Obstructionism Means Defeat For Republicans This Fall

Once again, the Republican obstructionists stop us from getting anything done--the defeat they deserve can't come soon enough.

Republicans have blocked efforts to bring a global warming bill up for a final Senate vote after a bitter debate over its economic costs and whether it would push gasoline prices higher.

Democratic leaders Friday fell 12 votes short of getting the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure. The vote was 48-36.

Majority Leader Harry Reid now must decide whether to pull the bill and push the climate change issue to next year with a new Congress and a new president.

Let's get something straight--the Democrats in the Senate needs to quit playing games with Mitch McConnell. Bare knuckles and shin kicks are the rule of the day, and decorum is a fool's paradise with such people. Any Democrat that votes with McConnell from here on out gets heaped with scorn and abuse, and the promise of funding for a primary challenger. The best thing that can be said of this is that it would be worse if they were accommodating and reasonable. The way they're acting now means there will be more material to use against them in attack ads this fall. The Republicans are more and more vulnerable each and every time McConnell pulls this crap because they need to start breaking with that clown, and all of the other clowns, because they are going to run into a buzzsaw in November. Reid MUST campaign in Kentucky against McConnell, and he has to keep exposing the Republicans for what they are--bitter, pathetic obstructionists.

--WS

Will Reid Campaign Against McConnell in Kentucky?

Senator Reid, they need to see you in Kentucky:

The Senate Republicans are expected to have a rough time of it this year, but even this is big news: A new Rasmussen poll puts Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) behind his Democratic challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford:

Lunsford (D) 49%
McConnell (R) 44%
Sample size: 500 likely voters.
Margin of error: ±4.5%

[h/t to TPM Election Central]

Senator Reid, you MUST campaign in Kentucky against Senator McConnell. Here's why:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist campaigned today against Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Reuters called it a “break with bipartisan traditions in the U.S. Senate,” because “Senate leaders have traditionally been reluctant to campaign against each other.”

The Senate historian’s office said it could not recall another case in the past half century where one Senate leader has campaigned against another on the rival’s home turf. However, things are different this election year.

The link takes you to a wingnut who delighted at the idea of Frist campaigning against Daschle. Hey, payback is a bitch, ain't it? Well, decency calls for it.

--WS

Today is "527" Awareness Day

In honor of the date, here is why it is important to know what a 527 group is. According to OpenSecrets.org a 527 is:

A tax-exempt group organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code to raise money for political activities including voter mobilization efforts, issue advocacy and the like. Currently, the FEC only requires a 527 group to file regular disclosure reports if it is a political party or political action committee (PAC) that engages in either activities expressly advocating the election or defeat of a federal candidate, or in electioneering communications. Otherwise, it must file either with the government of the state in which it is located or the Internal Revenue Service. Many 527s run by special interest groups raise unlimited "soft money," which they use for voter mobilization and certain types of issue advocacy, but not for efforts that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a federal candidate or amount to electioneering communications.

The largest 527 is the Service Employees International Union, which dwarfs other 527s. 527s range in size from massive to very small and targeted towards certain local issues, such as "Better Libraries for Palo Alto." Because 527 organizations do not spend their money directly on a candidate and cannot advocate the election or defeat of any candidate for federal elective office they are outside of the regulation by the Federal Election Commission.


The following chart shows how important 527s are in any election cycle:



The Federal Election Commission revealed numerous instances where 527s were used illegally in the 2004 Presidential Election. As we enter the 2008 Presidential Election cycle, the FEC currently has 5 vacant seats and the Bush Administration has been scrambling to find anyone who is can be confirmed by the Senate, recently being forced to withdraw Hans von Spakovsky from consideration.

It is very likely a deliberate move to keep a regulatory body from doing its job during a contentious election cycle. Without the FEC being fully staffed in order to do its job, there is a strong possibility that multiple 527s could break the law this year and get away with it.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) have been working this year to highlight what the implications of having unregulated 527s will be in this election election cycle.

Having a dysfunctional FEC is directly to the benefit of Senator John McCain's campaign:

A federal district court judge Wednesday threw out, for now, a Democratic National Committee lawsuit to force the FEC to investigate last year's withdrawal of a request by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for federal matching funds to support his presidential campaign.

The FEC has lacked a quorum to rule on whether McCain gave up his right to withdraw from the public campaign finance program by accepting a loan tied to receipt of matching funds. The DNC lawsuit sought to open the door for the party committee to sue the McCain campaign directly to force it to stop spending or face hefty fines.

Democrats had hoped the court would determine that the FEC, which has just two commissioners due to a political impasse in the Senate, cannot act on McCain's request.

But U.S. District Judge John Bates dismissed the suit because the DNC did not show cause to ignore a law giving the FEC 120 days to act before seeking action in court.

The DNC can file again in late June, which a spokeswoman said the party will do.

CREW has formed "Fix the FEC" and is attempting to highlight what is wrong with the FEC:

...Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched a new website, FixtheFEC.org, designed to change that. FixtheFEC.org was created to prompt Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to allow for a vote on federal election commissioners that can get the FEC back to policing federal elections business. Currently, the FEC is unable to perform its function, to administer and enforce campaign finance laws.

Enjoy 527 Awareness Day, a completely fictitious day made up just this morning.

I've only been saying this for two years...

And the polls have been saying it for a year.

The military - and just as importantly, military families - are sick of the war in Iraq. When you consider that every Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine has somewhere between four and ten first degree relatives, that becomes a sizable constituency. A poll of active duty military and their families, conducted by Bloomberg and the LA Times from November 30 to December 3 reported that only 36% support the war and the administrations handling of it. In 2004, that number was 64%. The population in general exhibits 32% support, so the military is more in line with the people than with the president. Remember, the oath is to the Constitution. The president is not mentioned. (Unless you apply a liberal interpretation to the part about domestic enemies.)

In their own words:

Kent Fletcher, an Iraq war veteran, says he enthusiastically voted for President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Now, he is a registered Democrat who questions the need for the war, the way it has been managed and the treatment of returning veterans.

``Saddam Hussein wasn't a threat and the culmination of my career was that war and it wasn't necessary,'' says Fletcher, 32, a financial analyst in Bluffton, South Carolina, who served almost 10 years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

[snip]

In 2005, Fletcher, the Marine who switched party affiliations, published an editorial in the Huntington, West Virginia Herald-Dispatch newspaper scolding critics of Bush, who he said were also insulting the U.S. fighting forces.

``You don't have to spit on an Iraqi war veteran physically to spit on one metaphorically,'' he wrote. ``We are part and the same with the president's administration.''

Fletcher is now a member of Votevets.org, a group that promotes political candidates, particularly veterans who are critical of the Bush administration's Iraq war policies.

That shift in Fletcher's view may reflect a broader trend in the military about dissent. The Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll finds that 58 percent of military families -- the same margin as the overall population -- believe it is appropriate for retired military personnel to criticize Bush even in a time of war.

These negative feelings are not dissipated in the least when they look around and see veterans being denied the care they need, or wounded soldiers asked to return portions of their enlistment bonuses when they are unable to fulfill their service contracts. They are not heartened when 12 month tours become 15 month tours, they aren't happy about serving with 20% waivered troops. They don't like being called "phony soldiers" by some redneck junkie who dodged the draft by virtue of a pimple on his ass, and they really don't think much of a Senate Minority leader who dismisses casualties in aWol's clusterfuck with a glib "Nobody is happy about losing lives but remember these are not draftees, these are full-time professional soldiers."

I would like to point out that that bastard Mitch McConnell said those callous and thoughtless words at a time when Ft. Campbell (which is in his state) lost three soldiers in a bomb attack the previous day.

And as the tide turns and the military shifts their support, the Wurlitzer is cranking up to spew forth the dolchstosslegende. The farther out on the lunatic fringe, the more vehement they become. Rush Limbaugh and the Phony Soldiers crack...Michael Savage calling retired General Kerr a "Phony General" and an "old queen" and casting aspersions on all G.I.'s in the process. "Now you wonder why we're still in Iraq five years later. General Keith Kerr. He wasn't just racking up cue balls at the pool table," Savage ranted hysterically.

At this point they are flailing wildly. Their day is done and they know it, but they are desperately trying to reanimate the monster for one last go at the village. In their desperation they spew venom and hatred, and instead of shoring up support, they drive support away.

That is why I propose we take them out of their AM radio ghetto and put them on prime time for the duration of the writers strike.

Let the rest of the country have a taste of the Kool-Aid that the 24%-ers are swilling, and see if the fuckers have any sponsors left two weeks in.