Is the Tide Turning?

The recent victory of Democrat Kathy Hochul over Republican Jane Corwin in the New York State special election turned on the question of Medicare. Hochul's victory constitutes a public rebuke to GOP attempts to privatize Medicare. It seems that few voters are buying into the GOP scheme to replace Medicare with vouchers. Come to think of it, it sounds odd how the GOP keep coming up with voucher schemes for everything from eduction to medical care. The GOP has no solutions only gimmicks.

The Man With No Lips

Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Repub, has become known for partisan obstructionism and crass politicking. His latest stunt is to insist that the deficit can be reduced without tax increases. You would think by now that anyone with any sense should realize that you can't cut the defecit without raising taxes. So who is stupider, Congressional Repubs or the idiots who believed that the world was going to end precisely today?

Congressional Repubs are nothing more than empty suits whose political careers have been financed by corporate interests. The Repubs have nothing worthwhile to say on their own; everything they say and do has been determined by their corporate masters. I think that's why the GOP is having such a hard time finding a plausible Presidential candidate for next year: they have become the party of corporate mannequins.

The Great White Dopes

The liquidation of Bin Laden has at least allowed President Obama to establish his credibility on national defense. While it is premature to say that 2012 is in the bag, at least the Obama administration has shown the willingness to defend America's interests. It will be hard for the Repubs to claim that they "own" the national defense issue.

Meanwhile, the potential Repub candidates for next year held their first debate. Doing better than expected was Herman Cain. On the one hand Cain seems to have made an impression on those present, though it might have been because the other candidates are so boring. But still, the punditry insists there's no way Cain will be the nominee. The subtext seems to be "We appreciate your interest in running, but we're really looking for The Great White Hope."

Exactly one hundred years ago, the heavyweight boxing champion of the world was Jack Johnson, the first African American to do so. But in the racism that was prevalent at the time, many white people were offended that a black man should hold the title.
This set off a search for a "Great White Hope" who would defeat Johnson and presumably reaffirm white supremacy. The "Great White" never materialized and the authorities had to destroy Johnson with bogus "immorality" charges.

Things have changed over the last hundred years, but they haven't changed enough. Racism today is more of a way of deflecting blame. Instead of blaming the culprits who created the current mess--the politicians, the Wall Street speculators and the media overlords-- the idiots who flock to the Tea Party banner instead blame the Blacks, the Mexicans, the Moslems, and anybody who doesn't fit into their narrow little world.

None so blind as those who will not see.