Republicans Getting Frightened by their Choices

As Maxine Waters said: “The Tea Party can go straight to hell!”
by Charlie Leck

Washington Post opinion writer, Richard Cohen, bangs hard at Rick Perry’s candidacy for the Republican nomination to run for President of the United States:

“The Republican Texas governor clings to an ice floe of diminishing credibility, emerging in just about a week’s time as intellectually unqualified to be president.

I suggest you read Cohen’s entire piece. It makes Governor Perry look pretty foolish.

As Eugene Robinson suggests in his column, regular Republicans are worried about the choices they’re being given for the nomination. They still believe it will take a centrist to beat Obama and that’s not what the candidates out there right now are. I hope that theory is correct because it would be a disaster for this nation if someone like Ms. Bachmann or Mr. Perry were to win.

Michael Gerson, in a column titled An Unholy War on the Tea Party, writes:

“Now the heroes of the Tea Party movement, it turns out, are also closet theocrats.”

Gerson talks about the silly possibility that Bachmann and Perry are “dominionists,” whose “goal is the imposition of a Christian version of sharia law in which adulterers, homosexuals and perhaps recalcitrant children would be subject to capital punishment.

“But there is a problem: Dominionism, though possessing cosmic ambitions, is a movement that could fit in a phone booth.”

I’m well aware that Gerson’s column is an apology for both Bachmann and Perry and their religious beliefs. He waves off any idea that they would drag the nation into holy wars or punish those in the country who don’t agree with their religious views. Nevertheless, it’s interesting that the discussion needs to be held.

As for me, it’s enough that I don’t want religious freaks running the country and that’s precisely what I think Bachmann and Perry are.

Frankly, I’m with Maxine Waters, one of my favorite politicians, who told everyone: “The Tea Party can go straight to hell!”

You can watch a video of Waters tell the Tea Party off right here!

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Obama Did Libya Correctly!

The President should get rave reviews for this one, but, of course, he won’t!
by Charlie Leck

The genius from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, has criticized President Obama for months for interfering in the turmoil in Libya. Gosh! John McCain has been criticizing the President for not using U.S. air power and ending the thing much sooner. A host of Republicans disparage the White House for being so indecisive and taking so long to make its decisions about Libya and other April Storm matters.

Now take a careful look at what happened in Libya.

We did not put our troops on the ground. How many more young lives would we have lost had we? How many kids would have come home disabled and disfigured?

We managed to get some of our allies seriously involved for a change! Getting NATO to be involved and leading the way was an enormous coup for the President! Don’t doubt that for a second! The leadership of France in this sticky and dangerous civil war has been inspiring and distinguished. I’m voyaging to France in a bit over a week and I’ll be sure to extend our nation’s thanks to the people who matter in all this – the common man on the streets who will pick up the bill for this expensive endeavor.

The President’s strategy saved us billions of dollars at a time when Republicans keep complaining about spending too much money! It seems funny to me that the party of the elephant and the tea bag doesn’t mind spending Trillions on war and military actions, but hates spending it on poor people and the education of kids who can’t afford to go to pricey private academies!

And now the tyrant, Gadhafi, is in hiding – squirreled away from his own people, who want him to pay dearly for all his crimes against humanity.

There are no sure predictions about what shall happen in Libya. There are complicated and dangerous times ahead for that nation. We can only hope that a democracy is established there soon. If it is not you may be certain that Ms. Bachmann of Minnesota will blame President Obama and assure us she could have done it all better because God would have been looking over her shoulder constantly.

It was on 21 December 1988 that Pan American flight 103 exploded in the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 259 passengers and crew and 11 people on the ground. It was the miserable son-of-a-bitch from Libya who admitted responsibility for the crime against innocents – the same miserable despot who now hides from his own people.

The President did this one right and history will praise him for his decision making. Now, it is time for great diplomatic leadership to guide Libya toward democracy. I think our Secretary of State is up to the challenge.

Quiet down Senator McCain! Shut your trap Congresswoman Bachman! Allow diplomacy to quietly work toward the reconstruction of a democratic and free Libya. There are some matters in which we must present a united front and this is one of them! (If y’all know what that means!)

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We’re Well into 2012 Presidential Campaign

It has begun already and that’s too bad, but when one candidate starts running the others have got to follow, I guess.
by Charlie Leck

The caucuses and primaries don’t take place until early in 2012, but those lining up to be president have already started campaigning in those states that will hold the early vote counts. New Hampshire and Iowa are hot-beds of politics already.

The initial fund raising information shows that an awful lot of money will be spent on these campaigns. We will break all past records this year. Bachmann and Obama have clearly demonstrated their abilities to raise huge amounts of money from little givers. Others among the candidates (Romney and Huntsman) are personally very wealthy and will fund their own campaigns if they need to.

Then, of course, there will be the PAC contributions and the labor money and the mega amounts the corporations will contribute.

The wild and funny comedian, Stephen Colbert, recently made a trip to Washington to appear at the Federal Election Commission to await that body’s first campaign fund raising report. He tried to be funny, but, as Dana Milbank wrote in the Washington Post: “…comedian Stephen Colbert flew down to Washington this week to parody the nation’s campaign finance laws. But there was a flaw in his plan: The campaign finance system already is a parody.”

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v FEC changed everything. Before we had a lot of petty graft (labor unions sliding hundreds of thousands in cash under a campaign committee’s door, for instance) on both sides. Now the nation’s corporations can anonymously (in most states) donate hundreds of millions of dollars to the candidate of their choice. It was the worst and most destructive decision made in my life time in terms of the damage it does to our democracy. It makes corporations a virtual voter in the system and it certainly gives them an amount of power and voice in the elections that throws the scales completely out of balance.

“The Supreme Court, in five straight campaign finance decisions, has largely wiped out post-Watergate campaign reforms and, in the case of corporate contributions, undone nearly a century of law. Adding to the anarchy, Congress has been unable to agree on legislation requiring donors’ disclosure. For those who violate what’s left of the law, there is little risk of punishment because the FEC, paralyzed by a partisan split, has been unable to agree on much enforcement.” [Dana Milbank in the Washington Post]

Now the super-rich can have a huge impact on the results of federal elections without needing to identify themselves. Oh, my! That’s not the way our campaign finance laws were meant to work. Those laws, which were already messy and weak, have been shattered by the Supreme Court.

It’s “BYOB,” Colbert said with a smile. “Bring your own billions!”

I promised another blog on the twisted and staggering errors that Michele Bachmann makes in her chatter. As I did that research I was staggered by the number of non-factual things the woman says. Amazingly, she admits to having this weakness and, because of that, I have some sympathy for her. She has asserted that she will try harder to be factual and not so much off the cuff in what she says. Can I believe her?

I wrote the blog I promised, but I decided, because of all the flak I took after the last one of this sort, that I would submit it to a researcher to actually fact-check what I’d written. It hasn’t come back yet, but I’m pushing.

Columnist Aaron Blake pointed out something about the Bachmann v Media squabbles that I find interesting: “…it could actually be a good thing for the media to savage Bachmann.”

The more she’s savaged, the more it galvanizes her supporters.

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Bachman Watch

Michelle Bachman versus the Truth!
recommended by Charlie Leck

For Minnesotans concerned about the lack of integrity one of our congresspersons is showing, here’s a web site you need to check in on every once in a while.

Bachman Watch

Our Congresswoman from the 6th congressional district has been less than accurate in a lot of our statements in the last few years. We need to keep tabs on her and let people know when she’s either fibbing or exaggerating. This is a great way to do it.

Political junkies all over the country are watching Bachman because she makes a great story – and, she also makes up great, tall stories.