GOP has "no weapons to match the cool sanity and reason"

... Despite a steady campaign of Republican misinformation about the bill, the President vowed to continue to try to work with them, in the hopes that he'll be able to make some progress in the long term:

There's been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it's not going to happen overnight.

Oh, wait a minute: he was talking about the Iranians there.

But there does seem to be a fair amount of stylistic similarity between Republican and Iranian intransigence. Both are trying to sell bluster that seems foolishly overstated and anachronistic now. The Republicans did have an argument: that portions originally included in the stimulus bill would institutionalize new, expanded federal responsibilities in areas like Medicaid, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and education. (I agree those things should be considered separately -- although, unlike the GOP, I think there's a need for additional federal support of both.) But that argument has been bloated into utter nonsense by Senators, including John McCain -- and the moderate caucus, for that matter -- who somehow believe that spending money on school construction and weatherizing of public buildings isn't stimulus. It is, of course: it creates jobs -- and, in the case of weatherization, saves money in the long run.

Perhaps Obama's best answer was a very long one, in which he discussed the Republican objections to the stimulus package in three specific areas. Here's a part of it:

Now, maybe philosophically you just don't think that the federal government should be involved in energy policy. I happen to disagree with that. I think that's the reason why we find ourselves importing more foreign oil now than we did back in the early '70s when OPEC first formed. And we can have a respectful debate about whether or not we should be involved in energy policymaking, but don't suggest that somehow that's wasteful spending. That's exactly what this country needs.

The same applies when it comes to information technologies in health care. We know that health care is crippling businesses and making us less competitive as well as breaking the banks of families all across America, and part of the reason is we've got the most inefficient health care system imaginable. We're still using paper -- we're still filing things in triplicate. Nurses can't read the prescriptions that doctors have written out. Why wouldn't we want to put that on an electronic medical record that will reduce error rates, reduce our long-term cost of health care, and create jobs right now?

Education -- yet another example. The suggestion is why should the federal government be involved in school construction. Well, I visited a school down in South Carolina that was built in the 1850s. Kids are still learning in that school, as best they can. When the railroad -- it's right next to a railroad, and when the train runs by, the whole building shakes and the teacher has to stop teaching for a while. The auditorium is completely broken down; they can't use it. So why wouldn't we want to build state-of-the-art schools with science labs that are teaching our kids the skills they need for the 21st century, that will enhance our economy and, by the way, right now will create jobs?

In the end, it is increasingly clear that the Republicans are peddling from an empty pack -- they offer the same anti-government bluster that has worked for the past 30 years, offer tax cuts as the only credible stimulus. Any government spending at all is defined as pork -- and all too often, the media have gone along with this because it's much easier to report the tirades than look at the substance of the bill ... The Republican path will likely fail on the stimulus bill -- and it will fail even more dramatically over time, for the same reason that John McCain failed so decisively against Barack Obama in the election: it is old, intellectually barren and irrelevant to the needs of the moment. There are other paths Republicans can take -- they involve using conservative means to achieve the government activism that the public clearly wants. It will be interesting how long it take for the G.O.P. to figure out those paths. Right now, though, they have no weapons to match the cool sanity and reason displayed last night by the President of the United States.

Obama's average answer length was seven minutes. As Paul Begala noted on CNN: ""Watching President Bush try to complete a sentence was like watching a drunk, fat guy crossing an icy street. You just knew he wasn't going to make it."

It's no wonder there's so much angry bluster coming from the Right these days.

The Weekly Wrangle

Time for another edition of the Texas Progressive Alliance's weekly blog round-up.

TXsharon made another video this week and it's gross! Watch it on Bluedaze then answer this question and this question if you can and know that HELP IS ON THE WAY!

And speaking of Oil and Gas, WhosPlayin analyzed a contract his city of Lewisville made, leasing its mineral rights cheap to purposely bring in oil and gas development to the suburban Texas city of 92,000.

The Texas Cloverleaf brings you the Trinity Toll Road Boondoggle, soon to be funded by your tax dollars.

There are four US Attorneys in Texas. Off the Kuff takes a look at the people who want one of those jobs.

BossKitty at TruthHugger is concerned about the changing mental state in America. Are people becoming meaner? What do you think about our Mean Economy Spotlights Mean Spirits ?

Violence in Mexico and on the US border can't be ignored any longer. CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants Hillary Clinton, not Glenn Beck, to provide solutions.

Adam at Three Wise Men explores the possibility of Howard Dean as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Neil at Texas Liberal writes about President Obama's policies for rural America. Our cities and rural areas have more in common than we realize. It would be good if urban and rural office holders in the Texas Legislature would think about and talk about how they could help each other.

WCNews at Eye On Williamson posts on the fireworks over UTIMCO this week in Oh, the outrage!.

Over at Texas Kaos, lightseeker asks How Long Will We Have to Put Up With these Arrogant Tools? What has set him off is deposed Czar Craddick's last corrupt act: destroying potential evidence of big a tool he is and was.

jobsanger tells us A Tale Of Two Coaches. Both are winning high school coaches, but one is a real teacher and the other is an embarrassment.

Vince at Capitol Annex takes a look at the fact that state rep. Sid Miller (R-Stepehenville) is spending campaign cash to buy stocks in companies like AIG, Halliburton, and more.

Worth repeating

"Honey, you know the difference between the Taliban and Texas Republicans? One is opposed to science, equal rights for women, religious freedom, peaceful resolution of disagreements, and democracy. The other is the Taliban."

-- Susan "Kiss My Big Blue Butt" Bankston

============

I took neoconservatism seriously for a long time, because it offered an interesting critique of what's wrong with the Middle East, and seemed to have the only coherent strategic answer to the savagery of 9/11. I now realize that the answer - the permanent occupation of Iraq - was absurdly utopian and only made feasible by exploiting the psychic trauma of that dreadful day. The closer you examine it, the clearer it is that neoconservatism, in large part, is simply about enabling the most irredentist elements in Israel and sustaining a permanent war against anyone or any country who disagrees with the Israeli right. That's the conclusion I've been forced to these last few years. And to insist that America adopt exactly the same constant-war-as-survival that Israelis have been slowly forced into. Cheney saw America as Netanyahu sees Israel: a country built for permanent war and the "tough, mean, dirty, nasty business" of waging it (with a few war crimes to keep the enemy on their toes).

But America is not Israel. America might support Israel, might have a special relationship with Israel. But America is not Israel. And once that distinction is made, much of the neoconservative ideology collapses.

-- Andrew Sullivan

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Bradley, a US military attorney for 20 years, will reveal that Mohamed, 31, is dying in his Guantánamo cell and that conditions inside the Cuban prison camp have deteriorated badly since Barack Obama took office. Fifty of its 260 detainees are on hunger strike and, say witnesses, are being strapped to chairs and force-fed, with those who resist being beaten. At least 20 are described as being so unhealthy they are on a "critical list", according to Bradley.

Mohamed, who is suffering dramatic weight loss after a month-long hunger strike, has told Bradley, 45, that he is "very scared" of being attacked by guards, after witnessing a savage beating for a detainee who refused to be strapped down and have a feeding tube forced into his mouth. It is the first account Bradley has personally received of a detainee being physically assaulted in Guantánamo.

Bradley recently met Mohamed in Camp Delta's sparse visiting room and was shaken by his account of the state of affairs inside the notorious prison.

She said: "At least 50 people are on hunger strike, with 20 on the critical list, according to Binyam. The JTF [the Joint Task Force running Guantánamo] are not commenting because they do not want the public to know what is going on.

-- The Guardian, advancing the story of British outrage over the development that UK armed service members have participated in the atrocities at Guantanamo

Sunday Funnies (Bi-partisanship Edition)

Polling finds Limbaugh less popular than Ayers or Wright

(Now why would they do a silly thing like 'read'?)

Didn't the Republicans who turned to Rush Limbaugh read the poll which found that he's one of the least popular political figures in the country?

An October 24, 2008, poll conducted by the Democratic research firm Greenberg-Quinlan-Rosner has Rush Limbaugh enjoying a public-approval rating of just 21 percent among likely voters, while 58 percent have "cold" feelings toward the right-wing radio-talk-show host. Limbaugh's cold rating was higher than that of all the political figures the firm polled. It was seven points higher than Rev. Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright and eight points higher than former Weather Underground domestic terrorist (sic) William Ayers. ...

Limbaugh is so unpopular that only 44 percent of Republican voters reported "warm" feelings toward him, ten points less than those who felt the same way about Limbaugh's top competitor, Fox News' Sean Hannity, and a full 20 points lower than Fox News itself. Yet in spite of rock-bottom favorable numbers, Limbaugh confidently declared one week after Obama's inauguration that his power far exceeded that of the Republican Party's top two leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives. Obama, Limbaugh roared, is "obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."

Obama seems unfazed by El Rushbo. The president recently implored Republican leaders, "You can't listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

Despite Limbaugh's low popularity ratings, congressional Republicans are so intimidated by his perceived influence that even the most resentful members shamelessly grovel at his feet. He might have alienated vast sectors of the Republican base, but Limbaugh still commands an army of self-proclaimed "Dittoheads" who represent the party's most politically fervent, ideologically extreme, and easily shepherded element. This is a faction that flood the party's elected representatives' offices with phone calls, and which they believe they cannot afford to offend.

Friday Postpourri

-- Somebody at the White House is paying attention to those of us who want Obama to start punching back.

-- Kristi Thibaut of HD-133 is a real pistol. As Greg also notes -- all three of us worked together on Borris Miles' successful HD-146 campaign in 2006 -- she leaves nothing on the table when she commits. I'm pleased to know such a fine representative. (The Texas Observer's "Floor Pass" is turning into a must-read, too.)

--Holy New Mexico Governor, Batman!

-- The nascent movement to call on President Obama to ask Howard Dean to direct Health and Human Services picks up steam.

-- The Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

-- Best health wishes to Justice Ginsberg.

-- Leon Panetta, at his confirmation hearing, in response to the terrorist threats of Dick Cheney earlier this week:

"I was disappointed by those comments, because the implication is that somehow this country is more vulnerable to attack because the president of the United States wants to abide by the law and the Constitution. I think we’re a stronger nation when we abide by the law and the Constitution."

Some people can be just soooo much calmer in their reactions to arrogant ignorance than I. I admire that. He also promises the end of extraordinary rendition.

-- Alexandra Pelosi has prepared another documentary, this one of the spectacular fall from grace of Ted Haggard, but I'm pretty sure she makes no mention of this.

-- This photo of the Congressional Republicans announcing their opposition to the American economy reminds me of chickens in the barnyard, all looking in a different direction. What, can't you see their heads bobbing and neck wattles flapping? (And John Boehner needs to stay away from Light Bulb Beach.)

A good joke is all about the timing

"The Obama girls love living in the White House. One complaint, though. Sometimes, at midnight, when the moon is full, they can hear the squeaking hinges on Dick Cheney's coffin."
-- Letterman






"Limbaugh said he's not going to 'bend over and grab his ankles' just because Obama is black. Do you think there's any chance in hell Rush Limbaugh could ever bend over and grab his ankles?"
-- Leno