Grover Norquist Wants to Own the 6th

By Jeff Simpson

The extremist in Wisconsin have had much success this year in flushing anyone from the party who has a history of compromise with the left.    One of their victims was Tom Petri, the long serving republican Congressman from the 6th District.  

With moderation out the door, the far right republicans in the area all ran to get a crack at his seat.  The anti-Government right wing, for some reason, can not ever seem to leave the Government.  This would be a significant pay increase, so three people who would starve in the private sector, are all working hard to be the next Congressman from WI.   All wanting to go to give Steve King and Louie Gohmert a run for their money in crazy talk. 

The three Wisconsinites running on the right for this seat are Joe Leibham, Glenn Grothman and Duey Stroebel(intelligent talent is seriously lacking on the right side of the aisle).    Intra party primaries can bring some tension and this one is no different.   

All three of these far right wingers are fighting over who was the first to sign Grover Norquist's blood oath.   

  On Monday, Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) issued a press release saying he was the first candidate to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge from Americans for Tax Reform.

It tells you how far to the right that these people are that they actually brag about signing their own free thoughts and votes away to Pennsylvania resident Norquist.  Announcing to the Wisconsin residents of the 6th district that they are bit players in the "I need more taxpayer money" roulette that these three are playing. 

For those of you wondering who Grover Norquist is, he is of these famous quotes:

" Our goal is to shrink government to the size where we can drown it in a bathtub".

Grover Norquist

• Our goal is to inflict pain. It is not good enough to win; it has to be a painful and devastating defeat. We're sending a message here. It is like when the king would take his opponent's head and spike it on a pole for everyone to see.

  • from the National Review, quoted in The Republican Noise Machine by David Brock, Crown Publishers 2004, pg. 50

[Democrats] will only become acceptable once they are comfortable in their minority status. Any farmer will tell you that certain animals run around and are unpleasant, but when they've been fixed, then they are happy and sedate.

• Grover Norquist cited in "The Great Revulsion" at nytimes.com, 10 November, 2002

  
  Norquist used to be one of the main power brokers in the republican party, then people found out what a vile human being he is and started to back off in droves.    However, as we know, the republican party of Wisconsin has their clocks set back 120 years, so they have not received the memo.  
  
  As for the actual pledge, it is one he wrote in 7th grade(which is why Leibham was actually able to read it) and is here:
  
  
  “I _____ pledge to the taxpayers of the __________ district, of the state of __________, and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
  
  
  
  The problem with the pledge though, is that no where does it describe who is going to pay for the record debt that Leibham/Strobel/Grothman have left us? 
  
  Americans for Tax Reform
  722 12th ST NW
  Suite 400
  Washington DC 20005
  202.785.0266 (P)
  202.785.0261 (F)
  info@atr.org
  
  @taxreformer
  
  
  Luckily for the people of the 6th district you have an actual intelligent fiscal conservative running for office - Mark Harris!
   
  Support Mark with as much money, time and word of mouth as you can!!  
  
  
  

The Low Bar of the Right!

When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.

Japanese Proverb

The last year in Wisconsin has brought us dismal job numbers, no matter how you look at it!  Wisconsin has a declining public school system and crumbling infrastructure. Wisconsin  actually has a bigger deficit than when Scott Walker took office, we just kicked the can down the road.    We also have the only Governor in the country with a legal defense fund, and his top staffers keep getting convicted!  

You would think people would see what is actually happening in Wisconsin and not want to be associated with us.

When it comes to our friends on the right, you would be wrong.

They look at the devastation that Scott Walker has wrought on WI and are proud! 

Some loony right wing group had the audacity to name Scott Walker "Conservative of the Year".

I think they need to look up the definition of the word "conservative"!  

con·serv·a·tive

[kuh n-sur-vuh-tiv] Show IPA

adjective

1.

disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.

2.

cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate.

3.

traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness: conservative suit.

PS:  if you think this is a nice award?  Look at the company he now keeps:

Past recipients of the Human Events Conservative of the Year award include:
2011: Rep. Paul Ryan
2010: Sen. Jim DeMint
2009: Dick Cheney
2008: Sarah Palin
2007: Rush Limbaugh
2006: Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.)
2005: Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.)
2004: Swift Boat Veteran John O’Neill
2003: Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
2002: Attorney General John Ashcroft
2001: President George W. Bush
2000: Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia
1999: President Ronald Reagan (Man of the Century)
1998: Independent Counsel Ken Starr

"Tell me what company you keep, and I'll tell you who you are."
- Miguel De Cervantes

The Al-Koch(a) 15

Jan 20th, 2009. The Day President Barack Obama was sworn into office as the 44th president of the US.  This marked a new day in America as an African American was sworn into the highest office of the land for the very first time in our great  country.  While millions of Americans tuned in and celebrated, I think my highlight of the day was when Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen were singing "This Land is Your Land".

Hope was restored to our nation and we needed it at that time!

Unfortunately for President Obama and the rest of America, a group of bitter men had other ideas.  A group of approximately 15 men got together that very night and started plotting the best way to take down America.  Unfortunately, the guest list was full of familiar faces.  You would think that I was talking about Kim Jong Il, Osama Bin Laden, Ali Atwa, Abdul Rahman Yasin, Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, Grover Norquist, Tim Phillips, and other assorted anti-American Vermin. Sadly no.   The group that got together that night to plot the take down of our President, were all elected officials(and Frank Luntz).

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.)
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R)

A group of well known republican officials led by Wisconsin's own Paul Ryan, failed presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, and republican racist pollster and Scott Walkers good friend Frank Luntz wasted no time in meeting.

In his new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives."by Robert Draper, Draper takes us inside that meeting.

 The dinner lasted nearly four hours. They parted company almost giddily. The Republicans had agreed on a way forward:
Go after Geithner. (And indeed Kyl did, the next day: ‘Would you answer my question rather than dancing around it—please?’)
Show united and unyielding opposition to the president’s economic policies. (Eight days later, Minority Whip Cantor would hold the House Republicans to a unanimous No against Obama’s economic stimulus plan.)

Begin attacking vulnerable Democrats on the airwaves. (The first National Republican Congressional Committee attack ads would run in less than two months.)
Win the spear point of the House in 2010. Jab Obama relentlessly in 2011. Win the White House and the Senate in 2012.

  Daily Kos, is asking Darrell Issa to open an investigation:

  Not only did these Senior members of Congress plot to destroy the American Economy more than it already was destroyed? They actually carried out their mission:  

- Every one of these Senior members of Congress have threatened Government Shutdown over things like:
not funding planned parenthood, not raising the Debt Ceiling which, in-and-of-itself, would cause US Economic turmoil. ... oh, and stay current, these same House GOP members of Congress are still, today, threatening a Government Shutdown.

- Senators: Jim DeMint, Jon Kyl, Tom Coburn, John Ensign, and Bob Corker have
- Filibustered more Bills than any Congress combined in US History.
- Voted NO on every single piece of Legislation brought to the Floor including: NO on Al Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment, NO on Lilly Ledbetter, NO on Fair Pay Act.

- Representatives: Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy, Rep. Pete Sessions, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra and Dan Lungren
- Voted NO on every single piece of Legislation; including NO on increasing FEMA during natural disasters.
- Have been on tv constantly chanting the lie that they were guilty of ... the lie that "President Obama's policies undermine the US Economy."

 The Daily Beast focused on different aspects beyond the anti-American 15.  The book points out that John Boehner was not invited to this meeting to take down America, but instead he was somewhere whining about the end of earmarks....

Despite the anti-earmark rhetoric in Congress, John Boehner still misses them.  During a conversation with Congressman Ralph Hall of Texas, Boehner regretted that earmarks disappeared, as it had made the task of keeping unruly members under control much easier. He sadly noted “It’s not like the old days, Ralph. Without earmarks to offer, it’s hard to herd the cats.”

John Boehner is finding it hard to keep people in line without the threat of pulling their funding...take taht tea party!

 But I digress...back to the Al-Kocha gang of 15!

 Paul Ryan and his cohorts, who call themselves the Young Guns, spent that historic night in 2009, not working on ways to end the recession, or lower the deficit, or end the wars, or even lower the unemployment rate.   They used their time and "talent" to brainstorm ways to make the President of the United States fail and if all went according to plan, fail miserably!!!

It is no wonder that what passes as humor these days on the right is talk of shooting democrats!   

**  Congressman Ryan did not respond to questions at the time of this writing. As a matter of fact Congressman Ryan has never responded to a single question posed by yours truly!  

Walker Sneaks in Holiday Visit to National Sociopath

Scott Walker must not have been proud of it, but he did it any how.

According to the Sheboygan Press and others, Walker snuck into a party hosted by Grover Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform. The name, as in the case of most conservative groups, is a misnomer as the recent payroll tax debacle proved.

Apparently this is something Scooter has to do, because he has the bulk of the population breathing down his neck through the recall process, and he needs to raise money -- lot's of it -- to run disingenuous commercials. These include the latest in which he and his family are serving at a soup kitchen (with the recipients of his charity hidden out of the camera shot), and his wife telling us later in the spirit of the holiday season to forget all the chicanery and just move on.

But yet he must not be comfortable about it and Walker failed to tell any of us that he was doing his duty by making this stop to pay homage to the person who has done more damage to this country and certainly the middle class than the Germans or Japanese threatened to do in World War II.

Walker, who likes to pride himself as being the soul of virtue doesn't feel that his comings and goings should be brought to our collective attention, especially when it comes to seeing someone as reviled as Grover Norquist. Yet, according to the Sheboygan Press article, the detested (among right wingers) Jim Doyle was very transparent about his trips.

Walker, on the other hand, seems to feel that our employers -- us -- don't deserve the right to find out. Maybe Scott never learned this in the private sector since he hasn't spent meaningful time in it, but leave work without letting your boss know is usually grounds for a write-up. Leave work to spend time with someone who threatens the well-being of the organization and that's grounds for dismissal.