Light bulb. Rachel. Steve Bennen. Moscow Mitch.

[leftieNanner]

If you watched Rachel tonight, you saw her discuss Steve Bennen's new book. He has been with her for many years as a producer. He has a new book coming out tonight.

The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics.

He discussed the fact that Republicans have not been interested in governing at all. They are interested only in power.

Here's the light bulb part for me. I remember in 2014 when Mitch was running for reelection and he was asked on the stump about his policies. He sneered (his standard dismissive look) and said something like "We aren't going to discuss any policies now. We'll address that after we've been elected."

Bingo! Steve is right.

The clip will be up tomorrow. Worth watching.

[lapfog_1]

1. Watched it

and as he was talking I was thinking "just where is the Republican health care policy they were going to replace Obamacare with?"

[leftieNanner]

2. Great Catch!

Let's see. That was TEN YEARS AGO that we passed the ACA. I'm sure it will be released any minute now!

[spanone]

4. They never had any intention of replacing it.

[Celerity]

12. +100000

Death Cult 101

[lastlib]

19. They're replacing it with the SAME policy they've always had--GOPeeDon'tCare.

No policy at all--let the insurance companies run amok and rake in profits. No matter who dies, or how many. They are soulless evil monsters. The only hope is to destroy them and dispose of them with other toxic waste.
(apologies to toxic waste.

[certainot]

21. bennen may never mention talk radio, like studying fish without water

the party of lincoln became the party of limbaugh long ago and dems don't know it

trump is following the limbaugh lead, and he's been getting putin.. that's the collusion
the republicans know winners repeat limbaugh and there's no chance of getting found out because dems ignore it. trump guy sam nunberg says he listened to 1000s of hours off tallk radio in 2014 to prep trump! the same year a russian troll says he 'got a list of topics to talk about'

for 2 decades limbaugh led the exaggerations and distortions - canadians coming to america for life-saving surgery because they would otherwise die in line waiting.... and so on...

the whole obamacare 'uprising' was talk radio generated - a few dittohead teabags screaming at town halls and dems let them intimidate the country with a few hundred parrot chorus on 1500 radio stations

the most idiotic part is hundreds of those stations depend on more than 87 universities and dozens of pro teams to keeep broadcasting sports on them while they also call kaepernick a traitor and make excuses for shooting unarmed black men.

[chowder66]

3. I've posted something very similar in the past here

They have focused so much on winning that they don't even bother with or learn anything about what they were elected to do.

[BigmanPigman]

6. They don't have to as long as they keep winning.

Since they know they can only win by cheating, lying, help from Putin and voter suppression so they will never have to actually govern effectively. The Dems are more popular and the GOP knows it. Dems improve conditions and the economy for everyone but the 1% who are the only true GOP supporters (and the haters/anti rights idiots).

[chowder66]

10. I agree. What also chaps my hide is

1) Republicans in office wreck shit.

2) The Public gets pissed and vote in Democrats [Though anymore it takes nightmarish Republicans and their policies to get people to do this].

3) Democrats begin to govern but people feel the pain from the messes the previous Republican administration made and begin to ignorantly blame Democrats for something Republicans wrought.

4) Democrats work their asses off to clean up the economy, get things back on track, implement good policies that stabilize and benefit the majority of Americans.

5) The Public is convinced, with the help of the media and Republican messaging, that the messes that still linger and were wrought by Republicans are the Democrats fault [because thinking is hard].

6) Public votes Republicans in again.

7) Republicans keep campaigning after taking office because they are inept and don't know shit about governing. They then take and get credit for the previous Democratic administrations good policies which are now being felt by the public in general.

8) Go back to 1) and repeat


This cycle may only stop if the public votes in Democrats for more than two terms and it would likely take more terms than that to see what Democrats could really do. People would finally understand what they had been missing out on for decades due to their ignorance.

[BigmanPigman]

11. We have to get the Fairness Doctrine up and running and shut down Fux Ruse

to start with. That BS propaganda has to become history!!!!!!! Then the brainwashing will not be so easy for the GOP.

[chowder66]

16. Again I agree but that is just one of many problems we have to fix

We need an army to disrupt the process I outlined as well.

We have to educate and constantly remind the public about Democratic policies, how long it may take to feel the effects of those policies, how they will benefit, what the benefits are and do the same regarding the disastrous policies of the Republicans.

We have to fight much harder on every front the Republicans have the advantage on. Electioneering, voter suppression and propaganda. We must call them out hard and fast on their lies.

We need to be as relentless as they are but we don't have to stoop to their level to do so. We just need to organize well enough and be on the ball. The Democrats need to either assign certain representatives to manage aspects of this or enlist the help of qualified and savvy people to get out there in front of the cameras every other day if not daily. They need specific messaging that addresses the points in this cyclical madness if we are going to break it.

[BigmanPigman]

22. Yes..THIS!

"The Democrats need to either assign certain representatives to manage aspects of this or enlist the help of qualified and savvy people to get out there in front of the cameras every other day if not daily. They need specific messaging that addresses the points in this cyclical madness if we are going to break it."

[smirkymonkey]

17. +1000

[CatWoman]

5. it starts at 33:00 or so

[niyad]

8. Thank you so much for sharing this.

[CatWoman]

15. :)

[EarnestPutz]

13. When Steve Bennen refers to "governing nihilism" he really stikes a chord. Nihilism....

....as I've understood the term, means rejecting the reality or importance of what exists. Wikipedia defines political nihilism as follows.

"Political nihilism follows the characteristic nihilist's rejection of non-rationalized or non-proven assertions; in this case the necessity of the most fundamental social and political structures, such as government, family, and law".

Wiki goes on to describe a Russian political movement that brought nihilism to the political arena.

"The Russian Nihilist movement was a Russian trend in the 1860s that rejected all authority. After the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, the Nihilists gained a reputation throughout Europe as proponents of the use of violence for political change. The Nihilists expressed anger at what they described as the abusive nature of the Eastern Orthodox Church and of the Tsarist monarchy, and at the domination of the Russian economy by the aristocracy."

I think that it's interesting that they found fault with religion, the government and the economic reality of wealthy people running things, and sought to use violence to effect change. The Republican party likes our current reality and fights to prevent any changes to the influence of religious fundamentalism, changes to the conservative arc of our politics since Reagan and the economic domination by our own aristocracy, personified by Trump's cabinet of billionaires. And they are using violence to prevent political change.

[CatWoman]

18. GOOD JOB

You absolutely nailed it

[EarnestPutz]

23. Thank you for your kind response.

[2naSalit]

20. Thanks for posting that.

The livestreams have all been herky-jerky and just stop so I haven't been able to watch much news the past couple days.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

26. She's -mad- at around 26 mins, over trump's rules adding misery to trans people ...

She's especially mad that they chose the 4 year anniversary of the Pulse massacre to roll out those rules.

Republicans are the assault party -- attacking everyone except their favored white supremacists and evilgelicals.

[Elwood P Dowd]

7. Nothing but a crime family with an insatiable thirst for money and power. (nt)

[I_UndergroundPanther]

9. Eventually

We may have to root out the sociopaths no matter who they are or how rich they are and remove them from any sort of position of power and keep them away from power.

[Cha]

14. LOve Steve Benen.. remember him when

he used to write for the Washington Monthly's, Political Animal, from 2008-2012, before he went to Rachel's.

[not fooled]

24. OK this book sounds great

and I haven't read it, of course...but...does the author delve into the "why?" I suspect it's the radical RWNJ billionaires' wish list of no regulations and no taxes that have caused the GOPee to want to not govern.

Also, they DO govern in certain respects...they keep the parts of the government running well that enhance and protect corporate power and that facilitate harvesting money from the lower classes and funneling it upwards, e.g. rigging the tax code.

[canetoad]

25. Thanks for your post

I'm in the middle of watching this now and have paused Rachel before Steve Benen is interviewed.

'Post Policy'; a damn good phrase. The GOP had one policy only during the Obama years - to stymie anything and everything he did. They have one policy in these waning months of Trump's term; to set the clock of social progress back forty, fifty or more years.

They yearn for the days of unfettered abuse and rape of the planet and it's environments; the return to, if not outright slavery, black and minority people 'knowing their place' in a white man's world and the persecution and marginalisation of everyone who isn't a white, hetero, right-wing male.

It's a characteristic of despots and fascists to never give in quietly. They are not only Post Policy but hell-bent on the barbaric practice of Scorched Earth.