Month: March 2009
Coulter’s Book Sales Collapse
The best thing anyone can do for Ann Coulter is give her attention, including even — or maybe especially even — negative attention. So it is with some reluctance that that we publish this story, but it is irresistible:
Coulter’s latest book, Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America, is something of a misfire by Coulterian standards. Of course, what constitutes a disappointment for Coulter would be a mega-hit for most authors; in its two months on sale, Guilty has sold 100,500 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan (a number that only reflects around 70 percent of actual sales).
Right-wing groups usually pump up book sales of screed-writers like Coulter by buying thousands of copies in lots and the distributing them as freebies to donors. This paltry showing could be a sign that these groups are experiencing budget shortfalls in the wake of the Republican rout in Washington last year.
Palin Bellies Up to the Earmarks Buffet
Alaska’s earmarks include $1.2 million for an airport on Akutan Island, population: 800…but hey, you can almost see Russia from there!
Sarah Palin, who tried to deny soliciting pork barrel funds for Alaska during her ill-fated run for the vice presidency under John McCain, has taken a new crown: Earmark Queen. Mother Jones:
Alaska will receive more money, per capita, than any other state
…Alaska will receive more money, per capita, from the bill’s earmarks than any other state. (Alaska will pocket $209.71 for each state resident.) One hundred earmarks in the bill, worth a total of $143.9 million, are tagged for Palin’s state.
…Palin introduced herself to America by declaring she was a foe of wasteful spending who had “championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.” She claimed that she had said “thanks, but no thanks” to America’s most infamous earmark, the Bridge to Nowhere. During the presidential campaign, McCain railed incessantly against earmarks, at one point thundering that if he made it to White House, “I will take an ink pen and I will veto every pork barrel earmark spending bill that comes across my desk.”
In trying to beat back the omnibus spending bill, McCain denounced earmarking as a “corrupt practice.” And he employed the timeworn tactic of publicly mocking silly sounding appropriations…
The earmarks that Palin apparently will accept could also be ridiculed in a McCain-ish fashion. They include $475,000 to construct a “heritage center” in the Chilkat Indian Village…$200,000 for investigating and prosecuting bootlegging; $200,000 for researching the king crab; and $855,000 for building fairgrounds. The Alaska earmarks also include $1.2 million for construction work on an airport on Akutan, a tiny island that relies on seaplane for contact with the Alaskan mainland. (The Coast Guard handles medical emergencies.) The island has roughly 800 residents. Could this be dubbed the Airport to Nowhere?
Poll: Opposition to Gay Marriage in California Drops 5 Points to 47%
Four months after Californians voted 52 percent to 48 percent to amend the state constitution to rescind the right to marriage for gays, a Field Poll finds voters in the state evenly divided on the issue, with 48 percent favoring a new amendment to protect gay marriage rights and 47 percent opposing such an amendment. Five percent are undecided.
In July 2008, four months before the election, the Field Poll found that 51 percent of California voters favored gay marriage, while 42 percent planned to vote to rescind the right.
Last week, the California Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by supporters of gay marriage seeking to void Proposition 8, the amendment that rescinded marriage rights for gays in November. The court sent strong signals that it intends to let Prop 8 stand because it expresses the will of the voters.
Less clear, however, was whether the court would rule in favor of a suit brought by anti-gay operatives, and argued before the court by Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr, that would void the 18,000 marriages conducted during the six months gay marriage was legal in the state.
Legal observers suggest that if the court allows the 18,000 marriages to stand, it would set grounds for appeals in the federal courts on the grounds that allowing one group of gays to be married but not the rest violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause.
Meanwhile, organizers at Equality California, the state’s principal gay rights group, have yet to decide when to float a counter-amendment to Prop 8. In advance of the campaign, EQCA has announced plans to do intensive outreach to communities of color and faith, many of whom voted both for Pres. Obama and Prop 8 last year.
Deputy Whip’s Gaffe Confirms That GOP’s ‘No’ Campaign on Economy Is Political Hackery in a Time of Crisis
A gaffe in Washington, as they say, is when a pol accidentally tells the truth. In an article in the National Journal (subscription-only), House GOP Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (N.C.), admitted that House Republicans’ campaign of opposition to Democrats’ anti-recession policies is motivated purely by politics:
As we learned irrefutably from George Bush, when the president fails, the country fails with him.
“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said [McHenry], who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
In the vote on the stimulus bill in the House, Rep. McHenry and the GOP leadership marshaled their troops to produce a unanimous vote against the bill. Their message was loud and clear: Like Boss Limbaugh, they wanted the president to fail. As trite as it sounds, there is no difference in wanting the president to fail and wanting the country to fail. We learned this irrefutably from the presidency of George W. Bush, whose manifold failures contributed to the current crisis.
Leaving aside the stink of treachery, wishing failure on the president is a political loser — a sound bite that will likely be repeated in a marathon of Democratic campaign ads in the congressional elections next year.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who’s said he might run for president in 2012, backed away from the failure meme on Meet the Press on Sunday:
You’re irrational if you don’t want the president to succeed because if he doesn’t succeed, the country doesn’t succeed. I don’t think anyone should want the president of the United States to fail. I want some of his policies to be stopped, but I don’t want the president of the United States to fail. I want him to learn new policies.
(Of course, it was Speaker Gingrich who shut down the federal government in 1995 in a fit of pique after the Clinton White House made him sit in the back of Air Force One on an overseas trip.)
Rep. McHenry’s gaffe confirms that his party’s opposition to the stimulus and other proposed economic remedies is just what it appears to be: unprincipled political hackery. To engage in this sort of tomfoolery in the current environment means House Republicans either don’t take the economic crisis seriously — or that they are willing to pour gasoline on the bonfire of the U.S. economy on the hope they can take control of the smoking ruins after the collapse.
Greg Sargent at The Plum Line calledMcHenry’s office for confirmation. McHenry staffer Brock McCleary told Sargent that the congressman was standing by the quote.
Quote du Jour
Remember, the Republican Party right now is in the shadow of the Bush administration. We’re in the last stage of digesting the tummy ache of having bad congressional leadership; the worst treasury secretary in history; a bad economy. The Republican Party got fired for good reason;it deserved it.
— Newt Gingrich, in an interview with Essence magazine.
Poll: 85% of Republicans Can’t Name GOP Leader
According to a new poll from Rasmussen Reports, Republicans who were asked to name the leader of their party cited Sen. John McCain and RNC Chairman Michael Steele equally — both had 5 percent.
Roughly 85 percent of conservatives believe they are leaderless — just six weeks after their party lost control of the Executive Branch and two years since it had control of all three branches.
Conversely, a whopping 68 percent of GOPers said their party had no leader. Another 17 percent were undecided.
That means that roughly 85 percent of conservatives believe they are leaderless — just six weeks after their party lost control of the Executive Branch after eight years and two years after it controlled the Legislative Branch for most of the previous 12 years.
The party’s de facto leader, “Boss” Rush Limbaugh, was named as the actual party boss by just 2 percent in the poll, while Gov. Sarah Palin received 1 percent.
At the bottom of the list, congressional bigwigs Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, and Rep. John Boehner, Minority Leader in the House both received less than one-half of 1 percent.
Glaringly absent from the list was George Bush, the party’s leader until January.
Among Democrats, Pres. Obama was seen as the party’s leader by 66 percent, while 4 percent named Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 2 percent said Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Interestingly, comedian Jon Stewart was named leader of the Democratic Party by 1 percent of Democrats — which means Stewart is tied on the left with Gov. Palin on the right.
The poll also offered proof that Democrats understand Republicans better than Republicans know themselves. Seven percent of Democrats named Boss Limbaugh as the Republican Party’s leader.
Quote du Jour
“That’s not enough. I need a majority.”
— Adlai Stevenson (Feb. 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965), Governor of Illinois, United Nations Ambassador, and Democratic presidential candidate, upon being told on the campaign trail, “Governor Stevenson, all thinking people are for you!”
“Crawford” Tells the Story of a Town, and a Nation, Ruined by Bush
Crawford: a documentary from Crawford: The Movie on Vimeo.
Do yourself a huge favor if you have a little over an hour to spend, and watch Crawford on hulu. The documentary tells the story of the town, and the people, that were used, chewed up, and spit out by George W. Bush.
“If Crawford was a product sold at Wal-mart,” said one particularly tragic resident, “I think more than anything that it would be white paint.”
Bush only moved to Crawford when his presidential campaign was well under way, and left the town even before his second term ended. He and Laura returned to Preston Hollow, the pricey Dallas suburb where they lived when he was governor. Their new 8,500-square-foot house was appraised for $2.1 million but was said to be bought by the ex-president for considerably more. The Bushes are also purchasing the McMansion next door.
Crawford, meanwhile, is like the rest of the country in the wake of Bush: bitterly divided, and in many cases, ruined. Hopes (like those held by the minister of one church, that Bush will someday pay a visit) are forever dashed, lives are shattered, and neighbors who were caught up in the Bush frenzy will never trust one another again.
The film was released last fall but overlooked as the country, weary with Bush fatigue, longed only to be rid of him. It’s worth some remedial watching now.
