Unhinged Republicans Completely Abandon Reality With Latest Sequester Lies

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There are occasions that a person relates a story that is purely imaginary, or seemingly so remarkable as to elicit disbelief that one may question the person’s sanity, or if they are fabricating facts why they are averse to veracity. The problem with people who manufacture facts is that after one or two times being exposed as out-of-touch with reality, or after being caught lying repeatedly, is that even sympathetic folks tend to disbelieve anything the person says. Republicans and their punditry have finally gone so far off the rails to avoid any responsibility for the sequester that they are blatantly lying and revising the historical record of the past four years. Either conservatives have abandoned reality, or have just awoken from a four-year coma, because the statements they are making about President Obama are nothing short of insane, and thoroughly false.

Some well-known conservative pundits joined Republicans impugning the President’s handling of the GOP’s push for the sequester cuts to be implemented, and picked up where John Boehner left off in his desperation attempt to blame the sequester on the President. Yesterday, conservatives lashed out at the President and accused him of not reaching out to Republicans in a spirit of compromise, and that he has offered absolutely nothing in the way of a proposal to address the sequester problem or any issue throughout his first term.

Jennifer Rubin disparaged President Obama as being nothing like conservative god Ronald Reagan, and said, “Greatness comes not in lacerating your opponents but by enlisting them, something the president has been entirely incapable of doing. He has achieved virtually nothing on a bipartisan basis.” David Brooks, an allegedly moderate conservative said, “The president identifies a problem. Then he declines to come up with a proposal to address the problem. Then he comes up with a vague-but-politically-convenient concept that doesn’t address the problem. The president hasn’t actually come up with a proposal to avert sequestration;” except that the President submitted a detailed plan that required concessions from Democrats and Republicans including spending cuts and new revenue. Ron Fournier, explained that if the President were truly interested in compromise, he would exhibit true leadership and make “tough choices that would anger his liberal base far more than the president is doing now; imposing sacrifice on all voters, including the middle class; and risking his high approval ratings. The first thing that comes to mind is that an all-spending-cuts solution is not out of the question. Indeed, it’s what Obama and the country are going to get if a deal is not reached March 1.”

Fournier, unknowingly explained the Republicans’ position throughout President Obama’s first term, and it is they will hold any issue hostage until they get what they want without giving any concessions. Greg Sargent asked, “Is there anything the president could do that would get more cooperation from Republicans, aside from giving them everything they want?” The answer, and Fournier’s remedy, like all conservatives, is that the only course of action for the President is a distorted sense of compromise entailing sheer obedience to Republicans’ agenda, because one way or another, it is what the country is going to get.

First, it is stunning that conservatives have devised this parallel universe where Republicans were open to compromise, or willing to approach any issue over the past four years in a spirit of bipartisanship or cooperation for the good of the country. Perhaps they forgot that on Inauguration night 2009, Republicans conspired to obstruct any proposal from the President, and followed through throughout his entire first term including jeopardizing the full faith and credit of the United States, and earned America its first credit downgrade in history. Still, the GOP has remained resolute that unless they are granted carte blanche to impose drastic cuts to entitlements, safety nets, and domestic programs, they will cause a credit default, crash the economy, or allow sequester cuts to protect tax increases on the rich or close tax loopholes that benefit the rich and corporations. In fact, Eric Cantor said “We are faced with the negative effects of the sequester because Democrats have not been able to take even the smallest step towards controlling spending.” Pure fantasy, and totally false.

President Obama has already accepted more than $1.2 trillion in spending cuts and over $2.4 trillion in debt reduction. The deficit has been cut in half over four years; the President’s plan includes an additional $600 billion as a compromise to avoid the sequester. The debt has fallen faster than any time since the demobilization after World War II, and it caused a slowdown in GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2012. However, it is not enough for Republicans who continue trumpeting their sequester replacement cuts in the House during the 112^th Congress, and will not be satisfied until they privatize Medicare, eliminate food stamps for over a million working poor, cut school lunches, and slash Social Security. All the while, they are standing firm and willing to crash the economy in their rejection of any new revenue the American people overwhelmingly agree must be part of any debt, sequester, or deficit reduction plan. The type of plan, by the way, the President has proposed and promoted for the past four years and Republicans rejected on principle and pain of economic downturn.

The conservatives are living in fantasy land if they believe for a minute there is anything President Obama can do to “encourage” Republicans to compromise or work for the benefit of the nation’s economic health. It is important to remember, that throughout the President’s first term he was reviled by the left for caving to Republicans as he attempted to prevent a credit default or get any benefit for the people such as unemployment benefit extensions, payroll tax cuts, middle class tax cuts, and drastically necessary things like disaster relief. Republicans’ consternation now is the President is finished conceding every issue without compromise and it flummoxes conservatives that the American people are behind the President’s agenda and re-elected him with the expectation that he follow through on his promises.

Still, the President has given Republicans a plan and John Boehner said the President should pressure Senate Democrats to offer a sequester replacement plan after they offered one up. House Democrats and the Progressive Caucus also submitted replacement plans and Republicans are on hiatus complaining the President is not pushing Senate Democrats to make a replacement offer. Republicans, and their punditry, are making assertions and statements that are so far out of the realm of reality that one might think they are either insane, or pathological liars. Considering that they read the news, are contacted by the President, and actually see proposals from Democrats, they are not insane or living in a fantasy; just totally unhinged and rank liars.

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Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.