America's Self-Anointed Grand Inquisitor refuses to give it a rest! He's once again attempting to resurrect the alleged singling-out of 96 Tea Party organizations for special review by the IRS. It's already been well-established that 298 political groups spanning the entire ideological spectrum were flagged during this review. So once again, Mr. Issa, chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, is squandering our resources by engaging in one of his favorite activities: beating a dead horse, burying it, digging it up again, and beating it some more.
This time he's subpoenaed John Koskinen, the recently appointed head of the IRS. Apparently a couple years worth of emails got deleted from the system in the Cincinnati office, the center of this controversy. For the record, there is a truly egregious double standard in play here. The IRS expects us all to maintain impeccable records for seven years, yet they appear to maintain a la-la-la attitude in regard to their own record-keeping. That's a legitimate issue. But it shouldn't justify a third round of intense inquiry regarding a controversy that's already been settled. This particular horse has now been so badly beaten that all that remains is a soggy, gruesome pulp.
Now --- seeing as how the Good Chairman is so hot to trot to exercise his power, why not investigate something that really matters? There's always Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Paul Bremer and Company. Remember the lies they concocted to launch a war overseas with tragic consequences? I dunno, maybe that's too much of a challenge.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Payback Time for Eric Cantor
Many political observers have suggested that Eric Cantor's Republican primary loss last week signified a Tea Party resurgence; that Mr. Cantor lost because "he wasn't conservative enough". Yet he was a seven-term incumbent. But until last week, he'd never faced any serious primary opposition.
Dave Brat, the congressman's Tea Party-backed primary opponent hammered away at the mainstream Republicans whose interests Mr. Cantor clearly represented. Mr. Brat even went so far as to invoke a mantra most often cited by populist-progressives: "Mainstream Republicans (including Mr. Cantor) pay too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street." This perception really seemed to resonate among his constituents, and for good reason. They believed that they were being taken for granted. Their congressman was focused on being House Majority Leader and a conservative "young gun" with unbridled ambition. He didn't give a damn about them, and they knew it. Their antipathy toward their self-anointed "young gun" was so intense that he couldn't even buy the election with a $5 million war chest! By contrast, Mr. Brat's campaign invested only $230,000, with no help from the Tea party poobahs.
Eric Cantor's voting record shouldn't lead anyone to believe that "he wasn't conservative enough". Here's why:
- He's been unswervingly anti-women's choice.
- He's consistently voted against all forms of economic aid
to struggling families, as well as job stimulus measures.
- He's steadfastly opposed nearly all proposals
for maintaining or strengthening the social safety net,
including access to affordable health care.
And that's just scratching the surface. So, for iron-bound conservatives, what's not to love?
Come to think of it, there was one major fly in the ointment. True Tea-Partiers like Dave Brat hate "big government". Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney, and other mainstream Republicans seem to believe that government does have a mission. What is that mission? To protect the interests of Corporate America and its uber-wealthy beneficiaries. Which is why Mr. Cantor ultimately voted to raise the debt ceiling at zero hour.
So what really distinguishes true Tea-Partiers from mainstream Republicans? As far as I can tell, it's just one item: The mainstream Republicans' overarching arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Maybe --- eventually --- some --- well, perhaps just a few of those Tea Party folks will wake up and smell the coffee, and realize that they've been getting punked.
That seems to be what happened in Virginia's 7th District last week.
Dave Brat, the congressman's Tea Party-backed primary opponent hammered away at the mainstream Republicans whose interests Mr. Cantor clearly represented. Mr. Brat even went so far as to invoke a mantra most often cited by populist-progressives: "Mainstream Republicans (including Mr. Cantor) pay too much attention to Wall Street and not enough attention to Main Street." This perception really seemed to resonate among his constituents, and for good reason. They believed that they were being taken for granted. Their congressman was focused on being House Majority Leader and a conservative "young gun" with unbridled ambition. He didn't give a damn about them, and they knew it. Their antipathy toward their self-anointed "young gun" was so intense that he couldn't even buy the election with a $5 million war chest! By contrast, Mr. Brat's campaign invested only $230,000, with no help from the Tea party poobahs.
Eric Cantor's voting record shouldn't lead anyone to believe that "he wasn't conservative enough". Here's why:
- He's been unswervingly anti-women's choice.
- He's consistently voted against all forms of economic aid
to struggling families, as well as job stimulus measures.
- He's steadfastly opposed nearly all proposals
for maintaining or strengthening the social safety net,
including access to affordable health care.
And that's just scratching the surface. So, for iron-bound conservatives, what's not to love?
Come to think of it, there was one major fly in the ointment. True Tea-Partiers like Dave Brat hate "big government". Eric Cantor, Mitt Romney, and other mainstream Republicans seem to believe that government does have a mission. What is that mission? To protect the interests of Corporate America and its uber-wealthy beneficiaries. Which is why Mr. Cantor ultimately voted to raise the debt ceiling at zero hour.
So what really distinguishes true Tea-Partiers from mainstream Republicans? As far as I can tell, it's just one item: The mainstream Republicans' overarching arrogance and sense of entitlement.
Maybe --- eventually --- some --- well, perhaps just a few of those Tea Party folks will wake up and smell the coffee, and realize that they've been getting punked.
That seems to be what happened in Virginia's 7th District last week.
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