Day 4 of the Love Revolution

Rachel Maddow finally crossed the line--she questioned the competence of Gentleman John Boehner. Unfortunately, Rachel ran a list of all the miscues by the House since Boehner became Speaker. They only reinforced her conclusion. But Ezra Klein gamely tried to defend Boehner's manhood by saying he was having problems with his party.

But one little factoid Ms. Maddow raised should frighten people. The Republicans do not have a budget for this year--even the crazy one proposed two weeks ago. They have 400 amendments filed on the proposed budget and, according to Rachel Maddow, only 4 have passed. Given the work habits of ole' Swizzle Stick Boehner the odds are slim to none that a Republican budget will pass the House by March 4th, when the continuing resolution expires. Hence, the shutdown of the government is not a Republican threat as a grand strategy to extract more cuts from the Obama Administration, It is an almost certainty, a result of incomptence. A government shutdown because you didn't work hard enough to even pass a budget, however horrible, is going to make the public reaction against Gingrich's shutdown look tame.

Everyone and their grandmother is criticizing President Obama because he neglected to put into his budget entitlement reform. Remember his budget is for 2012, not this year. But he was wise to let the GOP define the issue because they have overplayed their hand repeatedly. Obama knows that the House Republican proposals will be so outlandish that they will provoke a backlash and President Obama enters to save the day.

Someone did an analysis this morning of the effect on social security of the current Republican budget proposals. Hundreds of thousands of people will not received their disability payments and other Social Security services because the GOP wants to cut the administrative budget of SSA by 20%. This is incomptence married to ideology. The House GOP is clueless.

One moment of great chutzpah by the GOP was their blast at Obama for proposing cuts for the pro-democracy programs. They cited the events in Egypt and the Middle East as evidence of the need for continued funding of these programs. Yet their proposed budget cuts all these programs out anyway. So where did they think these programs would come from?

Washington is eagerly awaiting Newt Gingrich announcement in two weeks whether he intends to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Check out the time-frame. It would occur when the GOP fumbles with the budget and closes down the Government. Great timing for Newton Leroy. Vin Weber, now associated with TPaw or Governor Polenta,says that Newt has alot of baggage and will need to explain the finances of his little Newt conglomerate. Seeing him at CPAC, I can't see Gingrich physically able to campaign much at a retail level. He has the white man bloat and looks like he suffers from the gout. In 2012, Gingrich will be 67. Do we want another tired old white man?

Meanwhile, Sarah Palin got great news. 51% of Republican primary voters are birthers. 40% of the entire party are evangelical or fundamentalist Christians. Among these people she has an 83% approval rating. But even with a new chief of staff people are wondering why she's not making the necessary booking arrangements for Iowa. Generally meeting places for the Iowa Caucus are rented about now.

Mike Huckabee, Huckabee of Judea, says he would make abortion the central campaign issue in a presidential campaign. But word from his Iowa people suggest Huckabee hasn't hinted to them that he is running. One sign he may not is that he has just taken a $1.2 million mortgage out on a new home in Florida. People have suggested he is just earning a living at Fox News for the first time in his life and may not run this year.

Early polling shows Mitt Romney walking away with New Hampshire ad eeking out primary victories in the West. Interestingly, the Mormon issue still remains. Americans are more likely to vote for a black, a woman or a Jewish candidate than a Mormon for President. Running for President since 2005,Romney has become a familiar face by now but even 20% of the GOP are hesitant to vote for a Mormon.

Could someone tell people to knock it off about Planned Parenthood? I never thought of my sister as Emma Goldman for her work with Planned Parenthood. But now the right is ginning up a campaign like they did against ACORN. Planned Parenthood spends about 3-6% of their budget on abortion services, another 30% on contraception, and the rest of women's health issues in general. In many places,Planned Parenthood is the only available resource for women. This is especially true here in Virginia in rural places. But now Christianist congressman Steve King calls it a " criminal enterprise" and now Glenn Beck has embraced it as part of the on-going progressive plot against the United States. This is because of a James O'Keefe type Breibart fake journalist sting, which Planned Parenthood reported to the FBI.

The Dailkos and other progressive organizations are trying to recuit America's Sweetheart Elizabeth Warren to run for the Senate in Massachusetts against Scott Brown. I thought Rachel Maddow was already doing that. I want to see Elizabeth warren slugging it out with the GOP on the Consumer Protection Agency.

Oh, and it was the George W. State Department and MTV behind the Egyptian Revolution. So saith Glenn Beck.

Does anyone get the impression that the Right simply wants to create chaos, uncertainty and disorder so that the American people will be conditioned to accept order and discipline. That nothing they do has anything to solving a single problem but exacerbating them.

It is year 5 and Clarence Thomas is still silent.