Friday, May 13, 2011

Snake Oil and Water

It's enough to make grown men (and women) cry -- with gleeful satisfaction.


First, we have a group of gazillionaire oil barons weeping to the Senate Finance Committee today that taking away their tax subsidies will just cut that whole "Drill Baby Drill" mantra off at the knees.  USA won't coddle them any more?  Then they'll just leave and find a new country to drill into.  All those windfall profits go toward investing in new sources of oil for the greater good, by golly!


And then there are the 42 Republican House freshmen who are sorely regretting their adventures in Mediscare and are begging -- begging! -- President Obama to make the Democrats stop rubbing it in already.  They wrote him a letter whining that "as the freshman class, we have the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and fulfill the mandate set by the people to strengthen our country for future generations — not continue the petty politics we have seen in the past, which only creates an environment of stalemate."


They want us to forget they voted for Young Serious Gun Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare by transforming it into a junk insurance voucher system for seniors.  They want us to forget the wrath of their constituents at Town Halls.  They can dish it out, but they sure can't take it.


NY Rep Nan Hayworth of affluent Westchester County, NY was among the freshman Tea Partiers decrying the nasty tone of the Democrats at a news conference Wednesday. She complained that the President was "playing politics" with entitlement reform.  As an ophthalmologist who gave up zapping  cataracts and had no trouble accepting a fortune in Medicare payments for same, she does the crocodile tears act supremely well.  And that familiar Republican facial expression that falls somewhere between a pout and a snarl...what elitists call a moue -- where have we seen that before?







4 comments:

Janet Camp said...

This letter to the President is such a joke! Where have they been the last two years as Obama has bent over so far to accommodate them that he was in danger of his head entering his posterior?

Janet Camp

Valerie Long Tweedie said...

I am so sick of the Democrats trying to be civil and accommodating and respectful of different points of view - no matter how selfish and irrational they are - while the Republicans are going for the jugular, spreading distracting rumours and innuendoes. The only way the Democrats are going to win the next elections is to point out IN A VERY PUBLIC WAY what the Republicans are trying to do, who their donors are and then connect the dots to their voting records. The average person in the U.S. doesn't go digging for this information. I want the Progressives to shout if from the mountain tops. I think it was Marie Burns who pointed out when the Democrats had the majority in the House and Senate you couldn't turn on the TV or read a paper without being subjected to the minority Republican rants. Why aren’t I reading much about the Progressive Caucus and their agenda? It is like getting in the boxing ring without gloves on.

I have been thinking about something I can do to support the Caucus. I read the membership and realised that both my Democratic senators in Washington State, Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and my Rep in the House, Norm Dicks are not members. I plan on sending them each a letter telling them that I will support other Democrats running against them in the next elections unless they choose a side, join up and stand for something. I will encourage all my Democratic friends to do the same.

Valerie

Valerie said...

I am looking for patches to sew onto my backpack to advertise my progressive political views. I'm hoping to attract like-minded people. I came across a great one that had a red, white and blue drawing of the Capitol building with the words, “Employed by the American People” written across it.

Next to the picture it said,
”Don’t let them forget!
Phone monthly
write weekly”

Isn't that great?

Karen Garcia said...

Yes, I like your idea for the decal. I can also envision one with the faces of all the Senators with the horizontal lines across their faces, as in Just Say No to So and So. It does seem that the outrageous Repugs are getting all the media attention, just by virtue of their outrageousness. And you know what phrase I am heartily sick of? "Let's discuss this like adults." I think the whole lot of them require adult diapers actually, because the loss of self-control among them is mind-boggling, or in Australia, gob-smacking.