Robert Parry: The Ultra-Radical Republicans

[marmar]

from In These Times:



The Ultra-Radical Republicans
By Robert Parry


Sixteen years ago, when another new Democratic President was trying to enact an economic package, the Republicans were entrenched in opposition, too. But there was a striking difference between those Republicans and today’s: the 1993 Republicans still showed some respect for democracy.

In the Senate, Minority Leader Bob Dole whipped 100 percent of his troops into line opposing President Bill Clinton’s “deficit reduction plan.” With the help of six Democrats, Dole managed to deny Clinton a majority on the bill and forced Vice President Al Gore to break the 50-50 tie.

Yet what’s remarkable about that 1993 case—at least in contrast to today—is that Dole and his Republicans did not filibuster Clinton’s economic package. If they had, they almost surely would have killed it, since Clinton would have had little chance of mustering a 60-vote super-majority.

In those “old days”—covering all of U.S. history except for the present—the filibuster was reserved for disputes over core principles (i.e. Southern senators fighting to protect segregation in the 1950s and 1960s) or for issues that were particularly sensitive to one of the parties (i.e. in 1991, Dole blocked a full investigation into President George H.W. Bush’s role in secret deals with Iran). .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4250/the_ultra_radical_filibustering_republicans/

[woodwrite]

1. Yeah, and this worries me a lot,.....

-- The republicans' willingness to shed their sheep's clothing somehow suggests to me that they do not have the normal lattitude, time-wise, in which to work. The GOP's rightwing ideologues and corporate taskmasters are hurrying the game in order to finish their looting of what's left of the economy "before something happens." The economic elite have the resources to see a little further over the horizon than the rest of us. Seems as though they're hunkering down for a lengthy chill.

[DCKit]

2. The speed at which our President is moving foreward has them seriously off-balance.

They can't afford to spend too much time dicking around with any single subject, lest they fail to notice, and miss their opportunity to block, something else. They've been outclassed on a level they can't even comprehend.

The Republics barely know which end is up right now, and it's making for great theater.

[certainot]

3. talk radio monopoly culled the moderates

talk radio makes the difference-1000 stations and one or two near everyone. they do the groundwork for everything the GOP does and that was what obama was saying when he invoked limbaugh as the GOP leader- that's their power source.

when will progressive groups and americans who want democracy, who say they're going to get obama's back, begin to call complain boycott picket local stations and their local sponsors?

limbaugh and sons do their dirty work and heavy lifting. they launder the talking points with coordinated UNCONTESTED repetition so their media operatives and their sycophant politicians don't look so dishonest and corrupt and hypocritical when they repeat them later in the day or month. they ride the talk radio bandwagon.

as long as the GOP is ignored at their power source they will continue to obstruct at will, dominating the media with any molehils they want to turn into mountains and having it both ways in every major issue. the pressure for their filibusters starts with that RW talk radio station near everyone, but especially in those red states with their disproportionate numbers of senators.

any GOP senator who plays with obama or appears to be is getting hell. limbaugh dems (blue dog dems) in those red states feel huge pressure from constituencies blanketed in right wing talk radio disinformation and framing.

on the radio, in cars, at the work place progressives are being out shouted across the country by 10 to 1 and the internet can't make up the difference yet, especially if the rest of the media's corporate ownership likes paying no taxes.

ignoring the talk radio monopoly continues to be the biggest political blunder in decades