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The National Enquirer story on John Boehner’s boner came out yesterday. While I haven’t yet seen the entire article (our stores are always late getting the recent editions), something posted in the on-site excerpt really got my curiosity going:

But The ENQUIRER learned that Deborah was nowhere to be seen when the ruggedly handsome congressman attended a casino party at the home of a D.C. lobbyist in August 1997 - and reportedly hooked up with pretty congressional press secretary Leigh LaMora.

What really interests me here is the person and timeframe. In 1997, John Boehner was chairman of the Republican Conference, meaning he held a leadership position in the House. Not only was Boehner a superior to LaMora in terms of being a congress person, but he also had the added bonus of being part of the leadership. This could really fall under sexual harassment.

Now let’s think back to that same timeframe and another case of sexual harassment that gained the nation attention. That would be Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Even though the actual impeachment of Clinton revolved around an issue of perjury, that perjury was committed in connection with sexual harassment.

That is really interesting and could explain why Boehner was one of the softer Republicans on Clinton.

This is how the GOP cuts government spending:

For a guy who insists that federal bureaucrats make too much money, incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor sure doesn't mind handing out handsome government raises of his own.

Cantor, the Virginia Republican who has led the GOP charge this year to freeze federal salaries, has boosted his congressional office's payroll by 81 percent since coming to Congress in 2001 – about 8 percent per year through 2009. When he became minority whip last year, the office's personnel expenses went up by at least 16 percent.

And how about a Tea Bagger darlings?

_ Firebrand Republican Michele Bachmann of Minnesota has for months pushed legislation to freeze what she calls "unconscionable" federal salaries. Meanwhile, her own payroll jumped 16 percent between 2007, when she came to Congress, and 2009.

If you are one of those Tea Baggers that believe in people like Bachmann then I got some ocean front property in Utah to sell you. You really need to wake up and realize that you are being made a total fool of.

From Oliver Willis:

I’ve just gotten off the phone with Atlanta Journal-Constitution political writer Jim Gallaway who says that Sen. Saxby Chambliss has confirmed that the ‘All faggots must die’ comment left here on JMG earlier today did indeed come from his Atlanta office.

The comment was made over the repeal of DADT. Pretty interesting that a staffer for a Republican Senator, who was yet another chickenhawk that received countless deferments during Vietnam, is so quick to bash those that do have the nerve to fight for our country.

That would be Republican Bruce Bartlett, who worked in both the Reagan and Bush 41 administrations, as well as being a former staffer to Ron Paul:

On March 16 the Tea Party crowd showed up for yet another demonstration on Capitol Hill in Washington. Curious about the factual knowledge these people have regarding the issues they are protesting, my friend David Frum enlisted some interns to interview as many Tea Partyers as possible on a couple of basic questions. They got 57 responses--a pretty good-sized sample from a crowd that numbered between 300 and 500 people.

[SNIP]

Tuesday's Tea Party crowd, however, thought that federal taxes were almost three times as high as they actually are. The average response was 42% of GDP and the median 40%. The highest figure recorded in all of American history was half those figures: 20.9% at the peak of World War II in 1944.

Wow – could the tea baggers be even more wrong? Of course they could:

Tea Partyers also seem to have a very distorted view of the direction of federal taxes. They were asked whether they are higher, lower or the same as when Barack Obama was inaugurated last year. More than two-thirds thought that taxes are higher today, and only 4% thought they were lower; the rest said they are the same.

As noted earlier, federal taxes are very considerably lower by every measure since Obama became president. And given the economic circumstances, it's hard to imagine that a tax increase would have been enacted last year. In fact, 40% of Obama's stimulus package involved tax cuts. These include the Making Work Pay Credit, which reduces federal taxes for all taxpayers with incomes below $75,000 by between $400 and $800.

As Bob points out, it’s because the people in the media are:

It's no wonder why people are confused about this stuff. When the so-called very serious "experts" have no flipping clue what they're talking about, it makes it very difficult for their viewers to get it. And it's not like Mr. Five Million Dollar Annual Salary can't afford a staffer to print out the Wikipedia entry for single-payer.

Bob is talking about Chris Matthews, who apparently doesn’t know the difference between single payer and the public option. I have trouble believing Matthews doesn’t actually know the difference. I have a sneaking suspicion that there is something more to it.

Comes one of their big stars, Republican Senator John Ensign and his admission to an extramarital affair. The affair was with a campaign staffer, who is also the wife of one of his senate staffers. Sounds like trouble in that office! Chris Cillizza has much more.

Yesterday the Obama campaigned named two big advocates of net neutrality to his transition team. The best part is that they are heading up the review of the FCC:

Susan Crawford, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and Kevin Werbach, a former FCC staffer, organizer of the annual tech conference Supernova, and a Wharton professor, will lead the Obama-Biden transition team's review of the FCC.

Both are highly-regarded outside-the-Beltway experts in telecom policy, and they've both been pretty harsh critics of the Bush administration's telecom policies in the past year.

Perhaps we are looking at a new dawn in the world of online privacy and fairness under President Obama.

That's what this has come down to. The House Republicans want to hold America hostage so that they can save their party - the exact same party that has caused this problem:

"At the end of the day, there's a lot of people thinking about how to rebuild this party," said GOP strategist Ed Rollins on CNN, "and do we want to rebuild it with John McCain, who's always kind of questionable on the basic facts of fiscal control, all the rest of it, immigration. And I think to a certain extent this 110, 115 members of this study group are saying, here's the time to draw the line in the sand."

"That's pretty scary stuff that they're thinking about party right now and not country, is that what you're saying?" responded host Anderson Cooper.

"I think they're, yes, they're thinking about themselves," said Rollins. "I think they don't think that the threat is as great as a lot of other people do."

This would go hand in hand with the House Republicans wanting to see the whole market collapse.

And what about John McCain? Well he is right in the thick of it:

"Bush is no diplomat," said a Democratic staffer, "but he's Cardinal freaking Richelieu compared to McCain. McCain couldn't negotiate an agreement on dinner among a family of four without making a big drama with himself at the heroic center of it. And then they'd all just leave to make themselves a sandwich."

Is that the man we want leading our country at this time, or ever? Perhaps it is time to declare the House Republicans and John McCain a new axis of evil. They are acting just like terrorists, putting their ideology before the good of the people.