Congratulations to Clyde and Becky Voelkerding who make a cameo appearance in Claire McCaskill’s latest TV commercial at about the 25 second mark …
As cool as that is don’t let it distract you from the heart of the message: Boatloads of money are being funneled into Missouri to influence the outcome of the US Senate race with dishonest and negative ads funded by big oil and private insurers. McCaskill says she’ll fight them.
These are the GOP knuckleheads who want to replace Claire McCaskill this fall. More out-of-touch, 1 percenters who can’t even tell you what the Federal minimum wage is …
Notice how they all fall back to the GOP’s default position on “government control of the marketplace,” while avoiding the question and hoping to God radio host Charlie Brennan doesn’t further expose their out-of-touchery. Even former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman guessed wrong and she’s a numbers gal.
So none of them know anything about the minimum wage but they’re against it anyway. Face, meet palm.
I’m no big fan of Sen. Claire McCaskill. Too conservative for my taste. But I will say this about her, she’s unafraid to walk into hostile territory and face her adversaries.
Remember back in 2010 when the frothing teabaggers were showing up in droves at town hall meetings and generally making it impossible for anyone to have a rational discussion about anything? McCaskill didn’t run away. She attended those meetings and held her own quite well. That’s admirable and is part of the job.
But as one the three GOP candidates who wishes to replace her this fall, John Brunner sounds like a total wimp by comparison. After calling for a series of debates in December, Brunner now appears afraid to even face his own GOP brothers and sisters in independent media debates, preferring instead a more scripted forum hosted by the Missouri Republican Party.
Brunner posted a page on his website back in November, encouraging Missourians to “Ask Me Anything,” promising a response within days. Since then, he has been unavailable to voters or the media and has been essentially hiding behind TV ads and expensive consultants.
So here’s my question for John should he ever come out of hiding: Why won’t you man up?
Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill admitted Monday that she had failed to pay about $287,000 in back taxes and will sell a private plane that has created considerable controversy as she prepares to run for a second term in 2012.
“I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane,” McCaskill told reporters on a conference call Monday afternoon. “I will not be setting foot on the plane ever again.”
My first thought was, that must be one hell of a plane to owe that much in personal property taxes over a three-year period. My second thought was, this explains why her answer to balancing the nation’s fiscal problems involve cutting social programs instead of raising taxes on the rich.
McCaskill was in for a tough reelection fight before this. It just got that much tougher.
In today’s Post-Dispatch, McCaskill Wants Answers to Customs Failures Plaguing Missouri Industries details efforts by Senator Claire McCaskill to remedy trade enforcement issues that are hurting business and employment inMissouri. Let’s hope she can change things.
Last Sunday the Post featured an investigative report, Inaction on Trade Fraud Vexes U.S. Companies that has evidently caught the Senators eye. What caught my eye was the current remedy for trade violations ” if companies prove allegations of dumping or unfair subsidies, the Commerce Department orders duties to bring prices on imported goods in line with the cost of U.S. – made goods”.
Why is that the remedy and not the everyday premise? By allowing companies to import goods for less than the government mandated costs associated with production we are penalizing our domestic producers. This is why many have outsourced their work and jobs. A system of tariffs to equalize these costs and create a level playing field was largely in place prior to the 80′s and in particular the NAFTA era. Without addressing this structural issue it will be hard to ever achieve a growing, prosperous economy.
Sen. Claire McCaskill sent out an email today asking Missourians to vote on spending they don’t want to see cut — because we’re going to have to make “the tough choices,” don’t ya know.
What do you think should be at the top of the “protect list”?
* Corporate Tax Breaks and Subsidies ($116 billion in budget)
* Education ($77.4 billion in budget)
* Foreign Aid ($50.9 billion in budget)
* Funding for the Arts and Sciences ($8.759 billion in budget)
* Homeland Security ($43.2 billion in budget)
* Medicare ($485 billion in budget)
* Military and Defense Programs ($703 billion in budget)
* Social Security ($12.7 billion in budget — note, this does not include the money Americans pay into the Social Security Trust Fund that is used to pay beneficiaries; this only includes the general revenue funds dedicated to certain annual Social Security costs, such as administrative expenses)
Notice what’s missing from McCaskill’s “tough choices”? The Bush-era tax cuts for the rich and the two ongoing and futile wars, which account for $7 trillion in deficits over the next ten years — dwarfing McCaskill’s entire list.
Just two policies dating from the Bush Administration — tax cuts and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — accounted for over $500 billion of the deficit in 2009 and will account for almost $7 trillion in deficits in 2009 through 2019, including the associated debt-service costs. [6] (The prescription drug benefit enacted in 2003 accounts for further substantial increases in deficits and debt, which we are unable to quantify due to data limitations.) These impacts easily dwarf the stimulus and financial rescues. Furthermore, unlike those temporary costs, these inherited policies (especially the tax cuts and the drug benefit) do not fade away as the economy recovers (see Figure 1).
So the question is not what is your top priority or what is my top priority. The question is, what is McCaskill’s.
E.J. Dionne’s latest column explains how the Tea Party has changed the national conversation from the growing wealth disparity to cutting spending on working and middle class families in order to solve the nation’s fiscal problems.
Witness Sen. McCaskill’s town hall yesterday in Washington, Mo. Her overarching message was how deeply concerned she is about deficits, and how the solution is drastic “spending cuts,” forgetting to mention that she ultimately voted to protect tax cuts for billionaires in December, which adds even more to the deficit.
Granted, she fought for a compromise to extend tax cuts for only the middle class, but missing from her rhetoric now is any reference to rolling back the Bush-era tax cuts, let alone actually raising taxes on the wealthy, as a solution to the deficit problem.
Lori Montgomery reported in The Post last week that a bipartisan group of senators thinks a sensible deficit reduction package would involve lifting the Social Security retirement age to 69 and reforming taxes, purportedly to raise revenue, in a way that would cut the top income tax rate for the wealthy from 35 percent to 29 percent.
Only a body dominated by millionaires could define “shared sacrifice” as telling nurses’ aides and coal miners they have to work until age 69 while sharply cutting tax rates on wealthy people. I see why conservative Republicans like this. I honestly don’t get why Democrats – “the party of the people,” I’ve heard – would come near such an idea.
But McCaskill is all in. Tax cuts for the rich. Austerity for you and me. That’s her solution.
Parts 2 through 5 can be watched here. Hat tip to Becky Voelkerding for providing the videos.
In an effort to bring some ‘Show-Me’ common sense to Washington, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill wants to talk with Missourians about ways to help clean up Congress. As she travels across the state, McCaskill will hold a town hall forum in Franklin County to gather input, listen to the concerns of Missourians and discuss her efforts to implement new reforms that create more transparency and accountability to Congress.
WHAT: Franklin County Town Hall Forum
WHEN: Monday, February 21, 2011, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
WHERE: Washington Senior High School
600 Blue Jay Drive
Washington, MO 63090-4598 | MAP
They hold these things at the stupidest possible times for people who work. Someone needs to ask common-sense Claire why she is co-sponsoring Jay Rockefeller’s bill, the “EPA Stationary Source Regulations Delay Act.” It’s just another roadblock to prevent the EPA from regulating carbon emissions at power plants for another two years and besides, Obama said he would veto any attempt to block rules to regulate carbon (maybe) so the measure might be little more than symbolism to show the business crowd how “serious” and independent she is. We can only hope.
And what about the ridiculous budget proposal her and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) have conjured up? An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said it “would force draconian cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and many other programs while making it harder for the nation to recover from recession.” The Wonk Room calls it “a lazy and unrealistic plan to reduce government spending.”
Seriously, with Democrats like Claire, who needs Republicans? If her goal is to reassure Missourians she’s not in league with progressives, well, mission accomplished.
Missouri NEA and the Missouri Press Association and Foundation partnered in January to promote reading and Missouri history to children across the state.
Each January, Missouri newspapers publish an historical fiction serial story in the annual Newspapers In Education project, Reading Across Missouri. The project, inspired by NEA’s Read Across America campaign, engages children inside their community newspaper—learning a little about Missouri history while improving their reading skills and connecting to their communities.
This year, well-known Missourians read aloud each chapter of the story, “Three Generals,” and as Missouri’s newspapers published the serial, children across the state were able to access the audio files online at www.mnea.org and read along. Among the readers were Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt, University of Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton, U.S. Silver Olympic Medalist Christian Cantwell, former U.S. Congressman Ike Skelton, Missouri National Guard Major General Stephen Danner and story author Kay Hively.
To find out who the three generals are and to read more about the many lessons learned in this valuable projecte.
