You can pick your friends, but you are stuck with your family. For that reason, many of you will have the …um… pleasure of dining with Republicans today, thus soiling your festivities with InsaniTEA. To help you, I found an excellent article with five items you can employ in the hope of shocking them back into the real world.
…This year, you have to have a little sympathy for your Republican family members. Not only did they lose, they lost after nominating a guy they never liked because they thought he could win. For this reason they’ll be extra agitated and prone to ranting.
The best advice is probably to avoid talking politics until at least dessert—if at all possible. Then if you get seriously annoyed, you can make a clean escape without upsetting grandma. But if your right-wing relatives want to treat you like Colmes to their Hannity and demand a debate, you should be armed with a few facts that will at least get them thinking.
1. In the past three years, the deficit has fallen faster than in any three-year stretch since World War II.
Republicans do a nice job of scaring people about the deficit. But they’re in denial of a few basic facts. The deficit President Obama inherited was over $1 trillion—entirely the result of President Bush’s policies combined with the cost of the wars and the bad economy. Yes, President Obama continued the Afghanistan War and temporarily extended the Bush tax cuts for the rich—two of the only Obama policies the Republicans endorsed. Still, the deficit is shrinking fast. “From fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2012, the deficit shrank 3.1 percentage points, from 10.1 percent to 7 percent of GDP,” according to Investors’ Business Daily.
2. The U.S. recovery has been one of the best in the world.
Since the financial crisis began on Wall Street and spread across the globe, America’s recovery has been frustrating but it is still the “sole bright spot of the world.” Meanwhile, Europe has fallen into recession after dramatic spending cuts made worse by the uncertainty of their weak monetary union. Individual states united by a common currency making their own decisions, along with huge spending cuts, sounds exactly like the Republican agenda. Aren’t you glad we didn’t go along with that?…
Inserted from <The National Memo>
Photo credit: Maddow Blog
I said five and there are only two there. The other three are an excellent reason to click through to the original article. I assure you, it’s worth the effort.
If you are unable to impress your Republican relatives with the truth of why they lost, don’t blame yourself. In some cases, you might as well be talking to a wall. You can at least enjoy the squirming as they contemplate their prospects for the future.
2016 Maybe?
14 Responses to “If You’re Dining with Republicans”
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Thanks for the info TomCat – but that photo will give me nightmares!
LOL Pat! It would be a nightmare onle if they win. NOT happening. 🙂
Thankfully, we dined in peace and quiet. No RepublicanTs were present.
I agree with Pat A. I'm going to have nightmares from the photo.
You are fortunate. See my reply to Pat.
All sixteen of my KCMO relatives enjoyed a fantastic Thanksgiving Day feast … and I was the only liberal in the crowd! I did NOT remove my Obama-Biden bumper sticker – but I did park down the street a bit, as this is a day to avoid confrontations and just enjoy each other's company.
(Even though we started dinner early at noon because some had to visit the other side of the relatives, I was still too full to have a piece of pumpkin pie even five hours after dinner.)
Nameless, I have almost a whole pumpkin pie left. Come get a piece.
By unspoken mutual agreement ..NO politics –was fine!!
I'm amazed you could keep such an agreement. 😉
If I am dining with Republicans, I am in the wrong house! My husband's brother is the only Rep. in the mix, and he chose to have Thanksgiving somewhere where else! Hmmm.
Bless him for that!
I can safely say no politics in my house, so I won't need those talking points! I did see though that chart and some other points on a segment of Rachel Maddow. We did however argue over a ham sandwich and an apple for dinner. My three think that they get their kibble and my dinner too!
TC, thank you for looking out for your neighbours. And thank you too for allowing them to contribute by helping to prepare different parts of the dinner. Do you all sit down together to eat? I do so hope so. My friend, you are a diamond of the soul!
Thank you for caring Lynn. We did sit together.
After you have been so nice, I hate to say this, but I have to side with m,y fellow felines on the issue of that ham sandwich. 😉
Not nice, just truthful!
… and my crew didn't stop at the ham, they went for bread too (multi grain) and apple!
And since there are three of them, they should get 3/4 of everything! 😈