Category Archives: Republicans

Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Struck Down in Florida

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Civil Liberties, Constitution, Republicans

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The Republican Party’s War on the Poor took a hit on Tuesday:

“A federal judge on Tuesday struck down as unconstitutional a Florida law that required welfare applicants to undergo mandatory drug testing, setting the stage for a legal battle that could affect similar efforts nationwide.

Judge Mary S. Scriven of the United States District Court in Orlando held that the testing requirement, the signature legislation of Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who campaigned on the issue, violated the protection against unreasonable searches.

“The court finds there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied,” she wrote. The ruling made permanent an earlier, temporary ban by the judge.”

Governor Scott promised to appeal:

“Mr. Scott, who had argued that the drug testing was necessary to protect children and ensure that tax money was not going to illegal drugs, said that the state would appeal the ruling.”

What about the tax money being wasted on unconstitutional drug testing, Governor Medicare Fraud?

“Only 108 out of 4,086 people tested — 2.6 percent — were found to have been using narcotics. State records showed that the requirement cost more money to carry out than it saved.”

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Useful Idiots

28 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in health care, Politics, Republicans, Supreme Court

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AFP (Americans For Prosperity) sponsored a rally attended by AFP (Astroturf Fools and Pawns) yesterday across the street from the Supreme Court. The speakers at this gathering of people against government interference in health care included Rep. Michele Bachmann, Sen. Jim DeMint, Rep. Steve King, Rep. Allen West, Sen. Ron Johnson, and Sen. Pat Toomey. Notice a pattern there? They all receive government health care.

Here’s a photo of the crowd.


Seems to be quite a few grey hairs in that shot. How many do you suppose are on Medicare?

Much of what the speakers had to say dealt with freedom and liberty:

Allen West: “Thanks for coming out on a beautiful Washington D.C. for liberty, democracy and freedom.”

Michele Bachmann: “We will not wave the white flag of surrender when it comes to liberty and our healthcare.”

Rep. Steve King: “This American liberty is a precious thing, it doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.”

Ron Johnson: “This isn’t about healthcare, it’s about freedom.”

Yes it is all about freedom and liberty. The freedom and liberty of insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The freedom and liberty of insurance companies to cancel your policy when you get sick. The freedom and liberty of insurance companies to jack up your rates 20–30% a year. Your freedom and liberty to be bankrupted by medical expenses.

Idiots. Useful idiots.

Charity Begins at (Somebody Else’s) Home

01 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Politics, Republicans

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Len Burman at Forbes:

“As many have pointed out, Mitt and Ann Romney have been very generous, donating 19.2% of their income [to charity] in 2011 and 13.8% in 2010.  Barack and Michelle Obama were in a similar league, donating 14.2% in 2010… At the other end of the generosity spectrum were Newt and Callista Gingrich, who made gifts of only 2.6% of their $3.1 million income in 2010, and Rick and Karen Santorum, who donated 1.8% of their $0.9 million income in 2010.  (The Santorums gave 2.7% in 2009. The Gingriches have not released earlier tax returns.)”

I’m a little surprised that two avowedly religious candidates are so stingy with charity.  The bible says tithe, which is 10 percent, and that would seem to be a small sacrifice for someone earning close to a million dollars (Santorum) and chump change for Gingrich ($3 million).”

Practice what you preach much?

God Tells (insert name of Republican here) to Run for President

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Election 2012, Politics, Republicans, Rick Santorum

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And God said, “This shall be a sign unto you. If Obamacare passeth, thou shalt surely run for president”:

“The wife of Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says that God is responsible for her husband’s recent surge in popularity.

“I personally think this is God’s will,” Karen Santorum told GBTV’s Glenn Beck on Thursday. “I think He has us on a path. And I do think there’s a lot more happening that what we are seeing.”

[…]

“Before we made the decision [to run], it was about a year, a year and a half, and initially when Rick mentioned it, I was just, ‘No way.’”

“I said we need to pray about it,” Rick Santorum recalled. “She said, ‘No, I’m not going to pray about it. God couldn’t possibly want you to do this.’”

But Karen Santorum said she eventually sought God’s guidance on the matter.

“I really started to pray about it, and I did always feel in my heart that God had big plans for Rick,” she explained. “Eventually it was there, that tugging at my heart.”

“It is hard because you know it’s a hard path,” Karen Santorum agreed. “What did it for me, though, was Obamacare. Because we have, as you know, a little precious — a little angel, little Bella — special needs little girl. And when Obamacare passed, that was it. That put the fire in my belly.”

” Vodpod videos no longer available.

 

“Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain have all claimed that God urged them to seek the Republican nomination for president.”

So going by what Republicans themselves have said, so far God’s 0 for 3. And BTW Mrs. Santorum, that skirt’s a bit short for the wife of the Morality Sheriff, don’t you think? Could it be…Satan.

The “Etch-a-Sketch Party”

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Politics, Republicans

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A quick overview of last night’s Republican debate in Arizona. Mitt Romney is the sane person who has to play crazy to try and convince the base that he’s one of them. Something he hasn’t been able to accomplish in 5 years of running for president, but he keeps trying. Rick Santorum knows his crazy appeals to the base but he has to try and appear sane for anyone outside the rabid right-wing who might be tuning in. Newt Gingrich has had his day in the sun and is now back to the bomb-throwing Newt of old, like calling President Obama the “most dangerous president on national security grounds in American history,” and Ron Paul is…well, Ron Paul. Admiral Stockdale version 2.0.

Obviously the Romney campaign had the hall packed with their supporters. Everything he said got a standing ovation. Romney also had the best non-response response of the night when moderator John King asked all the candidates what was the most popular misconception about themselves. Romney launched into his boilerplate campaign stump speech, “ make America strong,” “fundamental change in Washington,” blah blah blah. When King tried to bring him back to the original question Romney went Sarah Palin:

“[Y]ou ask the questions you want– I give the answers I want.”

But the best take I’ve seen this morning comes from Andrew Sullivan:

“It’s like an etch-a-sketch party. Shake it one election cycle – and the past disappears completely!”

Hammer. Nail. Bam. Republicans can’t shake their fixation on solutions which are proven failures. Like tax cuts equals economic growth and prosperity for all. Keep lowering taxes on the so-called job creators and somehow the supply-side fairy will come and sprinkle trickle-down pixie dust on everyone else. Never mind that we have 30 years of evidence to the contrary. Romney released another tax cut plan yesterday, because the first one wasn’t big enough, which will cost 4 times what the Bush cuts did and by some slight-of-hand not increase the deficit.

Like get the gub’mint out of the way, cut regulations, and let the unfettered free market work. Never mind that lack of proper regulation and letting Wall Street run free is what led to the near-collapse of our entire system in 2008.

Like beating the war drums with the threat of imminent nuclear attack from Iran. Gingrich was the lead drummer last night:

“Everybody needs to understand, and by the way, we live in an age when we have to generally worry about nuclear weapons going off in our own cities. So everyone who serves in the fire department, the police department, not just the first responders but our National Guard, whoever’s going to respond, all of us are more at risk today, men and women, boys and girls, than at any time in the history of this country.”

That all sound very familiar. Never mind that it cost us a trillion dollars and 4400 dead Americans the first time we were sold that line, and that it is just as much a fabricated claim now as it was in 2003. The etch-a-sketch has been shaken since then.

Indiana Republican: Girl Scouts are Anti-Family Values

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Politics, Republicans

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Bob Morris, a Republican (what else) state legislator in Indiana, says the Girl Scouts have “been subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.” He knows this because he read it somewhere on the internet:

“Saying that the Girl Scouts is a “radicalized organization” that promotes “homosexual lifestyles” and is aligned with honorary president Michelle Obama’s “pro-abortion” viewpoint, an Indiana state legislator has told his fellow Republicans he can’t support a proclamation honoring the organization’s 100th anniversary.

[…]

The proclamation, as the newspapers says, “applauded the group ‘for the strong positive influence it has had on the American woman.’ ”

But Morris, saying he “did a small amount of web-based research,” claims to have found that the Girl Scouts has “a close strategic affiliation with Planned Parenthood.” He makes that assertion even as he concedes “you will not find evidence of this on the [Girl Scouts’] website — in fact, the websites of these two organizations explicitly deny funding Planned Parenthood.”

All in all, according to Morris, the Girl Scouts is an organization that’s “been subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.”

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Smooth Moves, Mitt

19 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Election 2012, Politics, Republicans, Romney, Unions

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If Mitt Romney has any questions about why his hopes and dreams of winning the Republican nomination are circling the drain, he need look no further than the nearest mirror. Just the two latest examples; First, he brilliantly chose the week that GM announced record profits to re-iterate his opposition to President Obama’s rescue of GM and Chrysler. Two days ago he upped the ante with a little union bashing and support for making Michigan a right-to-work (for less) state:

“I’ve taken on union bosses before, and I’m happy to take them on again,” he told a crowd at an office furniture warehouse on Feb. 15 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I sure won’t give into the UAW. Romney also has been citing unions as a major reason for his opposition to the federal bailouts of General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC — a position he spelled out in a widely publicized Feb. 14 column in the Detroit News.”

Somebody apparently forgot to pass along these two vital pieces of information to Mr. Romney regarding his home state:

“Union membership in the state is on the rise, bucking the national trend. Last year, 18.3 percent of the Michigan workforce was represented by a union, up from 17.3 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…More than a quarter of Michigan Republican primary participants in 2008 were from households that included a union member, exit polling showed.”

Oops.

“In his current race, he stresses his support for right-to- work legislation that would bar agreements making union membership and payment of dues a job requirement. “We’re to make it a level playing field,” he told a roundtable discussion of self-described Tea Party activists in Monroe, Michigan, yesterday. “We’re going to have right to work” (for less).

Mitt can’t get his own supporters on board for that one:

“[E]ven Rick Snyder, the fiscally conservative Republican governor of Michigan who endorsed Romney yesterday, has made clear he won’t take up right-to-work legislation in the state anytime soon, saying he considers other issues more pressing. Other Romney backers similarly shy away from the issue. “I can’t go there,” said Jack Kirksey, mayor of Livonia, Michigan, when asked about right-to-work legislation.”

Rick Santorum won’t even go there:

“Santorum, whose wins in three states last week made him the main alternative to Romney in the nomination race, is taking a softer line on unions as he casts himself as the Republican candidate best able to appeal to blue-collar Rust Belt voters.

Speaking in Detroit yesterday, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania voiced his support for private-sector unions, citing a grandfather who was treasurer of his coal mining union.”

For  reaction to Romney’s Michigan strategery, I turn to noted political analyst, Mr. B. Bunny:

Drug Test Grandma

14 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Politics, Republicans

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Mitt Romney thinks it’s “an excellent idea” to drug test anyone who receives government benefits:

OK Mitt, let’s run with this “excellent idea.” Let’s drug test every member of Congress, all 9 Supreme Court justices. Let’s drug test every one of your buds on Wall Street who received trillions in “government benefits” when they were bailed out by the taxpayers. Let’s drug test every senior citizen who receives a Social Security check or whose health care is covered by Medicare. Drug test every disabled vet. Hand everyone who walks in the door at a VA hospital a plastic cup as a condition to receive treatment. How about every one who claims a mortgage interest deduction on their income taxes. Isn’t that a government benefit? Let’s test ‘em all, Mitt.

Of course, Romney’s not referring to any of those. Only those poor people he doesn’t care anything about and the unemployed who he likes to fire.

Speaking of Romney, Svengali Norquist pretty much endorsed him for president:

“All we have to do is replace Obama…We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. … We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it…Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States.”

Well then, the Mittbot is your man, Grover. No convictions, no principles, willing to sell his soul and become whatever the right-wing extremists want him to be just so he can have a shot at the presidency. I’m sure he’ll gladly play Charlie McCarthy to you Edgar Bergen. Severely so.

How far the apple has fallen from the tree. During the race to win the 1968 Republican nomination, George Romney held to the courage of his convictions and stood up to the Party on the issues of civil rights, the Vietnam War, and corporate responsibility. Just imagine how this would fly in today’s GOP:

“As a CEO he would give back part of his salary and bonus to the company when he thought they were too high. He offered a pioneering profit-sharing plan to his employees. Most strikingly, asked about the idea that “rugged individualism” was the key to America’s success, he snapped back, “It’s nothing but a political banner to cover up greed.” He was the poster child for the antiquated notion that corporations have multiple stakeholders: the workers that breathe them life, the communities in which they are situated, and the nation to whom they owe a patriotic obligation – most definitely and emphatically not just stockholders.”

Mitt, you are no George Romney.

What Else is New? Republicans Threaten, Sir Robin Backs Down

06 Wednesday Jul 2011

Posted by in Congress, Constitution, Democrats, Libya, Politics, Republicans

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Republicans threaten to say mean things about Sir Robin Harry, so he backs down. As usual.

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) canceled a vote on legislation authorizing U.S. military action in Libya after facing pressure from GOP lawmakers, who warned they would vote the measure down in order to focus on budget matters.

[…]

Several Republicans complained about the Libya vote, noting Senate Democrats cited the debt crisis as the reason for canceling this week’s scheduled Independence Day holiday. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), for example, said he did not think it was worthwhile for the Senate to cancel its break if it did not deal with the nation’s financial crisis.

The discontent came to a head on Tuesday morning when Republican senators, led by Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.), took to the floor to express their opposition to a vote on the measure.

[…]

“The Senate is basically fiddling while America goes bankrupt,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).”

Good call. Ron. Whether or not a president can take us to war kinetic military action with out the consent of Congress is “basically fiddling” We don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution, we’ve got debt ceiling kabuki to focus on.

But there is time for meaningless, non-binding, “Sense of the Senate” resolutions, although I don’t see how you can put the words “sense” and “Senate” in the same sentence. Seems like a bit of an oxymoron to me.