politician

People who believe the Republicans want to turn this economy around are sadly mistaken:

The concern arises as numerous top Republicans react coldly to the prospect of temporarily reducing the payroll tax burden on employers and employees -- to juice the economy before federal spending draws down in the years ahead.

Traditionally, and particularly in tough economic times, this and a handful of other stimulative policies have enjoyed bipartisan support. But with the outcome of the 2012 election likely to hinge on the nation's economic trajectory, the GOP is mysteriously rethinking those positions. And Democrats are starting to note of the suspicious timing.

Got that? The Republicans are opposing tax cuts because it might hurt their chances in the elections next year. This is another case of "party before country" and anyone supporting Republicans should be ashamed of that fact.

Of course the Republicans don't deserve all the blame on this. What they are doing is just playing the new system of politics that has been created in this country. Politics has become a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry and by default any politician isn't a good sportsman. They will lie, cheat and steal to come out on top. The biggest failure this highlights is that of the free market, especially when it filters down into our elections.

Not really sure how I take this:

During his three-decade legislative career, Schumer, 59, has developed a reputation as a razor-elbowed, shamelessly self-serving, media-addicted political monster. He is also arguably the single most effective lawmaker of his generation.

Now, with confidant Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) hanging on to his seat by a thread, the Brooklynite is nearing the goal line of his long game. Succeeding Reid would make Schumer the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in American history and, more important for the uber-competitive politician, the first among peers. Schumer has thrust himself into the center of issues ranging from jobs to immigration to Supreme Court hearings, but as that momentum has carried him into a more intimate arena where popularity matters, the grating architect of the current Democratic majority has become noticeably more collegial. Perhaps not coincidentally, his colleagues see him as the front-runner to be their leader.

I believe Schumer will be much more effective than Harry Reid in leading, but his politics do bother me at times. Take the Michael Mukasey confirmation. Schumer joined Feinstein as the only two Democrats to vote for him, citing “he’s the best we will get”. That’s a pretty piss-poor excuse for approving the nation’s top law enforcer.

It amazes me every time I hear Boehner decry federal money as being a failure. He tried to do it on the stimulus by saying there were no stimulus projects happening in Ohio, despite one going on a couple of miles from his own house. Now we have this issue:

Nearly a year and a half after federal lawmakers gave Butler County $4.2 million to deal with the housing crisis, county leaders are still trying to figure out what to do with it.

With only six months to go before the federal government takes unused money back, commissioners heard a list of options today, Feb. 25, from county Community Development Director Donna Everson.

This money is from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, a program created in 2008 to help combat high foreclosures. You know, 2008, a time when Bush was President.

Now for some facts:

• Butler County is the home of John Boehner (and me)
• Butler County is 100% Republican run.

Enough facts. Now see the problem? It’s not that the programs don’t work – it’s that Republicans don’t know what the hell to do with them. People have been losing their houses around here and there’s money sitting there to help, yet the corrupt Republicans that run this county just sit there doing nothing. These are all friends of Boehner and as our representative, he should be working to remedy this problem instead of playing politician all the time.

Yes the GOP has no one else to turn to other than the lunatic birthers. Tonight Louisiana Rep. Charles Boustany will be delivering the rebuttal, and here you can see him in his lunatic crazy fashion.

Adding – the GOP had one other rebuttal to President Obama addressing a joint session of Congress. Interesting enough it was another politician from Louisiana, who is also on the lunatic fringe (hint – his initials are Bobby Jindhal). I guess learning lessons is really rough from the Republicans.

The AP’s Ron Fournier is at it again, and with the help of the main headline on Drudge. In a piece entitled “Analysis: Teleprompter telegraphs Obama caution”, Fournier makes it sound like Obama relied totally on a teleprompter during last night’s presser:

What kind of politician brings a teleprompter to a news conference?

A careful one.

President Barack Obama took no chances in his second prime-time news conference, reading a prepared statement in which he took both sides of the AIG bonus brouhaha and asked an anxious nation for its patience.

So Fournier leaves you with this feeling that the entire thing was staged, maybe even the actual Q&A section. He does clarify a little bit more later on:

The teleprompter was no help during the question-and-answer session (reporters don't signal their intentions), but Obama was no less careful during that give and take.

Obama’s opening remarks were really short, only taking about 10 minutes out of the hour long event. So Ron Fournier decides to focus only on that first ten minutes, and leave the quick skimming readers with the impression that’s how the whole thing went.

And since Obama had the teleprompter and played it safe, it left the wingnuts with nothing. Here’s how Drudge is pushing this story:

Here's another one for the IRS to investigate:

A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein.

If these people who claim to be working for God want to continue to ignore the laws of this land, then it is time for them to start paying taxes. It's that simple. You don't play by our rules, we won't either - including the ones you like.

Everybody at once - "awwwww":

John McCain's campaign hit back at Madonna on Sunday after the pop diva kicked off her world tour with a concert that bracketed the US presidential candidate with Adolf Hitler.

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds angrily condemned the segment of Madonna's concert in Cardiff on Saturday that appeared to draw a comparison between McCain, Hitler and Zimbabwean strongman Robert Mugabe.

"The comparisons are outrageous, unacceptable and crudely divisive all at the same time," Bounds said in a statement reported by Fox News.

"It clearly shows that when it comes to supporting Barack Obama, his fellow worldwide celebrities refuse to consider any smear or attack off limits."

How dare Madonna! Doesn't she know that when using Hitler analogies to compare ones political adversary, the Republicans hold the copyright? There is tons of video out there showing Republicans on the floors of the House and Senate comparing Democrats to Hitler. Now that the tables have been turned, even though not by another politician, John McCain cries foul. Everyone give him a big "whaaaaaaa".

Ta-Nehisi Coates delivers that truth about the Clinton campaign:

Woflson claims that Edwards and Clinton voters were the same. Really? What happened in Wisconsin? What happened in Indiana? (you know what I mean) What happened in Virginia? This is, ultimately, why I'm glad Clinton lost. Accountability does not exist with these guys, and in that, they really are Bush-lite. They had millions of dollars, front-runner status and, allegedly, the greatest politician of our era stomping for them--and they got their asses handed to them. But they can't come to terms with it.

(emphasis added)

Instead of moving on and accepting their own failures (see Mark Penn), Wolfson continues to try and bring down the whole party by finger pointing their way out of any fault for their loss. They tried to make the Clinton campaign a campaign of old, attacking and slandering the opponent at every turn. Voters are tired of this, especially in the Democratic Party, and the longer Howard Wolfson keeps this up the more damage he will do to any of Clinton's future plans for a White House run. Hillary Clinton needs to throw Wolfson under the bus now. He is on a destructive path that threatens to bring down his own candidate.