There are only two countries that have child poverty rates over 20% in the developed world: Romania and the United States.
USA! USA!
"
One would think an explicit conspiracy by a sitting governor to remove lawful voters from the rolls in a rather obvious fashion would be a “scandal.”
But that’s not how things work.
"— Atrios, calling it like it is. Regarding this.
My god, look at all the runaway spending! SO MUCH SPENDING! Except for that last guy. Who is that guy?
(source: WSJ MarketWatch)
Every time I hear Republicans cry out their ‘theory’ that lower taxes creates jobs, and that letting the Bush tax cuts expire would devastate the world, and that Republican policies create more jobs than Democrat’s policies, I always think to myself, “It’s not a theory. There’s actual data. The Bush tax cuts have been in effect for over 10 years. There are real results, real records that can be consulted.”
American Exceptionalism
There seem to be quite a lot of people, mostly on the right, that think that America is just the greatest, coolest, super-est country in the history of the world. Any criticism of America from someone like Obama means he doesn’t like America, wants to change it, apologizes for it, thinks it’s bad.
These people do not seem to realize that while the bedrock of this country is pretty good, you have to keep working to stay exceptional. We’re not in some static snapshot of history. This isn’t 1945, where we just ended the Depression, won the war, and ruled the world. These people seem to think that because we’re American, anything we do we’re number one at, from the start. That’s not the case. You have to work at it, constantly.
Al Franken once said something like this is one of his books:
Republicans love the country like a four-year old loves his/her mother: she’s giant and awe-inspiring and beautiful and can do no wrong. Liberals love the country like a life partner: loved enough to want to stay with for a lifetime, but a commitment like that takes constant work, give-and-take, and compromise.
You have to make America great by keeping it great, not just saying it.
"Unfortunately, a lot of young folks haven’t had the opportunity to really understand how the economy works, and what it takes to put people to work in real jobs, and why we have banks, and what banks do."
—
Mitt Romney, referring to the people protesting Bank of America. Maybe he’s giving up on the youth vote, because this seems juuuuuust a tad condescending.
(source: HuffPost)
"
If anyone had any idea what they were doing, they wouldn’t be warning Spain about Teh Deficit as if it was something that existed in isolation, they’d be warning Spain about their ZOMG YOU HAVE TWENTY FUCKING FIVE PERCENT UNEMPLOYMENT.
But, no, it’s Teh Deficit. Keep destroying the economy until the confidence fairy makes it disappear somehow . The mechanism isn’t exactly clear.
"— Paul Krugman’s columns may say it with more detail, but sometimes the only words you need are the ones Atrios always seems to find.
"We have before us a challenge to remove an ideologue unlike anything world history has ever witnessed or recognized."
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From a Republican Party newsletter in Greene County, Virginia. Just another example that the Obama they think they’re running against is not the actual Obama that’s governed for three-plus years.
Also, this same newsletter goes on to suggest “armed revolution” should Obama get re-elected. Classy.
"The Fortune 500 generated a total of $824.5 billion in earnings last year, up 16.4% over 2010. That beats the previous record of $785 billion, set in 2006 during a roaring economy."
—
Clearly they’re not hiring because they don’t enough cash. Let’s cut their taxes!
(source: Daily Finance)
This last post got me to thinking. There is going to be a certain amount of disapproval when the guy you didn’t vote for gets the White House. That’s why you didn’t vote for him (or her, someday).
The frustrating thing these days is this. With Bush, everyone seemed to agree on what he was doing: waging war in Iraq, using “enhanced interrogation” on “suspected terrorists”, firing US Attorneys, and wiretapping phones without a warrant. The debate wasn’t whether he’d done these things, but whether he had the “right”, or was right, in doing them.
Today, the Obama that the right-wing is so up in arms against is very often not the actual Obama. Higher taxes? No, lowest taxes in decades. Increased government? No, massive government cuts. Anti-business? No, great private sector gross and trillions in cash held by corporations. Coming after your guns? Not a gun regulation to be seen. “Death panels?” Nope, just end-of-life counseling. He hasn’t done much of anything the far-right accuses him of doing. The debate is no longer whether his policies are working, the debate is what his policies are.
Much of this can be blamed on the media, who continue with the “Shape of Earth: Views Differ” horserace, where the debate is the news: “Democrats say it’s 75 and sunny. Republicans disagree, claiming it’s 31 and snowing. Now to sports.”
But it’s also an innate difference between the right and the left. The left often disagrees with the right’s policies. The right disagrees that the left should even exist. So Clinton was impeached for lying about a blowjob, and may or may not have killed Vince Foster. Obama is a tax-and-spend Muslim socialist from Kenya. But god help you if you disparage or even disagree with Bush. That’s treason.
