House GOP to focus on abortion, guns
WASHINGTON - House Republicans intend to hold votes this summer and fall touching on abortion, guns, religion and other priority issues for social conservatives, part of an attempt to improve the party’s prospects in the midterm elections. The “American Values Agenda” also includes a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage — which already has failed in the Senate — a prohibition on human cloning and possibly votes on several popular tax cuts.
Sometimes I really find myself wondering what planet Conservatives live on. Is it the one with the wasteful, senseless war in Iraq and the ever-burgeoning deficit, or is it the one where everything would be wonderful if only we could ban gay marriage, kill and imprison abortion providers, put God back in the public schools, and put guns in the hands of every American? Clearly, these maroons are seeing the world through their own very selective filter, and in their minds, the most pressing issues facing our nation today are guns, God, gays, and abortion.
I know….WTF???
“Radical courts have attempted to gut our religious freedom and redefine the value system on which America was built. We hope to restore some of those basic values through passing this legislative agenda and renewing our country’s commitment to faith, freedom and life,” Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Tuesday.
(Translation: “We actually have NO IDEA how to go about fixing things like the deficit or the war in Iraq, but there’s a midterm election in less than five month,s and we’ve got to do SOMETHING to convince our drooling, knuckle-dragging sycophants to get out and vote in November. Otherwise, we’re completely hosed.”
Alternate translation: “What would Jesus shoot?”)
I’d like to be able to say that this is a terrible joke that’s been satirized for your protection. Sadly, these maroons are dead serious. Conservatives in Congress actually think that by focusing on God, gays, guns, and abortion, that they’ll be focusing on issues that the greatest number of real Americans care about. Republicans deride Democrats as being devoid of ideas, but it would appear that if this is fact true, cluelessness is now a bipartisan characteristic.
If it sounds like Republicans are trying to be deliberately divisive and polarizing…well, congratulations. You’ve cracked the code. What Republicans are trying to do is to focus on issues where they can hammer Democrats on the significant differences between the parties. The fact that the tactic is nothing more than Conservatives pandering to their reactionary, hate-fueled base is hardly something that troubles the GOP leadership. Why? Because they’re desperate, and at this point they’re willing to do ANYTHING that will maintain their majority in both house of Congress. If it takes hatred, ignorance, and divisiveness, so be it.
Still, political strategists argue that by bringing controversial issues to a vote, one party can broadly emphasize differences with the other on an issue such as abortion, and increase the determination of its own supporters to go to the polls. Several GOP aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Republicans were hoping to increase voter intensity among conservatives.
This, of course, is code for: “Hey, if we need to ratchet up the anger, reaction, and hatred to get these knuckleheads to the polls in November, then that’s exactly what we’re going to do. Otherwise, we’ll all be clearing out our offices in January and looking for work.”
I grew up being taught in my Civics class that Congress was a “deliberative” body, where statesmen pondered the issues of the day and made tought decision regarding the future and direction of our great land. Yeah, right…. In this day and age, the ONLY thing that matters is the achievement and the maintenance of political power. Statesmen? We haven’t seen one in Washington in quite some time, and given the current immature, reactionary political climate, we’re not likely to see one anytime soon.
Your tax dollars at work. Or not….
WE DESERVE BETTER….
