When the body politic has suffered the fever since 1994, it's time and a half to worry seriously.
The off-and-on House Republican who wants to start impeachment proceedings against the president is a walking disease and has been since even before 1994 when he was a vagrant living on the streets of Fort Worth. Steve Stockman always been a troublemaker and time-waster of one kind or another.
... He distinguished himself by demanding a federal investigation of the 1948 Kinsey Report on male sexuality and by claiming that the deadly 1993 assault on the Branch Davidians was a Clinton administration conspiracy to tighten gun control. ...Dana Milbank, WaPo
Milbank goes on to update Stockman's endless attention-getting moments in the House over the years when he's been the off-and-on representative from north Texas and has gone from amusement to dismay.
What’s frightening is he no longer sounds like an outlier. ...Milbank, WaPo
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Over in the Times, Maureen Dowd has another lazy column -- this time about how "standoffish" President Obama has gotten (though she doesn't suggest impeachment as a remedy).
...The president always seems to be dancing alone. And that was the vibe of his swan-song press conference for Act One of his presidency. His words were laced with an edge — churlish, chiding and self-pitying. He sardonically presented himself as Lonely Guy, shafted by the opposition, kicking around the White House on his own. Days before his second inauguration, he seemed to be intimating that the job he had fought so hard for and won against all odds was a bit of a chore, if not a bore. ...Maureen Dowd, NYT
More interesting than her column is the reaction to it from readers who fill the comment section to bursting with protests against Dowd's smug insults.
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Ruth Marcus, Post editorial writer, seems to have it entirely backwards.
“On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,” the president said in his inaugural address. “On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.”
How naive — how sad — this sounds in retrospect. ...Marcus, WaPo
Actually, no. It sounds as though Marcus isn't aware of the fact that Obama won a resounding victory (against almost all predictions) in the election that gave him a second term. Only one person in America (Nate Silver!) wasn't surprised at the extent of the Obama vote.
The depth of the Republican effort to get him out of office included tampering with the vote in quite a few states. It was only in the opening days of the new year that got the final figures of vote. In the interim weeks of counting and recounting, the win turned out to have been considerably greater than believed a few days after the election.
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The NRA is going after the President with an outrageous video pointing to Malia and Sasha for having Secret Service protection when they go to school. The idea is that the NRA is just trying to protect America's school children with their guns.
Yeah. We've noticed.
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Another Texas politician is making waves here in TX. Steve Toth, a state legislator from near Houston, is proposing a measure which represents standing up to the federal government.
Texas State Rep. Steve Toth (R-TX), with the apparent support of at least one of Texas’ most powerful politicians, will introduce unconstitutional legislation subjecting federal law enforcement officers to arrest and prosecution if they enforce new gun safety laws in the Lone Star State. ...Think Progress
This isn't going anywhere but it's good for a headline and maybe some Koch money?
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