Conservatism, It's Time to Shake It Off (Again)

Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo at 4:10 AM on March 6, 2009.

Apropos of Paul Krugman's latest post, here's a little gem from commenter El Cid in Krugman's comment section:

From a 1934 Time magazine article just after the Republicans had thoroughly lost in the 1934 elections after FDR’s takeover in 1932:

“”I should like to see the Republican Party reorganized. … I don’t think there is any room in this country for an old conservative party. . . . Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were liberal leaders. It doesn’t take long to shake off what you call conservatism. . . . There was a vast amount of reaction against the New Deal, but what were the people offered? . . . People can’t eat the Constitution.” [Idaho Republican Senator William Edgar Borah.]

— El Cid

And this time, the Republicans actually flushed the constitution down toilet before they imploded and the Democrats are actually trying to restore it (sort of), so they certainly don't have any crediblity to squeal about that.

If they keep up with this robotic, anachronistic mantra about tax cuts, socialism and class warfare, 2010 may very well end up being 1934 all over again.

Tagged as: republicans, gop, obama, conservatism, fdr, shake it off, grand old party

Digby is the proprietor of Hullabaloo.