Country First

We all know how patriotic Republicans are. They are, after all, the "country first" party. You know, the same people who got upset when Michelle Obama said she was finally proud of her country. The people who said Sec. of State Clinton was giving aid and comfort to the enemy when she asked about our plans for ending the war when she was Senator.

Since they are so patriotic, maybe someone could explain for my how the number of Republicans openly hoping for the President to fail continues to grow. That doesn't seem very patriotic. It doesn't seem like putting the country first.

The gift that keeps on giving.

No...I'm not talking about the Jelly of the Month Club that Cousin Eddie was so fond of. I'm talking about Bobby Jindal's response speech. Or more to the point, the story Jindal inserted himself into in an effort to...well, I have no idea what Jindal was trying to do other than make himself look good. But as the video below shows, the Guv has been working himself into that story for a while, fluctuating details as he sees fit, to grab his audience.

Notice one thing Jindal apparently fails to realize about this story? I suppose the story about the Sheriff is supposed to so folks how government does not work. How it gets in the way. Of course, the example he is using is an example of HIS PARTY's governance and its inability to succeed. And Jindal is telling it, I suppose, in an effort to convince you to continue to vote for him and his party. No...I don't understand it either. Then again, I wasn't there. Oh...neither was Jindal.

Chris Isaac's first studio album in 7 years drops

Von is the biggest Chris Isaak fan in the world. She's an Isaachead. I am waiting to receive a mirror-suit one year for Christmas. If he plays anywhere within driving distance, I am required by law to take her. I don't mind, because Isaac and his band Silvertone are one of the tightest bands I have ever seen live. They have been playing together for ever and it shows.

Anyway, this morning was like Christmas morning, as we had to get up and head straight to Best Buy so she could pick up the album, Mr. Lucky. Von's review? Four out of four stars. Of course, it bears mentioning that Von has reviewed everything Isaace has ever done as perfect. Be that as it may, if you like Isaac, it is not a bad album.

A tricky side to dealing with the top-shelf crowd...

Sullivan and one of his readers make an interesting point: It is true that President Obama and the Democrats are going to take more of your money if you are well off, hence the fact that the Republican party targets those folks as their core constituency.

However, the GOP forgets one thing about folks with money: that money gets them used to nice shit. You know...top of the line, the best stuff. They spend loads of money to be more efficient, be it the gizmos to stay constantly connected or private jets to zip back-and-forth at a whim. More importantly, these folks are used to paying a premium for better things. I mean, how do you know its better? Because it costs more.

The problem this is now creating for the GOP is that these folks, being used to the above, are increasingly seeing that the Republican party, its' ideas and its' leaders are second-rate at best. As Sullivan and his readers seem to agree, if the option is paying more in taxes or being governed by these clowns, where do we send the check?

Post #304

Oops...didn't even realize we had crossed the 300 threshold with our late night ranting last night.

Settle down, Leonidas. It may be late, but we are paying our propers...

The $100 Million Dollar Man

Hartsville, South Cackilacky native Albert Haynesworth got his very own economic stimulus package courtesy of Washinton Redskins owner/drunken sailor, Daniel Snyder.

Seven years, $100 million dollars. DAMN.

Reagraham Lincool

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Maybe I'm a conservative after all...

What do these images have in common?

People who identify with them are apparently more likely to identify with these kind of images:

I never knew I was a Mormon Republican...

Coleman Camp hits Unethical trifecta

Just two days ago, Norm Coleman's attorneys got caught withholding discovery from Franken's lawyers and coaching a witness during a recess. The court excluded the witnesses testimony and rightfully so. They found that Colemans attys, despite being "repeatedly instructed of the need to supplement discovery responses" were guilty of "repeated failures to adhere to their discovery obligations under the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure."

However, the Court reversed itself yesterday. They basically said that the record reflected the mistake "was inadvertent and not in bad faith."*

So guess what happens today?

This morning, Franken lawyer David Lillehaug was restarting his
cross-examination of Howell, and inquired as to whether there had been any
further communications between herself and Coleman. The answer was yes -- and
Coleman lawyer Tony Trimble then had to cough up some private e-mails he'd sent
to Howell in early January.

"Pam, the legal team and campaign have made a strategic litigation
decision to hold off from having you sign and us file your affidavit at this
time," Trimble (or possibly his assistant, Matt Haapoja) wrote on January 6,
saying this was being done "to avoid tying you down to any particular testimony
and to avoid having to disclose your name and statement."

Trimble assured Howell in the e-mail that she shouldn't worry -- that
the campaign would be calling her at a later date and incorporating her into
this case, just not at this time, and they were keeping her name private.

Howell wrote to them in late January to seek further clarification --
whether she would be coached, how much the Franken camp knew, etc. Trimble
answered that there would be no further discussion before testimony, and the
Franken camp didn't know about her statement.

Remember...the Court reversed itself and allowed the testimony on the basis that the "mistake" was inadvertent and not in bad faith." Uh...that dog no longer hunts.

But wait, it gets better. After Franken's attys raised holy hell and moved for the entire claim of "double counting" be dismissed (what the witness was testifying about, and oh by the way, this lady is supposed to be an "election judge"...how's that for impartiality?), Coleman lead atty Joe Friedberg starting to climb over the bow of this sinking ship:

"I can tell you that if I'd have known these things existed, I would have
disclosed them."

"Mr. Haapoja has never tried a case in his life," Friedberg said, and
he's sure Haapoja is sitting around thinking he should have disclosed this
stuff.

I have seen a lot of stuff in a courtroom, but I ain't ever seen co-counsel throw their co-counsel under the bus quite that hard. The Judge took a recess then excused the witness for today. No ruling yet.

In my legal opinion, this case is over. Want to know why the Court reversed (see *) itself earlier? Because the Court already knows Coleman has no case. They reversed a perfectly justifiable decision because in the end, the lady's testimony won't matter. So why give Coleman an excuse to prolong the thing past this hearing, by handing him a potential ground for appeal.

I don't think the comedy team of Franken and Davis could have written a more ridiculous comedy than this. It's worth noting that Congressional Republicans are still embracing this loser. Just this week, he was attending party lunches on Capital Hill. As Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) proclaimed:

"He's always welcome...we still think he has a very good opportunity" to win.

Alexander and Coleman are obviously bosom buddies of the not-getting-it-and-never-will Committee. Isn't it time for Coleman to be cut loose?

Further and further down the rabbit hole

This is really getting embarrassing. Remember that story the good Governor told about his buddy, the Sheriff and him during Katrina. Turns out it wasn't during Katrina. Then it turns out he wasn't there. Then it turns out he was kind of was and never said he wasn't. Then it turns out he kind of was. Then it turns out that while it didn't happen like he said, there's really no difference from how he originally told the story even though that's not really how it happened. And finally, it turns out "this is liberal blogger B.S. The story is clear."

Got that? It's clear.

CA Mayor out after sending ridiculously racist email

Meet Los Alamitos Mayor Dean Grose. Or should I say "former mayor." See, Dean, sent the watermelon pic you see in an email titled: "No Easter egg hunt this year."

This Einstein sent the email to a list of recipients which included a local black businessperson. Needless to say, that recipient did not find it funny that the Mayor of their city was sending out such an email.

So the email is just plain stupid. But here is the real kicker: when he "apologized" for the incident, Grose said he "wasn't aware of the racial stereotype that blacks like watermelon."

This dipshit has announced he is stepping down as Mayor, but not from city council. It's one thing to be a stupid, racist. That should not disqualify you from public office. But blatantly lying to the public should. Does he really think anyone buys he wasn't aware of the black-watermelon racial stereotype? If he wasn't, what was the reason to send the damn email in the first place?

What. A. Tool.

A little love for my Republican friends...

I'm a leftist, commie agitator. I think we all know that. But I got some mad love for my right-wing brethren. What can I say...I need someone to Duck Hunt with. It is in this spirit of bipartisan co-operation that I offer the following:

Any reader of this blog knows I think pretty highly of Andrew Sullivan. He is a favorite of mine. Today, he has two posts up that I encourage my conservative friends to check out.

The first, is a post on what happened to the Republican party and how badly they got played on the Stimulus Bill.

The second, offers some potential hope: Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. I recently offered my opinion that Hunstman was the kind of voice the Republicans should listen to, and quite frankly, the kind I would like to have on the other side challenging my party. He's sharp. Every GOP'er should heed his warning: "No" isn't a solution.

To my Republican friends: Read the full interview with Hunstman. Sullivan is right. Your party became a party of tactics, not purpose. Don't get me wrong, you were damn good at those tactics. But in the long run, it has fatally wounded the Elephant. Come 2010 and 2012, you offer up the same old candidates who push the same old ideas, you are gonna get the same old results.

Jim DeMint...maybe you should take the next couple of plays off.

I am really asking my conservative friends a question: Is this guy really YOUR rising star? Really?

DeMint continues to inspire SC jokes across the nation. His latest gem: encouraging diversity = censorship.

That's special crazy. You go, Jim.

Is there really a media bias?

Turns out that the media is biased: towards Republicans. From 1992 to 2004, it would appear the media played the refs, to the Republicans Coach K.

Will this shut Republicans up? My thoughts...NO. Memo to media: Grow a pair.

A Kid n Play shout-out to Carraway

My first job was at the long gone Capri Theater. Let's just say there was not a lot of "work" to that job. On more than one occassion, my buddy AC and I would amuse ourselves and others with the Kid' N Play Kickstep. It was a great way to kill time while waiting for New Jack City to end.

So to say I enjoy the new Lebron James State Farm commerical would be an understatement. I serve it up here as a shout-out to my boy Anthony. Go AC, go AC, Go.

Rush say's "lay off my man."

Exclusive BTPC picture from Gov. Jindal's Republican Response to President Obama's address to Congress.

How about that Gov. Jindal, huh? He's lookin' good now, no? A full day after the President's address, it is looking more and more like Jindal's political career is now such a trainwreck that Tommy Lee Jones is rumored to be on his way down to Cajun-country to find Dr. Richard Kimble.

From his effeminate-around-the-corner walk, to his speech's complete lack of substance, to the fact that the Gov. of La bashed natural disaster research on volcanoes the night before we start getting reports of volcanic eruptions, to his telling stories about him and a Sheriff that never happened, etc, etc, you can take your pick as to which shot will turn about being the head shot.

Well, after hearing Jindal get blasted for being such a trainwreck, by many of his own side, Rush Limbaugh is mad as hell and he's not gonna take it anymore.

Rush went on a rant yesterday in an effort to protect his new love, Bobby J.

Rush begins by explaining how many complaints he has heard from people recently saying they are sick of style over substance. Then he goes of on some tangent explaining that Obama said nothing. That if you "knew" what he was saying, you walked out scared to death for your country. See, people are basically hoodwinked by Obama and left feeling good about their country because he sounded so good and smart. Rush then compares the feeling to the faith people have in God. Then Rush explains that when Obama prays, its to himself. "Those of us who know him, know this." What the hell does that mean?

Rush then tells conservatives they are in the wilderness and Jindal was there to lead them back. He then explains of BJ, "All he did was articulate what we believe." BJ was there to describe the opposite of Obama. He "told us what conservatism is." Uh...that's the problem Rushy, Jindal did not articulate anything of substance. What...government is not the answer? You seem to ignore the reality that YOU ARE government. You have been for the last eight years. And with the economy going in the crapper and, by your own stark ravings, terrorists are just awaitin' to blow us up any second, your answer is what? Less government? Really? So because you failed so miserably with your form of governance, the answer is that no one else should try? Who's got the messiah complex again?

"People on our side are really making a mistake if the go after Bobby Jindal on the basis of style." He doesn't want to hear from them ever again. Rush then explains that "syle is not gonna take our country back." What will in his opinion? "Solid, conservatism, articulated in a way that is inspiring and understanding is what's gonna take the country back." Uh...Rush, I think the problem everyone had with Jindal is that he neither inspiring, understandable or substantive. And by the way, when you discuss the need for that solid conservatism to be "articulated in a way that is inspiring and understanding," you ARE talking about style, dipshit.

Me thinks one of many problems with Rush is he found Jindal inspiring in that speech. Why, because Jindal is a self-professed "ditto-head" and seeing the guy in the national spotlight "inspires" Limbaugh's massive ego. After explaining that he's spoken with BJ many times and "he's brilliant," the "real deal," and only "37 years old," Rush assures us he's not trying to defend BJ. Really?

If Republicans let Rush Limbaugh pick the course they will plot over the next four years, it's gonna be an easy ride for Democrats.

My name is John Johnson, but everyone here calls me Vicki.

From back in the day, the SNL audition tape of the late, great master: Phil Hartman. Vicki's the best...

Hattip TVTattle

Why you've never seen Jindal and Kenneth the Page in the same room.

Because as Sullivan points out, they are one in the same...

Live blogging the President's address to Congress

Started a little late. I did watch the entrance and lets just say I think Sen. Bunning is probably excited Ruth Bader Ginsburg looks good.

Here goes:

9:24 = the line about the 57 cops in Minnesota was really good. Still on the street thanks to the plan.

9:25 = "I know there are some who are skeptical" cut to McCain. And can I say he looks as comfortable as the old man
who used to run the amusement park and used to have his plans thwarted by those pesky kids.

9:26 = "Nobody messes with Joe. Am I right?"

9:29 = Uh...oh. Some Republicans messed up and stood about the plan for credit loans. Must be because they heard the word small business.

9:33 = Not about helping banks, it's about helping people.

9:37 = Gov't creates??? Guess the Prez didn't get the GOP memo that Government has never created a single job.

9:39 = Clean, renewable energy. We've fallen behind. Time for us to lead on this issue. Attention Santee Cooper Coal plant proponents...

9:40 = I think Pelosi is falling asleep.

9:40 = Market based cap on carbon emissions. I said, "ARE YOU LISTENING SANTEE COOPER COAL PLANT PROPONENTS?"

9:42 = This is America. We don't do what's easy, we do what's necessary. Healthcare. A bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. Wow. That's a killer stat.

9:45 = "Healthcare reform cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year." Seriously, this is an idea whos time has come. People need it. Families need it. Businesses need it. Local governments need it.

9:49 = On dropping out of HS, "it's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country." Thank you. It creates all kinds of problems society winds up paying for.

9:52 = Glad to see Republicans are now excitably concerned about deficits.

9:55 = Now I realize Pelosi wasn't sleeping, she was trying to unleash the spring up her butt. Man, she's hopping up now...

9:56 = Prez stares down the GOP side while discussing the tax increase on upper 2% and explains it won't raise your taxes if you make less than $250k.

9:57 = "For 7 years we've been a nation at war, no longer will we hide its price."

10:01 = Wow...everyone stood for the "US does not torture" line. What will Hannity and company think of all those pansy-asses...

10:04 = Leonard Abess...damn. He just made up all that money in book and movie deals. $69 million bonus given to his employees. If all CEOs were actually like that, maybe we could have completely unregulated markets. Unfortunately, all there are a lot more Gordon Gekkos than Abesses.

10:06 = Ty'sheoma Bethea...DILLON, SOUTH CACKILACKY IN DA HOUSE! Anyone want to think she writes that letter if Obama is not elected?

And...I'm spent. Quick break. I may post a follow-up on the spin. My initial take: Something worthy to be remembered.

The voice Republicans should hope carries the day...

Earlier today, I poked fun at a picture of Michael Steele that carried the caption "the Democrats Worst Nightmare," pointing out that Steele was such a jackass, he was dream come true.

For my Republican friends out there, I will tell you who poses a bigger threat to Democrats: people like Utah Governor Jon Huntsman.

As Sullivan points out, Huntsman gets it. In an interview with the Washington Times, Gov. Huntsman has the kind of conversation I have had with my conservative friends since November 5th.

"I don't even know the congressional leadership," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
told the paper's editors and reporters. "I have not met them. I don't listen or
read whatever it is they say because it is inconsequential -- completely."
Huntsman added that he would not reject any money from President Obama's
stimulus. While he criticized what he saw as misdirected spending in bill, he
said Republicans had no credibility on fiscal responsibility.

"Our moral soapbox was completely taken away from us because of our
behavior in the last few years," he said. "For us to now criticize analogous
behavior is hypocrisy. We've got to come at it a different way. We've got to
prove the point. It can't be as the Chinese would say, 'fei hua,' [or] empty
words."

I would say this would be Democrats' Worst Nightmare, but that would not be accurate. I believe this country needs a true, governmental philosophy, two-party adversarial system. It keeps everyone honest. But the country is only served if those differences are real and honest. When they are made up bullshit, grasped for only to win elections or when you are not in power, then they are not really true philosophies.

Alas, Gov. Huntsman's voice is in the minority in his party. Just watch the Republican response to the President's address tonight. Jindal, who has spent this week recycling the same old tired bogus stories about bill (see High Speed Rail talking point) while grandstanding about turning down the money (what amounts to a fraction of what his state would get and which Shumer slapped his ass down on today, pointing out the Stimulus Plan is not ala carte), will be their responder.

It will be the same old Republicans from the last 8 years spittin' the same old rhetoric that they ignored while they were in power. Why? Because to admit they were wrong would be to jeopardize their own positions. Why do that?

Uh...who runs this party???

Sen. John Cornyn tells RNC Chairman Michael Steele there's only one of us making decisions about who we back for Senate elections and that's the guy my thumb is pointing at.

If you saw my earlier post about the nonsense new RNC Chairman Michael Steele has been spittin', better check yourself. Steele has apparently been shown Cornyn's pimp hand. And it apparently stings.

Can we please come out of the "liberal media doghouse?"

Really...why else delete the fact that the bogus Marsh Mice GOP talking point is in fact bogus?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Sully Sullenberger: Union Man

US Airways Flight 1549's pilot and First Officer appeared before Congress today. I think some people may be surprised with what they wanted to talk about: labor-management relations. Seems these guys and their fellow pilots and crew members think the attacks on labor by management the last few years are going to make your chance of surviving a crash like the Hudson River Miracle a lot less likely.

Sullenberger, a 58-year-old who joined a US Airways predecessor in 1980,
told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in
recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise
"worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that were compounded by the current recession,
he said.

"The bankruptcies were used by some as a fishing expedition to get what
they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said
the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

The reduced compensation has placed "pilots and their families in an
untenable financial situation," Sullenberger said. "I do not know a single
professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their
footsteps."

And

Sullenberger's copilot, Jeffrey B. Skiles, said that unless federal laws are
revised to improve labor-management relations, "experienced crews in the cockpit
will be a thing of the past." And Sullenberger added that without experienced
pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."

So the next time you hear people slam unions and cry about how they have ruined this country or hear the wanna-be Adam Smiths laud the free-market aspects of deregulation, think about these two pilots. Guys who were qualified enough to save 155 lives, who would not recommend anyone follow their career path, because management has been able to slash and burn labor, thanks to the gutting of labor laws in this country.

Pot, meet Kettle.

Remember Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)? You know, the guy who got busted stepping out on his wife after being caught up in the notorious D.C. Madame prostitution ring. The same guy who called for President Clinton to resign because he was "morally unfit to govern" due to the Lewinsky affair. The same guy who refuses to resign now and in fact intends to run for reelection in 2010.

Today, Vitter showed how his hypocrisy knows no bounds, calling on Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) to resign Tuesday for his ethical shortcomings. When asked about this hypocrisy, Vitter stated:

"I honestly don't know anybody who would compare these situations," he told The
Hill on Tuesday. "They are dramatically different."

Uh...hear the one about people in glass houses, Senator? Certainly, Burris needs to be gone. But so does a hypocrite like you.

New GOP Chairman's secert plan: Be off the hook with the one-armed midgets

Michael Steele...I don't think "off the hook" means what you think it means and I'm not sure whoever picked the caption for this pic, understands what the word "nightmare" means. To this Democrat, Michael Steele is a dream come true.



Why? I'm a simple guy, lazy too. So I appreciate it when I don't have to try that hard. So the GOP picking a Chairman who utters nothing but absolute nonsense appeals to me on a slacker level.



What do I mean? Well, about a week ago, Steele began uttering some his his one-of-a-kind-nonsense about how he plans to tackle the problems the GOP faces.

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele
plans an "off the hook" public relations offensive to attract younger voters,
especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to
"urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

The RNC's first black chairman will "surprise everyone" when
updating the party's image using the Internet and advertisements on radio, on
television and in print, he told The Washington Times.

Steele said the party needs "messengers" who can capture a "region"
made up of "young, Hispanic, black, a cross section." He added, "We want to
convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on
principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings....
[W]e need to uptick our image with everyone, including one-armed midgets."

Steele went on to explain his public-relations vision, saying, "It will
be avant garde, technically. It will come to table with things that will
surprise everyone -- off the hook."

Asked if he imagines a cutting-edge approach, Steele replied, "I don't
do 'cutting-edge.' That's what Democrats are doing. We're going beyond
cutting-edge."

Now, I won't even get into how stupid it is that Steele thinks its their "image" that needs fixing and not the actual policy and issues they push. Instead, I'd like to spend a few paragraphs on Mr. Steele's follow-up. For instance, those one-armed midgets...they best not be gay:

GALLAGHER: Is this a time when Republicans ought to consider some sort of
alternative to redefining marriage and maybe in the road, down the road to civil
unions. Do you favor civil unions?

STEELE: No, no no. What would we do that for? What are you, crazy? No.
Why would we backslide on a core, founding value of this country? I mean this
isn't something that you just kind of like, "Oh well, today I feel, you know,
loosey-goosey on marriage." [...]

GALLAGHER: So no room even for a conversation about civil unions in
your mind?

STEELE: What's the difference?

So, "beyond cutting edge" and "off the hook" must mean "ass-backwards" to Mr. Steele. Because public opinion, as well as your last President and Vice-President, is in favor of civil unions.

Or how off the hook is this?

[Speaking of the 3 Republican Senators that backed the Stimulus Bill,]
Steele said that the Senators were likely to face primaries as a result of their
vote for the stimulus bill.

Steele was asked by Fox’s Neil Cavuto: “Will you, as RNC head,
recommend no RNC funds being provided to help them?”

Steele confirmed that he would “talk to the state parties about.” When
pressed on whether he was open to it, Steele said: “Oh, yes, I`m always open to
everything, baby, absolutely.”

So there you have it. The Democrats "Worst Nightmare" is so stupid he is on tv bragging about withholding primary funds from 3 of his Senators in a Senate where Democrats enjoy a majority just below the filibuster proof number of 60. Explain to me why this guy should scare Democrats?

Two reminders why John McCain lost

Tonight while surfing some sights, I ran smack dab into two reasons John McCain got waxed in November and why I will infinitely be glad it twas so.

First, he's completely disingenuous. Take his latest attack against the stimulus bill; the completely false story Fox has been running about Harry Reid securing an $8 Billion earmark for high-speed rail between LA and Las Vegas. Now, some would say he's just lazy, relying too much on his fellow Republicans and Fox (sorry for the redundancy there) for his talking points. But he has been tripped up so many times the last 3 years by his peeps, that I'm not buying that it's accidental anymore. He and "his honor" just don't care if the crap he spews to the television-image-relaying-machine is accurate.

Second, check his recent attempt to embarrass President Obama. This exchange pretty much sums up that whole election. McCain tries to embarrass Obama, because he's petty and egotistical. Obama easily slaps him down, as if brushing the dirt off his shoulder, while using McCain's attack to his own advantage, winning the room with humor, but making a bigger point about who is really the jagoff in the room with the silver spoon up his ass. It's political jujitsu and you would think McCain would have learned his lesson by now.

Our Guv'nur sure is doing wonders to change our image...Not.

Seriously...is Mark Sanford an idiot, or is he trying to win over W supporters by pretending he's one?

Read this, then you be the judge.

Stay classy, Sen. Jim Bunning

Senator Bunning showing how much class he has.

Maybe you heard about the jam-up pep talk Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ken.) gave Republican party faithful Saturday.

During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County
Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning said he supports conservative
judges "and that's going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg
… has cancer."

"Bad cancer. The kind that you don't get better from," he told a crowd
of about 100 at the old State Theater.

"Even though she was operated on, usually, nine months is the longest
that anybody would live after (being diagnosed) with pancreatic cancer," he
said.

Well, if you thought a former baseball pitcher offering public diagnosis of cancer patients was classy, check out the apology:

"I apologize if my comments offended Justice Ginsberg [sic]," Bunning said.
"That certainly was not my intent. It is great to see her back at the Supreme
Court today and I hope she recovers quickly. My thoughts and prayers are with
her and her family."

You know...only politicians and athletes think those "that was not my intent" apologies are actually apologies. Way to go, Jimmy. Why don't you take the next term off. Oh, I forgot, your party is already thinking that...

Remember when...

Deficits did not matter to Republicans?

Sullivan reminds us.

In defense of liberalism

Sullivan posted a good quote from Leon Wieseltier's recent TNR article defending liberalism:

"The response of the right to the crisis in America was to flee to its
catechism. The Republicans propose to bail out the economy with doctrine.
Unemployment is 7.6 percent and rising, and they say: let them eat Friedman.
When billions and billions of dollars are needed for the Pentagon (fine with me)
and for Wall Street, it is damn the zeroes, full speed ahead--but when the
prospect of relief for ordinary Americans in trouble rears its fair and
compassionate head, the deficit desperately matters again. The Republicans are
not only heartless, they are also hypocritical, since the cause of all this
misery was the market abandon that they promoted so messianically. These are the
people who would have privatized, that is, destroyed, Social Security: how can
their protests not be met vehemently? This vehemence is not "partisanship," it
is analysis. It is not "populism," it is liberalism."

Sullivan went later took on Leon for not being totally fair to conservatism.

I thought it was a good example of the dialouge the country deserves to be having between its majority and minority parties. Instead, the Republicans are telling folks to count from Jesus and other nonsense.

Pity.

Would someone please put Norm Coleman down?

I vote we send the Boondock Saints to end this nonsense. Of course, Norm would just keep appealing and we would never actually elect any Cleaners.

Norm's inept legal team's most recent strategy: You know those votes we stipulated were legal...uh...we take that back.

Chess versus checkers

I said it as it was going down. I said it once it passed. And now that the most recent polls are out, I will continue to say it...Obama is playing chess to the Republicans' checkers.

The obituaries for the Obama administration were ridiculous. As a practical matter, no matter how much the punditry wanted to say it was so, he comes out of the Stimulus Bill golden. While Hardball, Limbaugh, Hannity and Morning Joe want to talk about what a failure it was because he only got a few Republicans to support it, the electorate saw a President try to sit down with the opposing party and work something out. When they balked, he passed it anyway.

As Drum points out, it was all about "optics," and Obama won. Benen has a run down of the latest poll numbers. The AP shows 62% believing Obama is doing enough to reach out to Republicans while only 27% believe the Republicans are trying hard enough. Congressional Dems are leading Republicans 49% to 33% in approval ratings. FoxNews' latest poll is similar.

If the Republicans don't reevaluate their strategy, they had better get familiar with the wilderness.

GOP: Still not getting it

Seriously...you would think that the GOP would have realized by now that pandering to the religious right will get them no where. When you've run the country into the ground, the majority of people stop caring about whether or not you go the same church as they do, they just want to keep their house.

But, Republicans seem to continue to not get that fact. Case in point, recently, in voicing his opposition to the stimulus package, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated:

"If you started the day Jesus Christ was born and spent $1 million every day
since then, you still wouldn't have spent $1 trillion."

What does that have to do with anything? Nothing. It's just a chance for McConnell to bring up Jesus so hopefully any christian who hears it will assume McConnell is just and righteous in his opposition to the stimulus. You know, instead of him having to offer up a legitimate alternatives (and no...tax cuts don't do it. Just ask any economist).

Well...now the choir to whom McConnell was preaching is joining in his chorus. The American Issues Project is putting this nonsensical attack on the stimulus on tv. Let it not be said that no idea is too stupid to inspire in this country.

How do you spell Moron in "Islamic?"

We're as upset as this little girl that Ricky is no longer in the public eye regularly...

But when you're this batshit crazy, you are always good for a small controversy when the news cycle is slow. The man who told you we did find WMDs in Iraq, compared homosexuality to pedophilia, fought for the WWF's right to juice up and tried to exploit Hurricane Katrina to pass a bill doing away with the National Weather Service providing free forecasts (since they interfere with private companies who want to charge you for that info) is back at it again.

This time, Ricky's stupidity rose to the surface during a lecture he was giving on Islam at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Now...what on earth the folks at U of N-L are doing letting Santorum speak on Islam, well...you've got me. What are his credentials? He's a self-appointed expert, that's what they are. He holds expert knowledge, like this:

Santorum said he believes Muslims’ religious views cannot be changed or altered,
so Middle Easterners reject American, democratic ideals.
“A democracy could
not exist because Mohammed already made the perfect law,” Santorum said. “The
Quran is perfect just the way it is, that’s why it is only written in Islamic.”

Uh...Rick, it's Arabic. The language is Arabic, not Islamic. There is no Islamic language. Stick to Christianity. At least when you flub that, your embarrassing ass won't further enrage our enemies.

Biggest Tax Cut ever

Uh...maybe all the Republicans who are coming out of the woodwork to argue about how hard they fought this bill and how it was all Democrats doing might want to reconsider. And I'm not just talking about those two idiots who issued press releases bragging about things in the bill at the same time they were pimping themselves for having not voted for it

No...I mean the GOP as a whole is missing a pretty big talking point Obama has in his pocket now come 2012: tax cuts. That's right, as Benen points out , this bill also contains the biggest tax cut ever. To the tune of $282 Billion dollars. In essence, Obama and the Dems are going to be able to run for reelection and use this against every single Republican who is so eager to put their mug in front of a camera and proudly proclaim their vote against this bill.

Of course, 60% of the Bush tax cuts went to the top 20 percent of income earners with over 25% going to the top 1% of income earners. The tax cuts in this bill are short-term refunds paid directly to working and middle class families.

Chess versus checkers, ladies and gents.

Lott the Merciful

Yesterday, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott showed what separates him from one of the great villains of all-time, Ming the Merciless: Mercy.

See...Sheriff Lott announced that he would not be charging Michael Phelps with any criminal charges.

Of course, this is tongue-in-cheek, because mercy has nothing to with this, just stupidity. Lott admitted that he did not have any evidence to charge Phelps with any crime. This despite wasting tons of time, manpower and tax dollars. In fact, here is "Buford L. Lott's" exact quote:

“We had no physical evidence; we had a picture,” Lott told reporters. “We
didn’t have enough where we could go arrest him.”

No shit. Everyone else with a functioning frontal lobe knew that when you started all this mess, Leon, but you had to go and play Walking Tall before you acknowledged the obvious. If there is any justice to come out of this, Lott will feel the sting of his ridiculous actions the next time his name is up in the voting booth. Until then, Lott could learn something from Phelps. Maybe the good sheriff could even crib Phelps apology and run it as his own.

“But there are also some important lessons that I’ve learned. For me, it’s
all about recognizing that I used bad judgment, and it’s a mistake I won’t make
again. For young people especially — be careful about the decisions you
make.”

First, we go after the lawyers...

There is more than one way to skin a cat and right now, the folks who helped pave the way for the constitutional violations our last administration took part in are really sweating it.

You see, while everyone is fixated on whether or not Congress or a special prosecutor is going to be looking into the torture and illegal wiretapping W and his boys did, the attorneys that enabled their actions may have some head shots coming at them from a more simple foe: their state bars.

Seems the Office of Professional Responsibility for the Federal G is about to wrap up a report, which was started under W by the way, and that report could have dire consequences for the law licenses of these attorneys.

"An internal Justice Department report on the conduct of senior lawyers who
approved waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics is causing anxiety
among former Bush administration officials. H. Marshall Jarrett, chief of the
department's ethics watchdog unit, the Office of Professional
Responsibility(OPR), confirmed last year he was investigating whether the legal
advice in crucial interrogation memos "was consistent with the professional
standards that apply to Department of Justice attorneys." According to two
knowledgeable sources who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive
matters, a draft of the report was submitted in the final weeks of the Bush
administration. It sharply criticized the legal work of two former top officials
-- Jay Bybee and John Yoo -- as well as that of Steven Bradbury, who was chief
of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the time the report was submitted, the
sources said. (Bybee, Yoo and Bradbury did not respond to multiple requests for
comment.)"

This is a big deal for two reasons. First, the investigation was begun before Obama took office, so it cannot logically be attacked as being partisan (I still have faith in the GOP to attack it illogically, though). Second, while Congress or Obama may let those culpable off because of the image they want to project of trying to move past, State Bar Associations are liable to be another animal all together. Trust me, bar discipline can be tough. And nothing is harder on an attorney than stripping them of that license. The many decisions an attorney makes everyday should always made with attention to two things: a) what is in the best interest of my client and b) what are my ethical duties. Trust me, you don't make decisions that you think are going to bring that license off the wall. There are some folks right now who are worried about just that.

Ants, ants, ants...

Growing up here in the South, we all learn early on to hate the ant, thanks to the stinging welts left by the Red Imported Fire Ant (RIFA). If you want to know what moron "imported" these babies, you can blame a South American cargo ship that docked in Alabama in 1918. Chalk up yet another reason to hate Alabama, other than Nick Saban.

However, ants are pretty damn fascinating and a new book looks into their lives to an extent never quite done before. The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson.

The New York Review of Books has a write up on the book that provides some of the interesting tidbits the book has. It's worth a read. Enjoy.

Hattip: Benen and Hilzoy

John Tesh Rockin' the Roundball Rock live

Bill Simmons posted this video in his most recent post. For all you TeshHeads, it is pure, unadulterated musical gold.

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

Was Bush speaking from a personal place when he used the above phrase?

As Benen points out, his folks sure are practicing that soft bigotry.

Andy Card, the former chief of staff to President George W. Bush, said
Thursday that the public was plagued by misconceptions about the former
president, particularly in regards to his intelligence and openness to
information.
"First off, President Bush does know how to read."

Leon Lott channels Buford T. Justice

Richland Co. Sheriff Leon Lott gears up for a dimebag raid...


Apparently, looking for real criminals, you know like the two guys still out sticking up ATM customers, is not as high on Sheriff Leon Lott's to do list as busting college kids smoking up with a bong. Not content to let an unprosecutable-misdemeanor-at-best die, Lott is wasting time, money and manpower trying to somehow build a case towards Michael Phelps.

The good news is that this is the kind of ridiculous behavior that makes folks like me easy money.

Check out this video of my old boss from law school, Joe McCulloch, and Dick Harpootlian on Good Morning America.

On behalf of Joe, Dick and defense attorneys everywhere, I would to say, "Thanks Sheriff."