LF: Why the GOP Aims to Sink the Economy

"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself."
~ Mark Twain ~

If our economy was the RMS Titanic, Republicans would be like an ambitious first mate, so eager to seize power from the captain that he steers the ship of state into an iceberg, thinking he'll take over when the captain goes down with the ship. Republicans have forgotten — or no longer care — they're on the boat too, and they're working very hard to ensure that the country will be nearly ungovernable should they succeed in seizing the reins of government.

If it seems like the White House is arranging deck chairs on the Titanic, the GOP is busy measuring the the captain's quarters for drapes, even as the ocean pours in. And the tea party orchestra plays on, with just one song on the playlist — "Under the Sea."

You can take your pick for the moment the GOP noticably went off the rails. I have two favorites: when it fell to Peggy Noonan to be the Republicans' voice of reason following Sarah Palin's VP nomination, and when David Brooks warned the GOP that it "may no longer be a normal party". Together, they're the political equivalent of Courtney Love showing up at your intervention and Charlie Sheen offering you a ride to rehab. But this Republican party isn't likely to heed such sane voices as Noonan and Brooks, and would just as soon throw them overboard.

The defining moment, as Carl Pope points out, is one that shows how disturbingly deep the GOP's current brand of crazy (that Noonan, Books and others are just noticing) runs, and how far back it goes.

Paul Krugman last week argued that commentators who are suddenly lamenting the "insanity" of the Republican Party are culpable, because they didn't call the craziness out when it began to surface. He's right, in the sense that the American Right began to unmoor itself from reality long before the Tea Party, or even Barack Obama's nomination. One of the lamentably ignored alarm bells came with an "undisclosed" Bush administration official who dismissed his opponents in 2002 on the grounds they were "reality based."
By that he meant "people who believe solutions emerge from study of discernible reality." The aide went on that "that's not the way the world works anymore. We're an empire, and when we act, we create our own reality."
While these comments generated a certain amount of mockery in the blogosphere, most political, economic, and media leaders shrugged it off. The obvious resonance with Fascist theories -- that "will" creates truth, rather than truth being an external reality to be determined -- alarmed far too few.

While GOP confidence in the ability of imperial "will" to reshape the politics and cultures of Iraq and Afghanistan has dimmed over the past nine years, the scope of their ambition has merely grown. Most recently the Right appears to believe that its desires can reshape the global bond markets, so that a U.S. default would become simply "short term volatility."

There have been other moments, and debt deal debacle has spawned some real jaw-droppers — like Sen. John McCain, fresh from blaming Arizona's forest fires on illegal immigrants — calling the GOP's game of chicken on the debt limit "foolish" and "bizarre." One that was brought to my attention this morning, was former Club For Growth vice president, Sen. Pete Toomey's interview with CNN's Ali Velshi.

OK. Let's just stop right there, shall we? Notice that there is no hesitation on Toomey's part when Velshi asks whether it would be worth it to close a few corporate tax loopholes to avoid default and the immediate cessation of about 40% of government spending. He says, "No," without even pausing to think about it. If the GOP's and the tea party's corporate funders can't keep their tax loopholes wide open, there's no deal.

Just to prove he's a reasonable man, Toomey proposed a partial shutdown that would keep Social Security checks and military paychecks flowing while everything else gets zeroed out. (I'm guessing this is the Michelle Bachmann legislation, which basically empowers the federal government to squeeze blood from turnips.) But it's not until you look at a list of what Toomey and the rest of his caucus are would rather see come to pass that you get a look at how deep this goes. Kevin Drum posted just such a list (borrowed from Megan McArdle) at Mother Jones.

Rule of Disinformation #15. Fit the facts to alternate conclusions. This requires creative thinking unless the crime was planned with contingency conclusions in place.

Rule of Disinformation #20. False evidence. Whenever possible, introduce new facts or clues designed and manufactured to conflict with opponent presentations as useful tools to neutralize sensitive issues or impede resolution. This works best when the crime was designed with contingencies for the purpose, and the facts cannot be easily separated from the fabrications.

Rule of Disinformation #18. Emotionalize, Antagonize, and Goad Opponents. If you can’t do anything else, chide and taunt your opponents and draw them into emotional responses which will tend to make them look foolish and overly motivated, and generally render their material somewhat less coherent. Not only will you avoid discussing the issues in the first instance, but even if their emotional response addresses the issue, you can further avoid the issues by then focusing on how “sensitive they are to criticism”.

You NEVER come up with anything original, always relying on the same DISINFO methods.

You wear rose-colored glasses... And ANYBODY that interferes with your delusions is to be attacked.

In other news, it seems middle-aged women from 40-69 are increasingly committing suicide... a bump of something like 48%!

In other news, it seems middle-aged women from 40-69 are increasingly committing suicide... a bump of something like 48%!

Having another conversation with your OTHER screen name, in a vain attempt to bolster yourself?

Let's see....both you and Murron act like you are perennially on the rag for one, while always trying to out shout other posters in extra large fonts rather than present a reasoned argument for two. And you both Bozo others quite readily for three. And seem to have almost the exact same opinion on every issue for four and even use many of the same nasty phrases for five, and wish posters to commit suicide for six. Yep... it's entirely possible.

I forgot to add they are both totally lacking in the recognition of any insight into their own personal behavior, for seven.

I also think it's a hoot that Honda and byeltsin are now posting some of the same photoshopped pictures with the same captions.