By William Harwood
As far back as the 18th century, Congressman Robert Harper is reported to have responded to blackmail demands with the words, “Millions for defense; but not one penny tribute.” The blackmailers were foreigners who threatened to cause America distress if they were not adequately bribed.
In 2010 the blackmailers threatening to cause America distress if they are not bribed with the absolute power they failed to win at the ballot box are Republican members of the Congress of the United States. They are threatening to withdraw life-supporting benefits from millions of unintentionally unemployed Americans unless they are allowed to grant huge bonuses to the millionaires and billionaires who have successfully corrupted them. Their motivation is obvious. Unless they reciprocate for the bribes they have been receiving from the superrich for decades, they are terrified that the bribes will no longer be forthcoming. And in order to preserve their status as benefactors of America’s richest two percent, the Republican Mafia are willing to hold the other 98 percent of Americans hostage, even to the extent of refusing to ratify a new SALT treaty without which America is significantly less safe.
When Al Capone was targeted by Elliot Ness’s Untouchables, he declared that, “I have spent the best years of my life giving people the lighter pleasures, helping them have a good time, and all I get is abuse, the existence of a hunted man.” When the House of Representatives passed a bill granting an extension of tax cuts to 98 percent of Americans but not extending the Bush bribes to millionaires, Capo Mafioso John Boehner described the House attempt to prevent the Republican Mafia from delivering on their bribes as “chicken crap” and “nonsense.” Boehner and McConnell, McCain, and the other Republican Thuggs have spent the best years of their lives giving their millionaire puppetmasters a free ride at the expense of the American people, and like Capone they can see nothing wrong with that.
Capone’s most memorable atrocity was the Valentine’s Day Massacre that killed seven people. The Republican Mafia’s threatened atrocity against the unemployed could potentially kill hundreds or even thousands. Convicting and jailing Capone did not free Chicago from the absolute power wielded by the absolutely corrupt Mafia. What did that was the repeal of Prohibition. The only thing that can free America from the absolute power of the Republican Mafia is the repeal of the filibuster, a force for good in the hands of James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but in the hands of the new Capone gang a blackmail weapon comparable to nonexistent WMDs with which George W. Bush blackmailed Congress into authorizing his war of personal aggrandizement against Iraq.
Congressman Robert Harper’s response to blackmailers was, “Not one penny tribute.” President Barack Obama’s response is, rather than standing up to the Thuggs that have taken over the party of Abraham Lincoln, to bend over and grab his ankles. As a personal response that affected only himself, that would be acceptable. Presidents can be replaced. But in allowing blackmailers to screw him up the rear end, he is thereby allowing them to do the same to America. Neville Chamberlain did something similar in Munich in 1938. Chamberlain returned to England triumphantly waving a piece of paper signed by that nice Mr. Hitler. Obama gave a press conference and triumphantly claimed that his unconditional surrender to totally corrupt gangsters in 2010 was a victory for the American people.
Sitting presidents eligible for reelection are seldom dumped by their own party. The democrats refused to dump Jimmy Carter in 1980, even though only Ted Kennedy could have defeated Ronald Reagan. They refused to dump Carter’s vice president Walter Mondale in 1984, even though only Gary Hart could have defeated Reagan. On the upside, the Republicans were smart enough not to nominate Dan Quayle in 1996. Will Obama lose the democratic primary in 2012 if the only Republican polls say he could beat is Sarah Palin—who almost certainly will not be the Republican nominee? That could depend on whether Hillary Clinton reverses her avowed denial of any intention of running for president ever again. If current polls say that only she could keep the presidency out of the hands of the new Mafia, that could be the decider. And with Al Capone about to become Speaker of the House, America needs an Elliot Ness in the White House, not a Neville Chamberlain.
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