Friday, February 07, 2014

Where ARE the jobs, Boehner?

John Boehner is so well known for closing his remarks with “Where are the jobs?” I’m beginning to think that might actually be his middle name. It is an interesting gambit because it reveals a genuine con man engaged in one of the biggest cons ever. Boehner is not stupid, at least I don’t think he is. He must know that the question “where are the jobs” should be directed at him rather than at President Obama. This would seem to be a classic case of the Rovian strategy of accusing someone of doing precisely what it is you yourself are doing. Boehner has to know, of course, that under his leadership the House has produced no legislation whatsoever that would have led to the creation of jobs. And he also has to know that he and his cronies in the House have deliberately refused to cooperate with any attempt President Obama and the Democrats have proposed to create jobs. If Republicans get away with blaming Obama for the failure to create jobs they will have pulled off probably the greatest con job of all time. This is not to say Obama is completely without fault, he could have pressed much harder than he has. But to blame him for the failure of job creation is the height of Republican hypocrisy.

As Republicans have apparently surrendered to the Tea Party wing it is becoming increasingly impossible to take them seriously. I mean, really, they expect us to assassinate, hang, impeach, or deport President Obama, and no one in their party stands up to tell them they are completely and totally batshit crazy?  (I have no idea where this strange phrase originated but it seems to carry meaning of some kind). It is understandable that some may not agree with what Obama has done, or wishes to do, but he has done nothing that would lead anyone to believe he should be impeached (assassinated or hung). It has become quite clear, at least to me, that the Obama haters are motivated by almost exclusively by racism. There is no other explanation for the venom and hatred directed at him. I would even venture to say that those who hate him the most are those who know the least about what it is they are talking about.

Obamacare is a good case in point. This is so far from socialized medicine it is simply absurd to claim otherwise. In fact, Obamacare would be much better characterized as "Insurancecare" as it basically gives the insurance industry some potentially 30 or 40 million more customers and does very little to control the outrageous costs they claim for doing actually nothing for health care except shuffle a lot of papers around and collect a percentage. There is no logical reason for insurance companies to have anything whatsoever to do with health care.

I receive now, every day in my email, requests for money, donations to the campaigns of many different so-and-sos, the Democratic Party itself, and so on. These are now usually couched in terms that imply that if I do not donate to them the Koch brothers and their billionaire friends will win. This seems to imply that whoever spends the most money will win, and perhaps that is true, although I do not like to think so. In any case, it seems to me a more or less lost cause to try to outspend them. I doubt small donations will accomplish that. The only way to defeat them will be at the ballot box, not competing monetarily. They are literally attempting to buy the Senate and House with their obscene wealth, and they might succeed if voters do not go to the polls and defeat them. Money is an issue, of course, but cannot be the most important issue in spite of the corrupt Supreme Court’s attempt to make it so.

I confess I do not understand what is going on. Congress now has a popularity rating somewhere immediately below a snake’s belly or cancer, and for the most part Republicans lead the list of incompetent, dishonest, obstructionistic, do-nothings, but at the same time seem to believe they have a chance to capture the Senate and also keep control of the House. Where does this optimism come from? Having alienated Blacks, Hispanics, other minorities, immigrants, women, Gays and Lesbians, and virtually everyone except relatively uneducated White men, how can they possibly believe they can win anything? But don’t write them off, this is the United States after all, an electorate that obviously has no idea what they are doing or saying. But when your opponent is a Socialist, Communist, Fascist, Foreign born, dictatorial, impeachable, lynchable, anti-Christ from outer space, anything goes. It’s America the Beautiful, but only in English.

    “The governor of Texas, who, when asked if the Bible should also be taught in Spanish, replied that 'if English was good enough for Jesus, then it's good enough for me.” 


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