“House Republicans Disappointing and Disgusting”

January 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Nope, that wasn’t a left wing nut saying that.  It was Republican Governor Chris Christie, after the GOP contingent skedaddled before voting on emergency aid, as they had promised,  for New Jersey and New York hit by Hurricane Sandy.

“Last night the House of Representatives failed that most basic test of public service, and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state,” said Christie. “Sixty-six days and counting — shame on you. Shame on Congres

Of course one can be shocked at Christie’s shock.  This is what Republicans do these days. Stand by your beliefs and the hell with the world outside.

 

Peter King (R-NY), another shocked Republican, with even less reason to be shocked, was unhappy himself.

“I’m saying right now, anyone from New York or New Jersey who contributes one penny to congressional Republicans is out of their minds,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “Because what they did last night was put a knife in the back of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. It was an absolute disgrace.”

Rep Michael Grimn from Staten Island (also GOP) will return the Boehner stab in the back with a stab in the front: no vote for Speakership.

Rep. Michael Grimm said he will not support Republican Speaker John Boehner for re-election because of the “personal betrayal” he feels over Boenher’s refusal to permit a vote on Sandy aid, after a divided House finally OK’d fiscal cliff legislation late New Year’s Day.

“It’s not just me, I am speaking on behalf of all of New York and New Jersey,” said Grimm, who described himself as “extremely angry.”

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Whither the GOP in CA?

November 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Carla Marinucci, the SF Chronicle’s indefatigable political reporter does a quick survey of Repub and Demo opinion on the future of California Republicans.

Conservatives have long dismissed California, the nation’s most-populous state and the world’s ninth-largest economy, as the Left Coast, Wackyville and La-La Land.

But after Tuesday’s election, there is one thing that Republicans across the nation can no longer do – ignore it.

The GOP failed to take the White House and lost an opportunity to reclaim control of the U.S. Senate, while trends that began in California – the burgeoning numbers of Latino, Asian American and young voters – are harbingers of what’s ahead for Republican fortunes, Democratic consultant Garry South said.

“They can denigrate this state all they want,” South said. “But the future of America is what you’re seeing right now, laid out in California.”

My favorite quotes were from Tony Quinn, longtime Republican consultant.  Here is the blog from which she quoted.  Interesting inside-politics assertions therein.

The good news for Republicans is that they are no longer a dying party.  The bad news is that they are dead, and the final dagger into the corpse was the huge turnout of young voters on Tuesday – the exit polls show that 18 to 29 years olds made up 28 percent of the 2012 electorate.  This turnout was vastly different than the Field poll and other analysts anticipated, and it was driven by Proposition 30.

…Two conclusions emerge: there is no state Republican Party left and its numbers in the legislature make it irrelevant, but individuals do matter.  Charles Munger, Jr. put significant dollars into some Republican on Republican legislative and congressional races, and he won.  If he remains involved, he can fund pragmatic and electable Republicans in competitive districts and in 2014 the GOP might be able to rise above one third in the Senate and the Assembly.

Second, it is time to let Howard Jarvis rest in peace and stop pretending we are still in the world of Proposition 13.  On Tuesday 85 of 106 school bond measures passed, according to the League of California Cities.  Californians clearly want more public resources; the question now is whether that money is spent wisely.  That is where the Republican and business focus should be.

For years, the anti-tax zealots have been a tail wagging the old flea bitten Republican dog.  Well, now there is no dog; only fleas.

 

 

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The GOP Witness Protection Program

September 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

From the Bill Maher Watch

 

“If your party can run the nation for eight years, and then have a national convention and not invite Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Karl Rove, or Tom DeLay, you’re not a political movement. You’re the witness protection program.” 

“Clint Eastwood came out at the Republican convention and did ten minutes of wingnut improv. It was kind of a metaphor for the entire Republican party — a confused old person yelling at something that doesn’t’ exist.” 

“Mitt had to follow that. He’s a little stiff. He makes Al Gore look like James Brown at the Apollo. And for five minutes the crowd was chanting, ‘Bring back the chair!’” 

Thx Marty K

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Buying Health Care is NOT Like Buying Lettuce

September 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

From Krugman:

 

Empowerment:

I’ve spent most of the day with a parent in the hospital; and my thoughts turned to the GOP platform, which boasts that

Our reform of healthcare will empower millions of seniors to control their personal healthcare decisions.

If you’ve ever been in this situation — and I assume that many readers have — you’ll understand what I mean by saying that empowering seniors to “control their personal healthcare decisions” is very definitely not what you want right then (or what they would want ex ante).

It’s really amazing how this notion of patients as consumers, just like people buying furniture or gardening supplies, has taken hold; anyone with the least experience of actual medical situations, which means almost everyone, has to know how totally unrealistic it is

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Paul Ryan’s Fiscal Rectitude: Two Wars on the Chinese Credit Card

September 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), a champion the Bowles-Simpson deficit plan, on Wednesday attacked Paul Ryan for using the fiscal commission as a political weapon against President Obama after helping ensure its defeat.

“My friend Paul Ryan talks about fiscal responsibility, but voted to put two wars on the credit card. He voted to spend trillions of dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. He voted for a prescription drug benefit with no plan to pay for it. He abandoned the bipartisan principle that we must pay for what we buy,” Hoyer said at the Democratic convention. “And he voted against the balanced deficit reduction plan produced by a bipartisan commission—a fact, by the way, that he didn’t tell us in his speech last week.”

He said that while Democrats tried to fix the economy, “Republicans unfortunately played politics” and rooted for Obama to fail.

“Let’s review the history,” he said. “Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, said that Republicans’ number one priority was the defeat of President Obama. Not the defeat of terrorism, not the creation of jobs, not the reduction of our deficit and debt, not ensuring access to health care, not educating our children. But to simply defeat our president.”

 

Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo

Filed under Economy, Republicans Tagged with , ,

Who Was That Talking to an Empty Chair?

September 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the great things about never being told you’re wrong is that you don’t know when you are wrong, as Clint Eastwood proved last night, trying to pull off a stunt Robin Williams would have had a hard time doing, several years ago.  Talking to an empty chair, symbol of an empty idea, floating around a lot of empty heads.  Even his supporters wondered what was going on.  Nobody vetted his ‘talk.’ Nobody rehearsed him.  He is the great Clint Eastwood, after all!  Director of himself.

He may not realize the fool was not the made-up man in the chair, but the make-believing man at the lectern.

 

NYT: …the most bizarre, head-scratching 12 minutes in recent political convention history were set in motion by Mitt Romney himself and made possible by his aides, who had shrouded the actor’s appearance in secrecy.

In interviews, aides called the speech “strange” and “weird.” One described it as “theater of the absurd.”

Rachel Maddow: “That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen at a political convention in my entire life, and it will be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen if I live to be 100,”

Geraldo, Fox News Anchor — one buffoon recognizes another.

Boston Globe: “Eastwood’s ridiculing tone undercut Mitt Romney’s effort to appear more sad than angry at Obama’s “failure. … The joke, it turned out, was on Eastwood”

Roger Ebert:  “Clint, my hero, is coming across as sad and pathetic,” Ebert tweeted during Eastwood’s remarks. “He didn’t need to do this to himself. It’s unworthy of him.”

NewBusters – right wing– commentoids, loved it.

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Good Hosts to a Troublesome Crowd

August 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

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Isaac Misses GOP in Tampa but Makes a Flanking Attack on New Orleans

August 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

A few days ago the tracking models had tropical storm Issac heading for the GOP party Tampa.  Due in large part, it has been claimed, to the hot air rising from the convention center, the storm veered westward, and is now bringing its enormous load of rain, if not hurricane force winds, to far western Florida and New Orleans. [Update: Hurricane force winds.]

Link to Wunderground, on Isaac

The GOP is not happy, however.  Former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu and Romney Campaign chair is complaining that the media is “weather obsessed,” and he and his friends aren’t getting the kind of coverage they deserve — after wishing publicly that the storm not hit the convention but move “as far west  as he can.”

And talk about wishing evil on your neighbor….

” Rep Darryl Issa (R-CA) said he’d be “fine” if Isaac made landfall in New Orleans, as long as Republicans could win in November, and radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested yesterday that President Obama intentionally messed with the storm track predictions of Isaac to scare Republicans into canceling their convention.”

Then there’s all this anti-government ack-ack the Repubs are throwing up.  The storm is threatening that with with proof that when trouble looms, the Feds are the recourse of first, middle and last resort.  That’s not to say that folks don’t help themselves, or that local and state resources aren’t brought to bear, just that  nobody wants to be left with the smallest help in a disaster, in honor of ideology.  when  large, and competent help is close at hand.

“As storm trackers watched and waited for landfall, the role of the federal government has been much in evidence. The National Weather Service has been the unofficial voice of the convention, with its constant updates shaping not just the TV coverage but, behind the scenes, the deliberations of Romney strategists.

For those watching at home, the scenes from Tampa, Fla., have alternated with updates on the storm and accounts of the mobilization, with a strong assist from Washington, to evacuate tens of thousands of people and prepare relief efforts.

The Obama administration Monday issued a detailed accounting of preparations by the Federal Emergency Management Agency — more than 1 million liters of drinking water, 436,000 meals, 2,000 cots, 4,600 blankets and other supplies stocked in warehouses in Alabama and Florida — and made it known that the president was being briefed and had called Gulf Coast governors, all Republicans.”

LA Times

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Naked Swimming or Naked Baksheesh– Which is More Shocking?

August 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Skinny DippingThe news has been splashed that Representative Kevin Yoder, of more-moral-than-thou Kansas jumped, where Jesus walked, naked into the Sea of Galilee last summer.   I personally enjoy it when year old activities surface just in time for election-time decision making.  I hope it means that plenty of congress people — GOP above all– spend lots of insomniac hours reviewing past actions, not yet surfaced, and wondering: Is Tomorrow the Day?

Not only was he sans underwear, he and apparently the whole party of Republican, mostly freshman tear-down-the-house Tea Party freshmen, were partying.  Big time.  Alcohol probably contributed much to the event, though less to Yoder who still had the presence of mind to take off his clothes before taking the plunge, than others who took their clothes in with them.  Yuck!  Sodden clothes.  Did their shoes go in too, or were their feet naked — a thrilling thought for fetishists.

Yoder’s wife was with the junketeers.  Did she witness?  Did she scream Stop! Did she jump

While apparently not considered a sacrilege by Christians, what is way more troubling to me, and I hope to others, is that 30 congress people and associates were given a free ride to Israel, free lodging, free diners, free drinks by the AIPAC associated American Israel Education Foundation.

…the trips are known for providing lawmakers with stays in top-tier hotels like the King David in Jerusalem as well as private tours of Bethlehem, the Dead Sea, the Yad Vashem museum commemorating the Holocaust and other important historical and religious sites.

 But, as they saying goes: there is no free lunch.  AIPAC and its major donor, casino Sheldon Adelson, are not sending these reps and spouses on a serious pros and cons fact-finding mission.  They did not, I’ll bet my swimming trunks, visit Peace Now, or the Adalah Legal Center, though they may have visited West Bank settler representatives.  No, AIPAC will want something back from its pupils.  In the Middle East the term baksheesh covers a multitude of sins, from tipping the traffic cop to jumping the line at a licensing bureau.  It might even mean just plain “tip.”  Mostly, however,that’s  it is “a bribe or tip paid to speed up services. [wicktionary] Sounds to me like that’s what is going on here:  nice trip, nice tip.  We take care of you, you take care of me. As one Israeli lobbyist called it: “The Jewish Disneyland trip.”

One of the most famous travel boondoggles — a golf trip to Scotland for members of Congress and staff members, hosted by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff — led Congress in 2007 to tighten restrictions on who could sponsor trips and for how long. But despite the new restrictions, the number of Congressional trips paid for by outside groups has actually increased since 2007, to more than 1,600 from about 1,300, according to Legistorm, a research group that tracks Congressional data. To comply with the new restrictions, many political and lobbying groups have turned to nonprofit groups they set up and finance to host the Congressional trips.

Since 2000, the American Israel Education Foundation has been more prolific than any other in sponsoring overseas trips for members of Congress and their staffs, organizing 733 trips for both Republicans and Democrats at a cost of more than $7 million. Last year, it spent $2 million to sponsor 146 trips, far outpacing a Turkish coalition that ranked second, sponsoring 32 trips.

Last summer, there were so many members of Congress traveling — about 80 — that the education fund sponsored two separate trips.

 

Not even the Israeli official who met with the Republicans was shocked.  He says he, himself  has done the cleansing deed.[go to end] So lets stop the teeth gnashing over the sporting life, and work to make sure the naked baksheesh between Republicans (and Democrats for that matter) and Israelis-with-Agendas is stopped.

 

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GOP Women Shocked, Shocked

August 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Carla Marinucci, at the SF Chron, went out and got the quotes of a life time following Representative Todd Aikin (MO) comments on live television that victims of “legitimate rape” didn’t get pregnant.  She went straight to high-rolling GOP, female fund raisers.

Jillian Manus Salzman, a powerhouse donor to Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign and a proud pro-choice Republican, said she screamed when she heard Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri, a GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, say that victims of “legitimate” rape rarely get pregnant.

Shocked

“I was so appalled, so angry – I can’t tell you,” said the Atherton literary agent and philanthropist who has co-hosted major Romney fundraisers in the Bay Area. “His opinion is not just hurtful to others. It’s dangerous.”

and

Harmeet Dhillon, head of San Francisco’s Republican Party and a candidate for state Senate, says she is appalled by Rep. Todd Akin’s comments and “embarrassed for my party that we have a candidate like that.”

and

California Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken, who is antiabortion and the challenger to incumbent Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, was horrified by Akin’s remarks, which she called “outrageous and indefensible.”

As the mother of two daughters, “I condemn his offensive statements in the strongest possible language,” she said in a statement issued Monday.

It would be easy to be snide about such comments, or more exactly, not the comments but the shallowness of mind that can utter them.  As Capt Renault, in Casablanca, says after Rick protests being closed down: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!”  Just so, these GOP women are shocked to find an ignorant, anti-woman politician in their party.

Todd Aiken is not a little skin-tag, easily removed from an otherwise flawless body.  He is the right thumb of the right hand of the body that produced him.  The assault on women, not to mention crippling scientific ignorance, has been the core of the current leaders of the Republican Party for many years.  How can these good hearted and undoubtedly smart women not acknowledge this?

Ms. Salzman threw a big fund raiser for Ryan who “Like many Republican ... opposes abortion even when a woman has been raped.”  And yet she is outraged.

 Mr. Ryan has said he doesn’t believe in a rape exception when outlawing abortion, and he worked with Mr. Akin in the House in trying to narrow the definition of rape so Medicaid would pay for fewer abortions of poor women. Mitt Romney says he supports a rape exception, but many of the politicians he has invited to speak at next week’s Republican convention disagree with him.

Women!  And men, too.  Please, please, please do your homework before raising gazillions for those who have power (over us) in mind. Ask yourselves:  do I want the lives of  my son or daughter to be rearranged by the proposals and people I am now funding?  Will I be able to stand before those I love and say, “I didn’t know,” when radical actions —promised in the party platform— ruin lives?

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