Obviously there is some "ahem" tension around here regarding Obama, Health Care, Jobs, Climate etc. I have seen it on the wreck list every day this week. But I wanted to step back this "wintry mix" Friday and fill you in on what you may have missed this week while all the fighting has been going on. The Republicans, GOP, teapartiers, Fox News, Sarah Palin are still around folks, and they have been very busy. Join me below the fold for a few items that we MAYBE should be paying attention to.
This was the title of a blog post by one Lisa Solod Warren over at Huffington Post. Here's part of the post that has now been pulled because of the controversy:
In the past few weeks, the two most famous and arguably most successful black men in America have taken a huge fall. It has become clear that both pro golfer Tiger Woods, just named Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press, and the American president, Barack Obama, the first black person to lead the country, suffer from a surfeit of hubris which has finally caught up with them. If both men somehow thought they were untouchable, they have been put to right. Both have crashed to earth and it may well be true that they can never recover their earlier status again.
While Woods' "indiscretions" affect only himself and his family, he has felt the sting of the media invasion and a permanent loss of privacy. His reputation as sport's good family guy is gone. For Barack Obama the honeymoon is really over, even those who wanted to give him a chance are getting tired of what is not getting done, what was promised and reneged on. There is disappointment enough in both of them.
It is tragic when an icon falls. When a black icon stumbles the tragedy seems doubly problematic. Mike Tyson, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jackson were all at the tops of their fields before revelations that made them less palatable as heroes and less of a role model for young black men. They have all been partially rehabilitated but not without a huge cost.
Apparently the author was "shocked" that people found that offensive. Really? Shocked? We get enough of the racial crap from the right, do we have to get it from the left as well? And I really expected there to be at least one wrecked diary on this, but apparently focusing all the anger at Obama is more important.
Who'd a thunk it, huh? Those God Fearin', Flag Waving, Support the Troops Sloganeering Republicans voting AGAINST funding the troops. They'd never play politics with the troops would they?
With Democrats closing in on passing a Senate health care bill, Republicans are upping the obstruction--and they're playing chicken with U.S. troops to do so.
Way back on December 2nd, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filed a single-payer amendment to the Senate health care bill, which was supposed to come up for a vote this afternoon. But at the last moment, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), at the behest Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), demanded that the entire 700-plus page amendment be read aloud on the floor. That's happening now.
Under normal circumstances, this would be a 10 or 12 hour dilatory tactic. But not today. Today, Democrats were planning to file for cloture on the Defense Appropriations bill, in order to get it passed by Friday before midnight when department funding runs out. If the entire amendment is read aloud, it's likely that the Senate won't be able to pass the defense bill until Saturday at the earliest, and would have to pass a short-term continuing resolution to keep money flowing.
"The only thing that Sen. Coburn's stunt achieves is to stop us from moving to the DoD appropriations bill that funds our troops - not exactly the kind of Christmas gift that our troops were expecting from Dr. No," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
But I guess 8 open letters to the President on the wreck list is more important than pointing out the hypocrisy of the Republicans on this and many other issues. The story on the news is the how the left is openly declaring war on Obama. This is what I'm talking about when I say the constant negativity is not helpful. We should see Dems all over the place pointing out the right's hypocrisy on this, but no. I see Hamsher and Dean and others on my TV telling me what a sell out the President is.
Gov. Haley Barbour (R-Miss.), chairman of the Republican Governors Association, called the Democrats' health care reform proposal "catastrophic" Thursday and compared it to the poison ingested at the infamous Jonestown cult’s mass suicide in 1978.
At a press conference, flanked by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Barbour said that if the Senate passes the health care reform bill, it would result in huge electoral gains for the GOP in 2010.
"This is such bad policy for the United States, and it's going to be so bad for our health care system," the Mississippi governor said. "It's going to make health insurance premiums go up. It's going to cut Medicare by about $500 billion. Huge state tax increases. It is catastrophic for small business. But if the Democrats wanna do something to help Republicans, I can't improve on this.
"I've been looking for Jim Jones and where's the Kool-Aid. This is awful, awful policy for our country — and the people know it. The public already understands this. And the longer the debate goes on, the more the public understands that they're going to end up paying more and that they're going to get lower quality health care. But politically, if the nation can survive it, it will be a political windfall for Republicans."
"No one who brings Jim Jones and that tragedy into this conversation should be taken seriously," responded DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse. "It's disgraceful — and Haley Barbour is a disgrace. And his blatant politicization of this issue shows that Republicans are more interested in scoring political points than improving health care for the American people."
Balloon Juice sums it up:
Barbour, Alexander, and Gregg represent the supposedly sane wing of the GOP that David Broder is always fluffing. And, in fairness, they are saner than the teabaggers and the Khmer Rogue.
But, the end, Obama is no different, not after the way he’s slapped us all in the face this week.
That's snark, in case you were wondering.
And finally, something lighthearted for Friday:
Sarah Palin released a statement yesterday announcing that she and husband Todd have cut their Hawaiian vacation short, after some controversy over a McCain campaign visor Palin wore with former running mate John McCain's name blacked out with a Sharpie.
After TMZ posted pictures of Palin wearing the visor, some speculation arose that this was another indication that Palin and McCain have been on bad terms since the campaign. Palin insisted that the visor was simply an attempt to "be incognito" on her trip.
Now, it seems, the controversy has caused Palin to end her Hawaii vacation early. In a statement, Palin said:
Todd and I have since cut our vacation short because the incognito attempts didn't work and fellow vacationers were bothered for the two days we spent in the sun. So much for trying to go incognito.
In conclusion, we're all on the same side people. Really, we are. I understand disappointment with healthcare, Afghanistan, etc, but did you TRULY think that much was going to change in a year? You KNOW that any Dem intra party fighting is catnip for the media. You know this, and yet, I see no attempt to change the narrative. Can we change that starting today? Please?