Untouched by Irony, but definitely touched by bullshity
Old Man John McCain, who spent most of the 2008 campaign saying he "had a secret plan to get Osama Bin Laden" that Obama did not not, is now angry that Obama is claiming credit for a decision to kill Bin Laden that in the past Mitt Romney had no interest in making.
Which is rather rich, in and of itself. But considering that other Republicans are now whining this...knowing that their standard-bearer deliberately trumped up terror warnings in 2004 to curb any momentum Kerry had from the Democratic National Convention, this is rather rich.
Obama is claiming some credit for something that actually did happen -- not creating some fictional "shit your pants on pain of death" bullshit.
Which is rather rich, in and of itself. But considering that other Republicans are now whining this...knowing that their standard-bearer deliberately trumped up terror warnings in 2004 to curb any momentum Kerry had from the Democratic National Convention, this is rather rich.
Obama is claiming some credit for something that actually did happen -- not creating some fictional "shit your pants on pain of death" bullshit.
Oh, something for Fox & Friends
To deal with awkwardly.
One theory is that homosexual urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, can be expressed as homophobia. Freud famously called this process a “reaction formation” — the angry battle against the outward symbol of feelings that are inwardly being stifled. Even Mr. Haggard seemed to endorse this idea when, apologizing after his scandal for his anti-gay rhetoric, he said, “I think I was partially so vehement because of my own war.”It’s a compelling theory — and now there is scientific reason to believe it. In this month’s issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, we and our fellow researchers provide empirical evidence that homophobia can result, at least in part, from the suppression of same-sex desire.
The Orange Man tells you all you need to know
About how Republicans feel about all 99% of us:
CROWLEY:Do you think that someone who is as wealthy as he is, who has had as much privilege as he is, has a hill to climb to overcome that?Nobody wants to vote for a "loser", like you Mr. and Ms. voter.
BOEHNER: No. The American people don’t want to vote for a loser.
Oh, that's not good
I imagine if you are behind in the polls there might be worst news to come out, but you'd have to think about it for a while:
Sarkozy denies this with the classic retort that he didn't like Gaddafi a few years later...which, of course, is the defense a series of American Presidents could have made about Saddam Hussein.
Maybe the message to the world's despots is, there's no honor among western politicians when it comes to bombing for poll numbers. Keep that in mind Koch Brothers.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
A left-wing political website, Mediapart, claims to have documentary evidence that Mr Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign received 50m euros ($66m) from the Gaddafi regime.
The document - dated 2006 and written in Arabic - appears to have been signed by the then Libyan foreign intelligence chief Musa Kusa.
It refers to an "agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50m euros."
Sarkozy denies this with the classic retort that he didn't like Gaddafi a few years later...which, of course, is the defense a series of American Presidents could have made about Saddam Hussein.
Maybe the message to the world's despots is, there's no honor among western politicians when it comes to bombing for poll numbers. Keep that in mind Koch Brothers.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Shake that Etch-a-Sketch
The man who coined that phrase provides a perfect example of it -- rewriting history in 180 degree swaths:
Top Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom vowed that President Obama's auto bailout was the GOP presidential hopeful's idea...
Fehrnstrom's Saturday comments marked a different drawing on the auto bailout than what Romney penned in a November 2008 New York Times op-ed. Headlined "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,"
Maybe some more people should look into this?
Boy, when it comes to "sound" decisions nobody ever fucked it up like the Bush II Administration:
Iron Man, whose unit also developed original intelligence on al-Qaeda targets, which determined that the "most likely buildings to be attacked in the U.S." were the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, claimed JFIC was told to stop tracking Bin Laden, suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, and members of the Taliban some months prior to 9/11."Iron Man"? Was Cheney's real Secret Service moniker "Nick Fury"?
Negative editorials from the Washington Post to follow
Good, now go after them for the population at large:
In front of thousands of service members, President Obama today signed an executive order aimed at protecting veterans from for-profit educational institutions trying to "swindle" and "hoodwink" them instead of providing the education they deserve.
Yeah, about that
Yesterday John McCain took to the Senate floor and shook his fist in the air at the sky and proclaimed there is "no Republican War against Women". Meanwhile in reality: The Violence Against Women Act was renewed by a vote of 68 to 31.
The 31 votes against looked like this, obviously all Republican and naturally...:
The 31 votes against looked like this, obviously all Republican and naturally...:
But it got Cheney's calcified rocks off so...
There's a reason so many people condemn torture because it is ineffective and it is...y'know...torture:
A nearly three-year-long investigation by Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats is expected to find there is little evidence the harsh "enhanced interrogation techniques" the CIA used on high-value prisoners produced counter-terrorism breakthroughs.It is pathetic that the Republicans did not join in this report, but then many of them are little Cheney's themselves.
People familiar with the inquiry said committee investigators, who have been poring over records from the administration of President George W. Bush, believe they do not substantiate claims by some Bush supporters that the harsh interrogations led to counter-terrorism coups.
A little common deception amongst friends
Oft-mentioned potential VP nominee Marco Rubio is, by Republican standards, a moderate on immigration. Perhaps in large part because of a portion of his family's history he may not wish to dwell on. It seems that his maternal grandfather came to the United States illegally during the Batista Regime. Three years later when Castro came to power he saw an opportunity and went back to Cuba to try to take advantage.
Three years later, and now disaffected, the same grandfather hopped on to an airplane for the United States without a visa. Once here, he was adjudicated to be in the United States illegally. However, he remained in the United States and gained legal residency in 1967 -- by lying about when he came to the country, saying it was 1965. In other words, an illegal aliens -- in Antonin Scalia's words "a virtual bank robber."
These facts are at variance with what Rubio long has claimed as his background -- though he himself, obviously, is an American citizen (I won't even demand the long-form certificate), he embellished his family's history -- even more than usual -- and made it a political tool for his ascension.
But the most telling aspect of this is how Marco Rubio's story would play out were his family not historically from Cuba, but Mexico. You know, like Mitt Romney's family.
Oh never mind, they are both Republicans. They weren't born in an exotic, non-American place like Hawaii.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Three years later, and now disaffected, the same grandfather hopped on to an airplane for the United States without a visa. Once here, he was adjudicated to be in the United States illegally. However, he remained in the United States and gained legal residency in 1967 -- by lying about when he came to the country, saying it was 1965. In other words, an illegal aliens -- in Antonin Scalia's words "a virtual bank robber."
These facts are at variance with what Rubio long has claimed as his background -- though he himself, obviously, is an American citizen (I won't even demand the long-form certificate), he embellished his family's history -- even more than usual -- and made it a political tool for his ascension.
But the most telling aspect of this is how Marco Rubio's story would play out were his family not historically from Cuba, but Mexico. You know, like Mitt Romney's family.
Oh never mind, they are both Republicans. They weren't born in an exotic, non-American place like Hawaii.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
two alternatives
Rep. Paul Ryan has decided that he doesn't like Ayn Rand after all, because she's an icky atheist.Or so dumb, he can't even use Wikipedia? Those are really the only choices.
The Vincent Gigante Award
Goes to Rupert Murdoch, currently testifying before a parliamentary committee in Great Britain, and who is putting on a act that is only lacking the public wearing of a bathrobe and slippers.
Rupert Murdoch has apparently lost a great deal of his power of memory, but nature has compensated by endowing him with a vivid imagination. He can surely deploy his new gift in the service of Fox movies. There is the great scene he pitched to Lord Justice Leveson on Wednesday morning where the editor of the Times enters left, closes the door behind him and begs: "Look, tell me what you want to say, what do you want me to say, and it need not leave this room and I'll say it." And our hero proprietor, so famously fastidious about such matters, has to tell Uriah Heep: "That is not my job."
Charles Pierce speaks for me
Another big day of "intellectually bankrupt" Scalia being pathetic about Arizona's "show us your papers" law:
"But does the attorney general come in and say, you know, we might really only want to go after the professional bank robbers?" Scalia said. "If it's just an amateur bank robber, you know, we're going to let it go. And the state's interfering with our whole scheme here because it's prosecuting all these bank robbers."No, but if the state passed a law saying that you, Antonin Scalia, had to be stopped and forced to produce an ID because of your surname, and your complexion, and because people with similar surnames and similar complexions are notable for their involvement in organized crime, including bank robbery, I suspect you'd object just a little. Whoever first commented on how clever this guy is should roast on a spit for eternity.
Our fastest growing export is Assclowns
People of Scotland, you may have given the world golf, curling, mythical monsters and insolvent football clubs but in return we are giving you ...
Donald Trump:
Ireland...China...OPEC...Hamid Karzai...India...
It's almost as if there just might be some projection going on.
Yeah, projection is a strong possibility:
Donald Trump:
Donald Trump on Wednesday swept into Scotland's parliament to demand the country end plans for an offshore wind farm he fears will spoil the view at his exclusive new $750-million-pound ($1.2-billion) golf resort...
"Scotland, if you pursue this policy of these monstrous turbines, Scotland will go broke," he said. "They are ugly, they are noisy and they are dangerous. If Scotland does this, Scotland will be in serious trouble and will lose tourism to places like Ireland, and they are laughing at us."Although if Scotland went bankrupt...repeatedly... it would then have something in common with Trump. And Trump sure thinks people are laughing at other people a lot.
Ireland...China...OPEC...Hamid Karzai...India...
It's almost as if there just might be some projection going on.
Yeah, projection is a strong possibility:
When challenged to produce hard evidence about his claims on the negative impact of turbines, Trump said: "I am the evidence, I am a world class expert in tourism."
The public gallery burst into laughter.[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Stephen Colbert is awesome
Read his whole speech at the Time 100 dinner. An excerpt:
Of course, all of us should be honored to be listed on the TIME 100 alongside the two men who will be slugging it out in the fall: President Obama, and the man who would defeat him, David Koch.
Give it up everybody. David Koch.
Little known fact -- David, nice to see you again, sir. Little known fact, David's brother Charles Koch is actually even more influential. Charles pledged $40 million to defeat President Obama, David only $20 million. That's kind of cheap, Dave. Sure, he's all for buying the elections, but when the bill for democracy comes up, Dave's always in the men's room. I'm sorry, I must have left Wisconsin in my other coat.
I was particularly excited to meet David Koch earlier tonight because I have a Super PAC, Colbert Super PAC, and I am -- thank you, thank you -- and I am happy to announce Mr. Koch has pledged $5 million to my Super PAC. And the great thing is, thanks to federal election law, there's no way for you to ever know whether that's a joke.
By the way, if David Koch likes his waiter tonight, he will be your next congressman....
But perhaps the most influential person on the list is here, Sara Blakely. The inventor of the Spanx. Give it up.
No one, no one has done more to control women's bodies, except maybe Cardinal Dolan. Cardinal, congratulations, sir, you are afeminist icon.
Man was I wrong about that guy...
The two Americas are apparently John Edwards and the rest of America:
“He said she [Rielle Hunter] was a crazy slut and there was a 1-in-3 chance that it (the child) was his,” Young testified.I'm sorry make that 1-in-3 Americas.
And in their next breath they screamed at the idea of paying more taxes
Your probable Republican poster children of the day:
Scruffy Rubin and Snickers Carter had a wedding many couples dream of, featuring 100 guests, a wedding cake, open bar, receptionist and even security. But while the newlyweds are reportedly happy together, that are not actually human. The Desert Sun reports that actual humans Ernie Rubin and Ann Carter got together to throw Scruffy and Snickers a $5,000 wedding at the Palm Desert Resort Country Club in Palm Desert, Calif., on Sunday.
Somehow I doubt Mitt Romney could pull this off
And I keep hearing that young voters just don't like him anymore. Hmmm... And, of course:
Unlike, of course the last performance of Andrew Breitbart (artist's impression).*
Behold Presidential Dignity:
*oh how uncivil.
Unlike, of course the last performance of Andrew Breitbart (artist's impression).*
Behold Presidential Dignity:
*oh how uncivil.
Good for her
I hope she wins the gold medal...she's already won one for being awesome:
Ariane Friedrich, a German high jumper expected to contend for a medal at the upcoming Summer Olympics, posted the name and email address of a Facebook stalker who had allegedly been sending her explicit photographs over the social networking service.Obviously, I'm all for most all internet privacy, but not to the extent people should be abused like this -- good for Ariane Friedrich.
Looking for a Ringtone?
Then perhaps you will want British "football" commenter (and former player) Gary Neville's "orgasm tone" as first uttered yesterday during Chelsea elimination of Barcelona.
Lemme guess...
Six more months and we'll know more? *
NATO remains "cautiously optimistic" of progress in the war in Afghanistan, despite the tactical challenges it has faced in recent months, the alliance's top military officer said Wednesday.* (i.e. enough to say we need another F.U.)
Danish Gen. Knud Bartels said Afghan security forces are becoming increasingly more effective in their fight against insurgents.
How's austerity working?
Double-dipping, good for chips, bad for people:
The UK economy has returned to recession, official figures have shown.The economy shrank by 0.2% in the first three months of 2012, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. This followed contraction of 0.3% in the last three months of 2011.
Last whirl on the gravy train.
Shocking, I know, but Newt Gingrich managed to lose a primary badly yet again. But with more than $4 million in debt and no financial sugar daddy anymore is he going to face reality?
Well, you know how that goes:
Behold his valiant battle:
Newt is going to stay on his last gravy train as long as he can.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Well, you know how that goes:
Newt Gingrich hinted this week that his presidential campaign could come to an end soon, but regardless of what happens in Tuesday's five-state primary, Gingrich will not use his election-night speech to drop out of the race, a spokesman for his campaign told Yahoo News.No this is his last shot at talking about his "fiscal conservative" credentials, that only he can stop government waste (hence Barack Obama = "Food Stamp President").
Behold his valiant battle:
His think tank went bankrupt. His campaign is $4.3 million in debt. He doesn’t hold a prayer of beating Mitt Romney, something he has all but conceded. And yet since March 6th, the Secret Service has honored his request for protection at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $40,000 a day (or, to translate that into a metric Newt might favor, enough to supply 13,333 people a day with food stamps).As noted here, there are guidelines to qualify for Secret Service protection -- but not really any for ending it, as long as you are technically still in the race.
Newt is going to stay on his last gravy train as long as he can.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Uh, really?
Romney on his Veep selection process:
Romney pointed out that the selection process for a vice presidential candidate is just beginning. "We're looking at various legal resources to help with in that process, accounting staff and so forth to take a look at tax returns and things of that nature,"As always the "consistency" is the thing that really stands out:
Mitt Romney, who is one of the wealthiest men ever to seek the presidency, said on Wednesday that he had no intention of releasing his tax returns if he became the Republican presidential nominee, breaking with a long tradition in both parties.
I'm not terribly clever and accurate...
Unlike some people:
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
Yeah, right
Apparently FoxNews is reporting that Smirk-addict Steve Doocy is going to correct his self-created misquote piehole moment (the latest among a lifetime) this morning about what Obama said re: silver spoons.
I imagine it will go something like this:
I imagine it will go something like this:
"I mistakenly added words and and it is Obama's fault"
That's not the 1080i picture I was hoping for
My cable company added a load of high-def channels this weekend, and as usual, they added a couple of shitty channels in a package that had about 10 channels I wanted. Thus I am getting FoxBusiness in HD.
Let me tell you, Lou Dobbs false-teetch can be heard creaking around in 5.1 sound, even as you channel surf.
Let me tell you, Lou Dobbs false-teetch can be heard creaking around in 5.1 sound, even as you channel surf.
A Campaign that is full of Mitt
You may recall that pretty much the first half of April 2012 the main topic of the Presidential campaign was trying to tie Hilary Rosen, a long-time democratic strategist to the Obama campaign because she said something accurate, in a brusque manner, about Ann Ronmey. This became, according to the Romney Campaign, an awesome present and also simultaneously a vile attack on mothers everywhere.
Just as that issue faded, on Thursday, April 18th the Romney campaign hired a new foreign policy spokesperson, Richard Grenell. And what a "present" he is. He's managed to scrub hundreds of tweets critical of women far worse than anything Hilary Rosen ever uttered, from Republicans like Calista Gingrich, to Rachel Maddow, to Michelle Obama.
Hired almost exactly at the time the Rosen matter died out. Yet not a peep out of the major news sources that devoted about ten straight days to the Rosen story. It almost makes you think there might be bias.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Just as that issue faded, on Thursday, April 18th the Romney campaign hired a new foreign policy spokesperson, Richard Grenell. And what a "present" he is. He's managed to scrub hundreds of tweets critical of women far worse than anything Hilary Rosen ever uttered, from Republicans like Calista Gingrich, to Rachel Maddow, to Michelle Obama.
Hired almost exactly at the time the Rosen matter died out. Yet not a peep out of the major news sources that devoted about ten straight days to the Rosen story. It almost makes you think there might be bias.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Who is Arthur Brisbane?
I dunno, I never heard of him.
Although he certainly does like the sound of a dog-whistle which are audible apparently when one sticks one's head up one's ass.
Seriously asking in 2012 "Who is the real Barack Obama?", even Richard Cohen got over that shit sometime in 2008.
Although he certainly does like the sound of a dog-whistle which are audible apparently when one sticks one's head up one's ass.
Seriously asking in 2012 "Who is the real Barack Obama?", even Richard Cohen got over that shit sometime in 2008.
Republican Talking Point! Freidman Units
"Six more months and we'll finish this fucker off -- six more months to VICTORY!"
Yuck it up slappy
I will so enjoy the service of the forthcoming indictments:
An audio recording has surfaced of an Arizona sheriff playing his refusal to cooperate in a racial profiling investigation for laughs at a fundraiser for an anti-illegal immigration group in Texas. He ridicules politicians who sought the probe and displayed contempt toward federal authorities who were — and are still — investigating him on two fronts...It will be a sweet day when this two-bit charlatan and petty dictator is indicted.In the September 2009 speech in Houston, Arpaio boasted that he arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants after politicians and federal investigators started to pick apart his patrols. He said he wouldn't cooperate with the inquiry, but said he would tone down the patrols — if he was proven wrong."But I'm not. After they went after me, we arrested 500 more just for spite," the self-proclaimed "America's toughest sheriff" said, pausing for laughter and applause.
The fool and the fools who follow them
Last week President Obama made a speech which included a political line that had the rare quality of being true:
But that really isn't the point. The point is that FoxNews took this clever, but not that clever a line, and turned into the "class war" outrage de jour. And they did so by adding words that were not there.
But what is surprising is that Steve Doocy is aaccepted news source:
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
“I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn’t. Somebody gave us a chance. Just like these folks up here are looking for a chance.”The line had the additional bonus of making an unspoken comparison between Obama and his Republican opponent who was, to put it mildly, to the manor born. Such implied comparisons, or far more explicit ones, have been part-in-parcel of American politics at least back to the days of Andrew Jackson.
But that really isn't the point. The point is that FoxNews took this clever, but not that clever a line, and turned into the "class war" outrage de jour. And they did so by adding words that were not there.
Steve Doocy of Fox News, who while interviewing Romney on live TV Thursday, quoted Obama as saying, “Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth.”That Steve Doocy would push false stories about Obama is no surprise. After all he is the man who made the most "FoxNewsian" false claim of them all:
But Obama never prefaced his statement with the words “unlike some people”
But what is surprising is that Steve Doocy is aaccepted news source:
Regardless, the unspoken words were imputed to Obama in a Washington Post article, a New York Post editorial and conservative blogs after Doocy’s segment.It just keeps getting to be a longer year.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
There is no "bottom" to Peak Wingnut
The teapartiers may be less popular with the general public, but when they turn Orin Hatch into someone who is "too liberal" we have indeed found that even James Cameron cannot go as deep as the depths of wingnut delusion.
Soon to be "Later Sarko"
Apparently conservative (for France) practices are not popular when put into place, as opposed to just bloviating about them on cable news.
But it is France so conservatives will draw no lessons -- no they'll keep pushing until they can enact the awesome austerity policies of Greece.
French voters headed to the polls on Sunday in round one of a presidential ballot, with economic despair on course to make Nicolas Sarkozy the first president to lose a fight for re-election in more than 30 years.In a contest driven as much by a dislike of Sarkozy's showy style and his failure to bring down unemployment as by policy differences, Sarkozy and his Socialist rival Francois Hollande are pegged to beat eight other candidates to go through to a May 6 runoff, where polls give Hollande a double-digit lead.Hollande, 57, promises less drastic spending cuts than Sarkozy and wants higher taxes on the wealthy to fund state-aided job creation, in particular a 75 percent upper tax rate on income above 1 million euros ($1.32 million).
But it is France so conservatives will draw no lessons -- no they'll keep pushing until they can enact the awesome austerity policies of Greece.
Getting a little ahead of himself
And yet it's Obama the right is always calling presumptuous (as in, how dare he be black):
Former Governor Mitt Romney is already offering top donors access to a special "Presidential Inaugural retreat," planned on the assumption that he will be elected president this November.Souless Robots have an easier time selling themselves than mere humans.
The offer, in a fundraising email circulated by a top Georgia supporter to fellow Republicans and obtained by BuzzFeed, is one of several goodies offered to those who contribute more than $50,000 to the joint fundraising committee known as "Romney Victory," a program whose outlines were first reported by POLITICO.
Those donors will be named "Founding Members" of Romney Victory and invited to a California retreat with Romney and offered "yet to be determined access at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August."
But...of...course
Funny how that always seems to happen and it seems not to register with our overlords who are determined to crush us:
Neighboring states, Illinois did not try to kill its unions, raised taxes on the wealthy and refused to engage in austerity. Wisconsin did the opposite....turns out that Wisconsin was the only state in the entire country to lose jobs in 2011, while Illinois had better than average growth. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia also predicted strong economic growth in Illinois, while placing Wisconsin last in its forecast
Lemme guess
He used his time-tested trick of shitting himself?
After meeting with Ted Nugent – who recently made some incendiary comments about President Obama – the Secret Service has cleared the outspoken rocker.
Cannot say they weren't warned
This was a horrible idea the dangers of which are being ignored by horrible people.
I am only surprised Republicans are not involved.
Those Iranian bastards won't let us bomb 'em with a more opaque conscience!
Oh dear, the Iranian government is making concessions in the wake of stronger sanctions (another non-credited victory for diplomacy). As David Swanson at Firedoglake notes, this peace agenda is getting in the way of the war many of our "serious people" have been planning.
The nerve of them, the nerve!
The nerve of them, the nerve!
But of course
The Vatican orthodoxy watchdog announced Wednesday a full-scale overhaul of the largest umbrella group for nuns in the United States, accusing the group of taking positions that undermine Roman Catholic teaching on the priesthood and homosexuality while promoting "certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."Yes, side with Bill Donohue -- that will win you points with American Catholics -- you know the actual ever diminishing congregants. (photo via The Soup, easily the only thing worth watching on E!)
Anders Behring Breivik Approved
It is not a good week for the image of Scandinavian tolerance.
I present to you the most tone-deaf and inappropriate political moment of 2012, international edition.
Oh.My.Gawd.
I present to you the most tone-deaf and inappropriate political moment of 2012, international edition.
Oh.My.Gawd.
What a surprise
Florida's drug-testing for welfare law costs more money, proves itself completely unnecessary, and has no effect that isn't negative whatsoever.
Except it embarrassed "the poors" for the shits and giggles of the 1 percenters.
So mission-accomplished I guess.
Except it embarrassed "the poors" for the shits and giggles of the 1 percenters.
So mission-accomplished I guess.
Fair and Balanced
Sure the network Sunday chat shows are almost exclusively composed of Republicans, but if you remove John McCain as a variable in the equation they become only overwhelmingly composed of Republicans.
Man of the People
Oh the candidates they hath brought out the big lines now, right Mr. President?
But silver-spoon emanated Mitt Romney was ready with his most pithy reply:
Damn straight, during a recession a person should be more focused on pursuits with a more common touch:
Keep up the high-brow fellas.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
“I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Michelle wasn’t..."So remember no silver spoon's available in that madrassa.
But silver-spoon emanated Mitt Romney was ready with his most pithy reply:
Damn straight, during a recession a person should be more focused on pursuits with a more common touch:
“She [Ann Romney] has Austrian Warmbloods, which are – yeah, it’s a dressage horse, it’s a kind of horse for the sport that she’s in. Me, I have a Missouri Fox Trotter. So mine is like a quarter horse, but just a much better gait. It moves very fast, and doesn’t tire, and it’s easy to ride, meaning it’s not boom-boom-boom, it’s just smooth, very smooth.”But Mitt is making sacrifices:
The World Cup finals for the elite sport of dancing horses, known as dressage, opened today in the Netherlands without the presence of two of its most prominent wealthy devotees, Mitt and Ann Romney. The Romneys' horse, Rafalca, will compete, however, performing to music personally selected by the Republican presidential candidate.That's not losing focus on the important things in these difficult times.
Keep up the high-brow fellas.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Mitt's World, Part One
If you are famous or rich, you get results...and therefore it must be this way for all others...who matter.
Hmmm, analogies
This one, concerning modern America, seems rather too subtle, don't you think?
CHINA GROVE, N.C. -- Authorities in Rowan County say a man held a double-barreled shotgun to a woman's head and made her read her favorite scripture.
As the world kerns
I suppose I should be surprised it only took eight years to prove a right-wing screech a bunch of bullshit.
But as always, what Digby said then and what Digby said now.
But as always, what Digby said then and what Digby said now.
It more or less comes back to the same conclusion: for some reason Bush became afraid to land his plane and so he quit flying and, like other privileged princes at the time, found a way to check out of his obligation early. And he seems to have been in some kind of other "trouble" at the time but nobody knows exactly what it was. What's new is the dirty cover up in Texas political circles going back years. There are obviously people who know the truth. Certainly George W Bush does. But they're not telling. Yet.
Your Moral Arbiters
Yet more evidence of the moral authority the Vatican (and its especially conservative Opus Die order) has in having hissy-fits about ladies having some control over lady-parts:
Why a known-mobster like De Pedis is buried on the grounds of a Vatican church has been the object of much speculation since 1997, when a church maid revealed the tomb’s existence to an inquisitive journalist. The Vatican was always cagey about why the mobster was buried in one of its churches, and ultimately, the church’s silence spurred countless conspiracy theories. Now, thanks to shocking Vatican letters leaked in the Vatileaks scandal that is rocking the Holy See, the Italian police are less interested in why he’s buried there. Instead, they want to open the tomb to see if the remains of 15-year-old Emanuela Orlandi are interred with those of the mobster.Read the whole thing, it gets worse.
Best be informed
Please note that the Romney campaign would like you to know that Anders Behring Brevik is merely a supporter, not a staff member of the campaign. And Mitt is "very disappointed" in such things.
You know, like the Nuge.
You know, like the Nuge.
Good news everyone
Don't worry about Ted Nugent, according to Ted Nugent, he's never said any threats against anybody.
Sure, the Secret Service is concerned, but again, no need to worry:
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
I have never in my life threatened anyone's life. I am incapable of threatening anyone's life. Because, I'm about positive change.Positive change. That's why Mitt Romney so actively sought the Nuge's support for his candidacy.
Sure, the Secret Service is concerned, but again, no need to worry:
Asked whether the Secret Service had contacted him, Nugent replied, "The Secret Service are my buddies. They work for me. I pay their salaries."And perhaps they really are there for Ted, especially when it comes to getting deals involving two guys at the same time.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
America's Concern Troll
Though I have a feeling it will not work out that way (my money is on Commander Bunny Pants, surely the most poetically deserving of all the contenders for "Face of the Naughts") -- Atrios may make this a big day indeed for A.C.T. (UPDATE: nevermind, he was named last week...I'm a bad blogger) and Cohen shows why he's such a viable contender for all manner of dubious distinctions -- and does it literally in less than his first dozen words:
Among the attributes I most envy in a public man (or woman) is the ability to lie.Oh sure, it's a jaw-droppingly awful thing to write...but the man is nothing if not efficient in demonstrating his bona fides.
Sounds about right
Atrios named Fred Hiatt the "Mr. Non-Congeniality" of the Wankerific Decade yesterday and well deserved it was. What is more, Hiatt's effect on journalism appears to have been noticed by the Pulitzer-Prize Committee:
Most notable winner this year: "No award," for Editorial Writing
America would like Mitt Romney to ride on top of the car
If he was programmed with human emotions he'd be really sad:
Only 35 percent of Americans see the presumptive Republican nominee favorably, with 47 percent seeing him unfavorably, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released Monday. That makes Mr. Romney the first likely nominee to start the general election contest “underwater,” with more seeing him unfavorably than favorably, in the 28 years and eight presidential cycles the ABC/Post poll has been measuring candidates.He is especially unliked among women. So get ready for that next great Republican voting reform project:
In the midst of the back and forth, O’Donnell brought up a quote Coulter gave to The Guardian in 2003 in which she said that women were one group she believed should have their right to vote taken away. When pressed by O’Donnell, Coulter stood by her comments, arguing that every election since 1950, aside from the 1964 Barry Goldwater election, would have been won by Republicans had it not been for women. Coulter said this presents enough reason to disenfranchise women. O’Donnell pushed further, asking Coulter how she would feel personally if she couldn’t vote. She responded: “If my entire gender loses it too, then I’m OK with it.”
And that's the end of that...
Looks like Ann Romney believes in re-gifting, the old story about their dog on top of the car while they traveled down the highway?
The dog loved it.So much for that good spin.
Well, there's a surprise
Romney surrogate and poet-in-residence Ted Nugent is off on one of his tasteful political jibes:
"We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November. Any questions?"What a surprise coming from this guy:
A worthy question, for which we all know the answer
Early gift-proclaimer Ann Romney, America's second-most famous servant supervisor after Lady Grantham, is having her Birthday Party hosted by infamous Republican "Jew-Counter" (I'm guessing he came to "Eleventy-One") and "Dog Roaster" Fred Malek. Phoenix Woman asks the question and gives the answer:
The Romney's and fellow dog-abusers (and in a way abuser of Jews) joining together.
How many of the folks with establishment-media access who do deign to notice that Fred Malek is hosting her birthday party will bother to mention his main claim to infamy (hint: it doesn’t involve barbecuing dogs)? I suspect the answers will be “not many” and “none at all”.The latter.
The Romney's and fellow dog-abusers (and in a way abuser of Jews) joining together.
It's all part of the plan...
Every American War from about 1991 forward is pretty much the same:
1. Starts out scary/romantic like World War II
2. Our bombing is most awesome...sorry about that nursery school/wedding/funeral/Amway Convention
...a decade of futility goes by...
3. Perpetually train forces, or it will end up just like Vietnam (while it ends up just like Vietnam)
4. Profit. Blather, rinse, repeat.
1. Starts out scary/romantic like World War II
2. Our bombing is most awesome...sorry about that nursery school/wedding/funeral/Amway Convention
...a decade of futility goes by...
3. Perpetually train forces, or it will end up just like Vietnam (while it ends up just like Vietnam)
4. Profit. Blather, rinse, repeat.
Admittedly I'm not a big fan
Of the insurance mandate, especially vis-a-vis single payer, but I don't have much doubt it's constitutional.
However, when Scalia has his hissy fit he'll have a hard time dealing with "original intent" -- well he would if he had a scintilla of intellectual integrity...so he will not:
However, when Scalia has his hissy fit he'll have a hard time dealing with "original intent" -- well he would if he had a scintilla of intellectual integrity...so he will not:
The framers, challengers have claimed, thought a constitutional ban on purchase mandates was too “obvious” to mention. Their core basis for this claim is that purchase mandates are unprecedented, which they say would not be the case if it was understood this power existed.But never mind, Scalia and company will just do what they want. After all, who knows the Constitution better, Scalia and Thomas or James Madison, John Jay and George Washington. The latter are mental pygmies in comparison, clearly.
But there’s a major problem with this line of argument: It just isn’t true. The founding fathers, it turns out, passed several mandates of their own. In 1790, the very first Congress—which incidentally included 20 framers—passed a law that included a mandate: namely, a requirement that ship owners buy medical insurance for their seamen. This law was then signed by another framer: President George Washington. That’s right, the father of our country had no difficulty imposing a health insurance mandate.
That’s not all. In 1792, a Congress with 17 framers passed another statute that required all able-bodied men to buy firearms. Yes, we used to have not only a right to bear arms, but a federal duty to buy them. Four framers voted against this bill, but the others did not, and it was also signed by Washington. Some tried to repeal this gun purchase mandate on the grounds it was too onerous, but only one framer voted to repeal it.
Six years later, in 1798, Congress addressed the problem that the employer mandate to buy medical insurance for seamen covered drugs and physician services but not hospital stays. And you know what this Congress, with five framers serving in it, did? It enacted a federal law requiring the seamen to buy hospital insurance for themselves. That’s right, Congress enacted an individual mandate requiring the purchase of health insurance. And this act was signed by another founder, President John Adams.
Not only did most framers support these federal mandates to buy firearms and health insurance, but there is no evidence that any of the few framers who voted against these mandates ever objected on constitutional grounds.
Oh dear, what a surprise
How shocking that Murdoch's hacking scandal continues to grow and goes to ever more prestigious (well previously so) parts of his empire:
Rupert Murdoch's Times of London is facing a claim for exemplary damages after admitting hacking into the email of an anonymous police blogger to expose his identity, lawyer Mark Lewis told Reuters on Friday.Lewis, of law firm Taylor Hampton and representing police detective Richard Horton, said Horton had filed for misuse of confidential information, breach of confidence and deceit at London's High Court this week.
Perfidious (to) Albion
A recent survey at the British National Military Museum named George Washington that nation's greatest military foe (how he beat Gorgo or curry is a mystery to me).
But this survey may have been premature, because they are being afflicted with a new set of Americans bringing a new kind of disaster with them:
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
But this survey may have been premature, because they are being afflicted with a new set of Americans bringing a new kind of disaster with them:
A Christian charity which sponsored a conference promoting the idea that gay people can be converted to heterosexuality has funded interns for an estimated 20 MPs, including some who are now ministers in the coalition government.
The Christian Action Research and Education charity (Care) has provided staff to the parliamentary offices of Caroline Spelman, Alistair Burt and Steve Webb. In 2009 it sponsored a London conference about homosexuality and Christianity which included sessions on "mentoring the sexually broken".Looks like Michele and Marcus Bachmann have a reason to inspect the Crown Jewels this Summer.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
BRAINSSSSSS!
Hey, nice to see that Dick Cheney's new heart still allows him to be as bitter as ever and give his daughter more paid gigs.
He sat in a plush chair throughout the long chat with daughter Liz Cheney and looked decidedly healthier than recent appearances where he has been gaunt and used a cane.And then they both decried Obama's cronyism.
It's been about 36 hours
Has the right-wing managed to blame Obama for Secret Service agents not properly paying Colombian prostitutes yet?
The Bullshit Artist strategy
A few months ago I stated that Mitt Romney's strategy was to lie so much and so often that by the time the general election started he will be perceived as such a soulless empty suit that all the lying ends up allowing people to think he's almost human (I'm going to pretend I'm the only one who said this).
And here it is in action.
And here it is in action.
Going about as well as a North Korean rocket-launch
Who could have anticipated?
Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shelled the battered city of Homs on Saturday, opposition activists said, the first bombings since a ceasefire began two days ago.After all these months of abusing Homs you have to wonder if they were simply measuring how high the rubble bounced.
The Important Stuff
Well, at least the Huffington Post broke its streak of "side-boob" front page stories. 
I know this is horribly unfair
Being in Iowa it is not uncommon to hear of people traveling to "Bible-Belt Vegas" i.e. Branson. I was once asked whether I wanted to ever go there. I know this is liberal elitism (i.e. good taste) and it is to the extent any elitism is justified when one is well entrenched within the bottom 99 percent of Des Moines, Iowa of all places, but I responded:
"I don't really like NASCAR, I don't really like Country music and I don't like Klan rallies, why would I go to a place that charges you to combine all three?"
It's our job to ruin everything
Apparently the Titanic Disaster actually showed the noble sentiments of the 1%, if you lie enough about it. Thanks Branson.
Still blaring out after all these years.
Mitt Romney decries Barack Obama for never having run a business while also saying his source for how voters feel about the economy is his wife, who has never run a business. How dare a Democrat point out this glaring inconsistency! Clearly liberals are decrying the model of motherhood we hold sacrosanct but which our economic policies have made impossible...unless you are rich, like Mitt and Ann Romney. Harrumph, Harrumph.Thanks right-wing Wurlitzer, for keeping us focused on the unimportant stuff. Good job cable news.
Hey, speaking of cable news...
On Thursday, attorneys at Epstein Becker & Green P.C. sent Gawker publisher Nick Denton a letter urging his blog to “immediately stop publishing information and videos that have been unlawfully obtained by or from Joe Muto, and return them to Fox News.”
But that’s not all. The letter also urges Gawker to protect all evidence and material Muto gave Gawker. The letter claims that Gawker and Muto — a now-former associate producer at Fox News, who until Wednesday night remained anonymous — likely engaged in “criminal and civil wrongdoing,” which will be the subject of further investigation by Fox.Which naturally led to this accurate tweet:
Oh don't act surprised
I love how the Politico always acts as if "patterns of behavior" do not exist in this world the same way Republicans deny evolution.
Sarah Palin’s political action committee raised $388,000 in the first three months of the year, but it spent $418,000 and didn’t give a dime to any candidates — which is the purported purpose of the PAC. Instead, Sarah PAC spent $255,000 on fundraising and a small team of political consultants that Palin has continued to support even as she receded from the political spotlight during the heat of the GOP presidential primary. It also appears to have spent $19,000 on a video rebutting the HBO film “Game Change.”And, of course, she's grifting:
Sarah PAC, a so-called leadership PAC set up to help the former Alaska governor maintain a political presence, finished March with $983,000 in the bank, according to a report filed Wednesday afternoon with the Federal Election Commission.Step right up suckers!
Go get him
So many shoes are dropping on Joe Arpaio you have to wonder if we're dealing with a dessert-based Imelda Marcos.
The Justice Department has given up on settling with Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and is planning to sue the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for systematic civil rights abuses of Hispanic residents, a DOJ official indicated in a terse letter to Arpaio’s lawyer on Wednesday. “It is clear that DOJ’s concerted effort to attain voluntary compliance by your client has failed,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Roy Austin of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division wrote in a letter to Arpaio lawyer Joseph Popolizio obtained by TPM.Reading the article does not paint Mr. Popolizio in a positive light and makes one wonder if he is not better suited for being fired or embarrassed at a major college athletic program, although he may be missing the all important middle "T" (Patino, Paterno, Petrino, which sounds like a bad parody of something Julius Caesar wrote).
The ring is closing...maybe
As TBogg noted yesterday FoxNews is dispensing it's top-notch "Fox Security" on the trail of the alleged insider that Gawker has retained. So far, this has been done as successfully as Roger Ailes did on the South Beach Diet.
Funny you always think of them as so darned competent:
And that day did come...one day there was a knock on the door and somebody told Al Franken he'd been elected a United States Senator.
BAM!
Why don't Rupert and Ailes simply hack their employees phones and emails?
Oh, right...
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Funny you always think of them as so darned competent:
And that day did come...one day there was a knock on the door and somebody told Al Franken he'd been elected a United States Senator.
BAM!
Why don't Rupert and Ailes simply hack their employees phones and emails?
Oh, right...
Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has been at the forefront of efforts to expose the News of the World phone-hacking scandal, is poised to bring the battle for legal redress across the Atlantic and to the doorstep of Rupert Murdoch's media empire...
Details remain sketchy about precisely what Lewis intends to do in the US, but the Guardian has learned that he will be having legal discussions that could lead to several lawsuits being lodged with the New York courts. The direct involvement of the US judicial system in allegations of illegal activity by News Corp employees would bring the scandal dramatically closer to Murdoch's adopted home.Looks like Rupert and Roger are going to have a rough weekend. Thank goodness James Murdoch has some free time now so he'll be available for stress abuse. Hope he likes gimp-suits.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
Time to put Hannity on the stand
George Zimmerman to get charged in connection with shooting of Trayvon Martin. Good luck with your pundit-client privilege argument FoxNews.
Isn't this the New Jersey equivalent of praising Castro in Miami?
I guess it beats sitting on the couch all day, like he usually does.
He's got the College of Cardinals vote!
Uh:
Mitt Romney on Fox News Wednesday said he is “in touch” with the American people. “The person I’m out of touch with is Barack Obama,” Romney said.
Another Republican budget expert
Newt Gingrich is trying to position himself as the challenger to Mitt Romney — or as he said in an email to supporters today, “the last conservative standing.” But that may be difficult, given the former House speaker’s anemic fundraising and non-existent campaign organization. Case in point: A $500 check Gingrich wrote bounced.Although it isn't terribly funny to the businesses that Gingrich screwed over (and he wasn't even married to them).
Bible Belt priorities
Sure the football coach at Arkansas had a bad rep even before wiping out with his mistress on his midlife crisis crotch-rocket, but he sort of wins games.
(pic from here)
You're next Joe Arpaio
The tin-horn dictatorship of Maricopa County, Arizona is finally starting to come down.
Having your own little "Syria" in the Southwest gets you lots of crazy followers though.
Having your own little "Syria" in the Southwest gets you lots of crazy followers though.
America's "go to guy" for racism
George Zimmerman has an unusually long-list of defenders who haven't spoken to him much: Joe Oliver; his next door neighbor; his lawyers.
But one man he's spoken to, Sean Hannity.
What a predictable person reach out to if you have a problem with mistreating a black person, Sean Hannity knows in advance who the real victim is, the one with less melanin.
The guy who cut his teeth in radio filling in for Bob Grant and having avowed racists call to rant about African Americans and mocking Abner Louima when he was "Giuliani-timed" by the New York City police has become the go to talking head for making a black victim into a villain.
For which he is handsomely paid.
Meanwhile, no one seems to know where Zimmerman is, except he isn't in Florida and, according to his now former "lawyers of the year", may not be competent. Oh and he can still carry around that 9mm.
But no problem, I'm sure.
Let us know if you see Joe Oliver driving a white bronco.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
But one man he's spoken to, Sean Hannity.
What a predictable person reach out to if you have a problem with mistreating a black person, Sean Hannity knows in advance who the real victim is, the one with less melanin.
The guy who cut his teeth in radio filling in for Bob Grant and having avowed racists call to rant about African Americans and mocking Abner Louima when he was "Giuliani-timed" by the New York City police has become the go to talking head for making a black victim into a villain.
For which he is handsomely paid.
Meanwhile, no one seems to know where Zimmerman is, except he isn't in Florida and, according to his now former "lawyers of the year", may not be competent. Oh and he can still carry around that 9mm.
But no problem, I'm sure.
Let us know if you see Joe Oliver driving a white bronco.
[cross-posted at Firedoglake]
"Hello Ladies..."
With Santorum out of the equation now is your time Herman Cain. Say Herman why is Romney losing so badly to Obama with women?
Oh, and there's men and there's "other people". So ladies at least you are technically people to Herman Cain...aka potential love interests.
John Derbyshire approves.
President Obama is very likable to most people, if you just look at him and his family. But if you look at his policies, which is what most people disagree with, it’s a different story. And I think many men are much more familiar with the failed policies than a lot of other people, as well as the general public.Wow, no sexism there.
Oh, and there's men and there's "other people". So ladies at least you are technically people to Herman Cain...aka potential love interests.
John Derbyshire approves.
How not surprising at all
All the places that oppose sex education and make it more difficult to have contraceptives...as well as those places with the shittiest schools -- have the highest teen pregnancy rate.
Mississippi has the highest teen birthrate in the nation while New Hampshire has the lowest, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday, following up on a report that found the incidence of pregnancy among U.S. teens was falling. Mississippi reported 55 births per 1,000 teens aged 15 to 19 in 2010, more than 60 percent above the U.S. average, according to state data released on Tuesday. New Hampshire's rate was less half the national average at 15.7 births for the same age group. Teen birth rates were higher in the South and Southwest and lower in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, the CDC said, noting that Hispanics and blacks had the highest teen birth rates.On the heels of yesterday's unsurprising news that conservatism comes from a predominance of "low-level" thinking, we have an idea what nether-regions these thoughts go to.
Awkward pictures of Mitt Romney
This is how the Human Centipede begins:
Nice socks, Barb make you wear those for not taking out the trash?
REUTERS/Donna Carson
REUTERS/Donna Carson
I'm entitled to be an asshole
I have cancer.
That seems to be what passes for John Derbyshire's defense of being a gigantic racist. What gave him that ability the prior three decades however....?
I, on the other hand, express it this way.
That seems to be what passes for John Derbyshire's defense of being a gigantic racist. What gave him that ability the prior three decades however....?
I, on the other hand, express it this way.
I'm sorry you have cancer, and also that you are a metaphorically huge dick.
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