Republican Stupidity

I don’t like this bill…

President Bush, eager to hand another victory to the social conservatives who make up his most loyal base of political support, decided on an elaborate ceremony to sign into law legislation expanding legal rights of the unborn.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman. Bush was signing the bill, which took five years to get through Congress, on Thursday in the Rose Garden.

People on both sides of the fetal rights and abortion issue have said the new law will have far-reaching consequences.

Abortion opponents welcome it as a step toward more sweeping protections for the unborn, while abortion-rights proponents say the measure represents the first recognition in federal law of an embryo or fetus as a person separate from the woman.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Bush’s opponent in this fall’s election voted against the bill.

No, it isn’t because I am in favor of killing ‘unborn babies,’ but because I think this bill is stupid for a number of reasons, chief of which is that the bill is so limited, that this is clearly nothing more than pandering. It only applies to federal crimes, which the story itself refers to as a “terrorist attack or drug-related shooting.” With all due respect to pregnant victims of terrorism, there does not seem to be a really big need for this legislation.

Grumble, Grumble…Post + Comments (6)

Groan:

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was about to give the invocation at a Republican Governors Assn. fundraising event Monday night when his cellphone rang. Huckabee answered and began a mock conversation with God.

After mentioning that the president was at the event, Huckabee looked at Schwarzenegger, standing on the stage with the other GOP governors, and said: “Yes, he’s here, too.

“You say you need an autograph?”

Just a note to elected GOP officals- it is a little tough to deflect charges that all Rpeublicans are right-wing theocrats when you pretend to have phone calls with God during your press conferences, particularly on the same day that your party leader proposed amending the constitution to define marriage.

Just a HintPost + Comments (8)

So am I going through the Corner, catching up on the posts, and I see this gem:

ROD PAIGE IS WRONG, OF COURSE

Unfortunately, Al Qaeda isn’t nearly as bad at terrorism as the NEA is at educating our children.

Sometimes people are visual learners. For those who don’t get why Rod Paige’s remarks are offensive, here is one more attempt for me to help you:

Now do you understand why Paige’s remarks are offensive?

The Department of Not Getting ItPost + Comments (53)

Also via Mark Kleiman are these obscene remarks from Secretary of Education Rod Paige:

Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation’s largest teachers union a “terrorist organization” during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday.

Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige’s remarks about the National Education Association.

“These were the words, ‘The NEA is a terrorist organization,”‘ said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.

“He was making a joke, probably not a very good one,” said Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania. “Of course he immediately divorced the NEA from ordinary teachers, who he said he supports.”

Unbelievable. Almost as offensive as Sean Hannity’s new book title, which Sully correctly admonishes:

And then, along comes Sean Hannity, whose new book has the following obscene title: “Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism and Liberalism.” Why obscene? It is obscene for Hannity to purloin a sentence from the Lord’s Prayer in order to advance his partisan political views. And yes, it is also obscene to equate terrorism and despotism with liberalism. Hannity isn’t worthy to speak the word “liberalism,” a long and complicated and deeply Western political tradition that is the only reason he can actually publish a book like this and face only criticism. To place it in the same context as “terrorism” reveals that this man has no understanding of what this war is about. It’s a war in defense of liberalism, in defense of pluralism, in defense of the various peaceful Western political traditions that Islamo-fascism would snuff out in an instant. Even if he wants the word “liberalism” to describe merely a kind of decadent left-liberalism, it’s still unconscionable. Peaceful Democratic leftists, however misguided, are not terrorists.

Well said. It was offensive when Julian Bond used the GOP and the Taliban in the same sentence, Patty Murray’s stupid remakrs about Osama and day care centers were absurd and offensive, and it was offensive when Kerry stated that we needed ‘regime change’ in Washington (something the MoveOn folks still haven’t figured out is offensive).

You would think that post 9/11, these so called intellects would be capable of understanding the difference between a legitimate political opposition and murderous thugs. Come to think of it, Paige’s remarks are more offensive than Hannity’s book title. Hannity is not a public servant.

I don’t care if some of you think I am playing into the Democrat party’s hands, and I don’t care that they defend their own when they make these egregious statements. It is time for Rod to go.

*** Update ***

Wow. Atrios and I agree– and that is twice in one month!

Appalling JudgementPost + Comments (15)

While the Democrats have been busy running their abominable AWOL/deserter smear, a similar smear has been launched against John Kerry. While not quite as offensive as calling a veteran who has been honorably discharged a deserter, it is right up there. How many of you have seen this picture:

LINK REMOVED BY REQUEST OF IMAGE OWNER

For those blinded by partisan hatred, we need to review this one more time. John Kerry, regardless of his politics, his post-war antics, and his voting record, is a bona-fide national military hero, wounded numerous times in combat, and a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star, as well as several Purple Hearts and, btw, personally saving another man’s life. Period. End of story. While there are any number of Senators and Congressman who I wouldn’t spit on if they were on fire, John Kerry is a hero, and there is nothing you can do to change that fact.

If you want to criticize him for his anti-war stance after his service, fine. If you want to criticize his voting record and his numerous flip-flops, fine. But showing a picture trying to tar a legitimate national hero with guilt by association to the despicable Jane Fonda, that loathesome nd treasonous communist traitor bitch, is simply below the belt.

Maybe Kerry has brought this upon himself by helping to fuel the lunatic forces that are pushing the odious desertion charges, but I don’t care. John Kerry is a national hero, and there is nothing you can do to take that away from him- well, from us. If you can’t recognize that, you are in the same league as Michael Moore and Terry McAuliffe.

The Other SmearPost + Comments (57)

Gee- Who would have ever predicted this:

President Bush’s new budget will project that the just-enacted prescription drug program and Medicare overhaul will cost one-third more than previously estimated and will predict a deficit exceeding $500 billion for this year, congressional aides said Thursday.

Instead of a $400 billion 10-year price tag, Bush’s 2005 budget will estimate the Medicare bill’s cost at about $540 billion, said aides who spoke on condition of anonymity. Bush will submit on Monday a federal budget for the fiscal year 2005, which starts next Oct. 1.

Bush just signed the Medicare measure into law last month. While it was moving through Congress, Bush, White House officials and congressional Republican leaders had assured doubting conservatives that the bill’s costs would stay within the $400 billion estimate.

Some conservatives voted against the legislation anyway, and many of them are already angry that Bush has presided over excessive increases in spending and budget deficits.

“I’m not the least bit surprised,” said conservative Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., who voted against the Medicare bill in November and who said he had heard that the cost estimate would rise. “Historically, our estimates of what these programs will cost have been so far off as to be meaningless.”

Assholes. That really is the only comment I can come up with right now.

Speaking of Fiscal ConservatismPost + Comments (23)

I am done defending this administration. I just can not take it anymore.

The Congressional Budget Office predicted today that the federal government would face a $477 billion budget deficit this fiscal year and a further cumulative deficit of $1.9 trillion over the next decade.

The projected 2004 budget deficit would be a record in terms of dollars, although it would still be smaller in terms of the nation’s economy

It Is OverPost + Comments (16)