Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Bad news for Ron DeSantis is great news for America.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It’s not hopeless, and we’re not helpless.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Come on, man.

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Archives for April 2005

Loose Lips

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Did John Kerry and Richard Lugar just pull a Bob Novak and out an agent? This report seems to suggest that they did:

Mr. Smith came to Washington again Monday, as an alias for a Central Intelligence Agency officer who works covertly. Senators, however, may have blown his cover.

During questioning on John R. Bolton’s nomination to be President Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bolton and members of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee referred to “Mr. Smith” as one official among several who were involved in a dispute over what Democrats asserted was Bolton’s inappropriate treatment of an intelligence analyst who disagreed with him.

“We referred to this other analyst at the CIA, whom I’ll try and call Mr. Smith here, I hope I can keep that straight,” Bolton said at one point.

Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., both mentioned a name, Fulton Armstrong, that had not previously come up in public accounts of the intelligence flap.

It is not clear whether Armstrong is the undercover officer, but an exchange between Kerry and Bolton suggests that he may be.

In questioning Bolton, Kerry read from a transcript of closed-door interviews that committee staffers conducted with State Department officials prior to Monday’s hearing.

“Did Otto Reich share his belief that Fulton Armstrong should be removed from his position? The answer is yes,” Kerry said, characterizing one interview. “Did John Bolton share that view?” Kerry said, and then said the answer again was yes.

“As I said, I had lost confidence in Mr. Smith, and I conveyed that,” Bolton replied evenly. “I thought that was the honest thing to do.”

Valerie Plame all over again? Does anyone know more?

*** Update ***

Nope. Just the lazy media again.

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I Don’t Understand Democrats

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Sometimes I guess this party just doesn’t want to be in power. After watching certain wings of the Republican party explode with rage regarding the extra-legal and idiotic attempts to craft legislation solely to insert themselves inthe Schiavo marriage, you would think Democrats would take the hint. Instead, some are cheerleading this nonsense:

Maryland lawmakers yesterday approved legislation that would effectively require Wal-Mart to boost spending on health care, a direct legislative thrust against a corporate giant that is already on the defensive on many fronts nationwide.

“We’re looking for responsible businesses to ante up . . . and provide adequate health care,” said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles), the Finance Committee chairman, as the Senate approved the measure with a majority wide enough to survive an anticipated veto. A similar bill has cleared the House of Delegates, and legislators expect to reconcile their differences easily.

Lawmakers said they did not set out to single out Wal-Mart when they drafted a bill requiring organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits — or put the money directly into the state’s health program for the poor.

But as debate raged in the Senate yesterday, it was clear that the giant retailer, which has 15,000 workers in Maryland, was the only company that would be affected.

All your business are belong to us. Really, though (*wink*), they didn’t know that Wal-Mart would be the only company effected. They just pulled the number 10,000 out of the air.

Fine choice. Government control of your marriage and medical decisions, or government control of your business and economic choices. Let’s just throw all these bastards out of office. What makes it so inexplicable is that at the same time they were passing bills designed to control occupational issues, they recognize the value of individual liberty in some areas:

Other portions of the Democrats’ agenda targeted their progressive base. With the domestic partners bill, they gave unmarried partners, including gay couples, the right to make health decisions for each other.

And then reverted back to nanny state form:

The legislature set in place a host of new restrictions on teen drivers that came in response to a rash of road deaths in the Washington region over the past six months. A measure barring novice teen drivers from carrying teenage passengers who are not family members reached the governor’s desk, as did a bill prohibiting teens from using cell phones while driving during the 18-month provisional license period.

Explain.

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The Bull Moose Speaks

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On Tom DeLay:

Come on, fellow members of the vast left wing conspiracy – everyone has to relax on occasion. When you are busy implementing the K Street Project, ramming through a redistricting plan in Texas with corporate funds, using government assets for political business, gutting ethics rules and threatening judges, you really need time to unwind. And what better way to do it than with fine upstanding citizens like Casino Jack!

And besides, when he leaves Congress, Tiger Tom may give Tiger Woods a run for his money in the PGA. On May 12th when they celebrate his leadership, the denizens of the right should give Tiger Tom a Green Jacket – for he is truly the Master of Sleaze.

On the Republican ‘agenda:’

The Republican domestic agenda has run out of steam. Well, not exactly – they still seek to reward their corporate cronies and posture for the religious right. What was once said about the former Governor of Texas, “Pass the Biscuits Pappy” O’Daniel can also be said about the GOP. – the aim of the Republican Party is to save the soul of the poor man and the wealth of the rich man.

But for the rest of America, including Main Street Republicans, the cupboard is bare. Tax cuts have lost their appeal and the GOP has lost all of its credibility as the party of small government.

Of course, everything could change and the war against terror could return to center stage in an instant. But as long as the focus is on the domestic front, the War Party has nothing to say.

The current political situation is eerily similar to the period of 93 and 94 – an incumbent party has misinterpreted the results of the election, overreached on a domestic policy initiative, became identified with a controversial social agenda and the congressional wing appeared mired in corruption.

What is most damaging to the Republicans is that they appear out of touch with America. For years, the right’s rap on the left was that it was dominated by intellectual elites who couldn’t relate to America. That can now be said of the right. The conservatives are now a mix of inside-the Beltway egg-heads and K Street hustlers. The Schiavo case and social security privatization are two issues that illustrate the gulf between America and the right.

And who believes that most Americans are abuzz about activist judges? Browse through a Walmart and see if the folks are aflame about the nuclear option. No, the Federalist Society bow tie types are as out of touch as the tie-dye Berkeley types.

Today’s right is more comfortable on K Street than on Main Street.

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A Real Eye Opener

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If you take the threat of radical Islamist terrorism seriously (who doesn’t?), then the movie “Dirty War” will scare the living hell out of you.

The movie is, according to the website, fiction that was “based on factual research by BBC Current Affairs.” I watched it last night, and man, does it present some frightening scenarios, as well as really capturing the chaos should a dirty bomb be set off in a metropolitan area.

I understand that there is some discussion about whether dirty bombs are possible- I would choose to err on the side of caution. After watching this movie, I have some real questions about the preparedness of the Department of Homeland Security. Can we ever really be prepared?

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A Popular Backlash?

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And for my fellow Republicans who think that I am off the reservation or a “bad Republican” when I state that our party has become the party of uncontrolled deficits, reckless spending, and intrusive big government, read this and weep:

Mr. Gingrich indicated some concern, though, about the current political circumstances of his party.

“I worry about uncontrolled spending, because we are the party of balanced budgets, smaller government and lower taxes,” he said. “I worry about any effort to flinch on ethics, because we are the natural reform party.”

If you want to brush that off as a mild warning, do it at your own expense. Gingrich is a die-hard partisan, and would never use stronger language to condem the GOP. This is as clear a shot across the bow as you are going to get from Newt.

We were the party of balanced budgets, smaller government, and lower taxes. Now all we have left is the lower taxes bit- and it isn’t going to be that way forever. Pretty soon, there is going to be a reckoning day- we simply can not keep taxes at the current level while continuing to expand government expenditures exponentially. In the not so distant future, taxes are going to have to go up- because we will be unable to pay the bills otherwise.

Right now we are behaving like a bunch of rabid environmentalists, who, upon inheriting a Cadillac Escalade, realize that the seats are pretty comfortable and that a V8 is a real pleasure to drive, so we put the pedal to the floor and forget everything we used to call principles. Someone made this analogy in the comments of a thread a while ago, and it fits.

And if you think there is going to be no backlash- you are wrong. I just saw a poll on MSNBC ( I will find the cite in a little bit when it comes out) that states that the majority of the American people now believe that taxes are unfair- not because of the flawed tax code- but because the higher income brackets are not paying enough. I am sure the usual suspects will tell us how flawed the poll is- me- I tend to trust the numbers.

In other words- it looks like us ‘fiscal conservatives’ are poised to lose the tax debate, and more people are going to agree with this vision of the Republican Party:

Bush’s policies have very little to do with laissez-faire (just ask the Cato guys) or any actual moment in the American past. Instead, it has everything to do with corruption and funneling money to friendly corporations and religious groups. It’s a kind of christian democrat vision, but more along the lines of tangentopoli than Germany. I think this is important, because it’s become obvious that many Democrats now have high hopes that the investigations into Tom DeLay’s dealings will provide a major political payoff. It’s my opinion that it only will if Democrats manage to actually tie this stuff in to a broader critique of Republican policies. They’re not free marketers who happen to take bribes on occassion. The policymaking is fully continuous with the corruption.

Unfair? Maybe. But if you are a real Republican, a true conservative, and really do care about smaller and less intrusive government and free trade, and you do care about the dangers of the excesses of the far left- this should leave your knees shaking. We are beginning to appear to many to be the goofy and unfair caricature that the Democrats have painted us as for years.

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