Dysfunctional is far too mild of a word to describe the legislative branch of the United States government at this particular moment in time. In fact there might not be a word, or term in the English language, or any other for that matter, which accurately conveys the overall psychotic behavior of large numbers of senators and representatives.
Republicans in the House of Representatives, over the past couple of years, have found the time and will to attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act on 56 different occasions. Each time they voted the members of that august body knew any such measure would either die in the senate, or in the Oval Office where the president of the United States would veto it.
They went so far as to shut down the federal government in an attempt to overturn a law which was passed and upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court. Then they brought the nation to the brink of financial default by refusing to raise the debt limit until the very last moment.
All of this horrid nonsense has been ramrodded by a first term senator whose psychosis borders on a new version of McCarthyism. With a smarmy smile, bellicose, not to mention surreal political theater, and an ego the likes of which the nation has never seen, Rafael Edward Cruz has, in effect, engineered a political coup which has overthrown the Speaker of the House--the person who is third in line when it comes to presidential succession.
Let's be honest. If you currently think John Boehner is actually in charge of the U. S. House you've eaten a pretty powerful hallucinogenic and you might want to sit tight in a darkened room somewhere until it wears off. Indeed, kick back with a lite beer and wait for the crocodiles to stop dancing with the hippos and the music playing on the stereo to no longer ooze out of the speakers in a viscous purple slime.
Today Boehner and the boys were supposed to vote on a watered down immigration bill. Watered down because Barack Obama had requested $3.7 billion to shore up security on the border with Mexico. The "compromise" the Speaker was pushing today would have budgeted not $3.7 billion, but $569 million.
Unfortunately for Boehner any sort of hint he and the GOP might be working with Obama, rather than against him, doesn't pass The Cruz Purity Test. Last night the senator from Alberta threw some of his house toadies a pizza party. Between slices of pepperoni and mushroom pie he riled up the troops and today they convinced a befuddled Boehner they had the votes to defeat the bill. The Speaker's heroic response to this bullshit was to fold up like a cheap cardboard box and refuse to allow any vote at all.
MSNBC is reporting when other republicans--you know, the ones who understand the GOP might not get a single Hispanic vote ever again--realized what was happening they mobbed Boehner, begging him to bring the measure to the floor. However, the Speaker, cowering in the cold and unblinking Cruzian Glare, refused.
Don't abandon all hope though America. The House of Representatives did pass something today. They authorized the speaker to bring a suit against the president because, according to them, he has "abused" his executive powers. Right--at least Obama has taken action during what amounts to the most incredible case of national constipation we've ever suffered through. Meanwhile Boehner has proved himself to be about as politically astute as Mad Magazine's favorite son, Alfred E. Neuman. The vote to sue was 225-201. Not a single democrat was for it. Five republicans joined the minority, not because they agreed a law suit was a massive waste of time and money, but because they want to impeach Obama and didn't think the action went far enough.
The other night, after boredom and a couple of vodka tonics had settled in I cruised Youtube for a bit. After a while I found a 10 minute, or so collection of video snippets and still photos. The post was titled, "Romney Supporters Mourn the Loss of America." It was a compilation of reactions by republicans at the moment they realized their guy had blown the presidential election. In all those video moments and still pics there was not a single face which could be described as anything other than Anglo-European.
What a fractured GOP told the nation today is, "That is the way we want it."
The bad news is the republicans control the demographics of congressional districts and there is no way to flush many of these grotesque bastards down the drain. The good news is, thanks to Cruz's reign of terror, it could well be they won't win the white house in the foreseeable future.
We are witnessing the last, bitter, throes of white rule in America. What else could ignite such vitriol, outright hatred, and a visceral disrespect of a president of these United States? It goes beyond politics and we all know it. The angry and terrified sons of bitches perpetrating it just won't admit it.
Hey, not even Ron Reagan would put up with these crazed assholes and he was so evil his administration tried to make us believe ketchup was equal to a vegetable when it showed up on a cafeteria tray in the public school free lunch program.
I'm not sure how much lower we can sink. But, with Ted Cruz in charge of the republican party and the House of Representatives, either in collusion with, or in fear of him, there is no bottom in sight.
The hard right edge of the republican party has gone down an ink black rabbit hole. The trick is to keep the rest of the nation from following them into that awful place.
sic vita est
7-31-14
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