Political Ruminations

To Politico: Stick It.

According to Politico's Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, President Obama doesn’t have a “broad mandate” because……not enough uneducated white men voted for him?

If President Barack Obama wins, he will be the popular choice of Hispanics, African-Americans, single women and highly educated urban whites. That’s what the polling has consistently shown in the final days of the campaign. It looks more likely than not that he will lose independents, and it’s possible he will get a lower percentage of white voters than George W. Bush got of Hispanic voters in 2000.

A broad mandate this is not.

In 2004, George W. Bush claimed a mandate (despite the fact that his administration spent so much time scaring the crap out of people & many people voted for his second term only on that basis):

Bush staked his claim to a broad mandate and announced his top priorities at a post-election news conference, saying his 3.5 million vote victory had won him political capital that he would spend enacting his conservative agenda.

"I earned capital in this campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," Bush told reporters. "It is my style.

President Obama won with a very broad mandate (332 to 206 electoral votes and by 3.2 million votes in the popular vote) with a majority of women, hispanics, African Americans, and educated white men, and the right wing can whine and bitch all they want, but it won't change the facts.

Adds........."Republicans, who have not won as many electoral votes as Mr. Obama did on Tuesday in 24 years”

Via Ashby

Karl Rove's New Anti-Obama Ad Rendered Toothless

Karl Rove’s new ad is a mish-mash of boldfaced, audacious lies and pandering to racism  utilized by Republicans in their out-of-touch effort to paint the president as a “lazy, shiftless black man” in service to the GOP’s famous ‘Southern Strategy’.

Elsewhere, Bob Cesca awesomely debunks the ad, leading up to it with a discussion of the Romney Campaign’s use of the Southern Strategy since April 2012:

In conjunction with the April roll-out of the campaign’s first major foray into the Southern Strategy, Romney said, “I must say I scratch my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing. I would think you could kind of suck it up for four years, particularly when the American people are out of work.” He continued, “I know prior Presidents have gone to Camp David and have been able to get a little rest and get away from the demands of Washington, bring some of their key advisers there and focus on solving tough issues. I would not be jetting around the world and using four years in office to see the world, but instead I would consider the four to eight years in office as a time to get America back on track.”

Romney, who famously capped off his dismal nominating convention by cruising around on his yacht for a long weekend, spoke those words on the Bill Cunningham radio show. You might recall Cunningham from 2008 when he spoke at a McCain event and repeatedly emphasized the president’s middle name — another shameless use of Southern Strategy politics. To his credit, McCain repudiated Cunningham and never invited him back.

Elsewhere, conservatives have taken to calling the president a “vacationer-in-chief.” Even golf enthusiast John Boehner once said, “This is the biggest job in the world and I’ve never seen a president make it smaller.”

Cesca then goes on to slay the specifics of Rove’s (American Crossroads) new ad with a discussion of presidential vacations:

act: during his first 31 months in office, Rove’s former boss spent 180 days on vacation. President Obama, on the other hand, only spent 61 days on vacation in his first 31 months. By the way, it’s important to note what was happening during Bush’s first 31 months: two wars of his own choosing, a catastrophic terrorist attack, corporate scandals and a recession. Yet Bush enjoyed three times as many vacation days as the current president. According to his presidential library, Bush took a total of 1,021 days off during his eight years as president. That’s nearly as many days as JFK’s entire presidency, which lasted 1,036 days. FDR took 958 days off, but he was president for 12 years. In 2005, with three more years left in his presidency, Bush surpassed Reagan for total vacation days. Stacked end-to-end that’s nearly three years out of eight for Bush 43. Of the last seven presidents, Obama, Clinton and Carter spent the fewest days on vacation, with Clinton winning the workaholic competition.

On the intelligence briefings issue:

Now, what about this intelligence briefing issue that Rove brought up in the Crossroads commercial (also noted recently by Breitbart.com and Marc Thiessen)? Specifically, the ad repeats the notion that the president deliberately “skipped” nearly half of all the Presidential Daily Briefs (PDB). You know, because he’s so lazy and irresponsible.

Dana Milbank via Steve Benen debunked that one, “In reality, Obama didn’t ‘attend’ these meetings, because there were no meetings to attend: The oral briefings had been mostly replaced by daily exchanges in which Obama reads the materials and poses written questions and comments to intelligence officials. This is how it was done in the Clinton administration, before Bush decided he would prefer to read less. Bush’s results — Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and the failure to find Osama bin Laden — suggest this was not an obvious improvement.”

So it came down to Bush being too lazy to read stuff. Instead, Bush asked his intelligence people to read the PDBs to him. It’s frankly shocking that Rove would continue to open this can of worms knowing the ineptitude and incompetency of his former boss.

Read the full article.

How George W. Bush Failed to Prevent 9/11

Via Bob Cesca, The New York Times has a new report out which details the failures of the George W. Bush Administration to take action which could have prevented the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, emphasis mine:

The direct warnings to Mr. Bush about the possibility of a Qaeda attack began in the spring of 2001. By May 1, the Central Intelligence Agency told the White House of a report that “a group presently in the United States” was planning a terrorist operation. Weeks later, on June 22, the daily brief reported that Qaeda strikes could be “imminent,” although intelligence suggested the time frame was flexible.

But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day.

In response, the C.I.A. prepared an analysis that all but pleaded with the White House to accept that the danger from Bin Laden was real. [...]

And the C.I.A. repeated the warnings in the briefs that followed. Operatives connected to Bin Laden, one reported on June 29, expected the planned near-term attacks to have “dramatic consequences,” including major casualties. On July 1, the brief stated that the operation had been delayed, but “will occur soon.” Some of the briefs again reminded Mr. Bush that the attack timing was flexible, and that, despite any perceived delay, the planned assault was on track.

Yet, the White House failed to take significant action. Officials at the Counterterrorism Center of the C.I.A. grew apoplectic. On July 9, at a meeting of the counterterrorism group, one official suggested that the staff put in for a transfer so that somebody else would be responsible when the attack took place, two people who were there told me in interviews. The suggestion was batted down, they said, because there would be no time to train anyone else. […..]

Morning Quote: Rand Paul

During a discussion with economist Paul Krugman on ABC’s “This Week”, Tea Party Wingnut, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) made the erroneous claim that government has grown under President Obama:

“[….] the size of growth of government is enormous under President Obama.”

In fact, the size of government has decreased under President Obama, as you can see by this chart comparing government employment under George W. Bush and President Obama.

Adding…….as you probably know, the spike in 2010 was due to the census.

Morning Quote: David Axelrod

Chief strategist for the Obama Campaign, David Axelrod, spoke to reporters about plans for the DNC Convention:

“ I was asked in an interview this morning how much we would be referring to President Bush. My answer was that'd be referring to him about as much as the Republicans did -- which is to say not at all -- but we are going to take issue with the policies from the last decade because these are policies they want to go back to, these are the policy they want to embrace. ”

A Tale of Two Hurricanes and Two Administrations

I rarely copy and publish an entire post (I think I’ve done it once or twice before), but this piece by Soonergrunt of Balloon Juice speaks the truth so simply, it is a true must read.

This is the greatly (and well) condensed story of New Orleans and Katrina in 2007, and of New Orleans and Isaac in 2012…….oh what a difference a president and a political party make(emphasis mine):

This time seven years ago, people were dying in New Orleans, the Lower Ninth ward was flooded out, Plaquemines Parish was essentially destroyed, and government had ceased to function in southern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The National Guard hadn’t yet rolled the first relief convoys, and erroneous news reports were claiming that law enforcement, rescue, and military helicopters were shot at, and that (black) people were completely running wild raping and stealing everything that wasn’t waterlogged or nailed down. NOPD murdered two unarmed civilians on

Paul Ryan is a Big Fat Liar

Paul Ryan in one of many, many lies, tells people at a campaign stop in Ohio that President Obama made the mess he inherited from former Republican President George W. Bush, worse. Seriously.

“Now, let’s be candid, President Obama clearly inherited a very difficult situation. There are no two ways about that. Problem is, he made things much worse.”

Um, no, President Obama most assuredly did not make things worse.

In fact, President Obama brought this country back from the edge with little help from Republicans who sought to obstruct almost everything with the intention of costing President Obama a second term.

Via Bob Cesca who rightfully claims “President Obama rescued the economy. Period.”.

Flashback Morning Quote: Mitt Romney 2004

During the 2004 election, Mitt Romney made excuses for the jobs slowdown that occurred under George W. Bush during his first term:

“The people of America recognize that the slowdown in jobs that occurred during the early years of the Bush administration were the result of a perfect storm. And an effort by one candidate to somehow say "Oh, this recession and the slowdown in jobs was the result of somehow this president magically being elected..." people in America just dismiss that as being poppycock. And they recognize it as that.”

Right Wing Jealous That George W. Bush Didn't Get bin Laden

I originally published this post in May 2011. Considering the current attempts by the Koch brothers and Veterans for a Strong America to swift boat President Obama using the death of bin Laden, I thought it was a good time to bring it to the forefront again.

We can rest assured that if George W. Bush had been responsible for the killing of Osama bin Laden, the right wing would have begun carving his face on to Mt. Rushmore by now, and we'd never hear the end of it. Instead, President Obama did the job, and the right wing wants to crucify him for it out of pure and simple jealousy, as well as a desire to defeat him in November.

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Quotes by former President George W. Bush from Sept. 13, 2001 through March 13, 2002 regarding his intent toward Osama bin Laden:

Two days after the 9/11 attacks, on Sept. 13, 2001, George W. Bush said:

 “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” source

Five days after the 9/11 attacks, on Sept. 16, 2001, George W. Bush said:

“My administration has a job to do and we're going to do it. We will rid the world of the evil-doers.” source

Three months after the 9/11 attacks, on Dec. 14, 2001, George W. Bush said:

Morning Quote: Justice Antonin Scalia

“Get over it. It was a long time ago, people forget. It was a 7-2 decision. It wasn’t even close.”

- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on the 2000 Bush v. Gore decision. The decision was 5-4, not 7-2, and you, as part of a partisan, Republican majority, assisted George W. Bush in stealing a presidential election.  Just sayin’....

Bob Cesca reaction:

The decision was 5-4. And no sir, we won’t “get over it” because it irrevocably changed the course of history — on top of being a crime against citizen suffrage.

Via Bob Cesca

Morning Quote: Andrew Sullivan on President Obama’s Job Performance

“On the economy, the facts are these. When Obama took office, the United States was losing around 750,000 jobs a month. The last quarter of 2008 saw an annualized drop in growth approaching 9 percent. This was the most serious downturn since the 1930s, there was a real chance of a systemic collapse of the entire global financial system, and unemployment and debt—lagging indicators—were about to soar even further. No fair person can blame Obama for the wreckage of the next 12 months, as the financial crisis cut a swath through employment. Economies take time to shift course.

But Obama did several things at once: he continued the bank bailout begun by George W. Bush, he initiated a bailout of the auto industry, and he worked to pass a huge stimulus package of $787 billion.

 

All these decisions deserve scrutiny. And in retrospect, they were far more successful than anyone has yet fully given Obama the credit for. The job collapse bottomed out at the beginning of 2010, as the stimulus took effect. Since then, the U.S. has added 2.4 million jobs. That’s not enough, but it’s far better than what Romney would have you believe, and more than the net jobs created under the entire Bush administration. In 2011 alone, 1.9 million private-sector jobs were created, while a net 280,000 government jobs were lost. Overall government employment has declined 2.6 percent over the past 3 years. (That compares with a drop of 2.2 percent during the early years of the Reagan administration.) To listen to current Republican rhetoric about Obama’s big-government socialist ways, you would imagine that the reverse was true. It isn’t.

 

The right claims the stimulus failed because it didn’t bring unemployment down to 8 percent in its first year, as predicted by Obama’s transition economic team. Instead, it peaked at 10.2 percent. But the 8 percent prediction was made before Obama took office and was wrong solely because it relied on statistics that guessed the economy was only shrinking by around 4 percent, not 9. Remove that statistical miscalculation (made by government and private-sector economists alike) and the stimulus did exactly what it was supposed to do. It put a bottom under the free fall. It is not an exaggeration to say it prevented a spiral downward that could have led to the Second Great Depression.

You’d think, listening to the Republican debates, that Obama has raised taxes. Again, this is not true. Not only did he agree not to sunset the Bush tax cuts for his entire first term, he has aggressively lowered taxes on most Americans. A third of the stimulus was tax cuts, affecting 95 percent of taxpayers; he has cut the payroll tax, and recently had to fight to keep it cut against Republican opposition. His spending record is also far better than his predecessor’s. Under Bush, new policies on taxes and spending cost the taxpayer a total of $5.07 trillion. Under Obama’s budgets both past and projected, he will have added $1.4 trillion in two terms. Under Bush and the GOP, nondefense discretionary spending grew by twice as much as under Obama. Again: imagine Bush had been a Democrat and Obama a Republican. You could easily make the case that Obama has been far more fiscally conservative than his predecessor—except, of course, that Obama has had to govern under the worst recession since the 1930s, and Bush, after the 2001 downturn, governed in a period of moderate growth. It takes work to increase the debt in times of growth, as Bush did. It takes much more work to constrain the debt in the deep recession Bush bequeathed Obama.”

- Conservative-Independent, Andrew Sullivan, excerpted from a Newsweek cover story. The quoted portion of the article focuses on President Obama’s job performance in regards to the economy.

The Food Stamp President

Newt Gingrich just can’t stop using that old canard, the Southern dog whistle, that code for the term “welfare queens” (which don’t even exist in reality). Here’s Newt when asked what he would say to the NAACP if given the opportunity:

“More people are on food stamps today because of Obama's policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history. ... And so I'm prepared if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.”

Really, Newt, really?

Give me a freaking break. Calling President Obama the “food stamp president” and insinuating that black people are all on food stamps, i.e., too lazy to get jobs thus live off food stamps, for Christ’s sake, is old, racist, and not based in truth. [Gingrich’s association with truth is always tenuous, but this is to the point of utterly ridiculous.]

Yes, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has increased during the Obama administration, but as experts continually point out, and which Gingrich continually ignores, this is because of the near depression caused by the policies of Bush and company, a deep, deep recession which continues today, necessitating assistance to many more people than would be the case during better times.

Watch Fox News amplify Gingrich’s message:

So did President George W. Bush preside over the highest number of food stamp recipients in history? Thus far, yes. 11 Alive in Atlanta [emphasis mine] fact-checked Gingrich:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition service tracks month-to-month figures dating back to January 2001. The numbers show that the total of food stamp recipients rose to 14.2 million during President Obama's administration.

   The highest in history so far is President George W. Bush. The number of food stamp recipients grew to nearly 14.7 million while he was in office. But, that's eight years in office, compared to President Obama who has not finished his first term.

 

It's possible that when the figures for January 2012 are available they will show that the gain under Obama has matched or exceeded the gain under Bush. But not if the short-term trend continues. The number getting food stamps declined by 43,528 in October. And the economy has improved since then.

   One out of seven Americans is currently getting food stamps, according to the Department of Agriculture.

   The figures also show the rise in food stamps began before Obama took office, and accelerated as the nation plunged into the worst economic recession since the Great Depression.

The economic downturn began in December 2007. In the 12 months before Obama was sworn in, 4.4 million were added to the rolls, triple the 1.4 million added in 2007.

   So, who gets food stamps?

   The most recent Department of Agriculture report on the general characteristics of the SNAP (food stamp) program's beneficiaries says that in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2010:

-- 47% of beneficiaries were children under age 18.

-- 8% were age 60 or older.

-- 41% lived in a household with earnings from a job - the so-called "working poor."

-- The average household received a monthly benefit of $287.

-- 36% were white (non-Hispanic), 22% were African American (non-Hispanic) and 10% were Hispanic.

Oh, and by the way, Newt and Fox liars, the state with the highest number of  Americans eligible for and receiving food stamps is Nevada. [Nevada, where if I had to venture a guess, I’d say that there might be maybe fifteen whole black people living in the entire state of Nevada.]

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-IN), a prominent supporter of the food stamp program:

“People now see that it’s necessary to have a strong food stamp program.”

 

 

Mitt Romney Denounces Cordray Appointment to Consumer Watchdog Agency, Stands With the 1%

Mitt Romney is of and by the 1%, and this is most easily seen when you realize that Romney is the ONLY candidate on either side whose top 5 largest contributors are Wall Street firms:

Goldman Sachs: $367,200
Credit Suisse Group: $203,750
Morgan Stanley: $199,800
HIG Capital: $186,500
Barclays: $157,750

It’s little wonder that Mitt Romney, the cofounder of private-equity firm Bain Capital, has banked more than $1.1 million from the financial-services industry for his presidential run. Romney still has strong ties to Wall Street, and each year his own bank account benefits to the tune of millions of dollars, per his retirement agreement with Bain.

On Wednesday, President Obama surmounted three years of  GOP obstruction by recess appointing a director to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau yesterday. The Hill:

Earlier in the day Obama announced he would circumvent the Senate and make a recess appointment to put Cordray in charge of the bureau. That decision comes in response to Republicans refusing to hold confirmation hearings for Cordray [just as they refused to do so for Elizabeth Warren for three years] until the White House modified the bureau so it has more oversight and is run by a small panel rather than one director.

In a statement issued by Romney, he and his fellow Republicans are all about the bullshit regarding recess appointments,  Romney calling  it “Chicago-style politics at its worst”:

“Instead of working with Congress to fix the flaws in this new bureaucracy, the president is declaring that he 'refuses to take no for an answer’ and circumventing Congress to appoint a new administrator,”  Romney said in a statement. “This action represents Chicago-style politics at its worst and is precisely what then-Sen. eleObama claimed would be ‘the wrong thing to do.’ Sadly, instead of focusing on economic growth, he is once again focusing on creating more regulation, more government and more Washington gridlock.”

The fact is that President Obama has tried for three years to get the obstructive 111th & 112th Congresses to confirm a director. They have refused to do so because they want the regulatory agency to die.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce the One Percent stands with Romney for the 1 percent, against the 99 percent, threatening a lawsuit against the Obama Administration.

Oh, and just so we’re clear, Republicans have no problem whatsoever with recess appointments when they are the party in power. Adam Serwer:

According to reports from the Congressional Research Service, during their time in office President Ronald Reagan made 240 recess appointments, President George H. W. Bush made 77 recess appointments, President Bill Clinton made 140 recess appointments, and George W. Bush made 171. Obama's first term has seen a paltry 28.

A Matter of Disunity

My rambling thoughts this morning, on the ten-year anniversary of September 11, 2001.

The events of  that day changed my life forever, and not in a good way. For me, it was the beginning of an unraveling.

On that day in 2001, my son stayed home from school with a bad cold. As we watched Good Morning America, Charlie Gibson announced the events as the first and second planes hit the WTC. My most vibrant memories from that time were my shock when the second plane hit,  realizing then that we were under attack, and later, the images of people jumping from the towers.

I stayed glued to the television for days, the voices of Peter Jennings, and Ted Koppel both informing and soothing me during that time. I grieved not only for the people who died, but for an entire way of life that I knew had been lost.

On September 12, I, a life-long Democrat, a bleeding heart Liberal, in the spirit of unity that was so prevalent in those days, swore fealty to the man I had become fond of mocking, and hated for his theft of the presidency, George W. Bush. That lasted until Iraq.

Today, I sit with the memories of that time, and I know, deep in my heart, that if it were to happen today, there would be no unity in America.

Rick Perry is an Idiot

Confronted with the fact that Texas has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation (despite the statewide policy which decrees that they teach only abstinence as a means of reducing teen pregnancy rates), Rick Perry understands so little about the biology of human beings, that he can only continue spewing “abstinence works”, ad infinitum.

The abstinence thing is nothing more than an attempt to control the biological drives of humans, a policy forever doomed to failure, since human beings were programmed to procreate. Thus, the silliness of abstinence education cannot be underestimated.  How much more successful could Texas be in reducing teen pregnancy rates if instead of teaching abstinence, they used those funds to teach teens how to stay safe and avoid pregnancy?

Watch:

And this is the guy who is now the frontrunner in the field of  2012 GOP presidential candidates.

Adding.......I’ve heard a number of pundits posit that “Perry is George W. Bush II”. There is a comparison to be made between the two men, but in my opinion, the much more far right Rick Perry makes George W. Bush look like a Liberal.

H/T Bob Cesca

Quote of the Day

I had no idea that there was bad blood between the Bush family, and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX), and I’m thrilled to hear it, because Perry as a general election candidate worries me.

Howard Dean in an MSNBC interview on the intent of the Bush family towards Gov. Perry as a 2012 candidate for the GOP nomination:

“They know what they're doing, and they are ruthless, and they [Bush political team]  are going to take Perry out.”

U.S. Debt, the Debt Ceiling and the Deficit

It is, on the virtual eve of a U.S. debt default (midnight of August 2), important to link all current and future discussions of the debt, and the debt ceiling, to the cause of our very large deficit. To the party and the administration responsible for that deficit. This chart says it all.

James Fallows:

It's based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who's "to blame" for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.

H/T  Bob Cesca

Stupid Quote of the Week

And unsurprisingly, it comes from Fox News’ Eric Bolling, emphasis mine:

“Whether [the Bush administration] did or didn’t [find the WMDs], America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don’t remember any terrorist attacks on American soil during that period of time.”

Morning Quote: Andrew Sullivan

As the GOP rejects the legacy of George W. Bush, purely out of political self-interest, Sullivan has a few words for them on what is necessary for their reinvention:

“Pragmatism means cutting the Grand Bargain of the 21st Century: tax reform, revenue increases, and entitlement and defense cuts. You cannot take away one of these three legs and hope the stool will stay upright. By insisting on new no revenues, the GOP is not taking responsibility for its own role in creating this debt, is ignoring the real dangers of total gridlock, and refusing to play an adult role in resolving it. By never offering anything substantive to restrain healthcare costs or to insure more Americans, the GOP is unserious on healthcare policy. By refusing the only solution to immigration - tighter border controls and a path to citizenship for those already here - they are merely making amnesty a reality while making the lives of many hard-working people and their US-born children more precarious.”

From the Archives: Who Ran Up the National Debt?

I wrote this piece in 2010, and it was originally posted on another blog. I decided to repost it here in honor of the anniversary of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

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The persistent cacophony from the Republican debt/deficit hawks, who only surface during Democratic administrations, is enough to keep me rolling my eyes in to perpetuity.The most pitiful and annoying aspect of this particular trait in Republicans, is their seeming forgetfulness.

Indeed, I have become consumed with a burning desire to remind them of exactly who is responsible for driving up U.S. debt. And, as you undoubtedly deduced from my graphic, It is the evil triumvirate of three Republican presidents, at least 2 of which are destined to be remembered in history as "The Two Worst Presidents Ever".

Morning Quote: Herman Goering

Herman Goering on April 18,1946 while awaiting the Nuremburg Trials:

Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war: neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

Okay, yeah, Godwin's Law and all that......... but am I wrong to suggest that this sounds remarkably like something that might have been said by George W. Bush or a member of his inner circle in the lead-up to Iraq?

Why Does the GOP House Hate Our Troops?

Yesterday, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), told reporters that the house didn’t have the time to honor the Navy SEALs who killed Osama Bin Laden:

The House will not hold a vote on a resolution honoring U.S. troops and the intelligence community on the mission that killed Osama bin Laden, the number-two House Republican said Tuesday.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said that House Republican leaders had been considering a symbolic resolution honoring the Navy SEALS and others involved in the bin Laden raid but that they had decided against one in an effort to keep in line with their new rules prohibiting commemorative measures.

“We considered that last week, and we deal with the rules that we’ve put in place in the House, and we’ve said since we assumed the majority that we want to be substantive and meaningful,” Cantor told reporters at his weekly roundtable.

Oh, but wait.

Apparently, the House GOP found it “substantive and meaningful”, as well as worth their time, to honor George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush by renaming a courthouse in Texas after them.

The U.S. House has voted to add the names of former presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush to the federal courthouse in Midland, where the Bushes once lived.

U.S. Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, announced the passage of the House resolution redesignating the building in a statement issued Monday. Previously, the building’s official name had been the “George Mahon Federal Building United States Courthouse,” after a longtime congressman who once represented Midland.

In response to criticism, Cantor has now partially relented, via Think Progress:

In response to criticism, Cantor now says he will include language regarding the Navy SEALs in an upcoming intelligence authorizations bill. Still, the House GOP will not hold a vote on the bipartisan stand-alone bill passed by the Senate.

Let’s be completely clear.

To the House GOP, it is “substantive and meaningful”, and worth their time, to rename a federal courthouse after the incompetent war criminal, George W. Bush.

It is not, however, “substantive and meaningful”, or worth their time, to honor the Navy SEALS who brought down our #1 enemy, Osama bin Laden.

Morning Quote: Rude Pundit

What might have been had not the incompetent and war mongering George W. Bush been the president:

One last note: the Rude Pundit finds it sadly funny that, after a trillion plus dollars spent on the wars, after thousands of soldiers killed, that what it took to get Osama bin Laden was a criminal investigation and an intelligence operation followed by a quick strike. As we ponder our dead, all our dead, as we remember and make silly statements about "closure," let us wonder what might have been for the United States had that been our approach all along. - Rude Pundit

Via Bob Cesca

Morning Quote: George W. Bush

Quotes by former President George W. Bush from Sept. 13, 2001 through March 13, 2002 regarding his intent toward Osama bin Laden:

Two days after the 9/11 attacks, on Sept. 13, 2001, George W. Bush said:

 “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” source

Five days after the 9/11 attacks, on Sept. 16, 2001, George W. Bush said:

“My administration has a job to do and we're going to do it. We will rid the world of the evil-doers.” source

Three months after the 9/11 attacks, on Dec. 14, 2001, George W. Bush said:

Photo of the Week

A hand-written, very wet sign on the pavement in front of the gated Dallas neighborhood of George W. Bush on Monday, May 2, 2011, evidently placed there after the Sunday night announcement by President Obama regarding the death of Osama bin Laden.

Man checks out the sign (depicted in photo above),

Okay, I do have to admit that it is a little alot juvenile, but hey, it's still funny/cute.

Image source: AP photos by LM Otero

Debunking Right-Wing Memes Regarding the Death of Osama bin Laden - Act 1

Since yesterday, the most ubiquitous right-wing meme on the web regarding the death of Osama bin Laden has been the one were, in a nutshell, “Bush deserves the credit. The information came from a Guantanamo detainee who was tortured. This is Bush’s achievement.” (Please also note how unashamed they are to claim the “credit” for the use of torture.) Think Progress:

Bush loyalists have been “irked” over the past 24 hours that they are not getting credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden, arguing that their torture program helped bring about intelligence that led to the mission. Karl Rove said “the tools that President Bush put into place –- GITMO, rendition, enhanced interrogation” led to the successful operation. Similarly, former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said the mission “rested heavily on some of those controversial policies” from the Bush era.

In large part, this came up due to a report by The New York Times yesterday that the information came from a Guantanamo detainee:

Morning Quote: Nicole Sandler

Progressive radio personality, Nicole Sandler on Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget plan cause, and how Ryan's  insane plan would affect Medicare, emphasis mine:

The thing that everyone needs to be screaming/blogging/talking about is the fact that Ryan’s budget cause would do to Medicare what George W. Bush wanted to do to Social Security – kill it!  W failed in that quest.  Thank goodness.  Because if he had been successful in privatizing Social Security, he would have killed it – along with millions of seniors who would have lost everything when the banksters crashed our economy with the help and blessings of that administration.

Right Wing Trying to Paint Pres. Obama as a Wannabe Dictator

The right wing blogosphere is making a huge deal out of a remark made by President Obama, reported by the New York Times, and taken out of context by the right wing. The New York Times, emphasis by mmfa:

“Striking a very balanced, and in many ways, neutral approach is recognized by many people in the region as not being with them, or on their side," said J. Scott Mastic, the head of Middle East and North Africa for the International Republican Institute. "It's very important that we be seen as supporting the demands of the people in the region.”

How Mr. Obama manages to do that while also balancing American interests is a question that officials acknowledge will plague this historic president for months to come. Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, "No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao's words in Tahrir Square."

As you can see from the screenshot, Fox Nation blew it all out of proportion.

Bill Kristol responds on the Weekly Standard blog:

Mr. Obama is right.

If you're president of China, people around the world who are fighting for freedom don't really expect you to help. If you're president of China, you don't have to put up with annoying off-year congressional elections, and then negotiate your budget with a bunch of gun-and-religion-clinging congressmen and senators. If you're president of China, you can fund your national public radio to your heart's content.

Morning Quote: Dan Froomkin

In his last column¹ for The Washington Post, Froomkin looked back at the George W. Bush years:

When I look back on the Bush years, I think of the lies. There were so many. Lies about the war and lies to cover up the lies about the war. Lies about torture and surveillance. Lies about Valerie Plame. Vice President Dick Cheney's lies, criminally prosecutable but for his chief of staff Scooter Libby's lies. I also think about the extraordinary and fundamentally cancerous expansion of executive power that led to violations of our laws and our principles.

^{1 Froomkin is currently the Washington Bureau Chief or The Huffington Post.}

Updating Daily Political News Brief

What we're reading today:

Howard Kurtz has an excellent analysis of Bill O’Reilly’s Super Bowl Sunday interview with President Obama.

Over the weekend, former Vice President Dick Cheney defended Egyptian President Mubarak, saying that Mubarak had been a  “good friend” to the United States, and should be treated well.

Former President Bush avoids arrest for war crimes in Switzerland. [if only…]

Rep. Jane Harmon [D-CA] resigning from Congress to head up a bi-partisan think tank.

Ronald Reagan and the National Debt

On this day in 1911, Dear Ronald Reagan was born. On this anniversary, I think it only fitting that we look at who actually did run up our national debt. Keep in mind that Dear Ronald is the person responsible for reversing our nations course from the worlds largest creditor nation to the worlds largest debtor nation; he is the Father of the National Debt. F--k yeah.

A chart that illustrates which president and party are responsible for how much debt.

Noted: Republican Presidents, beginning with Reagan, are the only Presidents responsible for overall increases in the national debt since World War II.

Video & Transcript: Alan Grayson Goes After Fox News Hosts/ Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

Via Huffington Post:

Grayson took to the House floor to debate the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy with seven large cardboard slides, each complete with a color headshot of the person and a description of how prolonging the current tax rates for the top two-percent of income earners in the United States would benefit those individuals.

His argument: Fox News contributors such as Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin, as well as the previous president of the United States himself, support, and in some cases aggressively lobby for, the complete extension of the Bush tax cuts because they would pad their pockets with an additional six-figure (in Rush Limbaugh's case, seven-figure) sum each year.

"They want tax cuts for the rich because they want a tax cut for themselves," Grayson said. "Instead of placating these people and letting them spew out onto the airwaves their lies about the Bush tax cuts without ever revealing the fact that they stand to gain millions, millions of dollars each year from their selfish desire to take advantage of the rest of America, let's do this: Let's take that money and create jobs."

Watch:

FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Madam Speaker, we've heard endless braying from the Republicans, time after time, demanding an extension of tax cuts for the rich in this country. They tell us that somehow extending tax cuts for the rich will somehow create jobs. When we've had tax cuts for the rich for nine years and I haven't noticed a lot of jobs being created in nine years.

Republicans Hold Expired Unemployment Benefits Hostage

Yesterday, Democrats introduced a proposal to extend unemployment benefits through 2011, at a cost of $56 million, without offsets. Republican, Scott Brown [R-MA] singlehandedly shut them down with a refusal to consider the proposal unless the cost is paid for. 2.5 million unemployed Americans are left with out needed aid just in time for the holidays.

After his objection, Brown offered his own proposal for a year-long extension as long as the Office of Management and Budget finds funds from already approved appropriations to pay for it. But Democrats turned down the plan because, as Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) noted, “we have to deal with the immediate crisis” and “the families that are struggling today.” This, of course, was the governing philosophy of both parties when they passed unemployment extension seven times under the Bush Administration. In fact, before yesterday, Congress went 40 years without allowing extended unemployment benefits to expire when the unemployment rate was above 7.2 percent. The unemployment rate today stands at 9.6 percent.

And yet, Scott Brown, along with his Republican cronies in Congress, want to give millionaires a gift by extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost of $830 billion with no offsets.

But, in a video released this morning, Brown defended his opposition, saying he “disagreed” that Congress should “pay for unemployment benefits” by “putting more debt on the credit card.” A curious position considering Brown is more than happy to slap the nation with a $830 billion bill in order to extend the Bush tax cuts for the top two percent of wealthy Americans. In touting the GOP’s absurd logic, Brown and his GOP colleagues champion an extension that provides “virtually no economic stimulus,” while rebuking one that “contribute[s] powerfully to the economic growth that is vital for a healthy budget.”

Watch the faces of the unemployed.

This morning, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) called Brown’s vote against 60,000 Massachusetts workers “outrageous” and a “question of national character.” “We need Scott Brown to see and be worried about the people of the Commonwealth who are trying to get groceries on the table while they continue to look for work,” he said. But, according to his schedule, Brown is busy focusing on his Christmas-themed fundraisers this week.

Bastards.

Reagan Budget Director Blasts GOP Over Tax Cuts Fiscal Irresponsibility

The Republicans in Congress still have not backed down on extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% of the wealthiest people in America.

Today on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, President Reagan’s former budget director and the architect of Reagan’s fiscal policy, David Stockman, took on the GOP over the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Stockman mercilessly battered them over their lack of fiscal responsibility. Stockman’s remarks as noted by Think Progress:

– We need “a higher tax burden on the upper income.”

– “After 1985, the Republican Party adopted the idea that tax cuts can solve the whole problem, and that therefore in the future, deficits didn’t matter and tax cuts would be the solution of first, second, and third resort.”

– The 2001 Bush tax cut “was totally not needed.”

– On claims that Reagan proved tax cuts lead to higher government revenues: “Reagan proved nothing of the kind and yet that became the mantra and it just led the Republican Party away from its traditional sound money, fiscal restraint.”

– Former Vice President Cheney “should have known better” than claim the Bush tax cuts would pay for themselves.

– “I’ll never forgive the Bush administration and Paulson for basically destroying the last vestige of fiscal responsibility that we had in the Republican Party. After that, I don’t know how we ever make the tough choices.”

 

RELATED POSTS:
~Quote of the Week: Fareed Zakaria on Republican Deficit Hawks and the Bush Tax Cuts
~3 Charts: Bush Era Tax Cuts for the Wealthy vs. Obama Tax Plan

Morning Quote

During his book promo tour last week, George W. Bush made an unsuccessful attempt to defer the blame for the lack of progress in Afghanistan to NATO, rather than to his own administration where that blame very rightfully belongs.

What happened in Afghanistan was that our NATO allies turned out — some of them turned out not to be willing to fight. And therefore, our assumption that we had ample troops, U.S. and NATO troops, turned out to be a not true assumption and so we adjusted. And I completely disagree with the take eye off the ball. I found that to be empty political rhetoric.

Morning Quote

He’s ‘content’, so says George W. Bush talking to Matt Lauer on the Today Show about his presidency, his new book, and how historians will see him in the future.

[Now, there is a lot that could be said here, but, it would require more interest than I have to spend on the worst president of my lifetime.]

This may seem strange to you, I really don't care about perceptions at this point in time. I served, I gave it my all and I'm a content man.

Morning Quote

George W. Bush on Sarah Palin, as reported by former Bush staffer, Matt Latimer, who in his 2009 book, reported that Bush 43 thought Sarah Palin to be very unqualified, and that she had cost Republicans the 2008 election. Bush’s reaction to Palin’s nomination was highly dismissive.

I'm trying to remember if I've met her before. I'm sure I must have. What is she, the governor of Guam?

This woman is being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for. She hasn't spent one day on the national level. Neither has her family. Let's wait and see how she looks five days out.

8 Myths You Need to Know About Before You Go to the Polls to Vote

These myths are more prevalent than you might think, and because we are now down to the wire, it’s more important than ever to spread truthiness!

From Dave Johnson:

1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.

2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.

3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.

4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.

5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts

6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality:The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.

7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.

8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is government that builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.

Please help get this information out there! This stuff matters.

ht Bob Cesca

FLASHBACK: George W. Bush’s Enemies List Revealed

It was enormous, it should have been illegal, and it was said to be backed up by illegal wiretaps made possible by the Patriot Act.

PEJ News, November 12, 2005:

Beyond the botched break-in of the Democrat's election HQ by Nixon's so-called "plumbers," one of the most troubling facts to come out of the subsequent 'Watergate' investigations was the existence of an "official enemies list" compiled by the administration with the aid of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI. Now, the Beltway broadsheet, Capitol Hill Blue is reporting the Bush administration too has an enemies list, one dwarfing Tricky Dick's, and again the FBI is implicated. 
 
According to the paper, Bush's list contains the names and incriminating details on more than 10,000 subjects deemed hostile to the administration, and even those believed critical of Bush during his tenure as governor of Texas. More worrisome than the existence of such a list is the misuse by Bush insiders of the so-called "Patriot Act" to investigate those disagreeing with administration policies.

The list includes information on members of Congress, local, state and federal officials and many media figures and ordinary citizens who have had the temerity to question Bush's reign. Some notables said to appear prominently on the list are filmmaker, Michael Moore, outspoken Senator, Barbara Boxer, and news bloggers behind the sites, Daily Kos and Wonkette.

Karl Rove can project all he wants, but to date, only two presidents were known to keep an “enemies” list, and both of them were Republicans.

Morning Quote

Former Senator Rick Santorum [R] defending Newt Gingrich’s intentionally stupid obsession with food stamps on Fox News, with a ridiculous lie about poverty during the George W. Bush administration:

Yeah, remember, under the Bush administration, welfare — I mean, excuse me, poverty among African Americans and among single unmarried women, poverty was at the lowest rate ever in the history of this country. So Obama’s policies are not working, Bush polices worked! For long a time as a matter of fact.

Adding...trying not to choke on my laughter…

Via