Yes, the numbers are in and it's overwhelming. Between 75-80% of Americans believe to solve any problems with Social Security we simply raise the FICA cap and few believe we should cut benefits. These numbers exist for every age group. Even 67% of teabaggers are for raising the FICA cap. It is rare for any polling on a policy matters to yield such an overwhelming consensus.
Last year I wrote about the mythical problems with Social Security. I suggested raising the cap and the result would be to ensure Social Security through the year 2175 and beyond. We could even give people a raise. Even if we do nothing , Social Security will pay out full benefits through 2037 and then the cut would be to 90% for a decade and then to 80%. It's not as if Social Security vanishes.
Cynically, I know why Americans support this. Only a few percent of Americans now earn more than the cap of $106,000. So the solution is painless for the nation.
That's why you are not going to hear a peep from President Obama on this issue. There really is not a problem and he can actually kick the can down the road until a second term. Progressives started to howl that President Obama was going to put Social Security on the table for negotiations with the Republicans. Yesterday, the White House denied that and denied President Obama would support raising the retirement age.
Meanwhile Paul Ryan will be answering the President's speech tonight. But Ryan can not speak openly about his plans to privatize Social Security and turn Medicare into a voucher system. Another thing Paul won't talk about is his plan to raise taxes for those earning $20,000 to $200,000 and severely cutting taxes for the rich. Coporate taxes also would be eliminated and instead Ryan wants to create a consumption tax, which will hurt the poor and the middle class. You will not hear any of that tonight.
President Obama takes the podium tonight with a 56% approval rating in the latest CNN/ Opinion Research poll and a 46% approval rating among independents, about a ten point leap since the election. He also has a 57% approval rating among investors for his economic policies.
Finally, the White House is beginning to wake up to their communications problem. They have been ushering in Democratic talking heads and political types to discuss the content of tonight's speech so that the media will not be dominated by Republican talking heads like the last two years. The flashy addition will be the Enhanced capability to the White House's live feed of the speech. We are promised all those nifty graphs and blackboard drawings about the stimulus and economic growth. Whether this can overcome the GOP noise machine is still problematic.
At tonight's State of the Union, we will be missing several Supreme Court Justices because they felt dissed last year when President Obama criticized their Citizens United decision that gave total power in the United States to corporations. Some say the three most likely AWOLs will be Chuckles Thomas, Fat Tony Scalia and Judge Alito. It would be seen as too tacky if the Chief Justice Roberts didn't show.
The question is whether we will see the "most dangerous person in America" or the person Glenn Beck believes is the "most powerful man in America"--Cass Sunstein,the University of Chicago professor who now is in charge of evaluating business regulations for President Obama. Actually I am comforted to think Cass really is the most powerful man in America.
Which brings me to Glenn Beck's jihad against elderly CUNY professor Frances Fox Piven, who is "sowing the seeds of revolt." Apparently, Glenn Beck believes that there are nine people, which he calls the "The Intelligent Minority" who control America. Now some of these people are dead but their influence lingers on. They are Edward Bernays, the father of modern advertising, Sigmund Freud, George Soros, Andy Stern, Walter Lippman, Frances Fox Piven, former Governor Rendell, and Richard Trumpka, the head of the AFL-CIO. I'm dsappointed he left out the boogey-man of the Right, Saul Alinsky. Of his list, only Richard Trumpka is not Jewish. I guess Dick is the red herring because Alinsky would have made it totally too obvious. Perhaps, this is being snarky but the only "Christian" group allowed to proselytize in Nazi German were the Mormons. Is Beck anti-semitic much?
It's better to keep your ethnic smears more oblique so you can plot a political comeback. In this state of the "Cooch", George Allen, "Mr. Macaca", is plotting his return to the Senate and has thrown his helmut into the ring in a race against Webb.
Rahm Emmanuel has been thrown off the ballot for mayor of Chicago. No one knows what this means and Rahm vows he will triumph. If he somehow becomes mayor, how will he deal with Abu Dubai, which owns all of Chicago's parking meters? This was another great move by Mayor Daley who sold them to the country's Sovereign Fund.
I want to know where Halliburton will move its headquarters once Dubai sinks, which it is doing. I like how the U.S. Chamber now refers to companies like Halliburton as "our American foreign companies".
The military still can not find any connection between Private Manning, who is being kept in solitary at Quantico, and Julien Assange and Wikileaks. Manning is being without any charge.
Later we will explore what the Jasmine revolution and the Wikileaks publishing of the cables on the Middle East Peace Talks means or does not.
One of the most interesting sidelights of tonight's speech will be the rebuttal by teabagger Michelle Bachmann. I think I've misunderstood the teabaggers. A Michelle Bachmann should be viewed as Cindy Sherman gone bad. This is performance art. Just like Sarah Palin is the reality television candidate. The teabaggers are avant-garde. Tacky, true. But the Koch Brothers are self-proclaimed anarchists and big bankrollers of the arts. They know the history of vanguard art movements. Here they got a chance to buy one for their own. And imagine the laughs at the Koch household having a political movement named after a gay sexual practice. It's so DADA.
And save the TA-TAs.
Showing posts with label Dana Milbank on Glenn Beck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dana Milbank on Glenn Beck. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Love Is In The Air
In this new age of civility and reconciliation, it's nice to see the American Spectator write that Obama hit a home-run with his speech. Even Glenn Beck said it was the best speech President Obama has ever done. He even chided Sarah Palin to get over her P.R. problems and help work with Beck to prevent another Tucson. No Comment.
And No Comment it was for the White House on Sarah Palin's "blood libel" speech, which even made it into Wikipedia as part of the description of the term.
But conservatives can't go all the way in their praise for President Obama. Beck said the speech came "about a week too late" (given the fact the assassinations were on Saturday--this makes it hard.) Erick Ericson of Redstate and CNN commentator called on President Obama to repent of his association with Bill Ayers and claimed he encouraged people to kill Sarah Palin. Andrew Breibart also blamed President Obama for the "death threats" aimed at Sarah Palin and claimed that Obama's silence for four days "says everything".
Except he wasn't silent for four days. He made an initial statement asking the nation to pray for everyone shot and wounded. Then he held the One Minute of Silence. All the time he was on the phone to all the families, all the first responders, all the government officials of Arizona and the FBI.
Conservatives are complaining about the T-shirts "Together We Thrive--Tucson and America", which were given out free at the service, saying Obama was using the event for a political rally. Others said the President lied about Gaby Giffords opening her eyes, which the doctors did verify.
Paul Mirengoff of Power Line is angry because the service was not "christian" or "American" enough. Basically, he's pissed that Carlos Gonzalez recited his own geneaology in the opening prayer and mentioned the genocide of Indians.
John Hayward in Human Events claimed the speech was "mostly excellent" but claimed Obama put on a political rally to portray himself as a centrist for 2012, while he is really a "hard-core liberal." Hayward criticized Obama for supporting Sheriif Dupnik's call for tolerance. Since President Obama had called Dupnik to praise him on the job he was doing,Hayward says that Obama didn't tell the Sheriff to "lay off his wacko theories about Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin inspiring Loughner to commit murder."
World Nut Daily claimed that Jared Loughner was influenced by schoolteachers who were trained using Bill Ayers' books.
One of the DeMoss family, an evangelical Republican, and Lanny Davis, a Democrat had to cancel their Civility Project because of hostility of conservative members of Congress. As of last count, only three of the 538 members signed on. One being Frank Wolf,Republican from Virginia, who told WAMU he thought it was a great idea and that there was nothing controversial about the principles involved in the project.
CNN asked "Do you ever think it is ever justified for citizesn to take violent action against the government, or is it never justified?"
76% of Americans said never; 16% found it acceptable.
But the party breakdown is interesting:
Democrats: 81% never; 11% acceptable
Independents: 81% never; 11% acceptable.
Repubicans: 64% never; 28% acceptable.
It seems one major political party has a significant problem to handle.
Another poll was out today saying that President Obama was a better President than George W by a 46-30% margin, the largest since the poll question was first asked. Also, Americans believe the country is better off with President Obama as President than John McCain by a 43%-32% margin.
Huffingtonpost thinks Russ Limbaugh might want to reconsider his Tucson billboard--RUSH LIMBAUGH--Straight Shooter--complete with huge bullet hole graphics.
David Frum is trying to enter the debate by arguing that pot caused Loughner to murder. I guess David hasn't watched any Cheech and Chong movies. And, by the way, Cheech claims Sarah Palin has the best stash in town.
Louis "Terror Babies" Gohlmert of Texas is introdicing a bill that congresspeople can bring guns on to the floor of the U.S. Congress. The Texas legislature already has such a bill and an express lane for those bringing guns into the Capitol.
Dan Burton-Repubican from Indiana-has revived his twenty-year old idea to encase the Capitol in plexiglass. I never knew where he came up with this idea originally. He resurrectedit again after 9/11.
The head of the Tucson Tea Party says that the shooting is Gabrielle Guffords own fault for not having security.
Trent Franks, Republican from Arizona who has said that President Obama is committing crimes against humanity, said he wished there had been one extra gun at Giffords greet and meet. I have no idea what that means.
Don't expect to hear Love Train tomorrow.
And No Comment it was for the White House on Sarah Palin's "blood libel" speech, which even made it into Wikipedia as part of the description of the term.
But conservatives can't go all the way in their praise for President Obama. Beck said the speech came "about a week too late" (given the fact the assassinations were on Saturday--this makes it hard.) Erick Ericson of Redstate and CNN commentator called on President Obama to repent of his association with Bill Ayers and claimed he encouraged people to kill Sarah Palin. Andrew Breibart also blamed President Obama for the "death threats" aimed at Sarah Palin and claimed that Obama's silence for four days "says everything".
Except he wasn't silent for four days. He made an initial statement asking the nation to pray for everyone shot and wounded. Then he held the One Minute of Silence. All the time he was on the phone to all the families, all the first responders, all the government officials of Arizona and the FBI.
Conservatives are complaining about the T-shirts "Together We Thrive--Tucson and America", which were given out free at the service, saying Obama was using the event for a political rally. Others said the President lied about Gaby Giffords opening her eyes, which the doctors did verify.
Paul Mirengoff of Power Line is angry because the service was not "christian" or "American" enough. Basically, he's pissed that Carlos Gonzalez recited his own geneaology in the opening prayer and mentioned the genocide of Indians.
John Hayward in Human Events claimed the speech was "mostly excellent" but claimed Obama put on a political rally to portray himself as a centrist for 2012, while he is really a "hard-core liberal." Hayward criticized Obama for supporting Sheriif Dupnik's call for tolerance. Since President Obama had called Dupnik to praise him on the job he was doing,Hayward says that Obama didn't tell the Sheriff to "lay off his wacko theories about Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin inspiring Loughner to commit murder."
World Nut Daily claimed that Jared Loughner was influenced by schoolteachers who were trained using Bill Ayers' books.
One of the DeMoss family, an evangelical Republican, and Lanny Davis, a Democrat had to cancel their Civility Project because of hostility of conservative members of Congress. As of last count, only three of the 538 members signed on. One being Frank Wolf,Republican from Virginia, who told WAMU he thought it was a great idea and that there was nothing controversial about the principles involved in the project.
CNN asked "Do you ever think it is ever justified for citizesn to take violent action against the government, or is it never justified?"
76% of Americans said never; 16% found it acceptable.
But the party breakdown is interesting:
Democrats: 81% never; 11% acceptable
Independents: 81% never; 11% acceptable.
Repubicans: 64% never; 28% acceptable.
It seems one major political party has a significant problem to handle.
Another poll was out today saying that President Obama was a better President than George W by a 46-30% margin, the largest since the poll question was first asked. Also, Americans believe the country is better off with President Obama as President than John McCain by a 43%-32% margin.
Huffingtonpost thinks Russ Limbaugh might want to reconsider his Tucson billboard--RUSH LIMBAUGH--Straight Shooter--complete with huge bullet hole graphics.
David Frum is trying to enter the debate by arguing that pot caused Loughner to murder. I guess David hasn't watched any Cheech and Chong movies. And, by the way, Cheech claims Sarah Palin has the best stash in town.
Louis "Terror Babies" Gohlmert of Texas is introdicing a bill that congresspeople can bring guns on to the floor of the U.S. Congress. The Texas legislature already has such a bill and an express lane for those bringing guns into the Capitol.
Dan Burton-Repubican from Indiana-has revived his twenty-year old idea to encase the Capitol in plexiglass. I never knew where he came up with this idea originally. He resurrectedit again after 9/11.
The head of the Tucson Tea Party says that the shooting is Gabrielle Guffords own fault for not having security.
Trent Franks, Republican from Arizona who has said that President Obama is committing crimes against humanity, said he wished there had been one extra gun at Giffords greet and meet. I have no idea what that means.
Don't expect to hear Love Train tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Deatheaters Swarm D.C.
With President Obama plunging to 50% in the polls and Congress soaring to 8%, the table is being set for the entrance of the most extreme right House in our history. The previous Republican House member had a 92% Conservative Union rating, now you must exceed 95% of be considered a RINO (Republican In Name Only). This past week teabaggers made it clear that former Virginia Governor and Senator George Allen was not fit to run because he was "too moderate" at a 92% rating.
Flying back from Hawaii, President Obama displayed his remarkable cool in telling a pesky news corps that Republicans will be playing to their base for the next couple months before they settle down and actually get serious. It's a good lesson to everyone who is panicking to try and maintain some calm as the insanity hits the fan.
The Signpost Up Ahead says you are about to enter "The Twilight Zone". Just a sample of the attitudes of congresscritters awaiting the President. 53% of all Republicans believe there is no evidence the earth is warming. Over 70% of the tea party believe this. Of the 38% who still believe in global warming, only 16% believe humans have anything to do with it. In 2007 (you read that right), over 62% of Republicans said that solid evidence existed for global warming. In today's GOP, over 50% are creationists and do not believe in the science of evolution.
FYI-- Believe or not the idea of Cap and Trade was originally a Republican idea as was regulating carbon emissions. This coming House wants to neutralize the EPA's efforts to regulate carbom emissions.
The new non-rationality will be on full display this week. Incoming freshmen will be lectured about the Constitution by Fat Tony Scalia. Tony just said that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee that women have any constitutional rights against discrimination. The American Taliban will be proud. Tomorrow the House will read the full constitution, if John Boehner doesn't confuse it with the Declaration of Independence. I think it will come as a shock because it won't be the Articles of Confederation.
Just an aside--Don't you find it odd the America's leading guru on Constitutional Originalism is a member of the Catholic secret society "Opus Dei"? Do you think maybe this clouds Scalia's thinking?
If we're lucky this year, the Christian fundamentalists will turn out to be right--that the world is going to end on May 21,2011. The sad thing is that there is virtually no biblical basis for rapture--either the word or concept. All these folks will be left all alone.
Remember how Republicans spent the last two years complaining about the thousands of pages of laws the Democrats passed. They've gone to the Ernest Hemingway School of Legal Drafting. On the 12th, they will introduce two, 2-page bills to repeal all of healthcare. See if you run on dismantling all of government, you don't need alot of words.
What is fantastic about this move--not only it's direct slap at the President before his State of the Union Address--is how the new Republicans suspended all rules about accounting for the repeal's cost. According to the CBO, which was used as a hammer against the Democrats for the last two years,repeal would add $143 billion to the deficit through 2019 and over a $1 trillion during the life of the bill. The Republican leadership waived any mention of the cost.
In future discussions of any bills, they have moved to accept figures from other sources than the CBO. So be prepared to hear the authoritative numbers from the Heritage Foundation and the Petroleum Institute in the future.
The Democrats, who are more liberal now than before with the defeat of all the Blue Dogs, will be introducing amendments to the bill trying to put Republicans on record as against the most popular aspects of the reform--like insuring adult children on a parent's account until 26 , eliminating exclusion of prior conditions, and eliminating the lifetime caps for coverage. The Democrats failed the first time around to focus on these aspects of the bill and instead opposition was really based on the sausage-making process of the legislation.
Democrats are being a little smug because this repeal will not pass the Senate or the president's desk. But the Republicans want to establish the optics that government is crooked and can not work to solve problems. They do not care about governing but campaigning. There is no intention to have any Republicans do any heavy lifting. They just don't care. They are not that into you--sorry.
The new House will zero in on the money being spent to enforce the Food Safety Bill, which the last time I looked passed the Senate with 75 votes. The first reform of our food safety system since the Great Depression was thought to be way overdue.
Darrell ("Grand Theft Auto") Issa hit all the talk shows about how President Obama is the most corrupt President in history. Wow, that was quick--less than two years and he made another record. Issa, who has a record of stealing cars during his wayward youth, plans to investigate the $1 trillion "walking around money" Obama received with the TARP funds, which he forgot was passed during George W. Bush, something that ignited the Tea Party Movement. He has to keep the false narrative alive. Watch for more racial dogwhistles this year--"walking around money" being one of them.
Unfortunately,by the time Issa starts on TARP all the money will have been paid back to the Treasury. But, never fear, Issa wants to examine the vast $1 trillion waste of the stimulus package. Only it was about $800 billion--over half of it was the largest middle class tax break in history. And the Administration has a website where you can follow the stimulus money. Undoubtedly, there will be a couple of wasteful projects, which will be highlighted 24/7 on Fox News. Issa claims the stimulus did not create or save any jobs. He says that an example of waste was that it took $175,000 to create a teacher's job. So Obama's great act of corruption so far is hiring teachers--who are target number 2 this year.
Issa wants to investigate why Eric Holder ("Black man") hasn't arrested Julien Assange yet as a terrorist. What's fascinating to me is to see the conservative movement drop all pretense of law. Maybe Julien Assange hasn't been arrested yet because no one can figure out what law he broke.
Issa also wants to investigate waste in Afghanistan. One should welcome this and urge him to broaden his investigation into the years of waste in Iraq. Issa claims he wants to examine the Inspector Generals of the executive branch and claims he can save $250 billion a year in fraud alone. All he has to do is look across the Potomac at the Pentagon and he'll make his quota. But that's not going to happen.
Issa also invited all the corporate lobbyists in to list all the regulations they want eliminated. This includes the pharma companies, banks, oil and gas and banks.
The Republicans are not playing anymore. Instead of political operatives,the House leadership is hiring corporate lobbyists with financial experience as chief aides. They have also saddled the new Tea Party members with chiefs of staff who were prominent lobbyists on "K" street.
Corporate romancing is also being done at the Presidential level. President Obama is thinking of hiring MorganStanley's Vice President William Daley as his chief of staff. Before the congressional recess, President Obama met with leading CEO to try and persuade them to invest some of their $1.75 trillion in creating jobs in America. The counter offer seems to be American corporations aiming for a tax holiday for the additional $1.5 trillion in profits that they have squirreled away in tax havens.
As our corporations experience a V-shaped recovery, compared to the L-shaped recvery for the rest of us,I've noticed a new corporate refrain. We hear about "our international corporations" such as Dubai-based Halliburton and other American firms who have relocated overseas. The CEO of Chevron had the chutzpah the other day to talk about a $5 gallon of gas this year because "The Obama Administration is not fulfilling America's role to increase the global supply of oil." He was referring to the Obama Administration's ban on offshore drilling in light of the BP disaster. In other words, Drill Baby, Drill is now being couched as American doing its part for the well-being of planet earth. Quite clever, really.
Rep. Steve King, christianist from Iowa, has been made the chairman of the Immigration Committee. This is too rich since King only likes white people. King has been chatting up the possibility of investigating the payments to black farmers as "reparations", the New Panther Party, and ACORN's role in electing President Obama. Here he seems to crossing wires with other Republicans, who share his concerns and want to grill Eric Holder on these and why he's not enforcing the Voting Act for white people. I'm not making this up.
The other Rep. King from New York wants to grill Eric Holder on his trials of terrorists and why Holder is lax on terrorism or whatever crimes the attorney-general is committing.
I suggest the new House Republicans get Dan Burton back shooting at watermelons so he can prove Barack Hussein Obama really did kill Vin Foster.
Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institute scholar and black libertarian, shows how depraved people on the right--particularly once respected thinkers--have become in their thinking and writing. He claims President Obama hates America, taking his cues from Distort D'Newsa, and says that President Obama wants Sasha and Malia to grow up under Sharia Law. We are talking here about a man who has had many moments of insights and a prolific publishing career. Thomas Sowell used to be considered a nerd and a grind. Now he sounds like Glenn Beck.
Meanwhile I agree with Glenn Beck. America can not survive if it doesn't make fundamental changes. And the Pentagon budget should be cut in half. He is hyping his shows for the year, which indicate to me that he has had many GOP operatives writing his talking points to set the rhetorical tone for this year's attack on the President, his family and the rest of America. Apparently,Beck is having ratings problems with his radio show and now has been dropped from the New York market.
If you haven't see Elia Kazan "Face in the Crowd" with Andy Griffith as Lonesome Roads, make a New Year's Resolution to see it. The suggestion by Keith Olbermann that Beck is Lonesome is probably Keith's greatest contribution to our political understanding in many a year.
Elizabeth Warren is chugging along with the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency and has enlisted the help of Mrs. Petraeus, wife of General,to work on behalf of the military people who get ripped off by scam artists and car salesmen. The House is slated to go after the Consumer Protection Agency too. I perverse want to see them pull a Joe McCarthy on Elizabeth Warren, America's sweetheart. The contrast of thuggish men grilling her at a Congressional Hearing would sink the Republicans.
By the way has any one seen the hair coloring of Republicans lately. Jim DeMint has become a red-head, Darryl Issa has adopted the dark black Reagan look and then , of course Lindsey Graham wears too much make-up. But something has happened since eletion in the cosmetics department.
Flying back from Hawaii, President Obama displayed his remarkable cool in telling a pesky news corps that Republicans will be playing to their base for the next couple months before they settle down and actually get serious. It's a good lesson to everyone who is panicking to try and maintain some calm as the insanity hits the fan.
The Signpost Up Ahead says you are about to enter "The Twilight Zone". Just a sample of the attitudes of congresscritters awaiting the President. 53% of all Republicans believe there is no evidence the earth is warming. Over 70% of the tea party believe this. Of the 38% who still believe in global warming, only 16% believe humans have anything to do with it. In 2007 (you read that right), over 62% of Republicans said that solid evidence existed for global warming. In today's GOP, over 50% are creationists and do not believe in the science of evolution.
FYI-- Believe or not the idea of Cap and Trade was originally a Republican idea as was regulating carbon emissions. This coming House wants to neutralize the EPA's efforts to regulate carbom emissions.
The new non-rationality will be on full display this week. Incoming freshmen will be lectured about the Constitution by Fat Tony Scalia. Tony just said that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee that women have any constitutional rights against discrimination. The American Taliban will be proud. Tomorrow the House will read the full constitution, if John Boehner doesn't confuse it with the Declaration of Independence. I think it will come as a shock because it won't be the Articles of Confederation.
Just an aside--Don't you find it odd the America's leading guru on Constitutional Originalism is a member of the Catholic secret society "Opus Dei"? Do you think maybe this clouds Scalia's thinking?
If we're lucky this year, the Christian fundamentalists will turn out to be right--that the world is going to end on May 21,2011. The sad thing is that there is virtually no biblical basis for rapture--either the word or concept. All these folks will be left all alone.
Remember how Republicans spent the last two years complaining about the thousands of pages of laws the Democrats passed. They've gone to the Ernest Hemingway School of Legal Drafting. On the 12th, they will introduce two, 2-page bills to repeal all of healthcare. See if you run on dismantling all of government, you don't need alot of words.
What is fantastic about this move--not only it's direct slap at the President before his State of the Union Address--is how the new Republicans suspended all rules about accounting for the repeal's cost. According to the CBO, which was used as a hammer against the Democrats for the last two years,repeal would add $143 billion to the deficit through 2019 and over a $1 trillion during the life of the bill. The Republican leadership waived any mention of the cost.
In future discussions of any bills, they have moved to accept figures from other sources than the CBO. So be prepared to hear the authoritative numbers from the Heritage Foundation and the Petroleum Institute in the future.
The Democrats, who are more liberal now than before with the defeat of all the Blue Dogs, will be introducing amendments to the bill trying to put Republicans on record as against the most popular aspects of the reform--like insuring adult children on a parent's account until 26 , eliminating exclusion of prior conditions, and eliminating the lifetime caps for coverage. The Democrats failed the first time around to focus on these aspects of the bill and instead opposition was really based on the sausage-making process of the legislation.
Democrats are being a little smug because this repeal will not pass the Senate or the president's desk. But the Republicans want to establish the optics that government is crooked and can not work to solve problems. They do not care about governing but campaigning. There is no intention to have any Republicans do any heavy lifting. They just don't care. They are not that into you--sorry.
The new House will zero in on the money being spent to enforce the Food Safety Bill, which the last time I looked passed the Senate with 75 votes. The first reform of our food safety system since the Great Depression was thought to be way overdue.
Darrell ("Grand Theft Auto") Issa hit all the talk shows about how President Obama is the most corrupt President in history. Wow, that was quick--less than two years and he made another record. Issa, who has a record of stealing cars during his wayward youth, plans to investigate the $1 trillion "walking around money" Obama received with the TARP funds, which he forgot was passed during George W. Bush, something that ignited the Tea Party Movement. He has to keep the false narrative alive. Watch for more racial dogwhistles this year--"walking around money" being one of them.
Unfortunately,by the time Issa starts on TARP all the money will have been paid back to the Treasury. But, never fear, Issa wants to examine the vast $1 trillion waste of the stimulus package. Only it was about $800 billion--over half of it was the largest middle class tax break in history. And the Administration has a website where you can follow the stimulus money. Undoubtedly, there will be a couple of wasteful projects, which will be highlighted 24/7 on Fox News. Issa claims the stimulus did not create or save any jobs. He says that an example of waste was that it took $175,000 to create a teacher's job. So Obama's great act of corruption so far is hiring teachers--who are target number 2 this year.
Issa wants to investigate why Eric Holder ("Black man") hasn't arrested Julien Assange yet as a terrorist. What's fascinating to me is to see the conservative movement drop all pretense of law. Maybe Julien Assange hasn't been arrested yet because no one can figure out what law he broke.
Issa also wants to investigate waste in Afghanistan. One should welcome this and urge him to broaden his investigation into the years of waste in Iraq. Issa claims he wants to examine the Inspector Generals of the executive branch and claims he can save $250 billion a year in fraud alone. All he has to do is look across the Potomac at the Pentagon and he'll make his quota. But that's not going to happen.
Issa also invited all the corporate lobbyists in to list all the regulations they want eliminated. This includes the pharma companies, banks, oil and gas and banks.
The Republicans are not playing anymore. Instead of political operatives,the House leadership is hiring corporate lobbyists with financial experience as chief aides. They have also saddled the new Tea Party members with chiefs of staff who were prominent lobbyists on "K" street.
Corporate romancing is also being done at the Presidential level. President Obama is thinking of hiring MorganStanley's Vice President William Daley as his chief of staff. Before the congressional recess, President Obama met with leading CEO to try and persuade them to invest some of their $1.75 trillion in creating jobs in America. The counter offer seems to be American corporations aiming for a tax holiday for the additional $1.5 trillion in profits that they have squirreled away in tax havens.
As our corporations experience a V-shaped recovery, compared to the L-shaped recvery for the rest of us,I've noticed a new corporate refrain. We hear about "our international corporations" such as Dubai-based Halliburton and other American firms who have relocated overseas. The CEO of Chevron had the chutzpah the other day to talk about a $5 gallon of gas this year because "The Obama Administration is not fulfilling America's role to increase the global supply of oil." He was referring to the Obama Administration's ban on offshore drilling in light of the BP disaster. In other words, Drill Baby, Drill is now being couched as American doing its part for the well-being of planet earth. Quite clever, really.
Rep. Steve King, christianist from Iowa, has been made the chairman of the Immigration Committee. This is too rich since King only likes white people. King has been chatting up the possibility of investigating the payments to black farmers as "reparations", the New Panther Party, and ACORN's role in electing President Obama. Here he seems to crossing wires with other Republicans, who share his concerns and want to grill Eric Holder on these and why he's not enforcing the Voting Act for white people. I'm not making this up.
The other Rep. King from New York wants to grill Eric Holder on his trials of terrorists and why Holder is lax on terrorism or whatever crimes the attorney-general is committing.
I suggest the new House Republicans get Dan Burton back shooting at watermelons so he can prove Barack Hussein Obama really did kill Vin Foster.
Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institute scholar and black libertarian, shows how depraved people on the right--particularly once respected thinkers--have become in their thinking and writing. He claims President Obama hates America, taking his cues from Distort D'Newsa, and says that President Obama wants Sasha and Malia to grow up under Sharia Law. We are talking here about a man who has had many moments of insights and a prolific publishing career. Thomas Sowell used to be considered a nerd and a grind. Now he sounds like Glenn Beck.
Meanwhile I agree with Glenn Beck. America can not survive if it doesn't make fundamental changes. And the Pentagon budget should be cut in half. He is hyping his shows for the year, which indicate to me that he has had many GOP operatives writing his talking points to set the rhetorical tone for this year's attack on the President, his family and the rest of America. Apparently,Beck is having ratings problems with his radio show and now has been dropped from the New York market.
If you haven't see Elia Kazan "Face in the Crowd" with Andy Griffith as Lonesome Roads, make a New Year's Resolution to see it. The suggestion by Keith Olbermann that Beck is Lonesome is probably Keith's greatest contribution to our political understanding in many a year.
Elizabeth Warren is chugging along with the creation of the Consumer Protection Agency and has enlisted the help of Mrs. Petraeus, wife of General,to work on behalf of the military people who get ripped off by scam artists and car salesmen. The House is slated to go after the Consumer Protection Agency too. I perverse want to see them pull a Joe McCarthy on Elizabeth Warren, America's sweetheart. The contrast of thuggish men grilling her at a Congressional Hearing would sink the Republicans.
By the way has any one seen the hair coloring of Republicans lately. Jim DeMint has become a red-head, Darryl Issa has adopted the dark black Reagan look and then , of course Lindsey Graham wears too much make-up. But something has happened since eletion in the cosmetics department.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Bummer Friday
Beautiful weather but the zeitgeist is getting funky.
Dana Milbank doesn't take kindly to Glenn Beck showing up in town. The early videos of his arrival show the short-sleeved munchkin surrounded by security dressed as secret service types and white women reaching out to shake his hand. But Milbank is writing a book about Beck and doesn't think highly of the new messiah. He reminds readers that it has just been over a year since Beck called the first-African-American president a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people." Beck says that Obama is "moving all of us to slavery". He accused Obama of seeking "reparations" from white America, seeking to "settle old racial scores". This is also a chronic theme of Rush Limbaugh's rantings.
Beck has spoken about "radical black nationalism" in the White House and "Marxist black liberation theology" influencing Obama. He has also determined that the New Black Panthers have "ties to the White House in a myriad of ways" and are part of Obama's "army of thugs". Where do I join? Beck choose the date of his rally because of "divine providence". Like Sharron Angle running for Senate. Like Jan Brewer running for Arizona. Does God now have alzheimer's?
Beck now believes the civil rights movement was distorted by civil rights leaders, who may have known King personally but purposely distorted his ideas. Over the last century, Beck says, "no man has been free,because we've been progressive." He argues the anti-tax conservatives are the "real civil rights movement." Well done, Dana.
Ken Mehlman, the man who ran George W.'s 2004 campaign, has discovered he is gay. This is a man who presided over the Republican Party when it ran anti-gay referenda in every state to boost the turnout and encouraged the passage of DOMA in Congress. He is now saying he was quietly trying to persuade Republicans to go easy on the Gay. It's simply not believable. Now he wants to support the cause of same-sex marriage. He is in a long line of gay conservatives beginning with Roy Cohn, who run the Republican Party. There is a wonderful book there or else a piece for a psychology journal.
Nate "The Great" Silver is making me nervous. Do you remember when he was "poblano" over at the Daily Kos? Nate appeared on Hardball and started talking about "wave" elections and mentioned Speaker Boehner. This coming week, we'll see what Nate has produced.
Chris Van Hollen , who is handling the Democratic House elections, claimed this morning that the Democrats will hold both houses of Congress.
But Joseph Bafumi, Robert Erikson and Christopher Wlezien , all reputable political scientists, have done their preliminary House predictions by running a 1,000 computer simulations. They predict Republicans will take back the House with a majority of 229 seats to 206 for Democrats. They do include all the necessary scholarly caveats. But still...
If Republicans win back the House, they plan to do what I wrote about before--investigate the Obama Administration from soup to nuts. Politico reports today that Republican staffers are already researching the areas of these probes. Of course, a major one will be the DOJ's handling of the so-called New Black Panther voting intimidation case. You see white people are being intimidated now from voting like with ACORN. So we will have several investigations to prove Barack Obama is an African American and to link him to the more ephemera of African American culture.
One of the heroes of New Orleans is back in the news. "Brownie", the former head of FEMA and horse breeder, told the press that President Bush hid how horrible Katrina was from the American people. Brownie is heading to New Orleans to "celebrate" the five-anniversary of the disaster. The crime of the Government's response to Katrina was that FEMA for several consecutive years ran practice sessions on exactly this precise level Hurricane striking this precise city. The plans for this particular disaster were upgraded nearly every year beginning in the Clinton Administration. And yet nothing suggested by these run-throughs was ever carried out on the days it happened or weeks afterward.
Richard Trumpka, the AFL-CIO's President blasted Sarah Palin at a union gathering in Alaska. Not to be outdone, Palin called union leaders "thugs", the new refrain from the Republicans, and said that union members were better off supporting conservatives. Because you know, they would be better off if the auto industry had failed and the rest of their homes would face foreclosure. The good news this year is that all the unions are coordinating to raise their stake in the mid-terms to $100 million. While it can't outgun the some $400 million being pledged by conservative groups, the money comes with people to organize and get out the vote. Apparently, the Democrats' ability this year to run an effective get-out-the-vote campaign has caused Karl Rove to panic and he's scrambling to raise significant funds for a GOTV effort of his own since the RNC's effort is bankrupt.
So far, I've been impressed by how prepared the Democrats have been in blunting GOP attacks. They seem to be playing more offense at this stage than defense and have so far neutralized the negative ads run by Republicans. The Republican candidates provide a target rich environment for the Democrats to hang them by their radical right-wing agendas.
Some of the candidates are truly astonishing for both their character and their ideas. Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, had the honor of paying a $1.5 billion fine for Medicare fraud by his hospitals. Several candidates openly support banning abortion even in the case of rape and incest. Sharron Angle said that teenage women just have to make lemonade out of lemons. One of the best candidates is running against Russ Feingold. He claims he is a self-made millionaire, who started in business after graduating from high school. Turns out he married a very wealthy woman, was given a department of the family business to run, and also never graduated from high school. Rick Miller in Alaska may have won as a teabagger with Sarah Plain's endorsement and has the most anti-Alaskan campaign of them all. He wants to stop the pork from going to Alaska. They get roughly $2 for every $1 they contribute to the national economy. He could really run on "Vote for Me and You will Die."
The Congressional Budget Office is preparing for a war if Republicans win in November. They announced that any repeal of the Medicare provisions in the healthcare bill will cause about $450 billion in additional deficit. This raises the issue about pay-go rules. For instance, if the Republicans actually want to keep the tax cuts for the rich, Congress this time--unlike last time--has to pay for them. The actual cost of the tax cuts for the rich is roughly twice the cost of the healthcare reform bill for all of America. Now, we know Republicans will not cut defense so the tax cuts for the wealthy have to be paid for by cuts in anything the lower or middle classes might get. If you analyze this, Pat Ryan in his "Blueprint for the Future" actually gave the game away. His plan called for cutting taxes for the wealthy and raising them for everyone else. He also listed entitlement programs that would have to be cut. That's what the end-game of the GOP tax-cuts for the rich actually means. And I believe that's why the GOP leadership is trying to push Ryan off to the side for now. They are afraid that their whole gig will be up.
An idea for Democrats: Make the real cost of the tax-cuts for the rich explicit. They have to be paid for and the rest of America must subsidize the wealthy. It is true that the deficit would increase but I don't think that's how it would play out this time with pay-go. Of course, all the tax cuts, including for the Middle Class, have to be paid for through pay-go rules. So watch this space for what actually goes next year.
Fidel Castro wants you to know that Bin Laden is a bought and paid for CIA agent.
Our anti-corruption effort in Afghanistan seems to have run into a few roadblocks. It seems that all the corrupt Afghan officials that need to be removed are paid CIA agents.
Dana Milbank doesn't take kindly to Glenn Beck showing up in town. The early videos of his arrival show the short-sleeved munchkin surrounded by security dressed as secret service types and white women reaching out to shake his hand. But Milbank is writing a book about Beck and doesn't think highly of the new messiah. He reminds readers that it has just been over a year since Beck called the first-African-American president a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people." Beck says that Obama is "moving all of us to slavery". He accused Obama of seeking "reparations" from white America, seeking to "settle old racial scores". This is also a chronic theme of Rush Limbaugh's rantings.
Beck has spoken about "radical black nationalism" in the White House and "Marxist black liberation theology" influencing Obama. He has also determined that the New Black Panthers have "ties to the White House in a myriad of ways" and are part of Obama's "army of thugs". Where do I join? Beck choose the date of his rally because of "divine providence". Like Sharron Angle running for Senate. Like Jan Brewer running for Arizona. Does God now have alzheimer's?
Beck now believes the civil rights movement was distorted by civil rights leaders, who may have known King personally but purposely distorted his ideas. Over the last century, Beck says, "no man has been free,because we've been progressive." He argues the anti-tax conservatives are the "real civil rights movement." Well done, Dana.
Ken Mehlman, the man who ran George W.'s 2004 campaign, has discovered he is gay. This is a man who presided over the Republican Party when it ran anti-gay referenda in every state to boost the turnout and encouraged the passage of DOMA in Congress. He is now saying he was quietly trying to persuade Republicans to go easy on the Gay. It's simply not believable. Now he wants to support the cause of same-sex marriage. He is in a long line of gay conservatives beginning with Roy Cohn, who run the Republican Party. There is a wonderful book there or else a piece for a psychology journal.
Nate "The Great" Silver is making me nervous. Do you remember when he was "poblano" over at the Daily Kos? Nate appeared on Hardball and started talking about "wave" elections and mentioned Speaker Boehner. This coming week, we'll see what Nate has produced.
Chris Van Hollen , who is handling the Democratic House elections, claimed this morning that the Democrats will hold both houses of Congress.
But Joseph Bafumi, Robert Erikson and Christopher Wlezien , all reputable political scientists, have done their preliminary House predictions by running a 1,000 computer simulations. They predict Republicans will take back the House with a majority of 229 seats to 206 for Democrats. They do include all the necessary scholarly caveats. But still...
If Republicans win back the House, they plan to do what I wrote about before--investigate the Obama Administration from soup to nuts. Politico reports today that Republican staffers are already researching the areas of these probes. Of course, a major one will be the DOJ's handling of the so-called New Black Panther voting intimidation case. You see white people are being intimidated now from voting like with ACORN. So we will have several investigations to prove Barack Obama is an African American and to link him to the more ephemera of African American culture.
One of the heroes of New Orleans is back in the news. "Brownie", the former head of FEMA and horse breeder, told the press that President Bush hid how horrible Katrina was from the American people. Brownie is heading to New Orleans to "celebrate" the five-anniversary of the disaster. The crime of the Government's response to Katrina was that FEMA for several consecutive years ran practice sessions on exactly this precise level Hurricane striking this precise city. The plans for this particular disaster were upgraded nearly every year beginning in the Clinton Administration. And yet nothing suggested by these run-throughs was ever carried out on the days it happened or weeks afterward.
Richard Trumpka, the AFL-CIO's President blasted Sarah Palin at a union gathering in Alaska. Not to be outdone, Palin called union leaders "thugs", the new refrain from the Republicans, and said that union members were better off supporting conservatives. Because you know, they would be better off if the auto industry had failed and the rest of their homes would face foreclosure. The good news this year is that all the unions are coordinating to raise their stake in the mid-terms to $100 million. While it can't outgun the some $400 million being pledged by conservative groups, the money comes with people to organize and get out the vote. Apparently, the Democrats' ability this year to run an effective get-out-the-vote campaign has caused Karl Rove to panic and he's scrambling to raise significant funds for a GOTV effort of his own since the RNC's effort is bankrupt.
So far, I've been impressed by how prepared the Democrats have been in blunting GOP attacks. They seem to be playing more offense at this stage than defense and have so far neutralized the negative ads run by Republicans. The Republican candidates provide a target rich environment for the Democrats to hang them by their radical right-wing agendas.
Some of the candidates are truly astonishing for both their character and their ideas. Rick Scott, the Republican candidate for governor of Florida, had the honor of paying a $1.5 billion fine for Medicare fraud by his hospitals. Several candidates openly support banning abortion even in the case of rape and incest. Sharron Angle said that teenage women just have to make lemonade out of lemons. One of the best candidates is running against Russ Feingold. He claims he is a self-made millionaire, who started in business after graduating from high school. Turns out he married a very wealthy woman, was given a department of the family business to run, and also never graduated from high school. Rick Miller in Alaska may have won as a teabagger with Sarah Plain's endorsement and has the most anti-Alaskan campaign of them all. He wants to stop the pork from going to Alaska. They get roughly $2 for every $1 they contribute to the national economy. He could really run on "Vote for Me and You will Die."
The Congressional Budget Office is preparing for a war if Republicans win in November. They announced that any repeal of the Medicare provisions in the healthcare bill will cause about $450 billion in additional deficit. This raises the issue about pay-go rules. For instance, if the Republicans actually want to keep the tax cuts for the rich, Congress this time--unlike last time--has to pay for them. The actual cost of the tax cuts for the rich is roughly twice the cost of the healthcare reform bill for all of America. Now, we know Republicans will not cut defense so the tax cuts for the wealthy have to be paid for by cuts in anything the lower or middle classes might get. If you analyze this, Pat Ryan in his "Blueprint for the Future" actually gave the game away. His plan called for cutting taxes for the wealthy and raising them for everyone else. He also listed entitlement programs that would have to be cut. That's what the end-game of the GOP tax-cuts for the rich actually means. And I believe that's why the GOP leadership is trying to push Ryan off to the side for now. They are afraid that their whole gig will be up.
An idea for Democrats: Make the real cost of the tax-cuts for the rich explicit. They have to be paid for and the rest of America must subsidize the wealthy. It is true that the deficit would increase but I don't think that's how it would play out this time with pay-go. Of course, all the tax cuts, including for the Middle Class, have to be paid for through pay-go rules. So watch this space for what actually goes next year.
Fidel Castro wants you to know that Bin Laden is a bought and paid for CIA agent.
Our anti-corruption effort in Afghanistan seems to have run into a few roadblocks. It seems that all the corrupt Afghan officials that need to be removed are paid CIA agents.
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