Group 1:The Right Wing of the GOP (McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, Grassley, et al) that has spread misinformation and sown fear in the hearts of their constituents, aided and abetted by Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and [...]]]> If Health Care Reform dies in Congress, its blood will be on the hands of two groups of people and one individual:

Group 1:The Right Wing of the GOP (McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, Grassley, et al) that has spread misinformation and sown fear in the hearts of their constituents, aided and abetted by Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and other Conservative commentators who are producing more heat than light.

Group 2: The ignorant, uninformed and gullible Americans who swallow those lies and distortions because they don’t have the information or the intelligence to challenge them and separate fact from fiction.

The Individual: President Obama, who won a resounding electoral victory in November…whose party controls the House and Senate and who has (HAD) the support of the overwhelming majority of citizens to bring about the change he promised during the campaign.

If he fails to use that mandate, he will have blown a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring about the kind of progressive change the country elected him to accomplish.
He should remind the GOP that he won and they lost, and that it’s now time for them to get out of the way.

During last year’s primary, I had doubts about Obama’s willingness to fight for what he believed in, and often thought he could use some of Hillary’s toughness.

Now, during this crucial health care battle, I find myself wishing that he could borrow a pair of balls from his Secretary of State.

Not content to have precipitated the current economic crisis with their disgraced supply-side, trickle-down tax cuts obsession, Republicans are pushing the same proposals to fix the economy that created the mess in the first [...]]]> Once again, the Neanderthals in the Republican party are wielding their ideological wrecking ball against the foundations of the American economy.

Not content to have precipitated the current economic crisis with their disgraced supply-side, trickle-down tax cuts obsession, Republicans are pushing the same proposals to fix the economy that created the mess in the first place.

Why anyone — least of all a president who received a huge popular mandate just 90 days ago to abandon those policies — would even LISTEN to Republican ideas about how to stimulate the economy – defies logic. To sacrifice an effective rescue plan on the chimerical altar of “bipartisanship” is at once infuriating and insane.

Republicans have absolutely NO credibility on economic matters. This is the same gang of know-nothings who never opposed any of George W. Bush’s massive spending and tax cut bills that created the current crisis.

Obama should remind them of that, tell them that he’s pushing through a bill heavy in spending and job creation with a minimum of tax cuts, then DARE them to oppose it with a filibuster.

It’s time to call the Republicans’ bluff

“Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate [...]]]>

President Bush and the Treasury Department signaled on Friday that they would consider dipping into the $700 billion bailout program for financial institutions to aid the Big Three car companies, after Republican senators refused to support a compromise proposal to rescue the automakers.

“Under normal economic conditions we would prefer that markets determine the ultimate fate of private firms,” Dana Perino, Mr. Bush’s spokeswoman, said in a carefully nuanced statement released minutes before the financial markets opened in New York. “However, given the current weakened state of the U.S. economy, we will consider other options if necessary — including use of the TARP program — to prevent a collapse of troubled automakers.”

The Treasury Department promptly indicated that it would provide short-term relief to the automakers. “Because Congress failed to act, we will stand ready to prevent an imminent failure until Congress reconvenes and acts to address the long-term viability of the industry,” a Treasury spokeswoman, Brookly McLaughlin, said.

For a moment, try to ignore the fact that this money was originally set aside by Congress to aid financial institutions and not automobile manufacturers, what exactly is the point of having Congress debate this bill if its actions (or lack thereof in this instance) are irrelevant? To President Bush, the fact that the required votes in Congress do not exist (from ironically, his own party) is merely a technicality in getting what he wants. The administration will simply divert money previously approved by Congress for other causes where it sees fit. The very concept of checks and balances has been destroyed with this being only the latest example.

The Senate’s longest-serving Republican, Stevens was found guilty on all seven counts of making false statements on Senate financial documents.

And you thought Sarah Palin was the most corrupt Republican from Alaska…

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. [...]]]>

Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”

Your taxpayer dollars hard at work. Remember, Senator McCain opted for public financing, which means you and I just paid for Sarah Palin’s hair and designer clothes. This from the candidate that promises to cut wasteful spending in Washington.

Bachmann told the St. Cloud Times on Tuesday that she “made a big mistake” by going on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” a show she said she’d never seen before her appearance [...]]]>

Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she regrets using the term “anti-American” while discussing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s views, a remark that could threaten her re-election bid.

Bachmann told the St. Cloud Times on Tuesday that she “made a big mistake” by going on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” a show she said she’d never seen before her appearance last week. Her statement to host Chris Matthews that Obama “may have anti-American views” drew condemnation and helped her opponent, Democrat Elwyn Tinklenberg, raise more than $1 million in just a few days.

During an interview with the Times’ editorial board, Bachmann said she walked into a trap and did not bring up the term “anti-American.” Still, she said, “I should not have used that phrase.”

Sorry Michele but going on the show wasn’t the mistake; being a hatemonger and trying to divide Americans into us and them is what makes you, not Barack Obama, anti-American. The fine citizens of Minnesota would be well advised to vote her out of office. She is obviously not fit to lead this country nor does she set a good example for those that would rather solve problems than create new ones.

The expenses include $75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis Minn., and $41,850 in St. Louis in early September. The committee also reported spending $4,100 [...]]]>

The Republican National Committee spent about $150,000 on clothing, hair styling, makeup and other ”campaign accessories” in September for the McCain campaign after Palin, the governor of Alaska, joined the ticket.

The expenses include $75,062 spent at Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis Minn., and $41,850 in St. Louis in early September. The committee also reported spending $4,100 for makeup and hair consulting.

Governor Palin claims to be an average, ordinary American while she expenses her children’s travel and hotel stays to the citizens of Alaska and rings up six-digit shopping bills in a few weeks. Yet, she and the very wealthy McCain continue to insist that Barack Obama is the real elite in this campaign. I don’t know if I can take thirteen more days of this nonsense.

The party’s independent ad operation is doubling its budget to about $10 million and focusing on crucial states such as Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia where [...]]]>

The Republican National Committee is halting presidential ads in Wisconsin and Maine, turning much of its attention to usually Republican states where GOP nominee John McCain shows signs of faltering.

The party’s independent ad operation is doubling its budget to about $10 million and focusing on crucial states such as Colorado, Missouri, Indiana and Virginia where Democrat Barack Obama has established a foothold, according to a Republican strategist familiar with presidential ad placements.

It’s going to be a landslide. McCain is conceding all of the battleground states and is forced to campaign in reliably Republican states.

_She has accepted dozens of gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars since taking office, including two free [...]]]> _She pummeled opponents for giving oil companies and other businesses too much control of state government. Yet she appointed the founder of an engineering firm that received $6.8 million in state business as head of the transportation department.

_She has accepted dozens of gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars since taking office, including two free trips last year that she failed to report on disclosure forms, despite criticizing state legislators for the gifts they take.

_She is under another investigation, accused of misusing her office to campaign against a voter referendum calling for tighter mining regulations. Her husband, Todd, has accepted free trips from a mining company to look at their proposed new site.

_Another ethics complaint, unresolved, accuses her staff of finding a state job for a friend and campaign contributor.