Teabagger Logic Fails Me

Conservative republicans are claiming that the democratic victory in NY-23 is proof of increasing strength of the GOP brand.

That's a tough pill to swallow.

By throwing support behind teabagger hero Doug Hoffman, who claims his reason for entering the race was that he was angry and fed-up, the party believes it scored big by forcing out the more moderate GOP candidate. That's good for party cleansing if you're participating in the Russian revolution of the early 1900s, but lousy if you're trying win elections in 2009 New York state, United States of America.

This strategy was so effective that the democrats were able to win a seat that had been in republican hands since the US Civil War. Perhaps by teabagger fringe sees their goal as returning to their roots by driving in reverse until they get back to the place from whence they came.

Hoffman's message, spurred along by the likes of Glenn Beck, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, and other who believe a hard right turn will get this country back on track, landed with a resounding thud among the majority of voters who look beyond the faux outrage created and nurtured by Fox News, Matt Drudge, and your local coterie of wingnuttery and seek an approach that appears likely to deal with today's reality of a stinky economy, lousy health care, two wars, and a financial system out of control.

Screeching racist epithets while drowning government in a bathtub isn't a viable solution for most folks. At some point, actual ideas need to be loaded into the cannons and fired in the general direction of what ails us. When your ammunition continually results in a cartoonish "BANG!" flag drooping from the end of the muzzle, no amount of demagoguery will hide the flaccid nature of teabagger solutions.

The tip of DIck Armey's spear is looking a little Cialis-challenged, don't you think?

So the logic of narrowing your core constituency to rabid believers seems antithetical to the "big tent" concept of winning elections by appealing to a broad segment of voters. If your fan base also happens to be the majority of the population, you're solid, but as NY-23 demonstrates, support can be loud and boisterous without being numerically significant.

If the GOP believes that this approach will gain them seats in the midterm elections and in 2012, I just might need to donate to their efforts. As James Carville famously noted, if you see a republican thrashing around in the water, throw that son-of-a-bitch an anvil.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

No Health Care Bill from GOP

Remember when congressional Republicans heaped scorn on the Democratic concept of a health care bill and promised to offer an alternate plan?

Yeah, the Party of No is also the Party of No Deliver.

GOP Rep. Roy Blunt, chair of a confusingly-named "House GOP Health Care Solutions Group" has announced that Republicans will not be offering the previously-promised alternate plan, because it would confuse things.

I'm guessing that it's less about confusion than the fact that the GOP has not been able to articulate a coherent plan that meets even half of the stated goals. That should come as no surprise. I would have been taken aback if the GOP had come forward for some fresh ideas to solve this problem, because solutions outside of cutting taxes have never been the strength of the right wing.

Wonder how long it will be until they take down this video in which they promise to deliver a plan?

Republicans Couldn't Win at H-O-R-S-E

As I read the news stories and blog postings detailing how the Republican party has gone face-down in the cake, it reminds me of being in elementary school, the beginning of recess, and the agonizing process of choosing teams.

Rush Limbaugh would choose Dick Cheney over Colin Powell. Karl Rove would pick Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell. Tom Ridge thinks Powell has a powerful drive to the left side of the key.

Forget the fact that Limbaugh is a bloated, Viagra-possessing buffoon and that Cheney has had four times as many heart attacks as Limbaugh has had successful marriages. Colin Powell was the guy who, in an Iraq War I briefing, famously said, "First we are going to cut it off, and then we are going to kill it."

Now that's some competitive spirit. I want Powell on my team.

Exactly how many times do you think the team of Limbaugh, Rove, and Cheney could run a fast break before the game was called due to morbidity? And to flog this dead horse even further, how long can the Republican party stake their claim to revival by imitating a group of third graders on the playground?

It's clear that the game has changed, but it's not a sudden shifting of the winds. For some time, people have grown weary of wedge issues and sanctimony, but the tipping point was the double-barrel blast of an economy that shit the bed and a war filled with lies and torture.

Gays aren't really scary, it turns out. Illegal aliens aren't trying to date Meghan McCain. Trickle-down economics turns out to be exactly what George H.W. Bush said it was, as his son stuck pins in the voodoo doll and we all felt the pain.

It doesn't matter who the Republicans pick for their team right now. They don't know how to play!

I wouldn't normally do this, but I'm going to throw a lifeline to the GOP. Go pick up a copy of The Littlest Leaguers - Learn How To Play Basketball, and familiarize yourselves with some basic concepts. I see there's a section on rebounding.

With lessons in teamwork and good sportsmanship too, learning to play basketball has never been more fun than with The Littlest Leaguers.

If they pay attention and work hard, maybe they'll even get to go out for ice cream after practice. I hear Norm Coleman is flush with coin.

GOP: What the Hell?

CNN's Rick Sanchez has a little difficulty understanding the freedom tent of SC Senator Jim DeMint. Via DailyKosTV

Mocking the GOP

From Daily Kos, the GOP has suggested that Democrats rename themselves as the "Democrat Socialist Party" because the GOP is a wee bit angry these days.

The DNC responds:

"I'm going to pass on marketing advice from folks who hadn't fully thought out the implications of using tea bags as a brand," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan. "But what's clear is that when you're devoid of leadership, devoid of ideas and your only answer is to say 'no' to change, it's not surprising that angry, fringe elements take center stage at the Republican Party."

Obama Pushes Back on Imaginative Ones

Seemingly tired of Republican windbags taking shots at him for meaningless reasons, President Obama fired some double-barrelled snark in their direction.

Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States’. They own Citgo. It’s unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States. I don’t think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela.

Obama Begins Mocking GOP's National Security Attacks

Republican Comeback?

There's been much noise out of the GOP regarding how the NY-20 House election to fill the seat vacated when the incumbent was appointed to fill Hilary Clinton's Senate position would be proof positive that Republicans were on the comeback trail, and a Democratic loss would portend all sorts of bad news for the Obama administration and its policies.

Remember that?

As we sit here today, Democratic contender Scott Murphy has a 25 vote lead over Republican hopeful Jim Tedisco. With more than 150,000 votes counted, the Dem is in the lead in an area where Republicans hold a 70,000 person advantage in voter registrations.

The election will come down to several thousand absentee ballots, and the final result is anyone's guess. One thing is certain, however - if the Republican candidate can't cruise to an easy victory in an area where his party holds a significant edge in voter registrations, the GOP may want to reexamine just how successful this comeback is turning out to be.

I'm just sayin'.

GOP Road to Recovery

Nate Silver has an interesting take on a graph that demonstrates the Republican alternative to Obama's budget.

Rush (Limbaugh) to Judgement

This certainly has been the winter of our discontent - with Rush Limbaugh.

It speaks volumes about the depth of problems within the Republican party, the ever-widening cracks in their foundation that continue to grow into fissures that threaten to swallow them whole, that their de facto leader is a doctor-shopping, drug-addicted, woman-disrespecting, sex-outside-of-marriage having, millionaire gasbag who has amassed a fortune by whipping into frenzy a legion of dittoheads that holds the distinction of being one of the most ill-informed, erroneous, and intolerant mobs to roam these states since the days of the Salem witch trials.

Limbaugh is quick to pontificate about all things conservative as he bakes sweet muffins of freedom by using a simple recipe of tax cuts, morsels of small government, and a sprinkling of free marketeering, wrapped in a lard-smothered shell of self-righteousness. The formula looks good on paper, much like those in the food section of your local newspaper, where people write in to ask if anyone has the recipe for toast (like they serve at Denny's!).

Small problem, el-Rushbo. We've been eating at this restaurant for about a decade or so, and frankly, your food tastes like shit. It's rotting out our teeth, and we've lost so much weight due to malnutrition that we have to run around in the shower just to get wet.

Limbaugh claims to be the default leader of the Republican party. Laying down the smack on the Man of Steele during his first thirty days as chairman of the RNC demonstrates that Limbaugh was either not consulted before the post was filled, or his counsel was disregarded by those charged with rebuilding the GOP as a brand. There's a good reason for that.

Rush Limbaugh has never led anything.

He's never been an organizer, unless you consider assembling an angry mob to be real-world experience. He's never held an elected office, or solved the hard problems that exist. He's failed at most of the things he's ever attempted. Marriage. Sobriety. Television. Sporting a woody (remember when he was caught at an airport with Viagra but had no prescription?) He lost a ton of weight and gained it all back. He. Does. Not. Deliver.

The complete lack of dominion in the GOP, from McConnell to Cantor to Boehner to Steele, aptly shines a bright light on how Rush has been thrust into the pole position - it's a gaping leadership vacuum that has defaulted him to the main stage. And what's his plan? Here's a quote from the recent CPAC conference:

..."one thing that we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat them is with better policy ideas right now."

Really? You've lost two big elections in a row; the White House, Senate, and House belong to the opposition, the public overwhelming supports a change in approach, and still, you don't want to stop and think about that a little bit? Maybe consider coming up with something a little better?

No matter. We don't need the support of dittoheads to accomplish the primary goals articulated by Barack Obama - education, health care, stimulus, etc. That group has ceased to be relevant to the course that's been charted, and serves only as a plaintive cry from the darkness, a warning echoing throughout this country - no matter the fervor or vitriol, the name-calling or finger-pointing, what eventually comes to pass is this.

Ideas always win against presumption. Substance trumps hubris. Teamwork defeats self-importance.

For all his audacity, Rush is on the wrong side of history. His island is shrinking, and soon, it will be just him, his big cigars, and his white, Southern comrades. Good riddance.

Putting Republicans in Their Place

Jon Stewart once said that the views of extremists on the left and the right tend to dominate the airwaves because "moderates have shit to do!" Are we seeing President Obama take on the fringes with a drive up the middle?

During a Friday morning meeting with House and Senate leadership, Obama listened to GOP gripes and complaints about his proposals for the economic stimulus package, as Republicans trotted out their time-worn (and completely discredited) views on tax cuts as the holy grail. When asked to justify his proposal, Obama replied, matter-of-factly, "I won."

Coming from another politician at a different time (I earned political capital, and I intend to spend it), such a blunt response might elicit a sharp rebuke, especially coming from a President not even a week into his new gig. But these are not ordinary times, and Obama has a clear mandate from the people - lead.

Obama has been clear about the need for bipartisanship since he was Democrat candidate Obama, tromping through the corn fields of Iowa and crunching along icy sidewalks in New Hampshire, providing a different viewpoint than H. Clinton on what sort of leadership would be required to pull the nation from the dark abyss created by GOP rule.

His quick jab on Friday was a wake-up call, not only for those assembled for the meeting, but also as part of a broader discussion that officially began with his inauguration speech: the best ideas are welcome, regardless of party origination, and I'll reject your weak-ass efforts the same way I stuff a lame jump shot from the top of the key on the basketball court. This is a serious time, with critical consequence. Bring your "A" game.

In case Obama's poke didn't get the attention of those on the right, there were other observations to further emphasize his solution-based view of governing. "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," Obama intoned, clearly drawing a line in the sand with Republicans. Ditch the anger, fear, and calculated outrage coming from the EIB, FOX News, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and other mouthpieces who have permanently stained conservatism by co-opting the label of conservative in an attempt to paint their wackadoodle views with the brush of legitimacy.

Wasting valuable time and resources on manufactured issues while the US is in crisis mode is over. Hear that, punditry? Don't attempt to react and justify Obama's decisions by getting manipulated into these exchanges. The last thing Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, and crew want is to find a fix for the problems. There's no drama in that. They live for conflict and outrage, real or imagined. Raise the level of discourse and have strong debates on ideas. Avoid slugging it out over beliefs. You can change ideas - you can't change beliefs. No one who watches Hannity or listens to Limbaugh is going to be swayed by intellectual thrust and parry, so don't bother.

Ideas are in. Conflict is out. What part of "change" do you not understand?

Republicans Remain Dumb

After George Allen's infamous "macaca" slur during the Virginia senate race against Jim Webb cost him the election, and Trent Lott lost his Senate leadership post after doing the equivalent of a secret racist handshake while honoring Strom Thurmond, himself a career segregationist, Republicans should have learned to dummy up and keep their African-American bias to themselves.

There were many racist examples during the 2008 presidential campaign at the local, county, and state campaign levels, from untoward posters, bumper stickers, jingles, and other demonstrations of 19th century attitude that partially explains the moral and cultural bankruptcy behind several years of election losses in the House and Senate, and now the White House will contain not just a Democrat, but one of them, just like old Strom and Jesse Helms feared.

So it comes as no surprise that one of the posers in the running for chairman of the RNC has gone and trotted out the dark side of the GOP again. Tennessee Republic Chip Saltsman sent a CD to committee members that included the parody song "Barack the Magic Negro", racist lyrics set to the tune "Puff the Magic Dragon".

The parody originally appeared on Rush Limbaugh's radio show in 2007, which should have been everyone's first clue that it would ruffle some feathers. Saltsman claims the song is obviously satire and meant as a joke, another in an endless litany of Republican "lighten up, Francis" excuses brought out whenever someone in their party shits the bed in public.

There were other equally offensively-titled tunes on the disc, including  "John Edwards' Poverty Tour," " "Ivory and Ebony" and "The Star Spanglish Banner," an obvious reference to the GOP's position on immigration reform that's been so well supported and revered that Hispanic-Americans voted for Barack Obama by overwhelming margins. 

As Obama counts down the days until he sits in the Oval Office, having put together an impressive leadership team in record time, there are still some who believe more in broadcasting worn stereotypes than they do fixing the massive problems their party created. To borrow one of the key phrases from the Bush 43 administration, why do they hate America?

If the GOP wants to continue bringing a spork to a gunfight, I'm ok with that. If they want to drive an obstructionist agenda when clearly the people have called for quick and effective action, that's fine. They will continue to seal their fate for a generation.

The rest of us are moving on to more important things, like humanity, compassion, competence, and results. 

The bus is leaving, ladies and gentleman. You're either on it, or you're not.

GOP Priorities

There are a number of things wrong with the Republican response to the automaker bailout, not the least of which is how some of the GOP lawmakers who voted for the $700 billion Wall Street financial package turned around and voted against the $15 billion auto deal.

Republicans are really down in the weeds on the auto deal, demanding very granular rules and attaching a large number of strings to any of the Big 3 who might take funds, while we sit here watching the administration's absolute refusal to provide any transparency on how the $700 billion has been divided and spent. Bloomberg TV formally requested details of how the financial bailout funds were being used, and Bloomberg was summarily told to pound sand.

So why does the GOP, particularly southern lawmakers, have so much disdain for the rank & file auto workers, pressing for immediate reduction in salary and benefits to the same levels as those enjoyed by non-union workers involved in the same car building work for Toyota, BMW, Nissan, and other plants located below the Mason-Dixon line?

MSNBC's Countdown program obtained an internal GOP talking points memo that cut to the heart of the matter. "This is the Democrats' first opportunity to pay off organized labor after the election," read the e-mail circulated earlier this week among Senate Republicans. "This is a precursor to card check and other items. Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it."

This isn't about saving American auto manufacturing at all. This is the GOP digging in their heels around one of their core principals, an approach that has been disproved in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles. Republicans might have short memories, but the rest of us don't.

The average line worker for GM, Chrysler, or Ford makes $45,000 a year, which seems like a pretty middle-class income. Senate Republicans want to keep their thumb on how much these workers can earn in return for a government bailout, so why hasn't the same logic been applied to companies that accepted a chunk of the $700 billion? Shouldn't a Wall Street broker or trader be shackled in the same manner, unable to share in any of the success their company achieves until such point as their firm pays the government back? Not surprisingly, no one wants to go on record with the GOP's response to that question.

This is more about the GOP making a last-ditch attempt to destroy labor unions and employee protections in the US. The "first shot" memo makes this clear. With healthcare reform a priority for the incoming Obama administration, one of the largest pieces of the $70 per hour figure often quoted by opponents when they mislead people on what auto workers are compensated will suddenly become a non-issue. Health care retirement benefits and medical coverage for existing workers should become more affordable, which will lower that per hour rate, whatever it happens to be.

The Republicans are on the wrong side of this issue. They have repeatedly fought against some of the key foundational items that could have averted this crisis in the first place - healthcare reform, mandating increased mileage standards to force the Big 3 to make more fuel efficient offerings, tax incentives and rewards for alternative fuel vehicles, holding CEOs accountable for more than quarterly stock performance, curbing executive compensation compared to worker compensation - the list goes on and on. Having failed to provide leadership for decades, Senators now want to punish the workers for the mistakes committed by those on the opposite end of the foodchain. It's wrong, and it's been called out as such.

Morgan Johnson, United Auto Workers union president in Shreveport, Louisiana, summed up the problem quite well when speaking about his junior Senator, David Vitter (R-LA), who has been leading the GOP charge to kill the auto maker bailout while having an embarrassing history of being involved with escort services.

"I don't know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we've done, it's time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, " said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, "He'd rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers."