Scott Walker Failed The Test

By Jeff Simpson

While I do not agree with John McCain on pretty much anything, there was a time I respected him immensely:

It took class to stand up to a mob when Mr. McCain could have easily played into it.  He did not earn my vote this election but he did earn my respect as a Statesman.  McCain was put to a Moral Fortitude test and he passed it with flying colors.

Fast Forward to August 17,2015 and Scott Walker was also put to a test of character and moral fortitude and Mr. Walker failed miserably.

Video of 2 front-row @ScottWalker protesters during soap box in Iowa. Others in crowd & then followed to newser pic.twitter.com/PckTqWxlhS

— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) August 17, 2015

As the video clearly shows, while Scott Walker was yelling and pointing fingers at the protester that he will "not be intimidated" and will do "whatever it takes" to get elected.  Apparently what it takes here is to goad, encourage, condone and watch a human being get assaulted right in front of his eyes.

In a sane world, this would be the end of the Scott Walker career ascendancy.  In world where Christians truly were Christian, this would draw disgust and anger from supporters and non supporters alike.   In a world of laws, these men who harassed and assaulted the protesters would have been arrested.  In a world where we treated everyone as if we were all connected and have more in common than not, Scott Walker would be an afterthought.

Alas, that is not the world we live in.  We currently live in this world:

and one where politicians(NOT leaders), can sic the mob on his detractors.  

How very unfortunate for our children!

God Bless you all, now beat that guy up!

Huh??

Remember when the GOP lied to us and told us that Sarah Palin's teleprompter broke when she gave her acceptance speech for the Vice Presidential Nomination?

#tbm - Vicki Mckenna annoucing Ms. Palin's visit to Madison!

I Won Both Of Them!

  

This is the President I voted for!   

Veteran Victims of Ron Johnson

By Jeff Simpson


Ron Johnson has more than earned his reputation of "Our Dumb Senator".   He is at it again.

Ron Johnson spends most of his time  trying to find "victims of Government", to prove that the Government does not work.   RoJo can take the rest of the day off, because I found some victims of Government - our military.   The problem though is they are victims of Ron Johnson especially.  

We all know what a mess that the VA health care has been in our country.   With things finally coming to a head, Congress stepped up in a rare bit of bipartisanship to try and fix the problem.    Senator McCain and Senator Sanders worked together(talk about two sides of the aisle) and came up with a compromise that appealed to 97 Senators, which is almost unheard of these days.  

A fabulous no-prize if you can guess who was one of the "NO" votes!

WASHINGTON — Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson was one of only three senators who voted against a bill that would make it easier for veterans to receive government-subsidized medical care outside the Veterans Affairs medical system if the VA cannot provide timely service.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,would allow veterans who live more than 40 miles from the nearest VA medical center or who cannot get an appointment quickly at their local VA facility to use a Veterans Choice Card to receive care from the Medicare provider of their choice.

The bill also grants the VA expedited authority to spend $500 million to hire more doctors and nurses to meet the growing demand for services. It also gives the Veterans Affairs secretary the power to immediately fire poor-performing employees.

“What our veterans deserve is to be able to get into the system in a timely manner and get quality care,” Sanders said. “What this legislation does is move us forward strongly in that direction.”

McCain said the bill empowers veterans with more flexibility to choose their health care while bringing more accountability to the scandal-plagued VA

None of that appealed to Senator Ron Johnson (R- marry rich), and he voted NO!  He however loves our veterans, at least an intern who updates his facebook page thinks he does:

Senator Ron Johnson

May 26

As most of us take a day off from our workday routines, may we all pause to remember that the ordinary, peaceful life of our country is a gift bought by the men and women of America’s armed forces who laid down their lives in defense of the nation. We can never fully repay our debt to the more than 1 million service members who died to defend this incredible experiment in liberty that is America. But on Memorial Day, we can remember their sacrifice and commit ourselves to understanding and supporting the freedom they gave us. -rj

"We can never full repay our debt" so why even try.   He loves our veterans as long as they do not need a doctor

How soon can we vote this guy out of office again? And who the hell voted for him in the first place?  

You should be ashamed!  




  

McWhat?

By Jeff Simpson

There is this:

 “Why should you shake hands with someone who’s keeping Americans in prison? I mean, what’s the point? Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

and there is this:





Nuff Said.  

(edit note: Since there is some debat if tht is Johnny Mac or not....how about this one):

Caution: Falling Stars!

By Jeff Simpson

Apparently her Arena Rock days are over, as Sarah Palin will be playing the Walmart in Rib Mountain this morning.

Palin visited Walmart, 4300 Rib Mountain Drive, from 10 a.m. to noon Nov. 14 to sign copies of “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas.”
Rib Mountain was Palin’s fourth stop on her national book tour, she announced last week on her Facebook page, and her first visit to the Wausau area.

In what has been dubbed the "Hey look at me, look over here, Hey I am over here, remember me" tour.   Sarah Palin will be at other such booming Metropolis's as Bethlehem, Pa., Columbus, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Mich., Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Benning, Ga. It is only fitting that Palin be playing the store that is known for the "Faded Glory" brand name.

PS:  after seeing what might have been, realize that changing this is more important than ever....If your in the Marshfield area - Help Ken Slezak get elected Tuesday November 19th!  

I Will Not Give You Healthcare Sam I Am...

By Jeff Simpson

 "This is like taking a history class from Abbott and Costello." - Charlie Pierce on Cruz's "filibuster".

Tonight, Ted Cruz is taking part in an historic fake filibuster.  It is as fake as the grassroots portion of "tea" party.  The Canadian Cowboy is so adamanat that you do not have healthcare, that he has labeled anyone who thinks that Obamacare should not be defunded(most of the nation) as "nazi appeasers".

This is the guy that the really far right wing of the republican party holds up as some sort of Canadian super hero:

 


Check out what minor league right wing talk show host Tony Katz had to say about Mr. Canada:

Tony Katz

We are witnessing our Republic in action. Thoughtful questions, honest answers, total transparency. No wonder @joanwalsh hates it. #DefundIt

I know your curious as to the wonder, that Northstar was giving the nation:

 Yes the hero to the right, is reading a story written by a true progressive about the idiocy of someone who is so stubborn all he can do is say no.

"Every time Ted Cruz talks about Christianity an angel coughs up blood."  John Fugelsang

 John Stewart couldn't pass up a shot at Cruz either:

At least John McCain likes him!  So does Peter King.

What Now Brown Cow!

When Hillary Clinton said she was done serving her country so honorably as Secretary of State,the republicans saw that as opportunity.   They had recently lost the MA Senate held by Scott Brown to a true progressive in Elizabeth Warren.   The rumors that John Kerry was being considered as her successor, allowed them to pounce into action! 

The plan that Reince and the rest of his team came up with was, allow John Kerry to be confirmed as Secretary of State and then have Scott Brown win the special election to fill his seat and gain an important seat for the next 5 years in the Senate! 

We all know what they say about the best laid plans......

First off President Obama wanted to nominated the very distinguished Ambassador Susan Rice for the position.   This would have kept the Senate seat in Kerry's  hands so that was unacceptable.  The republicans like they always do, ratcheted the rhetoric up to an 11, and personally attacked Susan Rice as often and as loudly as they could.   John McCain and Lindsey Graham led the outright racist and sexist attacks, forcing Ambassador Rice to eventually withdraw her name from consideration. 

That obstacle out of the way, they were then faced with a new one that they did not know how to overcome: Scott Brown does not want to run again! 

“Over these past few weeks I have given serious thought about the possibility of running again, as events have created another vacancy requiring another special election. I have received a lot of encouragement from friends and supporters to become a candidate, and my competitive instincts were leading in the same direction,” Brown wrote.

“Even so, I was not at all certain that a third Senate campaign in less than four years, and the prospect of returning to a Congress even more partisan than the one I left, was really the best way for me to continue in public service at this time. And I know it’s not the only way for me to advance the ideals and causes that matter most to me,” he added.

“That is why I am announcing today that I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate in the upcoming special election,” his statement ends.

The primary is April 30 and the special election June 25.

Let me interpret for you - it  is very taxing for a moderate republican to try and keep the "tea party" base happy.   So thanks but no thanks, someone else can have that headache!  

Now for the punchline. 

The republican are so flummoxed that Brown does not want to run, they are at a loss to find someone else.  

Things are so bad under Reince's reign that they are considering asking people in the Romney Family to run.   

Massachusetts Republicans are desperately scrambling to find a strong Senate candidate to replace Scott Brown, with some even trying to persuade Mitt Romney’s wife or son to jump into the race to avert another electoral disaster.
The former GOP senator’s decision to stay out of the June 25 special election surprised and angered some Republican leaders, who said it will make it much harder to beat a Democratic opponent without Brown on the ballot.
“I’ve had several people call me and ask about Ann Romney,” Ron Kaufman, a longtime friend and aide to the former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential candidate nominee, told the Herald.

......

Other GOP leaders also raised the prospect of Mitt’s eldest son, Tagg, launching a surprise Senate campaign. Tagg Romney was a close campaign adviser and surrogate for his father and is a successful businessman living in Belmont.

As a progressive, I am ecstatic that the republicans have decided to keep Reince in charge!  

Senate's Day of Shame

The United States Senate yesterday had a chance to vote on a UN disability treaty that has been negotiated starting with George W Bush.

WASHINGTON — Led by Republican opposition, the Senate on Tuesday rejected a United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled that is modeled after the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act.

With 38 Republicans casting "no" votes, the 61-38 vote fell five short of the two-thirds majority needed to ratify a treaty. The vote took place in an unusually solemn atmosphere, with senators sitting at their desks rather than milling around the podium. Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, looking frail and in a wheelchair, was in the chamber to support the treaty.

The treaty, already signed by 155 nations and ratified by 126 countries, including Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, states that nations should strive to assure that the disabled enjoy the same rights and fundamental freedoms as their fellow citizens.

Including our own Senator Ron Johnson, who voted against it "believing it could interfere with U.S Law"(It doesn't).  

Lawrence O Donnell had his own take it on it, and he lays it on the line.  The new batch of "tea party" republicans continue to hurt America.  The question to ask is, do they actually bring anything positive to the table?  

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Mitt Round Up

After yesterdays video's were released( if you have not seen these yet you must) , here are some more stories about Mitt giving more context!

Then of course, there is Mitt on Film!  

First off, as Ezra Klein notes,  when Mitt says "47%  pay no taxes" he is just not being honest!

For what it’s worth, this division of “makers” and “takers” isn’t true. Among the Americans who paid no federal income taxes in 2011, 61 percent paid payroll taxes — which means they have jobs and, when you account for both sides of the payroll tax, they paid 15.3 percent of their income in taxes, which is higher than the 13.9 percent that Romney paid. Another 22 percent were elderly.

So 83 percent of those not paying federal income taxes are either working and paying payroll taxes or they’re elderly and Romney is promising to protect their benefits because they’ve earned them. The remainder, by and large, aren’t paying federal income or payroll taxes because they’re unemployed. But that’s a small fraction of the country.

 The $50,000/plate party was  held at fellow Vulture Capitalist and Hedge fund manager's Marc Leder's house.  Leder is semi famous for holding sex parties at his house:

Leder is notorious for his Caligula-esque parties. From the New York Post's description of his "wild end-of-the-summer bash":

At the Bridgehampton home that Leder rented for a whopping $500,000 a month, guests cavorted nude in a pool and performed sex acts, while scantily clad Russian women danced on platforms. Dancers at the party also twirled flaming torches to booming beats.

So to review, people who want housing, food, and healthcare: entitled freeloaders. People who want to get HJs in the pool while they watch semi-nude Russian dancers: campaign supporters.

 I wonder what Thomas Munson & the Mormon Church's stand is on sex parties?  

It has gotten so bad that even the rats(David Brooks) are abandoning ship!!

Romney, who criticizes President Obama for dividing the nation, divided the nation into two groups: the makers and the moochers. Forty-seven percent of the country, he said, are people “who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to take care of them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

This comment suggests a few things. First, it suggests that he really doesn’t know much about the country he inhabits. Who are these freeloaders? Is it the Iraq war veteran who goes to the V.A.? Is it the student getting a loan to go to college? Is it the retiree on Social Security or Medicare? 

It suggests that Romney doesn’t know much about the culture of America. Yes, the entitlement state has expanded, but America remains one of the hardest-working nations on earth. Americans work longer hours than just about anyone else. Americans believe in work more than almost any other people. Ninety-two percent say that hard work is the key to success, according to a 2009 Pew Research Survey. 

It says that Romney doesn’t know much about the political culture. Americans haven’t become childlike worshipers of big government. On the contrary, trust in government has declined. The number of people who think government spending promotes social mobility has fallen. 

The people who receive the disproportionate share of government spending are not big-government lovers. They are Republicans. They are senior citizens. They are white men with high school degrees. As Bill Galston of the Brookings Institution has noted, the people who have benefited from the entitlements explosion are middle-class workers, more so than the dependent poor. 

Romney’s comments also reveal that he has lost any sense of the social compact. In 1987, during Ronald Reagan’s second term, 62 percent of Republicans believed that the government has a responsibility to help those who can’t help themselves. Now, according to the Pew Research Center, only 40 percent of Republicans believe that. 

The Republican Party, and apparently Mitt Romney, too, has shifted over toward a much more hyperindividualistic and atomistic social view — from the Reaganesque language of common citizenship to the libertarian language of makers and takers. There’s no way the country will trust the Republican Party to reform the welfare state if that party doesn’t have a basic commitment to provide a safety net for those who suffer for no fault of their own. 

The final thing the comment suggests is that Romney knows nothing about ambition and motivation. The formula he sketches is this: People who are forced to make it on their own have drive. People who receive benefits have dependency.

No wonder the whole Romney/Ryan campaign is in shambles!  They have had a few very bad weeks!

Many political reporters thought the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign set some kind of a low bar for worst-run presidential campaigns. Well, in today’s lightning-speed news cycle and instant pundit judgments, it appears the Romney campaign is heading toward that record and might win that race.

Finally let's end it with Mitt's quote of the Day!

 “My job is not to worry about those people,” Mitt Romney said of the 47 percent of Americans who are likely to vote for Barack Obama. “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

 

Tax Return Hypocrisy

There is no limits to republican hypocrisy and no issue they will NOT politicize.  The latest issue is tax returns:

Let's look at some things we know about tax returns and politicians:

We know that George Romney(Mitts dad) was the first politician to release multiple years tax returns because  “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show".

We know that when Mitt was desperate to be John McCain's running mate he gave the Senator over 23 years of tax returns!  

We know that Mitt will NOT release his tax returns to the general public:

We know that Ann Romney says they have given us all of the info "that you people need to know".  

We also know that Washington DC resident,  Eric Hovde has no interest in releasing his tax returns! 

We know that the republicans think that releasing tax returns is a non issue and has nothing to do with the upcoming election.  

 NOW, thanks to some very good reporting from Jason Rae, we know that when it comes to their opponents, tax returns are a very significant issue.  

From June 27 to July 16, 2012, the Republican Party of Wisconsin, through its political director Jonathan Wetzel, filed an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Revenue for the tax returns of 26 Democratic candidates for the Assembly. The requests varied from ten years worth of filings to just one year’s return. 

 

You see, unlike federal tax returns, state tax returns are subject to open records.  It’s just one more aspect of the Wisconsin tradition of transparency in government that has been under assault by Governor Walker and the GOP led legislature in the last year and a half.  But don’t get me wrong, even if they don’t like the transparency, they will use it when it benefits them.

....

 

I just don’t understand how they can deny releasing their own returns saying it shouldn’t matter and that it’s an attempt to, as a Hovde spokesman said, “incite class warfare,” and yet go and seek tax returns from other candidates.

 

Here again we have Republicans talking out of both sides of their mouth. It is actually making me wonder what Tommy, Mark, Eric and Jeff are all hiding if they refuse to release theirs? Its classic do as we say, not as we do.  

 

Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.

 

 

 

Eric Hovde Wants Your Vote

However, the Washington DC resident who wants to be Wisconsin's Senator can not be bothered to vote himself.  He is too busy saving the poor to vote*, and he doesn't like the choices he has had.   Maybe Eric Hovde needs to look up the definition of citizen legislator!  

Senate candidate Eric Hovde is a busy guy.

So busy, in fact, he rarely has had time to vote.

"I'm a person that's spent 75% of my life in an airplane, flying around the U.S., flying around the globe," Hovde, a community banker and hedge fund manager, told the Journal Sentinel last week. "You know a lot of what I've been up to. I built homeless shelters for street kids in Kigali, Rwanda; Mombasa, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; Mexico City; Huanuco, Peru."

Records show that Hovde registered to vote in Washington, D.C., in 2004, two years after he built his 7,700-square-foot mansion there. Of the 11 elections held in D.C. since he registered, Hovde voted in just two of them - the 2004 and '08 general presidential campaigns.

In the last presidential contest, Hovde said he voted for Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona. He did not vote in the GOP primary between McCain and former Arkan sas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
It's not just his busy schedule that has kept him away from the ballot box. He also pointed to the dearth of conservative Republicans in elections in the nation's capital.

"I'm a conservative in D.C. Do you understand that?" Hovde asked. "When it comes to a vote in Washington, D.C., and you're a conservative and your only choice is a liberal Democrat and a liberal Democrat; it's a little discouraging."

A top staffer for former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, a Janesville Republican, was even more pointed.
"It's bad enough that he hasn't lived in Wisconsin for 24 years," said Chip Englander, Neumann's campaign manager. "He should have at least voted where he did live."

*When Eric Hovde says he does not like to talk about his charity work, he apparently means, he does not like to talk about his charity work, UNLESS there is a reporter present! 

Q. What is the Difference Between Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan?

A.   Lipstick AND an invite to the republican national convention.

 It seems that this year,  Sarah Palin is NOT welcome there! 

It is interesting the way the republican party works.  Everyone knows that Mitt Rmoney has been very very desperate to be president for the past eight years.  When Mitt lost out to John McCain he figured his next best path to power was as Vice President.  Mitt then gave John McCain 23 years of tax returns(I guess mitt respects John McCain more than he does the rest of the American people).  

McCain then looked at them and promptly picked Sarah Palin! 

Let's repeat that slower this time so it sinks in:

John McCain then looked at Mitt Romney's 23 years of tax returns and promptly picked Sarah Palin to be his Vice-President!  

 "Oh, come on, because we thought that Sarah Palin was the better candidate," John McCain said

Four short years ago, Sarah Palin was the absolute second best person in America to represent the republican party on the top of the ticket, and four years later, now she is not even welcome at the republican convention?  She was a Game Changer!

Four years ago, mitt was soundly rejected not once but twice by the republican party and now they want us to believe, that they believe that he is THE best person to be the leader of the free world in these troubled economic times?  

Did they not learn their lesson five years ago?  Do they care so much about their own parties control and power that they are willing to put someone like this in charge of the United States?   After the McCain/Palin fiasco, how would they not have come up with someone much more qualified and intelligent than someone whose defining adjective is as an etch-a-sketch!

Maybe this year, Paul Ryan (R-Wall St.) will be the game changer!  

Romney is Running from his Returns!

"Mitt Romney says he doesn't manage his own money, doesn't know where his money is. THIS is the guy to manage the economy!" David Letterman

So Mitt feels that John McCain deserves information that no one else in America does? Or is he just that desperate to be in the White House? When will America demand more out of their political candidates besides just the letter you want after their name?

Republican crazies - part 2!

After writing about three republican crazies, this is a whole new brand of crazies that were too insane not too share!

1. Illinois republican congressman and deadbeat dad Joe Walsh.Joe Walsh has a democratic opponent in the November elections  Tammy Duckworth who is a military hero who was severely wounded in service to our country.   Most people would say thank you for your service and sorry for your injuries.  Joe Walsh is just annoyed by them.   

 Walsh has apparently had enough of her histrionics. He told an Elk Grove town hall on Friday that Sen. John McCain was a “noble hero” because he didn’t often talk about his military service. “Now I’m running against a woman who, my God, that’s all she talks about,” Walsh said.

 “I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country,” said Walsh. Then, according to Politico, he paused for dramatic effect: “Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”

 Though he never joined the military himself, Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) disparaged his Democratic opponent’s military service at a town hall on Sunday, saying that she’s not a “true hero.”

 2. A Republican running for Congress in one of the nation’s most competitive districts claimed that Americans “don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer”in order to justify his opposition to health care reform: 

“People now don’t die from prostate cancer, breast cancer and some of the other things,” Collins said. “The fact of the matter is, our healthcare today is so much better, we’re living so much longer, because of innovations in drug development, surgical procedures, stents, implantable cardiac defibrillators, neural stimulators—they didn’t exist 10 years ago. The increase in cost is not because doctors are making a lot more money. It’s what you can get for healthcare, extending your life and curing diseases.”

In reality, 28,000 men die from prostate cancer and 40,000 women die from breast cancer every year! Of course people dieing of cancer mean nothing to the republican party.

3.  ladies if you are not busy on July 24th, I recommend flying to New York where republican male state senator Marty Golden will teach you how to act like a proper lady: 

As part of a summer series on career development directed at his female constituents, Golden is hosting a taxpayer-funded event called “Posture, Deportment and the Feminine Presence” on July 24. Golden promises to teach Bay Ridge women “the art of feminine presence,” which includes tips on how to “sit, stand and walk like a model” and “walk up and down a stair elegantly”:

Republican Voters - Do What You Are Told!

Mitt Romney is and you should also!    The republican party had a weekend retreat in Utah where they got their biggest donors together with potential VP picks.  

Here is a picture of Mitt being shuttled in to the weekend meetings as a prop:

The purpose of the meeting was for the multi-billionaires and "bundlers" to decide who they wanted Mit to pick as his Vice Presidential running mate.

The three-day retreat in Park City - a town that boasts top-notch ski slopes and plays host to the Sundance Film Festival each year - brought together a crowd estimated at more than 700 people for socializing, issue panels and a campaign briefing by top Romney aides.

David Reinke, a donor from western Colorado, described the retreat as "quite comfortable and invigorating."
"I've found everybody to be quite approachable in and in quite high spirits," he said. A number of donors echoed the excitement and confidence among campaign staff and contributors that the election was going well.

Donors paid for their own flights to the area as well as their hotels, said Larry Conti, the guest of a top Romney contributor who asked not to be named.

After policy meetings and a reception at the nearby Utah Olympic Park on Friday, participants rose early Saturday morning for a speech by Arizona Sen. John McCain, who ran for president in 2008; a panel on "Innovation in America" featuring Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Hewlett Packard CEO Meg Whitman, Sen. John Thune, Rep. Paul Ryan and Home Depot founder and financier Ken Langone; a "media insight" discussion that included operatives Karl Rove and Mary Matalin; and a campaign briefing with Romney's top aides. On Sunday, the group is scheduled for a golf outing in nearby Heber City.

A weekend retreat in private, with a bunch of multi billionaires telling the elected republican officials exactly where what and how they will be running the presidential election and what the policies they must push are.  Sounds like a typical weekend for Paul Ryan (R- Wall St.).   Janesville and the first district of Wisconsin,  has never held paul's weekend interest, unless it is to march in a parade pretending he cares yet showing contempt to any who would talk to him. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

Do not pretend, that you(if your donations are under $500,000) that you have ever had any hand in policy making for the republican party. For that matter neither does Mitt.  he has so desperately wanted to be president for so long, and they sure tried to run someone else but could not find anyone who was not insane, to beat him.     

Secondly, notice who was missing from the VP cattle call weekend.   Guys like Marco Rubio, Allen West, Michelle Bachman, etc... In a blatant diss of the far right "tea party" they did not invite any of the far right, ethically challenged loons, the master of the republican arty did not want these crazy bundlers and inherited billionaires to " fall in love" with one of the crazies and paint themselves into a corner.   They figured it is better to give them a list of people they can choose from instead of running a crazy like Sarah Palin that scares the voters of this country!

Stay tuned more fun to follow and let us hope they pick Paul Ryan!   

Famous Last (Political) Quotes

For too many politicians, one can pinpoint the exact moment that their political careers and their political relevance started to end.

For George Bush the Elder, it was when he said, "Read my lips. No new taxes."  That is when he doomed himself to being a one-term president.

For Senator John McCain, it wasn't when he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, surprisingly.  It was when he said, "fundamentals of the economy are strong."  After that, it was all downhill for his presidential bid and any respect people had for him.

For Scott Walker, while there are so many to choose from, especially the ones where he mentions that he was an eagle scout and/or a preacher's son or any time he mentions his integrity.  Another doozy is his promise that he would create 250,000 jobs.  (He currently has about 275,000 to go to reach that goal.)

But now there is a new contender in that particular contest, and it's a strong one.

On Friday, just before the story of Walker's poopy problem broke like a dirty diaper, he said this about his politically-appointed crony-heavy DNR:

Increasing compliance and decreasing the number of environmental regulation violations is a good thing for Wisconsin's valuable natural resources, Wisconsin residents, tourism, our economy and ultimately for the next generation," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie wrote.

Talk about the shit hitting the fan...

The Walker Budget Is Already Working! Part LXXII

Gee, who didn't see this one coming?

First, Scott Walker takes gives every public sector worker in the state a massive pay cut, thereby reducing their income and hence the amount they pay in income tax.  

On top of that, the public sector workers have their personal budgets cut to the breaking point, meaning they have a lot less buying power and thus are not spending as much.  This leads to a predictable cut in sales tax revenue for the state.

This then leads to ripple effects, where local businesses that depend on people's discretionary spending start feeling the pinch and end up laying off people or closing up shop, leaving everyone out of work.

And if that wasn't enough, Walker's "pro-business climate" is turning out to be anything but that, and the state loses nearly 50,000 jobs in the first six months that Walker's budget has been in effect.  What is obvious to everyone but Walker and his apologists is that all of these laid off people also aren't going to be paying as much in income tax or sales tax, thereby keeping the downward spiral continuing.

Eventually all of that money that's no longer being spent, since he gave it all to big corporations that only use it to enhance their profit margin, will come back to have a very bad effect on the state budget.

That day of reckoning came today.

The State Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported that this loss of revenue is causing the state to lose $216 million dollars when compared to previous projections.  That means that Walker's "balanced budget" is facing a deficit of $143 million.

And amazingly, Walker continues on with the same worn out cliche that "Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."  

When I heard that line, the first thought that I had, and still have, is that of when John McCain, running for the President of the United States, said that the "economy is fundamentally sound" as the Lehman Brothers went belly up, the stock market started to crash and the full impact of the Great Recession was being felt.

I hope Walker has the same success with his gaffe as McCain did with his.

Then once Walker is ousted, maybe the real healing could begin.

Momma Always Said...

From Pundit Kitchen:


They seem to be more like mine than this guy's ever would be.

Now That He Lost, McCain Finds Himself Again

During the election, John McCain sold himself out in many ways. One of the most disappointing was when he flip-flopped on torture.

But in a report issued today, it appears he has found his dignity again:

In the most comprehensive critique by Congress of the military's interrogation practices, the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report yesterday that accuses Rumsfeld and his deputies of being the authors and chief promoters of harsh interrogation policies that disgraced the nation and undermined U.S. security. The report, released by Sens. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), contends that Pentagon officials later tried to create a false impression that the policies were unrelated to acts of detainee abuse committed by members of the military.

"The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees."

[...]

"These policies are wrong and must never be repeated," McCain said in a statement.

It is good to see McCain regain his bearings and stand up for good things again.

H/T James Rowen