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Hoping this article will wake up the Right: Cowards, not crazies, are destroying America (but the Crazies are not helping)
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Nov 8, 2021 20:57:09   #
rumitoid
 
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html

Reply
Nov 8, 2021 21:19:26   #
Sonny Magoo Loc: Where pot pie is boiled in a kettle
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


So in a ten year period, how many covid shots must you take to stay (almost) protected?
Shut up and sit down upstart repeater.
If you knew something,where is it?
The shot that is not..ain't for me

Reply
Nov 8, 2021 21:22:08   #
Gatsby
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


When the ignorant fool starts right out with two huge lies, I stopped wasting my time.

Reply
Check out topic: Blue City Gives Most Insane Handout Ever - Look What They Actually Gave to the Homeless
Nov 8, 2021 21:26:04   #
LogicallyRight Loc: Chicago
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


***Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans

>>>As usual you get it wrong. It is not nonsense. The vaccines don't work all that well, and are dangerous to take, with more adverse reactions then all vaccine ever given in our history. And the government thsat has been trying to force these vaccines, has all along tried to block treatments that work. And that is the real science, not your usual bull schitte democrat theories.

Reply
Nov 8, 2021 21:52:06   #
Liberty Tree
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


Did not get beyond the first couple of sentences. More ELWNJ BS

Reply
Nov 8, 2021 22:20:31   #
Rose42
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


Everyone already knows your opinion rumitoid. And I doubt many will care about Krugman’s.

Reply
Nov 8, 2021 23:07:52   #
2bltap Loc: Move to the Mainland
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)


Rumitoid, who exactly are those tens of thousands that are supposedly dying now? If it were the case then you darn well that the MSM would be reporting on it and they are not.

Reply
Check out topic: NOTAM Sparks Confusion Over Possible Russian Hypersonic Missile Test Off California Coast
Nov 8, 2021 23:08:40   #
Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)

Paul Krugman couldn't find his own ass with both hands and a mirror.

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 05:41:47   #
kittykatt
 
Rather than spending your energy pointing out where the Republicans have gone wrong or changed their minds (evolved as H. Clinton would say) why don't you point out where the Democrats are actively changing this country into a socialist/communist country? Why don't you point out what AOC is now up to? How she wants to take homes away from people who have worked hard in order to afford one, in order to make things 'fair'? It's not the wishy-washy Republicans who are an active threat to this country it's the Democrats who are openly ruining this country.

P.S. The election was stolen. There is overwhelming proof including when the numbers went down for President Trump between when they were shown at one time to the next on election night.

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 06:31:23   #
PeterS
 
rumitoid wrote:
Palm Beach Daily News
Paul Krugman
Sun, November 7, 2021, 5:00 AM

Back in July, Kay Ivey, governor of Alabama, had some strong and sensible things to say about COVID-19 vaccines. “I want folks to get vaccinated,” she declared. “That’s the cure. That prevents everything.” She went on to say that the unvaccinated are “letting us down.”

Three months later Ivey directed state agencies not to cooperate with federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

Ivey’s swift journey from common sense and respect for science to destructive partisan nonsense — nonsense that is killing tens of thousands of Americans — wasn’t unique. On the contrary, it was a recapitulation of the journey the whole Republican Party has taken on issue after issue, from tax cuts to the Big Lie about the 2020 election.

When we talk about the GOP’s moral descent, we tend to focus on the obvious extremists, like the conspiracy theorists who claim that climate change is a hoax and Jan. 6 was a false-flag operation. But the crazies wouldn’t be driving the Republican agenda so completely if it weren’t for the cowards, Republicans who clearly know better but reliably swallow their misgivings and go along with the party line. And at this point crazies and cowards essentially make up the party’s entire elected wing.

Consider, for example, the claim that tax cuts pay for themselves. In 1980 George H.W. Bush, running against Ronald Reagan for the Republican presidential nomination, called that assertion “voodoo economic policy.” Everything we’ve seen since then says that he was right. But Bush soon climbed down, and by 2017 even supposed “moderates” like Susan Collins accepted claims that the Trump tax cut would reduce, not increase, the budget deficit. (It increased the deficit.)

Or consider climate change. As recently as 2008 John McCain campaigned for president in part on a proposal to put a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But at this point Republicans in Congress are united in their opposition to any substantive action to limit global warming, with 30 GOP senators outright denying the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activities are causing climate change.

The falsehoods that are poisoning America’s politics tend to share similar life histories. They begin in cynicism, spread through disinformation and culminate in capitulation as Republicans who know the truth decide to acquiesce in lies.

Take the claim of a stolen election. Donald Trump never had any evidence on his side, but he didn’t care; he just wanted to hold on to power or, failing that, promulgate a lie that would help him retain his hold on the GOP. Despite the lack of evidence and the failure of every attempt to produce or create a case, however, a steady drumbeat of propaganda has persuaded an overwhelming majority of Republicans that Joe Biden’s victory was illegitimate.

And establishment Republicans, who at first pushed back against the Big Lie, have gone quiet or even begun to promote the falsehood. Thus last week The Wall Street Journal published, without corrections or fact checks, a letter to the editor from Trump that was full of demonstrable lies — and in so doing gave those lies a new, prominent platform.

The GOP’s journey toward what it is now with respect to COVID-19 — an anti-vaccine, objectively pro-pandemic party — followed the same trajectory.

Although Republicans like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott claim that their opposition to vaccine requirements is about freedom, the fact that both governors have tried to stop private businesses from requiring customers or staff to be vaccinated shows this is a smoke screen. Pretty clearly, the anti-vaccine push began as an act of politically motivated sabotage. After all, a successful vaccination campaign that ended the pandemic would have been good political news for Biden.

We should note, by the way, that this sabotage has, so far at least, paid off. While there are multiple reasons many Americans remain unvaccinated, there’s a strong correlation between a county’s political lean and both its vaccination rate and its death rate in recent months. And the persistence of COVID, which has in turn been a drag on the economy, has been an important factor dragging down Biden’s approval rating.

More important for the internal dynamics of the GOP, however, is that many in the party’s base have bought into assertions that requiring vaccination against COVID-19 is somehow a tyrannical intrusion of the state into personal decisions. In fact, many Republican voters appear to have turned against long-standing requirements that parents have their children vaccinated against other contagious diseases.

And true to form, elected Republicans like Ivey who initially spoke in favor of vaccines have folded and surrendered to the extremists, even though they must know that in so doing they will cause many deaths.

I’m not sure exactly why cowardice has become the norm among elected Republicans who aren’t dedicated extremists. But if you want to understand how the GOP became such a threat to everything America should stand for, the cowards are at least as important a factor as the crazies.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cowards-not-crazies-destroying-america-120020484.html
Palm Beach Daily News br Paul Krugman br Sun, Nove... (show quote)

Ivey is just trying to save her political ass. It doesn't matter if some of her constituents die so long as the majority are there to vote her back in. This is political expediency which evangelical conservatives proved with Donald Trump is the most important thing they can believe in...

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 06:32:16   #
PeterS
 
Blade_Runner wrote:
Paul Krugman couldn't find his own ass with both hands and a mirror.

What's your address, you clearly need a mirror...

Reply
 
 
Nov 9, 2021 06:36:39   #
PeterS
 
kittykatt wrote:
Rather than spending your energy pointing out where the Republicans have gone wrong or changed their minds (evolved as H. Clinton would say) why don't you point out where the Democrats are actively changing this country into a socialist/communist country? Why don't you point out what AOC is now up to? How she wants to take homes away from people who have worked hard in order to afford one, in order to make things 'fair'? It's not the wishy-washy Republicans who are an active threat to this country it's the Democrats who are openly ruining this country.

P.S. The election was stolen. There is overwhelming proof including when the numbers went down for President Trump between when they were shown at one time to the next on election night.
Rather than spending your energy pointing out wher... (show quote)

Why don't you point to how it's been changed into a socialist/communist country? Then we would have something to talk about. And no, people talking about change is not change. It's people talking or as I say...freaking out conservatives, and nothing more...

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 06:42:17   #
PeterS
 
kittykatt wrote:
Rather than spending your energy pointing out where the Republicans have gone wrong or changed their minds (evolved as H. Clinton would say) why don't you point out where the Democrats are actively changing this country into a socialist/communist country? Why don't you point out what AOC is now up to? How she wants to take homes away from people who have worked hard in order to afford one, in order to make things 'fair'? It's not the wishy-washy Republicans who are an active threat to this country it's the Democrats who are openly ruining this country.

P.S. The election was stolen. There is overwhelming proof including when the numbers went down for President Trump between when they were shown at one time to the next on election night.
Rather than spending your energy pointing out wher... (show quote)

If it was stolen then you need to complain to the judiciary, liberal and conservative, and not to us because they were the ones who threw out all of Trump's efforts, not us Democrats.

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 06:52:44   #
Barbiedoll
 
The Dems say a woman can decide for herself if she wants an abortion because it’s her body. Well why can’t other people decide for themselves if they want the jab or not? It’s their body. COVID can be spread by those who are vaccinated as well as those who are not.

Reply
Nov 9, 2021 07:09:56   #
PeterS
 
Barbiedoll wrote:
The Dems say a woman can decide for herself if she wants an abortion because it’s her body. Well why can’t other people decide for themselves if they want the jab or not? It’s their body. COVID can be spread by those who are vaccinated as well as those who are not.

And how did those who are vaccinated get it if those who aren't, weren't spreading it around? That's the reason for the vaccination because if you cons had taken it when you could have we would be past this epidemic and moving on. Instead, we are just pretending we are past it and moving on while 1000 a day are still dying...

Reply
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