tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post1336857096060376592..comments2024-02-08T07:32:20.315-06:00Comments on Steve Bates - Yellow Doggerel Democratic Views: Unemployment Rate Drops To 8.1%, Birdcage Liners Call It Bad NewsSteve Bateshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-78970354790432972692012-09-07T16:42:23.780-05:002012-09-07T16:42:23.780-05:00jams, there's a good traditional story in Amer...jams, there's a good traditional story in American post-W.W.II presidential politics, possibly true, possibly apocryphal, but either way containing considerable wisdom: <br /><br />The great Adlai Stevenson, the Democrat who had the misfortune to run against Dwight Eisenhower at a time when no one could possibly have defeated Ike, was told by a supporter, "Surely you will win. Every thinking person will vote for you!" Stevenson is said to have replied, "But madam, that's not enough: I need a majority!"<br /><br />Today, the two major parties are almost equally balanced in number, and the presidency hangs in the balance to be tipped by independent voters. The Koch brothers, Sheldon Adelman and other obscenely wealthy people have realized that it is far easier to influence the small number of independents... especially those that are, to put it politely, not Einstein... than to sway members of the Democratic Party to vote for the gawd-awful candidates the GOP offers in its quest for more money and power. So the Kochs, taking advantage of the <i>Citizens United</i> ruling, wholly underwrote the first election campaign of the Tea Party wing of the GOP in 2010. They were spectacularly successful. The Tea Party folks are white, middle-class, middle-aged, not stupid but not insightful, and absolutely certain that something has been taken away from them, specifically by minorities of all sorts. Add the god-botherers and you've got a majority of nonaligned voters.<br /><br />And now the nuts control the asylum. I don't know what it will take to wrest it from their grasp. You are absolutely right that money is now power, power that effectively cannot be challenged, and the GOP has the money. At the moment, I cannot see how this can end well.Steve Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07587223243120009776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-872647804241988041.post-41743897372380622692012-09-07T12:08:43.888-05:002012-09-07T12:08:43.888-05:00The Republicans seem to be about power at any cost...The Republicans seem to be about power at any costs.jams o donnellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17315325008175184363noreply@blogger.com