Tag Archives: GOP

Snark of the Day

“No, what we need as the Republican nominee in 2016 is a man of more glaring disqualifications. Someone so nakedly unacceptable to the overwhelming majority of sane Americans that only the GOP could think of nominating him.
This man is Rand Paul, the junior senator from a state with eight electoral votes.

“This man wants to be the Republican nominee for president.  And so he should be. Because maybe what the GOP needs is another humbling landslide defeat.”

Bret Stephens, WSJ

Except the GOP never seems to be humbled by its landslide defeats.

Rove Tried to Contain Planned Parenthood/Komen Damage

From “Karen Handel book:  Karl Rove urged retreat on Planned Parenthood,” Kathryn Smith and David Nather, Politico:

A tell-all book by a former official at Susan G. Komen for the Cure alleges that Karl Rove told the charity to reverse its decision to end its cancer screening funding of Planned Parenthood — raising eyebrows among conservatives who wanted Komen to stand firm amid the uproar.

The book by Karen Handel, the former Komen vice president who resigned after the charity restored funding to Planned Parenthood, says Komen CEO Nancy Brinker told her that Rove said the organization should back down.

The book, “Planned Bullyhood,” went on sale Tuesday, and the Rove story is already provoking comments from conservatives who have been skeptical of Rove in the past.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81036.html#ixzz26BjDBbM5

Rove wisely wanted the GOP to focus on the economy in the 2012 presidential election and not get bogged down in social issues, driving women away, especially white suburban women who helped elect Bush 43 twice.

 

Will GOP Succeed Because They Support Failure?

It will be bad enough if Mitt wins.

But it will just kill me if he wins because the failing austerity policies in Europe do so much damage to our economy that they cost President Obama the election, the same misguided austerity policies that the GOP wants to impose here.

So European economic failure would generate GOP success would in turn would generate American economic failure.  Who’s on first?

The GOP Wrapped in a Pretzel

The GOP/Fox News machine is twisting itself into a pretzel over the “mandate is a tax” part of the Obamacare decision.  They now effectively have their heads up their tushes.

First, they demonize Justice Roberts for calling the thing a tax.  It’s not a tax, he’s wrong, he’s evil, he’s a moron.

But then, in the next breath, they turn around and start campaigning against Obama for imposing this horrible new tax.  It is a tax.  It is, it is!  We are going to call it a tax every minute of every day from now till November.

So eight Supreme Court justices from both the left and the right agree that the mandate was purposefully written as a penalty and is not a tax.  The GOP and Fox say these justices have interpreted the Constitution correctly, but when President Obama says it’s not a tax, he’s no legal scholar, he’s a liar.

You can say it’s not a tax if your name is Antonin Scalia, but not if your name is Barack Hussein Obama.

Quote of the Day

In response to the furor around Fred Davis’ proposed ads against President Obama using Rev. Wright, Mark Salter, long-time McCain adviser, said this:

“Fred is a creative guy, but he requires round-the-clock adult supervision.  If you take your eyes off him for a moment, you’re chasing demon sheep, witches and the yellow peril.”

Update on GOP and Rev. Wright Ad Campaign

Perhaps in response to the NYT‘s front-page story based on their leaked copy of Fred Davis’ proposed ad campaign, Davis’ company, Strategic Perceptions, has announced that the plan to attack President Obama based on Rev. Wright has not been approved by Joe Ricketts, whose Super PAC would be paying for it.

But the NYT was careful to call it a “proposal” and said that the ad campaign “is awaiting approval.”

The Danger and Damage of Extreme Income Inequality

From “Plutocracy, Paralysis, Perplexity,” Paul Krugman, NYT:

“If something like the financial crisis of 2008 had occurred in, say, 1971 — the year Richard Nixon declared that ‘I am now a Keynsian in economic policy’ — Washington would probably have responded fairly effectively.  There would have been a broad bipartisan consensus in favor of strong action, and there would also have been wide agreement about what kind of action was needed.

“But that was then.  Today, Washington is marked by a combination of bitter partisanship and intellectual confusion — and both are, I would argue, largely the result of extreme income equality.

“For the past century, political polarization has closely tracked income inequality, and there’s every reason to believe that the relationship is causal.  Specifically, money buys power, and the increasing wealth of a tiny minority has effectively bought the allegiance of one of our two major political parties, in the process destroying any prospect for cooperation.

“Disputes in economics used to be bounded by a shared understanding of the evidence, creating a broad range of agreement about economic policy. … Now, however, the Republican Party is dominated by doctrines formerly on the political fringe.

“And why is the GOP so devoted to these doctrines regardless of facts and evidence?  It surely has a lot to do with the fact that billionaires have always loved the doctrines in question, which offer a rationale for policies that serve their interests. … And now the same people effectively own a whole political party.

“Many pundits assert that the U. S. economy has big structural problems that will prevent any quick recovery.  All the evidence, however, points to a simple lack of demand, which could and should be cured very quickly through a combination of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

“No, the real structural problem is in our political system, which has been warped and paralyzed by the power of a small, wealthy minority.  And the key to economic recovery lies in finding a way to get past that minority’s malign influence.”  Emphasis added.

I think it’s obvious that if Mitt wins, this problem won’t get better.

 

 

Chen and Family Coming to America

It looks as if the diplomatic dance is proceeding for Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and his wife and two children to come to the US, where Chen will study at NYU.

You have to wonder how happy the GOP is for the Chen family.  My guess — not so much.

The successful negotiation for Chen’s safety won’t win President Obama votes come November, but if this crisis had dragged on, it would have dragged the President down with it, with the GOP invoking Jimmy Carter.  He needed to get it off the table, and it appears that he has.