Contract On America 2.0

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular- but one must take it simply because it is right."
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Been hearing all day about the Repugs latestscheme, the "Pledge to America." Oh, this time around, it's a pledge, is it? But otherwise, they're saying the same sort of nebulous, non-specific, buzz-phrase-laden, out of context lies and bullshit that they did with the original "Contract On America" back in 1994. Who do they think they're kidding?

The Rude Pundit isn't fooled, either:

1. Could everyone just stop talking about the current crises in America as being caused by Barack Obama's agenda? Seriously, the right-wing drama queens act as if they've been living under years of oppression and hunger in a Soviet-era dictatorship instead of 19 months under a politically moderate, legally-elected president. We did live under eight years of Bush, though. Speaking of Americans "yearning to be free" and to self-determine shit, the Pledge says, "Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course." Hey, you know what, Mike Pence and the rest? We did vote to institute a new governing agenda, Obama's. Senate Republicans have prevented its passage. Maybe you could complain if we were, you know, being governed by it. But, fuck it. Why bother to really try Obama's agenda when we can just go back to the one that ass-fucked us in the first place? Kudos, Tea Party.

2. You know how you know your "Pledge" is bullshit? Easy test: scan the entire things for the words "cut" or "reduce." If you're serious about cutting or reducing spending, some specific things ought to come up, no? Sure, man, it's got all kinds of mighty phrases, like "cutting discretionary spending." But other than cutting Congress's budget (and not saying by how much), Republicans can "Pledge" to a vague notion and not say, "Oh, sorry, Nebraska, but that power plant's canceled."

3. You know how you know your "Pledge" to cut spending is bullshit? When you say that you're gonna shovel money into the defense budget like Casey Jones with a shovel and a pile of coal. "Fully Fund Missile Defense" is part of the Republicans' promise to make sure that, while your roads and schools may suck ass, military contractors get to keep sucking milk from the tax teat.

And so on. I really am losing the capacity for surprise this political season. No lie seems too bold, no obfuscation seems too deceitful, no hypocrisy is too brazen. And now with the wingnuts leading in many of the polls, all the crazy is coming out. Rand Paul wants to repeal parts of the Civil Rights Act, Sharon Angle doesn't want autistic kids to have mandated health insurance, and Christine O'Donnell just wants to stop eveyone from having sex, period!--and no one in the GOP even says "Hey waitaminute, dammit--that's going too far!" No, the ignorant wingers stomp their feet and applaud, shaking their signs reading "No Government Health Care, And Leave My Medicare Alone!"

Morons, all of them: