What if....

The media has been awfully sweet to the repeated appointment failures of the Obama Administration. It makes one wonder how the media would have reacted to similar such failures had McCain won...

Reality: Daschle withdraws as nominee for HHS secretary

If only...: McCain HHS Nominee Withdraws, Eats Baby

======

Reality: Official: Performance czar withdraws candidacy

If only...: GOP Performance Czar Quits, Smells Like Cheese -- Palin Blamed

======

Reality: Bill Richardson bows out of commerce secretary job

If only...: GOP Commerce Appointee Imitates French & Surrenders, Is Total & Complete Sissy

======

Reality: Geithner apologizes for not paying taxes

If only...: GOP Treasury Appointee Cheats America, World, Universe -- God's Revenge Inevitable

======

Yeah, that sounds about right.

"OMGZ REPUBLICANZ ARE SO DUMBZ!!!11!!1!!!"

Dear Media,

You're trying too hard.

Fresh off his stint as a war correspondent in Gaza, Joe the Plumber is now doing political strategy with Republicans.

When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.

Yes, Joe the Plumber is going to Capitol Hill. He'll take an hour to gladhand and take pictures with the group of 20 and 30 somethings that currently help run Congressional Offices.

But implying that Republicans are using him to chart strategy is just silly. And not even close to reality.

It's simply a mutually beneficial arrangement for Joe cashing in on his name and this small group of Republican staffers that want to meet a star of the campaign trail.

It's no different than celebrities coming to the Hill to testify on an issue.

Sigh. The media annoys me.

::shaking head::

How sweet it is.

Stimulus Shit Sandwich: The Movie

Now starring...

The American People as The Blond Chick
The Media as The Guy That Looks Like 'Cousin Larry' From 'Perfect Strangers'
The Economy as Her
And The Democrats as The Lousy Bastard

6 ballots. 1 got it right.

Congrats to the members of the RNC for voting in the best candidate for RNC Chair, Michael Steele. He can raise money, he's a good communicator, he can innovate the Party and he knows how to run a political organization successfully. A win-win-win-win.

The endorsement that put him over the edge was, surprisingly, Ohio's own Ken Blackwell. Now, I've never been a big fan of the former Ohio Secretary of State. He ran a very poor campaign for Governor and has never known how to do what's best for the Party. To put it simply, the only Ohioan he looked out for....was himself. But Blackwell saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to go down(again) without maintaining some kind of legitimacy in the Party. This was a perfect opportunity for him. He was able to do the right thing while ensuring his self-preservation.

Steele owes him.

In the meantime, I'll be looking forward to more of this.

Perfect.

Good luck to the Cardinals this weekend.

We have two days.

Remember this ad?



Well, it seems NBC doesn't want to air it during the Super Bowl. Apparently they would prefer having their commercials avoid political causes/issues.

Of course, this didn't stop Obama from having one of his commercials played during the Super Bowl last year.

Do something about it. E-mail Victoria Morgan, Vice President, Advertising Standards, NBC Universal at victoria.morgan@nbc.com.

And if you're on facebook, join the cause by clicking here and joining the facebook group.

(don't worry, I'm disbanding the group come Monday morning)

The RNC Chair race...

We're heading into round four of voting. While I'm not a big fan of twitter, there are a few folks using it that are doing a good job of giving updates about what's going down on the floor of the Capitol Hilton. Check out:

Patrick Ruffini
Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine
Snarky Bitch Ana Marie Cox
Also, Ben Smith's blog at Politico is following along closely.

Personally, I'm a fan of Michael Steele. He's been a successful state Party leader in Maryland. He's a quality communicator and has committed to implement the RebuildtheParty platform.

As for the others? Duncan is the incumbent. And a failure. Katon Dawson has too much baggage. Saul Anuzis sucked in Michigan. Blackwell. Well, he's done, so don't waste your time.

Get HBO.

At least for the month of February.

Premiering on Feb. 21st...

I lose. Vote for me.

For those that follow the game as closely as I do, you'll know that the RNC is soon choosing their Chairman. One of the big names that keeps popping up is Michigan GOP chairman, Saul Anuzis. A large reason for this is the tremendous job he has done in embracing the blogging/twittering faction of the Party which has, in turn, done a decent job of creating a buzz about his candidacy.

But he hasn't won anything.

During his time as Chairman he suffered an absolute buttkicking in statewide elections in 2006. In 2008, he was only able to put up a sacrificial lamb to run for Senate, ended up losing a Congressional seat and John McCain didn't even bother to waste his time campaigning there.

Despite Democrats completely controlling the state, and in turn...running it into the ground, Anuzis was unable to organize successful candidates/campaigns.

And now he wants to run the national Party?

No thanks.

Next up, the goosestep!

What in the hell are we coming to?

A parent in the Clark County School District of Las Vegas, Henderson area reported today that his son, who is in 1st grade, came home yesterday saying that he didn't want to go back to school anymore.

When asked why, the boy said that during the Pledge of Allegiance the teacher put up a large image of Obama next to the flag.

Thinking that the boy might be exaggerating, the man asked his son if he was sure, and suggested that by "large" he might mean an 8x10 photo of the president. The boy apparently said "No, it is a large picture of Obama and when we are done, the teacher turns off the image."

The same thing was not done for President Bush last year.

Dear America,

Stop going insane.

Love,
DJ Tablesauce

uh...um...er...erp....um....uhhhh.....

Yep. She's 2nd in line for the Presidency, folks.

Yeah, pork sucks...but...

...it isn't nearly as dangerous as another Smoot-Hawley.

Ok, class...time to reach back and remember your American History. Don't want to? Ok, let me help.

Now, I know we all absolutely despise all the pork and misspending within the Stimulus Shit Sandwich Act of 2009, but it turns out there is something even more dangerous to our economy within those pages. Pardon me, shitpages.

The stimulus bill passed by the House last night contains a controversial provision that would mostly bar foreign steel and iron from the infrastructure projects laid out by the $819 billion economic package.

A Senate version, yet to be acted upon, goes further, requiring, with few exceptions, that all stimulus-funded projects use only American-made equipment and goods.

Proponents of expanding the "Buy American" provisions enacted during the Great Depression, including steel and iron manufacturers and labor unions, argue that it is the only way to ensure that the stimulus creates jobs at home and not overseas.

Opponents, including some of the biggest blue-chip names in American industry, say it amounts to a declaration of war against free trade. That, they say, could spark retaliation from abroad against U.S. companies and exacerbate the global financial crisis.

And who do we have to thank for this? None other than our very own Ohio Senator...Sherrod Brown.

The current version of the Senate bill contains no such restrictions, but senators such as Sherrod Brown from Ohio are pushing for spending to be kept at home.

“Buy America provisions will ensure that US taxpayer dollars go toward the creation of US jobs,” Mr Brown said on Wednesday.

The good news? The latest Rasmussen poll shows the tide turning against the stimulus.

h/t: Hotair

It's like poop in your mouth!

A friend sent me this link. It dramatically illustrates the rapidly increasing cost of the War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Currently, we're running at around $593 billion.

That's a lot, eh?

Until you consider that the Stimulus Shit Sandwich Act of 2009 as passed by the House yesterday cost upwards of $825 billion.

• $593 billion over seven years to keep our country safe, promote political stability in the middle east and maintain the 'oil status quo'.

• $825 billion in 10 seconds last night to keep Democrats in power and pork going to their constituents.

The worst part of this is that the $825 billion is going to become the new baseline for future budgets approved by Congress for years to come. See this example from Hotair.com:

The Department of Education gets a whopping $66 billion in this bill. In 2001, the federal government spent $35 billion in total in the Department of Education, and by 2006 the Bush administration raised it to $85 billion, almost tripling the outlay. Now Congress wants to add $66 billion on top of what we've already budgeted for the DoE, a figure that almost doubles the entire 2001 DoE budget from just eight years ago.

This means the new baseline where all federal education funding will start in Congress is $151 billion. That's roughly 4 and a half times the Department's funding at the end of the Clinton Administration. From this baseline, Congress will be able to say each year, "we are being fiscally responsible by only increasing Education funding by 2%."

Well yeah, you are...but considering where that baseline started from, that is still a hell of a lot of cash. And this same thing will happen in every facet of government that receives a chunk of that $825 billion.

Now say what you will about the need to spend more on education funding....but even if you're for the obnoxiously massive increases, the haphazard way they are going about it is beyond the pale. Personally, I worked for two years on the Hill on Education issues and for two years at the U.S. Department of Education as a political appointee. Trust me on this....they will have NOOO idea how to spend this money efficiently and effectively. There is a reason we have an education, budget and appropriations committee that carefully reviews all funding and specifically directs where it's going over the course of each fiscal year. It is to provide oversight. And considering how imperfect that system is, imagine what the results will be in respect to this Stimulus Shit Sandwich Act of 2009.

Frightening.

How could I miss this?!?!

Gov. Strickland DID propose a tax cut in his State of the State address.

For Hollywood. Seriously.

Gov. Ted Strickland is looking to Hollywood to help bail out Ohio from its economic mess.

After he vetoed a 25 percent tax credit for companies that film movies in Ohio, he proposed a tax credit for the film industry, though he was not specific about how it would work.

Among the Ohio natives expected to benefit? Tom Cruise. Gordon Jump. John Lithgow. And of course....Luke Perry.

That's how ya whip it. Whip it good.

The Great Democrat Power Building Act of 2009, otherwise known as the stimulus bill, passed the House tonight by a margin of 242-189.

Number of House Republicans that sided with the Dems in order to cover their asses for their next campaign?

Zero.

None. Zip. Zilch.

Major props to House Minority Leader John Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor for keeping every single vote in line....especially if you consider this post from Marc Ambinder. Let's see if McConnell can work some magic in the Senate.

It seems everyday the GOP has been able to highlight something else ridiculous in the bill and embarrassed the Majority into removing it. The longer we can delay the inevitable, the better off the American people are.

This is gonna be fun to watch.

This is how ya do it.

Recharge Ohio just released a statement from John Kasich responding to the Ohio Governor's State of the State address today:

COLUMBUS, Ohio – At this time when Ohio's economy is in a death spiral and losing tens of thousands of jobs, it is concerning that the Governor spent less than 10% of his State of the State speech laying out his plans to turn the economy around and create more jobs in this state.

His solution for the state's economic crises relies on a one-time federal bailout, rehashed state tax credits and "optimism", rather than a new business plan that provides incentives for economic growth and job creation.

It is ironic that the Governor opened his speech talking about the construction of Ohio Stadium after World War I. Today Ohio Stadium could be more than sold out with those who have lost their jobs under the Governor's watch.

Our unemployment rate is the highest it's been in 22 years, and we've lost 111,600 jobs in the last two years. 13.2% of Ohioans live in poverty and nearly 1 in 10 Ohioans now receive food stamps. Ohio ranks 48th in per-capita personal income growth and almost 7,000 young people left the state last year.

Ohio needs to find new and innovative ways to stimulate and sustain job creation. Unfortunately there was no new vision in the Governor's speech for moving Ohio ahead in this area.

The bottom line is that Ohioans deserve leadership that will lower taxes, unburden Ohio businesses from unnecessary regulation and reward those who invest in innovative new ideas to create new jobs.

He couldn't have said it any better. While Kasich isn't providing specifics for how to accomplish his goals, it's important to note that he actually understands what ills Ohio. I'm looking forward to hearing his plans over the coming months. It's refreshing to know we have the potential to have someone leading Ohio who understands the role of government and how to make the Buckeye State great again.

Please visit the Recharge Ohio website. Sign up for updates, donate what you can and get your friends involved. While Kasich is doing all the right things, he needs to know he will have the support, financial and otherwise, to be competitive before he takes Strickland head-on.

Of course, it also would be nice to have a Governor that doesn't put Gordon Gee to sleep in the middle of a speech.

::slaps forehead::

Gov. Strickland's State of the State has come and gone. As expected, his first priority is education.

"We will graduate Ohioans ready to succeed in the modern economy and in modern life," Strickland said during his one-hour speech. "Future generations will look back gratefully and say that when we came together on education, we claimed this new century for Ohio."

In this time of admitted economic crisis, should this really be the #1 issue? Currently, Ohio is ranked 3rd in the country for the number of adults with bachelor's degrees. 3rd! I dunno, Guv...but I think we're doing ok when it comes to "graduating Ohioans". But why would this be the number one issue? What could it possibly be?!?!

"...it’s important to note that no single group gave more money directly to House Democrats last election cycle than the Ohio Education Associaiton."

Oh. Ok. I get it.

Another highlight?

"But the budget I will present next week will be balanced. And it will not raise taxes on Ohioans."

Governor, state law requires the budget to be balanced. You don't have to try to brag about it. And to think, the Dems gave this line a standing ovation.



As for the corporate and personal tax relief necessary to get businesses coming back to Ohio....well, there is none. Not that we need it or anything, right?