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Last night, two thousand conservative Republicans met for their annual Senate-House fundraiser. It was a chance for hardcore, far right conservatives to all get together and hear more pronouncements of certain doom for the country because Barack Obama is President and conservatives no longer control all three branches of government. The purpose of this meeting, of course, was to raise funds so the now-reactionary Republican Party can recapture both houses of Congress and the White House and thus once more become the dominant, controlling, and majority party of the country.
It is wonderful to have dreams and aspirations, but, barring a catastrophic miracle, the GOP will not be realizing its dream very soon, if ever. Last night's gathering raised only $14.5 million, compared to $21.5 million in 2007 and $27 million in 2006. It would appear that normally sure-bet fat cats aren't quite as eager to support the Grand Obsolete Party as they once were.
Last night's conservative fest had Newt Gingrich as the keynote speaker and conservative actor Jon Voight as master of ceremonies. Gingrich sounded all the familiar themes about how bureaucrats shouldn't run businesses and that Obama's economic stimulus plan is already failing. No mention was made of how conservative Republican economic policies created the deep recession we're in, of course, or how the Bush tax cuts for billionaires and corporations did not create high-paying jobs and industries here as promised but instead put a huge number of low-paying jobs and industries into China while loading up the wallets of CEOs here. No, you'll never hear conservative Republicans be that forthright or honest. Jon Voight stated he was "embarrassed" by President Obama (but not by his bumbling, inarticulate predecessor?), calling Obama a "false prophet" and saying, "we are becoming a weak nation." Weak nation, Mr. Voight? Really? Which nation were you talking about?
I presume Mr. Voight was referring to the dwindling nation of ultra conservative, short-sighted, wealthy, fundamentalist religious right, hedonistic, xenophobic, homophobic, and paranoid people who now overwhelmingly control today's Republican Party. They put pursuit of profit well ahead of the common good. They believe God smiles only on the wealthy and on big business. They are weak on shared prosperity and strong on self interest. Bellicose bullies all, they are weak on international cooperation and diplomacy, while being strong on preemptive military aggression. They are weak on knowledge and insight, but strong on suspicion and fear. They are weak on preserving civil liberties but strong on interrogation techniques like torture. They are weak on law, like following international treaties and observing long standing precedents like the writ of habeas corpus, but strong on authoritarian edict and unilateral action.
So as Mr. Voight gazed out over the crowd of 2,000 he was addressing, he was indeed seeing a weak nation before him. A nation weak on decency. A nation weak on diversity. A nation weak on moral principle. A nation weak on fairness. A nation weak in understanding. A nation weak in depth. A nation weak in ideas and strategy. A nation weak on substance. He was seeing the nation of Republicans and modern conservatives, much like, but not limited to, the faces of those shown above. It is indeed a weak, weak nation and is in need of a massive overhaul. But it is not America.
It is, thankfully, a shrinking land all unto itself.
12 comments:
Wow, what a rogue's gallery that is. No wonder Angelina wants nothing to do with Joe Buck.
Yeah, it's becoming pretty apparent the right wing is getting crazier and angrier all the time, what with the insane ranting of Cheney and his daughter, the snide and hateful comments constantly emanating from Limbaugh and Coulter, and now the murders by nutzoids Roeder and Von Braun. When is this demented behavior going to end, and when will the Republican Party finally act responsibly and rein in these vicious extremist fringe lunatics? This is starting to look like 1861 all over again!
Yes! yes, Jack! Let's toast to the New Americans, re-starting the 21st Century. Congratulations on this excellent post. Max perfectly dubs it as a rogue's gallery masquerading political leadership - a mixed bad of entertainers.
Thanks, Vigilante. What I find most disturbing is the way so many on the far right seem so hostile, unccooperative, and downright adversarial on so many fronts. People like Cheney, Limbaugh, Coulter, and even Voight are wholly uncompromising and refuse to even listen to alternate opinions on issues or matters of policy. They steadfastly put principle over people, and prevent a lot of sorely needed action from occurring in the process. We have not seen such strong, deep, and widespread opposition and animosity in this country since 1861, and that does not bode well for our future.
"They steadfastly put principle over people"?
Yeah! And look at their "principles"?
Now theres some uglies... gad. Jack, I don't think the solid citizen Republican types left can reign in the fringe...one little bit. Did you hear Rushbo yesterday? My gods! He actually spouted with another Obama conspiracy theory on how this Nazi shot under the influence of the White House. Don't most folks see the lunacy from these guys? I think 'most' folks do. But the crazies... they capture a wide public in fascination. I've been listening to people discuss things publicly for a long while here... at the pool chems store, the grocery, standing in line at the movies... I live in S. FL. Territory means something, I know... yet, the majority of folks I've listened to or had short conversations with are thinking much like you and I. How much crazier can these guys get? is the jist. You never know what the next fellow is thinking. I think that the overwhelming majority of voters made their principles plain in the last election. But it does feel like we're that cat holding on by its' claws with the advice; hold on! Friday's coming!
Great post! ta
Yeah, Vigilante, their "principles" sure ain't OUR principles! Gwendolyn, Rushbo is clearly out of his mind. His latest rants about how Von Brunn was really a leftist and a number 0of other recent statements (Obama and God are similar in that neither has a birth certificate) prove beyond the shadow of all doubt that Limbaugh has less credibility than the National Enquirer, and that takes some doing! Limbaugh loves to claim that he has 20 million listeners, but my industry sources tell me it's more like 14 million. Regardless, only a portion of those are deicated true-believers. All the people I talk to also believe the guy is half nuts, but when you think there are indeed millions who think he tells the truth, that's really scary. There are truly millions out there who are apparently living in an alternate universe!
@Jack,
great report on this "fund raiser."
John Voight is full of $#!+. But I'm glad he's sputtering nonsense and hypocrisy such as his calculated expressions of "embarrassment" about President Obama, thereby implying his "pride" in George W. Bush's eight year disaster. Finally he's putting to rest the infantile fantasy that the GOP like to promote when they want to appear embattled and want to play the victim: the idea that there are no Conservative celebrities or Right wing actors in entertainment, to wit:
Heather Locklear
Drew Carey
Bruce Willis
Kelsey Grammer
John Milius
Robert Duvall
Gary Sinise
Dennis Miller
Patrica Heaton
Sylvester Stallone
Kurt Russell
Tom Selleck
Dennis Hopper
-I think that's plenty. I think that's enough to refute the idea that there are none and that Hollywood is one big Liberal stronghold.
-SJ
Attaboy, SJ! Along with Heather Lockliver and the rest, let's not forget good ol' Mel Gibson. He's the kingpin of 'em all (next to Clint Eastwood). The right spout a lot of myths, don't they?
Hello Vigilante,
I remember well in the early 2000 when Alfred E. Newman (What me worry in Crawford, TX) was pushing for the tax cuts. They were pushing the line that we needed corporate tax cuts so that our manufacturing could modernize and be more completive in the world market. What really happened was new modern machines were bought to be aggressively written off via taxes….but they were set up in China with the cheep, almost slave, labor.
In essence, the American working class not only picked up the tax burden of those who did not want to share in their burden of the national budget….but subsidized the loss of their own manufacturing jobs.
I am a moderate Republican, Rush would call me a RINO, and I am glad to see the American Citizens take this country back from these Right Wing Fanatic Blowhards.
Thanks for stopping by, Engineer of Knowledge. Your points are well taken here. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations were indeed a fraud, for exactly the reasons you mentioned. The working class in this country have been taking it in the shorts for many years, and it hasn't always been due just to the conservatives or Republicans. For a number of years, the Democrats have abandoned their once strong support for workers. Even today, a number of "blue dog" Dems will probably vote against the Employee Free Choice Act, and that will be a shame. For, more than anything else, and in spite of their obvious faults, it was strong labor unions which greatly broadened the middle class and actually shrunk the unjustified disparity in income between our richest and poorest in the years 1945-1980 or so. Ever since then, all but the wealthiest upper brackets have steadily and indefensibly been losing ground. But the current version of the GOP is the absolute worst. They are reverse Robin Hoods, stealing from the poor and middle class to give to the rich.
re:
"...barring a catastrophic miracle, the GOP will not be realizing its dream very soon, if ever."
I hate to be Mr. Doom-n-Gloom, but I think that despite its current woes, GOP will be back soon, and stronger (and more extreme) than ever.
We Dems need to keep our guard up and not get too smug. There are a number of things that continue to work in the GOP's favor:
1. Stupid, ill-informed voters. There's no shortage of people who can be easily manipulated by Rush and Fox and continue to vote against their own interest. By starving our nation's education system for funds the past three decades, the GOP has killed two birds with one stone: more billions for the Pentagon and an entire new generation of ignorant, Fox News-watching morons.
2. The approaching U.S. economic meltdown. The dollar is about to collapse in value---and, with that, so will America's reign as a superpower. Yes: pretty much all of this is the fault of the GOP's titanic deficits since Reagan. But I have little doubt that the GOP, with the help of the corporate MSM, will succeed in promoting the fiction that "it's all the fault of the Dems and Obama."
3. The GOP's willingness to steal the vote. Remember: as Greg Palast has written, all they've gotta do is keep it reasonably close: then, they can steal it. Of all the Dem failures over the past few years, none have been as glaring as the fact that, incredibly, our nation's corrupt, broken voting system has yet to be fixed. The next time Diebold steals the vote, Dems will have no one to blame but themselves.
It's about to get real ugly, folks (a million times uglier than it has been already). Not only are the GOP going to return to power, but the new generation will make George W. Bush look like a flaming liberal.
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