What is there to like about the Republican party right now? The party of torture, blown budgets and fiscal irresponsibility, warrantless wiretapping, cheap cynicism and contempt for science and the rule of law?

I’m not convinced that what was done was torture. “Blown deficits and fiscal irresponsibility.” Obama’s first year deficit eclipses Bush’s entire 8 years. No end to the red ink in sight. Obama hasn’t done much about the warrantless wiretapping. To Steal a line from Glenn Reynolds, “Hope and SAME.”

What’s to like about the Communist Party, Comrade?

As happy as I am to take a compliment (he likes me! He really likes me!) I think you mean FunnyMan. I’m pretty sure I didn’t comment about the mindset of The Black Americans and their opinions on conspiracies or any other issue.

Where to begin with the lies and flat out distortions in one simple paragraph:

1. (From Sully) If you believe in fiscal conservatism, the last place on earth you should look for salvation is the GOP. They have single-handedly destroyed America’s finances since the 1980s, with the sole exception of George H W Bush, who was rejected by his own party precisely because of his fiscal sobriety. The current debt is overwhelmingly inherited by Obama, and it would have been nuts to enter office in the downdraft of the sharp recession and set about cutting spending. Bush had eight years to restrain it and he didn’t. He let it rip. Think of the GOP’s phony concerns about the cost of the current healthcare bill and compare it with the GOP’s prescription drug entitlement that Rove rammed through the Congress when the GOP held total power. The costs then were about eight times as great as the proposed costs now. But that was a Republican measure and so it doesn’t somehow count as evidence of fiscal irresponsibility…. Somehow - thanks in part to dishonest partisan hacks like Glenn Reynolds and Sean Hannity - the Bush-Cheney debt is all Obama’s fault and you need to get Republicans back to fix it.

The last Republican who left the office of the presidency with the federal public debt as a percentage of GDP less than when he entered was Richard Nixon (FY 1975). The last Republican who left the office of the presidency with a federal deficit less than 2.7% of GDP was Dwight Eisenhower (FY 1961). Since WW II no Democratic president has ever left office with the federal public debt as a percentage of GDP more than when he entered. And since WW II no Democratic president has ever left office with a federal deficit more than 2.6% of GDP.

We already have at least one party of fiscal responsibility. It’s called the Democratic Party.

2. The US standing in the world has greatly improved since Obama took office.

3. Which power grabs, specifically, in energy and health care? Seriously, which power grabs?

Your paragraph, like many from ideologues, lacks intellectual honesty and specificity. It’s a collection of pablum designed to push emotional buttons, not engage the mind.

I read your blog almost daily. I read Balloon Juice daily. You and Mr. Cole are both terrific writers with passionate voices. However, Mr. Cole has pegged you perfectly, and you should attempt to refute his direct points above. In my opinion, based upon reading your blog for the last several years, you are first and foremost a party man. You may not think you are, but, based on your writing and blog radio show, you are.

Regardless how badly you think some in the GOP are, your criticisms are ALWAYS couched in a manner which proclaims the Dems are worse.

As for me, I’m a registered independent who voted Reagan, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Gore, No Vote, Obama. For Governor here in California, I have not voted for a Democrat since Bradley. For Senate and house, I think I have voted equally for Dems and Repubs since 1980.

It’s hard to claim to be any sort of independent if all your energy is spent trying to help one party win over another. The truth is that neither party has all the answers, so blindly following one party is a recipie for disaster.

Bullshit - Cole has always been a lefty - he never believed in anything that can be called conservative and no,he has not been “betrayed”!

He has been on anti-GOP for the last 7 years and will always be - he does have a lot of chutzpah to call Rick partisan, when he is a hyper partisan himself.

Really? 4 years ago, Cole was as Right Wing as they come! You can’t have read the man and not seen his gradual evolution since the Terry Schiavo disaster. Admittedly, me calling him “betrayed” by the GOP is my interpretation, but I think its a reasonable interpretation that explains his frustration and snark that pours out every day. (He’s a little like Sullivan in that he supports Obama while at the same time being aloof towards 90% of Democrats.)

And for the record, I don’t see him being very partisan towards the Democrats either. (In fact, the week after he changed sides, the Democrats caved into bush on the wiretap bill, and he was talking about how “I hate my new party already!”) Even if Cole is not being honest about his own partisanship, he’s not wrong for calling Rick “partisan”. After all, who comes to Right Wing Nut House for un-partisan opinions?

What blog are you reading?

Yours, but the tense is “were.” You didn’t help yourself with the little tirade above, either.

So, I have no integrity? There is no such thing as equivalency? Pretty heavy charges to make with no examples, no proof, nothing.

Of course, if you just want to stick your nose as far as it will go up Cole’s ass, you’re doing a damn fine job.

ed.

Bullshit - Cole has always been a lefty - he never believed in anything that can be called conservative and no,he has not been “betrayed”!

He has been on anti-GOP for the last 7 years and will always be - he does have a lot of chutzpah to call Rick partisan, when he is a hyper partisan himself.

Rick, thanks for responding to his nonsense without silently taking it.

Nonetheless, the Left now believes that it is beyond reproach, that it in no way deserves criticism, and people on that side are to be defended at all costs.**Therefore, you were attacked for even bringing up Van Jones. John Cole, when he reads anything you have written that criticizes the Left, simply dismisses it as wrong.

Ahem,

Last week, I got a lot of heat for suggesting that if Jones had all those connections, he needed to go. Apparently, the White House either determined he did have those connections, or that it was too difficult to prove he didn’t, so he had to go. I don’t know if he was unfairly smeared or if the charges or legit, but it is clear the WH does not want the distraction.

Also,

If Van Jones is a truther, it is time for him to exit stage left. I have a hard time determining what is fauxtrage and what is legit these days, the right is throwing so much nonsense, but it sure seems like there is evidence he was somehow involved in the movement. Apologies won’t cut it if that is the case.

You’re right, there is no equivalence.