Millions of Hostages Win Release After Ransom is Paid

American hostages have finally won release from Republican hostage takers... in the boldest and biggest hostage standoff in history. The ringleaders, Eric Cantor & John Boehner, got just about everything they demanded. They would not guarantee that this wouldn't happen again. In fact, the hostage takers have now been emboldened to use their extreme measures in the future.

And while America continues to drown in her own vomit... I still can't find a decent job.

Most Americans found themselves this past week asking... what in the world is going on... what just happened here?

Obama & Co. were taken to the cleaners once again. I have grown to accept the fact that Obama has few (if any) smart, competent advisers. Because someone should have told him to rally the troops much earlier... not 7 days before a deadline to default. The original debt ceiling proposal (a routine vote over much of the last century) was voted down back in May. Even before that, the Republicans telegraphed their plans to everyone...making it clear what their intentions were. They had been planning this stunt for a year. The debt limit itself was actually reached in June. The U.S. Treasury has managed this long by creating liquidity and finding extra funds. The point is... this was no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention. A surprise to the average American? Yes.. because they are fixated on Reality TV and American Idol. But for those who read the paper daily...and keep up with government... this was no surprise. So why in the world was the White House behaving as if they were caught flat footed.... yet again? I have mentioned the poor strategy & PR within the White House before... and it seems to keep rearing its head again and again. And as long as this problem persists... we will get the same results. Whispers from the White House suggest that Obama just didn't believe that the Republicans would be this evil... that they would hold the Country hostage to protect private jet owners. Yes Mr. President.. they are really that evil. Time and time again Obama & Co. seems to demonstrate a lack of imagination regarding just how tacky and low the Republican Tea Party could be. Was Obama being naive again?

President Obama should have taken his case to the people much earlier... 5, 6, 7 weeks before... telling the public exactly what the Republicans were planning to do. That would have forced the Republicans to confirm or deny and would have put them on the defensive. He should have told Americans the truth about what could happen to their benefits, and to the economy as a whole. Once people would have been informed about the potential hardships...and that we have never been held hostage quite like this before... that would have put tremendous pressure on Republicans. Obama could have effectively isolated the Republicans and forced them into a corner by preempting their plans. Obama (had he acted earlier) could have made it much harder for Republicans to go through with their plan.

But like so many other times before... the Obama Administration was not proactive. Instead... they reacted to whatever the Republicans wanted to lull them into. The White House actually believed that the Republicans planned to negotiate in good faith... when in reality..the Republicans were just dragging the President along... trying to get as close to the deadline as possible. They had no intention of coming up with a deal before the last 3 days or so. They were following their plan.

I don't know what it is about Obama & Co. and Democratic strategists... but something has to change. They always seem to react...(and even then...often too late). They are rarely proactive when it comes to their strategy for dealing with Republicans... even when they know the Republican playbook...and even when the Republicans announce their plans.

Will Obama be prepared for the next fight? The next fight will likely be the Affordable Care Act...(Healthcare Reform). Republicans plan to defund certain pieces of the legislation as a way of killing it.

We will go from one problem to another with this Congress. In fact... the reprieve will be short. There will be another budget fight in September...and a government shut down (while not likely) is possible. It isn't likely because the Republicans are actually afraid to go through with it. They remember what happened after their effort to shut down the government in 1995. They came away as the bad guys. But this Republican caucus is much more extreme. So these fights are not over... they are only getting started.

Meanwhile the world is watching...amazed at the level of dysfunction within the U.S. system. Global bond holders & investors may now have second thoughts about U.S. Treasuries... so damage has been done. The world is questioning the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency (have been for a while... but especially now). Not only that... but now the credit rating for the Country could be under review. The economy...already weak, has been wounded yet again. The Dow Jones has fallen over 500 points (or about 4%) over the past week. All because the Republicans resorted to draconian measures... blaming Obama for the debt... most of which was racked up under the previous 4 Presidents (but they were white). More from the New York Times. Now the Republican Tea Party wants the debt problem solved instantly...which will cause more problems. Cutting spending too drastically will be a drag on an already slow economy. As if that wasn't enough... the political uncertainty & instability (caused by Tea Party nuts) will cause consumers and business owners to sit on their money. These Tea Party extremists didn't say a word when Bush put the Country into two wars...paying for them with emergency supplemental appropriations (outside of the standard budget process...adding to the deficit but hiding the cost).

It will be frustrating to watch Obama & Co. stumble from one debacle to another.... (including manufactured crisis) appearing unprepared..and surprised.  They will be reactive instead of proactive... allowing the Republicans to get the biggest deal that they can get. But unfortunately, this has been the m/o for Obama & Co. since 2009. The latest ploy was simply the most public example of a strategy deficit that has been a drag on the Obama Administration for quite some time.

Ed Schultz to Eric Cantor - why won't you come on my show?

Ed Schultz broke it down.

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The Republican Party's Makeover Is Going Well

It's going well if the goal is irrelevance.

Over the past week, Republicans have been busy self destructing and attacking one another. And I have to admit, it has been a joy to watch. The Republican base (the racists, the bigots, Southern White xenophobes, hate mongers, religious radicals, fiscal incompetents and the like) have been chastising a phony group of moderates who are at least attempting to appear reasonable and want to show that they are pulling the Party back to some sort of common sense position. The so-called Moderates, led by Congressman Eric Cantor, Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney are calling themselves the National Council for a New America. The group wants to travel the Country (outside of the South) to get a sense of what Americans are feeling and thinking and to get ideas on what direction they should take the Party. It's all part of efforts by Republicans to re-brand. But Rush Limbaugh (the Republican Party leader) is having none of it. Limbaugh & Co. believe that racism, greed, Laissez-faire government, free markets, torture, war, Wall Street, corporate incompetence, John Wayne Foreign Policy, Confederate Southern ideology, the Party of the White- Rich- and elderly, and the Party of "no" is the way of the future for the Republicans.

Tricky Dick II reaffirmed Limbaugh's position as the Republican leader and his out of touch ideology over the weekend by saying that he would support Boss Limbaugh's Republican Brand over that of Colin Powell (a man who actually served in war and has a very distinguished career). Because Powell endorsed Barack Obama during the 2008 General Election Campaign, Cheney stated that he "didn't know Powell was still a Republican".

The Republican Party is now being consumed by the very monster that it created some 20+ years ago - the powerful Right Wing Media.... which believes in the Party's more hardline, radical ideology regarding governance and religion. Don't doubt the strength they hold. They were able to sell the Country a phony war and were able to get a buffoon elected not once, but twice. Now the powerful Republican/Right Wing media is targeting its own. The resulting battle is going to be ugly.... but quite entertaining if you are a Progressive or Democrat.

This is why I have suggested that this is the time to force Republicans to make a choice. Force Republicans (those who will even admit to being Republican at this point) to either support the ridiculous comments and beliefs of their leaders in the Right wing media, or reject & denounce them. But this is a big dilemma for Republicans (and this is where Progressives trap them in a corner) because they can't afford to accept either choice. The Republican Party dies if the ideology of Limbaugh & Co. (the vast radical Republican media apparatus) is accepted by the Party's rank and file members. Because the rest of America (Democrats, Progressives, Independents, etc) isn't interested in buying the racism, religious radicalism, backwards thinking, out of touch beliefs, failed policies, and Laissez-faire attitude that the Republicans are selling. On the other hand, Republicans can't afford to reject the Right wing media either.... because the GOP has always relied on its propaganda wing to sustain the Party. It has never been sustained by its ideas (not in modern times at least) it has always been the Party's ability to control the narrative, control information and distort its opponents that has sustained the Party. The Republican Party is just a shell without its media platform. Right wing media is essential for the Party to gets its message out, to raise cash, to mobilize voters, to agitate and anger its base with wedge issues, to run its propaganda.... to do everything. Right wing media is a well orchestrated machine.

The problem is... that the machine has gotten so big.... that it's now a monster that has taken on a life of its own. It is no longer an apparatus that the old traditional Republican political leaders in Washington D.C. can control. Thus, they lost the real leadership of the Party a long time ago. The huge network of Limbaugh and Co. represent the true leadership of the Party....regardless of how backwards that leadership is.