BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

IF THE GOP HATES GOVERNMENT LET'S ACCOMMODATE 'EM

So once again, in spite of all their claims of loving America and being solely dedicated to promoting the nations best interest, the GOP has found yet another pretext to hold America hostage and twist the arm of the American people in an attempt to force the nation to accept the malevolent agenda of their corporate cronies. And this is not the first time - it’s becoming a recurring event.
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When my daughter was a teenager, and young boys started knocking at my door to profess their love, knowing that I would never be able to hold back the force of nature, I armed her with what I considered sage advice instead. I told her to "Pay no attention to what these young boys say. Watch what they DO." That advice served her well, and it seems that it is now an excellent rule of thumb for the American people in dealing with the modern GOP, because their repeated behavior and obvious disregard for what’s in the best interest of the United States comes nowhere close to matching their political rhetoric.
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Richard (R.J.) Eskow, a former executive experienced in healthcare, benefits and risk management, finance, and information technology, also a senior fellow with the Campaign for America's Future and who hosts The Breakdown, says in his Huffington Post article, "The Shutdown: Republicans Win Standoff, Shoot Hostages Anyway," the following:
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"Even some other Republicans were appalled. One House member, mixing metaphors as effortlessly as his peers mix martinis, described his fellow Republicans as ‘lemmings with suicide vests.’
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"What are they thinking? It's hard to tell, since the GOP itself appears to be in complete chaos. But make no mistake about it: That is a hostage crisis, and however long or short the government shutdown turns out to be, the hostages -- the American people -- are already paying the price."
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Eskow goes on to point out, "The economy has begun shrinking. Morgan Stanley analysts estimate that the Republican shutdown will "trim annual GDP growth by approximately 15 basis points per week of closing."
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Newsmax reported former Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine as saying the Republican Party has bowed to extreme elements, making it unrecognizable from the GOP she joined years ago. Sen. Snowe said:
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"Obviously it’s moved to the extremes. I wouldn’t characterize everybody within the tea party movement, but certainly there are broad elements within the party now that are driving their own agenda for their own advantage, irrespective of what implications it has for the Republican Party,"
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Then Sen. Snowe goes on to tell Ashleigh Banfield of CNN Newsroom, "And certainly, this isn’t a party that I recognize and the party that I joined when I first enrolled, and that’s regrettable."
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It has become clear that the GOP's 30-year assault on our educational system has finally filtered down to having a negative impact on its own politicians. You cannot dumb-down America without also dumbing down the caliber of the politicians who assume elective office, and that has clearly taken place in the Republican Party. That's why we're witnessing unprecedented stupidity in government.
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Many of these politicians fail to realize that giving political games priority over the interest of the nation is not only a blatant act of irresponsibility, but political malfeasance. That’s why this Republican congress has been rated lower than any congress in the history of this nation. They’re like a bunch of irate children. They’re stomping their feet and having a tantrum because America voted against letting them have their way.
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This is not a debatable issue. As President Obama pointed out in his response to the government shutdown, there was absolutely no reason for the Republicans in congress to shutdown the government. It serves no useful purpose other than to inflict pain upon the American people in order to punish America for not letting them have their way. The president said the following:
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"They've shut down the government over an ideological crusade to deny affordable health insurance to millions of Americans. In other words, they demanded ransom just for doing their job . . .
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"And of course what's stranger still is that shutting down our government doesn't accomplish their stated goal. The Affordable Care Act is a law that passed the House, that passed the Senate, the Supreme Court ruled constitutional. It was a central issue in last year's election. It is settled, and it is here to stay.
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"And because of its funding sources, it's not impacted by a government shutdown. And these Americans are here with me today because even though the government is closed, a big part of the Affordable Care Act is now open for business."
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So the problem is, the GOP has become so radical in its agenda that it has a vested interest in electing ideologues over anyone with any kind of intellectual acuity. In fact, the GOP’s agenda is so toxic to America to anyone with common sense that it's necessitated the Republican Party becoming openly hostile to all intellectuals, potential statesman, and even independent thought itself. In addition, their pretexts to push their agenda that is so obviously toxic to the American people has become so convoluted that they’ve become so prolific in their lies that if they ever did decide to tell the truth, it would only be in an attempt to confuse the public.
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The facts are clear to anyone who's truly interested in facts. Take a moment to ask yourself, who was the last Republican president who DIDN’T drag America under a bus? With the exception of Ike Eisenhower, the GOP has a one hundred year history of swindling the American people (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2010/10/gop-one-hundred-year-record-of.html). Period.
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That’s how we’ve ended up with what we have today - a Republican congress filled with complete idiots who are totally oblivious to tradition, limits, and what's in the best interest of the nation. As I’ve pointed out in previous articles, and with complete candor, if Al Qaeda represents a rattle snake in America’s garden, the current GOP constitutes a python in the bedroom. Because as big a threat as Al Qaeda is to America, they can only destroy buildings, but the modern GOP is out to destroy the very foundation upon which this nation rests. Thus, it is incumbent upon America to correct that situation in the very next election. It just may be our last chance.
 

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Eric L. Wattree

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.