Sunday, October 24, 2010

Political epicaricacy...again

I don't know about the rest of the US, but here in Chicago we are experiencing horrible incivility, with both parties, in this campaign. When the elections are over, I am sure both sides will experience epicaricacy. But I hope they also experience severe remorse at how they've handled themselves.

I did find the following comment by a Democrat at a get-out-the-vote rally rather funny...sad, but funny. The politician is a state senator, and I agree the person he was ranting about (a Republican nominee for Governor and an ex-state senator) is to the right of Rush Limbaugh, but still, a little civility is in order, people! Here's what the state senator said at the public rally:

"I've never served served with such an idiotic, racist, sexist, homophobic person in my life. If you think that the minimum wage needs to be three dollars an hour, vote for Bill Brady. If you think that women have no rights whatsoever, except to have his children, vote for Bill Brady. If you think gay and lesbian people need to be locked up and shot in the head, vote for Bill Brady."

He refused to apologize, saying, "If he can show me that he votes differently than what I said, I will apologize. But I know he can't say that. I know he can't." Somehow I don't think Brady said that gay and lesbians should be shot in the head, do you?

Sunday, October 3, 2010

For now...the billionaires have their epicaricacy

There was an insightful article in the NY Times by Frank Rich today: Link

While the Tea Partiers are describing themselves as "grass roots," clearly they aren't. From the article: "In a typical example just three weeks ago, the influential publication National Journal delivered a breathless report on how the Tea Party functions as a “headless” movement where “no one gives orders.” To prove the point, a head of the headless Tea Party Patriots vouched that “75 percent of the group’s funding comes from small donations, $20 or less.” And then: "Last week the same Tea Party Patriots leader who bragged to the National Journal about all those small donations announced a $1 million gift from a man she would identify only as an entrepreneur. The donor’s hidden identity speaks even louder than the size of the check. As long as we don’t know who he is, we won’t know what orders he’s giving either"

Let's face it. These Tea Partiers are a bunch of media savvy Republicans who want Bush's tax cuts to continue and don't want Obama to increase taxes on the miserably rich. They need their billions to live on. To hell with children with no health care or with the homeless elderly. They're taking care of their kids and their relatives. They deserve it all. What self-centered fools they all are. Here's one example, though he doesn't have billions; still, he can't live on more than $250,000 per year with a family of four.

For now, the Tea Partiers and Republicans are laughing epicaricacially. But just wait. When they get in and don't do anything, the tide will turn. This is American politics doubled in spades.