Boehner slams some GOP hard liners as 'false prophets'

[webfact]

Boehner slams some GOP hard liners as 'false prophets'
By LAURIE KELLMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker John Boehner warned Sunday against "false prophets" in his own party making unrealistic promises, saying his resignation had averted a government shutdown this week but not the GOP's broader battle over how to wield power.

Speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation," Boehner unloaded against conservatives long outraged that even with control of both houses of Congress, Republicans have not succeeded on key agenda items, such as repealing President Barack Obama's health care law and striking taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood. He refused to back down from calling one of the tea party-styled leaders and presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, a "jackass."

"Absolutely they're unrealistic," Boehner said. "The Bible says, 'Beware of false prophets.' And there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done."

Boehner's resignation announcement Friday stunned Washington but was long in the making after years of turmoil with the same House conservatives who propelled the GOP into the House majority on a tea party-style, cut-it-or-shut it platform. Without Boehner, the job of leading divided congressional Republicans falls more heavily on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who declared nearly a year ago that the GOP's prospects of reclaiming the White House depends substantially on showing the party can govern.

The development rippled through the slate of 2016 presidential candidates competing for support among the GOP's core Republicans. As Boehner announced his resignation to House Republicans Friday morning, Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio related the news to a conference of conservatives — who erupted in triumphant hoots. Rubio, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina were among the GOP candidates who said Boehner's departure showed it was time for the party to move on.

Fiorina suggested that McConnell's leadership, too, has been unsatisfactory.

"I hope now that we will move on and have leadership in both the House and the Senate that will produce results," Fiorina said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

But former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called Boehner, "a great public servant."

"I think people are going to miss him in the long run, because he's a person that is focused on solving problems," Bush said on "Fox News Sunday."

Boehner's resignation announcement came as congressional Republicans faced a familiar standoff in their own ranks over whether to insist on their demands in exchange for passage of a federal budget — the same dynamic that led to the partial government shutdown of 2013. For nearly a year, McConnell, now the Senate's Republican majority leader, has insisted there would be no repeat, even as conservatives dug in.

"We told people to give us the Senate and things would be different. We told them back in 2010, give us the House and things will be different," said Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-N.C., on "Fox News Sunday." ''Things are not that different."

Retorted Boehner on CBS:

"We have got groups here in town, members of the House and Senate here in town, who whip people into a frenzy believing they can accomplish things that they know — they know — are never going to happen."

With government funding set to run out at midnight Wednesday, and conservatives insisting that Planned Parenthood be defunded in exchange for legislation keeping the government open, the GOP-controlled Congress seemed on-track for another costly standoff.

Until, that is, Boehner met Pope Francis.

The Roman-Catholic Ohio congressman described spending the day with his spiritual leader as deeply moving and a factor in the timing of his resignation announcement. Boehner said he had originally planned on revealing his plan to leave Congress in November. Away from the cameras, Francis floored Boehner by asking the speaker to pray for him — "I did," Boehner said. "Well, you can imagine, I was a mess." The pope blessed Boehner's newest grandchild and spoke to Congress about resisting forces that divide people. And by the end of the day, Boehner said, "it was pretty obvious to me that, hey, I think it's time to do this."

"I think it helped clear the picture," an emotional Boehner said of the experience.

He said he did not know what lies ahead for him, except a continuation of his yoga practice because, "It's great for my back."

But even as he looked forward, Boehner had terse words for the faction that he ultimately could not control. He harked back to 2013 and what he called the conservatives' "fool's errand" of insisting on the repeal of the health care law in exchange for passing a budget.

"Our founders didn't want some parliamentary system where, if you won the majority, you got to do whatever you wanted. They wanted this long, slow process" he said. "And so change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly, for some."

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-09-28

[Publicus]

The pope's visit got so much attention because the pope, his message and his followers focused on the positive. While the Catholic church is hardly a bastion of enlightenment, the pope stuck up for people. The contrast was refreshing so Boehner literally got religion again. All the same, the soreheads that are the contemporary Republican party will be right back at it again, tearing, ripping, snorting.

[stevenl]

I agree with him here. Shutting down government would not have been good and they have achieved nothing despite their majority. On top of that political instruments are being abused.

[sendintheclowns]

Interesting to see how wheel turns. All you need is love, just isn't in the vocabulary of the Republicans who are trying to hold the country hostage to their way of thinking. Can't wait for the party split into two. What America needs so badly to become great again - is a centralist party.

[Searat7]

Boehner is basically a god person but his hands were tied....having two deal with 2 divergent groups in the House of Representatives . New leadership is a god idea but Mitch McConnell should go as well.

[MZurf]

Interesting to see how wheel turns. All you need is love, just isn't in the vocabulary of the Republicans who are trying to hold the country hostage to their way of thinking. Can't wait for the party split into two. What America needs so badly to become great again - is a centralist party.

"What America needs so badly to become great again.."

That's Trump's slogan, right? What does that even mean? At what point was the US great and why is it not today??

[bendejo]

Good shot for Boehner, he addressed the situation with words that will make the GOP 'base' take notice. Not as if any of the hair-on-fire crowd had a chance at the nomination anyway.

[Thaidream]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

[razer]

I've noticed the Republican party has become a party of hate. People rally to hate.

[Usernames]

I wish we had known earlier that all it took to get rid of Boehner was to invite some pope over. I would have invited one years ago.

[losworld]

Boehner is basically a god person but his hands were tied....having two deal with 2 divergent groups in the House of Representatives . New leadership is a god idea but Mitch McConnell should go as well.

How was this bonehead a good guy? His weakness let everyone down. Someone must have had some serious blackmail on this turd to get him to be such a lapdog to the administration.

[Berkshire]

I've noticed the Republican party has become a party of hate. People rally to hate.

Yeap, hate sure can win local elections. But hate can't govern. That's been the problem with the Republican party.

[losworld]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

[reptile91602]

Lewis Black Stand-Up Comedy: Politics, Economics, Limbaugh, Colbert, Letterman (2014)

Thaidream summed it up pretty well. If you watch Mr black here speak to the new media a while ago he spells it out pretty well. You might not like that he is a declared socialist but considering what has happened to america if you have any consideration for the middle class and poor you might find his talk helpful to sum up what america used to be like and never will be again.

[jasonsamui55]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Well said!

[Chicog]

calling one of the tea party-styled leaders and presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, a "jackass."

Well he got that right.

[Now or Never]

[Pinot]

Boehner has failed to advance the wingnutoshere's agenda. Obamacare has not been repealed. The far right of the party has been gaining strength challenging Boehner. He's been under huge pressure to shut down the government, holding it hostage till the far right gets what it wants, defunding Planned Parenthood (or whatever is on the crazy agenda this week).

I got to hand it to Boehner, he kept the barbarians from the gate for a long time. In the long run, this guy has done nothing for the betterment of America and I mean absolutely nothing.

The next leader will be worse. You just can't fix stupid.

This is the death knell for the Republican party. Watch the party disintegrate in the lead up to the election. Donald Trump, Ben Carson and the right wing lunatics are all just CRAZY.

I'm loving every minute of this train wreck in slow motion. "Som nom na" as we say in these parts.

[Chicog]

If he'd put the Bipartisan Immigration bill to a vote, Trump would probably have never gained traction.

[losworld]

12038549_958286040931117_2828501497092750336_n.jpg

To be honest both parties suck but what the data fails to tell is that in many cases democrat governments are more apt to run deficits so that prosperity is often just borrowed. Secondly some of the states are simply just poorer due to lack of industry, investment resources etc. At one time these states may have been quite well off. To take a statistic like yours and try to use it in an argument with any background reasons or proof just doesn't work.

Edited September 28, 2015 by losworld

[Now or Never]

Republicans wreck the economy, start wars and take away our rights.

[Publicus]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

In short, a shapshot in time, nothing more. A time the rightwingers found far more agreeable than the present going forward.

The tenuous and tentative among us who so easily suffer nostalgia need to release their death grip on the romanticised past. Push their face into water and ice cubes then walk confidently in to a new future of a new kind of greatness. Adapt or perish cause life and the world are constantly moving on to the next development. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

[metisdead]

Flame posts have been removed.

[Berkshire]

12038549_958286040931117_2828501497092750336_n.jpg

To be honest both parties suck but what the data fails to tell is that in many cases democrat governments are more apt to run deficits so that prosperity is often just borrowed. Secondly some of the states are simply just poorer due to lack of industry, investment resources etc. At one time these states may have been quite well off. To take a statistic like yours and try to use it in an argument with any background reasons or proof just doesn't work.

There are many who believe that historically, the US economy is better under Democrats. This guy for instance said..."It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans" and "...certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans."

You may know the guy. His name is Donald Trump.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/21/politics/donald-trump-election-democrat/

[sendintheclowns]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the h and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

In short, a shapshot in time, nothing more. A time the rightwingers found far more agreeable than the present going forward.

The tenuous and tentative among us who so easily suffer nostalgia need to release their death grip on the romanticised past. Push their face into water and ice cubes then walk confidently in to a new future of a new kind of greatness. Adapt or perish cause life and the world are constantly moving on to the next development. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

I may misread you - but that sounds like an awfully cold and lonely place to live I . The wealthiest people I have met tended, on average, to be takers and not givers. No compassion, that was a luxury they were just not willing to give. What I see for America is vast possibilities. Huge wells of charity and compassion, plus the extraordinary ability to create wealth, whilst at the same time creating jobs - which spreads the wealth 100- fold ( called the marginal propensity to spend). What has gone wrong is that the wealth has been taken,

(I) mostly by the military industrial complex having crumpet can a climate of domestic fear in order to justify mostly useless wars and

(Ii) by the robber barons of Wall Street.

Look only at the example of this ex- fund manager who bought the rights to a $1 drug and up the price to $500. What America needs is to introduce a system of corporate citizenship. A corporation breaks the law - you go to jail. Ban all lobbyists. For interests sake, read the Huffingtom Post article on Johnson & Johnson. THAT is one good example of how corporate America has lost its moral compass. Maybe it's not as simple as 'all you need is love'. Maybe it's more like, 'stop hate' . I too fear a world where Trump has his finger on the nuclear button.

[losworld]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

In short, a shapshot in time, nothing more. A time the rightwingers found far more agreeable than the present going forward.

The tenuous and tentative among us who so easily suffer nostalgia need to release their death grip on the romanticised past. Push their face into water and ice cubes then walk confidently in to a new future of a new kind of greatness. Adapt or perish cause life and the world are constantly moving on to the next development. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

That sounds like a stump speech. There is nothing romantic about low unemployment, balanced budgets, a strong manufacturing base, managed immigration, etc. If you actually look at it America has always been better off with tariffs. Yet the politicians and corporations have sold out America to allow China to displace American and European jobs with no care whatsoever to human rights or the environment or even dumping of products. Is this the future you are so eager to embrace?

[sendintheclowns]

555 that was meant to read "having created a domestic

climate of fear" . It would have been a lot cheaper if the military industrial complex has baked some crumpets.........

[Loptr]

This was Boehner's last hurray (cry) in front of the media, so of course he was going to throw the GOP under the bus... Boehner was about to lose his role as Speaker of the House through opposition in his own party due to his kowtowing to Democrats on every major issue for years... With this knowledge, he fell on his sword and is taking a last swipe at the party that gave him the power and lined his pockets... This is not the first time he was due to lose this role in the House, with the last time ending with him gaining enough Democratic votes to save his Speakership...

The GOP and their base has been incensed with the leadership of the GOP party in both the House and the Senate since the Nov 2014 mid-term elections, when GOP candidates ran on a platform of opposing Democratic initiatives... This platform handed the majority of both houses of Congress to the GOP... After the elections, both Boehner and McConnell have usurped those objectives and have bent over on every major issue proposed by the Democrats... The base is pissed and this is the result... A member of the GOP leadership has already called for McConnell to resign too...

Call them angry if you like, but I would be pissed too if I elected someone to Congress or the Senate, only to have them do the exact opposite of what they promised to do... But isn't that what all politicians do?

[stevenl]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

In short, a shapshot in time, nothing more. A time the rightwingers found far more agreeable than the present going forward.

The tenuous and tentative among us who so easily suffer nostalgia need to release their death grip on the romanticised past. Push their face into water and ice cubes then walk confidently in to a new future of a new kind of greatness. Adapt or perish cause life and the world are constantly moving on to the next development. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

That sounds like a stump speech. There is nothing romantic about low unemployment, balanced budgets, a strong manufacturing base, managed immigration, etc. If you actually look at it America has always been better off with tariffs. Yet the politicians and corporations have sold out America to allow China to displace American and European jobs with no care whatsoever to human rights or the environment or even dumping of products. Is this the future you are so eager to embrace?

Do I understand correctly here that the right is claiming free trade is not good?

[Publicus]

The United States was 'great' in the closing days of World War II when all Americans pulled together to defeat a World threat. President Roosevelt co-operated with the British; Australians and the Soviet Union to defeat a regime that was as racist and narcissistic as can be imagined. My father spent 4 years in the US Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific, while my mother worked 12 hours a day in an airplane factory. I am sure many Brits and other nations have similar .stories. American society was one in which neighbor helped neighbor and was like that into the 60's. What went wrong was a lessening of ethics; the schools stopped teaching ethics and morals and God was banned from the classroom. At the same time economic materialism became in vogue which has created a huge imbalance in wealth in the United States. Everyone in the family had to go to work to survive. Greed was viewed as being good and consumerism replaced a belief in a greater Power. At the same time huge amounts of money were being spent on the military and the military industrial complex gained great influence and power. Now we have so called politicians who have forgotten how America developed and why at one time America was a 'great place to live. I don't want to use the term great country because other countries are also great.

Then we had the tragedy of 9/11 and the resultant paranoia where Americans see terrorists behind every door. The government reaction was to open a concentration camp in Cuba and violate the rights of every American by passing the Patriot Act (a misnomer if I have heard one) and then use the NSA and CIA against its own citizens, all in the name of internal security.

The interloper Donald Trump uses the slogan-make America great again- what he really means is make business great again for he and his partners. He could care less about the middle class and poor in America. I could go on and on but the bottom line is that the dream my mother and father fought to save, is in grave danger and there appears no one out there that can save the dream.

Some of your points are good ones but you failed to include mass immigration and the subsequent movement away from the "melting pot" that made America great where everyone shared a common language and a common goal and upheld the constitution and laws of the nation.

In short, a shapshot in time, nothing more. A time the rightwingers found far more agreeable than the present going forward.

The tenuous and tentative among us who so easily suffer nostalgia need to release their death grip on the romanticised past. Push their face into water and ice cubes then walk confidently in to a new future of a new kind of greatness. Adapt or perish cause life and the world are constantly moving on to the next development. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

That sounds like a stump speech. There is nothing romantic about low unemployment, balanced budgets, a strong manufacturing base, managed immigration, etc. If you actually look at it America has always been better off with tariffs. Yet the politicians and corporations have sold out America to allow China to displace American and European jobs with no care whatsoever to human rights or the environment or even dumping of products. Is this the future you are so eager to embrace?

Tariffs sealed the Great Depression so there goes low unemployment, balanced budgets, a strong manufacturing base etc etc. Indeed, it has been pointed out at the thread that had the House passed the Senate approved immigration bill the country very well might be in a better shape right now.

And btw no one I know sees or wants the future the right keeps contriving in the dark recesses of its imaginings. The future the right congers up is not shared by the political center of the US which is where the vast majority of the voters reside. Which is also why the right is out there on the margins consistently losing out.

John Boehner is a dense dimwit but he did come from the American political center, so as the right celebrates chasing him out of office, and prepares to go after the centrist R leadership of the Senate, Americans continue to take notice of this extremist craziness.