Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. Check out the sermon I just delivered about the Republican Party on CNN when being interviewed by D.L. Hughley -- and/or read on.
You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do nothing constructive, just try to hinder the one person willing and able to fix the mess you created.
I used to be one of you. As recently as 2000 I worked to get Senator McCain elected in that year's primary. (McCain and Gen. Tommy Franks wrote glowing endorsements regarding my book about military service, AWOL.). I have a file of handwritten thank you notes from Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush I and II. In the 1970s and early 80s I hung out with Jack Kemp and bought into his "supply side" myth and even wrote a book he endorsed pushing his ideas.) There's more, but take it from me; my parents (evangelical leaders Francis and Edith Schaeffer) and I were about as tight with -- and useful to -- the Republican Party as anyone. We played a big part creating the Religious Right.
In the mid 1980s I left the Religious Right, after I realized just how very anti-American they are, (the theme I explore in my book Crazy For God). They wanted America to fail in order to prove they were right about America's "moral decline." Soon after McCain lost in 2000 I re-registered as an independent in disgust with W. Bush. But I still respected many Republicans. Not today.
How can anyone who loves our country support the Republicans now? Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan defined the modern conservatism that used to be what the Republican Party I belonged to was about. Today no actual conservative can be a Republican. Reagan would despise today's wholly negative Republican Party. And can you picture the gentlemanly and always polite Ronald Reagan, endorsing a radio hate-jock slob who crudely mocked a man with Parkinson's and who now says he wants an American president to fail?!
With people like Limbaugh as the loudmouth image of the Republican Party -- you need no enemies. But something far more serious has happened than an image problem: the Republican Party has become the party of obstruction at just the time when all Americans should be pulling together for the good of our country. Instead, Republicans are today's fifth column sabotaging American renewal.
President Obama has been in office barely 45 days and the Republican Party has the nerve to blame him for the economic and military cataclysm he inherited. I say economic and military cataclysm because without the needless war in Iraq you all backed we would not be in the economic mess we're in today. If that money had been spent here at home on renovating our infrastructure, taking us toward a green economy, putting our health-care system in order we'd be a very different situation.
As the father of a Marine who served in George W. Bush's misbegotten wars let me say this: if President Obama's strategy to repair our economy, infrastructure and healthcare fails that will put our troops at far greater risk because the world will become a far more dangerous place. So for all you flag-waving Republicans who are trying to undermine the President at home -- if you succeed more of our troops will be killed abroad.
When your new leader Rush Limbaugh calls for President Obama to fail he's calling for more flag-draped coffins. Limbaugh is the new "Hanoi Jane."
For the party that created our crises of misbegotten war, mismanaged economy, the lack of regulation of our banking industry, handing our country to rich crooks... to obstruct the one person who is trying to repair the damage is obscene.
Just imagine where America would be today if the 14 to 20 million voters -- "the rube base" who slavishly follow the likes of Limbaugh -- had not voted as a block year after year thus empowering the Republican fiasco. We would have a regulated banking industry and would have avoided our current financial crisis; some 4000 of our killed military men and women would be alive; over to 35,000 wounded Americans would be whole; we would have been leaders in the environmental movement; we would be in the middle of a green technology boom fueling a huge expansion of our economy and stopping our dependence on foreign oil, and our health-care system would be reformed.
After Obama was elected, you Republican leaders had a unique last chance to send a patriotic message of unity to the world -- and to all Americans. You could have backed our president's economic recovery plan. Since we all know that half of our problem is one of lost confidence and perception, nothing would have done more to calm the markets and project resolve and confidence than if you had been big enough to take Obama's offered hand and had work with him -- even if you disagreed ideologically. You had the chance to put our country first. You utterly failed to rise to the occasion.
The worsening economic situation is your fault and your fault alone. The Republicans created this mess through 8 years of backing the worst president in our history and now, because you put partisan ideology ahead of the good of our country, you have blown your last chance to redeem yourselves. You deserve the banishment to the political wilderness that awaits all traitors.
Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back Now in paperback.
Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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This is all partisan garble. The Obama administration is out of control. they are making the EXACT same mistakes the Bush administration made X 10. Business leaders know his budget is insane and they are pulling their money out of the market. The man does not even know what a PE ratio is. The other day he called it a profit ratio. Even Dems in the Senate are starting to jump ship. 14 a forming a group which just might make it possible for us to block this careless budget. this is what happens when you elect a man you know nothing about.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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^ The sole responsible response to you is; Dunce On Board!
Posts: 3595 | From: Moved To Mars. Waiting with shotgun | Registered: Dec 2006
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"Where the religious right went was to turn into this kind of hard ass, neo fascist, kind of direction in America..."
Hammer, Did you watch the video? He was a leader in the Republican religious right movement. What Frank Schaeffer has done is examine the facts and think on his own.
Partisan garble is odd terminology for you to use to describe Liberals when as a rule Liberals are free thinkers who march to the beat of different drums. It is the Conservatives who march with the same step.
-------------------- "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) Leap and the Net will Appear. Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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Many American liberals are just old socialists, some even Stalinists. They are the most intolerant people in the world. Gold, when you post on this board it is always the same old left wing talking points. If you guys were really free thinkers you would differ on issues, I seldom see that. keep in mind that Republicans and conservatives are not always the same. The right in America is MUCH MORE varied than the left. The religious right is just one segment on the right. They differ greatly from foreign policy conservatives or conservatives concerned with global business. For example, I would not consider W a conservative at all on economic issues. He would agree with you on almost every economic social program. That is why I always saw all of this hate Bush stuff on the left as irrational.
I am much more of a libertarian in many ways than I am a Republican. That said, many libertarians end up casting their lot with Republicans as a lesser of evils. In my view all of these social issues; drugs, abortion etc should be left to the states to do as they will. I would rather see a vastly weaker federal government that sticks to the principles of the Constitution. Remember that a government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to TAKE everything you have.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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ALSO OBAMA SAID IF HE HAD WON HE WOULD PULL TROOPS OUR ASAP.. WELL NOW THEY ARE TALKIN ANOTHER YR OR 2/ I AM STARTIN to think obama is a big fat lier just like bush,,,
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Our troops will be in Iraq for 25 or 30 years. Obama is a politican. Watch what they do, not what they say. Tina, President Bush does not lie but you make things up.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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The smart people do not copy you gold. Traditionally those who vote liberal are the least educated in our our society. Democrats depend on the votes of the lower classes to get elected.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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Actually you are wrong. Traditionally intellectuals are Liberal. Business men are Conservative. Go to almost any (I say almost because of Christian Universities) and poll the professors. The majority will be Liberal.
posted
Intellectuals tend to be liberal Gold but there are not many of them. College profs hardly represent the American population. There is an old saying that left wing professors educate the next generation of conservatives. Even in collgeges it is a mixed bag. Faculty in the business schools are not liberal at all. Ditto Engineering. If only degreed people voted Republicans would never lose. Democrats tend to represent poor uneducated minorities and northern blue collar workers.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Intellectuals tend to be liberal Gold but there are not many of them. College profs hardly represent the American population. There is an old saying that left wing professors educate the next generation of conservatives. Even in collgeges it is a mixed bag. Faculty in the business schools are not liberal at all. Ditto Engineering. If only degreed people voted Republicans would never lose. Democrats tend to represent poor uneducated minorities and northern blue collar workers.
wateva.. u just too much assume u know everything and everyone else is wrong...does anyone else see this too????
Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by tina kamal: ALSO OBAMA SAID IF HE HAD WON HE WOULD PULL TROOPS OUR ASAP.. WELL NOW THEY ARE TALKIN ANOTHER YR OR 2/ I AM STARTIN to think obama is a big fat lier just like bush,,,
Tina our president has been in office less than 2months for cripes sake!! WTF is wrong with everyone - it took 8 years for our country to get into this position and they expect our president to fix it overnight!! So far I think he has accomplished Tons and he is working on everything at once. He's not a liar- what is happening is the republican party with the help of the giant media propoganda machine is working to undermine everything he is doing.
Do you think its a coincidence that so many of the presidents cabinet picks ended up going down in flames of Scandal??? It's obviously sabatogage and people need to recognize that people are afraid of change . Rush Limbaugh is nothing but a drug addict who his own party shunned but now all of sudden he is a paragon of virtue and the man who rescues us???
Tina read between the lines, give the man a chance to accomplish things-we all need to give him support and stop allowing the sour grapes of the republican party to affect our thinking...
Posts: 1121 | From: Too crazy to look at a freakin map to find out.. | Registered: Sep 2006
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Rummy, actually Obama is getting into trouble all by himself. His cabinet appointments have had problems all of their own making. Obama has not offered a single word of change. The major problem we have is a banking problem and he has no plan to deal with it. He is spending money like a drunken sailor. His poll numbers are steadily dropping and the public begins to scratch their heads. This is what happens when you elect someone you know nothing about.
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I VOTED FOR HIM OF COURSE I AM GIVING HIM A CHANCE..i just want our boys home so bad cas i don't want my son sent to Afghanistan...i would and could not fathom loosing a son to a war that is not ours.. and that we could have prevented in the first place...i am lookin at what obama said when he was running.. he clearly stated that he was pulling our troops out asap...now i heard him on the news that he wants then to stay another 1 or 2 years...so only time will tell...
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Rummy, actually Obama is getting into trouble all by himself. His cabinet appointments have had problems all of their own making. Obama has not offered a single word of change. The major problem we have is a banking problem and he has no plan to deal with it. He is spending money like a drunken sailor. His poll numbers are steadily dropping and the public begins to scratch their heads. This is what happens when you elect someone you know nothing about.
PALIN-JINDAL 2012
They are only dropping with Conservatives and no Republican has any authority when it comes to accuse him of spending money with what they have done to our country. The Republicans will not even cooperate with him. They don't care about this country, just as Schaeffer said.
Don't forget that he inherited this mess. Give Republicans a surplus and they create a deficit and the whole time they continue chanting "tax and spend Liberals". What hypocrites. I can't help but think that they want to bankrupt America.
Tina, what on Earth compelled your son to go into the army at this time? Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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Tina , that some of you folks actually believe that the Democrats are going to pull out of the middle east is bizarre. What in the world have they EVER DONE to give you any indication that they were going to do that except talk talk talk.
They campaigned in 2006 about pulling out of the war and then TURNED AROUND and voted for every Iraq soending bill that came up. They have ALWAYS supported the war but wanted to use it to bash President Bush for every ounce of political value they could get.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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well what makes u think the evil republicans that care only about their wallets can do any better?its the republicans that made usa so far in debt its not funny...all republicans wanna do is spend spend on sh it we dont need...and if there is war its gonnna happen regardless.. and my son was too lazy to work so he joined the army as a way out...i just hope being there will straighten his butt out...
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Tina, I agree that the republicans spent way too much money but these guys in there now are rewriting the book on spending. Obama will increase spending more this year than the Republicans did in eight years. Those are just the numbers. Every morning when you wake up they are spending another half a billion dollars on something, often just giving it to business.
You should be proud of your son for joining the army. Those guys are the real heroes in our society.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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i am proud but i dont want him fighting... and at least obama is spending money on lower class famileis then the rich...
-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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He is costing the lower classes millions of jobs they need. Part of his budget was for a 150 million dollar baseball field in Puerto Rico and 250 million for tatoo removal in California. It is insane and you will pay the bill.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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-------------------- your ass is so tight when you fart only a dog can hear it.when you queef only a cat can hear that one. Posts: 9776 | From: You like If only mosquitoes sucked fat instead of blood. | Registered: Jul 2007
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Unemployment rates are already above 10% in many of the states. when you tax small and medium size business they always respond by cutting jobs. we have seen that time after time throughout modern history. To provide this crazy spending we are doing two things, borrowing money abroad and printing money. We do not have the money Obama is spending. The levels are so high that inflation at high levels could well happen qnd that is a killer for the lower classes. We thought we were going to get 'Change we can believe in' and all we are getting more pork and even more massive spending. It is remarkable that some people want to put this government in charge of the health care system. Jesus Christ, if that happened you better pray.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by TheAmericanPatriot: Unemployment rates are already above 10% in many of the states. when you tax small and medium size business they always respond by cutting jobs. we have seen that time after time throughout modern history. To provide this crazy spending we are doing two things, borrowing money abroad and printing money. We do not have the money Obama is spending. The levels are so high that inflation at high levels could well happen qnd that is a killer for the lower classes. We thought we were going to get 'Change we can believe in' and all we are getting more pork and even more massive spending. It is remarkable that some people want to put this government in charge of the health care system. Jesus Christ, if that happened you better pray.
Republican bullcrap- How is it the country has no money??? Bush, Bush ,Bush and 8 yrs of republican agenda. Pork,lol, the republicans love pork when it comes to lining the pockets of big business.
Republican agenda, war have all got us here. They tried to feed us the same tired crap-you didnt have a problem with the goverment spending TRILLIONS on warmongering though did ya??
Just remember, Obama has been president for less than 2 months-Bush destroyed our credibility and economic stability along with our Standing as a leading Superpower with the same crap plan the republicans still peddle hammer...
Posts: 1121 | From: Too crazy to look at a freakin map to find out.. | Registered: Sep 2006
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So it has only been two months Rummy? How long are you going to ride that lame horse? six months? One year? At which point do we expect the magic negro to wave his wand and solve all of our problems? Again rummy Obama has grown spending more in one year than Bush did in eight. there is no plan to solve the banking problem, just giving money to big business by the trillions and you support this?
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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You have been riding the same lame horse for eight years. At least give us a couple... Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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So you want two years Gold? After two years will you be on here accepting responsibility, either good or bad?
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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-------------------- "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton) Leap and the Net will Appear. Posts: 3891 | From: No good deed goes unpunished. | Registered: May 2007
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I never supported the republican spending spree. That said, it was peanuts compared to what this guy is doing. He is pouring trillions into big business all over america.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote: Rummy, actually Obama is getting into trouble all by himself. His cabinet appointments have had problems all of their own making. Obama has not offered a single word of change. The major problem we have is a banking problem and he has no plan to deal with it. He is spending money like a drunken sailor. His poll numbers are steadily dropping and the public begins to scratch their heads. This is what happens when you elect someone you know nothing about.
The “bailout” proposed by the US Treasury does not constitute a “solution” to the crisis. In fact quite the opposite: it is the cause of further collapse. It triggers an unprecedented concentration of wealth, which in turn contributes to widening economic and social inequalities both within and between nations.
The banks are the recipients of a 700+ billion dollar handout and at the same time they act as creditors of the US government.
We are dealing with an absurd circular relationship: To finance the bailout, Washington must borrow from the banks, which are the recipients of the bailout.
The Democrats casually blame the Bush administration for the October financial meltdown.
Ironically, it was under the Clinton administration that these policies of “greed and irresponsibility” were adopted.
Posts: 1568 | From: Pluto | Registered: Sep 2008
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Who are the architects of this debacle, that Obama has employed?
Lawrence Summers played a key role in lobbying Congress for the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act. His timely appointment by President Clinton in 1999 as Treasury Secretary spearheaded the adoption of the Financial Services Modernization Act in November 1999. Upon completing his mandate at the helm of the US Treasury, he became president of Harvard University (2001- 2006).
Paul Volker was chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in the l980s during the Reagan era. He played a central role in implementing the first stage of financial deregulation, which was conducive to mass bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions, leading up to the 1987 financial crisis.
Timothy Geithner is CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which is the most powerful private financial institution in America. He was also a former Clinton administration Treasury official. He has worked for Kissinger Associates and has also held a senior position at the IMF.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York plays a behind the scenes role in shaping financial policy. Geithner acts on behalf of powerful financiers, who are behind the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Larry Summers became Treasury Secretary in July 1999. He is a protégé of David Rockefeller. He was among the main architects of the infamous Financial Services Modernization Act, which provided legitimacy to inside trading and outright financial manipulation.
Summers is currently a Consultant to Goldman Sachs and managing director of a Hedge fund, the D.E. Shaw Group, As former Treasury Secretary and his contacts on Wall Street, Summers had valuable inside information on the movement of financial markets. Under the helm of Larry Summers and as a direct result of the financial meltdown, the D. E. Shaw Group made record profits.
At the end of October 2008, at the height of the financial meltdown, the Shaw Group announced $7 billion in revenue, a 22 percent increase over the previous year, “with nearly three times more cash on hand than a year ago.
Putting a Hedge Fund manager (with links to the Wall Street financial establishment) in charge of the Treasury is tantamount to putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop.
Lawrence Summers’ economic discourse stands out. He is known among environmentalists for having proposed the dumping of toxic waste in Third World countries, because people in poor countries have shorter lives and the costs of labor are abysmally low, which essentially means that the market value of people in the Third World is much lower. According to summers, this makes it far more “cost effective” to export toxic materials to impoverished countries.
Posts: 1568 | From: Pluto | Registered: Sep 2008
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well yes, the housing meltdown was dirctly caused by Bill Clinton and Barney Frank. When the federal government began to move out of the public housing projects in the late 90's closing down the old high rises they began to put pressure on fannie and Freddie to make loans to low income people. The loans comprise many that caused the loan institutions to blow up last year. Barney Frank had a perveted love affair with the head of Freddie Mack and resisted all efforts to reform the process in the past few years. the irony is that the blow up cost John Mccain any chance of winning the election and yet the dems actually caused the problem in the first place. Back in 2005 Mccain was one of the few people trying to do anything about it.
Posts: 2069 | From: Texas | Registered: Sep 2008
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I appreciate how both AP and Sudaniya have presented the facts. It will be interesting in 2 years if of_gold and Rummie still blame everyone else but who really is responsible (Democrats).
Posts: 370 | From: Other side of reality | Registered: Dec 2006
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