Obama's Speech and Jobs Plan Don't Go Far Enough

GOP Defector Spills the Beans

Mike Lofgren loyally served the GOP on Capitol Hill for 28 years. But no longer

Many people are buzzing about an article at truthout.org by one Mike Lofgren, a longtime Republican staff aide on Capitol Hill who just couldn’t take the crazy anymore, left his job, and produced this buzzy (and quite well-written) lamentation about his party’s tactics and goals. If you haven’t read it, you must. There was nothing in there that surprised me. I’ve been saying all these things for a long time (as have many others). What continues to dumbfound me is why Lofgren’s assertions are even controversial, because as long as they remain so, “neutral” observers who deny this reality bear some responsibility for the sad shape our politics is in.

• The debt-ceiling debate was an act of “political terrorism,” in which the GOP concocted a crisis and used it to ensure that the party's unprecedented demands were met. He writes: “Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care.”

• The August FAA reauthorization fight was another instance such of hostage-taking: “Republicans were willing to lay off 4,000 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees, 70,000 private construction workers, and let FAA safety inspectors work without pay, in fact, forcing them to pay for their own work-related travel—how prudent is that?—in order to strong arm some union-busting provisions into the FAA reauthorization.”

• The GOP plan to discredit government in the people’s eyes is very conscious: “A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.”

• As for belief as opposed to tactics, the party basically really cares only about the rich. Actually, Lofgren doesn’t say “basically.” He says “solely and exclusively.” And he explains how they’ve camouflaged this with talk of protecting small businesses and so on.

There is much, much more. He’s not very happy either about his party’s militarism, its cynical use of religion, its total opposition to doing anything about the environment, and other matters, but most especially its neo-Leninist posture in which political power trumps everything.

When Lofgren first started working on the Hill, in 1983, the House and Senate were still full of moderate Republicans—and even Reagan himself was a quisling by today’s standards.

vigilant rationalism of CO 6:56PM September 10, 2011

I am 68 years of age and still working.

I sent two children to college with out one dime from the goverment.

I have been unemployed and have never received a check for unemployment.

I have had two wrecks in my lifetime and both times the other party had no insurance.

I have never received a food stamp.

In fact, I never received any type of check from the state or federal government.

I must be one of those Lousy Ass Tea Party members.

Tom Farris of TX 7:23AM September 10, 2011

Now as a follow up, are the unions going to be hiring Brannon communications to help their image after they took hostages in Washington State? And by the way for all of your Tea Party rants, the only violence that ever happened at a Tea Party Rally was when some union thugs beat up a tea party member. By the way Obama didn’t get Bin Laden, he only allowed the Seals to do their job. What Obama could do in two years that it took Bush eight to do was double our debt. Concerning Obama’s constant tax the millionaires and billionaires; there are 8240 people in the US who make more than $10,000,000. If you taxed them all at $10,000,000 you would only bring in an extra $82,400,000,000 (eighty two billion, four hundred million) If you don’t believe me get a calculator, if you are a Democrat get a friend to do it for you. That is only about 10% of Obama waste of money stimulus. You can’t steal enough for the rich to cover this economic idiot’s spending.

Now, to redo a question I asked on a previous post, let’s say Brannon Communications is losing money because you are spending $1.40 for every dollar you are bringing in. You get your management together and there are two groups with differing opinions. One group want to raise the rates on your biggest customers, keep borrowing more money, spending on things that the company has no business spending money on (things like the $800,000+ to teach uncircumcised African men how to wash their penis as was mentioned in the last post). They tell you not to worry; they will steal money from people that don’t need it anyway. It won’t be enough to cover the spending, but not to worry you will have handed the company over to your children by then and you won’t have to worry about it.

The other group wants you to cut spending to what is really necessary, try to see what will make business grow, for example they tell you your rates are the 3rd highest in the industry. Lowering the rate will let you bring in new business (you know like how the US corporate tax rate is the 3rd highest in the industrialized world, and having lower rates would attract more business). They tell you that just picking the clients with the most money and raising their rates will actually cause you to lose their business, they will just go to other counties. (yes, I will agree by trying to fit it in with the way our government works the examples go back and forth, but you get the idea)

Which group do you listen to and which group do you think are the real idiots?

kewaal of GA 9:46PM September 09, 2011

1. Author says "The Texas governor called Social Security a Ponzi scheme" And "Perry wants to kill Social Security to reduce the deficit "

Quote Perry saying wants to KILL S/S! He did not. Not to my knowledge.

NEVER IN MY WILDEST DREAM DID I THINK I WOULD QUOTE AND PROVIDE VIDEO BY Chris Mattews:

"Are establishment liberals and the mainstream media finally, albeit painfully slowly, coming around to the common-sense fact that Social Security is an unsustainable fiction bankrupting our nation? While many liberals are still holding out, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, at least, has broken ranks from the Social Security Deniers. They say that just understanding that you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery. (h/t the DC)"

"Liberals seem to take umbrage with the term "Ponzi scheme" because it's "pejorative," "aggressive," and implies a criminal endeavor. But if you're admitting that the structure of Social Security operates in the same way as a Ponzi scheme, here's an exit question: Why is it legal for the federal government to coerce citizens into a massive-scale program that would make an ordinary individual a criminal? Is it because the government is made up of enlightened, all-knowing individuals with only the most noble of intentions? Hmmmm."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/erikajohnsen/2011/09/09/social_security_admitting_you_have_a_problem_is_the_first_step

2. Author says "I'm sure that many Americans will remember that Barack Obama was able to do something in less than two years that George Bush, the last Texas governor who ran for president, couldn't do in eight, which was to track down and kill the guy, Osama bin Laden, who killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11, 2001"

Because obama keep the structure Bush established (by the way, why do some stay on FBI top wanted list for long time ???). obama got BUMP in polls, now a poll says 2 to 1, obama HAS MAD WORSE the economy.

Remember Brad Bannon, "It's the economy STUPID".

Let me re-write your comment Brad Bannon:

obama created more debt in two years than Bush did in 8 years. That helped cause Nov. 2, 2010 and ALL THOSE BAD POLLS barry has.

Bin dead, is a old, old byline. Toss in trash...

Bill Hedges of MO 6:11PM September 09, 2011