Myths from the other side

Obama is a Muslim.

Things were sort of bad during the Bush years but Obama exploded the debt even though there were other options (there was only one alternative, letting banks and major companies fail but no wants that..).

GOP was force-fed all the legislation without any opportunity to compromise or even discuss. This of course assumes that all objections were valid and sincere for the middle class, and not backed by corporate and special interest funding.

 

Honestly, a lot of this crap has been going on for many years, which doesn't, of course, excuse it. It also doesn't excuse the utter inability of my Democratic Party to respond effectively in kind. They should reply effectively in kind. In fact, they should do it back with interest.

 

Anything that's ever been in a Republican chain e-mail.

I know people who primarily get their political info from these e-mails.

 

Arizona's immigration law is discriminatory.

 

What? But he goes... you're supposed to... but they...

Ahh, **** it, not worth it. I can't argue with as Islamic extremist such as yourself.

 

Let's start some, in a serious way. And if it's also fun, fine. The ones I start here all have a shred of truth but then go hyperbolic (which is very hard to do with today's tea-stained GOP.)

All of the following go to the single undeniable truth: they are aligning themselves against the Greatest Generation and our strongest era.

1. Boehner and pals will talk folksy but live swanky. Their allegiance is firmly to the most wealthy and their tax talk proves it. That fake tan and crocodile tears -- all sheeps' clothing, folks.

2. To pay for their latest tax cuts for their wealthy friends, they are going to gut education in America like never before. Bigger classes, no student loans, far fewer kids going to college. They know this and think it's just fine. For-profit education is their plan, from K-12 on into weak "colleges". Most Americans will be left ordering their education from the value menu, with no chance to pull themselves up or pursue their dreams.

3. Along with cutting education, this crowd aims to gut science and technology in America. When we should compete with China and India with all our intelligence, they want to give up. Wave the white labcoat, and throw it in the trash so we can all work part-time at McDonald's instead. Watch the proposed science budgets (seriously do.) Meanwhile, places like Indonesia, a muslim country, come in and offer huge salaries to our top scientists.

4. They are fundamentally the party of "me first" and want to remove safety nets everywhere they can find them. Don't help your neighbor. Don't pick anyone up who has fallen. Don't take a sick person to the doctor. Don't stand together. Don't work together. You're on your own. GOP stands for "Good luck Out there, People."

All of these policies, earlier in our history, led us into devastation. By the time WWII ended, America had pulled itself out of this selfish un-Christian pit, and the Greatest Generation led us to a true peak in our history. The time that many conservatives would like to regain, the 1950's, had exactly the opposite policies of the four above.

 

no kidding. i'm so tempted to email back the snopes link, but i don't want to start anything.

 

That's what I do, every damn time. Maybe someone will open their eyes a little.

 

on topic:

 

Y'all keep smoking that Hopium.

 

Great stuff, so I'll toss in a couple of more in the same vein.

1. The explosion of education, knowledge, and generated wealth during the 1950's came in large part from the G.I. Bill, one of the largest and most successful social programs in the history of this country. It was also supported by Republicans in Congress, who helped write it. Similar, if not as extensive, G.I. Bills benefited veterans of Korea and Vietnam. When an effort to have a G.I. Bill for veterans of the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq was proposed by Democrats, it was fought by President George W. Bush and, of all people, Senator John McCain. I'll let Time Magazine explain:

By 1956, when the initial program ended, close to half the nation's 16 million veterans had either gone to college or received job training. A generation flourished. The current situation presents far more difficult choices. With the U.S. military stretched thin, President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain--a veteran's veteran if ever there was one--oppose the latest version of the GI Bill over fears that its educational opportunities will reduce the number of soldiers re-enlisting for further tours of duty. But supporters of the new bill point out that duty runs both ways. As Webb puts it, "This is about taking care of the people who have taken care of us."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1810309,00.html

The above is as clear an example of how the current Republican Party has broken with the GOP of the past as one could hope to find, and of their love of saying one thing ( supporting our veterans and their families) while doing something entirely different, like supporting our veterans and their families.

2. Another example of the perfidity of today's GOP in comparison to that of the past is the insistance on cutting taxes during a time of war. In this case, a time of two major conflicts. This led to enormous budget deficits, and more talking out of both sides of their mouths. They claimed, and claim, to be the party of fiscal responsibilty, but the policies under a two term Republican President, who had control of Congress during much of his time in office, were actually periods of enormous growth in the size of government, rampant deficits and, as is pointed out above, a dearth of money needed to fund things like increased benefits for service men and women in our volunteer armed forces, forces under enormous strain due to their reduced size, a problem Democrats attempted to address by expanding the number of personnel. A problem a Republican President and Republican Congress opposed.

 

I'm honestly all out of hope, Billy Paultz. The country rejects hope for huge doses of denial, masochism, and (there's no nice way to put it) stupidity. You can chant "take our country back! USA USA!" But you're only taking it back to 1920 and down the rankings of nations.

In my freshman physics class, the top 10 students are all from China. They had two years of calculus in high school. They aren't even science majors. "We like this class, because it is straightforward and easy to get an A." Fuhgetaboutit. Unless we turn on a dime and decide that smart is okay, we're on our way out.

 

When I was college in the late 80s, I was told how the Europeans and Japanese would bury us. How did that work out? Now it's the Chinese. Second verse same as the first.

 

I hope you guys keep using that playbook in 2012.

 

Unsurprisingly, that's all you've got.

 

Basically you are calling the voters stupid. If that's your strategy going forward, then by all means go for it.