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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCharlie Pierce explains how we got here. (UTTERLY FANTASTIC)
Ted Yoho.
The power rests with Ted Yoho because the castrato Speaker Of The House, Boehner of Ohio, cares more about his job than he does about his country. The power rests with Ted Yoho because the American political system has tolerated carefully cultivated ignorance andcarefully tailored bigotry for far too long. Ted Yoho has been coming for years. Ted Yoho was made inevitable by the NCPAC campaigns of the late 1970's and by the elevation of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980 and, subsequently, to an artificially exalted place in our history after he left office. The Republican party revelled in all the forces that are now tearing it apart. The Democratic party was criminally negligent and abdicated its profound responsibility to fight against those forces; indeed, it spent the better part of the 1980's and 1990's trying to surf the wave itself. The Democratic Leadership Council, and Blue Dog Democrats generally, bear a heavy burden of responsibility for failing to demonstrate to the American people in election after election how extreme the Republicans were becoming.
A great portion of the courtier press that now expresses horror at what is going on now went gleefully along for the ride as it became inevitable. Any members of that courtier press who relished the pursuit of Bill Clinton's penis, or conducted the absurd campaign of untruth that was waged against Al Gore between 1999 and 2000 lost the right years ago credibly to denounce conservative extremism and Republican vandalism. That means you, Roger Simon of Politico, who was so shocked the other day to discover that racism may have afflicted the process of government since the president's election, but who once claimed to right to make candidates like Gore "jump through hoops" for the pure hella-fun of it. That means you, Chris Matthews, who chased the presidential dick for two years, all the way through an impeachment process that was a constitutional absurdity, but who now discovers that the campaign of destruction never truly stopped. That means you, Andrew Sullivan, with your current existential torment over How It Came To This. (Pro tip: The Bell Curve? Betsy McCaughey on health-care? Fifth-column liberals? You helped.) This means you, David Brooks, sucking your thumb on book leave while the monster that you got rich feeding grows into its full power. This means all of you who went along for the ride on torture, and on Iraq, and who hid under the bed after 9/11. This is how the power came to rest with Ted Yoho, who is a fool and a know-nothing. This is how historical inevitability is created. This is how its momentum becomes unstoppable. This is how the wreckage piles up.
"Government is the problem," said Saint Reagan in his first inaugural. And everybody, all of you sorry bastards, cheered, and made completely predictable the moment in which the power of the government would come to reside in...
Ted fking Yoho.
A guy who should be a minor annoyance at zoning board meetings in Florida is suddenly capable of helping to bring down the financial stability of the world. A guy who should be railing at his local drive-time talk-jock is giving quotes to The New York Times about the essential dismantling of the institutions of self-government.
Ted fking Yoho.
It's his world now. We just live in it.
Read more: Today In The Reign Of Morons - Reign Of Morons: Apotheosis - Esquire
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http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/today-in-the-reign-of-morons-101613#comments
bmbmd
(3,088 posts)sums it up.
russspeakeasy
(6,539 posts)You could pick them out easily.
cali
(114,904 posts)BlueToTheBone
(3,747 posts)I don't feel vindicated though. I think that we are in deep trouble and may not escape this time.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)boston bean
(36,221 posts)Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)Even though his district contains a portion of blue Gainesville.
Cha
(297,304 posts)him out next time after all this shit he helped cause.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,182 posts)They're literally two blocks away from living in a Democratic representative's district (Corrine Brown).
Cha
(297,304 posts)Who doesn't remember Corrine Brown!?
Liberal_Dog
(11,075 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)Could hardly be better stated or more emphatically put.
sheshe2
(83,790 posts)d_r
(6,907 posts)that had to feel good putting that into words.
kaiden
(1,314 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,735 posts)When someone is that politically bold, sometimes there is a lawyer who has inside government information egging him on.
crazylikafox
(2,758 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,735 posts)but where I live, it took a smart Jewish lawyer from Tampa to unravel a good ole boy's hornet nest.
I think that's what we need in Central Florida. Smart and ethical lawyers.
A girl can dream.
Blue Owl
(50,420 posts)n/t
Patiod
(11,816 posts)All of those "liberal media" pundits who should have been watching the loonies were too busy going after Bill and sucking up to The Decider.
Ugh.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Solly Mack
(90,771 posts)Yes!
dawnie51
(959 posts)will be worth it if these corrupt, no-nothings charlatans are exposed and sent packing. All of them, the reality TV star, the vet, the whole lot of them who have never even been a city councilman, but wound up in the US CONGRESS, and attempted a coup upon the government of this country, ALL need to be exposed and banished from ever having any sort of political position. And yes, Charlie Pierce, the members of the media who enabled them need to go right along with them!
leftstreet
(36,108 posts)mrsadm
(1,198 posts)I love it when people don't mince their words!
mountain grammy
(26,623 posts)I've been very stressed about this since we are flying to the east coast tomorrow. After years of working for the airline corps., both my husband and I are wary of flying with the FAA furloughed.
That said, we were going anyway, and if the shutdown happens and the country defaults, we will be in DC with our signs... "TAX THE RICH"
davidwparker
(5,397 posts)Right. On.
indepat
(20,899 posts)gain power in government and abuse that power to implement an ideology foreign to our founding principles, one which almost exclusively promotes the welfare of large corporations and the uber-wealthy rather than the general welfare. May your rewards in heaven be commensurate with your promotion of the general welfare.
D23MIURG23
(2,850 posts)florida08
(4,106 posts)We got gerried big time. But it's changing. Mod republicans are screaming with the liberals
'We're Screwed': Here's What It's Like Being A Liberal In A Tea Party District
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-yoho-debt-ceiling-protest-jeremiah-tattersall-2013-10#ixzz2huHgKMM6
Raffi Ella
(4,465 posts)This is what is most upsetting. Democratic Leadership surrendered the South to lunatic reThugs. They've allowed dangerous extremists to take over in these heavily red controlled areas and the devastating effects as a result will last for years to come.
There is no excuse or justification for the absolute disregard for an entire region of the country by the Democratic Party. None.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)Debiie may be from Florida, but she is a perfect example of the watered down DINO.
Raffi Ella
(4,465 posts).
Skittles
(153,169 posts)DAMN STRAIGHT - it is downright SICKENING the level of incompetence that let things get this out of hand - LET THIS BE A LESSON!!!
Dark n Stormy Knight
(9,760 posts)K&R!
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)They were willing to sell their souls and block vote because they have no backbones. They are lowly follower authoritarians that need someone's help to go to the bathroom. Bullies like Yoho would be nothing without their spineless followers.