I'd read earlier about how funny it was to think of cheating scoundrels like Guiliani and Gingrich running for President on a values platform. And right there on the page above the analysis was a picture of some really tired-looking Louisiana National Guard. And an idea just popped into my head. Cut and Run, hell. The Republicans don't just cut and run, they deploy and abandon. They mandate and underfund. They talk a pretty picture and then sneak out of their responsibilities. You know what they are, I thought...They're the Deadbeat Dad Party.
There's been lots of people flapping their lips about how the Republicans have tried to play the Strict Father while the Democrats try to be the Nurturing Mother. I don't think it's as true as all that, but I'll tell you I sure wouldn't want to be a father as useless and irresponsible as the Republican Party. I'd be ashamed.
The Republican Party abandons its children, just like a deadbeat dad. They send kids to fight in Iraq but they don't give them armor or an exit strategy. They made those soldiers, but they sure don't give a damn about them now. They like to get their picture taken with them, but when those soldiers come looking for veterans' benefits, they're out of luck because the Republicans cut them and put the money in their pockets. Those soldiers are just props; it's just like messing with your kids' heads so they'll lie for you in court and you can squirm out of child support. Republicans talk pretty in front of a camera or a judge, but they'll run like hell when the bill comes due.
Bush talks great stuff about No Child Left Behind, but they're all being left behind, because that's just another great big unfunded mandate. Cut and run, heck, just watch the Republicans run off on their kids! Moms all across the country are trying to pick up the pieces of the mess they made.
Filibustering the Minimum Wage increase is the same kind of thing. All the globalization and deregulation has left lots of folks making the minimum wage since the good jobs went away; minimum wagers are the neglected children of the Corporation. And they need a cost of living increase because it's tough out there and they're hungry. Well, the Republicans say they can go piss up a rope. They're happy to give themselves raises, and fly all on corporate jets to play golf, living a fine life. But the children? Ha! Let the court try and catch the Deadbeat Dad Party.
New Orleans, just the same old story. Bush doesn't give a good god damn about New Orleans. They aren't his kids! Sure, he underfunded the levees, sure his FEMA dropped the ball because he eviscerated it and appointed idiot friends of his. But hell if he's going to cut his playtime short to go take care of the folks in NOLA. Hell if he's going to give up his fancy cars or planes or his Paris Hilton Tax Cut so kids in NOLA can eat breakfast. Republicans don't care if they make kids starve, just as long as they get to keep their money.
And the deficit? That's adding insult to injury. Not only are the soldiers, the students, and the poor getting screwed by the Bush Regime, the Republicans opened a big credit line in their names, and they're paying for the privilege. That's like making the kid you won't pay child support for fork up the taxi fare for your court date.
Just say it with me, folks. The Republicans are just a bunch of deadbeat dads. We need some new folks in there who take responsibility for what they do, who take care of the people whose lives they affect, who aren't all about acting like players and running away when the bill comes due.