Understatement of the Year

“We will never have the elite, smart people on our side.” 

~ Former Republican Senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves, or in this case, expose themselves.

But It's Not About Racism (The GOP Convention Edition)

Isn't it great to live in the land of post-racial sentiment after we've elected a black man into the Oval Office? Anyone screaming 'racism' is obviously not in touch with the pulse of the American electorate and is simply using the race card as an instrument of division and hate... wait, what?

"...Zoraida Fonalledas, the chairwoman of the Committee on Permanent Organization—took her turn at the main-stage lectern [at the GOP Convention in Tampa Bay]. As she began speaking in her accented English, some in the crowd started shouting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” 

The chanting carried on for nearly a minute while most of the other delegates and the media stood by in stunned silence. The Puerto Rican correspondent turned to me and asked, “Is this happening?”... None of us could quite believe what we were seeing: A sea of twentysomething bowties and cowboy hats morphing into frat bros apparently shrieking over (or at) a Latina."

But surely they were chanting because they were proud of their "big tent" and cheering, not jeering the Republican latina woman at their own convention, right? ...Right?

But the Republicans keep telling me that it was Obama who has done absolutely nothing for immigrants (even though the woman was Puerto Rican and therefore an American citizen) in this country, except to throw them a bone with his obvious politicization of young immigrants who are here through no fault of their own, at least according to Romney surrogate John Sununu.

“If Obama really was serious about that, he wouldn’t have been such a phony in doing that, and he would have done it four years ago. This presidency, by doing something late and politically, defined both his incompetence and his insincerity,” Sununu said after answering questions in Spanish with the Hispanic press. 

During the GOP primary, Romney vowed to veto the DREAM Act, which would implement a stronger version of what Obama did through executive order, but since winning the nomination, he’s tacked to the middle and avoided striking the hard-line tone on immigration that made him one of the most conservative candidates on the issue in the GOP field. 

Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and an immigration adviser to Romney, is the author of Arizona’s of infamous immigration law and took up a suit brought by 10 immigration enforcement agents against the new Obama policy last week.

Hold on. Do you mean to tell me that, try as they might, the Republican Party really isn't that into people of color? I find that hard to believe.

Two attendees at the Republican National Convention were thrown out of the convention center in Tampa on Tuesday after throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman and saying, "this is how we feed the animals."

CNN reported that multiple witnesses saw it happen, and police immediately removed the two people from the premises.

Oh, come on! What's next?! Is some frothy guy going to step behind the convention podium and blatantly lie about the Presdient in a clear attempt to rile up the fringiest of the fringe with some dumbass welfare claim even though a large number of white people are help by that program as well?

"This summer he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare," Santorum said Tuesday in a speech at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. "I helped write the welfare reform bill; we made the law crystal clear -- no president can waive the work requirement. But as with his refusal to enforce our immigration laws, President Obama rules like he is above the law." 

PolitiFact checked a Romney campaign ad's claim that Obama ended welfare work requirements earlier this month, rating it Pants On Fire. In reality, the Obama administration has said it will consider proposals from states that are aimed at finding better ways of getting welfare recipients into jobs. FactCheck.org and the Washington Post Fact Checker have also said the claim is false.

Fuck. Me.

If you haven't noticed, it's been all dog whistles, all the time. Accusations of "gutting welfare requirements" taking a play out of the welfare queen Reagan playbook. Romney making a little "joke" about not having to show his birth certificate - yet the reaction wasn't laughter, but cheers. Delegates at the GOP convention booing and chanting "USA" when an Hispanic woman speaks. Other conventioneers thrown out after assaulting a black CNN cameraperson and calling her an "animal." And yet when it's brought up, it's the DEMOCRATS who are accused of using the RACE CARD?! If it acts like a racist and it smells like a racist...

ADDING... And let's not forget that scumbag South Carolina state representative Alan Clemmons responding positively to a racially tinged email regarding their bullshit voter ID law.  But hey, it's those Democrats playing that damned race card because you know, black man in the White House, new era of enlightenment, post racial land of the free, home of blah, blah, blah...

(Cross-posted at ABLC)

Is It Over Yet?

CBS: Rick Santorum is poised to suspend his bid for the presidency on Tuesday, removing the last significant obstacle in Mitt Romney's now all-but-certain march to the Republican presidential nomination.

Santorum will make the announcement at a press conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania shortly, a senior member of his campaign staff told CBS News.

My first thought: He didn't want to get embarrassed in his home state in two weeks. My second thought: He may be crazy, but at least he's smarter than Newt Gingrich. And my final thought: Santorum making his announcement at Gettysburg seems so apropos.

Rick's Hispanic Pandering

Not!

My work schedule has prevented me from blogging and it'll be sparse here for the next week or so, but I had to chime on Rick Santorum's trip to Puerto Rico this week.

According to a Spanish translation of the interview posted on El Vocero’s Web site, Santorum responded that “as in any other state, (Puerto Rico) should comply with this and every other federal law -- and that is that English must be the main language.”

Now, not only is Santorum being what can be described as bigoted when it comes to the issue of the English language, but what I take the most offense to is the notion that somewhere in our Constitution, he thinks there is a federal law that states English must be the main language for territories applying for statehood.
In his defense, the Santorum campaign is claiming he was misquoted and didn't say that English should be the "only" language, but that is a lame excuse. The subject shouldn't even have been broached. I'll even take Rick at his word and substitute "only" to "main" or "primary." It's still a dumbass thing to say or think.

A proud cultural heritage and tradition are things Hispanics in general have strong feelings about. For Rick to dismiss a language they've been speaking almost 300 years before the birth of the United States is a callous, insensitive and bigoted thought.

And I say bigoted because a Santorum spokesman said...

“In Puerto Rico, Rick would encourage people to speak English in addition to Spanish because English is the language of opportunity in America,” he added.

The language of opportunity? I disagree, Rick. Opportunity, as far as language is concerned, may come from the advantage of being bilingual or multi-lingual. But to think you have an advantage because you speak English as opposed to multiple languages is, oh I don't know... elitist?

Way to go, immediately alienating the Puerto Rican/Hispanic vote. What a snob!

Did Romney Win Michigan?

For the first few hours, the GOP Michigan primary was too close to call. Mitt Romney, who was raised in the state and whose father was a former governor, was neck and neck with Rick Santorum. Then the call was made: Romney was declared the winner of the Michigan primary. But did he really win?

Rick Santorum claimed a partial victory Wednesday when final results showed he and Mitt Romney evenly split Michigan' s 30 delegates, even though Romney got more overall votes in the Republican presidential primary Tuesday.

The latest estimates from CNN showed both candidates with 15 Michigan delegates, while Romney was ahead in the popular vote with 41% to Santorum's 38%.

If you strictly look at the numbers, then yes, Romney won the popular vote and the delegates were split 50/50 because the race was so close in a state in which he should have cleaned up. But in a state in which he should have cleaned up, was this really a win for Mitt Romney? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Santorum's College/Religion Dogwhistles Are Wrong

"...62 percent of kids who enter college with some sort of faith commitment leave without it."

~Rick Santorum

That would be completely wrong. But did you actually expect it to be correct?

"...multiple studies have found that the opposite is true — including the one that Santorum has reportedly been referring to.

A study published 2007 in the journal Social Forces — which PBS reports that Santorum’s claim is based on, although his spokesman didn’t respond to TPM’s request for confirmation — finds that Americans who don’t go to college experience a steeper decline in their religiosity than those who do."

I just can't understand Santorum's latest crusade against a college education when studies in fact do show that a college degree does lead to a more successful career. But I suppose it's all part of the Republican attempt to dumb down America. How else would they get votes? And when all else fails, use the indoctrination boogeyman.

"President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob. There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard everyday and put their skills to test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor that [tries] to indoctrinate them."

At least he called him, "President Obama." But it's funny, I don't remember anyone railing against "indoctrination" in our nation's schools until we had a Manchurian Candidate, Kenyan anti-colonialist, illegitimate President. But Santorum goes on.

Pressed by moderator David Gregory whether he encouraged his children to go to college, Santorum said he encouraged them "to get higher education." "In fact, if college is the best place for them, absolutely, but you know what? If going to a trade school and learning to be a carpenter or a plumber or other types of skills or an artist... or musician, all of those things are very important and worthwhile professions that we should not look down our nose at."

Who said anything about looking down our nose at those who don't go to college? And "higher education" is what the President exactly said.

George Stephanopolous: All he said was he wants, quote, "every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training."

Cartoon of the Day

Something is Horribly Wrong with Republican Voters

Gallup: Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now statistically tied for the lead in Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination -- 32% to 30%, respectively.

Wait, I'm wrong. I can't possibly blame GOP voters for these numbers with the disgusting clown car of candidates that I'd have to choose from were I in their shoes. The only thing I can blame them for is the fact that they vote GOP at all. Luckily, I have a brain and don't have to choose between these morons.

Rick Santorum's Billionaire Backer

This is Foster Friess. Foster Freiss is not really a billionaire. Foster Friess is a multi-multi-multi-millionaire. Foster Friess is pouring millions into backing Rick Santorum's run for the Republican nomination for President. Foster Friess thinks all the hoopla over the contraception issue is much ado about nothing because it's "so inexpensive nowadays."

“You know, back in my days, they used Bayer aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly.”

That only scratched the surface. If you didn't see the whole interview (I didn't, but do I really need to subject myself to that?), read the highlights at the Politico link.

If Santorum doesn't distance himself from those comments for being crude in the least, and he won't because he need's Freiss' money, you can witness his downfall in the polls within a couple of weeks.

Stewart Weighs In on Contraception Issue

Jon Stewart came back from vacation with guns blazing regarding the whole contraception debacle, and in regards to the previous post by JHW22, I'd thought I'd add it here. Brilliant.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

I Really Tried

I took a deep breath, grabbed my remote and tuned in to CNN last night to watch the latest Republican debate. Normally, when I flip these things on in passing (the GOP debates, I mean) it's just to make sure something miraculous hasn't happened and they started debating in truths rather than whatever fantasy world they live in. But alas, that moment never comes.

Well, while still not living in reality, this night had the makings of being different. After all, Rick Perry had bowed out just that morning and now the GOP Nomination Clown Car was down to four. Newt Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, accused him of wanting an open marriage after he began an affair with his now third wife, Callista. And after two weeks of recounting Iowa caucus votes, we found out that Rick Santorum actually beat Mitt Romney, but since Iowa takes its voting so seriously and eight precincts worth of votes went missing, the recount will never be complete, so we'll never really know, will we?

I knew I was in for a long night when the first question out of the gate was directed at Newt and the open marriage accusation. And an angry, defiant Gingrich went after moderator John King for having the gall to ask such a question at the debate, blamed the media for attacking him and "protecting Barack Obama" and the crowd lapped it up and went along for the ride.

And I think that's what disgusted me most about this South Carolina debate - the audience was chomping at that red meat like there was no tomorrow. They were cheering Gingrich's "fuck you" attitude while simultaneously forgoing their Christian conservative selves in support of a thrice married, twice divorced, serial adulterer. Let alone the hootin' and hollerin' when Newt once again chose to go after welfare recipients (you know, because there are no white people on government assistance) to appease the blood thirsty crowd who'd left their torches and hoods at the coat check.

Somewhere along the line I felt my blood pressure rise and decided my health was more important than a futile exercise. I noticed the time was 8:36pm EDT, probably the longest I've sat through a GOP debate this season... and actually the first time I consciously tried. But to tell you the truth, besides the Newt opener and Santorum claiming victory in Iowa, the rest is a blur. It's hard to concentrate when you have blood boiling in your eyes.

Santorum Won?!

Well where the hell does this put the GOP presidential nomination race? It would seem that after a recount of the Iowa caucuses that gave Mitt Romney a slim eight vote victory shows that Rick Santorum actually won with a 34 vote edge. And it's still a clusterfuck.

Republican officials indicated Santorum finished ahead of Romney by 34 votes on Thursday. The Des Moines Register reports that votes from eight precincts will never be counted, however, and therefore the ultimate tally remains inconclusive.

...Officials found inaccurate counts in 131 precincts, including one that had an error by 50 votes, the Des Moines Register reported on Thursday.

Chad Olsen, the party’s executive director, told the Register that the results showed "a split decision." The final tallies, exempting the eight precincts that will not be tallied, were 29,839 for Santorum and 29,805 for Romney, according to the Register.

Boy, the Republican party is in such disarray that they can't even rig their own elections properly. And now what happens in South Carolina? With a couple of days left and Newt Gingrich's negative carpet bombing of Romney cutting his poll lead in half, anything can happen when you combine the fact that the GOP still can't stomach Newt.

One more thing: after this complete debacle in which the votes of eight precincts will never be counted, and errors exposed in practically every other precinct, can someone please explain to me why it is that we give a shit about Iowa?

Confession Time For Santorum

When I was growing up, I was told lying was a sin and since you have to confess your sins in the Catholic faith, I'm waiting for Rick Santorum to head for the nearest confessional.

A few days ago, GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum put his foot in his mouth by saying “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

Santorum allegedly made the controversial comments when discussing welfare in an interview Wednesday night with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, but he maintained that people misheard the word "black" when he stumbled on a word.

“I looked at that, and I didn't say that. If you look at it, what I started to say is a word and then sort of changed and it sort of - blah - came out. And people said I said ‘black.’ I didn't," Santorum said while smiling away.

He said, "blah?"



Sounds like Newt Gingrich a few months ago: "Any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood."

Oh, Rick. You can't have it both ways. Either you meant "black" to demonize the have-nots and push the the welfare queen meme (as if there aren't poor white people in this country) or you meant "poor." Either way, you're frothing up the base in an "us again them" class warfare mentality. But for a "blah" candidate, maybe he did say "blah."

Trump Takes Credit For Santorum and Bachmann

Say what now? Donald Trump hasn't been in the headlines for a week or so? Well, he'd better do something about that! We wouldn't want to forget about him, would we? So how about taking credit for Rick Santorum's frothy surge in the Iowa caucus last night?



Does Trump mean the debate that he backed out of because no one would be subjected to his idiocy? That debate? The one that didn't take place? I suppose that goes for Newt Gingrich as well, who was the first to accept Trump's invitation but came in fourth with 13% of the vote.

But not to leave well enough alone, he then explained why Michele Bachmann sank in the polls.



Ah, of course the reason Bachmann dropped in the polls wasn't her outlandish, gaffe prone rhetoric. Or that she would chest thump with Iran. It's because she denied The Donald and refused to kiss his debate ring. It has to be the only reason.

How many times in her life must Ivanka have uttered the phrase, "Daaaaaad... You're embarrassing me!!!"

Eight Votes

Oh, to be a fly on the wall of Romney campaign headquarters... What must they be saying behind the scenes after watching the results of the Iowa caucuses and realizing that they ended up in a statistical dead heat with Rick Santorum? Not Newt Gingrich. Not Ron Paul. Not Even Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry. RICK SANTORUM!

After Mitt Romney spent the equivalent of about $113 per vote compared to Santorum's $1.65 in the state, Mitt won the caucus by eight votes. EIGHT. He is so despised by the Republican establishment and the average GOP voter at large, that he can't even win the Iowa caucus in commanding fashion. He's been the perennial second place choice over Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Perry... hell, even Donald Trump was a front runner topping Mitt in early polls. But Romney has always been the bridesmaid, never the bride... until last night. And it was a shotgun wedding.

To put things in perspective, basically after four years of Iowa campaigning, Mitt did no better than he did in 2008. Actually, he did do better. He gained a total of 66 votes since 2008 when he finished in, you guess it, second place.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

“If you graduate from high school, you get married before you have children, and of course you work — that’s sort of a given, you have to work — you do those three things, there’s a 2 percent chance you’ll be in poverty."

~Rick Santorum, campaigning in Iowa.

Someone should let Rick Santorum know that poor people get married too. And oh, yeah, screw same sex marriages, those people deserve to be in poverty, right, Rick?

The Best "Fuck You" Ever

Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania on Wednesday said Obama's policy toward radical Islamists "has been nothing but appeasement."

When asked about the accusations that his foreign policy is timid and amounts to a policy of "appeasement," The President responded:

"Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaida leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever is left out there, ask them about that."

BOOM! goes the dynamite.

The Big Tent Party

Here you go Log Cabin Republicans. Pat yourselves on the back, GOProud. Please Lt. Dan Choi, continue to rail against President Obama and how he's done nothing for the gay community, and realize that in fighting against Obama, this is what you're fighting for.



The cognitive dissonance is astounding.

Just as I will never understand why any middle class member of a union votes Republican, I will shake my head in amazement at a gay American who flips the lever for any GOP candidate.

And let's be clear about Rick Santorum's idiotic statement:

I would say any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military. The fact they are making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we are going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege to, and removing don't ask don’t tell. I think tries to inject social policy into the military. And the military's job is to do one thing: to defend our country...

Yes, it's a real privilege to put your life on the line to defend Rick Santorum and his policies isn't it? But please, Rick, continue.

I would just say that going forward we would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president. That policy would be re-instituted as far as people in, I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration. But we would move forward in conformity with what was happening in the past. Which was- sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself whether you are heterosexual or homosexual.

The repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell is now law. Rick Santorum or any other Republican president (I shudder at the thought) cannot unilaterally reinstitute DADT with the flick of a pen. You can't repeal a law by executive order. That's why it was so important for President Obama to make this a legislative issue as he is doing with the Defense of Marriage Act. Besides the fact that the federal court deemed DADT unconstitutional.

Santorum is right. Sex is not an issue, but by discriminating against gay and lesbian soldiers, he is making it an issue. There is no "exception," no "special privilege" we are bestowing among gay soldiers be the repeal of DADT. So take your own advice, Rick. Leave it alone.

As far as yet another hostile Republican crowd at the debate after the "Let 'em die" Tea Party crowd at the CNN debate, I'm not the least bit surprised by their applause at Santorum's answer, but the boos at a uniformed member of the Armed Forces who is protecting their right to be homophobes and bigots takes it to a new low. Booing a member of the military? They should be ashamed, but they're not.

Gay Republicans, what the hell are you thinking?

Sorry, Family Leader. Too Little, Too Late.

The Family Leader's controversial "Marriage Vow" pledge they are trying to garner GOP presidential candidate signatures for is now being revised:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA's first African-American President.

Well, isn't that nice? They think that it was better for African-Americans during the good ol' slavery days because hey, at least you had two parents. But seeing the ruckus this single sentence is causing, The Family Leader decided to drop if from their pledge.

But it's too late, because Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum had already affixed their names to it while the comment was still included. Whether they thought it was a casual little line, that they could later disagree with or deny is irrelevant. We now know A) they truly feel this way or B) they'll say anything to anyone for support, including crazy shit like this.

Presidential Material

For the last few weeks, the talking heads have been wondering where the viable Republican presidential nominees were and why they were waiting so long to announce their decision to run. At this same point 4 years ago, I believe there were somewhere in the neighborhood of ten GOP candidates. But let's face facts: despite the constant fear mongering, the constant barrage of insults, misinformation and accusations of being "the other"; despite a slow economic recovery and public sector jobs putting a drag on the unemployment rate, President Obama's approval rating has been hovering around the 50% mark. At this point in the timeline of his presidency, even St. Ronnie's approval numbers weren't any better and in fact had dipped below 40% within his first two years, a number to which Obama hasn't even come close.

The reason no one has come out and officially announced their intention to run even though some are going through the motions in Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina, is because they are scared - they know there's very little chance to beat President Obama, so why bother throwing your hat into the ring of a losing cause? While there may be some lackluster but legitimate candidates that can make it interesting, maybe a Jon Huntsman, a Mitch Daniels or even a Mitt Romney, the rest of the names being tossed about are a Who's Who of Clown Car passengers.

Newt Gingrich self-immolated with his Christian Broadcast Network confession that his extramarital affairs during his first and second marriages were a condition of hard work and patriotism. Rick Santorum still believes that WMD were found in Iraq and touts government staying out of your life, unless there's a brain dead person involved. Mike Huckabee has started with a real bang in the radio circuit with his Obama/Kenya/Mau-Mau snafu and then tried to cover it up by saying he misspoke, citing information in his book. Information that doesn't exist. Sarah Palin is... well, she's Sarah Palin. But the rampant stupidity of Michele Bachmann is really an amazing thing to watch.

Not only has she hooked her wagon to the Tea Party and actually started a Tea Party caucus in Congress, but there isn't a day that goes by where she doesn't cause you to spit up your coffee with the crap that comes out of her mouth. It's not just an occasional gaffe here and there. This woman puts Joe Biden to shame in the Foot-in-Mouth Department.

Take for instance Bachmann voicing her inner Joe McCarthy and suggesting looking "at the views of the people in Congress and find out: Are they pro-America or anti-America?" Or her penchant to call President Obama's views anti-American. How about claiming that the founding fathers worked tirelessly (including John Quincy Adams, who wasn't a founding father) until slavery was abolished in the United States. But this latest one is a beauty.

Wanting to impress the Live Free or Die people of New Hampshire, she said, "What I love about New Hampshire and what we have in common is our extreme love for liberty. You're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord." Uh... that would be Massachusetts, dumbass.

Of course, instead of just raising her hand and saying, "Oops" she resorted to, shall we say, less than presidential demeanor on the latest choice of political idiots, Facebook:

So I misplaced the battles Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire. It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!

And by the way... That will be the last time I borrow President Obama's tele-promoter!

GASP! She was using a teleprompter?! Isn't that the tool of the devil? Why can't she scribble on her hand like the others? So MENSA member Michele Bachmann tries to cover up one of her daily mistakes by taking a swipe at arguably one of the smartest men in whatever room he happens to enter. But hasn't that become the default position for the GOP? Sit on Fox News and laugh at the President and belittle his intelligence, and soon enough the yahoos will believe it.

As Bob Cesca states...

...I'd love to see Bachmann or Palin or any of these hooples challenge the president to a head-to-head round of common knowledge questions. Hell, the president could be the smartest man on Earth -- he could have solved the mysteries of the universe and defeated that computer on Jeopardy, while simultaneously defeating that other chess-playing computer -- blindfolded -- and these idiots would still be accusing him of somehow being a marble-mouthed ignoramus. Remarkable.

Exactly. But of course if ever a contest or debate were to take place, the expectations bar would be set so low, it would be spun as a win for the idiot just because she didn't manage to vomit on herself.