Scott Brown, Thank You

Now that Health Care Reform (“HCR”) has passed, I want to personally thank Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.)  and the voters of Massachusetts who elected you.  By getting elected and denying the Democrats their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, I believe you actually made it possible for the Democrats to finally pass HCR.  And here is why:

One of the Reasons Supply-Side Economics Does Not Make Sense To Me

In his column in the Sunday NYTimes, former GW Bush economic advisor and current Harvard Economics Professor, N. Greg Mankiw argues against the Health Care bill because of the way that the insurance subsidies are structured.  He contends that it would discourage workers from working to their full potential.

Do Republicans Not Understand That The Internet Has Changed Politics Forever

I was not intending to use this blog to score “cheap” political points, but with the Republicans’ acerbic comments regarding the Speaker of the House in the face of their utter, bald-face hypocrisy, I feel I must write this post.  On Monday, the former, now disgraced Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich stated:

“To have the person third in line to be president say that the CIA misleads us all the time is so utterly irresponsible and such an attack on the men and women who are risking their lives … that she disqualifies herself for being speaker of the House.”

On ABC Radio, he went further:

“I think she has lied to the House, and I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don’t think the Speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,”

“I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I’ve seen in my lifetime.” “She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior.”

A Response to Doug

Doug,

This post is in response to the lengthy comment left by my friend and former colleague Doug.  Because of the length of my response, I felt a new post was justified.

First, Doug, thanks for the thoughtful, though misguided response but you did not grapple with the main thrust of the post—that it is ludicrous to claim that the Speaker is somehow guilty of conspiracy to commit torture by failing object to torture.  In my post, I tried to stay away from the Speaker’s moral culpability in the matter.  But if failure to object is the standard, very few, if any, Congressmen acquitted themselves very well during this period.  To her credit, at least the Speaker voted against the authorization to go to war.

But since you addressed your comment to whether the Speaker has any culpability in this matter, I will address your claims in succession.  I have put what my response in italics.