Todd Akin

Earlier today, President Obama accused Republicans of "putting party before principle and voting against his 2009 stimulus plan but then attending 'ribbon cuttings' for stimulus projects in their own districts." Watch it:

Reps. Todd Akin and Blaine Luetkemeyer may have gotten a little ahead of themselves in co-sponsoring a Congressional resolution to praise conservative activist James O'Keefe for posing as a pimp in the now-infamous ACORN videos.

O'Keefe has been a right-wing media star since the videos were released, but was arrested yesterday by the FBI for allegedly attempting to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) New Orleans office.

Todd Akin has signed on to an amicus brief in D.C. Superior Court calling for a voter referendum on whether to legalize same-sex marriage in the District of Columbia. Akin and 38 other Republican members of Congress have signed on to the brief filed by the American Center for Law and Justice, an organization founded by televangelist Pat Robertson. The Washington Post:

In the filing, U.S. senators James Inhofe (Okla.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.) and 37 House Republicans align with Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church, in asking the court to reverse a D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics decision prohibiting the same-sex marriage question to be put before voters...

If some godless socialist from the ACLU thwarted your Christmas celebration this year, then you should probably call Todd Akin and beg him to keep fighting for an extremely important Congressional resolution to protect "the symbols and traditions of Christmas...for use by those who celebrate Christmas." 

Akin has cosponsored House Resolution 951 to show you just how much he loves Christmas. It reads:

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the symbols and traditions of Christmas should be protected for use by those who celebrate Christmas.

Whereas Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on December 25; and

Whereas the Framers intended that the First Amendment of the Constitution, in prohibiting the establishment of religion, would not prohibit any mention of religion or reference to God in civic dialog: Now, therefore, be it

The Rachel Maddow Show's report on Wednesday's "PrayerCast" to oppose health care reform legislation, which featured Rep. Todd Akin.

The Post-Dispatch: "If the GOP doesn't want to be branded the "Party of Stupid," it could stand to nominate more people who can speak eloquently on complicated policy matters."

Rep. Todd Akin contributed to a Family Research Council Action PAC "prayercast" last night, an webcast to pray for God's intercession in stopping health care legislation in the Senate. Ses. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) also participated.  FRC described the event like this:

During the Webcast, you will hear the latest on the threats to the God-given right to human life through government funding of abortions, our health from rationing, our family finances from higher taxes, and our general freedom posed by the government plan to take over health care.

Yesterday, the House voted 225-200 to permanently extend the estate tax at its 2009 level -- 45% for estates valued at more than $3.5 million, or $7 million for a couple.  As part of the 2001 Bush administration tax cuts for the wealthiest 5% of taxpayers, the estate tax gradually decreased and was set to disappear for all of 2010, only to come back in 2011 at a 55% rate for estates worth more than $1 million. Media Matters:

Rep. Earl Pomeroy's (D-ND) H.R. 4154, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009, which passed the House today, will fix the problem by making the estate tax permanent at 45% and raising the exemption to $3.5 million.  According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, H.R. 4154 is actually a $233.6 billion tax cut.  Republicans, who want to entirely abolish the estate tax, must choose between supporting a Democratic tax cut or having rates rise in 2011. 

The Beacon's Jo Mannies spoke with the office of Rep. Todd Akin (R-You Serious) about his Thanksgiving lecture series (first noted in this space yesterday).  Apparently, the Congressman is quite serious when he says the Pilgrims can help us understand the horrors of Democratic health care reform proposals. Quoth official spokesman Steve Taylor:

Akin "believes that the principles expressed in the Mayflower Compact ... are definitely relevant to the Medicare debates and to a lot of debates [in Washington], including cap and trade."

The Plum Line's Greg Sargent looks at some of the data from the new Washington Post-ABC News poll about global warming.

They show that only a bare majority of Republicans believe in global warming, and that GOPers are surprisingly out of step with the rest of the electorate (independents included) on the issue. The crosstabs reveal:

• Only 54% of Republicans believe “the world’s temperature may have been going up slowly over the past 100 years,” versus 43% who don’t believe it. By contrast, 71% of independents say it’s been happening — almost exactly the same at the 72% overall who believe this. Obviously, an even higher number of Dems (86%) believe it.
• Only a quarter of Republicans believe global warming is a “very serious” problem, versus 43% of independents who believe this, nearly a 20-point difference. Overall, 44% believe it’s a very serious problem.
• Republicans are the only group where a minority (43%) believes that the United States should take action on global warming “even if other countries do less.” Majorities of independents (52%) and Democrats (66%) believe the U.S. should take action despite the actions of other countries.