What Comes Next

The Hill got their hands on a copy of the Republican talking points on Judge Sotomayor. Just follow along with the script whilst listening to GOP representatives appearing on cable news channels.

President Obama Must Be Psychic

Remember this part of President Obama's speech yesterday?

As our efforts to close Guantanamo move forward, I know that the politics in Congress will be difficult. These issues are fodder for 30-second commercials and direct mail pieces that are designed to frighten. I get it. But if we continue to make decisions from within a climate of fear, we will make more mistakes. And if we refuse to deal with these issues today, then I guarantee you that they will be an albatross around our efforts to combat terrorism in the future. I have confidence that the American people are more interested in doing what is right to protect this country than in political posturing. I am not the only person in this city who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution - so did each and every member of Congress. Together we have a responsibility to enlist our values in the effort to secure our people, and to leave behind the legacy that makes it easier for future Presidents to keep this country safe.

Well right on time I present you with one of those 30 second ads President Obama predicted fresh from the RNC.





Now most people realize that the image of the child playing in the field is taken from the infamous "Daisy" ad Lyndon Johnson released in 1964.



Of course that was a whole other level of fear mongering back then. Still the fact that the RNC thought it would be a good idea to use footage from that particular ad just serves to make it more ridiculous than actually effective. Don't get me wrong, Democrats opened the door to such attacks against them, but, at least in my assessment, using that footage will just make the RNC lose even more credibility. Let's look back at what happened back when the original "Daisy" ad actually ran.

The ad was designed to capitalize on comments made by Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Vietnam. The Johnson campaign attempted to portray Goldwater as a dangerous warmonger who would needlessly, and recklessly, escalate the conflict in Vietnam.

As soon as the ad aired, Johnson's campaign was widely criticized for using the prospect of nuclear war, as well as the implication that Goldwater would start one, to frighten voters. The ad was immediately pulled, but the point was made, appearing on the nightly news and on conversation programs in its entirety.

So to recap, the war and torture endorsing RNC used footage from an ad that was meant to scare people over Barry Goldwater's war mongering that had to be pulled almost immediately by President Johnson because of blowback from its obvious fear mongering. Yeah, just keep it up RNC. At this rate you might actually insure that Republicans don't win the Presidency again for a generation.

I Can See The Future

Yesterday I posted this comment on Greg Sargent's blog post entitled S.C. GOPer On Sanford’s Stimulus Denial: “I’m Asking You To Pray For Us”.

Sandford did the same thing last year with their unemployment funds. I predict he will do the same thing tomorrow that he did then, accept the stimulus funds but frame it like he had no choice and that he won some kind of moral victory by waiting for the last possible moment. The guy is mental.

Today we get this from article from McClatchy entitled "Sanford gives in on stimulus, will seek funds for S.C."

WASHINGTON — Gov. Mark Sanford will comply with a midnight Friday stimulus deadline and become the last governor in the nation to seek millions of dollars in federal economic-recovery funds for his state, aides said late Thursday.

Sanford will continue contesting $700 million in education and law enforcement money for South Carolina, but his 11th-hour move to meet the deadline buys time for schools fearing mass teacher layoffs and draconian cuts.

Sanford's month-long fight over stimulus money placed South Carolina in the national spotlight and put him at loggerheads with President Barack Obama.

"Tomorrow the governor is going to send the (Section) 1607 certification for everything except the stabilization funds," Sanford's spokesman, Joel Sawyer, said Thursday evening. "The governor will apply for that (additional) money if the General Assembly is willing to compromise and pay down some debt with it."

Obama has twice rejected Sanford's written requests to use $700 million in State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money to pay off state government debt instead of its stated use to help school districts retain teachers and modernize old schools or build new ones.

White House officials confirmed for the first time Thursday that a 45-day deadline in the $787 billion stimulus bill, which Obama signed into law on Feb. 17, applies only to governors' initial requests for the money — and not to states' formal application for it.

State leaders in Columbia and Washington had thought that midnight Friday was the deadline for actually claiming the $700 million in disputed funds.

Obama aides cheered Sanford's decision to protect most of $8 billion in stimulus funds slated for South Carolina.

"We are pleased with reports that Governor Sanford will join the other 49 governors — Democrats and Republicans — in filing a certification to accept Recovery Act money," said Kenneth Baer, a spokesman for White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.

"The Recovery Act will create or save 3.5 million jobs (nationwide), and we do not want to see the citizens of any state denied the help that it can provide," Baer said.

Obama has claimed that the stimulus package will create or preserve 50,000 jobs in South Carolina, whose 11.4 percent unemployment rate is the nation's second highest after Michigan's.

Sanford will likely continue to tussle with state general assembly leaders from his own Republican Party over his insistence that at least some of the disputed $700 million pay off debt, despite $1.1 billion in state budget cuts already imposed this year because of revenue shortfalls.

Sanford's expected move is an implicit acknowledgement that he'd erroneously claimed for weeks control over only the $700 million in education funds, not over the entire $8 billion package.

In fact, Sanford's failure to request the stimulus funds by midnight Friday would've imperiled all $8 billion reserved for his state.

The stimulus package, an ambitious bid by Obama to jolt the economy, provides $8 billion to South Carolina for Medicaid payments, road and bridge repairs and construction, unemployment benefits, police, tax cuts and a host of other needs.

"The action we are taking tomorrow is perfectly consistent with where we've been throughout the stimulus debate," Sawyer said late Thursday.

So is it that I have a crystal ball? Of course not. Conservative assholes are just too predictable these days.