We all know that the GOP primary candidates for Claire McCaskill’s senatorial seat are what can only be charitably described charitably as a bunch of hot messes. Even members of the GOP seem to realize this fact, as witness the recent disparaging remarks from the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Nor, if I am not mistaken, have the GOP gubernatorial possibilities been especially promising. Think Peter “Pantless” Kinder, poor, out-of-his-depth Tom Schweich, or, God forbid, Ed Martin with his scandal-laden past, who has been signaling that he would like to complete his trifecta and run for Governor as well as the other offices he is or was seeking.  

Which brings us to the candidacy of wealthy St. Louis businessman, Dave Spence. I, naive creature that I am, assumed that he entered the race in response to the perceived weakness of the GOP gubernatorial field. Spence, a relative unknown, seemed to offer the Missouri GOP a chance to escape the miasma of absurdity that adheres to the other, better-known, potential contenders.

But we live and learn. The more I read about Spence. the easier it is to conclude that there’s nobody left in the GOP who isn’t a total fool and/or charlatan. Consider FiredUp!‘s report on Spence’s tweets about the importance of getting “gov’t off the back of the private sector to create jobs.” This comes from a man who, as FiredUp’s Parker explains:

… completely forgot about the $40 million bailout that his bank received while he served on the board and has subsequently refused to pay back.  Let’s not forget that when pressed on the issue, Spence has repeatedly refused to give a straight answer why his bank hasn’t repaid the taxpayer dollars, even after pouring $2 million into his own campaign fund.

Words like “dishonest” and “hypocrite” come to mind,” although I suspect phrases like “cognitively impaired” might actually be more descriptive. Perhaps Spence isn’t really so different from the other Missouri GOP governor wannabes after all – almost all of whom, to be honest, would fit in very well with the merry band of loonies performing so hilariously in the GOP presidential primary debates. These folks might really, sadly, be the actual face of the contemporary GOP.  

If you’ve been following the latest in the debt ceiling hostage crisis, you know that House Speaker Boehner has offered up a bill that gives the GOP all that it wants, but insures that we get to dance this particular fandango again in six months, right before an election. Senator Harry Reid has prepared a competing plan that gives the the GOP all that it wants (except cuts in Social Security and Medicare), but won’t allow the issue to arise again until after the election, thereby insuring that when the Tea Party wants to cut Social Security and Medicare again during the next 18 months, they won’t be able to take the economy hostage, but will have to debate their proposals on their own merits.

The kicker is that currently at least 22 of Boehner’s own GOP House homies won’t support his proposal – it just isn’t destructive enough – and he can’t afford to lose more than 24 votes so it will be a close call. If you want to know who it is in the House that stands squarely in the non compos mentis corner, look no further than these 22 morons who are turning their backs on their own leader – and smack dab in their middle is Missouri’s Todd Akin (R-2). Not a big surprise really, but if “somebody” – or some state Democratic party – doesn’t make a big deal about such acts of economic terrorism when his Senate run swings into high gear, they deserve to lose badly.

The only other Missouri GOPer who has committed himself seems to be Billy Long (R-7), who, for the moment at least, is inclined to be a good little boy and go along with his House leadership and vote yes on the Boehner proposal.  It’ll be interesting to see how the remaining Missouri members of the take-us-over-the-edge party votes on Speaker Boehner’s bill when it comes up for a vote this afternoon.

Funny thing is that there’s all this sound and fury about a bill that’s DOA in the Senate. Kinda like the Tea Party itself – and by extension today’s GOP – long on putrid symbolism, short on substance when it comes to the hard work of governing for the good of all the people.

UPDATE.  Think Progress reports that 24 House members have come out against the Boehner plan – enough to do it in if nothing changes.  According to today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Vicky Hartzler, who is not on the Think Progress list, is undecided. She’s certainly crazy enought to go no, but can she withstand the pressure Boehner is said to be exerting on his wayward – and poorly informed – charges – Daily Kos reports that a GOPer who attended Boehner’s pep rallies commented that one GOP freshman actually didn’t know what happened if the Senate rejected the bill. Kinda makes the Tea Party delusions a bit more comprehensible, doesn’t it?

In response to the GOP-led madness in Washington D.C., Steve Benen asks an interesting question:

… where are the “sane Republicans” willing to “stand up to this Hezbollah faction in their midst”? Where are Bob Dole and John Warner? Why can’t John Danforth and Colin Powell express their disapproval for what their party is doing? Maybe some of Reagan’s old guard, like Ken Duberstein, could speak up? […]

We’re not talking about GOP officials taking a hard line on some random piece of legislation, or nominating some radical for a key public office. We’re talking about congressional Republicans who’ve decided to play a game of chicken with the full faith and credit of the United States – something no American institution has ever done in more than two centuries – and who are fully prepared to trash the constitutional principle next week as part of a hostage strategy gone horribly awry?

Made me think about the silence of Missouri’s “respectable” GOP establishment in regard to the Tea Party debt ceiling shenanigans. (N.B. “Respectable” as I use it here means there is some sense that the person is at least minimally rational and occasionally sincere. Consequently the Tea Party representatives are excluded.)

Let’s start with Danforth since Benen called him out by name. If you will remember, this is the elder GOP statesman who felt impelled to hold his nose and endorse Tea Party trickster Ed Martin in the last congressional election – so I guess there’s  probably no point looking for integrity from this particular quarter.

Compared to wheeler-dealers like Martin, his opponent in the 2nd district congressional race, Ann Wagner, seems to have some slight sheen of respectability left. But notice how she has rushed to grovel before one of the main instigators of the madness, Grover Norquist?

Don’t even bother to bring up the recently retired Kit Bond.  Not only was he in high pander mode before he retired, most of his pronouncements were so sclerotic that it was hard to take them seriously even when one sensed he was trying to do the right thing. He actually proposed using the debt ceiling to secure budget cuts last April. Hope he likes the mess he’s helped to create.

Roy Blunt? The guy’s sane – and he’s on the record for raising the debt ceiling. He’s also on record for not raising it unless we get insane cuts at a time when the economy is at risk from just such a retraction of federal spending.  So far, when Roy walks a thin line, he’s far more apt to stumble down on the side of a Tea Party pander than common sense. The only hope Blunt offers is that he’s so in hock to his pet “job creators” that he’ll do their bidding in financial matters when push comes to shove.

Who else in Missouri can speak for the traditional GOP establishment? Anyone? What are the odds that any of them have more backbone than the quartet above? Surely there are some Missouri GOPers who put the welfare of the country above the welfare of the party, who will be willing to stand up to the brain-dead morons that the Tea Party sent to Washington?

*Fourth paragraph slightly edited for clarity.

FiredUp! quotes GOPer Ann Wagner, a probable contender for Todd Akin’s House seat, to the effect that “the Republican leadership and Paul Ryan are some of the only leaders in Washington, DC right now.” Of course, that begs the question about where these “leaders” plan on taking us.

In that regard, a post on ThinkProgress about the failed levee and resultant flooding in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, suggests that we may not like the GOP’s preferred destination all that much. Think Progress notes that:

The levee’s failure is a tragic reminder of the sorry state of America’s infrastructure. This particular levee failed a federal inspection in 2008, receiving an “unacceptable” rating from the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers. In the U.S. patchwork levee system, many local communities are responsible for levee upkeep, and this particular community couldn’t afford the cost.

Put this into the context of:

–The false GOP narrative about a looming deficit crisis that has been used to justify harmful, ideologically driven budget cuts (admittedly, with the active collaboration of opportunistic Democrats like our own Claire McCaskill).  In fact, we are not, as Republicans like to claim, broke, nor is the deficit our most pressing problem (although dealing with our aging infrastructure probably ought to be pretty high up there on the priority list).  

— GOP squawking about relatively small amounts of government spending that could have been used to address crucial infrastructure needs. In fact, the best way to address the long-term deficit is, arguably, to create the jobs that will continue to fuel an economic recovery. Infrastructure projects do just that.

— The GOP refusal to restore fairness  to our tax system, which would go a long way toward addressing the long-term deficit problem – without necessitating cuts in spending used to insure that vital parts of our basic infrastructure – like the levee system – is maintained.

In short, those Republican leaders that Ann Wagner hopes to join in Washington are hellbent on taking us down a path that will guarantee that the levee breech that happened in Poplar Bluffs could become a commonplace occurrence. As ThinkProgress points out:

Projected federal spending on levees in the next five years is expected to be just $1.13 billion, leaving a $48.87 billion shortfall in needed funding. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “there are 881 counties – or 28 percent of all counties in the United States – that contain levees or other kinds of flood control and protection systems.” More than half of the U.S. population resides in those counties.

Today the citizens of Poplar Bluff have tangible proof that somebody’s priorities somewhere (those GOP leaders in Washington, maybe?) are sadly out of whack. And Ann Wagner expects us to send her to Washington so that she can make sure that we get more of the same?

A article in today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch surveying the field of GOP Senate hopefuls who came out for the annual GOP Lincoln Day dog-and-pony show confirmed that Ann Wagner is, indeed, leaning toward putting her hat in the ring. No real surprise there.

It also, somewhat unexpectedly (to me at least), mentioned Rep. Todd Akin (R-2) as a possible Senate candidate. Fall-out from the possible changes redistricting could wreak on his district perhaps?  In what would be a bizarre face-about, it was earlier suggested that Wagner might be the GOPer in his primary race.

I’m betting that it would certainly go a long way toward reconciling the Democratic base to DINO Claire McCaskill if she ended up facing the wingnut’s wingnut, Akin, should he manage to weather the primary. I personally would genuflect every time she entered St. Louis County.

Another thought that the article gave rise to had to do with a rather strange (I thought) comment about Sarah Steelman’s candidacy:

Steelman, a former state treasurer and state senator from Rolla, said she is “absolutely not” considering shifting to another statewide race if the Senate contest gets crowded.

Is this maybe just a coded way of asking candidates like Steelman and Martin if they would defer should the party manage to find a candidate (like Wagner?) who would be more viable in the general election?  Or is it just some species of GOP sexism that the question was seemingly asked of the only other female candidate?

Of course, nobody would be foolish enough to ask Martin if he would step aside for Wagner – since, as he himself declared about himself, “I don’t see anybody that’s better at retail politicking and raising the money.” Hmmm …. retail politicking. Is that where pols put themselves up for sale to the highest bidder?

 

Wanna hear the Pledge of Allegiance the way the GOP says it?  Check it out on Think Progress.* While we’re on the topic of the Corporatocracy behind this version of the Pledge, what Missourian’s gonna owe bigtime? (Here’s a hint; his initials are R. B.) Kind of makes you think of Ronald Reagan’s description of the political life:

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

* I am not putting the ad here because there seems to be some kind of controversy about posting it – Think Progress had to take it down for a while earlier.

The Senate failed to act on the Disclose Act in late September. This act would have closed loopholes created by the Supreme Court’s Citizen United decision that permit tax exempt 501(c)(6) “issue” oriented organizations to funnel money into political advertising without disclosing the source of the funds. The legislation passed in the House last June thanks to the Democrats and two Republicans. Predictably, neither of those two Republicans were from Missouri.

All the GOP members of the Missouri delegation voted against it except for Roy Blunt who skipped the vote, but his spokesperson had earlier stated that he was “pleased” about the Citizens United decision, so we can probably infer how he would have voted. (Am I wrong that old Roy has avoided voting on just about everything since he began campaigning for the Senate? In hopes of depriving the opposition of any possible ammunition perhaps?)

In a post earlier today, I discussed the situation that lack of disclosure requirements have created in Missouri’s political race. On the Rachel Maddow show last night, her guest, Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Scott Thomas, very explicitly clarified the nature of the danger posed by our current situation in regard to disclosure:

If you deplore this lack of transparency, just remember which Missouri politicians want to retain it. It’s not too difficult to figure out why.

Todd Akin’s official response to the health care reform victory is, as one might expect, shrill in the extreme. He has managed to jam almost every GOP screaming point into a few short paragraphs. Since the event that occasioned this vitriolic outburst is the passage of  what is actually very moderate legislation, it might be instructive to deconstruct his florid imagery in order to figure out what Republican rage is really all about:

“Today Americans are reacquainted with the danger of an arrogant all powerful government, a deadly enemy within, a clear and present danger in Washington.”

“Americans” in this context refers to Tea Partiers and corporations. “Arrogance” refers to the fact that the Democratic congress defied corporate initiated Tea Party tantrums and inept Republican legislative tactics in order to help the president fulfill one of the campaign promises that got him elected. “All powerful government” refers only to elected Democrats; when Republicans lie in order to force-march the country into deficit-busting wars, they are patriots. “A deadly enemy within” means that these same Democrats threaten a resurgent Republican hegemony, since they pose “a clear and present danger” to the GOP by revealing its sabre rattling to be nothing more than empty noise.

“In spite of nationwide opposition socialized medicine is being forced down our throats. That medicine is toxic to freedom. But freedom dies hard in America.”

Akin considers “nationwide opposition” to be the 43% of the respondents to a  recent CNN poll that disapprove of the health care reform because it is “too liberal” – although, if truth be told, many of those probably only disapprove because they have bought into the Republican misinformation campaign, and will no doubt be pleasantly surprised to find that the passage of Health Care reform has not, in fact, killed Blaine Luetkemeyer’s father. Akin clearly does not consider worthy of consideration the other 52% who approve of the legislation, or who think it is not liberal enough.  

“Socialized medicine” reflects the Republican tendency to characterize as socialism any effort to govern for the good of the people rather than corporations or cronies. Their use of the term reflects their inability to distinguish between (1) social welfare and social justice; and, (2)  the goal of social justice (or social welfare) and the means used to achieve it; hence any legislation that has a stated goal of securing social welfare or social justice is, ipso facto, socialist, communist, or even facist (which explains those pictures of Obama as Hitler, as well as Glenn Beck’s fear of almost all Christians).

“Forced down our throats” (alternatively, the ubiquitous “crammed down our throats”) is Republican speak for the democratic process that has led to health care reform, including the decision to finally ignore Republican obstructionism. The goal of the phrase is to make relatively straightforward and commonplace legislative processes seem far more unpalatable than they really are.

“Freedom” is a fluid concept on the right. It usually means minimal or no taxes –  often without cutting social services fringewingers themselves find useful, although there are a few more sophisticated souls who understand it in the Friedmanesque  sense of untrammeled capitalism, the “nature red in tooth and claw” of the Social Darwinists revisited, this time from a macroeconomic rather than a biological perspective. In this sense, Akin is correct that “freedom dies hard in America.” The nasty, obstructionist mess that the GOP helped orchestrate during the past year bears witness to the fact that this type of ersatz “freedom” is indeed resilient, especially when liberally fertilized with money from health care industries that really, really love the freedom to run roughshod over the rest of us.*

“I do not believe that the majority of Americans will submit passively to the gold chains of socialism.” True patriots choose the bright light and fresh air of freedom where people can dare to dream- to succeed or fail.”

In this exhortation to action, Akin is calling for the Tea Party dupes to continue with their rabid displays in order to give him cover as he continues to work against their and our best interests. To create the emotional tenor that gets these babies revving their engines, he sets up an opposition in which health care reform is equated with passivity and slavery, while the advocates of unregulated market “freedom” and their corporate beneficiaries, the very folks responsible for our broken health care delivery system, are associated with words like “patriot,” “bright light,” “fresh air,” and the fulfillment of striving.

“I have confidence that freedom will rise from the ashes of socialism and that this nation under God will have a rebirth of liberty and a government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

In this final trope Akin brings into play themes that will recur as Republicans attempt to use health care legislation as a lever to undo Democrats in the next election. In one grand, if rather derivative swoop, he dresses anti-health care forces in both Godly and constitutional garb. Sadly, substituting rhetoric for reasoned argument does not create a well-fitting garment, but rather one that will have to be discarded sooner or later.

Akin’s agitprop language is far from original. The words may differ slightly, “totalitarian” substituted for “socialistic,” for example, but most members of the Grand Old Party are expressing nearly identical sentiments. The Republican obstructionist message serves the same goal: getting the GOP back into power. Representative Jo Ann Emerson said it far more succinctly than Akin when she helped egg on the Tea Party thugs over the weekend, joining three other Gopers  on a balcony waving  signs reading “Kill” “The” “Bill.”  What she was really saying, of course, is “I’ll do anything, no matter how depraved, to stay in Washington.”

*The text of this sentence has been edited slightly.

 

The 121st Legislative District cuts a horizontal swath through the central part of Johnson County and includes the cities of Holden, Knob Noster, and Warrensburg.

Do you remember this?:

Official Election Returns

State of Missouri General Election  – November 2006 – General Election

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

JOHNSON

Constitutional Amendment No. 2 – 2006 Precincts Reporting 21 of 21

Stem Cell Initiative

Yes 8,544 55.7%

No 6,796 44.3%

Total Votes   15,340

Uh, support for stem cell research in Johnson County during the 2006 election was substantial.

And this republican’s view?:

“I wouldn’t spit on Missouri Right to Life if they were on fire,” the usually affable Griesheimer said. “They are a bunch of liars who don’t care about anything but themselves.”

Denny Hoskins (r – “noun, verb, CPA”) had an attack piece sent on his behalf by the Missouri republican party touting his endorsement by Missouri Right to Life:

Ooh, a warm fuzzy picture!

Missouri Right to Life is no fan of stem cell research. Do you think that Denny Hoskins (r – “noun, verb, CPA”), with that endorsement, agrees with their fringe stance? Uhhh.

So, the Missouri GOP says this about Jim Jackson (D):

Note the “scary” Halloween type for Jim Jackson’s name.

You’d think they’d have reconsidered this attack piece given the 2006 ballot initiative results in Johnson County.

Nah. They’re just plain mean, nasty, and desperate.

Uh oh, no pleasant pastel colors?

Isn’t that the “sun” baby? I didn’t know the Teletubbies did political endorsements, especially since, you know, the right wingnuts have been more than a little snippy about certain things. Like that marriage stuff. And children’s television show fictional characters carrying a purse.

Who paid for this crap? Ah, the usual suspects:

…some Missouri lawmakers who consider themselves against abortion rights – particularly Republicans – have increasingly become frustrated with the criteria Missouri Right to Life uses to rate lawmakers and make endorsements. As a result, the group’s Capitol influence has waned…

They all must have made nice with each other. Or, Denny Hoskins (r – “noun, verb, CPA”) is on the fringe. It’s gotta be one or the other. Or both? What’s your guess?