And so the rhetoric continues painting what’s going on with the federal government as some kind of massive break with the constitution, democracy and America as we know it. Just when you thought rhetoric from Republicans had not just jumped the shark but jumped the entire Sea World park in San Diego you get this:
Rep. Mary Fallin (R-Okla.) says President Obama’s budget, the details of which will be released today, is tantamount to “taxation without representation.”
In an op-ed today, Fallin argues that because Obama’s budget will result in a deficit, it amounts to a tax on future generations, who are not currently represented in Congress.
“These taxpayers, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, haven’t been born yet. So they are not being represented today,” she wrote. “That’s taxation without representation of the worst kind.”
There’s more so go to the link.
Unless someone is a registered Republican, or fan of Rush Limbaugh and other talk show hosts, this is a weak argument. The bottom line: in elections one side wins and one side loses. For 8 years the Bush administration ballooned government spending — and I am not talking about during the financial meltdown but way before last fall.
Republicans weren’t talking about future generations and taxation without representation then. Why? Because it was their “sports team” that had the ball.
Now, suddenly, it’s because it’s a different political party, much of the Republican argument is couched in terms of the sky is falling and the United States is ending rhetoric. This will keep shoring up the base, but it’s going to cost the GOP many other voters who see it for what it is: inaccurate, exaggerated political assertions that displaying simplistic judgment that won’t make many Americans feel comfortable about those candidates — or that party. Can the GOP rise again? Yes. But not unless it ditches some of the drama, and arguments that don’t hold up to scrutiny.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.