Day: September 21, 2011
Santorum Haunted by His ‘Google Problem’
I suspect if something was up there like that about Joe Biden, they’d get rid of it. If you’re a responsible business, you don’t let things like that happen in your business that have an impact on the country. To have a business allow that type of filth to be purveyed through their website or through their system is something that they say they can’t handle but I suspect that’s not true.
— Rick Santorum, to Poltico, saying he contacted Google about his “Google problem” but says the search company isn’t interested in fixing it.
Headline of the Day
Headline of the Day: “Anonymous U.S. officials push open government”
— From the Associated Press.
Ryan Whines About Being a Caricature
I think the president has become a pyromaniac in a field of straw men. I think what he wants to do is set up those of us on the other side of the aisle as some caricature and assign policies to us that we don’t have and then defeat those arguments.
— Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), in an interview with Laura Ingraham.
Most Americans Pessimistic About Economy
75%
Of Americans think the U.S. economy is no better than a year ago, with 35% saying it is about the same and 42% saying it is worse, according to a new Gallup poll. Americans remain largely pessimistic, with 61% expecting economic conditions a year from now to be similar to now, or worse.
Politics of Extortion II: GOP Readies New Govt Shutdown Threat for the Fall
Writing in Roll Call, Stan Collender, author of “The Guide to the Federal Budget,” calls out Republicans in Congress for rebooting their threat to shut down the federal government this fall by reopening the debate over the 2012 budget.
Republicans are betting that if they can force Pres. Obama to capitulate one more time, they’ll turn Democratic voters’ enthusiasm gap in 2010 into an enthusiasm chasm in 2012.
This move is especially irksome, says Collender, because the “House, Senate and White House all agreed to the spending level for fiscal 2012 when the president signed the Budget Control Act on Aug. 2, almost two months before the fiscal year starts.”
Rebooting shutdown threats now would appear to be political suicide. A spate of polls has found Congress’ approval ratings at all-time lows. For example, at the end of August, Rasmussen, which is notoriously in the bag for the GOP, just 6 percent of voters said Congress was doing a “good” or “excellent” job. (Five percent said “good.” Just 1 percent said “excellent”). Two-thirds said Congress was doing a “poor” job.
Nonetheless, says Collender, Republicans will be proposing a short-term continuing resolution, or CR, for the fall:
Time for Palestine
You’ll get our nation-building help if you’re a Syrian.
We’ll even bomb your leader if you’re a Libyan.
But after 60 years
Of torment and tears,
You’re shit out of luck if you’re a Palestinian.
Republican Class Warfare: Women and Children Overboard
Democrats are pushing back on the Republican spin that raising taxes on the wealthy is “class warfare,” noting that, under the sway of the tea party, Republicans have been waging war on the middle class and poor, particularly on services for children and families, since they took control of the House in January:
Ryan Nickel, spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee’s Minority Staff, sent an email to Democratic press secretaries on Monday calling attention to dramatic cuts that Republicans have proposed to programs benefiting low- and middle-income Americans: “Are GOP cuts to WIC [Women Infants and Children], Pell Grants, Meals-on-Wheels, Low-Income Legal Services & Head Start ‘Class Warfare’?”
Some of the GOP cuts highlighted in the email:
