The Hollywood Liberal

The Palin-Huckabee Dilemma
With Republican presidential prospects considering whether to enter the fray, The Fix notes that “one thing is clear: that Huckabee and Palin…would perform well without the other, but they might undercut each other if they are in the same race.”

“The base of support for Huckabee and Palin is readily apparent, and for both of them, it starts with born-again evangelicals. The two of them combine for 46 percent of that vote, compared to just 26 percent for Gingrich and Romney. Palin and Huckabee are also the top two vote-getters among women and people without college degrees… It’s hard to see Palin having a path to victory that doesn’t include Iowa or South Carolina, and both of those early states happened to be Huckabee’s strongest in 2008.”

A Thanksgiving Miracle for Children of Incarcerated Parents
Terrance Stevens’ dream was to help the many children of NY State prisoners that live in his Harlem community and had been left with a great void in their lives.

Terrance Stevens' dream was to help the many children of NY State prisoners that live in his Harlem community and had been left with a great void in their lives.

Hedging Democracy
Like my friend Larry Lessig, I admit to mixed feelings about the Tea Party Movement. On the one hand I can admire the passionate reform spirit that forces old bulls like Mitch McConnell to give up their beloved earmarks. As…

More Calls for Pentagon Cuts
The new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Domenici-Rivlin commission adds another voice to the growing chorus of calls for cuts in Pentagon spending as part of any deficit reduction plan. Among the most important elements of the report with…

Rep.-Elect Allen West: In D.C. ?You Don?t See People Getting Laid Off? And ?You Don?t See Anyone Suffering?
Yesterday, Rep.-elect Allen West (R-FL), who has risen to national prominence amid controversy over his disparaging views of Islam, progressives, and multiculturalism, appeared on Meet the Press. In the process of explaining why we should permanently extend the Bush tax breaks for millionaires – a move that would add $830 billion to the deficit over […]

Yesterday, Rep.-elect Allen West (R-FL), who has risen to national prominence amid controversy over his disparaging views of Islam, progressives, and multiculturalism, appeared on Meet the Press. In the process of explaining why we should permanently extend the Bush tax breaks for millionaires – a move that would add $830 billion to the deficit over the next ten years alone – West made some curious comments about the economic situation in his new home of Washington, D.C. After noting that unemployment is as high as 13 percent in his Florida district and foreclosures are skyrocketing, West claimed that “you don’t see people getting laid off” and “you don’t see anyone suffering” in our nation’s capital:

GREGORY: The — Congressman, the — on the issue of tax cuts, do you buy the president’s argument, “Look, let’s extend those Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class first, then we can come back and do the upper earners, or at least have that conversation”?

WEST: No. I think that we need to extend those tax cuts permanently across the board. Look, I come from a — an area down in South Florida where unemployment is at 13 percent, foreclosures are absolutely high. We are seeing closed upon closed storefronts. But yet, when you walk around here in Washington, D.C., you don’t see people getting laid off, you don’t see, you know, anyone suffering, you don’t see the foreclosures.

Watch it:

West’s comments display an unfortunate lack of awareness of the economic hardships that many D.C. residents experience. Unemployment is low for the upper crust of Washington, including those who populate the halls of Congress — just 4.2 percent for those with a college degree, according to a study by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.

However, working-class residents have acutely felt the pain of the economic recession. In Ward 8, which lies just south of Capitol Hill, the unemployment rate topped 28 percent last year, “one of the highest in the nation.” West’s comments about foreclosures are equally misguided, as local blog DCist shows with a video of residents lining up around the block and crowding into the Convention Center to receive free home loan counseling.

It is extraordinarily easy for congressmen like West to arrive in Washington, ingratiate themselves in lobbyist luncheons and the cocktail circuit, and assume that economic hardship somehow passed over our nation’s capital. As a result, it is no surprise that West would argue for permanent tax breaks for billionaires while — in the very same breath — denying the existence of poor people in D.C.

Thankfully, West will not chair the House subcommittee that oversees Washington, D.C. in the 112th Congress. That role will be filled by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a man who believes that giving D.C. governing autonomy and voting rights is unconstitutional.

Bachmann Stands By Charge That Obama Is ?Anti-American? And Her Lie About Obama?s India Trip Costs
Last Friday on the BBC, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke with host Emily Maitlis about a range of topics. Unlike the puff interviews Bachmann enjoys from most of the media, like on Fox News, the BBC actually challenged Bachmann on some of her radical views and distortions. First, Maitlis questioned Bachmann about her 2008 charge […]

Last Friday on the BBC, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) spoke with host Emily Maitlis about a range of topics. Unlike the puff interviews Bachmann enjoys from most of the media, like on Fox News, the BBC actually challenged Bachmann on some of her radical views and distortions. First, Maitlis questioned Bachmann about her 2008 charge that Obama is “very anti-American.” Rather than apologize or walk back the statement, Bachmann dug in, repeatedly answering the question with a litany of right-wing anti-Obama talking points:

MAITLIS: You’ve suggested that President Obama is anti-American. Do you really believe that?

BACHMANN: I’ve been very concerned about the policies that have come out of the White House and I share that agreement with people who voted at the ballot box on the first Tuesday in November, they’re rejecting the federal government foray into buying and owning an equity share […]

MAITLIS: But that’s a different thing, do you think he’s anti-American, do you think that the president of America is anti-American?

BACHMANN: The policies that are anti-free enterprise are ones that are not familiar to the people of the United States. And that’s why we saw such a strong reaction to the ballot box. In fact, the government takeover of health care is a great example, that’s not what was done here historically in the United States, and the people don’t want to see the federal government to control and dictate our health care.

Maitlis then asked Bachmann about her ridiculous claim that Obama spent over $200 million a day on his trip to India. The inflated number has been debunked by the Wall Street Journal, PolitiFact, and other organizations. As the blog IntoxiNation noted, Bachmann and a chorus of right-wing voices pounced on the smear after it was promulgated by Matt Drudge on the Drudge Report. Bachmann justified her lie by claiming that it was fair game since “major national figures in the United States, many in the media had already been using that figure.” Apparently, if Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh says something, that’s enough for a member of the House of Representatives to believe it as true:

MAITLIS: You claimed that President Obama spent $200 million a day on a trip to India. It’s been roundly ridiculed as a quote.

BACHMANN: Actually, I didn’t claim that. I was quoting a newspaper out of India. And I only used that quote–

MAITLIS: Well why would you do that?

BACHMANN: Well number one it came out of the host country in India, a well-respected financial newspaper.

MAITLIS: And you believe that? $200 million dollars a day?

BACHMANN: Well, all I did was I quoted the newspaper. I quoted the newspaper and major national figures in the United States, many in the media had already been using that figure. […] The reason it was so important was that the president has a two-year history of out of country spending. […]

MAITLIS: You still believe that it was $200 million dollars a day?

BACHMANN: I didn’t say if I believe it or not. What I said was a I was quoting a newspaper.

Watch:

As the New York Times reported on Saturday, Bachmann lost her bid for a leadership position within the GOP House largely because of her proclivity to make deeply embarrassing gaffes and lies. Her performance on the BBC serves as a testament to that problem. (HT: DailyKos diarist devtob)

Airport security uproar frustrates White House advisers
For a White House often accused of being lax on national security, the uproar over invasive security techniques at airports is a head-snapping swing in the other direction.

Federal Eye: Pistole the latest official to send mixed messages
Obama administration officials spent the weekend sharing different comments on airport security, the latest example of the president and Cabinet secretaries sending mixed messages on policy or politics to the American public.

Michelle Obama names Schake as communications director
First Lady Michelle Obama has named Kristina Schake as her new communications director, filling a position that had been vacant since August.

Anti-Earmark Amendment Cedes Power to White House

The Day Margaret Thatcher Resigned
Charles Moore, The Telegraph
Twenty years ago this morning, having slept on the matter, Margaret Thatcher got up and decided to resign. At 7.30, she rang her principal private secretary and got the process rolling.At 9am, in a tearful session, she announced her resignation to the Cabinet. The news was put out at 9.25, and the Cabinet then turned to normal business. At 12.45, she went to see the Queen.And then, in great British parliamentary tradition, Mrs Thatcher had to continue almost as if nothing had happened. It was a Thursday, so the then twice-weekly Prime Minister’s Questions fell that…

For NBC Sale, Tensions Rise in Washington

The Politics of Avoidance
Robert Samuelson, Newsweek
WASHINGTON — America's budget problem boils down to a simple question: How much will we let programs for the elderly displace other government functions — national defense, education, transportation and many others — and raise taxes to levels that would, almost certainly, reduce economic growth? What's depressing is that this question has been obvious for decades but our political leaders have consistently evaded it. This includes and indicts Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals and every president since Jimmy Carter, particularly Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who…

The Liberal Crisis
John Podhoretz, Commentary
The defeat of Russ Feingold in the November 2 election has unexpectedly provided the most uncompromisingly left-wing Democrat in the U.S. Senate with a new job opportunity—that of candidate for the presidency of the United States. Feingold hinted in his concession speech on election night that he might challenge Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. “It’s on to 2012,” Feingold said, “and it is on to our next adventure.”The next day, a spokesman said that Feingold had “no interest” in running for the…

Groping for Thee, not for me
Yet another comparative nightmare of the TSA.

John Boehner, artist’s interpretation via maistora at flickr.com

Yet another Gate-rape horror story.

Sawyer is a bladder cancer survivor who now wears a urostomy bag, which collects his urine from a stoma, or opening in his stomach…

…“One agent watched as the other used his flat hand to go slowly down my chest. I tried to warn him that he would hit the bag and break the seal on my bag, but he ignored me. Sure enough, the seal was broken and urine started dribbling down my shirt and my leg and into my pants.”

Humiliated, upset and wet, Sawyer said he had to walk through the airport soaked in urine, board his plane and wait until after takeoff before he could clean up.

Meanwhile, for ‘America’s Apricot Everyman’:

Mr. Boehner headed across the Potomac River to Ronald Reagan National Airport, which was bustling with afternoon travelers. There was no waiting for Mr. Boehner, who was escorted around the identification-checking agents, the metal detectors and the body scanners, and whisked directly to the gate.

Humiliation for you, but nobody will touch John Boehner’s Orange Julius.

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Late, Late Night FDL: Can You Tell
Ra Ra Riot – Can You Tell; The Clientele – Bookshop Casanova

Ra Ra Riot – Can You Tell

The Clientele – Bookshop Casanova

What’s on your mind tonite…?

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Touch My Junk: Body Scans and Pat-Downs for Everyone
To paraphrase the government’s reaction to the backlash against new airport screening measures, “We hear you. Tough it up.”

To paraphrase the government’s reaction to the backlash against new airport screening measures, “We hear you. Tough it up.”

Related Entries

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John Ensign Could Be In Big Trouble In 2012
If Sen. John Ensign began last week with a declaration of his 2012 candidacy that earned him more raised eyebrows than ravenous applause, he got…

Jim DeMint Still Fighting To Keep Lisa Murkowski From Senate
Even as DeMint says he would welcome fellow Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski back to the Senate, the South Carolinian is still urging conservative activists around…

Texas Bill Revives Debate Over 10 Commandments Displays
State Rep. Dan Flynn hopes to ensure that any Texas teacher who wants to can display the Ten Commandments in a classroom….

Robert Kuttner: Saving Progressivism From Obama
If politics continues on its present course, about the best one might expect for 2012 is that the Republicans will nominate such a nut-case that Obama will stagger to re-election. But unless he is re-elected with a mandate to carry out drastically different policies, we can anticipate continued economic pain and continuing drift of the electorate to the right. So what is the alternative? My audacious hope is that progressives can move from disillusion to action and offer the kind of political movement and counter-narrative that the president should have been leading.

Sharron Angle Camp BLASTED By GOP Official: Advisor Would Play Role In ‘Dumb And Dumber’ Sequel
“In the 20 years that I’ve been involved politically, I’ve never had the misfortune of working with such sheer, utter incompetence. Too much is at…

Conservatives Approve Interim Report Slamming DOJ On New Black Panther Case
The conservative majority of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights today voted to approve what they are now calling an “interim” report on the Justice Department’s handling of the voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

Feds Bust Alleged Sharia Ponzi Scheme In Chicago
Three men have been indicted for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme and stealing $43 million from investors who thought they were putting their money in a Sharia-compliant investment strategy.