Republicans

A couple big stories today involving Republicans and violence. First here is former Rep. Chip Pickering (R-MS):

Former Congressman (and C Streeter) Chip Pickering is reportedly under police investigation for his involvement in a brawl with a rival youth league soccer coach.

Apparently, police were called to Liberty Park in Madison, Mississippi, after Pickering and coach Christopher Hester came to blows when Pickering confronted Hester over the treatment of Pickering's son.

The kicker? Hester claims he was wearing a neck brace at the time of the incident.

It takes a big man to beat a guy in a neck brace. If found guilty Pickering should lose his children also. What kind of lesson is he teaching his kids by beating up on a man, especially one in a neck brace?

Next let’s head to a neighboring state for even a better story, one of Missouri’s former Speaker and Republican Rod Jetton:

The Scott County court clerk confirms a felony complaint has been filed against former Missouri House Speaker Rod Jetton for an incident that allegedly took place Nov. 15 in Sikeston, Mo.

  Casenet says the complaint was filed today, a class C felony assault carrying a seven-year and/or $5000 penalty.

      Sikeston police would not comment.  The city attorney would not comment.

  The complaint alleges Jetton "recklessly caused serious physical injury to ------- by hitting her on the head, and choking her resulting in unconsciousness and the loss of the function of part of her body."

Another sorry sack of shit. This time instead of beating a guy in a neck brace, we have a Republican that likes to beat on women. I’m sure these are the kind of guys that Rush Limbaugh would declare heroes.

This is a priceless move by several House Republicans yesterday:

When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess...

Several Republican members of Congress yesterday blew off votes on the signature anti-terror legislation of the post 9/11 era to attend Michele Bachmann's Tea Party rally against health-care reform.

Why do Republicans put politics and face time above national security? Why don’t the Democrats start asking this question more and more, especially in the coming months?

Not very according to the CBO:

The Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that an alternative health care bill put forward by House Republicans would have little impact in extending health benefits to the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, but would reduce average insurance premium costs for people who have coverage.

The Republican bill, which has no chance of passage, would extend insurance coverage to about 3 million people by 2019, and would leave about 52 million people uninsured, the budget office said, meaning the proportion of non-elderly Americans with coverage would remain about the same as now, at roughly 83 percent.

So covering those who can’t get insurance – fail!

According to the report by nonpartisan budget office, the Republican bill would reduce future federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years, compared to a reduction of $104 billion by the House Democrats’ legislation.

Reduce the deficit? Check, but no where near as much as the Democrat bill, which covers about 13x the amount of people.

Perhaps if the Republicans would have spent the summer actually working on a bill instead of pulling one out of their ass then we would have something more viable, and something that could end up having provisions implemented in the entire plan. This is how Congress used to work, before we ended up with a minority party that was set on nothing but saying “NO”.

Both parties suffer from corrupt members of their caucuses, but the Republican party seems to have a pandemic of corruption deep within it, even locally. Here is what’s happening here in Butler County, Ohio – the home of IntoxiNation and minority leader John Boehner:

Butler County is doing more than its share these days to keep the FBI and Ohio Ethics Commission busy.

Two of the county’s three commissioners are under investigation by the ethics commission on accusations of nepotism.

The most recent subject is Commissioner Gregory Jolivette, who admits to voting on the hiring of and pay for both his son and daughter as county employees in 2004 through 2006.

There is much more listed in the article, including details of our former county auditor who was arrested and had to resign last year. What the article fails to mention is that every single person listed in it is a Republican. The Republicans have had a lock on our county for years and this single party rule has opened the door to wider spread corruption.

I’m just waiting for the day they frog march the entire county administration out.

For more proof that Republicans don’t care about health care reform as much as being obstructionists we turn to Roy Blunt:

“Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? We clearly have principles; we could have language, but why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they’ve got to whatever we’re offering right now?”

Add that to Michael Steele’s statement this week that they don’t know what’s in the bill nor care and you got all the proof you need that Republicans don’t want healthcare reform. The Democratic bill could cost us $0, cover every American for things from heart transplants to nose jobs, create 2 million jobs and even have cures for AIDS and cancer in it, and the Republicans would still oppose it. They put party above country all the time and that is a recipe for disaster. If the Democrats are smart they will remember these quotes from Republicans and do a national campaign hammering the party that hates America.

I just love my local politics, especially from the Republican side of things. There is always some new controversy coming up. The latest involves the county chair:

Butler County Republican Party Chairman Tom Ellis is being sued by his own brother for allegedly defrauding him and his mother for more than $500,000, court records show.

The civil suit alleges that Ellis sold a 20-unit apartment complex in Seven Mile to his mother Claire Smith for an inflated price, then mismanaged the property and pocketed some of the rent. It also claims Ellis borrowed money from his mother and never paid it back.

The suit was filed by Stephen Ellis, Tom Ellis’ brother, who holds power of attorney over Smith.

See?  Republicans don’t just screw us over – they also screw over their own family. This is going to be very interesting to watch. I can’t wait to hear the local spin on it.

From The Nation:

When House Appropriations Committee chairman David Obey, the Wisconsin Democrat who has long championed investment in pandemic preparation, included roughly $900 million for that purpose in this year's emergency stimulus bill, he was ridiculed by conservative operatives and congressional Republicans.

Obey and other advocates for the spending argued, correctly, that a pandemic hitting in the midst of an economic downturn could turn a recession into something far worse -- with workers ordered to remain in their homes, workplaces shuttered to avoid the spread of disease, transportation systems grinding to a halt and demand for emergency services and public health interventions skyrocketing. Indeed, they suggested, pandemic preparation was essential to any responsible plan for renewing the U.S. economy.

And where are we now? 103 dead in Mexico, and 20 cases popping up almost instantly in the U.S.  The entire world is on edge worrying about a global pandemic, and if that comes to fruition, then it will become a massive hit on the already teetering economy.

But stories like this should come as no shock. We saw the exact same thing when Katrina hit. The Republicans believe that the public should be prepared, but the government doesn’t have to do anything. Just like when they said “it was the people’s fault for staying in Louisiana”, and wouldn’t cast any blame on a government that couldn’t be bothered to leave their vacation.

Let me give you a contrast of then and now. After Katrina hit, Bush’s aides worked to keep him away from the television. They finally put together a sampler video of news coverage (mostly of FOX coverage) showing what had happened. This was more than a day after people started drowning. Bush just couldn’t be bothered on one of his multiple vacations.

How is President Obama responding?

President Barack Obama took advantage of the summer weather in Washington on Sunday to play a round of golf.

Before he left for the course, Obama received an update on the swine flu virus, said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin.

Obama is getting some time for himself, but still staying in the loop about what is happening.

So we have a Democratic President who is being pro-active in the face of catastrophe, as compared to the Republican President who was reactive at the best. Hopefully people will remember this.

Steve Schmidt, a former top advisor for the McCain Campaign, is going to urge the GOP to get behind gay marriage:

"I'm confident American public opinion will continue to move on the question toward majority support, and sooner or later the Republican Party will catch up to it," Schmidt plans to say according to excerpts provided to ABC News.

Schmidt's push for Republicans to endorse same-sex marriage comes as his party is grappling with a string of gay rights victories in Iowa, Vermont, and Washington, D.C.

I wonder what Schmidt’s mentor, Karl Rove, will have to say about this.

That number is 20% of the House Republicans, and also the number who voted against the Republican version of the budget. I wonder if Michael Steele will look for people to take these detractors out in primaries?

NOT! Rep. Paul Ryan ended up admitting that the GOP budget will run up the deficit “a lot”.

“A lot”. On the day before their budget is to be released, this is the kind of hard hitting numbers we saw last week when the Republicans were supposed to release their budget. I guess the GOP line item will look something like this:

• Tax reductions for those making over $250,000 – ALOT
• Money for healthcare – Not so much
• Military spending – ALOT
• Stem Cell Funding – SQUAT

What is really amazing is that Paul Ryan is the one who came up with this budget, and he can’t even give any numbers. That really sounds like the leadership of a party that wants to regain power. Well maybe in some banana republic.

The media is in a frenzy about the Democrats getting ready to “fight” President Obama on his Iraq plan. Of course they are – the media loves anything that might have to do with Democratic infighting.

Personally, I support Obama’s plan. Would I like to see all troops out next year? Of course. But I trust Obama. As matter of fact Obama has given us more reason to trust him than any other politician in history. In his first 40 days he has worked to deliver on an unprecedented amount of campaign promises. So since Obama hasn’t given me any reason to not trust him, I am going to take him for his word and judgment. If he really believes that we need 50,000 troops to remain, then we need that. I want what’s best for my country, not what best aligns with my own political belief.

Also just think back to Bush. Constantly Bush said he would listen to his commanders. For years now the commanders in Afghanistan have been yelling for more troops as that region continues to deteriorate. Bush ignored them, and now we got a bigger mess there then when we first entered that war. So the fact that Obama is proving that he is willing to listen and learn from our military leaders is a big bonus, and something we didn’t see in the past eight years.

But I also agree with the Democrats who are against this plan, and would rather see all our troops pulled out. It also makes me proud to be a Democrat.

Let’s compare this to the recent stimulus battle. Three Republican senators broke with their party to vote for the bill. Were they commended on serving their constituents or personal beliefs that got them elected? No. Instead they are facing punishment from their party.

So this goes back to my post earlier this week, where I talked about how the Republicans tent seems to be shrinking while the Democrats is getting bigger. The Republicans got into the boat they are in because of their refusal to break with Bush. It wasn’t until they started losing elections that they would let some light shine between them and the White House.

Democrats aren’t risking that. Instead they are allowing their own members to do what members of Congress should do – vote for their constituents, not their party.

So I welcome the fact that their might be a little bit of a rift between Democrats and the White House. It shows we have a party of individuals able to make their own decisions and stand on their own beliefs, and the party accepts that.

The Republicans have been going on for too long about “sticking together” and “party allegiance”. No matter what you consider the main factor in the Republicans’ recent losses at the polls, one thing is for certain – if the Republicans didn’t stick together so much they would be in a better place today. If the Republicans broke with Bush, instead of this faux allegiance to the man, they might even still control Congress, or at least be a much strong minority.

Our country is too diverse to divide into only two strict political beliefs. The Republicans just don’t get that.

I have never been a big gamer, well except for SimCity. That has been the one game I have been hooked on since it first came out 20 years ago. You are the mayor of a city and you have a budget. You decide where the funds go, and what areas get zoned what. If your taxes are right and you have proper infrastructure and public services in place then your town builds up and you become successful. The game has evolved many times over the past two decades, but the game idea has been pretty much the same.

So I was thinking about the Republicans blasting things like building roads, improving our telecommunications infrastructure or hiring more police and firefighters as not stimulating the economy. Perhaps we should start on online campaign. Everyone email your Republican representative and/or Senator(s) this link and tell them to play SimCity some so they get a basic idea of economics and how government spending can increase consumer spending and business investment.

If children who play the game are able to comprehend this very basic fact regarding economics, then maybe the Republicans will learn something also.

So it turns out that the big Republican stimulus package, rolled out by the House Republican leadership on the day of the stimulus vote, may have actually raised taxes. A staffer for the House Ways and Means committee email Greg Sargent this:

In 2008, 4.2 million Americans had to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). The Republican proposal would lower marginal tax rates for individuals, but would not reduce AMT rates. Current law requires you to pay the greater of the two rates, so many of those receiving this lower marginal rate would now be held liable for the AMT.

There is no question that Congress needs to — and will — act to prevent the number of taxpayers hit by the AMT from growing to an estimated 26 million this year. However, we confirmed with the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation that 26 million people would still be forced to pay the AMT this year under the GOP bill. Essentially, their tax bill would give with one hand and take away with the other, leaving 26 million families without the tax cut they promised in their bill.

Sounds like the typical kind of loophole we are used to seeing in these kind of packages. Of course the Republicans aren’t taking this, and a spokesman for Eric Cantor emailed Greg the following:

These are the type of untruths spread by House Democrats that continue to undermine President Obama’s desire to work together to provide real solutions to the challenges faced by hardworking Americans. This is nothing short of a total fabrication, as there will be no more people subjected to the AMT under the Republican jobs plan than the Democrat spending bill. In fact it is likely that the Republican plan would subject less to it.{[}]lt;/p>

The truth of the matter is that both plans address the AMT and were written under the assumption that the regular AMT patch would be passed by the end of the year, just as Congress has done this entire decade. The very fact that the Democrat Ways and Means Committee is so obsessed with discrediting the Republican plan to create jobs instead of promoting their own spending plan brings into question their motives.

No read through this. The Cantor person is saying basically saying “but we thought about the AMT patch that would be passed this year”, however the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation took that into consideration with their assessment, so Cantor’s person really didn’t disprove anything – just a lot of whining that Democrats would question their plan.

Ignore the stimulus for a minute, and look at some other legislation that took place this week. Nate Silver has highlighted it and shown how there is a major divide between Senate Republicans and House Republicans:

It's not just the goose egg that the House Republicans laid on the Democratic stimulus package yesterday: Boehner's Boys have been equally uncooperative on other matters. Case in point: a bill yesterday to delay the transition to digital TV. This measure was approved unanimously by the Senate; every Senate Republican gave it the green light. But 155 out of 178 House Republicans voted against it, which resulted in the measure's defeat since a two-thirds majority would have been required for passage under the House's suspension of the rules.

Or, take the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a seemingly fairly popular/populist (if not inscrutable) piece of legislation on gender-based pay discrepancies. This was something that Barack Obama whacked John McCain on on the campaign trail, with McCain offering little rebuttal. In the Senate, five Republicans -- out of 41 -- voted with the Administration on Ledbetter, including all four Republican women. In the House, just three Republicans did -- out of 178.

Boenher and Eric Cantor have obviously done an impressive job of rallying their troops -- and Cantor, in particular, seems proud of his efforts. But what grander purpose does this strategy serve? The House Republicans are opposing popular legislation from a very popular President, and doing so in ways that stick a needle in the eye of the popular (if quixotic) concept of bipartisanship. They would seem to have little chance of actually blocking this legislation, since they are far short of a majority, and since the Senate Republicans, who can filibuster, have thus far shown little inclination to go along with them -- with moderates like Susan Collins of Maine and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire voting routinely with the Administration.

So it looks more and more like the House Republicans are all alone. Even their Senate colleagues won’t support their actions, and most amazing is how the entire House Republican caucus is sticking together. It really makes you wonder what the leadership is saying to their members. Could Boehner be using the Delay playbook of playing the hammer?

That has been the constant message from Republicans over the past several days when it comes to the stimulus package. Digby even picked up on it:

Can someone explain to me why I'm seeing Republican after Republican on television advising Americans on the right way to run the economy? Is there any reason why we should listen to them sanctimoniously lecturing us on "what's worked in the past" and telling us that the only way to cure the problems they themselves created are to do more of the same? They've always been known for chutzpah, but this takes the cake.

I have been shaking my head non-stop over the same thing. Maybe, just maybe, if we trust the Republicans this time then they will get it right, unlike the countless other times their plans have lead us to recession. And maybe, just maybe, hobbits and elves will inhabit the earth.