Category Archives: Teapublicans

Newt = John Edwards To The Nth Degree.

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When it was discovered that 2008 presidential candidate, John Edwards, had an affair as his wife was fighting cancer, he became a national pariah who was vilified by virtually everyone.

Most vocal among his critics were the “Christian” conservatives who decried Edward’s lack of “values.”

But those same “Christian” conservatives now support Newt Gingrich.  Yes, that Newt!  The Newt who sanctimoniously led the cheers for Bill Clinton’s impeachment as the result of Clinton’s indescretion with an intern. The Newt who later admitted to an affair while his first wife was battling cancer. The Newt who had yet another affair while his second wife (and former mistress) was critically ill with Mulitple Sclerosis.  And who, despite the advice of his wife’s physician who told him that stress would be damaging to his wife, asked her to agree to an open marriage so he could continue his affair!

These facts, along with the Newt’s admission of 84 ethics violations as Speaker of the House should make anyone question his “values.” Indeed, they should be automatic disqualifiers for higher office. Yet here he is, the new standard bearer for “Christian” conservatives in the Teapublican presidential race.

After all, according to these pretend Christians, the Newt’s transgressions are in the past.  They don’t really reflect the man the Newt has become today.

No, they don’t. Today’s version of Newt Gingrich is even more ethically challenged. He is angrier, more vitriolic, more vengeful and more sanctimonious. But it seems that is what’s so appealing to “Christian” conservatives about the Newtster. He voices their self-righteous anger about President Obama and liberals. And following ABC’s interview with the Newt’s ex-wife about his affairs, they’re even more angry. Not at the Newt, but at ABC and the rest of the “lamestream” media for dredging up such an unsavory story about their hero.

“Sure, Newt is no saint,” they say. “But he has repented.” Apparently, his repentance has been so complete that he even earned the blessing of the apparent keeper of the “Christian” conservative’s moral compass – Sister Sarah Palin. That should be good enough for anyone. Shouldn’t it?

And what of John Edwards?  The “Christian” conservatives still consider him a pariah, of course.

Masters Of The Double Standard.

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The field of Teapublican “presidential” (and I use the term loosely) candidates have proven, once and for all, that Teapublicans are almost completely devoid of ethics. I’d call them hypocrites, but we’re talking about Teapublicans here, so, for their benefit, I’ll try to use small words.

Teapublicans famously fight for so-called family values, yet many support Newt Gingrich who is twice divorced and whose second wife stated that Newt demanded an “open” marriage. In other words, a marriage that would allow him to boink anyone he wanted. So much for the “sanctity” of marriage issue.

Gingrich also admitted to 84 ethics violations while Speaker of the House and resigned in disgrace. Most of these violations were the result of Newt gaming the system to enrich himself. So much for the anti-Washington, anti-corruption issue.

Turning to the front-runner, Teapublicans are furious with so-called “Obamacare.” But what did President Obama use as a model for his health care reform? Why “Romneycare,” of course. You simply can’t be against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and support Mitt Romney. So much for the government health care issue.

Romney is also a “Vulture Capitalist” (Newt’s words, not mine) who led a private equity firm that purchased undervalued corporations with other peoples’ money, saddled the corporations with large management fees then sold off their assests while laying off thousands of American workers. So much for the jobs issue.

In addition, Romney has admitted to “parking” large amounts of money in off-shore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes. And though he has not yet released his tax returns, he estimates that his tax rate is “somewhere in the area of 15 percent.” Given that Mitt is a multi-millionaire, that’s a nice area to be in, especially considering that much of the middle class is taxed at a rate of 30-35 perecent! And, if Romney is elected and allowed to institute his recommended tax policies, his tax rate will dramatically drop while the tax rate for the middle class will remain virtually unchanged. And the tax rate for the poor will actually go up! Moreover, Romney’s tax plan will add tens of billions of dollars to the deficit. So much for the deficit and debt issues.

Voter support for these two only shows that Teapublicans are not really for anything. They’re simply against Obama. And many of them don’t even know why.

Raising Cain.

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For those of you who don’t watch The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, you’re not only missing some of the best comedy on TV. You’re missing some of the most accurate news analysis anywhere.

Lately, Stephen Colbert and Stewart have been exposing the absurdity of the decisions by conservatives on the US Supreme Court ruling that money equals free speech and that corporations have the rights of people. To do so, Colbert created a Super PAC called Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow. Then after he learned that he out-polled John Huntsman in his native state of South Carolina, Colbert created an “exploratory committee” to assess his chances of running for President. (No doubt that he would be better than any of the Teapublican candidates, but that’s beside the point.)

Colbert then turned his Super PAC over to his good friend and business associate, Jon Stewart. Now labeled The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC, Stewart claims it is keeping him busy sorting receipts for crown polish, first-class airfare and his new diamond tiara, the intent is to show that there are virtually no restrictions on how much money can be contributed on behalf of candidates and how little control the FEC exerts over that money.

Now Colbert and The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC are asking that South Carolina primary voters vote for Herman Cain. Why? Colbert is too late to get on the primary ballot, and the 9-9-9er has dropped out of the race. So any votes for Cain may be assumed to be votes for Colbert and against the Supreme Court decision.

So, if you’re eligible to vote in the South Carolina primary, please vote for Colbert…er…I mean Cain. After all, if we must have a clown in the presidential race, it may as well be a good one.

The Wisdom Of Iowa.

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As a native of Iowa, I’m proud of the common sense displayed by my former compatriots. Iowans (even Teapublican Iowans) tend to be well-educated, relatively well-informed, and compassionate. Despite the media pundits who decry the role that Iowa plays in our national electoral process, I believe Iowa is the perfect place to begin presidential campaigns.

Why?

For one thing, Iowa does not lean overwhelmingly to one side of the political spectrum or the other. (It’s neither a red nor a blue state. It’s a red, white and blue state.) The Iowa caucus system is like old-time politics forcing candidates to face voters, often one-on-one. Iowans are generally unafraid to ask questions and speak their minds. And, except for the far right wing zealots and so-called “Christian” conservatives, Iowans tend to be skeptical of campaign promises (remember, Iowa is next-door to the “Show Me” state).

All of this sharpens candidates and weeds out the worst nimrods. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are prime examples.

Despite her Iowa roots, Iowans refused to vote for Bachmann and her wackadoodle politics, forcing her to suspend her campaign. Despite spending millions in Iowa, Rick Perry garnered so little interest he giddyupped back to Texas to “reassess” his campaign. And one-time GOP front-runner, the ethically-challenged Newt Gingrich, left Iowa with his massive ego bruised and his campaign on life support.

My only real disappointment with the Iowa caucuses is the inexplicable elevation of Rick Santorum to co-front-runner status. But I guess the “Christian” conservatives needed to annoint someone as their new political savior.

Lies, Damn Lies and Teapublican Lies.

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In every field or endeavor, there are people who have difficulty with the truth. Most of us tell the occasional little white lie, often to keep from hurting another’s feelings. Many of us tell lies to make us feel better or to explain a mistake. And then there are chronic, sociopathic liars who make statements that are provably false.

It’s in the latter category where Teapublican candidates, Fox News Channel hosts, religious conservatives and their supporters reside.

Want to kill Medicare? You vote to replace it with vouchers then tell your constituents that you voted to “save” it. Want to lower taxes for the wealthy? You re-position attempts to eliminate tax subsidies and create fairness as “Class Warfare.” Want to kill the EPA? You tell people that environmental regulations are “killing job creation.” Want to help your corporate funders privatize government agencies? You talk about “government waste” and let corporations cherry-pick the most profitable functions. Want to distract voters from your role in the collapse of our economy? You blame it on the poor, minorities and unions. Want to get rid of ATF and the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency? You simply block the appointment of the agencies’ directors. Want to make President Obama a one-term president? You block virtually every job creating initiative then tell people that his economic policies have failed.

The load of B.S. coming from Teapublicans would fertilize every planet in our solar system.  And it’s growing by the minute.

How do they get away with such blatant, provably false claims? They count on creating anger and mistrust in government. They count on people who are uninformed or misinformed (in other words, Fox News viewers). They count on voters who won’t take the little bit of time needed to research their outrageous claims.

Will their lies work again in 2012? How informed are you? How about your friends and neighbors?

The Great Right Hopes?

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To listen to Teapublicans, President Obama is the worst president in US history. They view him as a foreign-born Muslim who was only elected through massive voter fraud; a socialist or communist or facsist or some sort of –ist who is destroying our economy and our freedoms. From the moment he was inaugurated, Teapublican leaders have made it their top priority to make him a one-term president in order to save our nation and the world.

Given the dire circumstances President Obama has allegedly created for our country, you would expect the Teapublicans to haul out their very best and brightest to defeat him. So who have they chosen to be their potential standard-bearer; their shining knight riding to the defense of freedom? It appears to be limited to one of the following:

– A moderate running away from his long-held beliefs to prove he’s now an electable conservative.  As a result, he can’t answer a single question without contradicting at least a dozen previous statements.

– A former Speaker of the House who resigned in disgrace following 84 ethics violations.

– A crotchety libertarian who appears to like drugs and prostitutes more than blacks, gays and Muslims.

– A Tea Party darling who says such wackadoodle stuff she’d be the perfect stereotype for dumb blonde jokes if only her hair was the right color.

– An undistinguished former senator who so angered gays they named the aftermath of a sex act in his honor and made the definition the top search result whenever you Google his name.

– A tough talkin’ executioner and secessionist who would probably be rejected as too stereotypical for a role on Hee Haw.

– A former pizza CEO who withdrew from the race after being accused as a serial sex offender.

Seriously? That’s it? These are the “Great Right Hopes” vying for the right to unseat President Obama in 2012? After what seems like a hundred televised debates, not one has managed to make his- or herself seem like a reasonable candidate.

It’s obvious the entire process has, thus far, been flawed. So I propose, instead of another debate, we place these yahoos in front of a panel of judges similar to American Idol. Just imagine for a moment if, instead of debate moderators lobbing softball questions at this crew, Simon Cowell was sitting in judgement of these presidential wannabes. How many would survive the first cut? How many would go running from the cameras in tears?

Does anyone doubt that such a panel would call these Teapublican candidates what they really are – circus clowns (with apologies to clowns everywhere). The only things lacking are the rubber noses, oversize shoes, silly makeup, miniature cars and squirting lapel flowers.

Indeed, the only one likely to make the cut is the one Teapublicans have universally ignored – John Huntsman. He’s a successful former governor and ambassador to China. Apparently, the only real strike against him (and it’s a big one) is that he has (gasp) steadfastly refused to speak badly of President Obama.

The Know-Nothing Network.

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For many years, those of us who don’t subscribe to the way-off-the-right-wing-cliff ideology have claimed that Fox News Channel is worse than no news at all. Now we have proof:

According to the latest results from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll, which asked people in New Jersey about current events, those who watched Fox News were less informed than those who say they don’t watch any news at all.

For example, people who watch Fox News were 18 points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all. Fox News viewers were also 6 points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government than those who watch no news.

And the news sources that do the most to help people learn about current events? The so-called “lamestream media” that conservatives hate so much. According to the poll, the best informed respondents were those who watched Sunday morning news programs giving them a 16 point greater likelihood of knowing what happened in Egypt. Next were those who read a national newspaper such as The New York Times or USA Today. They were followed by listeners of National Public Radio.

The failure of Fox News to inform its viewers may have as much to do with the style of reporting as the content. “Sunday morning news shows tend to spend a lot more time on a single issue than other news broadcasts, and they are less likely to degenerate into people shouting at each other,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. “Viewers pick up more information from this sort of calm discussion than from other formats. Unfortunately, these shows have a much smaller audience than the shouters.”

Presidential Backstabbing.

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Before President Obama was even sworn into office, our economy and housing markets completely imploded. The economic collapse was labeled the Great Recession – the worst economy since the Great Depression. After the Bush-endorsed bank bailout, President Obama rescued our automotive industry and requested a stimulus bill to get our economy moving again. In requesting the stimulus bill, he said he hoped it would reduce unemployment, holding it to 8 percent or less. Yet despite the stimulus, unemployment soared to more than 9 percent and Republicans denounced the stimulus as an expensive failure.

On the surface, it would seem Republicans were right. However, it is now obvious that President Obama was fighting against a stacked deck – the result of inaccurate reporting. More than two years after Obama took office, the Congressional Budget Office released data showing that the original collapse was far worse than originally reported. More recently, the National Realtors Association admitted that sales of existing homes have been overstated.

The new data means that the stimulus bill was far from a failure. Rather it was woefully inadequate. Had Congressional Republicans agreed to the original, larger stimulus, we might have seen the economy rebound by now with greatly reduced unemployment. Instead, Republicans fought for a smaller stimulus, and many fought for no stimulus at all!

Moreover, Republicans have blocked every attempt to improve the economy. They have blocked increased regulation of the financial industry to prevent future meltdowns. They have blocked any and every attempt to force the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes. They have blocked every attempt to remove anachronistic tax deductions for oil companies. They have blocked attempts to remove tax incentives for corporations that ship jobs overseas. They have invoked the filibuster a record number of times. They have blocked a record number of judicial and department nominees.

Teapublicans have done everything possible to make President Obama a one-term president, regardless of the harm they cause to the economy and the nation in the process. All of this has become abundantly clear.

The only remaining questions are whether or not American voters are smart enough to recognize the backstabbing for what it is. And whether or not they will make Teapublicans pay.

A Nation Without Government Is No Nation At All.

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One of the ideological leaders of the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement, Grover Norquist, famously said, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it to the bathroom and drown it in a bathtub.”

Ronald Reagan once said, “…government isn’t the solution to the problem. Government is the problem.” He also said, “The most fearful words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

Of course, the Teapublicans have turned these quotes into mantras that drive everything they do.

For those who are inclined to jump aboard the bandwagon of anti-government sentiment, I’d like to pose a few questions. If there is no government, who is going to defend you against terrorists and rogue nations? Who will build your roads and bridges? Check the safety of your foods? Check the qualifications of your doctors? And of your teachers?

Who will monitor the safety of your airlines? Of your drinking water and air? Who will pay the salaries of your police forces? Fight your fires? And help you recover from natural disasters?

We (you and I) created our government agencies to do what we can’t do for ourselves. The days in which we could live without efficient and effective government ended when we ceased living on farms. When we ceased raising our own food and making our own clothes. Government is now as necessary as the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Without effective government, our nation would more closely resemble Somalia, Afghanistan and Columbia than England, France, Germany, Norway or Sweden.

The Grinch…er…Gingrich Who Stole The Party.

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Now that serial liar, adulterer and cheater, Newt Gingrich, seems poised to take the Teapublican nomination for president, it seems fitting that his rise in the polls coincides with the holiday season. After all, he’s the Grinch personified – egomaniacal, arrogant and disparaging of everyone else. He dislikes and resents everyone who disagrees with him, which is to say most of the world. And, if elected, he promises to place a lump of coal in everyone’s Christmas stocking by taking away Social Security and Medicare. He also seems determined to bomb Iran and give all of Palestine to Israel. (And you doubted the Mayan 2012 prophecy!)

Yes, this model of lies, meanness and hypocrisy is now the apparent favorite of Teapublicans far and wide. Newt has taken hypocrisy to new levels, even for Teapublicans. You may remember that he led the impeachment of President Clinton for adultery while having his own affair as his wife was fighting cancer. After marrying his mistress, he later dumped her in favor of a new mistress. Yet he still has the balls to talk about “values.”

Swept into power in 1994 as the result of his Contract on America, he succeeded in throwing single moms off of welfare and throwing more people into prisons. He claims to have balanced the budget as Speaker of the House, giving no credit to other members of Congress (including Democrats) and President Clinton who signed the budget-balancing bills.

But Newt’s greatest accomplishment in the House was to be charged with 84 ethics violations for which he was fined $300,000 by a 395-28 vote. He was forced to resign from the House in disgrace – the first time in history that a Speaker was disciplined for ethical wrongdoing – saying “In my name and over my signature, inaccurate, incomplete and unreliable statements were given to the committee.”

And Newt hasn’t lost his knack for finding questionable ways to make money. In addition to his books and speaking engagements, the Grinch was paid $1.6 million as “historian” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the very institutions he blames for wasting taxpayer money and causing our current financial mess. (Of course, he doesn’t mention that one of the biggest wastes of taxpayer money was his $1.6 million consulting fee.)

But the best way to summarize Newt is by quoting his former colleagues. Former New Hampshire governor and George H.W. Bush chief of staff John Sununu called Gingrich “inconsistent, erratic, untrustworthy and unprincipled.” Sen. Tom Coburn, called Gingrich’s leadership “lacking,” and reportedly told his Oklahoma constituents that Mr. Gingrich was “the last person I’d vote for for president of the United States.” Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal offers an even better description of the GOP’s leading presidential candidate. She wrote that Newt is “a human hand grenade who walks around with his hand on the pin, saying, ‘Watch this!’”

It’s bad enough when we discover an official’s character flaws after they’ve been elected to office. What does it say about a party if it’s willing to nominate someone like Gingrich despite his many known character issues? What would it say about our country if he’s elected?