Posts filed under ‘Republicans, Including Wingers & "Moderates"’
Tom Cole: Why Doesn’t Moore Oklahoma Require Basements in New Homes?
Per Wikipedia, this is the recent history of tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma:
(Image via Congress.FindTheData.org)
On May 3, 1999, Moore experienced the most violent tornado ever recorded. As a result, over 1,000 dwelling units were destroyed and some 3,000 to 4,000 residents were either temporarily or permanently displaced.
[...]
The city of Moore has been damaged by significant tornadoes on October 4, 1998, May 3, 1999, May 8, 2003, May 10, 2010, and May 20, 2013.
Tom Cole, the Republican who represents Moore in congress, was on Hardball just now. Cole has (cough) “served the public” since 1988 when he was elected to the Oklahoma state senate. (He’s obviously been failing up since then.)
Cole told Hardball that basements aren’t required as a part of the building code in Oklahoma.
Really?
WHY NOT?
Why not Tom?
WHY NOT?
You’ve been on the job for almost 30 years. You represent “tornado alley” yet you haven’t made sure basements are required in your district? Why not Tom?
WHY NOT?
Four words: Owned by corporate lobbyists.
House Republicans Vote to Repeal Obamacare for 37th Time
This pretty much says it all about what Republicans are doing to CREATE JOBS!, as was their mantra in November, which we now know was a bunch of crapola:
(Image via Examiner.com)
House Votes to Repeal Obamacare for 37th Time
The House of Representatives voted again to repeal President Obama’s health-care law Thursday afternoon, marking the 37th time that the GOP-led House has tried to undo all or part of the legislation.
Republicans Asked the IRS to Investigate AARP — Because? Politics
Geezus. Republicans are going nuts over the IRS investigating Tea Party organizations — claiming political harassment — yet in April, 2011 they asked the IRS to investigate AARP because? Politics:
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee asked federal tax authorities Friday to look into AARP’s finances.
The request was widely expected after the committee released a report last week raising questions about the hundreds of millions of dollars the nonprofit seniors’ lobby gets for endorsing insurance products.
“The facts laid out in our report strongly suggest that AARP, Inc., and its affiliates may no longer qualify as a tax-exempt organization,” said the letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.
AARP says all its revenue supports its mission of helping seniors.
And Democrats say Republicans are simply trying to punish the seniors’ lobby for putting its considerable weight behind healthcare reform.
Spinning Head Syndrome
My Tweet of the Day from Greg Sargent over at the Washington Post (he knows everything about everything that’s going on in D.C.):
So, per Republicans, since Benghazi is the biggest scandal of all time, Obama concocted the IRS scandal to detract from it? Okaaay.
Aye yie yie.
Marco Rubio Demands IRS Commissioner Resign…
Marco Rubio wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew today demanding the immediate resignation of the IRS Commissioner. Thing is, there is no IRS Commissioner:
(Image via Wikipedia)
Douglas H. Shulman used to be the acting commissioner. He was appointed by the Bush administration in 2008. He already resigned this past November, showing us that Rubio is either unaware of what’s going down in the IRS, or his demand for Shulman’s resignation is so filled with outrage that it resonated into the past. …
Shulman’s successor has yet to be appointed.
Sheesh. When Republicans insist the government is incompetent they should point the finger at themselves.
Oh Okay, I Understand the Fuss Over Benghazi Now
This, apparently, is what Republicans are having a fit over when it comes to Benghazi:
Yeah, it’s all so clear huh? Fools.
Republicans Chasing Their Tail on Benghazi
So, according to Republicans, Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in history. Now that’s funny and to their credit, most Americans disagree:
While voters overall may think Congress’ focus should be elsewhere there’s no doubt about how mad Republicans are about Benghazi. 41% say they consider this to be the biggest political scandal in American history to only 43% who disagree with that sentiment. Only 10% of Democrats and 20% of independents share that feeling. Republicans think by a 74/19 margin than Benghazi is a worse political scandal than Watergate, by a 74/12 margin that it’s worse than Teapot Dome, and by a 70/20 margin that it’s worse than Iran Contra.
And then there’s this bit of hilarity:
One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history is that 39% of them don’t actually know where it is. 10% think it’s in Egypt, 9% in Iran, 6% in Cuba, 5% in Syria, 4% in Iraq, and 1% each in North Korea and Liberia with 4% not willing to venture a guess.
I wish they’d asked respondents who think this is such a big deal if they actually know what Watergate or the Teapot Dome or Iran Contra were all about. I’m willing to bet they don’t. These are folks who watch Fox and who believe everything they hear there.
Republicans Still Living in a Closed Loop
As I said the other day, yo, Republicans, when a guy named “Ben Gazi” is trending on Twitter you might want to think about where you’re going.
Back At You Ted Cruz
Texas Senator Ted Cruz tweeted this out this morning ahead of President Obama’s visit to Texas today:
(Image via Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Twitter)
So cute huh? This from a guy whose party is set to hold its 31st+ vote on repealing Obamacare next week…not exactly creating jobs themselves. Geezus. What a dick.
House Republicans to Vote Next Week — for the 31st+ Time — to Repeal Obamacare
Republicans. Creating jobs:
(Image via DemocraticUnderground.com)
The House will vote next week to repeal all of President Obama’s healthcare law, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Wednesday.
Conservatives have clamored for another repeal vote, and some first-term Republicans said they could not vote for a Cantor-backed bill to modify the healthcare law until they had cast a vote to repeal the entire thing.
“It just keeps getting worse. I am scheduling a vote for next week on the full repeal of #Obamacare,” Cantor wrote on Twitter.
Next week’s vote will be the House’s first vote to repeal the law in the 113th Congress, following more than 30 votes in the previous two years to repeal or defund all or part of the healthcare law.
Ben Gazi
My Tweet of the Day:
(I titled this “Ben Gazi” because a few weeks ago there were a high number of Google searches for a guy named Ben Gazi, which gives us an idea of how fringe this GOP witch hunt is.)
Mark — Appalachian Trail — Sanford Wins in South Carolina
(Image via Rainier Ehrhardt / AP)
The headline: Mark Sanford Wins South Carolina Special Election
The back story:
Let’s remind ourselves of exactly why this election reveals the deep-seated hypocrisy of the GOP. Back in 2009, then-governor Sanford lied to his staff, saying that he was going off on a trip to “hike the Appalachian Trail.” When he was spotted 6 days later by a local reporter arriving at the Charleston airport from Argentina, the jig was up. Sanford admitted to having an affair with Argentinian (now his fiancée), Mariá Belén Chapur. The man who, on his first turn in Congress voted to impeach President Clinton, lied to his family, his staff and his constituents about his own infidelity. To make matters worse, Sanford used public funds – taxpayer money! – to pay for the trips to visit his mistress. He was fined $74,000 for violating state ethics laws: 37 of them, to be precise. Yet he’s considered to be fiscally conservative. Makes your brain hurt, doesn’t it?
But hey, Sanford doesn’t like Obama so that’s apparently all it takes to win in South Carolina. So much for family values and all that.
So Much for That Republican “Rebranding”
Republicans just can’t seem to pull themselves out from under the weight of the hate they’ve ginned up over the years:
Pat Brady, the chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, announced his resignation Tuesday amid a simmering controversy over his support for gay marriage legislation.
Brady had been expected to drop out of the lead GOP role following a tumultuous period that pitted the Republicans’ social moderates against their social conservatives.
With same-sex marriage legislation pending in the Illinois legislature, Brady this year voiced his support for the proposal despite a plank in the state GOP platform that said marriage should be reserved for a man and a woman. Brady said he made the endorsement personally, not as Republican chairman, but conservatives in the top echelon of the GOP party quickly complained. Though Brady survived immediate attempts to dump him, a meeting of the Republican State Central Committee in Tinley Park last month made clear his fate. GOP leaders agreed to put together a succession plan, allowing Brady, of St. Charles, an exit strategy that made clear his days were numbered as they began a search for a new chairman.
Mitt Romney Tells Women to “Have a Quiver Full of Kids”
It’s one thing to tell women to have kids — I wouldn’t expect anything less from Mitt Romney — the guy who I’m so freakin’ glad we sent back to La Jolla — but who in the world says women should have a “quiver full” of kids?
This is a quiver:
(Image via FourFiftyThree.blogspot.com)
What? WHAT? Who thinks like that much less talks like that?
How Bad is the Republican Latino Problem in California? Super Bad
Heads up Republicans: As California goes, so goes the nation (this is stunning):
In three of the last four non-presidential elections, Republicans actually nominated Latinos for statewide office: Ruben Barrales for controller in 1998, Gary Mendoza for insurance commissioner in 2002 and Maldonado for lieutenant governor in 2010. All three were attractive, articulate candidates with compelling personal stories.
But all three went down in flames, receiving an average of only 37.9% of the vote. And there is no indication in postelection analyses that they received any meaningfully higher share of the Latino vote than a white male GOP candidate would have gotten.
In fact, the last Republican Latino statewide officeholder was elected 142 years ago, when Romualdo Pacheco won the lieutenant governorship in 1871, then served several months as governor in 1875.
Holy cow.
Republicans Cutting Their Own Throat by Opposing Background Checks
Far as I know this is the first bit of polling that’s come out since Senate Republicans voted en masse against background checks, and it doesn’t bode well for them:
(Image via CrooksandLiars.com)
Although [Mark] Sanford’s unpopularity is clearly the main reason Democrats have a chance to win in this district, it’s interesting to note that there is some backlash against Republicans over last week’s vote on background checks. 86% of voters in the district say they support them to only 12% opposed, and 45% of voters say the GOP’s opposition to them makes it less likely they’ll support the party in the next election compared to only 21% who consider it a positive. That anger over the gun vote comes despite Barack Obama having only a 41% approval rating in the district with 51% of voters disapproving of him.
How Does One “Act Hispanic?”
Serious question: How does one “act Hispanic?”
(Image via Wikipedia)
During an appearance on CSPAN’s Washington Journal on Wednesday, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) claimed that this week’s bombings of the Boston Marathon should give pause to immigration reform advocates who seek to reform the system.
“We have seen this in Israel,” Gohmert said of the Boston attacks and recalled visiting areas that had been struck by suicide bombers. “Finally the Israeli people said this is enough. They built a fence and the rest is a wall to prevent snipers from telling their kids. They finally stopped the domestic violence from people that wanted to destroy them. I am concerned we need to do that as well.”
The Tea Party favorite said he feared people entering the country illegally or posing as undocumented Hispanic immigrants could carry out “copycat things.” “We know Al Qaeda has camps on the Mexican border,” he said. “We have people that are trained to act Hispanic when they are radical Islamists.”
Oh, man. Gohmert is definitely one to watch. (Here and here too.)
Obama Gives Republicans What they Asked For, Now They Want More
Here’s my Tweet of the Day:
The moral of the story: Republican know if they just dig in, fold their arms across their chest, stick their nose in the air and walk away, Obama will cave. Then they’ll ask for more. Obama will say absolutely not but they’ll turn and walk away again; they’ll wait a few months until Obama cave and gives them all the new stuff they asked for.
Geezus.
As an aside, there’s this about Obama hosting a dozen Republican Senators for dinner at the White House tonight but as for progressive Democrats having face-time with him? The invitation has apparently been lost in the mail.
Profiles in Courage (Not)
CBS News: No GOP Backers Of Gun Control Filibuster Would Agree To An Interview
CBS News called out 14 Republican senators on Tuesday for declining requests to be interviewed about their proposed filibuster of an upcoming gun control bill.
The senators—including minority leader Mitch McConnell—are part of an effort, led by Kentucky’s Rand Paul, to block any potential expansion of gun laws in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut. On Tuesday’s “CBS This Morning,” congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes reported on the lobbying being done by families of some of the Newtown victims. She then said that none of the potential filibustering senators had agreed to an interview.
“We asked all 14 Republican senators for an interview about their filibuster threat, but none of them were available,” Cordes said.
Remember When Bobby Jindal Was Going to Save the GOP?
Ouch:
(Image via Wikipedia)
The political collapse of Bobby Jindal is one of the noteworthy developments of the year. Following the 2008 elections, when waves of young, minority, and college-educated voters swept Barack Obama into the presidency, Republicans cast their eyes around and noted their young, non-white, highly educated governor and dubbed him their next big thing. They tapped him to deliver the official response to Obama’s first State of the Union address, and his performance was deemed so abysmal, and comically reminiscent of the manner of 30 Rock character and notably non-presidential figure Kenneth the Page, that Jindal fell off the national map altogether.
After Obama won reelection — once again, Republicans noticed, with the same coalition of young, non-white, and college-educated voters — Republicans remembered they still had this Jindal guy sitting around. Jindal reinflated his reputation with speeches urging Republicans not to be the “stupid party,” advice that struck some of them as potentially a good idea. But now the second Jindal bubble has popped. His approval rating in his home state — a crucial measuring post for national viability — has dipped below 40 percent.
If the first Jindal collapse was farce, the second is tragedy. And the cause of it is easy enough to identify. Jindal unveiled a sweeping plan to eliminate the state’s income taxes and corporate taxes, replacing the lost revenue with cuts to social programs and higher sales taxes. It sent the hearts of national Republicans (like The Wall Street Journal editorial page and Grover Norquist) aflutter but provoked massive opposition within the state.
[...]
Jindal was attempting to enact a state-level version of the Ryan approach, but in a context that left him unable to use the Ryan-style obfuscations that are necessary to hide the fact that it’s a gigantic exercise in upward redistribution of wealth. He may urge Republicans to stop being the stupid party, but the biggest fool is Jindal himself.
Gosh, darn. Those pesky voters are gettin’ in the way again!
Olympia Snowe Grows a Pair Now That She’s Out of the Senate
(Image via Wikipedia)
Now out of Senate, Snowe supports same-sex marriage
(CNN) – Olympia Snowe, who after serving three terms in the U.S. Senate did not seek re-election last year, said in an interview Friday that as public opinion has shifted on same-sex marriage, so have her views.
“I think obviously this has evolved over time on the whole issue for the whole country and the nations,” Snowe, a moderate Republican, told CNN. “We’ve seen a sea change in society’s whole attitude on this particular issue and it’s only natural for government to be responsive to those changes.”
Snowe said she supported Maine’s provision permitting marriage between same-sex couples in November, a position she hasn’t previously stated.
Wingnuts Driving the Bus in North Carolina
The folks who came up with this hugely unconstitutional, anti-American idea probably think of themselves as uber patriots:
Proposal Would Allow State Religion in North Carolina
Raleigh, N.C. — A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.
I can hear the Founding Fathers yelling Nooooooo! from their graves.
The “Establishment Clause” of the Bill of Rights is in the First Amendment. It was the first thing the founders wrote down when they were thinking about what should be in that document. It was really, really important to them. It reads:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Didn’t we all learn this in fourth grade?
Wetbacks? Really?
More on Republican “outreach” and “rebranding” their party:
(Image via Wikipedia)
Rep. Don Young (R-AK), in an interview with KRBD, referred to Latinos by using the derogatory term “wetbacks.”
Said Young: “My father had a ranch. We used to hire 50 or 60 wetbacks and — to pick tomatoes. You know, it takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.”
According to the Washington Post, Young later released a statement: “I used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central California. I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no disrespect.”
Notice he didn’t say he was sorry. And notice that, despite having been around “wetbacks” as a kid, he apparently didn’t develop a lick of empathy for the backbreaking work they did.
We’ve all heard the term “wetbacks” but it takes a real, through-and-through racist to have that word on the tip of their tongue when speaking about Latinos.
John Cornyn (R-TX) Gets His “Facts” on Illegal Immigration From “a Guy”
(Image via Wikipedia)
During an appearance on a local radio station Thursday morning, Texas Senator John Cornyn (R) claimed that people from all over the world are now entering the country illegally through Texas and insisted that any Congressional effort to reform the immigration system must invest in border security.
“You gotta stop the flow of people coming across and my friends and your friends Edd who have places in South Texas tell me, as a matter a fact a guy told me last night, he said we’ve got people coming across our place speaking Chinese, French and basically all of the languages in the world, coming through and across our southern border,” Cornyn said during an interview on KSEV.
Given all the resources available to a United States senator, one would think someone like Cornyn would utilize those resources instead of getting his information from “a guy.”
GOP Leaders Totally Opposed to the Desires of We the People
There’s this (note the last paragraph):
The last paragraph reads:
We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions.
And there’s this:
Jeb Bush: Conservatives Should Be Nice When they Deny Equal Rights to Gay People
I guess this is what Republicans mean when they say they’re “rebranding” their party: Continue to deny gays and lesbians equal rights but be nice about it:
(Image via AFP)
“I know for a fact that as it relates to gay marriage and other social issues there is growing divergence of opinion on this. When we talk about it, we ought to talk about it with a different tone — and we ought to talk about it recognizing that there is more than one point of view, and we should talk about it in a way that is not judgmental.
If we can get to that point where people who have diverging points of view and express them in a civil way, the conservative coalition can stay intact.”
Michele Bachmann Wails About Sequester Cuts in Her District
Hah! Now THIS is funny. Michele — Drown Government in the Bathtub — Bachmann is already wailing about sequester cuts in her district:
Michele Bachmann has taken a fair amount of heat lately for various over the top statements about the evils of government spending, from her false claim that 70 percent of food stamp money goes to “bureaucrats” to her false claim that President Obama and his family enjoy $1.4 billion in personal “perks and excess.”
But there’s nothing like a few spending cuts in your own district to concentrate the mind.
Bachmann is, understandably, upset to hear that the Federal Aviation Administration — as part of its move to close air traffic control towers across the country due to sequestration’s spending cuts — will be closing two towers in Bachmann’s district. And she’s suddenly making sense, putting out a statement decrying the sequester cuts and calling for a more “responsible” approach.
[...]
As the Star-Tribune’s headline aptly put it: “FAA tower closings bring sequester home for Bachmann.”
[...]
But the point here is that, with some Republicans trying to cast the sequester as a “victory” for the GOP, not even the ardently anti-government-spending Bachmann can maintain this pretense when it comes to cuts that are hitting her district with particular force. Instead, she’s forced to distance herself from them by positioning herself as an advocate for replacing them with something more “responsible.”
[...]
[W]e’re not even in April yet and the Tea Party warrior queen herself is already crying out for relief. So, yes, this could prove to be a long game.
Cuts to government are good as long as they aren’t in your backyard, huh Michele?
I can’t wait to see if some of these wild-eyed, off the rails Republicans do a little inadvertent maturing over the next few months.
“Public Perception of the Party is at Record Lows”
Remember (just last week) when the Republican party came out with an “autopsy” concluding that “public perception of the party is at record lows” and it is seen as being out of touch?
Gee, why they had to commission a report to come to that conclusion is beyond me:
Republicans Rethink Opposition to Gay Marriage Because: Money!
Never mind that people are being made second class citizens and being discriminated against. Supporting gay marriage because it could bring in big bucks is making Republicans think twice about their opposition to it.
(Image via Phillips.Blogs.com)
WARNING: Revulsion alert:
Republican fundraisers say the changing views of gay marriage in their party could unlock big money from GOP donors in places like New York, California and Florida — where some Republicans have kept their checkbooks closed over what they saw as misplaced priorities, at best, or intolerance, at worst, at the highest ranks of the party.
Several Republicans pointed to Sen. Rob Portman’s switch in support of gay marriage as a watershed moment for the party. And more than two dozen high-profile GOP-ers asked the Supreme Court to back gay rights. And even Foster Friess, Rick Santorum’s top benefactor, has softened his stance on domestic partnership.
“Republicans’ intolerance to marriage equality has been detrimental to winning,” said Aaron McLear, a California Republican strategist. “Big donors understand that they don’t want to invest in campaigns focused on a losing issue, and I think certainly the fiscal issues for Republicans are much more marketable.”
Never mind human beings. It’s all about “fiscal issues” and being “marketable.”
Ugh. Gag me.
