Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

Let’s just say it: The Republicans are the problem.

Yes...that is the title of the article.

We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

When one party moves this far from the mainstream, it makes it nearly impossible for the political system to deal constructively with the country’s challenges.

But...but...but..both sides do it!

“Both sides do it” or “There is plenty of blame to go around” are the traditional refuges for an American news media intent on proving its lack of bias, while political scientists prefer generality and neutrality when discussing partisan polarization. Many self-styled bipartisan groups, in their search for common ground, propose solutions that move both sides to the center, a strategy that is simply untenable when one side is so far out of reach.

It is clear that the center of gravity in the Republican Party has shifted sharply to the right. Its once-legendary moderate and center-right legislators in the House and the Senate — think Bob Michel, Mickey Edwards, John Danforth, Chuck Hagel — are virtually extinct.

The authors must be liberals!
Thomas E. Mann is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute....One of the countires most well known CONSERVATIVE think tanks.

Even last elections Tea Party darlings are not safe from the charge of being to "liberal" in todays GOP

even ardent tea party Republicans, such as freshman Rep. Alan Nunnelee (Miss.), have faced primary challenges from the right for being too accommodationist. And Mitt Romney’s rhetoric and positions offer no indication that he would govern differently if his party captures the White House and both chambers of Congress.

If our democracy is to regain its health and vitality, the culture and ideological center of the Republican Party must change.

Interested in opinions on the obvious...yes both parties are far from perfect, but there is no denying which party has gone so far to the right, hunted down all it's moderates as "RINOs" and created complete dysfunction and gridlock at a time where we, as a nation, need a government that actually works to find solutions.

Full article HERE and well worth the read.

How can you comprimise with language like this?

Talk about pointing the finger.


so scary.

Edit To Add- "By Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein, Published: April 27The Washington Post "
- The real problems.

The problem are all politcal parties that put the needs of thier party before the needs of the American people.

"There is not a dime's worth of difference between the Democrat and Republican Parties!" Alabama Governor George Wallace, candidate for President, 1968

No matter who is in office, things have, and keep getting steadily worse. I think we need to take the hint. They're two sides of the same coin. They're con men playing good cop, bad cop.

Originally posted by Common Good
How can you comprimise with language like this?

First off...the word "compromise" is against GOP T&C.

Secondly...seeing as the authors simply called the GOP out on thier loudly public positions and pridefull unwillingness to compromise, it seems strange to be offended, more so when you consider President Obama tried repeatedly, and often did compromise in the lopsided fashion that the GOP demanded, during his first four years...all the while they accused him of being a terrorist born in Kenya.

So...NO...I don't think it is out of line for these authors...one of which is a prominent conservative...to call the GOP what they have proven to be. The GOP OWNS their extreme right position...They campaign on it...no confusion there.

reply to post by Indigo5


Let's just say it - People like YOU are the problem.

If you think there's any difference between the republicans and the democrats which you obviously do, you've just played into their hands. Both are equally disgusting and both are just puppets for something higher.

It's like a play, you have the Republicans VS Democrats on stage, the audience cheering/booing for their favorites all the time the real workings are going on behind the scenes. Do yourself a favor and spend more time on ATS before making idiotic threads like these.

LOL
I'd be considered part of the problem by the author, then. I personally find that the GOP has drifted further to the left in my lifetime. Neo-Conservatives are simply marginalized social conservatives/fiscal liberals.

Goldwater's GOP was aligned to the right of today's GOP, no question... but then again, Kenedy's Democratic party would be called moderate by today's standards. In truth, the gap between the two parties is narrowing, mostly because the GOP is moving towards the left faster than the left is. Proof of that is seen in our national debt... any sort of right leaning, conservative government would have NEVER allowed that fiasco to occur.

The problem is Career politicians selling us to lobbyist.

There need not be a huge conspiracy for the way things are, simply the greed of men at play...

Kick them all out of office, both parties.

Strict term limits and a ban and or strict controls on special interest lobbying and its scale.

Rep, Dem, all I hear is crooks selling us out.

reply to post by Indigo5


F&S X 100 if I could! Finally, someone is just coming out and stating what is plain for all to see. Todays' GOP/TP obstructionist tactics and mentality lie at the very core of our problems.

I mean how the hell are we supposed to fix the budget or the debt or create jobs or fix infrastructure or properly educate our children when the only thing on the minds of our republican congressmen is to restrict birth control, limit the rights of the LGBT community and force the President into a new war with Iran?

These people are currently so wound up on the idea of imposing their own ideology on the masses, that their hearts are going to explode just like Andrew Breitbarts' did when they don't get their way. I really believe that due to their own actions, the GOP/TP have triggered the beginning of the end for their political party and without a doubt, the sooner they're gone, the better off America will be.

I love how this was left out:

Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican, was recently captured on video asserting that there are “78 to 81” Democrats in Congress who are members of the Communist Party. Of course, it’s not unusual for some renegade lawmaker from either side of the aisle to say something outrageous. What made West’s comment — right out of the McCarthyite playbook of the 1950s — so striking was the almost complete lack of condemnation from Republican congressional leaders or other major party figures, including the remaining presidential candidates.

And of course we have leftists running around calling right wingers nazis and comparing Ann Romney to Hilter.

Blah: expected from a member of the party than can do no wrong nor will they ever do anything wrong.

Alright right wingers roll over and play dead for the leftists.

Its becoming CRYSTAL CLEAR for EVERYONE to see that the republican party today is a JOKE. Actually, they are BEYOND A JOKE. They and their PSYCHOPATH beliefs, actions, and policies would COMPLETELY RUIN our nation.

Their mission is to give their wealthy SNAKE buddies EVERYTHING at the EXPENSE of all of the REST OF US. They TANK our economy whenever there is a republican in the Oval Office. A Democrat in office is always faced with fixing a Republican MESS of a tanked economy.

Republicans will WIPE-OUT the middle-class for certain, and will not only TANK our economy this time around, but will bring it to its knees beyond the repair of a future Democrat to fix. The country cannot have another one of these BASTARDS in the Oval Office EVER again.

Their fantasy of a MASTER and SLAVE society is frightening, and their ZERO concern for our environment of this planet that we must live upon is unacceptable.

They would rather spend ASTRONOMICAL amounts of our tax dollars on WAR MACHINES and fight wars EVERYWHERE while ignoring the TAXPAYERS and everything that assists us for which OUR TAXES PAY FOR in the first place!!!!! They would rather use OUR taxes to BLOW people up around the world rather than spend it to care for our OWN people HERE!!! They buy into DANGEROUS delusions and use superstitious barbaric fairy-tales that can be translated in ENDLESS ways, to guide them in making IMPORTANT WORLDLY-DECISIONS!!!

Republicans are the worst that a human being is capable of being on this planet. And they dont even TRY to hide it any more!!!

They are just so bad that every intelligent thinker aside from the SHILLS and the SNAKES, for whom benefit from the Republicans, can SEE it, and will ADMIT it more and more every single DAY. Their SHILLS online are so obvious. They all use the same textbook tactics each time. And they are like clockwork... The Republican party surely needs their SHILLS...

Corrupt inhumane MONSTERS with zero compassion for anyone but themselves and their cronies. What a SAD thing that these Republicans have become. They and their SHILLS...

By the title of your thread I can tell you still believe there are 2 sides. Find someone like that today is remarkable.

deleted

Let's see, Democrats agreed to budget cuts in social spending, if the republicans would agree to spending cuts in the military.
At the last minute Republicans passed legislation that only cut social spending, and didn't cut anything from the military.

Sorry but the facts are pointing at the republicans as being the problem. I could list countless more examples like the one above.

Originally posted by Trueman
By the title of your thread I can tell you still believe there are 2 sides. Find someone like that today is remarkable.

After President GW Bush left office with an economy in free-fall and a war in Iraq that was proven to be fraudulant, the GOP had more than a black eye..

So much so that the GOP had no choice but to join in the outrage toward President Bush and claim that they were no longer GOP....but Tea Partiers!!!

There was even a period of time where Fox News railled about how the TP was not conservative, but included equal parts Democrats and Republicans...no I am not kidding, it was a common retort at the time.

What I am getting at is, when the GOP really starts to smell up the room, republicans have no issue stepping into the crowd and shouting that "both partuies suck"...and then they wait it out until they can try anew for thier conservative utopia...Karl Rove's "Permanent Majority".

Yes...niether party is perfect...but side by side, without question...The Republicans are the problem!

Hmmm

Republicans are part of the problem eh like this:

A budget resolution based on President Obama’s 2013 budget failed to get any votes in the Senate on Wednesday.

n a 99-0 vote, all of the senators present rejected the president’s blueprint.

thehill.com...

I really do love how the right always gets all the blame.

Originally posted by neo96
Hmmm

Republicans are part of the problem eh like this:

A budget resolution based on President Obama’s 2013 budget failed to get any votes in the Senate on Wednesday.

n a 99-0 vote, all of the senators present rejected the president’s blueprint.

thehill.com...

I really do love how the right always gets all the blame.

That was not a bill...that was a resolution fashioned by the GOP after the recommendations that the White House gave to Congress...The Presidents Budget is NEVER voted on..it is a position paper. The fact that the GOP did that for theatrics for the first time in history reflects that yes, THEY ARE THE PROBLEM.

reply to post by Indigo5

It’s the second year in a row the Senate has voted down Obama’s budget.

Whatever

Originally posted by burdman30ott6
LOL
I'd be considered part of the problem by the author, then. I personally find that the GOP has drifted further to the left in my lifetime. Neo-Conservatives are simply marginalized social conservatives/fiscal liberals.

Goldwater's GOP was aligned to the right of today's GOP, no question... but then again, Kenedy's Democratic party would be called moderate by today's standards. In truth, the gap between the two parties is narrowing, mostly because the GOP is moving towards the left faster than the left is. Proof of that is seen in our national debt... any sort of right leaning, conservative government would have NEVER allowed that fiasco to occur.

Apparently, your current lifetime of 36 yrs., (happy belated birthday wishes) hasn't been long enough to make a proper judgement when comparing the current state of the GOP to that of the Goldwater years. Goldwater was actually a libertarian, like Ron Paul, also hiding under the Republican banner for political purposes.

en.wikipedia.org...

By the 1980s, the increasing influence of the Christian right on the Republican Party so conflicted with Goldwater's libertarian views that he became a vocal opponent of the religious right on issues such as abortion, gay rights and the role of religion in public life.[4]

Furthermore, wasn't it Bill Clinton who was POTUS back when we had our last string of balanced budgets and surpluses? Wasn't he a democrat?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what your gonna say. No republican would ever cut taxes on the wealthiest among us while simultaneously dragging America into a needless war based entirely on lies or pass an unfunded "Part D" Medicare prescription program, just wouldn't happen. But then, no republican would ever leave your ass standing on your roof for weeks after a hurricane has devastated your city either, right?

I really think you're assuming that because you call yourself a republican and these are your values, that the rest of the republican party shares them, when nothing could be further from the truth. Todays' GOP/TP is so far off to the right that they are in danger of falling off the edge of their own flat earth.

Every politician,
every "party",
every analyst,
every pundit,
every person,

in Washington...


IS THE PROBLEM.




/thread