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Cheap and plentiful: Re-powering America with Republican hot air
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Right Wing radio host Rush Limbaugh
There are two constants with regard to most Republicans: when they have power they’re incapable of handling it and when they don’t have power they’re incapable of dealing with it. While the GOP has always attracted more than its fair share of loony tunes, something about their staggering losses in the last election has conservative nut jobs coming out of the woodwork in droves. The sheer volume of hot air blowing from the Right, if harnessed, could spin wind turbines from coast to coast.
It’s been clear since the day President Obama was sworn in, that the now minority Republican Party is determined to undermine him at every turn. Rather than admit they got their clocks cleaned in the 2008 election, the GOP has instead taken up permanent residence on the island of Denial. You see, in their myopic view of things, Americans didn’t repudiate them at the polls. Republicans are convinced that they didn’t lose because of their abysmal stewardship of the economy, their outdated stand on social issues, the ham handed management of the war in Iraq or a myriad other major policy stumbles. They seem to think the rest of us are the crazies and the Obama victory was just a wacky glitch in Karl Rove’s master plan for a permanent Republican majority. Hence, “The Party of No Ideas” has morphed into “The Party of No.”
While Michael Steele might be the head of the party on paper, he’s really just an oddity. A bumbling figurehead who seems most comfortable planting his foot firmly in mouth. The real Grand Poobah of the GOP is talk radio windbag Rush Limbaugh. Every day he sits behind his golden microphone and works himself into an obesity-induced sweat while railing against the latest perceived affront to America from Barack Obama. His apparent love of illegally obtained Schedule 2 narcotics aside, Limbaugh is obsessed with tearing down the President. Now, most sane Americans see this pathetic doughboy for the joke he really is. Sadly, elected Republicans seem to hold the opposite view. In fact, time and again, when a GOP Senator or Representative makes a statement that ruffles Rush’s feathers, they are called out live on his show and, within 24 hours, issue a tepid public apology. As if looking at Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) smug face wasn’t bad enough, hearing him kowtow to Limbaugh is even more sickening.
Letting a half-crazed radio talk show host become the de facto leader of the GOP is certainly something that has raised many eyebrows, especially among increasingly marginalized Republican moderates. Worse still, Limbaugh now has a lil’ buddy. His new sidekick is former VP Dick “Darth Vader” Cheney. Yes, the same creepy geezer who spent so many years lurking in the shadows is now front and center on every radio and TV chat show that will book him. In fact, the guy won’t shut up. In an unprecedented attack on a sitting President by a high-ranking official from the previous administration, Cheney has issued a series of withering attacks on Obama. Most of what the former VP says is baseless, wholly irresponsible and shockingly destructive. Of course, that hasn’t stopped Rush Limbaugh from echoing Cheney’s words. Apparently that’s the stamp of approval needed so that the vitriol then becomes talking points for every discredited Republican from John McCain to Newt Gingrich.
The Republican Party establishment is currently doing little more than playing a dangerous game of political Russian roulette. If they think they’ll win elections by taking cues from a polarizing Right Wing radio personality or a former VP with approval ratings lower than a snake’s belly, they’re sadly mistaken. Of course, anyone with half a brain can see that the current GOP “strategy” is really just a recipe for disaster. Why the more moderate wing of the party sits on the sidelines in relative silence is beyond me. When one of the most intelligent Republican voices is that of Meghan McCain, something is definitely wrong. Not to slight her but, she shouldn’t be the only voice of reason coming from the Right.
I do believe strongly in a multi-party political system. I know this might horrify some of my fellow Liberals but, there are Republican principles that, when applied by rational people, result in sound public policy. Our Founding Fathers were absolutely correct in their insistence that checks and balances are a good thing. Unfortunately, right now the inmates are running the GOP asylum. Not only is this bad for a party already on the decline, it does little to improve the public discourse in a country that has some major problems to deal with. If you think heeding or ignoring the ill advised words of Limbaugh, Cheney, Rove, Gingrich, Cantor, Bachman, Palin, O’Reilly or Hannity is going to do anything positive for the greater good, then I ask you to reflect on the last eight years and the “head in the sand” mentality that got us into this situation in the first place. If that doesn’t shock you into action, nothing will.
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