“The Rove-Bush goal is to return government to its size before the New Deal, leaving the individual more exposed to corporate power than at any other time since the 1920s.” Jack Beatty of The Atlantic Monthly examines Rove’s long-term strategy for the Dubya tax cut, and how it’s cleverly designed to help the GOP in 2004 and 2008. Grim stuff. In a related story, Michael Kinsley offers his take on the dividend debacle: “The recently enacted tax bill is such a shocking and brazen gift for the wealthy that it is hard to describe in anything short of…cartoon-Marxist terms.”
Category: GOP Culture of Corruption
Credit Denied.
Despite growing GOP support in the Senate, Tom De Lay refuses to consider an increased low-income child tax credit in the House unless it includes more schwag for the filthy rich, such as an estate tax repeal. Speaking of which, new analyses of the Dubya debacle suggest that the middle class will end up footing the bill while the wealthy frolic. So much for “trickle-down.”
Bragging Right.
Medley‘s been birddogging some interesting GOP quotes lately, and she’s found another in this article on Matt Labash, senior writer for The Weekly Standard. Says Labash of his fellow cronies in the conservative media, “We’ve created this cottage industry in which it pays to be un-objective…. It’s a great way to have your cake and eat it too. Criticize other people for not being objective. Be as subjective as you want. It’s a great little racket.” Sounds like conservative flaks are suffering from what Robert Wiebe called “the illusion of fulfillment.” As with the Norquist piece last week and as this Tom Paine article notes, it’s exactly this kind of public wink-and-a-smirk about their own fraudulent gimmicks that’ll (hopefully) help bring their “racket” to an early end.
The Powell Rules.
On a party line vote, the FCC eases ownership rules, paving the way for another wave of media consolidation over the nation’s airwaves. With Chairman Michael Powell now playing kingmaker for the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the Commission has come a long way from low power FM in two short years.
Quid Pro Quo.
Exhibiting yet again the Dubya administration’s flair for hypocrisy, recent documents reveal that Dubya’s top three fundraisers in 2000 were made Ambassadors of Switzerland, the Slovak Republic, and France respectively. Well, as long as they didn’t take tea in the Lincoln bedroom, I’m sure everything checks out.
High-Power FM.
Paul Krugman explores Republican radio conglomerate Clear Channel’s role in inciting pro-Bush rallies around the country. (Via Medley.) You have to wonder if the people smashing Dixie Chick paraphernalia felt even a little bit sheepish. After all, it’s not like they’re French or anything.
Smokescreen.
A Texas D.A. has achieved what once seemed impossible: getting the Exterminator to shut up. GOP freakshow and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay remains mum on reports that one of his PACs is on the wrong side of the law. Another story that hopefully doesn’t get lost in the crevasses between war coverage.
Bugs not Bombs.
Ethel the Blog recently posted this old article reaffirming the fact that GOP House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is a freak show. Worth perusing on the eve of an Iraq war, as DeLay calls Dems the “appeasement party”, is this choice nugget – DeLay on Vietnam: “He and Quayle, DeLay explained to the assembled media in New Orleans, were victims of an unusual phenomenon back in the days of the undeclared Southeast Asian war. So many minority youths had volunteered for the well-paying military positions to escape poverty and the ghetto that there was literally no room for patriotic folks like himself.“
Ducttapegate.
Follow the money…as it turns out, a six-figure GOP donor stood quite a bit to gain from Tom Ridge’s recent hawking of duct tape. (Via Medley.) Of course, if this type of thing had happened during Clinton’s watch, Dan Burton would have already opened a House investigation by now.
Happy Days are Here Again!
After eight years of (theoretical) belt-tightening, Congress guts its own gift ban, allowing congressional and corporate fatcats to frolic anew at golf courses and Wizards games all over DC. I mean, what’s the point of being a Congressperson if you can’t get all kinds of free schwag?