Clareified

Between a rock and a hard place

Conservatives are so mad, they’re ready to spit. Oh, Tucker’s bowtie was all bundled in a knot this morning on the Chris Matthews’ show and boy oh boy, Trent Lott was not happy. Why? Well, Lott made some mention of not wanting to cast aspersions on drunken sailors, but it has something to do with Congress writing checks and the White House happily signing off. 400 million here, 2.2 trillion there, fight AIDS in Africa, yessir, that’s a roger.
But what does that mean for me?
The Simpsons long ago coined the term “tax and spend-o-crat” in reference to Springfield’s long serving Democrat Mayor Quimby, but of course, it was eagerly adopted to include the Democratic Tip Oneill Congress, as well. And Democrats didn’t mind the label. Walter Mondale bravely saying “Let’s tell the truth. It must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.” Taxes — to me they always seemed a small price to pay for services (like the East Coco Beach library being open for blogging on a Sunday!) and programs (like the educational loans and grants that paid for not one, but two Ivy League degrees. But now, the Republicans want in on the action (“if you want to win like FDR, you’ve got to spend like FDR”).
I don’t mind the government giving old people prescription drugs even though it has to deficit spend to do it — but neither does the Republican party.
I look around and now I am standing on the side of Dennis Hastert, Zell Miller and *gulp* George W. Bush. Over there — across the street with picket signs and rotten eggs are Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich!
MOMMY!!
How did this happen? I’m fairly certain, I didn’t move an inch. So are the Republicans moving to the left? What next? Support for the ERA? National health care system? Equal Opportunity for all…
I don’t know, but suddenly the big elephant in the room that no one is talking about, isn’t the growing deficit — it’s the entire Republican party.
Sure, from a political standpoint it bites to high heaven that they are pulling a Clinton when it comes to coopting traditional Democratic stances, but it’s got to bring a smile to your face when the man that said that the U.S. government should not be nation-building or growing the government — closes out the month with a speech from a U.S. military base in Iraq and tooting his horn for passing the largest expansion of Medicare in U.S. history.
Yup, makes me feel good inside.

This entry was posted by Dawn Summers on Sunday, November 30th, 2003 at 2:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.