Comments on: How the GOP Will Ensure Victory in 2012

By: jess

jess — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:33:04 +0000

Thanks, SarahMC. I appreciate that. It just felt like we were being attacked from all sides- rightwingers blaming us and our bloated paychecks for bankrupting the economy, and then this felt like we were being accused of colluding with the rightwingers.

By: foureleven

foureleven — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 01:31:19 +0000

“Or to be even more specific, people you went to high school with who only pay attention to politics during national elections and/or a potential government shutdown and have no idea what they’re talking about.”

This is my entire family and it drives me nuts. Plus, they get all of their news from local TV news stations so they never have the complete story.

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:19:47 +0000

I changed it, Jess.

By: jess

jess — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:01:52 +0000

…so to clarify my previous comments, I’m asking that you edit the post, either to reflect the anecdotes from me, WingStaff, and Ocean_Breeze saying that we didn’t observe military and civilian government employees doing what you said we did (lashing out at “sluts”), or to provide links backing up your accusation. Your last comment was basically “yes, but…”, so I’m not sure whether you’re agreeing with me or not.

By: jess

jess — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:31:41 +0000

Ok, thanks for the response. I think it’s good to note that government employees’ health insurance plans are strictly forbidden from covering abortion, so we are perhaps more likely than the average American to appreciate the need for Planned Parenthood and other services that make abortion more accessible and affordable.

Yes, there was a lot of nonsense & falsehoods spouted by people who don’t generally pay attention to the budget process and didn’t understand that in the event of a shutdown, the military would actually be excepted, along with civilian employees whose jobs are related to protection of life (e.g. tsunami forecasters). But given that government employees in general actually pay a decent amount of attention to the Congressional budget process (because it directly affects us), I think the criticisms you’re making don’t apply as much to government workers as to the public at large. I guess I would be more surprised and would think that your “Step 2″ had more validity if those people on your facebook feed were government workers. If they’re not, then again, it sounds like you’re misplacing blame.

By: SarahMC

SarahMC — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 12:36:49 +0000

Jess, I know where you’re coming from. I should have said people who are inclined to blame liberals/Democrats/women for everything in the first place, rather than just government employees. But go to any comments section online and you’ll find lots of people who’ve fallen right into the Republicans’ trap–divide and conquer.

Or to be even more specific, people you went to high school with who only pay attention to politics during national elections and/or a potential government shutdown and have no idea what they’re talking about. Lots of people on my Facebook feed are outraged about “Obama cutting Troops’ pay,” which … never happened.

By: jess

jess — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:13:42 +0000

@AlisonY-
OK, I’m not surprised to hear Rush Limbaugh saying stuff like that, but that’s very different from what was said in the original post. Step 2 in the post was _government employees_ lashing out at reproductive rights activists, which is not at all the same thing as Rush Limbaugh continuing to bloviate as he always does. The point is kind of moot now that there’s been a compromise, but I hate seeing the blame misplaced like this, especially since among my coworkers at a federal agency, I heard people explicitly voicing support for reproductive rights, and I didn’t hear a single person at work saying that Planned Parenthood should be sacrificed so that we could get our paychecks. I don’t doubt that among the hundreds of thousands of civilian and military government workers there were some who thought that reproductive rights should be sacrificed, but SarahMC’s post makes it sound like a large number of us held that position, and that government workers as a group were thereby complicit in the “GOP’s plan to ensure victory in 2012″. As far as I know, that’s just not the case. If you’ve got links contradicting me, please share, and I’ll join you in despairing. Otherwise, please realize that we (or at least a large number of us) are the good guys.

By: mischiefmanager

mischiefmanager — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 12:32:39 +0000

Having Debbie Wasserman Schultz as head of the DNC is a very good thing. She’ll bring it. And she’ll work to get pro-choice candidates nominated and elected.

By: BearDownCBears

BearDownCBears — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 02:21:31 +0000

Yeah, we really should have just paid Ben Nelson a million dollars plus his own private bidet in his office to just vote for cloture back in December. We knew we were screwed, so what’s a few principles here and there?

By: Ocean_Breeze

Ocean_Breeze — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 01:41:49 +0000

So far at our base that hasn’t happened. The only group we are hating on is congress as a whole since right now our paychecks have been slashed. For lower enlisted like myself that means per my LES (leave and earning statement) I am looking at less than 600. That doesn’t even cover my rent. I have received exactly enough for food and gas till next month when I must combine what’s left of this check with the next and hope I don’t loose my home.

These are scary times.