Category: Politics

11 September 2011, 4:52 PM

It Looks Like I’m Not the Only One Bearish on Obama in 2012

A lot of Democrats are worried that toast in 2012:

Democrats are expressing growing alarm about President Obama’s re-election prospects and, in interviews, are openly acknowledging anxiety about the White House’s ability to strengthen the president’s standing over the next 14 months.

Elected officials and party leaders at all levels said their worries have intensified as the economy has displayed new signs of weakness. They said the likelihood of a highly competitive 2012 race is increasing as the Republican field, once dismissed by many Democrats as too inexperienced and conservative to pose a serious threat, has started narrowing to two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who have executive experience and messages built around job creation.

And in a campaign cycle in which Democrats had entertained hopes of reversing losses from last year’s midterm elections, some in the party fear that Mr. Obama’s troubles could reverberate down the ballot into Congressional, state and local races.

“In my district, the enthusiasm for him has mostly evaporated,” said Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon. “There is tremendous discontent with his direction.”

The president’s economic address last week offered a measure of solace to discouraged Democrats by employing an assertive and scrappy style that many supporters complain has been absent for the last year as he has struggled to rise above Washington gridlock. Several Democrats suggested that he watch a tape of the jobs speech over and over and use it as a guide until the election.

At it’s core, the problem is that people who choose a bad something over a not-bad nothing.
.
The money quote is that, “Polling suggests that the president’s yearlong effort to reclaim the political center has so far yielded little in the way of additional support from the moderates and independents who tend to decide presidential elections.”

There is another name for these voters, low information voters. They don’t tend to vote on policies, they don’t vote on “changing the tone”, and while they may tell pollsters that they don’t like all that partisanship, they say that because they don’t think what it means.

These are voters who vote on buzz, and the buzz is generated by the bases, to the benefit Reagan and Bush II, and to the detriment of Carter and Bush I.

If the phrase “Sane Republican” had not become an oxymoron, and if the Republican party were not determined to alienate Hispanic voters, he would have no chance at all.

If one is inclined to look on the brighter side, it should be noted that it would be much less politically tenable for a ‘Phant to gut social security and Medicare. (It’s an “Only Nixon could go to China” thing)

9 September 2011, 1:45 PM

Pimping My Brother’s Blog

That’s the Chicago Way

My older (and even hairier, as unbelievable as it seems) brother segues off my report of the Republican party in Gabrielle Giffords district raffling off the same sort of gun that she was shot with to observe that this behavior will get worse unless their opposition goes after the for this:

What I found interesting was one section of a quote here that Miller made about the reactionary bloc, who he described as being:

“…’my way or the highway’ wing of the GOP who don’t pay much thought to the political fallout [emphasis added] from their actions…”

This is a “curious incident of the dog in the night-time” (The Silver Blaze).

There is no fallout.

There is no a concerted campaign to broadcast and hammer this sort of actions, despite the fact this tactic has been so successful for the reactionary bloc.

Where are the adds from the DNC, MoveOn, and rest of the ‘progressive’ community calling this out, pointing out that this sort of behavior is the core of the political right.

It is the same point that Sean Connery makes in The Untouchables.

I share his pessimism that, “this idea doesn’t seem to percolate through the skulls of people who think community organizing, or triangulation, or patronage is the peak of politics. So we drift on unarmed.”

Until we find people who understand the idea that all negotiations stem from perceived power, and Barack Obama is not one of these people, we will continue to have the “Adults in the room” held hostage by the terrorists.

8 September 2011, 6:56 PM

And the Daily Show Writers Rejoice

Yes, the wife of wrestling magnate Jim McMahon, Linda, following a failed campaign in which she dumped millions of her husbands dollars on a epically failed campaign for the Senate in 2010, has decided to run again for the Connecticut Senate seat:

Linda E. McMahon, the wrestling mogul who spent $50 million of her own money in an aggressive but failed Senate run in Connecticut last year, will announce in the coming week that she will try again, according to two Republicans who are close to her.

Ms. McMahon, the two Republicans said, will seek the party nomination next year for the seat being vacated by Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats and who announced that he would not run for re-election. They requested anonymity to avoid being seen as upstaging Ms. McMahon’s announcement.

Her candidacy has the potential to alter the calculations of other candidates and potential candidates, if only because she has demonstrated an ability to finance a statewide campaign with little difficulty.

In last year’s Senate race, Ms. McMahon built a formidable political organization in just months and then led a hard-charging campaign that transformed a political newcomer into a highly visible figure in the state.

In the end, however, Ms. McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, lost to Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country.

This time, Ms. McMahon plans to raise money from private donors instead of relying strictly on her own money, according to one Republican close to her. She decided to take this approach partly because of criticism last year that she was using her wealth to buy herself a seat in the Senate, the Republican said.

And because she understands the concept of throwing good money after bad, so she is looking for some useful idiots.

Still the comedic possibilities are endless.

5 September 2011, 7:42 PM

Labor Day News that Will Be Thoroughly Buried

Did you see the story on the news about thousands of nurses lobbying congressmen for a tax on financial transactions fund essential services and infrastructure:

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, an estimated 10,000 nurses and community participants joined actions in 21 states today demanding immediate attention to the economic crisis to heal America.

They called on Senators and Congress members in their local district offices to pledge to “support a Wall Street transaction tax that will raise sufficient revenue to make Wall Street pay for the devastation it has caused on Main Street.”

Did you hear about that on the news?

Neither did I.

(rest of press release after the break)

Events from soup kitchens to feeding the hungry, to community speak outs, to street theater took place from urban centers including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Orlando, to smaller towns, such as Corpus Christi, TX, Marquette, MI, and Dayton, OH. National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union of nurses with 170,000 members, sponsored the actions.

In Richmond, VA, 120 RNs and allies descended on the office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and were greeted by a squadron of police. The RNs responded with singing and a large picket line. Cantor’s office invited a delegation to meet with his chief of staff. Fifteen constituents lead by NNU nurses held the meeting.. Cantor’s staff heard moving testimony and said the congressman would “respond.” The local CBS and NBC stations filmed outside, as they were not allowed in. A “Lady Liberty” character greeted the delegation on Cantor’s office lawn as it exited the meeting, and heard stories of the pain caused on Main Street by Wall Street.

“America’s nurses every day see broad declines in health and living standards that are a direct result of patients and families struggling with lack of jobs, un-payable medical bills, hunger and homelessness. We know where to find the resources to bring them hope and real solutions,” said NNU Co-president Karen Higgins, RN, outside Cantor’s office.

Ringing a bell and shouting “Oye Oye,” a town crier dressed in colonial attire drew a crowd of nearly 200 nurses, activists and passersby as he decried the reckless actions of Wall Street and its impact on the working people of Boston’s Main Street in front of the office of Senator Scott Brown.

Watch a video of the Boston event at this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejgeLElHVkI and see a photo below.

In Pueblo, CO, a pledge delivered to Senator Udall asked “which side is the senator on: Wall Street or Main Street?”

One hundred people attempted to enter Senator Toomey’s office near Philadelphia but were blocked by security guards. At Rep. Peter King’s Long Island, New York office, 50 nurses and supporters entered his office to serve up the pledge but were kept out. See photo below.

Chicago’s nurses sang the blues as hundreds of nurses and others gathered in support of the pledge. See photo below.

The staff of Senator Rubio in Orlando, FL is accompanying nurses to feed local homeless. In downtown San Francisco a soup kitchen was assembled to feed the hungry and drew more than 500.

And outside the office of Rep. Darryl Issa, north of San Diego, a crowd of 300 nurses, including members of other unions and area residents, expressed outrage at allegations of self dealing by the congressman. An RN delegation entered his office and delivered the pledge. Outside, community members shared stories of enduring economic hardships. See picture below.

Nurses visited home offices of Republicans and Democrats throughout the day with a common message – American families are hurting, and they need jobs, healthcare, housing, quality education, nutrition, and a secure retirement.

In addition, the RNs are releasing data where available contrasting contributions the legislators have received from Wall Street with the plummeting economic conditions in their districts that has left substantial numbers of their constituents in crisis.

Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, a Wisconsin Republican, has accepted $2,417,672 in campaign contributions from Wall Street financial institutions the past 12 years, as a champion for Wall Street interests. But the payoff has been small for his district where 69,241 people are uninsured, 22,884 are dependent on food stamps, and 20,394 children and 7,939 seniors live in poverty.

Similarly, Sen. Michael Bennett of Colorado, a Democrat, has collected $2,409,806 in campaign contributions from Wall Street interests while his state languishes in the top 10 in foreclosures, has 184,689 children in poverty, 116,941 people dependent on food stamps, and 13,390 homeless.

NNU will also be calling for the establishment of Main Street commissions to push real solutions for Main Street communities, such as the Wall Street financial tax, in comparison to what NNU Executive Director RoseAnn DeMoro calls “the Wall Street ‘super committee’ set up in the recent debt ceiling deal whose main goal seems to be more cuts in programs that help people to funnel more resources to Wall Street and foreign banks and investors.”

A tax on Wall Street trading of stocks, derivatives, currencies, credit default swaps, and futures – which many other nations have now adopted – could raise hundreds of billions of dollars to pay for programs that “are desperately needed to reduce the pain and suffering felt by so many who feel abandoned across this nation,” says NNU Co-President Deborah Burger, RN.

“It’s time for Wall Street financiers, who created this crisis and continue to hold much of the nation’s wealth, to start contributing to rebuild this country, and for the American people to reclaim our future,” says DeMoro.

The $2.4 trillion in government bailouts to financial and other institutions already spent, noted DeMoro, alone would have funded 63 million jobs at the national median level of about $39,000 a year. “Instead we have over 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed, and in the past decade U.S. based corporations added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries while divesting in America, cutting 2.9 million jobs in the U.S.”

“We need to reallocate the money back to our communities, and our actions on September 1 are going to raise the demand to a new level to heal our nation,” said NNU Co-president Jean Ross.

Learn More About the Main Street Contract for America and Get Involved Here

Click here for information on the National Nurses United

1 September 2011, 7:05 PM

When a ‘Phant Calls Another ‘Phant a Stupid Classless Idiot…

You know that a big fat line has been crossed.

In this case, it’s Brian Miller, former head of the Pima County (Tucson) Arizona Republican Party, calling his successors classless dolts for raffling off a Glock handgun as a fund raiser.

The reason that he’s saying this is because this is Gabrielle Gifford’s district, and she was shot, wait for it, with a Glock:

Eyebrows shot up all over the country Thursday following news that that the Republican Party in Pima County, AZ — home to Tucson and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D) district — is raffling off a Glock similar to the one used to shoot Giffords in the head in January.

In Tucson, the condemnation of the plan was universal and bi-partisan.

“There’s a woman who has a bullet in the brain and who everybody is wishing a full recovery,” Brian Miller, the immediate past chair of the Pima County GOP told TPM. “I don’t think that raffling off a firearm right now is probably the right way to go.”

Miller says the people who took over the party — and booted him from his position after he criticized local law enforcement for shooting a Marine in a controversial raid on his home in May — are from the “my way or the highway” wing of the GOP who don’t pay much thought to the political fallout from their actions.

While he said that raffling off a firearm to raise money is something he did himself when he ran (and lost) in the 2010 Republican primary in Gifford’s district, it’s not something he’d do now.

But it’s the kind of thing the folks in charge of things at the Pima County GOP may become known for, and to the party’s detriment, he said.

“The people who are running the Pima County GOP right now aren’t exactly known for their ability to feel the political pulse,” he said. “Politically, it’s kind of a silly thing to do.”

Anyone who thinks that you can reason with rat f%$#s like this is delusional.

20 August 2011, 7:26 PM

We Are All The Simpsons

Cthulhu^* posted this, and I felt that it had to be shared:

With the plethora of archetypes in the animated series, I’m beginning to think that this might be some sort of modern Gilgamesh for our day.

^*No, not the unspeakably malevolent super-being, the contributor to the Stellar Parthenon BBS.^†
^†OK, I’ve never seen the two of them together, so Cthulhu might actually be the Cthulhu, but the mere fact that he is on a BBS, interacting with humans^‡ would seem to mitigate against this.
^‡Yes, I know, this is the internet, where no one knows if you are a dog.

17 August 2011, 6:59 PM

Kasich Blinks

With Democrats almost retaking the Senate in Wisconsin, and his union busting bill down significantly in the polls, Ohio wingnut Governor John Kasich is asking for Democratic Party and labor groups if he could negotiate to forestall the referendum:

Gov. John Kasich and fellow Republicans William Batchelder, Ohio House speaker from Medina, and Senate President Tom Niehaus of New Richmond, offered today to revise the controversial collective bargaining law, known as Senate Bill 5, if public unions will drop their campaign to repeal the bill on the November ballot.

We Are Ohio, the coalition of unions behind the repeal effort, has rejected earlier back-channel efforts by some Republicans to strike a deal, citing the GOP-controlled legislature’s unwillingness to compromise when the bill was written.

Following a press conference by Kasich, We Are Ohio issued the following statement rejecting a call for a compromise.

“We’re glad that Governor Kasich and the other politicians who passed SB 5 are finally admitting this is a flawed bill,” said Melissa Fazekas, spokeswoman for We Are Ohio. “Just like the bill was flawed, this approach to a compromise is flawed as well. Our message is clear. These same politicians who passed this law could repeal it and not thwart the will of the people. They should either repeal the entire bill or support our efforts and encourage a no vote on Issue 2.”

Good for them.

The only reason to call off the referendum that you are certain to win is if he backs down completely, which will not only weaken Kasich among the average voters, but will poison his relationships with Republicans in the state house, because he seriously twisted arms to get SB 5 passed in the first place.

It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

16 August 2011, 10:30 PM

Both Dems Hold Their Seats in Final Round of Wisconsin Recall

And we are beginning to hear a drum beat about how the Dems should drop their recall effort against Scott Walker.

F%$# that.

16 August 2011, 8:59 PM

This is a Whole New Level of Lame

After proposing the elimination of Medicare, and getting savaged at town hall meetings, Paul Ryan has found a solution, charging admission to his town hall meetings:

It will cost $15 to ask Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) a question in person during the August congressional recess.

The House Budget Committee chairman isn’t holding any face-to-face open-to-the-public town hall meetings during the recess, but like several of his colleagues he will speak only for residents willing to open their wallets.

Ryan, who took substantial criticism from his southeast Wisconsin constituents in April after he introduced the Republicans’ budget proposal, isn’t the only member of congress whose August recess town hall-style meetings are strictly pay-per-view.

Words can not express the lamitude of this.

13 August 2011, 8:22 PM

Obama has lost Ed Shultz??

Not what I expect from Ed

Ed Schultz uses the standard cop out that Obama is “Getting bad advice”, but he’s asking “Where’s Barry?”

He notes, accurately IMNSHO, that if Obama had been involved at any level, then at least three Senators would have been unseated, not just two.

John Nichols comes on toward the end, and notes that not only was Obama AWOL on Wisconsin, but he was a regular visitor until the entire conflict developed, and then he avoided the state.

Ed Schultz is an Obama fanboi, and it’s a huge part of his brand as a broadcaster, and even he feels compelled to say, “If only the Czar knew.”

Eddie, here’s a hint: the Czar knows, and this is what he wants.

Obama’s self image, and reelection strategy, is all about his PPUS (Post Partisan Unity Schtick), because he (probably wrongly) believes that the voters will perceive his cowardice as strength, and because he is fundamentally unwilling to take any risks, or take any hits, even to the smallest degree, to support his allies.

This, by the way, is why the Democrats will lose the Senate, and not take back the House, inn 2012. Barack Obama’s intention is to strip mine the base and the party apparatus, and to hell with the party.

9 August 2011, 10:59 PM

Wisconsin Recall Update

As it stands right now, 2 Republicans were recalled, and 3 survived the vote, and one race, the race between Alberta Darling (R) and Sandy Pasch (D), is too close to call.

I’m not going to be up late enough to call this, but considering the fact that part of the district is in Waukesha County, where Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus mysteriously found a few thousand votes for Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in April, I’m going to say that a surprisingly robust turnout from Waukesha County county will likely have ‘Phant winning.

Nicklaus is either incompetent or corrupt, but each time something comes up, the irregularities cut in favor or Republicans, so I’ll go with corrupt.

This means that the Republicans will maintain control of the Senate, which is a bummer.

Yes, recalls are hard, and the performance was historically good, these were Republican leaning districts, and the elections were close, but this is going to be spun as a Republican victory by the media and the conventional wisdom.

I will bet heavy odds that in the next few weeks, a senior administration official will be anonymously quoted excoriating the grass roots over wasting all that money and effort, just like they did over the Blanche Lincoln primary challenge.

In any case, I am turning off the teevee and going to bed.

(Morning update via mobile)
Confirmed. Only two pickups. Damn.

9 August 2011, 5:53 PM

A ‘Phant Disavows Norquist

If he is the only ‘Phant to repudiate his “no taxes of any kind” pledge to Grover Norquist, he’s toast, but if he is the first of a few, i.e. double digits, he becomes a a leader of some sort of wing of the Congressional Republicans

Still, it’s a gutsy move:

In answer to one question, the 1st District Republican congressman revealed he informed Grover Norquist and his anti-tax organization he no longer is committed to that organization’s pledge to oppose any form of tax increases.

“I did sign that pledge when I was first running” for the House in 2004, Fortenberry said. “I no longer sign any pledges.”

A pledge “restrains your ability to think creatively,” he said, noting Norquist attempts to interpret and define what is considered a tax increase.

“I informed the organization I don’t consider (the earlier pledge) binding,” Fortenberry said. “I don’t care to be associated with it. It’s too constraining.”

Fortenberry said he remains committed to reducing federal spending, but suggested an openness to tax reform.

“We have a broken tax code that is skewed to the wealthy and corporations (who) know how to move capital around,” he said.

Tax reform could close loopholes and perhaps lower tax rates, Fortenberry said, and the result might be more revenue.

Not only is he saying that taxes are on the table, but he’s talking about how fat cats game the system.

Note that this from a Republican, from Nebraska.

I don’t expect sanity to break out in the Republican party, but if this is the first step toward Grover Norquist becoming irrelevant, it’s a good step, assuming that he is not replaced by someone even more evil and crazy.^*

H/t Think Progress.

^*Considering the history of the Republican Party, which makes me yearn for the intellect, liberalism, and moral rectitude of Richard Nixon, I would say that the chance of him being replaced by someone more evil are pretty good

7 August 2011, 8:32 PM

What Bill Maher Says…

Get some spine and stop worrying about being seen as an angry black man:

6 August 2011, 9:28 PM

Pelosi Got Played

It appears that John Boehner convinced Nancy Pelosi that he could supply the required majority for the debt ceiling deal:

I also think, though, that passing something and getting it over with and moving on was necessary and compared to default it is preferable because default would really lose a lot of jobs. That is my way of saying, I don’t think this is the best path we could have taken. And especially I’m unhappy about the fact that this was developed with a premise that the Republicans would have the 218. Since they didn’t we should’ve had more influence.

I was in all the meetings, I’m not saying that isn’t the case. But if we had days, instead of backed up to hours, we could have said ‘you don’t have the votes, let’s go back in and how do we move this way in order to cut some of those cuts and have a better bill and get the votes.’ So I think we could’ve done better. I think they were successful at just prolonging it to the last minute so that we didn’t have that option and it was default or no default.

While I do think that Pelosi is the best of the Democratic leaders in Washington, it’s clear that she got played.

It was clear from early in this debate that there would have to be a significant number of Democratic votes for this to pass. The Teabaggers were saying that they would vote against this under any circumstances, and Eric Cantor doing his level best to sabotage Boehner, because he wants to displace him as speaker. (Not gonna happen. Republicans will never vote to put a Jew 3^rd in line to the presidency)

Not one of her finer moments.

3 August 2011, 7:19 PM

F%$# You Barry

As you may or not be aware, the Obama administration has regular meetings with liberal groups, it’s called “Common Purpose”, but it’s better known as the “Veal Pen”.

It’s basically used to ensure that they don’t do anything of value, ever, because the Obama staffers are control freaks, and because they are too busy pandering to reactionaries.

Well, things got a bit stroppy at the last veal pen, and so a senior administration official blamed liberals for Obama’s craven surrender:

Yesterday, Sperling faced a series of questions about the White House’s concessions on the debt ceiling fight and its inability to move in the direction of new taxes or revenues. Progressive consultant Mike Lux, the sources said, summed up the liberal concern, producing what a participant described as an “extremely defensive” response from Sperling.

Sperling, a person involved said, pointed his finger at liberal groups, which he said hadn’t done enough to highlight what he saw as the positive side of the debt package — a message that didn’t go over well with participants.

There is always the excuse that it’s just one person it’s not representative of the administration attitudes, but you hear this sort of crap over, and over, and over again from members of the administration, including one Barack Hussein Obama.

Basically, it’s always liberals fault, and they hate those uncouth hippies, and they know that if they punch them hard enough, that everything till turn out well.

H/t Americablog.

2 August 2011, 9:08 PM

And the Debt Deal Keeps On Giving

There are now serious concerns that Obama’s debt capitulation, which is rather similar to much of the Republican agenda passed in Wisconsin in the last two months, is likely to demoralize potential voters and volunteers.

It’s bad enough that the Republicans are once again corruptly trying to misinform voters and suppress voting, but now the we’ve got Obama’s cave to further discourage the Democratic party grass roots.

He’s the Manchurian Democrat. Cuel Tom Tomorrow:

2 August 2011, 7:29 PM

Deep Thought

H/t Glenn Greenwald

31 July 2011, 9:29 PM

It Looks Like There is a Debt Limit Deal

And it looks like it sucks.

I’m still digesting it, but it appears mandate cuts, and not taxes, and it gives the Republicans to pivot away from their disastrous vote to kill Medicare, and accuse Democrats of doing the same.

I guess that’s what serves as bipartisanship in Obama’s mind.

About the only bright spot is the possibility that House Democrats may desert this bill en mass, which has the possibility of changing the dynamic in a positive way.

29 July 2011, 5:00 PM

When Joke Line Calls Out Republicans, They Have Jumped the Shark.

This is one big shark that they jumped.
One With Frikken Lasers!

In fact, this is an indication that they are jumping C. Megalodon.^*

Because Time Magazine‘s Joe Kline, the man who has made a career of hating on liberals and sucking up to Republicans, to the degree that he wrote a bio of Woody Guthrie that treated his politics (“This machine (his guitar) kills fascists”) as a sort of an idiot-savant phenomenon, has finally been forced to find the current behavior of Republicans to be beyond the pals:

And so, here we are. Our nation’s economy and international reputation as the world’s presiding grownup has already been badly damaged. It is a self-inflicted wound of monumental stupidity. I am usually willing to acknowledge that Democrats can be as silly, and hidebound, as Republicans–but not this time. There is zero equivalence here. The vast majority of Democrats have been more than reasonable, more than willing to accept cuts in some of their most valued programs. Given the chance, there was the likelihood that they would have surrendered their most powerful weapon in next year’s election–a Mediscare campaign–by agreeing to some necessary long-term reforms in that program. The President, remarkably, proposed raising the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67.

(emphasis mine)

Joe Klein has made a career out of saying that both sides are wrong, and when you’ve lost him, it says that you not only crossed a line, but you crossed that line a very long time ago.

^*The largest shark, and likely largest predator fish ever. It died out some 1.5 million years ago. The Genus is still in dispute, between either Carcharodon (Great White) or Carcharocles (broad toothed Mako). But in either case, you are jumping C. Megalodon, you have jumped the biggest shark ever.