Best Sign Charlie Crist Is Still A Republican?

He's got Mark Penn raising money for him.


LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Robert Bennett's Fate Kills The "Both Sides Do It" Meme

I know that the mainstream media has been trying like hell to frame everything the far right GOP does as a false equivalency with the Democratic Party but even they won't be able to successfully spin away Senator Robert Bennett's defeat yesterday. In the last few decades nobody can point to a Democrat who was as reliably liberal as Bennett was reliably conservative in voting records who was ousted as an incumbent before even having the opportunity to run against an opponent in a primary. And what exactly was Bennett's great offense? One vote. The vote for the bank bailout that while hugely unpopular probably did in fact keep our banking and financial industry from totally crashing.

Unfortunately in this case rather than trying to draw a false equivalence, the MSM will just ignore it and act as if it never happened. Its sad that unless they can try to paint a story as something both sides do the media would rather just look away than actually have to report the facts. It is what it is...

Contradiction

I admit I'm late on this one but something just occured to me today.

How is it that last year when Democrats were trying to pass the stimulus bill Republicans kept saying that the government can't create jobs and then when Democrats were trying to pass the health care reform bill Republicans kept saying they should be focused on trying to create jobs instead and nobody ever called them out on this contradiction?

Might be something to remember going forward when Democrats try to pass more jobs bills through Congress to bring down the unemployment rate.

Repeal And Replace.....With What? An Opportunity

I posted before about how the GOP's repeal push is likely to blow up in their face by the time November rolls around. In the last week or so it seems a number of Republicans have started reading the same tea leaves I was looking at and backed off the repeal claim some. But now there seems to be this new approach of saying they will "Repeal and Replace" the health care reform bill. So here's my thing, I never felt like Democrats ever took full advantage of Paul Ryan's disastrous and truly scary "shadow budget" nor his bullshit heath care reform plan which was actually scored by the CBO. Well my friends, as the saying goes pay back is a bitch and Democrats should now take that plan and damn near SUPER GLUE IT to the Republican Party. And you know what, I bet if we looked hard enough we could find some death panels in his plan, some real and actual cuts to Medicare, hell maybe even some areas where that plan puts government between a patient and their doctors.

For the folks in the short bus what I'm saying is now that Republicans are saying they will replace the health care reform bill that already passed we should now fear monger against Ryan's plan to the point where people will fear IT a lot more than they fear what has already passed. And in the process we insure that health care reform really is the Republican's "waterloo".

Their only possible strategic response would be to totally disavow Ryan's plan which they tried to do during the health care reform summit at Blair House, but then that leaves them in the uncomfortable position of either having to come up with another plan OR having no answer when their Democratic opponent asks them what they plan on "replacing" health care reform with.

Again, this is the lowest hanging fruit ever. I can only hope Democrats don't find a way to fuck it up.

Congressman Clyburn Ain't Scared Of You Muthafukas!

Over the weekend when the Tea Baggers were hurling racial epithets and spitting on members of Congress, Jim Clyburn came out and said that basically he is not easily intimidated at all. I love his spirit of defiance in the face of all this dangerous and inflammatory rhetoric but I hope that he never has to prove his courage again like he had to back in the 60s.

Danger!

The right wing terrorists are getting riled up and Republicans are steady egging them on...

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This Looks Like A Headline From "The Onion"

Still Bitter Over Loss On Health Reform, GOP Seeks To Block Judicial Nominee For His Health Care Views

Sadly its the reality of our political system, or should I say its the reality of the Republican Party, today.

This Is Why I Heart Claire McCaskill

She can be too conservative at times on some issues but she doesn't mind mixing it up with the Republicans and calling them out. I'll say one more thing too, this clip should be made into an attack ad immediately if not sooner with the heading that Republicans are putting the country at risk with their temper tantrum. Hell I would have damn near the whole caucus go down and do a floor speech blasting the Republicans for a "pre 9-11 mentality" and putting our men and women in uniform in harms way just to score political points and play games.

Just sayin

Mental Midgets Acting Like A Bunch Of 3 Year Olds

So the Republican Senators have decided to scream, pout, and take their ball and go home because heath care reform passed.

I can't understand why anybody would admire let alone vote for such immature assholes.

Punch Them In The Mouth With Their Polling Argument

The Republicans made up some of the most vicious and vile lies about health care reform over the course of the last year and because the media was unwilling to call them out for these lies, several of them actually took hold with a segment of the population. Even when they were disproven over and over again, shameless Republicans continued to repeat them over and over again and the resulting confusion worked out in their favor...for awhile. The polling numbers for President Obama and the health care reform plans definitely went underwater for a time, even if the poll numbers for the underlying policies remained relatively strong. But Republicans made what could quite possibly be a cataclysmic error when they started using the polling as an argument to vote against health care reform. It was without a doubt an act of desperation as they saw the writing on the wall that health care reform would pass, but even in desperation you would think SOMEBODY would have pointed out how this might come back to bite them in the ass.

Thank God, nobody evidently did.

There was always both a potential short term and a potential long term problem for Republicans with using the polling argument. The short term problem of course would have been if all of the polling turned around before the health care votes were taken. It would be really hard to on the one hand say that Democrats are going to vote against the wishes of the American people when polling is bad, then turn around and vote against the polling numbers when they turn around for health care reform. The hypocrisy would have been so over the top that I think had that happened a few Republicans would have pealed off and voted for the bill in shame. But even though polling did turn around in several polls on health care reform, by and large it was still a mixed bag so the Republicans effectively got away with it in the short term.

But the long term problem was always going to be the harder one to over come anyway. See its easy to fearmonger against something when its still just a concept, but its a lot harder to fearmonger effectively against it when it becomes a reality. The only way the Republicans strategy would work would be if they could somehow keep the polling numbers for health care reform mixed. This as seniors are getting rebates of $250 to help them with their prescription drugs. This as people's kids aren't being discriminated against for preexisting conditions. This as parents are allowed to keep their kids on their insurance until age 26.

Not exactly the easiset task.

But not only would they have to hope that people would continue to be either confused about or against health care reform, they would actually need for people to be SOOOOO against it that they would support a full repeal of it. Let me repeat that, a FULL repeal of health care reform, something that Presidents, Democrat and Republican alike, have been trying to get passed for over half a century.

So now, on the day that health care reform is signed into law, here comes the first of many devastating blows to come in my opinion for the Republican Party.

WASHINGTON — Americans by 9 percentage points have a favorable view of the health care overhaul that President Obama signed into law Tuesday, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, a notable turnaround from surveys before the vote that showed a plurality against it.
By 49%-40% those surveyed say it was "a good thing" rather than a bad one that Congress passed the bill. Half describe their reaction in positive terms, as "enthusiastic" or "pleased," while about four in 10 describe it in negative ways, as "disappointed" or "angry."

The largest single group, 48%, calls the bill "a good first step" that should be followed by more action on health care. An additional 4% also have a favorable view, saying the bill makes the most important changes needed in the nation's health care system.

Understand this, these numbers are coming out before even a single provision of the health care bill has actually taken effect. Nobody has even begun to feel the positive aspects of it and yet the numbers are 49% for and 40% against. If you don't think those numbers will improve after the bill actually starts taking effect in people's day to day lives you're delusional....or maybe just a hardcore Republican.

But wait it gets worse as Greg Sargent tracked down the internals.

* Independents say passage was a good thing, though by a statistically insignificant margin: 46-45.

* The emotional response of respondendents was more positive than negative, with 50% saying they’re enthusiastic or pleased while 42% are angry or disappointed. But: Indys break down along these lines 45-47.

* Republicans are very unhappy about what happened: A whopping 79% are angry or disappointed.

* Gallup concludes that passage was a “clear political victory,” but adds that much will turn on which way independents swing in coming weeks.

So even independents, who were pretty down on the bill in most polls, are now at least even in those for and those against. And many of them are evidently not just ok with the bill but enthusiastic or pleased. You KNOW the Republicans are going to rush out some Rasmussen poll to combat these numbers publicly but privately they have to be wetting their pants.


Either way the attack ads will damn near write themselves.

Imagine about 20 seconds of clips of Republicans referring to polling over the last few months and how Democrats were voting against their constituents.

Then a still shot of this poll.

Then a voice over guy saying “Well surely Republicans will support reform now, right?”

Then show images of tea baggers and Republicans cow towing to them. Steele calling reform armageddon. Several Repugs talking about repeal. Attorney Generals calling it unconstitutional. Basically a bunch of angry rhetoric.

Then cut to a kid who now has coverage even though they have a preexisting condition, cut to an elderly person at the pharmacy picking up their meds, cut to a small business owner handing out insurance card to their employees.

“For Republicans is it really about you? Or is it really about them?” fade to black with audio of wingnuts screaming "Kill the bill" in the background.

That's my 2 minute thought process ad. Imagine what I could do with this wealth of material if I actually sat down and thought about it.

I'll say this much, I hope Florida US Senate candidate Kendrick Meek's people ask both Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist early and often if they support repeal and or the efforts by the Florida AG to call health care reform unconstitutional. I don't know if Crist will make it out off the primary but if he does we all know he will flip flop with the polling numbers. But if Rubio makes it out he is such an idiot that he will not only continue to call for repeal but scare most Floridians in the process.

Either way, we win. So whose coming with me?

A Complete And Total Lack Of Self Awareness

From John "Oompa Loompa" Boehner's twitter:

So this is how Soviet America begins. The Dems are the REDS -- the real Americans are the WHITES.

I don't know if this was just bad wording or a dog whistle but you would think after the racist epithets thrown around by the Tea Baggers, Boehner would have more sense than this.

They Really Are Cowards

You know, one of the most irritating things about being a Democrat is how few of our elected officials are ever willing to actually fight for something. They are so scared of Republican threats that many of them run for the hills at the first sign of trouble. And the truth is on the few occasion when a Democrat actually stands up to them invariably its the Republican who turn tails and run like the cowards they are.

Witness this situation today on the floor of the House. Republican Rep Jason Chaffetz decides to run with some unsourced unfounded rumors against retiring Democrat Bart Gordon on the floor. But look at how fast he backpeddles when Gordon gets up and confronts him about it.



See Republicans like to talk slick because they know they can usually get away with it with no reprecussions. But when they get even the slightest bit of pushback they scatter like roaches. If only Democrats could understand this they could destroy the Republican Party for a generation. But as long as they continue to only give sporadic pushback to Republican lies, then jack asses like Chaffetz will continue to sneak around and talk shit about them.

About That "Shadow Budget"

LMAOOOOOOOO

So it turns out that even if Paul Ryan could get ever conservative's wet dream of slashing MediCare and privatizing Social Security and cutting spending to social programs for the poor, we STILL wouldn't have a budget in.......2080

Somehow EPIC FAIL just isn't a strong enough term

She Goin In, She Goin In, She Goin In

...and she gone go hard, and she gone go hard, and she gone go hard.

Rachel Maddow pretty much ethered the whole Republican caucus in the Senate tonight, it was magnificent to behold!

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Can't Get Right

Ezra Klein agrees with me that the "win" over the holds on President Obama's nominees wasn't really a win at all and was yet another case of them hurting their own efforts.

Working backward, why not make recess appointments this recess? The administration remains terribly understaffed. Senate Republicans have slapped a historic number of holds on Obama's nominees, and Richard Shelby's effort to hold all of Obama's pending nominees as part of a multibillion-dollar shakedown made Nelson's Medicaid deal look like petty theft. What was the danger, then, of making recess appointments? That it would lead to a fight over Republican obstruction that the administration might actually win?

Worse, why explain the recess appointment as some sort of emergency measure? At what point does the administration accept that its success is dependent on finding ways to avoid being filibustered? Reconciliation can't be considered a nuclear option and recess appointments can't be saved for special cases. George W. Bush understood this and used reconciliation and recess appointments routinely in his first year. That meant it was no story when he used the processes for his next seven years. Obama is making the very consideration of these measures a story, which means any decision to actually use them will be a big deal and will make the president look like a bare-knuckle partisan.

This time the media and public opinion was on the administration's side on recess appointments, especially after Senator Shelby had put that blanket hold on all of the nominees just to try to get an earmark pushed through. But you wait and see the outcry if President Obama should ever try to do some recess appointments in the future. And guess what, it will all be their own fault.

This is getting to be quite disheartening.

Chuuuuch

It seems that President Obama FINALLY remembered that he has the biggest bully pulpit on the block and he used it today. Now honestly his address to the White House press corps could have used a little more emotion and anger, piss and vinegar, etc etc, but just to have him speak on the GOP obstructionism, particularly on Senator Shelby's blanket hold which he did point out was over earmarks, was definitely a good start.

Now if I am wrong about the power of his bully pulpit you won't see much in the news about his presser today or the substance of it and not much will change.

But if I'm right, not only will the press pick up on the things he said, you will find that Republicans being the cowards that they are will also start to modify their behavior. The more he does this kind of thing, the more they will start slowwing their roll.

Of course that still leaves the ConservaDems as substantial obstacles to progress. But maybe, just maybe, if he sees the success he gets from chastising Republicans, he might be more open to chastising the ConservaDems too.

It could happen....

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Early Contender For QOTD

The GOP must have really pissed John Brennan off...

Cries to try terrorists only in military courts lack foundation. There have been three convictions of terrorists in the military tribunal system since 9/11, and hundreds in the criminal justice system — including high-profile terrorists such as Reid and 9/11 plotter Zacarius Moussaoui.

This administration's efforts have disrupted dozens of terrorist plots against the homeland and been responsible for killing and capturing hundreds of hard-core terrorists, including senior leaders in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and beyond — far more than in 2008. We need no lectures about the fact that this nation is at war.

Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda. Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill. They will, however, be dismantled and destroyed, by our military, our intelligence services and our law enforcement community. And the notion that America's counterterrorism professionals and America's system of justice are unable to handle these murderous miscreants is absurd.

With A Rebel Yell, She Cried More, More, Mooooore

Boy, the attacks and push back from President Obama as well as his White House staff has been coming fast and furious of late. I think the light bulb has finally gone off that the only way to win a fight is to actually ENGAGE in a fight. This time its Dan Pfeiffer taking to the White House blog to point out more GOP obstructionism, this time on nominees to important governmental offices.

Nine months ago, the White House sent the nominee for GSA Administrator, Martha Johnson, to the Senate for its consideration. Today, she was finally given a vote and was overwhelmingly approved by a margin of 94-2. What happened in between was a perfect example of why Americans are so frustrated with Washington.

Martha Johnson is an ideal candidate for Administrator, which is highlighted by the unanimous vote she received in committee. And the only thing that's changed between now and then is that some in Congress found it to be politically expedient to delay her vote. This isn’t just about one person filling one job – it hampers our ability reform the way government works and save taxpayer dollars by making it more efficient and effective.

What’s worse, Martha Johnson is hardly the first nominee to fall victim to this trend of opposition for opposition’s sake. Nine of the President's nominees found themselves stuck in this same situation only to be confirmed by 70 or more votes or a voice vote. Several nominees, including two members of the Council of Economic Advisers, had cloture withdrawn and were passed by a voice vote.

Maybe votes on these nominations were delayed as a bargaining chip for someone's pet project – more likely it was part of a political strategy of opposition and obstruction at all costs. Whatever the reason, it's obvious from the margins of the final votes that it had little to do with their qualifications.

Not sure if there is a connection here, but President Obama JUST talked about Martha Johnson yesterday and how she was being held up by Republicans for no reason at all. At the least it should provide positive reinforcement that its the squeaky wheel that get's the oil. Perhaps if President Obama calls the Republicans out on more of his nominees that have been held up (cough Dawn Johnson at OLC cough) then they will ALSO get an up or down vote finally.

I swear man, after going through all the bullshit last year with the White House staying mostly silent and continuing to get their hand slapped when they reached out in "bipartisanship", I could certainly get used to this new, far more aggressive approach.

GOP Outreach FAIL

The GOP is once again trying to open up their big tiny tent just a little. This time they are trying to get more women to vote Republican. But check out WHY they think women don't already vote Republican.

"Women sometimes need a little more handholding, or they need their friends to help them make a decision. And by our going in and talking to them and recruiting and educating and training them to either get involved in a campaign or become a candidate, we're giving them the tools so that they can do that on their own," Larimer added.

SMDH

Republicans Really Do Want To Cut Social Security And Medicare

But hey, don't take my word for it, just check out Congressman Hensarling, you know the guy President Obama bitch slapped last week over his bullshit comments about the deficit, on Hardball this evening.



Or you can read Ezra Klein's post on Congressman Paul Ryan's GOP budget proposal to cut the deficit.

As you all know by now, the long-term budget deficit is largely driven by health-care costs. To move us to surpluses, Ryan's budget proposes reforms that are nothing short of violent. Medicare is privatized. Seniors get a voucher to buy private insurance, and the voucher's growth is far slower than the expected growth of health-care costs. Medicaid is also privatized. The employer tax exclusion is fully eliminated, replaced by a tax credit that grows more slowly than medical costs. And beyond health care, Social Security moves to a system of private accounts that CBO says will actually cost more than the present arrangement, further underscoring how ancillary the program is to our budget problem.

snip

The proposal would shift risk from the federal government to seniors themselves. The money seniors would get to buy their own policies would grow more slowly than their health-care costs, and more slowly than their expected Medicare benefits, which means that they'd need to either cut back on how comprehensive their insurance is or how much health-care they purchase. Exacerbating the situation -- and this is important -- Medicare currently pays providers less and works more efficiently than private insurers, so seniors trying to purchase a plan equivalent to Medicare would pay more for it on the private market.

It's hard, given the constraints of our current debate, to call something "rationing" without being accused of slurring it. But this is rationing, and that's not a slur. This is the government capping its payments and moderating their growth in such a way that many seniors will not get the care they need. This is, in its simplest form, a way to limit the use of a finite resource: Money.

But here is the thing, none of this matters one whit if Democrats don't seize the day. Tomorrow every Democrat in the House should be lined up for their chance to address the body at the podium on CSPAN and point out what the Republicans are up to. And immediately following each Democrat in the House should put up a youtube online of their speech and send it out to every single email list they have. If Ryan's proposals and Hensarling's appearance are pushed into the national dialogue, the media will HAVE to cover it. And every single GOP House member that appears on CNN or MSNBC or one of the morning shows will HAVE to answer the question of if they agree with these "visionaries" in their own party.

But if not. If this is allowed to slide under the radar, well then shame on every person in any leadership position in the Democratic Party. You will have shown without a doubt that you do not deserve to lead this country.

Real talk.