Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Mah kitteh is not making this any easier. It's snowing again, y'see, and so she believes she is freezing to death and must lie atop my arms. Blame typos on her.

She's facing the screen. I think even she finds all of this stupidity fascinating. Take today, for instance. I called my father. My conservative father, who for the first time in his life voted for a Democratic candidate for president. He doesn't even have buyer's remorse. In fact, he's happy with Obama so far. Not so much with the Cons. And here's why:

I argued yesterday that congressional Republicans are guilty of a "pre-recession mindset." Evidence to bolster the argument is hard to miss.

The top Republican in the House is seizing on the latest spike in unemployment to call for a freeze on government spending and to urge President Barack Obama to veto a $410 billion spending bill.

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, said the jump in unemployment to 8.1 percent and the loss of 651,000 jobs in February is a sign of a worsening recession that demands better solutions from both parties.

Boehner criticized the spending bill as chocked full of wasteful, pork-barrel projects.... Boehner said he hoped Obama would veto the bill. He urged the president to work with House Republicans to impose a spending freeze until the end of this fiscal year.

This is, of course, completely insane. As Pat Garofalo recently explained: "The economic stimulus package's main purpose is to close the GDP gap and jumpstart the economy by spurring spending by households, government and the private sector. A spending freeze would act as an 'anti-stimulus,' cutting spending precisely when it's too low and the economy is moving too slowly."

But stepping back and considering the larger context, that the top House Republican is seriously and publicly advocating such an idea is genuinely scary. As Paul Krugman noted, "I'm shocked by the total intellectual collapse of the Republican Party in the face of this economic crisis.... I'd really like to see some genuine bipartisanship in America. But that can't happen until we start having at least somewhat sane partisans."

I heard the same sentiments out of my father's mouth today. My conservative father. In fact, at one point, he said to me, "Isn't this exactly what Hoover did?" He's not buying the Con arguments that Hoover's reduce-spending approach is the only way to go, that Roosevelt only worsened the Great Depression, and that the economy will recover all by its lonesome just so long as those big gubmint socialistcommiefascists don't touch it. My dad's on the exact opposite side of the fence, yelling at the socialistcommiefascists, "What the fuck are you waiting for? Spend spend spend!"

When a fiscal conservative, small-government loving, near-libertarian like my father starts screaming these things, you just know the Cons are going to lose this round. Badly.

I have mentioned this recent poll in these pages before, but it bears repeating:

Charles Blow:

According to the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the percentage of Americans who view the Republican Party positively is at an all-time low. Meanwhile, President Obama’s positive rating is at an all-time high, and the Democratic Party’s positive rating is near its high.

Why? Because the Republicans have dissolved into a querulous lot of nags and naysayers without a voice, a direction or a clue, and we are not amused.

And who has surfaced as their saviors? Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh — the axis of drivel.

I'd call them the Axis of Weevil, myself. They do so resemble a hoarde of mindless, destructive pests.

This is another thing Senator Arlen Specter should keep in mind as he considers whether or not to remain in the Con party. Consider it one additional strong incentive to make a beeline for independence:

With former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who currently heads the right-wing Club for Growth, announcing that he will challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) in a primary battle for his Senate seat in 2010, The Hill is reporting that Specter now has a “strong incentive to abandon his party this year.” Specter barely beat Toomey in 2004 and 2010 looks to be a much tougher fight:

Pennsylvania political experts say that Specter would likely face a more difficult challenge in 2010 because the Republican primary electorate in Pennsylvania has become more conservative.

[snip]

If Specter were to lose to Toomey in the primary, he would not be able to run as an independent under Pennsylvania election law.

And, really, in a state where centrist Republicans are abandoning the party in droves, and considering the assclownery of the current Con party, why the fuck would he really want to stay?

Would any reasonably sane person want to be associated with people like Cornyn? Especially after this little stunt:

Instead of speaking out against Rush Limbaugh and acting like a real leader of the Republican party, John Cornyn is circulating this petition:

Bob Cesca:

Senator John Cornyn -- "Big John" -- is circulating a petition demanding that the Obama administration come clean about its "conspiracy" to smear Rush Limbaugh.

Seriously.

President Obama owes the American people an explanation.

His staff should apologize to the American people for supporting these tactics and diverting attention to the hard work that needs to be done to get America’s economy back on track.

Please join me in signing this petition and calling on the Obama White House to come clean on this matter.

Yep. A prominent Republican senator is circulating a petition in support of Rush Limbaugh. While he's at it, Cornyn might as well fly down to Palm Beach in his cowboy drag to offer Limbaugh an luxurious sponge bath.

Can we get a visual on that stunt?


That's gotta hurt.

This is the quality of the man whose ass is currently enjoying Cornyn's loving lips:

Ted Kennedy has long been a popular target for conservatives' ire, but since the Massachusetts senator was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, and suffered a seizure on Inauguration Day, Republican attacks "have basically ceased."

Rush Limbaugh didn't get the memo.

Rush Limbaugh carved a new notch in his ever-expanding belt of tastelessness when he predicted Sen. Ted Kennedy would be 6 feet under by the time Congress passed health care reform.

"Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill," the conservative radio host sneered on his show yesterday. [...]

[snip]

What did Republicans have to say about their buddy joking about Kennedy's death? Not much -- the RNC and the party's congressional leadership didn't want to comment. Imagine that.

It's time for one of two things. Either the few sane Republicans left flip a double bird to the Cons and get the hell out of the party before the implosion sucks them to their doom, or they stage a coup and boot the loonies out. When the voice of your party is a man this reprehensible, when the elected officials within it are so sycophantic and insane, there's really no other choice.