Politics

There has been a lot of speculation that John Boehner's job as Speaker could be in jeopardy. Now Breitbart is reporting that could very well happen:

American Majority Action spokesman Ron Meyer told Breitbart News late Tuesday that enough House Republicans have banded together in an effort to unseat House Speaker John Boehner from his position--they just need a leader to take up the mantle.

“At least 20 House Republican members have gotten together, discussed this and want to unseat Speaker Boehner--and are willing to do what it takes to do it,” Meyer said. “That’s more than enough to get the job done, but the one problem these guys face is they need a leader to coalesce behind.”

The name being floated is Eric Cantor. That might seem like a long shot, but look at the vote last night on the fiscal cliff bill:

Republican House Speaker John Boehner voted in favor of the deal, as did House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, his party's failed vice presidential candidate. But Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy voted against it.

So there's a big rift in House leadership right now. On top of that the vote break down on the Republican side was 85 voting for the bill and 151 voting against it. That could be enough to really make things interesting.

It was a little over a year ago that President Obama came here to Cincinnati and pushed for his jobs plan. In that speech he talked about infrastructure improvements and highlighter the Brent Spence bridge that connects Ohio and Kentucky as a perfect example. Quickly Republicans pounced on this as "earmarks" and "pork barrel", including John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, each representing one of the affected states.

Well the money has never come for the bridge and now the states have come up with a plan to replace it:

The governors of Kentucky and Ohio say there will be tolls on the replacement for the Brent Spence Bridge. The governors met today, joining forces to put the project on the fast track. And it looks like drivers will have to pay a chunk of the $2.4 billion price tag.

Local 12's Joe Webb says the elephant in the room to this point on all discussions of a new bridge has been tolls. Governor Kasich cleared up that issue today. There will be tolls on the Brent Spence replacement.

(emphasis added)

We aren't talking about some lightly traveled bridge. This is bridge is used for two interstates, I-71 and I-75. I-75 is a major trucking route, connecting Florida to Michigan and Canada. Right now the bridge sees close to 200,000 vehicles travel over it per day.

So now we are going to have an added congestion factor on an already heavily congested artery in his country. Great plan guys!

And we can't have a story like this without the Tea Party involved:

If anything great should be remembered from this past election it should be the fact that Grover Norquist has become much less significant. The number of Republicans breaking with the Norquist pledge to not raise taxes keeps rising, with the latest one coming out today:

Open criticism of Grover Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform group's anti-tax pledge continued to make its way to the forefront of debate on Monday, with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) saying that his only real obligation was to serve his constituents by finding a long-term solution to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff."

“I’m not obligated on the pledge,” Corker told Charlie Rose of CBS News, responding to a question about growing disenchantment among Republicans who had previously stood in agreement with Norquist's strict "no new taxes" pledge. “I was just elected. The only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I serve when I’m sworn in this January.”

Corker joins other big names, such as John McCain, Saxby Chambliss, Tom Coburn, Lindsey Graham and Peter King. These influential Republicans can really put pressure on the rest of their party to disavow the thinking of Norquist and finally work to move our country forward.

But any man in the midst of defeat, old Grover is resilient as ever:

Prominent American anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist on Monday insisted that his movement was as strong as ever and that Congress would withstand pressure to raise taxes even if more Republican lawmakers are spurning his anti-tax pledge.

The darling GOP Governor of the Tea Party, Scott Walker, is under some serious scrutiny:

Gov. Scott Walker and his top campaign and Milwaukee County aides were named Monday as part of a team that routinely commingled political and official county business.

The disclosures came during the sentencing of a former aide to Walker during his last year as Milwaukee County executive. Kelly M. Rindfleisch, 44, was sentenced by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Hansher to six months in jail and three years of probation on a single felony count of misconduct in office. The judge stayed the sentence pending Rindfleisch's appeal to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals or the state Supreme Court.

In a lengthy presentation during Rindfleisch's sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Bruce Landgraf displayed numerous emails between Rindfleisch and key members of Walker's campaign staff in which they discussed how to manage county government in 2010, while Walker was a candidate for governor.

Repeatedly, Landgraf argued that Rindfleisch knowingly broke the law by doing campaign work at the courthouse. In a new development, the prosecutor made clear - without saying it was illegal - that top Walker campaign officials influenced, even directed, county strategy.

It hasn't been disclosed if Walker himself is being targeted in the investigation, but it does lead you to wonder how high this thing can go.

The New York Times has a very interesting article today about Chris Christie and how the GOP has treated him since Hurricane Sandy:

A few days after Hurricane Sandy shattered the shores of New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie picked up the phone to take on a different kind of recovery work: taming the Republican Party fury over his effusive embrace of President Obama.

On Nov. 3, Mr. Christie called Rupert Murdoch, the influential News Corporation chief and would-be kingmaker, who had warned in a biting post on Twitter that the governor might be responsible for Mr. Obama’s re-election.

Mr. Christie told Mr. Murdoch that amid the devastation, New Jersey needed friends, no matter their political party, according to people briefed on the discussion. But Mr. Murdoch was blunt: Mr. Christie risked looking like a spoiler unless he publicly affirmed his support for Mitt Romney, something the governor did the next day.

Mr. Christie has been explaining himself to Republicans ever since. His lavish praise for Mr. Obama’s response to the storm, delivered in the last days of the presidential race, represented the most dramatic development in the campaign’s final stretch. Right or wrong, conventional wisdom in the party holds that it influenced the outcome.

Apparently in the view of Republicans, Christie should have let his own state suffer and die in the name of party. Perhaps they should have told Republicans there might be some pregnant women out there who could die, then maybe the GOP would have gone people first. No, I doubt it. After all, beating the black guy was more important than even that.

We have heard so much this week about why Mitt Romney lost. The one thing I really can't wrap my head around though is the "blame the campaign" meme that is going on. For example, here's RedState talking about Romney's failed ORCA program:

So what caused the breakdown and why didn’t it get fixed in time? Well according to sources who worked closely with the program, the blame is at the feet of consultants.

But there is a serious flaw here. We were told that Mitt Romney's most qualify feature to be President was his success as a business man. A good business man is an excellent manager and can quickly identify waste and abuse. Shouldn't Mitt have realized the problem here and done something about it?

And if the people who run the campaign are the failure, isn't that also a condemnation of the candidate himself?

We heard all this before. Just look back to 2008 when Republicans instantly started blaming the people on McCain's campaign instead of the candidate himself.

This is the big problem. If a candidate is unable to hire and manage quality people to run their campaign, how can we expect them to do so when sitting in the Oval Office? We need a President who has strong advisers and can help pick strong cabinet members. We need a President who can tell when someone isn't living up to their expectations and can cut them loose. We need a President who can manage people!

It seems like we haven't been getting that with the past couple of Republican candidates though. Instead we get failed managers that would be disastrous as President.

Harry Reid is vowing to take on something that many of us have asked for - filibuster reform:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged on Wednesday to change the rules of the Senate so that the minority party has fewer tools to obstruct legislative business.

In his first post-election press conference, the Nevada Democrat said he wouldn't go so far as to eliminate the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for the chamber to enter and exit the amendment and debate process. But in remarks meant to preview a more combative approach during the next session, he warned Republicans that obstructionism as a tactic won't be tolerated -- or as technically feasible.

Now let's look at why this really needs to be done. Here's a handy graph showing how much the GOP has decided to abuse the filibuster in the past several years:

Of course the way the filibuster happens has also changed. It's not like the old days, where the cots are rolled out and the TV screen is full of senators reading from Shakespeare. Instead they basically say "filibuster" and the legislation is done. It has been twisted into a tool where the minority controls Senate, not the majority.

So how is the right responding to this? Well here's Drudge's headline on it:

Bobby Jindal, the man who became famous by blasting federal spending on disasters, is begging President Obama for more money:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is asking President Barack Obama for more federal help as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches the Gulf Coast, urging him to reimburse Louisiana for the full cost of its preparations.

“Given the extraordinary developments of this storm and its approaching impact on the State of Louisiana, I ask that you exercise your discretion to approve the State’s pending request for all emergency protective measures,” Jindal, a Republican, wrote in a letter to Obama. “Further, I ask that you consider a cost-share adjustment to eliminate the State’s non-federal share of the costs for this event.”

Get that? The federal government should pay for all preparations being done in Louisiana. This is one of the conservative movement's shining stars and he's begging the feds for more cash. Hypocrite doesn't even begin to describe this.