But the United States is "screwed" unless the failed minority party -- the one taking orders from Rush Limbaugh and comparing itself to the Taliban as a model for insurgency -- gets to help shape legislation even more in the future?

Absolutely. Only they have the true, God-given knowledge to know how to save this country and if the people of this country don't wake up and see the THE TRUTH, this country is, of course, screwed.

Or to quote Dick Tuck apropos a different election: The people have spoken, the bastards.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes Graham to understand that he is irrevelent.

This seems like pretty good news. When was the last time Graham was right about anything?

Why doesn't one of these pundits ask him or any other G.O.P. member why they were so willing to Bail out their backers on Wall Street but not those on main street?

They've already proven they can't govern worth a shit, and they've proven that they won't come to the table in good faith and write legislation meant to help the lower and middle classes out of an economic mess their buddies on Wall Street exponentially multiplied by bundling as derivatives and selling them worldwide.

What's left is that they are really good at lying to the public about what they have truly been up to. And more people see that now more than ever.

If they keep this up, their grave will be deeper than normal. Hell, it'll be a hole to China.

Keep it up Lindsay. Keep it up.

These guys are making me tired. We're already SCREWED! In my lifetime I've never seen this level of denial coming from a political party. I think they've dumbed themselves down so much that reasonable thought is impossible.

NO! This is NOT what the minority party is supposed to do.

The House made significant changes in the bill to help get Republican support and 100% of them, including the ones that insisted on those changes, voted against the bill. This is stupid, dishonest and destructive.

This "opposition party" stuff is totally weak. We're not supposed to have "opposition" parties. It's NOT always expected that the minority party sidelines themselves. Where is this meme coming from? Atrios keeps saying the same thing, but there's no basis in it. Our government is not based on the idea that the minority has no say in legislation.

Not that this is our fault or that we need to be overly concerned that Republicans are doing this to themselves, but this ISN'T how things are supposed to be. Not only is this bad for Republicans, but it's bad for the country if a large minority is excluded from the process. It's because of stuff like this that people start blowing up federal buildings. If the government isn't listening to their needs, they'll go outside the government to be heard.

For anyone interested, you can read what I wrote here:
The Opposition Party Myth

The repubs are working through the 5 stages of grief, after the historic b*tch slapping the American people delivered to them. They're in the denial/anger stages right now. This is somewhat understandable and can be politely tolerated. It should not be appeased in the belief that it can be bought off, anymore than you should reward a child's temper tantrum.
With any luck, and assuming their brains are reasonably human, they will eventually work their way to acceptance.

Included in this segment, someone (I think it was Schumer) listed several changes in the stimulus bill that were directly attributable to the Republicans. Included were the AMT fix, the Isakson home credit, and reductions in several things like education and health care. Someone ought to analyse the final bill, showing what parts are Rep vs Dem and what parts were taken out that were Rep vs Dem. Assign either Moody factors to the numbers or jobs expected.

Every Dem should be ready to recite the results everytime one of these whiners starts this nonsense.

They're in the denial/anger stages right now

As far as I'm concerned, they can skip bargaining and go right to depression.

Lindsay Graham is nothing more than a scorned drag queen in the middle of her menopuase

"We're not supposed to have "opposition" parties. It's NOT always expected that the minority party sidelines themselves. Where is this meme coming from? Atrios keeps saying the same thing, but there's no basis in it."

It seems like Atrios and others would simply prefer a parliamentary system of government. Instead of the idea of elected leaders reasoning together for the good of the country, Atrios and co. want a much more adversarial and party-oriented approach to governing. Atrios has essentially said that the party out of power should be be primarily concerned with screwing the party in power and not the best interests of the country.

Mike

REM that Graham, like most R politicians and C commentators, say what they do for best propaganda effect. It doesn't matter to them how much intrinsic sense it makes.

If you don’t understand modern economic theory, modern biological science, modern climatology, or even the basics of the scientific method, the Republican Party is the one for you. The Republican Party is rapidly evolving into the party of the crass, the ignorant or the just plain not too bright. As the old joke goes, you can find passionate Republicans, smart Republicans and honest Republicans, but no Republican is more than two out of three.

Graham is just conflating and/or projecting.

The country was already screwed 8 years ago by the Supreme Court.

Now, finally, Graham and his party are screwed.

As far as he knows, the end of his world, is the end of the world - from his perspective, their is no difference.

I suppose the Corporate Con Artists Party does feel screwed, unable to properly enrich those who really matter, the "important" people.

This seems like pretty good news. When was the last time Graham was right about anything?

Unfortunately - and as much as it pains me to say it - on the exact same episode of This Week. Lindsey said that bank nationalization has to be on the table, while bank whore Schumer was arguing against it.

The Rethugs may indeed be in the first stages of mourning - denial/anger - but if the right-wing media echo chamber continues to trumpet their rants what is the incentive to get to acceptance?

Why is the angry-old-man-loser in the election getting headlines?

The corporate media is serving up sour grapes de jour. I suppose when there is one Rethug left in the Senate, and a few dozen in the House, we'll still hear how the country is being "screwed".

Compared to the screwing we've gotten over the past eight years anything the Dems serve up now has to orgasmic in comparison.

One good suggestion I heard today was that Republicans like drama queen Graham who hate the stimulus and say it will not help their states, should opt out. Perhaps they could all talk to their constituents and explain to them why!

What the Republicans can't quite realise or accept is that the voters said firmly in early November that the old, tired system of massive tax cuts for the wealthy - in an attempt to recreate the discredited "trickle down" theory - had contributed to the worst economic climate in the US in 70 years.

The voters said "no" to four more years of Republican rule. Obama promices "change" and the voters said "yes".

I would love to know how many billions of dollars have been spent on a discredited "war of choice" in the last six years? Six years of massive spending at the Republican behest, with often a heated campaign by the Republican legislators and the President to ram each Iraq spending bill through a scared Congress.

Anybody out there know how much has been spent by the Republicans?

""If I may say, if this is going to be bipartisanship, the country's screwed," Graham said."

What's that shrink term--transferance, where the things you don't like about yourself that you see so clearly for others, even when those qualities aren't being exhibited the other party. Think of it when your wife accuses you of cheating, you think she is nuts to think such a thing, and then after the divorce you find out that your wife was having an affair with a friend of yours.

Graham: Kettle, meet pot!

The Republicans think Obama was elected on the basis of being a rock-star politician; hence no mandate. The favorable polls are the result of a personality cult; voters will see the light just in time for midterm elections. It's ludicrous, but it's the only scenario they have going for them.

@barkleyg: Projection and Hypocrisy. It is almost a law that whatever a Republican accuses another of is true for the accuser. It is almost as if they are confessing when they make the accusation. The names roll off the tongue: Vitter; Craig; Gingrich; Limbaugh; O'Reilly; DeLay and on and on. The simple solution is to begin the background check as soon as the accusation has been made. I'll bet Larry Flynt could make the case, with a little financial encouragement.

Pot, meet Kettle, indeed.

peace,
st john

A little clarification seems to be in order.

Bipartisanship to Democrats: We listen to what the GOP has to say, and give them a chance to make their voice heard, even if we have every right + opportunity to ignore them.

Bipartisanship to the GOP: if we're in power, we ignore the Dems; if we're not in power, we insist that the Dems do as we would have done had we been in power, + criticize them if the don't.

As I've said in other contexts, it's impossible for two sides to negotiate towards something when they can't agree on the final goal. Clearly, the GOP + Democratic notions of bipartisanship are so diametrically opposed as to make true bipartisanship impossible.

-Z

When you are a Scorpion, you will always sting the Frog, even if it means ending your own life. It is the Nature of the Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, to self-destruct. Hopefully, the constituents of these people will see the futility of following them and cast them from power, sooner than later.

I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
peace,
st john

little lindsey knows all about being screwed.
he's always struck me as a bottom.

Exactly. Note the 'bipartisan' representatives on "This Week".

***Dr. Biobrain*** Good post on that "Opposition Party" meme. How can these parties even begin to find ways to 'work together' if they start out with the idea that they must be in opposition. For so many issues there is not an opposition but merely a matter of which approach would be more effective in getting the desired result.

Saying "they are supposed to vote against this because they are the opposition party" seems entirely un-democratic. We take the wants of the people and try to find ways to get the best agreed upon solutions which occasionally results in oppostion but shouldn't begin that way.

People tend to forget that "opposition" should refer to the 'policy' and not to the 'people' who bring it up. Somehow republicans (thanks to Rush and Hannity no doubt) position themselves as anti-democrats which would naturally always bring on divisiveness...and like Biobrain says...is exactly what Rush wants to keep his radio show ratings high.

I suggest we and Steve stop referring to the republican party as "the opposition party" which is like calling them the "disagreement party"...that is not what the 'are'...it's just what they 'do'...but shouldn't be confined to 'being' that.

Shorter Lindsey Graham:

"Waahhh, mommy someone undercut my sense of entitlement! Waahhh! Now my ideas weally have to be good or dey don't automatically agwee wid me. Waahhh! I wan' bote houses of Congwess back. Waahhh! Waahhh!"

I just love it when Lindsey Graham goes crackers and shows his feminine side.

GOP FLASHBACK:

“I’ll beat [Olympic gold medalist] Michael Phelps in swimming before Barack Obama wins North Carolina." - Sen. Lindsay Graham 10/29/08

“I’ll beat [Olympic gold medalist] Michael Phelps in swimming before Barack Obama wins North Carolina." - Sen. Lindsay Graham 10/29/08

Well, now we know why Phelps was in South Carolina...

What Ned Pepper said, and how come we have forgotten 2000-2006 so quickly, when the Democrats had NO influence on almost any bill or nomination brought up for a vote?
'Bipartisanship' is an oxymoron when only one party is interested in the concept.

Um, forgive my ignorance, but what the hell is the deal with all the innuendo about Lindsay Graham? I mean, I know about Charlie Crist and Larry Craig, but do I have to put Graham on the, uh, pile as well?

Poor little flower, Lindsay Graham doesn't play well on the losing side. In the past couple of weeks he's thrown a hissy fit at the size of the stimulus bill, claimed that its passage makes him "want to throw up," whined that "I know bipartisanship, and this is not bipartisanship!" and announces that we may have to nationalize the banking system. His buddy, John McCain, spent Sunday morning telling the talking heads "what he would have done differently" and complained that "Obama has failed to bring about change" (in just three weeks) touting, "this is not change we can believe in." The GOP is trying to regroup under the obstructionist banner, determined to create the same old Gingrich-inspired gridlock of the 90s. The more Obama goes out among the people, builds popular support, shows that he is working to repair the past administration's mess, the more Republicans look foolish, hypocritical, out of touch, and contrary to putting the interests of Americans and the welfare of the country first.