Zombies & Head Cases

The old axiom about insanity - that it's doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - has been attributed to many different people over the years, including both Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein.

While we've used the maxim many times over the years, we've long ago given up on trying to track down exactly which person said it. Unlike so-called leaders in both the NFL and the GOP, we're not insane.

Unfortunately, like some kinds of zombies, both professional football and the Republican Party seem to be returning to their abnormally insane equilibrium, even in the face of mounting evidence that it doesn't take a genius to understand.

For football, even as the "off-season" ramps up, football addicts are getting ready for the arena football season. Even as the President expressed his concern for the increasing level of dangerous injuries in football last week, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell insisted there is really no problem - and certainly no coverup - of brain damage from playing football. Goodell, in fact, insisted that his entire industry has been attempting to make the game safer, as though his words would make it so.

Doctors and scientists, however, from places like Johns Hopkins University continue to cite the scientific facts that prove Goodell is either woefully uninformed, completely incompetent, or lying to himself about the dangers of continuing to do things the same old way.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor must have been taking tips from Goodell.

On Tuesday, Cantor scheduled what he and others on the right were billing as a major announcement about how the Republican Party was going to be rebranding itself as a better, happier, smarter party.

It might have helped Cantor's credibility on the rollout of this "new" GOP if he hadn't scheduled his announcement at the same time as President Obama's Tuesday media event. It also might have helped if Cantor and the Republicans were actually willing to change their zombie-like policy directions, from dead stupid to something vaguely resembling what Americans really want.

We will give Cantor credit for gently and indirectly endorsing the principles of the DREAM Act. A sign that at least he may not be completely brain dead, even if tea party House Republicans today held a meeting where they insisted no such immigration reform were needed.

Meanwhile, the clock kept ticking today - another day closer to the Sequester cuts that continue to threaten America's growing economy and shrinking deficits under President Obama.

While President Obama called for a logical short-term extension to push off the economy-harming cuts that some Republicans favor, Republican Speaker John Boehner insisted Congressional Republicans were not going to stop the cuts. Senate Republicans insisted they were going to filibuster more Obama nominees, especially to agencies that oversee parts of the economy, like the Treasury and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Maybe now you can see why we thought of zombies and insanity today.

We don't expect any of these intellectual zombies to change anytime in the near future - so just like in football, expect the hits to just keep on comin'.

The Bottom Drops Out

In journalism, when an interview or a major media event first happens, there are nearly always easy if not critically important questions to be asked when the first round of information emerges.

In the case of the resignation of Nebraska's now ex-Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, the Omaha World-Herald did a stellar job of investigative journalism, by asking the right first-round questions, and performing some serious journalism.

We now have all kinds of exacting details about the hours Sheehy spent flirting when he should have been performing work for the citizens of Nebraska, and even more details about the Bellevue doctor with whom Sheehy was having an affair. We even have a seemingly exhausting "tick-tock" that tells us when the World-Herald asked for information on Sheehy, and how they conducted their investigation.

The problem we're noticing now, however, is that both national and local media conveniently seem to think the story is over, now that the bottom has dropped out of Sheehy's political future.

Everyone from the local TV stations, to the local newspapers, to the conservative-leaning Nebraska political rumor-blog Leavenworth Street have already moved on to speculating about who might be running for Governor in Nebraska in 2014.

The questions almost no one seems to have the courage to ask are the same questions we began asking on Monday:

Who knew about Sheehy's affairs - and who would benefit politically from this information coming out now, just as the 2014 pre-election machines are beginning to rev up?

While Gov. Heineman did admit to the World-Herald he'd heard rumors of Sheehy's outside relationships, we know more than a few people in both the Nebraska and national news media and political scenes who also knew about Sheehy's dalliances.

Those people speculating that Gov. Heineman may have been looking to replace Sheehy with another better-behaved second in command more suitable for grooming for the Governor's office may have missed a key piece of news. Heineman has explicitly said he does not want his new appointee to become a candidate for governor in 2014.

We're more than willing to admit at least one member of our staff had heard, over a year ago, both rumors and confirmed accounts of questionable actions in public by Sheehy. Since neither kind of information involved Sheehy performing official state business while acting inappropriately, our staffer scoffed, but did no further digging. Being a cad may offend the ethical sensibilities of many, but it's not nearly the worst thing an elected official has done in his or her private time - and unless that official breaks the law, it's not a story.

That said, the individual who spurred the World-Herald to dig beyond the rumors may not even be someone in Nebraska politics. For the record, we've already got our eye on a few potential players, with means, motive, and opportunity, on both the local and national levels.

The public may never truly know the answer of why this information came out now, instead of earlier - or who was really behind the politics of the story.

After all, in a 24-7 image-focused media world, once the primary story drops into the proverbial drink, out of view and no longer with photogenic images to go along with the story, modern media executives quickly lose interest in paying for the work of investigative journalism.

At least in this case, we're very glad the World-Herald went swimming in the muck, and came up with the truth.

GOP Cannibalism

You can't say we didn't warn you.

We know a few Republicans and conservatives who - even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary - continue to insist that there is no GOP 'civil war,' nor will there be any time soon.

But the political events of the past few days - both nationally and in Nebraska - indicate otherwise.

Republicans have been eating their own an awful lot lately, with the latest members on the menu including former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, and Rick Sheehy, the just-resigned Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska.

Senate Republicans' cannibalistic hunger for the blood of their former colleague was on full display during Hagel's confirmation hearing last Thursday to become the next Secretary of Defense, which was the subject of much discussion on the talking heads shows this weekend.

Republicans on the Senate committee grilled Hagel with out-of-context quotes, and attempted to bully Hagel into an oversimplification on whether the Iraq War was good or bad. Even if the Senate Republicans' reasons for attacking Hagel may have been less than honorable, it was obvious Hagel was at best unimpressive and unprepared at the hearing. Hagel's appearance may have just been an act, however, based on White House advice to not react to the all-but-certain filleting his former Republican 'friends' were sure to give him.

As we noted in the links section of our extended edition last Friday, for all the attempts to tear Hagel apart politically and cook his nominating goose, the tribal GOP war hawk attacks on Hagel don't appear to have shifted any votes.

As Roll Call's Meredith Shiner noted last week, prior to Thursday's hearing, Hagel was thought almost certain to be confirmed. After the hearing on Friday, Slate's Dave Weigel re-confirmed Shiner's assessment, noting that Hagel's nomination may already have 57 votes. That number may be even one more vote closer to 60, as Sen. Mike Johanns also has announced he'll vote to confirm Hagel because - like him or not - Hagel is qualified for the job.

Republicans in Nebraska also appear to be cannibalizing their own, which became evident in the sudden resignation of Lieutenant Gov. Rick Sheehy over the weekend.

Sheehy, the GOP's leading candidate for Nebraska's 2014 Governor's race, suddenly stepped down after an Omaha World-Herald investigation revealed Sheehy had made thousands of personal calls to four different women on his state-issued cell phone.

With rumors of infidelity going back almost two years, Sheehy's dalliances were not new information to those in the know in Nebraska's political scene or political media, including some of our staff. Sheehy's wife even filed for divorce, in July of 2012. That Sheehy's infidelity was relatively common knowledge in Nebraska political circles actually raises even more questions:  Who was in a position to know Sheehy was using state equipment for personal business? Who benefits from this information coming out now? Specifically, which Nebraska Republican benefits from there being a much more open Republican field for the 2014 Governor's race?

If you're a member of the GOP political establishment, at any level, the only advice we have for you after these and other similar events, is this: Watch your fellow Republicans very carefully. They're hungry - and apparently, desperate.

Good luck, cannibals.