Republicans make better marketers.

I don’t like discussing politics. Usually it’s because I’m totally right, and the other person is an absolute moron.
But seriously folks…

The more I watch the news, I see all these ridiculous Repubican-type “Tea Partiers” bitching and moaning about how the Democrats are on some incredulous vendetta against everything moral and decent. They’re gonna let the gays get married, raise taxes, and (gasp!) give away stimulus cash like there’s no limit to what’s available.

Even worse, and personally disturbing, these Republican/Tea Party types have INCREDIBLE marketing. They almost make you want to believe it. But in our sound-bite society, nobody bothers to dig beyond the marketing pitch to see if the product is actually sound. And in this case, the Republican stance is completely bogus. Here’s a few little facts* that seem to get in the way of their argument:

In FY2010, the Federal Budget stands at $3.6 trillion. We’re spending ….

• $715 billion (20%) on defense and security. $172 billion of which is specifically for Iraq and Afghanistan operations.
• $708 billion (19%) on Social Security
• $753 billion (21%) on Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Of the $753 Billion, $468 billion (2/3) goes specifically to Medicare.

When the Tea Partying, Palin pushing, Democrat Demonizing masses start their rants, they tend to focus on the same tired concepts:

1. Mandating health-care, and/or letting the government manage it all is akin to socialism. Of course, if any of ’em mentioned that government run health care already exists (Hello Medicare!), accounts for a rapidly rising share of our budget, and the President’s plan never actually mandated a government-run solution, then of course the Republicans have nothing to scare people with. It actually seems like the President was trying to create a fiscally responsible solution to provide health care for all. Crazy, I know …
2. All Muslims are terrorists who are committed to infiltrating everything good and decent in America. The fact that the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque” is actually supported by a majority of the folks living/working in their general vicinity, doesn’t seem to matter to your average Republican/Tea Partier. “I think it’s important not to give into the hysteria. We do have religious freedom. I know the wounds are still very open, me myslef included but you have to look at the big picture. You can’t practice these freedoms only when it suits us. You have to practice them all along.” That’s what Frank Tatum had to say. He lost his mother on 9/11. Surprised? I’m not. He’s right.
3. The Democrats squandered their opportunity to lead. If they’re right, and smart, why didn’t they actually accomplish anything? Here’s an article to consider: “Republicans Setting Filibuster Record.” Or this one: “Republicans Use Filibuster to Prevent Government from Working for the American People.” This one’s my favorite: “GOP Blocks Bill to Disclose Campaign Ad Donors.” This all comes just after the Supreme Court dramatically loosened the restrictions on corporate financing of campaigns.

I could go on and on and on with this stuff. Here in Massachusetts, we’ve got a Democratic incumbent running against a fella named Charlie Baker. Mr. Baker is the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. And he’s being lauded as a fiscal reformer who’ll restore some accountablility to Beacon Hill. This, naturally, being virtually the same position that our current governor rode into office on. But I digress. Unfortunatley, Mr. Baker was also the guy behind the financing of the Big Dig. And his role in that little endeavor left Massachusetts’ transportation agencies underbudgeted by around $1 billion annually.

Maybe it’s just me, but seeing health care costs spiral out-of-control and knowing that Baker ran a health care provider, knowing that he screwed up the Big Dig even more than it already was and denied it, that is totally frightening. If you can’t be bothered to actually look at the facts, then you’ll likely end up voting for Baker. And perhaps, in that case, you deserve it.

Unfortunately, the rest of us don’t. And that’s why I support the Democrats.

*Statistics provided by the Congressional Budget Office – a nonpartisan team of number crunchers…