Month: February 2014

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

To be a liberal in America is to be acutely aware of the gaping double standard that exists with regard to the expectations placed on you versus those put on conservatives. The disparity is so enormous that I doubt even the most dimwitted “both sides do it!” centrist pundits can deny it to themselves. Liberals are expected to argue politely and rationally, have our facts perfectly in order, and maintain a calm and pleasant demeanor at all times no matter what mendacious, hateful nonsense the other side is flinging at us. No concomitant expectation exists for conservatives. They are free to behave as poorly as they want and take whatever liberties with the truth they’d like, knowing that “both sides” will be blamed, which lets conservatives escape accountability and encourages them to see how much farther they can push the envelope.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Have Tea-Publicans finally learned their lesson about taking America hostage and threatening to default on the national debt and destroying the economy every few months? Or is it just because this is an election year and "once burned, twice shy?" (A new CNN poll finds that 54 percent would blame Republicans if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, versus 29 percent who would blame Obama. Independents would blame the GOP by 49-30.)

Following a meeting with his GOP caucus today, the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, raised the white flag on the latest GOP debt ceiling hostage taking. Steve Benen writes, A half-hearted hostage strategy unravels:

Just last year, the Speaker was eager to push the so-called "Boehner Rule" on spending cuts, all while proclaiming that there was simply no way his caucus would approve a clean increase the way he and other GOP colleagues used to.

All of that posturing has been replaced with a more circumspect approach.

Just days away from the administration's deadline to extend the nation's borrowing authority, Speaker John A. Boehner told House Republicans he sees no reason to pick a fight they cannot win on the issue.

"There's no sense picking a fight we can't win," the Ohio Republican told members in a private conference meeting, according to sources in the room.

He added, "No one wants to default on our debt." Since the Speaker is very likely sincere about this point, the crisis is already effectively over — Boehner won't want to crash the economy on purpose, especially in an election year, so Democrats, who already remember Republicans caving twice on the debt ceiling last year, will have no incentive to pay a ransom now.

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP has long practiced the political tactic of "decapitation" — a strategy of taking out the other party's top leadership. Former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley (D-WA) lost his seat in the Gingrich Revolution in the 1994 election. Former Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle lost his seat in 2004.

Now Brent Bozell, a conservative media entertainment complex troll (Media Research Center) and the president and treasurer of a Virginia non-profit corporation called America, Inc., operating as ForAmerica, is plotting a "decapitation" strategy against the GOP leadership in Congress. Brent Bozell Will Try To Remove Every GOP Leader From Office:

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The Pima County Board of Supervisors this morning by a 3-2 vote appointed Demion Clinco, president of the Tucson Historic Preservation Foundation, to the LD 2 House seat vacated when Rep. Andrea Dalessandro was appointed to fill the LD 2 Senate seat vacated earlier this year when Sen. Linda Lopez retired. This … Read more

Posted by Bob Lord No, I don't mean politically survive; I mean survive survive.  Look, having your lies scrutinized is stressful stuff. You have to be really careful of everything you say. You have to worry about who might turn on you. You have to feign outrage at the actions you instructed your subordinates to … Read more