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.
That would be the G.W. Bush era of criminal incompetence, an unnecessary oil war in Iraq and U.S. economic devastation 2000-2008.
On the NBC Meet the Press show on Sunday, TX Senator John Cornyn and TX U.S. House Rep. Pete Sessions clearly revealed the core belief system and agenda of the GOP.
First, the GOP is completely bereft of ideas and solutions for repairing our broken economy. Nor does the Republican Party have any plan on any table for creating new jobs for unemployed Americans.
Instead the GOP is totally focused on the negative and the cold-hearted: obstruction, obfuscation and the repeal of both health care and financial reform should the Republican Party take control of the U.S. Congress.
Repeat. The GOP has absolutely no viable ideas, solutions or plans for the future. The GOP is instead consumed and driven by racism as well as hate talk, fear mongering and lies.
This morning when I unfolded the front page of the Houston Chronicle the headline
GOP begins to show signs of resurgence
hit me in the face.
Really? A Republican resurgence?
I guess the fact that much of his N.J. constituency viewed Corzine as arrogant, corrupt and the dude who saddled his constituents with high property taxes while at the same time has strong ties to the thieves of all thieves, Goldman Sachs, had nothing to do with his loss.
And let's ignore the fact that Wall. St. and the financial sector is among the largest employer in the NYC and northern NJ area. Many mid to lower level employees in the financial sector received pink slips when Wall St. crashed. I guess these folks are not in the least bit angry at those who are or were part of the Wall St. establishment.
Earth to GOP obstructionists: incumbents even remotely tied to the Wall St. melt down and the thieving banks are going to get the boot unless Congress does something to regulate and demand transparency from the financial industry.
The once popular New York's former Democrat and now Republican billionaire mayor Bloomberg had to spend millions upon millions of his own money, outspending his opponents 10 to 1 to barely squeak by a win.
And a lackluster candidate in purple Virginia who ran a lackluster campaign in which he fled from a progressive agenda in a state that traditionally votes for a Governor who is not in the same Party as the President, is a sign of a GOP insurgence?
Voters don't vote if candidates fail to excite them. And no matter the party, voters will vote against corrupted and/or lying incumbents. Nor will they vote for a candidate who calls him or herself a progressive or conservative but whose words and deeds show they are anything but. Some Republicans may be able to fool the teabagging crowd and old white Independents with double talk and spin, but this crowd is a mere tiny minority. Just wait until Independents in Va. realize the newly elected governor, who pretended to be a centrist, is really a hard core conservative. Welcome to teabagger land, Indies. Maybe next time you won't be fooled by self-serving liars.
John Cornyn, of course, is gloating all over the place about two the Democratic gubernatorial losses.
These Republican victories clearly demonstrate a strong wave for our candidates in the 2010 midterm elections," said Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And predictably, good ol' Taliban Pete Sessions is also salivating over the Democratic gubernatorial losses. Check out Matt Glazer's piece over at The Burnt Orange Report.
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.
O.K. folks, there are two days away from the "Taliban Pete" Sessions (TX-32) townhall now scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ranchview High School, 8401 Valley Ranch Parkway, Irving, TX 75063 (it's been moved from Irving City Hall to accommodated a larger expected crowd).
There is already a template for making things rather uncomfortable for Pete as he defends his position in opposing any real healthcare reform.
More below.
According to a report in Think Progress, a Democratic Congressman was allegedly physically assaulted at a town hall meeting. This story is breaking and there are few details at this time. I will update this diary as more information is gathered.
As lobbyist-run groups encourage conservative activists to "rattle" members of Congress at local town hall events, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the president of the freshman Democratic class has revealed that "at least one freshman Democrat" has already been "physically assaulted at a local event." Connolly warned that conservative groups had taken things to a "dangerous level"
Diarist Rashaverakover at Daily Kos reminds us how committed leading Republicans are to these extremely angry and disruptive town hall meetings in which no discussion or dialogue is possible.
Clearly, it is within the rights of anyone to participate in a public event in any fashion they wish. When, however , there is an corporate and partisanly orchestrated effort to disrupt those meetings, to distort perceptions about the will of the constituents in communicating with their representatives, a line has been crossed.
The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:
But wait, you say all they are doing is old fashioned hard ball politics. Well, not quite.
This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by "angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior" at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety.
[UPDATE : Cancellations of Townhall meetings? Spinning TeaBaggers as "angry constituents"?
"There is no point in meeting with my constituents and [to] listen to them and have them listen to you if what is basically an unruly mob prevents you from having an intelligent conversation," Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) told POLITICO after making a decision to suspend town hall events that have been frequently swarmed with members of local TEA Party groups
Here in Texas, a friend put out the word via an email I received that Lloyd Doggett's meeting with his staff at his Bastrop office was harassed by a large crowd of teabaggers. The game is on....]
UPDATE 2Over at meansrachel , there is a first hand account of what we are facing and some further comments on Healthcare reform. Take a look.
Cross-posted at Daily Kos and Thinking Out Loud in Texas My area's congressman, Pete Sessions (TX-32) lives in an alternative universe from residents like myself who live in his district and struggle to make a living.
Instead of facing reality and supporting President Obama's realistic health care proposal, Sessions has chosen to support the current bankrupt system that keeps folks uninsured by announcing his opposition to the plans.
In doing so, he stuck to a script of well-rehearsed lies inventing things about the president's proposal that really aren't.
More below.
to tax $165 million of the billions of U.S. bail out funds doled out to AIG.
U.S. Taxpayers now own 80% of AIG.
AIG used $165 million of our taxpayer dollars to fund rather generous bonus packages for its executives.
In an attempt to recoup the misused bailout money, a 90% tax penalty on the AIG bonus packages passed in the U.S. Congress today with a vote of 328 for, 93 against.
Uh Oh. Boss Rush won't be happy with his 87 Republicans who voted yes to increased taxes and socialism.
The other 50% of U.S. House Republicans voted YES to the continual plunder, pillage and robbery of our U.S tax dollars by corporate fat cats and lobbyists.
Boss Rush will be very, very happy with his 85 Republican soul mates who voted for the right of corporations to perpetully rape and pillage our national treasury. After all, the Boss is a rather substantial fat cat himself in terms of both his personal wealth and physical appearance.
Meet the faces of the conservative corporate protectors whose ideology supports free, unregulated and unfettered rights for corporations to rob taxpayers blind.
(As usual, Texas Republicans give the middle finger to folks who actually, you know, make stuff. - promoted by boadicea)
My area's morally unfit congressman, Taliban Pete "Rep. Moron" Sessions, has learned at least one thing-- if you can't beat your opponents with facts, make a few things up about what you're opposing and hope you don't get caught.
I don't know if Sessions learned the technique from reading Taliban manuals, but he's sure using it on his taxpayer-supported web site as he fights against legislation that would assure workers in districts like his (yes, I do LIVE and WORK in his district)have the right to join a union.
More below.
(Ah, Republican Leadership. The only thing they believe Texans are good for is elevating their national profiles... - promoted by boadicea)
With each passing day, I grow increasingly ashamed that I have to say that Pete (Rep. Moron) Sessions represents my congressional district (TX-32).
It's bad enough that Sessions made a total fool of himself by claiming that GOP opponents of President Obama can learn from the Taliban in their efforts to obstruct the President's agenda.
It's also despicable that Sessions displayed no concern for average folks in my district by voting against the very stimulus bill that create create as many as 7,500 jobs in his district.
More below.
We must never forget what our grandmothers and mothers taught us about birds of a feather and how they will always flock together. This phrase has proved itself true time and time again. And now we see that our Texas Republican politicians are flocking with a seriously criminal bird.
We have all no doubt heard about the Texas billionaire Madoff clone- "Sir" R. Allen Stanford who has stolen or squandered billions from his investors.
A Texas billionaire and two associates are in regulators' cross hairs, alongside Houston-based companies and an affiliated offshore bank, accused of perpetuating a multibillion-dollar fraud that could sting investors worldwide.
"We are alleging a fraud of shocking magnitude that has spread its tentacles throughout the world," said Rose Romero, regional director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Fort Worth office, which filed civil charges Tuesday against R. Allen Stanford, the bank, two Houston companies and two company executives, James Davis and Laura Pendergest-Holt.
(I suck. I really, really do. Libby has graciously agreed to join us regularly on the TK front page. I'm very excited by this addition to our staff of writers, and thank her for her patience with my sluggish updating of her profiles.
It seems that some of these naughty, nasty boys charged their palling-around-with-call-girl activities on their corporate credit cards.
Uh oh. Are these guys still in charge of their businesses? Are they the ones who received the bailout money?
The scandal may have happened pre-TARP, but this kind of behavior should make us wonder about what kinds of scumbags and whackos we have bailed out.
According to Raw Story and ABC News today these boys used a $2,000 per hour call girl service where the "firm's" Madam disguised the charges as business related, e.g. "computer consulting, "roofing construction," etc.
Kristin Davis, the madam in question, went public to ABC News this week; ABC will be broadcasting her interview Friday at 10 pm. Davis says she has a list of 9,800 clients, many of whom she says New York prosecutors deliberately avoided when taking her case, even though she offered them her annotated client list.
In what's sure to create a media firestorm parallel to that of when a Washington, DC madam announced that she was publishing her client list (which included at least one senator), Davis' comments come at a time where incredible ire is already focused on Wall Street and banking executives. The pressure for her to release the list will certainly be immense.
(Just call him Taliban Pete. - promoted by boadicea)
As if there wasn't any more reason to be ashamed that Pete Sessions represents my congressional district (TX-32). he added still another reason why this moron MUST be turned out by voters in 2010.
Sessions, already Rep. Jackass because of his open contempt for working folks like me and his rubber stamp for George W. Bush and his failed policies, made so stunning of a gaffe today that it even makes "macaca" seem mild by comparison.
The statement is so stunning that it has made me graduate him from being merely "Rep. Jackass" to "Rep. Moron."
More below:
Sessions, a conservative Republican who wrote a column condemning Janet Jackson's nude display during this year's Super Bowl halftime performance, apparently bared his bottom with about 300 male and female students on the streets of San Marcos during the two-night rampage.*
Sessions spent more than $5,000 at Kane's club that night in March, according to federal disclosures. Those reports show Sessions spent another $2,100 on his hotel.
Officially, Pete Sessions' leadership PAC picked up the tab, but just days before the party at Forty Deuce, casino interests donated $5,000 to his PAC. Payday lenders threw in another $2,500.
While it's true not everyone in Big D supports Pete Sessions in his Holy War against Extraneous Fabric, I'm sure the many megachurches of TX-32 will open up their microphones and multi-million dollar viewing centers to allow Rep. Sessions to explain the logic of his position.
And I'm sure an aide will be at his side to remind him to put the tip in the offering box, rather than look for the Pastor's moneymaker to make a discreet deposit in.
*While at first his excoriation of Ms. Jackson's wardrobe malfunction might look like a lapse in the Sessions crusade, properly speaking, the nipple was encased cruelly in a star shaped tip rather than exposed to the breeze as Streaky Pete clearly prefers.
I've been all around Texas: North, South, East, and West. Now it's time for one of the major metropolitan areas...Dallas/Ft. Worth. It doesn't look good on the surface, with only one of the target five races bearing an incumbent Democrat. However, Dallas County really pulled a coup when they flipped the courts blue. It can be done again in 2008, if only people will RUN, and we're about to take the tour, below the fold.
Join me for a dissection of TX-12, TX-24, TX-26, TX-30, and TX-32.
This is a disgrace. I am totally ashamed to say that my congressional district is representative by Pete Sessions, who puts the interests of George W. Bush over the interests of average Texans.
He also puts Bush's interests over the interests of kids needing health insurance as he demonstrated again tonight when he voted against the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.
More below.
After hearing this YouTube clip, it makes me wonder why I haven't heard about any Democratic opposition to my (I'm ashamed to say) congressman, Pete Sessions (TX-32):
Make no mistake, Pete Sessions is serious in his war against clothing. 
