The Tea Party's Christmas Miracle: More "Shared Sacrifice"

Last Christmas, the Bush tax cuts were set to expire.  This was the result of a rule that prevented legislation that runs up the deficit from lasting more than 10 years.  Meaning that, at the time, Congress KNEW the cuts wouldn't "pay for themself".  This also gives lie to Stephen Moore's recent revelation that the federal government took in "more revenue" than at any time in history for several consecutive years.

At any rate, they were supposed to expire.  People like me would have breathed easy, but for the certainty that the GOP would never let that happen.  Democrats and republicans then got into a game of chicken over tax rates for the middle class.  Dems threatened the middle in an effort to get the top rate moved back to 39%.  Reps threatened the middle in an effort to preserve the top rate at 35%.  Dems predictably caved and the top rate didn't budge.

Fast forward to now, another Christmas, another tax war.  This time it's over whether to preserve a payroll tax cut that largely affects the middle class (the people who actually spend money).  Dems wanted to fund it by levying a 1.9% excise tax on millionaire incomes.  Reps wanted to cut safety net spending.  Reaching an impasse, the Senate wisely agreed to a 60 day extension to give them breathing room to work out a compromise.

The 60 day extension was supported by 89 Senators.

In the House, rife with freshmen teabaggers? DEAD ON ARRIVAL.

Boehner actually said if they couldn't extend the cuts for a year, they wouldn't by 60 days.  Why?  Because we'd be in exactly the same position in 60 days (begging the inference that no progress would be made).  This drew immediate fire from the usual sources.  And some not so usual: Senate republicans such as John McCain.

"The Republicans are losing this fight. We need to get back on track," McCain said. "A thousand dollars a year is a big amount of money to most Americans, and I think it's very important. ... I worry about the fact that we are continuing to increase the debt and the deficit, but now it's become very symbolic, and I think it has to be done."

Mitch McConnell:

 "House Republicans sensibly want greater certainty about the duration of these provisions, while Senate Democrats want more time to negotiate the terms," McConnell said in a written statement. "These goals are not mutually exclusive. We can and should do both."

The teabagger controlled House wants to kill the patient because they don't like the ER bill.  They want to pull $128 billion out of the economy (average of $800 x 160 million).  Money they know, or should know will be spent, helping to push the sluggish economy along.

Unfortunately pragmatism, and apparently human decency, are dirty words to the tea party. Nothing matters more than blind, partisan ideology.

I'd ask them to do the right thing, come up with a compromise or at least back-burner the issue so that a deal can be struck. But given the teabaggers' gleeful willingness to engage in brinkmanship, don't bet on it.

Their way of doing business is to burn the house down because they don't like the drapes. 

The Unlikeable vs. The Unelectable

The "Inevitable" Nominee

Be my date to the prom. Please?

GOP voters are in a pickle. At the heart of it is a clown car full of candidates so awful Paul Krugman and James Carville are scratching their heads. It would be easier to dismiss if the republican primary actually were an episode of Punk'd, if Michele Bachmann really were doing an Andy Kaufman riff. 

The field is what it is: a bad joke.

The only "inevitable" thing about Newt Gingrich's candidacy is that he would get a chance to ride the Anybody-But-Romney train and lead in the polls.  What is odd is that his lead outlived the others and has yet to collapse under the weight of Newt's own verbal blunders.

I will say, given the weakness of his competitors, Newt does stand out. Next to Bachmann's blank stare, Gingrich is a mental colossus.  Next to Perry's rabid religiosity, Newt's shameless philandering is refreshing. Next to Cain's ignorance of...damn near everything, Newt's ideas (no matter how laughable) lend him gravitas.  Next to Ron Paul's libertarian fetishism, Gingrich looks sane. Next to Huntsman, Gingrich looks inferior in every way, but Huntsman has done such a wonderful job fading into the woodwork it's hard to tell he's even still running.

And then there's Mitt. The presumptive nominee. The only candidate who poses a credible threat to Obama's reelection. So of course primary voters hate his guts. The smooth, well groomed appearance, the New England pedigree, the Obamacare pilot program. And of course the Mormon thing.  Can't have that.

They love Newt but c'mon, the guy couldn't even hold his seat in Congress. His brash rudeness, boundless egotism and lunatic ideas are guaranteed to turn voters off.  This is without even getting to his awful run in Congress notable for two government shutdowns, resigning in disgrace as Speaker, and being a royal pain in the ass to GOP leadership.

Still he's leading in the polls with Iowa right around the corner.

Even evangelicals are coming out for him.  Really? What the fuck?  He spits on the institution of marriage (opposite marriage no less), has no discernible moral grounding, and he's Catholic!  Huntsman and Romney take it on the chin for wearing special underwear, but Newt gets a pass for impeaching Clinton over a blow job while banging a staffer?  They want the guy who advocates putting poor children to work?

Have fun selling this slimy lizard to the independents.  

So there's the pickle: the guy they hate, or the one who can't win.  Republicans, enjoy.  I'll be watching the show.

Michele Bachmann: OMGWTFBBQ?!?!?!

First the link and article courtesy of Thinkprogress.org

Bachmann wants Iraqis to pay 'Several Million Dollars per Life' for every American who died in Iraq.

Before any right winger starts crying about it being a Think Progress link, skip the article and watch the clip from Meet the Press.

We invade Iraq over the objection of a significant portion of the country, while many supporters based their yes vote on the bullshit dog and pony show sold to us by the administration.

Anyone remember the silliness?

• Colin Powell shamefully making the flawed case for war before the UN (an action he now publicly regrets)?
• Condoleeza Rice's "mushroom cloud" apocalypse speech?
• Dick Cheney telling us over and over again about Saddam's magically shrinking timetable for nuclear weapons that that started at 5 years and finished up inside a year? 

 Just for the shits and giggles the correct answer to the question "How long until Saddam had nukes?" was 3 days after NEVER.

We invade a country that had not attacked us, posed no threat to our national security, was not training terrorists and had never even heard of al Qaeda until they turned up for our bonfire celebration circle jerk in Baghdad.

The US invasion of Iraq was, is and shall always be an atrocity.  An exercise in brain dead, belligerent unilateralism.  An action that resulted in the tragic deaths of thousands of US soldiers, and tens, if not HUNDREDS of thousands of Iraqi civilians.

But it's alright because hey we're America and freedom.

I didn't serve in Iraq nor did almost anyone I know. But it sticks in my craw because it was BULLSHIT from top to bottom from day one. Go ahead and say "Yeah well the surge WORKED."  So did paying Sunni militia NOT TO ATTACK US.

It bothers me because Iraq is the worst thing my country has done during my lifetime if not in its history. It is indefensible, inexcusable.  And it's architects should be rotting behind bars, not going on fucking book tours.

And Michele Bachmann thinks the victims of our hubris, our gigantic messianic complex, should pay for the lives we lost invading them.

Oh Holy Hell what the Mother Fuck?

I got an idea, let's bill the real culprits.  Bush 43, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Doug Feith and the rest of the asshole neocon cabal who dreamed this tragic farce up.

Wall Street is Occupied Territory

Mr. President? Helllooo?  Mr. Obama?  Yo Barry!

When you take a break from selling the American Job Act turn on the television.

Find a news channel with some guts.  One that's not afraid to cover Occupy Wall Street and resist the temptation to write them off as noisy kids or lazy hippies.

These kids are part of your base, they came out in droves in 2008 and voted for you. They dared to hope that an idealist with a clear vision could lead us away from the abyss we found ourselves teetering on. 

Don't get me wrong, you've accomplished a lot.  PPACA is a step in the right direction.  You've worked to disengage us from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Your refocusing of the military has achieved tangible results.  Your stimulus package helped keep the economy from skidding right over a cliff.

I don't blame you for the absurdly childish way Republicans are behaving.  Unfortunately this generation of conservatives would rather throw a temper tantrum than accept that they utterly failed as leaders and were soundly rebuked in 2006 and 2008.

But in this humble blogger's opinion, you've done a less than stellar job leading both your party and the country.  Mr. President, image matters, the message matters.  Don't lose heart because Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Eric Cantor said something negative.  We both know you could come out in favor of breathing oxygen and Republicans would oppose it.  You're allowing yourself to be shouted down simply because they yell louder and more often.

Go big!  Go loud!

We don't need a pragmatist looking to compromise right out of the gate.  Swing for the fences even if it means striking out.  But don't go down looking.  Do whatever it takes to get your message out there.  Put a scrolling marquee on Carney's podium reminding us how many bills the right are filibustering, how many positions remain vacant because the right buried the appointment in committee. 

In other words, look at the television.  Look at what the OWS people are doing.  They're putting it on the line, risking jobs, arrest, and police brutality all to make their voice heard.  And they're not running away.

Do the same Mr. President.  Don't let your opponents frame the debate and put you on the defensive.  It's not just about keeping your job.  Our country hangs in the balance.  We are under siege by plutocrats hellbent to crush the middle class.  We need our President to step up and take this political fight to our opponents.  Make those of us who doubt believe in you again.

These people in Occupy Wall Street shouldn't be alone on the front lines.

Deficits Do Matter

"Reagan showed us deficits don't matter."
   - Dick Cheney

What Dick should have said was "Reagan showed us deficits don't matter, unless a democrat is in the White House."

During Dick's turn as Vice President, the republican controlled government cut taxes during war time (2 wars to be exact) and ran huge deficits during relatively good economic times.  Great fucking move guys.  They claim to be the party of 'fiscal responsibility'.  Really? On what planet.  Over the last 30 years, there have been 3 republican  presidents and one democrat.  Three ran deficits, one balanced the budget.  And that one wasn't a republican.

It was Bill 'Bubba' Clinton.  He raised taxes while presiding over the longest period of economic prosperity in modern times.  He left office with a projected surplus.  He did it while giving lie to the notion of supply side economics and the right's cult of "cut taxes no matter what" mantra.

The typical wingnut response is that the budget was only balanced due to a republican controlled Congress.  The easy retort to this is "Okay, then WHAT THE FUCK happened from 2001 - 2006 when the right controlled everything?"  And wait for the silence.  If there is anything to be learned from W's presidency (other than nearly everything he did was wrong) is that supply side economics DON'T WORK.

The hilarious thing is republicans aren't even really practicing supply side anymore. The Laffer curve claims that at any given time there is an optimal tax rate where government revenues are maximized.  Go too high or too low and the government loses money.  The right has perverted this into some Grover Norquist inspired nightmare where taxes are always too high and the optimal tax rate is apparently zero.

This was proven to be laughably false under George W. Bush.  He pushed through two massive and ill advised tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 with little if any effect on the economy.  Job growth petered along and economic growth was 1-2% per year.  Rather than stimulating the economy and filling the treasury's coffers, we began to hemorrhage money at a record pace.  Treasury bonds flew off the shelves and the administration had the cover of Afghanistan and Iraq to distract voters about the massively growing deficit.

Fast forward to 2008, the elections are looming and people are looking to be rid of Texas' favorite son. Then the great recession hits.  The GDP contracts by 6% in one quarter, job losses are nearly half a million per month.  The DOW goes into HOLY SHIT freefall from its lofty perch of nearly 14,000.  When the skid ends, the DOW sits around 7,000.  Lehman Brothers? Gone. Bear Stearns? Gone. Goldman Sachs? Hanging by a thread.  AIG? On life support.  The only thing missing was stock brokers jumping from their office window.  TARP is hastily assembled and pushed through.  It royally sucked that we were rewarding the scumbags who in large part created the shitstorm, but there was nothing else to do.  The investment and commercial and consumer credit markets would have to be rebuilt from scratch otherwise.

Now you ask: Ghost WTF with the history lesson?  We've been hearing this for 3 years now!

Obama got elected in the middle of a monstrous crisis.  His response was to call for economic stimulus in the form of public works project similar to FDR's plan in the Great Depression.  Like FDR, it created jobs.  Like FDR, conservatives hated it.  The stimulus has nearly run its course, jobs were created though not nearly enough.  But no one argues that no jobs were created. No the wingnuts scream and cry about what a spend thrift Obama is, during a massive recession no less.

Despite the fact that people were put back to work the right screams "FAILURE" or simply laughs whenever the stimulus is mentioned. A program designed to put Americans back to work and to try to mitigate the country's suffering and it's mocked and vilified by these so called "patriots."

This is largely the same group who didn't bat an eyelash about flushing nearly a trillion bucks down the toilet INVADING THE WRONG COUNTRY.  Not to mention all the American's and Iraqi civilians killed for no reason.

Running deficits to give more money to those who already have a ton of it or blow a country up looking at us cross eyed is cool. But don't you dare help my neighbor keep his house after he lost his job through no fault of his own.

Preemptive war on the credit card is fine.

Spend money to help your countrymen during an economic crisis? Oh you fucking socialist traitor.

Deficits do matter. Getting the country back on track and the economy moving matters. Helping the top 1% buy another yacht doesn't.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

There isn’t much point in saying it, but I’ll do it anyway: Political commentary in this country is out of control. Predictably it’s almost exclusively from the right (Don’t think I missed or approved of Rep. Cohen’s “Goebbels” rant. Thanks a lot dipshit for making us all look bad.)

What may actually be more reprehensible than what has been said, is the insanely arrogant and combative attitudes from the talking heads on the right when asked to tone down their rhetoric.

The bodies in Tuscon weren’t even cold and there Sarah Palin was, in an unbelievable show of hubris and narcissism, making herself out as the victim, because her PAC was rightly criticized for having gunsights on Giffords’ district.  Yeah, it was "blood libel" Sarah, such a saint, such a martyr. Why not save the graphic descriptors for the people who actually ended up covered in blood?

After Glenn Beck’s despicable attack on George Soros, there were calls from the Jewish community to knock off the Nazi tourettes and stop with the holocaust bullshit. Rather than acting reasonable, Beck ramped up the attacks, much as he did after the Tides Foundation led an advertising boycott after Beck painted a target on their back (which Byron Williams tried to act on).

Next up is Beck’s vicious attacks on Francis Fox Piven for something she wrote 45 years ago.  Without any proof whatsoever Beck claimed this 78 year old woman was at the heart of a leftist conspiracy to collapse the United States. Surprise, surprise after over a years’ worth of savaging, death threats directed at Piven started showing up at Beck’s online pig trough The Blaze.

Piven went to the press about the threats, and about how now she was living in seclusion in fear of her life.  Beck predictably ratcheted up the ugliness along with Fox Nation.  Fans of both sites heaped on violent rhetoric and more threats.  The moderators must be getting tired of scrubbing that garbage off the web.

Most recently we have Captain Oxycontin sitting atop his shit pile, crassly insulting Chinese people. Congressman Leland Yee spoke out for an advertiser boycott of Limbaugh’s show.  In short order, some racist coward asshole faxed Yee’s office a death threat containing the words “Rush Limbaugh will kick your chink ass.” Classy. The fax also had a picture of a pickup truck dragging a noose with a black person’s head in it. Even classier.

A National Tragedy

My thoughts and prayers go with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the honorable judge Joseph Roll, and all the other victims and their families in the wake of the horrific shooting outside of Tuscon, Arizona that took place yesterday.

I won't make any political hay over this tragedy. It's simply too awful. For the record I don't consider murder political speech or any speech whatsoever. It is a crime, period.

I have no idea what drove 22 year old Jared Loughran to kill. Be it mental illness or some paranoid delusion.

I refuse to point fingers. This is bigger than me. This is bigger than democrat vs. republican or liberal vs. conservative.

My hope is that we can come together as a country to condemn this awful crime and remember that in the end, we're ALL Americans, regardless of the letter on our voter cards.

I might not agree with my neighbor's viewpoint, but I'll defend, to the death, his right to say it.