In today’s mail I received a Travis County Ballot Book. It’s a little booklet designed to be a candidate guide for the upcoming elections. Of course my first reaction is to see who put it out to know how the bias will spin. This particular guide was published by the Travis County Republican Party (how lame… the booklet says their website is www.tcrp.org but that doesn’t work).
The guide starts out with a letter to voters from the TCRP Chair, Rosemary Edwards, Ph.D.. It ends with this gem:
The Republican Party in Travis County stands for protecting YOU from the overreach of government. Your hard earned money is being spent in ways that just don’t make a lot of sense. We want to keep more money in our own pockets to provide for our families. We stand with you in cutting back government programs that get in the way of your prosperity.
When your representatives do not represent the will of the people, we stand with you to VOTE them OUT!
Gosh… what are the odds these words are going to come back and haunt the Republicans?
I do like the word-craft. “Overreach of government”… which means they’ll be happy to reach into your lives and pocketbook to whatever level they see fit, but no more. “We want to keep more money in our own pockets to provide for our families”; my guess is that came out differently than it was intended, but I’ll chalk it up to a Freudian slip because yes… they want to keep more of OUR money (my money) in their own pockets to provide for THEIR families. And cut back programs that get in the way of my prosperity, which implies they’ll be happy to create loads of programs that they believe will somehow benefit me.
What a crock.
I like the last part tho, that if they don’t represent the will of the people they need to be voted out.
You Republicans do realize that means you too, right? Supposing your party wins big in 2010, you realize if you fuck up over the next two years you’ll be seeing an even bigger problem in 2012? Are you going to be man enough to say “yes, vote me out because I talked shit and didn’t back it up like the no-integrity-having scumbag I am?” Or better, are you man enough to acknowledge if you make a mistake and voluntarily step aside?
I’m not betting on them being any different, but I’d be happy to be proven wrong.
The Republicans right now are preaching “hope and change” of their own, especially the change part. I know this is nothing but election-time posturing to get themselves back in power. What they fail to realize is they too are part of the problem. I’d be happy if the Republicans gained control of the Congress because a little gridlock would be good (helps minimize potential for damage). But what the old guard (Democrat and Republican establishment) needs to realize is they are both part of the problem and causing the growing unrest in this nation. The more you bullshit the citizenry, the more angry and upset they will become. Obama promised change, and we got nothing but the same old bullshit. Now you Republicans are promising an alternative, but I know it’s the same old bullshit. Once both major parties demonstrate they’re cut from the same cow patty, it’s only downhill from here.
Stuff From Hsoi 
“You Republicans do realize that means you too, right? Supposing your party wins big in 2010, you realize if you fuck up over the next two years you’ll be seeing an even bigger problem in 2012? Are you going to be man enough to say “yes, vote me out because I talked shit and didn’t back it up like the no-integrity-having scumbag I am?” Or better, are you man enough to acknowledge if you make a mistake and voluntarily step aside?”
No, most of them have no clue it means them too. Some of the new ones do but they’ll be too few to turn the beast. If there was an actual viable 3rd party right now it would absolutlely sweep things in Nov. I’ve written all my congress critters and reminded them of this very fact. I recently posted about it on my blog too. There Will Be NO Round Three. http://preambleforlife.blogspot.com/2010/09/there-will-be-no-round-three.html (for your convenience, delete if it goes against your comment policy). Oh, and if they were man or woman enough to humbly step aside, likely they would not ever need to.
I like that: “no round three”. It’s the same sentiment.
The shame about politics tends to be that anyone smart enough to really be in office is also smart enough to know to not take the job, so we get what we get. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but like you said, they are too few to turn the beast.
I continue to be optimistic, I continue to hope for the best…but at least I know to also prepare for the worst.
Both parties seem to think when they control the Legislative and Executive branches that they can do whatever the hell they want.
There was no huge shift to the left in the country in 2006. People were just fed up with Republican rule, and that continued into the next election. “Progressives” as they call themselves, thought that meant people supported their BS, and we will soon see how wrong they were.
The Republicans will probably end up doing the same thing.
Ah-yup!
Really, this is merely going to demonstrate further to them that it’s not one or the other that we’re sick of, it’s the whole damn mess.