In the wake of health care reform, Republicans in Congress have drifted into a state of arrested development, a condition not likely to change anytime soon. It is doubtful, as well, that their constituents understand what that means.
Now that the health care battle is over, the losers have discovered a new mantra, which they hope will bolster their lagging fund-raising efforts: "Repeal Obamacare." Out of sheer common courtesy, let's examine that utterly senseless idea and see where logic leads us.
In order to repeal existing law, House Republicans would have to get a dozen or so Democrats to flip their votes on something they just passed. So, taking divine intervention into account, let's assume they do so. The bill would move on to the Senate, where one out of every six Democrats would have to also change their minds.
Assuming a 16-plus percent insanity rate, let's entertain that notion, too. The bill to repeal would then find itself sitting on President Obama's desk.
"Hmmmm," he might say. "Should I sign this bill, or veto it? On the one hand, it would... But on the other, I could... Uh, no." So he would veto the bill to repeal. Conservatives would be stunned, as they so often are.
At that point, in this wonderful system of government set up for us by the Founding Fathers, the Senate would then have the opportunity to override the president's veto. That would only take 67 votes.
The fact that every single Republican in Washington is pushing this idea, that the health care reform law could possibly be repealed, shows us one of two things. They're either insincere or they're stupid.
Whichever the case may be, these people are not to be taken seriously as the nation moves forward out of the economic malaise left behind by the previous administration. Neither insincerity nor stupidity can justify a policy focus that consists of a fantasy and nothing more.
pH 3.3o.1o
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
I'm Trying, Ringo
With health care reform in the books, one would think there would be a great American desire to move on to the next big thing, such as regulating banks or modernizing the electricity grid. While that has historically been our nature, one faction of the citizenry - conservatives - refuses to go forward with the rest of us.
I'm not talking about the GOP's lockstep opposition to, well, anything that the majority wants in this country. Such is bad enough unto itself, but the behavior of right-wing rank-and-filers has reached a screeching crescendo. Or so we had better hope.
Certainly even the most news-averse among us has heard of the mindless conservative rage being directed at Democrats for wanting us all to have health insurance. Bricks have been thrown through windows, racist and homophobic epithets hurled at lawmakers. Depictions of nooses (if not actual ones). Spitting. All of that was just on the day President Obama signed the bill.
Since then, things have gotten progressively worse, with the ugliness extending far beyond the usual threatening communiques. Just ask Rep. Tom Perriello (D., VA). Some Tea Party member, a 27-year old who still lives with Mom and Dad, posted what he thought to be Perriello's home address.
It was actually the address of the home owned by the Congressman's brother. And his brother's wife. And his brother's four little kids. It wasn't too very long before someone - a well-meaning pro-lifer no doubt - cut the gas line leading into their home.
They're sure to get plenty of sympathy from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., NY), and his staff, and everyone else in his office building. All had to evacuate, and some had to be decontaminated, after an envelope showed up there today packed with white powder and a note saying (among other niceties) "Drop Dead".
This is strictly the stuff of Klansmen and second-tier terrorist outfits. That is what the tea-baggers have become, probably all they were to begin with. Is anyone surprised? Republican leaders in and out of Congress don't seem to be. Neither do they seem particularly interested in halting this stampede of idiocy. Sarah Palin (R., Nowhere) knows what I mean.
Then there's the case of Rep. Bart Stupak (D., MI), who held up the reform process for as long as he possibly could in the name of the unborn. Once he had secured an executive order from the White House that suited his tastes where federal funding of abortion is concerned, he abandoned his position of obstruction and voted for the bill.
His life has since become a living hell. His home and office have been bombarded with worst manner of televitriol. We're talking about the kind of language that would make Joe Biden blush. One gentleman caller went so far as to wish rectal cancer upon the Representative.
Yo, Bart. When you lie down with dogs, you come up with fleas. Nasty, bloodsucking fleas, who have the nerve to call themselves Christians.
I'm watching all of this take place, and I am mindful of the fears expressed by the African-American community long before the 2008 election, fears which have been justified by the manifold increase in death threats against our president. And I am reminded of a line uttered by Samuel Jackson in the classic Tarantino film Pulp Fiction:
There's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
I been saying that shit for years. And if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker 'fore I popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. See, now I'm thinking, maybe it means you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. Nine Millimeter here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or, it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is, you're the weak, and I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.
Real hard.
pH 3.25.1o
I'm not talking about the GOP's lockstep opposition to, well, anything that the majority wants in this country. Such is bad enough unto itself, but the behavior of right-wing rank-and-filers has reached a screeching crescendo. Or so we had better hope.
Certainly even the most news-averse among us has heard of the mindless conservative rage being directed at Democrats for wanting us all to have health insurance. Bricks have been thrown through windows, racist and homophobic epithets hurled at lawmakers. Depictions of nooses (if not actual ones). Spitting. All of that was just on the day President Obama signed the bill.
Since then, things have gotten progressively worse, with the ugliness extending far beyond the usual threatening communiques. Just ask Rep. Tom Perriello (D., VA). Some Tea Party member, a 27-year old who still lives with Mom and Dad, posted what he thought to be Perriello's home address.
It was actually the address of the home owned by the Congressman's brother. And his brother's wife. And his brother's four little kids. It wasn't too very long before someone - a well-meaning pro-lifer no doubt - cut the gas line leading into their home.
They're sure to get plenty of sympathy from Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., NY), and his staff, and everyone else in his office building. All had to evacuate, and some had to be decontaminated, after an envelope showed up there today packed with white powder and a note saying (among other niceties) "Drop Dead".
This is strictly the stuff of Klansmen and second-tier terrorist outfits. That is what the tea-baggers have become, probably all they were to begin with. Is anyone surprised? Republican leaders in and out of Congress don't seem to be. Neither do they seem particularly interested in halting this stampede of idiocy. Sarah Palin (R., Nowhere) knows what I mean.
Then there's the case of Rep. Bart Stupak (D., MI), who held up the reform process for as long as he possibly could in the name of the unborn. Once he had secured an executive order from the White House that suited his tastes where federal funding of abortion is concerned, he abandoned his position of obstruction and voted for the bill.
His life has since become a living hell. His home and office have been bombarded with worst manner of televitriol. We're talking about the kind of language that would make Joe Biden blush. One gentleman caller went so far as to wish rectal cancer upon the Representative.
Yo, Bart. When you lie down with dogs, you come up with fleas. Nasty, bloodsucking fleas, who have the nerve to call themselves Christians.
I'm watching all of this take place, and I am mindful of the fears expressed by the African-American community long before the 2008 election, fears which have been justified by the manifold increase in death threats against our president. And I am reminded of a line uttered by Samuel Jackson in the classic Tarantino film Pulp Fiction:
There's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is The Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."
I been saying that shit for years. And if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker 'fore I popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. See, now I'm thinking, maybe it means you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. Nine Millimeter here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or, it could mean you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is, you're the weak, and I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.
Real hard.
pH 3.25.1o
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Rush and Roulette
What is it that they say? "Dittoes"? Or is it "mega-dittoes"?
Whatever it might be, America owes AM deejay Rush Limbaugh and his lost and lonely listeners another round of gratuitous applause. Thank you, sir, for leading your conservative audience and the Republican Party to a crushing defeat - again.
It's quite remarkable, this man's ability to motivate so many people to stampede in the wrong direction, a gift he never tires of demonstrating. Remember the 2oo6 election run-up, in which he mocked Parkinson's patient Michael J. Fox? Sheer brilliance. It only helped remove the GOP from power in Congress.
That was nothing compared to "Operation Chaosss". For those who choose to remain out of the loop, that was Rush's attempt to bleed Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, with conservatives registering as Democrats in order to push Hillary Clinton over the top. It was an abject failure.
Now he has achieved what was once thought to be impossible. Health-care reform had languished in the halls of Washington for a century before the Obama administration and the Democratic Party "rammed it down our throats". Rush fought on behalf of the insurance companies day in and day out whenever he wasn't on vacation.
Hope had actually dimmed after the election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, but there was Rush, pushing it over the top with his soulless remark to an 11-year-old boy: "Your mom would have died anyway." Barely a week later, the Senate bill was approved by the House; talent on loan from God, indeed.
Today, that landmark legislation will be signed into law, and the conservative movement's hysteria has been well-documented along the way. Reports of racial and sexual epithets being hurled at lawmakers, of protestors spitting on them, of a brick being thrown through an office window, all icing on the cake that Limbaugh baked halfway.
Look, he's just an entertainer, once described as a "circus clown" by John McCain. That roughly 2.9 percent of the country is entertained by this sort of thing tells you a little bit more about a society that slows down to gawk at traffic accidents. Still, I really have to ask his listeners, those pathological losers that call themselves "ditto-heads", a couple of quick questions:
Do you really consider yourselves in the mainstream anymore, considering the fact that you have followed this corporate shill into defeat after defeat? Considering that this man's views were (twice) deemed too conservative even for the National Football Leauge, do you believe that your world view - meaning Rush's world view - jibes at all with reality?
And, by the way, how would you know?
pH 3.23.1o
Whatever it might be, America owes AM deejay Rush Limbaugh and his lost and lonely listeners another round of gratuitous applause. Thank you, sir, for leading your conservative audience and the Republican Party to a crushing defeat - again.
It's quite remarkable, this man's ability to motivate so many people to stampede in the wrong direction, a gift he never tires of demonstrating. Remember the 2oo6 election run-up, in which he mocked Parkinson's patient Michael J. Fox? Sheer brilliance. It only helped remove the GOP from power in Congress.
That was nothing compared to "Operation Chaosss". For those who choose to remain out of the loop, that was Rush's attempt to bleed Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, with conservatives registering as Democrats in order to push Hillary Clinton over the top. It was an abject failure.
Now he has achieved what was once thought to be impossible. Health-care reform had languished in the halls of Washington for a century before the Obama administration and the Democratic Party "rammed it down our throats". Rush fought on behalf of the insurance companies day in and day out whenever he wasn't on vacation.
Hope had actually dimmed after the election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, but there was Rush, pushing it over the top with his soulless remark to an 11-year-old boy: "Your mom would have died anyway." Barely a week later, the Senate bill was approved by the House; talent on loan from God, indeed.
Today, that landmark legislation will be signed into law, and the conservative movement's hysteria has been well-documented along the way. Reports of racial and sexual epithets being hurled at lawmakers, of protestors spitting on them, of a brick being thrown through an office window, all icing on the cake that Limbaugh baked halfway.
Look, he's just an entertainer, once described as a "circus clown" by John McCain. That roughly 2.9 percent of the country is entertained by this sort of thing tells you a little bit more about a society that slows down to gawk at traffic accidents. Still, I really have to ask his listeners, those pathological losers that call themselves "ditto-heads", a couple of quick questions:
Do you really consider yourselves in the mainstream anymore, considering the fact that you have followed this corporate shill into defeat after defeat? Considering that this man's views were (twice) deemed too conservative even for the National Football Leauge, do you believe that your world view - meaning Rush's world view - jibes at all with reality?
And, by the way, how would you know?
pH 3.23.1o
Friday, March 5, 2010
The Trappings of Office
Old John McCain is finally facing a serious challenger in the Republican primary. That's not to say that J.D. Hayworth is a serious person; not at all. He does, however, pose a legitimate threat to the Senate seat which McCain has occupied since Barry Goldwater left office.
As noted in a previous column in this space, Hayworth would not have much of a chance against the Maverick in a general election. The primary is a different beast altogether, dominated by the hardcore blood-drinkers of the conservative movement, the ones who have long considered McCain a RINO - Republican in Name Only.
In the past year, with the help of highly-paid lobbyists and GOP powerbrokers, those folks coagulated into a "grass-roots" movement known as the Tea Party. They strongly favor Hayworth and other candidates like him, whose anti-government and anti-immigration fervors mirror their own.
McCain is a wily creature, though. Just as he navigated to the center-left in hopes of staving off hope and change in the 2008 race against Barack Obama, he has spent the last few months listing to the right, burnishing his conservative bona fides ahead of a contest which (however illogically) he may well be destined to lose.
A funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box, though. Two of the most revered Tea Party heroes, Sarah Palin and newly-elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachussetts, have both endorsed John McCain. This is bad news for both Hayworth and the tea-baggers who love him.
The Tea Party had just shelled out over a hundred thousand dollars to Palin to deliver the keynote address at their convention. They loudly took the credit for Brown's victory over Martha Coakley, which broke the supermajority the Democrats had enjoyed in the Senate.
Palin's support for McCain was easier to rationalize; after all, for ill or for good, she was on the McCain ticket. What was she supposed to do? Brown, though, has already incurred the wrath of these so-called populists when he voted for a recent jobs bill (some were so incensed as to call him "Benedict Brown" on his facebook page).
Combined, the rejections of Hayworth by Sarah Palin and Scott Brown amount to acid being thrown in the faces of the Tea Party people. If they were just a little bit smarter, they'd have the good sense to feel used, in the seamiest sense of the word.
Oh, well. In all their brilliance, they'll no doubt take out their frustrations on someone like RNC Chairman Michael Steele. All they have to do is find out who's running against him in the next election.
pH 3.o5.1o
As noted in a previous column in this space, Hayworth would not have much of a chance against the Maverick in a general election. The primary is a different beast altogether, dominated by the hardcore blood-drinkers of the conservative movement, the ones who have long considered McCain a RINO - Republican in Name Only.
In the past year, with the help of highly-paid lobbyists and GOP powerbrokers, those folks coagulated into a "grass-roots" movement known as the Tea Party. They strongly favor Hayworth and other candidates like him, whose anti-government and anti-immigration fervors mirror their own.
McCain is a wily creature, though. Just as he navigated to the center-left in hopes of staving off hope and change in the 2008 race against Barack Obama, he has spent the last few months listing to the right, burnishing his conservative bona fides ahead of a contest which (however illogically) he may well be destined to lose.
A funny thing happened on the way to the ballot box, though. Two of the most revered Tea Party heroes, Sarah Palin and newly-elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachussetts, have both endorsed John McCain. This is bad news for both Hayworth and the tea-baggers who love him.
The Tea Party had just shelled out over a hundred thousand dollars to Palin to deliver the keynote address at their convention. They loudly took the credit for Brown's victory over Martha Coakley, which broke the supermajority the Democrats had enjoyed in the Senate.
Palin's support for McCain was easier to rationalize; after all, for ill or for good, she was on the McCain ticket. What was she supposed to do? Brown, though, has already incurred the wrath of these so-called populists when he voted for a recent jobs bill (some were so incensed as to call him "Benedict Brown" on his facebook page).
Combined, the rejections of Hayworth by Sarah Palin and Scott Brown amount to acid being thrown in the faces of the Tea Party people. If they were just a little bit smarter, they'd have the good sense to feel used, in the seamiest sense of the word.
Oh, well. In all their brilliance, they'll no doubt take out their frustrations on someone like RNC Chairman Michael Steele. All they have to do is find out who's running against him in the next election.
pH 3.o5.1o
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Bunning Scared
The word "arrogant" has been aimed like a dart at President Obama's back by conservative pundits thousands of times since he took office. It's a synonym for "uppity", of course, but it doesn't really stick. If conservatives (or anyone else) would truly like to see a walking, talking example of arrogance, they can look to Republican Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky.
It is Bunning, after all, who has put a hold on a Senate bill that would extend unemployment benefits to some 400,000 American workers. Bunning's obstruction has also laid off 2,000 federal highway workers. The same bill he stands athwart also delivers satellite signals to those in rural communities. And his stance cuts off COBRA recipients whose health insurance went out the door with their jobs.
There are ways around Jim Bunning. He doesn't actually possess the sort of muscle he's trying to flex in Washington. This is an expedited bill that would have dovetailed the new benefits with the ones that have just expired. When the entire bill goes before the Senate for a vote, he's going to be on the "yea" side, just as he was last time.
So what's his deal? Kentucky is a state that suffers from unemployment to the tune of 10.7 percent, higher than the national average, so why is he doing this to his own constituents? Nobody really knows, not even him. He'd like us to believe that he wants this spending bill to be deficit-neutral, but when the Senate wanted pay-as-you-go rules, Bunning was against that.
Whatever his problem might be, he's certainly not going to exhibit even an ounce of class as he works it out. On the floor of the Senate, while under pressure from his Democratic colleagues to release his stranglehold on the bill, Bunning responded with words that would have made Dick Cheney proud. "Tough shit," he said.
Got that? Tough shit.
On Monday, ABC News caught up with Bunning, who ducked into a "Senators-only" elevator to avoid the scrutiny which he has brought solely upon himself. The questions asked by reporters were not complicated. They just wanted to know why he was holding up the bill. He would not answer them, repeatedly yelling "excuse me" instead. As he made his escape he extended to them his middle finger. Everyone knows what that means.
Fuck you. Understand?
That has been the message from Jim Bunning, and all Republicans, to the American people for well over a year. Some will say Bunning's just a gruff guy, made so by his years in Major League Baseball (back before there were lights in stadiums). That's a hard case to make, though, since his fellow Kentucky Senator is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
If Bunning's approach wasn't the strategy of the GOP, McConnell would tell him to knock off the playground antics and let the bill proceed. That isn't happening. This is all a very calculated game that they're playing with our livelihoods. Lost your job? Tough shit. Don't like it? Fuck you.
These next few elections, like the last few, have come to represent more than just which Party should govern from the pilot's seat. The politics of the moment are really nothing less than a struggle for America's soul.
One Party wants to care for the sick, wants to feed the hungry, wants to shelter those who have no home. The other is the Party of Tough Shit. The Party of Fuck You. The Party of No.
As always, both Parties would like you to reward them for their actions, or punish them, accordingly. There's an old tradition in American politics. It's called voting your conscience. It only applies if you have one. Take yours for a test drive today: Jim Bunning's phone number in Washington is 202-224-4343.
pH 3.o2.1o
It is Bunning, after all, who has put a hold on a Senate bill that would extend unemployment benefits to some 400,000 American workers. Bunning's obstruction has also laid off 2,000 federal highway workers. The same bill he stands athwart also delivers satellite signals to those in rural communities. And his stance cuts off COBRA recipients whose health insurance went out the door with their jobs.
There are ways around Jim Bunning. He doesn't actually possess the sort of muscle he's trying to flex in Washington. This is an expedited bill that would have dovetailed the new benefits with the ones that have just expired. When the entire bill goes before the Senate for a vote, he's going to be on the "yea" side, just as he was last time.
So what's his deal? Kentucky is a state that suffers from unemployment to the tune of 10.7 percent, higher than the national average, so why is he doing this to his own constituents? Nobody really knows, not even him. He'd like us to believe that he wants this spending bill to be deficit-neutral, but when the Senate wanted pay-as-you-go rules, Bunning was against that.
Whatever his problem might be, he's certainly not going to exhibit even an ounce of class as he works it out. On the floor of the Senate, while under pressure from his Democratic colleagues to release his stranglehold on the bill, Bunning responded with words that would have made Dick Cheney proud. "Tough shit," he said.
Got that? Tough shit.
On Monday, ABC News caught up with Bunning, who ducked into a "Senators-only" elevator to avoid the scrutiny which he has brought solely upon himself. The questions asked by reporters were not complicated. They just wanted to know why he was holding up the bill. He would not answer them, repeatedly yelling "excuse me" instead. As he made his escape he extended to them his middle finger. Everyone knows what that means.
Fuck you. Understand?
That has been the message from Jim Bunning, and all Republicans, to the American people for well over a year. Some will say Bunning's just a gruff guy, made so by his years in Major League Baseball (back before there were lights in stadiums). That's a hard case to make, though, since his fellow Kentucky Senator is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
If Bunning's approach wasn't the strategy of the GOP, McConnell would tell him to knock off the playground antics and let the bill proceed. That isn't happening. This is all a very calculated game that they're playing with our livelihoods. Lost your job? Tough shit. Don't like it? Fuck you.
These next few elections, like the last few, have come to represent more than just which Party should govern from the pilot's seat. The politics of the moment are really nothing less than a struggle for America's soul.
One Party wants to care for the sick, wants to feed the hungry, wants to shelter those who have no home. The other is the Party of Tough Shit. The Party of Fuck You. The Party of No.
As always, both Parties would like you to reward them for their actions, or punish them, accordingly. There's an old tradition in American politics. It's called voting your conscience. It only applies if you have one. Take yours for a test drive today: Jim Bunning's phone number in Washington is 202-224-4343.
pH 3.o2.1o
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