Tag Archives: Republicans

Rethinking the D.C. “Scandals”

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Terry| 1 Comment

As “scandals” (both real and manufactured) continue to garner news coverage, I’ve changed my views a little bit on at least one issue.  With the news today of the Obama administration admitting 4 American citizens have been killed by drone strikes, I now count 4 scandals.  I still believe that much the emphasis in DC is on politics, I still believe a the scandals are being overblown simply to inflict as much political harm as possible on the Obama administration.  However, as more information continues to trickle out, I do have serious concerns about how the Obama administration has handled 2 issues, while the other 2 in my mind are pure political fluff.  The 2 “fluffy” issues first:

- Benghazi – It would be different if Republicans were focused on improving diplomatic security.  However, given that Republicans have been against increasing funding for diplomatic security, given that they’ve given NO indication they care about anything other than using the issue to try to politically harm Obama and Hillary Clinton, it’s hard to see much of a scandal here.  Hey, Repubs…how about spending a little more time worrying about how to prevent the NEXT attack, rather than worrying about what words were used by the Obama administration to describe the LAST attack?

- IRS “Targeting” Tea Party groups – I’m sorry, but despite the play this is getting in the press, I don’t find a lot wrong with the IRS specifically paying more attention to Tea Party groups claiming tax-exempt status.  Given the Tea Party’s hatred of government, given the Tea Party’s goal of decreasing the size of government, given their goal of DECREASING TAXES, I think it’s perfectly reasonable to more closely scrutinize Tea Party organizations who are trying to claim tax-exempt status.

And two scandals that do have me concerned about the direction of the Obama administration:

- Justice Department/AP/Fox leak investigations. This one has become more troubling to me as more information comes out.  Investigating the sources of leaks? I’m fine with that, and given the hawkish-ness of Republicans in general, if this was coming out during the Bush administration, you can be damned sure you’d have a lot less uproar from the right. Hell, they’d probably be joining the call to stop the leaks by any means necessary.  But with the hated Obama in office?  Since when have Republicans been big fans of the press?  It certainly is troubling though to see the Justice Department apparently pursue criminal charges against a Fox News reporter for reporting leaked information.  That’s an incredibly dangerous precedent, labeling a journalist as a “co-conspirator”.  Go after the leaks, by all means, but don’t criminalize journalists for reporting leaks.

- Drone Attacks on Americans – In the newest of the scandals, Eric Holder today admitted that four Americans have died due to drone strikes overseas.  Holder said 3 of the 4 “weren’t targeted”.  Sorry, but given the disappointing levels of paranoia and secrecy within the Obama administration, saying they were killed but “not targeted” doesn’t bring a lot of comfort.  Killing American citizens without trial is one hell of a scary path to follow, regardless of the alleged terrorist or criminal activities of the target.

I obviously lean pretty far to the left…but…I’m becoming increasingly disappointed in the Obama administration.  The political naivety of Obama’s first term seems to be swinging towards a more secretive, paranoid, and closed administration as his second term gets underway.  What happened to the promises of a more open and honest government?  What happened to promises for ENDING the brutal practices begun under the Bush administration (ever gonna close Guantanamo, Mr. Obama)?

The right’s pure hatred for Obama certainly has led to gridlock in Washington, and has certainly fueled the flames of the “scandals”.  The right’s attempts to DIRECTLY link Obama, or Hillary Clinton, with these scandals is an overreach on their part, and distracts from any serious discussion of the underlying issues.  It’s pretty obvious that Obama (or Hillary Clinton) didn’t play any role in the decisions that affected security in Benghazi, and any attempt to turn word-choice after the fact into a “scandal” is failing miserably.  It’s pretty obvious that Obama himself had no role in the IRS ‘targeting’ of Tea Party groups.

However, despite the right overplaying their hand and blowing the scandals out of proportion, Obama certainly isn’t doing himself any favors lately.  He’s rapidly losing any chance to accomplish anything on his 2nd-term agenda, and if he doesn’t make a bold move and quash the scandal machine, it’s going to be his own political failings that are blamed for a lame-duck 2nd term, rather than the blame falling on Republicans hell-bent on gridlock.

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When a Scandal…Isn’t…

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Terry| Leave a comment

I’m finding it increasingly hard to read the “news” lately.  What qualifies as “news” has already changed significantly in the last few decades, as “news” websites and “journalists” seem to increasingly focus on the trivial, on the provocative, and on the scandalous, regardless of “news” worthiness.

In the world of D.C. politics, “scandal” has similarly become focused on the provocative, political, and trivial.  With the extreme polarization of Repubs and Dems, it seems our elected Representatives and Senators are more interested in finding “gotcha” moments to score political points than they are in actually governing.  Politicians are more interested in seeking the short-term limelight of the attention garnered through uncovering of “scandals” than they are in the long-term benefits of legislating.

According to the “news” sources, we have three major “scandals” occurring right now; Benghazi, the IRS, and the Justice Department/AP.  Especially given the involvement of the AP in the Justice Department investigation, a riled-up media has played up the three “scandals”, doing their best to make them as provocative as possible to an ignorant and easily fooled public.

Dig a little deeper, and its damned hard to get too worked up about the major “scandals”.  PERHAPS if Republicans in the House would focus on legislating and solving the issues, rather than just trying to score political points, I could take them seriously.  However, Republicans have turned the “scandals” into personal witch-hunts, desperately trying to directly link the “scandals” to the current Obama presidency, and a possible NEXT Democratic presidency of Hillary Clinton.  Benghazi was a tragedy, and people died.  In the world of D.C. politics, the focus isn’t on correcting the situation and trying to improve security.  GOD no…in fact, Republicans continue to be against any increases in funding for diplomatic security.  Instead, Benghazi, like the other scandals, is primarily about the next election instead of being focused on preventing another Benghazi.

Immigration reform?  Entitlement reform? Increasing unrest in the Middle East? Deficit reduction? Health care?  With the current focus on “scandal”, Congress seems like they couldn’t care less about the more pressing issues facing the country.

“Gotcha” journalism now has a VERY willing partner in “gotcha” D.C. politics.

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Senator Johnson Flips on Gay Marriage

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Terry| Leave a comment

Yet another “flip” from a Democratic Senator on the issue of gay marriage, this time from our very own red-state Senator Johnson.  I believe the scorecard now leaves 3 Democratic Senators as not supporting it. 

On the other side of the aisle, I believe the current scorecard still only shows 2 Republican Senators supporting gay marriage.  What I find incredibly hypocritical about Republicans’ stance on the issue is that Republicans love to point to the Constitution when it suits their needs, but at other times, completely ignore the basic principles on which the country was founded.  “Equality” may not be mentioned in the Constitution itself (“All Men are Created Equal” is in the Declaration of Independence), but the fourteenth amendment does state that people must have equal treatment under the law.

It’s baffling to me that any group of Americans could actively promote discrimination under the law in this day and age.

In them meantime…good for you, Senator Johnson.

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Folly indeed – Our Non-representative House of Representatives

Posted on December 21, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
GOP Cliff Diving

The House of Representatives is anything but representative. Democratic House candidates received more votes than Republicans in this past election, yet thanks to gerrymandered districts, Republicans somehow maintain House control. The non-representative House of Representatives is about to drive the economy to ruin, defying what Americans want from these negotiations.

And over the cliff we go…

Early on Monday, it appeared that a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff was within sight.  President Obama agreed to spending cuts, including cuts in entitlement spending.  Many Democrats weren’t happy that Obama evidently agreed to a change in the way inflation is calculated for adjusting federal benefits.  Obama also moved on his prior insistence that tax rates go up for all earners over $250,000, raising that number to $400,000.  John Boehner finally gave in and agreed that tax rates would have to rise for high earners.  With the moves from Obama and Boehner, on Monday, a deal appeared imminent.

Then, within the course of a few hours, John Boehner caved to the conservative nutjobs that control the Republican Party.  Suddenly Boehner’s “Plan B” appeared, where Republicans would unilaterally pass legislation in the House that extended tax cuts for everyone making less than $1 million a year.  It was purely a political ploy, as passage of such a bill in the House would only serve as a political tool Republicans could wield in trying to convince the public they were being reasonable on fiscal cliff negotiations.

Yesterday, Boehner pulled “Plan B” in the House and adjourned for the holidays.  They couldn’t even get enough votes within their own party to pass the legislation.  One and a half months after a disaster of an election for Republicans, and they still haven’t seemed to have gotten the message that the political winds have changed.  Republicans are still allowing the radical conservative wing of the party to dictate the party’s direction.

Why are we in this mess?  Why, with months to find a solution to this mess, are we about to merrily tumble over the fiscal cliff, even when politicians know the severe harm it will cause to our economy?  Look no further than our non-representative House of Representatives.

Conservatives constantly point to the Constitution and our founding fathers on issues such as gun rights and other issues.  I wonder what the founding fathers would think of today’s political system that allows for a House of Representatives to be composed of a NON-representative suite of politicians.  Even with the political and economic headwinds against him, Obama decisively beat Romney. Even with Democrats defending many more seats than Republicans, Democrats managed to GAIN seats in the Senate.  In the House?  DEMOCRATIC HOUSE CANDIDATES RECEIVED MORE VOTES IN THE HOUSE THAN DID REPUBLICAN HOUSE CANDIDATES!!! Yet thanks to a system that allows state legislatures to gerrymander House districts, Republican-controlled states managed to game the system and send more Republican House members to Washington than the vote of the American people would imply.

In short, our House of Representatives is anything BUT representative.  The American people are strongly siding with Obama’s positions in the fiscal cliff negotiations.  But thanks to gerrymandered House districts that allowed Republicans to control the House, despite receiving a minority of the votes, fiscal cliff negotiations are going nowhere.  Gun control legislation will go nowhere, despite the tragedy in Newtown.  ANY significant legislation is likely to go nowhere over the next 2 years, thanks to a Republican-controlled House who continues to insist on defying the voice of the American people, and instead focus on the path set forward by the hyper-radical conservative wing of their party.

Given what happened in the November election, given that the American people are behind him on the fiscal cliff issue, and given all the political clout Obama SHOULD have on the fiscal cliff issue, Obama has gone much further to meet Republicans in these negotiations than many think he needed to go.  But here we are 10 days away from tumbling over the cliff, and our non-representative House of Representatives have walked out on the Obama/Boehner negotiations, and have adjourned for the holidays.  Boehner even had the gall to say that it’s “now up to Obama and Harry Reid” to pass legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff.  WHAT THE HELL??  Republicans close up shop and leave Washington, and then have the guts to say it’s up to Obama and Harry Reid to solve this?

I hope the American people are paying attention.  In general, in mid-term elections, the president’s party losing seats in Congress.  I hope the American people say enough is enough in 2014, and, despite the gerrymandered districts, move us towards a more representative House of Representatives.  As it stands now, a handful of right-wing nutjobs are about to send the entire American economy over the cliff.

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GOP Answer to Deficit Reduction – Cutting Tax Rates for Rich

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Terry| Leave a comment

Up until today, it was easy for Obama and Democrats to ignore the bluster from John Boehner and Republicans.  Boehner and other top GOP whiners certainly haven’t pulled any punches in their whining about Obama’s initial proposal.  But until today, they didn’t even HAVE a proposal of their own, making it very difficult to take their complaining seriously. 

Today, Republicans provided a supposed counter-offer to Obama.  And…it’s still very difficult to take them seriously.

Republicans counter-proposal on taxes?  Cutting tax rates for the wealthy…but closing unspecified loopholes to somehow increase $800 billion in revenue.   To begin with, there are no details on exactly what loopholes will be closed, or how the net outcome from cutting tax rates for the wealthy would somehow result in an increase of $800 billion to government coffers.  By CUTTING rates for the wealthy, but promising unspecified loophole closures, Republicans see the best of both worlds…not going against the Grover Norquist tax-cut pledge, AND inevitably shifting some of the revenue increase burden to groups other than the wealthy.

It’s amazing how far Republicans are going to protect tax cuts for the richest of Americans.  This same farce of a counter-proposal also seeks to cut $600 billion in health costs, with one stated Republican option being to raise Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67.  Another $200 billion would be saved by decreasing cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security, as well as all other aspects of government.   While doing everything they can to protect their wealthy donors, Republicans certainly have no problem sticking the poor or the sick with additional costs.

After the election, an emboldened Obama is finally showing a backbone.  He’s finally sticking to his guns on making the wealthy pay their fair share.  I just hope to god he sticks with it, and doesn’t cave once the fiscal cliff approaches. 

Going over the cliff, even with a short-term recession looming as a result, is far more preferable than caving to Republicans who not only want to maintain the gap between rich and poor, but seemingly want to widen it.

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The “New” Face of the GOP

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments
White Male House GOP Committee Chairs

From the DailyKos story, the 19 House Committee chairs named by Republicans this week. Hmmm...what do these 19 folks all have in common? Is the face of the "new" Republican Party, the one that supposedly learned a lesson from the 2012 elections?

Three weeks after the election, and it’s quite obvious that Republicans have already forgotten the lessons learned about the electorate, about diversity, and about moderating stances.  As these stories from Slate and the DailyKos note, EVERY House GOP Committee chair that’s been named so far is a white male.  Shocking!!!  As my wife would state, the “Hairy Old White Men” still rule the roost in the GOP house. 

After two straight presidential elections that have proven Republicans can’t rely on the “White Vote” strategy any longer, there were immediate calls from many on the right to become more inclusive.  Boehner and the GOP leadership in the House missed that memo.  As I’ve stated before, I GLADLY support the status quo in the Republican Party leadership.  As long as the status quo holds, as long as Republicans cling to policies and behavior from the past, they’re destined to lose many more elections.

There were also many after the election who claimed it was the death knell of the Tea Party, that Tea Party conservatism was too extreme for the American public.  There’s little doubt that the Tea Party backed candidates performed miserably in Congressional races, and helped contribute to the stunning Democratic gains in the Senate, when by every historical standard, Republicans should have gained Senate seats this cycle.  So have Republicans begun to move towards more moderate candidates?

Virginia Republicans certainly haven’t learned their lesson.  In a state Romney was sure he’d win, in a traditionally “safe” Republican state that’s now shifted to blue the last 2 elections, Virginia Republicans have rallied around conservative lightning rod Ken Cuccinelli for governor in 2013. Among Cuccinelli’s MANY claims to fame?  Trying to sue a Virginia climate-change scientist to release his emails…opposing ObamaCare…opposing limits on carrying guns…opposing rights or assistance for illegal immigrants…and the hits keep on a comin’. 

Bravo, Repubs.  Don’t give in!  Don’t go against what you believe in!!  Don’t deviate from your current single-minded focus on turning the U.S. into a conservative Nirvana!! 

As long as you continue to act as if the 2012 election never happened…Democrats like myself will be fat and happy for a VERY long time.

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Boehner’s “Generous” Offer for Compromise

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment

Yesterday, John Boehner tried to set the tone for “compromise” on debt negotiations.  It sounded good.  After a very tumultuous, brutal election, it sounded good for the Republican House to come out and say they were willing to deal with Obama on the debt.

It remains to be seen what Boehner means by “compromise”.  Note the language of his statement. He specifically says they’re willing to raise ‘revenue’.   From his comments yesterday, Boehner still says Republicans are unwilling to raise tax rates on the rich.  HUH!?!?!  How is that compromise?  After the election, even some hard-core conservatives admitted that tax increases had to be part of any realistic deal to cut the debt.  Yet despite Boehner’s “magnanimous” offer yesterday to compromise, Republicans are still unwilling to raise tax rates on the rich.

How do you raise “revenue” without raising taxes?  According to Boehner, Republicans plans for raising revenue comes from a “byproduct of a growing economy, energized by a simpler, cleaner, fairer tax code, with fewer loopholes, and lower rates for all.”  WTF!?!?!   This is EXACTLY what Romney had been campaigning on!!!  It’s the same old trickle-down economics “solution”!!!  Cut taxes!! Then we will magically generate new revenue simply because the economy is growing!!!

Nice political play, Boehner.  You certainly fooled the press into getting a big headline.  Right after an election, you made it LOOK like Republicans were being magnanimous.  It sets Boehner and the Republicans up more favorably when negotiations start, and I’m sure you’ll hear today’s proclamation referenced to, when Republicans refuse to raise taxes and blame Obama.

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Don’t blame Romney, Repubs. It’s your party that sucks.

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
Ohio Polls

Poll trends in Ohio over the last month (Average of polls, from RealClearPolitics.com). Despite this being average of all polls, Repubs continue to insist on poll bias. Or media bias. Or, many are just assuming they're going to lose at this stage, and are blaming Romney. It's not the polls, or the media, or even Romney himself. It's what the Republican Party stands for.

I love the panic right now among Republicans. Ever since the conventions, and ever since Romney lost his ability to censor himself, the polls have moved very strongly in Obama’s favor.  InTrade had Obama with a 54% chance of reelection before the conventions.  Now, it’s over 75%.

Republicans are in a state of shock.  They just assumed they would win this election, solely based on the state of the economy.  Their entire strategy was based on the proposition that voters would blame Obama for the current slow economy, and would vote for the Republican candidate by default, whoever that candidate turned out to be.  Now that Obama is widening his lead in Ohio, Florida, and other important swing states, Repubs are placing the blame on one of 2 factors 1) Romney himself, or 2) “biased” polls.

There is no getting over the fact that Romney has run a miserable campaign.  More on that in a second.  Beyond Romney though, there have been numerous stories and opinion pieces out this week from the right claiming some kind of conspiracy or bias in the poll numbers.  Despite the fact that every poll on the planet has Obama in front nationally, and in front in Ohio, Florida, and every other swing state, Repub pundits are claiming it’s all a part of an effort to depress Republican voter enthusiasm, that the polls are using incorrect assumptions, and that these same Repub pundits “know better” than the pollsters.  Republicans just seem to be in shock that the electorate isn’t rushing to support them.  It HAS to be the polls, right? There’s no way people actually LIKE Obama and Democrats!!!

I am absolutely loving it.  I’m loving seeing the Republican party completely self-destruct.  The election is still almost 6 weeks away, but Republicans are falling all over themselves right now, trying to play the blame game.  IT’S ROMNEY!  If ONLY Romney were more like Paul Ryan!  Or, IT’S THE POLLS!  The media and the polls are out to get Repubs!

Well, guess what, Republicans?  It’s not Romney.  It’s definitely not the polls. It’s not some liberal media conspiracy.  It’s your entire, deluded, $hitty excuse for a political party that’s at fault.

Let’s start with Romney himself.  Clearly, of the miserable batch of Republican “stars” that were in the primaries, Romney was the most “electable”.  He was the most qualified.  He was the right choice, from a Republican perspective.  But in winning the nomination, Romney has been forced to act like he’s something he’s not…a hardcore, right-wing conservative of the kind that Republican leadership INSISTS on.  Romney has had to abandon his former moderate stances and has shifted so far to the right he can’t even remember where he came from.  Granted, given how extreme the Republican party has become, he likely wouldn’t have won the nomination if he hadn’t moved to the right.  Some assumed he’d move back towards the center after winning the nomination, in preparation for the election against Obama.

However, Republican leadership simply hasn’t allowed any wiggle room for Romney.  Be it foreign policy or the tax policy back home, Romney has been squeezed into a position where he’s forced to continually reiterate the most extreme conservative positions.  Obama has taken out Bin Laden and kept us safe at home, but Republicans continue to act as if they alone are the standard-bearers for security and the military.  Hence the sabre-rattling tone from Romney on every foreign policy issue, as if America acting “tough” is the answer to the delicate and extremely complicated issues in the Middle East and elsewhere.  Romney continues the bravado when talking foreign policy, however, simply because he HAS to.  His base insists that he act “tougher” than Obama.

Things are no different on the domestic front.  Romney and every other candidate running for the nomination were all pushed into a position where even a $1 tax increase for every $10 cut in spending was too much.  Romney has been pushed into a position where he has to continually talk about cutting taxes, while at the same time, somehow magically maintaining or increasing our military budget, and balancing our overall budget.  It’s an impossibility…but logic or fact have given way to ideology for the Republican party.  Romney is a problem-solver…he’s not one to carry the Republican ideological flag.

It’s a mismatch, it’s been doomed from the start, and there’s no one to blame other than Republican leadership and the party as a whole.  Republicans, you’ve been done in by your own hatred, your own intolerance, your sole focus on being the “anti-Obama”, rather than standing for anything meaningful.  You’ve been done in by your extremism, by your unwillingness to compromise, no matter the consequences.  You’ve been done in by a vision for America that bends over backwards to accommodate those with money and power, while abandoning those who need our help.

It’s not Romney.  It’s not the media. It’s not biased polls.  Don’t act shocked that you’re losing, that people aren’t stampeding to support Romney or Republicans.  You simply don’t represent what America wants, or needs.

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Gun Control? Nah…no need in the U.S.

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Terry| 1 Comment
Wade Page

Wade Page playing in his "hate" band. Just another hate-mongering nutjob with a gun. Unfortunately, there are seemingly millions of them in the U.S. Fortunately, only a handful take things as far as Page.

Another week, another mass murder in the U.S.  Yawn.  It’s to the point now that there’s some higher threshold in how many people must die, before it makes headlines on the national news.  Two or three people shot and killed?  Not even worthy of the front page, much less a headline.  Seems like you have to shoot and kill 5 or more to guarantee yourself a spot on the front page, and maybe 8-10 or more to guarantee a longer-term, top billing in the headlines, since mass killings are so common in our gun-crazy culture. 

As a culture, we’ve become so numb to mass killings that they fail to move the needle even a tiny bit any more, with regard to American’s opinions on the need for gun control.  One thing that Americans are VERY good at is rationalizing things on their own terms, facts be damned.  Murder rates and mass killings in the U.S. out of control compared to countries with strict gun control?  Nonsense, say the gun nuts!  If only there were MORE guns on the street, it would discourage nuts like those that have made the news in the last couple of weeks!! “It’s not the gun, it’s the person pulling the trigger”.  Etc.  Etc. Etc. 

It’s depressing that even after two mass murders in two weeks, that Obama and Democrats in general are too damned worried about the next election to make any meaningful calls for more gun control.  It doesn’t matter what any Republican politician believes about gun control, they’re too scared to say ANYTHING negative about guns lest they upset the gun wackos whose entire political awareness seems to be limited to their desire to continue to get their rocks off by playing with their toys.  But that’s just one manifestation of what American politics is all about nowadays…pandering to the masses in the short term to win the next election, and leaving actual governance and hard decisions to the NEXT generation.

Two more mass murders.  Nothing unusual.  Nothing to worry about, at least not for the 90% of Americans that are seemingly completely numb to the violence, or to the 100% of politicians who are more worried about their own political lives than the ACTUAL lives of their constituents. 

Just one more symptom of America showing that we are a nation of cowards, afraid or unwilling to make tough decisions.  Tackling gun control?  Yeah, that’ll happen…right after our cowardly and selfish politicians tackle the deficit and the National debt, REAL long-term health care solutions, or global warming.

In other words…never…

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Americans Love Obamacare Provisions

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Terry| 2 Comments

Sometimes it’s downright scary to know we allow everyone over the age of 18 to vote.  I’m not saying it shouldn’t be that way, but, it’s scary to have a democracy built on majority rule, when far too often, the majority are completely ignorant.

In this story, MSNBC notes that 56% of Americans are against Obamacare, with 44% approval.  However…they note that Americans are strongly in favor of the actual CONTENTS of the health care legislation behind Obamacare. 

It’s like someone really LOVING a bag of cookies, but throwing it away because they don’t like the wrapper.  Content good!! Obamacare PR? Bad…in no small part due to Republican distortions (aka, lies) about the bill, and the idiot electorate who is dumb enough to believe the lies.

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