According to testimony at his failed 1986 confirmation hearing, during a Klan prosecution during the time he was US Attorney in Alabama, now-Senator Jeff Sessions had an interesting view on just when the KKK went too far.
Sessions told colleagues that he "'used to think they [the Klan] were OK' until he found out some of them were 'pot smokers.'"
Think Progress: Cheney: ‘I think it would be a mistake’ for the GOP to become more moderate.
With only 20 percent of Americans self-identifying as Republicans, the GOP is searching for a way forward. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), along with Colin Powell, have said the GOP must move toward the center to expand its tent. In an interview with Scott Hennen, a North Dakota radio host, Cheney declared that becoming more moderate “would be a mistake“:HENNEN: Some people are wringing their hands saying, “This is an example of why the party needs to change, to hear the message of Specter,” that, as Colin Powell said, the Republican Party needs to moderate. Do you think the Republican Party needs to moderate? Is that the message of the Specter defection, or the state of the party these days?
CHENEY: No I don’t. I think it would be a mistake for us to moderate. This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas…what the role of government should be in our society, and our commitment to the Constitution and Constitutional principles. You know, when you add all those things up the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most us aren’t. [...] So I think periodically we have to go through one these sessions. It helps clear away some of the underbrush…some of the older folks who’ve been around a long time (like yours truly) need to move on, and make room for that young talent that’s coming along. But I think it’s basically healthy. I don’t spend a lot of time or lose a lot of sleep over it. I just think now is the time for people who are committed to get out there and find candidates they like and go to work for them.
RNC Chair Michael Steele has sounded a similar note earlier this week. “All you moderates out there, y’all come. I mean, that’s the message,” Steele said, but added, “Understand that when you come into someone’s house, you’re not looking to change it.”
- Joe Sudbay (DC) Glad to see that Dick Cheney is still vying to lead the GOP. Always happy to see him rear that ugly head. And, we already know Cheney's "commitment to the Constitution and constitutional principles." His commitment was to destroy the rights we have enshrined in the constitution.
- Benen:
Cheney added, "Most Republicans have a pretty good idea of values, and aren't eager to have someone come along and say, 'Well, the only way you can win is if you start to act more like a Democrat.'"
I can only assume Democrats are delighted to hear this. Indeed, if the DNC were writing up the script, party leaders would have Dick Cheney doing public interviews, encouraging his party not to move towards the middle. The former vice president continues to do more to help the majority party than hurt it.
This weekend, Cheney is scheduled to appear on CBS's "Face the Nation." It's all part of his plan to "move on and make room for that young talent that's coming along."
- as a consequence, Steve Benen says RIDGE TAKES A PASS...
Republicans leaders practically begged Tom Ridge to run for the Senate in Pennsylvania, assuming, correctly, that he would be their best candidate.
The lobbying efforts didn't pay off -- Ridge passed on the race today.
"After careful consideration and many conversations with friends and family and the leadership of my party, I have decided not to seek the Republican nomination for Senate," Ridge said in a statement.
"I am enormously grateful for the confidence my party expressed in me, the encouragement and kindness of my fellow citizens in Pennsylvania and the valuable counsel I received from so many of my party colleagues."
Ridge's decision is a setback for Republicans looking to challenge Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in next year's general election. Several public polls showed Ridge running competitively against Specter in a general election.
The party is concerned that former GOP congressman Pat Toomey is too conservative to win a general election in the Keystone State.
Ridge would have no doubt faced some withering attacks from Toomey and the right, which may have discouraged him. His association with the Bush administration, his lobbying work, and the fact that he hasn't actually lived in Pennsylvania for several years might have also factored into the decision. That Ridge would have had to take a big pay cut no doubt mattered, too.
As for the party and the Senate race, Republicans are now likely to turn to Rep. Jim Gerlach, from the southeast corner of the state, as a challenger for Toomey.
And what of the Democrats? The good news for Specter is that Ridge was a very credible general-election candidate, and today's decision removes the most competitive Republican. The bad news for Specter, as Brian Beutler explained, "[O]ne of the key arguments for nominating Specter is his name recognition and strength in a general election. With Ridge out of the race, the risk to Democrats of a potential Joe Sestak candidacy is greatly diminished."
Joe the Quitter May 7: Outraged by the GOP's overspending, the infamous "Joe the Plumber" told Time magazine that he is planning on leaving the Republican Party. MSNBC's Richard Wolffe talks about why the Republican Party is having trouble retaining members.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
This just fits here ... again.
Gotta keep 'em separated May 7: President Obama proclaimed for Americans to pray today, since it's the National Day of Prayer. The religious right is criticizing the proclamation because he didn't do it like President Bush. Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? Rachel Maddow is joined by Interfaith Alliance President Rev. C Welton Gaddy.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
- Benen: SETTING THE NDP RECORD STRAIGHT....
We talked earlier about President Obama breaking with Bush's habit of recognizing the National Day of Prayer. In the past few hours, though, the bizarre lies from the right about the president's decision have been remarkable.
Let's quickly summarize. In the early 1950s, when lawmakers were adding "under God" to the Pledge and changing all American money to include the phrase "In God We Trust," Congress created an official annual Prayer Day for the nation. Congress, under pressure from the religious right, changed the law in 1988 to set the National Day of Prayer as the first Thursday in May. Obama, like his predecessors, issued a proclamation (pdf) honoring the "holiday."
So, what's the problem? Unlike George W. Bush, Obama didn't open up the White House to the self-appointed National Day of Prayer Task Force, run by religious right activists, which has hosted exclusive events for the last eight years.
This has led a variety of conservatives to make a variety of demonstrably false claims.
Lie #1: Rush Limbaugh said Obama tried to "cancel" the National Day of Prayer.
That's obviously not true; Obama issued a proclamation acknowledging the day. No effort was made to "cancel" anything.
Lie #2: Fox News' online project, Fox Nation, said the president "won't celebrate" the National Day of Prayer.
Again, the proclamation proves otherwise.
Lie #3: Fox News' Gretchen Carlson said the president's decision to participate in "private" prayer on "National Prayer Day" is evidence of Obama "giving in to the PC society that we live in."
No one pressured Obama to keep the National Day of Prayer Task Force out of the White House; it was just the obvious thing to do. As for the knock on "private" prayer, I might recommend Gretchen Carlson read Matthew 6:6.
Lie #4: Fox News' Steve Doocy said Reagan and George H. W. Bush held events similar to that of George W. Bush.
As hard as this is to believe, Doocy has it backwards. Reagan largely ignored the NDP for his first seven years in office.
Lie #5: Elisabeth Hasselbeck said on Fox News that the National Day of Prayer "has been a huge tradition" in the U.S.
That's just nonsense, since most presidents, like most Americans, have largely ignored the "holiday." Besides, Obama is keeping the "tradition" going by doing what his predecessors have done -- he issued a proclamation. [Update: And if we're really going to talk about American "traditions," it's also worth remembering that Thomas Jefferson and James Madison explicitly rejected state-sponsored prayer days. And all Madison did was write the Constitution.]
Hasselbeck -- who is she again? -- concluded, "We should be able to gather and pray as we see fit." What I'll never understand about conservative activists is why they think they need government to get involved in spiritual matters. Hasselbeck could get together with others to pray as they see fit yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Whether the Dobsons get to hang out in the East Room of the White House is irrelevant.
Honestly, I'm not sure which is more annoying -- the conservatives' prayer-related dishonesty or their prayer-related whining.
Think Progress: Obama’s budget eliminates funding for abstinence education programs.
Keeping with a campaign pledge “not continue to fund abstinence-only programs,” President Obama’s 2010 budget — further details of which were released today — cuts funding for “Community-Based Abstinence Education” and several other abstinence-education programs (p. 491):
Indeed, abstinence programs have been shown time and again to be unsuccessful in preventing teen pregnancies. (HT: Ben Smith)
Benen: WHAT CONSTITUTES A 'DISGRACE'....
Yesterday, a Politico headline read, "Disgraced John Edwards back in the spotlight." Jamison Foser responded with a short item that got me thinking.
Maybe someday, we'll see a Politico headline like this about Newt Gingrich.
That would be nice. After all, Gingrich, while in Congress, was plagued by questions over ethics violations, carried on an extramarital affair with a younger aide while impeaching President Clinton, enjoyed Cheney-like approval ratings from the public, was forced from his leadership post by his own caucus, and soon after resigned from the House altogether. Is he a "disgrace"? Sounds like it.
I'm not necessarily bothered by the Politico's use of the word in relation to John Edwards. The former senator's future in public life is certainly bleak. But Foser's broader point -- what constitutes a "disgrace"? -- is worth considering.
As far as I can tell, doing something disgraceful isn't enough. Republicans like Gingrich, Tom DeLay, and David Vitter, among many others, have seemingly disgraced themselves, but none are commonly awarded the term.
In contrast, Dems like Edwards and Rod Blagojevich are labeled a "disgrace" with minimal hesitation.
The rule, then, seems to be that politicians are a "disgrace" when their allies no longer want anything to do with them. If like-minded figures are willing to hang out with you, you're in good shape. If not, expect the "d" word. Democrats won't return Edwards' calls,so he's in trouble. Vitter is seeking re-election, presumably on a "pro-family" platform, so he's fine.
With this in mind, the problem with Gingrich isn't that he doesn't deserve to be called a "disgrace," it's that Republicans still consider him credible. Perhaps, if the GOP had higher standards, we'd have more "disgraces."
Think Progress: VIDEO: GOP Wastes No Time In Embracing Frank Luntz’s Vapid ‘Patient-Doctor’ Health Care Rhetoric
Earlier this week, a memo written by right-wing message guru Frank Luntz was leaked instructing the Republican Party on how to frame the health care debate in order to defeat progressive reform. Since his pivotal role in helping craft Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, Luntz has had an impressive record of cloaking regressive and conservative policies with carefully poll-tested language. For instance, Luntz is credited with persuading Republicans to use the intentionally misleading term “death tax” to describe the estate tax.
According to CQ, Republicans are enthusiastically embracing Luntz and his health care memo. At a private workshop organized by the House leadership, Luntz was welcomed with applause and cries of “Welcome home!” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) gushed, “We look to him for how do we express the things that we believe in ways that are effective.”
Luntz’s health care memo urges Republicans to denounce progressive reforms as ideas based upon a “committee of Washington bureaucrats.” The memo then calls for Republicans to strongly emphasize the “protection of the personalized doctor-patient relationship” because this approach allows Americans to believe that the GOP is doing something to “protect and improve something good“:
ThinkProgress compiled a video featuring Rep. Phil Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) all embracing the vapid “patient-doctor” talking point in the past 48 hours. Watch it:
As the Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky details, Luntz’s strategy is to “obstruct health reform by ignoring what Obama is actually offering.” In all fairness, Luntz is very candid about his strategy of misdirection. Since Republicans currently have absolutely no plan for reforming health care, Luntz says to avoid projecting a policy plan and instead focus on language that “captures not just what Americans want to see but exactly what they want to hear.”
Indeed, Luntz also provides his polling and language advice to a plethora of health insurance companies.
Benen: THEY'RE NOT SUPER VILLAINS; THEY LACK SUPER POWERS....
Literally every attack Republicans have thrown at the Obama administration has been a dud. Some have been more embarrassing than others, but when "socialism" started polling well, it probably should have been a signal to the GOP to reevaluate their smear tactics.
Now, however, Republicans leaders are very excited about the new line of attack. Today, they're rallying support for the "Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act." This follows up on arguments from January, and the message hasn't improved since.
The GOP argument is that the president, by closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, may move as many as 250 detainees to detention facilities in the U.S. Congressional Republicans want to make that next to impossible, arguing that Obama would put American lives at risk by bringing suspected terrorists onto American soil.
This is a very stupid argument.
There are multiple angles to this, but let's cut to the chase: we already lock up some extraordinarily dangerous people in maximum-security facilities. Al Qaeda suspects may be scary, but they don't have super powers. Obama isn't going to just drop off bad guys on Main Street and ask them to play nice.
I'll just quote Jon Stewart's commentary from January, which summed up the problem nicely. In a message to Republicans, the "Daily Show" host explained:
"I know you guys are freaking out, but you know what we in these United States do better than anyone? Imprison people.
"We've got 2.3 million people locked up. Per capita, we're #1... But these detainees are 'the worst of the worst'; the creme de la crud; they want to kill Americans. Yeah, unlike our current inmate population of jaywalkers, cream puffs and boy scouts who only want to hug Americans [images of Charles Manson, Tim McVeigh, et al, on screen].
"Look, I know you're Republicans so you don't watch MSNBC, but check it out on the weekends. They have this 6-10 hour block called 'Lockup.' [video shows a prisoner saying, 'I pulled his brain out and took a bite out of it'] We can't handle these piddly punks from Guantanamo? I'll put a good, old fashioned, USA born and raised, brain0eater against any of those motherf***ers. Any of them. USA! USA!
"Let's stop pretending these Guantanamo guys are all super villains. They're thugs and jackasses, not Magneto. If they had mutant powers we would've known by now. But you don't want them on our soil. I understand. We're safe as long as they're in Cuba with 90 miles of ocean between us. Yeah, nobody could ever make that harrowing journey -- oh, except maybe a six-year-old with access to high-tech innertube technology. I know Janet Reno would like you to believe that Elian got here on the wings of a magical schnauzer, but no! It might be comforting to keep these prisoners in legal limbo, but the thing is they're not actually in limbo. They still exist. So until we can come up with an actual limbo, a phantom zone so to speak, I'll take my chances with the system that's been able to contain the brain-eater guy."
It's hard to know for sure whether Republicans know all of this, but are desperate for an effective attack (in which case they're lying), or if they actually believe their own nonsense (in which case they're fools). Either way, the "Keep Terrorists Out Of America Act" is absurd.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
No comments:
Post a Comment