YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING

Rochester, N.Y.-- This is really getting absurd.  Are these people for real?  The Voice Reporter does have standards-- we usually don't attack anyone's person or identity, rather the ideas and policies that we may disagree with from day to day.  That is what we try to do. 

We hold those in power accountable and never let others define who we are.  We investigate newsworthy issues affecting working families and let you decide how to process it.  Facts should rule-- and spin cast aside.  Above all and regardless of emotion, we must remain civil and focus on the issues at hand to better understand the complex realities we face as local communities and as a nation. 

However, this is a new ball game in 2011.  This is new territory the Tea Partiers and extreme conservatives are dragging us into.  Facts don't matter much to the GOP-- but the Voice Reporter is listening.  And rightly so, we need to call things as we see them.  And, uncharacteristically, our gloves wil be coming off from time to time. 

Get a load of these recent comments by some top GOP characters:

*Texas Governor and GOP presidential frontrunner Rick Perry says Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” and “monstrous lie.”  What?

*Tea Party-backed presidential candidate and Iowa Straw Poll winner Michele Bachmann joked that God sent Hurricane Irene to warn against federal spending. Aren’t jokes supposed to be funny?  She really thinks natural disasters are a message from God.  Bachmann is the most unelectable candidate ever-- period, end of sentence.

*Congressional House Majority Leader Eric Cantor says disaster relief must be offset with other spending cuts.  Using people's despair and misery to score political points will not get you very far-- this guy is so out of touch it borders the ridiculous.

Republicans pander to the far right daily with ludicrous statements and attacks on President Obama while at the same time, the do-nothing GOP majority in the House has done absolutely ZERO to create jobs or help the stalled economy. 

Are these wacky statements designed to motivate Tea Party voters or just give fodder for the late night comedians?  Tea Party voters will not elect our next President.  These politicians are just clowns-- dancing in a political circus of one-up manship and making a mockery of the democratic process.

Comedians and the media loves this type of foolishness-- it's great for their bottom line and I don't see it slowing down anytime soon.  However, it devalues everything responsible citizens hope for-- serious leadership in times of unprecedented economic uncertainty and national insecurity.  Where are the adults in this conversation?  Let's get serious folks.  America's working families are hurting out there.