Republicans Scramble

***

Politics moves so quickly as to spin one’s head – like mine, for example. Bang out an article for this space one night only to see it rendered moot by the next day’s events. My instincts tell me that we have come to a juncture where recent events have culminated and coagulated to portend the immediate future for the GOP.

Word has it that after suffering an electoral rout a political party needs time to regroup. The media has not given the Republican Party even a minute to regroup. Not a day after the polls closed on November 4, 2008 the usual pundits were speculating about who would become the leader of the GOP. The party found itself under a media microscope and scrambled to recover. Rather than being in regroup mode, its remaining leaders succumbed to the media rush, succeeding only in making fools of themselves and the Grand Old Party.

The party took a gamble for unity by its unanimous nay-saying to President Obama’s economic stimulus bill in the House. A mere 3 Republican Senators chose unity in a bipartisan sense and joined with Democrats to pass the bill. Whether nay-saying to Nancy Pelosi, President Obama, the American people or all three, if the president fails and the country stumbles they can do their “I told you so” dance. If the president brings the country back to economic health, the gamble did not pay off as the nay-sayers were on the wrong side of a landmark issue, Republican winners in 2010 will be scarcer than in 2008 and the party will scramble again.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s GOP response to President Obama’s not-the-state-of-the-union speech was little more than an embarrassment to the Republican Party and Governor Jindal. Rarely has a major political speech garnered unanimously derisive reviews from both sides of the aisle. Jindal is seen as a potential leader in the party. That did not help his career.

GOP 2008 standard bearer John McCain has, as noted in The New York Times, returned to being Senator McCain. The Senator is a party elder who had his shot at leading the party. Time to look for fresh blood. But why the rush? After a humiliating defeat 4 months ago, why are the media pushing the emergence of a new leader? It’s been only 4 months! The media clamor for even mo' politics stirs the leadership and “alas, what now?” pots. Leaders in the Republican Party will surface. They always do – in both parties.

So, to the chagrin of the media, no one has grabbed the reins of the party. This leaves a vacuum and politics hates a vacuum – even more so when there’s a push to fill it. Hence the Republicans scramble.

With the headless GOP flailing about in confusion and desperation, the opportunity to make hay cries out for its vacuum to be filled. Up steps Rush Limbaugh to more than fill that vacuum with a haymaker to Barack Obama. Four days before Obama’s inauguration Limbaugh declared his wish for Obama and his economic policies to fail. Limbaugh’s own transcript of his January 16th performance:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_011609/content/01125113.guest.html

Then Limbaugh took the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) convention by storm with a performance re-broadcast in the national media and on line. Jumping up and down while working the crowd into a frenzy, Rush Limbaugh propelled himself into the forefront of those speaking on behalf of the Republican base. Rahm Emanuel wasted not a moment framing Limbaugh as the spokesman, if not leader by implication, of the Republican Party. For the Obama White House this was the gift that could keep giving.

Crossing Rush Limbaugh was never a wise move for a Republican, conversely a great move for a Democrat. To cross him now as the de facto mouthpiece of the headless GOP is political suicide. Witness the case of Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee. On CNN’s “DL Hughley Breaks the News”, Michael Steele ripped Limbaugh as nothing more than an incendiary entertainer. Steele’s crawling back with apologies begging Limbaugh for forgiveness has been well documented by the media.

Republican lawmakers find themselves in a far more difficult position, balancing patriotism and fear of Rush Limbaugh apparent power over the party’s base. In several interviews with Republican senators and congressmen, the anchor asked if they would say that they disagreed with Rush Limbaugh's statement. To agree with him would be to wish failure not merely on the president but on the United States. All expressed unconditional hope that Obama’s policies will succeed, yet all simultaneously refused to say the words: “I disagree with Rush Limbaugh.” Very much a game of semantics yet a highly symbolic one.

Republicans are nay-saying in Congress, pushing potential leaders to rush into bad speeches and kowtowing to an egotistical right wing fanatic. Are Republicans so small-minded and short-sighted as to want the country’s and thus the world’s economies to collapse for the benefit of personal, short term political gain? I think not.

This is America – where the 2-party system has thrived since its founding, routed parties lived to fight another day and the charlatans of the lunatic fringe are eventually disgraced. In the end, Rush Limbaugh will slither back under his rock and the best of the Republican Party will step forward to gather the reins of leadership and work to restore the country’s economic vitality.

***

NOBODY Expects the Spanish Inquisition!

***

Monty Python's Flying Circus - the Spanish Inquisition Thread





***

The Ministry of Silly Walks

***

Monty Python's Flying Circus, featuring John Cleese





***

A Valentine for Niles

***

On Valentine's Day David Hyde Pierce notices an errant crease in his pants in this classic scene from “Frasier”.

***

Republicanism Explained

***

Written by ‘Jude’ – on www.First-Draft.com

In the last few months, as the scavengers have picked at the carcass of the Republican party, I've heard a lot of people talk about what "conservatism" means. Most recently, the New York Times saw fit to address the issue in this waste of virtual space.

Well, I can't definitively say what "conservatism" means. I possess no advanced degrees, am not a philosopher, and have almost no knowledge of political science.

However.

I can tell you what Republicanism means, and that, I think, is a more germane issue. As I'm sure you've noticed, we don't have a "Conservative" party on our ballots. No. We have a "Republican" one. So figuring out what they stand for seems to be a much more useful endeavor than attempting to define "conservatism."

Well, I've done a lot of observing and thinking, and it seems to me that the Republican party stands for two things.

1. Tax cuts are the cure for everything, including the common cold.

2. Fuck you.

And that's pretty much it. All of the shit that the Republicans do flows from those two points.

I know what you're thinking. "What about the religious right?" "What about the anti-science stand?" "What about the neocons?" "What about all of the other cherished bullshit of the GOP?"

They can all be explained by number two. The Republicans don't really care about God. They just like to use him to tell people "fuck you." Women want to control their own reproductive systems? Fuck you. People want to get married to whatever other adult they want? Fuck you. There's overwhelming evidence that life on earth is billions of years old? Fuck you.

The same applies to their foreign policy. What, you aren't happy with us starting a war with a country that never attacked us? Fuck you. Don't like our carbon emissions or bullshit missile defense? Fuck you. Pissed off that we abducted and tortured your citizens? Fuck you.

And on and on it goes. These people aren't interested in cutting spending or in limited government--they spend like drunken sailors (I would know) and want to regulate who, when, and where you can fuck. That's about as fiscally irresponsible and intrusive as government can get. They don't care about patriotism or families. And "drill, baby, drill" was just a "fuck you" that was acceptable to the FCC.

As for # 1, they keep parroting that insane fucking line no matter what. Got a surplus? Cut taxes. In a deficit? Cut taxes. Booming times? Cut taxes. Worst economy since the Great Depression? We need to--you guessed it--cut taxes. They never explain how it would work. It's an article of faith. I mean, when a group of imaginary creatures from a cardboard cut-out cartoon show has a better economic model than a major political party, things are really fucked up. Yet, somehow, they still get taken seriously. There are a lot of things I don't understand about the world. That fact is about forty of those things.

So it comes down to this: Republicanism is an ideology by and for bullies. But not the kind of bullies who have the guts to get in actual fights, even if the deck is stacked in their favor. No. They hire people to do their fighting for them. Even in their grand and glorious overseas crusades, the ones where they denounce everyone who opposes them as cowards and appeasers, these cocksuckers stay on the sidelines. How many prominent Republicans ran out and enlisted after 9/11? How about before the Iraq war? Which major Republican pundits were cops? Not a goddamn one. Why? All talk, no action.

They're the kind of bullies who love to pick on anyone at the lower end of the economic ladder. It's what weak, shitty people do. What, you want health care you can afford? Fuck you. Your kids need better schools? Fuck you. Workers want to be able to form unions to get better pay and benefits? Oh, fuck you.

That tax cut shit is bullying, too. Because they don't really care about cutting your taxes. No. They want to cut rich people's taxes. It's like they read the story of Robin Hood and thought he was robbing the wrong people. And, since somebody eventually has to pay the bill for all the costs the government incurs when it's out invading sovereign countries that have never threatened us, who do you think gets left with the tab? That's right. The people who can least afford it. Why? Because fuck you.

So I guess Republicanism has just one premise after all.

Posted by Jude on February 08, 2009 at 18:44 in Stupid Republican Tricks | Permalink

http://www.first-draft.com/2009/02/republicanism-explained.html

***

Technology to the nth Power

***

Have we seen any field of endeavor in our lifetimes that has advanced its cutting edge not progressively or in fits & starts, but exponentially? Yes – technology. The scope of the word broadens as technology permeates deeper into our daily lives. What was said 50 years ago to be impossible is, today, mundane. Exponentially advancing technology challenges one’s imagination. Please sit back and challenge your imagination for 5 minutes.

1,474 Megapixel Camera Photo

***

Seriously folks, you've got to see this. Especially recommended for people watchers.

This picture linked below was taken with a Canon robotic camera which pulled together over 200 individual shots. This robotic camera is 1,474 megapixels, 295 times the resolution of a standard 5 megapixel camera.

Either move the zoom tool on the upper left or scroll with your mouse to zoom in or out. You can also put the cursor on a spot and double click and it will automatically zoom to that spot. Double click again and zoom closer. Each zoom may take up to a second to focus. To move the picture around, click, hold and with the mouse (hand) drag the picture.

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

***