PERRspectives: February 2010 Archives

February 2010 Archives

	The Resurrection of Lamar Alexander In May 1996, a sheepish businessman admitted to a hotel bellhop, "There's a guy in the lobby who was running for president two months ago, and now I've forgotten his name." When the bellhop told him the man was the former Tennessee Governor, the businessman quickly remembered, "that's right, Lamar Alexander." Now, 14 years after he hung up his trademark red and black flannel shirt as he exited the 1996 Republican presidential primaries, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander suddenly matters again.... more Posted on February 28, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Revives the "Starve the Beast" Amendment "My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years," Reagan Revolutionary Grover Norquist boasted, "to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." Now, a generation after Norquist launched his crusade, Republican White House hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty are leading a new charge to "starve the beast." Even as these Republicans call for new Treasury-draining tax cuts, they are resurrecting a bad idea whose time never came: a balanced budget... more Posted on February 27, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Pawlenty Calls for End to GOP's ER Health Care Plan For years, Republican leaders including President George W. Bush, former House Minority Leader Tom Delay and current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have insisted that "no American is denied health care in America" because "you just go to an emergency room." Apparently, Minnesota Governor and 2012 White House Republican hopeful Tim Pawlenty didn't read the memo on the GOP's emergency room health care plan. On Monday, the man who calls himself T-Paw told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren (around the... more Posted on February 26, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	At Health Care Summit, GOP Repeats Same "Start Over" Talking Point from July At Thursday's White House health care summit, President Obama pleaded with the participants for "a discussion, and not just us trading talking points." Alas, as Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander made clear from the get-go, the President was destined for disappointment. In his opening remarks, Alexander insisted Democrats should abandon the bills they've already passed and start from a fresh sheet of paper. But in proclaiming that "This is a car that can't be recalled and fixed and we ought to... more Posted on February 25, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	White House Summit Highlights Republican Malpractice Myths In the run-up to Thursday's White House health care summit, the Washington Post's Ezra Klein documented "the six Republican ideas already in the health-care reform bill." Among these is the GOP's favorite whipping boy, tort reform. But the Senate provision which "encourages states to develop new malpractice systems and suggests that Congress fund the most promising experiments" will never mollify Republicans determined to enact draconian curbs on malpractice awards to, as they say, "end junk lawsuits." As for the "sorry... more Posted on February 25, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	National Shame Yoo's "Gift to the Obama Presidency" As the Scooter Libby affair showed, no one circles the wagons like the Republican Party and its conservative allies. Now that Bush torture architects John Yoo and Jay Bybee barely escaped disbarment in the final version of the report from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, the right-wing counterattack and near orgasmic celebration is well underway. Leading the clarion call is none other than John Yoo himself, who in his Wall Street Journal op-ed today proclaimed his legacy of... more Posted on February 24, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	CBO Latest to Confirm Success of Stimulus With its estimate Tuesday that the $787 billion Obama stimulus package created up to 2.1 million jobs in the last quarter of 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) joined in the near-unanimous chorus of voices proclaiming the package's success. Of course, it wasn't just the overwhelming consensus of economists which concurred that the stimulus saved or created about two million jobs while adding over three percentage points to U.S. gross domestic product. As the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal,... more Posted on February 23, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Crushed Testicles, Civilian Massacres, Nuclear Blasts and Yoo The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility final conclusion that Bush torture team lawyers should not face misconduct penalties has triggered triumphant celebrations in right-wing circles. The Wall Street Journal rejoiced in "Vindicating John Yoo" that the "Bush lawyers are found to have acted ethically, unlike their accusers." In the National Review, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino of all people claimed "partisan politics are alive and well at the Justice Department." For his part, Glenn Greenwald demolished their arguments... more Posted on February 23, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	On Taxes, Heroes and Patriots On Monday, the daughter of Austin IRS suicide pilot Joseph Stack proclaimed her father a "hero." By joining the anti-government agitators, white supremacists, militia groups and other right-wing extremists in lauding him for standing up to the "injustice" of "the system," she like them dishonored true heroes like Vietnam veteran Vernon Hunter killed in Stack's terror attack. And they stand in sharp contrast to Joe Biden's fitting if widely mocked 2008 pronouncement that it's "patriotic" for wealthier Americans to pay... more Posted on February 22, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Pawlenty Swings 9 Iron, Clubs Self After his dismal performance at this weekend's CPAC conference, Minnesota Governor and 2012 White House hopeful Tim Pawlenty might want to ask for a mulligan. Before finishing a distant fourth in the CPAC straw poll, Pawlenty's speech was panned by the conservative faithful he sought to impress. Worse still, his painful Tiger Woods "9 iron" joke about "big government" not only fell flat, but only served to highlight Governor Pawlenty's dependence on the very federal stimulus funds he routinely denounces.... more Posted on February 21, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Bush 400 For Democrats wavering in their resolve to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, shocking new data from the IRS should hopefully stiffen their backbones. Between 2001 and 2007, the 400 richest taxpayers doubled their annual incomes to an average of $345 million, while their effective tax rate plummeted to only 16.6% from 29.4% in 1993. Following recent analyses confirming that income inequality in the United States has reached record levels, noted tax journalist David Cay Johnston summed... more Posted on February 19, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Austin Attack Highlights Dangerous Anti-IRS Rhetoric Thursday's suicide airplane attack on the Austin office of the Internal Revenue Service by a disgruntled tax protester has once again focused attention on dangerously inflammatory anti-IRS rhetoric. To be sure, the language was threatening. "Gestapo-like tactics." "The IRS is out of control!" "Which would you prefer: having your wallet or purse stolen or being audited by the IRS?" "You don't need to send in armed personnel in flak jackets." "Well Mr. Big Brother IRS Man, let's try something different,... more Posted on February 18, 2010 \| Comments (4)

	For Republicans, Stimulus Reality Bites Back in January, a CNN poll revealed that "nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted." But one year after the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was signed into law, the numbers - and the overwhelming consensus of economists - tell the tale of its success. And as it turns out, that consensus is shared by dozens of Republican Congressmen whose money... more Posted on February 17, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Capture of Taliban Leader Destroys Latest GOP Talking Point Last week, former Bush speechwriter and full-time torture apologist Marc Thiessen introduced perhaps the most comically hypocritical talking point in the perpetual Republican jihad against the Obama administration's war policies. In "Dead Terrorists Tell No Tales," Thiessen fretted that under President Obama, the United States is killing its enemies before getting a chance to torture them first. Six days later, the Washington Post amplified that line, warning "under Obama, more targeted killings than captures in counterterrorism efforts." But the revelation... more Posted on February 16, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	God Talks to Joe the Plumber. Again. If Joe Lieberman was the biggest ingrate in American politics, Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher is surely now the first. While Lieberman betrayed Barack Obama only months after Obama campaigned for him in Connecticut, the Plumber turned Tea Bagger has now turned his back on John McCain and Sarah Palin. Which can only mean that God must be talking to Joe the Plumber again. On Saturday, Joe revealed his disdain for his benefactors during a "Mobilize for Liberty" event in... more Posted on February 15, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	The Tea Party's Taxing Logic Back in September, "10 Lessons for Tea Baggers" documented a set of inescapable truths which the frothing-at-the-mouth followers of the Tea Party movement nevertheless manage to deny. Number one on that list then and now is "President Obama cut your taxes." As Steve Benen related today, the Tea Baggers themselves and their ideological water carriers at the National Review by ignorance or choice refuse to acknowledge that 95% of American households received tax relief courtesy of Barack Obama. A new... more Posted on February 14, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Not Good and Pawlenty Three months after the launch of his Freedom First PAC, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty with his interview in Esquire took another step towards a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. But while the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza lauded Pawlenty's "stinging critique of GOP," in words and deeds the man who calls himself "T-Paw" is just the latest in the growing ranks of interchangeable conservative demagogues. From his Tenther fantasies and stimulus grandstanding to his simultaneous calls for making... more Posted on February 13, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Republicans Trying to Kill Medicare. Again. Back in October, Republicans leaders slammed party chief Michael Steele for his "Seniors' Bill of Rights" which promised "no cuts to Medicare." Not because they weren't issuing dire - and mythical - warnings that Democrats were "sticking it to seniors with cuts to Medicare." No, the GOP brain trust was furious precisely because Steele's was a promise they were already intent on breaking. After all, the same Republican Party which tried to kill Medicare in the 1960's and gut it... more Posted on February 12, 2010 \| Comments (4)

	Broder's Palin Worship Revives Stupid Candidate Theory Back in 1999, the New Republic displayed then Governor George W. Bush in a dunce cap to tout its cover story, "Why America Loves Stupid Candidates." Judging by David Broder's fawning paean to Sarah Palin today in the Washington Post, it may be time to debate the stupid candidate thesis again. Ironically, Broder's ode to Palin ("Sarah Palin displays her pitch perfect populism") arrives on the same day that conservative Jonathan Kay warned about the real story coming out of... more Posted on February 11, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	White House Press Corps Slams Gibbs' Palin Joke In case you missed the reaction to Robert Gibbs' lighthearted mockery of Sarah Palin's "telepalmter", the White House press corps has a new rule. NBC's Chuck Todd, who previously defended Palin by declaring, "We've all done notes," protested Wednesday "I was surprised by the stunt myself." In her report, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux groused, "so much for changing the tone." Apparently, for this Democratic White House to jokingly respond to bitter attacks from former (or wannabee) Republican vice presidents is undignified... more Posted on February 10, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	Thiessen Laments Dead Terrorists Can't Be Tortured In the wake of the September 11 attacks, President Bush famously announced his plans for Osama Bin Laden, "There's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'" Bush, of course, failed to deliver Bin Laden in either state. But now that President Obama is killing large numbers of Al Qaeda members in the Pakistani safe haven his predecessor failed to dismantle, former chief Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen worries that "dead terrorists tell no tales."... more Posted on February 9, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	For Republicans, No Means No If nothing else, Barack Obama is a glutton for punishment. Apparently confident in his ability to manhandle the Republican leadership in the wake of his televised beat-down of the House GOP caucus two weeks ago, Obama has invited McConnell, Boehner and company to the White House for a health care summit. But instead of applying a full-court press on recalcitrant members of his own party to finally pass a Democratic bill the country so badly needs, Obama will waste yet... more Posted on February 8, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Republican Sexism Meets Palin's Sex Appeal As conservatives rush to defend Sarah Palin in the wake of her Tea Party "Telepalmter" episode, no reaction has been as comically hypocritical as that offered by the right-wing blog, Legal Insurrection. There, William Jacobsen bemoans the rash of adolescent "hand job" headlines in a stunning piece titled, "Palin Exposes Misogyny In The Democratic Base, Again." Stunning, that is, because her Republican admirers have made no secret about either their drooling reaction to Palin's looks or their sexist attitudes towards... more Posted on February 8, 2010 \| Comments (4)

	Palin's America Dependent on Divine Intervention Over the past 10 days, President Obama and Sarah Palin made clear everything you need to know about their dueling visions of America's character and its future. In his State of the Union address, the President rejected the notion that "our progress was inevitable," reminding the nation that "the only reason we are here is because generations of Americans were unafraid to do what was hard." But on Saturday night, the half-term Alaska Governor presented the assembled Tea Party faithful... more Posted on February 8, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	CBS Super Bowl Ads We'd Like to See After refusing in the past to run "controversial" ads from groups such as the United Church of Christ, CBS is reversing course. During its extended Super Bowl coverage on Sunday, the network will air a not-so-subtle anti-abortion message sponsored by Focus on the Family featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. In it, the nation's most famous virgin (if less famed passer) will apparently lecture American women on reproductive rights while joining his mother in discussing his miraculous birth. Now that... more Posted on February 7, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	The Immaculate Convention "I'm mad, I'm really mad," the man said, adding, "It's not the economy. It's the socialist taking over our country." If you thought those words came from one of the 600 faithful breathlessly waiting to hear from Sarah Palin at the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, you could be forgiven for your error. Virtually identical in tone and content, that frothing at the mouth anger was instead just one highlight of a McCain-Palin town hall rally in October 2008.... more Posted on February 6, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Tea Bagging for Jesus As a quick glance at the video tape makes clear, the supposed Tea Party movement is simply a continuation of the right-wing's failed 2008 presidential campaign by other means. (Senator Jim Demint (R-SC) spoke for Sarah Palin, John Cornyn, Michele Bachmann and countless others when he insisted, "We need to stop looking at the tea parties as separate from the Republican party.") But as the sessions by Pastor Rick Scarborough and Judge Roy Moore at today's National Tea Party Convention... more Posted on February 5, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	GOP Budget Proposal: Ration Medicare, Privatize Social Security Throughout the bitter debate over health care reform, talking points about "rationing" and "cuts to Medicare" have been the twin pillars of Republican fear mongering. For example, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in June warned of reform that "denies, delays, or rations health care," only to falsely charge weeks later that Democrats "are going to pay for this plan by cutting Medicare, that is cutting seniors." But with the publication of the Republican "shadow" budget by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI),... more Posted on February 4, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	Convention Program: 10 Lessons for Tea Baggers Starting today in Nashville, a strange brew of Birthers and Birchers, Deathers and Deniers will gather for the National Tea Party Convention. They will be entertained by the likes of WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah, "War on Christians" Pastor Rick Scarborough, Andrew Breibart and disgraced Judge Roy Moore. Then on Saturday, the frothing at the mouth faithful will be fleeced by keynote speaker Sarah Palin to the tune of $115,000. But what they won't hear in Nashville is much of anything related... more Posted on February 4, 2010 \| Comments (1)

	From Truman to Powell on Don't Ask, Don't Tell On February 2, 1948, President Harry Truman declared in a special civil rights message to Congress that he "had instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible." On July 26, 1948, Truman issued Executive Order 9981 instituting the new policy that "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national... more Posted on February 3, 2010 \| Comments (3)

	Palin Abandons Her "Screw Political Correctness" Mantra Last June, soon-to-be ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin praised Michael Reagan, lauding his propensity to "to call it like he sees it, and to screw political correctness that some would expect him to have to adhere to." As she headed out the door six weeks later, Palin promised to be "less politically correct" after her leaving office. Then after the Ft. Hood shootings in November, Palin said "profile away!" because such political correctness "could be our downfall." As it turns out,... more Posted on February 2, 2010 \| Comments (2)

	GOP's Hensarling Gives Republicans Credit for Clinton Surpluses Still smarting after his budgetary beat down at the hands of President Obama Friday, Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling this weekend invited a second round of punishment. "I stand by what I said," Hensarling said Saturday, referring to his manifestly ridiculous claim the previous day that "the old annual deficits under Republicans have now become the monthly deficits under Democrats." As it turns out, he wasn't talking about the red ink Republican George W. Bush. What he meant, Hensarling instead made... more Posted on February 1, 2010 \| Comments (0)