The GOP's Only Viable 2016 Presidential Candidate: Ben Ghazi

by Sunnyjane

Americans are able to detect the most subtle forms of Democrat-electaphobia.

Because George W. Bush's two terms were so successful -- and Barack Obama has been a disaster for the country -- the Republican Tea Party is anxious to put a shiny new further-right creep in the White House.  There are plenty of contenders for this assignment, of course; so many that, like 2012, they're stumbling over themselves already.  Thirty months before the general election, there are, by the most conservative count, four governors, four senators, and at least one representative -- their esteemed failed 2012 vice-presidential candidate -- who wish to wear the mantle of President of the United States. 

They're pretty sure they know who the Democratic candidate will be: Hillary Clinton.  If they can get rid of her with Benghazi, and impeach President Obama at the same time, there will be new Batmobiles for all, and the Koch brothers will have a standing invitation to all White House events.

Let's face it, they've got nothing else to let loose on the Democrats.  The economy is improving, the jobless rate is looking much better, the deficit is going down, the stock market has made a dramatic recovery, and Obamacare is kicking ass.  And not one of their supposed Obama Scandals has gained an iota of traction.  So, let's hound BENGHAZI to death!

A New Truth-Virgin for Eighth Benghazi Hearing

Hey man, just a bit of advice: the Daffy Duck look isn't working for you.

Since Darrell Issa failed miserably in his umpteen Benghazi hearings on this issue, John Boehner brought in new, um, talent.  Trey Gowdy, who once called Nancy Pelosi mind-numbingly stupid for suggesting that the GOP was going after Eric Holder in order to advance their voter suppression tactics, is now taking the lead on getting the truth, by God, about who did what in an under-secured U.S. consulate in Libya.  Gowdy has already shown his hand on this by referring to the hearings as a trial where, obviously, he's the prosecutor and the Obama administration is the defendant: If an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.  I guess Boehner didn't explain to him what a hearing actually is. 

The GOPers' rationale for this new Select Committee on Benghazi is that all the questions have not been answered.  Well, actually they have; not getting the responses you so badly desire doesn't mean the questions haven't been answered. All told, there have been five different congressional reports; seven different congressional investigations; eight different subpoenas  issued; thirteen hearings; twenty-five transcribed interviews conducted; fifty different briefings for staff and members; twenty-five thousand pages of documents produced by the administration; and one partridge in a pear tree.  Believe it or not, even Chuck Todd is saying that it's pretty ridiculous of the House to indulge themselves in this show:  It’s like investigating who cut down one tree in a forest that’s been burned down. 

Gowdy has stacked the committee with seven Republicans and only five Democrats, so it's hardly what one could call bipartisan.  In fact, Nancy Pelosi hasn't yet decided whether her party will even participate; it ends up being a situation where House Democrats are now caught between a rock and a hard place. 

Of course, this is nothing but a Republican Tea Party fundraising exercise, about which the White House is royally pissed.  Why?  Well, you might remember the 2012 squawking from the right on the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's demise, during which the GOP accused the Obama campaign of politicizing the anniversary.  Oh, the hypocrisy.

You Want a Scandal?  Take...Your...Pick

 Could you tell us again where those WMDs in Iraq got to?

And speaking of Crazy Uncles...

Let's do a semi-oranges-to-oranges comparison here.  In 2006, four Americans, including diplomat David Foy, were killed at the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan.  This consulate had been attacked three times, and it is believed that Foy was the main target: his car was blown to smithereens by a bomb so devastating that the explosion left a huge crater and ten cars parked nearby were also destroyed.  The outcome?  No hearings, no outrage.  And who was the Secretary of State at the time?  Condoleezza Rice.

During her Senate confirmation hearings to become Secretary of State in 2005, Ms. Condi was grilled hard by Democrats who questioned her role in spreading the false intelligence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.  John McCain was livid and said, in part, We can disagree on policy and we disagree on a lot of things, but I think it is very clear that Condoleezza Rice is a person of integrity. 
 
So, the Benghazi Consulate was attacked on September 11, 2012, and what happened?  All hell broke loose on the GOP side of the aisle.  Using the only information she had at the time, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice explained on all the following Sunday morning shows what had occurred.  After it was learned this her information was not correct, John McCain raged that Rice was guilty of, at a minimum, not being very bright, and was certainly unfit to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.

How many Transfer of Remains ceremonies did President George Bush participate in when the caskets carrying sixty Americans arrived on U.S. soil during his two terms?  ZILCH.  ZERO.  How many did his Secretary(s) of State attend?  DITTO.

President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton at Transfer of Remains Ceremony, September 2012

And so it continues, because they've got nothing else.  Well, if they intend to take on Hillary Clinton again, they'd better be very careful; they'll have to face her during debates leading up to the 2016 election.   We can be sure that Ms. Clinton will, um, remind them that she warned against budget cuts and the effect they would have on safety and security at American embassies and consulates around the world.  Adding insult to injury, the GOP budget gurus have cut another $400 million from the 2014 budget.  Why?  Because Paul Ryan, Darrell Issa, Jason Chaffetz, and other house republicans consider Embassy Security as a non-defense discretionary spending item that isn’t really necessary.

End Note

 

GOP Still Obsessing Over Growing Success of the Healthcare Act

by Sunnyjane

GOP:  Curses!  This was supposed to be Obama's Katrina!

Oh yes, dear readers, the FUBAR surrounding the October 1, 2013, debut of the President's signature legislation website was gleefully panned by GOPers as the end of that dastardly Affordable Care Act.  Well, by December 1, fifty thousand uninsured Americans an hour were able to access the site, and the Republican Tea Party echo chamber became just the dark-hole vacuum from which it had originally emerged. 

Whaddaya Mean, It's Constitutional?

 
President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 23, 2010; the Supreme Court of the United States found on June 28, 2012, that, except for mandatory expansion of Medicaid in all states, the law was constitutional.  And the Republicans still haven't gotten over it.

Mitt Romney said right after the SCOTUS decision that, if elected in November, he would repeal the law on Day One.  Now either Romney is totally ignorant of the job he wanted so badly concerning the Constraints of Presidential Powers, or he thought his idiot followers were stupid enough to believe him.  Either is a legitimate possibility.  But a president cannot simply sign some sort of repeal paper to get rid of a law he doesn't like.  It's called Separation of Powers, a little thingy the Founders stuck in the Constitution for a damn good reason: to prevent such an act without a consenting majority vote in both the House and Senate.

And the Hits Just Keep on Coming, But Miss Their Target

Lots of people hate Obamacare -- or so they think.  In Kentucky, where one in every five adults has been without healthcare insurance, a public health worker helped a man sign up for the Affordable Care Act.  The man was very pleased that he would qualify for either tax credits under KYTECT -- the Kentucky healthcare exchange chosen by their Democratic governor -- or would be eligible to join a Medicaid pool.  He said, This is better than Obamacare, I hope.   (Can you say Fox News zombie?) 

There's a lot of that going around, and Republicans are fueling it:

**It's been popular for the GOPers to warn young people against signing up for healthcare under the new act because they'd be unfairly charged more than older citizens.  DUH!  That's what any health insurance is based on.  However, that hasn't worked out very well for these, um, lawmakers.
 

**Ted Cruz tried to pull another stunt by tying defunding of the AHA to the $1.1 trillion spending bill.  That didn't work.

**California Republicans tried a dirty trick (shades of Karl Rove) by directing people looking for the AHA to go to a fake website that aimed to scare people from signing up.  Just as an example, the website told senior citizens that there probably wouldn't be enough doctors.  I don't know who they're calling senior citizens; anyone sixty-two or older usually has Medicare.  (And just as an aside, why does Medicare spend $29 million a year to pay for penis pumps?  No, seriously!)

**Marco Rubio is passing around the lie that the AHA is an insurance company bailout.

**Rand Paul says that his twenty-year-old son was forced to sign up for Medicaid.  That, my friends, is bullshit.  The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler is doing an on-going investigation on the issue, writing recently: The available evidence suggests this happened because of an error on the part of either Paul or his son, but there are enough uncertainties that a definitive conclusion cannot be reached. Paul earns the [two] Pinocchios because the process he described on television does not match up with the Kynect screen shots. 

**John Boehner -- you know him, he's supposed to be the Speaker of the House -- stated this past week that at the up-coming Republican retreat, healthcare will be on their agenda.  I think you'll see Republicans come forward with a plan to replace 'Obamacare,' a plan that will actually reduce costs for the American people and make health insurance more accessible.  Very timely, John, so very timely.

**The House passed a bill that would require Health and Human Services to provide them with weekly number on ACA instead of monthly numbers.  Ain't going to happen.

End Note:  President Obama's Up Yours to the Moralists 

 

Amen!

What to Expect When You're Expecting the GOP's Worst in 2014

by Sunnyjane

John Boehner:  Congress should not be judged on how many laws we pass.  Congress ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.

A House Divided

House Report Card: Members do not work and play well with others.

It's hardly breaking news that the House session ending in early January 2014 has been the least productive in history.  Speaker John Boehner has accused at least three different factions for this dubious recognition:  President Obama for not working with the congress; the Democratic-controlled Senate for not doing its job; and the battle royal between the Republican pragmatists and ideologues that force him to leave the office early and go sprinting to the nearest D.C. watering hole for an injection of Merlot. 

This year is one of elections for all members of the House of Representatives, some senators, and a few governors.  Karl Rove and Scott Reed, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's chief political strategist, are planning to spend tons of money to see that no losers end up as Republican candidates in 2014.  Scott told the Wall Street Journal recently, That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.

As Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post says, Wanna bet?

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone also has a hilarious post on this topic, at one point wondering if Ted Cruz will choose Phil Robertson as his more moderate running mate.

Speaking of Fools...

It's easy to understand why Scott Reed and Karl Rove might be a tad anxious about idiots running on the Republican ticket in 2014; there is already too much irreconcilable imbecility in both houses of congress.  A brief review of some typical Tea Party Republican legislators making fools of the entire party in 2013 confirms that these two strategists have every right to be uneasy.

Rep. Joe Barton, TPF- (Tea Party Fool) TX:  It should be noted, first and foremost, that Rep. Barton serves on the House Energy and Power and the Environment and Economy subcommittees.  Given those responsibilities, he has a long history of making the most outlandish anti-science statements ever heard from a representative who has to make policy on energy.   To wit, on wind energy technology, he has offered the notion that wind is a finite resource and harnessing it would slow the winds down, which would cause the temperature to go up.  (There's so much wrong with that statement -- beginning with wind being finite -- that I refuse to waste my time dissecting it.)  And on the causes of climate change, he suggests strongly that If you believe in the Bible, one would have to say the Great Flood is an example of climate change.  That certainly wasn’t because mankind overdeveloped hydrocarbon energy.

Rep. Trent Franks, TPF-AZ: Trent took exception to exempting pregnancies caused by rape and incest from provisions of an anti-abortion bill, because of course, ...you know, the incidences of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low.  But when you make that exception, there’s usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours.  And in this case, that’s impossible because this is in the sixth month of gestation. 

Rep. Louie Gohmert, TPF-TX:  On immigration, Gohmert said, We know that people that are now being trained to come in and act like Hispanic when they are radical Islamist.  (He failed to explain exactly how one can act like Hispanic, but I'm sure that his remark warmed the hearts of Republican moderates trying attract the Latino vote.)  And of course, this is the same Louie Gohmert who was outraged that Attorney General Eric Holder was trying to cast aspersions on my asparagus. 

I know the U. S. Constitution forbids any sort of religious test for folks running for elected office, but heavens to Murgatroid, might it not be a good idea to check out a candidate's basic knowledge of science and biology?  Oh, and vegetables.

What Can We Expect from the Media in 2014?

The extra 20% is those Fox News viewers who don't even  know what scientists are.

Oh, just a couple of things to consider here: 

1.  Will Jim DeMint work it so that David Gregory of NBC is replaced by Phil Robertson?

2.  Will not-running-in-2014 Michele Bachmann replace Sarah Palin on Fox News?

3.  Will Alex Baldwin land a reality show on A&E, where he'll fit right in?

4. Will Sarah Palin, political pundint, get Willow a job styling birther honcho Donald Trump's hair? 

     4A: Can Willow possibly teach her stupid mother the correct way to wear a wig?

5. Will Chuck Todd learn the difference between a finicky website and an excellent healthcare insurance plan?

6. Will every political analyst, commenter, and guest expert on news shows cease the obnoxious  habit of beginning every response to a host's question with Well, I mean, look...
      
    6A: Will the media learn the difference between less and fewer?  Hint to media talkers and writers:  Less traffic, fewer automobiles.  See, isn't that easy?

   6B:  Will the media ever learn that the past tense of sink is sank, not sunk?  It's OK, media; sank is not a dirty word.

Can the RNC Ever Get Its Minority-Vote Thing Right?

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus is going to slip a disk if he continues to bend over backwards to lure African Americans -- and other minorities -- to vote for his party.

On December 1, the fifty-eighth anniversary of Rosa Parks's brave act of defiance in Birmingham, Alabama, the always-racially-tone-deaf RNC sent a tweet out that read Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism.  It's too bad no one told James Earl Ray, who killed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., thirteen years later.

Right on the heels of that little social-media faux pas, Priebus sent Rand Paul parachuting into Detroit to open the GOP's first African American Outreach office -- or something like that.  They invited people to show up and hear Sen. Paul speak on the subject of how Republicans are going to do more for African Americans than Democrats.  People showed up.  They were white.  The end.

And just recently, Chairman Priebus and Co-Chairperson Sharon Day (I guess including Day was to show how much they Love you women!) sent out a Happy Kwanzaa statement commemorating an event that celebrates African history and culture.  Even conservative media called it pandering to blacks.

Wait for the RNC to tweet Happy Chinese New Year (celebrated in all Asian countries) on February 9, and Happy Cinco de Mayo on May 5.  

These meaningless gestures and transparent platitudes insult the intelligence of those targeted demographics and those white in this country who fight for the civil liberties of ALL Americans. 

Let's face it: the only difference between a gun-totting, Bible-clutching white supremacist and a Tea Party member of the GOP is the number of tattoos emblazoned on their bodies.

Will Ted Cruz Continue to be a Lying Obstructionist?

Yes.  Yes, he will.

Sen. Cruz has denied that he caused the government shutdown by threatening that identical action back in September if the Affordable Care Act was not defunded.  He stood in the Senate Chamber and read Green Ham and Eggs for -- I don't know, twenty-one hours or so.  We know the results and the ensuing backlash it caused.

President Obama's response to that bit of showboating was: One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn’t get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of the election.  The idea of putting the American people’s hard-earned progress at risk is the height of irresponsibility and doesn’t have to happen.  You don’t get to extract a ransom for doing your job.  

Cruz is getting as bad as Sarah Palin when it comes to makin' stuff up, many times for no reason at all.  During his filibuster, he included (for no apparent reason and to no one's interest whatsoever) the, um, fact that My father invented green ham and eggs and talked about watching his father prepare the dish. This is quite interesting, since Dr. Seuss wrote that book in 1960 and Ted wasn't born until 1970.  (Even if Raul really told him that, most children outgrow these little stories their parents tell them, like thunder is just God doing his thing at the Heavenly Kingdom Bowling Alley located right behind the Harps R Us store on Pearly Gates Road.)

He is still calling on his fellow Republicans to block immigration reform because it would mean the GOP has no chance of winning the Senate in 2014.

Yes, Cruz will continue to lie and obstruct.  And every time he does, another conservative donor will write a large check to the Democratic Party.

Will Darrell Issa Finally Stop Talking About Benghazi?

Keep digging!  There's gotta be a way to blame Obama and Clinton!

No.  No, he won't.

Just for the record, Darrell Issa is a nasty, dishonest, scheming, mean, vile human being with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  Any one who believes he has reformed after his criminal activities before getting into congress needs a cerebral MRI -- stat!

Democrat Anthony Clark, who worked on the GOP's House oversight committee, summed up Darrell Issa quite well in an excellent post at Salon: If Darrell Issa says something – based on the record, his statements, and my personal observations of him up-close – there is a strong likelihood it will be baseless and easily disproven.

Clark goes on to reveal that Issa is an inept Chairman who doesn't even know the rules under which he is to hold hearings or the legal powers accorded him in  that position.  He also lets it be known that Issa is a bully: The more bombastic he is, the more he hungrily seeks out the cameras, the more he promises “explosive revelations,” the less he actually has. Bullies don’t win fights; they win defaults. Push back just the tiniest bit, and it’s all over. 

Darrell Issa is so sleazy that when he demanded that Health and Human Services turn over highly sensitive documents to him regarding the Healthcare.gov website, he was refused because of his track record as an untrustworthy guardian of secrets.

On Benghazi, Issa has always insisted that the anti-Islam American-made film, Innocence of Muslims, had nothing to do with the rioting at the American Embassy that resulted in the death of four people.  Regardless of the source, evidence presented to him will not satisfy his lust to bring some scandal raining down the Obama administration. 

The Republican-controlled House twice cut funding for better security at American embassies worldwide, in 2011 by $128 million and in 2012 by $331 million because, You have to prioritize things.  And, obviously, security at embassies is not a priority.  Pointing one's finger and yelling Bang, bang at a well-armed horde of terrorists is hardly an effective deterrent.

And, of course, the Benghazi conclusions reached in the New York Times' recent article was simply to absolve Hilary Clinton. 

It matters not to Darrell Issa; he doesn't believe in real evidence.  Despite the fact that he has called President Obama one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times, but has never succeeded in making one accusation stick, he will continue to waste the tax payers' money and congressional time in trying.  Please proceed, Mr. Chairman.

Will Republicans Continue to Try to Impeach the President?

Of course they will.  

The first meeting of the committee to Get Obama the Hell Out of the White House came to the conclusion that The president has ignored laws, failed to enforce laws, undermined laws and changed laws, all contrary to the Constitution.

And the President's response? 

Heh. 

A Personal Indulgence, If I May

This is one of my favorite images of 2013.  No words are needed, except to say that Pete Souza certainly knows how to capture the most powerful and significant moments during the President's time in office.

End Note -- Happy New Year, GOP!

    

'Groundswell': Stirring the Pot of Congressional Dysfunction

by Sunnyjane

But before I do that, my king-sized Sippy Cup needs a Merlot refill!

It's no secret that the House of Representatives is the most malfunctioning organ in the body politic of the United States government.

There's a history, of course: In 2008, John McCain lost and Barack Obama won.  And things haven't been quite the same since.  The new President's first -- and last -- highly significant legislation to pass into law was the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, which he signed in March of 2010.

The Taxed Enough Already movement (the Tea Party) was already making noises about government spending and lower taxes.  Then they got co-opted by the shrilling extreme right and their message turned to social issues.  Thus, by the November mid-term election, they ushered in a bunch of the most contemptible anti-Americans ever to enter that hallowed chamber.  Thus we -- and John Boehner, who became the Speaker of the House -- were cursed with the most Do-Nothing legislative body in history.

Boehner not only has the Teabaggers to endure, he also has to put up with outside groups -- yeah, they're lobbyists, regardless of what they call themselves -- who threaten dire election consequences for Republicans who go against them.  So now, to steal a quote from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, they are engaged in a great civil war for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.  Or something like that.

Is it any wonder Boehner drinks?  (Oh, there's no truth to the rumor that Boehner limps because of an old football injury.  He actually fell off his stool in a sports bar.)

What is Groundswell and Why Does it Matter?

Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, wife of Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarance Thomas, is the maker and shaker of Groundswell, a super-clandestine group of far-far-right Tea Partiers who see the Obama administration through the foggy lens of tyranny!  That is not hyperbole, dear readers; this group consists of such teabagging luminaries as former ambassador (thank God) John Bolton, former (ditto) GOP representative Allen West, journalists (huh?) from Breitbart.com, and a top aid to Sen. Ted Cruz.  Are you getting the picture here?

As David Corn of Mother Jones reported last summer, the Groundswellers have launched a
30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation.  How will they win this war?  With what they hope is persuasive messaging, of course.  Like Reince Priebus, it's not their policies that are losing voters, it's the message, stupid!  And they know their audience well, using phrases such as the low-information voters, writing their propaganda on a 4th grade level, and using images like Humpty Dumpty that voters can identify with to get their points across.  (How sad is this, I ask you!) 

Immigration Reform and the Spanking of Marco Rubio

I didn't mean to take a LEFT, honestly I didn't!

Groundswell has a lot of hissy-fit issues with President Obama and Democratic lawmakers, of course, but none is as critical to them as Immigration Reform: If we lose on immigration, we lose on every other issue. The key to defeating this bill is Sen. Rubio.

Marco Rubio was one of the Gang of 8, a bipartisan group assembled in late January 2013 to tackle Immigration Reform.  Being from Florida and of Cuban ancestry, Sen Rubio seemed a perfect choice to take on this important task -- particularly in light of the stiff-arming the GOP got from Latinos in the November 2012 general election.   But the Republican was in a quandary, you see, because the teabaggers got him elected and they want nothing to do with immigration reform.  It is interesting (ahem) what Rubio did in March: he actually donated $30,000 from his leadership PAC to Jim DeMint's Senate Conservative Action group, which is closely connected to Groundswell!  

The Immigration Reform bill put together by the Gang of 8 was passed in the Senate in June.  However, Boehner said it would never be brought to the House without major redo because he thinks immigration reform should come in steps.  

My, my, my!

Groundswells' War on Karl Rove

Uber-GOP Strategist Karl Rove is pretty sick of his party losing winnable elections because the most unelectable candidates were selected to run against their Democratic opponents.  Still smarting from the 2012 election, in February Rove put together a group called the Conservative Victory Project, which plans to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.  (Translation: Forget about those Tea Party candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Todd Akin, and Richard Mourdock!) 

Groundswell, however, has an entirely opposite goal.  They'll most likely end up embracing such people as Tea Party extremist Dr. Greg Brannon of North Carolina, who is for all the most radical positions in America today.  To whit, he's against public education because it dehumanizes students; he doesn't believe that states have to follow Supreme Court decisions; he thinks that bipartisan compromises enslave Americans; he believes the late Jesse Helms was a modern hero; and he supports secession so that to achieve a free and independent Southern republic.  Oh, yes, and he's been endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul.

Good luck with this, Karl.

End Note

  

The GOP and Another Year of Doing Nothing -- But Expertly!

by Sunnyjane

Official conclusion:  NO HEART DETECTED.   And the year went downhill from there.

Thirteen months ago, Barack Obama won and Mitt Romney lost.  It was a humiliating loss, one that many in the GOP have not yet gotten over.  But National Republican Committee chairman Reince Priebus declared that his party would undergo a political autopsy to see how it could expand its base to be more, ahem, inclusive for those demographics that voted for Barack Obama.

About all that came out of that autopsy was that the Republican Tea Party's policy were sound, but the messaging was lousy.  Of course, shortly after that, Priebus told the party that it should embrace uber-conservative Mike Huckabee as its model.   Great message, Reince; that outta do it!

O GOP, O GOP, Wherefore Art Thou, GOP?

All clowns, regardless of race, gender, or religion are welcome to enter.

The Grumpy Old Partisan party is terminally ill and, no, it's not one of those conditions covered under Obamacare.  This self-inflicted malady is known as Policy Messaging in the Crapper and occurs when you allow the body politic to be overrun by any faction  -- however looney -- who just might vote for you or vote against you.  The losers who fawn over Sarah Palin are a prime example: they're the ones who think fine art is a tattoo of Jesus brandishing an AR-15.  

Full disclosure: I'd be against -- and write about it with glowing disgust -- almost any policy the GOP came up with.  The problem is, I have no earthly idea WHAT their damn policies are!  And I believe that this is exactly the issue:  they cannot announce a policy because of the sizable -- and divisive -- forces making it impossible to develop any significant policies.  So, in the absence of an agenda based on their plans to govern, they just say NO to anything the President or the Democratic-held Senate proposes.

As the President said to Congressional leaders on December 4, You owe it to the American people to tell us what you are for, not just what you’re against.

Immigration Reform, Amigo?  No problemo!

Senor, mi papa es loco!  No se lo digas a nadie!

Translation:  Sir, my father is crazy!  Don't tell anyone!  The House says it will pass immigration reform -- probably not the Senate's version -- later next year.   See, if they pass it this year, or too early next year, the Latino voters they'd like to get into the tent might forget about it by the election in November.  Couldn't have that, now could we?

Frankly, they don't realize that they have at their fingertips the best argument against immigration reform: Rafael Cruz, father of Canadian Senator Ted Cruz (H/T Martin Bashir).  One could easily make the case that no one who is this spiteful towards our country, given the lies and crazy things he's spewing forth to his ignorant followers, should be granted citizenship.   But the GOP can pretty well expect their efforts to be a bust; Latinos know well who is responsible for wasting precious time on an issue that is near and dear to them, just as African Americans will not likely forget that Sen. Cruz said earlier this year  We need 100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.

And leave it to John Boehner to kick himself in the ass by refusing to meet with the Fasting 4 Families group who camped out in front of the Capitol; even when they went to his office,  Boehner refused to see them.  Said his spokesman, The Speaker remains committed to a step-by-step process to fix our broken immigration system.

However, the President and the First Lady -- that would be the Obamas -- went to the Fasters and met with them in their tent.  Do ya see, John, why Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America?

  

Of course, John Boehner is behind the 8-Ball on this one: if he passes immigration reform he loses the racists; if he doesn't pass immigration reform, he's certain to lose the Latino vote.  Added to that, he could lose his Speaker of the House position when the 114th Congress convenes in January 2015; no doubt Eric Cantor haunts Boehner's wine-fueled dreams nightly.

(It's not that John Boehner drinks too much; it's just that he hates to enter the cocktail hour totally sober.)

Iran Nuclear Treaty Causes GOP Heartburn

Peace through diplomacy over war through stupidity.

While the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief when Iran and six major powers around the globe agreed to a six-month treaty to keep that Middle East country from further developing nuclear weapons, with some sanctions restored, the GOP went -- in typical fashion -- absolutely batshit crazy.

The first to display his ignorance and loathing was John Cornyn of Texas, who decried the deal as an Obamacare distraction.

He is wrong, of course.  Now, you're hearing this for the first time, but I happen to be privy to the truth!  Yes, dear readers, this Politicalgates writer has had her ear to the ground and it so happens that it was not the Iran thingy that the President used to distract from the issue the healthcare website.  It was -- don't repeat this -- his clever manipulation of the calendar to ensure that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah occurred at the same time!


GOP: Healthcare Website is Obama's Katrina

It's very true that the healthcare website got off to a less than stellar beginning.  As of December 1, however, it seems to be working quite well, and many Americans are signing up.   That's good news for the entire country.  As of December 3, more than 1.5 million people have signed up.  According to a new report, the ACA is expected to cost billions of dollars less than originally projected.  Wait for GOP heads to explode.

And, President Obama has never uttered the phrases Mission Accomplished or Heckova a job, Brownie!

Something to think about before we leave this subject:  If the healthcare website works only 114 days next year, it will be longer than the House of Representatives will work.

End Note -- The 2013 GOP Sequester