Tweet of the Day

And that, in a nutshell, illustrates the rank hypocrisy of the right wing pundits in today's Republican Party. Good for you to call it out, Meghan.

UPDATE: Louis C.K.was announced as host of the June 8 Radio and Television correspondents’ dinner – which is not the same as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He has since withdrawn from the event.

Welcome to Post-Racial America...

...in the world of Obama, because now that we have a black president, we don't have to worry about racism, right?

While Joel Ward's series-winning overtime goal in Game 7 had Capitals fans celebrating in D.C., it sparked a backlash of racist reactions on Twitter... . 

..a small but vulgar group vented its anger on Twitter, using the N-word to refer to the Caps' hero.

And this is just sports. Can you imagine what they think of our country's leader? But it's just us overdramatic liberals making mountains out of molehills and playing the race card at every turn. ...Yeah. Sure it is.

Cartoon of the Day

The Spine of America

POSTED BY JHW22

OK, after this post, I will no longer give anti-Obama Democrats an ounce of my energy, a second of my time. Why? Because as much as they say they believe it's American to criticize or they're just holding him accountable or yadda yadda fart fart, they really just want to focus on certain things while removing all nuance, complexity and reality. They want to pretend that it's all easy peasy to get exactly what they want despite millions of Americans who don't want those exact same things the exact same ways at the exact same time. After about two years of their shit, I realized there is NO POINT debating, discussing or even acknowledging them. But I still try. Not anymore. After tonight, I am done with the anti-Obama left. We have an election to win and a fantastic President to re-elect. We need to ensure better state and federal legislatures and governorships. We have school boards and city councils to pay attention to. And the anti-Obama left doesn't deserve a fraction of me.

I want to make my final statement on them about one specific thing. One thing that I think symbolizes the difference between them and me.

"Spine."

For years now, I've heard Democrats say Obama "needs to grow a spine" or that he's "spineless." And as often as I, and other sensible Democrats, have tried to counter with facts and reality checks, we never looked at an actual spine.

A spine is the center of our body uniting the left and the right. It bends forward and backward, it turns side to side. It moves. Its point is to connect all the parts and keep us balanced. It is the part of the body used for movement and thought. It's a part of the body that, if damaged, could cause the entire body to stop moving completely. It's made up of parts rather than a single bone. It's a part of our body that we take for granted until we need an excuse to get out of heavy lifting. And it always has our back even when we don't see it. Our spine is what makes us flexible and strong. It makes us able to dodge or walk tall. It does what it needs to do on reflex. It supports the rib cage that houses our hearts and is the base of all the magic of our minds.

When you think of the truth of a spine, of the reality, of its actual role in our lives, Barack Obama not only has a spine. He IS our spine.

Factoid of the Day

Via GottaLaff:

...Until recently, the military has been a stalwart source of support for Republican hopeful Ron Paul. 

But in March, it was Obama that scooped up the most support from the armed forces -- about twice as much as Paul, in fact. Romney remains an also-ran when it comes to backing from the military... 

...members of the military who donated more than $200 have given Paul's campaign about $333,134, versus $184,505 to Obama and just $45,738 to Romney. 

But in March, Obama and Paul switched places. Members of the military sent $36,448 to Obama and just $17,733 to Paul. Even though Romney solidified his position as the presumptive Republican nominee, military donations to his campaign remained anemic -- only $8,630.

The Preezy of the United Steezy

President Obama "slow jams" the news with Jimmy Fallon.



Muthafucka be too cool fo' skool, yo.

Seriously, can you imagine Mitt Romney doing anything this humorous and still getting out a very important message? Yeah, me neither.

Newt Gingrich Calls It Quits

Newt Gingrich has officially stated that he will suspend his campaign for the Republican nomi...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Colbert Interviews Julie Andrews

This is one of the funniest interviews I've ever seen.

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Poor, Oppressed White America

Yesterday, I received probably one of the most ridiculous emails I've ever gotten. Words cannot explain the stupidity someone would have to agree with, and forward, something like this. My friend sent it to me because he knew I'd respond in kind. My usual M.O. in these situations is not only to respond to the sender, but to every single address it was sent to, if they've chosen to forward the email without editing out the previous addresses.

Here's the body of the email:

Subject: Fw: Why haven't we heard of this atrocity? 

This is a difficult “read.” 

Another example of how "WE" do not count in New America!!!!! 

Why hasn’t this gotten even a CRUMB as much publicity as the Trayvon Martin case. The text description is horrific. As horrible as this is, it needs to be widely circulated. The animals below car-jacked then raped Christopher Newsom, cut off his penis, set him on fire and shot him to death while they forced his girlfriend, Channon Christian, to watch. An even more cruel fate awaited her. She was beaten and gang-raped in many ways for four days by all of them, while they took turns urinating on her. They then cut off her breasts and put chemicals in her mouth... and murdered her. 

VICTIMS: 

  

PERPS: 

 

Knoxville (WVLT) - The District Attorney General of Knox County announced the list of charges facing now five suspects in the double murder of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. 

The District Attorney General, Randy Nichols, is not saying whether or not he will seek the death penalty, but he does say the State will seek conviction for all charges filed in a 24-page indictment from the Knox County Grand Jury. 

Lemaricus Davidson, 25 , faces a total of 46 charges. Letalvis Cobbins, 24 , faces a total of 46 charges. George Thomas, 24 , faces 46 charges. Vanessa Coleman, 18 , faces 40 Tennessee state charges. Eric Boyd, 24, arrested in connection with the fatal car jacking, only faces federal charges as an accessory after the fact. 

So . . . where is Al Sharpton, President Obama and Jesse Jackson? Are they providing counsel and help to the families of the victims? 

No - the victims were white 

Why hasn't this received national coverage like the "Duke rape case"? Oh, that's right - the victims were white 

Why hasn't the NAACP, ACLU, New York Times, etc., called for an investigation? 

The victims were white. 

Why hasn't the FBI been called in to investigate this as a hate crime? 

Because the victims were white. 

When a white radio shock jock uses the phrase 'Nappy-headed Ho', it got 2 weeks of constant news coverage and cost the announcer his job. But when a white couple is tortured, raped and murdered by a black gang, it gets barely a passing blip on the local news -- and NO MENTION AT ALL on the national evening news. 

Pass this around, and maybe it will land in the hands of someone in the media or politics who has the guts to stand up and recognize the unfairness of this Racism.

My response:

Well, now I've seen it all. 

Do you know why you haven't heard about the Christopher Newsom murder on the news? Because it happened in 2007. If you were paying attention, you would have heard about it. All the suspects we're arrested, convicted and are serving multiple sentences for this horrific crime. 

The FBI didn't investigate this as a hate crime because there was no proof it was racially motivated. No, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson didn't show up to protest because the perpetrators were caught, but do you know who did? Around 30 white supremacists led by Alex Linder rallied in downtown Knoxville on May 27, 2007. 

I wonder if George W. Bush "provided counsel to help the families of the victims." After all, he was President at the time. 

Complaining about the Trayvon Martin coverage has got to be the silliest thing I've heard in a long time. The reason it's news is because unless there was an outcry from activists, there would have been no charges filed, and George Zimmerman would still be "patrolling" the streets thinking he has every right to "Stand His Ground." But I suppose Trayvon Martin didn't have the right to stand his? 

And we never heard of Natalie Halloway, or Etan Patz, or JonBenet Ramsey, or Stacy Peterson because they're white, right? Oh, wait. WE DID HEAR about those cases. 

But maybe you're right. I mean, history has shown that white Americans have been SOOOO oppressed in this country. What is this "New America" you speak of? The one that's supposedly post-racial because we have a black president? Doesn't show by these types of emails. Or perhaps you think you have it so bad, you'd rather trade places with a black person. 

 

On Education

POSTED BY JHW22

Paraphrasing Mitt Romney: Oh, hey, poor people, don't set your education heights so high! Leave the good colleges to the people who can afford them. Don't even consider expensive colleges even if you'd be the doctor to cure cancer. Poor people need to know their place and stay there.





Paraphrasing Obama: America needs the best and brightest to succeed and it's our job as fellow citizens to give them that chance. If you are the future doctor who cures cancer, we'll all be better off for having made your education possible. Being poor shouldn't mean you can't cure cancer and save lives!





Thx to my Twitter helpers finding a link. And h/t on the Romney link to @MzYun, @glomad67

Does the Republican Party Bother Vetting Anyone Anymore?

What is the deal with the GOP? Have they stopped hiding who they truly are and just don't care to put their true face front and center?

Richard Grenell, a former Bush administration official who joined the Romney campaign Thursday as national security and foreign policy spokesman, appears to have deleted more than 800 of his past tweets following scrutiny over numerous swipes aimed at the media, prominent Democratic women and the Gingriches. Grenell also apparently took down his personal site, which featured writing on politics, foreign affairs and the media.

Among Grenell's deleted tweets were such insults as inferring that Rachel Maddow looked like a man, Calista Gingrinch's "snap on" hair, other sexist remarks regarding women's appearances, and calling the contraception argument "Obama's population control strategy."

 So how does the Romney campaign, which has already seen its share of gaffes and asinine comments, not just from the candidate but from its campaign staff, not know that these types of things should be vetted and it only reflects poorly on Mitt Romney? The answer is probably that they do know, but they just don't give a shit. It's an Etch-a-Sketch world in their minds, and no one will be talking about this in three months when the general population starts paying attention.

I suppose if Sarah Palin can vie for the Vice Presidency (and I will forever curse the name of John McCain for bringing her to national prominence) then what's the big deal if you have a misogynist on your campaign staff?  After all, for the GOP, it's not about what you're for. With their choices for presidential candidate, it's about vilifying the other guy.

Must Reads

Kaili Joy Gray: Ann Romney's tale of 'struggling': We 'learned hard lessons' living off our stock portfolio

Steve Benen: The wrong guy to talk about 'leadership'

Eugene Robinson: Republican rhetoric over the top

Robert Naiman: The US and Iran Are Talking: Why Is the New York Times Peddling Iran Islamophobia?

The Rude Pundit: In Brief: Dick Cheney Is Still Alive and Talking, For Some Reason

Bill Maher: The GOP is Waging a War Against Common Sense

President Obama's Weekly Address - April 21, 2012

Calling on Congress to Prevent Student Interest Rates from Doubling

The "Liberal" Media

Via Bob Cesca:



Must we continue to pretend that there is such a thing as a "liberal media" when the major markets are owned by corporations?

Dick Clark Dies at 82

TMZ: Dick Clark -- famed TV producer, and "New Year's Rockin' Eve" host -- died from a massive heart attack this morning ... TMZ has learned.

Clark's rep tells TMZ, the TV icon had been in St. John's hospital in L.A. after undergoing an outpatient procedure last night. Clark suffered the "massive" heart attack following the procedure. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Clark was 82.

Ted Nugent: Patriot

Ted Nugent, who has become infamous for incendiary rhetoric against President Obama and Hillary Clinton, and some really bad music, made the headlines yet again with more vitriol against the President causing enough concern for the Secret Service to investigate. While listening to those comments, something he said struck me. He considers himself, and all those who think like him, patriots.

NUGENT: "If you take that adamant, 'We the People' defiance, remember we're Americans 'cause we defied the King. We didn't negotiate or compromise with the King, we defied the Emperors! We are patriots! We are 'Braveheart'! We need to ride onto that battlefield and chop their heads off in November!"

Well, when Ted Nugent had a chance to show his patriotism, for real, he chose the Dick Cheney way out with student deferments... while on tour.

...Nugent received student deferments in 1967 (1-S) and 1968 (2-S). But according to the Internet Movie Data Base website, Nugent has been "performing professionally since 1958, non-stop yearly touring since 1967, averaging more than 300 shows per year '67-73." Hmm, that would include the two years he was supposedly too wrapped up in his studies to be serving his country.

And then he just decided to shit himself.

In a July 15, 1990, Detroit Free Press interview, Nugent crowed about how he managed to dodge the draft. He claims that 30 days before his draft board physical, he disavowed personal hygiene. The last ten days he ingested nothing but junk food and Pepsi, and with a week to go until the physical, he stopped using the bathroom altogether. When the big day came, he had been living in excrement-caked and urine-stained pants.

Ted Nugent. What a patriot.

No, It's Not a Manufactured Outrage

POSTED BY JHW22

This is what I was saying before and after Gabby Giffords was shot: there's a line we shouldn't cross. This is not comparable to jokes that one can say are offensive. This is actually suggesting that killing a President is a necessary action. Nugent, at an NRA event, tells a bunch of scared men to be afraid of becoming something America will NEVER become and says it's because Obama is something he will never be. He wasn't "joking" or being "creative." He honestly believes that patriots need to stand up to the government led by Obama. And he knows that referencing America's past, and the words "patriot," and "guns" and "self-sacrifice," all are loud and clear messages that people need to take up arms against enemies domestic. And he's making it very clear that he thinks we should see and treat Obama as an enemy.

This isn't about rhetoric from a rock star. This is about a group of Americans getting louder AGAIN, as the election looms, who INSIST on making you think the only desperate act is to remove Obama from office ANY WAY NECESSARY.

Do YOU think that's how Americans have to handle their struggles? Do you think things are SO BAD that we need someone to assassinate the President? Do YOU think this kind of behavior is inconsequential? Well, it's not. And if you think this doesn't matter, then you're willfully ignorant of what's happening out there and how many people don't just disparage the President but who actually threaten harm by stirring people up to think they have to.

The Tea Partiers around here say, "Wake Up, America." Yes, wake up. Wake up and see that this kind of discourse is BAD for America. And just ignoring it and saying, "Oh, it's JUST Ted Nugent" doesn't make it stop.

I have admitted when liberals have crossed a decency line or when liberals have gone too far. I don't like when liberals suggest Nugent should suck on his own machine gun because that's unproductive and stupid. But even that suggestion is FAR from as HARMFUL to the nation as someone actually implying our President is so dangerous that he should be stopped with force.

Forget the fact that Nugent has OBVIOUSLY missed the 8 years of illegal activity. Forget the 8 years where we did suffer at the hands of a dumb President led by a vicious Vice President and aided by an bumbling, egotistical administration. Forget all that.

IF a fellow liberal went to a convention of people with the firm belief that guns are a God-given right to protect ourselves from the government just as much as a wild boar out in the uncharted lands of the west, and these men would die before giving their guns up to some phantom government gun collector, and these men truly fear their rights are being violated every second of the day, and IF the fellow liberal stirred those fellas up and suggested something should be done about the evil, criminal who is a threat to AMERICA'S SURVIVAL, then I would tell that liberal to shut the fuck up!

But I don't hear a liberal doing that. I don't hear a liberal inciting a bunch of gun-clingers to protect America. I don't hear a liberal saying that to fight for our country we actually have to fight to the death.

When liberals worry about America, we threaten challenging elections and recalls and boycotts and facts!

This isn't about the ugly name calling from any side. This is about ONE PARTY consistently coddling people who actually speak as if our President is the enemy from within and that the only way to take him out is by death.

See, a while back some liberals were mad that Obama signed some bill that clarified and tightened language about protesting at events held by elected officials. I actually supported Obama on that. Why? Because I remember the guy who showed up at an Obama event with a gun strapped to his hip and nothing could be done about it. And I knew we were entering the general election cycle and I remembered that at the last election someone yelled out "kill him." So, you know what? I'm fucking scared.

This Ted Nugent thing isn't manufactured and it's NOWHERE NEAR the level of Hilary Rosen v. Ann Romney.

We're at Gabby Giffords level here. And to mock or ignore it is fucking dangerous. These freaks actually are desperate enough to think Obama is evil. What on earth makes you think one of these freaks won't act on it?

Will it be manufactured outrage if something actually happens to Obama? NO. So stop pretending the threat is fake.

Bro-Choice. CLASSIC!

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Lame

When Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen took Mitt Romney to task for putting his wife, Ann, front and center as an expert when it comes to women's economic issues with the factual statement that Ann Romney hadn't "worked a day in her life," the Romney campaign and the right lost their collective shit, accusing Rosen of waging a war on stay-at-home mothers. They work hard too, dammit! And they weren't going to let an opportunity pass to misconstrue Rosen's comment and try to tie her to the Obama camp even though she doesn't work for the Obama campaign. The faux outrage was palpable - enough for Rosen to apologize while clarifying her comment - and for the story to run at least three news cycles.

Fast forward just a week or so later. Today, rock-n-roll has been and NRA gun nut Ted Nugent, whose endorsement was sought out by the Romney camp to bring the NRA into the fold, made some pretty scary comments regarding President Obama and Democrats in general.



"If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will be either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are criminals. We will be a suburb of Indonesia. We need to chop their heads off.

While the White House basically shrugged off the rantings of a crazy, stupid person, this threat was enough of a concern to have the Secret Service launch an investigation. Now, while I haven't been watching much cable news lately, my guess is that the right will come to the defense of Nugent with yet more misunderstanding of the First Amendment and they too, will shrug off what I consider to be a disturbed man discussing thoughts of assassinating the President of the United States. Eh, it's only Obama, right? It's not like someone was threatening George W. Bush. But I digress.

You'd think that Mitt Romney would come out and denounce these types of comments and specifically tell Ted Nugent that he can take his endorsement and shove it up his rifle warmer. Right?

...Andrea Saul, a campaign spokesperson, said in an email, "Divisive language is offensive no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. Mitt Romney believes everyone needs to be civil."

Lamest. Condemnation. Ever.

No matter what side of the political aisle? Ms. Saul, Mr. Romney, are you trying to equate what Hilary Rosen said (not related to the Obama campaign) about Ann Romney to an assassination threat on President Obama by a man who is ENDORSING YOU for the Oval Office?

So weak.

Leave Romney ALLONNNE! *bawl*

POSTED BY JHW22



Hey, give the guy a break!

When you have that much money and can claim every deduction the rest of America can't even qualify for, and you have to keep track of what money is off-shore, and you need to make sure you have the illegal lawn guys off the paperwork, and you are trying to decide how to deduct the new mansion you just demolished so you can build a new one, and you're wondering if the car elevator is considered a business expense since you are a "job creator", and your paperwork is spread over multiple states and houses, it's just hard.

The Romneys struggle, y'all. And it's damn class warfare to criticize them for having so much money that they get to take advantage of opportunities we will never have. And we're just envious. It has nothing to do with fairness at all. So quit whining over not being able to take more than the standard deduction! You got your $400 refund already. So what if you had to use it to pay the termite people to insure the termites don't come back and destroy your ONLY house that is worth $113,000. Waaaahhhhh. You can't relate to the Romneys and that's not *their* fault.

This is TOTAL snark, FYI.