July 16, 2005
Republicans, he said, "want to kill us."
Our friend Frank sent a link to this article, on Paul Begala's crazy rant, which lots of people have been discussing.
....Begala was featured at the first-ever Campus Progress National Student Conference, which was designed to provide campus liberals with the tools necessary to fight the conservative movement. The event also drew former President Bill Clinton, for whom Begala once worked as an advisor....
....Begala's presence on the panel created a stir when he declared that Republicans had "done a p***-poor job of defending" the U.S. Republicans, he said, "want to kill us."
"I was driving past the Pentagon when that plane hit" on Sept. 11, 2001. "I had friends on that plane; this is deadly serious to me," Begala said.
"They want to kill me and my children if they can. But if they just kill me and not my children, they want my children to be comforted -- that while they didn't protect me because they cut my taxes, my children won't have to pay any money on the money they inherit," Begala said. "That is bulls*** national defense, and we should say that."....
Thoughts:
- This is pure raindroppery. This is what I was writing about. I can't get angry, because I think Begala, like a lot of people, has been driven loony by changes in the world that they lack the intellectual tools to handle.
- How sloppily people talk--in that last paragraph it's impossible to be sure which "theys" refer to terrorists, and which to Republicans. Maybe in his head also.
- They want to provide "tools to fight the conservative movement." But they're just preaching to the converted.
- Factually, it's so wrong it's preposterous. Our tax receipts have been trending upward ever since...well, check out the graph in this post by NixGuy. I guess if I were a liberal I'd be losing my marbles too...
- And, assuming that Begala really believes what he says about tax cuts, what must be the psychological consequences of believing something but getting no confirmation from the real world? Strange.
Explain please, why it is "loony" for a liberal to say you guys are trying to kill Americans, but "truth" when a conservative says liberals are trying to kill Americans?
"60 Minutes" rerun this evening reminded me it's conservatives who refuse to make it difficult for terrorists to purchase .50-cal sniper rifles...that its conservatives who shorted VA health budget because 2yrs ago they assumed we'd have no more than 20,000 injuries in Iraq and refused to reexamine those numbers even as injuries rose to almost 100,000 (leaving the VA short over $1BILLION...ONE BILLION DOLLARS OFF!!!) and embarrassed GOP congresscritters now rushing to make up the shortage...that its conservatives who STILL haven't supplied all troops in Iraq with working night goggles, radios (families at home are still buying supplies from Army-Navy stores, Radioshacks, etc.), kevlar...its conservatives who still haven't fully-armored HumVees (most now are up-armored, but that leaves the bottom of the vehicle vulnerable to IEDs)...its conservatives who refuse to require chemical plants to upgrade security, even though there are over 100 plants in the US which, if blown up, could potentially kill at least one million Americans...and the list goes on and on and on...
Did you catch Chertoff's testimony and comments last week, in which he justifies spending $18 billion in tax dollars to provide airline security, but claims $250 million for mass transit systems (which carry 18 times the number of people as the airlines annually) is fair. Why? because airlines could kill 3,000 thousand, while a subway bomb only kills 30 or so...In fact, a subway bomb and resulting fire could easily kill hundreds, and a bomb in a tunnel under the Hudson or East river could easily kill thousands! But as usual, the Bushies just can't seem to think ahead or provide adequate protection.
Oh, and the tax receipts...ignoring a rise would be expected from the normal process of the business cycle, and should have been far larger much sooner from the massive tax cuts (if Dubya's claim that tax cuts earn us more than we lose...long since disproven), there's the little problem of the one-time bump we're getting from corporate tax revenue due to a one-time change in corporate tax rules...besides, after everything done (3 tax cuts, low interest rates, etc.) we SHOULD be seeing a dramatic growth in the economy and jobs. We're not! Just a mild upswing...perhaps thats why recent polls have only 36% of Americans saying the economy is "great" or "good"...
Posted by: Zoomie at July 17, 2005 10:16 PM
