Krugman gets it : it's "A War on the Poor"
A War on the Poor
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Republican hostility toward the poor and unfortunate has now reached such a fever pitch that the party doesn’t really stand for anything else — and only willfully blind observers can fail to see that reality.
The big question is why. But, first, let’s talk a bit more about what’s eating the right.
I still sometimes see pundits claiming that the Tea Party movement is basically driven by concerns about budget deficits. That’s delusional. Read the founding rant by Rick Santelli of CNBC: There’s nary a mention of deficits. Instead, it’s a tirade against the possibility that the government might help “losers” avoid foreclosure. Or read transcripts from Rush Limbaugh or other right-wing talk radio hosts. There’s not much about fiscal responsibility, but there’s a lot about how the government is rewarding the lazy and undeserving.
Republicans in leadership positions try to modulate their language a bit, but it’s a matter more of tone than substance. They’re still clearly passionate about making sure that the poor and unlucky get as little help as possible, that — as Representative Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, put it — the safety net is becoming “a hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency.” And Mr. Ryan’s budget proposals involve savage cuts in safety-net programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.
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In a much-cited recent memo, Democracy Corps, a Democratic-leaning public opinion research organization, reported on the results of focus groups held with members of various Republican factions. They found the Republican base “very conscious of being white in a country that is increasingly minority” — and seeing the social safety net both as something that helps Those People, not people like themselves, and binds the rising nonwhite population to the Democratic Party. And, yes, the Medicaid expansion many states are rejecting would disproportionately have helped poor blacks.
MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/opinion/krugman-a-war-on-the-poor.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131101&_r=1&
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/01/1252248/-Krugman-gets-it-it-s-A-War-on-the-Poor
= new reply since forum marked as read
no kidding
So many liberals moved to the middle to avoid being seen as "radical." Once that happened the right had to go further right to distance themselves from the "uber-liberal, socialist, radical left."
The Romney health care plan (and hence the ACA) was born from an idea from George H.W. Bush. Cap and Trade was an idea that was born out of the Reagan administration. But the right-wing spin machine would have the world believe that these are radical left ideas.
Fifteen Sounds of the War on the Poor...
https://ia600706.us.archive.org/9/items/Fifteen_Sounds_of_the_War_on_the_Poor_vol1-6289/Jack_Tactic_-_07_-_Do_You_Love_What_You_Feel_Jacks_Psychological_Warfare_Mix.mp3
