S#*! Sarah Palin Says (Egypt Word Salad Edition)

Does it amaze anyone else that Tea Party darling Sarah Palin is usually a week late to comment on the goings on of the world, and even when she has all that extra time to prepare, still cannot come up with a coherent sentence?

On the situation in Egypt -

Sarah Palin: “Remember, President Reagan lived that mantra trust but verify. We want to be able to trust those who are screaming for democracy there in Egypt, that it is a true sincere desire for freedoms and the challenge that we have though, is how do we verify what it is that we are being told, what it is that the American public are being fed via media, via the protestors, via the government there in Egypt in order for us to really have some sound information to make wise decisions on what our position is. Trust but verify, and try to understand is what I would hope our leaders are engaged in right now. Who’s going to fill the void? Mubarak, he’s gone, one way or the other you know, he is not going to be the leader of Egypt, that that’s a given, so now the information needs to be gathered and understood as to who it will be that fills now the void in the government. Is it going to be the Muslim Brotherhood? We should not stand for that, or with that or by that. Any radical Islamists, no that is not who we should be supporting and standing by, so we need to find out who was behind all of the turmoil and the revolt and the protests so that good decisions can be made in terms of who we will stand by and support.” 

On President Obama’s handling of the crisis in Egypt -

Sarah Palin: “It’s a difficult situation, this is that 3am White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House it it seems that that call went right to um the answering machine. And nobody yet has, no body yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and I'm not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from DC in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And in these areas that are so volatile right now because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And we do not have all that information yet.”

Once again, those that espouse freedom and the spread of democracy are all good with it, until they realize they might not like the outcome.

Shorter Palin: Hey, let's support the protestors - that is of course as long as they accept a leader that's okay with us. If they happen to vote in the Muslim Brotherhood, then fuck that democracy shit.

And let me take this opportunity to disagree with the President again.  I have no idea what's going on behind closed doors because I'm not privy to that information, but it's Obama so how can I go wrong with satisfying my wingnut base by disagreeing with everything he does? Why should it matter that the leaders of the GOP are praising Obama's handling of the situation? I'm going rogue, baby! That's how I roll!

Holy shit, this woman is an imbecile.

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Rush Limbaugh is a Moron Too

The King of Conservatives, the Overlord of Oxycontin, the Viscount of Illegal Viagra, Rush Limbaugh was caught off guard and completely stumped when a caller challenged him and asked why former President Ronald Reagan, who was pro-amnesty, raised taxes eleven times, "cut and ran" from Lebanon and negotiated with terrorists, is considered a Conservative hero.

Limbaugh was dumbfounded - he stuttered, he stammered, he froze - and the only thing he could come up with was to question the "silly notion" that Reagan raised taxes, the most obvious and provable of the caller's accusations.



Well, I suppose to keep one's ample ass in comfort, one has to keep pulling the wool over the rubes' eyes.

Sean Hannity is a Moron

But we knew that already.

Rand Paul Plays on the Third Rail

Paul defended his call to end to all foreign aid -- including the $3 billion the U.S. gives to Israel every year.

"I'm not singling out Israel. I support Israel. I want to be known as a friend of Israel," Paul said, "but not with money you don't have. We can't just borrow from our kids' future and give it to countries even if they are our friends."

..."I think they're an important ally, but I also think that their per capita income is greater than probably three-fourths of the rest of the world," Paul said. "Should we be giving free money or welfare to a wealthy nation? I don't think so."

Welfare? *Sigh.*

While I'm willing to praise Rand Paul for his bluntness on Israel (seems like more politicians should be worried bout the well being of the US before Israel - I'm looking at you, Joe Lieberman) he's going after them for the wrong reasons. It isn't purely a financial issue - although it probably is for Paul, who also wants to cut the Department of Education by 83%.

GOP Backs Off "Forcible Rape"

HuffPo: House Republicans announced Thursday that they are taking a step back from a particularly controversial passage of a piece of anti-abortion legislation that many had criticized as a dangerous redefinition of the acts that constituted "rape."

"The word 'forcible' will be replaced with the original language from the Hyde Amendment," a spokesman for Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), one of the sponsors of H.R. 3. The "No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act," told Politico.

Well I guess that's good. But here's an interesting quote (emphasis mine):

The bill’s authors, including Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), say it’s not their intent to change the way the exemption is applied.

“The language of H.R. 3 was not intended to change existing law regarding taxpayer funding for abortion in cases of rape, nor is it expected that it would do so,” Lipinski told Talking Points Memo in a statement.

Two things: If they never intended to change the exemption, why did they use a questionable phrase? And if there's already "existing law regarding taxpayer funded abortion," which they didn't intend to change, please enlighten me on what this law actually does except reiterate what's already in the books and perhaps cons the rubes into thinking that Republicans actually achieved something with this redundant bill?

John Bolton's Bomb Iran Du Jour

Raw Story: Former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said the ouster of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

... "I don't think there’s much time to act. And I think the fall of a Egyptian government committed to the peace agreement will almost certainly speed that timetable up."

Bolton chided the protests in Egypt last week, saying that "the real alternative is not Jefferson democracy versus the Mubarak regime, but that it’s the Muslim Brotherhood versus the Mubarak regime, and that has enormous implications for the US, for Israel, and our other friends in the region."

Ah, yes. They all love spreading democracy... until they realize they might not like the outcome.

And so goes Bolton's latest excuse for bombing Iran. Unrest in Gaza? Bomb Iran. George W. Bush leaving office? Bomb Iran. Protests in Egypt? Bomb Iran.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bolton also said that the consistency of his poached eggs at tomorrow morning's breakfast would speed the timetable for an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. "If they're not runny enough, there'll be hell to pay,"said Bolton as he picked the crumbs of toast out of his mustache.

Cartoon of the Day

Holy Crap!

NOAA:

Bachmann's Second Chance on SNL

Republican Priorities

For a year leading up to the 2010 elections, Republicans campaigning for public office raised holy hell against the Obama administration for spending so much time on health care reform while the country languished in a prolonged recession and unemployment hovered close to 10%. Their cry was all about jobs, jobs, jobs. It was all about doing the people's work once they regained control of the House.

So how has the first session of the 112th Congress, specifically the new Republican led House of Representatives, tackled the unemployment issue? So far, they haven't.

After one month of the new Congress, they've spent a little over their first week, reading the Constitution, while conveniently skipping the three-fifths clause, apparently to the detriment of Michele Bachmann, had a symbolic vote to repeal the "job killing" health care reform passed by the previous Congress, took a week off due to the tragic event in Tucson, and are now pushing a bill called the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." They are so clever with their bill titles, those Republicans, aren't they?

While there is already precedence for prohibition of federal funding of abortion with the Hyde Amendment, this is a dubious effort to constrict the legal right of abortion because the wording in the bill is attempting to redefine rape.

Since the 1976 Hyde Amendment, federal law has prohibited federal funds to pay for abortions except in the cases of rape, incest, and when the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, but now...

"...Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule out federal assistance for abortions in many rape cases, including instances of statutory rape, many of which are non-forcible. For example: If a 13-year-old girl is impregnated by a 24-year-old adult, she would no longer qualify to have Medicaid pay for an abortion.

...Given that the bill also would forbid the use of tax benefits to pay for abortions, that 13-year-old's parents wouldn't be allowed to use money from a tax-exempt health savings account (HSA) to pay for the procedure. They also wouldn't be able to deduct the cost of the abortion or the cost of any insurance that paid for it as a medical expense."

This doesn't pass the smell test because there is no legal definition of "forcible rape." What about date rape? Or victims being drugged? And how can you pass a law with such vague definitions subject to malleable interpretation? How many bruises does a rape victim have to have before the sex is considered "forcible?"

So just to reiterate, after 18 months of GOP whining that Democrats spent too much time focusing on health care and not enough on jobs, the Republican led House has spent its first month focusing on repealing health care benefits already in place for millions of people and the further restriction of legal medical procedures. The people's work indeed.