Vyan over at Daily Kos has written an excellent piece about MSNBC's Rachel Maddow's deconstruction of Fox's race baiting and the Republican Party's most recent southern strategy of scorched earth politics.
I betcha Louie Gohmert and Sarah Palin did not realize that their hysterical invocations of Hitler when bellyaching about President Obama's demands to BP have brought the Evil One back from the grave.
Hitler is back and he is foaming at the mouth with rage. It looks like Hitler's ghost is going to haunt Smokey Joe and his GOP for a very long time.
The loony fringe of the Texas GOP continues to fall all over itself standing by their big sugar daddy, BP. Louie Gohmert took extremism to a new level when he compared President Obama's demand to BP for $20 billion to who else but Hitler.
Is there a head doctor in the house? President Obama's demands for accountability and responsibility from BP seems to have driven the Texas GOP stark raving mad.
There they go outing themselves again. Republicans are the ones that are easily led idiots who will believe anything a demagogue says. Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are perfect examples. And as I recall, W. whined about how much easier it would have been to rule as a dictator instead of a democratically elected President.
Brighton, Colorado (FNS)-Attorneys from the Republican Study Group (RSG) descended upon the 17th Judicial District courtroom of Judge John T Bryan today to present an amicus brief and associated oral arguments in order to prevent a settlement in a lawsuit related to an automobile accident in this Colorado city.
The intervening attorneys claim the settlement reached between the two parties to the accident is a "shakedown" because the plaintiff had not yet exhausted all possible legal remedies when the agreement was finalized, and because the agreement was executed in the presence of the plaintiff's brother, a well-known local attorney.
They hope Judge Bryan will decline to approve the settlement in today's hearing, and that he will order the parties to move forward to trial.
"What we have is government transferring property from one party, an admittedly unattractive one, to others, not based on preexisting laws but on decisions by one man, a car czar", said Crush Mimbaugh, attorney for the RSG, "and we are here today to protect all Americans from this legally sanctioned rape of an innocent driver."
Our esteemed Texas Republican lawmakers, especially U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, seem to have their lips perpetually super glued to the derrieres of BP and big oil.
I guess our Texas Republican lawmakers are completely incapable of thinking outside of any box that is unrelated to stuffing bucks into their personal campaign coffers.
As we all know by now, Governor Rick Perry has also super glued his lips to the derrieres of any big money that moves in his direction.
Meanwhile, back in a reality residing outside of the Texas GOP world of groveling and self serving pimpitude to corporate interests, there are grave and challenging issues that must be dealt with on national, state and local levels.
The GOP can't seem to stop itself from taking up for the strong armed, shaken down, extorted, ripped off, the unfairly abused and pilloried BP. Yet another Republican stands up for the most reckless and destructive oil companies on the planet. Today Senator Coburn (R-OK) joined his colleagues Joe Barton, (R-TX) John Cornyn, (R-TX) Rand Paul (R-KY), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Rush Limbaugh. Together, they cried
Perhaps a rudimentary definition of the role of government would be worth mentioning given Joe Barton's unhinged apology to BP yesterday. On what planet has Joe Barton been living? Maybe Rush Limbaugh and his hate talk and profit driven corporate lobbyists have overwhelmed and confused Republican politicians like Joe Barton.
According to elementary school level civics, the federal government, as established by the Constitution, is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Joe Barton and John Cornyn, too, have obviously forgotten why they run for office and who they are supposed to represent. Contrary to Texas Republican belief we are not, gentlemen, a government run by corporations, for corporations, and of corporations. In other words, you dudes work for us, i.e. we the people. You do not work for BP and your deep pocketed campaign contributors.
Get the message or get fired by your bosses. That would be people like me and not BP CEO Tony Hayward.
Now, after a spanking with the board of political education in Minority Leader Boehner's ofc, Smokey Joe's saying "Sorry if anything I said this morning was misconstrued or misconstructed".
No, I think your intention of accusing the POTUS of shaking down poor little victimized BP came through loud and clear.
Talk on the House floor at a Thursday morning vote centered on the potential fallout of Barton's apology to BP and his comment that the White House had conducted a "shakedown" of BP for a $20 billion escrow fund for the Gulf cleanup. Some Republicans are calling for him to lose his status on the committee, according to a GOP lawmaker who requested anonymity.
"It's fair to say there were some people who were very upset," added a GOP leadership aide...
He's not gonna resign, not even for a $33 million dollar apology, but I have to say it's nice to see a Texas Republican make other Republicans squirm.
Lawmakers were "hunkered down" in Boehner's office to discuss the flap, according to the member who said people were calling for Barton's resignation.
Good luck with that, boys.
H/T to Jed Lewison Daily Kos for reading Politico so I don't have to.
I would like to remind the drill, baby, drill and deregulate, baby, deregulate crew and the Texas Republican whiny boy politicians that is there is a reason why we blame Hitler for World War II.
The Republican Party and its decades long held belief in an unrestrained free market ideology and its crusade to deregulate all federal oversight agencies holds the lion's share of responsibility for the present devastation of the economies of the Gulf region. The economic carnage, thanks to reckless and unfettered deep drilling oil practices, include the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas.
Maybe the Texas Republican imperative to drill, baby, drill was not such a good idea after all.
Retired Col. Lawrence Wilkerson,(R),top aide to former Secretary of State, Colin Powell (R), squarely laid the BP oil disaster at the feet of Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration.
Col. Wilkerson must be the only Republican left in the GOP who will take ownership of and responsibility for the actions and/or inaction of his irresponsible and reckless party.
According to the DCCC there are 67 House Republicans who voted against the stimulus package. But when these no voters are back in their home states they like to brag and swagger about bringing home the bacon. On a different level, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison joins these ranks. She voted against the stimulus bill and yet she criticized Rick Perry for turning down federal funding for extended unemployment benefits.
Texas has its fair share of outstanding hypocrites. Check the list below to see if your U.S. House Rep. is included in the GOP Hall of Hypocrites. I am not shocked to admit that my Rep. is among them. I betcha your's are too.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann smacks down the obstructionist Republicans and Blue Dogs who are getting major contributions from the health care industry.
PBS pointed out that the health and insurance industries are spending more than a million, 400 thousand dollars a day, just to destroy the "public option" - the truly non-profit, wieldy, round-up and not round-down, government, from helping you pay your medical bills with about a billionth of the recklessness with which it is still paying Halliburton and its spinoffs to kill your kids.
And much of this money is going to, and through, Republicans.
But that's the real point tonight.
Not all of it is going through Republicans...
The Dem caucus was split between those who voted for it, and those who refused to continue funding the Iraq invasion and occupation.
You might guess that gleeful House Republicans jumped to vote with the first group to split the Dem caucus, right?
Wrong.
These brave chickenhawks are so wedded to their obstructionist agenda, they all chose to vote "present". Meaning, we're here, but we won't vote for or against this measure, which allowed it to die on the floor of Congress.
So, when you see the ad telling you Dems are going to strand our troops in Iraq without support, remember these names Texas.
If one didn't know that Rep. Pete Sessions (R-CD 32) has a habit of putting the political interests of George W. Bush above the interests of the nation and his district, you'd sure know where his heart was when he voted against repealing the Patriot Act provision allowing the president to appoint interim U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation.
The vote (see http://clerk.house.g... ) was 329-78, with 113 Republicans joining 216 Democrats in approving the measure.
Sessions was one of 78 Republicans who voted against the bill.
More below.
Today it was Al Gore bringing the wood to Republicans sitting on the committee who expressed doubts on global warming. Such skeptics include Texas' very own embarrassment, Rep. Joe Barton of the 6th district. Like another Texan, Barton embarrassed our state by casting doubts on highly suspect things like "science" and "research". I think he also still believes the Earth is flat (or was that another nutcase).
Now Barton, like many of Republican reps, says there's bad science behind global warming. I wonder if the fact that Barton's top two financial backers are the Oil & Gas ($1,108,720) and the Electric Utilities ($1,013,738) industries has anything to do with his position on global warming.
Hmmm, I wonder, I wonder...
Think Progress has the video of Al Gore's smackdown of Barton. Gore had to use words that even an idiot like Barton can understand but they're worth hearing! More videos & transcripts on the flip.
I'm sure thres are lots of Texas workers (a lot of them living in apartment complexes like the one I used to live in) who would be mightily concerned about the blatent anti-worker attitudes of Rep. Pete Sessions (R-32nd CD) and other North Texas GOP congressmen like Jeb Hensarling, "Smoky" Joe Barton, Kenny Marchant, and Kay Granger.
All these congressmen voted against legislation that would give workers the right to join unions if we so voted.
The vote was 241-185, with 13 Republicans joining 228 Democrats in voting aye.
Here's the link: http://clerk.house.g... .
More below.
Today the house passed a bill (H.R. 6) which would impose a "conservation" fee on gas and oil extracted from the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, reverse $6 billion of oil industry tax breaks and try to recoup royalties lost because of an Interior Department mistake a decade ago.
Democrats said that most of the $15 billion collected woul pay to promote renewable and alternative fuel sources and provide incentives for conservation.
Among those voting no were these Texas Republicans: Barton, Brady, Conaway Hall, McCaul, Neugebauer, Paul, Sessions, Smith, and Thornberry. (List is not be complete. See roll call vote 40 for complete voting at http://clerk.house.g...
Once again, the congressman from my district, Pete Sessions, has shown a lack of concern for average Texans by voting against their interests.
Sessions did it again Thursday by being one of the only 71 Republicans who voted against legislation to reduce interest rates on student loans.
The vote was 356-71 with 124 Republicans voting aye. Sessions, along with fellow North Texas Republicans "Smoky" Joe Barton, Jeb Hensarling, and Kay Granger, showed that he was out of touch with the needs of average Texans by voting no.
Here's the link: http://clerk.house.g... .
More below.
(The GOP should've lost the Senior vote with their fraudulent Medicare bill. - promoted by krazypuppy)
Is there any group of average Texans that Pete Sessions or any other Republican do something for?
The same Pete Sessions who voted against increasing funding for stem cell research and increasing the minimum wage also showed his callousness toward some of our nation's most vulnerable citizens-- the elderly-- by voting against allowing the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower prescription drug costs for seniors.
(Here's the link to the complete vote: http://clerk.house.g... )
The House approved the proposal by a 255-170 vote, and Sessions was joined by at least four other North Texas Republicans-- Jeb Hensarling, "Smoky" Joe Barton, Kay Granger, and Kenny Marchant, in voting against the bill.
More below.
