Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Wednesday Mashup (8/11/10)

  • So Ben Quayle, campaigning for the third congressional district seat in Arizona, calls Obama the “worst president in history” (here).

    Gee, you would think he would want to tone it down after this.

    Ben, I knew of your father when he was vice president. I laughed at his adventures with the English language, shook my head in disgust over his inability to see beyond his own privilege, and cringed at the thought that, if something were to happen to Poppy Bush, he could actually be president.

    Ben, you’re no Dan Quayle.


  • Also from the GOP Outrage Factory, it seems like Harry Reid is today’s piñata, if you will, to be beaten with metaphorical sticks over his comment wondering why Hispanics would vote for Republicans.

    I give you Mary Katherine Ham (here)…

    After proclaiming that their skin color should prevent people of Hispanic descent from voting any which way they please…
    This is bizarre even for the wingnuts. Where does Reid advocate such a farcical point of view?

    Besides, based on this, I believe the Repugs are wasting their calories by going after the wrong target, which actually is fine with me (and I don’t recall that Ham or her pals had anything negative to say about Luis R. Guevara, who basically said here in March ’09 that the Repugs can’t count on the Hispanic vote).

    And yes, I realize that that doesn’t necessarily mean that the Dems can take the Hispanic vote for granted either (or anyone else’s, for that matter).


  • In addition, we have Kathleen Parker of the WaPo here kinda sorta sayin’ that, well, y’know, Michelle Obama shouldn’t have taken that trip to Spain with one of her daughters…

    Is it really such a terrible thing that the president's wife took a few days off to enjoy the beaches of Spain? Yes and no. Michelle Obama's trip, though expensive in the context of our dire financial straits, isn't putting a dent in the Treasury. But as a political move, it could not have been more out of step with most Americans' reality. The obvious reasons include the stagnant job market, the depleted fortunes of the middle class, millions of lost homes and, for many, the prospect of an insecure financial future.
    As noted here, though, Parker has a problem with separating the smoke from the proverbial fire, if you will.

    And here’s one more Parker gem from today’s column (another “zombie lie”)…

    George W. Bush largely escaped scrutiny because his preferred getaway was a place no one else, especially the media, wanted to go. Crawford, Tex., in August? Fabulous.

    Whatever else one thinks of Bush, he did have a sense of propriety in matters recreational, perhaps in part attributable to his life of privilege and attendant guilt. He gave up golf after invading Iraq because he felt it would look bad to be perfecting his swing while those he had consigned to battle were losing their limbs. A token, perhaps, but a gesture nonetheless.
    For the record (as noted here), this tells us that Dubya claimed that he gave up golf in August 2003, but his last recorded game came in October of that year (with Brandon Friedman, a veteran US infantry officer who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, telling the Press Association: "Thousands of Americans have given up a lot more than golf for this war. For President Bush to imply that he somehow stands in solidarity with families of American soldiers by giving up golf is disgraceful. It's an insult to all Americans and a slap in the face to our troops' families.").

    What exactly was Parker’s Pulitzer for again?


  • Finally, the race for the PA-08 U.S. House seat currently occupied by Patrick Murphy is making the news again; this tells us the following:

    The candidates for the 8th District congressional seat argued about the benefits of the (recently signed $26B bill), which will keep teachers and cops on the job.

    To Congressman Patrick Murphy, you're against police officers and for tax cheats if you voted Tuesday against a $26 billion bill aimed at saving hundreds of thousands of teachers and other public workers from unemployment.

    To Mike Fitzpatrick, the legislation is a continuation of Democrats' "failed policies."

    "The bill does nothing to create private sector jobs," he said.



    The GOP objected to raising $10 billion in taxes on some U.S.-based multinational companies. Advocates for the poor were protesting a provision to accelerate the phasing out of an increase in food stamp payments implemented in last year's economic recovery bill. Under the measure, payments would return to pre-stimulus rates in 2014, saving almost $12 billion.

    "State and local budgets are out of balance and Washington, D.C., has decided to bail them out with money borrowed from China to be paid for by our children and grandchildren," Fitzpatrick said.

    In a press release, Murphy stated that "Keeping cops on the beat by closing down Bermuda tax shelters for big corporations makes sense to me."
    By the way, I would ask that Mikey take a look at the black framed area in this graph. That is the portion of the debt run up by the ruinous 109th Republican Congress while he represented this district (in trillions). He can think about that the next time he prattles on about the debt we’ve run up under our Chinese “benefactors” that will have to be paid off by “our children and grandchildren” (a tragic byproduct of the offshoring of our jobs, which Mikey didn’t do a thing to prevent, it should be emphasized).

    And as we know, government can’t directly compel the private sector to create a new job, though it can keep people employed in the jobs they have (Mikey is typically counting on us to forget that, of course).

    I’m also not surprised to hear Fitzpatrick criticize Murphy’s efforts to keep teachers employed; this tells us that our former rep voted for a $250 annual tax credit for teachers, though, as you can view from the video here, at least one teacher far exceeded that amount in yearly out-of-pocket expenses for his students.

    Also, as noted here, Fitzpatrick opposed tax credits for job creation; more than that, it’s actually funny to for Mikey to preach fiscal austerity considering all the pay raises he awarded himself when he was a Bucks County Commissioner (here).

    At least one candidate in this race is doing what he can to try and revive our economy which was very nearly wrecked under Mikey, Dubya and the Repugs, and to reward his good behavior, click here.
  • 1 comment:

    Anonymous said...

    Aside from keeping cops on the beat at a time when crime is increasing rapidly, women being mugged in supermarket parking lots, local stores and banks being robbed, daytime burglaries, etc, cops and teachers spend their pay in the local economy.

    Memo to Mikey: "It's the economy, stupid".