PushBack Politics
The Tea Party Puppets and the Death of Compromise
My Liberal beef of the day? The GOP has allowed a minority of its own members, the so-called Tea Party, who are manipulated by the very wealthy to use them and their gullible ignorance to dictate party positions. For all of their political leaders’ tough talk, the Republicans have steadfastly refused to act responsibly as one of two parties in the world’s supposed foremost Democracy. And top it off, they have scared the GOP former good-faith conservatives into deriding even the word “compromise” since the day John Boehner took the gavel as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Now, despite the damage that political gridlock is doing to Americans their country’s infrastructure and ability to function as a free society, they press on. Why? Because they’re afraid of being “primaried” out of their 3-day work weeks and lifetime healthcare and pension plans. Some statesmen these are. Although the left has tried–and in the case of President Obama, been a pushover–the political right is particularly vehement when it comes to compromise. Conservatives are now totally under the thumb of the ubiquitous Tea Party movement, whose clarion call is a refusal to compromise, regardless of the practical consequences. And why do the [...]
Budget “Austerians” And Deficit Hawks Won’t Face The Facts
Today’s Liberal Beef? It staggers my imagination to think of how much more solid the U.S. economy’s recovery would be if not for the damned “austerians”, or Tea partiers as they prefer to be labeled—and boy do they LOVE labels– were not such suckers for the panderers and deficit-obsessed. According to the latest forecasts, both here (the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office) and abroad, the US budget deficit will shrink to 4% of GDP this year. That’s right, the budget deficit is actually shrinking despite their wails of doom and gloom. Since the recession ended four years ago, the federal budget deficit has topped $1 trillion every year. But now the government’s annual deficit is shrinking far faster than anyone in Washington expected, and perhaps even faster than many economists think is advisable for the health of the economy. The slide from 2009′s 10.1% budget shortfall is one in the eye for the Tea party and any other advocate of “contractionary expansion”. Even the name illustrates the ridiculousness of its foundation. Worse for the fans of austerity, forecasts published by the US congressional budget office expect the deficit to fall to 2.1% of GDP by 2015 as tax revenues soar. By [...]
Christie Don’t Need No GOP: NJ Gov Can Win In 2016 As Independent
Like most who call New Jersey home, I’m a fan of our Governor. It’s hard to believe Chris Christie—who is prominent on cable news once again this weekend thanks to his relentless PR campaign for the Jersey Shore to kick off its first summer since Sandy—wasn’t even supposed to win against then-Governor Jon Corzine just a few years ago. Remember, the Garden State is decidedly blue. President Obama carried it by 17 points in November (and yes, Dick Morris did mention once that New Jersey “may be in play” for Mitt Romney), and no Republican has won here since George Bush (41) carried it 25 years ago (and yes, 1988 was already 25 years ago…I’m going to go run in traffic on the Turnpike now). But Christie did win, and given the fiscal mess Corzine left behind, a budget hawk was just what Jersey needed to regain not only its credit, but it’s pride as a state that is mostly seen as a punch line by the rest of the country. The Governor’s candor is mostly described as bullying by the scant 29 percent who still don’t approve of the job he’s doing. But for the 71 percent who do [...]
President Obama Lays a Wreath at Arlington National Cemetery
President Obama lays a wreath on Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. May 27, 2013 As is Memorial Day tradition, President Barack Obama visited Arlington National Cemetery this morning to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns in honor of all those who have fallen during military combat. The Tomb of the Unknowns has become a traditional visiting spot for the president on every Memorial Day. The tomb serves as a monument dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains being identified. In a wordless ceremony, members of the military performed the “21 Gun Salute” before playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” upon the president’s arrival. After the national anthem, the president laid the wreath over the tomb, followed by a performance of “Taps” and then a moment of silence. -snip- mediaite
(VIDEO) Bob Dole gives Republican Party low marks – GOP ought to be “closed for repairs”
Former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole doesn’t think much of his party these days. Dole, who ran against President Bill Clinton in 1996 and was the leader of Senate Republicans for much of the 1980s and 90s, slammed the GOP for excessive obstructionism and for failing to convey a forward-looking agenda during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.” Never one to mince words, Dole did not absolve President Obama of the blame for the dysfunction in Washington, D.C., but he directed the lion’s share of his criticism at his own party. “I think they ought to put a sign on the [Republican] national committee doors that says ‘closed for repairs’ until New Year’s Day next year and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas,” Dole said. Asked whether Republicans of years past, many of whom had a more diplomatic approach to compromise and governance than today’s Republicans, would be able to make it in the modern GOP, Dole said, “I doubt it.” “Reagan wouldn’t have made it. Certainly Nixon couldn’t have made it, because he had ideas,” he explained. “We might have made it, but I doubt it.” And much of the blame for the gridlock, Dole said, [...]
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