Good evening and welcome to the Daily Strike. The President had a quiet day today, in preparation for his health care town hall meeting tonight at the White House. We will have full reaction to this event tomorrow. Now on to an interesting day in politics.
SANFORD: Well, the 2009 Larry Craig Memorial Award for most bizarre sex scandal by a family-values oriented politician officially goes to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. I do everything I can to keep this blog about serious issues, but this is just too good. Sanford, an arch-conservative ideologue, had gone missing for five days this week. No one knew where he was, not his staff, not his wife. Yesterday, we were told that he was "hiking in the Appalachians." Today, he admitted that he was actually in Argentina. We got the full details at a press conference this afternoon. Apparently, he had been having a long-term affair with an Argentinian woman that he met on an economic development trip there a few years ago. This seemed like a pretty passionate affair. Sanford had most likely been prepping for a 2012 Presidential run, on a platform of fiscal conservatism. It looks like those prospects have pretty much gone by the wayside.
I do need to mention that it's not surprising to see the media fawn over this story, while not paying any attention when Sanford refused federal stimulus money for his economically-depressed state. These scandals can be fun, and I certainly am having a lot of fun with it, but we have to always be grounded in what's really important.
THE HOUSE: The story in the House today was more childish Republican obstructionism. Republicans are upset that Democrats aren't allowing them to propose limited amendments to appropriations bills. Democrats had to restrict amendments because Republicans had threatened to offer hundreds of them. Republicans seem to think that shutting down business in the House will send a message to the American people that they are faithful stewards of...an arcane House appropriations process. A little known House rule allows anyone to demand a vote on a "Motion to Adjourn" whenever they want. Of course, the motions fail every time. Not even most Republicans actually want to adjourn. They're just doing this to be obnoxious, quite frankly. Republicans called for these votes 6 times so far today. They also demanded a couple of other votes by "reconsidered" even though the vote margins were large. This is your standard minority-obstructionism playbook. The House was supposed to get to the Homeland Security Department funding bill this morning, but didn't get to it until mid-afternoon. The House just finished debating the 14 allowed amendments to the bill, and will vote on them later this evening. Final passage could happen around 10pm this evening if Republicans don't delay things any further. It would be one thing if these dilatory tactics actually did something, but the House is STILL finishing it's business, it's just taking twice the amount of time. The House tonight also begins consideration of a bill to authorize funding and programs for the Department of Defense. Final votes on this bill should come tomorrow. The House will also vote on number 4 of the annual appropriations bills, the Department of Interior and Related Agencies bill, tomorrow. Friday is the the big day, when the House is scheduled to vote on the historic climate-change legislation co-sponsored by Reps. Waxman (D-CA) and Markey (D-MA).
THE SENATE: The Senate is about as effective right now as the Washington Nationals' pitching (heyo!). Pretty much no legislative action, once again, took place in the Senate today. The upper chamber did take a couple of important actions this morning. First, it began impeachment proceedings against Federal Judge Samuel B. Kent. Kent, as we've mentioned, has been convicted of sexual abuse but is refusing to relinquish his federal paycheck. The Senate this morning ceremonially accepted the case from the House managers, and appointed a committee to review the charges. Kent will almost certainly be convicted when the Senate votes on the charges next month.
The Senate also voted to cut off debate on the nomination of Harold Koh to be a Legal Advisor at the Department of State. Koh's nomination had been stalled by Republicans who were worried about Koh's past statements against rampant executive power and Bush administration prosecution of the War on Terror. Koh, as we mentioned yesterday, has become a favorite of the left-wing blogosphere because of his outspoken liberal views. The cloture motion was agreed to 65-31. All Democrats voted to cut off debate, as did Republicans Collins (ME), Gregg (NH), Hatch (UT), Lugar (IN), Martinez (FL), Snowe (ME) and Voinovich (OH). If Republicans insist on using all of the allowed debate time, a vote to officially confirm Koh will take place tomorrow night, meaning the Senate, as usual, still won't be getting to any legislative business. They are supposed to take up the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill later this week.
That's it for tonight, join us tomorrow as we report on the President's health care event. Leave some comments!
Showing posts with label Sanford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sanford. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Emergency Strike-When Standing on Principle Doesn't Quite Work Out
Look at this series of quotes issued by Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina this morning:
From Politico.com:
On the one side is South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who refers to the spending package as “a tremendous mistake.”
“The spending plan will prove to be an absolute disaster,” Sanford said in an interview. “The bottom line is that it’s horrible.”
"The problem with the Republican brand is that we haven’t done as advertised. We ran as conservatives and didn’t govern that way,” said Sanford. “The way out of the electoral carnage of the last few years does not rest in being all things to all people. It’s delivering on what you promised.”
From CBS News:
“Being against it doesn’t preclude taking the money,” Sanford said on CBS. “I think there are a number of wrinkles that have caused a number of us to say ‘Wait a minute, let’s take a long look at whether or not this really makes sense for our state.’”
The inconsistency of these quotes from our favorite principled governor warrants a special code-red emergency strike. How can we let this go to waste?
First some background:
While congressional Republicans are almost uniform in opposition to the stimulus package recently signed into law by President Obama, there is an interesting divide growing among the 22 Republican governors that could give us a hint into the primary battle in the 2012 Presidential Election. I'll call this divide "Crist/Sanford Chasm."
Meet Charlie Crist, the popular Republican governor of Florida, the perennial swing state. Crist enjoys popularity in the 70% range. A couple of recent polls have shown that if he tries to run for the United States Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Republican Senator Mel Martinez, he would win in a landslide. Ditto if he runs for reelection as governor. But Crist's life isn't so easy these days. Last week, he committed "heresy" by introducing Obama at an event in Florida promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The right wing was up in arms, with some questioning Crist's conservative credentials, and criticizing him for taking money from what they feel is a bill full of useless pork.
Crist is no Rockefeller Republican, in fact he's pretty much a mainstream conservative. But Crist understands that his state is facing a severe budget shortfall, and a lot of people are hurting from home foreclosures, which are happening at a faster rate in Florida. So this fiscal conservative decided that he needed to act in the interest of his state (the website www.recovery.gov projects that Florida will gain 200,000 jobs from the bill). So Crist puts aside his ideology to take care of the pressing needs of his constituents. How dare he.
On the other end of the spectrum is South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. Mr. Sanford used to be in the House of Representatives where he took such "principled" stands as opposing a memorial for the Underground Railroad because it costed too much (he and Ron Paul were the only representatives to vote against it). But lucky Sanford gets elected in 2002 to "reform" government in the Palmetto state. Sanford certainly isn't making many friends. He has constantly battled the Republican-controlled legislature over the state budget, because he has sought enormous cuts in state programs that even conservative Republicans weren't comfortable with. He even brought in live pigs to demonstrate pork in state spending bills (this story helped the Strike ace a college presentation on Governors trying and failing to exert extraordinary executive power). Good old Sanford unfortunately lost most of these spending battles. A majority of his 100 vetoes have been overridden by the legislature.
Now that Republicans have lost badly in two consecutive elections, much of the party faithful is convinced that it can regain majority status by returning to the principles of strong fiscal conservatism. Heroically taking the mantle of fiscal conservative crusader, Governor Sanford took a post leading the Republican Governor's Association. He expressed early and frequent opposition to the stimulus plan even before it was formally presented. He took the airwaves telling people that the stimulus was just a giant pile of pork, and that the best way to stimulate the economy was to let the free market self-correct. He even publicly criticized Crist for endorsing the measure, questioning his conservative credentials. It looked like this taxpayer hero would show those spend-happy feds that he doesn't need their porky spendulous bill. After all, it's only gonna be used for resodding the mall and STD's, right? His principled stand went far enough that it looked like he would actually reject the stimulus money.
But then reality struck. South Carolina's Congressman, the House Majority Whip James Clyburn publicly feuded with Sanford about the bill and even managed to insert a provision saying that if a governor rejects stimulus money, the state legislature can still authorize it. Faced with growing unemployment and economic malaise, South Carolina desperately needs help. And after his tireless crusade, Sanford is forced to relent.
Amazingly, this is not the first time Sanford has been forced to abandon his ideological principles in the face of political pressure. Earlier this year, he made a big stink about rejecting federal payments for state unemployment insurance, but ended up taking the money when members of both political parties strongly objected.
So to review, Sanford stakes his political reputation going on TV derisively mocking a bill, saying that it's "horrible" and will "do-nothing," but he still does EXACTLY what Governor Crist did: accept the money. Sanford can no longer say to himself: " even though Governor Crist has high approval ratings, and endless opportunities for higher office, he's doesn't have what I have: absolute ideological purity!"
AND NOW A BONUS SPECIAL COMMENT FROM THE BIG PICTURE:
"Mark Sanford's wild ride over the past two months is a lesson for the kids out there. It seems easy and fun to drink from the seductive bottle of holier-than-thou ideology, but don't be lured in. The next morning, when the reality strikes that voters reward statesmen who deliver needed services not self-righteous ideologues, you'll have to vomit back up all that ideology, take the bitter medicine of government spending, and feel the soul-crushing humiliation that you were just exposed before the world as a buffoonish hypocrite who abandons his principles at the first sign of political trouble."
From Politico.com:
On the one side is South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who refers to the spending package as “a tremendous mistake.”
“The spending plan will prove to be an absolute disaster,” Sanford said in an interview. “The bottom line is that it’s horrible.”
"The problem with the Republican brand is that we haven’t done as advertised. We ran as conservatives and didn’t govern that way,” said Sanford. “The way out of the electoral carnage of the last few years does not rest in being all things to all people. It’s delivering on what you promised.”
From CBS News:
“Being against it doesn’t preclude taking the money,” Sanford said on CBS. “I think there are a number of wrinkles that have caused a number of us to say ‘Wait a minute, let’s take a long look at whether or not this really makes sense for our state.’”
The inconsistency of these quotes from our favorite principled governor warrants a special code-red emergency strike. How can we let this go to waste?
First some background:
While congressional Republicans are almost uniform in opposition to the stimulus package recently signed into law by President Obama, there is an interesting divide growing among the 22 Republican governors that could give us a hint into the primary battle in the 2012 Presidential Election. I'll call this divide "Crist/Sanford Chasm."
Meet Charlie Crist, the popular Republican governor of Florida, the perennial swing state. Crist enjoys popularity in the 70% range. A couple of recent polls have shown that if he tries to run for the United States Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Republican Senator Mel Martinez, he would win in a landslide. Ditto if he runs for reelection as governor. But Crist's life isn't so easy these days. Last week, he committed "heresy" by introducing Obama at an event in Florida promoting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The right wing was up in arms, with some questioning Crist's conservative credentials, and criticizing him for taking money from what they feel is a bill full of useless pork.
Crist is no Rockefeller Republican, in fact he's pretty much a mainstream conservative. But Crist understands that his state is facing a severe budget shortfall, and a lot of people are hurting from home foreclosures, which are happening at a faster rate in Florida. So this fiscal conservative decided that he needed to act in the interest of his state (the website www.recovery.gov projects that Florida will gain 200,000 jobs from the bill). So Crist puts aside his ideology to take care of the pressing needs of his constituents. How dare he.
On the other end of the spectrum is South Carolina governor Mark Sanford. Mr. Sanford used to be in the House of Representatives where he took such "principled" stands as opposing a memorial for the Underground Railroad because it costed too much (he and Ron Paul were the only representatives to vote against it). But lucky Sanford gets elected in 2002 to "reform" government in the Palmetto state. Sanford certainly isn't making many friends. He has constantly battled the Republican-controlled legislature over the state budget, because he has sought enormous cuts in state programs that even conservative Republicans weren't comfortable with. He even brought in live pigs to demonstrate pork in state spending bills (this story helped the Strike ace a college presentation on Governors trying and failing to exert extraordinary executive power). Good old Sanford unfortunately lost most of these spending battles. A majority of his 100 vetoes have been overridden by the legislature.
Now that Republicans have lost badly in two consecutive elections, much of the party faithful is convinced that it can regain majority status by returning to the principles of strong fiscal conservatism. Heroically taking the mantle of fiscal conservative crusader, Governor Sanford took a post leading the Republican Governor's Association. He expressed early and frequent opposition to the stimulus plan even before it was formally presented. He took the airwaves telling people that the stimulus was just a giant pile of pork, and that the best way to stimulate the economy was to let the free market self-correct. He even publicly criticized Crist for endorsing the measure, questioning his conservative credentials. It looked like this taxpayer hero would show those spend-happy feds that he doesn't need their porky spendulous bill. After all, it's only gonna be used for resodding the mall and STD's, right? His principled stand went far enough that it looked like he would actually reject the stimulus money.
But then reality struck. South Carolina's Congressman, the House Majority Whip James Clyburn publicly feuded with Sanford about the bill and even managed to insert a provision saying that if a governor rejects stimulus money, the state legislature can still authorize it. Faced with growing unemployment and economic malaise, South Carolina desperately needs help. And after his tireless crusade, Sanford is forced to relent.
Amazingly, this is not the first time Sanford has been forced to abandon his ideological principles in the face of political pressure. Earlier this year, he made a big stink about rejecting federal payments for state unemployment insurance, but ended up taking the money when members of both political parties strongly objected.
So to review, Sanford stakes his political reputation going on TV derisively mocking a bill, saying that it's "horrible" and will "do-nothing," but he still does EXACTLY what Governor Crist did: accept the money. Sanford can no longer say to himself: " even though Governor Crist has high approval ratings, and endless opportunities for higher office, he's doesn't have what I have: absolute ideological purity!"
AND NOW A BONUS SPECIAL COMMENT FROM THE BIG PICTURE:
"Mark Sanford's wild ride over the past two months is a lesson for the kids out there. It seems easy and fun to drink from the seductive bottle of holier-than-thou ideology, but don't be lured in. The next morning, when the reality strikes that voters reward statesmen who deliver needed services not self-righteous ideologues, you'll have to vomit back up all that ideology, take the bitter medicine of government spending, and feel the soul-crushing humiliation that you were just exposed before the world as a buffoonish hypocrite who abandons his principles at the first sign of political trouble."
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