GOP Setting The Stage For A Truly Radical President Like Santorum, Rubio, Rand Paul et al.

[TheMastersNemesis]

The GOP is intent on setting the stage for an ultra extremist who cannot lose to even the best Democrat. And the Kochs and their ilk are prepared to spend even $10 billion or more to get one installed.

We thought that Reagan could not win. We saw Bush appointed. And we dodged the bullet with 2 Obama win, but we have not been able to advance much beyond the 20 yard line metaphorically.

Unions are still eroding, women's rights are still being eroded in just about every state in the union, and workers are essentially worse off every day.

Like slow flowing lava the direction of this country has not substantially changed and we are still slowing sinking because the GOP still has enough power to crush things.

Don't kid yourself, the GOP is engineering a coup no different than if Bin Laden had a large enough force to wreck the country himself. Bin Laden is gone but he was not the enemy. The GOP was.

I believe that too many Democrats and Du'ers are denying how brutal, cruel and bloodletting the GOP will be if they get real power and have the same set up that occurred under Bush with all three branches of government.

I have been criticized for comparing the GOP to the likes of Pol Pot. I still stand behind that belief.

[aquart]

1. Did someone tell you democracy was easy?

Because nothing here is new news.

Except that you fail to include the extreme cynicism of the right. Much of what they propose is solely election posturing because they know it will be blocked.

BTW, how well did all that Koch cash do last time?

PS: You also utterly forgot the delights of the GOP primaries. I hope ALL those guys run.

[TheMastersNemesis]

5. I Agree All The Koch Cash Did Not Do Well ---

All it did was make them double down on their efforts. The fact that so many state legislatures went strongly GOP is appalling really.
Their strategy is to infiltrate as many states as possible and put in GOP policies. They can succeed with this new plan and it is far along.

What they are doing is a lot like disease in that they are undermining institutions and laws incrementally. Even though things look good on the surface there is erosion on many fronts. Perhaps things will be blocked. And where some things were blocked there still has not been movement forward on fronts like the labor front or the war on women.

I hope you are right, but I am not hedging my bets. And the reason I am not hedging my bets is what I have seen in the 30 years erosion of labor and employment since Ronald Reagan. From my DOL perspective the employment market has been terribly damaged and is practically on life support compared to where it was 32 years ago.

What has happened is very complex and profound. And it is not easy for the average person to really see what is going on. Middle class income is on the verge of total collapse because the job market as now designed will NOT create enough life sustaining jobs that will allow for retirement in the future for 80% of the work force.

[loyalsister]

10. "Their strategy is to infiltrate as many states as possible"

Nothing new there. A voter photo ID law was passed in 2006. Fortunately, it was overturned by the court. Another experiment in 2003 was the elimination of "optional" services in Medicaid. I think that has been tried elsewhere, too. Both took place when we had a republican General Assembly and governor.

[RKP5637]

2. Well said! The GOP will back the worst of the worst. The GOP would install a dictatorial tyrant if

advantageous. ... problem is, too many Americans are still asleep at the wheel, they don't get they're being played as fools by the GOP. They don't seem to get the wealth of these people so far surpasses their position in life so much, that they just can't comprehend it ... so, the good loyal republicans go out and vote GOP, installing those who will disadvantage them the most.

[donco]

3. Looks to me

like their setting the stage for a low level coup.

[orbitgirl]

4. I agree

That's the truth! Time to wake up to the GOP deceptions.

[davidn3600]

6. If Santorum becomes president...

...I may very well have to move.

[RKP5637]

9. Santorum would move this country clearly into a theocratic dystopia and a

place to get the hell out of if one could. Too many Americans IMO still don't get it that counties fall apart ... and that could happen to the US under certain regimes.

[freshwest]

7. Agreed.

[cali]

8. bullshit. Rand Paul cannot get elected- or Santorum

Rubio is a different story. Your OP is long on breathless hysteria and short on specifics. You make claims without providing any fucking links at all. 10 billion?

Your OP is garbage. but whatever. Hysterical shit is a fav here.

[catbyte]

12. I am not usually a nervous nelly, but Virginia scares the hell out of me. MI is next,

I just know it. Republicans are evil and un-American and will do anything to retain power.

[TheMastersNemesis]

13. I Hardly Think What I Am Saying Is Hysterical And Here Is Why

For one I never thought that I would ever see the kind of job market that exists today. If I could take you through how fundamentally the labor market has changed from what I experienced in 24 years in the bowels of DOL you might look at things differently.

I see and hear things now that I would have thought was totally demented when I was much younger. 80% of these candidates would have been committed in the 1950's and 1960's based on what they are saying now and doing now. In Roosevelt's era they would have been actually tarred and feathered if not arrested for treason and jailed.

We perhaps look it things from different lenses.

[onenote]

16. Arrested for treason and jailed: nice hyperbole.

Now go read the Constitution.

[TheMastersNemesis]

17. Hyperbole Perhaps Then Maybe Again

Treason is not new to the GOP. They have committed it at least a couple ot times. During the 1968 campaign President Johnson confronted Everett Dirksen Senator of Illinois about Nixon's campaign squashing a peace deal Johnson had in the bag so the GOP could defeat Humphrey. Johnson even called the GOP activity treason. It is on recently released audio tapes from the Johnson library.

Carter was ahead of Reagan by 10 points just before the 1980 election when the Reagan people made a deal with the Iranians to give them missiles for the hostages. The minute Reagan completed the oath the embassy hostages were released.

Both incidents are true and treason.

[onenote]

19. and what do those incidents have to do with what you are now suggesting is treason?

Nothing.

[Bandit]

22. If the GOP gets it way about changing the electoral college results they will lock up the Presidency

It appears to be very simple math.. Look at the districts that remain GOP in states that ultimately vote Democratic. Those state like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc all have gerry-mandered districts which guarantee Republican victories. If the electoral college is changed, which I am sure it will be, to disallow winner takes all then they will award electoral votes by district. If those states I mentioned had done this Romney would now be the President even though Obama got more than five million more votes. There is not a thing anyone can do about it as long as those states remain in Republican control.. Denying this or ignoring it isn't going to do a thing but create deep depression when it finally sinks in.

[Demo_Chris]

11. I am a pessimist, but...

Rand Paul isn't going anywhere near the White House. Nor is Santorum.

This is the last hurrah of the GOP and the Christian Right. That's all but done now, even with the gerrymandering issue. Even many in the GOP are not at all accepting of that level of crazy. Our enemy is the 1%. That's who we have to beat. And we have to avoid defeating ourselves.

We have to do something radical and new. It's going to be really freaking tough. But we have to actually PROPOSE and FIGHT FOR meaningful legislation that helps the people. We need to stop defending the bad legislation we have settled for in the past and propose something new.

We need to ditch Obamacare and fight for single payer. If we deliver that we will be in power for the next fity years.

We need to seriously address free trade and bring the jobs back home.

We need to end the wars. Just fucking end them. And end Patriot while we are at it. If terrorists really cared about blowing things up here on a regular basis they already would be doing it. Every now and them one will slip through, but that's life. We have to stop living in terror.

We need to fight for a real ground floor safety net, one that covers everyone at a decent living level, and forget this nonsense about forcing people to find jobs that no longer exist. There are not enough jobs for everyone and there never will be. We can either leave these people to starve or we can take care of them. That's reality. And if it offers some incentive remember this: if someone is going to be forced to starve, the elderly are getting the axe first. It's not like they have allies among young people.

We need to stop with the silly stuff. Stop wasting time on non-starters like gun-control. It's not going to happen in any meaningful way, and while guns are scary to you they just aren't to most. And young people in particular just don't care all that much.

[catbyte]

14. "While guns are scary to you..." WTH? 75% of Americans support some gun laws.

Especially universal background checks. Do you also think someone has the right to yell, "FIRE!" In a crowded theater?

[Demo_Chris]

25. Yeah, I support some gun laws as well, but that has nothing to do with my post

I have not expressed a personal opinion on gun control. I have, a few times, expressed a practical opinion. That is: we are wasting our time and political capital chasing a phantom.

The anti-gun folks here would like to see some meaningful legislation. Anything less that significant gun bans and confiscation does nothing. And that is not going to happen. It cannot happen until the constitution is changed, and that won't happen. I would far prefer we devote our energy to issues that we can actually SOLVE, things that don't require a constitutional convention, issues that won't result in carnage on a scale our nation has not seen in a century.

[catbyte]

27. You implied that those of us who support gun control are scared of guns

My dad had me target shooting when I was 7, so don't give me that scared crap. There are limits to everything except, apparently, guns and that is hideous.

[TheMastersNemesis]

15. I Truly Hope You Are Correct. And I Hope Their Plan Blows Up In Their Face.

All that red could turn blue.

[RandiFan1290]

18. I'm sure they will give the Dems a chance

We will get deals and grand bargains too!

[FSogol]

21. No, they are setting up for a hilarious primary season where their wingnuts

all try to outdo themselves before nominating some unelectable milquetoast candidate.

Stock up on popcorn, DU.

[Enrique]

23. the GOP establishment chose Mitt Romney

in the wake of all the Tea Party hysteria, the GOP establishment chose the guy that invented Obamacare. They could have gone with Santorum, but they went with Mitt.

the Freepers at one time had banned any Mitt supporters, but the GOP establishment shoved him down their throats.

[randome]

30. There is no defined GOP 'establishment'. They are rudderless.

After Palin and then Romney, after Rove's failures, how can we not see the truth: no one is in charge of the GOP.

[libtodeath]

24. The total revulsion any of those will cause outside the crazy base would gurantee

a democratic landslide.

[graham4anything]

26. Hillary45. She will defeat jeb Bush. The rest is just filler

[Dawson Leery]

28. The GOP will use this scheme to install anyone of their candidates.

Though for the hardline base, Christie and Huntsman will not do. We are in agreement that they will attempt a soft coup to install a hardliner such as Rick Santorum or Rick Perry.

[Initech]

29. Far right extremists are the same no matter where you go.

The GOP has done far more damage to this county than alQaeda could ever dream of!

[regjoe]

31. If you were a right winger

you would be the kind promoting the Sandy Hook conspiracy BS.

[Bucky]

32. But they're all such unique flavors of crazy. Those factions still need to fight it out for the Nom

Rubio's a Wall Street tool, Paul an ideological anti-government Randist, and Santorum a scary theocratic monocrat. So the factions of the Republicans who prefer to use the state to destroy the middle class, to use the state to destroy people's private lives, and to use the state to destroy the state, will all have to duke it out first.