December 22, 2007 07:45 PM
This Week: Bush Vs. Congress
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The problem with the Republican platform of good government = smaller government is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take our current system and obstruct the hell out of it and you can then point to it and say, "See how wasteful and inefficient it is?" And that's exactly what George Will does during the panel discussion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, bragging about the Republican obstructionism but EJ Dionne points out that denying children healthcare isn't exactly something to brag about.
The major mantra of Republicans always seems to be that the biggest, most abysmal abject failure in the country is the government. And then they turn right around to spend all their money, time and effort to get elected to it … just to prove their point.
Zounds - I've never been foist. So where do I collect my prizes and cash?
George Will no longer knows his own rectum from second base, so NO ONE should EVER let him tell them what the score is!
It is not Bush vs Congress, it is BUSH AND CONGRESS vs THE PEOPLE OF THE USA AND THE WORLD.....
Try to grasp that fact and hold it tight.....
Yes exactly, Nicole. When republicans are in control, they work toward the systematic dismantling of various government services and oversight agencies through cutting funding to those agencies. When the agencies fail to protect the public or do what they are supposed to do (because they are underfunded and understaffed), the republicans use those agencies as examples for how government-funded programs don't work. The problem with the republican strategy is that they haven't a clue how to govern. That, and the fact that the populace, even the republican populace, WANT the government services. The republicans say they don't, but take those services away and they start whining.
Some of the most vocal republicans I know are older, blue collar, middle class white guys. It's amazing to me how they can rail against government spending, and still collect veteran's benefits, educational benefits, social security etc. etc.
its an administrative failure when one of the 3 branches of government is "versus" another
What does republicant obstructionism have to do with the debate over big vs small government?
It seems to me that their obstructionism would f*ck up 'small government' just as much as it is now.
"...The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." - P.J. O'Rourke
=my2c
Hype-Jersey @ 4:
Not just that, but they replace everybody competent with a political hack whose two main jobs are to collect a fat check and make sure nothing much gets done. In agency after agency, that is the story. Fat-assed rethug bureaucrats have fattened "upper management" while staff who actually do the work are fleeing in droves.
UnEasyOne @ 9:
They're worse than goldbrickers. They do a LOT to screw it up. Let's call it malpractice, which is worse than doing nothing.
The problem with the Republican platform of good government = smaller government is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Take our current system and obstruct the hell out of it and you can then point to it and say, “See how wasteful and inefficient it is?”
But our government under Bush is LARGER than it ever has been, just abysmally corrupt and incompetent. We're paying billions to mercenaries in Iraq and elsewhere, Americans are getting dumped on in all kinds of ways, having to pay more for private programs than efficiently-run government programs.
And I'll tell you something. I've never seen a dyed-in-the-wool Republican ever turn down the benefits of domestic programs. For instance, we certainly haven't seen Republican legislators clamoring to shut down the federal government employees' health insurance programs to decrease government spending, have we? It's THEIR coverage, so it doesn't count.
I'm getting really sick of Republican claims that they're the party that makes government smaller and cost less. They've certainly not done it during the current administration. They'd lose their political power to wage war if they actually did. What they do that they DON'T brag about is their destruction of American benefits that we are all willing to pay for. They use the money for war instead, and leave an enormous debt that generations will be paying for.
So shut up, George Will. You Republicans have done nothing for American citizens.
Is Hillary or Obama More Vulnerable to Right-Wing Attacks?
By Robert Parry, Consortium News
Is Obama's admitted youthful drug use more dangerous than seven years of Secret Service files on Hil and Bill?
It is truly amazing that a any republican can brag about constraining federal spending and keep a straight face.
I disagree with Dionne because there are lots of Americans for whom stopping funded health care and transportation to immunizations are indeed a good thing. 'liberals' give 'conservatives' too much credit on this.
Funny how the instant the Republicans lose the slim majority that allowed them to cram through everything they wanted, suddenly we need 60 Senators to get anything passed.
How very odd!
It's also fascinating that George Will can scoff at healthcare as a being "another middle class entitlement". Just who does he think makes the country work? Who makes the water come out of his expensive faucets? Who maintains the roads on which he drives his luxury cars? Who spills their blood to protect his stock portfolio?
That's right, the middle class. The middle class isn't some disposable group of lazy malcontents-- the middle class IS the country. They don't have to settle for a few entitlements. They're *entitled* to the whole damn thing if they choose to demand it.
Tom Coburn has placed over 90 holds on bills this year. These jerks hubris knows no bounds
Speaking of "big government", how does his position square with the EPA telling California that they can't enforce tighter emission standards? Isn't that a classic example of big government meddling? They only obstruct along corporate lines.
George Will: Yes, we're assholes, cowards, and simpering panderers but we're proud of it. Being respectable and honest is for sissies and weaklings.
Nice job, George. Hope that works for your dysfunctional and intellectually bankrupt party next November.
szin @ 6:
Big gov't, small gov't, they'll run both poorly and then obstruct them to boot. They should just hand the keys to the WH and Congress over to the corporations and retire (or die).
George Will is a pompous pain in the ass. Has anyone noticed that the people calling healthcare a "middle class entitlement" are the same assholes whose own healthcare is secure?
The Constitution gives the President, whoever it is, the ability to veto with near impunity. Bush, having exercized the power, now struts and swaggers over his "victory" over Congress. The DC press applauds him for doing what a monkey could do.
Senate Republicans have set a record of 72 filibusters in ONE year. The record? 68 in TWO years. Bush has vetoed health care for children and stem cell research. Can it be any more obvious who they serve? Where are the democrats in all this? Apparently they are slaves to both corporations and the republican minority.
New York Times article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/weekinreview/02herszenhorn.html?_r=1&r...
Individually, there's no one dumber than Bush.
But when you put them together as a group, Congress comes damned close.
Hmm now which class is George Will in? Certainly not the middle class. Stick you nose i nthe air and condescendingly say "another middle class entitlement". George, your contemptible selfish elitism is bare naked for all the world to see.
George will is a pseudo-intellectual fascist. At least he has entertainment value as a village clown.
Extreme righties don't want to compromise on anything, which is why there is so much failure on policy in this country now. They've made a mockery of what little ethics there was in politics: 12 billion a month on a phony war; numerous rightwing govt. officials in jail and more to come; sexual scandals too numerous to mention; and on and on... What a wonderful example from the moralists set.
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