If Obama were a Republican, they’d be singing his praises by now.
April 12, 2010

 
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I am NOT one of those people that thinks President Obama is a “closet Republican”, nor a full-blown Conservative. I lump people who say things like that in the same group of Tea-nuts that call President Bush “a Liberal” (yes, those people really are out there), and those who, during the 2008 presidential campaign, called Obama “THE most Liberal Senator in Congress” (while serving along side Ted Kennedy). So when I say, “if Obama were a Republican, the GOP would be comparing him to Ronald Reagan”… it is not because he is like Reagan mind you, but because of all the things he has done that Conservative think they represent.

Newsweek’s Mike Dorning reported in an article last Friday:

“If Obama was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the President.” – Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak + Co.

As the DOW is poised to break the 11,000 mark once again… up roughly 4,500 points since it bottomed out around 6,500 points in March of ’09… Republicans are in hysterics proclaiming the impending collapse of the once great United States of America.

Look at the list: He passed tax cuts despite being in the midst of two wars. The DOW has nearly doubled since bottoming out around 6,500 points thirteen months ago. The economy grew by 5.6% in the fourth quarter of last year… far better than most economists expected. Job-growth is heading towards positive territory, and he’s winding down (aka “winning” in Conservative-speak) the war in Iraq while ramping up the war in Afghanistan. He expanded crap-tastic “Romney-care” to the entire United States without a Public Option in sight (ThinkProgress has a fantastic list of PRAISE heaped upon Romney-care by the uber-Conservative Heritage Foundation, followed by quotes of them blasting “Obamacare” for doing the EXACT SAME THING), in a bill that mandates 30 million new customers to the Health Care Industry. He just signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia that continues St. Ronnie’s dream of “a nuclear free world”. He has continued many of President Bush’s most controversial extra-Constitutional policies, such as The Patriot Act, illegal wiretaps, and now strategic assassinations. And…

…who else but “The Party of Lincoln” could of brought us the first African-American president?

When Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, the economy was in miserable shape (following a trade-war with Russia where we embargoed grain over their support for Iran… devastating American farmers. And in return, Russia embargoed oil, devastating everything else) and unemployment was over 10%. Reagan then started deficit spending like there was no tomorrow (and, if you listened to his anti-Communist rhetoric, you’d be excused for thinking there wasn’t) and “rescued” the economy by strapping your grandchildren with a mountain of debt.

Yes, if President Obama were a Republican, the GOP would be comparing him (falsely) to The Gipper right about now. But they’re not. Instead, he is a “socialist, communist radical, hell-bent on destroying (what’s left of) the United States of America.”

In an interview on Fox “news” Sunday yesterday, Congresswoman Michelle “FEMA camps” Bachmann (R-Wingnuttia) proudly retracted her retraction after calling President Obama “anti-American” last year. She claimed that the U.S. government, “under Obama”, now “owns or controls 51% of the U.S. economy” due to the bailouts of Wall Street, and the “takeover” of the auto and health care industry.

Okay, first off, those three groups don’t account for 51% of the U.S. economy. Not even close. I can only guess she got that “51%” number the same place she gets all the rest of her delusional “facts”… from the equally delusional Glenn Beck. When you think of Boeing, Microsoft, Apple, Wal*Mart, McDonald’s, and the dozens of aerospace companies in the Military Industrial Complex (Grumman, McDonnell/Douglas, etc), not to mention all the Oil Companies (Exxon, et al), factory farms (eg: ADM) that make up the Fortune 500, a bunch of Wall Street brokerages and 30% of two car companies (remember, Ford decided it could survive without a loan from Uncle Sam)… and NONE of the Insurance companies (only in the cobweb infested recesses of Conservative minds does the Federal government “control” the health insurance companies), they barely account for even 8.33% of the U.S. economy ($1.5T in bailouts & stimulus divided by a 2009 GDP of $14T).

Second, if the “bailout of Wall Street” makes you “unAmerican”, then President Bush is the “unAmerican Socialist”, not Obama, since that took place under his watch, not Obama’s.

Living in Texas, I encounter Right-Wing nutters almost every day. Back in 2004, an old (very old) Republican argument from Clinton’s day resurfaced:

“EVERYBODY KNOWS that the presidents policies aren’t enacted until they leave office. Therefore, Bush Sr was responsible for the fantastic Clinton economy, and Clinton was responsible for the horrible Bush-43 economy.”

And now, we hear that same idiotic meme making a comeback. It is BUSH’S policies that are responsible for the positive economic growth we are now seeing under Obama. I enjoy pointing out to these pinheads that “if that’s the case, Carter is responsible for the economy under Reagan, and Reagan is responsible for the Recession under Bush-41.” That usually shuts them up quickly… though true zealots will go on to argue that something changed in the late 80’s so that the rule doesn’t apply before then. Riiiiiiight!

“Okay then, then there is NO WAY Obama could be responsible for “the Obama Recession” his first months in office, either, since things that happen on a Presidents watch are the result of policies enacted by his/her predecessor.”

Don’tcha just LOVE how the Republican mind works…. or doesn’t work as the case may be?

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April 12, 2010 · Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Election, myth busting, Politics, Right-Wing Insanity

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