Category: Congress

Whiney Beotch of the Day: John McCain

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Just in case you don’t know, the entire Republican Jihad over Susan Rice and Benghazi is about two things: They desparetely want a real Obama scandal, and they realize that if they kill her nomination to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, then the likely alternative is John Kerry, which would open up the other Massachusetts Senate seat, to a run by Scott Brown.

Leading the charge are Lindsay “Mincing Fool” Graham, and John “McCrankypants” McCain, and now we find out that McCain skipped a classified briefing on Benghazi in order posture in front of the press:

I have to tell you something that just happened on Capitol Hill, and that is our senate producer Ted Barrett just ran into John McCain and asked about something that we’re hearing from Democrats, which is John McCain is calling for more information to Congress, but he had a press conference yesterday instead of going to a closed briefing where administration officials were giving more information. Well, Ted Barrett asked John McCain about that, and it was apparently an intense very angry exchange and McCain simply would not comment on it at all.

(Emphasis original)

John McCain seems to have spent most of his entire political career in a fit of pique directed at people who he thinks unfairly kept him from becoming president.

Wanker.

Snatching defeat from the Jaws of Victory

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Some people call the US Senate, “the World’s greatest deliberative body”. I call the US Senate, “A petri dish for narcissistic sociopaths,” thanks to the need for unanimous consent (of failing that a vote of 60 Senators) to proceed.

Theoretically, the Senate Democrats can change filibuster rules by a simple majority vote at the start of the next Congress.

Unfortunately, it appears that Harry Reid does not have the votes to make a meaningful reform:

Democrats don’t have the 51 votes they need in the Senate to change filibuster rules that could make it harder for the GOP minority to wield power in the upper chamber.

Lawmakers leading the charge acknowledge they remain short, but express optimism they’ll hit their goal.

“I haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional or “nuclear” option, in which Senate rules could be changed by a majority vote.

“We’re building the momentum right now,” Udall said. “It’s hard to say at this point, but I think it’s looking very good. The last two years have really helped coalesce people’s minds around the idea that we need to change the way we do business.”

The problem for Udall and other supporters of filibuster reform is that many veteran Democratic senators remember when the filibuster was a useful tool in their years in the minority.

In the tradition-bound Senate, these veterans aren’t thrilled with changing the upper chamber’s rules, particularly with the use of the controversial constitutional option — which has never been used to change the chamber’s rules.

It’s all well and good to respect Senate tradition, but part of that tradition was to use a bit of restraint, and using the filibuster for the little things.

It’s sh%$ like this that makes people voting for Republicans.

As repugnant as their agenda, and their values, are at least Republicans are willing to fight for them.

F%$# That

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Yes, I am quoting Repo Men

John Boehner is say that
tax cuts for the rich should be extended for a year as a start of negociations:

Obama’s proposal is at odds with the position of House Speaker John Boehner, who earlier Friday said all the tax cuts — including those for the rich — should be extended until next year to provide more time to work out a bigger deal on taxes and spending cuts.

 “I’m proposing that we avert the fiscal cliff together in a manner that ensures that 2013 is finally the year that our government comes to grips with the major problems that are facing us,’’ Boehner said.

I will make a point here: John Boehner cannot be trusted, so tax increases on the rich pigs™ need to be passed at the start.

I should be clear here:  I do not mean that the Orange Avenger of Congress® is tremendously dishonest by the standards of the Republican party,* but rather that he is incapable of keeping his promises, because is arguably the most incompetent and most ineffectual House Speaker in at least the past 100 years.

If he promises something, get it in your hand before moving on to the next item.

*Which is kind of like saying that he is the world’s tallest midget.

Reid Just Threw a Brush Back Pitch at Barack Obama

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To which I say good for him:

Nevertheless, getting to a deal won’t be easy — especially if Democrats refuse to entertain cuts on entitlements. Speaking to reporters after the news conference, Reid wouldn’t say whether Democrats would be open to cutting Medicare benefits, but he said that Social Security wouldn’t be touched.

I’m not surprised that he said this.

He picked up seats while defending twice as many seats as Republicans, and the incoming Senators are more liberal than their predecessors, and the only “Democrat” who might have been eager to take point on this, Bob Kerrey, lost his race for Senate.

More Election Updates

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Allen West, crazy man and war criminal (literally), gone.

Democrat Jon Tester, reelected from Montana, (!) in a victory for retro hair styles.

More interesting were the initiative elections.

Let’s start with Maryland, where gambling expansion and gay marriage passed.

On the gay marriage front, Maine and Washington also passed gay marriage, and in Minnesota, voters defeated an anti gay marriage constitutional amendment.

In California, things actually turned out better than I expected, with Democrats getting a super-majority in both houses of the legislature, meaning that they can raise taxes, and on initiatives, Jerry Brown’s tax increase passed, as did a moderation of their three strikes law, closing corporate tax loopholes, enhanced penalties for human trafficking, and non-partisan redistricting.

It’s kind of remarkable for California, nothing really stupid passed, though I am bumming a bit over the fact that death penalty repeal failed (by only 5%), and the ratf%$#s at Monsanto managed to kill the genetically modified foods labeling law.

Most importantly, California decisively defeated the labor union muzzling initiative(aka “paycheck prediction”).

Not a bad evening.

Tucker Carlson, Your Kung Fu is Weak

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Yes, Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller has announced what must be the least poorly sourced and lamest sex “scandal” of this election season (No direct link to his clown show, ever):

Tucker Carlson’s website The Daily Caller is taking a shot at the October Surprise game, accusing New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez of soliciting prostitutes while on a trip to the Dominican Republic. According to videotaped interviews with two anonymous women published on the website last night, Menendez agreed to pay the women $500 for sex during a visit to the country earlier this year. They identified the Senator from a picture, but said they were only given $100 after being brought to see him at a fancy resort on the island. A spokesperson for Menendez, who is up for re-election on Tuesday, calls the story “completely false.”

Why is this lame? Or, more accurately why is this lame for reasons onther than being “broken” by the Daily Caller?

How about this:

There are also a few other factors working against them in this story, like the fact that Menendez is not married (so there’s no infidelity angle), prostitution is technically legal in the Dominican Republic, and the solid Democratic state that he serves is a little distracted by other matters right now. However, Menendez was one of the Senators who called on Secret Service agents that reportedly hired prostitutes in Colombia to be fired.

So, in the worst case, he did not cheat on his wife, and he did not break the law.

What’s more, beyond the complaints of the two women, the Daily Caller did not even present evidence that Menendex was in the Dominican Republic at the time alleged.

Seriously, lame.

Jimmy Olson Endorses Women Being Carrying Rapists Babies to Term

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My bad, it wasn’t Jimmy Olson, it was Republican Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel who agreed with Richard Mourdock that rape victims should be forced to carry their children to term:

While national Republicans have done their best to shore up Indiana Senate nominee Richard Mourdock after his statements on rape, conception and God’s will, many Republicans in tight Senate races have backed away from Mourdock’s comments, trying to keep the negative headlines that have followed Mourdock’s statements out of their races.

 But the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, Josh Mandel, has taken a very different approach. He’s given Mourdock a big ol’ bear hug. Ahead of Thursday’s debate between Mandel and incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, Democrats say they plan to make Mourdock a big topic on stage.

 “I would bet it will,” Brown spokesperson Sadie Weiner told TPM when asked whether Mandel’s handling of Mourdock will come up in the debate.

 Mandel is unafraid to embrace Mourdock, despite the controversy surrounding him.

Seriously, he does look like my image of Jimmy Olson ……… or Ted Bundy.

Tommy “Toast” Thompson

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Bummer of a Birthmark, Hal

You know, when you talk to constituents you get taped.

So if you want to pander to teabaggers your statements saying that you are the best person to get rid of medicare and medicaid will end up online:

Already down almost 10 points in the PollTracker Average, Tommy Thompson has now shown up in a video from a Tea Party meeting in June bragging that who better than him to “do away with the Medicare and Medicaid”.

BTW, I’m watching his debate with Tammy Baldwin right now, and I’m wondering if he if he was always this dense, or if he’s doddering a bit in his old age.

He really sounds out of it.

What a Whiny Bitch, Todd Akin Edition

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He’s whining about how Claire McCaskill was mean to him in the debates:

Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin compared the recent debate performance of Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill to that of a “wildcat,” saying she is worried about her reelection chances.

 McCaskill came on strong during their first debate last week, criticizing Akin’s earlier suggestion that pregnancy “rarely” results from “legitimate rape” because women’s bodies have a way of shutting down conception. McCaskill said his views were extreme and out of the mainstream.

 “The first two minutes, wow, it’s like somebody let a wildcat out of the cage,” Akin told a small group of supporters and activists as his statewide bus tour stopped Wednesday evening in Rolla, a rural college town between St. Louis and Springfield. “She was just furious and attacking in every different direction, which was a little bit of a surprise to us.”

You know, you’ve been spouting this crap for years, and now you are whining about someone telling people what you say? PuhLease!!!

BTW, he also came out in favor of paying women less for the same work.

It’s simple: If you don’t like people calling you out for saying stupid sh%$, then stop saying stupid sh%$.

Do Your F%$#ing Job

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Yet another reason not to link to the AP, they have decided that if you lie enough, they won’t cover it, because it’s too much work:

An editor for the Associated Press said in a panel discussion on Wednesday that during coverage of the Republican primaries, fact-checkers for the organization would have to limit themselves to a “quota” of misstatements by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) during debates.

According to the Washington Post, the AP’s Jim Drinkard confessed that the sheer volume of factually inaccurate assertions, dubious claims and stretchings of the truth threatened to “overload” the stories of the debates.

“We had to have a self-imposed Michele Bachmann quota in some of those debates,” Drinkard told the audience at the National Press Club on Wednesday. Otherwise, Bachmann would have become the story. Of all the Republican candidates who ran, said Drinkard, “Often she was just more prone to statements that just didn’t add up.

It’s called doing your f%$#ing job. When a politician lies, or a politician is so f%$#ing delusional that they cannot separate fact from fiction, this is news.

If you don’t want to cover the news, go and work at your parents’ dry cleaning shop.

Unhelpful Stupid Self-Hating Democrats

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Tim Kaine:

Virginia Senate nominee Tim Kaine (D) unexpectedly suggested in a debate with George Allen on Thursday that he’d be open to requiring everyone to pay a minimum amount — including the 47 percent of American taxpayers who do not currently pay any income tax.

Kaine was responding to a question from moderator David Gregory about whether “everyone in Virginia should pay something in federal income tax” in light of Mitt Romney’s leaked complaints about the 47 percent who he considered “dependent” on government.

“I would be open to a proposal that would have some minimum tax level for everyone,” Kaine said. “But I do insist, many of the 47 percent that Gov. Romney was going after pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than he does.”

Republicans quickly pounced. The Kaine campaign said the Democrat was simply discussing his openness to discuss anything as part of his plan to overhaul the tax code.

Yes, raising taxes on poor people is such good policy.

This is why the fetish that the political class of the Democratic Party has for candidates who are willing to sell core party values down the road is bad because it gets you lame wankers like this on the ticket.

To quote Harry S Truman, “Given a choice between a fake Republican and a real one, the public will choose the real Republican every time,” and Tim Kaine is doing his level best to be a fake Republican.

Nice Try Scotty

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Looks like little Scotty Brown was trying to avoid his first debate with Elizabeth Warren, using an upcoming Senate vote as an excuse.

Well, Harry Reid felt your pain:

Majority Leader Harry Reid abruptly scrapped votes in the Senate on Thursday so Sen. Scott Brown could participate in a high-profile debate with Elizabeth Warren in Boston.

“No more votes today,” Reid (D-Nev.) said on the floor. “It’s obvious to me what’s going on. I’ve been to a few of these rodeos. It is obvious there is a big stall taking place. One of the senators who doesn’t want to debate tonight won’t be in a debate. While he can’t use the Senate as an excuse, there will be no more votes today.”

Well played, Senator Reid.

It’s streaming on WBZ and on CSPAN-3.

In the first few minutes, Scotty is harping on her family history (the whole “part Cherokee and Delaware” thing).

He is coming across a really, really pissy.

He’s sputtering.

Rob Zerban is on My ActBlue Page

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The latest internal poll from Paul Ryan’s normally blood red Congressional district shows Democrat Rob Zerban down only by 7, and Ryan below 50%:

Rob Zerban, the Democrat running against Rep. Paul Ryan, has been trying to make the case that he has a real shot at taking down one of the GOP’s most visible leaders, and his campaign is now touting a new poll showing the race is closer than most expected.

 The internal poll, provided to Salon ahead of its release, shows Zerban behind by just 8 points among likely voters when respondents were read a “profile statement” about the candidate. FM3 Research, which conducted the survey, wrote in a memo, “Paul Ryan is not the overwhelming favorite in the 1st Congressional District race … Rob Zerban remains a credible challenger.” After respondents were read the statement, 39 percent indicate they will vote for Zerban, while 47 say they will vote for Ryan. Another 4 percent went for a third-party candidate while 11 percent were undecided.

If you have a few bucks, you might want to throw it his way.

Even if it’s a long shot, it will put Paul Ryan off of his game as Mitt’s running mate, so it’s a win-win.

Certainly it’s better than giving to the DCCC, where (nominally) former Blue Dog Steve Israel is doing his level best to load up the Congress with Blue Dogs and New Dems.

Moron

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With the new districts in Maryland, the 1stdistrict is pretty much a Republican lock.

The benefit is that it makes the 6th a district a lot more competitive.

So I understand that you might select a non-entity who has put in their dues as a sacrificial lamb.

However, when your candidate has committed felony voter fraud, you have not done even the minimal due diligence required:

Wendy Rosen, the Democratic challenger to Republican Rep. Andy Harris in the 1st Congressional District, withdrew from the race Monday amid allegations that she voted in elections in both Maryland and Florida in 2006 and 2008.

 It was unclear, however, whether she could remove her name from the ballot with the election less than two months away. Under state law, a candidate has until 70 days before an election to remove his or her name from the ballot. The deadline for the Nov. 6 election passed on Aug. 28.

 Democratic leaders — who raised the allegations, urged Rosen to step aside and notified prosecutors — said they would gather Central Committee members this month to identify a write-in candidate for the district, which includes the Eastern Shore and parts of Harford, Carroll, Cecil and Baltimore counties.

 Republicans, meanwhile, said the allegations prove that voter fraud is real and called on Democrats to join the GOP in calling for reforms.

 Rosen, 57, a Cockeysville businesswoman and Maryland voter, told The Baltimore Sun that she registered to vote in Florida several years ago in order to support a “very close friend” running for the St. Petersburg City Council and to vote on local issues there.

 Rosen said she was able to register in Florida because she owned property there.

 Under Maryland law, a voter here may not maintain registration in a second state if it allows the voter to participate in state or federal elections there, according to Jared DeMaris, director of candidacy and campaign finance at the State Board of Elections.

 State Democratic Chairwoman Yvette Lewis said an examination of voting records in Maryland and Florida showed that Rosen participated in the 2006 general election and the 2008 primaries in both states.

Unfortunately, it’s too late to get another name on the ballot.

Someone needs to get fired over this.

Note also that this is precisely the sort of voter fraud that the various Republican “Papers Please” voter suppression laws will not effect.

Paul Ryan, Insider Trader

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Click for full size


Found on Facebook

Brad Delong looks at Paul Ryans trading records in 2008, and concludes that he had to be trading on information from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury:

I don’t want to hire as my vice president and federal budget czar somebody who uses Congressional inside information to profit by switching his portfolio back and forth between Citigroup and Goldman five times a year: I want somebody with better ethics.

I don’t want to hire as my vice president and federal budget czar somebody who investing very part-time with no analytical support and without inside information switches his portfolio back and forth between Citigroup and Goldman five times a year: I want somebody with a better brain.

Look at the trades. He’s clearly trading on inside information.

Damn

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Darcy Burner has lost the primary for Washington’s 1st district.

Former Microsoft exec Suzan DelBene after dropping over a million dollars of her own money, bought second place (it’s a non-partisan primary, with Teabagger Republican John Koster getting a plurality).

Rather unsurprisingly, DelBene also got the lion’s share of the Democratic Party establishment, since they go for the money, and real Democrats scare them.

So the good folks in the 1st have the choice of the Teabagger or the MBA.

My condolences.

Yet Another Reason Not to Give to the DCCC

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A detailed examination of how they spending their money reveals that DCCC chair, and former Blue Dog, Steve Israel, is favoring long shot conservatives over more competitive real Democrats:

Monday morning the DCCC was strutting around like a rooster bragging about the campaign to hold Republicans accountable, running an ad (below) called “The Millionaires,” against 23 “Republican Members of Congress who are about to vote for another tax cut for millionaires at the expense of the middle class and seniors.” Let’s not even get into the cynicism of the DCCC backing Blue Dogs who vote with the GOP on this and leave that for the day after the vote itself (when we can replay a tape of Debbie Wasserman Schultz defending anti-family ConservaDems because she’s so proud of her “Big Tent party”).

………

Who are these Republicans? Not many people have heard of any of them. They’re basically all a bunch of backbenchers without any power or influence, mostly pathetic freshmen. Fine… someone has to go after them. It’s a shame though, that that’s all the DCCC goes after! But let’s look at the Democrats running in these districts for a second.

………

So what would a progressive campaign look like instead of this attempt by “ex”-Blue Dog Steve Israel to restock the House Democratic caucus with conservatives?

………

The progressive target list, unlike the DCCC target list, includes vulnerable senior Republicans (Goliaths) like Paul Ryan and Buck McKeon, whose district’s Obama won, as well as vulnerable Republican incumbents with national reputations as especially hateful assholes, like Eric Cantor, Joe Pitts, Mike Coffman, Patrick McHenry, Ed Royce, and Mike Rogers. No one ever even heard of any of the DCCC targets beyond maybe the congresswoman in Palm Springs who used to be married to Sonny Bono after Cher and now lives with her braindead husband– a candidate for the U.S. Senate– in Florida. It’s a pretty unheroic list of targets– and not even one where there are many “sure things.” In fact, some of these people have absolutely no chance of winning whatsoever, like the poor schlemiels running against Vicky Hartzler (MO-04), Larry Bucshon (IN-08), Tim Murphy (PA-18), Kristi Noem (SD-AL), and Scott DesJarlais (TN-04). The money the DCCC will waste in those 5 districts alone could probably make the difference in defeating Paul Ryan, Buck McKeon and Ed Royce, 3 seats ripe for the plucking that the DCCC refuses to contest.

One lesson to be learned here is that while the Blue Dogs, and to a slightly lesser degree the New Dems, may not like Republicans, but they hate real Democrats.

Pick and choose your candidates, and vote for, and donate to, real Democrats.

If you delegate this to Steve Israel and the DCCC, we will get an affirmative action program for DINOs.