Maybe there was nothing that could be done, short of a world war, to end the Depression. But it’s pretty much clear that while FDR’s New Deal kept things from utter collapse, they were just stopgap measures.

However, I will concede that “alleviate the Depression” was incorrect. As you point out, that was the entire focus of FDR’s programs — to mitigate the effects of it. “End the Depression” would have been more accurate. I apologize for the poor word choice, and thank you for calling me on it.

J.

J.

That, folks was a MESS.

J.

And FDR’s programs did almost NOTHING to alleviate the Depression; that took World War II to fix.

I’ll echo Parthenon; pragmatism and “whatever works” is a sounder indicator of success than ideology.

J.

The magic hand of Barack Obama works its mysterious might on the market yet again.

This is why pragmatists make for good presidents. ‘Whatever works’ is the best attitude.

That was intentional.

McCain’s campaign flailed from one message to another. But, if they were to take inspiration from FDR’s words, they clearly missed a key point. Hence, I ellipsed.

You ellipsed the “admit it frankly.” That was crucial.

I think the most amusing thing I read today was John “Chicken Shit” Boehner’s op-ed at the WaPost:

“I wasn’t born a Republican. I grew up outside Cincinnati as one of 12 children. Our dad ran a bar. I became a Republican because I believe that if you work hard and believe in yourself, there is nothing you can’t achieve.”

Have Republicans taken to baptising their infants into the GOP faith? If not, how is one “born a Republican”? If Boehner means that his dad wasn’t a Republican, is he implying that the father who ran a bar and raised 12 children didn’t “believe that if you work hard and believe in yourself, there is nothing you can’t achieve”?

My father was and is a Republican, and I was too when I was young enough that following what Dad said without thinking for myself made sense. I would say the big shift in my politics came when I realized that many people’s situation in life was drastically different from my own and therefore required a different set of policies. (This ran the gamut from “Oh, yeah, I guess it would be good for women if having sex — wanted or unwanted — didn’t mean they were stuck having an unwanted baby” to “Oh, yeah, I guess if your parents don’t have money and a big focus on education, it would be good for you to have a better-funded public education.”) I love my dad, but sensitivity to people different from himself is not one of his virtues, so being a Republican makes sense for him.

Which explains the McCain campaign.

Almost?

There’s a reason why the Republicans chose the elephant as their symbol.

The poor donkey has to be hitched up to the manure cart to haul it all away. Luckily they are able to spread it around as fertilizer to grow things like the economy.

Except the elephants always come back to turn it all into shit again.