John Boehner Starts Ducking Responsibility

From tonight's speech by the Speaker-in-waiting:

"While our new majority will serve as your voice in the people’s House, we must remember it is the president who sets the agenda for our government. The American people have sent an unmistakable message to him tonight, and that message is:“change course.”

Wait a minute. I know it's common convention to refer to the president as THE leader of the country, but Congress is a co-equal branch of government, is it not? There's no need for Republicans to wait for a Democratic president to start setting a Republican agenda -- and Boehner surely knows it. Sounds to me like the real agenda of the next two years is to blame the president for the failure to get anything done. The groundwork is already being laid.

Meanwhile, Back in Philly

Glad to see the ballot questions easily won. Businesses that want city contracts are going to have to pay their employees a decent wage, and they'll be required not to discriminate against gay employees. And that's as it should be: there's no reason my tax dollars should be subsidizing discrimination or enabling companies to keep their employees poor. If the contracts are worth it - and I'm guessing they will be - good behavior will be worth it to those companies.

Will the GOP Really Cut Spending?

Jonah Goldberg:

"To listen to all of the liberals on CNN and MSNBC tonight, the most outrageous position you can hold is opposition to raising taxes. To listen to Maddow, Spitzer, et al., raising taxes is simply what all non-extremists think is necessary, even decent. Cutting spending? Well, that’s foolish."

Not so much foolish as "unprecedented." Republicans have always cut taxes; they've never had it within them to cut government spending enough to balance the budget on its own. And that's fine! The reason they don't is because those spending programs have constituencies!

I don't think British-style austerity measures would be beneficial to the economy or to the American people, really, but you've got to respect what the UK government has done: It has promised big cuts and delivered them, in a serious attempt to balance the budget. The Republicans have not told us how they would balance the budget. I don't expect them to make any serious attempt.

Depressed, Liberals? Give Thanks for Kentucky's Gay Mayor

I can't get too depressed that the GOP is taking over the House of Representatives. Not my favorite thing, but I'm confident that gridlock will carry the day. Some of my liberal friends are feeling depressed, though, so I'd like to point them to this:

"Kentucky’s second-largest city has elected an openly gay man as its next mayor. Vice-Mayor Jim Gray was victorious tonight in his second campaign for the city’s top job, beating incumbent Mayor Jim Newberry."

Now, Lexington is a university town ... sort of. (I kid!) It's just one of two Kentucky counties that Obama won in 2008. But with those caveats out of the way: Hey! One of Kentucky's largest cities just elected a gay man as mayor!

It's not much. Maybe even not enough. But I think it's a sign that, despite whatever losses Democrats and liberals are taking at the polls tonight, the culture is slowly but surely sliding to the left in some important and very meaningful ways. Congratulations to Jim Gray.

Rand Paul Successfully Does Not Insult Jewish People

David Frum Tweets:

Re Rand Paul: notice no attacks on Federal Reserve, no coded attacks on Jews ... he's going national.

I guess I should feel encouraged that subtle anti-Semitism must be abandoned if one wants a voice at the national table. But something about this Tweet doesn't make me feel encouraged.

Did Bush Almost Drop Cheney?

New York Times:

"President George W. Bush considered dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from his 2004 reelection ticket to dispel the myths about Mr. Cheney’s power in the White House and “demonstrate that I was in charge,” the former president says in a new memoir."

Wait for it...

"The idea came from Mr. Cheney..."

OK, then.

Sarah Palin Endorses Tom Tancredo

Sigh....:

"In Colorado, Sarah Palin's voice is making thousands of robo-calls, as the former Alaska governor made a last-minute endorsement of gubernatorial candidate Tom Trancedo (who was deemed too conservative for the Bush White House)"

Seems the Palin is firmly casting her lot with nativist demagoguery. I'm starting to suspect she doesn't have any real criteria for her endorsements, save the "maverickyness" of the candidate in question.