Outrage!

The definition of outrage is an act grossly offensive to decency, morality. The Republican majorities in Congress and President Bush have committed numerous grossly offensive acts to decency and morality on the behave of the American people. So, many one word can not describe it. Outrage!

abuse, affront, atrocity, barbarism, damage, desecration, enormity, evildoing, harm, hurt, indignity, inhumanity, injury, insult, mischief, misdoing, offense, profanation, rape, rapine, ravishing, ruin, shock, violation, violence, wrongdoing

The latest outrage is to the budget. E. J. Dionne Jr. describe the theme of the Republican budget as, Protect the well-connected, bash the poor.

Millions of low-income people would have to pay more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments and premiums, the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report. The Senate has already approved the measure, the first major effort to rein in federal benefit programs in eight years, and the House is expected to vote Wednesday, clearing the bill for President Bush."

Protect the well-connected.

"President Bush, campaigning for a continuation of his tax cuts as a spur for the nation's economy, came today to a fast-growing place with the lowest unemployment in Virginia....'Things are going fine,' Bush said today. 'The fundamental question facing us is what do we do to keep it going. Well, first thing is, Congress needs to make the tax relief permanent.'"

Yes, President Bush is correct. The fundamental question is do we continue to bash the poor and cut student loans programs, Medicaid, Medicare and federal payments to the states for enforcing child support orders just to name a few or give more tax relief to the wealthiest among us. Lets be blunt about it, class warfare at it best..

How strange it is that while the president claims he wants to help people get health coverage, he and his party would support a budget that could force some poor Americans to walk away from care.

It's hard these days to get the media to pay attention to budgets and their impact on the lives of citizens. Budgets are complicated and easy to spin. It's much easier to generate immense moral outrage over a memoir writer who tells lies.

But long after we've forgotten the name of that writer, a mother on Medicaid will be deciding whether she can afford to take her sick child to see the doctor. Can we please spend at least a tiny bit of our moral outrage on her behalf?

Indeed. Where outrage?

Alito, Katrina, Iraq, Terrorism, Domestic Spying ... the list of things to get outrage about continues under President Bush and this Republican Congress. This budget vote gives the Democrats in Congress an other opportunity to show us where they stand. A yes vote to continue the failed and immoral polices of Republicans or a no vote against bashing the poor and protect the well-connected.

(Hat Tip to Sirotablog)

GOP Talking Point: “Criminalization of Politics”

What happen to “criminalization of politics” Republican talking point?

It became clear that a comprehensive strategy of criminalization had been implemented to inflict defeat on conservatives who seek to govern as conservatives. -- Bill Kristol 10/24/2005

Following Bill Kristol lead Fox News repeated this talking point over and over.

According to a database search, every single television reference to the CIA leak scandal as the “criminalization of politics” in the last 30 days has been on Fox. Even more stunning: on every occassion, the phrase was introduced into the segment by a Fox News anchor or correspondent, never by a guest.

Even, Tom Delay use this talking point to defend himself. But the old conservative talking points are now inoperative, due to the fact many Republican politicians are turning out to be criminal.

(Hat Tip to Oliver Willis)

Lobbyists Run the Republican Party

Matthew Yglesias point out the problems of the Republican philosophy of government-by-lobbyist, the practice of selling public policy to the highest bidder leads to awful policy and the inability to fix lobbyist written policy for the public good.

The Medicare Bill is so bad because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't make student loans more affordable because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't stop transferring huge sums of money to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Hugo Chavez, and Vladimir Putin because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't reorient military spending toward transnational threats because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't have Internet access as fast as Koreans and Japanese have because lobbyists run the Republican Party. You can't get the ABC Family Channel without paying for ESPN Classic (or vice versa) because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't adopt a simple method for slowing the growth of Medicare spending without cutting benefits because lobbyists run the Republican Party. We can't make the tax code fairer and simpler because lobbyists run the Republican Party.

As Josh Marshall point out if you want a clean up the neighborhood, you need get actual criminals off the streets. If you want better public policy for people, you need to get Republicans out of congress.

Lobbying reform" bills is a good step in cleaning up congress, but it is beside the point. The real scandal is betrayal-of-public-trust.

This is not a lobbying scandal. It's a betrayal-of-public-trust scandal. Lobbyists have no power, no influence, until a public servant gives them power. That's what DeLay and the K Street Project was all about. What they did was to set up a system by which lobbyists who proved their loyalty in various ways, such as taking DeLay and Ney on golf trips to Scotland, could be transformed from supplicants to full partners in government.

Mark Schmitt is correct, every time we say "lobbying reform," we reinforce the idea that it is only the lobbyist who is the wrongdoer. Without public officials Democrat or Republican selling public policy to the highest bidder, no matter how much lobbying reforms bill pass this will not change standard operating procedure in the Republican Congress.

With Senator Rick Santorum and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert leading the charge of lobbying reform for the Republican party the betrayal of public trust and lobbyists running the Republican party will continue without missing a beat.

Life Without DeLay

Washington Post:

And there is a more fundamental question that the Abramoff mess, and the DeLay departure, ought to prompt House leaders to ask themselves -- or that voters may ask, and answer, for them: What is the purpose of the Republican majority? Is it simply, as some of the leadership's behavior would suggest, to amass, cement and retain power by whatever means necessary? Or, as Republicans claimed when they came to power a decade ago, do they stand for something: a different method of doing business, a belief in limited government, commitment to spending restraint? If there is a role for the Republican machine other than self-perpetuation, it's awfully hard to discern right now.

Limited government and spending restraint was just false rhetoric use by Republican politicians to gain power. The only goal of Republicans is to hold on to their corrupt supremacy over American people and its politics.

What About Dennis Hastert?

Republican leader Tom Delay step down as majority leader to ‘reclaiming’ his seat on the Appropriations Committee. The Republican party is replacing Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham a criminal by appointing a big crook Tom Delay to the Appropriations Committee.

As Republican Rep. Roy Blunt and John Boehner wrestle to replace Tom Delay as House majority leader, Is Dennis Hastert safe in this leadership position as speaker of the House?

In the first sign that even Hastert could be in trouble, Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said Republicans should consider whether to replace the speaker. "The time is right for us to do some soul-searching and have an open dialogue about the direction of the House."

Republican Dennis Hastert and Tom Delay are tied together, you can not have one with out the other. If Tom Delay has to step down, Speaker of the House should be next. Republican Hastert received $69,000 in contributions from corrupt Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Indian tribes represented by the lobbyist..

The guilty plea by lobbyist Jack Abramoff could bring renewed scrutiny of a letter sent by House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois to Interior Secretary Gale Norton urging her to block an Indian casino opposed by rival tribes represented by Abramoff just one week after the lobbyist hosted a fundraiser for Hastert's political action committee. [...]

Indian tribes represented by Abramoff donated more than $20,000 to Hastert around the time of the fundraiser, which was held at Signatures, a Washington restaurant owned by Abramoff. Hastert's campaign committee did not pay the tab for the June 3, 2003, luncheon fundraiser until last year, following media inquiries about the unpaid check.

Hastert, who wields considerable influence as the top-ranking Republican in the House, was joined in his letter to Norton by three of the most powerful House Republican leaders: former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt and Chief Deputy House Whip Eric Cantor, all of whom also received campaign contributions from Indian tribes represented by Abramoff.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert with other Republicans did the bidding of corrupt Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff with a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton after a fundraiser at Jack Abramoff Signatures Washington restaurant.

This is just one example of the influence of Jack Abramoff over Republican leadership in the House and the conservative movement. Do not forget to add Hastert name to long list of corrupt conservative Republican politicians Delay, Rove, Bush, Cheney, Libby, Frist, Ney, Cunningham and going ...

Also, check out Simon Maxwell Apter profile in American Prospect of Dennis Hastert. It is a good article, but Apter should have left out lame Saturday Night Live’s “Wayne’s World” comments about Aurora, Illinois which is the biggest town in Dennis Hastert House district. Wayne’s World Aurora is not the Aurora I grew up in.