Scott's Brain Meat: Democratic

Showing posts with label Democratic. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

3/19/12 - Young Voters, Political Blogging, ASAP, and the War on Women

HUffpost: Mitt Romney Doesn't See How Young Voters 'Could Vote For A Democrat'

So, Mitt can't even begin to conceive how a young person in this day and age could consider voting for a Democratic Candidate. And you know what? I have to agree with him. Let's face it, the Democrats are completely out of touch with America's modern youth to such an extent that it is practically inconceivable that a young adult of voting age would somehow feel that the Democrats have their best interests in mind. That is, of course, unless that young person can't afford health care because of skyrocketing insurance premiums, can't afford to go to college due to skyrocketing tuition costs, has recently been called a slut an a whore by a GOP mouthpiece for using birth control, wants to retain their reproductive rights, is gay or has a friend or parent who is gay, masturbates to pornography, are non-Christian or Muslim, believes in Evolution, knows somebody who is unemployed, are still living with their parents, or has a family member or friend who is currently dependent on one of the many social programs that Republicans keep trying to abolish. But really, what are the odds of that?

*

In the past, I've done my best not too spend too much time on only politics. This is partly because this is not a political blog, and partly because I have so many interests other than politics. However, it is getting harder and harder to focus on anything else these days. Not only are we in a very politically volatile moment in our country's history (due in no small part to the biggest recession since the Great Depression while orchestrating wars in multiple countries with no clear strategy to speak of), but we are also in a weird era in which politics is rapidly becoming a parody itself. Honestly, how can an rational human being watch such jaw-dropping theatrics and not pause to remark on them? The Republican Party has decided to double down on its efforts to take back the White House by adopting political platforms that sound like Archie Bunker Soliloquies, while the Democratic White House spends most of its time doing its best to not look too liberal, which is no small feat in of itself.

Seriously, how am I expected not to comment on this stuff?

*

And now, a few words from Lee Camp.

*

If you use the term ASAP, be it in an email or on a post-it note, no matter what the circumstances, you are a complete and utter douche. Stop it.

*

The GOP has become an exercise in how not to carry on a logical debate. Take what many people are starting to frame as the Republican War on Women. Republican lawmakers have been stirring up their minority base of angry white men this election cycle (and attempting to distract from the slowly losing economic arguments against Obama) by focusing on anti-women legislation that feels like a retread of everything we've already gone through during the first half of the twentieth century. If they aren't demanding that women receive medically unnecessary ultrasounds before being allowed to have legally protected abortions in order to show them the error of their ways, they're fighting for the right of their employers to decide whether or not their medical insurance should include birth control coverage, and telling them to keep their legs closed if they don't like it.

Then, a law student who was blocked from testifying at a Republican-run Dog & Pony Show that birth control coverage is necessary by sharing a personal anecdote in which a fellow student died from her inability to afford prescription birth control medicines was called a slutty little whore who should film her sexual escapades for men to leer at if she expects them to pay for her sex pills by Republican mouth piece Rush Limbaugh. Needless to say, this (and the refusal of any Republican candidates or politicians to openly repudiate Rush's comments) proved to be the final straw for a lot of people who hadn't yet been drawn into the argument.

Naturally, the resulting claims that the GOP is waging a "War on Women" began to irritate the Right, and so they responded to the justified and wholly demonstrable label the same way that they always do: single out a Democrat who has done something vaguely similar and cry "But they did it, too!" Of course, it's kind of hard to find a Democratic politician who acts like a stereotypical misogynist from the 1940's, so the closest they could come was to complain that controversial political comedian Bill Maher, who recently donated one million dollars to the Democratic Campaign, called Sarah Palin naughty words not once, but twice!

Ignoring the fact that Maher's name-calling and Limbaugh's slander are incomparable (mainly because explaining the logic of this to Limbaugh Ditto-heads and Right Wing Loyalists is both exhausting and pointless), it's also plain to see that hanging their defense of a systematic attack on Women's Rights that have already been fought for and won in the past century on one comedian's foul mouth is a rather flimsy defense. So, what does the GOP do? They double-down on it in hopes of winning back female voters.

There! The Democrat Party is the true enemy of the lady folk! Bill Maher called Sarah Palin names and then donated money them, and somebody called Obama's White House a Boy's Club! That's far worse then our attempts to systematically erode a women's right to make decisions regarding her body without the government or her employer giving her permission to do so! Honest!

This is the kind of defense that only makes sense to you if you are desperate to find validation for your indefensible views.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Republican Scare Tactics - Scaring Away Big Business

Image via WikipediaI spent five minutes or so listening to Pat Buchanan defend the Republican struggle against any kind of tax increases for big businesses on Morning Joe this morning, and it really did the trick to snap me out of the lazy, relaxed mindset of a long holiday weekend and launch me head first into the frustrations of the real world that is the work week.

First of all, any debate regarding the Debt Ceiling is meaningless. The Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling 19 times while Bush was in office, so there really isn't any logical argument as to why they would suddenly be so against doing so now that isn't purely politically manipulative. They're just trying to screw with Obama, and they're using the threat of completely shit-canning the global economy as leverage to get their way.

The regular voting public doesn't really know enough about the debt ceiling, which is more economic theory than anything else, so how do they sell the voters on their anti-tax tantrum? By going on pseudo-news shows and holding press conferences claiming that any kind of increase in the disgustingly low tax rates on big businesses and corporations will drive all of these companies overseas to countries that aren't as gun-shy about slave wages and child labor as us stupid, greedy Americans. Their threat to the American public is simple and straight forward: Tax the rich people who pay us, and we'll take away your jobs.

The argument, or at least the threat, is completely invalid. You can give all the tax cuts you want to the few manufacturers we have left in this country of Wal-Mart Greeters and K-Mart Shoppers, it will still be cheaper for them to move their operations to countries that don't keep them from paying employees $10 a week. This was never a huge problem in the past, but ever since the US has virtually eliminated all tariffs on imported goods, there's really no cost incentive whatsoever for manufacturers to stay local.

This is why the Republicans are lying when they say that tax increases will drive companies overseas, and it is the same reason they are lying when they say tax cuts for these same companies will create new jobs. And when Pat Buchanan tells the Morning Joe audience, of which I was briefly a member of this morning, that taxing the corporate jet manufacturers will destroy jobs and weaken the economy, he is stunningly full of shit. Marketplace opportunism that manipulated trade regulations and tax policies, the unwavering greed that drove government officials to create a system in which companies and corporations could squeeze as much profits as possible out of a rigged system that will eventually collapse like the pyramid-scheme that it is, that is what has already destroyed jobs and crippled the economy. What could be more Republican, or even American, than that?

What a great way to start the week.

Monday, April 5, 2010

More Than 200,000 Could Lose Unemployment Benefits This Week

If you ever needed a clear example of exactly how little politicians care about the people whose welfare they supposedly are working for, you won't do much better than this.

The first time this happened, back in February, you could pretty much level the blame at the Republicans exclusively. This time around, however, both sides are guilty of putting the chance of scoring a political win ahead of the importance of lending financial security to the growing number of Americans currently unemployed because of the governments initial failings at monitoring economic policy and procedure.

The Democrats could have easily called the Republican bluff and worked through the Easter break to get the job done, or could have accepted the temporary extension offered and fixed things on the return. Instead, they decided to double down and gamble on some more negative press for the GOP. It is rather unfortunate that the only time the Dems seem to grow a pair is when it doesn't benefit anyone.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost