CBO: Senate HCR Lowers Premiums for 57% of People

The Congressional Budget Office released a report today stating the senate health care reform bill will lower premiums for about 57% of people. In addition, average premiums in the individual market will increase roughly 10-13%. I'll let you guess which finding each side will want to focus on.

Purity Test Cont'd

Something else that touches along the same lines as the GOP's self-inflicted dementia outlined in the post below, is this nugget from a few days ago from former Bush administration spokeswoman Dana Perino:

PERINO: They want to do all of their investigations. I don’t know. All of the thinking that goes into it. But we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think we ought it to the American people to call it what it is.

Obviously Perino and the rest of her Republican cohorts on Fox News are smoking crack. Just like with their "purity test"-- a test that not one single Republican president could pass-- Republicans are just flat out lying about terrorist attacks not happening on Bush's watch. In reality, the worst terror attack in American history happened on Bush's watch. Over 3,000 innocent people lost their lives that day. There was also the anthrax mailings and the DC sniper, all of which totally happened during Bush's term. Does that make these attacks Bush's fault? Of course not. But they aren't even talking about responsibility. They are flat out denying any attacks happened at all. They truly live in a Fantasy World. It's a world where they get to pretend that America is just now engaged in two wars; is just now experiencing an economic crisis; is just now witnessing terror on our soil. It is a derangement. But it's one that is totally deliberate.

Obama To Make Case for Exit Plans

NY Times is reporting this morning President Obama's plans to finish the job in Afghanistan is to include an exit strategy and certain benchmarks to achieve success.

The officials would not disclose the time frame. But they said it would not be tied to particular conditions on the ground nor would it be as firm as the current schedule for withdrawing troops in Iraq, where Mr. Obama has committed to withdrawing most combat units by August and all forces by the end of 2011.

The big question still remains. Why?

GOP Purity Test None of Them Can Pass

There is a deranged sickness that most certainly has overcome the Republican Party. Before I get too far off my topic because I do know Democrats are hardly a perfect example of sanity, let me explain.

The Republican mix of two parts crazy, one part right wing extremist and one part dementia is by far one for the history books. Last week some notable members of the RNC put together a list of "conservative" items they'd hoped would unite the Party to prevent another loss in a heavily Republican district like NY-23 earlier this month. Republicans are calling the list "Resolution on Reagan's Unity Principle for Support of Candidates." Like anyone with dementia, the magic list includes many things that Reagan never did or remotely came close to doing- or really any Republican.

Some selections from the list that stand out most notably as completely fabricated Republican crazy:

(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama's "stimulus" bill.

-- For those that refuse to recall history correctly, Reagan never once shrunk government. Sure he talked a lot about shrinking government but he never did it. He never came close. He also never made the national debt smaller. He never lowered the deficit and he raised more taxes than anyone since LBJ. This is just basic high school/freshman college level American history, but it's a history Republicans want to white wash and forget that it ever happened.

(2) Market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare;

-- Looks great on paper doesn't it? Save capitalism! But in reality the largest expansion to government run health care since the advent of American government run health care came at the hands of none other than the Republican Party with George Bush's multi-hundred billion dollar expansion to Medicare. Also, the largest non-market based expansion of government (i.e., not saving capitalism) came from the wonderful GOP just months ago with Bush's TARP. So the Party that made ginormous expansions to government health care and government intervention into the free market economy was the GOP. When they do it, it's patriotic. But they want to be able to go around the country spewing their small government, capitalism spiel just so they can call themselves "conservatives" even though they govern nothing like it.

(3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;

Again with the market-based capitalism talk. This from the Party that nationalized entire lending and insurance industries, that instituted 8 socialist funded government bailouts (more than any president in history). Again, they have no credibility on the free market front.

(6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

-- Can't be Republican unless you support war without end. Do they not realize these wars are 6 and 8 years old respectively? These are wars they failed to win! Neither war started this year and one of them should have never been started in the first place. When you're the people responsible for the mess, you don't get to criticize the people coming to clean up after you.

(8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;


-- Aaaahhhh yes, one of my favorites, morality. That's because Republicans really have a problem with other people's sex lives. Such a stance might be commendable if it wasn't for the toxic immorality that controls the GOP. No need to go through the recent sex scandals of the GOP (Congressman Mark "fondling" Foley, Senator Larry "bathroom staller" Craig, prostitute frequenter Senator David Vitter, Senator John Ensign whose parents had to pay off his prostitute/girlfriend, the very holy and ordained Governor Mark Sanford, etc...). Seems to me a party that is interested in protecting marriage would first want to outlaw cheating on your wife.

(9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion;

-- Is this one serious? Endless war that kills hundreds of thousands of people and they expect us to believe they care about life? Guess what? Life doesn't stop at birth.

(10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership.

-- George H. W. Bush anyone? Didn't he impose the largest ban on the 2nd Amendment ever? Didn't Reagan, the holy one, support and help pass the Brady Bill?

I believe the list stops at number 10. Right here, however, are 7 items that make absolutely no sense and are part of the Republican Fantasy World. It is a test full of items none of their past presidents can even pass, not even Reagan. They are the same issues and stump speeches Republicans have been giving for decades and never do they govern with their "core principles" once they are in power. They truly do just the opposite or what they label everyone else as "enemies," "socialists," and "terrorist supporters" for doing. It truly is a sickness. Scarier though is the thought that this is a major national political party.

Afghanistan Plan

Sigh...it appears, to my disappointment, that President Obama wants to send an additional 34,000 troops to Afghanistan. The word is Obama is supposed to layout plans for this troop escalation on Tuesday night in a prime time address. The plan includes benchmarks for success and a rationale that comes in the form of wanting to "finish the job" in Afghanistan. But what job is that? Killing bin Laden, nation building, finally eliminating the Taliban? There is so much wrong with Afghanistan I'm hoping the president's list of benchmarks is lengthy and worthy of the sacrifice. I'm not convinced it is.

I think the big question that needs to be asked of the president is why. The Democrats will now own Afghanistan.

Twin Blogging

In case you haven't noticed, I've been a little busy the last few days with twin boys!! Meet Gavin and Landon. I'm sure they will be regular contributors to the blog.

Fundamentally Sick

The man with 5 deferments from combat in Vietnam who had his political coming out party with Richard Nixon, Big Dick Cheney, gets to say on drug addicted right wing radio President Obama bowing on his recent Asia trip is "fundamentally harmful," a "sign of weakness," and "very upsetting." This is a guy who was co-charge of the last 8 years of fundamental American collapse around the world. Two on-going, endless wars that nearly destroyed the country only to be brought back from the brink by the current president and the coward Dick Cheney, just like all Republicans, gets to enjoy no responsibility for how bad they failed. It's really sickening.

Still waiting on word from Cheney if kissing and holding hands with the world's largest sponsor of terrorism is wrong.

Republican Rapper Earns His Street Cred

As part of the pledge by GOP chairman Michael Steele for the Republican Party to turn a corner and become more "hip-hop" in order to carry on its "Renaissance!," Republicans have found their new flavor in gangsta rapper Hi Caliber, an unemployed thugalicious Tea Bagger from Jersey.

Hi Caliber gave one heck of a fantastic Patriotic interview to Christina Bellantoni from TPM last week. Ironically, he tells her that he's not a Republican he merely only votes for them. He "reluctantly" voted for John McCain because someone who isn't Republican surely wouldn't have voted third party or simply written their own name in that's for sure. Strangely enough, the 34 year old unemployed Super Patriot and Freedom Fighter is waiting on the "Messiah" because when the Messiah does return he of course will be Republican.

I think for the next hip-hop extravaganza, the GOP should do a pants-off dance-off. Thug it out with me now:

I've been arrested for being white and hanging with blacks/ I've been robbed by brothers for being white and that's a fact/ I've been called white devil, been called a n***er lover/ Got not love for Hitler, call Martin my brother/ You see we're all brothers in the eyes of Christ/

Broder Gets Paid to Live in a Make-Believe World

So-called conservative columnist David Broder gets paid to pretend the last 8 years never happened:

The day after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gave its qualified blessing to the version of health reform produced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Quinnipiac University poll of a national cross section of voters reported its latest results.

[...]

The answer: Less than one-fifth of the voters -- 19 percent of the sample -- think he will keep his word. Nine of 10 Republicans and eight of 10 independents said that whatever passes will add to the torrent of red ink. By a margin of four to three, even Democrats agreed this is likely.

[...]

This is obviously turning out to be the case. While the CBO said that both the House-passed bill and the one Reid has drafted meet Obama's test by being budget-neutral, every expert I have talked to says that the public has it right. These bills, as they stand, are budget-busters.

Spare us the drama, Republicans.

All of a sudden, out of thin air, Republicans once again care about polls and about the budget. It's nothing short of amazing really. Of course this is not surprising to me since over three years ago I predicted Republican amnesia would set in.

Not one single time in Bush's entire 2nd term did he ever have a majority approval rating. That only meant to Republicans he was a true leader. But now, according to David Broder, it means the "public has it right." If we had applied such Broder logic then, Bush should have resigned. Too bad that didn't happen and too bad Republicans said just the opposite about polling 10 months ago.

In terms of budgetary matters, there had never been a presidency so fiscally irresponsible in American history. The man David Broder voted for twice, increased the budget deficit by roughly 1,000%. Never once did Broder write a column so concerned about increasing the budget deficit. Never did he even consider equating unpopularity with budget madness, but now that Bush is gone Republicans all over the country get to pretend-- just like Broder is-- that they are fiscally conservative and care about what the public thinks. And the MSM, just like the Bush enablers they have always been, lets them do it.

Boycott ESPN

My boycott of ESPN is back on!

Blog Updates

I installed Windows 7 Wednesday and I'm loving it. So far it's so much faster than Vista and seems to move rather seamlessly. There are a couple things I'm still trying to locate but overall I'm very happy with Windows 7 and highly recommend it.

Technical Difficulties

Had some funky things going on this weekend with the site. The javascript host went down and some other stuff I know nothing about all happened as well. We seem to be in stable condition currently.

GOP: The Official Party of Conspiracy Theories

A new Public Policy Polling poll identifies a majority of Republicans believe Barack Obama did not win the presidential election last November. Instead 52% of Republicans questioned, believe ACORN stole the election for Obama.

This is not surprising given the endless coverage Fox News has devoted to ACORN. It makes it even less surprising when you consider the talk radio drug addicts (the leaders of their party) devote just as much attention to spreading lies that ACORN is the reason Obama is president. The ultimate goal of spreading such lies is to make President Obama as illegitimate as possible. Republican guilt for 8 years of George Bush and total failure can only be reconciled if Democrats screw up just as bad. Conspiracy theories are just one way to ensure that.

Geithner Talks Back

I must admit I'm not a big fan of Tim Geithner. Back before he was confirmed by the senate, I called for him to step aside. So there's certainly no love lost when I read items about Republicans calling for him to resign. It's only when Republicans want to pretend that everything was rosy until Geithner and Obama came along does it require a Fantasy World lesson.

After a barrage of insults this morning from Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) that ended with Brady calling for Geithner to step down, Geithner finally shot back:

"It is a great privilege for me to serve this president. I agree with almost nothing you said, almost nothing you said represents a fair and accurate picture of the economy today." He told Brady, "You gave this president an economy falling off a cliff."

Geithner continued: "Congressman, it's just a basic fact that a year ago, this economy was falling at a rate of six percent a year, it was losing between half a million and three-quarters of a million jobs per month and that process was not slowing" until President Obama began implementing his programs, Geither said.

Economically speaking, things are better today than they were when George Bush and the Republicans were in power. They left this country in the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. It's only been 10 months since a new president set new policies and a new economic course. It's going to take more than 10 months to fix 8 years of George Bush. But Brady's lecturing today of Geithner begs the bigger question of where was he? Why didn't he stand up and scold the Bush administration, the very people responsible for our economic condition, the way he has the new administration? It's plum fantasy to think the Obama administration has anything to do with the current crisis. Is the recovery going slow? Yes. But the very cause of it all belongs squarely on George Bush. It's really time Republican pretending ends.

Orrin Hatch Calls for Jihad Against HCR

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch says stopping health care reform is "going to be a holy war."

Coming from someone like Hatch who is a member of the only religion to actually wage war against the American government, whose father was a polygamist from which Hatch himself descends and who believes human life came from the planet Kolob, I'd have to say that's quite an alarming statement.

Fox Busted Again

Fox News gets busted again using old footage to inflate Republican crowd sizes. This time uses campaign footage from 2008 to inflate Palin book tour turnout. After various complaints from media watchdogs, Fox issued a written statement acknowledging the error and promises to do so on air as well and to take disciplinary action against those responsible. Interesting to see how this one pans out.

*Update:

Fox's on air apology. "We didn't mean to mislead anybody.."

Greatest President Ever Unveils Freedom Hall Design

A TPM readers points out just how similar it is to the New Reich Chancellery designed by Albert Speer in 1939.













A coincidence I'm sure, but man Bush can't win for losing.

A Note of Clarity

It seems the Obama administration's efforts, which have been less than stellar, to make stimulus spending open and transparent to tax payers is getting some heat from all sides including me. I wanted to clarify my disgruntlement if only slightly, however. Recovery.gov, the site used to monitor stimulus spending has, since its conception, been found to contain errors. I don't think it's intentional nor do I think it's some great conspiracy to hide the truth. I do think a majority of the errors are typos and problems with the end user entering the data, as the AP Fact Check demonstrates. These are definite problems no doubt. They should be corrected as soon as possible. Some of the errors, like non existent districts, look silly and can be corrected very quickly. There's no reason small things like that should be left on the site for the media and everyone to criticize. Monitor the information and fix it. It's that easy.

Apparently, Republicans are using ABC News' story (which I still think is excellent and I'm glad they did it) to invent conspiracy theories that Obama is listing "phantom districts" on recovery.gov in hopes to pull the wool over everyone. Republicans are saying Obama is spending stimulus money in districts that don't even exist, and thus spending money irresponsibly. There's no doubt Republicans know a thing or three about irresponsible spending, but these are typos and data entry errors not actual misplaced money.

Just for the record, I'm not on the side of falling off the cliff by cheering on "phantom districts." I just think the administration has to do a better job of keeping track of the data. They have to, there's no wiggle room on this.

A President Should Never Bow

By far the most anti-American thing a president can do: bowing to a French leader.


But it is okay to hold hands and kiss the king of the largest terrorist supporting state in the world.

Anything But Open and Transparent

ABC News did an excellent job the other day of reporting the failure of the Obama administration to keep up with its rhetoric on the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, more precisely its use of recovery.gov and its many errors and untruths.

ABC News was able to locate several examples on the government's Web site outlining hundreds of millions of dollars spent and jobs created in Congressional districts that have been misidentified.

For example, recovery.gov says $34 million in stimulus money has been spent in Arizona's 86th congressional district in a project for the Navajo Housing authority, which is actually located in the 1st congressional district.

The whole site is filled with errors as ABC reports. There is no excuse for such incompetence by Team Obama. These are exactly the stories that need to be pointed out and exactly the stories the media was created to cover. If you can't run a website...

*Update:

Associated Press fact checks the phantom district claims.

Illinois Pols Lose Their Minds

As predictable as the sun rising in the east, Illinois politicians are divided along party lines when it comes to opening a federal super max prison in Illinois to house foreign terrorists.

I would almost be inclined to agree with Illinois Republicans on this issue if they weren't so crazy. I don't think moving Gitmo from Cuba to Illinois really solves anything, at least not in terms of quenching the desire for terrorist activity. With that said, the scare tactics being employed by the Illinois GOP is ridiculous. The United States already incarcerates hundreds of foreign terrorists with 30 or so right here in Illinois. These terrorists pose no more a risk than serial killers, which are housed by the hundreds in Illinois. My hometown was until 2001 home to the number one maximum security prison in America. We had people miles from my home that were a lot more dangerous than some towel head talking about blowing up buildings in the morning while he attends strip clubs at night. People from Manuel Noriega, who actually had an entire army at his disposal, to John Gotti, Jonathan Pollard (who was one scary dude) to Pete Rose. Never did an inmate ever escape or pose a threat to the community.

*Update:

I'm glad to see it's not just Republicans in Illinois that are total cowards running around arousing fear of terrorists being jailed or tried in America. Nobody is talking about turning terrorists loose into the community. Are they really that dumb? We are talking about locking them up in a super max prison that no one in history has ever escaped from. We are talking about locking them up with the other 216 that are already locked up on American soil.

Quickies

• If during Bush's rule had there been a rise in private militias opposing him, would we be debating if they are patriots or extremists?

• Tea Baggers have decided against burning Democratic Members of Congress in effigy.

• Republicans claim it's "unprecedented" for America to try foreign terror suspects in civilian courts, except the 216 that are already in prison in America.

• Right wing tough guy and Fox News host, Bill O'Reilly says there is going to be a tax revolt that will result in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi "bobbing up and down in the Boston Harbor." In other words, she will be killed. I'm sure that's just another one of those funny Republican haha jokes. You know, we all just need to lighten up and get a sense of humor.

• Tea Baggers in Minnesota are tricked into chanting "Columbus Go Home" and cheering for the deportation of European descendants in America. Just goes to show how easily Republican Tea Baggers can get confused (and excited) about politics.

Getting It Right

Heating up this week will be what to do about the people we are holding in a concentration camp in Cuba. With that comes the story over the weekend that Illinois wants to sell the feds a prison to move detainees to. Add in the announcement last week from the Obama administration that it plans to try 9/11 conspirators in criminal court in NYC and it creates the perfect mix for two very different narratives on how to proceed and wage the war on terrorism.

Surprising it was to see this reaction from John McCain:

"These terrorists are not common criminals," said Sen. John McCain, Ariz., Obama's opponent in last year's election. "They are war criminals, who committed acts of war against our citizens and those of dozens of other nations."

I'm a little hesitant on that. If they are war criminals who committed acts of war, then they should be held as "prisoners of war," just like we did the Japanese. I would think John McCain would know the difference. The vagueness of the prosecution of the war on terror from the Bushies is still very much present today. That's why the next steps of how to classify detainees, conduct foreign policy and manage items of war, will be crucial for the Obama administration to get right. I'm not against trying detainees in criminal courts, I just so happen to think military commissions would be a better fit especially for high ranking prisoners.

It Is What It Is

I think we've seen the worst of the worst circa the Civil War of any political party with the Republican reaction to health care reform.

Republican opposition has consisted not of the typical political posturing that we all are so accustomed to, but of the very atypical extremist rhetoric that has not been seen in this country in 150 years. The only thing comparable might be the Civil Rights movement, but I would argue the opposition movement then was not directed at any one person like it is today.

Just as a quick summary:

• Multiple elected Republicans have latched on to the ridiculous and false claim that Obama wants to setup "death panels" to kill undesirables.
• That HCR could kill you.
• That people should make a pact to "slit our wrists" to keep reform from passing.
• Numerous Republicans have labeled the Obama presidency as a socialist takeover and that he is an illegitimate president born on foreign soil. His presidency and his policies result in what Republican Gov. Rick Perry calls a "punishment" for our country.
  
• That HCR poses a far greater risk to this country than terrorism. Put another way, those who favor reform are worse than terrorists.
• That the terrorists attacks on 9/11 are nothing when compared to HCR.
• That the president is an "enemy of humanity."
• That Obama is indoctrinating young people to support his "socialist agenda."
• That Obama wants to kill veterans with HCR.
• GOP Member of Congress actually posted a socialist indoctrinated photo of the president on the House Floor.
  

Now this is just a quick summary of some of the things elected Republicans have said about President Obama and health care reform. I've omitted the wacko Fox News pundits, talk radio drug addicts and various other non-elected Republicans who routinely say some of the same things listed above. They're crazy, we all know that. What I'm highlighting is the fine line we crossed to get where the official platform of the minority opposition party in this country is as radical as it's ever been. It is what it is. We can't tiptoe around it anymore.

No more surprises. No more media astonishment when Republicans say fringe things like Obama is "hell bent on socialism," because all they are doing is repeating their platform. No more excuses. It is what it is. They will own it.

Deep Thought

I think Sarah Palins knows that unless she says something really stupid there's no reason for her to be on television. So as long as she keeps saying stupid stuff, she gets more and more attention. Whatever it is, you know it's bad when her fellow running mate says her story is "100% untrue" but can it get any lower than when Fox News has to fact check you?

Under the Weather

Sorry everyone, I've been a little under the weather these last two days and have barely been off the couch. Not that lying around on the couch isn't normal behavior for me. It's that I felt like crap while lying on the couch. I seem to be better just in time for tailgating this weekend, which is great news.

Other than that, I wanted to do a followup on a stats post from August.

• Avg. Daily Hits = 3,500- that's down about a thousand hits.
  

Top Keyword Searches
bush idiot
walk with god
republican tea baggers
health care reform
Obama

• Returning Readers = 250/day- that's up 75 from August.

• Most Viewed Post = They Really See Themselves as Revolutionaries

Rick Perry Impersonates Koko the Ape

It's more than excessive to accuse the president of being an enemy of this country. But that's just what Super Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas does. He claims the president is trying to punish the country and is "hell bent" on a socialist takeover.



Now come on. This is ridiculous. Why can't Republicans just say they disagree? Why do they always have to make everything a manly struggle between freedom and tyranny, with them, of course, being the side of freedom? Anyone with half a brain can figure out for themselves that all insurance programs are socialist in nature. Even Spinner agrees to as much. There's really no reason for Perry or anyone to be doing what they're doing. He dances around a stage like Koko the ape and calls the President of the United States an enemy wanting to punish the country.

There's no excuse for this anymore. I couldn't imagine if the governor of the third largest state in the Union called President Bush a socialist enemy how much Republicans would have cried and wet their pants. Nor can I imagine what would have happened if Democratic Members of Congress had organized protests against Bush where they gleefully called him everything from Hitler to Lenin like Republicans did two weekends ago.

No doubt there were massive protests against Bush but not a single one was organized by opposition members of Congress. In fact, the one lowly person that organized a massive protest movement against George Bush was painted by the conservative media as un-American and aiding the terrorists. To this day, when Republicans detest un-American activities Cindy Sheehan is their main target. But what possibly could be more un-American than saying the president is a socialist enemy that wants to punish the country and states should secede in order to prevail against the coming tyrannical amercement? There really isn't much more a person can say that would have been labeled the worst of the worst by Republicans than what Rick Perry already has.

Republican Chickenhawk Smack Down

Isn't it great to watch Chickenhawks get mad and throw hissy fits when someone calls them out on their on their lack of patriotism when their country needed them most.



Republican Tom Tancredo was of prime fighting age during Vietnam but received a deferment because he told the military doctors that he had depression. Even though he was a vocal proponent of fighting war without end, like so many today, he just couldn't bring himself to go fight.

Pretty Certain These Should Be Points Made by Someone Other Than a Comedian

Fox News' Uber Patriot Sean Hannity gets busted using footage of the 9/12 Tea Bagger protest for Michelle Bachmann's Tea Bagger protest two weeks ago. Big deal right? Well, considering only about 4,000 people showed up at psycho chick's rally, using footage of one that had 20 times that is neither Fair or Balanced. To me, though, the real story is look who it took to bust Fox!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

I'll say again, the only way to effectively stop Fox is if other media networks hammer them for their coverage. Until then a fake news program is the best we got.

*Update:

Hannity, sort of kind of apologizes for cropping video of 9/12 Tea Bagger protest to make Bachmann's protest look bigger. Again, just goes to show how a fake news program is doing the work of network media.

Fox News: Pelosi Did Everything But Whore Her Body to Pass HCR

This must be part of Fox News' non-news programming: "Nancy Pelosi basically did everything except sell her own body to get this bill passed. OK. [laughter] She did everything!"-- Laura Ingraham- Fox News, Nov. 11, 2010

I think Fox should give its viewers a disclaimer when they switch from news to opinion programming. Actually they would have to keep the disclaimer up at all times.

Tea Bagger Porn

A tad bit of truth would really do the Republican Tea Bagger movement some good. But when reality means you are the very things you hate, it takes massive lies to keep yourself going every day. Fox News host Sean Hannity helps his fellow Tea Baggers do just that by LYING OUT HIS SKINNY ASS THAT 20,000 TEA BAGGERS ATTENDED LAST WEEKEND'S CIRCLE JERK. Absolutely no evidence to back him but giving Tea Baggers a hard on is really all his job is.

Don't Let Facts Get In the Way

There hasn't been near enough said in the this country about the two nations we fight our endless wars with today, and how they got where they are. The main reason for the silence is because it was the Reagan administration that helped arm, fund and provided intelligence to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Bringing that up only opens me up for being called anti-American or having my patriotism questioned by some tough guy who thinks Rush Limbaugh is smart. I bring it up only hesitantly for that reason. But, there is also the situation in Pakistan that is largely responsible for world instability and just so happens to be neighbors to the American occupied country of Afghanistan. It just so happens, too, that while Reagan was busy supplying Saddam with WMD and arming the mujaheddin in Afghanistan, he was also giving the thumbs up to the Pakistani's and their atomic bomb.

Now I'm certain, in a very Serious and Freedom Fighting Republican sort of way, that none of that has anything to do with what's happening today. Reagan had to do what any tough guy Republican had to do. But could you imagine if Bill Clinton had given one penny to Saddam Hussein or if Clinton had given one bullet to the Afghan rebels, what kind of crazy conspiracy debate this country would be engulfed in right now. I mean my goodness we might even be talking about ceasing our wars for the simple sake of we started them.

Deep Thought

How long until the right wing claims the Ft. Hood shooter went to the same mosque as Obama? Not long actually.

War, More War, Thank God for Glorious War

Anonymous sources report Obama is preparing to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Why don't presidents fight the war?

Time To Listen

Even though there has been a lot going this weekend in terms of health care reform, I want to highlight just how wrong the Obama administration was in regards to unemployment. This way or that way, doesn't really matter, the Obama administration said we would be at 8% unemployment by November unless the stimulus was passed. We are currently at 10.2%. Being wrong is nice for discussions and games of trivia but we're talking about people's lives here. Not only was Team Obama way off, they shrugged any suggestion that clearly demonstrated job losses would be much deeper than anything we've seen in nearly a generation. So "wrong" is one way of putting it, totally clueless is another.

Deep Thought

Considering more than 60 Congressional Republicans showed up at yesterday's Tea Bagger protest in DC, I don't think there is any way anyone can say with a straight face that the fringe nut jobs have not taken over the GOP. They are in control. And they are, by far, the only motivated faction of the Party. When can we start this over? Wheeee!

Tea Baggers Lie Again About Numbers

What happened to the millions of Tea Baggers yesterday?

Looks like a few forgot to show. Aerial picture taken from Lynn Jenkins' (R-KS) cell phone during a fly over.
Of course all that depends on who you talk to and what planet you live on. Capital Police put the number at about 4,000. Others reported it as double that. As far as protests go, that's tiny. I'll see more people than that tomorrow at the local high school football playoff game.

Those living in the Republican Fantasy World, a world where George Bush was a popular president and Iraq had something to do with 9/11, put the attendance any where from 45,000 to a million!

They just can't tell the truth. When a billionaire buses in people to your circle jerk and the most watched cable news channel promotes it endlessly and all you can muster is a few thousand people that's pretty sad.

Texas

What a terrible thing in Texas. Sickening to anyone that has a soul.

Comparing HCR Bills

I do hope Republicans line up behind Boehner’s alternative health care reform. After all, that is what they said they would do: present a bill that will whip the Democrats’ and take care of health care once and for all. I have a feeling, though, the Republican “unity” on the bill will be some sort of hogwash mix of Fantasy World jubilation about how their bill rocks and nearly creates world peace with lukewarm support for a bill that does absolutely nothing to reform health care but will have to be supported if they still want to be referred to as Freedom Fighters.

In comparison, the Republican bill will actually accomplish nothing other than ensuring 5 years from now we will have to yet again reform health care in America.

Based on CBO estimates:

In the end, the Republican bill costs substantially less but provides nothing in the way of reform. Furthermore, in comparison of deficit reduction and costs, the Republican bill will cost less, cover much less people, and put a much larger burden on the deficit (increase the deficit more than the Dem bill).

So would you rather pay $8 billion to regulate health care that will do nothing to cover people already without insurance; that will-- in comparison-- increase the deficit, and still would allow Members of Congress to partake in a publicly financed system by denying such a system to everyone else? Or would you rather pay $870 billion for health care regulation that will cover 96% of Americans, decrease the deficit, forbids denial of coverage based on preexisting conditions, and allows tax payers to opt-in to a plan Members of Congress currently enjoy and raise their entire families on?

The Storming of The Hill!

Don't dare miss out on the millions of Tea Baggers ascending upon Capitol Hill today to stare their enemies in the eye.

Super Crazy Lunatic Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) is leading the charge to march Freedom Fighters through the Halls of Congress in a last ditch effort to stop health care reform.

"Nothing scares a member of Congress more than a freedom-loving American," Bachmann said. "We learned that during the town halls."

Reminds me of the frenzy of whiskey burning.

In other news, Bachmann's chief of staff has resigned. I have no idea why.

*Update:

The flaming liberals at the pink commie rag known as TPM outright stole my labeling of one of the greatest mass social movements of my generation. Normally I wouldn't care, but since my grand kids will be reading about The Storming of The Hill in their history books, I can't help but speak out and demand some credit.

I Hate the Yankees

All was right in the world. Cubs sucked it up for months and didn't come close to post-season play. Cardinals won the central, made the playoffs and then threw their bats in the garbage. Alabama is undefeated. Illinois football still sucks. Democrats picked up two more House seats this week. And then the Yankees had to go off and win the World Series.

Boehner Introduces Health Bill

Republicans have a bill. Wheee!

The real question is does the Republican bill keep freedom fighting on the front lines?

*Update:

The Republican alternative introduced by Boehner, if indeed Republicans do line up to support it, will only reduce the uninsured by 3 million so says CBO. CBO also estimates roughly 52 million will still be left uninsured by 2019. In other words, the Republican bill absolutely guarantees that we will be back in 5 years reforming health care again. Leaving 52 million without health care is not reform.

Deep Thought

Is anyone aware the Democratic Party picked up 2 House seats yesterday? Their total now is 258 seats versus 177. Considering one of those Democratic pickups came in a District that hadn't voted D since Reconstruction, I'd say some significant importance is being widely overshadowed by the Renaissance!

I'm the cow on the tracks, moo moo!

Powerhouse Le Moyne Takes Down No. 25 Syracuse

What in the world would be wrong with waiting until after the first three games of the season, or at least the first week, before ranking college basketball teams? You can still throw your big boy rich schools into your meaningless rankings, just wait until after the Division II schools beat them first.

Republicans Always Win

I knew it wouldn't be long until Republicans claimed NY-23 as a victory. Hipster doofus Erick Erickson doesn't let me down. Within hours of a historic Democratic victory, he writes:

The race has now been called for Democrat Bill Owens.

This is a huge win for conservatives.

Erickson goes on to state that it's a victory for conservatives because the outplay of the race showed that they would stand up to the establishment GOP and refuse to support fake Republicans. Win or lose, it was going to be with a conservative. And if you could combine the votes, conservatives would have won. Therefore, it's a victory. Let the Renaissance! begin.

Will's Own Unicorn

It's rather fascinating, in an ignorance of history sort of way, to watch Republicans like George Will squirm their way out of blithely ignoring George Bush's handling of the war in Afghanistan. Americans went years without really referring to Afghanistan as a war. It was merely Afghanistan-- largely because Republicans turned our attention to greater spoils in Iraq.

Now that Bush is gone, it seems almost a feverish pitch by Republicans that Obama should decide in a nanosecond what do do next to expand that war. For Will,-- at least from this latest op-ed-- installing Karzai as the defacto ruler of Afghanistan impaired democracy not one bit. But now that election fraud caused almost exclusively by Bush's negligent if not criminal mishandling of Afghanistan, President Obama has turned a blind eyed toward democratic transgressions in the once blooming paradise of Bush's Afghanistan. Like I said, fascinating to watch.

Teaching Afghanistan to elect good men really isn't something Republicans should be lecturing anyone about. If there was ever a fantasy creature roaming in the desert it had one hell of an unfettered party for nearly 8 years.

Results

Not surprisingly Republican gubernatorial candidates won in VA and NJ. Neither races were all that close. However, in NY-23 Democratic candidate Bill Owens did pull out a surprising victory over Conservative Party candidate Dough Hoffman. I gotta admit I didn't see that one coming. Either way, two states with incumbent Democratic governors both carried by Obama in '08 just changed direction and elected two Republicans. I would have to say that's nothing to scoff at.

Maybe now we can return to passing health care reform.

Today is a Referendum

Today’s elections are receiving quite a bit of national attention, and rightfully so I might add. The big three are two gubernatorial elections in VA and NJ and the House race in NY-23. Whatever the outcomes may be and I’ve looked at enough polling to realize the only real shot for Democrats is the NJ governor’s race, but whatever happens today, both sides are exaggerating the results. Democrats are downplaying the races saying that they are not a referendum on the president. While Republicans are bending over backwards to demonstrate that today’s elections are proof Obama is unpopular and that they have regained their footing.

Is it a referendum on Obama? Of course it is. Whoever says it’s not is mistaken. Obama supporters are a little less than motivated right now to do much more than half of what they did a year ago. What was accomplished this time last year was nothing short of amazing. Millions of people worked extremely hard to elect the first black president; someone who garnered hope and change and someone that sought a new course for this country not seen since JFK. Inspire us it still does but we are still waiting on results. We’ll take a hit in a couple governors’ races and a U.S. House race if it means our efforts are needed for the midterms rather than for this off year.

Results, however, are greatly needed from this administration before the base gets re-motivated. We are still waiting on health care reform, repeal of DADT, jobs to return and a president that will quit reaching out to an opposition that calls him a socialist, says he wants to setup death panels to kill undesirables, that organizes protests against him and labels his government as an un-American socialist tyrannical takeover. All of us are tired of that stuff. 69 million people voted for Obama so we wouldn’t have to kowtow to knuckle dragging Republicans anymore. There’s no quicker way to simmer the base than to motivate them to work harder than ever and then after your landslide election, tell us to be patient while the opposition party that has been tossed en masse the last 3 years gets to dictate policy.

So I do very much believe today’s elections are a referendum on Obama, especially from his base. We are all still waiting on results and we’ve been patient. If we are going to work hard again next year for the midterms, then we’re going to need more than patience. I don’t think the outcomes today spell out a national trend or showcase some sort of resurgence on behalf of the GOP. But it might if conspiracy theories are allowed to dictate the national debate. It definitely could be a long hard slog, or a bump, but whatever it is, it’s real.

Where It's Always Sunny

Only in the Republican Fantasy World can it be good news when your very own party's candidate drops out of a congressional race. And only can the gatekeepers of the Republican Fantasy World spin it as a positive for Republicans by falsely reporting the Republican dropped out to support the third party candidate in order to ensure a victory for "conservatism," when in reality the Republican dropped out and endorsed the Democratic opponent. Preserving modern conservatism has nothing to do with it, but you wouldn't know that by watching Fox News. To them, it's all a victory for Republicans.



Thug it out with me now...

We need tanks and hummers, not hybrid cars!
We need honest politicians, not communist czars!
USA, not the USSR.
We need more Ann Coulter and less Bill Maher.

Viva Bush!

Repubs: Health Care Reform is Worse than Terrorism

Republican Congresswoman Virginia Foxx exclaims on House Floor that health care reform is a greater danger to American freedom than any terrorist.

I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.

Just so's we all understand, providing health care to people is a greater threat to the fabric of our society than bin Laden. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) concurs and says the health care debate is more important than 9/11.

"More so than anything else that I can remember," he added. "Certainly more so than the impeachment of President Clinton or even 9/11 and the decision to go to war, because this affects the healthcare of every single American."

It would be so much easier if these were crazies on the street. But they aren't. These are elected Republican Members of Congress proudly exclaiming Democratic attempts to reform health care are worse than terrorist attacks on this country. Civil debate to the GOP is only when you agree with them 100% of the time. If you don't, you're worse than terrorists.

Why can't Republicans just say they disagree and instead of the Democratic plan we should do this or that? Why can't Republicans quit with lies and conspiracy theories, fear and mind-numbing craziness, and do their jobs? Does everything they do really have to equal Freedom Fighting Revolutions???

White House Visitors

How is it even possible to have people with the same names as such terrorist-loving, America-hating persons as Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright visit the White House? It's all the proof the wackos Republicans need though.

Keeping Crazy in Charge

Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), who just might be the craziest person in Congress, went on the very Fair and Balanced Fox News, surprising I know, to call health care reform "unconstitutional," "the crown jewel of socialism," "socialized medicine," and "cradle to grave government takeover."

This is not a crazy on the street. This is an actual elected Member of Congress. A big difference between the two parties.