Politics: March 2009 Archives

Most Americans Don't Blame Obama for Economy, Poll Finds - washingtonpost.com:

"The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll."

(Via The Washington Post.)

It looks like the public is still in a realistic mood. Still, Obama's plan needs to start having some effects soon or the public will turn on him.

Why Michael Steele Must Stay:

"So Michael Steele becomes the saving grace for the mainstream moderates and libertarians in the party (like me) and for those conservatives who ‘get it.’ GOP insiders like to say that Michael Steele works well for Republicans because he is a fresh conservative GOP face who ‘happens to be black.’ They have it wrong. The GOP needs Michael Steele because he is black and because he understands that he must speak for more than 30 percent of the party’s political base.

For the record, there are pro-choice Republicans.  There are Republicans who support gay marriage. There are Republicans like me who support affirmative action policies.  We are in the minority in the GOP, for sure, but if the party is going to survive and eventually thrive, it needs a leadership that acknowledges us. Republicans need Michael Steele. And, protests or not, they know it."

(Via The Root.)

I've long thought that libertarianism is the path of success for the GOP. I'm just not sure the Christian Right will let that happen. They are just not into freedom they don't define.

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Jindal's Mockery Of Volcano Monitoring Money Only Looking Dumber After Redoubt Blows:

"At the risk of stating the obvious, using advanced technology to predict when a volcano might erupt, at the most basic level, allows local officials to, um, save people's lives by evacuating them. It's hard to think of a better use of government money.

Why is Jindal's line looking even worse now? Because, as you've likely heard, Alaska's Mount Redoubt, 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, erupted last night. And a USGS geologist confirmed to TPMmuckraker that a portion of the stimulus spending for volcano monitoring that Jindal lampooned has been slated to go to USGS monitoring Redoubt."

(Via Talking Points Memo.)

This from a man who speaks of the government role in properly handling natural disasters. It looks like the GOP is stuck on stupid, to coin a phrase. First Palin. Now Jindal. When will the GOP this figure out?

UPDATE: I realize there is a double irony here that this eruption occurred in Alaska, Palin's state. I wonder if she rejected the volcano monitoring money too.

After Voting No, Republicans Tout Funds - WSJ.com:

"WASHINGTON -- Republicans railed against the Democrats' massive economic-stimulus and spending bills as fiscally irresponsible, but some GOP lawmakers are taking credit for projects in their own districts funded by the measures.

'Washington needs to stop spending money that it doesn't have,' Michigan Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra said in attacking the $410 billion omnibus-spending bill, which funds the government through September. But once it passed, he touted its benefits for his district, which stretches along Lake Michigan.

...

In an interview, Mr. Diaz-Balart said, 'The omnibus was too much money, too much spending, too much borrowing, too much debt, and no accountability. Now, I have stuff in that bill, but I still voted against it. But what I have in there, I am very proud of.[emphasis mine]'

Rep. Howard Coble (R., N.C.) issued a news release on March 11 boasting that 'six Coble earmarks' were in the omnibus bill, including $855,000 to extend an airport runway."

(Via The Wall Street Journal.)

If this story doesn't belong in the dictionary under "hypocrite" for oh so many reasons, I don't know what does. Wow.

My patience with Cheney is at an end. Jon Stewart once again caps the sentiment nicely.

The Death Penalty - Ta-Nehisi Coates:

" This is all a long way of saying that some conservatives don't hate big government, they simply want big government to work strictly for them."

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

A better way to say it might be, "Big Government to conservatives is any part of government that doesn't work strictly for them." How else do you justify a yearly, as in ongoing, DoD budget of $800B while decrying a temporary stimulus package of the same size? Utter discredit.

Wasting Away in Hooverville:

"Shlaes's actual critique of the New Deal [in The Forgotten Man] is not easy to pin down. Defining what she believes depends on whether you are reading the book itself or her incessant stream of spin-off journalism. In one article she adopted the classic right-wing line taken up by Andrew Mellon, Hoover's treasury secretary: 'Mellon--unlike the Roosevelt administration--understood that American growth would return if you left the economy alone to right itself.' This is the conclusion that most excites Shlaes's conservative admirers. And in keeping with this argument, Shlaes, a committed supply-sider, scolds Roosevelt for raising taxes on the rich, which discouraged them from taking risks. She fails to explain how the economy managed to recover after the outbreak of World War II, which saw even higher taxes on the rich, or in the postwar period, when they remained high. [emphasis mine]

Moreover, the classic right-wing critique fails to explain how the economy recovered at all. In one of his columns touting Shlaes, George Will observed that 'the war, not the New Deal, defeated the Depression.' Why, though, did the war defeat the Depression? Because it entailed a massive expansion of government spending. The Republicans who have been endlessly making the anti-stimulus case seem not to realize that, if you believe that the war ended the Depression, then you are a Keynesian.

(Via The New Republic.)

Once again conservative ideology reveals it's soft-think. It can't handle even simple facts. If facts are about reality, I'd be all too happy to forget conservatism.

While I think Jim Cramer shouldn't be the only face of the problem, I do think this total roasting is completely on the money. I'm reminded of the Crossfire roasting he did years ago. When will they learn? Here it is in unedited glory.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

YouTube - Bill Maher's Real Time | March 6, 2009 | Cory Booker and Erin Burnett 4:

(Via YouTube.)

Skip to 5:02. Preach, Cory, preach!

Great site on the Federal Budget in visuals. The DoD defense budget just for this year came to almost $800B. I don't hear a peep about this from the "Strong Defense"/"Big Government Bad" conservative crowd.

William Kristol - Republicans' Day of Reckoning - washingtonpost.com:

"Conservatives and Republicans will disapprove of this effort. They will oppose it. Can they do so effectively? Perhaps -- if they can find reasons to obstruct and delay. They should do their best not to permit Obama to rush his agenda through this year. They can't allow Obama to make of 2009 what Franklin Roosevelt made of 1933 or Johnson of 1965."

(Via The Washington Post.)

How about offering alternative solutions? Oh yeah, you don't have any that haven't been offered! That's when you know the GOP is completely bankrupt of any ideas. People are hip to the tax cut mantra since it did less than nothing to stop our current economic woes. (Quick note: Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965.)

Some Off The Cuff Analysis - Ta-Nehisi Coates:

"I keep thinking about the big things that have always kept me from being a conservative--the knee-jerk worship of a past that branded me half a man, the elevation of the loud imbeciles who think science teachers should be using the Bible, the toleration and baiting of bigots who cloaked themselves in the garb of 'States Rights,' and now run under the garb of 'protecting marriage.' The common demonator here is an unreflective veneration of what was, a belief that tradition, no matter how backwards, can heal all."

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Exactly.

Steele trap? GOP fears grow - Mike Allen and Andy Barr - POLITICO.com:

"Steadily becoming a dependable punch line, Steele has brushed back Rush Limbaugh, threatened moderate Republican senators, offered the ‘friggin’ awesome’ Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal some ‘slum love,’ called civil unions ‘crazy’ and promised more outreach to ‘urban-suburban hip-hop settings’ via an ‘off the hook’ public relations campaign. He even threw a shout-out to ‘one-armed midgets.’ That’s in just 30 days on the job — and that’s just the PR part. "

(Via Politico.)

I've met the brother. I'm embarrassed for him. I'm not laughing as many of my friend are.

Blacks, whites hear Obama differently - Nia-Malika Henderson - POLITICO.com:

On his pre-inaugural visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a landmark for Washington’s African-American community, President Barack Obama was asked by a cashier if he wanted his change back. “Nah, we straight,” Obama replied. The phrase was so subtle some listeners missed it. The reporter on pool duty quoted Obama as saying, “No, we’re straight.” But many other listeners did not miss it. A video of the exchange became an Internet hit, and there was a clear moment of recognition among many blacks, who got a kick out of their Harvard-educated president sounding, as one commenter wrote on a hip-hop site, “mad cool.”

(Via Politico.)

For real. For real.