Bachmann, Coulter and Rush in their Natural State

Zina Saunders, who did some great art during the 2008 campaign, has captured Michelle Bachmann, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh in their natural state. Check out Zina's work here.

Bachmann Cries Socialism-Again

The more republicans cry socialism, the less credible they appear, the more they sink into oblivion. It didn't work during the campaign. It won't work now. It only serves to draw out the racists and the crazies like pigs to mud. It doesn't do anyone any good and it's a stupid argument.

But Michelle Bachmann is at it again.

CNN: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann pressed the socialism argument on Thursday, telling a conservative radio show that the Obama administration is "completely socializing the American economy" with its mortgage relief proposals and bailouts of financial institutions.

"What we've seen them do in the last five weeks is nothing short of a great leap forward toward than finalizing a place of socialism in American economic life," Bachmann told radio host G. Gordon Liddy. "We have never seen this level of socialism in the history of our country, and I think the American people would be floored when they understand the dramatic steps that Obama has taken for our future."

Wealthiest Will Get First Tax Hike in 16 Years in Obama's Budget

Healthcare reform is an integral part of the budget. See highlights of Health and Human Services funding here.
People like Michelle Bachmann (you remember her) are going to hate this budget because it hikes taxes for those who make $250K or more. Bachmann thinks rich people are an endangered species. Expect that to be the big whine today and tomorrow. The wealthiest haven't had a tax hike in 16 years!

President Barack Obama is proposing the first tax increase on high-income earners in 16 years to help pay for sweeping health-care reforms, asking the U.S. Congress to cap the tax deductions for affluent Americans.

The move would reverse a course set by former President George W. Bush of lowering taxes for high-income people, the cornerstone of his administration’s economic program. Bloomberg

Check out the budget online here.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Peter Orszag's first blog post:

Welcome to my first blog post at the Office of Management and Budget.

In this blog, I want to open up OMB even more to the public and share with you what we’re doing to address the many challenges that we face as a nation. I know that, for many people, blogs are the easiest way of receiving information – so this blog may prove to be useful even if it simply provides a convenient way of keeping up with information from OMB that is already available in other formats. President Obama is committed to ensuring a direct link between citizens and our federal government. Especially in light of our difficult economic times, I am committed to ensuring that OMB’s work is accessible. Although OMB is extensively discussed in the media and elsewhere, the blog will allow me to communicate and explain our work directly.
Today, we’re releasing the overview of the President’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget.
Read the rest

Read the transcript of Obama's budget talk here.
Early republican reaction:

Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, the No. 3 Republican leader in the House, said Obama can expect a wall of opposition to his proposed tax increase. Roughly half of Americans earning $250,000 are small-business owners, and the proposed increase will stifle the troubled economy, he said.

“There will be overwhelming opposition from the American people and House Republicans to the idea that we should raise taxes during a recession,” Pence said in an interview. “Raising taxes in a recession is not a strategy for recovery.”

Representative Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican, said in an e-mail, “You cannot help the job seeker by punishing the job creator. This is exactly the wrong time to be raising taxes on anyone, not the least of which are our small businesses that create new jobs in America.” Bloomberg

Palin Did Us All A Favor

Obama at Kansas City., Mo. office

In 2004, they were called "value voters." Palin has allowed the so-called "value voters," babies, guns and Jesus, as stated by Rush Limbaugh, to show their true colors and it turns out they're not pretty people. As Obama gets closer to winning the election, they all seem to be going bonkers. Just thought I'd say that.

NYT: So there was a Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann, telling Chris Matthews on MSNBC that the press should start investigating members of the House and Senate to determine which ones are “pro-America or anti-America.”

Can a rancid Congressional committee be far behind? Leave it to a right-wing Republican to long for those sunny, bygone days of political witch-hunting.

Ms. Bachmann’s demented desire (“I would love to see an exposé like that”) is of a piece with the G.O.P.’s unrelenting effort to demonize its opponents, to characterize them as beyond the pale, different from ordinary patriotic Americans — and not just different, but dangerous, and even evil.

But the party is not content to stop there. Even better than demonizing opponents is the more powerful and direct act of taking the vote away from their opponents’ supporters. The Republican Party has made strenuous efforts in recent years to prevent Democrats from voting, and to prevent their votes from being properly counted once they’ve been cast.

Which brings me to the phony Acorn scandal.

John McCain, who placed his principles in a blind trust once the presidential race heated up, warned the country during the presidential debate last week that Acorn, which has been registering people to vote by the hundreds of thousands, was “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history.”

It turns out that a tiny percentage of these new registrations are bogus, with some of them carrying ludicrous names like Mickey Mouse. Republicans have tried to turn this into a mighty oak of a scandal, with Mr. McCain thundering at the debate that it “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Please. The Times put the matter in perspective when it said in an editorial that Acorn needs to be more careful with some aspects of its voter-registration process. It needs to do a better job selecting canvassers, among other things.
...
Two important points need to be made here. First, the reckless attempt by Senator McCain, Sarah Palin and others to fan this into a major scandal has made Acorn the target of vandals and a wave of hate calls and e-mail. Acorn staff members have been threatened and sickening, murderous comments have been made about supporters of Barack Obama. (Senator Obama had nothing to do with Acorn’s voter-registration drives.)

Olbermann: America is the Real America

Great rant!

The Hateful Bachmann Gets Stepped Up Competition

If you missed Michelle Bachmann's recent embarrassment to herself, you can view it here. Come on Minnesota, vote this woman out.

HP: Here's some good news for Republican voters in Minnesota's Sixth District. There is absolutely no need for any of you to cast your vote for incumbent Representative Michelle Bachmann, who is an embarrassment to herself and the people of Minnesota, with her awfulness.

Bachmann's recent remarks, that the media should perform a witch hunt to determine which members of Congress are "pro-America or anti-America," have so incensed her primary opponent, Aubrey Immelman, that he has decided to jump into the race as a write in candidate.

Wacky Michelle Bachmann Hardball

These people are so strange.

Republican Women's Group Smears Obama

I post these things because I believe these kind of people should be publicly humiliated for their deeds.
In this case, Diane Fedele, is the president of this Upland, California group, the Chaffey Community Republican Women, Federated.

LAT: A Republican women's club in San Bernardino County sent out a recent newsletter with a photo of Barack Obama surrounded by fried chicken, watermelon and ribs, sparking widespread outrage and rebuke from GOP leaders and Democrats.

The illustration shows the Democratic presidential candidate's head atop a donkey's body on a bogus $10 bill referred to as "Obama Bucks." Inscribed on the money are the words "United States Food Stamps" surrounded by stereotypical African American food.
Upland.

Another dim wit from Minnesota:

Politico: Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (Minn.) accused Barack Obama Friday of holding “anti-American” sentiments.

“I'm very concerned that he may have anti-American views,” Bachmann said on MSNBC’s Hardball. “That's what the American people are concerned about. That’s why they want to know what his answers are.”

“In his book, Barack Obama had pointed to Jeremiah Wright as one of his mentors and also Father Pfleger as one of his mentors. Two of the three mentors are Father Pfleger and Jeremiah Wright. Now, these are very strange, anti-American mentors,” Bachmann continued.

“Barack Obama has been associating with anti-Americans, by and large -- the people who are radical leftists. That's the real question about Barack Obama.”

Seen on Twitter: "They don't have a campaign anymore, it is only a smear machine, they offer Americans nothing else." Yep.