The Ugly Republican Politics Behind Aid For Oklahoma Tornado Victims

Like most Americans, President Obama's reaction to the tornado devastation is Oklahoma was to ask how we could help. He pledged "all of the resources" necessary to rebuild to the state that gave him his poorest results in November, 33% and a loss of every single county. (Cleveland County, where the devastation was the most brutal, went for Romney 59,019 to 34,701 in November.) Oklahoma has 5 congressmen, all Republicans. Jim Bridenstine, Markwayne Mullin, Frank Lucas, Tom Cole and James Lankford. The two senators-- both are extreme right Republicans who have been especially obstructionist since Obama became president-- are Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn. Inhofe and Coburn both voted against aid to the survivors of Hurricane Sandy. In the House, where a majority of Republicans voted against aid, the two most senior Oklahoma Republicans, Frank Lucas and Tom Cole bucked their party and voted with the Democrats in favor of the aid package. Most of the devastation was in Cole's district, which includes Moore. Cole said on MSNBC yesterday that one reason he voted for Sandy relief was his own state’s history of catastrophic tornadoes. “Frankly, one of the reasons that we try to be sympathetic to people in other parts of the country” is that “we’re always going to be there to help because we’re always one tornado away from being Joplin.”

"As a nation," said Obama yesterday, "our full focus right now is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead... [F]or all those who have been affected, we recognize that you face a long road ahead. In some cases, there will be enormous grief that has to be absorbed but you will not travel that path alone. Your country will travel it with you fueled by our faith in the almighty and our faith in one another. So our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today, and we will back up those prayers with deeds for as long as it takes."

Tom Coburn, on the other hand, is insane, politicizing the tragedy to score points for his anti-social, reactionary ideology and, basically, holding the victims hostage-- yes, his own constituents-- unless he gets his way. Coburn, many are saying, is disastrously wrong but at least consistent. I think the picture from Act Blue on the right goes a long way to explain why Oklahoma's right-wing ideologues can behave this way.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) will insist that any federal aid to deal with the tornado in his home state must be offset by budget cuts.

“He will ask his colleagues to sacrifice lower priority areas of the budget to help Oklahoma,” spokesman John Hart said. Should other Republicans join Coburn, it could set up a fight similar to the January tug-of-war over Hurricane Sandy funding. That aid package was delayed by GOP opposition and ultimately passed with mostly Democratic support.

Coburn was against the Sandy relief package, as well as 2011 legislation to replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster fund. His office has noted that the 1995 aid for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing was balanced by cuts to unspent appropriations. However, he did ask for expedited FEMA aid in 2007, when an ice storm hit his state.

Inhofe is already making excuses for his own inconsistency by claiming the Hurricane Sandy bill he voted against was filled with pork and that the bill to help the tornado victims won't be. He's a stinking pile of moldering pig dung. When his constituents finish digging out, they should demand he resign.

Rather than talk about terrorist slugs like John Mica and Tom Coburn, let's turn to the day's found-cat news

Not eaten by coyotes after all: Six-year-old Willow isn't telling how she got from Colorado to NYC, or what she's been doing these last five years. But then, you know how cats are.

by Ken

So I was reading a ThinkProgress War Room report called "Dr. No Jobs":

Last month, it was Rep. John “Job Killer” Mica (R-FL) whose extreme anti-worker agenda shut down the Federal Aviation Administration. After being dogged by accusations of killing jobs thanks to a successful campaign by the Communications Workers of America (the union fighting to organize workers at Delta Airlines), Mica cried uncle and the House of Representatives passed a clean four-month FAA extension to stop the FAA from shutting down again tomorrow when the current short-term extension runs out. The House bill also includes a short-term extension of the surface transportation (“highway”) bill to keep badly-needed construction projects around the country on track.

It looked like smooth sailing for this vital bill until one of the Senate’s masters of gridlock stepped in to block the Senate from acting on the House-passed bill. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is known as “Dr. No” due to his penchant for blocking even routine bills over various and sundry petty grievances. . . .

Of course the piece goes on to quote that slimy son of a bitch Tom Coburn's usual mental defective's "reasoning," blah-blah-blah. My position is, I don't have to sit in front of my very own computer reading that scumbag mental defective's latest crock of mentally defective scumbaggery. But actually, my attention had already been diverted back in that first paragraph. Return with me:

Mica cried uncle and the House of Representatives passed a clean four-month FAA extension to stop the FAA from shutting down again tomorrow when the current short-term extension runs out. The House bill also includes a short-term extension of the surface transportation (“highway”) bill to keep badly-needed construction projects around the country on track. [Emphasis added.]

Yes indeed, ladies and germs, we have reached the point in our experiment in quasi-democratic government where "a clean four-month extension," passed the day before blackout, is regarded as a triumph of the legislative process. Be sure to tune in four months from now. Meanwhile, we bring you the latest exercise in sociopathic irresponsibility for one of the finalists in the World's Most Worthless and Hateful Life Form competition (and against such formidable competition, just within Your Republican Party Inc.), Dr. Tom "The Butcher" Coburn.

Oh sure, by late afternoon the stench of "The Butcher" was overwhelming a lot of its GOP colleagues and the miserable sack of puke backed down, for the moment. It's only a matter of seconds, though, before the next assault from the band of anarcho-terrorists who have coopted the already-sorry dregs of the Republican Party, providing not just rampaging sociopathology but colorful cover for the completion of the conversion of the U.S. economy by the plutocratic elite to an indentured-servitude model.

Is it any wonder that I'd rather devote this evening's post to the pet-recovery news? Here's the account from local online newspaper DNAinfo:

Missing Cat Turns Up in Manhattan Five Years After Vanishing in Colorado

September 14, 2011 8:34pm | By Ben Fractenberg, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer


GRAMERCY -- Apparently it doesn't take nine lives to get from Colorado to New York City.

A cat that vanished in Colorado five years ago was found safe and sound thousands of miles away on East 20th Street on Sept. 7, thanks in part to a microchip, according to a spokesman for Animal Care & Control.

Willow, now 6-years-old, snuck out of her Boulder, Colo., home while the bathroom was being renovated, her owner, photographer Jamie Squires said Wednesday.

Five years later, she somehow ended up nearly 2,000 miles away unharmed. A passerby found her and turned her in.
"We were really surprised," Squires said. "We didn't tell our kids right away."

Squires had Animal Control send her a picture of the cat, and verify it through a microchip implanted in its skin when she was a kitten.

"It just makes sense," she said. "If I could, I would microchip my children."

Squires added she has no idea how the cat made it to the city, but suspects someone adopted it and drove it to New York at some point.

Willow is in good shape, but suffering from a cold, her owner explained.

The family is still figuring out how it is going to get her home. Squires said she may fly to New York to pick her up, or fly her back to Colorado via an animal transportation service, Pet Airways.

The Squires family was even in New York in the spring and stayed at the Plaza Hotel for a weekend.

"We had no idea at the time our cat was there, too."

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When will the men in the white coats with butterfly nets come for Tom Coburn -- and the rest of the right-wing crazies?

It's time to stop pussyfooting around the reality that the Evil Doctor is either hopelessly insane or a sociopathic liar, and either way needs to be straitjacketed and institutionalized immediately.

"At 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon -- nine hours before the 1 a.m. vote that would effectively clinch the legislation's passage -- Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) went to the Senate floor to propose a prayer. 'What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight,' he said. 'That's what they ought to pray.'"

-- Dana Milbank, in his Washington Post "Washington Sketch"

today, "An ugly finale for health-care reform"

by Ken

As our Dana goes on to explain, everybody involved in the countdown to the vote on the Senate's much-compromised health care bill understood that the evil Dr. Coburn "was referring to the 92-year-old, wheelchair-bound Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.V.) who has been in and out of hospitals and lay at home ailing," and would be hard put "to get out of bed in the wee hours with deep snow on the ground and ice on the roads" to be the 60th vote the Dems needed.

Let me start by stating, simply and unemotionally, that Sen. Dr. Tom Coburn is an evil, worse-than-worthless pile of shit, and he's in big trouble if this vicious, insane God he and his fellow right-wing crazies keep screeching about and praying to actually exists, because Dr. Shit-for-Brains should be standing in the path of a lightning bolt that will reduce his putrid carcass to a pile of ashes that will presumably have to be disposed of as toxic waste.

By the way, the Evil Doctor is on the WaPo's Chris Cillizza's list of "The political world's winners and losers in health care reform" today -- as a winner (along with such proud luminaries as John McCain and Ben Nelson):

The Oklahoma Republican's procedural maneuvering -- including demanding the bill be read aloud -- had his Democratic colleagues living in fear of what he might pull out of his bag of tricks next. And, despite his hard work to kill the bill, Coburn's upfront attitude about his opposition kept him from attracting too much ire from his Democratic colleagues.

Our Dana refers back to that performance as he expands:

The Oklahoman, who led the effort last week to stall proceedings by forcing an hours-long reading of legislative language, had already lobbed a grenade onto the floor when he said that, because of the legislation, Medicare recipients are "going to die sooner."

On Saturday, Coburn likened the current situation to the period preceding the Civil War. "The crisis of confidence in this country is now at an apex that has not seen in over 150 years, and that lack of confidence undermines the ability of legitimate governance," he said. "There's a lot of people out there today who . . . will say, 'I give up on my government,' and rightly so."

Earlier Sunday, Coburn, a medical doctor by training, held another news conference and accused Democrats of "corruption" in drafting the bill. He then went out onto the floor two hours later to discuss his prayer that one of the Democrats wouldn't make it to the chamber. A few days earlier, Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Sam Brownback (Kansas) joined a public prayer for the bill's defeat -- but Coburn, as usual, went further.

Durbin, learning of Coburn's prayer, went to the floor 45 minutes later to challenge him to a rhetorical duel. Coburn declined to return. "I don't think we should be wishing misfortune on either side of the aisle," Durbin said of his absent colleague.

Coburn was wearing blue jeans, an argyle sweater and a tweed jacket with elbow patches when he walked back into the chamber a few minutes before 1 a.m. He watched without expression when Byrd was wheeled in, dabbing his eyes and nose with tissues, his complexion pale. When his name was called, Byrd shot his right index finger into the air as he shouted "aye," then pumped his left fist in defiance.

Whether the Evil Doctor is deliberately spreading lies like those above with conscious intent to foment violence or he simply doesn't have a sane cell in his brain, his crusade of falsehoods is dangerous to decency and to the country, and he needs to be put safely under lock and key in the appropriate facility -- for his own safety as well as society's.

Meanwhile, I don't want to leave our Dana looking good. In fact, "reporting" like his has to be assigned a share of the blame for the epidemic of psychotic factlessness that has engulfed our public discourse. Because our Dana is stuck in the Village idiot's tit-for-tat, they're-all-naughty mantra of truthlessness. The Evil Doctor's behavior, you see, isn't that much worse than the following:

Democrats weren't in the best position to take the high road Sunday evening. One of their own members, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) had just delivered an overwrought jeremiad comparing the Republicans to Nazis on Kristallnacht, lynch mobs of the South, and bloodthirsty crowds of the French Revolution.

"Too many colleagues are embarked on a desperate, no-holds-barred mission of propaganda, obstruction and fear," he said. "History cautions us of the excesses to which these malignant, vindictive passions can ultimately lead. Tumbrils have rolled through taunting crowds. Broken glass has sparkled in darkened streets. Strange fruit has hung from southern trees." Assuming the role of Old Testament prophet, Whitehouse promised a "day of judgment" and a "day of reckoning" for Republicans.

As I've pointed out, no matter how Nazi-like the behavior of the Rampaging Right becomes, we can't ever point it out. Not even while those same lying sociopaths make headway with their crusade, as astonishing as it is delusional, to "prove" that Hitler was a "leftist," just like the "socialist" Obama. This they can do because they believe that their crackpot God allows them to lie at will, to live in total, unmitigated dissociation from reality, denying every fact that contradicts their delusions. Really now, would anyone have been more shocked and outraged than the Führer himself at even the lightest insinuation that he was anything but a committed-to-the-death rightist? It's what he built his universe around, and it was his flaunting of the terrifying bogeyman of Bolshevism that enabled him to take power in Germany.

Anyone with any knowledge of history and functioning sensory apparatus also knows that in terms of their political program, their authoritarian mindset, and their bullying, violent political strategy and tactics, the modern American Far Right is not only the rightful but the proud heir of Hitlerism. I guess that's why they're entitled to lie about it with every breath they draw. That's what Hitlerites do. But for the infotainment news media to let them get away with it, to ignore the poison of ignorance and violent authoritarianism that is at the heart of everything they do politically, is journalistically criminal malfeasance. For our Dana, though, it's just another day at the office.

MEANWHILE, IN THE LAND OF LIARS, HOW
DO  YOU COVER UP LIES? WITH MORE LIES!

Stop the presses! Fox Noise is "reporting" today: "Republican Sen. Tom Coburn did not wish 'misfortune' on anyone when he asked people to pray that lawmakers miss a key vote on health care reform, a spokesman said Monday, rejecting suggestions from Democrats that the Oklahoma doctor was wishing ill on his colleagues."

Which means that the Evil Doctor, his brain-dead toady, and Fox Noise are all psychopathic liars, and it's time no one said a word to any of them, ever, for any reason, except: "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

If you're curious about the details, here's the lie offered by the shithead's toady (I assume that's what this lying scumbag fills in anytime a form asks his occupation: "shithead's toady"):

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn did not wish "misfortune" on anyone when he asked people to pray that lawmakers miss a key vote on health care reform, a spokesman said Monday, rejecting suggestions from Democrats that the Oklahoma doctor was wishing ill on his colleagues.

Rather, Coburn was hoping -- praying, even -- that sleep-deprived Democrats would hit the snooze button one too many times and miss the vote scheduled for 1 a.m. ET Monday morning.

"If senators are napping before the vote he would not be disappointed if alarm clocks don't go off," spokesman John Hart said in an e-mail.

The one small step we could take now would be for it to become automatic: Anytime anyone comes within sight of the Evil Doctor, his leashed shithead John Hart, or anyone from the liars' club that is Fox Noise, just shout out: "Liar, liar, pants on fire!"

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Speaking of Dr. Tom Coburn: In a better world there'd be a way to screen morons and pathological liars out of public office

Does it matter whether Dr. Tom is a pathological
liar or is just too stupid to know better?

by Ken

This has no doubt been reported but just reached my attention via this item from Al Kamen in today's Washington Post "In the Loop" column:

Waterboarding for kids?

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) must be feeling stressed these days over the travails of his pal, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.). For those who missed it, Coburn took to the Senate floor last week to decry federal deficits, which are not, for him, an abstraction.

"It is deeply personal with me," Coburn explained. "I have five grandchildren. I look in their eyes, and I see the potential of their lives and all of these other children who are out there. You know what? We are going to waterboard them. That is what we are going to do. We are going to waterboard them. We are going to flood them with debt. We are going to shackle their opportunities. We are going to limit their possibilities because we don't have the courage to make the difference for their future."

Wait a minute! It's just a dunk in the water.

The Constitution, of course, is notoriously sketchy about qualifications for the offices it established -- citizenship and age, and that's about it. And in the theoretical part of the brain, we all recognize that this is a good idea. The qualifications of candidates for public office should be judged by the voters, we always remind ourselves.

Then we witness spectacles like the 30 Republican senators dubbed "'rape-nuts" by Jon Stewart, who took that strong "conservative" stand in favor of government contractors' Right to Rape. Or the spectacle of that new darling of the Loony Right, microbrained SC Rep. Joe Wilson, not just lacking the basic sense of decency to control his flapping gums while the president is speaking, but perhaps more important lying his sociopathic guts out when he felt impelled to call the president a liar. (Once again, let's apply the "if the shoe were on the other foot" test and imagine what the Loony Right's reaction would have been had a Democrat done the exact same thing while the last president was speaking, and that was a creature who lied every time he opened his mouth, who has probably never intentionally told the truth in public in his adult life.)

And on and on. Here was Howie's take last month, "Teabaggery Isn't Just About South Carolina Republicans."

Now we have our good friend Dr. Tom Coburn achieving the special feat of annihilating reason on two urgent and seemingly unrelated issues, the economy and U.S. government practice of torture. Sometimes I think it might be nice if an orator in such circumstances might be required to declare whether he knows better, and thus speaks for the Party of Liars, or truly doesn't, and thus speaks for the Party of Morons. There have been times in our history when the press felt some responsibility for at least sorting out fact from fiction, but those times seem safely past.

So we still depend on this imperfect instrument of letting voters set their own standards. A certain number of the liars and morons have indeed been shown the door in the last two national elections, but not necessarily on that particular ground. And I'm afraid the evidence continues to indicate an alarmingly high level of tolerance for the Dr. Toms and Joe Wilsons.

Sigh.

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The Rev Jimmy Swaggart Carload O' Porn Award

by NOAH

This year’s Swaggie will, no doubt, go to Sen. Tom Coburn’s (Crackpot Party- OK.) Chief of STAFF Mike Schwartz who, speaking during a “New Masculinity” seminar at this weekend’s Values Voters Summit, revealed that “All pornography is homosexual,” and, that porno makes you gay! Jeez, I thought it was disco music or the British school system. He parades on that being gay is something that is “inflicted” on young boys, that there is no genetic component, and that the last thing an adolescent male wants to be is gay, so tell them never to view porno such as Playboy (!). Hmmm. Was this assclown just really saying something about himself and his long gone youth? Will the publishers of Club, Cherie, Tail End, and so many others feel slighted? Do Republicans know about gay women? There was an audible gasp from the audience as they moved closer to the edges of their seats to hear more, and more, and more, and more. Numerous questions and queries were made. The atmosphere grew warm and sweaty. What is it with Repugs and sex? Well, there you have it. Chances are porno will lead you into a career of interior decorating, choreography, hairdressing or at least make you real good at flower arranging, so, if those career choices don’t really appeal to you, lay off the damn porn, will ya!  Now, if only I could do something about my hairy palms and loss of eyesight!




UPDATE: Action Item

Another DWT contributor has urged me to add his thoughts:

I think everyone should go to their local bodega or porno mag emporium and buy copies of Juggs or Black Tail, or maybe even one of those 3 for $10.00 packs and send them to Dr. Tom's office as a "Go Completely Gay Kit"! Better yet, maybe there's a Sarah Palin look-a-like porno clip out there that we could send, OR, maybe the real thing.

On the other hand, perhaps the folks in Dr. Tom's office only read Playgirl and that's where they get these funny ideas.

Has Big Insurance Paid Off Enough Democrats To Forge An Effective Alliance To Stop Health Care Reform?

When I was growing up there were always enough powerful Democrats in the South-- many of them committee chairmen-- to prevent progressive legislation, particularly when it came to race relations, despite large Democratic majorities in Congress. Sound familiar? Look at this ad. It's being run by the DNC-- to pressure conservative Democrats who are trying to water down health care reform on behalf of special interests who donate to their campaigns and want them to work with the Republican minority to sabotage the public option.



It's a very mild ad and it doesn't name any names-- unlike the Blue America ads targeting corrupt Arkansas reactionary Blanche Lincoln. But the ad is running in 15 media markets all of which target members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who are seen as likely to vote with Big Insurance instead of with working American families. 12 of the 15 markets are represented by Democrats! Here are the markets and the targets:

Savannah- John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)
Palm Springs- Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) who, ironically, is being opposed by Steve Pougnet, a Democrat who seems to have an ugly Blue Dog bent and is possibly not much more reliable when it comes to representing working families than she is!
Seattle- Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Nashville- Bart Gordon (Blue Dog-TN), although this also serves notice on the slimiest of the House Democrats conspiring with the GOP, Nashville Blue Dog Jim Cooper
Bloomington- Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)
Sacramento- Jerry McNerney (D-CA)
Salt Lake City- Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)
New Orleans- Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA)
Pittsburgh- Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Tim Murphy (R-PA)
Charlotte- G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Little Rock- Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR)
Columbus- Zach Space (Blue Dog-OH)
Marquette- Bart Stupak (D-MI)
Grand Rapids- Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Fred Upton (R-MI)
Medford- Greg Walden (R-OR)

Reactionary Democrats are not taking this lying down and some are joining the GOP We Hate Obama Team. Blue Dog Zack Space has responded to the DNC TV spots by sending out an extremely misleading newsletter to his constituents claiming that he "has been targeted by right wing extremists who want to block health care reform. The Congressman is hearing from them this week." We need to get him some clown makeup. Several of the worst and most corrupt of the Blue Dogs are conspiring with the Republicans to work together to completely wreck Obama's health care agenda. According to yesterday's Hill right-wing Democrats have reached out to the House Republicans.

Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) asserted that an "interesting development" is taking place underway that, if true, could effectively remove Democratic leadership from the driver's seat on healthcare reform legislation in the House.

"There's an interesting development occurring behind the scenes, wherein moderate Democrats-- so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats-- and business-friendly new Democrats are actually starting to have conversations with us to build a coalition from the center outward, to actually really come up with substantive and well-founded healthcare reform," Boustany said during an appearance on Fox News. "And that's the only way to do this."

Is it? Today's Wall Street Journal ran an interesting Op-Ed on their shockingly right-wing editorial page about how one of their heroes, Oklahoma nutcase Tom Coburn managed to win narrow approval for an admendment in the Senate health committee (12-11) "that would require all Members and their staffs to enroll in any new government-run health plan."

In other words, Sherrod Brown and Sheldon Whitehouse won't themselves join a plan that "will offer benefits that are as good as those available through private insurance plans -- or better," as the Ohio and Rhode Island liberals put it in a recent op-ed. And even a self-described socialist like Vermont's Bernie Sanders, who supports a government-only system, wouldn't sign himself up.

Of course, they also qualify now for generous Congressional coverage. Most Americans won't have the same choice. Some will be transferred to the new entitlement as it uses its taxpayer bankroll to dominate insurance markets. Others work for businesses that will find it easier to dump their policies and move employees to the federal rolls. Democrats also know that the public option will try to control health spending by squeezing payments made to doctors and hospitals, and by not paying for treatments that Washington decides are too expensive, which will result in inferior care.

No doubt Mr. Dodd acceded to the Coburn amendment to blunt such objections, and in any case he'll strip it out later in some backroom. Judd Gregg was the only GOP Senator to oppose it, on humanitarian grounds. As he told us in an interview, the public option "will be so bad that I don't think anyone should be forced to join."

The Journal's point was that even some of the best progressives on the committee voted against it. (Among Dems only Chris Dodd, Barbara Mikulski and Ted Kennedy voted yes.) Sounds like a lot of game playing on all sides and it also sounds like Congress should lose all health care for themselves and their families until they pass a bill for all Americans-- and that their health care should be part of that bill, just like everyone else's. I bet this is the first time I'd be agreeing with Tom Coburn on anything-- except he's just being a big ole drama queen and he doesn't agree with any of this anyway; he just wants to embarrass Democrats, not a bad idea in this case either.

We think of them as crazies, but you know, the people who wander in and out of the Family's lodge house on C Street have clout in D.C.

A lot of jaws dropped last night when Rachel Maddow presented this segment on the fundamentalist sect The Family, which turns out to provide a creepy linking factor between those princes of "family values" NV Sen. John Ensign and SC Gov. Mark Sanford -- and that curious, cranky, and crazy loon and noodge, OK Sen. Tom Coburn.

by Ken

Even though the Family isn't totally unknown, I know a lot of people whose eyes were popping out during this segment about its connections to the Ensign and Sanford scandals. Among Rachel's guests was Jeff Sharlet, a contributing editor for Harper's and Rolling Stone who actually infiltrated the Family and literally wrote the book on it, The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, now out in paperback.

The Family, first published last year, is yet another of those books from recent years that are by all accounts utterly splendid, which I've forlornly added to the "must read" list that I know I'll never get to. By way of summary, Jeff posted the jacket copy on his blog when the book was published, in February 2008:

They are the Family—fundamentalism’s avant-garde, waging spiritual war in the halls of American power and around the globe. They consider themselves the new chosen, congressmen, generals, and foreign dictators who meet in confidential cells, to pray and plan for a “leadership led by God,” to be won not by force but through “quiet diplomacy.” Their base is a leafy estate overlooking the Potomac in Arlington, Virginia, and Jeff Sharlet is the only journalist to have written from inside its walls.

The Family is about the other half of American fundamentalist power—not its angry masses, but its sophisticated elites. Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the Far Right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a “family” that thrives to this day. In public, they host prayer breakfasts; in private they preach a gospel of “biblical capitalism,” military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao, the Family's leader declares, "We work with power where we can, build new power where we can't."

Sharlet’s discoveries dramatically challenge conventional wisdom about American fundamentalism, revealing its crucial role in the unraveling of the New Deal, the waging of the Cold War, and the no-holds-barred economics of globalization. The question Sharlet believes we must ask is not “What do fundamentalists want?” but “What have they already done?”

With regard to the political connections popping out now, our esteemed colleague Marcy Wheeler has been exploring the Ensign and Sanford ties to the Family lodge house on C Street: "Did the Ensign Confrontation over His Affair Take Place at a 'Family' Gathering?" (June 19), "Did 'the Family' Force Sanford to Ditch His Mistress?" (June 24), and "WaPo Discovers C Street" (June 26).

The infamous Family house on C Street

SATURDAY UPDATE: RACHEL DOES ANOTHER SEGMENT
ON THE FAMILY, WITH JEFF SHARLET RETURNING

And it turns out that what I've been calling the Family's C Street "lodge house" is actually . . . a church!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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The struggle for the soul of the Republican Party (and the conservative movement): It's the age-old war between crazy and stupid

"AND, OH YES, I'M MAD AS A FRIGGIN' HATTER"

Anyone who's tried to read the drivel penned over the decades by Peggy Noonan, or has been forced to listen to the "eloquent" speeches she's written for presidents and such, knows the feeling of trying helplessly to puzzle out: Is she just dumber than spit, or is she completely out of her pea-pickin' mind?

"We’re not talking fringe activists here; we’re talking U.S. senators. The truth is that lunatics have been running this particular asylum for years."

-- Paul Krugman, in a NYT blogpost yesterday (see below)

by Ken

I have been left mostly speechless (as some of you may have noticed) by the, um, "intellectual" climate of what now passes for political discourse in this great country of ours. As usual, I have my ups and downs with the people on Our Side, but what's struck me dumb is the total abandonment of even the slimmest pretense of sense or sanity by the Other Side.

I loved Howie's piece yesterday ("Cornyn Denounces Limbaugh and Liddy Denounces . . . Women," with a really terrific batch of comments) about what appears to be a pullback among Official Republicans, notably Texas Sen. John Cornyn (chairman of the GOP's Senate campaign committee), hardly a voice of moderation himself (as I understand it, he has been a principal architect of the GOP's "All No All the Time" strategy, and is more than anyone else responsible for keeping Al Franken from taking the Senate seat to which he was elected -- for the simple reason that, as he realized, he can prevent it), from the cliff over which, they finally understand, the Un-official Party, that passel of raving lunatics ringled by the Daddy of the Dittoheads, is leading them.

In part, I loved the piece because Howie is a lot more confident than I am about where the country is in all of this. Not only do I share commenter Balakirev's concern about the irreducible 24 percent "base" that appears to be willing to follow Rush and Glenn and the crazies over the cliff, I think the 24 percent figure seriously understates the portion of the public that's susceptible to the reign of craziness. Even if they're no immediate threat to regain power, I worry that 30 or even 40 percent of the country in the thrall of ignorance and insanity makes for a powderkeg that could blow up what's left of our democracy.

One of the things I've been trying to dope out is what part sheer stupidity plays, and what part evident insanity.

One should never underestimate the stupidity factor. Both Howie and I have written frequently about the stupidification of America, which he believes is the result of a careful right-wing master plan to turn the American educational system into poop for the conscious purpose of turning masses of Americans into retards who will cheer madly at the wackiest inanities passed off as policy prescriptions.

Me, I'm not so sure about the careful planning. I think if you elevate stupidity to a virtue, and make heroes of enough dimwits whose nitwittitude is their only virtue, you'll wind up at the same point, especially if you have enough "opinion leaders" -- in particular the kind who claim to get their guidance straight from God -- who have as their educational goal making their offspring as smart as they are. Throw in ruthless manipulators like Lee Atwater and Karl Rove, and the rest is history -- our history, from Reagan through Little George.

I've been trying for months to write something on this subject, and failing. So I was greatly cheered by a pair of delicious posts this week on Paul Krugman's NYT blog, "Conscience of a Liberal." The one I really loved was this one from Wednesday:

May 27, 2009, 6:40 PM
A note on identity politics

The attacks on Sonia Sotomayor are getting crazier by the minute. The pronunciation of her name is unnatural. Her fondness for Puerto Rican cuisine -- sorry, her "claimed" fondness (you never know) -- may cloud her impartiality. She doesn't have enough money in her retirement account.

But is this any crazier, when you come down to it, than the Cult of Bush that ruled much of Washington for years? It was positive, not negative (though there was plenty of that too), but it was similarly about identity politics -- you were supposed to support Bush, not because of how he did his job, but because he was, drumroll, a regular guy. Remember Peggy Noonan:

I was asked this week why the president seems so attractive to the heartland, to what used to be called Middle America. A big question. I found my mind going to this word: normal.

Mr. Bush is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He's normal. He thinks in a sort of common-sense way. He speaks the language of business and sports and politics. You know him. He's not exotic. But if there's a fire on the block, he’ll run out and help. He'll help direct the rig to the right house and count the kids coming out and say, “Where's Sally?” He's responsible. He's not an intellectual.

Of course, a year and a half later there really was a fire on the block — actually a flood in New Orleans, but basically the same thing — and what he actually said was, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” But I digress.

The thing that is really driving conservatives crazy, I think, is that their identity politics just isn’t working like it used to. Their whole approach has been based on the belief that Americans vote as if they live in Mayberry, and fear and hate anyone who looks a bit different; now that the country just isn’t like that, they’ve gone mad.

Paul is, of course, being kind to our Peggy. There isn't a word in her paean to her beloved George W., unless you count the declaration that her boy "isn't an intellectual," that doesn't mark her as the dumbest life form in the history of creation. (The "isn't an intellectual" comment merely marks her as someone implacably hostile to the thought process.)

"He thinks in a sort of common-sense way"?

This is a man who doesn't think, ever. He seems to have discovered at Yale, surrounded by all those smart kids, that thinking wasn't his forte, and that trying was only going to get him into trouble. Out of sheer laziness, mixed with the arrogance of a subhuman blob who believed himself as entitled as he is ignorant, he willed himself into an ignoramus, and that ought to be literally unforgivable -- not praised by pseudo-populists like drooling Peggy.

"He speaks the language of business and sports and politics"?

Uh, yeah, I suppose, but he knows only the tiniest, most superficial bit about sports, and nothing whatsoever about business or politics, unless you count "how to fake it."

Maybe I'm just slow to adapt, but I don't believe that Noonanism has been banished from American discourse. Yeah, I saw Karl Rove, the master of this form of political manipulation in our time, pulling back from his earlier ritual smears of Judge Sotomayor. But I don't believe for a moment that he's lost faith in those tactics, or that they won't work just fine another time: "[insert name of latest defiantly ignorant blob of human waste] is the triumph of the seemingly average American man. He’s normal."

As I suggested above, I'm less than persuaded by John Cornyn's sudden conversion to reason in the matter of the Sotomayor nomination. Can the arch-loon in Cornyn really be put to rest so easily? Captain Courage he's not. I guffawed at the contribution of another commenter on Howie's post yesterday, Comrade E.B. Misfit:

"Coryn's apology to el Rushbo in 3....2....1..."

Um, yeah, Comrade, I hear you.


POSTSCRIPT: ANOTHER STROLL DOWN CRAZINESS LANE

I mentioned that Paul Krugman had written a second blogpost on this subject, and I would be remiss not to direct your attention to it as well:

May 29, 2009, 11:46 AM
Same as they ever were

Obama is a socialist/fascist; Sonia Sotomayor is a racist, and La Raza is the KKK; there’s an evil plot against Republican car dealers. The GOP is sounding a bit, well, demented these days.

But here’s the thing: it always did. A few trips down memory lane:

Senator Tom Coburn:

In a tape recently released by Brad Carson, Coburn’s Democratic opponent for the Senate race there, Coburn is heard warning the good clean citizens of Oklahoma of the great lesbian threat to their state.

On the tape, Coburn tells how a campaign worker form Coalgate, Okla., told him that lesbianism is “so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom."

Senator James Inhofe:

Why did the UN cook up the idea of global warming? To “shut down the machine called America.” In fact, we learned, global warming is a plot to destroy the US economy and to initiate one-world government–a goal not only of the UN but of the American political left more broadly.

Establishing his Christian credentials, Inhofe invoked Romans 1:25 (For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever) to suggest that taking steps to ameliorate global warming would constitute a form of idol worship.

We’re not talking fringe activists here; we’re talking U.S. senators. The truth is that lunatics have been running this particular asylum for years. But in a classic case of emperor’s new clothes, it wasn’t acceptable to notice this until the lunatics lost power.

Thanks for that little stroll down Craziness Lane, Paul. I still can't help considering that if only, say, 40 percent of the insane blithering being blithered about Judge Sotomayor, by people who ought to know better (and, yes, some who probably don't), is being absorbed by the public, that still represents a staggering quantity of psychotic lies and filth.


[For the record: The world is anxiously awaiting word from Senator Doctortom Coburn (who like his unlamented colleague, former Senate Majority Leader Doctorbill Frist, is a physician, but more importantly is a beyond-certifiable kook, proud to be known as "Doctor No" for his tireless one-man crusade of obstructionism in the Senate) as to whether he will run for reelection. If he doesn't, can we expect that the Oklahoma Republican cult has someone of comparable, er, stature to slot in? We know that Oklahoma Democrats have nothing better to throw at the seat than unspeakable DINO Rep. Dan Boren.]

#

Coburn Adds Poison Pill To Law Meant To Protect Consumers From Credit Card Predators-- Will Reid Lose His License To Lead?

I know that dozens of senators-- all the Republicans and most of the reactionary Democrats from Evan Bayh's anti-Obama Bloc-- are trying to help out the credit card companies by killing the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009, which is similar to a bill passed in the House April 30. That one was Carolyn Maloney's attempt to amend the Truth in Lending Act to "establish fair and transparent practices relating to the extension of credit under an open end consumer credit plan." It passed the House 357-70, with 105 Republicans revolting against their corrupt leadership to cross the aisle and vote with all the Democrats but one a mangy Blue Dog, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, who is completely owned by South Dakota's powerful credit card industry.

Most Democrats got behind the Senate version of the bill, the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, advertised as a way of preventing credit card companies from taking advantage of cash-strapped consumers with abusive and predatory lending practices. Specifically, what the bill is supposed to accomplish is this:

Protect consumers from arbitrary interest rate, fee and finance charge increases and prohibit universal default on existing balances
 
• Require fairness in application and timing of card payments, such as applying payments to the balance with the highest interest rate first
 
• Protect the rights of financially responsible credit card users by prohibiting interest charges on debt paid on time
 
• Provide enhanced disclosure of card terms and conditions and strengthen oversight of credit card industry practices
 
• Ensure adequate safeguards for young people targeted by credit card companies
 
• Require tougher penalties for companies that violate the Truth in Lending Act
 
• Protect recipients of gift cards by requiring all gift cards have at least a five-year life span, and eliminate the practice of declining values and hidden fees for cards not used within a reasonable period of time
 
• Encourage transparency in credit card pricing by requiring a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the impact of interchange fees on consumers and merchants

So what happened today? One of the banking industry's most contemptible anti-consumer shills, Tom Coburn (R-OK), who has taken $900,422 in legalized bribes from the banksters in the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector, offered a poison pill amendment that would allow people to carry automatic weapons in National Parks. Among the Democratic lemmings who voted for this idiocy are all the anti-working families shills, like Bayh, Baucus, Specter, of course, Begich, Casey, both Nelsons, the two idiots from Arkansas and the two idiots from Colorado, Landrieu, Hagan... the whole sickening right-wing of the Senate Democratic caucus. But they were joined by a gaggle of real Democrats too scared of the gun lobby to stand up and act for the good of their own constituents-- Feingold, Reid, Klobuchar, Leahy, even Merkley! Only 28 Democrats (+ Lamar Alexander) voted against this idiotic ploy.

I was already getting wary yesterday when I noticed that Dodd, the author of the bill (and a recipient of more bankster money-- $13,238,806-- than anyone else in Congress other than McCain) was negotiating with the ranking Republican/bankster shill Dick Shelby to water down the bill and make it more acceptable to a tiny segment of society who should all be lined up against a wall and, after speedy trials, shot.

Dodd, in a statement, said that the agreement reached with Shelby probably marked the final compromise he would be willing to make on the legislation he has been pushing hard this year.

“While I expect some battles in the coming days from credit card companies and their allies in an effort to diminish these strict new rules,” Dodd said, “I stand ready to fight against any attempt to weaken the strong consumer protections in this bill.”

He didn't do a very good job of it today.

Do Democrats Need 51 Or 60 Or 80 Votes To Get Something Passed? They Just Managed A Big One Yesterday With Only 66 Votes

The Senate's two worst extremists-- DeMint and Coburn

In 2006 we worked hard to make sure there would be at least 50 Democratic senators and we sorta/kinda managed... if you include Joe Lieberman as a Democrat (not to mention Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln). But then it turned out Democrats don't need 50 votes, or even 51, but 60 votes. In 2008 we worked extra hard and managed 59. Too close for comfort, Obama now says he really needs 80 votes to get anything big done. Does it even matter that George Voinovich (R-OH) is announcing his retirement? Maybe the Obama Administration should just figure out a way to retain Cheney.

Fortunately, when it came to shutting down the Senate's crankiest kook, Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn, a special Sunday vote yesterday yielded 66 votes (actually 59) were needed, with only 20 far right extremists going to Coburn's aid. A dozen Republicans, mostly from hunting states, joined every Democrat in voting to shut down Coburn's crazy filibuster of S.22, an omnibus bill that combines 160 bill previously passed by the Senate and blocked by the Oklahoma obstructionist. The bill sets aside 200 million acres for public wilderness in nine states. It adds more than 1,000 miles to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, 2,800 miles of new trails to the federal system and bestows the government's highest level of protection on land ranging from California's Sierra Nevada mountain range to Oregon's Mount Hood, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado and parts of the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia. Land in Idaho's Owyhee canyons, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan and Zion National Park in Utah also would be designated as wilderness. And, over objections of extreme right maniacs like Coburn, DeMint and Inhofe, the bill also designates the childhood home of former President Bill Clinton in Hope, Ark., as a national historic site.

Environmental groups are happy of course, but partisan wing nuts are going beserk: "If my colleagues on my side continue to accept this, there's going to be no such thing as a Republican Party," fumed the GOP's most extreme fringe senator, South Carolina throwback Jim DeMint. (This should put DeMint into elliptical orbit around Uranus.) Joining DeMint and Coburn in their pointless and hysterical opposition were Sam Brownback (R-KS), Bob Corker (R-TN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), John McCain (R-AZ), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Richard Shelby (R-AL) and John Thune (R-SD).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ducked this vote. The girl's a mess. His caucus, as DeMint-- who would like to replace him-- warned, is a shambles. Miss McConnell will "have to fight to keep moderate Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania from joining Democrats on such key votes as the proposed $1 trillion economic stimulus package, environmental protection measures, broadening health care coverage and stem cell research. Former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has also broken with party ranks on campaign finance reform and immigration."

The Obama administration has made overtures to the moderate Republicans. Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden recently called and transition officials met with the two Maine senators to discuss the stimulus proposal.

In the meantime, McConnell has touted the spirit of bipartisanship and urged his party members to hold the line during future procedural fights to give the GOP more room to negotiate.

"He's a good mathematician and he's going to be counting votes - especially if Obama will be wading in," Chafee said. "And if the Obama people are smart they won't depend on a razor-thin margin to prevent filibusters."

Obama's proposed economic stimulus package may prove one of the first tests of McConnell's ability to keep his party in line.

McConnell's "going to try and get Republican priorities into the stimulus bill" and that will require negotiating with moderate Republicans, said Michele Swers, an associate professor of American government at Georgetown University.

"Democrats will be concentrating on getting votes over to their sides. Moderate Republicans and the conservative Democrats are in a prime position because they can be the turning point," she said. Collins, Snowe and Specter "will ask for certain things for Maine or Pennsylvania."

Republicans have made it clear they want Obama's economic stimulus package to reflect generous tax cuts and limits on spending. And since they will have the 40 votes needed to halt debate, they'll still have a prominent role in shaping the legislation.

McConnell said he wants at least two elements to be key parts of the plan: A reduction of the 25 percent tax rate now paid by middle-class taxpayers to 15 percent, and aid to states as loans, not grants. He and House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, made other requests: That there be full hearings, and that the federal debt not go up too sharply.

Is President-elect Obama really ready for the GOP vision of "postpartisanship"? The one and only Digby explains it all for us -- it's "date rape"

Yes, Smilin' Chuck Grassley is leaving the Senate,
but he leaves behind such deep political thinkers as
John Kyl and Dr. Tom Coburn. Ah, bipartisanship!

"Obama may have won on a promise of postpartisanship, but the Republicans never signed on to the memo, did they?"

-- Digby

by Ken

In a moment, we're going to have Digby explain for us, as I've never heard anybody explain it, the Republican concept of "bipartisanship." Hint: The central image -- a handy and dare I say indelible one -- is "date rape."

Yesterday I whomped as hard as I could on Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (not nearly hard enough, I'm afraid; I'm sure he didn't feel a thing), for his monumentally hyhypocritical declaration of intent to stall the nomination of Attorney General-designate Eric Holder -- this from the man who as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee not only happily signed on to but smilingly waved on the Justice Dept. tenures, respectively disastrous and catastrophic, of "Honest John" Ashcroft and Idiot Al "The Torture Guy" Gonzales. Their collective misrule must surely rank as one of the low points in the history of the American republic.

The next thing I knew, Republicans were piling on -- people like outgoing Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and truly neanderthal life forms like Arizona's John Kyl and Oklahoma's "Dr. Tom" Coburn. The ominous suggestion is that they plan to make the Holder nomination as bloody as they can for the incoming administration, in all likelihood as a mere opening salvo in an all-out war on that administration.

This doesn't especially surprise me, but it still sends tremors through me, as a foretaste of what's to come. Barack Obama, God bless him, really seems to believe in his vision of "postpartisanship." He really seems to think we can solve even our biggest and most intractable problems by just putting our heads together and coming up with "bipartisan" solutions.

As I pointed out a number of times during the campaign, Obama apparently thinks the reason no progress has made with problems like the Iraq occupation and the health-care crisis and now the economic meltdown is that nobody ever thought of holding hands and making nice.

I think he really believes this, and that's what scares me. Because we've had eight years of the Bush regime to observe the right-wing concept of "bipartisanship," much ballyhooed by right-wingers and their enablers in the Village media. While they do everything in their power to crush us like the maggots they think we are, they will allow us to sign on to any of their wacko ideologies. Oh, they'll keep right on trying to crush us, but have a nice day anyway.

What's going on with the gathering storm of GOP opposition to the Holder nomination? Digby has graciously given me permission to pass on this amazing explanation she dashed off last night for a bunch of blogospheric colleagues. I can't imagine anyone explaining these dynamics any better:

There is nothing mysterious about any of this. This is just how Republicans act as an opposition party. It's about tying Holder to Clinton to Obama (and "Chicago politics" and "smell tests" and "honor") and creating an ongoing sense that there is something fetid and corrupt about Obama even though there's nothing specific anyone can point to. They simply see the destruction of Obama as the most expedient way to return to power and they will go after him personally and obstruct his agenda at every possible turn.

They really do believe that bipartisanship is date rape -- they have done for the past 30 years. And there aren't any Republican political professionals who didn't come up in that school. To them, this is what politics are all about. Since they have paid no price for this beyond a fairly even ebb and flow of electoral politics there's been no reassessment of their methods. Dems don't play the blame game. Republicans do.

Dealing with a ruthless obstructionist opposition party that always operates in bad faith and never misses an opportunity to weaken the president was always going to be part of Obama's challenge. (And it doesn't matter if the public hates it -- the whole point is to wear them down until it's just too exhausting to resist.)

If you haven't been watching Fox the last couple of days you are missing something. It's all there.

Wow! Let me just repeat one paragraph:

"They really do believe that bipartisanship is date rape -- they have done for the past 30 years. And there aren't any Republican political professionals who didn't come up in that school. To them, this is what politics are all about. Since they have paid no price for this beyond a fairly even ebb and flow of electoral politics there's been no reassessment of their methods. Dems don't play the blame game. Republicans do."

Do you get it? More important, do you think the president-elect does? (We have Digby's OK to forward this explanation of Republican bipartisanship as far and wide as we can. If anyone can get it to him, it's worth a shot.)


[Coming up: Howie's airport comment on Rep. Darrell Issa's announced approach to bipartisanship as new ranking minority member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.]

#

Senate Republicans Like Susan Collins And Lamar Alexander Decide To Show Their True Faces And Forget The "Moderate" Charade

Collins even abandons Lieberman to prove she's still got what it takes to be a brainless rubber stamp

Although some of the most endangered Republican senators, like Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Gordon Smith (R-OR), crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats, while others likely to have hard times in November, like John Sununu (R-NH) and Liddy Dole (R-NC), hid under their desks and refused to go on the record one way or the other yesterday, most Republicans-- endangered or not-- stood up for what they believe in as a party: unfunded cancer research and child predators. Showing solidarity with deranged Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn and with creepy Republican perverts and sex addicts like Larry Craig, Mitch McConnell and David Diapers Vitter, the vast majority of Senate Republicans-- 43 of them-- voted against yesterday's Advancing America's Priorities Act or "Tomnibus package" of 35 non-controversial, bipartisan bills. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it, this was purely obstruction for obstruction's sake. This is the absolute perfect example of why every Republican senator just be defeated in November. Among the smirking chimps voting no yesterday-- often again bills they themselves had authored or sponsored!-- were electorally vulnerable Republicans like Mitch McConnell (KY), Susan Collins (ME) Roger Wicker (MS), Lamar Alexander (TN), Saxby Chambliss (GA), James Inhofe (OK), John Cornyn (TX), John Barrasso (WY), Ted Stevens (AK) and Pat Roberts (KS).

The bill to help combat Lou Gehrig's Disease, for example, passed the House 411-3. But Coburn, a crank and a clown, put a hold on it, regardless of how it affects ALS sufferers. Maybe no one in Oklahoma has Lou Gehrig's Disease or knows anyone who does. Actually, no one is against the bill-- not even Coburn; he's just a dick. Last week we talked about why Coburn is considered the biggest clown on Capitol Hill and the scope of the bills he has been holding up. No one who knows anything about Coburn expects anything different of him.

They do, however-- although often without reason-- expect better of Susan Collins of Maine who never tires of billing herself as an "independent voice" and a "moderate." She wasn't very independent or moderate yesterday when it was time to vote. As she usually is, she was in lockstep with the GOP extremist leadership-- for them and against fighting diseases and child predators. A DSCC spokesperson, Matthew Miller, pointed out that "Anyone who thinks it doesn't matter who represents them in Washington should pay attention to what Susan Collins did in the Senate today. Susan Collins chose to follow her party's marching orders over protecting our children and helping victims of stroke and paralysis. Maine deserves better than a politician who plays partisan games with vital legislation."

All the bills passed the House and all passed a Senate committee with Republican co-sponsors and by unanimous voice vote. A third of them were actually written by Republicans! They voted against their own bills! These are the bills independent, moderate Susan Collins voted against today because Mitch McConnell told her to:

HELP Committee bills

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Registry Act (S. 1382/HR 2295)
Christoper and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act (S. 1183/HR 1727)
Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act (S. 999/HR 477)
Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act (S. 1375)
Vision Care for Kids Act (HR 507/S. 1117) 
Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (S. 1810/HR 3112) 

Judiciary Committee bills

Emmitt Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act (S. 535/HR 923)
Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (S. 2304/HR 3992)
Drug Endangered Kids (HR 1199/S. 1210)
Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act (S. 2982/HR 5524)
Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act (HR 4120)
Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography (S. 2869/HR 4136)
PROTECT Our Children Act (HR 3845/S 1738)
Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission (S. 1079/HR 1389)

Foreign Relations Committee bills

Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act (HR 1469/S 991)
Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (HR 1084/S 613)
OPIC Reauthorization (HR 2798/S 2349)
Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Reauthorization Act (S. 2020/HR 2185)
Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act (HR 1678/S 840)
Support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews Act (HR 3320)

Homeland Security Government Affairs Committee bills

National Capital Transportation Amendments Act(S. 1446/HR 401)
Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act (HR 390)
Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act (HR 6109/S. 3175)

Commerce Committee bills 

Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492/HR 3919)
Hydrographic Services Improvement Act Amendments (S. 1582/HR 3352)
Ocean Exploration, Mapping & Research (HR 1834/HR 2400/S. 39)
National Sea Grant College Program Amendments Act (S 3160/HR 5618)
Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act (S. 950/HR 2342)
Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act (S. 1581/HR 4174) 
Training for Realtime Writers Act (S. 675/HR 1687)

Environment and Public Works Committee bills

Captive Primate Safety Act (S. 1498/HR 4933)
The Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act (S. 2707/HR 5540)
Beach Protection Act (S 2844/HR 2537)
Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2008 (S. 496/HR 799)

Rules bill

Smithsonian greenhouse bill (HR 5492)

With McCain Never Around Anymore, The Least Liked Senator Is Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Courtesy of Photo Tune

Last night a supposed Republican staffer left a comment on a post from a couple days ago about Tom Coburn's reputation as a clown and a gadfly.

I work on the Hill and I know plenty of Republican senators and everyone has the utmost respect and admiration for Senator Tom Coburn. He's considered a hero in Republican circles. Where do you get these crazy notions? When he stops a bill its for good reason and the whole caucus rallies around him.

It may have come from one of Tom Coburn's relatives. It sure didn't come from any staffer, at least not from one with any knowledge of the U.S. Senate. For example, among the bills that Coburn is holding up now, are a wide array of universally supported pieces of legislation by his Republican colleagues. Here, courtesy of Josh Orton at MyDD:

Senator Thad Cochran - introduced - Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act (S. 999/HR 477)

Sen. Christopher S. Bond - introduced - Vision Care for Kids Act (HR 507/S. 1117)

Sen. Sam Brownback- introduced- Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (S. 1810/HR 3112)

Sen Domenici, Pete V - introduced - Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (S. 2304/HR 3992)

Sen Vitter, David - introduced - Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography (S. 2869/HR 4136)

Sen Lugar, Richard G. - introduced - Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (HR 1084/S. 613)

Sen Coleman, Norm - introduced - Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act (HR 1678/S. 840)

Sen Stevens, Ted - introduced - Ocean Exploration, Mapping & Research (HR 1834/HR 2400/S. 39)

Sen Snowe, Olympia J. - introduced - Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act (S. 950/HR 2342)

Sen Voinovich, George V. - introduced - Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2008 (S. 496)

Several of these Republicans are in dire shape electorally and are desperate to show their constituents back home that they are getting something done instead of just obstructing the work of the Senate. Coleman, Cochran and Stevens have lost patience with Coburn's antics. And David Diapers Vitter knows that if he doesn't get some anti-porn legislation passed his affairs with a string of call girls is never going to be excised from the minds of Louisiana voters. But Coburn-- for no logical reason, is blocking every one of those bills. And harry Reid is bringing them all to the floor-- there are 35 of them-- as the Coburn Omnibus.

One has to wonder how some of the Republican incumbents staring at polls that show them losing in November, especially inveterate rubber stamps like Gordon Smith (OR), Ted Stevens (AK), John Sununu (NH), and Norm Coleman (MN), are going to respond to legislation protecting children from porn and blindness. And next week, we'll find out. Meanwhile, pray.

Reid Goes After Poor Pathetic Tom Coburn-- What About McConnell, Harry?

Courtesy of PhotoTune

Most serious members of the Senate, regardless of political party, consider Tom Coburn (R-OK) a clown and a gadfly. He has been annoying in holding up routine and non-controversial bills with overwhelming bipartisan support with silly, wasteful delaying tactics that accomplish nothing except keeping the Senate from moving forward. The last time he pulled this stunt, he was defeated 91-4. Even the most partisan members of his own party wish he would just pipe down and stop the bullshit. Right now he's holding up a batch of bills meant to assist paralysis research, victims of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease), children's eye screening and treatment, work on unsolved civil rights crimes (a bill that passed in the House today 422-2, with only two KKK members, Lynn Westmoreland and Paul Broun, both of Georgia, voting no) and children exposed to drug abuse.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is on the verge of exploding over Coburn's pointless game-playing and posturing.

"For those of you who may not know this, you cannot negotiate with Coburn. It's something that you learn over the years, that it's a waste of time... [I]nstead of allowing the will of the Congress and the American people to be heard, Republicans have obstructed one bill after another. Senate Democrats are not willing to allow this obstruction... any longer. Republicans will have a choice: Will they join the side of the American people, or continue to stand beside one or two colleagues intent on blocking progress?"

Good question, but Reid should have been asking it all year-- and not about a twerp who even Republicans hate-- but about the premeditated obstructionism that Mitch McConnell has led since Reid became Majority Leader.

A few days ago Sam Stein met with Blue America's most recently endorsed candidate-- and our first ever in Oregon-- Jeff Merkley. Jeff will be a guest at FDL this Saturday at 11am, PT. Sam's write-up is at Huffington Post today. He points out that Jeff has a tough race against faux moderate Gordon Smith but that Jeff "isn't venturing toward the political center in an effort to pick up votes or protect himself against potential criticism. Rather, he's sticking to definitively progressive positions, whether on FISA, Iraq, trade, or environmental policy. And on occasion he's digging his party's presumptive presidential nominee for venturing away from those battles."

In fact, Jeff is already showing why Blue America endorsed him: he's an independent-minded progressive who isn't going to stop doing what he's been doing for his entire career-- fighting for the interests of American working families. That's probably why he's pulled ahead of Bush's Oregonian rubber stamp in recent polling. And if it ruffles some Democratic feathers, that's not a problem for Jeff. He's sticking to his guns about warrantless wiretaps, retroactive immunity and NAFTA and he even called "to task the Democratic-controlled Senate for not showing the requisite backbone."

"A major mistake has been not to force the Republicans to filibuster day and night on these issues," he said. "The public does not see that obstruction because they don't see on their televisions a senator on the floor of the senate going through the night reading out of a thick tomb of law, if you will, in order to block bills from being considered. We have to put that on show to the American public and show that it's unacceptable... And I am [prepared to start standing up]. FISA is a good example right there. I was proud of Senator Dodd and others for what they did. They lost the vote, but I'm proud of them."

Jeff is Oregon's House Speaker. I bet he could do a great job as Senate Majority leader-- and take on McConnell, not just a pathetic pip-squeak like Coburn. But first we need to elect him. He's up on our Blue America ActBlue page now.