The entire GOP plan: Credibility destroyed after Bush debacle, their only strategy is to scare us.

[kpete]

Under the presidency of George W. Bush, the so-called “Daddy Party” failed spectacularly on all major adult-male-gender-stereotyped fronts.

On the economic front, its record was terrible, even before it brought us the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression; on the military/national security front, its failure to prevent 9/11—the worst foreign attack on American soil since the War of 1812—was only compounded by its fighting-fire-with-gasoline response, turning both Iraq and Afghanistan into incubators for new generations of jihadists. On the science front, it presided over a widening war on science. In short, the entire framework of the “Daddy Party” construct fell into disrepute by the time Bush left office in 2008.

But now—thanks to the terrorist attacks in Paris—there’s a full-on rush to try to resurrect it. Only of course it’s an incoherent mess, with more focus on spreading fear than countering it. Donald Trump has benefited most on the GOP side, with his quick-draw tough talk, but it was similarly mindless, fact-free tough talk that made such a mess of things post-9/11 in the first place, and this time there’s not even a hint of an actual plan—it’s all just heated bluster, and denouncing Democrats for not frothing at the mouth just like them.

The panic over Syrian refugees is particularly revealing in this regard. Not one American has died at the hands of a refugee either during or since 9/11, although there have been 745,000 of them. Yet, irrational fear of these refugees has defined the only “coherent” policy response the GOP has come up with—both among myth-driven governors and in the shutdown-happy Congress. But when it comes to actually confronting ISIS, they’ve got nothing unified except a PC rampage against Democrats not using the phrase “radical Islam;” aside from that it’s a smorgasbord of proposals ranging from basically endorsing Hillary Clinton’s position (John Kasich) to cutting off their money (Paul and Fiorina) to grandstanding in Congress (Cruz), to reinvading Iraq, with a side of Syria (Bush, Graham and Santorum), to total war (“destroy them”—Carson) or multi-front bellicosity (Trump).

Overall, it skews heavily toward an amped-up front-line war, which is exactly what the terrorists want. It’s what they wanted from the 9/11 attacks, and it’s just what we gave them, and we only got a vastly stronger terrorist enemy as a result. So the “Daddy Party” script is already a proven failure. It’s done. It has no foundation in the adult world of facts, only in infantile, fear-filled imaginations, which is why there’s been so much GOP focus on circulating discredited scare stories.


http://www.salon.com/2015/11/27/this_is_the_entire_gop_plan_credibility_destroyed_after_bush_debacle_their_only_strategy_is_to_scare_us/

[Jefferson23]

1. It's how they've managed to capture voters, prey on fear, ignorance, racism.

I think one thing to keep in mind is that none of the candidates are much different
than Trump, imo. He's just more blatant about it, look at Rubio, look at most of
them on foreign policy..wacked, totally wacked. The establishment GOP doesn't
like that Trump won't play by all their rules, spoken and unspoken ones.

[2naSalit]

2. And the more they suppress education

the easier it is to scare everyone and control their atrophied brainz.

[Jefferson23]

3. Yes, that included paints a bleak outcome. n/t

[2naSalit]

4. Can't argue with that.

I am thankful I had a good public education when it was still a valued thing. I didn't go all the way through, was a 9th grade dropout but I could read/comprehend, spell, was well acquainted with a second language and knowledge of numerous cultures other than my family's - there was a variety of cultures within my family as well.

While I was in college I was horrified by the massive decline in the knowledge base of my classmates and campus job associates who were professionals. That was over a decade ago now.

[Jefferson23]

5. You did very well for yourself and that is an interesting commentary on our education woes. Poverty

also brings many ills, leaving many Americans vulnerable. Non critical thinkers
are perfectly ripe for the GOP hype.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-poorest-states-in-america-2014-12

[2naSalit]

6. Thanks and

I agree that ignorance is one of the elements of our social ills these days.