For Sale: One Tour Bus, Rarely Used, $100K OBO

Real Clear Politics: Less than a month after she appeared poised to shake up the Republican presidential campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has once again receded from the 2012 limelight... 

Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska...

More than a few of Palin's core supporters have grown impatient and confused about her strategy, venting their frustration on Internet fan sites.

Is there nothing Sarah Palin won't quit?

Jon Huntsman Announces Bid - Day Full of SNAFUs

I thought this guy was supposed to be the true professional. What happened on his launch day in his bid for the presidential nomination is not the stuff of legends.

Look, things happen. Wanting to be all Reagan-y and announce your bid in the same location as St. Ronnie did 31 years ago to evoke the spirit of the greatest president in the history of the world is one thing, but you sort of need a good camera angle to get Lady Liberty in the shot. And sure, how can you predict your power generator crapping out 12 minutes before your speech?

But a couple of things that are unforgivable in preparation for your launch are not getting your address and phone number correct on your own campaign website and misspelling your own name on, of all things, press passes!

Rachel Maddow has the whole, sordid story with the ugly details here.

Stewart V. Wallace -UPDATED

Watch.




ADDING... This is the full, unedited version of the interview. Media Matters looks at an edit where Stewart criticized Fox executive Bill Sammon during an exchange about Fox getting "marching orders."


UPDATE (6/21/11): Jon Stewart took the time to point out the editing job of Chris Wallace's "fair and balanaced" interview.

The Daily Show - Fox News Channel - Fair & Balanced
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Perry's Tax Plan Hurts Schools

POSTED BY JHW22

I just watched Karen Finney, on MSNBC, correctly remind viewers that Rick Perry's job growth in Texas, over the last two years, was in part due to the federal stimulus. That needs to be stated over and over.

What also needs to be stated over and over, is that Republicans in the state have been calling out Perry's state tax plan as detrimental to the state, primarily to education.

In 2006, the then State Comptroller, a Republican who later ran against Perry as an Independent, stated EMPHATICALLY and repeatedly that Perry's plan would destroy school budgets. She wrote, in a public letter to Perry

Texans deserve relief from high property taxes, but they do not need it at the expense of future tax hikes and more cuts in public education. Educators are justifiably skeptical of this program because they know that when the state controls the purse strings, rather than locally elected school boards, the result will be devastating to our schools.

The property tax relief contained in the bill, if it can be financed past 2008, will be quickly eroded by rising property values, and increases in local tax rates forced on local school districts struggling to keep up with rising costs. In as little as five years, the state could be right back in court.

Finally, your plan represents the largest tax bill in Texas history, includes an unconstitutional income tax, represents a 200 percent tax increase on Texas businesses at a time when the state has taken an $8.2 billion surplus out of the pockets of hardworking Texans, and does not pay for itself as required by the spirit of our Texas Constitution's "pay-as-you-go, no-deficit-spending" provision. That is unconscionable.

Governor, we should be working to improve state services for Texans and to reduce the burden of government on businesses and individuals. This plan creates a rolling mess that will take 20 years for future leaders of the state to untangle. Texans will recognize this plan for what it is -- a short-term, smoke-and-mirrors patch at best.

Sadly, the only part she was wrong about was "Texans will recognize this plan for what it is -- a short-term, smoke-and-mirrors patch at best."

My husband works for a local school district that just voted down a property tax increase that would have amounted to a bag of chips a week per household. Now buses are on the chopping block, as well as MORE teachers, sports, music, summer school, etc.

The ISD is ranked one of the highest in the state on ROI -- meaning they are efficiently run. Sure they have waste they can cut. But that waste is a blip on the $$$ scale. YET, the people most vocal against the tax increases' ONLY argument was that the ISD wastes money. Since all evidence from the current (Republican) state comptroller and other measurements shows otherwise, and even though the dollars they point to as waste were so minor that we'd still have a budget disaster, all I can say is that messaging, not common sense or comprehension of basic math, won out.

Perry says he has brought jobs to TX (without crediting the many of which were created by the stimulus to the feds). But when you bring families to TX then eliminate the way to fund educating the kids in those families, you can't blame the local ISDs. You especially can't blame the ISDs with high rankings of budget efficiency.

The entire state is facing school budget crises. Why people think each and every ISD created the problem is absurd.

And THIS guy may run for President. If he does, Texans better not fail the American people. We better tell everyone what he has done.

We need to make sure the independents hear the correct messaging: Perry destroyed the budget in the state of Texas. He has led the state since Bush left and has had a Republican state congress. All of the state's problems are his to own and he can't run away from them while running on lies. And finally, if you close your eyes and listen to him talk, you can hear George W. Bush -- and I don't mean the accent.

The only gift his run against Obama would mean would be that Obama COULD actually run against Bush policies again.

So I am also asking a favor: don't bash Texas or Texans. Help the blues in this red/purple state fight. Don't denigrate the state because we need friends outside the state standing with us. We'll have a huge battle on our hands down here -- mocking us will only give us additional fights to counter. Attack Perry and HIS policies. But treat the state with respect and friendship and lift us so that we may have the strength to fight another Texas governor ruining the country!

They Can Dish It Out, But They Can't Take It

The powers that be at the Republican Leadership Conference thought it would be a great idea to hire Reggie Brown, an Obama impersonator, so everyone could have a good laugh at the expense of the President. I have no problem with that, and actually Brown does a really good job at impersonating President Obama and his self-depricating humor. And Brown knew the audience he was performing for, throwing in a couple of racially tinged jokes for good measure, which the Republican audience ate up. Things like only celebrating half of Black History Month or depicting the premature aging that presidents experience by putting up a picture fictional character Fred Sanford.

Then things took an interesting turn. Brown challenged the audience when referencing and mocking the current crop of GOP candidates for 2012. And as you'd expect, they couldn't take it. He was ushered off the stage.



You can watch a longer version of the performance here, before Brown was escorted off the stage, where he makes fun of George W. Bush, and shows what George Washington looks like today (photo of Barbara Bush in colonial garb).

Did they learn nothing after inviting Stephen Colbert to the White House Correspondents' Dinner a few years back?

UPDATE (5:40pm): GottaLaff has provided the full, unedited C-SPAN video of Brown's act.

Clarence Clemons Dies at 69

NJ.com: Clarence Clemons — the Big Man with the big horn — died today of complications from a stroke he suffered last weekend, said a source close to Bruce Springsteen. He was 69 years old.

He was the spirit of the E Street Band, and the oaken staff that Bruce Springsteen leaned on. There have been many charismatic figures in the band, but none had the personal gravity of Clarence Clemons, the group’s Bunyanesque saxophonist.

Must Reads

Brian Beutler: Three Most Common Mistakes Made By So-Called Fact Checkers When Assessing GOP’s Medicare Plan

Michelle Goldberg: Bachmann's Unrivaled Extremism

The Rude Pundit: This Is the Way the Weiner Ends: Not With a Bang But a Whimper

Digby: Bachmann's New Narrative

Bob Cesca: Firebagger Panel Disconnected With Reality

Bachmann's Chances

No chance.

That's what I told a colleague of mine when he came up to me and said this: "You're a level headed liberal like myself. Does Michele Bachmann really have a chance at winning the nomination?"

My friend was concerned about the talking heads and pundits going gaga over Bachmann after her first debate appearance. Let's call it the Sarah Palin Low Bar Syndrome. The problem with mainstream media is that instead of reporting the news and sticking with facts, they need to inject their opinion into everything. And after they witnessed Michele Bachmann's performance at last Monday's CNN New Hampshire debate (and considering some of the questions included, "American Idol or Dancing with The Stars?" or "Deep dish or thin crust?", I use the word "debate" loosely) the MSM gave her high marks because they didn't see her drooling, staring off into another camera or vomiting on herself. This of course, was after some of her more ridiculous comments earlier in the year like the Founding Fathers working tirelessly until they abolished slavery, or thinking Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire and then trying to laugh it off with an Obama teleprompter joke.

They did the same with Sarah Palin in 2008 after the only Vice Presidential debate in which she stated she wasn't going to answer the questions posed of her, just blurt out any talking points she could remember (this was before the hand prompter) and occasionally wink at the camera. But Palin didn't soil her undies on camera, so she must have won the debate, right?

Now, I'll give Bachmann some credit. The smartest thing Bachmann did in the debate was steal the headlines by announcing her candidacy right then and there. And she's shown she's a little more than cunning. She's not dumb enough to use her Tea Party incendiary rhetoric on a national stage. She's not going to ask people to be armed and dangerous because of cap and trade. She's not going to outwardly ask for an investigation to see which members of Congress are "un-American." It doesn't suit her to let her wingnut freak flag fly when speaking to a larger audience. Doing it with some more isolated crowds will do the trick just fine. Especially when sprinkling in the veiled biblical verse here and there.

But that's the difference between Bachmann and Palin. Michele may say some crazy shit, but she knows when to tone it down to appeal to a larger contingent. Sarah takes a scorched earth approach and usually doubles down on the stupid.

Not to worry, though.  There is still another 17 months before the general election, plenty of time for the media microscope to start scrutinizing more carefully below the surface. That's also plenty of time in which I'm sure Bachmann will eventually slip and show the country how loony she actually is. Sure, she might win in Iowa where she's taking advantage of a large evangelical population and where nearly half of primary voters think President Obama was not born in the United States, but she'll most likely fade back after New Hampshire.

President Obama's Weekly Address - June 18, 2011

Celebrating Fathers

Weiner Resigns - UPDATED

Rep. Anthony Weiner resigned from office Thursday, saying, "Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created" has made it "impossible" to continue his work in Congress.

Weiner apologized "for the personal mistakes I have made and for the embarrassment I have caused" to his neighbors, his constituents, and his wife.

It's a shame it had to end this way. But when I happened to catch the local news at 5pm yesterday and witnessed them leading with yet another Weiner picture, I knew the distraction was just too much for anyone to bear and that eventually he'd have to resign.

And he did just that today. In Anthony Weiner's resignation, he knew that he had no one to blame but himself and that there was just too much of a feeding frenzy for him to be effective at his job.

On a side note, the decorum of the heckler at the conference was atrocious. I hope he gets what he deserves, namely being run over by a truck on the way out of the conference.


UPDATE (8:20pm): Via Bob Cesca: "Sounds like Benji from the Stern show was back — shouting 'pervert' and 'are you seven inches' at Weiner during his statement."

Really? A Howard Stern lackey was heckling Weiner? Is this the same shock jock who has porn stars take off their clothes in his studio to ride orgasm inducing machines on the air? (Link is NSFW) And he's sending fuckwads to belittle Anthony Weiner? Gimme a break.

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)

Must Reads

Anna Sale: Minnesota's Pawlenty Legacy? Not So Nice

The Rude Pundit: Tim Pawlenty: Another Motherfucker for America

Michael Lind: Niall Ferguson and the Brain-Dead American Right

Steve Benen: Taxpayer Financed Health Care for Me, Not For Thee and The Nature of a Debt-Ceiling Compromise

Dana Milbank: Republican Presidential Candidate Pawlenty Bends His Truth-Telling

John Cole: So Much Awesome In One Place

TBogg: Sarah Palin Is The Culmination Of All Human Endeavors and Wars And Probably Evolution

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.