Sore Losers Much?

Republicans never passed up an opportunity to grandstand before: waving purple fingers after the 2005 Iraqi elections and renaming French fries “Freedom Fries” in the House cafeteria come to mind. Oh, and then there was that whole "flying in to rescue Terri Schiavo" thing.

But honoring the military that took out Osama bin Laden is apparently a bridge too far:

House Republicans say they have no plans to follow the Senate in passing a resolution honoring the military mission that killed Osama bin Laden.

The decision by GOP leaders follows new rules they enacted in January scrapping the tradition of congratulatory measures, which they complained clogged up the House floor.

Oh that’s just so convenient, isn’t it? Can you imagine if President Bush (or, God forbid, a President McCain) had got bin Laden? There’d be parades down Pennsylvania Avenue, resolutions and Medals of Honor, “Mission Accomplished” banners, you name it -- "new rules" be damned.

Well, suck on it, assholes.

Here’s a photo that’s been going around the internet the past few days, which just cracked me up. I think it aptly depicts why Republicans are so pissed off:

The Politics Of Fad Diets

The GOP’s “tax and spend liberal” label notwithstanding, President Obama is apparently America’s biggest tax cutter in 60 years:

According to the Tax Policy Center, Federal taxes are lower than at any time since 1955. Obama has now reduced taxes by more than any president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.

According to the Orange County Register, “For the past two years, a family of four earning the median income has paid less in federal income taxes than at any time since at least 1955, according to the Tax Policy Center. All federal, state and local taxes combined are a lower percentage of per-capita income than at any time since the 1960s, according to the Tax Foundation. The highest income-tax bracket is its lowest since 1992. At 35 percent, it’s well below the 50 percent mark of much of the 1980s and the 70 percent bracket of the 1970s.”

So where are all the fucking jobs and economic growth that’s supposed to shower down upon us like manna from heaven? And how come no one ever challenges the righties on their steadfast belief in tax cuts as economic stimulus? Every time a Bob Schaeffer or Tweety or George Stuffinenvelopes interviews a GOPer about this, we get the same old line about tax cuts stimulating the economy and no one ever says, “well, it hasn’t yet!” I just don’t get it. It’s become almost ingrained in the national psyche that right wing voodoo economics works, when in fact it’s a fairy tale.

You want to know why a big swath of America votes against its own self-interest? It’s something every snake oil salesman, self-help guru and fad diet author knows: tell people what they want to hear and they’ll buy it every damn time. It doesn’t even have to work, as long as the people really, really want it to work. People want to think "the secret" to winning the lottery is to repeat some prosperity affirmation over and over. People want to think they can lose weight eating bacon and eggs and eschewing the toast and fruit. And people want to think the key to kickstarting the economy is to not pay taxes or invest in the country at all, but instead take all the goodies and let some invisible, magical force make everything alright, somehow.

This is also why right-wing Christianity is so compelling: people want to believe that Jesus preached self-reliance and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, they want to justify ignoring the human and environmental toll our standard of living exacts. We don't want to change, because we're human beings and we're more afraid of change than anything else.

Doug J has more ....

.... as does Andrew Sullivan:

The much bigger problem with the GOP plan is its view of taxes. Even though we have historically low income tax rates for high-earning individuals, even though revenues have collapsed in the recession, even though we have empirically discovered that big tax cuts have not generated more economic growth, the GOP still insists on reforming taxes not to raise revenue but to reduce it. This is where the whole thing gets surreal. The very Laffer untruth that sank America into debt in the early 1990s s one still being peddled against all the relevant evidence to guide us through the next few decades. In my view, if we maintain that ideological fantasy, the US will become a banana republic in short order.

Yes, dear. Thanks for noticing. This is why we call them “Banana Republicans.” Again: the GOP is no longer the “Daddy Party.” They’re the “tell the chumps whatever they want to hear” Party. Weave some feel-good fantasy to keep the kids happy so they can go off drinking with their buddies and gambling at the Wall Street casino.

It's not surreal, sweetie. It's pathological.

It’s That Voodoo Republican Math

First Wisconsin state officials claimed marble damaged by the painters tape that protestors used would cost $7.5 million to repair:

Cari Anne Renlund, chief legal counsel for the state Department of Administration, said in Dane County court that estimates of damage to marble includes $6 million to repair damaged marble inside the Capitol, $1 million for damage outside and $500,000 for costs to supervise the damage.

Turns out, not so much:

Madison - Officials charged with overseeing the state Capitol Friday backpedaled sharply from their estimate - delivered in a high-profile court case only the day before - that demonstrators did more than $7 million in damage to the building and grounds during the tumultuous yet peaceful protests that erupted Feb. 15.

Touring the building on Friday morning with state architect Dan Stephans, who oversaw the Capitol's restoration that concluded in 2001, Jeff Plale said he had not immediately observed any damage from demonstrations over Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill. Plale is a former Democratic state senator and now the state facilities administrator.

Hey Cari Anne! What’s your game, girl? Can anybody play? Why yes they can!

Two local news organizations sued Gov. Scott Walker Friday for alleged failure to respond to their requests for e-mails that the governor claimed were overwhelmingly in favor of his controversial budget repair bill.

[...]

Isthmus and the AP did not receive a response to their records requests, the lawsuit states.

But Richmond received an e-mail response late Friday, which was dated Feb. 25, from Nate Ristow, associate legal counsel for the governor, in which Ristow detailed the cost of printing out the e-mails of more than $31,250, to be paid in advance. Ristow also invited Richmond to review the records at Walker's office for no charge.

In his records request, Lueders had asked that the e-mails be put on a disk instead of being printed on paper.

Wow: $31,250 to print out e-mails? I’m calling bullshit. It seems the latest conservative tactic in the propaganda war is to pull a wildly inflated number out of someone’s ass and attach it to whatever it is someone wants. Then watch as everyone starts screaming about my money! Seriously, some of the comments on these stories are hilarious. Are liberals the only ones who have developed a healthy skepticism over the years? Are we the only ones with highly developed bullshit meters?

Alternately, this can explain a lot about Republicans’ repeated failure to balance a budget. Perhaps the poor dears simply can’t do math. Remember how the Iraq War was only supposed to cost $50-$60 billion? Remember Paul Wolfowitz saying the war would pay for itself? Yeah that was a good one.

So you know, we're left with the eternal question: stupid or lying? Which is it, Republicans?

(h/t, DailyKos)

Republican Woman

Okay, this is currently going viral, and it's well done so I thought I'd share it. But for the record, I'm not entirely comfortable with the message. Being a proud liberal woman let me remind everyone: the problem with these candidates is not their gender, but the fact that they are barking mad and not anything close to being fit for office. And there are plenty of Republican men who can join them in the nuthouse as far as I'm concerned.

Still, it's a riff on a classic song from 1970, so I'm not gonna get my thong in a twist about it. No harm, no foul. Enjoy:

The Lowden Plan

Poor Sue Lowden! She really stepped her foot in it.

Now we have a handy-dandy Medical Chicken Calculator. Find out just how many chickens that heart bypass surgery will cost!

Yeesh.

Party Of No Progress

Dear What’s Left of the Republican Party:

What century are you people living in? Bring a chicken to the doctor? Meet Nevada Republican Sue Lowden, running for Harry Reid’s seat:

Interviewer: Most people walk into a doctor’s office and the first thing they ask you for is your insurance card.

Sue Lowden: Yes they do.

Interviewer: When you make an appointment ...

SL: And as soon as you say you don’t have one, "can I speak to the doctor. Can I speak to someone in charge."

Interviewer: ...they want that insurance card before you get past go.

SL: Yes of course they are used to doing that, but let’s change the system and talk about what the possibilities are. I’m telling you that this works. You know, before we all started having health care, in the olden days our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor, they would say I’ll paint your house. I mean, that’s the old days of what people would do to get health care with your doctors. Doctors are very sympathetic people. I’m not backing down from that system.

Watch it here:



Lowden is just begging to be made fun of by the DSCC.

But I’m going to be fair to Sue Lowden and say she’s not actually telling people to bring a chicken to the doctor. She’s talking about “the old days” of what people did, and she’s trying to be all self-empowerment and “change the system” and “yes we can in a compassionate conservative way” and the reason it’s a huge fail is she doesn’t seem to know what people are already doing to get healthcare. They are filing for bankruptcy. They are cashing in their IRAs and 401(k) funds. They are filing lawsuits. They are raiding their kids’ college funds.

And of course the tried-and-true community fundraiser. The benefit concert. Or, for those not fortunate to have friends who are musicians, the pickle jar by the convenience store cash register. Such things are rare in countries not America; here, they have become so ubiquitous no one bothered to mention this staple of American life during the recent healthcare debate.

Change the system? Yeah I think we just did tried that. Your side didn't want to play along. Now instead of no ideas, we find out your grand idea is to take the country back to the Great Depression? WTF? How do you "negotiate" on an $80,000 bill? A $150,000 one? How much is that in chickens? In house painting? For crying out loud, lady, have you looked at a hospital bill lately?

[Post updated to reflect what several commenters pointed out which is that no, we did not change the system, though many of us wanted to.]

For more insight on this story see Athenae and Atrios.

What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

An Arizona fireworks bill would legalize consumer-grade fireworks, which can be as powerful as commercial fireworks. The best part is the reason from the bill’s sponsor:

During a recent legislative session, Biggs said, "it is time to get rid of the 'nanny state' and allow consumer fireworks, as defined in federal code.

Here’s where I make a tasteless joke about a Roman candle blowing away the free hand of the market.

Republicans are very, very silly people and they don’t give a crap about you or your children.

What A Difference Some Money Makes

[UPDATE 2]:

And they've caved: Gov. Mark Sanford of S.C. now says he will take some StimBill money after all.

-----------------------------------

[UPDATE]:

Well, at least one Tennessee Republican wants Gov. Bredesen to refuse StimBill funds. Of course, this strikes me as an empty gesture, since there's no way in hell our Democratic governor will do any such thing. Still, the political theater is amusing:

House Democrats held a press conference today to spank Rep. Brian Kelsey for sponsoring a resolution calling on the governor to reject the federal stimulus largesse. In the House this morning, Kelsey asked for co-sponsors. His evil twin, Rep. Stacey Campfield, rushed over to sign the resolution, but everyone else stared at Kelsey like he just touched down in a flying saucer.

House Democratic leader Gary Odom said the governor should accommodate Kelsey by denying stimulus cash to Kelsey's ritzy Germantown district. "We're going to communicate that to our governor," Odom said, struggling to keep a straight face. "We have many areas of this state, rural and urban, that are facing very difficult times. We certainly should not spend any money in any legislator's district when that legislator stands up and says they don't need it."

[...]

A reporter mentioned that even Rep. Beth Harwell, a moderate Republican from Green Hills, raised questions yesterday about whether the state should accept all the stimulus money. That sparked a lot of Democratic outrage about rich people and gated communities and Starbucks shops.

Hey, Beth Harwell: I live in Green Hills and I have a steaming cup of STFU with your name on it. I know of at least one "shovel ready" sidewalk construction project that got axed for lack of funds.

-----------------------------------

This is cute. A whole host of Republicans who campaigned against the stimulus package are now extolling its virtues as they plan to spend their share of the windfall.

That was entirely predictable. I guess the GOP saw opposing the economic stimulus as a win-win. They got to pretend to be all fiscally concerned, and now they get to reap the benefits of the package--benefits they denied existed when they were making their impassioned floor speeches against the bill in the first place. The only thing that's bizarre is that the Democrats didn't see this one coming.

I’m not saying these states shouldn’t get any share of the money but good lord, it’s pretty bizarre to hear folks like Kit Bond talking about all the jobs and housing the bill will create when last week they were calling it the worst boondoggle in the history of the Republic.

This must be a huge disappointment to the rank-and-file, like this fella who Tweeted:

With Sarah, Govs. Jindal, Sanford, etc., the next step should be a co-ordinated state-led refusenik action against HR1

Ha! Good luck with that. “Sarah” is looking at a $1.5 billion budget shortfall in Alaska, or haven’t you heard? Seems “Jindal, Sanford, etc.”--those Republican governors who said they’d say “thanks but no thanks” to the stimulus money--are by and large rethinking that idea:

• Sarah Palin of Alaska said the state is ready to accept the money for construction projects, but she is sharply critical of other spending on social programs. One could say something about a bridge, but it's too easy.

• Bobby Jindal of Louisiana says he is applying some serious scrutiny: "We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars."

• Rick Perry of Texas previously co-authored an op-ed piece with Sanford in the Wall St. Journal, standing with him against the bill. But now Perry says he's examining the money to see how much he'll take, depending on the strings attached: "We need the freedom to pick and choose."

Seems it's not the money they have an issue with now, it's any "strings" that might be attached. Because heaven forbid the federal government should put any guidelines on how the money it is giving states for the specific purpose of stimulating the economy is spent.

"Majority, Here We Come!"

SNL's skit about the politically tone-deaf and disconnected Republican caucus was just brilliant. Someone must have hidden a mic in John Boehner's office. Enjoy :

Stupid GOP Legislation

Republicans just love, love, love butting their noses in other people’s business, don’t they?

W.T. Mayhall, Jr, Republican House member in Mississippi, has introduced a bill so obnoxiously wrong that I very seriously doubt it will make it out of the Public Health and Human Services committee to which it has been referred. HB282 is:

An act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health; to direct the Department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments; to direct the department to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provision of this act; and for related purposes.

And they call us the party of the “nanny state”?

Philosophical Differences

In the hullabaloo over the Utah mine rescue story, the MSM seems to have missed this information about “mine safety czar” Richard Stickler. Apparently President Bush had to resort to one of his famous recess appointments to put Stickler in charge of the Mine Safety and Health Administration, because Stickler couldn’t get confirmed even by a lame duck GOP-dominated Senate.

Huffington Post and Keith Olbermann broke this story last week, although I still haven’t seen much in the MSM about this “mine safety Brownie” (in fact, CNN seems to have ignored the story). I can’t help but wonder if things wouldn’t be different had it been Drudge, not Huffington Post, that had broken the news. Liberal blogs just don’t seem to be on the MSM’s radar.

So in case you missed it, Stickler is a coal industry executive who has a history of overseeing mines with higher-than-average accident rates. His appointment was opposed by miners rescued from Quecreek in Pennsylvania, as well as the families of deceased miners in three states. I guess in the wake of the Sago disaster, putting an industry crony in charge of mine safety was considered bad PR, because the Senate opposed Stickler, too. But Bush wanted his coal industry buddy there, and here we are.

No, this isn’t another one of those “blame President Bush” posts. I really don’t think there’s any doubt about the depth of President Bush’s incompetence, and if you’re one of the remaining 27% who doesn’t agree with me, well, your mind won’t be changed by my little blog bloviatings. But Bush is not to blame for every single disaster this country has faced.

However, I do blame him for nurturing a philosophy in Washington where those in power don’t believe they serve the American people, just a privileged elite. At it’s core, that’s what cronyism does.

And I believe the American people deserve better. We’re entitled to a government that functions properly, where agencies charged with oversight of certain industries know their job is to keep the interests of people, not company profits, front and center. They know that’s why they’re there, because they remember that most of these agencies were created in response to some horrible disaster. That’s what American government does: it responds legislatively to disasters that grab the headlines and tug the heartstrings.

Look, the deadliest mine disaster in U.S. history occurred in December 1907 (the fourth-deadliest occured four days later). And in 1910, the Bureau of Mines (precursor to today’s Mine Safety & Health Administration) was created. Things change over the years, government agencies are phased out and new ones created, laws are modified--often in response to some other tragedy--but that’s basically how government responds.

But the GOP doesn’t seem to get that. Call it a philosophical difference, if you will, but they seem to view these things as “yet another useless government agency” that just gets in the way of business and profits, full of red tape and dumb rules that seem to serve no purpose other than to frustrate and just generally make things harder.

If you believe this, and you happen to be in power, then you will put your industry friends in charge of these oversight agencies so they can loosen the regulations that were created to protect people, and make it easier for companies to work around the rules. That seems to be a basic GOP philosophy. Somehow, the “free hand of the market” is supposed to be incentive enough for mine owners to operate safe workplaces, but it hasn’t been that way in the past few hundred years, so I don’t know why anyone expects anything to change now.

Yes, I realize the GOP doesn’t have the corner on cronyism. Yes, Democrats will put friends and fundraisers in positions of power, too. But I really think the Bush Administration has taken this to a new level.

There’s a tremendous lack of respect that borders on disdain for workers revealed here. Think about it: in the wake of Sago, which was a hugely publicized mine disaster that captivated the American people, President Bush installs an industry executive with a checkered past for mine safety to head the government body charged with .. mine safety. If that’s not a “fuck you” then I don’t know what is.

Republican Chickenhawks v2.0

If you liked Vice President Dick Cheney’s ”I had other priorities” excuse for dodging the Vietnam War, then you’ll love Mitt Romney’s idea of service to our country. Asked why none of his five sons are in the military, Romney claimed:

"One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I'd be a great president."

Good lord, the arrogance of that sentence leaves me speechless. We already have a president who is stumped when asked to find something, anything, he did wrong as president. Do we really need someone who thinks helping get him elected is as noble a sacrifice as wearing the country’s uniform?

At least these members of “generation Chickenhawk” have a slightly less half-baked excuse for not serving in the war they so ardently support: “I got a scholarship,” “I’m in school,” “I have knee problems,” “I’m more career oriented,” etc.

(h/t, Atrios)