Chris Wallace interviews Bush

Of course it’s hard not to shake your head whenever the idiot President opens his mouth, but this really stood out:

Bush said that the Democrats’ desire to raise taxes on the rich is a waste of time, since the rich can afford good accountants who will figure out how to avoid paying those taxes, and that the middle class will end up getting stuck with the bill (as usual). Which begs the question: why then was it necessary to cut taxes on the rich in 2001 if they’d already figured out how not to pay them? And what does that say about the opaque system of loopholes and deductions that is designed primarily to benefit the rich? It becomes cruelly ironic when you consider that some of these loopholes involve incentives for moving jobs and operations overseas; so not only do the rich get to avoid paying their fair share - a bill the middle class gets stuck with - but they do it partly by being rewarded for eliminating more and more good-paying middle class jobs.

Wake up, Middle Class!! You’re getting simultaneously screwed and stabbed in the back!

Jack Cafferty distorts McCain position on stimulus package

I sent this email today to Jack Cafferty of CNN:

This comment is in reference to one of yesterdays topics:

Jack, I like you. I really do. I agree with many, if not most, of your opinions. But based on what I just read on the Cafferty File (I missed yesterday’s broadcast) you were unfair in your characterization of McCain vis-a-vis the economic stimulus package.

While it's true he missed the vote on Wednesday's amendment, he did publicly state he would have voted against it. Now while you can argue (rightfully so, IMO) against that position, he did not deliberately miss the vote in a cowardly attempt to avoid taking a side on the issue. And on Thursday he did vote to pass the stimulus package, breaking with the party’s conservative bloc.

Give ‘em hell, Jack, but please be fair about it.

Greg

Update:

Here’s the article...

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/07/mccain-chooses-not-to-make-tough-vote/#comments

How about a little Truth for a change?

It seems the DNC is already gearing up for more of the same old campaign tactics: distortion, deception and fear-mongering.

Not that the RNC has been much better, of course.

There are very clear differences between Clinton/Obama and McCain. Differences that are obvious and clear and that will both appeal to the left-wing base and sway many undecided and independent voters. There is absolutely no need to exaggerate and distort. It insults the electorate and demeans the process.

Why not spend the time, effort, and money to explain to the voters why their candidates have better ideas and why their positions make more sense?

For example, they don’t need to distort McCain’s statements about staying in Iraq for dozens of years. The DNC knows damn well he didn’t mean he wanted to fight a war for dozens of years, but was instead referring to a stabilizing presence - just like we’ve had in Korea, Germany and the Balkans. Now there are perfectly good arguments against such a presence (frankly I think we should withdraw most of our troops from Germany and Korea), and there should be such a debate. But let’s be honest about what was said and what was meant.

Another example is the lie that McCain’s immigration position reflects the extreme right wing. What’s so extreme about this?

“As president, I will secure the border. I will restore the trust Americans should have in the basic competency of their government. A secure border is an essential element of our national security. Tight border security includes not just the entry and exit of people, but also the effective screening of cargo at our ports and other points of entry.”

         [ ... ]

“Recognize the importance of a flexible labor market to keep employers in business and our economy on top. It should provide skilled Americans and immigrants with opportunity. Our education system should ensure skills for our younger workers, and our retraining and assistance programs for displaced workers must be modernized so they can pursue those opportunities“

Doesn’t exactly sound like Ann Coulter, does it? This is from Hillary’s issue statement on her website:

”Hillary has consistently called for comprehensive immigration reform that respects our immigrant heritage and honors the rule of law. She believes comprehensive reform must have as essential ingredients a strengthening of our borders, greater cross-cooperation with our neighbors, strict but fair enforcement of our laws, federal assistance to our state and local governments, strict penalties for those who exploit undocumented workers, and a path to earned legal status for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar.

Hillary strongly believes we need to do more to know who is in our country by securing our borders and ensuring that employers comply with the law against hiring and exploiting undocumented workers. She supports deploying new technology that can help stop the flow of undocumented immigrants into the country and an employer verification system that is universal, accurate, timely, and does not lead to discrimination and abuse by employers.“

Sounds to me like they’re not that terribly far from each other, frankly. I’d like to hear an intelligent arguments about the subtleties of their positions. But if people just listen to the national committees, moveon.org, Rush Limbaugh, et. al., then they’ll have the impression that the candidates are shrieking left/right wing radicals bent on the destruction of our democracy.

Note to the DNC/RNC: if you really believe in your candidates, if you really believe that they have better ideas, why do you feel that it’s necessary to distort and lie? Isn’t the truth enough?

Read the whole story:

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/smear_or_be_smeared.html

Huckabee candidacy NOT hurting Romney

According to a new survey from the Pew Research Center, Huckabee supporters a far more likely to have a favorable opinion of John McCain than of Mitt Romney:



So much for the theory that Huckabee hurts Romney more than McCain. Some of the so-called pundits really neeed to get out more.

Here’s the whole report:
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=392

The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth

An interesting report. The majority of Americans - about 2/3 - identify themselves as moderates or liberals. But about 1/3 of Americans cannot identify which of the two major parties is considered more conservative, demonstrating once again that we have too many ignorant people in this country.

As all the data presented in this report make clear, whatever Americans choose to call themselves, on issue after issue -- economic, social, security, and more -- majorities of the public find themselves on the progressive side. And on many of the most contentious "culture war" issues, the public has been growing more progressive year after year. Much of the news media seems not to have noticed. But the facts are too clear to ignore.

http://mediamatters.org/progmaj/report

Fix the primary system

You know what I think? Okay, I'll tell you:

The presidential election process takes too long and costs too much. It gives too much influence to special interests, media pundits, and party activists on the extreme left and right.

What would I do? I would: (1) reform campaign financing, (b) have all of the primaries on the same day - probably a Saturday, (III) move the primaries much later in the season - possibly May, and (furthermore) make every state’s primary delegate assignments proportional to the primary/caucus vote results.

So there.

Buyer’s Remorse, by David Michael Green

“You can add to the list of formerly-deluded-but-now-just-disaffected one David Kuo, who joined Bush, Inc. thinking he was helping to bring religion into government and government into religion. Leave aside for the moment that these are two of the most spectacularly stupid ideas ever (can you say, "Ayatollah Khomeini"?), so lame that they were denounced over two-hundred years ago by a group of people even Kuo may have heard of - they're called "The Founders". Regardless, Kuo went to work on this project only to discover that Bush was never even remotely serious about any of that clap-trap. Rove and the gang mocked religious dupes over beers and laughed their butts off at how easily these hopeless saps could be mobilized into Republican shock troops. How Kuo ever fell for it in the first place is beyond me, but eventually he figured out that the sap club had one more member than he had originally realized.”

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/10185

Rush Limbaugh - 8 million people listen to this guy?

From a broadcast transcript on his site:

HUCKABEE: A lot of the Wall Street Republicans who don't really like the Wal-Mart Republicans, and that's who I represent. I represent rank-and-file people that aren't the powerful. They may not be the swells that go to the nice cocktail parties, but there are a whole lot of people in this party that if they get abandoned and they get left out, it's going to be real hard for Republicans to win this fall. And I think people ought to be thinking very seriously about dumping a lot of the folks that gave the Republicans their victories, that people who hammer in the yard signs, the people who go out there and work for the candidates. They may not write the biggest checks, but they have in many ways the biggest role to play because they're the foot soldiers in this whole process.

RUSH: All right, here comes the class envy and the populism again, and Governor Huckabee has it 180 degrees out of phase. It is those very people he's talking about who are being told by the powers that be, call them the Wall Street crowd or whatever, we don't want you in our party anymore. You embarrass us, and we don't want you there. That's what they're saying of the social conservatives: we don't want you there, we're embarrassed to have you here. The idea that Huckabee represents them is what's crazy. He's not getting enough of a percentage here to propel himself to victory. By the way, a lot of people are saying, "Mike, get out of the race. You have no chance of winning and all you're doing is splitting up the vote." Huckabee came back and said, "I think Mitt should get out of the race." (laughing) "I think Romney should get out of the race."

What the hell? I’m having trouble deciphering this incoherent ramble. Maybe he’s back on the pills again?


Here’s the rest of it: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_020408/content/01125111.guest.html.guest.html

Christian Coalition of America's Agenda for the 110th Congress, Second Session (2008)

1. Confirming as many conservative judges as possible, especially U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges


2. Passing "Net Neutrality" to ensure fairness for all on the Internet


3. Protecting television religious programming


4. Keeping votes for human embryonic stem cell destruction research bill to a minimum/increasing funding for successful adult stem cell research


5. Ensuring all of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted into law and due to expire in just 2 years (2010) are protected including child tax credits, income tax cuts, small business tax cuts, death tax cuts, etc.


6. Attempting to get a vote on a Federal Marriage Amendment


7. Supporting legislation stopping religious discrimination against evangelical Christians in the military

http://www.cc.org/issues.cfm