The Many Faces of US Politics...

[Declan]

You just gotta love them Republicans

TAMPA, Fla. — It was about halfway through the speech given by Mary Fallin, by the grace of a pitiless god the governor of Oklahoma, where I finally came close to losing it. She rolled herself into this remarkable passage:
The history of my great state of Oklahoma offers a great example of pursuing the American Dream. It was built and settled by pioneers movibe west to seek better lives. During the Great Land Run of 1889, thousands of families rushed to put a stake down on empty plots of land. They built tent cities overnight. They farmed the land and they worked hard. And, in 1897, eight years after the land run, a handful of adventurous pioneers risked their own money — not the federal government's money — to drill Oklahoma's first oil well, the Nellie Johnstone. By doing so, these early-day pioneers changed the future and Oklahoma forever and today Oklahoma is one of the nation's key energy producers and job creators. President Obama wants us to believe that Oklahomans owe that success to the federal government — to the Department Of Energy,to the EPA, to the IRS, or maybe even to him. Mr. President, we know better. As we say in Oklahoma, that dog won't hunt.
Handed in as a seventh-grade history essay, this would get no better than a D. Delivered to the convention of one of our only two political parties, it was perhaps the most singularly dishonest speech I have ever seen a politician give, and I grew up in Massachusetts, and Willard Romney was once my governor. My god, Oklahomans wouldn't even have Oklahoma without the federal government, without the Homestead Act of 1889 or the Railroad Act — both, by the way, achievements of a Republican presidents named Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Harrison. And the land wasn't exactly "empty," Governor. It got emptied by a big-government program called the United States Army. You know what your state would be without the federal government, Governor, without the votes for the legislation from congressmen from the east and north, without the soldiers from New England and the Great Lakes? You know what Oklahoma would be?
Sand, with a whole lot of pissed-off Native Americans.
I'm not sure if it will be played this way. Ann Romney was sweet and lovely — and very defensive about people "attacking" hubby's success, but only as a "mom," of course — and Chris Christie brought down the house. But the Republican Party did something remarkable at its convention on Tuesday. It set out on an experiment to see exactly how much unmitigated hogwash the American political system can contain on a single evening. The Republican Party has set out at its 2012 convention in search of the Event Horizon of utter bullshit. It has sought to see precisely how many lies, evasions, elisions, and undigestible chunks of utter gobbledegook the political media can swallow before it finally gags twice and falls over dead, leaving the rest of America suckers all the same. What you didn't see in primetime, from Arthur Davis to Ted Cruz, and from one 2016 contender to another, was the GOP embarking upon the task of seeing exactly how much nonsense it could produce at top volume before democracy screams and gives up, like Noriega in Panama when they played the metal music at him.
It was something to see, I'll tell you. An entire evening based on a demonstrable lie.
The theme was We Did Build It — which, as every sentient being knows, is a mendacious barbering of something the president said a while back. (On the video screens in the hall, television commercials based on a severely edited version of the president's remarks were interspersed between the speeches, just in case somebody sought relief from the lies for a couple of seconds.) And there also was a lot of talk about how the various speakers Did Build It.
There was Jack Gilchrist from New Hampshire, the metal-shop owner, who was briefly an important Romney surrogate until it was revealed that his company took a few cool millions in small-business loans. There was Sher Valenzuela, running for lieutenant governor of Delaware, who talked about how she and her husband Did Build their business. She also talked about her husband, who was a soldier, and her father, the former drill sergeant and "a blue-collar union guy." She did not talk about her sideline, which is giving PowerPoint presentations to people — probably, I am sure, not in convention centers built with tax dollars — on how to suck up government contracts. There was a similar thing going on with Bob McDonnell, the slippery, up-and-coming transvaginalist of Virginia, who proved that his family Did Build It, by having his father join the army, his children doing the same, and himself, finding the "same job" in government once held by Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. After listening to this laughable bafflegab for a spell, you begin to wonder whether or not the U.S. military is a rather large venture-capital concern with anti-tank weapons.
It was an entire evening based on a demonstrable lie. It was an entire evening based on demonstrable lies told in service to the overriding demonstrable lie. And there was only one real story for actual journalists to tell at the end of it.
The Republicans simply don't care.
They don't care that they lie. They don't care that their lies are obvious. They don't care that their lies wouldn't fool an underpaid substitute Social Studies teacher in a public middle school, who would then probably go out one night and get yelled at by Chris Christie. ("They believe in teacher's unions. We believe in teachers," he said in his speech. Yeah, you just don't believe in paying them.) They don't care that their history is a lie and that, by spreading it, they devalue the actual history of the country, which is something that belongs to us.
Did Ted Cruz really quote Martin King in this hall? Did Artur Davis, the newly minted Republican turncoat from Alabama, just cite Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Lyndon Fking Johnson as examples of "leaders" who "reached across the aisle"? Lyndon reached across the aisle? Yeah, he did, and he grabbed their peckers and put them in his pocket, and he didn't give them back until the skinflint bastards coughed up Medicare. Jesus, this was pathetic. They don't care that they lie so obviously that they always get caught, like they did with the evening's entire theme, like they have in and around the Tampa Bay Times Forum, or with the story of poor Jack Gilchrist. The Republicans will just tell the lie again. And again. And once more, until people get tired of telling the truth in response.
It was an entire evening based on a demonstrable lie because it was an entire evening based on rejecting — publicly and dishonestly, and without caring that the facts of your own biographies give the lie to the words you're saying — the idea of a general political commonwealth as expressed through the national government, which has been the great engine behind the expansion of the country's size, the country's wealth, and, yes, the country's freedom. It was a purchase in that political commonwealth, and not in a loose confederation of states, that King sought, and that Lyndon sought to give the country's poorest citizens, including the vote, which the government of John Kasich in Ohio is presently working assiduously to roll back.
It was an entire evening based on a demonstrable lie, and it was topped off by a demonstrable liar named Chris Christie, who talked about how the president can't lead, and that nobody wants to tell the Americans the truth of the sacrifices we have to share, and talked about "politicians who pander" at a convention that is preparing to nominate Willard Romney, which was the final hilarious lie of the night, since Romney hasn't stopped pandering since he walked down the steps of the Massachusetts State House in 2006.
Earlier, though, Christie rang the theme of the evening's overriding demonstrable lie, too. He talked about how his family Built It, his Irish father and his Sicilian mother.
They both lived hard lives. Dad grew up in poverty. After returning from Army service, he worked at the Breyer's ice-cream plant in the 1950's. With that job, and the GI Bill, he put himself through Rutgers University at night to become the first in his family to earn a college degree.
Chris, old man, you didn't even build yourself yourself. The tax dollars — the federal tax dollars — of, among other people, my parents paid your father's Army salary, and they paid for the G.I. Bill. The tax dollars of thousands of other people paid for his education at Rutgers, which is, as it proclaims, The State University Of New Jersey. All of them were proud to do it, because they knew that they were part of a political commonwealth that has as its proudest expression a national government in which all citizens have purchase.
And, Chris, and Bob, and Sher, and Jack, and all of you, you're welcome.
Liars.


Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/rnc-tampa-night-one-12158408#ixzz250lpTc8A

[Hardy]

Thanks for that, Declan. I like his style.

[The Iceman]

Did you come legally or better still, come legally from the get go?

You don't know me or me you, so don't presume to know my motives for emigration.

I know it is not cool to think illegal immigration is wrong but the fact remains it is wrong, it is a burden on the country and every illegal immigrant should be forced to feck off back to were they came from and then apply for a working visa, regardless of race, color or creed.

Stew- I did come here legally- and from the get go, but I don't see that as being relevant. The fact is that the immigration policy that is in the US is absolutely horrible for the economy of the US. Not only do I not know your motives, quite frankly those are none of my concern nor are they relevant to my post. However by moving here from Ireland you chose to come here, its not something that's forced on you. If the situation at home necessitated your leaving, there are at least 205 other countries that you could have selected.

For me this was the best choice for me and my family in terms of opportunity. There are other places that have a political and economic system that I much prefer, unfortunately for my idealistic tendencies, none of those could come close to offering me the upside that was available to me in the US. So I made the choice that was best for me and my family, and in doing that I take the rough with the smooth. I do try and change opinions when I can, I can't vote here unless I decide to take citizenship, and despite my children being american, I haven't as yet seen a compelling argument to take the plunge.

So whilst I do appreciate your "send home the illegals" argument, the simple truth of the matter is that in the United States that is a facile argument and completely untenable. If you took a phased approach and presented a workable visa program with a route to permanent residence- if not citizenship and in the process opened the door to the immigrants from which the US actually would benefit then we could start making progress.

Whilst the equally failed tax system in the US is a big factor in many jobs going overseas, many firms are in the catch 22 of wanting to hire skilled people  for a job in the US. There aren't people in the US that have that skill set, at any price. So that leaves the only viable option of opening an office in an area where those people with that skill set can be found. That reduces the knowledge base and skill set in the US and also reduces the tax income received here.

I know it is not cool to think illegal immigration is wrong but the fact remains it is wrong, it is a burden on the country and every illegal immigrant should be forced to feck off back to were they came from and then apply for a working visa, regardless of race, color or creed.

First up Im not sure exactly what you're saying is wrong, however the burden on the country part is nonsense. Well, in as much as it is a burden on any country to have citizens or legal immigrants. The illegal immigrants in the US contribute more to the US economy than it costs to have them here. In fact if you were to actually try to get them to "report and deport" tomorrow the economy of a significant number of states in the Union would shut down overnight.

Well said Heganboy. Stew your posts are bordering on self righteous. I wonder what you would have done had you not had an American Wife to gain legal entry to the country? A step back to come to America? How was it a step back? I find that very critical of your own Wife and her heritage and country to say moving there was a step back from Ireland.

[dec]

And to follow up on the Esquire article, on Wednesday night Paul Ryan talked about how they are going to repeal Obamacare, because it is government healthcare, but want to save and protect and improve Medicare, which is of course government healthcare.

[dec]

I do try and change opinions when I can, I can't vote here unless I decide to take citizenship, and despite my children being american, I haven't as yet seen a compelling argument to take the plunge.

Shorter lines through immigration. Show the US passport when landing here and the Irish one when you are going home

[heganboy]

Shorter lines through immigration. Show the US passport when landing here and the Irish one when you are going home

No lines- Global entry is the way forward

[stew]

Did you come legally or better still, come legally from the get go?

You don't know me or me you, so don't presume to know my motives for emigration.

I know it is not cool to think illegal immigration is wrong but the fact remains it is wrong, it is a burden on the country and every illegal immigrant should be forced to feck off back to were they came from and then apply for a working visa, regardless of race, color or creed.

Stew- I did come here legally- and from the get go, but I don't see that as being relevant. The fact is that the immigration policy that is in the US is absolutely horrible for the economy of the US. Not only do I not know your motives, quite frankly those are none of my concern nor are they relevant to my post. However by moving here from Ireland you chose to come here, its not something that's forced on you. If the situation at home necessitated your leaving, there are at least 205 other countries that you could have selected.

For me this was the best choice for me and my family in terms of opportunity. There are other places that have a political and economic system that I much prefer, unfortunately for my idealistic tendencies, none of those could come close to offering me the upside that was available to me in the US. So I made the choice that was best for me and my family, and in doing that I take the rough with the smooth. I do try and change opinions when I can, I can't vote here unless I decide to take citizenship, and despite my children being american, I haven't as yet seen a compelling argument to take the plunge.

So whilst I do appreciate your "send home the illegals" argument, the simple truth of the matter is that in the United States that is a facile argument and completely untenable. If you took a phased approach and presented a workable visa program with a route to permanent residence- if not citizenship and in the process opened the door to the immigrants from which the US actually would benefit then we could start making progress.

Whilst the equally failed tax system in the US is a big factor in many jobs going overseas, many firms are in the catch 22 of wanting to hire skilled people  for a job in the US. There aren't people in the US that have that skill set, at any price. So that leaves the only viable option of opening an office in an area where those people with that skill set can be found. That reduces the knowledge base and skill set in the US and also reduces the tax income received here.

I know it is not cool to think illegal immigration is wrong but the fact remains it is wrong, it is a burden on the country and every illegal immigrant should be forced to feck off back to were they came from and then apply for a working visa, regardless of race, color or creed.

First up Im not sure exactly what you're saying is wrong, however the burden on the country part is nonsense. Well, in as much as it is a burden on any country to have citizens or legal immigrants. The illegal immigrants in the US contribute more to the US economy than it costs to have them here. In fact if you were to actually try to get them to "report and deport" tomorrow the economy of a significant number of states in the Union would shut down overnight.

Well said Heganboy. Stew your posts are bordering on self righteous. I wonder what you would have done had you not had an American Wife to gain legal entry to the country? A step back to come to America? How was it a step back? I find that very critical of your own Wife and her heritage and country to say moving there was a step back from Ireland.

I would have stayed put and not entered a country that I had no business being in, that is what I would have done.

I am hardly critical of my own wife and her heritage, she was reared in Newry from the age of two and I meant a step back from a financial perspective and only a financial perspective.

Why is it that you lot are perfectly fine with people entering the US illegally? are you as gung ho when it comes to say Nigerians or Chinese entering Ireland?

I get what they are trying to do in Arizona but they are going about it the wrong way, and Ireland would be a lot better off without having to keep giving handouts to illegals in our own country!

[The Iceman]

It is very difficult to obtain legal status in America post 9/11. Even for boys like me who came in the right way.  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country. There isn't much to go back to for many of the illegals here and elsewhere. Not too many would have been as financially well off as you would lead us to believe you were in Armagh. Maybe you were relying on your wife's income for such a grand status but over here you get paid much more for your time than any job I ever done at home in Ireland.

For a traveled man you have a very narrow view of people and the world....

[cuconnacht]

It is very difficult to obtain legal status in America post 9/11. Even for boys like me who came in the right way.  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country. There isn't much to go back to for many of the illegals here and elsewhere. Not too many would have been as financially well off as you would lead us to believe you were in Armagh. Maybe you were relying on your wife's income for such a grand status but over here you get paid much more for your time than any job I ever done at home in Ireland.

For a traveled man you have a very narrow view of people and the world....

+1.you hit it right on the head there Iceman.

[nifan]

  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country.

I think you mean "irish immigrants" here - ive heard plenty of irish men in ireland who have zero sympathy for the immigrants from other countries in ireland.

[The Iceman]

  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country.

I think you mean "irish immigrants" here - ive heard plenty of irish men in ireland who have zero sympathy for the immigrants from other countries in ireland.

Yes and no. I finished the sentence with "in these parts" meaning America...but ye get my drift....

[stew]

Shorter lines through immigration. Show the US passport when landing here and the Irish one when you are going home

No lines- Global entry is the way forward

Is it fcuk!

[stew]

It is very difficult to obtain legal status in America post 9/11. Even for boys like me who came in the right way.  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country. There isn't much to go back to for many of the illegals here and elsewhere. Not too many would have been as financially well off as you would lead us to believe you were in Armagh. Maybe you were relying on your wife's income for such a grand status but over here you get paid much more for your time than any job I ever done at home in Ireland.

For a traveled man you have a very narrow view of people and the world....

I am all for immigrants making better lives for themselves, I just don't like hypocrites like you who let slide the fact that people go live in countries that they have no legal right to be in, that it for me really.

I owned my own business in Warrenpoint, not Armagh and yes the wife did well so maybe you have no f**king clue what you are talking about, grand status my arse, we did well, we worked hard and we were glad to have to opportunity to work hard, end of.

In my best years here I just about drew even with my best years in Ireland so from my perspective we are worse off, that is ok because the kids have thrived and the weather, for eight months of the year is tremendous.

Your last line is a cop out hypocrite, I am fairly well traveled fair enough but I do not have a narrow view of people and the world, I simply respect the rule of law in the Country I live in, I live within the confines of said law and I think it is hypocritical for the likes of you to cherry pick which laws you should follow.

I have two sisters that went about coming here the wrong way and I say the same thing to them, wrong is wrong and don't hide behind people making better lives for themselves, if they cannot do it the right way or they don't need to come here due to political persecution then they should stay were they are and apply like every other legal immigrant!

[Puckoon]

Like many things, I'm not well versed in the small print.

Do illegal workers pay taxes? Do they benefit from the taxes I pay?

I came here 10 years ago. Been legal since day one, and when I say that has been a challenge - I am not lying. I spent small fortunes on work permits, visa extensions, international student tuition etc... Thankfully I have my green card now. The reason I chose to stay legally was because I have a child here, and the thought of getting caught and slapped with a 3 year, or 10 year expulsion was something I was not prepared to risk.

I have no real opinions on the immigration issue, even after the huge role it has played in my life. If you come illegal, and you get fucked - there's to be no crying about it. That is the chance you take. If you come illegal and live happily ever after, fair play. I came legal and was faced with the very real possibility of having to leave my child and return home, even after 7 years of legality and playing by the book. Thankfully it did not come to that.

Personal choice for me, but I wouldn't be comfortable looking over my shoulder waiting to get busted, so I wouldn't live anywhere illegally.

Iceman - it's very difficult to earn 6 figures in 2012. That doesn't mean I get to go rob a bank. Just because it is difficult to get legal entry, doesn't make illegal entry right, does it?

[stew]

  You would be the frst Irish man I have heard of in these parts that doesn't sympathize with other immigrants trying to make a better life for themselves in this or any country.

I think you mean "Irish immigrants" here - i've heard plenty of Irish men in Ireland who have zero sympathy for the immigrants from other countries in Ireland.

Here here nifan.

I have heard many Irish liberals who refer to people who emigrated to Ireland as chinks, niggers, lithos, spicks and sand niggers to name a few, yet when I asked them about the illegal Irish in America they were strangely ok with this, disgusting in the extreme but predictable.

I wonder if the iceman and his hypocritical liberal cohorts have ever uttered such degrading, disgusting terminologies about the people not from Ireland, living in Ireland? therein lies the hypocrisy!