James Fallows has been pelting the media about its need-in response to idiotic criticism from some pretty stupid people-about the "both sides do it mentality". In reality only one side is doing it to any great degree and that is the side which makes league with whores like Michelle Malkin and imbeciles like the late Andrew Breitbart. ( Whose successors have proven that they could take his particular form of lunacy to an entirely new level of stupidity.). One of the big areas that the deluded members of the Tea Party nation love to rail about is saving over 1.5 million American jobs with about 1/11th of the money it took to bail out greedy bastards like Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs and his contemporaries:
As Nocera points out, Fox News has repeatedly presented it that way. There was even a Volt-ish allusion in some of the argument against the Obama health care plan before the Supreme Court last week. If the government can force me to buy medical care, why shouldn't it force me to buy not just broccoli but also an electric car? After all, as former Solicitor General Paul Clement pointed out in his anti-Obamacare argument, other people's failure to buy electric cars makes their price higher, by eliminating economies of scale. Why isn't that just like people who decide not to buy health insurance?
You can go to the transcript to see how Justices Sotomayor and Breyer dealt with that analogy. But what's the truth about the Volt itself? Nocera could have said in his column: "Critics claim that the Volt is a governmental boondoggle that typifies an administration bent on imposing its do-good agenda on the nation. Administration spokesmen deny the charges." Here is what he actually says:
What is the connection between President Obama and the Volt? There is none. The car was the brainchild of Bob Lutz, a legendary auto executive who is about as liberal as the Koch brothers. The tax credit — which is part of the reason conservatives hate the car — became law during the Bush administration.(Emphasis mine-SS)
"It's nuts," said Lutz, when I spoke to him earlier in the week. "This is a significant achievement in the auto industry. There are so many legitimate things to criticize Obama about. It is inexplicable that the right would feel the need to tell lies about the Volt to attack the president."
It helps that Nocera was able to get the highly conservative Lutz — shown with his Volt, at right — to go on the record this way. But it is nice to see someone lay it out so plainly.
The simple truth of the matter is-that there is a sizeable chunk of America that wants to see the country fail-so long as it gives their fair haired conservative heroes a political advantage. The world needs alternatives in energy and in transportation, and places with good public transportation are a lot more liveable and better places to be than those with reliance on automobiles. ( Reason 537 why I need to go back to Japan). The only way to keep these idiots from gaining the upper hand is to call them out on their lies each and every time. I can't tell you the chagrin with which I watch friends who should know better-parrot the stupid Fox line on Facebook. I just want to reach through the computer screen and shake them by the shoulders-hard.
In a proper world-and an evil man like Paul Ryan would have a horde of people hovering over him-all with Louisville Sluggers in hand threatening to teach him the real consequences of selfishness. Paul Ryan is not a reasonable man-he is a man who appears to be good, but has made league with the worst forces. I agree with Paul Krugman when he writes:
What these people need is reasonable Republicans. And if such creatures don’t exist, they have to invent them. Hence the elevation of Ryan — who is, in fact, a garden-variety GOP extremist, but with a mild-mannered style — to icon of fiscal responsibility and honest argument, despite the reality that his proposals are both fiscally irresponsible and quite dishonest.