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Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) tells the Republicans to stop acting like children because otherwise real people are going to get hurt:

“The possibility that seniors could be denied Social Security benefits is frightening,” Murray said. “Rather than accuse the President of scare tactics, my Republican colleagues should tell the extreme voices in their own party that it is time to act responsibly.”
[…]

“Senate Republicans have put us in this position by walking away from every attempt at finding a long-term solution to our national debt….They continue to deny that their irresponsible actions will have real consequences for the American people. This is not about bumper sticker politics. This is about real people, who could be hurt if Republicans fail to act reasonably and responsibly.”

In the mean time, presidential wannabe Michele Bachmann says both stupid and crazy things:

“This is a misnomer, that I think the President and the Treasury Secretary have been trying to pass off to the American people, and it’s this: that if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion that somehow the United States will default and we will lose the full faith and credit of the United States…”

“That is simply not true. Revenue will continue to come in to the United States Treasury. It’s merely the President’s obligation and the Congress’s to make sure that the interest is paid on the debt. We’re grateful that revenues are sufficient to be able to pay interest on the debt.”

This is stupid, on one level, because of Ms. “J.D. from Oral Roberts University” mistaken use of “misnomer”. A “misnomer” is an error in naming something, whereas I suspect she wanted to use the word “misunderstanding.”

But it is stupid on another level by the fact that she is misinformed. Since mid-May the U.S. Treasury has been tapping its fiscal buffers—shifting money around between its bank accounts and delaying pension contributions—all this so that the government’s bills get paid.

In August, the buffer runs out. The government will have to borrow money in order to pay all of its bills, because revenues will fall substantially short of the bills owed. And there are no more buffers.

Sure…we can pay military families, pay service on the debt, and a few other things. But about 1/2 of the Government’s bills will go unpaid as of Aug 2. The LA Times runs down the numbers:

In August, the government is expected to collect about $172 billion in revenue and will face about $307 billion in bills, according to an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. So, in theory, the government would have the money to pay a little more than 55% of its bills during the month. But which bills to pay? Interest on existing debt comes to just under $30 billion, Social Security checks are $50 billion, Medicare is another $50 billion, payments to military contractors for weapons, fuel and other costs comes to $32 billion and salaries for active-duty military personnel come to about $3 billion. Add in unemployment benefits ($13 billion for the month), and the government would already have run out of money without paying a single civilian employee or running any of its domestic programs, including courts, disaster relief, national parks, veterans benefits or welfare programs.

However you slice it up, some bills will not get paid, and a lot of people will be hurt in the process.

A second, and perhaps the worst, effect will be the long-term impact on bond interest rates:

The federal government has been able to borrow money at very low interest rates because investors around the world look at U.S. government securities as a very safe place to put their money. If the government’s ability to pay its bills came into question, the people who buy bonds almost certainly would demand a higher interest rate. That would ripple quickly through the economy. In a letter to Congress and the president Tuesday, the Business Roundtable, Chamber of Commerce and other business leaders warned: “Treasury securities influence the cost of financing not just for companies but more importantly for mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and student debt. A default would risk both disarray in those markets and a host of unintended consequences.”

Bachmann’s error is believing that a failure to pay your bills on time doesn’t affect your credit rating.

That belief is ignorant. And that ignorance poses a clear danger to our country.

The King County Young Republicans met at the North Bellevue Community Center last night to hear Rob McKenna speak. It didn’t go as planned.

The event was held in a public venue, advertised openly, and had a speaker who represents the state as an elected official and is also a high-profile public candidate.

Zach Wurtz, a videographer for the Washington State Democrats, who, I suspect, has been hired to record all of McKenna’s public appearances, showed up to record McKenna.

McKenna stopped and asked the man who he was with. The man gave his name, Zach Wurtz, and said he was with the Washington State Democrats. The Young Republicans club president, Jennifer Fetters, asked him to leave. Nope. McKenna told Wurtz to turn off the camera. Wurtz refused. McKenna’s voice got sharper, “Turn it off. Now!”

After further intimidation didn’t succeed in shutting down Wurtz’s camera, the cops were called. They took a long time to get there.

In the mean time…

McKenna stepped outside by the cupcake table.

Really?!? He escaped the scary video man by seeking safe harbor at the “cupcake table”? That’s simply precious!

One big advantage that McKenna has over Dino Rossi is that he’s far more adorable! I mean, you have to admit, retreating like a frightened boy to the cupcake table is a lot more endearing than, say, putting your goons to work on the videographer. So good call on the cupcake table, Rob.

McKenna apparently realized that he could not prevent the recording of political activity in a public place, because he never gave his speech.

Question: Why the hell couldn’t McKenna give his talk in the presence of “the enemy.” What’s he hiding? Was McKenna prepared to tell the Young Republicans things that he could never say to the general public?

Is McKenna, say, talking like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker behind closed doors, and then goes all smiles and cupcakes before the general public?

And what is this bullshit about not being video tapped? It’s now routine for campaigns to shadow each other. McKenna and Inslee should expect that all of their appearances will be recorded, scrutinized and, if something controversial is said, publicized.

Deal with it, Rob! You won’t always have a cupcake table to fall back on.

The Publicola story points out that Wurtz was forcibly removed from McKenna’s announcement press conference. Goldy was denied admission as well in his role as a reporter for The Stranger.

Knock it the fuck off! The “friendly room” strategy didn’t work for Rossi, and it isn’t likely to work for McKenna, either.

I can’t get enough of these sorts of US history/civics quizzes. But this one is not right.

15. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states? (Five possible answers.)

The answer:

15. Provide schooling and education, protection (police), safety (fire departments), give a driver’s license, approve zoning and land use

I’m pretty sure driver’s licenses aren’t addressed under the Constitution. I understand that the question is really, “name some stuff states do.” But why bring up the Constitution in the question?

Today the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Healthcare Act.

The court ruled on two of the most important substantive issues that have been raised in dozens of other lawsuits. The first is whether the law falls within the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution:

…the breadth of the substantial effects doctrine and the nature of modern health care favor the validity of this law. No matter how you slice the relevant market—as obtaining health care, as paying for health care, as insuring for health care—all of these activities affect interstate commerce, in a substantial way.

The second question is the constitutionality of the insurance mandate:

Does the Commerce Clause contain an action/inaction dichotomy that limits congressional power? No—for several reasons. First, the relevant text of the Constitution does not contain such a limitation. To the extent “regulate,” “commerce,” “necessary” and “proper” might be words of confinement, the Court has not treated them that way, as long as the objects of federal legislation are economic and substantially affect commerce.

And look who wrote the opinion:

Judge Jeffrey Sutton is a George W. Bush appointee and a former law clerk to conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. He served as an officer in the conservative Federalist Society’s Federalism and Separation of Powers practice group, and was one of the nation’s leading crusaders for expanding the role of the states at the federal government’s expense.

This ruling is significant as it is the first of four pending decisions from Circuit Courts of Appeals on Obamacare. This case originated in the E. Michigan District court as Thomas More Law Center v. Obama in which Judge George Caram Steeh dismissed the lawsuit on the merits. The 6th Circuit Court has now upheld that decision.

There are so many pending lawsuits against the Affordable Healthcare Act that it is difficult to get the big picture. I spent part of this morning trying to get my head wrapped around them. Here is what I came away with.

Besides today’s ruling, there are four other lawsuits at the Circuit Court level.

One of the pending decisions is Florida v. HHS that includes 26 state Attorneys General, including our own Rob McKenna. The law was found to be unconstitutional by Florida District Court Judge Roger Vinson. The ruling was appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and arguments were heard earlier this month.

Additionally, there are two cases pending in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals: Virginia v. Sebelius and Liberty University v. Geithner. The former began in the E. Virginia District Court where Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled the law unconstitutional. The latter began in W. Virginia District Court where Judge Norman K. Moon ruled the law constitutional.

The only other ruling on the merits from a District Court comes from Seven-Sky v. Holder heard in the D.C. District court. Judge Gladys Kessler found the law constitutional. The appeal before the D.C. Court of Appeals awaits oral arguments that will take place no earlier than August.

Those are, so far, the only cases where a decision has been made on the merits. The score so far:

• District Courts: constitutional 3; unconstitutional 2
• Circuit Courts: constitutional 1; unconstitutional 0

There are several other cases before Courts of Appeals, New Jersey Physicians v. President just argued in the 3rd, Baldwin v. Sebelius in the 9th that will be argued in July, and Kinder v. Geithner in the 8th that will be heard no earlier than August. My understanding is that these cases were dismissed for lack of standing (not merit), so that a ruling in favor of the the plaintiff would simply send the case back to the District court for a ruling on the merits.

There are six or seven other cases at the District Court level at various stages of litigation. It seems like many of these will be dismissed for lack of standing, but rulings on the merits may well arise from some of them.

Today’s decision is a Big Fucking Deal in that a Judge with a very conservative record authored the majority opinion against the two main “theories” found in many of the other lawsuits. The decision will be binding on one of the current District Court cases, and will likely be be used as an advisory precedent in other cases.

Finally, here in Washington, this decision must be considered something of a blow to gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna (R), who went against the wishes of the Governor and a majority of the people (e.g. the March 2010 Washington Poll) by participating in the AG lawsuit (Florida v. HHS). Indeed, a recent SurveyUSA poll found that 40% of those polled were less likely to support McKenna compared to 36% more likely to support McKenna because of the lawsuit. A loss will make McKenna’s participation look like a quixotic waste of time and resources.

Via KING5:

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed is announcing this morning that he will not seek re-election when his term ends in 2012.

That makes three open statewide races (Governor, SOS, and AG) in a year for which turn-out will be high on account of the the presidential race. Conventional wisdom would give a boost to the Democratic candidates because of the higher turnout.

Will conventional wisdom hold for 2012? Or will a “throw the bums (i.e. Democrats) out” mentality shake things up in favor of Republicans? Unlikely. First off, the SOS and AG positions are currently held by Republicans. For the gubernatorial race Chris Grygiel argues that Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) doesn’t look like the insider:

Voters nationally – and to a certain extent locally – have expressed a strong “throw the bums out” mentality. They seem to be willing to give newcomers a chance. So how can Inslee, a longtime incumbent, beat the “bum” rap? He’ll be new to voters outside of the two Congressional Districts where he’s held office. Again, conventional wisdom says McKenna has the edge because he’s won statewide office twice – Inslee never has. But another way of looking at that is voters haven’t had a chance to get sick of Inslee yet.

And, of course, McKenna is an Olympia insider….

Finally, State Senator Jim Kastama (D-Puyallup) has announced on his blog that he is running for SOS:

Today, Kastama confirmed he would seek the office of Washington State Secretary of State. Kastama will make a formal public announcement at the Puyallup City Hall 25th district legislative reception on July 5th at 6:00 pm.

Fun stuff!

This conference should be of interest to anyone contributing (or wanting to contribute) to progressive politics in our region:

The NWroots Conference is the annual gathering of the region’s netroots community and liberal minded political activists – hosted by the NWroots Fellowship with support from the Northwest Progressive Institute. It is an unbeatable opportunity for local writers, readers, activists, elected leaders, and progressive candidates to meet in person and learn from each other – with panels, a candidates’ social, keynote addresses, and workshops.

Feature speakers include Congressman Jay Inslee, Congressman Jim McDermott, Former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, WSLC President Jeff Johnson, and 4th Congressional District candidate Jay Clough.

Special performance by the Total Experience Gospel Choir.

What: NWroots Conference
Where: Swannies Comedy Undergound, 109 S. Washington Street, Seattle, 98104
When: Saturday, July 9th
Why: Teach, learn, organize, strategize, socialize, network, have fun.

What are you waiting for? Register today!

Rob Sargent
NWroots
(425) 941-3134

Here are some more details about the program:

Jill Richardson is flying in from San Diego to present two sessions on agriculture and public policy. Jill is an author, political activist,
founder of Lavidalocavore.org, and expert on food systems and sustainable farming. Her book, Recipe for America, explains our messed up food system in an understandable way, and offers specific policy recommendation to make it better. In her first session, Jill will talk about the focus of her book and lead a discussion about agriculture policy. In a second session, she will address the worldwide influence of Monsanto on agriculture, followed by a group discussion. Jill was just featured at Netroots Nation in Minneapolis.

In addition to Jill’s sessions, we will have small group presentations/discussions on health care, labor, the media, electronic voting, immigration, the mortgage crisis, and a documentary on Afghanistan followed by a group discussion.

To stir things up, we’ve added Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich to the program. Kucinich will join 4th Congressional District Candidate Jay Clough, Congressman Jim McDermott, and former Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh at the afternoon general session. The opening session will be kicked off by Congressman Jay Inslee, followed by University of Washington graduate and “dreamer” Alonso Chehade. Chehade faces possible deportation if the Dream Act fails to pass. Alonso will later lead a session where the group will discuss immigration policy. Labor leader Jeff Johnson will close out the morning session. He will also facilitate a smaller group discussion on the role of labor in politics and the new political strategy. Mr. Johnson is President of the Washington State Labor Council.

In addition to the general session and smaller, breakout sessions, there will be a candidates social, a special musical performance by the Total Experience Gospel Choir, and an after-party at the Central Saloon.

(This is an open thread.)

I’m a fan of Publicola, but they’ve fallen into the same trap as much of the rest of the Seattle media on the McGinn and the tunnel. From a piece about Peter Hahn signing the Environmental Impact Statement for the tunnel (I assume by Josh, but it’s the Afternoon Jolt, so it doesn’t have a name attached, and he and Erica do the same thing).

The move could signify that McGinn’s administration has decided to back off (for now, anyway) from its single-minded opposition to the controversial project. The McGinn administration, mindful perhaps of polling that has linked his bad numbers to his nonstop focus on the tunnel, has been notably quiet about the tunnel these days. This even-keeled move will definitely draw applause from McGinn’s establishment opponents who consider him an obstructionist.

First off, you think McGinn’s establishment opponents give a fuck about policy? Nobody gives him credit for being bold on the Youth and Family initiative. Nobody thanks him for filling potholes quickly. Nobody gives him credit for a budget that didn’t cut social services. Despite the fact that he salted the roads during the snow storm like his establishment opponents demanded (and I think it’s bad policy, but it is clearly the position of Seattle insiders) he doesn’t get credit. So, no, I don’t think anyone will care that this time instead of asking for and being given more time by the state DOT that this time his people just signed it when their concerns were met.

But to the main point, McGinn has always been able to walk and chew gum (see the paragraph above, for examples of other things he does, and it doesn’t even get into the things that the establishment is against, but that deserve more coverage). He’s never been single minded about the tunnel. He’s always talked about other things. I’m sorry, but it’s been the media, including Publicola, who who see McGinn only through one highway project instead of through his budget and other policies.

Perhaps that’s why he has to stop talking about it. Because we have media who can’t stop talking about how much they’re over talking about the Viaduct replacement. The rap on him has always been that he’s a 1 issue candidate or a 1 issue mayor. But that’s never been the case. He’s always been able to chew gum and walk at the same time. He just needs an audience that won’t obsess about the gum thing.

The Washington State reporter shield law that Rob McKenna supported was written in a way that excluded us dirty fucking hippie bloggers. As Goldy explained at the time:

Like those hoity-toity salaried reporters, I often get tips and quotes from sources who choose to remain anonymous, and I don’t see why I should have to go to jail to protect their confidence, when, say Chris McGann wouldn’t? (And I will protect my sources, with or without a shield law, because that’s what journalists do.)

Well, things change. And now Goldy, formerly excluded by the law has its protection.

It’s an odd idea that candidates for public office (let alone an open government champion) should get to pick and choose which professional journalists get to attend their press conferences—and yes, that paycheck I get from The Stranger makes me a professional journalist as defined in McKenna’s own reporter shield law, so suck it up.

And the definitions still seem unworkable. For instance, so long as Goldy is being paid by The Stranger, he’ll have the force of law behind any sources he protects. If The Stranger doesn’t want his services any more and he comes back here, he may have to go to jail to protect sources. If he somehow makes enough money from ads and donations that he can pay the rest of the front pagers, and we break a story with anonymous sources, then I think the protection will apply to us, even as they still don’t apply to him.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the shield law we have is certainly better than no shield law. It works for most anonymously sourced news as newspaper, TV, and other “professional” outlets still dominate coverage, especially original coverage of the type that has the most anonymous sourcing. But as a country and as a state we’re moving (however slowly) away from that model. And the people who need the shield the most are the ones who don’t have it.

Eventually, a reporter who doesn’t fall under the statute’s protection is going to have to chose between prison and giving up their source. On principal, I’d chose prison, but it would be hard to justify to my family and to my employer. News is news, and while we amateurs tend to be more partisan and more over the place in terms of quality, we deserve the same protections as the paid media. The law is fairly new, but it’s already time for an upgrade.

Thom: What American has given up for the Bush tax cuts?

Patriotic millionaires have a Message to Congress: “Tax Me”.

Washington Supreme Court rules medical marijuana patients can be fired for testing positive for marijuana:

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News hates solar power?

Weiner Weird & Woeful Week:

• Maddow points out Santorum’s discordant positions on Weiner and Ensign.
• Ed: Can Weiner survive?
• Ann Telnaes: Weiner’s lies.
• Young Turk: Should Weiner resign?
• Second City: Plausible Deniability
• Jon Stewart’s Press Conference
• Bill Maher and Jane Lynch give dramatic reading of Weiner’s dirty messages (via Political Carnival):
• Sam Seder: Media becomes blind to all but Weinergate
• Newsy: Congress runs from twitter and Weiner scandal.
• Maddow: The post-Bill Clinton modern American political sex-scandal Consequence-o-Meter.
• Young Turks: Why do men cyber cheat?

Thom: Republicans hold U.S. and world economy ransom.

Mark Fiore: Dogboy and Mr. Dan tackle the debt ceiling.

Herman Cain:

• Ed: Anti-gay psychotalk from Herman Cain.
• Herman Cain on gays, guns and abortion
• Young Turks: Anti-Muslim comments on Glenn Beck by Herman Cain.
• Sam Seder: Herman Cain wants bills to be smaller than half a pizza.

Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01) leads discussion on Northwest biofuels.

Thom: Is Jon Steward single-handedly bringing down FAUX News?

Patriotic millionaires for America.

Palin around with Craaaaaazzzzzy!!

• Ann Telnaes: Palin’s free ride
• Sarah Palin’s totally home moves from her totally-not-a-campaign tour (via Slog).
• Sam Seder: “Darn tootin’ I was right about Paul Revere!”
• Young Turks: are Palin and Bachmann at war?
• Newsy: Crowdsourcing Sarah.

Politico: Norm Coleman’s (R-MN) ping-pong diplomacy.

White House: West Wing Week.

Jobs:

• Young Turks: Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) suggests government employees should “find a real job”
• Thom: Working for the government IS a real job.
• Ed: Some psychotalk from Rep. Paul Broun.
• Young Turks: Walmart allows unions…outside of U.S.
• Jon: One Nation, Overdrawn (via OneGoodMove).
• Cenk: Where are the jobs BILLS, Republicans?

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) on new doppler radar system.

Cenk: Is Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL) corrupt?

Thom: The vast Sesame Street conspiracy.

Rob McKenna announces:

Young Turks: Alabama’s draconian new immigration law.

Sam Seder: Rush pwned by caller on taxes, stimulus or oxy.

Newtany

• Young Turks: Newt in a world of trouble.
• Newsy: Staff calls it quits.

Pap: America’s new service society.

Young Turks: MA Rep. thinks crimes against illegal immigrants is okay.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Saying no to Norquist.

Maddow with Cenk: GOP now going after privatization of Social Security?

Thom: Kids say the darnedest things (about Bush and Cheney).

Mittens:

• Lawrence O’Donnell: Jennifer Granholm on Mitt Romney eating his own and flip-floping.
• Young Turks: Rush attacks Mittens over global warming.
• Welcome to Detroit Mitt Romney.
• Not the homecoming he expected.
• Young Turks: Mittens gay rights dodge.

Stephen: The Word — Hear no evil.

Young Turks: Rush mocks Cenk, the postmortem.

ONN: Antigay Senator’s horse affair caught on tape.

Bill Maher and Jane Lynch give dramatic reading of Weiner’s dirty messages (via Political Carnival).

Young Turks: Guilliani for 2012—irrelevant.

Thom: So…who’s pushing Granny over the cliff?

Maddow: Anti-choice nut-jobs shoots self in foot re: contraception.

Pawlenty Cuts Self:

• Cenk: Pawlenty’s disastrous economic “plan”
• Newsy: Pawlenty’s “bold” economic plan

Santorum wants constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Okay…Rep. Weiner’s press conference wasn’t the world’s weirdest—that title still has to go to former Gov. Sanford’s “post-Appalachian hiking” trip presser.

The weirdness was at the front end. When I tuned in the live stream just before 1:00 pm local time, there was Andrew Breitbart, the person who broke the Weiner story, at the podium. And he hung out at the podium answering questions for a long time, leading one reporter to ask via Twitter whether the press had been duped into some sort of Breitbart publicity stunt. The press has developed a partial skepticism of Breitbart, something he earned by breaking previous stories that ended up being dead wrong and based on doctored or misleading videos. You know…the phony ACORN “scandal” and the “Shirley Sherrod is a racist” bullshit.

In this case however…Breitbart got the story pretty much correct.

When Breitbart finished there was a long break before Weiner took the podium.

Weiner fought back the tears as he confessed to and profusely apologized for having inappropriate tweets, emails, and a couple of phone calls with about six women over three years. He made clear that he never met any of them in person and never had sex with them. He met them on Facebook.

Weiner also admitted to lying to everyone about that initial tweet—with the photo of his inflated briefs—which he meant to PM and tweeted instead. The suggestion that his Twitter account had been hacked was a lie, he confessed. He apologized to everyone—his wife, their families, his constituents, the Seattle woman whose life was disrupted by this, his staff (meaning, I believe, his congressional staff), and The Press. Christ…he even apologized to Breitbart.

It took a follow-up question to ask if he would resign. No, he won’t. And then he answered reporter’s questions frankly and earnestly. No…his wife and he were not going to split. Yes, they love each other. Yes, she was disappointed. He admitted to lying about the tweets because he was embarrassed and didn’t want to get caught. And, over and over again, he kept “taking full responsibility” and apologizing.

He also kept pointed out that what he did was stupid. But not illegal. So that was the presser.

I have to say…I am not surprised. Even without surprise, I am a little disappointed in Weiner. That’s why I haven’t had much to say about the scandal, except for having a little fun at Dick Cheney’s expense. Seriously, I cannot get too worked up about flirting via social media. What he did doesn’t arise to much (so to speak…in another sense it raises surprisingly….).

Where I do fault Weiner is…STUPIDITY! Public figures should not flirt via social media. Not because of any legal or even ethical questions. No…because it invites scandal, precisely of the type we have here. So Weiner acted stupidly.

This is the same point I made for former Rep. Christopher Lee, who wasn’t simply engaging in flirting, exactly. Rather, he was trolling for sex via Craigslist using his real name, but claiming to be a lobbyist:

Lying, willingness to break his marriage vows…and sheer stupidity! Seriously…the dude didn’t even change his name and then sends the woman a topless photo of himself. Was he trying to create a public scandal?

Lee’s “activities” should be several orders of magnitude over Weiner’s on the sheer stupidity scale. But given that Weiner kept sending flirtatious tweets after Lee’s insta-resignation raises his stupidity level one order of magnitude below that of Lee.

Somewhere in between them is former Sen. Larry Craig, whose wide stance and toe-tapping turned into disorderly conduct. Stupid.

And then there is the stupidity of Sen. Vitter, whose sexual fantasies involved trans-infantile activities with a hooker, and former Gov. Elliot Spitzer who just liked very high price hookers. These guys were sort of stupid, and they both broke the law. They both left enough clues to get caught. And one of them is a flaming “family values” hypocrite. Oddly, he’s the one still in office.

And then there is the uber-stupidity of former Sen. Ensign and former Sen. Edwards. They had affairs whilst in the public spotlight. They were both busted as “family values” hypocrites. And they both took actions to cover up their scandals that involved large sums of money. Now they are both at risk of doing time for their alleged crimes. And that’s just super-stupid!

But almost nothing tops the stupidity of former Gov. Sanford, whose flirtations (Weiner-magnitude stupidity) via email turned into a full-blown affair (about Craig-level stupidity). So he concocted a story about hiking the Appalachian trail, ditched his security detail, left his car at the Atlanta airport, flew to Argentina, and thought nobody would notice for ten days. That’s Vitter—Spitzer stupid, at least. Oh…and he my have used state money to hook-up with his paramour, money he later reimbursed to the state (near-Ensign—Edwards stupid). It doesn’t look like Sanford is going to jail. But what puts Sanford at the top of the stupid politician stupidity scale was the interviews he gave shortly after his “hiking” trip:

In emotional interviews with the AP over two days, he said he would die “knowing that I had met my soul mate.” […]

Sanford insisted his relationship with Maria Belen Chapur, whom he met at an open air dance spot in Uruguay eight years ago, was more than just sex.

“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said. “A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”

Too! Much! Information!!!!

In sum…It’s the stupidity, stupid!

So, Weiner…install some Constituent Control and Monitoring Software on your computers, and get back to work.

Right wing slut Tim Eyman has gotten his John back.

Michael Dunmire, who apparently took a hit during the Bush Recession forcing him into a one-year hiatus from political bestiality, has come back this year and bought himself some more gen-u-wine Horses’ ass! $100,000 worth, paid right into Eyman’s personal services fund. (Apparently, Dunmire is okay with Kemper Freeman’s sloppy seconds.)

You have to give Eyman some credit for turning his life around and breaking into the big-leagues of political prostitution. It seems like just yesterday he was literally stealing money from his Johns….

If I told you at the start of the legislative session that there was a large hole in the budget and that there were 2 or maybe 3 possibilities to fix it, you’d probably think the moderate thing to do would be pick some of each of the ways available. Moderates might, to use less vague terms, want some tax increases and some spending cuts while they looked at ways to deficit spend through the downturn. Moderate the pain of tax increases with spending cuts and moderate the pain of spending cuts with tax increases. Yet somehow in our state, the people who want all cuts get to claim moderate status. Take the Trib editorial board, for example:

The spending plan, unveiled jointly by Democrat and Republican budget writers, was a feat of compromise. Working across the aisle, lawmakers were able to stave off the cruelest of options for filling the state’s $5 billion shortfall.

“Reduce, but not eliminate” was their guiding mantra. Legislators saved the Basic Health Plan, but continued the freeze on enrollment. They preserved access to state health insurance for immigrant children, but tightened eligibility.

Pain but not death. When so much pain could have been avoided, that’s still moderation. Sure not letting people into Basic Health will be disaster, but otherwise, we’d have to consider cutting tax breaks for out of state banks. You guys, we can’t do that and be moderate, can we?

It carves 22 percent out of the higher education budget, but gives universities the authority to set their own tuition. It cuts funds for teacher pay, but only commensurate with the hit state workers are taking and without freezing longevity pay.

It makes it tougher to educate the next generation. It decides that the best way to attract new teachers is to cut their pay. In a time when American manufacturing is on the decline and a college education is more important than ever, it makes one harder to obtain. But at least there’s still a tax break for bull semen.

The budget is equal-opportunity agony, with the priority where it should be – basic human necessities – and the responsibility for its tough choices shared by both parties.

Except for the tough choice to close multiple loopholes. That was only one side. And even though it would have eased the pain, it would be partisan. Therefore not moderate. Therefore bad.

Anyway, then they go on to say that making the workers’ comp system more corporate friendly is also a victory for moderates. Because blindly giving more power to employers is moderate. I don’t think every moderate decision is necessarily the right one (I don’t think I’m going to convince anyone that a 70% high earner’s income tax is moderate, for example). But I wish the ed boards across the state at least had the courage to call the extremism they’re pushing what it is.

Obama’s approval has hit a 16 month high at 53% approval to 41% disapproval.

Another poll finds Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) ” the least popular Governor in the country”, tied with Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL):

The furor over Senate Bill 5 [an anti-collective bargaining bill] was one of the main events precipitating Kasich’s decline and voters in the state continue to strongly favor repealing it.

Another poll finds Florida’s Scott in dire straights:

Florida voters disapprove 57 – 29 percent of the job Gov. Rick Scott is doing, the worst score of any governor in the states surveyed by Quinnipiac University and down from a 48 – 35 percent disapproval in an April 6 survey, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Man…voters going sour on Republicans in Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin?!? The next thing you know, pundits and media alike will take up the debate of whether 2012 is going to witness Obama win or an Obama landslide.

The Senate has voted down the house budget blueprint (a.k.a. the Ryan budget, a.k.a. the bill to kill Medicare as we know it) today:

A handful of Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Scott Brown (Mass.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — joined Democrats to reject the House budget, 40-57. Paul voted against it because Ryan’s plan still adds $8 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

I wonder why the others voted against it? Perhaps because they want to be reelected….

(H/T Slog.)

Well…at least one bold Republican is doubling down on Ryan’s plan…after a major display of flip-floppery. That would be Newt Gingrich:

Less than two weeks after he condemned Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right wing social engineering” Newt Gingrich is rallying support for the budget chair’s proposal in Congress.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Newt is perpetually lagging by about three news cycles?

A couple of months ago some prescient political analyst filthy liberal blogger suggested a way to provoke a constitutional test of the I-1053 two-thirds majority:

Here’s how it works. Declare that the projected revenue shortfall, following a biennium where spending has already been cut to the bone, makes it impossible for the legislature to pass a budget that lives up to the spirit of Article IX, Section 1 of the State Constitution:

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.

The constitutional requirement of “ample provision for education…” simply isn’t happening.

Article IX, Section 3 gives lawmakers broad authority to do what is needed to fund education. If we cannot provide “ample” funding for education via existing taxes, lawmakers should provide short-term revenue for education through the repeal of tax preferences, using a simple majority to pass the legislation.

The mandate and the authority to accomplish it as spelled out in the Constitution trumps a law enacted through the initiative process. If Republicans believe the law trumps…they can sue.

And look at what just happened (via Publicola):

Late last night, the state house Democrats forced a floor vote on Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-27, Tacoma) bill to repeal an $83 million bank loophole and shift the money to K-3 class size reductions. While the Democrats needed a two-thirds majority and only got 52 votes (it was 52-42 in a straight party line vote), the losing vote wasn’t just a symbolic effort to embarrass Republicans for voting against kids and for banks.

PubliCola has confirmed that the Democrats took the vote to set up a formal court challenge to I-1053, the rule that requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes.

As Publicola explains, the Democrats followed some procedures required by the state Supreme court in their dismissal of I-960. In other words, the Dems removed one important way for the Supreme court to weasel out of making a decision on the constitutionality of such initiatives.

I-1053 may well get its day in court. Who knew the House Dems had it in ’em?

With 462 of 627 precincts reporting, the AP has called it: Kathy Hochul (D) beats Jane Corwin (R).

Current tally is 48% Hochul (D) and 42% Corwin (R).

Update: President congratulates Hochul:

“I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.”