Republican Politics

What Happened To “Finish That Danged Fence”?

February 22, 2011 By mario piperni

Republican’s House budget bill will cut $272 million from border surveillance and reduce the Border Patrol force by 870 agents. This is odd since border security has been one of the GOP’s signature issues. For the last two years, they’ve been calling for the Obama administration to take serious measures to tighten down on border security. So what gives? Why would they now propose to slash funding for one of their top priorities? Remember John McCain’s “finish the danged fence” ad from last year?
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Has there been a change of heart on the part of Republicans? Has concern over the debt actually reached the point where they would now forgo reigning in the invading hoards of illegal aliens storming the border in the name of fiscal austerity? Nah. Steve Benen has it figured out.

The answer, I suspect, is that House GOP officials don’t really know what they’re doing — they looked at the budget for the fiscal year like a pinata, and just started swinging wildly while blindfolded. It seems quite likely to me that Republicans slashed funding for the Border Patrol without even realizing it.

Indeed, I imagine this happened quite a bit. The same measure included drastic cuts to national security priorities, slashing funds for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s counter-proliferation programs, and even eliminating funds to maintain the nation’s nuclear stockpile. Why would Republicans who claim to care about national security do this? Perhaps because they didn’t understand what they were voting for.

“Pinata” is the perfect metaphor for what Republicans have been doing for the last two years. These clowns have been so busy banging away at Obama, trying to make every issue his Waterloo, that keeping up appearances is no longer a concern of theirs. Neither is logic. They come off as power hungry fools, contradicting themselves from week to week in a frantic attempt to sway public opinion all in the name of taking down this president. Their silent motto has been - if it appears bad for the country, it’s good for GOP prospects in 2012.

It amazes me that anyone but hardcore delusional wingers take anything these bastards say seriously.

Filed Under: Republican Politics Tagged With: Immigration, national security

Union Busting

February 18, 2011 By mario piperni

That’s quite a circus going on in Wisconsin. Newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker proposes tax breaks, cuts in education and taking away public employee unions rights to collective bargaining all in the name of fixing Wisconsin’s budget problems. Thirteen Dem state senators hide out to prevent a vote on the budget while protesters line the streets. Public sector employees claim they’re willing to negotiate but face a governor who says there is nothing to negotiate.

All for what? So Walker can bust public employee unions…or at least cut them down to size, a long time wish of Republicans. And now there’s signs that the battle is spreading out to many states where Republicans made gains last November. Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maine and Pennsylvania are all looking at introducing similar legislation.

Michael Tomasky:

You can bet that governors and legislatures all over the country have their eyes fixed on Madison. People are using Cairo comparisons. That’s a bit overblown, but there is no question that what ends up happening in Madison will set a template for other states and determine how hard other Republican governors press their luck, knowing that unions are unpopular and that they’ll probably be retired by the time the people really feel the full effects of their policies.

The latest volley comes out of Tennessee.

The Senate Education Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to abolish collective bargaining between teachers unions and school boards across the state.

The vote was 6-3, with all Republicans on the panel voting for the bill and all Democrats against.

Ezra Klein weighs in.

Let’s be clear: Whatever fiscal problems Wisconsin is — or is not — facing at the moment, they’re not caused by labor unions. That’s also true for New Jersey, for Ohio and for the other states. There was no sharp rise in collective bargaining in 2006 and 2007, no major reforms of the country’s labor laws, no dramatic change in how unions organize. And yet, state budgets collapsed. Revenues plummeted. Taxes had to go up, and spending had to go down, all across the country.

Blame the banks. Blame global capital flows. Blame lax regulation of Wall Street. Blame home buyers, or home sellers. But don’t blame the unions. Not for this recession.

Could it be any clearer that this is all a coordinated effort on the part of Republicans to weaken a longtime nemesis, public-employee unions. Expect a lot more of those Madison type protests in the days ahead.

Filed Under: Republican Politics Tagged With: protests, unions, Wisconsin

2012 – And The Winner Is…

February 10, 2011 By mario piperni

And yet another analysis of the race to become the Republican presidential nominee. There’s been no shortage of them. The latest one is from Doyle McManus of the LA Times and all of the usual suspects are mentioned – Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Gingrich, Barbour, Santorum, Thune, Paul and Palin. Here’s the line that caught my eye.

There are really only two spots on the GOP presidential ballot. One is reserved for Mitt Romney. The other is for someone who isn’t Mitt Romney.

This is true. If there has been one consistent item in the gazillion polls done to date on which Republican has the best chance of defeating Barack Obama in 2012, it’s that Romney is their man. But Republican politics have taken a hard turn to the ideological right which makes the nominating process more complex than it used to be.

If the Republican Party worked the way it used to, Romney already would be the presumptive nominee. For decades, Republican governors and state party chairs coalesced early around a tested, experienced candidate — George H. W. Bush in 1988, Bob Dole in 1996, George W. Bush in 2000 — and helped him fight off insurgent challengers.

It is quite possible that the artificially created Tea Party movement which has now taken on a life of its own, will prove to be more of a hindrance than help for the GOP. They’re already creating problems for Republicans in the House.

But in the end I don’t think it really matters who is running against Barack Obama in 2012. His opponent won’t be a Republican, male or female. It’ll be a much more formidable foe – the economy. If it’s on the upswing come November of 2012, then an Obama second term is almost guaranteed. Should it be sluggish or declining, then I imagine that even dopey Michele Bachmann would stand a chance at victory.

Filed Under: Republican Politics Tagged With: 2012 election, GOP, teabagger

Jon Huntsman – The GOP’s Best 2012 Non-Candidate

February 1, 2011 By mario piperni

Is Jon Huntsman the real deal?

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., the U.S. ambassador to China, sent a resignation letter to President Barack Obama on Monday and now is likely to explore a Republican presidential bid, a close associate told POLITICO.

In a letter hand-delivered to the White House, the former Utah governor said that he wants to return to the United States by May, the associate said.

GOP allies of Huntsman have already begun laying plans for a quick-start campaign should the former Utah governor decide to enter the ill-defined Republican field.

Here’s what they were saying about Huntsman back in 2009.

Huntsman may be the most important person you’ve never heard of. He’s a moderate Republican governor in one of the most conservative Republican states, where, until the time of his appointment, he enjoyed approval ratings above 80%. A few weeks back, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe unintentionally elevated Huntsman on the national stage by suggesting that he was one of the few Republican politicians that appeared formidable in 2012.

Huntsman is young, exceptionally smart, quick on his feet, amiable and incredibly articulate; when he speaks, he exudes reasonableness, a quality almost entirely void in the modern Republican party. He has the potential to be for the Republican Party what Obama was for the Democrats – a man capable of simultaneously exciting his base while appealing to an ever-more critical group of Independent voters. To hear him speak is to know he’s a guy an Independent would love.

So, should Democrats be concerned about a Huntsman bid in 2012?

Nope.

By all accounts, Jon Huntsman has the ability and talent which any thinking conservative would love to see in their leader and presidential candidate. The problem is that there does not appear to be a hell of a lot of thinking conservatives around anymore. The Republican party, already a fragile entity wobbling on the brink of wingnuttia, has been consumed by a far-right ideology which leaves little room for a Jon Huntsman and his center right politics. Could anyone possibly believe that a Republican who has slept with the enemy (Huntsman was Obama’s ambassador in China) has any chance of winning the GOP presidential primary in this teabagging age of RINO-bashing, eat-your-own madness?

It’s not going to happen, at least in 2012 it won’t. Best hope for a smart, rational conservative like Huntsman is to bide his time and check out conditions in 2016. With any luck, the Tea Party will by then just be just one big bad hangover.

Filed Under: Republican Politics Tagged With: 2012, Primary, Republicans

We’re Going To Miss You Michael Steele

January 15, 2011 By mario piperni

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times and for Michael Steele, yesterday can be filed under the worst of times. The RNC experiment to counter a Kenyan black President by having its first African-American chairman ended yesterday. Steele lost to some guy from Wisconsin named Reince Priebus. Reince who???? One can only hope he’ll be half as entertaining as Steele was over the last two years.

I’m going to miss the my friend. This blog and Steele’s tenure as RNC chairman both began in January 2009 so it does feel as if I’m losing a traveling companion. In tribute to the man who has helped inspire me along the way, here’s a look back at some of his more memorable moments.

De Facto Leader Fiasco

In March 2009, Steele responds to an interviewer who claimed that Rush Limbaugh was the de facto leader of the Republican party.

“No he’s not. I’m the de facto leader of the Republican party.”

Steele went on to refer to Limbaugh as an entertainer. Limbaugh, unhappy that anyone would deny him claim to a title he has worked so hard to call his own, shot back.

“So I am an entertainer and I have 20 million listeners because of my great song and dance routine. Michael Steele, you are head of the Republican National Committee. You are not head of the Republican party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the Republican National Committee…and when you call them asking for money, they hang up on you.“

Two days later, Steele caved in to the Great One and set the record straight.

“I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh. I was maybe a little bit inarticulate. There was no attempt on my part to diminish his voice or his leadership.

Lost Minds

A couple of weeks later, Steele regrouped and once again tried to tell Republicans what’s what.

“I’m tired of seeing the same old, same old. I’m tired of hearing the same old arguments. I’m tired of hearing the complaining.”

“If you want to complain and moan and groan about everything going on, there’s the door.”

Steele went on to explain why Republicans lost both the White House and Congress in 2008.

“We started drinking from that wonderful Potomac River. We got that Potomac fever, and we lost our minds.”

You knew for sure that Steele’s days were now numbered. Accepting the truth is not something Republicans do well.

Steele as Hipster Doofus Cool Guy

Do The Deal

Mikey on fixing health care.

“So if it’s a cost problem, it’s easy: Get the people in a room who have the most and the most direct impact on cost, and do the deal. Do the deal. It’s not that complicated.”

“If it’s an access question, people don’t have access to health care, then figure out who they are, and give them access! Hello?! Am I missing something here?“

Oh Say Can You See

A bing a bang, what illegal immigration problem?

“Basically what we should be saying is that there are rules that you need to get into the country, go the right door, fill out the right form, have some apple pie, hum a few bars of the star spangle banner and get to work, God bless you, and I think that that begins to set us on the right road to dealing with this issue.”

Cow on the Tracks

I can think of no better ending to Steele’s career as RNC chairman that this. See ya around, Michael…you’ll be missed. Really.

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