Ted Cruz Determined to Keep his Anonymous Donors Hidden

Tom Wheeler, the next (presumably) chairman of the FCC, had his Senate confirmation hearings last summer.  When the government shutdown finally ended, one of the Senate’s top priorities was to hold a confirmation vote on Tom Wheeler.  Not so fast!  Ted Cruz has put a hold on Wheeler’s confirmation vote.

And why doesn’t Ted Cruz want Tom Wheeler to lead the FCC?  Because the FCC might use its existing authority to enforce the DISCLOSE Act.  The DISCLOSE Act — which was defeated in the Senate by a Republican filibuster — would require corporations, unions and PACs to disclose how much they’ve “contributed” to political ads.  Cruz is determined to turn Tom Wheeler’s confirmation into another hostage situation, so Cruz’ anonymous donors can stay anonymous.

Conservative politicians are desperately opposed to these disclosure requirements.  After all, their political careers are possible only because of billions of dollars worth of “campaign contributions,” mostly from anonymous donors.  If disclosure was required — if we were able to lift up that rock and see who these anonymous donors are — God only knows what we’d finding crawling around under there.

Who are Ted Cruz’ multi-millionaire donors?  Any guesses?  And why doesn’t he want the public to know who they are?  What’s he hiding?

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) condemned the never-ending obstruction and tantrum-throwing by Ted Cruz and other teahadists:

“We saw during the shutdown the difficulties experienced by families, businesses and the economy when the obstruction of a reckless few prevails and causes the lapse of important government services. If the government is going to fully function for the American people, we have to get these highly qualified nominees confirmed now.”

In other news:  When House Republicans finally deigned to come back to work — after their failed extortion attempt — their top priority was to bring in Kathleen Sebelius to testify at a congressional hearing on the Obamacare train wreck and how it’s ruining America and killing Freedom.  Sebelius was unable to attend the witch hunt because of a scheduling conflict.  And the teadroolers had a hissyfit.

Kathleen Sebelius has a real job — Secretary of Health and Human Services — and is probably busy doing real work.  You know, something a little more constructive than holding the 943rd vote to repeal Obamacare, or holding the 457th “hearing” to ask the same questions about Benghazi over and over and over.

What's-His-Face’s Final (God Willing) State of the Union Speech

OK, the spoiled pampered scion of the Bush Crime Family squirmed and squinted through his final (IF there’s a god) State of the Union Speech. We've heard it all before — the soundbites about “socialized medicine,” the gory things those swarthy primitive turrists will do to us if we don’t allow a few trillion-dollar telecom companies to be above the law, etc.

The counterpoint speech by Kathleen Sebelius wasn’t riveting, but she made some excellent points. I lost count of how many times she said “let’s get to work” and “join us Mr. President,” but if you’ve gotta use soundbites, those are good ones.

She seems to be following Obama’s tactic (George Will calls it “Obama-ism”) of using unifying phrases (“I’m here as an American, not as a Democrat”) instead of “us against them” and “those #$%&!#$#%&$#$!!!”

And that’s a good thing. For twenty years, every election has been nothing but name-calling and slandering, starting with the late-and-unlamented Lee Willie Horton Atwater during GHW Bush’s 1988 campaign. And the shitslinging has gotten worse with each successive election. As long as a politician is gonna give us platitudes, these platitudes might as well be unifying and all-encompassing instead of “those dirty #$%&!”

John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton all based their campaigns on positive upbeat rhetoric. It worked for them. I haven’t exactly been glued to the primaries and all the election pandering (booorrrring!!!!) but it seems like Obama is the only candidate who's risen above the “if my opponent wins, we’re fucked!” rhetoric.

Let’s hope the positive messages of Barack Obama and Kathleen Sebelius will bring some positive changes to America so we can get rid of those motherfuckin’ shiteating — er, uhh…[Positive! Upbeat!]…let me rephrase that…