Home National Politics Republican Bloggers Rip Republican “Pledge to America” as “dreck,” “meaningless mush”

Republican Bloggers Rip Republican “Pledge to America” as “dreck,” “meaningless mush”

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A few choice reviews by Republican bloggers of the laughable, pathetic Can’tor/BONer/Ryan “Pledge to America.”  First, Erick Erickson of Red State, who calls it “Perhaps the Most Ridiculous Thing to Come Out of Washington Since George McClellan.” Erickson adds:

I have one message for John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and the House GOP Leadership: If they do not want to use the GOP to lead, I would like to borrow it for a time.

Yes, yes, it is full of mom tested, kid approved pablum that will make certain hearts on the right sing in solidarity. But like a diet full of sugar, it will actually do nothing but keep making Washington fatter before we crash from the sugar high.

It is dreck – dreck with some stuff I like, but like Brussels sprouts in butter. I like the butter, not the Brussels sprouts. Overall, this grand illusion of an agenda that will never happen is best spoken of today and then never again as if it did not happen. It is best forgotten.

No problem, forgetting this gar-bage won’t be difficult at all. In fact, I plan to do so the minute I complete this Blue Virginia diary.

Next, Doug Ross:

[Erickson’s] point — that the GOP’s effort is mostly “dreck” — is valid. Washington’s so freaking broken that the usual platitudes and rhetoric can’t and won’t suffice.

21 pages? How about starting with two words: THE CONSTITUTION?

…there’s also plenty of fluff, with anecdotes and quotes and lengthy paragraphs that morph into meaningless mush.

Of course, many of us have known for a long time that Eric Cantor’s brain is filled with little more than “meaningless mush” and “dreck.” It’s good to see leading Republican bloggers also coming to this realization.

I’d just add that if Republicans are serious about reining in government, they will need to slash three items: Social Security, Medicare, and Defense. Why? Because those three items, plus interest on the debt, make up about 80% of the budget. Oh yeah, and if they want to eliminate the deficit, they will also need to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire.  Of course, we know they’re not serious and we know none of that’s going to happen, so we can all proceed to ignoring anything these jokers have to say. Carry on! 🙂

P.S. Also interesting, check out this article, “GOP ‘Pledge For America’ Director Lobbied For AIG, Exxon, Pfizer, Chamber.” In other words, this isn’t just any old “dreck,” it’s “dreck” brought to you by Big Oil and Big Pharma, among others.

UPDATE: Libertarian blogger Doug Mataconis writes, “while Republicans likely garner some media coverage for this ‘Pledge With America,’ it’s unlikely that what they announce will have any real impact on the election, and even less likely that they’ll actually live up to their promises.”

UPDATE #2: The White House rips the pledge, saying that “This is the same agenda that caused the deepest recession since the Great Depression, costing 8 million jobs, wiping out trillions in family wealth and setting middle-class families back.   Instead of a pledge to the American people, Congressional Republicans made a pledge to the big special interests to restore the same economic ideas that benefited them at the expense of middle-class families.”

UPDATE #3: This pretty much sums it up.

UPDATE #4: Ezra Klein explains why this is a really “bad idea” that Republicans “will almost certainly come to regret.” The bottom line? “It is a document with a clear theory of what has gone wrong — debt, policy uncertainty, and too much government — and a solid promise to make most of it worse.”

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