New GOP Ad: “Do You Feel Safer?”

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My question to that answer is yes!  The ad addresses the release of memos, stopping torture techniques like waterboarding, and closing Guantanamo Bay.  I tend to take the middle ground when it comes to Guantanamo and really had no position on whether or not documents should be released.  One thing I do know is that torture is wrong and waterboarding is torture.  The reason we are safer is because the republican position on this has reduced America’s standing in the world and given sympathy to terrorist organizations that used the Bush policies as a recruitment tool.  Closing Gitmo and ended torture takes power away from the extremist that want to strike resentment in the eyes of the others.  As far as the memos are concerned, I have complete faith that in accordance with military officials that information in those memos won’t hurt the U.S.   This ad is definitely fear mongering.  Scary music, showing text from memos in stop-motion like fashion, CIA director on FOX NEWS, and showing images of terrorist…yeah, that’s fear mongering.  Here’s the latest ad put up my congressman John Boehner, “Do you feel safer?”,

Do you feel safer or scared?  We’ve seen these fear mongering ads during the election, so most of us are probably used to seeing this kind of fear mongering coming from the GOP.  I wished government competency was also addressed in the ad.  Having a competent administration also makes me feel safe.

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Arlen Specter Switches Parties, Democrats Gloat, Republicans Attack

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Sen. Arlen Specter (Formerly-R) from Pennsylvania has just switched his party affiliation and will run as a democrat in 2010.  Here’s the statement he released,

“I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my Party has not defined who I am. I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation.

Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.

When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing.

Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.

I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary.

I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.

I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides. I thank specially Senators McConnell and Cornyn for their forbearance.

I am not making this decision because there are no important and interesting opportunities outside the Senate. I take on this complicated run for re-election because I am deeply concerned about the future of our country and I believe I have a significant contribution to make on many of the key issues of the day, especially medical research. NIH funding has saved or lengthened thousands of lives, including mine, and much more needs to be done. And my seniority is very important to continue to bring important projects vital to Pennsylvania’s economy.

I am taking this action now because there are fewer than thirteen months to the 2010 Pennsylvania Primary and there is much to be done in preparation for that election. Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle.

While each member of the Senate caucuses with his Party, what each of us hopes to accomplish is distinct from his party affiliation. The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation. And no Senator, no matter how loyal he is to his Party, should or would put party loyalty above his duty to the state and nation.

My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.

Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy’s statement that sometimes Party asks too much. When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.”

No doubt that Spector will be a more conservative democrat but the GOP has to really be hurting right now.  They already have low influence in Washington, with the American people and they have run out of ideas.  Now, to lose a most respected and sensible republican is just….bad.  Spector has mainly voted with the republicans, but based on his voting record he’s voted with the democrats one a number of issues.  He’s definitely a moderate, kind of sad the GOP would lose a moderate seeing that, thats what the republican party needs most right now.

Democrats are obviously happy about this.  Obama called Spector to welcome him to the party and give him support.  Sen. Harkin is also welcoming Spector with open arms.  Harry Reid, who I think is the most liberal democrat in Washington, is obviously thrilled by Spectors move. And, for what it’s worth, Lieberman is also happy.  Democrats have a lot to be happy about as this move gains democrats a filibuster proof Senate.

Steele let loose over the Spector switch, from Raw Story,

“Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not,” he said Tuesday.

“Let’s be honest, Sen. Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew he was going to lose the Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record.

“Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010 assuming the Democrats don’t do it first.”

Cornyn of Texas is also suggesting the same thing.  Also Rove got into the discussion by saying, he did not see the party shifting to the right as a result of Specter’s decision.  Also that “He’s always been a liberal Republican,”.  Sen. Olympia Snowe thinks the move is devastating, this is from CNN,

Snowe said the Republican Party never learned its lesson from the “painful” party switch of Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2001.

“For me personally and then for the party, its devastating,” Snowe said of Specter’s move. “I’ve always been concerned about the Republican party nationally, about their exclusionary policies towards moderate Republicans. That’s not a secretly held view on my part.”

From what I’ve gathered from the democratic responses, it’s that they might be getting too happy.  Spector will not vote with them on every issue and might not be able to count on him for a vote.  Even current conservative democrats in congress are iffy when it comes knowing how they’ll vote, such as during the stimulus package debates.  From the republican responses it’s a little mixed.  Rove and some others are suggesting, that since he was more moderate, that somehow it doesn’t matter that he switched.  This only vindicates that the republican party is getting a little closer to the right, when the country is pretty much down the middle.  I don’t think the republican party should be happy about losing a moderate when Americans seem to like moderate.  Especially since it seems the GOP is getting over run with social conservatives that won’t compromise.  Other responses, seems to be that he was doing it for personal gains instead of thinking about principals or the republican party.  Well, first, I really don’t know of a politician who wouldn’t do half of what they do for personal gain.  I would think it would benefited Spector more if he’d just stay a republican, now he has to hear the blunt of republican criticism on cable news shows, the guy is definitely going to be called a traitor….I’m pretty sure.  What about the principals of the republican party?  I’m thinking principals have changed for the worst.  The republican party has gotten a little more extreme and that makes people nervous.  Sen. Snowe’s comments make perfect sense, on how the GOP treats more conservative members of their party.  As for Arlen Spector’s run in 2010, I think he has a good chance at winning.  Though, for me personally, switching parties does not make a politician look good.  I suspect this will be the case with others.  Spector is a more moderate decent Senator and the last thing we need is a another Senator that just, blindly vote the party line, go to swanky parties and make deals with lobbyist.  This should be a wake up call for the GOP to get the party in order, instead of attacking Spector.

Conservatives Scapegoating Mexican Immigrants Over Swine Flu Pandemic

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Here we go again with conservatives starting to blame Swine Flu cases here in the US on Mexican immigrants.  The problem with this is that it spreads unnecessary fear amongst a group of people that believes this crap.  Not only that, but there’s no evidence that Mexican immigrants, whether illegal or not, are responsible for this.  If anything this has occurred mainly with those who have traveled from the US to Mexico, not those who are immigrants.  Conservative radio talking heads don’t care about facts though.  They are clearly using the Swine Flu pandemic as a way to talk about border security.  Granted, border security is important, but they are going overboard in a most vile way.

The worst to me was Michael Savage, who first, thinks he knows more than those at the CDC.  He even had to bring up his theory about the CDC protecting gays by not talking about AIDS.  This guy needs to give it a rest.  He goes on to attack Janet Napolitano saying she’s doing nothing to stop human traffic into America through the borders.  The worst was when he said that he’s not going near an illegal alien.  I don’t know about you guys but how does one spot an illegal immigrant, especially in this context, speaking about Mexico.  There’s absolutely no way for one to be able to tell the difference between an illegal or legal Mexican immigrant just by looks alone.  Based on that, Savage would essentially be staying away from Mexicans in general, at least those he may encounter on the streets not those he might know personally.  Neal Boortz, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Beck also spread this rumor on their radio show.  Glenn Beck cited this as something that he already predicted before, except it was a different scenario.  I kind of wonder if their listeners take these nutcases seriously or do they listen to them for entertainment.   This audio from Media Matters.  The opening is an interviewer asking director of the CDC how this is coming into the US, the next three parts are of conservative talking heads spreading lies.

I am all for border security and it’s an issue that should be addressed.  One thing that we should not be doing is using this Swine Flu outbreak as a way to conjure up fear amongst Americans of Mexican immigrants.  This is just enabling people to be prejudice and giving them a way out by saying, “oh, but they are spreading Swine Flu”.  I suggest these conservative talking heads think about what they are saying.  I’d also suggest they use facts when addressing a matter this serious, but I know that might be asking for too much.

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GOP Criticized On Pandemic Preparedness While Anti-Abortionists Spread Conspiracies

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This is from Reuters about the status of the Swine Flu virus now,

A new virus has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and the World Health Organization moved closer on Monday to declaring it the first flu pandemic in 40 years as more people were infected in the United States and Europe.

The WHO raised its pandemic alert level for the swine flu virus to phase 4, indicating a significantly increased risk of a pandemic, a global outbreak of a serious disease.

The last such outbreak, a “Hong Kong” flu pandemic in 1968, killed about 1 million people.

Although the new flu strain has so far killed people only in Mexico, there were more than 40 confirmed cases in the United States, including 20 at a New York City school where eight cases were already identified.

Meanwhile according to the AP, the Mexican government is taking criticism over the slow response to this virus.  According to The Hill, anti-abortion activists, think the Obama administration is only considering this an emergency to get an Kathleen Sebelius in as secretary of Health and Human Services quickly.  They are basically using the Swine Flu as a political issue to hold the confirmation of Sebelius.  This is definitely one of those times when we should expect to have a secretary of Health and Human Services. The anti-abortion activist are wasting time with their conspiracy theories on why the Obama administration would consider this an emergency.  This does little to help their cause and is counter productive.

On a more important issue beside anti-abortion conspiracy theorist is people like Karl Rove, who back in February critiquing spending of the stimulus plan and democrats, cited the “$900 million for pandemic flu preparations” as spending too much.  Sen. Susan Collin (R-Maine) is the main politician so far that has taken a major hit over her non-support of pandemic emergency spending in the stimulus bill.  She posted an article on her website, “After meeting with Mr. Obama, Sen. Collins expressed concern about a number of spending provisions, including $780 million for pandemic-flu preparedness. “I have no doubt that the president is willing to negotiate in good faith, that he wants to have a bipartisan bill,” Sen. Collins said.”".  She tries to blunt the criticism by downplaying that there’s even a need for funds, in a statment released today she said,

“There is no evidence that federal efforts to address the swine flu outbreak have been hampered by a lack of funds. It is, however, a problem that the Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services still do not have top positions filled. I hope that the Senate will move promptly to confirm Governor Sebelius for HHS Secretary.”

Media Matters put up a great video recapping Collins initial views of pandemic funding,

Obviously, Collins did not have the common sense to know that if a pandemic breaks out, then work productivity drops and the economy is worse off.  Her statement mentioning no evidence that the government doesn’t have enough money to take care of this issue is really irrelevant.  The point is foresight and preparedness.  This outbreak has come out of nowhere considering the possibility there was a slow response by the Mexican government.  Being prepared to keep Americans safe is not just another $900 million in pork projects.  As far as the anti-abortion activists and their conspiracy theories is concerned, I’m wondering what they would say if Obama hadn’t deemed this outbreak and emergency.  I think the Obama administration has done an excellent job at addressing this manner with fast response while not creating chaos.  If Obama hadn’t considered this an emergency this early, then considering the report today of 40 U.S. cases, the republicans would be on all cable news shows criticizing Obama.  If the republicans in Congress want to stall the nomination of Sebilus over abortion then I suspect they’ll suffer on popularity with the American people.  Collins and other anti-pandemic preparedness supporter in Congress will definitely take a hit for viewing funding for prevent of a pandemic as another pork barrel project.

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Who Was The Real Loser In NY-20 Special Election?

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There was a special election in district NY-20 for Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s former seat. Jim Tedisco (R) lost to Scott Murphy (D).  Obviously Tedisco is a loser, but Tedisco can run again some other time and have a chance at winning.  The real loser in this race was Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC.  He hyped this race ridiculously.  Here one of his past statement on CNN about this special election,

Before Sen. Gillibrand, this seat was filled by republicans.  One might understand why it would be competitive but the republicans aren’t in that good of shape.  The mere fact of making this race the “focal point” put pressure on Steele to show what he could do for the republican party.  On Fox News Sunday he said, “That’s my job, is to put good candidates in a position to win. Now, we’re not going to win all of them, but we’re going to start to win again in important races that matter, and we’ve got three of them coming up this year.”.  Even back in January he said, “That win will send a powerful signal to the rest of the country…that our game is not up,”.  Whoops, guess Americans will never be able to feel that “powerful signal”.  The DNC, bragging, put out this video connecting Steele to the NY-20 lose,

I don’t know what Steele could have done better to help Tedisco, Tedisco could have been a lost cause for all I know.  One thing I do know is that Steele gave the appearance as if he wasn’t doing much.  Granted he did go to NY a couple of times to campaign for Tedisco.  This was rarely shown on TV.  What most of us saw of Steele was trying to attack Obama, apologize to Rush Limbaugh, have crazy interview segments on CNN, and recently skipping out on a GOP meeting to possibly see the new Tyson movie.  Little of what Steele has done, has been helpful for the republican party and its future.  Steele is the one who beefed up race.  If anything this is a failure for Steele too.  He still has a lot to prove as the new RNC chairman.  This could only validate to some that he hasn’t been doing his job and he needs to stop trying to be the “cable news pundit”.  Now the latest spin from the RNC is that, democrats have carried that district in the past.  Well, that’s not a good argument when republicans have also carried that district.  I doubt Steele will last long as the RNC chairman if this trend continues.  He has had too many controversies that the republicans don’t need and he has given the appearance that he’s not doing his job.

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Rep. Joe Barton Has Perception Issues

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I’m sorry but he just does.  Rep. Joe Barton, Texas republican, posted this video on his youtube page titled “Energy Secretary puzzled by simple question”. Here’s what the video description says, “When Rep. Joe Barton asked the Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary, Dr. Steven Chu, where oil comes from – he got a puzzling answer. “. What?! Watch the video,

Yeah, so Rep. Joe Barton is “bragging” about how he “puzzled” Dr. Chu, a scientist, about where oil comes from. I think Rep. Barton shouldn’t be asking that question at his age and especially when he’s working on the “Energy and Commerce Committee”.  This is proof why all universities need to require their students to take a basic science class, I don’t know requiring geology specifically might be a little too much for some people.
The reason Barton has a perception issue is simple…he perceived the situation to have worked in his benefit to the point where he thought he’d brag about it on youtube. It’s clear in the video that Barton looked stupid and there’s no way he should waste the last 6 seconds asking a science question he should have learned in college at least.   Also, it seems clear the Rep. Barton was oddly puzzled that oil doesn’t appear out of no where or that all oil doesn’t naturally come from Texas. This question was stupid, usually people say there’s no such thing as a stupid question. That’s something you say to kids to get them to learn more, for Rep. Barton this was a stupid question. That’s my perception of this video, whether you disagree with this or not. I perceive this to be a better perception of this situation then how Rep. Barton perceived it.

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