The Republican amnesia

Whenever I think of today's Republicans, I think of Marx.Groucho Marx, that is. Among many other things, he is well known for a musical number in the movie Horse Feathers where he proudly sings, "Whatever it is, I'm against it." This philosophy has been taken to heart by Republicans in the Obama era. From the stimulus to the lukewarm attempt at health care reform, the minority party in both chambers of Congress will resist on what appears to be strictly ideological grounds. They are opposing for the sake of opposing. It doesn't even matter if the Democrats push an idea that was once favored by Republicans, like cap and trade, an alternative idea to flat-out taxing corporations for carbon emissions that was proposed by them in the 1990s. Now that it's favored by Democrats, though, it's "cap and tax" and bad for our corporations and business. On any bill that could possibly attract the slightest bit of controversy, Republicans dig in their heels- and yet President Obama still looks to them to lend a helping hand. Clearly, it's not working.

Inane name calling and bad behavior has also become the norm - mostly among right-wing pundits and citizens, but occasionally among Republican elected officials as well.

Just this past Thursday at Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, Republican South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson called Obama a liar when he was talking about how his plan will not be extended to illegal immigrants. The outburst got him overnight media attention due to the fact that in the news, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

He has taken well to the spotlight, getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions. As tactless as Wilson was, he has nothing on protesters who hijack the national debate by calling Obama illegitimate, a socialist, a Marxist (Karl this time, not Groucho), a fascist, and other names that inflame passions but do little else.

What really strikes me though, is that once Obama took office, Republicans did a complete 180 on many issues, especially on matters of the budget, unconstitutionality, and patriotism. During the previous administration, we lived under an executive branch whose motto was "deficits don't matter" (Dick Cheney even said as much), and on issues of war and taxation, they sure lived up to it. Now they are deficit hawks, asking how we can pay for what is proposed in Congress. When people were out on the streets protesting the war in Iraq, Republicans, especially pundits on Fox News, were fond of saying that these people are lunatics. Now that the Republicans are out on the streets, they're not only patriots for doing so, but Fox News is covering them all day.

Speaking of patriotism, remember when people who questioned the president's motives were unpatriotic and terrorist sympathizers, according to Republicans? Now, descent is the highest form of patriotism, as people like Glen Beck, a real-life version of Dale Gribble from King of the Hill, love to spout out whenever they can.

I certainly didn't see Republicans thinking twice about the Patriot Act or warrantless wiretapping back when they were the ones doing it- and indeed, it was of paramount importance that we as a nation did support it, lest we appear unpatriotic.

Now protesters and even some Republican politicians are throwing the word "unconstitutional" around when it comes to the stimulus and health care reform, never mind that many executive power grabs under President Bush contradicted the Constitution.

It is as if on January 21, 2009, somebody took a big wooden mallet to the collective head of the Republican Party, and they woke up with no recollection of the misdeeds of the Bush administration.

Their rhetoric has been ratcheted up to hyperbolic levels, and their criticisms have devolved into grade-school insults.

And yet for all of the times that they have thrown temper tantrums, they are still being given legitimacy by our President, Congress, and the media.

Time is running out for all three to realize that they are dealing with people who will compromise on nothing.