Eugene Robinson: The Party of Nonsense

[marmar]

from truthdig:




The Party of Nonsense
Posted on Sep 23, 2010

By Eugene Robinson


The Republicans were doing pretty well for themselves as the Party of No. So why did they decide to rebrand themselves as the Party of Nonsense?

All right, I’m being slightly disingenuous. Inquiring minds demanded to know just what the GOP proposed to do if voters entrusted them with control of one or both houses of Congress. But if the “Pledge to America” unveiled Thursday is the best that House Republicans can come up with, they’d have been better off continuing to froth and foam about “creeping socialism” while stonewalling on specifics.

The problem with the Pledge is that the numbers don’t remotely add up. The document is such a jumble of contradictions that it’s hard to imagine how it could possibly pass muster with anyone who survived eighth-grade arithmetic—unless, perhaps, the Republicans have something in mind that they’re not prepared to talk about quite yet.

The Pledge bills itself as a plan to “create jobs, end economic uncertainty, and make America more competitive.” These sound like worthy initiatives, but the GOP also promises to “stop out-of-control spending and reduce the size of government.” Most economists would contend that right now, given the level of economic distress throughout the nation, those goals are mutually exclusive. No matter, I suppose, since the Pledge wouldn’t really do either. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_party_of_nonsense_20100923/

[HughMoran]

1. K&R

:thumbsup:

[Overseas]

2. K&R! //nt

[unblock]

3. republicans have made an art form out of conflicting promises short on specifics

because it's all a magic trick -- look over fear while i make the treasury disappear!

they distract with stupid issues like flag-burning, they make us fear the bottled water of fellow air travelers, and then they pilfer all the loot through defense contracts and tax cuts heavily slanted to their true upper-upper-crust constituency, leaving us with nothing but an economy that can't produce enough jobs and a national debt that guarantees that the rest of us will have to pay more taxes eventually anyway, but in all likelihood, in a more regressive structure.

[Demeter]

4. Sad that I had to read the Article To Find Out Which Party was So Designated

I think both qualify nowadays.

[JohnWxy]

5. Recommended.