Why do the Republicans Hate Obama?
I don’t know why Republicans hate President Obama, but I have my suspicions. Even though I am a forty year registered Republican, I can’t figure this new angry and apparently bloodthirsty crowd out there. I was hoping you knew why they hate Obama. Are there any Republicans out there who hate Obama and can tell us why?
I kinda like the guy. His Republican presidential challenger, John McCain, who was my hero in 2000, until that corpulent nerd, Carl Rove, smooshed poor John like grapes in a wine tub, even said Obama was a nice guy. I’ll bet he got twenty lashes and a thousand Republican demerits for that.
Let’s face it, on inauguration day Obama was handed a truckload full of special Bush/Republican grown lemons and damned if the Republican congress won’t let him make lemonade with them. What a pickle. Then we (not me personally) made it worse in 2010 by handing him a Tea Party controlled House. Have you ever noticed that tea rhymes with…never mind.
Back to the hateful Republicans. The easy answer is because Obama’s black. That certainly might be the case with many republicans. Those who would probably have been slave owners in the ‘good ole days’—and probably would still be, if it wasn’t for that dratted turncoat Republican, Abraham Lincoln.
No, it’s more than being black. Maybe, it’s being smart. And getting Osama bin Laden and Muammar Khadafi, didn’t help his popularity with the petulant ones either. Maybe, they’re afraid he’ll show the country what a fraud the Bush years were. They were you know. After getting handed a two hundred and fifty billion dollar budget surplus from Clinton, Bush started two, ten year trillion dollar plus wars and that was just for starters. Then he played Santa Claus twice for the Rich and Famous with tax cuts totaling one point four trillion dollars. Somewhere in there he added a trillion dollar prescription drug benefit, which is nothing but welfare for Big Pharma and passed the No Child Left Behind bill, which every teacher in the country hates and has caused widespread cheating on test scores.
After all that he handed Barack Obama an economy that was hemorrhaging three quarters of a million jobs a month and a one point two trillion dollar budget shortfall in his first year as president, the first of several humongous budget shortfalls that can be traced back mostly to the foundering Bush economy programs and efforts to counter the recession. Boy, I’ll bet Bush was happy to leave it all to the next guy—the Republican designated fall guy.
Shush, the Republicans say. Don’t ever mention that. Never mention that TARP was started under Bush as well as the Detroit auto bail-out. Instead, harp on the overwhelming debt and how we desperately need to cut spending. Let the gullible and uninformed public think this all came about one minute after Barck Hussien Obama, that uppity, mixed race, usurper, who was born anywhere but in the U.S., was sworn in as president. Even those who know better will eventually forget and begin to blame Obama for the country’s woes. For not getting the country out of the greatest financial collapse since the Great Depression.
And they are. Frustration and hardship have caused Obama’s poll numbers to drop, endangering his re-election, and that is really scary. Can you imagine where we will be if any of the Republican bimbos who are running right now end up being President?
Be careful America. With this brand of Republican’s help, you may yet get what you think you wished for, and it ain’t pretty.
It’s Like Being Shot With Your Own Gun
I have been conspicuously quiet about economic downturn, aka Twenty-first Century Depression, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Au contraire, I care a great deal. Millions of dollars worth. Yes, a year ago yours truly owned a financial statement stating a net worth in the low seven figures. Not bad, but keep in mind the majority of the balance sheet was in real estate and I’d been plugging away at my chosen career—home design and building for thirty-five years. So in essence, it really wasn’t that much for years of hard work, but then again, unlike the banks, I’m a conservative kinda guy.
On the other hand, one year later my balance sheet is in the negative high six digits and growing. In other words I’m being water boarded in a sea of red ink and being sued by a bank who was involved in this mess to boot.
But this isn’t about me. It’s about the banks and by extension the mortgage companies and by further extension, the investment banks. I think it’s safe to say they got not just you and me, but the whole country in a pickle—a giant dill pickle—and unfortunately not just us. The whole world economy is in the toilet as well, thanks to these fast and lose loaners of our money. That’s right folks, these purveyors of calamity strangled us with our own money. It’s like being shot with our own gun.
Our money? True story, it’s not their money they were recklessly giving away over the last fifteen years or so. Banks have very little of their own money and what they do have is supposed to be kept in reserve for times like these. That’s how banks operate—OPM, other peoples money. Your money, my money. I’ll give you an example. Take a fictitious bank. Some guy, call him Mr. Doe thinks he knows how to run a bank and decides to open one. He gets a federal or a state charter and then solicits investors to back him (buy stock) to raise enough money to meet reserve requirements. Then he rents, buys or builds a building and after hiring employees opens his doors and voila, he’s a bank, wise in the world of finance. We the customers, then make deposits in the form of savings and checking accounts in his bank. The bank takes our money and loans it back to us and other customers in the form of car loans, business loans, credit cards, etc.
The thing is banks are supposed to be a good thing. They’re supposed to take our money and make strong, prudent loans charging a few percentage points more for the loan than they pay their depositors and indeed some banks did and still do operate that way. That two – three percent margin is supposed to cover the bank’s operating costs and what’s left over is profit. That’s the way it’s supposed to work and when it does it’s a good thing helping the community and everyone in it grow and prosper.
So what went wrong? I’m not sure, but one thing is for sure, greed is involved along with excess. Every so often, unless held in check by regulations, greed will raise its ugly head and bite us in the rear end, like the saving and loan crises did in the eighties. If you remember, the savings and loan institutions exclusively made non-conforming, non-government backed home loans. When they were wiped out after a round of pigging out after being de-regulated, banks and other investment groups took up the slack in home loans. As it turned out this was tantamount to letting the fox guard the hen house. Only the hens was our money. Oh, sure our money was insured by the FDIC, but the country and world was not insured against recklessness. In fact it was estimated at the beginning of the year that the financial institution sponsored economic sinkhole cost the citizens of our country eleven trillion in net worth. That’s $36,666 for every man, woman and child.
Isn’t life grand?
The Reluctant Republican
Republican Tricks
Hi everyone, It’s that time of the month again and I’m buried in deadlines and edits so I asked a friend of mine, Bobby Bright, to write a guest blog for me. He’s quite opinionated so if he steps on anyone’s toes, I’m sorry,
Hello all you wonderful people, I’m Bobbi Bright, standing in for Dee. I promised Dee I wouldn’t write about
religion so I’m going to write about the next best thing. The most devious, misleading, intolerant, self serving, organized group in America today—Republicans. No, not the stupid rank and file republicans who voted the worst president in history, George Dubya, into office twice. They’re just dupes, pawns of the nefarious, so called, brains of the party. As Dubya, the titular head of the party, rode off into the sunset in disgrace after eight years of chaos, and self-destruction; who’s should assume the mantel of spokesman for republican party, but that tower of mis-information, the man Al Frankin called ‘that Big Fat Liar,’ Rush Limbaugh. And how about Sarah Palin? Does the word bimbo comes to mind for you too?
Just for the record, I know there are some good, big-hearted people in the republican tent, my friend Dee is one, though he claims to be an independent, having left the party in the nineties for philosophical reasons. I’d like to direct a question to the ordinary republicans, the ones who got swift-boated or scared into voting for George W. Bush. If you make under a hundred thousand dollars a year, wtf are you doing in the ‘me first’ party. Are you crazy? Do you think this party is going to raise you into prosperity?
Enough about republicans in general. This vent is more about ignorant, arrogant people who think they can twist, turn and rework a kernel of truth to their advantage. Republican strategists love to blow a little point up into a big point while ignoring comparable larger points that might lead to them. Health Care is a prime example. How many times have you heard these pretend paradigms of fiscal responsibility harp about the trillion dollar health care program. Folks that’s a trillion dollars of which four hundred billion is accounted for over ten years. That’s sixty billion dollars a year for a program that will help all Americans. 
Not unappreciative Iraqis, not Afghans, but Americans. For those who don’t know, the hard costs of the useless Bush war of choice is almost double the health care cost at one hundred ten billion a year.
That’s what gets my blood boiling. These hypocritical savers of our purse strings are blowing two billion dollars a week in a foreign war that has killed or maimed forty thousand of our youth while bemoaning a two billion dollar cash for clunker program that will help consumers, car dealers, auto manufacturers, the economy, banks, cut oil dependence and toxic emissions. And you want to know something? Estimates show the Bush war will ultimately cost three trillion in ancillary costs. That’s three billion, million folks. I could go on and on, but I keep getting off the point.
Republican leadership seldom does anything on principal. Mostly, they work for advantage. They see people with a different point of view as the enemy and when they think the enemy is vulnerable they strike. To them, the uppity black man from Illinois is the enemy and as worthy a goal as it might be, they see Health care as his Achilles heel—and they’re going for the jugular.
These wild under informed people showing up at August town hall meetings across the country at the urging of right wing blogs and commentators are an example. The misinformation they are disseminating to this hapless group is despicable. Outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care are being purposely spread alongside equally ridiculous claims that Obama is a Muslim, and was really born in Kenya instead of Hawaii.
I’m patiently waiting for the day when a major republican politician stands up and admits that recent Republican policies have been disastrous. Policies that cost the country three trillion dollars on an useless war, brought the country to the edge of ruination by failing to monitor rampant greed, thereby costing the taxpayers two trillion in remedial programs and ultimately cost the taxpayers eleven trillion in lost net worth.
Hmmm. That’s sixteen trillion dollars. Health care reform kinda pales in comparison. Doesn’t it?
The Far Right Just Doesn’t Get It
There’s a saying I occasionally hear that goes something like this: Republicans are great at running campaigns and winning elections, but after they win, they don’t know how to govern.
Taking a hard look over the last eight years only adds to the credibility of the saying. Yes, the Republicans won two hard fought elections, which were followed by what could easily be described as eight years of chaos. 
This Republican led stewardship of the country has led us to the precipice of collapse. The Bush administration has us on the brink of a depression reminiscent of the Republican led depression of 1928.
Has the gross malfeasance of the last eight years given the Far Right pause? Have they discovered contrition? Do they finally understand that the government works better with an intelligent President and legislators? Do they now realize that cronyism instead of qualified appointments can backfire. Is it now apparent to them that the overall health of the country trumps pet issues like gay marriage and right to life? After all what does it gain them to make abortion illegal if they loose their country?
I once read that Osama bin Laden’s plan for America isn’t to destroy us overtly with invasion or attacks. That would be well beyond their abilities. His plan is to destroy us financially from within. Given our current situation I’d say his plan is working with the help of our President and Wall Street.
So the question is, do we dare give the Republicans four more years? Four more years that could actually push us over the cliff.
Hint: If you’re interested in saving this country, elect the most intelligent candidate.
The Bushman Blew it – Invaded Wrong Country
I originally posted this absurdity in June of 2004. I decided to post it again<a
What’s with the smirk on GW’s face when asked a question? Does that mean he’s going Lie? No wonder Osama don’t like Bushman. I don’t either and I’m Republican
It’s becoming more and more obvious that our esteemed president Bushman targeted the wrong country in his quest to establish a beacon of freedom in the Middle East. Who would have thought that the most powerful country in the history of the world (sounds impressive doesn’t it, I read that somewhere) would have trouble swallowing a country of a mere twenty-five million inhabitants.
After all when we were one of the only two superpowers in the world we did quite a juggling act by occupying two populous former enemies, Germany and Japan, while taking on the North Koreans and the Chinese while holding the Soviets at bay. Oh that’s right North Korea was a United Nation approved police action but who needs the United Nations.
In hindsight (isn’t hindsight wonderful) Bushman got it wrong. He/we shouldn’t have used tiny Kuwait as a staging area to invade Iraq. He/we should have used Iraq as a staging area to attack tiny Kuwait. Doesn’t that make a lot more sense. I’ll bet even the Bushman administration could manage 800,000 Kuwaiti’s with a hundred and thirty-five thousand highly trained U.S. soldiers plus then Iraq wouldn’t dare invade Kuwait again.
G.W. should have taken a page from the Gipper’s playbook. You didn’t see Ronnie taking on the Soviets by invading Poland did you or the Chinese Communists by invading Taiwan. No he got it right. He took on the dangerous Peoples Republic of Granada and now we have a beacon of freedom in the Caribbean that is spreading democracy in this erstwhile dangerous area.
Back to Kuwait. Once Kuwait was pacified we could have set up a Jeffersonian Democracy, changed the official language to English and made facial hair unlawful, especially on women. Think, then if we came across a Middle Eastern type with a mustache that couldn’t speak English, Bingo, we have a bonafide Terrorist/Insurgent and we could extradite him to Saudi Arabia to be be be beheaded. That seems to be a popular thing with Arabs.
And speaking of a beacon of Freedom in the Middle East, a place to admire, a country to emulate, we could build replications of the World Trade Centers there. Wouldn’t that p*ss Osama off but this time when he comes, we’ll have a little surprise for him. Sssssh don’t tell anyone but we’ll put a force field around Twin Towers – Two and his planes will bounce off and explode harmlessly on the ground. We could do it after all we are the most powerful country in the history of the world!!!!!
The Bush Legacy
The Bottom Line
Where previous books I’ve read on the Bush adventure have taken us to and briefly beyond our initial occupation, Fiasco takes through 2004, with in depth analysis of the insurgency.
The brand new book by Thomas Ricks’– Fiasco, provides the reader with an informative assessment of the conception, planning, prosecution and aftermath of the unprovoked invasion of Iraq. Intentional or not, Fiasco ends up as an indictment of, not only the Bush Administration, but the military itself for extremely poor judgment at the least and malfeasance at the most.
Ricks goes into some detail lining out to chain of events, naming the patrons of the war and their motives, along the way, which led to the war. He also describes the planning, or mis-planning if you wish, of the war, but the majority of the book centers on the immediate aftermath of the invasion, from April of 2003 through 2004. Ricks lays out the argument that during this period, Phase IV of the war (the aftermath) was so bungled that we were within an eyelash of turning victory into defeat. He also maintains that this mishandling was so endemic and pervasive that the outcome is still in doubt.
Summary
Ricks postulates that the Iraqi war was contrived by neo-conservatives led by Paul Wolfowitz, justified by handpicked intelligence, much of which had been discounted. He goes on to say the military planning was altered time and again by the overbearing Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfield, who at one time proposed an invasion force of ten thousand men.
Then after the successful invasion, despite a flawed plan, which totally by passed the ultimate enemy and the backbone of the future insurgency — the Fedayeen, our troops throughout the country stood by as witnesses to the greatest act of thievery in the history of the world, as looters stole Iraq. This was the result of having too few boots on the ground, a fact that haunts us (the military) to this day. A result of the widespread looting of Iraq, besides requiring billions to replace, was that it set a tone for lawlessness in Iraq. It also made our troops appear indecisive, which they were.
Ultimately, the biggest sin the military committed was a sin of omission. Purposely or not, they refused to recognize the character of the war they were in (with Rumsfield’s help) as an insurgency and act accordingly. The lessons of the insurgency we fought in Viet Nam seem to have been lost as a bad dream and the military insisted on fighting a brutal conventional war. This was a major error in strategy.
Last but not least, the tactics used by our military lost the backing and respect of the Iraqi people and fueled the fire of the insurgency, which the generals refused to fight as such.
Conclusion
As a newspaper reporter, Ricks’ writing takes on a news reporting style of writing — very compelling, very smooth and very easy to read. While the writer does perform an occasional analysis, the book seems to center around hundreds of quotation bites and the author’s attendant explanations and elaborations.
Of course, this means that there are many opinions mixed in with the reported facts and history. Still, I give these opinions credence for two reasons — the high quantity of similar views within the book and the fact that these views mirror conventional wisdom and other publications.
Being an opponent of the war, this book was a vindication, of sorts, for the deductions I had arrived at. The Bush Administration took us to war with a marginal war plan and no plan whatsoever for reconstruction, disengagement or exit. I find it incongruous that the Administration is constantly saying the Democrats had no plan for Iraq, when they, themselves, had no plan.
By the way, according to this book, Jay Garner the one time reconstruction czar, who was unceremoniously dumped after two weeks, originally voiced the one plan the Administration keeps harping on — “we’ll stand down when they stand up,” in an unapproved speech: a speech for which he was chastised, but from which their big plan evolved. The plan of course was poorly implemented and has yet to bear fruit.
The true irony of the war was that the approach the Administration took toward the war. The parsimonious use of troops, telling the generals to expect redeployment in a matter of months and trying to fight the war on the cheap, actually had the opposite effect by adding to the longevity of the war and running the cost into the hundreds of billions.
I give this book a five star rating.
Silly Things 