The GOP’s “Pledge to America”

At any point will Time be pointing out that the economic policies in the document are unbelievably stupid, its foreign policy statements infantile and the entire document deeply unserious in both form and content, containing next to nothing in the way of actual legislative policy that would not be directly harmful to the American people.

Or will you be watching all the horsies run?

I’m sure they will also be supplying the empirical evidence tomorrow to support their theory that this platform will move the country quickly back to full employment, as it has so many times in the past.

We are now conducting fiscal policy on gut instinct, rolling the dice and hoping the lessons of history are the opposite to what they appear.

GOP pledge to America:

1. Take the country back. (from mexicans, blacks, muslims, gays, and the poor)

2. Take away health care from people who can not afford it especially kids with pre-existing conditions.

3. Bomb more countries.

4. Create even greater divide between rich and poor.

5. Remove evolution from school books and only teach that the earth is 5000 years old and man walked with dinosaurs like in the Flinstones.

7. Teach that education and culture is bad and ignorance and stupidity should be celebrated.

6. Find and persecute those who practice witchcraft. (except O’donnell)

7. Do away with 4th, 1st, and any ammendment that separates church and state.

Oh and I forgot number 8:

8. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate……

So most of their plan involves austerity which, by definition, cannot spur job creation or economic activity. I hope your report tomorrow includes that context.

That is one high quality plan right there, yes sir. It’s almost as good as Boehner’s budget sans numbers. Rife with falsehoods and hyperbole, this document should please only the rabid and unthinking base.

Again – that would be journalism. Couldn’t allow any of THAT to sully the good pages of Time.

Ask them to name one example from history where austerity, under current economic conditions, has worked? Then refuse to hold your breath.

“I’ll be on hand for the press conference tomorrow and will have more after it’s over”
.
Report or regurgitate? We’ll look forward to your “more”.

So far, I don’t see any indication that this press conference is being held to present any ideas that aren’t already on the Republican platform. So what will you be covering? Their branding?

Another hit contract out on America:

1) Wish to undue HCR (but impossible with the president)

2) Wish to cut spending on all social services (but impossible to do so).

3) Wish to balance the budget, but no viable plans to do so.

4) Wish to cut taxes with no corresponding spending cuts likely.

5) Feel good claims that regulation is preventing job growth.

6) By not stimulating the economy, keeping America broke until the Republican Party is disgraced beyond all recognition.

7) In 2012 blame Obama for harm they will do starting in January.

When the FBI hears about a plan for a hit on a member of organized crime, they warn them so that they can go to a safe house and, hopefully, not shed blood. There is not plan to protect America from this contract out on America.

it’s all laughable, but perhaps the most intriguing proposal is “cancel TARP”. How do you even do that?? The TARP program is mostly over – and, in the narrowest of terms, wwas a phenomanal success. Faced with an economic cardiac arrest that threatened to throw at least tens of thousands of people out of work (construction jobs, in particular, were largely bonded by AIG and had it gone under, there would have been massive unemployment in that sector), the Obama continued a (wise) policy initiatied by the Bush Administration. The banks took the loans from the government and, surprisingly quickly, got themselves functioning and working again, for the most part returning the money back to the governemnt ahead sooner than anticipated.

The whole thing wasn’t perfect – given more time to work through the details, the Administration should have probably forced the financial firms to take more of a “haircut” than they did, but when all was said and done, this was government addressing a problem in a pretty impressive manner. What sadly did not happen was that the banks did not immediately turn around and loan all kinds of money to “Main Street” buisnesses as was implicitly promised. But this is more attributable to the little problem of consumers not having the kind of money (or, in many cases, credit) that they once did. That America’s businesses are not gearing up and hiring like we hoped is a result of the fact that they have learned to get by with (and exploit better) the workers they have remaining and the fact that consumers are generally going on a much needed and long delayed savings (and pay down) spree. But that isn’t going to stop our Republican friends (ironically funded by the very same corporate miscreants that got bailed out by TARP) from exploiting the resentment against it brutally.

Truly, in 21st century America, we have gotten to the point where acting like an adult is considered a crime.

Finally a sane and rational approach to how our Federal Government should be implemented.
.
End all the bloated spending programs Obama and his corrupt gaggle of Democrat crooks have passed since 2006.
.
End the monopoly on mortgages by eliminating Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac, the REAL cause of the economic collapse because Dodd and Frank wanted to put into place a program to give everyone a house whether they could afford one or not.
.
End spending on a healthcare reform law which does absolutely NOTHING to cut costs, but does everything to drive the cost so high even people who could once afford it, now can’t.
.
End frivolous lawsuits by the Democrat sponsored trial lawyers association. One of the most evil organizations in America which has been allowed to run wild in our judicial system for years now because of the protection given to them by their corrupt Democrat Party allies.
.
Keep taxes low, and cut spending. The only way you will stimulate anything in a free market economy. The mixing of socialism and capitalism simply does not work. The socialism defined regulations which have been adopted by the majority party as defined by the House, Senate and President who have run unabated and unchallenged will come to a quick end. Give Cass Sustein the boot, and send him packing as soon as possible. Hopefully they will also pass regulations to stop the Federal Reserve and bring it under very close supervision by the Congress.
.
Yes America, sane and rational individuals will be in office soon and you will see your life return back to normal.

“you will see your life return back to normal.”

that is unless you are a minority, poor, or gravely ill without health care. In that case you can be exploited and enslaved once again by the party of the Klan.

the Affordable Care Act (which the document calls “the government takeover of health care”)
-
That’s a lie, of course.
-
The health insurance reform no more “takes over” the provision of health care– nor even of insurance!– than an anti-smoking regulation involves the takeover of the airline industry.
-
Can the media report the news? Or will it be more, “Shape of Earth: views differ”?

Actually the party of the Klan as you like to say were the Democrats. Early on it was Woodrow Wilson during his Presidency who advocated for racial INEQUALITY.
.
The Party of Lincoln, the Republicans have always sought racial equality. Facts of history which are completely indisputable.
.
Just like the feigned attacks by the Democrat toy, the NAACP, on the Tea Party. History says otherwise. Don’t be a stupid and dumb liberal, go read for once in your life instead of being led by the ring in your nose northpole.

Or will you be watching all the horsies run?
.
Do I know what rhetorical means?

It is all Rush Limbaugh fault

http://conservativeblogscentral.blogspot.com/2010/09/rush-limbaugh-could-be-doing-more-for.html

Yeah, the part on page 27 about canceling John F Kennedy’s plan for a 1969 moon landing, also, threw me for a loop, too.
.

” Early on it was Woodrow Wilson during his Presidency who advocated for racial INEQUALITY.”
.
Untrue.
.
The creator of Birth of a Nation was a college friend of Wilson’s. To humor his friend he watched the movie.
.
Wilson’s personal secretary said that Wilson hated the movie, but, the producer said that he loved it.
.
The first, Republican “Southern Strategy” was done by Herbert Hoover in who removed all black Republican Party precinct captains to replace them with white ones in hopes of getting white votes. This type of strategy continued through Newt Gingrich.
.
Republican progressive Theodore Roosevelt praised the superiority of the “Anglo-Saxon” race.
.
More or less, from the end of reconstruction until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s, it was only a minority of either party who supported Civil Rights.
.
The big change over for black voters from Republican to Democrat was under FDR since the New Deal, even though it allowed segregation, had black work crews hired to fix roads, proportionately as many all “colored” divisions of the civilian conservation corps.
.
In 1870, you would be able to make a strong case for the Republicans, but, by 1955… your history is just incorrect, as I would expect from somebody who is, as you say you are, so proud that you never finished high school somebody as anti-intellectual as yourself.

Tort law and tort law insurance costs 2.22% of the economy in total down from 2.28% and has not had an adverse impact on jobs.
.
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp174/
.
It looks like, once again, in addition to health care reform, and just about everything else you write, you are chasing another Red State Red herring.

I’m sure that Time will enforce your delusions soon enough.

Good try sartor the magnificent but you yet again fail. Fail like you flunked out of college. I happen to have not one but two degrees thank you. How many do you have? Those you got from Regis and out of the corn flake box do not count I’m afraid.
.
Here are your famed Dixiecrats in all of their glory.
.

“By the 1870s the South was heavily Democratic in national and presidential elections, apart from pockets of Republican strength. It was the “Solid South”. The social system became increasingly based on Jim Crow, a combination of legal and informal segregation that made blacks second-class citizens with little or no political power anywhere in the South.[3]
In the 1930s, the New Deal under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a realignment occurred. Much of the Democratic Party shifted towards economic intervention but rejected civil rights for blacks. However, white Southern commitments to Jim Crow grew stronger, and were indirectly challenged as two million blacks served in the military during World War II, receiving equal pay in segregated units, and equally entitled to veterans’ benefits. The Republican Party, nominating Tom Dewey of New York in 1944 and 1948, supported civil rights legislation that the Southern Democrats in Congress almost unanimously opposed.[4] [5]

.
Complete and utter fail sartor. FAIL FAIL FAIL.
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixiecrat
.
Anyone for a good recall and lesson on one of the most infamous and now DEAD Dixiecrats, good ‘ol Senator Byrd??? Anyone?? Sartor??

newf is right to an extent.

.
.
the republicans of lincolns day were the liberal party. southern democrats in early half of the 20th centrury were the conservative party.
.

whats that mean in today’s world?

.

nothing.

Good lord, racisty, I could eat a can of alphabet soup and sh!t more coherently.
-
Actually the party of the Klan as you like to say were the Democrats
-
True. But you know what else is true? The Ds were the socially conservative party back then. Yup, regardless of party label, which you seem to put so much stock by, it was and always has been the conservatives of this country, such as yourself, who supported or condoned racism. So, why don’t you remove your head from the depths of your bowels, and open a high school history book? Oh, wait, that would require you to think.
-
The Party of Lincoln, the Republicans have always sought racial equality. Facts of history which are completely indisputable.
-
except that you are, once again, completely WRONG. Does the Southern Strategy ring a bell? If not, try going here.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/13/AR2005071302342.html
-
Adding insult to injury is the fact that you yourself are unequivocally racist, making anything to have to say on the matter utterly worthless. Now, why don’t you do your country a favor, and move to Somalia?.

In 1913 Progressive President Woodrow Wilson introduced segregation in Federal offices.

northpole,
.
The Loon returns.

oh, i wouldnt say he “introduced” segregation. but he did accomodate it, unfortunately. looks like it was under pressure from the “party of no” of the time…
.
from the good ol’ wiki:
.
Segregation in the federal government
In 1912, “an unprecedented number”[5] of African Americans left the Republican Party to cast their vote for Democrat Wilson. They were encouraged by his promises of support for their issues. The issue of segregation came up early in his presidency when, at an April 1913 cabinet meeting, Albert Burleson, Wilson’s Postmaster General, complained about working conditions at the Railway Mail Service. Offices and restrooms became segregated, sometimes by partitions erected between seating for white and African-American employees in Post Office Department offices, lunch rooms, and bathrooms, as well as in the Treasury and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It also became accepted policy for “Negro” employees of the Postal Service to be reduced in rank or dismissed. And unlike his predecessors Grover Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson accommodated Southern opposition to the re-appointment of an African American to the position of Register of the Treasury and other positions within the federal government. This set the tone for Wilson’s attitude to race throughout his presidency, in which the rights of African Americans were sacrificed, for what he felt would be the more important longer term progress of the common good.

I am lost. Didn’t they create all of these problems? A pledge?

Who Best Represents a Majority of Americans?
.
According to USA/Today/Gallup poll Americans more likely to see Republicans than Democrats representing their views and values.
.
On the Role of Government, Parties’ Ratings Look Like 1994

USA Today/Gallup
by Lydia Saad
September 21, 2010
.
PRINCETON, NJ — Americans’ opinions about how well the Democratic Party represents their views on the role of government have soured in recent years. The percentage saying the party is doing either very or moderately well on this has dropped from 57% in October 2006 to 44% today. Over the same period, the Republican Party’s image on the role of government has held fairly steady and, as a result, the GOP now leads on this dimension, similar to its position in October 1994.
.
More specifically, according to the Aug. 27-30 USA Today/Gallup survey, fewer than half of Americans, 44%, now say the Democratic Party represents their views on the role of government either very or moderately well, while 54% say it does this not very or not at all well. Americans are more evenly divided in their views of the Republican Party in this arena, with 52% generally saying it is doing well and 47% not well.
.
After the 1994 elections, which saw the Democrats lose majority control of Congress to the Republicans for the first time in nearly a half century, the Democrats went on to lead the Republicans on this measure in 1999, 2005, and 2006. The current reversal is yet another sign that a shake-up of the political balance in Washington may be looming.
.
Republicans Also Lead for Representing Values
.
Americans’ perceptions of how well each party represents their values show a similar trend. Democrats have lost ground on this dimension in recent years while Republicans have maintained their ground or possibly gained a little ground, resulting in a distinct Republican advantage, 56% to 49%, again similar to the parties’ 1994 standing.
.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/143156/Role-Government-Parties-Ratings-Look-1994.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=Politics%20-%20USA

I feel better now. I thought pledges were cheap commodities bought and sold in that place. Now I learn that (cue patriotic music) it is not so with the Republican Party. Thank god. Thank you so much for redeeming my faith in America. Bless you, kind sir.

They’re going to enforce my delusions? When did my delusions become a law?

Theodore Roosevelt and race:
.
“The Brownsville Affair arose out of racial tensions between the white residents of Brownsville, Texas and the all black infantrymen of the 25th United States Regiment at nearby Fort Brown.

Since arriving at Fort Brown, the black soldiers were subject to intense racial discrimination and hatred from the white citizens of Brownsville. As a result of these racial tensions, a fight broke out between a black soldier and a local Brownsville merchant. The city of Brownsville barred members of the 25th U.S. Regiment from setting foot in the city again.
[edit] August 13, 1906…

On the night of August 13, 1906, shots rang out on a street near Brownsville, killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer. Immediately the citizens of Brownsville cast the blame on the black soldiers of the 25th Regiment at Fort Brown. With the soldiers of the 25th Regiment being accused of the shootings, the all white commanders at Fort Brown confirmed that, in fact, all of the soldiers were in their barracks at the time of the shootings. However, this was not enough to deter local whites, including Brownsville’s mayor, from claiming that some of the black soldiers participated in the shootingsWhen soldiers of the 25th Regiment were pressured to name who fired the shots, they insisted that they had no idea who had committed the crime. The soldiers were not given any type of hearing, trial, or the opportunity to confront their accusers (all rights guaranteed to U.S. Citizens in the Constitution). The officer in charge was restoring order was Captain Bill McDonald of the Texas Rangers.[1] U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered 167 of the black troops dishonorably discharged because of their “conspiracy of silence”. This dishonorable discharge prevented these 167 men from ever working in a military or civil service capacity. Some of the black soldiers had been in the U.S. Army for over twenty years, while others were extremely close to retirement with pension. Since the 1970s, the story has spread that the discharged soldiers included six Medal of Honor recipients. Among the historians who accepted this story were Jack Foner, William Seraile, Louis Harlan, Garna Christian, H.W. Brands, and most recently Richard Wormser (cited below). The evidence does not support this claim. There were fewer than 40 black recipients of the award to that time. A check of any of the reference works listing recipients against the names of those discharged shows that none of the Medal recipients were among the 25th Infantry soldiers stationed at Fort Brown.

Even Booker T. Washington got involved, asking President Roosevelt to reconsider his decision in the affair. Roosevelt instead dismissed Washington’s plea and allowed his decision to stand.”
.
Herbert Hoover: the first Southern Strategy:
.
“To gain Republican votes in Southern states, Hoover pioneered an electoral tactic later known as the “Southern Strategy”. Hoover ousted many African American leaders in the Republican party, and replaced them with whites. Hoover’s appeal to white voters yielded substantial results, including Republican victories in Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, and Texas. It marked the first time a Republican candidate for president carried Texas. This outraged the black leadership, which largely broke from the Republican Party, and began seeking candidates who supported civil rights within the Democratic Party.[21]”
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover#Southern_strategy
.
Once again, like I said Rusty (the man who said he had not finished high school but made a bundle of money and now says that he has two college degrees – bulls hit!) when Republicans were the liberals in the 1870s, you would be correct. By 1906, you would be wrong.

The Joke is that Liberals actually think that a majority of the American public supports their crazy political views.
.
As the survey shows Americans have little use for Liberals-Progressive views or values.
.
What’s really funny is how the Left keeps deceiving themselves in thinking they represent a majority of Americans.
.
The vast majority of Americans share the Values and Views of the Republican Party.
.
Liberals keep lying to each other and to yourselves if that makes you happy.
.
Just remember to pack for the desert. 40 years is a long time.

“Anyone for a good recall and lesson on one of the most infamous and now DEAD Dixiecrats, good ‘ol Senator Byrd??? Anyone?? Sartor??”
.
“Byrd explicitly renounced his earlier views favoring racial segregation.[49][50] Byrd said that he regretted filibustering and voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1964[28] and would change it if he had the opportunity. He said joining the KKK was, “the greatest mistake I ever made.”[49] Byrd also said that his views changed dramatically after his teenage grandson was killed in a 1982 traffic accident, which put him in a deep emotional valley. “The death of my grandson caused me to stop and think,” said Byrd, adding he came to realize that black people love their children as much as he does his.”
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Byrd#Filibuster_of_the_Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964
.
How about Dixcrat turned Republican Strom Thurmond?
.
“Run for President

In 1948, after President Harry S. Truman desegregated the U.S. Army, proposed the creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission, supported the elimination of Poll Taxes, and wished to draft federal anti-lynching laws, Thurmond became a candidate for President of the United States on the third party ticket of the States’ Rights Democratic Party, which split from the national Democrats over the proposed constitutional innovation involved in federal intervention in segregation. Thurmond carried four states and received 39 electoral votes. One 1948 speech, met with cheers by supporters, included the following:

“ I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the n-gger race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.[6]”
.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond#Run_for_President
.
After Democrats took on Civil Rights, many racists switched parties. Thurmond may have repented later, but, switched parties due to not supporting Civil rights.
.
Do you want to keep going or just admit defeat, Rusty?

3X,
.
Among things we agreed upon, besides the fact that the world is round and gravity goes down, were that the Wall Street Journal is reliable and USA Today is best if you are house training a puppy or have a pet bird so that you can line the cage.
.
Using a composite of all of the candidate by candidate polls, it appears momentarily that Democrats will keep both houses:
.
http://www.electionprojection.com/index.php
.
This changes every day with new polls coming in.
.
So, even though there are many who say that they do not like the Democratic Party in general, a large enough number of such people will say that they make an exception for their own congressional candidate to push the election to a slender Democratic majority over a slender Republican victory.
.
So, your mantra about 40 years in the desert is unlikely at best.

Excellent video, Kevin.

The party of the teabaggers can always be counted upon to just focus on the low – hanging fruit.

“End the monopoly on mortgages by eliminating Fannie Mae and Freedie Mac, the REAL cause of the economic collapse because Dodd and Frank wanted to put into place a program to give everyone a house whether they could afford one or not.”

As many economists have pointed out your theory fails to account for the real estate bubble in Europe, the bubble in commercial real estate, the role played by companies like Countrywide and the unregulated and unsecured shadow banking system.

I’ll be on hand for the press conference tomorrow and will have more after it’s over.
-
Good luck..
-
And..Oh.. Remember to buy some spine on the way.

Given their penchant for international comparisons, it would be useful if the GOP could cite examples of countries where these policies actually work. Other than Somalia, of course.

The only place is here abdullah. That’s what makes us different.

Of course it takes a semi-educated population and that’s going to be the problem, since our public schools can’t graduate half of the students that we spend thousands of dollars a year on.

The summer of recovery, was the fall of the economy.

How’s that change you can believe in?

Rife with falsehoods and hyperbole, this document should please only the rabid and unthinking base press.
.
Fixed it for you.
.
Prove me wrong, Alex. Please.

This seems apropos:

A record number of Americans — around 40 million — are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly referred to as food stamps). [...]

But what you might not know is that in August the Senate cut funding for the SNAP program, as part of a deal to ensure that “legislation enacted to save teacher and other public sector jobs and to provide support to the states attempting to shore up Medicaid budgets” was “deficit-neutral.”

[...] Senate Republicans are demanding that tax cuts for the wealthy — costing around $700 billion over the next 10 years — be retained, regardless of the impact on government finances. But money directly targeted at saving public sector jobs and paying for Medicaid must be offset by cuts to the welfare net for the poorest Americans.

http://www.salon.com/news/walmart/index.html?story=/tech/htww/2010/09/22/walmarts_midnight_baby_formula_bread_line

Remember – all journalists in America are allowed to do is print competing press releases. Anything more than that wouldn’t be ‘balanced.’

Olberman had a fairly comprehensive look at what “small businesses” are, last night, and I was disheartened to see that this is a designation that encompasses s-corps with incomes of as much as $500 million. The Republicans want to give “small businesses” tax cuts equal to 20% of their income.(Can that be right? Did I mishear?) sigh. We are not even able to determine what all these businesses are, unless they turn up on an incidental list.

The pledge also wants the “constitutional basis” for all laws cited in every law. This is a sop to all the yahoos who think that the Congress is passing laws all the time that aren’t constitutionally justified because they don’t find it mentioned in the constitution. give me a break.

I’d be more willing to give their new planks a listen if they’d re-title it “undoing the damage we did.” Creating jobs, promoting national security, and cutting spending are things they claimed they wanted to do in 2000 and we got 8 years of exactly the opposite. They wouldn’t need to “restore trust in Congress” if they’d run it with any credibility during the Bush years. And repealing HCR? As I’ve said in other threads, I’d love to see how they try and sell the idea of reinstating lifetime benefit caps, denial of coverage due to preexisting conditions, and reducing access to healthcare for children to the public.

That group also has a great movie poster mockup for “The Pledge to America” too. I can’t embed it here, but click the link and enlarge the image:
.
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/open-thread-66

Looks like the Pledge to America is going over like a lead balloon …. with conservatives.
.
Here’s Erick Erickson of Red State:
.
Perhaps the Most Ridiculous Thing to Come Out of Washington Since George McClellan

Yes, yes, it is full of mom tested, kid approved pablum that will make certain hearts on the right sing in solidarity. But like a diet full of sugar, it will actually do nothing but keep making Washington fatter before we crash from the sugar high.
.
It is dreck — dreck with some stuff I like, but like Brussels sprouts in butter. I like the butter, not the Brussels sprouts. Overall, this grand illusion of an agenda that will never happen is best spoken of today and then never again as if it did not happen. It is best forgotten.

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/09/22/the-republicans-pledge-is-perhaps-the-most-ridiculous-thing-to-come-out-of-washington-since-george-mcclellan/

Ezra Klein isn’t a conservative, but his take on this thing is dead on:

[Y]ou’re left with a set of hard promises that will increase the deficit by trillions of dollars, take health-care insurance away from tens of millions of people, create a level of policy uncertainty businesses have never previously known, and suck demand out of an economy that’s already got too little of it.
.
You’re also left with a difficult question: What, exactly, does the Republican Party believe? The document speaks constantly and eloquently of the dangers of debt — but offers a raft of proposals that would sharply increase it. It says, in one paragraph, that the Republican Party will commit itself to “greater liberty” and then, in the next, that it will protect “traditional marriage.” It says that “small business must have certainty that the rules won’t change every few months” and then promises to change all the rules that the Obama administration has passed in recent months. It is a document with a clear theory of what has gone wrong — debt, policy uncertainty, and too much government — and a solid promise to make most of it worse.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/09/the_gops_bad_idea.html

I thought this was refreshing. But The Republicans have probably correctly assessed that a good deal of the public is only ready for pablum (having been trained in that, of course, by sound bite teevee news.)

The seem to have forgiotten the two big issues that got us where we are today with the deficit-

1. start no wars unless you immediately raise taxes to cover the complete costs including funding for long term medical care and disability and retirement benefits.

2. give no tax cuts unless they have paid down the long term budget deficit down to zero and a lock box system to keep from spending money sent for specific purposes-social security, medicare, railroad retirement, military retirement, environmental clean-up, etc.

I can’t seem to find this among all the feel good, keep government out of everything except our bedrooms boilerplate. They got us into this mess and they and their rich puppetmasters are still trying to take away all protection from their corporate gods.

Steve Benen pointed out their idiocy on the deficit:

The GOP left a $1.3 trillion budget deficit for Democrats to clean up. Two years later, Republicans have decided to push for $4 trillion in tax cuts, which would increase the deficit; push for the repeal of health care reform, which would increase the deficit; and increase spending on missile defense, which would increase the deficit.
.
It’d be a terrible mistake to cancel economic recovery funds, reduce the number of public jobs, and slash discretionary spending, but even if Republicans did all of this, economy be damned, the cuts don’t even come close to covering the costs of the GOP agenda.
.
In other words, Republicans have spent two years complaining about the deficit, and have used the deficit as an excuse to block all kinds of worthwhile legislation. But when presenting its own “Pledge,” the House GOP has presented a plan to make that same deficit considerably worse.
.
Why Americans would hire arsonists to put out a fire is something I’ll never fully understand.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_09/025802.php

“The Civil Rights Act, signed July 2, 1964, by President Lyndon Johnson, ended legal discrimination against blacks at hotels, restaurants and department stores. It also made discrimination illegal in hiring. Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential nominee that year, decided to make himself a voice for opponents of the Act.
.
“Goldwater said he supported the white Southern position on civil rights, which was that each and every state had a sovereign right to control its laws. The Arizona Republican argued that each American has the right to decide whom to hire, whom to do business with and whom to welcome in his or her restaurant. The senator was right at home with Southern politicians who called the Civil Rights Act an attack on “the Southern way of life.”
.
And that’s why, to this day, African-Americans consistently vote Republic.
.
Right?

NewFreedom,

Fannie and Freddie have a monopoly on non-conforming mortgage loans? – Wow, new one on me.

The GOP “Pledge to America”

Has got to be better than Obama’s pledge to bring Socialism to America.

As to the GOP being the “Party of No”, the Democrats are pretty observant. The GOP is the Party of NO.

NO…to higher taxes
NO…to bigger government
NO…to Socialism
NO…to a bigger National Debt