Even amid the current meltdown in Washington and the consistent Republican opposition to Mr. Obama, Mr. Lieberman insists on blaming both parties equally in a way that some Democrats say works for him but ignores reality…. “The Republicans will say not only in the fiscal negotiations, but in general, they were constantly bending and willing to compromise, and it’s the Democrats’ fault,” he said. “But the truth is, they’re both right. It’s both their fault.”
Once upon a time, an ex- used to respond to any sort of political discussion with the trite rejoinder, “Yeah, both sides do it.” Such simplistic and distressingly uninformed hewing to disinformation drove me batty. It’s one thing to be uniformed; it’s quite another to be uninformed while simultaneously clinging to an unshakable opinion that runs completely counter to reality. In a fit of pique one day, I finally just told her that if she couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to what was happening, she was swallowing the B.S. that Fox News Channel would have you believe. That she didn’t appreciate my directness should go without saying…but that’s another story for another time.
Believing in the false equivalence that both sides are responsible for the current state of American politics flies in the face of virtually all available evidence. You don’t see Democrats dragging their feet and screaming “NO!!!” at virtually every juncture. You don’t see Democrats making calculated policy decisions based solely on cynical political considerations instead of what’s best for the country. You don’t see Democrats negotiating in such bad faith that you have to wonder if they can be trusted to decide what to have for lunch.
I’ll agree that Democrats aren’t blameless (no one ever is), but to hold them equally responsible for the gridlock in Washington is to betray a stunning ignorance of what’s actually happening these days. Despite the best efforts of Fox News Channel talking heads and Conservative pundits, it’s simply not “both their fault.”.
- The fiscal talks have broken down because Republican negotiating strategy has been to put forth the Romney plan and then blame the President for being “intransigent” when he refuses to play along.
- Republicans have demonstrated themselves to be untrustworthy, dishonest, and unwilling to negotiate…and by negotiate, I mean “make meaningful concessions in an effort to find common ground.”
- Republicans refused to ratify a UN treaty because they caved to the demands of the GOP Tinfoil Hat Caucus. Despite what Republicans would have us believe, Agenda 21 will NOT outlaw golf courses.
- The farm bill and Violence Against Women Act are stalled because House Republicans are playing games and refusing to vote on them (And why does the Violence Against Women Act even HAVE an expiration date?). The version of VAWA would exempt Native American women from protection, which makes for a truly “WTF??” moment.
- Republicans are making it increasingly difficult for the President to fill his second-term cabinet because each time a name is introduced into the conversation, they immediately launch a smear campaign. Anyone who can with a straight face call Susan Rice “not very bright” is shamelessly playing political games. That Sen John McCain (R-AZ) (who finished two spots from the bottom of his Naval Academy graduating class) is calling Rice “not very bright” only demonstrates the craven hypocrisy at work in the GOP caucus.
- Another debt ceiling crisis looms because Republicans have decided that it would be to their advantage to hold America hostage in an effort to get more of what it wants.
- Republicans voted for every debt ceiling increase without controversy while George W. Bush was President. Now that there’s a Black Man in the White House, the debt ceiling is a threat to Our Way of Life 7copy;??
When one side is attempting to resolve serious policy issues and the other prefers to engage in unvarnished nihilism, that doesn’t ipso facto translate to “both sides do it.” That’s just lazy analysis, and it displays a complete ignorance of what’s taking place in Washington.
Recognizing that they’re now the minority, Republicans have now decided to completely ignore the reality that President Obama won re-election by a wide margin. They’re also whistling past the reality that Democratic Congressional candidates received a million more votes than Republicans did. Republicans aren’t stupid; they understand their position. Unfortunately, instead of playing The Loyal Opposition, they’ve decided to gum up government by obstructing, obfuscating, and refusing to do the job they were elected to do. Their “If we can’t have our agenda, then you’ll get nothing at all” strategy isn’t just bad policy, it’s hurting the country their charged with defending.
Lieberman’s characterization of the “cancer” on Capitol Hill as being the equal responsibility of both parties flies in the face of reality. If you’re negotiating and you’re adversary says, “Here’s our only offer; take it or we’ll blame you and keep anything constructive from happening,” that doesn’t make both parties equally culpable. It means that Lieberman is too lazy and disinterested to admit to what the GOP has turned into:
The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.
When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.
“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.
When one side is six feet from the center and the other is six miles from it, that doesn’t mean both sides should be considered to be equidistant from the center. Yet that’s what Lieberman and so many others insists is the case.
A distant relative was wont to use a crude but apt witticism when she ran across someone who was being intransigent and uncooperative: It’s time to shit or get off the pot. I could certainly express the same sentiments more delicately, but the time for decorum and dancing around the truth has long since passed. It’s time the American Sheeple wake up and recognize what they’ve created.
It’s time for Republicans to take heed of the need for them to discharge their responsibilities and for those who hold both parties equally responsible to take off their blinders. “Both sides do it”?? Not if you can be bothered to pay attention.
