Slog
News & ArtsMonday, November 9, 2009
Politics Krugman on the Bachman/Beck/Palin Right
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Scary and getting scarier:
But something snapped last year. Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side, so the G.O.P. establishment could, in effect, urge hard-right activists to wait just a little longer: once the party consolidated its hold on power, they’d get what they wanted. After the Democratic sweep, however, extremists could no longer be fobbed off with promises of future glory.Furthermore, the loss of both Congress and the White House left a power vacuum in a party accustomed to top-down management. At this point Newt Gingrich is what passes for a sober, reasonable elder statesman of the G.O.P. And he has no authority: Republican voters ignored his call to support a relatively moderate, electable candidate in New York’s special Congressional election.
Real power in the party rests, instead, with the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin (who at this point is more a media figure than a conventional politician). Because these people aren’t interested in actually governing, they feed the base’s frenzy instead of trying to curb or channel it. So all the old restraints are gone.
We know how this story ended last time.
1
"So all the old restraints ware gone."
Restraints? They were restraining themselves before?? I am not sure who was holding back...
They've been major assholes since people let Reagan started yammering on about govmint being the problem, and how taxes are evil.
Hello you Teabaggers-- the original Tea Party was not about gretting rid of taxes....
Restraints? They were restraining themselves before?? I am not sure who was holding back...
They've been major assholes since people let Reagan started yammering on about govmint being the problem, and how taxes are evil.
Hello you Teabaggers-- the original Tea Party was not about gretting rid of taxes....
2
Take Paul Anka's advice from The Simpsons episode 3F04 - Treehouse of Horror VI:
Paul Anka: To stop those monsters 1-2-3,
Here's a fresh new way that's trouble-free,
It's got Paul Anka's guarantee...
Lisa: Guarantee void in Tennessee.
Both: Just don't look! Just don't look!
Just don't look! Just don't look!
Just don't look! Just don't look!
3
The dissolution of the current Whig Party and their anti-American fellow travelers on Faux News will be a footnote in our history books.
And way way way overdue.
And way way way overdue.
4
You've copied only the part that supports your zealous, single-minded point. The sober reality that should be a concern for every sane person in this country was included further below.
"In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster."
The fact that Republicans really don't to govern anymore is a problem. A perception that a country is out of control can push it from economic crisis to economic disaster.
"In California, the G.O.P. has essentially shrunk down to a rump party with no interest in actually governing — but that rump remains big enough to prevent anyone else from dealing with the state’s fiscal crisis. If this happens to America as a whole, as it all too easily could, the country could become effectively ungovernable in the midst of an ongoing economic disaster."
The fact that Republicans really don't to govern anymore is a problem. A perception that a country is out of control can push it from economic crisis to economic disaster.
5
From such hatreds and grievances despotisms are made. I hate to go there, because it seems that everybody is these days, but the National Socialists (and by that I mean the German political party that didn't give a crap about a public option) exploited an economic depression and a sense of having been "stabbed in the back" by the Versailles Treaty in order to rise to power. Their task was perhaps made easier by having a fairly homogenous majority population with ingrained hostilities toward certain ethnic groups that only needed to encouraged and provoked and prodded towards their final solution. Historical analogies are shaky and unreliable as an indicator of where things are headed. But they do provide a cautionary tale of what can happen when a previously "responsible" conservative power structure goes off the rails.
6
But the Palin, Beck, Limbaugh candidate in N.Y.'s 23rd lost in what should have been a Repub shoe-in.
7
Actually, hartiepie, that is EXACTLY what the original tea party was about. It was about refusing to submit to tyranny that expressed itself with opressive taxes. Jesus you're a shithead.
8
Actually, You Fucking Moron, the original Tea Party was not about taxes per se but the fact that they were imposed without any representation of those who were to be taxed. It seems a bit of stretch to compare American Colonists who were taxed by a foreign Parliament in which they had no sitting member to American citizens of the present day who voted to give the governing party the Presidency, a 60-vote majority in the Senate and an 81 seat majority in the House of Representatives. But since your preferred form of argument is hurl personal abuse I suppose this history lesson has been wasted on you.
9
First: The lack of a strong opposition party is a problem for everybody. It's been hard to get Dems to move on gay rights because they aren't scared they'll lose your support. Don't dance on the grave of the GOP, a one-party country is no good for nobody.
Second: Don't count your loonies before they've hatched. Investigators now suspect the census worker committed suicide: http://tinyurl.com/ye38z44
Second: Don't count your loonies before they've hatched. Investigators now suspect the census worker committed suicide: http://tinyurl.com/ye38z44
10
If Dan spent more time working to advance the Cause and less time obsessing over the strong assertive Women of the Right that people his nightmares he would enjoy better mental health.
11
@7 and 8,
You're both wrong. A small number of colonists were pissed that England was imposing a mercantilistic economy on the colonies; they preferred capitalism. Taxes were a minor quibble in comparison.
You're both wrong. A small number of colonists were pissed that England was imposing a mercantilistic economy on the colonies; they preferred capitalism. Taxes were a minor quibble in comparison.
12
it was the without representation doucebags.
as in no taxation without representation.
when the founders set up our government, it allowed taxation with representation.
meanwhile nice post from Krugman but why not also post his prior piece saying Obama better get on the ball and reduce unemployment rate and start delivering change, instead of half measures on the economy that don't work well enough?
his point is valid, the stimulus did enough to avoid depression but not to reduce unemployment and the swing away from dems of the independnents in nj and va. matters and shouldn't be ignored.
that was obama's magic, right> he was the savior who would get us the independent vote, and win in places like virginia?
we didn't even win in NJ.
And no it's not local it was becauase corzine was a megafatcat wall street dude and obamqa is too close to megafatcat wall street dudes and needs to start delivering some jobs on main street.
it's so fun to poke at extreme right but you know, we don't control them. Obama, supposedly, is our leader and the warning signs are there for this broad coalition to fall apart.
as in no taxation without representation.
when the founders set up our government, it allowed taxation with representation.
meanwhile nice post from Krugman but why not also post his prior piece saying Obama better get on the ball and reduce unemployment rate and start delivering change, instead of half measures on the economy that don't work well enough?
his point is valid, the stimulus did enough to avoid depression but not to reduce unemployment and the swing away from dems of the independnents in nj and va. matters and shouldn't be ignored.
that was obama's magic, right> he was the savior who would get us the independent vote, and win in places like virginia?
we didn't even win in NJ.
And no it's not local it was becauase corzine was a megafatcat wall street dude and obamqa is too close to megafatcat wall street dudes and needs to start delivering some jobs on main street.
it's so fun to poke at extreme right but you know, we don't control them. Obama, supposedly, is our leader and the warning signs are there for this broad coalition to fall apart.
13
Watch out for those who are "more a media figure than a conventional politician". That's how most of history's biggest douchebags got their start. It's called mediacracy, a strategy perfected by Mussolini.
14
@1, "Restraints? They were restraining themselves before?? I am not sure who was holding back..." The article explains who was holding them back. "Conservatives had long believed that history was on their side, so the G.O.P. establishment could, in effect, urge hard-right activists to wait just a little longer: once the party consolidated its hold on power, they’d get what they wanted." The party establishment used to be less far-right than the crazy far-right fringe, and thus could get the crazies' votes without doing everything they wanted right away.
15
Oh, and Dan--your final link is perhaps not the most apposite, given that KY law enforcement (Chief Wiggum?) now suspects the census worker committed suicide. Their rationale being that his hands were bound loosely enough that he COULD have offed himself, therefore he MUST have done so. His distraught son and the man who discovered the body beg to differ.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05…
16
@7 No reason to call me names, Stupid.
You know, if the original Tea Party terrorists were against taxes, they would have had a slogan that was much shorter --- they would have taken off the "without representation" part. Clearly they understood taxes were part of being a community....
@14 -- Just because they say it doesn't mean I have to believe it. I don't think they were all that restrained. Hopefully you don't believe everything people tell you without questioning the source...
You know, if the original Tea Party terrorists were against taxes, they would have had a slogan that was much shorter --- they would have taken off the "without representation" part. Clearly they understood taxes were part of being a community....
@14 -- Just because they say it doesn't mean I have to believe it. I don't think they were all that restrained. Hopefully you don't believe everything people tell you without questioning the source...
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
Hating People Doesn't Make Them Thinner by Jen Graves
-
Los Angeles Gay Bar Bans Bachelorette Parties Until Marriage Equality Is Attained by David Schmader
-
Fill in the Blank by Grant Brissey
-
This Reminds Me of the Great Calculator Scare of the Late '70s/Early '80s by David Schmader
-
Idiot Tries to Defend Bigoted Anti-Gay-Marriage Preacher on Anderson Cooper by Paul Constant
-
Six Moms with Too Much Time on Their Hands and a Shitty Website Decide to Fight Gay Superheroes by Paul Constant
-
Why Mayor McGinn's Wife Canceled Her Family's Seattle Times Subscription by Eli Sanders
-
What the Hell Is Wrong With Seattle's Pride Parade? by Dominic Holden
-
The Saturday Morning News by Unpaid Intern
-
NYC Man Ticketed for Not Riding in the Bike Lane by Jonathan Golob
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (16) RSS