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Thursday, February 7, 2013

Hiding Behind the Latest repugican Reboot is the Same Protect the Rich Agenda

A repugican by any re-branding is still pushing education cuts, Medicare privatization, cuts to Medicaid, safety net cuts, and the vaunted "tax reforms" to benefit corporations…


Harvard Cantor
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” is an oft-quoted phrase from William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, and it is Juliet arguing that names of things do not matter, only what things are, and it is apropos to repugicans and their re-branding efforts since the November election. It hardly matters the repugican cabal promises to smile more, stop saying rape, or welcome minorities with open arms, The repugicans have not changed one iota regardless their warm and fuzzy new image. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor took his turn yesterday espousing the all-encompassing altruism of the new family-oriented repugican cabal during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, and he urged his repugican cohorts to embrace wingnut delusions while standing up for regular Americans.
Cantor characterized repugicans as the cabal to help all Americans reclaim what he termed “American values” and then contradicted himself by conflating them with “conservative principles.” Cantor portrayed a philanthropic repugican cabal working to ensure “every American has a fair shot at earning their success and achieving their dreams,” but when he stressed that repugican “solutions will be based on the conservative principles of self-reliance, faith in the individual, trust in the family, and accountability in government,” it was obvious it was the same repugican cabal that worked feverishly to destroy the American Dream and block every possibility Americans have at a fair shot at earning success and achieving their dreams.
It did not take a policy analyst to determine Cantor proposed (without specifics) dyed-in the-wool wingnut dogma dressed up as a Barack Obama speech, but sounding compassionate and promising to “improve the lives of the most vulnerable” is not going to convince many Americans the repugican cabal has any intention of helping them achieve the American dream, or economic success. A repugican by any re-branding is still a nasty fiscal wingnut pushing education cuts, Medicare privatization, cuts to Medicaid, safety net cuts, and the vaunted “tax reforms” The repugicans prize to benefit corporations and the wealthy. Cantor’s promise to restrain Washington from interfering in the pursuits of health, happiness and prosperity for more Americans and their families is a favorite repugican campaign promise, and some of the examples he cited were standard fare during the 2012 campaign.
On education, Cantor derided failing public schools disadvantaged children are assigned to, and touted charter, private, and preparatory schools as an option in a nod to shifting public school funding to the private sector, and failed to mention the Ryan budget called for $2.7 billion in cuts for disadvantaged students. He also indicated an unmet demand for jobs in the healthcare industry, but focused on providing skills “necessary to fill the jobs in the booming natural gas industry” by promising Republicans will “fix the way we subsidize education” which they attempted by voting to eliminate Pell Grants for more than one million students.
On healthcare, altruistic Eric claimed “ObamaCare unnecessarily raised the costs of our health care” and claimed “even those who have pre-existing conditions could get the coverage they need without a trillion dollar government program costing us all more.” He asserted President Obama’s healthcare reform law resulted in higher premiums and costs for families, and made access to quality health care tougher. The new  repugican idea to “reverse this trend” of higher healthcare and health insurance costs is “by choosing to repeal the new taxes that are increasing the costs of health care and health insurance.” The repugicans have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act 34 times thus far, and regardless the “new” emphasis on helping the most vulnerable Americans, it is the same repugican attempt to deny 30 million Americans affordable healthcare insurance.
Cantor’s address was little more than encouragement for other repugicans to portray the party as looking out for regular Americans to repair the repugican brand while still embracing wingnut delusions tilted in favor of the rich and detrimental to the masses. If a person had no knowledge of repugican policies, or their record of inflicting damage on low and middle income Americans, they would marvel at the philanthropic nature of the repugican cabal and their altruistic vision for every American. However, after four straight years of obstruction and cuts to education, safety nets, Medicare, and attacks on the middle class, it will take more than words to convince the American people that the new compassionate repugican agenda is any different than the old Draconian repugican agenda when repugicans in the House and Senate are still pursuing the same policies Americans rejected in November.
Talk is cheap, and the repugican cabal is all talk and absolutely no action in helping any American except the wealthy and their corporations, and repugicans began the 113th Congress where they left off in the last session with no intention of changing course regardless the pretty speeches and self-portrayals of compassion for the people. The repugicans have nothing but contempt for the masses, and their legislative agenda is really all the proof the people need, and although some repugican whack-job believe Cantor is exhibiting leadership “with positive visions and alternatives to put forward,” it is still President Obama’s vision the repugican cabal is fighting desperately to derail, and the American people are not buying it for a second.
The repugicans do have an opportunity to repair their brand, but they are stuck with solutions “based on conservative principles of self-reliance, faith in the individual, trust in the family, and accountability in government” which are code for you’re on your own, christian family values, and cutting government. Shakespeare was right; “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” and repugicans by any other name, whether it is compassionate, caring, or concerned, are still founded in principles to hurt the people, and no amount of re-branding or compassionate rhetoric will change that.

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