Boner Boehner

“The American people are still asking the question: where are the jobs? Today’s report is more evidence that the misguided ‘stimulus’ spending binge, excessive regulations, and an overwhelming national debt continue to hold back private-sector job creation in our country. Legislation that raises taxes on small business job creators, fails to cut spending by a larger amount than a debt limit hike, or fails to restrain future spending will only make things worse – and won’t pass the House. Republicans are focused on jobs, and are ready to stop Washington from spending money it doesn’t have and make serious changes to the way we spend taxpayer dollars. We hope our Democratic counterparts will join us and seize this opportunity to do something big for our economy and our future, and help get Americans back to work.” 

Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio

July 8, 2011

Wait. What? Remember last fall, last November, a mere 9 months ago, when, after taking over as House Majority Leader, Sir John of Orange promised his focus would be on "Jobs, jobs, jobs?" There has yet to be a jobs bill from Boehner or any other Republican. Instead, they focus on resisting tax increases, for the rich, because if rich people have money, they create jobs. No, they don't. They keep it. And pass it on to their children. George, Mitt, "The" Donald.

The Republicans love pledges. There's the "Pledge to America." It was written by a staffer for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Brian Wild, a former lobbyist at AIG. Ironically, one of the tenets of the Pledge is a hold on all unspent funds authorized as part of 2009's stimulus bill or the 2008 TARP legislation, the latter of which of course was signed by Shrub and bailed out, among others, AIG. Hmm. It also includes repealing health care reform and starting all over. They don't want it, but they have a plan, even though when it mattered they didn't believe in a plan. But, oy, do they love a good pledge.

Have you ever heard of The Family Leader? Me neither. Headed by Mike Huckabee's 2008 Iowa campaign chairman Bob Vander Plaats, this conservative group has made signing their pledge, a.k.a. "The Marriage Vow: A Declaration Of Dependence Upon Marriage And Family," a requirement for getting their endorsement in the upcoming. Michele "Batshit" Bachmann and Rick Santorum signed it. She insists now that she didn't read the preamble, and he feigns outrage at it:   

• Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American president.

• LBJ's 1965 War on Poverty was triggered in part by the famous “Moynihan Report” finding that the black out-of-wedlock birthrate had hit 26%; today, the white rate exceeds that, the overall rate is 41%, and over 70% of African-American babies are born to single parents - a prime sociological indicator for poverty,pathology and prison regardless of race or ethnicity. 

Asserting that the African-American family was stronger in slavery than it is now has been stricken.
There's also Grover Norquist's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, the Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge and the Susan B. Anthony List. Now, it's odd that when the GOP has the White House, they don't promise anything. And, lately, they sure as hell haven't delivered anything. That is, not unless you work for Halliburton (a.k.a. War Inc.), are a lobbyist, work for the Pirate King at Fixed News, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Post.