Dumbness Will Destroy The Republican Party

Sadly, if they’re not careful, the continuation of highly vocal and unabashedly blatant inaccuracies like those of Republican House Representative from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx, will utterly destroy the G.O.P. Was it not enough that Sarah Palin embarrassed all Americans with her antics while campaigning for one of the two major parties in American politics that have any influence? Lobbing convoluted logic at your political enemy is like coming to a firefight with a dart gun: It seems like you have the right weapon, but to people who know the difference, you just look silly and in the end you’re pretty ineffective.

So I was reading the New York Times story titled, “House Passes Stimulus Plan Despite G.O.P. Opposition” about how the stimulus package passed the House without one single Republican on board. This was a little disturbing to me. It seemed that there was a huge bipartisan message projected from the floor of the House Republicans. It was that they will not be working in any way with this administration, even when Obama comes down personally to appeal for their support. They want to be able to look Democrats and Americans in the eye and when and if this stimulus fails to say, “We told you so.” The Democrats on the other hand made an equally bipartisan statement: “Feh! Who needs you.”

As disturbed as I am on multiple levels that this bill did not appeal to one single Republican, I was more disturbed by the statement made by a Republican Representitive, Virginia Foxx made in the New York Times. If I were a North Carolina resident in her district I would call for this person to be thrown out of office as soon as possible, if not sooner. The naivete and ignorance displayed in this comment should resound through our Capital Building’s halls as the dangers the Republican party faces. Is Foxx vying for Sarah Palin’s role as most ridiculous naïve politician in the party?

My respect for this party diminishes by the day after reading comments like this much more than it is bolstered when I hear a sweet speech by John McCain finally untethered from the pressures and constraints of his awful campaign.

FTA:

“Representative Virginia Foxx, Republican of North Carolina, said that former President George Bush’s signature tax cuts in 2001 had created years of growth but that the nation’s problems started when Democrats regained majorities in Congress in the 2006 elections.”

Luckily they were able to get someone who was paying attention to provide a follow up comment. In the interest of fairness I wish it were a Republican showing their wisdom.

“Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the majority leader, said that “the economics that got us into this mess” were the Republicans’ policies for the six years that Republicans controlled both the White House and Congress, through 2006.”

Perhaps it’s the bias of the reporting paper to highlight the idiocy in the Republican party. I will give you that. But after the Palin debacle, I fear that this type of one-sided, unreflected, loud mouth, ignorance is a disease that will destroy the Republican party.

It’s clear that only a week or so out from Barack Obama’s inauguration, forces are aligning against him. Unfortunately they aren’t smart. If you’re going to go to battle with one of the most eloquent, intelligent politicians to come around on the American scene in years, you will be flattened if you continue to spout statements like Foxx’s. Please, I beg my Republican friends, do not let Representitive Foxx and FOX news become the mouthpiece of the opposition for the next four years.

I have a great respect for many of the values Repubicans stand for. But to hear it, the values have been dropped from the agenda, to be replaced by the slow decline of intelligent discourse. No wonder Buckley’s son endorsed Obama.

In the end to the piece there were a couple of comments that I was thinking while reading about the bill passing the House without any Republicans voting for it, knowing that there will be changes down the road and that many Republican concerns had been addressed, except a ridiculous alternative that Republicans proposed as a stimulus that consisted entirely of tax cuts, which we’ve already seen does nothing to assist the economy in the short term:

“Not one person felt his or her district needed to have any of this assistance?” Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, asked of the Republicans. “That can’t be.”

Brad Woodhouse, president of the union-supported, pro-Democratic group Americans United for Change, e-mailed a statement condemning the Republicans’ opposition under the subject line “Political Suicide.”

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