Does the republican party deserve to be electorally punished?

[Guynemer]

McCain is going to win. I'll take bets to that effect. And I'm not voting for him.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DanS
I thought the GOP had already been punished in the last congressional elections.

They have but they are still in large enough numbers to block any attempts at reform and there is still Bush waving the veto (or at least threatening to). It's a bit unfair to say Democrats have accomplished nothing since they have passed several key bills but even more so because Republicans have admitted their strategy is to be obstructionists blocking everything possible just so they can claim Democrats haven't accomplished much.

It's like knee capping someone and then complaining they didn't run a marathon.

[faded glory]

Originally posted by Barnabas
This is basically what I believe in



I believe the arrows will continue pointing down if McCain wins.

If I hated the USA I would want him to win.

I think someone has to clean Bush's mess before another gobernment is able to **** up everything again.

Nice how that doesnt begin with the worst president of the century, Jimmy Carter.

[Dinner]

Carter's deficits were extremely small. Also harding and Bush Jr are both vastly worse then Carter who was actually a good president stuck in a bad situation (oil shock, hostage crisis) though Carter at least did negotiate the release of the hostages. It's telling that when the Iranians again took hostages Reagan caved and tried to bribe them in a little thing known as Iran-Contra. Talk about rewarding terrorism.

[Darius871]

Originally posted by faded glory
Nice how that doesnt begin with the worst president of the century, Jimmy Carter.

Actually his deficit was stable, at least relatively:



Whether McCain could actually deliver on the promises Reagan and Bush I-II made remains to be seen, but at least his Senate record wrt earmarks/local pork is stronger than the... well... nothing the other three had to back up their promises. Even what two had done as state governors wasn't all that relevant when states can't borrow as frantically as the federal government can/does.

Anyway, what's truly ridiculous about that cartoon is that there was a staunchly Republican Congress for 6 of Clinton's 8 years, so we never got a chance to see where so-called "tax-and-spend" tendencies would have taken us. The very gridlock between both branches probably had more to do with ending the deficit than any specific policies. With Obama and a Democratic Congress we just might find out what Clinton might have done.

[David Floyd]

Sincerely I don't think Obama is better than McCain, both seem rather similar to me, race apart. I also don't see why republicans would be very against Obama. He is a conservative too.

Obama as a conservative?

Not even by European standards could Obama be considered conservative.

[Ben Kenobi]

Truth in advertising.

You get surpluses if you raise the taxes.

How brilliant is it to double taxation levels and balance a budget.

[Theben]

By what used to pass as conservative yes, a lunatic far-right neocon, no.

[Ben Kenobi]

By what used to pass as conservative yes, a lunatic far-right neocon, no.

wtf?

How is Obama in any way a conservative? He's a hardcore liberal, one of the most hardcore in the entire dem list.

[Theben]

And yes not only does the Repug brand need to be punished, it needs to be destroyed in its current incarnation. The people who voted for Bush in 2000-04 weren't expecting what they got. When the GOP stops making DOJ & justice appointments on merit instead of ideology, when they revert to a democratic process of generating ideas in Congress instead of using top-down authoritarianism, when they return to a sane fiscal policy, when they stop pissing away our future to satiate their corporate sponsors, and when they start trying to actaully get the govt to work for the people instead of trying to actively break it and then pointing out it doesn't work... THEN they can become a true party again.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Jesus Christ. It is Democratic. You have been listening to so much Limbaugh it has rotted your brain and you can't even get the name of the party right.

I'm not sure what the sensitivity is about. I tend to say Democrat as the adjectival form because "democratic" to me means "pertaining/related to or characteristic of a democracy, or democracies in general." To avoid confusion I tend to automatically refer to "the democrat candidate," without even thinking about it, and I've never listened to Limbaugh in my life. I'm sure he says the word like it's an insult, but I understand that he says everything like it's an insult.

The GOP avoids this problem because
A. We think of our government as a democracy, the word "republic," like the Republican party itself, having become old-fashioned, and
B. An individual candidate or person of right-wing leanings is a "Republican," not a "Republic." McCain is a Republican as well as the Republican presidential candidate, whereas Obama, a Democrat, is the Democratic candidate. Just saying Democrat in both instances is a mental shortcut, not a slur.

[Ben Kenobi]

The people who voted for Bush in 2000-04 weren't expecting what they got.

I would have voted for Gore in 2000, and was pleasently surprised by Bush, and would have voted for Bush in 2004.

Maybe you weren't happy with Bush, but then you never would have voted for him, so why are you speaking for those who voted for him in 2000, and 2004?

When the GOP stops making DOJ & justice appointments on merit instead of ideology,

When will the dems stop their obstruction of the courts? There are a record number of unfilled judicial nominees, which are being held over because of ideological reasons. Perfectly qualified nominees are being held over because they are not the 'right' nominees for the dems.

Can you name any of the DOJ and justice appointments made by Bush that were unqualified for the job?

when they revert to a democratic process of generating ideas in Congress instead of using top-down authoritarianism,

Unlike Pelosi et al? I'm sorry, the Dems have control of the congress and they still can't get anything done. Don't blame the republicans, for the failure of the Dems.

when they return to a sane fiscal policy, when they stop pissing away our future to satiate their corporate sponsors,

Such as raising taxes like Clinton? I don't see sane fiscal policy coming from Congress.

and when they start trying to actaully get the govt to work for the people instead of trying to actively break it and then pointing out it doesn't work... THEN they can become a true party again.

IOW, if they become a clone of the dems then you would be approving.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Can you name any of the DOJ and justice appointments made by Bush that were unqualified for the job?

Miers! Got in first!

[Theben]

[GePap]

Originally posted by Darius871


Anyway, what's truly ridiculous about that cartoon is that there was a staunchly Republican Congress for 6 of Clinton's 8 years, so we never got a chance to see where so-called "tax-and-spend" tendencies would have taken us. The very gridlock between both branches probably had more to do with ending the deficit than any specific policies. With Obama and a Democratic Congress we just might find out what Clinton might have done.

Well, from 2002 to 2006 we had a completely "Fiscally conservative" Republican government, and the chart shows what happened then.