Jack Kemp

And perhaps the last, and the strongest, pro-immigrant Republican of our lifetimes.
.
And sincerely pro-entrepreneur and small business. It wasn’t just talking points with Kemp.
.
RIP.

I certainly have no objections to using tax policy to spur private investment, but the notion that the resulting deficits don’t matter is the one article of faith that has done more than anything else to discredit the current batch of true-beleivers.
.
In fact, the current insistence on idealical purity in the face of the ton of contrary empirical evidence will actually delay the onset of fiscal balance as we work to undo the last 30 years of damage.

Thanks for this, KT.

RIP.
.
What Cliff said, too.
.
I think the word “failure” to describe the relationship between the GOP and Black Americas is equally “sunny and unapologetic”.
.
Try this instead:
.
“The GOP has been directly responsible for extending the life of the racial divide in this counrty well beyond it’s normal shelf life.”
.
Now that is a much more accurate statement.

I had a soft spot for him as a “bleeding heart” conservative. And what National Republican could we describe as “sunny” now? (I suppose Mike Huckabee). As much as anything it’s Kemp’s demeanor, enthusiasm, graciousness and warm spirit that is missing from the grand old party.

Kemp was probably the very last of the Republicans that was worthy of admiration. Dwight Eisenhower, Everett Dirksen, Nelson Rockefeller, Charles Percy, Jack Kemp.
.
Now all that’s left of the Republican Party is old, white, southern dumbasses, racist and stupid to the core, and “free-market” bootleggers who managed to loot the US Treasury before their ignominious ouster from federal government. Plus their apologists among the press in Washington DC. Isn’t it remarkable how this disgraceful rump of a political party retains such fierce loyalty among national journalists?

It’s safe to say that Kemp’s funeral, unlike the “funerals” of Democrats within the last eight years, which, predictably, were nothing but anti-Bush hate fests of enraged lunatics (see Wellstone, Paul; King, Coretta Scott; etc.), will not be an anti-Obama hate fest.

-

Also, please note that in two sentences Karen Tumulty stacks myth on boilerplate cliche on myth on boilerplate cliche. She first calls Kemp an “unapologetic supply-sider”. After calling Kemp an “unapologetic supply-sider”, Tumulty then declares Kemp apologetic for what Tumulty alleges was “his party’s failure to reach out to African-Americans and to those who had been left behind by Reaganomics.” “[T]hose who had been left behind by Reaganomics”? ROTFLMAO!!! There were so many left behind by “Reaganomics” that Reagan only won 49 out of 50 states when he sought re-election. Reagan’s own vice-president then followed Reagan and destroyed the dweeb supported by Time magazine in 1988. For the kids unfamiliar with Time magazine: “Reaganomics” is the euphemism used Time magazine and other fundamentalist socialists to describe free market economics.

We didn’t agree on much politically, but I always respected Jack Kemp as a nice guy whose politics were sincere and not calculated to win votes or donations. I also respected him as a great quarterback, who led the Buffalo Bills to their last championship (AFL 1966). He will be missed.
.
P.S. This thread shouldn’t turn into an argument about supply-side economics, but I can totally tell it’s gonna. Shame.

buzzorhowl
.
Stick around, I am pretty sure you are wrong. The trolls don’t control these threads, reasonable people do.

Textee -

I have bad news for you: it’s 2009 and by now almost the entire country recognizes that Reagan was a snake-oil salesman and a boob. The destruction of Wall Street, the economy, and the middle class are the direct and predictable result of Reaganomics.

Also, the reason Kemp’s funeral won’t turn into a Obama hate fest is that nobody hates Obama. Conversely, everybody hates GWB.

On the occasion of Obama’s historic, sweeping election victory, Kemp wrote a letter to his grandchildren:

Dear Kemp grandchildren — all 17 of you, spread out from the East Coast to the West Coast, and from Wheaton College in Illinois, to Wake Forest University in North Carolina:
.
My first thought last week upon learning that a 47-year-old African-American Democrat had won the presidency was, “Is this a great country or not?”
.
You may have expected your grandfather to be disappointed that his friend John McCain lost (and I was), but there’s a difference between disappointment over a lost election and the historical perspective of a monumental event in the life of our nation.
.
Let me explain. First of all, the election was free, fair and transformational, in terms of our democracy and given the history of race relations in our nation.

.
(snip)

My advice for you all is to understand that unity for our nation doesn’t require uniformity or unanimity; it does require putting the good of our people ahead of what’s good for mere political or personal advantage.
.
The party of Lincoln, (i.e., the GOP), needs to rethink and revisit its historic roots as a party of emancipation, liberation, civil rights and equality of opportunity for all. On the other hand, the party of Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and now Obama must put forth an agenda that understands that getting American growing again will require both Keynesian and classical incentive-oriented (supply-side) economic ideas. But there’s time for political and economic advice in a later column (or two).

Kemp Partners : Jack Kemp’s Columns
.
Read the whole thing. It’s a reflection of the days of Republican past.
(if my formatting turns out bad, please forgive.)

That letter is as much for his party as his grandchildren JLA. Fantastically written as well. Baruch Dayan Emet.

Thanks so much for the excellent commentary, James.

John Judis’s post on Jack Kemp
.
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/05/03/jack-kemp-r-i-p.aspx

In contrast to Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan led my father’s Republican Party down the path of Atwater/ Rove:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “N****r, n****r, n****r.” By 1968 you can’t say “n****r”—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

.
Kemp sincerely believed in incentive-based “supply-side,” such as housing vouchers, which subsidized housing for the poor in a market-based approach, instead of government-built and -managed public housing projects. Bill Clinton used some of the Kemp approach to good effect in his community reinvestment programs.
.
Kemp was one of the last of the Republicans to be interested in actually solving problems in an intelligent and enlightened, and cooperative, way. We’ll not see his like again, I think, in my lifetime. Not in the Republican Party of today.

Supply-side economics is the conservative version of free-lunch government. Still, Jack Kemp was the last Republican who really had a sunny outlook. He was what Reagan was pretending to be when he wasn’t whipping up resentment of “welfare queens” and such like. But even in his worst moments Reagan was nothing like Palin and Gingrich and the like, to say nothing of the bitterness and resentment animating the true leaders of the GOP like Rush Limbaugh.

Kemp’s big thing was harnessing market forces to make government work better. This has had mixed results in practice, usually because the Republicans espousing it (again, unlike Kemp) could give f-all about government being more effective, and see such initiatives merely as ways to funnel graft to cronies.

Republicans would do well to take a moment to think about Jack Kemp, and not just the orthodoxy he co-authored, but the kind of man and statesman he was.

James LA:
.
A beautiful epitaph for a great man! Thanks!
.
I agree with most of you. Jack Kemp was the last of the Republicans that deserved respect.
.
And to think that textee, rusty, and other “conservatives” are incapable of understanding that being a conservative is not the same as being a bigot.

kth:
.
Exactimundo!

Off topic
.
In true Villager form Joe Klein says that universal health care won’t pass this year, and get this, because of the public health care plan option which he frames as an overreach. Hmmm I wonder how many friends Joe has in the health insurance field…..
.
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/chris-matthews-show-universal-healthc

I keep thinking that universal health care might be something that business wants.
.
Imagine the burden that would be removed from their shoulders. Sure, more taxes would be paid, but they would almost certainly be less than the $12,000 to $15,000 / year expense per employee* they have now.
.
*I’m guessing based on my ‘employer paid’portion of the records on my paychecks.

[...] Karen Tumulty at Time has a post up at Swampland. [...]

Kemp, like most politicians, didn’t know his elbow from a hot rock when it came to economics. Would that the world and the US weren’t burdened by the Laffers and the Greenspans and other Randian loonies or weren’t given access to the dumb critters of the Congress who pass legislation and guide policy based on nefarious schemes couched in economic terms. I blame Reagan and his Voodoo Economics. Reagan himself was a dumbass when it came to economic policy.
.
I give Kemp credit for trying to shoehorn “supply-side” economics into public policy that attempted to solve problems and govern well.
.

I am going to miss Jack Kemp. While I did not always agree with his economic theories, he was the only Republican in the 1980′s to speak out against the “Southern Strategy” which had been employed by the Republicans since Nixon. He was a Republican who actually was interested in getting the votes of the African-American community, instead of writing them off as “special interests”. Furthermore, he was always trying to help people who needed help, instead of lining the pockets of the rich like most of his Republican compatriots.

Off topic but since I posted about this on the other thread I thought people might be interested. One of the people hurt in the collapse of the Dallas Cowboys facility yesterday is now permanently paralyzed from the waist down. His name is Rich Berm and he was in the scouting department.
.
http://blog.theredzone.org/ViewItem.asp?Entry=1282

There aren’t any more Jack Kemps in the republican party. Kemp actually thought about the issues and how to approach the possible solutions. I didn’t agree with many of Kemp’s economic policies, but he didn’t scare me the way most republicans do now. Kemp had morals and a sense of fair play. It must have been hard on him to see a party he loved turn into the travesty it is today. RIP Jack.

Story on Specter in the Philadelphia Inquirer
.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/44239847.html?page=1&c=y

Read the Jack Kemp tribute on the ESPN website Sacred. Specifically the comments section. I almost wanted to sign up just to ask how many of them got a tax break under Obama, but the one self-identifed liberal who dared to speak against their orthodoxy got jumped on like a gang kid.
-
http://myespn.go.com/s/conversations/show/story/4000855
-
I guess the whole concept of batsh!t crazy just won’t sink into my gourd or something, but that was just jarring. Oh and the tribute itself is pretty good too.

yutsano
.
I went to the comment threads and I guess more liberals and progressives showed up because they handled biz flaming the conservatives.

53_3 Says:
Sunday, May 3, 2009 at 6:08 pm
James LA:
.

“And to think that textee, rusty, and other “conservatives” are incapable of understanding that being a conservative is not the same as being a bigot.”
.
Fifty give it a rest already. Your continued accusations of “racists and bigots” grow old. Your tired innuendos also show how your intellect ranks with the other invertebrates you associate yourself with on this site.
.
Although I think Karen takes many snide swipes at the former Secretary, at least she wrote a half-decent article about a great man. While I do not agree totally with everything Kemp stood for in his political lifetime, he at least showed compassion for everyone, not just a few. Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it Fifty.

Racist Rusty refuses to own his bigotry but it keeps slipping out in spite of his best efforts.

yutsano: Thanks for the link. The comments section was interesting. The republican party today does remind me of a horse with blinders on. They don’t see anything around them. They don’t see anything behind them. Their vision is straight ahead and that’s all. Like I said, I didn’t agree with many of Kemp’s economic policies.

Obama has finally come out with reforms.
.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/04/obama.tax.code/index.html

53_3
.
Erin Burnett was just on Morning Joe trying to sell people on feeling sorry for businesses that use the overseas tax loophole. I don’t know of a bigger propaganda organ for big business than CNBC

SG-What was Burnett’s rationale?

PD:
.
Rusty doesn’t seem to understand. He should probably take note that there is no innuendos involved when I tell you that I think being scolded by a Neo Nazi about race is laughable.
.
And if we’re “invertabrates”, then he’s a pogonophoran, or maybe even lower:
.
A xenophiophore.
.
Look up what they use for their tests:
http://www.palaeos.com/Eukarya/Units/Rhizaria/Xenophyophorea.html

sg:
.
I think that this well help Geithner’s image. And why should I feel sorry for a business that has, like, 147 branches in some island like Barbados?
.
Betcha Burnett said that they would have a harder time recovering, or they’d have to cut back the workforce or something like that, right?

Here’s business on CEO pay:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30502308/

I’m wondering if maybe this isn’t the right time for Obama to strike. To get things done. To wit:
.
They only have a couple toes left on each foot after shooting ‘em off in the last few go-rounds with Obama. I can’t see them making any gains right now with the general population over tax loopholes, either. They would just sound completely out of touch, like Rush did when he defended the patrying and CEO excesses.
.
I think in the current political atmosphere, Obama can make some mileage.

53_3
.
She was using the Republican talking point about businesses paying a higher tax here than other countries charge. Of course without noting that while that’s what it says on paper, big business uses these loopholes to lower their tax rates to much less than the 35% that they are supposed to pay. Cry me a river.

SG — I also noticed that she added the qualifier that “she had to run the numbers on this,” suggesting that her business friends told her what the tax liability is not what she knows for herself.

Burnett is a cheerleader for Wall Street period. If its good for Wall Street and wealthy investors Erin is for it. When ever she opens her mouth its to repeart pro Wall Street talking points. Here’s is some of Erin’s thoughtful analysis:
.
I think people should be careful what they wish for on China. You know, if China were to revalue its currency or China is to start making, say, toys that don’t have lead in them or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up, and that means prices at Wal-Mart here in the United States are going to go up, too. So I would say China is our greatest friend right now. They’re keeping prices low and they’re keeping prices for mortgages low, too.
.
Last but not least she start at Goldman Sachs. By now I have seen nothing from old Goldman Sachs people’s performances that impresses me.

Sorry, rivers I don’t have, sg. Not a tear. A urine sample, maybe? Will that work?
.
They are going to look bad on this issue. Look for the GOP to shoot another toe off. They just. do. not. get. it.
.
Fox take:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/04/obama-crack-business-taxes/
.
This is a funny one. They say that this is equivalant to a ‘tax hike’.
.
So I guess now, we can’t even close loopholes or we’re ‘tax and spend’!

Perhaps those companies would be better off leaving the country all together. Typical-they want the benefits of the United States without any of the responsibilities.
.
Not all that different from Texans chanting “Secede!”

China and the US are in a mexican standoff, economically (I could take this further, dragging in Turkey or Greece, somehow, but I won’t!). Both economies could collapse if they tried to dump our debt.
.
We’re like two very heavy weights tied together with a peice of clothsline, spinning around each other out in space somewhere. It wouldn’t take much for something bad to happen and I think that other reforms are going to be needed to address this.
.
We really need to work hard to get ourselves out from under China’s leveraging. We’re not only dependent on foreign oil right now, we’re dependent on foreign money, too.

Americans have to depend on the media for accurate information about the financial crisis. However, CNBC owned by GE makes one thing perfectly clear. We are not going to get it. Journalists who are “embedded” on Wall Street and depend on Wall Street execs for access on a day-to-day basis, and are owned by a corporate giant are ridiculously unqualified to give the public good information about the economic crisis. They will consistently side with Wall Street and keep off the air any opposing views. If opposing views are allowed on it will come either people with their heart not in or from someone they can present as a crack pot.

Not all that different from Texans chanting “Secede!”
.
Secede, my eye! Gov Perry knows he can’t pull it off. The swine flue. Remember that?
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/26/tx-perry-swine-flu/
.
Of course, just like Perry, watch those companies ask for bailouts!
.
They’re simply switching teats. If “trickle down” economics doesn’t get them money, then they’ll go the direct handout route…

RedState says to hell with Tom Ridge and his high approval ratings, they want Toomey!
.
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/05/03/why-the-nrsc-and-pagop-should-not-waste-time-with-gerlach/

That’s my point fifty. All the benefits none of the responsibilities.
.
Super patriots all.

gygst213:
.
At least we have the internet “tubes”.
.
But, really, you’re right. A few years ago I thought we were going to evolve into a “democratic” oligarchy. Now, I have hope we can stop that trend.
.
I think politically, this is the time to strike, though, while the nasty taste of CEO excesses are still fresh in people’s mouths.

Weekend Quinnipiac poll on Specter election possibilities. Still a long time away.
.
http://www.politicspa.com/Quinnipiac%20Specter%20Poll.htm

“Specter has a 56 percent approval rating among voters, and an 81 percent approval rating among Democrats”
.
Eighty-one? What would it be if he said he would be a “loyal Democrat”? Or if hadn’t spent every minute since his switch showing his “independence”?
.
Ugh.

Ivy
.
I am dissappointed that they didn’t poll Specter against likely Dem primary challengers like Sestak. I think the unions can leverage Specter now in a primary though since he leads Toomey and Ridge in approval in union homes by 20 pts. If the unions can claim that they will marshall forces against him in a primary if he votes against EFCA that might tip the balance.

Ivy_B, PNNTO:
.
Check out 538′s commentary:
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/05/senate-rankings-may-2009-edition.html

Ivy-B: Thanks for the link. Ridge does far better in the general election poll but I think he’s a longshot in the republican primary. The contracting GOP base is just getting too conservative. Ridge being moderate is going to work against him in the closed primary race. I’m not convinced that the moderates that fled the republican party in 2008 are going to re-register as republicans just to vote in the primary. I think they may keep their democratic registration and use it to vote for Specter if another democrat does run against Arlen. If the economy shows improvement the point is moot. Jobs trump everything and Specter will reap the benefits of switching to support Obama’s agenda.

“Specter will reap the benefits of switching to support Obama’s agenda.”
.
Specter: No. And you misquote me, David. I did not say I would be a loyal Democrat. I did not say that. And last week, after I said I was changing parties, I voted against the budget because the budget has a way to pass healthcare with 51 votes,which undermines a basic Senate institution to require 60 votes to impose cloture on key issues.
.
Arlen can have his cake and can eat it too?

sg:
.
That is one thing I expect Specter to do. I’ll bet you $10 to charity Spector votes against EFCA. Thats a slam dunk.
.
I think Toomey doesn’t have a chance in union-dominated areas no matter what Specter does. Ridges’stock might go up, but “Toomeyized” is becoming an adverb – for pulling far to the right.

Just as a reminder, Chris Matthews was polling better with Dems last year than Arlen Specter was. I still think a primary opponent can knock him off if he votes Republican.
.
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_MatthewsSpecter.pdf

You know, with the massive burden UHC would lift from the business community, I’m wondering just why there is so much resistance.
.
The expense per employee has to be around $10000 / year as it stands now.

I was also disappointed that they didn’t include possible Democratic challengers in the poll. However, I’m sure there are many more to come! Interesting blog post about Ridge.
.
http://blog.pennlive.com/politics/2009/04/is_ridge_still_on_the_outs_wit.html

53_3
.
I can’t make that bet until more is clarified. Right now there are several other Dems who also have said they wouldn’t vote for cloture so Specter would have some cover on this. But if EFCA comes up and Franken is seated and every other Dem votes for cloture and he is the deciding vote (and yes I know thats a magical scenario)then I will take you up on that $10 bet because I don’t think he could possibly vote against cloture in that situation.

PNNTO: Yes. I think Arlen is putting himself in the position where he gets to have his cake and eat it too. Vote for cloture and then vote against the bill. A backdoor means of support is still support. Arlen knows how to play the game. He let’s the majority decide while still voting his conscience. (snark)

Ivy
.
I honestly don’t think Ridge would beat Toomey in a primary. You have to think that they will throw some serious dirt at Ridge and basically make him out to be just like Arlen Specter. It would seem that its Toomey or bust unless GOP leadership can convince him to drop out of the race. And that would be too much like an admission that they screwed the pooch so I don’t see that happening.

sg:
.
Let’s keep it open. I hope you’re right and I lose that tenner.
.
Ivy_B:
.
I see they are venturing that Toomey himself, to have a chance, must de-”Toomeyize”, so to speak.
.
The right is urinated at Specter over this:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0509/Specter_med_research_could_have_saved_Kemp.html

53_3
.
The Moonie Times twisted Specter’s words on research funding with a headline to the effect of “Specter blames GOP for Kemp’s death”. Seriously. I will try to find the article.

sg, I agree with you that Ridge is unlikely to beat Toomey in a primary. Why would the pro-choice Ridge find more support than the pro-choice Specter? Ridge has not had the years of statewide retail politics that Specter has, which would still give Arlen a little support in the conservative base while Ridge wouldn’t have that.

sg:
.
I somehow expected that would be the case.