Republicans are The Problem

Last week’s major political failures had a common denominator--the Republican party. On a variety of fronts, they fell down and confirmed themselves as phony, weak-willed, money-grubbing cons.

Did anything substantive emerge on immigration legislation? No. The divided GOP leadership seems to have pushed the subject under the rug.

Did anything meaningful occur on ethics and lobbying reform? No. The latest attempt to re-write the rules produced a pitiful, hollowed out joke-of-a-proposal.

Did anything prudent happen with spending legislation? No. The latest budget was another pork-filled, election-year bonanza.

Did anything arise from the price-of-oil hysteria on Capitol Hill? No. The President announced that he would not support raising taxes on oil companies, and his party henchmen on Capitol Hill tried, yet again, to slip a provision into the half-baked oil crisis proposal to allow drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.

Did anything happen on the oversight front? No. The second part of the investigation of the rush to invade Iraq--looking at whether the Bush gang fixed intel to support their policy--remained in limbo despite a growing chorus of complaints. Nothing is likely to happen until after the mid-term elections, of course.

All these failures of leadership (or successes of corporate lobbying and coverup) can be traced directly to the door of the GOP.

Americans increasingly don’t like the direction the country is heading. And if they’re smart, they’ll connect our miserable course not just to an incompetent President, but to an unethical, inept and worthless Republican Congress.

It’s becoming easy to see. If you don’t want more business-as-usual, don’t vote for a Republican.