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Rachel Maddow takes the "conservative" Democrats in the Senate to task for sitting on their hands while Bush was in office, and choosing now to make themselves look as idiotic as the House Republicans - what with their new coalition and a sudden concern for fiscal responsibility in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Way to go, geniuses. So nice to see you channeling John Boehner's rhetoric on spending!

Rachel should have just called them what they are: DINO's. Of course, if she did, the list would not be limited to these few. We've got two corporate parties: One that likes unions and actually cares a little bit about governing, and the other that's just lost its damned mind entirely and worships at the throne of Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin.

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From The Cafferty File:

South Carolina’s Republican Governor has become the nation’s first to reject some of the economic stimulus money. Mark Sanford says he’ll turn down about $700 million of his state’s $2.8 billion share unless Washington lets him use it pay down the debt.

He insists taking the money would harm his state’s residents in the long run by increasing the federal budget deficit and building expectations for government programs that can’t be sustained.

Funny but it seems like the folks in South Carolina are hurting pretty bad right now. The state has the second highest unemployment rate in the country — having shed many jobs in manufacturing, tourism, construction and retail. Its unemployment rate is at 10.4 percent, second only to Michigan.

Sanford is one of several Republican governors who have criticized the $787 billion stimulus plan. However other governors from both parties have said they would take any money that these states rejected.

And in the end, Sanford’s move is largely symbolic. That’s because state legislatures can override governors and take the money. South Carolina congressman James Clyburn, a Democrat, is blasting Sanford for rejecting the money that could help residents of their state.

Clyburn says Sanford quote “will sleep well at night because he has improved his ‘conservative record’ and raised his national profile.” Probably worth a mention that Sanford is seen as a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012.

With all the warm, fuzzy sympathy he’s displaying for the hard-pressed people of South Carolina, I wonder how he was ever elected governor.

Continue reading »

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Keith's report on Seymour Hersh's claim that Dick Cheney was running a covert assassination ring out of the Vice President's office with no Congressional oversight called the Joint Special Operations Command. The CIA denies the allegations. Keith's opening and Howard Fineman's slant are in the clip above and Howard Fineman states that even with the denials the CIA was not willing to dismiss Hersh's claim out of hand. He also thinks this may give some more creedance to Pat Leahy's call for a truth commission and find him some more support for it.

John Dean weighed in on the legal implications for the Bush administration as well as the CIA.

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Keith's Worst Person for March 12 with winners Rupert Murdoch, Victoria Jackson and Newt Gingrich.

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Chris Matthews, Richard Wolffe and Eugene Robinson talk about Michael Steele's problem with trying to pull the GOP in a more moderate direction when the party clearly doesn't want to go there. Steele's having a bit or trouble even keeping his own message consistent.

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Gov. Mark Sanford earns a spot on David Shuster's Hypocrisy Watch for wanting to redirect stimulus money for his state from stimulus spending to paying off their debt. Sanford argues that it's not a good idea for South Carolina to be spending money it doesn't have. As David Shuster points out South Carolina has been spending far more funds than it contributes to the Federal government for some time now.

As Think Progress reports Sanford’s Rejection Of Stimulus Funds Could Cost 7,500 Teachers Their Jobs.

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Jon Stewart pokes some fun at the pork in the budget that just got signed into law and the earmarks for Congress' "pet projects".

Sadly despite the jokes had this bill not been signed into law the government literally would have had to shut down had it not been passed. From the article:

Most of the government has been running on a stopgap funding bill set to expire at midnight Wednesday. Refusing to sign the newly completed spending bill would force Congress to pass another bill to keep the lights on come Thursday or else shut down the massive federal government. That is an unlikely possibility for a president who has spent just seven weeks in office.

I don't think most rational people would think that shutting down the government in the middle of our worst economic crisis since the Great Depression is a good idea. I guess President Obama thought the pork was worth the trade off to stop that from happening.

Of course in the mean time there's nothing like poking a bit of fun at the Congress and their hypocrisy on earmarks.

UPDATE: John Amato

Don't forget to tune in tonight to TDS because Jim Cramer is going to join Jon Stewart and try and hash out their differences. I do hope it's two segments instead of one so Jon can really dig in. Blowhards like Cramer aren't usually prepared to go up against an excellent interviewer like Stewart, but then it falls on Jon's shoulders to get down to business. I kind of think he will tonight because Cramer went out of his way to smear Stewart on so many shows.

If he's easy on Cramer then it makes the recent kerfuffle not all that important. We always seem to ask this question. Why is it up to Stewart to expose these hypocrites?

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From Countdown:

Keith Olbermann places the blame for the economic downturn past President Barack Obama and President Bush to the Wall Street executives who paid politicians and bought deregulation.

From the Wall Street Watch Project, here is their list of the 12 deregulatory steps to financial meltdown. Read their report for more details.

1. Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and the Rise of the Culture of Recklessness

2. Hiding Liabilities: Off-Balance Sheet Accounting

3. The Executive Branch Rejects Financial Derivative Regulation

4. Congress Blocks Financial Derivative Regulation

5. The SEC’s Voluntary Regulation Regime for Investment Banks

6. Bank Self-Regulation Goes Global: Preparing to Repeat the Meltdown?

7. Failure to Prevent Predatory Lending

8. Federal Preemption of State Consumer Protection Laws

9. Escaping Accountability: Assignee Liability

10. Fannie and Freddie Enter the Subprime Market

11. Merger Mania

12. Rampant Conflicts of Interest: Credit Ratings Firms’ Failure

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Matthews smacks down Ari Fleischer who's been out on a Bush redemption media blitz of late for his Bush kept us safe from a terrorist attack nonsense. He obviously got under Fleischer's skin since Fleischer got pretty snitty with him for daring to challenge his talking points.

Matthews did a pretty good job here but as friend of the site and fellow contributor Jon Perr pointed out to us Matthews has disappointed in the past and is sure to continue to in the future.

For all his ferocity towards Fleischer today and his claim about the Bush White House in 2007 that “they won’t silence me,” Chris Matthews spent an awful long time calling George W. Bush and his friends, “good guys.”

As Jon noted at Perrspectives back in 2007 Chris Matthews: Bush White House "Good Guys" Won't Silence Me:

But what we do know is that Chris Matthews likes George W. Bush and the "good guys" of his White House - a lot. They may be, Matthews now suggests, thugs and criminals, but they are thugs and criminals you want to drink a beer with all the same:

"I thought in listening to the president, I was listening to one of the great neoconservative minds. We were given a rare opportunity to hear the real philosophy of this administration with regard to the war in Iraq." (August 9, 2007)

"I like him. Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left." (November 28, 2005)

"Sometimes it glimmers with this man, our president, that kind of sunny nobility." (October 25, 2005)

"We're proud of our president. Americans love having a guy as president, a guy who has a little swagger, who's physical." (May 1, 2003)

"For example, George Allen is a lot like George Bush. He's friendly. He's a jock in a way. He's happy go lucky. He's a good guy to hang out with, kicks back." (May 24, 2006)

"They're very adept politically, this White House. And whatever you think of Karl Rove, he is good and he is tough." (October 29, 2004)

"Tony [Snow] has no regrets, nor do any of us for being his friend. Good guy, he has been, he is, and he will be." (September 4, 2007)

"And as we sign off today, it was the last day on the job for White House press secretary, the very likable, the very good guy, Tony Snow." (September 17, 2007)

"Tom DeLay, you are not in this buisness for the money. You live modestly. You commute back and forth from Washington to Houston, Texas. Why? What drives you every day?" (January 24, 2006)

"We'll be right back with House Majority Leader John Boehner. You can see this man's greatness." (March 6, 2006)

"And Republican Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico - a good guy, by the way - intends to retire from the Senate when his term ends next year." (October 3, 2007)

"I think you beat a good guy [Jim Talent]. I looked at all the Republican candidates running for election in tough elections. I thought he was probably the best of them." To Missouri Senator-elect Claire McCaskill, (November 28, 2006)

"Mike DeWine, a good guy." (February 9, 2007)

"Chris Shays, actually a good guy, we'll see how he deals with this thing." (August 28, 2006)

So today we get a smackdown from Matthews. We'll see what tomorrow brings. If anyone would like to watch the entire segment instead of my mash up my friend CSPANJunkie has it up in two parts.

Part 1

Part 2

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Sen. David Vitter (R-Diaperland) is the subject of David Shuster's Hypocrisy Watch for his double talk on earmarks.

Think Progress has more here: Vitter Stands By His $249 Million In Earmarks While Complaining That The Omnibus Bill Is ‘Bloated’