I don’t think they’re hiding; AFAICT they’re still around and speaking up.
I just think they’re not very thick on the ground among the folks doing the CPAC asshattery, and honestly, can you blame them??
Agreed, I am a fiscal conservative and have made my financial decisions that way. It has served me well in this downturn. I tend to think that if the Republican Party was true to the values is espouses I might be a supporter of the Republican agenda. As it is, the Republican agenda is so bankrupt of solutions that it is beneath contempt. It is all about denigration of the opponent, not solutions to the problems. The party of “personal responsibility” has taken no responsibility. They have been reduced to a status where they can only mock those with which they don’t agree because their own agenda has been proven to be an abject failure.
I think I could be an “honest, rational person the believes in the stated ideals of the Republican Party.” However, the party, as it is now constituted, is an embarrassment to ethics, responsibility, honesty, vision and leadership.
Yeah, I feel sorry for them too. But I’m kinda shallow, and I get over stuff like that pretty fast.
I can’t muster up much feeling to begin with. If a group or a party is that far off, if it has veered so far from the “ideals” it used to at least pretend to espouse, then to hell with it. It doesn’t deserve any loyalty.
Time to go “shopping” for a different and more deserving party, even if it is a smaller and less powerful one.
Actually, folks have “taken to the streets” in protest of the budget and bailout. Conservative blogs have been trumpeting such events to high heaven. I’m not sure why the idea that some people disagree with the President’s policies is such big news, though. (Actually, I do; they believe the biased liberal Obama-loving media will NEVER tell you that ANYONE disagrees with him, so they think it’s their duty to point it out whenever it happens.)
As for the OP’s quote, I actually find it rather creative, and amusing in its implications, given who’s saying it. (Although he was known for being rather critical of Bush in later years, so it’s not like it came out of nowhere.)
Can I interest you in some Ron Paul? Or maybe you’d like something a little more Constitutional… how about some plain vanilla Libertarian? Libertarian Lite is also tasty, but if you start picking and choosing I can’t guarantee you won’t end up with some Rand “Objectivists” or worse. Choose wisely!
Oh, and the moderate wing of the Democratic Party is currently for:
- cutting taxes for most Americans
- cutting wasteful spending like farm subsidies
- ending the war in Iraq
- reducing the cost of health care for all Americans
- enforcing the existing firearms laws before writing new ones
…so if those sound appealing, don’t be shy – there’s room on the bandwagon (EVEN IF YOU LIKE GAY PEOPLE AND ATHEISTS)!
:eek: You were a hobo? John Hodgman has told me all about you people. Stay away from me!
:shrug: I agree with Mr. Asshat’s basic point. I am greatly amused at Obama and the Dems’ insistence that the “failed economic policies” of the last 8 years–the profligate spending that let down this country and betrayed the fiscal conservatives like me who believed the bullshit that the Republicans campaigned on–needs to be replaced with some additional profligate spending. It’s more of the same, from my perspective. It’s an opportunity to shove through irresponsible spending that expands government power. It’s an abomination.
I don’t care what name we apply to this abortion of an economic philosophy. It is an unbroken chain of idiocy. Obama and his gang of imbeciles are carrying on the proud economic tradition–albeit with a greener, smilier agenda–established by the prior fraternity of imbeciles. This is naturally the cue for partisans on both sides (i.e., people that actually give a shit if there’s a D or an R after the incumbent’s name) to rant about names and blames. Personally, I don’t care who says it or what we call it.
Forgive the hijack: I don’t understand this metaphor. I’m not mocking you, I just think I’m missing something, and I’m willing to risk being mocked myself to find out what you mean. Why would a bellwether have particularly notable amounts of common sense?
So Stratocaster was do you propose the Dems do about the economic crisis? Should they let the banks, and the auto industry fail? Should they sit on their hands and refuse to spend any money trying to dig us out of the hole Bush dug? I was always a loyal GOP member. My first vote was for Reagan, but I have watched the track the party has taken and I can not agree with the choices. I am a moderate and the party is leaning so far right that I am surprised it is still standing.
If you have any better answers I would love to hear them.
Its true that under ordinary circumstances, standing in front of your house and soaking it with water from a high-pressure hose doesn’t make a lot of sense. Unless its on fire.
Bush dug this hole, eh? The economic shitstorm we find ourselves in is attributable to Bush, huh? Yep, the responses are predictable.
Here’s my suggestion, since you asked. Let’s NOT go into debt $800B to support a half-assed spending orgy, designed by politicians, subject to virtually zero debate or discussion or analysis, riddled with pork and naked attempts to permanently expand government, particularly when no one has any idea whether or not it will actually produce the intended effect.
I have grown weary with the “but we must do something!” mantra. No, we mustn’t, not if it’s stupid. The fact that a bill is “something” is not reason enough to install it as law. The fact that the latest round of imbecilic spending is pushed by D’s instead of R’s doesn’t somehow automatically render it novel or smart or virtuous. How’s about we eliminate “idiotic” from the realm of somethings we’ll consider? Until we’re reasonably certain something doesn’t fall into that category, how’s about we sit tight?
God almighty, every time the government does or say something, the market tanks. It’s sickening.
Even PJ O’Rourke was on the tube last night trashing the Republican party. The times, they are a changing – [Bob Dylan]
Oh, and it is kind of amusing that the Republicans’ profligate spending abd tax cutting have led us to the point where the situation demands still more profligate spending.
No debate, discussion, or analysis? What the hell do you think they’ve been doing for the last month, jacking off?! Next time try to get your talking points from a source that isn’t the RNC.
It wouldn’t, unless one was comparing it to other sheep.
As much as it pains me to admit it, Clinton left office without a deficit.So how is it not Bushes fault?So do you think we should do nothing for the banks or the auto industry? You didn’t answer the question. It seems to me you are saying do nothing and just wait and see. That didn’t seem to work so well in 1939. And as far as it being political, well politicians are the ones pushing it through. Do I think they can trim waste out of the bill, of course I do. But I don’t think wait and see is going to help at all.
Right! I’m a Republican apologist, okay! Let’s all get our roles in order, that’s how it’s done on this board. Next time try not to craft a straw man that’s so obviously pulled from your ass when in this very thread I’ve expressed my disgust with the Republicans.
And a month for a bunch of politicians to develop an effective use of $800B–please, are you serious? Yes, for the most part I think they were doing the political equivalent of jacking off.
Are you attributing this financial crisis to Bush’s deficit spending? Really?
Money that the taxpayers have a chance of getting back is a more palatable strategy for me. Bank and auto industry “rescues” at least have the possibility of such a structure.
And I dismiss out of hand that “anything” is a good strategy. Let’s try to determine if we’re bankrupting our children’s futures for a plan that might actually accomplish something. The bill that was passed was disgraceful–rushed though, riddled with pork, designed to permanently expand government. It was disgusting.
Nitpick: Did you mean 1929, the Great Depression?
I mean, yes, there was also the attitude toward Hitler in re: the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, occupying the Rhineland, and so forth, which culminated in 1939, but that doesn’t parallel very well here, being more appeasement than “wait and see.”
You too? You believe this financial crisis is the consequence of deficit spending? Of tax cuts? Really? This is amusing, it really is. We are in this crisis because of tax cuts. Fuck, who would have guessed it.