RSS

Tag Archives: Tea Party

Mitt “Flopsy Mopsy” Romney jumps into the race?

02 Jun

So, Mr. Flopsy Mopsy has finally entered the race. Mitt Romney made it official today, declaring his candidacy from the great state of New Hampshire, “I’m Mitt Romney and I believe in America. And I’m running for president of the United States.”

Which America is that Mitt? Is it Paul Ryan’s vision for America? Is it Glenn Beck’s vision of America? Is it the America where you said it would be OK to wire tap Islamic houses of worship? Or is it the America where you signed a health care bill virtually identical to the one President Obama signed, and later flipped over on your back for the favor of the far-right portion of the party who will never support your nomination any way?

Flopsy began his race by challenging President Obama while trying very hard to paint himself as the candidate in the multi-colored coat. He tried to show he was what everyone in the new GOTP wants, a man who can appeal to conservatives, social conservatives, evangelicals and yea verily even to the libertarians.

“It breaks my heart to see what is happening to this great country,” Romney said. “No, Mr. President, you had your chance.”

And exactly why does it break your heart Mitt? Does it break your heart because there’s someone in the White House who isn’t in bed with big business like you are being a former business man?

It’s going to be a long way to the nomination Mitt and you have an equally long record of flip flopping. In fact you’ve flipped more often than a stack of hot cakes at the IHOP. How ill you sell your former support of abortion and gay rights as well as Romney-care? And of course there’s the whole far-right Christian conservative loathing the idea of nominating a Mormon.

Yeah, you’re right in the running for the nomination alright; you’re all set up for the thrashing of your lifetime. You won’t need to worry about what President Obama will do to you because your own are going to eat you alive.

 
3 Comments

Posted by on June 2, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

Tags: , , , ,

Mr. Flip-flop says the President is ‘ineffective’

31 May

The former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney,  is calling Barack Obama “one of the most ineffective presidents” he’s ever seen, and says he thinks he can beat him next year.

Yeah, OK. That’s assuming two things; first, that you can win the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) nomination, and currently are trailing – of all people – Rudy Giuliani in the latest poll; and second, the GOTP far-right religious fanatics will allow a Mormon to be their standard bearer. The first I believe you can over come, the latter, not so sure.

In an interview with NBC, Romney said that while the President wasn’t responsible for the recession he inherited, “he made things worse. He’s failed.”

Exactly in what universe did he make things worse? He saved the auto industry from collapsing, which would have been a financial disaster of monumental proportions costing hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars; he used the stimulus to rebuild a badly neglected national infrastructure, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs; the unemployment rate is dropping (albeit very slowly – but still dropping); the stock market has come back to strong numbers, and we’re creating jobs each month. You, Mitt, are a two bit, flip-flopping used car salesman.

Romney also said the President lacks “a cogent assessment” of world affairs. The GOTP hopeful claimed, “The Arab spring came, one of the greatest opportunities we’ve seen in decades, and we’ve been flatfooted.”

What exactly should he have done? I understand under the Bush/Cheney presidency it was the “doctrine” of the United States to meddle in other country’s internal affairs; but that’s not our job. That’s none of our business. I find it very interesting how quickly conservatives want to tell other countries how to do things, but cry “foul” if anyone dares to even suggest anything to the U.S.

Romney, who says he’s planning to formally announce his candidacy later this week, also said he doesn’t think his Mormon faith will be an obstacle to winning the GOTP presidential spot, “we’re not electing a pastor in chief, we’re electing a commander in chief.”

Yeah, that’s going to play well in the Bible Belt; a Mormon cracking wise about electing a pastor-in-chief. Have you forgotten Mitt how fast you fell from political grace when Huckleberry started that whisper campaign in Iowa about you being a Mormon? Face it, you’re running a very tough uphill battle to convince the rabid far-right to nominate you, and if they do? Well, it will be because they see you as the proverbial sacrificial lamb, hoping to finally be rid of you. Oh, and beyond the religious hurdle, your own fellow GOTP types are going to skewer you on your Romney-care plan.

Good luck Mitt old boy, you’re going to need it.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 31, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

Tags: , , ,

Oklahoma GOTP Lawmaker Claims ‘Blacks’ Don’t Work As Hard As White People?

24 May

The far-right Republican/Tea Party (GOTP)-controlled Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a proposed constitutional amendment yesterday eliminating Affirmative Action in state government. The so-called “official” GOTP way of thinking for the change is that even though “discrimination exists,” “I don’t think Affirmative Action has been as successful as we like to believe,” the bill’s sponsor, state Representative T.W. Shannon (GOTP), explained. But then extremist right-wing wacko state Representative Sally Kern (GOTP) chimed in with her reasons for ending the system helping minorities advance: “blacks” simply don’t work as hard as whites:

Kern, said minorities earn less than white people because they don’t work as hard and have less initiative.

“We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

But she didn’t stop with commenting on why Black-Americans earn less, according to Kern, women earn less than men because “they tend to spend more time at home with their families.”

While Kern has a very long history of making dim-witted statements on the floor of the state house — in the past she’s claimed everything from homosexuality is more dangerous than terrorism to introducing legislation to force teachers to question evolution — her far-right ignorant and bigoted comments reflect a disturbing trend among even mainstream conservatives to blame valuable social safety net programs for creating a culture of dependency or even “slavery.”

“We have heard tonight already that in prison there’s more black people. Yes, there are, and that’s tragic, it’s tragic that our prisons here in Oklahoma, what are they, 99% occupancy? But the other side of the story, perhaps this is something we need to consider: is this just because they are black that they’re in prison or because they don’t want to work hard in school?” Kern asked. “White people oftentimes don’t want to work hard in school, or Asians, oftentimes. A lot of times, that’s what happens. I’ve taught school for twenty years, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t want to work as hard, they wanted it given to them. As a matter of fact I had one student who said, ‘I don’t need to study, you know why? Because the government is gonna care of me.’ That’s kind of revealing there. Equal opportunity, not equal results.”

Well isn’t that the standard southern white racist nonsense? I grew up in the south listening to this kind of nonsense almost on a daily basis. My Mom used to make disparaging comments about African-Americans, claiming they would go to work each day – in the federal government – and just sit there knowing they couldn’t be fired. Many times she would use the “N” word, especially when anyone would talk about Dr. Martin Luther King.

But wait, there’s more pearls of wisdom from Miss KKK, “You see, women usually don’t want to work as hard as a man, because, now I mean, now get me, wait a minute, now listen to me, women, hang on, women tend to think a little bit more about their family, wanting to be at home more time, want to have a little more leisure time, that’s all I mean. I’m not saying women don’t work hard. I think women work very hard, so don’t take that the wrong way. But that’s fact as you have to keep in mind, okay? Women like to be willing to have a moderate work life with plenty of time for spouse and children and other things like that, that’s all I meant, okay. They work very hard. But sometimes they aren’t willing to commit all their life to a job like a lot of men do. That’s all I meant by that. All right.”

(Use southern accent here) Why I declare Miss Kern, you’re just as smart as a June bug aren’t you?

Well, actually June bugs are a lot smarter, and I shouldn’t be so quick to throw the poor June bugs under the same bus. Sad truth is, Kern is a symptom of today’s conservatism, and in particular of the far-right political movements like the Tea Party. They’re very predominantly white, so-called Christians, who want to blame everything wrong with America on people of color. Doesn’t matter which color, as long as it isn’t white. Problem with this way of thinking is it’s what most far-right groups do. They blame the ills of society on everyone but their own white population. You know the groups; groups like the KKK, or the Nazis. Yes, I went there. And yes there are people within the Tea Party who are comparable to Nazis. They’ve beaten people up at political events, and carried threatening signs and made threatening statements. Sorry, but if the jack boot fits.

People like Kern don’t love America; at least not an America built on equality, and opportunity. Her views on woman are not all that surprising, especially coming from a conservative. I once coached a girl’s high school softball team, and when I discovered the team’s budget was being used to pay for items on the boy’s baseball team, I objected under Title IX. Very quickly it all hit the fan. The male athletic director – a 1950s style troglodyte – and many male coaches got angry, but what really surprised me was when woman began asking me why I was stirring that pot? They didn’t think it was unreasonable for the girls to have uniforms that were ten years old while the boys got news ones every two or three years; or why the boys had a batting cage and the girls didn’t; or why the boys basketball team got to practice in the gym at the school while the girls had to go to an old gym at the local catholic church. I would look at all of them and say, “Because it’s the law.” It’s because of views like theirs that Title IX was enacted.

This is why when conservatives say, “We have to take our country back”, everyone else needs to start asking them, “Take it back for whom, and to where”? The America they want is one where woman are not paid equally to men, and where you will be forced to carry your baby to term no matter what your reason for wanting – or needing – an abortion may be; it’s an America where Hispanics are all sent to Mexico – not just the illegal ones – but all Hispanics; it’s an America where only good Christian white men occupy the White House, not some uppity black Muslim; it’s an America where there are no Mosques, and where Jews know their place too; it’s an America where only the wealthy make decisions and where the poor work for near starvation wages; it’s an America where health care is available, but only if you can afford it; it’s an America where corporations are considered to be citizens, and control the political landscape. It’s not an America we need to go back to. It’s not an America we should ever want to go back to. It’s not an America any true American should ever want.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on May 24, 2011 in Racism

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Conservatives Attack Obama For Referring To Birtherism As “Silliness”

04 May

Seconds after President Obama concluded his press conference on the release of his long form birth certificate the right-wing media talking heads began attacking him like a murder of angry crows, and all because he dared to call birtherism “silliness” – well, what is it if not silliness? – but then they – right-wing bloviators – really got steamed when he and the First Lady dared to go to Chicago to film an interview for Oprah, followed by fundraising events. And who do ya think was first out of the gates with an attack? Why it was the fine folks at FOX PAC of course.

“The President Said He Doesn’t Have The Time For Such Silliness … [And] As Soon As He Said It, He Got On A Plane … To Do The Oprah Show,” talking head Charles Krauthammer said. “The president is right on this … this is not a serious issue,” however? “[w]e saw how the president said he doesn’t have the time for such silliness … and as soon as he said it, he got on a plane to Chicago to do the Oprah show.”

Fellow FOX Droid Bret Baier added in response, “And then [he] went to New York for some fundraising.”

Ouch, boy does that hurt. Really? This is what you two have to say? The President calls birthers silly, but what’s more silly in the eyes of FOX PAC contributors? Giving an interview to Oprah and attending fund raisers? That’s it? That’s all ya got? And of course, no Republican President ever attended anything as silly as a fund raiser …

But then the little Leprechaun, Sean Hannity, chimed in “[Obama] Said ‘No Time For This Silliness,” But “He Literally Today Went To Fundraisers [And] Taped Oprah.”

The President “literally” taped a show? He didn’t figuratively tape it?If he does something Sean, then it would be literally. You keep using this word, I don’t think it means what you think it means.

Hannity didn’t stop with this one attack however, the little guy devoted several segments to discussing the president’s release of his long form birth certificate.  During one segment, he said, “The president literally today went to fundraisers, taped Oprah, you know, he said, ‘no time for this silliness,’ he has a lot of important things to do. I don’t think taping Oprah and playing golf and his other extracurricular activities is more important than, say, fixing the economy.”Now see, there you go using that word again, he “literally” went to fundraisers. Gee, Sean, you “literally” keep using the word “literally”.

But,you know, you’re so right Sean, fixing the economy is the most important thing, and how many bills has the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) controlled House introduced with the goal of fixing the economy? (cue chirping crickets) Anyone?

Bueller?

Hannity?

Hello?

Is this thing on?

That’s right, none. But they have had plenty of time to introduce more than 100 bills aimed at ensuring federal money isn’t used to fund abortions; correcting something that is already prohibited.

Of course no FOX PAC attack would be complete with out the brain trust of FOX & FRIENDS chiming in, and chime in they did, spending several segments bashing President Obama for referring to birtherism conspiracies as “silliness” and then of course his having attended fundraisers and taping an interview for Oprah.

Steve Doocy daringly led the FOX & FRIENDS charge, “That’s right, in the 9:00 hour yesterday, Gretchen [Carlson, co-host], right here on the Fox News Channel, in fact, during a Donald Trump press conference, the President of the United States released his long form birth certificate. He was clearly frustrated. At one point, he said, ‘We do not have time for this silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do. I’ve got better stuff to do. We’ve got big problems to solve.’ Said we didn’t have time for silliness — and then he left to be on Oprah.”

Then in charges the sports guy with his really huge intellect, Brian Kilmeade, “It’s going to be on the last Oprah show, so that was it. He went and taped that. But then it was back to business. Three fundraisers in New York City. So … ”

“No time for silliness,” Doocy chimed.

“Yeah, no time for silliness,” Kilmeade rejoined. “Had to go back to work to campaign when he doesn’t have an opponent in the Democratic primary and won’t have a Republican opponent for about a year, but he wanted to raise money, and he did, in the millions of dollars.”

Riveting journalism there boys, truly riveting. Do you guys stay up all night thinking this stuff up? Because it looks like you just pull it out of somewhere, I don’t know where, but …

But wait, these two Einsteins were followed by the queen of silliness, Michelle Malkin.

“[H]ere we have him — had him have his press conference in DC lecturing us about the need to be serious, and then he turned his heels and immediately went to that serious venue, Oprah Winfrey. And then off to New York City for three very serious campaign fund-raisers. He’s on the job.”

You guys are so on top of this, thanks for keeping the trailer court crowd up to date on what is really important out there. I mean, how would they know what to think about this if you three hadn’t been right in the thick of this story?

Seriously, the President of the United States, the first Black President, is hounded for years to present his birth certificate, just to prove, you know, that he’s really an American, and you three have no problem with that? Jim Crow mean anything to you? Or do you think it’s a brand of whiskey?

But why stop with the morons of FOX PAC when we’ve got over a dozen GOTP members of Congress who are either birthers or won’t denounce the idea that Obama wasn’t born in the United States. So-called lawmakers in at least 10 states have introduced birther bills this year. But, hold on, self-appointed leaders of the birther movement are now saying that even this latest gesture by Obama isn’t enough. Yeah, but it’s not silly, or racist, or anything. Just because none of them will accept any document doesn’t mean they’re racist. No it means they are racist and ignorant. C’mon people, none of the previous 43 presidents has ever been asked to produce proof they were born here, only this guy. Why? First, he’s black, and we can’t have one of them in the White House, and second, he has a Muslim father, and we really can’t have one of them in the White House …

Anyone who is engaging in this conspiracy needs to look deep into their soul and ask why this matters. It isn’t because they love America, or because they love the Constitution, it’s because they hate having a Black man as their president.

There is no other logical explanation here. If you are among the group of people who proudly call themselves “birthers” you’re a racist. Sorry, but there it is.

 
2 Comments

Posted by on May 4, 2011 in 2012 Election, FOX PAC, Lunatics, Politics, Racism, Tea Party

 

Tags: , , , , ,

John Boehner, ‘No Daylight between Tea Party and Me’

07 Apr

Besides the obvious innuendos, jokes and cartoons that will be drawn from the House Speaker’s statement, what exactly was he trying to do, say, imply, or?

Well, clearly John Boehner, Republican Tea Party (GOTP) Congressman – OH, covets an overwhelming majority of votes from his right wing colleagues so as to keep his seat as Speaker of the House, a rather tenuous position, rumored to be endangered by none other than his right hand man Eric Cantor (GOTP) – VA.

But, by claiming to be so close to the Tea Party – to the point where there’s “no daylight between” them – he is not only pushing his party ever closer to the far right side of lunacy, but also towards possible loss of majority control in 2012, and thus pushing himself into becoming a one term speaker; the latter of course, if he survives the rumored coup challenge.

How does the opposition feel about Boehner’s new love interest?

“The Republican leadership has a Tea Party screaming so loudly in its right ear, that it can’t hear what the vast majority of the country demands,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said this week. When asked if Republican leaders were “afraid of the movement,” he replied, “… the answer is yes”.

And that shrill screaming is becoming more and more tedious with each news cycle, pushing the so-called revolutionary Tea Party closer and closer to foot note status in some future political science text book.

While “our way or the highway” might work with prom dates in Wasilla, it’s becoming worn and tired with a majority of Americans recently polled, and Boehner is taking a huge political risk by primping so hard to be that date.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on April 7, 2011 in Politics

 

Tags: , ,

GOTP hopefuls complain but no plans on Libya

26 Mar

Isn’t it amazing how the Bungling Brothers Three Ring Circus, also known as the GOTP hopeful candidates for the 2012 nomination are all being very quick to criticize the President’s handling of the U.N. mandated no-fly zone in Libya, but not one of them has come forward with how they would have handled it. Well, except for Newt, who was for a no-fly zone before he was opposed to one?

And speaking of the Newt, he’s our first performer  in the center ring flip flopping across the ring, “You have a spectator in chief, not a commander in chief,” the Newt grumbled, one assumes meaning he’s for the no fly zone now? Or does he want boots on the ground this week?

At first Newtee very vocally demanded a no-fly zone after the President Obama said Gadhafi needed to be ousted, but then when the President began moving forward and the Newtster saw it was being billed as “humanitarian mission” he quickly decided he wanted nothing to do with that. He also first said in one interview that air strikes would oust Gadhafi and then said jets would not be able to end his rule now that fighting had gone into the cities. Newt’s effectively become the circus’ Push Me Pull You candidate.

Next to perform is Haley Barbour the Governor of Mississippi who is calling the President’s response to the situation “dithering.”

Barbour told a Jackson, Miss., radio station: “we haven’t provided leadership in this administration. In fact, the Obama administration’s position has been to say, ‘You know, we’re just one of the boys. We’re not going to try to be the leader.'”

Yeah, too bad Haley conveniently ignored the fact United States forces led the air strikes over Libya under the auspices of a United Nations resolution authorizing force in the interest of preventing a humanitarian crisis. He offered no opinion on an appropriate U.S. response, just the fact that this response lacked any leadership, as compared to what? The good old days of Sheriff Bush and his posse telling Bin Laden he could run that he couldn’t hide? Newsflash! He’s still out there!

Our juggling act will be performed by the great health care reformist himself, the former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who said the President has been “tentative, indecisive, timid and nuanced.”

Romney says he supports the mission in Libya. He’s just not a fan of the President who started it or his approach to international affairs. So, he’s saying it’s the right mission, just the wrong guy going to get the credit? He didn’t detail what the Libya policy would be under a Romney administration.

“Thus far, the president has been unable to construct a foreign policy, any foreign policy,” Romney told Hugh Hewitt’s radio show. “I think it’s fair to ask, you know, what is it that explains the absence of any discernible foreign policy from the president of the United States?”

You’re kidding right Mitt? No foreign policy from President Obama?

How about the fact the President has restored strained alliances and friendships around the world? President Obama’s call for partnership, respect for international rules on prisoners, and acceptance of the responsibilities associated with climate change, transformed America from the isolated and lonely superpower of Bush/Cheney often seen as a threat to international order back into a leader in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The President is pulling our troops out of the nightmare of Iraq, and plans to do the same for our troops in Afghanistan.

No circus would be complete with some Paws, and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty said President Obama erred by not forcing a no-fly zone more quickly.

“The rebels at that time were on the verge of overthrowing Gadhafi. They had the momentum. They were in position to do it,” Pawlenty told FOX PAC. He said President Obama left the rebels without backup and Gadhafi ready to squelch them. But he didn’t say what he would do differently now. So, if we had President Pawlenty he would have gone it alone to support the rebel cause? Pawlenty isn’t entirely wrong in his assessment. Things could’ve and should’ve moved much quicker. But then what?

And our last performer today is the 2008 GOTP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor, Palin the Jungle Girl, who whined, “We’ve received different messages from our president and from his advisers as to what it is that we are doing there and what the mission is.”

And how would Palin have handled the situation, if – “gulp” – we had President Palin? She offered her usual snarky complaints with no plan attached, “certainly there would have been more decisiveness.” So, she would have decisively done what? At some point she will probably release a You tube video decrying how she’s the real victim of the conflict in Libya.

Aside from the whining and complaints, notice anything missing ? Not one of these so-called candidates had anything of substance to say. Not one has offered anything of depth. Not one has said how things would be different if they were the King of the Forest. Well, “there would have been more decisiveness”. No plans, nothing.

The most amusing part of these latest attacks from the GOTP misfits is that they’re coming while U.S. forces are enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya to protect rebels trying to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi – just as the GOTP demanded. Remember that, just as the GOTP demanded.

These “candidates” are all sort of saying President Obama is too slow and too reliant on international approval from the Arab League, the United Nations and NATO. Yes sports fans, what we really need is a President who tells the rest of the world to go jump in a lake while we preemptively invade whomever we darn well please, because that worked so well for the United States during the Bush/Cheney years.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 26, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hatch to be overthrown by Utah Tea Party?

15 Mar

Six-term Republican (GOP) Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah is facing re-election next year, a usually not to difficult task, however, in recent months the political phenomenon known as the Tea Party movement has turned what used to be a cake walk into a very steep uphill battle.

Groups such as Save the American Republic (STAR) and Utah Rising are not falling in line behind Hatch, and many other Tea Party (TP) groups are also not so sure if they will throw their support behind him.

But Hatch isn’t the only Republican possibly fighting for his political life in Utah, two other Republicans closely associated with Utah, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the former governor of Utah, both possible presidential candidates are also facing the chopping block because as far as TP members are concerned they’re simply not conservative enough.

“We oppose all three,” said David Kirkham, a businessman who helped found one of Utah’s first Tea Party groups in a recent New York Times interview.

Romney’s biggest obstacle to overcome is his leadership – as governor – in passing the Massachusetts health care overhaul that is anathema to many Tea Party members who see it as a model for the Obama plan passed last year.

Huntsman’s on the “list” for nonsupport because he played the “moderate” on many social issues as Utah’s governor and he also supported carbon emissions cap-and-trade legislation to reduce heat-trapping gases. Of the two, the latter is the larger sin in the TPs estimation.

“On a good day, he’s a socialist,” said Darcy Van Orden, a co-founder of Utah Rising, a clearinghouse group, referring to Mr. Huntsman also in the NY Times. “On a bad day, he’s a communist.”

Really, Jon Huntsman a socialist, or a communist? It’s laughable to think anyone would ever place those nomenclatures on the former governor, which simply highlights how far to the right edge of the political spectrum some of these TP nuts are.

As for Senator Hatch, Mr. Kirkham said in the NY Times, “We have exactly the same game plan as we did last time with Bennett.”

Meaning former Senator Bob Bennett, a Republican whose long political career was unceremoniously ended in 2010 when Kirkham and other TP-inspired delegates swept into control at the party’s state convention, where in short order the TP delegates denied Bennett’s re-nomination, and in his place put Mike Lee, a former clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. of the Supreme Court, who – not surprisingly – handily won the general election.

For the coming 2012 elections it is indeed looking grim for the GOP in Utah, the monster all the Republicans thought was controllable, the one they thought they could politically potty train, is messing all over their carpet, and no amount of rolled up news paper is going to change that.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 15, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Romney’s a states-rights candidate?

05 Mar

Another hypocrite from the right has spun up his presidential campaign. Grand Old Tea Party (GOTP) presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has ridiculed President Barack Obama’s health care law — modeled closely after the one Mitt signed into law as the governor of Massachusetts — as a “misguided” and “egregious” effort to seize more power for Washington.

“Obamacare is bad law, bad policy, and it is bad for America’s families,” Romney declared, vowing to repeal it if he were ever in a position to do so.

That’s pretty bold talk from a political has been who will never be allowed to get any closer to the Republican nomination in 2012 than Hillary Clinton can.

Talking about his own Massachusetts health care law, Romney claimed the solution for the unique problems of one state isn’t the right prescription for the nation as a whole.

“Our experiment wasn’t perfect — some things worked, some didn’t, and some things I’d change,” Romney said.

Oh, so Romney’s health care law in Massachusetts was an experiment? That’s how he ran the state as governor? As a political laboratory trying things out in case he wanted to use them later?

“One thing I would never do is to usurp the constitutional power of states with a one-size-fits-all federal takeover.” Romney said: “The federal government isn’t the answer for running health care anymore than it’s the answer for running Amtrak or the post office.”

First, since when did Mitt Romney become a states-rights candidate? What’s next he’ll put a confederate flag license plate on his car? Second, what do you mean the federal government isn’t the answer for running the post office? I’ll have you know Mitt that the founding fathers set it up that way, and Benjamin Franklin was the first Post Master General. You wouldn’t be claiming to be smarter than the revered founders would you? I don’t think people in the GOTP cotton much to that kind of talk. Especially from a carpet bagger like yourself.

Romney’s Tea Party states-rights pitch is one GOTP primary voters are likely to hear over the next year as he tries to persuade them to overlook his flaws because – in his mind – he’s the strongest Republican to challenge Obama on the country’s top issue — the economy.

And what if the economy continues to improve? Holy cow, then what will he do? If the economy is his one thing he thinks he can challenge the President on good luck with that. What will Middle America think when he’s exposed as a big business, let’s export American jobs candidate that he is?

The challenge for Romney isn’t just the similarities between his 2006 health care law and the current federal law but that Romney’s universal coverage law has a more sweeping mandate for people to get insurance than exists in Obama’s law — and penalizes the uninsured more severely. Romney’s law requires individuals, with a few exceptions, to obtain health insurance, and those who fail to do so have a $219 tax exemption withheld from them.

The big albatross hanging around Romney’s neck though is all the praise Democrats are heaping on him for his efforts in Massachusetts.

The President praised the efforts in Massachusetts during a meeting with governors at the White House, saying: “I agree with Mitt Romney, who recently said he’s proud of what he accomplished on health care by giving states the power to determine their own health care solutions. He’s right.”

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, an Obama friend, said Romney deserves a lot of credit on health care. “One of the best things he did was to be the co-author of our health care reform, which has been a model for national health care reform,” he said.

Of course the amusing thing with the Democrat praise is that it provides plenty of fodder for his GOTP primary opponents; some of whom are already opening up with pre-emptive campaign salvos.

One presumptive candidate, and someone who understands hypocrisy all too well, Mike Huckabee says in his new book: “If our goal in health care reform is better care at lower cost, then we should take a lesson from RomneyCare, which shows that socialized medicine does not work.”

Another GOTP likely candidate, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, threw Romney under the bus with a late great liberal icon when he said, “Senator (Edward M.) Kennedy and Governor Romney and then Governor Patrick, if that’s what Massachusetts wants, we’re happy for them. We don’t want that. That’s not good for us.”

Healthcare aside, his candidacy isn’t likely to last any longer than it did in 2008 when it was torpedoed by Huckabee’s disparaging remarks about Romney being a Mormon. The GOTP is so heavily weighted by extreme right wing born again Christians that it isn’t going to back a Mormon anytime soon; and if they were ever to be honest most of them would probably say they’d rather see a “foreign born Muslim” in the White House than one of those Mormons.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 5, 2011 in 2012 Election

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Queen Sarah Thinks Westboro Baptist Church Ruling Reflects Lack Of ‘Common Sense & Decency’?

04 Mar

Sarah Palin responded to a ruling issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday upholding an appeals court decision that protesting outside military funerals is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Wow, could it be that perhaps her Majesty finally found a Supreme Court decision she disagrees with? She should call Katie Couric up and tell her she has one now, and wants to talk about it.

The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling throwing out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued church members after they picketed his son’s funeral.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the court. Justice Samuel Alito dissented.

Roberts said free speech rights in the First Amendment shield the funeral protesters, noting that they obeyed police directions and were 1,000 feet from the church.

The Ice Queen, shortly after the ruling was made wrote on Twitter, “Common sense & decency absent as wacko “church” allowed hate msgs spewed@ soldiers’ funerals but we can’t invoke God’s name in public square.”

So, Palin only likes free speech when it’s what she wants to hear or say? Someone should probably tell her highness that Americans can talk about God all they want to in the public square; no one is stopping her, or anyone else, from doing so. Some public parks and squares even have crosses in them, like Bienville Square in Mobile, Alabama.

Of course, this morning, Queen Sarah is claiming her earlier tweet was misinterpreted to mean that she opposed the Supreme Court’s 8-1 ruling in the Westboro Baptist Church case this week.

Palin told the Daily Caller’s Chris Moody, “Obviously my comment meant that when we’re told we can’t say ‘God bless you’ in graduation speeches or pray before a local football game but these wackos can invoke God’s name in their hate speech while picketing our military funerals, it shows ridiculous inconsistency,” Palin said. “I wasn’t calling for any limit on free speech, and it’s a shame some folks tried to twist my comment in that way. I was simply pointing out the irony of an often selective interpretation of free speech rights.”

Ah yes, that makes everything much clearer now. Maybe the ex-governor should stop making abbreviated comments on Twitter, and start holding press conferences to disseminate her views? But all of that aside, Palin was criticizing the ruling, and she was trying to claim that one type of religious speech – her kind – should be allowed while other types – Westboro Baptist – should be limited.

Isn’t it amazing how people like Palin and Huckabee will make outlandish statements, clearly pandering to the far right Tea Party, but then try to walk back what they’ve said later? The Huckster recently said not once, but twice during a radio interview, that President Obama grew up in Kenya, and then tried to claim that’s not what he said, and Palin’s now claiming she didn’t criticize a Supreme Court ruling when she clearly did so.

Of course there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a presidential hopeful speaking out on Supreme Court rulings, or disagreeing with them. The problem is when a presidential hopeful Twitters abbreviated opinions to grab her daily 15 minutes of fame, without thinking, and then tries to change what she said. If she wants to be president she needs to start acting presidential and stop acting like a mean girl from a trailer park.

The court’s decision was the only one it could make. As disturbing, and hateful, as the Westboro Baptist Church’s signs and comments made at military funerals are, they are clearly protected under the First Amendment, and that’s what our soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen are defending with their lives; the right of morons and idiots to say what they want, to protest when, where and how they please. They die defending the right to speak, whether someone should say it is another matter.

 
1 Comment

Posted by on March 4, 2011 in Bill of Rights

 

Tags: , , , , ,

Wisconsin GOTP Senate Orders Police to Arrest Missing Democratic Party Senators?

03 Mar

Wisconsin’s State Senate Republicans took an unprecedented step towards becoming a police state today when they unanimously passed a resolution calling for police to take 14 Democrats into custody for contempt after they fled to Illinois to avoid voting on a bill that would strip public-sector unions of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.

Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald

The GOTPs voted 19-0 to give Democrats until 4 p.m. to return to the chamber or be found “in contempt and disorderly behavior.”

The vote comes two weeks after the Democrats left, effectively delaying the vote on Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to kill collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s state employees – vile people like teachers, police officers and fire fighters.

GOTP Senate Obersturmführer Scott Fitzgerald said the action is legally different from an arrest, but “definitely a shift from asking them politely.”

A private ambulance chaser, James Troupis, hired by Fitzgerald, argued that the move is legal, because the state Constitution allows each house to “compel the attendance of absent members,” thus, this “resolution” supposedly gives the State Senate’s Sergeant at Arms, Edward A. Blazel, the authority to take “any and all steps, with or without force and assistance from police”, to bring the senators back.

Good luck with that Mr. Blazel. Oh, you might want to confer with the State Attorney General’s office before you proceed, and not necessarily rely on some local hack hired privately by the GOTP leadership. After all, it’s the Attorney General who will be defending you – and the GOTP Senate members – from multimillion dollar law suits when this blows up in your face, which it will.

Of course it means little to the regime in Wisconsin that its state Constitution prohibits the arrest of lawmakers while in session unless they’re accused of committing felonies, treason or breach of peace. And it doesn’t say anything about the Senate Sergeant at Arms being invested with the authority to arrest the missing Senators, or anyone else, for alleged “contempt and disorderly behavior”. It’s indeed an interesting line the Senate GOTP leadership has decided to cross.

Walker has made a very transparent move designed to fulfill his desire to break the backs of the state employee’s unions and to gain favor with his sugar daddies, the Koch Brothers (isn’t that a German name?). The GOTP leadership in the Senate has become his dupes and lackeys and are enacting rules and passing resolutions for which it lacks authority.

The 14 Democratic members of the Wisconsin Senate did the only thing they could do when confronted with Walker’s scheme to destroy the ability of the working class in Wisconsin to take part in collective bargaining; they left the state to prevent the state’s senate from having a quorum, thus derailing the plan. These Senators have not forgotten that the Democratic Party stands for the middle class, and the working men and women of Wisconsin. They’ve not forgotten that FDR stood for the rights of the workers, and supported the ideals of collective bargaining. They’re not the criminals in this, they’re the heroes. The criminals are hiding behind edicts and resolutions, using the Wisconsin State Police as their own private palace guard or polizei. Everyone can plainly see what – or whom – the 14 Senators stand for. If you want to know what – or for whom – Walker stands for, just follow the money. There’s more going on in Wisconsin than meets the eye, and there’s much more at stake than collective bargaining.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on March 3, 2011 in Constitution

 

Tags: , , , , ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →