What “fiscal principles”? Oh yeah, the ones that say that tax revenue belongs in the pockets of the rich and powerful, and should never be used to help the poor and middle-class.

Right. Those feudalist fiscal principles.

Rep. Joseph Cao of LA-02 was the only Republican to vote for HR3962. I would imagine that Michael Steele is going to “come after him”, huh? For what it’s worth, I sent Mr. Cao a thank you email.

I read this morning that Boehner once titled a memo, “The Future is Cao.” While last night probably wasn’t what he had in mind, we can only hope he was right.

Campaign theme for 2010 — apparently the Republicans didn’t get it in 2008, vote more [better] Dems.

I don’t have any problem with what Steele said. A political party should stand for something, not just exist to win elections. When it doesn’t, the results are things like the Stupak amendment. Anyone who wants to make the case that the Democratic party is better because it includes the idiots who voted for that is free to do so. My feeling is that if all the districts they represent were represented instead by Republicans, we’d be better off. Then we could get liberal Democrats to run in primaries against them with the support of the national Democratic party. Now we have the worst of both worlds: Democrats who vote like Republicans and have the party behind them.

(Sorry about the slashes before the apostrophes. I don’t know where they came from or how to get rid of them.)

Oddball/ringleader Michael Steele is easier to understand when you know who’s coaching him:

http://bit.ly/ozqT6

(satire)

Those slashes just show up in preview, I’ve found.

You make the perfect argument against Collin Peterson, who too often votes exactly like his Republican predecessor. More interested in playin’ his gee-tar, I guess.

Are there more than one Michael Steeles or is he schizophrenic?

Steele’s guiding principle is which ever way Rush Windbag is blowing.

Go for it Michael, go after all that ideological impurity in your party of idiots and fools. Then you’ll see how well your 21st century form of Mc Carthyism works out.

About as well as the 1950′s version. And now I know where Star Trek got the inspiration for the Borg Collective—from the GOP.

If he isn’t schizo yet he soon will be.

I fail to see the problem with republicans driving what they consider RINOs out of their party. Its another area where they are ahead of the vichy dems. And how does it differ from progressive blogs, Act Blue, and the netroots threatening to “primary” non-conforming democrats?

This morning we could use 64 less DINOs in the Democratic party. I hope they are all run out of office after 2010 – the seats might as well be republican.

There is no point whatsoever in having a Democratic party that can’t deliver Democratic values, like the government assisting poor women in exercising their Constitutional rights and inalienable right of dominion over themselves. The rest is all mental masturbation and playing power games, i.e., its all bullshit.

The problem is, Steele’s quote implies that the people in charge of the Republican Party today embody real American principles and ideologies… and they don’t. Hypertribalism, authoritarianism and cultish behavior are not ideologies; they are methodologies to establishing and maintaining power structures.

What Republican principles are embodied in the Right’s endless demagoguery of every issue? What ideology promotes ruthless character assassination and accusations that Pelosi and Obama want to “destroy America”?

Principles of ecomonics, law or legislation are not at play here. The Teabaggers and 9/12-ers aren’t motivated by Friedmanism or trickle-down economics. They’re being whipped by hatemongers into empty tribalist fervors, just like Hutus, Germans or Serbs.

People like Steele are political opportunists using old tools for their own short-term selfish purposes.

No, Mr Steele. We’re coming after you and your minions. You want to help us by running your nutjobs, knock yerself out.

Well done, Cynthia. How low can they go in terms of popularity and still win elections?

Truthfully, we need major vote-building activity to turn out our voters to elect either better Dems or whatever else can kick the Rs to the curb. Because if we are not able to get voters to turn out next year, and the job situation is not much improved (if not worse) we are really going to see a House (and Senate) fire. It will not be pretty.

I hereby christen him Dumb MC.

You really don’t see any difference in the details of the actual instances? I mean, it’s easy to conflate the two sets of circumstances by sufficiently abstracting them, but voting consistently anti-Democrat over a period of years, and permanent-campaign litmus-tests and demagoguery being used against you, *are* two different things.

The Republican Party is in the thrall of extremist hypertribalists. There’s no arguing it. Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment off the table when she became Majority Leader and she was good to her word, and yet she is still ruthlessly attacked in every personal way possible as a Socialist wild-eyed “UNAMERICAN” maniac out to destroy (with Obama’s help) the country. Every time Obama calls for bipartisan comity, the right responds with accusations of racism and demands for his birth certificate.

Of course the Democratic Party is also broken. What so many on the right are incapable of grasping is that we on the left are not hypertribalists. We don’t have a reflexive need to defend our in-group. I have no problem rationally analyzing the problems with both parties.

You shouldn’t relate to your political affiliation like it’s a fucking frat.

There was a time — at least down to the late 1960s — when the core of the Republican Party consisted of white professionals, doctors, lawyers, university professors (incredibly) who were the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Lincoln’s grand old party. One still comes across them from time to time, people who are engaged in their community, but vote Republican because that is where their parents were, and they entered local party activity through that route. They couldn’t stand FDR, who they were taught to believe had sold the country out to the labour unions and had ruined the public finances to boot.

There isn’t much of that party left anymore. The public-spirited side of the Republican Party has been entirely marginalized on the one side by the Liberatarians (‘greed is good’), and the (mainly southern) racists on the other. There’s no place for them to go except the right end of the Dems. It’s very sad.

We don’t have a reflexive need to defend our in-group.
Oh, really? Might be a bit of a gross generalization.

To answer Cynthia’s question, I’m not going to lay back and enjoy it!

Does the new HCR improve access to mental health professionals. There is going to be a lot of rethugs needing it.

More and better Dems has always been the mantra of Progressives and it has never really worked. One of the reasons may be that once within the authoritarian structure of strict Parliamentarian rules, our Progressives fall prey to capture. Donna Edwards serves as one of the latest examples.

Bad government, -and we have a pretty corrupt government-, relies on the duopoly to keep the ideologically divided population at each other’s throats, even though the government’s excesses are the source of popular discontent, and within a saner world would see the people united against it.

Today, Wall street and the government are destroying the fabric of democracy, and only some right wing ‘nuts’ (Rick Santelli) seem to notice.
The enemy of the people is our government colluding with our parasitic Financial industry towards an end of permanent debt servitude!

If we join with the popular indignation on the right on a very specific set of issues (the enemy of my enemy is my friend) we might still be able to stop this Titanic collapse of America, – but we’re quickly running out of time.

So, first rule: identify the real enemy!

good…after last night..let ‘em cook.

ALso in response ro Pluege.

My point was that the crazies like palin don’t actually repsresent the traditional GOP pronciples. So, if you want to througfh all the traditional Republicans out of hte Republican party, well…..?

Further, by adopting the false premise that Olympia Snow, Pete Sessions etc, are moderates or Dems in the GOP clothing we concede they they represent the “MIDDLE”.

They do not. They represent the maistream of the GOP, not the Palinites and Rush brainwashies.

If you allow the false meme that mainstream Republicans are somehow to the left of the bulk of their party, you MOVE THE CENTER TO THE RIGHT.

Moving the center to the right allows the Blue Dogs to claim that they are to the center. This is not true. Traditional Republicans are at the center of their own party, which makes the to the right of the true center in American politcs.

AM I being at all clear?

When I was growing up lo those many years ago, I figured that a “moderate” Democrat roughly equated to a “liberal” Republican and a “conservative” Democrat was roughly equal to a “moderate” Republican with the Liberal Dem out on the left and the Conservative Rep out on the right.

Those standards are long in the past I’m afraid.