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What is the health care end game? Matthew Continetti thinks he knows the answer to that question:

Now, one chamber of Congress has voted for repeal, more than half the states are challenging the constitutionality of Obamacare’s individual health insurance mandate, and the law remains unpopular. Health care spending and premiums continue to rise, and the president’s claim that the law allows you to keep your health plan has been proven false. Can somebody remind us why the law’s supporters continue to think they have the winning hand?

The truth is that if Republicans in the 112th Congress spent the next two years doing nothing but debating the health care law, beginning to dismantle it, and offering alternatives, they would have real momentum heading into the 2012 election.

This is the golden goose tea party conservatives would like stowed in their sack of goodies.  In fact, if this scenario did play out, I cannot imagine them being any happier.

Here’s the problem:  two years of fastidious debate focused solely on health care and its immediate repeal would do nothing to: A) offer any attempts at remedying our economic conditions, and: B) dispel the idea conservatives are not concerned with the ballooning deficit.  Taking into account repealing PPACA would immediately increase the deficit, the latter point is even more cogent.

If Continetti has his way, his party would remain out of touch with the majority of Americans, who did not sweep the GOP into office because of health care–but the conditions of unemployment and slow employment.  This would not be a path conducive to keeping power.

I am a proponent of the health care bill.  Any attempt to insure more Americans by expanding access, is an important and necessary action.  Is it perfect?  By no means, and that is why it would be more prudent to work proactively to fix pieces of the law that are weakest–and re-examine employer-based insurance and the obscene incentives insurance companies reap.

Health care should always be a discussion worth having–especially considering the huge segment of our economy affected by it.  Having the wrong conversation is a waste of time.  Do we really need two more years like we experienced leading up to the midterms?

H/T: Daily Dish

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Thomas Jefferson speaks about the Constitution and its malleability in 1816:

“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimoni­ous reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched; who ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment. Let us follow no such examples, nor weakly believe that one generation is not as capable as another of taking care of itself, and of ordering its own affairs. Each generation is as independen­t as the one preceding, as that was of all which had gone before.”

This is Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), supposed Constitutional scholar ( much like all conservatvies–at least that’s what they claim) preaching about the merits of upholding the Constitution:

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Whether you agree with Jefferson’s assertion or not, a very clear case could be made for its relevance then, and its relevance now.

What I find intriguing is the level of duplicitousness on the part of some of these constitutional sycophants such as Goodlatte. There’s something very odd about the fact that those preaching strict constitutional adherence, seem to be woefully ignorant of exactly what’s in the constitution.  Maybe that’s why the aforementioned quote by Jefferson is so resoundingly timely.

This 112th congress is already off to a great start.

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I’m a wild-eyed optimist,  my anger is subsiding about this tax compromise President Obama reached with republicans.  Here’s what makes this tax cut deal almost palatable:  The president was able to procure several important tax incentives for the unemployed, the poor, and the middle class–items republicans normally would rather kill before including in any legislation.  Some republicans in fact, are already complaining about giving too much ground.

This is not to say this compromise is not a capitulation; it is to a degree.  The president has repeatedly said that continuing tax cuts for the wealthy is irresponsibly bad tax policy, and balloons the deficit.  But to who’s benefit would a protracted tax battle be– especially when there is no guarantee Obama would secure anything for the middle class given democrats’ lame duck status in congress?

Democrats in the senate could not even muster the necessary votes to pass a stand-alone tax cut for the middle class.  The president’s leverage in this debate is tenuous at best.

Here’s where it can get interesting:  If President Obama uses this deal as a wedge to not only engage conservatives in frank, realistic discussions about deficit reduction– and sheds a bright light on their real plans to attack the debt– he will have won a major victory. Of course he has to offer his own concrete plans about reducing the debt also, but that goes without saying.

I wrote about George W. Bush’s hidden brilliance in crafting the tax cut time bomb scenario in 2003, a devious political play now playing itself out at democrats expense.  What if this is the Obama tax ruse for 2012?

We all know conservatives could care less about deficit reduction–but somehow, they’ve shifted the tide in their favor, without really proposing any way to address the issue.  This is the president’s opportunity to take control of the debate.  Let’s hope he knows what he’s doing.

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Why are we having this debate about expiring tax cuts?  If conservatives initially wanted to keep taxes low, why would they proffer legislation–when they held the majority in congress and held the presidency–that was set to expire?  Would it not be in their best interests to permanently keep tax rates low, rather than take a political risk of butting heads with democrats about their expiration?

Did they plant a political tax time bomb, set to explode and back fire on democrats?  Bush economic policies have proved to be disastrous, resulting in the most devastating economic depression since the 1930′s.  Is it coincidence we’re having this tax fight in the midst of a recession?  Was this outcome predestined, determined by an economic council of Bush underlings, to divide and demoralize democrats and split the country?

A few things to ponder here:  I cannot believe the Bush economic team had the brain power– let alone the calculated foresight for such an endeavor.  Second, who could have predicted the ascension of Barack Obama to the presidency?  Did conservatives envision a democrat in the white house after Bush–and before authoring the tax laws in 2003?  Highly doubtful.

But what if they did spring the trap?  What if the conservative game plan began to change in the early 2000′s, where the name of the game became brokerism and not governance?  Perhaps they realized it was far better to splinter, than to lead with actual policy and programs.  Think about conservative platforms and policy now.  How much is about actual governance, and how much is about obstructionism, deflection, and ideological purity? Media Matters notes:

When the tax cuts were enacted, with an expiration date, Republicans and Bush officials understood the political advantages of the “fiscal time bomb” they were setting. As Kurtz puts it: “At some point in the way distant future, Democrats could be accused of raising taxes if they tried to undo the Bush breaks and return to Clinton-era levels of taxation.” Democrats understood this, too: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) told the Washington Post at the time that “[Bush is] going to be out of office when the roof falls in.”

Maybe Bush was more clever than we all imagined.  His failed tax policies looks likely to be extended, and conservatives– in all likelihood– will have scored a major policy victory.  Democrats will be seen as wanting to raise taxes, and conservatives will be credited with preventing that scenario.

Another classic example of the republican tail wagging the  democratic dog.

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Have they already mis-read the masses?  Indiana congressman Mike Pence:

PENCE: I’m going to ensure that Republicans come out of the gate and seize this moment, we’ve really been given a second chance at a first impression and I’m going to tell them that we have to rise to the challenge with principle and conviction and not with this attitude that you saw coming from the White House yesterday and from some other quarters on the establishment left in Washington which was that somehow the message of the election was that they want Democrats and Republicans to work better together, to get along — good heavens.

Has the arrogance already crept in Mr. Pence?  Lest you forgot, you and your party were complicit in the state of affairs the nation finds herself in–conservatives controlled Congress and the White House for six years–freely enacting their policies without penalty or regard.  While I won’t completely castigate republicans for the state of the economy–although it is mighty tempting–I will say they best take heed of the political winds in the country.  The people don’t much like either party.

Their reign won’t last long if they interpret this big win as a mandate for their ideas, and the implementation of them without consequence.  Play nice, or don’t play at all.

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The campaign to retake congress culminates with this wonderfully lurid ad.

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Christine O’Donnell.  Glenn Beck.  Fox and Friends hosts who aren’t very smart.  Witchcraft.  Marxism.  Sycophantic apologists.  All the ingredients to make a really dumb people stew.  Hit the clip:

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The president shows fire!  He’s going to need more of this in the coming weeks:

And I know — I know that there are folks right here in this audience, folks right here in Milwaukee and all across America, who are going through these kinds of struggles. Eight million Americans lost their jobs in this recession. And even though we’ve had eight straight months of private sector job growth, the new jobs haven’t been coming fast enough. Now, here’s the honest truth, the plain truth. There’s no silver bullet. There’s no quick fix to these problems. I knew when I was running for office, and I certainly knew by the time I was sworn in, I knew it would take time to reverse the damage of a decade worth of policies that saw too few people being able to climb into the middle class, too many people falling behind. (Applause.)

We all knew this. We all knew that it would take more time than any of us want to dig ourselves out of this hole created by this economic crisis. But on this Labor Day, there are two things I want you to know. Number one: I am going to keep fighting every single day, every single hour, every single minute, to turn this economy around and put people back to work and renew the American Dream, not just for your family, not just for all our families, but for future generations. That I can guarantee you. (Applause.)

Number two — I believe this with every fiber of my being: America cannot have a strong, growing economy without a strong, growing middle class, and the chance for everybody, no matter how humble their beginnings, to join that middle class — (applause) — a middle class built on the idea that if you work hard, if you live up to your responsibilities, then you can get ahead; that you can enjoy some basic guarantees in life. A good job that pays a good wage. Health care that will be there when you get sick. (Applause.) A secure retirement even if you’re not rich. (Applause.) An education that will give your children a better life than we had. (Applause.) These are simple ideas. These are American ideas. These are union ideas. That’s what we’re fighting for.

Here is the video footage from the speech.

I have to admit:  I prefer this Obama to the gentile, bridge-builder– aching to please and always leaving unpleased.  I think this version of the president realizes it’s time to scorch the earth.  Only in American politics can one party excoriate a president for his failings and low approval numbers with the public–when their numbers are even lower–and be on the upswing.

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Take a look at this list– compiled by conservative blogger John Hawkins– of the 25 worst figures in American history:

Conservatives have the right to say dumb things; It's the American way.

• 23) Saul Alinsky
• 23) Bill Clinton
• 23) Hillary Clinton
• 19) Michael Moore
• 19) George Soros (8)
• 19) Alger Hiss (8)
• 19) Al Sharpton (8)
• 13) Al Gore (9)
• 13) Noam Chomsky (9)
• 13) Richard Nixon (9)
• 13) Jane Fonda (9)
• 13) Harry Reid (9)
• 13) Nancy Pelosi (9)
• 11) John Wilkes Booth (10)
• 11) Margaret Sanger (10)
• 9) Aldrich Ames (11)
• 9) Timothy McVeigh (11)
• 7) Ted Kennedy (14)
• 7) Lyndon Johnson (14)
• 5) Benedict Arnold (17)
• 5) Woodrow Wilson (17)
• 4) The Rosenbergs (19)
• 3) Franklin Delano Roosevelt (21)
• 2) Barack Obama (23)
• 1) Jimmy Carter (25)

What type of psychosis is today’s conservative party suffering from? Putting FDR on this list with the Rosenbergs is an absolute disgrace–and utterly devoid of any grasp of American political realities.  Today’s conservatives seem to suffer from paralysis by unsubstantiated analysis– an amazing lack of understanding of how American events shaped the leaders who guided us through them.

FDR–no matter how you felt about his policies–steered us through one of the darkest chapters in American history.  Indisputable.  The Rosenbergs were spies.  Comparison fail.  Letting your hatred of anything left of center clouds rational thought.

Bill Clinton and Tim McVeigh?  A president who presided over a prosperous era, and who signed welfare reform–a conservative pet project– and a vile mass murderer?  Why Barack Obama and no Jim Jones?  Jim Jones, the notorious cult leader and mass murderer didn’t make this list huh?  Wow.

I don’t have issues with conservatives making lists–even lists I might disagree with on substantive grounds.  But to mix political ideologies that you don’t like with some of the most deviant Americans, who committed some of the most heinous atrocities imaginable, borders on lunacy.   It doesn’t serve your aims particularly well, and it short-circuits your argument on cogent discourse.  In short, you look like a fucking moron who’s never read a book nor looked at anything through an objective lens.  Your opinion matters not.

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“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,”

President Barack Obama. Image courtesy of blog.peta.org

And that is the crux of this matter.  No matter your feelings on the emotional linkage to our nation’s greatest domestic terror disaster, the Constitution–the very document President Obama is so often accused of usurping– states the above most clearly.  Period.  End of story.  Below are the president’s remarks in their entirety.

Good evening, everybody. Welcome. Please, have a seat. Well, welcome to the White House. To you, to Muslim Americans across our country, and to more than one billion Muslims around the world, I extend my best wishes on this holy month. Ramadan Kareem.

I want to welcome members of the diplomatic corps; members of my administration; and members of Congress, including Rush Holt, John Conyers, and Andre Carson, who is one of two Muslim American members of Congress, along with Keith Ellison. So welcome, all of you.

Here at the White House, we have a tradition of hosting iftars that goes back several years, just as we host Christmas parties and seders and Diwali celebrations. And these events

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