March 28, 2010

An open letter to conservatives

No, not from me, but a damn good one from Russell King. He notes growing up in a Republican household, but now not even understanding the Republican party. That could be me too. He calls on the party to come back as well, and gives them a list of things that maybe they should avoid. A taste:
"You can't flip out -- and threaten impeachment - when Dems use a parliamentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that's centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.

You can't vote and scream against the stimulus package and then take credit for the good it's done in your own district (happily handing out enormous checks representing money that you voted against, is especially ugly) -- 114 of you (at last count) did just that -- and it's even worse when you secretly beg for more.
I think Krugman said the other day that our country does better with two responsible political parties. We don't have that right now.

Read the letter and click on a few of the links. Yeah, we could put together some links of crazy leftists, but I would wager it would not be as long, and would not have near the encouragement of elected Democratic officials. The Republican party has jumped the shark.

5 comments:

Streak said...

H/t to my friend Anglican for this link, btw.

steves said...

Add to that list, you can't complain about Obama's recess appointments when Bush (and every other president) did the same thing. To be fair, the Dems (including Obama) complained when Bush did this. I think some people are tired of this kind of stuff. With the ease of being able to find out this kind of information, it won't be hard to call people out when this happens again.

Yeah, we could put together some links of crazy leftists, but I would wager it would not be as long

Maybe, maybe not. That isn't the issue now because the Dems aren't the ones throwing out the bullshit and hyperbole. The GOP is. When, and if, the Dems do in the future, I hope someone calls them out.

That was a great link, though not all of the references are equally as good. Some are links to right-wing bloggers and pundits, which is hardly the same thing as a reference to what was said by someone in the GOP.

Streak said...

though not all of the references are equally as good.

Absolutely.

One note on the recess appointments. I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me that one difference between at least some of the Bush recess appointments and some of the Obama ones was that there was widespread opposition to some of the Bush ones (i am thinking of Bolton) whereas at least some of the opposition to Obama's appointees was really just opposition to Obama. Though, as I am writing this, certainly not all.

There are certainly areas where the hypocrisy goes both ways, that is for sure, but the Republicans seem to be only about that right now. And that is really sad.

steves said...

I honestly don't know about the circumstances surrounding the previous recess appointments. I do know that Obama's recess appointments have been proper and, given what I know about them, perfectly warranted.

Noah said...

You said it perfectly Streak: they have jumped the shark. Great link...