Slate.com has an excellent Illustrated Guide to GOP Scandals posted. Check it out for a Highlights Magazine style tour through twisted world of the GOP. At their rate we might be able to have a page-a-day calendar next year, there’s certainly enough material.
In a recent letter posted on House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s website, the GOP revealed their strategic angle on the Iraq escalation debate. In the letter GOP Reps. John Shadegg and Peter Hoekstra told their collegues that the best way to argue the debate with the Democrats is to NOT talk about Iraq, because they’ll lose.
We are writing to urge you not to debate the Democratic Iraq resolution on their terms, but rather on ours.Democrats want to force us to focus on defending the surge, making the case that it will work and explaining why the President's new Iraq policy is different from prior efforts and therefore justified.
We urge you to instead broaden the debate to the threat posed to Americans, the world, and all "unbelievers" by radical Islamists. We would further urge you to join us in educating the American people about the views of radical Islamists and the consequences of not defeating radical Islam in Iraq.
The debate should not be about the surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date, mistakes that have been made, or whether we can, or cannot, win militarily. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose.
| Read the full letter (PDF) |
You know at least the GOP are self-aware and know where they stand on this debate. It’s nice to know that the GOP priority is in simply not losing the debate, and not whether or not escalation is the best thing for our troops, for America and for the Global War on Islamo-fascist Terrorism (or whatever they’re calling it these days).
There’s an AP story by Jim Kuhnhenn circling the newspapers that addresses the proposed minimum wage increase bill that passed in the house. However there is a serious problem with how Mr. Kuhnhenn wrote and framed this story. It reads:
Senators Kill Minimum Wage Amendment
Senate Democrats Defeat ‘Poison Pill’ Minimum Wage Proposal Offered by RepublicansAn effort to increase the minimum wage in all states, even those that already have wage floors higher than the federal base, failed Thursday after Democrats labeled it a “poison pill.”
Democrats said the Republican proposal was designed to kill underlying minimum wage legislation.
An amendment offered by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., was an effort to show how raising the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over 26 months would have no effect in eight states because they already have wage floors of $7.25 or higher. Another two states have scheduled minimum wage increases that also would place them above the proposed federal floor.
My problem with this is that upon glancing at it, and the way he writes the first paragraph it looks as if Democrats struck down a proposed hike in the minimum wage proposed by Republicans, when in fact it is the opposite that is true. They actually struck down an amendment by Republicans that attempted to show that the raising of the minimum wage would have no positive effect.
That’s just bad journalism and I’m disappointed that this is being picked up by so many papers. Thumbs down Jim Kuhnhenn.
EDIT: Ted Kennedy Responds: