The Antebellum African-American

The Rethuglican nominee for Lt. Governor of Virginia and Virginia's leading hankerchief head E.W. "Ewwww" Jackson must be getting his American history from some KKK publication.  A couple of years ago, he claimed that the U.S. Consitution's provision that African-American slaves were to be counted as three-fifths of a person as "anti-slavery."  Actually, this provision helped slave states to inflate their representation in Congress:

"The clause was demanded by Southern proponents of slavery as a way of enhancing their congressional representation. They wanted slaves to be counted as full persons but settled on three-fifths. People of African descent would have had no real rights either way. The inclusion of the clause greatly enhanced the South’s political power and made it harder to abolish slavery. The clause was effectively eliminated after the Civil War by the Thirteenth Amendment."

 The other day, we noted Ewwww's political extremism and militant homophobia, and no doubt that in the weeks and months ahead, he'll give us more twisted gibberish to comment on.

(photo:  Eyes by Bachmann, views by Jefferson Davis)

The Rethugs' Next Hostage

Ezra Klein on the Rethuglican's threat to use the looming sequester cuts as leverage:

"This is the kind of perverse policy outcome that’s the consequence of the GOP’s no-tax pledge. They could get a deal from the Obama administration that would cut Medicare and Social Security and all the other spending Republicans want to cut so long as they’d also raise taxes. And they wouldn’t even have to raise tax rates — they could just get rid of loopholes and tax breaks in the code. Instead, they’re threatening to cut the spending they care most deeply about using an unreliable mechanism that was designed to be so objectionable that they’d never let it become law.

"But this is the corner they’ve backed themselves into. Having lost an election, and having tied themselves to a no-tax pledge, they’re so desperate for leverage, so desperate for a hostage they can actually shoot, that they’re willing to point the gun at their own head and threaten to pull the trigger." (our emphasis)

To which we can only say, "Go ahead. Make my day."

Disability Rights and Wrongs

Jon Stewart wonders if we've hit rock bottom with the Senate Rethuglicans' voting down the U.N. treaty on disabled rights. Um... almost certainly not.

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Once again, the Rethuglicans who voted against this treaty are moral cowards, utter morons or some combination of the two. As long as we have the likes of nitwit James Inhofe and teatard favorite Mike Lee in the Senate, there is no bottom.

Ignorance and Extremism on Parade

Dana Milbank on the Rethuglican platform:

"Taken as a whole, the platform makes the Republican Party appear angry, inward-looking and more than a little paranoid. No less a Republican than Reince Priebus, the national committee chairman, tried to insulate the party’s nominee from the GOP’s own policies. 'This is the platform of the Republican Party,” he told MSNBC. “It’s not the platform of Mitt Romney.'”

No wonder the Rethug hierarchy and Willard's campaign want to keep the platform under wraps as much as possible and distance themselves from it: it's a petri dish of extreme right-wing conspiracies ("Sharia law"), nostrums (tax cuts for the wealthy, gold standard, creationism), and small-bore meanness (no abortion exceptions for incest, rape or health of the mother, self-deport those undocumented immigrants) that are more 1812 than 2012. It's up to the Democrats to lay this out for the American people over the next 2 months, and not let Willard slither out of complicity with its authorship.

What Political Purity Could Cost Us in November

Garry Wills looks at political purity and the stakes in the 2012 election:

"To vote for a Republican means, now, to vote for a plutocracy that depends for its support on anti-government forces like the tea party, Southern racists, religious fanatics, and war investors in the military-industrial complex. It does no good to say that 'Romney is a good man, not a racist.' That may be true, but he needs a racist South as part of his essential support. And the price they will demand of him comes down to things like Supreme Court appointments. (The Republicans have been more realistic than the Democrats in seeing that presidential elections are really for control of the courts.) [snip]

"Those who think there is no difference between the parties should look at the state that no longer elects any Democrats, the Texas described so well by Gail Collins, with its schools attacking evolution, its religious leaders denying there was ever any separation of church and state, and its cowboy code of justice."

The Firebaggers, the Naderites, the Greens, and all the assorted purists of the Left should ask themselves how turning America into Texas would help those about whom they purport to be most concerned.

Jeb Bush Goes Off-Message: Reagan Would Have "Hard Time" in Today's GOP

Former Florida Rethuglican Governor and Willard surrogate Jeb Bush is continuing to observe the obvious: that the "modern" Rethuglican/ New Confederate party would have a hard time accommodating someone like St. Ronnie of Hollywood or Bush pere:

"Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad — they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party — and I don’t — as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement, doesn’t allow for finding some common ground," Bush said, adding that he views the hyper-partisan moment as "temporary."

"Back to my dad’s time and Ronald Reagan’s time – they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support," he said. Reagan "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."

Though still in denial about the true nature of his party, and willing to blame President Obama for much of the hyper-partisanship, it's interesting that this one-time Rethug fair-haired boy is even making these rather mild and forgiving criticisms. Time to send him back to the Norquist/ Limbaugh re-education camp!

(UPDATE: The rocks-for-brains, white robed one has begun the scolding!)

It's Why We Call Them Rethugs - Base Edition

From Pew Research Center, for anyone who doesn't think the Ayn Rand objectivist philosophy lies firmly at the core of the Rethuglican/ New Confederate Party "thinking," here's what the sociopathic Rethug base has to say:

"Just 40% of Republicans agree that 'It is the responsibility of the government to take care of people who can’t take care of themselves,' down 18 points since 2007. In three surveys during the George W. Bush administration, no fewer than half of Republicans said the government had a responsibility to care for those unable to care for themselves. In 1987, during the Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62% expressed this view."

Forty years of Rush Limbaugh and Grover Norquist, forty years of "The government takes your hard-earned money and wastes it on people who don't produce" and "Shrink government so that you can drown it in a bathtub" -- all have taken their toll. Remember the Rethug crowd that cheered when Ron Paul basically said at a candidates debate this year that if someone can't pay for hospitalization, let 'em die?

You can be sure these are the same nihilist dimbulbs who scream "Get your government hands off my Medicare!"

Quote of the Day

"The truth is, Obama infuriates the Republicans simply by waking up as president each morning. Under the rubric of 'taking our country back,' they have challenged his status as an American, they have impugned his faith and they have even questioned his loyalty and patriotism. From the very beginning, they have pursued a conscious strategy of refusing to compromise in any way whatsoever, to the point that they have purged any in their own camp who dare to even suggest such a course." -- Jay Bookman, in his column in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. As noted by political scientists Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann last weekend, the Rethuglicans are the problem.
(h/t to Daily Kos)

Sunday Comics - Right Off The Cliff

(click to enlarge)



(Tony Auth, via gocomics.com)

Sunday Reading: "Go, Rick, Go"

John Heilemann writes in the New York Magazine about "The Lost Party," and how the Rethuglicans are splitting between the culture warriors (represented by Pope Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum) and the establishment/country club types (Willard "Ann Drives Two Cadillacs" Romney). It's a long article, but worth the read. Here's why Heilemann thinks it would be best for anyone who wants to foster a more responsible Rethuglican party (oxymoron?) to favor a Santorum candidacy:

"But if it’s Santorum who is the standard-bearer and then he suffers an epic loss, a different analogy will be apt: Goldwater in 1964. (And, given the degree of the challenges Santorum would face in attracting female voters, epic it might well be.) As Kearns Goodwin points out, the rejection of the Arizona senator’s ideology and policies led the GOP to turn back in 1968 to Nixon, 'a much more moderate figure, despite the incredible corruption of his time in office.' For Republicans after 2012, a similar repudiation of the populist, culture-warrior coalition that is fueling Santorum’s surge would open the door to the many talented party leaders—Daniels, Christie, Bush, Ryan, Bobby Jindal—waiting in the wings for 2016, each offering the possibility of refashioning the GOP into a serious and forward-thinking enterprise.

"Only the most mindless of ideologues reject the truism that America would be best served by the presence of two credible governing parties instead of the situation that currently obtains. A Santorum nomination would be seen by many liberals as a scary and retrograde proposition. And no doubt it would make for a wild ride, with enough talk of Satan, abortifacients, and sweater vests to drive any sane man bonkers. But in the long run, it might do a world of good, compelling Republicans to return to their senses—and forge ahead into the 21st century. Which is why all people of common sense and goodwill might consider, in the days ahead, adopting a slogan that may strike them as odd, perverse, or even demented: Go, Rick, go."

Even in the highly unlikely event of a Santorum nomination, we think Heilemann might be a wee bit too optimistic that a Santorum drubbing in November would lead to the Rethuglican Party becoming a "serious and forward-thinking enterprise." Maybe if they un-plug Fox "News," the hundreds of hate-radio stations, and the telebangelist industry, and force the Rethug base to deal with the real world for a change... in other words, I doubt I'll see it in my lifetime.

BONUS: More Sunday reading, courtesy of Maureen Dowd (h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief Brian):

"The Republicans, with their crazed Reagan fixation, are a last-gasp party, living posthumously, fighting battles on sex, race, immigration and public education long ago won by the other side.

"They’re trying to roll back the clock, but time is passing them by."

Crackpot Cracker Confederates

The insanity just doesn't stop. Here we have language from a bill introduced in the Georgia State legislature sanctioning "nullification" -- i.e., the unconstitutional proposition that a State has the right to ignore any Federal law it chooses. If you remember your history, that's one of the issues the Civil War was fought over. Apparently, two of the crackpot crackers who lead the Rethuglican/ New Confederate party in Georgia think the issue wasn't settled and needs to be fought all over again.

Here's the text of two parts of the bill, introduced by Rethuglican Majority Leader Chip "Off The Old Blockhead" Rogers and Rethuglican President Pro Tem Tommie "Bobby Joe Cletus Bocephus" Williams, so you can see for yourself the latest depths to which the low-information, secessionist peckerwoods known collectively as the Rethuglican Party have sunk:

"(1) There is created the Joint Commission on Recommendation, which shall be charged with recommending and proposing for a vote by a constitutional majority the nullification in its entirety of a specific federal law or regulation which is deemed to be outside the scope of the powers delegated by the people to the federal government in the United States Constitution or at odds with the Georgia Constitution . . .

"(4) Upon recommendation for nullification, the General Assembly may vote to nullify following such recommendation. The appropriate documentation reflecting the vote shall be documented in legislative journals of the House and Senate. In the event the General Assembly votes by a constitutional majority to nullify any federal statute, mandate, or executive order on the grounds of constitutionality, neither the state nor its citizens shall recognize or be obligated to live under such statute, mandate, or executive order."

I'm all in favor of another March to the Sea, but this time burn it all down.

(Photo: Perfectly at home in today's Rethuglican/ New Confederate Party - the original Nullifier, John C. Calhoun)

Let's Play "Who's The Crackpot?"

Let's look at these two pictures and play "Who's the Crackpot?" One of these two thinks the Girl Scouts is a radical organization that promotes abortion and homosexuality. That would classify as a crackpot idea, no? So which one of these do you think is the crackpot?

If you said the crackpot was the guy with the Neanderthal brow, that would be Indiana Rethuglican State Rep. Bob Morris -- and you'd be right!

Turning the Clock Back on Birth Control

Ann Gerhart in today's Kaplan Daily:

"Who says you can’t turn the clock back?

"Decades ago, near the end of the Age of Aquarius, a Republican congressman from Texas argued passionately that the federal government should pay for birth control for poor women.

"'We need to take sensationalism out of this topic so that it can no longer be used by militants who have no real knowledge of the voluntary nature of the program but, rather, are using it as a political stepping stone,” said George H.W. Bush. “If family planning is anything, it is a public health matter.'”

"Title X, the law he sponsored that still funds family planning for the poor, passed the House by a vote of 298 to 32. It passed the Senate unanimously. A Republican president, Richard Nixon, enthusiastically signed it.

"That was 1970.

"This is now: The issue of birth control has suddenly become an obsession of the 2012 presidential campaign. To many observers, it seems that the clock has indeed been turned back."

Remember when conservative Republicans were sane?

Boehner, Rethuglicans Blink

It's being reported right now that Weeper of the House John "Orange Boner" Boehner (Rethug-OH) and his cast of House Rethuglican crackpots have agreed to the 2-month extension of the payroll tax cut. Doubtlessly, teatard Members have been hearing it back home, as well as from Senate Rethugs and party leaders, that their position was doing great damage to the party's image as anti-tax. It must have been difficult for these extremists to choose between their obsession with fighting Obama to the bitter end, and well, the bitter end. Good.

Oh, and the Dems didn't cave for once. May that continue.

(Photo: Weeper of the House Boehner's having a bad week. Harry Reid? Lovin' it!))

Perry, Bachmann, Cain, et al.: Rethug Chickens Coming Home to Roost?

"Serious Republicans have become concerned. By Serious Republicans, I mean the people who would like to forget how much their party has profited politically over the past 50 years by allying itself with Bible-thumpers, sexual bigots, the sad detritus of American apartheid, the black-helicopter crowd, and people who would like the federal income tax to be as flat as they believe the earth is." -- Charles P. Pierce, in his Esquire blog. Yeah, "Serious Republicans" -- as Keith Olbermann says, "Good luck finding one." The full gutting is here.

Quote of the Day

Driftglass' take on the horror that enablers in the Rethug "establishment" must be feeling at the ignorance and yahoo-ism on display at last night's candidates debate, on stage and in the audience:

"For 30 years we on the Left have watched facts bounce off of the Republican Base voters ever-thickening yahoo carapace like spitballs off of a Rhino Runner... From what previously invisible treasure cave will physicians suddenly emerge carrying the healing medicines that will break the wingnuts' fever and cure them of the fatal Limbaugh-Hannity Syndrome with which they are so gleefully afflicted?" (My emphasis)

He has a wonderful way with words, doesn't he?!

Confessions of a Former Senior Republican Aide

If you read nothing else today, read this fascinating broadside on the "quasi-totalitarian cult" that is the Rethuglican party today by someone who was on the inside: Mike Lofgren. Lofgren, until his recent retirement, was a senior aide and operative on the Rethuglican side on both the House and Senate Budget committees. Read what he has to say about his own (former) party, as well as the clueless, adrift Democrats.

This is just a limited sampling of Lofgren's broad-ranging analysis:

"To those millions of Americans who have finally begun paying attention to politics and watched with exasperation the tragicomedy of the debt ceiling extension, it may have come as a shock that the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. To be sure, the party, like any political party on earth, has always had its share of crackpots, like Robert K. Dornan or William E. Dannemeyer. But the crackpot outliers of two decades ago have become the vital center today: Steve King, Michele Bachmann (now a leading presidential candidate as well), Paul Broun, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Louie Gohmert, Allen West. The Congressional directory now reads like a casebook of lunacy...[snip]

A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner...[snip]

It was not always thus. It would have been hard to find an uneducated farmer during the depression of the 1890s who did not have a very accurate idea about exactly which economic interests were shafting him. An unemployed worker in a breadline in 1932 would have felt little gratitude to the Rockefellers or the Mellons. But that is not the case in the present economic crisis. After a riot of unbridled greed such as the world has not seen since the conquistadors' looting expeditions and after an unprecedented broad and rapid transfer of wealth upward by Wall Street and its corporate satellites, where is the popular anger directed, at least as depicted in the media? At "Washington spending" - which has increased primarily to provide unemployment compensation, food stamps and Medicaid to those economically damaged by the previous decade's corporate saturnalia. Or the popular rage is harmlessly diverted against pseudo-issues: death panels, birtherism, gay marriage, abortion, and so on, none of which stands to dent the corporate bottom line in the slightest."

And the kicker:

"If Republicans have perfected a new form of politics that is successful electorally at the same time that it unleashes major policy disasters, it means twilight both for the democratic process and America's status as the world's leading power."

That's precisely why we need Democrats, and especially Barack Obama, to gather themselves, grow some balls, stand up and fight.

Rethug Gilded Age Economics and Dismantling a Century of Progress

We have two articles appearing in the Kaplan Daily today on the dangerously extreme economic philosophy of the current Rethuglican/ New Confederate Party. [Note: to read both articles in their entirety, once you go to the page link, click on the underlined introduction in each.] One, by Greg Ip, reviews the retrograde "voodoo economics" of leading party lights (as in "light-weights"). Alexander Keyssar traces the campaign to unravel nearly a century of social and economic progress by right-wing yahoos and plutocrats who want to turn back the clock to the 1880's (see Perry, "Hair", below):

"...To a historian, the agenda of today's conservatives looks like a bizarre effort to return to the Gilded Age, an era with little regulation of business, no social insurance and no legal protections for workers. This agenda, moreover, calls for the destruction or weakening of institutions without acknowledging (or perhaps understanding) why they came into being."

The only thing missing in the equation is a muscular, dynamic progressive counterweight to the momentum on the far right (paging Barack Obama...).

Quote of the Day

"Produce a package that staves off default, lifts the debt ceiling high enough to cover federal obligations into 2013, reins in the budget by cutting $4.5 trillion over the next decade through spending reductions and the elimination of tax loopholes and tax breaks benefiting the rich, and guess what? A solid phalanx of congressional right-wingers, egged on by Limbaugh, says no. And, hell no, if it means Barack Obama might share the credit. Getting Obama isn’t just an important conservative Republican goal; it seems to be their only goal." -- Colbert King in today's Kaplan Daily.

When you give one side almost everything they ask for, and they still refuse the deal and ask for more, it's not about the deal; it's about destroying something.

"The Biggest Threat to the World Financial System"

According to British Business Secretary Vince Cable:

"The biggest threat to the world financial system comes from a few right wing nutters in the American congress..."

By George, I think he's got it! (Extra points for "nutters".)