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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 7/1/11

The Not-So-Loyal Opposition

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(originally published at The link to this flash video was removed for security reasons , TPM reported:

In a Capitol press conference Wednesday, the Senate's top Democrats argued that Republicans don't want to pass measures like a temporary payroll tax holiday for employers because they'll improve President Obama's re-election chances.

"Our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate are driven by putting one man out of work: President Obama," said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The harshest denunciation came from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the man who crafted the Dems' new "jobs first" message.

"We are also open to hiring incentives, perhaps in the form of a payroll tax cut for employers that was floated by the administration.... [T]hat might not be our first choice, that shows how willing we are to work with the Republicans to create jobs. It's pro-business, it's a tax cut, and many Republicans have been for it in the past. But now all of a sudden they're coming out against it,"

Steve Benen reacted, in The 'sabotage' question goes mainstream,

E.J. Dionne Jr. inched pretty close to it last week, noting that Republicans "have no interest" in working on job creation because "Republicans benefit if the economy stays sluggish." Kevin Drum wondered whether this will ever be "a serious talking point," adding, "No serious person in a position of real influence really wants to accuse an entire party of cynically trying to tank the economy, after all."

Michael Tomasky takes the point a step further at The Daily Beast, in The GOP vs. Democracy, writing:

It's about time the Democrats started saying openly what has been clear for months or even years now--that as long as economic recovery would work to the political benefit of Barack Obama, the Republicans have been, are, and will be in favor of sabotaging the economy.

[. . .] Today's GOP is about ideological maximalism on all fronts. ... They cannot negotiate, because negotiating means accepting something you don't like, which the noise machine will not permit. And worse, because the noise machine wants Obama to fail and is so powerful, Republican office-holders inevitably arrive at that point too. ... they hide their political motives behind rhetoric about the deficit. It's high time the Democrats started pulling back the curtain.

Wrecking Ball Long-term

On the longer term, Republican radicals are advocating "a wrecking ball agenda" that cuts the very things that made us prosperous: infrastructure, education, scientific research as well as the things the define us as a caring people and enable all of us to pursue our dreams: retirement security, health care and a social safety net. The cuts mean lower taxes for the wealthy and less supervision of the practices of their giant corporations. Privatization of public wealth and functions means a wealthy few benefit and receive economic gain instead of We, the People.

At Netroots Nation Van Jones talked about this conservative wrecking crew, calling them "dream killers, who have a wrecking ball agenda for our country. A wrecking ball for America. But they painted that wrecking ball red, white and blue." At the launch of the Rebuild The Dream movement, Jones said,

Look at their great leader, Grover Norquist. This guy, he has proudly said on the record that he wants to shrink America's Government down to the size that he can drown it in a bathtub, he wants to drown America's Government in a bathtub... who talks like that?

Who, who even thinks like that? That is not a very patriotic statement sir...

But their contempt for America's Government perfectly matches their plan for the American people. Paul Ryan's budget would knock out more critical American infrastructure that our sworn enemies ever dreamed of knocking out. These massive cuts wouldn't just kill Medicare, as the states and cities adjusted to all that, states and cities would wind up sitting down first responders.

First Priority Is Not The Country - It Is Getting Rid Of Obama

As Obama took office and began to try to address the economic emergency, conservative leader Rush Limbaugh voiced Republican hopes for party-over-country, saying,"I hope Obama fails."

Last year Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell echoed Limbaugh, explaining Republican priorities: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Again just last week explained why Republicans are sabotaging jobs and economic recovery, saying,

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Dave has more than 20 years of technology industry experience. His earlier career included technical positions, including video game design at Atari and Imagic. He was a pioneer in design and development of productivity and educational (more...)
 

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