Political Quotes of the Day

[Dardedar]

After Bush acknowledged that he approved the use of waterboarding -- an interrogation tactic nearly universally considered to be one of the archetypyal forms of torture -- Lauer asked: "Would it be OK for a foreign country to waterboard an American citizen?"

Bush's response: "It's all I ask is that people read the book. And they can reach the same conclusion. If they'd have made the same decision I made or not."

Huff Po

[Dardedar]

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise. Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right." --Thomas Jefferson

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders ... 15s32.html

[Dardedar]

DOUG
Now Obama is also going to cave in on extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
Because he's a Democrat. Of course.

DAR
Well, Daily KOS says maybe that Huff Po story is crap.

[Doug]

Well, Daily KOS says maybe that Huff Po story is crap.

DOUG
It's all over the news today. Obama's people are floating the idea of extending all the Bush tax cuts. All of them. But note what they are saying. They say that they are opposed to permanent tax cuts for the rich. But they'll cave in on temporary ones. But temporary ones just allow the Republicans time to come in and extend them again or else make them permanent. It's a deceptive move, and it gives the Republicans what they want.

Some liberal blogs are saying that if Obama extends the tax cuts for the rich, this will be the "last straw" with regard to their patience for his policies. The Democrats control the White House, one house of congress, and an overwhelming number of people do not support continuing the tax cuts for the rich. When Obama does this, he'll have knee-capped the Democratic appeal among the young.

[Dardedar]

DOUG
It's all over the news today. Obama's people are floating the idea of extending all the Bush tax cuts. All of them. But note what they are saying. They say that they are opposed to permanent tax cuts for the rich. But they'll cave in on temporary ones.

DAR
It's all a bunch of political gamesmanship right now. That the country is even having a conversation about continuing a $700B cut over ten years for the ubber wealthy is of course absurd. But 1/3 to 1/2 of the country is populated by absurd people, so this is what you get. Nancy says she won't go along with an extension on the cuts for the rich. Not sure how relevant that is anymore. As to liberal blogs saying this is the last straw, who are they going to support, the teabaggers? In this country your choices are rightwing or the wing of the mental asylum.

[Doug]

As to liberal blogs saying this is the last straw, who are they going to support, the teabaggers? In this country your choices are rightwing or the wing of the mental asylum.

DOUG
They can stay at home in large numbers, disgusted with the lack of significant difference between Obama and the Republicans.

[Dardedar]

I suppose they could write in Nader. Again. With similar results.

[Doug]

I suppose they could write in Nader. Again. With similar results.

Don't encourage him!!!

[Dardedar]

"Bush never fails to disappoint. As a President he was a failure, who owes his time in office to his brother, a team of attorneys, and the favor of blinded judges, appointed by his father. As a writer Bush is an abnegator, who plagiarizes his own pathetic past from other people's work.

Anybody who seriously believed in Bush's ability to consciously recollect the train-wrecks of his doomed presidency, was overly optimistic, at best. Anybody believing he'd be able to bring his thoughts (sic!) on paper in a consistent manner, is a born fool. Many probably thought Bush would at least pay a decent ghost-writer to "git 'r done", but even that assessment turns now out to be an highly exaggerated opinion.

This concoction of an accidental presidency is not so much bankruptcy -declarati on for Bush himself, or his intellect. There is none. It is a embarrassment for all of us. Only in America can the jester become the ruler. Only in America the sheep cheer on inaptitude, ignorance, and arrogance.

Those who voted for Bush should stand in a corner and weep."

--Commenter opining on Bush getting caught plagiarizing the experiences of others in his new book.

[Dardedar]

I was in a customers home today and a fellow there was reading "Bush's" new book. After about 15 minutes he fizzled out and started skimming and then set it aside (he went and got a Bible and started reading that). I was thinking of pointing out that he is doing something Bush didn't even do with that book and that is, read it. If Bush had, he might have noticed that it had him claiming to be at events and giving opinions about events that he wasn't at (because these parts were lifted from someone else's work).

[Dardedar]

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who is a member of President Obama's deficit commission,... Schakowsky's plan is an alternative to the Bowles-Simpson plan and would reduce the deficit by $426.95 billion in 2015, surpassing President Obama’s $250 billion target. Critically, the Schakowsky plan accomplishes deficit reduction without making cuts to essential federal expenditures that benefit the middle class:

“The President’s Fiscal Commission has been given a concrete goal: to achieve primary budget balance in 2015, ensuring that all spending is paid for except for interest on the national debt. Last week, co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson laid out their plan, which they presented to the Commission and to the public. Their proposal would have serious consequences for lower and middle class Americans, and that is why I cannot support it.

“I am releasing my own plan today because I believe that there is a better way to achieve our goal – one that protects the poor and the middle-class.

“Lower and middle class Americans did not cause the deficit.

“Just ten years ago the federal budget was generating a surplus as far as the eye could see. That surplus was turned into a deficit due to massive tax cuts – mainly to wealthy Americans; two wars paid for by borrowed money; and a major recession caused by the recklessness of the big Wall Street banks.

“Over the last decade the incomes of middle class Americans have actually shrunk, while those of the wealthiest two percent of the population have exploded.

“The middle class did not benefit from the Republican economic policies that led to the current deficit – they were the victims – they should not be called upon to pick up the tab."

Crooks and Liars

[Dardedar]

Re Bush tax cuts...

"This isn't a subjective question open to debate; we tried a policy and we can evaluate its results. In this case, Republicans said Bush's tax policy would produce wonders for the economy, and they got exactly what they wanted. We now know, however, that the policy didn't generate robust growth, didn't create millions of new jobs, didn't spur entrepreneurship and innovation, and certainly didn't keep a balanced budget.

And now, as the failed tax policy is set to expire, what's the new Republican message? That this policy must be extended at all costs, and anyone who disagrees is putting the economy at risk.

They not only say this with a straight face, the argument in support of a policy we already know didn't work manages to scare a whole lot of Dems." --Steve Benen LINK

[Doug]

We now know, however, that the policy didn't generate robust growth, didn't create millions of new jobs, didn't spur entrepreneurship and innovation, and certainly didn't keep a balanced budget.

DOUG
The Democrats need to repeat this every day, as Americans are, as a rule, far too ignorant of their government, politics, and current events to know anything about this.

For example, this from a recent Pew poll:

The Republican Party won decisive control of the House in this year's midterm elections, but it appears less than half the country is aware of it.

According to a new Pew poll, only 46 percent of those surveyed correctly identified that the Republican Party won the House as a result of the November 2 elections. But it's not all bad – 75 percent did know the Republicans performed better than the Democrats, it's just that many aren't aware exactly what the party won.

Fourteen percent thought the GOP won control of both the chambers, 8 percent thought Republicans won just the Senate, and 27 percent didn't know one way or the other. Five percent meanwhile thought Democrats maintained control of both the House and Senate.

See here.

One thing they do know for sure: a Black man is in the White House. I think for the most part that's all the Tea Party people care about--and they don't like it one bit.

[Dardedar]

An important note from Art Hobson:

***
"The far right is being nuttier than usual in its opposition to Senate ratification of the new START treaty that Obama and Medvedev signed months ago. Three previous similar arms-reduction treaties were all ratified with more than 90 Senate votes. The new treaty is not radical--it prescribes a 30% reduction in strategic nukes (the large city-killers) over 7 years. Every national security expert who knows anything supports it, conservatives and liberals alike: George Shultz, John Kerry, Richard Lugar, Sam Nunn, Madeleine Albright, James Baker, Henry Kissinger, William Cohen, William Perry, and Brent Scowcroft, for just a few. Republicans chant their cold-war chant: "You can't trust the Russians," but the situation right now is that the old treaty has expired, so until the Senate ratifies the new one there is no verification method for either side's weapons. Ten new Republican senators-elect, including our very own John Boozman, have declared their desire to delay the treaty. Of course, if it's delayed beyond the current rump session, Republicans might delay it to death or defeat it in the next session. This would set back US-Russia relations, reduce world respect for US "leadership," and would make the US less secure militarily. Above all, it would make the world a more dangerous place than it already is. The opposition to ratification seems to be led by people like John Bolton, the crazy man who was US ambassador to the United Nations under Bush for awhile. He opposes the entire treaty because it "will unnecessarily preserve nuclear parity between the two powers." This is stunningly stupid. Nuclear parity, and winding down, is what is needed. The leader of Senate opposition is Jon Kyl of Arizona, a Republican leader with no foreign policy or arms control credentials that I can discern.

Polls show that a solid majority of Americans support further reductions of nuclear weapons. The Republicans are looking especially foolish on this issue. Liberals need to take this ball and run with it, exposing the GOP's foolishness every chance they get. Is this the kind of uncomprehending opposition to all progress we can expect from the tea party types from now on? Liberal opposition should be loud, clear, and constant. Please write letters to editors, letters to congress, etc. etc. about this. And talk to your friends about it. If those who prefer peace over warlike antics can't win this one, we should hang our heads in shame."

--Art Hobson, Physics, U Arkansas, Fayetteville.

See my liberal-arts physics textbook and other stuff at http://physics.uark.edu/hobson/

[Dardedar]

On Tom "the Hammer" Delay, being convicted of money laundering:

"He's going to go from being The Hammer to being The Nail Hole."

[Dardedar]

"When you look historically, when we raise taxes, the economy slows and we don't get any more revenue. When we cut taxes, the economy grows and we maintain the same amount of revenue."
--Lindsey Graham passing along perhaps the most favorite republican tax whopper

Response:

"In fact, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) found that the Bush tax cuts accounted for almost half of the mushrooming deficits during his tenure. As another CBPP analysis forecast, over the next 10 years, the Bush tax cuts if made permanent will contribute more to the U.S. budget deficit than the Obama stimulus, the TARP program, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and revenue lost to the recession put together. Predictably, the Bush tax cuts didn't come anywhere close to paying for themselves. And as Congressional Budget Office projections revealed in June, making them permanent is the very worst thing the so-called deficit hawks could do to reduce the U.S. debt."

Crooks and liars

[Dardedar]

"But of course, really, Fox Business is my favorite and Fox generally, anything Rupert Murdoch owns," --Joe Lieberman, political prostitute, Link

[Dardedar]

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey on Sarah Palin, writing in Pravda:

“By attacking the democratically elected President of the United States of America at a sensitive time in her country’s history, she shows the tact of a boorish drunkard bawling obscenities at a funeral….

And now she turns not only against the fibre and backbone of her country, but against its democratically elected President, accusing him of being incompetent for not stopping Wikileaks. Where was she and where was her GOP before and during the 9/11 attacks? She accuses President Obama of not taking “steps” to assure the leaks were not published. What “steps”?……

If anything is a threat to the national security of the United States of America, it is this screaming, unrefined oaf with as much class as a searing release of flatulence followed by hysterical giggling at a state banquet. Is this what the people of the USA deserve?"

Spanking Sarah Palin: A Clown Short of a Circus

[Dardedar]

“Did you know that the words “race car” spelled backwards still spells “race car”? Did you know
that “eat” is the only word that, if you take the first letter and move it to the last, spells its own
past tense? Did you know that if you rearrange the letters in “Tea Party Republicans” and add
just a few more letters, it spells: 'Shut the fuck up you selfish, free-loading, progress-blocking,
benefit-grabbing, resource-sucking, violent hypocrites, and recognize that you nearly wrecked
the country under Bush and deal with the fact that our president is black, so try and get over it.'
Isn’t that interesting?”

[Dardedar]

"What the right fears about climate change is that it can no longer justify material indulgence­, gross disparity or growth for the sake of capital alone if the biosphere has limits.

The peculiar and nearly universal character of the right wing mind is an identity founded on relatively few compelling attributes that are largely material. This results in an incapacity to transcend any one of them for fear of losing what little depth exists. So its all about money and the rank it can extract from others; used as a surrogate for both depth and self developmen­t that normally results in an identity that can afford to lose its pathologic­al attributes­.

Related to an underdevel­oped identity are several cognitive problems including confirmati­on bias, perceptual filtering, psychologi­cally motivated cognition, denialism, authoritar­ianism and willful ignorance. This anti-intel­lectualism and disdain for self developmen­t is the perennial enemy of human progress, and it shows up with increasing frequency in the decline of every civilization."

Huff Po comment in climate change thread