Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
GOP fetishism over Reagan is silly, weird and counterproductive. He's dead and what you're left with is a bunch of silly, unappealing idiots trying to pass themselves as conservatives (Cruz, Paul, Palin, Cain, Santorum .....). The truth is that only about 15-20% of Americans buy into this core conservative principles malarkey (the Teabaggers). Most others are smart enough to realize that governance is done through compromise between those of differing viewpoints/interests. This is lost completely on today's conservative movement.
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So please enlighten me: what are the core conservative principles that most folks don't buy into? And lets skip the too-cute responses like "rascim": that's political BS. What are the core economic and social core conservative principles that Americans reject?
And the lack of compromise is indeed a product of today's Washington dysfunction. Unlike you, however, I see it as a product of intransigence on both sides, as both sides become more polarized. As Bob Woodward points out, and most folks on the left ignore:
In Obama’s first meeting with Democratic and Republican House and Senate leaders, just two weeks after his inauguration, he told the group that he wanted to hear everyone’s ideas and come to a bipartisan solution—words he had run his presidential platform on. He told those assembled, “If it works, we don’t care whose idea it is.” But the next day his tune changed when Rep. Eric Cantor, then House minority whip, passed out a draft of a potential economic recovery plan that essentially met only the Republican demands. After reading the one-page spread, the president responded: “I can go it alone but I want to come together. Look at the polls. The polls are pretty good for me right now.” He then told Cantor, “Elections have consequences and Eric, I won.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-politics.html
In fact, as Woodward points out, there are a number of reasons for the disconnects in Washington that are traceable to the current leadership. In fact, has been noted that the current administration is the most "insular" of any in recent memory, with Obama surrounding himself with a small group of advisers and information and decision making held in close quarters. There's no question that there's a divide inside the beltway, but to suggest as many on this forum so often do that lack of compromise is strictly on the right side of the aisle is just BS.