The Real Progressive

I didn't think that they were that stupid but apparently they are.  The SAME day that the SEC goes after Goldman Sachs for fraud charges, the GOP decided to drink the greedy Wall Street, fat cat, I-would-sooner-sell- my-own-mother-than-help-the-little-guy Kool-Aid.

A letter signed by all 41 Republican Senators indicated that they would not support the  Democrat plan to reign in Wall Street and prevent another financial crisis.

You remember the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 don't you?  That was when a poorly regulated and largely unregulated Wall Street engaged in some banking hi-jinks which finally went up in smoke.   They were broke. Big Wall Street firms were declared too big to fail because if they did, they would pull down the entire country and send us into another Great Depression.  We had to go into our taxpayer pockets and give them money to repair the ship after they ran it into an iceberg.

Remember how angry we were at having to bail out Wall Street while we could see them apologetically dining on champagne and caviar, while giving themselves huge bonuses.  After all,  they were the most talented people in the banking business.

We bailed them out not to save them, but to save America.  And they knew it.  Wall Street made some noise about how they agreed that the financial system needed to reformed to prevent us from flirting with financial ruin again.  But they were lying.  They took that government money, paid themselves off, stopped making loans to people on Main Street (the purpose of getting the government bailout) and started doing what they do best: protect their pockets.  Wall Street firms poured lobbying money into Congress.  Data forms filed with Congress reviled that lobbying expenditures were up 12% in 2009  to $29.8 million compared to 2008.  Most of the spending in 2009 came in the last three months as Congress moved forward on finance reform legislation. 


You say potato, I say government bailout.  In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) wrote "[w]e simply cannot ask the American taxpayer to continue to subsidize this "too big to fail" policy. We must ensure that Wall Street no longer believes or relies on Main Street to bail them out. Inaction is not an option."  The letter was co-signed by the entire remaining 40 Republican Senators. 

Apparently the story the Republicans are putting out is that the Democratic plan for finance reform will allow for more taxpayer bailouts.   It would be a good talking point and rally cry for the GOP if the bill did not explicitly say that it would NOT sanction more government bailouts of Wall Street.

 Tea Party  possible ally on finance reform.  The White House is working with Americans United for Change ("AUC"),a leading progressive group.  AUC is launching a new online web ad campaign specifically designed to target Tea Party activists. Ads are appearing on predominantly conservative websites.  They use behavioral targeting to ensure that the Tea Party and their sympathiers who are anti-government and anti-Wall Street get the real Democrat message.

AUC is hoping to get its ads on conservative sites such as Townhall.com, Biggovernment.com and  on Facebook pages populated by fans of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Tea Party groups. The ads accuse Republicans of  selling out Main Street to Wall Street executives to weaken finance reform legislation

"They're In The Pocket Of Big Banks," reads one online spot, with a picture of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky) pasted below the text.

Recent polls say that the Tea Party wants to rein in Wall Street -- but Senate Republicans are doing their best to shield them with  weak and ineffective legislation.  Jeremy Funk, communications director at AUC believes that "[b]y highlighting this gaping chasm... we expect the potential political consequences of standing with the big banks will make a number of Republicans think twice about opposing financial reform."

By Michelle Loggins

If you’ve been listening to the right wing rhetoric you would believe that Democrats should head for the hills this November. This midterm, blue districts will turn red. Red districts will turn redder. President Obama should be packing up the family and his dog, Bo, in advance of 2012. The red march in on!

All right calm down before you start stock piling food and medical supplies, the GOP must overcome some serious obstacles before they can claim victory in November.

1. The Tea Party Split. They are either a blessing or a curse to the GOP. These days they are leaning more on the curse side since they are more likely to be vote splitters this November.

For example, embattled incumbent Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is facing heavy opposition from conservative talk show host, and Tea Party candidate, JD Hayworth. Down in the polls, McCain called on his former VP running mate, and Tea Party darling, Sarah Palin, to stump for him. She did, but though the TPs love her, they’re still voting for Hayworth because he’s their kind of crazy … I mean conservative.

If more TP candidates win the Republican nomination, it just may cause usual Republicans not to vote and sway independents to the more moderate Democrats. If the TP candidate does not get the Republican nomination, TP candidates are willing to run on their own ticket and take their votes with them. A boon for a struggling Democrat candidate.

2. Party of Hell No! Oh NO! I’m sure that in his head that it sounded pretty good but when Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) went off with his Hell No! rant I had to laugh. Seriously??? This is what the GOP is going to run on???
It was just one more joke to add to what the GOP stood for: Got Zero Plans, to Hell No!!! But no to what? … Better Health Care…. Reform on Wall Street … Nuclear Arms Treaties …Tax cuts for the middle class, jobs bills to get America working. Seriously??? So, Hell No I’m not coming to your party. Sounds irrationally angry and kind of lame.

3. Health Care. So on the eve of the House passing the Health Care Reform Bill, Republicans were swearing up and down and in front of every microphone they could find that they were going to “repeal the bill”. It made the base and Tea Baggers giddy at the prospect. That is what they were going to run on for the November sweep.

But when people started finding out what goodies and common sense reforms were in the hated bill, the Republican mantra became “Repeal and Replace.” Replace with what? All of the really good GOP plays are already in the bill. So then the mantra became “we’ll just tweek the bill” All that hoopla over tweeks? The closer we get to November and the more people find out how they are going to benefit from Health Care Reform, the more popular it and the Democrats will be.The GOP is painting itself into a corner.

Stay tuned for Part II.

The Republicans should have seen it coming. He only talked about it his ENTIRE campaign. He said that he would be a priority in his Administration. He told the Congress to start working on it. The Health Care Bill was posted online for … months. It was discussed in committee. Over 200 Republican amendments were added to the Bill and, according to John Boehner (R-OH), they still hadn’t read it. AHHH! I get why they are the minority … they don’t read. And they keep their eyes closed so they can see they are about to be knocked out. WHAM!!!

It would be funny if they weren’t serious. I can’t tell you how many Republicans and Democrats who couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a black man, are still against this Health Care Law. It would be funny if they didn’t have children that would be without health care on their own and could really benefit being on their parents insurance until they are 26. It would be funny if we weren’t talking about families that only insure their children because they as working parents couldn’t afford to insure themselves too. It would be funny if they knew that this bill didn’t lower the costs of prescription drugs.

May be they do know and they just don’t care. Maybe it’s not what’s IN the bill, but WHO signs it that causes people to bite the hand that feeds them. I’d be surprised to learn that anyone who voted for Barack Obama is part of the Tea Party non-sense. Congressional Republicans waved flags from our nation’s capital stating: Don’t Tread on Me. This is the flag we used to form our own government and fight the British. We were fighting then for freedom to govern with real representation. We got that. It’s called CONGRESS. The President didn’t arbitrarily decided to impose Health Care on the people. We the People demanded it! We VOTED for people for people who would support our mandate for Health Care Reform.

Ready to Fight! States can opt out of the Health Care Reform provisions. This makes me double dog dare a Republican to run for governor in a state such as Michigan where 500,000 people are uninsured, not. This number doesn’t reflect those who can barely afford the health care they pay for. I wasn’t all that excited out my Democratic candidate for governor, Andy Dillon, but when my Republican Attorney General, Mike Cox, joined the other Republicans in filing a frivolous lawsuit about the constitutionality of the Health Care Bill, I am fired up! I am ready to lobby my neighbors to donate money for Dillon’s campaign. I am thankful for the down payment we all made in the ’08 election finally paying off. So Republicans can waive signs with the “N” word or flags of succession, but we progressives can fight hard too, but we just don’t need ethnic slurs and intimidation to do so. I’ll grab my checkbook, tie up my grassroots supporting shoes and get out as many as I can to vote Democrat this fall. You wanted a fight and here it is!

It’s really a cry for help.

Rabid screams from Tea baggers. Glen Beck’s crazed temper tantrums alternated by pleas to stop hating America and just hate Obama. Baseless and fear mongering tactics used by Representatives John Boehner (R-Oh) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn).

I chalked it up to those crazy Republicans being … well…..crazy Republicans.

Usually the crazies are harmless if annoying, but you don’t let them play with sharp objects, heavy equipment, or make major decisions.

In 2008, America told the Republicans they were out of touch with the new America. Hurt and despondent, they locked themselves away in the GOP bunker only to emerge more deluded than before, but still without ideas. When it came time at the televised Health Care Summit to put their cards on the table, they had none. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Ziltch.

Only the tea baggers were left at the party that was fast becoming lame. What they lacked in numbers they made up in volume and craziness. The Republican leadership incited an already angry mob to even more frenzy, which in turn did shameful and un-American acts.

At the Health Care Reform rally in Washington D.C. they taunted a man with Parkinson’s because he supported health care reform.

They called Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga) the “N” word and spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), both African American. Bricks were tossed through windows. They made death threats to those who voted for the bill and their families. We are only missing crosses burning on the lawn of the White House.

If the Tea baggers are now prescribing to the methods of terrorism and intimidation used by the KKK then so are Republicans. The party isn’t Grand, it’s just old. The party of Lincoln should not be the party of extremists who terrorize their own lawmakers.

Al Qaida didn’t cut the gas lines of the home of the brother of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va) with his wife and four children inside. Domestic terrorist who are GOP supporters did.

I haven’t heard Republicans firmly denounce these horrifying acts and demand that they be prosecuted like the criminals they are. If you are not against it then you are for it. If Republicans now advocate for domestic terrorism because of Health Care then we all know that it is past time to get them committed before someone really gets hurt.

Does the new Health Care Law cover straight jackets for the politically and mentally insane?

By: Michelle Loggins