You can tell that my blogging reflexes have slowed to a crawl when John Boner Boehner up and quits, and it takes me this long to comment. But I had to say something. There are few politicians I've had as much fun poking, as the weepy, orange-faced Speaker of the Souse House.
But it's hard to have very much fun with it, when it seems as though Boehner himself is so cool with the notion of quitting. You don't get much happier than singing "Zippity Doo Dah" on your way to the press conference. So, we won't have Drunky McCriesalot to kick around anymore. And in time, the new guy (probably Big Giant Head, Kevin McCarthy) will become as much a target as anyone before him. And hey, at least Boehner escaped the fate of the past three Republican Speakers, who have all been mired in scandal. As far as we know. It took years for Denny Hastert to get found out.
One of the most frequent charges by Democrats about Democrats regarding their performance in the 2014 election was that they didn't act like Democrats. They played the part of Republican Lite. It's more than annoying. You'll find few on the left who care whether or not Mary Landrieu retains her Senate seat, mostly because--to paraphrase a Republican term--she's a DINO: Democrat in Name Only. Though, truth be told, she's always been a blue dog (at best).
But it's depressing when a person you have semi-idolized and identified with for years shows entirely different stripes. Jonathan Turley is a law professor and legal analyst. I became familiar with him from his frequent appearances on The Randi Rhodes Show on the radio, in the dark days of the Bush Administration. His pithy, smart analysis of the misdeeds of Bush/Cheney were amazing. I'm quite sure I've referenced him on the blog in the early days. Later, Turley would often appear on MSNBC, offering the same sort of spiel. I really liked him. I used to read his blog daily.
Now, Turley is the unlikely third-in-a-series attorney for John Boner Boehner, in his bizarre lawsuit against President Barack Obama. Over tweaks made to the Affordable Care Act. You know, the dreaded ObamaCare that Republicans want to kill fifty times (and have tried). They're allegedly suing because they're upset that he delayed parts of it!? Why on earth would they care? They don't. It was a random pull-a-reason-from-a-hat excuse to sue, because they'd already said they were going to sue. It's so unbelievably stupid. And I expect a lot better of Jonathan Turley. Then I found out he's been guesting on FOX "News" a lot lately, and all became clear. Dead to me.
[Excerpt]
House Republicans Hire Jonathan Turley to Pursue Obama Lawsuit House Republicans have hired their third attorney since August to pursue their lawsuit against President Barack Obama for allegedly overstepping his authority, tapping George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, according to House Speaker John Boehner’s office. . .
I'm resurrecting a feature I used to run called Lest We Forget. In this day and age of very surfacy, very superficial news, memes become leading news stories. Falsehoods become conventional wisdom. So, from time to time, it's my intention to remind everyone of the real facts behind the erroneous things that pass for facts, especially in Right Wing World.
Boehner and the Prez.
One of many is the "President Obama Golfs Too Much" meme. Usually, it's made to sound as though he's playing instead of attending to important business, and that he does so when bad news is happening. This disregards the fact that there are always bad things happening, that the President deserves a diversion, that he's constantly in touch, and surrounded by aides, and that he's never truly "off the clock." Beyond that, he's far from the only presidential golfer, and doesn't do it more than many of them. Dwight Eisenhower had a putting green at the White House and played over 1,000 rounds during his terms. I don't recall this being a scandal.
But let's just let our most recent Duffer-in-Chief (who allegedly quit golfing some time in 2003, but shhhh! didn't really). George W. Bush said last year to lay off, you're being silly. Lest we forget.
[Excerpt]
George W. Bush: Obama doesn't deserve criticism for golf outings
Former President George W. Bush, who quit playing golf shortly after the Iraq war began in 2003, said critics of President Obama's zeal for the sport are off-base.
"I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't. I think he ought to play golf," Bush said in an interview to air Monday night on the Golf Channel. . .
When I heard John Boner Boehner throwing down the gauntlet to President Obama yesterday, saying, "This is a problem of the president's own making," Boehner said. "He's been president for five and a half years. When is he going to take responsibility for something?" I shouted back at the radio, "Bitch, how long have you been in Congress?" I mean seriously, the the guy has been in leadership since 2007! What has he done? Moreover, for a man who is suing the President over executive orders, what's he asking for there? More executive action! He's a drunken tool.
Damn straight. Image found on Twitter, with no attribution.
I know, I know, the weekend isn't over. The throngs of patriots could arrive in DC on Saturday or Sunday. And winged monkeys could fly out of my nether-regions. No, the ridiculously named and ludicrously conceived Operation: American Spring is an embarrassing flop, a devastating splotch of FAIL on the tea bagger movement. And by movement, I mean tootling along at 5 mph in Rascal® scooters.
Their goals were to compel by force the removal of President Obama, Vice President Biden, Speaker of the House John Boner Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. They were going to do this--apparently--by sheer force of will. Or something.
[Excerpt] 'Operation American Spring' Is Still Waiting for Its Millions of Patriots
Operation American Spring, the mass D.C. rally aiming to force several top government officials — including the president — to resign, spent a portion of its first day at the capital assuring people tuning into its livestream that more people are on the way. The protest's lead organizer, Harry Riley, promised 10 million to 30 million people would show up for his event; Friday's crowd appeared to be in the dozens to hundreds. . .
Rocky Mountain Mike to the rescue again, with another funny spin on current events, this time a skewering of John Boehner to the tune of The Steve Miller Band's The Joker. And as always, you can find this and many (many) other amazing comedy tunes and bits at Mike's SoundCloud site.
If you're counting on your fingers (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014)*, you can be forgiven for thinking this was the sixth SOTU for President Obama, but the first one is the inaugural address. But whatever, as these things go, it was a good speech. There were memorable moments, nothing particularly controversial, some strong, firm words but little to throw Right Wing World into a tizzy (beyond. . .you know. . .usual). It was okay.
The things I like--Obama's acknowledgement that he's going to have to do as much as he's legally able to do himself, and without Congress--is one of the things the right wouldn't like. They're calling him an "imperial" president, apparently forgetting the Bush/Cheney years completely. But what else is the man to do with an intractable, do nothing Congress? Good for him.
*And, sidenote: Wow. Hard to believe that we're that deep into the Obama era, isn't it? This blog was started in nearly the same part of the Bush Era. Time flies.
It took more than 6,840 words. But President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress really boiled down to one anodyne message: I have led—and so can you!
The central theme of the address was familiar: Economic opportunity has eluded too many ordinary Americans despite the progress the country has made so far. And Obama made special mention of the long-term unemployed, making the case once again for extending federal benefits.
. .
ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, is poised to be passed by the Senate, with the unlikely help of a few Republicans, notably Nevada's Senator Dean Heller. The bill has been around since 1994, but hasn't had much of a chance of passage until now. Still, John Boner Boehner promises to kill the bill in the House, claiming that it's unnecessary, and--irony of irony--kills jobs. See, ENDA was created to save jobs, specifically the jobs of gay, lesbian and transgendered people who are currently not protected from being fired for their gender identity or sexual orientation in a majority of states. Boehner either doesn't know this, or is banking on his constituents not knowing this.
It's still an important vote, symbolically showing progress.
[Excerpt]
Senate Passes ENDA on Procedural Vote
For the first time since it was originally introduced in 1996, the U.S. Senate took an important step toward passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, voting in favor of cloture — a procedural move intended to overcome any attempted filibuster — in a bipartisan vote of 61-30. . .
Is it "spiking the football" to lay out the facts? Even if it contains a measure of schadenboehner schadenfreude? I mean, this pointless, dangerous hostage taking by the GOP put the whole world economy in danger, and it has now been avoided (or at least postponed). Why wouldn't the perceived "winning" side feel a little energized by that? Screw the butt-hurt tea baggers. I couldn't care less if they're peeved at the reaction.
"We had to do this" was a refrain often uttered in response to why this ridiculous, self-inflicted dual crisis has overtaken everything in the last three weeks. It's a shitty answer. Because, beyond the desire to shut down the government, and the desire to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, I've yet to hear a coherent envisioned end-game to all of this from the GOP.
We know that a) they despise the President, in a white-hot, irrational way; b) Democrats are a proxy for the President, and thus compromise with them is tantamount to making a deal with the Devil; and c) because of a and b, they despise "ObamaCare." That's just a taste of their motivations of course, and already there are multiple problems with their so-called reasoning. Chief among them was the fact that the Affordable Care Act is already law, passed by Congress, affirmed by the Supreme Court and vindicated by Obama's re-election. It doesn't have a blessed thing to do with the continuing budget resolution or the debt ceiling. It was also a non-starter, non-negotiable to both the President and the Senate.
So, the reasoning for why the government was shut down, and the debt ceiling default imminent, kept shifting. The demands kept changing, and like Bette Midler in Ruthless People the ransom kept going down. All along, the votes have been there in the House for a clean budget bill and debt ceiling raise. John Boner Boehner was just unwilling to do so. I have to wonder what he's worried about. Who would want to lead these people?
[Excerpt]
ALL ABOARD: CONGRESS PASSES
BILL TO REOPEN GOVERNMENT
After weeks of stalemate that shuttered the government for 16 days
and brought the nation within hours of a key deadline to renew its
borrowing authority, the standoff is finally over. The House
passed a bill 285-144 late Wednesday night to re-open the government and
extend the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. That vote came hours after the
Senate approved the measure 81-18. . .
I pondered what would happen with a red tide in 2010, right here on the blog. I was correct, when I said that 2012 would sweep away some of the damage, after the GOP showed its true colors, and the pendulum swung back. What I didn't know is that the pendulum didn't swing hard enough, and that the tea party--the rebranded crazy right-wing base--would become the GOP's Frankenstein Monster. That a bunch of ideologues who didn't work their way up through local office would find themselves elected Senators and Congress members. When the GOP allowed the newly christened Tea Party to become a force in their party, they really did open Pandora's Box.
[Excerpt]
The Reign Of Morons Is Here
In the year of our Lord 2010, the voters of the United States elected the worst Congress in the history of the Republic. There have been Congresses more dilatory. There have been Congresses more irresponsible, though not many of them. There have been lazier Congresses, more vicious Congresses, and Congresses less capable of seeing forests for trees. But there has never been in a single Congress -- or, more precisely, in a single House of the Congress -- a more lethal combination of political ambition, political stupidity, and political vainglory than exists in this one, which has arranged to shut down the federal government because it disapproves of a law passed by a previous Congress, signed by the president, and upheld by the Supreme Court, a law that does nothing more than extend the possibility of health insurance to the millions of Americans who do not presently have it, a law based on a proposal from a conservative think-tank and taken out on the test track in Massachusetts by a Republican governor who also happens to have been the party's 2012 nominee for president of the United States. That is why the government of the United States is, in large measure, closed this morning. . .
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow outlined the Republican path toward grinding the government to a halt on Monday night, pointing out that on multiple occasions over the past few years, GOP lawmakers and candidates swore they would do just that. “There is nothing about the last few weeks of political back-and-forth that explains why this is happening. There’s nothing about health reform, specifically, that explains why this is happening. . .
When you hear--and you will--that the government shutdown is the result of Democrats not accepting a Republican "compromise," you will be forearmed with this knowledge. Democrats wanted a clean spending bill, no add-ons, no demands. The Republicans wanted a lengthy list of conservative bullet points. This was essentially extortion, and Harry Reid didn't blink. I am often disappointed in my State's Senator, but not tonight.
And one more thing: if the shutdown is the Democrats' fault, why is it that Right Wing World is dancing a jig right now? They're thrilled they got a shutdown. Don't believe their spin for a minute.
[Excerpt]
21 Things Republicans Have Demanded In Exchange For Not Shutting Down The Government Or Tanking The Global Economy
1. A balanced budget amendment [Link] 2. Approving Keystone XL [Link] 3. Eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood [Link] 4. Medicare privatization [Link] 5. Tax reform, as outlined by Paul Ryan [Link] 6. The REINS Act, which would require Congress to approve significant federal regulations [Link] 7. Means-testing Social Security [Link] . . .
I really don't care for CNN's headline choice. It's not so much that Congress couldn't "agree," it's more like the House had ridiculous demands that the Senate had already told them weren't negotiable. So now, one of the worst Congresses in our history has shot the country in the foot again. If there is any silver lining here, I'm hoping it's that people remember what asshats the tea bagger members of Congress are.
[Excerpt]
U.S. government shuts down as Congress can't agree on spending bill
The U.S. government shutdown went into effect at 12:01 a.m. ET Tuesday after lawmakers in the House and the Senate could not agree on a spending bill to fund the government. The two sides bickered and blamed for more than a week over Obamacare, the president's signature health care law. House Republicans insisted the spending bill include anti-Obamacare amendments. Senate Democrats were just as insistent that it didn't. . .
Every month or two--sometime around when they're voting for the umpteenth time to stop "ObamaCare"--you'll hear John Boner Boehner shout, "Where are the jobs, Mr. President?" Forget that the House of Representatives haven't put forth any jobs bills, and that the President can't. And mostly forget that the President has, on more than one occasion, spoken out forcefully for the need for a jobs bill, works projects and the like. He's come up with a number of ideas and solutions, some of them traditionally bipartisan in nature.
But, much like when you're trying to help a friend or a sibling through a tough time with a list of solutions, every one is getting shot down. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (looking and sounding more like a cartoon turtle every day) whined vague reasons why he'd reject it, as did Boehner, who will again ask "where are the jobs" in a few weeks, undoubtedly.
[Excerpt]
Obama challenges GOP to fund jobs programs in exchange for corporate tax overhaul President Barack Obama will offer Republicans a new “grand bargain” on taxes and job creation—an attempt to find some common ground while a bigger deal to reduce the deficit is stalled. . .
Tragically unhip, uncool and just mean. Image from TPM.
People give the millennials (what we're calling young uns these days) a lot of crap. Yes, they're always plugged into a screen, don't seem to care about anything that happened before they were born, have terrible grammar and punctuation, and. . .whoops! There I am giving them crap. But give them a little credit. The see the GOP for what they are: xenophobic fuddy-duddies with a mean streak. Good on you, kids! But seriously, pull up your pants.
[Excerpt] GOP Report Warns Of Party’s Apocalypse With Young Voters
The Republican Party’s troubles with young voters are well known. But a new internal report virtually elevates the threat level to apocalyptic, declaring that the GOP needs a “fundamental re-thinking” of its approach in order to remain viable with the younger generation. . .
It's made the news in the last few days that several polls show President Obama's approval rating to be doing just fine, even amid the heavy focus on three or four (if you count the idiotic umbrella-gate) potential scandals. But did you know polls are now showing that the GOP's approval raging is going down? I didn't know they could go lower, but there you go. And good for America, you're making me proud. [Excerpt] New poll: GOP favorability hits record low following 'Obama scandal' week
After a week of scandals, the dreaded "three-headed monster" of Benghazi, the IRS/Tea Party and the AP/DOJ phone records were supposed to sink the president, harm Hilliary Clinton and catapult the Republican party into the 2014 mid-term elections. While the media focus has highlighted the "three-headed monster," the American people don't seem to be pointing the finger of blame at the president. . .
