HYSTERICAL!

Indecision 2012 - The Awakening

The Daily Show - Indecision 2012 - The Awakening
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Andrew Card is Sad...

...because there will be no Democratic debate before President Obama is chosen as the nominee.



And yes, this is the same Andrew Card who was George W. Bush's Chief of Staff during the 2004 election cycle... when Bush was the incumbent and didn't have to debate fellow Republicans before he was chosen as the nominee for his party.

...The stupidity, it burns!

Too Little, Too Late

“One editorial note. On Friday, we did a story about the President meeting with the President of Gabon. We got a little bit fast and loose with the language, and we know it’s been interpreted as being disrespectful, and for that, I’m sorry. We did go a bit too far.”

~Eric Bolling's apology for his "hoods in the hizzouse" commentary last week.

Sorry, Eric. Too little, too late. You showed your true colors with the "chugging 40s" line weeks ago. Just own up to being an Obama basher because he's black. At least then you'll be an honest racist.

The New York Post Is So Classy

Romney's Bullshit Talking Point

For the last few days, whenever I've caught Mitt Romney on the television machine he's inevitably saying this:

“Barack Obama has failed America. He didn’t create the recession, but he made it worse and longer. And now we have more chronic long-term employment than this country has ever seen before.”

Really, Mitt? More chronic than the Great Depression? Please show me the bread lines.

Now any legitimate economist, or normal adult for that matter, will explain to you that Mitt Romney is full of shit.

Moody's economist Mark Zandi says the stimulus helped:

If government had not reacted as aggressively or as quickly as it did, the financial system would still be unsettled, the economy would still be shrinking, and the cost to U.S. taxpayers would be vastly higher. In sum, the government’s unprecedented response stabilized the financial system and ended the recession...

...Setting the record straight on the stimulus question is important because it will shape the current debate about how government should manage the still-fragile economic recovery. Last month (July, 2010), partly because of the misconception that the stimulus didn’t work, Congress was barely able to muster enough votes to pass another extension of emergency unemployment benefits. Not doing so would have been a serious error, putting the recovery in jeopardy.

Calvin Woodward and Jim Kuhnhenn of AP also fact checked Romney's recession claims:

THE FACTS: The gross domestic product, the prime measure of economic strength, shrank by a severe 6.8 percent annual rate before Obama became president. The declines eased after he took office and economic growth, however modest, resumed. The recession officially ended six months into his presidency. Unemployment, however, has worsened under Obama, going from 7.8 percent in January 2009 to 9.1 percent last month. It hit 10.1 percent in October 2009.

A case can be made for and against the idea that Obama's policies made the economy worse than it needed to be and that the recession lasted longer than it might have under another president. Such arguments are at the core of political debate. But Obama did not, as Romney alleged, make the economy worse than it was when he took office.

Now call me crazy, but isn't the mainstream media supposed to know these facts? And yet, I didn't hear CNN moderator John King questioning Romney on his debunked talking points in the GOP debate last night. He was too busy playing "Obamneycare Gotcha" with Tim Pawlenty.

Thanks For Playing, T-Paw

He plays Mr. Tough Guy when on Sunday when criticizing the Affordable Care Act by calling it "Obamneycare" in a two-for-one jibe at President Obama and one of his primary opponents, Mitt Romney, but when Tim Pawlenty is face to face with his GOP rival the very next day, he passes on any Obamneycare rhetoric and slinks away with his tail between his legs.



No guts, no glory. Thanks for playing T-Paw. NEXT!

Looks Like En Masse Defections Are Trending

First it was Newt Gingrich's entire campaign staff who up and quit after what they saw as Newt's money making con game and decided they couldn't support an unserious candidate. They had better things to do than sit around while Newt and Callista took a vacation to the Greek islands just a couple of weeks after announcing a presidential nomination bid.

And now it would seem that Florida Governor Rick "29% Approval Rating and Diving" Scott is losing support of Florida police officers... all of them:

Next month the Broward County Police Benevolent Association is holding a "Party to Leave the Party" -- an event coordinated with the Supervisor of Elections where police officers and the general public can switch their voter registrations from Republican to Democratic or Independent.

The reason for the switch? The association, which serves as the bargaining union for the county's law enforcement officers, is unhappy with the leadership of Governor Rick Scott and the results of the past legislative session, including changes to the Florida Retirement System that will require the workers to pay more of their own wages into retirement savings.

..."[Governor Scott's] union dues deduction bill is a flat-out union-busting bill," says [Broward PBA President Patrick] Hanrihan. "Under the law, a government agency wouldn't be allowed to collect union dues if it was involved in political campaigns." He notes that Scott had "no problem" taking money from the police union in the past election.

Let's hope others state and country law enforcement public workers follow suit.

But It's Not About Race (The "Hoodlum in the Hizzouse" Edition)

It would just be easier for everyone involved to admit that Fox Business News' Eric Bolling is a racist. If it looks like a piece of shit racist, and it talks like a piece of shit racist, and it smells like a piece of shit racist...

During the opening of Fox Business' Follow the Money on Friday, Eric Bolling teased a segment about the White House hosting the president of Gabon by saying, "Guess who's coming to dinner? A dictator. Mr. Obama shares a laugh with one of Africa's kleptocrats. It's not first time he's had a hoodlum in the hizzouse."

When he used the term "chugging 40s" to describe President Obama having a Guinness on his trip to Ireland, he denied it was a racist thing to say, even though we knew better. And now he's using phrases like "hoodlums in the hizzouse" and "So what's with all the hoods in the hizzy?" Oh my! Fox Business News' Grand Cyclops Eric Bolling could barely tolerate one black man in the White House, but allowing another one in for a meeting?! That's outrageous!

And check out the chyron:



It's not even thinly veiled racism. They don't even try to disguise it anymore. It's just out in the open for all to see and it's fucking vile.

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Evan McMorris-Santoro: Progressives Call On Democrats To Show Some Spine After Weiner Scandal

The Rude Pundit: A Note to Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels on the Subject of Federal Funding and States' Rights

Chez Pazienza: Pic of the Litter

President Obama's Weekly Address - June 11, 2011

Partnering with the Private Sector to Spur Hiring

Just Say "Oops" and Get Out!

This may be the fastest implosion of a presidential campaign in US history.

Newt Gingrich's campaign manager and numerous other key aides have resigned together, a strong blow to his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination.

Gingrich press spokesman Rick Tyler told The Associated Press that he's resigned along with campaign manager Rob Johnson, senior strategists and aides in key early primary states.

And I don't blame them. What serious candidate blames his extramarital affairs with two previous wives on his hard work and patriotism, has a half a million dollar rolling account at Tiffany's while touting fiscal conservatism, gets destroyed in a moment of clarity for criticizing the Paul Ryan budget and his Vouchercare program but soon backtracks after the backlash and says anyone who uses his words against him are liars, and decides to go on vacation just a couple of weeks after kicking off his campaign on YouTube?

Just says oops and get out. NEXT!

Talk About Thin Skin!

Look, I've always said Sarah Palin isn't going to run in 2012, and if she does, there's no way in hell she can get enough Independent votes, and moderate Republican votes for that matter, for her not to get stomped in the general election should she win the GOP primary. But Palin's main problem, besides being a mentally deficient, catty narcissist, is that she can't let any negative comment roll off her back without retaliating.

Newly hired Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins told us what he thought of Palin in no uncertain terms. "Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," she was pulled from obscurity and given the gift of a VP nomination, and she quit as Governor of Alaska when not being in the spotlight didn't suit her. All of what he said was true.

If she were serious, she'd still be in office, wouldn't be working for Fox, wouldn't have starred in a reality series, wouldn't be horking in on someone else's reality TV time, and wouldn't be traipsing around on "vacation" in a billboard with wheels. If she were serious, her team wouldn't asking for Rollins to retract his statement either.

"Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth," said Sarah PAC chief of staff Michael Glassner in an emailed statement. "To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon."

Ok, here's Rollins' "correction":

Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins' response to the sharp criticisms from Sarah Palin's world just now was to "let it go."

But he didn't go quietly, telling me, "I haven't lived in Washington D.C. in 15 years, and I've been taken to the woodshed by the big boys."

"As far as we're concerned, it's not" an ongoing fight, he insisted. "This was my one comment, which I shouldn't have made, at the end of the day this has nothing to do with Michele, Michele's campaign, or any of the rest of it. This was my transition from being an analyst to a political strategist, and I missed a step."

..."What's the retraction? I say she's serious?"

You see, Palin is so hypersensitive to anything anyone says about her in a negative light, she has to lash out, whether she does it personally or those hired by her do it. She just can't take Rollins' advice and "let it go." And it makes her look all the more petty and vindictive; not a couple of attributes becoming of a possible presidential candidate.

And good for Rollins in making a perfectly thought out statement. It wasn't an apology, nor was it a retraction, just a "maybe I shouldn't have said it" moment, but never taking back what he did say. But if Sarah is this thin-skinned now, what's going to happen if she decides to join the campaign trail? She'll never make it out of New Hampshire.

Pot, Meet Kettle

I can't wait for the hijinks and hilarity to ensue.

Michele Bachmann's new top consultant, Ed Rollins, began his tenure with scathing criticism of potential Bachmann rival Sarah Palin.

"Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," Rollins told Brian Kilmeade on his radio show, Kilmeade and friends. "She got the Vice Presidential thing handed to her, she didn't go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance, she gave up her governorship."

The only way this can end well is by steel cage match. I'd buy that on pay-per-view!

Breitbart's 1 for 4

The Colbert Report
Tags: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

He Really Was Dumb Enough

Until New York Representative Anthony Weiner stood behind a podium and admitted his Twitter indiscretions, nothing anyone could have said would have changed my initial thought of giving him the benefit of the doubt. Part of the reason for this is because of who broke the story. Andrew Breitbart, after all, has cried wolf a few too many times (ACORN, Shirley Sherrod, Planned Parenthood, etc.) for me to view him as a credible source. For as much as he believes he is non-partisan, you'd have to have shit in your head where your brain should be not to realize that Breitbart has an agenda. Show me where he's gone after a Republican as fiercely and I'll reconsider.

And part of the reason I believed Weiner is because I never thought he would be so dumb as to use social media that's out there in the ether to send "lewd" photos of himself. A guy as sharp as Anthony Weiner could never put his career in jeopardy by doing something so frivolous.

I was wrong. He really was dumb enough.

I'm not one to judge someone's moral integrity, unless they tout themselves as holier than thou and wind up being a hypocrite, so I'm not going to start here. I'm sure more details will be revealed during the ethics investigation called for by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and if Weiner violated ethics rules (using Congressional equipment to send these tweets) then he'll be called to account. But until then, I'm glad that Weiner as of this point has taken the Republican lead and decided not to resign.

What he did was disappointing to me, and reprehensible conduct for a married man, but he did nothing technically illegal. He didn't engage prostitutes like David Vitter or Eliot Spitzer. He didn't have a child in an affair like John Edwards or Arnold Schwarzenegger. He didn't get arrested for soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. None of these examples exonerates Weiner's actions, but it helps in putting things in perspective.

If his career is coming to an end, it's a shame because he is a talented, smart politician who really cares about his constituency, regardless of his private failings.

As far as Breitbart is concerned, yeah, he won one. So what? The man is still a scumbag who feeds on gutter news, and his "classiness" was on display for all to see as he hijacked the Weiner press conference before Weiner even spoke. It'll take more that one story for Breitbart to have credibility in my eyes.

Quote of the Day

Many politicians, of all political parties, make mistakes in speeches. That would certainly include the President and, even more certainly, the Vice-President.

But what they all tend to have in common is that, once the mistake is brought to their attention, they apologize for their error and set the record straight...

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, likes to double-down and dig the hole deeper. Not only does she not apologize for mistakes, she drags it out by defending the errors and encouraging her followers to do the same. She knows that her people believe pretty much anything she says so accuracy is not a high priority to her.

If this is acceptable to you –fine.

Personally, I would prefer our supposed leaders expose the public to actual history rather than the version that suits their political message.

~Rick Ungar's message to the Palin apologists who are twisting themselves in knots trying to justify Sarah Palin's Paul Revere idiocy, including editing the Paul Revere Wikipedia page.

Family Matters

POSTED BY JHW22

When Sarah Palin first started getting the "will you run for President" question on Fox, her answer included:

It’s a matter for me of practical, pragmatic decisions that have to be made... One is, with a large family, understanding the huge amount of scrutiny and the sacrifices that have to be made on my children’s part in order to see their mama run for president.

Well, I call bullshit on Mama Grizzly. If she REALLY gave a shit what her family thinks, she wouldn't have dragged Piper on a media-whore-tour all while telling her child it's a "family vacation". She's lying to her kids about the realities of their very own lives. She has placed cameras in their faces in ways the Clintons, Bushes and Obamas never have -- unless they had reality shows I am unaware of. Being part of the First Family is ALL ABOUT SCRUTINY. How you handle it speaks volumes about character, wisdom, maturity and family values.

A woman CAN be President. A mom CAN be President. But this is NOT the way to go about it. She is destroying these kids and doesn't even notice -- or care. How do I know? Because I am a mom and because Palin, herself, said

Because moms kinda just know when something's wrong.

Well, I think the Mama Grizzly is more than prepared to throw her kids under the bus. And the first kid to go under is Piper. Think Piper looks excited about her Grizzly Mama potentially being the most powerful person in the world in this video? Wait until the very last second and then tell me. (h/t www.palingates.com)



EDIT: I accidentally grabbed the video from the local news station that edited out the final second where Piper expresses her feelings. Thank goodness Palingates had the unedited version still so I now have the correct version.

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Presidential Material

Did you catch that? Here, let me transcribe:

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free and we were going to be armed."

That's Sarah's version of the story of Paul Revere's midnight ride. Paul Revere warned "the British" of our 2nd Amendment rights that didn't exist yet with warning shots and bells.

Sometimes a story is just a story, Sarah. There's no need to try to politicize every, single thing to let us know what side you're on. We've seen more than enough of you to know what side you're on. But you just keep going ahead with your "Hey, Don't Forget About Me" Bus Tour and continue bastardizing the English language and keep reminding us what a numbskull you are when it comes to any historical facts, or anything else for that matter. You know, like what you read and if you agree with the Bush Doctrine. Keep maintaining that foot in mouth disease just to surprise those of us who thought the bar couldn't be set any lower with even more Palin buffoonery. Also too.

John Edwards Indicted

AP: A federal grand jury has indicted two-time presidential candidate John Edwards over massive sums of money spent to keep his mistress in hiding during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.

The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements. The indictment was returned in the Middle District of North Carolina Friday.

So, here's the thing. He's a total idiot for running for the Democratic nomination at such a crucial moment in our political times with this HUGE skeleton in his closet. He's a scumbag for cheating on his cancer stricken wife and betraying his family. But is he guilty of what he is accused of?

To my knowledge, and this theory is purely speculative since I don't have a dog in this race and therefore haven't really researched the minutia, the money that was used to hide Edwards' affair did not come from official campaign contributions. From what I understand, supporters of Edwards ponied up the dough to try and keep the affair quiet. So how far can the definition of "campaign contributions" be stretched?

It's just a question - I don't care either way whether he's found guilty or not, so long as the verdict is attained appropriately, and not through some jumping of hoops to shoehorn the actions taken into what constitutes a campaign contribution because it's such a high profile case.

On a side note, it's interesting how something like this can kill a political career for Edwards, but a guy like Newt Gingrich can do it twice, decide to run for President, and no one really bats an eye. But I guess he was just a scumbag out in the open and didn't try to hide it, so there's that.

Remember the Other Wiener?

POSTED BY JHW22

Well, Allan at Angry Black Lady does. And as he strongly connects and concludes:

... allegations that Anthony Weiner sexually harassed a young African American woman just appeared out of the blue at the very moment when Weiner’s campaign to discredit Clarence Thomas was peaking.

Thanks to Vera Lynn, for the link. This was a good one!

Breitbart Busted... AGAIN

Stef at the Daily Kos does a great job with the chronology of the Weiner underwear tweet controversy and how one particular anti-Weiner Twitter user named @PatriotUSA76 (complete with a portrait of St. Ronald Reagan as his icon) was most likely behind it.

Whether the intrepid Andrew Breitbart knew about it ahead of time or reported on it without checking facts and sources is irrelevant. It shows Breitbart to be all too eager to smear anyone not in line with his ideology regardless of facts.

Christie's Helicopter Ride

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find another example of hypocrisy from a Governor of a state who is taking a hatchet to the budget and constantly crying poverty, yet uses taxpayer provided transportation for personal use.

Blunt-talking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has made ethics and government reform a centerpiece of his Administration, raised some eyebrows yesterday with his decision to take a state helicopter to his son's baseball game yesterday afternoon. Moreover, he left the game in the fifth inning, presumably to make it back to Princeton for his meeting with a group of Iowa activists who had flown to New Jersey to try to convince the governor to run for president.

If you're so worried about the budget, couldn't that helicopter flight, which I'm sure must have costs thousands, been avoided? He'll be asked about it, bark that it's his right, his family comes first and the media will drop it.

Open your FRICKING EEEEAAARRRSSSSS!!!

POSTED BY JHW22

I heard Congressman Anthony Weiner tell Dana Bash of CNN, "It was a prank." Now to me, a mere layperson, that sounds EXACTLY like an answer to the bizarrely-repeated question of the week: "What happened?"

Someone sent a wiener photo from Weiner's Twitter account to a woman the Congressman follows on Twitter.

And now the press is FREAKING OUT because the member of Congress, who consistently tries to stay ON MESSAGE and knows what's important and what's A PRANK, won't spend resources to find out the who, what, when, why, how of A PRANK! If he says it was a prank, and it makes NO SENSE otherwise, what other answers do we need?

Now, whether they believe him or not is another point. If they think he's covering up some lurid creep show, then fine. After some of the crap members of Congress have pulled, fine. BUT he has answered the question. At least QUIT saying "He's not answering the question."

He answered it. You just don't like the answer. Now it's YOUR job to do more than waste a Congressman's time who has made it clear he doesn't want to waste time on this crap that he says was created by a jerk playing a prank.

We need to STOP allowing rabble-rousers to dictate our news coverage. When a jerk-wad plays a prank, don't give it any coverage UNTIL you've done the due-diligence of investigating -- OFF CAMERA. Quit wasting the American people's time while you bumble and warp and suppose and ASSume and feign shocked.

James O'Keefe, the girl with the "B" carved in her face, Shirley Sherrod, Balloon Boy WASTED OUR TIME. GET THE FACTS BEFORE YOU WASTE OUR TIME and don't force a member of Congress to do YOUR job for you while he's trying to do his.

He says it was a prank. I don't want him wasting a second proving it to satisfy the fucking lazy-ass press!

And sorry, but no time for links at the moment. :) Just had to vent my RAGE at the press and their inability to LISTEN, report properly and know that they are part of the problem of American's inability to focus on important issues and wait until facts are in before we shape a damn story.


EDITOR'S NOTE: Some links have been added after publishing.

Mr. Clean Energy

Running for governor in 2009, Chris Christie vowed to become “New Jersey’s No. 1 clean-energy advocate.” That was a hollow promise. As governor, Mr. Christie proceeded to cut all the money for the Office of Climate and Energy. He raided $158 million from the clean energy fund, meant for alternative energy investments, and spent it on general programs. He withdrew the state from an important lawsuit against electric utilities to reduce emissions.

On Thursday, he took the worst step of all: He abandoned the 10-state initiative in the Northeast that uses a cap-and-trade system to lower carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants. The program has been remarkably successful, a model of vision and fortitude. Lacking that, Mr. Christie has given in to the corporate and Tea Party interests that revile all forms of cap and trade, letting down the other nine states trying to fight climate change.

He's happy to accept the funds generated by the initiative while claiming it doesn't work, contrary to the statements of other governors in the program. For someone who's so concerned about the state deficit, Christie sure is quick to make decision that have cost New Jersey at least $650 million in his short tenure. When will the New Jersey residents who voted this buffoon into office realize that he's nothing but a fraud? So far it seems the only thing Christie's cleaned as governor is the refrigerator. Yes, that was a fat joke.

Memorial Day

Enjoy your day off and your barbecue and beer, but please take a moment to reflect.

Also, if you're interested in the Civil War, set your DVRs for a new docudrama on the History Channel tonight: Ridley Scott's Gettysburg.

Herman Cain is a Dumbass

Can we all just agree that Herman Cain is clueless? No, really. The guy is a dumbass.

It's bad enough to berate people to reread the Constitution and then righteously quote from the Declaration of Independence, but how about just stepping on the idiocy throttle and running over some Paul Ryan budget doublespeak?!

Nobody’s talking about the fact that the centerpiece of Ryan’s plan is a voucher. Now, a lot of people don’t like to use that term because it has a negative connotation. That is what we need.

People don't like the word "voucher" when it comes to Medicare. That's because the Eddie Munster budget would pretty much kill Medicare and replace it with, as Paul Ryan would like to describe, a "premium support" program, AKA voucher from the government to help with the cost of health insurance that you'd have to shop for yourself from the various insurance companies* and pay for the difference. But in some kind of warped mentality, Herman Cain disregards the Ryan talking points in trying to rename a voucher program "premium support" (which will only increase at the rate of inflation and not the rate of premium increases) and says HELL YEAH! we need a voucher program and "nobody is talking about" it.

...WTF?!

No one is talking about it?! Has he not been watching the news or reading the paper? We know he hasn't  been taking the time to read the Constitution. Who the hell is in charge of the Cain campaign? Whoever it is should be fired immediately.

________________________
*This past Friday on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Ryan said that it's Medicare that would help seniors choose their plan which Joe Scarborough was all too eager to eat up, but that remains to be seen.

Fox "News" - Makers and Takers

Bravo, Thom Hartmann.



(Via Bob Cesca)

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President Obama's Weekly Address - May 28, 2011

Brought to you by Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden on the American Auto Comeback

Quote of the Day

Republicans have a very different idea about the nature of the process. They see an alternative trade-off — the GOP will accept spending cuts, and in exchange, they won’t deliberately destroy the economy.

Dems are willing to accept concessions to strike a deal. Republicans are willing to not shoot their hostage in the head in exchange for Dems giving the GOP what it wants.

The former is an example of a party negotiating in good faith. The latter is an example of reckless thugs pretending to be a political party.

~ Steve Benen

Needless to say, he's exactly right about this. And this mindset has permeated the GOP psyche to the point that Republican Majority House Whip Eric Cantor insists on withholding financial assistance to tornado ravaged Joplin, Missouri unless there are spending cuts somewhere else.

What would the right have screeched if a Democratic member of Congress insisted on withholding funds to New Orleans in the shadow of Hurricane Katrina because it jibes with his ideology with no compassion for those involved? You know, a George W. Bush type fly-over.

Ryan's Plan Fails in the Senate

Forty Republican Senators were absolutely idiotic enough to jump off the cliff and vote for the Paul Ryan Budget plan, AKA Kill Medicare Plan.

...Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, brought the legislation to the floor so that Senate Republicans would either have to vote for it, exposing them to attacks from Democrats and their allies, or against it, exploiting growing Republican divisions on the issue.

Five of 47 Senate Republicans voted against it — four because they said it went too far, one on the ground that the budget measure that contained it did not go far enough fast enough to address the budget deficit.

The Democrats playing offense! It's a strange thing to behold.

But It's Not About Racism (The "Chugging 40s" Edition)

I had a feeling someone would say this the second I saw the President with a pint of beer in his hand. It took no more than a day. Good going, Eric Bolling, you miserable piece of shit.



For those of you who disagree that this is a racist thing to say, you're just fooling yourselves.

If Bolling wanted to wrongly smear Obama for going on his scheduled trip to Europe while a tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, he could have tweeted "Obama chugs a beer while..." or "Obama drinks while tornado kills." As if the President could put on his cape and take off to Joplin, grab the tornado by the tail and whip it into space. But he didn't. He went directly for the dog whistle with the "40s" reference.

Throughout the late 80s and 90s, 40 oz malt liquor was rolled out with “aggressive marketing campaigns aimed at minority drinkers,” which often portrayed black actors and rappers in stereotypical or exploitative fashions. There is a fairly large body of academic literature exploring the relationship between malt liquor and African Americans, and 40 oz stereotypes were even mocked in the 2009 parody of “blacksploitation” films, “Black Dynamite.”

And as soon as he was called on it, Bolling backtracks and tweets "stop.. I drank 40's growing up in Chicago... I am NOT racist". Really? Eric Bolling drank 40's growing up in Chicago? I'd like to see evidence. Any photos of that? And I'd also like to see equal outrage in Bolling's past when President Bush was playing a guitar or singing happy birthday to John McCain during the Katrina disaster. It's got to be documented, right?

Eric, you brought it up. At least be a man and own up to it, you coward. Embrace your racism. That's what your fans are waiting for.

Eric Cantor Is a Punk

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), however, said that before Congress approved federal funds for disaster relief, it had to offset the spending with cuts to other programs. The Washington Times reports:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that if Congress passes an emergency spending bill to help Missouri’s tornado victims, the extra money will have to be cut from somewhere else.

“If there is support for a supplemental, it would be accompanied by support for having pay-fors to that supplemental,” Mr. Cantor, Virginia Republican, told reporters at the Capitol. The term “pay-fors” is used by lawmakers to signal cuts or tax increases used to pay for new spending.Republican House Majority Whip Eric Cantor doesn't believe we should help Joplin and its tornado victims unless we cut somewhere else.

What a fucking lowlife. Everything is a hostage negotiation with these goddamned Republicans. I hope everyone in Missouri is listening to this moron and remembers it come election time. One wonders if he'd be saying the same thing if his Virginia district got hit with a natural disaster.

Forehead to Desk Moment

Well now we know why Herman Cain is so popular. I thought maybe he offered free pizza for your vote, but no. It's just that he's just as ignorant as Sarah Palin when it comes to the Constitution and misquoting it.

We don’t need to rewrite the Constitution of the United States of America, we need to reread the Constitution and enforce the Constitution. … And I know that there are some people that are not going to do that, so for the benefit of those who are not going to read it because they don’t want us to go by the Constitution, there’s a little section in there that talks about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

BZZZT! Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Cain. That would be Declaration of Independence you are quoting. But we have a lovely parting gift for you - the complete DVD set of Schoolhouse Rock. Please watch these to prepare for your next Republican Primary debate. I'm sure it'll give you a leg up on your competition.

Music Break! Bob Dylan

Happy 70th Birthday, Bob Dylan.

Tornado In Joplin, MO

ABC: To donate $10, text the word "TORNADO" to 20222 or call 888-56-CHILD.
The American Red Cross is providing food, shelter and emotional support in Missouri, Minnesota and other parts of the Midwest.
To make a donation to the American Red Cross' Disaster Relief, visit its online donation page.
You can also call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to your local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.
To donate to the United Way, call 417-624-0153.
The Salvation Army's emergency disaster services teams are helping to feed residents and first responders in Joplin; Reading, Kan.; and parts of Minnesota affected by the storms.
To donate to the The Salvation Army's efforts, visit www.salvationarmyusa.org and click on the donation page.
You can call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and donors can text "JOPLIN" to 80888 to make a $10 donation. And you can mail a donation to Joplin Tornado Relief, The Salvation Army, 3637 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo. 64111

T-Paw's Running

Here's his awesome announcement video. Wake me when it's over.

Zzzzzzz... huh, what? Oh, right. Tim Pawlenty is throwing his hat into the ring.

And it looks like he's running on the "Insult Obama" platform with doozies like, "President Obama doesn't have the courage to face our problems" (0:50 mark) and "We're gonna have to do more than give fancy speeches. We've had three years of that and it's not working." (1:40 mark). 

I suppose T-Paw has fallen asleep to the sound of his own voice and missed the saving of about a million plus jobs with the auto loan that saved the American auto industry, which by the way, now has GM in the black. Or the turn around in job creation after President Obama took office. It's so easy to criticize when you're an armchair quarterback who said nothing during the ten years it took to get into this mess, but expect to he pulled out of it in two and a half years.

And hey, no need to thank President Obama for the $4 billion Minnesota received in stimulus funds, right T-Paw? That didn't help your state economy at all, did it? Oh wait, it did. But you go ahead and join the list of non-contenders this year. We'll be watching.

Still Here

Well, it's May 22nd, and we're Rapture free. No surprise, right? At least not to cognitive thinkers.

We joke about maxing out credit cards and quitting our jobs, taking vacations and spending all our money so that we'd be ready to go on Judgment Day. But the only real judgment is against the gullibility of those who would actually believe and blindly follow an 89-year old Evangelical radio broadcaster about a date specific Second Coming after blowing it multiple times!

For months, followers of the 89-year-old Camping, who previously wrongly predicted the rapture would occur in September 1994, have been warning that the rapture would occur on May 21, 2011.

My wife had a chat with the cashier at the grocery store this morning who was sympathetic to the man who'd spent his life savings to advertise Camping's May 21st prediction. Call me callous or cynical, but I can't find much sympathy within me for anyone who fell for this scam.

I'm not a religious person, but it would seem to me if you are a believer in the End of Days, that the whole point of being ready when Judgment Day arrives is that you've been preparing for a lifetime with good deeds, helping those less fortunate and living a honest, decent life so it won't matter when that day is.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' ~Matthew 25:40

When the day comes, you've already "done the work" for lack of a better term. I don't think buying expensive cars, taking a final vacation and depleting your nest egg in the process is what "The King" had in mind. And it's hard for me to feel sympathy for someone who won't even think about alternatives.

The New York Post says the 60-year-old man has also self-published a book, entitled “The Doomsday Code,” based on the teachings of radio host Harold Camping who has (erroneously) predicted the apocalypse six times. When asked by the Post what he’d feel like if Camping happened to be wrong again, the retired engineer had this to say: “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it, everybody asks me that.”

To believe in crackpots predicting dates is just too naive for me to feels sorry the rubes who fell for it... and will fall for it again when the next prediction comes around.

How Many People Did This Today?

Must Reads

Angry Black Lady: Where is My Mind: The Sunday Night “Wrangle” With Joan Walsh

Adam Serwer: To Be Black, And Also A "Mutt"

Noam Cohen: On Tyson’s Face, It’s Art. On Film, a Legal Issue.

Justin Rosario: Republican Jesus

Melissa Harris-Perry: Cornel West v. Barack Obama

William Alden: Bush-Era Tax Cuts Projected As Largest Contributor To Public Debt

David Batty: US Catholic Church Study Blames 1960s Permissiveness for Rise in Sexual Abuse

Alex Seitz-Wald: While Cutting Social Services, Kentucky Gives $43 Million Tax Break To Bible-Themed Amusement Park

So...

... it's May 21st... 2011...

...And I'm still here...

No Jeebus......

Uh... well... this is awkward.

UPDATE: I've just been informed that the preacher fella who predicted today is expecting Jeebus at 6pm. Maybe Jeebus responded through Facebook or an Evite. So I'll reserve my own Judgement and give JC until about 7pm to show up - that includes plenty of "fashionably late" time.

Wait - 6pm EDT or PDT?

President Obama's Weekly Address - May 21, 2011

Reforming “No Child Left Behind” This Year

My Last Post

Well, this is it. All things must eventually come to an end.

After 4½ years of blogging and 3,590 posts, it's finally over. This is my last post.* I say this with a sense of deep sadness, for while I never thought when I first started this blog in November of 2006 that I'd still be adding content in May of 2011, it developed into a life of its own when I realized there were some out in the blogosphere that actually came here on a regular basis to read what I had to say. So I felt a sense of responsibility to continue to keep my blog current, even posting occasionally while on vacations, and recruiting some very good friends who can write and some very capable writers who have become friends to fill in when I couldn't. To them I give my heartfelt thanks and immeasurable gratitude for their contribution and their friendship.

Good luck to you all, and I most likely won't see you in the Afterlife.




* If Jesus doesn't come back and the world doesn't end tomorrow, please disregard this post and come back for my weekly Must Reads staple tomorrow.

Will Bachmann Denounce This?

Mother Jones: With the Minnesota legislature in the middle of a heated debate over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in the state—the opponents of which, [Bradlee Dean, a Minnesota radio host, anti-gay activist] has pilloried on his radio show—the House Republican Caucus invited the controversial hair-metal evangelist to deliver the opening prayer for today's session.

How did it go? Well, the grand finale consisted of Dean alleging that the President of the United States is not a Christian. Via the St. Cloud Times:

"I end with this. I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it's not about the Baptists and it's not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination and his name is Jesus. As every President up until 2008 has acknowledged. And we pray it. In Jesus' name."

I don't even know what to say about this because it's so stupifying.

The question is now whether Michele Bachmann, who has helped raise money for Dean’s traveling youth ministry and is a proponent of his anti-gay agenda, will denounce Dean and distance herself from that brand of lunacy in lieu of her possible presidential aspirations? I mean, she may be dumb, but she ain't stupid.

The rapture is coming...

POSTED BY JHW22

... and I don't mean the Biblical one.

I am more confident that Sarah Palin is going to announce her candidacy on Saturday -- the calculated day of judgment.

And although I agree with this don't sell her short take by PoliticsUSA, I still stand by my conclusion that she doesn't *want* to be President because she doesn't want to have to make decisions; she wants to make money. Otherwise, she wouldn't have left her last elected position half-way through.

But PoliticsUSA nails the complexity of Palin on the head. People who say we should just ignore her or people who say let her run, ignorantly make assumptions that are not worth risking, in my opinion. I have a deep resentment for Sarah Palin because of what she created during the '08 campaign. I still remember, with a great deal of fear and resentment, how she enabled and validated the worst of our stupid, racist, xenophobic, vengeful Americans and gave them a power they hadn't had in quite some time. She gave permission for people to speak about Obama as if he would be the worst person for President based on shallow-minded guilt by association, declarations of otherness, allowances to actually consider bringing guns to rallies, and to hate an entire religion the President isn't even part of.

In her actions, she also brought out my own hate. As much as my son and I try to avoid that word, I cannot find another way to describe my feelings for her. She created a monster in society in people like me as well as in people with a fear of a smart black man who had the potential to change America for the better. They wanted desperately to hate a person who is good so they believed lies and distortions. I hate Palin because I am smart enough to know that her form of manipulation is bad for America. The falsehoods that Obama is bad for America are easily debunked time and again. But the reality that Palin has contributed NOTHING to the discourse that is correct, insightful, inspiring of progress, or even beneficial to families with special needs children, is in no way disputable. You can't compare the results of the man she wants America to fear and hate to her work. She is in the negative column for results and if she gets a chance to run, she will not add anything for the nation to consider as viable options for results. Instead she will campaign on vitriol and lack of ideas.

And a part of America wants to feed on that.

I want her off the stage. I want her to go home and never be seen or heard from again. But that ain't gonna happen. She wants to be heard and ignoring her will NOT make her go away. Ignoring her makes her more desperate for attention.

Laughing her off as the perfect opponent to Obama because he'd wipe the floor with her shamefully ignores that she will do great damage along the way AND we will lack the benefit of a true, smart and beneficial dialogue between two reasonable candidates.

As a liberal, I get annoyed when fellow liberals want the 2012 campaign to be easy: Obama vs. a Loser. I don't. I want our country to have the two best options to choose from. I want the campaign to be hard because the debate is complex, not because we're fighting off crazy birther and racist and hateful crap.

I want America to be better. And it will not be better with Palin in any way. But I know she will insist on being part of the show.

So liberals need to wake up and start dealing with her. Quit brushing her off. Quit dismissing her as irrelevant. Because, like it or not, accept it or not, she IS relevant. She is as relevant as cancer. It's a hated reality that can't be ignored.

Oh, I WILL be getting one of these

POSTED BY JHW22

And you can, too! Yes, you can! (And/or a t-shirt).

Shocking Statistics

POSTED BY JHW22

I watched part of a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the US Army's 2012 budget today and I learned three things that flat-out shocked me:

1) 50% of National Guard soldiers who committed suicide were never deployed.

2) Our troops are experiencing oddly high rates of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) at oddly young ages.

3) This generation of soldiers enlisting are less fit and have weaker musculoskeletal strength than previous generations and they carry almost 3x the supplies they should. Thus, musculoskeletal injures are 2x combat injuries.

Redistribution of Wealth: The Ryan Plan

POSTED BY JHW22

OK, I don't read everything, I admit. But I am pretty sure I haven't seen anyone else point out the fact that Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare includes a redistribution of wealth.

According to the wonderful Kaiser Family Foundation:

Government contributions would be lower for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries: payments to plans would be reduced by 70 percent for beneficiaries in the top 2 percent of the Medicare population income distribution, and by 50 percent for those in the next 6 percent of the income distribution. Thus, government payments on behalf of enrollees would be lower for Medicare beneficiaries with relatively high incomes, resulting in these beneficiaries paying higher premiums.

Did you see that? The government would collect Medicare taxes from everyone but would limit the payout the rich people get. They'd pay more for the poor people.

I wonder what Joe the Plumber would think about that...

The Stewart-O'Reilly Debates

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates they are not, but it's always fun watching Bill O'Reilly get popped in the head with facts and see him squirm and misdirect. It's too bad we can't see an unedited version of this interview.







Oh, and Bill? The Weathergirls are one of your favorite groups? I know it was most likely said in jest, but it only gave me images of you dancing to "Y.M.C.A." so please, leave the jokes to the funny men.

Crazy Schedule

I have a really nutty work schedule this week that will most likely keep me away from the Intertubes and hence, very light on the blogging for most of this week. I'll try to swing by with a quick word or two if I find something outrageous that can't wait, but I'm not making any promises. In the meantime, I hope that my colleagues will drop in and pick up some slack with their words of wisdom.

You can still follow my tweets and gauge my sleep deprivation on their progressive lack of coherence as the week wears on.

SURPRISE! Trump Not Running

And really, did you expect anything different?

CNN: "After considerable deliberation and reflection, I have decided not to pursue the office of the Presidency," Trump said in the statement.

The famously confident reality television star, who has spent the last few months openly considering a run for president said, "I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election."

And that's the way it's done. Declare victory even though you're not going to bother running. What a petty, petty man.

Hysterical!

This has been circulating the tubes today:

Kudos to whoever created it. If anyone knows where it originated, please let me know so I can give proper credit. I received it through email.

Rrrruhh?! Newt Trashes GOP/Ryan Plan

TPM: Newt Gingrich slammed the House GOP budget on Meet The Press this morning, telling interviewer David Gregory that replacing Medicare with a voucher system was too "radical" an approach.

..."I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering," Gingrich said, calling the plan "too big a jump" for the country. "I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate."

Behold, Newt the Moderate!

Of course, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Newt is just saying what anyone in their right mind who just threw his very large hat in the presidential ring (see, what I did there? I made a big head joke) would say after looking at polls showing a majority of Americans, Republicans and Tea Partiers included, are opposed to government hands on their Medicare.

It's just proof that Newt will say anything to advance his position. I'm sure he'll shoot toward the top of the current list of GOP candidates with this one. How he'll be perceived on his comments about Kenyan, anti-colonial mindsets or our "food stamp president" is another matter.

Quote of the Day

"...what this default talk looks like is that the GOP wants a crisis, not a deal. A deal would involve real pain for real voters: Medicare reductions, farm spending reductions, military reductions, and revenue measures. A crisis creates an exciting substitute for such a deal – especially if the GOP can temporarily and delusively convince itself that it can pin the blame for the crisis on President Obama. That will not be true. The whole world will see that the crisis was avoidable, and will see who insisted on forcing it. And however high you imagine the financial and political price – it will be higher."

~David Frum on Republicans playing political games with the debt ceiling