It's a scary and surrealistic spectacle. The most powerful nation on earth being held hostage by a group of fanatical teabaggers, who are dragging the President, the country, and the global economy towards the abyss. And acting like the Taliban.
"We now have a group of US politicians seeking political purity, who seem to have much in common with the Taliban. They are Tea Party members; and because of blind adherence to smaller government, they seem intent on risking destroying what American political leaders have constructed in more than two centuries of hard, often painful work..."
And the scariest thing is when you read the latest so-called compromise.
Officials close to the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, said both Republican and Democratic sides were now discussing a plan to raise the debt limit by about $2.4 trillion, as well as enact slightly larger cuts in spending, to be carried over two stages.
It's pretty clear that the Teabagger Taliban are winning. And that Obama has surrendered to the tyranny of simple solutions, and political expediency. Agreed to savage cuts that will hurt the poor and the elderly. And failed to make the argument that taxation is the foundation of a civilized society. And that the rich can and should pay more taxes.
Which is why I like Maureen Dowd's latest column.
The world is watching in fearful —and sometimes gleeful — fascination as the Tea Party drives a Thunderbird off the cliff with the president and speaker of the House strapped in the back. The Dow is hiding under the bed with a glass of single malt. Can it get more excruciating? Apple has more cash than the U.S. government.
Because that's so true you could die laughing. And this needs to be said:
Democratic lawmakers worry that the Tea Party freshmen have already “neutered” the president, as one told me. They fret that Obama is an inept negotiator. They worry that he should have been out in the country selling a concrete plan, rather than once more kowtowing to Republicans and, as with the stimulus plan, health care and Libya, leading from behind.
As one Democratic senator complained: “The president veers between talking like a peevish professor and a scolding parent.” (Not to mention a jilted lover.) Another moaned: “We are watching him turn into Jimmy Carter right before our eyes.”
Now I don't want to be too harsh on Obama because nobody can reason with fanatics who take their instructions directly from their God.
“Where’s the chapel?” Rep. Tim Scott (S.C.) asked as he emerged from an arm-twisting session with Majority Leader Eric Cantor Thursday night. The freshman lawmaker explained that he wanted to “go to the divine source.
”As it happens, the Lord gave Scott the wisdom to oppose Boehner. “I think divine inspiration already happened,” Scott said. “I was a ‘lean no’ and now I’m a ‘no.’ ” And he’s not much worried about default, saying: “I hope the Lord blesses our nation in a way that is measurable.”
And Obama must surely know that these Teabagger Taliban also believe that they have a divine mission to destroy the first black President, by whatever means necessary.
Which is why I find this blast from the past so chilling.
Mix rabid ideology, crazy religion, guns, a weak President, a decaying empire, a naked class war, and you have all the elements for a real disaster.
So how bad will this movie get?
Gawd. I don't know eh?
But at least as bad as this one...
But one way or the other be very afraid.
Because the Teabagger Taliban are torching America. The craziness is out of control.
And any Canadian who thinks we won't get burned.
Is living in a dream world...
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