There ARE Smart GOP'ers: Even They See Stuff

Mon. August 6, 2012:


Truly astounding -- and not just to Democrats, but to Republicans too -- the extent of hutzpah
in today's GOP.  In this post, just 2 samples:

I.

"There has been plenty to criticize about President Obama's handling of the economy," writes liberal Nobel Prize Laureate Paul Krugman.

[By the way, do we ever see conservative pundits grant even this much about ANY of their politicians?  This should tell you something.]

"Yet the overriding story of the past few years is not Mr Obama's mistakes but the scorced-earth opposition of Republicans, who have done everything they can to get in his way -- and who now, having blocked the president's policies, hope to win the White House by claiming that his policies have failed."

[There follows a case study of obstruction to an Obama economic step, by one Edward DeMarco.]

                              Both GOP & Dems want Edward DeMarco replaced.  BUT NO!

For the full column:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/opinion/republicans-fail-a-security-test.html?ref=todayspaper

"But the DeMarco affair nonetheless demonstrates, once again, the extent to which U.S. economic policy has been crippled by unyielding, irresponsible political opposition.  If our economy is still deeply depressed, much -- and I would say most -- of the blame rests not with Mr. Obama but with the very people seeking to use that depressed economy for political advantage."


II.

What follows is another case study -- this one of how mindless fears, mostly from Republican lawmakers, hamstring even money-saving & Joint Chief of Staff-endorsed Defense updates.

Read "US General Asks Cut in Nuclear Stockpile," Boston Globe, Mon. Aug. 6, 2012 [67th anniversary of Hiroshima].

Truly astounding & depressing:

"Any move to substantially cut the US nuclear reserves probably will bring strong opposition from members of Congress with nuclear weapons contractors in their districts.  Opposition is also expected from some national security experts who think the US must maintain overwhelming nuclear superiority to deter nations like Iran believed to be seeking nuclear weapons, and ensure smaller nuclear powers like China do not try to reach parity.

"A third group has argued that the large US arsenal is also needed to guarantee the security of dozens of US allies without nuclear arms."

A SIMPLE TRUTH, from Pulitzer Prizewinning nuclear historian Richard Rhodes, seems to demolish these absurd arguments above.  Rhodes has said:

"JUST ONE THERMONUCLEAR BOMB, EXPLODED ANYWHERE, WOULD BE A GLOBAL CATASTROPHE."

Yet, the 3 Republican arguments above, against a General on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, profess to worry that our current arsenal of 1,737 deployed warheads -- not to mention the reserve warheads of another 2,800 warheads -- is somehow not sufficient!

Is there anyone else out there who does not see this as preposterous?