The List:
101 Examples of Why Republicans Should Not Be Allowed to Regain Control of Congress
If you have any questions about this upcoming election, this will answer them all.
Pre-election Special Edition
*(A brief comment: Please notice that I back EVERY accusation up with a confirming link.
My inbox receives a steady stream of junkmail chain letters from Right-wingers recanting political horror stories of “FEMA Death camps” or how “Democrats are out to destroy America”… all with one thing in common: NO LINKS to back them up. Easiest way to tell if that political chain-letter is crap or not is whether or not it contains any links to back up their accusations.)
The Tea Party, a fundamentalist wing of the Republican Party, differs from the GOP only in their level of fanatical extremism. The Tea Party is in lockstep with the GOP on every economic issue. Where they differ is on social issues… you know… questioning whether President Obama was even born in the United States or whether or not the minimum wage is Constitutional. One of the most amazing things about this extensive list of “Top 101 Reasons” is it only goes back six weeks to last August, and without padding from dozens of Wingnutty “Sharron Angle” and “Christine O’Donnell” quotes. The list doesn’t even go back as recently as Rep. Joe Barton’s (R-TX) apology to BP three months ago, upset that BP… and not the U.S. taxpayer… must pay to cleanup the oil spill in the Gulf. This week, Barton echoed Party leaders Mitch McConnell and John Boehner that the GOP has been “short or specifics” on just how exactly they’ll fix all these problems they’re attacking Democrats for not fixing. They don’t have any answers (that you’d like). They’re just hoping you won’t ask them any questions before election day.
In past weeks, we’ve met “The God Warriors“, Joe “Everything is unconstitutional” Miller (R-AK), and Rob “privatize everything” Portman (R-OH). Sharron “black is the color of evil” Angle and Christine “dabbled in witchcraft” O’Donnell require entire websites to track their history of nutty comments.
There’s former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Carly Fiorina, who was fired from HP for nearly bankrupting the company, and now running for the Senate in California, who defended her record of “outsourcing” thousands of jobs. How much of her $21 million dollar golden parachute will go to buy your vote?
In Connecticut, Linda McMahon, the multi-millionaire wife of pro-wrestling mogul Vince McMahon, struck a blow for feminism defending scenes like this from their WWE programming:
We’ve got Dr. Rand Paul (R-KY), the ophthalmologist son of Texas Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), who… like his Libertarian father… wants to cut government spending across the board… except when it comes to Medicare payments to doctors like him. Rolling Stone reporter Matt Taibbi put it best:
This candidate, a man ostensibly so against government power in all its forms that he wants to gut the Americans With Disabilities Act and abolish the departments of Education and Energy, was unwilling to reduce his own government compensation, for a very logical reason. “Physicians,” he said, “should be allowed to make a comfortable living.”
You might remember Rand best for calling the Civil Rights Act of 1964 an abridgment of “freedom of speech”. Or maybe for suggesting we should do away with the “Americans With Disabilities Act”? Those free-loading cripples have had it too cushy for far too long.
The one thing Republicans, Conservatives and Teabaggers all agree upon: Extending the budget-busting Bush Tax Cuts to the “Top 2%” in the absurd belief that it will create jobs. As I’ve pointed out repeatedly, THE “TOP 2%” HAS BEEN RECEIVING THE BUSH TAX CUT SINCE 2002. So where are all the jobs? Not only did it not create jobs, they doubled the National Debt and created the worst job creation record since Herbert Hoover. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result each time. These people ARE insane.
So you see, despite all their hypocrisy, idiocy and easily disprovable statements of “fact”, the Teanuts are… in Matt’s words… “full of shit”. They slept through the Bush Administration, when he doubled the National Debt and failed to prevent the worst terrorist attack in American history, then yawned as that same Administration violated eight of the first ten Amendments in the Bill of Rights, launched a war based on lies, and outed an undercover CIA agent because her husband dared expose their lies in the New York Times, all while presiding over the worst economy and ensuing economic meltdown since The Great Depression. But put a black man in the White House and suddenly we have “a lying, Socialist Marxist Muslim that pals around with terrorists” for president.
Of course, voters need more than just reasons to NOT vote for “the other guy”, they need a reason to get their butt off the couch and give Democrats more than just two years to fix what took Republicans eight years to destroy. A good place to start might be this list of 244 Accomplishments of President Obama, which is already slightly out of date.
Now, anyone that knows me or reads this blog regularly can tell you I’m not exactly “thrilled” with the Obama Administration… mostly for all its kowtowing to the Republican minority and allowing them to set the agenda for economic reform… stressing tax cuts over government investment in infrastructure, and a lack of urgency with regards to Climate Change and a Green Jobs Program. But I also know all these things fair a FAR better chance with a Democratic Congress than if Republicans regain control.
Since President Obama entered office, despite unprecedented obstructionism by the Republican minority, he passed the “2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act” that gave a payroll tax CUT to 98% of all working Americans; he is keeping his promise to end the war in Iraq (remember McCain was prepared to keep troops in Iraq “for 100 years“); forced health insurance companies to offer coverage to EVERYONE by eliminating the “preexisting conditions” loophole (yes, Republicans vow to do away with that too); eliminated the infamous “prescription drug ‘donut hole’” of the Republican Prescription Drug Program that stuck hundreds of thousands of seniors paying thousands of dollars out of pocket for their medications; signed the “Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Act” for women that Bush said he’d veto if Democrats passed it; appointed two women to the Supreme Court (including the first Hispanic); and most recently, is creating the first “Financial Products Protection Agency” that will crackdown on deceptive contracts (like the kind that led to the mortgage crisis) and outrageous credit card fees & interest rates (a law restricting changes in credit card interest rates was already passed by Obama in 2009.) None of these things would have passed under a Republican Congress, who are now promising to repeal ALL of these reforms if you put them back in charge.
So without further ado, our “(In)Complete List of Examples Showing Why Republicans/Conservatives/Teabaggers should not be allowed to regain control of Congress (Six weeks. These are all in just the past six weeks):
- Gingrich Suggests Taking Out The Remaining ‘Axis Of Evil’ Members: ‘We’re One Out Of Three’. Are you tired of these budget-breaking, costly & bloody wars? The GOP isn’t.
- Department of Defense can’t account for 96 percent of money administered in Iraq reconstruction fund (between 2003-2007, $9.1 Billion just vanished).
- Deficit fraud Shadegg (R-WI) can’t name a single program he’d cut to reduce the deficit.
- The GOP has become the “Let Them Eat Want Ads” Caucus: A look at all the Conservatives claiming people on unemployment are “lazy” and are simply “putting off looking for work”.
- Speaking of which: TN Congressman running for governor, Zach Wamp (R-TN) Suggests Unemployed Are ‘Just Sitting Back Waiting’.
- Sharon Angle – The Tea Party’s pick to replace Nevada Senator Harry Reid is too BSC even for Fox News with all her talk of “armed insurrection” and “Second Amendment remedies” if voters don’t return Conservatives to power in Congress.
- House minority whip Eric Cantor Admits Extending Bush Tax Cuts Would ‘Dig The Hole Deeper’ on the Deficit — and can’t name a single program he’d cut to pay for it (continue reading the list and you’ll find he’s not the only Deficit Hawk that can’t name a single thing he’d cut.)
- But that’s not the first time a Republican admits the truth about the effect of tax cuts on the Deficit: GOP Lawmaker Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) Slips Up, Admits Tax Cuts Will ‘Increase The Debt’.
- Not convinced yet? Contradicting His Earlier Denial, Marco Rubio (R-FL) Admits ‘Tax Cuts Don’t Pay For Themselves’.
- Don’t ask these guys how they’ll pay for extending the Bush Tax Cuts. Either they don’t know or won’t say before the election because they know you won’t like it (can you say “Social Security & Medicare” after they spent all of last Summer vowing to protect it?)
- The man in charge of rewriting history on the Bush Administration, Rove Invents Fantasy World In Which The Bush Tax Cuts Led To The Most Government Revenue Ever. (So how did they double the National Debt in six years with “all that revenue” coming in?)
- Tea Party Senate candidate Rand Paul (R-TN) claims mine safety regulations are unnecessary because ‘no one will apply’ for jobs at dangerous mines. – So, mines will simply go out of business after 100% of them deregulate and workers choose to starve rather than work for them? (They can just live off their Trust Funds until a better job comes along, right Rand?)
- Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) Can’t Think Of Any GOP Ideas That Are Different From Bush. Says Simply: We Are ‘Pro-Growth’. (whatever that means.)
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Filibusters DISCLOSE Act After Decades Of Demanding Campaign Finance Reform – As recently as 2007, McConnell was still defending his 23 year effort to require candidates disclose who was donating to their campaigns. Now, suddenly, he’s filibustering something he has fought for for years. Why? Because Democrats want it too. It’s all part of “the Party of Record Obstructionism simply to deny Democrats of any achievements prior to the election. Will you reward them for it in November?)
- MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow takes note of McConnell’s flip-flop, producing video proof“Cap & Trade” McCain, Palin, Fiorina?) of numerous Republicans now vehemently opposed to programs & policies THEY themselves invented. (Can you say
- And WHY would Republicans now obstruct their own programs? Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) says the answer is obvious: Republicans ‘Don’t Want People To Get Jobs Before The Election’ . I think he’s right.
- People that think like this have no business being in charge of ANYTHING: Carnival offers shoot-the-president game.
- On Sunday’s (Aug 7) Meet the Press, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called for more deregulation to jumpstart the economy, then IN THE SAME BREATH, blamed a lack of regulation for the crisis on Wall Street and the oil disaster in the Gulf:
- GOP Repeats Balanced Budget Amendment Farce – Why is this bad? Because they are still insisting on extending the $700B budget-busting Bush Tax cut for the wealthiest 2% while (almost comically) steadfastly refusing to explain how they’ll pay for it. (Can you say “Draconian spending cuts on the Poor & Middle Class”?)
- Back in college, Tennessee Senatorial candidate Rand Paul reportedly kidnapped a female student and forced her to worship the ‘AQUA BUDDHA’ (a bong) as part of a secret society. (Update: Paul denies the kidnapping, but not the ‘bong worship’ part.)
- Serial adulterer and potential 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, who spends an inordinate amount of time preaching “Family Values”, dismissed his hypocrisy in a discussion with ex-wife #2 with a ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ defense.
- McCain Promises He Won’t Work With Democrats On Immigration If He Is Re-Elected. – Do you get it yet? They don’t WANT to fix their made-up “problems” (ie: “campaign fundraising issues”). That’s why they never challenged Roe v WadeThere’s gold in them thar race-baiting issues! the six years they controlled all three branches of government.
- “Terror Babies!” – Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert went on Fox Business Channel to make the wild claim that pregnant Middle Eastern women are traveling to the U.S. to have babies who will automatically become U.S. citizens upon birth and later return when they are older to “blow us up.” – The FBI debunked him, but he continues to insist it’s true. These people are delusional paranoids, and they are hoping you’ll put them back in charge.
- Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio thinks the way to balance the budget is simply to ban earmarks (which make up 1% of the budget) and putting every government expenditure OTHER than Defense) up for reapproval by Congress every ten years (are you ready to risk a Republican Congress reapproving Medicare and Social Security every ten years?) Oh, BTW: Every dollar of discretionary spending already has to be reappropriated every year.
- A recent CNN poll finds that 27% of Americans and 41% of Republicans overall… still believe President Obama was either “probably” or “definitely” born in another country.
- The Tea Party came out AGAINST ‘Net Neutrality’ on the grounds that ”Net neutrality” (what we have NOW) would result in “GREATER government control” and “MORE government regulation” over the Internet. (Corporations oppose “Net Neutrality”, wanting instead to regulate the flow of traffic, providing optimal bandwidth only to those willing to pay for it.) I think this speaks VOLUMES about just how misinformed and easily manipulated the “Tea Party” is by its corporate sponsors.)
- Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) thinks Social Security… which just celebrated its 75th anniversary… is “unconstitutional” (read further for like-minded candidate Joe Miller.) Of course, if he had actually READ the Constitution… say Article 1, Section 8… he’d know otherwise. Despite spending the Summer of ’09 accusing Democrats of wanting to “destroy Medicare”, never doubt for a moment that these people want to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and every social safety net there is. Remember, these guys even blocked extending unemployment benefits last July.
- Republican Senate candidate for Washington State Dino Rossi believes that 1/3 of his state is in the Top 2% making over $250,000 a year.
- 19 of the 22 states suing ObamaCare are receiving money appropriated by the new Obamacare law.
- GOP House candidate Allen West (R-FL) believes people calling for peace and religious tolerance via ‘Coexist’ Bumper Stickers on their cars Want To ‘Give Away Our Country’.
- Indiana’s Republican Senate candidate Dan Coats admits that he has no idea how much his “job creation plan”, which slashes taxes on corporations and the rich, will cost. They rant & rave over the size of the Deficit, then propose budgets that slash tax revenue without any investigation into what effect those policies will have on the deficit.
- Rep. Marsha Blackburn: If The GOP Takes Back Congress, Our Priority Will Be To Repeal Health Reform – Blackburn isn’t alone. She’s referring to a petition circulated by NY Rep Peter King. To date, all but seven House Republicans have signed the pledge.
- Every single Republican running for the U.S. Senate seat from New Hampshire is a global warming denier. – And they’re not too sure about Gravity either.
- For the fourth week in a row, Sunday talk hosts pushed Republicans to explain how they intend to pay for making the Bush Tax Cut on the Top 2% permanent while screaming about the Deficit. This week, it was “Meet the Press” host David Gregory’s turn, pushing Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell on how they intend to pay the cut, with Mitchy asking “Why” all of a sudden are tax cuts “something we have to pay for?” Because you made the Deficit an issue, asshat.
- NY’s Tea-bagger candidate for governor, Carl Paladino, believes we should convert “underused” State prisons into “Welfare Camps” for the homeless and people on public assistance, saying, “Instead of handing out the welfare checks, we’ll teach people how to earn their check. We’ll teach them personal hygiene…”. Could these guys BE any more insulting? If you lose your job and can’t get another one, you must be a bum, lacking in personal hygiene & social skills. Interesting suggestion coming from the crowd that decries the “Nanny state” and “government intrusion in personal lives”. Remember their paranoia over “FEMA Concentration Camps”?
- GOP candidate for TX-17, Bill Flores, repeatedly refused to say if he’d support House Minority Leader John Boehner to be reappointed to his leadership role if he (Flores) is elected. But before anyone praise Flores for his disapproval of Boehner, know it is only because Flores… an anti-government Tea Party favorite… thinks Boehner isn’t wingnutty enough. Only Republicans would elect “anti-government” people to run the government. That’s like electing an arsonist to be the Fire Chief.
- One week it was New Hampshire. The following week we learned all four GOP candidates in New Mexico are Global Warming deniers, believing instead that it is “scientists engaged in a conspiracy to ruin our economy” (those evil anti-economy scientists!) Have I mentioned lately these people are nuts?
- Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tells a Town Hall attendee that if the GOP retakes the House, all they will do for the next two years is “frame the 2012 election”. Not fix unemployment, the housing crisis, Wall Street or health care reform; they’ll simply use that time to focus on the next big election. Remember Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) said all they should do if they win “is issue subpoenas” for the next two years, while Peter King (R-NY) refuses to say anything at all prior to the election about what they will do, for fear of making it “a campaign issue”.
- Texas Governor Rick “secede from the Union” Perry, now wants the Federal Government to rescue his state from growing violence just across the border in Mexico’s drug war. After capitalizing on bad-mouthing the Federal Government for the past year, as soon as reality sets in, this hypocrite is first in line to beg it for help.
- When asked to name something… anything… besides “tax cuts” that Republicans can do to improve the economy, the only thing Mike Pence (R-IN) can come up with is more tax cuts for the rich.
- Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) assures fill-in host Laura Ingraham that if Republicans retake control of Congress, “Absolutely” he pledges “to repeal ObamaCare”… which prevents insurers from denying people coverage based upon preexisting conditions and stops lifetime caps on how much coverage insurers will pay if you get sick.
- Texas Senator John Cornyn thinks people are starting “to look back on the Bush Administration’s economic principles ‘with a little more fondness’”. Do you NEED any more evidence these people, not only live in their own little dream-world, but wouldn’t hesitate to re-implement the same economic policies that got us here?
- Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman reminds us what happened the lastmisused its Christmas card mailing list.” time a Republican Congress took control under a Democratic President: A six year non-stop partisan witch hunt that spent millions investigating the President – “they subjected the Clinton administration to unrelenting harassment — at one point taking 140 hours of sworn testimony over accusations that the White House had
- Alaska GOP Senate Candidate Joe Miller suggests Medicare And Social Security Are Unconstitutional. (Note: On Fox “news” Sunday Aug. 28, John McCain claimed Democrats were out to “destroy Medicare and Social Security”, suggesting Republicans were the TRUE stewards you should trust to protect those programs.)
- Steve King (R-IA), when asked by his Democratic opponent why he won’t debate him, true to his name, “King” tells his opponent he “hasn’t earned the right to debate him”. In his eight years in office, his majesty has not once agreed to debate an opponent.
- Former health care executive Rick Scott, who is now the GOP nominee for governor of Florida, is campaigning on issues he’d have NO power to affect (eg: extending the Bush tax cuts) if elected.
- The Taliban revealed that they are using Conservative protests against “the Ground Zero Mosque” as a recruiting tool.
- Is anyone surprised by this? Another “Family Values” teabag candidate is arrested, this time for “unlawful conduct” with a minor.
- Delaware’s Tea Party backed candidate for Senate, Christine O’Donnell, who claimed to have graduated from college in 1993, in fact, just received her diploma in July.
- Scott Tipton, the Republican candidate for Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, rather than join his fellow Republicans in vowing to “repeal & replace” the Democrats health care reform, instead is vowing to “choke off funding” for health care reform and replace it with nothing.
- When asked, “What NEW ideas will Republicans bring with them if they regain control of Congress next November?”, disgraced/indicted former Congressman Tom Delay advises his fellow Republicans to campaign on the idea that “healthcare reform is destroying the economy and it will destroy it even more if it is allowed to go into effect“. So let me get this straight. It’s not even in effect yet AND it is “destroying the economy”? Really? This is all they got folks.
- Both John McCain on Fox “news” Sunday, and his buddy Lindsey Graham on “Meet the Press”, both argued that we must extend the Bush Tax cuts “to protect small businesses and family farms”. One, “family farms” are already exempt from the Estate Tax (what they call the “Death” tax because it sounds more sinister), and two, can you really call yourself a “small business” if it is raking in more than a quarter-million dollars in net profit each year? And as MSNBC’s Keith Olbemann uncovered last month, the global conglomerate Bechtel, which raked in $31-BILLION DOLLARS last year, qualifies as a “small business”.
- The Iowa GOP is pushing to make it illegal for undocumented children of undocumented immigrants to attend public school. – This is one of the best examples I can think of that demonstrates Conservatives inability to foresee possible repercussions from their actions (see: Iraq). They think they will save money? Think about all those delinquent children roaming the streets all day, joining gangs and growing up with no education and no job skills that leads to a life of crime. The pittance they save today will cost them a fortune tomorrow, compounding lost employment tax revenue with an inevitable explosion in welfare and/or crime.
- Top Republicans were totally silent on “Burn a Kor’an Day”. From GWB on down, though they have suggested it “shouldn’t be done”, not one single Republican leader condemned the vile and provocative event planned for the anniversary of September 11th. (update: Sarah Palin did eventually come out and “condemned” the planned book burning.)
- Summed up in one sentence: GOP Claims $50 Billion For Infrastructure Is Too Pricey, While Pushing $800 Billion Tax Cut For The Rich.
- You can always count on Republicans to put partisan politics ahead of the needs of their constituents: Lawmakers From States With Deteriorating Infrastructure Oppose Obama’s Infrastructure Investment. Bridges, roads and schools are crumbling around them, but Paris Hilton needs a tax cut first.
- More signs a GOP-led Congress will try to shutdown the government (even the V.A.)may” if they gain control, they way they did when Gingrich took control in 1994. (Gingrich repeated the possibility during his appearance on “Fox news Sunday” yesterday, suggesting Boehner “shutdown the government the same way he did in 1995, should Republicans regain control of the House, but thought it “unlikely” – translation: “a sure thing”.)
- Rep. Mike Crapo (R-ID) praises a health care clinic paid for with Stimulus funds he opposed. “[O]ne of the core pieces of the solution that we need in America today”, says Crapo.
- After weeks of being unable to justify extending the Bush Tax Cuts to the rich while deriding the size of the Deficit, Deficit-hawk David “diaper” Vitter (R-LA) simply says, “I don’t think we have to quote/unquote Pay For” the Bush Tax Cut for the rich.
- Mike Pence (R-IN) says, that the GOP’s new website, America Speaking Out, proves “the Democrat [sic] majority isn’t listening, but House Republicans will.” Pence might want to check that website out, because the second most popular thread on it is a request to “deny tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs overseas”… a popular business practice supported (and defended) by the GOP. (Fox’s latest hire, John Stossel, ran a segment on ABC defending “outsourcing” last year.)
- Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) Promised a ‘God’s Covenant With Moses Signed ‘In Blood’ To Extend the Bush Tax Cuts For The Wealthy. Because God said we should threaten with violence anyone that stands in the way of tax cuts for the rich. I read that somewhere in The Book of Bubba. Chapter Two.
- The day “Stark County” Ohio became “Stark Raving Mad” County, Ohio. Meet Phil Davidson (R-OH). Davidson ran for and lost the race for the Stark County Republican Party Treasurer, following a blustery wild-eyed speech, running back to his notes after every line while touting his Masters in Communication. Can you hear me now, Ohio?
- Just who’s more BSC*? Newly appointed Republican nominee for the Senate from Delaware, Teanut favorite Christine O’Donnell is well on her way to giving another Teanut favorite Sharron Angle (R-NV) a run her money with statements like ‘Too Many People Are Blindly Accepting Evolution As Fact’ and equating masturbation with adultery. Another thing O’Donnell and Angle have in common? Both immediately scrubbed their entire websites of all information the moment they won their nominations. (*Bat Shit Crazy)
- I haven’t dared track every Wingnutty thing to come out of the mouth of Sharron Angle (R-NV), and thanks to the folks at ThinkProgress, I don’t have to.
- Here’s TP’s already huge (and growing) list of Wingnuttery for the latest Tea Party star, Christine O’Donnell.
- Every week produces more evidence that if the GOP regains control of Congress, they’ll shut down the government. This week: Teresa Collett (R-MN).
- Fox Business Channel gets Rep. Paul Ryan to support their own version of Ryan’s own “Contract with America” entitled “The Scorecard”. Among its pledges: “No New Taxes, No New Bureaucrats, Cut Spending, Repeal Obamacare.” Translation: Tax cuts for billionaires, more deregulation, repeal the Stimulus, and allow Health Insurance companies to return to their despicable ways.
- For some clarity on the above, a research report from Wall Street’s Moody’s Analytics Inc proves conclusively what we’ve all known: that tax cuts for the rich are NOT stimulative. They just put their savings in the bank (Thanks to Donklephant for the heads-up). Reminder: Obama’s payroll tax cut for 98% of Americans is paid for by the Stimulus that Republicans want to repeal, ensuring that the only people that will get a tax cut under a Republican Congress is that Top 2%. Yes, believe it or not, if you vote those “tax cutting Republicans” back in power, 98% of you will see your taxes go UP.
- In the “sky is blue” department, the former chair of the Florida GOP admits “many within the GOP have racist views” and worries “there is no place for moderates in the Republican Party”. Mr. Obvious: Line 2.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell not only wants to extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the Top 2% at a cost of $800B, he now wants to repeal the Estate Tax for the Top 0.25% of households at a cost of $3.9 TRILLION over the next decade, which would also add nearly $1 TRILLION IN INTEREST to the Debt EACH YEAR. And just how does he propose we pay for this astronomical hole he plans to blow in the budget? By “freezing $300B in spending over the next ten years.” Folks, I’m sorry, but these people just aren’t playing with a full deck.
- Uber-Libertarian Rand “Civil Right Act was unnecessary” Paul (R-KY), who once threatened to filibuster any Budget that wasn’t balanced, now says he supports extending the Bush Tax Cuts for the top 2% without proffering any spending offsets to pay for it. Conservative “principles” stop at the door of Congress.
- Nearly every single GOP Senate candidate is a Global Warming denier. Not surprisingly, all of them Tea Party favorites.
- Scott Walker (R-WI), Wisconsin candidate for governor, proudly announced his “68 page economic plan” printed in:
58 point type
15 words per page, containing such ground-breaking ideas as “I am for things that are good. Not bad.” Seriously.
- Another week, another Republican demanding their Party shutdown the governmentSteve King (R-IA). if they regain control of Congress. This week, it’s
- Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that, if the Republicans regain control over Congress, they “will reopen the broad Wall Street reform law and overhaul the newly created consumer protection bureau.” This is Obama’s new agency to protect consumers from deceptive contracts and the kind of questionable financial practices that led to the meltdown on Wall Street.
- Despite the fact 73% of Americans oppose DADT (“Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell), and the fact that both the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates both agree it is time to end the oppressive practice, AND Sen. John McCain saying in 2006 that, “[t]he day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, ‘Senator, we ought to change the policy,’ then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it,” every single Republican plus two Blu-dog “Democrats” filibustered the Defense Funding Authorization Bill this year because it included the repeal of DADT. When George W Bush was President, if Democrats had blocked a Defense spending bill, the Right would of HOWLED, called Democrats “unpatriotic”, and ask why they “hate the troops?”
- Once a person like Sharron Angle has made her 12th Wingnutty comment (such as suggesting rape victims “turn lemons into lemonade”), continuing to point out her latest ludicrous, outrageous and/or offensive remark seems like overkill. But every once in a while, these people say/do something SO despicable, you can’t let it pass. Last week at a campaign rally, Clearly unclear on the concept of “insurance”, Angle openly mocked the idea of being forced to pay health insurance premiums that go to cover children with “Autism”… “finger-quotes” in the air… suggesting autism is not a “real” illness (she has probably been listening to Conservative hate-radio host Michael Savage, who called Autism “a fraud. A racket. [...] In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out”. Angle’s argument is not unlike those of Conservatives with no school-aged children complaining of having to pay “school taxes”. They never consider the benefits of having an educated workforce. Are these REALLY the kind of people you want in charge of… well… anything?
- As mentioned previously, The GOP wants to replace Obama’s ‘Affordable Care Act’ with provisions from… wait for it… Obama’s ‘Affordable Care Act’. Those Republican reforms? They’re in there.
- As Rachel Maddow pointed out on her show Thursday, while Republicans constantly deny they are out to “privatize Social Security”, plenty of Republicans are now proudly campaigning on that very idea, and the Conservative Think Tank “Club for Growth” is advising Republicans to be proud of it with an Op/Ed entitled “Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!“ Social Security currently operates on a “0.9% overhead”, is incredibly efficient and hasn’t missed a check in the 70+ years of the program. When Bush went around the country in 2005 trying to sell the idea of privatization, his own report estimated a “5% overhead”… a more than 500% increase in cost to administer the program… money that wouldn’t go back to those who paid in, but instead going to CEO’s to administer the program, investing your money in a stock market that the same Republican president tanked by mid-2007. “Hell yeah”? I don’t think so.
- Residents of Portage, WI had to be evacuated when it was discovered that failure of the river levee was imminent. This nations infrastructure is crumbling. Failure of the levees killed 1,600 in New Orleans in 2005. And the collapse of a bridge on the way to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota killed thirteen people in 2007. And the GOP wants to cut the taxes that would pay for these repairs.
- Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said on “Meet the Press” yesterday (9/26) that one of the ways he’d “create jobs” is by improving the economy. And how would he improve the economy? By reducing the deficit. And how would he reduce the deficit? By slashing tens of thousands of government jobs (“reduce government employment to 2008 levels”). Yes, he did.
- Nearly 100 church pastors participated in “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” and endorsed political candidates before their Congregations yesterday HOPING to prompt a legal challenge over the “Separation of Church & State”, claiming NOT being able to endorse candidates while on the job violates the pastors “freedom of speech”. The “event” (read: “stunt”) was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian nonprofit organization. My guess is they weren’t endorsing many evil nasty Democrats.
- In “the ‘potatoe’ doesn’t fall far from the tree” department: Last week, Ben Quayle (R-AZ), son of former VP Dan “Potatoe” Quayle and candidate for Congress, posted a video on YouTube claiming that the Federal “government share of GDP in America is 44 percent” and “is today spending well over $14.5 trillion dollars a year.” This is a popular bit of Tea Party hyperbole, citing the government “takeover” of everything from “healthcare” to “the auto industry”. Problem is, it’s absolute nonsense. Last year’s Federal Budget was just $3.5Trillion. Nearly 50% of all American businesses are NOT government owned; And the entire National Debt is just over $13Trillion dollars. Someone at the Quayle campaign must have more brains than an actual quail because the ad was quickly yanked less than an hour later.
- In November, Oklahoma residents will be voting on a “constitutional amendment that would prohibit state courts from considering Islamic Sharia Law in making rulings”. Is this REALLY a problem in Oklahoma? Too many judges wanting to impose Sharia Law upon the residents of Cedar Creek? When asked to defend their xenophobia, Rep. Lewis Moore (R-Arcadia) argued the law is necessary because “we are at war with ‘them‘.”
- The streak continues for a fourth week. Another Republican promises that if they regain control, they will attempt to Privatize Social Security: Pat Toomey Tells Ted Koppel He Wants To Phase In Private Accounts For Younger Americans To Replace Social Security. Folks, they are telling us what their plans are. Time to start taking them seriously.
- And again, another week, another Republican promising to “shutdown the government” if Republicans regain control of Congress. Do we have your attention yet folks? This was an utter disaster when the Republican Congress under Newt Gingrich tried it in 1995. But if Republicans learned from past mistakes, they wouldn’t be Republicans, now would they?
- ThinkProgress is reporting that in January of this year, Ron Johnson (R-WI), the GOP candidate for the Senate opposite Russ Feingold, testified before the Wisconsin state legislature in opposition to the bipartisan Wisconsin Child Victims Act to eliminate the statute of limitations on civil suits for child abuse. Johnson opposed the Act because of it’s potential impact on business. Because I know when I hear about child abuse, my first concern is how it might affect business. Isn’t it yours?
- While most Republicans are going around demanding we “extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the Top 2%” regardless of what it would do to the Deficit they are so concerned about… even threatening to hold tax cuts for the remaining 98% hostage unless they get their way, richest House member Darrell Issa (R-CA) wants to CUT taxes on the rich to EVEN MORE than the Bush Tax Cut Rate. As I’ve pointed out repeatedly, the Bush Tax Cuts have been in effect since 2002 and still are to this day. If lower taxes on the Rich create jobs, how come we’ve just seen the worst job creation since Herbert Hoover? And those cuts STILL aren’t creating jobs to this day.
- One day after California Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman calls for a “crackdown on those who hire undocumented workers”, she admitted that she herself (knowingly?) employed an undocumented housekeeper. Conservatives get so swept up in their own hysteria, they aren’t even aware when they are slitting their own throats.
- New York’s Republican candidate for governor and Tea Party favorite, multimillionaire Carl Paladino spoke to NBC Nightly News reporter Kate Snowhad a YouTube message claiming, “I’m being called a racist” for sending racist, sexist and obscene emails, told Snow, “I [only] sent it around to a select group of friends. All of them treated it privately, except for obviously one.” So apparently, it is okay to be a racist pig so long as you only do it in private. (In addition to Paldino’s racist/sexist/homophobic emails and threatening reporters, Carl also decided that just hours after the death of his son in a car crash was the time to reveal to his hospitalized wife that he had fathered a child out of wedlock ten years earlier. Stay classy, Carl.) Wednesday evening (9/29). Paladino, who
- First, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle called defeating Harry Reid, “a calling from God“. Now, fellow God Warrior Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) says “God is guiding [her] campaign” and wants her elected so she can “filibuster” the coming “lame duck session” (where she would finish out Biden’s former Senate term.)
- And speaking of record Republican obstructionism: A report by the Center for American Progress finds that the Senate has yet to vote on HUNDREDS of bills passed by the House since Democrats took control in January of 2007. By their estimate, it would require over 1,200 DAYS of legislating in the Senate just to vote on all the unaddressed bills passed by the House. Consider that the House typically is only in session for 548 days in a FOUR YEAR presidential term. And voters wonder why nothing seems to be getting done since Obama was elected.
- And as mentioned above, despite all the talk on the Right of Democrats and their “economy-destroying” policies, the DOW (stock market) just reported its best September in 71 years. This also dispels the Republican myth that success on Wall Street directly translates into economic growth on Main Street. The rich are awash in cash. So where are all the jobs?
- Talking Points Memo has discovered that Republican millionaire businessman Rich Iott who is running in Ohio’s ninth district for Congress, spends his free time as a Nazi Reenactor.
- Pennsylvania candidate for the U.S. Senate, Pat Toomey (R-PA), is just the latest Wingnut to claim Global Warming “is very much disputed”. No. It’s not… except by the oil & coal industry and the Conservative think tanks doing their bidding.
- Further proof the Tea Party is to the Right of the Far Right: former Colorado DA turned Senate candidate, and Tea Party favorite Ken Buck on abortion: ‘I don’t believe in the exceptions of rape or incest.’
- In 2005, Buck refused to prosecute a rape case because the victim had previously had an abortion while in a relationship with the same man. Buck justified not prosecuting the case because he felt the woman had a “motivation for revenge” against her rapist because he believed she was “resentful” over having an abortion (that she chose to have). Make sense to you? Me neither.
- John Raese of West Virginia, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Linda McMahon of Connecticut, Joe Miller of Alaska, and Dino Rossi of Washington, along with Minnesota GOP gubernatorial nominee Tom Emmer, have all expressed support for lowering or eliminating the federal minimum wage… an amount that GOP Chairman Michael Steele and Linda McMahon can’t even name… they just know it needs to be lower (and yours right along with it).
- Despite being an outspoken critic of the Federal Stimulus Program, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is using the Stimulus’ Bond Program to raise nearly $1Billion dollars for infrastructure programs in his state. These hypocrites have no problem taking advantage of programs they never would have passed and even seek to repeal, as long as they can use them to make themselves look good.
- Expected 2012 GOP Presidential candidate, former Speaker of the House Newt “left his cancer-stricken wife for his mistress” Gingrich spammed thousands of doctors with a letter promising, “Send me $5000 and receive a ‘prestigious award’.” The ‘prestigious award’? A cheap framed paper certificate from “American Solutions”. Gingrich is a fan of cheesy fake awards, who was embarrassed last year for sending a “2009 Entrepreneur of the Year” award to a Dallas topless club.
- In an interview with the far Right “Heritage Foundation”, Texas Governor Rick “Governor Good-Hair” Perry bragged about rejecting Federal education funds for Texas schools because it came with a stipulation that he actually spend the money on education, and not redirect those funds to shore up the state budget. (Note, after Texas was accused of stressing sports over education, Texas became the ONLY state in the country to count LIBRARIANS as teachers.)
And this weeks list of reasons to keep Republicans from regaining power:
Republicans have obstructed EVERYTHING for the past two years, all to prevent Democrats from enacting reforms just so you will put them back in charge. And the Teanuts are hoping to ride that wave into Congress, defeating “moderate” Republicans to push their extremist agendas. The only question left is whether or not you will fall for it and either vote to put the people that created this mess back in charge, or you will stay home on Election Day so they win by default. Get out and vote, folks.
E-Mail this list on to everyone you know.
(ADDEMDUM: 10/16: Last Thursday (10/14) during his radio show, host Glenn Beck came out in defense of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is under scrutiny by the Obama Administration for refusing to reveal whether or not massive amounts of cash from foreign corporations is going into their multi-million dollar fund to pay for attack ads against Democrats. Beck urged his listeners to donate “$100 dollars each” to them. Confusing small-town “Chambers of Commerce” with the National “U.S. Chamber of Commerce” (“Businesses with fewer than 100 employees?” asked Beck on-air), Beck convinced thousands of his idiot, anti-TARP, anti-Stimulus, anti-outsourcing minions to give tens (hundreds?) of thousands of their hard-to-come-by dollars to a multi-million dollar pro-TARP, pro-Stimulus organization that spends tens of millions publicly defending outsourcing as vital and necessary to Corporate America. While small-town “Chambers of Commerce” typically represent the interests of small businesses within towns, the U.S. Chamber typically represents massive multi-national conglomerates.)
ADDENDUM #2: In reflection of #12 above… where Rand Paul believes “mine safety regulations are unnecessary because people would simply refuse to work in unsafe mines”… there are currently 16 trapped miners in China following an underground explosion that killed another 21. China is pleased that the numbers of miners killed in that country have fallen to just 2,600 miners, down from over 7,000 miners killed in 2002, making China the most dangerous country in the world for mining. Funny that the people there continue to work in the mines because according to Paul, people will simply refuse to work in an unsafe mine. – And to any NeoCon stalwarts out there still defending the indefensible: “No”, today’s China no longer “forces people into preselected jobs against their will.”
Original list from here
Special thanks to Space Stevie who called my attention to this phenomenal list! As stated on his own blog,
"And there are people seriously talking about putting the Republics back into power? Give me a break. I invite everyone to go through this list, click on all the links and get the facts about the Republican agenda. If these guys get into power, we will all be paying the price.
Remember - Vote Democratic - The Ass you save might be your own."
Imagine the homework this "Mugsy" has done to complete this.
A very thought-out and all-inclusive list.
With links! A wise and educated voter after my own heart.
XOXO
Me
