Quote of the Fucking Century

“There’s no way any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday.”

- Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), angry that President Obama wore a tan suit to a press conference (I am not making this up because you really can't make up shit like this -- King really said it).

Gov. Tom Corbett (R-Penn) Removes Himself From Obamacare Death Panel (Updated)

Last April, I noted that there is in fact an Obamacare Death Panel, and it is populated by the Republican governors who have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. According to a report published by researchers from Harvard Medical School, the number of deaths attributable to this lack of Medicaid expansion in opt-out states will be between 7,115 and 17,104 per year. 

Well, it looks like this Death Panel is about to lose one member (from Greg Sargent):

In another sign that the politics of Obamacare continue to shift, the Medicaid expansion is now all but certain to come to another big state whose Republican governor had previously resisted it: Pennsylvania.

The federal government has approved Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s application for the state’s own version of the Medicaid expansion, without a handful of the conditions Corbett had hoped to impose, Dem sources tell me.

Corbett just announced that he will accept the expansion that has been offered, perhaps with some last-minute changes — expanding coverage and subsidies to as many as half a million people.

Corbett really did not have much of a choice, given that he is currently getting his ass kicked in his quest for reelection:

The latest F&M poll shows [Tom] Wolf, a wealthy York businessman and former state revenue secretary, holding a lead of 25 percentage points over Corbett, the former prosecutor-turned-governor from the Pittsburgh suburbs. Wolf leads Corbett 49 percentage points to 24 percentage points, the poll shows, compared to 47 to 25 in June. The poll also found one-in-four voters undecided, with slightly more of them leaning toward Wolf.

What I find most interesting is how quickly this whole Obamacare fight has been turned on its head. A year ago, Republicans no doubt thought that the ACA would be the dominant issue during the run-up to the 2014 Mid-Terms, and cowardly Democrats couldn't run away from Obamacare fast enough.  Now, Republicans have stopped talking about it and at least one Democrat has started mentioning components of the ACA in a political ad.

But simply mentioning Obamacare in political ads is not enough.  The Democrats must go on the attack by repeatedly pointing out that the Republicans wasted the last four years attacking a law that is actually working well and actually helping millions of people.  The Democrats need to constantly point out that all of the parade of horribles envisioned by the GOP with regard to Obamacare have not materialized.  Christ, premiums under the ACA are even going down in some states next year.

The time has come for the Democratic Party to claim ownership of the Affordable Care Act and to ram the certificate of title right up the GOP's backside.

UPDATE:  Yet another member of the Obamacare Death Panel has had enough:

In a growing trend, Tennessee looks like it will be the next Republican-led state to move toward expanding Medicaid under Obamacare. The Tennessean reported that Gov. Bill Haslam (R) said Thursday that Tennessee would aim to submit a Medicaid expansion plan to the Department of Health and Human Services "some time this fall." The program would cover more than 150,000 low-income residents in the state.

Here is a new talking point for the Democrats: If Republicans have been this wrong about Obamacare, what else are they completely wrong about? [Answer: Everything].

Abortion Lover Wins GOP Primary In Tennessee

No, this is not from The Onion -- it's real:

Rep. Scott DesJarlais has officially won his primary, barely squeaking past state Sen. Jim Tracy, who conceded Monday after more than two tense weeks following Tennessee’s Republican primary in the 4th District. ***

DesJarlais was among the most vulnerable House incumbents this cycle, thanks to personal scandal that dried up his fundraising ability and made him a pariah among some of his peers in the Tennessee delegation. Proceedings from a 2001 divorce arose in October of 2012, revealing that the anti-abortion lawmaker had encouraged an ex-wife and former mistress to have multiple abortions.

You just can't make this shit up.

The GOP's "Blame Obama For Everything" Movement Reaches New Low . . . (With Update)

. . . or maybe it's a new high - all I know is I find it pretty freaking hilarious (via Political Wire):

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) offered a theory to KSHB-TV when asked why significant numbers of Republican primary voters cast ballots against incumbents on Tuesday.

Brownback won, but his little-known primary opponent Jennifer Winn (R) received 37% of the vote. Said Brownback: "I think a big part of it is Barack Obama. That a lot of people are so irritated at what the president is doing, they just, they want somebody to throw a brick."

Gov. Brownback then reportedly stubbed his toe and tripped as he was leaving his campaign headquarters, and immediately yelled at the top of his lungs, "Goddam Obama! He caused me to trip! Impeach!!  IMPEACH NOW!!!"

Okay, I made that last part up. But it does appear that we are rapidly heading toward a time when the GOP will in fact blame Obama for absolutely every bad thing that happens to anyone or anything anywhere.

And I can hardly wait.

UPDATE:  Recently-indicted Rick Perry blames Obama for the indictment, and Pat Robertson blames Obama for the corruption charges filed against former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell.

The Mother Of All Wedge Issues?

John Boehner on July 19, 2013:  "This whole talk about impeachment is coming from the president's own staff and coming from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Why? Because they're trying to rally their people to give money and to show up in this year's election. We have no plans to impeach the president. We have no future plans. Listen -- it's all a scam started by Democrats at the White House."

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) on July 16, 2014: "Not a day goes by when people don't talk to us about impeachment. I don't know what rises to that level yet, but I know that there's a mounting frustration that a lot of people are getting to and I think Congress is going to start looking at it very seriously."

Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX) on August 5, 2014:  “If you were to ask persons and many folks in the House, has the president violated the law and will he be worthy of impeachment, I think a fair number of people would say yes.”

Rep. Walter "Freedom Fries" Jones (R-NC) on August 5, 2014: “I am one that believes sincerely that the Constitution says that when a president, be it a Republican or a Democrat exceeds his authority and you can’t stop the president from exceeding his authority, then we do have what’s called impeachment. Thank Alexander Hamilton. He felt that the Congress need to use this process to get the attention of a president. And if the president had lost the public trust then move forward in that area.”

Oh hell, the list of Republicans calling for President Blackenstein's impeachment is too long to mention here. In fact, shitloads of Republicans have brought up impeachment.

I think the real debate should be:  Is John Boehner the all-time worst Speaker of the House, or is he simply in the top five of all-time worst Speakers?  He certainly has no control over the Bagger Caucus.

In any event, I would love to see Republicans start attacking each other for not being clear enough on whether they want to impeach Obama.

As Bad As Representative Steve King Is . . . (Updated)

. . . at least he had the guts to stick around and talk to these DREAMers. Rand Paul couldn't get out of there fast enough:



Brother Benen summed it up best:

If you watch [the first 22 seconds] closely, you’ll notice Paul take a bite of his burger, learn that the young immigrants are Dreamers, choke a little, then flee the table with remarkable speed. It gives the “Run, Rand, Run” phrase a whole new meaning – the senator left the table so fast, he practically left skid marks.

Amazing stuff.

UPDATE:  Rand Paul follows up on his act of cowardice by lying about it.  Nice.

WTF?

From the Washington Post:

House Republicans managed Friday to overcome deep divisions within the party and passed two measures to address the child-migrant surge at the U.S.-Mexico border. The bills would provide emergency funding to deal with the crisis, speed the deportations of most border-crossers and rescind President Obama’s authority to decide whether to deport certain illegal immigrants.

The measures are unlikely to become law, as the White House, most Democrats and immigration advocates strongly oppose the proposals. The votes amounted to a do-over and a crucial victory for a new GOP leadership team and provided rank-and-file Republicans with recorded proof that they attempted to address the border issue, after struggling Thursday to reach intraparty consensus.

Excuse me? A "crucial victory" for the new GOP leadership team? It seems to me that the House leadership would have been better off sending everyone home instead of passing a bill that demonstrates how much Republicans despise Hispanics. Even the very conservative Wall Street Journal Editorial Board couldn't believe it:

House Republicans may have scrambled enough on Friday to save themselves from a total meltdown. But this latest immigration debacle won't help the party's image, which is still recovering from the government shutdown debacle of 2011. A party whose preoccupation is deporting children is going to alienate many conservatives, never mind minority voters.

The GOP used to be a lot better at this game.

Quote of the Week

"Well, I’m not going to disagree with you because it’s a point I made myself in conference. Look, you can’t say on the one hand that the president is overreaching by acting without legislative authority and direction, and then refuse to give him legislative authority and direction in another area. So, I don’t disagree with what you have to say at all."

- Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), responding to the GOP position that Obama should act administratively to deal with the border crisis when - just the day before - the GOP-controlled House voted to sue President Obama for taking administrative action in delaying the ACA's employer mandate.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  This is the kind of schizo shit that happens when a major political party lets its hatred for America's first Black president drive its agenda.