I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I've decided it's time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.
But I also feel like there's an ugly edge to all this...that hasn't really been fully exploited.
I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they've held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.
But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to help; that's why today we'll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.
It'll be fun, it'll be festive, but most of all...it'll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that's something we could sorely use.
I got a weird little story about my friend Blitz Krieger to bring to you today.
He's had a crazy car problem, he has, and over the past few months he thought he had found a solution - in fact, he thought he had found the solution of his dreams - but in the end, he's discovered that the things you dream about often don't go according to plan.
The way it's worked out for him so far, it's been a lot of anticipation followed by a sudden wave of frustration, but I feel like he's a lot better off having his particular problem with his car...because if he'd had cancer instead, he'd surely be dead by now.
In the last few weeks, we've watched some really wasteful capital spending. Political capital, that is. Since taking the reigns of Congress on Monday, the Republicans have immediately fumbled and bumbled their way into blowing large quantities of the good will the American people bestowed upon them.
Republican Andy Harris, an anesthesiologist who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, reacted incredulously when informed that federal law mandated that his government-subsidized health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1 – 28 days after his Jan. 3rd swearing-in.
The Bucks County Courier Times said that roughly 500 Fitzpatrick supporters were on hand at the gathering. Fitzpatrick's campaign had solicited contributions for a bus trip to the Capitol and "Mike Fitzpatrick's Swearing In Celebration." Sessions is head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, responsible for fundraising for GOP candidates.
The problem of holding events in the U.S. Capitol (i.e., the Capitol Visitors Center) for political or campaign activities is explained in the House Ethics Manual: they “are supported with official funds and hence are considered official resources."
While Fitzpatrick appears to have violated House ethics rules, Sessions deserves special attention for reserving the room for Fitzpatrick. This may not violate any rules, but as a member of the Rules Committee, he should know better! Of course, he shouldn’t have voted before he was sworn in, either.
Luckily the GOP then held a vote on nullifying the votes cast by Sessions and Fitzpatrick, since they were never properly sworn in. And yes, that violates the constitution. But oops, they screwed this up too, according to their own rules:
House Republicans had to correct a first-week gaffe by nullifying the votes of two of their members that were cast before they were sworn in...[snip]. The House voted 257-159 to nullify those votes cast by Pete Sessions of Texas, the party campaign chief, and Mike Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
Democrat Anthony Weiner of New York said it also violated the Republicans' newly approved rule that legislation be made public three days before being put to a vote.
Ok, that has to be it, right? Nope, it gets worse:
During Thursday morning’s “historic reading,” [of the constitution], one member apparently skipped Article 4 Section 4 and part of Article 5 Section 1 when he or she inadvertently turned two pages at once, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who was in charge of the reading, said on the House floor this afternoon.
Goodlatte returned to the House floor at 2:23 p.m., more than two hours after the error occurred, read the missing sections, and placed them officially in the congressional record.
As obssessors over the constitution, I assume the teahadists would notice when a section was skipped.
But while today's vote clears the legislation for passage, the repeal legislation isn't going very far. At a Thursday press conference, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reiterated that repeal is dead on arrival in the Senate."The Republicans have to understand, the health care bill is not going to be repealed," he said.
At this rate, they'll have exhausted whatever political capital they had by next week.
The conventional wisdom's money is on Jeff "Cajun Cocaine Cowboy" Landry. But I wouldn't bet too hard on the newly minted member from Acadiana as being the odd man out.
The man losing his congressional public-funded health insurance next year will be none other than Dr. Charles Boustany.
Louisiana's Lone Democratic Seat is Safe
Before we move to the losers, let's consider the sure winners of redistricting. By Federal Law, Cedric Richmond, Louisiana's only Congressional Democrat, will continue to have a relatively safe seat no matter how the legislature redraws the state. As we've mentioned before, due to the Voting Rights Act's provisions, Louisiana will submit their redistricting plan to the Justice Department for review. That plan must allow for minority representation, which will likely come in a South Louisiana-based majority-minority seat. With African Americans voting 9/10 for Democrats, this seat will stay Democratic. The question is whether it will stay New Orleans-based. Representative Rick Gallot has already placed the possibility of overlaying this majority-minority district on the current blueprint of the 3rd Public Service Commission District, now held by Lambert Boissiere on the table.
Gallot said something similar to today’s majority black PSC district that runs from New Orleans to north Baton Rouge, including communities near the Mississippi River, “certainly is a reasonable footprint to look at.”
This possibility maintains the Democratic district, but also opens up the possibility of a challenge to Cedric Richmond. Mr. Boissiere would relish the chance to take someone on in his own district, diminishing Richmond's inherent incumbency advantages. Additionally, with a district that stretches to Baton Rouge, a non-New Orleans-centric candidate might have a better chance at marshaling votes from outside of the Crescent City against the city-incumbent. Depending on how far this new CD reaches into Baton Rouge, it may also put other Af-Am power players, like Cleo Fields, onto the field of play, diminishing Richmond's establishment support.
Whether or not this district ends up deposing Richmond is tied to the district's geographic nature. It will also be affected by how much political power is distributed from the more populous Baton Rouge, and whether other congressional districts are within the grasp of Democratic hopefuls. The less likely other districts become for Louisiana Dems (like the vunerable 6th, and formally winnable 3rd), the more likely the "VRA" district becomes a powerful magnet for Democratic players.
Hit the jump to find out why Jeff Landry is more likely to be tea-partying into 2013 as a Congressman while Dr. Boustany will be forced to read the ACA until his eyes fall out.
Lamar over at CenLamar has been documenting the nasty whisper campaign allegedly being pushed by crazy, nutto right-wing Ron Paul supporters. That means Republicans are pushing this thing. Big surprise there, as we are talking about the party that sought to divide Americans on racial issues in their quest for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for the last 30 years.
The Obama campaign has put out a damn good commercial fighting back.
Last summer, DKF noted that Rep. Jim Tucker was facing ethics charges before the Ethics Board regarding GOZone credits that his firm was awarded from the Louisiana Recovery Authority. The Ethics Board decided that since the firm did not use the credits, there was nothing to worry about.
I would also like to note that Chris Whittington, the Chairman of the Democratic Party, noted that "no one truly knows what Mr. Tucker's true intentions were" regarding the GOZone credits. And what do you think Mr. Tucker's response was? He threatened to sue Whittington for "libelous" remarks. Just so you know, Speaker ... libel refers to written statements. I believe you were referring to slander, which refers to an oral, or spoken statement.
But that's nothing compared to what he did in the last legislative session. He abused the power of his office, and helped pass legislation written so narrowly to benefit so few Louisiana citizens, one of whom just happens to be his wife!
Now, I've got nothing against Mrs. Tucker. I'm sure she's a fine lady and a fine mama. My problem is with Mr. Tucker. He's a State Representative in our State Legislature. And he introduced and spoke in favor of House Bill 501, which is now the law in Louisiana. (It's now Act 99 of the 2007 legislative session.)
Well, it's clear now why there's been no mention of campaign finance reform in the vaunted Jindal ethics package.
Seems like the new governor's campaign was — in that great Republican tradition — trampling Louisiana's campaign finance laws at the same time the then-candidate was blathering about the essential need for ethics reform in our state.
The Baton Rouge Advocate reported tonight that Jindal's campaign has admitted that it failed to report more than $100,000 assistance it got from the Louisiana Republican Party:
Gov. Bobby Jindal faces state ethics charges for failing to timely disclose more than $100,000 in campaign aid he received from the state Republican Party.
Well, Mitt Romney staved off defeat tonight in his native state of Michigan, living to fight another day. This was important for the following reason - it denied McCain momentum going into South Carolina, where he will go toe-to-toe with Mike Huckabee.
The best case scenario for Democrats is that Huckabee and McCain end up within the 2-3 percentage points of each other in South Carolina next week, and Giuliani somehow manage to take Florida. Then we'll see a free-for-all all the way to the GOP Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Then wny has a Plaquemine Parish Republican (Ernest Wooten) endorsed Jalila Jefferson-Bullock? And why has the Republican-endorsed candidate in the SD 5 primary (David Williams) put out a mailer smearing Rep. Cheryl Gray, who is running against Rep. Jalila Jefferson Bullock? Now, I'm not saying that Ms. Jefferson-Bullock is corrupt, but she is part of the corrupt Jefferson machine.
This is something that has been brewing on my mind for the last few weeks, as I have spoken with folks about Louisiana politics, and the fact that the Democratic Party has pretty much had a stranglehold on the State Legislature for the past 40 + years.
Many Republicans say it is time to give their party a chance to run Louisiana, mainly because the State Legislature has been run by the Democrats for all of that time, and we still rank near the bottom in darn near every category we don't want to rank near the bottom in.
To paraphrase my father ... if bullshit were energy, the folks making that argument would be bigger than Entergy. Simply put, that dog don't hunt.
Political capital, that is. Since taking the reigns of Congress on Monday, the Republicans have immediately fumbled and bumbled their way into blowing large quantities of the good will the American people bestowed upon them. 
In other words, when the Legislature's 
With African Americans voting 9/10 for Democrats, this seat will stay Democratic. The question is whether it will stay New Orleans-based. Representative Rick Gallot has already placed the 
This possibility maintains the Democratic district, but also opens up the possibility of a challenge to Cedric Richmond. Mr. Boissiere would relish the chance to take someone on in his own district, diminishing Richmond's inherent incumbency advantages. Additionally, with a district that stretches to Baton Rouge, a non-New Orleans-centric candidate might have a better chance at marshaling votes from outside of the Crescent City against the city-incumbent. Depending on how far this new CD reaches into Baton Rouge, it may also put other Af-Am power players, like Cleo Fields, onto the field of play, diminishing Richmond's establishment support. 
