Republican Party rushing headlong toward irrelevance
By: Cahir O'Doherty | Published Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 1:17 PM | Updated Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 1:17 PM
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| GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney |
It seems that there is no crisis so deep, no consequence so dire, that the modern
Republican Party won't rush headlong toward it in order to heroically prevent the rich people who bankroll them from spending a penny more on taxes.
Currently, Republicans are determined to balance the nation’s budget. It's an aim they share with one of the last presidents who did, Herbert Hoover.
Hoover's determination, as we know, further deepened the Great Depression. So you could say it's a tried and tested road they're on.
In order to cut government spending, a condition Republicans habitually see as wasteful, they will have to slash investment in education and infrastructure, they will have to violate important commitments they have already made to seniors and the middle class over their healthcare and Social Security, and all of this will be done while maintaining the tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country.
Just wait till you see what's coming down the pike. Many conservatives have enthusiastically backed the sequester cuts, but that was before they heard that the cuts would lead to the loss of wasteful federal jobs like -- wait for this -- air traffic controllers. Many regional airports will begin to close on April 1.
Cuts don’t happen in a vacuum, after all. A decline in flights means a decline in revenue.
Fuel fees, air traffic controllers, gift shops at the airport and area restaurants all take the hit. The whole constellation that grows up around them will face a steep decline.
Oh, and then there's the small issue of your own personal safety. Who'll be paying attention to that?
Fresh from an election where the majority of the nation firmly rejected the
GOP’s agenda, is there any appetite among the faithful for a reality check yet?
According to a USA Today survey conducted in mid-February the GOP are now embraced by only 22 percent of the American public. But still they govern as though their mandate came from God Himself (and many in their ranks believe it does, after all).
Here they come again, this ideological buzz saw still hacking through the thickets of American political life. It’s as if they’re daring the nation to stop them.
Voters, it turns out, consistently prefer
Democratic positions on the issues -- on immigration, gun restrictions, abortion rights, gay marriage, climate change and increasing tax revenue on the most comfortably off. The American public has overwhelmingly rejected the GOP's take no prisoners stance.
But the message from the GOP? You don’t matter.
You’re all wrong. We’ll just press on without you. We’ll even figure out a way to make our own shrinking vote share amount to a victory, if we have to. Buzz buzz buzz.
If you watch Fox News these days -- and apparently fewer and fewer of you are doing that according to the latest figures -- you’ll notice that the reality distortion field that allowed them to think that Mitt Romney was about to trounce President Obama hasn’t diminished.
In fact, the GOP has started to look like an alternate Harry Potter universe that madly exists in the real one. This isn’t good for its future as a party, nor is it good for the nation.
It didn’t set out to, but Fox News has now become a kind of conservative echo chamber where the like-minded GOP leadership can pontificate to their heart’s content without reference to the rest of the nation, and without wrangling with them over the messy business of governance.
No one in the party is immune from this axis of wishful thinking, this ideological tributary where conservatives’ fondest hopes miraculously meet their fulfillment.
On Election Day Mitt Romney actually believed he would be elected president. It wasn’t until he saw the exit polls from Florida that he realized the jig was up.
Romney turned up in public for the first time since the election last weekend, on Fox News of course. His message to the nation was that he’s not an out of touch plutocrat, but the media wouldn’t let the nation see that.
And by the way, he still doesn’t believe gays should enjoy the same rights he does. Way to learn your lesson, Mitt.
They say when you find yourself in a hole you should stop digging. If you find that you can't stop, when every signpost is suggesting it would be wiser to, it may have become a pathology. The next presidential election in 2016 is already looming, and the GOP are still showing no desire to live in, never mind govern, in the 21st century.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelb | Mar 10, 2013, 12:13 AM EST
Michael my friend polls (Even among conservatives)agree with Obama on iimmigration,budget,Doma and other issues. The GOP is not listening to its members and continue to push their right wing agenda thus making them irrelevant.
michaelidaho | Mar 09, 2013, 06:55 PM EST
seanomelb, My comments were addressed to the absurdity of the article's title. It would be more appropriate in the early 20th century to describe the demise of either the British Liberal party or Irish Parliamentary party - or perhaps the SDLP or OUP but even that would be a bit of a stretch. Of course, I did not mention the Senate because it would do little to buttress my argument. Nevertheless, with a narrow Democratic majority in the Senate, your retort does little to support your stance or the perpetual partisan rant from Mr. O'Doherty.
seanomelb | Mar 09, 2013, 05:43 PM EST
feeneycj wants detail I suppose he means what Obama will have for breakfast or what colour ink he will use in his pen.Ridiculous comments deserve a ridicolous response.
olovely | Mar 09, 2013, 03:58 PM EST
Paco, you won't be wasting your time if you learn to spell. You could also perhaps crack open a history book and learn the difference between President Obama and any emperor who has ever reigned. Take it from me, you're not clear on the concept.
paco | Mar 08, 2013, 06:08 PM EST
In this Honey boo-boo , keeping up with the Kardashian world in which we live I guess the Republicans are irrevelent. We are heading I fear toward a "benign" dictatorship with no inconvenient elections, no checks and balances bla, bla, bla. Emporer Obama will rule for life and pass power to the person of his choice. Every need will be provided by the government. most if not all of your salary will go to taxes. I could go on and on but I guess I would be wasting my time.
feeneycj | Mar 08, 2013, 05:58 PM EST
Ephraim - you conveniently only tell one part of the story, Obama's proposal was described as "profoundly lacking in details". Plus the GOP wanted the corporate tax rate to be even lower. Our tax code is badly out of date. I'm shocked that a higher SEER HVAC gets no credit for individuals unless it's like the highest SEER and the higher SEERs are very expensive. Where are the improvements to the tax code? What is Obama waiting for or is that irrelevant too? All praise the almighty Democrats who have not fixed anything. HEE HAW, HEE HAW.
seanomelb | Mar 08, 2013, 05:20 PM EST
Michael gop controled house is spurned by most Americans,all polls are telling you the story.BTW you forgot to mention the senate,how convenient.
michaelidaho | Mar 08, 2013, 08:40 AM EST
Let me see: Republicans control the House of Representatives and Obama received a whopping 51% of the popular vote. Oh yeah, the Democrats are on the verge of crushing the Republicans for good. Thanks Cahir, your headline sums it up perfectly..."Republican Party rushing headlong toward irrelevance."
Redneck56 | Mar 07, 2013, 05:32 PM EST
"Republican Party rushing headlong toward irrelevance"....Mostly thanks to the tea bagers.
seanomelb | Mar 07, 2013, 05:24 PM EST
As I stated before the GOP is shooting itself in the foot after they put their feet in their Mouths.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 07, 2013, 05:02 PM EST
feeneycj - And yet, when the President suggested LOWERING the corporate rate by closing loopholes that allow some companies to pay NOTHING, the GOP refused to move on his plan. Smell a rat? Smell a lot of rats? They ALL dance to the piper that pays them and that piper, sadly, is NOT the American voter.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 07, 2013, 04:57 PM EST
stanJames - thanks for the history lesson, I did not know that!
stanJames | Mar 07, 2013, 04:00 PM EST
BTW my wife is Jewqish and a lot of jewish people know that Fox Films, predecessor to fox news - they did propaganda films for the nazis in the early 1930s. Those people are gone now but the ideas still to scme extent prevail.
stanJames | Mar 07, 2013, 03:58 PM EST
The sooner the better that the repubs go into the trash bin of American history. Not only do they hate our first black president to supportt their right wing extremist xtain base, but now Rove and company have a new hate group - the tea partiers who want to go back to the 19th century re economic justice.............These clowns should read Dickens novel - a Xmas carol
Smyrnian | Mar 07, 2013, 02:49 PM EST
In the opinion of Cahir O'Doherty and his IC leftist employer. Nothing like an opinion as a headline!
TheOldPerfessor | Mar 07, 2013, 02:05 PM EST
Feeney - I love hearing about the "corporate tax rate." On the other hand, if you check the facts, lots of corporations make billions and pay little or no taxes. Meantime, corporate profits are at an all-time high, and I see the Dow is doing just fine. You should take a day off from Flak's News.
feeneycj | Mar 07, 2013, 01:57 PM EST
forget MSDNC, SICKnn and FOX news. all news channels are promoting their talk shows. they are just distractions. try to concentrate on the reality. as a country, we are bankrupt. our nominal corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world, tax us more and we'll have less disposable income to buy goods, save less and the recession gets worse. we have to reduce spending.
feeneycj | Mar 07, 2013, 01:45 PM EST
forget MSDNC, SICKnn and FOX news. all news channels are promoting their talk shows. they are just distractions. try to concentrate on the reality. as a country, we are bankrupt. our nominal corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world, tax us more and we'll have less disposable income to buy goods, save less and the recession gets worse. we have to reduce spending.
Smyrnian | Mar 07, 2013, 01:42 PM EST
It's all George Bush's fault! :)
Eschetic | Mar 07, 2013, 01:42 PM EST
In the face of most of the lunatic right wing carping that the current (twice elected) administration AND the American Catholics are somehow socialistic, corrupt and deluded, and the astounding balderdash that the American media is somehow LIBERAL (when the reverse is all too well established since Agnew cowed the last of the objective moderates way back in the Nixon years) this article is a breath of fresh air in its simple straight forward honesty - but one slight correction: while it is all too PC to dump on President Herbert Hoover following his inevitable loss to Franklin Roosevelt following the start of the Great Depression (brought about by precisely the unregulated financial markets today's clueless "conservatives" want to bring back) a MAJORITY of the recovery methods adopted by the New Deal (and not ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court) were FIRST put in place by the Hoover Administration! Easy to confirm for anyone who reads their history beyond a high school level. Credit where credit is due!
feeneycj | Mar 07, 2013, 01:42 PM EST
forget MSDNC, SICKnn and FOX news. all news channels are promoting their talk shows. try to concentrate on the reality. as a country, we are bankrupt. our nominal corporate tax rate is the highest in the developed world, tax us more and we'll have less disposable income to buy goods, save less and the recession gets worse. we have to reduce spending.
EphraimKibbey | Mar 07, 2013, 01:20 PM EST
The GOP had already dropped from 40% to 35% in the two years since their unfulfilled 2010 promises of JOBS. Instead we got 31 anti-abortion bills passed in the House and America noticed. Just look at the polling on universal firearm background checks. GOP districts support it at 70 to 95% rates but their elected officials, supported by the firearms industry, have A ratings from the NRA. This is what happens when the people vote for a party name instead of for the person who will best represent THEM in Washington. This is what happens when the congress represents corporations and the 1% rather than the 99%, the average Americans who elected them. More and more Americans are catching on to the lies of the GOP and to reporting of them as truth by Fox. This is what happens when you do not learn the lesson of "Crying Wolf for viewers, votes and profit once too many times."
EphraimKibbey | Mar 07, 2013, 01:06 PM EST
I just have to laugh at all the Foxified republicans who always blame the media for reporting EXACTLY what their candidates say and what they write. These folks are so used to the Fox bubble where they are fed the pablum of the right wing that they see nothing wrong with the utterances their politicians make about their beliefs which make 70% of the country shake their heads in DISBELIEF. We say "where did the GOP find so many uneducated, stupid people to run for office?" The answer is of course that the GOP/Tea Party has been primarying their intelligent, educated politicians out of existance and the republican voters that CAN think for themselves now call themselves independents or democrates. This self inflicted purge cost the GOP 5% of the American electorate who called themselves republicans in the suumer of 2012 but independents or democrates after the election.
Smyrnian | Mar 07, 2013, 12:54 PM EST
You think IC has a lefty agenda? Nah. Couldn't be....
Nicomax | Mar 07, 2013, 12:20 PM EST
From Harry Truman through George W. Bush, the US has averaged about 18% in federal revenues as a percent of GDP. In the 4 years BHO has been in the White House federal revenues have averaged just about 16% of GDP. What is that all about? Is it just because BHO is what he is? Or are we as a nation willing to cut expenditures from the usual 20 % down to meet these all-time low revenues?
feeneycj | Mar 07, 2013, 11:57 AM EST
Cahir, nothing is free. If you take money out of my pocket in order to give free cell phones to a drug dealer on the streets, are you really being a good Democrat? If you tax me more, so that I do without, will that really fix the unbelievable waste and misspent tax dollars? The age old argument is: does the government know how to spend my money better than me? The answer will always be NO. Regardless of Mitt's 48% of the popular vote and how the electoral votes ended, I do not see an irrelevant Republican Party. I do however see our country going bankrupt thanks to irresponsible spending. I'm sick of China buying our lousy debt!
PhlutiePhan | Mar 07, 2013, 11:35 AM EST
There is no doubt that the Republican Party is on its way "down the drain". As someone who has voted Republican in the last two elections and is a Catholic Navy vet who supported the Democratic Party of JFK, I would remark that the far left socialist policies of the Hugo Chavez clone are no "barrell of chuckles". On the right, we have greedy capitalists. On the left, we have "vortex vacuum cleaners" who want to simply redistribute wealth in a world socialist "Ponzi" scheme. Chaney and Pelosi are "birds of a feather" in their extreme views. How about a little bit of sanity in forming this world socialist government which the American Catholic Church obviously has bought into?
CelticQueenUSA | Mar 07, 2013, 09:15 AM EST
This is a truthful article and I think the GOP and all it stands for S U C K S !!!!!!
olovely | Mar 07, 2013, 09:06 AM EST
Those preaching austerity probably do not see themselves as contributing to a crisis of democracy, but they are.
TheOldPerfessor | Mar 07, 2013, 08:55 AM EST
The 47% flap actually saved him from reporters talking about something he said that was even dumber. In an ABC interview, he was asked what the median income is for Americans. He answered 200-250 thousand. Maybe that's the average income at his country club, but not in the country he so wanted to lead. The man could never get down from his dancing horse to see what America is really like out there.
seanfer7 | Mar 07, 2013, 08:44 AM EST
Not to worry the Dems will uncouple and give in to the greedy repubs
Seanmor | Mar 07, 2013, 03:58 AM EST
Romney was demonized by the media last year, as was Goldwater in '64. As a Marine Corpse veteran who has to pay $50 for each visit to Albany V.A. Hospital, I hope the current administration will NOT decrease V.A. funding while ILLEGAl aliens continue to receive FREE health care in emergency rooms.
seanomelb | Mar 06, 2013, 04:41 PM EST
maybe his real name is Walter Mitty and not Mitt Romney.
eiriamach | Mar 06, 2013, 11:34 AM EST
In his interview on Fox News, Romney admitted that his "47 percent" comments cost him the election. Then in a moment of utter stupidity, he tried to explain away those comments: "What I said is not what I believe.” If that confession did not render him yesterday's news trash, nothing can penetrate the GOP's delusions. "Pathology," yes, the conservatives ran a pathological liar for president and his pathology spread like an epidemic through the party.