Boehner at CPAC calling all of Obama's Policies Socialist

Flushing out Boehner's lie on Meet the Press and a David Gregory that doesn't follow politics well enough to be able to call him out on the obvious:



Boehner is no different then any other Bircher whackjob.

Republicans are Failing their Constituents

Given that 30 out of the top 50 (60%) districts in trouble with foreclosures (34 out of the top 56 listed - 60.7%) are in Republican controlled turf, you might think Republicans would be working harder to save these homes in their own districts.

Republicans failing to fight for saving these homes are failing their constituents. Minority districts or not, and for the most part they are not, every home that goes under affects everyone living in that district.

Never mind the fact that Republicans are, in large part, responsible for this problem in the first place because of their "L'aissez faire" free-market-run-amok policies.

The Center for Responsible Lending, whose work I cited the other day in looking at the number of projected home foreclosures in 2009 by Congressional District, has come out with a revised set of numbers.

And those revisions are... substantial. Both in terms of the numbers of foreclosures predicted, and in terms of where those foreclosures fall. It really changes the picture on both counts.

The REVISED top 56

Yet again, Republicans seem more interested in obstructing any and all remedies proposed by the majority than, you know, actually doing something. Instead, what do we hear from the right wingnut idiot factor?

Republicans on Capitol Hill are on the warpath about a bill that would allow bankruptcy judges change mortgages to help homeowners stay in their houses.

The Democratic-controlled House is scheduled to vote today on the measure, which would let judges reduce the principal owed, cut the interest rate, or extend the length of the loan.

House GOP leader John Boehner's office calls the legislation a "textbook example" of why Americans are increasingly fed up by the series of bailouts and rescues coming out of Washington.

Americans are fed up with you, Boehner. Yes, we hate the bailouts that you and the GOP are largely responsible for necessitating. There are so many reasons why Americans think more of communist China than Republicans right now:

USA Today/Gallup Poll. Feb. 20-22, 2009. N=1,013 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

"Do you approve or disapprove of the way the Republicans in Congress are handling their job?"

Approve 36%--56% Disapprove

Gallup Poll. Feb. 9-12, 2009. N=1,022 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.

"Next, I'd like your overall opinion of some foreign countries. Is your overall opinion of [see below] very favorable, mostly favorable, mostly unfavorable, or very unfavorable?"

China: Favorable 41%--51% Unfavorable

Tell Boehner that what we want right now is for republicans to, you know, do something other than just obstruct and bloviate the nation into more failure. And they can shut up about "Socialist Obama policies" since Americans clearly prefer communists over the GOP.

Like Beijing Bush, Like Beijing McCain

Boehner's communist leader, the ever incompetent Beijing George Bush, and his heir wannabe Beijing John McCain are cut from the same communist cloth as John McCain sets out to copy China and their internet astroturfing:

People who sign up for McCain's program receive reward points each time they place a favorable comment on one of the listed Web sites (subject to verification by McCain's webmasters). The points can be traded for prizes, such as books autographed by McCain, preferred seating at campaign events, even a ride with the candidate on his bus, known as the Straight Talk Express, according to campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.

...snip...

More chillingly, dissidents alleged earlier this year that the Chinese government has paid Chinese citizens token sums for each favorable comment about government policies they post in chat rooms and on blogs.

That John Beijing McCain is just a red republican chip off of the old communist block...

Republican Children Walkout From Congress

If you missed this on Valentines day, the childish Republicans walked away from doing the job they were elected to do. Why? Because the GOP is full of members that are childish and stupid, of course!



Via Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker:

Surprise!

When the Dems finally made a move to get a vote on the contempt resolutions against White House officials for ignoring subpoenas in the U.S. attorney investigations, the Republicans had a walkout all planned out. As Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) gave a speech haranguing the Dems for "political grandstanding" at a time of dire threats to national security (because work on the surveillance bill has still not been completed). They then filed out onto the steps, where a podium was waiting to complete the photo op.

No political grandstanding, indeed.

I guess these republican children have a problem with the more criminal elements of the GOP machine actually being held responsible for their actions?

The Republicans refused to deal with two of their own being slapped with contempt charges:

The House of Representatives voted Thursday to cite Joshua B. Bolten, the White House chief of staff, and Harriet E. Miers, a former White House counsel, for contempt for refusing to testify about their participation in the firing of federal prosecutors.

The measure calls for House officials to seek enforcement of the contempt citation by the courts if, as expected, the Justice Department declines to act on the resolution.

The vote was a lopsided 223 to 32 in favor of the contempt citation, after most Republican members walked out to protest what their leaders called a political move.

Call the whambulance.

This is no different than the supremely stupid and childish walkout of the New Milford Republican BOE members last September:

This last couple of weeks a huge pile of steaming Republican childishness has played out and many in the town have been talking about it:

The five Republican members who walked out of a Board of Education meeting last week say they are disturbed that the action has been misconstrued and politicized when it was a legitimate protest of what they considered to be an improper, imprudent and even disrespectful action.

Like walking out on a vote is not improper, imprudent and even disrespectful action, never mind that it is as childish as taking their ball and going home in the middle of a game because they are losing.

Flying in the face of their own reasoning, they can't seem to even decide whether they walked out because of too much debate, or not enough:

"We simply, quietly, left the meeting at the end when there was nothing further to discuss. We had already discussed it three times, and our input was ignored. There was no reason to stay," said member Julie Turk of the minority Republicans' decision to leave before a second vote on hiring a director of human resources to replace the former director of operations.

snip

But some of the board's GOP members -- the school board has seven Republicans and five Democrats -- were disturbed that so little time had been given to such a key position, which will command a salary in the $90,000 to $100,000 range.

Make up your minds little GOP children... Did you decide to walk out on your job because:

1. Republicans think there is nothing left to discuss.
2. Republicans think there needs to be more time to discuss this.
3. Republicans think there needs to be more time to discuss that there is nothing left to discuss.

And never mind all of the other reasons that they threw at the fan. Several more inconsistencies fly back in their face in that one article. The supposed and incoherent apologies lead one to realize your mea maxima culpas. Simply being wrong, both in thoughts and actions. Get a load of another childish GOP response:

"They changed the rules so they could put something through that had already failed," McLachlan claimed.

What rules did the Board change? Something was brought up in a vote that was a 5-5 tie without all of the board members present in August. A sub-committee, including republicans, originally recommended returning to the issue. Does McLachlan have a problem with putting a vote to the full board just because of the inevitable 7-5 result?

What rules were changed? Don't just pull out "The republican victim card" and leave it out there without any backup. And just because someone too childish or incompetent to do their job and vote on this issue calls it bullying does not make it so, regardless of how the village idiot celebrates the idea:

"Kudos to Joe Failla, Julie Turk, Robin Ruggiero, Bill McLachlan and Joey Vita for having the gumption to stand up for what they believe in, against the odds and the "bullying" as one Member calls it."

Whom, exactly, is guilty of bullying? As a commenter over at your own Blog (Jay Lewin - Juice Box Republicans) notes:

"Interesting that the Operations sub committee "unanimously" OK'd bringing the issue back to the board. That sub committee includes Mr. Failla & Mrs. Turk. Why did they OK this on 9/4, and then reverse course to fight it on 9/11? Hmmmmmmm..."

Kudos for what. Jay? For recommending returning to this issue and then walking out on the vote when it does come up? (The GOP must be guilty of bullying themselves , either that or bullshitting themselves, 'cause we aren't buying it.) And for ignoring the reality of what most of the town's people recognized this childish tactic to be? Is there any doubt why one of New Milford's Board of Education members jumped the Republican ship of fools?

For the coming election, Traisci-Marandola said, she was rejected by the party's leaders for a re-election bid because she did what she promised, although it meant spending money.

Even with that rejection, Traisci-Marandola said she intended to retain her party affiliation.

Yet what she called this past "week of nonsense" has changed her mind. She said she intends to become a Democrat and support that party's slate for the November election.

snip

Traisci-Marandola said she was "appalled" that five of her fellow Republicans -- including appointed member Joseph Failla, endorsed for a four-year seat, and William McLachlan, endorsed for a Town Council seat -- orchestrated a walkout at last Tuesday's school board meeting.

This walk out was a pitiful example of Republican kids behaving badly and the nonsensical apologies and their apologists passing out the Koolaide are as sad as the the original actions. They are just playing little childish games and, in a typically GOP fashion, wasting the tax payers time occupying a job they are unwilling or unable to do in a manner respectful of Democracy.

More Republican Sex Allegations

As one investigation led to another, it appears that more Republican sex may have taken place in Alaska. And, as is often the case, this typically GOPish sex scandal includes minors:

Allen teen sex inquiry reopened

Allen pleaded guilty in May to bribing Alaska lawmakers. Once the chairman and an owner of the oil field services company Veco, he was forced to sell the company and now faces a lengthy prison term. That's a stunning fall for a power broker who handed oil-policy decrees to a stable of bribed legislators and who regularly socialized with senators and other national political figures who came to Alaska as guests of Sen. Ted Stevens.

At the time the Boehm investigation was developing, from 2003 to 2004, Allen was still a major player in Alaska politics, as he had been for decades, and was a reliable source of campaign money for state candidates, members of Alaska's congressional delegation and other national politicians. In 2000 he was Alaska co-chairman of President Bush's election campaign.

In an interview in October, Vandegriff wouldn't name Allen's alleged victim or victims. He said Allen was not a direct subject of the Boehm investigation. But he said there was one person involved in both the Boehm case and the investigation of Allen: Bambi Tyree, one of Boehm's co-defendants.

Vince Blomfield, Tyree's boyfriend starting around 1999 when he was 36 and she was 18, said in an interview with a private investigator working for Boehm that Tyree claimed to have had a sexual relationship with Allen when she was 14 or 15. Allen would have been in his late 50s at the time. The interview with Blomfield was cited in a court filing by Boehm's attorneys, who were trying to portray Tyree as having a history of preying on older men with money.

It has become clear that in the modern dictionary "Republican" and "GOP" have become synonymous with "Pedophile". And before anyone starts with the "Both sides do this!" crap:

This summer’s political conventions are expected to be “a boom in business” for “the sex and adult entertainment industries,” but according to one veteran sex worker who spoke to the Rocky Mountain News, the GOP conventions are “a lot better for the sex workers.” “We get a lot more business,” Carol Leigh told the paper. “I don’t know if they’re just frustrated because of the family values agenda.”

Obviously, the party with all of those family values hypocrites do it a lot more, whether it involves minors or not.

Hastert is...

History!

After announcing his resignation on Nov. 15, Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today formally handed in his letter of resignation, which goes into effect at 10:59 PM CST tonight. A special election will be held to fill his position on Feb. 5. See the full letter HERE.

Buh bye Dennis Hastert... We will always have your many scandals to remember you by!

What more can you say about a Congress critter that doesn't even know the words to the national anthem?

Would the right wing ever allow a Democratic politician off the hook for completely not knowing the words to the national anthem, the way House Speaker Dennis Hastert very obviously does not?

Another Left Coast Republican Scandal

How about that Rep. Ken Calvert (R-California) movin' on up in the political world last month?

Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.), for example, was forced off the Appropriations Committee in April after the FBI raided his home in Oakton, searching for records of his wife's business because she worked for now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff and other lobbyists while her husband performed legislative favors for their clients.

In selecting Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) navigated a political minefield of ethical concerns and internal politics, as the 19 California Republicans lobbied on Calvert's behalf to keep the seat in the delegation's hands. Boehner, in a statement on the decision, tacitly acknowledged questions about Calvert's land deals and spending he has secured for projects near those properties.

"Congressman Calvert answered every question asked of him," Boehner said of the "candid" closed-door session of the GOP's steering committee.

snip

Calvert's rise had a beneficial domino effect for another lawmaker under scrutiny over Abramoff ties. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), who has been contacted by the Justice Department over his 2003 golf junket to Scotland with Abramoff, took over as ranking minority member of the Science and Technology subcommittee on space from Calvert, who was forced to give up all assignments to assume the coveted Appropriations spot.

Not a bad gig for a guy that even conservative Bloggers were against getting the promotion. Why were thy worried about it? Well, because of Calvert's penchant towards making shady land deals:

Boehner, meanwhile, faced criticism even in the conservative blogosphere for his decision last month to name Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) to replace Doolittle on the powerful Appropriations panel. Doolittle stepped down from the panel after the FBI searched his house in its investigation into ties he and his wife had with Abramoff. Calvert has faced scrutiny over land deals and their proximity to earmarks, and several GOP lawmakers openly opposed his selection to the committee.

HMMM. Not even a month has passed since Calvert's promotion and already he is in more trouble:

A California city government agency broke the law when it sold a four-acre parcel of land to a group of investors which included Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., an investigative grand jury has concluded.

Calvert and his partners planned to build a mini-storage facility on the property. The land could have served as the only community park in a predominately Hispanic, lower-income neighborhood, according to a former local recreation official.

And who would've figured it involved a shady land deal? And at the expense of a park for some poor minority kids to play in as well. Well, CREW might have been able to point out the obvious... Calvert was already named to their list of the 20 most corrupt politicians in DC before his promotion:

The Jurupa Community Services District, the entity that oversees many governmental services for the unincorporated sections of Riverside County, California, arranged a land deal with a partnership including Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA). Rep. Calvert was named by CREW as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress, in part, because he used his position to earmark funds to increase the value of his own property. In other words, the earmarks benefited Calvert's own land deals. One of those land deals we questioned was with the Jurupa Community Services District. CREW raised the concern that Calvert received "preferential treatment" in that $1.2 million deal.

Now, a grand jury has determined that the deal with the District violated California law:

The Jurupa Community Services District violated state law when it sold 4 acres of public land to Rep. Ken Calvert and his investment partners without first offering it to other public agencies -- including the local park district that wanted it, the Riverside County grand jury concluded in a report released Tuesday.

The grand jury recommends that the water and sewer agency turn over the $1.2 million it pocketed from the sale, minus costs, to the Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District.

Yep... Go figure? Think Boehner will have any better luck on his next round of promotions? I doubt it. Finding a republican that isn't corrupt is hard work these days. And republicans aren't about hard work, only easy money for them. And YOU, unfortunately, are their mark.

Keep in mind that Calvert investigations were just offshoots from the Cunningham scandal:

DoJ wants information stretching back to 1997, and requests that broad could lead them to knock on many new doors. Independent reports have already confirmed that as offshoots of the Cunningham probe, the DoJ is looking into Reps. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Katherine Harris (R-FL), and possibly others, as well as former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX) -- and, of course, Cunningham himself.

Anyone else think there may be some more skeletons in this guy's closet?

Shays, Kolbe, Foley: More Weird Republican Sex

BranfordBoy at My Left Nutmeg asks about Shays sanity:

"Looks like Chris Shays really, really, really wants to lose. How else can you explain this insanity from the Wednesday debate?"

Shays: Then the next question is, well what has the US done? Well it has been accused of doing torture. That's what it's been accused of. Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture, it was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.

It's difficult though how the dialogue in the rest of the world about that when you have news media all around the world saying we're torturing people. The bottom line for me is this. We follow the Geneva Convention period. That's what we do.

Matthew Gertz has the video

I think the insanity results because all republicans ever think about is sex.


BUT why do republicans have such freakin' weird ideas of what sex is supposed to be?

Republican Mark Foley is one example, and Republican Kolbe may very well be another example:

From NBC news:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News. NBC News first reported on the camping and rafting trip on Tuesday.

Kolbe's office denies anything "improper" happened.

More NBC:

NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. One participant, who requested anonymity, said he was uncomfortable with the attention Kolbe paid to one of the former pages. He was "creeped out by it," he said, adding that there was a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back by Kolbe.

--- Joe in DC at AMERICAblog

Is the GOP setting their standard for all of our childrens futures?

If they are, then our kids are truely all fucked if the GOP remains in power.

Republican Kolbe Joins the Already Disgraced GOP List

Hastert, Boehner, Shimkus, Reynolds, Alexander, and various members of their staff (Trandahl, Fordham) have all been linked into the cover-up of Foley's stalking of young pages in Congress to varying degrees. (From the grossly incompetent, to the criminally negligent.) According to the WaPo this is a 5 year old issue AND...

You can add Kolby to the list:

A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline.

The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board.

A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted. But Cline denied the source's characterization, saying only that the messages had made the former page feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she said, "corrective action" was taken. Cline said she has not yet determined whether that action went beyond Kolbe's confrontation with Foley.

There is clearly NOTHING INNOCENT about these E-mails...

This pushes it all back another by 5 more years and shows that there have been NUMEROUS OCCASIONS over the years where GOP Congressmen have been asked to address the situation.

Just another in a long line of failures by the GOP...


X-posted at The Booman Tribune and My Left Nutmeg

Hastert, Boehner, Reynolds - ALL MUST RESIGN!

What are the self-anointed Grand Ol' Protectors from terrorists around the world actually doing when important security issues are discussed on the floor of the House?

This message was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m., according to the message time stamp.

Maf54: I miss you
Teen: ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too

The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms.

Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen: lol I guessed
Teen: ya go voteÂ…I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen: :-*
Teen:

The House voted that evening on HR 1559, Emergency War Time supplemental appropriations.

read more at ABC's The Blotter

Apparently the GOP only protects pedophiles... Not America.

Geriatric Ol' Pedophiles.

How long do you think Foley has been protected by the GOP leadership?

One former page says pages were warned specifically to be careful with Foley five years ago.

"I know people who had been interacting with him like that, so I wasn't surprised. You know it's one of those things you know is going to come out some day," Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class who is now president of the Page Alumni Association, said.

House Republican leaders were told about possible problems with Foley last year, and now they want an investigation to see how many pages may have been victimized by Foley.

ABC's The Blotter

I am willing to bet that GOP leadership has known about this AT LEAST as long as the pages did.

John at AMERICAblog has proven a pretty solid connection to THE COVERUP:

What's more, The LA Times didn't realize, and no one in the MSM has picked up on yet, that Reynolds sent his chief of staff [to "advise" Foley last week http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/10/mr-reynolds-why-is-your-chief-of-staff.html] before the predator resigned. What's worse, Reynolds' chief of staff tried to broker a deal with ABC News last Friday in order to get ABC to cover-up
the worst of the evidence against Foley.

There is no doubt that Foley is a internet sexual predator.

There is no doubt that Republican leadership failed to protect the kids.

AND

There is no doubt that there was a concerted effort to cover this up.

All that remains to be seen is who is simply too irresponsible to be a politician, and who is criminally responsible. And how long the GOP leadership has been this irresposible and criminal.

Hastert? Boehner? Reynolds?