Summer is drawing to a close. Election season is finally here.
Republicans have pinned a lot of depressing “facts” on blue donkey kicking at the wind. Before choosing a winner this November, let’s lift the blindfold and acknowledge the GOP players in the game…
To help demonstrate the GOP’s 2012 election strategy, below is a factually true statement followed up with a multiple-choice question.
Fact: Shark Attacks Increase w/ Ice Cream Consumption
Based on the above, which statement below is true?
A. Sharks hate people who eat ice cream.
B. Sharks love ice cream, so they eat people.
C. Obama is a Muslim.
D. None of the above
If you answered “C” – You already have all the answers and can’t be convinced otherwise.
To everyone else, if you answered “D” – Congratulations, you are correct.
While statistically true, what is missing from the statement above is a correlating cause. In the case of Shark v. Ice Cream, the missing ingredient is “summertime.” When the weather is hot, more people crave ice cream and cool down at the beach.
This election, Republicans are asking voters to answer ANYTHING other than option “D.” They want Americans to accept facts at face value. Asking pertinent questions might reveal that, in addition to largely causing this economic mess, Republicans have not only refused to help clean up, they’re stiffing America for political gain.
Below are 5 facts the GOP likes to trumpet, along with some Republican contributions to take into account before voting.
Fact: Under Obama, the National Debt increased to over $16 Trillion.
Republicans only became sanctimoniously prudent after Obama became President. By then, conveniently, bailouts and economic stimulus plans were needed to clean up the destructive binge spending of a GOP fraternity gone wild.
Under George W. Bush, Republicans cut taxes, spent trillions on poorly defined (made up) wars, and spearheaded the continued dismantling of regulations that led to the financial crisis… all of which President Obama inherited, and Republicans refuse to help pay for.
In the past 4 years, Republicans shunned increasing revenues to pay down their debts, even scoffed at closing corporate tax loopholes.
Actions speak louder than rhetoric, and the GOP’s approach to the national debt has been deafening – The President owns the nation’s credit card now, it’s Obama’s fingerprints on the bill.
Perhaps most alarming, Republicans are proposing more of the same:
- Make all of the Bush tax cuts permanent
- Grow defense spending whilst picking fights around the globe
- Dismantle regulations that protect consumers, so that banks and corporations can increase their bottom lines.
To their credit, Republicans aim to make up the difference by slashing the social safety net and shaking out the spare change from the sick, elderly, and poor (need more? See the Ayn Rand budget plan presented by Paul Ryan).
Fact: President Obama wants to tax “job creators.”
When applying GOP vernacular, the above statement is true. For Republicans “job creator” is synonymous with an American in top 2% of the income bracket.
Republicans insist the Bush Tax Cuts must be extended for the wealthy. Yet they ignore an inconvenient fact – the Bush Tax Cuts didn’t net a single job… While the boss went yachting, the American worker lost more than a decade.
Republicans deride the growing income disparity, dismissing it as liberal class warfare. But the GOP is ignoring the statistical elephant in the room, data that proves: the rich have only gotten richer, and they are NOT hiring American.
With such great offshore bargains to be had, why should the wealthy invest at home? To be patriotic, like the GOP?
Fact: Under President Obama, the unemployment rate has stayed above 8%
Republicans tout the unemployment rate to discredit the President’s economic policies. They offensively brand him the “food stamp President” and insist that Obama is intent on making Americans dependent on government, yet the GOP willfully ignores the crisis they continue to enable.
Party first, country be damned…
Republicans boasted about refusing to compromise with Democrats, even publicly declared their top priority was making Obama a one-term President. As a result, government efficiencies further flatlined, prolonging the recession and unemployment.
Republicans blocked multiple job creating efforts, among the many initiatives: needed infrastructure projects, additional tax cuts for small businesses, and funding to help get teachers, police officers, and firefighters back to work.
Republicans staged unnecessary crisis’ to depress the economy. They threatened to shut down government, and brought the United States to the brink of default, causing S&P to downgrade the US credit rating, impacting consumer confidence and further impeding economic growth and hiring.
FACT: Under President Obama, federal spending has increased.
Republicans are following a script from 1970′s, attempting to portray Barack Obama as a “big government / tax and spend” liberal.
In truth, under President Obama the rates of annual spending, revenue, and budget deficits have all decreased. Spending is still on the rise, but at a slower pace than any President since Eisenhower.
Quite an accomplishment, considering over the past 60 years Americans have never needed their government more.
Fact: Republicans are banking on Americans to be distracted.
Don’t get frazzled by the heat this election. Republicans are counting on Americans to be cranky and reactionary. They’re hoping we’ll be so exhausted by bickering, so swayed by our love of ice cream and fear of sharks, that we won’t consider their performance, we won’t remember – Republicans welcomed this relentless summer, and they’ve been hoarding all the ice cream.
Don’t yell at the ocean. Fire the bloated lifeguards refusing to swim.
Hold the GOP accountable at the ballot box. Vote Democratic on November 6, 2012…. assuming Republicans allow you to vote.
