15 Awful Things Republicans Would Do If They Had the Chance

[Ian David]

15 Awful Things Republicans Would Do If They Had the Chance
The GOP's agenda, if fully implemented, would prove catastrophic. Here's what an unfettered Republican Party would do "for" America.
By Dennis Rahkonen, The Smirking Chimp. Posted November 13, 2009.

Always the political instrument of moneyed elites, and a retrograde societal force, the GOP today is more negatively impactful than ever. Its agenda, if fully implemented, would prove catastrophic. Here's what an unfettered Republican Party would do "for" America:

1) Greatly reduce or entirely eliminate taxes on the rich, thereby forcing hard-pressed working families to painfully make up resulting revenue shortfalls.

2) Bust labor unions, cruelly preventing the collective bargaining that's the key reason why US workers ever won decent wages and benefits.

3) Stubbornly deny the existence of ominous climate change while blithely pumping more pollutants into the environment from lucrative, dirty industries and practices. Although reputable scientists say 350 carbon parts per atmospheric million is the safe limit for sustained life on Earth, Republicans dismiss the frightening fact that we're already at a carbon level of roughly 390 ppm.

4) Remove "restrictive" regulations on everything from investment banks and credit card companies to a broad array of "profit-eroding" consumer protections, leaving the American masses exposed to a host of resulting abuses and dangers.

More:
http://www.alternet.org/story/143917/15_awful_things_republicans_would_do_if_they_had_the_chance

[rurallib]

1. Maybe I missed it but I believe that very high on their list is

doing away with any social programs ESPECIALLY Social Security and Medicare followed closely by any form of welfare, unemployment insurance, food stamps and children's insurance programs.

[TheKentuckian]

2. Circa 1850 pretty much covers it

[Mari333]

4. Circa 1250 also covers it

[KansDem]

3. Excellent list! Just two observations regarding nos. 13 and 15...

13) Shamefully try to lend credence to their avarice and social irresponsibility by revising the Bible to obscure passages that place human need before abject greed, attempting to turn it into a facilitating guide for modern peers of the temple moneychangers whose tables Jesus angrily knocked to the floor (and who undoubtedly wouldn't be mentioned in the amended version that one conservative group is actually, amazingly trying to put into circulation).

15) Place the livelihoods and lives of over 300 million Americans in the hands of incompetent ideological "purists" such as Sarah Palin.

Republicans despise religious zealots. They pander to them only for their votes. Consider what David Kuo, Bush's no. 2 man in his newly-created Office of Faith-Based Initiatives" had to say about Bush, Rove, et al in his book "Tempting Faith"--

In his book, Kuo wrote that White House staffers would roll their eyes at evangelicals, calling them "nuts" and "goofy."

Asked if that was really the attitude, Kuo tells Stahl, "Oh, absolutely. You name the important Christian leader and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places."

Specifically, Kuo says people in the White House political affairs office referred to Pat Robertson as "insane," Jerry Falwell as "ridiculous," and that James Dobson "had to be controlled." And President Bush, he writes, talked about his compassion agenda, but never really fought for it.

"The President of the United States promised he would be the leading lobbying on behalf of the poor. What better lobbyist could anybody get?" Kuo wonders.

--more--
CBS News

When W knocked up Robin, the Family bought an abortion in Texas in 1971. When George Sr. came through Kansas City during the 1988 campaign, he was a "pro-life" candidate and appeared at a rally with George Brett, KC Royals "star" who, as it was reported in Newsweek, had impregnated two women who had abortions; it was all about using a local "hero" to excite the GOP fundie base. And when the GOP refused to outlaw abortion even though it had the White House, both houses of Congress, and the Supreme Court--not to mention the "mainstream" media--for six years, it couldn't/didn't/wouldn/t outlaw abortion. No, the GOP uses Christians in this country to obtain power. But once it had complete control over this country, it'll throw the "Chumpstians" under the Holy bus. After all, "Christianity" can threaten the GOP concept of hegemony and empire. The oligarchy will not compete with religion; it views such like Leona Helsmley viewed taxes: something for the "little people."

And Sarah Palin is another "W"--stupid, inarticulate, and a fraud. The GOP will use her and then toss her in time.

The GOP--the real GOP--could care less about Christians. For them it's all about power, wealth, and control.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. great contribution to the thread

+1 !!!

[SoCalDem]

10. wasn't Robin his sister who died?

He was engaged to a Jewish girl..even had the picture in the paper, but maybe she did not pass muster with Babs.:shrug:.. was she the one who was reported to have had an abortion?...

[KansDem]

14. W dated a woman named Robin Lowman...

On CNN's Crossfire on October 20, 2000, Larry Flynt exploded a bombshell: that he has evidence that George W. Bush was "involved in an abortion in Texas" in the early 1970's - when abortions were still illegal.

Here are the details, as reported by Bartcop:

In the winter of 1971 George W. Bush was dating a woman named Robin Lowman (now Robin Garner). Miss Lowman became pregnant by Smirk and he arranged for her to have an abortion - which in the great state of Texas in 1971 was very illegal! Not to mention that George W. is running as a pro-life candidate for the presidency.
The unnamed source of this story, was a friend of Robin Lowman's and the girlfriend of the man who arranged the abortion. His name is Robert Carl Chandler. Chandler is a Bush friend and supporter from way back and he made the arrangements for Miss Lowman's abortion at the Twelve Oaks Hospital in Houston, TX (now the Bayou City Medical Center). The source overheard the call by Mr. Chandler to arrange the abortion and the source visited Robin Lowman at the Twelve Oaks Hospital after the procedure.

The source meanwhile, is afraid of coming forward, saying that she was threatened by Chandler and another Bush friend and supporter named Jim Bath. Bath has longstanding intelligence connections, and played a role in the BCCI scandal. Robin Lowman (now Garner) is married to Jerry Lee Garner who is an FBI agent.

So, that's the story: an illegal back room abortion arranged by the Republican party Presidential candidate who is running on a pro-life ticket.

--more--
Democrats.com
and
BartCop
and
Patriot Files

W had two sisters: Pauline Robinson Bush ("Robin" Bush--deceased) and Dorothy Walker Bush. "Robin" Bush and Robin Lowman are two different women.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_family

edited to update with newly-discovered information

[SoCalDem]

16. is she the one in my photo?

I looked all over and could not re-find the picture on google

[KansDem]

17. Not sure...

Bush on the Couch
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This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from other articles related to it. (February 2009)
Bush on the Couch

US cover of Bush on the Couch
Author Justin Frank
Cover artist Rodrigo Corral Design
Country United States
Language English
Subject(s) George W. Bush, psychoanalysis
Genre(s) Non-fiction
Publisher Regan Books
Publication date 2004
Pages 247 pp
ISBN 0060736704
OCLC Number 55650417
Dewey Decimal 973.931/092 B 22
LC Classification E903.3 .F73 2004
Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of a President is a 2004 book by psychoanalyst Justin Frank. The central premise of Frank's book is that President George W. Bush displays signs of poor mental health which makes him ill-suited to rule the U.S. Frank suggests Bush suffers from megalomania, that he is probably incapable of true compassion and shows signs of sadism, and that as an untreated alcoholic, is in constant danger of a relapse. Further, in Frank's opinion, Bush manifests the symptoms of a dry drunk, principally irritability, judgmentalism and a rigid, inflexible world view. Frank also analyses, amongst other things, Bush’s tendency to mix up his metaphors and concludes Bush has substantial problems with abstract, flexible thinking.

An updated version of the book was released in October, 2007, including a new introduction and a new afterword.

Contents
1 Robin Bush
2 Critical analysis of the book
3 Reviews
4 References


Robin Bush
Frank argues that the death of Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush and the way the family handled it greatly affected her elder brother's personal development. Thus, despite Robin's short life, Frank believes that she had a major impact on the world both through her father and through her older brother.

At the time she became ill, Robin was the future president's only sibling (Jeb Bush was born eight months before she died) and a favorite playmate. His parents never told him that she was sick, although he was asked to stop playing with her when she became weak. Only after her death did they disclose to him her illness, which had lasted longer than doctors expected it to and had led the Bushes on a frantic quest back East to find a specialist who could treat her. These efforts kept them away from their son for long stretches of time, and he was not present when Robin died nor was he permitted to attend her burial.

Critical analysis of the book
Bush on the Couch has received endorsements from such distinguished professors of psychiatry as Irvin Yalom of Stanford University and James Grotstein (UCLA), who calls it a "remarkable – and frightening – piece of careful scholarship."

Frank's book also has its detractors. Irwin Savodnik, a psychiatrist who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, described Frank's book as a "psychoanalytic hatchet job" and said that "there is not an ounce of psychoanalytic material in the entire book."<1> The code of the American Psychiatric Association, of which Frank is not a current member, states that "it is unethical for a psychiatrist to offer a professional opinion unless he or she has conducted an examination and has been granted proper authorization for such a statement." <2> Although Frank had in the past written for Salon.com, the online magazine reviewed the book unfavorably, arguing that it included "dubious theories" and that Frank had failed in his avowed intention to distinguish his partisan opinions from his psychoanalytic evaluation of Bush's character. <3>

However, in interviews Frank freely admits his partisan affiliation, but claims his book is in a tradition of psychological assessments of leaders frequently undertaken, for example, by the CIA. Frank also claims that some of his readers have reacted to his book by gaining increased sympathy for Bush; for example, Joan Baez admitted this to Frank.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_on_the_Couch

Looks like Pauline Robinson "Robin" Bush died young, so the woman in your photo could be Robin Lowman...

edited for clarification

[BlancheSplanchnik]

5. Very succinct. This goes in my bookmarks. KandR

I don't know if that pic is satiric, but it reminds me of a pic a previous officemate -- an evangelical who really should have been smarter than the ideology she was devoted to-- had over her desk. The Rapture, depicted by a small group of (white) young people, Generation Y'ers (as she herself was). They are absorbed in a happy little gospel concert on a tiny island. They are playing guitars and singing on a little stage, their audience rosy cheeked around them. Their pretty little island floats like a raft in the midst of a roiling ocean, frothing with wailing, suffering people, drawn to look like ordinary middle class suburban Americans, drowning, screaming for help as they are tossed by the bloody waves. Yes! The water crashing about the idyllic island was actually illustrated as bloody red in this sweet, inspiring churchical propaganda "artwork". Such attention to detail.

To me, most telling and most disgusting, is that the happy chosen people innocently sing and cavort together blissfully, pious and smug, heedless of the agony and torment all around them.

What a hopeless and sick! twisted! perverted! philosophy.

[Blue State Blues]

6. That's really an unfair characterization of the Republicans

The Republicans are a diverse coalition party comprised of several broad factions:

1. Moneyed interests who want to return to the Gilded Age

2. Religious reactionaries who are further split into two factions

-- those who want to bring about a Theocracy

-- those who want to bring about the Rapture

3. Those who can be led and mis-led by the factions above

[dschis]

8. +10

[Berry Cool]

9. Very good point. And the only good news for us.

Republicans start eating their own when the money-obsessed ones get in fights with the religion-obsessed ones. And then the religion-obsessed ones fight with each other over whether it's better to try to create their vision of heaven on earth or just get themselves to heaven faster.

[Blue State Blues]

11. And the Bad News is

as the Republican party self-destructs, both of those forces look to the party that is rising in power and seek to turn that power to their ends.

[Blue State Blues]

12. yeah, I have to find the bad news, I'm a downer

"Blues" is right there in my name. You want something cheerful, read posts by someone named "Happy Fun Smiley".

[Arugula Latte]

15. 4. Racist thugs

5. Gun-obsessed nutbags

[Echo In Light]

13. Aren't we already experiencing the nefarious things they'd do given the chance & our complacency?

[iceman66]

18. 16. Privatize Social Security.

17. Abolish employer-provided health insurance - you have to buy your own, at 'free market' prices, if you can afford it. If you can't? Sucks to be you!

18. Abolish medical malpractice lawsuits under the guise of 'tort reform' - End up horribly maimed by a botched surgery? Too bad, suck it up and deal!

19. Creationism taught in all schools, from grade school to the University level, replacing 'discredited' theory of evolution.

20. Bomb Iran, thereby triggering WW3.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. In that painting, I'm sure Bu**sh** is saying "See, kids -- I told you Santa Claus was real!"

And why is everyone in that painting signalling a right turn?

Oh, wait -- I got it.