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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
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May 26, 2010
BOEHNER GETS BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS (LOBBYIST) FRIENDS.... Given the larger political environment, it's tempting to think political leaders would try to avoid being overly cozy with corporate lobbyists. Even for those members of Congress that serve as little more than K Street lackeys, there's a general desire to give the appearance of distance between them and the lobbying elites. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) doesn't even seem interested in keeping up appearances. Roll Call reports today that "lobbyists are not-so-quietly cozying up to the Ohio Republican," with the expectation that he might be the next Speaker of the House.
I don't doubt that this is true. The oddity is the willingness to brag about it. Indeed, this reinforces fears that Republicans' electoral success in 2010 will create a Capitol very much like the one we saw the last time the GOP was in charge -- with the corrupt scheme known as the "K Street Project," which already seems to be making a comeback, and with corporate lobbyists writing legislation affecting their industries, just like old (pre-2007) times. What's more, Lee Fang reminds us that over the last year or so, Boehner has "consistently prioritized the interests of lobbyists over the public," including brazenly huddling with 100 corporate lobbyists to kill Wall Street reform, and an incident last July in which Boehner "interrupted House proceedings so Republican lawmakers could attend his annual 'Boehner Beach Party' fundraiser with corporate lobbyists." Refresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive? Under the circumstances, it's curious that the so-called "movement" is prepared to help make Boehner the Speaker of the House. —Steve Benen 12:35 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)
Comments
I see it now... in the Pantheon of Politics, a statue of John Boehner, Tribune of the People. Or something. Posted by: MattF on May 26, 2010 at 12:45 PM | PERMALINKRefresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive? So why aren't Dems throwing this in the Tea-party's face, 24/7 --- or am I the only one on the planet who still understands the unmitigated truth behind the statement, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend?" Can you imagine what happens to the GOP, if the Tea party abandons them and comes on over to our side of the fence; if they finally get the chance to see what the likes of Boehner, Palin, and FoxNoise are in reality when the light of Truth shines down from on high? Death throes, baby ---death throes, the final chapter.... Posted by: S. Waybright on May 26, 2010 at 12:49 PM | PERMALINK"Refresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive?" You'd think so. But that would required that they know about it. They'd NEVER hear it from Limbaugh or Fox, so where from? S. Waybright is right of course, the Dems SHOULD be all over this. Posted by: Mark-NC on May 26, 2010 at 12:59 PM | PERMALINKMany people will tell you that you cannot have a constructive conversation with an opponent by calling them "ignorant" and/or "uninformed." But the Tea Partiers make it so easy. One the one hand, they caterwaul about being called names like these, while on the other they continually play useful idiots (see, I just did it again!) for the entities who do not support their best interests (there I go AGAIN, assuming that I know what their best interests are!). As DougJ at Balloon Juice so aptly put it, you cannot have a reasonable, rational discussion with an opponent who is irrational from the get-go. It's "as if, when discussing dinner options, you suggest Italian, and she indicates her preference for a meal of tire rims and glass." There simply cannot be middle ground when there is no ground from which to begin discussion. Posted by: terraformer on May 26, 2010 at 1:10 PM | PERMALINKRefresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive? Yes, but remember they're not really the Tea Party, they're the FIP --- the Fucking Idiot Party. I know I said in a previous post that FIP should be the new name for the GOP, but is there really any difference? Posted by: David Bailey on May 26, 2010 at 1:12 PM | PERMALINKRefresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive? Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. Expansive, debt-ridden government in service of corporate interests, or the disadvantage of poor minorities (e.g. prisons, war on drugs, immigration enforcement), has never been a vice in their eyes. Posted by: jonas on May 26, 2010 at 1:13 PM | PERMALINKI find it strange that people still think there is a rational, coherent element to the Tea Party. Posted by: Archon on May 26, 2010 at 1:18 PM | PERMALINKRefresh my memory: isn't this the sort of thing the Tea Party crowd is supposed to find offensive? Yes! Start referring to Boehner and his friends as the "Aristocracy of Pull," the term coined in Atlas Shrugged to describe those who preferred grabbing money to aiding the nation. Ayn Rand was a naive idiot most of the time, but she recognized that as government and regulation became more complicated, the only people who would understand it were the insiders, and they could effectively deny access / progress to the little guy. Posted by: Ayn on May 26, 2010 at 1:26 PM | PERMALINK@ David Bailey: "Yes, but remember they're not really the Tea Party, they're the FIP --- the Fucking Idiot Party." APPLAUSE! LOL! Posted by: June on May 26, 2010 at 1:49 PM | PERMALINKI keep hearing all this stuff about the tea party movement and just how strong it is, but I have never encountered a proud tea party member in the wild. Just how big is the movement anyway? Posted by: Ron Byers on May 26, 2010 at 2:28 PM | PERMALINKLast night Chuck Todd made a profound observation. The Democratic base isn't demoralized. It just isn't engaged right now. There is no good reason it can't be motivated to vote. The Democrats are showing signs of life. That means the election this fall is not going to be a rerun of 1994 or 2002. The Democrats will probably lose a seats in the House and a couple in the Senate, but the John Boehner shouldn't be measuring the drapes in the Speaker's office just yet. More importantly smart lobbyists shouldn't be shunning Democrats. They are doing their clients a disservice. Having said that, I really, really hope Boehner keeps on measuring drapes and making big plans and that the lobbyists keep throwing big money down the Republican rat hole. Pride and inattention goeth before a fall. Posted by: Ron Byers on May 26, 2010 at 2:44 PM | PERMALINKSo why aren't Dems throwing this in the Tea-party's face... -S. Waybright Becuase unless Boehner has ditched his usual unnatural orange for brown or black, the Tea Party doesn't care. Any time they tell you they care about anything beyond the skin color of the current president, they're fibbing. They've ditched white sheets for a far more effective disguise: a misguided political ideology; they are the Tea Klux Klan. Regarding the moneied interests putting on their knee pads for the Boner, puh-lease. What the hell are they smoking that makes them think they have a remote chance in hell of winning the house? Time to scale back those expectations, morons. Posted by: doubtful on May 26, 2010 at 2:50 PM | PERMALINKIf memory serves Boehner is the fella who used to pass out the K street cash on the floor of the House. knock..knock... who's there.. orange... orange who... john boehner ! Posted by: mr. irony on May 27, 2010 at 7:41 AM | PERMALINK
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