The Associated Press finally gets around to asking the question if the GOP is tanking the economy on purpose in order to win in November with Orange Julius vowing another debt ceiling fight he plans to “win”, and that the uncertainty that Republicans are not barking mad enough to scuttle the whole deal in a scorched earth campaign is actually starting to hurt job growth. The perennial “Republicans, Stupid, Evil or Both?” argument aside in this case, the real comedy value comes from Power Line’s response that the Democrats are the ones sabotaging the economy. To whit:
In order to either help or hurt the economy, Republicans would have to 1) enact policies that would do one or the other, or 2) block the Democrats from enacting policies that would do one or the other. The Republicans haven’t enacted anything since the Democrats took control of Congress in January 2007, so the theory has to be that the GOP has blocked something that otherwise would have helped. In fact, however, the Democrats have been able to enact the major components of their economic plan, including the stimulus–perhaps the most dismal failure of any legislative initiative in American history–and Obamacare. Democrats have caused discretionary spending to skyrocket and have run up $5 trillion in new debt since President Obama took office. So they have pretty much had their way.
Yes, the inestimable Assrocket figures the not fully implemented Affordable Care Act and the stimulus are proof enough that not only the GOP gets a full a complete pass on obstruction of the President’s jobs bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and a bunch of other things, but that the Democrats are really guilty of the following:
It would be much more sensible for the AP to suggest that the Democrats are deliberately injuring the economy by increasing spending and running up more debt (not to mention deliberately driving the cost of energy higher).
Yes, so the Democrats’ secret plan is as follows:
1) Sabotage the economy.
2) ?????
3) Lose in November!
That of course has to be the only possible explanation, self-sabotage in order to put the country in the hands of the GOP. Assrocket’s a deep thinker, indeed. In fact, the entire Republican message this weekend is all about how President Obama is sabotaging himself with failed Republican attacks from 2007 in order to…lose in November…or something, I don’t know. Republicans are like infinite monkeys with typewriters, only they end up typing “POOP” 37 million times no matter what configuration you put them in.
Of course, when they say “Democrats are trying to wreck the country on purpose” they mean “the MSM won’t cover the race war they’re trying to start”, so that makes perfect sense, actually.
Doesn’t it?
BGinCHI
Wingnut welfare is not a byproduct of this system.
It is the system.
Both Sides Do It
Love a good poop joke.
That was a good poop joke.
Southern Beale
Let’s see and when did that happen? Oh yeah, when Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the House. Both pieces of legislation were used as hammers to clobber Democrats — along with the phony-baloney Tea Party movement, created by corporate American and foisted on the naton by Fox News — and we had a summer of “Town Brawl” meetings and hootin’ and hollerin’ about Socialism and so as to secure a Republican majority in the all important 2010 midterm elections. After which the Republicans took over and we got … zip.
But yeah let’s ignore the past 18 months, sure.
Southern Beale
Let’s see and when did that happen? Oh yeah, when Nancy Pelosi was speaker of the House. Both pieces of legislation were used as hammers to clobber Democrats — along with the phony-baloney Tea Party movement, created by corporate America and foisted on the naton by Fox News — and we had a summer of “Town Brawl” meetings and hootin’ and hollerin’ about Socialism so as to secure a Republican majority in the all important 2010 midterm elections. After which the Republicans took over and we got … zip.
But yeah let’s ignore the past 18 months, sure.
Southern Beale
Aaand I have no clue why that comment posted twice. I swear I hit “submit” once.
Something is weird here. But, Sorry!
Villago Delenda Est
@Southern Beale:
It was a good comment. The rerun was as good as the first run.
Waynski
Well put, Zandar. I guess when after 3.5 years of the MSM giving them the benefit of the doubt that their actions were based on legitimate policy differences, despite all evidence to the contrary, they’re a little worried that the truth of what they’ve been doing and continue to do is finally bubbling to the surface. If “I know you are but what am I” is all they have as a response, we should welcome it.
David in NY
It’s “to wit” not “to whit.”
Mark S.
It’s probably not in the top 10,000, since, you know, it saved us from an even deeper recession.
MattF
Resisting the temptation to put air-quotes around every word in that ‘argument’… When you’ve got your own facts, and ‘logic’ means “I’ve figured out how to number the clauses in my sentences”, you can prove whatever.
Southern Beale
@Villago Delenda Est:
Snort. I think the second run was when I fixed some typos. Maybe something is wrong with the edit feature.
Linda Featheringill
This is a defense?
burnspbesq
Somewhat tangentially related, this is a pretty good indictment of the economic stupidity currently being inflicted on Britain by the coalition government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/20/observer-editorial-goverments-calamitous-economic-policy
Southern Beale
Let me also add, the most frustrating and annoying part of our discourse these days is that pretty much every argument devolves into schoolyard playground taunts of “Not my fault!” “Is too!” “Not!” “IS!” God I fucking hate the bullshit. I get that we need to understand our problems before we can fix them but I think it’s the rare case where the debate focuses on an issue where we disagree over the facts. Climate change is one, but pretty much everyone knows that the “not man made” crowd is irrelevant.
Over at my place I posted a thread about that pre-Iraq invasion, post-9/11 Connie Chung interview with Martina Navratilova where Chung basically told Martina to shut her Commie yap and go back to Czechoslovakia if she doesn’t think America is the awesomest how DARE she criticize the Bush Administration, and I posted that as just one example of the media climate of the time, that any dissent was shouted down and dissenters were told they were unpatriotic and terrorist appeasers and aiding the enemy.
And along comes one of my conservative commenters to point out “well yes but a lot of Democrats voted for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act too,” and I just want to fucking scream at these people. Yeah that was the fucking point of posting this Connie Chung interview, asshole.
See, whenever these debates devolve into “Not my fault” it’s just never, ever Republicans’ fault, or if it is Republicans’ fault it’s also the Democrats’ fault so nyah nyah nyah. It’s fucking tiresome and wholly unproductive.
The point was to have a conversation about why we need a better media and what happens when the media is in the tank for power. And this asshole just wants to say “Democrats do it too!” So fucking dishonest.
piratedan
not to mention all of that landmark legislation that was passed out of the house on the GOP’s Jobs!Jobs!Jobs! platform that the Senate and the President killed. The attempted strides of placing a government inspector inside every functioning uterus would have not only “shrunk” government, we could still provide tax cuts to wealthy by ensuring that young people didn’t fuck and if they did, well then they would have to give that up so they could raise families like responsible adults, as long as they were white christian fundamentalists. Cripes, how could you guys forget all of that.
Cacti
@Mark S.:
It’s not like the Missouri compromise and the Kansas Nebraska Act over slavery led to a civil war or anything.
Affordable healthcare is much worse.
burnspbesq
I’m going to violate my own rule about paying no attention to Jennfier Rubin, because Larison’s takedown of her latest stupid outburst is too good not to share.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/
Chris
That “race war” article you linked to is both sickening and sadly true. What a way to kick off the week.
Cacti
@Southern Beale:
It’s harrowing to think how close we came to a full-on embrace of fascism.
If another 9/11 type attack happened under a Republican administration, I don’t think our constitutional democracy would survive.
That’s all the motivation I need to vote D in November.
MattF
OT, but demonstrating that wingers think rich people shouldn’t have to pay any taxes:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/conservatives-liken-dem-tax-dodging-bill-to-nazis-soviets.php?ref=fpa
SiubhanDuinne
@David in NY: Thanks. You saved me the trouble of making the identical comment.
arguingwithsignposts
@burnspbesq: Your rule is to pay attention to Jennifer Rubin?
ETA: closer reading, need more coffee.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So the Republican strategy next November is to pretend the Democrats control the House? The Right is really doing their best to recreate at lest the leadership of the Soviet Union inside their own little circle.
To respond to Cacti they did create full blown Fascism in this country, it’s just in this bizarre Republican subculture were you say the wrong thing you are denounced and ejected from the movement.
Frankensteinbeck
I must disagree, or at least nitpick a bit. I mean, I agree with your general sentiment. First, as @piratedan pointed out, the GOP house has passed all kinds of stuff. It’s been crazy ass shit designed to die in the Senate, wishlists of tax cuts and security net gutting and chastity belts that never had a chance, but it’s unfair to suggest they haven’t even tried anything. The monkey banging away on the keyboard is reaching for Shakespeare, POOP is just all he’s got. You could say they haven’t passed any legislation in *good faith*.
Incidentally, my favorite was their bill that the House budgets do not need Senate or Presidential confirmation. That one really highlights their lack of understanding their own job.
Second, they’re really not arguing that the Democrats are deliberately sinking the economy to gain more power. They’re arguing (in a clear case of projection) that we don’t know that our policies will sink the-
I’m sorry, I just realized that I’ve heard them, more than once, claim that the Democrats are deliberately sinking the economy to gain more power. Nevermind my second argument. I believe the missing step was ‘desperately poor people will turn to the Democrats to increase government assistance’.
Xecky Gilchrist
Yes, so the Democrats’ secret plan is as follows:
1) Sabotage the economy.
2) ?????
3) Lose in November!
…actually, if you rewrite (but keep the meaning intact) in #1 as “pass Republican-lite laws,” this is a fair summation of the DLC strategy.
liberal
@MattF:
I really like the part about banning from ever setting foot in the country again.
ppcli
including the stimulus–perhaps the most dismal failure of any legislative initiative in American history
a) Since it halted a Republican-initiated spiral of catastrophic job losses and prevented a 1930s style depression, it was not a failure at all, never mind “the most dismal blah blah”.
b) To the extent that it was not as successful as hoped, or as successful as the larger stimulus urged by Krugman and others would have been, it was because 2/3 of it was tax cuts – one of the least effective ways to use the stimulus – to please the Republicans. (This was back when Obama believed that meeting the Republicans halfway could result in anything other than moving the goalposts.)
[I note, though, that the Republican mantra is that tax cuts never cost anything. So when they calculate the “cost” of the stimulus, they should only count it as 1/3 as large as they say it is. Republicans opposing tax cuts – how about that!]
c)
Zifnab
You can’t really start a race war if no one pays attention to it. So I’m going to run out on a limb and suggest that maybe this is going to blow up in the GOP’s face, too.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Cacti: We’re far closer now than we were then.
Cato
This has been our strategy from the begginning, to bring Obama down by any means necessary. And its working. Suck on it.
JGabriel
__
__
Zandar @ Top:
I feel like I owe Standard & Poor’s a mea culpa: I criticized S&P’s downgrade of US debt 9 months ago, but it turns out they were right — the GOP is bound and determined to default on US debt:
.
MattF
@liberal: Yeah, taxes are for ‘little people’:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Helmsley
jibeaux
Speaking of self-sabotage, have you all heard the sad ballad of George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina?
FlipYrWhig
@ppcli: Skewing it towards tax cuts also pleased conservative Democrats. And for it to pass, everyone who could be pleased needed pleasing.
Comrade Dread
When haven’t the Republicans been sabotaging the economy?
Not to absolve the Democratic party who has far too often just gone along with it (whether from a bipartisan fetish or naked self-interest,) but the GOP has been actively sowing the seeds of destruction for at least 30 years.
FlipYrWhig
@jibeaux: George Tierney Jr. of Greenville South Carolina should have just shut his dick sucker. That would have been the smarter course of action for George Tierney Jr. of Greenville South Carolina.
redshirt
@jibeaux: Ah, my two favorite traits when mixed together: Stupidity and aggression.
jibeaux
@redshirt: George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, SC is making the rules here. He rulez the google.
bemused
It never ceases to amaze but no longer surprise me how the critical thinking impaired among us can spew astonishing rationalizations at the drop of a hat and really believe what they are saying. The behavior reminds me of a relative who has had a series of small strokes,yet denies it. He’s extremely self-centered, goes to great lengths to avoid responsibilities even though it’s more work for him to avoid them than actually doing them and has absolutely no interest in people as human beings.
Davis X. Machina
This theory is not without bi-partisan support.
amk
Americans shouldn’t be angry with Congress — they got exactly the system of government they asked for.
JGabriel
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Yes, until the economy picks again, whenever that may.
Then the GOP will claim credit, and, if they are not in power at the time, will tell us the economy picked up because of the legislation they passed 2011-2012, when they were in charge.
.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@jibeaux: Wow, that is tragic. George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina should probably have not referred to a woman’s mouth as a “dick sucker”. George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina most assuredly should not be calling women other, even worse names, either.
I think that George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina is going to find that his newfound internet fame (fucking internet, how does it work?) is going to really mess up his prospects for both dating and employment. Especially employment. A guy who abuses women, the way George Tierney of Greenville South Carolina did, is probably going to do something stupid and make his employer lose a lot of money.
Elias
WTF? I’ve seen those blogs and those remarks to Jesse Jackson do not read “Shut up Jesse Jackson, we’re tired of you.” In fact, if I’m looking for my daily dose of unrepentant racism, all I have to do is look for the latest conservative blogger talking about Jesse Jackson.
jeffreyw
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
I see what you did there.
Ben Franklin
The article did not deliver as expected.
Just more ‘he said, she said’ execrable, ‘both sides do it’ horseshit.
danimal
@FlipYrWhig: Leave George Tierney Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina Aloooooonnnnnnne!
jibeaux
@Forum Transmitted Disease: Very true. And then I think for the next potential employer of George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina, it could be an actionable negligent hire to hire such a person as George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina, considering, as the employer must, the misogynist tendencies of George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina. How could one conclude anything other than George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina has sexual harassment lawsuit written all over him?
FlipYrWhig
@Elias: Remember when Jesse Jackson was all over the news and the media hung on his every word for days on end? Me neither.
quannlace
A least he got that right.
And ‘control of Congress?’ Did he forget 2010?
Chris
@bemused:
I second your amazement. I would also add that it’s terrifying how easily such people can climb to the top in a variety of fields and try to turn their delusions into fact.
Captain Howdy
No, it doesn’t. Because if you’re putting this in quotes: “…the race war they’re trying to start,” you are affecting the voice of the wingnut, and so it should read “the race war we’re trying to start.” Otherwise no, it makes no sense.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
the best key to reading the gop game plan is to see what they are saying the democrats are up to.
Amir Khalid
@jibeaux:
And now the name of the hitherto unsung George Tierney, Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina shall be stuck in my head all night. That, and the question of what else he does with his — well, you know.
Ben Franklin
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/205025-dems-receive-more-bain-dollars-than-gop
Democrats have accepted more political donations than Republicans from executives at Bain Capital, complicating the left’s plan to attack Mitt Romney for his record at the private-equity firm.
During the last three election cycles, Bain employees have given Democratic candidates and party committees more than $1.2 million. The vast majority of that sum came from senior executives.
Republican candidates and party committees raised over $480,000 from senior Bain executives during that time period.
Individual donations, not from Teh Bain. Why would that ratchet-down the anti-Bain campaign rhetoric?
Were the employees encouraged to donate (they can’t be forced)? My old co used to
‘encourage’ us to donate to their PAC, but they were always careful with the disclaimer.
gaz
@Cato:
Shorter: Party before country. America can rot.
I’ll be bookmarking your comment, in case anyone ever has any doubts about what a treasonous, fascist little anti-american TRAITOR you are.
Mino
@Cacti: I have no evidence, but I suspect this might be the reason Obama’s worst policies have involved civil liberties. I think the mental fragility of the country is a consideration.
Not an excuse, though. Wish he were better.
rikyrah
they are sociopaths.
plain and simple.
Mino
@Ben Franklin: Maybe Bain execs know full well what Rmoney and Ryan would do to our economy. And they’re worried. They’re not idiots.
FlipYrWhig
@Ben Franklin: I can’t figure out how their numbers work. They have a super-PAC contribution listed separately, and when they discuss contributions to individual candidates the numbers don’t seem particularly enormous — and then Romney is listed as the biggest beneficiary anyway. I’m not seeing how the claim in the headline stacks up to the information in the story.
Napoleon
All I have to say is George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina
FlipYrWhig
@Mino: Well, in purely cynical terms, I doubt any candidate has ever lost a vote due to excessive zeal in pursuing and punishing suspected evildoers. There aren’t “civil liberties” voters. (And for the sake of argument I’m accepting that “civil liberties” here is a shorthand for executive power/war/peace/espionage/terrorism issues. Marriage equality IMHO should count towards civil liberties, but we don’t use it that way in the blogosphere, so, never mind.)
That’s why the debate about conscience and character tends to jostle with the debate about political benefit. Which is too bad, but, there you have it.
Ben Franklin
@Mino:
Which further confuses me. How does this intimidate the campaign against Bain?
@FlipYrWhig:
The Headline is definitely inflammatory and baseless.
Ash Can
Cato MUST be a spoof. S/he’s far too honest to be a genuine right-winger.
rlrr
@FlipYrWhig:
These days, conservative are the only people who care what Jesse Jackson says…
bemused
@Chris:
Heard on NPR, Psychopath Test reveals 1% of general population is psychopathic, up to 4% of business people/CEO’s etc, are. This would not surprise me. If there was a way to test the current crop of Republicans, I wonder what the percentage of psychopathy among them than the general population.
Mino
@Ben Franklin: I just meant that it was in their (Bain execs) best interest to have a functioning economy, not a Somalia. As long as no one outlaws their business model, they could give a shit about criticism.
@FlipYrWhig: Sorry, yes, I was speaking of privacy/Patriot Act implementations.
Mino
@bemused: 27%
bemused
@Mino:
lol
Ben Franklin
@Mino:
I thought the article interesting since the Booker comments on MTP. According to some sources, he was instructed by Dems. If so, what is the strategery? That is what’s so confounding.
Obama needs to be born again, hard. Do not let them up for air.
Ben Franklin
WP doesn’t like the word ‘hard’?
unfathomable
Ben Franklin
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
@Mino:
I thought the article interesting since the Booker comments on MTP. According to some sources, he was instructed by Dems. If so, what is the strategery? That is what’s so confounding.
Obama needs to be born again,(blank yer WP). Do not let them up for air.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ben Franklin:
Well, in a Beavis and Butthead sort of way, you can undestand why, can’t you?
Hovercraft Full of Eels
Hey, why are people posting here about that stupid thing that George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina did? Aren’t there already a couple of threads dedicated to the George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina kerfluffle?
Please, people, if you want to discuss George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina, it probably would be more relevant to do so in one of the existing threads about George Tierney, Jr., of Greenville, South Carolina.
Patricia Kayden
Sadly, it doesn’t appear that the Repubs are facing any negative consequences for being the party of No. So it’s kind of pathetic and funny that the MSM is now blaming the Dems for the slow economic growth.