Thank Goodness...
...for Mark Thoma.
Note: the rest of this post is after the jump due to it's political nature.
When are Dems gonna figure out that the Republicans won't stop playing the refs so long as it works? Remember, this is the party which put Mitt Romney – former venture capitalist, former governor of Massachusetts, and former champion of a government health-care mandate – on a stage 2 nights ago where he mocked "elites" and "east coast liberals" and credulously seemed to suggest that Washington was somehow "liberal" after having his party in un-contested power for 6 of the last 8 years. Since then, they've simply used their position as the barely-minority party in the Senate to filibuster the upper house to a virtual stand-still, hoping we won't notice and will just blame the party "in power" for the Republican's legislative obstructionism. For anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention, the convention in St. Paul was a whiplash of "he said what?!?" moments. Also, some "she said what!?!" head-turners Wednesday night. Indeed, there seems no amount of cognitive dissonance the Republican base cannot swallow hook, line, and sinker. Hearing what sounded like a small, brutish mob drooling at Rudy Giuliani's remarks made me realize how fully gone the John McCain of '00 really is. The guy I would have voted for has already been voted off the island. Like the immigration bill he once sponsored but now won't vote for, I wonder what he now thinks of John McCain '00. At least The Daily Show was on the case:
Also, the Daily Show's gleeful juxtaposition's of conservative commentators tying themselves in knots is truly must-see...well, whatever you call a Flash movie embedded in a page on the interwebs.
For what it's worth, I listened to both conventions (have radio, not TV) and was off-put somewhat by both party's looseness with the truth. A rundown of Obama's speech shows that it's not all inspiration and high-minded idealism on the Dem side, but while I raised my eyebrows and pricked up my ears a few times during the Obama speech, the Republicans got my blood boiling night-after-night. They laid full-bore into the falsehoods, distortions, and seemingly context-free condemnations. The FactCheck.org rundown on night 3 and on McCain's speech pick up most of the things that got my goat the most. It really is embarrassing for them how long a list it is.
It's hard caring about issues and policy and watching what any party does with the facts. Regardless, the just-concluded Republican convention has me convinced that this party is irreparable. A group of people this willing to poison the public discourse deserves no quarter, no matter what their stated agenda.