Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Dinosaurs


Dinosaurs lived and were the predominate life form on this planet for hundreds of millions of years. Then one day a large meteor fell from the sky, crashed near Yucatan, or due to massive volcanic eruptions, which changed the climate to a such a degree that they could not cope, quickly becoming extinct (except for birds. alligators, and a few other species), allowing mammals to flourish and evolve into humans. They displayed a striking inability to change in a changing environment. And for that they perished.
Rush Limbaugh, the right wing radio commentator, and apparently now the spokesperson for the ousted Republican Party, last Saturday gave the keynote speech at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), in what can best be described as a rambling, hate filled diatribe, that was focused not only on President Obama and the Democratically controlled Congress, but also his own conservative associates in the RNC, Senate, and House of Representatives.
Or anybody else who doesn't agree with him.
In order to write this post I actually forced myself to read a transcript of his speech provided by no other than Fox News. It was painfully difficult, however after two tries, I prevailed.
I found it so filled with inaccuracies, misinformation, un-truths and distortions, that I hardly know where to begin in an attempt to annalize it.
But it's my job to try, so here it goes.
First off Rush (who won CPAC's Defender of the Constitution Award) misquoted the Constitution. Or rather he misquoted the Declaration of Independence, representing it as the Constitution's preamble. Maybe you should invest in a teleprompter Rush.
And the poor man can't even get the name of the opposition's party correct. It's Democratic Rush, not "Democrat." There is no Democrat Party. Never has been as far as I can recall (I see a lot of Republicans making this same mistake. It may be some kind of ploy).
Basically Rush doesn't like liberals, their ideas and policies. Even if they may work. He has flat out stated that he hopes President Obama fails. He says this at the same time he states that he hopes the country succeeds. Why does he want the President to fail? Simply because he is not a conservative. His ideology is more important to him (and by extension his large audience of Ditto Heads, who blindly follow and adhere to whatever Rush tells them. So much easier than that painful and prolonged process of thinking for oneself) than the success of a Democratic Administration. He rallies behind American exceptionalism, the irrational fear of socialism (don't mind that socialist police and fire department, the VA, and post office, among other socialistic entities we embrace, do you Rush), and "big government," and of course, the Republican answer for fixing everything... tax cuts.
He excoriated Obama for the size of his economic stimulus package and federal budget, and increasing the federal deficit in a time of recession. He ignores the fact that the reason the budget is so large is that the President has curtailed the Bush tactic of not placing war expenditures in it, so we are for the first time since the military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan began getting an accurate representation of said expenditures. Or that in order to deal with the size and severity of the current economic predicament, that lack of regulation during the Bush years (Rush naturally placed the blame for the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the hands of Bill Clinton, even which if it were true, which it is not, Bush had eight years to correct), and which unfettered devotion to free market principles exacerbated, an appropriate response in size is required to correct.
Indeed, many economists believe size of the President's stimulus plan is not large enough.
Never mind that the stimulus provides for revamping the countries outdated and inefficient health care system, provides for much needed improvements in our roads and bridges (infrastructure), money for education and tax relief for the majority of American citizens, among other things.
Never mind that. That is exactly what Rush vehemently objects to, despite his proclamation that. "We love people."
Yeah, rich people.
He is upset that those very people, the "achievers," will have their tax cuts taken away from them. That the same people who gamed the system during Bush's presidency to extract as much wealth from the system as possible at the expense of the Middle Class (not to mention the Lower Class, of which I am a proud member), indeed, at the expense of the entire world, will now have to pay their taxes at the same rate as their secretaries. That they will have their perks taken away from them, that they're suddenly being "punished."
Oh the poor rich people.
So Rush Limbaugh wants the President to fail, as well as fellow Republican luminaries like Tom Delay (good God, wasn't this guy supposed to be prosecuted on money laundering charges about three decades ago! Why is he still around!?), Rick Santorum, and Michelle Malkin. They don't offer any solutions themselves, they just want him to fail, and at the same time want the country to succeed. These people are certifiable.
It's true. I wanted President Bush to fail. I wanted him to fail to start an unnecessary war in Iraq. I wanted him to fail subverting the Constitution and denying Americans those rights promised to them in that document. I wanted him to fail to privatize social security (got him on that one), and a host of other policies that undermined our civil and human rights, and form of government. If President Barack Obama were to attempt any of the above I would want him to fail as well, and do everything in my power to make sure he did (and I'd be as about as successful as I was with Bush).
But he is not. He is attempting the Herculean task of trying to repair the damage eight years of Republican rule has wrought. He is attempting to fix the country, which has truly been broken by misguided ideology. And I believe he will succeed.
And Rush wants him to fail. He lies and distorts Democratic efforts claiming they are trying to destroy America. Those are lies and distortions though, Rush's tools of the trade. He offers no real solutions. His solution to the current crisis is just more of the same that got us in this fix to begin with. Small government, free markets, deregulation, and of course tax breaks for those that need them least. Unable to adapt to a dour and quickly changing political and economic environment, the conservative movement, the Republican party, and Rush Limbaugh, may very well go the way of the dinosaurs.
I can't say I'd be sorry to see them go.

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