Huckabee's pitch was actually as good as any

I've now read several analyses of Mike Huckabee's exemplary wisdom on the fairer sex, whom the Mike Huckabees of this world continually prove superior. Paul Waldman's analysis is probably the best I've yet read--he ascribes Huckabee's partywide attitude to the rather simple unity of "ignorance, contempt, and Puritan morality"--and I highly recommend it.

Still, an explanation of Republicans' embedded simplicity seems to me even simpler than what Waldman suggests. And the explanation comes most effectively in the form of a question: What else do they have to talk about?

No, really. What are their policy solutions to unemployment? Economic growth? A cleaner environment? A cooler environment? Improved access to healthcare, in lieu of Obamacare? Education, from kindergarten through grad school? A more responsible, accountable Wall Street? Income inequality? A deteriorating network of infrastructure? International relations, short of Boltonism?

Do any Republican ideas leap to mind? Of course not. Because the Republican Party is utterly bankrupt in the idea department. Its alleged policies consist only of repeating IRS IRS IRS and Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi and, in a kind of schoolyard debate fashion, insist that it's actually Democrats who "insult the women of America."

Which is as clever as Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi.

 

Comments

[ren]

You forgot tax cuts.

[Turgidson]

They have learned, for now, not to talk about it in public, but they also have that zombie-eyed granny-starving idea in the hopper.

The country dodged a bullet the size of Alaska when it choose to keep Mittens and the granny starver the hell away from the presidency.

[nancy]

And that, P.M., is exactly why they chose my vacuous and ridiculous congresswoman, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, to deliver the response to the SOTU. Brace yourself. Trying to repair the clownish re-branding efforts, she will deliver all-American womanhood, babies-family-farmgal bromides designed for a look-over-here quick-fix. We here in her district are completely dumbfounded.

[AnneJ]

Do these geniuses realize that if women were to listen to them and stay abstinent, that men would be the ones who end up suffering? To me this is the main problem with this "war on women" or what is known as women's issues. It completely ignores the fact that men are affected too.

[Marc McKenzie]

"What else do they have to talk about?"

Nothing. They have nothing at all, zip, nada. Of course, they'll try to shove something out there with the hope that some gullible folks pick up on it--witness Rand Paul's filibuster on drones and the about-face on the NSA--now it's evil to the GOP.

Sadly, I fear that some of the gullible ones exist on the Left--witness the "Stand with Rand" idiocy and the tongue bath that Ron Paul received just because he spoke out about military involvement overseas and weed legalization.

On the genuine "bread and butter" issues, the GOP is as empty as a deflated balloon. The Democrats are not perfect, but they have demonstrated that they do have the majority of the American population's interests in mind.

[Peter G]

I feared that Mr McKenzie and I think it will be a factor both in 2014 and 2016. How foolish was it to grossly exaggerate both the NSA's capability and, more importantly their intent, remains to be seen. But it has certainly created an opportunity for the right. See? We told you so. Government is evil and they spy on everything you do. The Republicans really don't have much to do here either. All they have to do is let the left convince a whole generation of young people who live on social networking and telecommunications that the government is out to get them. The very young people they will desperately need to get out and vote. And all the while the same lefties heap shit on Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and anyone else who so much as says the word "but". The stupidity of this is appalling.
And it's not over. The debate over meta data collection is now guaranteed to continue into election season because of opposing judicial rulings. If it is ultimately banned then the left has won its point and President is evil. And if it is closed down before a SCOTUS ruling than the President was evil. The fact that such a program could not physically functioned as the pervasive spying the left has sold it as will be entirely irrelevant. I don't think I've seen anything quite as foolish in some time. The IRS/Benghazi/ Fast and Furious crap wasn't enough. The left had to invent its own.