There were two major news announcements made late last week that seemed to have surprised more than a few people - although we weren't among them.
The first big non-announcement was that Nebraska's Republican Governor Dave Heineman officially announced he wasn't going to be running against Democratic Senator Ben Nelson in 2012 for the seat Nelson currently occupies. The second non-announcement was the tepid proclamation that Nebraska Republican Attorney General Jon Bruning is THINKING of running for the seat Sen. Nelson holds. Bruning didn't ACTUALLY announce on Friday that he was running for the seat, so much as he announced he was "looking into it" - also known as checking to see which way the political winds are blowing.
To many Nebraskans who aren't heavily involved in the nuts and bolts of politics, these two pieces of news came as somewhat of a shock.
However, to those of us who know much of what goes on behind the scenes in politics, those two tidbits of information merely confirmed what our sources told us months ago. Folks from Washington, DC to California knew that the Nebraska GOP wasn't going to allow Gov. Heineman to challenge Nelson in 2012. Among our sources it was widely known the GOP planned on giving Bruning a shot at banging his head into the brick wall - or tree - that will be the Nebraska Senate race in 2012.
We're not saying it's impossible for someone else to be occupying Nebraska's most powerful Senate seat after 2012. It is merely difficult - especially with the Tea Party continually attacking Republicans from the far right.
As Republican candidates across the country discovered this past year, trying to satisfy both the sane, classic, old-fashioned Republicans and the far-right, often less-than-rational Tea Partiers is a task that few can pull off. If the economy has recovered further by 2012 as voters across the political spectrum are demanding, and President Obama runs for a second term as expected, the political right will likely be tearing itself in two - as will any candidate who attempts to appease them.
While Sen. Nelson hasn't always been our favorite person, he has displayed, on more than enough occasions, that he's definitely a Democrat these days. In fact, when compared with those on the far right in the Tea Party, he may as well be a long-haired, pot-smoking, free-love hippie.
Any Republican who runs for nearly any office in 2012 will have to satisfy traditional Republicans, far right Tea Partiers, and independents as well, if they hope to win. Meanwhile, in order for Democratic candidates like Sen. Nelson to win, they merely have to satisfy Democrats and a few independents to come out on top.
That's a simple fact that any clown could see.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday Funday: One More Plea For Sanity
Friday is the day for fun, slightly less politically oriented commentaries around here. After the week - or really, the election season - we've all had around here, we could definitely do with a dose of unity and positivity in this counry. Yet that message hasn't seemed to have gotten through to everyone. While the President has communicated he's willing to compromise and work WITH Republicans, Republican congressional leadership seems to be telling Obama to... do offensive things to himself. In light of that difference of approach, we thought it might be good to take one more last look at the real message from last weekend's "Rally for Sanity and/or Fear" with Jon Stewart.
Our staff who were at the rally had a lot of fun - and saw a lot of crazy signs. More importantly, we think Mr. Stewart's message is even more important now than it was before the election.
All of us agree with most of what Jon Stewart said in his closing speech. So we've clipped out what we think are the most important parts, and we'll let his message take you into this weekend.
"We live now in hard times - but NOT end times. We can have animus, and not be enemies. Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.
This country's 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing....
The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker... yet - I feel good. Strangely, calmly, good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false...
We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done. The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done - Every. Damned. Day! The only place we don't is here [Congress] or on cable TV! But Americans don't live here, or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done--not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.
[Like cars going into the Holland Tunnel]... this is us. Every one of [those cars] is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear--often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers'. And yet, these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze, one by one, into a mile-long, 30-foot-wide tunnel, carved underneath a mighty river.
And they do it, concession by concession: you go, then I'll go. You go, then I'll go... [It works] Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness. And sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land.
Sometimes, it's just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together."
Our staff who were at the rally had a lot of fun - and saw a lot of crazy signs. More importantly, we think Mr. Stewart's message is even more important now than it was before the election.
All of us agree with most of what Jon Stewart said in his closing speech. So we've clipped out what we think are the most important parts, and we'll let his message take you into this weekend.
"We live now in hard times - but NOT end times. We can have animus, and not be enemies. Unfortunately, one of our main tools in delineating the two broke.
This country's 24-hour, political pundit perpetual panic conflictinator did not cause our problems, but its existence makes solving them that much harder. The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the dangerous, unexpected flaming ants epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing....
The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker... yet - I feel good. Strangely, calmly, good. Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false...
We hear every damned day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done. The truth is, we do! We work together to get things done - Every. Damned. Day! The only place we don't is here [Congress] or on cable TV! But Americans don't live here, or on cable TV. Where we live, our values and principles form the foundation that sustains us while we get things done--not the barriers that prevent us from getting things done.
[Like cars going into the Holland Tunnel]... this is us. Every one of [those cars] is filled with individuals of strong belief and principles they hold dear--often principles and beliefs in direct opposition to their fellow travelers'. And yet, these millions of cars must somehow find a way to squeeze, one by one, into a mile-long, 30-foot-wide tunnel, carved underneath a mighty river.
And they do it, concession by concession: you go, then I'll go. You go, then I'll go... [It works] Because we know, instinctively, as a people, that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light, we have to work together. And the truth is there will always be darkness. And sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promised land.
Sometimes, it's just New Jersey. But we do it anyway, together."
Thursday, November 4, 2010
The Future For The GOP: Civil War And Universal Solvents
Contrary to the fervent hopes of some on the far right, most people on the progressive left weren't devastated or wanting to throw themselves off of buildings after Tuesday's losses. In fact, 94% of the progressive candidates running in Tuesday's election survived - while only 47% of the so-called "Blue Dog" Democrats did.
President Obama, in his first post-election press conference, also made it clear that he's NOT going to abandon his progressive principles to get things accomplished over the next two years. He may actually take a more firm stand on those accomplishments he's already completed. The President very pointedly made it clear in that press conference that Republicans no longer have the luxury of sitting back and saying "no" to everything; now they actually have to bring legitimate, workable ideas to the table.
That's where the GOP's "universal solvent" problem comes in.
Headline tea party candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Carl Paladino all lost on Tuesday, some of them quite soundly. Tea Party candidates, in general, also got shellacked. Commentator and blogger Sarah Palin's record of endorsed candidate wins was around .500 - a good number for a baseball player, but abysmal for politics. Yet the mythology being ramped up, post-election, by many on the right is that the tea party is some kind of political "universal solvent", good for dissolving any opposition in it's way.
The problem with a universal solvent, as the saying goes, is if it eats its way through everything, how does one contain it?
This is the problem facing Rep. John Boehner and other Republican leaders as they've already been receiving veiled - and not so veiled - messages from tea partiers and others on the extreme political right. The tea partiers insist there should be NO compromise on ANYTHING with the President or Democrats - but they expect results IMMEDIATELY.
The issue of raising the Federal Government's debt ceiling, then, is the point at which that universal solvent eats through the floor, on its way to the center of Earth, and total annihilation.
The issue of raising the debt ceiling is simple and has ALWAYS passed in every previous U.S. Congress. In short, the Federal government MUST continue to raise the debt ceiling nearly every year. If it doesn't and the U.S. Government defaults on its debt, not only will the U.S. economy collapse. It will do so in such a spectacular way that it will take the entire rest of the world's economies with it.
Unlike when President Obama and Congress passed and signed the stimulus into law in near record time, when the clock strikes midnight on the agreement to extend the debt ceiling, there will be no last-minute rescuing anyone. If the GOP does not agree to extend that debt ceiling before the deadline expires, political skirmishes will be the least of our concerns.
Extending our debt ceiling, of course, is something tea partiers have already said they're not willing to do - even if some the old-guard Senators who have attempted to lead them have already agreed to cave to reality.
So if you know a progressive or someone who you're pretty sure who votes Democratic? That smile on their face isn't because they don't know they lost more than a few races on Tuesday.
It's because they're not John Boehner or anyone else in the Republican leadership.
As an old teacher we once knew used to tell her students right before a grueling exam, "Good luck - and have fun!"
President Obama, in his first post-election press conference, also made it clear that he's NOT going to abandon his progressive principles to get things accomplished over the next two years. He may actually take a more firm stand on those accomplishments he's already completed. The President very pointedly made it clear in that press conference that Republicans no longer have the luxury of sitting back and saying "no" to everything; now they actually have to bring legitimate, workable ideas to the table.
That's where the GOP's "universal solvent" problem comes in.
Headline tea party candidates like Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Ken Buck, and Carl Paladino all lost on Tuesday, some of them quite soundly. Tea Party candidates, in general, also got shellacked. Commentator and blogger Sarah Palin's record of endorsed candidate wins was around .500 - a good number for a baseball player, but abysmal for politics. Yet the mythology being ramped up, post-election, by many on the right is that the tea party is some kind of political "universal solvent", good for dissolving any opposition in it's way.
The problem with a universal solvent, as the saying goes, is if it eats its way through everything, how does one contain it?
This is the problem facing Rep. John Boehner and other Republican leaders as they've already been receiving veiled - and not so veiled - messages from tea partiers and others on the extreme political right. The tea partiers insist there should be NO compromise on ANYTHING with the President or Democrats - but they expect results IMMEDIATELY.
The issue of raising the Federal Government's debt ceiling, then, is the point at which that universal solvent eats through the floor, on its way to the center of Earth, and total annihilation.
The issue of raising the debt ceiling is simple and has ALWAYS passed in every previous U.S. Congress. In short, the Federal government MUST continue to raise the debt ceiling nearly every year. If it doesn't and the U.S. Government defaults on its debt, not only will the U.S. economy collapse. It will do so in such a spectacular way that it will take the entire rest of the world's economies with it.
Unlike when President Obama and Congress passed and signed the stimulus into law in near record time, when the clock strikes midnight on the agreement to extend the debt ceiling, there will be no last-minute rescuing anyone. If the GOP does not agree to extend that debt ceiling before the deadline expires, political skirmishes will be the least of our concerns.
Extending our debt ceiling, of course, is something tea partiers have already said they're not willing to do - even if some the old-guard Senators who have attempted to lead them have already agreed to cave to reality.
So if you know a progressive or someone who you're pretty sure who votes Democratic? That smile on their face isn't because they don't know they lost more than a few races on Tuesday.
It's because they're not John Boehner or anyone else in the Republican leadership.
As an old teacher we once knew used to tell her students right before a grueling exam, "Good luck - and have fun!"
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