Is there some kind of context? Is he saying “our top priority [for fundraising] has to be…”? As opposed to “our top priority [for governing the country] must be…”?
Come on, let’s not ignore the obvious. The Republicans have employed obstructionism as their main policy of governance. They want to ruin America’s centuries long tradition of good credit, they want to shut down the government, they want to oppose anything they can. And they even say their primary goal of governance is to make sure Obama didn’t get re-elected. They’re willing to damage the country, as long as they feel that Obama will get more of the blame than they do. They demonstrated this in word and deed.
Have the democrats done anything remotely like this?
These two statements are made in entirely different contexts simply based on that.
Even so, it’s not what Cantor said, in itself, out of context, that’s so objectionable. It’s the fact that it’s a one-word description of the ACTUAL REPUBLICAN ACTIONS AND PLAN OF GOVERNANCE. It’s just an easy soundbite to show the intentions of the republicans, which we already see from their actions.
There is no corresponding action from the democrats.
So even if you view these statements as roughly equivelant - and I think that’s a pretty big stretch - the key is that there’s a dramatic difference in the actual behavior such a statement is referencing.
I think this is 99% accurate for Steve King, Bachmann, and the like, and they seem to be the driving force of Republican legislative philosophy right now.
I know I shouldn’t, but I always laugh when kids are capping and a retarded kid tries to join in. It’s the way they look around at the normal kids, searching for some sign of approval, of acceptance, of being normal that makes it funny to me. Thanks for brightening my day!
I’d be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but all evidence supports this hypothesis. They have mastered empty platitudes, so that’s something I guess.
I’m not a liberal. I’m as close to an outside observer as you’ll find in the US - not only do I have no use for partisanship, I think it’s a key hinderance to enlightenment and good governance. I know you probably have no way of understanding what I just said.
And basically, yes. I mean, the Republicans certainly have some goals, which include tax cuts, tax cuts, and tax cuts, but otherwise they’ve basically deliberately selected obstruction as a policy in the hopes that, if they can make the government disfunctional enough, then people who associate the government with the presidency will blame Obama. And to just generally promote their strategy of “government is bad - watch, we’re going to make the government as bad as possible. See! Told you!”
This is pretty close, but of course that’s not literally all they do. On slow days they try to cut relief programs, prevent women from getting abortions, stop gays from getting married - you know, whatever they can to contribute to the general surplus of human misery in the world.
The Republicans literally have no plans besides “sabotage the country so the democrats get the blame then continue to let the rich loot it blind until our fuck ups get us kicked out of power again”, rinse then repeat.
I vote “Meh”. Shodan is a known entity, a brand name, more or less. You know what you are going to get from a** Shodan** post. Its like consumer choice. You go to the liquor store, you really want the T-Bird wine but you can only afford Mad Dog 20/20. If you go ahead and buy it, you can’t really bitch about the quality! Or if you go to buy beer, and for some reason they only have Coors…
Shodan is a master of the reductio ad absurdem proof method:
[ul][li]If raising the minimum wage to $10/hour is good, why not $50? $500?[/li][li]If raising the maximum tax on dividends to 30% is good, why not 90%? 900%?[/li][li]If condemning someone’s politics is good, why not accuse them of murder? rape?[/li][li]If 18-year olds unable to vote are allowed to buy shotguns, why not 16-year olds? 8-year olds?[/li][li]If 2+2 is 4, who not 5? 50?[/li][/ul]
I hope, for Shodan’s sake, that his ignorance and absurd arguments are just sham; that he’s a secret liberal trying to make Republiopaths appear stupid.
But my suspicion is that this is not the case, that he hangs out in West Texas bars or drunk tanks and is idolized as an economic expert by his Republiopathic peers.
What makes you think his intellectual potential is any greater than what his SDMB postings reflect? “By their words ye shall know them…”
When a person consistently displays ignorance or asshattery on an internet discussion forum, one has every reason to suspect they are an ignorant asshat in real time as well.
