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.

How Much Do Tea-Baggers Scare Mainstream Republicans? (With Update)

This much:

Twenty-seven Republican senators voted with Democrats on Oct. 16 to lift the debt ceiling and avert a catastrophic default. And each one of those 27 senators voted Tuesday to "disapprove" of their own votes.

The vote Tuesday was a symbolic "resolution to disapprove" of the debt limit hike. It was mandated by the deal thanks to a last-minute provision inserted by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The motion failed 45-54 because all Democrats opposed it.

Even if it passed Congress, it wouldn't have stopped the debt limit hike because President Obama could veto the measure. The purpose was to give these senators the chance to say they disapprove of a deal they voted for.

Such bravery.

UPDATE:  Stephen Colbert has more on this:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Video Archive

An Elegant Argument In Support Of Raising The Minimum Wage

All I can say about this Bill Maher New Rule is Amen:



The best part:

"This is the question the Right has to answer. Do you want smaller government with less handouts or do you want do you want a low minimum wage—because you cannot have both. If Colonel Sanders isn’t going to pay the lady behind the counter enough to live on, then Uncle Sam has to. And I for one am getting a little tired of helping highly profitable companies pay their workers."

Now This Is How You Deal With A Tea Bagger (Updated)

This is the must-see video of the day, and it needs a bit of a set-up:

Bagger Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX), during this morning's House hearings on the implementation of Obamacare, accused the programmers and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid of breaking HIPAA privacy laws. Rep. Frank Pallone (D. NJ), however, called Bagger Barton on his bullshit:



The Baggers think they've cornered the market on rage in this country, so it is nice to see a Democrat in the House get angry and take the fight to these America-hating bastards.

I'm mad as hell that these tea-bagging motherfuckers intentionally tried to bring down my country's economy, and something tells me that Congressman Pallone wasn't all that happy about it either.

UPDATE:  The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi not only conducts one of the funniest interviews of all time, but he gets a Republican to admit he's a racist:

Bonus Quote of the Week

"We've seen this sad story too many times: African-American males without role models go onto become president and give everyone healthcare.  *** One must ask, how was he able to yank such an insightful diagnosis so smoothly from his ass?"

- Stephen Colbert, responding to Fox News' resident psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow, who "diagnosed" President Obama with a "victim mentality" that can be traced back to his father's abandonment.

Follow The Money

One of the more interesting things to watch as the GOP Civil War unfolds is how Big Business will react to it.  If the Baggers press for another government shutdown and once again threaten to bring down our economy on purpose, then it looks like the Democrats are ready to take advantage:

Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, is keeping awfully busy. In addition to serving his constituents, raising money, and recruiting candidate, the New York Democrat has begun reaching out to over 1,000 business leaders, urging them to reconsider their relationships with the Republican Party.

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the DCCC sees an opportunity to exploit divisions within the Republican coalition. With Wall Street and corporate leaders apparently annoyed by their lack of influence in Republican circles, coupled with the rise of Tea Party dominance among GOP lawmakers, Democratic leaders are reminding the business community that it was Dems who were doing what’s right for the economy, while it’s Republicans who shut down the government and threatened a sovereign debt crisis.

I'm also interested in whether the Baggers are going to get much funding from here on out. Indeed, as reported by BuzzFeed, the tea party group FreedomWorks "has fallen into dire financial straits, and was forced to take out a $1 million line of credit earlier this year."

Quote of the Week

What makes the Tea Party dangerous is its members’ willful disregard for the most basic tenets of American democracy. They do not believe in the legitimacy of our president. They do not believe in the legitimacy of decisions handed down by our Supreme Court. Unlike President Obama, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, or a host of other Democratic and Republican lawmakers who grasp the basic reality of politics, they have never, not once shown a willingness to compromise on anything. Merely uttering the word is enough to draw a primary challenge.

- Jon Favreau, former chief speechwriter for President Obama.

That pretty much sums it up.  In fact, if you listen to a moderate average normal non-batshit Republican talk these days, he sounds pretty much like a Bagger when it comes to policy. For example, every Republican in Congress -- Tea-Bagger or not --  hates ObamaCare so much that they never stop talking about their hatred for it.  The disagreement in the Party is over what to do about it.

I think Chuck Todd said the other day that the Tea People are not fighting with the rest of the GOP over policy -- they're fighting over tactics.  That's putting it mildly, given that one radical GOP faction is willing to bring down the American economy over the Health Care Act while the rest of the Party is not.

Charlie Cook's GOP Diagnosis

This sounds about right:

The combination of redistricting; population-sorting; and media-viewing, listening, and reading habits has created ideological and partisan culs-de-sac and incestuous thinking that are causing astonishing miscalculations on hugely consequential matters.

I consulted a psychiatrist and a psychologist on this question. Both said there is no formal term for the behavior some Republicans are exhibiting, but one described the groupthink as “hysterical delusional affirmation,” and the other named it “delusional synergy.” One said, “It entails suspension of logical intellectual processes with a selective consideration of only confirmatory input. Paranoid people typically experience ideas of influence and control where they believe that they see things that others cannot. This process is often propelled by delusions of grandeur, quite often messianic in nature.”

We've seen all this before, of course.  Cook concludes that "[w]hen hatred turns into obsession, it spawns some pretty erratic and destructive behavior."

I couldn't agree more. As I wrote last week:  "[T]he country is now witnessing what happens when a major political party lets hatred for the President drive its agenda."  And the funny part about all this is that the more Obama wins, the more Republicans hate him and the more delusional they become. 

This latest Democratic victory must have put the Baggers over the top as far as their hatred for Obama is concerned, given how thoroughly he crushed them.  Can't wait to see how they respond.

Obama Accepts Republican Surrender As GOP Civil War Escalates

Earlier this morning, President Barack Obama signed a bill increasing the debt ceiling and ending the partial government shutdown, thus bringing to a close the Republican-manufactured crisis and handing the GOP a crushing defeat.

The bill passed the House Wednesday evening on a 285-144 vote -- all House Democrats voted in favor of the bill and were joined by 87 Republicans. The Senate earlier voted 81-18 for the bill.

Meanwhile, the GOP Civil War continues to heat up. There is a whole lot of finger-pointing going on right now within the Party. Grover Norquist didn't have any good things to say about Ted Cruz and the rest of the ObamaCare defunders. Tea-Bagger Raul Labrador (R-ID) reacted to the GOP defeat by threatening other Republicans:

"I'm more upset with my Republican conference, to be honest with you. It's been Republicans here who apparently always want to fight, but they want to fight the next fight, that have given Speaker Boehner the inability to be successful in this fight. *** So if anybody should be kicked out, it's probably those Republicans... who are unwilling to keep the promises they made to the American people. Those are the people who should be looking behind their back."

Fun times ahead. Stay tuned.

Remember: Republicans Took Us To The Brink Because They Opposed Their Own Idea

This is pathetic:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said he was "proud" of Boehner's handling of the crisis. Then within moments he pleaded with Democrats to bail out the GOP, which he admitted has "screwed up" and "really did go too far" in the shutdown and debt limit standoffs.

"We won't be the last political party to overplay our hand," he said. "It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better."

Christ, who out there thinks the GOP would ease up on the Democrats if the situation was reversed? I just hope the Democrats don't forget all the shit the Republicans pulled over the last few years leading up to this moment.   

The GOP has taken this country to the brink of default over the Individual Health Care Mandate, an idea the GOP actually once supported.  This fact is finally starting to get some ink in the mainstream press.  This is from a Los Angeles Times Op/Ed by Jane Mansbridge:

Fundamentally — and infuriatingly for the Democratic base — Obamacare is inherently a compromise because it is a health insurance reform law rather than an overhaul of the structure of our nation's healthcare system. ***  Instead of a single-payer system or even a public option for those who chose it, Democrats went along with the Obama compromise of adopting RomneyCare, the old Republican plan signed into law by Mitt Romney when he was governor of Massachusetts.

I have been critical of the GOP for its epic flip-flop on the Individual Mandate. A chronic flip-flopper might respond that a person -- or even a political party -- should have the right to change his, her, or its mind about things.  But this whole notion of the GOP bringing us to the brink over the implementation of an idea it once supported?  There's just no excuse for that kind of ridiculous behavior. 

I think Chief Justice Roberts voted to uphold ObamaCare because he didn't feel like playing the same bullshit game that the rest of the GOP was playing -- he didn't want to pretend that ObamaCare was the most evil form of socialism ever enacted when he knew it was a GOP idea to begin with and one that Republicans supported all the way up to 2008, when they stopped supporting it for some reason.

Quote of the Week

“Anybody who would vote for that in the House as Republican would virtually guarantee a primary challenger.”

- Tea-Bagger Congressman Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, on the bipartisan deal currently being worked on in the Senate to raise the debt ceiling and end the government shutdown.

What I like about this quote is that it demonstrates exactly why we are in this crisis right now, i.e., why a small group of radicals has been able to control the House.  In fact, the "you get primaried if you don't go along with us" threat used to be an unstated one.  The fact that Bagger Huelskamp now feels compelled to vocalize the threat tells me that the tide might be changing in the House and we may yet get out of this crisis with only moderate damage to our economy.  It also tells me that the GOP Civil War is really starting to heat up.

The situation does seem to be deteriorating for House Republicans.  Boehner's plan was apparently to reject the Senate compromise, vote on a House bill that would require ObamaCare concessions on the part of the Democrats, and then skip town before the Senate could send anything back.  But it looks like that plan is tanking in the House.

So it seems to me that it all comes down to whether Boehner submits the Senate Compromise bill to an up-or-down vote in the House.  If he does, the crisis is probably over because all Democrats and enough Republicans will vote for it .  If he does not, then we will default.

How Could Anyone Be Worse Than Boehner? (With Update)

One thing I noticed over the weekend while watching Meet the Press and other political shows is the emergence of the idea that Democrats must concede on the Debt Limit/Government Shutdown fight because taking a hard line could compromise John Boehner's position as Speaker of the House. For example, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said yesterday:  "[A]fter all this mess is over, do we really want to compromise John Boehner as leader of the House?  I don't think so."  The GOP's apparent argument is that if you think Boehner has been difficult to negotiate with, his replacement would be far worse.

Worse?  How exactly? The 113th United States Congress hasn't passed any major legislation this year.  Although that is undoubtedly good news for the Tea Baggers -- given their hatred for law and government America-- it is difficult to fathom how it could be any worse for the Democrats if the current Speaker was replaced.  Indeed, even if the baggiest of the Baggers ended up with the speakership, then at least the most ineffective middleman in history -- i.e., John Boehner -- would be removed from the equation and the Democrats could then deal directly with the radical right-wing extremists who actually run the House.

What is that you say?  An extremist Speaker would allow the country to default on its debts whereas Boehner would not? Well, that is yet to be seen.  I think it is more likely than not that Boehner will allow the country to default on its debts.  I think this way because even if Democrats and Republicans in the Senate were able to reach some sort of compromise in the next day or two, there is no way in hell that the Bagger-controlled House would pass it,  How do I know this?  Here's how:

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) *** thought she too had come up with a solution: Congress would reopen the government for six months and raise the debt limit for a year. Democrats would have to accept sequestration levels and throw in a two-year delay of the medical-device tax in the Affordable Care Act, and in exchange, Republicans would concede nothing. Yesterday, Democrats rejected this as wholly unacceptable. . . .

And as a practical matter, it doesn't much matter that Dems didn't like it, since House Republicans said they'd refuse to even vote on the Collins plan -- a plan in which Republicans give up nothing except temporary hold on some hostages -- even if the Senate approved it and even if House GOP leaders could tolerate it.

That's right -- the House would have rejected the Collins Plan even though it required the Democrats to make all the concessions and thus give in to the GOP's legislative terrorism.

So even if the Senate is close to a deal -- as has been reported this morning -- all that matters now is what the House will do, and I expect Boehner and the Baggers will reject whatever the Senate sends them.  The House will then send the Senate a bill that will increase the debt limit and reopen the government, but this bill will be full of poison pills -- e.g., repeal of ObamaCare, Social Security, and Medicare, along with Obama admitting in writing both that he was born in Kenya and that he is a Marxist/Fascist -- and the Senate will reject it.

So we are headed toward default.  I hope I am wrong on this, but I don't believe I am.  I think what will happen is that Boehner will allow the country to go past the October 17 default date -- just to make the radicals happy -- but then will be forced to pass a clear CR and debt ceiling increase with the help of House Democrats.  A tanking stock market will force Boehner's hand.

UPDATE:  This was long overdue:

Fox News correspondent Ed Henry walked out of a White House press briefing after being repeatedly ignored by spokesman Jay Carney on Friday.

Henry attempted to ask Carney a question twice, but Carney called on other people instead. After the first time, Henry could be seen shaking his head and muttering something to colleague Major Garrett. After the second time, Henry angrily got up and left the room. The briefing continued without him.

I've wondered for a long time why Fox News correspondents are ever called on during Obama press conferences and briefings, given that Fox News is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.  It would be akin to FDR allowing Joseph Goebbels to ask him questions at a 1943 presser.

And no, I am not comparing Fox News and the Republicans to Nazi Germany -- the Nazis were an external threat to the security of America, whereas Fox News and the Bagger-led GOP are internal threats.  Completely different deal.

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than This . . .

. . . unless you're a Republican -- then it literally doesn't get any worse than this new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll:

By a 22-point margin (53 percent to 31 percent), the public blames the Republican Party more for the shutdown than President Barack Obama – a wider margin of blame for the GOP than the party received during the poll during the last shutdown in 1995-96. Just 24 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion about the GOP, and only 21 percent have a favorable view of the Tea Party, which are both at all-time lows in the history of poll.

But as awesome as all that is, my favorite part of the poll are the numbers with regard to ObamaCare, which had a very shaky rollout last week:

[T]he health-care law has become more popular since the shutdown began. Thirty-eight percent see the Affordable Care Act (or “Obamacare”) as a good idea, versus 43 percent who see it as a bad idea – up from 31 percent good idea, 44 percent bad idea last month.

Think about that for a second: The Republicans said they staged this shutdown in an attempt to defund or delay ObamaCare, apparently thinking that the public would support them because the law is unpopular. Well, not only did this support fail to materialize for them, but the GOP is now even more unpopular than it was during Bill Clinton's PenisGate Scandal.

And -- this is the best part -- ObamaCare is more popular now than it was at the beginning of the shutdown, even though the rollout of the Health Care Law has been plagued with website problems.

Way to go, GOP.  Keep up the good work, and for God's Sake, please ignore what RINO John McCain is saying about all of this:

Suicide Caucus Or Not? (With Update)

Here is one Tea-Bagger who accepts his role as a lemming:

[Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.] said Republicans were “absolutely” prepared to lose the House to extract concessions on the CR and the debt limit, and he said the White House is “missing the determination of the Republican Party.”

The Republicans are definitely having problems with their message right now.  So what is it -- are the Baggers on a suicide run or do they really believe -- as a lot of Republicans are now claiming -- that a default would be a minor thing?  Whatever it is, Steve Benen does not think that the Baggers are very good hostage takers:

Let's say the default deniers are right. They're not, but let's just say they are for the sake of conversation, and the consequences of the United States ignoring its financial obligations would be minor. If that's true, why should President Obama and congressional Democrats pay a steep ransom to let the hostage go?

In other words, Republican lawmakers are presenting Dems with the following message: "Meet our demands or we'll shoot the hostage. And by the way, even if we pull the trigger, the hostage will probably be fine." I'm not an expert in hostage crises, but there seems to be a problem here.

I think the Baggers are having a message problem because they want the economic chaos that will result from a default. Why do they want that?  Because they believe that history will blame President Blackenstein for it. 

But they can't come out and just say they want economic chaos. These folks are idiots, but they are smart enough to know that you shouldn't admit to intentionally trying to bring down the economy. Then you'd have to explain why you hate America so much. So instead they simply say that a default on our debt wouldn't be a big deal, even though they are quietly expecting that it will be. 

They clearly wanted to shut the government down.  Why else would they demand from the President the one thing they knew he couldn't give them, namely, the repeal of ObamaCare?  The Baggers made Obama an "offer" they knew he'd refuse.

Anyone who previously questioned whether the GOP would rather see the economy tank than let Obama achieve even a perceived victory should doubt no longer.  Mitch McConnell himself proclaimed several years ago the the GOP plan was to bring down Obama, and the country is now witnessing what happens when a major political party lets hatred for the President drive its agenda.

UPDATE:  Looks like the Kock Brothers just blinked:

In a letter to U.S senators dated Wednesday, Koch Industries denied ever advocating for a government shutdown as a way to force the defunding of Obamacare. The letter was in response to comments on the Senate floor Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in which he blamed Koch for the shutdown, which followed a conservative push to pressure Democrats into defunding or delaying Obamacare to keep the government open.

The Brain Dead Zone (With Update)

"I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets."

-- Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL), on breaching the debt ceiling.

Now I'm not posting merely to point out that this Yoho character is a piece of shit.  What I found a bit interesting -- in an unnerving way -- was that right after I read that quote, this scene from "The Dead Zone" popped into my head:



Let's face facts. A lot of the very same Baggers who are intentionally trying to crash our economy are also heavy-duty Bible beaters. You know the kind: they think that the Earth is 6000 years old and the End Times are just around the corner (e.g., Michele Bachmann) -- or worse yet, they believe the End Times are just around the corner and they feel they have a personal role to play in bringing them about.

We've seen that kind of crap before, but never for such high stakes or with such a high level of accompanying lunacy. Who could forget this oldie but a goodie from the Bush years:

Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president’s support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second coming. Many on the left, in turn, fear that such theology may influence decisions the administration makes toward Israel and the Middle East.

Anyway, has anybody considered the possibility that perhaps these Tea-Baggers who want to bring down our country are just, well . . . how do I say it --  religious nutcases who want to usher in the Era of the Anti-Christ?

UPDATE:  Right on cue:

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) accused President Obama of arming al Qaeda militants in Syria and said it was evidence "we're in God's end times," The Hill reports.



Said Bachmann: "This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists. Now what this says to me, I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God's end times history."

My Apology to Ramesh Ponnuru

Over a year ago, I was critical of conservative writer Ramesh Ponnuru for stating: “If Obama wins re-election, the Republican Party will react by moving right, not left.” I responded to Mr. Ponnuru by basically stating he was full of shit. I said: "How will the GOP move more to the right than they are now? Are they going to start wearing swastikas on their arms?"

Well, he was right and I was wrong, and I apologize for my error.

Quote(s) Of The Week

The Republican Party is like the corpse in Weekend at Bernie's and the Tea Party is like the two guys who put sunglasses and a party hat on it and drag it around.  The Republican who summarized it best this week -- he was all over the news -- was this Indiana Tea Party guy named Marlin Stutzman, who said “We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t even know what that is.”  Say what you will about a toddler throwing a tantrum in a grocery store -- at least he knows he wants Cocoa Puffs.

- Bill Maher.

Obama’s view, which I share, is that the debt ceiling fight is far more important not only than the specific policies on the table, or even the catastrophic economic consequences of a debt breach. It’s a fight to preserve the Constitutional order. ***

[T]he bigger problem here is that conservatives are not acknowledging the Democrats’ belief. It’s not a pose. They genuinely think, regardless of the merits of the ransom demand, they can’t give in, both for the national long-term interest and on moral principle. Conservatives are acting like the problem here is that they asked for a bit too much to begin with, and want to start haggling down the price. The price isn’t the issue. If the conservative goal is to create the illusion of winning something for the debt ceiling, then they’ll come back next time to win more, and Democrats can’t allow that.

- Jonathan Chait.

What Is The One Thing That Can End The Shutdown?

This:

A new Fox News poll finds that President Obama's overall job rating has improved 5 percentage points over last month: 45% approve now, up from 40% in September.

The radicals within the GOP are pushing this whole shutdown scheme because they hate government, but they hate Obama more and they won't be able to tolerate watching his approval numbers climb.

The GOP needs to accept the political truth of all this:  Obama isn't in a big hurry to end the shutdown. He can continually lob grenades into the GOP camp and all the GOP can do is feebly try to make the case that the Democrats are responsible for the shutdown, a notion only Fox News appears to be buying into.  The White House knows the longer this shutdown lasts, the better it is for Obama.  As a senior White House official said yesterday: "We are winning...It doesn't really matter to us" how long the shutdown lasts "because what matters is the end result."

Although I wouldn't have advised anyone in the Administration to make a comment like that, it does happen to be the truth.  The Democrats are standing strong right now, and the Republicans are beginning to attack each other.  Ted Cruz took a beating last Wednesday during a closed door meeting with fellow GOP senators:

[O]ne GOP senator after another pressed Cruz to offer a proposal to end the shutdown, according to Politico. The junior senator from Texas reportedly had no solution nor could he explain how he would defund the Affordable Care Act – an effort led by Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that served as the impetus for the current shutdown.

“It was very evident to everyone in the room that Cruz doesn’t have a strategy – he never had a strategy, and could never answer a question about what the end-game was,” an unnamed senator told Politico. “I just wish the 35 House members that have bought the snake oil that was sold could witness what was witnessed today at lunch."

Needless to say, I am enjoying this whole shutdown story quite a bit. I'm sadddened that a lot of people are suffering because of it, but the GOP is going to take a big hit for causing it, which will be a good thing for the country in the long run.

And the absolute best part of all this? The Baggers who caused this mess are not going anywhere. A lot of them are gerrymandered in. Some of these idiots could go out and shoot a hundred people on live TV and they'd still win reelection in their very red-colored districts (they'd argue they were simply exercising their Second Amendment rights when they shot all those people, and their constituents would believe it).

It's as if a self-destruct mechanism was build into the GOP itself. Normally, if a small group of radicals was damaging the brand of a major political party, then the radicals would be purged from the party's ranks. But not in the bizarro world of the GOP -- the radicals are the ones purging the moderates from the party. I think Oregon Congressman Greg Walden said it best about a month ago when he was asked why the GOP was flirting with shutting down the government: “We have to do this because of the Tea Party. If we don’t, these guys are going to get primaried and they are going to lose their primary.”

So there you have it.  The Baggers are here to stay and they will destroy the Republican Party, unless someone can convince the Koch Brothers and other rich conservatives to stop funding them. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Republicans Blamed For Shutdown (With Update)

Well, so much for the Republican dream that Obama and the Democrats will be blamed for the shutdown.  Here is a compilation of editorials from around the country regarding the shutdown, and the GOP is receiving near-universal blame for it, even by editorials boards who oppose ObamaCare.

I'm not surprised by this.  I remember the last time the GOP shut down the government.  They tried to blame the Democrats for it back then as well, but that didn't work.  However, I did write a couple days ago that I expected the shutdown to last only a few days, and one reason I thought it would be of short duration is because I knew the GOP would catch endless shit for it, even from folks who usually support the GOP.  But now I think this shutdown could last quite a long time.

During the last couple of days, I've been thinking a lot about an article I read after the 2012 Election. The article discussed how everyone in the Romney Camp was stunned that they lost the election.  One adviser actually said that Romney "was shellshocked" by his loss, Paul Ryan seemed "genuinely shocked," and Ryan's wife "was shaken and cried softly."  One senior Ronmey adviser even said: "We went into the evening confident we had a good path to victory -- I don't think  there was one person who saw it coming."

Well, maybe there wasn't a person in the Romney campaign who saw it coming, but most everybody else outside of Fox News did. I was stunned at the time by the fact that Romney himself "couldn't see the writing on the wall," given that a businessman of his alleged caliber "would presumably want to get the straight scoop on where he stood with the electorate."

Bill Maher describes this GOP inability to see reality as "living in the bubble."  But I believe what we are witnessing here is in fact a form of shellshock which I think has a variety of causes -- e.g., the election and reelection of a Black president, the passage of Health Care Reform after 100 years of trying, a conservative Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Health Care Reform law, gay people actually getting some rights, the Pope saying that atheists can go to Heaven, marijuana being legalized in two states, the winding down of two wars, the fact that the GOP base is dying off while the Democratic base is expanding.

I think all of these historic developments over the last few years have overloaded the GOP psyche.  It is just too much for most Republicans to process over such a short period of time, and that is why we are seeing the GOP acting out the way it is now.

I think a lot of the Republicans who actually campaigned on the promise of shutting down the government and who fully support allowing this country to default on its debts are taking these radical positions because they just don't give a shit anymore about this country and the people who populate it. The one thing they do know is that Obama would never agree to shutter the Affordable Care Act.  That's why they made the demand.  They wanted the government to shut down and they want the United States to default on its debts, even though most of them understand a default would cause more economic upheaval.

Bottom line: It's really hard to negotiate with crazy people who are not only willing to bring down the entire country, but apparently want to bring the country down in much the same way terrorists want to. Ironically, these same Republican terrorizers also routinely accuse liberals and progressives of hating America.

UPDATE:  Well, nice try folks:

The monuments in Washington, D.C. -- and particularly the World War II memorial -- have become a symbol for the right to decry the government shutdown, even labeling the National Park Service shutdown "shock troops" designed to toss veterans out at will as they approach the memorial.

On Tuesday, Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) reportedly opened the barricade of the World War II Memorial to let a group of veterans in. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) helped by "distract(ing) a police officer" to sneak the veterans in, according to a reporter on the scene. Even outgoing tea partier Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made an appearance.

"President Obama is so fixated on forcing Obamacare on the American people that he's even willing to deny World War II veterans the right to access the memorial they have earned through their heroic service," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Republicans say President Barack Obama has been so obsessed with pushing a governmental shutdown that he's refusing to allow anyone into the national parks and monuments (even though the National Park Service said on Wednesday that veterans would be allowed to visit the World War II memorial).

You just can't make this shit up.  The whole thing reminds me of a crappy movie.  Get better writers next time, GOP.

Solid Fallows Piece on "False Equivalency"

This James Fallows piece from last Friday -- titled "Your False Equivalency Guide to the Days Ahead" -- is definitely worth a read.  Some of my favorite parts:

This time, the fight that matters is within the Republican party, and that fight is over whether compromise itself is legitimate.*** Outsiders to this struggle -- the president and his administration, Democratic legislators as a group, voters or "opinion leaders" outside the generally safe districts that elected the new House majority -- have essentially no leverage over the outcome. ***

As a matter of journalism, any story that presents the disagreements as a "standoff," a "showdown," a "failure of leadership," a sign of "partisan gridlock," or any of the other usual terms for political disagreement, represents a failure of journalism*** and an inability to see or describe what is going on.***

This isn't "gridlock." It is a ferocious struggle within one party, between its traditionalists and its radical factions, with results that unfortunately can harm all the rest of us -- and, should there be a debt default, could harm the rest of the world too.

This "failure of journalism" to which Fallows refers has really annoyed me over the years.  The GOP has done such a number on the mainstream press that some journalists are afraid to tell the truth, namely, that Republicans are not only responsible for gridlock in Washington, but they have admitted their responsibility and actually brag about it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  the problem is that the Mainstream Press has no interest in reporting what may be the most underreported story in recent political history, namely, the radicalization of the Republican Party over the last few years.  A lot of folks in the Press are not reporting this important story because they are too scared to report it, but it really is The Big Story right now because the radicalized elements within the GOP are basically calling the shots right now and are killing the Republican Party in the process.

When was the last time a major political party went belly up in this country? Well, we are seeing this happen right now, and I find it hilarious that one of the great political stories of our time is going unreported because journalists are so afraid of the GOP that they are unable to notice the stench of death beginning to emanate from that Party.

By the way -- as usual, Jon Stewart nails it.

A Few Thoughts on the Government Shutdown (With Updates)

Let me begin by stating that I am really enjoying the opening skirmishes of what history will ultimately call "The Great Republican Civil War," an epic struggle that will end the GOP's run as a major political party. Once that happens, then the United States can begin to rebuild from all the damage the Republicans have caused over the last few decades.

But in the meantime, here is my take on the GOP's threat to shut down the government tomorrow:

Although I am fairly certain that there are enough votes in the House to pass a clean continuing resolution, Boehner will probably not allow that to happen because he is too afraid that Ted Cruz (R-Canada) and the rest of the Baggers will force him out as Speaker if he allowed such a vote (I know that Ted Cruz is not a member of the House, but someone really needs to tell him that). 

So I believe there is a better than 50/50 chance that the government will shut down.  I predict, however, that the shutdown -- if it happens -- will only last a few days.  This is because Boehner, due to intense political pressure, will have no choice but to end it by allowing a straight up-and-down vote on the clean CR.  And that is where the fun will begin because - after the whole shutdown thing is resolved - the Republicans must then move on to their next fake crisis, namely, their threat to bring down the American economy by voting not to raise the Debt Ceiling. 

My question is:  If Boehner and the Baggers allow the government to shut down tomorrow (even if only for a few days), will forcing a fake Debt Ceiling crisis two weeks later simply be too much bullshit for most Americans to take in such a short space of time?  I think it will be.

And that is why I believe there remains a good chance (not a 50/50 chance but still a good one) that a government shutdown will be averted at the last minute. This is because Boehner may yet be able to convince even the more radicalized members of his caucus that they can't both have a government shutdown and a Debt Ceiling default all in the same month. That means the radicals will have to choose one or the other, and I think they just might settle on the Debt Ceiling default as their manufactured crisis of choice.

All of this will probably come down to how badly Boehner wants to keep his speakership.  If he doesn't care about it, then a shutdown will be averted by a straight up-and-down vote on the clean CR.  But if he wants to remain Speaker of the House, then he will allow a shutdown to happen tomorrow.

And what will the Democrats do in the meantime?  Well, if they are smart, they will do absolutely nothing.  There's an old lawyer saying that goes:  If you are winning, then shut the fuck up, especially when the enemy is tearing itself apart.

My advice to the Democrats?  Just sit back and enjoy the spectacle now unfolding in the GOP.  It promises to be a great show.

UPDATE:  This is pretty funny:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) had choice words for fellow House Republicans who are willing to see the government shut down over their opposition to Obamacare: “Lemmings with suicide vests,” he called them.  "They have to be more than just a lemming. Because jumping to your death is not enough,” he said.

I also read somewhere that one of Rep. Nunes' aides added that to compare these guys to lemmings isn't right because such a comparison "would be unfair to lemmings." 

Needless to say, I can't get enough of this.



UPDATE II: Well, that little battle didn't last long:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), who just hours ago was castigating his colleagues as "lemmings" for shutting down the government over Obamacare, has now decided he's going to go lemming and vote with Boehner after all.

Blacktracking

From Real Time With Bill Maher:

The Debate On Whether To Attack Syria Is Essentially Over (With Update)

All that is left now is the actual launching of the missiles (via Politico):

The powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC is planning to launch a major lobbying campaign to push wayward lawmakers to back the resolution authorizing U.S. strikes against Syria, sources said Thursday.

Officials say that some 250 Jewish leaders and AIPAC activists will storm the halls on Capitol Hill beginning next week to persuade lawmakers that Congress must adopt the resolution or risk emboldening Iran’s efforts to build a nuclear weapon. They are expected to lobby virtually every member of Congress, arguing that “barbarism” by the Assad regime cannot be tolerated, and that failing to act would “send a message” to Tehran that the U.S. won’t stand up to hostile countries’ efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, according to a source with the group.

Everybody knows that pretty much every Republican in Congress -- excluding perhaps some of the more radicalized members of the Bagger contingent -- would fully support an attack on Syria except for one thing:  President Blackenstein currently occupies the White House and he not only supports strikes against Syria but is actively pushing for them.

What this means is that, prior to today, there would have been no way in hell that a majority of Republicans in Congress would vote to strike Syria because that would be doing what Obama wants and there is no way Republicans would ever support Obama on anything, even on ideas that the GOP had previously supported (i.e., Pay-Go, the Bipartisan Deficit Commission, the Individual Health Care Mandate, Cap and Trade, trying terrorism suspects in federal court, and on and on and on).

But today's AIPAC announcement changes everything.  Prior to today, one of the biggest gripes from Republicans with regard to Obama's foreign policy is the President's intense hatred of Israel.  Even the Idiot Palin has weighed in on this issue.  But now we have a situation where Israel agrees with Obama on an issue, and the only way the GOP can oppose Obama on his desire to attack Syria is if Republicans also oppose Israel on the very same issue.

And that just ain't gonna happen.

UPDATE:  Here are examples of two Republicans who were for striking Syria before they were against our first black president's plan to attack that country:

In another example of the pressures facing Republican congressmen, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) is backing off an earlier public statement of support for limited military action in Syria. Coffman’s initial support for the plan, which came before President Barack Obama asked for congressional approval, unequivocally supported a limited military strike in retaliation for the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, but now Coffman says he’s undecided as the vote approaches. ***

Coffman isn’t the only House member to back away from supporting an attack. Also on Thursday, Roll Call reported that Rep. Michael G. Grimm (R-NY) was withdrawing his support from Obama’s plan to attack Syria.

Don't get me wrong -- racism is a really bad thing.  But sometimes it causes incredibly hilarious things to happen, and this is one of them.  Both these guys are going to have to flip-flop again now that Israel supports Obama's plan to attack Syria.  At the very least, the Congressman from New York will have to re-change his position.

A Horrible Week For The GOP

You just have to think that all of the far-right-wing Republicans -- namely, 98% of the current GOP -- are pretty depressed this week. First of all, you have the whole 50th anniversary of the March on Washington debacle -- not a single prominent Republican attended. How did the GOP defend this massive fuck-up on its part? Well, by expressing outrage, of course -- outrage that no Republicans were invited to this event.

That turned out to be false -- shitloads of Republicans were invited.  Every single one of them turned down the invitation, however, which is understandable, given that there isn't a prominent Republican in this country who would allow himself to be photographed at an event commemorating, among other things, the 50th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Fox News did its best to push this "no Republicans were invited" horseshit earlier in the week, but that effort fell apart, culminating in a very rare on-air apology by Mr. O'Lie-lly himself:

Bill O'Reilly apologized Thursday night for his erroneous comments about the 50th anniversary celebrations of the March on Washington the previous day.  O'Reilly had complained that no Republicans had been invited to the event. In fact, many, including both living Republican presidents, John McCain, Jeb Bush and John Boehner had been asked to attend. All declined for various reasons. O'Reilly admitted that he had been wrong.

"The mistake? Entirely on me," he said. "I simply assumed ... Republicans were excluded."  He advised viewers to "always check out the facts when you make a definitive statement, and added that he was "sorry I made that mistake."

The GOP's last hope was to push the notion that the Senate's only black lawmaker -- Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) -- wasn't invited, but that was also false. Senator Scott, it turned out, declined an invitation as well. I'm still waiting for Fox News to do the right thing on this, i.e., criticize Republicans for not showing up at this event.  I have a feeling that will be a long wait.

The GOP's bad week also included problems for the Heritage Foundation, the right wing group that -- ironically -- first came up with the idea of the individual health care mandate, the centerpiece for ObamaCare.  Here is Steve Benen's take on what happened:

The Kaiser Family Foundation published an interesting report this week on public attitudes on health care, noting among other things that 57% of Americans do not want to defund the Affordable Care Act. This was, of course, not what Republicans and their allies wanted to hear.

The Heritage Foundation was apparently so despondent with the findings that it lost its reading-comprehension skills -- the right-wing group unveiled a poster on Wednesday, asking folks to join the 57% of Americans who do want to defund "Obamacare." When Heritage was told it simply read the poll wrong, and got the results backwards, the organization made the same mistake again.

The Heritage Foundation was also banned this week from meetings of the Republican Study Committee, a group of 172 conservative Congressmen.

Things really turned to shit for the GOP yesterday.  Once again, here is Steve Benen to sum it all up:

The Obama administration's Department of Health and Human Services *** announced it will now extend key Medicare benefits to same-sex married couples. Soon after, the Justice Department cleared the way for Colorado's and Washington's marijuana laws to be implemented.

Also today, the White House announced new gun policies on background checks and the re-importation of U.S. military weapons; a California court endorsed a ban on so-called "conversion therapy"; and in case social conservatives weren't quite miserable enough, the IRS will now recognize same-sex marriages, even in states where marriage equality is impermissible.

I'm willing to bet that Republicans are more depressed now than they were on the day President Obama killed bin Laden. Yes, this last week was really that awful for them.

You Just Don't Get It, Do Ya Phyllis (and Mike and Rob and Ken)

I'm amazed by the number of Republicans who forget that the "real" (i.e., fake) reason for all the recently-passed voter suppression legislation is to stop fraud, not actually suppress the vote.  Most Republicans, when asked about these laws, state that the reason GOP legislatures are restricting the vote in states like Pennsylvania, Texas, and North Carolina is to stop rampant voter fraud (which, by the way, doesn't seem to exist anywhere).

But every once in awhile, a Republican comes clean about the real reason these laws are being enacted. Last summer, Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai actually boasted that voter identification efforts in that state were designed to suppress the Democratic vote, stating that Voter ID “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.” Well, that didn't happen, although Pennsylvania’s Republican Chairman Rob Gleason recently bragged about how the GOP “cut Obama by 5 percent” in 2012 and “probably Voter ID had helped a bit in that.”

Last June, Texas Tea-Bagger Activist Ken Emanuelson said:  “I’m going to be real honest with you -- the Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they’re going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats.”

And now we can welcome Radical Right-Winger Phyllis Schlafly to the party. In a recent WorldNutDaily column, Schlafly explained why North Carolina's new voter restriction laws are necessary:

The reduction in the number of days allowed for early voting is particularly important because early voting plays a major role in Obama’s ground game. The Democrats carried most states that allow many days of early voting, and Obama’s national field director admitted, shortly before last year’s election, that “early voting is giving us a solid lead in the battleground states that will decide this election.”

The Obama technocrats have developed an efficient system of identifying prospective Obama voters and then nagging them (some might say harassing them) until they actually vote. It may take several days to accomplish this, so early voting is an essential component of the Democrats’ get-out-the-vote campaign.

Astounding amount of truth-telling there, Phyllis.

Ted Cruz: A Gift Who Just Keeps On Giving

Texas Senator (and Joe McCarthy look-and-act-alike) Ted Cruz really wants to win the GOP nomination for president in 2016.  There is one minor complication, however -- he has the same problem that the Birthers can only fantasize Obama has, namely, Cruz was not born in the United States.

He was born in Canada, which I find hilarious because Ted Cruz is just the kind of guy the Baggers and the Birthers would love in the White House.  I've been waiting to see how the Radical Right addresses this problem (Racist Birther-In-Chief Donald Trump danced around the issue the other day).

The story became more interesting earlier this week when it was revealed that Cruz is currently a Canadian citizen due to the fact that he was born in Alberta.  This has become such a problem for the senator that last Monday he said he would renounce his Canadian citizenship.

And now we have this:

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, who says he recently discovered he is likely a Canadian, must win security clearance from Canada's spy agency, fill out a four-page form and then wait up to eight months to sever his ties to America's northern neighbor.

Eight months?  That's an eternity in American presidential politics.  How do you not see something like this coming, especially a Harvard Law School graduate like Ted Cruz. He could have put this baby to rest years ago, but instead has to now jump through a lot of hoops in order to no longer be a citizen of a country that has long embraced [gasp!] socialized medicine.

And once all that is resolved, how will the Birthers differentiate Cruz's real birthplace (Canada) from Obama's fictional birthplace (Kenya)?  Are they simply going to come clean and say it is okay that Cruz was born in Calgary because Canada is full of white people whereas Kenya is full of black people?

The bottom line for me is that I really don't care where Cruz was born because I think he's constitutionally eligible to become president.  Plus I would really love to see a Radical Right-Wing Bagger like Cruz get the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. 

But would I be upset if some progressive billionaire funded a campaign to make Cruz's life a living hell with regard to this citizenship/eligibility issue?  Probably not.

Amazing Racists, Part XXVII

Republicans in Louisiana think that Obama is more to blame for the Hurricane Katrina Debacle than George W. Bush (via TPM):

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.

I'd be interested in hearing what other things Louisiana Republicans blame our first Black president for (The Great Depression? The Dust Bowl? The Crucifixion of Christ?).

It's amazing the things that racial hatred will make a person believe.  I was camping with friends at a Central Oregon lake last month and was trying to take an afternoon nap when the following exchange about Obama took place in the campsite next to ours:

MALE:  "Man, I sure hope that Nigger doesn't get reelected in 2016."

FEMALE:  "Oh, I wouldn't worry about that -- somebody will shoot him by then, don't you think?"

There were several other people in that particular campsite at the time, so I expected at least one of them would have been smart enough to point out that Obama cannot run for a third term, but nobody did. 

And the most amazing thing of all is that every one of those individuals probably vote -- although they are going to be pretty surprised when they open their ballots in 2016 and Obama isn't on it.

Quote of the Week (With Update)

"I will bet you, for most of you, you go home in the next two weeks when your members of Congress are home, and you look them in the eye and you say, 'What is your positive replacement for Obamacare?' They will have zero answer.

"We are caught up right now in a culture, and you see it every single day, where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don't have to learn anything."

- Newt Gingrich, speaking at the opening session of the Republican National Committee's summer meeting last Wednesday.

Interestingly, Gingrich has a long history of supporting the Health Care Individual Mandate - the centerpiece of Obamacare - and many other prominent Republicans also supported the Individual Mandate prior the the election of Barack Obama as president (e.g., Mitt Romney, Former Senator Jim Fucking DeMint, Senators Orrin Hatch and Chuck Grassley, Former Senator Dick Lugar, Bob Dole, Alan Simpson, Arlen Specter, Judd Gregg, and Kay Hutchison.

And no, I am not making that last part up - all of those Republicans were in favor of the Health Care Individual Mandate prior to the election of President Blackenstein.  In fact, Jim Fucking DeMint, in February 2007, actually stated on Fox News that what Romney did in Massachusetts (i.e., an individual health care mandate also known as Romneycare) should be enacted on a national level.  DeMint's exact quote:  "Well, that's something that I think we should do for the whole country."

What is Jim Fucking DeMint doing now?  Well, he recently resigned from the Senate to take over the Heritage Foundation, and is (ironically) using that position to lead the charge against Obamacare.  Indeed, the recent poll indicating that an attempt to gut Obamacare by way of a government shutdown would not hurt the GOP was the product of Heritage Action for America, a "sister organization" of the Heritage Foundation. Both these organizations are aggressively supporting a movement to defund Obamacare.

But the irony does not end there, because it turns out that the Heritage Foundation is the conservative think-tank that came up with the idea of the Individual Mandate in the first place.  You just can't make this shit up.

UPDATE:  As usual, I can't get enough of this:

Just when they seemed to have the situation under control, Republican leaders are facing the wrath of conservatives who are furious that the heads of the party aren’t interested in risking a government shutdown over Obamacare this fall.

Conservative anxieties over the Affordable Care Act are reaching a boil as the law’s major provisions are set to take effect in the coming months. And an all-out grassroots mobilization during the month-long August recess by wealthy right-leaning groups like FreedomWorks and Heritage Action appears to be having an impact. Republican lawmakers have said their constituents are demanding they hold the line.

“I’m hearing a lot of anger that is right beneath the surface, ready to erupt,” said veteran Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), according to The Hill. Burgess, who has influence within his caucus on health policy, said the support for the defunding push was “virtually unanimous.” ***

I was never much of an Individual Mandate supporter. I've long thought that the best way to deal with the Health Care Crisis was to expand Medicare to cover everyone. But the beauty of Obama signing a health care reform bill featuring the Individual Mandate is that Republicans now lack a fall-back position.

Had Obama enacted the public option into law, the Republicans could have then proposed the individual mandate -- their own idea -- as a replacement for it.  But since Republicans have decided to oppose Obama on everything and have nowhere to go health care-wise, all they can do now is dress up like Founding Fathers and walk down the street pissing themselves while holding signs saying that Obama is a Fascist-Socialist-Kenyanist simply because he put into place what is essentially a market-oriented (i.e., conservative) solution to a very serious problem. 

Hilarious.

Racists Say The Darndest Things

Here is the new conspiracy theory from the folks who are furious that a Black Democratic president could do something in two years that a White Republican president couldn't do in eight years, namely, kill Osama bin Laden:

Conservatives seeking to unveil the transgressions of President Barack Obama's presidency seized upon another target Thursday: the iconic photograph capturing a tense moment in the White House Situation Room on the night of the raid upon Osama bin Laden.

After skeptics coaxed the White House into releasing a photo of Obama skeet shooting in February, and Fox News suggested a photo of Obama golfing was "staged" earlier this week, Bryan Fischer, a conservative radio host and an official with the American Family Association, followed suit with a familiar, and quite detailed, conspiracy theory.

"Look at the size of his head compared to the size of the head of everybody else in the room. Even people standing in the back of the room, their heads are bigger than his head," Fischer said on his show Focal Point. "And it looks teeny-tiny next to the people that he's sitting next to. He looks kind of hunched over and small."

He continued: "Frankly I think that got photoshopped in after deal. I think Obama's approach was, 'Hey, if this thing goes south, I don't want to be in the room. I don't want to be anywhere near this thing if it blows up. If it succeeds, if it's an outstanding success, then photoshop me in there.'"

Please God -- Let This Happen (With Update)

Via TPM:

A leading conservative group unveiled poll results Wednesday that it said should assuage Republicans who are squeamish about shutting down the government in an effort to defund Obamacare.

The poll from Heritage Action for America, first reported by NBC News, surveyed likely voters from 10 competitive House districts. According to Heritage Action, the results prove that triggering a government shutdown in an attempt to gut the new health care law would not be detrimental to the GOP.

The poll, conducted by GOP firm Basswood Research between Aug. 7-8, found that 28 percent of voters in the 10 districts would blame Republicans for a shutdown over defunding Obamacare, compared with 22 percent who would place blame on President Barack Obama and 19 percent who would blame Democrats in Congress. Seventeen percent said they would distribute blame equally among all three groups.

I just can't get enough of this stuff.  Of course a government shutdown will hurt the GOP, just like it did when the Republicans pulled the same crap back in 1995-96.  With regard to this threat to shut down government over ObamaCare, the President revealed what the Democratic response will be during a recent press conference:

In a White House news conference on Friday, the president was asked about Republican threats to shut the government down if appropriations legislation contained funding to continue putting the Affordable Care Act in place in the 50 states.
 
He replied, "The idea that you would shut down the government unless you prevent 30 million people from getting health care is a bad idea."  ***  Obama also expressed wonder that making sure 30 million people don't have health care is "the one unifying principle in the Republican Party at the moment."

"Why is it that my friends in the other party have made the idea of preventing these people from getting health care their holy grail; their number one priority?"

The reason such a response will be effective is because it is true -- the GOP has offered nothing to replace Obamacare.  But it gets better, because it turns out that shutting down the government will not stop the implementation of Obamacare. Even Mitch McConnell knows that:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told a crowd at Baptist Health Corbin, Ky. on Tuesday that shutting down the government won't actually stop the implementation of Obamacare. "I'm for stopping Obamacare, but shutting down the government will not stop Obamacare," he said, according to Tanner Hestberg, a local reporter for CBS affiliate WYMT.

McConnell is right: As a recent Congressional Research Service report found, a government shutdown would not impact major portions of the law which will continue to receive implementation funding that the law provides outside the appropriations process.

And the absolute best part of all this is that if the Republicans do not shut down the government over Obamacare, then you know the Baggers are going to make a big issue out of it in the 2014 GOP primaries. This means, of course, that the more moderate GOP members of Congress -- if there are any left -- will lose their primaries to the more radicalized members of their party (aka the Akin-Mourdock Effect). 

Shut the government down or don't shut it down -- it really doesn't matter in the long run because the GOP is toast regardless of what happens.  Now that's what I call a win-win.

So my response to Republicans who want to shut down the government over Obamacare?  Bring it on, Motherfuckers.

UPDATE:  Steve Benen reports on the latest GOP threat with regard to Obamacare, namely, the Republicans will agree to increased the debt limit only if the Democrats agree to delay the rollout of Obamacare.  In other words, the GOP is backing down on its threat to merely shut down the government, opting instead to intentionally bring down the American economy unless Obamacare is delayed. Ezra Klein describes it this way:

Trading a government shutdown for a debt-ceiling breach is like trading the flu for septic shock. And Boehner knows it. Republicans will effectively be going to the White House and saying, “Delay the health-care law or we will single-handedly cause an unprecedented and unnecessary global financial crisis that everyone will clearly and correctly blame on us, destroying our party for years to come.”

Bottom line: the biggest threat to the security of this country isn't China or Russia or al-Qaeda -- it's the fucking Republican Party. The GOP is on a suicide run and is apparently content to bring the whole country down with it.