Crackpot cons make their own reality

Apparently they believe their own crackpottery. In the world according to the vandals of the Crackpot Caucus in John Boehner's House of Dysfunction, you can shut down the federal government for the sole purpose of abolishing a duly enacted law of the land outside the normal process of governance and simply pin the blame on President Obama.

They are urging Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) to gamble that Obama and Senate Democrats will take the blame if they reject legislation that keeps the government running but stops ObamaCare.

At least 43 conservatives want the GOP leadership to go for broke, asserting that Obama has been damaged by stumbles over Syria and by several delays in implementing the Affordable Care Act.

They're convinced Obama won't let them do it. To which Obama responds, please proceed crazy Congresspersons. Meanwhile, establishment Republicans are freaking out and somewhere in an undisclosed location, John Boehner is quietly weeping into his cocktail.

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The GOP's greatest nightmare

Obamacare is lowering costs for health insurance much more than initially expected.

The most comprehensive study on Obamacare to date finds that Americans’ insurance premiums under the health law will be “lower than expected.” Many Americans will pay even less than the top-line rates after factoring in government subsidies for their health coverage, with some paying nothing at all for crucial medical coverage.

And, it offers actual health care coverage unlike the sort of low cost private insurance with caps on coverage so low it wouldn't cover the cost of treating a hang nail.

Thus it's no surprise Republicans are now trying to kill Obamacare by sabotaging the rollout via cockamamie investigation. With less than a month before open enrollment begins, Republicans issued a massive document demand to the agencies assigned to assist Americans wishing to enroll in health care exchanges.

Welcome to new world of fiscal conservatism where public health is an impediment to thwarting the President. Their timing could not be more obvious. The GOPers are targeting the several states with the most uninsured. Clearly the Republicans aim to prevent as many people as possible from signing up. Once again I wonder, why in hell would anyone vote these heartless cretins into office?

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The Divided States of America

GOP crackpottery in California

YREKA — The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 this afternoon to pursue seceding from California.

More than 100 people packed the supervisors' chambers late this morning for a discussion on whether the county should issue a declaration that it wants to secede from the state. Nearly all those in attendance appeared to be for the move. [...]

In August, county residents lobbied the board to consider separating from the state over a laundry list of complaints including a lack of representation in Sacramento for the Republican-majority county, issues pertaining to water rights and the rural fire prevention fee.

I say if they feel so put upon by the damn librul gummit in Sacremento, then let the idiots secede. Cut off all their state services. Charge them a pro-rated fee for any state funded infrastructure. Maybe then they'll realize how much they need the state's help.

It's not as if Siskiyou County would be able to survive better as an independent state. Like most Republican counties in California, Siskiyou gets more money from Sacramento than it pays in.

These cranky cons are simply sore losers who don't want their money funding programs that don't have their personal stamp of approval. The concept of the common good isn't even in their vocabulary.

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Shaming the poor - Updated

Crackpot conservatism reached a new low in Portland, Oregon. This anti-poor flyer campaign is pure thuggery.

Dear Reader of This Note,

There are twenty seven people in this neighborhood who vote and receive food stamps. The names of these people are being posted where they can be seen by taxpayers and the neighborhood can decide who is truly in need of food.

(signed) Artemis of the wildland

 And he's not just targeting the hungry, he also attacked the disabled.

This happened before just last month. A letter signed with the same name, targeted people with disabilities. In that letter, the author suggested that receiving benefits makes people with disabilities a threat to the Republic.

Of course, this courageous concerned conservative is taking these potshots against the poor anonymously. Guessing he also finds the mere idea of a gun registy an odious infringement on his privacy rights.

Update: Charlie Pierce catches this story today and adds deep context to this contemptible thuggery.

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Republicans ban Heritage Foundation from Capitol Hill

This is the most amusing story I've seen this week. The crackpots at Heritage are no longer welcome at GOP strategy sessions.

According to a report Wednesday in National Journal, the Republican Study Committee is no longer allowing employees for the Heritage Foundation to attend the meetings. Heritage, currently led by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), had been a fixture at the meetings until last month when the RSC, comprised of 172 conservative GOP House members, made the change.

Apparently the establishment GOPers are not happy with Heritage's role in screwing up the vote on the Farm Bill, which ultimately failed on the House floor after the crackpot agitators at Heritage meddled in the negotiations, leaving John Boehner looking like an idiot.

This of course is a disaster in terms of good governance on behalf of the people, but admit I'm taking untoward pleasure in watching the GOP suffer the consequences of having enraged the crackpots with their medancious propaganda in the first place.

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Government waste on welfare

This has happened in every state that has tried this trick. It's wasteful and the money would be better spent on helping people rather than trying to feed bogus stereotyping. Why drug testing people who need welfare assistance is stupid.

Utah has spent more than $30,000 to screen welfare applicants for drug use since a new law went into effect a year ago, but only 12 people have tested positive, state figures show.

The idiots in the Statehouse who sponsored this bill were (shockingly) unavailable for comment. [image via]

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No liberals need apply?

News isn't doing it for me today, so cleaning up a few amusing links. Rachel Maddow picks up on an odd Heritage Foundation event

What you need to know about the event
Date: August 19, 2013

Time: Registration begins at 6:00 p.m. Town Hall Meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.

Location: Pratt Place Inn & Barn, 2231 West Markham Road, Fayetteville, AR 72701

Cost: Free for conservatives. RSVP required.

Rachel wonders, "Have Heritage events always been listed as 'cost: free for conservatives'? or is this new for the DeMint era?"

I have no idea but I wonder how they figure out if you're a real conservative. And if you admit you're a liberal do they refuse to give you their "exclusive opportunity to meet Heritage President Jim DeMint?" As in, you're only to free to attend if you agree with DeMint's crackpot scheme to defund the entire federal government in order to overturn a duly passed law of the land?

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The world according to Derp

Damn Dimmocrats:

[I]n Lincoln, Ill., GOP Rep. Aaron Schock told an audience at a coffee shop that the Democratic-controlled Senate had "sat on their hands" while the House sought to repeal Obama's health care law. "The president right now is doing a very good job of trying to make it look like the House is dysfunctional," Schock said. "Really what we're trying to do is carry out the wishes of the people."

Because surely, the American dream has always been overpaying insurance corporations for crappy health care.

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Terms of impeachment

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn dangles impeachment to soothe the angry base at a home district speaking event.

“No, I agree,” Coburn said. “My little wiggle out of that when I get that written to me is I believe that needs to be evaluated and determined, but thank goodness it doesn’t have to happen in the Senate until they’ve brought charges in the House. Those are serious things, but we’re in a serious time. I don’t have the legal background to know if that rises to high crimes and misdemeanor, but I think they’re getting perilously close.”

Translation: Happy to feed your impeachment fever. Get back to me when John Boehner's House of Dysfunction gets their shit together.

A year ago I would have laughed derisively at the notion the GOPers would try for it. Thing is, they won't be able to pretend they can kill Obamacare for the next three years and all their other faux scandals are falling apart. They're going to need a new chew toy for the rubes to gnaw on and the angry base loves them the taste of impeachment.

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Grimm assessments

New York Congressman Michael Grimm is appalled Obama would use his executive power to do nice things for the peoples because, founding fathers never intended that to happen.

Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) said recent executive actions by President Obama, including a plan to extend high-speed Internet connections to virtually every school in the nation, demonstrate a "blatant" attempt to subvert the will of the American people.

"It's just a flagrant, you know, arrogant disregard not just for the current Congress," Grimm said in an interview with Fox News. "Look, it's not about me personally. That's not what this is about. You think about who is the Congress? It really — it is the voice of the people."

Or, if you're a Republican Congressman in John Boehner's House of Dysfunction, you're the voice of a handful of crackpots, but hey -- they're loud . But what's more interesting is new evidence of the GOP's emerging plan to blame their planned government shutdown on Obama.

"I really do believe because of political reasons, it's more advantageous for the president to keep us divided so that he can make these end runs and use these administrators and the people he puts in charge to just go around the Congress to do an agenda that he knows ultimately the people are not going to support," Grimm said.

Greg Sargent flagged the first inklings of the GOP's bizarre strategy last week and the GOPers are staying on message. They're floating this theme among the pary faithful while they're home in their districts. Last week in Virginia:

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.-10th), speaking in Loudoun County today, said he believes President Barack Obama wants a federal government shutdown in the fall.

If the government shuts down, Obama, a Democrat, will use the closure to score political points against Republicans and "stick it to them," [U.S. Rep. Frank] Wolf said. “I believe the president wants us to shut it down … I think he'll literally come at us,” Wolf, a 30-year incumbent, said.

And I believe Frank Wolf is "literally" either a flagrant liar or a raging lunatic who shouldn't be allowed within 50 miles of Capitol Hill. But the point is the GOP felt it necessary to come up with a ploy to shift the blame for a government shutdown using the defense: Obama made us do it. Finding that simultaneously hilarious, pathetic and terrifying.

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Shades of Jim Crow

It's been more than a little embarrassing to live in North Carolina since the easily deluded voters here turned the joint over to the crackpot con Republicans who are now in a race to turn the place into the wingnuttiest state in the union. The latest attack on voting rights in Raleigh is geting national attention. As it should. They mandated onerous voter ID requirements, cut down early voting and made voter registration as difficult as possible among other odious ploys to suppress Democratic voters. But these two provisions are being largely overlooked though they're likely to turn out to be the ones which affect the election the most.

It also empowers election vigilantes like True the Vote—who have been accused of voter intimidation—giving ample room to anyone who wants to challenge the voting credentials of their fellow citizen. It authorizes poll observers, expanding their range and authority, an expands the scope of who can examine registration records and challenge voters, and it allows voters to be challenged by any registered voter in their county without cause. [...]

And, as the icing on the cake, the law also makes room for independent groups to spend as much as they’d like in North Carolina elections, ending public financing programs, raising contribution limits, and eliminating disclosure requirements. It’s a wet kiss to powerful interests as well as an attack on voting.

Meanwhile, our creepy crackpot Governor is out on the bobblehead circuit spewing unadulterated horseshit about the law.

But that's just at the state level. The real work of voter suppressing is conducted by the yahoos on the County Commissions. What happened in Watauga County this week should be national news. It's a mystery to me how this can even be legal.

Read the gory details at the link to get the full scope of this travesty in governance but the shorter short is this. A three person county Board of Elections (2 GOPers, 1 Democrat) held a meeting and the majority membership of two announced the secret deal they made behind closed doors to benefit the candidacy of one of their relatives. They refused the Democratic member's request for the materials prior to the meeting and of course the voters were kept in the dark as well. These are the changes they announced as fait accompli:

1. Rewrote the duties of the elections supervisor, specifying that Jane Anne Hodges is prohibited from being involved in "the discussion or debate of political or discretionary decisions [!]... regarding the location or number of polling places or early voting sites and hours." She is further required to keep a log "of all telephone calls and visitors," and must never be allowed to be in the elections office alone during any polling period.

2. Resolutions to establish a public comment provision: This new board decrees that only written comment will be acceptable.

3. One-Stop Implementation Plan for the 2013 municipal elections: ASU Student Union site, closed. One site only: Commissioner's Boardroom.

4. Resolution to combine three precincts, Boone 1, Boone 2, and Boone 3 into a single precinct with the polling place at the Agricultural Conference Center. This would put over 9,000 voters into a single mega-precinct, when state voting guidelines recommend no more than 1,500 voters per precinct.

5. Move the Meat Camp polling place to the new Meat Camp fire department and move the New River 3 precinct polling place from the Armory to Mutton's Crossing on Bamboo Rd.

You have to familiar with the geography and the demograhics of this county to appreciate just how brazen this move was. Watauga, a rural county, has the only real concentration of progressive Democrats outside of the big cities in NC. These two GOP meatheads effectively made it as difficult as possible for Democrats to cast ballots by moving the liberal district's voting venues to locations that are the least accessible and lack sufficient space and parking to house the voting booths. One venue lacks the 25 foot setback required for political signs, meaning it will be impossible for voters or candidates to pass out informational material outside of the polling place. The only way their intentions could be more obvious is if they had arrived at the meeting wearing sandwich signs saying -- Fuck you Democratic voters. The local newspaper has more coverage and photos of the GOP's smug gerrymandered thugs. May we all live long enough to see their karma kick them in the ass.

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Let their freak flag fly high

I don't suppose the baby Jebus loves me enough to let this happen. Responding to a birther's question at a town hall a Texas Congressman confides they have the votes in the House to impeach Obama, but the crackpot cons should not be getting the hopes up.

“You tie into a question I get a lot: ‘If everyone’s so unhappy with the president’s done, why don’t you impeach him?’” [Rep. Blake] Farenthold continued. “I’ll give you a real frank answer about that: If we were to impeach the president tomorrow, you could probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it. But it would go to the Senate and he wouldn’t be convicted.”

The Texas congressman then described the impeachment process, mentioning the vote in the House and the trial in the Senate. Farenthold then said that the failed attempt to remove President Bill Clinton from office through the impeach process actually damaged the country.[...]

“What message do we sent to America if we impeach Obama and he gets away with what he’s impeached for and he is found innocent? What then do we say is OK?” the Congressman concluded. “Aside from the fact that it wouldn’t be effective, I think there’s some potential damage to society that would be done with a failed attempt at impeachment.”

Haven't seen any mention of what grounds he thinks they might conjure up for said impeachment. Pretty sure one of them isn't "we hate this black President so kick him out even though he legitimately won twice by a landslide."

But it's not just birthers who have the NRSC dancing on the thin edge of sharp knife. The Tea Party spawned a legion of big time grifters who are making a very good living bucking the establishment GOP and they know exactly what prime cuts of raw red meat to throw to their slavering base to keep them thirsting for more blood.

To which I say, please proceed... The more blood they draw, the weaker their chances are at the ballot box. We may yet be able to dislodge them from the broken gears of our government despite the shameless gerrymandering that allowed them to grind good governance to a halt for the last few years. [Think Progress image]

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Send in the creepy clowns

I usually ignore these sort of lame-ass stupid crackpot shots at Obama but this show of disrespect to our POTUS at a Missouri rodeo wasn't just an obscure and brief reference in some movie. This was a sustained charade at a family event with lots of children in attendance.

"The announcer wanted to know if anyone would like to see Obama run down by a bull," the posting said. "The crowd went wild. He asked it again and again, louder each time, whipping the audience into a lather."

Another clown then apparently joined the performance.

"One of the clowns ran up and started bobbling the lips on the mask and the people went crazy," the posting said. "Finally a bull came close enough to him that he had to move so he jumped up and ran away to the delight of the onlookers hooting and hollering from the stands."

Real lesson for the kids in civil discourse and tempered political disagreement there. Of course it's nothing new and not really worth making a huge deal over it. The main reason I'm mentioning it at all is because nobody has asked, "WTF is that broomstick in the photo all about?"

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GOP jokesters

I'm sure Maine's crackpot Gov. Paul LePage's expressed desire to blow up the local newspapers was meant to be taken as a joke, but it's not funny. While he was at photo op, manning a fighter jet simulator in the local Pratt & Whitney factory, he told the crowd, "I want to find the Portland Press Herald building and blow it up."

And if it was meant as an offhand remark, one wonders why he repeated it twice:

Later in the event, a television reporter from WMTW asked LePage again if he had any targets. The governor answered: "The Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News."

This was after the Bangor Daily News posted about the first "joke." This isn't the first time he's expressed contempt for the press. He does it regularly.

LePage has had a tense relationship with the media -- newspapers in particular -- since he took office in January 2011.

At least twice, he has told students that his biggest fear is newspapers. He once said that buying a copy of a newspaper is like paying someone to lie to you.

Because facts have a well known liberal bias and quoting him accurately is a threat to his freedom. Or something.

I'm sure he didn't mean he actually would blow up the newspapers. Not so sure he really wouldn't like to if he thought he could get away with it. But the real danger of this kind of violent ideation by the highest officeholder in his state is he was elected by well armed sovereign citizen types who might want to do their hero a favor and blow up the buildings for him. This kind of reckless "joking" only encourages the truly unhinged to act out violent fantasies. One hopes the good people of Maine will realize their error and get this man off the public stage in the next election.

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Bye, bye black sheep

The only reason I'm mentioning this nothingburger of an anti-Obama protest in Arizona is because it's a perfect illustration of how click-bait journalism is destroying the former profession of news gathering. The deceptive headline at the link screams -- "Hundreds protest Obama" -- but not all of them were crackpots singing "Bye, Bye, Black Sheep" or hollering about impeaching the 47% Negro. Which by the way, is not at all racist because somebody had a Mexican grandson there.

And "hundreds" would be stretching the description of the turnout. The TV cameramen are good at framing the shots to make the crowd look bigger, but Steve M finds video from the anti-Obama group, that isn't as skillfully skewed.


By the end there may have been a couple hundred or so people, but many of them were there to protest on behalf of their pet causes, (like killing the XL pipeline), and you could hear the competeing cheers for Obama across the street while the crackpots were booing right in front of their little videographer.

This non-story was picked up by all the local affiliates of the national networks. So okay, it's August and there no other "news" to cover, but what really rankles is if this had been a pro-Obama rally of 10K, you could bet money none of the big media would have even mentioned it.

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McConnell and Graham face Tea Party flack

Don't want to get my hopes up too high but it's not impossible that we could get rid of both Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham in 2014. To begin with, McConnell's Dem opponent Alison Grimes delivered a sharp blow to McConnell at the annual Fancy Farm hoedown in Kentucky. She's polling ahead of him already. Here's hoping that will hold.

More importantly, McConnell is facing a Republican primary challenger who speaks Teabonics and is likely to win over the hard core angry cons who demand purity. Could split enough of the GOP vote to give Grimes the win. One can dream anyway.

Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham now has a Tea Party challenger and she's a hot ticket. Nancy Mace, "a small business owner and the first female graduate of The Citadel," opened her candidacy with a fiery little speech:

"Washington thinks it knows better than the people," she said. "The federal government has worked its way into nearly every corner of our lives, trying to solve every problem for us. And yet, we are still not better off for it.”

She joins businessman Richard Cash in challenging the two-term senator for the GOP nomination. Republican State Sen. Lee Bright has also said he will run.

Not sure who to root for here. We can be sure a Republican is going to win the seat. Any one of these folks is likely to be even worse than Lindsey. Still, it might be worth it just so we don't ever have to listen to his pathetic pandering to the crackpot cons anymore.

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Obamacare lowering insurance rates

In a mad rush to beat the clock on reality, Republicans are still trying to figure out how to destroy Obummercare. It appears they're going to lose that race, as the good news on Obamacare keeps rolling in.

Health premiums in Maryland’s exchanges will be “among the lowest of the 12 states that have available proposed or approved rates for comparison,” the state’s exchange — Maryland Health Connection — announced Friday. The news comes just as New York,Oregon, Montana, California, and Louisiana are also reporting lower than expected premiums.

How did this happen, you ask? Well in Maryland:

Officials say they used their authority to deny rate increases to reduce the proposed premiums by “more than 50 percent.” Thirty other states have have similar authority.

Obamacare is destined to become a popular program once its provisions kick in and the inevitable kinks are ironed out. Which explains the crackpot cons mad rush to kill it and the sudden pushback among establishment Republicans (or what passes for such in these times) against their own crackpot caucus. Thinking the time will soon come when appeasing the GOP's shrinking base of angry old white men will do more damage to their election prospects than it's worth.

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Groundswell

Still having major internet issues. Limited computer time, so outsourcing to Anne Laurie. This appears to be the crackpot con's version of the famed librul  Journolist they were so fond of smearing back in the day.

Dubbed Groundswell, this coalition convenes weekly in the offices of Judicial Watch, the conservative legal watchdog group. During these hush-hush sessions and through a Google group, the members of Groundswell—including aides to congressional Republicans—cook up battle plans for their ongoing fights against the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, progressive outfits, and the Republican establishment and “clueless” GOP congressional leaders. [...]

One of the influential conservatives guiding the group is Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, a columnist for the Daily Caller and a tea party consultant and lobbyist. Other Groundswell members include John Bolton, the former UN ambassador; Frank Gaffney, the president of the Center for Security Policy; Ken Blackwell and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council; Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch; Gayle Trotter, a fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum; Catherine Engelbrecht and Anita MonCrief of True the Vote; Allen West, the former GOP House member; Sue Myrick, also a former House GOPer; Diana Banister of the influential Shirley and Banister PR firm; and Max Pappas, a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)….

… Groundswellers constantly brainstorm via their Google group in search of a magic talking point, or a silver bullet of messaging. On April 24, Keli Carender, the national grassroots coordinator of Tea Party Patriots, posted a message to the Google group, writing, “We should have a unified name for the immigration bill so that as the other side is calling it ‘reform,’ we present a unified front against that notion. If we’re all calling it different things, their ‘reform’ message will win. We only combat the idea that it is reform if we hammer back with one different phrase/name.” She tossed out a few ideas: “Schumer-Rubio bill,” “anti-security bill,” and “amnesty bill.” Sheryl Kaufman, the communications director for Rep. Jim Bridenstine, chimed in that she was fond of a phrase derived by MonCreif: “‘OBAMAGRATION’—I love it!! Communicates the similarity with Obamacare.” …

You have to give the crackpots some credit. The one thing they are rather good at is inventing bumper sticker slogans. Much more at the link.

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When liberals legislate abortion

When Democrats are in charge of statehouses they pass laws to protect women's health which both sides of the aisle support. As SteveM put it:

What do you get in a situation like this in a state where Democrats control the governor's mansion and both houses of the legislature? You get a reasonable set of regulations intended to address the real problems. What do you get in states with Republican governors and legislatures? You get legislation intended -- solely intended -- to make liberals furious and women seeking abortions miserable, while making right-wingers pump their fists and do a victory dance.

The difference couldn't be more stark. Liberal Democrats only legislate women's health services to improve safety. Liberal Democrats don't abridge women's freedom of choice.

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GOP's grand plan: Feed the rich, starve the poor

The willingness to call out GOP perfidy continues today with a Dana Millbank column on farm bill finagling in John Boehner's House of Dysfunction. The Republican crackpot conservative caucus identified the unnecessary spending.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.), a committee chairman and the man who led House Republicans to their majority in 2010, was explaining why he and his colleagues decided to drop the food stamp program from the farm bill.

“What we have carefully done is exclude some extraneous pieces,” he said.

Got that? The 47 million Americans, about half of which were newly impoverished by the Great Recession, are an extraneous expense to be "carefully excluded." So, sorry you 23 million hungry children. If you want to eat maybe you can get jobs as a janitor at your elementary school. Or something.

Oh and any Democrat who wants to enter a dissent to this inhumane maneuver to the Congressional record, well can't have that because, Louis Gohmert insists you STFU. (Not for nothing did Charlie Pierce dub Gohmert Emperor for Life of the Crazy People.)

So what did the Republicans find worthy of funding, you ask? Well, instead of direct payments which have become too obvious a handout to huge corporate mono-farms and wealthy urbanites who don't even have a farm, they invented a smoke and mirrors revenue based insurance program that saves money on paper but looks likely to balloon spending once it's put into practice. This placates the Northern farmers. And for the southern plantation owners?

Southern commodity farmers, meanwhile, are pleased that target price-based supports are kept and prices are updated in a way that will likely increase payments in the future.

Because, these are real Murkins. It's only a "culture of dependency" that needs to be broken if poor people (of improper pigmentation) get assistance.

Addendum: To add to the GOP hypocrisy, House Republicans are spending more than Obama wants to spend on the farm subsidies.

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