Archive for September, 2010
Asshole Extraordinaire
What kind of man do you have to be to hold up aid to disaster victims, how calcified does your conscience have to be? The asshole extraordinaire holding up $1.15 billion in aid that was pledged by the U.S. to Haiti earthquake victims last March is Republican senator Tom Coburn (probably best known for his [...]
A Post That Passeth All Understanding
Ezra Klein of The Washington Post had a post yesterday about CBO Director Doug Elmendorf‘s testimony before the Senate Budget Committee: CBO Director Doug Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee today and dropped something of a bombshell. Extending the Bush tax cuts, he said, will “probably reduce income relative to what would otherwise occur [...]
The “Public Service” Model Of Politics
Yesterday, another conservative commentator tore into John Boehner‘s comically inept and intellectually bankrupt Pledge to America: I understand that House caucuses are not traditionally hotbeds of policy innovation, and I give the Republican leadership credit for actually making an effort on this front, instead of just coasting toward the midterms. But I also refuse to [...]
Here’s Hoping!
The probability of having at least one totally lunatic U.S. Senator in the next government-obstructing season may have just dipped slightly. According to a newCourier-Journal/WHAS11 Bluegrass poll, Republican Rand Paul‘s lead over Democrat Jack Conway has slipped to 2 points. Just three weeks ago, the same poll had him up by 15 points. Democrat Jack [...]
Boehner Blinks Again
When John “Pretty Boy” Boehner — the creature who so badly wants to be the first T-and-A Speaker of the House — rolled out the “Pledge To America” last week, it was billed as the solution to America’s problems. It was billed as offering not just solutions, but ambitious solutions: We recognize that these solutions [...]
Rand Paul’s Hitlerism
I am sorry to report that a logical analysis of Rand Paul‘s public statements — statements he made freely and repeatedly, statements he did not feel embarrassed by even after the fact, statements he has made no move to qualify or disavow — reveals that the Paul is working towards the emergence of a Hitler-like [...]
McCain’s Temper Tantrum
John “No Principles, None At All” McCain was involved in a belligerent, bullying exchange with two reporters about the Don’t-Ask-Don’t-Tell policy. His tantrum was tempered by bald-faced dishonesty. McCain wasn’t just completely wrong, as usual, about the facts. He also appeared to be lying. That is to say, unless he’s gone senile and lost most [...]
The Party Of Super-sized Sleaze
(1) The Republican Party is not only head-over-heels in bed with lobbyists that it is not legally married to, but it no longer even cares to draw a veil over who is doing what and to whom. They’ve long since figured out that there is no political downside to flaunting their unnatural relations with lobbyists. [...]
Suppose They Had A Party And Nobody Came?
There’s no doubt, of course, that the loose conglomerate of groups fomented by GOP operatives known as the Tea Party has had a dramatic effect on several Republican primaries. The term “Tea Party” certainly stands for a certain amount of ballot-box power. It’s less clear what it means that the promoters/exploiters of the movement are [...]
If Size Matters, How Big Is Small?
For months and months (and months), everyone in the Republican Party claimed that if the Bush tax cuts — expiring by Republican design (that is to say, as a result of legislative games played by Bush, et al) — were not extended for the top tax brackets, economic recovery would be jeopardized because small businesses [...]