Stephen Colbert's Strange Heroe$ List

Ever since Stephen Colbert started accepting donations for his SuperPAC, he's been scrolling the names of contributors consistently during his show at the bottom of the screen. I watched Thursday's show last night and something happened to catch my eye. I couldn't believe what I'd just read, so I rewound my DVR and froze it to confirm.



My only fear is that pranksters like these may undermine the whole purpose of Colbert's SuperPAC. Isn't proper identification of donating individuals mandatory? Or is this exactly they kind of contribution that's allowed which freaked people out in the first place with the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling?

Must Reads

Ezra Klein: Why Libertarianism Fails in Health Care

The Rude Pundit: The US Day of Rage Takes a Trip Into Right-Wing Conspiracy Land

Bob Cesca: Cable News Debate Coverage Is Hurting Democracy

Kevin Drum: How to Talk About Solyndra

Paul Rosenberg: 10 Signs God Is Furious With the Right

Roger Ebert: Saul Alinsky Pours for the Tea Party

Nick Baumann: The GOP's Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012

Paul Begala: I [heart] Government

Paul Krugman: Free To Die

President Obama's Weekly Address - September 17, 2011

Passing the American Jobs Act

Hey CNN, WTF?!

Holy crap!



ADDING... The more I think about this, the more I realize that this was inherently racist. Accidentally playing the wrong music track for bumper music is one thing, but you have to realize that they were looking for some kind of rap music. Because what else would a 103 year old woman who drives a two-tone 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, and happens to be black, listen to while she's cruising down the block?

Whoever decided that rap music would be the proper choice of music for this clip should be dismissed.

Must See Interview

It's amazing how sharp former President Jimmy Carter still is at 86 years young. This interview is a must see just for the realization of how underrated and under appreciated Carter was and still is. His demonization by the right is shameful.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'll update with the added video as it becomes available.

Quote of the Day

"He puts the 'goober' in 'gubernatorial.'"

~Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner and radio host Jim Hightower on Rick Perry's record as Governor of Texas during an interview with Thom Hartmann

In Sickness and In Health...

... unless of course, your partner has Alzheimer's Disease, in which case all bets are off. At least that's the opinion of The 700 Club's Christian televangelist Pat Robertson.

In his television broadcast Tuesday, Christian televangelist Pat Robertson said that in certain cases, it may be ethically permissible for a spouse to divorce a husband or wife stricken with Alzheimer’s “if [the non-ill spouse] is going to do something” with a new partner...

...“I certainly wouldn’t put a guilt trip on you if you decided that you had to have companionship, you’re lonely, and you’re asking for some companionship,” Robertson said, clarifying that the spouse would have to ensure that his wife would have “somebody looking after her.”

The sanctity of marriage indeed.

Lose a House Seat, Gain a Senate Seat?

The House seat vacated by Anthony Weiner was filled last night by Republican Bob Turner. To put things in perspective, this particular district has been a Democratic stronghold for about 100 years, and although registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by a margin of 3 to 1 in NY-9, Turner came away with a win over Democratic nominee David Weprin by a 53-47 margin. There are some arguments that despite the district being Democratic, it's a conservative one. Take that for what you will, but I don't recall Anthony Weiner being very conservative.

That news doesn't bode well for 2012 in my opinion, but this does:

Elizabeth Warren officially announced her candidacy for Senate in Massachusetts on Wednesday morning in a short video posted to a new campaign website, www.elizabethwarren.com.

...Warren will attempt to take on Scott Brown, the Republican who won Edward M. Kennedy’s Senate seat in a special election after the veteran senator died in late 2009.

I hope the people of Massachusetts do the right thing this time.

The Terrorists Won

The Daily Beast: A Long Island woman has been charged with allegedly calling in a phony bomb threat on Sept. 10th—reportedly because she did not want her family to fly on the tenth anniversary on the terrorist attacks. Airport police in Tucson, Arizona, said they received an anonymous call from a woman on Sept. 10th who claimed she had heard her boyfriend and others discussing a plot to bomb Southwest Airlines Flight 2475 to Long Island that day. Police called bomb squad officials and notified the FBI, who tracked the call to Mary Purcell, 37, who said she was worried about her mother and brother flying that day. She is set to be arraigned in federal court, but the exact charges are unknown.

Yes, when someone calls in a bomb threat in order to cancel the flight for fear of her family flying on the anniversary of 9/11, the terrorists have won.

I'll add my two cents: there were plenty of tickets available for Broadway shows this weekend, mostly due to the fact that this was the first week back to school in New York City. I wouldn't doubt that at least a small part of the reason was because it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and some were leery of traveling into Manhattan either because of fear or they just didn't want the hassle of security checkpoints on the highways.

Since it was a light week, many of us in the industry were offered complimentary tickets to the Sunday shows. On more than one occasion, I heard colleagues who couldn't give Broadway tickets away worth hundreds of dollars because either people were frightened to be in the city that day, or they had initially accepted the tickets, but then reneged after someone else talked them out of it.

The terrorists have won.

Compassionate Conservatism Redux

Former George W. Bush speech writer Michael Gerson once defined the phrase 'compassionate conservatism' as, "the theory that the government should encourage the effective provision of social services without providing the service itself." We all know by now how well that worked for the Bush administration.

Liberal commentator Joe Conason, noting Bush's policy of tax cuts, wrote in 2003 that "so far, being a 'compassionate conservative' appears to mean nothing very different from being a hardhearted, stingy, old-fashioned conservative." Similarly, former President Bill Clinton described the message of compassionate conservatism as: "I want to help you. I really do. But you know, I just can't" or similar variants.

The true definition of compassionate conservatism can be summed up as, "Yeah, that's a shame... wish I could help out but everyone should take care of themselves."

I've been in a self-imposed media blackout these last few days due to the September 11th anniversary 24 hour news cycle (I don't need to see that again) and decided not to watch last night's CNN Republican Primary debate because I saw all I needed to see during last week's debacle. Why would I want to subject myself to the motley crew that is the GOP nominees again? Unless they've changed their minds about climate change or evolution, or actually looked at the numbers to realize they're just flat out lying on the Recovery Act while hypocritically benefitting from it, there was no need for any more self-induced stress.

But then I heard (bad news travels fast) that a hypothetical question was asked of Ron Paul regarding a 30 year old man who chooses not to pay for health insurance, then suddenly needs it - what's to be done? And the audience yelled to "let him die." I couldn't believe it. So I had to see for myself.



More than anything else that has transpired in the world of American politics and the divisiveness we've gotten accustomed to this last decade or so, this truly breaks my heart. What has become of us as a society? Or I should rephrase, what has become of the Republican party as a societal faction of our population? This is the pro-life party? This is the party touting their Christianity? It's absolutely disgusting. And this comes on the heels of last week's audience strongly praising Rick Perry's execution record as Governor of Texas.

There are some criticizing the editing of this video because it cuts off Ron Paul's answer to the question. But the video isn't about Paul's answer, it's about the callousness of the audience. If you listen closely, Ron Paul says "no" when asked if society should let the hypothetical patient die before explaining about pre Medicare days and churches taking care of the sick, blah, blah, blah. Someone in the audience yells "YEAH!" at the thought of letting the patient die to hoots and hollers and it sounds like they're mostly in agreement. I'm sure if the dipshit audience member who yelled had a member of their family who was in that situation, he would think differently.

I also can't dismiss this as just two or three jackasses in the audience. They ALL applauded at the notion of letting the hypothetical patient fend for himself. It's not just two or three jackasses anymore. It's become mainstream GOP thinking. And if the nominees and the Republican leadership feel the need to kowtow to the Tea Party, then shame on them.

Just another example blowing apart the myth that both parties are the same.

September 11 - Ten Years Later

There isn't much to say, is there? Take a moment to remember, reflect and appreciate what you have.