Category: Republicans

Don’t Get It

Virginia Foxx’s batshit crazy, homophobic, denialism on the floor of the House yesterday regarding the torture and murder of Matt Shepherd for being gay really is one of the most obscene things I’ve seen from any Republican, let alone an elected official, I can ever recall taking place. This is what passes for acceptable in the modern Republican party. As a result, it’s no wonder that women, working class Americans, minorities, and educated people are all running away from them in droves.

I read a lot of chatter on Republican blogs like RedState and The Next Right about how they can rebuild their party and restore their electoral success of the 1990s and early 2000s. There’s often talk about being more conservative, more principled, and more clear with voters about what they stand for. What is rarely discusses is how poisonous the ideas of a significant part of their party truly are. There’s no doubt that the bile and venom we’ve seen thrown out by the likes of Foxx, Michele Bachmann, Rush Limbaugh, and a few other leaders of the Republican Party are, indeed, forcing voters away from them. Unless and until Republicans find a way to excise the cancer that is the hatred-driven wing of their party, they will only be assured their well-deserved place as they become a regional party incapable of influencing the national agenda. America is better than this sort of sickening crap and it’s truly shameful that the Republican Party does not grasp the character of our country and what we will and will not tolerate when it comes to hatred.

Bipartisanship Preview

I think Matt Yglesias is right that the small number of Republicans who were able to cast their vote in favor of confirming Kathleen Sebelius for Health & Human Services does not bode well for the chances of getting cooperation from Republicans on healthcare reform.

In theory this would be a good time to take our newly-formed SUPERMAJORITY and use it to pass good legislation that includes a public plan and tell Republicans to deal with it. Somehow I doubt that will be what will happen.

No Longer Operative

Apparently this is no longer operative:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday that Sen. Arlen Specter’s (R-Pa.) decision to reject “card-check” legislation has ended any chance of a party switch.

Reid as well as Vice President Biden, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) and Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) have tried recently to persuade Specter to leave the GOP.
…

But Specter smashed those hopes by declaring this week that he would vote against any effort to quash a filibuster of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the card-check bill.

“Yes, I’ve talked to him,” Reid told reporters Friday of his efforts to convince Specter to leave the Republican Party.

“But he, in coming out against card-check, stopped everyone from being able to help him.”

Per usual, I would love to get a seat at Harry Reid’s poker game.

Bad Faith Bipartisanship

The Obama administration has consistently made good on President Obama’s campaign promise to govern as a post-partisan and look to bring Republicans into the governing process. Multiple Republicans were nominated to cabinet posts. And despite fears to the contrary by Republicans and Beltway journalists, the administration has refused to pursue any policy course that could possibly be described as “vindictive” following eight years of Republican failure and lawbreaking.

But how has the administration been repaid for their magnanimity? Well as anyone who has paid attention to the Republican Party over the last forty years (and especially the last sixteen) would expect, the Republicans have remained committed to partisan obstructionism for the sake of politics. No matter how far President Obama has gone to bring Republicans along on the path of rebuilding this country, their response has not changed. They opposed the stimulus effectively unanimously. They opposed national service. They opposed making banks accountable to government oversight. Every where we look, we see partisan Republican obstructionism (though liberal Democrats seem far more likely to be called out for partisan behavior).

The latest example is found in Kansas Senator Sam Brownback. Brownback had come out strongly in favor of the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services. In fact, his endorsement initially augured a swift confirmation for Sebelius. Now, months later, Sebelius languishes awaiting confirmation and Brownback is making noises about opposing her.

This is a joke, played out on repeat, because it’s the only joke the Republican Party knows how to tell. It’s as if a political party was created around the premise of bad faith in all their business.

Hopefully the administration and Democratic leaders in Congress are cognizant of what is happening. The press certainly isn’t in an uproar over Republican obstructionism of the popular president’s election-mandated agenda, so it will require an iota of scrutiny for the Democrats to see what’s going on on their own. As much as it might be comforting to treat their political opponents as good faith agents to be worked with for the betterment of the country in a way that was entirely absent the previous eight years, Republicans do not operate in good faith. Policy efforts aiming to achieve their goals with the help of mythical good faith Republicans are sadly doomed to failure. It’s time to reevaluate, sharpen our collective elbows, and start muscling through the agenda President Obama was elected to implement.

Republican Obstructionism

Christy’s right, now is not the time for Republican obstructionism over key executive branch legal appointments. The Republican Party’s opposition to Harold Koh and Dawn Johnsen are a fine balance between pro-forma culture war flash backs and the latest manifestation of opposition to constitutional checks and balances and the rule of law. In either event, it’s political obstructionism at best and the reanimation of zombie Bush/Cheney-ism at its worst.

Koh and Johnsen should be confirmed swiftly. Republicans who obstruct should be lambasted in the public, by the public, by the press, and by Democrats.

Shorter Dodd Challengers

Shorter Rob Simmons & Sam Caligiuri:

It’s disgraceful that Chris Dodd took money years ago from employees of companies now receiving federal bailout money. And since all of you AIG employees now have extra money in your pocket thanks to that returned Dodd check, you can make your donations out to our campaigns via check, money order, or credit card.

In all seriousness, this is what Simmons actually said:

“I don’t feel that I have any constraints on me,” Simmons said.

That’s for sure. During his career in Congress, Simmons has accepted more than $1 million from PACs and individuals associated with finance, insurance and real estate.

I tried again with Simmons. Does all this talk about Dodd being a lying weasel mean that you will reject the kind of contributions that the senator’s critics are slamming him for?

“I’m a private citizen right now. I’m not a member of the Senate. I’m not the chair of the powerful banking committee, which oversees this disaster to the economy,” Simmons said.

“I will make that judgment when the time arrives.”

And Caligiuri isn’t even sharp enough to realize the grenades he’s throwing at Dodd might bounce back his way:

 “I haven’t thought about that,” Caligiuri responded when I asked whether he planned on refusing any money from anyone.

Dodd is going to have to run a real race this cycle. But as long as he’s up against buffoons like these, I like his odds.

Her Uppance May Come

Via Todd Beeton, there’s a nice follow-up twist on the calls from some Alaska Republicans for Senator Mark Begich to resign so Ted Stevens can have a special election. Congressman Don Young thinks the seat is Begich’s to keep and there’s no recourse for him to be removed now. But Young suggests that his long-time colleague should close out his career with a run for Governor:

“Personally I’d like to see him run for governor, and that’s my personal feeling,” Young told the Alaska Public Radio Network on Thursday. “So, we’ll see what happens down the line. He probably won’t, but I think that would be a great way to cap off a great career as being the governor of the state of Alaska.”

The back story is that this statement from Young is about Sarah Palin getting her come uppance.  Palin came to power in Alaska riding a wave of reformist criticism of Alaska’s old guard Republican elected officials. Last cycle she targeted Young’s seat by having her Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell primary Young. Palin was strongly behind Parnell and obviously Young took it personally. Don Young, despite being surrounded by clouds of scandal of his own, beat Parnell by 304 votes in the GOP primary last August.

Stevens and Palin have had a rocky relationship of their own. This press conference from July, in which Palin dodges endorsing Stevens and Stevens points out that they don’t really like each other, is a classic. Arjun Jaikumar points out that Palin called on Stevens to resign his Senate seat following being convicted of seven federal felony corruption charges. So there’s no love lost between Palin and Stevens — but her call for Begich to resign is probably a lame effort to repair her bad relationship with Stevens.

Frankly, I think if Stevens does run for Governor (which I don’t think he’ll do), he could give Palin a tough race. There will undoubtedly be a lot of sympathy for Uncle Ted, while Palin wears out her welcome with national campaign stops on the state clock.

The Alaska Comedy Brigade

The stand up comedians of the Alaska Republican Party were out in force.

AK GOP Chair Randy Ruedrich:

The Alaska Republican Party further believes that current Senator Mark Begich should resign his position to allow for a new, special election, so Alaskans may have the chance to vote for a Senator without the improper influence of the corrupt [Bush] Department of Justice.

The only reason Mark Begich won the election in November is because a few thousand Alaskans thought that Senator Ted Stevens was guilty of seven felonies. Senator Stevens has maintained his innocence and now, even the Department of Justice acknowedges [sic] it’s [sic] wrong doing.

A special election will allow Alaskans to have a real, non-biased, credible process where the most qualified person could win, without the manipulation of the Department of Justice.

“We’ll look forward to the complete story presenting itself and clearing Senator Stevens name.,” Ruedrich said.

Gov. Sarah Palin:

Gov. Palin is with Ruedrich. “I absolutely agree,” she said in a written statement through a spokeswoman.

Shorter Alaska Republicans:

Thanks to the Obama administration’s commitment to honoring the rule of law by voiding the indictment of Ted Stevens, it is only right and fair that Senator Mark Begich ignore the rule of law, void his election and resign.

The really funny thing? Even Alaska’s Republican senior Senator Lisa Murkowski disagrees with Palin and Ruedrich’s laugh-lines. She responded to these statements: “that is not an option.”

Smoke and Mirrors

I know the GOP has had a pretty good run of winning over the Inside the Beltway crowd over the last sixteen years through smoke and mirrors in lieu of actual substance, but that doesn’t mean it will always work. Budgets have numbers and you can only hype smoke and mirrors so long. When you show the press that you’ve hyped nothing, you look like the ideologically bankrupt fools that you are.