Thursday, March 12, 2009

Repuglicans on Parade 3-12-09

via atrios, the QOTD: Ari Fleischer on Hardball yesterday - But after September 11, having been hit once, how could we take a chance that Saddam might not strike again?


I went to the funeral of a dear friend today. Internment was in a small rural cemetery on top of a hill, and I chose to walk instead of follow the long, long line of cars up the hill (700 people went to the viewing yesterday). I walked up with a few acquaintances, including a conservative guy who was special forces and now works in the jet/airplane business.

In the course of a ten minute walk, I learned that George Soros (or some other shadowy financier) may have engineered the financial collapse of Wall Street because it couldn't have just happened due to structural problems ("why did it happen right then, I ask you"), that our automakers were doing fine building the cars America wants till the gov't started to meddle, that the stimulus plan is utterly wasted spending that will only increase the debt, that his business collapsed because business people stopped ordering, and canceled existing orders, for jets right after the Congressional hearings last fall. (The last item may well have happened, but if a solid, profitable business chose not to order a jet because of those hearings it speaks to a different kind of stupidity.)

This is not a stupid person. He is a pleasant guy, well educated, knowledgeable about a variety of subjects. And yet, he is readily, utterly susceptible to every wingnut theory out there. Oh, and Pelosi's plane as well. Which naturally leads one speculate on the nature of conservative intelligence. Because, as with "inconceivable", I'm not sure that word means what we think it does.


Matt Yglesias ruminated on that topic recently:
Something I think most liberals don't understand is exactly how stupid many conservative leaders are. There is, yes, a condescending tendency to believe that no smart person could be on the right ideologically at all. That's dead wrong. There are plenty of bright people on the right. But the way their movement works, intelligence or understanding of politics and policy has no meaningful role in advancement. If anything, there's something of a negative correlation between knowing what you're talking about and being able to get ahead in right-wing politics.

Here's one of those "leaders" now. Kurtz says FUBAR: Looks like Norm Coleman's campaign did just about everything you can do wrong in failing to protect the credit card information of his contributors from hackers. Heck, they weren't even hacked -- they simply didn't protect the data from someone just surfing the web.


But it is not just leaders. It's many of their followers. Tim F.'s classic post Fear Is The Mind Killer discussed the problem:

On the other hand, it’s curious to find that disproving rightwing lies only makes them believe it more.

Political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler provided two groups of volunteers with the Bush administration’s prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. One group was given a refutation—the comprehensive 2004 Duelfer report that concluded that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction before the United States invaded in 2003. Thirty-four percent of conservatives told only about the Bush administration’s claims thought Iraq had hidden or destroyed its weapons before the U.S. invasion, but 64 percent of conservatives who heard both claim and refutation thought that Iraq really did have the weapons. The refutation, in other words, made the misinformation worse.

A similar “backfire effect” also influenced conservatives told about Bush administration assertions that tax cuts increase federal revenue. One group was offered a refutation by prominent economists that included current and former Bush administration officials. About 35 percent of conservatives told about the Bush claim believed it; 67 percent of those provided with both assertion and refutation believed that tax cuts increase revenue.

In a paper approaching publication, Nyhan, a PhD student at Duke University, and Reifler, at Georgia State University, suggest that Republicans might be especially prone to the backfire effect because conservatives may have more rigid views than liberals: Upon hearing a refutation, conservatives might “argue back” against the refutation in their minds, thereby strengthening their belief in the misinformation. Nyhan and Reifler did not see the same “backfire effect” when liberals were given misinformation and a refutation about the Bush administration’s stance on stem cell research.

Now you know why Atrios calls them “zombie lies.” But on reflection ‘zombie’ still doesn’t cover the perversity of this phenomenon. In most movies a zombie will go down if you hit it in the head hard enough. Rightwing lies aren’t just hard to kill, they get stronger the more thoroughly you kill them. Wingnut rumors function more like that mythical critter that grew two heads every time Hercules cut one off, except even the hydra eventually died. By comparison about 29% of America continue to think that Saddam had a WMD program and sat down with bin Laden to plan 9/11. In that sense the hydra is a piker next to rightwing stupidity. There’s nothing like it.


Exhibit A. Benen on PELOSI, PLANES, AND POINTLESS PALAVER....
Way back in February 2007, Kevin Drum wrote on this very blog, "The continuing flap over Nancy Pelosi's military jet accommodations is so knuckle-draggingly stupid that I can hardly stand to open the newspaper these days for fear of reading about it."

That was more than two years ago. Believe it or not, the far-right is still on the case.

Judicial Watch (remember them?) continues to accuse the House Speaker of misusing government resources, a claim that has generated some misleading news items and plenty of love from Drudge. The claim is the same as it was two years ago: Pelosi "treats the Air Force like her personal airline." (Malkin referenced "Queen Nancy's military air travel" this week. Murdoch's New York Post did its part, too.)

To its credit, ABC News looked into this. Take a wild guess what it found about the merit of the accusations.

[I]t appears that Pelosi uses military aircraft less often than her predecessor, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

The documents cover the period from January 2007 to November 2008 and show that Pelosi made the equivalent of 20 round-trips between Washington (Andrews Air Force Base) and San Francisco. That's an average of less than one round-trip per month. In contrast, former Speaker Hastert traveled home to his Illinois district virtually every weekend and, his former aides tell ABC News, he would almost always travel on military aircraft. Like Hastert, Pelosi also occasionally leads Congressional delegations on foreign trips (the documents show six foreign trips: one to Asia, three to the Middle East and two to Europe).

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch also disprove another frequently repeated rumor about Pelosi's travel: that she regularly flies home to San Francisco in an Air Force C-40, the military equivalent of a Boeing 737. According to the documents, Pelosi did not make any domestic trips on a C-40 during the 23-month period from January 2007 to November 2008. Her trips to San Francisco have all been on smaller executive aircraft, usually an Air Force C-20 (the equivalent of a Gulfstream G-3) or a more plush C-37 (a Gulfstream G-5).

The Judicial Watch release cites e-mails from the military complaining that Pelosi was frequently reserving military aircraft and then canceling, causing the Air Force to incur costs as crews prepped planes than never went anywhere. These e-mails, however, are from early in her tenure as speaker.

....

When you see far-right blogs and Murdoch-owned outlets get worked up about something, it's pretty safe to assume they're completely wrong.


Exhibit B. Benen: BEHOLD, THE 'NO COST STIMULUS'....
If you missed last night's episode of Sean Hannity's Fox News show, you missed a fascinating "discussion" between Hannity, Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). As the Fox News personality explained, Shadegg and Vitter have come up with a "stimulus" plan that costs "zero dollars," and "promises to create two million new jobs without any of your money."

Shadegg explained this visionary approach to economic growth:

"With unemployment rates going up how can we produce American jobs? And the answer is we have had a non-energy policy in this country for a very long time. The reality is we are giving jobs to oil fieldworkers and natural gas fieldworkers in Russia and Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, when we should be putting those people to work here in the United States.

"Now Senator Vitter and I have drafted a bill that says let's put Americans to work, let's pursue the fight we had last summer of an all of the above energy strategy, let's clear the bureaucracy out of the way, and let's move forward with American jobs, producing American energy.... And we can also reduce the absurd regulations that go way too far."

And from there, the three of them spent the rest of the interview trying to undermine confidence in the economy, bashing Nancy Pelosi, and questioning the concept of economic stimulus.

It was one of those odd interviews in which members of Congress present a "plan" without actually talking about -- or even hearing any questions on -- what the "plan" is.

Apparently, Shadegg and Vitter, two of Congress' most right-wing members, believe they can address the severe, global economic downturn and create 2 million jobs by opening up additional coastal areas for oil drilling and stripping oil companies of federal regulations. This is their "stimulus" plan. They're so proud of it, they went on national television to boast about their ingenuity.

...
  • John Cole adds:
    Steve at the Washington Monthly has heaped the appropriate amount of ridicule on Rep. Shadegg’s “no-cost stimulus” plan (the title doesn’t even make sense, and then once you realize there actually is no plan, it goes downhill from there), but the folks at the NRO are lapping it up. Here is David Freddoso extolling the virtues of the “plan”:
    Rep. John Shaddegg (R, Ariz.) and Sen. David Vitter (R, La.) led the presentation of the package, which would keep expedite drilling for oil and natural gas on the outer-continental shelf, expand states’ boundaries in the ocean for the purpose of taxing the energy development, and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for “environmentally sensitive” exploration, with the lease funds going toward renewable energy projects.

    The bill would also streamline licensing requirements and curb environmental litigation against energy production projects. It prohibits the use of the Endangered Species Act to regulate carbon dioxide, and prevents states from setting their own higher emissions standards for vehicles.

    No mention whether or not clubbing baby seals was also included in the “plan.” When I originally read the FOX News piece, I couldn’t figure out what the hell Shadegg was talking about when he said we are “giving jobs to oil fieldworkers and natural gas fieldworkers in Russia and Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, when we should be putting those people to work here in the United States.” My first thought was he was suggesting invading Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela and taking over their oil fields, but now I realize what he meant. We’re back to the McCain campaign and “Drill, baby, drill.”






Speaking of Vitter, TPM:

Is David Vitter Behind The Secret Hold On Obama's Science Advisers?

David Vitter told TPMDC this week he is not holding up the nominations of two key Obama science advisers. But a trail of evidence points in Vitter's direction -- and now his office isn't returning calls. What's going on?


Think Progress: Santorum: ‘I Really Believe The Fundamentals Of American Economy Is Still Strong’
On his radio show last night, conservative talker Hugh Hewitt asked former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) to give his “sense of where the economy is headed right now.” Santorum replied that he had “an innate sense that America is never going to revisit the Depression era again.” “I really don’t believe we’re going to go there again,” said Santorum.

After criticizing President Obama’s “doom and gloom” predictions, Santorum declared, “I really do believe that the fundamentals of American economy is still strong”:

SANTORUM: I think we’re probably, you know, reaching the bottom here in the next few months. There’s probably some more bad things that are going to happen, particularly in the credit markets. But, look, I don’t think — I think all this prediction of Obama’s doom and gloom and some others out there I think is overblown. I really do believe that the fundamentals of American economy is still strong and that we are, you know, we’ll pull ourselves out of this probably by the end of the year.

...




Benen: SANFORD'S SENSE OF TIMING....
Solidifying his role as the nation's most radical and irresponsible governor, South Carolina's Mark Sanford (R) followed through on his grandstanding yesterday.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday became the first governor to reject some of his state's share of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus money, spurning $700 million that he said would harm his state's residents in the long run.

Sanford, a Republican who served in Congress in the 1990s, made his announcement at three sites across South Carolina in a daylong flight tour that fed speculation that he's eyeing a 2012 presidential run.

Nice timing, gov.

South Carolina has the fastest growing unemployment rate in the country, and economists do not see an end to the cycle of job losses spreading across the state.

Between January 2008 and January 2009, the state's unemployment rate increased 4.7 percentage points, which was the largest jobless rate increase in the country, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yes, it's the perfect time to turn down federal stimulus aid.

Sanford's ridiculous grandstanding will not, however, penalize families in South Carolina. State legislators have already indicated that they intend to accept the federal funds despite the governor's objections. South Carolina's General Assembly has a Republican majority, but it has no use for Sanford's nonsense.

As for the takeaway for the governor, this is probably the ideal resolution -- he gets to tell 2012 presidential primary voters about his courageous opposition to economic growth, without having to worry about the real-life consequences of his actions.

Pressed on whether his position was influenced by his presidential ambitions, Sanford said, "I've got a 15-year pattern of doing exactly this kind of thing."

Oddly enough, he meant that as a defense.

  • Think Progress:
    John Cooley, deputy superintendent for finance and operations at the South Carolina Department of Education, explained that the stimulus funds would help fill a 15 percent budget cut already inflicted on the school system. Without those funds, Cooley estimated that up 7,500 teachers (15 percent of the state’s 50,000 teachers) could be negatively impacted. But he cautioned, “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we’ve reduced 7,500 teachers” or that all 7,500 will lose their jobs.

    Regardless, Cooley warned that Sanford’s cuts will make an already dire situation much worse:

    It’s going to create a significant problem for us if that was to happen. I know that our general assembly — the House of Representatives completed their work on the appropriation bill for 2010 and they have used that money and appropriated it to education to help fill in the cuts that we’ve taken. If those funds are not permitted to be used that way, it will create a significant problem for the education budget in South Carolina.

  • Josh Marshall on Republicanism

    From the Austin American-Statesman ...

    Gov. Rick Perry will announce today that he is blocking the state from accepting $550 million for expanded unemployment benefits as part of the federal stimulus package.

    With an upscale Houston hardware store as his backdrop, he will paint the expansion as a burden on small business.


Sanford is a one man stoopid machine. More Benen: RACIST OR NOT, IT'S JUST DUMB....
One of the oddities of the conservative arguments against economic stimulus is the basis for their fears. Most of the time, they say their biggest concern is massive debt. But that's not a plausible fear from these guys -- Republicans added $5 trillion to the debt in just five years. Now that we need to run deficits, they're balking?

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has a new argument in opposition to economic recovery.

"What you're doing is buying into the notion that if we just print some more money that we don't have and send it to different states, we'll create jobs," he said. "If that's the case, why isn't Zimbabwe a rich place?"

Zimbabwe has been in the throes of an economic meltdown ever since the southern African nation embarked on a chaotic land reform program. Its official inflation rate topped 11 million percent in 2008, with its treasury printing banknotes in the trillion-dollar range to keep up with the plummeting value of its currency.

Sanford added, "Why isn't Zimbabwe just an incredibly prosperous place. Cause they're printing money they don't have and sending it around to their different -- I don't know the towns in Zimbabwe but that same logic is being applied there with little effect."

House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), a chief Sanford foe, believes race is a factor in the governor's bizarre comparison. David Kurtz raised the same question: "If you're the governor and a prominent black congressman from your state says refusing to take stimulus money will disproportionately hurt black citizens of your state, would you turn around and compare the stimulus plan to the economic policy of ... Zimbabwe?"

Sanford explained today that the economic stimulus "will result in hyper-inflation," which relates to Zimbabwe because of its unbelievable 89.7 Sextillion percent inflation. The point, he said, was to point to a country with high inflation, regardless of race.

I'm not sure if race entered Sanford's mind here or not. But while I have no idea if the governor is a racist, I do know he's dumb as a sack of hammers.

But putting aside whether or not the governor's comparison is racist, it's definitely stupid. Matt explained, "There's no inflation right now in the United States. None whatsoever. It's actually a big problem, because it means that our standard macroeconomic stabilization tool -- federal reserve open market operations -- doesn't work. Serious inflation would be bad, of course, and Zimbabwe-style hyperinflation would be ruinous, but some increase in inflation would be helpful. It would serve as a real cut in interest rates and help to spur growth. And long before inflation reached problem levels, the Fed could increase nominal rates to head the problem off. Sanford's just out to sea on this."


Aravosis: "No money was exchanged. Nobody was naked," said the former GOP party chair in Chicago...
Ah, Republicans.

The police say he admitted to having two hookers in his kids' playroom. He now says the police report was wrong. Uh huh.

Here's my favorite part:
“If there were hookers, I’m not sure why the police didn’t arrest me -- that’s illegal too,” Skoien said.
Well, I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations hasn't expired in only 4 days. Not so sure I'd be challenging the police to put up or shut up on this one. (Hat tip, Chicagoist.)


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