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Manhattan Diary by Cahir O'Doherty

What has happened to the Republican Party?

Posted on Tuesday, September 06, 2011 at 10:01 AM

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I admit it, there are some things about the modern Republican party (and its increasingly loony Tea Party wing) that still surprise me.

Why for example do conservatives loudly claim to revere the Constitution, yet spend so much time discussing how they'd like to dismantle every aspect of the federal government that is the very expression of the principles embodied in that document?

Another thing that surprises me: instead of targeting the predatory bankers who almost destroyed our economy, why do conservative politicians instead target government programs that actually help people like Medicaid and Social Security?

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Here comes a religious hurricane - the 9/11 Memorial

Michele Bachmann attacks US jobs going overseas to Ireland

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Why do they fight tooth and nail to protect elite billionaires like the Koch brothers from paying a one tenth of one percent increase on their tax rates?

After all US corporations have just had their most profitable quarters in American history - so where are all the jobs these 'wealth creators' were supposed to create? I'm serious, where's all this wealth these wealth creators have brought us?

And why has religious fundamentalism taken over the Republican party as obviously as it now has? Perry and Bachman openly admit they do not believe in evolution (making creationism mainstream for the first time) but they do believe in angels and demons, they say. They would have felt right at home in the 15 century. These are two candidates who apparently don't care care what happens to the country or indeed the planet, since God's going to destroy it all anyway. So why are they even being considered?

If elected, which I doubt she will ever be, Bachmann's first act would be to get rid of the Department of Education, she said yesterday. No nation ever needed it less, apparently.

I wonder about this too: why Republicans, having stripped the private-sector of their pensions and health benefits thanks to outsourcing and union busting and shareholder pressure, are now targeting public-sector workers give up their pensions and benefits too?

Why should these workers do so? Why particularly when you contrast their hard working lives with the endless gravy train that our richest citizens enjoy without fear of reproach from the party they have bought and paid for?

And why should we give up our own social security? These are benefits for which we worked.

And why does the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell think his greatest legislative priority - instead of jobs for out of work Americans - is ensuring that Obama is a one-term president?

How is that a patriotic action? How did it come to this? If you can answer any of these questions directly I'd like to read it below.

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Here comes a religious hurricane - the 9/11 Memorial

Michele Bachmann attacks US jobs going overseas to Ireland

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2BorNot2B | Sep 06, 2011, 06:07 PM EDT

To continue, Says Dowd "..Obama sent out a mass e-mail to supporters Wednesday under the heading “Frustrated.” echoing "a November 2010 parody in The Onion with the headline, “Frustrated Obama Sends Nation Rambling 75,000-Word E-Mail.” And we should reply, We knew you fooled them, so in all honesty -if you have an once of it- you should get the H out, because you're in over your head and you know it! -- The subsequent paragraphs penned by Dowd are an unabashed ode to the total disenchantment we knew was coming from the moment he stepped between those Greek columns at Mile High. You owe it to yourself to buy, beg, borrow or steal that issue because it’s cathartic! And here are some more teasers: “You know you’re in trouble when Harry Reid says you should be more aggressive." "If the languid Obama had not done his usual irritating fourth-quarter play.." -meaning he's always 'leading from behind.'- "How will he up the ante next time? A speech from the space station?" "Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion.." And this is a thing of beauty: "The days of spinning illusions in a Greek temple in a football stadium are done. The One is dancing on the edge of one term." "The White House team is flailing.. It’s repugnant." Ending with flourishes: "Maybe Obama was not even the person he was waiting for." - Wow! I think I'll just turn over and...smoke a cigarette. Thanks Dowd, that was orgasmic!

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2BorNot2B | Sep 06, 2011, 06:06 PM EDT

In reply to the headline here I'd offer the following from the hallowed halls (to Cahir) of the NYT. Pay attention folks because this comes courtesy of one the local IC heroines: Maureen Dowd.--Given that under most circumstances Cahir would be lapping at her feet and citing chapter and verse from his bible: the NYT, wherein she dazzles her lefty devotees with scintillating prose, it's a bit disconcerting to see why Cahir did not comment on Dowd’s op-ed piece of Sept 4, pgSR11. -- It is aptly titled: "One, and Done" - So here are a few of the gems this über-lib regales her public with: Referring to a comment made by O during his '08 campaign, she says that maybe about now he "is wishing that he had thrown the game."-- After 3 years of ".. zero job growth, using the same line of attack Hillary used in 2008: Enough with the big speeches! What about some action? --Then she offers: Americans ".. may no longer have faith that he’s a smarty-pants who can fix the economy." Actually, we KNEW he wouldn't, and yes, we take pleasure in rubbing it in!-- Their strategy for the never-ending campaign? "Obama’s re-election chances depend on painting the Republicans as disrespectful." -So people, wise-up and flip them off when you hear the usual mud flinging! --She states the obvious: "Obama can’t turn into F.D.R. for the campaign.. and he can’t turn into Harry Truman because he lacks the common touch. He has an acquired elitism." Umm..ya, it’s definitely 'acquired taste,' because his family lived among pigs, in mud huts, but he's gotten used to vacationing on 50K/wk Martha's Vineyard and Hawaii huts as many times as he wants to... cont'd!

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eiriamach | Sep 06, 2011, 05:40 PM EDT

"How did it come to this?" Several answers. I'll suggest just one. As a nation, we failed to heed the warnings of the 1983 report from Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education. Its title: "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform," available on the 'Net. It warned of distress in the economy resulting from poor math, technical, and even literacy skills in the work force. It warned of deterioration in the political process as public schools "dumbed down" the curriculum to graduate the laziest and least interested offspring of a diffident generation. Youngsters were leaving school without an inkling about how federal or state government worked, what rights they had under the Constitution and federal and state laws, and how to safeguard their democracy! What has happened since 1983? No improvement has happened. In places like Texas, science teachers must present creation myths alongside facts of geology and biology, and history teachers eliminate whole population groups, ethnic minorities and immigrants, from the American narrative. In short, the failure of a once-great public school system that assimilated millions of immigrants and empowered the children of the poor to 'move on up'.... Oh! Right, that's WHY states' funding was pulled from education and the curriculum dumbed down. The last generation that learned history took to the streets with protests and changed history! 'Can't have that kind of thing, can we?

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hollabackgurl | Sep 06, 2011, 04:52 PM EDT

The champagne bonanza being enjoyed by America’s super-rich is directly related to the drop in their tax rates - and as they prosper the public purse empties, so the nation faces devastating budget squeezes and the slashing of vital public services for the middle class and the poor.

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kelauggie1 | Sep 06, 2011, 02:33 PM EDT

Mr. O'Doherty, your blog is so full of holes that I can scarcely know where to start to refute it - except to say that in total it is so left-leaning that you will topple over soon. What is causing the reactions you note is the belief that we can save our country before it is lost forever to socialism. You should really try to think independently instead of regurgitating the leftist drivel that drives your very weak arguments. Try reality - I know it's tough for your ilk, but once you get used to it, you'll see that it is better than your fantasy.

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Nicomax | Sep 06, 2011, 02:28 PM EDT

You can't be surprised by GOP willingness to cut social programs while not negatively impacting those well off in anyway, since they have continually stated rewards go to the 'makers' and penalties are assigned to the 'takers', since that is what our economic system is all about, almost to the point of 'winner-take-all'.

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peterson | Sep 06, 2011, 02:09 PM EDT

Ireland could use a Tea Party !! Don't point fingers at the Republicans, -- look at what has happened to the Democrats and what they have done to the USA !! AND they can't blame that on Bush !!

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Jamcelt | Sep 06, 2011, 12:44 PM EDT

The Christian Taliban has weeded it's way in there. America is in serious trouble unless it curbs the Christian right.

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hollabackgurl | Sep 06, 2011, 12:41 PM EDT

Nonsense, not one Republican cares about the enviorment, they believe that global warming is a hoax - even after a year of the worst bad weather our nation has ever seen. Tea Party supporters hold signs saying “Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare.” The gap between the rich and poor is now so extreme that the U.S. is now the 42nd most unequal country in the world, below Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, and only just above Uganda and Jamaica.

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AengusOg | Sep 06, 2011, 12:16 PM EDT

This article is merely divisive rhetoric. It is replete with hit and miss accusations without any reasonable examination of the points and counter-points. One difference between Democrats and Republicans that fits this article very nicely is that Democrats care more about the trees and Republicans are more concerned with the forest.For example, Democrats see the benefits of Medicare to individuals and Republicans view the red ink, fraud and mismanagement as an economic albatross. Both parties care about the same things, but emphasize different solutions to these problems. There really is very little difference between us. We are mainly separated by the strident name calling from both sides. I am proud to be a Tea Party participant.

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hollabackgurl | Sep 06, 2011, 12:08 PM EDT

Rick Perry wants to end Social Security; Michele Bachmann wants to end the Department of Education; Rand Paul wants to end the government; Mitch McConnell wants to end the USA.

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hwodunnavent | Sep 06, 2011, 11:19 AM EDT

First of all, the Repubs are not trying to dismantle the Constitution, but are trying to return power to the states where the Constitution first gives it, an example being the Dept. of Education. The Federal government has grown too large! Most recently added jobs were government jobs to run new government programs. Where is their income coming from? From the private sector taxes. Yes, government employees pay taxes too, but the percentage of tax return is quite small in relation to the amount of other's tax money needed to pay them. Business owners are fearful of hiring because of the uncertainty of new government regulations. Secondly, Repubs do not want to destroy the Social Security system, just eliminate some of the waste and huge expansion of recent years. It will take a long time to revamp the thinking of Americans who have been lulled into relying on Social Security for their retirement. Keep in mind there are millionaires in both political camps. Repubs do not hold all of those marbles. Thirdly, there are several gravy trains--the biggest being the one for people on government assistance. Why would anyone vote their source of income out of office? Why work when you can collect just as much by sitting at home. Many of those on assistance are legitimate claims, but there are thousands of able-bodied persons out there collecting assistance who could work if they had to. The other gravy train at least requires some work and perhaps wise investments. Maybe we could get more money in our system if we cut foreign aid to all those countries who are trying to destroy the American Dream they are so fond of. Now wouldn't that create a stir!

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RayGordon | Sep 06, 2011, 11:11 AM EDT

The Republican Party has been hijacked by two very dangerous groups: a mostly Jewish Zionist neoconservative group of pro-Israel Likudniks and a group of Christian Zionists who support Israel for biblical attachments. Both groups support U.S. wars against all of Israel's enemies: Iraq, Iran, Syria, no matter the terrible costs in lives and dollars. Only Ron Paul can save the Republican Party and America with his philosophy of limited government, fiscal responsibility and a non-interventionist foreign policy.

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phinsman | Sep 06, 2011, 11:10 AM EDT

Cahir, I completely agree with you... I don't understand why so many people only focus on the benefit of themselves, and not toward helping others in the their country and around the world.

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cathy/marty | Sep 06, 2011, 10:35 AM EDT

YOU ARE A TRUE LIBERAL WITH ONE FOOT TOWARD SOCIALISEM.YOU CASTRATE THE REPUBS. FOR WHAT THEY BELIEVE AND SAY NOTHING ABOUT THE CLOWN IN THE WHITE HOUSE WHO IS DESTROYING THE COUNTRY. SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE LIBERAL CAHIR

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