2016 is quickly approaching…….it is never too early to speculate on what the GOP will be doing for that election….Hell the MSM does it daily…..so why not IST?

There has been lots of talk of what will be most important to the GOP…..will it try to reach out to women….or Hispanics or even African-Americans?  My guess is no to all those……what they will focus on will be something trivial that they can use for mileage and slogans……….

Juan Cole has stated what he thinks will be their emphasis……..

1.  With a few noble exceptions like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Republican Party spokesmen, Republican politicians, and Republican media like Fox Cable News, defended torture.  This defense was mounted from so many directions by so many Republicans that it now seems indisputable that the party stands for the principle of rectal hydration.  Since torture is illegal in American law, presumably they want to repeal the 5th and 8th amendments to the constitution.

2.  The Republican Party stands for the principle that elections should be stolen by the rich who pay the most for them.  The new bill multiplies permitted donations by a factor of ten.

3.  The GOP wants the US taxpayer to be made to bail out risky, casino-like “derivatives.”  After the 2008 crash, caused by some corrupt Wall Street financiers stealing our money, Congress had removed FDIC protection from the riskier derivatives.  The GOP, plotting in smoke filled rooms far from the light,  just put the taxpayer right back in the sights the next time the bankers need a bailout.  The provision was actually written by CitiBank, which won’t get my business.  They think, much better to gamble with the taxpayers’ money; they would, but why would GOP lawmakers agree to be their ventriloquist’s dummy?

4.  The bill blocks aid to the Palestine authority if it becomes a member of UN agencies without Israeli permission.  Palestine has been recognized as a non-member observer state at the UN, and is gradually joining key committees.  It likely will sign the Rome Statute, join the International Criminal Court, and sue Israel for war crimes.  But in the fantasyland of Congress, none of this may be allowed to happen.  The PA has other sources of money than the US, and all this provision does is further weaken the ability of the US to do effective diplomacy.

5.  This fall, most Republicans ran on putting troops back into Iraq and getting even more deeply involved in the Syrian civil war than the US already is.  This is a plank in their platform that leads to sanguinary wars.

Cole is a pretty sharp individual…..so what do you think the GOP will be thumping their chest over for 2016?