On a day when pirates were attacking, both from Somalia and from Washington, D.C., the President finally trotted out the long promised new puppy, named “Bo.” Bo is a charmer and will be front and center for many a color story we suspect.
The Republicans were out in force on the Sunday talk shows telling the President not to be too hesitant in going after the guys who picked up the captain from one of our merchant marine ships. At the approximate time the Neocon-GOP clown colony was talking, three American snipers were knocking off three of the pirates with three shots. At night. On rolling seas. Wow.
Newt Gingrich was all about the problem with pirates. He wanted to know what this President was going to do and how were we going to solve this. Then Dr. Paul Krugman pointed out that this problem, compared to all shipping that goes on around the world on a daily basis, is a mere drop in the bucket. Only Krugman did it with something approaching quantification. Deadly. For the rest of the program, Gingrich opened almost every sentence with, “As Dr. Krugman says….” Newt needs some new ideas.
The Neocon-Republicans were out in force on the military budget, which is being re-arranged by Secretary Robert Gates. Even though it may be the largest budget since World War II for weapons and management of the services, and deals with a war that is now more expensive than Viet Nam, the Republicans screamed in agony over a mere 4% increase. Gates wants to take advantage of new technology to fight new targest such as smaller, more flexible terrorist-type groups. The Republicans want to fight another land war in Europe. Of course the Republicans were not good at fighting a war in Iraq or finishing a war in Afghanistan, were against the brief and overwhelmingly successful Bosnia campaign, remain tongue-tied when you bring up North Korea and leave the room if you discuss China or Russia. But they are willing to spend every other dollar of this year’s budget for less security than we have had since before 9/11.
The other item that has the Neocon-Republicans running around and giggling is their absurd attempt to create a groundswell of activity against the President’s economic program. Fox News and others and organizers among the Neocons have been hanging their tiny hats on the idea that a “Boston Tea Party” simulation in various venues across the country will stimulate interest in their one constant idea: more tax breaks for the rich.
It may be that the Neocon-Republicans, at some point down on K-Street signed some kind of document that said that whatever remnants of the Party were still around by this date would continue to work for the same old employers…the extremely wealthy, the financial community, the Chamber of Commerce and the major oil, healthcare and remaining manufacturing lobbyists.
What other reason could there be for doing it? They look ridiculous with these farcical, so-called tea parties. The people aren’t fooled. The Neocon-Republicans are not against giving money to rich bankers. They voted against the first TARP, many of them, because they were so scared by the economic downturn and by the last election they couldn’t vote for it. They had to go out of their way to show their constituents that they could do at least one thing that appeared to be for the middle class. They are the ones who spent us into an $11 trillion debt and the current financial crisis. So they’ve got no problem wasting or allowing the theft of taxpayers’ money.
These little tea parties of the well-heeled and the local branches of the national lobbyist groups will be a joke at every water cooler by the time April is over. By that time the Neocon-Republicans will have come up with several more stunts to make up for the fact that they have no programs for average Americans. They are the Party of big business, big oil, big medical, big financial. That is where they get their money and those are the people for whom they write legislation. All the tea in China won’t change that.