Now that they’ve been defeated, the same Republicans who called liberals anti-American traitors are talking about the benefits of bipartisanship.
Once Fearsome Enemies
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication and WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a contributor to Centerclip and co-host of "The Final Countdown" talk show on Radio Sputnik. He is a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "2024: Revisited."
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who? Name names.
I think there's such delicious irony in demanding details and accountability as an anonymous person.
The relationship between the two parties is very much as a relationship between an overwhelmed parent and an out of control child: Republicans being consummate children. When the child is in control, they leverage their advantage without discretion, and when that advantage is gone they have no memory of their offenses. The consummate parent seeks to regain control, and when they do, is faced with the decision of revenge vs. attempts to move forward in a constructive way, knowing that if they lose control again the other side will not behave the same way.
Yet the parent has no choice but to be the adult, while being unable to chastise the child for being a child. Would that we could leave our Republican child in the lobby of a Nebraska hospital!
Such is the case of having morals, they apply even if your enemy does not have them. The Nazis completely disregarded international law, that did not justify us doing so as well.
Good basic concept, but the Nazi/Republican analogies are almost as old as the Nazis and the Republicans. Let's not ever forget that Hitler was a vegetarian artist who blamed the "Israelis" for most of the world's troubles and believed in a welfare state. He's not too far off from most of us, if you take away the quotation marks. Just kidding, I guess.
this is strangely complimntary of Obama; presenting hm as an American GI.
This is very unlike you Ted, have you taken a shot of ephedrine and now feel happy?
Y_S
Pakistan
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mcconnell-warns-reid-to-give-gop-input-2008-11-21.html
"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday sent a message to Democrats that Republicans are not prepared to bend to a stronger majority."
…
"“What I’m saying to the new president and the new administration: ‘Do big things, and do them in the center, and you’ll be surprised at how much support you might have,’ " he said at the news conference.
Otherwise, McConnell warned, his party would stand together and block a far-left agenda."
IOW they've got the filibuster and are not afraid to use it.
Pray for the magic 60 Ted, and if it doesn't come, I hope you don't blame Obama.
Yes, Dalton, name names!
I think there's such delicious irony in demanding details and accountability as an anonymous person Sure, I could have posted as SDS which is not anonymous at all.
Would that we could leave our Republican child in the lobby of a Nebraska hospital!
If only you would leave the rest of us alone. You libs have stuck us with your precious Social Security ponzi scheme, your failed war on poverty, you're constant attempts to take money from one group of Americans and give it to another by force. Please do leave us alone.
The fact that Republicans honestly believe Obama of all people has anything approaching a "far-left agenda" shows why bipartisanship is useless.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith JcH: Agenda is a word with a declension in English: I have noble goals, you have your own special plans, they have an agenda.
I also like how they rave the election was rigged. When met with mocking laughter "Now who's the Conspiracy Theorist" they say its the fault of a biased media.
Here's my idea: Get the "Fairness Doctrine" back in place ASAP. Tack it onto their final pay raise they'll probably get anyways… Unless that contested election gets a filibuster proof govt…. Then force the lying, racist bigots off talk radio with it, or rather bury them in a thousand different voices.
They whine about the media? Let it be "They ain't seen nothin' yet"
Otherwise, McConnell warned, his party would stand together and block a far-left agenda."
OK, that's hilarious. What far left agenda?
Aggie Dude, I agree that Repubs act like children, but I can't say the Dems are any better. They'll do whatever they can save their own asses. Repubs and Dems alike act like five year olds, pointing fingers and hiding behind the couch so they won't get in trouble.
I mean, I'm a life long, devoted Democrat. But I don't fool myself about their motivations or their behavior. Most of them suck at least a little bit. If they didn't, they wouldn't have overwhelmingly voted for the war (what a bunch of wussies), and they would have taken on the health insurance industry a long time ago.
I will grant you that Bush and Co. are evil. Ted's not wrong when he calls them war criminals. But the Republicans and the Democrats are equally complicit in Bush being allowed to go as far as he went.
Parents? Only if it's a parent who comes home drunk, puts you on his knee and says "Don't worry honey. Everything will be OK. From now on I'm going to take care of you." By the time you're 8 years old, you know damned well he's going to take the grocery money and spend it at the pub buying drinks for his friends. And he'll be cheating on your mama.
Yet the parent has no choice but to be the adult, while being unable to chastise the child for being a child.
Come on, Aggie. You're smarter than that. They're addicts. They're addicted to power. Even when they're on the wagon, they're selfish bastards. A real adult would chastise a child, because children have to be taught how to behave. Instead, the Dems have buckled under like an indulgent parent who's afraid their kids won't like them if they put down some rules and then actually stick to them.
Social Security ponzi scheme?
Huh? You think SS is a ponzi scheme? Do you even know how it works?
I'd say putting SS funds in the stock market (a plan Bush and McCain once pushed) would make it a ponzi scheme. It's funny how no one talks about the right's plan to privatize SS anymore… I wonder why not…?
Aggie,
Your comparison of Republicans to children and Democrats to responsible adults misses the point. If anything, all polticians are children and the voting public are the parents. Bush may have been the biggest spoiled brat in U.S. history, but only because he had a permissive public.
The difference between Clinton and Bush is purely quantitative instead of qualitiative. Were Randy Weaver or Wen Ho Lee less deserving of justice than the current occupants of Gitmo? We had fewer political prisoners in the 90's, but that's missing the point that we shouldn't have any. Likewise is bombing a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan any less outrageous than bombing an Afgan wedding? We're killing more Muslims without cause than ever, but why kill any? Bubba was W's big brother. After seeing the shit that the mom and pop voter let him get away with, Bush realized he could follow up with even more outrageous behavior.
I met up with some Blue Dog friends last night. They were excited about Hillary being named secretary of state, because it would "repair our image in the world." I bit my toungue less I ruin an otherwise pleasant evening. Still, I'm amazed. The level of congative dissonance necessary to be a Democrat is almost as great as that required to be a Republican.
Hello memory hole!
1) Social Security is not a ponzi scheme. It's an insurance.
2) Hitler was not a vegetarian.
3) Israel did not exist during WWII.
Thank You
Susan,
Hitler was too mostly a vegetarian, and I don't know why that gets so many so worked up: it's not like that makes vegetarians Nazis. His vegetarianism, certainly not the same sort of modern day "vegans", was part of the same package of 19th century quackery that included Oriental mysticism, racial darwinism and sugar-coated Norse mythology. I wonder if people would get so excited were he a nudist (another 19th century German oddity).
Naked Hitler, now there's a visiual I did'nt need.
Incitatus,
Tell that to the Reverend Mr. Smith, who like many, tries to make dubious connections between Nazis and modern leftists, using Hitler's alleged vegetarianism.
Tell that to the Reverend Mr. Smith, who like many, tries to make dubious connections between Nazis and modern leftists, using Hitler's alleged vegetarianism.
It was a joke. Also, I'm quite aware that Israel didn't exist during WWII. That's what the quotation marks were for.
I'm mostly sick of Hitler and the Nazis being held up as the 20th century's biggest boogymen. Mao the "modern leftist" gets the title, hands down. I'm kind of down on murderous authoritarianism, left or right.
You can call Social Security whatever you want. HEre are some facts:
1) The government is under no legal obligation to ever pay anyone another penny of Social Security
2) There are no Social Security accounts where your money is put away waiting for you to retire. The money you pay in today is funding today's retirees. Eventually there will be more outflow then inflow.
3) Privatization would have allowed you to invest your money anyway you like. You would have been free to invest in Treasuries if the market is not your "game". You think a bunch of hack politicians can do a better job with your retirement that's your choice. Let the rest of us do what we like with our retirement.
Yahoo did not run this cartoon.
Susan,
Seeing the Reverend's last post, I must say I agree with his feelings: this thing with Hitler being the be-all, end-all of super villains is just another silliness of American politics. He was rotten alright, but he got nuthin' on Mao and Uncle Joe Stalin. Mutatis mutandis, down here on your backyard Trujillo, Pinochet and El Comandante were legit bogeymen in their own right. And don't get me started on Africa.
The thing with his "alleged" vegetarianism is also very silly. I'm sure there are plenty of Grand Poobahs in the BJP who are strict vegetarians, nay "vegans", and whose politics and worldview would disappoint all you cuddly veggie Commies.
As for SS (not the Hitler one!) anon@11/23/08 11:26 PM has it exactly right with his point 2), younger generations are subsidizing their elders. Call it Ponzi, call it a pyramid or what have you, but insurance it is not.
"In a May 30, 1937 article in The New York Times entitled 'Where Hitler Dreams and Plans,' Otto D. Tolischus wrote: 'It is well known that Hitler is a vegetarian and does not drink or smoke. His lunch and dinner consist, therefore, for the most part of soup, eggs, vegetables and mineral water, although he occasionally relishes a slice of ham and relieves the tediousness of his diet with such delicacies as caviar, luscious fruits, and similar titbits. He is outspoken about having a sweet tooth and loves confectionery, especially chocolates.' "
Whatever the word "vegetarian" meant in Germany in the 1930s, Hitler was no vegetarian in the current English-speaking sense of the term, where veggies routinely protest that they "can't" eat meat when it's offered to them and brag to each other that they haven't touched the stuff in years.
And how about this: If the Republicans stop torturing people in special camps and secret prisons, we'll stop calling them Nazis?
"In October 1942, ten months after entering World War II, America was preparing its first assault against Nazi military forces. Prescott Bush was managing partner of Brown Brothers Harriman. His 18-year-old son George, the future U.S. President, had just begun training to become a naval pilot. On Oct. 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City which were being conducted by Prescott Bush.
"Under the Trading with the Enemy Act, the government took over the Union Banking Corporation, in which Bush was a director. The U.S. Alien Property Custodian seized Union Banking Corp.'s stock shares, all of which were owned by Prescott Bush, E. Roland 'Bunny' Harriman, three Nazi executives, and two other associates of Bush."
Oh yes Republicans, please please please continue to campaign AGAINST social security, tell EVERYONE how much you want to GET RID OF IT because you HATE IT SO MUCH. Please say this on television EVERY DAY. Oh thank you thank you thank you.
Good way to deflect there, Susan.
Since almost everyone is tired of using Nazis as boogeymen, I wonder what the 21st century equivalent will be? It is easy to think of fundamentalist Muslims filling that role, but I think Humans are going to be Humans are propagate murder on a much larger scale then they have.
I'd be interested in seeing a cartoon on piracy, Ted.
Social Security is an INSURANCE, PERIOD. Of course we are paying for today's retirees. And when you get old, the younger people working will pay for your Social Security. That is how insurance works.
And as far as private insurance is concerned, that is called an Individual Retirement Account, or IRA. This type of retirement plan already exists.
Furthermore, it doesn't seem to occur to any of you that you can OPT OUT paying Social Security. Yes, people, you don't have to pay into Social Security. But there's a catch. You can't receive Social Security when you reach retirement. The Amish, for example, don't pay into Social Security because they take care of their own elderly.
Lastly, the so-called privatization plan created by the Bush Administration in 2004 was nothing but a scheme to funnel taxpayer money into private corporations. That's why it was rejected by the public.
I must say I totally agree with "Susan" (whom I suspect of being a Rall pen-name/experiment in doctrinaire leftism, but anyhow) on Social Security. On one hand people are decrying it as "socialism" but on the other hand are demanding the retirement account they're apparently owed.
As far as Hitler being vegetarian, whatever. It's a factoid I've come across occasionally and haven't really researched it much farther since it doesn't reflect on the fact that I haven't tasted meat since Bush the First was in office.
Still, as others have backed up, if I wanted to kill a historical figure in order to save lives, I'd go for Mao if there were points being awarded.
Susan,
You and I both know that there'll be a lot more of the older than the younger to pay for it, right? Can you think of a viable solution to this conundrum other than for the young to pay more for it or people retiring at a much older age?
Real insurance works mostly like a bet, a bet you generally don't want to win. IRAs, otoh, are called accounts for a reason.
Would that more people imitated the Amish, who also beat no drums for wars, "humanitarian" or not.
Susan,
Social Security is mandatory unless you want to create a S-Corp and structure it like John Edwards did and not pay the Social Security tax from his phony class-action lawsuit award.
From the SS website:
Can I opt out of Social Security?
Can I withdraw taxes that I have paid for Social Security coverage?
No. Social Security coverage is mandatory. But consider this: unlike your private plan, Social Security provides disability and survivors coverage in addition to retirement benefits. And Social Security generally offers greater protection for family members than private pensions.
The law also does not permit a refund of Social Security taxes. The authority for the collection of taxes, including Social Security taxes, is found in the Internal Revenue Code, not the Social Security Act. (See sections 3101(a) and 3102(a) of the Code.) We suggest that you direct any questions you may have about tax liability to that Agency for consideration. The address is:
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, D.C. 20224.
Susan,
The privatization of SS included the option of remaining in SS. It is not mandatory. In a free society we would not need nannies in the government telling us what to do with our money.
Don't worry, the Baby Boomers are going to DIE like all the other old people did since the beginning of time. They're not going to hang out getting older and older and spending all your money. If there's any shortfall it could be fixed by getting rid of the withholding cap, and regardless this is all paper bullshit. They're giving away trillions of fucking dollars to whoever shows up in front of Congress with a sob story, they're not going to let Grandpa starve in the street because the ledger doesn't balance.