Stewart/Colbert Crush Beck

Estimating yesterday's crowd size, Stephen Colbert said,"Six billion". spoofing the Beckites' claim of 1 million for their Restore Honor rally. Colbert returned to the scene of his first crime, testifying on immigration on the Hill. If Washington pundits legitimize the teabaggers, they absolutely, totally don't have a clue at what went on at yesterday's rally, which CBS estimates drew 250,000 but probably much more than that. Politics USA wrote yesterday that the John Stewart/ Colbert Show drew twice or as many as three times Glenn Beck's crowd. And from what I could observe it outdrew the One Nation rally.

The National Park Service offered the idea that the rally surpassed 300,000. From the capitol building to the Washington Monument is impressive. The two previous rallies around the Lincoln Memorial had to contend with the reflecting pool and it's clear from the photos that this was more massive.

When I expressed my doubts to my son that many people would show up, he said that friends of his were coming from Ohio for this. He said that all his fellow college students get their news from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. In fact, a whole generation turned in to see John Stewart's interview with Barack Obama before the rally. A fact that escaped everyone in Washington.D.C.

Depending on your age and taste, the rally had something for everyone. An aging baby-boomer wrote that seeing Tony Bennett made his day. For fans of the Captain and the L.A. Lakers, Stephen Colbert's attack of Muslims brought the reposte by John Stewart that all Muslims aren't bad. "How about this guy?" And on walks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The array of signs brought home the goof on the teabagger crowd--posters of Colbert as Hitler, a smiley face with a Hitler moustache, an aging hippie with a sign,"No Socialists Here", a Muslim woman with a sign,"I'm Muslim but I also fear terrorists", and a slew of takes on the idea of sane politics.

In the next few days, you will read more drivel about the rally than you can imagine. This morning's post had an op-ed ,which said that one can hope for civility but that doesn't mean one accepts the liberal politics of the DNC. We were assured that the intrepid reporter interviewed many at the rally who were liberals. Days before Washington pundits begged John Stewart to cancel the rally because these were serious times and the political decisions to be made were heavy. What was interesting is to see how narcissistic all the commentators were, trying to somehow outsmart John Stewart. Perhaps, one of the more honest comments was from Howard Kurtz who tweeted that he had no idea how all these people got here and what they were doing. Andy Borowitz upped the tweet by posting, "Fox News estimates crowd size at 7."

Remember Washington does not do irony, sarcasm or humor very well. Gloria Bolger at CNN sniffed,"Do these people even vote?" What people will avoid in the next few days is that the rally just destroyed the whole image of the Glenn Beck pretense of wrapping patriotism around a fundamentalist religious concept. The Beck follies were termed "historic" by Rush Limbaugh, Fox News and the other right-wing talk shows. They just got owned by two comedians, who did it all much better with wit.

Frank Rich's column today in the New York Times is about how the teabaggers are going to get owned by the Republican party. Rich reviews the actual strength of the teabaggers--about 2% of the population--and the findings of the Washington Post, which found that of the several thousand chapters the average take was $800. for this year's elections. He points out that the real Teabag operation,as well knew, was engineered by the Koch Brothers and Dick Armey. None of the Republicans who used the teabaggers have any intention of letting these people interfere with their agenda of tax cuts for the wealthy and the elimination of regulations demanded by their corporate masters. Rich remarks how repulsive Republicans like Mitch McConnell find Jim DeMint's demand the U.S. adopt biblical law. They were a good show that propelled the necessary media narrative that the Republicans were not the same people who crashed the economy and ran up $12 trillion in debt. To this degree, Republicans have been masterful in changing the storyline.

A Bloomberg poll reports that the vast majority of Americans really believe that Barack Obama raised their taxes, despite the real world fact that 90% of Americans really got a tax break. The majority also believe that it was Barack Obama that created the TARP program, not George W. Bush, and also believe that the program didn't pay back the money. The absolute confusion of the American voter on economic reality is staggering and ,unfortunately, will aid the Republicans.

The torrent of ads by Karl Rove and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce actually pedal the myth that Obama's policies are killing jobs, even though Obama has surpassed Rove's boss's record in job creation in only 20 months. The propaganda against the stimulus program has been astonishing and ,unfortunately, the administration has not kept up its educational effort on this front. A few months ago, they had launched a tour by Joe Biden and statistics by leading economists about the number of jobs saved and created, the millions of children who received health care, and the strengthening of state governments. All that has clearly not withstood the assault by the anonymous private and foreign donors.

Dana Milbank writes today about where are the adults in the Republican Party. Even right-winger Barry Goldwater said that essence of holding a post in Congress was compromise. The House Republicans have already ruled out any compromise with the Obama Administration. Even veteran Republicans like Judd Gregg said that repealing the healthreform bill was folly but he has been loudly shouted down. Mitch McConnell has clearly said that the whole purpose of Republicans in Congress was to make Barack Obama a one-term President. So much for the nation.

David Broder today pontificated how Barack Obama is clearly the brightest bulb in the political frimament and he stands heads of shoulders above any potential Republican candidates. This is actually an astonishing admission from Broder. But he warns that really nothing can be done about the economy since the markets move in their own time. He says that there will not be a strong enough recovery to propel Obama into a second term. But He says there is one way President Obama can recover--Go to War with Iran. Beam me up, Scottie.

Meanwhile in a new episode of Northern Exposure, the Republicans are jumping ship over Joe Miller and are now pouring resources into the Lisa Murkowski write-in campaign because America's Hero , Scott McAdams, stands a chance of winning. The Alaskan judges are trying to get on board by ruling that people can have assistance in filing out the write-in ballots. Apparently, Joe Miller has stepped into it big time. When he was a federal magistrate, he was obligated by law to list all his assets or face jail-time. It turns out that not only did he omit the 40 acres and a the two-story house he owned on his FEC filing , but also on the form he submitted when he was a judge. Big Problem.

In Nevada, it is wild and woolly. John Ralston writes in the Las Vegas Sun that virtually everything is running against Harry Reid this year. But he expects Harry to pull it out. He recites Harry's loss in the Senate race in the 1970s, his loss for mayor, and his slim margins of victory ever since. Ralston claims that Reid needs to keep Angle's lead among independents to single digit (something he is not doing right now) but that his ground game is outstanding this year and that he leads in the early voting.

In California, Barbara Boxer is performing just as she has done historically. Slow start, often behind, and gradually over the period of the campaign open enough of a lead to win. It's nice to know something is working normally this year.

Charles Cook yesterday wrote that Republicans have zero chance on taking the Senate this year. He has flipped some of his toss-up states over to the Democrats. He's now sayng that Republicans now might pick up between 6 to 8 seats in the Senate.

Not to be deterred Campaigner Barack Obama returned to the Midway Pleasance, where I used to live, and addressed over 30,000 people in Chicago. (I just love the name, which comes from the old Chicago World's Fair.) He was trying to whip up the crowd to vote for the Governor and the Senate. He had stopped in Philadelphia also but just for a meeting with organizers. And he should hit Ohio today.

The Republicans are banking on taking the governorship of Ohio so as to lay the groundwork for 2012. It looks like Karl Rove will have to return to the scene of his crime. He was served with court papers for a trial on rackeetering, which will look into his activities in the 2004 election and answer questions about his donors in this election. After all the attempts at a Citizens' Arrest by Move-On and other anti-war activist, it took the skill of an elections lawyer to nail him. Unfortunately, for the case, the key witness on fraud in 2004 was a Republican computer hacker, who died in a mysterious plane crash and the hard drive to his computer was never found.

President Obama has spent alot of political capital in Ohio for Governor Strickland. But what may destroy John Kasich is the issue of gun rights. The local NRA will not endorse Kasich because when in congress he received an "F" on gun rights. Ohio gunowners are coming out for Strickland, who they say is far better. This would be one of the few times that the gun issue actually bit a Republican. This may account for Strickland inching ahead in the late polls.

In Florida, Alex Sink , the Democrat, has moved out ahead of Rick Scott. From a simple law and order point of view, it's necessary for her to win.

NPR has been running alot of roundtables on what Washington will look like after the election. A good many of the commentators really do not get the fact that Republicans are serious about not cooperating at all with the Administration. In fact, people are commenting that at least Newt Gingrich learned to cooperate with Bill Clinton, but that there is no one even like Newt around now. One of the first showdowns will be when Congress must raise the debt ceiling of the country. The strong odds are that Republicans will oppose since they have become fiscal conservatives. This will shut the government down to just essential services. Social Security checks will not be paid, government and military pensions will not be paid, Medicare will not be paid and even the larger military budget will not be paid. The question will be how long can the Republicans keep the shutdown going.

Senator Tom Coburn wants Republicans to keep submitting bills to repeal the healthcare bill even though he has publically said they don't have a chance of passing. (P.S. Howard Dean is of the opinion that the healthcare bill can survive without the individual mandate, which conservatives are suing about. On this, Howard is pretty clever but I have no idea what he has in mind.)

The one area people seem to think may produce a solution is on the infrastructure. As of last week, President Obama raised in his weekly address that hope of bipartisan cooperation and specifically mentioned the need to improve our infrastructure so we can compete in the world. The six-year infrastructure program is expiring, which means that our Highway Fund is depleted. The Administration wants to raise the gas tax to fund this but John Boehner claims he has never voted for a tax increase and won't on this occasion. But his master Tom Donoghue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says he has all the information that this has to be done or else we will fall behind in global competition. People expect corporations will twist Boehner's arm. Rep. Mica, the lead Republican on this issue, voiced his opinion that infrastructure spending will be a top priority. Even the Chamber knows this will be a massive job creator and Donoghue has said openly that the economy desparately needs it. But it means spending money. So watch this play out.

What I would like to see is that in the lame duck session that the Republicans filibuster the tax proposals of President Obama for the tax cuts for the wealthy and that the White House doesn't compromise and all tax cuts expire. And President Obama use the White House bully pulpit to call out the Republicans and their masters. Quite frankly it would make fiscal sense. Since no one believes he cut taxes in the first place, why would they give the President credit with keeping middle-class tax cuts?

Remember to Get Out the Vote!

And So It Goes.

Kurt Vonnegut would not have been surprised but I am amazed. After the debacle of Joe Barton apologizing to BP for Obama's "shakedown" to create a $20 billion escrow account, the entire conservative blogosphere came to Barton's defense. Even after Tan Man Boehner threatened Barton with the loss of his committee seat, we see Newt Gingrich and other conservatives appear on Fox News and call Barton courageous. This is like the conservative support of the South Carolina congressmen who yelled "You Lie" at the State of the Union address. The Wall Street Journal warned that this fund set a precedent and wanted the government to pursue BP through legal means. And the capo di tutti, Rush Limbaugh called this "organized crime". Forget for a moment, that BP actually consulted the Republican leadership about this idea before they brought it up with Obama and the leadership approved. It's not like there is a wall between the corporate world and the Republican party.

The best defense of BP was Freedomworks' own Dick Armey, who said that the White House acted unconstitutionally in "forcing BP" to create the escrow account. This is rich coming from someone whose President enthusiasically embraced the doctrine of the unitary executive as the rationale for almost total power. Just days earlier Armey, head teabagger, told teabagger candidates to hide their affiliation because people think there are kooks. There is a rich irony here. Teabbaggers imitate American colonists who protested the East India Tea Company, while coming to the defense of British Petroleum. It's no mistake because Freedomworks enjoys the financial support of BP and Koch Industries, America's largest private oil company. Part of their work is to lobby for the lifting of all bans on offshore drilling.

(P.S. There were between 85-95 corporate agreements similar to the Escrow Fund during George W's administration. Remember Chevron agreeing to create a fund when they were caught violating the Iraq embargo? And the list goes on.)

The Baked Alaskan gave a full-throated defense of corporations claiming that support for corporations was the "American way". The absolute brazen support of corporations at this time is amazing. David Broder woke up from his coma long enough to suggest that while President Obama is mired in the Gulf crisis, he should look over his shoulder at the American corporations sitting on over $1 trillion that could be invested in the economy right now. What Broder didn't report is that Republican Senate leadership told the corporations to hold back until after the elections to move on this.

The Corporate Crime Reporter noted yesterday that EPA investigators have been trying to get BP prosecuted since 2005 because of safety violations, oil spills in Alaska and other problems but were stopped because BP provides 85% of the fuel for our military in Iraq.

So Washington pundits keep criticising Obama's Oval Office speech, saying the magic has worn off--probably for them. Darkness at Noonan called Obama a snake-bitten President.

I have to check myself with the flood of criticism from the right and the left and see whether any of this is really taking hold in the public. Remember the healthcare debate and all Americans opposed it except when the specific provisions of the bill were polled, which showed overwhelming support for them? The same is appearing now with Obama's proposals on the Gulf crisis.

Support for creating a fund of billions of dollars to compensate workers and businesses that have been affected. 82% Approve.
Support for increasing the amount of federal regulation of the oil industry. 68% approve
Support for changing the law so there is no limit to the amount of money BP can pay: 63% approve
Support for suspending all new drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore sites for six months. 58% approve
Support for filing criminal charges against BP. 53% approve

(CNN poll)
In addition over 70% support developing alternative sources of energy and nearly the same percent believe this will create more jobs.

If you notice,my posts this year have already surpassed the entire volume of last year. the reason is that I want to keep up the same rate as GOP Senate filibusters, which are now looking to top all of last year.

President Obama's Saturday morning address to the nation focused on Republican efforts--so far successful--in filibustering a new Jobs bill, that includes vital payments to state governments to save the jobs of teachers and law enforcement officers, extends unemployment benefits and also corrects the Medicare payments to doctors. Last year the Republican tactics were aimed at stalling the healthcare bill. This year it's flat out to kill aid to states and the unemployed. President Obama merely is asking for a vote on the bill. So far this has 57 votes. Nelson and Joe Lieberman (I-Knesset) are opposed.

I will return to the great deficit debate in a later post because this is where things will really get nasty. But for now I am absolutely astonished that Republicans can be so raw in acting against the public good. You really would have to look at the war against FDR in his first term to find such a precedent. I wish the opposition to Obama was all racially motivated. At least George Wallace was a populist racist. This is a total war by the wealthy and corporations to render us an undeveloped country. The final looting of the country.

I leave you with the true words that someone who voted four times for FDR and was "proud of it" said to me. President Ronald Reagan said to me," Remember large corporations are generally not very patriotic." You might recall this was when Pepsi and Archer-Midlands were actively trying to sabotage his policy toward the Soviet Union. The sentiment still stands.

I think I'll take the day off and read Michael Lux The Progressive Revolution: How The Best in America Came To Be (Wiley, 2009). Lux spends a great deal of his book on the progressive responses to corporate control of America.