President Obama's Weekly Address - December 29, 2012

Congress Must Protect the Middle Class from Income Tax



...and a bonus! Yesterday's press conference saying basically the same thing.


President Obama Makes a Statement on Averting Tax Hikes for Middle Class Families



I'm almost convinced that the Republicans will balk and Harry Reid will have to bring a bill to the floor for an up or down vote (provided some insane Senator doesn't filibuster) and it will be sent to the House for a vote. Will John Boehner find his balls and bring it to a vote or will he side with the extremist crazy minority of his party and refuse to vote on it? We'll find out soon enough.

President Obama's Weekly Address - December 1, 2012

Urging Congress to Extend the Middle Class Tax Cuts

FOUR MORE YEARS! - Update

Observations and Musings Post Election Day

- Despite looking at factual evidence, the emotional heart will always doubt what your logical mind already knows.

- How many times does President Obama and his team need to prove doubters wrong before they realize that "I Got This" actually means something?

- If three million votes was a "mandate" for George W. Bush in 2004, you'd better fucking believe it's good enough to be a mandate for President Obama. "I've got political capital, and I intend to spend it" never sounded so good.

- The bubble that Fox News and the Republican Party's live in is so massive, they dismissed every single poll that didn't show their desired outcome, to the point of creating the ironically named UnskewedPoll.com, and seemed truly shellshocked that President Obama won reelection.

- Is Nate Silver a witch? No. But he's one badass numbers genius motherfucker!

- Joe Scarborough and every idiot talking head on TV who doesn't live in reality, doesn't deserve your precious time. Unless you're a masochist, stop watching them.

- I've had it up to here (pointing to my ball sac) with Republican talking heads now saying that President Obama has to prove anything to Republican politicians. Bipartisanship and compromise is a two way street. And it the GOP wants to stay relevant, they'd better jettison the crazies in their party and start acting like adults instead of holding their breath until they get what they want.

- Not only is he a media whore and an opportunist, but Donald Trump has become a boil on the ass of America. I don't understand how he thinks he looks like anything but a laughingstock now. Even Brian Williams called him out today with this: "Trump has "driven well past the last exit to relevance and veered into something closer to irresponsible." How that sloth continues to live on his head and share in the embarrassment is amazing to me. I guess love knows no bounds.

More to come...

 UPDATE – 8pm: 

- Today is the first day of work towards regaining the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives in 2014. Just as in 2008, we can’t think this is over after the election. It’s not the end, it’s the beginning.

 - Unless Citizens United is overturned, we will have a much harder time matching the Dark Side dollar for dollar, especially in the mid-term elections, so we have to double our efforts on the ground. And it starts now.

 - Despite only four hours sleep between 16 hour days, I have a spring in my step today. The air is a little fresher, the sky is a little bluer, and the tears of dumbass Republican voters are a little sweeter.

 - No matter what anyone says, yesterday’s results PROVE we are not a center right nation. Maine and Maryland voted for marriage equality. Washington and Colorado voted for recreational marijuana use. The times, they are a-changin’.

- After Chris Murphy won his Senate race in Connecticut, part of me wanted WWE magnate Linda McMahon to sneak up behind Murphy during his victory speech and cold cock him in the back of the head with a metal folding chair.

- Rape apologists Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin got their asses handed to them by their opponents. They were totally asking for it. BOOM!

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 27, 2012

Protecting the American People with New Wall Street Reforms

President Obama's Weekly Address - October 6, 2012

Congress Should Keep America Moving Forward

Is It Over Yet?

CBS: Rick Santorum is poised to suspend his bid for the presidency on Tuesday, removing the last significant obstacle in Mitt Romney's now all-but-certain march to the Republican presidential nomination.

Santorum will make the announcement at a press conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania shortly, a senior member of his campaign staff told CBS News.

My first thought: He didn't want to get embarrassed in his home state in two weeks. My second thought: He may be crazy, but at least he's smarter than Newt Gingrich. And my final thought: Santorum making his announcement at Gettysburg seems so apropos.

Quote of the Day

“Six months before this thing got going, every Republican I know was saying, ‘We’re gonna win, we’re gonna beat Obama.’ Now even those who’ve endorsed Romney say, ‘My God, what a fucking mess.’”

~Republican strategist Ed Rollins

(Via Bob Cesca)

Something is Horribly Wrong with Republican Voters

Gallup: Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now statistically tied for the lead in Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination -- 32% to 30%, respectively.

Wait, I'm wrong. I can't possibly blame GOP voters for these numbers with the disgusting clown car of candidates that I'd have to choose from were I in their shoes. The only thing I can blame them for is the fact that they vote GOP at all. Luckily, I have a brain and don't have to choose between these morons.

GOP Walking the Contraception Plank

Is this how it's going to end for the Republican Party?

TPM: Not satisfied with President Obama’s new religious accommodation, Republicans will move forward with legislation by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that permits any employer to deny birth control coverage in their health insurance plans, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Sunday.

Currently, 28 states mandate that employers' health insurance cover contraception for its employees, eight of which require it regardless of whether they are religiously affiliated or not. Many Catholic universities and hospitals already provide the coverage. The Obama administration's religious exemption is far broader than current law and actually a loosening of restrictions. But for some reason, GOP leaders think they have a dog in this fight and are betting that this will be wedge issue to sway Catholic votes away from the President in the upcoming 2012 election. This despite the fact that 58% of Catholics believe that employers should be required to provide their employees with health care plans that cover contraception, and that 62% of women overall, a huge voting block to be sure, agree as well.

So not only are they tying one end of the Blunt Amendment rope around the Catholic opposition rock, but they're tying the other end around their necks with a flawed "religious freedom" argument and attempting to roll back existing law for employers whose businesses have nothing to do with religion, and tossing it off the wingnut bridge.

“The fact that the White House thinks this is about contraception is the whole problem. This is about freedom of religion, it’s right there in the First Amendment. You can’t miss it — right there in the very first amendment to our Constitution,” [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell said. “What the overall view on the issue of contraception is has nothing to do with an issue about religious freedom.”

McConnell went on to embellish the argument, claiming Obama is being “rigid in his view that he gets to decide what somebody else’s religion is.” He said that “this issue will not go away until the administration simply backs down.”

How can a career politician of McConnell's stature get the First Amendment so wrong? It's because he is ginning up another empty attack on President Obama. He just can't help himself. Let's review:

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

No law "respecting the establishment of religion..." - meaning that the government will not make any one religion the official religion of the country. "...or prohibiting free exercise thereof." - meaning that you are free to practice any religion you choose without fear of reproach from the government.

So, no, Senator McConnell, it's not "right there" in the First Amendment. Just because you are free to practice religion as you choose and follow its supposed moral values, does not mean you can arbitrarily ignore the laws of the land thereby causing an infringement on another person's rights. It's a far, far stretch to say that requiring an employer to cover contraception in its health care benefits for their employees, even if that employer is the Catholic Church now playing a role in the secular world, is a violation of conscience. It is up to the individual in question to face their moral conscience when it comes to the usage of contraception made available at no cost via their health insurance plans. Catholics who work outside the realm of the Church as their employer have that health care right. They also have the right not to use it - because of their religious beliefs.

In fact, I believe that in this particular case, it is the Catholic Church that is in violation of the very thing it protests. If the employee in question is not of the Catholic faith, why should he or she be discriminated against and not have the same health care benefits they would have if they didn't work for a religious organization? Is that not an infringement of their rights? If the government favored the religious institution's view, would that not be a violation of the First Amendment, namely "respecting the establishment" of their religion in lieu of federal law? If this were the case, could a Catholic secretary working for an Orthodox Jewish lawyer bring a ham and cheese sandwich to the office for her lunch in clear violation of her employer's Jewish beliefs?

I happen to be indifferent on the exemption to churches that President Obama offered. But when the church clearly steps in to the province of secular business, whether it be a hospital or a school in which people of all faiths are accepted, then they should and must follow the rules and regulations of the secular world. You can't claim religious exemption when it suits you. In this contraception coverage "nontroversy," the majority of Catholics are right, it's the Catholic Church and the "anything anti-Obama" GOP that are wrong.

ADDING... Rachel Maddow had a great piece on this issue last Thursday night. Along with exposing the Republican candidates fighting it out for the Presidential nomination, she also took a swipe and the 60-something, white male Beltway pundits who seem to think that it's the President who is looking bad on this issue even though he's with the majority of Americans. I think she may have been referring to Chris Matthews.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I Really Tried

I took a deep breath, grabbed my remote and tuned in to CNN last night to watch the latest Republican debate. Normally, when I flip these things on in passing (the GOP debates, I mean) it's just to make sure something miraculous hasn't happened and they started debating in truths rather than whatever fantasy world they live in. But alas, that moment never comes.

Well, while still not living in reality, this night had the makings of being different. After all, Rick Perry had bowed out just that morning and now the GOP Nomination Clown Car was down to four. Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, accused him of wanting an open marriage after he began an affair with his now third wife, Callista. And after two weeks of recounting Iowa caucus votes, we found out that Rick Santorum actually beat Mitt Romney, but since Iowa takes its voting so seriously and eight precincts worth of votes went missing, the recount will never be complete, so we'll never really know, will we?

I knew I was in for a long night when the first question out of the gate was directed at Newt and the open marriage accusation. And an angry, defiant Gingrich went after moderator John King for having the gall to ask such a question at the debate, blamed the media for attacking him and "protecting Barack Obama" and the crowd lapped it up and went along for the ride.

And I think that's what disgusted me most about this South Carolina debate - the audience was chomping at that red meat like there was no tomorrow. They were cheering Gingrich's "fuck you" attitude while simultaneously forgoing their Christian conservative selves in support of a thrice married, twice divorced, serial adulterer. Let alone the hootin' and hollerin' when Newt once again chose to go after welfare recipients (you know, because there are no white people on government assistance) to appease the blood thirsty crowd who'd left their torches and hoods at the coat check.

Somewhere along the line I felt my blood pressure rise and decided my health was more important than a futile exercise. I noticed the time was 8:36pm EDT, probably the longest I've sat through a GOP debate this season... and actually the first time I consciously tried. But to tell you the truth, besides the Newt opener and Santorum claiming victory in Iowa, the rest is a blur. It's hard to concentrate when you have blood boiling in your eyes.

Another Example of Boehner Leadership (Kill C-SPAN Edition)

How cowardly can the House Republicans and House Weeper John Boehner get? Cowardly enough to prevent as vote on the Senate payroll tax holiday that passed with huge bipartisan support, adjourn for the day completely ignoring Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer at the podium... and then cutting off the C-SPAN feed.

“We regret, Mr. Speaker, that you have walked off the platform without addressing this issue of critical importance to this country,” Hoyer added.

Moments later, the mic appeared to cut out. A few seconds after that, the video feed switched away from the House floor to a still image of the Capitol Dome. It appears someone in House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) office cut the feed, as C-SPAN tweeted afterwards: “C-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras – the Speaker of the House does.”

Transparency, indeed.

Republican Party: YOU'RE FIRED!

There is no possible chance that Saturday Night Live can continue to satirize Republican politics anymore. They may as well just show footage of actual Republican politics. Why do I posit this?

[Donald] Trump confirmed to MSNBC’s Tamron Hall a New York Times report that he'd helm a GOP debate on Dec. 27.

“I was asked to do it by a number of people, including some of my friends that are Republicans, strong Republicans,” Trump told MSNBC. He has signed on to be a moderator at the debate, which will be held in Iowa and is hosted by Newsmax, a conservative website and magazine. It will be broadcast on Ion Television, a cable network.

Parody is dead. Satire is dead. The Republican Party of yore no longer exists. These debating monkeys need not extol the name of Ronald Reagan or Abraham Lincoln anymore. Reagan couldn't get elected in this generation of what passes for the Republican Party. He'd most likely get booed off the debate stage for his stances on immigration (amnesty) and taxation.

The idea of The Donald moderating something that is supposed to be at least semi-serious like a GOP presidential debate is beyond all hope of rational thinking. But I must admit, I don't know if I can miss this one. I hope my cable provider carries Ion Television, whatever the fuck that is.

Donald Trump? Seriously?

Behold the Republican Party

The party of Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, even the party of Ronald Reagan just doesn't exist anymore. When anyone argues an old Republican talking point, remind them that that party no longer exists. Ronald Reagan would not even be considered for the 2012 nomination in the new, current batshit GOP. The inmates now run the asylum.

When the merry-go-round of who leads in the polls every six weeks has completely done a 360° turn and landed on Newt Gingrich once again, bypassing the only real shot the GOP has in making the 2012 election a competitive race in Mitt Romney, perennially polling second, you know they have a problem.

How else would you describe it when a candidate says something that's actually logical but the analysis afterwards says that it'll sink him in the polls? Here's what Newt said on his immigration stance at last night's 437th GOP debate that is going to ruin him:

"I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who have been here a quarter century, who have children and grandchildren, who are members of the community, who may have done something 25 years ago, separate them from their families, and expel them," he said.

After the debate, Gingrich defended his position, telling CNN, "I can't imagine any serious person who will walk down the street, see someone they know for 20 years and say, 'You're leaving your family, you're leaving your church, you're leaving the community... and we are kicking you out forcibly.'"

Apparently, that sentiment is just too sane for today's Republican Party. He was immediately attacked by Mitt "What's My Stance Today?" Romney's campaign. Yet, when questioned if Romney is in favor of deportation of 11 million or so undocumented immigrants, Romney's advisor would not answer the question directly.

Romney has done the same thing in regards to his stance on a payroll tax cut, something you'd think the entire cadre of GOP candidates would agree to except for that nagging little fact that they'd then be in agreement with evil socialist, Marxist, Communist, Kenyan-born President Obama. They twist themselves in knots trying not to get caught on video agreeing with the President even on things with which they fundamentally agree.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not defending Newt in any way; he's just as fucked up as the rest of these nitwits. I'm just pointing out the fact that when any of them have a moderate stance on any issue, when it's not the furthest far right stance, they are exposed to criticism and they lose the nutjob vote. The same thing happened with Rick Perry when he was asked about his bill making in-state tuition available to undocumented students in Texas.

"If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no reason than they've been brought there, by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart," he said. "I still support it greatly."

For this statement, he was jeered.

If this presidential race is even close with this collection of loons, American society is a lot worse off than I thought.

House GOP Priorities

Is it jobs? Is it the economy? Is it foreign policy?

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are fighting an effort by the Obama administration to make federally-subsidized school lunches more healthy.

A January proposal by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) aimed to limit — but not eliminate — fries and pizza on the lunch menu.

...Under pressure from lobbyists and some food companies that sell frozen pizza, salt and potatoes, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee rejected the new rules, painting them as “burdensome and costly regulations.”

Pizza is a vegetable. See? It's all about the important things.

UPDATE (8:10pm): Also this.You know, because it's important.

The House of Representatives passed a measure Wednesday that would make a permit to carry a concealed firearm from one state valid in any state that allows citizens to carry concealed weapons. The vote was 272 to 154.

GOP Obstructionism Means to an Obama End, Economy Be Damned

Today, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) confirmed pretty much what we've known all along. The Republican Party's obstructionism and its latest vote against the American Jobs Act is not because of some philosophical difference about how to govern, but a political tactic to "make President Obama look bad" in order to help defeat him in the 2012 election, and if they have to throw the American economy in the shitter to do so, so be it.



It really isn't a shock, but the fact that a member of Congress would admit that something like this is happening behind closed doors is stunning, as MSNBC host Chris Jansing expressed. So the next time you hear that both parties care for their country but just have a difference of opinion in how to run it, know that it's complete bullshit. The Republican Party would rather destroy the US (and possibly global) economy solely for the purpose of winning the White House in 2012 and then attempt to repeal health care reform.

Crazy Quote of the Day

"Now, no matter what you think of the mythical separation between church and state, it is not possible for there ever, in the United States of America, to be a separation between God and government because God is the source of every single right that government has a sacred duty to protect. I submit to you that not a single one of our unalienable rights will be safe in the hands of a president who believes that we evolved from slime and that we are the descendents of apes and baboons.”

~Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association at the Value Voters Summit.

This is the same event that every Republican running for their party's nomination attended save one. So... religious rights? No problem, as long as that religion is Christianity. And no, Mormonism doesn't count. Human rights? Of course, as long as you're not gay. Science? What's that?

The more things change...

Sarah Palin Not Running

No links. No news. No surprise.

I could have told you Sarah Palin wasn't running for the nomination a year and a half ago. The only reason she chose to make her announcement was because she saw all the attention NJ Governor Chris Christie was attracting when he decided to have a press conference to state the same thing he's been saying for a year now. And as we all know by now, whether it be Christie or Michele Bachmann or Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin is so goddamn shallow she can't stand not being the center of attention.

Palin's not running?! ...Yawn....

Christie Not Running

Chris Christie is having a press conference at 1pm to announce that he is not running for the Republican nomination for the presidential race. In other words, he's making news by announcing what he's been saying for the last twelve months.



Now let's give Christie a little credit. Even though sources say he was reconsidering his position after hearing the outcry of voters who aren't satisfied with any of the eight current nominees, he was smart enough to realize that even if he were ready to be president, he's nowhere near ready organizationally to run a national campaign.

The question will soon shift to who will the voters clamor for as their next flavor of the week?

So Much for Savior Perry

Well this can't be good for the Perry campaign.

Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, won the Florida straw poll today, defeating second-place Rick Perry after the Texas governor worked the crowd of activists with a breakfast speech Saturday morning.

Mr. Cain won nearly 40 percent of the 2,657 people who voted, more than doubling Mr. Perry’s total and that of Mitt Romney, who came in a close third.

Herman the pizza guy beat Rick Perry, the GOP's flavor of the month, in Florida's straw poll after his performance in the most recent GOP debate. And I have to ask: what the hell is wrong with Republican voters? Arguably, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the most sane, responsible politicians vying for the GOP nomination, but they're not even close to what the polls say the voters want.

First it was Donald Trump, until he exposed himself as a complete buffoon when he jumped on the Birther bandwagon. Then came Michele Bachmann, whose buffoonery is usually excused until she suggested that the HPV vaccine could cause "mental retardation." Then it was Rick Perry, who got cheers for 234 Texas executions under his leadership, but jeers for his Texas Dream Act where illegal immigrants who came to this country when they were children are given a chance to go to college. They were also too quickly reminded of the 43rd president when Perry tripped over his tongue while trying to attack Mitt Romney. And we may as well forget the other six candidates, including Cain, considering the fact that week after week GOP pundits and talking heads are constantly touting new candidates and hoping they'll get in the race.

This week they're returning to the idea of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yet again... until they take a cursory look and realize he called the fringe right wing "crazies" when it comes to their anti-Muslim rhetoric and the whole "banning Sharia law" thing in places where Sharia law doesn't exist and will never exist. And as of this writing, he had once again stated he's not interested in running for president in 2012.

Who'll be the flavor of the week next week?

Compassionate Conservatism Redux

Former George W. Bush speech writer Michael Gerson once defined the phrase 'compassionate conservatism' as, "the theory that the government should encourage the effective provision of social services without providing the service itself." We all know by now how well that worked for the Bush administration.

Liberal commentator Joe Conason, noting Bush's policy of tax cuts, wrote in 2003 that "so far, being a 'compassionate conservative' appears to mean nothing very different from being a hardhearted, stingy, old-fashioned conservative." Similarly, former President Bill Clinton described the message of compassionate conservatism as: "I want to help you. I really do. But you know, I just can't" or similar variants.

The true definition of compassionate conservatism can be summed up as, "Yeah, that's a shame... wish I could help out but everyone should take care of themselves."

I've been in a self-imposed media blackout these last few days due to the September 11th anniversary 24 hour news cycle (I don't need to see that again) and decided not to watch last night's CNN Republican Primary debate because I saw all I needed to see during last week's debacle. Why would I want to subject myself to the motley crew that is the GOP nominees again? Unless they've changed their minds about climate change or evolution, or actually looked at the numbers to realize they're just flat out lying on the Recovery Act while hypocritically benefitting from it, there was no need for any more self-induced stress.

But then I heard (bad news travels fast) that a hypothetical question was asked of Ron Paul regarding a 30 year old man who chooses not to pay for health insurance, then suddenly needs it - what's to be done? And the audience yelled to "let him die." I couldn't believe it. So I had to see for myself.



More than anything else that has transpired in the world of American politics and the divisiveness we've gotten accustomed to this last decade or so, this truly breaks my heart. What has become of us as a society? Or I should rephrase, what has become of the Republican party as a societal faction of our population? This is the pro-life party? This is the party touting their Christianity? It's absolutely disgusting. And this comes on the heels of last week's audience strongly praising Rick Perry's execution record as Governor of Texas.

There are some criticizing the editing of this video because it cuts off Ron Paul's answer to the question. But the video isn't about Paul's answer, it's about the callousness of the audience. If you listen closely, Ron Paul says "no" when asked if society should let the hypothetical patient die before explaining about pre Medicare days and churches taking care of the sick, blah, blah, blah. Someone in the audience yells "YEAH!" at the thought of letting the patient die to hoots and hollers and it sounds like they're mostly in agreement. I'm sure if the dipshit audience member who yelled had a member of their family who was in that situation, he would think differently.

I also can't dismiss this as just two or three jackasses in the audience. They ALL applauded at the notion of letting the hypothetical patient fend for himself. It's not just two or three jackasses anymore. It's become mainstream GOP thinking. And if the nominees and the Republican leadership feel the need to kowtow to the Tea Party, then shame on them.

Just another example blowing apart the myth that both parties are the same.