:: More on HuffPost re Republican behavior (besides, I had to share this great graphic from HP). The headline over the elephant pic reads "Toeing the Party Line". Gotta admit, we Dems have a much keener sense of humor than the Repubs. Oh, and by the time you click on this link, the headline and the image may be different because it's on the HuffPost home page. From HUFFPOST:
:: On Republican behavior. From Bob Cesca (I love this guy):
The economy continues to creep nearer to the crumbling ledge of yet another Depression -- if it isn't there already. And yet the Republicans who very nearly shoved us over the ledge are prancing around as if their collective Reaganomics don't stink.
Republicans on the Hill, on the radio and on cable news seemed to have forgotten how ridiculous George W. Bush looked when he performed his pee-pants-dance in public; acting like a petulant, entitled twerp who could, at any moment, very nearly regress into an actual terrible-twos tantrum, only to pull himself back at the last second and find some restraint just before reflexively dropping to the ground in a raging tempest of elbows, fists and teeth. The Republicans seemed to have forgotten about the inefficacy of this routine because it's precisely the behavior they're exhibiting this week. They're acting like Bush Republicans.
Their political audacity, while never surprising, always seems to confound expectations and defy logic. Having relegated themselves to the status of a regional, minor party due to their unserious, fear-mongering wedge politics and well-documented record of disastrous policy-making, they remain so hubristic as to crap their cages and demand a seat at the Big Boy Table, as if they're the majority party in Congress -- as if they somehow earned an equal voice in this thing by way of their awesome record on the economy.
Hat Tip on the graphic, Bob Cesca. AP photo.
TAGS: Economy, GOP/Republicans, President Obama, Congress, Bush administration, UGLY, stupid,
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:: Russia and China slam US economic system, blame us for global financial crisis. From The Wall Street Journal:
TAGS: Economy, International, CHINA, RUSSIA, Financial Systems, __________________________The premiers of Russia and China slammed the U.S. economic system in speeches Wednesday, holding it responsible for the global economic crisis.
Both focused on the role of the U.S. dollar, with China's Premier Wen Jiabao calling for better regulation of major reserve currencies and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calling over-reliance on the dollar "dangerous."
:: House passes Obama's stimulus bill, 244-188. Not one single Republican voted for it. The Senate is working on a companion bill, and expects that the final bill will be on Obama's desk by mid-February. From NYT:
WASHINGTON — The House voted, 244-188, on Wednesday evening for President Obama’s package of federal tax cuts and spending worth $819 billion and meant to jump-start the economy out of its worst crisis in decades.
Before voting on President Obama’s plan, the House rejected a stimulus measure offered by Republican members that focused more on tax cuts. The vote against that measure was 266 to 170, almost entirely on party lines.
Image courtesy of Steven Crowley/The New York Times
TAGS: Congress, President Obama, Legislation/Bills, tax cuts, Stimulus,
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:: GOP Congressman idiot, Phil GIngrey (R-GA) grovels to Limbaugh publicly. Personally, I really want to GAG. Yesterday, Gingrey told Politico that conservative talk show hosts didn't offer real leadership. Today, he apologized to Limbaugh on air. From Think Progress:
TAGS: GOP/Republicans, Rush Limbaugh, Conservative Pundits,This morning — because of what he called “high volume of phone calls and correspondence” in response to his comments — Gingrey issued a retraction, declaring his loyalty to hate radio. “I see eye-to-eye with Rush Limbaugh,” he said, later adding that he, Sean Hannity, and Newt Gingrich were “the voices of the conservative movement’s conscience.”
But Gingrey’s mea culpa was not yet complete. Apparently concluding that his criticism of Limbaugh was so off-base that it merited a personal, on-air apology to Limbaugh, Gingrey made a rare guest appearance on Limbaugh’s radio show this afternoon. Addressing the hate radio host as a “conservative giant,” Gingrey apologized for what he termed his “foot-in-mouth disease“:
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:: Too funny. Obama incredulous at Washingtonian's reaction to snow. When I lived in DC in the 80's, I felt the same way. It was very funny, in my mind, that the entire fed. govt. would close down for a couple of inches of the white stuff. Washington does get snow at least a few times every winter, and the reaction is always the same --- man the hot chocolate, and stay home! :) From HUFFPOST:
Obama walks back to the White House from Capitol Hill meetings.AP photo.
TAGS: President Obama, Capitol Hill,Obama wants to show wimpy Washingtonians how to brave the cold, Chicago-style. As parts of the capital city -- specifically Sasha and Malia's school, Sidwell Friends -- shut down over "some ice," the president lamented that "when it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things." He promised to bring some "flinty Chicago toughness" to the region.
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:: As Congress debates the stimulus, Republicans continue to be irrelevant, and continue to dig their hole deeper still. I am wondering what the average IQ of a GOP senator is. I suspect it is nothing to brag about. From HUFFPOST:
TAGS: GOP/Republicans, Congress, Stimulus,After the 2006 midterm election, the Republican Party showed such a dramatic inability to engage in self-reflection - and self-correction - that in 2008, they ushered in a beating without precedent at all levels of government. Now, as the GOP prepares to oppose President Obama's economic stimulus plan, to oppose a president with overwhelming approval ratings and a mandate for change, to oppose a piece of legislation with broad support from a desperate public, it is becoming ever more clear that, from the perspective of the Republican leadership, a hole worth digging is a hole worth digging deep.
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:: Bailout recipients, AIG and Bank of America host call to defeat labor bill. Yeah, they take our money and work against us behind the scenes. From HUFFPOST:
TAGS: GOP/Republicans,BAILOUTS, BANKS, LABOR, Legislation/Bills
Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.
Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.
Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse
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:: Holder approved by Senate Judiciary Committee, 17-2, and has moved to the full Senate where his confirmation has broad bi-partisan support. From HUFFPOST:
WASHINGTON — Eric Holder's nomination as the first African-American attorney general has moved to the full Senate with broad bipartisan support.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 17-2 Wednesday to favorably recommend Holder for the job.
Image source Wikimedia Commons.
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:: Democrats launch a petition against Rush Limbaugh. Sign the petition here. I already put my 2cents worth in. You should too. On the site of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the petition is to show solidarity, and to inform the GOP that their baseless attacks will be answered.
Last week, Rush Limbaugh actually said that he "hopes" President Obama fails to meet America’s challenges.
Jobs, health care, our place in the world — the stakes for our nation are high and every American needs President Obama to succeed.
Stand strong against Rush Limbaugh’s Attacks — sign our petition, telling Rush what you think of his attacks on President Obama. We’ll send Limbaugh your comments.
Hat Tip/ HuffPost..
:: Education to receive greatest increase in funding since WW II under the stimulus plan - $150 billion. From NYT:
TAGS: Education, Congress, Stimulus,The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education, including school renovation, special education, Head Start and grants to needy college students, would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II.
Critics and supporters alike said that by its sheer scope, the measure could profoundly change the federal government’s role in education
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:: New administration's legal team to defend John Yoo. From POLITICO:
“This is going to happen again and again across the government,” said Karen Greenberg, the executive director of the Center on Law and Security at New York University. “They’re between a rock and a hard place.”
Obama’s lawyers aren’t the first at Justice to have to stand by a prior administration’s legal work — whether they agree with it or not — merely in the interest of protecting U.S. government prerogatives.
But the Bush war-on-terror team inspires particular antipathy in the liberal legal set — and none more than Yoo, who became a sort of symbol of the Bush administration’s efforts to construct a carefully crafted legal framework to justify practices that critics say are torture.
“When they go back to the privacy of their offices, they may wish that someone would draw and quarter John Yoo, but they have to wave the flag,” said a former federal terrorism prosecutor, Andrew McCarthy. “What they have to do is appear as if they are defending all the prerogatives of government that people want them to defend. ... That’s the job of the Justice Department.”
AP photo
TAGS: GOP/Republicans, John Yoo, Bush administration, Dept. of Justice, Torture, __________________________
:: Russia offers Obama an olive branch. From NYT:
TAGS: RUSSIA, President Obama, International, NUKES,MOSCOW, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Russia has halted plans to deploy missiles near the Polish border, a Russian news agency quoted the military as saying on Wednesday, in the clearest sign yet Moscow is seeking better ties with the new U.S. administration.
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:: Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calls for an apology from the US for so-called "crimes" committed against the Iranian people. From NYT:
TEHRAN — A day after President Obama struck a conciliatory tone toward Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Washington on Wednesday to apologize for its actions toward his country for the past 60 years and said it was unclear whether the new American administration was merely shifting tactics or wanted real change.
But, in a speech in the western city of Kermanshah, he did not explicitly rebuff the American president’s gesture. “We are waiting patiently,” he said, referring to the policies of the new administration in Washington. “We will listen to the statements closely, we will carefully study their actions and if there are real changes, we will welcome it.”
Image source Wikimedia Commons.
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:: In a meeting with the Joint Chiefs Wednesday, President Obama requested an Iraq withdrawal plan. From HUFFPOST:
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama often has said he will issue orders to swiftly close down the Iraq war. Now military leaders are getting a chance to tell the new commander in chief how they could comply, and why he might want to wait.
AP photo slice.
TAGS: Pentagon, IRAQ, Afghanistan, Robert Gates,President Obama,__________________________
:: January 28 on Media Matters:
- Media reports on CBO's initial "analysis" of economic recovery plan falsely claimed it analyzed the entire package
- Limbaugh allowed Cantor to falsely claim on his show that CBO said recovery bill "is not a stimulative bill"
- After previously misrepresenting partial CBO analysis, Wash. Times ignored full CBO report's conclusion on stimulus package
- Bernard Goldberg's "bias" against the facts
- Dobbs misrepresents CBO projection of stimulus plan's effect on output
- Beck falsely claimed "[o]nly 3 percent" of stimulus plan would be "spent in the next 12 months"
- The Hill repeated false GOP claim that ACORN is a "beneficiar[y] of the stimulus package"
- Fox News' Cameron falsely claimed that "more than half of the money" in stimulus bill is "reserved for at least two years from now"
- Drudge misrepresents article to assert "Iran Nuke 'This Year' "
- AP ignores testimony by MN voters in Coleman case supporting rejection of absentee ballot
- CNN's Henry misrepresented CBO cost estimate of economic stimulus bill
- "Number One voice for conservatism" Rush Limbaugh wastes no time leading assault on Obama
