Friday, February 27, 2009

Can You Trust the Republicans?

By Robert Parry
February 27, 2009

If you watch the pundits on cable news or read the big-name newspaper columnists, you will find a general consensus that the national Republicans are returning to their core principles in their near-unanimous opposition to President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill and other proposals.

Read on.
Posted by at

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

to be "good" "conservative" Republicans...yes we can.

The hypocritical posturing and rhetorical "free market" and "limited government" is by the GOP and its leaders and minions is deafening..as deafening as the silence of those who really do support those unpopular and archaic concepts.

A good article...yet does not mention Congressman Ron Paul and his efforts to counter the fascism of the GOP AND the rank militarism and socialism of the Hope and Change MilIndComp sockpuppet OBama and the sycophantic MSM.

Not all Republicans are complicit in the heist of logic and freedom... Ron Paul(and me) arent part of the charade

Fri Feb 27, 12:34:00 PM 2009
RFPx said...

Too bad you write from emotion vice facts. The TRUTH is, Republicans don't want Obama to fail. If he fails, we as a nation fail. Obama campaigned on change. Fact is, he is partisan politics as usual. He easily could have asked Congress to include republicans in the development of a critical economic measure. He didn't. He did EXACTLY what the Democrats accused a Republican controlled congress of doing. Remember the phrase two wrongs don't make a right? He should have it memorized by now.

Pelosi PROMISED a 48 hour posting of the bill prior to a vote. She posted it at midnight and voted on it at 9am. Talk about closed door politics.

No sir, we don't want him to fail. It's just he seems so bent on doing it that it's going to work in favor of Republicans. Just take note come 2010.

Fri Feb 27, 01:06:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

Robert Parry, you are a man of my heart for exposing the truth.

Fri Feb 27, 01:38:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

Robert,
Your cogent use of factual historical anecdote and informed reason is not lost on this reader. Sadly, we must all come to terms with the fact of our recent collective indifference and complacency regarding the uses our government, as well as the fourth estate, has been put to. The poll you cited, hopefully, is a possible indication that our people have awakened from their decades long detachment from all that which demands the attention of a healthy Democratic Republic.
Personally, I would have preferred the title "Can You Trust the Partisans?" to capture the intent of the body of your missive. It is not that I factually disagree with a single point in your narrative, lest it be the impression it might convey that Clinton was/is anything but an opportunistic charlatan, who, as your past writings have clearly exposed, acquiesced to many of the NeoLiberal and NeoConservative deceptions and deceits.
As your first commenter, "Anonymous" reminds us, "Not all Republicans are complicit in the heist of logic and freedom"; and lest we taint Progressive ideals with the bitter taste of avarice, we should avoid the temptation of soiling the less zealous Conservatives with too broad of a stroke of the mighty pen. Of course, even though he/she claims not to be "...part of the charade", the characteristic need to engage in pejoritive name calling seems to have been over-powering; OOPS!
"NavyWings", of course, appears to be that of which you speak, to a fault. Thankfully he took time to capitalize the word truth, in deference, I must suppose, to the cognizant dissonance you so eruditely describe at the onset. As an ex U.S Navy pilot myself, I find this penchant for revisionism and jingoistic rhetoric beneath the calling.
Thanks again for your unwavering adherence to ethical journalism, and for being willing to speak truth to power.

Fri Feb 27, 03:12:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

The First Anonymous and Navywings appear to be in that everlasting 33% (or thereabouts) who persist in believing and perpetrating the Republican lies exposed so neatly here (though by no means fully) in Robert Parry's article.

I say 33% because that was always just about the nadir of GWB's positive ratings until the very end, when he lost another 7 or 8 percent of his blindly partisan base.

A recent poll has 34% of Americans wishing to do nothing to investigate the (by now obvious) crimes of Bush Administration officials.

In light of all the lies, and the obviousness of the lies, I can only suppose that this 33% or so will always be with us, refusing to see, or just so gullible that they CANNOT see, real truth. Or perhaps it's just that they can't admit it? I often believe that is actually the case with die-hard Republicans. (Use to be a Grand Old Party, but now? Gee.)

In any case, I am so glad that Robert Parry, Amy Goodman, Jason Leopold, Jeremy Scahill and other journalists are out there actually striving to find the truth beneath the layers of lies and cover-ups. (Remember Bob Woodward? Who got to HIM?)

The embarrassment! I've never understood how, for example, Bush and Cheney could, without outright blushing, face the cameras and repeat the lies even the day after the report came out, after millions of dollars worth of research and investigation, that there had been no connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Quaeda.

"The reason I say there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Queda is that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Quaeda."

Yes, both Arabic, but beyond THAT connection? Hussein was staunchly secular and he despised and feared Bin Ladin and Al Quaeda.

Recently I heard someone who described himself as a staunch Republican asserting that GWB knew that the WMD had been secreted by the Iraqis into Iran (of all ridiculous ideas since Iraq and Iran have been mortal enemies for so long, and had even been using WMD on each other!) but that Bush couldn't admit to that because then he would have had to invade Iran.

Quack???

Where on earth did THAT idea come from? This guy was too stupid to come up with it on his own. Is it a new Rush Limbaugh truism?

Well, for right now, at least we have a good solid majority who have finally seen through the lies, are finally looking for change in government, resolution, and accountability.

We just must be alert always to the new lies as they come forward, and we know they will.

I think it was Thomas Jefferson who first said, "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance," but then John Birch took the quote as his own. From either direction, it is very very true.

Bob Locke

Fri Feb 27, 03:34:00 PM 2009
racom said...

Great write up Robert, to answer your question, can we trust the republicans, in a word, NO. They are so accustomed to getting away with their made up reality that it has turned into an addiction. They are far from coming to terms with their 'out of touch' policies or rhetoric. It is so bad I have a standard label I post, the 'vote against America' party. If the citizens are actually awakening to the hard realities of how partisan and set in their own ways these people are maybe we can move this country in the right direction again. I do have to defend some republican governors who have come out recently to do what is neccessary to fix this country. They then have to defend themselves against their own party. What a farce.

Fri Feb 27, 04:22:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

It should be remembered that nearly all media outlets are owned by corporations which are primarily Repugnant supporters. The reporters, writers, and editors know where their futures lie.

Sat Feb 28, 05:10:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

The Republicans cannot be trusted because they have show us that they will use any power they are given to get more power and to try to prevent losing any powers they have. They spent a good six years (while in full control) trying to bring us FASCISM IN OUR TIME and will now never quit trying, having seen how close they came to getting their desired Authoritarian State in so short a time.

The "Neocons" (them plus the ever-hanging-on military-industrial players) did 9/11 - there's little doubt of that by now, and that's the LIE they want us to live with: we need to combat "them" by sacrificing our civil liberties. There is no "them"; 9/11 was a HOAX, where the supposed terrorists were taken for as much a ride by the Neocons as the American Public was. They were walked through their preparations and protected from interference until we had video showing them boarding. But at least two of three planes that hit anything were NOT CIVILIAN AIRLINERS and there is VIDEO EVIDENCE OF THIS FACT!!

No, the Republicans cannot be trusted any more than Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could be trusted. That party needs to be destroyed permanently and the way to do that is to get a GOOD and THOROUGH reinvestigation of 9/11.

The Democrats cannot be trusted either. They're the ones who watched Fascists try to dismantle the country and did nothing, pretending that the media wouldn't let them (or some similar fiction.) They did nothing to Impeach Bush or Cheney with facts on the table to do so and polls showing a majority of Americans in favor. They are the other side of the Fascist coin: they are the enablers, who know the stories to tell to make their inaction seem plausible.

We cannot afford any more Republicans in any "executive branch" - President of the nation of Governor of any State. The Democrats can only be trusted once (a) they have the majority to do so and (b) they enact campaign finance reform legislation that really does get money out of politics. Until then, remember that the Republicans EQUAL Fascists - but that the Democrats EQUAL Mr. Quisling, who run Norway in behalf of the Nazis.

You should reregister as Indepedent and NEVER vote for a Republican again; but look for progressives to vote for and don't vote for the Democrats either, until they apologize for failing to defend this country from its domestic enemies.

BTW: Ron Paul the Libertarian sounds no better to me than any other Republican so far as a FEMINIST is concerned; he doesn't believe in the International Criminal Court or even the U.N. He's just another "Randian self-reliance" anti-community opportunist. I think Mike Gravel had better ideas than Paul and none of his stupid ones.

Taxes are fine and laws are fine. We should make sure both serve all the people well, rather than arguing that taxes and laws are themselves somehow the "problem". Only a Republican/Neocon/Fascist/Libertarian/Unthinking-idiot attacks the concept of Government itself as the reason for the current government to be doing poorly.

It's the uneducated citizens, Stupid! The ones our press has lied to for forty years: liberals bad, liberalism bad, compassion bad; greed very good and the reason for life, and your leaders would never lie to you, etc.

-Eric Dynamic
Berkeley, California

Sat Feb 28, 05:11:00 PM 2009
libhom said...

Now that Obama has broken his promise on ending the Iraq war the same way he broke his promise on FISA, I don't trust him much more than the Republicans.

Sat Feb 28, 07:46:00 PM 2009
Anonymous said...

"Public incredulity also was a common reaction to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Republican response…"

Of course all they want is the power back. They've even said it in responses they make such as, "wait til 2010 and 2012…"
Even the Bush "P" nephew is out politicizing his real estate job with partisan speech-making.

BTW, I like the story about Bobby Jindal's not-real name –Bobby– he self-adopted it up from a Brady Bunch TV show. His real name is Piyush.
This from Wikipedia:
"Jindal's nickname ("Bobby") dates back to his school days; according to Jindal, "Every day after school, I'd come home and I'd watch The Brady Bunch. And I identified with [chose] Bobby, you know? He was about my age, and 'Bobby' stuck."[5] He has been known by his self-adopted nickname ever since—as a civil servant, politician, student, and writer—though legally his name remains Piyush Jindal."

Mon Mar 02, 02:44:00 PM 2009

Post a Comment