The Republic of T.

MItt Romney is taking a lot of heat for saying that he’s “not concerned about the very poor.” To be fair, he also said he’s not concerned about the very rich either. Lucky for him the feeling isn’t mutual that that side of the economic divide. According to recent FEC filings, the very rich are very concerned with Mitt Romney’s campaign for his party’s presidential nomination. And why shouldn’t they be concerned? After all, some of them are Mitt’s friends and former colleagues.

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Bachmann is gone. Perry was out, then back in, and is filing briefs in Virginia. Having tumbled from front-runner to fourth place, Newt stormed out of Iowa, heading for New Hampshire to prepare for the next round. After “winning” the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney is now stuck in that awkward phase otherwise known as the rest of the campaign. That leaves Google’s favorite candidate, Rick Santorum, to bring the crazy.

And, in the final lap of the Iowa caucuses, boy did he bring it. Twice, in fact. Santorum’s statements about “black people” on welfare, and how “break-down of the family” caused the economic crisis, suggest that the Republican presidential race will stay firmly rooted in unreality when it comes to America’s “family un-friendly ” economy.

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I heard one of my favorite holiday songs on the radio yesterday — John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” I’ve always loved it, but this year holds special meaning for me — especially the children of the Harlem Community Choir singing “War is over, if you want it.” on the chorus .

This holiday season, I’m getting something that — as a progressive — I have wanted for years: an end of the war in Iraq. As it happens, this “gift” is like many given and received this time of year. You never really know what you’re getting until you unwrap it. Once unwrapped, it’s not to be quite what you thought or hoped it would be. And, even with price tag removed, you know it cost way too much.

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It’s almost enough to make you feel sorry for the Republican party in the run-up to 2012. First, the party had a literal embarrassment of riches, in the form of a field chock-full of candidates with something for just about every major faction and minor fringe the GOP has cobbled into a conservative coalition. Then, dragged through a series of debates in which the only thing more embarrassing than the candidates was the audience, the candidates who were bona fide right-wing stars, wilted under hot lights of ever intensifying media and public scrutiny.

Inevitably, the field narrowed. Herman Cain went home to (finally) spend more time with his family. Michelle Bachmann has been asked to drop out — again. Rick Perry is still around, but merely provides comic relief at this point. Yet that hasn’t improved the field. Even Newt Gingrich’s ironic return to relevance as the Republicans’ savior seems to be winding down. Meanwhile, the all important Iowa Caucuses loom. And all eyes turn to Ron Paul — the GOP’s own Mad Doctor.

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Chalk it up to my ADD, but sometimes my brain finds connections the strangest, seemingly most disparate stories among the many I read online every day. Two years ago, I wrote a rather longish blog post titled “Reclaiming ‘We’.” It was partly inspired by NY Times columnist Thom Friedman’s declaration that “There is no ‘we’ in American politics.” Yesterday, Tom Engelhardt brought full circle the ideas I started to flesh out in that post, in a wonderful post inspired by the chant shouted by Russian demonstrators protesting ballot-stuffing and election fraud: “We exist!”

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James Thwinda has a great post up at In These Times about “Why Conservatives Can’t Fix Poverty.” He zeroes in on Newt Gingrich as the prime example of the contemporary conservative approach to poverty, debunks the right’s “distorted characterization of poor people,” and rightly point out that the very conservative policies Gingrich and his fellow conservative champion actually make the problem worse.

I would add only one thing, and it addresses ideology. Conservatives can’t fix poverty, because conservatives don’t want to fix poverty. For the same reason that Republicans never even attempted health care reform when they controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House. From a conservative perspective, poverty isn’t the real problem. Poor people are.

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Rick Perry’s latest “oops” moments are this Monday’s low-hanging fruit for bloggers, and by now it’s low-hanging fruit that seems thoroughly picked over. Looking back over the Republican campaign thus far, littered with what’s left of a bushel of front-runners whose campaigns ultimately withered on the vine, the dying gaffes of Perry’s candidacy seem like just one more added to the pile.

Taken as a whole, though, the GOP’s trail of broken dream candidates could lead back to what’s really driving the GOP’s “reality show” primary.”

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It’s rare that two very public implosions occur almost simultaneously or resonate so well with one another as the the crashing and burning of Herman Cain’s presidential campaign and Eddie Long’s marriage and ministry. It’s even rarer that two high profile “players” like Cain and Long (or Long and Cain, or even Long/Cain, if you prefer) have the bluffs called so spectacularly and fold so publicly.

For a blogger, it’s difficult to resist either story, considering “how snide and vicious” one could get “and still write nothing but the truth.” For one such as myself, who’s written about both men, it’s impossible to resist.

Some of the parallels between the two are innocuous: both are black ministers, both are from Georgia, both have amassed significant amounts of personal wealth. Other parallels are innocuous: both, if the allegations against them are true, rose to fame pretending to be something they were not, and both were publicly revealed as frauds.

Ironically, in the long run, neither may suffer much for it.

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“Which side are you on?” That question, posed by Florence Reece in a pro-union song she wrote in 1931, echoes across the country today, in the form of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and demonstrations like Take Back the Capital this week. Millions of Americans caught in the drip of an economic crisis caused by Wall Street’s actions, who have waited years for relief as they’ve struggled with unemployment, foreclosures, and financial devastation are speaking with one voice, demanding of our elected leaders an answer to that most relevant question: “Which side are you on?”

Yesterday, Senate Republicans answered that question once again. They stand with Wall Street. They stand with the one percent.

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It seems ages ago (Doesn’t it?) that progressives were pushing hard to get Elizabeth Warren appointed to head her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. We know how that worked out. Despite our best efforts, Warren didn’t get the appointment and moved on to become Senate candidate Warren, challenging Scott Walker for his Senate seat.

When it became clear that Senate Republicans would block Warren’s appointment, no matter what she or anyone else said or did, President Obama appointed Richard Cordray. The response from progressives was mixed. Many of us were, understandably disappointed that Warren didn’t get the appointment. Some viewed it as a betrayal. Some viewed it as a chance to for the CFPB to fulfill its vitally important mission.

Well, now Senate Republicans are blocking Cordray’s appointment. But unlike Warren’s appointment, this time its not about Cordray.

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The answer, as far as I’m concerned, to the question in the title is the same as in the Joan Jett song I borrowed it from: “Yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!”

Before I begin, like I said before, I already know all the reasons I shouldn’t have slurped down another cup of Amazon’s Kool-Aid. And my answer is the same as it was when I was debating whether to buy a Kindle Fire or wait for the iPad 3 to buy my first tablet device.

And on, and on. Substitute any other company for Amazon or Apple, any company whose products I use or come into contact with in the course of a day, and all of the above could still be said. Sometimes it’s hard to avoid connection with any of the above transgressions. Sometimes it’s not even a choice. When I ride the bus, do I know where the fuel comes from? BP? Exxon? Likewise, with the goods I purchase that have been hauled from one place to another. When I buy clothes for myself or my kids, can I always be certain of the conditions in which they were created? Can I avoid be “tainted” by goods and services through association, voluntary or otherwise? Well, maybe, but my guess is it would become a full time job, and I’ve already got one of those. The best I can do is the best I can to change the above in other aspects of my life. My hands will never be “clean.” Best I can do is wash them regularly.

As for the rest, whether or not to drink the Kool-Aid depends on whether I like the flavor. I know that the products I’m buying come with some limitations, and by the time I reach the point of purchase, I’ve already decided whether I can live with the limitations, because they outweigh the features I do want. The bottom line for me when it comes to the Kindle Fire is simple: Does it do what I need it to do? And maybe a little bit more?

Well, I ended up getting the Kindle Touch, sans 3G.

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No doubt Republicans know the fight over extending the payroll tax is one they could lose. Thus, they’ve pivoted away from opposing the extension, and have presented a plan of their own — one that Timothy Noah says the Democrats should be willing to work with because it “doesn’t stink.”

Well, in my experience, just because you can’t smell something doesn’t mean it doesn’t sink. Some things “pass the smell test” because of a faulty sniffer; not because they don’t stink. And the GOP’s payroll tax plan does so stink.

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The spread of the Occupy movement, and its increasing popularlity, shows that not only do Americans want Wall Street held accountable for its role in the economic crisis and ensuing recession, but it’s painfully clear to that there has been no acountability — and more and more Americans are beginning to understand why. Glenn Grewald explained in a post that’s be republished all over the web that the wealthy subverted the legal system, resulting in what Robert Scheer called “thirty years of unleashed greed”.

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As the last full day of the Take Back the American Dream conference ended, the “Building the Progressive Movement: What Should We Do Next?” action strategy session posed the question that was probably on the minds of many attendees: What should we do next? The answers, shared between a filled room of activists and a panel of progressive leaders — Levanya Layendecker, Joan Blades, Tim Carpenter, Adam Green, Michael Kieschnick — distilled and expanded upon the best of all that attendees heard over the course of conference.

What should we do next? What’s our next move? Make no mistake, whatever the next 16 months and beyond bring, the next move is ours to make, and the fight to rebuild and reclaim the American Dream is ours to win.

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This may count as the “Who am I? Why am I here?” moment of the 2012 campaign season.

Mitt Romney took a hard break from his Republican opponents for the presidential nomination in an interview with a New Hampshire newspaper Monday.

Unlike much of the rest of the GOP field, Romney’s not ready to condemn the booing of a gay soldier at the last debate.

…“You’d have to look at it,” he told the New Hampshire Union-Leader, according to the Wall Street Journal. “I don’t know when they booed, and I don’t know why people booed. I will tell you that the boos and the applause has not always coincided with my own views.”

“You have to look at it,” he says? OK. Let’s.

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Troy Davis is dead, killed — murdered, some would even say — by the state of Georgia for a crime he may well not have committed.

While many questions remain about the case against Davis, even after his death, there’s one I want to focus on here: Who will be the next Troy Davis? Because someone will be. Our system of justice guarantees it.

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One breakout session at the Take Back the American Dream conference in Washington, DC, October 3-4, addresses an issue that has major implications for the progressive agenda in 2012 and beyond: "Voter Suppression and the 2012 Election: The Civil Rights Movement to Take Back the Right to Vote." In dozens of states, Republicans are aiming to restrict or take away the voting rights of core constituencies of the Democratic party.

When the tea party shouts their desire to take "their country" back, make no mistake the first thing they want to take back is the right to vote. They don’t just want to take it back. They want to transform it, again.

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Even Republicans are having funny reactions to their last debate. One Huntsman staffer said she’s “sick and sad” over the behavior of the crowd at the last two debates. Funny. “sick and sad” is exactly how some of us would describe that behavior.

Funnier still? Even Rick Perry was “taken aback.” Taken aback? Perry got even more applause for touting his record of 234 executions on his watch as governor of Texas.

Never struggled? Perry’s body count even surpasses that of famed “Texecutioner” George W. Bush, who racked up 152 executions during his term as Texas governor. Perry has managed to beat Bush by more than 80 executions, and will probably make it 100 if he doesn’t end up moving to the White House. And he never struggled with it? Not even once? There is at least one case Perry should have struggled with.

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“Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?” is a favorite in our house. And last night we watched the Dina Matos-Jim McGreevey story.

I know that they can only fit so much into the format of a 30 minute show, but…

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House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor asked to meet with President Obama, to “discuss potential areas of bipartisan agreement,” before his (hopefully) big jobs speech. Either they were hoping to crib some ideas, because they’re fresh out, or they wanted script approval.

Either way, here’s hoping the president told them exactly where to go. (Most likely, the White House politely declined.) Because there’s another group he should be listening to.

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