Whuf.
“Reagan was a Keynesian” – Paul Krugman (New York Times)
Yet again, proof that Ronald Reagan, Conservative Jesus, couldn’t win the GOP primary today.
“Approval rating for Justices hits just 44% in new poll” – Adam Liptak and Allison Kopicki (New York Times)
So, Congress’ approval rating is in the tank, and the Supreme Court’s is too. Forget Mitt Romney; Obama can win running against John Boehner and John Roberts.
“FEC debates semantics in political ads” – Matea Gold (Los Angeles Times)
The group is hoping to avoid running ads that qualify as electioneering communications, because it “does not want to risk being compelled to violate its donors’ privacy expectations,” Torchinsky wrote.
Basically, the American Future Fund* wants to ensure that it toes the line on what it can legally say before being forced to reveal it’s donors. Does it strike anyone else as terrifically suspicious that this organization is willing to go to such great lengths to prevent revealing it’s donors?
*Seriously, someone needs to make an online political action committee name generator. They’re all ridiculous, and sound exactly the same. It’s like they’re all pulling names out of the same Patriotic Magnetic Poetry set.**
**As it turns out, someone already did. Someone else did too. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Heal Liberty Inc.
- Accelerate The Amber Waves
- Raise Our Future
- Help Liberty Coalition
- Encourage The Eagle
- Aggrandize Independence
- Voters for the Second Amendment PAC
- Old People for the Stars and Stripes
- Nationalists for Good Things
- Industry Magnates for Small Business
- The American Coalition for Responsibility PAC
- The League of Extraordinary Gentleman against Incontinence
- Patriots against Those Against Us
- Just Another Really Really Well Funded Grassroots Organization for Opacity PAC
- Americans for Strong Values
- The Well-Connected for Liberty
- Organization for Lower Taxes
- Secret Money against Bad Government
- Super PAC for Twirling Towards Freedom
- Federalists for Choices
- Patriotic Puppies for Harvey Dent
- Angry Americans for More Money in Politics
And my personal favorite:
- The Federation for What You Believe In
Post your own!
“America’s last prisoner of war” – Michael Hastings (Rolling Stone)
A terrific article on the last Taliban-held American POW, and the politics around his capture and future release.
“Prosecute the big banks? ‘Nothing’s off the table,’ NY Attorney General says” – David Taintor (TPM)
I’ll treat this with a healthy does of skepticism right up until Lloyd Blankfein is locked in irons and paraded down Broadway for people to throw rotten fruit and vegetables at.
“Then and now: Republicans warming to ‘Obamacare'” – Sahil Kapur (TPM)
To sum up: the GOP is full of two-faced hypocrites that, having realized that certain elements of the PPACA are very popular with the public, are trying to find some way of wiggling out of repealing the whole law, because they know that voting to un-insure millions of people is almost assured of getting them booted out of office.
“How a radical North Dakota ballot initiative could allow the Religious Right to ignore traffic lights” – Ian Millhiser (ThinkProgress)
I believe the law unduly burdens me, as it prevents me from freely exercising my religion which requires that I pelt morons with rotten produce. Guess it’s time to move to North Dakota!
“Rand Paul: Republicans have compromised enough” – Ezra Klein (Wonkblog)
Conservative economic policy in a nutshell:
Problem: The government spends more money than it takes in, leading to deficits.
- Cut taxes.
- ???
- Balanced Budget!
Paul Ryan’s budget was, as Charles P. Pierce has so nobly quipped, zombie-eyed granny-starving. Rand Paul has his own budget, and I have no idea what it would be called. “The Road to 1929”? “The Robber-Baron’s Manifesto”? “Prosperity For A Privileged Few, Catfood And Poverty For Everyone Else”?
The irony in all this of course is that with every successive budget, the GOP makes it clear they’re perfectly prepared to gut what’s left of the New Deal and leave it bleeding out on the floor of the House and Senate, without paying any kind of political price. Why the DNC isn’t running ads against every vulnerable Republican saying “This person wants to end Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.”, I just do not know.
