Confusing Rhetoric with Reality

Republicans, haven't yet found a way to deal with the disconnect between rhetoric and reality. One of the more puzzling elements of their current political pitch is a tendency to conflate ideological wishful thinking with meaningful policy-making.

What is one to make, for example, of Senate Minority Leader McConnell's claim that the biggest problem for Republicans in the last election was their poor "sales job"? What, one wonders, would have been an effective way to market failure and incompetence? And how do an economic collapse and huge job losses compute with the tax-cutting, trickle-down theories the party is still trying to sell?

Tony Blankley, conservative columnist, speechwriter and panel bloviator, says Obama would do well to keep the Bush tax cuts. It's as if the Blankleys of the 24/7 media world - - call them the niche people - - just can't let go of their favorite theories, even those that produce no favorable outcome in the lives of ordinary people for whom the Bush tax cuts provided neither wealth nor an improved standard of living, better services or job security. They cling in desperation to their precious corners of the political spectrum despite repudiation by voters and real-time events

And if you're Rush Limbaugh you start calling the country's financial implosion "Obama's recession", his "war on prosperity." Never mind that such statements make no sense, there are plenty of listeners who live by the superficial, un-sourced rantings of the radical right. True believers call media outlets and comment on blogs with what seem to be prepared statements straight from the right-wing gods. The remarkable thing is that supposedly reasonable politicians defend OxyContin-enthusiast Limbaugh. It's hard to say if they are motivated by fear of a backlash from Limbaugh loyalists or if they really think he's a constructive standard-bearer for the party.

Republican politicians were falling all over themselves last week either refusing to condemn Limbaugh's "I hope he fails" comment about Obama or apologizing for daring to take exception to various of his remarks. Senator McCain, who proves every day how grateful we should be didn't win the election, says Limbaugh is a "significant conservative voice" who deserves to be heard. Sadly the Limbaugh audience seems incapable of making a distinction between extremist opinion and fact. "I'm a thinker" he told Sean Hannity in a recent interview, as if his critics didn't do the thinking thing. To his mind, Democrats simply cannot create an environment that supports his vision of America - - free markets, low taxes, smaller government, the standard drill.

In any case GOP House and Senate members insist there should be more and deeper tax cuts in the stimulus/recovery/reinvestment package, call it what you will. Workers should be able to keep more of what they earn, they say. What seems to escape them is that when you don't have a job you don't have much disposable income. They trot out the popular theme that businesses are the best job providers - - true enough except when they're laying off or firing workers and closing factories and stores to protect their bottom line. The legions of unemployed won't benefit from lower taxes any time soon, and businesses will need more of a boost than the promise of tax relief to get up and running again.

In the midst of the wrangling over recession relief, Republicans have moved to create a more compelling party image by electing Michael Steele National Party Chairman. The fact that he's black and billed as a moderate will help, they feel, to put an inclusive face on a party more often seen as an old white man's enclave. But though Steele is said to be more centrist than many in the party, he still uses partisan discord and absurdist positions when he feels a need to attract conservative support.

Speaking before a Jewish group his suggestion that stem-cell research reminded him of experiments the Nazis undertook during the holocaust was outrageous nonsense. And saying that Obama is a "media creation", not necessarily possessed of leadership qualities, is proof of the party's threadbare agenda. Ad hominem attacks are stage front in the absence of ideas - - an indication that, while Republicans may have changed the skin color of their national leader, they haven't changed the content of their character.