Will Rogers Quotes

Referring to Arizona Governor Fife Symington III (Republican) who, after winning the governership, declared personal bankruptcy, had his businesses collapse and was indicted for fraud:

Actually, it was the Tea Party members of the Republican Party whose unprecedented willingness to risk the full faith and credit of the United States when the majority of the Republican legislators and almost all the Democrats were not, who held the required Debt Ceiling Increase hostage to getting their legislative way. But in this particular debate and legislation the Democrats gained nothing except that the anger of the American People was much greater against the Republicans than the Democrats, many of whose usual supporters thought that the Democrats had been totally intimidated by the Tea Party.

At the time Congress was gridlocked in bitter hyperpartisan conflict. Most people called for more comity and bipartisanship and most politicians wanted more bipartisanship but blamed the other party for the rift. Mourdock,arguing for less bipartisanship and no compromise defeated Richard Lugar in the Republican Senatorial Primary election. Lugar, one of the most respected and effective Senators was a statesman who worked with any and all to find effective compromises to reach national solutions. The nation was so politically polarized that the Republican Indiana voters ousted one of their most senior senators because he was effective at developing national solutions. See {626717} and {302706} for other Mourdock outrageous comments. While this rhetoric won in the Primary, it lost him the general election in a state where Republicans had a strong majority and should have had the seat.

McCain had been an independent-minded Republican, but when he first tried for the Republican Presidential nomination, the conservatives of the party trashed him for being too liberal. So when he ran again, he changed many of his positions to make himself more acceptable to the right wing, This was sufficiently effective to gain him the nomination, but as this quotation illustrates, many other Americans who had admired McCain for his independence, then became worried that if he were elected President, he would follow many of his new (flip flopped) positions. So many felt that way that he lost the election to Barack Obama. The shoe reference was to the fact that McCain and his wife were very wealthy and he wore expensive clothing.

The Tea Party, having had little success at the polls, tended to pick one element of government with most members and friends bashing that element blindly, like the blind-folded children at a Piñata Party. In this case it was the Export Import Bank that enabled over 250,000 jobs last year. The Tea Party which is always complaining about government spending, surprised most observers when they attacked the Export-Import Bank. It is one of the very few government agencies that costs the taxpayer nothing. As a matter of fact, it actually produces a profit for the taxpayer and reduces the deficit. See {640781}.