Must Reads

Adam Blickstein: Conservatives Terrified of Bringing Terrorists to Justice

Robert Reich: Harry Reid, and What Happened to the Public Option

The Rude Pundit: Photos That Make Some Kind of Awful Sense (Palin Version) and Fact-Checking Sarah Palin Is a Waste of Everyone's Time, But Fuck It

Bob Cesca: Famous for Being Famous: The Sarah Palin Show Is On the Air

David Vines: If It Were Me, I'd Be Embarrassed

Bob Saget: Why I Love Thanksgiving

Armadillo Joe recommends...

Andrew Sullivan: Deconstructing Sarah, Ctd

Kevin Drum: Quote of the Day

Booman: Questions for Nate Silver

TRex: “This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!” She Shrieked, then Went Back to Cleaning Her Guns.

Matthew Cole & Brian Ross: EXCLUSIVE: CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy

Matt Taibbi: Sarah Palin, WWE Star

driftglass: Going Vague

DistributorCap: The Ownership Society

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 21, 2009

Traveling Abroad for Our Economy at Home

Tweet of the Day

OTOOLEFAN: In Indiana, Sarah Palin says thanks but no thanks to signing the book she didn't write.

Palin Implosion

Well, it looks like it only took three days for the wheels on the bus of the Sarah Palin Book Tour 2009 to come off. Sarah is soooo popular with her teabaggy followers (and there are just so many) that she can't possibly sign everyone's book.  I mean, come on, people!  Sarah is just way too important to stay behind in a podunk town like Noblesville, Indiana and screw up the publicity schedule just so you can have a memento from your favorite hockey mom.



AHHAHAHAHAHAHAA!! AHAHAAHAHAAHAAAA!!!


AHAHAHAAHAAHAAHHAHAAHH!

UPDATE (8:50pm): A Facebook apology from Sarah -

"I've been told that yesterday there were supporters in Noblesville who stood in long lines for hours in the cold and rain, and the book signing event ended without a chance to say hello to everyone who showed up. I am so sorry. We are working on a solution for those who were left behind. I apologize."

...Uh... Palin had to be told about the angry mob chanting "SIGN OUR BOOKS!", booing and calling her a quitter? Didn't she notice them when she boarded the bus?  This only gets better and better.

Say whuh?

posted by Armadillo Joe

More hopey, changey-ness --

Obama Appoints Loyal Bushie Dana Perino To Broadcasting Board Of Governors

...and so it goes...

More Health Care Bogeymen

I have a question: if this health care reform bill is really so horrible that practically every GOP member is against it, then why not debate what you're against and make it better, instead of making shit up to freak out your lunatic base?

Why doesn't House Minority Leader John Boehner judge the bill on the merits of what's actually in the bill instead of using the old, reliable abortion wedge issue and feel the need to make shit up about a "monthly abortion premium" being charged of all enrollees in the government-run health plan?

Unless he's seriously that stupid and doesn't understand what he's reading, if he's actually reading anything in the bill other than page numbers so he can complain about how long it is, how is it that scumbags like Boehner and his ilk feel it is completely legitimate to mislead the people that voted them into office with lies and smears?

Stupid Is As Stupid Does

The only way Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) will be able to stop saying idiotic things is just to keep her mouth shut.



What. A. Moron.

Gay Marriage Fear FAIL

Via TPC's Gotta Laff:

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state.

The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that "marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman." But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares:

"This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage."

Whoops. They accidentally misworded their state constitution to, in effect, nullify all marriages taking place in Texas. Sometimes Karma is a real bitch.  Keep it up, Republicans. You're doing great!

Quote of the Day

"It feels like all the people that want limited government really just want government limited to Republicans." - Jon Stewart during his interview of Lou Dobbs

Jon Stewart Interviews Lou Dobbs

Great interview.

Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 1


Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 2


Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 3


Adding... The only person on television who'll give you a rational, reasoned debate is Jon Stewart (save Rachel Maddow, who doesn't often have the luxury of a 20 minute interview).

Sarah Palin Supporters

The very end nails it. "You get a sense of some of Sarah Palin's supporters here. They feel a connection with Sarah Palin. They can't be specific in some cases about the issues..." but that's okay. Neither can Sarah Palin.

Norah: But she was for the bailout.
Rube #2: No, she wasn't.
Norah: Yes, she was.
Rube #2: Well I don't believe it.
Norah: But I have quotes.
Rube #1: Oh! But that was different. It was some guy who changed the rules after it passed. I don't know his name. Also, the Constitution.

Infuriatingly stupid.

Time For a Senate Steel Cage Match

This is what I want to see: an elected representative so passionate about his convictions that he or she will don tights and wrestle in a steel cage match to the death with another Senator who disagrees with him.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure (and by "pleasure" I mean the same type of joy you get by cutting) of listening to an NPR interview with Joe "You Know What? I'm Happy..." Lieberman who was appalled at the ad hominem attacks of those calling him the Senator from Aetna because of his filibuster threat that would derail health care if the public option were included in the bill. Joe has no clue why people are so upset and assume he's in the pocket of the insurance industry because, after all, he voted for the Patients Bill of Rights and he supports the anti-trust legislation.

So I want Lieberman to get into Ben Nelson's face, who for some reason is protecting the insurance companies' rights to fix prices and fuck their customers in the ass.

Given what is riding on the [health care] vote, party leaders have been busy talking to holdouts, negotiating deals in an effort to get them on board as wavering lawmakers exert their leverage at a critical moment. In response to demands from Nelson, for instance, the leadership appears willing to drop plans to use the legislation to strip health insurance companies of their antitrust exemption.

Who is Ben Nelson representing? Is he worried about the nearly 30% of his Nebraskan constituents who don't have health insurance or the $2 million and counting he's received from insurance and health care interests in his three campaigns for federal office?

First up in the steel cage, "Holy Joe" Lieberman, who wants to filibuster health care reform if there's a public option inclusion, and Ben "The Helmet Head" Nelson, who is against health insurance anti-trust legislation.  What a couple of gems, huh?  Maybe during the match Patrick Leahy and Dick Durbin will sneak into the cage and pound these assholes over the head with folding chairs.

Common Sense

Attorney General Eric Holder sat before a Senate hearing today to explain the US justice system to some cowardly Republican Senators in a constant state of pants soiling these last few days at the thought of trying a self-confessed, alleged terrorist in Federal court as opposed to the military tribunals at Gitmo.

Finally a reasoned, concise explanation.

Prosecuting the 9/11 defendants in federal court does not represent some larger judgment about whether or not we are at war. We are at war, and we will use every instrument of national power – civilian, military, law enforcement, intelligence, diplomatic, and others – to win. We need not cower in the face of this enemy. Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready.

We will also use every instrument of our national power to bring to justice those responsible for terrorist attacks against our people. For eight years, justice has been delayed for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. It has been delayed even further for the victims of the attack on the USS Cole. No longer. No more delays. It is time, it is past time, to act. By bringing prosecutions in both our courts and military commissions, by seeking the death penalty, by holding these terrorists responsible for their actions, we are finally taking ultimate steps toward justice. That is why I made this decision.

This is nothing but common sense. There is no political agenda, save for a higher and more successful conviction rate for terrorists than the previous administration's abysmal record. If we really do toss aside our federal court system because we are "cowering" in fear of arrested terrorists on our soil to face justice, then haven't they already won?

PS - The 2pm hour on MSNBC was hosted by Andrea Mitchell via remote from Grand Rapids, Michigan because apparently the "real news" was covering Sarah Palin on the first leg of her book tour. Pathetic.

Stay Classy, Glenn Beck

Via Media Matters:

Beck on health care: "We're the young girl saying 'no, no, help me,' and the government is Roman Polanski"



I wonder how the victim of Roman Polanski feels about that analogy? What a classless sonofabitch.

Douchebag of the Week: Colorado State Sen. Dave Schultheis

So, how ridiculously stupid do you have to be to think that you can back your way out of comparing the President of the United States to a 9/11 terrorist suicide hijacker after you've made it public on your Twitter account?

I suppose we should ask State Sen. Dave Schultheis (R-CO) who tweeted the following.



You know what? I'm not even going to request to follow him. Why on earth would I want to follow his asinine tweets? But here's what he wrote:

Don't for a second think Obama wants what is best for U.S. He is flying the US Plane right into the ground at full speed. Let's Roll

Seriously. How can this be taken any other way? "Let's roll"? The final words of Todd Beamer before overtaking the hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93 that would crash in a field in Shanksville, PA. That in combination with the wingnut conspiracy that President Obama is a secret Muslim and the picture is complete, isn't it? Obama is going to crash this country into the ground. Because he's a secret Muslim terrorist. Get it? No? Okay, I'll use the "flying a plane" metaphor. Get it now? For fuck's sake, how stupid are you wingnuts?! Okay LET'S ROLL! GET IT?!

But that doesn't stop Schultheis from trying to defend his tweet.

"'Let's roll.' It's a comment people use all the time any more. 'Let's get going. Let's move on. Let's make major changes,'" Schultheis said. "I can see it now. But, you're busy doing jillions of things during the day. You sometimes don't analyze every single word."

Yeah, you don't analyze every single word. Or phrase. Or metaphor. Especially when the meaning is exactly what you intended. You got it right the first time so why analyze it?

Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis: Douchebag of the Week.