Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Friday, January 15, 2010

ANDREW SULLIVAN ON SCOTT BROWN'S CONTRADICTIONS

Scott Brown's Mindless Op-Ed

His Globe piece is presumably a good way to assess his platform. And it highlights all the bankruptcy of the current conservative establishment. Take a couple of issues. He starts by listing national problems:


Public debt has reached $12 trillion and counting, and Washington politicians want to borrow trillions more.


His solution?

My plan for the economy is simple: an across-the-board tax cut - in the tradition of John F. Kennedy - for families and businesses that will increase investment and lead to immediate new job growth. More tax increases will hurt our recovery. That’s why I have taken a no-new-tax pledge. My opponent will raise taxes.

Does anyone see the contradiction here? Without any tax increases, indeed with more tax cuts, the spending reductions required to reduce the debt will be fantastic: massive cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and defense. Where does he outline these spending measures? Nowhere. Fiscally, he's as fraudulent as Bush.


More absurdity here:

It’s time to admit that while the $787 billion stimulus had the best of intentions, it failed to create one new job.

Even if you believe that stimuli are wasteful or inefficient, I know of no sane economist who believes that $800 billion did not create one new job.




Then he's in favor of the Massachusetts universal health insurance reform, on which Obama's is based, but for some reason against the one for the country. Why?

But the healthcare bill under discussion in Washington is not good. It will raise taxes and increase spending. If you are a senior on Medicare, it will lead to a half trillion dollars in cuts to your care.

So Brown supports health care exchanges, a mandate, and universal care ... but opposes healthcare exhcanges, a mandate and universal care. He is worried about the debt but actually opposes the proposed cuts in Medicare that can make universal insurance affordable - let alone the cuts necessary to bring us back from the fiscal abyss.


He is, in other words, a parody of the brainless Bush Republican, mixed with Romney-like cynicism.

19 comments:

Let The Truth Be Known said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Christian Hammer said...

The man is a pervert and an abomination to the party of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

I shall not vote for him. If I see him in public I shall call the police and tell them a pervert is in our midst.


Pornography is one step from child molestation and drug abuse. That's what Brown stands for. Immorality at it's lowest form.

Oso said...

We've got a huge deficit so we'll cut taxes.As you state Shaw that increases the deficit.

Tax cuts are far less of a multiplier than spending.I believe it's in the negative.I don't have any figures in front of me but I know most Americans pay hella more payroll tax than they pay income tax.So it's slanted towards the wealthy but it sounds good to teabaggers or anyone not paying attention.Which I guess defines a teabagger-someone not paying attention who nevertheless has a strong opinion on what he missed.

To insist that the Stimulus didn't create jobs is just stupid but again, that type of hyperbole appeals to the teabagger mentality.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Shaw, I have deleted the comment posted by Let The Truth Be Known. Why?

Because of this:
This blog is open to invited readers only
http://mostrevger101.blogspot.com/


Let me clarify my reasons. This blogger was NOT abusive or rude in any way. He was NOT deleted because he is a Brown supporter or because of his views.

I deleted him because he employs a double standard ... because he avails himself of open access to this forum but does permit open access to his own forum.

Any objections?

Shaw Kenawe said...

No objections, (O)CT(O). I routinely delete "Beth" for the same reason.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Christian Hammer,

I wouldn't label Brown a pervert. I just pointed out that had a liberal posed nude--say Brown's opponent, Martha Coakley--the conservatives would not think it was cute at all.

Brown has stated that he used the $1,000 he got for posing nude for his college tuition.

What happened to old fashioned waiting tables?

I think what he did shows a good deal of narcissism, but he was young afterall, and we all do stupid things when we're young.

Anonymous said...

Well, that’s no surprise Shaw...
It is the people's seat, not Ted Kennedy's seat...and yes, Coakley is toast! Think what you may about Brown. It was very obvious that you would be against Scott Brown. He votes against Obamacare like he said he would? .... Your post and your haranguing posts makes it pretty obvious that you are just an agent provocateur.
Half the time you are whining that tea partiers are forcing conservative candidates on you libs, but when they get behind a moderate like Brown you pretend they are too stupid to know what they are doing.

Sally Farrar said...

Call me a Republican or call me a Tea Partier or all the other names you always call people like me.. , I don’t care……Call Scott Brown anything you want and I would still vote for him. At this point it is ABD. Anybody But a Dem.
Does anyone in the media or in politics GET IT? We, the people, are sick of all of you.
Out, out, out!

Oso said...

Shaw and Octo,

Kinda funny.the previous post appears to be a cut n paste from Pamela's site.

So cogent and compelling there was no need to elaborate.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Oso, there is no accounting for taste. What Sally Farrar said did not cross the line with respect to abusive trolling, but her remarks come awfully close to what David Neiwert calls: "Eliminationism:"

SF: "We, the people, are sick of all of you."

First, she has the arrogance to make herself the false equivalent of the "people" ... with the implication being that "the people" think like her and those who do not think like her are somehow "less than people."

Once one starts to characterize the opposition as "less than human," as vermin, or as objects, one is using the language of eliminationism ... the signature trait of fascism. And Sally Farrar's last emotional outburst, "sick of you. Out, out, out!" is a short distance away from the rhetoric of "let's exterminate."

No doubt, Sally seems to be a very angry person, but her anger compromises her credibility.

dmarks said...

Octo: Don't forget the presumption of "we the people are sick of it all". That "we the people" covers an opinion that at best probably half of the electorate shares.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Dmarks, notwithstanding the fact that SF's comments does not even specify what she is angry about. No facts, no reasons given. Just lashing out ... that is all there is.

AmPowerBlog said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dmarks said...

I'm now using the adjective "Beckish" for such political shrillness.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

In case anyone is wondering about the author comment removed by Donald Douglas (see comment @ 8:45 PM above):

"DELETE THIS, YOU BASTARDS!"

Thus, after leaving a verbal bomb, Mr. Douglas proceeds to delete his own comment (retrieved, of course, from my e-mail box). Nice going, Donald. Real classy of you to drop in like this.

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

On a final note, Roberts Stein, editor, publisher, media critic, and former Chairman of the American Society of Magazine editors, said today:

The only problem with all this is the history lesson that, when the tide runs high to "throw the rascals out," (.i.e, LBJ and Nixon), voters end up by throwing even worse rascals in.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.

dmarks said...

Looking at history, this is too often true with actual revolutions, also.

JMK said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.