The ANTIs

 
And oh how the mighty have fallen, as Lincoln's Grand Old Party ain't looking so grand lately, its leaderless power vacuum apparently now being filled by that insufferable ogre, Rush Limbaugh. "I WANT the new president to fail," he told listeners on his show recently. Hear it again in case you missed it: he wishes the administration to go down in flames. Did that sink in properly? As you struggle to pay your mortgage, if you haven't already foreclosed, or as you pump down the heat to save a fistful of bucks, or stretch that loaf of bread you've had frozen for a couple of weeks now. Why, not too long ago under the leadership of another administration, those words constituted near treason; they were un-American...perhaps even "terroristspeak."

What disgusts me to no end at a time like this is the GOP partisan bickering and refusal to support the new stimulus package which passed the House a few days ago. Are Republicans that out of touch with reality that in their delusionary state they honestly believe we need more tax cuts for the rich and corporations? The very things that got us to this deplorable state?

"I WANT the new president to fail..."

Maybe the Republicans don’t think there is an emergency. Remember now, it was Phil Gramm, John McCain’s economic guru, who told us last summer that the pain was all in our heads, that this was a “mental recession.” And so the 20,000 jobs Caterpillar has announced it's eliminating, the 8,000 cut by Sprint Nextel, and 7,000 axed by Home Depot, all within the last two days...all of this is in our heads.

The Republican answer? Tax Cuts! Jesus, these people need to be committed. It's infuriating to stand by and listen to this decades-old rhetoric, which has somehow brainwashed reasonable Americans into thinking that as of Tuesday this country is being led into the realm of Communism. Are you kidding me? Wake up! You're getting ready to be evicted and you're worried about two gay men marrying. Or from out of the suspended unknown that is space-time continuum, through a hidden wormhole, some colonialist redcoat will materialize, break down your front door, and take away your beloved guns.

If anything, the stimulus package is not large enough. But the GOP won't stand to hear it. It's complaining that Republican members are being pressured into accepting the deal. Pressured! Imagine that, actually holding politicians accountable for making a ballsy decision without pussyfooting around and working backroom deals with influential businesses back home.

Imagine a political system in which decisions are being taken without consulting with parasitic lobbyists and hangers-on offering comp-ed packages of all-inclusives in the Caymans.

The GOP has become the party of Anti. Anti-abortion, Anti-immigration, Anti-gay marriage, Anti-union, Anti-anything that the rational mind of a hard working American can fathom to do in order to help himself and his fellow human being.

This is the party that preached fiscal discipline and then cut taxes in time of an un-ending war with a phantom enemy. This is the party that still wants to decimate Social Security and Medicare. This is a party that, given a choice between Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, would choose Ronald Reagan in a heartbeat.