7 replies to this topic

[Mr. Roboto]

Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.

It’s not that the GOP leadership agrees with West; it is that such extreme remarks and views are now taken for granted.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.

It is clear that the center of gravity in the Republican Party has shifted sharply to the right. Its once-legendary moderate and center-right legislators in the House and the Senate — think Bob Michel, Mickey Edwards, John Danforth, Chuck Hagel — are virtually extinct.

The post-McGovern Democratic Party, by contrast, while losing the bulk of its conservative Dixiecrat contingent in the decades after the civil rights revolution, has retained a more diverse base. Since the Clinton presidency, it has hewed to the center-left on issues from welfare reform to fiscal policy. While the Democrats may have moved from their 40-yard line to their 25, the Republicans have gone from their 40 to somewhere behind their goal post.

What happened? Of course, there were larger forces at work beyond the realignment of the South. They included the mobilization of social conservatives after the 1973Roe v. Wade decision, the anti-tax movement launched in 1978 by California’s Proposition 13, the rise of conservative talk radio after a congressional pay raise in 1989, and the emergence of Fox News and right-wing blogs. But the real move to the bedrock right starts with two names: Newt Gingrich and Grover Norquist.

More:

http://www.washingto...VUlT_story.html

[PERM BANNED]

Are there really members of congress who are communists? Probably not, though some of that shit from San Francisco flat out scares me. But West is a hero in my book and always will be. He's not a coward, hiding behind political correctness. He's a man who does as he says and is willing to do what needs to be done with no fear of reprisal. This is a man, who was a combat Battalion Commander in Iraq. Not some pansy National Guard guy who sat on his ass for 12 months and rode a desk. This is a guy who literally dodged bullets and was responsible for the lives of over 600 men. When some Haji had vital information that would save the lives of his men and innocent civilians, LTC West didn't play around. He pulled his pistol and fired a round next to the insurgent's head. LTC West got the information he needed, and the lives of his men were saved. But people 8000 miles away who wouldn't know what altruism and patriotism meant if it kicked them in the face weren't happy with that decision. They don't have to write letters to grieving parents, widows and children. They have MSNBC to play their talking points for them. So LTC was relieved and retired from the Army.

So if that man calls other leaders in Congress cowards, more interested in keeping and expanding their power than solving the problem, I'm going to listen to him. Because I've seen the real LTC West, and I know he's not hiding any skeletons or pandering to people. He's as authentic as they come, and truly cares about this country. I don't know how many politicians you can make the same claim for.

[freedom78]

They don't have to write letters to grieving parents, widows and children.

The President does, and this guy would probably blindly label him a "communist". War hero and liar/deluded are not mutually exclusive, I fear.

[TAP]

War hero and liar/deluded are not mutually exclusive, I fear.

Just because he's over there ''defending' our freedom, doesn't mean he's gets to define our freedom over here. He's clearly part of the problem and not the solution.

[TAP]

some of that shit from San Francisco flat out scares me.

.....of all places.

[PERM BANNED]

The President does, and this guy would probably blindly label him a "communist". War hero and liar/deluded are not mutually exclusive, I fear.

I don't know if the President does that. I know Bush did it, and it was a big deal because he personally wrote every letter. Nothing typed or stamped. Rumsfield caught shit because he had a stamp that was used for all his condolence letters. How many Thanksgivings and Christmases has Obama spent in Afghanistan with the Soldiers? I'm not saying he doesn't care, or that writng a letter to the family of the departed holds some extraordinary weight. But the bottom line is that debt and dependence on the goverment for aide is increasing. And only one party has no qualms with this.

-I looked it up, and President Obama does send a personal condolence letter to each fallen Soldier.

Just because he's over there ''defending' our freedom, doesn't mean he's gets to define our freedom over here. He's clearly part of the problem and not the solution.

Don't cheapen it by using some slogan as moronic as defending freedom. It has nothing to do with that. But about a leader who was willing to do what needed to be done to save American lives. People that looked to him for guidance and leadership. That kind of responsibility can't be equated with the most powerful CEO or leader of any business. He was tested, and passed the test. All I'm saying is that most members of Congress are chickenshit, manipulating cowards only interested in furthering their own authority. Not just Democrats and not just Republicans. Very few are willing to have a candid conversation that is grounded in reality, and instead revert to infantile logic and slogans meant to appeal to lowest common denominator of society.

West defined the so called Communists as the Progressive Caucus. Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't part of the progressive ideology to expand government control into nearly every aspect of our lives, under the guise of equality and fairness? i don't think any members are calling for a complete state takeover of resources and private property. But a large portion is willing to write new legislation for any plea they can discover. On a case by case basis, whose actions to remedy problems most resemble the individual solutions a hypothetical communist would advise?

[freedom78]

-I looked it up, and President Obama does send a personal condolence letter to each fallen Soldier.

I wasn't aware such a thing was on record. But they should, I think, as C-i-C contact (letter, call...whatever) each family.

Random thought but one of the best and most bitter lines from Pink Floyd's The Final Cut goes thusly:

And kind old King George
Sent Mother a note
When he heard that father was gone.
It was, I recall,
In the form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all.
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

[wedjat]

LOL, so because someone fought in combat he's now a great guy? Big deal. Serving your country doesn't automatically make you a fine upright individual. Jeez.