The persistence of stupidity

By Capt. Fogg

Hi kids! I'm Stanley, the Stagflation Stag. Remember, only you can prevent Republican economic incompetence!

Two percent of all mortgages are currently in foreclosure. The number of mortgage borrowers who were over 30 days late on a payment in the last three months of 2007 is at its highest rate since the Reagan Renaissance. The trend is accelerating. Oil is $104 / barrel, the exchange rate for the dollar against the Euro is about $1.53, and the DJIA is flirting with 12000 today.

On the other hand, Bush is optimistic, the candidate the Republicans have chosen to replace him wants to increase spending, sustain military involvement and tax cutting, Financiers want to start packaging and selling car loans the way they did mortgages and Americans are calling anyone who objects stupid. We know we're "winning" the war though because the body count in Vietnam Iraq is better.

Yes, flag pins and religious pledges, the same old rhetoric about only dealing with the "enemy" from a position of strength, the same old crap about being there in the name of freedom the same old unaccountability, the same old damn-the-law executive branch, the same old idiots blaming it all on the liberals, the same old stupid, ignorant, irrational "conservatives."

Of course we won't know for a while yet. The media are too busy trying to lie with the appearance of "balance" to know how many people are stupid enough to put another Republican in office because Clinton wears pants or Obama doesn't wear a flag pin, but I'm not optimistic.

The sun is shining on this Florida morning, but these are dark days.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)