We all know Republicans love their pledges. The most famous one is Grover Norquist’s never raise taxes pledge. But there’s also a pledge to only appoint “Constitutionalist” judges and of course the crazy marriage pledge. Do you remember the teabagger’s Pledge From America? Apparently Republicans don’t remember it either. Dave Weigel points out this part of the pledge:
We will fight efforts to use a national crisis for political gain.
That’s probably the only part of the pledge that I like.
House Republicans are lunatics. More idiocy from the GOP Suicide Squad:
As Republican refusal to negotiate on the debt ceiling pushes the country ever closer to the brink of default, one Iowa congressman sees the impending financial collapse as cause for impeaching President Obama.
This morning, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) sent out a tweet imploring followers to “STOP talking about default. […] Obama would be impeached if he blocked debt payments.”
Pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?
Once again, The Onion nails it.
Members of the U.S. Congress reported Wednesday they were continuing to carefully debate the issue of whether or not they should allow the country to descend into a roiling economic meltdown of historically dire proportions. “It is a question that, I think, is worthy of serious consideration: Should we take steps to avoid a crippling, decades-long depression that would lead to disastrous consequences on a worldwide scale? Or should we not do that?” asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), adding that arguments could be made for both sides, and that the debate over ensuring America’s financial solvency versus allowing the nation to default on its debt—which would torpedo stock markets, cause mortgage and interests rates to skyrocket, and decimate the value of the U.S. dollar—is “certainly a conversation worth having.”
I really have no idea what’s going to happen with the debt ceiling. I figure they will work something out (14th amendment remedy) to prevent a catastrophic self-inflicted debt default. Republicans probably thought they could win this fight because they’ve won a lot of others by screaming about debt and deficit. They rely on the media to do its one side says this the other side says that reporting and figure the guy in charge will take the hit. (Hey, it worked in 2010). There is increasing evidence that the debt ceiling fake crisis may be the straw breaking the camel’s back.
How did the GOP get to this point?
A Senate Republican leadership aide emails with subject line “Gang of Six”: “Background guidance: The President killed any chance of its success by 1) Embracing it. 2) Hailing the fact that it increases taxes. 3) Saying it mirrors his own plan.”
What’s the ideology here? If Obama likes it, I’m against it?
The Republicans have painted themselves into a corner. They can’t say yes. Every time they’ve tried to come down off the cliff (the McConnell plan, the Gang of Six plan) the Tea Party pushes them right back onto it. Even Republicans are tired of Congressional Republicans. A new poll says that 77% of voters don’t think Republicans are compromising enough. That includes 58% of Republican voters. Even rich Republican backers are begging Cantor to take a deal, according to Politico.
A few wealthy donors have called Cantor to tell him they wouldn’t mind if their taxes are raised. During two closed meetings this week — one with vote-counting lawmakers, and another with the entire conference — Cantor told colleagues that some well-heeled givers have told them they’re willing to pay more taxes.
The hardline GOP is increasingly out-of-step with the country, independents, their donors and their own voters. I suppose Grover Norquist is happy, though. I’m not sure what happens now. There’s some very powerful groups that are hoping for default. The Club for Growth is passing around a letter in opposition to the McConnell plan and supposedly have signatures from 80 House Republicans in opposition.
It appears we’ll have at least another weekend of this drama. I don’t need to remind you that it’s completely unecessary. There doesn’t need to be any kind of budget deal to pass an increase the debt ceiling. Just a simple vote.
Someone get help, David Brooks has been mugged by reality!
But we can have no confidence that the Republicans will seize this opportunity. That’s because the Republican Party may no longer be a normal party. Over the past few years, it has been infected by a faction that is more of a psychological protest than a practical, governing alternative.
The members of this movement do not accept the logic of compromise, no matter how sweet the terms. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch in order to cut government by a foot, they will say no. If you ask them to raise taxes by an inch to cut government by a yard, they will still say no.
…
If the debt ceiling talks fail, independents voters will see that Democrats were willing to compromise but Republicans were not. If responsible Republicans don’t take control, independents will conclude that Republican fanaticism caused this default. They will conclude that Republicans are not fit to govern.
And they will be right.
Even a blind squirrel can find a nut, sometimes. Where has Brooks been all this time? Well, it’s better late than never. All kidding aside, it looks like an important turning point in the media narrative. Brooks is basically making the kinder, gentler “economic sabotage” argument. It’s been frustrating watching the radicalization of the Republican party and the very serious media pretend it doesn’t exist, and Brooks has been a Republican party cheerleader and enabler. I’ll let Driftglass express my frustration – this is not a new thing, it’s simply the culmination of years of Republican doctrine:
The question remains, where were you, Mr. Brooks, when Reagan was instructing them that the government is always wrong, always evil? Where were you when the leaders of your Movement were teaching them that everyone not in the Movement was a Commie? That compromise was treason?
“The members of this movement do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities.”
Yes, but where were you, Mr. Brooks, when the yahoo, bigot, militia-nuts and Fundy votes were being aggressively courted by your Party? When Young Republican gatherings became occasions for the endless burning of East Coast elites in verbal effigy? When anyone in the press not mindlessly spewing paranoid wingnut bile was denounced by your Party and Movement leaders as part of the Liberal Media Conspiracy?
Brooks needs to be careful. He’s starting to sound like one of those hippies, like Paul Krugman. In case you were wondering, the Republicans are already pooh-poohing Brooks’s concern. Republican hero Paul Ryan basically told Brooks to drop on his pointy head:
RYAN: What happens if you do what he’s saying, is then you can’t lower tax rates. So it does affect marginal tax rates. In order to lower marginal tax rates, you have to take away those loopholes so you can lower those tax rates. If you want to do what we call being revenue neutral … If you take a deal like that, you’re necessarily requiring tax rates to be higher for everybody. You need lower tax rates by going after tax loopholes. If you take away the tax loopholes without lowering tax rates, then you deny Congress the ability to lower everybody’s tax rates and you keep people’s tax rates high.
Tax cuts >>>> deficit reduction. If you have trouble figuring out Republicans, remember this equation.
All I can say is at least this is honest:
On CBS’s “Face the Nation” yesterday, host Bob Schieffer asked Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) yesterday, “Do Republicans have any plans to do anything on the unemployment front or are you just going to let things take their course?” It seemed like a good question.
McConnell replied, “No, I — I think — what — what we’re doing is encouraging the president to — to quit doing what he’s doing.”
There you go. The Republican jobs plan is to do nothing and also to prevent Obama from doing anything either. I guess it’s working. Since Republicans have come into office the recovery, as weak as it was, is in danger. I can’t wait to try their other great ideas like throwing sick people off of Medicaid, firing more government workers, increasing our deficit by cutting taxes for rich people, raising everyone’s interest rates by defaulting on government debt and pretending to cut the deficit by cutting the smallest part of the budget (domestic spending). Go GOP!
Well, there is one and go figure — the Clown Show gets to debate itself. Of course, this is one more exercise is just how much batshit crazy these guys will commit to in order to get the approval of the teajadis. It is on CNN at 8pm tonite — being broadcast from St. Anselm College in NH.
Joshua Green from The Atlantic has 7 Things to Watch For.
Are any of you going to watch? Found any good drinking games for tonite’s circus?
What do you think folks should be on the watch for during tonight’s debate?
A few years ago, I wrote about Scott Bloch, the former head of the Office of Special Counsel under the Bush administration. The OSC was set up to protect Federal government whistleblowers, investigate prohibited personnel practices, and prosecute violations of the Hatch Act. When Bloch was appointed, one of the first things he did was to issue a ruling that a long-standing government policy regarding prohibited personnel practices (dating from 1980) could no longer be used by gay and lesbian Federal employees complaining about unfair treatment. He also ruled that the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) policy on discrimination based on sexual orientation, issued in 1998, was no longer enforceable.
After weighing in on these issues, Bloch started purging the OSC of any employees who dissented from his views. He reassigned DC-based employees to Dallas, Oakland, and Detroit. Since these were directed reassignments, employees had the choice of moving, quitting, or finding a job with a different agency. He purged about 25 employees from the DC-office. All of this led to charges being made against him by various organizations and employees. He was investigated by OPM’s Inspector General for malfeasance and was subpoenaed to testify before Congress. Which leads us to today.
In March, Bloch pled guilty to one count of contempt of Congress (yeah, I know, many of us hold Congress in contempt) for hiring Geeks on Call to come into his office and scrub his government computers, then lying about it by claiming they had to clean up a virus. Um, Scott, that’s why there are IT people at OSC. He tried to back out of his guilty plea, claiming that he didn’t know he would have to serve one month in prison, but his motion was denied.
Last week, in what has to be the ultimate show of chutzpa, Bloch sued a number of people and government agencies for $200 million under the RICO statutes. From the Washington Post:
Bloch, who was appointed by President Bush to head an agency that protects government whistleblowers and enforces the law against political activity in government agencies, has filed a 63-page, $202 million lawsuit against top Bush adviser Karl Rove, former Virginia congressman Tom Davis and dozens of others for allegedly trying to thwart his office’s efforts. When they failed, he claims, they launched a bogus criminal investigation to drive him out of his job.
He filed the case in Fairfax County (VA) Circuit Court. Some lawyer Bloch is. He should know that when suing Federal officials and using Federal statutes, he needs to file the case in Federal court, not state court. Bloch is claiming that some vast, right-wing conspiracy existed between Karl Rove, former Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA), the Human Rights Campaign, the Government Accountability Project and other groups, that undermined his and his wife’s reputation. I don’t know about you, but I seriously doubt that Rove and Davis were planning anything with HRC and GAP. Scotty, you undermined your own reputation by being such a pigheaded fool who decided to ignore Federal laws and regulations. In my opinion, one month in jail is not enough.
Bloch is representing himself in the suit. What’s that old adage? Oh I know – a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client. Maybe Bloch could call up Jonathon Moseley to represent him. I don’t think he’s too busy (unless there’s been a rash of accidents in Northern Virginia).
The Tennessee legislature is considering a bill that will prohibit teachers from discussing any sexuality except heterosexuality for kids in grades K-8. SB 49 is set for full Senate action on Monday, May 9.
Sen. Stacey Campfield (R) is passionate about this legislation, which he previously sponsored unsuccessfully in the state House for six years. In 2009, Campfield explained that he’s not homophobic; it’s just that the issue is “complex.” He clarified this past September that he supports promoting tolerance, but not acceptance:
You can talk about TEA and NEA resolutions talking about how they think there should be not just tolerance of the lifestyle, but acceptance of it. That flies completely in the face of a lot of people. A lot of people say, hey, I understand tolerance. I’m all for tolerance. I’ve co-sponsored the anti-bullying bill. But to say we have to go to acceptance, that’s something completely different.
He also thinks teachers don’t have enough time to teach core subjects:
If I can take one thing away and say, hey, you don’t have to teach about homosexuality to your second-graders, you can spend more time on arithmetic.
So instead of job creation, the GOP majority in TN is concentrating on micro-managing the school system. I always thought that conservatives wanted the government out of people’s lives. There are no penalties in the bill, but I’m sure that Sen. Campfield will come up with something, like wearing a scarlet H or public flogging for any teacher who even mentions the H-word.
And Campfield is a man of honor willing to debate this issue, for a price.
Film director and producer Del Shores recently challenged Campfield on Facebook to debate his bill. Campfield agreed but demanded a $1,000 retainer. According to Drew Rawlins of the Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance, such an honorarium could be found to be an ethics violation if a formal complaint is filed. Though TEP has rejected Shores’ request for assistance in funding the retainer request, Shores seems committed to making the debate happen.
Yeah, so much for small government.
A delegate to the Utah Republicans convention has an interesting proposal:
They also have a delegate who wants it made clear that sex is only acceptable when it takes place between a married man and woman. David Baxter wants the party platform to include that the “God-given sexual power is to be used only between a husband and wife.” He believes this will rule out any possibility of adultery, sodomy or fornication.
This could totally work! Just like prohibition stopped people from drinking, outlawing sex will stop people from having it. What a great idea!
It didn’t take long for some of our less informed denizens of Sussex County to blow a gasket over the passage of SB 30.
Today, the Fatman over at WGMD was spitting nails. He adamant that SB 30 was “a gay marriage bill, let’s not fool ourselves. We need to call it what it is.” Then he took to the phones.
Angie from Angola, one of the Fatman’s regulars, called in and started on a rant of how the passage of this equal rights legislation was wrong and asked “what happened to we the people? How can 41 people in Dover make this decision for the entire State?” And of course, the Fatman was egging her on.
Well, Angie, you might have been asleep during that lesson in Civics class, or maybe you were behind the bleachers smoking when you should have been in class. Either way, if you had been in class, you would have learned that here in America, we have something called “democracy.” And in a “democracy,” we have things called “elections.” And the people who win those “elections,” get to introduce things called “legislation.”
Oh hell Angie & Fatman, watch this (it’s been dumbed down so you can easily understand it):
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ[/youtube]
Now you basically know how SB 30 was passed. The 62 members of the Delaware General Assembly voted and the bill is on its way to the governor for signature.
But then Angie went further. “Because this bill passed, we can’t lock these people up for sodomy. We should be able to arrest these people for sodomy.” The Fatman should have done the responsible thing and point out to Angie that (a) Delaware does not have any sodomy laws on the books and (b) there was this little Supreme Court decision called Lawrence v. Texas which ruled that sodomy laws were unconstitutional. But Angie kept on and the Fatman only encouraged her.
The next caller kept up the line about the legislature not being responsible to the people, wherein the Fatman said “well, I believe that if we can’t get what we want a the ballot box, we’ll have to get out a box of cartridges.” So once again, the Fatman shows his true colors. He (and many of his teabagging friends) doesn’t believe in the Constitution or the rule of law, he openly advocates the violent overthrow of our government. And it’s time that the management of WGMD send this yahoo back to upstate New York. It is irresponsible to keep this man on the air.
The Arizona Senate passed a “birther bill” which would require presidential candidates to produce a “long form” birth certificate to be on the ballot. In an effort to seem less insane, the Senare adopted an amendment that makes the bill even more batsh*t.
As originally proposed, a candidate would have to produce a certified copy of a “long form birth certificate” which would have to include the date and place of birth, the names of the hospital and any attending physician, and the signatures of any witnesses in attendance.
Senators accepted an amendment by Sen. Frank Antenori, R-Tucson, for alternatives for those who are legally qualified but do not have such a document. Instead, a candidate could produce a baptismal or circumcision certificate, a hospital birth record, a postpartum medical record or an early census record.
The Secretary of State, who would make the final determination of a candidate’s qualifications, also could accept a notarized affidavit from at least two people who witnessed the birth.
It’s always about the penis isn’t it? How insane is this bill? The Arizona Senate just said they won’t honor a state-issued birth certificate but will instead accept unofficial documents? None of those documents would be acceptable for a passport or driver’s license. I doubt Obama is worried. I doubt this law would stand any court scrutiny. We also know that the long form certificate exists – I’m sure Hawai’i would allow Obama to use that copy in this instance. What a waste of time and money.
It was billed as a debate between Sussex County Council member Vance Phillips and Sheriff Jeff “Supercop” Christopher. One came armed with facts; the other with rhetoric.
Phillips and Christopher are both conservatives. But Phillips, who’s been in office for 12 years, knows something about the Delaware Code. Christopher has been in office for a little over 3 months, and last Saturday night, he showed he knows absolutely nothing about the Delaware Code.
About 60 people gathered to hear what these two had to say. It was safe to say I was the only Democrat in the room, and the only Jew. All the usual suspects were there – failed GOP state chair candidate Don Ayotte, St. Bodie Girl, Urkel, and Curley, who was acting as the moderator. The evening started off with St. Bodie Girl giving an opening prayer, beseeching Jesus to bless the teabaggers assembled. Russ Murphy, leader of the 9/12 “patriots” led the Pledge of Allegiance. It was fun watching Curley give “amens” during the prayer.
Phillips led off by saying that the issue of the sheriff and his duties has divided the GOP in Sussex and that the majority of Sussex Countians don’t support Supercop. He said the Christopher was “wrong on this issue and positon,” and that there were four things that were important. The first was the law, and that while Supercop is good at quoting the Delaware Constitution, Delaware Code and Attorney General decisions (a Republican AG to boot) clearly point out that the sheriff is “not on par with police.” Second, Phillips mentioned fiscal responsibility. The GOP prides itself on being the party of small government and limited spending, yet he pointed out that it costs NCCo $50 million a year for it’s county police force, which is $4 million more than the entire Sussex County budget. Christopher, he said, hadn’t even projected what the costs would be to put untold number of Barney Fife’s on the road patrolling the county, and he’s already asked for a 33% increase in his budget for the coming year. Third, Vance pointed out that the county currently pays $1.6 million a year to have an additional 40 State Police in the county and that they are doing a very good job protecting its citizens. And last, Phillips went after Christopher’s credibility. He said that Supercop got “caught up in the emotion” of the campaign and winning election and, instead of coming to County Council, he sent out numerous emails to his teabag supporters claiming that the Council was drafting legislation to curtail his duties. And this was “disappointing.”
Christopher began by quoting the Delaware Constitution, claiming that it is the supreme law of the state and that the sheriff is the “only person in the county you can trust.” He said that the sheriff’s position harkens back to those good old days in Europe, where the sheriff was the person in the town or village and that he (Christopher) was “a law enforcement officer.” Well, he used to be at one time. According to his official bio, he’s worked for six different police departments since 1979. Guess he couldn’t hold a job very long. But I digress. Supercop went on to say that the County Council was “taking away your rights” and that he’s disappointed watching TV and that “our values are being thrown out the window on a daily basis.” St. Bodie Girl let loose with an “amen.” He continued that “the people deserve a fair shake and if we diminish our constitution, we give away our rights.” Whew! I was almost ready to get up and start singing Glory Hallelujah. Or maybe it’s Dixie down in these parts.
Supercop went on and on about how Article 15 of the Delaware Constitution puts the sheriff on par with constables, the Attorney General, and certain judges with police powers. While he said that he was “arming” the people “with facts.” what he didn’t tell them was that the Delaware Code specifically says that, while sheriffs and their deputies have some of the same duties as constables, they only have those powers while in the performance of their duties. What that means is if a deputy is serving papers and witnesses a crime, he can make an arrest (and hold the suspect for the state police; it doesn’t give a dupty or the sheriff the power to patrol the county). And they have to be certified as constables, a certification that Supercop said he was going to allow to expire for all of his deputies. This flies in the face of what Supercop says on his website.
Sheriff Christopher is committed to promoting a professional, highly-trained and visible staff throughout Sussex County, and is an advocate for better training and certification of deputies…
Allowing these certifications to expire could pose a huge liability problem for the county. Without the certification, deputies are not allowed to carry a gun, handcuffs, mace, or a sap. And all it takes is for one of these yahoos to pull a gun on someone and all hell is going to break loose.
Phillips came back with more facts, specifically with a ruling from former Attorney General Jane Brady, who wrote that the sheriff is not a police office and their vehicles are not police vehicles. He went on to say that while Supercop claims he hates redundancy, there are already 183 state police troopers and 35 civilians assigned to Sussex County and asked if “we want to try and replicate that. This is Delaware, Sussex County, not Maryland”! Supercop was not amused.
Christopher gave one last plea to give him the authority to “start the process of creating a county police department under the sheriff,” so he could track sex offenders, round up illegal aliens, train neighborhood watch patrols. He even claimed that he got a $10,000 grant from the National Association of Sheriffs to purchase an iris scanner. “Bring an illegal to me, I’ll tell you who it is.” He also said he wanted to take over animal control. Here’s an idea – since Chrissie Pooh couldn’t be elected dogcatcher, and Supercop want to be a dogcatcher, he should hire her and they can go hunt for Old Yeller together on Gravel Hill Road. His most ludicrous claim was that he wanted to double the size of his office without adding to his budget. I guess he forgot about the 33% increase he’s asking County Council for.
One question that remains to be answered – why was Supercop’s chief deputy at this political meeting, in uniform and armed. According to people I’ve spoken to about this, if he’s in uniform, he’s on duty and the county is paying his salary.
Yes, Vance Phillips showed that when presented with facts, even some teabaggers will listen. My advice to Super Cop – don’t show up to a gunfight armed with a knife. You’ll lose every time, just as you did Saturday night.
Florida state representative Scott Randolph has been a naughty, naughty boy.
During last week’s discussion about a bill that would prohibit governments from deducting union dues from a worker’s paycheck, state Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, used his time during floor debate to argue that Republicans are against regulations — except when it comes to the little guys, or serves their specific interests.
At one point Randolph suggested that his wife “incorporate her uterus” to stop Republicans from pushing measures that would restrict abortions. Republicans, after all, wouldn’t want to further regulate a Florida business.
Apparently the GOP leadership of the House didn’t like the one-liner.
…
“Additionally, the Speaker believes it is important for all Members to be mindful of and respectful to visitors and guests, particularly the young pages and messengers who are seated in the chamber during debates. In the past, if the debate is going to contain language that would be considered inappropriate for children and other guests, the Speaker will make an announcement in advance, asking children and others who may be uncomfortable with the subject matter to leave the floor and gallery.”
Exactly! Icky girlie parts make some people really uncomfortable. We certainly don’t want Florida’s college students hearing anatomically correct names for body parts. We want them to keep believing babies are delivered by storks and are stored in women’s tummies.
Perhaps you can help out the Florida GOP. What are the politically acceptable terms that can be used in mixed company?