Tag: Congress

24.


Well, the Redskins did their part…now it’s up to us. My predictions (re: wishful thinking) for tomorrow (and keep in mind I had Gore winning the electoral vote and Dubya winning the popular vote last time around):

  • Thanks to an almost 60% turnout, Kerry wins bigger than expected, carrying between 300 and 315 electoral votes and 51% of the popular vote to Dubya’s 48%. [He’s pulling 298 in the final polls and seems to have the Mo, so this isn’t completely out of left field…particularly once you factor in the mobile vote.]

  • The night also ends earlier than expected, with Kerry winning the treasured trifecta of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio. Or, if Dubya’s Diebold minions manage to steal Ohio, Kerry offsets with Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. [I really hope we don’t have to wait for the Hawaii vote to come in, although I guess I’d prefer that to another recount fiasco.]

  • In the Senate, I think the GOP will almost assuredly keep control, or at most slip into a 50-50 Edwards-breaking tie. Daschle will eke by in his close race thanks to the high turnout. Alas, Democrat contenders Mongiardo in KY, Tenenbaum in SC, and Carson in OK will all fall after spirited contests. That being said, I’ll say that Erskine Bowles of NC will be a new Democratic face in the Senate, that Pete Coors goes down in Colorado, and that tomorrow night will obviously be Obamatastic.

  • In the House, unfortunately, the GOP will begin its second decade in power, thanks in part (as the Post noted) to DeLay’s gerrymandered Texas. Ah, well, baby steps…we’ll get the Hammer and his cronies out in 2006.

Well, if nothing else, it should be a lively evening, and I for one am eagerly anticipating Dubya’s Rove-penned concession speech. So, until tomorrow, vote early, vote often, and vote Kerry-Edwards!

Still Housebroken.

“‘There’s not a chance in the world, I don’t think, of the House turning over,’ political analyst Charles E. Cook Jr. said last week.” The Post examines Democratic prospects in the House and finds that “the combination of Republican firepower, Democratic miscues and a controversial Republican redistricting plan in Texas virtually assures the continuation of GOP rule.”

Beg, Borrow, and Steal.

“Less than a day after President Bush implied that Senator John Kerry lacked ‘fiscal sanity,’ the Bush administration said on Thursday that the federal government had hit the debt ceiling set by Congress [for the fourth time in three years] and would have to borrow from the civil service retirement system until after the elections.” As this article goes on to note, the Congressional GOP kicked the vote on this matter until after Election Day, so Dubya wouldn’t get any bad press. Under this president, the national debt has increased 40%, to $7.4 trillion.

The Atkins Congress.

“Senator Charles E. Grassley needed every possible vote to pass his mammoth corporate tax bill. So he was more than willing to accept Zell Miller’s plea on behalf of imported ceiling fans…[This] provision is just one tiny example of how the need to solve a narrow tax problem in 2002 gave birth to the biggest free-for-all in corporate lobbying that Congress has experienced in nearly 20 years.” The NYT conducts a post-mortem of the pork-bloated corporate tax legislation passed by Congress on Monday.

Bringing Home the Bacon.

Looking to recess in time for some electioneering, the House and Senate both pass a pork-swollen corporate tax measure by comfortable margins. “[C]ritics — including budget watchdogs, liberal activists and Treasury Secretary John W. Snow — decried what they saw as a cornucopia of special-interest tax cuts that would complicate the tax code, favor companies doing business overseas and ultimately worsen the budget deficit. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) pronounced it ‘disgraceful’ and ‘a classic example of the special interests prevailing over the people’s interest.'”

Gimme Shelter.

True to form, “House Republicans are working to eliminate or dilute provisions in a new corporate tax bill aimed at cracking down on illegal shelters.” This despite the fact that a “study last week by Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal research organization, reported that 82 of the nation’s most profitable companies paid no corporate taxes in at least one of the last three years.” Say what they will about Dubyanomics, it is patently obvious once again that the Republican Party does not represent the best interests of you, I, or the vast majority of this nation. Vote ’em out, already.

A Crisis of Conscience.

“In heavily Democratic Rhode Island, he has been a Republican since birth; his parents named him Lincoln after the first Republican president. He says he is waiting for the moderate wing of the party to rise again; in the meantime, he was asked if he went to bed at night wondering how he could remain a Republican. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I don’t deny that.’” Also in the NYT, GOP moderate Lincoln Chafee contemplates pulling a Jeffords. Although he says he’s sticking with his party for now, Chafee has already declared he won’t be voting for Dubya this election cycle…and it seems doubtful that this White House will take kindly to such a decision.

Texas Two-Step.

“What has emerged is the outline of an effort to use corporate contributions to control representative democracy in Texas.” You think? Three members of the DeLay machine are indicted for illegal fundraising, and the Exterminator is — naturally — blaming it all on the Democrats. “‘This is 41 days before the election. You do the political math,’ DeLay said. ‘People see this for what it is.'” Well, I see it as the first step in you going down, sucka. Update: The GOP circle the wagons.