This Says It All

Quote of the Week

“Gee, you mean the members of the other party are criticizing the president? I can't imagine that.”

-- Secretary of State John Kerry, responding to Republican criticism of the Obama Administration on its agreement to avert Iran from gaining nuclear weapons.

The GOP has long been frustrated with its inability to interfere with Obama on foreign policy issues.  If they could've stopped the President from killing bin Laden, Republicans probably would have done so. In fact, I believe the GOP's obsession with Benghazi! directly resulted from frustration over Obama taking out the Al-Qaeda leader a mere two years into his presidency, something the Bush-Cheney Regime couldn't do in eight years.

With regard to yesterday's deal with Iran, Republican Senator John Cornyn actually tweeted: "Amazing what WH will do to distract attention from O-care."  Really?  Laura Clausen at Kos issued this perfect response to Cornyn:

Right, Obama participated in making nuclear war a little less likely in order to distract from some problems implementing his plan to get health coverage for millions of Americans. That's diabolical! Here's a thought experiment for you: What would Cornyn be saying if Obama suddenly decided to bomb Iran? Answer: He'd likely be accusing the president of trying to distract from Obamacare.

The bottom line here is that Americans are tired of bombing Middle Eastern countries. Republicans must know this.  In fact, 64% of the country supports making a nuclear deal with Iran.  But the problem for the GOP is that it is committed to opposing everything President Blackenstein does, even if his ideas match the will of the American people. 

I guess this shouldn't surprise me, given that the only policy the GOP supports at this point is denying health coverage to 40 million citizens.

Yes! (With Updates)

Read all about it here. I'm actually thinking of re-joining the Democratic Party now.

UPDATE:  Here's what the President had to say about why the Nuclear Option was necessary:

Over the six decades before I took office, only 20 presidential nominees to executive positions had to overcome filibusters.  In just under five years since I took office, nearly 30 nominees have been treated this way.  These are all public servants who protect our national security, look out for working families, keep our air and water clean.

This year alone, for the first time in history, Senate Republicans filibustered a President's nominee for the Secretary of Defense who used to be a former Republican senator.  They tried everything they could to hold up our EPA Administrator.  They blocked our nominee for our top housing regulator at a time when we need more help for more families to afford a home and prevent what has caused mortgage meltdowns from happening again.

And in each of these cases, it's not been because they opposed the person, that there was some assessment that they were unqualified, that there was some scandal that had been unearthed.  It was simply because they opposed the policies that the American people voted for in the last election.

Exactly right -- GOP obstructionism in this regard had nothing to do with the qualification of any of these nominees and everything to do with nullifying the last two presidential elections.

Sorry GOP, but elections do have consequences, even presidential elections that put a (gasp!) Black Man in the Oval Office.  Deal with it.

UPDATE II:  From Ed Kilgore:

[I]t was a foregone conclusion that Republicans would “go nuclear”—certainly over judges, and maybe over everything—if and when they were back in power. I mean, seriously, does anyone think that after forty years of promises to the Christian Right the GOP is going to be able to deny its “base” the fifth sure Supreme Court vote (perhaps) necessary to overturn Roe v. Wade? Over a Senate rule? No way. The judicial filibuster power was doomed anyway, and all it served to do at present was as a temporary instrument for GOP power that would be exercised by any means available.

Fucking-A.

Sometimes The Universe Unfolds As It Should

I'm still laughing over this one:

In September, Rep. Trey Radel voted for Republican legislation that would allow states to make food stamp recipients pee in cups to prove they're not on drugs. In October, police busted the Florida Republican on a charge of cocaine possession.

Last year, some Democrats responded to Radel's food stamp cup-peeing idea by proposing that people in Congress should be drug tested as well. I'd love to see someone introduce that bill.  The time is certainly right.

Please Excuse My French . . .

. . . but it is about fucking time:

Exasperated with the refusal of Senate Republicans to confirm many of President Obama’s nominees, Mr. Reid has been speaking individually with members of his caucus to gauge whether there is enough support to change filibuster rules.

Given how much deference senators have traditionally shown to the rules and procedures of the institution — many of them in place since the 18th century — any modifications are a serious undertaking.

But among Democrats there is a strong consensus that Republicans have gone too far in their latest attempt to block White House appointments, by denying Mr. Obama any more judges for what is considered the most important appeals court in the country despite three vacancies.

What I don't want to see is the Dems walking right up to the line on this and then pulling back because the Republicans offered some minor concession. With regard to the three vacancies now existing in the DC Circuit, I have no doubt that the GOP -- in an attempt to thwart the nuclear option -- will agree to not filibuster one of Obama's nominees, but the Democrats should refuse to compromise on this. They should simply deploy the nuclear option and get all three nominees confirmed.

Elections have consequences. But what the Republicans are basically trying to do is nullify the fact that Obama has handily won two presidential elections by not letting him fill VACANT judicial seats.  I have no doubt that the GOP -- and perhaps even some Democrats -- will respond to the deployment of the nuclear option by saying that things are only going to get worse in Congress because of it.  My response:  It can't get any worse than it is now.

These GOP efforts must be put into context: Republicans know that they are demographically screwed in the long run, and their efforts to prevent President Blackenstein from filling open seats go hand-in-hand with other things that are designed to extend the life of their dying party, such as the Citizens United case and the voter suppression tactics being employed nationwide by Republican lawmakers.The Democrats must aggressively oppose all such tactics regardless of the context in which they occur.

There is some talk out there about how Senate traditions should be preserved.  Indeed, a lot of Democrats cited "tradition" as a big reason they have opposed the nuclear option in the past.  But one thing that is abundantly clear is the GOP doesn't give a shit about traditions in government.  As the recent GOP government shutdown indicates, Republicans have no respect for government at all. They certainly have no great love for this country, given that the GOP also recently tried to intentionally bring down America's economy. All the GOP seems to care about these days is finding ways to nullify the fact that America has elected -- and then reelected -- a Black president.

The time has come for the Democrats to stop playing defense.  They need to go nuclear.

A Thousand Points Of Bullshit

No, this is not from The Onion. It's real, and it is one of the most offensive things I've read in a long time:

A Walmart in northeast Ohio is holding a holiday canned food drive — for its own underpaid employees. “Please Donate Food Items Here, so Associates in Need Can Enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner,” a sign reads in the employee lounge of a Canton-area Walmart.

Kory Lundberg, a Walmart spokesman, says the drive is a positive thing. “This is part of the company’s culture to rally around associates and take care of them when they face extreme hardships,” he said.

Think about that one for a second. This Walmart is so "concerned" about its underpaid associates that is asking a bunch of other underpaid folks -- also known as other Walmart employees -- to help feed these people.

If this doesn't epitomize the GOP's vision of what it wants America to become, then I don't know what does.

Good Point

If the Feds can't even build a working website, how will they rise to the logistical challenge of shipping conservatives to FEMA camps?

— Josh Barro (@jbarro) November 13, 2013

The Inhofe Idiot Enters GOP Civil War

This brought a smile to my face:

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) has no plans to hop aboard the Chris Christie bandwagon.

In an interview with The Oklahoman, Inofe said he'd "have a hard time" backing the newly re-elected New Jersey governor for president. Inhofe evidently is one of many Republicans who believes that Christie's response to Hurricane Sandy last year helped secure a second term for President Barack Obama.

"Christie I still hold responsible for ... the re-election of Obama," Inhofe said, as quoted by The Oklahoman. When the reporter asked if Inhofe was referring to Sandy, the senator said, "And the way [Christie] handled it, yeah."

Inhofe, moron that he is, cannot actually believe that Christie is responsible for Obama's landslide victory.  Maybe his point might come closer to making sense had the election been very tight, but Obama crushed Romney.  I think Inhofe is more angry with Christie because he actually showed our first black president some respect.  But whatever the reason, I'm glad the Imbecile Inhofe is now fully engaged in the intra-party fight.

We also learned today that FreedomWorks "split with the Club for Growth and the Senate Conservatives Fund on Monday and endorsed former state Treasurer Shane Osborn over Midland University President Ben Sasse in the Republican primary for retiring Sen. Mike Johanns'(R-NE) Senate seat."

My big concern is that Bagger groups such as FreedomWorks just might run out of money.  If that happens, then the Democrats should consider funding them, because it is in the best interests of the Democratic Party -- and the country -- that the Republican Civil War be as bloody as possible.

A Democrat Finally Speaks The Truth About ObamaCare

The Democrat in question happens to be disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, but at least someone finally said it.

Weiner said this last night on Real Time in response to a Republican guest's criticism of ObamaCare:

The fact of the matter is you've got to compare it to what the status quo was. There are millions of Americans that have no health care.  You my friend are paying for them in an inefficient way.  So the Democrats came up with an idea.  We said: "You know what?  Let's borrow the idea that the Republicans keep talking about.  Let's let the market decide."  So we gave tax subsidies to people to buy a private product -- insurance.  That's the sum and substance of ObamaCare.  That's your idea!  Why don't you like it now that we wrote the law?

I'm not sure why the Democrats are have been so reluctant to give credit to the GOP for ObamaCare. Maybe they don't want to give credit to Republicans for coming up with an idea that actually has some merit, but I don't see what the harm would be now that every Republican opposes the individual mandate.

Prominent Democrats should bring up the GOP's authorship of the Affordable Care Act at every opportunity. Constantly repeating that ObamaCare was originally a Republican plan reinforces the notion that the GOP has become so radicalized that it won't even support its own ideas anymore.

So There Really Is A Benghazi Scandal After All

This is hilarious:

CBS News has pulled its dubious 60 Minutes report on the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi following the revelation that Dylan Davies, the segment's featured "witness," has given contradictory stories about that night's events. But Fox News, which aggressively promoted the CBS segment and used it to claim that their own Benghazi reporting had been validated, has so far ignored the story's implosion in its on-air reporting.

Fox was eager to seize on the CBS report shortly after it aired. On October 28, the morning after the 60 Minutes segment, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy told viewers, "It's great that mainstream media, finally catching up. CBS did this story on Benghazi and I see criticism from the left where they go, 'You guys are covering a phony scandal.' 60 Minutes doesn't cover phony scandals."

That evening, Special Report host Bret Baier said that the 60 Minutes report "reaffirmed what we knew and had reported on." The Real Story host Gretchen Carlson and The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld also used the CBS report to prop up their network's own Benghazi reporting.

All told, Fox spent more than 47 minutes -- spread across 13 segments on 11 separate shows -- covering the CBS report on October 28. And it didn't stop there. After serious questions were raised about Davies' credibility, the network rallied to his defense, with Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade suggesting the administration had leaked damaging information to the press in order to "discredit a seemingly very credible witness."

The Democrats should immediately call for an investigation. At the very least, Senate Democrats should subpoena this Davies character to appear in front of a committee -- preferably one in which Lindsay Graham is a member -- and then grill that lying piece-of-shit Davies for at least several hours while Lindsay Graham helplessly watches in horror.

The Republicans have been screaming Benghazi!-this and Benghazi!-that for over a year now. The time has come for the Democrats to take the offensive on this.