Is it Bush* that is INCOMPETENT or is it the whole Republican Party

[Toots]

Is there any Republican that you see as competent? I have watched how they have worked for over five decades and I am convinced they all operate from an abused child syndrome and show virtually no competence in governance. They seem quite able to swindle their way into making large amounts of money but always at the expense of those less fortunate. I say it is not Bush* per say that is Incompetent ,though he is, but the entire lot of them. Every single Republican President since Hoover has put America into recession while only one Democrat had a recession under their Administration. Why is that and why doesn't America know that fact?

[Zenlitened]

1. I think it's pretty clear now that Republicans can't be trusted to govern.

They've had a chance to lead and they've failed. I think it's time to remove them from the game for a while. Maybe they'll regroup at some point, I dunno. But we need a fresh team, and it's up to democrats to step up to the plate now and show what we can do.

[Iris]

2. Since Bush is merely a meat puppet for the power holders of the Republican

party, then I'd say it's the Republicans.

"You can't govern if you don't believe in government" - can't remember where I saw this (somewhere here, I'm sure), but it says it all.

[MissMarple]

3. They don't understand basic economics and human nature.

They don't like the basic premise of the Constitution of government being by the people, of the people, and for the people. They just don't like or trust the American people. At least the ones who get to be president and the ones who put them in power.

The best exception is Dwight David Eisenhower. He was a lot different.

Edit: Nixon had some progressive moments. :)

[unblock]

4. they are plenty competent. it's just that they have different objectives

democrats believe the entire purpose of government is to do good deeds for the people of the country. power is a means to achieve the end of good deeds, and we judged competence based on who can figure out how to gain and use power (or whatever it takes) to do good deeds.

republicans have this backwards. they believe that selectively doing good deeds, or more accurately, getting the good p.r. associated with being seen doing good deeds, as a means to gain power, and power is what it's all about. they judge competence based on the ability to use good deeds (or whatever it takes) to gain and use power for the good of the republican party.

this is how bush saw 'brownie' as 'doing a heckuva job'. the fact that he was doing things that made people suffer and die didn't directly cost any political power, so there's absolutely nothing wrong with that in bush's eyes.

what he DID do that was bad was bring bad press to bush, which cost power. THAT was bad, and THAT's the real reason he was made to resign.


you can even see this in the little bit about the timing of the announcement. the democratic philosophy would have been to try to restore confidence asap and therefore to make the announcement asap. bush, instead, didn't want the timing to upstage his own p.r. event, so he went so far as to LIE about not knowing brown had resigned. because it's never about doing good for the people, it's always about doing good for the party's power.

[DinahMoeHum]

5. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work,

and then they get elected and prove it.

Sorry, but the GOP has to be quarantined and imploded - they're too contaminated with the neocon virus.


:kick:

[ladjf]

6. Incompetent is far too nice for them. They are far worse than

that.

[Greyhound]

7. I think the problem is that they're not incompetent at all.

Look at all they've achieved in the last 5 years.
They've undone the "New Deal"
Removed citizens ability to get out of crushing debt and start fresh
Transferred $7 - $8 trillion dollars from the amerikan economy to the corporate masters by looting the treasury
Ensured continued monopolies in a wide range of industries from energy to medicine to communications
removed citizen control and regulation of essential services
Subverted the troublesome voting mechanism, while maintaining the illusion of representative government
Continued the process of un-educating the masses to the point where they can't read, can't understand basic mathematic concepts, have no understanding of science and the scientific method, and view those that do as less (pride of ignorance)
Maintained the myth of class mobility (every repug prole lives with the firm belief that he/she can make it too, if only they work hard and long enough)
Convinced the masses that the economy is roaring along and things are great

If you liked the 'gilded age', you're going to love the next 20 - 30 years.

[jobycom]

8. Bush is supremely incompetent, but the Repub ideology is anti-government

Republicans believe that rich people are very nice, altruistic individuals and should be trusted to run the nation, while government should only exist to protect rich people and their businesses from poor people and liberals. Poor people and liberals will try to get the hard-earned money from rich people, either by stealing it or by taxing it. Government is the enemy of rich people, and poor people are the enemy of rich people, and therefore both are to be distrusted, and blamed as much as possible.

It's a failed, ludicrous ideology, but they believe it, and they hide it in pseudo-scientific phrases like "free market" and "market competition" and "states rights." But at heart they are saying rich people deserve to be rich, poor people deserve to be poor, and government should not try to help poor people. They sort of pretend they believe that government shouldn't help rich people, either, but that's not really what they believe. They spend tons of taxes, taken as much as possible from poor people, on rich pet projects like wars over capitalism or oil, and on providing rich companies with infrastructures (electricity, property, an educated work force), all the while pretending they aren't really spending the money.

Because they believe government shouldn't help people, they don't pay attention to catastrophes until after they hit, then they try to clean them up by allowing their corporate buddies to run the cleanup, and make millions. They spend ten times as much on cleanup as they would have on prevention, but they are so used to endless corporate welfare that it just doesn't occur to them.

So the whole ideology is flawed.

Even so, Bush is stupid, and far more incompetent than the average Republican. So was Reagan, for that matter. I'd love to have seen an intellectual discussion between those two. It would have sounded like kindergartners discussing Santa Claus, I suspect.

[charlie]

9. You've suddenly got me remembering

that old Living Color sketch, with the two jailbirds blathering high toned vocabularies at each other -- "Allow me to mogitate on that proctosis."

[jobycom]

15. You saying I sound pompous and conflated?

It's been said before... :-)

[charlie]

16. Ack! Sooooorrry!

Bush... Reagan... talking... me thinkum jailbirds... not clear :blush:

[jobycom]

17. LOL! No problem

I figured out what you meant after I posted my response! Either way, it was amusing! :-)

[charlie]

18. *smile*

:D :thumbsup:

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Incompetence which has been covered-up through networking.

One thing I remember from my early years of working with a national corporation was that the local management made it clear that we were suppose to keep our mouths shut whenever Home Office came to visit. And Home Office DID try to milk us for information. But since none of us ever were inspired to get promoted to work oop north to Hartford, we knew our allegiance was to the local good ole boys.

So, what you learn in the private sector is to cover your bosse's ass. There are no rewards for whistle blowers in the private sector. Therefore, the most incompetent, but best networked individuals are able to rise to the top, because some of the more gutless, albeit intelligent folks learn to go along, to get along.

And that's why we need an addendum to the Peter Principle.

[Bonhomme Richard]

11. It's simple. The Party is more important than the Nation.

Save the nation or stick to the party line. There is no question for them and that is why I believe they are traitors.

[woodenrobot]

12. From where I'm sitting

The whole party seems to be hamstrung by special interests. This could be anything from pushing good deals in the direction of Halliburton, bending over for the Religious (extreme) Right, or sticking too closely to an ideology such as that of the Project for a New American Century.

With all this going on in their decision making processes, is it at all surprising they don't make the right decisions?

[rman]

13. You'r being to kind; the New Right is downright evil

Where "New Right" is equivalent to neocons and (neo)Reaganites.

It's not about Bush; he's just a puppet - willingly and knowingly for the most part, but a puppet none the less.
Do you really think that the men around Bush, his secretaries, advisors - Rove, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc, etc - are in fact incompetent? Incompetent as in, they would want to do what's best for the people, but they are incapable of doing so? They do know what they are doing, it's just that what they are doing is not what most people would want them to do.

[Whoa_Nelly]

14. Bush IS incompetent, but that's beside the point re: GOP/PNAC

The stranglehold of partisan politics and small government has been many years in the making. GW Bush is the perfect puppet, and the ultimate patsy for the GOP for bringing all they have been working toward to fruition. It has been with concerted effort and orchestration on their part to alter the political landscape. With the inception of the PNAC born of the GOP long-term agenda, the need for a completely narcissistic puppet was found in the persona of GW Bush; They now had what they considered to be the coup de grace in going beyond our nation's borders to control all that would reap them the largest monetary rewards through global corporate control. As a result of this movement to small government and global domination, many who saw the opportunity to further their personal greed and/or stroke their egos had the blatant hubris to jump on board in the form of some of the senators and congresspeople in place today.

One of the best articles regarding what has gone on re: the GOP, is
The Real Lessons of Watergate by Robert Parry.

<snip>
Indeed, it could be said that today’s U.S. political imbalance – tilting so much in favor of Republicans over Democrats – derived from the simple fact that conservatives learned the real lessons of Watergate while the liberals didn't.

Most importantly, the bitter experience of Watergate taught the conservatives the need to control the flow of information at the national level.

<snip>
Meanwhile, liberals largely treated the Watergate scandal as manna from heaven and assumed that similar gifts would be delivered by the mainstream news media whenever future Republican governments stepped out of line. The Left saw little need for media investment and instead stressed local grassroots organizing around social issues.

This progressive priority – summed up in the slogan, “think globally, act locally” – became almost dogma on the Left, even as conservatives expanded their political base across the country by exploiting their widening advantage in media, from AM talk radio and cable TV news to magazines, newspapers and the Internet.

Well worth the read. More at link...
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/060205.html