Make Palin a Verb!

By spending $180,000 of other people’s money on spa treatments and other inconsequential crap for yourself and your family in the space of a few months? See the article at Politico. The GOP is a train wreck.

I especially like the shot of Bullwinkle with a ball-gag:

In a surprise move today, representatives from Al Qaeda met with Congressional leaders to request a $10 billion dollar bailout package. The meeting, at an undisclosed location, came amid reports that the terrorist organisation responsible for the 911 attacks was struggling financially as a result of the global economic crisis.

“We’re broke, basically,” says Farouk al-Hassan, spokesman for the group. “Terrorism is expensive at the best of times, but when even legitimate lines of credit start to dry up, it’s very difficult to get decent prices on Stinger missiles and Nikes packed with Semtex.”
…Continue reading Another bailout

Anyone following mainstream media outlets over the past week has seen a lot of articles on Obama’s picks to fill key administration positions. Many of these articles focus on the fact that a number of these picks worked for the Clinton Administration, and question whether these selections undermine Obama’s call for change. (CQ has a nice article on it here). At first I was confused, but have reached the point of being downright ticked off about this cockeyed narrative — which appears to have been manufactured for the sole purpose of creating conflict where there is none (conflict makes for good storytelling).

…Continue reading Let’s Get Something Straight

So, it appears that Edolphus Towns (D-NY) is the runaway favorite to take the chairmanship of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, with potential contenders Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) saying they won’t force the issue. But no one appears to have any idea what would be on his agenda for the committee, despite the fact that he has served in the House for over a quarter of a century (and I’ve asked a lot of Hill beat reporters about this). And there are very good reasons to be interested in what this committee will be up to.

…Continue reading Towns Likely to Get Oversight Committee Slot (and why you should care)

The Wall Street Journal did a nice job of deconstructing the ways in which the recent Ziegler/Zogby poll is problematic. I won’t go into it, because I can’t hold a candle to the column itself. Suffice to say that certain members of the Right Wing are more interested in slighting those who voted for Obama than doing any soul-searching about how to revitalize the GOP. To wit, the conservative Ziegler, who bankrolled the poll, said the poll shows that “a group of monkeys” know more about politics than Obama supporters. Nice, huh? I’m taking it somewhat out of context but, really, is there a good way to take it? Now, read the Wall Street Journal piece and educate yourselves — just to prove Ziegler wrong.

-Ship

Now that Ted Stevens has officially lost the Alaska Senate race to Mark Begich, the eyes of political junkies everywhere turn to Minnesota and Georgia. If Dems win the Senate seats up for grabs in those two states, they will have a 60-member caucus that can override stalling tactics in that chamber. Minnesota is engaged in a closely watched recount between former-comedian Al Franken and incumbent GOP Senator Norm Coleman. But Georgia, quite frankly, is where all the action is.

…Continue reading Getting Out the Georgia Vote

Today’s column from David Brooks in the NY Times is filled with cautious praise for Obama’s early moves in terms of filling key positions in the upcoming administration. It is surprising, inasmuch as Brooks is a conservative Republican columnist, but not as surprising as one might think. Brooks is definitely part of the intellectual branch of the GOP, and considers events carefully — rather than going into attack mode regardless of the evidence. At any rate, his column is worth reading. He provides lucid insight into the thinking of many GOP insiders — though not necessarily into the thinking of the party rank-and-file. Take this quote from today’s column: “I’m trying not to join in the vast, heaving O-phoria now sweeping the coastal haut-bourgeoisie. But the personnel decisions have been superb.” I doubt we’ll ever hear Rush Limbaugh say anything like that.

My favorite quote from the column? Here you go: “And yet as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons … I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama transition.” I’m all for inventing new words (ala “Achievatron”), as needed!

-Ship

Twas Inauguration — or, A Visit From Obama (apologies to C.C. Moore, and all of you)

Twas Inauguration, and in the White House,

Not a Neocon stirred, not one Leo Strauss.

The Democrats were lined up on Penn Ave. with care,

In hopes that Obama soon would be there.

…Continue reading An Inaugural Poem

This week has seen a flurry of speculation and confirmation on a ton of key Cabinet posts for the incoming Obama administration. Each of these picks could be a political minefield, so let’s take them one by one (and, no, I won’t even get to Clinton here).

Let’s start with the rumors that Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano will be tasked with leading the Department of Homeland Security, which are everywhere. One byproduct of that pick would be that the governorship of Arizona would go to a Republican, Secretary of State Jan Brewer (Arizona has no lieutenant governor).  This could give Brewer a good head start on a run for the Governor’s office in 2010. That’s especially significant because whoever has the governor’s office following the 2010 election will oversee the redrawing of political districts after the 2010 census results are issued. Five of Arizona’s eight House seats are currently Democratic. That number could shift dramatically if the GOP is in charge of redistricting in 2010. BUT WAIT, there’s more. Napolitano had been expected to challenge McCain for his Senate seat in 2010. Polls are split on who would win that race, but it would have been competitive. If Napolitano takes the DHS job, she’s out of the running to oppose McCain — likely giving him a relatively unobstructed path to re-election. Now, on to the next Cabinet pick …

…Continue reading Transition Fever (and political fallout)

Wow. That’s all I can say as the House Democrats have dethroned one of their most feared power players. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), longtime chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, has been ousted by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) in a close vote by the Democratic Caucus (137 to 122). This puts a long-time environmentalist (Waxman) in the slot that oversees fuel efficiency standards, instead of a long-time auto industry booster (Dingell). Waxman will also be overseeing healthcare issues — a key issue for the incoming Obama administration. So many questions. Will this create any sort of lasting schism within the Dem caucus? And who will take the seat Waxman is vacating? He was chair of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee — a panel that serves as a congressional watchdog that can investigate just about anything it wants to.

I think the new chair of the Oversight Committee is likely to be Edolphus Towns (D-NY), but I know little or nothing about him. What do you think? Will this create a schism? Will Towns run the Oversight Committee? What will the new agenda for both committees look like?

-Ship

UPDATE: Word on the street is that Elijah Cummings (D-MD) is angling for the Oversight chair, but Towns outranks him. Stay tuned!

Kathleen Parker has an excellent piece in the Washington Post.

In it she states that the problem with the Republican party is that they have tried too hard to cling to the religious (white, Christian) conservatives that brought Reagan to power and in the process have alienated other religious and ethnic groups.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth — as long as we’re setting ourselves free — is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

…

Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they’ve had something to do with the GOP’s erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can’t have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting.

I don’t know if I would have said “Depends sales meeting” but if you look through photos or videos of the conventions, rallies and the acceptance/concession speeches it is painfully clear that the crowds at the Democratic functions were much more diverse ethnically, economically and socially.

Every media outlet you can imagine has announced that Eric Holder will be Attorney General under the Barack Obama administration. This is another historic first for the federal government, as Holder will become the first African-American AG. However, it also sets up a number of interesting scenarios for his confirmation hearings. Given the overwhelming Democratic majority in the Senate, and the fact that Obama has almost certainly already tested the waters, I’m sure Holder will be confirmed fairly quickly. That being said, his confirmation hearings should give us a good idea as to how well Republicans and Democrats will work together in the new Congress. Here’s how …

While Holder has an exemplary record of public service (as a federal prosecutor, judge and DOJ official), he made one much-publicized mistake: he gave then-President Bill Clinton his de facto blessing to pardon Marc Rich. He has since stated publicly that it was an error. In other words, he has done something that Senate Republicans can bludgeon him with. If the GOP chooses to do so, it can pillory Holder for a day or two and try to present him as a partisan political hack — undermining his authority and dirtying his image before he has even taken office. This would signal another season of partisan strife in the Senate (the more even-keeled of the two houses of legislature), and would not bode well for behavior in the House. But Holder’s history gives the GOP another option …

In 1994, as the U.S. District Attorney for Washington, D.C., Holder prosecuted then-Democratic House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (a powerful man at the time). Rostenkowski ultimately pled guilty. This action gives Republicans an out. They can choose to remember Holder as an arbiter of justice, regardless of political affiliation, and use the Rostenkowski prosecution to counterbalance the Rich pardon. Sure, Holden still gets a slap on the wrist, but it would signal that the GOP (at least in the Senate) is not out for blood. If this happens, the signs would certainly be a little better for bipartisan legislative dealmaking.

In other words, pay close attention to these confirmation hearings — they could tell us a lot about how this Congress will comport itself.

-Ship

PS: It appears that Mark Begich has unseated Ted Stevens for the Alaska Senate seat. This keeps the Democratic dream of 60 seats in the Senate alive.

It’s been a good week for Sarah Palin. Let us count the ways: The New York Times reports that she does know that Africa is not a country, and that reports to the contrary from unnamed GOP sources were a hoax. She has been the media darling of the GOP governors’ meeting in Florida. And now it looks like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, one of her main competitors for the title of Republican Presidential Candidate in 2012, has been rattled by Palin’s popularity in the party. The Associated Press reports today that the “surprising ascendancy of … Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and her popularity among some GOP conservatives have left Romney wondering whether he could wage a viable second campaign for the White House, according to friends and advisers.”

…Continue reading A Good Week for Palin

Sarah was supposed to give a news conference today at the Republican Governer’s Conference, but instead of a press conference it turned into a briefing session with four questions. Of those four questions she actually answered zero.

Asked why she had held no news conferences during the election season, Palin responded that “I don’t even want to talk about strategy within a campaign that’s over.”

To each of the three other questions — about how she would use her political celebrity, why the ticket didn’t do better with women and Hispanic voters and what the message would be going forward — Palin turned each answer into a comment on Republican governors.

Isn’t it wonderful? She is well on her way to “plow(ing) through that door” in 2012 as she said in her FOX News Interview over the weekend.

As Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council said, “She is the future of the party. She can bring in those independents, those who have not historically voted Republican, like Ronald Reagan did.”

So I guess the future of the Republican Party is not answering questions in a press conference that you call.

The rallying cries have already started by the Republican faithful (read wacko Christian fundamentalist Republican core).

Jindal/Palin 2012!!

Are Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin really the future of the Republican Party? Let’s hope so.

In case you don’t know about Piyush “Bobby” Jindal, he believes that he performed an exorcism that miraculously cured melanoma whilst expelling those nasty evil spirits. He takes his nickname “Bobby” from a 1970’s TV character that he was too young to see, except for in syndication (Jindal was 6 when the show went off the air).

The Republican Party can’t be serious, can they? Sure Jindal is a good public speaker, sure he can handle himself well under fire, but don’t they think that he and Palin are a bit too much to the right of majority of Americans?

This should be fun!

CNN reports that Sarah Palin is offering to help Obama in his new administration. That is awfully generous of her, though I’m at a loss as to what she would help with. Or, for that matter, why Obama would want advice from someone who accused him of palling around with terrorists. Speaking of which, Palin highlighted her generosity of spirit by saying she is still happy to blast Obama because he is acquainted with Bill Ayers (former member of the Weather Underground).

From her interview with Wolf Blitzer: “If anybody still wants to talk about it, I will,” she said. “Because this is an unrepentant domestic terrorist who had campaigned to blow up, to destroy our Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol”That’s an association that still bothers me, and I think it’s fair to still talk about it,” she continued. She then added, in a shocking bit of hypocrisy (given the previous two sentences that had just left her mouth): “However, the campaign is over. That chapter is closed.” Hey, way to foster bipartisanship Sarah!

How could Obama resist an invitation from Palin after rhetoric like that?

In her interview with Matt Lauer that was broadcast yesterday on The Today Show, Sarah blames “bloggers in their parents’ basement just talking garbage” for all of the bad press she got during her campaign.

Sarah was also on Fox News’ Greta this week, where she coined the term “sarah-centric”.

Not much new comes out in these interviews, she gives a great non answer about taking over Ted Stevens’ US Senate seat and a Presidential bid in 2012. She denies having anything to do with the wardrobe scandal. The NY Times has a more in depth analysis of her interviews.

Hopefully she’ll have some more interesting things to say during the Republican Governors Association Conference in Miami today. Wonkette has a nice schedule of events to attend if you happen to be at the conference.

And Sarah, I’ll have you know that I am in my own basement, I moved out of my parents’ basement in 1984.

The problem, many GOP pundits are claiming, is that the McCain/Palin ticket was too liberal. Salon.com’s Gary Kamiya lays the argument out in a great article that can be found here. The idea that McCain lost because he was not sufficiently conservative does not help explain the significant GOP losses in the House, Senate and gubernatorial races this year or in 2006. Nonetheless, that is the argument that is being made. Citing a poll that shows 69 percent of Republicans support Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh says, “So all of you wizards of smart on our side, all of you intellectualoids who think that Palin was a drag, the party loves Sarah Palin.” But, as always, hyperbole isn’t a solution to the GOP’s problem. The GOP faces two complicated hurdles:

…Continue reading GOP Bashes Its Intellectuals, But Faces Two Major Hurdles

Well, it’s happening sooner rather than later. Politico is reporting that Republicans are already jockeying for position to be the presidential candidate of the GOP in 2012. It’s a long list, but one thing really jumps out: the list is heavy on candidates with strong social conservative backgrounds and short on politicos with any real credentials as small-government fiscal conservatives. Here’s the list (with a few additions of my own). Let me know what you think of the contenders:

…Continue reading Yikes! Jockeying Already Under Way for 2012 GOP Presidential Bid