Greg Sargent

If you missed me putting Buck McKeon's resignation from Congress into context for KPFK listeners yesterday, here's a short, abbreviated version above.

The above FDR reelection speech from 1936 warning voters about GOP intentions towards the popular social insurance policies they had fought so hard against, is no less relevant today than it was then. Roosevelt went on to win 60.8% to 36.5%, taking every state but Vermont and Maine and winning the electoral college 523 to 8. Democrats continued winning seats in Congress and wound up with a margin of 334 (+ 10 left-leaning independents) to 88 in the House and 76 (+ 2 left-leaning independents) to 16 in the Senate.

"A bitter past hangs over this debate and could overwhelm a discussion of what's actually at stake."-- E. J.

War... but  not as much as McCainBoehner, Cantor and House Intelligence Committee chair Mike Rogers (R-MI) are all backing Obama's flimsy excuses to rush to war against Syria but will they and their Beltway Establishment allies-- who have certainly tossed out the so-called Hastert Rule on this one-- be able to swing the majority of Republicans into Obama's corner?

Boehner's job-- trying to herd the fractious, racist, unpatriotic teabaggers in his own party-- is so thankless and stressful that there are rumors he's contemplating retirement. Since the rumor originates with Politico, they may not be entirely credible, although they insist that "the rumors are real, and they’re bouncing from Capitol Hill to K Street.

Perhaps you read Greg Sargent's excellent piece for the Washington Post Tuesday about increasingly reckless and aggressive GOP nihilism in Congress.