A little Friday afternoon lightheartedness at the expense of my not-at-all-favorite-governor. Hat tip to Burnt Orange Report.
Barton not the lone ranger. House group including E. Texas reps bemoan a "Chicago-style" shakedown
Oh this is rich.
I found this press release by a congressional caucus of right-wingers. Among them are Joe Barton, but also are most, if not all, of the Lone Star State’s GOP House members.
The Republican Study Committee called the fund agreed to by President Obama and BP chief Tony Hayward “a Chicago-style shakedown.” I have yet to see any apology from this caucus. Even more rich, I’ve not seen any apologies from our own East Texas congressional members. Among these members are Rep. Ted Poe, whose district includes the Upper Texas Coast and part of the Houston metro area; Rep. Kevin Brady, who represents the heart of East Texas; and Rep. Louie Gohmert, the congressman for the northern portion of East Texas.
I haven’t heard anyone mention this yet, but it looks like Barton wasn’t the lone idiot in suggesting BP were victims of extortion by our government.
Fending off the oil while waiting for history to make
A lot of different thoughts cloud my mind right now regarding the massive Gulf of Mexico oil leak. Primarily, I think we need to “stop the damn leak.” But that has proved to be some kind of difficult.
I am glad that the pundits and those who oppose the President are so right and sure about matters that they can lay everything at Obama’s feet. I feel history will judge whether he acted swiftly enough and surely enough. I can’t help but think Obama is not only getting some bad advice, but has for quite some time received bad advice. I say that just taking all in total. That too, however, will only be judged by history.
The pundits have me pretty irked. This Newsweek article aptly tells how I feel about the pundits before and after the president’s speech on the oil spill. CNN made such a big deal about the broadcast coming from the Oval Office and essentially compared the speech to other great events like Nixon’s resignation, Reagan talking about the Space Shuttle Challenger’s explosion and GW Bush speaking from the Oval after 9/11. To those on the Gulf Coast, this event is perhaps that momentous, but the punditry just goes way overboard interpreting symbolism sometimes.
Finally, Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton made one of the most shameful remarks a legislator could make today when he apologized during a congressional hearing on the oil spill to BP CEO Tony Hayward.
Yes, the same Joe Barton who has never met an energy company executive with a bag full of money he didn’t like had the gall to call the meeting between Obama and Hayward yesterday in the White House “a shakedown.” Talking about pot calling the kettle black. How many oil company and electric company and nuclear power company executives have Joe Barton shaken down over the years? Of course, if they got rid of all the hypocrites in Congress most of the two chambers, including pretty much all the GOP sides, would be missing.
It gets a little old to see the congressional members get their little spotlight in which they can either light into the villain of the day or else kiss their asses.
We shall see what we shall see. Too bad all those folks on the Gulf Coast have their lives hanging in the balance while we wait on that which becomes history.
UPDATE: Barton later apologized for the “misconstruction” of his comments toward Hayward after apparently being threatened with the loss of a House committee position by GOP leadership. The dressing down must have been with House Minority Leader John Boehner holding his nose. It seems the Ohio pol bought some $50,000 in BP stock just months before the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon rig from which the massive oil spill began. On the other hand. Maybe Boehner was jealous that he didn’t shakedown BP after its wealth spiraled downward.
Charlie Wilson of "Charlie Wilson's War" dead at 76
Wilson was probably the most colorful politician I, sort of, knew. I say, “sort of,” because I didn’t know him well enough for him to recall my name although, if he ever had the occasion to know it, he sure as heck would have found it out quickly. Charlie represented the area of Texas — first in the Texas Legislature and later during 12 terms in the U.S. House — I lived in for most of my life. Of course, I moved around some and even left Southeast Texas several times for a few years at a pop but returned. Also, political lines being what they are, where I lived at the time may or may not have been served by Charlie.
I probably could have made that whole paragraph shorter by saying Charlie represented me from the time I was a kid until I was an adult in my 40s. That’s some time.
My link above is to Wilson’s hometown paper, The Lufkin Daily News. It looks like they have all hands on deck for this story, which one would expect. Their early coverage looks pretty thorough although most papers have obituaries long on hand for prominent people.
But more than his longevity, Charlie will be remembered more for his devil may care attitude. “Good Time Charlie” is one of his nicknames. He liked to party and have good looking women around him. There is the famous line about someone asking Charlie, upon seeing all these fantastic lookers working for him in his congressional office, what it was all about. Charlie said: “You can teach them to type but you can’t teach them to grow tits.”
Wilson was never known in Congress for his ability to pass landmark or high-profile legislation. But his legacy will be his secret and sometimes singular fight to fund Afghan rebels when they fought an occupying Soviet Army in the 1980s. His hijinks and his successes are chronicled in the book-turned-movie by George Crile in which Wilson was portrayed by Tom Hanks.
As a politician and as a congressman, Charlie will also have a legacy that only those who lived in his congressional district knew. That was his so-called “constituent services.” These are things such as ensuring some long-suffering veteran gets his pension or helping someone get their Social Security checks. Such services and even what some call “pork” which puts jobs in a community and bread on the table are what get congressmen elected. And, Wilson and his staff were among the best at serving their constituents. It’s why little old ladies in the Bible Belt just loved Charlie, no matter that he trouble with drinking and driving or alleged use of cocaine.
Probably no one but Charlie Wilson’s staff could have gotten a medal from the Soviet Union for my late father, whose ships delivered goods to Vladivostok during World War II. It’s a long story, but I wanted to honor my Dad who wasn’t even recognized as a veteran at the time of his death in 1984 — it would be several years later that Congress passed legislation finally making Merchant Marine military veterans — despite his having served during hostile action on board a merchant ship.
Charlie was certainly a presence when he was around you. He could BS with the best of them. That’s high praise for a Texan. The world was certainly made more interesting by having Charlie Wilson in it.
Scott Brown: Pretty boy, father of the year wins in Mass
The news that Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley last night in the race for the long-held Democratic seat for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts doesn’t upset me.
One has to expect little bumps in the road here and there. Plus, the fact that it was Brown — who once posed nude in Cosmopolitan — as victor makes the story even better. Brown even managed to thoroughly embarrass his two college-age daughters in his acceptance speech by telling the world his girls “were available.” I mean that is just plain wrong! That even disgusts me.
Such comments and Brown’s past has even given right-wing cable freak Glenn Beck the willies. Beck said he didn’t trust Brown and that the new senator’s tenure “could end with a dead intern.”
The reality was Coakley ran her campaign initially as if she was the chosen one, meaning she didn’t do diddley squat. Even if she was running against a corpse for the U.S. Senate she should have been out their campaigning her heart out.
As for all the dire predictions by the pundits and GOP talking heads and cable news constantly jonesing for political conflict, this might not be as big as everyone makes it. It might not stop health care reform. The Democrats still have a majority in Congress and they’d like to have a super majority, but because of Brown they don’t. Congress could pass health care through reconciliation — passing a budget bill in the Senate without fillibuster — or perhaps they could piecemeal it. They may drop it altogether, but I can’t really see that as Obama has so much invested in passing health care reform.