Big Tent of Crazy

Tea Parties Forever By PAUL KRUGMAN

[  ]…Republicans have become embarrassing to watch. And it doesn’t feel right to make fun of crazy people. Better, perhaps, to focus on the real policy debates, which are all among Democrats.

But here’s the thing: the G.O.P. looked as crazy 10 or 15 years ago as it does now. That didn’t stop Republicans from taking control of both Congress and the White House. And they could return to power if the Democrats stumble.

[  ]…Thus, President Obama is being called a “socialist” who seeks to destroy capitalism. Why? Because he wants to raise the tax rate on the highest-income Americans back to, um, about 10 percentage points less than it was for most of the Reagan administration. Bizarre.

But the charge of socialism is being thrown around only because “liberal” doesn’t seem to carry the punch it used to.

Krugman, bless him, seems to think there really is such a thing as the Republican Party. A political entity where the majority of the members are dedicated to principled fiscal policy, cautious statesmanship and the promotion of reason. That party wasn’t so bad, but it died with Dwight Eisenhower. Krugman mentions Limbaugh, but Limbaugh just makes for rhetorical shorthand. Conservatives are the party of Beck, Malkin, Palin, Boehner, Savage, Hannity, Coulter, McConnell, O’Reilly, et al- the big tent of the strange, weird and wacky. Are there relatively reasonable Republicans in America. Sure, some of them are friends, but they have zero influence on the Republican party and they’re not going to anytime soon. Considering President Obama’s imbrace of what appears to be Republican-lite polices toward Wall St and Bush’s worse abuses of  the Constitution in regards to national security, its probably just easier to switch parties or become an independent.

It looks like Treasury and Obama are pushing GM in the right direction, ‘Surgical’ Bankruptcy Possible for G.M.

The goal is to prepare for a fast “surgical” bankruptcy, the people who had been briefed on the plans said. G.M., which has been granted $13.4 billion in federal aid, insists that a quick restructuring is necessary so its image and sales are not damaged permanently.

What could emerge is a good GM – one not saddled with “Less desirable assets, including unwanted brands, factories and health care obligations”. Then a bad GM that would resolve its legacy health-care obligations and sell off factories.

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Capt. Phillips Rescued, Conservatives Act Like Petulant Brats

What is it about simple facts that confound the Right, Obama twice approved force to rescue hostage

The Defense Department twice asked Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast. Obama first gave permission around 8 p.m. Friday, and upgraded it at 9:20 a.m. Saturday. Officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations said the second order was to encompass more military personnel and equipment that arrived in the Indian Ocean to engage the pirates.

The report goes on to note that the president received regular updates by phone, in person and by memo. The Cod Piece Fan Club, otherwise known as the cons at Redstate writes,

Playing pansy politics with pirates put the Captain’s life at increased risk. His first escape attempt was thwarted by the thugs as Phillips remained adrift from the aid and cover of the US Navy, which sat restrained by an administration too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war. Each day the tension and humiliation of a nation grew.

The well known national hero, one Caleb the Mighty Blogger of the super fuzzy slippers thinks the SEALS and the President of the U.S. should base all its actions and timing on his gut feelings. No doubt it is a wonderful gut to behold. Perhaps as Capt. Richard Phillips makes the rounds of the news shows, someone could ask me if he thinks the Navy should have acted in accordance with the impotent fantasies of right-wing bloggers or based their judgement on professional training and prudent evaluation of a life threatening situation. Thank goodness for Capt. Phillips sake the president and the Navy chose the later course. Claims of a “humiliated” nation are pretentious at best, especially coming from the Osama Bin Forgotten crowd.  How SEALs Carried Out Their Mission

More here, Obama Defeats Pirates, Republican Weakness & Hypocrisy On Military Matters Shines Through Again and Brillant at Breakfast in a post on a WaPo – An Early Military Victory for Obama– article notes Bush’s early military embarassments in  ” by an administration too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war,”  Obama scores an early military victory — and the wingnuts are going crazy

The Chinese jet crashed into the sea and the U.S. plane made an emergency landing in China. This was the first major foreign policy crisis of the George W. Bush administration (the first being the sinking of a Japanese fishing boat by a U.S. Navy submarine helmed by Bush campaign contributors), and it ended after ten tense days with “a carefully worded apology”

Brillant had the stomach to visit Michelle Malkin, yet another winger known for her non-exsistant heroics ( unless we count stalking children and inspecting counter tops)who quoted  Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney’s statement that “The United States government policy is to not negotiate,” and without the slighest bit of introspection or humility states, “Would have been nice to hear those words directly from the commander-in-chief.” Yep, that would have been the perfect response. The commander-in-chief, during the middle of a heated crisis reminds some desparate punks with a hostage there is no good option for them other then death or capture. That would have helped Phillips tremendously. It is never about respect for life or best possible outcomes for the hard-core Right, its about playing puffer fish.