There Really Is No Escape From Conservative Duplicity

There Christian Schneider goes again.

Another classic from the Republican playbook - Blame the Democrats for outcomes of Republican actions.

It's well known, for Republicans, that everything wrong with the world is the Democrats' fault.

In his latest blaming the Democrats for Republican measures, Schneider proclaims There Really Is No Escape From America's Liberal Politics.

Yes, those damn liberals have politicized everything!

Put aside the Southern Strategy, Republican commingling of church and state, perpetual obstructionism, shutting down the government, the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the Tea Party, and the denial of a Merrick Garland hearing, to name a few.

As Schneider declares:

There is now no segment of American society to which one may retreat without being subjected to politics. Every corner of our lives is illuminated with talk of filibusters, health care strategy and minor cabinet appointees. It is as if the American economy now runs on demagoguery.

The cognitive dissonance is great in Schneider and the Republicans.

Is there any policy during Clinton or Obama that the Republicans didn't filibuster?

Republicans have been fighting against good health care for Americans since forever. They stonewalled Clinton's attempt and threw up every roadblock they could in attempting to stymie Obama.

Schneider's article then goes off on an odd tangent claiming that even sports are just liberal politics in disguise. Never mind all the jingoistic and militaristic events, language and imagery associated with sports. And, he uses the well-worn (paraphrased) Republican talking point of "Athletes and actors should just shut up. They don't know anything." Unless of course they're conservative, then they're glad to have them on their shows, write op-eds and appear at their events.

He goes on to complain of a cloud of inescapable "progressive condescension." He implies liberals are continually berating poor conservatives in all aspects of life. Is Schneider not familiar with Jesse Watters? Republicans have no other journalism other than gotcha journalism.

Republicans have been doing nothing but using fear and ignorance to politicize anything and everything they feel could possibly win extra votes.

Schneider then goes on to knock Jon Stewart and Seth Meyers - what do they know and no one cares what they have to say anyway. He's upset because even comedians are being political. Schneider must be new to comedy because politics has been a topic of humor for centuries.

Republicans have done all they can to dumb-down politics whilst politicizing everything in sight and now that their sledge-hammer approach has resulted in Trumpland ... it's the Democrats fault!

Keep on drinking that Kool-Aid and peddling your misinformation and hate, Mr. Schneider. And then keep on pretending you can't believe how things got the way they are or why they are that way.

If I wasn't living through all this I wouldn't believe it.

Liberal Legacy

Thom Hartmann reciting John Gray's Day in the Life of Joe Middle-class Republican. [hat tip to Crooks and Liars.] This is basically a litany of all the things the government has done and does for us (primarily thanks to liberals) which we often take for granted.

Cronies of Rich Guys (CRG)

Mike Johnson wrote an article on August 7, 2009 in the Milwaukee Journal Senintel, Property Tax Levies up 5.1% in region. In all of the talk about property values and taxation, one of the persons quoted in the article caught my attention.

Chris Kliesmet is the executive administrator of CRG Network. He found the Public Policy Forum report (the data discussed in the article) showed "another sign of how onerous property taxes in Wisconsin have become." He feels, "local officials should be holding the line on spending and cutting taxes."

Does any of this sound familiar? Is this unbiased analysis? Or just conjecture? Is this opinion even necessary for the article? Does this simply interject conservative talking points for no apparent reason?

I guess the irony of a "watchdog" group complaining about taxes even though [because of the status of his group, "CRG Network Foundation, Inc. was formed as a 501(c)(3), non-profit, tax-exempt corporation"] their organization doesn't pay any taxes went over their heads.

Here are some excerpts taken directly from their website regarding their mission:

1. It's mission is to help citizens elect fiscally conservative candidates, assert property rights, and remove corrupt and/or fiscally irresponsible politicians from office
2. To lobby and advocate for fiscally conservative and property rights legislation on a local and statewide basis
3. Motivate fiscal conservatives to vote in increasingly larger numbers
4. Organize fiscal conservatives into the most influential political force in Wisconsin
5. Encourage fiscal conservatives to contribute the human and financial resources needed to grow and be successful

And here's some rhetorical flourishes from their site which give a bit more insight into their perspective:

• ...unions and other special interest groups
• ...tax-spending special interests and regulatory bureaucrats

The Journal Sentinel article simply labels the group as a "taxpayer watchdog group". As if they were unbiased and non-partisan. If it were a labor or union group - or a group with a mission of socially liberal policies, encouraging liberals to vote, etc. - they would have been labeled so, or at the very least called liberal or left-leaning. But then again, to be called "liberal" is supposedly bad. Even though "liberal" policies have been empirically shown to lead to a greater standard of living for a larger proportion of citizens over our history. Somehow, though, the label of "conservative" doesn't garner any disdain.

CRG was one of the initial agitators calling for the recall of Tom Ament. Scott Walker has only worsened the County budget. How about recalling him? Come on, CRG, where's your consistency? Walker has only dug a deeper budget hole. According to your logic, he must go. I'll gladly sign that recall petition.

CRG is nothing more than one of "starve the beast" organizations of the right. It's not about what's best for citizens. It's about their ideology being in control of government to steer largesse to their cronies rather than to workers and infrastructure. Seems more like a "watchdog" group for the rich.

In a recent post, I had shown government wasn't all that bad. And, as Paul Krugman wrote in a recent column, if it wasn't for government intervention in the economic catastrophe we're in, we'd be in a Depression. (And if conservative ideology hadn't invaded government policy and torn down the regulatory structures enacted after the Great Depression, we wouldn't be facing such an excruciating financial collapse, either.)

But, alas, the liberal and government bashing will continue. Why? Because it's easy, and because the right-wing conservatives have nothing concrete, substantive, or worthwhile to offer. Although, they'll form a PAC, call themselves "watchdogs", and get quoted in the local paper as credible public policy analysts.