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Republican Ideology

GOP: From the Party of Tolerant Pragmatists to the Party of 'Hairy-backed Swamp Developers and Corporate Shills'
31-Aug-04
Republican Ideology

Garrison Keillor: "Something has gone seriously haywire with the Republican Party. Once, it was the party of pragmatic Main Street businessmen in steel-rimmed spectacles who decried profligacy and waste, were devoted to their communities and supported the sort of prosperity that raises all ships. They were good-hearted people who vanquished the gnarlier elements of their party, the paranoid Roosevelt-haters, the flat Earthers and Prohibitionists, the antipapist antiforeigner element." But now, "The party of Lincoln and Liberty was transmogrified into the party of hairy-backed swamp developers and corporate shills, faith-based economists, fundamentalist bullies with Bibles, Christians of convenience, freelance racists, misanthropic frat boys, shrieking midgets of AM radio, tax cheats, nihilists in golf pants, brownshirts in pinstripes, sweatshop tycoons, hacks..."

Susan Collins Sells Out Maine Voters in Exchange for Invitations to Bush Kennebunkport Compound
30-Aug-04
Republican Ideology

Mainers voted for Gore in 2000. Maine is now one of the most proactive anti-Bush policy states, pioneering legislation toward universal health care and global warming mitigation. Mainers aren't easily intimidated and would not appreciate being characterized as cowering in corners just waiting for the next Al Qaeda bogeyman attack. Yet Sen. Susan Collins, dazzled by having been a frequent guest at the Bush Kennebunkport compound, is now promoting the Bush "be afraid, be very afraid" strategy. Not only that, she believes the "war on terror" is THE issue of 2004 - despite rising joblessness in her state (where winter unemployment hits 30% some areas), a cold state facing a winter w/oil near $50/barrel, where the large senior population must cross the border for prescription drugs. Yep, Like most Repugs, Collins has only one interest only: Her own.

The GOP: Built on Fear, Bigotry, and the Failures of Others and Held Together by Hatred of 'Enemies'
12-Aug-04
Republican Ideology

Sidney Blumenthal writes: "Nixon's criminal White House seemed an aberrant episode rooted in only his pathologies. But Nixon was the father of the modern Republican party. It was Nixon who created a brand-new coalition of Southern conservatism in reaction to the civil rights movement." It contained "Dixicrat" types who were "resentful of student protests, assertive women and the loosening of social mores...George Bush did not make a new coalition or offer a refreshed Republicanism, despite the trope of "compassionate conservatism". He came to power as a result only of a flawed Democratic strategy in 2000, and even then he lost the popular majority and had to rely upon a skewed supreme court to install him in office. Before 9/11, after only nine months, his presidency was winding down, and he lost the Senate with the defection of a Republican. The war on terror was a substitute for old Republican anti-communism, the ultimate glue holding disparate elements together."

The REAL Assault on American Marriage: 10 Top Ways Bush & the NeoCons have Undermined Marriage
14-Jul-04
Republican Ideology

Cheryl Seal writes, "In the in the debate over a Constitutional amendment to define marriage, the religious right would have you believe that they are heroically fighting 'to preserve the sacred institution upon which this country is based.' But conspicuously absent from the Repugs' phony 'defense of marriage' is how this same sanctimonious bunch has systematically done everything in its power to UNDERMINE marriage." For example: Failure to create jobs - unemployed people are twice as likely to be divorced from their spouses as the general population; erosion of minority rights - today one in three black children are in a one-parent home; lack of adequate healthcare - thousands are forced to divorce or separate just to obtain Medicaid; extended tours of soldiers, tearing families apart for prolonged periods with no safety net....etc.

Repugs Once Again Hand Democrats Free PR by Making Human Decency a Partisan Issue
07-May-04
Republican Ideology

By November, there are likely to be millions of voters ashamed to admit they were ever Republicans. As the nation reels in disgust at the images of cruelty and moral indecency being perpetrated in the name of the US in Iraq, Repugs are calling the Democrats' demands for justice and their intensified questioning of a lie-based war "partisan exploitation." Which of course implies that having a sense of decency and justice is a partisan issue. Which, in turn implies that if you are a Democrat, you are guilty of having a sense of decency and justice. And, conversely, if you are a Repug, you have neither! Here's an example of Repug "justice and decency": Repug Rep. Steve Buyer charged that Democratic condemnation of the outrages "give aid and comfort to the enemy." Unbelievable!

Republicans Are Becoming an Endangered Species
02-Jan-04
Republican Ideology

Former Rep. Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey (R-CA) writes, "When I served in Congress [1968 to 1982], conservatives and conservationists worked together in friendship. Something dark and onerous has happened since the Republicans took over the House. It's time for Republicans to stand up and try to keep the party true to its historical concept that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness include the preservation of endangered species. If we stand back and allow Democrats to be identified as the sole preservers of environmental values, the GOP could soon return to the minority status it occupied for most of the last 70 years. And that, however unfortunate for the party, would be a good thing for eagles, turkeys, ducks and rainbow trout."

Bush Plans Another Assault on States to Increase Corporate and Fundamentalist Power
02-Jan-04
Republican Ideology

For centuries, conservatives demanded states' rights. But then came Bush, DeLay and the right-wing coup. "Backed by the business community and after failing in 2003, Republicans in Congress this year will again be pushing bills to move class-action lawsuits from state to federal courts, where damage awards to plaintiffs are less generous, and put federal ceilings on what state juries can award in medical malpractice cases... In addition, Republicans are trying to give the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal banking regulators ultimate authority over banking fraud and investor rights, angering state officials who say it will undercut their anti-fraud campaigns... Bush in 2001 restricted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and this year signed a bill that for the first time makes it a federal crime to perform a certain type of abortion. Federal officials are also taking legal action against medical marijuana laws in California and Oregon's assisted suicide law."

The 'New Republicans' - Big Brother, Corporate Pork, and Red Ink
29-Dec-03
Republican Ideology

NY Times opines, "The two halves of Republican policy no longer fit together. A political majority that believes in big government for people, and little or no government for corporations, has produced an unsustainable fiscal policy that combines spending on social programs with pork and tax cuts for the rich. Massive budget deficits have been the inevitable result... Unlike Ronald Reagan, Bush has given no hint of a midcourse adjustment to repair revenue flow. In fact, his Congressional leaders talk of still more tax cuts next year to extend the $1.7 trillion already enacted. That would compound deficits, which could reach $5 trillion in the decade. This, it appears, is what compassionate conservatism really means. The conservative part is a stern and sometimes intrusive government to regulate the citizenry, but with a hands-off attitude toward business. The compassionate end involves some large federal programs combined with unending sympathy for the demands of special interests."

And Now It's Time to Play 'Who the Hell Said That?'
11-Dec-03
Republican Ideology

1. "With a healthy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them." 2. "The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." 4. "I think gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman." 6. "Death has a tendency to encourage a depressing view of war." Can you guess them all?

Republicans Denounce Out-of-Control Republican Spending
01-Dec-03
Republican Ideology

In his inaugural address, Bush declared: "We must show courage in a time of blessing by confronting problems instead of passing them on to future generations." "Instead, Bush displayed the courage of the lion in the land of Oz. And even some Republicans have begun to notice. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appeared on 'Fox News Sunday' yesterday and said that Congress is 'spending money like a drunken sailor,' and blamed the Bush administration for failing to veto more pork-barrel spending. Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) has been a vocal critic of the new Medicare legislation, deriding it as 'a payoff to special interest groups involved in Medicare reform.' In an op-ed piece published last week, Hagel lashed out at his free-spending Republican colleagues: 'Republicans used to believe in balanced budgets. Republicans used to believe in fiscal responsibility, limited international entanglements and limited government. We have lost our way. We have come loose from our moorings.'"

Things you have to believe to be a Republican today
23-Nov-03
Republican Ideology

"Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.... 'Standing Tall for America' means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.... Jesus loves you, and shares your hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.... The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.... Group sex and drug use are degenerate sins unless you someday run for governor of California as a Republican.... Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him and a bad guy when Bush needed a 'we can't find Bin Laden' diversion.... A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying to enlist support for a war in which thousands die is solid defense policy."

Big Brother Republicans Invade Our Most Private Decisions
28-Oct-03
Republican Ideology

PentaPost opines, "The Senate last week approved a prohibition on the procedure known to its opponents as partial-birth abortion, sending the measure to resident Bush for his signature. That same day, the Florida legislature authorized the resident's brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, to order a feeding tube reinserted for Terri Schiavo, who has been in a vegetative state for 13 years. The measures are linked not only by the fact that each touches on the deeply felt religious, moral and political issues that arise at the beginning and the end of life. Perhaps precisely because the issues involved are so emotional, both laws exemplify legislators' overstepping their bounds, betraying a fundamental lack of respect for the proper role of doctors and courts." Of course, the Pentagon Post does NOT point out that Congress and the Florida legislature are run by REPUBLICANS who rant against "Big Government." How much BIGGER can government get? E-mail letters@washpost.com

Make War Not Love: Abstinence, Aggression and the Bush White House
28-Oct-03
Republican Ideology

Heather Wokusch writes: "The Bush Administration's sexual prudishness is no secret - and neither is its love of war. Could the two be connected? The freewheeling 'Oral Office' Clinton years came to an abrupt halt when Bush took over. Suddenly, abstinence became the White House mantra, and men whose religiosity seemed to preclude doing the nasty occupied the highest offices in the land. There's Attorney General John Ashcroft, who opposes drinking, smoking - even dancing - on moral grounds, and who ordered the 'Spirit of Justice' statue covered up because he couldn't handle the sight of her naked marble breasts. There's David Hager, an OB/GYN who refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women (and believes the Bible is an antidote for premenstrual syndrome), as one of three religious conservatives Bush appointed to the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs."

Bush Brothers Become Big Brother
27-Oct-03
Republican Ideology

Dick Meyer writes, "This has been terrifying week for people who are concerned about big government meddling in families' most personal and painful decisions. I would say it's been a terrible week for conservatives, but most of the people who call themselves conservatives are celebrating and crowing. I think they're radicals. I'm referring, of course, to the unprecedented intervention of Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature in the tragic case of Terri Schiavo, and to the Senate vote, supported by Resident Bush, banning a certain type of procedure to terminate pregnancies in cases where the mother's life or health are at risk. The idea of legislatures, governors and presidents dictating what families can do in these most private situations is mind-boggling. It is as intrusive as government can be. It is, in both cases, almost certainly unconstitutional."

Right-Wing Scholar Urges Rich Nations To Take Over 'Failed States' to 'Lift the Curse of Natural Resources'
06-Oct-03
Republican Ideology

"A few years ago an op-ed piece proposing the reinstitution of direct colonial domination of resource-rich countries by the world's major capitalist powers would probably have been rejected on the grounds that it was too far-fetched and that imperialism was well and truly in the past. It's a sure sign of the times that this sort of proposal has been made in a comment published in the Financial Times last Friday. Written by Deepak Lal, the James Coleman professor of international development studies at UCLA, it proposes the formation of an International Natural Resources Fund to organise the exploitation of the abundant natural resources of so-called 'failed states'... In his FT comment, entitled 'A force to lift the curse of natural resources', Lal widens his horizons. The 'abundant natural resources' possessed by many of the 'potential failed states', he writes, have proved to be a 'precious bane' rather than a blessing."

How to Defeat the Republican Right - in 3 Minutes
28-Jul-03
Republican Ideology

Conceptual Guerilla writes, "Have you got three minutes? Because that's all you need to learn how to defeat the Republican Right. Just read through this handy guide and you'll have everything you need to successfully debunk right-wing propaganda... 'Cheap labor'. That's their whole philosophy in a nutshell - which gives you a short and pithy 'catch phrase' that describes them perfectly. You've heard of 'big-government liberals'. Well they're 'cheap-labor conservatives' - a moniker they will never shake, and never live down. Because it's exactly what they are. You see, cheap-labor conservatives are defenders of corporate America - whose fortunes depend on labor. The larger the labor supply, the cheaper it is. The more desperately you need a job, the cheaper you'll work, and the more power those 'corporate lords' have over you. If you are a wealthy elite - or a 'wannabe' like most dittoheads - your wealth, power and privilege is enhanced by a labor pool, forced to work cheap."

It's the Ideology, Stupid
15-May-03
Republican Ideology

Bob Burnett writes for AlterNet: "If you are a regular reader of progressive media outlets like this one, you cannot have escaped the prevailing opinion that the Bush administration's latest round of massive tax cuts are folly. But is not just the left which finds them bizarre; almost no reputable economist supports this plan. [George W and Republican ideologues] don't think that the government is entitled to their money. And these same cuts inexorably shrink the size of government, thus accomplishing another goal of the Republican conservative orthodoxy... 'Bush and his team wanted to bury whatever remained of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society'... Americans must not be fooled by Bush propaganda that the proposed tax cuts will magically stimulate the economy or create jobs. This not about the economy, it is about [extreme right-wing ideology. These cuts are] intended to starve the Federal budget until all that is left is defense, homeland security, and huge interest payments."

Bob Dole Resorts to Bushit in Debate with Clinton
09-Mar-03
Republican Ideology

Bob Dole's much-heralded "debate" with Bill Clinton on CBS 60 Minutes was over faster than Mike Tyson's 49-second knockout of Clifford Etienne. Clinton explained how Bush's proposed Tax Cut II was "wrong and bad economics." So how did Dole reply? By talking about Khalid Sheihk Mohammed! Dole's refusal to debate Clinton was pathetic, proving that the Republican Party is intellectually, morally, and economically bankrupt.

21 Rules for Being a Good Republican
25-Feb-03
Republican Ideology

Rules for Being a Good Republican

1) You have to believe that the nation's 8-year prosperity prior to W's administration was due to the work of Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush, but that today's growing deficit and rising gas prices are all Clinton's fault.

2) You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all on their own.

3) You have to be against government programs, but expect Social Security checks on time.

4) You have to believe that government should stay out of people's lives, yet you want government to regulate only opposite-gender marriages and what your official language should be.

5) You have to believe that pollution is ok, so long as it makes a profit.

6) You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don't pray to Allah or Buddha.

7) You have to believe that only your own teenagers are still virgins....

A Handful of Conservatives Oppose Bush's Imperialist W-ar
12-Feb-03
Republican Ideology

The Moonie Times reports, "Conservative critics of the administration's Iraq policy argue that it amounts to a form of imperialism that would require an ever-larger federal government to liberate foreign countries, watch over their democratization and protect the homeland against enemies made in the process - all at the cost of Americans' personal liberties. 'Neo-imperialism is never a conservative virtue, whatever the clothing or, more accurately, fig leaf,' said William Bradford Reynolds, chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division during the Reagan administration. He predicts the pursuit of terrorism will loom large as a justification for further U.S. 'intrusions' abroad if the U.S. suffers more attacks like those of September 11." But only 2 House Republicans opposed the W-ar resolution: John Hostettler (R-IN) and Jimmy Duncan (R-IN). The rest are old-fashioned imperialists.

Where are the Real Conservatives?
29-Jan-03
Republican Ideology

John Moyers writes, "Bush has laid out his agenda. Call it bold, brilliant, audacious or outrageous. But don't call it 'conservative.' It's a sad parody of real conservative values -- fiscal prudence, accountability, limited government... Fiscal prudence? It's profoundly immoral to finance tax breaks for today's wealthiest Americans by borrowing money from the unborn. But that's the GOP plan. Accountability? Bush wants us to spend hundreds of billions on missile defense, but he's exempted the Star Wars program from all normal oversight and accountability. Limited government? Bush's Total Information Awareness program will let the Pentagon electronically monitor our personal lives. He's appointing judges who will allow government to control women's reproductive health... Where are the REAL conservatives today? [Republicans] want us to think they're conservative, but they're not. They're poseurs stealing from the future, and there's nothing conservative about that."

GOP is 20 Times More Interested in Clinton's Genitalia Than 9-11
24-Jan-03
Republican Ideology

"A BuzzFlash reader pointed us to this headline from Fark.com: 'Congress spent $10 million investigating each inch of Clinton's penis but only will spend $3 million investigating all of 9/11' We found this story to verify the expense (Note: this article is from October 1998, a full two years before they closed the Whitewater investigation on September 20, 2000). 'Counsels Have Spent $62 Million Investigating [Clinton] Administration' We think the numbers speak for themselves: $62 Million and more spent by the GOP investigating Clinton's genitalia; $3 Million spent by the GOP investigating 9-11. While it's deplorable that an event of such magnitude as 9-11 gets such limited funding, we have to hand it to the GOP for spending money on the stuff they care about."

George Bush, Class Warfare Hypocrite-in-Chief
07-Jan-03
Republican Ideology

E.J. Dionne writes, "It would be easier to respect this attack on class warfare if [Bush] and his allies disavowed such belligerency themselves. Alas, they don't. They just play a different kind of class politics by demonizing those elites who are not on their approved list of corporate chiefs, oil millionaires, heirs to large fortunes and the like. [Bush] loves to bash the rich if they got that way by being trial lawyers... Almost daily, Republicans attack privileged groups: 'the cultural elite,' 'the Hollywood elite,' 'the intellectual elite' and, of course, 'the liberal elite'... Detect a pattern? Class warfare around cultural issues is wonderful. It distracts attention from the grubby details about how certain economic policies may benefit a rather small group of Americans who just happen to be the wealthiest Americans."

How Newt Gingrich Used Propaganda to Put Republicans in Control of Congress
20-Nov-02
Republican Ideology

Propagandacritic.com writes that 10 years ago, "Newt Gingrich clearly understood the power of propaganda. His political action committee (GOPAC) mailed a pamphlet entitled Language, A Key Mechanism of Control to Republicans across the country. The booklet offered rhetorical advice to Republican candidates who wanted to 'speak like Newt.' It was subsequently awarded a Doublespeak Award...in 1990...GOP candidates were instructed to use one set of 'positive, governing words,' (glittering generalities) when speaking about themselves. A second set of negative words (name-calling words) were to be used against their opponents...[These words] continue to be powerful tools in American political discourse. Words such as 'vision, courage, lead, learn, commitment, empower, and freedom' are common to politicians on all sides of the political spectrum. Call-in radio hosts regularly use words like 'ideological, liberal, bureaucracy, crisis, endanger, and lie' to discredit certain ideas."

A Glossary of Apocalypticism: An Inside Look at the Rightwing Fundamentalist Subculture
14-Nov-02
Republican Ideology

A glance through this glossary at first seems like a fascinating glimpse of some quaint but disturbing bit of social history, like the Reformation or perhaps the world of alchemy. But it becomes considerably more disturbing when you consider the fact that the American subculture described by this glossary is alive and well and in control of the the U.S. government! Another clip, save and pass on! Also see http://www.publiceye.org/research/Chart_of_Sectors.htm

Concerned Women for America Spin Fantasy Tale of Election 2002
14-Nov-02
Republican Ideology

According to the rightwing Concerned Women for America, the entire 2002 election was all about abortion and gays. Yep, that's right: Connie Morella (R-MD) did not lose to a Democrat because she continued to support Bush's hawkish agenda, nope. It was because she is pro-choice and "pro-homosexual." CWA doesn't explain why Morella has been reelected eight times in the past as a consistently pro-choice candidate. Also, Norm Coleman won because he "issued a pro-life challenge" to Walter Mondale - not because Minnesotan liberals were angry at both the GOP and the Dems and Coleman won by default. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend didn't lose her MD gubernatorial race because she refused to take a tough stand against Bush. Nope, she lost because she held one fundraiser at the home of a gay rights activist. (Be sure to catch CWA's chief fantasy fairy Sandy Rios on a coming Crossfire - can't wait to hear what kind of fairy tales she spins to Paul Begala).

Eisenhower Republicanism is Long Dead
11-Nov-02
Republican Ideology

Bill Moyers writes, "George W. Bush believes he now has a mandate. That mandate includes the power of the state to force pregnant women to give up control over their own lives. It includes using the taxing power to transfer wealth from working people to the rich. It includes giving corporations a free hand to eviscerate the environment and control the regulatory agencies meant to hold them accountable. And it includes secrecy on a scale you cannot imagine. Above all, it means judges with a political agenda appointed for life. If you liked the Supreme Court that put George W. Bush in the White House, you will swoon over what's coming. And if you like God in government, get ready for the Rapture. These folks don't even mind you referring to the GOP as the party of God. Why else would the new House Majority Leader say that the Almighty is using him to promote 'a Biblical worldview' in American politics?"

'Shallow Throat' Savages Dem Leaders and Reveals Bush Strategy (Fiction?)
16-Oct-02
Republican Ideology

Bernard Weiner writes: "'Shallow Throat,' the high-ranking GOP mole in the White House, meets again with Bernard Weiner: 'No wonder you got reamed on the Iraq vote. You wanted to look reasonable to the American public, and not run the risk of looking 'unpatriotic' for the November election. But what you wound up doing was giving Bush cover...The war is on, and your lot were cowards, enablers with blood on their hands....Your namby-pamby friends in the Democrat opposition chose [ in 1990s] to ignore those guys, thinking them far-right kooks, with all their talk about acting aggressively as a superpower, first-strike 'pre-emptive' attacks, 'benevolent hegemony,' control of oil and gas reserves... This is their time, as they see it, when they can Take It All -- around the globe, in this country -- and they will crush anyone in their way who tries to stop them. Iraq is just the tip of the iceberg.'"

Perpetual War For Perpetual Republican Control
13-Oct-02
Republican Ideology

Richard Rorty writes "It is in the interest of the Republican Party both to have a blanket war-powers resolution passed, and to make sure that the country thinks of itself as 'at war' for as long as possible. Those who control that party--an amazingly greedy and cynical oligarchy, with no interest whatever in either the rights of the citizen or the welfare of the poor--would like nothing better than to...bring about the permanent militarization of the state described in 'Orwell's 1984,' and suggested by the title of Gore Vidal's latest book: 'Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace.' One might think that the opposition party would expose the strategy of self-perpetuation being used by the party in power. But Democratic politicians are terrified [by Bush's post-9/11 approval ratings. No American politician can admit that our military can do little to lessen the danger of] unpredictable and unpreventable attacks by small nongovernmental organizations like Al Qaeda."

On The Wrong Side of the Issues, Right-Wingers Resort to Character Assassination
29-Sep-02
Republican Ideology

Buzzflash writes: "The only reason why Bush was close to Gore in 2000... was that swing voters figured it was better to vote for an idiot than a liar. If Gore had assaulted the Republicans for assaulting his character, refuting the charges one by one and turning the spotlight on Bush's character, staying with it until the issue went away or was neutralized by a focus upon Bush's own tendency to distort the truth, he would have won with 55-60% of the popular vote. Since they are on the wrong side of most issues, the only way Republicans can even compete with the Dems is through character assassination - and until those efforts are vigorously refuted, such as in Daschle's speech, the GOP will have strength beyond their numbers. It is in the Democratic party where serious minds, bound by the conviction that reality can be known and should be acted upon through peaceable and orderly discourse, can discuss the issues of the age."

It Must Be Clear...
25-Sep-02
Republican Ideology

It must be clear to anybody with even a meager capacity to reason that the Bush war drums are orchestrated to divert attention from domestic issues as the election approaches even as Bush is unable to build a case for an immediate war. The one thing you can be sure of about Republicans is that they are loath to reveal their motivations. Their reasoning is simple: people would not support them if they knew their true intentions. They'd probably be run out of town. This has been a Republican tendency at least since Ronald Reagan. For example, instead of admitting they want to give tax cuts to the wealthy, they say, a tax cut will help spark economic recovery, and they invent an economic theory called "trickle down."

Reaganomics Fallout
09-Sep-02
Republican Ideology

"The corporate crashes of Enron, Worldcom and others did not start in the year 2002. They had ended there. It all got started much earlier, in 1980 when President Reagan came to power. Some critics may say that it’s a shame to pick on a seriously ill, old gentleman. Relax, my dear critics. I am not picking on President Reagan personally. It would have been utterly unfair to blame one man for the disastrous economical shenanigans of the entire Republican establishment. Mr. Reagan was just a front man for the Republican politicians, lobbyists and the special interest groups of the richest Americans and Corporations." So writes Stan Newton.

Vote Republican
08-Sep-02
Republican Ideology

A compendium of reasons to Vote Republican: Vote Republican to finally eliminate government so corporations can run America. Vote Republican to keep growing our budget deficit that has spent the entire Clinton surplus while passing more tax cuts in the spirit of trickle-down economics. Vote Republican to give tax breaks to the wealthy, leaving you to pay their part of the tax bill. Vote Republican so HMO's and insurance companies instead of your doctor can make all your healthcare decisions....

The Republican Party, Like the Old Federalist Party, May Be Going the Way of the Dinosaur
02-Sep-02
Republican Ideology

"In politics, America is currently split down the middle, as it has been for much of the past decade, and as the 2000 presidential election revealed dramatically," writes Martin Kettle of the UK Guardian. Meanwhile, Bush "is attempting to govern as though these divisions do not really exist. This could be an expensive error." In 'The Emerging Democratic Majority,' authors Judis and Teixeira use census data, voting studies and exit polls to show how many fundamental factors are tipping the scales against the GOP, which may soon go the way of the dinosaur - and the old Federalist Party. The new majority are professionals, women and minorities, Democratic voters concentrated in postindustrial urban 'ideopolises' in the north-east, the upper midwest, the west coast and parts of the south, including Florida and Virginia. As long as Democrats remain fiscally moderate, socially liberal, reformist and egalitarian, the party will enjoy the edge over Republicans for years to come."

Dick Armey Tells the Truth -- and the New York Times Scrubs It
09-Aug-02
Republican Ideology

Joe Conason writes that "an item headlined 'Armey Intelligence' went up Thursday evening and then disappeared a few hours later... The ghostly tale begins on Aug. 6, when the New York Times ran a very fine AP story about the growth in federal funding disparities between Democratic and Republican congressional districts since the GOP won a majority in the House eight years ago. The story featured a revealing remark by House Majority Leader Dick Armey: 'There's an old adage. To the victors goes [sic] the spoils.' [The AP's analysis] went to the heart of partisan and ideological bad faith among the Gingrich 'revolutionaries'... 'The 1994 revolution that gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives produced a seismic shift in federal spending, moving tens of billions of dollars from Democratic to GOP districts.' " At this writing, the Times has kept the story scrubbed, though it is available at the Washington Post website. Send complaints to comments@nytimes.com

FUQ: How to Douse the Bonfires of the GOP's Corporate Vanities?
05-Aug-02
Republican Ideology

To put out the bonfires of the GOP's corporate vanities we have to remove their fuel. Nothing strikes at the heart of the GOP corporate money machine more directly than the effort underway nationwide to eliminate corporate personhood -- the legal fiction upon which corporate privilege and the influence industry both depend.

Like Republican Governors, Bush Is Turning the US into a Banana Republic
30-Jul-02
Republican Ideology

Paul Krugman writes, "The federal budget was in pretty good shape because the Clinton administration, unlike state governments, behaved responsibly. Budget projections were honest - if anything, too cautious - and boom-year surpluses were used to reduce debt. But the responsibility era is over. Even as state governments face up to the consequences of cooked books in the 1990's, the Bush administration is following in their footsteps. The latest antics of the White House Office of Management and Budget have even the most hardened cynics shaking their heads. It's not just that projections for fiscal 2002 have gone from a $150 billion surplus to a $165 billion deficit... It's also the fact that OMB officials simply lie... State governments turned into banana republics in part because voters didn't realize that a charming, personable chief executive can also be an irresponsible opportunist... Now the same governing style has moved to Washington. And this time there's no safety net."

FUQ: How Are the Right-Wing Republicans like the Old Soviets?
26-Jul-02
Republican Ideology

Writes Jock Gill: "We can now compare the impending collapse of the Republican's dogmatic and rigid right wing revolution to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and Soviet style Communism in general. Current events have clearly shown the myth of deregulated privatization and Free Market Capitalism, with its global pretensions, is at the very root of the current fiasco in our economy."

Bush Market Extremists Run Amok - And How Best To Dethrone Them
06-Jul-02
Republican Ideology

Ex-Republican Kevin Phillips writes, "Market extremism doesn't wear hoods, white sheets, or armbands. Skinheads in its ranks are few. Suicide bombers in its cause are even fewer. But the essence of extremism, as opposed to other specific 'isms,' is to extend - harshly, rigidly, and dangerously - a commitment and ideology that in softer and milder forms can be acceptable or useful. Worship of an unfettered, self-justifying marketplace developed in exactly this harsh, rigid form during the 1980s and 1990s. The infamous practices of Enron - where market mania turned abusive, with the help of the Bush family - are only the tip of one berg in an ice field that continues to threaten national political and economic navigation." For the roots of this extremism look no further than the cults surrounding Ayn Rand and libertarian guru Friedrich von Hayek.

 


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