Republicans who have made the deficit their central ideological focus are, in some sense, the dog that caught the bus. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated this month that the deficit for this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, will fall to about $642 billion, or 4 percent of the nation’s annual economic output, less than half the 2011 deficit and about $200 billion lower than the agency had estimated three months ago.
The agency forecast that the deficit, which topped 10 percent of the gross domestic product in 2009, could shrink to as little as 2.1 percent of the G.D.P. by 2015, a level most analysts say would be easily sustainable over the long run.
In fact, Republicans’ insistence on chasing the “exploding budget deficit” fairy tale has been problematic for their political strategizing:
House Republicans had envisioned a plan to reach a comprehensive deficit reduction deal predicated on a showdown in July over the debt ceiling. That showdown was supposed to drive both sides back to the bargaining table, but a rapidly falling deficit, rising tax payments and huge infusions of cash from the newly profitable, federally controlled home financing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have scrambled those plans. Now, the debt ceiling may not have to be raised until October or November, in the next fiscal year.
Awwww…. Meanwhile, the Tea Party is digging its heels in, continuing to call for cuts and refusing to negotiate with the Senate on reconciling the two chambers’ differing budget proposals. This is all because the Republicans are in utter disarray. I’m not sure an image of a Republican Party unable to find its own ass with a map and a compass is how the GOP envisioned going into the 2014 midterms.
In a letter to members of Congress, which was obtained by NBC News, Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation (which recently found itself in hot water over the racial IQ theories of the co-author of their widely panned immigration reform study, Jason Richwine, who resigned from the think tank last Friday), urged Republicans on Capitol Hill not to govern, and instead, to focus on the would-be “scandals” plaguing the Obama administration.
The letter, which is addressed to House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, trumpets the negative media buzz surrounding the White House, saying that, “for the first time, the activities of the Obama administration are receiving a sustained public vetting. Americans’ outrage over Benghazi is amplified by the Internal Revenue Service’s intimidation of conservative grassroots organizations and a cascade of negative headlines. There is the real sense the Obama administration has been less than forthright with the American people, the press and lawmakers.”
Unfortunately for conservatives, who are still hermetically sealed inside their conservative information bubble, “Americans’ outrage over Benghazi” is completely non-existent, and the IRS scandal is still so new that most Americans aren’t entirely sure what it’s about. This hasn’t stopped Tea Party groups from trying to fire an IRS official who had nothing to do with the scrutiny of 501(c)4s, though. Why? Because she’s in charge of enforcing Obaamcare.
But I digress. Back to our letter:
In light of the white hot media spotlight on the administration, and to deflect attention from the many policy areas where Republicans don’t quite get along, the letter urges: “it is incumbent upon the House of Representatives to conduct oversight hearings on those actions, but it would be imprudent to do anything that shifts the focus from the Obama administration to the ideological differences within the House Republican Conference.”
“To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference. Legislation such as the Internet sales tax or the FARRM Act which contains nearly $800 billion in food stamp spending, would give the press a reason to shift their attention away from the failures of the Obama administration to write another ‘circular firing squad’ article.”
It’s always all about the obstruction with these people. God forbid anyone should do their jobs. Nope, political games take priority with conservatives. And hey, that’s no surprise: conservatives don’t know how to govern — and how could they? They don’t believe in it! So when they get in power they use their position to line the pockets of their fat cat friends and play political games. When they’re out of power, they use every trick in the book to keep anyone else from governing.
Hey everyone, gun control ain’t dead! There’s actually a bill in Congress that would ban ammunition purchases for six months! And, unbelievably, this bill has the support of far-right GOPers like Sen. Jim Inhofe Of Oklahoma.
What’s that, you say?
Yep, meet the AMMO Act (“Ammunition Management for More Obtainability,” cute, huh? Republicans love those clever acronyms). Will it stop suspected terrorists from buying ammunition? Crazy people? Convicted felons, domestic abusers, etc.? Nope. It’s directed at federal agencies:
The legislation would require the Government Accountability Office to conduct a report on the purchasing of ammunition by federal agencies, except the Department of Defense, and its effect on the supply of ammunition available to the public. The AMMO Act would restrict agencies from obtaining additional ammunition for a six-month period if current agency stockpiles are higher than its monthly averages prior to the Obama Administration.
This bill stems from some long-debunked conspiracy theories circulating around the internet about the Obama Administration stockpiling ammo to disarm the American populace and prepare for civil unrest (oddly, the bill exempts the Defense Department; seems some folks don’t really understand the meaning of the term “martial law”).
Anti-government “tin-foil haters” like Alex Jones and Pat Dollard are cheering the bill. Of course they are, they’re the very folks who have been flogging this nonsense in the first place. The fact that there is actual legislation in the U.S. House and Senate addressing one of their crackpot conspiracy theories is a huge win for them. It shows how far their influence has reached inside the Republican Party.
And make no mistake, this is unique to the Republican Party. Yes, during the Bush years some lefties pondered the government’s role in 9/11; some folks believed a false national security event would occur so the Bush Administration could declare martial law and cancel the 2004 elections. But these were commenters on blogs, maybe a far-left radio host or two. Not people actually elected to the United States Senate or a state legislature. Not people holding office and in a position to influence public policy.
Not people like Tennessee Republican Rick Womick, or the crazy lady in New Hampshire’s state house who bought Alex Jones’ “false flag” nonsense about the Boston bombings. The fact that the Republican Party is increasingly associated with these fringe conspiracy nutters shows just how far off the rails America’s conservative political party has gone. Wake up, folks. Michele Bachmann has plenty of company in that crazy train.
I call them “tin-foil haters” because hate is exactly what these people are selling. It’s distrust of the government with a heaping pile of amygdala-tweaking fear thrown in, topped with a shining hero archetype. It’s the idea that only you, young Wolverine, have the exclusive truth and can save the world — or at least your corner of it. Only you can be the hero of this movie. And yes, I do blame Hollywood for a lot of this stuff. I can’t tell you how tired I am of seeing the White House or a national landmark blown up on the big screen (and hunky Channing Tatum alone can save us!). Hollywood, get a new storyline. This one’s played out.
By the way: if you think our government is too incompetent to regulate healthcare but is clever enough to pull off any of the convoluted conspiracy theories you’ve dreamed up, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Can’t imagine why people think Republicans are mean-spirited, can you?
Bell has been summarily spanked on Twitter for this douchey Tweet, prompting him to Tweet about praying for families and re-Tweeting a “love your enemies” Bible verse. That’s right, hide behind religion when your fat yap opens and the stupid falls out, you sanctimonious shit.
The Senate failed Wednesday to pass legislation preventing veterans from losing gun ownership rights simply for being incapable of handling their financial affairs.
[...]
The amendment sought allow the VA to only report to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System if a judge, magistrate or other judicial authority determines a veteran is a danger to himself or others.
Wednesday’s vote came on an amendment to S 649, the Safe Communities, Safe Schools Act, after the Senate also defeated attempts to expand background checks for gun purchases and to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons
Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who sponsored the Senate amendment, said current policy has led 129,000 veterans to be “deprived of their Second Amendment Rights to own firearms” without due process because they were declared financially “incompetent,” the term used by the VA for those appointed a fiduciary to handle their financial affairs.
Why does Mitch McConnell hate the troops?
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Mitch McConnell has tipped his hand with his ridiculous happy dance over the gun bill’s defeat. Because this tells me he’s clearly remembering his own biggest failure as minority leader: his vow to make Obama a one-term president at all costs. How’d that work for you, Mitch? Not so good.
“We think it’s reasonable to provide mandatory instant criminal background checks for every sale at every gun show. No loopholes anywhere for anyone,” he said. “That means closing the Hinckley loophole so the records of those adjudicated mentally ill are in the system. This isn’t new, or a change of position, or a concession. I’ve been on record on this point consistently, from our national meeting in Denver, to paid national ads and position papers, to news interviews and press appearances.”
That effort went down in defeat in the Republican-controlled House, unfortunately. Still, it’s helpful to remember that Wayne LaPierre, Mitch McConnell and five other Republicans were for universal background checks before they were against them. What changed? Just the burning desire to punch a hippie, give President Obama the middle finger, and obstruct anything that a person with a “D” after their name supports.
It’s not surprising. Because while McConnell might enjoy spiking the football over this piece of legislation, we’ve got our eyes on the big picture. We know that when Republicans and four Republican-lite Democrats say no to something supported by 90% of the American people, they are the picture of irrelevancy. Remember, Lisa Murkowski, that time you voted for the Blunt Amendment and then immediately regretted it? You said,
“I have never had a vote I’ve taken where I have felt that I let down more people that believed in me,” she said.
Yeah, this is what happens when you base your votes on special interests. And I think a lot of Senators will be getting a taste of that in coming weeks. Because it’s not over. It’s over when we say it’s over, and as long as shootings and gun accidents and gun violence remain at epidemic proportions in this country, we aren’t stopping.
Gabrielle Giffords has an op-ed in today’s New York Times, which is a must-read. She writes:
Speaking is physically difficult for me. But my feelings are clear: I’m furious. I will not rest until we have righted the wrong these senators have done, and until we have changed our laws so we can look parents in the face and say: We are trying to keep your children safe. We cannot allow the status quo — desperately protected by the gun lobby so that they can make more money by spreading fear and misinformation — to go on.
I am asking every reasonable American to help me tell the truth about the cowardice these senators demonstrated. I am asking for mothers to stop these lawmakers at the grocery store and tell them: You’ve lost my vote. I am asking activists to unsubscribe from these senators’ e-mail lists and to stop giving them money. I’m asking citizens to go to their offices and say: You’ve disappointed me, and there will be consequences.
Yes, yes, and more yes. Also: four Democrats voted against universal background checks: Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Their votes wouldn’t have mattered — we’d still have been two votes shy of the 60 required — but I’ll remember their names anyway. I’ll need them when I refuse those DSCC fundraising calls and letters I always get.
If we needed any further proof that the Republican Party has disintegrated into little more than a pile of amygdala-tweaking meme salad with the sole purpose being to separate the rubes from their paychecks, I bring you this latest grift from Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas:
All you have to do to get this awesome bumper sticker is send $10 to the Stockman campaign. Such a deal! And you know you want one, wingnuts, because Stockman says liberals hate it! Punch the hippie, just $10! Cue the calliope soundtrack.
Last month I wrote that your modern Republican Party is no longer a political entity, it’s a massive money-making scheme. Rep. Stockman is just the latest con man to put his hand in the grift machine.
This will happen when monkeys fly out of Rick Santorum’s armpit:
The report calls on Republicans to counter the party’s image as an arm of business. It says Republicans should “blow the whistle at corporate malfeasance and attack corporate welfare. We should speak out when a company liquidates itself and its executives receive bonuses but rank-and-file workers are left unemployed. We should speak out when CEOs receive tens of millions of dollars in retirement packages but middle-class workers have not had a meaningful raise in years.”
Yes, you should! Why don’t you? Maybe because it’s really hard to blow a whistle with the same mouth you’re using to fellate corporate interests and Wall Street bankers?
It gets better:
Beyond that, however, there are no policy details. Indeed, the authors point out that they are not a policy committee, in a section calling on the GOP to “embrace and champion” comprehensive immigration reform without further specifics.
In addition, an extensive set of “inclusion” proposals for minority groups, including Latinos, Asians and African Americans, appears to mimic similar, failed outreach efforts by various RNC chairs over the last 30 years.
Of course there are no policy details. The Republican Party hasn’t had a new idea since Ronald Reagan. Conservatism by its very nature is the antithesis to new ideas. These are the same people who don’t believe in science, in evolution, in a living, breathing Constitution. They are cemented in the past, indeed that is the very definition of being conservative.
It’s hard not to look at this RNC “report” as nothing more than another canon fired in the war between establishment Republicans and the Tea Birchers. The RNC’s report is getting a lot of national attention today, and that’s no coincidence: conservatives just spent the weekend grumbling about how they want segregation back and cheering tired old Telepromptr jokes at the CPAC freak show. The Teanuts are the Neanderthals of conservatism, trying to drag the Republican Party back to the swamp. Reince Priebus has thrown this post mortem out as a warning to those rabble rousers that they’d better step in line or get thrown under the bus. Good luck with that!
Fun fact: remove all of the vowels from Reince Priebus and you get RNC PR BS. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?
This whole phony-baloney CPAC “snub” storyline is such an obvious piece of marketing bullshit. I know my readers are too smart to fall for it, but it amazes me that the political media has. Seriously, guys, how many times are you going to get played? Or maybe you just don’t care. Yeah, that has to be it. It’s all Kabuki, the media is dutifully playing their part, and we rubes in the sticks are supposed to eat it all up. Thanks for watching the previews, now get ready for the big show somewhere around 2015!
Americans have been played so many times by the endless deluge of political theater, I just don’t think it’s going to work. At least, it’s not going to work on me.
Look, the big problem every pundit and Republican “strategist” identified as sinking the Mitt Romney campaign was its failure to “define” their candidate early in the game. The big thing that sunk Romney, according to the experts, was that Obama “defined” Romney as an out-of-touch, super-wealthy, flip-flopping elitist. Hey, if the shoe fits, amiright?
So it’s just so obvious to me that the Republican establishment has identified Christie as their guy for 2016 and they’ve started “defining” him as the anti-Teanut, non-crazy Republican.
Look, Republicans figured out that the extremists that make up their base have hurt the party, so they’re tossing those folks under the bus, tricorn hat and all. Instead they’re going to offer up their straight-talking, outspoken, Real American, blue collar dude who will “reach across the aisle.” As proof that he’s not one of the foamy mouthed Neanderthals, look at how he’s been “snubbed” by CPAC! See!
Pfft. Except he wasn’t too liberal for CPAC last year, when he took to the podium and bragged to those same foamy-mouthed Neanderthals about what a dick he could be to Democrats, and how Obama is a scary big-government guy who is going to ruin the country for future generations. I found a copy of Christie’s 2012 CPAC speech on YouTube, it’s a bad video and you might want to just listen to the audio or else take some Dramamine capsules before you watch it:
Listen to him gloat about how he went in and made budget cuts by executive order, instead of negotiating with the Democratic legislature on a budget, because fuck yeah, that’s how Chris Christie rolls. That moment of non-compromise elicited vigorous cheers from the audience, because there’s nothing wingers don’t love like a fellow conservative bully. (And really, haven’t we already had one Little Napoleon in the White House in recent memory? Do we really need another?)
Christie is another union-hating, cheap labor, tax-cutting, de-regulating, pro-life, ex-Wall Street lobbyist, Reagan-worshipping Republican. Make no mistake, these people are all the same. Like our Bill Haslam, they may look reasonable, but they always revert to type. They’ll let the mouth-breathers and Bible-bangers have their way, if it suits their interests.
“He won’t veto the bill because he’s anti-gay,” Goldstein said in a statement issued before the veto was issued Friday. “He’ll veto the bill because the 2016 South Carolina presidential primary electorate is anti-gay.”
Truer words were never spoken. But a funny thing happened between last February and this February: the American people overwhelmingly rejected the “legitimate rape” wing of the Republican Party and their “binders full of women.” The War On Women became a real thing, and nobody cares if a couple of gay guys get married anymore. So this CPAC “diss” is a carefully planned brand roll-out.
Remember when John McCain was all “mavericky”? And then quickly disintegrated into a flip-flopping Pander Bear? This is like that, but I don’t think Christie will pander. He’s too smart for that, plus he can bully his way into the Republican nomination, because did I mention how much Republicans love their pet bullies? I really don’t think he’ll have any problems with the Tea Party crowd, those guys are so over, and Christie will have all the Wall Street and Koch money he needs to buy the nomination.
This guy isn’t the people’s choice, he’s the establishment choice, the Wall Street choice, the choice of the plutocrats. And liberals better start mining the memory hole now before the thing is scrubbed clean.
Also, y’all have no idea how much it pisses me off that I had to add a “2016 Presidential Election” category with this post. Cripes, America. Get a new hobby.
Oh my God, how did I not know that the WWE had created a villainous Tea Party wrestling character, with an evil manager sidekick? To wit:
Appearing on Monday Night Raw last week, Swagger and Colter were booed by the crowd as they overzealously talked about the Constitution, the scourge of illegal immigration, and “true patriotism.” Other promotional videos of the two show them talking about freeloading immigrants and welfare recipients in front of the Gadsden flag, which has become symbolic of the Tea Party movement.
Swagger is set to battle for the “World Heavyweight Championship” (or whatever it’s called) against Mexican wrestler Alberto Del Rio — clearly a play on the stereotypical tension between anti-immigration types and Mexicans.
Further hyping the “Tea Party” gimmick, during one match ringside commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler continually referred to Colter as Swagger’s “nutjob” manager, and said that the pair had received “fan mail” from controversial conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones.
Conservative blog Twitchy hit back at the WWE with a clever swipe at pro-”wrestling” itself: “WWE’s racist Tea Party villain as realistic as pro wrestling.”
Oooh yes, clever indeed. Nobody ever made that joke before!
Trying to think of why WWE would make fun of the Tea Party. I wonder if it has anything to do with Linda McMahon’s failed run for Connecticut Senate? McMahon, whose husband owns and operates WWE, lost handily to Democrat Chris Murphy. But I had thought McMahon was the Tea Party candidate?
Odd, but there’s no fuck you like a Republican fuck you.
