Helen gets it right on the war mongers

Margaret and Helen are one of the best reads in the blog world, and this quote is yet another gem from Helen... Go read the whole thing!

in reference to:

"I have learned that when Democrats over-reach, we end up providing health insurance coverage for children who have pre-existing conditions.  When Republicans over-reach, we go to war."
- Higher Ground « Margaret and Helen (view on Google Sidewiki)

The W is for War Criminal

The real kicker is how oblivious Bush is. He's so convinced of his righteousness that he can't see the obvious.

Well, no, the real kicker is that he isn't in the Hague.

in reference to:

"British officials said today there was no evidence to support claims by George Bush, the former US president, that information extracted by "waterboarding" saved British lives by foiling attacks on Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf. In his memoirs, Bush said the practice – condemned by Downing Street as torture – was used in CIA interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US."
- British deny George Bush's claims that torture helped foil terror plots | World news | The Guardian (view on Google Sidewiki)

It's the infrastructure, stupid (or: Republicans kill jobs, again)

I hardly ever read Republican columnists, but this bit by Douthat caught my eye:

While the Bush administration overspent, it wasn’t spending and deficits that turned the country against conservative domestic policy between 2004 and 2008. It was the fact that the Republican majority seemed to have no answers to Middle America’s economic struggles, and no appetite for the structural reforms required to keep the United States competitive.

Put that in the context of new Republican leaders saying no to infrastructure, and you get yourself a nice replay of idiot Republicans once again unable to lead. They say jobs are the most important thing, but they think they will magically appear without actually doing anything to create them. There is no structural reform more important than infrastructure (the cost of which is really cheap right now).

And people like Douthat keep voting for Republicans anyway.

How many bridges will collapse before we hire some people to fix them?

The Most Historic Election

"When you have the most historic election in over 60-70 years, you would think that the other party would understand that the American people have clearly repudiated the policies that they put forward the last two years."--John Boehner

This is more proof that Republicans are delusional. The most historic election in the last 60-70 years put a black man in the White House and large, productive majorities of Democrats in the House and Senate. A bunch of hicks showing up in larger numbers for a mid-term isn't even close in historical significance. Hell, they couldn't even take the Senate!

The only thing that this proves is what I've always known: Americans are lousy drivers. Once they get going at a pretty good pace to actually move this old jalopy down the road, they tap the breaks. Now that they've slowed down, they'll have a chance to smell the stench of Republican asbestos pads wearing down, and the'll hit the gas again in two years.