It's Chuck!!!

The U.S. Senate finally confirmed former Sen. Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.  On a 58-41 vote, Hagel went through a particularly bruising confirmation process, leading to an unprecedented filibuster of his nomination by Senate Republicans.  Read more about Hagel's confirmation by clicking on the link below.

Hagel confirmed as U.S. Defense Secretary

Prominent Republicans Sign Brief Supporting Marriage Equality

The New York Times is reporting that a list of prominent Republicans signed on to a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage.  Notablees, such as former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, and current  House GOP Reps Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York, have signed on along with 75 more.  Read the New York Times piece by clicking on the link below.

Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage

GOP on Sequester: Not So Fast, Mr. President

The President has engaged in a campaign-style rally across the country, warning of the consequences if a deal isn't reached and blaming Republicans for the stalemate.  But now, Republicans are striking back, with a barrage of news conferences by GOP House members and several Republican Governors - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley among them - slamming the President for his role in creating the Sequester in the first place, and not leading the charge for a deal to avoid it.

Sen. Ted Cruz: A New McCarthy?

Jane Mayer at The New Yorker wrote a piece about Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his controversial comments about the faculty at Harvard Law School, specifically, that there were more Communists among the faculty than Republicans.  Ms. Mayer then digs deeper into Sen. Cruz's overall rhetoric, culminating in his insinuation during a Senate hearing that Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel may have accepted campaign funds and speaking fees from hostile governments and terrorists groups.  It is a fascinating piece.

Read Jane Mayer's piece in the New Yorker by clicking on the link below.

Is Sen. Ted Cruz our new McCarthy?

Sequester Damage: State By State

On Sunday night, The Obama Administration released a detailed report that describes how the mandatory spending cuts, known as the sequester, would affect each state.  The folks over at Talking Points Memo put together a great piece outlining the White House's report, with pdf files for each state.

You can view the Talking Points Memo piece by clicking on the link below.

White House Breaks Down Sequester Damage in each State 

Other than Sequestration: What Happened This Week?

A majority of the political news this week revolved around the coming across-the-board spending cuts, known as the Sequester.  However, a lot of other stuff happened this week. Here's a sampling of some of the stories I found most interesting that were mostly overlooked by the mainstreem media.

GOP Senators and The Tea Party: A Delicate Dance

David Espo at The Associated Press has a piece out talking about how Republicans in the Senate a treading carefully with their dealings with Tea Party activists, now that they have been burned by their shenanigans over 2 election cycles.  While Tea Party support was key in Republicans taking control of the House, their candidates have had a decidedly negative impact on the GOP in the Senate.

Read Mr. Espo's piece by clicking the link below.

GOP Senators are treading carefully with the Tea Party

Dems seek to Pulverize beleaguered GOP in 2014, 2016

Andy Kroll, over at Mother Jones, is reporting about plans brewing at Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama super PAC that helped the president win re-election.  The PAC is alive and well, and has its sights set on the 2014 midterms, and beyond.  With the GOP in disarray, democratic strategists see a golden opportunity to make huge gains in 2014.

Read Mr. Kroll's piece by clicking on the link below.

Watch Out, GOP: Obama Super-PAC Is Coming for You in 2014

Just For Fun: The Wonders of Joe Biden's Mouth

OK.  This has nothing, really, to do with the current debates in Washington.  However, the folks over at The Daily Beast have put together a great little list of Vice President Joe Biden's greatest gaffes.  This was spurred by his latest, at an online Town Hall forum for Parenting Magazine earlier this week.  Say what you will about the Vice President, but he's always entertaining!

Read the post at The Daily Beast using the link below.

'Buy a Shotgun!' & More of Joe Biden's Never-Ending Gaffes

Strategists to GOP: Time to ditch 'stale' policies

Michael O'Brien at NBC wrote a piece about some members of the conservative intelligentsia calling for policy changes in the Republican Party.  He cites specific Republican strategists and think tanks, specific policies in need of re-thinking and retirement, and how some have responded to the suggestions thus far.  It's a fascinating read.

Click on the link below to read Mr. O'Brien's article.

Conservative thinkers: GOP should cut 'stale' policies loose

GOP Identity Crisis – Part 1: Demographics

This is the 1^st of a 3-part series examining the identity crisis of the GOP.  This first part deals with the demographic changes the GOP faces.  The 2^nd part will deal with the implications of the party’s current platform and its various factions.  The 3^rd part will be about what I think the GOP will do, what it should do, and what that means for the future of conservative politics.

CNN explains the Spending Cuts

CNN Money's Jeanne Sahadi wrote a piece this morning that explains how the spending cuts required in Sequestration would work.  It's purely analytical, though she does take a swipe at lawmakers for coming up with this plan in the first place.

Check out her piece at the link below.

Spending cuts: What you need to know

In 90 Seconds, Bob Schieffer Explains Washington's Idiocy

On 'Face The Nation' on Sunday, Bob Schieffer managed to admonish lawmakers on their lack of ability to deal with the Sequester before running off on a long President's Day recess.  His view is bipartisan, and somewhat depressing - though right on the money.

What the Heck is Sequestration?

The United States Congress, in their infinite wisdom, created a scenario that was supposed to force lawmakers to tackle our nation’s debt.  The scenario: create a fiscal situation that was perceived as so unbearable, lawmakers would have no choice but to act.  Unfortunately, hyper-partisanship is the rule in Washington, so our elected officials never came to an agreement as to how to proceed.

We’re BAAAACK!!!

I have decided to resurrect Politicoaster for 2013.  Unfortunately, ‘Life’ happened to me during 2012, and I was unable to keep up with all of the shenanigans of the election (which were highly entertaining, offensive, and predictable).  However, I am now starting to feel that itch to scream about our nation’s politics, and yelling at my TV while watching cable news doesn't seem to satisfy me anymore.

With all that’s going on, from Sequestration, to Gun Violence, to Immigration Reform, to Tax Reform, to Gay Marriage, to Abortion Rights, to Religious liberties – it’s maddening and fascinating and I need to blog about it.

 

We’ll start where we left off – the same rules apply.  No subject is off the table.  I’ll talk about the GOP’s image issues, Newtown, Hillary in 2016, the unprecedented filibuster of Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be Defense Secretary, Drones, RedMap, voting rights, proposed reductions in our nuclear arsenal, Iran, Israel  North Korea’s nuclear progress, the ‘Reign’ of Vladimir Putin, the proposed US & EU Trade Zone, and a whole bunch of other stuff!  And that’s just what I hope to get to over the next few weeks!

As before, I’ll try to post at least one original piece each week, plus links and other gems of political news.  And, as before, we’ll see if it works.  Ask questions.  Make comments.  Tell me if I skew too far left or right or if you think I am insane.  I’m gonna try and stick with this.

Thanks for following me!