keith reminds us why we should demand these three things from the people we elect to represent us, and points out that we are being let down in all three areas, particularly by those in the Republican Party. Thank you, Keith, for your wisdom and ability to see beyond the rhetoric, beyond the lies and chaos.
A simple question for elected officials in my old party – the Republican Party. What will you have to defend tomorrow, next week, next month…next year? And, will it be from an old, alleged crime or a new one. I have been asking this question of GOP officials for over four years now. There is always a new or newly discovered Trump alleged crime or some form of deceit that surfaces.
Accountability. Responsibility. Truth. These are words that are lacking these days to define the Republican party. Democrats are not perfect, but they are at least talking and doing something about issues of import. Yes, Dems stretch the truth, but it is not even close to the level of mainstream deceit that is required by the GOP. Seeing Sarah Palin claim election fraud yesterday was as predictable as the nose on my face. I told my wife…
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Outvoted, She Concedes With Dignity & Grace
Harriet Hageman
If the Republican Party has a future, it lies with people like Liz Cheney. It was sad, but not at all unexpected, to hear that Representative Cheney lost the Wyoming primary last night, sadder still that the Republicans in a Republican-dominated state would elect a liar, a conspiracy theorist, and an overall scumbag like Harriet Hageman. It is, barring some truly unforeseen and world-changing event, inevitable that Hageman will join the ranks of Marge Greene, Lauren Boebert and so many others who are grossly unqualified to walk the halls of the U.S. Capitol.
I must applaud Ms. Cheney, as I have done a few times over the last couple of years. Her concession speech was courageous and graceful, and one had to make a comparison when she said …
“Our republic relies upon the goodwill of all candidates for office to accept honouorably the outcome of elections and tonight, Harriet Hageman has received the most votes in this primary. She won. I called her to concede the race. This primary election is over.”
Take a look at these short clips of Cheney as well as her opponent …
What an honourable woman. What a breath of fresh air, especially as compared to most others in the Republican Party, particularly the former guy who still has not conceded an election he lost by nearly 8 million votes a full year-and-a-half ago!
Don’t be too fast to write off Liz Cheney, though. I think she’ll find her way back … possibly in two short years, after Ms. Hageman convinces the people of Wyoming what a horrible mistake they made when they voted her into office.
Liz Cheney’s defeat was assured by her honesty and integrity. It seems that those are cardinal sins within the Republican Party today, as the party continues to follow Donald Trump off the precipice. Ms. Cheney had the courage to vote to impeach the former guy, and then added to her list of ‘crimes’ by joining the January 6th committee and working diligently and tirelessly to get to the bottom of what happened on that fateful day, to bring those who plotted and connived to overturn our government to justice. For this, she has paid a high price, but I think that at the end of the day, she will have the last laugh. Unfortunately for this nation, we will meanwhile have to put up with Ms. Hageman and others like her – conspiracy theorists, election deniers, and individuals who would incite violence to have their way.
In case you’re hoping for a Democratic candidate to beat Hageman in November, give it up. The Democrat opposing her is Lynnette Grey Bull who won the Democratic primary by 62.2%, nearly matching Hageman’s 65.8%, but … there are relatively few Democratic voters in the state of Wyoming. By the numbers, Ms. Grey Bull received only 4,410 votes as compared to Hageman’s 106,322 votes. Roughly only 4% of all Wyoming voters voted for a Democrat. So, grit your teeth and prepare to be underwhelmed by the incoming candidate, but keep your eye on Liz Cheney, for I don’t think she’s finished yet!
For the record, there is some speculation that Ms. Cheney is considering a run for president in 2024. While I do greatly admire her, I think it would be a mistake. First, while I respect and admire her integrity and courage, I disagree strongly with most of her policies. That said, even as an Independent who leans strongly to the left, I might actually have voted for her to return to her seat in Congress if I lived in Wyoming, but I would not vote for her as president.
Ms. Cheney deserved better from her party than to be shunned, heckled, threatened and ridiculed for her courage and integrity, but that is today’s GOP … they prefer fools and clowns to honest lawmakers. One day, hopefully soon, the pendulum will swing back and people will come to understand that a government of fools and clowns is not sustainable and those like Hageman, Herschel Walker, Mehmet Oz, Marge Greene and more will fade into oblivion.
The Week’s Best Cartoons: FBI Seize Sensitive Docs from Mar-a-Lago
The big news … almost the only news this past week was the search warrant executed by the FBI for classified documents Trump stole from the people when he left the White House in disgrace. No doubt other news happened, but there was little reported on it, so naturally, the weekly political cartoons reflect that. As she does every week, TokyoSand over at Political Charge has culled some of the best ones from the week. Sometimes it’s hard to find the humour, but the political cartoonists are pretty damn good at it! Thank you, TS, for your hard work!
The week started off with a big win for Joe Biden (the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act) and ended with the bombshell that the FBI seized a trove of extremely sensitive documents from Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago. Here’s how editorial cartoonists covered that story.
Filosofa's Word 