++The Donald will not reveal his birth certificate or passport information. The Donald is banning all Univision personnel from his properties. The Donald is suing Univision for canceling his Miss America pageant because of his remarks against Mexicans. Ari-Fleischer is upset that The Donald is acting like a car wreck for the Republican race--everyone stares at it while everything goes by.
++Fat Tony Scalia has had a bad two days. When the same sex verdict came down, his dissent waxed on about intimacy and spirituality. Then he said,"Ask your nearest "Hippie". Well ,Huffington Post did, they asked David Crosby, certainly a hippie, who said Scalia was dissing both gays and hippies.
++Piyush Jindal says we should save money and get rid of the courts.
++Mike Huckabee said he would not obey the judicial tyranny.
++Ben Carson just said it was the law of the land. You have to admit it is scary when Carson both on the killings at Mother Emmanuel Church and the verdict on same sex marriage is the voice of reason in the GOP.
++Ms.Lindsey Graham said that it is futile to fight the ruling.
++Jeb! said he wished the courts left it to the states.
++You see what I mean that you will miss Barack when he goes. You will be left with these knuckleheads.
Showing posts with label Mike Huckabee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mike Huckabee. Show all posts
Friday, June 26, 2015
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Huckabee In
++I could not wait for Huckabee to appear at his launch after suffering Tony Orlando and his wife. Huckabee is running sort of as an economic populist,foreign policy hawk, and social conservative. He launched into Clinton's Arkansas, which even people in Arkansas say "ho hum"
++The Club of Growth immediately responded with a critique of Huckabee's economics while governor. Worse for the field, Huckabee says he won't cut social security.
++He hasn't run for anything since 2008 when McCain managed to cut him off at the pass. This time he is not the guitar-playing,soft-spoken one.
++The Club of Growth immediately responded with a critique of Huckabee's economics while governor. Worse for the field, Huckabee says he won't cut social security.
++He hasn't run for anything since 2008 when McCain managed to cut him off at the pass. This time he is not the guitar-playing,soft-spoken one.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Tomorrow--Mike Huckabee
++Governor Mike Huckabee will announce tomorrow.Huckabee says he has been running against the Clinton's for years and has the experience. Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly reminds everyone that Huckabee only became Governor of Arkansas after the Clintons left Little Rock and never campaigned against them.
++Can you name all the GOP candidates? Do you know whose left? And where is The Donald?
++Ed Kilgore writes today that the old formula about three candidates leaving Iowa looks like it will end this year when 6 or 7 will have money to go on. That means alot of volatility in the field despite the billionaires. For instance, little Carly has $20 million in the bank from her Hewlett-Packard separation agreement. Carson already has raised $3.5 million and certainly more after today's announcement. Rubio has his own billionaire who could play the same role as Newt's did in keeping the Gingrich campaign afloat last time. Rand Paul has his father's grassroots campaign to draw on.
++Can you name all the GOP candidates? Do you know whose left? And where is The Donald?
++Ed Kilgore writes today that the old formula about three candidates leaving Iowa looks like it will end this year when 6 or 7 will have money to go on. That means alot of volatility in the field despite the billionaires. For instance, little Carly has $20 million in the bank from her Hewlett-Packard separation agreement. Carson already has raised $3.5 million and certainly more after today's announcement. Rubio has his own billionaire who could play the same role as Newt's did in keeping the Gingrich campaign afloat last time. Rand Paul has his father's grassroots campaign to draw on.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
HRC at Columbia, Bernie Sanders in,Mike Huckabee at Hispanic Christian Conference
++Hillary Clinton talked to the 18th Annual Dinkins Forum on Public Policy at Columbia and delivered her first policy speech on the campaign. With the backdrop of Baltimore,Mrs. Clinton focused on the issue of race and law enforcement in the country.
++She tied her past work at the Arkansas School of Law to efforts to reform our justice system and free prisoners who have not committed violent crimes. You would not expect it with Baltimore and Ferguson but our crime rate is the lowest in twenty years.
++Hillary Clinton pointed to the growing bipartisan consensus on penal reform in the Senate. But she also focused on policing communities and getting the police to deal with community issues.
++She then brought up an issue that has been sorely neglected even with the healthcare debate--that is mental health. She pointed to the deinstitutionalization movement and the neglect of its second part--establishing community-based mental health facilities for local treatment. Now, she says, our prisons are the mental health facilities of the country.
++She promised full policy proposals as she campaigns. But yesterday was a good start.
++Also she tacked left by criticizing the TPP.
++Meanwhile Bernie Sanders threw his cap into the ring at the age of 73. Sanders of all candidates is the primier climate change hawk and an economic populist. Matt Taibibi at Rolling Stone was thrilled and said don't count Bernie out.
++Martin O'Malley, who stumbled a biut, but the reaction in Baltimore and the blame thrown his way by the locals,printed in Huffington Post an op-ed on the situation in Baltimore.
++Whatever you say,the Democratic race looks like it actually will be about real issues and not memes.
++Mike Huckabee addressed the Hispanic Christian Association and said that whatever SCOTUS rules on same sex marriage, they can not over-rule God. Egads.
++Bobby Jindal has thrown his weight behind the movement to get Ginsberg and Kagan to recuse themselves from the same sex marriage case. Why not throw in Sonia Sotomayor.
++Representative Steven King of Iowa is trying to get throw out the law that you are a citizen if you are born here in the United States. This is Louie Gohlmert's "Terror" babies.
++The House and Senate have passed a budget resolution--not law---that would cut $5 trillion from the federal government over 10 years and just devastate Medicare and almost any discretionary program. This is Paul Ryan on steroids.
++The White House denies they are trying to seize Texas in a military coup. Rand Paul is going to investigate the idea. Governor of Abbott has asked the National Guard to spy on our military exercise in the state and make sure the United States military is not going to seize Texas. True story.
++She tied her past work at the Arkansas School of Law to efforts to reform our justice system and free prisoners who have not committed violent crimes. You would not expect it with Baltimore and Ferguson but our crime rate is the lowest in twenty years.
++Hillary Clinton pointed to the growing bipartisan consensus on penal reform in the Senate. But she also focused on policing communities and getting the police to deal with community issues.
++She then brought up an issue that has been sorely neglected even with the healthcare debate--that is mental health. She pointed to the deinstitutionalization movement and the neglect of its second part--establishing community-based mental health facilities for local treatment. Now, she says, our prisons are the mental health facilities of the country.
++She promised full policy proposals as she campaigns. But yesterday was a good start.
++Also she tacked left by criticizing the TPP.
++Meanwhile Bernie Sanders threw his cap into the ring at the age of 73. Sanders of all candidates is the primier climate change hawk and an economic populist. Matt Taibibi at Rolling Stone was thrilled and said don't count Bernie out.
++Martin O'Malley, who stumbled a biut, but the reaction in Baltimore and the blame thrown his way by the locals,printed in Huffington Post an op-ed on the situation in Baltimore.
++Whatever you say,the Democratic race looks like it actually will be about real issues and not memes.
++Mike Huckabee addressed the Hispanic Christian Association and said that whatever SCOTUS rules on same sex marriage, they can not over-rule God. Egads.
++Bobby Jindal has thrown his weight behind the movement to get Ginsberg and Kagan to recuse themselves from the same sex marriage case. Why not throw in Sonia Sotomayor.
++Representative Steven King of Iowa is trying to get throw out the law that you are a citizen if you are born here in the United States. This is Louie Gohlmert's "Terror" babies.
++The House and Senate have passed a budget resolution--not law---that would cut $5 trillion from the federal government over 10 years and just devastate Medicare and almost any discretionary program. This is Paul Ryan on steroids.
++The White House denies they are trying to seize Texas in a military coup. Rand Paul is going to investigate the idea. Governor of Abbott has asked the National Guard to spy on our military exercise in the state and make sure the United States military is not going to seize Texas. True story.
Friday, April 3, 2015
It's Yahweh Or the Highway
++Ed Kilgore reminds us that Good Friday used to be celebrated in Europe with pogroms. True.
++The AFA said that the backpedaling on the Indiana Religious Freedom Bill was brought about because Big Gay wants homosexual supremacy.
++Glenn Beck's The Blaze had a telethon to raise money for the pizza parlor who won't cater gay weddings. So far it was raised over $500,000. One of the owners appeared on FOX News and said serving pizza to gays is a sin. No one asked her how can you tell whether someone is gay.
++Mike Huckabee says The Gay will not stop until all the Churches are closed.
++Tehran Tom Cotton says that gays should be happy they don't live in Iran where gays are hung. I suppose.
++Meanwhile, the silent majority of the religious world is beginning to stir. The Frozen Chosen,the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians,the Unitarian Universalists , the Reform Jewish community and the Central Conference of American Rabbis have all come out against Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
++My Matzos for Passover are Yahuda's, which are great. But I have guilt that I didn't get my stand-by, Streit's which will cease its New York East Side operation after 100 years.
++Don't not get Manechewitz because they are owned by Bain Capital.
++Ted Cruz will be advertising on "Killing Jesus" and "AD 100" this weekend.
++Happy Passover and Easter,everyone! I will be celebrating Easter in Manhattan,listening to Jazz at the Village Vanguard.
++The AFA said that the backpedaling on the Indiana Religious Freedom Bill was brought about because Big Gay wants homosexual supremacy.
++Glenn Beck's The Blaze had a telethon to raise money for the pizza parlor who won't cater gay weddings. So far it was raised over $500,000. One of the owners appeared on FOX News and said serving pizza to gays is a sin. No one asked her how can you tell whether someone is gay.
++Mike Huckabee says The Gay will not stop until all the Churches are closed.
++Tehran Tom Cotton says that gays should be happy they don't live in Iran where gays are hung. I suppose.
++Meanwhile, the silent majority of the religious world is beginning to stir. The Frozen Chosen,the Presbyterians, the Episcopalians,the Unitarian Universalists , the Reform Jewish community and the Central Conference of American Rabbis have all come out against Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
++My Matzos for Passover are Yahuda's, which are great. But I have guilt that I didn't get my stand-by, Streit's which will cease its New York East Side operation after 100 years.
++Don't not get Manechewitz because they are owned by Bain Capital.
++Ted Cruz will be advertising on "Killing Jesus" and "AD 100" this weekend.
++Happy Passover and Easter,everyone! I will be celebrating Easter in Manhattan,listening to Jazz at the Village Vanguard.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Here They Come
++Bishop Willard "Mitt" Romney has given the word to his donors that he is considering another run for the Presidency. He cites the turmoil overseas and the state of the economy as his reasons. Consider this: President Obama created the same number of jobs that Romney said he would create in his first term.
++Mike Huckabee quit Fox News, a sign he will run.
++Chris Christie is already putting out the word he is running.
++Believe or not , Marco Rubio is defying Jennifer Rubin, and is indicating he will run.
++Former UN Ambassador John Bolton quit his FOX News gig as a sign he too will throw his hat in the ring.
++And, believe it or not, Scott Brown, who ran a carpetbagger for Senate in New Hampshire, wants to give it another try by running in------California for Barbara Boxer's seat.
++The New reform conservative movement has indicated that they want to increase defense spending and cut discretionary programs. In short, they want to restore George W. Bush's foreign policy. Oh myy.
++Mike Huckabee quit Fox News, a sign he will run.
++Chris Christie is already putting out the word he is running.
++Believe or not , Marco Rubio is defying Jennifer Rubin, and is indicating he will run.
++Former UN Ambassador John Bolton quit his FOX News gig as a sign he too will throw his hat in the ring.
++And, believe it or not, Scott Brown, who ran a carpetbagger for Senate in New Hampshire, wants to give it another try by running in------California for Barbara Boxer's seat.
++The New reform conservative movement has indicated that they want to increase defense spending and cut discretionary programs. In short, they want to restore George W. Bush's foreign policy. Oh myy.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
The World Didn't End
++Rev. Hagee said that the blood red moon meant the world was ending. It didn't.
++But the IPCC report said we may be getting close with global warming if we don't adopt policies for 20-24% alternative fuels within 15 years. The report was developed by 2,000 scientists in hover 110 nations, who reviewed over 9,000 academic studies. If the humans generate 1,000 gigatons of carbon that we are all toast. The planet will survive but we won't.
++The CBO's report on Obamacare is giving the GOP heartburn. Obamacare will cost $104.6 billion less than projected over a ten-year span, will increase,not decrease employer-based insurance by 7 million, lower premiums and healthcare costs.
++But the GOP have found a new Obamacare issue. The Census bureau will be recalculating the number of uninsured. To the GOP, this means we will not know the true effects of Obamacare. It's Obama's fault.
++The CBO reports that the deficit will be $23 billion less than projected to $492 billion. This will be the lowest deficit since 2007 and represent 2.8% of the GDP. Since 1980,the deficit has averaged 3.2%.
++Mike Huckabee told the Freedom Summit in New Hampshire that the United States was less free than North Korea.
++In the same state, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown said Democratic Senator Jeanne Sheehan was like another Senator from Massachusetts. Brown has lived in New Hampshire for 40 days and Sheehan in New Hampshire for 40 years. More worrisome to New Hampshites should be that Scott was born in Maine and not in New Hampshire as he claims.
++PPP-Move-on. org conducted polls in congressional districts and find that GOP incumbents are very vulnerable in 17 seats and with the right GOTV the Democrats could take back the House.
++John Boehner's primary opponents cut an ad accusing Boehner of electile dysfunction.
++Governor Sandoval of Nevada became the first Republican governor to ask the House to extend the unemployment insurance for the long-term. The Nevada party also threw out its anti-abortion, anti-gay platform because they wanted to be inclusive ,not exclusive.
++Britt Hume and George Will accused President Obama and Eric Holder of "playing the race card". Hank Aaron,the baseball great, likened critics of President Obama to those racist who threatened him during his race to beat Babe Ruth's home run record. For that remark, he received buckets of racist mail. I guess race doesn't play into any of this.
++Rand Paul is being beat up for his remarks about Duck Cheney being for the war in Iraq because of his role as CEO in Halliburton. Bart Stephens in the Wall Street Journal attacks Paul and asserts that the GOP would lose in one of the largest landslides. Rick Lowry of the National Review has a more fun attack on Paul.
++Carville claims that the GOP will become extinct if Hillary Clinton runs for President.
++Willard "Mitt" Romney tweeted Harry Reid with a photo of him paying his taxes. I'm glad he did for the first time in a decade.
++Senator Pryor,the struggling Democrat in Arkansas,top Rep. Cotton in the fifth straight poll, prompting the Republican to challenge him to five debates.
++Sovereign Citizens' groups, the Oathkeepers, and militiamen rallied to the cause of rancher Bundy, who had neglected to pay taxes for 1993 and refuses to pay the BLM cattle raising fees. The classy groups put women and children in the front lines because they wanted to create another WACO and spark a revolution. The BLM stood down but is moving in legal directions against the tax evader. FOX news and the rightwing websites proclaimed the nutty spectacle a win for freedom
++John Brennan, the director of the CIA, was in the UKraine and tensions mount in the East.
++Bandar Bush, the old Saudi friend of the Republicans and Saudi spy chief, was resigned. His last assignment by the Saudi monarchy was to topple Assad in Syria.
++But the IPCC report said we may be getting close with global warming if we don't adopt policies for 20-24% alternative fuels within 15 years. The report was developed by 2,000 scientists in hover 110 nations, who reviewed over 9,000 academic studies. If the humans generate 1,000 gigatons of carbon that we are all toast. The planet will survive but we won't.
++The CBO's report on Obamacare is giving the GOP heartburn. Obamacare will cost $104.6 billion less than projected over a ten-year span, will increase,not decrease employer-based insurance by 7 million, lower premiums and healthcare costs.
++But the GOP have found a new Obamacare issue. The Census bureau will be recalculating the number of uninsured. To the GOP, this means we will not know the true effects of Obamacare. It's Obama's fault.
++The CBO reports that the deficit will be $23 billion less than projected to $492 billion. This will be the lowest deficit since 2007 and represent 2.8% of the GDP. Since 1980,the deficit has averaged 3.2%.
++Mike Huckabee told the Freedom Summit in New Hampshire that the United States was less free than North Korea.
++In the same state, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown said Democratic Senator Jeanne Sheehan was like another Senator from Massachusetts. Brown has lived in New Hampshire for 40 days and Sheehan in New Hampshire for 40 years. More worrisome to New Hampshites should be that Scott was born in Maine and not in New Hampshire as he claims.
++PPP-Move-on. org conducted polls in congressional districts and find that GOP incumbents are very vulnerable in 17 seats and with the right GOTV the Democrats could take back the House.
++John Boehner's primary opponents cut an ad accusing Boehner of electile dysfunction.
++Governor Sandoval of Nevada became the first Republican governor to ask the House to extend the unemployment insurance for the long-term. The Nevada party also threw out its anti-abortion, anti-gay platform because they wanted to be inclusive ,not exclusive.
++Britt Hume and George Will accused President Obama and Eric Holder of "playing the race card". Hank Aaron,the baseball great, likened critics of President Obama to those racist who threatened him during his race to beat Babe Ruth's home run record. For that remark, he received buckets of racist mail. I guess race doesn't play into any of this.
++Rand Paul is being beat up for his remarks about Duck Cheney being for the war in Iraq because of his role as CEO in Halliburton. Bart Stephens in the Wall Street Journal attacks Paul and asserts that the GOP would lose in one of the largest landslides. Rick Lowry of the National Review has a more fun attack on Paul.
++Carville claims that the GOP will become extinct if Hillary Clinton runs for President.
++Willard "Mitt" Romney tweeted Harry Reid with a photo of him paying his taxes. I'm glad he did for the first time in a decade.
++Senator Pryor,the struggling Democrat in Arkansas,top Rep. Cotton in the fifth straight poll, prompting the Republican to challenge him to five debates.
++Sovereign Citizens' groups, the Oathkeepers, and militiamen rallied to the cause of rancher Bundy, who had neglected to pay taxes for 1993 and refuses to pay the BLM cattle raising fees. The classy groups put women and children in the front lines because they wanted to create another WACO and spark a revolution. The BLM stood down but is moving in legal directions against the tax evader. FOX news and the rightwing websites proclaimed the nutty spectacle a win for freedom
++John Brennan, the director of the CIA, was in the UKraine and tensions mount in the East.
++Bandar Bush, the old Saudi friend of the Republicans and Saudi spy chief, was resigned. His last assignment by the Saudi monarchy was to topple Assad in Syria.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Quien Es Mas Macho?
++The Mayor of Sochi claims there are no gays in his city--only gay bars.
++The Marlboro Man died at the age of 72 because of respiratory problems.
++Bob Schaeffer laughed at Ted Cruz for saying Obama caused the government shutdown.
++Tom Perkins, a billionaire, said that the attacks on the Rich were the same as Kristallnacht. Really?
++Trey Radel ,Florida Republican, will resign from the House . He was caught buying cocaine from an undercover agent.
++Steve Stockman who has been absent from the House for the first 17 days blamed the media saying he was campaigning but no one saw him.
++Mike Huckbee says that women have to control their libidos and shouldn't expect Uncle Sugar to provide them with birth control pills.
++Texas candidate for governor, Wendy Davis is a "bad mother" according to the Republicans.
++Morning Joe Scarborough says that Hillary Clinton can't attack the GOP on the war against women because of Monica Lewinski.
++Newsmax says that "Hellcat" Clinton is in bad shape because of Benghazi.
++Rand Paul says that Bill Clinton exhibited predatory behavior against women and this will damage Hillary.
++Erick Bennett, the tea bagger challenger against Susan Collins, threatened to kill his wife and was charged with spousal abuse. These are positive things for his campaign.
++AIPAC has attacked Wendy Wasserman Schultz for not being pro-enough on Israel, although she has the highest pro-Israel voting record in Congress.
++Dinesh D'Sousa was indicted for violating campaign finance laws. He used both his wife and his mistress as fronts for his campaign contributions.
++Lamar Alexander's staff member who was busted for distributing child porn committed suicide.
++Kim Jong-un ordered the entire family of his uncle's executed.
++Chris Christie hired Patton, Boggs, the D.C. Law firm to defend him in his exploding scandals.
++Frank Rich in this issue of New York magazine proclaims Fox News dead and wishes liberals woud stop fixating on it.
++The Marlboro Man died at the age of 72 because of respiratory problems.
++Bob Schaeffer laughed at Ted Cruz for saying Obama caused the government shutdown.
++Tom Perkins, a billionaire, said that the attacks on the Rich were the same as Kristallnacht. Really?
++Trey Radel ,Florida Republican, will resign from the House . He was caught buying cocaine from an undercover agent.
++Steve Stockman who has been absent from the House for the first 17 days blamed the media saying he was campaigning but no one saw him.
++Mike Huckbee says that women have to control their libidos and shouldn't expect Uncle Sugar to provide them with birth control pills.
++Texas candidate for governor, Wendy Davis is a "bad mother" according to the Republicans.
++Morning Joe Scarborough says that Hillary Clinton can't attack the GOP on the war against women because of Monica Lewinski.
++Newsmax says that "Hellcat" Clinton is in bad shape because of Benghazi.
++Rand Paul says that Bill Clinton exhibited predatory behavior against women and this will damage Hillary.
++Erick Bennett, the tea bagger challenger against Susan Collins, threatened to kill his wife and was charged with spousal abuse. These are positive things for his campaign.
++AIPAC has attacked Wendy Wasserman Schultz for not being pro-enough on Israel, although she has the highest pro-Israel voting record in Congress.
++Dinesh D'Sousa was indicted for violating campaign finance laws. He used both his wife and his mistress as fronts for his campaign contributions.
++Lamar Alexander's staff member who was busted for distributing child porn committed suicide.
++Kim Jong-un ordered the entire family of his uncle's executed.
++Chris Christie hired Patton, Boggs, the D.C. Law firm to defend him in his exploding scandals.
++Frank Rich in this issue of New York magazine proclaims Fox News dead and wishes liberals woud stop fixating on it.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Deeper into the Summer Doldrums
++Spent four glorious days in upstate New York where thanks to Nelson Rockefeller,Hugh Carey,Mario Cuomo, and Andrew there exists a modern infrastructure. Who knew there was an Irish Catskills? The Mike Quinn Irish Cultural Center? Remember Mike Quill, the old corrupt union leader. All I could think about was when can I move to the North again.
++So how is the Republican rebranding going? Rand Paul is up to his eyeballs in a controversy that his spokesman and co-author of his book is The Southern Avenger, a man who toasts John Wilkes Booth on his birthday, thinks Lincoln is a monster, and that writes that the South should have won the war. Mike Huckabee traipsed down to Texas to speak for the anti-abortion bill, calling abortion slavery. Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum followed the day after but he admitted he was confused. Louie Gohmart moved to strike all the Democrats' complaints about the House Farm Bill lacking foodstamps from the record. Rick Lowry and Bill Kristol wrote in the National Review that the House must kill the immigration bill. Mitch McConnell was raising funds off his remark that if Harry Reid eliminated the filibuster he would have "He Killed the Senate on his tombstone". Marco Rubio will not say the term "Obamacare". The House will repeal Obamacare again next week--38 or 39th time if you are counting. The North Carolina legislature voted an anti-abortion law as part of its motorcycle safety law. The net effect it would close 15 out of 16 abortion clinics in the state. Ted Nugent wants to run for President in 2016. Rick Perry already is with his visit to Israel next month. The Alaskan chairman of the state GOP says he has never met Sarah Palin or heard anything from her about her desire to run for Senate. Reince Preibus says he is totally down on the Cooch campaign for government, despite stories that the governor and the Cooch are corrupt as hell.There is still no House budget after 100 days.
++Now if you are banking on winning with a greater percentage of the white vote, why would you go out of your way to insult 51% of the white vote--the women? And if you are banking on winning back lower-middle class white voters, why are you cutting off all food stamps for the first time in 50 years when the bulk of those using them are no longer minorities?And why would you schedule a vote in the House to privatize Medicare, especially when your core constituency is the elderly?
++Pundits point to demographics as the problem with the GOP. But why would you go out of your way to starve your base and kill them off? A new report released by the Department of Health shows "death by zip code". If you are a male living in Marin County, California, you leave to 85, 81 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and 67 in Franklin County , West Virginia. If you live in a blue state, you will live at least ten years longer than the male in a Red State. And if your base of support is in the Red States, your base dies off 10-15 years earlier and minorities overwhelm them earlier. Red States have lower levels of education, lower levels of health, lower levels of income and higher percentage of children out of wedlock. This goes for whites as well as minorities. So why then do you campaign against healthcare, women's reproductive rights,and economic progress?
++While the Simpson-Bowles Catfood Commission recommended curtailing Social Security and Medicare and gutting the social welfare net because of the deficit, the United States just posted its largest budget surplus in its history. Will someone apologize to Paul Krugman who saw this all along?
++Quinnipiac has a poll that dispels the myth that President Obama is just not a good politician and can't get anything done. 51% believe gridlock is caused by GOP obstructionism, and only 35% believe it is because Obama can't persuade Congress to come together.
++On Immigration, no matter how you cut it, the majority of Americans and a large plurality of Republicans believe there should be a road to citizenship or at least immigrants should have the right to stay here. Only 28% of the overall sample and Republicans believe immigrants should leave the country. Watch this space because immigration is eventually going to get done--probably late in the year.
++ENDA, the bill to end discrimination against gays in the workplace, passed out of committee 15 to 7, with two Republicans. It is close to a majority in the Senate.
++The rash of anti-Obamacare ads are not really aimed at the healthcare bill per se but the expansion of Medicaid in Republican states. The scare tactics in the ad with the young mother are just that--none of the claims are true but the deeper goal is aimed at depriving the very poor of healthcare.
++Democrats are giddy over the Looney-Tune quality of the Republican positions now. But dreams of taking the House are far-fetched because the gerrymandered districts show Republicans in districts with only about 15% total minorities. So there exists no incentive for the House Republicans to do anything--at all about anything.
++Louie Gohmart has introduced at the behest of Focus on Your Family, Not Mine, a bill sponsoring proselytizing by evangelical Christians in the military. He claims Obama is biased against Christians.
++The Republican Attorney-General of Pennsylvania will not defend the state's anti-gay marriage law.
++The fight over filibuster reform is getting dire because the GOP does not want to fill spaces on legally constituted bodies like the National Labor Relations Board. The net effect when 3 conservative judges ruled Obama's recess appointments unconstitutional is that no labor law in the country can be enforced. This is also true for the EPA,and the Consumer Protection Agency, two other bodies the GOP hate. So the issue becomes can one political party in the minority actually gut the government because they don't like the legally created bodies? In the case of the 2nd Circuit Court, Senator Grassley accuses Obama of wanting to "stack"the court when all he is doing is filling the vacancies. Unless Mitch McConnell gives on this issue, watch for a showdown soon. It is basic politics that the winning Presidential candidate gets to nominate the persons of his or her choice as long as they are qualified.
++In mulling over current GOP strategy, I don't see how the GOP deals with Hillary Clinton, except to dredge up old Clinton scandals that no one remembers and in fact if they do, consider her a victim. She is a woman, who was the First Lady of a Slave State--Arkansas. So how does that work if you are depending on the white South?
++So how is the Republican rebranding going? Rand Paul is up to his eyeballs in a controversy that his spokesman and co-author of his book is The Southern Avenger, a man who toasts John Wilkes Booth on his birthday, thinks Lincoln is a monster, and that writes that the South should have won the war. Mike Huckabee traipsed down to Texas to speak for the anti-abortion bill, calling abortion slavery. Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum followed the day after but he admitted he was confused. Louie Gohmart moved to strike all the Democrats' complaints about the House Farm Bill lacking foodstamps from the record. Rick Lowry and Bill Kristol wrote in the National Review that the House must kill the immigration bill. Mitch McConnell was raising funds off his remark that if Harry Reid eliminated the filibuster he would have "He Killed the Senate on his tombstone". Marco Rubio will not say the term "Obamacare". The House will repeal Obamacare again next week--38 or 39th time if you are counting. The North Carolina legislature voted an anti-abortion law as part of its motorcycle safety law. The net effect it would close 15 out of 16 abortion clinics in the state. Ted Nugent wants to run for President in 2016. Rick Perry already is with his visit to Israel next month. The Alaskan chairman of the state GOP says he has never met Sarah Palin or heard anything from her about her desire to run for Senate. Reince Preibus says he is totally down on the Cooch campaign for government, despite stories that the governor and the Cooch are corrupt as hell.There is still no House budget after 100 days.
++Now if you are banking on winning with a greater percentage of the white vote, why would you go out of your way to insult 51% of the white vote--the women? And if you are banking on winning back lower-middle class white voters, why are you cutting off all food stamps for the first time in 50 years when the bulk of those using them are no longer minorities?And why would you schedule a vote in the House to privatize Medicare, especially when your core constituency is the elderly?
++Pundits point to demographics as the problem with the GOP. But why would you go out of your way to starve your base and kill them off? A new report released by the Department of Health shows "death by zip code". If you are a male living in Marin County, California, you leave to 85, 81 in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia and 67 in Franklin County , West Virginia. If you live in a blue state, you will live at least ten years longer than the male in a Red State. And if your base of support is in the Red States, your base dies off 10-15 years earlier and minorities overwhelm them earlier. Red States have lower levels of education, lower levels of health, lower levels of income and higher percentage of children out of wedlock. This goes for whites as well as minorities. So why then do you campaign against healthcare, women's reproductive rights,and economic progress?
++While the Simpson-Bowles Catfood Commission recommended curtailing Social Security and Medicare and gutting the social welfare net because of the deficit, the United States just posted its largest budget surplus in its history. Will someone apologize to Paul Krugman who saw this all along?
++Quinnipiac has a poll that dispels the myth that President Obama is just not a good politician and can't get anything done. 51% believe gridlock is caused by GOP obstructionism, and only 35% believe it is because Obama can't persuade Congress to come together.
++On Immigration, no matter how you cut it, the majority of Americans and a large plurality of Republicans believe there should be a road to citizenship or at least immigrants should have the right to stay here. Only 28% of the overall sample and Republicans believe immigrants should leave the country. Watch this space because immigration is eventually going to get done--probably late in the year.
++ENDA, the bill to end discrimination against gays in the workplace, passed out of committee 15 to 7, with two Republicans. It is close to a majority in the Senate.
++The rash of anti-Obamacare ads are not really aimed at the healthcare bill per se but the expansion of Medicaid in Republican states. The scare tactics in the ad with the young mother are just that--none of the claims are true but the deeper goal is aimed at depriving the very poor of healthcare.
++Democrats are giddy over the Looney-Tune quality of the Republican positions now. But dreams of taking the House are far-fetched because the gerrymandered districts show Republicans in districts with only about 15% total minorities. So there exists no incentive for the House Republicans to do anything--at all about anything.
++Louie Gohmart has introduced at the behest of Focus on Your Family, Not Mine, a bill sponsoring proselytizing by evangelical Christians in the military. He claims Obama is biased against Christians.
++The Republican Attorney-General of Pennsylvania will not defend the state's anti-gay marriage law.
++The fight over filibuster reform is getting dire because the GOP does not want to fill spaces on legally constituted bodies like the National Labor Relations Board. The net effect when 3 conservative judges ruled Obama's recess appointments unconstitutional is that no labor law in the country can be enforced. This is also true for the EPA,and the Consumer Protection Agency, two other bodies the GOP hate. So the issue becomes can one political party in the minority actually gut the government because they don't like the legally created bodies? In the case of the 2nd Circuit Court, Senator Grassley accuses Obama of wanting to "stack"the court when all he is doing is filling the vacancies. Unless Mitch McConnell gives on this issue, watch for a showdown soon. It is basic politics that the winning Presidential candidate gets to nominate the persons of his or her choice as long as they are qualified.
++In mulling over current GOP strategy, I don't see how the GOP deals with Hillary Clinton, except to dredge up old Clinton scandals that no one remembers and in fact if they do, consider her a victim. She is a woman, who was the First Lady of a Slave State--Arkansas. So how does that work if you are depending on the white South?
Friday, April 29, 2011
America The Exceptional--Kochistan
Steve Benen at Washington Monthy justed noted that Mitt Romney, who has refused to be on the stage with other Republican contenders so far, has agreed to kiss the Koch Brothers' ring at the Presidential Summit on Spending and Job Creation, which is funded by the crime family. Steve notes that the Romney family has received Koch funding before. Mitt should remember what happened to the first Mormon who wanted to run for President in 1848. The sect's founder Joseph Smith ended up shot in an Illinois jell cell. He may be lured to New Hampshire by Koch assassins. Joining the Mitt will be Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann.
Remember I wrote it first that Glenn Beck was the stalking horse of the Mormon candidacy of Mitt Romney. Beck has recently attacked Mike Huckabee as a "progressive" Republican or "someone like John McCain" who increases the size of government and has increased taxes while Governor of Arkansas. This odd spat got played out with Huckabee blasting back but the tenor of it was so odd as to reveal Beck's other agenda.
Meanwhile Newt and his lovely Bride Calixto or Calista will appear in their new film "American Exceptionalism", which will be a call to arms to reassert America's special nature--being owned by the Koch Brothers. Newt keeps cancelling appearances at candidate fora because he can't quite wrap up his business empire. He still has too many trinkets to sell.
Tim Pawlenty is really on a roll. After declaring that Planned Parenthood practices euthanasia because they operate in areas serving the poor, He burst on the scene at the NRA to declare that President Obama doesn't understand America and that we are an exceptional country. Wayne LaPierre told his fanatically member that the presidential election will be determined by states with Big Guns and hunting and that Obama will lose. (Of course, Obama never did confiscate the guns as conservatives promised.)
This will be the theme for the foreign policy section of the Republicans in 2012. Charles Krauthammer put teeth in this today with op-ed in the Washington Post by blasting President Obama's lead from behind strategy. He argues that Obama lacks a doctrine--Gee, we have already benefited from so many doctrines--has bowed to the inevitable emergence of China as the world leader and acts quietly because Obama believes the world hates us. As Charles pounds his chest, the world has always hated us and the Chinese are just a regional power. Watch this become a major thread in the arguments leading up to 2012.
Karl Rove is hurt saying that President Obama is waging a dirty campaign for re-election. I guess unlike Karl's genteel Swift Boater effort against John Kerry. No one yet has mentioned that , despite Rove's contention then that the Swift Boaters were not linked to the Bush campaign, that all those who bankrolled the effort were the first donors to underwrite Rove's mysterious Crossroads (Crosshairs) America. Rove said that it was Obama's fault that birtherism took over the Republican party, that the President had played rope-a-dope and made the GOP seem wacky. Of course, Rove says this was all to distract everyone from the serious problems the country has. Which is the perfect inverse of what President Obama said that his release of his birth certificate can allow us to get back to those issues. It looks like Rove is making a comeback. Here I agree with the Donald that Rove should retire.
Conservative Human Events is reporting what I have been noting that Mike Huckabee, the frontrunner for 2012, is sending signals he will not run. He has been avoiding all the candidate fora and telling former supporters to find other candidates. But I'm not sure that he will be allowed to cop out because if Romney is wounded by Romneycare, then if Huckabee doesn't run, Charles Koch will force David to come out and say he's been Born-Again. The Billionaire Club must secured the allegiance of the Religious Right if their plan for the final conquest of America is to succeed.
Inside the Beltway strategists are now talking up a Romney-Petraeus ticket. The one spoilsport to this seems to be Marc Thiessen who says that Petraeus is soft on torture--i.e. he prohibits torture. The problem with this scenario is that no one else in America believes the Iraq was worthwhile. It's not like Ike defeating Hitler. But I was at a Republican event last week and they really still believe in the Iraq war. It was stunning. They glowed when they talked about it. So Petraeus is their hero. What happens when they find out he's a self-described Rockefeller Republican?
We have only about two weeks to go until the world ends so we should expect alot of our religious friends to be "raptured", which would do wonders for our political system.
Remember I wrote it first that Glenn Beck was the stalking horse of the Mormon candidacy of Mitt Romney. Beck has recently attacked Mike Huckabee as a "progressive" Republican or "someone like John McCain" who increases the size of government and has increased taxes while Governor of Arkansas. This odd spat got played out with Huckabee blasting back but the tenor of it was so odd as to reveal Beck's other agenda.
Meanwhile Newt and his lovely Bride Calixto or Calista will appear in their new film "American Exceptionalism", which will be a call to arms to reassert America's special nature--being owned by the Koch Brothers. Newt keeps cancelling appearances at candidate fora because he can't quite wrap up his business empire. He still has too many trinkets to sell.
Tim Pawlenty is really on a roll. After declaring that Planned Parenthood practices euthanasia because they operate in areas serving the poor, He burst on the scene at the NRA to declare that President Obama doesn't understand America and that we are an exceptional country. Wayne LaPierre told his fanatically member that the presidential election will be determined by states with Big Guns and hunting and that Obama will lose. (Of course, Obama never did confiscate the guns as conservatives promised.)
This will be the theme for the foreign policy section of the Republicans in 2012. Charles Krauthammer put teeth in this today with op-ed in the Washington Post by blasting President Obama's lead from behind strategy. He argues that Obama lacks a doctrine--Gee, we have already benefited from so many doctrines--has bowed to the inevitable emergence of China as the world leader and acts quietly because Obama believes the world hates us. As Charles pounds his chest, the world has always hated us and the Chinese are just a regional power. Watch this become a major thread in the arguments leading up to 2012.
Karl Rove is hurt saying that President Obama is waging a dirty campaign for re-election. I guess unlike Karl's genteel Swift Boater effort against John Kerry. No one yet has mentioned that , despite Rove's contention then that the Swift Boaters were not linked to the Bush campaign, that all those who bankrolled the effort were the first donors to underwrite Rove's mysterious Crossroads (Crosshairs) America. Rove said that it was Obama's fault that birtherism took over the Republican party, that the President had played rope-a-dope and made the GOP seem wacky. Of course, Rove says this was all to distract everyone from the serious problems the country has. Which is the perfect inverse of what President Obama said that his release of his birth certificate can allow us to get back to those issues. It looks like Rove is making a comeback. Here I agree with the Donald that Rove should retire.
Conservative Human Events is reporting what I have been noting that Mike Huckabee, the frontrunner for 2012, is sending signals he will not run. He has been avoiding all the candidate fora and telling former supporters to find other candidates. But I'm not sure that he will be allowed to cop out because if Romney is wounded by Romneycare, then if Huckabee doesn't run, Charles Koch will force David to come out and say he's been Born-Again. The Billionaire Club must secured the allegiance of the Religious Right if their plan for the final conquest of America is to succeed.
Inside the Beltway strategists are now talking up a Romney-Petraeus ticket. The one spoilsport to this seems to be Marc Thiessen who says that Petraeus is soft on torture--i.e. he prohibits torture. The problem with this scenario is that no one else in America believes the Iraq was worthwhile. It's not like Ike defeating Hitler. But I was at a Republican event last week and they really still believe in the Iraq war. It was stunning. They glowed when they talked about it. So Petraeus is their hero. What happens when they find out he's a self-described Rockefeller Republican?
We have only about two weeks to go until the world ends so we should expect alot of our religious friends to be "raptured", which would do wonders for our political system.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Clearing the Desk of Debris
Washington is actually pleasant with Congress out of session.
The Republicans are scurrying around to meet tomorrow to figure out how to minimize the damage from their votes for the Ryan Budget Plan. Apparently, word has come from the hustings that the natives are angry with plans to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid. The plan of hoping that the geezers are so selfish they won't mind as long as they got theirs apparently hasn't succeeded. It's the geezers who know what the Republicans are planning and don't like it.
Gary Bauer, one-time Christian Right candidate for President,says that everyone should get down on their knees and be thankful America is a Christian nation.
Gordon Robertson, son of, says that since President Obama was raised as a Muslim (he was not), he could be enlisted to help "other" Muslims to convert to Christianity.
Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Conference says that people who question where Obama was born or whether he is a Muslim are "nuts and emotionally unbalanced". I'm surprised he came out that strongly since he opposes President Obama.
Congresscritter Allan West, who last week described President Obama as a low-life socialist organizer says that "liberal women are neutering American males." I'll have to ask my liberal wife whether that's true.
Haley Barbour called it quits in the presidential race. After setting up the organizational apparatus, Haley decided that he didn't have the fire in the belly. I never thought he could make a strong run of it because of his drawl. But Haley had the organizational genius to mount a credible campaign as well as the access to money from his lobbying days. GOP observers claim this lets Mitch Daniels enter the race as he didn't want to run against his friend.
As for Mitch, whom the Beltway pundits see as representing a true believer on deficits, his strength is also his weakness. Remember he was the OMB director who blew Clinton's surplus. He was one of three people credited by President Bush for the tax-cuts which created the road to nowhere. And Daniels under-estimated the cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars by about---$2 trillion. Not the greatest advertisement for fiscal responsibility.
Mitt Romney gets loopier by the minute. The other year he gave a foreign policy speech at Heritage where he argued for steep increases in defense spending and almost declared war on China. Then in his hardback campaign book, he praised President Obama's stimulus package; then in the paperback he re-wrote these passages to blast it as having created no jobs--saved or created about 3 million. But who's counting? Today,he blasted President Obama for engaging in the largest "peacetime" spending binge in American history. His whole op-ed made it seem America was not active in any war--let alone 3 hot ones. These are not the words of an adroit politician. The words "Empty Suit" rapidly come to mind.
Meanwhile, the new darling of Fox News, the Christian Right and the teabaggers, Donald Trump says that President Obama wasn't qualified to attend Ivy League Schools. What are the odds the Donald's investigators will bill him for going to the Hall of Records in Hawaii to read the same birth certificate as the AP reporter. Donald also says that Bill Ayers wrote "Dreams of my Father", another right-wing favorite. Bill Ayers'comment is "I hope you enjoy your time in the Twilight Zone." But the Donald has the support of Meghan McCain and is going to Vegas--naturally--to test how he does with the GOP there.
Meanwhile, more on Fox News' exclusive that President Obama is waging a war against Easter. Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly has followed this all day, including the poor White House press officer answering questions about this. Apparently, it's not only President George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan never signed proclamations about Easter but no President in modern history has. And I am sure if you really wanted to probably none have. Except maybe the Thomas Jefferson of David Barton's revisionist dreams.
Meanwhile, reporters are going to have their job cut out for them when covering Mike Huckabee. Apparently, he has destroyed all records of his time as governor of Arkansas and his sermons while a Baptist preacher. Some note he has very delicate problems with explaining away some of his sons "illegal" activity. My advice--don't run. Plus, observers note the jovial bass-player is personally nasty and quick to anger.
I watched President Obama's campaign manager talk about his 2012 campaign plans. A few problems I see. First, the Republicans now have $120 million in the bank from undisclosed corporate donors. We know the Koch Brothers have pledged $66 million. And that's only now so early in the campaign cycle. The second is that like 2008 the Obama campaign intends to expand the voter base. It was wonderful in 2008 when they captured two-thirds of new voters. But after the 2010 mid-terms, several states are imposing voter suppression laws, particularly aimed at killing off the first -time voter. Basically the strategy of getting more younger voters, Hispanic and minorities will run up against the new voter suppression strategies. And the third, if you look at the map behind him on the video, many of the blue states are now purple, which is another negative factor. But followers of President Obama on Facebook now exceed 1 million. Early in the 2008 campaign, he topped this by a small amount.
The Republicans are scurrying around to meet tomorrow to figure out how to minimize the damage from their votes for the Ryan Budget Plan. Apparently, word has come from the hustings that the natives are angry with plans to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid. The plan of hoping that the geezers are so selfish they won't mind as long as they got theirs apparently hasn't succeeded. It's the geezers who know what the Republicans are planning and don't like it.
Gary Bauer, one-time Christian Right candidate for President,says that everyone should get down on their knees and be thankful America is a Christian nation.
Gordon Robertson, son of, says that since President Obama was raised as a Muslim (he was not), he could be enlisted to help "other" Muslims to convert to Christianity.
Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Conference says that people who question where Obama was born or whether he is a Muslim are "nuts and emotionally unbalanced". I'm surprised he came out that strongly since he opposes President Obama.
Congresscritter Allan West, who last week described President Obama as a low-life socialist organizer says that "liberal women are neutering American males." I'll have to ask my liberal wife whether that's true.
Haley Barbour called it quits in the presidential race. After setting up the organizational apparatus, Haley decided that he didn't have the fire in the belly. I never thought he could make a strong run of it because of his drawl. But Haley had the organizational genius to mount a credible campaign as well as the access to money from his lobbying days. GOP observers claim this lets Mitch Daniels enter the race as he didn't want to run against his friend.
As for Mitch, whom the Beltway pundits see as representing a true believer on deficits, his strength is also his weakness. Remember he was the OMB director who blew Clinton's surplus. He was one of three people credited by President Bush for the tax-cuts which created the road to nowhere. And Daniels under-estimated the cost of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars by about---$2 trillion. Not the greatest advertisement for fiscal responsibility.
Mitt Romney gets loopier by the minute. The other year he gave a foreign policy speech at Heritage where he argued for steep increases in defense spending and almost declared war on China. Then in his hardback campaign book, he praised President Obama's stimulus package; then in the paperback he re-wrote these passages to blast it as having created no jobs--saved or created about 3 million. But who's counting? Today,he blasted President Obama for engaging in the largest "peacetime" spending binge in American history. His whole op-ed made it seem America was not active in any war--let alone 3 hot ones. These are not the words of an adroit politician. The words "Empty Suit" rapidly come to mind.
Meanwhile, the new darling of Fox News, the Christian Right and the teabaggers, Donald Trump says that President Obama wasn't qualified to attend Ivy League Schools. What are the odds the Donald's investigators will bill him for going to the Hall of Records in Hawaii to read the same birth certificate as the AP reporter. Donald also says that Bill Ayers wrote "Dreams of my Father", another right-wing favorite. Bill Ayers'comment is "I hope you enjoy your time in the Twilight Zone." But the Donald has the support of Meghan McCain and is going to Vegas--naturally--to test how he does with the GOP there.
Meanwhile, more on Fox News' exclusive that President Obama is waging a war against Easter. Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly has followed this all day, including the poor White House press officer answering questions about this. Apparently, it's not only President George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan never signed proclamations about Easter but no President in modern history has. And I am sure if you really wanted to probably none have. Except maybe the Thomas Jefferson of David Barton's revisionist dreams.
Meanwhile, reporters are going to have their job cut out for them when covering Mike Huckabee. Apparently, he has destroyed all records of his time as governor of Arkansas and his sermons while a Baptist preacher. Some note he has very delicate problems with explaining away some of his sons "illegal" activity. My advice--don't run. Plus, observers note the jovial bass-player is personally nasty and quick to anger.
I watched President Obama's campaign manager talk about his 2012 campaign plans. A few problems I see. First, the Republicans now have $120 million in the bank from undisclosed corporate donors. We know the Koch Brothers have pledged $66 million. And that's only now so early in the campaign cycle. The second is that like 2008 the Obama campaign intends to expand the voter base. It was wonderful in 2008 when they captured two-thirds of new voters. But after the 2010 mid-terms, several states are imposing voter suppression laws, particularly aimed at killing off the first -time voter. Basically the strategy of getting more younger voters, Hispanic and minorities will run up against the new voter suppression strategies. And the third, if you look at the map behind him on the video, many of the blue states are now purple, which is another negative factor. But followers of President Obama on Facebook now exceed 1 million. Early in the 2008 campaign, he topped this by a small amount.
Strange Easter Messages from the Religious Right
Easter is the most joyous holiday of the Christian faith. Usually, Easter sermons are about the story of resurrection, redemption and hope. Christmas had a rockier start because the Jerusalem Church never taught that Jesus was born of a virgin. That church was led by Jesus brother James, who said that someone misinterpreted Isaiah. And maybe he would know. But Easter is the first holiday of Christianity celebrated very shortly after the crufixtion and resurrection story.
But if you want to know why young people are running away from Christianity, you don't have to look farther than the Religious Right in this country, perhaps the most harmful factor to any religious faith in our society. Far outstripping any secular temptations.
It amazes me that none of these people ever consider biblical injunctions against "bearing false witness."
Here's Franklin Graham, son of Billy, who appears on television to say he was unsure whether President Obama is an American. No wonder his father kept him out of the meeting with the President.
Then we have Mike Huckabee . a former Baptist minister, attacked Planned Parenthood, calling it Planned Barrenhood and coming out against contraception. Forget abortion, let's do away with contraception now. For investigative reporters, it is curious that all of Huckabee's sermons vanished in a church fire as well as thousands of files on hard drives when he was governor.
Pat Robertson said that progressives want straight women to "abortion their babies" to "put lesbians on a level playing field."
Rod Parsley simply came out to say that Planned Parenthood is leading an "onslaught of evil". It is the "carefully calculated conspiracy of fallen angels called demon spirits."
When the Alan Grumacher Institute found that 98% of Catholic women use contraception, the Catholic Church attacked Alan Grumacher, someone who has been dead for 75 years.
Then we have Newt Gingrich speaking at John Hagee's Cornerstone Chuch. First, Newt is a newly minted Catholic and here he is talking to a violently anti-Catholic preacher, so anti-Catholic that John McCain had to denounce the man's endorsement of his candidacy. Newt repeated his famous claim..." by the time my grandchildren are my age they will be in a secular atheist country, politically dominated by radical Islamists." You have to catch how authoritatively he says this on www.rightwatch.com
Newt should be aware that thousands of years of analysis of Jesus' sayings have come down to the conclusion he was absolutely against divorce and he really meant it when he said a rich person couldn't get into heaven.
Pseudo-Christian, pseudo-historian David Barton said on Easter week that Obama--not President Obama--has " a worldview that is devoid of God". I guess when he reads Reinhold Neihbur he omits all references to God. Obama is a secularist, according to Barton, who wants to get rid of "In God We Trust" as the national slogan. Since Eisenhower bowed to fundamentalist pressure in the first place in 1952, maybe it is time to get rid of it. Ungrateful bums.
James Dobson says that God prevailed "over the "forces of hell" to save the National Day of Prayer. He is referring to the unanimous Seventh Circuit Court having upheld its constitutionality. He then went on to bemoan Franklin Graham not being allowed to preside over the Pentagon's Day of Prayer. It was because Franklin Graham rather gratuitously attacked Islam, while our armed forces are fighting in these countries.
Boy, what a joyful faith! Where do I sign up? Oh, the Easter Bunny came to the United States from the German immigrants in Pennsylvania. A Bunny laying eggs was a throwback to a German fertility cult. Yes, it has a pagan origin.
But if you want to know why young people are running away from Christianity, you don't have to look farther than the Religious Right in this country, perhaps the most harmful factor to any religious faith in our society. Far outstripping any secular temptations.
It amazes me that none of these people ever consider biblical injunctions against "bearing false witness."
Here's Franklin Graham, son of Billy, who appears on television to say he was unsure whether President Obama is an American. No wonder his father kept him out of the meeting with the President.
Then we have Mike Huckabee . a former Baptist minister, attacked Planned Parenthood, calling it Planned Barrenhood and coming out against contraception. Forget abortion, let's do away with contraception now. For investigative reporters, it is curious that all of Huckabee's sermons vanished in a church fire as well as thousands of files on hard drives when he was governor.
Pat Robertson said that progressives want straight women to "abortion their babies" to "put lesbians on a level playing field."
Rod Parsley simply came out to say that Planned Parenthood is leading an "onslaught of evil". It is the "carefully calculated conspiracy of fallen angels called demon spirits."
When the Alan Grumacher Institute found that 98% of Catholic women use contraception, the Catholic Church attacked Alan Grumacher, someone who has been dead for 75 years.
Then we have Newt Gingrich speaking at John Hagee's Cornerstone Chuch. First, Newt is a newly minted Catholic and here he is talking to a violently anti-Catholic preacher, so anti-Catholic that John McCain had to denounce the man's endorsement of his candidacy. Newt repeated his famous claim..." by the time my grandchildren are my age they will be in a secular atheist country, politically dominated by radical Islamists." You have to catch how authoritatively he says this on www.rightwatch.com
Newt should be aware that thousands of years of analysis of Jesus' sayings have come down to the conclusion he was absolutely against divorce and he really meant it when he said a rich person couldn't get into heaven.
Pseudo-Christian, pseudo-historian David Barton said on Easter week that Obama--not President Obama--has " a worldview that is devoid of God". I guess when he reads Reinhold Neihbur he omits all references to God. Obama is a secularist, according to Barton, who wants to get rid of "In God We Trust" as the national slogan. Since Eisenhower bowed to fundamentalist pressure in the first place in 1952, maybe it is time to get rid of it. Ungrateful bums.
James Dobson says that God prevailed "over the "forces of hell" to save the National Day of Prayer. He is referring to the unanimous Seventh Circuit Court having upheld its constitutionality. He then went on to bemoan Franklin Graham not being allowed to preside over the Pentagon's Day of Prayer. It was because Franklin Graham rather gratuitously attacked Islam, while our armed forces are fighting in these countries.
Boy, what a joyful faith! Where do I sign up? Oh, the Easter Bunny came to the United States from the German immigrants in Pennsylvania. A Bunny laying eggs was a throwback to a German fertility cult. Yes, it has a pagan origin.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Race for 2012--Continued
Charlie Cook has come out saying that the Republicans will hold the House in 2012 and take back the Senate. But he said that his discussions with top Republican strategists indicate that President Obama will win re-election. With a wing-nut Congress that would be interesting if not absurd. James Carville's Democracy Corps has polled and found that voters have buyers' remorse and that GOP freshmen in the House are so vulnerable that the Democrats have a chance to win back the House. Others dispute this saying that redistricting totally favors the Republicans and that buyers' remorse may not turn into votes.
A Pew Poll shows that President Obama beats the generic Republican rather handily and that specific Republican names don't help much either. Public Policy Polling of swing states show Obama winning his states but not with some of the large margins he experienced in 2008. That's one of the reasons that Republican strategists believe they will have a lock on Congress because the Presidential coat-tails will not be so long. The actions of the Midwest Republican Governors have swung the region's direction back to the Democrats and may help save a few Senate seats.
One of the fascinating things to observe is that the approval ratings of the most visible Republican potential candidates have seriously dropped since 2009. The suggestion is that the more people know them the less they like them. I'm not one of those who believes this race is totally wide open as some have suggested. Basically, I believe it is a Huckabee versus Romney contest at this point.
For the first time, Gallup has Mike Huckabee taking the lead over Mitt Romney. The results of the full poll are fascinating.
19% Mike Huckabee
15% Mitt Romney
12% Sarah Palin
10% Newt Gingrich
6% Ron Paul
5% Michelle Bachmann
4% Mitch Daniels
2% Haley Barbour
2% Rick Santorum
2% Jon Huntsman
2% Gary Johnson
1% Donald Trump
Notice the absence of Tim Pawlenty, who announced his exploratory committee this week. Evangelical Christian Tim Pawlenty just finished his stint as Governor of Minnesota, creating the largest deficit in their history. Pawlenty is known among hunters for gut-shooting a deer and letting his aide clean up after him because he had to go to a fund-raiser.
People claims that Haley Barbour has a good shot because he is well-known for his fund-raising and his ability to exploit every loophole in campaign finance laws. Barbour has been out in Iowa this week pledging to reinstate DADT to avoid the battlefield dangers of an "amourous mindset." The return of DADT has been pledged by Gingrich,Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty.
Mitt Romney facing criticism for his Romneycare program in Massachusetts is going to stay away from Iowa because his handlers fear he will be ambushed by the social conservatives, who dominate the Caucus. He claims he will be creating a strategy that focuses on New Hampshire, Nevada and Florida. However, he will be risking his front-runner status if he stays away from too many primaries.
If there is an emerging pattern to the Republican race, it is that it will be fought over "values" issues and not the economy. With House Republicans and Governors sabotaging the recovery, they are betting that a sour economy will doom President Obama. However, they risk the voters actually waking up and discovering the implications of their actions by then.
The key component of the Republican strategy is the ability to raise astronomical sums of money from people like the Koch Brothers and Rove's billionaire donors to overwhelm the Democrats. The second part is being implemented by the Republican Governors, who are implementing Voter ID laws that will dramatically affect the ability of the young,minorities and the poor to vote. Republicans are hoping they can suppress these key constituencies, who vote overwhelming for Democrats but more importantly for President Obama. A big liability for Republicans is the new census figure showing that Hispanics have grown to 50 million people and are now the largest minority in the country. With the immigration laws proposed by the Republicans in over two dozen states,their one-time dream of capturing the Hispanic vote has faded.
The most interesting new possible candidate is Donald Trump. Trump epitomizes Republican economics at this point in time. Trump inherited a fortune from his father, leveraged enormous debt from it, declared bankruptcy several times but paid 10cents on the dollar, each time increasing his wealth, and actually managed to let a casino go bankrupt. In many ways, he is the most suitable candidate of them all.
A Pew Poll shows that President Obama beats the generic Republican rather handily and that specific Republican names don't help much either. Public Policy Polling of swing states show Obama winning his states but not with some of the large margins he experienced in 2008. That's one of the reasons that Republican strategists believe they will have a lock on Congress because the Presidential coat-tails will not be so long. The actions of the Midwest Republican Governors have swung the region's direction back to the Democrats and may help save a few Senate seats.
One of the fascinating things to observe is that the approval ratings of the most visible Republican potential candidates have seriously dropped since 2009. The suggestion is that the more people know them the less they like them. I'm not one of those who believes this race is totally wide open as some have suggested. Basically, I believe it is a Huckabee versus Romney contest at this point.
For the first time, Gallup has Mike Huckabee taking the lead over Mitt Romney. The results of the full poll are fascinating.
19% Mike Huckabee
15% Mitt Romney
12% Sarah Palin
10% Newt Gingrich
6% Ron Paul
5% Michelle Bachmann
4% Mitch Daniels
2% Haley Barbour
2% Rick Santorum
2% Jon Huntsman
2% Gary Johnson
1% Donald Trump
Notice the absence of Tim Pawlenty, who announced his exploratory committee this week. Evangelical Christian Tim Pawlenty just finished his stint as Governor of Minnesota, creating the largest deficit in their history. Pawlenty is known among hunters for gut-shooting a deer and letting his aide clean up after him because he had to go to a fund-raiser.
People claims that Haley Barbour has a good shot because he is well-known for his fund-raising and his ability to exploit every loophole in campaign finance laws. Barbour has been out in Iowa this week pledging to reinstate DADT to avoid the battlefield dangers of an "amourous mindset." The return of DADT has been pledged by Gingrich,Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty.
Mitt Romney facing criticism for his Romneycare program in Massachusetts is going to stay away from Iowa because his handlers fear he will be ambushed by the social conservatives, who dominate the Caucus. He claims he will be creating a strategy that focuses on New Hampshire, Nevada and Florida. However, he will be risking his front-runner status if he stays away from too many primaries.
If there is an emerging pattern to the Republican race, it is that it will be fought over "values" issues and not the economy. With House Republicans and Governors sabotaging the recovery, they are betting that a sour economy will doom President Obama. However, they risk the voters actually waking up and discovering the implications of their actions by then.
The key component of the Republican strategy is the ability to raise astronomical sums of money from people like the Koch Brothers and Rove's billionaire donors to overwhelm the Democrats. The second part is being implemented by the Republican Governors, who are implementing Voter ID laws that will dramatically affect the ability of the young,minorities and the poor to vote. Republicans are hoping they can suppress these key constituencies, who vote overwhelming for Democrats but more importantly for President Obama. A big liability for Republicans is the new census figure showing that Hispanics have grown to 50 million people and are now the largest minority in the country. With the immigration laws proposed by the Republicans in over two dozen states,their one-time dream of capturing the Hispanic vote has faded.
The most interesting new possible candidate is Donald Trump. Trump epitomizes Republican economics at this point in time. Trump inherited a fortune from his father, leveraged enormous debt from it, declared bankruptcy several times but paid 10cents on the dollar, each time increasing his wealth, and actually managed to let a casino go bankrupt. In many ways, he is the most suitable candidate of them all.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Enter The Floorwalker
With Newt now six to eight weeks away from really declaring whether he will run for the nomination, Mitt Romney has now raised his head. Yesterday the Los Angeles Times had a piece about the many faces of Romney and whether we can choose one that is winning. The New York Times today obligingly reported that Romney feels his ticket to ride is on "Job creation". Worth some $140 million, Mitt Romney has had to overcome his usual wooden personality and appearance. His new strategy is an old one in Republican circles--create the New Romney. Like Nixon appearing on Laugh-In and saying "Sock It To Me", Romney has appeared on all the talk shows and comedy venues with his own lines and jokes to appear more human at the age of 65.
His latest gambit is to refer to Obama's Misery Index. Remember that old game during the 1980 elections? Carter had a misery index around 20, combining inflation and unemployment. So I guess Obama's is 8.9 with little inflation. As unemployment goes down, the index should remain about the same with increases in inflation. An almost perfect misery index would be 7--4.5 unemployment and about 2.5% inflation. Somethng tells me that this campaign stunt by Romney won't last long because someone is going to get wise to the phoney nature of the enterprise. It was clever with about 15% inflation but it doesn't work otherwise.
The other hurdle, which remains hidden right now, for Romney is to demonstrate he actually created jobs. He attacks Obama as "not having a clue about creating job" and mocks his new Jobs Council, which he would not need because he "knows" how to create jobs. But how accurate is that? He's made his fortune as a partner of Bains Investment Funds. I recall his speciality was corporate takeovers, which always led to massive layoffs to increase the company's profitability. Perhaps I'm wrong but I've never heard of Romney as a great job creator.
I think Romney's big Achilles heel in the Midwest is his opposition to bailing out the auto industry. When it comes time for the general election, I hope the Obama people run the videos of Romney denouncing the auto bailout night and day. People always say Romney has a lock on Michigan because his father was a well-liked Governor there but times may have changed.
Strangely enough, I think Romney will face today greater opposition because he is a Mormon. Polls still show Americans are less likely to vote for a Mormon than a black or a Jew as President. I happen to think anti-Mormon thinking is higher today than when his father ran for the Republican nomination in 1968. The reason for this is the rise of fundamentalist Christians after the Roe v. Wade case and their decades long quest to secure hegemony over the Republican Party. Mitt has established committees early on to act as liaison with evangelicals but given the teabaggers syndrome I still think this will be a huge hurdle to get over.
His advantage is that with his glossy black hair he doesn't look 65, unlike the grey visaged Newt. He also isn't unpleasant but when he tries to get tough it looks ugly.
What will be interesting is to see who Romney pretends he is. As a potential vice-president in 2008,suburban,college-educated Republicans began to lean toward McCain because they thought Romney knew about economics and was moderate. Once McCain went with Palin, these people were lost to the GOP. That can't fly with the Republicans today who have gone farther right than even Ronald Reagan. So what will be fascinating is to watch how Romney tries to defend his pro-choice position from his Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy and his Romneycare, which served as the model for the Obama Administration's healthcare reform. The problem with a Romney is that he is on video with positions that are diametrically opposed to each other. How does he square it? And does it matter when Republicans only want to win?
When your biggest financial backer is named Cock and your most visible leader is Boner, then why be surprise when someone is now named the Vibrator. George Will opened this can of worms by saying that the Republican candidates are vibrating weirdness and the biggest Vibrator was Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has tried to dig himself out of his week-long attacks on Obama's unAmericanness--first claiming he was raised in Kenya and had an anti-imperialist point of view, then saying he grew up near Madrassas and not Rotary Clubs. Huckabee's defense to O'Reilly was priceless--only the Left were interested in these statements. Obviously only the Left believe Obama was born in Hawaii and played on an all-state basketball team. Chris Matthews finally had enough of this by blasting Newt, Huckabee and Beck for being anti-American in their assertions. Matthews pointed out how typically American was Obama and noted he had most eloquent defense of American exceptionalism--"Only in America could my story ever happen."
But if leading candidates for a once major party still are slinging birther nonsense,the case is lost with a significant portion of the population. The half-governor of Alaska denounced Obama this week as inexperienced. I guess compared to her deep experience. This will be the meme during the primary season. Romney has stated he personally likes Obama but that the President doesn't have a clue as to the economy.
Meanwhile, the recovery is the fastest since the days of----drumbeat--Ike. It's strange how almost all the statistics for the recovery, the percentage of government employees per GDP and tax rates all go back to Eisenhower. It's beginning to sound like Hilary Clinton's campaign which waxed nostalgic about the Eisenhower era.
This week Barack Obama revved up his money-raising machine, which declares as their goal some $1 billion. But more ominously there is another phenomenon--22 states are trying to pass stricter laws on so-called voter fraud. The whole Wisconsin disaster started with massive voter suppression campaigns that brought Walker to power. The aim of these states is to suppress the votes of the young, the black and the Hispanics. All of them are aimed at Obama and not any real problem. The problem in the voter area has to do with voter registration and not those who cast the votes. This is a struggle removed from center stage and why you see all the nonsense about the New Black Panthers and the drumbeat of stories on the Right about so-called voter fraud. The majority of teabaggers honestly believe that President Obama came to power because of ACORN's efforts at voter registration. The same group had no problem with the 2000 elections.
A better index of the political fate of the country may be the Gallup Poll printed in today' New York Times about where the happiest people are--those that smile the most. It is bummer city throughout the South and grim through the key swing states in the Midwest. Even in Maine, it's happy from Portland to Bath in the south coast but dark everywhere else. Organizing for America might be better off using the Gallup happiness map for their 2012 plans.
His latest gambit is to refer to Obama's Misery Index. Remember that old game during the 1980 elections? Carter had a misery index around 20, combining inflation and unemployment. So I guess Obama's is 8.9 with little inflation. As unemployment goes down, the index should remain about the same with increases in inflation. An almost perfect misery index would be 7--4.5 unemployment and about 2.5% inflation. Somethng tells me that this campaign stunt by Romney won't last long because someone is going to get wise to the phoney nature of the enterprise. It was clever with about 15% inflation but it doesn't work otherwise.
The other hurdle, which remains hidden right now, for Romney is to demonstrate he actually created jobs. He attacks Obama as "not having a clue about creating job" and mocks his new Jobs Council, which he would not need because he "knows" how to create jobs. But how accurate is that? He's made his fortune as a partner of Bains Investment Funds. I recall his speciality was corporate takeovers, which always led to massive layoffs to increase the company's profitability. Perhaps I'm wrong but I've never heard of Romney as a great job creator.
I think Romney's big Achilles heel in the Midwest is his opposition to bailing out the auto industry. When it comes time for the general election, I hope the Obama people run the videos of Romney denouncing the auto bailout night and day. People always say Romney has a lock on Michigan because his father was a well-liked Governor there but times may have changed.
Strangely enough, I think Romney will face today greater opposition because he is a Mormon. Polls still show Americans are less likely to vote for a Mormon than a black or a Jew as President. I happen to think anti-Mormon thinking is higher today than when his father ran for the Republican nomination in 1968. The reason for this is the rise of fundamentalist Christians after the Roe v. Wade case and their decades long quest to secure hegemony over the Republican Party. Mitt has established committees early on to act as liaison with evangelicals but given the teabaggers syndrome I still think this will be a huge hurdle to get over.
His advantage is that with his glossy black hair he doesn't look 65, unlike the grey visaged Newt. He also isn't unpleasant but when he tries to get tough it looks ugly.
What will be interesting is to see who Romney pretends he is. As a potential vice-president in 2008,suburban,college-educated Republicans began to lean toward McCain because they thought Romney knew about economics and was moderate. Once McCain went with Palin, these people were lost to the GOP. That can't fly with the Republicans today who have gone farther right than even Ronald Reagan. So what will be fascinating is to watch how Romney tries to defend his pro-choice position from his Senate campaign against Ted Kennedy and his Romneycare, which served as the model for the Obama Administration's healthcare reform. The problem with a Romney is that he is on video with positions that are diametrically opposed to each other. How does he square it? And does it matter when Republicans only want to win?
When your biggest financial backer is named Cock and your most visible leader is Boner, then why be surprise when someone is now named the Vibrator. George Will opened this can of worms by saying that the Republican candidates are vibrating weirdness and the biggest Vibrator was Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has tried to dig himself out of his week-long attacks on Obama's unAmericanness--first claiming he was raised in Kenya and had an anti-imperialist point of view, then saying he grew up near Madrassas and not Rotary Clubs. Huckabee's defense to O'Reilly was priceless--only the Left were interested in these statements. Obviously only the Left believe Obama was born in Hawaii and played on an all-state basketball team. Chris Matthews finally had enough of this by blasting Newt, Huckabee and Beck for being anti-American in their assertions. Matthews pointed out how typically American was Obama and noted he had most eloquent defense of American exceptionalism--"Only in America could my story ever happen."
But if leading candidates for a once major party still are slinging birther nonsense,the case is lost with a significant portion of the population. The half-governor of Alaska denounced Obama this week as inexperienced. I guess compared to her deep experience. This will be the meme during the primary season. Romney has stated he personally likes Obama but that the President doesn't have a clue as to the economy.
Meanwhile, the recovery is the fastest since the days of----drumbeat--Ike. It's strange how almost all the statistics for the recovery, the percentage of government employees per GDP and tax rates all go back to Eisenhower. It's beginning to sound like Hilary Clinton's campaign which waxed nostalgic about the Eisenhower era.
This week Barack Obama revved up his money-raising machine, which declares as their goal some $1 billion. But more ominously there is another phenomenon--22 states are trying to pass stricter laws on so-called voter fraud. The whole Wisconsin disaster started with massive voter suppression campaigns that brought Walker to power. The aim of these states is to suppress the votes of the young, the black and the Hispanics. All of them are aimed at Obama and not any real problem. The problem in the voter area has to do with voter registration and not those who cast the votes. This is a struggle removed from center stage and why you see all the nonsense about the New Black Panthers and the drumbeat of stories on the Right about so-called voter fraud. The majority of teabaggers honestly believe that President Obama came to power because of ACORN's efforts at voter registration. The same group had no problem with the 2000 elections.
A better index of the political fate of the country may be the Gallup Poll printed in today' New York Times about where the happiest people are--those that smile the most. It is bummer city throughout the South and grim through the key swing states in the Midwest. Even in Maine, it's happy from Portland to Bath in the south coast but dark everywhere else. Organizing for America might be better off using the Gallup happiness map for their 2012 plans.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
My Cat Is Now Elderly
says the vet. The reason this is relevant is that Athena was not alive when Newt Gingrich held a political position. In fact, I had all my teeth and was in my forties then.
Have we had someone so far removed from their political time ever make a comeback? Richard Nixon lost the governorship of California in 1962 and then came back with the New Nixon in 1968--eight years after he had lost the presidency to JFK. John McCain lost the GOP nomination to George W. Bush in 2000 and came back in 2008 but he had retained his seat in the Senate. Harold Stassen ran every four years after he stepped down as Governor. The reason he did this was to receive an annual stipend from the Johnson Wax family, which depended on his constant presidential campaign.
Thrice-married Gingrich has hinted at running for President ever since he resigned as Speaker of the House. Every time his various business entanglements have thwarted his plans. As I wrote, he would run this year if the Republicans re-took the House. But even now his little business empire is holding him up. Today was to be the announcement of his setting up his exploratory committee. But his spokespeople have constantly walked this back.Apparently,Newt doesn't have his act together to file the necessary papers with the FEC. So now they are saying he is "exploring" the possibility of running.
The rumor triggered an immediate reaction from Tom Coburn,who declared that Gingrich was the smartest person he has ever met but that he has the morals and character of an ally-cat. Coburn served in the House during Newt's speakership and remembers the ethics and sex scandals. Unfortunately for Newt, alot of conservatives can recite chapter and verse everything he ever did wrong. Newt married his high school teacher first. Then he left his second wife during her illness. More precisely on the operating table. His business acumen got him into ethics trouble in the House when he signed a mega-book contract without registering it and continued to receive royalties from his history lectures circulated on DVDs.
Since leaving his office, he has maintained his parking spot at the House and created a little policy empire, which ferries him across the country on private jets. Yesterday Fox News terminated his contract as a contributor because he seems to be running for President unlike Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. In the last two years Newt has been hanging around with Glenn Beck's favorite Christianist David Barton, the man who has been instrumental in the Texas schoolbook scandal and who argues there is no separation of church and state in the consitution. Newt has been on the hustings trying to build an alliance with the Christian Right. In fact, David and his Texas cohorts got Newt a spot in the American history textbook. Newt has been "annointed" in a ceremony conducted by gay-baiter Lou Engle,the mastermind behind the Kill the Gays bill in Uganda.
How this will all play out will be interesting. Newt was a Southern Baptist until his recent conversion to Catholicism. He claims he converted so he could attend church with his third wife--Callista. As part of his new faith, he and his wife made a documentary on how John Paul II defeated Communism in Poland single-handed, neglecting to mention Solidarnosc. Among Southern Republicans, Gingrich is the second choice after Mike Huckabee. And the South will determine the GOP nominee.
In preliminary polls, Gingrich would do slightly worse than McCain against Obama. Newt has always been a favorite of the Beltway pundits because he's always go for a quote. His latest fad is the embrace of Dinesh D'Sousa's take on Obama as someone who wants to secularize America--which any modern society already is--and who has an anti-colonial mentality. Gingrich has already said that he would emphasize religion in his campaign. One of Gingrich's toughest critics is Sarah Palin, who portrays him as an egotist and a member of the dying Republican establishment. Republicans now say that John Boehner could get away with the shutting down of the Government because he is not as "feared as Gingrich by the American public." In the current debate, Republicans are quick to mention how Gingruich scared everyone, not your warmest endorsement. Even among the teabaggers, Gingrich polls in single digits.
But Morning Joe's darling, Mike Huckabee, who until recently was seen as a possibility, went off the rails into birthism. Huckabee went further than any major Republican into a whole narrative about Obama being raised in Kenya (he wasn't) and how he returned the bust of Winston Churchill because he had been raised by a father (he wasn't) who viewed the British unfavorably. Huckabee then went on about the Mau-Mau rebellion. One blogger noted that if you grew up a Southern Baptist, you read the Cross and the Switchblade in which American black gangs were referred to as Mau-Maus. Huckabee tried to correct his faux pas by saying that he really meant to say that Obama was brought up in Indonesia, where he grew up next to madrasss and that he didn't belong to the Boys Scouts like the rest of us. So now we have Obama as a foreigner and Muslim. Then Huckabee continued to correct to say that Obama doesn't have a normal American upbringing like people in the Rotary Club, which actually does have a strong presence in Indonesia.
This was Huckabee trying to reach the basest of the base Republicans. Make no mistake this was beyond intentional. Huckabee was trying out a narrative that he hoped would be the dog-whistle campaign among the Christian Right. Already we have been the Huckabee of Judea urging Israel to annex all lands of ancient Judea and only a few weeks later saying that abortion would be the central issue to his candidacy if he decided to run.
I'm still dubious that he will run. People like Huckabee, Thune and Jeb Bush are all backing away from a 2012 fight and want to see what's left after the dust clears for 2016. In a normal political climate, you could actually see a coronation of Mitt Romney as the establishment choice to appear centrist. But with the teabaggers and the changed rules for the primaries,it's anyone's guess.
So why did Newt decide to run? Simple, he figures that if we elected a man named Barack Hussein Obama, then someone named Newton Leroy Gingrich could get elected.
Have we had someone so far removed from their political time ever make a comeback? Richard Nixon lost the governorship of California in 1962 and then came back with the New Nixon in 1968--eight years after he had lost the presidency to JFK. John McCain lost the GOP nomination to George W. Bush in 2000 and came back in 2008 but he had retained his seat in the Senate. Harold Stassen ran every four years after he stepped down as Governor. The reason he did this was to receive an annual stipend from the Johnson Wax family, which depended on his constant presidential campaign.
Thrice-married Gingrich has hinted at running for President ever since he resigned as Speaker of the House. Every time his various business entanglements have thwarted his plans. As I wrote, he would run this year if the Republicans re-took the House. But even now his little business empire is holding him up. Today was to be the announcement of his setting up his exploratory committee. But his spokespeople have constantly walked this back.Apparently,Newt doesn't have his act together to file the necessary papers with the FEC. So now they are saying he is "exploring" the possibility of running.
The rumor triggered an immediate reaction from Tom Coburn,who declared that Gingrich was the smartest person he has ever met but that he has the morals and character of an ally-cat. Coburn served in the House during Newt's speakership and remembers the ethics and sex scandals. Unfortunately for Newt, alot of conservatives can recite chapter and verse everything he ever did wrong. Newt married his high school teacher first. Then he left his second wife during her illness. More precisely on the operating table. His business acumen got him into ethics trouble in the House when he signed a mega-book contract without registering it and continued to receive royalties from his history lectures circulated on DVDs.
Since leaving his office, he has maintained his parking spot at the House and created a little policy empire, which ferries him across the country on private jets. Yesterday Fox News terminated his contract as a contributor because he seems to be running for President unlike Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. In the last two years Newt has been hanging around with Glenn Beck's favorite Christianist David Barton, the man who has been instrumental in the Texas schoolbook scandal and who argues there is no separation of church and state in the consitution. Newt has been on the hustings trying to build an alliance with the Christian Right. In fact, David and his Texas cohorts got Newt a spot in the American history textbook. Newt has been "annointed" in a ceremony conducted by gay-baiter Lou Engle,the mastermind behind the Kill the Gays bill in Uganda.
How this will all play out will be interesting. Newt was a Southern Baptist until his recent conversion to Catholicism. He claims he converted so he could attend church with his third wife--Callista. As part of his new faith, he and his wife made a documentary on how John Paul II defeated Communism in Poland single-handed, neglecting to mention Solidarnosc. Among Southern Republicans, Gingrich is the second choice after Mike Huckabee. And the South will determine the GOP nominee.
In preliminary polls, Gingrich would do slightly worse than McCain against Obama. Newt has always been a favorite of the Beltway pundits because he's always go for a quote. His latest fad is the embrace of Dinesh D'Sousa's take on Obama as someone who wants to secularize America--which any modern society already is--and who has an anti-colonial mentality. Gingrich has already said that he would emphasize religion in his campaign. One of Gingrich's toughest critics is Sarah Palin, who portrays him as an egotist and a member of the dying Republican establishment. Republicans now say that John Boehner could get away with the shutting down of the Government because he is not as "feared as Gingrich by the American public." In the current debate, Republicans are quick to mention how Gingruich scared everyone, not your warmest endorsement. Even among the teabaggers, Gingrich polls in single digits.
But Morning Joe's darling, Mike Huckabee, who until recently was seen as a possibility, went off the rails into birthism. Huckabee went further than any major Republican into a whole narrative about Obama being raised in Kenya (he wasn't) and how he returned the bust of Winston Churchill because he had been raised by a father (he wasn't) who viewed the British unfavorably. Huckabee then went on about the Mau-Mau rebellion. One blogger noted that if you grew up a Southern Baptist, you read the Cross and the Switchblade in which American black gangs were referred to as Mau-Maus. Huckabee tried to correct his faux pas by saying that he really meant to say that Obama was brought up in Indonesia, where he grew up next to madrasss and that he didn't belong to the Boys Scouts like the rest of us. So now we have Obama as a foreigner and Muslim. Then Huckabee continued to correct to say that Obama doesn't have a normal American upbringing like people in the Rotary Club, which actually does have a strong presence in Indonesia.
This was Huckabee trying to reach the basest of the base Republicans. Make no mistake this was beyond intentional. Huckabee was trying out a narrative that he hoped would be the dog-whistle campaign among the Christian Right. Already we have been the Huckabee of Judea urging Israel to annex all lands of ancient Judea and only a few weeks later saying that abortion would be the central issue to his candidacy if he decided to run.
I'm still dubious that he will run. People like Huckabee, Thune and Jeb Bush are all backing away from a 2012 fight and want to see what's left after the dust clears for 2016. In a normal political climate, you could actually see a coronation of Mitt Romney as the establishment choice to appear centrist. But with the teabaggers and the changed rules for the primaries,it's anyone's guess.
So why did Newt decide to run? Simple, he figures that if we elected a man named Barack Hussein Obama, then someone named Newton Leroy Gingrich could get elected.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Let's Play--Let's Pretend Our Politics Are Normal
Rumors have President Obama already with a $1 billion in the bank with another $1 on the way for his $2 billion presidential campaign. So let's accept President Obama will be the Democratic nominee.
Now let's focus on the Republicans.
Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have natural advantages because the GOP always votes for someone who has run before. Both were Governors, which is a big GOP plus.
Now we've heard a slew of Republicans announce they would not run. So far we have the sense that former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty and former Senator Rick Santorum will run. Newt Gingrich is acting all authoritarian recently suggesting mentally he's running but physically I can't imagine it. Sarah Palin recently told Ann Coulter that Newt told her to suggest she's running for President so her speaking fees would be larger. Even though Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks salivate at the idea that Mitch Daniels would run,he has too many blackeyes against him from the Princeton drug busts to his being the man who spent Clinton's surplus in the George W administration.
So let's go one by one:
Mitt Romney, one-term Govenor of Massachusetts:
Advantage: Running since 2005, organization and money and access to money,presentable appearance, which this time may be the critical advantage
Liabilities: Romneycare,multiple positions on everything, looks terrible when he panders to the Right, former corporate positions, including Marriott Hotels with its porn connection, Mormon. Mitt Romney would have faced less prejudice in his father's time than today. Most visible Mormon in America is Glenn Beck. Even though Romney has tried to build ties with the evangelical community, his faith still believes Jesus was the brother of Lucifer and many simply won't vote for him because of that.
Mike Huckabee, who sounds more and more like he is not running:
Advantage: former Baptist Minister, has the whole range of social issues wrapped up from the New Republican point of view. He's anti-abortion and totally homophobic, even believing that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military. A Christian fundamentalist and does not believe in evolution. Ran last time and the organization is still in place. Populist in economics (also a liability with the corporate wing.
Liabilities: Doesn't have the ambition. Populist in economics. Says polite things about the First Family saying their are role models for family values. His personal policy views are vicious but he is not as a person. Probably could not raise enough money for a sustained campaign. Loves his new life as a Fox News contributor.
Newt Gingrich, disgraced Speaker of the House:
Advantages: Has ability to access millions from his conservative network. Fairly bright with an ability to throw off interesting ideas. Personally against Obama, claiming the President is trying to create a 'secular society". Has extensive links to the fundamentalist community and will say anything they tell him to. Has no known economic beliefs and will do what corporations tell him to. Basically amoral.
Liabilities: Convert to Catholicism from his Southern Baptist faith. May actually believe in evolution. Serial adulterer, which has not been forgotten by conservative Republicans. Notoriously unorganized personally and politically. May run simply to raise funds for a richer lifestyle.
Sarah Palin, former Mayor of Wasilla and half-term Governor of Alaska, former VP candidate:
Advantages: Perfectly mirrors the beliefs of the new GOP base. Authentically a teabagger. Member of a radical Christian sect. Pro-israel because the end-time will occur there. Has access to certain money. Has campaigned for ONE MONTH in a national campaign. Highly known.
Liabilities: A Quitter. Has marital problems. Doesn't seem to have the stamina for a national campaign. Only talks to tamed media and is hostile to the real press. Feels persecuted. Supremely egotistical. May turn off money people. High negatives within own party. Widely considered incompetent.
Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania and known as the frothy mix of lube and fecal material:
Advantages: Has every social conservative position down pat.
Liabilities: His Google problem courtesy of Dan Savage, no organizational structure, no ability to generate any enthusiasm, no demonstrated ability to raise money, and no known support.
Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota and considered as McCain's running-mate:
Advantages: from the Midwest. Not elderly and fat.
Liabilities: Extremely boring and boring looking, changed all his policies to be more right-wing, now anti-abortion, anti-evolution, anti-his former policies. No known ability to raise funds or form an organization. Smattering of foreign policy experience because he would accompany McCain on trips.
Michelle Bachmann,congresswoman from Minnesota and Queen of the teaparty.
Advantages: Ability to raise millions from teabaggers. Also from the Midwest. Christianist.
Liabilities: Almost everything she says is a lie. Must rely on teabaggers for organization. Perceived by GOP and Americans as a wingnut. No known ability to organize or be organized herself. No known policy expertise. Believes Glenn Beck would solve the economic crisis.
Ron Paul, perennial Presidential candidate and Texas congressman and father of the teabaggers:
Advantages: Mobilizes through his Crusade for Liberty a grassroots following. Prodigious fund-raiser. Godfather of the teaparty movement. Pro-life. Comes from an important electoral state.
Liabilities: Against the military-terrorist-intelligence state. Against foreign aid, even policy. Against war. Against the Patriot Act. Comes across as an elderly small old man. Corporate Republicans are against him because , while he is against all regulations, he is also against corporate welfare.
Overall, the weakest field ever from either party. And remember it is no longer winner-take-all rules in the primaries so this could drag out way beyond our attention span.
Given the heavy corporate tilt to our elections now with the Roberts Court Limited Citizens United decision, I would bet more on Romney today than the past. But Romney has problems first diagnosed by Ted Kennedy. He called Romney "multiple choice mitt".Just his recent political book shows this. The hardcover analyzes the stimulus package of President Obama and said that it was basically the right thing to do and it had success but wasn't enough. The paperback edition has the stimulus package as a total failure and a waste of taxpayer money. And you could go on issue after issue.
But that may not matter in a time when money can wipe out all blemishes. But right now it's very tough to say that anyone has the advantage. That shows you how poor the field is. Most of these candidates should be showing signs of getting their campaigns ready. Except fpr Romney, I don't see it.
Now let's focus on the Republicans.
Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee have natural advantages because the GOP always votes for someone who has run before. Both were Governors, which is a big GOP plus.
Now we've heard a slew of Republicans announce they would not run. So far we have the sense that former Governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty and former Senator Rick Santorum will run. Newt Gingrich is acting all authoritarian recently suggesting mentally he's running but physically I can't imagine it. Sarah Palin recently told Ann Coulter that Newt told her to suggest she's running for President so her speaking fees would be larger. Even though Andrew Sullivan and David Brooks salivate at the idea that Mitch Daniels would run,he has too many blackeyes against him from the Princeton drug busts to his being the man who spent Clinton's surplus in the George W administration.
So let's go one by one:
Mitt Romney, one-term Govenor of Massachusetts:
Advantage: Running since 2005, organization and money and access to money,presentable appearance, which this time may be the critical advantage
Liabilities: Romneycare,multiple positions on everything, looks terrible when he panders to the Right, former corporate positions, including Marriott Hotels with its porn connection, Mormon. Mitt Romney would have faced less prejudice in his father's time than today. Most visible Mormon in America is Glenn Beck. Even though Romney has tried to build ties with the evangelical community, his faith still believes Jesus was the brother of Lucifer and many simply won't vote for him because of that.
Mike Huckabee, who sounds more and more like he is not running:
Advantage: former Baptist Minister, has the whole range of social issues wrapped up from the New Republican point of view. He's anti-abortion and totally homophobic, even believing that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military. A Christian fundamentalist and does not believe in evolution. Ran last time and the organization is still in place. Populist in economics (also a liability with the corporate wing.
Liabilities: Doesn't have the ambition. Populist in economics. Says polite things about the First Family saying their are role models for family values. His personal policy views are vicious but he is not as a person. Probably could not raise enough money for a sustained campaign. Loves his new life as a Fox News contributor.
Newt Gingrich, disgraced Speaker of the House:
Advantages: Has ability to access millions from his conservative network. Fairly bright with an ability to throw off interesting ideas. Personally against Obama, claiming the President is trying to create a 'secular society". Has extensive links to the fundamentalist community and will say anything they tell him to. Has no known economic beliefs and will do what corporations tell him to. Basically amoral.
Liabilities: Convert to Catholicism from his Southern Baptist faith. May actually believe in evolution. Serial adulterer, which has not been forgotten by conservative Republicans. Notoriously unorganized personally and politically. May run simply to raise funds for a richer lifestyle.
Sarah Palin, former Mayor of Wasilla and half-term Governor of Alaska, former VP candidate:
Advantages: Perfectly mirrors the beliefs of the new GOP base. Authentically a teabagger. Member of a radical Christian sect. Pro-israel because the end-time will occur there. Has access to certain money. Has campaigned for ONE MONTH in a national campaign. Highly known.
Liabilities: A Quitter. Has marital problems. Doesn't seem to have the stamina for a national campaign. Only talks to tamed media and is hostile to the real press. Feels persecuted. Supremely egotistical. May turn off money people. High negatives within own party. Widely considered incompetent.
Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania and known as the frothy mix of lube and fecal material:
Advantages: Has every social conservative position down pat.
Liabilities: His Google problem courtesy of Dan Savage, no organizational structure, no ability to generate any enthusiasm, no demonstrated ability to raise money, and no known support.
Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota and considered as McCain's running-mate:
Advantages: from the Midwest. Not elderly and fat.
Liabilities: Extremely boring and boring looking, changed all his policies to be more right-wing, now anti-abortion, anti-evolution, anti-his former policies. No known ability to raise funds or form an organization. Smattering of foreign policy experience because he would accompany McCain on trips.
Michelle Bachmann,congresswoman from Minnesota and Queen of the teaparty.
Advantages: Ability to raise millions from teabaggers. Also from the Midwest. Christianist.
Liabilities: Almost everything she says is a lie. Must rely on teabaggers for organization. Perceived by GOP and Americans as a wingnut. No known ability to organize or be organized herself. No known policy expertise. Believes Glenn Beck would solve the economic crisis.
Ron Paul, perennial Presidential candidate and Texas congressman and father of the teabaggers:
Advantages: Mobilizes through his Crusade for Liberty a grassroots following. Prodigious fund-raiser. Godfather of the teaparty movement. Pro-life. Comes from an important electoral state.
Liabilities: Against the military-terrorist-intelligence state. Against foreign aid, even policy. Against war. Against the Patriot Act. Comes across as an elderly small old man. Corporate Republicans are against him because , while he is against all regulations, he is also against corporate welfare.
Overall, the weakest field ever from either party. And remember it is no longer winner-take-all rules in the primaries so this could drag out way beyond our attention span.
Given the heavy corporate tilt to our elections now with the Roberts Court Limited Citizens United decision, I would bet more on Romney today than the past. But Romney has problems first diagnosed by Ted Kennedy. He called Romney "multiple choice mitt".Just his recent political book shows this. The hardcover analyzes the stimulus package of President Obama and said that it was basically the right thing to do and it had success but wasn't enough. The paperback edition has the stimulus package as a total failure and a waste of taxpayer money. And you could go on issue after issue.
But that may not matter in a time when money can wipe out all blemishes. But right now it's very tough to say that anyone has the advantage. That shows you how poor the field is. Most of these candidates should be showing signs of getting their campaigns ready. Except fpr Romney, I don't see it.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monty Python's Flying Circus
To keep relatively sane after reading the madness on the internet, I sometimes chill out watching Monthy Python. Did you know John Cleese's father's name really was Cheese? Anyway Monty Python might be the model for a film on the teabaggers combining the visual mayhem with the verbal pyrotechnics.
Yesterday Scott Walker thought he was talking to David Koch about his plan to bust unions. For twenty minutes, Walker talked about how he chat with John Kasich everyday about the larger Republican plan to bust all public workers' unions. He also threw in Rick Scott of Florida in the plan. The idea was to lure the Democrats back to the state because they are afraid of losing their paychecks and once there ,declare a quorum even though they leave again. The details of the phone call promoted by the website Buffalo Beast has triggered an investigation in Wisconsin because Walker may have violated two state laws with his comments.
The real kicker for the Madison Chief of Police was Walker saying he thought about inserting troublemakers into the crowds to incite violence. The Chief, who had thanked protestors, was livid and said he stayed up all night fuming about this.
The National Guard's inspection of the penal institutions in the state is actually an assessment about what to do if the corrections officers go on strike.
Walker brags this is his Reagan moment. He believes that the fall of communism happened because Reagan, the only AFL member ever President,busted PATGO, the air traffic controller's union. One historical note--PATGO had rejected an offer from the Reagan administration and went out on a wildcat strike. There are no striking union members in Wisconsin. Another footnote--the busting of PATGO actually cost the airline industry billions of dollars.
Walker's moves will cost Wisconsin another $40 million in federal grants because the US government prohibits funds to specific programs where collective bargaining isn't recognized. Remember this guy refused the high-speed train funds already and cost the state over 7,000 new jobs. If he doesn't get his way, he says he will lay off another 5,000 state workers.
Mark Williams of the Tea Party Express, urged teabaggers to sign up as SEIU organizers and to mingle in the crowds shouting "You Owe Me" and other phrases.
Today, there will be the largest rallies held throughout Wisconsin. Another issue is that some 200 mayors are opposed to the bill, which would wipe out collective bargaining at every level of the state government.
So with union membership at the lowest level in the United States, how does the nation at large think? The Gallup poll showed that 61% favor retaining collective bargaining rights for workers. Another Gallup poll yesterday showed that the same percentage favored compromise between the Senate and the House to keep the federal government opening. Is this a brief moment of sanity breaking through?
Beltway Pundits were puzzled yeaterday about John Boehner's response to President Obama's statement that his administration refuses to defend DOMA (The Defense of Marraige Act) because it's unconstitutional. Boehner said "This will look like I'm biased against gays." Strange but it really makes sense. What Obama did was a deft political move that put the onus of defending the act onto the Republicans.The United States has not removed itself from the case. Instead,Congress can defend it if they want.
Mike Huckabee says that Obama's stance will endanger his credibility and re-election. He claims that if Obama had run against DOMA in 2008 he would not have won. Sorry, Charlie, he did run opposed to DOMA. You can look it up.
Republicans and newspapers are demanding David Wu, democratic congressman from Oregon resign because of his erratic behavior. I want to defend Wu. He is the first openly Furry congressperson. Check out Dan Savage on this phenomenon about dressing up in animal costumes and having sex. I salute Wu's courage.
Sometimes it's the little side comments on Rachel Maddow that deserve mention. Last night in a show from Lawrence, Kansas, the last home of Bill Burroughs, she interviewed the lawyer for murdered abortion provider Dr. Tiller. A conservative Republican, the lawyer commented how it used to be that the boards for Planned Parenthood were mostly Republican women and that the House behavior showed how far out the Republicans have become. Absolutely true. Planned Parenthood was like the League of Women Voters with alot of Republican women participating.
It should come as no surprise that Scott Walker went to Boys' State and got his inspiration for government there. I did too and surprised my local American Legion when I spoke on my return saying it was like a fascist state with its indoctrination.
Finally, the One Nation crowd is planning to beseige Republican townhall meetings with voters complaining about the budget cuts. Good luck. I would like to see a counter teabag movement.
If Obama doesn't excite his base anymore, he doesn't have to worry. The Republicans have hit every hot button to energize everyone from unions, enviromentalists,feminists and minorities. If you're not energeized now, you'll never be.
Andrew Sullivan posted a quote from Dwight David Eisenhower the other day speaking about the need for moderation in politics and how anyone who wanted to dismantle social security, health care and regulations was on the fringe of our society or else a Texas oilman. Little would he recognize the New GOP.
Progressives should have a field day now since they can cherry-pick any good Republican ideas and quote any good Republicans as well as combine them with the heritage of Democrats. Even Obama points out that the tax levels in the US and the size of government proportional to the society is the same as under Eisenhower. And Eisenhower is despised by the new teaparty people.
Yes, indeed, Indiana Republicans are going to primary Dick Lugar, Richard Nixon's favorite Mayor. He used to get annoyed whenever I mentioned that. Maine Republicans are going to primary Olympia Snowe. Don't you want to live in a state with a Senator named--Olympia Snowe? No sense of poetry. And Utah is going to primary Orrin Hatch, Patricia Cornwell's favorite politician. ( I don't know why she idolized him)
Sister Sarah Palin is off to India to burnish her presidential credentials. By the way, she had lasik surgery years ago and only wears glasses to look smart. It turns out that Joe McGinnis leaked the Frank Baily manuscript on Palin to sabotage the author. Interesting. Pretty clever.
The best robocall for the demonstrations came from the Teamsters--"This is Jimmy Hoffa calling..."
Oh, and if you need a job Koch industries are hiring in Wisconsin in anticipation of them being rewarded with the state heating plants.
Glenn Beck had been criticized by over 400 rabbis of every Jewish tendency. He upped the ante with his attack on Reformed Jews, saying they were the same as radical Muslims. I've been thinking of all the Reformed Jews I have ever known and well,I always considered them one of the strongest defenders of civil liberties and social justice in the United States. Well, apparently, so does Abe Foxman, whose Anti-Defamation League blasted Beck. Today, beck apologized sort of---not really.
Hate groups have now ballooned to 1,000 in the United States, according to the SPL.
The verdict is in on the House budget. The GOP's budget cuts will mean about 1 million jobs lost, an unemployment rate of 9.7-10%. Goldman Sachs weighed in and said that current GOP cuts would mean a 2% drop in our GDP and almost certainly a return of the recession.
There is brilliance to this madness. Almost all pollsters show that Obama wins with 8% unemployment--has a close race with 9%--and loses with over 9% unemployment.
Muammar Qaddafhi is still hanging on. Drudge puts center page a quote by Qaddafhi that "Obama is a friend." Qaddafhi blames Al Qaeda for the unrest and that the protestors are drinking NESCAFE with hallucingens. The real problem for American foreign policy types is that beneath the authoritarian surface of the Qaddafhi family the entire society as well as the security forces are totally decentralized. It's not like Egypt where structures exist after Mubarak quits. The civil war has led to thousands of deaths and an increasing number of refugees. Human rights groups are mobilizing for a humanitarian intervention by an international force.
The Washington Examiner published today an article about how the Obama administration is being salted with followers of the Muslim Brotherhood. What's so interesting about the piece is that everyone mentioned is either a known white protestant male or a Shiite Muslim. Shia Muslim Brotherhood--what a cool concept.
One problem is that the source for these accusations used to be a former analyst for the CIA. Now you have some idea about the problems we face.
Facebook cancelled Sarah Palin's false flag account "Lou Sarah" because it violated their rules.
Karl Rove weighed in on Wisconsin in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that Wisconsin is Obama's problem. Au contraire, it's a big-time Republican problem.
Did you know that the Koch Brothers paid for the Brooks Brothers riot in Florida during the 2000 presidential recount? The payoff was that the massive investigation of their pollution would be called off. It was.
The oil companies announced today through the Petroleum Institute, their lobby arm here in Washington, that they would now give campaign donations directly to candidates. Over 90% in the past were Republicans.
As Tom Friedman writes today in the New York Times, the upheaval in the Middle East is a wake-up call to Americans to end their dependence on oil. I agree.
Yesterday Scott Walker thought he was talking to David Koch about his plan to bust unions. For twenty minutes, Walker talked about how he chat with John Kasich everyday about the larger Republican plan to bust all public workers' unions. He also threw in Rick Scott of Florida in the plan. The idea was to lure the Democrats back to the state because they are afraid of losing their paychecks and once there ,declare a quorum even though they leave again. The details of the phone call promoted by the website Buffalo Beast has triggered an investigation in Wisconsin because Walker may have violated two state laws with his comments.
The real kicker for the Madison Chief of Police was Walker saying he thought about inserting troublemakers into the crowds to incite violence. The Chief, who had thanked protestors, was livid and said he stayed up all night fuming about this.
The National Guard's inspection of the penal institutions in the state is actually an assessment about what to do if the corrections officers go on strike.
Walker brags this is his Reagan moment. He believes that the fall of communism happened because Reagan, the only AFL member ever President,busted PATGO, the air traffic controller's union. One historical note--PATGO had rejected an offer from the Reagan administration and went out on a wildcat strike. There are no striking union members in Wisconsin. Another footnote--the busting of PATGO actually cost the airline industry billions of dollars.
Walker's moves will cost Wisconsin another $40 million in federal grants because the US government prohibits funds to specific programs where collective bargaining isn't recognized. Remember this guy refused the high-speed train funds already and cost the state over 7,000 new jobs. If he doesn't get his way, he says he will lay off another 5,000 state workers.
Mark Williams of the Tea Party Express, urged teabaggers to sign up as SEIU organizers and to mingle in the crowds shouting "You Owe Me" and other phrases.
Today, there will be the largest rallies held throughout Wisconsin. Another issue is that some 200 mayors are opposed to the bill, which would wipe out collective bargaining at every level of the state government.
So with union membership at the lowest level in the United States, how does the nation at large think? The Gallup poll showed that 61% favor retaining collective bargaining rights for workers. Another Gallup poll yesterday showed that the same percentage favored compromise between the Senate and the House to keep the federal government opening. Is this a brief moment of sanity breaking through?
Beltway Pundits were puzzled yeaterday about John Boehner's response to President Obama's statement that his administration refuses to defend DOMA (The Defense of Marraige Act) because it's unconstitutional. Boehner said "This will look like I'm biased against gays." Strange but it really makes sense. What Obama did was a deft political move that put the onus of defending the act onto the Republicans.The United States has not removed itself from the case. Instead,Congress can defend it if they want.
Mike Huckabee says that Obama's stance will endanger his credibility and re-election. He claims that if Obama had run against DOMA in 2008 he would not have won. Sorry, Charlie, he did run opposed to DOMA. You can look it up.
Republicans and newspapers are demanding David Wu, democratic congressman from Oregon resign because of his erratic behavior. I want to defend Wu. He is the first openly Furry congressperson. Check out Dan Savage on this phenomenon about dressing up in animal costumes and having sex. I salute Wu's courage.
Sometimes it's the little side comments on Rachel Maddow that deserve mention. Last night in a show from Lawrence, Kansas, the last home of Bill Burroughs, she interviewed the lawyer for murdered abortion provider Dr. Tiller. A conservative Republican, the lawyer commented how it used to be that the boards for Planned Parenthood were mostly Republican women and that the House behavior showed how far out the Republicans have become. Absolutely true. Planned Parenthood was like the League of Women Voters with alot of Republican women participating.
It should come as no surprise that Scott Walker went to Boys' State and got his inspiration for government there. I did too and surprised my local American Legion when I spoke on my return saying it was like a fascist state with its indoctrination.
Finally, the One Nation crowd is planning to beseige Republican townhall meetings with voters complaining about the budget cuts. Good luck. I would like to see a counter teabag movement.
If Obama doesn't excite his base anymore, he doesn't have to worry. The Republicans have hit every hot button to energize everyone from unions, enviromentalists,feminists and minorities. If you're not energeized now, you'll never be.
Andrew Sullivan posted a quote from Dwight David Eisenhower the other day speaking about the need for moderation in politics and how anyone who wanted to dismantle social security, health care and regulations was on the fringe of our society or else a Texas oilman. Little would he recognize the New GOP.
Progressives should have a field day now since they can cherry-pick any good Republican ideas and quote any good Republicans as well as combine them with the heritage of Democrats. Even Obama points out that the tax levels in the US and the size of government proportional to the society is the same as under Eisenhower. And Eisenhower is despised by the new teaparty people.
Yes, indeed, Indiana Republicans are going to primary Dick Lugar, Richard Nixon's favorite Mayor. He used to get annoyed whenever I mentioned that. Maine Republicans are going to primary Olympia Snowe. Don't you want to live in a state with a Senator named--Olympia Snowe? No sense of poetry. And Utah is going to primary Orrin Hatch, Patricia Cornwell's favorite politician. ( I don't know why she idolized him)
Sister Sarah Palin is off to India to burnish her presidential credentials. By the way, she had lasik surgery years ago and only wears glasses to look smart. It turns out that Joe McGinnis leaked the Frank Baily manuscript on Palin to sabotage the author. Interesting. Pretty clever.
The best robocall for the demonstrations came from the Teamsters--"This is Jimmy Hoffa calling..."
Oh, and if you need a job Koch industries are hiring in Wisconsin in anticipation of them being rewarded with the state heating plants.
Glenn Beck had been criticized by over 400 rabbis of every Jewish tendency. He upped the ante with his attack on Reformed Jews, saying they were the same as radical Muslims. I've been thinking of all the Reformed Jews I have ever known and well,I always considered them one of the strongest defenders of civil liberties and social justice in the United States. Well, apparently, so does Abe Foxman, whose Anti-Defamation League blasted Beck. Today, beck apologized sort of---not really.
Hate groups have now ballooned to 1,000 in the United States, according to the SPL.
The verdict is in on the House budget. The GOP's budget cuts will mean about 1 million jobs lost, an unemployment rate of 9.7-10%. Goldman Sachs weighed in and said that current GOP cuts would mean a 2% drop in our GDP and almost certainly a return of the recession.
There is brilliance to this madness. Almost all pollsters show that Obama wins with 8% unemployment--has a close race with 9%--and loses with over 9% unemployment.
Muammar Qaddafhi is still hanging on. Drudge puts center page a quote by Qaddafhi that "Obama is a friend." Qaddafhi blames Al Qaeda for the unrest and that the protestors are drinking NESCAFE with hallucingens. The real problem for American foreign policy types is that beneath the authoritarian surface of the Qaddafhi family the entire society as well as the security forces are totally decentralized. It's not like Egypt where structures exist after Mubarak quits. The civil war has led to thousands of deaths and an increasing number of refugees. Human rights groups are mobilizing for a humanitarian intervention by an international force.
The Washington Examiner published today an article about how the Obama administration is being salted with followers of the Muslim Brotherhood. What's so interesting about the piece is that everyone mentioned is either a known white protestant male or a Shiite Muslim. Shia Muslim Brotherhood--what a cool concept.
One problem is that the source for these accusations used to be a former analyst for the CIA. Now you have some idea about the problems we face.
Facebook cancelled Sarah Palin's false flag account "Lou Sarah" because it violated their rules.
Karl Rove weighed in on Wisconsin in the Wall Street Journal, claiming that Wisconsin is Obama's problem. Au contraire, it's a big-time Republican problem.
Did you know that the Koch Brothers paid for the Brooks Brothers riot in Florida during the 2000 presidential recount? The payoff was that the massive investigation of their pollution would be called off. It was.
The oil companies announced today through the Petroleum Institute, their lobby arm here in Washington, that they would now give campaign donations directly to candidates. Over 90% in the past were Republicans.
As Tom Friedman writes today in the New York Times, the upheaval in the Middle East is a wake-up call to Americans to end their dependence on oil. I agree.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Take A Walk on the Far Side
We left Sarah Palin trying to trademark her name in line with the Roberts Court, Limited's desire that all Americans become corporations. It seems her problem is she forgot to sign the paperwork drawn up by her lawyer so there may be a wait. The former Mayor of Wasilla bowed out of an event to honor wounded veterans because she complained about threats against her. Police authorities reported no threats against her but it doesn't really matter since the veterans event coincided with the night of the first presidential debate for the Republicans. She wanted to keep her calender clean just in case there is a groundswell of support. Sister Sarah seemed to adopt the new anti-Reagan mood of Republicans by saying that the country is going down in ruins. This is the sunny, optimistic face we've come to appreciate in the new conservatives.
Bristol Palin says she may run for office now that she has the experience of giving birth. That one event has made her a darling for the abstinence crowd where she gets $12-15,000 per speech. Now she is to become an Arizona talk show host. On top of that she has penned a 302-page memoir probably titled "In Search of My Mother". She probably will be interviewed by Greta Von Cistern once it's been released.
Sarah Palin's Mormon sidekick Glenn Beck has accelerated his apocalyptic vision of the end of civilization as we know it. This has finally caused conservatives to yelp that he is "marginalizing himself" like he wasn't before. Little Bill Kristol dumped on Beck's hallucinations in his Weekly Standard claiming he wasn't any better than the John Birch Society. The National Review reported that Republican bigshots have met with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes to get them to reign in Beck now that he is wrecking the Egyptian freedom mantra that former Bushies are reviving. They argue that all GOPers will be tarred with the same brush. Chris Matthews did a superb job reporting on the John Birch roots of Glenn Beck's recent barkings on the caliphate and Red Chinese and Russian Communist involvement in Cairo. Matthews broadcast a clip from the new John Birch CEO--isn't it great how everything is marketized?--who basically laid out the John Birch line which is almost identical to Beck's recent rants.
The criticism of Beck by Kristol and the National Review hasn't dampened Rush Limbaugh and Drudge from picking up the mantra of the global threats posed by the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and a change in Cairo. While this split is interesting on the right, virtually no Americans are paying any attention to Cairo according to the latest polling data.
Middle East expert, Huckabee of Judea opined in Jersulem that the Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to have any land on the territory of ancient Israel and should ask for only land from other Arabs. Since Jordan is on the land of ancient Israel, this makes the nearest place for a Palestinian state-- Iraq.
More right-wing organizations are boycotting CPAC because of their invitation to GOProud, the gay organization. Now the fat is really in the fire because Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is for gay rights, the legalization of medical marijuana and is pro-choice, has been invited to address the group. This has ignited further attacks on CPAC from the religious Right. Strangely, the attacks are all aimed at Grover Norquist, who they blame for all the hippie-loving, pot-smoking behavior. It is said that Grover, who is married to an Arab woman, favors creeping Sharia law, which normally doesn't favor pot-smoking.
Former Minnesota Governor Palenta snarked that Sister Sarah bowed out of CPAC because the speaking fee was too low. The Governor, himself a would-be presidential candidate,vowed to reinstate DADT and refused to answer the question whether gays should serve in the military at all. Burnishing his presidential credentials, he came out last year against evolution and tried in his last days of Governor to outlaw abortion. Palenta is seen as trying to outflank Rick Santorum,whose name became synonymous with the excretions from anal sex, for the social conservatives. Santorum's presidential bid got a boost from George Will, who claimed Santorum had a credible shot at the nomination.
The authors of a new Montana Nullification Law sent me their vision. Montana will be voting on a constitutional amendment where the state can ignore any federal law it doesn't like. The authors are oblivious to the Civil War but it doesn't matter. The state also wants to create an unregulated state militia. The idea is floating around conservative circles. Virginia's own Attorney General wants to create a militia so that the state doesn't have to implement the repeal of DADT for the National Guard.
In five states where Republicans seized the governorships,the first order of business during the economic crisis was to try and outlaw abortion. Some efforts are old throwbacks like Ohio's heartbeat law, which would outlaw the procedure if a heartbeat could be heard or seen by a sonogram.
Bristol Palin says she may run for office now that she has the experience of giving birth. That one event has made her a darling for the abstinence crowd where she gets $12-15,000 per speech. Now she is to become an Arizona talk show host. On top of that she has penned a 302-page memoir probably titled "In Search of My Mother". She probably will be interviewed by Greta Von Cistern once it's been released.
Sarah Palin's Mormon sidekick Glenn Beck has accelerated his apocalyptic vision of the end of civilization as we know it. This has finally caused conservatives to yelp that he is "marginalizing himself" like he wasn't before. Little Bill Kristol dumped on Beck's hallucinations in his Weekly Standard claiming he wasn't any better than the John Birch Society. The National Review reported that Republican bigshots have met with Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes to get them to reign in Beck now that he is wrecking the Egyptian freedom mantra that former Bushies are reviving. They argue that all GOPers will be tarred with the same brush. Chris Matthews did a superb job reporting on the John Birch roots of Glenn Beck's recent barkings on the caliphate and Red Chinese and Russian Communist involvement in Cairo. Matthews broadcast a clip from the new John Birch CEO--isn't it great how everything is marketized?--who basically laid out the John Birch line which is almost identical to Beck's recent rants.
The criticism of Beck by Kristol and the National Review hasn't dampened Rush Limbaugh and Drudge from picking up the mantra of the global threats posed by the downfall of Hosni Mubarak and a change in Cairo. While this split is interesting on the right, virtually no Americans are paying any attention to Cairo according to the latest polling data.
Middle East expert, Huckabee of Judea opined in Jersulem that the Palestinians shouldn't be allowed to have any land on the territory of ancient Israel and should ask for only land from other Arabs. Since Jordan is on the land of ancient Israel, this makes the nearest place for a Palestinian state-- Iraq.
More right-wing organizations are boycotting CPAC because of their invitation to GOProud, the gay organization. Now the fat is really in the fire because Gary Johnson, the former Governor of New Mexico, who is for gay rights, the legalization of medical marijuana and is pro-choice, has been invited to address the group. This has ignited further attacks on CPAC from the religious Right. Strangely, the attacks are all aimed at Grover Norquist, who they blame for all the hippie-loving, pot-smoking behavior. It is said that Grover, who is married to an Arab woman, favors creeping Sharia law, which normally doesn't favor pot-smoking.
Former Minnesota Governor Palenta snarked that Sister Sarah bowed out of CPAC because the speaking fee was too low. The Governor, himself a would-be presidential candidate,vowed to reinstate DADT and refused to answer the question whether gays should serve in the military at all. Burnishing his presidential credentials, he came out last year against evolution and tried in his last days of Governor to outlaw abortion. Palenta is seen as trying to outflank Rick Santorum,whose name became synonymous with the excretions from anal sex, for the social conservatives. Santorum's presidential bid got a boost from George Will, who claimed Santorum had a credible shot at the nomination.
The authors of a new Montana Nullification Law sent me their vision. Montana will be voting on a constitutional amendment where the state can ignore any federal law it doesn't like. The authors are oblivious to the Civil War but it doesn't matter. The state also wants to create an unregulated state militia. The idea is floating around conservative circles. Virginia's own Attorney General wants to create a militia so that the state doesn't have to implement the repeal of DADT for the National Guard.
In five states where Republicans seized the governorships,the first order of business during the economic crisis was to try and outlaw abortion. Some efforts are old throwbacks like Ohio's heartbeat law, which would outlaw the procedure if a heartbeat could be heard or seen by a sonogram.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
And Now For Somethng Completely Different
The big loser today in the new House was Eleanor Holmes Norton, the representative from D.C. In the last Congress, she balked at the bill granting D.C. a vote in the House because the GOP had attached a number of restrictions on it having to do with gun rights. She should have taken it as I wrote then. Today, she as well as all representatives from D.C. and the American territories like the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Samoa,and Guam were stripped of their voting rights in committees by the Republican leadership.
The Heritage Foundation claims the new House is committed to cutting $100 billion from the budget this fiscal year. But the GOP is backing off that saying that half the fiscal year is already gone and that they will "aim" to bring down government spending to 2008 levels by 2012.
The House Republicans are planning on governing as if they have a mandate. The GOP did the same thing when they won in 2000 by one Supreme Court justice's vote. This is something Democrats have to learn--when you win, pretend it's a massive mandate. The House Republicans as well as the Senate Republicans are acting as if the 2010 mid-terms were a total repudiation of Barack Obama. This fits with their overall narrative that Obama was a mistake or ,as the base insists, the creature of ACORN.
But E.J. Dionne pointed out something in his column the other day that should make the GOP hesitate. He indicated that over 50 of the new GOP House members won in districts that Obama won in 2008. Not that Obama would win them again but the turnout of 41.5% in 2010 didn't match the 62% turnout in the presidential election. Even with redistricting, the GOP is very vulnerable if the Democrats come out in force.
Another columnist pointed out that the teabaggers didn't win any mandate--many of them didn't even receive a majority of votes. Instead, the tide was turned against the Democrats by massive amounts of money--particularly some $20 million from Hedge Fund managers--and a lack of turnout from key Democratic constituencies like the millenial voters.
The Chamber of Commerce should be delighted with the Congress they bought but they are uneasy because Republicans in the House are saying they are going to cut the funding for the highway fund and mass transportation. This was one area where the Chamber and President Obama agreed on and the Chamber thought they had Boehner on board. Infrastructure spending is key to some Chamber members and was seen as the next quiet economic stimulus.
The Republicans will be using the next 20 days to register symbolic votes to repeal everything President Obama has done. The object of this is to create the framework for the debate for the next two years. The White House would be stupid to fall for this. Republicans are emphasizing the need for austerity when the American people are not registering this in polls. If you take the GOP's two hobbyhorses--the deficit and terrorism, those are the last two concerns of the American people.
I would bet on President Obama coming up with a more realistic approach to budget cuts and reform of the entitlement programs. Unlike progressives, I feel that he will preserve Social Security and not undermine it as some have suggested. Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham and his sidekick John McCain are salivating to cut government spending and in particular social security--since both men are wealthy and have life-long pensions from the government while you don't.
The debate for the new RNC chair was disturbing to me because why would any grown person allow Grover Norquist and Tucker Carlson to moderate any debate for a major political position. What was particularly disturbing was that the RNC allowed Grover's outfit plus Maggie Gallagher's anti-gay marriage organization NOM to host the debate. With the RNC $20 million in debt, it doesn't look good for Michael Steele. Today, the money people weighed in with their objections to him. The debate demonstrated that all candidates loved Ronald Reagan, want a litmus test for the party,are against gay rights and same-sex marriage,some own many guns, and are for tax cuts. The debate was embarrassing. They should go back to smoke-filled rooms.
Meanwhile Jeb Bush says he is thinking about running for President in 2016, which should be enough time for the American people to forget his brother. PPP polling has shown that the most viable GOP candidate against Barack Obama is Mike Huckabee because he has the religious base and has high favorabilities. Mitt Romney does well and has a better organization but he faces problems with the base, which are evaneglicals, and the fact he is the father of Obamacare. GOP pundits are now weighing in with criticism of Sarah Palin, trying to head disaster off at the pass.
Frank Gaffney of the Center for Strategic Policies alerts us to the problem posed by the infiltration of CPAC by the Muslim Brotherhood. He blames Grover Norquist, the foremost apologist for Wahabhism in the United States as being the culprit. He claims that CPAC now supports Sharia Law--as opposed to Elena Kagan and Harold Koh. Frank has finally located the enemy on the Right.
It looks like Carl Hiaasen of "Strip Tease" fame has a new political target in Florida. But it looks like his bosses at the Miami Herald may want a monopoly of their own covering Governor Rick Scott, who unlike other newly elected Governors, hired former Bush event managers to throw a gala affair at his inaugural, which was considered by the Floridians as grotesque. People shouted "criminal" at him during what was seen as a failure of a speech. As Hiassen wrote previously, the highlight of Scott's resume was that he didn't go to jail. Scott vowed to cut 19% off property taxes, which will devastate local communities, but he says "It will be fun."
The Guardian (U.K.) covered the festivities today on the Hill and noted that the new Republicans were far-right, dullards, and corporate tools. The writer felt nostalgic for Newt Gingrich ,who at his swearing in spoke longingly of FDR. I personally recall talking to Newt about his love of dinosaurs. In those days, he didn't believe children played with them. The writer said that at least Newt enterained thinking out of the box. That was before the sex scandals and his mismanagement of the House.
We have to give Gentleman John Boehner credit for some savvy internal politics. Michelle Bachman wanted a leadership position but was denied, then she wanted a post on Ways and Means and was denied. Instead, Boehner put her on the Intelligence Committee, which is ironic and humorous. But his point was that she takes up the space in the room and makes all Republicans look crazier than they really are. At intelligence, she just can not talk about the subject. Boehner was hoping Bachmann's media exposure would be diminished. Good move.
The constitutional stunt wasn't a great success as the new members were on television ineptly trying to explain how Obama's policies were unconstitutional. They simply couldn't.
James Fallows at the Atlantic commented on the Jon Huntsman for president trial balloon. He preceptively said that Huntsman could not become a viable nominee because of being part of the Obama Administration. He thinks this was all a clever move to enhance Huntsman's cache as the United States enters a period of intense negotiations with China about a host of issues. The Chinese Premier will be meeting President Obama in about a month. Fallows quite cleverly says that rumors about a Huntsman's presidential drive makes him more serious in the eyes of the Chinese. He thinks Obama and Huntsman dreamt this up together.
Look for President Obama to sideswipe the Republicans with a number of dramatic budget cuts. Already Bob Gates is preparing for proposals to cut the Pentagon budget this year by $200 million.
Republicans are in a budget box of their own. Yes, the ideologues would love to completely dismantle the federal government. But they have vowed not to cut defense spending and all the entitlement programs--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--this year. So without additional government revenues, they are down to a budget of less than $400 billion for everything else the federal government does. A 25% cut of all this would be crippling and more so because it would have an immediate negative impact on the public. That's why you are only hearing vague noises about specific cuts. The two I have heard--cutting spending for Public Broadcasting in retaliation for their firing of Juan Williams and cutting Planned Parenthood. Now they are trying to sell their repeal of the healthcare bill as a cut in spending--when it means a rise in the deficit.
One Democratic congressman summed up the new Republican approach as "Enron-style economics." This puts the Hoodoo in the Voodoo Economics. You can't get more bizarre in economic thinking than the current House Republicans. They make George W's policies seem plausible.
The Heritage Foundation claims the new House is committed to cutting $100 billion from the budget this fiscal year. But the GOP is backing off that saying that half the fiscal year is already gone and that they will "aim" to bring down government spending to 2008 levels by 2012.
The House Republicans are planning on governing as if they have a mandate. The GOP did the same thing when they won in 2000 by one Supreme Court justice's vote. This is something Democrats have to learn--when you win, pretend it's a massive mandate. The House Republicans as well as the Senate Republicans are acting as if the 2010 mid-terms were a total repudiation of Barack Obama. This fits with their overall narrative that Obama was a mistake or ,as the base insists, the creature of ACORN.
But E.J. Dionne pointed out something in his column the other day that should make the GOP hesitate. He indicated that over 50 of the new GOP House members won in districts that Obama won in 2008. Not that Obama would win them again but the turnout of 41.5% in 2010 didn't match the 62% turnout in the presidential election. Even with redistricting, the GOP is very vulnerable if the Democrats come out in force.
Another columnist pointed out that the teabaggers didn't win any mandate--many of them didn't even receive a majority of votes. Instead, the tide was turned against the Democrats by massive amounts of money--particularly some $20 million from Hedge Fund managers--and a lack of turnout from key Democratic constituencies like the millenial voters.
The Chamber of Commerce should be delighted with the Congress they bought but they are uneasy because Republicans in the House are saying they are going to cut the funding for the highway fund and mass transportation. This was one area where the Chamber and President Obama agreed on and the Chamber thought they had Boehner on board. Infrastructure spending is key to some Chamber members and was seen as the next quiet economic stimulus.
The Republicans will be using the next 20 days to register symbolic votes to repeal everything President Obama has done. The object of this is to create the framework for the debate for the next two years. The White House would be stupid to fall for this. Republicans are emphasizing the need for austerity when the American people are not registering this in polls. If you take the GOP's two hobbyhorses--the deficit and terrorism, those are the last two concerns of the American people.
I would bet on President Obama coming up with a more realistic approach to budget cuts and reform of the entitlement programs. Unlike progressives, I feel that he will preserve Social Security and not undermine it as some have suggested. Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham and his sidekick John McCain are salivating to cut government spending and in particular social security--since both men are wealthy and have life-long pensions from the government while you don't.
The debate for the new RNC chair was disturbing to me because why would any grown person allow Grover Norquist and Tucker Carlson to moderate any debate for a major political position. What was particularly disturbing was that the RNC allowed Grover's outfit plus Maggie Gallagher's anti-gay marriage organization NOM to host the debate. With the RNC $20 million in debt, it doesn't look good for Michael Steele. Today, the money people weighed in with their objections to him. The debate demonstrated that all candidates loved Ronald Reagan, want a litmus test for the party,are against gay rights and same-sex marriage,some own many guns, and are for tax cuts. The debate was embarrassing. They should go back to smoke-filled rooms.
Meanwhile Jeb Bush says he is thinking about running for President in 2016, which should be enough time for the American people to forget his brother. PPP polling has shown that the most viable GOP candidate against Barack Obama is Mike Huckabee because he has the religious base and has high favorabilities. Mitt Romney does well and has a better organization but he faces problems with the base, which are evaneglicals, and the fact he is the father of Obamacare. GOP pundits are now weighing in with criticism of Sarah Palin, trying to head disaster off at the pass.
Frank Gaffney of the Center for Strategic Policies alerts us to the problem posed by the infiltration of CPAC by the Muslim Brotherhood. He blames Grover Norquist, the foremost apologist for Wahabhism in the United States as being the culprit. He claims that CPAC now supports Sharia Law--as opposed to Elena Kagan and Harold Koh. Frank has finally located the enemy on the Right.
It looks like Carl Hiaasen of "Strip Tease" fame has a new political target in Florida. But it looks like his bosses at the Miami Herald may want a monopoly of their own covering Governor Rick Scott, who unlike other newly elected Governors, hired former Bush event managers to throw a gala affair at his inaugural, which was considered by the Floridians as grotesque. People shouted "criminal" at him during what was seen as a failure of a speech. As Hiassen wrote previously, the highlight of Scott's resume was that he didn't go to jail. Scott vowed to cut 19% off property taxes, which will devastate local communities, but he says "It will be fun."
The Guardian (U.K.) covered the festivities today on the Hill and noted that the new Republicans were far-right, dullards, and corporate tools. The writer felt nostalgic for Newt Gingrich ,who at his swearing in spoke longingly of FDR. I personally recall talking to Newt about his love of dinosaurs. In those days, he didn't believe children played with them. The writer said that at least Newt enterained thinking out of the box. That was before the sex scandals and his mismanagement of the House.
We have to give Gentleman John Boehner credit for some savvy internal politics. Michelle Bachman wanted a leadership position but was denied, then she wanted a post on Ways and Means and was denied. Instead, Boehner put her on the Intelligence Committee, which is ironic and humorous. But his point was that she takes up the space in the room and makes all Republicans look crazier than they really are. At intelligence, she just can not talk about the subject. Boehner was hoping Bachmann's media exposure would be diminished. Good move.
The constitutional stunt wasn't a great success as the new members were on television ineptly trying to explain how Obama's policies were unconstitutional. They simply couldn't.
James Fallows at the Atlantic commented on the Jon Huntsman for president trial balloon. He preceptively said that Huntsman could not become a viable nominee because of being part of the Obama Administration. He thinks this was all a clever move to enhance Huntsman's cache as the United States enters a period of intense negotiations with China about a host of issues. The Chinese Premier will be meeting President Obama in about a month. Fallows quite cleverly says that rumors about a Huntsman's presidential drive makes him more serious in the eyes of the Chinese. He thinks Obama and Huntsman dreamt this up together.
Look for President Obama to sideswipe the Republicans with a number of dramatic budget cuts. Already Bob Gates is preparing for proposals to cut the Pentagon budget this year by $200 million.
Republicans are in a budget box of their own. Yes, the ideologues would love to completely dismantle the federal government. But they have vowed not to cut defense spending and all the entitlement programs--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--this year. So without additional government revenues, they are down to a budget of less than $400 billion for everything else the federal government does. A 25% cut of all this would be crippling and more so because it would have an immediate negative impact on the public. That's why you are only hearing vague noises about specific cuts. The two I have heard--cutting spending for Public Broadcasting in retaliation for their firing of Juan Williams and cutting Planned Parenthood. Now they are trying to sell their repeal of the healthcare bill as a cut in spending--when it means a rise in the deficit.
One Democratic congressman summed up the new Republican approach as "Enron-style economics." This puts the Hoodoo in the Voodoo Economics. You can't get more bizarre in economic thinking than the current House Republicans. They make George W's policies seem plausible.
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