The following line from Radioland Murders came to mind as I watched Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and he talked about Peter King and John Boehner's supposed idiocy.
"Penny, Let's go. Clearly this man is an idiot." The future murder victim then turns and walks in the wrong direction. (The idiot is not to Mr. Olbermann or Mr. Robinson who say that which I wish more people would hear.)
Here's the setup:
July 15 Morning in America Bill Bennett's asked if GOP obstructionism was enough to inspire voters?
Rep Peter King R-NY:
"It's a combination of being against what Obama is for, and also giving certain specifics of what we are for. Having said that, I don't think we have to lay out a complete agenda from top to bottom, because then you would have the national mainstream media jumping on every point and trying to make that a campaign issue."
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with business owners was asked about what proposal were floated:
John Boehner R-Planet 9:
"I think having a moratorium on new federal regulations is a great idea. It sends a wonderful signal to the private sector that they are going to have some breathing room, and I think that there is probably a way to do this with an exemption for, ya know, emergency regulations that may be needed for some particular agency or other, but if the American people knew there was going to be a moratorium in effect for a year that the Federal government wasn't gonna issue thousands of more regulations it would give them some breathing room."
Gene Robinson
"I don't know what they were smoking. If the Democrats can't make some political hay of that, .... that's malpractice, and they should be in some other business."
Keith Olbermann
"Turn it over to the Bush family as a monarchy and get the hell out."
As I watched Olbermann and Robinson discuss the Republicans' attempt to botch their own anti-incumbent purge and the fear that somehow the Democrats will screw it up, I felt, as I have for a long time, that Keith and Gene and other pundits had misjudged the Republicans' motivation. Add some Democrats' to that.
Boehner and King and the rest of the Republican plutocracy do not care nearly as much (maybe not at all at this point) about their party retaking the House or the Senate as they do about their own reelection. Of course that can be said of almost every congressional member no matter which party they're from.
These giants of virtue, compassion and social enlightenment have just enough brain power to realize that they need to do following to get reelected and claim victory.
First, the Republicans need to protect their campaign treasure chests; so, they make sure that their financial sources are satisfied.
Second, their constituents already think as they do; so, they need to feed them the kind of raw meat that will keep them coming back for more or they might get hungry and eat their own representative.
Third, and most important, they don't need a majority or anywhere close to one in the House. They know that the Senate is a brick wall, rather, a reinforced concrete bunker. They just vote according to their conscience (whoops, sorry, my mistake. That's been MIA for decades.) their funders commands, their rabid constituents hunger for fresh meat, and their financial portfolio.
Fourth, they don't even need a majority in the Senate to get what to get what they want because they already have it. With the aid of enough Democrats, they've been getting IT since cocked-hat Ronny took office in the eighties. At this stage in the game, they're Spain playing World Cup soccer. They've already scored, and now, they just have to play defense, i.e. protect their wealth and their power, which they need to protect their wealth. To do that, all they need is a super minority. (If worst comes to worst, they can always depend on Ben Nelson to shove another brick in the wall for his insurance friends and Charles Schumer to shore up any leaky cracks for his Wall Street benefactors.)
Fifth, a dysfunctional government is beneficial to many congress members, and the Night of the Living Dead Senate is always hungry for blood money. (Sorry for the insult, zombies.) The Senate's inability to function is not a problem to men of wealth and power because they already have the wealth and power. Their need and desire to protect their reelection and their stash makes dysfunction a benefit.
(As for those Democrats who either join in the feast on the working classes' remains or
huff and puff on house floor because they know they're blowing against a brick wall and know that they will still get to join the feast, welcome to Zombieland. You're a target now. Watch out, you might be Zombie kill of the week.)
Keith, Gene, this all comes down to money, the freedom that is most precious to many Americans, especially most Republicans, too many Democrats and a boat load of gimme, gimme, it's mine, it's mine TEA Partyers. It is, unfortunately, the main reason that people immigrate to this country. The ka-ching, ka-ching of their cash register is what they're protecting. It's the plutocracy protecting the plutonomy. (Citicorp Kapur's term) That's the real goal, and they don't have to regain the House or the Senate at this point. They've already won the class war. They just need to protect No Man's Land.
So, Keith, Gene, in the words of Inigo Montoya, "I don't think it means what you think it means."
Yes, this is cynical, but at this point cynicism is almost all we have left and is the closest thing honesty.