How Ted Cruz and Michele Bachmann get away with it

[Tom Joad]

This is why the "Both sides do it" argument is bullshit.

http://www.salon.com/2014/08/09/its_..._away_with_it/

Hannity helps, but right-wing obstruction and lies take hold because the centrist, objective press wears blinders.

“It all started when he hit me back!” That’s what the GOP is claiming, in a nutshell, when they try to convince the Beltway media that impeaching President Obama is a Democratic Party scaremongering fantasy/marketing scam.

It was fine for conservative Republicans to make all sorts of noise about impeaching Obama—since 2009, starting with Michael Savage, a mere 50 days after Obama’s inauguration, and with Darrell Issa jumping in as early as 2010—just as they clamor about Obama not even really being president (“show us the real birth certificate!”), about using ACORN to steal his way into the White House, about being secretly Muslim, etc. With so many scurrilous false accusations flooding the lifeblood of the Republican Party, how could they not talk about impeaching him? Yet, when Democrats recently got serious about pushing back? Now, all of a sudden, it’s a matter of politics! Partisan spin! Cynical manipulation! And what’s truly pathetic, the Beltway media (typified by Politico) eats it up, or else “balances” it by blaming both sides (à la MSNBC’s Chuck Todd) — as the Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky and the Nation’s Leslie Savan scathingly pointed out, after which Michele Bachmann and Steve King both engaged in more impeachment talk!

It would be bad enough if this political dynamic were a one-time phenomenon, but it’s not. As Savan pointed out, this is standard operating procedure for the GOP:

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[BlueStreak]

Thanks, Tom. Good stuff. Lately, I've watched a few friends wake up to this bullshit. Even my boss, a pretty conservative guy whom I've known for almost 20 years now, recently told me, "....I can see opposing his (BHO) policies, but this has gotten flat out sickening."

Dave

[Ike Bana]

What Bachmann, Cruz, Gohmert, Ryan and the rest of them do is promise to deliver shit they know they can't (e.g. "I'll repeal Obamacare. I'll impeach Obama, etc."). The idiot electorate in their backwater cabbagville districts (or backwater states) buys it. And then their idiot constituents buy the excuses they make and finger pointing at Obama and Democrats when they can't deliver what they promised.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Thanks, Tom. Good stuff.

Dave

It was Pio that found it.

[Tom Joad]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

What Bachmann, Cruz, Gohmert, Ryan and the rest of them do is promise to deliver shit they know they can't (e.g. "I'll repeal Obamacare. I'll impeach Obama, etc."). The idiot electorate in their backwater cabbagville districts (or backwater states) buys it. And then their idiot constituents buy the excuses they make and finger pointing at Obama and Democrats when they can't deliver what they promised.

The Republicans have a rabid dog base that requires tons of red meat every day.

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by Tom Joad

The Republicans have a rabid dog base that requires tons of red meat every day.

Mixed in with a large dose of ignorance as to how our government works. Instead of educating the people, the politicians feed into the frenzy. For example, blaming Obama for inaction (or action from EO's) while it's the GOP congress that is sworn to inaction other than passing bills of no consequence.