Conservatives Crow Now, Eat It Later, Obama's Strategy Works Iran To Talk In Turkey

Paul Krugman
Ross Douthat
John Harwood

"Sarah Palin says she wants limited government. Does she mean fewer elected officials or more officials who resign in the middle of their terms? I think limited government will be perfect for her limited abilities." – David Letterman

"This was the biggest landslide since the '30s. The Republicans picked up 63 seats. I haven't seen the Republicans so happy about taking seats since they made Rosa Parks stand up." – Bill Maher

"Here's how huge their victory was. They actually elected two black people on the Republican side in Congress, and seven gay Republicans. Of course, you won't find out who they are until they get caught in a rest stop somewhere." – Bill Maher

I guess bragging rights come with winning elections, and the Republicans are certainly beginning to crow a lot. Of course, by the end of the next two years, they may be eating more crow and cawing less... Those states that now have Republican governors to match the Republican legislators are now looking forward to laying off state employees, cutting back their salaries and benefits of the workers who remain, and expect them to be loyal and perform well.

“Public employees can’t be haves, while private sector employees are have-nots,”

They also see themselves as cutting back more taxes which lessens incoming revenue, and forseeing that the amount of businesses that will be created, along with the jobs then created, will offset their state's deficits. If the spurt of wild economic growth doesn't happen, and only Republican legislators and tea party people say it will work, and the economy continues to its lethargic recovery, then those states will be s**t out of luck. And our plucky Republican states will have vastly added to the unemployment ranks, driving the rate over 10%. Since this is more of the same twaddle that got us into such a mess in the first place, I wonder how long it takes before these guys will learn. And they are not all freshmen either, but long-term conservatives who should know better. but will follow in lockstep with the alien Mitch McConnell...

Colorado already has learned its lesson. I live in the heart of conservatism, home of the Libertarian Party, and in this election the tea party didn't have much influence, certainly not as much as they are saying they had. None of their candidates got elected, and we elected a Democrat to the Senate and as Governor. Our state legislature now has a Republican majority, but it is a small one, leaving plenty of room for spirited debate. The personhood amendment, giving legal rights to a fetus, lost again by 71% to 29%, which may be a good indicator of how much of our electorate has leanings towards the tea party, less than 30%... The statistic I want to know is, of that 30%, how many have medical marijuana cards...

Worse, I don't see any coherence coming from either the White House or the liberal camp. How do you just say no to someone who is just saying no? As long as the major prescription medicines in America are ones that cause loss of sleep and inattention, along with liver damage and lack of sexual appetite, I don't see the mood turning around anytime soon. Look for more random violence and domestic abuse to keep these good times a'rolling...

But I do appreciate the honesty and candor that came from the tea party candidates, and that you'll never again hear from any elected Republican, even though it still rings true:

"People ask me, 'What are you going to do to develop jobs in your state?' Well, that's not my job as a U.S. senator." —Sharron Angle, May 14, 2010

While the cat is away, the mice will play... In this case, the mice are planning on turning up some pressure in the Middle East, specifically on Iran: "Before taking off for Asia Saturday, Nov. 6, President Barack Obama ordered the Pentagon not just to beef up American and NATO military pressure on Iran but to do so as conspicuously as possible. At a special White House security consultation last week, Obama said it was time to plant America's military option against the Iranian nuclear threat visibly and tangibly under the noses of Iran's political and military decision-makers. In the last few days, three aircraft carriers, four nuclear submarines and marine assault units have piled up opposite Iranian shores."

Senator Lindsay Graham, who is also a JAG officer in his spare time, and member of the Armed Services and Homeland Defense committees, issued the hawkish statements yesterday: "The US should consider sinking the Iranian navy, destroying its air force and delivering a decisive blow to the Revolutionary Guards." In an address to the Halifax International Security forum, he declared "They should neuter the regime, destroy its ability to fight back and hope Iranians will take the chance to take back their government." The carrot was delivered by allied countries who have invited Iran to sit and talk about their nuclear program. Iran has responded that it would love to, beginning next month if the meeting can be held in Turkey...

Iran has been shown just how vulnerable and isolated it is, with the recent ninja attacks in its oilfields, and computer virus attack on the software that controls its nuclear programs; so either they might be playing nice here, or its another stalling tactic, which it has mastered over the last 20 years. To counter this, Iran is thinking of sending Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to follow the footsteps where Barack Obama is visiting in Asia, and say some more mean and silly things about him... Meanwhile, sanctions have driven up the price of food items that are normally shipped in from neighboring countries, and there have been a couple of earthquakes in the more rural north. Because the open secret revelation that Iran has been providing the government of Afghanistan with a bribery slush fund, and now members of Parliament are beginning to question that tactic, the US has also revealed who Iran's top link to al-Qaeda is in Afghanistan, the forces he leads, and where he is living now. This info will probably hit the newspapers later this week and I can get more on it. This is taking the embarrassment we felt from the Wikileaks documents, and turning it around to embarrass an enemy, the I'm rubber, you're glue form of diplomacy...