Rep. Griffith, shown graduating from the 4th grade
-Headline of the day-
"Dem Switches To GOP Because Obama Took Away His Missile Defense Pork?"
Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith is no longer a Democratic rep, he's gone over to the dark side. Although, looking at his record, you've got to wonder why the Alabama Blue Dog was a Democrat in the first place. He voted against healthcare reform, the stimulus package, cap-and-trade legislation, financial reform, and said he wouldn't vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker next year.
But it looks like the final straw for this fiscal conservative was the fact that the Obama administration was no longer willing to throw money at his district to pay for a missile defense system that doesn't actually work.
"The Obama administration’s decision to scrap plans to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe further frustrated Griffith..." Politico reports, "because his district contains the base for Boeing’s ground-based missile defense research." No more corporate welfare for Boeing? No Democratic Rep. Parker Griffith.
Griffith's defection shifts the balance of the House of Representatives from Democratic domination to... Well, Democratic domination. It's a move without any real consequence at all for Democrats, who now hold 258 seats to the GOP's 177. The only real consequence is for Porky-Parky, who's now a member of a pretty powerless minority party.
Smooth smove, genius. (Plum Line)
-Micheal Steele's kind of a dick-
At least, that's Sen. Tom Harkin's take on the head of the Republican National Committee. When Democrats broke the filibuster of healthcare reform, Mikey freaked out, telling people on a conference call that Democrats were "cowards" who were "flipping the bird" to the American public. I think he also chugged a fifth of vodka, slapped an aide, and took a crap in his desk drawer. Don't quote me on that, because I'm not sure.
Anyway, someone asked Tom what he thought of Mikey's reaction and whether he was surprised by it. "I didn't seem surprised," he told reporters. "It is not the first obnoxious thing he said. I mean, the guy gives new definition to the word obnoxious. You know. He says outrageous things."
Of course, this will just cause Steele to freak out all over again... Which I think was the whole point. (Huffington Post)
-Bonus HotD-
"RNC Chair Alleges, Without Proof, White House Took CBO to 'Woodshed' to Get Better Health Care Budget Numbers."
That headline is from FOX News, a network so comfortable with bullshit that it cuts paychecks for Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck. And even they feel the need to point out that Steele's statement just might not be all that true.
I think Tom Harkin's right; Michael Steele's a little bit of a dick. (FOX News)
