David Corn

Is Cantor reaching across the aisle in a true sign of bipartisanship?

ROFL!

Not bloody likely!

As if common sense had returned to the GOP?

Not yet - this is just another game.

Is Cantor reaching across the aisle in a true sign of bipartisanship?

Not likely, just doing the right thing. We all know the Democrats will be whining that the surge is a failure and the war is lost.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now on Obamanomics - the surge (spending spree) has failed!

Fed's economic forecast worsens
Central bank now expects unemployment to rise to a range of 9.2% to 9.6% this year. Fed also predicts a sharper decline in GDP than it had forecast in January.

Capt says - don't waste your time reading my posts, yet one out three posts from Capt is an attempt to rebut what I've posted. Every single quote that he's cut and pasted has been directed at me. Seems Capt can't practice what he preaches!

By the way didn't Obama promise to wipe out the Taliban and Al Queda in Afganistan. Also, still waiting for him to go into Pakistan to get Osama dead or alive. Ya right!

CNN Poll: Favorable opinion of Dick Cheney on the rise

Rep. Boehner: Now and Then

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpsm9mBm44

*****

Pretty telling stuff.

Most ethical Congress evah: 12 of 16 most corrupt congressman are Democrats!

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CREW RELEASES LIST OF CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS CURRENTLY UNDER INVESTIGATION

Democrats Lead, 12 to 4... In Members of Congress Under Investigation // 21 May 2009
National Review

20 May 2009 // Washington, D.C. - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a comprehensive list of members of Congress under investigation. Currently, there are 16 members -- 12 House members and four Senators. The list includes which government entity is investigating the members, what the members are under investigation for, and the status of the investigation.

The Department of Justice, the House and Senate Ethics Committees, and the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) do not publicly divulge which members they are investigating. The OCE’s first quarterly report published in April revealed that the office has launched 10 reviews of lawmakers or congressional staff, but the OCE only disclosed Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) as under review. He is included on CREW’s list.

Obama: Existing U.S. Institutions Can ‘Work Through And Punish’ Bush’s ‘Violations Of Our Laws’

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/21/obama-torture-doj/

Three words:

We will see . . .

A gung-ho Republican-style military strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan (US-backed Pakistani offensive in Swat now responsible for a million refugees and untold civilian casualties and widespread destruction); not a single combat brigade withdrawn from Iraq (remember "I will withdraw one combat brigade per month as soon as I am President"?).

Not to mention military tribunals, wiretapping, no consequences for the Bush-era shredders of the Constitution... trillions in welfare for the billionaires who wrecked our economy...

It's kind of amusing that freddie has so much to complain about and capt is still defending Obama. It really ought to be the opposite I'd think...

Seriously, freddie clearly has no clue on macroeconomics. I will certainly disregard anything he writes on that subject... Not one iota of recognizable cognitive understanding on that subject...

As for Cheney's approval ratings: his all-time record lows were the result of so many Republicans because disgusted with him while he was still Veep. Now that he's out of power and just another right-wing media gasbag, mouthing the usual bilious gibberish, it's not surprising he's bobbing back up a bit. But he'll hit the hard ceiling soon...that is, whatever the nationwide percentage is now of true-blue Republican diehards... What is it now?...about 25%? Maybe low thirties on a good day?

Go easy on freddie, he obviously needs a place to vent...

Cheney’s Popularity in Context

The idea that Dick Cheney, who everyone hates, is going to go head-to-head with America’s popular new president in a “showdown” is a bit absurd. But just to help hype the matchup, CNN has a new poll out showing that Cheney is now more popular: “As Dick Cheney prepares to give a major speech on the battle against terrorism, a new national poll suggests that favorable opinions of the former vice president are on the rise.”

To help put this in context, though, compare the favorable rating CNN registered for Cheney to the favorable ratings CNN registered in April for select foreign countries:

[chart]

With his new bump, Cheney is only slightly less well-liked than Cuba. China and Russia are kicking his ass.

http://tinyurl.com/px9lq7

And France . . . .

Except for the Unpopularity of Conservatism, Conservatives are in Good Shape

[...]

Victory or near-victory in these policy battles hasn’t redounded to the GOP’s benefit because the public still associates the Republican party with George W. Bush’s failed second term, specifically the years 2005-2006 and the recession that began in December 2007.

It takes a while for the public to catch up. When they do - and it may not happen until 2016 - they’ll go looking for someone who, in all likelihood, opposed the stimulus, cap-and-trade, and ObamaCare.

http://tinyurl.com/pgjce2

Jobless Claims Set Another Record...
CBO: Unemployment will keep rising through 2010...
Michigan rate reaches 12.9%...
Feds give $50M in aid to towns hit by auto layoffs...

~~~

Say it ain't so Joe, the Stimulus didn't work?

The GOP’s Paranoid Foreign Policy

To the Republicans, everything Barack Obama does is a sign of weakness and a threat to American sovereignty.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/197895

******

Paranoia is a mental health issue. No one wants politicians with mental health issues in power. Simple as that.

With his new bump, Cheney is only slightly less well-liked than Cuba. China and Russia are kicking his ass.

~~

You mean slightly more liked than Nancy Pelosi! Cheney is kicking her ass!

hahaha

House rejects probe into Pelosi CIA claims

Speaker has asked CIA to declassify information supporting her statement

WASHINGTON - House Democrats on Thursday defeated a Republican push to investigate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claims that the CIA misled her in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects.

The House voted 252-172 to block the measure that would have created a bipartisan congressional panel. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, sponsored the resolution.

"This is partisan politics and an attempt by the Republicans to distract from the real issue of creating jobs and making progress on health care, energy and education," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30867618/

*****

Seems like the GOP can't save itself from itself

Paranoia is a mental health issue. No one wants politicians with mental health issues in power. Simple as that.

~~~

That's funny- reminds me of Sen Bird speaking and weeping on the Senate floor about his bird- "prettty, pretty, pretty"

House rejects probe into Pelosi CIA claims

~~~

Gee that's supposed to suprise anyone that the Dems won't investigate one of their own while 12 of 16 most corrupt congressman are Dems?

Just goes to show that National Security is not a priority for Dems but a weakness!

'Comedy Thrives in Times of Despair'

Michael Palin says the financial crisis is a boon for comics. A veteran of Monty Python, the comedian and author talks to SPIEGEL about humor in times of crisis, why it's hard to tell al-Qaida jokes and the perils of political correctness.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,625175,00.html

******

A Palin worth listening to

Yo Diff,

Like Rush Limbaughs challenge to MSNBC, I challenge you and Capt to not mention my name for 30 days. You two are trying to ride my coattail to get your posts read!!!!

I crack myself up!

White House Authorized Earliest Detainee Abuse, CIA Log Says

It is clear that increasingly abusive interrogation techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee, in the months between his capture and the first Justice Department memo authorizing harsh interrogations. But the legal guidance that authorized those early interrogations remains shrouded in secrecy.

http://tinyurl.com/qbyanh

******

Roh row . . .

If the CIA isn't lying about the log - Bunnypants is guilty of the crime before he had any (so-called) legal cover.

Those darn CIA logs.

Obama Closes the Democrats’ Historical National Security Gap

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the American public has harbored doubts about the Democratic Party’s vision and competence on national security. Now, after 100 days in office, President Barack Obama’s management of a broad range of security challenges has effectively erased those doubts, at least for now. This change signals a possible generational shift in attitudes that could have broad electoral consequences, depriving Republicans of one of their last remaining advantages just when their image has dropped to a new low relative to the Democrats.

http://tinyurl.com/r3uryg

*****

No small wonder the GOP have Obama-derangement fever . . .

Boehner and GOP Strategists Love Pelosi as Distraction From Substance of Torture Debate

[...]

In order to justify a second war, Cheney pushed the unsubstantiated story that the evil Saddam had WMDs, and evil al Qaeda was a friend to Saddam. Later, Cheney also pushed to authorize the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the CIA and other intelligence units not to defend America against future terrorism, but instead to "elicit" from detainees a link between al Qaeda and Iraq when no reliable intelligence had established that kind of link. It should be recalled, too, that, at one time, Cheney blamed the CIA for "bad intelligence" when it suited him politically. Cheney's convicted aide, Scooter Libby, also helped "out" CIA counterintelligence agent Valerie Plame -- when her husband had publicly refuted Cheney's and Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking WMD-building material from Niger.

There's the context that political pundits, congresspeople, and voters might ponder over the Memorial Day holiday, while also pondering how to honor the nation's war heroes and fallen fighters. We must keep in mind, too, that more servicemen and women will fall due to Cheney's leadership and continuing propaganda campaignin support of illegal interrogations.

And here's one more detail to consider, if the big picture is just too big to take in. The CIA congressional briefing on "enhanced techniques" that is so contested, their first such briefing on the topic and one that supposedly resulted in the Constitutionally required congressional advice and consent, came on September 4, 2002. Waterboarding of detainees for bad intel (after they had already divulged good intel) had already begun by August, 2002, as the recently declassifed memos indisputably document. What's more, NPR reported Wednesday that interrogators and the CIA sought and received daily approval for their increasingly inhumane interrogation techniques from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

http://blog.buzzflash.com/analysis/769

Commentary: Prosecute sins of Bush-Cheney era

[...]

George W. Bush and his accomplices damaged this country like it's never been damaged before. And it's not just the phony war in Iraq or the torture memos that justified waterboarding. It's millions of missing emails and the constant use of executive privilege and signing statements.

It's the secretive meetings with Enron and other energy executives and the wholesale firing of federal prosecutors. It's trying to get the president's personal attorney seated on the Supreme Court and that despicable Alberto Gonzales sitting in front of congressional investigators whining, "I don't remember, I don't know, I...etc."

It's the domestic eavesdropping in violation of the FISA Court, the rendition prisons, and the lying. It's looking the other way while the City of New Orleans drowned and its people were left to fend for themselves.

It's the violations of the Geneva Conventions, the soiling of our international reputation and the shredding of the U.S. Constitution. It's the handing over of $700 billion to the Wall Street fat cats last fall, no questions asked. Where is that money? What was it used for?

It's the no-bid contracts to firms like Halliburton and Blackwater and the shoddy construction and lack of oversight of reconstruction in Iraq that cost American taxpayers untold billions.

If the Republicans were serious about restoring their reputation, they would join the call for a special prosecutor to be appointed so that at long last justice can be done.

It's too late for George W. Bush to resign the presidency. But it's not too late to put the people responsible for this national disgrace in prison.

http://tinyurl.com/ootp2w

Republican Disaster -- The Evangelical/Zionist Anatomy of Meltdown

[...]

So what went wrong with the Republican Party? Believe me, it's all about religion!

Two religions (in the broadest sense of the term) have destroyed the Republican Party: evangelical Christianity and Christian/Jewish Zionism. Evangelical Christianity created the Religious Right which forever linked the Republican Party to the antiabortion, anti-sex education, anti-evolution and anti-gay crusades. And both Christian and Jewish Zionism linked the Republican Party to what became the neoconservative movement with its roots in such publications as Commentary magazine and their shrill Israel-can-do-no-wrong anti-Arab agenda. (I knew the late editor of Commentary Norman Podhoretz quite well, and we met several times to build alliances between evangelicals and the far American Zionist far right. When it came to Arabs, I believe he was a real racist.)

I would not call Zionism per se a religion, but I'm talking about secular goals pursued with religious fervor. I would call Zionism, American-style a politicized version of a religion. I also argue that the neo-con side got traction when religious Jews became Zionists and when religious Christians (evangelicals) hopped aboard to hasten the "Rapture." And I'd like to point out that American Zionists ally themselves with the Israeli hardliners, but that opinion in Israel is much more diverse and often tolerant than that, as is opinion among Jewish Americans, who do not by and large accept the AIPAC point of view uncritically.

http://tinyurl.com/odto95

(some broadbrush stuff but a good piece in general)