Bad Night in Mugstomp-on-the-Potomac

Both Virginia Foxx (R-5th District) and Brad Miller (D-13th District) voted against the Senate's "fiscal cliff" legislation last night. I agree with Foxx and Miller: that "fix" should not have passed.

House Republicans fractured, badly, and John Boehner's speakership appears to be on the line. Foxx didn't vote with Boehner and with her recent kissy-face partner, Paul Ryan, who amazingly supported the Senate deal. She voted against, following the path of that super ambitious snake Eric Cantor, and that other ambitious snake Kevin McCarthy, both of whom are clearly angling to push Boehner off his mountain. "Foxx and Cantor, sitting in a tree..."

Boehner reportedly told Sen. Harry Reid to "Go fuck yourself!" ... twice. No report yet on how many of Boehner's own Republican conference suggested he do something similar, after he informed them that the fiscal cliff legislation included no spending cuts. If Foxx didn't say it, she was certainly thinking it.

As for the Negotiator-in-Chief, we see no reason to retract our earlier estimation of his poker-playing abilities. President Obama gave away the farm, or at least a large portion of it, and the "victory" the White House is celebrating today is rotten at the core, setting up another confrontation with the Republican House in a couple of months where, once again, the president will negotiate.

Oy.

This "Young Gun" Is Half-Cocked

Meet Mark Meadows, the recent Republican survivor of the second primary for the 11th District Congressional seat, currently occupied by Rep. Heath Shuler (who isn't running for reelection). Within seconds of his win yesterday, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent out a press release declaring Mr. Meadows a totally awesome hunk of grade A Conservative Meat. In other words, a "Young Gun." It's almost as though they already had that press release written.

Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan, blessing their preferred bunk mates in the next Congress? Mr. Meadows did, after all, say in advance that he would support the Paul Ryan budget to slash the living hell out of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, so why wouldn't Paul Ryan name him his favorite "Young Gun"? But then, also as of today, when Mr. Meadows found out apparently that the Ryan budget would slash the living hell out of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, said he would not be in favor of that, no never, so consider us confused about this particular "Young Gun." Can he in fact shoot straight? Or is he slightly bent?

We are relieved to see, however, that Mr. Meadows is a confirmed birther and is highly suspicious of the United Nations taking over city planning and the perfidious fluoridation of our precious bodily fluids (probably). It's truly a relief that the Republicans in the 11th Congressional District know the difference between sane and crazy, and ALWAYS go for the crazy. Or the mealy-mouthed.

"Dangerously Fanning the Flames"

"I have deep concerns that some ... are dangerously fanning the flames...."
--Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), speaking in Washington today, graciously blaming the victims, following a rash of threats of violence and vandalism by unhinged conservatives, tea-partiers, racists, and bigots

So ... who among us has fanned those flames?

"I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that [health reform] bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country."
--Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, November 2, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. House

"All the promises [President Obama] has kept have endangered our lives."
--Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, on the Bill Lumaye Show, NewsRadio 680 WPTF, Jan. 5, 2010

"We're talking about four years. If we don't take this country back from the leftists who are running it now, we will lose our country."
--Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, to the Iredell County Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner, Feb. 6, 2010

Failure to Launch

Congressional Republicans are now operating out of a parallel universe in which they think it's perfectly reasonable to release a "budget" that contains almost no numbers, except the imperative straight out of 1890 to reduce the tax rate on the richest among us to a flat 10 percent.

House Minority Leader John Boehner held up the royal-blue-bound 19-page Republican pamphlet yesterday at a big press conference and actually crowed: "Two nights ago, the president said we haven't seen a budget yet of the Republicans. Well, it's not true, because here it is Mr. President."

Thereby proving that Republican Congressional leaders CAN see their own mirages.

Mike Pence, chair of the House Republican Conference of hyper-conservatives, stood behind Boehner and looked like he was working on a good-sized kidney stone. But Mike Pence always looks that way, and turns out that yesterday's big roll-out of the Republican non-budget was mainly Pence's idea. According to Glenn Thrush at Politico, Pence prevailed over the more cautious Eric Cantor, Minority Whip, who is said to be "embarrassed" about this whole fiasco. We noted that Cantor got himself out of that room yesterday before the questions started flying.