Tonight's the vote on whether to allow debate in the Senate on the health care reform bill. 60 votes are needed to begin debate….yes, BEGIN debate.

If you've been following this congressional soap opera develop…..in a glacially slow fashion…..you also know that it appears as if Senate Democrats will have the votes tonight to BEGIN debate. Joementum Lieberman (Lieberman Party-CT) will magnanimously (after consulting Yahweh directly) vote to allow debate to start,…so will, apparently, Ben Nelson (D-NE). Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Mary Landrieux (D-LA) are still playing coy, probably looking for the hand with the largest check amount on in….in order to decide.

Just think about what is happening tonight at 8 PM in the Senate. Democrats are being asked whether or not a Democratic health care reform bill should be introduced for debate. That's it. And trying to get an answer from Democrats on whether they'll even vote to allow debate has been like pulling teeth.

For tonight's vote to be so dramatic does not bode well for the future of the legislation.

The 40 Senate Republicans, having proven their high regard for fiscal responsibility during the presidency of Dick Cheney, naturally, will be voting no on allowing debate. Those 40 only want what's best for all Americans and are not simply attempting to bring about "Obama's Waterloo."

Will the bill eventually pass the Senate? How long will it take for obstructionist Republicans to exhaust their amendments, objections and stall tactics? Will the final bill….if there is a final bill…..be so mangled by corporate-pleasing Democratic senators that it will be totally impotent, except for increasing health insurers bottom lines?

Those are some of the unknowns….but The Reverend has predictions.

First….there will be no public option in any final Senate bill. Joe Lieberman, of the Joe Lieberman Party, will filibuster a final vote that contains a public option. Aside from carving out the entire state of Connecticut and designating it as the state of Lieberman…..Holy Joe will, once again, f*ck the Democrats over.

The Lone Republican Rangerette, Olympia Snowe (R-ME), said she MIGHT vote for a final bill which contained a "trigger" public option. A trigger assumes that health insurance and medical costs are not really that bad YET. Quite an assumption, but Snowe is still a Republican….and Republicans always know what's best for the vulnerable, poor and underprivileged. The trigger cop-out suggests that IF sometime down the road insurers and medical costs really, really get out of control…then, and only then, something else MIGHT be needed.

So…my prediction, all things being equal…is that a public option wll have to be sacrificed by progressive Democrats in order to get ANYTHING passed. That will protect corporate health insurers, thus pleasing the Republicans who will vote against it. Don't ask me….I never said it made sense.

Second…..This one is for the ladies. New far reaching restrictions on a woman's right to choose will most likely be included in any Senate bill with hopes of passing. The most likely outcome will be a harsh restriction on any "insurance exchange" plans from covering abortion, even though the majority of insurance plans today in America cover abortion.

This will drastically increase the scope of the odious Hyde Amendment which already prohibits tax money from being spent on abortion. Additionally,….though no Republicans will vote for it in the end,….further restrictions on a woman's right to choose will please Republicans. Republicans are in the minority and out of the White House, but America is really a conservative-Republican country in spite of having elected the most "liberal person in the Senate" as president, and putting 59 Democratic Senators in the Senate. If you can figure that sentence out…let me know.

Third….Sometime in early 2010, the Very Serious Senate will get around to calling a vote on whatever final piece of corporate-welfare and women-bashing legislation they've prepared. Having done everything in their power to please Republicans, except including a paragraph granting authorization to nuke Iran, Joementum, perhaps Snowe, the handful of ConservaDems and the rest of the self-loathing Democrats will get the 60 votes needed….TO BRING IT TO A FINAL VOTE!

Summary: If all that happens and something actually passes next Spring…..corporate-patriots of the health insurance variety will raise prices so high before the legislation finally goes into effect in 2013….that Democrats, who sought to please Republicans, just might be swept out of office in time for the GOP, America's Party, to rescind the whole thing.

Pat Robertson (Wingnut for God), Pete Hoekstra(R-MI), Chuck 'Pulling the Plug on Grandma' Grassley (R-KS), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sarah Palin (Celebrity)…..all have something very much in common.

Rachel Maddow explains…..

Bashing Muslims is back in vogue…..not that it ever fell out of favor within the more imaginative far right winger groups. But I find it remarkable that 2 GOP Senators think al-Qaeda "sympathizers" now work for the U.S. Justice Department. AG Eric Holder found it remarkable too…and worthy of a guffaw.

Having already alienated women, blacks, and Hispanics…I guess the only group left for xenophobic Republicans to offend is the .6% of Americans who are Muslim.

Do we absolutely have to retrace the ugliness of the Joe McCarthy red scare days? Can't Republicans learn anything? Ever?
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But if you can believe it……the new Muslim McCarthyism in the Republican Party is mild in comparison with the mighty moral warriors of the American evangelical kind.

The new "take it to Jesus" slogan for the evangelical nuts in America is Psalms 109.

Here's the new bumper sticker you can buy from zazzle.com…..

What would a person praying for President Obama on the basis of Psalms 109…be praying FOR?…..

8May his days be few;

may another take his place of leadership.

9May his children be fatherless

and his wife a widow.

10May his children be wandering beggars;

may they be drivend from their ruined homes.

Those righteous Bible believing Christians who pray FOR Obama on the basis of Psalms 109 would be praying for him to be dead and his two young girls to be homeless, wandering beggars.

These are the same folks who call the Prince of Peace and Love their Master and Saviour.

Shucks…it's all just good funnin'…..

ABC….

For many, the slogan is just a humorous way express disapproval for President Obama. It's been tweeted and retweeted by Obama critics with messages like "too funny" and "an excellent prayer for America."

See? In the minds of evangelical followers of Jesus, it's just "too funny" to pray for Obama to be dead and for Obama's children to be homeless. Humorous.

But it's those American Muslims who are threatening our nation.

Jesus.

Obama, while visiting China, talks to imposter-news "reporter" Major Garrett of FOX….

Obama warned the United States' climbing national debt could drag the country into a "double-dip recession," though he said he's still considering additional tax incentives for businesses to reverse the rising unemployment rate.

"There may be some tax provisions that can encourage businesses to hire sooner rather than sitting on the sidelines. So we're taking a look at those," Obama told Fox News' Major Garrett.

"I think it is important, though, to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

Digby has it right, when she says that she hopes imposter-news mischaracterized what Obama was getting at….because the national debt has very little, if anything, to do with our current economic situation.

American "news" has been spinning phony yarns for so long now that I wouldn't be the least surprised to see Village Knee Pad streetwalkers successfully convince enough Americans into believing yet another lie.

Our current recession has absoluetly NOTHING to do with the national debt doubling under the last administration. While huge national debt increases under Bush, and now Obama, are, indeed, a concern…..that debt should not be blamed in any way for our current conditions. In fact, the current near-depression conditions were created ENTIRELY by the gambling-house industries of finance, insurance and real estate. Free market greed gone wild.

If Obama actually told imposter-news "reporter" Major Garrett that a "climbing national debt could drag the country into a 'double-dip recession'"…..he's being dishonest. Obama knows better. The debt and the current recession have nothing to do with one another…..and even implying otherwise in front of imposter-news representatives is a huge political mistake.

What the country needs right now, not late next year but now, is MORE government spending to directly create jobs. Another trillion dollars is needed right now, with every dollar going to job creation instead of like the watered-down-to-mollify-dumbass-conservatives-stimulus-bill provisions passed back in February. The way to pay for that trillion is blindingly clear as well…..tax Wall Street transactions.

Wall Street is where the recession began. The recession didn't begin because the dollar crashed or China quit buying our debt. The recession began because unscrupulous money scheme connivers lost their reckless and unregulated bets to such an extent……that they all ran out of money and came to tax payers for bailouts.

As a result of banksters running out of money because they lost their reckless and unregulated bets…..money, almost overnight, became unavailable for lending to Americans in order to buy stuff…like cars, houses, etc. Massive layoffs followed. The downward cycle began. To add insult to injury…now the recession-causers are punishing consumers through reduced credit and higher interest rates and fees.

If President Obama is so foolish or "centrist" to believe that he can co-opt the TeaBagger insanity over government spending, even giving one inch by agreeing that government spending is the problem right now….then he is only setting himself up for political defeat and setting Americans up for a TeaBagger-led government in the future. I shutter at the thought.

Palin, FOX, and the TeaBaggers don't have a point when it comes to government spending……and they don't even care that they don't. The year-long wingnut nonsense about government spending, socialism, 'I want my country back', yada, yada…..is not to be taken seriously. The sole purpose of the Baggers and Co. is to return bankster-favoring Republicans back into majority government power…. the very people who helped banksters bring our country to it's knees in the first place.

Obama shouldn't attempt to triangulate with incoherent economic idiots or imposter-news "reporters"…..ever.

Virginia Democratic Senator Jim Webb on AG Eric Holder's announcement that five of the 9-11 plotters will be tried in New York federal court…..

Those who have committed acts of international terrorism are enemy combatants, just as certainly as the Japanese pilots who killed thousands of Americans at Pearl Harbor. It will be disruptive, costly, and potentially counterproductive to try them as criminals in our civilian courts.

..[..]..

And we must be especially careful with any decisions to bring onto American soil any of those prisoners who remain a threat to our country but whose cases have been adjudged as inappropriate for trial at all. They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts, and they do not belong in our prisons.

House representative Jim Moran (D-Va)….has a different take….

"They (Republicans, neo-cons, wingnuts) see this as an opportunity to demagogue," he said. "They will seize on any opportunity to do that, and that means they'll even take a stand that's un-American."

"It's un-American to hold anyone indefinitely without trial," Moran added. "It's against our principles as a nation."

"Opportunity to demagogue? Yep…like this….

Of all the mindless memes that non-reality-based adherents blare out like zombie pod people…..this one about "American soil" is the most ignorant. That's saying something….because the extreme right TeaBagger-FOX-Beck-Rush Group LLC….says a whole bunch of ignorant stuff on an hourly basis.

Giuliani is a discredited authoritarian moron, so it's easy to dismiss his grandstanding gibberish. But Rudy represents the FOX-BeckerHead position…so it will be the most prominent, because whatever FOX-Beckerheads spout is to be taken very Seriously by the Village. And, as the 9-12'ers and Rupert Murdoch have made clear, all wingnut-media decisions are for the purpose of "destroying Obama."

Remember, the only Job One there is for Republicans, Teabaggers, Drug Addicts on the Radio and myriad Wingnut Zoo Animals….is to bring about, as South Carolina cracker-senator Jim DeMint said…."Obama's Waterloo."

Now the analysis.

Senator Jim Webb is mistaken when he compares Japanese pilots during WW2 with 9-11 hijackers. Japanese pilots were operating under the authority of the Japanese Emperor. Japanese pilots during WW2 represented a country, a nation of people who declared war against America with the Pearl Harbor attack. WW2 was a war of nations. The militaries of the Axis powers were ordered by their nation's leaders to wage war on Allied nations.

9-11 Islamic hijackers represented who, exactly? A tiny international band of stateless anarchist criminals. No state or country sponsored the 9-11 hijackers. 9-11 hijackers did not act on the orders of a state dictator, politician, leader, or representative. Bin Laden's al-Qaeda carried out acts of violence for THEMSELVES….no one else.

Islamic extremists are seeking to make a symbolic "political statement" with their acts of violence. The entire point of killing others while killing yourself is to shock others into believing they are not safe. Japanese pilots who dropped bombs on Pearl Harbor were not making a "political statement"……they were beginning a monumental war of one nation against another. Japanese pilots were seeking to defeat the U.S. military, and thus America, the nation. Japanese pilots were not just trying to shock U.S citizens…..there was nothing symbolic about Pearl Harbor.

The second bit of "demagogic" nonsense-hype by American wingnuts only seeking Obama's demise by foolishly arguing we can't try 9-11 masterminds on "American soil"….is the, "they're too dangerous" to be housed in New York prisons…nonsense. There's no question the 9-11 plot was sinister and evil, but the five radical Islamic masterminds to be tried in New York federal court ain't squat compared to the most vicious, brutal, bloodthirsty deviants we currently have safely locked away in federal prisons, including, by the way, over 100 Islamic "terrorists."

To take the position that these five are too dangerous to bring onto "American soil" is, at best, a wingnut admission that America is weak, vulnerable, unsure of it's power and that the Constitution and set of laws which guide us are, somehow, deficient.

The final point I want to make is over the stupid claim that if we try 9-11 conspirators in New York…then New York will automatically become the focus of new terrorist attacks. Besides being another admission that America is just too weak or vulnerable to protect itself….this ignorant meme, meant only to diminish Obama's leadership, ignores the fact that America currently occupies two Muslim countries with some 200,000 U.S. soldiers. Daily, we are killing Afghani citizens. Also ignored is the fact that the American military has killed, at the very minimum, some 128,000 Iraqi citizens in our war of imperialistic aggression. 4 million Iraqis were displaced.

What more incentive would a Muslim crazy need to "focus" their extremist bile on the U.S.?

Here are the facts. George W. Bush, though he did not act on it, stated clearly that he would like to see Guantanomo closed. But Bush was a Republican president with very low approval ratings. In comes a popular Democratic President Obama who agrees with Bush's view of closing Guantanomo. If Obama succeeds in closing Guantanomo…..well, you know the wingnut drill….then America "fails."

The ignorant and disingenuous blatherings about not trying 9-11 conspirators on "American soil" is for the sole purpose of seeing Obama "fail."

Not that complicated.

First it was Rev. Wright…then Bill Ayers….with all the accompanying non-biased, and Pulitzer-Prize-caliber reporting. Then came the "Hillary Clinton was cheated," narrative suggesting (wrongly) that she had more primary votes than Barak Obama. All this was followed by "Obama's only a celebrity like Paris." Then came the "how can Obama overcome his problem with white voters?" question.

Sarah Palin's entry brought with it the "palling around with terrorists", "Obama is a Marxist", "real Americans in real America", and "Obama is not sufficiently patriotic." All accusations that had to be deeply plumbed for there wingnut wisdom.

Immediately following Obama's election, it became full metal jacket Blago. Obama is from Illinois, (via Kenya) Emmanuel is from Illinois, Blagojevich was governor of Illinois….ipso facto, weeks and weeks were spent "informing" us about an Illinois governor who did what every American elected official does….traded on his influence.

In January came Rush's "hope he fails" comedy routine….and a Serious search to unpack the deep profundity in that statement. The stimulus "discussion" gave opportunity for corporate-whore media to entertain (on a 2-1 basis over Democrats) the thoughts and demagoguing of Republicans and conservatives on the Sunday morning "news" programs. Despite having his electoral ass kicked, and despite the fact that McCain now plays an insignificant role in a 40 GOP'er Senate, John McCain recorded his 14th appearance on the Sunday morning "news" shows recently.

Ordering that Guantanomo would be closed brought with it such an unhinged response from dishonest neo-conservatives and their obedient knee-jerk children that the thought of dangerous criminals being held on "American soil" became the most imminent national threat. Terrorists in American prisons?….How can we ever be safe?

And then it really started to get crazy. March brought with it the TeaParty Blitz….and the long awaited return of Dick Cheney to national corporate-whore media…..this time with mini-me-Dick, daughter Liz, out spreading the "torture love" doctrine of Father Dick. Neither holds public office, Father Dick is hated by most Americans….but there they were, "news" program after "news" program, telling us to be very, very afraid if America stops torturing. You see, the Dicks are Serious.

Don't forget the marvelously patriotic and sensible "birther" movement still championed by over half of Republicans and the recently released CNN xenophobe, Lou Dobbs….and naturally, all of the AM radio talkers and FOX.

The summer of 2009 may just be referred to in the history books as the "Summer of Incoherence"….as BeckerHeads, TeaBaggers, and Townhall Buster-Uppers, some carrying loaded weapons, saturated the "news" with their sour grapes of discontent with a black Democratic president intent on destroying America and replacing it with (take your pick)….socialism, communism Maoism, Stalinism, or Nazism……all conveniently interchangeable at a moment's notice. Desperate cries of, "I want my country back", echoed repeatedly through the TeaBags.

ACORN became, overnight, one of America's most dangerous domestic enemies. Amateur wingnut videographers, working with FOX, stung those primarily-black-employee-run Acorn offices in a daring and patriotic commando raid to save us all…..I guess from signing up more black voters. "Breaking News" ensued.

"Killing grandma", "death panels", (another 1/2 term Governor Palin gem), "death books for veterans", "Obama will take away your Medicare",…filled the late summer and early fall, with yet more incoherent TeaParties and 9-12'er events, led by America's brilliant new Paul Revere, Glenn Beck…and of course, FOX. No one is sure how many Baggers turned out on Beckerhead day. Somewhere between 60,000…..and 2 million. No way to know.

Now we're being flooded with "Obama and the Democrats are sneaking in tax-payer abortions", "Obama is 'dithering' on Afghanistan", and the recent election (which added a new Democrat to the House) is a "sign that Americans are rejecting Obama's leadership," "Obama and the Democrats (after 10 months) are in deep trouble."

This past week has brought with it the "Ft. Hood massacre is the first terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9-11," proving, I'm sure, that without the Dick's torture, we are all doomed. Calls for renewing "investigations" into American Muslims and Muslim groups are rampant.

Obama left today on an Asian-countries tour….and dollars to donuts….I bet we'll get to hear all about how Obama had to get out of D.C. to avoid all the "controversies" he's created. Just more "dithering."

Now….it could just be me….but it sure as hell seems like corporate-whore media has joined with conservative and GOP wingnuts in "creating reality" for the last year and a half. An anti-Obama-and-the-Democrats narrative template has been placed overtop of ALL events since the beginning of last year.

Or maybe not. Like I said….it could just be me.

Liberal ideas…truly liberal ideas…..are rarely ever considered by Congress. The reason is that liberal ideas, somehow, are never worthy enough to be called American….even though the strength and character of America was built primarily on liberal ideas.

Take, for example, the liberal idea on health care reform. The liberal idea on health care reform is single-payer government run health care. Single-payer is the most cost efficient and most fair way to deal with health care for all Americans. Because that is the case, it can never be considered. The liberal idea of single-payer was NEVER entertained by any health care reform congressional committees. When citizen attendees at congressional health reform committee meetings stood and requested single-payer representation…..they were arrested.

Whenever this very apparent dynamic is raised in earshot of Villagers, however, Villagers only smirk and say that Obama and Congress are doing the right thing by not caving in to those liberal loons. To the mainstream media "thinkers"….and this has been true forever….the worst thing a Democratic president can do is consider truly liberal ideas, take them seriously. If a Democratic president seriously considers truly liberal ideas….then that president is caving to the lefty loons. For the Village, the very worstest action a Democratic president can take …..is to, god forbid, champion truly liberal ideas.

Out of that dyamic of total nonsense comes the often-repeated, 'the new Democratic president must move away from his "leftist" base'…..'the new Dem president must move towards the center to be effective…yada, yada'….'the president's biggest danger is in caving to his radical left.'

Having said all of that…..just think about how the Villagers would have responded if Democratic congressional leaders spoke in front of a far-leftist group of protesters favoring single-payer. What if Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer encouraged a group of far-left liberals to gather in front of the Capital steps? What if those Democratic leaders each stepped to the microphone and cheered the far-left, single-payer crowd on…telling them to be of good cheer because the far-left liberal cause of single-payer will win the day?

What if single payer protesters held big banners depicting the Republican plan for health care as comparable to Dachau, Germany concentration camps?

What if the Democratic National Committee chairman, Tim Kaine, told all non-single-payer favoring Democratic representatives that if they voted against single-payer, the DNC will "come after them?" What if the DNC chairman went on to tell the single-payer protesters, "we want to partner as much as possible with you?"

What if "far-leftist", Dennis Kucinich, had communist-interest groups bus in 4000 protesters to rally in front of the Capital steps for single-payer….AND Democratic leaders, Pelosi, Hoyer, etc. spoke to the tiny crowd in support of their cause?

Wouldn't the Villagers, mainstream media, be telling us today that the Democratic Party had gone over the far-left edge….that the Democratic Party had now become totally unhinged….that the Democratic Party had now been taken over by dangerous radicals?

Instead of reporting on the extremely radical nature of the players and the crazed message of yesterday's astro-turf-organized, Michelle Bachmann-led, protest in front of the Capital steps…the "liberal" N.Y.Times treated the event with respect and dignity.

Here's the best the Washington Post's Dana Milbank, ever the narcissistic wanker, could come up with….

"But this protest was unusual because it was an official House GOP event, and because some of the remarks on the stage were as outrageous as those in the crowd."

Ya' think…Dana?

In a non-dysfuntional free nation, main national media would, still today, be reporting on the insanity, the crazed hysteria of the current GOP-TeaPartier alliance. In a dysfunctional free nation, like the U.S., such a mindnumbingly, ignorant, and potentially dangerous union of extremists and political leaders is only worthy of microscopic analysis and disdain if that union is made up of Democrats.

MSNBC.com headline: Bachmann shines among grassroots conservatives

ABCnews.com….

"But if you need evidence of where the political energy and excitement has gone, one year since Grant Park, a lunchtime midday rally in Washington isn't a bad place to start.

(Try to imagine the old Obama campaign army pulling off something roughly comparable in as short a time, with as little formal planning — or even with spreadsheets and call lists and marching orders, for that matter.)"

4000 folks bussed in at the expense of Americans For Prosperity is "where the political energy and excitement has gone."

CBSnews.com headline: Anger Fuels Anti-Health Care Rally

Instead of pointing out the demented and potentially dangerous alliance, "outed" yesterday in a noontime wingnut-fest with GOP congressional leaders and the TeaBaggers…..the new offical alliance was either treated as a ho-hum story or an alliance worthy of serious respect and consideration.

The Republican Party is now, officially, the Party of the Wingnut TeaBaggers. Media response…."Yawn."

As it is now, the more extreme portion of the GOP has decided to go after any candidate who smells of moderation or practices the evil art of compromise.

The Palin, FreedomWorks-Dick Armey, crazed conservative media morons, and, of course, the Tea Partiers, themselves, decided that some goddamn nut, Doug Hoffman, should push the more moderate GOP candidate out of a reliable GOP New York district House seat.

Now the seat will be held by a Democrat, Bill Owens. Owens beat Hoffman. It's been over 100 years since that district was held by someone other than a Republican.

That brilliant political strategy is now going to be deployed in California and possibly, Florida. Tea Partiers are going to try to knock the more moderate, Carly Fiorina (Hewlett-Packard), out of contention for next year's challenge to Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.

In Florida, the same Jim DeMint (R-SC) who is supporting the TeaParty-style candidate, Chuck DeVore, against Fiorina in California….is also supporting a far right candidate for senator in Florida, Marco Rubio…rather than supporting Florida Governor Charlie Crist, a moderate.

To the TeaPartiers out there….how did that purge strategy work for ya' up in New York's 23rd district? Not since the 1870's has a Democrat held the congressional seat of New York's 23rd district…..now a Democrat holds that seat.

Yet, Palin and DeMint and other extremist conservatives are steaming full speed ahead to implement the same TeaParty strategy across the country ahead of next November's midterm elections.

Next year we'll all be TeaPartied to death. Maybe that's the plan.

To what end? With all the manure slinging* about Tuesday's election, the news is that Democrats now have one more seat in the House. In our current health care reform frenzy, Democrats having one more vote in the House is only a good thing, you know, for Democrats.

What I'm saying is that TeaPartiers are wrecking any chances for the GOP to come back to majority-party status. While TeaPartiers are helping Palin and Dick Armey make a bunch of money, which was kinda', you know, the TeaParty plan from the beginning, conservatives are losing their voices of representation.

Republicans need to embrace the Charlie Crists and Carly Fiorinas out there, not reject them. Perceived ideological purity does not often work out pragmatically…..and it's not going to work this time for the TeaPartier brigade. Conservatives must face up to how America actually is, not what they think America should be…….and work out their politics accordingly.

Republicans don't need to move any further to the right…purging out all moderate thinkers……I mean, Jesus.

I don't like Ben Nelson, Blanche Lincoln, Mary Landrieu, Evan Byah (special dislike), and a few others wearing Democratic jerseys….but rejecting them all out of hand does not take into consideration the diversity in the population of our states. For example, Missouri is a more moderate-conservative voting state. Claire McCaskill, Democratic senator from Missouri, votes a bit too conservative for my liking…but she is trying to represent the people in her state.

Republicans, rather than purging along ridgid ideological lines, as the TeaParty-Palin bunch is doing and has promised to continue, should find BETTER candidates….not more wingnutty candidates.

This crash-and-burn of the GOP has been a long time in coming. It's overdue. I think it's fitting that after a very destructive 8 years of Republican governance at the federal level…..Republicans are now, apparently, self-destructing.

* Liz Sidoti from the AP has such a piece of garbage propaganda reprinted in the AB Journal today….it stands out like a sore thumb.

Headline: Elections unsettle moderate Democrats.

Under headline: Results don't bode well for Obama and party.

From the body of the piece of garbage: "Last year, hope and change tilted them toward Democrats. This year, anger and frustration tilted them to Republicans. They broke 2-1 for GOP victors Chris Christie in New Jersey and Bob McDonnell in Virginia."

The AP's Sidoti makes no allowances here for the New York 23rd district win by Democrat, Bill Owens….which gave Democrats more power in the House. Did "anger and frustration" tilt New York's 23rd district voters to pick a Democrat? If not, why not.

But this is extra special…

"Victories in both states have given Republicans a much-needed morale boost. And the wins proved that Republicans can find success if their candidates gravitate toward the middle and are responsive to the voters' mood. That approach allowed the GOP to successfully woo independents."

See, that's the thing Liz….the Palin, DeMint, Armey TeaParty movement have already announced they are working to place radical right candidates up in primaries to purge the GOP of any dreaded moderates.

Morale boost that.

I must say something about the congessional race in New York's 23rd district. There's something twisted about what's happening in that race, expected now to be won by the outside-the-district, conservative party guy, Doug Hoffman. Steve Benen brings up some interesting points about the amount of attention that is being given to the New York contest

California's 10th and New York's 23rd are worth the same thing: a single vote in the U.S. House. Same kind of election, on the same day, with same value. One lacks a cast of wacky characters, but neither is necessarily more important than the other.

Democrat, John Garamendi, is expected to win California's 10th district House race.

I'm typing this at about 5 PM. I would wager that tonight's MSNBC election coverage will be all about the new Palin Tea Party Party comeback. That TeaParty Palin Party is being vicariously channeled through the far-right Hoffman win in a reliably Republican district in New York. Palin is Facebooking her way to fortune and fame….and you betcha' doin' what she can to help elect an extreme conservative, you know, "a real American", to the 23rd New York district.

Because Palin endorsed Hoffman, and Hoffman is going to win….enormous mountains will be made tonight out of very little molehills…..Tweety and his bunch will have Palin outpolling Obama before the night is out.

All that the Hoffman win says to me is that the Tea Partiers have taken over the Republican Party. You know….what-the-hell-ever. I can't see how Republicans gain back voters' confidence by moving further towards the extreme….but, hey, could be wrong.

One gets the sense that a Doug Hoffman victory in New York's 23rd will signal a national shift of great importance, but a Garamendi victory in California's 10th is a small blip on the radar. That doesn't make sense.

Hell no it doesn't…but one race has Palin, Dick Armey and the Freedom Works Tea Partiers….the other one doesn't.

Benen's words…"signal a national shift of great importance"….will surely be proven out by the Village media coverage tonight. The Hoffman win, as interpreted by the Villagers premier KneePadders this evening, will be sold as historic, game-changing, the end of the Democrats, and the best thing that could have ever, ever, ever, ever happened to the Republican Party. Hoffman's win will rank right up there with our divine Father Ronnie's singlehanded dismantling of the Berlin Wall, brick by brick.

I just hope that David The Fluffster Gregory and Chuck Todd will have information tonight from special anonymous sources about how Palin's new takeover of the Republican Party, apparent now in a Hoffman win, will be such a swell takeover, and how Republicans will now grow there party really, really big, and how more and more dissatisfied Americans will most likely embrace Sarah and the TeaPartiers totally incoherent message.

John Boehner (R-OH), like the FOX "news" network, often practices the ancient mysterious art of "making sh*t up." That's what he did this morning in the above video clip.

"We first released our health-care plan in June, and over the last six months, we have introduced at least eight bills that, taken together, would implement this blueprint,"

So says Boehner. Did the GOP "release" their health care plan in June?

CNN reports…

The GOP released the guiding principles of its health-care agenda in June, but did not release a comprehensive legislative blueprint at that point. Republican congressional leaders have said the party is in the process of crafting a substitute.

The background here….

February 4, 2009…Boehner selects Roy Blunt (R-MO) to chair the Republicans' Health Care Task Force.

June 17, 2009…

Roll Call reported: "House Republicans presented a four-page outline of their health care reform plan Wednesday but said they didn't know yet how much it would cost, how they would pay for it and how many of the nearly 50 million Americans without insurance would be covered by it."

Blunt, that day….

"I guarantee you we will provide you with a bill."

July 10, 2009….Congressman Blunt praised his Party's four page outline on the radio and declared, "Our plan is actually much more detailed than their plan has been… I think we're more prepared to debate our plan than they are."

Twelve days later, July 22, Blunt, amazingly, said this….

"Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? We clearly have principles; we could have language, but why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they've got to whatever we're offering right now?"

You know, "why confuse the focus", by following through on what he and Boehner promised? No package of health reform alternatives were ever written or submitted by Republicans. Blunt, himself, admitted that Republicans had no legislative "language."

That brings us back to today's Boehner bullpucky….

Boehner's four points …

Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.

Number two: allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.

Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.

Number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

Once again…no numbers, no fleshing out of much of anything…..just four Republican talking points "guiding principles", the same ones we've been hearing for years. What we haven't seen, however, is a genuine alternative plan….what CNN referred to as a "comprehensive legislative blueprint"…..proving yet again, that Boehner, in typical GOP fashion, simply "makes sh*t up."

Let's review what are, at best, four GOP talking points. It's all we have to work with from the party of no.

Number one…..it is widely known that the biggest health insurance companies operate in virtually all 50 states. So, "buying across state lines" accomplishes, what, exactly? Would it much matter if you purchased health insurance from Aetna in New York or Aetna in Iowa..do you think? In addition, taking Boehner's number one seriously, health insurers would relocate to the states that are the least restrictive on them, which would result in less consumer choice, not more.

Number two….Boehner sets forth no larger picture view of how "groups" would go about "joining together", to theoretically, create a bigger, and thus cheaper, insurance policy pool. As far as I know, nothing prevents groups from pooling together right now…..so while Boehner may think his number two is some brilliant breakthrough, it's pretty much a puffball of rhetoric.

Number three…"give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs." Your guess is as good as mine on what the hell that sentence is supposed to mean. No further explanation, just like it's been all year for Republicans, is forthcoming.

Number four….GOP boilerplate. Tort reform. Wherever there is legislation being talked about, Republicans are always going after those Democratic-voting-and-contributing "trial lawyers." By implication, Boehner's idea of tort reform in health care would bring with it fewer medical "tests", fewer medical "procedures." Give health insurance companies a break by reforming punitive damage awards, capping punitive damages for doctors who might, you know, paralyze your child, or worse….which Boehner says would…..mean fewer medical tests and procedures. And that's supposed to be for whose benefit, again?

Just like back in June….Republicans have nothing to offer. No serious plan to extend coverage to all Americans….no serious plan to lower costs….nothing serious at all.

Still the party of the Boehner.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
Sen. Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Sen. Thomas Coburn (R-OK)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)
Sen. Jefferson Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)

Those are the Republican senators who voted against cloture on a bill extending unemployment benefits. Apparently, those Republicans do not care too much about the plight of those who are unemployed and whose unemployment insurance checks have run out. And why would they care? Most of those senators are wealthy. Why would they be in a hurry to help unemployed Americans?

Although last night the senate voted in favor of cloture on the unemployment extension bill by 87-13….there's still one more filibusterable step left before the extension is made law.

What are Republicans dragging their feet about here?

The Republican amendments include at least two provisions related to ACORN; one related to the E-Verify program; one to pay for the UI benefits with unspent stimulus money; and one providing tax relief.

Of course we know why ACORN is being used as an excuse to stall unemployment checks. Republicans are at war with blacks in America,….because blacks vote Democratic. Not personal, you understand, simply political. So, any bill to extend unemployment insurance, a necessary measure in our depressed economic environment, is a great opportunity, Republicans think, to hold hostage those unemployment checks to more FOX-style bashing of ACORN. Good luck with lowering that 5%-of-blacks-voting-GOP…..down to one percent.

E-Verify has to do with monitoring immigration through the crosschecking of citizenship on employment applications. Naturally, documenting immigration status has nothing to do with extending unemployment checks to, like, unemployed American workers…..but Republicans could care less about that. Republicans know that their political party takes a ridgid stand against undocumented workers….Republicans are tough border patrollers, don't ya' know. Nation protectors. "Amnesty" rejecters. Republicans rarely miss an opportunity to bash the "other" (see Jennings, Kevin) (see Sotomayor, Judge), and that's what they are doing with the unemployment insurance extension bill. If bashing "illegals" slows down the unemployed's checks, well….that's just the cost Americans must pay for the GOP's vigilance in it's fight against non-white skinned people. Undocumenteds threaten our very existence…or at least that's what FOX and Rush tell us….and they run the information-arm of the GOP.

The third "concern" of Republicans, which simply had to be addressed by stalling an extension of unemployment benefits, is paying for any extension with "unspent stimulus money." I got an extra special kick out of this one. Three Republicans in the Senate, Spector, Collins and Snowe voted for the stimulus package back in February. That's it….and Spector is now a Democrat. I just think that it requires big brass wingnut balls to stall unemployment extensions while those who voted against the stimulus tell the rest how that stimulus money should be spent. Big brass wingnut balls.

The last stall tactic is typical boilerplate Republican policy. "Tax relief." I mean, Jesus…..is there any piece of legislation….ever….that Republicans won't try to attach a tax cut to? Think about it. Republicans are holding up an extension of paltry unemployment checks in order to consider more tax cuts. Republican tax cuts during Bush cost the Treasury $1.5 trillion….enough money to pay for 10 years of national health care AND pay the unemployment insurance extensions needed now. BECAUSE cutting taxes radically for the wealthiest Americans didn't really create jobs, as the numbers demonstrate….it's particularly ironic that those who have lost their jobs and need those benefits are having those benefits held up, delayed, by yet another attempt to cut taxes.

Republicans can't govern….they've proven that beyond a shadow of a doubt with the Bush/Cheney administration. Still today, GOP'ers repeat Father Reagan's wingnut advice…."government isn't the solution, government is the problem", and when in power, do everything to prove that government isn't the solution.

Then when only the government can provide the "solution", as with unemployment insurance extensions, Republicans do their damnest to stop that "solution" from being passed.

The Republicans in office are obstructionists. They are not a loyal opposition. They are the disloyal opposition. They don't care about typical Americans having health insurance. You've heard them….they just say no to health care reform. They don't care whether an unemployed American runs out of unemployment checks. They have stalled and drug their feet at every turn to slow down any extension of unemployment for America's unemployed.

These GOP'ers are beyond shaming. They are shame-resistant.

Yes, Congress will pass an unemployment insurance extension. But it won't be because the Republicans didn't try to stop it.

More than a dime's worth of difference in the parties when it comes to this issue, I'd say.