Republican Hypocrisy

John Cole reminds us of a harsh reality when it comes to the little $15 billion jobs bill:

What is fifteen billion? A couple weeks of unemployment benefits? Not to go all Everett Dirksen and everything, but we ***LOST*** almost that much in Iraq, and no one flinched. But $15 billion is going to remedy job losses of tens of thousands every month on top of millions of lost job over the past two years? Isn’t that less than California’s budget deficit? And the only way it was going to get substantially bigger was to lard it up with pointless tax cuts?

Democrats should be ashamed of putting forth such a small bill to handle such a huge problem, but even worse is the Republicans who voted against it. Many of these were the same ones defending the lost billions in Iraq by going “oh well”. They absolutely have no concern for the American people.

Yesterday it was Kit Bond, today we have Richard Shelby:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

So this is the Republican games being exposed? They will do what they can to really run up government spending, then blame it all on the Democrats. It’s time to stop trying to play nice with these assholes and go nuclear. President Obama should hold a prime time press conference and call these Republicans out by name for their games. The American people need to be made aware of what is going on and if the RNC and tea party want to support these assholes, then they also need called out. It’s time to fight back.

This is the kind of news that should be plastered on every network tonight:

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to confirm Martha N. Johnson as head of the General Services Administration, nearly 10 months after she was first nominated to head the federal agency.

Upon assuming office, Johnson "will become the first permanent Administrator of the General Services Administration in nearly two years."

Earlier in 2009, Johnson was unanimously approved by members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. But a single senator, Republican Kit Bond from Missouri, has used his symbolic 'privilege' to hold up consideration of Johnson's nomination since last summer. The delay was meant to pressure GSA administrators to approve a $175 million federal building project in Kansas City.

A nomination held up for 10 months because a damn Republican wanted his pork. Why isn’t the tea baggers or Republicans calling out this crap? Because they are damn hypocrites – every single one of them.

Yesterday during the President’s Q&A session with House Republicans Mike Pence asked President Obama why he won’t support across the board tax cuts like Reagan wanted. This has been a key issue for Republicans for decades and I am wondering why they never did it when they had total control of the government.

Think about it for a minute. During the Bush years, when Republicans controlled the House and Senate, Republicans never enacted such a widespread tax cut. Instead they only focused on the wealthy. They even went as far as securing these tax cuts through reconciliation, so they didn’t have to face a filibuster.

As matter of fact, under Obama we had had more widespread tax cuts than we ever did under Bush. 95% of working families saw tax cuts last year.

I think it’s just really interesting that Republicans only seem to want these tax cuts when Democrats are in control. Sounds like they are afraid that the cuts could lead to big fiscal problems and the Republicans don’t want to be the ones steering the ship when they occur.

This is something I never thought I would see:

Senate Republicans said Thursday that they would try to filibuster a massive Pentagon bill that funds the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an unusual move that several acknowledged was an effort to delay President Obama's health-care legislation.

Late into the night, Democrats emerged from a huddle confident that they would muster the 60 votes needed to thwart the GOP effort at blocking the military spending bill as an antiwar liberal said he would set aside his reservations and support choking off the filibuster in order to keep the chamber on a timeline of holding a final health-care vote before Christmas. The vote on the defense spending bill was to occur after 1 a.m. Friday, too late for this edition.

So they are willing to hurt our troops and our fight against terrorism because they don’t like health care reform?

They are willing to cause a terrorist attack on this nation because of this?

Don’t the Republicans take the war on terror seriously? Sounds like they are living in a pre-9/11 world.

Table turning is fun in a sad sort of way, but the filibuster was busted at about 2am this morning by a vote of 63-33. Sorry Republicans – our troops will get their money no thanks to you!

But what is to be expected from a person who wants to secede from the union. Sullivan points out this picture:

Then in another post he points out that her display of the flag goes against all etiquette. What kind of shit storm would Malkin, Reynolds, Drudge and FOX make if that was a picture of President Obama?

Republicans loved Chelsea Clinton. She instantly became their constant punch line. For example here is John McCain:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

-- Sen. John McCain, speaking to a Republican dinner, June 1998.

And let’s not forget Rush Limbaugh:

it was Limbaugh who ridiculed Chelsea Clinton, then 13, as the "White House dog."

Now those aren’t jokes as sick as making one about raping a child, but that kind of joke wasn’t even made, but Letterman never made a joke about anyone being raped. Instead he simply said that the Palin’s daughter got knocked up by A-Rod. He didn’t even specify which daughter. It was the Palins who decided to make it about their 14 year old daughter.

But Republicans seem to forget that they loved the jokes when they were going against Chelsea Clinton. Even Palin’s own running mate was out there trying to get the chuckles. But today we have Republicans trying to say that never happened. Here’s Republican talking head John Feehery trying to say it never happened. Luckily Contessa Brewer brought her A-game and quickly shot him down:

So since there is all this outrage from the right over “leave the kids out of it”, will they start boycotting Rush Limbaugh, who never could do that? Hell no.

All these Republican state legislatures whine and cry that Washington is taking away their states' sovereignty, yet when George Bush took control of their National Guards to fight in a foreign war, the same people defended the decision.

Andrew Sullivan takes Malkin to task on her alarmist tone over the DHS report:

Why, one wonders, would Michelle Malkin read a DHS report on fringe, far-right extremism that could lead to violence or Oklahoma-style domestic terrorism and think ... they're talking about her?

Rightwing nut-jobs have been the number one purveyor of domestic terrorism in this country. Rather it be the abortion clinic bombers or Timothy McVeigh, there is no arguing that the right will take to violence much quicker than the left.

The actions of the right is also messing with operations in our capital:

Local reports indicate that the practice of mailing actual tea bags to legislators has repeatedly raised security concerns, and sometimes forced the evacuation of congressional offices in anthrax-like scares.

Brian Sperry, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service, told the Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune that tea bags in the mail "cause us some concern. ... They could pose a problem if the tea bag is mailed in a regular envelope instead of a padded bag."

These tea bags are coming from the same party that spawned Chad Castagana, the right wing follower of people like Malkin and Coulter who resorted to sending fake anthrax letters to notable liberals. Of course their only mention of him was to deny any involvement.

But this brings us back to the same thing we have heard these past 9 years – treating the world in a post 9/11 mentality. We have right wingers out there pushing for action that can easily be confused as terrorism. Even though the intent is innocent, it is wasting resources that should be used to keep our nation safe.

They are protesting government waste by wasting government resources.

Common sense is a rare item when talking about the right. Stories like this are proof of that, and the hypocrisy they show when it comes to waste and nation security must be shown.

When we were talking about the stimulus bill the GOP’s biggest talking point was that “the government doesn’t create jobs”. As a little refresher, here’s Michael Steele saying just that in February:

My how time changes things, even if its only two months. Now that there is a new military budget out there, one that’s cutting costly boat anchors like the F-22 Raptor program, now the right is out there going crazy asking about all the jobs that will be lost.

Yesterday Paul Krugman called out the GOP on these failed talking points.

(h/t Think Progress)

Here’s the new outrage from the right. President Obama signed a book deal for an abridged version of “Dreams From My Father” aimed at middle school aged kids. Basically the published will do the book and Obama will sign off on the final copy. For this, Obama gets $500,000. The deal was reportedly in the works way before he even took office.

I guess Obama shouldn’t be making money off of previous deals now that he is in office. That is wrong and something that Republicans would never do.

An analysis released by a Democratic senator found that Vice President Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock options have risen 3,281 percent in the last year, RAW STORY can reveal.

Oh that was in 2005, so “last year” refers to 2004. But I guess it is fine for Cheney to make money off of a war that he championed for. I mean seriously, wars don’t cost money and lives like a children's book does.

The great white hype hope of the Republican Party, Sarah Palin, has decided she likes earmarks again. As matter of fact she is so defensive of them that she will send her minions out to take on anyone in the media who dares question them.

Simply put – Sarah Palin is the key ingredient in the recipe for a permanent minority for the GOP.

Last week it was “wasteful spending” for the stimulus to have money allocated for a high speed rail. This week, it’s apparently fine for that money to be in the stimulus when your Louisiana and requesting $110 million of it. Way to go Bobby!

That is Rawinca Dillingham. Rawnica had an unsuccessful run last year to be one of our county commissioners. She was defeated in the primary despite her running as the “real Republican”. Well perhaps there is some truth to that:

HAMILTON — Police here arrested five women early this morning, Feb. 24, at a local nightclub, and issued a summons on a former candidate for Butler County commission.

The Hamilton Police Department's vice unit conducted an undercover operation late last night at V's Nightclub, 1483 Millville Ave., after receiving tips the business was planning to offer erotic dancers to patrons, according to a department news release.

[SNIP]

In addition to the dancers and customers, police said they issued a misdemeanor summons to bar manager Rawnica Dillingham for not having an area clearly defined and separate from the patrons area, according to the news release.

Hmmm the “real Republican” means violating something that is clearly law? I guess she so.

Here’s another example that if you want a job in government you need to make it your first job ever:

{[}]lt;p>Senators might want to hold David Ogden's confirmation hearing after the kids go to bed.

That's because the man in line to become No. 2 at the nation's top law enforcement agency was once a strident defender of Playboy and other purveyors of nudity. {[}]lt;/p>

And some critics are drawing attention to his risque legal work ahead of his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. In one case, Ogden paved the way for the blind to enjoy Playboy at the Library of Congress.