100 Days Of Conservative Failure

It will never happen.  They will never win.   The Rothschild’s still have their driver at the wheel of that truck.  Its staying that way.

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By Bernie Horn

Created 04/28/2009 - 12:16am

The inauguration of Barack Obama 100 days ago gave both progressives and conservatives a chance for a new beginning. Conservatives could have used the opportunity to open up a “big tent” and appeal to moderates. Instead, they’ve retreated into the political wilderness, failing as leaders, legislators, and even as linguists.

Leadership Failure

Given the chance to put a new face on conservatism, who has been leading that movement? Not Sarah Palin, who became an all-around embarrassment. Not Bobby Jindal, whose response to Barack Obama’s speech to Congress was roundly criticized by both the left and right. And not Michael Steele, who is lucky he hasn’t been fired as RNC chair (yet).

Why it’s the same old white guys: Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, Fox News president Roger Ailes and his troop of politiclowns, and of course Rush Limbaugh.

Think about that. Cheney and Rove are the ugliest faces of the last eight years. (I mean that metaphorically.) Usually leaders of the outgoing Administration shuffle off the stage quietly—especially when that Administration was so unpopular. So isn’t it amazing conservatives care a whit what they say?

Gingrich and Armey are old guard conservatives disguised as new conservative spokesmen. Both Armey’s FreedomWorks [2] and Gringrich’s American Solutions [3] helped put on the Tax Day Tea Parties. At the direction of former GOP consultant Roger Ailes, Beck, Hannity, and the rest of the Fox noise machine practically sponsored the Tea Parties [4]. Considering all the great issues facing America—recession, the health care crisis, global warming, troops fighting in two countries—wasn’t the tea party exercise simply pathetic?

And then there’s Limbaugh, who Rahm Emanuel suggested best represents the Republican Party. Limbaugh didn’t disagree, but RNC chair Michael Steele did, saying that Rush is nothing but “an entertainer” whose rhetoric is “incendiary” and “ugly.” Like all the other conservatives who dared to challenge the supremacy of Limbaugh, Steele was forced to apologize [5]. That’s contemporary conservative leadership.

Legislative Failure

While conservatives are a minority in Congress, they don’t have to be irrelevant. President Obama gave them numerous chances to contribute ideas and play the role of “loyal opposition.” But right wingers rejected all entreaties toward bipartisanship—even before Barack Obama’s inauguration.

In mid-January, conservatives had the chance to support reauthorization of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Only 9 GOP Senators [6]and 40 Republican Representatives [7]did so. This vote was a political no-brainer, and yet few conservatives joined in.

Then in late January and early February, conservatives had the opportunity to participate in shaping the President’s Economic Recovery legislation. Instead, Republicans in both the House and Senate voted by wide margins for extreme right-wing substitutes [8]which would have cut tax brackets for the rich, given new tax deductions to businesses, and deleted all the job-creating spending in the Obama measure. Ultimately, only 3 GOP Senators and no GOP Representatives voted for the President’s Recovery bill.

In March, conservatives had another chance to engage in bipartisanship and rejected it. Only 7 Republican Senators [9] and 16 Republican Representatives [10]supported the Omnibus Appropriations Act that would the keep the government running until the end of the fiscal year. This Act was needed because George W. Bush failed to pass appropriations for Fiscal Year 2009.

Finally in April, not only did no Republicans support Barack Obama’s budget, they offered a substitute budget for FY 2010 [11]that would impose extreme right-wing ideology on America. The GOP plan would have rescinded the recently-enacted economic stimulus package, which would cause America—and the world—to spiral into Depression. It would hand over nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts to the rich and freeze non-defense, non-veteran spending for five years. And it would privatize Medicare and cut Social Security.

Conservative proposals in Congress over the past 100 days have been so preposterous—so irrelevant to the process of crafting serious legislation—that the media has hardly even bothered to mention them.

Linguistic Failure

When a political philosophy is in the minority, one would think its advocates would—at the very least—employ language designed to attract persuadable voters. Conservatives have played this game before, with considerable success. Remember ‘compassionate conservatism,’ ‘the culture of life,’ ‘Clear Skies,’ ‘Healthy Forests,’ ‘No Child Left Behind,’ ‘the ownership society,’ ‘partial birth abortion,’ ‘the death tax.’

What are they saying now?

“Barack Obama…is very cold, folks. He is a 100% pure leftist extremist political animal.” (Rush Limbaugh [12])

And “Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their liberal Democrat minions are determined to remake America into their vision of a European Socialist state.” (Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore [13])

And “Janet Napolitano is…a ditz. She's a total hick, hack, left-wing kook that is now in charge of Homeland Security.” (Limbaugh [14]again)

I’m sorry, but persuadable voters won’t listen to that kind of nonsense. Conservatives can’t successfully move voters with little more than playground insults. To quote “Captain,” the sadistic prison guard in Cool Hand Luke [15], “What we have here is failure to communicate.”

To call the past 100 days conservative failure is to be kind.