- Defying expectations, Democrat Kathy Hochul won the special election to fill a House seat in New York state that family values Republican Chris Lee vacated when he got caught soliciting sex on craigslist just like the rest of us pleibs. The district is heavily gerrymandered to favor Republicans, but candidate Hochul hammered her opponent for supporting dreamboat Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare. Who would have thought that a congressional district drawn to have lots of conservative seniors would vote to preserve health benefits for seniors?
- Indiana governor and architect of the Bush tax cuts for the rich Mitch Daniels has decided not to run for president. Following Mississippi governor Haley Barbour's and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's exits, the Republican field is looking a little scary-thin, as girls around my age like to say.
- Fortunately, former right-wing senator Rick Santorum is throwing his hat into the circus ring for the Republican presidential nod! I'm putting his name on my list of Republican sideshows who have no shot of winning the nomination right between Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. I call that a "Santorum sandwich." If you don't know what santorum means and you didn't click the link, I'll just define it for you: it's the frothy mixture of lube, semen, and fecal matter that results from anal sex. Other than that, the august senator is best known for comparing gay sex to bestiality.
Showing posts with label Republican budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Republican budget. Show all posts
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Essential News Roundup
- Newt Gingrich's rudderless campaign is on the brink of imploding as donors bail. Who are these people advising Newt to call the Republican budget "right-wing social engineering" while he's running to win the Republican nomination for president?
- In the first successful judicial filibuster since 2005, Senate Republicans blocked Goodwin Liu's nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th is widely considered the most liberal appeals court in the nation, and has the dubious distinction of leading the country in the number of decisions that later get overturned by the Supreme Court. It is also the largest appeals court jurisdiction by far and includes my home state of California. Liu is a law professor at Berkeley (my alma mater) and has won praise as one of the most brilliant legal minds of his generation.
- Yet another potential Republican presidential candidate catches flak for his past support for an "individual mandate" to buy health insurance. Turns out that Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and Obama Administration ambassador to China, attempted to attach an individual mandate to health care legislation in his state. Like Romney - and numerous GOP luminaries in years past -, Huntsman concluded that an individual mandate was crucial to the success of health care reform. That is, until Obama adopted this moderate Republican plan and the individual mandate became anathema to the snarling Republican base almost overnight.
- In the first successful judicial filibuster since 2005, Senate Republicans blocked Goodwin Liu's nomination to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th is widely considered the most liberal appeals court in the nation, and has the dubious distinction of leading the country in the number of decisions that later get overturned by the Supreme Court. It is also the largest appeals court jurisdiction by far and includes my home state of California. Liu is a law professor at Berkeley (my alma mater) and has won praise as one of the most brilliant legal minds of his generation.
- Yet another potential Republican presidential candidate catches flak for his past support for an "individual mandate" to buy health insurance. Turns out that Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor and Obama Administration ambassador to China, attempted to attach an individual mandate to health care legislation in his state. Like Romney - and numerous GOP luminaries in years past -, Huntsman concluded that an individual mandate was crucial to the success of health care reform. That is, until Obama adopted this moderate Republican plan and the individual mandate became anathema to the snarling Republican base almost overnight.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wisconsin Senate race
Democrat Herb Kohl, the four-term US Senator from Wisconsin, has announced that he is not seeking reelection. He is the 6th Democrat and 8th senator overall to announce his retirement ahead of the 2012 election cycle. This complicates things for Democrats' prospects of maintaining their Senate majority: of the 33 seats up for election, Democrats are defending 23 and the Republicans only need to defend 10. With open seats in 6 of the 23 Democrat-head seats, the decks are stacked pretty heavily against them. Republicans only need to pick up 4 seats to regain a majority, or even 3 if they win the presidential election, since the Vice President can cast tie-breaking votes in the event of a 50-50 split.
Some people are already whispering about a battle of titans between Wisconsin political heavyweights Congressman (and RILF) Paul Ryan and progressive hero Russ Feingold. Dreamboat Ryan, whom I recently profiled for his heartless wonkishness and exquisite bubble butt, is best known as the author of the Republican budget to gut Medicare and Medicaid benefits while lowering taxes for corporations and the rich. Russ Feingold was the former three-term US Senator from Wisconsin until his reelection defeat last year at the hands of a tea party imbecile whose name I will not utter here. As a senator, Feingold was most associated with the radical, socialist effort to keep corporate money out of politics.
The capstone of campaign finance reform, the McCain-Feingold Act, was of course ruled unconstitutional in last year's Citizens United case by a supposedly deferential, strict-constructionist Supreme Court. The Court ruled that since corporations are legal persons, they obviously have the right to free speech. And clearly, free speech means spending as much money as you want to influence an election. As such, corporations can spend as much money as they want to influence elections. Since leaving office, Russ Feingold founded an organization called Progressives United whose mission is to overturn the craven idiocy that is Citizens United. I hope they both run and Feingold fucks the shit out of Dreamboat Ryan's little virgin booty all the way to a Senate seat.
-Update-
I just got an email from Howard Dean's Democracy For America with a petition to draft Russ Feingold. Sign it here.
Some people are already whispering about a battle of titans between Wisconsin political heavyweights Congressman (and RILF) Paul Ryan and progressive hero Russ Feingold. Dreamboat Ryan, whom I recently profiled for his heartless wonkishness and exquisite bubble butt, is best known as the author of the Republican budget to gut Medicare and Medicaid benefits while lowering taxes for corporations and the rich. Russ Feingold was the former three-term US Senator from Wisconsin until his reelection defeat last year at the hands of a tea party imbecile whose name I will not utter here. As a senator, Feingold was most associated with the radical, socialist effort to keep corporate money out of politics.
The capstone of campaign finance reform, the McCain-Feingold Act, was of course ruled unconstitutional in last year's Citizens United case by a supposedly deferential, strict-constructionist Supreme Court. The Court ruled that since corporations are legal persons, they obviously have the right to free speech. And clearly, free speech means spending as much money as you want to influence an election. As such, corporations can spend as much money as they want to influence elections. Since leaving office, Russ Feingold founded an organization called Progressives United whose mission is to overturn the craven idiocy that is Citizens United. I hope they both run and Feingold fucks the shit out of Dreamboat Ryan's little virgin booty all the way to a Senate seat.
-Update-
I just got an email from Howard Dean's Democracy For America with a petition to draft Russ Feingold. Sign it here.
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