Month: December 2011

Dem: House Freshmen are ‘Kamikazes’

Buck Banks

The kamikazes’ casualty list this year is long. They blew up the debt-ceiling vote this summer, sparking a downgrade in the nation’s credit rating. They blew up the appropriations process so thoroughly that routine spending votes morphed into philosophical standoffs that nearly locked down the federal government three times and required seven temporary funding patches just to keep the lights on. And this week, they managed to blow up not just a tax cut that nearly everyone in Washington agrees is a good idea, but also their party’s hard-earned reputation for cutting taxes and, quite possibly, their chances at a long-term majority in the House and future control of the Senate.

— Patricia Murphy, writing in the Daily Beast that Democrats have dubbed the Republican House freshmen “the kamikazes” because they “have shown time and again that they are willing to blow up their careers and everything around them in service to their cause.”

Gingrich: Ron Paul Supporters Want to ‘Legalize Drugs’

Buck Banks

This is a guy who basically says, if the United States were only nice, it wouldn’t have had 9/11. He doesn’t want to blame the bad guys… He dismisses the danger of an Iranian nuclear weapon and seems to be indifferent to the idea that Israel could be wiped out. And as I said, I think the key to his volunteer base is people who want to legalize drugs.

— Newt Gingrich, taking “a swipe” at Ron Paul despite claims he’ll stay “positive,” the National Journal reports.

Gingrich Doesn’t Deserve ‘Historian’ Moniker

Buck Banks

Gingrich could not get tenure in a minor institution, West Georgia College. “Writing, presenting research work was not Newt’s forte,” said his dean, Richard A. Dangle. When first asked, Gingrich fudged and said he didn’t apply for tenure, then changed his story to having had a conversation with the dean who told him he was not going to get tenure “under any circumstances. You’ve spent four years campaigning, you can’t turn now and say, ‘let me get on the track.’”

— Mayra McPherson, writing for Neiman Foundation’s Neiman Watchdog blog.

WSJ: GOP Losing on Payroll Tax Issue

Buck Banks

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play…. At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly… The alternative is more chaotic retreat and the return of all-Democratic rule.

— A Wall Street Journal editorial that skewers Republicans for their handling of the payroll tax cut extension.

Republicans Take Direct Hit in War on Xmas

Trish

Apparently Florida Senate candidate and former fill-in Sen. George LeMieux didn’t get the memo. He sent supporters and those on his email list a message entitled “Happy holidays” with a link to this “Happy holidays” video, in which he takes 24 seconds to wish everyone, whether they are celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah, a happy holiday.

Do we even need to say it? O.K., here goes. Had a Democrat running for office wished people the polite, “Happy holidays” instead of the hot button, “Merry Christmas,” the egregious liberal socialist atheist communist slur would have been noted. I guess the Catholic Mr. LeMieux is held to a different standard. One which, by the way, I applaud.

But still, I would have liked to know what battles were fought behind the scenes for this video to be made. As a Republican friend on Facebook said the other day, “Happy Hanukkah, or as they call it on FOX News, Happy Jew Christmas!”

Round Two for Michele Bachmann?

Trish

I’m the one that has the momentum that’s shooting up the chart right now.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R – Minn.), explaining why she should not, as an Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats suggested, either dial down her candidacy to vice presidential levels or quit altogether. The latest Gallup poll of potential Republican voters shows Bachmann tied with Gov. Rick Perry (R – Tx.) at 7%. Other candidates have picked up support after Herman Cain dropped out and Newt Gingrich started falling, but Bachmann’s claim still seems optimistic.