A Steaming, Hot Bowl Full of Crazy

You're Pushing It, Google

Robert Louis Stevenson's birthday? Really?

Must Reads

Steve Benen: When The 'Water's Edge' Standard Disappears

Sudeep Reddy: Palin Responds to Real Time Economics and We Respond

Ryan Grim: George Bush Book 'Decision Points' Lifted Passages From Advisers' Books

Joe Wilson: George Bush's Deception Points

Aaron Sorkin: Bumper-Sticker Patriotism Is No Way to Honor Our Veterans

Paul Krugman: The Hijacked Commission

Tanya Somanader: Gingrey Ignores Promise To Reduce Government Waste By Fighting For Defense Program The DoD Doesn’t Want

Christopher Brauchli: Sharia Returns to Oklahoma

Mark Morford: Dear Tea Party: You Will Now Get Yours

William Greider: Obama Without Tears

Just Sayin'

President Obama's Approval Rating: 47% and rising.



Sarah Palin's Approval Rating: 40% and falling.

Cindy McCain: Learning the Flip-Flop from The Master!

It looks like Cindy McCain has been squeezed into supporting her husband's backward stance on DADT immediately after appearing in a commercial condemning the policy in support of the LBGT community. But when you lay with the king of flip-floppers, expect to wake up with flip-flopping fleas.



I wonder how soon Meghan McCain will realize her mother and father are full of shit, and defect to the Democratic Party... or at least consider herself an Independent.

President Obama's Weekly Address - November 13, 2010

Exports & Earmarks

More Like This, Please

I know this is old news, but Anderson Cooper did a great job and took the time to debunk the "$200 million a day" myth for President Obama's current trip to Asia. If only more journalists would follow suit.

I add this here for archival reasons, as I'm sure you'll eventually get an outrageous anti-Obama smear email sooner or later pertaining to this issue.

Maddow/Stewart Interview, Complete & Uncut

I watched last night and contrary to what I was reading on the Twittersphere during the interview, I found it engaging, informative and honest. In TweetWorld, some were calling it boring, uninteresting and I was really quite shocked that people disagreeing with Stewart were checking out after watching just the first segment. What did they expect? Yelling and fisticuffs? Have we really become that ideological, that extreme that we can't even sit and listen to an interview/debate of what are considered to be two incredibly intelligent people, both on the liberal side of the aisle? Is the needle spiked the to the right edge on the National Attention Deficit Disorder Meter?

Yes, there were moments when Jon Stewart's parsing of some issues were a little much for my taste, but that's his opinion. He's entitled to it. We can all argue about the minutia of whether or not you consider George W. Bush "wrong" versus "evil" on his waterboarding stance. I don't think Bush was evil, just badly misguided. And if he felt it was morally wrong, he can claim plausible deniability and hide behind the lawyers that told him it was legal. Now Cheney on the other hand, I believe is truly evil but that's for another time.

Ultimately the crux of the interview confirmed my assessment of the Rally To Restore Sanity message: it wasn't about content, it was about tone.

Dumbass Quote of the Day

"Mankind, is it responsible for global warming? Well I'll tell you something. I have seen evidence on both sides of it. I'm skeptical -- I'm skeptical. And you know, I think at the at the end of this, I think we're going to need more science to prove something one way or the other. But you know - cause I've seen arguments on both sides of it that at times - like I'll watch something about man made global warming, and I go wow, that's fairly convincing. And then I'll go out and watch the other side of the argument, and I go huh, that's fairly convincing too. So, I gotta be honest with you, I don't know. And that's probably one of the reason's why I became a lawyer, and not a doctor, or an engineer, or a scientist, because I can't figure this stuff out. But I would say at this point, that has to be proven, and I'm a little skeptical about it. Thank you."

~New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a town hall meeting catering to the wingnuts.

Joe Miller: Misspelling "MURKOWSKI" is a Protest Vote

Well, this is a new one.

Joe Miller and/or his lawyers, contesting the vote count in Alaska, filed a federal lawsuit and are trying to create a fantasy world in which a write-in vote for Lisa Murkowski that happens to be misspelled is a sign that the voter intended it as a protest vote and thus should not be counted.

The lawsuit argues that many people who cast misspelled write-in ballots might have done so deliberately, as a protest against Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign. If elections officials deem these misspelled ballots as votes for Murkowski, it "overrides voter intent" and "nullifies the protest and falsely inflates the vote for the write-in candidate," the suit argues.

Miller's lawsuit asks for an injunction and for a hearing to be held today, in an attempt to stop the state from "counting or otherwise accepting as valid any write-in ballots in which the name of the candidate is spelt [sic] incorrectly, or on which the name of the candidate is not written as it appears on a write-in declaration of candidacy."

This should be thrown out on the grounds that a lawsuit attempting to define voter intent on the basis of misspellings should not have any misspellings in said lawsuit. "Spelt"? C'mon, people. Anyone in Alaska ever hear of SPELLCHECK?!

Now, I will say that a protest vote deliberately misspelled should not be counted, such as "Lease-a Mur-COW-ski" or "Lisa Murfucksme," but "Lisa Murkowsky" or "Lisa Merkowski"? How can that be anything other than an intended vote for said candidate?

Besides not spelling properly, Miller's lawyers are also citing Bush v. Gore as it pertains to ballot counting and voter intent. I guess they don't realize that the Supreme Court's decision in that case only pertains to that case. There is purposely no precedent set by Bush v. Gore. There's some fine lawyerin' going on up in Sarah Palin's Alaska, huh?  Desperate times...

We Are All Socialists

This is perfect.

Stewart Responds to Rally For Sanity Backlash

I certainly agree there is a false equivalency meme that has permeated the media. But as I wrote before, I felt that Stewart's rally message wasn't the false equivalency, as it was about the overheated rhetoric that accompanies it. I suppose that's affirmed by Stewart in this video.

Conan's Back

After months of anticipation and marketing, Conan made it's debut on TBS last night. The interviews were average, but the band was hot and the opening was genius.

Barbara Bush is One Crazy Mamma Jamma

If this story is true, and it's from the horse's mouth so why should it be doubted, then it's the first time I feel sympathy for George W. Bush. From Decision Points:

George W. Bush’s pro-life stance solidified when he was a teenager in Texas—after his mother suffered a devastating miscarriage and showed him the fetus in a jar, the former president said in an extraordinary interview that airs tonight.  

“She said to her teenage kid, ‘Here’s the fetus,’ ” the shockingly candid Bush told NBC’s Matt Lauer, gesturing as if he were holding the jar during the TV chat, a DVD of which The Post exclusively obtained.

“There’s no question that affected me, a philosophy that we should respect life,” said the former president, who had to drive his distraught mother to the hospital at the time.

What kind of parent does that?

(H/T Balloon Juice)

Keith's Back...

... on Tuesday.

In a statement last night, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said, "After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night's program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy."

I wonder if the deliberations and discussions included a 300,000 signature petition demanding Olbermann back?