Today’s Quotes: How Far Right Can You Lean Before You Fall Off?

“How am I going to fix the economy? I’ll tell you how I’m going to fix the economy. I’m going to look at what Obama has done and do the opposite. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”
— Mitt Romney, as seen at Bartcop.com. [This is what the Bush nitwits did with the sturdy economy Clinton left them, to horrendous results.]

“I don’t want ghettos in the [French] republic, not ghettos for the poor, not ghettos for the rich!”
— François Hollande, newly-elected socialist president of France, as quoted by The Guardian (UK).

“Let’s get one thing straight: Even with this anemic recovery, the economy under Obama has replaced all of the jobs lost under the Bush administration. NBC’s Chuck Todd deserves kudos for noting to Fehrnstrom Friday that British austerity policies have sent that nation into a double-dip recession – and that Mitt Romney supports the same policies. Fehrnstrom performed the standard Romney pivot – whatever you’re asked, insist on talking about the U.S. economy only – brushing off Todd’s question about how Romney would improve the economy more than Obama has, with his “cut, cap and balance” austerity policies that have failed elsewhere.”
— Joan Walsh, “The Real Job Creators: Everyday Americans, Not the 1%,” Salon.com, May 4, 2012.

“In the wake of [the 2010 GOP] victory, the far right’s new electees shifted into overdrive, immediately introducing brutally aggressive legislation to bust unions, disenfranchise Democratic voters and roll back a century of progress on reproductive rights. The speed and power of the onslaught was breathtaking — but it was also driven by desperation. What most pundits missed was the fact that the far right had no time to waste, because both the mood of the country and its basic demographic realities were changing under their feet.
“Polls over the past decade show that America is, at its core, a progressive nation in every way that matters, and that this trend is solidifying and expanding with time.” […]
“This progressive bent also extends to the country’s attitudes on ending corporate dominance over our economy, supporting a robust middle class, and addressing climate change and other environmental crises.”
— Sara Robinson, “Fascist America: Have We Finally Turned The Corner?” AlterNet, May 2, 2012.

“Cultural progressivism is the new American way….A majority of all Americans now supports same-sex marriage. Americans strongly [uphold] Roe v. Wade, and strongly oppose the position of the Republican Party. Fully 62 percent think that abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy, in which 89 percent of abortions occur; only 15 percent favor outlawing abortion in all circumstances. Americans have become less religious and less culturally conservative over the past 40 years. Polling on birth control and sexual morality show that Americans unequivocally reject the sexual fundamentalists’ attempt to take us back to a time when sex was stigmatized and only legitimate when confined within the traditional heterosexual marriage. The majority of Americans believe in the basic values underpinning a culturally progressive approach to matters of sex, gender, family, and culture: privacy, personal freedom, equality, and pluralism.”
— Nancy L. Cohen, from her book, “Delirium: How The Sexual Counterrevolution Is Polarizing America”.