Mondo Bizarro-The Republican Clown Car

If there wasn't so much talk about political violence on the edges of the Republican scene and so much hyperbole over Obama's alleged Marxism and his so-called desire to amass political power, the Republicans would provide much needed amusement for a nation on the brink of a Depression. Yesterday, the House leadership--if that's what they are--unveiled to the amusement of the assembled reporters and almost everyone in the media a counter-budget that lacked any numbers or figures. To make matters worse, they promised to release the "real" real thing on April 1, providing the headline for the story.

The so-called budget emphasized lowering the top marginal rate for taxes to 25%, thus providing the precise people who got us into this mess another windfall in profits. The energy platform was a recycled version of Drill, Baby, Drill without any sense of irony. The new found Republican concern for deficits called for the reform of Medicaid and Medicare without a healthcare reform plan of their own. On further bailouts the document promises" No Mas" but John Boehner told the press, "Well, maybe.", thus stepping on one of the few principled stances in the document.

The end result was that the Republicans were the Not-For-Prime-Time players. Michael Steele says that the "time for reflection" among Republicans is over. It's clear that like Lucy they have alot of 'xplaining to do. Republicans can not be credible on the issue of deficits--although that is a valid issue--because of their almost joyous embrace of them under both Reagan and Bush II. They can only go to the tax-cut well so many times before--and the time is now--that old warhorse needs to be put out to pasture. And cutting entitlements put them back into the old mode of their days wanting to eliminate social security.

The Senate leadership was AWOL when it came to attending the White House's announcement of a new policy toward Afghanistan, a war which the Republicans started and one in which they would at least pretend some interest. Eric Cantor, who always campaigns on family values,missed President Obama's press conference to attend his own fund-raiser at the local Birtney Spears concert, which features a little S&M parody that I'm sure would go down well with the values set.

The disconnect gets worse. Newt Gingrich returned to Fox News to warn about Barack Obama's power grab and the threat posed by "liberal fascism". What would make this somewhat credible is if conservatives had demonstrated some resistance to the Bush Administration's embrace of a constitutional doctrine which gave the President powers analogous to the PRI Governments in Mexico and the Third Reich. Only Bruce Fein ever challenged the Bush Administration on its despotism, the remaining conservatives fell for the Cheney line hook, line and sinker. That Newt focuses on President Obama as the power-seeker is laughable.

The week has seen episodes of silliness. Michelle Bachmann,a right-wing Republican from Minnesota, proclaimed several times the need for a revolution in America to preserve our freedom. Glenn Beck, the Morman libertarian, raised the pithy point that Obama uses the teleprompter alot--sort of like all other Presidents--and wondered who puts the words on it. The fact that Obama is the first President since Reagan to actually write his speeches doesn't phase these people. Beck believes Obama is the Manchurian candidate. I guess John McCain is finally off the hook. Karl Rove, destroyer of all worlds, has been omnipresent on television claiming that President Obama believes "repeating a falsehood all the time makes it true." Karl should know that's been his whole life, including his peak performance orchestrating the issue of WMDs in Iraq. Now veteran neocons Bob Kagan and Bill Kristol have created a new think and will host a seminar on How to Win in Afghanistan led by "We can muddle through" John McCain. John 's sidekick Joe The Plumber is campaigning around the country against efforts by unions to get the Employee Choice act passed. Not a Joe or a plumber, he's managed to rouse the outrage of real plumbers, who do want real unions. The cartoon quality of these antics is too rich.

Meanwhile, the Queen of the North, Sarah Palin spoke this week about her inability on the McCain campaign to find some to pray with. She politely avoided mentioning that Mark Salter looked and acted like the Devil. Michael Steele also had the God vibe when he said he would run for President if God told him to. Remember it was W who introduced this meme to all Republican candidates. Ike won't be caught dead talking about his religion.

All one can conclude is that the Congressional Republicans need to replace their entire leadership without exception if they are going to have any credibility in the future. The present gang are all accomplices in the debacle of the Bush years. If they need an issue--and I think they need many--, they might try rebuilding our manufacturing base--an ideology called Neo-Industralism. Oddly enough, the only Republican in recent memory to raise this as an issue was the retired congressman Duncan Hunter, who received less than 1% in the presidential primaries.

The Republicans will spend light-years in the wilderness if they keep neglecting to address real social needs--stripped of the pseudo-God and values talk. If their plans for healthcare do not extend coverage in the United States and lower costs, then they will stand as they are right now as the Party of the Rich and the Corporations. It may have been a natural evolution or dissolution but the party once pretended to support small businesses and the Middle Class, instead of Theocrats and Plutocrats.

The Republicans need serious time for self-reflection and self-criticism. Flaming the nativist elements in society is just raising the specter of violence and further ugliness. It's one of the main reasons Colin Powell came out against his friend John McCain and backed Barack Obama because the McCain campaign rallies revealed the dark smell of the paranoid.