I’m Not An Anarchist!

So for those of you who don’t spend your time following the little details of the political world, let me sum something up for you, politics is an annoying business. Practically no one makes a decision based on what is good for the country.

What brought on this rant? Well I recently read a story about the GOP opposing the Democrats’ financial reform bill. Basically the Dems are accusing the GOP to using talking points from a memo by a man named Frank Luntz. Luntz was Newt Gingrich’s main pollster and he still gets involved in many key debates. Basically Luntz attempts to come up with the best arguments against key bills. For the financial reform bill, Luntz recommends tying it to the bailouts because the American people are opposed to the bailouts. Now the Democrats are blowing away this argument because “Frank Luntz wrote it so it’s not valid.”

So here’s my problem with this story: I don’t see anything wrong here other than the parties themselves.  Why on earth is an argument not valid just because it comes from Luntz? An argument is an argument no matter who it comes from! If you want to say it’s not valid than give me a better reason than who wrote it! That’s like saying that the sky is not blue because Hitler said it was blue and Hitler is evil! Give me a GOOD reason, don’t just counter with an idea that a 3 year-old would come up with! (and my apologies to all the 3 year-olds out there for suggesting that you would come up with a refutation this stupid!)

As for the GOP, their reaction is even worse! Rather than sit down and logically and rationally defend their point, they go on to say that Luntz copied them! The GOP claims that they’ve been making a similar point since 2008 and therefore Frank Luntz doesn’t matter. While their attempt to show that they are capable of original talk is good, their defense displays yet another weakness. You know if an argument that you’ve been making for 2 years isn’t working, it’s probably time to MOVE ON! You’ve been making this argument for 2 years and no one’s convinced? Did it ever occur to you to try a new tactic? Maybe attack this bill for a different reason? Do you even remember why you’re opposed to it in the first place? I know there are people who can say the same thing over and over again but they don’t normally repeat themselves for 2 YEARS!

In the end it illustrates once again that most of the time, Congress doesn’t act for the good of the people, but for the good of themselves and their party.

GOP fundraisers are Fear-Mongering?

It’s funny that right after I wrote about stopping the attitude of fear in our country, leaked slides from an RNC fundraising presentation given to groups in Florida! Talk about timely eh?

For those of you who don’t know, the 72 page Powerpoint presentation was left in a hotel room where it was found and given to a reporter.The document presents the RNC’s fundraising pitch in simple terms. “What can you sell when you do not have the White House, the House, or the Senate…?” one slide asks. “Save the country from trending toward Socialism!” Other parts of the presentation encourage fundraisers to appeal to the “ego” of big money donors and play to the “fear” among smaller donors. One page, titled “The Evil Empire,” depicts the president as the Joker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as Cruella DeVille and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as Scooby Doo.

Right now the GOP is in damage control with everyone fighting to get as far away from these papers as possible. However right now there are a couple conclusions we can draw:

1. Looks like the GOP isn’t the party of no after all huh Obama? It’s the party of fear! Just kidding! In all seriousness this shows a real shift in strategy. Whether it works or not remains to be seen.

2. For all there talk of calming the extreme right, it looks like the GOP has realized that this year catering to the Tea Party movement is the only way they’ll win.

3. At the same time the GOP doesn’t want to lose the big business base it’s always had, so it’s attempting to be all things to all people.

4. Since this election is really the Republicans’ to lose rather than the Democrats to win, this could be huge. If all the moderate voters who were/are willing to vote Republican decide that they’d rather have the Democrats than a party that would stoop to such a low level.

Now of course is there a good reason for such tactics? Of course! If they hadn’t been discovered it may have been very effective. Have both parties tried similar tactics? Of course! However, I believe that “they do it too” is no excuse. Conduct yourself the way you think the other party should act, not the way they do act.

Is the Democratic Party Self-Destructing?

Thanks to Scott Brown, the political momentum of the US has changed drastically. Once thought to be a party that was down and soon to be out, the Republicans are now seriously attempting to obtain control of Congress. With this in mind, the Democrats are scrambling to regain the support that they had in 2008. Unfortunately for them, the result has been party fighting and disagreement. President Obama is taking the brunt of this unrest as many of his former supporters and party mates (is that what they’re called?) are opposing him Following is a short list of people who have problems with the President and the Democrats in general.

• Nancy Pelosi. Despite her somewhat gleeful appearance at the State of the Union address(body language experts say that much of her performance there was acting), she’s been opposing the president on many issues ever since. She’s stopped the President’s jobs bill, scolded him on health care, and even disagreed with his decision  to not  freeze  military spending.(Seriously? Even if you’re a pacifist, we are currently at war and freezing military spending is incredibly foolish) While it’s great that she’s showing her independence, most of her disagreements are coming at the worst possible time for Obama. His jobs bill was supposed to be a strong bipartisan act. Instead we see disagreements, especially among Democrats. With these Democrats being split between Pelosi and Obama, we may see a Pelosi vs Obama war of words in the near future.
• Unions. Labor unions are frustrated with the Democrats in general. A major supporter in 2008, the unions are now threatening to stay home in 2010.  They’re unhappy with Congress for getting nothing done. Add to this the fact that the Senate failed to confirm labor lawyer Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, and the likelihood of union support for Democrats becomes little more than a dream.
• Republicans. No surprise here! Still, despite Obama’s recent bipartisan push, the GOP is still finding problems with him. The most recent area is terrorism. Recently, the ranking GOP member of the Senate Intelligence Committee called for the ouster of President Barack Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan. The White House says this request is ridiculous and yet another issue becomes a battleground.
• Democrats, specifically progressives. Obama was asked directly whether bonus payouts to the CEOs of JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs were acceptable, Obama replied by praising both men as “savvy businessmen.” He went on to say, “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free- market system.” After these comments, Democrats were furious! The White House scrambled to contain the damage, but it was too late. Democrats called Obama “clueless” and said that he “doesn’t care, doesn’t understand, doesn’t get it. … It’s called flip-flopping.” In addition, many Democrats are concerned about Obama’s promise to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” His promise was a great move as it sent a strong signal to the Democrats’ demoralized progressive base that he’s still on their side. Unfortunately, many Democrats see this as little more than rhetoric as no plans have been made to push this plan.

With the Democratic party falling apart, the chance of a Republican takeover of Congress becomes more and more likely. Unless the Dems pull their act together, they could be seeing a lot more frustration in the future.

Democrats vs. Republicans: Super Bowl Edition

You know how people say that the two parties can’t agree on anything? Well looks like that holds true once again. According to a new survey, a majority of Democrats support the Saints, while most Republicans support the Colts. The funny part? The governors of both states are not only Republican, but are also possible Presidential candidates. Does this mean anything? Not really, no. Still maybe it’s one more sign that bipartisanship in any area really is close to impossible.