If you're a sports fan of any kind, you've likely seen or heard the State Farm insurance company series of ads over the last couple of years, that capitalize on the "That Moment When" meme. For Nebraskans, we're definitely at one of those moments in history, as journalist Don Walton pointed out earlier this week - though frankly, many Nebraskans are still in denial about it.
What Walton noted in the Lincoln Journal-Star is a sad and disgusting fact if you're a Nebraskan who can think critically and prefers multiple worthwhile choices at the polls. Unfortunately, the question for 2014 isn't whether a Republican will replace current U.S. Senator Mike Johanns. The Nebraska Democratic Party doesn't even have a serious candidate for the 2014 U.S. Senate race. Further, even if such a candidate existed, and swept both Omaha and Lincoln, there are still enough low-information Republicans in the state overall that a Democratic candidate effectively has no chance to win statewide, at this time.
So 'That Moment' in Nebraska? It's happening right now. It's the beginning of the 2014 political circus - and Nebraska Republicans have a decision to make.
Will they choose a sane, old-fashioned, center-right, Republican to win the Senate seat - someone who actually understands the meaning of important words like "governing" and "compromise"?
Or will the second U.S. Senate seat from Nebraska go to some bat-crap crazy, neo- Confederate, Ted Cruz wannabe who's willing to do anything - ANYTHING - to get public attention and the spotlight, but couldn't govern his or her way out of a paper bag?
It may be early, but from the looks of the race so far, it appears Nebraskans seem more than willing to let extremist right-wing out-of-state political interests buy the seat and install their latest puppet, Ben Sasse. Sasse, a relative political neophyte, a Harvard and Yale graduate, and current president of Midland University picked up the endorsement of the tea-party backed Senate Conservatives Fund this week, over former Nebraska state treasurer and Navy hero, Shane Osborne. That doesn't mean Osborne would be a better candidate.
As Dave Weigel noted in Slate yesterday, both Osborne and Sasse already seem to be thinking of themselvess as Ted Cruz-like figures, though the money backers of the extreme right only seem to be treating Sasse like Cruz.
Don't think the 2014 U.S. Senate from Nebraska race will be a runaway for Sasse, though.
Not only will Karl Rove and the business wing of the GOP likely be attacking tea party extremists like Sasse. The 42-year old Fremont teabagger will also have to face three other GOP opponents, plus the newest entrant to the race, rancher Jim Jenkins.
Jenkins, a former Democratic voter in Nebraska who admits he voted for corporate shill Mitt Romney in 2012, is running as a "Non-Party" independent candidate. That just may entice some of those old-fashioned sensible moderate Nebraska Republicans who understand there is no realistic future in governing with the right-wing fanatics.
No matter who Nebraska Republicans choose to fill that seat, as Don Walton pointed out, the race for the next U.S. Senator from Nebraska effectively ends next May. So this is that moment - when most of those current Republican candidates begin acting like clowns, trying to show Nebraskans just how far to the extreme right they're willing to go to get their party's nomination.
How will Nebraskans know when these candidates have gone too far to the extreme right for common sense and good governing?
If you have to ask, you're already there.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
In-Flight Warning: Stay On Target
With as much media hype as the sputtering rollout of Healthcare.gov has received this past week, we understand how you might have gotten the impression large sections of the internet were somehow frozen and broken. However, not only is most of the internet working fine - you're reading this online right now - but the main portal for Obamacare is indeed functional, and getting better all the time.
We don't want to appear as though we're ignoring the problems. In fact, as Brian Beutler of Salon pointed out on Tuesday, it's actually a very good thing that we're drawing some attention to the failures of the website now, before it's too late to fix the problems.
Still, as both Lucia Graves and Jonathan Cohn pointed out, the rough start to the federal health insurance exchange doesn't really matter that much. The next few weeks - specifically, between now and Thanksgiving - are really going to be the ones that count. Then the system will either work or it won't.
So while the machines of Obamacare may cough and sputter now like some wheezing airplane, the two major subjects you should be keeping your eyes on right now are 'Jobs and The Economy,' and the Icarus-like collapse of the Republican Party.
We've been saying it regularly for years now, and both Greg Sargent and Ryan Cooper echoed that refrain perfectly this week, noting that virtually every fight Democrats and the left have this fall should be about jobs - especially in the budget battle now happening on Capitol Hill.
Tuesday's delayed release of the September jobs numbers made that clear to anyone who knows how to read the data. While the jobs numbers were in positive territory, and the unemployment rate dropped again, the numbers still weren't the kind of figures that anyone who truly wants the economy to sharply improve would like.
One of the key factors that became obvious with September's jobs numbers is that Obamacare is not ruining the economy the way Republicans thought it would. In short, Obamacare isn't turning full-time jobs into part-time jobs. In fact, most of the jobs growth this year has been from full-time jobs.
Which means both Republicans and their right-wing media parrots have been lying about the effects of Obamacare on the economy all along.
As a slew of awful polls has already pointed out this week, Americans no longer like or trust Republicans - and that includes the extremists in the GOP. As Steve Benen's crystal clear chart showed on Tuesday, there is no more distinct group Americans dislike and feel betrayed by right now than the Republican Party.
That, frankly, is not a good thing.
President Obama and Congressional Democrats are attempting to get the American economy back off the ground, and flying high once again. It doesn't help that our nation's entire right wing seems to be seriously broken and won't easily be repaired.
If Americans want to keep focused on what we, collectively, think is important - namely, more jobs and a rapidly improving economy - it might help if we all kept our attention zeroed in on the target of an improved economy, instead of constantly pointing at the latest healthcare website computer glitch.
We don't want to appear as though we're ignoring the problems. In fact, as Brian Beutler of Salon pointed out on Tuesday, it's actually a very good thing that we're drawing some attention to the failures of the website now, before it's too late to fix the problems.
Still, as both Lucia Graves and Jonathan Cohn pointed out, the rough start to the federal health insurance exchange doesn't really matter that much. The next few weeks - specifically, between now and Thanksgiving - are really going to be the ones that count. Then the system will either work or it won't.
So while the machines of Obamacare may cough and sputter now like some wheezing airplane, the two major subjects you should be keeping your eyes on right now are 'Jobs and The Economy,' and the Icarus-like collapse of the Republican Party.
We've been saying it regularly for years now, and both Greg Sargent and Ryan Cooper echoed that refrain perfectly this week, noting that virtually every fight Democrats and the left have this fall should be about jobs - especially in the budget battle now happening on Capitol Hill.
Tuesday's delayed release of the September jobs numbers made that clear to anyone who knows how to read the data. While the jobs numbers were in positive territory, and the unemployment rate dropped again, the numbers still weren't the kind of figures that anyone who truly wants the economy to sharply improve would like.
One of the key factors that became obvious with September's jobs numbers is that Obamacare is not ruining the economy the way Republicans thought it would. In short, Obamacare isn't turning full-time jobs into part-time jobs. In fact, most of the jobs growth this year has been from full-time jobs.
Which means both Republicans and their right-wing media parrots have been lying about the effects of Obamacare on the economy all along.
As a slew of awful polls has already pointed out this week, Americans no longer like or trust Republicans - and that includes the extremists in the GOP. As Steve Benen's crystal clear chart showed on Tuesday, there is no more distinct group Americans dislike and feel betrayed by right now than the Republican Party.
That, frankly, is not a good thing.
President Obama and Congressional Democrats are attempting to get the American economy back off the ground, and flying high once again. It doesn't help that our nation's entire right wing seems to be seriously broken and won't easily be repaired.
If Americans want to keep focused on what we, collectively, think is important - namely, more jobs and a rapidly improving economy - it might help if we all kept our attention zeroed in on the target of an improved economy, instead of constantly pointing at the latest healthcare website computer glitch.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Fools, Zombies, & Republicans
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)