Author Archives: pandora

About pandora

A stay-at-home mom with an obsession for National politics.

The Tea Party In Delaware And Arizona Have A Lot In Common

In the words of Mistermix, What The Hell Is Happening In Arizona?

A nasty battle between factions of Legislative District 20 Republicans and fears that it could turn violent in the wake of what happened in Tucson on Saturday prompted District Chairman Anthony Miller and several others to resign.

Miller, a 43-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills resident and former campaign worker for U.S. Sen. John McCain, was re-elected to a second one-year term last month. He said constant verbal attacks after that election and Internet blog posts by some local members with Tea Party ties made him worry about his family’s safety.

In an e-mail sent a few hours after Saturday’s massacre in Tucson that killed six and injured 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Miller told state Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen he was quitting: “Today my wife of 20 yrs ask (sic) me do I think that my PCs (Precinct Committee members) will shoot at our home? So with this being said I am stepping down from LD20GOP Chairman…I will make a full statement on Monday.”

Something is very wrong.  People don’t walk away from leadership positions on a whim.  Apparently some Republicans are drawing connections between Saturday’s shooting and the violent rhetoric.

In the meantime, a series of accusatory e-mails was exchanged among party members. Some blasted Miller’s support of McCain, called him a “McCainiac with a penchant for violating the rules” and a “McCain hack.”

Hmm… that sounds familiar.  The very same thing is playing out in downstate Delaware.  And you can add another email from Sussex to the pile.

WHEREAS, The Chairman’s position is one of an executive, for the express purpose of directing meetings at the pleasure of the Executive Committee; however, Chairman Ron Sams uses the power of the position to further his own personal agenda. The Chairman runs the meetings as though the Executive Committee is there at his pleasure, as if his position was one of a tyrant or sovereign king by:

Tyrant?  Sovereign king?  Go read the whole thing.  It ends by calling for Ron Sams resignation.   Frankly, given the bad behavior at this month’s meeting combined with the over-the-top, non-professional wording of this email, I’d consider resigning.  And that probably makes me a coward, but when a commenter at Delaware Politics starts referring to next month’s GOP meeting as the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre…  Yep, I’m outta there.  Obviously, this isn’t just an Arizona problem.

Sussex County GOP Meeting – All That Was Missing Was Spit Balls

Anon referenced these two posts over at Delaware Politics in an earlier thread.  It truly is popcorn worthy.

Let’s start with some snippets from Angel’s post:

For those of you who are unaware, Don recently announced he would be running for the Delaware GOP Chair seat against Tom Ross.  Don simply sent out an email to his networks informing them of his decision to run (the letter was sent to a few thousand people by The Coastal Network and Judson Bennett).  The simple announcement including a blog post link was sent out 1/9/11.  The Coastal Network follow-up email was sent a short time later.  The following email was sent by the newly appointed Parliamentarian Bruce Fitzgerald:

Don Et all
1. You all are outside of the rules
2. Don you have to take care of your bride & son How can you do this in a NON PAID JOB
3. How are you able to be a spoke person for ALL of Delaware ?
4. Why & under what premise do you think you have the POWER & WISDOM to as you said to UNITE when you & your crowd have tried to KILL SUSSEX ?????
So to sum up. go get a beer with Vance

Interestingly enough, this letter was not addressed to Don Ayotte, but instead to the head of the GOP.  Don apparently sent a response (which I was not privileged enough to receive) which included the statement that Bruce was “not qualified to use the restroom by himself”.

That’s the background.  Needless to say, Vance Phillips didn’t like the beer comment and demanded an apology.  Apparently, his plea fell on deaf ears.  BTW, love the restroom line.  Stay classy, Don.  Here’s what happened next…

Throughout this whole discussion Don Ayotte was walking up and down the aisles, asking for time to speaking and loudly protesting that Bruce Fitzgerald had made it painfully obvious he could not be objective.

Wow!  Is this sort of disruptive behavior what the GOP is looking for in a Chairman?

The crowd was yelling, playing musical chairs, and Ron was banging his gavel repeatedly.  He called a few people out of order, and continued to ignore the motion.  One woman stated loudly “In all of Sussex County, if you can’t get a better Parliamentarian than that then it insults all of us!”  There were even thinly veiled threats regarding Ron Sams and his position as Chairperson.

Are these people in grade school?  Also, what were the thinly veiled threats against Ron Sams?   If I were him I’d look into security.  Talk about a mob scene  – a mob apparently being led by a man who was walking up and down the aisles, asking for time to speaking and loudly protesting that Bruce Fitzgerald had made it painfully obvious he could not be objective.

Not to be out-done by Angel, Don Ayotte weighed in.  I’m including his post because I’m loving the overly emotional rhetoric of a drama queen.  Indulge me.

As a Sussex County Committeeman, I attended Monday night’s GOP meeting that started in chaos and ended in chaos.  Instead of parliamentary rule, a dictatorship emerged and seemingly established itself over the cries of dissension of the the body of republicans.  People attempted to move resolutions to the floor and were disallowed and no reason given.

Ooh, a dictatorship!  Keep the popcorn coming!

At 9:00pm someone raised a motion to adjourn without any business of substance taking place.  A vote was taken and the nays took the vote.  Ron Sams refused to conduct any business and shut off the lights.  a person yelled, “we’ll meet in the parking lot.”  The dictatorial manner that this meeting was conducted in, by Ron Sams was inexcusable and and out of line with the bylaws and any American tradition.  He has shown disregard and loathing for the rank and file Republicans of which more than 250 were present.

Ron Sams shut off the lights?  Priceless!  And he’s dictatorial again with disregard and loathing – loathing! – for rank and file Republicans.

But that is not the point, what Ron Sams has done on Monday has split the Sussex County GOP and shattered any credibility that he had left.  My Representative District Chairperson told me that I was being too passionate.  I replied, “if not now, then I ask you, when?

Too passionate?  Try too nuts.  And Sussex is now split?  Could someone make more popcorn?  I’m out.

I’m telling you that the people of Delaware deserve better and we mean to see that they have it!!!

A nation can only be disgraced by the failure of its citizenry to take action in the face of tyranny.

Tyranny.  Yet again, Republicans using over-the-top rhetoric.  You’d think they’d learn that words have meaning.  And as much as I joke about popcorn, what happened last night in Sussex is disturbing and… a predictable outcome given the last few years.

Sigh…

Via TPM:

“We can confirm that there was a threat against Senator Bennet’s office and that the FBI working with the Capitol Police have arrested the individual responsible for the threat. Per their advice, we are referring inquiries related to this matter to the Capitol Police. Michael has full confidence in the law enforcement agencies handling the case and remains focused on his job serving the people of Colorado.”

What is wrong with us?

Pumping Up The Volume

As our faithful readers are aware I have been warning that Somebody Is Going To Be Hurt for quite a while.  What happened yesterday didn’t surprise me.  I’d been expecting it.  The fact that it happened in Arizona… again, not a surprise.

What is surprising is how quickly everyone moved to define the shooter’s politics – which is difficult because mentally imbalanced people rarely have a clear, sensible ideology.  What triggers them tends to be the volume of the voices inside and outside their head.

And while the voices inside their head can lead them to violence, the voices outside their head tell them their anger is real and supply them with their insane justification.  The volume is pumped up.

Firing up people in politics is an age old practice, but what’s been happening recently is unlike anything I’ve experienced in my lifetime.  Words matter.

Phil says:  “Normal” people do not do things like this no matter what side of the aisle they lean. Video games, MTV, books, TV personalities… Yeah, they really make sane people go and shoot children in the face. Would it of been better if he was left, and she was a R? Or maybe if it was because he thought it would be a good idea to just shoot people at an unprotected rally.

Let’s skip over the nonsense of that comment to the point that if this rhetoric doesn’t calm down then no one is safe from a crazy person, and the odds that Ds and Rs will be hurt increases when we keep preaching to the crazy.

What’s given is that crazy people will do crazy things.  What has to stop is the outside voices that are giving direction (targets) to their craziness.

Calling Them Frauds Is Accurate

Andrew Sullivan nails it.

First, let’s read Paul Ryan’s quote:

“We’re gonna be reducing all domestic discretionary spending. I can’t tell you by what amount and which program, but all of it is going to be going down, and the aggregate amount will be back to 2008 levels before the spending binge occurred.”

Okay, everybody got that?  Take it away Andrew:

Before the spending binge occurred? You mean to say that the eight years of George “Deficits Don’t Matter” Bush did not include spending binges? You mean to say that emergency spending for the worst downturn since the 1930s was seriously in doubt under any president of either party?

What Ryan is doing is pretty obvious. He is trying to frame fiscal irresponsibility as somehow solely about 2008 – 2010. He’s lying about the Republican past and the recession. He has no serious plans to cut entitlements now (anyone only focusing on discretionary spending is a demonstrable fraud), no plans to cut defense, no plans to raise any taxes. And he has thrown away a chance to become a real fiscal conservative in Washington, able actually to tackle the problem rather than exploit it for partisan purposes.

He is the problem with Republicanism today, not its solution. If the debt is such a threat, why do you refuse to tackle it seriously now? Why reduce yourself to the tiniest sliver of the smallest part of the discretionary spending budget … when you could claim a serious mandate to end the debt for good? Why, after the last campaign, are the Republicans still unserious about cutting spending?

Because they’re frauds.

Exactly.

Add to this Boehner’s latest nonsense with Brian Williams.

WILLIAMS: Name a program right now that we could do without.

BOEHNER: I don’t think I have one off the top of my head.

You’d think he’d have a list.  This was hardly a trick question.  Congressional Republicans simply aren’t serious about anything.  They’re frauds.

I Really Tried To Ignore Douthat’s Column

You’re probably destined to write a post about something you go to bed thinking about.   Here’s what kept me up last night:

In every era, there’s been a tragic contrast between the burden of unwanted pregnancies and the burden of infertility. But this gap used to be bridged by adoption far more frequently than it is today. Prior to 1973, 20 percent of births to white, unmarried women (and 9 percent of unwed births over all) led to an adoption. Today, just 1 percent of babies born to unwed mothers are adopted, and would-be adoptive parents face a waiting list that has lengthened beyond reason.

My first thought was… is he pining for the days when young girls and women were forced sent to “visit relatives”  for nine months?

My second thought was… is he lamenting the fact that there just aren’t enough white babies to adopt?  If that’s not the case then why did he write:  Prior to 1973, 20 percent of births to white, unmarried women (and 9 percent of unwed births over all) led to an adoption.

My third thought was… does he really view giving up a child for adoption as a commodity rather than a gut-wrenching decision?   He seems to be saying:  Hey, there’s market demand here!   “Mid-life, upper-middle class” infertile couples need more product!

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I’ve had friends who have had abortions and friends who have given their babies up for adoption.  Both are heartbreakingly difficult decisions; both can leave emotional scars.  What bothers me most is how cavalier Douthat’s approach is when it comes to giving up a child for adoption.  It is not the easy choice, simply because there is no easy choice in these situations.

January 12th! Save The Date!

Republicans have chosen the date to repeal Health Care.

Republican leaders in the new House say they’ll hold a vote next week to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
The announcement of the Jan. 12 vote by the No. 2 House Republican, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, sets the stage for a showdown with the Democratic-led Senate.

Here’s the text of the bill.   Love the opening statement.  To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions
in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Hey, they left off the part about repealing Death Panels and saving Grandma!

(Original Signature of Member)
112THCONGRESS
1STSESSION
H. R. ll
To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions
in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. CANTOR(for himself and [see ATTACHEDLISTof cosponsors]) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
lllllllllllllll
A BILL
To repeal the job-killing health care law and health care-related provisions in the Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Repealing the Job- Killing Health Care Law Act’’.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE JOB-KILLING HEALTH CARE LAW AND HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

(a) JOB-KILLINGHEALTHCARELAW.—Effective as of the enactment of Public Law 111–148, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.

(b) HEALTH CARE-RELATED PROVISIONS IN THE HEALTHCAREANDEDUCATIONRECONCILIATIONACTOF

2010.—Effective as of the enactment of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111–152), title I and subtitle B of title II of such Act are repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such title or subtitle, respectively, are restored or revived as if such title and subtitle had not been enacted.

What jobs does HCR kill?  And since the CBO has stated that HCR saves money are the Republicans, yet again, adding to the deficit?  I realize this is political theater – a way to strut their stuff to the Tea Party – but it’s being performed on a rickety stage.  There’s a lot of very popular provisions in HCR, but I guess those babies will be thrown out with the bath water.

The more I think about this date, the more it makes sense.  They had better move quickly before their base realizes what HCR provisions kicked in this weekend.  That’s a whole lotta goodies for the I’m against government healthcare!  Keep your hands off my Medicare! crowd.

Debt Ceiling “Insanity”

Are there any grown ups left in the Republican Party?

Dealing with the debt limit “as adults” doesn’t appear to be going well. This morning, two right-wing lawmakers — Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep.-elect Mike Kelly (R-Minn.) — reiterated their opposition to raising the debt limit on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Soon after, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that failing to raise the debt ceiling “would be very bad for the position of the United States in the world at large.” Graham, however, quickly followed that by saying he’s prepared to hold the debt limit hostage “until a plan is in place” for the nation’s long-term fiscal challenges that meets his satisfaction.

So much for dealing with this “as adults.”

Austan Goolsbee, chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, doesn’t sound pleased with the direction of Republican rhetoric.

The chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers said today it would “insanity” for Congress to refuse to lift the nation’s debt ceiling, and that inaction would be “catastrophic” for the nation’s financial recovery.

“This is not a game,” CEA chairman Austan Goolsbee told Jake Tapper on ABC’s This Week. “The debt ceiling is not something to toy with.”

Republicans have really backed themselves into a corner by catering to the Tea Party, and I’m not certain how they get out of it.  For two years they have tossed red meat and lies to this group so I don’t think they can suddenly play the reasonable/rational card.  And I knew the debt ceiling was going to be a BIG issue for the Tea Party because, well… Duh, the word DEBT is in the title.

Jokes aside, this is not funny.

“Conservative” Jesus

I’m not surprised by this article, since many conservatives politicize Jesus.  Instead of modeling their lives after Jesus, they model Jesus after their lives.   Very convenient.  They’ve reduced their religion to taking sides at a sporting event.

He helped the poor without one government program. He healed the sick without a government health care system. He feed the hungry without food stamps. And everywhere He went, it turned into a rally, attracting large crowds, and giving them hope, encouragement and inspiration.

For three years He was unemployed, and never collected an unemployment check. Nevertheless, he completed all the work He needed to get done. He didn’t travel by private jet. He walked and sailed, and sometimes traveled on a donkey.

[…]

The liberal court found Him guilty of false offences and sentenced Him to death, all because He changed the hearts and minds of men with an army of 12.

His death reset the clock of time.

Never before and not since has there ever been such a perfect conservative.

Love the liberal court reference.  Actually, I love all of it.  I haven’t laughed this hard in a while.

New Republican Theme Song: Thank Heaven For Little Girls

Since this bill had nothing to do with abortion let’s just call it what it is:  Republicans are okay with young girls being forced into marriage.  Sorry, if that sounds harsh, but that’s what their vote says.

Via Steve Benen:

FAILING TO PROTECT GIRLS FROM CHILD MARRIAGE…. As Jodi Jacobson explained the other day, “An estimated 60 million girls in developing countries now ages 20 to 24 were married before they reached the age of 18. The Population Council estimates that the number will increase by 100 million over the next decade if current trends continue.” In many instances, girls are forced into marriage through force or coercion.

For about six years, policymakers in Washington have crafted efforts to use U.S. influence to combat this trend. The result is the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act. In the Senate, where obstructionism and gridlock are the norm, the bill was approved unanimously. In the House, the bill enjoyed the support of 112 co-sponsors, and it was expected to pass easily.

But House Republicans, in the 11th hour, balked. The bill was on the suspension calendar, so it needed a two-thirds majority to pass. On the floor, it had 241 supporters (nearly all of them Democrats), and 166 opponents (nearly all of them Republicans), which meant the legislation died.

And, why did it die?  Lies about abortion.

Time for the facts. First of all, S. 987 is short — the body of the bill is around ten pages long — and does not mention abortion (“family planning” isn’t in there either). A quick read suffices to show that the bill is not dealing with abortion.

Second, as I noted yesterday, it does not appropriate any additional funding. It requires that the President and the State Department make child marriage a core part of American international development strategy. One more time: this means that this bill can’t provide funding for abortion. It’s not an appropriations bill. Nonetheless, some Republicans appear determined to showcase their conservative credentials at all costs — even when the facts make it unnecessary, even when the world’s most vulnerable children bear the bill.

More lies to polish their anti-abortion street cred – and the Tea Party (The “I see dead people aborted fetuses” crowd) will fall for it.  Hook, line and sinker.