Karl Rove Concedes House GOP Blew It On Payroll Tax (VIDEO)

 

Even George W. Bush’s top strategist Karl Rove thinks House Republicans overreached in reneging on the payroll tax cut deal. His advice: having lost the politics, Republicans should wait until (or to see if?) President Obama flies off to Hawaii on vacation, bash him and congressional Democrats for abdicating their duties, and then … pass the same Senate payroll tax cut compromise they could have passed on Tuesday.

“I think the Wall Street journal editorial today hit it on the nail,” Rove said Wednesday on Fox News.

The question now is how do the Republicans get out it? And there is only one way to get out of it. And that is, stay in Washington. Wait until President Obama gets on an airplane and heads to Hawaii and then hold a session of the House, vote the two month extension, and use it as an opportunity to beat up on the now long-absent Democrats and Harry Reid and the absent President and say, look, this is going to cause … not be good for the companies that have to write the paychecks because we have heard from the people who process payroll checks that this is gonna be a problem, and it is not good for the American people because we’re only giving them a two months not a year’s worth of confidence. Use it for political theater and then vote the extension and get out of town. They’ve lost the optics on it and the only way to win it is to just stick there and ruin their own Christmases and wait until the President heads off to Hawaii and then lambast the Democrats for having abdicated their responsibility to pass a year-long tax cut.

There’s a lot of brainstorming going on among Congressional Republicans about how to fail with dignity. They’re not floating any trial balloons just yet, but now they have Karl Rove’s two cents.

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Sarah Palin Questions Obama White House Holiday Card (UPDATED!)

So, does this mean Sarah Palin is considering an independent run for President?  After all, we stopped hearing from her when she announced that she would not run in the Republican primaries.  Last week there were rumblings about Palin possibly running as an independent.

It’s obvious that Palin loves attention, especially when she is getting ready to fire up her PAC again.

Otherwise, what is her problem with the Obama Christmas card again?  Did I miss something?  Her rant is a non-issue in my opinion.

The Huffington Post

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) attacked the White House holiday card in an article on Fox News Radio.

The front of the card shows the Obamas’ dog, Bo, sitting in a very Christmas-like setting, with a fireplace decorated with wreaths and red ribbons, and a table with a poinsettia plant and presents. “From our family to yours, may your holidays shine with the light of the season,” reads the inside of the card, which is signed by the Obamas (including Bo).

Palin characterized the card as “odd”:

“It’s odd,” she said, wondering why the president’s Christmas card highlights his dog instead of traditions like ‘family, faith and freedom.'””Even stranger than that was his first year in office when the Christmas ornaments included Chairman Mao,” Palin said. “People had to ask that it be removed because it was offensive.”

Palin was referring to when a right-wing blog posted a grainy photo, allegedly of an ornament on the White House Christmas tree in 2009 showing a reproduction of Andy Warhol’s “Mao” portrait. Media Matters reported that the tree was decorated by community groups, not the White House.

Palin said a majority of Americans prefer “American foundational values illustrated and displayed on Christmas cards and on a Christmas tree.” With regard to the card, she added, “It’s just a different way of thinking coming out of the White House.”

“I go on the offense like most Americans do and say ‘No, we’ll have Christ back in Christmas and hopefully it won’t offend you,'” said Palin in a November 2010 Fox News appearance.

Palin fueled speculation on her future plans Monday after previously saying she would not run for the 2012 GOP nomination for president. “It’s not too late for folks to jump in,” she said on Fox Business Network. “Who knows what will happen in the future.”

Mother Jones

Update: But since Fox News has brought up the subject of Christmas cards, perhaps we should take a look at the official Fox Business Network Christmas card this holiday season. Here’s one, via New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter:

That’s a pair of foxes roasting the NBC peacock over an open fire—which, for you non-Christians out there, is an oft-overlooked aspect of the of the story of the first Christmas. And via reader Jason Sparks, take a look at Ronald Reagan’s White House Christmas cards. They’re nearly identical to Obama’s, except there’s no puppy. “Family, faith, and freedom” are, presumably, represented by the antique furniture, fireplaces, and tacky lighting.

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Pretty Doggone Good for a Failed Presidency

This article was posted four days ago but it’s relevancy is timeless…

Addicting Info

As the world watched the last U.S. combat troops cross over the Iraqi border into Kuwait; one could easily be inclined to contemplate on what, by today’s standards, constitutes a failed presidency, since the Obama administration has been tagged with that label regularly. And this should come as no big surprise, because if you have ever listened to the Tea Party, the Republican Party, the Green Party, firedoglake.com, cable news, particularly Fox News; talk radio, Donald Trump, every presidential nominee for the 2012 GOP race—past and present, and even a few Democrats and a few liberals, you are more than aware of the ongoing, political narrative of the failed presidency of the Obama administration.

Despite the constant whining of conservatives who describe a lame-stream media that’s unashamedly in the tank for President Obama, outside of MSNBC there has been a strong, flowing current of political failure that has been attributed to President Obama, as many talking headed carnival barkers like Donald Trump have openly characterized him as the worst president in U.S. history. And this so-called lame stream media that’s supposed to be vying so heavily for Obama, along with politicians like Senator John McCain, have had no problems declaring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton the only successful star of the entire Obama administration. Some of the political pundits have also implied everything from Hillary Clinton forcing Obama’s hand to get involved in Libya to Obama enlisting the services of President Clinton to help sell his 2010 payroll tax credit.

Now to the conservative ideology, this is like pouring blood in the water with a GOP, shark fin circling in full view making Obama look like political tuna. So while the Dick Cheney’s of the political world use the media to try to egg on Hillary Clinton into running against Obama in 2012; suggesting that she would have been much better at working with Republicans to get more things done, when it is clearly a fact that President Obama has gone above and beyond the call of duty to try to work with Republicans to get things done, it only works to reaffirm the political perception of President Obama as the Black President Carter who is just ripe for the pickings by all of the wannabe Reagan-like candidates of the 2012 GOP.

So for a failed presidency that Ron Paul just stood on a stage in Iowa during the last debate and laughed about how he believed that any of the current, Republican nominees could beat Obama easily because his incompetence has already defeated his presidential chances, there have been some monumental successes during this so-called failed presidency; the kind of political successes that successful presidents hope to have and unsuccessful presidents fail to have. But to a person who is easily brainwashed, it would be very understandable to see how one could be led to believe that Obama’s presidency is a serious downgrade from President Bush 43’s eight-year-term in office, just based on the political rhetoric of 2011 alone.

Continue reading here…

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Congress’ Unfolding Tragicomedy

Yesterday’s walkout by Speaker Pro Tempore Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) when Minority Whip Steny Hoyer asked for a vote on the Senate’s payroll taxcut extension bill, was a mind boggling experience, to say the least.   What in the world are the GOP afraid of?   Oh,  President Obama’s re-election!

That scene will be remembered by many as symbolically representing the GOP’s “leadership” failure in the 112th Congress.

Mario Piperni

You would be forgiven if you did not know whether you should laugh or cry at the farce unfolding in Congress these days.  The latest is Republicans’ handling of the payroll tax cut extension which passed in the Senate but is being blocked by House Republicans – a performance so botched and ugly that it drew the wrath of the Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board.

GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.

The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.

The WSJ makes a valid point, all the while hoping McConnell is successful in making Barack Obama a one term president.  Working on the premise that ‘if Obama wants it, it must be wrong‘, Republicans have opposed everything Dems have proposed whether or not it contradicts their own stated goals – in this case, tax cuts.  The end result of such foolish and irresponsible behavior is the sad display which took place in the House this morning.

The above video should be (and will be, I’m sure) front and center in the Democrat’s ad campaign next year.  What better example of Republicans’ mindless and juvenile tactics than the House Speaker ignoring Minority Whip Steny Hoyer this morning who asked for a vote on the Senate’s payroll tax cut extension bill. In place of simply denying Hoyer his vote, the House Speaker chose to walk away.  Dumb.

Someone suggested that in light of Republicans’ policy of doing the exact opposite of anything the President proposes, what would be the the right-wing’s response to Obama suggesting that leaping off tall building is hazardous to one’s health. Want to take a guess?

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Ron Paul Storms Out Of CNN Interview After Racist Newsletter Questions

TPM Livewire

Fox News reports that Ron Paul walked out of an interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger after she asked the candidate about the political newsletters he published in the 1990s that contained racist content:

Borger asked the Congressman if he had ever read the newsletters. “Did you ever object when you read them?” “Why don’t you go back and look at what I said yesterday on CNN and what I’ve said for 20 something years. 22 years ago? I didn’t write them, I disavow them, That’s it.” “But you made money off them,” “I was still practicing medicine,” Paul responded. “That’s probably why I wasn’t a very good publisher, I had to make a living.”

See video here…

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