More Convention Fun!

1. Obama knows how to defend community organizers!
2. Paging the commander in chief of the Alaskan National Guard!
3. Lindsey Graham occasionally gives the appearance of having a soul. Nice to have him confirm that he's still the same old vicious lying little turd;
4. Jon Stewart dissects the Palin Hypocrisy as only he can;
5. Yeah, media? John McCain? He's just not all that into you anymore. Sorry;
6. Nice to see them finally abandoning all pretense;
7. Would you buy a used moose from this woman?

Republicans Against Motherhood

Minority Leader John Boehner pledges future votes against apple pie, puppies, kittens, and little girls eating ice cream cones in the park.

Marching Backwards

House Republicans use procedural tactics to delay nearly every single piece of legislation that comes up. How long do you think it will be before John McCain starts railing about the "do nothing Democrat Congress"? Be sure to share this knowledge with any liberal friends who bleat to you about how the Democrats have "done nothing" since taking control of Congress.
On the plus side, former Speaker Denny Hastert's old seat has been won by a Democrat in the special election.
And speaking of House Republicans, Cong. Steve King (R-Iowa) is an idiot. Further updates as events warrant.

Eating Their Own

The Club for Growth, which is starting to appear indisguishable from Focus on the Family, is busily cannibalizing the bloated corpse of the Republican Party. It's like their version of Ralph Nader, only effective.

Don't Go Away Mad...Just Go Away

In a bold demonstration of their increasing irrelevancy, House Republicans walked out of the chamber today rather than vote on Contempt of Congress citations for Josh Bolten and Harriet Miers over their refusal to respond to Congressional subpoenas. House Minority Leader John Boehner denounced the citations as a "partisan fishing expedition"...in contrast to a Republican inquiry back when they were in the majority over who paid for the postage on Bill Clinton's Christmas cards which was clearly a desperately-needed inquiry vital to future of the Republic.
Boehner went on to say that Congress should instead be voting for the President's telecom immunity and warrantless wiretapping bill, because otherwise America is at imminent risk of attack. Except of course that's not true. And, of course, Boehner fails to mention that telecom immunity could be stripped out of the warrantless wiretapping bill and voted on separately if it was really so important.
Assuming that Obama or Hillary becomes President next year and Republicans remain in the minority, I predict many more such walkouts and other similar theatrics.

UPDATE: Showing the sort of taste and dignity for which they are justly famous, House Republicans have interrupted a memorial service for the late Tom Lantos in their latest fit of pique. Now that's class.

Republicans Not Only Hate Kids...

...they brag about it.

From the Sunshine State

McCain wins (and may get Giuliani's mighty endorsement), but he's pretty much out of money, and the people who have the money don't like him. With Rudy! out, I'm curious to see how McCain does in a head-to-head to the Romney-bot (with Huckabee apparently no longer a factor). If Giuliani hadn't been on the ballot, how much of his 15% would've gone to McCain? The exit polls tend to indicate that McCain still has a significant problem with the GOP base (Scarborough dismissed his platform as "less jobs and more wars"). This would tend to hurt his ability to use the Karl Rove/Nathan Bedford Forrest ("Git thar fustest with the mostest men") strategy in November.

In other news, Dubya was lying during SOTU. Quick, fetch the smelling salts; I feel faint!

Republicans STILL Hate Children

I don't understand why Congressional Democrats aren't doing more to publicize the GOP's unconscionable intransigence on the SCHIP bill. If I were Speaker or Senate Majority Leader, I would bring this bill back up for a vote once a week, every week, between now and November.

Biting the Hands That Feed

Arianna Huffington has a good piece on the hilarity of watching "establishment Republicans" hyperventilate over the prospect of Mike "Health & Wealth Gospel" Huckabee leading in Iowa. Apparently, Right Wing Politico-Evangelicals are perfectly alright to exploit as cannon fodder and for votes, but to actually head the ticket? Heaven forfend!

UPDATE: E.J. Dionne on the rise of Huckapopulism.

Probably Not A Good Sign...

"Not one of the Republican (presidential) candidates is viewed favorably by even half the Republican electorate..."

Also, Congressional Democrats may have finally wised up to the reality that neither the White House nor the GOP leadership has any intention whatsoever of negotiating in good faith on the budget.

A Cautionary Tale?

After an unexpected trouncing at the polls, the Liberal Party of Australia (which is actually the pro-business, pro-Iraq War, repulsively nativist and anti-Aboriginal party) had an implosion of its leadership, emerging with the much more moderate (and thus evidently despised by the hard-liners) Brendan Nelson as party leader. Is there a lesson here for the GOP?

Republicans Scared of Democracy!

Film at eleven! The Bush GOP's puling cowardice in the face of any dissent no matter how timid isn't really news, but the linked article from Orcinus is a very good rundown of Dubya's long history of maintaining a hermetically-sealed anti-First Amendment bubble around him at all times and how the current crop of Bush wannabes are dutifully following in his footsteps. Considering that the "Republican base" objectively hates poor people and illegal immigrants (and, of course, gay generals) and loves torture, maybe their desire not to answer unscripted questions makes a little more sense.

National Review to GOP:

"You're screwed..." Probably the only thing more pathetic than NR's bewildered analysis ("The peasants want health care? How can this be? Did we not just offer them 5% more gruel?") is their recommendations ("We only have one hope: convince the peasants that a capital gains tax cut will improve their hovels").

Why Huckabee Is Doomed

I remarked to a GOP friend the other day that if I were a Republican, I would be supporting Mike Huckabee. Of course, since he is neither a Know-Nothing Nativist nor a Plutocrat, he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell. Their loss.

In A Bold Electoral Strategy...

...the Republicans have defeated a proposal that is supported by 80% of the American people (including 70% of REPUBLICAN VOTERS). Take that, you whiny sick kids! Next up, the GOP will ensure their political dominance by introducing a measure to outlaw puppies and kittens.

UPDATE: Oh, and the "Pro Life" people? They're all a bunch of screaming hypocrites who really don't give a rat's ass about children. Try to contain your shock and awe.

The Rest of the Story

From the Great and Powerful Kos, the real reason for the Republican jihad against SCHIP (culminating in their embarrassing attacks against a 12 year old boy and his family): they fear, as with Hillarycare in '93, that success will remind middle-class voters that they have far more in common with the working poor than they do with the economic aristocracy the GOP supports. One of the linchpins of Republican electoral strategy since Reagan has been to make "entitlement" a dirty word and associate any form of government assistance with welfare queens and other undesirables. If even some of the large numbers of uninsured middle class families start seeing things otherwise, then the whole "government is the problem" argument falls apart.

UPDATE: Mitch McConnell beats up children. And he blatantly lied about it. Yes, I know; not much of a surprise, but it tends to fit in well with the above theory.

Republicans Get Clue! Nation Gasps!

According to the WSJ (and who would know Republicans better?), six in ten GOPhers think "Free" Trade has been bad for the country and 32% favor tax hikes on the mega-wealthy to reduce the deficit. Apparently, even the Republicans aren't Republicans anymore.

Another Wheel Falling Off the Cart?

Hot on the heels of reports that Christian Reconstructionists are considering bolting the GOP comes this Wall Street Journal article that indicates Republicans are losing even the support of the business community. Is the party of Lincoln really getting down to just the tin-foil hat crowd? I'm not convinced that tele-Pharisees would really form a Third Party, but truthfully all they have to do is advise their flocks to stay home, or at least refrain from the kind of fervent electoral evangelization they performed in 2004, to fatally wound any GOP nominee in '08. If business is turning lukewarm on the Republicans, that of course doesn't mean they are embracing Democrats, but again, all they need to do is be a little stingier with their wallets to make a big difference, particularly if the Democratic nominee is seen to be at-least partially "business friendly" (i.e., in favor of "Free" Trade; i.e., Hillary Clinton).

UPDATE: Preening narcissist James Dobson emphasizes again that he is more than willing to drag the GOP down to electoral oblivion.

CCRRRRRRRACK!!!

Christian Conservatives threatening to form a Third Party if Giuliani gets the GOP nomination. How likely is this? Hard to tell, but the unholy union between Economic Royalists and Christian Reconstructionists was bound to fail sooner or later. If Giuliani is the Republican nominee, I'm not sure there's enough boot-licking in the universe to win over James Dobson and the tele-Pharisee wing.

Blue Tide

E.J. Dionne, Jr. writes about a trend that hasn't hit Texas yet: the blue-ing of the suburbs and exurbs. He also picks up on a historical meme I have mentioned before: the Republican Party's gentrification into a sullen regional party, much like the Democrats from 1870 until 1932.