G.O.Pocrisy

Benghazi Committee Still Burning Money in Washington

Trey Gowdy and fellow Republican members of the
House Select Committee on Benghazi, October 2015

Remember the House Republican's Benghazi Committee?  It was nearly six months ago that the GOP-led panel held a farcical, 11-hour hearing with Hillary Clinton, which only reinforced suspicions that the committee served no legitimate purpose.  

That was October of last year.  Believe it or not, the investigation still exists, and the panel's Democratic minority issued a statement (on Thursday) announcing the committee's newest milestone.

"Thursday marks the 700th day since the authorization of the Select Committee on Benghazi.  During this time, Republicans have discovered no new evidence that contradicts the key findings of the previous bipartisan and independent investigations."...

...What's more...the Benghazi investiation, which has cost American taxpayers over $6.5 million, isn't done.  There is no end date in mind... I suppose it's possible that it will simply continue forever...

...Seven separate congressional committees investigated the Benghazi attack before the Select Committee was even created.  This was already one of the most scrutinized events in American history.  Republican lawmakers, however, didn't quite care for what the evidence told them, so they effectively concluded, "Maybe an eighth committee will tell us something the other seven committees didn't."...

...If there's a coherent defense for this exercise, I can't think of it.

eye'm thynkin':  700+ days of putting American taxpayer money to the flame that burns in the hearts of congressional Republicans.  Fiscal responsibility at its finest.

Read more at MSNBC

More Stories from Political Pollution

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The unions argued that Wisconsin's law was an unconstitutional seizure of union property since unions now must extend benefits to workers who don't pay dues.  Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust agreed.

He said the law amounts to an unconstitutional governmental taking of union funds without compensation since under the law unions must represent people who don't pay dues.

m'eye thoughts:  Finally someone "gets it."   You want to belong to the club, you want to reap the benefits of membership, pay the dues.  

Read more at Addicting Info

--2--

A protester at the Indiana statehouse last week.

Me either!

--3--

No payback here, really, just doing my job, keeping the legislature safe, honest.

Read more at Winning Democrats

Does Harry Reid Have a Way Around the GOP's SCOTUS Blockade?

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada)

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid knows the rules, procedures, and tactics of the Senate like the back of his hand.  I'm convinced he could recite them back to you should you have the time to listen.  And...Senator Reid may have just found a way around the impasse over the nomination of Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court.

What does Reid have up his sleeve?  Well, it's known as a "discharge resolution," and it could well pave a road completely around Senate Republicans--including Majority Leader Mitch "Turtle" McConnell...

...A discharge resolution would function in this case as so:  A Democratic senator would make a motion of a resolution to "discharge" Garland's nomination from the Judiciary Committee.  What this means is the the nomination would be moved into an executive session, which completely overrides the 60-vote minimum needed to do so.

eye'm thynkin':  It could backfire by putting the 17 Republican Senators who favor a vote back on the wrong side of the fence; but oh, the fun of watching all those Republican heads explode if Senator Reid pulls this off.

Read more at Liberal America

Today's Political Pollution Posts

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m'eye thoughts:   The Republican Politician's Handbook, 2016 edition - When your popularity at home is taking a hit, it's always good to look for someone else to blame for your untenable position.  

Read more at Talking Point Memo

--2--

Sometimes it must hurt to be Cruz.

Read more at If You Only News

Wisconsin's Not So Subtle Attempt to Eliminate Student Voting

(Any underlines are mine.)

University of Wisconsin students...can't use their student IDs at the ballot box.  Unless they have a Wisconsin drivers license or passport, they must go to a campus office, present their student ID, and request an additional voter ID that complies with Gov. Scott Walker's law...

While poll workers will accept an expired drivers license, passport, tribal ID, or military ID, the student voter ID must be less than two years old.  Students must additionally print out and bring a proof of enrollment, such as a class schedule...  And while poll workers are only mandated to look at a person's name and photo on most IDs, when examining student IDs they must also check for a signature.

Student leaders at the UW's flagship campus in Madison told ThinkProgress they feel singled out for extra scrutiny.  

"It seems like the state legislature doesn't want a bunch of students voting," said junior Jessica Franco-Morales, a member of the student council working on voter education and outreach on campus.  "(The lawmakers) could have changed the law to make our student IDs compatible, but they didn't.  Their attack on certain populations seems pretty blatant."...

...The legislature changed the law to include veterans ID cards, but ignored pleas from students to do the same for them.

eye'm thynkin':  Here's a photo comparing a UW student ID and a UW issued voter ID.  They're practically identical and include the same information.  The student ID even includes an expiration date--which would seem to eliminate the requirement to provide a class schedule to prove you're really a student.   

Looking at the evidence, one might be tempted to think Scott Walker and his Republican cronies are trying to stop students--who tend to be more liberal and vote Democrat--mucking up their cushy Republican haven. 

Read more at Think Progress

Gohmert: No STEM for Women - They "were created for one thing and one thing alone." (Correction addended)

(screen shot)

Texas Representative Louie Gohmert has just established himself as public enemy number one for women by publicly opposing H.R. 4742, a new bill that would increase federal support for entrepreneurial programs for women in STEM fields--science, technology, engineering, and math...

..."This program is designed to discriminate against that young, poverty-stricken boy and to encourage that girl.  Forget the boy.  Encourage the girl."

"And, you know, that's just not the way God intended us to be treating women.  I know that everybody is today talking about equality and we've got groups that are trying to make us believe that women are equal to men.  However, that's just not the case.  God didn't make us equal.  It is ourselves, we have created this illusion of equality.  And you want to know what the most powerful evidence of that there is?  Simple biology..."

"...Women were created for one thing and one thing alone.  We are insulting the Lord by allowing women to act like men.  Women are beautiful creatures, no doubt about that.  We marry them, we look after them, we provide for them and we love them, but that does not mean they are the same as us.  It is the job of a woman to stay at home, to maintain the household, to bear children and look after them after they're born.  Nowhere in the scriptures does it say that women should be chasing after fancy titles and knowledge.  The only knowledge they need is the one we men allow them to have."

eye'm thynkin':  You'll have to excuse me if I keep this short, but my head just exploded.

Republicans.  They just can't help themselves.

Read more at Bipartisan Report
You can watch Mr. Gohmert's entire speech here.

Addendum: An apology to my readers and to Mr. Gohmert.  

I try to be as accurate as humanly possible--that being said, I am in fact, human.  When I first read this story, I also checked other sites, sites that I trust, and at two of them I found the same quotes.  I listened to Mr. Gohmert's speech, and the first paragraph is quoted accurately.  I erred and assumed the other quotes were from other sources.  And so I reported it.

Yesterday, an anonymous reader said he thought it was satire.  So I did more checking and found the quotes on one other trusted site.  I checked one more place and finally found that the last two paragraphs actually were originally written as satire--the type of excellent satire that cleaves so closely to the truth that the boundaries are blurred.  The best satire is, after all, firmly rooted in reality.

Thank you to my anonymous reader for making me look further; but, think about this, how hard was it, in light of the GOP's attitude toward women in general, to accept this as true?  I realize that by misreporting this, I may have added to the anti-woman aura that swirls around today's Republican Party; but, really, they don't need my help. It's clear enough from the one paragraph that is completely accurate that Mr. Gohmert would prefer  women  always come second.

Saturday's Stories from Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts:  The American Democracy Legal Fund, apparently unaware of how super-duper special Mr. Rich White Trash is, has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice Criminal Division.

Read more at Addicting Info

--2--

"Yes, poor Mitch the sad turtle now is dealing with a real problem.  Over 25 percent of Senate Republicans are now prepared to have a hearing and vote on Obama's SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland.  He totally promised that this is the very thing that would not happen on his watch, and now here it comes raining down directly on him.  It's truly beautiful."

I do not feel bad.

Read more at Winning Democrats

--3--

The Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission had a vacancy.  Governor LePage voiced his preference for who he wanted to fill it.  The Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee chose someone else.  So the Governor decided to act like the nasty, petty, infantile, spoiled brat he is and canceled the swearing in ceremony for newly-elected state senator, Susan Deschambault (D).  Mitch McConnell must be so-o-o-o-o jealous.

Read more at news.groopspeak

--4--

Oh, and I sent this to Donald (Stubby Fingers) Trump's Twitter account.  Petty and silly, I know; but it kinda made made my day.

Watching the GOP Squirm...

...is like watching a team of blindfolded NFL linebackers play Quidditch above an empty pool with rules written by the U.S. Diving Association. They're either going to drown on their own hot air, or hit bottom in one ugly splat. 

Today's Stories from Political Pollution

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Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) says he will be going around speaking with constituents at more than a dozen events in his home state during the Senate's two-week spring recess.

But most of the public will have no idea how to find him, because his office is keeping the details of those events secret to avoid protesters.

my'eye thoughts: And that's how you listen to the voice of the people, Republican style.

Read more at MSNBC

--2--

Is it evil for me to want this whole Cruz-is-a-womanizing-cheating-lying-hypocrite stuff to be true?

Read more at Winning Democrats

Quote(s) for Monday, March 28

what eye thynk:  One Supreme Court seat, one nomination, one embarrassing flip-flop.

monday quote(s):

1997 - Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), speaking in support of Merrick Garland's nomination to the Court of Appeals, DC Circuit:  

"His intelligence and his scholarship cannot be questioned...His legal experience is equally impressive...Accordingly, I believe Mr. Garland is a fine nominee.  I know him personally, I know his integrity, I know his legal ability, I know his honesty, I know his acumen." 

2016, March 13 - Senator Orrin Hatch speaking at a Federalist Society lunch in Washington D.C.:

"The President told me several times he's going to name a moderate (to fill the court vacancy,) but I don't believe him.  (He) could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man...He probably won't do that because this appointment is about the election."

2016, March 16, just three days later - The President nominated Merrick Garland.  One day after that, on March 17, Mr. Hatch spoke to the media.

"I remain convinced that the best way for the Senate to do its job is to conduct the confirmation process after this toxic Presidential election season is over."

The only conclusion I can draw is that Orrin Hatch LOVED Merrick Garland until President Obama loved him too.  When Mr. Hatch breezily called nominating Mr. Garland "easy," he was daring the President to nominate someone who would and should glide through the nomination process without a blip.  

His reaction to the nomination is not only a slap in the face to Judge Garland's "integrity," a quality Senator Hatch claimed to admire, but also paints a huge question mark on his own senatorial rectitude.   With his own words, Orrin Hatch has made himself look like a fool--one who thought he was being clever and then found out there was a true genius in the room.

Yes, this election season is "toxic," but the president isn't the one serving up the Wolfsbane.

Today's Stories from my Political Pollution Facebook Page

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m'eye thoughts:  Alabama needs a new slogan.  I suggest "In Spite We Trust."

Read more at

The New Civil Rights Movement

--2--

Chris Wallace: "A final question, just to make it clear--you are saying no consideration of Judge Garland by this Congress even if Hillary Clinton wins the election?"

Mitch McConnell:  "Yeah, I cannot imagine that a Republican majority in the United States Senate would want to confirm in a lame duck session a nominee opposed by the National Rifle Association..."

Well, thanks for clearing up any lingering doubt about how deeply the GOP has sunk into the NRA's pocket.  But, here's a thought Mitch: Why not put the President's nominee up for a vote anyway and let the country see if your NRA-bought-and-paid-for imagination is as good as you think it is?  #DoYourJob

Read more at Occupy Democrats

One Story, Two Graphics from Political Pollution

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m'eye thoughts:  In Texas, even the "stupid" is bigger.

Stupid #1 (Thinking you won't get caught.) This jerk billed Texas taxpayers for travel and hotel expenses for himself and an aide, claiming he was in Oklahoma to meet with lawmakers there--meetings that, according to those Okie lawmakers, never happened.

Stupid #2 (Thinking Jesus is a medical hack.)  The true reason for his trip was to visit a "doctor" who lost his medical license in Ohio and now works out of the back room of a Oklahoma beauty spa.

Read more at Raw Story

--2--

Didn't we learn anything?

(This graphic is from Occupy Democrats. I accidentally cropped that off when I saved it.  Just want to make sure they get credit.

--3--

You can remind ol' Turtle Face of this fact by sending him a personal message here:

https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/?p=ContactForm

More Stories from my Political Pollution Facebook Page

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m'eye thoughts:  How low is the Republican bar for choosing who to support for President of the United States?  The answer:  You're A-OK as long as you don't shoot someone.

Read more at Addicting Info

--2--

Republican Senators will be outsourcing their responsibility for vetting the President's Supreme court nominee to the Republican National Committee. I wonder, do you think the GOP will claim they are simply creating jobs?

"What should be done by senators and officials--people who are ultimately accountable to the public--will instead be done by partisan operatives."

Read more at MSNBC

--3--

What could possibly go wrong?

Read more at Raw Story

Voting Travesty: Veterans Administration Photo ID Card Not Acceptable in Wisconsin

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R)

90-year old veteran Leo Olson was blocked from voting because his Veterans Identification Card was deemed unacceptable as proof of his identity.

Olson, a Wisconsin veteran of the battle of Iwo Jima, was denied his vote for the state's Supreme Court primary election. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who happens to be the niece of Olson, wrote a letter to Wisconsin governor Scott Walker regarding the incident.

"It makes no sense to me that this proud patriot with a veterans card displaying his photo would be turned away from the polls and denied the right to vote," she wrote. "He considers voting part of his patriotic duty, yet, last week this proud patriot of 90 years of age was embarrassed and confused when he went to the polls and was denied his right to vote.  When he presented his veterans administration card with his picture on it, he was told that the card was not listed as 'acceptable' proof of his identity.  He responded: 'You mean veterans can't vote?'"

eye'm thynkin':  Stories like this make me so angry.  

Voting is a right, not a privilege; but try telling that to the GOP.  As long as they can keep minorities and/or the poor from voting, they don't care who gets hurt in the process.  

This man risked his life in the service of this country, and has voted for over 70 years.  Suddenly, he's not good enough.  No state issued ID, no voting rights.  Federal IDs aren't good enough.  Does Wisconsin believe their photographers are superior to the federal governments?  Will a picture taken in America's dairy state somehow be more identifiably accurate?  Or maybe the powers that be in Wisconsin believe there are hoards of 90-year-old veterans being kidnapped, locked in federal bunkers, and coerced by President Obama into presenting false identification in order to cheat our election system?  Yeah, that's it.  It must be President Obama's fault.

Read more at Liberal America

Sitting here, watching the Saturday primary results...

...a more appropriate cartoon for tonight has not been drawn.

I want one of these!

The Mormon practice of posthumous baptism may be arrogant and tone deaf, but I can't think of a more perfect finale for the party that specializes in arrogance and selective deafness.

Mitch McConnell Has a Plan...to Save His Own Butt

                                                    Doug Mills/New York Times

Things are getting truly desperate in conservative camps and the grim acceptance that this isn't a bad dream and that Trump is almost surely going to win the nomination has begun to set in.  It's led to an odd plan...

...To rally depressed Republicans, McConnell has hatched an unthinkable tactical retreat:  Let Hillary Clinton win and focus on maintaining control over the Senate...

...Did you catch that?  Mitch McConnell floated the idea of tanking his party's own candidate for president over sandwiches at lunch.

McConnell's thinking is this:  If Republicans accept that Trump will never win the general election, they can devote their energy towards running against Clinton at the senate level.  If that sounds insane, then welcome to the Republican Party in 2016.

According to the New York Times: While still hopeful that Mr. Rubio might prevail, Mr. McConnell has begun preparing senators for the prospect of a Trump nomination, assuring them that, if it threatened to harm them in the general election, they could run negative ads about Mr. Trump to create space between him and Republican senators seeking re-election.  Mr. McConnell has raised the possibility of treating Mr. Trump's loss as a given and describing a Republican Senate to voters as a necessary check on a President Hillary Clinton... 

...Of Mr. Trump, Mr. McConnell has said, "We'll drop him like a hot rock," according to his colleagues.

The saddest part in this scheme is that McConnell's plan probably won't even work... Trump has run his entire campaign on being anti-everything the current "establishment" Republican Party stands for.  If his rabid supporters catch wind of the fact that loathed senators like Mitch McConnell are lining (up) against him, that will only make him more popular...

...Polls suggest McConnell is leading Senate Republicans into an epic defeat on election day.  Having destroyed Trump to save the jobs of Senate Republicans, he will be left with nothing to show for it.  A fitting end to a Republican Party that rushed so fast to the bottom that they didn't realize they had jumped off a cliff.

eye'm thynkin':  Wow.  

To me,  Mitch McConnell always looks like a deer caught in the headlights.  Now it's starting to sound like he's bracing for impact, and the only thing on his mind is how to save his own butt.  And as a bonus, Americans would be treated to four (eight?) more years of obstructionism on a massive scale.

Is this how the "responsible" govern?

Read more at Addicting Info 
and The New York Times

Republicans Say the Darndest Things: Trauma of Rape or Incest Will Halt Pregnancy

Idaho State Representative

Pete Nielson (R)

During a hearing on a bill that would add new restrictions to the rights of Idaho women to make their own medical decisions, Representative Nielson had this to say:

"Now, I'm of the understanding that in many cases of rape it does not involve any pregnancy because of the trauma of the incident.  That may be true with incest a little bit."

what eye thynk:  Move over Todd Akin; we have a new winner. 

Al Franken: If Last-Year Presidents Can't Nominate, Maybe Last-Year Senators Shouldn't Vote on Bills or Head Committees

                                                                   YouTube screenshot

"The Constitution does not set a time limit on the President's ability to fulfill this duty.  Nor, by my reading, does the Constitution set a date after which the President is no longer able to fulfill his duties as Commander in Chief, or to exercise his authority to, say,  grant pardons or make treaties.  It merely states that the President shall hold office for a term of four years.  And by my count, there are in the neighborhood of 11 months left."

"If we were to truly subscribe to the Majority Leader's logic and extend it to the legislative branch, it would yield an absurd result.  Senators would become ineffective in the last year of their term.  The 28 senators who are now in the midst of their reelection campaigns and the 6 senators who are stepping down should be precluded from casting votes in committee or on the Senate floor."

"Ten committee chairs and 19 subcommittee chairs should pass the gavel to a colleague who is not currently running for reelection or preparing for retirement.  Bill introduction, and indeed the co-sponsorship of bills, should be limited to those senators who are not yet serving in the sixth year of their terms.  If the Majority Leader sincerely believes that the only way to ensure that the voice of the American people is heard is to lop off the last year of an elected official's term, I trust he will make these changes."

eye'm thynkin':  Senator Al Franken exposes the absurdity of the GOP and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to deny President Obama his right to name a replacement for the late Justice Scalia to the the Supreme Court.  

Read more at Bipartisan Report (video)