I enjoyed learning the Colbert-Busch won the so-called debate in South Carolina, seething hotbed of unbridled lust®, and I enjoyed learning that she called Mark “Kiss Me South of the Border” Sanford out on his Appalachian Trail, and that basically she doesn’t take crap from anyone. All good things.
On the sad side, she’s another Bluedog Dim. Maybe it is what it takes in SC, but it left a bone in my throat. Still, I’d rather see Sanford permanently retired, so it still counts as a win.
Only six Democratic holdouts [for Marriage Equality] remain in the Senate: Mark Pryor (AK), Tim Johnson (SD), Joe Manchin (W.VA), Mary Landrieu (LA), Heidi Heitkamp (ND) and Joe Donnelly (IN).
I think we have found the Dogs that are Blue. Anyway, FL Sen. Ben Nelson is not walking on the side of the angels, having endorsed Marriage Equality.
Remember the other day when famous pirate enthusiast and Captain Morgan spokesperson Peggy Noonan went on a bender and declared that if Republicans just acted like Dim-o-Crats that they would both save the party and win elections? Well, it seems that former representative Joe Sestak (D-PA) got the subject and the object confused and calls for The Kenyan Usurper to appoint Famous Texan Wing Ding Kay Bailey Hutchison to be the new Transportation Secretary:
It seems that Sestak thinks that the only way to get the bridges, roads and other crumbling infrastructure fixed is to sell it to private companies (“like Chicago did”). So I guess if you want to dismantle the public commons, Hutchison is your man. Er, person.
Oh, for those of you more detail oriented than I on a Sunday morning, here is Hutchison’s voting record. See if you can tease out her position on infrastructure (other than bringing pork to Texas), because I sure couldn’t.
“The stench of hypocrisy that hangs over this city today emanates from this room,” [Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) ] said. “I’ve listened to my colleagues talk about the President of the United States and others in the administration using [the] terms ‘deliberate’, ‘lies’, ‘unmitigated gall’, ‘malfeasance,’ which is malicious and knowing evil-doing, ‘disgust’, ‘coverups’.”
He continued, “If you want to know who is responsible in this town, buy yourself a mirror!”
Ackerman went on to say that Republicans had “the audacity to come here” when the administration requested, for worldwide security, “$440 million more than you guys wanted to provide. And the answer is that you damn didn’t provide it! You REDUCED what the administration asked for to protect these people. Ask not who the guilty party is, it’s you! It is us. It is this committee, and the things that we insist that we need have to cost money.”
He added, “Could you tell me which of my colleagues on this committee was as bodacious in their insistence that we provide more money for American security in the State Department budget. I would appreciate it.”
Ackerman then asked them to raise their hands and gave them a count of five to do so. None did.
There’s more at First Read. You too can get a Tweety-like thrill up your leg reading it.
Hey guys, remember the other night when Governor Deval Patrick told the Dims to grow a spine? Hahaha, trick question!
Anyway, as usual, the GOP (Lucy) set them up and the Dims (Charlie Brown) fell for it again, when they started weeping how the godless communists had left out God from the platform. (You know who else the Dims left out? Saint Ronnie!). The eagle-eyed Eagle Forumners then spotted something much worse: Jerusalem wasn’t in the platform! More proof that Bamz hates the Jews!
Anyway, against all reason as the convention was going really well, the Dims caved and tried to shove God and Jerusalem into the platform, just as Jeebus and Prience Reibus wanted:
Aside from the silliness of it all, declaring Jerusalem should be the capitol of Israel flies in the face of long-standing US policy to let them work that out on their own as they try for a two-state peace dealio.
“After passage, boos were heard in the convention hall — prompting RNC spokesman Tim Miller to tweet: “Widespread boos for Jerusalem and God in the convention hall.”" — (Politico)
“Michael Dukakis fanatics at this year’s Democratic National Convention should start getting psyched: The 1988 Democratic presidential nominee is coming to town Tuesday.”
Oh, boy. But on the other hand, the GOP could just replay the Southern-strategy, race-baiting Willy Horton ads today. Oh, wait.
(The Daily Caller, the vanity press thingy of Hungry Man TeeVee Dinners heir and bow-tie maven Tucker Carlson)
This is exactly the sort of ads that Dims should be running: no charts, no freaking numbers. This ad tells a story and it uses multiple senses. This is an ad you will remember.
One of the best things about it is the eerie silence while Willard sings off key. That they change the audio slightly so that he is singing over the PA in an empty parking lot, over a speaker phone in an empty conference room, and so on, is brilliant. It feels like he just fired them all and is singing at all the empty properties and shuttered factories. Willard’s America the Beautiful is empty, unemployed, and desolate.
The tagline is clean and simple: Romney is not the solution, he is the problem is memorable.
This is the muscular sort of ad that the Dims need to keep pounding Willard with. The Wingnuts do these sorts of ads better than we do, but this one is absolutely spot-on. It is the ad we will remember when this is all over.
[We have] “put our considerable grassroots resources behind [Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barret, Scott Walker's opponent in the WI recall] – all of the Obama For America and state party resources. Our grassroots network is fully engaged. As a result, Barrett has a real opportunity to win.”
–Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
Translation: We gave him a mailing list, a cheese sandwich, and a map.
For anybody that knows me, and that really knows my career, I’ve been an Independent Democrat for a long time, standing up on issues. And actually have been comfortable to say I disagree with the president…
–Cory Booker
Oh, for f***’s sake, Cory! You know who else is an Independent Democrat? Traitor Joe. Get off the national stage, you stupid, bleating, twatwaffle, your 15 minutes are up. Yeah, hitch your wagon to Lieberman’s star… Jeebus.
UPDATE 1: Eat a sack of lightly salted, poisoned rat dicks.
Growing up, I’d get pretty excited about NASCAR races. And I still love them. That’s why I want to be the one to tell you that the folks planning the 2012 Democratic National Convention have figured out a way for you to show your support — on a NASCAR stock car.
The convention’s host committee is going to debut an official “Powered by the American People” car. And they want to put your name on it.
When you become a sponsor by donating just $5 or more, your name will appear on the car.
For me, this is a no-brainer. All you have to do is tell them how to spell your name, and you’re off.
Sponsor the “Powered by the American People” stock car.
Grassroots support is the only way this convention is going to be a success. The 2012 convention will be funded by supporters like you, not special interests, lobbyists or political action committees — and that’s why we’re not putting any corporate logos on the car. Just the names of folks like you who step up to make this happen.
The convention is going to kick off with a free Labor Day celebration at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where everyone who comes out will see the official stock car.
“Public office is a place for public service, not personal profit. It’s about promoting the common good, not the agenda of the radical right or the radical left. It’s about fairness for all, not privileges for the few. And, it’s about protecting the rights of individuals, even if it angers the majority. I hope and believe I have fulfilled these principles to the best of my ability.”
To which I can only reply, “Thanks for the finger-f***, Superman.”
If there’s one lesson everyone in President Carebear’s administration should have learned by now it is that trying to appease the nut jobbers, obstructionists, and Xristian Xrazies never works.
Anyway, on to today’s exhibit A for Appeasement: Kathleen Sebelius has just single-handedly restricted the morning-after pill Plan B One-Step from being sold over-the-counter. The FDA, after years of study wanted to make it available over the counter to anyone who needed it.
So in what world does it make sense to require a doctor’s prescription to receive emergency contraception? For it to be effective it must be taken as soon as possible after sex. Per the article, “Women who have unprotected intercourse have about 1 chance in 20 of becoming pregnant. Those who take Plan B within three days cut that risk to about 1 in 40.”
Plan B works by preventing ovulation, and it may also make the lining of the uterus less hospitable to a fertilized egg, and that is why the Xristian Xrazies are so opposed: their nutty belief that life begins at conception.
Sebelius overrode the FDA decision, which once again ensures that reproductive rights will remain a hotbed issue. And oh, the Xristian Xrazies will still not vote for Obama. This is one of the all-time, boneheaded mistakes made by a GOP-lite administration. You just f***ed up the brand, Obama. Good going.
Remember, the amendment is the thing that would remove the ability of the government to hold us in indefinite detention, so voting for the amendment is a good thing; voting against the amendment is voting against the Constitution and Bill of Rights, essentially.
“We have gone as far as we feel we can go,” Hensarling said. “We put $250 billion of what is known as static revenue on the table, but only if we can bring down rates. We believe we can bring the top individual rate down to 28, 29, maybe at most 30 percent, bring the corporate rate down to the median of the EU, 25 percent. And on balance, we think that would be pro growth. But, listen, any penny of increased static revenue is a step in the wrong direction.”–Super Committee co-chair Jeb Hensraling
I know. I’m shocked. Imagine that, Wingnuttia is not now, nor have they ever been negotiating in good faith.
So what remains to be seen is if 1) the Dims will continue to negotiate against themeselves (seems likely), or 2) if our notoriously hands-off President will insert himself into the process (seems unlikely, but you never know) or 3) if Obama will veto whatever hot mess this supercommittee is going to propose.
I’m told that the charm of Kabuki theater is that everyone already knows the stories, they just like to see them acted out.
This morning, in the wake of news that the White House is offering major entitlements cuts in exchange for $1 trillion in revenues from Republicans, the Congressional Progressive Caucus again laid down their marker, shooting off a letter to the White House saying they can’t support such a bargain. It reads:
First, any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be taken off the table. The individuals depending on these three programs deserve well-conceived improvements, not deep, ideologically driven cuts with harmful consequences. These cuts would hurt households and damage the country’s economic recovery as well.
Second, revenue increases must be a meaningful part of any agreement. Tax breaks benefiting the very richest Americans should be eliminated as part of this deal. Republican insistence on protecting these tax breaks will force middle-class families to shoulder the burden of even deeper budget cuts, and this is unacceptable.
Do House Dems have any prayer of exerting leverage over the talks in service of realizing even a smidgen of what they want?
… But if Pelosi holds firm — and persuades Obama and John Boehner that enough House Dems agree with her to make passage difficult — it’s not inconceivable that she can help bring about a deal that isn’t quite as terrible as the one we’re all expecting.
So… Nancy Pelosi is going to save us? Admittedly I have more faith in her (Chimpy’s impeachment and war crimes not withstanding) than with any of the other dim bulbs in that room.
Without much fanfare, a Dim won an election in a GOPer district, and her winning strategy was to run against abacus-wielding Paul Ryan’s plan to put the olds out on the ice floe to die.
Kathy Kathy Hocul’s victory seems to have also given the Dims some spine. As recent as yesterday morning, they were conceding ground on Medicare during the deficit negotiations with the GOP hostage takers:
At his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters Tuesday, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) confirmed what aides in both parties have been telling reporters: Cuts to Medicare will be on the table in deficit and debt limit negotiations, led by Vice President Joe Biden.
And now the Dims have found their voice:
“The election last night showed that Democrats have the keys to drive the budget debate and play offense in 2012,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “The implications of this election extend to Senate races in battleground states and red states across the country. The results provide clear evidence that Democratic senators and senate candidates will be able to play offense across the country by remaining focused on the Republican effort to end Medicare and force seniors to pay thousands more for health care costs.”
In an interview with the Current today, Ramos blamed homosexuals in the party for both undermining his authority and for the poor election results in Bexar County in 2010. “They are all connected to the gay Democratic Party, the so-called Stonewall Democrats. Just like termites they managed to get some of their people in key positions,” he said. [...]
Ramos said he opposes homosexuality on religious grounds and doesn’t believe gay-friendly Democrats like Stonewall reflect the values of Bexar County voters. “I liken them to the Tea Party — the Tea Party and the fucking Nazi Party — because they’re 90 percent white, blue-eyed, and Anglo, and I don’t give a fuck who knows that. Just like the blacks … they’re American, but you can’t get your way just because you’re black.”
… This morning, Ramos held a press conference where he refused to apologize for his comments. “I believe I’m dealing with the truth, sometimes the truth hurts. So be it,” he said.
Wait a minute… termites get their people in key positions? Anyway, Dude should resign. I don’t care if he is a Dim or a GOPer, that’s so far over the line…
Yeah, you do that President Carebear. We’ll just add that to your long list of broken promises and outright lies, you douchebag. I wouldn’t trust you to give me two nickles for a dime.
The WaPo tells us that Nancy Pelosi is seeking advice from Steven Spielberg on how to rebrand the Dims:
Lawmakers say she is consulting marketing experts about building a stronger brand. The most prominent of her new whisperers is Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director whose films have been works of branding genius. Lawmakers said Spielberg has not reported to Pelosi with a recommendation.
President Carebear, that mythical Hopey-Changey man has now fully endorsed trickle-down economics and GOP policies.
As many others have noted, he does not have the courage of his convictions, or the spine, to put up a fight. Personally, I think it is much more likely that as a Rockefeller Republican, he is OK with the policy generally.
What little progress we’ve made in the past two years should be credited to Nancy Pelosi who did the real work getting bills through The House where they then went to die in the tender embrace of Harry Reid. The President, of course, was playing 7-Dimensional Chess and could not be bothered to help.
So how did we reward Nancy for carrying so much water for Harry and The Bear? We overwhelming elected the GOP, removed her from being the Speaker of the House, and in her place we installed a known drunk, a mental midget, and absolutely corrupt politician noted for handing out cheques from Big Tobacco on the Floor of the House, the perpetually tanned John Boehner, AKA, Weepy.
It’s really hard for me to work up too much of a sweat overall. The Millionaires and their ilk already were paying almost no taxes, so this Neville Chamberlain appeasement on taxes means little in reality, truth be told. But symbolically it means the world.
…how can anyone take a deficit-reduction proposal seriously when the main order of business in Congress is to make sure we widen the deficit by keeping all of the Bush tax cuts?
So brace for it, Scissorheads, you know that the Dims are going to cave. The real question is, What will they get for caving?
(Hint: nothing)
UPDATE 1:
“I mean, if we can’t win that argument we might as well just fold up,” he said. “These people are saying we are going to insist on tax cuts for the richest people in the country and we don’t care if they are paid for, and we don’t think it is a problem if it contributes to the deficit, but we are not going to vote to extend unemployment benefits to working people if they aren’t paid for because they contribute to the deficit. I mean, what is wrong with that? How can it be more clear?”
The day is nearly here when Rahm Emanuel, proud graduate of Carebear U with a doctorate in Civility, returns to Chicago to be crowned the Four-Fingered Regent!
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will announce his resignation Friday, according to sources familiar with the decision. President Obama will make a personnel announcement from the East Room at 11:05 a.m. Friday, said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.
We are anxiously awaiting Rahm’s farewell speech, Urban Dictionary in hand. We have high hopes that he will do his traditional shout-out to little Algorithm Palin and get Mooselini’s panties in a bunch. Maybe he’ll even send her an eraser, the Chicago symbol of Hopey-Changiness.
We’re sure that the White House will find some other DLCer to keep Rahm’s seat warm. Contenders, we are told, include insiders and outsiders. Amusingly, outsiders includes Tom Daschle, who as Matt Taibbi once said, would suck off a corpse for a cheeseburger. There’s lot’s a cheeseburgers in DC, Tom, lots.
I’m in the Will Rogers wing about the Dims, they are too unorganized to be a political party. That said, the farther left you look, the more unorganized it becomes. This is one of the reasons that the blaming of the Left for the so-called enthusiasm gap falls flat with me.
There is no monolithic Left, we don’t have talking points, there is no morning phone call to get the ducks in a row. And I think it is safe to say with this White House, there is no communication plan, there is no strategy. The White House guys have no message, you are failing in communicating just about anything. I bet you couldn’t even make a coherent lunch order to Round Table.
Back to topic: so the blaming of the Left, is it trying to shift the focus from the abandonment and the many failures of your campaign promises, President Carebear? Maybe. But the larger point I think is this:
Instead of blaming the Professional Left for the enthusiasm gap, do something to bridge the gap. Explain to us why we should be enthusiastic.
It’s true that considering the GOP alternative is grim, but that’s not motivation to support you, President Carebear, that motivation to not support them. And there is a difference, and you of all people should understand that. This does not mean we are going to support the GOP, so quit raising that strawman. It’s stupid and beneath you — but it is as close to a communication plan as you have.
No one is asking for you to weep, or rend your clothing or do something emotional, we are asking you to lead.
For instance, President Carebear, instead of telling your Justice Department to continue pressing the DADT lawsuit, take a stand yourself. You have the power with a stroke of your pen to issue an executive order to end DADT, and you could. There’s issue after issue you could actually push, but you have not, and that’s what the enthusiasm gap is about. We are as enthusiastic about you as you are about us.
Throw us a bone, you’d be surprised at how much good that would do.
Hahaha! Well, as much as I like Chatty Cathy Joe Biden as a person (but thought he was a terrible Senator — hello Bankruptcy bill), I gotta admit that Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign has the best smack-down for Biden’s ham-fisted command that the Left should just stop whining:
Speaking before about 200 Democratic activists and donors at a private fundraiser for Rep. Paul Hodes at Stoneyfield Farm in Manchester, N.H., Monday afternoon, Biden urged Democrats to “stop whining.”
Democrats need to “remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives,” he said. “This president has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises.”
“Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative,” Biden quoted former Boston mayor Kevin White as having said.
To which Green responds:
The ‘professional left’ is busting our butt to mobilize progressive voters in 2010, picking up the ball that this White House dropped when they refused to fight for the overwhelmingly popular public option, refused to break up the big banks, and demobilized Obama voters who expected this president to at least fight for big change,” Progressive Change Campaign Committee cofounder Adam Green said in statement. “When Vice President Biden tells Joe Lieberman to ’stop whining’ about the public option, and tells Ben Nelson to ’stop whining’ about voting on a middle-class tax cut that benefits 98 percent of Americans, he’ll have some credibility on the whining front.”
“You’re welcome, Joe Biden, for helping to get the more electable Democrat who actually excites voters to be the Democratic nominee — instead of a lame corporate stooge. How’s Blanche Lincoln working out?” Green said.
Remember yesterday when we suggested that the Dims get some Balls (beer) and not go running away from voting on extending middle class tax cuts, but they ran away anyway because they were afraid of being attacked for raising taxes? Me neither!
Anyway, as sure as the sun rose in the east today, the GOP is already saying that the Dims just raised taxes. No tax cuts for anyone means tax increases for everyone. Nice work, Dims.
Some fireworks at the end of an otherwise uneventful conference call with White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod, when blogger Susie Madrak took the White House to task for their continued swipes at the “professional left.”
Madrak asked, “I’m a blogger, and I don’t know if you know this term, but are you familiar with the term hippie-punching?”
There was about a 15-second pause. “Go ahead,” said Axelrod.
She continued. “Liberals and bloggers feel like we’re the girl you take under the bleachers but won’t be seen with in the light of day.” She mentioned a series of incidents where the White House distances themselves from their base, and wondered how that helps Democrats regain enthusiasm from those same people. “We’re not big numbers, but we raise money and we encourage people to vote and get involved. You have to help us help you,” she concluded.
…and it continues:
Axelrod tried to make it sound like Madrak was saying she wanted help (I don’t really know what he was intimating here), but Madrak said, “No, I said help us help you. Don’t make our jobs so much harder with these comments.”
“I’d say right back atcha,” replied Axelrod, growing a bit tense. “Whatever differences we have pale in comparison to the differences to the folks out there today masquerading as representatives of the American people.”
“I hear you, I hope you hear me,” he wrapped up.
At this point, I really think that the Obama game plan is to lose the house at midterms. They just want to get that Clinton-under-fire-groove on, have an excuse to cave to the Wingnuts, and use it as the argument to return him to the White House in 2012. I think we are going to see Triangulation perfected in the next two years.
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