The Daily Beast: Brian Riedl: 'We're $16 Trillion in The Hole- Democrats Want To Burry Us $42 Trillion Deeper'

Source:The Daily Beast- it's our money, not Uncle Sam's.

Source:The New Democrat 

“The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected that the annual budget deficit will soar from $779 billion to $1.37 trillion over the next decade. And even that assumes that Congress will allow the expiration of both the 2017 tax cuts and the 2018 bipartisan deal increasing discretionary spending.

If those and other expiring policies are renewed—which history suggests will happen—the budget deficit would reach a staggering $2.19 trillion a decade from now (this figure also removes the fake savings from shifting payments across years).”  

From The Daily Beast  

“Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s new tax plans would make sure the super rich pay their fair share. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders are both introducing tax reform bills that would use wealth tax to make the rich pay their fair share. The Elizabeth Warren wealth tax could raise trillions of dollars in tax revenue. Both Warren and Sanders have thrown their hat into the 2002 presidential election. Elizabeth Warren 2020 is gaining steam daily. Republicans meanwhile are hoping to create more tax cuts for the rich.

Warren unveiled the Ultra-Millionaire Tax. It could generate almost $3 trillion for Americans over the next decade. It would only affect households with assets over $50 million. It would tax 2% on every dollar of net worth above $50 million and tax 3% on every dollar of net worth above $1 billion.

Bernie dropped the ‘For the 99.8% Act.’ It goes after the 0.2% of Americans who inherit more than $3.5 million by taxing their estates at 77%. This comes after 3 GOP Senators introduced plans to abolish the estate tax, which they deem the ‘death tax.’

Bernie’s tax plan could raise $2.2 trillion from just 588 billionaires over time. And raise $315 billion in the next decade. Bernie’s tax plan isn’t new — a GOP President once championed the idea. One thing’s for sure: Wall Street is terrified by both Bernie AND Warren’s plans.”  

Source:Now This News- U.S. Senator's Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: Chairman and Chairwoman of the Congressional Free Stuff Caucus, for the 116th Congress. LOL

From Now This News

Social Democrats or Democratic Socialists (let's call them ) argue the national debt and budget deficits aren't important, because their new investments will payoff anyway. And even if our fiscal situation is a problem like a trillion-dollar deficit and 20 trillion-dollar debt, they could just tax rich (as if that's never been tried before) or gut the defense budget. Of course having no idea where to gut the defense budget anyway, since Democratic Socialists tend not to believe in national defense and have this hippie or Nordic way of looking at national defense anyway.

And as a result we now have a Democratic presidential field where every leftist candidate at least is trying to become the next Bernie Sanders Socialist and win the nomination by trying to out promise (or out pander) or I at least would argue out socialist everyone else including Bernie Sanders, by trying to play Santa Clause to every young Democrat they can find in every college town that they can find and promise them all this new so-called free stuff in order to win the nomination and the hell with the deficit and national debt.

Which is what can happen when you have no many young idealistic voters who believe that government can do all these things for the people and aren't mature and responsible enough to ask basic questions (that might sound insulting to Socialists) like: "How much will this cost me?" Or: "How will you pay for all these new programs?" Which is the state of the Democratic presidential race right now, the more government spending, the merrier and we'll worry about the costs later on after we're all out of politics and government. 

The Daily Beast: Michael Tomasky: 'A 70% Percent Tax Rate Isn't Radical- Alexandria O. Cortez Has It Just Right'

Source:The Daily Beast- U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D, New York - self-described Democratic Socialist. 

Source:The New Democrat

What Michael Tomasky failed to mention here ( and perhaps intentionally ) is that back in the 1950s and 70s when we had high tax rates of 70 and 91%, no one especially the rich were actually paying that much in taxes, because of all the loopholes, as well as the wealthy investing money oversees to avoid taxation. Hell, if I was making 10 million dollars or more a year or anywhere near that, I would be doing the same thing. Along with making large contributions to charity, to avoid the taxes, but also to help people who need it that I can afford to help. The reason why these people weren't paying such high tax rates, is because of all the loopholes that were in the tax code in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s..

In 1986 thanks to the tax reform act of that year that was passed out of a divided Congress with a Democratic House and Republican Senate that worked with President Ronald Reagan and his Administration to pass, taxes were lower across the board and loopholes were closed. So people were paying lower tax rates, but weren't getting as much money back in credits and loopholes. That's not what freshman Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is talking about here and what Michael Tomasky is talking about here either. They would go in the opposite direction and raise the two top tax rates to 60 and 70% with no new loopholes.

So in theory the IRS would be getting a lot more money in new tax revenue from the wealthy, but that's assuming the very rich have brain freezes and forget that they can just invest a lot of more money oversees or just go north of the border to Canada and spend and invest their money there. The first 9 million or so of their earnings every year to get Uncle Sam out of their wallets and bank accounts. Which would leave Uncle Sam with a big hole, because of course none of this so-called new revenue that he would be charging his wealthy nephews and nieces would be used to pay down his huge debts and deficits, but instead invested in new Federal programs, or new investments in current programs. Leaving Uncle Sam and his nephews and nieces a bigger national debt and deficit to pay off. Which would be paid off in new interest payments on the debt, or in higher inflation.

The problem with Socialists and socialism in general ( even if Socialists want to call themselves democratic or not ) is that they always have the same old solution to every problem that they see and what they call income inequality is a perfect example of that. Their solution to every problem that they see is always what they call new revenue. ( Washington speak for tax increases ) They see that the wealthy which are probably 10% of the population at this point has all this money and then you have roughly 1-5 Americans who live in poverty and if you look at parts of rural America 2nd or 3rd world poverty, as well as in some inner cities. And then you 1-2 Americans or so that are technically middle class and aren't eligible for public assistance, but only make enough money to cover their current bills, if they're healthy and aren't able to save or invest any of their income and are a paycheck away from being on public assistance themselves. So their prescription to this economic disease to to tax the wealthy more and give that money to Uncle Sam to take care of this nephews and nieces that are struggling.

The problem with American capitalism has always been that we've always been a country where maybe 1-10 Americans are doing very well economically, who make a lot of money to the point that they can afford to invest and save a lot and then you have about 1-5 Americans who live in deep poverty, who are undereducated and even if they're working are dependent on public assistance and private charity just to survive in life. And you have this large middle class which generally is a good thing in any country to have a large middle class, but where maybe 1-2 of those Americans might only be middle class because they make too much money to be eligible for public assistance, but can't afford to invest and save and struggle just to pay their bills.

The problem with American capitalism has never been that we have too many rich people, but that we have too much poverty and too many working class people who struggle just to get by. The problem with American capitalism is that we've never had enough rich people, or economically successful people even if they're aren't millionaires as far as their annual income, but have a good deal of money in savings and even have investments. And if you're someone who believes that the income gap ( as I call it ) is a big problem in America as I do as a Liberal, you should be thinking about how to empower people on the low-end of the economical scale to make more money. To have better jobs so they're no longer struggling just to pay their bills or live in poverty, but instead are making a good income that comes with benefits and allows them to invest and save. Instead going to play 1 ( and perhaps the only play in the socialist playbook ) of always trying to take from the rich to take care of people who are struggling.

Source:Now This News

The Daily Beast: Simon & Schuster- Rick Wilson- 'Everything That Donald Trump Touches Dies Today'

Source: The Daily Beast- Republican strategist, as well as contributor for The Daily Beast and CNN Rick Wilson, with a new book about President Donald Trump. 

Source:The New Democrat

I'm going to take you down my memory lane and talk about the Republican Party that I grew up with as a kid in the 1980s and early 90s and see if anyone remembers that GOP ( when they were the GOP ) and if that party makes sense to anyone and then I'll go from there.

The Republican Party that I grew up with, was a party that was about limited government especially at the Federal level.

A party that believed in fiscal responsibility and that deficits and debt were bad, except for Ronald Reagan of course and the other father's of supply side economics who are a big part of the Donald Trump Republican Party today.

A party that opposed both right-wing and left-wing authoritarians and authoritarianism. Whether it was Communist Russia and their supporters in Europe, Communist Cuba just to the south of us. Or right-wing authoritarians like the theocratic regime in Iran and the monarchies in Arabia.

The GOP use to be a party that believed in immigration and even cultural and racial diversity. Ronald Reagan, the man who coined the phrase that America is the city on a shining hill and that we welcome immigrants from everywhere. Not just from Britain and Scandinavia. Because they believed that immigration was a plus to our economy because immigrants from third-world countries would do the work that Americans wouldn't do and would also bring skills to the high-wage jobs that Americans don't have the skills for like in new technology.

The GOP that I grew up with wasn't just a party that believed in a strong but limited national defense, but who also trusted our defense and intelligence communities. Unlike I don't know, let's say the current President who takes the word over President Vladimir Putin ( the dictator or Russia ) over his own intelligence community and national security officials.

The Republican Party today is a party that believes deficits don't matter. How do I know that? The Trump Administration inherited an economy that was growing at 3% with a 4.5% unemployment rate that created 12 million jobs during the previous 8 years and a budget deficit that was cut in half during that same period, so what do they decide to do with that?

The GOP tried to pass a plan to fund a southern border wall that no one who didn't vote for Donald Trump wants and even some Donald Trump voters don't want and after Mexico of course said they wouldn't pay for it announced they would borrow 50 billion dollars from other countries to try to pay for the wall that almost no one wants. And then passed a trillion-dollar tax cut again on the backs of American taxpayers who are going to have to pay for that tax cut even if they received any of it from interest payments to the national debt, because the tax cut wasn't paid for. It's George W. Bush borrow and spend economics all over again, but this time coming from the self-proclaimed king of debt Donald Trump.

A party that once called America the city on a shining hill and is open to immigrants from around the world, that America is a country of immigrants, now calls Latinos animals, insects, yes shitholes coming from the President of the United States. And complains about America not looking the way it use to and not being the America that they grew up with because it's now less Anglo and even European. And of course they blame that even on legal immigration because we're no longer seeing high rates of immigration from Britain and even Europe in general, because those countries are developed countries and don't have people trying to escape those countries because they can't find work, get an education, or fear for their safety, unlike Central America and parts of Mexico.

The GOP that was once a party that was hawkish towards authoritarian regimes even Russia post-Soviet Russia, now call Kim-Jung Un ( the dictator of North Korea ) an honorable man. That takes the word of right-wing Nationalist dictator President Vladimir Putin of Russia, word over the American intelligence community when he said his government didn't interfere in the 2016 American elections and didn't want Donald Trump to become President of the United States. With President Trump saying that President Putin is fine and is someone we can work with. And now views our European allies like Britain, Germany, and even Canada, as the opposition, while they view Russia and China as allies.

The title of this piece is "Everything that Donald Trump Touches Dies", which of course is Rick Wilson's title from his book and I'm going to get to that, but everything that I've written here Rick Wilson agrees with just from his own commentating on CNN. And I'm going to get to that by saying just looked at the people who use to work for President Donald Trump and where they are now.

Sean Spicer, just two years ago was a well-respected GOP Washington insider who ran the communications department for the Republican National Committee. Now he's trying to sell the book he wrote about being President Trump's Press Secretary, because he can't get a job with a major news devision or network or another job working for another Republican politician  or official, because he shot to death his own credibility working for President Trump.

Tom Price, who before he became President Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services was a well-respected U.S. Representative from Georgia, as well as doctor who chaired the House Budget Committee before he became Secretary of HHS. Was asked to resign as HHS Secretary because of his bad traveling habits and taking overly expensive travel flights at taxpayers expense.

There's a whole book that will be written about Scott Pruitt who again just two years ago was a well-respected as Attorney General for Oklahoma and is now accurately viewed as a crook who used his job and power to make his own personal life more comfortable, as well for his family.

And then you could talk about people who had credibility and characters flaws before Donald Trump becomes President and yet found themselves working for President Trump, because they fit in perfectly with Trump's lack of character and credibility. Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Manigault-Newman and unfortunately many others. These people will probably never work in government again at least at the Federal level, unless they're elected by very forgiving or factually ignorant people, or people who simply don't care about character and credibility, if they like that person's politics.

Every government job that anyone could take comes with a lot of sacrifice and even risks. You're underpaid at least for what you're expected to do and the hours you put in. Your personal and family life suffers, because you put in so many hours just at the office and you're traveling a lot. But when you work for someone like Donald Trump, you put the rest of your life at risk ( not physically ) and you're ability to financially support yourself, because you're constantly put into positions where you either have to deny the obvious or act like you're simply out of the loop and don't know what's going on even in areas where you work in and have jurisdiction over. Take Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, who struggles to answer basic questions about immigration. And anyone with any self-respect and dignity, honesty at all, has to know those things even when they're considering working for someone like Donald Trump.

Source: James Wilson: CNN Tonight With Don Lemon- Rick Wilson: 'Everything That Donald Trump Touches Dies'- CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is one of the best shows on CNN.

The Daily Beast: Gore Vidal's- Fighting Words

Source:The Daily Beast- Writer & political humorist Gore Vidal.

Source:The Daily Journal

What I respect probably most about both Gore Vidal when it came to debating and their senses of humor was the way he was able to make points without stating the obvious. He could say things similar to Margaret Thatcher on the right. Where she said that the problem with socialism, is that you eventually run out of other people's money, when a lot of other anti-Socialists would say things like, the problems with socialism is that it spends, taxes and controls too much, that sort of thing.

Whereas someone like a Margaret Thatcher would use humor and get right to the point of it. Gore Vidal and Bill Buckley had similar styles when it came to debating, even though they came from the opposite side of the political spectrum. They could put someone down or crack a joke at their expense, not to destroy them or hurt their feelings but even make them laugh as they were doing it. They could punch their opponents without calling them names. Ron Reagan same thing. He didn't call his political opponents as he called them, not political enemies which is different. He didn't call them idiots, he just said that they know so much that isn't actually true. They believe their own hype and rhetoric and actually take it seriously, which can be a problem in politics.

That's the style of humor and debate that I prefer and practice even though I'm not perfect at it. I try to stay as close to facts as possible, especially when I'm critiquing the opposition, which for me would be right-wingers, whether they are Republican or not. And lately when I'm critiquing the Right, it's been Neoconservatives for the most part unfortunately. Classical Conservatives the Bill Buckely's of the World, seem to be MIA in the Republican Party, which is unfortunate.

But it's not just the right that I critique but I write satires about the, lets say farther left, ( to not offend any of my oversensitive Socialist friends ) while right-wingers have a tendency to call Progressives Communists or Islamic Fascists or any of these labels that aren't true. When it comes to so-called Progressives, ( locked in the closet Socialists, in actuality ) Socialist is accurate except for the Barack Obama's of the world who actually is a Progressive and not a Socialist. ( Newsflash for the Tea Party ) More of a RFK or FDR classical Progressive than anything. I say things like Socialists want to take care of people by spending their money for them.

I try not to make it personal, especially when I'm critiquing the opposition and you can do that by staying as close to the facts as possible. By not name calling, not making it personal, instead of calling someone and idiot or ignorant, try saying something like they would make a great fiction writer. Which is a great way to describe most of the speeches of Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann, rather than trying to insult them by name calling.
Source:The Daily Beast

The Daily Beast: Cheat Sheet- Ann Coulter: 'Donald Trump’s Muslim Plan Is ‘Best Birthday Gift’

Source:The Daily Beast- Alt-Right big mouth Ann Coulter.

Source:The Daily Review 

"Conservative firebrand pundit Ann Coulter is so thrilled with Donald Trump’s proposal to ban Muslim immigrants from the United States that she has called it the “best birthday gift” she’s ever received. Trump announced his idea Monday evening, and Coulter turned 54 on Tuesday. “Add in every other kind of immigrant and it’s perfect!” she added, seemingly calling for a total ban on all immigration."

From The Daily Beast 

"Author Ann Coulter explains to Gibson why the Leading Presidential Candidate Donald Trump  delivered to her the best birthday gift to date."

Source:Fed Up Eagle- Alt-Right  big mouth Ann Coulter.

From the self-described Fed Up Eagle

I don’t know who is a bigger birthday gift for bloggers and comedians, Donald Trump, or Ann Coulter. I guess The Donald would be at least physically, but that might only be because Ann Coulter has the body that only a stick-figure could want and is tall as a giraffe at the same time. Maybe they could run on a ticket for birthday gift of the year and run as a duo. Perhaps arm-wrestle to see who should run for president and who should run for vice president. I gotta admit even with her scrawny frame, with all of that masculinity that Ann carries inside, that might be enough for her to beat the 220 pound or more Donald Trump in an arm-wrestling contest.

Or better yet, The Donald and Flat Ann, could run for President and Vice President of the United States together for the Fascist Party and bring that back. As they’re working to develop their national time machine to take America back to 1955 and celebrate like its 1955 on New Years Eve and Day. They could appoint Rick Santorum as their foreign policy adviser and Mike Huckabee as their social policy adviser. Donald Rumsfeld, (an even less impressive Donald) could be their national security adviser.

A couple major things that The Donald and Flat Ann have in common is that neither one of them are politicians, because neither one of them are electable outside of the Bible Belt. And in The Donald’s case, he’s not electable anywhere outside of a Hollywood movie, or one of his own so-called reality TV shows, because he doesn’t know what he believes. Which gets to my second point about The Donald and Flat Ann, that since neither one of them are politicians they both can say whatever nonsense comes into their head at anytime.

Because they both know they’re not going to get elected to anything anyway. The Donald. wants to sell himself for his current venture which is: "Who Wants Donald Trump For President?" Which will be available at your nearest TV set, or movie theater by the spring of 2017. And Flat Ann wants to sell her latest book and columns which will be available at your nearest garbage cans sometime in 2016. With pieces of three-weeks old baloney stuck in each page. With even homeless people turning down as food and reading material at the same time.

The only time I’m surprised by anything that either Donald Trump or Ann Coulter says, is when they say something intelligent. And I gotta tell you I have a hell of a memory and I can’t remember the last time either one of them ever said anything that got me thinking: ‘hum, we agree on something. They have a point there and I wish I had thought of that.’ They are both sharp businesspeople even accidentally in the sense that they know how to sell themselves. Sell their business ventures and in Flat Ann’s case her writings. Trash to be accurate that she sells that gets thrown out, or made fun, or a combination of both.

No, Ann Coulter, is not a prostitute, because lifelong prison inmates who have a better chance of seeing snow in San Diego than getting out of prison, have turned her down and have chosen men instead. What I mean by that is they sell themselves as far as what they’re personally selling. With The Donald, it's his personality and reality TV career. With Flat Ann, it's her books and columns. That keeps garbagemen in business forever with all the trash she writes. I personally for the life of me can’t believe why any intelligent person could even take either of them seriously, let alone believe what they say could actually be true. 

The Daily Beast: Michael Kazin: The Radical Left - Always a Bridesmaid

Source:The Daily Beast: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont)

Source:The New Democrat

I agree with Michael Kazin that the New-Left, lets say has always been the bridesmaid in the Democratic Party. George McGovern in 1972, would be the exception to that, where the New-Left got exactly the presidential candidate that they wanted. But where the Democratic Party is smarter than the Republican Party, is the Democratic Leadership knows how to use their radicals to get them to vote for their mainstream Center-Left establishment candidates. 2008 and 2012 with Barack Obama, are perfect examples of that.

Where the New-Left, thought they were getting Dennis Kucinich, or Ralph Nader ideologically, they instead get someone more like Jack Kennedy in Barack Obama. Whereas the Republican Party will go out of their way to make it clear to their Christian-Right and Neoconservatives that their candidates are just as stuck in the 1950s as the people the Far-Right rather have representing the party. John McCain, in 2008, Mitt Romney, Mr. Northeastern at best a Moderate-Conservative Republican, depending on which Mitt you’re talking to. Are good examples of this from the GOP.

The term radical, is not necessarily bad. It just means you’re out of the mainstream in the time and place that you happen to live. Which is where the New-Left has been in America since it was created in the 1960s. America, is not Scandinavia ideologically, or anything else and never has been. We like our Constitution, we like our property rights, we like our federalist form of government, with most of the power not being centralized with the national government, unlike in Scandinavia. We like all of our individual freedom. Including the Right to Privacy and Freedom of Speech. Which even includes the right to offend. All things that the New-Left in America has been against at point, or another.

It’s hard to win politically in a country, when you represent something that is completely different from what the country is use to and what they want to keep. Where you’re literally running to remake the economic system and trying to convince hard-working middle class workers that they’re simply under taxed and need big government to take more of your money from you to serve you. Where you literally want to get rid of the Constitution and rewrite it, or simply not bother to replace it. And be able to do everything that you want through majority rule and referendum.

The New-Left, is part of the Democratic Party to a certain extent, because they need the Democrats and to a certain extent the Democrats need them. Not because ideologically even though at times they may have similar goals, are very different ideologically. Where the New-Left, ideologically would be better off in the Green Party, or Democratic Socialist Party and perhaps even the Communist Party. But are smart enough to know that if the bolt the Democrats for a Far-Left third-party they’ll lose their place in one of the major parties in the United States. The New-Left, are the bridesmaids of the Democratic Party. They come close, or at times look that they are, but in actuality simply get used by the Democratic Leadership time and time again.
Source:HNN Editor

The Daily Beast: Lawrence Gelb: GOP Hates Barack Obama More Than a Nuclear Iran

Source:The New Democrat

Even through Senate Leader Mitch McConnell is the strongest and most powerful Republican in Congress and that includes the Speaker of the House John Boehner, who outranks him in the U.S. Constitution, being a stronger leader than John Boehner is not much of an accomplishment. And even though Leader McConnell is effective at bringing Senate Republicans and Democrats together to resolve some crisis that Republicans generally in the House caused, he doesn’t control the caucus in the sense that he can prevent one of his radicals from making a dumb and irresponsible move. Like telling Iran that Barack Obama shouldn’t be trusted, to use as an example.

Hate is a very strong word and probably the harshest word short of calling someone a mass-murderer or something like that. So it’s not a word I throw around and only use when I mean it to describe how someone feels about someone else. And I’m not a mind-reader obviously. I’m also not God or George Washington, incase that isn’t obvious enough either, but just going off the available evidence at hand I don’t know how else to describe how at least a large faction of Congressional Republicans, including all forty-seven Republican Senators who signed this letter to Iran and how they feel about President Obama. Other than Mitch McConnell himself, because he and the President seem to actually be able to get along.

There use to be this tradition in Washington that you fight the other side or team all day and then shake hands and work out a deal and perhaps even have a drink with at the end of the day. But you treat your opponents as exactly that and not as enemies, which is different. You hate your enemies, but we’ve all had opponents at some point in life that we actually like. And perhaps became friends after we started competing against each other. But with a strong faction at least in the House of Representatives, you would think Barack Obama plays for the enemy. Meaning the terrorists that would like to attack America and authoritarian regimes that would attack Americans if they felt it was in their interest. And based on this Congressional letter from the forty-seven Republican Senators, they seem to believe the same thing.

There great reasons why President Obama is not asking for Congress to weigh in on a final agreement with Iran when it comes to Iran’s nuclear program.

For one, this is not a treaty.

Two, Congress will get to weigh in later not on Iran’s nuclear program, but whether economic sanctions on Iran will be loosened or ended based on the Islamic Republic’s behavior. Which is something that Congress gets to do anyway when it comes to sanctions and something the President needs Congressional approval for.

Three, a political reason, but just important as the others. Congressional Republicans won’t support any agreement with Iran that is anything short of surrender on Iran’s part. Which means Iran completely gives up their nuclear program, or there’s no deal. But the whole point of compromise and negotiation is that neither side gets everything that they want.

These Senate Republicans know that the Obama Administration knows that they meaning these forty-seven Senators won’t support any deal that is anything short of complete surrender on Iran’s part. And Senate Republicans also know they can’t stop the President from negotiating with Iran. So what they’re trying to do, which to me is at least borderline treason is to tell the Iranian Government that they not only don’t trust Barack Obama, but they don’t like him if not hate him. “And neither should you” meaning Iran, “because this guy can’t be trusted.” And it violates all forms of proper protocol and how Democrats and Republicans are supposed to relate with each other.

The Daily Beast: Representative Michele Bachmann's Most Outrageous Comments

Source:The Daily Beast- former U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (Republican, Minnesota)

 The only public service that Michele Bachmann ever did was not running for reelection. She did Minnesota a big favor there.

Source:FreeState MD

“Never one to shy away from a tendentious (or just blatantly false) statement, the Tea Party Congresswoman has witnessed her fair share of controversy. From virulent anti-gay sentiment to borderline McCarthyism, watch Bachmann’s worst.”

From The Daily Beast

Some people may think George W. Bush is the Democratic Party’s favorite punching bag. But the fact is President Bush has been out of office for over four years now (thank God) and he’s looking pretty good compared with today’s GOP.

This is a little difficult for me because that’s like coming up with best plays that Larry Bird ever made playing basketball. Or the best passes that Joe Montana ever thrown, or the best home runs that Hank Aron ever hit and so-fourth. Also I don’t live in Representative Bachmann’s House district or state, thank God, otherwise I would’ve moved or been kicked out of there, whatever came first. And I’m not in Congress myself so what I hear about her is from the national media or from blogs. But I can limit it two or three as someone who follows politics closely and has big annoyance when it comes to political hypocrisy and contradiction.

When Representative Bachmann announced for President in the summer of 2011, as I and every other blogger and comedian were celebrating about all the new material that was going to come our way free of charge and at her expense coming from Michele herself, she announced she was in favor of two constitutional amendments. One was to outlaw pornography and the other was to outlaw same- sex marriage both at the federal level. Keep in mind this coming from someone who calls herself a constitutional conservative. Also keep in mind this coming from someone who knows as much about conservatism and the U.S. Constitution as a fish knows about Wall Street.

During Representative Bachmann’s four month presidential campaign she also came out against big government. Well, that makes sense because that’s an issue she knows a lot of about with all of her positions in support of big government. Michele has a habit of bashing things she’s in love with, well, take big government to use as an example. And claiming to love and support things that she says she loves. Take well the U.S. Constitution to use as an example.

What if I were a Republican today, first of all I would ask myself why am I a Republican today and if I could answer that question and I was still a Republican, I would want George W. Bush back leading the party. And prey that he learned something from all of his dumb mistakes as President and didn’t repeat them. Because GWB looks like a God compared with today’s Republican Party and Michele Bachmann represents the intelligence and information gap in the Republican Party. And why they can’t win elections they are supposed to win easily going in.

The Daily Beast: This Week In Punditry- February 3rd, 2013

Source:The Daily Beast- Hardball With Chris Matthews. According to Chris Matthews.

Source:The Daily Journal

"Rush Limbaugh was his typical incendiary self, Chris Matthews got heated about Hillary, and Bill O'Reilly pushed Colin Powell's buttons about race. See those clips and more in our roundup of the week's most controversial news talk show moments." 

From The Daily Beast

I’m not sure there are three better examples of what’s wrong with so-called cable news (which is really just partisan talk TV) then Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, and Bill O’Reilly. You want to know why the mainstream media is about as unpopular as the U.S. Congress or your average trial lawyer or insurance salesman, or used car salesman, listen to any of these three guys.

Source:The Daily Beast- Sean Hannity, Chris Matthews, and Bill O'Reilly: The Three Stooges of American politics?

This week in punditry. Let's see, where should I start? Well, we just had a week with plenty of punditry in it, oh you want more than that, not sure why, but here it is if you want it, you’ve been warned. 

Well, we had a Secretary of State step down, because she has better things to do than manage our foreign policy. I know right, what’s more important than that. Well she has another book to write and needs to decide if she wants to be President of the United States, or not. Wait, that’s more important, but of course it's her decision. And I wish Secretary Hillary Clinton well with her new Gabby Giffords look in how she where’s her glasses. And I congratulate her with her service to the country the last four years by leaving Congress and not running for President and taking on President Obama. And the Democratic Party thanks her for that as well. 

Let's see what else happened, oh yeah we had a Secretary of Defense confirmation hearing, as if it’s not interesting enough that we would have a Progressive Democrat nominate a Conservative Republican for Secretary of Defense. But the fact that Chuck Hagel forgot to put caffeine in his morning coffee, or forgot to go to bed the night before and forgot to bring his memory, because not all of Chuck Hagel was at that hearing.

Did I also mention that Fox News claimed to be a serious news organization. No, seriously, I know when have they ever reported any news at all and that Fox News still remains the most trusted name in news. Well for the Republican Party anyway, but don’t take that very seriously. Because they also believe that it’s still 1955 and that President Ronald Reagan never raised any taxes. And that homosexuality was invented ten years ago and that Barack Obama is an African Muslim Socialist from Kenya. So take all of that for what it's worth, borrow a dollar if you have too. Or use that money to actually buy something of value. 

Fox News is as much of a news organization as Pat Robertson is a supporter of gay rights in America. And to be fair MSNBC is not much of a news organization either, but two cable networks that serve as mouthpieces for the two major political party’s in America.

What else happened this week? Oh yes, Rush Limbaugh who apparently still hasn’t died from a heart attack yet, declared that since the mainstream media won’t cover the real news in America, ( you know, anything negative towards Barack Obama and other Democrats) that if the mainstream media doesn’t do a job on Democrats, that Rush and his allies will. Perhaps force Democrats to listen to Rush's radio show 24 hours a day and smoke his cigars till they get heart attacks.

Rush Limbaugh is about as much of a reporter as Ron Paul is a Socialist, it’s simply not believable. But the good thing for Rush is that as much as he may hate it, as well as the rest of the country may hate having Rush living in America, he lives in a liberal democracy with freedom of speech and beliefs. 

That's the way it is as Walter Cronkite the famous CBS News anchor always said to close the Evening News. A big week for a lot of people and more evidence of why we need to fully fund mental health care in America. And have a better public education system with all of the nutty and ignorant people we have on both sides of the aisle. 

The Daily Beast: Meghan McCain: 'What Republicans Are Doing Wrong & Why Karl Rove Sucks'

Source:The Daily Beast- political columnist and satirist Meghan McCain, talking about Republican operative Karl Rove.

"What Republicans are Doing Wrong and Why Karl Rove Sucks" 

From The Daily Beast 

Even though Megan McCain is still baby face adorable and could pass for 15-16 years old, she makes a good grown up point here that the demographic that Republicans continue to shoot every single election, since 1964 or 66, older rural Caucasian-Protestant men and their wives is no longer going to be enough for Republicans to get elected nationally. 

And if you looked at the Senate elections last week, no longer just enough for Republicans to get elected statewide for Senate. Just look at some of the Senate Democrats seats and the states they represent, one in North Dakota and in South Dakota, one in Missouri, two in Montana, one in Louisiana, one in Arkansas, one in North Carolina, one in Alaska, two in West Virginia, these are all Republican states that Mitt Romney won overwhelmingly that President Obama didn't put much effort into winning and yet Democrats can get elected to the Senate from there.

Republicans are either going to have to bring in new voters or they are going to go out of business. At least as a major political party and then Conservative adults and perhaps even Libertarians if this doesn't happen before they are no longer a major party, will put together a party that represents a real conservative party in the United States. Not some Far-Right party that can only appeal to, well if you said Far-Right, you would be correct.

The Daily Beast: John Avlon, Meghan McCain & Mike Moynahan: 'Real Housewives of the CIA'

Source:The Daily Beast- John Avlon, Meghan McCain, and Mike Moynahan.

Source:The Daily Journal

"As new details emerge about Gen. David Petraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell, Meghan McCain, Michael Moynihan, and John Avlon debate the scandal's potential repercussions, on today's NewsBeast."

From The Daily Beast

Sounds like a real reality TV show in the works, perhaps Megan McCain will produce it. You heard that here first. As far as David Petraeus and his sex scandal, I guess this is the clincher that American politics and government is never boring and why we have a political junky industry. And for Progressives I guess who believe that America should be more like France, well we are when it comes to our public officials and how they live their personal lives. Political junky, is no longer just a hobby for unemployed politicians who can't seem to win another public office and keep losing. And spend all of their free time, which is really all of their time, especially if they have a Congressional pension, watching C-SPAN, CNN, MSNBC and FNC. But a way for writers and pundits to make their living. To tell Americans how much they don't know about American politics and government.

As far as Benghazi, if it wasn't for that story, what would House Republicans do? At least some of them like Speaker John Boehner, are smart enough to know they can't repeal ObamaCare in this Congress with a Democratic Senate and Democratic President, that the law is named after. Most of them probably never have any attention of leaving Congress, at least the House of Representatives. So they don't want to work with Senate Democrats to pass anything constructive that President Obama might actually sign. And risk being primaried and having to go home and work for a living. Like washing cars, or hosting radio talk shows, teaching gym in high school, or whatever they were doing in 2009 before they decided to run for the House. So all they have left in their one page playbook that a five-year could read is a bogus (to be too nice) Benghazi investigation.

The Daily Beast: Howard Kurtz & Bill Hemmer- 'The Next Four Years at Fox News'

Source:The Daily Beast- left to right: Bill Hammer & Howard Kurtz talking about the future of Fox News.

Source:The Daily Journal

“President Obama’s re-election might seem as nothing has changed, but that doesn’t mean it will be boring, says Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer. He talks with Spin Cycle’s Howard Kurtz about Megyn Kelly’s ‘awkward’ election night moment with Karl Rove, and why the astute viewer will watch all the news channels.” 

From The Daily Beast

The next four years at Fox News will hopefully start with a revaluation of how the report the news. Because how they’re doing it now, is not helping and informing the people who they speak for. Which are right-wing Tea Party Republicans and the Far-Right in America. Even if because Republicans actually believe a lot of the, lets call it spin that comes from FNC and take it seriously and many times it’s just half-truths if that, which leaves a lot of Republicans, especially the professionals who either are politicians themselves or work for politicians, with at best half of the news. As we saw with the polling of the Romney-Obama election.

Where in the last few days only FNC thought that Mitt Romney was going to win, or even had a good shot at winning. Where the rest of the mainstream media saw a clear bounce or bump in the favor of President Obama. Especially in states like Florida and Virginia, over the weekend with Ohio never moving towards Governor Romney either. It’s fine and I’m even for a news organization having their commentary that clearly leans in one direction or the other, I’m not getting on FNC for that, but what they need to do if they want to get taken seriously and be considered a credible source for news outside of the Republican Party, is separate news from commentary. Like The Wall Street Journal.

It’s fine a way to separate the news from the commentary. Take Sheppard Smith’s lead on this who actually has a real newscast, the FOX Report. Just report the news no matter who it hurts, or helps and then have your commentators explain what they think it means. As well as bringing in more inform commentators. Not relying so much on the Dick Morris’s and Karl Rove’s of the world. Who are really just there to speak for their side of the aisle, but bring in people who actually know what they are talking about. When you bring them in to talk about the issues. Which CNN does with Republicans consultant Alex Castollanos.

The Daily Beast: Howard Kurtz: Are Political Pundits About To Be Embarrassed?

Source:The Daily Beast talking about the 2012 presidential election.

"Liberal poll watchers are confident Obama has the election in the bag, but that doesn't mean they're right. Newsweek & The Daily Beast's Howard Kurtz, Michelle Cottle, and Michael Tomasky on why the poll watchers might regret their prognosticating after tomorrow." 

From The Daily Beast

If Mitt Romney wins the presidential election Tuesday night and beats back all the momentum according to the polls that are headed towards President Obama, this will be the political story of 2012.

The Daily Beast: The Kings of Pot

Source:The Daily Beast- left to right: John Avlon & Tony Dokoupil.

"The election isn't the only big vote in two U.S. states this year. On today's NewsBeast, Tony Dokoupil talks with host John Avlon about his Newsweek cover story about marijuana growers who cash in if Colorado and Washington vote to make pot legal." 

From The Daily Beast

People turning out to vote for marijuana legalization, should favor President Obama, even though the President doesn't officially support marijuana legalization himself. But people who support this, tend to be young people who lean Democratic.

The Daily Beast: 'Representative Dennis Kucinich Disappointed by President Obama's Jobs Record'

Source:The Daily Beast talking to current U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) who was primaried out of his House seat by the Ohio Legislature, but still holds that seat until the next Congress is sworn in, in January.

"The former Ohio congressman, long known as an independent voice within the Democratic Party, told Beast TV that he wishes the president had done more to create jobs in America." 

From The Daily Beast

Other than our mutual hatred for the so-called War On Drugs and our belief in the right to privacy in America, I have almost nothing in common with Representative Dennis Kucinich. 

Senator Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Vermont) is the only self-described Socialist in the U.S. Congress. Self-described being the key here. There are plenty of Socialists in the Democratic Caucus in the U.S. House. Most of them are democratic oriented, but they all go by the label liberal or progressive. Representative Kucinich is one of those members who doesn't self-describe as socialist, but to be completely real here: he's to the left of Senator Sanders on foreign policy and national security and I'm sure other issues in Congress as well. 

My point here (and yes, I have a point) Dennis Kucinich is way to the left of me on so many issues, you would need Superman's supervision to find anything that we have in common with each other politically. But what I've always liked and respected about him, is his ability to throw out the garbage (to keep it clean) and tell people what he thinks. Even when he's the only person who actually believes and agrees with anything that he's saying. Which has happened a lot to him in his political career, being a Far-Left Democrat from Cleveland, Ohio. Not exactly Hippieville or some left-wing utopia. 

The Daily Beast: John Avalon, Michelle Goldberg & Phillip Sherwell: 'Todd Akin's Views On Abortion Are Bad; The GOP Platform is Worse'

Source:The Daily Beast- John Avalon & Michelle Goldberg. Maybe you can figure for yourself who is who. If so, congratulate yourself with a glass of water, tap water.

"There's no exception for rape in Todd Akin's pro-life philosophy, but neither is there one in the platform of the Republican party. On today's NewsBeast, John Avlon, Michelle Goldberg, and Philip Sherwell discuss the politics of the GOP's position." 

From The Daily Beast

I think anytime that a Liberal (meaning me) and a leftist (meaning Michelle Goldberg) can agree on what time it is, what day it is, the weather outside when just happen to be in the same room, let alone on a political issue and discussion, I think we should go down to New Orleans together and celebrate like the world is about to blow up or something. Because this is as rare as seeing snow in Los Angeles, at anytime during the year, let alone during the summer. 

I agree with Michelle Goldberg that the Christian-Right and the Far-Right in general in America is horribly bad and why. I don't like the Far-Left either, which is where Michelle Goldberg tends to come down ideologically, but that's for a different discussion.