Month: April 2011

Really Republicans, That’s All You’ve Got?

Trish

The Ryan budget is a dramatic picture of where the government would go under Republicans…but it doesn’t begin to address real problems. The only problem it addresses is the debt. It creates ten problems for every problem it solves…The fact that for Republicans, taxes are an absolute no-go issue — it’s as if Democrats were to say, “Spending is a no-go issue, we will not cut spending anywhere.” What would be the impression of the robustness and vitality of Democratic party thinking if that was the position of the party? But that is the position of the Republican party.

George Packer, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Interesting Times: Writings from a Turbulent Decade

Their Team Winning is More Important to Florida Republicans Than Their Constituents Are

Trish

19 of 19

Number of Republican members of the House of Representatives from Florida who voted for the Ryan budget plan, which would expand tax cuts for rich people while canceling the current Medicare program. The vote seems odd in a state known for its high number of retirees, who were apparently not on the minds of their elected representatives.

Obama: ‘Ryan Not on the Level’

Buck Banks

When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, he’s just being America’s accountant … This is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill — but wasn’t paid for. So it’s not on the level.

— President Obama, on the GOP’s 2012 budget, in what he thought was a private chat but which overheard by CBS News.

GOP House Chairman Quietly Invites Hate Group Leader to Testify against Gay Marriage

Jon Ponder

Maggie Gallagher
Maggie Gallagher
Tea party Republicans won the House last year by promising to focus on the economy and “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” But in the four months or so that they have controlled the House, the GOP has focused instead on curtailing women’s rights; defunding programs that help seniors, children and the poor; and going after public broadcasting.

Now the tea party has added the fight against gay civil rights to its agenda.

Earlier this week, the Homophobe Caucus in the House quietly scheduled a hearing on same-sex marriage which it gave the Newspeak title, “Defending Marriage.” The star witness at the hearing will be Maggie Gallagher, leader of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). Late last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center officially added NOM to its list of domestic hate groups, a longstanding list that also includes the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation.

NOM made headlines last week when one of its key activists, Louis Marinelli, defected by coming out in favor of marriage rights for gays.

The hearing before the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, which was announced without fanfare earlier this week, has been ignored by the “liberal” mainstream media. The silence on cable and in the press stands in stark contrast to the howls of criticism six weeks ago when GOP Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King held anti-Muslim hearings, which were denounced as “McCarthyism.”

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