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What the Hell Is Wrong With These Nutball Republicans?!

I don't even know what to say about this. All I can do is shake my head in amazement and try to suppress a sickening sadness for the state of partisan political affairs in our country.

Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder (R) on Thursday warned that “Albanian” election monitors who will observe polling places on November 6 are part of President Barack Obama’s plan to let the United Nations take over the United States. 

“UN observers, monitors, have no business in our elections and should be kept out of Missouri,” he told radio host Dana Loesch. “I’m calling on legislative leaders in the majority party in both the House and Senate — Republican leadership — to join me in saying we will not have these UN election monitors in our state." 

Kinder said he was inspired by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, who threatened to arrested the international election monitors if they come within 100 feet of a polling place. 

Following a request from eight civil rights groups, the Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner, agreed to send 44 election monitors to the United States. The international organization began monitoring U.S. elections in 2002, when then-President George W. Bush invited them to the country.

Where was the outrage then? Was George Bush trying to "sign away our sovereignty" when he invited the election monitors TEN YEARS AGO? Oh wait, "sovereignty"? Nevermind.

 What the fuck are these assholes even talking about?!

Donald Trump: Media Whore

Why can't these sad sack, irrational Birthers get over it?

Donald Trump, who went full Birther and hence became an official laughingstock for more than just the beaver that lives on his head, can't stand the idea of being out of the spotlight for very long. He can't live with the fact that he had to sit there and take a shellacking from President Obama at the 2011 White  House Correspondents' Dinner. But there he sat with egg on his face and after more than a year, he can take it no longer.

So The Donald has glommed on to yet another Obama conspiracy theory, this one involving the President's school records. He wants the world (and all the racist scumbags out there) to know that there's no possible way the President could have gotten where he has without affirmative action. That he didn't deserve to go to Occidental. Or Columbia. Or Harvard. That he wasn't intelligent enough to become President of the Harvard Law Review. And how does he intend to prove it? By trying to force President Obama's hand with money.

Trump has been trumpeting a "big announcement" this week, you know because it all has to be out in the open - it has nothing to do with seeing his name in the papers or being interviewed on the local news, or trying to inject himself into the presidential race from which he was rejected by the Republican electorate.

Donald Trump has offered $5 million to any charity of President Obama's choice IF he "agrees to give all of his college records and applications and if he provides all of his passport records and applications..." 

That's such an awesome deal, isn't it? If the President says yes, Donald Trump can then call all the documents forgeries, gin up another Manchurian Candidate conspiracy theory while writing off $5 million from his taxes. Everybody wins! Or Trump can just turn around and say the documents weren't to his satisfaction and not bother ponying up the dough. I mean, it's not like that man has shown to have any principles, morals, or integrity, right?

But he'll still win his little two weeks of news coverage because at the very least, Fox News will wonder why Obama doesn't take such an easy offer. He must be hiding something!

I seriously can't want for this election cycle to be over so we can get a break after the morons crawl back under their rocks for another 18 months.

What's Wrong with Ron Christie?

I watched Real Time with Bill Maher last night. After taking a break from Maher for most of last year because I felt he was always 10 days to 2 weeks behind on facts and perhaps had gotten a little lazy on preparation for his show, I figured I had to watch immediately after the GOP Convention just for a couple of laughs. I wasn't disappointed.

He obliterated Dinesh D'Souza while interviewing him and called him out for every bullshit meme that douchebag put in his anti-Obama movie. Catch a repeat if you can. But the main thing that caught my attention was the panel discussion: Jason Alexander, Soledad O'Brien and one of my favorite people to hate, Ron Christie.

When Christie was front and center a few years ago, it would me my blood boil. And he seemed to be on every fucking taking head show there was. He's such a hard line Republican that there was no use debating/arguing with him on any point, regardless of facts. If Darth Cheney came out and said the sky was green, Christie would deny his lying eyes and argue green skies to the death.
I just came to the conclusion that this was the role he was being paid for and that he couldn't possibly believe the bullshit pouring out of his mouth. Just like it's an act for Sean Hannity, I felt the same about Ron Christie. And for me personally, that makes me despise that person even more; there's no conviction or honesty in what they say. It's just a little game, being a paid shill for the GOP.

But watching Christie tonight, after not seeing him for so long, perhaps because his 15 minutes were up or he had a moment of clarity on the air and was subsequently fired as a GOP surrogate (but I doubt that) I tried to give him a fresh start. And wouldn't you know it, that little fucker is still the towing the GOP line always was- but this time I felt differently.

I used to think he was a paid shill, but now I truly think he actually believes what he says. ...I know right?! I was shocked too! The $716 billion Medicare story came up and Christie denounced President Obama's awful $716 billion Medicare "cut" but defended Paul Ryan's $716 billion Medicare "savings," and no amount of explanation that the savings were the same was going to change Christie's mind. Nope. Obama's cut bad. Ryan's savings good.

Bill Maher: So let me ask this panel, do you think we’ve ever seen lies like this [from politicians like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney]? Because it’s one thing to slant things, all politicians do that, but to just pull out of your ass…I mean Mitt Romney went through…Obama ‘s apologizing around the world — Fact checkers: no — Raising taxes on the middle class — Not true — Cutting defense — He’s only raised it. — Uh, you know, wrecked our credit rating — Welfare work requirement…he got rid of that — No, he didn’t do that — Robbing Medicare… Just a series of total lies. Have we seen this before? 

Soledad O’Brien: I don’t know if we’ve seen it before, but what I think you are seeing is people trying to get control of the message, that sort of the veracity doesn’t matter, right? If you can just say it and say it often, say it enough, and say it loud enough, and just keep repeating it and have everyone around you repeating it, then eventually it becomes true. I think that we’ve seen that a lot in this campaign. 

Bill Maher: Well now you’re describing what Hitler did. I’m not saying the Republicans are Hitler, but Hitler famously said the big lie works and the little lie doesn’t. 

Ron Christie: Well I think the big lie here is we need to fact check the fact checkers. The fact of the matter is the media has been running around – audience disapproval – the media has been running around saying Paul Ryan has been lying. The fact of the matter is this: President Obama and his plan Obamacare took $716 billion out under Medicare Advantage, he took it out of hospitals, and he took it out of the insurance program, and he programmed that into Obamacare. That’s true.

While this is technically true, what's misleading is that it's a cost savings over future spending curbing the increasing costs, not a cut in current spending. The part of Christie's sentence "took $716 billion out under Medicare Advantage" is purposely misleading. You know, it's that fiscal responsibility Republicans constantly beat their chests about but never really put into practice. But I'm done with this. Unlike Republicans, I'm not going to beat a dead horse while simultaneously beating my head against the wall.

When the issue of climate change came up, Christie wondered why it was such a cudgel on both sides, and wished we could just "agree to disagree." The science is not still out on this! And the English scientist email conspiracy theory has been thoroughly debunked as Christie was reminded by Maher when he tried to make that an issue. But at this point I wasn't so much angry as I was dumbfounded.

How does a seemingly intelligent person like Ron Christie deny global warming? How is it that one can be so ingrained in their ideology that solid, scientific facts are nothing but a conspiracy theory in their eyes? How did his brain develop to the point that if he and others like him in his party, which looks like a vast majority of them at this point, don't believe or understand something, then they outright just refuse it? Or that they are so willing to believe a lie from someone they respect, but when confronted with the truth, with facts staring them in the face even by nonpartisan entities, it just doesn't sink in?

No matter how many times they are confronted with pure fact, it's dismissed which makes trying to have a conversation or debate with Republicans, teabaggrs and Obama haters so frustrating. Paraphrasing Maher, how can you have a debate when you can't agree on the facts?

Ron Christie believes Paul Ryan because he wants to believe Paul Ryan. But all those reporters actually doing their jobs for a change and reporting the lies? Nu-uh. He said someone should "fact check the fact checkers." ...What? Well, then who's going to fact check the fact checkers checking the fact checkers when you still don't get the result you want?! It's all talking in circles. It's birtherism at the next level. Insist on a birth certificate, but when it's provided, insist it's a forgery. Ask for the long form and when it's provided, insist it's a forgery. They will never be satisfied.

It must be nice to live in your own little bubble, blissfully unaware that maybe, just maybe you might be wrong.

 (Cross-posted on ABLC)

It's Official: Rush Limbaugh Is Back On Drugs

He HAS to be, otherwise how can these batshit crazy comments be taken even remotely seriously?



So... Obama was in cahoots with the National Weather Service to falsify the track of Hurricane Isaac in order to fuck over the first day of the GOP Convention in Tampa, and the people who really WERE in harms way were basically shrugged off and considered collateral damage just to ruin some delegation fun in Florida.

And millions of people take this asshole seriously for three hours on a daily basis.

Credit Where Credit Is Due?

Not likely.

Republicans were o so quick to blame President Obama when prices were soaring and drivers were paying $4 per gallon on average to fill their tanks. Sen. John Barasso (R-Wy.) held the President "fully responsible" for the price of gas. Florida wingnut Allen West bitched about having to pay $70 to fill his Hummer. Yes, a fucking HUMMER. And don't we all remember then GOP primary candidate Newt "The Sky Is Falling" Gingrich predicting gas prices at $10 per gallon? Ah, the halcyon days.

But then just a few days ago, when it was noticed that gas prices have been steadily going down for a few months, the same intrepid politicians who were blaming the President and his policies for high gas prices, were a little less enthusiastic to give him credit for the price drop.

Barasso: “People are still feeling pain at the pump and pain at the plug, and it’s a result of the administration policies...”

West: “If you’re the chief executive officer of the United States of America, you should take responsibility for anything that’s occurring in this country, and you should not want to seek to get praise,” even though I don't remember President Obama looking for praise on falling gas prices. It was just a question from a reporter, Allen. And no, said reporter is not a communist.

Now, logic would dictate that if it was President Obama's policies that were causing the price of gas to increase, then those very same policies which are in place and haven't changed, are what's causing the price of gas to decrease. But hey, since when does the current Republican Party have anything to do with logic?

Granted, the rest of us in the real world understand that no administration or its policies really make an impact on the price of gasoline, a global commodity. The continuing debate and decisions on the XL Keystone Pipeline have nothing to do with what we pay at the pump, considering the fact that the oil isn't actually ours and it's put out on the global market just like the oil that's pumped out of Texas or Alaska, or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.

So what are we to decipher when Donald "I have investigators in Hawaii" Trump (still waiting for the results of the investigation, by the way) makes the following statement?

...I think Saudi Arabia is doing Obama a big fat favor. I think he asked for the favor and prices are coming down, but also the economy's going bad so maybe it won't help that much. but as soon as -- assuming if Obama got elected, you're going to see something with oil like you've never seen before, it will go through the roof. The favor will be repaid many times over.

Wait, what? Is Donald Trump swimming against the Republican tide and actually giving President Obama credit for lower gas prices? Well, no, he's actually insinuating that the President is in cahoots with a Mooslim leader (you know, the same one that was kissing up to George W. Bush) but you get my point.

The Republicans and their wingnut supporters will do or say anything, ANTHING, to disparage, demean and discredit the President in order to push their twisted agenda.

Crazy Lady

Just read and shake your head in amazement.

Former "Saturday Night Live" actress Victoria Jackson, working on confidential information she as a web talk show host has special clearance to obtain, has claimed that the United States is being overtaken by radical Muslims bent on bringing the nation under Sharia law.

Trump and "Serious" Republicans

What does it say about the state of the Republican Party that the crazy conspiracy theories being touted by Donald Trump are propelling him into the lead in poll after poll? Is the current crop of potential GOP presidential candidates that pathetic that they are gravitating to Trump? Don't answer that.

And now Trump is going with the Bill Ayers ghostwriting conspiracy? And what's going to happen when The Donald announces that he will not run? Instead of admitting they were conned, what new excuse will the wingnuts come up with? Perhaps they'll start a new conspiracy that since Trump was the only viable candidate to have a chance at beating Obama, his life or fortune was threatened by the government and he was forced to bow out.

This is shaping up to be one of the craziest campaign seasons in a long time.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

...when you find out we're being sent to Libya to use our treasure and American lives there, maybe there's intention to so deplete the military that we're going to need that presidential reserve officer commissioned corps and non-commissioned corps that the president can call up on a moment's notice involuntarily, according to the Obamacare bill.

~Louie Gohmert (R-Wingnutville) on the House floor March 30th, 2011

Yes, you read that correctly. It's not an April Fool's joke. Gohmert thinks that the Affordable Care Act creates a private army for the President to call up at any time. Maybe if Gohmmert could read, and actually looked through the "2,800 page bill" as he incessantly reminds us, he'd know that what that provision in the bill does is create a corp of public health workers to react to disasters. But why bother reading a bill you have no intention of voting in favor of anyway?

As TPM notes...

Some on the far-right believe the health care law creates a private army for President Obama to call up and train on U.S. citizens. What it really does is make good on a plan first envisioned by Bush HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson in the wake of the September 11 attack to create a Ready Reserve Corps of several thousand public health professionals -- nurses, doctors -- that can be called up to treat people in the wake of an epidemic or a disaster like Hurricane Katrina.

Gohmert gave credence to the theory on the House floor, with an addendum. The administration's Libya operation is actually a false flag, to draw down the country's military reserves, and give Obama the excuse he needs to call up his private army.

This is 9/11 truther-type stuff, on the House floor.

And I thought Michele Bachmann was the stupidest member of Congress. I stand corrected.

This Man Is Nuts

Listen to Beck play the communist card like a fiddle. Asked to elaborate on what groups make up One Nation, the supposed organization that will bring down the US, he answers, "the labor unions, communist organizations and the Green movement." Labor unions, that were created to stop employer abuses of its workers, AKA the Average American. The Green movement and their hateful ideas to protect our environment and develop a new revenue source of green jobs in the country to save energy and control waste. He lumps them in with "communist organizations" but doesn't mention any one specific group. Way to scare the rubes there, Glenn.  Of course, if you're intellectually lazy and don't bother looking it up for yourself, why not just take his word for it? Also, buy some overpriced gold coins while you're at it - Glenn wouldn't rip you off, would he?

Here's One Nation's summarized mission statement:

One Nation Working Together is a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together. Coming from a diverse set of backgrounds, experiences, beliefs and orientations, we are determined to build a more united country with good jobs, equal justice, and quality public education for all.

Good jobs, equal justice and quality public education... ooooh, those evil commie bastards!

Seems like everyone who does not agree with Beck is apparently a communist. It also seems like spreading democracy in the Middle East is a good thing when a Republican is in charge. Where was Beck when we were deposing dictators by force and propping up banana republics?

Oh, and by the way, Bill, it's "foment" not "forment."

First Post Election Tea Party Freakout

This is going to be a very interesting 112th Congress.

On Friday, the Tea Party Patriots lived up to just about every stereotype about the movement that its critics have about the tea party insurgency. In a single email, the Patriots acted paranoid, attacked fellow conservatives, alienated Republicans, sounded unhinged, got their facts wrong and had to sheepishly apologize to all involved. They also dished out the personal cell phone numbers of many incoming freshmen -- leading to a bombardment of calls from angry tea partiers.

CONSPIRACY! QUICK! FEEDING FRENZY ON THOSE YOU JUST ELECTED!

Keep reading at TPM.

A Steaming, Hot Bowl Full of Crazy

S#*! Sarah Palin Says (Corrupt Bastards Edition) - UPDATED

I'll leave the reporting of this one to TPM on the full story of how Andrew "Zero Credibility" Breitbart once again takes an edited, out of context audio clip to successfully make non-thinkers believe an Alaskan CBS news affiliate is in some kind of conspiracy to take down Joe Miller in a scandal.

But as far as Sarah Palin and her shooting from the hip tweets is concerned , 1- she either falls for the Breitbart bullshit hook, line and sinker or 2 - just decides to be her usual dishonest self and take advantage of it to gin up the crazy base.



Oh yes, Sarah, there's been a conspiracy against you from the very beginning, huh?  No reason to look into your background considering you were running for the second highest office in the land and had multiple ethics complaints against you and your half term administration. Why would anyone want to bother wanting to know who you were?

And would there be any doubt that if another political celebrity in the opposition party used the phrase, or Facebooked or tweeted "corrupt bastards," they would shoot up to the top of the GOP/Fox News list as Villain No. 1?

One more thing, Sarah.  The next time you think it would be cute to substitute a name for an acronym like "CBS," make sure you actually use the letters.  C.B.S. does not equal "Corrupt Bastards Club." ...Idiot.

ADDING... Fox News has not been able to confirm Palin's claim.

This afternoon, Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron aired a portion of a tape that Andrew Breitbart has posted and which Breitbart claims is a recording of a voicemail that reporters at Alaska's KTVA left with an aide to Miller's campaign. Cameron reported that Fox News "cannot verify" what Palin claimed. Cameron also said, "We have not been able to confirm it, nor have we been able to listen to the entirety of the message before the conversation that wasn't supposed to be recorded." Cameron further reported that Fox News was "not exactly sure what the authenticity of this is."

UPDATE (11/1/10 10:50am): Looks like Palin's assault on journalism continues as she responds to a Politico story about the possibility of the GOP going after the Mama Grizzly to discredit her to derail her 2012 bid, if there is one.

Politico, Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei, they're jokes. This is a joke to have unnamed sources tearing somebody apart limb by limb," Palin told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren Sunday. "If they would man up and if they would, you know, make these claims against me then I can debate them, I can talk about it, but to me they're making stuff up again."

So she'll berate Politico and call it "yellow journalism," but take Breitbart's word for it with his endless bullshit stories? Weak.

Beyond Crazy

POSTED BY JHW22

Give me the "Sarah Palin isn't Trig's Mom" conspiracy any day over the "Obama and Soros are emailing each other and want Glenn Beck dead" conspiracy. Glenn Beck hasn't exactly said that there's a plot to kill him (well, maybe he has but I'm not going to listen to him enough to find out) but he has sprinkled enough seeds about some relationship between Soros and Obama and has planted the seed that Soros would possibly try to kill him. Water those seeds a bit with references to Obama as Lucifer (when we ALL know that Cheney is Lucifer), Obama wants to take your guns, religion, money (do I really need to provide links for any of that?) and all of a sudden, you have people who think that Obama AND Soros want to kill Glenn Beck.

Now, as a former X-Files fanatic, I can say that some conspiracies do exist. I have some serious doubts about a few things that if I asked questions about would have me tagged as crazy. But I'll tell you what, when Democrats cling to conspiracies, we tend to have a few more facts that raise more questions than answers. When right-wing freaks cling to conspiracies, they make even Fox Mulder roll his eyes.

The only conspiracy going on with Glenn Beck is his own. He is a charlatan manipulating viewers into not thinking. He doesn't want them to think because he makes money off zombies. Now, even zombies are more believable than anything Glenn Beck can come up with -- just LOOK at his viewers.

(Now, Mr. Soros, I will be looking for that check that I have heard you'll be sending me.)

h/t to Desert Crone for the heads-up on the latest crazy.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

"Well, President Obama is trying to bind the United States into a global economy where all of our nations come together in a global economy. I don’t want the United States to be in a global economy where, where our economic future is bound to that of Zimbabwe."

~ Michele Bachmann (R-Freakland) on Fox "News"

I suppose no President before Obama ever met with other world leaders in a summit such as the G-20.  And as John Amato notes:

Using racist code words is built into the psyche of all conservative pols so when Mrs. Crazy spouts off that the USA could become "Zimbabwe," they understand that what she's really saying is Obama is not a citizen, but an African/Muslin [sic] hiding out in the White House...

I guess if she had said "Kenya" it would have been too obvious.

Obama's Katrina -UPDATED

The Rude Pundit is spot on.

Tell you what, motherfuckers, when dead people are left to rot in the sun because of the incompetence of the federal government, when corpses are floating in the streets, when the President passively ignores the pleas of the governors of Gulf Coast states, when entire neighborhoods have been physically destroyed, when the federal government strands tens of thousands of people without food or water, when the federal government starts to blame the local governments, when the President praises the work of a failed, incompetent bureaucrat while a major city rots, then you can say that this is Barack Obama's "Katrina."

It only took a couple of days before I started hearing the conservative pundits and assholes in general tried to dub the BP accident and subsequent oil spill clusterfuck "Obama's Katrina." Even Alex Witt-less on the "Obama News Network," also known as MSNBC, was asking if the federal response to the oil leak disaster was fast enough.

Question to Witt: Does the US Coast Guard work for British Petroleum or are they under the direction of the federal government and Commander in Chief, President Obama? Because the Coast Guard was there during the accident looking for survivors and leading in the rescue effort, you stupid twit. And coordinated efforts have been overseen by the government from the beginning. Yes, BP is in the middle of that, but are under government oversight to make sure the response has been cohesive.

I'm willing to bet that states' rights proponents were the first to run to the federal level for help or blame the feds for a lack of response, neither reaction being rational for their ideology. See Jindal, Bobby.

Adding... Stay tuned for the sabotage conspiracy to take wing, right wing that is. Of course, the President had said just recently that we need to expand oil drilling while we begin a transitional phase to other sources of energy in order to ween ourselves off of the Middle East teet, so why would this be sabotage? Wouldn't he have said the opposite so he can have an "I told you so" moment? Fucking wingnuts...

UPDATE (7:30pm): See what I mean? CONSPIRACY!!!



Great job, Neil Cavuto! But I wouldn't expect anything different. Seriously, does "Heckuva Job, Brownie" really have any credibility? It's not like we're talking about Arabian horses.

Tea Party Compromised by Secret Agents

Seriously? This is what they're touting to distance themselves from the crazy faction of the Tea Party to seem more legitimate? That possible agents have infiltrated the group to discredit them? I sincerely hope this is an April fool's joke.

[R]ecent Tea Party people who allegedly denounced a Parkinson’s patient or spat at gay and black congressmen might well have been agents. Offensive signs might be Made in DC too. Next might come calls for violence by alleged Tea Party types, and perhaps acts, which can be used to suppress dissent. Peaceful resistance is not only right, it is all that works, unless you are with the state. If anyone urges the use of violence, the state’s characteristic action, he is probably an agent.

Put your tin foil hats on boy and girls, and all aboard on the Crazy Train! Choo-Fucking-Choo!

Ooh, look! An agent posing as an elderly, keep-your-govmint-hands-off-my-Medicare, racist just to discredit the "movement."



Uh, huh. Looks like FBI to me. And Victoria Jackson is the Maxwell Smart of the FBI!

(H/T Bob Cesca)

Oh, The Big Brother Census

The Bachmann Conundrum has started to take effect. Republicans are not filling out census forms which will cause them to be undercounted, causing a loss of federal funds and congressional seats.

As of Friday afternoon, only 27 percent of Texas households had filled in and returned their census forms — well below the national average of 34 percent — according to computer data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In Harris County, the response rate is 23 percent. Houston's returns are running at 21 percent.

Meanwhile, Democrats are the political group most motivated to complete the census and fill it back--and Republicans are following leaders like Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann in refusing to fill it out. Some conservative counties in Texas have a response rate as low as five percent...

Keep going, Republicans! You're doing great! Maybe Bachmann's seat will disappear.

Birther Bullshit (The G. Gordon Liddy Edition)

Conservative radio talk show host and convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy was on Hardball tonight and while feeling the effects of downing a bottle of vicodin with a fifth of scotch, or at least looking that way, tried to slur through the evidence of the Birther Movement. Chris Matthews won't leave the Birther crap alone and reams Liddy a new asshole. Good thing he's too wasted to feel it.

Grab your popcorn!

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