From the people who brought you protest signs full of misspelled and violent rhetoric, a House infested with brainiacs like Michelle Bachmann, and the return of “white pride”, comes the GOVERMENT SHUTDOWN! Yay!
John Boehner finds himself between Barack and a ‘tard place on this issue particularly. As much as the Tea Party shrilly declares that they are independent of Democrats or Republicans, they vote Republican, and Boehner owes his position, in part, to them. Thus, he must answer to the Tea Party demand: “Shut ‘er down!”
That’s what Tea Partiers are about, really. In their hatred of all things government, they scream for a federal government shut down in hopes that this will somehow prove that government is evil and we can live without it. Or perhaps, they think this will be just the ticket they need to enhance their weird, racist, let’s-go-back-to-the-way-things-used-to-be-as-remember-them, agenda. They conveniently forget that it’s the federal government that pays for their Medicare and Social Security—two programs they want to end, yet most of them are drawing funds from both. Whenever a Tea Party person tries to argue with me about any of this, I always ask them: Are they are willing to give up their “entitlement” programs and pay for their kids education entirely, fork over monies for roads, city lighting, police, fire—and do all that on less than 50K a year. That usually makes them stutter. These are folks who don’t do the math—they launch their polemic without giving any thought to whence came their ideas (Koch Industries, et al). These are people who don’t read history, don’t care, and don’t want to hear anything that might prove they are incredibly wrong.
These are the people to whom Boehner is beholden. If he were a thinking man, instead of a drinking one, he’d give serious consideration to the budget compromise and do his own math. Should he and his fellow Republicans reach an agreement with the Democrats and avoid a government shut down, thereby proving they are serving all of the United States and are capable of rational decisions? Or, should he side with the irrational minority Tea Partiers and thereby destroy any shred of credibility the Republican Party might still hold with independent voters.
My guess is: He will continue to bow to the bigots. It’s an educated guess, based on his rhetoric so far, his hatred of anything Democratic, his utter contempt for the President, and his booze-soaked flip-flopping opinions.
“Barack and a ‘tard place”
Retard jokes? Is this the level that this blog has disintegrated towards?
Zach, your blog has always had heated discussions but I think it was enjoyable to read because those discussions and posts were usually conducted in a respectful manner and I have followed it for several years now. In the past, we could debate issues and we could agree on others and all of this was usually done in a respectful manner. But now we have posts calling the other side “‘tards.” Zach, I know you have a lot of new readers and new commentators who were not around for previous debates. But if you don’t tone down the newbie’s rethoric, I fear your blog will become the analagous to badgerblogger.
Id, I’ve already edited the post and made my thoughts on this clear. That word is off limits, no matter who’s using it, and while I had hoped my post from yesterday about the tone of things here had sunk in, apparently it hadn’t.
Zach,
I am a Tea Party member and could care less if the government shuts down. This process will show the American people that such an action will barely be noticed. Anyway the current budget that is being debated should have been passed by the democrats in October when they were in the majority. If the government can no longer operated after Friday then Obama has no one to blame but democrats.
I’ll be sure to relay your comment to Jan, who actually wrote this.
You do realize that a shut down doesn’t affect the people making these decisions, it affects those already hurting from a poorly ran economy based on nothing. The congressman and woman will continue to be paid, while those like myself and millions of others in the armed forces will continue to work and fight for free. Tell me how that is a good idea, your agreement with a shutdown shows your blind eye towards those truly effected by it, and your ignorance about those effects
*Sigh*
I thought I made it clear I wanted folks to think before they wrote, whether commenters or contributors.
The r-word is off limits….I don’t care who uses it.
Sorry Zach,
Jan?
Blame is clearly on Nancy Pelosi and Harr Reid who decided not to pass a budget when they should have. You can also blame Obama for not asking more of his party leaders.
To blame the TEA Party is really beyond silly.
Jan, with all your TEA-Partiers-are-stupid-racists-who-advocate-for-all-things-evil-because-they-are-told-to-do-so-by-their-corporate-overlords blather…I almost thought this was written by Keith Olberman. Then I realized your vocabulary isn’t as…um…shall we say…flamboyant.
One thing I’ve noticed about folks like Jan, and Olberman, is that they can’t honestly debate what the TEA Party folks actually stand for…eliminating waste and fraud. Instead, they have to label them as stupid then claim, wrongly, that they want to eliminate police, fire and education as if the government isn’t bloated with bureaucrats.
I anxiously await the appearance of John Foust to bellyache endlessly about Jan’s use of “tard”. Wrong is wrong…or so I’m told. I’m surprised Zach hasn’t removed it.
What do Tea Party folks stand for? Elimination of waste and fraud? That’s why they showed up at town hall meetings regarding health care reform with signs that said ” keep your government hands off my medicare?”
Huh?
Should I hire a translator to decode your writings, Roland?
Does Rosetta Stone have a program to teach Gibberish?
“What do Tea Party folks stand for?”
Self-centeredness, whining, blaming others for failures, and a general fear of the 21st Century, from what I can tell. That’s about all the coherence I can get out of their “ideology”.
They’re already irrelevant outside of the East Coast media.
I’m not going to apologize for anything I’ve written. These hypocrites condemning the use of a bastardized word I used are just the people I’ve seen and heard calling liberals or anyone else they don’t like “whores”, “fucktards”, “welfare queens”, “candy-asses”, “faggots”, and referring to the president as a “fucking nigger”. These anonymous right-wing assholes can kiss my ass.
Instead of feeling ashamed that they want to destroy our country and kill off poor people and don’t have a freaking clue about history or anything else factual, they’re riled up because I used the word “‘tard” as a sarcastic toss-back.
And with that, I bid you all adieu.
Enjoy the right-wing commentary here. It certainly overshadows the good and factual words from the lefty bloggers.
That is a pity. I didn’t get to see much of your posts, but I did enjoy reading from time to time. All you have to do is proof read before you post.
Honestly other than NotaLib, the regular conservatives here are polite even if it can become heated debate.
Is it me or does Jan sound like a 13-year old in the midst of a hissy fit because the cool clique rejected her?
Naw. It’s definitely not me.
Just as an FYI, Jan will no longer be contributing at Blogging Blue.