I have never seen reality so unrelated to reality in this country

[MannyGoldstein]

in my lifetime.

We have a fully fake crisis that one political party wants to "fix" by obliterating working Americans, while the other party merely wants to rip our spleens out with a rusty butter knife.

This is fall-of-Rome caliber stuff. I guess I've known for many years that it had to end up this way, but seeing it happen is astonishing.

[LoZoccolo]

1. You can help by not employing hyperbole against the Dems kthx. n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Do you think the Democrats have made any mistakes here at all?

I'm curious.

[LoZoccolo]

13. I don't think that I said that they didn't. n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

15. Do you still feel that Obama deserves to be on Mt. Rushmore?

Or was that just a goof in the first place?

[LoZoccolo]

18. Yes, and it's completely an opinion so it can't be hyperbole. n/t

[MannyGoldstein]

19. OK then. Obama on Mt. Rushmore.

Understood.

[theophilus]

10. That IS what I told them and then they explained to me what they meant. n/t

[undeterred]

2. I watched a documentary on the Donner Party tonight

and found it more enjoyable than the politics of this week. Of course the Donner Party and the Democratic Party do have some things in common...

[Enthusiast]

34. Excellent point.

When you can find a documentary on the Donner Party more enjoyable that politics, the politics are turning very unappealing.

[xchrom]

3. Recommend

[RKP5637]

4. I've been around many years and I've never seen this place so

bent on self-destruction for millions of people. We are an embarrassment to the great leaders in history that helped make this once a great nation. Sadly, I don't think we've seen anything yet, the pilings are rotten and the politicians are working to tear them apart. What a travesty.

[emulatorloo]

5. If Nancy Pelosi was still speaker of the House, we would not even be having this discussion.

The Dem House would have put out a clean bill to raise the Debt Ceiling.

Election 2010 loaded the House with Teabaggers/Extremists.

I don't blame the 2010 voters, the got sold a bill of goods - i.e. "Jobs, Jobs. Jobs"

[MannyGoldstein]

8. 2010 voters were voting against the party in power

that had utterly failed to turn the economy around (unless you are a banker, of course).

This will repeat again in 2012.

[emulatorloo]

20. I think most of those voters now realize it was a HUGE MISTAKE.

See Wisconsin for example. My teabag Governor's approval numbers are in the basement.

"This will repeat again in 2012." Hard to know. If there is no deal, I think most people will blame the Republicans.

[MannyGoldstein]

23. It's like the poor souls at the top of the Twin Towers on 9/11

Stay and burn to death, or jump and fall to your death. It's a horrible fucking choice with no good answer.

[sudopod]

11. You're the first poster I've seen come out and explicitly not blame the victims. Good on ya. nt

[LoZoccolo]

12. The thing is, some progressives take credit for "cleaning house" of blue dogs.

This when fully four-fifths of them that remain are still working against (yes, against) the Republicans with respect to this problem.

Every blue dog has a significant partisan voting record, and if anyone still doesn't like it, they have to do the work of moving the electorate to a place where a more progressive primary candidate who can win the general can win the primary. There is a route to getting more progressive Democrats without empowering Republicans.

And let's see how many of these deposed blue dogs get replaced by progressive Democrats in 2012. My guess is none.

[Armstead]

40. She would still have an uphill againbst the Corporate ConservaDems

All of the meaningful forms of Health Care Reform came out of the House in 2009-10.

But they were shot down by the Senate and President Obama.

[KeyserSoze87]

7. To the Tea Party and all the members of the GOP who have given allegiance to it...

This is it. This is the last straw. Now you have gone too far. I am now at my wit’s end. Never in my entire life have I ever felt such a strong hatred for one single group of people. You are all disgusting, vile, and self-centered wastes of oxygen. There are no words in the English language that can describe how selfish, heartless, cruel, and greedy you all are. Ever since having a landslide victory in Congress back in November 2010, you have broken your promise to get this battered country back to work, and have instead focused on attacking everything that our grandparents and great-grandparents have fought for, and laying off public workers at any given opportunity.

And now, you’re threatening to bring our entire country into a financial panic if you don’t get what you want. Well, I have a newsflash: Our country and our entire political system does not revolve around you. You claim that you’re the real Americans in this nation and that you represent the majority, and yet you fail to notice that the rest of this country is tired of listening to your nonsense. How DARE you people dress like our Founding Fathers during your pathetic rallies, and how DARE you call yourselves “patriots.” If you are intentionally sabotaging an entire country’s economy for political gains, you are NOT a “patriot.” You are a TRAITOR, and an enemy to our republic and its people. You have now become the very thing you vowed to destroy shortly after 9/11. I used to believe that there was some good in everyone, but apparently I was wrong. You are pure evil right down to the core. Ever since you started your movement against Obama, you have spread hatred, violence, and bigotry across this country, and you will continue to consume and destroy everything in your path until you have complete power over our entire society. You people do not represent a “grassroots” movement; you represent an attempt to give total power to corporations and the wealthy, and to turn all of us into serfs.

The American people are living in a very scary point in our nation’s history. What’s truly alarming about what they’re currently facing is that it has happened in the past, and has led to absolutely terrifying results. In Germany following World War I, another political movement, not unlike the one you’ve created, came into power. They promised to bring the country out of its economic troubles, and to fight for the rights of its people. Instead, they took advantage of all the anger amongst the citizens, and they turned the entire country into a one-party, fascist dictatorship that would bring the entire world to the brink of destruction. And I’m sure you know which political movement I’m talking about.

But no matter what you do, you won’t be fooling me. I know perfectly well that this artificial debt crisis is a scheme you’re using to gain complete control of Congress, and to have a President Romney, thus completing America’s transformation from a democracy to a fascist corporate empire. Well guess what? I’ll vote for that sleazy, lying Gordon Gekko reject when Hell freezes over. What you people don’t know is that you’ve created a uprising of liberals, moderates, and working people across this country (as shown in Wisconsin and other states), and it will get so large that you’ll be unable to stop it. You may win this battle, but you will not win this war. I am confident that the American people will be able to look past your lies, and your political movement will collapse after it’s defeated by a political tsunami of our own making. And when that day comes, the era of income inequality and Reaganomics will be over, and a new age of progressivism and economic prosperity will begin.

[BobbyBoring]

43. You took the words right out of my mouth

nothing more to ad

[KeyserSoze87]

44. Great minds think alike!

[harun]

9. Couldn't agree more. We do NOT live in a Democracy.

[emulatorloo]

21. Then how did the house get full of Republicans in the 2010 election?

We do live in a Democracy. Sometimes voters do the wrong thing. I don't blame the 2010 voters, they were sold a bill of goods by the Republicans (Jobs Jobs Jobs.)

[harun]

26. If the voters never have a choice of picking the right thing then by default they only pick the

wrong thing.

You get Corporate Candidate A or Corporate Candidate B. You live in a Corporate Representative Republic and it absolutely sickens me that you don't see it. Because it just makes it harder for us to fight what we cannot see.

[emulatorloo]

31. Sorry, I gave up on the "they're all the same" paradigmn after Reagan got Elected.

[harun]

37. Reagan governed to the Left of Obama, just say'n.

[Puzzler]

14. I could almost, just almost imagine this future scenario:

The year, 2012:

- The GOP want to place 50 million poor Americans (and immigrants) in special internment camps (aside from the ones in jail already).

- The ever-vigilant Democrats strike a deal "everyone can live with"... only 30 million will go to internment camps now.


(sigh)

[MannyGoldstein]

17. That deserves a post of its own

Because that's it in a nutshell.

[Enthusiast]

35. I agree.

That's just about where we are.

Rather than raise taxes on the ultra-deserving job creators we might first consider establishing "camps" where we could gently put older useless eaters to death.

[harun]

27. Get ready for the refugees in Canada. Tell us where to find shelter.

[checks-n-balances]

33. Kind of like a Sophie's Choice, writ large

Not a perfect analogy, but it reminds me of that

[tnlefty]

16. Nor have I...

and even though some of us were trying to warn people about the southern republicans that we have to deal with, now dubbed the Teahadists, infecting the country....

Seeing the freaks take hold in other parts of the country has been distressing to me for quite some time.

[sarcasmo]

22. I think we have been watching the fall for quite some time now.

[madrchsod]

24. yup.....it is astonishing.

[OwnedByFerrets]

25. I never thought it would happen so quickly

[reformist2]

28. Meanwhile, the ultrarich have $40 trillion in wealth they are sitting on.

[Name removed]

29. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[emulatorloo]

32. The tea-party house members are not play-acting.

They are pretty much the reason we are in this mess. They contol the House, all bills have to get past them.

Obama may be evil, he may be neutral. Either way, this mess is the fault of the Republicans and the fact that extremists control the House.

[hvn_nbr_2]

30. Not just fall of Rome

I think we're seeing a replay of all these things at the same time:

Fall of Rome

Rise of medieval feudalism (except this time, instead of lords of the manor, it'll be lords of the corporate boardroom; instead of land serfs, the rest of us will be cubicle serfs or retail serfs.)

Rise of theocracy

Lead-up to the French Revolution. (Uncertain. The conditions are the same, but it's not at all clear that Americans today have the pluck for throwing off their shackles.)

[ladjf]

36. Philosophies built upon personal "notions" rather than objective

thinking. The Creationists are a perfect example of this "Notionism" when they declare that the Earth is less than 10,000 old. Where did they get that idea? Was it from any legitimate scientific sources? They just cooked the notion up to suit their theological views which are also simply an array of notions.

[piratefish08]

38. Shock Doctrine - Naomi Klein

they've been running this hustle in different countries for 60+ years.

it's America's turn now.

electing the lesser of 2 evils will NOT turn this around.

if you haven't read the book or watched the movie, you aren't seeing the bigger picture.

[woo me with science]

39. +1

[piratefish08]

41. i honestly don't have a single intelligent suggestion as to what we should do.

their methods have had a 100% success rate for 60 years.

i see nothing slowing their progress here, either.

[COLGATE4]

42. You've said it once again, Manny. K&R!

[bvar22]

45. I didn't expect to see it in my lifetime.

I still can NOT believe that a "Democratic" President would so eagerly put Social Security & Medicare on the auction block,
and that so many would CHEER for him doing so.



That is NOT Republican Lite.
That is NOT Kinder, Gentler Conservatism.
THAT is hard core, cold blooded extreme RIGHT Conservatism.


Even Mainstream Republicans supported Social Security.

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."
---Republican President Dwight Eisenhower

How FAR we have fallen. :cry:

[blkmusclmachine]

46. Is the "Man Behind The Curtain" Doug Coe?

A LOT of the shenanigans coming from DC right now seem to come straight out of his sermons. Even Hillary Clinton gushed over him as a "trusted friend, mentor, and confidant."

[Name removed]

47. Deleted message

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