tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5961006065192244756.post2573953924821933631..comments2023-10-05T07:11:05.917-04:00Comments on Art at the Auction: Chris Hayes Is A Dorkpetplutohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01053307189721906583noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5961006065192244756.post-10891552192276655162009-02-28T08:56:00.000-05:002009-02-28T08:56:00.000-05:00"What if John McCain had come into power and his r...<I>"What if John McCain had come into power and his remedy for the country was continued deregulation of the private sector and broad-based cuts in entitlement spending?<BR/><BR/>I'm sure you wouldn't think this plan would help our country out of the financial crisis. But I'd imagine you also wouldn't want it to work because it would justify further deregulation and encourage the government to make fewer transfer payments in the future."</I><BR/><BR/>You imagine wrong, and frankly I'm a bit miffed you think so little of me and think me that petty. Would I believe that it would work? No, because that is partially what got us into this mess and there has never been an indication that Trickle Down Theory works; it didn't work in the 80s, and it didn't work in the 2000s. Would I want the Dems in Congress to vote for it? From an idealogical point, I wouldn't <I>want</I> them to, but if there was a consensus among a vast array of economists - as there is now - I would expect a few to put party politics and political idealogue aside for the moment and work from the assumption that they <I>aren't</I> economists and that maybe the economists know something we don't.<BR/><BR/>But even if I, an unelected civilian in a state of passion over the loss of the presidency, really hoped the bill wouldn't get Democratic support, I would <I><B>NEVER</B></I> hope for the president to fail. I didn't hope for the last president's failure when he insisted we invade Iraq; I was against the war, but I hoped that he and his team were right about the timeline and being heralded as liberators. <BR/><BR/>And now that we're in one of the worst financial crises we have experienced since the Great Depression, I have to say that hoping the president fails is just idiocy no matter what your political stripe is, because if the president fails, the economic downturn continues - because even if the stimulus bill isn't the reason for an upturn, any uptick in the economy is going in the Obama Win pile.<BR/><BR/><I>"I think Republicans do want Obama to fail, but it's far less nefarious than Hayes seems to think. They want him to fail because they believe he's wrong."</I><BR/><BR/>Then they're idiots. When Pat Robertson is the voice of reason in your movement, saying, "If he succeeds, the country succeeds. And if he doesn't, it hurts us all. Anybody who would pull against our president is not exactly thinking rationally," there is something extremely wrong with the picture. Because it's Pat friggin' Robertson, the guy who wanted us to assassinate Hugo Chavez.<BR/><BR/>Republicans can think Obama is wrong and still hope he actually is right, that somehow his plan will lift us out of the darkness of economic recession. Because <I>hoping</I> that he's wrong means hoping that this thing continues. Thinking he's wrong and voting against a bill because they think it won't work - and offering concrete reasons for it instead of making shit up like the construction of a rail between Las Vegas and Disneyland - is different than having a lot outright hoping he's going to fall flat on his face.<BR/><BR/><I>"I think that's a pretty bold accusation. There's a much simpler explanation here: Republicans actually believe what they say they believe."</I><BR/><BR/>I think <I>some</I> Republicans actually believe what they say they believe. But I think the entire Republican party is in entire disarray right now; Bobby Jindal's speech, the absolute failure of their economic policies along with some spectacular failures in their diplomatic and military policies, the talking points of the Republican party against the stimulus bill - those are all indicative of a party that is lost at sea and has no idea how to find land again, and some of their members have decided the best way to do it is to sink the other dude's boat. And, by the way, I make sure in the post to say "many" Republicans and not "The Republican Party in its entirety". Because there are probably more than a few who aren't; Arnold comes to mind, and so does my own governer Jodi Rell, plus Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and I'll even throw in Judd Gregg and a couple of others who voted against the bill. But I think you're giving a lot of them too much rope and too much credit, because several of the members of Congress who voted against the bill then <I>bragged</I> about what they got put in there. If they were such idealogues that they honestly believe what they believe and they believe that the stimulus won't work and can't work, I can't see them putting some stimulus type stuff for their states in there.petplutohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053307189721906583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5961006065192244756.post-64154820299775942602009-02-28T08:00:00.000-05:002009-02-28T08:00:00.000-05:00What if John McCain had come into power and his re...What if John McCain had come into power and his remedy for the country was continued deregulation of the private sector and broad-based cuts in entitlement spending?<BR/><BR/>I'm sure you wouldn't think this plan would help our country out of the financial crisis. But I'd imagine you also wouldn't <I>want it to work</I> because it would justify further deregulation and encourage the government to make fewer transfer payments in the future. That doesn't mean that you wouldn't want the economy to improve necessarily. You simply wouldn't want our recovery to be connected with policies that you believe are ultimately bad for the country.<BR/><BR/>I think Republicans do want Obama to fail, but it's far less nefarious than Hayes seems to think. They want him to fail because they believe he's wrong. If they honestly believed his policies would "work," the only motivation they would have to undermine his efforts would be pure, selfish partisanship -- sacrificing the interests of the nation for the sake of the party. <BR/><BR/>I think that's a pretty bold accusation. There's a much simpler explanation here: Republicans actually believe what they say they believe.mikhailbakuninhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13158822054353654203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5961006065192244756.post-38182728101705396972009-02-27T14:54:00.000-05:002009-02-27T14:54:00.000-05:00"It seems to me that wanting your President to exp..."It seems to me that wanting your President to experience disaster is like wanting the company that employs you to go bankrupt because you don't like your boss; s/he gets his/her "just desserts," but you end up worse off in the end."<BR/><BR/>And in today's corporate climate, your boss may end up with a golden parachute or still in charge with a nice paycheck and you end up on unemployment!petplutohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01053307189721906583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5961006065192244756.post-68579901333218526802009-02-27T13:33:00.000-05:002009-02-27T13:33:00.000-05:00There does seem to be a twinge of irony in the fac...There does seem to be a twinge of irony in the fact that a president who was elected based on his message of hope now has detractors hoping against hope for him to fail. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps I'm viewing the past through the filter of bias, but I don't remember ever <I>hoping</I> that George W. Bush would fail at anything. On the contrary, the Bush administration taught me the value of the old saying, "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst." <BR/>It seems to me that wanting your President to experience disaster is like wanting the company that employs you to go bankrupt because you don't like your boss; s/he gets his/her "just desserts," but you end up worse off in the end.Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14569180426066178711noreply@blogger.com