Paul Begala goes off on the party that gives us George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry. If the GOP party platform is the dream Republicans have of what America should be it looks like a horrible nightmare out of Idiocracy to me. The Republican party lives in a fantasyland at this point, and the way Begala takes them to the woodshed for being a party of extremists and know-nothings is a thing of beauty.
Check it out . . .
Texas Republicans hate the heavy hand of government. And so they oppose mandatory preschool and kindergarten, mandatory immunizations, mandatory, well, mandatory mandates. It’s one thing to be antigovernment. It’s another to be pro-stupid. Yet the Texas GOP actually opposes thinking. Seriously, their platform proudly declares: “We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills, critical-thinking skills, and similar programs.” As the Texas populist Jim Hightower likes to say, if ignorance is bliss, these are the happiest people on earth.
Of course, my Republican family and friends back home will say they just flat don’t want gubmint gettin’ all in your grill. Unless, of course, you’re gay. Or a woman seeking to choose to have an abortion. Then the government will not only be in your grill, it will be controlling your carburetor. For those keeping score at home, mandating a polio vaccine: tyranny. Mandating invasive ultrasound: freedom.
thedailybeast.com
Bold quotes added by the diarist
And as I've said before, there is no liberal equivalent to this Republican craziness and it is not just Texas, Begala points to Minnesota, a state you wouldn't think of as a RedState they way you would think of Mississippi or Alabama, but even in Minnesota the Republican platform is just loony and extreme. Same as Maine. Same as New York, same as everywhere you can watch Fox News or hear Rush Limbaugh, Republicans have their own special universe where FDR made the great depression worse and Ronald Reagan won World War Two, a history where George W. Bush should get credit for helping get Bin Laden but should take no credit or fault at all over the disastrous state he left the economy in. And to the "both sides do it" claim,
no, both sides don't "do it."
Mr. Begala concludes . . .
But aren’t the Democratic crazies just as crazy? No, actually. I reviewed the Democratic platforms of Vermont (which has a socialist senator), Massachusetts, and Hawaii. None of them is as far left as some of the Republicans are right. No one is calling for the proletariat to own the means of production. No Democrat wants to nationalize the oil companies. I can’t even find one to call for sending SEAL Team 6 into the boardroom of Bain Capital. They mostly repeat the standard center-left calls for gay rights and women’s rights, more health care and better schools. I can’t even find support for new gun control laws, much less implanting radio chips.
I must admit I found the GOP platforms more entertaining. But then again I like Stephen King novels, too. The difference is Mr. King doesn’t try to enact his fevered fantasies into law.
Bold text added by the diarist
You should read the whole article at thedailybeast.com
Slightly more below the fold . . .
And that is what these GOP platforms are, sick fantasies about a country where poor people just die quickly without health insurance and it's their own damn fault. A chicken to barter for health care with if you can find one in every pot, Fox News on every television and no critical thinking allowed in schools. A confederacy of dunces. Dunces who watch Fox News and who are easy to exploit. The Republican fantasy for America is no taxes, no spending (except war and subsidies to their preferred industries). The Republican fantasy is no government in my life unless you are gay or a woman, and then Republicans will let you know exactly how much government you need and where. The Republican fantasy for America is a stupid place with plots that go nowhere and bad spelling. It is bad and they should feel bad. If you are not a millionaire voting for the GOP platform is like using the Breakfast Machine that Peter Griffin built in Family Guy, it makes no sense and it will only end up hurting you, and how did you not see this coming anyway?
As Begala so eloquently states it, "It’s one thing to be anti-government. It’s another to be pro-stupid."
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