While most of our staff no longer gets dressed up for Halloween, there are staff pets and at least one staff kid currently, and inevitably that means discussions over Halloween costumes. Frankly, no matter how good you think you or your kids' ensemble is this year, you're not going to defeat the Republican Party when it comes to hiding behind a mask.
The Republican Party has at least two highly visible examples of their costumed "heroes" today, both wearing the same zombie outfit from head to toe. We're well aware that Ohio's Gov. Kasich and New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie don't exactly look like one another, let alone have the same proportions. Yet both men have played the intolerant zombie role quite well for some time now, until their masks both slipped on Monday.
For Kasich, his mask has actually been slipping for some time, technically since about February. That's when Kasich - like a host of other Republican governors who initially refused the federal Medicaid expansion program that's part of the Affordable Care Act - changed his mind and decided he wanted the Federal funds. For Kasich, it's been a nine month process of putting on and taking off his masks, all with one driver behind it all - selfish greed.
Admittedly, in his case, Kasich's goal to make his own record look better may end up helping the poorest in his state - that is, as long as the Republicans wearing their evil zombie costumes in the Ohio House don't win their legal challenge to prevent poor people from getting health care.
In the case of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, his zombie mask of bigotry slipped to reveal something that's really not much of a secret these days - that his ambition to run for President in 2016 is stronger than any other emotion he's got.
That ambition could be seen clearly last Friday though, with the unanimous decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court that same sex marriage in that state was completely legal. In response to their decision, Christie finally dropped his legal opposition to the practice. Angry anti-gay right-wing extremists huffed and puffed and stomped their feet Monday - but that didn't change the fact that same-sex couples had already been getting married in New Jersey since midnight the night before.
Christie made sure to make one last grimace with his bigotry mask, however. He said to the media Monday that while he still heavily disagreed with the court there was no chance his appeal would succeed - so he was giving up, to save his state the money, energy and effort.
Pity Gov. Christie couldn't have remembered his concern for saving money when he scheduled the special election that was held this week.
What both Kasich and Christie exhibited in their performances as GOP zombies on Monday is the perfect example of the facade Ed Kilgore noted in Washington Monthly on Monday - namely, that extremist Republicans and the rest of the Republicans in office really don't have two different goals.
As Kilgore notes, their methods may seem different. The brainless, tea party-infused, zombie routine certainly makes them seem different from those Republicans who don't act crazy today. The truth is, both sets of modern, ambitious, Republicans only have one real goal: Pushing the nation to the right, at every opportunity possible.
Don't let the costume fool you.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Bad Advice Is No Treat For Democrats
While the 'Obamacare problems' stories that some members of the media had been holding onto during the near-default crisis began flooding out over the weekend, we've been keeping our attention focused on a more important story in DC - namely, the budget conference committee, that lobbyists also have their eyes on.
We'll admit that Healthcare.gov has already had it's share of problems, and many of those should have been expected. That said, the President has already called in experts to triage and solve the problems as fast and as well as possible. Furthermore, in states like Oregon that haven't been trying to sabotage the system, the ACA is working as intended - getting people without health insurance to finally get some health care coverage.
As Max Ehrenfreund stated so succinctly over the weekend at Washington Monthly, if America had just listened to liberals, who've always favored a single-payer system, the current problems with the health care signup wouldn't exist anyway. Democrats gave up that option early on, however, based on bad advice from normally wise people.
Think of it like that one bad pumpkin in the patch, that always ends up splattered all over the road.
In a similar way, Ezra Klein - an expert in many subjects, and a writer our staff generally trusts - made an incredibly amateur mistake recently. Last Thursday, Klein published a piece in the Washington Post saying that Congressional Democrats should go into the current budget negotiations admitting they won't be able to get any more tax revenue from Republicans.
Like that bad pumpkin, Klein is wrong - and Congressional Democrats should be aware of it before they slip and agree to a disastrous budget.
If Congressional Democrats would follow Klein's advice this time, their first failing would be tactical. In fact, it would be the exact tactical mistake President Obama and his advisors made in the health care battle - setting their initial negotiation point at the metaphorical midpoint, effectively assuring any settlement will be more favorable to their opposition than to your supporters. Klein himself even pointed out this strategy was a failing one back in December of 2010.
Their second failing would be to blindly accept as a fact Klein's position that Congressional Democrats can't raise taxes - which was proven false at the beginning of 2013.
As David Fahrenthold pointed out in the Washington Post this weekend, four major national crises have been caused by Republicans since 2010, and in one of them - the fiscal cliff battle at the beginning of this year, Democrats were able to force Republicans to vote to raise taxes. What's more, the tax burden on the wealthiest went up the most during that battle.
The third reason Congressional Democrats should mostly ignore Klein's advice in this case is simple: leverage for the 2014 races. As Sam Seder noted to Chris Hayes recently, there is only so much power that any one advocacy group has to effect potential change. If liberal Democrats are fighting more centrist Democrats not to give away Democratic priorities like immigration reform, universal pre-K, and climate change measures, they'll be wasting energy and resources which could be better aimed at forcing Republicans to cave - as Democrats did when they stood united and won the default battle and with the fiscal cliff at the beginning of this year.
Anyone, of any political persuasion, who also understands the policy realities America is now facing knows that - regardless of any realistic budget cuts or threats from Republicans like Mitch McConnell - our nation is simply not collecting enough revenue to handle our responsibilities.
If the Congressional Democratic caucus wants to end up with a budget that accurately reflects what Americans want from their government, they'd be wise to look at advice like that Klein provided on taxes as more trick than treat.
We'll admit that Healthcare.gov has already had it's share of problems, and many of those should have been expected. That said, the President has already called in experts to triage and solve the problems as fast and as well as possible. Furthermore, in states like Oregon that haven't been trying to sabotage the system, the ACA is working as intended - getting people without health insurance to finally get some health care coverage.
As Max Ehrenfreund stated so succinctly over the weekend at Washington Monthly, if America had just listened to liberals, who've always favored a single-payer system, the current problems with the health care signup wouldn't exist anyway. Democrats gave up that option early on, however, based on bad advice from normally wise people.
Think of it like that one bad pumpkin in the patch, that always ends up splattered all over the road.
In a similar way, Ezra Klein - an expert in many subjects, and a writer our staff generally trusts - made an incredibly amateur mistake recently. Last Thursday, Klein published a piece in the Washington Post saying that Congressional Democrats should go into the current budget negotiations admitting they won't be able to get any more tax revenue from Republicans.
Like that bad pumpkin, Klein is wrong - and Congressional Democrats should be aware of it before they slip and agree to a disastrous budget.
If Congressional Democrats would follow Klein's advice this time, their first failing would be tactical. In fact, it would be the exact tactical mistake President Obama and his advisors made in the health care battle - setting their initial negotiation point at the metaphorical midpoint, effectively assuring any settlement will be more favorable to their opposition than to your supporters. Klein himself even pointed out this strategy was a failing one back in December of 2010.
Their second failing would be to blindly accept as a fact Klein's position that Congressional Democrats can't raise taxes - which was proven false at the beginning of 2013.
As David Fahrenthold pointed out in the Washington Post this weekend, four major national crises have been caused by Republicans since 2010, and in one of them - the fiscal cliff battle at the beginning of this year, Democrats were able to force Republicans to vote to raise taxes. What's more, the tax burden on the wealthiest went up the most during that battle.
The third reason Congressional Democrats should mostly ignore Klein's advice in this case is simple: leverage for the 2014 races. As Sam Seder noted to Chris Hayes recently, there is only so much power that any one advocacy group has to effect potential change. If liberal Democrats are fighting more centrist Democrats not to give away Democratic priorities like immigration reform, universal pre-K, and climate change measures, they'll be wasting energy and resources which could be better aimed at forcing Republicans to cave - as Democrats did when they stood united and won the default battle and with the fiscal cliff at the beginning of this year.
Anyone, of any political persuasion, who also understands the policy realities America is now facing knows that - regardless of any realistic budget cuts or threats from Republicans like Mitch McConnell - our nation is simply not collecting enough revenue to handle our responsibilities.
If the Congressional Democratic caucus wants to end up with a budget that accurately reflects what Americans want from their government, they'd be wise to look at advice like that Klein provided on taxes as more trick than treat.
Friday, October 18, 2013
A Most Important Lesson
Even as many Americans begin their preparations for the weekend today, scores of politicians and many of our media colleagues are already ramping up for the next round of budget battles in DC.
It's ironic, really. After Wednesday's 'Come To Jesus' moment by moderate Republicans in Congress, many of our colleagues in political media are still excitedly talking about all the lessons the Republican Party has yet to learn from their devastating defeat dealt to them by President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Yet many of our more tightly wound colleagues seem to have missed one of the most important lessons in life themselves - a lesson that this week's displays by right-wing extremists should have taught moderate Republicans as well as members of the political media.
Indeed, many people we know outside the media business are getting ready for a weekend of relaxing autumn festivals, catching up on sports or television shows, or visiting with some old friends. In short, when people can, folks outside of our business are getting ready to have a day or two off.
Even on our own staff, discussion of a commentary piece by Ezra Klein from Thursday - one that gives a completely wrongheaded assessment about what the Democrats in Congress should do next - drove more chatter than it should for a beautiful autumn Friday.
While we might decide to address that issue on Monday, the fact is, even we forgot - for a moment - the lesson that the right-wing extremists should have taught everyone who's been paying attention.
Indeed, some of our conservative colleagues in the media reminded us of that lesson this week, specifically Robert Costa of National Review Online and CNBC, and Dave Weigel of Slate.
For years, Weigel has been one of our go-to sources for sane takes on what the insane right thinks. His snark is a turn-off to some people, though some of our staff finds that snark gives the perfect amount of bite to stories that otherwise might be a bit too heavy. If you're not already following Weigel on Twitter, we recommend heavily that you do so today.
Even as Weigel is a master of the snark, Costa's work throughout this debt ceiling debacle has provided steady, even-handed, snark-free news reporting. Costa's view of what has been going on inside the Capitol, on the right and the far right, has been fantastically valuable to anyone who cares about truly honest journalism. As Erik Wemple at the Washington Post also noted on Thursday, if Fox News followed Costa's lead, they'd be in fabulous shape. Of course, Fox isn't really in the business of news. They're in television - which is to say, entertainment, not news.
The lesson both Weigel and Costa teach in how they report is the same lesson the extremists in the GOP also taught, in the inverse, this week.
That lesson is simple. If you want to get ahead in life, on a daily basis, there's really no reason to run around screaming your head off, and throwing it around at people. That's going too far, and usually only leads to people running away from you.
In short, if you really want to get ahead in life, you also have to know when to stop.
It's ironic, really. After Wednesday's 'Come To Jesus' moment by moderate Republicans in Congress, many of our colleagues in political media are still excitedly talking about all the lessons the Republican Party has yet to learn from their devastating defeat dealt to them by President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Yet many of our more tightly wound colleagues seem to have missed one of the most important lessons in life themselves - a lesson that this week's displays by right-wing extremists should have taught moderate Republicans as well as members of the political media.
Indeed, many people we know outside the media business are getting ready for a weekend of relaxing autumn festivals, catching up on sports or television shows, or visiting with some old friends. In short, when people can, folks outside of our business are getting ready to have a day or two off.
Even on our own staff, discussion of a commentary piece by Ezra Klein from Thursday - one that gives a completely wrongheaded assessment about what the Democrats in Congress should do next - drove more chatter than it should for a beautiful autumn Friday.
While we might decide to address that issue on Monday, the fact is, even we forgot - for a moment - the lesson that the right-wing extremists should have taught everyone who's been paying attention.
Indeed, some of our conservative colleagues in the media reminded us of that lesson this week, specifically Robert Costa of National Review Online and CNBC, and Dave Weigel of Slate.
For years, Weigel has been one of our go-to sources for sane takes on what the insane right thinks. His snark is a turn-off to some people, though some of our staff finds that snark gives the perfect amount of bite to stories that otherwise might be a bit too heavy. If you're not already following Weigel on Twitter, we recommend heavily that you do so today.
Even as Weigel is a master of the snark, Costa's work throughout this debt ceiling debacle has provided steady, even-handed, snark-free news reporting. Costa's view of what has been going on inside the Capitol, on the right and the far right, has been fantastically valuable to anyone who cares about truly honest journalism. As Erik Wemple at the Washington Post also noted on Thursday, if Fox News followed Costa's lead, they'd be in fabulous shape. Of course, Fox isn't really in the business of news. They're in television - which is to say, entertainment, not news.
The lesson both Weigel and Costa teach in how they report is the same lesson the extremists in the GOP also taught, in the inverse, this week.
That lesson is simple. If you want to get ahead in life, on a daily basis, there's really no reason to run around screaming your head off, and throwing it around at people. That's going too far, and usually only leads to people running away from you.
In short, if you really want to get ahead in life, you also have to know when to stop.
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