Congressional Quarterly has posted their House and Senate ratings as of now. On the House side, Democrats are now at 219 and the Republicans are at 180 with 36 toss-ups. This falls back into my view that Republicans must sweep the 40 targeted Democrats--a really high goal.
The Senate--CQ has Democrats now at 48 and Republicans at 40 with 12 seats at toss-up. Yesterday I saw a CQ projection that Republicans would take the Senate with 50-49. But this would mean taking 10 out of 12 toss-ups.
The teabaggers are going for the gold in New Hampshire and Delaware. In New Hampshire,the Manchester Union-Leader has endorsed the teabagger.
The phony doctor's association which counts Rand Paul as a member has issued a statement that Barack Obama won the 2008 election by mass hypnosis. Jack Conway should raise this in the Kentucky Senate race.
The Tan Man said today that he would be open to Obama's tax plan for the middle class, and the possibility of foregoing the tax cuts for the wealthy. It's no coincidence that a raft of polls came out this week showing that close to a majority want those tax cuts to lapse, and another 15% want all tax cuts to lapse. This accounts for the Republican hesitation.
The progressive think tank NDN broke down the Tan Man's Economic Plan for House Republicans and concluded Boehner's plan would increase the national debt by $3.781 trillion. His dandy idea of going back to 2008 level spending on non-defense discretionary spending would only save $36 billion next year and nothing the following two years because Obama already declared a freeze on discretionary spending.
No one burned any copies of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics yesterday. There were Qurans burned by individuals at the 9/11 commemorations in New York and one lone wolf tore up pages from the Quran in front of the White House. I was thinking of burning Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy because Al Qaeda took its name from it right after it was published in Arabic and became a best-seller among young Muslims. If Dune had been published then, it would have become the name of Bin Laden's group and been more appropriate.
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's celebration of 9/11 with their boozefest was preceded by prayers from the "Christian" fringe pastors, one of whom said that Obama was too much of a coward to declare America a "Christian" nation. Maybe it really is because it's historically not true.
Islamophobia seems to be breaking out around the country and fueled by even the moderate Right. 9 years after the fact, this seems strange but remember the Republican leadership at the time of 9/11 was heavily tied to the Saudis and had to put a lid on any reaction. The Right always believed we are in a holy war against Islam and now they can become full-throated about it.
But one interesting fact remains-- the last Gallup poll shows that only 1% of Americans believe terrorism is the number 1 issue facing the country, compared to 46% right after 9/11. And now all these people exist in the burning remains of the neoconservative movement and among 2012 presidential aspirants who need the radical Christian Right to survive the primaries.
Speaking of which, Newt Gingrich speaking at a Values Summit meeting ,along with other presidential wannabes, flashed onto Dinesh D'Souza's strange comment in the National Review that Obama had the "Kenyan anti-colonial mentality". Newt said that was the most brilliant thing he had heard in six months. I distinctly remember that Kenya was a most reliable African ally in the Cold War and actually supported us out of principles, not bribes.
Dinesh's remarks reflect the rhetoric against Obama coming from London during the Presidential campaign. Ancient conservatives, who resented losing the colony, claimed that Obama's father was a terrorist. They linked him to the Mau-Maus. This got some traction in the states but then wiser heads prevailed knowing that Jomo Kenyatta, the head of the Mau-Maus, had been a long-time friend of the United States. So Newt is just recycling fourth-hand nonsense. Newt even said that Obama had learned Saul Alinsky's trick of disguising one's true self to deceive people into supporting your radicalism. That must account for Obama's sly endorsement of small businesses and corporate tax breaks.
If you actually want to read about Saul Alinsky, Nicholas Von Hoffman has a new memoir out recalling his lifelong friendship with Saul Alinsky and recording what Alinsky actually said about his work. Saul Alinsky's son must thank Glenn Beck everyday when Beck highlighted Rules for Radicals as the Bible of Barack Obama. All the teabaggers have to learn and use these principles so that old tired book is getting a second life and probably will sell more this time around.
Republican candidates are openly campaigning on closing down the Government if they win the House. That would have the sole benefit of them not passing anything. But think about that for a minute. The United States is in two wars, in the midst of a borderline Depression, and your political platform is to close down the Government. This is not a random statement but is emerging as a real idea among House candidates.
Forget about the external world but the immediate effects would be Social Security and Medicare payments would not be made, Veterans' benefits would cease, Unemployment iinsurance payments would stop. The last time this happened under the Clinton Administration there was a firestorm of reaction against the Republicans and their leader, Newton Leroy Gingrich.
Chris Van Hollen issued a statement on behalf of House Democrats on this subject, warning all voters what this would mean in practical details.
Elizabeth Warren has drawn over 250,000 supporters on petitions demanding Obama appoint her. Amen!
Governor Moonbeam has emerged with a new ad with Peter Coyote providing the narration. Meg Whitman had gambled that her spending $120 million by Labor Day would create a 10-15 point lead, which Brown could not erase by election day. Brown for his part didn't spend any money but now has started his campaign around California, challenging Whitman to appear with him at 15 townhall meetings. So far she's refused. The Race is basically tied so it's going to cost Whitman about another 75 million of her personal wealth.
Speaking of wealth, the Koch brothers are fighting back against the Jane Mayer expose in the New Yorker with their minions writing op-eds and letters to the editors. Even Howard Hughes maintaned his anonymity better than these guys. Should teabaggers really be named Koch suckers?
The war the Koch Brothers are waging against Barack Obama is reminiscent of their Dad going against Ike "the Kike". Dad helped create the John Birch Society, which encouraged the smears of General Marshall by Joe McCarthy. So it's interesting to recall that Ike passed the Federal Highways Act to create the interstate highway system. In today's dollars it would cost $179 billion. Barack Obama's infrastructure rehabilitation plan costs a paltry $50 billion. But to pay for it might require eliminating some of the oil industry's tax loopholes. Poetic justice for the Koch Brothers, the owners of the world's largest private oil company.
Instead of 9-11, I am heading to Halifax, Nova Scotia this week to visit the memorial to the 10,000 American prisoners of war that died at the hands of the British in the 1812 War. Lest we forget the Brits sent 300,000 white folk to America as slaves before the Revolutionary War. Interestingly, black slavery followed, only when the British companies realized it was more cost effective and profitable to use blacks, rather than whites. While this blog has had to defend Thomas Jefferson from the lies told about him by the Texas Schoolboard and David Barton, I have to admit Thomas Jefferson tried to paper over this aspect of our history and minimize the number of white folks who had actually been slaves or former criminals.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sunday in the Park with George
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