"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty
The hyper-critical Vodka Pundit takes Silvio to task for calling on George Clooney as a character witness. Burlesconi is older than two and a half men, in some countries, and he’s far less ugly than his neighbor to the south. Get yourself some cold Stoly and go easy on the man, Stephen.
I’m tired. I’ve driven a crapload of miles to Nashville and halfway back. I’m in a motel near Harriman, Tenn., and in no mood to liveblog the State of the Union address.
Vodkapundit is drunkblogging it. Enjoy, if you can.
by Smitty
Allowing the Federal government to control education remains wrongheaded.
The Smith Plan, which applies to both education and home ownership, is to add 49 more State banks, and let the several States figure it out. You can boot the DOE, Fannie & Freddie to boot.
Federalism: the Left can call it extremism all day long, but they can’t nullify the common sense factor.
by Smitty
VotS is offering a critical service to the dextrosphere, sifting through a truly odious show and fisking it for your safety. Don’t try this at home. Call it Dare of the Hog, to go with VodkaPundit’s Hair of the Dog.
Have a go at the last couple of weeks:
Thanks, VotS!
by Smitty
Hair of the Dog, always a fine clip, went a bit farther than usual this time. Stephen Green cursed Axelrod’s moustache, mocked Boehner’s sudden loss of vertebrae on earmarks, and had to correct his blood/alcohol ratio for Steny. Click image to enjoy:
Update: Save Stephen’s liver!
CHARLES LOLLAR for U.S. CONGRESS
UPDATE (RSM): Holy freaking crap, Smitty! I guess I was so busy Sunday that I missed this, but I certainly understand why Vodkapundit needed a shot after this Hoyer performance:
WALLACE: Simple question: Will the House hold a vote this week before you adjourn for a month of campaigning, a vote this week on whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts?
HOYER: I doubt that we will, and let me tell you why. The Senate has refused to move forward on that issue. As you know, we have some 400 bills pending in the Senate, 75 percent of which have gotten 50 Republican votes or more, but they can’t move through the Senate, so it would be an specious act. But Democrats have absolutely pledged and we’ll make sure that before the end of this year the Republican increase in middle-income taxes will not go into effect, the Republican bill that phased out this year…
WALLACE: Wait a minute. You’re calling the Republican — you’re calling the Bush tax cuts an increase in taxes on the middle class?
HOYER: The budget ended in 2010. That’s why we have this confronting us. Why did they do that? Because they played budget games for scoring purposes. And yes, it’s the Republican plan to eliminate those tax…
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: But you’ve got a big majority.
HOYER: I understand.
WALLACE: Why not pass the extension of the middle-class tax cuts before you go home to campaign for a month?
HOYER: I just told you. The Senate has decided they wouldn’t do it because of the…
WALLACE: Well, that’s the Senate. You’re the House.
HOYER: The obstruction is in the Senate. Well, it would be a specious act for us.
But what we have — what is not a specious act, Chris, is we have absolutely guaranteed that there will be no increase in middle-income taxes. The president’s that. The speaker and I have said that. Harry Reid and Dick Durbin have said that. There will be no increase…
WALLACE: All right.
HOYER: … in middle-income taxes.
WALLACE: But here’s the — here’s the point, Congressman. The Democrats have held a big majority in both the House and the Senate for almost two years now, since January of 2009. You’ve had it for almost two years. Isn’t it a serious failure by Democrats in both the House and the Senate that you haven’t told the American people what’s going to happen to their taxes on income, on dividends, on capital gains, on inheritance, and it’s coming up now just three months away? Is that any way to add certainty and confidence to the economy during tough times?
HOYER: It is not. And that’s largely due to the obstructionism in the United States Senate by the Republicans who have just enough to stop any action.
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: … majority for more than a year. Add the fact is that the Democrats in the Senate — I’m not asking you to defend the Senate — they haven’t even written a bill. You haven’t written a bill in the House.
HOYER: Well, now, hold it. We passed a capital gains bill more than a year ago.
WALLACE: I’m talking about extending the Bush tax cuts.
HOYER: I understand what you’re — they are part of the Bush tax cuts. We are extending the capital gains tax — excuse me — the estate tax at what it had been. That would have given certainty.
It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to get that bill through the Senate. We weren’t able to get it through the Senate because of Republican obstructionism. Why? Because they want to eliminate the capital gains, because they’re focused on the 1 or 2 percent of the richest people in America. That’s what we’ve been confronted with on taxes.
They want to raise — they want to cut taxes on the wealthiest in America. We want to make sure that middle-income America, working Americans, don’t have a tax increase. And the obstructionism in the Senate has not allowed us to move forward. It’s unfortunate…
WALLACE: If your…
HOYER: … Because we need certainty.
WALLACE: if your party loses control of the House, will you promise not to hold a lame duck session after the (inaudible)?
HOYER: Of course I’m not going to promise that, Chris. That would be an irrational promise to make, because we’re not going to complete the appropriations process, again, because of the difficulty of the obstructionism in the United States Senate…
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: Well, you’re the House. You could have passed all these things. But — but here’s…
HOYER: We certainly could have.
WALLACE: But here’s the — here’s the question.
HOYER: But we need to come back to make sure we completed that process as, frankly, Republicans did when they were in charge. WALLACE: Do you think it’s right to have members of Congress who have just lost — I’m talking now about a scenario where the House goes to the Republicans — to have members of Congress who have just lost come back and decide taxes and spending against the will of the Americans who have just voted?
HOYER: I don’t think we’re going to make any decisions against the will of the American public. Frankly, Chris, that’s your assumption.
WALLACE: No, I’m…
HOYER: I think — I think…
(CROSSTALK)
WALLACE: … I’m presenting a scenario.
HOYER: I think it is absolutely correct — and under both parties’ leadership we have done that — that members of Congress are elected for 24 months, not for 21 months, not for 22 months, for 24 months. And they will continue their responsibilities…
WALLACE: So even…
HOYER: … to the end of their term.
WALLACE: So even if, let’s say — I’m just — suppose — even if Republicans gain control of the House, and one of the clear messages is we don’t want to raise taxes on anyone, it’s OK for the Democrats to come back in a lame duck session and vote to let the tax cuts for the wealthy lapse?
HOYER: I certainly think it’s OK. They’ll make a policy judgment. As a matter of fact, Chris, there’s no — there’s no confusion where the Democrats stand on this issue. The president’s made it very clear. I’ve made it very clear. The leadership’s made it very clear. We are for making sure that the middle-class Americans do not get a tax increase. And we’re going to make sure that happens. We’ve also made it clear that cutting taxes on the wealthiest in America will simply exacerbate the deficit without any assistance to the economy.
Where to begin analyzing the absurdly uneconomic class-warfare ideology expressed by Hoyer? Who are these “wealthiest in America,” and what have they done to deserve such demonization? Continue reading Steny Hoyer Drives VodkaPundit To Do What A VodkaPundit Does →
by Smitty
It takes a hardcore blogger, with iron will and 18 miles of guts to stomach 60 Minutes, but that’s just what Valley of the Shadow did. Pamela herself responded to the GZM segment here. The lady deserves a medal.
Stand by, VodkaPundit; the “watching the shows that most Americans won’t for health reasons” market just got more crowded.
Last night, Mrs. OtherSmitty and I took in SNL, via TiVo. I’ll admit we rode the fast forward like teens on skateboards. I wonder if the Democrat party kommissars ordering up that tripe realize that transparent propaganda will have the opposite of the desired effect? They’ll be crying Buuuuush in the bushes come 03 November, no doubt.
At any rate, check out Valley of the Shadow.
At BlogCon Friday, we went to the Newseum in D.C. for a panel discussion that was supposed to be about politics. During the Q&A period, however, it got hijacked into a discussion of The World’s Most Boring Policy Issue. After ten minutes of this narcolepsy-inducing blather, I gestured frantically at Tabitha Hale and got the microphone for the next question, the beginning of which was Tweeted by Glen Asbury:
Seriously. That was ten minutes of our lives we will never get back.
Erick Erickson of Red State with National Review‘s Jim Geraghty, who loves Mike Castle in pretty much the same way an 11-year-old girl loves Justin Bieber.
Bill Whittle and Stephen Green now have perfect spinal alignment, after hanging out for a few minutes with Dr. Melissa Clouthier. She’s billing it to PJTV’s health insurance plan.
Tabitha Hale liked that caption so much, she said she’d hit the tip jar — when hell freezes over.
by Smitty
Thanks, Tabitha!
Tom blogs at VA Right, and Tabitha is mostly too busy for such.
Last night’s reception at the Crystal City Sheraton answered the question: if bloggers were Trekkies, would Scott Ott be Spock, Stephen Green be McCoy, and Bill Whittle be Kirk?
No: nobody was weird enough to ask that question.
BlogCon what it must be like to show up at the MTV Music awards if you’re a musician; getting to meet people whom you admire and discovering that, wow, folks like your stuff.
While he declined to have a picture taken, meeting the Iowahawk was a treat. I’d say it’s fair to characterize him as of the Charles Martin Smith mold. Unabashedly gushing, I allowed that The Idiossey had inspired me to write OediPOTUS Wrecks. Not to tout my own trash, mind you, but reality seems to be tending toward the deus ex machina at the climax.
The other rock star blogger that I’m pleased to have met was Ace of Spades, who is as non-descript Iowahawk, but writes some hilarious, if a trifle edgy, headlines, of which here are two related examples:
| Ace: This New Rasmussen Poll Makes Me Want to Dress Up Like Jame Gumb And Put Marco Rubio In My Victim-Hole Marco Rubio: I’m Calling The Police Ace: There You Go With Those Mixed Signals Again |
Ace: This New Poll Makes Me Want To Devour Marco Rubio’s Life Essence So That I Can Transform Into Him Marco Rubio: Please Stop Being Creepy Ace: Then Please Stop Sending Me Psychic Phone Calls Through My Grandmother’s Skull |
Today’s agenda seems full of useful stuff, so check back during the day, as the little netbook gets put through its paces.
Apropos nothing, check out tokarski21 on YouTube, who serves up interesting historical tidbits in a brief, entertaining fashion.