Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (618976)	7/12/2011 11:01:42 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580691

Predictions that didn’t turn out well Shortly after the midterm elections, the New York Times’ David Brooks insisted that Republicans were feeling “modest and cautious.” They’re “sober,” Brooks said, adding that the GOP wouldn’t “overreach.” Republican leaders, Brooks assured readers, were “prepared to take what they can get, even if it’s not always what they would like.” The same week, Slate’s Jacob Weisberg made a similar prediction, arguing that GOP leaders “will feint right while legislating closer to the center.” Republicans would realize, Weisberg argued, “they’re being handed a gift, not a mandate.” These GOP officials “don’t think working with Democrats is evil. On the big picture tax and budget issues, they plan compromise with President Obama.” I suggested at the time that Brooks and Weisberg were very wrong. A half-year later, it’s probably fair to say I got this one right. And so did Dana Milbank. While Brooks and Weisberg were predicting Republican sanity and maturity, Milbank argued at the time that there’s no one left in the Republican Party “with the clout to tell Tea Party-inspired backbenchers when it’s time to put down the grenades and negotiate. Rather, there are weak leaders who, frightened by the Tea Party radicals, have become unquestioning followers of a radical approach.” Today, Milbank is still correct in his assessment of the GOP, this time in the context of the debt-reduction talks. The gulf is about policy: the policy of his Tea Party backbenchers not to compromise on anything. This has put Boehner, a dealmaker, in the impossible position of leading a House Republican caucus that is inherently ungovernable. I mention this, not to pick on Brooks and Weisberg, but because I get the sense much of the media establishment has trouble wrapping its head around the radicalism of the Republican Party. Milbank has approached this with his eyes open, but he doesn’t seem to have a lot of company. For the establishment, the GOP is still a governing party. Republicans aren’t crazy, the thinking goes, they’re just conservative. It’s why Brooks predicted GOP leaders would “take what they can get, even if it’s not always what they would like,” and why Weisberg felt confident expecting to see the GOP willing to “compromise.” It’s also drives the “both sides are to blame for everything” reflex. It’s easy for predictions like these to look foolish eight months later, but the point is, the predictions never should have been made in the first place. Too many pundits have been too reluctant to admit what is plainly true: the radicalization of the Republican Party is changing American politics and policy for the worse.

To: i-node who wrote (618976)	7/12/2011 11:12:48 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580691

> we passed a law to promote energy efficiency. Is that really a responsibility of Congress? Why? Oh yes, very much so. I don't expect you to understand........after all, you all don't understand what governance is. When you have a net negative import bill of $50 billion which was the amount last month and $30 billion of that was due to importing oil, a national energy policy is desperately needed. The US's very economic life depends on it. But instead you all want to do is drive as many SUVs as possible, burn as many old fashioned incandescant bulbs you can get your hands on, cool your homes to 60º, etc.........burn as much oil as possible just because you want to. You're fukked up. Its why I have no respect left for wingers. You're like overgrown children who can't accept limits. You are not the American exceptionalism that made this country great........you are what's dragging us down. The behavior of your leaders in DC is not to be believed. I really want this country to break up because dealing with you is like dealing with spoiled children. And while I don't have kids, I have dealt with spoiled children and its no fun. Its work 24/7. This country has real serious problems and wingers are keeping us from dealing with them effectively. You don't want a national energy policy then man up and secede. Tell your leaders to draw up the documents and we will work together to dissolve the Union in the best way possible. Its enough. And if you think I am a lone voice, think again. There are people talking much worse.......much, much worse.