Yes, the Republicans have fabulous ideas, which is why in six years of Republican dominance, we did not get mired in a horrible, pointless, illegal, dishonest, intractable war. Or run up an 8 trillion dollar deficit. Or alienate every ally we had in the world. Or lose a major American city to flooding because FEMA had been staffed by incompetent cronies and no one from the top down gave a shit. Or sit on our asses while problems like global warming, the increasingly awful American health care system, and the North Korean nuclear program metastasized.
Oh, I'm sorry...is this not opposite day? Well then.
It's one of the more annoying media myths that the Democrats don't have any ideas. The democrats have as many policy ideas as the Republicans do, the difference being their ideas have not yet resulted in unmitigated disaster. For a quick primer on what exactly the Dems want to do, policy-wise, here's Nancy Pelosi's plan for the first 100 hours.
But even if that myth were true, I also find it somewhat absurd to argue that having ideas is always better than inaction. I could just sit here in this chair, or I could go outside and beat myself with a shovel. The former is inaction, the latter is a specific plan of action. That doesn't make it the superior course.
And I very much dispute that the Republicans are "liberal" on any issue at all. Or that they're anywhere near the middle. The entire strategy of the GOP in the Rove era has been to placate and motivate the hard-right Republican base. Rove is very open and honest about this. And the fact is, the Democrats won this election, if exit polls mean anything, because they overwhelmingly won the votes of centrist, independent voters.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 11:35 pm (UTC)Oh, I'm sorry...is this not opposite day? Well then.
It's one of the more annoying media myths that the Democrats don't have any ideas. The democrats have as many policy ideas as the Republicans do, the difference being their ideas have not yet resulted in unmitigated disaster. For a quick primer on what exactly the Dems want to do, policy-wise, here's Nancy Pelosi's plan for the first 100 hours.
But even if that myth were true, I also find it somewhat absurd to argue that having ideas is always better than inaction. I could just sit here in this chair, or I could go outside and beat myself with a shovel. The former is inaction, the latter is a specific plan of action. That doesn't make it the superior course.
And I very much dispute that the Republicans are "liberal" on any issue at all. Or that they're anywhere near the middle. The entire strategy of the GOP in the Rove era has been to placate and motivate the hard-right Republican base. Rove is very open and honest about this. And the fact is, the Democrats won this election, if exit polls mean anything, because they overwhelmingly won the votes of centrist, independent voters.