Cry like a baby: The myth of the "Daddy Party" falls apart

[marmar]

from OpenLeft:



Cry like a baby: The myth of the "Daddy Party" falls apart.
by: Paul Rosenberg

Sat Mar 27, 2010 at 11:00


It was always absurd to call the GOP the "Daddy Party"--unless, of course, you included the prefix "Deadbeat". After all, in 1980, Ronald Reagan reversed 35-year trend of reducing debt-to-GDP ratios (the only meaningful measure of government debt), and began the modern "conservative era" of massive deficit spending, more than tripling the federal debt before President Clinton took over in 1993, and immediately began reducing the debt-to-GDP ratio-a trend that George W. Bush immediately reversed again when he took over.

But even calling the GOP the "Deadbeat Daddy Party" gives them too much credit (which, of course, they've already spent ten times over... but I digress.) The fact is, there's always been a mile-deep 13-year old "you're not the boss of me" streak that makes them more of the "Spoiled Teen Slacker Who Can't Get A Date Party." More recently as all their fantasies have begun falling apart in ways that are harder and harder to deny, even this level of maturity has begun to slip away. With 14 months of obstinate, fantasy-based obstructionism producing a crescendo of death threats, screams of "nigger", and bricks thrown through windows, the Republicans have finally regressed to revealing their true ontological essence: They are the "Terrible Twos Party," kicking, and screaming, and throwing things, in desperate need of a timeout. I'd suggest 40 years or so. But considering what happened after their post-1932 timeout, I don't think that would be nearly long enough.



In fact, this utter psychological breakdown--so long in the making--spurred me to take a look back at where the term "Daddy Party" came from in the first place. It's surprising how little trace I found on the intertubes. The term was coined by pseudo-economist WSJ charlatan Jude Wanniski, but the best I could do on the web was to retrieve a January 19 1999 memo he sent to Maureen Dowd via the Internet Archives/Wayback Marchine, here.

What gives it the "perfect document" quality, despite the fact that it's obviously not the origin of the term, is that Wanniski used his Daddy Party/Mommy Party "analysis" to explain why Clinton would be convicted in the Senate and forced from office. In the real world, of course, the Senate acquitted Clinton 25 days later. Not only that--the exact opposite what Wanniski predicted came to pass: instead of Democrats defecting to join the GOP in convicting Clinton, Republicans joined the Democrats in acquitting him.

(Of course, the problems with his "Daddy Party/Mommy Party" view of the world are much bigger than that. But it's always nice when there's such a simple clear-cut screw-up you can point to as an indicator of just how idiotic some grand rightwing fantasy really is. Microcosm, meet macrocosm. Endzone fumble, meet fall of the Roman Empire. But I digress...)


http://www.openleft.com/diary/18028/cry-like-a-baby-the-myth-of-the-daddy-party-falls-apart

[Warpy]

1. It's the daddy party, all right

if daddy is a drunken gambling addict who forgets he has a family for many years at a time.

[unblock]

2. the "terrible twos party", indeed!

crybabies, whiners, gimme gimme gimme.

they feel entitled to be given everything they want without having to pay for it.
they don't believe in paying their bills. they know that it costs to run a big military, but they want the DEMOCRATS to be the ones to hike taxes to pay for it. when it's their turn, they'd rather cut taxes AND spend and borrow and let the democrats take the fall for paying for it.

[Kalyke]

3. Maybe we should put them down for a nap.

Sounds like they need some rest.

[unblock]

4. like it says, 40 years. maybe longer.

[onethatcares]

5. that is a great response to use

when dealing with the tbs and riff raff, just ask, "should we raise taxes in order to keep military funding at its' present level". They'll go nucking futz.