Daily Kos

This is so sweet! Wisconsin Republicans want to help Governor Scott Walker avoid making an idiot of himself ... again:

A week after Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker received a prank call from blogger Ian Murphy, who posed as conservative billionaire David Koch, two Wisconsin legislators introduced a bill Monday that would ban prank calls, reports the Badger Herald.

Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich and Republican state Rep. Mark Honadel said their measure would forbid deceiving the call’s recipient into believing the caller is someone he or she is not.

The kicker?

The bill’s authors deny any correlation between the proposed law and last week’s false call made to Walker.

Uh huh. The timing is just a coincidence. That's about as believable as Walker's claims that he's not union-busting.

Jon Stewart has a message for the men and women who are destroying America (at least according to Scott Walker): our teachers.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott made two big mistakes when he rejected $2.4 billion federal stimulus money for building the Tampa-to-Orlando leg of the high-speed rail system that would eventually link Tampa to Miami with bullet trains.

First, he rejected the money, which would not only pay for 90 percent of the nation's first truly HSR line but also generate thousands of jobs in a state where unemployment is above the national average. And, second, the newbie governor, serving in his first elected office, failed to give advance notice of his intentions to the powers-that-be in the state legislature, including fellow Republicans. Along with much of the rest of the political and business establishments in Florida, those legislators were appalled at the first decision and irked at the second.

Twenty-six of them — 11 Democrats and 15 Republicans — sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking him not to divvy up the money and send it to other states while they tried to decide whether the governor had exceeded his constitutional authority.

For the past two weeks, cajoling and debating with the governor failed to get him to change his mind. So today, two of those legislators, Arthenia Joyner (D-Tampa) and Thad Altman (R-Melbourne) sued Scott, arguing that Scott did overstep his bounds by rejecting money for a project that was approved in a special legislative session in December 2009.

"Its all about jobs and getting Florida back to work," Joyner said, echoing Scott's campaign motto.

The suit wants the court to order Scott to "expeditiously accept" the federal money. It also suit seeks an injunction if necessary. Altman said they may need more time from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to ensure that Florida gets the money it was promised.

Details of the suit are sketchy at the moment because the court action was just filed. Altman and Joyner plan to have a press conference later today.

The lawsuit caps a mad two weeks of political posturing in which Scott unexpected declared he wouldn’t take the federal money because he worried the state would ultimately “be on the hook” for project cost over-runs and the cost of operating the train.

Observers say there is precedent for success. When then-Gov. Jeb rejected millions of dollars in school funding passed by legislators, a lawsuit by then-Senate Toni Jennings successfully overturned the governor's decision. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in that case that the governor could veto an entire bill, but not part of one. The bill that approved the high-speed rail project also approved another, SunRail, a commuter rail system connecting cities in central Florida to Orlando. Scott has not rejected that project.

 

I'm not big on apologies from big wheels. Because 99 percent of the time the apology doesn't have anything to do with being sorry. I was raised to believe that a real apology means repentance, and repentance includes an implicit pledge not to repeat the behavior that generates the need for an apology in the first place. Instead, when big wheels, be they Mel Gibson saying he's sorry for anti-semitic comments or Joe Wilson apologizing for "You lie!", it's all about repairing image, not contrition.

So you won't catch me asking presidential wannabe Mike Huckabee to apologize for his despicable but slyly hedged paean to the birther faction of his party voiced on WOR radio's The Steve Walzberg Show Monday:

MALZBERG: Don't you think it's fair also to ask him, I know your stance on this. How come we don't have a health record, we don't have a college record, we don't have a birth cer - why Mr. Obama did you spend millions of dollars in courts all over this country to defend against having to present a birth certificate. It's one thing to say, I've -- you've seen it, goodbye. But why go to court and send lawyers to defend against having to show it? Don't you think we deserve to
know more about this man?

HUCKABEE: I would love to know more. What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American. When he gave the bust back to the Brits --

MALZBERG: Of Winston Churchill.

HUCKABEE: The bust of Winston Churchill, a great insult to the
British. But then if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.

Huckabee was later asked if he would bring up the issue of Obama's birth certificate during a presidential debate. Huckabee replied: "The only reason I'm not as confident that there's something about the birth certificate, Steve, is because I know the Clintons [inaudible] and believe me, they have lots of investigators out on him, and I'm convinced if there was anything that they could have found on that, they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it."

MALZBERG: Let me just give you one as we end here. The Clintons probably - there was probably a lot on the Clintons that the Obamas could have said, 'yeah, you do that, we'll come back with this.' Don't think for a minute. You're from Arkansas; you know that better than me. Now, having said that, when are you going to decide to run or not?

HUCKABEE: Probably sometime late spring, early summer.

Clever Mike didn't make the mistake of actually challenging the authenticity of Barack Obama's birth certificate. He simply let Malzberg handle that with innuendos that the Clintons' oppositional research team probably found something fishy about it but made a deal with Obama not to say anything as long as his team said nothing about some allegedly nefarious thing in Hillary Clinton's background.

The President was born in the state of Hawai'i and spent some time as a boy living in Indonesia. He didn't grow up with his father and grandfather in Kenya. And the Mau Mau revolt had zero impact on his political views. Obama has only visited Kenya three times.

Huckabee knows this. And he's not sorry he poured out this pile of manure on Malzberg's show. Because he figures that even if he makes one of those non-apology apologies for his remarks, the audience he was addressing will know full well that he doesn't really mean it. What he means is what many politicians — and a multitude of radio hosts — mean: Obama is other, not really an American, and he has no right to the Presidency. It's a reprehensible point of view no matter who expresses it. But Huckabee is one of the GOP's golden boys.

Do us favor, Mike. Don't add insult to injury by apologizing, okay?

John Boehner to the Christian Broadcasting Network:

In some of these states, you've got collective bargaining laws that are so weighted in favor of the public employees that there's almost no bargaining. We've given them a machine gun and put it right at the heads of the local officials and they really have their hands tied. And I think what you're seeing in these states is they're trying to bring some balance to these negotiations that when you look at the pay of public employees today and you look at their retirement benefits they are way out of line with many other working Americans.

Besides the flat out lie that public employees have wages and benefits that are out of line, perhaps Boehner should consider his choice of rhetorical devices. Guns to the heads of local officials? After Tucson, this should need no explanation, but were he a man of conscience Boehner's rhetoric might now include apologies to some public, local and national officials.  

MSNBC.com:

In a step to avert a government shutdown before the current funding measure expires later this week, the House has passed a two-week spending bill would cut federal spending by $4 billion.

The vote was 335-91, with six Republicans opposing the GOP-authored measure. On the other side of the aisle, 104 Democrats voted for it, while 85 voted against the bill.

The Republican-backed stopgap bill was considered palatable by many Democrats because it drew on suggestions made by President Barack Obama in his budget for this year.

The short-term spending bill reduces total spending by $4 billion compared to what would have been spent at current levels over the same period. However, unlike earlier proposals, the cuts come from proposals that were made by the administration, not House Republicans, so both sides find the cuts acceptable. With Harry Reid saying it will pass the Senate, the measure will postpone a major confrontation that could lead to government shutdown.

Both the White House and congressional Democrats would have preferred to see a longer-term spending bill, but Republicans insisted on two weeks and say they will demand weekly authorizations after that.

In all likelihood, we'll end up seeing this process repeated a few more times—short-term spending bills with slight reductions in the overall spending level. At some point, Republicans will propose specific cuts that Democrats find unacceptable, and that's when the serious standoff will begin, with Democrats likely offering an alternative such as reducing tax subsidies for oil companies to GOP spending cuts.

Public Policy Polling for Daily Kos (MoE: ±3.1, 2/24-27, registered voters, Obama trendlines 2/17-20, all others 2/11-13):

Generally speaking, our State of the Nation poll doesn't show huge jumps from survey to survey, and this week is no exception. There's a nice bump for the Democratic Party's favorables, which now move back into positive territory, and for President Obama's job approval, which does the same. Of course, our sample fluctuates slightly with each poll—if it didn't, that'd be suspect—and sometimes that's the cause of these kinds of changes. For instance, 41% of respondents say they are Democrats this week, whereas only 37% did so a week ago. But the biggest shift for Obama's job approval is actually among independents, where he's now +1 (48-47) instead of -8 (43-51).

As for the Dems themselves, we last tested them two weeks ago, and then, our sample was very close to the current one (39D-35R-27I vs. 41D-35R-24I). In this case, conversely, the Democratic jump can be explained by improvements among Ds (+9) and Rs (+6), whereas the party actually sank among independents (-8). Needless to say, though, one shouldn't read a lot into small changes like this, particularly in the absence of major opinion-shifting news. Long-term trends are almost always going to be more significant.

From the "you've got to be kidding me" files:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A fetus has been scheduled as a legislative witness in Ohio on a unique bill that proposes outlawing abortions after the first heartbeat can be medically detected.

Yes, you read that right. The House Health Committee wants a nine-week-old fetus to testify before the committee before deciding on the "Heartbeat Bill" sponsored by Rep. Lynn Wachtmann, (R-Of course), which would outlaw abortions once a heartbeat can be detected. Apparently, they're going to drag a pregnant woman before the committee, perform an ultrasound on her, and then project the images—in color!—onto a screen so that the committee can get the fetus's input on the bill.  

Rep. Wachtmann has already admitted that the purpose of the bill, which would undoubtedly be challenged if passed into law, is to go all the way to the Supreme Court so that the woman-hating forced birthers of America can finally achieve the most important job-creating, terrorist-fighting, deficit-reducing act of all time: overturning Roe v. Wade.

The committee has not yet confirmed whether the fetus will be testifying under oath.

• Last week, David Koch's name was used by a blogger to dupe Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, and today the other half of the Brothers Grimm, Charles Koch, has an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, defending Walker and decrying "crony capitalism." Really.

  Crony capitalism is much easier than competing in an open market. But it erodes our overall standard of living and stifles entrepreneurs by rewarding the politically favored rather than those who provide what consumers want.
  

  This from the guy who has, as an individual and through his company and its PACs, donated more than $11 million to conservative candidates and causes over the past 20 years.

• It looks like the House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has another investigation on his plate -- and no doubt he'll be all over it:

  The House Oversight and Government Reform committee is firing spokesman Kurt Bardella for sharing correspondence with reporters with a New York Times journalist.

  The move comes a day after POLITICO reported that Bardella had been sharing e-mails with Times reporter Mark Leibovich.  [...]

  Speaker John Boehner’s staff had contacted Issa’s office Monday night discussing whether Bardella had been sharing e-mails with Leibovich, and Issa made his decision to relieve Bardella of his duties on Tuesday.

• Well, no one could have seen this coming:

  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will launch a presidential 'exploratory' campaign this week, becoming the first big-name GOP candidate to make a formal step towards the White House.

  Which means Fox News will no longer have him on as a contributor, right? Right?
• Another Republican Governor, this time Paul LePage of Maine, has a plan to help the rich on the backs of working families:

  Included in the budget is a provision that would raise the retirement age of public workers from 62 to 65, cut Maine’s prescription drug and health coverage for working parents program, end $400 of property tax relief for more than 75,000 middle-income Maine households, and freeze cost of living adjustments for state employee retirees — which already provides a meager average pension of only $18,500 per year.

  Yet at the same time, LePage is pushing through hundreds of millions of dollars of tax cuts. While most Mainers will receive a tax cut under the governor’s plan, the lion’s share of the cuts will go to the wealthiest of state residents. The Maine Center for Economic Policy notes that the average tax cut for most working families in Maine will be a measly $83, while upper income earners will take home an average of $874, and those who earn more than $363,438 — just one percent of the population of the state — will take home a whopping extra $2,770, on average.

• Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine hasn't said if he'll run for the retiring Sen. Jim Webb's senate seat in 2012, but the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is going after him anyway:

  A new video released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee depicts Mr. Kaine as a cheerleader — literally, with a skirt and pom-poms — and links him to every controversial action by President Obama.

  Stimulus? Check. Health care? Check. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Check.

  “Health care reform is going to go down in history as one of the great achievements of this president,” Mr. Kaine is shown saying.

  “Hey Obama, Tim’s cheering for you,” a group of cheering girls say in the background, “Cuz spending all our money, is all that you do.” The screen shows a row of cheerleaders, each with Mr. Kaine’s head, waving pom-poms in front of a sign that says “KAINE HEARTS OBAMA.”

  And yes, the video is as dumb as it sounds.
• Frank Rich is leaving The New York Times:

  Frank Rich is joining New York Magazine, beginning in June. Rich will be an essayist for the magazine, writing monthly on politics and culture, and will serve as an editor-at-large, editing a special monthly section anchored by his essay. He will also be a commentator on nymag.com, engaging in regular dialogues on the news of the week.

• Nancy Pelosi took to twitter to mock House Republicans for their latest, boldest governing move -- bringing back styrofoam cups:

  #SoBeIt GOP brings back Styrofoam & ends composting--House will send 535 more tons to landfills #TalkAboutGovtWaste

• Oh brother:
  

  Bristol Palin, the daughter of Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin, has signed a deal for a book her publisher describes as the first "intimate, behind-the-scenes look at her life."

  Entitled "Not Afraid of Life", the book will be published this summer by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. The company announced the deal on Tuesday but declined to say how much it was worth.

• Add this to the list of things you don't want to think about too much:
  

  Researchers from the University of Arizona swabbed shopping cart handles in four states looking for bacterial contamination. Of the 85 carts examined, 72 percent turned out to have a marker for fecal bacteria.

Joining the CBS/NYT poll from yesterday is this Pew poll with similar, albeit not as dramatic, results. The CBS/NYT poll found a 60-33 split in favor of leaving collective bargaining rights alone, while Pew finds:

By a modest margin, more say they back Wisconsin’s public employee unions rather than the state’s governor in their continuing dispute over collective bargaining rights. Roughly four-in-ten (42%) say they side more with the public employee unions, while 31% say they side more with the governor, Scott Walker, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey, conducted Feb. 24-27 among 1,009 adults.

More detail from Pew:

Democrats overwhelmingly side with the government employee unions in the ongoing dispute in Wisconsin. Two- thirds (67%) say this, compared with just 12% who say they side more with the governor. About half of Republicans (53%) say they side more with Gov. Walker; 17% say they side more with the public employee unions. Independents are evenly divided (39% side more with the unions, 34% more with the governor).

Among those ages 18 to 29, nearly half (46%) say they side more with the public employee unions, while 13% say they side with the governor. Among those 65 and older, the balance is reversed – but the gap more narrow (45% say they side more with the governor, 33% with the unions).

While whites are nearly evenly divided (38% unions, 36% governor), non-white people are much more likely to say they side more with the unions that represent public employee workers (51% vs. 19%).

Walker continues to lose the public relations war. That's something every Republican politician should note: union-busting is a fail with the public.

Jessica Arp, a local reporter in Wisconsin, breaks the story that some Democratic state senators are looking to return to the state. More than one of them met at the state line with GOP Senate Leader Fitzgerald:

Sen Fitzgerald says he met in person at the state line with some Sen Democrats about possible return....

Sen Fitzgerald says he doesn't think senators will be back today, though. Declines to say how many he met with.

Democratic state senators could quickly debunk this story if it wasn't true. Since they have not done so, we should assume the story is true.

We may be approaching the end of the inter-state standoff. As such, it's time to start talking about the actual endgame in this fight: recall elections. No matter what happens—whether the "budget repair bill" passes as is, or whether the protests succeed in altering it to protect collective bargaining rights—it would be shocking if there are no recall attempts. In fact, given the political energy that has been tapped, it would be shocking if there were only recall attempts against senators of one party.

All the details on Wisconsin recall procedure can be found here (PDF). Also, Swing State Project has a good breakdown of which Senators are eligible, and who is vulnerable.

Recent polling shows recall efforts are viable. In addition to showing the Walker would lose a do-over election to 2010 Democratic nominee Tom Barett, Public Policy Polling shows Wisconsin voters evenly divided on whether to recall Governor Scott Walker, with 48% in favor and 48% opposed. Further, a micro-targeting firm called Strategic Telemetry, run by President Obama's 2008 campaign micro-targeter, suggests that there are twice as many Wisconsin residents willing to sign a recall petition against Walker as would be necessary to make such a petition valid.

Now, Walker isn't eligible for recall until January 2012, so any recall efforts in 2011 would focus on state senators. Still, if there is enough support to make recall viable at the statewide level, then recall elections of state senators are likely viable. On that note, efforts against Democratic senators, by a group in Utah, and Republican state senators, by Democracy for America and the PCCC, are already being explored.

If this bill passes with the provisions stripping collective bargaining rights, then anyone who votes for it should expect to face a broadly based recall effort that we will support here at Daily Kos. Further, the Democratic senators who break first and let collective bargaining rights be stripped by returning to the state should not necessarily consider themselves exempt from such a campaign. This is an existential fight for workers' rights, and as such it must be fought with every legal means available.

Update: This story comes from more than Sen. Fitzgerald and Jessica Arp's tweets. I have another source, which Markos has vetted.

Further, a Democratic Senator has now confirmed to the AP that the meeting took place.

The story sounds alarmist because this development is extremely alarming. What the Wisconsin Senate Democrats have done so far is spectacular, and we have thanked them for it profusely. However, all of them need to stay across state lines. While they are under a tremendous amount of pressure, if even one returns now it would be a painful and heartbreaking blow.

It seems Rick Perry's brain isn't big enough for his mouth:

During a sit down with reporters on Monday, the Texas governor incorrectly identified Juarez — located across the Rio Grande, and border, from El Paso — as “the most dangerous city in America.”

The misstatement came in the middle of an impassioned assault on the administration’s record of enforcing the border.

“How many more American citizens are going to have to die?” Perry asked.

After an aide whispered a correction in his hear, Perry finally managed to get his geography right.