Fun times in wingnuttia:
State governors — looking down the gun barrel of long-term spending forced on them by the Obama “stimulus” plan — are saying they will refuse to take the money. This is a Constitutional confrontation between the federal government and the states unlike any in our time.
In the first five weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has acted so rashly that at least 11 states have decided that his brand of “hope” equates to an intolerable expansion of the federal government’s authority over the states. These states — “Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California…Georgia,” South Carolina, and Texas — “have all introduced bills and resolutions” reminding Obama that the 10th Amendment protects the rights of the states, which are the rights of the people, by limting the power of the federal government. These resolutions call on Obama to “cease and desist” from his reckless government expansion and also indicate that federal laws and regulations implemented in violation of the 10th Amendment can be nullified by the states.
So this is what it was like during the Clinton years? I can honestly say, I remember it differently, being on the “other” side back then, but right now these folks are just looking batshit insane.
God help us if Obama ever lies about a blow job.
Bonus thought: Can you imagine what kind of “insurgency” these guys would be running if they had lost in 2008 the way the Democrats did in 2000? Here, they flat out got kicked out of office, rejected by large majorities, and they have decided the solution is to get their freak on.
Third Eye Open
Its a big rhetorical circle-jerk with these clowns.
All I want to know is when all the fwapping is done, who eats the slice of bread?
r€nato
remember, John …
oh that’s right you don’t remember…
it took 3 years to wind up the right-wing noise machine to impeachment crescendo.
We’re only 1 month into Obama’s term. It will get much, much stupider.
r€nato
who could have anticipated that the GOP would re-run their Clinton-era playbook?
Oh that’s right. Everybody.
r€nato
This is the 21st century, John. The state-of-the-art of GOP scandal-making technology has advanced so much since the 1990s that they don’t even need an actual instance of law-breaking in order to gin up the outrage sufficient to demand impeachment.
anonocrat
A question I’d like to see raised, and one none of my wingnutty friends have been able to answer:
What acts particularly, has this administration, but not its predecessor, committed that constitute this expansion of Federal power?
Is it the spending? See South Carolina v. Dole, and Article 3 section 8. What else is there?
Anyone? Anyone?
Y’know, I’m a New Hampshire resident. After I take the bar (tomorrow and Wednesday) I’m gonna find out who sponsored this here bill and see what they say. I’ll get back to ya.
D.N. Nation
A Constitutional crisis, and their Big Important Point is that…they don’t want to receive money? For real? Fucking idiots.
Brandon T
Am I the only one that sees this as the equivalent to:
Kids Demand Right to Refuse Christmas Presents, Say Santa Claus an Instrument of Socialist Oppression?
r€nato
oh sure I can, I’ve been saying this since Al Gore gracefully bowed out; that NEVER would have happened if the shoe had been on the elephant’s foot.
The right-wing noise machine would have whipped their sheep into a murderous, self-righteous frenzy. The "Brooks Brothers" riot in Miami was manufactured, after all. No reason to think it wasn’t completely scalable.
Comrade Stuck
Oh, not yet. But Bill Clinton sent them regular supplies of ammo with all the Clenis bimbo alerts. Apparently Obama is clean on that front. They have the outlines for hunting Obama’s presidency with the Socialist meme. We will soon be hearing about Hillary hooking the MUP up with her Chicom contacts for a little pay -to -play on getting secret stuff, especially after her schmoozing with the Reds the other day.
gwangung
Liars, too. I know for damn sure that Washington state is gonna take the money.
Ah well…thing is to call bullshit on the wingnut insanity and spread it far, wide and high.
r€nato
I guarantee you Arizona will find a way to take that money, protesting the whole time about how awful it is.
…would be useful to track which of those 11 states end up taking Obama’s tainted islamosocialist money.
Mike in NC
Well, this "Human Events" website is some serious wingnut batshit insanity. Coulter, Palin, Dick Morris, and Newt Gingrich? My eyes are bleeding from Teh Stupid.
MTmofo
Ohferchrisake:
MT’s part in their citation is about guns, http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/montana_loading_another_shot_for_states_rights/8431/
But, in the meantime, http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/articles/article/house_resolution_supporting_federal_stimulus_passes_with_little_flathead_su/8076/
Delia
Well, I live between two of those states, California and Washington, and the news on the West Coast travels pretty well, and I haven’t heard anything about any last stand states’ rights issue in either of them, except maybe that Ahhnuld wants as much stim money as he can get his hands on. So I assume that these are bills that cranky wingnuts introduced and left to die an unmourned death in their statehouses.
Ned R.
I love the weird phrasing of the original bit — the states introduced nothing, some random goofy state legislators did and I’ll bet most die before getting into committees.
r€nato
yeah, about that… he’s got a law degree and one of his past jobs was teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, so I don’t think that he needs a reminder from some yokel legislators in Oklahoma who can’t even quote the Ten Commandments let alone the Constitution, about what the 10th Amendment says.
But thanks anyway, assholes. The next time we want to know what you think, we’ll rip out your entrails and read them.
Comrade Stuck
When subpoena power is 50 seats away in the House and 10 away in the Senate, the freak on will have to consist of the Redstate Strike Force and 101st Keyboard Commandos typing all out assaults on sanity itself.
El Cid
Yeah, because if there’s one thing conservative Southern and Western states oppose it’s federal revenues being ‘forced’ into their states. That’s why there are so few military bases and defense industry production and federally-funded infrastructure in these noble stand-alone bastions of economic virtue.
You won’t see proud independent states like Alabama and Mississippi and South Carolina and Louisiana and Oklahoma and Montana lining up with their hands out for federal monies collected from other states’ taxpayers.
Brian J
How much of this is serious? I mean, aren’t a decent number of resolutions at the federal level just for show, or am I thinking of the name of some other legislative act? Wouldn’t the same thing be true at the state level, where the Republicans might be even nuttier and have little trouble shouting in a chamber or doing something else to make a big stink for a few minutes?
Dan
Larry Sinclair to the white courtesy phone…
sidereal
What?
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2009&bill=4009
Every cosponsor on that bill is a Republican. So because a bunch of the party leadership of a party deeply in the minority in Washington pulls a publicity stunt by sponsoring a bill, we get entered onto a list of states that ‘declare sovereignty over Obama’s action’. We don’t ‘declare’ shit unless it passes.
And if Hawkins wants to develop his sense of federalism he can start by keeping our state out of his fucking diatribes.
jack fate
Welp, honestly. . . sorta. It’s kinda like that, but a lot more crazy this time around and a whole lot more consequential for society in general.
r€nato
the state budget crises could be a great opportunity to call out the anti-government, drown-it-in-a-bathtub GOP politicians in those states. I mean, here is a golden opportunity for them to permanently reduce the size of government so that their constituents can reap the fruits of their libertarian-ish dogma.
Will they take advantage of this chance and just say, ‘no thanks’ to federal stimulus money??? I wouldn’t bet on it…
Ted
Yeah, a lot of these are Democratic states. They’re counting every resolution introduced by a wingnut state representative as evidence of grassroots rebellion. It’s absolute nonsense, which I take to be John’s point.
Other people may disagree, but I don’t think the wingnuts were *quite* this crazy in the 90s. One often found them annoying, and disingenuous. But you didn’t have this feeling that they might actually need to be institutionalized both for their own protection, and for public safety. Which I’ve had constantly for at least six years . . .
Comrade Stuck
@Dan:
Didn’t he got arrested for being an unlicensed moran?
Brick Oven Bill
I believe that lying about government finances, campaign funding, lobbyists, FISA, rendition, allowing public review of pending legislation for 5 days on the internet, on and on, is worse than lying about a blow job. I do not disrespect a man for lying about a blow job.
Clinton is looking almost decent in hindsight, which means that we may be approaching The Quickening.
I am pursuing a government contract. The lady told me today, in ordered to be considered for the contract, that I needed to submit a birth certificate. I hope that I can find my birth certificate, because if I can’t find it, I’ll have to order another one. It could take a week.
El Cid
I think it’s really just sinking in to the wingnuttia generalis population that Obama and the Democrats didn’t just win an election and get inaugurated / sworn in; OMG, they’re actually governing and they’re not going to just let us run everything.
For my rightwing friends and colleagues this means that it’s now time to share every racist joke and weird conspiracy theory they’ve ever heard about how Obama & Pelosi are about to give everything away to the n****** and those lousy cheats who quit paying their mortgages.
‘We have not yet begun to freak,’ is my prediction.
Though I will add that I personally see the possibility that the ordinary wingnuts might finally have loss beaten into their heads, and Obama may kick their asses bad enough that they withdraw in sad resignation, whereas the Southern / Western neo-Confederate GOP leadership will never give up, never surrender, never enlist.
Brett
I think I’ll start referring to every introduced resolution as an act of the political unit represented by the legislature. By this logic, the U.S. has acted several times to create a Department of Peace. This makes me very proud of my country.
http://kucinich.house.gov/issues/issue/?IssueID=1564
anonocrat
@Brian J: These legislation are either seditious or entirely worthless. The States do not have the power to bind the Federal government.
It is difficult to imagine what enforcement would look like, but I venture to say that if a governor were to attempt to enforce such a resolution, that would be tantamount to attempted secession.
Since we do not like to construe legislative acts as being destructive to the unity of our Nation without clear evidence of intent, you are right: these legislation will likely have all the weight of so-called "private law." These are the sort of things that say, "Resolved: This House finds that Johnny Appleseed has served the United States by planting apple trees, and commends his efforts with all gratitude." It’s a nice gesture, but ultimately useless as actual law.
Comrade Stuck
@Brick Oven Bill:
The mail runs slow on Planet Wingnut.
El Cid
@Ted: I’m sorry, they were continually screaming of an imminent Hillary Clinton-led UN invasion of the United States and how to fight the federal agents who would soon be invading your homes to take your gun away.
Timothy McVeigh wasn’t an accident; he was fed on a steady diet of post-Gulf-War-1 asshole-ism and right wing ultraparanoia of imminent socialist dictatorship.
I used to listen to these freaks on the radio all the time.
We haven’t yet arrived at mid-1990s levels of crazy. But we may get the same feeling quicker because the racism’s going to be so blatant now.
calling all toasters
Oh, John… the Clinton years were like this, only these crackpots had command of the network news and the nearly unlimited powers of Special Persecutor Ken Starr.
Chris Andersen
The insanity level has definitely ratcheted up from the Clinton years, and those were insane times (impeaching over a blowjob!)
Back in the 90s there was at least a semblance of sanity in the GOP. Enough that you could take them seriously.
But then you left John. So it’s all your fault!
Mnemosyne
@gwangung:
Gov. Ah-nold is on the record saying he’ll take Louisiana and South Carolina’s money if they don’t want it, so we’re set there.
I’m hoping this will be another crack in the split between national Republicans and state-level ones. It’ll be interesting to see what conflicts come up between the guys who get to spend 90% of their time in Washington and the ones who actually have to try and run their state.
Screamin' Demon
As Barney Fife once said to a bum on the streets of Mayberry: "I don’t wanna hear your hard luck story, mister!"
gbear
It’s not as bad yet, but (as renato says) they’re still warming up. The factor that makes this a little edgier than the Clinton days is that Obama is, ummm, not white. Having an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful black man in the white house is going to uncage a level of ugly hatred that’s rarely had the balls to go public.
The guys who still listen to Gingrich think that progress is pursuing a course that will result in Obama’s failure and hopefully his impeachment. That much is the same as the Clinton days. They haven’t learned a thing. I’m mostly concerned about how their poison rhetoric will empower the radical racists and I worry about Obama’s safety over the next eight years.
Edit: It looks like I’m just echoing El Cid.
Martin
None. Pretty much every state has a bill or resolution going to impeach Bush and Cheney. It’s all for show. And the turning away dollars is all for show. Sure, Jindal will turn away 1% of the dollars because it gets him 10x the headlines and his voters still get 99% of what they would have anyway. It’s win-win.
mt
lolwut. I’m pretty sure here in California we are not refusing federal money. We do encourage other states to refuse the money if that means we get more love. We’ll still respect you in the morning. Honest.
Martin
Oh, I think it is. Under Clinton, this was just a monsterous waste of Congress’s time, but it didn’t really bear a cost to the taxpayer. This is all very, very different now, and I think it’s a huge political blunder on the part of the GOP to play politics with people’s livelihood. Sure, $400M Rush has his opinion, but most of the country is on edge and the GOP keeps running up behind them banging on a pot. That shit is wearing thin fast, according to the polls.
J. Michael Neal
Imagine? I live in Minnesota. We don’t need to fucking imagine anything.
ibid
Clearly, we aren’t dealing with the brightest bulb in the box, since he can’t write a list of states in his own words, or at least not one with more than two items.
Politically Lost
These resolutions call on Obama to “cease and desist” from his reckless government expansion and also indicate that federal laws and regulations implemented in violation of the 10th Amendment can be nullified by the states.
kormgar
Speaking for California, we’ll take all the money, thank you very much.
We’ve been subsidizing the Red State Welfare Kings for years now, it’s time we get some of that money back.
Tom
@anonocrat: get some sleep, fer crissake! Best of luck on your exam, and congrats for making it this far.
Delia
I really think you need to distinguish between the southern and the western conservatives. Westerners can be pretty conservative, but there’s none of this southern aristocracy or craven submission to authority out here. It’s a much more libertarian type of conservatism, which can come into conflict with an overbearing government, such as the Bushies. Hence, you have states like Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico going blue. You will also notice that Republican governors out West are not being stupid about the stim money.
Church Lady
OT, but I thought this was interesting, although slightly unnerving. Today, I got a notice from Capital One letting me know that they were raising the interest rate on my credit card. I’ve had a Capital One Platinum account for around ten years or so, and it has always carried a 4.9% rate. Never changed, even when rates were up. I’ve never been late with a payment, and rarely carry a balance. Now, as interest rates have fallen everywhere, they want to change the terms to a variable rate to be determined by adding 10.65% to the prime rate, to be determined on the 25th of each month (13.9% as of 1/28/09). According to the notice, this is due to the "extraordinary changes in our economic environment". God help you if you somehow are late on a payment – your rate will then go to the "default" rate, which is 26.15% above prime (29.4% as of 1/28/09). Yes, an almost 30% rate will really help delinquent card holders pay off those balances – perhaps sometime in the next 100 years or so.
Has anyone else been notified by their credit card carriers that their rates are being raised due to economic conditions?
Needless to say, I have cancelled my card with Capital One.
TenguPhule
That was discussed awhile ago in a bunch of other threads.
Incertus
@kormgar: Speaking for Florida, we’ll wrestle you for it.
Ecks
@r€nato: "I’ve been saying this since Al Gore gracefully bowed out; that NEVER would have happened if the shoe had been on the elephant’s foot."
Look at Norm Coleman: He was ahead by 200 votes, and he was demanding Al Franken drop his obstructionism and the wasteful expense of court challenges so that the people of Minnesota can be represented in timely fashion. Then he’s behind 200 votes, and no expense will be spared, no rock left unturned (and turned and turned and turned) for however long it might take, so help him God… And that 180 pivot took him all of about a week to come by.
Hypocrisy isn’t an accusation against these clowns, it’s a statement of fact.
BTW, it must be the MO legislature, because we have a democratic governor now.
TenguPhule
This time they’re calling it the Islamosocialist Liberal Invasion who’re gonna take your guns and order mandatory gay abortions scary black man walla walla bing bang.
Polish the Guillotines
Well, I haven’t heard much mention of black helicopters, Wackenhut, or One World Governtment(TM) lately, but yeah, pretty much.
If anything, Obama’s got it coming. After all, the lousy commumislamofacist isn’t even a U.S. citizen.
realnrh
The bill in New Hampshire is another one of those kook-trying-for-publicity shots. Given the state of the state’s finances right now, even the death-spiralling NH GOP can recognize that denouncing federal money is not going to help their cause.
Brick Oven Bill
Black helicopters.
different church-lady
No, John, it wasn’t this bad back then. They hated Clinton with a passion, but they were doing everything they could to bring down the MAN, not the country itself.
Impeachment was like a luxury item in a time of plenty. Today is more like having arguments about what kind of caviar to serve on the deck of the Titanic on April 16th.
Polish the Guillotines
@Brick Oven Bill: BOB, you do not disappoint.
I am truly humbled.
Ninerdave
@Delia:
I haven’t heard of anything in CA either. Given the utter bat shit insanity of the GOP during the CA budget process, I’m sure there is some idiot up in Sacramento who’s authored some proposal along these lines.
JenJen
Yes, John, this is exactly how I remember the Clinton years. I also understand that the GOP, out of ideas (save for Michael Steele’s plan to win over young people by supplying dope beats; it’ll be the illest!), is tapping the Gingrich playbook. Fine. Didn’t work in the 90’s either, the people were actually not snowed, and Clinton left office a rather popular President. The more they piled on him in that second term, the more the people actually stood behind him.
Reading this kind of dreck, and watching the vid of Glenn Beck’s Red Dawn Jerkoff Fantasy on Fox News the other day, I’m sadly reminded of something else that happened in the 90’s… Oklahoma City.
Rampant wingnuttia is sometimes funny in a "let’s point and laugh" way, but in times of severe economic crisis and uncertainty, this shit is starting to take that ninety-degree-turn into dangerous territory.
Ninerdave
@Church Lady:
It’s happening all over. Our local Consumer Guy Michael Finney just covered this:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/7_on_your_side&id=6674937
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Liars, too. I know for damn sure that Washington state is gonna take the money.
Call their fucking bluff.
Executive signing order: "I understand that this Act does not require me to spend money in any or several particular States, and I understand that Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California…Georgia,” South Carolina, and Texas do not want it. So…"
bago
Given that Barack has tapped Seattle’s police cheif, Our ex- governor, and some other dude from this state, I doubt that this state will approve. We have that idiot Tim Eyman, but he’s a freak from the suburbs.
JGabriel
@Brick Oven Bill:
You do realize that’s a Republican initiative you’re bitching about, right BOB? After all, gotta make sure none of them illegal aliens are getting a gummint contract!
.
mere mortal
Well, the party with which you previously identified did the following while Clinton was president:
Accused Clinton of murder (both before taking office and while in office, the latter with embarrassing demonstrations involving a sitting Senator shooting a watermelon).
Accused Clinton of drug smuggling.
Ran at least two seditious campaigns denouncing the government (Ruby Ridge and Waco).
Had a prominent conservative talk show host encourage U.S. citizens to shoot government employees in the head, since they could be wearing protective clothing elsewhere.
Impeached a sitting president.
Read that previous entry once again, because they did it over a blow job (or more accurately, a perjury trap on the topic of a blow job).
Stole a presidential election when the actual result did not suit their preferences.
That doesn’t even include the incidents where the Republican party was acting in a non-criminal way, such as deriding the 1993 budget as one which would doom the American economy (followed by some of the best economic growth in the history of the Republic), or shutting down the government in 1995.
So no, I sure as hell hope that this time around won’t be as bad as the last, and lord help you for as much of the above that you cheered on, John (and I fear that you cheered for an embarrassing amount of it).
kommrade reproductive vigor
OK, assholes, that’s more for the rest of us. Thanks for playing!
I’m sure the rebel states will soon get rid of other horrible incursions by the fed starting with Medicaid and interstate roads.
Atanarjuat
I heartily applaud those states that are against Obama’s socialist expansion of the federal government.
Anyone can see that the Porkulus Package, touted as the best plan for "stimulating" the economy, is in fact a poison pill that will only coerce every state into even more dependence on federal dole.
Free-thinking Americans who value freedom and independence understand this, unlike, predictably enough, Obama Juicers who never saw a massive handout program they didn’t like.
-A
A Mom Anon
My understanding of this is that the dipshits in question here object to the money being spent on unemployment for people who have lost their jobs. Nice. They appearantly think that if the money given to out of work people is raised by however much then they will always have to pay out that much. I thought this money came from employers,not the State,but I am not sure.
I live in GA,my husband lost his job in July. He gets 330 dollars a week. That’s a third of what he brought home(before taxes it’s about a quarter). So,we get to decide between food and the mortgage,or we could just give it all to COBRA. And live in a van down by the river. I’m seriously thinking of showing up at Sonny Perdue’s house around dinner time with my family and asking what’s for dinner since my grocery budget has been kinda sparse lately. What a bunch of ass berets.
Josh Hueco
Nice to see that the Party of Lincoln is now running Henry Clay’s playbook.
Montysano
I awake this AM to NPR, and the sound of John McCain from yesterday’s meeting, suggesting that Obama show fiscal restraint by ……….. buying a cheaper Marine One helicopter when they replace the fleet this year.
That’s just fucking embarrassing.
Josh Hueco
@Josh Hueco:
Er, I mean John Calhoun. Never try to do history at 6:30 am!
D-Chance.
They should consult REAL revolutionaries…
these guys.
But, hey, it’s the new Liberal America resolve. Al Qaeda is quaking in its collective sandals.
Woodrowfan
Let’s not forget they blamed Clinton for Ruby Ridge, which occurred in 1992, under Bush I.
I saw my first "Where is Lee Harvey Oswald When You Really Need Him" bumpersticker in January 1993, along with bumperstickers claiming Clinton was "The Worst President Ever" at about the same time. So yeah, the crazy got ramped up early then too.
Woodrowfan
More like John C. Calhoun’s.
Keith
Wake me up when more states are making these resolutions than are legalizing medical marijuana.
chrome agnomen
hey BOB; you do realize that the gubmint job isn’t a real job, doncha?
headpan
A Mom Anon, SC unemployment insurance is about the same, at the end of the day, you end up getting a quarter of what you earned before you got laid off. That is, unless unemployment bennies are extended to 12 months. I am really not sure about that. I hope it has been extended but I know the repubes were fighting that. I cannot *fathom* anyone in a state legislature refusing such money and facing their constituents. But my gov Sanford is being forced to take it, all the while pissing and moaning as to how it is against his high and mighty principles. I hope same happens in GA for you – wishing you and your family best of luck, please hang in there, let us know – I’m so sorry for your situation – this sucks
The Grand Panjandrum
Per usual the linked piece at HE is the appetizer. The comment section is the entree filled with over-the-top juicy bits that are just plain fucking nuts.
A few thousand overweight, out-of-shape middle aged guys with guns is just a boat load of fun waiting to happen.
kay
@Woodrowfan:
I was reading the WSJ editorial page during that whole period. It was amazing. It was as reactionary and radical as any fringe blog. They regularly printed scary, over the top New World Order-tinged screeds on the Clinton Police State.
Then came the Oklahoma slaughter, and they got real quiet.
Dork Vader
Ladies and gents, the 1,452nd nail in the coffin of Peak Wingnut Theory…
TheFountainHead
I decided last night while kicking my second bottle of wine that Obama needs to immediately legalize and tax the shit out of Marijuana, on a federal level, and reduce the drinking age to 18. This would be a massive act of economic stimulus as well as sever the GOP from any youth they may still have had in their wings all at once.
Woke up this morning and I still thought it was a grand idea, so it must be.
zoe kentucky
Yes. Although if they are trying to use the same tactics against Obama they’re going to fail. They eventually accused the Clintons of completely batshit crazy things– like having people murdered. Although at this point they don’t have non-profit organizations and financial backers whose sole purpose is to take down Obama by any means possible. (There really was a "right-wing conspiracy," it was called the Arkansas Project.) Give them until the summer for that.
I think they’re truly worried that they aren’t going to get too many people to hate Obama. Obama seems pretty darn clean, Clinton really did have some sketchy things in his past, he was a notorious womanizer.
Dennis-SGMM
Yep, and it’s a statistical certainty that among them there is one or more who will attempt something messy and homicidal. Of course that segment of wingnuttia who’ve been egging them on will deny culpability.
Ash Can
I recall the Republicans working every possible angle to discredit Clinton while he was in office, and stymie what he did in every way possible. It was all for the further glory and aggrandizement of the Republican Party (and those to whom the party was beholden) and had nothing whatsoever to do with the nobler issues they insisted it did, and they were so transparent and disingenuous about it that it was mind-boggling. The fact that the rest of us, in the real world, were enjoying 8 years of peace and prosperity was entirely irrelevant to them. In fact, I’m sure in retrospect it made them work all the harder to tear Clinton down, since contented masses are less likely to side with the political opposition.
These efforts involved, among the many listed by commenters above, focusing on any woman willing to make public statements about inappropriate personal contact with Clinton and hustling her over to the nearest open microphone. The press, naturally, would fall over themselves to report these stories, because, yes, sex sells. I remember remarking to colleagues at work who were shocked, shocked! at the idea of Clinton being a philanderer that the whole bimboism line of Republican attack was bullshit, and the reason it was bullshit was because they were focusing on airheads like Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers, rather than on that one gal (her name escapes me at the moment) who claimed she was actually raped by Clinton. Now, rape is an actual crime, and constitutes an honest-to-goodness legitimate legal (and impeachable) charge against the president (or anyone else) if it can be substantiated. But no, the GOP opted to focus on accusations that it saw as easiest to publicize and sensationalize, nevermind that no laws were actually broken. In other words, the GOP’s objective was to bring down Clinton, NOT "ensure that justice was served" or whatever sanctimonious crap they were bleating.
Dennis-SGMM
Recall that, during Clinton’s impeachment, it came out that Henry Hyde, the Impeachment Manager, had an extra-marital affair. Hyde brushed it off stating that it was a "youthful indiscretion." Hyde was forty when he had the affair.
The Other Steve
Not really. Back in the 90s they were accusing Clinton of running drugs through Arkansas, murdering Vince Foster and so on.
John, do search for Clinton Death Watch. That was pretty typical of mainstream conservative thought in the 1990s.
A Mom Anon
@headpan:
Thanks headpan,it’s scary out there. I hope your situation gets better soon too(((hugs))).
I’ve been a stay home mom for 15 yrs,I’m finding it impossible to even find a crappy retail job right now. I’m pushing 50 and being a mom counts for squat outside the walls of my home. It’s a blast to be humiliated by people younger than my oldest child who have some sort of low level management position at Target or wherever. Honest to god,do people not understand what it takes to run a home and raise a kid? (an autistic kid at that)
We’ll be ok for now,we have modest savings and the county had to purchase part of our front yard to widen the road in front of our house(which should be going towards a new home or retirement,but we’re living off that money for now). Hubby has a job interview tommorrow in New Jersey,which opens a whole other host of fears(can we sell the house? Will this company put my husband up somewhere until we can join him? Can we afford to run two households til the house in GA sells? What if we get up there and his job is gone in a year? Not to mention that to get a decent home that’s not falling apart will cost at least 250K in NJ or PA or NY. Our current mortgage is 170K). So many questions and unknowns doesn’t sit well with me.
I’ve been poor before,homeless for a time. But I could always find a job doing something. Now no one is hiring,or if they are they won’t hire me because I haven’t brought in a paycheck for so long. It’s infuriating.
Litlebritdifrnt
And yet on Morning Joe this morning Scarboro was again saying that the people of this country are "overwhelmingly center right". I wish someone would call him out on this because if that was the case Joe would Bible Spice be Veepee by now? He then went on to wax lyrical as to how nice the administration was for letting them broadcast from the Whitehouse Lawn whereupon David Gregory said "they probably want you to freeze to death". Funny stuff.
TheFountainHead
OT: Global Warming just can’t seem to catch a break these days.
mcd410x
If they had lost this one the way the Democrats lost in 2000, we’d have a GOP shadow administration right now a la Britain, and it wouldn’t stop until it brought the Obama administration down.
Same as they’re doing now, just without the shadow cabinet.
Et Tu Brutus?
This is just bullshit cover for those few GOP guvs shooting for POTUS in 2012. Real drama can be found in places like Idaho- already a 35% cut in state Medicaid leading to the closing of daycare, special ed, and really smacking the senior population, with substantial cuts to come in general education, and the Honorable B. Otter saying he won’t take that demon stim money. In a more normal state ( Cali), impeachment would be on the table, but in Idaho, they will likely build a monument to the heroic Otter.
robertdsc
I just hope these Republican antics make the voters tossing them out in 2010 that much easier.
Traditionally, the sitting President’s party loses seats in a mid-term election.
TR
This would be a nice time to trot out that map showing that blue states get less federal spending back than they pay in taxes, while red states get far more back than their share.
Comrade Darkness
@Church Lady,
Quite a few stories collected here on the same thing. You are lucky it took them this long to get around to you.
My take on this… given that it does greatly increase their chargeoffs if the rates stick is that they are assuming a dem congress and dem prez are going to FINALLY re-instate the usury laws. About f*cking time.
JR
WOLVERIIIIINES!!!!
headpan
A Mom Anon: that totally sucks – this is happening all over the place and it’s scary. Don’t feel bad for me, not just yet anyway. At least I don’t have kids to worry about like you do. No, there is nothing out there for anybody except maybe something in the medical field. I’m going to start looking into that more. If I do happen to get something, I will make 1/2 of what I was making 4 years ago (which was quite modest to being with). But if I get health insurance, I’m all over that and will be happy as a pig in mud.
*Something* has to be done about health insurance. With an autistic child, I’m sure you are painfully aware of that. You are on COBRA, as was I before it finally ran out. I dunno about GA but if you are not on a group plan, you are f**ked, insurance companies will deny you coverage if you sneezed the day before applying. It’s madness.
Keep letting me know how you are — I am seriously thinking about starting some kind of unemployment blog for everyone to air their stories and perhaps even support each other and share information. I have seen quite a few comments from others here who are in similar situations. I’m just not real bright about setting up a blog like that but perhaps once I get my own shite in order I will work on that.
hugs to you and your little fella!
zzyzx
Look, leave WA out of this. I can promise you that the vast majority of the legislative branch wants the money along with our governor. It’s not our fault that there are wackos on THAT side of the mountains…
"Sure, $400M Rush has his opinion, but most of the country is on edge and the GOP keeps running up behind them banging on a pot."
I can’t decide if I should stop listening to Rush or if it’s more important that ever to do so. Today’s rerun of yesterday’s show demonstrated that he didn’t even understand the problem; he went on and on about how most of the foreclosures are in 5 states so why should we care (especially because maybe one or two of them are owned by *gasp* illegals!!!), not understanding that the problem isn’t people losing their houses, but rather the cascade that is happening from all of the investments that are pegged to mortgages. It’s sad that not one Republican can feel free to say something like, "He’s an entertaining talk show host, but on this issue I disagree with him…"
Dennis-SGMM
The Map
State-by-State breakdown back to 1981
TR
Nice work, Dennis. But there was a clearer red-blue breakdown, with spending-per-tax-dollar figures in each state.
I’m too lazy to dig it up.
headpan
Somebody just needs to take a shovel to his face. Honestly. I want to hear a big, loud, Warner-Brothers’ style "BWAAANNNGGG!!" as they do it. Please.
Comrade Darkness
40 must be the magical youthful era for the right. Bush’s coke-headed loserdom and drunk driving were forgiven as youthful irresponsibility at 40 too.
But of course, not Clinton’s joint in his college days. Because, you know, that’s alltogether different. *rolls eyes*
Really, if lying to start a war that’s killed a quarter million humans and sent two million more into refugee status, on top of authorizing torture, is not impeachable. wtf could possibly be? In a sane, non-hypocritcal world, that is. I know that’s not what we are dealing with, but still, the mind boggles.
Comrade Darkness
@Church Lady,
Quite a few stories collected here on the same thing. You are lucky it took them this long to get around to you.
My take on this… given that it does greatly increase their chargeoffs if the rates stick is that they are assuming a dem congress and dem prez are going to FINALLY re-instate the usury laws. About f*cking time.
(sorry if this ends up a repost, something weird is going on with bj for me this morning. it’s a message that I should get working, is what it is…)
gil mann
Yeah, Cole, you haven’t written a soul-baring post about how misguided you were to support the GOP in what, 3 or 4 hours? Hop to it.
Dennis-SGMM
Thanks, is this what you’re looking for:
Red State Welfare Queens
The Moar You Know
Three words: Clinton Death List
(google it)
lilysmom
I think that it was worse during the Clinton years, but that is just for the time being. Sadly, Clinton did hand his enemies many of their weapons.
Newt Gingrich is a complete pig. May he rot in the innermost ring of Hell with Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.
There was no sanity to be found in the GOP in the 90’s or now. Nothing has changed. They do not handle being out of power well. They believe it is their birthright. Sanity and doing what is best for the majority of Americans in NOT what the GOP is all about. Impeaching a guy over lying about a BJ? Really? But impeachment is off the table when you lie about spying on all Americans and torture? Emeffers.
Mom Anon @ 84 I am so sorry. I find myself in the nearly same situation.
Adrienne
@A Mom Anon: Here’s what I suggest you do. You should put up an ad on Craigslist offering your services as a nanny. That way, people who need a nanny can find YOU. You can put it in the domestic section and/or the resume section. I put one up in Philly and got a few responses but by then I’d been hired (after 2 and half months unemployment with NO unemployment benefits) in NYC.
Craigslist really is a great place. I’ve even found an apartment by putting up an ad in "housing wanted" and my landlord found ME. It kinda switches up the whole dynamic.
jibeaux
@Dennis-SGMM:
Is there a key to that map somewhere? From my reading, it might as well be favorite jell-o flavors….
A Mom Anon, I second the nanny idea if you’re interested in that. You can make more money if you are willing to go to someone else’s house. My experience is that there are a lot of people willing to take children in their own houses, less interest in coming to you. Good luck to you.
w/r/t unemployment benefits, yes, the employers pay into a fund which is used to pay those out. So what Bobby Jindal is objecting to, is that in THREE YEARS, in order to keep the same level of benefits, which he is not in any way required to do, the levy on employers might have to be increased slightly, (although of course it would not if the employment picture has improved.) Bobby Jindal is considered the modern, fresh, new ideas face of the Republican party.
I have said it before about Republican ideas, but I simply cannot find the mental door that leads to their universe. I cannot fathom an elected representative in times like these taking that particular point of view.
Glocksman
@Litlebritdifrnt:
So that’s why they turned on the sprinklers in February. :)
Cyrus
Forgive a bit of self-righteousness here, but at least two commenters so far have called criticism of the president, verbally or in resolutions in state government, "sedition." Bad! Bad liberals!
/rolled-up newspaper
Sedition is totally legal under the First Amendment. That doesn’t mean it’s totally moral or above criticism itself, of course, but it’s a very loaded term to use in this case. I mean, we’re talking about nonbinding resolutions proposed in state legislatures and probably but not necessarily dishonest criticism here. Treating those as equivalent to calls for assassination is just the kind of thing Bush did. (Beyond that, I’m not even sure it’s accurate. I’m not a lawyer, but doesn’t "sedition" describe criticism of or encitement against the government itself rather than the president?)
ThymeZoneThePlumber
To keep it all in perspective, despite the best efforts of the noise machine,despite Vince Foster, Whitewater, travelgate, Rose Law firm, socialized medicine, and all the rest …. Clinton handily won his second term.
Then they came in with Paula Jones, troopergate, and impeachment,and in my view, Clinton could still have won a third term if he could have run for one. Instead, the poor candidacy of Al Gore won the most votes in 2000 but the election was lost in the Florida debacle.
911 and fear of terrorism got Bush his second term. Meanwhile, the history of the 20th Century in America was a history of the steady advance of progessive policy.
Now we’ve elected Barack Obama president by a margin of almost ten million votes, and installed a strongly Democratic congress.
We just keep winning and advancing. The noise machine is Epic Fail.
We like to chide the GOP for its scaredy-cat approach to terrorism. Why do Dems have a scaredy-cat approach to politics?
Ash Can
Off-topic here, but I’d like to present a link to an absolutely outstanding article on DKos that everyone here should read, regardless of what you think of the GOS itself. It’s written by George Lakoff (Berkeley professor, author of The Political Mind) on what Barack Obama says in his public pronouncements and how he says it, entitled "The Obama Code."
PS: And while you’re at it, if you want a few lulz, check out Bill in Portland Maine’s take on what would happen if W joined Facebook.
Dennis-SGMM
jibeaux,
Here are links to the blogs that provided the maps:
Context for First Map
Context for Second Map
Gimme a break, it was 6 AM here when I posted. :P
Cyrus
Yeah, really. Ever since he clinched the nomination I’ve had a quiet dread of something like that, and the Edwards news only made it worse. The Obama family seems too good to be true, and if there is any kind of serious sex scandal it would probably be even worse for him than it was for Clinton.
I don’t care how kinky Barack and Michelle get behind closed doors, I don’t care what they did with other people before they married each other, I don’t care if they try out the swingers lifestyle after he’s out of office… but please, Mr. President, keep it in your pants or your wife until January 2013 or January 2017, as the case may be.
Dave
Spending on roads, bridges, health care and schools which benefit America long term = wasteful stimulus package
Spending on tanks, planes, guns and ships that may or may not be used and have to constantly be replaced = prudent fiscal management
Do I have this right?
ThymeZoneThePlumber
@Dave: Yes
Dennis-SGMM
@Dave:
You could include tax breaks for people who already control 90% of the nation’s wealth while spending furiously on tanks, planes, guns and ships.
ThymeZoneThePlumber
Jindal is a moron. Let him be the "fresh new face" of the Epic Fail Party.
Our new face will beat up their new face.
Dennis-SGMM
@ThymeZoneThePlumber:
Jindal is also fly but he’s mostly tone-def.
blogenfreude
Don’t know if anyone else has pointed to this, but the best wingnut meltdown so far has been that of Alan Keyes. Pound for pound he’s the best they’ve got. He makes Atlas Juggs look rational.
burnspbesq
@anonocrat:
Good luck on the bar. Man, that brings back some bad memories.
Egilsson
@The Other Steve:
The Other Steve is right. The Wingnuts haven’t even begun to show the full extent of their nuttiness yet.
It was much worse under Clinton. They advertised tapes on TV accusing Clinton of being a serial killer.
And the Starr investigation…. don’t even get me started on that. The most absolutely unfair, partisan and disgraceful witchhunt ever. And very destructive to this country.
Only republicans could investigate republicans, and only republicans could investigate democrats, and if the selected republican wasn’t sufficiently "motivated", the DC Circuit would, after lunch with the wingnuts, replace him with another, more motivated republican.
I’m getting ticked off just thinking about it now, 15 years later.
The republican party has been an absolute frigging disgrace for a long time now. And too many democrats were weak and complicit.
You guys hate Rahm Emmanual, but he would throw punches when others weren’t.
jibeaux
@Dennis-SGMM:
Thanks. I find the second map a little more helpful than the first, which still has unexplained colors like turquoise, orange, and yellow. I wonder why he didn’t do it in blue, red, and shades of purple, which would be more intuitive, but maybe it would be really hard to see the distinctions.
Nancy Darling
My theory is that the kind of people who hated FDR are the same ones who hated Bill Clinton and now President Obama. They called FDR a "traitor to his class". Bill Clinton, in their eyes, was a white trash usurper from Arkansas—BUT, he was smarter than they were and better at their game. In the end, he was still standing. Now along comes President Obama, who is also their superior in every way and adding insult to their imagined injury, he is (horrors!) a black man. In the end, he will still be standing, too, and it will be even more obvious to those of us who live in the real world what ass-hats the right wingers are.
I flew wing for Bill Clinton for eight years, and I am flying wing for Barack Obama for his eight years.
kay
@Cyrus:
but please, Mr. President, keep it in your pants or your wife until January 2013 or January 2017, as the case may be.
We’re a little traumatized. I feel the same way: "pleeeeaase Obama….I don’t want to KNOW.."
I watched Bill Richardson moving among female college students at an event in Iowa early on, on C-SPAN, and just crossed him off my list. Definitely some, ahem, discipline issues revealed in that interaction. It’s not fair, it’s just gut, but that’s what I saw. I’m not willing to get involved in another Presidential marriage.
maya
The 11 New Confederate States of America! They’ll probably start the New Civil War by firing on Fort Courage.
bago
Fort Constantine?
Mike in NC
Jindal and Steele are the "fresh" (token/brown) faces that are supposed to breathe new life into the GOP’s discredited ideology. Don’t expect to see a Mission Accomplished banner anytime soon.
Fixed. The F-22 costs about $350M per airframe.
iluvsummr
@A Mom Anon: Hang in there. It’s good that there’s at least an interview and the possibility of a job for your husband on the horizon.
Things are certainly messed up right now. My cousin-in-law runs a beauty shop here in SoCal and advertised for a receptionist (minimum wage job). There were 402 applicants including a recently laid off medical doctor. He’d never received more than 20 inquiries for the job in the past.
ClownCarTrainWreck
That resolution must have gotten a lot of publicity here in Michigan, but apparently I missed it, so I tried searching resolutions from our state legislature. The following was adopted by our state senate 02/03/2009.
That really does sound like Michigan telling Obama to “cease and desist” from his reckless government expansion, so I am forced to reject my initial assumption that wingnuttia was just making stuff up.
Legalize
I’ve had my rates raised and my limits lowered, according to the customer services reps. I’ve talked to, because I don’t use my cards that much, i.e. I don’t carry much of a revolving balance that keeps them flush with interest. I use the threat of consolidation and of transfering my balance to other cards every time, and they eventually relent to an extent after actually whining about how "times are tough" for them too. I’m not kidding. I’m about to shit-can a card I’ve had forever because they raised my rate and lowered my available credit all at once. When they pull this shit they negatively affect my credit score, so fuck them sideways.
Martin
We’re seeing the same thing – hundreds of applicants that 6 months ago we struggled to find one qualified person for. Too bad we had to pull the position due to lack of funding.
Martin
Now that debit cards are widely supported, they want you to use that instead. I can’t really fault them, they pull off the same fees for debit cards as they do for credit cards and they don’t need to wait for the net 30 or deal with the risk of non-payment. We’re in the same spot and figure it’s just a matter of time before we have no credit cards at all. I’ve never once carried a balance, so its not like I’ve ever used them as they were intended. I do like the extra months interest, meager as it may be…
Dr. Loveless
@Dennis-SGMM:
There’s no "will" about it.
opium4themasses
@TheFountainHead: Hey, I already mentioned this earlier. I called it the Audacity of Dope ™.
Mayken
California?! Alright, which cattle-county wing-nut submitted that insane bill? With Arnie saying he’s willing to take the money of any state governor who refuses their share, I KNOW this ain’t goin’ nowhere.
Common Sense
So by extrapolation, there was exactly one state that voted for the GOP in 2008 and wasn’t living on the federal teet while doing so — Texas. Every other GOP state receives more from the government than they pay in.
Fredly
Wow, the Tenth Amendment. I thought that was Bork’s ink blot. Or was that the Ninth? Of course no one but their constituents can force these fools to do the right thing, after the fact. What are the stages of realization that one is an addict (or recovery from grief…)? It’s a U shaped graph that begins with denial goes thru anger finally to acceptance, but only if you work at it. Since the Republicans will not see there is a problem (that you have built your life around) they will be in denial possibly forever. Saw Alexandra Pelosi’s recent documentary– there ARE two Americas. This is going to take longer than our lifetimes…
Llelldorin
Leave California out of it, please. Republicans make up all of 37.5% of the assembly. That’s unfortunately caused a certain refining to take place, meaning that a lot of the remaining Republicans are terrifying 99.9999975% pure wingnut.
Mnemosyne
@Church Lady:
Keep an eye on it and make sure they actually do it. You can find some really good horror stories online from people who tried to cancel their card and discovered that not only had Capital One not done it, they then piled on "late fees" that they demanded payment for.
Phoebe
". . .and they have decided the solution is to get their freak on."
You give them too much credit. They have decided nothing; it’s all reflexive flailing. That’s all they’ve done since they began losing, which is around the time Obama stopped having to deal with Clinton and turned his giant head to look at McCain.
Delia
@Church Lady:
Yeah, I got one, too. I think everyone who has a CapitalOne card got one. I got the letter on the same day I got my current credit report stating my FICO is over 800. I also always pay my card on time. I’m leaving mine open for the time being, though I’ll probably use it less. 1) I pay it off every month. 2) I finally have just about enough airline points to actually fly somewhere if the whole company doesn’t go bust first. 3)it hurts your credit rating if you close a credit card (for some reason I don’t really understand but I’m sure somebody else around here does.)
Chuck Butcher
Well John, I’m all for keeping in mind that Obama is 1 month into his administration, the country is in deep doo-doo, the Republicans have been pared pretty thoroughly to the hard core. Will the noise level be extraordinary? Hell yes, will it be effectual with anyone other than loons is the real question. The Clinton dramas played out as big news but I doubt Obama will give them that.
John, I have a sneaking hunch that you along with some other Republicans wouldn’t have made it through GWB’s first term without the Clinton noise. If the press won’t be responsible by providing context and facts in the face of nonsense then Obama may pay some political prices. He’s an extraordinary rhetorician, but he can’t carry the load alone in the face of an uncritical press.
I don’t want the press to turn into a Democratic booster society as they were in GWB 1st term, just provided context and fact for cripes sake – it’s not that hard. I posted MS UE rate yesterday to a comment. How is that hard for them?