Category: Presidential Campaign
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot … Little Green Footballs?!?!?!
Here is a moment of WTF for you, Charles Johnson of the right wing cesspool Little Green Footballs is calling out the so-called Values Voters summit as a bunch of bigoted haters:
If there’s one right wing event that sums up the reasons why I ran screaming away from these lunatics more than any other, it’s the Values Voter Summit, put on every year by a devil’s brew of extreme religious fanatics preaching virulent hatred against everyone who isn’t them.
At the Values Voter Summit, you’ll find every sick and twisted right wing meme in existence; open racism, white supremacists, theocrats (real ones, who want to literally replace the Constitution with the Bible), creationists, historical revisionists, End Times believers, hard core misogynists, deranged homophobia and bigotry of all kinds. And those are just the speakers.
This year, as in every year, it’s attended by all the major Republican politicians, sucking up to these freaks for the almighty vote — because the haters have a dedicated base of deluded drones. Their votes can make a difference for Republicans, and the hate groups are always trying to force their primitive beliefs on the rest of America. It’s a match made in hell.
If the Republican party base, at least as understood by the Republican Presidential candidates, is too crazy for LGF, we are in a world of hurt.
All Praise Be to God for That Which he Has Granted…
In this case, it’s the fact that Sarah Palin has declared that she will not run for President in 2012, which means that I can add her to my list of They Who Must Not Be Named:
Sarah Palin said she won’t seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, ending a lengthy and attention-grabbing political flirtation that kept voters and potential rivals guessing while buttressing her public profile.
The former Alaska governor and her party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee — more recently a reality TV star and cable-news commentator — said she opted against a White House run because she believed “that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office — from the nation’s governors, to congressional seats and the presidency.”
Her announcement, in a statement sent to supporters today, removed a major uncertainty surrounding the Republican presidential race while raising questions about how she might use her celebrity and political following to shape the primary.
“I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for president,” Palin’s statement said.
“I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing” President Barack Obama, keeping Republican control of the U.S. House and helping her party win a Senate majority, she said.
This means that I never have to write about her, or read about her, again.
While we are at it, let me add the following people to my list:
- John and Kate Gosslin.
- The cast of The Jersey Shore.
- The “Real Housewives” of anywhere.
- Nancy Grace. (If she flips out on national TV, or is tried for a crime, this is suspended for reasons of schadenfreude)
Actually, let’s say that it includes pretty much any reality TV star.
In any case, Sarah is now done. She’s made her bucks off of her 15 minutes of fame, and she was a springboard for Michelle Bachmann to become a viable (?) presidential candidate. (The Republican Crazy Bitch Babe is the genre that she created.)
Corpulent Candidate Cops Out
Everyone’s favorite morbidly obese bully, Chris Christie, will not run for President in 2012.
From my perspective ad a blogger, it’s a pity, because the slow revelation to the general public of just who he is would make Rudolph Giuliani’s implosion look like a cake walk.
Google™ Adsense™ Yet Again…
Yes, once again, the best and the brightest programmers at Google™ have developed software that “reads” my blog, and serves an advertisement that best serves the proclivities of my readers…………Not!!!!
I write about various fraudulent financial schemes, and we see ads for it. I write about how John McCain being a pathetic old man, and his ads appear.
And now, we have have Ron Paul ads (no link, no kidding) showing up when I always refer to him as a loony tune (though by the standards of the current Republican field, he seems almost sane by comparison).
Seriously, I need to find someone else to serve ads for my blog.
Please note: once again, that I do not vet, nor do I endorse any ad that appears on my site, and I reserve the right to mock both the ads that appear on my site, as well as the advertisers.
Also, please note, this should be in no way construed as an inducement or a request for my reader(s) to click on any ad that they would not otherwise be inclined to investigate further. This would be a violation of the terms of service for Google™ Adsense™.
Oh Crap
As Dave Weigel, notes, “Pennsylvania Ponders Bold Democrat-Screwing Electoral Plan,” which would serve to award most of the states electoral votes to the Republican regardless of the vote count:
Laura Olson reports on the happenings in Harrisburg, where Republicans now control all of the branches of government:
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi is trying to gather support to change the state’s “winner-takes-all” approach for awarding electoral votes. Instead, he’s suggesting that Pennsylvania dole them out based on which candidate wins each of the 18 congressional districts, with the final two going to the contender with the most votes statewide.
In other reports, Pileggi sounds awfully sanguine about the effect this would have on PA as a swing state. Why even bring that up? Pennsylvania is typically a closely-divided state, and while it’s gone Democratic in every election since 1992, it’s been heavily campaigned-in every year.
So, let’s pretend this is a totally political neutral decision. If the next Republican candidate breaks the streak and wins the state, it would be horrible for him — he’d shed electoral votes. But if the president wins, he’s down at least nine, possibly ten electoral votes, because congressional districting is slanted towards the GOP.
When Democrats come to power, they try to do things and mend fences, and when Republicans come to power, they try to tear things down and use the political process in the relentless pursuit of power.
Considering that the American public generally considers Terri Schiavo to have better ideas to Republicans, but they remain competitive politically seems to indicate that they play the game a lot better than the Democrats do.
I think that it’s likely to happen, the idea of shaming Republicans into doing the right thing is laughable, though there is opposition, both from the Pennsylvania Republican Congressional delegation, as well as people who feel that the state would be ignored, as it would lose its swing state status.
It Looks Like I’m Not the Only One Bearish on Obama in 2012
A lot of Democrats are worried that toast in 2012:
Democrats are expressing growing alarm about President Obama’s re-election prospects and, in interviews, are openly acknowledging anxiety about the White House’s ability to strengthen the president’s standing over the next 14 months.
Elected officials and party leaders at all levels said their worries have intensified as the economy has displayed new signs of weakness. They said the likelihood of a highly competitive 2012 race is increasing as the Republican field, once dismissed by many Democrats as too inexperienced and conservative to pose a serious threat, has started narrowing to two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, who have executive experience and messages built around job creation.
And in a campaign cycle in which Democrats had entertained hopes of reversing losses from last year’s midterm elections, some in the party fear that Mr. Obama’s troubles could reverberate down the ballot into Congressional, state and local races.
“In my district, the enthusiasm for him has mostly evaporated,” said Representative Peter A. DeFazio, Democrat of Oregon. “There is tremendous discontent with his direction.”
The president’s economic address last week offered a measure of solace to discouraged Democrats by employing an assertive and scrappy style that many supporters complain has been absent for the last year as he has struggled to rise above Washington gridlock. Several Democrats suggested that he watch a tape of the jobs speech over and over and use it as a guide until the election.
At it’s core, the problem is that people who choose a bad something over a not-bad nothing.
.
The money quote is that, “Polling suggests that the president’s yearlong effort to reclaim the political center has so far yielded little in the way of additional support from the moderates and independents who tend to decide presidential elections.”
There is another name for these voters, low information voters. They don’t tend to vote on policies, they don’t vote on “changing the tone”, and while they may tell pollsters that they don’t like all that partisanship, they say that because they don’t think what it means.
These are voters who vote on buzz, and the buzz is generated by the bases, to the benefit Reagan and Bush II, and to the detriment of Carter and Bush I.
If the phrase “Sane Republican” had not become an oxymoron, and if the Republican party were not determined to alienate Hispanic voters, he would have no chance at all.
If one is inclined to look on the brighter side, it should be noted that it would be much less politically tenable for a ‘Phant to gut social security and Medicare. (It’s an “Only Nixon could go to China” thing)
I’m Bumming
You see, John Bolton has announced that he won’t run for president, which means that a major vein of comedic gold for the Republican primary season is now gone.
I think that we need to take up a collection for The Daily Show writers, who must be crying in their beer.
But we won’t have the ‘Stache of Doom to kick around any more.
It’s On Girl!
AFL-CIO president Richart Trumpka just said that Obama has aligned himself with the teabaggers:
The most powerful union official in the country offered reporters his harshest critique of President Obama to date Thursday, questioning Obama’s policy and strategic decisions, and claiming he aligned himself with the Tea Party in the debt limit fight.
“This is a moment that working people and quite frankly history will judge President Obama on his presidency; will he commit all his energy and focus on bold solutions on the job crisis or will he continue to work with the Tea Party to offer cuts to middle class programs like Social Security all the while pretending the deficit is where our economic problems really lie,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters at a breakfast roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.Trumka dismissed Obama’s recent job creation proposals — an extended payroll tax cut, patent reform, free trade deals — as “nibbly things that aren’t going to make a difference,” and said the AFL-CIO might sit out the Democratic convention if he and the party don’t get serious.“If they don’t have a jobs program I think we’d better use our money doing other things,” Trumka said.
I do not think that Barack Obama has the slightest clue just how disappointed his “base” is with him, and if he did, I think that he would be dismissive of the fact.
Get ready for President Bachmann. (honest to God, how did the ‘Phants find someone scarier than Sarah Palin?)
While We Are On the Subject of Bank of America
When you offer a bribe, make sure that the mic is not live
Look at the video for this gem. A representative of Bank of America walks up to Rick Perry, and says, “Bank of America… We will help you out”.
It turns out that be Bank Of America’s director of public policy, James Mahoney.
Nope, no quid pro quo here, BoA has released a statement saying that, “Bank of America does not endorse Presidential candidates. The reference was about following up on the substance of the speech about job creation and economic growth.”
Yeah, we believe you, and we believe it when you say that MERS properly recorded mortgages, and that you f%$#s didn’t pay off the ratings agencies to rate your garbage as AAA,
H/t Cthulhu.*
*No, not the unspeakably malevolent super-being, the contributor to the Stellar Parthenon BBS.†
†OK, I’ve never seen the two of them together, so Cthulhu might actually be the Cthulhu, but the mere fact that he is on a BBS, interacting with humans‡ would seem to mitigate against this.
‡Yes, I know, this is the internet, where no one knows if you are a dog.
We Are All The Simpsons
Cthulhu* posted this, and I felt that it had to be shared:
With the plethora of archetypes in the animated series, I’m beginning to think that this might be some sort of modern Gilgamesh for our day.
*No, not the unspeakably malevolent super-being, the contributor to the Stellar Parthenon BBS.†
†OK, I’ve never seen the two of them together, so Cthulhu might actually be the Cthulhu, but the mere fact that he is on a BBS, interacting with humans‡ would seem to mitigate against this.
‡Yes, I know, this is the internet, where no one knows if you are a dog.
On This a Day, Trust Newt to Make Me Smile
It’s just schadenfreude, but I’ll take it.
It turns out that most of Newt Gingrich’s Twitter followers Are fake:
Yesterday Newt Gingrich laid out a new argument for why he should be the GOP presidential nominee: He’s got the most Twitter followers. But according to a former Gingrich staffer, he bought them.
Gingrich complained yesterday that the press is ignoring his prodigious Twitter audience: “I have six times as many Twitter followers as all the other candidates combined, but it didn’t count because if it counted I’d still be a candidate; since I can’t be a candidate that can’t count.” Which is true! Gingrich currently boasts 1,325,842 followers, whereas competitors Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann have yet to crack 100,000.
But if Newt is winning the Twitter primary, it’s because of voter fraud. A former staffer tells us that his campaign hired a firm to boost his follower count, in part by creating fake accounts en masse: …
Heh.
When he leaves the race, I’ll miss him almost as much as The Daily Show writers will.
Bernie Sanders Calls for a Primary Challenge to Barack Obama
Roll tape
Yes, he did say that, on the Thom Hartmann radio show:
SANDERS: Brian, believe me, I wish I had the answer to your question. Let me just suggest this. I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president; who believe that, with regard to Social Security and a number of other issues, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president; who cannot believe how weak he has been, for whatever reason, in negotiating with Republicans and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has been able to move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting what is a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama is doing. […] So I would say to Ryan [sic] discouragement is not an option. I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.
Admittedly, Sanders is not technically a Democrat, he’s a Socialist (really, JFGI) but he does caucus with the Democrats, and he is a sitting US Senator, so the idea that Obama needs a primary challenge is starting to gain a bit of mainstream traction.
If someone credible announces, they go on my Act Blue page.
H/t Think Progress.
I’m Going Long On Republican Crazy
First, we have Allen West, who just unleashed a truly unhinged tirade against Debbie Wasserman-Schultz:
A Republican congressman from Florida turned to email on Tuesday to call a Democratic colleague from the state “vile, despicable and cowardly” after she called into question his stance on Medicare during the debate over a spending cap and balanced budget bill before the House.
Rep. Allen West, a first-term Republican from south Florida, wasn’t shy about his online outburst. He sent his peppery email to numerous lawmakers as well as his target, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
The subject line of the email: “Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman Schultz.”
The e-mail said: “Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up.”
Is it me, or did he just challenge her to a fight?
It certainly sounds like Zell Miller challenging someone to a duel. The only difference is that it was email, which means that it’s less likely to end up on Stewart.
And then there is Michelle Bachmann’s staff, who in response to a reporter asking about the reports that she is taking a veritable pharmacy of drugs for her stress related migraines, which regularly incapacitate her for days at a time, roughed up the reporter, and not just any reporter, but ABC’s Brian Ross:
Bachmann said 30 million Americans suffer from migraines and that “nearly 1 in 4 American households” have a migraine sufferer. “While I appreciate the concern for myself and for my health,” she added, looking to climb back down to safer ground, “the greater concern should be the debate that is occurring today in Washington, D.C., over whether or not we will increase our debt spending and taxes.” Bachmann reiterated that she would not vote to raise the debt ceiling. And with that, she departed without taking questions.
That’s when things got interesting. Ross dashed after Bachmann, repeatedly asking whether she had ever missed a House vote due to a migraine. She ignored him. Ross pursued her into a parking area behind the stage. Her aides grew alarmed. When Ross made a beeline for the white SUV waiting to carry Bachmann away, two Bachmann men pounced on him, grabbing and pushing him multiple times with what looked to me like unusual force. In fact, I have never seen a reporter treated so roughly at a campaign event, especially not a presidential one. Ross was finally able to break away and lob his question at Bachmann one more time, but she continued to ignore him.
Afterward, I asked Ross — a hard-nosed pro who nevertheless seemed slightly shaken — whether he had ever been treated so roughly. “A few times,” he told me. “Mostly by Mafia people.”
(emphasis mine)
Does anyone know if someone out there has a futures market where I can invest in Republican crazy?
Something like the Iowa Electronic Markets, only one that would allow bigger bets.
I’d make out like a raped ape.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?!? Rudy Giuliani Seizes the Moral High Ground?!?!
No, this is not a joke. Rudolph Giuliani really said the right thing, and there will very likely be a not inconsiderable political cost, because the right thing has very little intersection with the Republican party:
Rudy Giuliani, always a critic of his party’s social agenda, urged Republicans to “move on” from social issues after New York State’s recent approval of gay marriage.
“I think that marriage should be between a man and woman, but I think that the Republican Party would be well advised to get the heck out of people’s bedrooms and let these things get decided by states,” said the former New York mayor, who’s considering another bid for the Republican presidential nomination, in an interview aired Sunday.
Giuliani said that he thinks the New York vote was “wrong,” but “there are other things that I think are wrong that get decided by democratic vote.”
The libertarian streak of the Republican party, he added, should want to avoid “getting involved in people’s sexual lives.”
We live in strange times.
He Doesn’t Care About Policy, He Wants a “Legacy”
And he knows that “only Nixon could go to China,” so Obama wants to be the President who gut social security:
President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.
At a meeting with top House and Senate leaders set for Thursday morning, Obama plans to argue that a rare consensus has emerged about the size and scope of the nation’s budget problems and that policymakers should seize the moment to take dramatic action.
As part of his pitch, Obama is proposing significant reductions in Medicare spending and for the first time is offering to tackle the rising cost of Social Security, according to people in both parties with knowledge of the proposal. The move marks a major shift for the White House and could present a direct challenge to Democratic lawmakers who have vowed to protect health and retirement benefits from the assault on government spending.
“Obviously, there will be some Democrats who don’t believe we need to do entitlement reform. But there seems to be some hunger to do something of some significance,” said a Democratic official familiar with the administration’s thinking. “These moments come along at most once a decade. And it would be a real mistake if we let it pass us by.”
(Emphasis mine)
Barack Obama is the Manchurian Democrat.
There is no formulation of right or wrong, there is no formulation of good policy, there is simply a “to do” list, where what is actually done does not matter.
The Clown Show that Keeps on Giving…
Pass the Popcorn
The Republican Presidential Primaries.
Case in point, David Duke, former Klansman and Nazi, is looking at throwing his hat in the ring:
Add to the growing list of candidates considering a bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 America’s most famous white-power advocate: David Duke.
A former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives and Republican executive-committee chairman in his district until 2000, Duke has a significant following online. His videos go viral. This month, he’s launching a tour of 25 states to explore how much support he can garner for a potential presidential bid. He hasn’t considered running for serious office since the early ’90s, when he won nearly 40 percent of the vote in his bid for Louisiana governor. But like many “white civil rights advocates,” as he describes himself to The Daily Beast, 2012 is already shaping up to be a pivotal year.
I have no idea what Jon Stewart will do with this, but his writing staff has to be high-fiving each other, because David Duke just covered a dozen of their boat payments.
Un-Dirtyword Believable!
So, Michelle Bachmann, everyone’s favorite dose of batsh%$ insane, went to her home town of Waterloo Iowa, and invoked fellow Waterloo resident, John Wayne.
Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.
The problem is that the John Wayne that we all know from his film oeuvre, Marion Robert Morrison, was born in Winterset, Iowa, hours away from Waterloo.
The only famous John Wayne from Waterloo, was John Wayne Gacy, who began his history of abuse and violence in Waterloo before moving to Chicago and expanding to mass murder.
There is a part of me that is beginning to think that Bachmann does things like this because she so loves to play the victimhood card.
Say something mind-bogglingly stupid or deranged, and when people notice, complain that the media is out to get you, and your supporters get even more riled up.
Of course, Occam’s razor would indicate that it’s just stupidity and lunacy,
Matt Taibbi is a Genius
Just go read his takedown of Michelle Bachmann:
It could happen. Michele Bachmann has found the flaw in the American Death Star. She is a television camera’s dream, a threat to do or say something insane at any time, the ultimate reality-show protagonist. She has brilliantly piloted a media system that is incapable of averting its eyes from a story, riding that attention to an easy conquest of an overeducated cultural elite from both parties that is far too full of itself to understand the price of its contemptuous laughter. All of those people out there aren’t voting for Michele Bachmann. They’re voting against us. And to them, it turns out, we suck enough to make anyone a contender.
Just go read it.
It’s nothing new, but it is a cogent, and eminently readable, synthesis of what we do know.
Where His Campaign Was, There Is Nothing But a Greasy Stain…
It’s Newt again. His fundraisers just bailed from his campaign:
Newt Gingrich’s top two fundraising advisers resigned on Tuesday, and officials said the Republican candidate’s hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt.
FILE – In this June 16, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. Gingrich’s top two fundraising advisers resigned on Tuesday, and officials said the Republican candidate’s hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt.
FILE – In this June 16, 2011 file photo, Republican presidential hopeful, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. Gingrich’s top two fundraising advisers resigned Tuesday, June 21, 2011, and officials said the Republican candidate’s hobbling presidential campaign carried more than $1 million in debt. The departures were the latest blow for the former House speaker who watched 16 top advisers abandon his campaign en masse earlier in June.
The departures of fundraising director Jody Thomas and fundraising consultant Mary Heitman were the latest blow for the former House speaker who watched 16 top advisers abandon his campaign en masse earlier this month, partly because of what people familiar with the campaign spending described as a dire financial situation.
These people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the campaign’s inner workings, said the former Georgia lawmaker racked up massive travel bills but money had only trickled in since he got into the race earlier this spring.
This is incredible. The
I think that this is getting so pathetic that he might stop getting invitations to the Sunday political talk shows.
This would be a good thing. I hate listening to that self-important fatuous snollygoster moral pygmy on the TV present himself as some sort of intellectual giant.