Since Rachel Maddow's show the day after the State of The Union, I have been haunted by her monologue. My main recollection of Eisenhower was that Truman couldn't stand him! He may not have been the brightest bulb but wow, I sure wish he were here today.
Rachel pointed out some of the things Eisenhower said when he was president:
- Called for a massive investment in the county's infrastructure
- Rebuffed the idea of giant tax breaks for the richest Americans
- Warned anyone who would dare touch Social Security to keep their hands off.
- "Workers have a right to organize into unions and to bargain collectively with their employers."
- "A strong free labor movement is an invigorating and necessary part of our industrial society."
- Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of their right to join the union of their choice."
- "Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things, but their number is negligible and"--and the president says--"their number is negligible and they are stupid."
- He said we cannot afford to reduce taxes until, quote, "the factors of income and outgo will be balanced." Eisenhower insisted there must be a balanced budget and that taxes on the rich are the way to balance it.
(All this while the top tax bracket for the richest was 92%.)
The Republican Party platform of Eisenhower's 1956 called for expansion of Social Security, broadened unemployment insurance, better health protection for all of our people. It called for voting rights--full voting civil rights for D.C. It called for expanding the minimum wage to cover more workers. It called for improved job safety for workers, equal pay for workers regardless of sex.
Not only would Eisenhower not have a chance of being elected as a Republican today, he'd never be elected as a Democrat! Waaaay too liberal. Ah, how I yearn for the good ole days.
Add into the mix the birthers, the tea party crowd, the "just say no" crowd, the "must lower the taxes" crowd and it all equals one enormous cluster ^#%^.
(Yikes, and here we thought we had a problem switching from 3.0 to beta!)
FULL TRANSCRIPT OF VIDEO HERE: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Rachel's entire remarks here: