Vanity Fair writer's BRUTAL takedown of the GOP: "They must be stopped"

[kpete]

The GOP must be stopped in 2012. The future of America’s ideals of democracy – and of the Republican Party itself – could well be at stake.

Lying has become so ingrained into the conservatives’ national dialogue that they are now dangerously demagogic or, worse, severely unhinged. Blind rage at the election of Barack Obama has wrecked a once great political party. Its leaders have made so many deals with the devil in their almost pathological obsession with unseating Obama that they have pushed the GOP into its own version of political hell – unable to speak truths to their now-rabid and conspiracy-addled base and unable to right the party back onto a path of responsibility.


Most of the major newspapers and networks have adopted Marquess of Queensbury rules when addressing the utterance of utter falsehoods by Romney, Ryan and their surrogates. A velvet glove doesn’t deter deliberate deceit, and it certainly hasn’t here. Calling the words of Romney and Ryan “at odds with the truth” and “not factually accurate” is the coward’s way of communicating that the entire GOP campaign is based on lies, innuendo and more lies. There is a dramatic difference between the usual nip-and-tucking of the presidential campaign season and the flood of prevarication pouring out of the mouths of Romney and Ryan.


What is it about the state of Wisconsin? First it brought us Joe McCarthy, now it brings us Paul Ryan – two men willing to say anything, tell any lie, appeal to any fear, if it means advancing their political careers....GOP leaders have stoked this furnace of hate, and in the process have both trapped themselves with a new base of voters divorced from reality and allowed for the empowerment of the reckless and dangerous people who used to be at the fringes of the Republican party. Demagogues depend on hate and fear; once they are unleashed, though, those emotional forces are hard to put back in the bottle.


Conservatives fear the same democracy that they praise. They want everyone to vote – so long as it is people like them. If they retain control in state houses, next time around, the person who won’t be able to vote might be you.

MORE:
http://kurteichenwald.com/2012/09/the-five-reasons-why-romneyryan-must-be-defeated-in-2012-and-why-conservatives-should-hope-they-are/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/03/1126144/-Vanity-Fair-editor-s-BRUTAL-takedown-of-the-GOP-They-must-be-stopped

[randome]

1. Wow. Not only do I think the observations are true, but so are the conclusions.

The GOP is headed for the dustbin of history, same as the USSR.

[jaysunb]

4. "The GOP is headed for the dustbin of history,"

Before or after they destroy this country?

[randome]

8. Before.

Destroying the country would not benefit them. They are blind idealogues. And being blind, they can't see how the Obama campaign is outmaneuvering them.

[rhett o rick]

74. "They are blind idealogues", I agree, therefore they wont recognize that their

action will destroy the country.

[RobertEarl]

5. I wish you were right

But you are not. The republicans own the vote counting machines. And America has too many idiots who don't believe they would steal another election.

[randome]

6. The only cheating they do is at the margins.

That won't help them this election. That's not optimism on my part, it's the demographics and the fact that we have an intelligent charismatic President versus their clueless, wooden candidate.

[RobertEarl]

9. heh

Bush getting elected twice tells me all about margins and demographics.

Like I say, too many fools who trust the owners of the machines.

[randome]

12. I can see why waiting for true change gets to be tiresome after a while.

And when each and every election cycle, you hear the same refrain -"This time is different"- you start to lose faith.

But you've never heard that from me before. I've been on DU since 2001. I'm nobody you know so I'm nobody special but I think I have a unique talent for seeing things from an objective point of view.

It comes from growing up without role models. I learned to see things for how they really are without being indoctrinated by anyone else's point of view.

And I'm telling you, for what it's worth, this election is different. This is the start of a new Progressive era. The electoral landscape will not be the same after 2012.

As always, it's only my opinion and I could be wrong. But that's how I see it.

(Or maybe this is the sherry talking.)

[RobertEarl]

14. Keep drinking

And just ignore ES&S.

There are too many idiots who don't know the first goddamn thing about ES&S. ES&S is how republicans get elected.

[abelenkpe]

15. Hope you're right! :) nt

[randome]

16. I know MY fingers are crossed.

But I haven't been this hopeful in a long time. Even when I went door to door for Obama in 2008. So many signs are there. The demographics. The incompetency of the GOP. Our intelligent, charismatic President.

Even the inevitability of climate change, paradoxically, makes me hopeful because people will understand that it was Republicans who stood in the way of saving us.

[LongTomH]

18. I really, really hope you're right!

But a lot of big money has been invested in turning the GOP into the far-right monster it is today, and the billionaires who funded that are willing to put a lot of money into guarding their investment!

[Cosmocat]

24. I gotta agree with Earl

I was where you were in 08.

I thought demographics were going to marginalize the GOP.

They then threw a hissy fit that the "liberal media" legitimized as AMERICA IS ANGRY and somehow Health Care Reform got treated like the Patriot Act should have, and in 2010 50+ deranged, right wing lunatics got ushered in to give the GOP control of the House.

There was NO reason to the Rs ANY lever of power after their being deranged dipshits from 2000 to 2006, but somehow the country, led by the "liberal media" saw fit to give it to them.

This election very easily could see them maintain control of the House and get the Senate, too.

I learned A LOT from what happened after 08.

Not only did the Rs get the House, they turned what had become an edge for the Ds in state control of governor/house/senates to a marked control by the Rs.

Sadly in time for ...

The census, which these assholes used to further gerrymand districts.

I live in Pa.

We have over 1,000,000 more registered Ds than Rs, and the State has gone D for president going on two decades now.

Because of Gerrymandering the Rs have a mortal lock LARGE majority in the state senate and most often have solid control of the House. They have a marked edge in House members.

The Rs unite and play as a team. The Ds pretty much just work for themselves.

The Rs are ruthless, say and do anything to get elected. The Ds most often don't lie, cheat and steal to win.

The Rs own the media, the media absolutely just bends over for them.

What they sell - lies and fear, there is always a market for them, and again, they have the media working for them always.

They are going nowhere in our lives.

[randome]

33. State elections don't draw the numbers that national elections do.

And I'm sure the gerrymandering you mention has much to do with the state outcomes. I can't say I have any special knowledge of Pennsylvania.

And we have all heard this story before -about how things are about to change.

I think it's true this time.

Just the fact that gay rights are in the mainstream now is a good sign.
Obama is a good sign.
Romney is a good sign. (Weakest candidate in decades.)
Even Chris Matthews' fiery oration is a good sign.
And the reality of climate change is affecting people's outlooks on the differences between the two parties.
The Tea Party running against chosen GOP candidates is a good sign.
The turning of the tide against Rush Limbaugh is a good sign.

I think the momentum is there.

And Republicans DON'T own the media. They own certain segments and other segments are too cowardly to take a stand. But that's not the same thing as Republicans OWNING the media. I think that's an important distinction.

Even the New York Times has turned against the GOP!

[Cosmocat]

64. yeah

If you feel good about it, that is great.

The GOP absolutely owns the media.

Only when they are REALLY, REALLY bad, like they were from 2000 to 2006, and how they have been this cycle, does the media move to ALMOST call it straight.

But, make no mistake, they will go home to being bitches to the GOP after November, just as they did after 2008.

Everything you note is cyclical. Rush gets beat up, but he still rules the roost. Mathews likes Obama, he liked Bush. The GOP puts up someone with some kind of appeal and we don't have Obama, he is VERY apt to be what he was from the mid 90s to the mid 2000s - the average republican boot licker.

We have made NO gains in the climate change battle - they just dig in and say it is not proven and it does not matter that it does. Same with gay rights. It just happens to have broke right for a bit now, but they WILL get the high ground on it again.

The GOP is meaner, tougher, and people over the course of the history of this planet ALWAYS buy what they sell - fear, anger, division and a boogyman.

Frankly, it is disturbing that the Rs have been THIS bad to this point, and the Ds have gotten all the breaks, and the presidential is as close as it is, and we are not looking at an even greater blowout for the Ds in the House than the Rs got last cycle.

And, sorry, the point I made about their state control stands. They play a LONG game, which has resulted in their inserting hard core right wing judges in greater numbers than even neutral judges and these people will be in office until we die. Their control at the state level gives them the ability to do voter ID laws and gerrymander districts.

Again, I get the demographics, but 08 should be a really big example.

The Rs are going nowhere.

[MissMarple]

37. I'll toast to that!

But only with dry sherry.

[randome]

38. The drier, the better!

[Katashi_itto]

47. I hope so. I am really looking at getting out of the country if Romney takes over.

[johnlucas]

55. I agree with you. I've been having this feeling for awhile now

When the Republicans lose this time around, it is the end of that ugly coalition that was built starting in 1964 ever since the passage of the Civil Rights Act.
Whether the Republican Party realigns or perishes, is up to them but one thing for sure is they will NEVER be the same after 2012.

I hope Obama ends Third Way tactics & turn the Democratic Party into a STRONG force for the Progressive Movement.
The power is in his hands.
John Lucas

[stubtoe]

67. Your lips, God's ears, etc...

There will be fallout for the GOP for certain. It will be interesting what path it will take.

[johnlucas]

79. November 6th can't get here soon enough!

Obama's DEFINITE re-election (yeah I said 'definite') will be the end of that ugly coalition being able to influence a national election ever again.
It's gonna take much more time to kill that collective on the regional contests but slowly that will change too since you need influence on the national stage.

Republicans will either jettison the bigots or downplay them after November 6th.
They may still be dependent on them for the short term but when they lose they'll be looking for another reliable voting block to back the greedy rich's interests.
How long this will take who knows but they will be looking.
When they find that group the bigots will be left in the wilderness possibly creating another political entity.

Whether jettisoned or downplayed, there will be no more open embracing of them after this year on the national stage.
So in that sense Obama was right. CHANGE did come.
John Lucas

[fasttense]

51. Randome? "The only cheating they do is at the margins?"

Have you forgotten that it was their cheating that brought us "dub-yuh" in 2000 and again in 2004??? First was the cheating in Florida his brothers state with Katherine Harris, then it was Florida and his buds Ken Blackwell et al...in Ohio with the help of Bob "Porker" Corker rerouting the Ohio votes through Chattanooga, TN and then back to Ohio. After all it was the president of Dibold that told them he would deliver the election to King George.

They have had 12 years to fix the problems, and can now fix the elections in real time. That has been proven by MIT (Mass Institute of Technology.)

Add to that all of the Voter restriction laws that have been passed in the states with newly elected Republi-con Governors and well...the fix is in if they want it to be.

So how can you say "the only cheating they do is at the margins?"

[randome]

52. My point is that cheating at the margins was enough last time.

Al Gore was widely seen as wooden and unappealing.

We are in a much better situation this time. Not only is the wooden and unappealing candidate on their side but we have an intelligent, charismatic President.

Cheating at the margins won't help this time. I see a landslide for Obama shaping up. And that's not optimism talking.

The voter restriction laws are being overturned. Not quickly enough and some may still be allowed to stand, unfortunately. I still don't see that as enough to counter Obama.

[BetterThanNoSN]

69. Actually...

It was Mike Connells' company Govtech that re-tabulated the Ohio vote and lo and behold, a 5% point switcharoo in the exit polling data. (Didn't hear of Corkers involvement but i'll go look).
Nothing to see here, just move along...

[BetterThanNoSN]

68. Wow...

Really? They only cheat on the margins?
Ever look into the whole story of what happened in the 2004 election regarding Ohio?
Ever hear of the voter caging to the tune of 100's of thousands of votes in '00 and '04?
Florida House speaker Tom Feeney caught trying to have vote altering programs developed prior to the 2000 election?
These are 3 of dozens of schemes concoted and carried out by our GOP fiends, oops, friends to steal elections.
Really Rando, do some homework.

[usaf-vet]

57. You are absolutely right. The repugs have been and will continue to steal votes and elections

In the case of 2012 they are going all out. They see ,and I believe, that they have so consolidated their power that they are just one major election away from stealing our democracy perhaps forever.

If they do steal the presidential election they will appoint right wing ideologues to the the Supreme Court. A court that will alter any law they do not like. We will really see what activist judges are capable of doing. Citizen United will seem like child's play.

Say goodbye to national healthcare, say goodbye to Medicare, say goodbye to Social Security, say goodbye to the right to vote if you are a woman or a person of color, say goodbye to public education, say good by to the middle class. Say hello to the top 1% owning 99% of the wealth.

In other words a government of, by and for the ultra-rich.

To the veterans reading this. Remember the day you raised your right hand and took an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. We as veterans have always done the job of defending against foreign threats.

NOW is the time to stand up one more time and fend of the domestic enemies.

None of us wore a uniform and served so that a few billionaires could simply buy our democracy at a bargain basement sale in 2012.

All of us owe it to those who have died in the defense of this country to ensure they did not die in vein.

[NewJeffCT]

29. While I'd love to see that come true

The GOP also caused the Great Depression & openly supported Hitler in the 30s, yet they still survived. I think they can survive causing the Great Recession and invading Iraq

[randome]

36. "Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it."

But those who pay too much attention to history may easily find themselves unprepared for the present.

What happened nearly a hundred years ago doesn't necessarily have anything to do with today.

It's a different world this century. At least that's how I see it.

[nolabels]

49. Apples don't fall far from the tree

A lot of the patterns stay the same with human interactions (our genetics haven't changed much) but the apparatus and tools have changed a lot.
Needing to extrapolate how it comes together is the question

[randome]

50. Cultures change but I know what you mean.

You're right, our genetics are the same and they dictate much of our behavior. And change, when it comes, is never as fast as we want.

We're in the Information Society now, though, and that makes us a much different culture from a hundred years ago so I'm not sure what to expect in the NEXT hundred years.

[iemitsu]

54. the country and culture have certainly changed,

even in my lifetime, but some negative aspects of our culture, that i thought were disappearing, are front and center today as if they had never been questioned. like the overt racism being used by the GOP to frighten citizens into voting for them.
this is a bigoted country and we will see if the bigots are more concerned about race or religion.
i used to believe that we would never elect a non-christian but if race hatred outweighs religious bigotry that may happen.
i think that americans are as confused as ever and it is hard to anticipate what confused people will do.

[randome]

62. The resurgence of racism is surprising to me, too.

I don't see it flying in today's world, though, because of the demographics, so I see it as another sign of the GOP flailing away as they go down with the ship. They will become both more desperate and more powerless as it continues, IMO.

[iemitsu]

77. that is certainly the way i want to see things.

so it is surprising to witness so many throw-backs emerging from the woodwork.
it does seem a bit like death throws.

[Doctor_J]

66. I am going to start alerting posts like this

The Repukes are gaining ground, not losing ground. They're not going to die unless we kill them off. they own the media, the courts, and the voting machines, and are now purging voters by the millions. Your claim/belief that they're going to magically go away is ridiculous, and does not belong on a board dedicated to destroying them.

[DJ13]

2. The top link is about stem cells

[randome]

3. It was a pun!

Or a clever way to imply that the GOP can be...um...regrown?

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. thanks for posting this

[freshwest]

41. +1

[Frustratedlady]

10. I've said time and time again that the Republican party is becoming a cult...

and the sheeple need to be deprogrammed, as they did back in the 70s. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it is too late for this generation.

We need to talk to truth on Facebook, Twitter and wherever we can to finally get through to those that we can. It is happening, it just has to continue. We are making a difference.

[brewens]

11. I almost feel sorry for some of my Republican friends. Most won't go so far as

spewing birther crap. I think it's that they have been taught to be Republicans from a young age and are in denial. With my age group, waking up will really mean rejecting everything they believed and supported since Reagan. That's when it all started to go wrong.

The greatest barrier is that the have been literally brainwashed into believing the liberal media myth. Anything that isn't FOX "News" is lying to them.

Most of them I leave alone when they 'like' Romney and Ryan on Facebook. I only respond to really idiotic stuff like this D'Souza's 2016 movie or the latest birther conspiracy.

I still think we will need many of those Republicans like my friends when people do wake up. I know they are basically good people, just misled.

[MissMarple]

35. Good post!

[formercia]

13. The Confederacy finally got their revenge

They killed it from the inside, just like a Cancer.

So much for the Grand Old Party of Lincoln. RIP

[pansypoo53219]

17. when all you watch is fux gnews. they now believe what they say.

facts are not something they have to BELIEVE in. rose colored planet.

[cstanleytech]

19. "Rage, delusions and lies are not the path to power." Well, it worked for Hitler.

Sorry but its the truth and the republican party imo is behaving alot like the nazi party lately.

[chieftain]

20. "Economic Arsonists"

What a great article. It calls them out for what they are. Thanks for posting.

[PatrynXX]

21. obama was not offended by Clint's remarks.

but Mitt is by the nazi reference. hey what about hank williams? seriously. mitt is just too weak..

they've compared some of us to Nazis hitler and old Joe, who was far worse than hitler. Joe is to Hitler as Cheney is to Bush. he pulled the strings.

Then you've got that stupid Agenda dvd still going around with Steve King saying yep Commie's are here to stay in addition to the Muslim Brotherhood..

[Cleita]

22. Well, I'm happy someone, who counts, is saying stuff like this.

Only DU was talking about this after the 2000 stolen election. Too bad it's taken this long.

[identify]

23. bravissimo!

Oh, exquisite logic!

[docgee]

25. If Romney wins we may as well not have another election...

Just let the 50 highest bidders pick the congress and the president. It would be the same.

[calimary]

27. Welcome to DU, docgee and identify!

Glad you're both here! We need you!




Now get to work.

[Sherman A1]

26. K&R

[Martin Eden]

28. Spot-On

Let's hope there are millions more independent voters who see GOP for what it has become.

[barbtries]

30. good heavens that was great.

i learned so much. thank you for sharing. recommend that everyone go and read the entire piece it's really worth it.

[WinkyDink]

31. Awesome essay.

[Cooley Hurd]

32. The Business Plotters of 1933 were going to set up a Fascist system similar to Italy and Germany.

Why think the 2012 version of the Business Plot - the small group of rich men utilizing Citizen's United/Voter Supression to get one of their own in - wants a different system now?

They were going to render FDR a puppet POTUS... rather like their plans for Romney.

[formercia]

53. Same Gang, new generation

The 'Boys' are at it again.

[SmittynMo]

34. Excellent read

[WillyT]

39. Damn kpete... Did A Search Before I Posted Mine... Must Have Missed This...

Sorry.



& Rec !!!

[kpete]

58. i

never mind dupes
the more the merrier
thanks for stopping by WillyT

and peace,
kp

[RickFromMN]

40. The government must actually go into default, the worst must happen, before things will get better.

The Republicans believe the Democrats will always roll over when default is threatened.

This is not a win-win situation. The Republicans think it's their way or no way.

The Democrats must not roll over.

The rich believe no fool would ever let the government go into default.
The rich believe they can support the Republicans, get all they want, with no downside.

Actually going into default will be the only way to call their bluff and stop this nonsense.

Don't tell me the consequences of going into default are terrible. I believe the consequences are terrible.
The consequences of rolling over, of giving into the Republicans, may be slower, but is just as terrible.

Forget about compromise. The Republicans made compromise a dirty word.

[Jack Rabbit]

42. K/R

Let the world hear it. Shout it from the rooftops.

[Initech]

43. The party of fear, lies and hate - and they showed all three last week with pride.

[alfredo]

44. knr

[Uncle Joe]

45. An excellent analysis by Kurt Eichenwald.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[MrMickeysMom]

46. Brutal is a good way to start straighten out a few things...

That was right on... A brutal take down like that piece should go viral.

I especially like the ability through that article to get that GM "order reprint" of when the last factory car rolled off that assembly line. All of Paul Ryan's lies go on... filthy, god-damned lies. Every single one of his lies need so called, "brutal" sunshine.

In my opinion, the written media isn't brutal enough to wake up people and get them to listen to how these liars wasted no second in taking advantage of every dumbed down, under-informed, and just plain ignorant person.

[Waiting For Everyman]

48. Odd, that in the comments afterwards, I saw none of the typical

denials from conservatives. No snark, no arguments, nothing. Not even name-calling.

Too many facts scared them away?

[NoMoreWarNow]

60. probably!

This one will likely get the complete "ignore" treatment.

[nuxvomica]

56. Most comprehensive indictment of the GOP I've seen in one place

Last edited Tue Sep 4, 2012, 10:29 AM - Edit history (1)

I've never seen every issue so clearly illuminated as it is here. It's definitely worth reading and forwarding.

[NoMoreWarNow]

59. great piece! If only we could make conservatives read it and understand it

but the people he refers to are too far down the rabbit hole.

[mountain grammy]

61. Excellent article!

Required reading before voting.

[gopiscrap]

63. This is an excellent article

and should be on every editorial newspaper page in the nation the final three days of the election season!!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

76. yep

[LittleGirl]

65. Happy to recommend and kick! eom

[CrispyQ]

70. I am voting against bigotry & in favor of sanity, this election.

It's that simple.

If the repubs win, the haters will believe that their hate & bigotry has been validated. The gloating will be unbearable, but worse than the gloating will be a sense of "we can do whatever we want now, the rest of you be damned."

Fuck that. Fuck it. ~insert bird smilie here

[Maineman]

71. I doubt that right wing billionaires like democracy. So what do you suppose their objective is?

[Peaceful Protester]

72. The GOP's Network of Ruthless Deception

Last edited Wed Sep 5, 2012, 05:23 AM - Edit history (3)

1) During the presidential campaign of 2008, Rupert Murdoch of News Corp / Fox News, had wanted Obama to kiss his ring, but Obama dragged his feet. Murdoch then assigned Rodger Ailes, the Fox News Chairman, the task of attacking Obama. When Obama finally met with Murdoch and Ailes, Obama said he didn’t want to waste his time talking to Ailes if Fox was just going to continue to abuse him and his wife, that Fox had relentlessly portrayed him as suspicious, foreign, fearsome -- just short of a terrorist. Ailes, unruffled, said it might not have been this way if Obama had more willingly come on the air instead of so often giving Fox the back of his hand. (More: WA Post)

2) On inauguration night 2009, Paul Ryan (R-WI) and several Republican Party members plotted to undermine President Obama. One can only assume this was simply a continuation of the Fox News' Republican re-election center's attack against Obama, resulting from the Republican Party's close-knit relation with Fox News.

3) Rupert Murdoch promotes the Tea Party on Fox News as wealthy contributors utilize the Citizens United ruling to funnel unlimited amounts of money to Tea Party members running for Congress.

4) Ginrich, Rove and Adelson view the RNC festivities from an exclusive skybox. (Source FSTV)

5) On Meet The Press, Gingrich confirms he attended an inauguration day meeting, but the questions go no further.

6) On Meet The Press, no one mentioned Paul Ryan (R-WI) -- Romney's VP pick -- participated in the secret meeting to plot against President Obama. No one even considers that Rupert Murdoch or Fox News may have been involved.

(NOTE: Youtube links below)

7) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) - (08 sec) finally officially announces the Republican Party's priority

"Our political priority, over the next two years, should be to deny President Obama a second term."

8) Scott Walker (R-WI) - (38 sec) tells a wealthy donor he wants to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin

"We're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employees, use Divide and Conquer."

9) Mike Turzai (R-PA) - (13 sec) is caught on tape as he confirms the GOP's election fraud strategy

"Voter ID, which is gonna allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done!"

10) Marco Rubio (R-FL) - (42 sec) gives an RNC speech complete with a very revealing Freudian slip

"We chose more government instead of more freedom."

[Sheepshank]

73. That 1st paragraph...is it too long for a signature line?

'cos I really like it.

[L0oniX]

75. Congressional war has been declared. No one cares about serving the people ...or passing anything...

worth while. Their only goal is to get rid of Obama ...and take full control. It's not democracy anymore.

[HughBeaumont]

78. K & R. An excerpt from the piece, if nothing else, all Republicans should read.

a. The glory of tax cuts: Should taxes be cut? Of course. Should taxes be raised? Of course. Should interest rates be raised or lowered? Of course. And I am not contradicting myself. Each of these answers is correct depending on the economic circumstances at the time. Now, this topic is both so important and so involved that I need to break it down into pieces:

1. The Reagan tax cut mythology, part 1: Reagan’s tax cuts did not trigger an economic boom. In 1981, Reagan was correct that taxes needed to be cut; the American economy was facing an unprecedented beast called “stagflation” – inflation (normally associated with a runaway economy) and high unemployment (normally associated with low inflation.) The Federal Reserve, under Chairman Paul Volker, needed to squelch inflation with a huge increase in interest rates, and did so (to see the horrors of this interest rate path, take a look at the historic rates for 20 year and 1 year Treasury bonds). One month before Reagan took office, the Prime Rate hit is all-time high of 21.5 percent. With the cost of money at the highest rates in history, economic activity had slowed to a near crawl. Outside of monetary policy, the other lever available to the government was fiscal; attempting to get more money in the hands of Americans — any Americans – was important to prevent the economy from falling off a cliff. Now, in the fantasy retelling of the Reagan years blathered out by modern Republicans with no knowledge or concern about economic history, the Reagan tax cuts passed in 1981, and the economy transformed into paradise. But that story is fiction. Instead, the tax cuts of 1981 went through – with carnival barkers like Arthur Laffer proclaiming that economic growth would rush in before the ink on the law was dry – and then precisely nothing happened. By 1982, the economy was in such bad shape that the GOP talking point was not “Reagan the magnificent,” it was the plea (a principled one) that Americans should “stay the course,’’ despite the fact that there had been no evidence of growth. In fact, the economy had grown significantly worse – beginning the first full quarter Reagan was in office through the 1982 election, the growth in Gross Domestic Product was negative 8.9 percent. (By way of comparison, for the comparable period in Obama’s term, GDP growth was positive 15 percent.) A few months after the 1982 election – in February 1983 – the Fed had finally cut the Prime Rate below 11 percent, less than half of what it was when Reagan took office. (PS – presidents don’t have any role in raising and lowering interest rates.) And, surprise! Economic growth returned. With the cost of money significantly cheaper, corporations and consumers unleashed a flurry of economic activity – by the end of the first half of 1983, GDP growth had reached positive 5.1 percent. By the 1984 elections, GDP had grown by just under 34 percent since January 1983. Now, did tax cuts help? Sure – they lessened the damaging impact of high interest rates and, when the economy turned around, they helped increase the amount of cash available for economic activity. But if interest rates hadn’t have fallen? Reagan would have been a one-term president and shuffled offstage by the GOP forever.

2. The Reagan tax cut mythology, part 2: One of the most revealing moments in the entire modern tax-cut debate occurred during Leslie Stahl’s interview of Eric Cantor, the House Majority Leader, on 60 Minutes. Actually, revealing isn’t the right word – terrifying is. Here was a man whose knowledge was critical in how this country would move forward, and he was woefully lacking. At one point, Stahl points out, despite Cantor’s protestations that Reagan never compromised, that Reagan in fact did raise taxes multiple times, with the biggest being in 1982 (before economic activity took off.) Cantor’s people were outraged by Stahl’s truthful recounting of history – outraged! ¬– because it contradicted their Fairy Tales version of the Reagan years. “That just isn’t true,’’ one of Cantor’s aides yelled from off-camera, “And I don’t want to let that stand.” Cantor did nothing to correct his loudmouthed – and wrong – aide. In 1981, Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act – the tax cut law that GOPers slobber over to this day. The following year, in the bit of history excised from the Republican mind, Reagan signed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA). While Americans still received tax cuts when aggregated with the prior year’s law, TEFRA constituted the largest tax increase in American history at that time. Why did Reagan do it? Because he wasn’t, contrary to some GOP revisionists, a blind ideologue. After the adoption of the 1981 tax cuts, government analyses showed that the impact on four-year average impact on federal revenues would negative 2.89 percent of GDP. (Remember the whole supply side scam, that tax cuts pay for themselves? Well, they don’t.) After TEFRA, the four-year average was positive 0.98 percent. You see, it seems that when you increase tax, tax revenues go up. Funny, that. But, because the tax cuts were cumulative negative, deficits went up. The first time in American history when deficits exceeded $100 billion was in 1982. The deficits stayed above that number until 1998, during the Clinton Administration. The first surplus came in 1999. (For those who don’t remember economic history under Clinton, he raised taxes in 1993, and – surprise again – higher tax rates increased federal revenue and allowed the government to reduce the amount of publicly held debt outstanding. Funny, that.)

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5. The Lucky Duckies who Pay No Taxes. The Wall Street Journal once wrote an editorial bemoaning the luck of the impoverished, since they don’t pay federal income taxes. At first, I thought it was a joke, and now it is a GOP talking point. They decry the lack of fairness to rich people, who are paying so, so much when others are getting a free ride. And this, as you might imagine, is utter bull. Here’s why: the Americans who are in the top 20 percent of income earners pay about 70 percent of federal taxes – but guess what? They also pull in about 60 percent of total pre-tax income, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In other words, they pay more in absolute dollars in income taxes because they have more income. The argument is akin to complaining that people living in mansions pay the majority of a town’s real estate taxes, while people renting apartments pay nothing. It’s both illogical and knowingly misleading. The statistics cited by the GOP speaks to income disparity not tax fairness. Now, there are 46 percent of Americans who pay no federal income taxes. The reason: they don’t make enough money. The income for twenty three percent of Americans is so low that, once they apply the personal deduction (which is taken by all taxpayers), their tax obligation goes to zero. This group includes the poor, the elderly, students, etc. The only way to bring in more cash from them, if it was possible, would be to cut the personal exemption (which the GOP would never do, because that would affect everyone) or dramatically increase taxes on low-income Americans. The other 23 percent who don’t pay taxes have enough income to pay after the personal exemption, but qualify for tax breaks that bring their bill to zero. This is seen at every income level – in fact, because of this, 1,470 millionaires paid no taxes in 2009. GOPers still moan that everyone should pay taxes by picking and choosing what they want to call a tax. Federal income taxes, in their lexicon, are the only ones that exist, ignoring payroll, state and local taxes. When actual tax burden – rather than bits and pieces of tax burden – are assessed, the bottom 20 percent of income earners pay 17 percent of the total tax bite, versus an effective rate of 30 percent for top earners. And guess what? Those numbers result in all the share of total taxes paid roughly matching the share of total income for each of the income groups.

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7. The GOP is the party of tax cuts: I was horrified by something I saw in Obama’s first State of the Union in 2010 (not the GOP congressman who yelled out “you lie!” which should have led to his being sanctioned by Congress.) Instead, it was a point in Obama’s speech when he mentioned that the stimulus had given the middle class the greatest tax cut in history. It’s true – it did. This was not something I figured would be controversial. The Democrats jumped out of their seats and applauded. The Republicans did nothing – no applause, nothing. That was the moment that really put me on a path of contempt for a party I had once supported: they didn’t care about tax cuts, only about tax cuts for the rich. I had long considered that something of a canard, but from what I witnessed, I no longer had any doubt that Republican economic philosophy had nothing to do with economics (which was why so much of it was illogical) but instead was about one thing: their constituents wanted money. That’s it. The Laffer Curve, the fictionalization of the Reagan years, job creators, lucky duckies – all of that was no accident. It was a means of obfuscating the truth so that the middle class would sit by as the wealthy looted the federal treasury. And my realization was only reinforced in the years that followed: GOPers ranted and raved about the need for tax cuts for “job creators” but when the time came for a renewal of a payroll tax cut – which helped the middle class enormously but did almost nothing for the rich – the GOP fought it. When Obama proposed allowing the Bush tax cuts for the middle class to be renewed, the GOP refused, instead taking the proposal hostage in an attempt to force through tax cuts for the rich.