Taylor Marsh - News, Political Analysis, Foreign Policy, and Independent Political Opinion on Progressive Politics
Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.
Archive | January, 2009
Today around noon, we’re going to take the site down for some serious maintenance, which will take a while. An all hands on deck situation. If all goes accordingly it will be well worth it in the end.
So, in the meantime, consider this a topic free for all.
Well, this certainly seems fitting in the afterglow of Republican stiffing the new, popular President, all the while people are freezing because of a failed power grid. Nope, can’t spend money on that.
But when it’s Tip O’Neill time that means we enjoy our favorite beverage, putting all worries on ice. Free for all as to topic, just leave your troubles behind.
The first one’s on me.
“I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem, to me it’s part of the solution.” – President Barack Obama
I married a blue collar craftsman not all that long ago. Today, after many, many years as a Southwest Gas technician, he took early retirement. One of the things he’s said over the years I’ve known him is that without unions his job likely wouldn’t have been as good, with solid middle class pay, overtime, full ranging benefits, vacation days (something we often joked about as I continued to work 24/7 without vacation or health benefits, except for sharing in his largess) and everything else that went along with his job, including retirement benefits. My husband with his many skills (give him two toothpicks, and he can build you a shopping mall) is the epitome of what we’re now fighting for today. Good middle class jobs where a man or woman can feed his or her family. But today, at our house, it’s his day. A day to honor his incredible work ethic, his tremendous talents and skills, and the fact that his company honored him, with people from the entire company descending to do the same this morning at a breakfast. They asked him why he showed up in his gas uniform. Mark simply said, “Because I’m proud of this job.” Tonight is a big party for him. No one has earned it more. A man who represents the American work ethic to his core. He is quite simply my hero.
Listening to President Obama and Vice President Biden this morning talking about workers and the middles class at the very moment my husband was being honored was an emotional moment for me. It’s just one of those amazing days in our lives.
For the backbone of the USA, it’s insult on top of injury. Over the course of America’s last economic expansion, the middle class participated in very few of the benefits. But now in the midst of this historic economic downturn, the middle class sure is participating in all of the pain. Something is seriously wrong when the economic engine of this nation — the great middle class — is treated this way. President Obama and I are determined to change this. Quite simply, a strong middle class equals a strong America. We can’t have one without the other. – Vice President Joe Biden
With a good job, in this country anything is possible. Labor is always there, ever vigilant, benefiting all workers, whether you’re in a union shop or not.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGKFUatFG8M&eurl
Resisting efforts by Mr. Ignatius to end the session, Mr. Erdogan continued, saying to Mr. Peres, “When it comes to killing, you know well how to kill.” – New York Times
Even at Davos, moderating a panel on Gaza can be diplomatically dangerous. David Ignatius might just have caused an international incident between Israel and Turkey, the last thing we need on the cusp of new diplomatic push in the Middle East.
During a heated panel at Davos, Peres was given the last word, when Erdogan took exception, began speaking after time was called, then walked out. The walk out wasn’t because of Peres, but a reaction to what he felt was the lack of even handedness by Ignatius in steering the panel. One hour times limits are strict, evidently, which is just silly when you’ve got Gaza, Turkey and Israel colliding in a debate that could have real ramifications.
In a news conference immediately after the panel discussion, Mr. Erdogan said he was particularly upset with Mr. Ignatius, who he said had failed to direct a balanced and impartial panel.
By all accounts, the discussion of the Gaza offensive was lively, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations and Amr Moussa, the Arab League’s secretary general, joining Mr. Peres and Mr. Erdogan. Participants said Mr. Peres was mostly alone in defending Israel’s role in Gaza, and for that reason he was given the final 25 minutes to speak. Earlier, Mr. Erdogan spoke for 12 minutes about the Palestinians’ sufferings.
Not being there it’s hard to judge, but the Times’ report about Peres getting “the final 25 minutes to speak,” which meant getting the last word, obviously lit the fuse.
Israel needs Turkey, who has been very helpful with negotiations, so we’ll have to see how this shakes out, but the comforting aspect is that Erdogan’s ire over the panel is directed at the American, not the Israeli.
In Haaretz, Erdogan makes the point that his fury over Gaza isn’t directed at Jews, but the Israeli government. Jerusalem Post has a quote from Hamas hailing Erdogan.
While back in Turkey Erdogan was greeted as the conquering hero.
Both the Associated Press, as well as Al Kamen, are reporting that the woman who caused such a stir back during the primaries just might be working closely, even traveling with Secretary Clinton.
There’s buzz that Samantha Power, an early supporter of Obama who advised him on foreign policy, may be reunited with Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom Power famously called “a monster” during the Democratic primary campaign.
Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard University professor, worked on Obama’s transition team and has been rumored to have landed a top job in the administration. The Associated Press reported last night that Power will become senior director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council, a White House post that may require close contact and travel with now-Secretary of State Clinton. [...]
Power’s new job as Obama’s senior director for multilateral affairs at the National Security Council means the women would work very closely.
According to all the sources reporting on this so far, Clinton and Power met and had a brief discussion at State recently. No one heard what went on. Power already made an effort to ”gesture to bury the hatchet” that was well received according to reports. HRC being gracious is not surprising, given Clinton’s class, but especially looking down from her SoS position. But there is no reason that these two women cannot be professional and work with one another, especially since Hillary is SoS, with Power having deep intellectual prowess on matters of foreign policy, and the president’s ear.
You can also look at it another way. Having Power close to Clinton, even traveling with her, means that Obama will have an original Obama loyalist inside the SoS’s circle. If Power senses “daylight,” you can also suspect that President Obama would be the first to know. But that would be the cynic’s view.
This isn’t another episode of “Mean Girls.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2wtcFe4HI4
After the statement above, Mr. Blagojevich continued talking… and talking… and talking. He’s some piece of work. Hello Governor Quinn:
According to state law, Pat Quinn, the lieutenant governor, assumed chief executive power upon the vote and was expected to take the oath of office for ceremonial purposes before the end of the day.Mr. Blagojevich still faces federal criminal charges in a wide-ranging corruption case that, among other things, accuses him of trying to sell President Obama’s former United States Senate seat to the highest bidder.
For all his bluster, Mr. Blagojevich didn’t take any of this very seriously. He looks like a guilty man using the media to get sympathy, creating a public character beyond his political persona. Actually, he reminds me of Gotti, minus the dead bodies and expensive suits. I’d say we don’t have Blagojevich to kick around anymore, but Patrick Fitzgerald hasn’t even gotten his chance. The saga will continue.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CaBR3z85c&eurl
Kudos to NBC. The network rejected the stomach-churning ad.
NBC is coming under fire from pro-life advocates for rejecting a television commercial a pro-life group hoped to run during the Super Bowl. The ad shows a beautiful picture of an unborn child during an ultrasound and asks what would happen if President Barack Obama had been a victim of abortion. [...]
I’d say the same thing about an ad for Planned Parenthood or NARAL.
I want my football, especially on Super Bowl Sunday, served straight up. No politics, please, unless it’s someone in the spirit of the day rooting for a great game.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Qdt8uQm68&eurl
Consider it rapid response to die hard Republican partisanship. Americans United for Change, MoveOn.org Political Action, AFSCME and SEIU are hitting the Republicans hard, nationally, but also senators in their home states. More ads here.
This is more like it:
Obama sets himself a high political bar
The economic stimulus bill is his first big test in replacing ‘old habits’ with less partisanship in Washington.
That’s a headline worthy of what Obama is trying to set up. Compared to Mark Halperin’s “bad sign” drivel it’s the difference between journalism and dittohead regurgitation. Now, I know there are many posts out there on the problems with the stimulus, which there are, I know, like the price. But there’s a whole other dynamic playing out that is going to land squarely on the backs of the Republican Party. It’s all about optics:
President Obama did not win a single Republican vote in the House of Representatives for his giant economic stimulus bill this week. So does that mean he wasted his time reaching out, to an unusual degree, to Republicans?Not yet, anyway. By making very public overtures – traveling to Capitol Hill, inviting Republican members to the White House more than once, including to a cocktail party after Wednesday’s vote – he has already distinguished his administration sharply from those in recent memory, analysts say. And he’s begun work on the difficult task of remaking the highly partisan culture of Washington, as promised in his campaign.
Mr. Obama himself has stated that “old habits die hard,” and he seemed unperturbed, at least in public, that he failed to gain any Republican votes. [...]
Right now, I feel like I’m watching a chess match.
House Republicans in stiffing Obama on the stimulus vote went all the way, but don’t know quite what to do now. Then there’s the Senate, a more realistic group on how the public will react if they are seen to be employing politics as usual against the new president. Obama’s also unruffled and tremendously popular, even though he gave up things for nothing, some of which will change and should. Looking small next to him is easy right now. But if Republicans continue not to deal, if not President Obama, then Democrats should cut them off. Let them squeal.
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) will soon issue a statement contending that Obama’s promise to “put an end to petty politics” is “threatened” as the White House and their allies “are making political threats rather than crafting a bipartisan economic stimulus plan.”
He’ll call on Obama to “immediately disavow” plans by liberal interest groups who have announced their intention to run attack ads against the Republicans. These groups, organized under the Americans United for Change umbrella, coordinate regularly with Congressional Democrats and are in touch with White House officials. [...]
This is instructive. After reviewing the media who was very kind to Obama, it’s painfully obvious in Mr. Halperin’s latest appearance that he’s trying to go in the opposite direction to prove he can criticize the popular new president. People who make a living at writing about these things just don’t know what to do with Barack Obama. But Halperin proved today that he’s willing to play the lead actor in this preposterous new play entitled, “The Village Moves to Show Obama Who’s Boss.”
MARK HALPERIN: “I don’t want to overreact because things could change, but this is a really bad sign for Barack Obama to try to change Washington. Because this is a big moment, a crisis, in some case full blown crisis. (insert more “crisis” talk here) [...] He needs bipartisan solutions. They went for it, and they came up with zero. Now the House Republicans are more partisan. It would have been difficult to do.”
“Can he get the support he needs?” asked Mika. Um… excuse me, missy, but the bill passed in the House by a mile. That Republicans continue to believe their relevancy lies in obstructing is the point. Republicans refusing to play a real role in solving problems was missed. Honestly, “Morning Mika” turned into an alternative universe today.
MARK HALPERIN (continuing after interruption): [...] The other thing he could have done, you can go for centrist compromises, you can say to your own party, sorry, some of you liberals aren’t going to like it, but I’m going to change this legislation radically to get a big centrist majority, rather than an all-Democratic vote. He chose not to do that. That’s the exact path that George Bush took for most of his Presidency, with disastrous consequences for bipartisanship and solving big problems.”
So in other words, what Obama should do is compromise on Democratic ideals for show. “Some of you liberals” talk from Obama misses the point that what we want is a stimulus plan that actually stimulates the economy. Not one that is an ode to compromise because conservative TV pundits have decided it’s time to take Barack Obama down a peg.
Mark Halperin gives new meaning to the word “talking head.” He should have just channeled Rush, who today on his show said that last night’s vote was a “huge win for conservatives.”
But the Republicans stiffing Obama after he made serious gestures towards them is a “bad sign” for the new president. Because they have no intention of changing anything, especially their obstructionist behavior to all things Democratic, Obama’s start is like Bush? Ri-ight.
A new president always gets his challenges from the deeply imbedded establishment. When you inherit wars that goes double. We’re about to find out whether Obama can listen to the military, respect what they’re saying, but stand by his commitment to honor the Status of Forces Agreement, as well as his promise to begin to withdraw from Iraq in a substantial way, which is also, by the way, what Iraqis want. What Odierno is suggesting is his best judgment, a suggestion based on being close inside the battle in Iraq, one field of battle Obama must take into consideration, but not the only one. President Obama has to judge the politics and strategic interests of the U.S. over the globe, and the costs of a slow drawn down politically and what message it will send to Iraqis and the world if he doesn’t keep to a significant troop withdrawal this spring.
Odeirno is talking about relatively small withdrawal commitment over 14 months. It’s the exact opposite of what needs to be done.
“I believe that if we can get through the next year peacefully, with incidents about what they are today or better, I think we’re getting close to enduring stability, which enables us to really reduce,” General Odierno said as he inspected a polling center south of Baghdad in advance of provincial elections on Saturday.
Marc Lynch speaks for me today:
The CFR/Brookings/Odierno “go slow” approach ignores the reality of the new Status of Forces Agreement and the impending referendum this summer — which may well fail if there is no sign of departing American troops. It sends the wrong messages to Iraqi politicians and the Iraqi population. It would badly hurt Obama’s credibility in the region and with Iraqis, who will see his most important public commitment fall by the wayside. And it would lose the unique window of opportunity offered by the transition to signal real change.
President Obama is being challenged by Odierno. He should accept the challenge, then the president should begin a significant withdrawal from Iraq. As commander in chief, it is civilian leadership who decides our priorities. Of course Odierno wants a slow, very cautious withdrawal. He’s a soldier, one of the best, but he’s only got Iraq to consider. Even then, what Odeirno is suggesting is not in any way in line with the Iraqis. That’s a problem.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-eiM2S4Eqg
–updated and edited with new content–
I’d like to add a little color to what happened this morning. First, President Obama now has his BlackBerry clipped to his belt. But on the Ledbetter signing, VPOUS Biden, who created the Violence Against Women Act, and Secretary Clinton, a champion for women in the workplace and an original co-sponsor of the bill, were in the room. President Obama entered with Ms. Ledbetter, and it’s clear from reports that he is not only very much at ease, but taking this all in stride. Obama announced this morning that “we’re going to start giving our pens to our co-sponsors.” With the very last pen, President Obama stated, “This one, this one’s for Lilly.”
Ms. Ledbetter is 70 years old. But she got her day and with it, finally, justice.
“We are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness,” Obama said before signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which makes clear that workers may bring a lawsuit for up to six months after they receive any paycheck that they allege is discriminatory.
” . . . While this bill bears her name, Lilly knows this story isn’t just about her,” Obama said. “It’s the story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every dollar men earn — women of color even less — which means that today, in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.”
… “And I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us,” Obama added, “because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.”
Before Obama entered with Ledbetter, Rep. Steny Hoyer, for whatever reason, said “Let’s not screw it up. It’s a good day so far.” Everyone laughed, though it’s not clear to me if it was with Mr. Hoyer or at his expense. But I have a built in gag reflex to this type of humor.
UPDATE: Mrs. Obama hosted a reception for Ledbetter after the signing. Here are Ms. Ledbetter’s remarks:
“Words cannot begin to describe how honored and humbled I feel today. When I filed my claim against Goodyear with the EEOC ten years ago, never, never did I imagine the path that it would lead me down. “I have spent the past two years since the Supreme Court decision in my case, fighting for equal pay for this, but to watch him sign a bill that bears my name, a bill that will help women and others fight pay discrimination in the workplace is truly overwhelming. Goodyear will never have to pay me what it cheated me out of. I will never see a cent from my case. But with the passage and the president’s signature today, I have an even richer reward.” “I know my daughters and granddaughters and your daughters and your granddaughters will have a better deal. That’s what makes this fight worth fighting, that’s what makes this fight one we had to win. Now with this win we will make a big difference in the real world. On behalf of all the women in this country who will once again be able to fight pay discrimination, thank you.”
The new president is going to get blamed for whatever doesn’t go right in the stimulus, so I sure hope he’s happy at the end of this, because he’s going to own it.
Candidate Barack Obama said he would be bipartisan, so President Obama brought Republicans in to the stimulus debate. He went out of his way to make this a bipartisan stimulus package. Symbolic and important, he kept his word.
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Then, as planned from the start, House Republicans stiffed the new president. But never mind, because in the first Obama cocktail party late Wednesday, President Barack Obama toasted bipartisanship. He’s so over it.
The lesson of this tale? The only way President Obama is going to get it done is with Democrats, so it might be a good idea when he’s up on the Hill wooing Republicans, he stops by to see the Democrats who are the only ones voting his way.
Now I really don’t know why they gave back the low income healthcare. It didn’t matter to House Republicans, because they weren’t going to vote for the bill anyway. D.C. Democrats still haven’t learned to stand up for our issues against irrelevant politicians who have no power. This is especially true when it involves poor women and healthcare. Democrats need to simply turn the table. Banks get billions, but allowing Medicaid to help poor women automatically with family planning challenges isn’t important? Preventing abortions isn’t important? Let them answer that question on TV for awhile.
Or perhaps House Republicans should be made to explain why infrastructure isn’t important to these people: More than a million wait in icy darkness across US. Actually, maybe we should start with Larry Summers.
Seriously, what are we doing?
Well, Dick Armey sure went out of his way to prove his central point, politics as he represents it is “juvenile.”
“I am sure damn glad that you are not my wife, ’cause I’d have to listen to that prattle from you.” – Dick Armey
While telling Mr. Armey he was delusional to think he’d have a chance with her. It was at this point my colleague, Joan Walsh, who was debating Dick, leaned slightly over and in one graceful swoop, she took her shoe off and wrapped the gas bag of a man sitting before her over the head. Her shoe was back on her foot before Dick knew what hit him.
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….well, it didn’t exactly happen like that, but metaphorically, that’s exactly what happened.
Meanwhile, Chris Matthews did nothing but mumble under his breath about, I don’t know, but “prattle” had something to do with it. It was the weakest performance by a host on a major political broadcast. Joan can handle herself, believe me, but “Hardball” is his show and he should have the spine to expect better discourse from his guests.
But as Dick sputtered and spewed, Joan took out our best hits. You know, policy and social justice combined, with an emphasis on jobs. You know, jobs? That was just for starters.
Now Rush has a bookend. Call it “the newest faces” of the Republican Party. Rush and Dick.
Bob Herbert is wrong.
Joan should apologize to Dick. She gutted him.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS3_3AH_x98&eurl
Obama’s first move on Afghanistan is putting Karzai on notice. Let church bells ring.
Mr. Karzai is now seen as a potential impediment to American goals in Afghanistan, the officials said, because corruption has become rampant in his government, contributing to a flourishing drug trade and the resurgence of the Taliban.
[...] Shortly before taking office as vice president last week, Mr. Biden traveled to Afghanistan in his role as the departing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He met with Mr. Karzai and warned him that the Obama administration would expect more of him than Mr. Bush did, administration officials said. He told Mr. Karzai that Mr. Obama would be discontinuing the video calls that Mr. Karzai enjoyed with Mr. Bush, said a senior official, who added that Mr. Obama expected Mr. Karzai to do more to crack down on corruption.
After his return from Afghanistan, Mr. Biden, who has had a contentious relationship with Mr. Karzai, described the situation there as “a real mess.”
If you have been following Secretary Gates on Afghanistan you already know that troops alone will not be enough to stabilize that country. After Bush letting it fall apart, it will take all our talents on deck, with the simple truth being we can’t just walk away given what we’re inheriting. Few know Afghanistan better than Gates. He saw first hand what happened during the Reagan administration, when CIA director Casey’s “kill Soviets” strategy was implemented. Gates understands the stark limitations on “success.” He also knows the primary objective is limited:
Mr. Gates added that the United States should focus on limited goals. “My own personal view is that our primary goal is to prevent Afghanistan from being used as a base for terrorists and extremists to attack the United States and our allies, and whatever else we need to do flows from that objective,” he said.
President Obama and his team cannot undo the damage of neglect in Afghanistan after the Bush-Cheney years and shouldn’t try. Committed to keeping failed states from happening where terrorism can gain ground is job one.
The talk is that the policy review on Afghanistan is real on Obama’s part, with the final analysis yet to be made. But again, Obama’s inheriting a country in absolute chaos, so he can’t let it further unwind, with limited expansion of forces meant to “buy time” until an assessment can be made, something that has already been reported.
This will not mollify the people adamantly against more troops in Afghanistan, some of whom are running around with their rhetoric half cocked. Afghanistan isn’t in our strategic interest? Oh, but Pakistan is, though I’d still like to know how we treat them separately. But calling my friends at Vote Vets “war mongers”? Out of line.
On Afghanistan, count me on the side of Gates, for now.
There’s a story today in the Washington Times that Eric Holder promised personally that there would be no prosecutions looking backwards on interrogation.
Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, Missouri Republican and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in an interview with The Washington Times that he will support Eric H. Holder Jr.’s nomination for attorney general because Mr. Holder assured him privately that Mr. Obama’s Justice Department will not prosecute former Bush officials involved in the interrogations program.Mr. Holder’s promise apparently was key to moving his nomination forward. [...]
But via Greg Sargent, a Holder aide is denying it.
Not prosecuting CIA officers and others on that level involved wouldn’t surprise me, however, that doesn’t mean we can’t investigate what’s been going on during Bush-Cheney regarding torture.
Time to ask Holder what, if anything, he told Kit.
See Byron York: “Overwhelming” GOP Opposition to Stimulus Bill.
… It’s also clear that Republicans, battered after big losses in 2006 and even bigger losses in 2008, are finding their feet on this issue. [...]
Cute that serious women in foreign policy, to include Clinton, Dr. Rice and Janet Napolitano, are being compared to “Charlie’s Angels,” isn’t it? The money and the misogyny all mixed up into one big pile on.
I didn’t cover WJC’s financial disclosures yesterday, because it simply wasn’t news, at least not around here. That former President Bill Clinton is making substantial money on speaking engagements around the world shouldn’t shock anyone. He’s the most popular world leader the U.S. has had in a very long time, until Obama broke through in such a spectacular way. But for the Clintons, success is not just scrutinized, it’s made to seem as something dark. Clinton capitalism is never appreciated, it’s mocked.
As you can see from the picture, via Spencer Ackerman, that goes double for Hillary, with Politico describing her position as “tricky” if WJC keeps making certain types of honorarium. That President Obama and the Clintons have hashed this out completely is lost on the traditional media peanut gallery.
Hey, but feel free to jump in and talk about it. What’s the big deal about Bill Clinton making money on speeches, as long as it’s disclosed fully and completely? Transparency and openness must be vigilantly maintained by all. Anyone think Greg Craig isn’t on this?
In the last nine months of 2008, Bill Clinton made at least $150,000-a-pop speaking to groups in some of the very places where his wife now will now represent American diplomacy, from India to Kuwait to China to Malaysia. In fact, the latter three speaking stops came in the last month-and-a-half of the year, as the Clinton and Obama camps were hammering out the agreement under which President Obama ultimately offered Hillary Clinton the job as top diplomat. – Politico
The WSJ opined that “talk isn’t cheap.” Neither is the price for the Clintons, as Secretary Clinton maneuvers through the playing field your average Clinton hater has already set up, with “we told you so” statements prepared just to be safe. As long as the agreement the Clintons made with President Obama is followed to the letter, they shouldn’t get the time of day.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z-OgbrCu_I
A petition is up at the DCCC to send Rush a message. Guess who’s signing on to it? Rush fans. Their side understands the value of radio. Our side has been behind on this for two decades. But it’s clear when Rush said he hoped Obama would fail that Dems felt an opening. They’re taking it.
So, I start getting emails. Here’s one:
Taylor, I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but when a sitting president begins to villify and demonize talk radio personalities or other media commentators against the backdrop of Shumer & Co’s threat of the “Fairness” Doctrine, we should all be at least skeptical of his intentions. May skepticism and distrust of government forever be the vanguard of liberty. Please be vigilant and fair in defending speech no matter your political beliefs. – LW
The notion that Rush’s free speech is in danger of being violated is preposterous. But the Fairness Doctrine scare runs deep and wide in wingnut radio audiences, no matter of association with a political party. Again, they know how to use the airwaves much better than we do. But make no mistake about it, media monopolies of the airwaves is an issue worth taking on. Time will tell if Dems will do it.
But I’m all for Rush being the “new face” of the Republican Party, but it’s clear some Republicans get how bad Rush is for their side.
Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., did not take kindly to this assessment in an interview with Politico Tuesday. “I think that our leadership, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, are taking the right approach,” Gingrey said. “I mean, it’s easy if you’re Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh or even sometimes Newt Gingrich to stand back and throw bricks. You don’t have to try to do what’s best for your people and your party. You know you’re just on these talk shows and you’re living well and plus you stir up a bit of controversy and gin the base and that sort of that thing. But when it comes to true leadership, not that these people couldn’t be or wouldn’t be good leaders, they’re not in that position of John Boehner or Mitch McConnell.”Asked to respond to Gingrey, Limbaugh, in an email to Politico, wrote: “I’m sure he is doing his best but it does not appear to be good enough. He may not have noticed that the number of Republican colleagues he has in the House has dwindled. And they will dwindle more if he and his friends don’t show more leadership and effectiveness in battling the most left-wing agenda in modern history. And they won’t continue to lose because of me, but because of their relationship with the grassroots, which is hurting. Conservatives want leadership from those who claim to represent them. And we’ll know it when we see it.”
But be sure of one thing, Rush is eating this up. The only bad publicity for Rush is no publicity at all.
