Politics Plus

Poverty numbers are up.  There’s no denying it.  The Republican recession turned out to be more persistent than most thought and, their attempts to sabotage the economy for political gain have frustrated Democratic attempts to mitigate the suffering.  However, there is now definitive evidence that Democrats are making a positive difference in people’s lives.

A new report from the Census Bureau points to a painful, ugly 2009 for those struggling to get by. The poverty rate jumped to 14.3% last year, its highest level in 16 years. As CNN noted, there were 43.6 million Americans in need — "the highest number in 51 years of record-keeping."

If you’re thinking it seems obscene that the biggest fight in Washington right now is over whether to give the rich yet another round of tax breaks, on the heels of a 14.3% poverty rate, then you and I are on the same page.

But as heartbreaking as the Census data is, it’s worth remembering that government spending prevented it from being even worse. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Arloc Sherman reports today that an analysis of the new survey data "shows that unemployment insurance benefits — which expanded substantially last year in response to the increased need — kept 3.3 million people out of poverty in 2009."

Sherman added, "In other words, there were 43.6 million Americans whose families were below the poverty line in 2009, according to the official poverty statistics, which count jobless benefits as part of families’ income. But if you don’t count jobless benefits, 46.9 million Americans were poor."

And this is just UI. It’s hard to calculate, but imagine what the poverty rate would have been without the Recovery Act, too… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Washington Monthly>

Now think of where our economy would be had the Republicans succeeded in blocking the extension of unemployment insurance.  The only solution they offer is “trickle down” economics, where income  does not trickle down.  Income gushes up, and the economy gushes down.

The Democrats may not be perfect, but they are far more on the side of the American people than the Republicans ever thought of being.  That is the choice America faces.

Wrong wing infighting took a new turn with the election of another Teabagger Senate Candidate, Christine O’Donnell.  On the one side we have the the plutocons, corporocons, and neocons.  On the other, we have the theocons and the insaniTEA movement. And it is getting ugly indeed.  How then, can we turn this to America’s advantage?

The de facto head of the Republican Party is having a fit over this.

Add Rush Limbaugh to the list of prominent conservatives tearing into Karl Rove’s hide today. As Rove continued his tour slamming freshly minted Delaware Republican Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell over the considerable number of skeletons in her closet, Rush was almost literally beside himself with frustration at the idea that anyone — much less The Architect — would dare violate the 11th Commandment so brazenly.

O’Donnell’s nomination has created deep divisions between the Republican Party and right-wing activists. Last night, Rove bashed O’Donnell — and her chances of being elected — and insisted that she’s said a lot of "nutty things." He was attacked by some right-wingers for those comments. O’Donnell whacked him back in a televised interview this morning. And then Rove responded to O’Donnell and his right-wing critics, daring them to ‘prove me wrong’. Then Palin slammed Rove. Now it’s Limbaugh’s turn… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <TPM>

In the interest of public health, please have your barf bags ready.  Here’s Rush:

I apologize, that’s a lot of Rush to take, but watching him bust a gut at Turd Blossom is high entertainment.

On a more serious note, Rachel Maddow reveals the research she has done on O’Donnell’s positions and character.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Defining this candidate early is important, because the Republicans have already scrubbed her website, as they did with Obtuse Angle.

Keith Olbermann and Chris Kofinas discuss the controversy and how Democrats may benefit from it.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As I see it, the Republicans want to define the November’s races by painting the Obama administration as a failure.  Offering nothing new themselves, they are depending on voters to reject Obama’s handling of the economy.  Democrats need to take a different strategy.  First they must run on their accomplishments.  But to be successful, they must not allow the Republicans to define the races.  Democrats need to define the races as a choice between what Democrats want and what Republicans want.  What Democrats want is far closer to what Americans need.  Republicans extremists like O’Donnell are especially useful defining the Republican Party.  The only difference between establishment Republicans and Teabaggers is that the Teabaggers are open with their insane views and dangerous plans, while establishment Republicans are more adept at hiding them.  If we keep hammering on the differences, the outcome in November may not be nearly as bad as pundits claim.

No matter which faction, the right wing is the wrong wing.

Yesterday was a great day at the polls for Democrats.  Republicans have catered to insaniTEA and stoked bigoTEA pandering for votes in the most despicable places.  Their misdeeds are coming home to roost.

Virtually unknown a month ago, Christine O’Donnell rode a surge of support from tea party activists to victory in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary Tuesday night, dealing yet another setback to the GOP establishment in a campaign season full of them. A second insurgent led narrowly for the GOP nomination in New Hampshire.

O’Donnell defeated nine-term Rep. Mike Castle, a fixture in Delaware politics for a generation and a political moderate. Republican Party officials, who had touted him as their only hope for winning the seat in the fall, made clear as the votes were being counted they would not provide O’Donnell funding in the general election campaign.

She enters the fall campaign as an underdog to Chris Coons, a county executive who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The Republican state chairman, Tom Ross, said recently she "could not be elected dogcatcher"…

…In the other marquee race of the night, for New Hampshire’s Republican Senate nomination, lawyer Ovide Lamontagne led former Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, 40 percent to 38 percent [currently 39% to 38%], with votes counted from more than a third of the precincts… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <AP/Google>

Candidate of Glen Beck and Sarah Palin, O’Donnell has a checkered past.  Her former campaign manager from her run against Joe Biden says she used campaign contributions for her personal expenses while campaign workers and bills went unpaid.  So at least in that way, she is a true Republican.  The national party has confirmed that she’s cut off.

Fox gets official word [faux noise delinked] from their bosses at the GOP:

Republican aides told Fox News Tuesday that the National Republican Senatorial Committee will not be funding O’Donnell’s general election campaign, leaving it up to Palin and the Tea Party Express to do the heavy lifting…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

From the extreme of a woman bent on keeping America from masturbating, the next Republican Nominee, who I featured here, is a racist who loves those bestiality videos.

Carl P. Paladino, a wealthy Buffalo businessman and first-time candidate, won a stunning and decisive victory over his establishment rival, former Representative Rick A. Lazio, in New York’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday night.

The victory for Mr. Paladino, whose agitating campaign strategy and attacks against Albany earned him a late surge in the polls, marked the second major triumph on Tuesday night for the Tea Party movement, which backed the businessman against Mr. Lazio, a dyed-in-the-wool Republican mainstay.

The result was a potentially destabilizing blow for New York Republicans. It put at the top of the party’s ticket a volatile newcomer who has forwarded e-mails to friends containing racist jokes and pornographic images, espoused turning prisons into dormitories where welfare recipients could be given classes on hygiene, and defended an ally’s comparison of the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, who is Jewish, to “an Antichrist or a Hitler.”… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <NY Times>

I wonder if he’ll email O’Donnell! 😉

Andrew Cuomo will flush him.

As a side note, there some great news for progressives.

But elsewhere, progressives have a primary victory of their own to cheer. In the Democratic primary to replace Rep. Paul Hodes in New Hampshire’s second congressional district (Hodes is running for the Senate), liberal-backed Ann McLane Kuster clobbered more conservative Katrina Swett. (Swett committed the ultimate crime in progressive-land: she was the co-chair of Joe Lieberman’s presidential campaign.) Kuster was backed by major pro-choice groups, who worried that Swett could not be trusted on abortion rights issues. That mattered. But the race was also a chance for liberals to flex their political muscles… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Mother Jones>

That’s one less DINO to worry about!  Wasn’t this a great day?

Bend over, Republicans.  You’re Teabuggering yourselves! 😀