By Doug Porter
Congressional (D52) candidate Carl DeMaio is working overtime to try and turn the House-led shutdown to his advantage. He’s campaigning for a “common sense” law that says legislators can’t be paid until a budget is passed. He’s parroting the party line about how “both sides” need to come to the table.
But he’s got a hard road ahead as poll after poll shows even Republicans think the current shutdown tied to defunding Obamacare is a bad idea. And ever-increasing numbers of voters are willing to look past the false equivalence narratives being pushed by the cable news set and blame the Grand Old Party for this mess.
So how did I come up with the terms House of Indecision and Suicide Caucus? I plucked them from commentaries by certifiable conservative commentators.
Jonathan Strong and Robert Costa at National Review paint the broader picture:
House Republican leaders met today at the Capitol, but they made little progress toward solving the fiscal crisis, or calming the GOP’s growing tensions. They remain undecided on the contours of a potential deal, and on how to sell one, especially to the conference’s bloc of skeptical conservatives. “It’s the House of indecision,” says a weary Republican aide familiar with the talks. “We don’t have the votes for a big deal, small deal, or short-term deal.”
For part two of these descriptors I turn to my least favorite right winger, via Raw Story:
Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist and regular Fox News panelist Charles Krauthammer warned over the weekend that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was leading Republicans on a “suicide” mission to defund President Barack Obama’s health reform law with an attempted government shutdown.
Over the past month, Cruz has been joined Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and the Heritage Foundation in insisting that Republicans pass no continuing resolutions to fund the government unless the president agrees to repeal or defund the Affordable Care Act.
“It would be over a cliff for the GOP,” Krauthammer said on Sunday’s edition Inside Washington. “I admire the sincerity and the passion of those who don’t want to pass the budget unless you get rid of Obamacare, but it is utterly impossible in the real world. And the only thing it will do is to undo all the gains the Republicans have made over the past year, and undo their very real chances of having great successes next year.”
“I think it’s a suicide caucus…”
Now you might think that I’m playing the old “guilt by connection” partisan ploy.
But consider candidate Carl’s pitch to potential voters last Tuesday at the San Diego Lion’s Club, where he compared himself and his “mission” to Tea Party Senator Ted Cruz, generally considered as being mastermind of the current standoff.
Via San Diego Politico:
…when asked how as a junior congressman he would be able to change Washington, DeMaio pointed to Ted Cruz as an example saying “Take a look at what Ted Cruz is doing. Freshman Senator, he’s certainly creating a lot of stir. So I do believe one individual can make a difference. And it’s a question of whether you are willing to stand your ground.”
Present and Future Playmates
As we head towards a government default on its obligations next week, the House suicide caucus is of two minds…
There’s the “no problem” approach of Congressman Ted Yoho, via eclectablog.com:
One completely out-of-touch Republican on this issue is Ted Yoho from Florida who thinks — I’m not making this up, I swear — that the United States of America defaulting on its debt obligations will “bring stability to the world markets”:
“I think we need to have that moment where we realize [we’re] going broke,” Yoho said. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, that will sure as heck be a moment. “I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets,” since they would be assured that the United States had moved decisively to curb its debt.
The reality, of course, is that if the USA defaults on even some of its debt, it will create complete chaos in the world markets and will almost assuredly cause a global economic catastrophe never before seen.
See what happens when you put people in charge of government who hate government?
Miley Cyrus as Michele Bachman on SNL
And then there’s the “God Planned It” platform of Congresswoman Michele Bachman, via Talking Points Memo:
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) claims the end of days is near, and as proof the former Republican presidential candidate cited President Barack Obama’s decision last month tosupport Syrian rebels, which she calls al-Qaeda terrorists, with anti-chemical weapons gear and limited arms.
“This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists, now what this says to me, I’m a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the signs of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God’s end times history,” Bachmann told Jan Markell, radio host of “Understanding the Times,” on Saturday.
“Rather than seeing this as a negative, we need to rejoice, Maranatha Come Lord Jesus, His day is at hand,” Bachmann added later. “And so when we see up is down and right is called wrong, when this is happening, we were told this; that these days would be as the days of Noah. We are seeing that in our time. Yes it gives us fear in some respects because we want the retirement that our parents enjoyed. Well they will, if they know Jesus Christ.”
Yes, we all know Michele Bachman is a joke. And if you didn’t know, you should after watching last week’s Saturday Night Live takedown featuring Miley Cyrus (really!) as the Congresswoman. (Warning: Video link about is NSFW and generally in poor taste, but funny none-the-less)
You Might Want to Reconsider that Chicken Dinner
Later today I’m planning on returning the Foster Farms chicken thighs bought at Ralphs that I was going to use to make Coq au Vin tonight. (Hey, we eat well at my house!)
Last night the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a public health alert for raw chicken packaged in California packaged at three facilities owned by Foster Farms.
So far the chicken has been linked to nearly 300 salmonella cases across 18 different states, a widespread outbreak that appears to have begun in March.
And guess what? NBC News reports the USDA and CDC can’t provide many details about the latest outbreak “because of limited staffing caused by a week-long government shutdown.”
This must be that Libertarian paradise I keep hearing about.
Mayoral Updates: Coons Quits
Former candidate Bruce Coons, speaking at the press conference yesterday throwing his support to City Councilman David Alvarez:
“Councilmember Alvarez’s experience fighting for protection and expansion of our parklands, and conservation of our bays, rivers and ocean lead me to believe he’s the right man for the job,” Coons said. “As our next mayor, he’ll be the one to make tough decisions, standing up to the downtown power brokers and outside interests to ensure that the residents of San Diego can have an improved quality of life.”
Nathan Fletcher Gets the Heat
Lincoln Club Mailer
SDGLN.com, the Gay-centric news site owned by Carl DeMaio’s significant other, weighed in yesterday with a post suggesting candidate Fletcher could be “a political ‘one-night stand’ with a guy who has no intention of calling in the morning.” Ugh.
And then we learned via SD Rostra about the mailing sent out by the Lincoln Club. Reduced to its essence the mailing seems more designed to drive voters to Democrat David Alvarez than to Republican Kevin Faulconer.
Finally, Dorian Hargrove at the San Diego Reader reported on a $25,000 contribution by Bridgepoint Education to the Fletcher-centric “Restoring Trust in San Diego” committee.
The donation does not come without some baggage. Earlier this year, Bridgepoint, which owns and operates Ashford University has become a punching bag for U.S. Senators to pound on during recent hearings in Washington DC. In 2012, chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Tom Harkin called the company a “scam.”
At the time figures showed the for-profit college collected $30,574 in tuition for a two-year business degree, almost over four times the amount that public institutions charged.
David Alvarez Gets the Money
The elephant in the room, via inewsource (includes donations to support committees) :
Alvarez $822,900
Faulconer $326,898
Fletcher $340,400
On This Day: 1919 – The first transcontinental air race in the U.S. began. 1957 – The Brooklyn Baseball Club announced that it had accepted a deal to move the Dodgers to Los Angeles. 1980 – Bob Marley collapsed onstage during a show in Pittsburgh, PA. It was the last show he would ever perform. He died seven months later of cancer.
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Doug Porter
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Can’t tell if you calling Ted Yoho “Ted Yolo” is a typo or done on purpose. Either way it’s funny.
Typo. Fixed. I guess it’s better than YooHoo
YeeHaw?
It is neither intriguing or mysterious that a scam outfit like Bridgepoint Education would ante up for scam “Democrat” Fletcher Nathan. Bridgepoint sponsors San Diego Symphony Pops and advertises regularly at VoiceofSanDiego too — all part of a well-oiled public relations offensive to look civil, civic-minded and legitimate, which they are not.