Rep. Peter DeFazio's Take on "The Deal"

Perfect Together

In recent days, more people have become aware of the hate-filled screeds of right-wing blogger Pamela "Pammy Jugs" Geller, who was one of the inspirations of Norwegian mass-murderer Anders Breivik. Now, Pammy is trying to shift the focus from that connection and blame Breivik's victims for being "Middle Eastern or mixed races." What a scum bag.

We see from the picture above that Pammy and a certain teatard Congressman have an affinity. You are known by the company you keep, Mr. "Cancer."

This About Sums It Up

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When -- among other things -- you take the option of invoking powers under the 14th Amendment to ensure the debt will be paid off the table at the beginning, you're not negotiating, you're surrendering.

Extortion Works

The debt ceiling hostage deal post-mortems are coming in, and the bottom line is that extortion works! See here, here, and here for starters. The "balanced approach" Obama demanded as part of a deal? As a senior Senate Democratic aide is quoted in the Kaplan Daily: "...when you look at the emerging details, spending cuts and triggers with no revenue, the president got rolled." That's right, the president got rolled. Again.

But the White House thinks it played the game smart! Those dumbasses think the deal will improve Obama's standing with independents (to hell with progressives!); that "even a losing deal can be a winning strategy." Allow me to offer them a clue, free of charge: voters of all political stripes want a president to be strong and Stand For Something, not cave when the heat is on. I have a few questions for the geniuses calling the shots: What do they think the average voter's impression is of Obama as a leader now? If those voters see him blinking over and over again to the likes of Orange Boner, Missy McConnell and the teatards, what does the White House think these treasured independents imagine him doing when he's across the table from the Chinese or the Russians (to be sure they're observing this president's weakness very closely). A weak president is a danger to us all.

In short, this president and his advisers are not only severely damaging their own prospects and that of their party by unilaterally disarming in the face of thugs and extortionists. They're damaging the country. This won't be the last of it, either. And the best interests of the American people? Well, that's apparently negotiable.

Sunday. Krugman. Read It.

The Very Serious People, the "centrists" who bet wrong on linking deficit reduction to the debt ceiling vote, and what they don't understand about the "modern" Rethuglican party, all courtesy of Paul Krugman. Be sure to read the Jonathan Chait piece that PK links to in his blog, too. As Krugman has said before, they're "the cult that's destroying America."

BONUS: Even if our own lazy, cowardly, "both sides do it" media can't or won't call it honestly, the furrin (gasp!) press will.

Even A Blind Squirrel, Cont'd.

The fracture within the Rethuglican / New Confederate Party widened last week over their self-inflicted debt ceiling crisis. On the one hand, you have the traditional big money, big business elite who have funded the Rethug Party for years. They want the debt ceiling lifted. On the other, you have the loony teabagger true believers, far-right extremists who see bringing down the Government as a good thing, and to hell with the economy.

Right wing pundits have been forced to choose sides in the internal war. Blind squirrel and country club Rethug Kathleen Parker finds a nut in today's Kaplan Daily:

"Take names. Remember them. The behavior of certain Republicans who call themselves Tea Party conservatives makes them the most destructive posse of misguided “patriots” we’ve seen in recent memory. If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to the Tea Party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner."

Better late than never, but you have to remember that the right wing media was stoking the fires of obstruction from the minute Obama was elected. Any lie and distortion was acceptable in whipping up the low-information teatards, who are clueless that the far right groups that pay for their rallies, buses and signs are actually working against their economic and social interests.

"Snooki Kabuki"

Well, the Senate did it's job last night, killing Orange Boner's tea party manifesto... er debt limit bill... in a bipartisan 59-41 vote. D.L. MacKenzie at Politicus has a nice piece about the "Snooki kabuki" theater the nutters in Orange Boner's House Rethuglican caucus have been performing. (One feels an apology is due to Snooki for this reference, as she can't begin to plumb the House Rethugs' depths of stupidity and venality.)

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.

More Austerity Will Cure This!

John Q. Public and the main street economy are eating their peas while the corporations have their best profits as a percent of GDP in 60 years.

Weekend S.O.S.

S.O.S. -- from the heat, from the right-wing nutters, from cosmic ennui! Here come The Police:

The Problem With "Centrism"

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The topic du jour: "centrists."

-- E.J. Dionne says moderation oui, centrism non!

-- Driftglass says "under what rock have you been?"

-- our hero Paul Krugman says they're a cult that's destroying America.

(Cartoon: Simpson)

Rethug Family Values, Cont'd.

It's being reported that nasty Rethuglican teabagger Rep. Joe "Deadbeat" Walsh owes over $117,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children. Deadbeat, who is one of the most radical and loudmouthed freshmen Congressmen opposing any deal on the debt limit, has been stiffing his ex and their kids for some time, court documents allege. Rather than pay what he owes in support, Deadbeat loaned his campaign $35,000 while claiming he had no money. No surprise that this teatard's priorities are himself first.

(photo: Deadbeat Walsh stiffs the bill collector)

Poor Wingnuts Play Victims Again

On his show last night, Jon Stewart clobbered the clowns at Fux for their phony victimization act regarding coverage of the Norwegian wingnut who killed dozens of people earlier this week. According to our right wingers, Christianity is under attack because the media reported that Anders Breivik identified himself as a "Christian crusader" and wrote endlessly on stopping the Islamic takeover of Europe. Here's Stewart's brilliant response.

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Rethug Anti-Nutter Caucus Forming?

Slight glimmers today that some Rethug politicians are starting to stand up to the tea bagging nutters that have taken over the party:

-- Sen. John "Walnuts" McCain (Rethug-Sunset City), quoting a Wall Street Urinal editorial today on the Senate floor, calls the nutters "tea-party Hobbits." (Hee-hee) Of course, some of this is payback for tea party opposition to Walnuts' reelection in 2010. But sweet and righteous nonetheless.

-- Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is letting it be known that the Reid/ Obama/ Democratic plan on raising the debt ceiling warms his cockles (corkles?) more than Orange Boner's plan. Good for him. (There are a few more anti-nutter Rethuglican Senators, among them Sens. Coburn (OK) and Chambliss (GA) that deserve some credit for not wanting their country to go over the cliff to satisfy some morons on the far right.)

Quote of the Day

"Apparently, House Republicans are holding out for a formal surrender ceremony. Speaker John Boehner has come up with a counterproposal to Reid’s — a plan that isn’t all that different substantively but that Boehner titled “The Two-Step Approach to Hold President Obama Accountable.” For many Republicans, even this doesn’t go far enough. Republicans apparently won’t be satisfied until Obama takes responsibility for all of the national debt, the Bush tax cuts and the Oklahoma heat wave, admits he’s not a citizen and goes back to Kenya." -- Harold Meyerson in today's Kaplan Daily.

Having eaten the Dems' lunch, the wingnut Rethugs want to eat their breakfast and supper, too. The Dems and Obama now find themselves playing from their own 5 yard line. Dealing with a reckless, radical and delusional group that doesn't care about hurting people will almost always produce bad outcomes, as Obama and the Dems are finding out.