The
Republican Party reached an even further height of ridiculousness over the last
week. It probably shouldn’t come as a shock, but one would think at some point
enough would be enough.
Study
after study and article after article have shown the Republican Party’s spiral
into extremism. Congress is more partisan than ever and it’s pretty much solely
because Republican elected officials keep trying to out-crazy one another by
shifting further and further to the right.
It’s no
longer enough to just throw out facts, science and Democratic Party ideas, Republicans
are rejecting their own ideas now if President Barack Obama or any other
Democratic elected official embraces them. Take for instance the Affordable
Care Act, which is essentially made up of Republican health care proposals from
the 1990s. After Democrats proposed it, Republicans disparagingly renamed it
Obamacare and fought it tooth and nail.
Now,
Republicans in the U.S. Senate are opposing Obama’s nominee for Secretary of
Defense, Chuck Hagel—a Republican. Hagel worked for Republican Congressman John
McCollister of Nebraska in the 1970s and was an organizer for Ronald Reagan
during his 1980 presidential campaign. Later, Hagel was elected to the U.S.
Senate from Nebraska in 1996 and re-elected in 2002, both times as a
Republican. While in the Senate he had a reliably conservative voting record
including supporting the Iraq War.
Hagel
also has a lengthy military resume. He served in the United States Army during
the late 1960s. While serving in the Vietnam War he earned two Purple Hearts.
He also served in the Reagan administration as a deputy administrator of the
Veterans Administration.
On
Thursday, Republicans voted to filibuster Hagel’s nomination. Only four
Republican senators voted to proceed with an up or down vote on his nomination.
It is the first time in history that a Secretary of Defense nominee has been
blocked by a filibuster.
So why
are Republicans blocking one of their own? It’s mostly out of spite.
Republicans
have expressed concern over comments Hagel made in which he referred to the
“Jewish lobby” and supposedly made remarks that the U.S. State Department was
beholden to Israel.
Anyone
that pays attention to American politics knows that any seemingly negative
remark towards Israel isn’t tolerated. Republicans and Democrats alike both try
to out-Israel each other on a regular basis. I personally think Hagel’s
comments were pretty accurate, and there is no legitimate cause for offense.
Republicans
also are concerned that Hagel would be too weak dealing with Iran. Republicans
show their lack of foreign policy knowledge far too often when it comes to
Iran. Hagel was repeatedly asked in confirmation hearings about Iran and also
the Benghazi consulate attack (which Hagel had nothing whatsoever to do with).
What he wasn’t asked much about is Afghanistan, a country where America has
almost 70,000 troops.
Ending
the war in Afghanistan will be one of the most pressing issues with the
Department of Defense over the next few years as troops are expected to mostly
be withdrawn by the end of 2014.
Republicans
aren’t particularly concerned with those details though. They’re more upset
that Hagel was an outspoken critic of George W. Bush as his Senate career was
winding down. Hagel didn’t like the way Bush handled the Iraq War (like most
Americans) and opposed the troop surge. Hagel also refused to endorse Sen. John
McCain in 2008 when he was the Republican Party’s nominee for president.
McCain
and his Senate pal Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have led the charge to
derail Hagel’s nomination. It is likely that after more questioning Hagel will
have the votes to be confirmed later, but Republicans have already done what they
wanted—embarrass the president—except they’ve only embarrassed themselves.
Also
this week, 22 Republican senators, which is about half of the Republican
caucus, voted against the Violence Against Women Act. Read that sentence again
to make sure you got that. All 22 nay votes on VAWA were from Republican men.
The handful of Senate Republican women voted in favor of the resolution.
Notable
nay votes include potential 2016 presidential candidates Rand Paul of Kentucky,
Marco Rubio of Florida and John Thune of South Dakota.
Rubio
went for the trifecta of embarrassing moments over the last week with his votes
against Hagel, VAWA and the Republican rebuttal to Obama’s State of the Union
Address.
Put
aside the awkward sweating, dry mouth and sip of water, and the speech was
still a disaster. I compare it to Paul Ryan’s speech accepting the Republican
nomination for Vice President at the Republican National Convention last
summer. The speech was filled with fabrications and lies. Rubio seemed to be
responding to a presidential address that only happened in his mind.
If
Republicans want to be taken seriously as a party and as an alternative to
Democrats, they’re going to have to do better than this. I don’t see that
happening any time soon, especially not after this week’s fiascos.
This extreme party politics is ludicrous and bad for the country. It's all so ridiculous. They are making themselves un-electable.
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