Chris Matthews: GOP using 'Cold War CIA tactics' to bring down U.S. government

[meegbear]

MSNBC host Chris Matthews tore into the Republican Party on his show Tuesday night, comparing their anti-government attitude to CIA-led coups during the Cold War.

"If they didn’t like a government somewhere — Guatemala, Iran, the Dominican Republic, Chile — they just brought it down," he said. "Guess what, Republicans are now using the same tactic here at home. If they don’t like who we’ve elected president, they find some way to undermine the government, discredit its leaders, whatever it takes to destroy it."

"We are using in this country the same old Cold War CIA tactics to destabilize our own country," Matthews continued. "Look at the impact of the constant threats to shut down the government on public confidence. It’s all in the ratings. It’s making people forever nervous about the basic ability of America to even have a running government. Is that patriotic? I don’t think so."

The liberal MSNBC host alleged that while President Barack Obama was attempting to keep the government running, Republicans were hoping to gain political points by refusing to compromise and crash the government.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/19/chris-matthews-gop-using-cold-war-cia-tactics-to-bring-down-u-s-government/

You can see the video by clicking the link above.

[BeyondGeography]

1. Like the analogy

A good moment for Tweety. Obama could do worse than questioning their patriotism along these lines.

[badtoworse]

2. Anyone who wasn't prepared to live with sequestration, should not have voted for it.

[Volaris]

8. I agree. In the short term, this will hurt A LOT, and will hurt a lot of people,

but it might be that some long-term good will come out of it. The defense budget gets the reduction it deserves, (although, maybe not the one it actually NEEDS, and I'll be the first to acknowledge that), and after its done, and Congress generally and the GOP SPECIFICALLY can rightly carry the blame, maybe We The People will get to have a Congress that actually listens to what WE think money should get spent on, instead of the Corporate Overlords.

Yes, it will hurt. But I'm willing to suffer a little to get the Government I think I DESERVE, after putting up with 30-plus years of NeoCON idiocy.

Others are welcome to share their opinions/positions.

[arendt]

3. I diaried this on DKos, last September

The parallels are all there. Matthews is a little late to the party, but then again, he is a TV celeb and I am a mere leftie blogger.

The Party of Secrecy, Sabotage, and Sedition

The more I examine the goals and tactics of the GOP, the more they resemble an old-fashioned banana/oil republic coup. You know, the kind the CIA pulled against Guatemala, Iran, and Chile...

Those coups are always about a super-rich elite that can't stand a democracy which curbs their absolute power over a country. Their agitation is not bound by scruple, morality, or law. They will make secret deals with foreign intelligence agencies. They will sabotage their own economy. They, and their cronies in the legitimate government, will commit seditious acts against a legitimate government that they perceive is illegitimate.

All of the above is going on in America today - its just that the time scale is so stretched out, compared to a banana republic coup, that many people do not notice. This bankster-led coup is the final revenge against FDR for curbing the absolute power of Guilded Age plutocracy. (Yes, those people have not stopped hating FDR after 80 years - but this is not surprising; we still hate Cuba after 50 years.) I will never forget Pat Buchanan ranting in 1992 that it was "time to end this Long Parliament" of Democrats. These people never, ever forgive. It has taken them 40 years to destroy what it took FDR and his successors 40 years to create.

<much more at link>

[IDemo]

14. My cartoon on the repubs and FDR ->

[newfie11]

4. Go tweety

He is telling it like it is.

[Octafish]

5. Worked in Iran, Guatemala, Italy...

...and a whole lot many places more around the world.

Thank you, meegbear. Great to hear some truth still manages to slip out on television.

[ProfessionalLeftist]

6. That sounds exactly like what they're doing. n/t

[Botany]

7. Egg zac lee

"they" run the debt through the roof w/2 wars that were not on the books, a medicare part D
unfunded drug plan, tax cuts for the wealthy, and then crashing the economy so Obama had to
use $$$ for a stimulus because capital was frozen and the economy was contracting but now every
couple of months "they" threaten to shut down government in order because they have to get the debt
under control and but in reality it is a way to try to hurt the President.

[malaise]

9. I've been saying this for years

About time the media expose these treasonous scumbags.

[Pakid]

10. My question is how do we fight back

Since it seem that far to many of the American people could care less what happen to anyone other than themselves ( I am not ever sure that they care what happens to them). I know one thing that would help if we had a good old fashion general strike against those who seek to destroys us for there own gain and we need to mob the Republican town hall meeting that would at least be a start, It will however take more than one or two of us doing it!

[JoePhilly]

11. Its why they tried to impeach Clinton over a BJ too.

If the GOP does not have total control of the government, they do everything they can to cripple it.

And when they have all the power, they use the government to enrich themselves and their top donors.

[G_j]

27. that was an end run attempt at a Coup d'Etat

I was never a big Clinton fan, but you can bet that sent me to his defense!

[JoePhilly]

32. Yup, exactly what it was.

[Coyotl]

12. They want all the minerals under the public lands and will work to destroy the country until then.

Make no mistake about it, there are forces at work who want the USA to break up like Russia because there is more money under the 50% of the USA that is public land than anywhere else in thew world! That's what Big Oil interests like the Koch Bros. are up to!

[mountain grammy]

28. Very interesting and makes sense. Never looked at it that way.

[Coyotl]

29. Consider minerals as assets in bank. Now inventory mineral rights sold for how much

and to whom when. Now look at the bottom line of the to whoms and their political contributions to whoms. There were some gig give-aways in legislation, practically giving the bank away to the rich.

[GiveMeFreedom]

39. Hope this makes sense

I just started rock hounding. They are beautiful. Met an old time rock collector and he told me something I never thought off. He said "Everything we need to live comes from only one place, the earth. That's why people spend a lot of time looking for rare minerals, oil, etc., somethings are getting harder to find. Whoever finds or owns the most, would be rich indeed"

[Blue_In_AK]

34. Exactly right.

They are salivating for Alaska.

[mountain grammy]

42. It's the idea of the US breaking up like Russia that and how that kind of upheaval

would benefit the Koch brothers. They do enjoy local power, but it's the federal government they prize the most.

[randr]

13. This may be true but

Wall Street has stopped sipping the Kool-Aid. Economic reports from the right are being ignored as Wall Street surges. Expect business as usual by the end of the year, jobs programs to rebuild infrastructure, and the end of the Republican strangle hold after the next election.
It is time for all of us to get a grip, adopt a positive attitude about our future, and ignore the nonsense we have been fed over the last few years.

[xtraxritical]

43. I remind you that the next election is close to two years away. What a drag.

[lonestarnot]

15. Yes and the fucking thing about this is, he's right.

[libodem]

16. Yes

If not that, it is similar to the ENRON'ing of California. Run up the debt and crash it for the spoils.

[FreeBC]

17. "The liberal MSNBC host"?

C'mon! Matthew was practically a conservative before the country changed around him.

[Richardo]

18. That jumped at me, too.

What a crock.

[WilliamPitt]

19. "The women love this war."

If you need a bellweather for how utterly beyond the pale this Republican convention was, look no further than the "mainstream" media. For a full generation now, the "news" has made it a policy to approach the demented, deadly policies of the GOP with an eye towards "balance," i.e. they treat both sides of the argument as if they have equal merit, when time after time that has proven to be demonstrably false. The garbage being peddled in Tampa, however, proved too much for even them, as evidenced by none other than Chris Matthews, who shredded RNC Chair Reince Priebus root and branch for the GOP's use of racism as a campaign tactic .

Chris Matthews is a weathervane, the perfect avatar of modern journalism. During the Bush years, he gave that administration long, luxurious backrubs when the political winds were blowing in their favor (remember "The women love this war!" and his "man-crush" on Bush? I do), but when those winds changed, he went with the flow to become an acerbic critic...many years too late to actually make a difference. When someone like Chris Matthews can summon enough outrage to - gasp - actually be a journalist on television, you know a Rubicon has been crossed.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/11324-the-week-of-living-dangerously

[hatrack]

20. Excuse me while I projectile-vomit

Unbelievable.

[caseymoz]

21. Glad somebody else noticed.

I've long thought that ever since George H. W. Bush called Dukakis a "card carrying member of the ACLU" that this country turned its Cold War tactics to domestic politics. It's an unfortunate matter of the chickens coming home to roost.

[CitizenPatriot]

22. what's happening with tweety these days?

He's late to the party but when he showed up, he brought game.

[bobclark86]

23. So...tactics like

Smuggling Stinger surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and financial support to anti-Obama guerrillas? They've invaded the government strongholds and cranked Def Leppard at the White House? They funded a British operation to turn the U.S. into an absolute monarchy under the Queen? They captured the University of Rochester Medical Center and found 248 pro-Obama construction workers and a bunch of Johns Hopkins med school dropouts?

Yes, because obstruction through legal channels is the same as forcibly taking over a government. (apparently a tag may be needed for some people)

Hyperbole doesn't suit the Democrats -- leave it to the Teatards and Fox News. I think Chris Matthews is a douche and I can't stand him like any other talking head on ANY network.

[G_j]

35. other efforts are always in play

such as, rumor/story planting, character
assassination and all sorts of devious clandestine avenues.

[The Wizard]

24. I'm shocked

shocked to learn Republicans would commit treason for what they believe is political gain. Reinhold Reince Priebus is a Nazi.

[The Wizard]

25. The Bush cartel

deliberately sacked the economy. They just expected the crash to come on a Democrat's watch, and let the Democrats take the blame. They've been beating that drum since Obama was elected. Their propaganda has possibly jumped the shark. The conventional media that they own loses viewers and listeners daily because of the Internet.
I don't know the numbers for Meet The Press, but more people are saying it's unwatchable.
Pox provides cover for the more subtle propaganda, but more and more people are rejecting the corporate gibberish spewed as news. People are realizing the truth and almost the truth should not get equal time. Republicans lie. It's in their DNA.

[Ian David]

26. Tweety isn't a "Liberal MSNBC host." n/t

[Stainless]

30. Send Federal Marshals into the Capitol

Arrest Boehner and McConnell for starters. Charge them with sedition for trying to bring the government down. Then go after McCain and Graham for their obstructionism. It's well past time that the American people show these raving lunatic Republican scum that we are sick and tired of living in fear. Why are we letting them get away with destroying the country we love? If we don't act now, we deserve whatever they have in store for us.

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

37. Well Said.....

I will second your motion.

[defacto7]

40. I whole heartedly agree...

But who are the "they" who will charge them? Who is going to arrest them? Yes, the American people should protest and vote and demonstrate but there are so many uneducated... no.. mis-educated people in this country, citizens, officers, politicians, media whipping boys (persons), business execs, etc... the battle has to be directed toward the source of misinformation before the changes can get into the minds of voters. "That" is a process that is deeply entrenched and will take.... a long time.

If we don't act now... it will be even longer. If we do act now... prepare to hunker in.

[OFFTHEWALL]

31. Making Things Difficult As An Tactic

I suspect that the politicians are using the bureaucracy to make getting things done in Medicaid, etc., much more difficult so that the uninformed voter would turn against as being inefficient. This seams to be happening in Florida and probably in other states also.

Here are parts of a letter I sent:

I am having trouble with no responses in getting Wheelchair Transport permission from Medicaid in Florida. I am in a wheelchair and sent the signed letter from my doctor that I need special care to Medicaid last year and was approved. This year at the corporation TMS sent me only a buss pass type of approval form with no provision or instructions to send them the doctors letter I can get again this year. This has caused me to miss one appointment at the Doctors Clinic already. There is one seldom used long city block that I would have to wheel myself through all kinds of inclement weather which my age (75) diminished disease resistance system would not allow me to do. Also the often one hour+ waits for the phone to be answered at the Medicaid offices and the stringent 72 hour (not 1 day more or less) wait requirement to register the appointment made, only to be informed that Wheelchair Transport is fully booked, sorry... You than have to make another doctors appointment again (sometimes months away) and wait to call again at exactly 72 hours in advance again. During serious and painful medical problems this is intolerable and dangerous to wait again so long.

See what they are doing. All this is met with silence and no responses after numerous letters have been sent to various politicians. It seems the state people are much less responsive than the federal ones. The state ones may be more confident in their positions.

[WCGreen]

33. Matthews a Liberal....

Don't think so, maybe slightly left of center...

Still, have at it Chris!

[King_Klonopin]

44. A CHAMELEON (cue the Boy George music now...)

[Scurrilous]

36. K & R

[GETPLANING]

38. Matthews has been reading Robert Parry

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/06/03/making-the-us-economy-scream/

http://consortiumnews.com/2011/11/06/the-gops-history-of-hostage-taking/

[RainDog]

41. k&r n/t

[RedCappedBandit]

45. Yep, plain to see.

These neoliberal corporatists don't for a second believe in democracy.