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Washington has always had its scuffles, and the American electorate with it. But these days it seems those scuffles have become street fights more dangerous than the gang-related violence one might find in the inner cities of our nation. The scuffles have turned into downright brawls, and in an eerie way, the American people appear stunned and incapable of measured response to the scenes they are witnessing on Capitol Hill.
Last Friday night was American theater better than anything you might see at the venerable Kennedy Center. A president of the United States called a press conference in which the normally restrained Barack Obama unleashed a tirade against Republican and Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner the likes of which many of us had never heard.
The President’s remarks were met with a tit-for-tat by an uncommonly restrained Speaker Boehner, although his words were laced with vitriol at his president. Still, Boehner, who bears an uncommon resemblance in style to his late fellow Ohioan Dean Martin, seemed in an odd way almost anesthetized in his delivery. Had he had a Martini earlier in the evening?
Both men seemed startled, having that deer in the headlights look about them, and that made me wonder.
If you subscribe to the theory that Washington reflects the American electorate as I do, than these two men represent everything that seems odd in America these days. Our leaders are like their citizens: irritable, angry, at times emotionally numb, having difficulties maintaining close relationships.
Forgive me for playing psychologist but I am going to make a diagnosis on what is going on in America. I think America is suffering from a national case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ever since 9/11 this country has been in a massive meltdown, incapable of staying focused on any one event, operating at half-tilt, reactive rather than active, and exhibiting all the symptoms I stated earlier common to PTSD to our nation’s extreme detriment.
It wouldn’t be the first time America has exhibited the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Who would deny this country went into full PTSD mode after the death of President Kennedy? There are those who say the Sixties were a clear reaction to those turbulent times when our beloved young president, his brother Bobby, and Martin Luther King’s lives were violently taken before our very eyes.
Now here we are nearly 10 years after that brutal September day when we lost so many in those towering infernos at the evil hands of al Qaeda, again before our very eyes. And just as we felt back in the Sixties, our nation is traumatized even 10 years later. In fact we’re doing exactly what we did as a nation in the Sixties: splitting into angry, righteous factions out to do our fellow Americans in. Anxiety seems to rule the day and an eerie numbness as well. No one seems to be thinking clearly. And who would argue the inability of our leaders and our citizens to maintain close personal ties. Some of our leaders even admit to hearing things, Michelle Bachmann, a key symptom of PTSD.
This is America’s grand long nightmare, nightmares another symptom of PTSD. But maybe if we name it we can do something about it. If we don’t, al Qaeda wins and America loses…and America is losing.
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of The Halli and MoJoe Show on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
© 2011 Halli Casser-Jayne. Reprints with permission.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
THAT DIRTY LITTLE WORD
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
We’ve got a bunch of babies running our country. Yes, you heard me right, babies! Sticks and stones will break their bones and names will surely harm them.
Simpering, whimpering, dickering, bloviating fools have usurped the American government. We’ve got a cry-baby speaker of the House, John Boehner; a whining House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor; and a President Barack Obama, whose Mama apparently never taught her little boy to have the courage to stand up for his own convictions, never mind have them.
Like I said: Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
As the August 2 debt-ceiling crisis looms, on Capitol Hill childish temper tantrums rule the day. Eric Cantor had one last week and walked away from the deficit talks. Last night Speaker Boehner did the same. Weepy-eyed he pulled out of the deficit talks, refusing to budge on revenue increases, a teen-age pre-mature ejaculation if ever there was one.
Is there even one adult in the room?
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
Like kids on a see-saw, our leaders play their politics. Both sides want to be up, no one wants to be down, and that compromise position in the middle where each gives a little seems unattainable. Compromise, of course, is the mark of an adult. Unfortunately, it appears that on the playground that sits on the bluff of the Potomac, there are no adults.
There are nothing but intransigent little kids who enjoy playing games with America’s future, this season’s favorites: Russian Roulette, Chicken, Duck Duck Duck, Goose!
But why should we be surprised? If you, as I do, subscribe to the theory that our leaders reflect our society, then why is the lack of compromise on Capitol Hill such a big surprise?
After all, fifty percent of all American marriages end in divorce undoubtedly due to U.S. couple’s utter inability to reach compromise. Which begs the question: When did “compromise” become a dirty word? When did compromise become synonymous with defeat? I’m old enough to remember a time when reaching a compromise was considered a win-win for all.
Once we considered compromise an accommodation, an accord, a happy medium. Today we treat compromise as a concession, a sell-out, a cop-out.
“Cop-out, sell-out” do these words ring a bell you children of the Sixties?
Wow, far out, the counter culture has become the culture. Whatever happened to peace, love, and understanding? When did it turn into peace, love and MISunderstanding? It’s mind-blowing. What a freak out! What a bummer! What a bad trip!
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
There are solutions to every problem, and one can only hope that in a happening town like Washington, D.C. there is room for compromise. But as I said, compromise requires the presence of adults and clearly there are few of them on Capitol Hill.
Groovy. So how do we get there? I say treat the babies running our government like the children that they are. Lock both sides in a room with the instruction that no one leaves until they make-up and do what is best for America: compromise.
And watch them flip-out. I can almost hear the wailing coming from the Hill.
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
On the other hand, they just might do the right thing. Right on, bro’. Beautiful, baby.
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
We’ve got a bunch of babies running our country. Yes, you heard me right, babies! Sticks and stones will break their bones and names will surely harm them.
Simpering, whimpering, dickering, bloviating fools have usurped the American government. We’ve got a cry-baby speaker of the House, John Boehner; a whining House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor; and a President Barack Obama, whose Mama apparently never taught her little boy to have the courage to stand up for his own convictions, never mind have them.
Like I said: Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
As the August 2 debt-ceiling crisis looms, on Capitol Hill childish temper tantrums rule the day. Eric Cantor had one last week and walked away from the deficit talks. Last night Speaker Boehner did the same. Weepy-eyed he pulled out of the deficit talks, refusing to budge on revenue increases, a teen-age pre-mature ejaculation if ever there was one.
Is there even one adult in the room?
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
Like kids on a see-saw, our leaders play their politics. Both sides want to be up, no one wants to be down, and that compromise position in the middle where each gives a little seems unattainable. Compromise, of course, is the mark of an adult. Unfortunately, it appears that on the playground that sits on the bluff of the Potomac, there are no adults.
There are nothing but intransigent little kids who enjoy playing games with America’s future, this season’s favorites: Russian Roulette, Chicken, Duck Duck Duck, Goose!
But why should we be surprised? If you, as I do, subscribe to the theory that our leaders reflect our society, then why is the lack of compromise on Capitol Hill such a big surprise?
After all, fifty percent of all American marriages end in divorce undoubtedly due to U.S. couple’s utter inability to reach compromise. Which begs the question: When did “compromise” become a dirty word? When did compromise become synonymous with defeat? I’m old enough to remember a time when reaching a compromise was considered a win-win for all.
Once we considered compromise an accommodation, an accord, a happy medium. Today we treat compromise as a concession, a sell-out, a cop-out.
“Cop-out, sell-out” do these words ring a bell you children of the Sixties?
Wow, far out, the counter culture has become the culture. Whatever happened to peace, love, and understanding? When did it turn into peace, love and MISunderstanding? It’s mind-blowing. What a freak out! What a bummer! What a bad trip!
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
There are solutions to every problem, and one can only hope that in a happening town like Washington, D.C. there is room for compromise. But as I said, compromise requires the presence of adults and clearly there are few of them on Capitol Hill.
Groovy. So how do we get there? I say treat the babies running our government like the children that they are. Lock both sides in a room with the instruction that no one leaves until they make-up and do what is best for America: compromise.
And watch them flip-out. I can almost hear the wailing coming from the Hill.
Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah! Waaaaaah!
On the other hand, they just might do the right thing. Right on, bro’. Beautiful, baby.
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sundays at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
WHEN COOLER HEADS PREVAIL
Hot time, it's summer in that big city on the Potomac where the deer and the antelope don’t play well together. And where lately seldom is heard an encouraging word and the skies are cloudy with smog most days.
Tra la la.
There seems that there is nothing but bad news raining down on our 4th of July parades. These days there are only dire tales of hot chat, hot tempers, hot-headedness, hot as the dickens false rhetoric sprinkled on America by the phonies in the hot-seat sitting in Congress, running our over-heated government whose debt is about to implode.
Hot Potato!
Can you tell that I am hot under the collar, bristling at the idiots in charge of our futures who can’t even share a hot tamale without getting into a fight?
Eric Cantor, that hot-headed Republican Majority leader of the House of Representatives from that sizzling city of Richmond, Virginia threw up his hands recently and walked away from the budget talks screeching in his hot Southern drawl like Maggie the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that the talks had reached an “impasse.”
“Impasse?”
Hot cross Southern drawl buns.
Yes, Leader Cantor, there is an impasse. You caused the impasse when you got all hot and bothered and hot-tailed-it out of the budget talks because YOU refused to compromise and agree to raise taxes on those who can well-afford a tax hike. And you did it for purely political, purely selfish motives.
Cantor, it seems, is a scardi-cat on a hot tin roof, terrified of the right wing of his own hot Tea Party, not wanting to be the responsible public servant and do what is right and left – agree to raise taxes on the wealthy as part of the mix to bring the deficit under control– rather than compromise his leadership position in the House.
Hot Shot, not!
Meanwhile, the normally cool cat President Barack Obama finally stepped up to the hot-plate and appeared all hot and heavy, clearly not happy when the Republicans hot-tailed it out of the budget talks. He went all hot under the collar when in an unusual daytime presser he tore into the Republicans for walking away from the budget talks, accusing them of being more infantile than his two young daughters.
According to the boiling hot President, Sasha and Malia are more responsible than the errant Republicans because they know better than to wait until the last minute to finish their homework assignments. August 2nd is looming hot on the tails of the American government and Republicans seemed poised for an all-nighter or default.
Hot Big Dog! You tell ‘em!
Apparently, some on the left like their president hot. The Dems are feeling hotter about their president than they have in months, lefty bloggers encouraging their new sizzling leader to stick to his hot guns and not give in to the Republicans in the deficit talks. Yes there have to be revenue cuts, the Dems agree, but there also have to be tax hikes.
You see, it’s called compromise, not exactly a hot topic on Capitol Hill these days, where cool heads do NOT prevail.
Hot diggity dog!
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sunday's at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
Tra la la.
There seems that there is nothing but bad news raining down on our 4th of July parades. These days there are only dire tales of hot chat, hot tempers, hot-headedness, hot as the dickens false rhetoric sprinkled on America by the phonies in the hot-seat sitting in Congress, running our over-heated government whose debt is about to implode.
Hot Potato!
Can you tell that I am hot under the collar, bristling at the idiots in charge of our futures who can’t even share a hot tamale without getting into a fight?
Eric Cantor, that hot-headed Republican Majority leader of the House of Representatives from that sizzling city of Richmond, Virginia threw up his hands recently and walked away from the budget talks screeching in his hot Southern drawl like Maggie the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that the talks had reached an “impasse.”
“Impasse?”
Hot cross Southern drawl buns.
Yes, Leader Cantor, there is an impasse. You caused the impasse when you got all hot and bothered and hot-tailed-it out of the budget talks because YOU refused to compromise and agree to raise taxes on those who can well-afford a tax hike. And you did it for purely political, purely selfish motives.
Cantor, it seems, is a scardi-cat on a hot tin roof, terrified of the right wing of his own hot Tea Party, not wanting to be the responsible public servant and do what is right and left – agree to raise taxes on the wealthy as part of the mix to bring the deficit under control– rather than compromise his leadership position in the House.
Hot Shot, not!
Meanwhile, the normally cool cat President Barack Obama finally stepped up to the hot-plate and appeared all hot and heavy, clearly not happy when the Republicans hot-tailed it out of the budget talks. He went all hot under the collar when in an unusual daytime presser he tore into the Republicans for walking away from the budget talks, accusing them of being more infantile than his two young daughters.
According to the boiling hot President, Sasha and Malia are more responsible than the errant Republicans because they know better than to wait until the last minute to finish their homework assignments. August 2nd is looming hot on the tails of the American government and Republicans seemed poised for an all-nighter or default.
Hot Big Dog! You tell ‘em!
Apparently, some on the left like their president hot. The Dems are feeling hotter about their president than they have in months, lefty bloggers encouraging their new sizzling leader to stick to his hot guns and not give in to the Republicans in the deficit talks. Yes there have to be revenue cuts, the Dems agree, but there also have to be tax hikes.
You see, it’s called compromise, not exactly a hot topic on Capitol Hill these days, where cool heads do NOT prevail.
Hot diggity dog!
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio, Sunday's at 5 est. Look for her upcoming novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter and read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
ANTHONY WEINER
The media circus surrounding Anthony Weiner and Twittergate came to an end this afternoon when Weiner held a press conference in an attempt to resign from Congress with a shred of dignity and expression of remorse.
He was forced to shout like a barker from his podium as obscene shouting roared through the presser, many of the comments lewd and cruel.
No doubt, Weiner screwed up. What he did was not only stupid, but close to insane. He clearly has a mental problem but who cares. His fellow Democrats certainly had no sympathy for the long-serving Representative whose constituents, despite Weiner's dalliances, were sticking with him....even if he was acting like a somewhat deranged man.
And what of the press? They fed this story with bizarre glee. Young Luke Russert, this his first national story, did what every cub reporter does: Went after his subject, knowing that if he could get Weiner to resign his career would be off and running. Sleazy, sleazy, sleazy.
Perhaps the lowest point in this painful all too human episode was when the Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, weighed in on this tortured affair. Was it necessary for the president to insert himself in this mess? I think not. It used to be that presidents stayed above the sordid fray. That was when the Office of the Presidency had dignity.
As for the Republicans: They rode this story like a fine circus performer. They shut up when the Dems didn't, and piled on when the Dems did not. In the wake of the press conference they continued to pile on, even after Weiner bowed to the pressure and resigned his longstanding job.
No one comes out of this story looking good. In many ways the story is much bigger than Anthony Weiner. It is a story that reflects America's morally corrupt society. The image it reflects is not a pretty picture.
Perhaps a moment of personal reflection would benefit us all.
He was forced to shout like a barker from his podium as obscene shouting roared through the presser, many of the comments lewd and cruel.
No doubt, Weiner screwed up. What he did was not only stupid, but close to insane. He clearly has a mental problem but who cares. His fellow Democrats certainly had no sympathy for the long-serving Representative whose constituents, despite Weiner's dalliances, were sticking with him....even if he was acting like a somewhat deranged man.
And what of the press? They fed this story with bizarre glee. Young Luke Russert, this his first national story, did what every cub reporter does: Went after his subject, knowing that if he could get Weiner to resign his career would be off and running. Sleazy, sleazy, sleazy.
Perhaps the lowest point in this painful all too human episode was when the Democratic President of the United States, Barack Obama, weighed in on this tortured affair. Was it necessary for the president to insert himself in this mess? I think not. It used to be that presidents stayed above the sordid fray. That was when the Office of the Presidency had dignity.
As for the Republicans: They rode this story like a fine circus performer. They shut up when the Dems didn't, and piled on when the Dems did not. In the wake of the press conference they continued to pile on, even after Weiner bowed to the pressure and resigned his longstanding job.
No one comes out of this story looking good. In many ways the story is much bigger than Anthony Weiner. It is a story that reflects America's morally corrupt society. The image it reflects is not a pretty picture.
Perhaps a moment of personal reflection would benefit us all.
A WARNING TO REPUBLICANS
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas looks like Pollyanna
compared to the vitriolic voice that for too long has been the Republican Party. Schoolyard bullies and thugs is what the GOP has come to represent. They bludgeon, they club, they bash, they beat, not afraid to take down any Democrat who might get in the way of their agenda. They are indeed, a belligerent lot.
The Comanche that are the Republican Party these days bring out their Winchesters for sport, as they seek to kill Medicare as we know it, cut unemployment benefits, stop Medicaid for children; their politics rests on the backs of the poor. Singing tunes with lyrics like "Armageddon," "showdown," Tea Party Express spokesperson, Amy Kremer, has been yodeling fiscal control. Control? The obese, intransigent Kremer talking about "control" seemes disingenuous considering the body from which this tune is being sung. No wonder they are against gun control; Republicans are out of control.
When not attacking programs for the poor, the GOP sets its sights on people. Their current target is new Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. No doubt, the nubile chairwoman has left herself vulnerable to the Right’s attacks. Nevertheless, some of the verbal firepower launched at Wasserman Shultz seems exponentially over-the-top, and for good reason. Wasserman Schultz represents the Jewish state of Florida. Obama has a Jewish problem thanks to his stupid handling of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace talks. Wasserman Schultz is Obama’s bridge to the Jewish community in Florida where every vote counts. While mean, Republicans aren’t dumb. They want Wasserman Schultz out, and if not out, dismembered — Jeffrey Dahmer politics.
In 1980 it was Republican Lee Atwater who started the Comanche Politics cannonball rolling. South Carolina State Senator Tom Turnipseed was in a bitter contest against Republican incumbent Floyd Spence. Atwater aimed his guns at Turnipseed employing false push polls, which linked Turnipseed to the NAACP. Then he shot the bullet across the bow that started the vitriol war, announcing that Turnipseed had been "hooked up to jumper cables" as a teen undergoing treatment for depression. Needless to say Turnipseed lost, but Lee Atwater’s mean machine won, and became the stuff of which Republican legends are made.
I was thinking about all of this the other day when I read a report that Republicans are furious with possible GOP presidential candidate, former Ambassador to China under Barack Obama, Jon Huntsman. Huntsman is attempting to do something that Republicans haven’t done since Atwater’s days: Run a campaign like a statesman should. Now there’s a novel idea. What? Not obliterate the competition with smear tactics but run on the issues? Similarly, the White House appears to have joined into a Non-Aggression pact with Huntsman. But Republicans are firing away at Huntsman nonetheless, calling his strategy “stupid,” and Huntsman a “friggin’ loser…”
…proving that Republicans have yet to learn the final lesson of Lee Atwater who died of a brain tumor at 40. “My illness,” Atwater said, “helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime.”
My Republican friends: It is never too late to learn.
compared to the vitriolic voice that for too long has been the Republican Party. Schoolyard bullies and thugs is what the GOP has come to represent. They bludgeon, they club, they bash, they beat, not afraid to take down any Democrat who might get in the way of their agenda. They are indeed, a belligerent lot.
The Comanche that are the Republican Party these days bring out their Winchesters for sport, as they seek to kill Medicare as we know it, cut unemployment benefits, stop Medicaid for children; their politics rests on the backs of the poor. Singing tunes with lyrics like "Armageddon," "showdown," Tea Party Express spokesperson, Amy Kremer, has been yodeling fiscal control. Control? The obese, intransigent Kremer talking about "control" seemes disingenuous considering the body from which this tune is being sung. No wonder they are against gun control; Republicans are out of control.
When not attacking programs for the poor, the GOP sets its sights on people. Their current target is new Democratic National Committee Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. No doubt, the nubile chairwoman has left herself vulnerable to the Right’s attacks. Nevertheless, some of the verbal firepower launched at Wasserman Shultz seems exponentially over-the-top, and for good reason. Wasserman Schultz represents the Jewish state of Florida. Obama has a Jewish problem thanks to his stupid handling of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace talks. Wasserman Schultz is Obama’s bridge to the Jewish community in Florida where every vote counts. While mean, Republicans aren’t dumb. They want Wasserman Schultz out, and if not out, dismembered — Jeffrey Dahmer politics.
In 1980 it was Republican Lee Atwater who started the Comanche Politics cannonball rolling. South Carolina State Senator Tom Turnipseed was in a bitter contest against Republican incumbent Floyd Spence. Atwater aimed his guns at Turnipseed employing false push polls, which linked Turnipseed to the NAACP. Then he shot the bullet across the bow that started the vitriol war, announcing that Turnipseed had been "hooked up to jumper cables" as a teen undergoing treatment for depression. Needless to say Turnipseed lost, but Lee Atwater’s mean machine won, and became the stuff of which Republican legends are made.
I was thinking about all of this the other day when I read a report that Republicans are furious with possible GOP presidential candidate, former Ambassador to China under Barack Obama, Jon Huntsman. Huntsman is attempting to do something that Republicans haven’t done since Atwater’s days: Run a campaign like a statesman should. Now there’s a novel idea. What? Not obliterate the competition with smear tactics but run on the issues? Similarly, the White House appears to have joined into a Non-Aggression pact with Huntsman. But Republicans are firing away at Huntsman nonetheless, calling his strategy “stupid,” and Huntsman a “friggin’ loser…”
…proving that Republicans have yet to learn the final lesson of Lee Atwater who died of a brain tumor at 40. “My illness,” Atwater said, “helped me to see that what was missing in society is what was missing in me: a little heart, a lot of brotherhood. It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime.”
My Republican friends: It is never too late to learn.
Monday, June 6, 2011
ONCE UPON A TIME AND NOT SO LONG AGO
Once upon a time -- and that was not so long ago -- former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney would have been considered the Republican Party’s perfect presidential candidate.
Tall and handsome, making him telegenic, wealthy, bright, accomplished, Romney is a fine family man still married to his high school sweetheart after 42 years, the father of five and now a grandpa with a coterie of cute grandchildren to exploit.
Politically, Romney offers something for everyone. As a moderate Conservative, he appears reasoned rather than dogmatic, and appeals to a wide swath of voters. But that was once upon a time, and that seems, oh, so, long ago before two extremes took over the Republican Party: The Christian Right and the even further to the right the off-the-charts Tea Party/Libertarian Bowel Movement of a party now controlling the GOP.
The Grand Old Party is no longer grand; it is dysfunctional. Worse, it is OLD. It operates in its own world, one that denies that the social revolutions of the Sixties ever occurred but rues the day that they did. Once the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower -- the party of grand ideas -- the GOP has become the party of only one idea: reduce the size of the Federal Government. It is the party of Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Tim Pawlenty -- a vice president, by the way, if ever there was one --- and the appalling Paul duo, Ron and Rand.
Ron Paul advocates eliminating all foreign aid, Gingrich is a self-serving serial philanderer. Palin and Bachman share more than their gender identification: They both play to the lowest common denominator preying on the beleaguered masses, spewing their brand of Conservatism that takes the best of Republicanism and turns it into a weapon to control the downtrodden. In the 2012 race for the Republican nomination, we have the class of the 1.800.GOP.BABES, 1.800.GET.A.BABE, 1.800.SAYNO2GOVERNMENT,1.800...well, you get the idea.
Which takes me back to the candidacy of Mitt Romney and of any other moderate Republican who might choose to run for the party's nomination: I FEEL YOUR PAIN! Your own party has placed you in an untenable situation. In order to get your party's nomination, you have to play to the whack-a-doodle base that votes in your primaries. But to win the general election, you have to appeal to the thoughtful and reasoned. Good luck with that.
Last week, I derided Mitt Romney for being a poor panderer. I made the observation that he is too obvious in his pandering. "Maybe if this guy would just take a course in sincerity he might get somewhere. Somebody out there, help this guy, puleeze," I pleaded.
And then I thought about what I had said. I thought that maybe the fact that Romney is a lousy panderer is actually a good thing, a reflection of the decent character that is in fact the man. Maybe he's another George Washington: He cannot tell a lie.
Alas, once upon a time and not so long ago that thought wouldn’t have seemed so farfetched. It might have been considered a grand old idea… once upon a time oh-so-painfully-long ago when running for the presidency wasn’t a business but a calling of decent men.
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio. Her novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY is about to be published. You can read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
Tall and handsome, making him telegenic, wealthy, bright, accomplished, Romney is a fine family man still married to his high school sweetheart after 42 years, the father of five and now a grandpa with a coterie of cute grandchildren to exploit.
Politically, Romney offers something for everyone. As a moderate Conservative, he appears reasoned rather than dogmatic, and appeals to a wide swath of voters. But that was once upon a time, and that seems, oh, so, long ago before two extremes took over the Republican Party: The Christian Right and the even further to the right the off-the-charts Tea Party/Libertarian Bowel Movement of a party now controlling the GOP.
The Grand Old Party is no longer grand; it is dysfunctional. Worse, it is OLD. It operates in its own world, one that denies that the social revolutions of the Sixties ever occurred but rues the day that they did. Once the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower -- the party of grand ideas -- the GOP has become the party of only one idea: reduce the size of the Federal Government. It is the party of Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman, Tim Pawlenty -- a vice president, by the way, if ever there was one --- and the appalling Paul duo, Ron and Rand.
Ron Paul advocates eliminating all foreign aid, Gingrich is a self-serving serial philanderer. Palin and Bachman share more than their gender identification: They both play to the lowest common denominator preying on the beleaguered masses, spewing their brand of Conservatism that takes the best of Republicanism and turns it into a weapon to control the downtrodden. In the 2012 race for the Republican nomination, we have the class of the 1.800.GOP.BABES, 1.800.GET.A.BABE, 1.800.SAYNO2GOVERNMENT,1.800...well, you get the idea.
Which takes me back to the candidacy of Mitt Romney and of any other moderate Republican who might choose to run for the party's nomination: I FEEL YOUR PAIN! Your own party has placed you in an untenable situation. In order to get your party's nomination, you have to play to the whack-a-doodle base that votes in your primaries. But to win the general election, you have to appeal to the thoughtful and reasoned. Good luck with that.
Last week, I derided Mitt Romney for being a poor panderer. I made the observation that he is too obvious in his pandering. "Maybe if this guy would just take a course in sincerity he might get somewhere. Somebody out there, help this guy, puleeze," I pleaded.
And then I thought about what I had said. I thought that maybe the fact that Romney is a lousy panderer is actually a good thing, a reflection of the decent character that is in fact the man. Maybe he's another George Washington: He cannot tell a lie.
Alas, once upon a time and not so long ago that thought wouldn’t have seemed so farfetched. It might have been considered a grand old idea… once upon a time oh-so-painfully-long ago when running for the presidency wasn’t a business but a calling of decent men.
Halli Casser-Jayne is the author of A YEAR IN MY PAJAMAS WITH PRESIDENT OBAMA, The Politics of Strange Bedfellows and the co-host of A PINT OF PLAIN AND POLITICS on Blog Talk Radio. Her novel, SCOUT FINCH'S DIARY is about to be published. You can read more of her musings @ The CJ Political Report dot com.
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