Government

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GOP betting the House

The GOP only won the House of Representatives in 2012 because of gerrymandering — more people voted for Democrats overall but because of the way districts are drawn, the majority didn’t win.

Thanks to the Shutdown, which most Americans correctly attribute to Republicans, there are enough Republicans in jeopardy of losing their seats that we could see Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2016.

Of course, this poll is of the “If the election were held today, who would you vote for” variety, placing the incumbent against a nameless opponent. These are tremendously unreliable because (a) anything can happen within a year; and (b) people compare their current representative with an ideal opponent of the other party, and that’s usually not what happens.

Still, this poll is important because it emphasizes what many of us have been saying: This shutdown is hurting Republicans. They are so much in a bubble that they do not see this, but the numbers don’t lie.

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Back in the bubble

It’s been said many times that the current Republican party lives in a bubble, where they only listen to people who agree with them and disregard any news that contradicts their pre-conceived notions.

That’s why they reject polls showing that people actually like Obamacare and want abortion to be legal, and why they deny evolution and climate change — these things go against what they believe, and what they believe is more important than facts.

It’s also why they were convinced up until the last minute that they were going to win the Presidential election in 2012, when in fact they lost by what, six points or so (which is fairly major in a Presidential election)?

But at least they are consistent. Republicans are convinced that the shutdown is supported by the American people, despite every single poll showing the opposite. A recent CBS poll, for instance, showed that even voters who identify themselves as Republicans were against the shutdown, but the Tea Party Republicans supported it by a large margin, and those are the ones in the bubble these days.

They’re practically giddy over it, too. They’re really happy they shut the government down, and why shouldn’t they be? They hate the government. They’ve been doing everything they can to kill it since they were formed. (Well, except for that part of government that forces everyone to follow Christian law.)

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Negotiation transcript

Republicans: We want to negotiate concerning the upcoming budget.

Obama: OK.

Republicans: We need you to completely shut down the one program that was your biggest accomplishment, that was passed by both Houses of Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court, and which we have spent the last three years trying to destroy but have been unable to.

Obama: Uh, no, that’s not going to happen.

Republicans: Obama is refusing to negotiate! It’s all his fault the government has shut down!

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How democracy works

This is how democracy works: Sometimes the majority is against you and you lose. Your solution is to work to get people elected who will change the law.

Holding a temper tantrum and shutting down government until you get your way is not how democracy works.vote_ballot_box

Look, Republicans: You lost. You lost in 2008 when Obama had health care as part of his platform and you lost in 2012 after it had been enacted. Your candidate vowed to get rid of Obamacare and he lost. If it wasn’t for gerrymandering, you would have lost the House too since more people voted for Democrats. In fact, in five of the past six Presidential elections, more people voted against you than for you.

You lost. Even the lawsuit you filed to stop Obamacare lost.

Grow up and deal with it.

Senator McCain gets it. He took to the floor last night and reminded his GOP colleagues that the law passed after lengthy debate. McCain said “the people spoke” on the matter when they reelected Obama in 2012 and rejected GOP candidate Mitt Romney — whose main selling point was that he would repeal the health care law.

“We fought as hard as we could in a fair and honest manner and we lost,” McCain said. “One of the reasons was because we were in the minority, and in democracies, almost always the majority governs and passes legislation.”

So, Republicans — don’t like Obamacare? Maybe you might want to try getting the support of the American people and winning an election. I heard that works.

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Ted Cruz replaced by wacky inflatable tube

Republicans were pleased today when Senator Cruz was replaced by a wacky and lovable inflatable promotional tube today.4370674716

“Look at him, isn’t he great?” said Senator McCain as the tube fluttered and bounced around behind the Senate podium. “It’s much more fun to watch than Senator Cruz, and accomplishes the same thing he did without having to worry about bathroom breaks.”

When some complained that the tube was not appropriate, supporters pointed out that both the tube and the Texas Senator were very similar, since they were both brainless and filled with hot air.

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Cruz stands up to that idiot Cruz

As we saw in yesterday’s blog entry, Senator Cruz spoke for many hours about how important it is to not vote for closure and instead to stand against it in order to defund Obamacare. He was quite serious about this.

Well, fortunately, today, he met his enemy, in the form of a certain Senator Cruz, who voted for closure despite everything Senator Cruz had said the day earlier.

Good thing we have senators like Senator Cruz who are willing to stand up to terrible senators like Senator Cruz.

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Cruz in for a Bruisin’

As I write this, Senator Cruz is in some sort of semi-fillibuster mode in a useless and futile attempt to — well, I’m not sure. He says he wants to stop Obamacare, but this won’t do it. Certainly his own party leaders don’t support this. Cruz is just sucking up to the Tea Party crazies who like to bang their heads against the wall and constantly complain, because no matter what Obama does for them, he continues to stubbornly remain black. Or something. I’m not quite sure of their logic.ted-cruz

Obamacare passed both Houses. It was signed by the President. The Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. Forty-two attempts to repeal it have failed. It’s not going away.

Most of its provisions have already gone into effect and are showing to be successful. My insurance rates have risen every year for the past ten years and for the first time, I am able to negotiate (because the companies can no longer turn me down for my wife’s pre-existing condition) and how about that? My rates are going down, and that’s in a state with a Tea Party governor doing everything possible to thwart the law.

What the Republicans are really worried about is not that the program will fail. They are worried it will be successful — that people will like it, and then blame them for trying to prevent it.

After all, they have shown over and over again that they don’t really care about anything except getting re-elected and helping their wealthy donors. That’s why we have seen a grand total of zero job bills passed by the Republicans.

Ted Cruz is becoming the new face of that party, which is not making the party leadership happy. Then again, they invited this. Instead of standing up to the Tea Party extremists, they catered to them. And now they have to deal with it.

And they’re not the only ones suffering because of it.

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In Republican fantasy land

Welcome to Republican fantasy land, where a large number of Republicans reside! Sometimes called “The Bubble”, RFL is similar to the real world.

In Republican fantasy land, people who get welfare are all lazy bums who don’t deserve to get benefits. There are no unemployed people searching for work, no disabled veterans, and no families trying to get by on minimum wage.

In Republican fantasy land, the country was founded on the Bible.

In Republican fantasy land, Fox is a news channel that is fair and balanced.

In Republican fantasy land, a black person in your midst shows without a doubt that you cannot possibly be a racist.

In Republican fantasy land, giving more money to very rich will help the very poor.

In Republican fantasy land, government making health care decisions for Americans is the greatest evil possible (unless that decision is about abortion).

In Republican fantasy land, only sluts have abortions and they do it without a second thought.

In Republican fantasy land, science is always wrong when it disagrees with conservative religious or political views.

In Republican fantasy land, polls showing that their views are in the minority are clearly part of a vast liberal conspiracy.

Not all Republicans live in the Republican Fantasy Land, but given the comments they make and the way they vote, quite a few obviously do.

Care to add some more to this list?

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It’s Talk Like a Pirate day!

So here I go!

“If you don’t cut Obamacare, we’ll shut down the government.”

How’s that?

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The decline of the male WASP

I wonder how much of the anger over the Obama administration is because of the decline of the male WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)?

Much of the debate against immigration seems to center around the “problem” of America not being the province of WASPs any more. And much of the “war on women” seems to decry the decline of the male in power. Conservative commentators like Pat Buchanan have written books about how terrible this is for our country, claiming that the U.S. “won’t look like the U.S.” in the future.

For those people who think that having a ruling class of the male WASP is what America is all about, the Obama administration must have seemed like Hell when it first came into office. We had:

  • A (half) black President
  • A Catholic Vice President
  • A Mormon Senate Majority Leader
  • A Catholic woman Speaker of the House
  • A woman Secretary of State
  • A black Attorney General

    • … not a male WASP among the most powerful people in the United States. And then he goes and appoints two women to the Supreme Court — a Catholic one and a Jewish one.

    Then, by his second term, he’s letting women and gays into our military front lines!

    So is this why there is such a radical movement by the right to fight immigration and to push back against women and gays? Is it because they fear losing their male WASP hierarchy?

    I think in the long run, the Obama administration’s greatest legacy may be the breaking down of so many of these barriers. The acceptance of women and gays in the military is as important as when Truman desegregated the army in the 50s.

    And those male WASPs will just have to learn to share.