Now You Know

Disillusioned with Obama? Thinking about staying home this November, because the Democrats couldn't clean up eight-to-thirty years of greed, mismanagement, lies, and lust for power in eighteen months? Well, our own Michelle Bachmann (R-Crazytown) finally told the truth about what will happen if the GOP regains power in the midterm elections:

Three Fingers of Politics via DailyKos and Mother Jones:

“Oh, I think that’s all we should do,” Bachmann said. “I think that all we should do is issue subpoenas and have one hearing after another. And expose all the nonsense that is going on. And it’s very important when we come back that we have constitutional conservative leadership because the American people’s patience is about this big.”

[...]“This is the year – this is it,” Bachmann continued. “All of our chips are on November. If we don’t get it back and then starve the beast – the House, we have the power of the purse – so we can starve ObamaCare. We don’t have to fund any of these programs and that’s exactly what we need to do – defund all of this nonsense and then unwind it.”

Do we really want health care rolled back, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act repealed, secret deals with energy companies setting our energy policy again, Blackwater (or Xe, or whatever name they're trying to hide under this week) in charge of the Border Patrol, John Boner (sorry, that's closer to how his name is actually pronounced in the original German than that crap he says!) as Speaker, and Pres. Obama arrested as an illegal alien and impeached? Are we really that eager to see the federal government in gridlock once again?

Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly sees an even more dire situation, should the GOP win back the House this fall:

To be sure, it was farcical on the Hill in the mid- to late-'90s. Rep. Dan Burton (R) of Indiana and his House committee on administrative oversight launched pointless investigations into every wild-eyed Clinton-related accusation unhinged activists could manufacture.

[...]Over the last six years of Bill Clinton's presidency, Burton's committee unilaterally issued 1,052 subpoenas -- that's not a typo -- to investigate baseless allegations of misconduct. That translates to an average of a politically-inspired subpoena every other day for six consecutive years, including weekends, holidays, and congressional recesses.

A Republican House majority in the next Congress would likely take this even further. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has already made clear that he intends to make Burton look like a meek, submissive toady, leaving "corporate America" alone, so he can attack the White House relentlessly.

For that matter, let's also not forget that some Republicans, including two members of Congress, have raised the specter of presidential impeachment once there's a GOP majority. One of them is Bachmann -- who thinks "all" Republicans should do in the next Congress is launch witch hunts.

As Paul Krugman noted recently, "[W]e'll be having hearings over accusations of corruption on the part of Michelle Obama's hairdresser, janitors at the Treasury, and Larry Summers's doctor's dog."

Is this serious enough to you? We cannot afford to lose a single seat in the Congress this fall.--not one. Look at how "60 is the new 59" became the law of the land in the Senate after Ted Kennedy died. Look at how much opposition Pres. Obama has faced even when his party controlled both chambers of Congress, and then think about how things might go for his presidency - and our lives - if the Repugs control even the House, much less the Senate, after the midterms.

brooklynbadboy at DailyKos has it right:

In a rare moment of honesty, Michelle Bachmann illustrates the real agenda of the GOP. They are going to do all of the things their nutcase base is calling for. They are going to focus on one thing and one thing only: turning the federal government into the soundbyte factory for Fox News.

Breitbart will be brought in for testimony on civil rights. Tancredo will be given a large platform for discussion about changing demographics. Orly Taitz will be brought in to provide perspective on the Constitution. Name your conspiracy. Every single nutcase teabagger fantasy will be placed front and center on the legislative calendar.

Is this what you really want? Is this the kind of country that you'd like to live in? Or do you want to see the promise of Barack Obama's election to the presidency come into full bloom? This country and this planet cannot endure the return to power of the Republican Party. We have to hold on, we have to elect more and better Democrats (Nebraska, are you listening?), and we have to fight in this election even harder than we did two years ago.

There really is no other choice.