(UPDATED) Why The Republicans’ Class Warfare Tactics Will Come Back To Haunt Them
There is something comical, even farcical, to the reaction of the oligarchs and their congressional and news media helpmates to the growing Occupy Wall Street protests, which have laid bare the reality that our so-called democratic system is rigged to benefit the wealthiest 1 percent at the sacrifice of the other 99 percent.
The protests will be a failure as a means of ironing out the perversities in the system, which is much too powerful to be pushed back by a bunch of smelly protesters, but they are a huge consciousness raising tool that have begun to drawn in more and more ordinary Americans (as opposed to out of work college graduates) and perhaps the start of a counter-balance to the Tea Party movement and a belated national conservation about how the power elites have come to rule our lives.
The reaction of Washington Post columnist George Will and House majority leader Eric Cantor to the protests is sadly typical.
Will, while not addressing the protests directly, goes off on Elizabeth Warren, the consumer champion and U.S. Senate candidate for Massachusetts, for having the temerity to state that nobody in the U.S. got rich on their own.
Strong stuff, but Warren makes that case by noting that thriving entrepreneurs move their goods on the roads the rest of us paid for, they hire workers that the rest of us paid to educate, and whose factories are protected by police and firefighters also paid for by the rest of us. To which I would add whose financial institutions were bailed out by the rest of us.
Warren has obviously touched a raw nerve and Will yet again finds himself out of touch with contemporary realities — like an aging pitcher who won’t admit that he’s lost his stuff and go quietly in the night — by accusing her of being “a pyromaniac in a field of straw men.”
Cantor has joined the chorus in denouncing the Occupy Wall Street “mobs” that have taken over Zuccotti Park in Manhattan and city halls and malls elsewhere, accusing them of . . . are you ready for this? Class warfare.
The House majority leader symbolizes more than any other Republican the moral rot at the heart of today’s GOP, and as the Occupy Wall Street protests have spread leading Democratic figures, although not the president himself, are embracing the movement as a way to draw voters angry over a political system that rewards the rich to the party. (Oh, and Ben & Jerry’s has announced its support for the protests but it’s unclear what flavor that solidarity should come in.)
President Obama has sent up to Capitol Hill a jobs creation bill that by any measure is modest but at least begins to address the major reason that the aftereffects of the Bush Recession linger, but Cantor says he won’t even allow the bill to come up for a vote.
Main Street is in deep distress, Wall Street is sipping the champagne of record profits and it still is more important to Cantor and his ilk to be obstructionist than actually help the president govern, a tactical decision that they will come to regret next November 6 when the votes are counted.
This is because while there is anger out there toward Obama, the contrast between the party’s stances on helping the middle class, not to mention the poor, elderly and infirm, could not be more striking, and while a lot of us are pissed off even more of us have retained some perspective. And compassion.
At this point Mitt Romney would seem to be the only Republican presidential wannabe capable of taking on Obama and he has crafted a clever stump speech blaming him for the nation’s economic woes.
Romney of course fails to mention that it was during the Bush-Cheney interregnum that the wheels came off the cart with tax cuts for the rich while two expensive wars were being fought and the regulation of Wall Street became virtually nonexistent.
Expect Obama to set the record straight early and often, and while avoiding a lurch to the left will endlessly point out the morally indefensible hypocrisy of the Cantors who value economic inequality and profits over people.
22 Responses to “(UPDATED) Why The Republicans’ Class Warfare Tactics Will Come Back To Haunt Them”
Quite reminds me of the responce to the tea parties start and the reaction to it.
EEllis:
Yes and no. Yes because comparisons are inevitable and no because, despite the histrionics of the Cantors, the reaction from liberals to the Tea Party was much more strident than the reaction to date to the protesters from conservatives.
Reps are still suffering from their immigration policy. They basically lost the hispanic votes because of their own stupidity. Just think…all of the catholic social conservatives waiting to vote Rep, but then that whole “kickem out” thing passed the House and that was all she wrote.
I still have to wonder how seniors are going to vote this cycle. Reps basically tried to kill them off with the Ryan plan…wonder if that will make a difference in their loyalty or if they are just too hardwired.
@ Shannon Republicans are not planning on getting the votes of Latinos, or Seniors which is why they are passing hundreds of laws to prevent people from voting period.
Of course Warren hit a nerve. These folks would never have acheived thier wealth without the middle classes, but in this age of economic disparity they aren’t particularly anxious for that truth to be aired.
The Tea party is a Commercial. It can spring up with new actors anytime the production gets funding.
The occupiers are a movement. There is no telling how long it will last or if it goes away, will it come back again…nobody can know.
I would suggest that if nothing is done, and that which fueled the occupiers to act is not corrected, then these demonstrations will return and grow.
@Allen: I hope to God that you’re right.
Romney of course fails to mention that it was during the Bush-Cheney interregnum that the wheels came off the cart with tax cuts for the rich while two expensive wars were being fought and the regulation of Wall Street became virtually nonexistent.
Such a mean-spirited reminder Shaun. You should know by now that it’s “hateful” to remind those on the right about the gross contributions their tribal leaders have made to the crisis.
Allen:
Wishful thinking.
The great good that came come out of the protests is consciousness raising, which in turn can further cement Obama’s position in running for re-election and perhaps win the Democrats a few House seats.
There is no chance whatsoever of series Wall Street reforms in the short term. This is because:
* Wall Street does nothing better than make ungodly sums of money. A close second is finding ways to get around existing regulations.
* While some Democrats are speaking out in support of the protests, Wall Street gives lavishly to both parties and many Democrats are wary of biting the hand that feeds them come election time.
All bets might be off if Obama is indeed re-elected and he grows the You Know Whats to seriously crack down on the banksters and other financial market thugs.
Let me add, as I have a couple times in the recent past, that I actually kind of miss some of the contrarians who were reliably ready to do verbal fisticuffs with many of my political posts but got themselves exiled.
It would be interesting to see what kinds of defenses they could mount for Wall Street and the GOP given the indefensible conduct of both parties.
Warren reminds me a little of an over educated and smarter version of Bachman. Nobody made it on their own because they used the same road, paid for by taxpayers, that she used to walk seven miles to school, in the snow, and in July.
I guess, Steve jobs was very fortunate because his parents could afford a garage for him to work in.
“I actually kind of miss some of the contrarians who were reliably ready to do verbal fisticuffs with many of my political posts but got themselves exiled.”
I miss them too and think it’s a pity they weren’t capable of controlling thier own behavior. It would seem that accountability stills exists in some quarters.
Maybe those that were silent about their being exiled at the time could have said something. Maybe next time, I know.
It certainly was livelier, more like the wild west.
Actually, Reps were lined up to get quite a few Hispanic votes…religion before politics. Just look at the gay rights prop in California…all of those blacks and Hispanics that vote D, voted for a socially conservative policy.
all I know is this… I have two grandmothers, both normally vote Rep. One will vote D this cycle because of Rep policies. The other will vote R because the chainmail she receives from her church friends tell her that Obama tried to get rid of Medicare.
This is an email she once forwarded to me..
“Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama’s deficit
commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he
compared “Social Security” to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.”
funny…they left out the fact that Alan is a Republican…
dduck:
You quack me up. Comparing Warren to Bachmann is like comparing Meryl Streep to Paris Hilton.
Oh, and that wasn’t Jobs’ parents garage. It was in the home of his business partner partner Steve Wozniak.
Good catch, Shaun. I guess you are not the only one that can refract the facts. Jobs was lucky his friend had a garage his parents owned.
Wow, changes everything.
Warren is an egghead, we don’t need any more. Give me Meryl Streep, then, they’re both blonds.
dduck:
Yes, we don’t need deep thinkers in Congress. There already are so many intelligent people there which certainly underlines all of the accomplishments in this Congress.
@DDuck
In a previous post you liked my mention of Teddy Roosevelt and his Progressive movement in Republican circles. Now I don’t think TR was an idiot, more of an egghead like Warren.
Rudi, you lost me. TR an egghead? He was a bull (or bear) in a china shop, unless you are just pulling my leg.
I mentioned him, previously, to make the snarky point that he refused the Nobel Prize while in office, while Obama didn’t. But then again Obama didn’t kill a whole lot of innocent animals and charge up hills, not even Capitol Hill.
Warren might be an egghead, but she is also a powerful advocate for the middle class and consumers. And we DO need more of those in office.
So is Obama, and how effective has he been?
She would probably propose some more regulations. That will make some people happy.
TR was both a bull and an egghead. His bibliography: http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/research/biblioworks.htm
Just one of his books: http://www.amazon.com/Oliver-Cromwell-Theodore-Roosevelt/dp/0548116245
We need more Susan Warrens. She ought to be running as an Independent. The Repub Wall Street’ers hate her, and Obama pushed her away because the Dem’s who have taken millions from Wall Street’ers, along with their Repub counterparts, were catching some heat from their benefactors.
All Susan wants to do is turn Wall Street into a fair game; not one that is rigged in favor of the house. She mentions hedging and the derivitives markets as the two places that need the most oversight. I couldn’t agree with her more.
The protesters are not all liberals. There are moderates and indies mixed in there, too. Even though we aren’t out their waving homemade banners, there are many of us who support Wall Street reforms as a place to start.
If you don’t want to camp out in the cold, go to http://www.getmoneyout.com/ and sign up. This movement has wings and is being pushed by Dylan Ratigan on MSNBC. We need a constitutional amendment to outlaw out of control campaign spending and vote buying.
With the rich getting richer; the poor poorer; and the middle class smaller, there ought to be a ground swell of support for getting this amendment in place.