By GottaLaff
This will be a lighter posting day. Still struggling with a few computer issues.
That said, here's your ClusterFox of the day:
"Three of the top five choices in the Southern Republican Leadership Conference's recent straw poll on favorite 2012 presidential candidates had more than one thing in common: They're all on the Fox News Channel payroll," the AP reports.
By GottaLaff
Think Progress has put together a chart showing which GOP lawmakers have publicly come out for or against the Arizona racial profiling law :
FOR THE LAW NON-COMMITTAL AGAINST THE LAW Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA): “They will look at the kind of dress you wear. There’s different type of attire. … There’s behavior things that professionals are trained in across the board. And this group shouldn’t be exempt from those observations as much as anybody else.” Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ): “And my own view is until the federal government does our part back here by providing the resources that are necessary, and that could include, by the way, the financial resources to support National Guard troops on the border, then you are going to see more of this. It won’t just be the state of Arizona that passes laws like this.” Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL): “I strongly disagree with the Arizona immigration law.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA): “[I]f that’s what the people of Arizona want to do, then certainly they have that right.” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): “I haven’t had a chance to look at all the aspects, but I do understand why the Legislature would act.” Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK): “I don’t see anything wrong with that [the Arizona law].” Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY): “I haven’t studied it.” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA): “I think that Arizona has a point, which is the federal government has not done a good enough job. … And if it’s a message to the administration they need to do a better job, then a state has to right to send that message.” Rep. Steve King (R-IA): “I commend Arizona for standing up for the Rule of Law and protecting American workers.”
It’s noteworthy to point out that in addition to Diaz-Balart and Graham, one of the only other high-profile Republican to criticize the law is GOP Republican candidate Marco Rubio, who is Cuban-American like Diaz-Balart.
By GottaLaff
Andy Guinn, co-chair of the SRLC, introduced Vitter by saying he “fights everyday for Louisiana and her families.”
During his address, Vitter said, "I'll take a TV personality over a community organizer any day," an apparent reference to Sarah Palin and Barack Obama.
By GottaLaff
Correction (title edited to reflect): The site belongs to an individual who labels it Chicago GOP, but is apparently not affiliated with GOP. Thank you HeidiEKMassey. My information was wrong. ChicagoGOP.com is an unnofficial site for Republicans.
I've always admired the Rushpublic party for standing up for Family Values, labeling themselves the Family Values Party, being so Family Values pure of heart, condemning others for their prurient ways, raising their eyebrows at the mere mention of the Sex Word, shaking their fists angrily at extra curricular activities like extra marital affairs, visits to Voyeur-istic venues, revealing photos...
Why, I feel safer and more protected just knowing they are always looking out for the children and the more prim and proper among us. They'd never expose, say, readers to anything that comes close to racy. Certainly not a woman's bare boobuses!
Oh. Wait:
Oh oh, doesn't Coburn know that Fox is the GOP's new boss? Countdown until primetime mea culpa on Hannity.... Via Taegan-
At an Oklahoma town hall meeting, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) defended Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi against character attacks from Fox News, reports Capitol News Connection.
While discussing his policy disagreements with Pelosi, Coburn said "she's a nice lady," which brought hisses and hoots from the crowd.
Said Coburn: "Come on now. She is nice -- how many of you all have met her? She's a nice person. Just because somebody disagrees with you doesn't mean they're not a good person... So don't catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody is no good. The people in Washington are good. They just don't know what they don't know."
By GottaLaff
Via the L.A. Times letters to the editor:
Thoughts on a GOP 'tea party'
Re “The ‘tea party’ dance,” Opinion, Feb. 21
I read with interest Jacob Heilbrunn's article on the delicate attempt the GOP is making to recruit "tea party" members with a conservative manifesto, the Mount Vernon statement.
I always find one of the main points both groups make to be incomprehensible: the need for small government. How is it possible for a country of more than 300 million people, with the world's most advanced military and with millions of miles of interstate highways, sewers and interconnected electric grids, to be overseen effectively by a small government?
Are we going to forgo educating children? Scientific research? Policing our streets or putting out fires? Building roads, power plants and providing medical care to millions of seniors and the disabled? Are we going to remove our troops from all corners of the world?
I have no interest in aligning myself with the inchoate rage of the tea party or the GOP, but I would like to know how they really think they can run our county with a small government. I fear they know they can't and are using this simplistic but appealing pitch for cynical political gain.
****
I wonder how many of those implacable foes of government have ever received benefits in the form of Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, farm subsidies, education grants, etc.?
By GottaLaff
The Becks of the world have been asking, "Where's Gore?" He's been busy, that's where. Busy at what, you ask?
Calling out Republicans. Oh yeah, and Democrats.
Oh no he didn't! Ohhh yeah. He did. Al Gore's group, the Alliance for Climate Protection, just put up not one, but two Tee Vee Machine ads in Indiana and Maine, with two more expected in Missouri and Arkansas.
You may be asking, as you're wont to do, so what? Here's what. The ads, featuring regular old Americans, call out Democrats for backing off of cap and trade climate legislation.
That's right, not just Rushpublics, but Al Gore, the former Vice President, is mentioning Even Bayh, Claire McCaskill, Blanche Lincoln, and others by name via Repower America. And that's the so what:
Repower America, a project of Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection is upping the pressure on swing-vote Democrats to support legislative action on climate change.
By GottaLaff
AMERICABlog has the whole thing (via Roll Call, which is subscription only), but the gist is, the Republicans won't go to the bipartisan [sic] health care meeting (my post about that is here) unless the White House considers scrapping the health care bills, plus they say reconciliation is off the table.
Here's the excerpt we can access:
In a tersely worded letter to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on Monday, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) wrote that Republicans “would rightly be reluctant” to participate in the Feb. 25 bipartisan health care meeting if the White House refused to consider scrapping the current health care reform bills.Keith Olbermann also just reported the news on Countdown.
By GottaLaff
This should be interesting viewing:
President Obama made a dramatic attempt to jump-start the stalled health care debate Sunday, inviting Republicans in Congress to a half-day summit on the subject to be televised live later this month. [...]Obama challenged Republicans to come to the discussion armed with their best ideas for how to cover more Americans and fix the health insurance system. [...]
Best ideas? How about any ideas?
Although The Boehner said he's "pleased that the White House finally seems interested in a real, bipartisan conversation on health care" (um, excuse me, huh, whaa?), and that the existing bills should be "scrapped", the White House says, uh-uh:
"This is not starting over," one White House official said. "Don't make any mistake about that. We are coming with our plan. They can bring their plan."
If they do, they'll be packing awfully light. As in, empty. As in nada.
By GottaLaff
Republican politicians and conservative activists are launching a ballot campaign to suspend California's landmark global-warming law, in what they hope will serve as a showcase for a national backlash against climate regulations.
Supporters say they have "solid commitments" of nearly $600,000 to pay signature gatherers for a November initiative aimed at delaying curbs on the greenhouse gas emissions of power plants and factories until the state's unemployment rate drops.
GOP gubernatorial candidates and Tea Party organizers paint the 2006 law, considered a model for other state and federal efforts, as a job-killing interference in the economy. Talk radio is flailing at what John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, drive-time hosts on Los Angeles' KFI-AM (640), call "the global-warming final solution act" promoted by "fascist, Nazi" officials.
"We are on fire," said Assemblyman Dan Logue (R-Marysville), a sponsor of the proposed initiative. "People are calling from all over the country. This will be the most intense campaign the state has seen in 50 years."
The measure would halt proposed regulations until the state's jobless rate dips to 5.5% or below for a year. That's a level that California has not seen since 2007.
Duh, dumbasses that need something to fill the airtime. Via Taegan-
Some perspective on that Republican GOP insiders poll that showed Mitt Romney the runaway favorite for president in 2012: James Barnes notes that four years ago, former Sen. George Allen (R-VA) narrowly edged Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as the Republican insiders' favorite for 2008. We all know how that ended.
It wasn't much better on the Democratic side, where Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) was the favorite of Democratic Insiders for 2008 and Howard Dean (D) was the favorite for 2004.
Every D talking head in THE WHOLE FREAKING WORLD should be pounding this into the public's brains over and over and over. G-d damn this pisses me off. Via Ben-
Perhaps the largest impediment to change at the agency: South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint has a hold on the appointment of a TSA chief, over his concern that the new administration could allow security screeners to unionize.
Republicans have cast votes against the key TSA funding measure that the 2010 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security contained, which included funding for the TSA, including for explosives detection systems and other aviation security measures. In the June 24 vote in the House, leading Republicans including John Boehner, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan voted against the bill, amid a procedural dispute over the appropriations process, a Democrat points out. A full 108 Republicans voted against the conference version, including Boehner, Hoekstra, Pence, Michelle Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Darrell Issa and Joe Wilson.
The conference bill included more than $4 billion for "screening operations," including $1.1 billion in funding for explosives detection systems, with $778 million for buying and installing the systems.
Hard to imagine that this would cause him problems after all the faux paus and just plain stupidity that falls from his mouth. Via Taegan-
RNC Chairman Michael Steele "is using his title to market himself for paid appearances nationwide, personally profiting from speeches with fees of up to $20,000 at colleges, trade associations and other groups -- an unusual practice criticized by a string of past party chairmen," the Washington Times reports.
"Mr. Steele, elected in January to the $223,500-a-year RNC post, is working with at least four outside agencies in Washington, New York, Boston and Nashville that book the speaking engagements. He charges between $8,000 and $20,000 for an address, plus first-class travel and lodging expenses."
Said former RNC Chairman Frank Fahrenkopf: "Holy mackerel, I never heard of a chairman of either party ever taking money for speeches. The job of a national chairman is to give speeches. That's what the national party pays him for. We didn't have a rule book back then, but being national chairman was and is a full-time job."
Keep on acting like a bunch of old ladies picking out the sacristy's curtains and you'll get what you (not us) deserve. Via Taegan-
First Read makes a good point noting that today's Gallup poll showing Republicans leading Democrats in the congressional ballot "couldn't have come at a better time for the GOP, as they put the final sale on prospective candidates for the House, in particular. There are many House GOP leaders who would truly like to make a run at the majority in 2010, but they need more quality candidates in more races. A poll like this is a boost to their sales pitch."
Seems self evident to me.
This is, a youngish Republican points out to me this morning, a bit of an unfortunate place for an empty page on the Republican National Committee's nifty new website.
That would be the "Future Leaders" page.
By GottaLaff
Steve Nunn, a former Kentucky GOP lawmaker and gubernatorial candidate was found by police this afternoon with slit wrists in the cemetery where his parents lie buried. Hours earlier, Nunn's former fiancée had been found shot to death in a Lexington parking lot.
According to the local sheriff, Nunn, 57, placed mementos on his parents' graves, moved several feet away, then cut his wrists. [...] Nunn was taken via ambulance to the hospital.
Nunn's former fiancée, Amanda Ross, was found dead this morning. A neighbor told reporters she heard five shots and screams at 6:11 a.m. in a courtyard outside Ross's condominium. [...]
Nunn was arrested after being taken to the hospital, for allegedly violating a protective order against Ross, by carrying the handgun. [...]Steve Nunn -- who spent what he has called his "formative years" in the governor's mansion -- received just 13 percent of the vote running against [Ernie] Fletcher in the gubernatorial primary that year. He is also a former state legislator. [...]
Nunn and Ross had a deeply troubled relationship. [...]
But they stayed in contact, and in February he was at her home for dinner. That night, Ross later charged in a domestic violence complaint, he struck her four times in the face, threw her against a hallway lamp, breaking it, then threw a cup of bourbon in her face. [...]
An order of protection was placed on Nunn, ordering him to have no contact with Ross for a year. Nunn was placed on administrative leave from his job as deputy secretary of the state's health and human services department, and resigned soon after.
In July, a judge found Nunn in contempt of the protection order, after Ross alleged that Nunn had published "tampered photographs" of her. [...]
Late Update: The Herald-Leader now adds:
Police have not charged Nunn, Kentucky State Police Trooper Charles Sweeney said. Police officers will question Nunn upon his release.Lexington police Lt. Doug Pape said Nunn is "a guy we want to talk to" in reference to the fatal shooting of his former fiancée, Amanda Ross.
Tsk tsk, won't they ever learn. At least he didn't drag it out like they're wont to do. More here.
By GottaLaff
Powerful stuff. The video is courtesy of Spadecaller:
Spadecaller's poem characterizes a new and frightening voice of the Republican Party.
Since the election of our first black President, Barack Hussein Obama, the Republican party has gravitated to the fringes of the partys extreme. A shocking 58 percent of Republicans polled doubt Barack Obama is an American born citizen. Since Obamaa entry into the White House there has been a rise of hate crimes, hate speech from mainstream politicians, threats of secession by state officials, open threats of revolution, and numerous threats against the Presidents life.
The young presidency has encountered reactionary forces far beyond anything yet experience in American history. In contrast to the astounding fact that a black man succeeded in garnering the support of Americas voting majority, racial tensions have risen to a critical mass and the opposition party is willingly supporting the ideologies traditionally associated with the KKK and White Supremacists.
Now we just have to figure this g-d'd healthcare thing out.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll finds congressional job approval at a lowly 19% with a whopping 56% disapproving.
However, in a 2010 generic congressional ballot test, Democrats still lead Republicans by 10 points, 46% to 36%.
Steve Singiser: "If valid, this underscores how woeful the status of the GOP is at present, no matter the level of frustration voters may have with the progress on Capitol Hill."
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