http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/04/the-teabagger-king-abdicates-his-throne Comments On: The Teabagger King Abdicates His Throne by Paul Constant en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 18 May 2013 01:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
The interests that have traditionally backed Republicans didn't lose, and the Tea Party astroturf movement wasn't a failure. They enabled a Democratic Party that is the most plutocratic, most corporatist, most sold-out, and furthest to the right it has been since before the Great Depression to come off as the more attractive choice.

In the first Obama Administration, the plutocracy got virtually all of the big-money wins it wanted: continued bailout of the perpetrators of the financial crash and abandonment of its victims; the Heritage Foundation health-care plan; continued super-low taxes on the rich; more race-to-the-bottom "free trade" agreements with weak labor and environmental provisions; ever-weakening unions; falling real wages; weak financial regulations and bigger-than-ever banks; exceptionally weak antitrust and consumer protection enforcement; and endless war, fear, and paranoia. They even got cuts to food stamps in a time of high unemployment! (Real plutocrats don't care about social wedge issues, like sexuality and religion. They just use them tactically to manipulate the hoi polloi.)

So a few genuinely progressive Democrats got elected last November, and Elizabeth Warren will be getting a junior seat on the Senate Banking Committee. And a number of genuinely bad apples will be gone. But thanks to gerrymandering, Republicans still control the House, and if the Democratic majority in the Senate doesn't eliminate or greatly weaken the filibuster and personal hold on the first day of the 113th Congress -- as they could have done on the first day of the 112th, but "inexplicably" failed to do -- you'll know that they want to retain a procedural excuse for continuing to capitulate to the Republicans while pretending to object. And if the budget "compromises" the Democrats agree to don't start putting a significant dent in the country's grossly unequal distribution of wealth and income, you'll know that the Republicans are continuing to win the war, despite having "lost the battle."
Posted by PCM]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 09:19:42 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Pope Peabrain]]> Wed, 05 Dec 2012 07:31:46 -0800 The Stranger Posted by floater]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:00:12 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Free Lunch]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:11:49 -0800 The Stranger Posted by SPG]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 19:00:39 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 18:37:55 -0800 The Stranger Posted by disintegrator]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 17:57:51 -0800 The Stranger
Fuck you forever, Dick, for being the spider who enrobed her dementia in a silken mental straitjacket.
Posted by rob!]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 16:36:45 -0800 The Stranger Posted by balderdash]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:13:36 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:05:44 -0800 The Stranger Posted by mikethehammer]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:00:47 -0800 The Stranger Posted by balderdash]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:57:54 -0800 The Stranger
It's a plot worthy of Orwell, except for real.
Posted by Brooklyn Reader]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:54:25 -0800 The Stranger Posted by usagi]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:48:20 -0800 The Stranger
Remind me again who the Tea Party is supposed to represent?
Posted by Clayton]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:47:16 -0800 The Stranger Posted by California Kid]]> Tue, 04 Dec 2012 14:33:27 -0800 The Stranger