GOP Is Toast In 2012

   There is  nothing quite so pleasing as sitting back and watching the GOP bleed to death from the cutting of their own throats with their pretty much unanimous endorsement of Paul Ryan’s budget. Their plan to issue Medicare “ coupons “ to the future elderly is a slap in the face to those who will need the program, while at the same time his budget does not do a whole hell of a lot towards cutting the deficit. It does however, help the budget of the rich by giving them another tax cut, which even they know isn’t necessary.

   Political-right supporter David Frum is one of the few on that side of the fence who has actually come out of the bullshit lounge and has taken a look at things in reality world.

I used to worry that Sarah Palin would be the Barry Goldwater of 2012. My bad. Paul Ryan is the Barry Goldwater of 2012.

The Goldwater effect continues on this morning after the NY-26 debacle. Henry Olsen of AEI, as smart a political numbers guy as can be found on the political right, crunches the numbers to compare the performance of the 2011 special election candidates with the district-wide performance of all other GOP and Democratic candidates in 2010. He finds:

Republican congressional candidate Jane Corwin is running 18 points behind the worst-performing Republican of 2010

Democrat Kathy Hochul is running even with Barack Obama’s performance in the district in 2008 – the best Democratic showing in NY-26 in three decades.

The Republicans suffered their worst losses in the least-educated portions of the District, where former GOP voters seem to have deserted the party for an independent candidate, Jack Davis.

What should make this race all the more alarming for Republicans is that NY-26 turned into a referendum on the Ryan plan for Medicare. As Henry Olsen says:

blue-collar voters react differently to issues than the GOP base does. They are more supportive of safety-net programs at the same time as they are strongly opposed to large government programs in general. These voters crave stability and are uncertain of their ability to compete in a globalized economy that values higher education more each year. They are also susceptible to the age-old Democratic argument that the secret Republican agenda is to eviscerate middle-class entitlements to fund tax cuts for the wealthy.

  Frum  will be ignored by the GOP because he has critized  one of his own party members. we all know that  “ the Borg  “  does not allow such things to happen because it goes against the collective.

Technorati Tags: GOP,Republican Party,Paul Ryan,Medicare,Tax Cuts,Budget Cuts,Current Events,Politics,David Frum

 

Ryan's Budget Shot Down In The Senate...

... as if there ever was even a slight chance that this piece of crap bill would pass in the adult chamber of our government. The nice thing is that 5 Republicans grew a spine and then voted " no " on the Ryan budget plan. The Democrats wised up and they all voted " No." The vote was 40 in favor, 57 opposed. Republican voting No: Scott Brown Susan Collins Lisa Murkowski Rand Paul Olympia Snowe

Republicans Resort To Censorship..

… as they continue to get  clobbered by their own constituents at town hall meetings where the Medicare coupon system created by Paul Ryan has been the major discussion.

  After hearing from senior citizens and from the citizen journalist about what a lousy idea their Medicare plan is, the GOP has grown tired from hearing it, so they have resorted to another Republican trick. that would be Censorship. No more video or audio recordings of these events unless you happen to be a credentialed press person.

  As DailyKos reports, Michigan has done even more to stop the spread of the meetings on the Internet.

In Michigan, they've taken it up a notch, courtesy of Tea Party control freaks who not only banned a group of senior citizens and reporters, but called security on them at an event with Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI).

Rep. Justin Amash held a townhall meeting sponsored by a Tea Party group on Saturday sponsored by a Tea Party group, but a group of senior citizens and two reporters — including this one — were denied entry to the event.

The traditional purpose of a townhall meeting is for an elected official to meet with his constituents in public, giving the people a chance to ask questions and engage in dialogue with their representatives. But neither the organizers nor Amash apparently wanted to hear from or speak to a group of concerned senior citizens — even at a time when the fate of Medicare is being debated in Congress.

About eight senior citizens arrived at the Prince Conference Center on the Calvin College campus for a chance to question Amash concerning his voting record in regards to eliminating Medicare.

Once barred from attending the event, the seniors stood out in the parking lot where they were taking questions from this reporter and Tanya Somanader of Think Progress, the two members of the media who were denied access. Eventually, six security guards arrived on the scene and said that both the seniors and the reporters had to leave.

ThinkProgress's Tanya Somanader has more:

According to security, the people who called them said the seniors had thrown things at the Tea Party organizers....

According to multiple members inside, no objects were ever thrown. When asked, the conference center staff said they did not call security — indicating that the Tea Party asked security to move the constituents away from the building....

Attendees at the event, however, told ThinkProgress they were surprised reporters were not allowed in. One attendee went back inside to inform Amash that reporters were waiting in the lobby. However, according to Tea Party member Paul Meyer, the organization appointed him to keep reporters out, even after the event was over as we were considered a “security issue.”

After further questioning, security was summoned for a second time. According to the guards, the call again came from Tea Party organizers.

When leaving the event, one attendee stopped to tell ThinkProgress how Amash was a politician of principle. In singing his praises, she told ThinkProgress that “he is a big proponent of transparency.”

   With transparency like this, who needs a back room to deal in?

Technorati Tags: Republicans,American Taliban.,Transparency,Medicare,Tea Party,Rep. Justin Amash,Censorship,Current Events,Politics

The Budget: Republican Logic

  As is par for the course, the Republican Party  American Taliban have no logic, especially when it comes to ANY kind of budget.  So their plan now is to force the Democrats in to choosing between the GOP budget or the one from the Obama administration. That would be the budget proposal idea’s that the Dems haven’t come up with in the last 2 years. Read more.

 

by kos for Daily Kos    Tue May 24, 2011

Mitch is very confused. (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst)

The GOP's new favorite talking point:

Republicans in both chambers are accusing Democrats of playing politics with the House budget vote, and they have tried to counterattack by pointing out that Democrats haven’t bothered in the past two years to come up with their own budget proposal.

But...

[Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell will counter Reid’s floor tactics by forcing Senate Democrats — who have to defend 23 seats in 2012 versus 10 for Republicans — to vote on the budget plan offered by President Barack Obama.

So which is it? Have Democrats offered up a budget plan or not? Because simple logic dictates that both cannot be true.

Not that logic has ever been an impediment for this Republican Party.

Technorati Tags: 2012 Budget,The Senate,Medicare,Republicans.Taxes,Mitch McConnell,American Taliban.,Current Events,Politics