Rove On The Couch

This will be the first of a two-part series of posts I intend to do that psychoanalyze certain political figures on the right. Granted, I have not met these people (thank God) and don't know them personally. However, I believe that I may have an insight into some of their behaviors.

I have a theory about Karl Rove: he was teased and bullied mercilessly in school.

Rove seems exactly like the type of guy that might not have necessarily been 'Mr. Popularity' in high school (not that being unpopular is necessarily a bad thing, I should add). He doesn't have the most attractive face in politics (comparisons to Porky Pig, fair or unfair, have been made), and he tends towards the plump side of the weight spectrum.

I think that Rove spent most - if not all - of his time being bullied in school, but he never got over it. Unlike most people who are bullied, Rove never confronted his psychological baggage over high school social politics. Instead, he let that baggage fester for years, until it became unhealthy.

Rove is well known - infamous, even - as the poster boy of modern dirty politics. There have been many stories of the underhanded tactics Rove used in campaigns against political opponents - character assassination through smears, misrepresentation, and inventing scandals out of thin air. A list of some of Rove's "greatest hits" can be found here.

When Rove attacks  in this way, I don't believe that he is necessarily aiming that vitriol at his political opponents, but at the bullies who teased him in school. He is projecting the venom he feels for his former classmates into politics, retaliating others for wrongs that were done to him decades ago in high school.

Thus, in so doing, Rove has become exactly what he hates so much: a bully.

A Swing and a Miss

Ever since the news broke that conservative groups had been scrutinized by the IRS, the GOP has been desperate to milk as much political capital out of the story as possible.

Too bad that, as I've noted here, the facts of the case have revealed little to nothing scandalous that could be used against Obama. As the president himself noted, albeit commenting on another scandal, "there's no there there".

But now conservatives are excited because, in their minds, they've found the so-called smoking gun that "proves" Obama's complicity in the IRS "scandal": the fact that the former IRS commissioner - gasp! - visited the White House!

Unfortunately for the scandal-mongers, the commissioner visited the White House eleven out of one hundred seventy -five times - mostly for meetings on how to best implement health reform:

Source

As a good friend of mine often says: a swing and a miss. So much for Scandalmania 2013!

And as for "the smoking gun", do Republicans really want to bring that particular metaphor to mind? Have we forgotten the last time that metaphor was used by the GOP?

"Smoking Gun"

Running Scared

From the looks of it, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is feeling anxious about his chances of winning reelection at the end of his current term.

The distinct smell of desperation began to hover over Team McConnell as recently as last December, when McConnell chose to begin attacking Ashley Judd before she had even thrown her hat into the ring:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/mcconnell-preempt-judd-senate-challenge-article-1.1225237

Hypothetical polling at the time had placed Judd, a Hollywood actress with little or no political experience, slightly ahead of McConnell, whose job performance had sunk to 37%.

Now there's evidence that McConnell is trying to get away with misleading the public about the IRS "scandal" in order to whip Kentucky voters into a frenzy:

“Again and again, this administration and its allies have used the resources of the government itself to intimidate and silence those that oppose it,” McConnell says. “I think that the leader of the free world and his advisers have better things to do than to dig through other people’s tax returns.”

The ad ends with a quote from Obama, where he seems to admit to punishing opponents of his administration: “We’re going to punish our enemies, and we’re going to reward our friends.” But this is an out-of-context quote, pulled from a comment made more than two years ago in an interview with Univision radio. “If Latinos sit out the election instead of, ‘we’re going to punish our enemies and we’re going to reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us’ – if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s going to be harder,” Obama said in that interview. McConnell’s use of the quote is the dishonest capstone to an intensely dishonest piece of political rhetoric.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/05/29/michele-bachmann-is-gone-but-her-paranoid-politics-will-live-on/

Luckily for those of us who actually care about the truth, Jamelle Bouie of the Washington Post caught McConnell's misrepresentation. Obama never said that he was going to "punish his enemies"; he was speaking of the effect that Democratic apathy would have on the past election.

Recent polling indicates that McConnell is currently tied with a Democrat who hasn't yet entered the race:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/05/28/grimes_would_give_mcconnell_strong_challenge.html

I can't tell you how much pleasure it gives me to see Mitch McConnell squirm over his reelection chances. Of all the various Representatives and Senators that currently "grace" our nation's Capitol, McConnell is the Congressman that I dislike the most. He has made a career out of being a naysaying, obstructionist, angry old man, and the Senate would benefit from his ouster.

If you have been following my political musings here or on Facebook, you are likely aware that I have spent a lot of time complaining about Republican obstructionism in Congress. The face of that cynical, do-nothing obstructionism is none other than McConnell, who has decided to simply throw a hissy fit over the past five years because he didn't get his man in office in 2008. Now it seems that karma from the past couple of years is finally coming back to bite McConnell in the ass.

And as they often say: karma's a bitch.

A Day In the Life of Joe Middle-Class Republican

This is not my work, and I do not present it here as such. It was just so good, however, that I just couldn't pass up sharing it with...whomever is out there.

Joe gets up at 6:00am to prepare his morning coffee. He fills his pot full of good clean drinking water because some liberal fought for minimum water quality standards. He takes his daily medication with his first swallow of coffee. His medications are safe to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and work as advertised.

All but $10.00 of his medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Joe gets it too. He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs this day. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

Joe takes his morning shower reaching for his shampoo; His bottle is properly labeled with every ingredient and the amount of its contents because some liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained. Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. He walks to the subway station for his government subsidized ride to work; it saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day; he has a good job with excellent pay, medicals benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union. If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some liberal didn’t think he should loose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

Its noon time, Joe needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae underwritten Mortgage and his below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his life-time.

Joe is home from work, he plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to dads; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards. He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electric until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural Republican’s would still be sitting in the dark)

He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to. After his visit with dad he gets back in his car for the ride home.

He turns on a radio talk show, the host’s keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t tell Joe that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day)  Joe agrees, “We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, I’m a self made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have”.

Doom and Gloom Republicans

Well well well...looks like Republican reports of high premiums and other implementation problems involving "Obamacare" are greatly exaggerated:

The Congressional Budget Office predicted back in November 2009 that a medium-cost plan on the health exchange – known as a “silver plan” – would have an annual premium of  $5,200. A separate report from actuarial firm Milliman projected that, in California, the average silver plan would have a $450 monthly premium.

Now we have California’s rates, and they appear to be significantly less expensive than what forecasters expected.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/23/california-obamacare-premiums-no-rate-shock-here/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein

Providence Health Plan on Wednesday asked to lower its requested rates by 15 percent. Gary Walker, a Providence spokesman, says the “primary driver” was a realization that the plan’s cost projections were incorrect. But he conceded a desire to be competitive was part of it.

A Family Care Health Plans official on Thursday said the insurer will ask the state for even greater decrease in requested rates. CEO Jeff Heatherington says the company realized its analysts were too pessimistic after seeing online that its proposed premiums were the highest.

“That was my question when I saw the rates was, ‘Can we go in and refile these?’” he said. “We’re going to try to get these to a competitive range.”

This is pretty close to what the Obama administration dreams of: Insurance plans looking to woo millions of new customers—and slashing their rates in the process.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/05/20/oregon-may-be-the-white-houses-favorite-health-exchange/

Add this to the growing list of issues about which Republicans are (apparently) wrong.

Some Things Never Change

The only constants in life, according to some authorities, are death and taxes. As impermanent and ever-changing as human life tends to be, we can only ever be sure that we will pay taxes to the government (whichever government under which we choose to live) and eventually die - hopefully after long, fulfilling lives.

I would submit that something should be added to the above list: Republicans claiming that x action will "please the terrorists" or mean that "the terrorists win".

Yesterday, President Obama laid out a paradigm shift for national security: freeing Gitmo prisoners who have been wrongly accused of terrorism and repeal of the 2001 authorization to use military force, among many other shifts in policy.

In other words, no more "perpetual war" against terrorism, which is both impractical and, as Obama rightly pointed out in his speech, treacherous for civil liberty.

Many Republicans, naturally, have already voiced their opposition to Obama's plans:

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters afterward that “there are parts of this speech that I could’ve given.” But Obama’s overall view of the war is wrong, Graham said, adding that the president’s policies would make the country less safe. “The enemy is morphing. It is spreading,” he said. “There are more theaters of conflict today than there have ever been. Our allies are more afraid than I’ve ever seen; our enemies more emboldened.”

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence panel, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, dismissed the speech as rewarding detainees at Guantánamo who are carrying out hunger strikes.

“The President’s speech today will be viewed by terrorists as a victory,” Chambliss said in a written statement. “Today’s speech sends the message to Guantanamo detainees that if they harass the dedicated military personnel there enough, we will give in and send them home, even to Yemen.”

Source: http://www.rollcall.com/news/frosty_gop_reception_for_obamas_terrorism_policy_shifts-225121-1.html?ET=rollcall:e15729:44098a:&st=email&pos=eam

Republicans have used this particular line against Democrats for years, accusing them of being in league with terrorists whenever Democrats have had the temerity to question many of the civil liberty- and Constitution-busting decisions Republicans have made in the name of "national security":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpPABLW6F_A

To those who pit Americans against immigrants, and citizens against non-citizens; to those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil.

http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/gop-dissent-attacks.html

Listening to Republicans on these issues is what gave us the Patriot Act, indefinite detention of prisoners at Gitmo without legal counsel, the Iraq War, innuendo that accused critics of being in league with terrorists, torture, and seven years of not finding Osama.


The above quotes in response to Obama's speech is proof positive that we should continue not listening to Republicans on matters of national security.

Hypocrisy and Bad Theology

There are times when hypocrisy in politics is so brazen that you just have to be amazed at the sheer brassiness.

Take Tennessee Representative Stephen Fincher as an example. The Republican recently used a Bible verse from 2 Thessalonians to justify severe cuts in the food stamp program, or SNAP:

Thessalonians 3:10: "For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat."

If it's not bad enough to use God's word, which exhorts believers to help the poor, as justification for gutting services to help the poor, there's the hypocrisy.

http://tinyurl.com/ovtvqjx

According to the New York Times, the same Congressman who thinks that the government should make the poor fens for themselves is one of the largest recipients of farm subsidies.

This is not the only example of Republican hypocrisy on government spending. Many Republicans make a career out of railing against government spending....until a disaster of some kind hits their state, at which time they can't wait to get their hands on that sweet, sweet federal disaster relief.

With Republicans like Fincher in office, it's no wonder that many people view the GOP's unofficial motto as "more money for us; screw you".