There was a giddy frenzy going around Democratic circles last week. “Did you see Obama in that Q&A with the Republicans? He tore them apart!” A reason to cheer: the president had finally rid himself of the uber-nice bipartisan guise and put on that of a stern teacher tired of telling the class their paper [...]
Entries Tagged as 'gop'
Is Obama a One Hit Wonder?
February 4th, 2010 1 Comment
Obama was voted into office because he was different than the average candidate. He had the ability to enthuse the American people with his charming rhetoric and inspirational message of change. In a time when the economy was sinking, job loss was skyrocketing and the country was at war Obama was able to offer hope [...]
Tags: gop · obama · scott brown · State of the union
Question Time Comes to America
January 30th, 2010 1 Comment
If you have, oh, 60 or so minutes to spare, I give you one of the most engrossing, and compelling piece of political theater I have seen in quite some time.
After delivering his State of the Union Address on Wednesday, President Obama visited GOP leaders to talk about the issues on Friday. What was meant [...]
Tags: gop · obama · question time
Healthcare Tumbles, Democrats Fumble
December 16th, 2009 1 Comment
“This is essentially the collapse of health care reform in the United States Senate. Honestly the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill, go back to the House, start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill.”
Howard Dean is not happy. The [...]
Tags: gop · healthcare · howard dean · olympia snowe · ronald burris · susan collins
Don’t expect 2010 to be 1994. Part 2: Healthcare
November 23rd, 2009 No Comments
“I’m not going to get into the numbers today, but it’ll — I think if you’re not impressed, you should be.”
Harry Reid is pretty proud of his healthcare bill. The next few weeks will be intense and immensely important to him and his party. The ramifications of this bill will be seen and discussed for [...]
Tags: 1994 · democrats · gop · healthcare · The Great Recession · unemployment
A New Brand of Conservative Politics
November 18th, 2009 2 Comments
A New Brand of Conservative Politics
She’s smart, attractive and lacks any brain-to-mouth filter. She came into politics by chance, dug her heels in, and much to the dismay of Democrats (and some Republicans) refuses to leave. She is not Sarah Palin. She is Michele Bachmann.
Like Palin, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann represents a new breed of conservative [...]
Tags: gop · michele bachmann · sarah palin
Don’t expect 2010 to be 1994. Part 1: The Dollar
November 9th, 2009 1 Comment
There is a noticeable strut to Michael Steele’s step nowadays. After last Tuesday big “wins,” the RNC Chairman finally feels good about his work as the ceremonial head of the party (Limbaugh is boss, and don’t you forget it). Chants of ”1994! 1994!,” the year the Republicans took back Congress after President Clinton botched his proposed healthcare reform, [...]
Public Option Continues to Confuse
August 21st, 2009 1 Comment
You’d think that after endless number of townhalls held by Congresspeople, the President, and political organizations the debate would circle around what would happen if it were enacted, the consequences of the act. Unfortunately, politics doesn’t bend that way.
Distortion and yelling are more common in the current national debate than compromise and clarity. Instead of [...]
Tags: gop · healthcare · obama · the loud minority
Obamacare and its discontents
August 18th, 2009 1 Comment
Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health, said in one of the Sunday morning shows that the public option is “not an essential part” of President Obama’s attempt to reform healthcare. This essentially means that the sweeping revamp of the system Obama had promised and pressed Congress on for so long is now just a “ehh, [...]
Tags: gop · healthcare · obama
Liz Cheney Sharpens Her Candidate Teeth
August 3rd, 2009 No Comments
In the video below, Liz Cheney, the daughter of former VP Dick (Cheney), flogs Obama over his attempts to reach out to foreign leaders like Nicaraguan president Danny Ortega. According to her, his desire to lessen nuclear armament worldwide by minimizing it at home is hogwash.
She obviously leaves out the fact that Ronald Reagan also [...]
Tags: foreign affairs · gop · liz cheney · obama
500 Words on: Cash for Clunkers and the GOP
August 3rd, 2009 1 Comment
There is a pretty accurate way to test someone’s self esteem: be bold. Prolong eye contact, speak through an unfiltered voice, or stand your ground and you will incur the wrath of insecure wabblers. They will lash out, violently, at the smallest show of counter-power. Knowing they have no resources to deploy as a defense, [...]
Tags: cash for clunkers · gop · tax rebate
Obama-care is slipping away
July 31st, 2009 No Comments
Two academics rule Washington right now. Prof. Bernanke at the Fed is the man many think saved us from another Great Depression through unorthodox and innovative uses of Federal Reserve powers, steering financial institutions and lenders away from the cliff. A student of the Great Depression, Bernanke used his knowledge of that economic crisis to [...]
Tags: bill clinton · congress · gop · healthcare
Congresswoman blames economy on gays, abortion, and Obama
June 29th, 2009 3 Comments
They say you need a big head and broad shoulders to make it in politics. Maybe the head doesn’t necessarily have to contain anything.
Representative Sally Kern (OK) has finally figured out how we can get out of this economic downturn: stop gay things from happening, quit allowing abortions, and pray a lot.
She issued this proclamation [...]
Tags: gay rights · gop · sally kern
Bernanke, GOP’s Persona Non Grata
June 25th, 2009 No Comments
It used to be that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Fed, was the guy all the Republicans would invite to their BBQs and country club birthday parties. Not anymore. Ben Bernanke, the former academic and current savior of the American economy, is not liked that much by the GOP. He will be grilled [...]
Tags: ben bernanke · gop · The Great Recession
Sotomayor & Spanish Adjectives
June 10th, 2009 3 Comments
A rule in column writing, which is also applicable to almost any other sort including blogging, is that there is really nothing worse than insincerity in your writing. Insincere outrage is doubly shameful.
Exhibit A: the newest right-wing attack on Sonia Sotomayor, and a clear indication that they are running out of creativity, centers around her [...]
Tags: gop · sonia sotomayor
Cheney: Link between 9/11 and Iraq? I said that? Nah!
June 2nd, 2009 No Comments
If the idea of spin and propaganda’s influence on the subconcious has ever been doubted, I give you exhibit A:
Former VP and current pro-bono press secretary for the GOP, Dick Cheney, says there was never any evidence of a link between Iraq and 9/11. Saddam Hussein and 9/11 were never tied together by the Bush [...]
Tags: 9/11 · dick cheney · gop · iraq war
The Sotomayor “reverse racist” argument
May 28th, 2009 No Comments
Leave it to Rush and Newt to articulate some sound arguments against a Supreme Court pick. But enough about sarcasm.
The decision to confirm or not Sonia Sotomayor as the next Supreme Court Justice might hinge on a few dozen words she uttered more than 8 years ago. At a UC Berkeley speech in 2001 she [...]
Tags: gop · sonia sotomayor · supreme court
GM, Truly America’s Car Company
May 27th, 2009 1 Comment
GM’s World Headquarters, Detroit, MI. photocredit: mandj98
The rumors around GM’s impending bankruptcy are like rumors about Clay Aiken’s sexuality. Exactly. Now the suspense (if any) is over, and GM looks ready to sign on the dotted line. Chapter 11, meet America’s dinasour.
There is still hope, but it’s unlikely anything will change the course of this [...]
Tags: GM · gop · green energy · obama · The Great Recession
500 Words On: The Obama Economy
May 24th, 2009 1 Comment
photocredit: jurvetson
Consider the parallels between 1993 and 2009. A charismatic, fresh-faced Democrat steps up to the presidential role after eons of Republican rule. Faced with deepening deficits and a persistent recession, the Democrat treats the economy as an inherited debt, a sort of “It was broken when I got here” situation.
Bill Clinton decided to try [...]
Tags: gop · obama · The Great Recession
Voters Flee Republican Party
May 19th, 2009 No Comments
Allow me to be Nate Silver for the day. The newest Gallup poll makes explicit what many felt was implied in last November’s election: the party is hemorrhaging voters.
Across all major groups the GOP is losing likely and potential voters. As the graph below shows, some of the groups have markedly moved away from the [...]
Tags: electoral politics · gallup · gop
