I’ve had my disagreements with the direction of the Obama administration but, as each day unfolds, I continue to wonder how any rational thinking American could vote for republicans these days.  In fact, I guess the thought is finally crystallizing in my mind, that is where the “tea party” is coming from.  People who can’t handle democrats (especially Black ones – based on the signs I’ve seen at their “rallies”) but who are also “fed up” with republicans as well are probably at the core of the “tea party,” although I confess ignorance of their “movement.”  Today I  got just a “snipit” of Glenn Beck’s rant and he was actually calling George W Bush a “progressive.”  Now, Beck has proven to me that he’s a successful entertainer who’s, I’m sure, raking in MILLIONS playing on people’s fears, but calling Bush a progressive should get his ratings to drop even more than they have of late.  These right wing talkers, from the “top tier” of Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity, and O’Reilly to the “second string” of the local “thugs” such as Lars Larson, Michael Savage, and others who I don’t even know their names because I can only handle so much of that stuff, are nothing more than water carriers for the corporate interests who will surely continue bludgeoning the middle class of this great nation for as long as they can get away with it.  I realize these people (the right wing talkers) are “laughing all the way to the bank,” because some of the reported salaries they receive are as obscene as those from the Wall Street plunderers, but the damage to our nation is real, and it’s just a matter of time until these people are exposed for what they really are.  At some point the general public in America is going to totally rebel against the republican “talking points” which are traditional propoganda, nazi style.

Even Beck’s “progressive” GW Bush was quoted during his presidency as saying “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda,” which is what republicans have been doing since the days of Ronald Reagan.  With Rush Limbaugh, the republicans found a man who would say anything he was told to say for money (OK, I “get” that Limbaugh can “BS” with the best of them).  The stream of “talkers” has grown to an alarming amount, and it wasn’t until just a few years ago that the “progressives” (and, no, I don’t mean GW Bush and his ilk) even were given a “voice” on the airwaves that stands in opposition to the right wingers who are all spouting the same message.  The problem for “progressives” is that they control less than 10% of the political “talk” airtime and they are on the weakest signals, therefore reaching a much smaller segment of the population.  There are even cities in this great naion who still have only ONE SIDE of the political argument being made, which is an effective way for those who are behind the Limbaugh’s, Beck’s, etc to control the “message” even more.  For example, today I heard exactly the SAME argument from multiple sources.  Barack Obama sent out an email to all of his supporters from the previous election soliciting their support for the next election – myself, a “baby boomer” and a “white guy” included.  The rant I heard today was that Obama is a “racist” because he’s drumming up support among “Blacks, Latino’s, and women.”

I honestly don’t understand how people like Limbaugh can get away with this kind of CRAP other than to refer you to one of my previous posts where I explained “psychological projection.”  In short, psychological projection is where “Persons incapable of ascribing their own feelings to themselves have great difficulties in understanding them.”  It is “the unconscious act of denial of a person’s own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world.”  Therefore, you have people like Limbaugh and Beck accusing Barack Obama of being a racist.  I’ll let you connect the dots.  The bottom line here is that the “tea party” is essentially the republican party, and the republican party is essentially answering to Rush Limbaugh and is otherwise leaderless, and their actions of late speak volumes as to where they want to take this nation.

Where is that? you might ask.  Well, let’s start with Arizona and the recently passed and signed into law legislation which, for all intents and purposes, GUARANTEES that I won’t be going to Arizona ANY TIME SOON.  Now, I am a “white guy,” but I really don’t like the idea of a police officer having to make a “judgement call” on whether or not I’m a citizen or not – should I choose to travel there.  Let’s be clear about this, the Arizona law (if you live under a rock and haven’t heard, the law FORCES authorities in Arizona to stop and ask for PROOF of citizenship from anyone who is suspected of being “illegal”) is intended for Latino’s (and, Obama – there’s a provision in the law that states that if John McCain wants to run for president again [or anyone else] they have to provide their actual birth certificate in order to get their name placed on the ballot) – that is, to purge the illegal immigrants from their state.  There is little doubt, based on all the information I’ve read, that there IS a problem at the border of the United States with Mexico.  However, similarly to the republican’s reaction to the attacks of 9/11 they seem OVERLY WILLING to subjegate our LIBERTIES for the sake of political expediency.  There is no doubt in my mind that the bill passed in Arizona is unconstitutional – and, maybe they understand that as well and were just trying to “make a point” – but, the way these republicans go about doing these things is curious at best.  The BLOWBACK on Arizona could potentially be economic DISASTER for their state.  I don’t know if they’re trying to force the federal government to address this issue, but do you find it interesting that they get behind a bill that essentially PROFILES Latino’s and potentially strips many GOOD, HARD WORKING Americans of their most basic rights – while at the same time calling our Black president a RACIST.  How stupid do these republicans think “we the people” are?  I certainly hope they are wrong on this one!

Here’s another piece of relevant contemporary republicanism which tests the “waters” as to how stupid republicans think the general American public is – because, make no mistake about what they’re doing; it’s ALL CALCULATED to regain power for them without any kind of accountability for what they did to us during the eight MISERABLE years of the Bush administration.  The latest move from the “party of no” is the rejection of WALL STREET REFORM – I’ve been ranting about this for several weeks now.  My HOPE was that the republicans would FILIBUSTER the Wall Street reform legislation being proposed in the senate – I believe even the “low information voters” as I referred to them a while back can see past this one.  Well, TRUE TO FORM republicans in the senate came through like the champions they really are.  Of course, they’re framing their “objection” to the bill by claiming that it doesn’t do what it specifically says it does – which is to prevent future taxpayer BAILOUTS of Wall Street banks such as the BAILOUT which was done under the last REPUBLICAN president.  I’m sure you remember George W Bush’s now infamous quote, “Under our proposal, the federal government would put up to $700 billion taxpayer dollars on the line to purchase troubled assets that are clogging the financial system” – giving the money to banks like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and a few other behemoths who make huge profits gambling with someone else’s money.  This is the financial system that was “CLOGGED” due to policies of Bush and the “OUR” he’s referring to is – presumably – him and Hank Paulson, his Treasury Secretary and the former CEO of – who else – Goldman Sachs.

The financial “meltdown” of 2008, a recurrence of which is what this legislation is attempting to prevent, led to the estimated loss of 8 MILLION jobs in America, TRILLIONS in losses to the 401 K’s and varied retirement plans of MILLIONS of hardworking Americans, and arguably the worst recession in our history – which was potentially a 2nd “Great Depression.”  Many economists are referring to the present economic crisis as the “Great Recession,” and, UNBELIEVABLY the republicans are somehow managing to manipulate the media in a way that is causing many in America to forget who created this MESS in the first place.  As stated above, I’ve had my disagreements with President Obama, and I pledged to myself that I would not be a “rubber stamp” for him as the republicans were to President Bush during his time in office – most of the time with a solid republican majority in both houses of Congress, but I’m solidly behind Obama on this one.  The republican Congress didn’t object to Bush’s abusive policies and he didn’t vetoe anything they put before him for his signature.  I’m not saying that would necessarily be bad, but what I am saying is that republicans MUST accept accountability for the results of their actions (just as democrast will need to accept accountability for the long term affects of the actions they’re taking now) – which is what republicans are trying to avoid with this media assault on our new president and our unsuspecting public. 

As I responded to Lars Larson recently when he happened upon this site, many of the people who listen to him and the other “talkers” on the radio or on TV believe they are telling the truth – kind of like when you go to the doctor you assume doctors know what they’re talking about just by the position they hold.  Obviously, that’s not the case with radio and television personalities, but people like me grew up in an era where these people were assumed to be non-biased reporters of facts.  Non-biased reporters appear to be a thing of the past.  (In fact, one of the “progressive” talkers, Randi Rhodes, challenges her listeners to “fact check” everything she says because it’s all opinion and the listener needs to verify it – no matter who it’s coming from)  And, I’m not deluding myself into thinking that I have all the answers, I started this site simply as a way to “vent” my frustration with Bush/Cheney and the lies which got the country I love BOGGED DOWN in another Viet Nam like situation in Iraq (actually, Bush did Lyndon Johnson one better and left TWO bogged down military fiasco’s for Obama to deal with upon moving into the White House).  I would actually relish the thought of an actual intellectual dialogue with someone who feels as if a vote for republicans makes sense.  What I always have to deal with are people like Larson who call people like me names (according to Lars I’m an “elitist democrat”) without making one good complete sentence that argue’s their point of view.  I suspect that Limbaugh, Beck, Larson, and the others have no point of view – except for the “talking points” they are instructed to say “over and over and over again, to catapult the propoganda” – in the words of their former “progressive” president.

So, what people who want to support the republican party are faced with is supporting a party which is behind the stripping of our basic liberties in Arizona, a party which stripped the New Deal regulations of Wall Street over a period of years (starting with Ronald Reagan and continuing through the administration of GW Bush) – regulations designed to PREVENT a financial crisis such as the one which happened “on their watch,” a party which has obstructed EVERY attempt at turning around the multiple PREDICAMENTS they left our new adminstration with, and now a party which is standing in the way of regulatory reform of Wall Street designed to prevent a recurrence of the “meltdown” of 2008.  (Do you remember that republicans were spouting the same crap in 1929?)  Keep in mind that the bankers these republicans are supporting (and, make no mistake, the republican leaders are even soliciting “donations” from these bankers in return for their votes against reform – about as IN YOUR FACE disregard for the American public as it gets) – these are the same bankers who were before Congress today explaining why they were selling “derivatives” to the managers of retirement accounts of good hard working Americans as “AAA” securities while, at the same time, GAMBLING that these same “securities” would fail – therefore MAKING A BUNDLE on both ends of the transaction and knowingly “SCREWING” millions of good American workers.  The stuff they were doing was SO OBSCENE that I can’t even imagine republicans supporting, but there they are – FILIBUSTERING the reform bill BEFORE it even reaches the senate floor for debate.  These republicans are unbelievable to me.  As I’ve stated above (and many times on this site) I have my disagreements with the Obama administration, but the republican support for the Wall Street bankers has convinced me that my democrat only voting needs to continue – at least for the time being.  Anyone who associates with the present leaders of that party is not worthy of a vote from someone in America’s middle class as far as I’m concerned.  (and, by the way Lars, if you show up again, I’ve been an “elitist” independent for over 40 years)