Columnist – John Sammon
The GOP, the Grand Ole’ Phony, the party of lies and liars, has perfected the twisting of facts to a new high art form.

Republicans used to be somewhat decent and reasonable people, for example Nelson Rockefeller. That was before the advent of Ronald Ray Gun and the headlong decent into reactionary dogma, zealotry, quasi pseudo-religious-political nuts, Rush, Sarah, Glenn, Ann, Sean and the rest who are currently making the party a fringe lunatic club.

In any event, to be a Republican, you have to lie, and believe in lies. You have to be the kind of person unwilling to believe the truth, but to believe what you want to believe. Or the kind of person who wouldn’t pay their rent who my former landlord used to say, “You can’t deal with people like that.”

Here are 10 principle ways Republicans lie.

  1.  Republicans don’t believe in history. How could they? To them, everything bad about the country happened on the one-year watch of Obama. Nothing bad happened before that, during the eight years of Bush. There was no previous history before Obama. Whatever Bush did wrong, it wasn’t wrong, or it didn’t happen. The American people, who gave Bush a 19 percent approval rating, knew better.

  2.  Republicans use the same crowd mentality the Nazis in Germany did. You repeat a bald-face lie over and over. For example, Obama was born in Palestine. You repeat it again and again in spite of proof to the contrary. Some people will believe it. Republicans believe in throwing figurative spaghetti on the wall. Some of the slime will stick.

  3.  Republicans love the fable they are for small government, despite the record-setting debt they piled up when they were in power, from conquering and nation building small impoverished countries at a cost of billions, wasteful over-kill weapons systems, loop-hole advantages for ruthless corporations, and farming American jobs overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. It’s pretty simple. If it’s a program to help poor Americans (health insurance) it’s traitorous socialism. If it’s a new bomb to help conquer and subdue and exploit a poor country, it’s great. Both cost money. Republicans are big spenders who act like they’re not.

  4.  Republicans believe God is a Republican. This is fueled by the exclusionism that is a big part of the party subconscious. Just like I want to keep immigrants out except for boot blacks and melon pickers, I know God and you don’t. You’re going to hell. I’m not. God is my God, not yours. God looks like Charlton Heston. He likes me, not you.

  5.  Use of tokens. Republicans are renowned for their long-held belief that women and blacks are inferior, and the use of high-profile tokens to hide it. This resulted in the barely tolerated Uncle Tom Michael Steele, the aborted misfire Bobby Jindal, and the moronic, winking (aren’t I clever?) rouge queen Palin.

  6.  Republicans are predictable. They constantly harp on how they are against government intrusion, but love wide open, laissez-faire, sky-is-the-limit-live-like-there’s-no-tomorrow benefits-trickle-down-to-the-poor free market capitalism. Just as predictably, these markets running wild and unchecked, lying, cheating, stealing from investors and rate payers, eventually destroy the system, making government watchdog regulation necessary.

  7.  Republicans preach patriotism like they do religion. They seldom serve in the military. Democrats in Congress have out-served Republicans almost two-to-one. Republicans love war. They just don’t want to get their hands dirty fighting it. Most of the time, neither do their children.

  8.  Republicans are angrier, more intolerant and prone to acts of disrespect and violence than Democrats, thus the unprecedented, disgraceful “you lie” shout made by Congressman Cretin Joe Wilson during an Obama speech. No Democrat on Capitol Hill ever yelled at Bush in eight years, though Bush did have a shoe thrown at his head by an angry Iraqi.

  9.  The Republican Party is rudderless. Proof of this is that no office holder of stature leads. There is no Dwight Eisenhower. Mis-leadership is instead provided by radio pundits and nut-cases more interested in ratings than they are in the truth.

10.  Republicans can’t adapt to changing conditions. A party that has traditionally been anti-immigrant, anti-low-income, anti-people-of-color, will find itself marginalized in a country where those categories are increasing. White Americans will make up half the population by mid-century. A majority of the Republican Party in Congress are 60-year-old white men who were brought up as children in a time when blacks were considered niggers and Mexicans spicks. Republicans will cling to the past and shrivel.

Reference: 41 Things You Have To Believe To Be A Republican Today

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Ramesh Ponnuru writes:

If Senator McCain believes that he can help to enact a plan that can stabilize the markets and lay the foundation for future growth, then suspending the campaign and going to Washington was the right thing to do.

But it is hard to see what McCain can do to help, and easy to see how his intervention could hurt. He brings, as he himself has admitted in the past, no expertise to the table. And won’t Democrats be less likely to cooperate on a plan if doing so will help make McCain be the hero of the hour?

So McCain’s move may have been a mistake on substance. It may prove to be a political mistake too: If McCain can’t bring both parties together in an economic crisis after staking so much on it, won’t voters draw adverse conclusions about his leadership ability?

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Some Reactions:

ricinro85212 — When my nephew was born (home delivery with midwife) they asked me to boil water. This way I was doing something without getting in the way. Afterall, I knew nothing about delivering babies.

JJames081 — I think McCain finally cracked. The pressure has finally got to him.

What is he going to do if he’s elected and things get tough? Suspend being president? We’ve got a guy like that now!

George Will, columnist, put it this way–yesterday: “Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama.”

I guess he knew things brewing in McCain’s camp!

Dave Letterman Reacts to McCain Suspending Campaign

| Top Ten Reasons McCain ‘Bailed’ on Letterman |

Jon Stewart – “The presidential campaign is not like
a football game where you can take a timeout.”

jackjburke — McCain’s grandstanding and insertion of presidential politics into this mess will only make it more difficult to achieve passage of legislation. A compromise was emerging before he made his big announcement. We can only hope that President Paulson tells him to butt out.

john7 — What was the campaign news of the morning when we all woke up this morning:

a) The ABC / WaPo poll showing Obama taking a clear lead nationally.

b) The revelation that Rick Davis has been taking regular payments from Fannie Mae up until last month. Essentially, McCain’s campaign director was selling access to McCain, but the candidate himself disputed that just a few days ago.

It’s clear that the McCain camp realized that they were on the brink of annihilation and had to do something dramatic. So they did. Country first? Not so much. White-knuckled terror that the campaign was getting to a point of no return? I’d say so.

dolph924 — McCain has been hemoraging support in the polls, as he should be, given that his deregulatory efforts and those of his cronies like Phil Graham are responsible for the collapse of financial institutions. He would try ANYthing to avoid more of same, just as his advertising strategy of new lies and distortions daily was designed to avoid talking about issues at all costs.

I think he will be perceived for what he is — a rash man over his head as soon as issues become complicated.

His rash pick of the unqualified Palin, his daily flip flops on economic issues and then desperate attempts to lie his way out of such matters as saying the economy was fundamentally sound the day the collapse began, his saying he would fire the SEC chairman (as if the SEC were somehow at fault as opposed to the Graham Leach Bliley bill), etc. etc. McCain has recurring anger management problems, serious memory problems, and makes decisions as if he has ADD. What a scary thought to have this guy in the White House with the completely unqualified Palin sitting on the front porch waiting for him to die.

| More Reactions |

References:

1. McCain’s Ploy — Slipping in the polls? McCain sees foreign policy as one area where he can outshine Obama. Only by rescheduling the debate after the crisis has passed can he be sure he will have his moment in the foreign policy sun.
2. McCain Loses His Head — George Will | More Articles By George Will |