Primary season is just warming up, and already the Teabaggers have scored a major victory against Republican incumbents, snuffing out Bob Bennett (R-UT), one of the most conservative members of the Senate, for not being conservative enough.
Bennett told the Associated Press he has not ruled out a write-in campaign.
Split votes, here we come.
Party on, Tea People!
The Maine Republican Party has just embraced the batshit brigade. At their convention last night, they adopted a platform straight out of Alice in Wonderland:
An overwhelming majority of delegates to the Maine Republican convention tonight voted to scrap the the proposed party platform and replace it with a document created by a group of Tea Party activists.
The official platform for the Republican Party of Maine is now a mix of right-wing fringe policies, libertarian buzzwords and outright conspiracy theories.
The document calls for the elimination of the Department of Education and the Federal Reserve, demands an investigation of “collusion between government and industry in the global warming myth,” suggests the adoption of “Austrian Economics,” declares that “‘Freedom of Religion’ does not mean ‘freedom from religion’” (which I guess makes atheism illegal), insists that “healthcare is not a right,” calls for the abrogation of the “UN Treaty on Rights of the Child” and the “Law Of The Sea Treaty” and declares that we must resist “efforts to create a one world government.”
Hoo boy.
The whole document, which is written in a hamfisted style intended to mimic the Declaration of Independence, is here if your head hasn’t already exploded.
Conservatives in general and Republicans in particular have chosen to bet the farm on the idea that government in and of itself is a bad thing. And every time they are voted into power, they do everything within their means to make that abstraction a reality.
Government is inefficient, they say, and then create odious budget deficits to prove their point.
Government cannot support itself, they say, and then explode the national debt to prove their point.
Government is bad for the economy, they say, and then destroy American jobs to prove their point.
For Chrissakes, they famously declared their intent to “drown government in a bathtub.” Why on earth would you ever choose them to run your government?
And yet we do. And are invariably surprised to reap the whirlwind.
In today’s New York Times, Paul Krugman illustrates how the BP oil spill exemplifies this phenomenon. The jury is still out on a comprehensive picture of the causes of the spill. But it’s clear even now that the destruction of common sense regulation during the Bush administration played a huge role.
[T]here is a common thread running through Katrina and the gulf spill — namely, the collapse in government competence and effectiveness that took place during the Bush years.
The full story of the Deepwater Horizon blowout is still emerging. But it’s already obvious both that BP failed to take adequate precautions, and that federal regulators made no effort to ensure that such precautions were taken.
For years, the Minerals Management Service, the arm of the Interior Department that oversees drilling in the gulf, minimized the environmental risks of drilling. It failed to require a backup shutdown system that is standard in much of the rest of the world, even though its own staff declared such a system necessary. It exempted many offshore drillers from the requirement that they file plans to deal with major oil spills. And it specifically allowed BP to drill Deepwater Horizon without a detailed environmental analysis.
Surely, however, none of this — except, possibly, that last exemption, granted early in the Obama administration — surprises anyone who followed the history of the Interior Department during the Bush years.
For the Bush administration was, to a large degree, run by and for the extractive industries — and I’m not just talking about Dick Cheney’s energy task force. Crucially, management of Interior was turned over to lobbyists, most notably J. Steven Griles, a coal-industry lobbyist who became deputy secretary and effectively ran the department. (In 2007 Mr. Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his ties to Jack Abramoff.)
Given this history, it’s not surprising that the Minerals Management Service became subservient to the oil industry — although what actually happened is almost too lurid to believe. According to reports by Interior’s inspector general, abuses at the agency went beyond undue influence: there was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” — cocaine, sexual relationships with industry representatives, and more. Protecting the environment was presumably the last thing on these government employees’ minds.
…
In any case, now is the time to make that break — and I don’t just mean by cleaning house at the Minerals Management Service. What really needs to change is our whole attitude toward government. For the troubles at Interior weren’t unique: they were part of a broader pattern that includes the failure of banking regulation and the transformation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a much-admired organization during the Clinton years, into a cruel joke. And the common theme in all these stories is the degradation of effective government by antigovernment ideology.
Conservatives in general and Republicans in particular have no interest in the success of our government. Knowing that, we should never allow them to be in charge of it.
Never again.
No, really. Fuck ‘em.
Despite their protestations to the contrary, they are the single worst thing that’s ever happened to the American economy.
In addition to being the reigning champs at creating gargantuan budget deficits and exploding the national debt, they are also reprehensible job killers.
But don’t take my word for it. Try the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
The next time you hear a Republican use the term “fiscal responsibility,” try not to hurt yourself laughing.
Posted in budget deficit, Bush administration, Employment, national debt, Obama administration, Republican Party
Tagged Republicans
Now that two of the three branches of the Federal Government have fallen under the depraved spell of the New American Socialist Regime, it’s up to the states – and their spunky conservative residents – to take things into their own patriotic hands.
And boy have they ever.
Here’s a patriot’s grab-bag from the last couple of weeks:
Louisiana
While the elephant in the room is busy wading ashore, it’s good to see my home state is still able to conduct business as usual:
Persons who have have been qualified to carry concealed weapons should be able to keep them strapped on in a church or temple as a way to enhance security, a House committee said today.
The Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice voted 8-3 for House Bill 68 by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Shreveport, sending it to more debate on the House floor.
Praise god and pass the ammunition.
Oh, and side note? Even Fox News is now calling bullshit on the Obama-acted-slowly-on-the-oil-spill-so-it’s-just-like-Katrina meme. So I think it’s safe for the rest of us to drop it now, too. That didn’t take long.
Tennessee
…and no, the Nashville flood wasn’t his Katrina either.
In other Tennessee news:
Right-wing extremists who question the legitimacy of Barack Obama’s presidency tried to take on local law enforcement recently — and they seem to have come out on the losing end.
First, a Tennessee man was arrested after walking into his local county courthouse to try to effect a citizen’s arrest of a grand jury foreman who had refused to investigate President Obama’s legitimacy to serve — an encounter partially caught on video. That enraged one Georgia-based member of the far-right OathKeepers group. Responding to a call from an extremist leader, he drove to Tennessee with an AK-47 in a bid to get his comrade released — only to wind up getting arrested himself.
Luckily these “citizen’s” [sic] are working “in mass” [sic]. Otherwise you might mistake them for yokels who’ve never actually read the Constitution and, I dunno, arrest them or something.
Ohio
Samuel Joe the Plumber wins a seat on his county’s Republican committee.
Oklahoma
It’s official: it’s now illegal to be a woman in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Legislature voted Tuesday to override the governor’s vetoes of two abortion measures, one of which requires women to undergo an ultrasound and listen to a detailed description of the fetus before getting an abortion.
Though other states have passed similar measures requiring women to have ultrasounds, Oklahoma’s law goes further, mandating that a doctor or technician set up the monitor so the woman can see it and describe the heart, limbs and organs of the fetus. No exceptions are made for rape and incest victims.
A second measure passed into law on Tuesday prevents women who have had a disabled baby from suing a doctor for withholding information about birth defects while the child was in the womb [read: it's okay for doctors to not tell expectant mothers about birth defects if they think it would cause them to abort].
…
[Governor] Henry has signed two [other provisions] into law: a measure requiring clinics to post signs stating that a woman cannot be forced to have an abortion, and another making it illegal to have an abortion because of the sex of a child.Two other anti-abortion bills are still working their way through the Legislature and are expected to pass. One would force women to fill out a lengthy questionnaire about their reasons for seeking an abortion; statistics based on the answers would then be posted online. The other restricts insurance coverage for the procedures.
Taken together, the various pieces of legislation would make Oklahoma one of the most prohibitive environments in the United States for women seeking to end a pregnancy, advocates for women and family planning said.
Virginia
Speaking of outlawing women, Virginia Attorney General and End Times warrior Ken Cuccinelli, not content with legalizing sexual profiling in his state, is now on a crusade to ban breasts from his DOJ:
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli apparently isn’t fond of wardrobe malfunctions, even when Virginia’s state seal is involved.
The seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, wearing a blue tunic draped over one shoulder, her left breast exposed. But on the new lapel pins Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff, Virtus’ bosom is covered by an armored breastplate.
When the new design came up at a staff meeting, workers in attendance said Cuccinelli joked that it converts a risqué image into a PG one.
The joke might be on him, said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.
“When you ask to be ridiculed, it usually happens. And it will happen here, nationally,” he said. “This is classical art, for goodness’ sake.”
As turned off as he is by tits, though, it’s nothing compared to how he feels about science:
An investigation by Ken Cuccinelli of a climate scientist who was caught up in last year’s “Climate-Gate” flap is being likened to a “witch hunt” — even by global warming skeptics.
South Carolina
Thankfully, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham is focusing on larger questions, such as what rights should be afforded to terrorist suspects:
There seems to be a strong sentiment in Congress that the only constitutional right suspected terrorists have is the right to bear arms.
“I think you’re going too far here,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday. He was speaking in opposition to a bill that would keep people on the F.B.I. terrorist watch list from buying guns and explosives.
Say what?
Yes, if you are on the terrorist watch list, the authorities can keep you from getting on a plane but not from purchasing an AK-47. This makes sense to Congress because, as Graham accurately pointed out, “when the founders sat down and wrote the Constitution, they didn’t consider flying.”
…
Graham wanted to make it clear that just because he doesn’t want to stop gun purchases by possible terrorists, that doesn’t mean he’s not tough on terror.“I am all into national security. … I want to stop reading these guys their Miranda rights,” he said.
To sum up: right to remain silent not okay for terrorists; right to buy guns and explosives okay for terrorists.
And last but not least, Arizona
Oy. Where to begin?
The newly-minted Arizona Gestapo is already asking brown citizens for their papers:
A Valley man says he was pulled over Wednesday morning and questioned when he arrived at a weigh station for his commercial vehicle along Val Vista and the 202 freeway.
…
Abdon was told he did not have enough paperwork on him when he pulled into a weigh station to have his commercial truck checked. He provided his commercial driver’s license and a social security number but ended up handcuffed.An agent called his wife and she had to leave work to drive home and grab other documents like his birth certificate.
Is it any surprise that one of the Republican State Senate backers of the bill subscribes to the twitter feeds of two white nationalist organizations?
Don Black is a Florida-based white supremacist who is banned from the UK for inciting hatred. Arizona State Senate Majority leader Chuck Gray—a proponent of the recent immigration bill—follows him, and another white power feed, on Twitter.
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[The] Twitter account [of white nationalist organization Stormfront], and another neo-Nazi feed linked to it, are among 4,819 that Arizona State Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray follows. Stormfront does not reciprocate, however—the group follows no one. Which means that Gray, or whoever is responsible for his Twitter account, sought out the racist organization specifically and decided its tweets were essential reading.
Knowing that, would it further surprise you to hear that the bill’s author is also really into white nationalism? From the New York Times:
The state senator who wrote the law, Russell Pearce, had long been considered a politically incorrect embarrassment by more moderate members of his party — often to the delight of his supporters. There was the time in 2007 when he appeared in a widely circulated photograph with a man who was a featured speaker at a neo-Nazi conference. (Mr. Pearce said later he did not know of the man’s affiliation with the group.)
In 2006, he came under fire for speaking admirably of a 1950s federal deportation program called Operation Wetback, and for sending an e-mail message to supporters that included an attachment — inadvertently, he said — from a white supremacist group.
The “papers, please” law is so popular among flyover conservatives that Arizona may find it’s started a trend. Minnesota wants it and Florida teabagger favorite Marco Rubio is all for it now that he’s realized he was pandering to the wrong constituency when he said he was against it.
Truly, Arizona is flying off a cliff on rollerskates and crapping its pants all the way down. But there’s a certain freedom in that kind of release, and once the shit starts flying it’s hard to get it back in the old bottle:
Just a week after signing the country’s toughest immigration bill into law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer now must decide whether to endorse another bill passed by her state legislature — one that outlaws ethnic-studies programs in public schools.
Just in case that doesn’t make school time trauma-free for Jim-Bob and Cindy-Lou, this ought to do the trick:
The Arizona Department of Education recently began telling school districts that teachers whose spoken English it deems to be heavily accented or ungrammatical must be removed from classes for students still learning English.
Does the list of unacceptable accents include “Inbred Redneck?”
Posted in abortion, birthers, conservatism, domestic terrorism, education, FOX News, funny, libertarianism, militia movement, Obama administration, oil, racism, Republican Party, Tea Party, the conservative psychosis
Tagged Chuck Gray, Don Black, flood, gun control, Jan Brewer, Joe the Plumber, Ken Cuccinelli, lindsey graham, Louisiana, Marco Rubio, Miranda, Nashville, OathKeepers, Oklahoma, Russell Pearce, Tennessee
Justice John Paul Stevens’ retirement announcement is less than a day old, and already the Party of No is lining up its objections to the imaginary nominee for his replacement, who has not yet even been announced.
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL):
The product of [Sonya Sotomayor's] confirmation hearing was a near-universal rejection of President Obama’s empathy standard, the flawed notion that judges should allow personal feelings, political opinions, and social views to guide judicial decision-making.
…
I hope I will be able to support the individual selected by the president, as I have a majority of his judicial nominees. But, as I have said before, I cannot and will not vote for a nominee with a record that fails to demonstrate a commitment to the Constitution, the rule of law, and the oath of a judge.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):
Our nation deserves a Supreme Court nominee who is committed to deciding cases impartially based on the law, not on personal politics, preferences, or what’s in the nominee’s ‘heart.’
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY):
As we await the President’s nominee to replace Justice Stevens at the end of his term, Americans can expect Senate Republicans to make a sustained and vigorous case for judicial restraint and the fundamental importance of an even-handed reading of the law.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT):
As I have said for many years, someone who would be an activist judge, who would substitute their own views for what the law requires, is not qualified to serve on the federal bench.
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) – before Stevens even announced his retirement:
[Whether Republicans filibuster] will all depend on what kind of a person it is. I think the president should nominate a qualified person. I hope, however, he does not nominate an overly ideological person. That will be the test.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA):
The Judiciary Committee will take the time needed to ensure that the President’s nominee will be true to the Constitution and apply the law, not personal politics, feelings or preferences.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-C Street):
I hope President Obama’s pick will unite rather than divide the country (translation: I hope he picks a slavering wingnut).
Sarah Palin recalls her first meeting with Michele Bachmann:
I knew that we’d be buddies when I met her when she said, Drill here, drill now. And then I replied, Drill, baby, drill and then we both said, You betcha!
Bachmann was equally taken with Palin’s charms:
[A]s absolutely drop dead gorgeous this woman is (sic) on the outside, I’m here to testify that she is 20 times more beautiful on the inside.
Palin/Bachmann 2012: Don’t ask, baby, don’t tell
Posted in campaign, Palin Bachmann 2012, Republican Party, Tea Party
Tagged Michelle Bachmann, sapphic, Sarah Palin, wingnut
Upon hearing porn star Stormy Daniels announce that she’d consider running for David Vitter’s Senate seat as a Republican, the NRSC responded, calling Daniels a “Republican sideshow.”
Stormy was quick with the comeback:
We are disappointed that Senator Vitter has shamelessly allowed the Washington and Baton Rouge Republican elite to violate Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment and attack a fellow Republican who is not as of now even a declared candidate in this race.
…
[F]ellow Louisiana tea partiers and true conservatives will reject the Republican elite’s attempt to ram down our throats closet liberals like David Vitter.
Ouch!
But the Louisiana Democratic party gets the last word:
If the Louisiana Republican Party is uncomfortable with a Republican challenger who has a history of selling sex, I would suggest they reconsider standing by an incumbent with a history of paying for it.
Booyah!
Posted in Republican Party
Tagged bondage, David Vitter, lesbian, libertarian, Louisiana, porn, Stormy Daniels, Voyeur
It’s like a bad dream that the RNC just can’t wake up from.
The Republican National Committee at the end of last year struck a deal with the Michigan Republican Party that if the state party could raise what turned out to be a half a million dollars for the RNC from its donors, the committee would immediately give the money back, in a scheme apparently devised to increase the RNC’s 2009 fundraising numbers.
“It was a known secret that a deal had been struck on the topic,” a former RNC official confirmed to The Daily Caller.
RNC spokesman Doug Heye, contacted by a reporter Tuesday afternoon, did not comment.
The allegations appear to be backed up by FEC reports: Fifteen donors from Michigan maxed out their donations to the committee on a single day —Dec. 31 — the last day of 2009 — giving $456,000 to the committee. Over the next two months, $500,000 was disbursed back from the RNC’s coffers to those of the Michigan Republican Party, with $250,000 given in January and another $250,000 disbursed in February.
For the record: that’s illegal. In fact, it’s almost exactly why Tom DeLay was indicted in 2005.
Posted in Republican Party
Tagged Michael Steele, Michigan, money laundering, RNC, Tom DeLay
Porn star and would-be Senate candidate from Louisiana Stormy Daniels FTW:
I am ready today to declare that should I seek the office of US Senator from the great state of Louisiana that I will do so as a Republican.
While this decision has not been an easy one, recent events regarding Republican National Committee fundraising at Voyeur, an LA based lesbian bondage themed nightclub finally tipped the scales.
…
As someone who has worked extensively in both the club and film side of the Adult Entertainment Industry, I know from experience that a mere $1900 outlay at a club with the reputation of Voyeur is a clear indication of a frugal investment with a keen eye toward maximum return.
…
As is the case with so many of my fellow Louisianans, I have been a registered Democrat throughout my life. But now I cannot help but recognize that over time my libertarian values regarding both money and sex and the legal use of one for the other is now best espoused by the Republican Party.
I am so proud of my home state right now.
Posted in Republican Party
Tagged bondage, David Vitter, lesbian, libertarian, Louisiana, porn, Stormy Daniels, Voyeur
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) will be welcoming a very special guest to Minnesota today: Sarah Palin, for a rally together in Minneapolis.
The much-anticipated rally will begin at 3 p.m. ET, and will be streamed online by Bachmann’s campaign. Other guests will include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a potential presidential candidate, as well as right-wing talk show host and Bachmann ally Sean Hannity.
And poor Tim Pawlenty. Talk about holding your manhood cheap.
Ouch:
Back in February, a CNN survey found that on the first party question, 44% of Tea Party activists identified as Republicans, 4% as Democrats and 52% as independents. However, as I reported in a column last month, when CNN asked the traditional follow-up, nearly all the independents leaned Republican. Thus, with leaners included, 88% of CNN’s Tea Party activists were Republican, 6% were Democrats and only 5% fell into the pure independent category.
As GWU Political Scientists John Sides often reminds us, independent leaners typically “act like partisans.” Leaners vote for their party’s candidate about as often as those who initially identify with the party (see my column and Sides’ post for more).
So those reports you’ve been seeing saying that the Winston Group poll shows that Tea People are largely made up of independents?
Yeah, that’s pretty much bullshit.
There are two takeaways here:
1. Despite their protestations to the contrary, Tea People are almost uniformly Republican
2. You should never take news networks’ word when they interpret polls. They’re terrible at it. Instead turn to people who know what they’re talking about, like Nate Silver and Mark Blumenthal.
Posted in poll, Republican Party, Tea Party
Tagged 538.com, CNN, John Sides, Nate Silver, Pollster.com
NH RNC member Sean Mahoney resigned his post today, taking aim at chairman Michael Steele in a strongly-worded protest letter over the committee’s profligate spending.
“Not only has the out-of-touch, free-spending culture of Washington come to completely dominate the United States Congress, but I have watched with growing unease as the same mentality has seeped into our own national party,” Mahoney said in a letter to Steele.
Sean Mahoney: not a lesbian bondage fan.
And then there’s this:
Alex Castellanos, who was hired late last year by the RNC to help reform Chairman Michael Steele’s image, said on CNN moments ago that he thinks “a change in leadership” would be good for the RNC.
Posted in Republican Party
Tagged bondage, lesbian, Michael Steele, New Hampshire, RNC, Sean Mahoney
Poor Charlie Crist.
His matchup in the Florida Republican senatorial primary against wingnut Tea Party upstart Marco Rubio has been the most one-sided smackdown since Godzilla first made his way through Tokyo.
But things are looking up.
Just this morning, Colonel Bud Day, one of John McCain’s Hanoi Hilton cell-mates, endorsed Crist in the primary.
“You know, we just got through (electing) a politician who can run his mouth at Mach 1, a black one, and now we have a Hispanic who can run his mouth at Mach 1,” Day said. “You look at their track records and they’re both pretty gritty. Charlie has not got a gritty track record.”
Day confirmed he was speaking of Obama and Rubio.
“You’ve got the black one with the reading thing. He can go as fast as the speed of light and has no idea what he’s saying,” Day said. “I put Rubio in that same category, except I don’t know if he’s using one of those readers.”
Crist’s response? Any port in a storm:
“I am more than honored to have the endorsement of Colonel Bud Day,” Crist said in the release. “Colonel Day is a true American hero who has served our country well, and I could not be more grateful for his support.”
Godzilla: 1
Tokyo: 0
Posted in campaign, Republican Party
Tagged Bud Day, Charlie Crist, Godzilla, Marco Rubio, Senate
Be honest and call in on the right line, folks.
Here’s what the summer is going to look like on television:
Prior to this week, Alexi Giannoulias (D), who produced that ad, was running about five points behind his opponent, Mark Kirk (R).
What a difference a little health reform makes:
March 10: Giannoulias (D) – 44% , Kirk (R) – 41%
The Republican Party in Exile wants to make their comeback bid with “Repeal and Replace?”
Works for me.
Posted in campaign, health care, Republican Party
Tagged Alexi Giannoulias, health care reform, Mark Kirk, repeal, Republicans
“Repeal and replace.”
Mitch McConnell uses the weekly Republican internet and radio address as an opportunity to confirm to America that the Republicans will be doubling down on the strategy of repealing health care reform.
Booyah.
Posted in campaign, health care, Republican Party
Tagged health care reform, Mitch McConnell, repeal
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities recently published an analysis of U.S. budget deficits through the next decade, based largely upon CBO reporting. It’s worth having a look at it, because it illustrates very clearly which major budget components will be contributing to the deficit during that period.
Although the modern Svengali we call the GOP has mesmerized half the electorate into believing that Democratic programs like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Health Care Reform bill that just passed Congress make up for the majority of the deficit, even a cursory review of the attached graph guts that assumption like a dead fish. In fact, our projected budget deficits for the next decade break down pretty unflatteringly for our Republican friends:
Some critics charge that the new policies pursued by President Obama and the 111th Congress caused the huge federal budget deficits that the nation now faces. In fact, the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the economic downturn together explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years (see Figure 1).
If not for the tax cuts enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush that Congress did not pay for, the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were initiated during that period, and the effects of the worst economic slump since the Great Depression (including the cost of steps necessary to combat it), we would not be facing these huge deficits in the near term.
While President Obama inherited a dismal fiscal legacy, that does not diminish his responsibility to propose policies to address our fiscal imbalance and put the weight of his office behind them. Although policymakers should not tighten fiscal policy in the near term while the economy remains fragile, they and the nation at large must come to grips with the nation’s long-term deficit problem. But we should not mistake the causes of our predicament.
Make no mistake: President Obama owns this deficit now. Its implications were clear before he even began his presidential campaign. But if we ever hope to extract ourselves from our fiscal crisis, and ensure that it never happens again, we need to be clear about its causes, and be guided by them in the future.
Step 1: never voting Republicans back into office ever again.
Mitt Romney takes to the airwaves to explain the differences between the health care program he created in Massachusetts and President Obama’s plan. A truly breathtaking display of cognitive dissonance:
Posted in health care, Republican Party
Tagged health care reform, hypocrisy, Massachusetts, Mitt Romney
