Jersey politics

In an interesting piece in the WS Journal about New jersey politics, there is fascinating paragraph:

Union City received an extra $13 million in extra funding to help with this year’s $103 million budget, along with special authorization to use some of that money to offset local property taxes. Stack denies political deals were in place and said he’s only spoken with the governor twice since the 2009 election.

Union City receives extra money while the state is retrenching, and no special favors? C'mon, Mayor. And he and the Governor do not have to speak for deals to be made: does the phrase plausible deniability ring a chime?

Democrats pessimistic about avoiding shutdown

Let the Republicans force a shutdown. If they haven't read the history of what their party did, and suffered for doing, 17 years ago, go ahead, shut 'er down.


“Right now, they look a bit dismal,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said when asked about the prospects of keeping the government running beyond the April 8 deadline. Across Capitol Hill, expectations grew Tuesday that — given the procedural and political obstacles ahead — the parties will fail to reach an agreement, which would prompt a massive government disruption in just a matter of days. And while both sides are already engaged in a sort of blame game in advance of a potential shutdown, they are also bracing for the political blowback.

Who, besides the right wing zealots, are gonna like this?

America is going ...

This item from New York magazine caught my eye; how could it not?

Here is something Newt Gingrich said recently, out loud, in public:

"I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9," Gingrich said at Cornerstone Church here. "I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

We're absolutely certain that Gingrich will come up with a convoluted explanation for why this all makes perfect sense to anyone with the intellectual capacity of Newt Gingrich.
Gingrich Reductio Ad Absurdum [New Republic]

Oy vay. Secular, atheist and Islamist. We'd better  get to temple, or church, and get working on ... what, exactly?

It's a tricky dick

Stop Taking Bachmann Seriously!

Argh, he wants to spoil all the fun.

Michele Bachmann is “reportedly” ready to form a presidential exploratory committee in early June. Shame on me (and this website) for paying the slightest bit of attention to this foolish and ridiculous spectacle, but here we are. It’s a challenge to decide what, exactly, is silliest about this story. First is the generic issue, independent of Bachmann. “Ready to form a presidential exploratory committee?” What the hell does that amount to? Imagine, sitting down at a restaurant, calling the waiter over, and explaining that you may be ready, at some future point, to form an “exploratory committee” to discuss what you might like to order for dinner.   My guess is you might get a bottle of Perrier poured on your head.

But the media falls all over her exploits. And she bashes the liberal media. Round and round they go, and if they'll ever stop, who the hell knows?


Bachmann has about as much chance of actually getting the nomination as Lindsay Lohan. Does anyone in the world, even Bachmann herself, sincerely believe that this would be anything other than an exercise in vanity and self-delusion?

Influence peddling?

Lest you think Bachmann is just having a bad month or so, the last time my Daily Beast editors embarrassed me into examining her record, I discovered that she had blamed the "Hoot-Smalley Tariff," allegedly passed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, for causing the Depression, ignoring the fact that a) it was passed under Republican Herbert Hoover; and b) the Depression was already in full swing when FDR was elected years later.

Well, she's not the brightest light bulb in the bunch, for sure. But, her son is reported as being one of her main advisers.

Run, Michelle, run

Brian Snyder/Reuters Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota spoke in New Hampshire, an early voting state, earlier this month.

That a teabag makes a statement, and that the media covers a woman holding a teabag to make a statement, tells much about American politics and American media.


Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota seized the media spotlight on Thursday by merely leaking out the possibility that she might — someday, maybe months from now — form an exploratory committee to consider running for president.

She has learned to listen to media advisers who are teaching her all about spin.


The flurry of headlines was a testament to her ability to heighten interest by being dramatic, and even provocative, in her statements. Just a day earlier, for example, she warned against the “black-robed masters” in Iowa. In other words: judges. (The comment came in a speech in which she applauded voters for turning out three members of the Iowa Supreme Court who had voted to legalize same-sex marriage.)

Would that include the black-robed masters who handed the 2000 election to one George Walker Bush?


In appearances in Iowa this week, Ms. Bachman made no attempt to tamp down the speculation, repeatedly uttering two words: “I’m in!” But in a brief interview, when asked to expound on her remarks, she said: “I’m in to make sure that Barack Obama is a one-term president. I am in, in terms of 2012, to make sure that we do have a rock-solid conservative.”

What she fails to understand is that if they make sure they have a rock -solid conservative as the party candidate just about guarantees Barack Obama becomes a two-term president. One can only hope she continue to think so, to agitate so, and to help make it so.

Go get 'em, Congresswoman

Bachmann to form exploratory committee in June, possibly earlier. I'd vote for earlier, meself. CNN's headline calls it an exclusive story, but I've already seen it in other places. Anyways, the woman who identified the Battle of Lexington and Concord as having been in New Hampshire (and then excoriated the liberal media for picking on conservative women more than on men, and certainly on liberals) might run for President. Run, Michelle, run, I say.

Bachmann bid could shake up GOP field Shake it, stir it, the GOP needs something, and Bachmann is one that can provide something, that's for sure. A history lesson, for one.

THIS is why WE need unions

Brown Brothers

100 Years Later

The Fire That Changed the Working World

A narrative of the Triangle shirtwaist fire, which killed 146 workers; Jewish victims; centenary events; a book; Q. and A.; garment workers today; the shirtwaist; the building; an activist; photographers; new leaders.

Republicans in disarray

Disarrayed, just the way I like 'em.

A couple of the driving forces behind the Republican victories in November’s midterm elections now threaten to derail the GOP’s chances to recapture the White House. The far-right tea party, which energized the party’s base last fall, now poses a significant hurdle for any Republican presidential aspirant. Candidates who can meet the radical movement’s exacting standards to get through the primary contests will likely be unacceptable to the American electorate at large.

Run, Michelle Bachman, run. And pull your party hard to the extreme right.

In fact, the radically conservative approach adopted by new Republican governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin or Chris Christie in New Jersey threatens to create a backlash not only among Democrats but moderate independents. The harsh, anti-union measure pushed through the state legislature by Walker and the Republican majority in Wisconsin already looks like a Pyrrhic victory because of its negative reverberations throughout the country.

One hopes that sooner, rather than later, the general public wakes up and sees the radicalism of these union busters: they are doing the bidding of their moneyed benefactors and slamming middle class workers.


In short, it’s looking more and more like the Republicans are up that proverbial creek and their paddles – the tea party and Fox – are taking them in the wrong direction.

Run, Michelle, run.

Obama Strategy: Share Credit (and Blame?)

As they prepare to wage political war against President Obama, the potential 2012 Republican candidates are doing everything they can to draw sharp distinctions with him. But Mr. Obama isn’t cooperating. Rather than emphasize his differences with potential Oval Office rivals or Republican adversaries on Capitol Hill, the president is taking every opportunity he can to embrace members of the other party as co-conspirators in his efforts to confront the country’s challenges. The logic behind Mr. Obama’s approach appears to be rooted in the belief that voters — and especially independents — are looking for evidence that politicians in Washington are working together on problems rather than content to live with an unending stalemate.

He might as well try and control the spin. It helps counter the Republican effort to draw sharp contrasts with him.

In addition to appealing to some voters, the bipartisan rhetoric from Mr. Obama may be an attempt to disarm his potential 2012 rivals and Republicans on Capitol Hill. In Miami this month, Mr. Obama stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, to promote education reforms.

Hanging out with Jeb was interesting. Countering Romney's criticisms by reminding voters that Obamacare is based on Romneycare is political common sense. Remaining above the fray will make him appear presidential; the Rose Garden strategy is a time-honored tradition that works. Until the heat of the election.

Spinnin' the news

Back in the US, the Republicans continue pursuing their agenda. In hearings called to examine homeland Muslim extremism, the Council on American-Islamic Relations is on the proverbial hot seat. From Minnesota, home of that moderate and sober voice, Michelle Bachman, comes Chip Cravaack (yup, a grown man serving in Congress calls himself Chip). Navy veteran, patriot.

After Peter King blabbed on, Representative Frank R. Wolf of Virginia accused CAIR of “an attempt to stifle debate and obstruct cooperation with law enforcement.” Representative Chip Cravaack of Minnesota went further, telling a witness, Leroy D. Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, “Basically, you’re dealing with a terrorist organization.” Sheriff Baca disagreed.

For the casual observer, it may have been a puzzling set of comments. But it is an old argument for CAIR, an aggressive civil rights organization that has long been pilloried by conservatives as the American Civil Liberties Union with a Muslim spin.

For these jerks, the ACLU is evil.

Run, Ron Paul, run

Paul once voted to deny Mother Teresa the Congressional Gold Medal because he didn't think the government should have to pay for it.

That's the spirit. I hope he runs.

Right speaks

Some blogger posted on the right wing's elocutions on Libya.

“Ronald Reagan bombed Libya, if you want to be Reagan-esque, it seems the path is pretty clear here.”-Santorum

An original thinker, this bozo.

“I think a no-fly zone would be a good thing for the United States to do.”- Pawlenty

How? and Why?

“The United States doesn’t need anybody’s permission, the no-fly zone should begin immediately.” -Gingrich

That's the spirit, Newt: let's do whatever the hell we want, start another war, and send other people's children to uphold the stupidity of your decisions. Quite presidential.

Huckabee says: “I think a no-fly zone would be absolute – yeah a no fly zone very important”

Yeah, Huck,

Palin adds: ”NATO and our allies should look at establishing a no-fly zone” (at least she is not calling for unilateral intervention like the others)

How, and why?

Romney, Cain, Trump, Bachmann, Daniels, Huntsman, Barbour, Johnson, have all remained silent on the issue (as far as I could find).

Cain? Silence is golden, especially when one doesn't know squat about a topic.

Then, a breath of fresh air, someone who doesn’t think plunging our nation into yet another war is a great idea. That man, Ron Paul.

‎”It is my opinion that we should NOT…. go into Libya and impose a No Fly Zone. You have to remember, a No Fly Zone is an act of war. What moral right do we have to participate in war activity against Libya? …. There’s no constitutional authority for a President to willie nillie go and start placing No Fly Zones over countries around the world.”

John Quincy Adams said during an Independence day address (note: she=America):

“Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own”

Yes Gadhafi is a monster, but if we run around looking for monsters to destroy, we will never stop running. You see, monsters are everywhere, kill one, and another surfaces. We can no longer afford to search for monsters, to police the world. Adam’s had great advice, Ron Paul listens, will you?

Even though this blogger transforms Adams to Adam, it is still a valid point.

Nwet breaks out of the gate

Hardly two hours old, the nascent 2012 campaign of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has already been hit by its first embarrassment: It used of a stock photo for its website that first appeared on the website of the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, a liberal icon of the Democratic Party. The photo, of a multicultural crowd of smiling faces staring at the sky and waving flags, was meant to leave the impression that a huge and diverse group of Americans were lining up to support Mr. Gingrich and his wife, Callista, whose faces were superimposed over the crowd.

Callista, is that his third wife?

Go, Newt!

Can a fat man get elected president?

Our heaviest president was William Howard Taft, who, a hair shy of 6 feet tall, weighed well north of 300 pounds and won his single term before television or even newsreels. Since then, presidents have ranged from thin to hefty, but none could be described as fat.

Ours is an age when movie stars are admired for being thin (women) or well-toned (men), and, say some, set the standard for public appearance.


At 5 feet and 9-1/2 inches, Jimmy Carter was our shortest president since Harry Truman, who was 5-foot-9. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president ever at 6-4, and James Madison the shortest at 5-4 (and lightest, at 100 pounds or less).

Presidential timber, or balsa wood?

Heilemann: Huckabee’s Obama-From-Kenya Statement Either ‘Sketch Comedy’ or ‘Grotesque Pandering’

• 3/2/11 at 2:05 PM

Yesterday, potential presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee disappointed us by insisting that Barack Obama grew up in Kenya (he did not) and used that fallacy to try to explain some of the president's worldviews. Today on Morning Joe, the team pondered these statements along with their guest, New York columnist John Heilemann. Heilemann wondered whether Huckabee was performing "sketch comedy" or it was just "grotesque pandering to the most nincompoopish and pernicious elements of the Republican base." Watch.

His spokesman apologized, sort of,but he accomplished what he wanted: tell the right wing base that he agrees with their hate of Obama. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

Michael Dale Huckabee is the Rodney Dangerfield of the Republican Party: He don’t get no respect. In poll after poll, the former Arkansas governor turned Fox News pundit rates as the most popular conservative public figure in the country. In December, a national Reuters Ipsos survey ranked him ahead, in ascending order, of Rush Limbaugh, Tim Pawlenty, Glenn Beck, Haley Barbour, and Mitt Romney—as well as Barack Obama and David Petraeus—in terms of his net favorability rating. (The only person ahead of Huckabee? Hillary Clinton.) More recently, an array of polls of Republican voters have put him at or near the top of the heap among potential GOP presidential candidates. Privately, several of Obama’s top political advisers believe Huckabee would be the toughest opponent for their boss. And yet most professional Republicans dismiss him, deride him, or, most damning of all, simply ignore him.

Perhaps he is not hard-core enough, though by making the Kenya remark he seems to be trying to tack hard right.

The truth is, there are good reasons to believe that Huckabee, in the end, will decline to run—and in so doing will shape the Republican race almost as much as if he gets in. What interests me more than the implications of his decision, however, is the reasoning behind it, the factors he is weighing, and what his thinking says about the state of the GOP heading into 2012.

On the writing of a new book, Huckabee says, “I felt maybe there was a need to present some of them in a way that was not written for academics. This book was not designed so it would be a textbook at Harvard.” Perhaps he flatters himself a bit too much.

though Huckabee asserts in his introduction that he doesn’t “doubt for a minute that Barack Obama loves our country and wants to make it better,” this ostensible graciousness evaporates in the chapters that follow. “Among nations that are traditionally anti-American, President Obama still enjoys high approval ratings,” Huckabee writes at one point. “Why am I not surprised?”

What kind of logic is that?

for all the grassroots energy that the tea party is providing to the GOP right now, the party Establishment still reigns when it comes to the raising of campaign cash—and little that Huckabee has done since 2008 has improved his standing there.


Beyond questions of money, this last consideration—the dynamics that will be in play in the Republican nomination contest—is what is weighing most heavily on Huckabee’s mind. “I think I would have the best chance in the general election, because I offer the most distinct but not rancorous contrast against Obama,” he says. “But the Republican primary, I’m trying to figure out where it goes this time. If it’s going to be a search for a problem-solving pragmatist communicating kind of guy, that’s one thing. But if it’s going to be a purity contest of who’s the most gun-loving, the most anti-immigrant, the most pro-life, the most everything, it gets ridiculous.”

One can only hope that Republicans slash one another savagely, and make their primaries a test of ideological purity. I'm rooting for Bachman and Palin to get in; Romney will run against himself in trying to gain his right wing purity badge, as will Newt. O, the prospects almost make me salivate.