Poor Lindsey Grahamnesty and his Buddies Corky and Lamar Can’t Catch a Break

Remember the Objectively Pro-Rape Caucus of the GOP? Hint: no female republicans joined the club.

Can’t remember?

The objectively Pro-Rape Caucus is made up of 30 infamous male GOP senators who voted against allowing rape victims who are employees of Iraqi reconstruction contractors from seeking justice in American courts.

The Al Franken sponsored measure passed 68-30 with 30 Republican men objecting but all republican women (and some men) siding with the majority. It sounded like to stupid move at the time. Surely nobody is objectively pro-rape, are they?

At the time, I suspected something else was at play. And sure enough there was:

Beneath the personal story and the partisan recriminations is a long-simmering dispute between trial lawyers and the business lobby, with trial lawyers arguing that mandatory arbitration clauses stack the decks against employees, and business groups arguing that arbitration is the fairest, most expeditious and least expensive way to deal with complaints and that mandatory arbitration evens the playing field.

OK the infamous 30 men have an excuse. They were defending the defense contractors. But the problem is that the infamous 30 were favoring the interests of powerful large corporations over the interests of an American women who may have been drugged, held captive in a box and repeatedly raped in Iraq. Uh-oh.

Now this Caucus of Senators are having second thoughts about their vote.

Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes.

The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn’t doing much to stop them.

[…]

some of his new Republican colleagues argue that the amendment is being grossly mischaracterized — and has spawned attacks like the satirical website RepublicansforRape.org — and now question whether Franken is doing a good job of separating his past from his current line of work.

“I don’t know what his motivation was for taking us on, but I would hope that we won’t see a lot of Daily Kos-inspired amendments in the future coming from him,” said South Dakota Sen. John Thune, No. 4 in the Senate Republican leadership.

Why does a sack of hammers come to mind when you run across John Thune's name?

Anyway word on the street is that nervous republican senators want Franken help them out and in the words of one source “make it clear that GOP senators don’t support assault or rape.” Among those concerned are Poor Lindsey Grahamnesty and his buddies Senator Bob “Corky” Corker and Senator Lamar who co-authored an Op-Ed explaining away their vote. (By the way both Lamar and Corky have identified by Red State Blog as possible Teabagging targets in the future. Could this vote be an attempt to earn favor with The Base?).

Says Grahamnesty:

“I think it would be helpful for Sen. Franken to come forward and say, ‘I’m not suggesting that anybody who votes for my amendment is indifferent to crimes against women or anybody else.’ What’s going on politically with the amendment Sen. Franken can’t control, but I think it would be helpful for him personally to just let the rest of us know that’s the views of others — not him.”

Apparently Grahamnesty wants Franken to vouch for his anti-rape credentials. OK maybe he will.

But why all the whining about how mean Franken is? He didn’t threaten to send the infamous 30 to Guantanamo if they didn’t vote a certain way. They parted ways with their female colleagues and voted with the defense contractors and against victims of crimes. And they can’t claim they were duped, because the GOP Women voted with Franken.

Poor Fellows, they’re the real victims here. They just can't catch a break. But at least none have been drugged, held captive in a box and repeatedly raped.

Deep Thoughts……

“From one acorn many nuts can grow.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) at a GOP super special “Joint Forum” on ACORN.

The “Joint Forum” included such GOP notables at Dan “melon head” Burton, Steve King (who keeps an acorn and copy of the constitution in his pocket at all times to remind him of the threat to our Republic posed by ACORN), Darrell Issa (who is firmly committed to oversight of the Executive branch but only during Democratic Administrations) and Judge Golmert. At least, I believe Golmert was a judge at one time. This does not mean he’s a bright guy, but generally speaking one would think idiots seldom make it to the bench. But one can never be absolutely sure, however……. All we can be sure of today is that he is a Nutter (get it).

The GOP’s fascination with ACORN is just plain bizarre. Yesterday’s event unveiled no new information of ACORN’s misdeeds. About the only interesting information was that Steve King carries around a plastic bucket filled with acorns. On the bright side, if there is a Nutter on your X-mas list, now you have an inexpensive gift idea for them. Give’m a bucket of acorns!

I know Neo-con ideology holds that helping the poor actually helps them stay poor and dependent. I know that some of these guys believe that if poverty is blisteringly brutal, the poor folks that can break the cycle of poverty will do so through hard work. I know that poor people voting is a problem for some within the GOP. But this obsession is clinical.

If ACORN is such a threat to the fabric of our democracy, why didn’t the Bush Administration lock all these ACORN people up when they had the chance? If ACORN was a criminal enterprise, as alleged yesterday by Good Government Issa, why didn’t the Bush Administration prosecute and jail them? The Bush Administration had no problem locking up others (the terrorists) that threaten the fabric of our democracy.

The only conclusion must be that Bush wimped out or perhaps ……….. he was a part of the ACORN conspiracy.

Quote of the Day:

“Ronald Reagan was the most conservative President in the last 100 years. Everyone knows this and it is stupid to suggest otherwise....many of these were not issues in the 1980s, like cap and trade, card check, stimulus bill, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Obamacare. So these were not measures that Reagan took a stand on, but I have no doubt that he would be right on each one”

James Bopp, Jr., GOP Vice Chairman and author of the Republican Purity Test taking offense of the suggestion that Ronald Reagan may have flunked his Dogmatic Purity Test for Republican office seekers.

I thought this was just a bad idea when Chairman Bopp proposed the Purity Test. Now he's defending it. Guess I mis-over-estimated him. He must really be as dumb as a post.

Why do Disasters get the headlines?

Question: Why do Disasters get lots of media exposure?

Answer: Ratings. People will watch.

Sarah Palin is a walking taslking natural disaster. She is Jerry Springer on Steroids. She’s entertaining, that’s all.

Mrs Palin is politically cunning, as are many sports commentators at local television affiliates. She has never, to my knowledge, said anything interesting or intelligent regarding a policy issue. Indeed, she makes news most reliably by saying things that are ignorant, untruthful, or grammatically incomprehensible. Up to a point, one can allow that she might be playing dumb as a deliberate strategy, but ultimately Occam's Razor must slice. Last week on "Meet the Press", David Brooks called Mrs Palin "a joke". It is important for the press to remind ourselves periodically that it is possible for people to be powerful, famous, entertaining, and not very bright. We recently elected someone like that to two terms as president of the United States, and it was not a pleasant experience.

~ Democracy in America, The Economist.

A double slam of George W Bush and his Dan Quayle-light protégé, Sarah Palin.

As long as Sarah grubs the limelight, she’ll be in the news. The reason of course is not to report on any wisdom she may offer, but the opposite – to show that there is nothing of substance there. We can’t have another re-run of the Disaster that was the Bush Administration, can we?

I still think McCain would have been better served by choosing Tina Fey to be his running mate instead of side-show Sarah.

SECRET ---- FIRST DRAFT of the RNC 10-Point Platform for Candidates ---- SECRET

The Republican National Committee, headed by the Stellar Chairman Steele has recently created something of a stir with a 10 Point Party Loyalty test that GOP candidates for office would have to pass in order receive RNC financial support.

Undoubtedly this Loyalty Test is in part due to the disastrous failure of the RNC and crew to retain the Congressional Seat in NY-23 which went Democratic for the first time since the Great Rebellion and Secession Crisis.

To avoid a situation where a Teabagger insurrectionist would split the GOP vote and deliver an election to the Dem, the RNC got smart. It gots a fool proof plan to now. If candidates pass a loyalty test the teabaggers will be appeased and all will be well. Smooth.

So just what 10 points should all good republicans from the Teabagger Wing and the Establishment wing agree upon?

Here is what the first draft of the RNC’s resolution must’ve looked like. I’ve bolded the text that would have been edited out in favor of mealy mouth spin.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits during the next four years and lower taxes on those who pay the most;

(2) We support the health care system as is without reforms;

(3) We support Drill Baby Drill as America’s Energy Policy for the 21st Century;

(4) We support workers’ right to remain un-unionized;

(5) We support closing the southern border and mass deportation for illegal immigrants;

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by ending civilian control of the Military;

(7) We support continuing the Bush Administration’s containment strategy of Iran and North Korea, particularly action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) We support a vigorous Defense against Gay-Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing government run Death Panels and government funding of infanticide; and

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership so militias can be formed to repel enemies both foreign and domestic; and be it further

RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy position of the Republican National Committee in it’s sole discretion, either as identified by voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee.

Their polished version may sell better in so far as it does not mean anything. But this draft is much more clearly written and is of more value to the voters.

One observation, why no statement of support for doubling or tripling Gitmo, or for that matter, where is the statment against the terrorizers? Losing a step, I guess. How can you forget about the terrorists?

The Persecution of Sarah Palin......Continues

Quote of the Day:

"A lot of people are saying that it's too soon for Sarah Palin to write a memoir. They say she should wait until she had at least ten more years of inexperience.”

~ David Letterman

Magnetic Refrigerator Poetry ALERT

Quote of the Day:

I believe that what Americans are seeking is not the elitism, the kind of a spinelessness that perhaps is made up for that with some kind of elite Ivy League education and a fact resume that’s based on anything but hard work and private sector, free enterprise principles. Americans could be seeking something like that in positive change in their leadership. I’m not saying that has to be me.

~ Sarah Palin talking about what she thinks so many U.S. Americans are looking for.

Sarah also states that she thinks she’s qualified to be President because what you feel is more important than what you know.

Wingnut Dictionary --- Word of the Day:

Cultural Marxism

Definition:

(1) Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms with an aim to subvert Western Civilization; (2) A conspiracy theory that holds that the mass media has infected Americans with the class consciousness of the proletariat. (3) To conspiracy theorists, Political Correctness is a form of Cultural Marxism.

Used in Everyday Conservation:

Gawddammit! It’s 2009 and America has been hijacked by a small group of obscure European Philosophers. These Cultural Marxists have turned hard working red blooded unsuspecting Americans into Marxists by using the mass media to promote Karl Marx’s 1840’s observations of 1830s factory workers in England. I don’t know quite exactly how these no account scoundrels turned hard-working-red-blooded Americans into Marxists without most folks realizing it, but Cultural Marxism is here in the Homeland!

Examples of Cultural Marxism:

(1) It is wrong to call a protestant fundamentalist a member of the “religious right.” Protestant fundamentalists should always be referred to as “Evangelicals” or “Value Voters.” (2) Newsweek Magazine has been politically incorrect by objectifying Sarah Palin by using a picture of her in her running oufit; and (3) it is ALWAYS politically incorrect and sexist to infer that Sarah Palin dresses like a slutty flight attendant.

(h/t): The American Conservative.

The Persecution of Sarah Palin…… Continues

[In her book, Sarah Palin] "says that she felt ambushed when Katie Couric asked her what newspapers she read. ... This coming from a woman who hunts wolves from a helicopter."

~ David Letterman

More Mean Spiritedness. Simply Outrageous.

Orrin Hatch Declares Jihad!

Uh-Oh.

Looks like Jihad has come to our shores as Republican Senator Orrin Hatch is calling for a holy war. Bush called for a crusade into the middle east and now Orrin is calling for Jihad at home. Coincidence or something in the DNA? I don’t know.

What I do know is that Orrin is not one of the sharper tools in the shed these days. He has been known to parrot the scribblings of right wing bloggers on occasion. These days it seems that Ol’ Orrin is just a step or two away from warning us about black helicopters.

At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that Orrin is actually worried about finding himself in front of a (mythical) death panel before too long. Oh, well if the Death Panels don’t get him, maybe the Teabaggers will. They are after his Utah Senate colleague.

Who knows.

Enemy of the Day - Question of the Day

Question:

What do you get when you cross ACORN with Union folks on election day?

Answer:

Simple. Unicorn(s).

Definition:

A Unicorn is a Mythical Election Stealing Beast. Dark tales involving Unicorns are spun by GOP Party Elders to perpetuate a sense of victim hood within the Base elements of their Party after lost elections. This channels anger outward toward the Mythical Beast rather than inward toward the Party Elders and their Ideology.

So Unions and ACORN (Unicorns) stole the House seat in NY-23 from the Teabagger Movement.

At least this is the current speculation from Former Teabagger Candidate for Congress, Doug Hoffman. While Hoffman does not use the term Unicorn he does attribute his election defeat to the notorious ACORN and Unions. Surprisingly, the fact that local establishment Republicans turned on his quest to bring high teabaggery to Congress is not mentioned. It was the Unicorns and their dark magic that did him in.

Left unsaid in the sordid tale (as always) is just how the Unicorns were able to tamper with the vote. Not to worry however, the specific facts will be laid out for all to see, if and when Hoffman challenges the election.

What Has Criticism Sarah Palin has Revealed?

“The unfortunate and unattractive propensity of the American cultural elite to treat those who are not deemed part of the elect with condescension and contumely.”

Yuval Levin, Member of the Conserva-gencia

Thank goodness he ain’t talkin about me. I don’t know what the Sam Hill “contumely” even means and I ain’t ever been called elite.

Guess I get to keep kicking Sarah around then.

The Persecution of Sarah Palin....Continues

Quote of the Day II:

[Sarah Palin’s] “book is number one on Amazon.com right now. ... Stephen King actually has the number two book. Very scary new book called 'Sarah Palin Becomes President.'"

~ Jimmy Kimmel

This is totally unfair. I don't think Stephen King has written a horror story with that title yet.

This day in History – Quote of the Day

"Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don't want to be found dead in Utah."

Union Songwriter, IWW member and Martyr Joe Hill prior to his execution in Utah on this day in 1915. Hill had been convicted using shaky evidence in the murder of a Utah shop keeper.

Thousands of people from around the world wrote to the Governor of Utah requesting that Hill receive a new and fair trial. Woodrow Wilson also urged this action from the Governor but took no action of his own. In the end, the IWW being no favorite of the local mining interests, Hill was executed by firing squad.

His last wish was honored. After cremation, Hill’s supporters reportedly mailed his ashes to supporters around the country and his ashes were scattered to the wind in all the States of the Union, except Utah.

My body? Ah, if I could choose,

I would to ashes it reduce,

And let the merry breezes blow

My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then

Would come to life and bloom again.

This is my last and final will,

Good luck to all of you - Joe Hill.

Quote of the Day II

I just heard Sarah Palin referred to as "the Tanya Harding of authors" on MSNBC. But there will be no cutting that line of attack at the knees there.

~ K-Lo, The Corner.

I had not heard the Tonya Harding line before.

Picture Sarah hiring Mathew Continetti to whack Michele Bachman or Mike Huckabee at the knees with a tire iron. I don’t see it happening quite that way. Maybe provide hagiographic propaganda or hit pieces on rivals, I can see that. Tire irons? Hmm….there was that whole troopergate scandal she was involved in, so who knows.

On Sunday, David Brooks called Sarah a future Talk Show Host. This comparison seems more apropos. Side Show Sarah seems more in line for a Jerry Springer comparison.

Picture Sarah refereeing a family feud complete with unwed teenage daughters, drug dealing (almost)in-laws, witch doctors, non/abusive brothers in-law and more!

K-Lo should consider the Springer Show angle. However, Continetti as Sarah Palin’s own Jeff Gillooly is also a good angle. Thanks for the tip K-Lo.

That Sneaky Weasel, Willard “Mitt” Romney, is at it Again

Here’s what Mittens is up to now:

Republican activists looking for the latest on MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) on the internet could find themselves redirected to the home of one of Pawlenty's potential '12 rivals.

Ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney's Free and Strong America PAC has purchased links in sponsored boxes on Google, meaning anyone who types in Pawlenty's name could instead find a link to Romney's site.

[…]

has also purchased ads that will appear during other searches, including those for ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R), ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and more generic words like "Republican."

This requires an immediate response from Sarah, Huck and the other guy. If there is no response and Willard gets away with this, these three will be seen as weak-willed. You know who else is weak-willed? Terrorist Appeasers, that’s who. If there is one thing you don’t want to be labeled as it is as an Appeaser.

A show of strength is required. I suggest a coordinated Google Bomb of “Mitt Romney” in response. Or perhaps this “Mitt Romney” or this “Mitt Romney.”

Maybe the good folks at RedState Blog will join in and retaliate against Willard Romney’s sneaky shot at Sarah.

When You Got the Wolf By the Ears, Best Not Let Go

Quote of the Day:

"Capitalism isn't always rosy…. Down cycles have to be allowed in order for the inefficiencies to be worked out."

~ Tim Bridgewater, GOP/Teabagger Candidate for Utah Senate talking about his opposition to the Sarah Palin backed Bailout of 2008.

Apparently another Great Depression and worldwide economic collapse was preferable to government spending to prevent catastrophe. Priceless.

Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) voted in for the Economic Bailout in response to the Great Bush Bust of 2008. Now the guillotine is being readied for his head by the true believers of the teabagger wing of the party. They aim to PURGE him from the Party in the Utah GOP primary.

I guess the moral of the story is that if you preach phony free-market fundamentalism to the masses, some of them are actually going to become true believers in the bullshit. And when severe consequences arise after years of tax cuts, deregulation and globalization, the converted masses will inevitably cry heresy when the party elders embrace a solution which contradicts the preached dogma.

The GOP has spent a whole generation preaching free market fundamentalism. They’ve been riding the wolf. Once you let go (see Bob Bennett, Bailout), the wolf can turn on you. The true believers want their turn at the wheel to shape the world by application of party dogma, even if it means their choices (Neo-Hooverism) would lead to economic collapse, disaster and ruin (see Tim Bridgewater, above).

One would think preventing economic collapse would be a good thing. This would seem especially true for conservatives who are trying to conserve as much of the existing order as is possible. Who knew that it would be held against Poor Bob Bennett.

Let see how Teabagging in Utah unfolds over the next year. Time to sharpen the Guillotine?

The Mean Spirited Persecution of Sarah Palin err, Tina Fey has Gotten Way Out of Hand.

I’m not an Oprah watcher, but I think Ms. Winfrey did a pretty good job of undercutting Palin’s “serious” pretentions here. The Sarah cut-n-pasting a word salad of political talking points and half-remembered celebrity tropes, seasoned with pageant-queen nods and tics, was not a politician or a writer or even an entertaining racouneur—she was a silly, self-involved, aging Tina Fey impersonator. Pathetic, and scary.

~ Annie Laurie

I did not watch Oprah and Side Show Sarah, but what’s up with calling Sarah an “aging Tina Fey impersonator?”

Now that is just plain mean. Tina Fey would have made a far better VP choice for McCain. An apology is owed here.

Yeah I think they may well be that stupid, but if you don’t believe me read this post about Liberal Fascism

That Roosevelt and Hitler both made a fetish of catering to “the forgotten man” seems fairly mundane until one realizes that only half the proposition is “compassion.” The other half is stirring up “resentment against ‘fat cats,’ ‘international bankers’ and ‘economic royalists’” and eventually in Hitler’s case, the Jews. Even without the racial aspects (are heterosexual Christian white men the new Jews?) the crowd of heavies could easily be translated today as Wall-Street, bankers and “the rich,” who of course keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer. And let’s hope they do get richer, because if Obama has his way and they don’t, not only will the poor get poorer (which I don’t concede is happening anyway), but we will ALL get poorer.

Holy Hay-Suess.

If you want the definition of crazy, try reading RedState blog’s ongoing review of the Jonah Goldberg book Liberal Fascism.

The Stupid on Screen is so bad, it’ll make your eyes burn.

Take this blurb above reviewing chapter 4 and referencing “the forgotten man.” What Roosevelt is doing is a clever juxtaposition on William Graham Sumner’s gilded age essay, "The Forgotten Man," where Sumner argues that when political actors A and B decide that C should be taxed to help out D, the Downtrodden, C’s interests become overlooked and in the process C becomes “Forgotten Man.” Get it? This is quite a popular argument these days.

However, FDR turns the analogy on its head by arguing that by looking after C’$ interest during a depression:

"You have the wrong forgotten man! The forgotten man is the man waiting for the recovery that you are not delivering or that you are preventing."

For Roosevelt, D becomes the forgotten man and he hammers home the New Deal as a better deal for the country than free-market laissez-faire fundamentalism.

If you are into gilded age era political philosophy (Neo-con economic thinking is heavily influenced by Sumner’s advocacy of Social Darwinism and the concern for C), like our zany friends at RedState Blog, you may side with the free market fundamentalists and prefer Sumner’s “Forgotten Man” riff over Roosevelt’s clever twist. It was the Great Depression and people were starving, so you had to have your priorities. Roosevelt sided with the downtrodden.

But things get even worse after our Zany Wingnut Reviewer starts rambling about Hitler and then muses:

are heterosexual Christian white men the new Jews?

He can't serious. Just how stupid are these guys at RedState?

Answer: tune in tomorrow for the next installment of deeps thoughts on Liberal Fascism.

Someday, cultural anthropologists are going to capture some of these characters and I bet it’ll make for some interesting dissertations.

Careers could be made studying The Great Wingnutus Americanus.

In Other News…….

It’s Wingnut Welfare Week at The Corner as some of our favorite zany characters are grubbing coins to Keep K-Lo and Crew in pixels.

After all who could have cooked up something as bizarre with “Liberal Fascism” without generous Wingnut welfare programs. Without Wingnut Welfare, these character would actually have to get real jobs.

Guillotine Watch……Continues

It is for Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT)

Bennett is prehaps the pettiest, vainest, and most out of touch of all Republican Senators. He, an appropriator, has never met an earmark he did not like. He is quicker than either Lindsey Graham or Olympia Snowe to cut deals with the Democrats that cut the throats of his Republican colleagues.

Bennett and several Democrats are floating a healthcare alternative that explicitly pays for abortions and is considered by the Heritage Foundation to be to the left of what the Democrats are considering right now.

In short, I have said for a while now that where the right can win, the GOP should go right. The right can win in Utah. And the way to do that is to purge Bob Bennett.

I guess he’s no wingnutty enough for the Wingnut Jacobins.

Quote of the Day II

“On Monday, Oprah Winfrey and Sarah Palin "will sit down and they're going to talk for an entire hour. And I was thinking, too bad John McCain didn't do that with her before he chose her as his running mate." ~ David Letterman

The persecution of Sarah Palin continues.

Quote of the Day:

"In her new book, Sarah Palin claims that before John McCain chose her as his running mate, his campaign spent $50,000 on a background check. Yeah. When he heard this, John McCain said, 'we should have spent $75,000.'" ~ Conan O'Brien

Yeah, I guess McCain is still kicking himself over this decision . That was no time to pinch pennies.

Poor Lindsey Grahamnesty Still Can’t Catch a Break

This time it’s the people of South Carolina, Birthplace of Secession, that are taking a whack at him.

Republicans in Charleston County censured their own U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, saying he puts bipartisanship before the party on issues like climate change.

"U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham in the name of bipartisanship continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism," according to a resolution passed Monday.

Graham has often reached across the aisle on various issues.

Graham crosses lines for change

When it comes to combating global warming, Sen. Lindsey Graham is right where he loves to be -- ahead of the curve, in the mix on a major issue, at the table for high-level, bipartisan talks behind closed doors.

Graham, an S.C. Republican, is working with Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to craft a climate change bill.

They face the dual challenge of overcoming widespread GOP opposition and withstanding relentless attacks by Big Oil and allied energy interests.

The resolution notes Graham supported the bank bailout and "has shown a condescending attitude toward his constituents" opposing his stance on amnesty for illegal aliens.

"There have been a lot of things over the years that people have been dissatisfied with the senator for doing but I think the cap-and-trade issue is the straw that broke the camel's back," said Lin Bennett, the county GOP chairwoman.

Lindsey, watch out for the Teabag crowd hanging out around The Battery singing odes to days of Yore. They may mean you no good.

But really, who could expect anything different after your support to open up South Carolina’s the borders to a deluge of the illegal immigrants, and now your non-denial of Global Warming.

Rejecting Party Orthodoxy has its price. You may soon be on the lam dodging the pitchfork bearing masses, just like the notorious Newt Gingrich.

Teabagging Ain’t for Everyone, I Guess.

If the teabag revolt in NY-23 is a sign of things to come in the burgeoning GOP civil war, we are in for quite a ride.

Quote of the Day:

"There is a great song called 'Coca Cola Cowboy' and I believe that's what we have here. She was a Republican as long as it enhanced her electability…. My guess is she made a deal with Chuck Schumer or the White House that will eventually show itself to us."

Fmr Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), Teabag Activist while hanging out with his Pet Goat at his Texas ranch

Just what is it with Texas Republicans and pet goats? Anyway, is this Sour Grapes on Dick’s part? Maybe Scozzafava had her reasons for endorsing the Democrat.

Scozzafava and her husband, Ron McDougall, a local labor leader, retreated to their summer house at the end of a dirt road on Sylvia Lake. The place has no TV reception -- a good thing, she said, given all the attack ads against her funded by the Club for Growth, the anti-tax group backing Hoffman. Still, she wasn't entirely isolated. She heard through friends that Palin insinuated she had been "anointed" by a "political machine" because county chairs handpicked her as the nominee. Beck denounced her as "ACORN-supported" and an "Obama-Lite Republican." Former House majority leader Dick Armey's group FreedomWorks mobilized against her. She said she heard conservative robo-calls in the district describing her as a "child killer," a "lesbian lover" and a "homo."

"It was organized," she said.

You stab her in the back and expect her loyalty at the same time. Ah……smooth one Dick.

Looks like Scozzafava wasn’t into this whole teabagging thing like Dick Armey apparently is.

Poor Lindsey Grahamnesty gets hit from all Sides

"Now it gets tricky because the bill goes to the Senate, where Senator Lindsey Graham vowed it would be dead on arrival. That's what he said. In fact, right now, Graham is leading a Southern white coalition against the bill called the Graham Crackers." ~ Jay Leno

You have to love the irony.

The GOP is predominantly a Southern Party. Its purpose now, is to oppose affordable health care for the working poor which would disproportionately benefit folks in rural areas, such as are found in the South.

High Teabaggery in California?

A Teabagging Call to Arms has been issued. Is VICTORY within sight?

The [California] GOP Senate race was even more wide open, with 7 in 10 voters saying they knew too little to have an impression about [Carly] Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, or [Chuck] DeVore, a conservative assemblyman from Irvine.

In a head-to-head matchup, DeVore and Fiorina each won the support of 27% of Republican primary voters. But given the fresh nature of the race -- Fiorina announced her candidacy last week -- neither candidate is yet dominating in areas they have tried to stake out.

Fiorina has gone after women voters, but, like Whitman [a female candidate for Governor], was running better among men.

DeVore has hammered Fiorina as being a tool of party moderates, but she was doing about as well as he among his conservative targets.

So far Devore the Teabag Candidate, is tied in the polls with the establishment candidate, Fiorina. We’ll see how well crazy + conservative plays in California. With the wingnut-O-sphere on board, we can be guaranteed a zany mad capped ride full of capers from the usual suspects.

Call me crazy, but I don’t see anyway that High Teabaggery helps the GOP in California.

Wingnut of the Week:

The people who want to kill you are not Tea Party protesters or accountants from Saranac Lake, N.Y. They're not Kentucky populists or Belgian radicals.

Anyone who wants to distract you from real dangers by telling you to fear this week's pet bogeyman -- global warming! creationists! Ron Paul! -- is not your friend. They are fools and liars who cannot be trusted. They are objectively evil

~ R Stacy McCain, calling out domestic Islamic terrorism as the Number 1 threat you face and not the tea bag types that shot the cops in Pittsburgh, killed the church goers in Tennessee or killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum.

Call me evil because I think McCain is full of shit.

There is no reason why law enforcement cannot continue to go after those who would engage in acts of terrorism. It is hard to believe that just because global warming is in the news, the cops are going to stop doing their jobs. Conspiracy to commit a terrorist act is a crime, you know.

How you catch a lone wolf is a problem. We all wish that the Army caught this Hasan caught before his terrorism at Fort Hood. Apparently there were signs and they need to figure out why nothing was done.

What we do know is that Fear is the currency that wingnuts such as McCain, an apparent a white supremacist, trade in. When you are afraid, the wingers get jacked up.

Remember, McCain is not offering any solutions to terrorism other than, perhaps, shock and awe and perhaps his tired Neo-confederate shtick. However since Hasan was home grown from Virginia, I don’t think bombing the Old Dominion will solve the problem. And since the South lost the civil war, making sure people stay in their assigned places, ain’t going to work in today’s multi-ethnic and multi-religious society.

So this means that all he’s got is fear and nothing but fear to work with.

If we run around in fear, who wins?

Deep Thoughts

Comparing Obama’s Victory in 2008 with the victory by Republican Candidates in the Virginia and NJ governors’ races:

November ’08 was one-shot, one-time, never to be replicated. Nor was November ’09 a realignment. It was a return to the norm — and definitive confirmation that 2008 was one of the great flukes in American political history.

~ Charles Krauthammer, NRO editorial.

Now if the 2008 near landslide electoral victory for Obama (along with Dems picking up 50+ seats in the house in 06 and 08, presumably too) was a fluke, what caused it?

Would it not be reasonable to assume, that if 2008 was a one time shot, the cause of this beat down was that voters were fed up with the catastrophic governance advocated by the Krauthammer and implemented by George Bush and his republican enablers on Capital Hill?

So if 2008 was the greatest fluke in American political history, isn't it the fault of people like Krauthammer?

Just saying.

RED ALERT - RED ALERT – RED ALERT

People if you think the wingers out there can’t get any crazier, check out the headline of the Day:

Chrysler to unveil 5-year plan

Know who else was into 5 year plans. Stalin and other assortments of Commies!

Obama bailed out the Car Companies to prevent their collapse. A Car Company that was saved from ruin is naming its recovery plan the 5 year plan. Stalin also implemented 5 year plans in Russia for economic development. Hmm. O.M.G. Do you know what this means people: Wingnut Field Day.

What crazy meme will emerge?

Could it be that Chrysler is doomed to the dustbin of history? Nah. Or perhaps it will be that this is a sign of America’s slow descent into Socialism. Maybe crazy wingnuts will riff on this headline to posit that this 5 year plan from Chrysler proves that Obama is just like Stalin.

Could secret interment camps be just around the corner? Now that Sarah Palin has cut and run from Alaska, who is left to protect us from a string of Alaskan Gulags?

Serious stuff people.

RED ALERT - RED ALERT – RED ALERT

Quote of the Day III:

At her confirmation hearing this past July, now-Justice Sonia Sotomayor exasperated and disgusted many of her supporters on the Left by attempting to disguise herself as a judicial conservative.

[...]

If the White House, near the peak of Obama’s popularity, chose to try to play things safe by casting Sotomayor as a judicial conservative, how probable is it that the White House would take a more aggressive approach in advance of the 2010 midterm elections, which now look markedly more threatening to Democrats than they previously did?

~ Ed Whelan, The Corner

Of course, Sotomayor’s Judge Roberts Routine really pissed off folks on the Right as well, like …. say, Big Ed.

I found the double standard rather amusing.

When Judge Roberts pulled all the B.S. about just calling balls and strikes from the bench, it was deemed good. When Sotomayor used the same shtick, it was deemed bad. Who knew?

The moral of the story is that whoever Obama appoints to the High Court next is going to be subject to a shit load of bizarre charges. We could have allegations of Radical Transnationalism, Racism, Eco-terrorism or of being Anti-Jesus but Pro Allah when the next Supreme Court Justice is nominated but these have already been used up.

I have a feeling the wingers are going to cook up something truly crazy beyond speculation for the next nominee.

Quote of the Day II:

If I were 17 and the super-hot alien blond wanted me to put on a German gay disco doorman's jacket, I would have done so.

~ Jonah Goldberg

Nothing to add.

Quote of the Day

"Owens Wins. Watch it be spun as a defeat for Sarah Palin and the hateful extreme right-wing of the Republican party." ~

K-Lo, A High Priestess within the Wingnutopian Movement writing about the Defeat of Doug Hoffman Teabag Candidate for Congress.

OK. If she says so. I guess we will spin it this way, then.

More Guillotines in the Future?

But the Wingnut Jacobins may not be done yet as further conquests are imagined:

Revved up by the purge in New York, tea partiers across the nation are now salivating—did you happen to see Zombieland?—as they eagerly search for other prey. They already have a list of RINOs (Republicans in name only) to hunt. On their to-get list is Charlie Crist, the Republican governor in Florida, who's running for the Senate. Marco Rubio, a conservative former state senator, is challenging him for the GOP nomination. Also in the crosshairs for conservatives are Republican Rep. Mark Kirk, who is seeking Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois, and possibly incumbent Republican Sen. Robert Bennett in Utah. Bennett's being opposed in the GOP primary by a conservative activist who has Joseph Wurzelbacher, better known as Joe the Plumber, campaigning for her. Diehard conservatives—their blood lust heightened—seem to be adding names to their execution wish list almost daily. ~ Link

Not ready to put the Guillotines away yet, I see. And Justice and Purity require that blame be foisted upon someone for this debacle. Gingrich anybody?

The Tent Keeps Getting Smaller

As Prince Hoffman, Wingnut Extraordinaire for Congress, went down in flames securing the congressional seat for the Democrats for the first time since the civil war, some saw this defeat as a Victory

First, the GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives. In 2008, many conservatives sat home instead of voting for John McCain. Now, in NY-23, conservatives rallied and destroyed the Republican candidate the establishment chose.

Erick “GF” Erickson, Wingnutopian Agitator at Red State Blog

Wouldn’t the opposite also be true. Suppose the GOP nominates Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber for President in 2012 and the Fringe gets its way. How many republican moderates will stay home or vote Democratic? How many more independents will go Democratic?

Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

In what should have been an easy roll to VICTORY in NY-23, the district is heavily rural, military dependent and republican, instead we saw a soap opera of Sarah Palin-esque Proportions.

First there was the Republican Candidate of the Old Guard sure to cruise to victory, that is until she was attacked by Base elements from within the party, stabbed in the back and torn down by the Mob.

Then there was the carpetbagger replacement, the handpicked darling of the Jacobin Mob, Prince Hoffman, whose ascendancy was certain as he promised ideological purity to the people of the province. Of course ideological purity, includes sending no pork homeward from the Federal City to the pork dependent provincials. This caused a grave dilemma to arise leading those within the Old Guard to turn against the Darling Prince and his Base band of foreign wingnutopian agitators.

And thus the Grand Old Party, ruler of the Province for 140 years, fell to civil war allowing some Democrat that nobody has ever heard of to March to VICTORY.

So with last night’s clusterfuck in NY, one would expect to hear recriminations called against those of the Old Guard and toward those Base elements within the Party.

Specifically, I was expecting another call for Newt Gingrich’s head. There is plenty of time yet.

A Gilded Age Tragedy?

Cry me a river.

Country Clubs feeling the effects of the Great Bush Bust:

Residential homes aren't the only ones falling victim to foreclosure. Country clubs are feeling the pain of recession as well, with many struggling to survive.

Dozens of country clubs are in foreclosure, reports BusinessWeek. And up to 15% of the remaining ones report serious financial problems.

So far, the elite clubs that cater to the ultra-rich are generally staying afloat. It's the mid- to lower- level clubs that can't make payments.

[…]

Experts tell the magazine that between 400 and 1,000 country clubs may have to close or open to public play.

"The whole country club model is at risk," said one.

There are a number of reasons for the slide at clubs, starting with the down economy. It's also harder now to deduct club dues on your taxes. And some companies may feel pressure not to award employees with pricey country club memberships.

Ironic, huh?

An educated guess tells me that the country club types were probably the strongest Bush supporters in 2000 and 2004. Seems only apropos that the consequences of George’s Tragic Reign of Error hit them as well.

Let them open their courses to the riff raff public.

Quote of the Day:

"I'm speaking. I've got the remarks. Figure it out."

Sarah Palin upon being told that she would not be allowed to give a concession speech on election night.

I heard it got even worse when Sarah was later told that not only was she not permitted to address the crowd, she’d have to sit at the kids table during the consolation banquet that night, too.

But things are sure to be looking better for Sarah these days with all the coin she has pocketed since trading public service for the wingnut welfare circuit.

Gingrich shows contrition to Jacobins for his lack of Fealty?

What’s the latest move by Newt to pacify the mob after his choosen candidate bolts and joins the Dems? Why it is to condemn her!

Scozzafava's decision infuriated Republicans who had stuck with her, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

He told the AP that he was disappointed and "deeply upset."

"How could she have accepted all that support?" he said, adding later, "I'm very, very let down because she told everybody she was a Republican, and she said she was a loyal Republican."

Gingrich now backs Hoffman -- who had sought the Republican nomination, joining the Conservative ticket after his bid failed.

Let me get this straight after betraying the principles of the “conservative movement” and he thinks he can issue a single condemnation and get right with the Wingnutopian Jacobins.

Outrageous!

Newt is well known for encouraging ad hominim attacks against his opponents. For instance, instead of debating conservative ideas, he encourages demonizing the opposition as:

bizaare, corrupt, disgraced, pathetic, radical, intolerant, traitors, incompent, sick, shallow, and obsolete.

This is well known. What is to say that he did not use the same slurs against Doug Hoffman, the Wingnut Candidate for Congress? Can’t say, but it is consistent with his character to have made these slurs on the noble Hoffman. There is just too much disloyalty from Newt here to move on without consequences.

No, I say Newt cannot be let off with a single act of contrition to the mob. He should have to grovel to keep his head. Or better yet, he should do some community service to the wingnutopian movement. How about serving as Sarah Palin’s spokesperson to translate he mangled syntax and explain why she didn’t show at the latest GOP gathering despite having given her word to do so?

Newt should agree to at least two years of community service, cleaning up after Sarah. It is only fair after his shamefull disloyalty.

Alternately, Newt, the Jacobins have been known to use the guillotine.

Sair ə Gédd’n one step closer as Wingnuts brace for VICTORY in NY-23

Word on the street has it that hard core teabag enthusiasts, aka Wingnuts, are currently plotting an assault on the Bastille RNC HQ to celebrate after victory in the New York Special election tomorrow.

Internet chatter raises the interesting possibility for two new additions to the guillotine list, Comrade Karl and Comrade Instapundit.

Hmmm.

The revolt of the unwashed, unhinged, unrepentant and unreconstructed (RS McCain, I'm talking about you) and is getting more interesting.

Purge Watch - Prominent Republicans into Hiding?

The wingnuts are on the war path and they want blood. They got one radical liberal Republican in Dede Scozzafava, but they want more.

Earlier I warned Newt Gingrinch to head the an undisclosed location and avoid any folks bearing pitchforks. Fortunately for Newt, he reads this blog and was on last report headed deep into a blue state.

But there are others in the cross hairs of mob. Lets check out others targeted on the guillotine list:

It has been 24 hours since Dede Scozzafava dropped out of NY-23 and neither Pete Session nor any of his loyal lieutenants have lost their jobs or quit to save face.

Until that happens, there will be no real sign that they get it. Without heads rolling we cannot roll on to victory.

Sadly, it is that simple.

Yep, the wingnuts are running rampant and they want heads to roll. Newt is not enough. The far right Pete Session is next for the Jacobin Wingnuts.

My advice to streaky Pete is to get out of Dodge. Do not trust anyone until you reach the blue Pacific.

Jacobin Wingnuts Call for Purge and More?

Not good news for Newt Gingrich. The mob is infuriated and they are looking at him:

Take Newt's endorsement of Dede. Out back. Ventilate the endorsement with your weapon of choice.

Having some bozo who claims to be smarter than you decide who goes on the ballot should induce a chorus of vomiting from All Real Americans. The river of bile hasn't quite been the GOP-cleansing flood for which one would hope, but the direction of the level over time goes up up up.

Sounds like the crazies are getting the Guillotine ready, Newt. Be on guard.

Quote of the Day"

“Obama’s enemies are your friends, and his friends are your enemies.”

Mark Levin, October 13 2009

What if Obama’s enemy is Satan and his friends are the Troops?

Uh-Oh. The Right Wing Nuts probably didn't think of this one through too much. Wingers got it real rough these days. So much hate and they don't know where to place it.

Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, the Third, is skulking about and up to no good again

Word has hit Red State Blog that J.B. Sessions III (R-AL), who was last seen besmirching the honor of a lady of upstanding character and a nominee to the high court, is yet again up to no good.

This time his attention is directed at Barack Obama’s nominee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the Honorable David Hamilton.

Just what is J.B. Sessions, III, in an uproar about, you may inquire?

Why, it seems J.B. Sessions, III, has bought into the wingnut meme that the Honorable Judge Hamilton is Pro-Allah, but Anti-Jesus! Jefferson can’t be so stupid to have fallen for the old Pro-Allah/Anti-Jesus ruse, could he?

Holy Hay Seuss, it looks like he has fallen for it hook, line and sinker as he has put out the call for a filibuster against the Honorable Judge Hamilton.

I ask you, what has the world come to now? Why, just a year or two ago I heard many a Republican declare that filibustering a Judge was a satanic practice. Now it seems that Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III, has strayed from the path of righteousness and moved into the darkness.

We can only hope and pray that Jefferson sees the error of his ways and reforms.

Number of the Day - 18%

What percentage of Americans blame Obama for the great Bush Bust, i.e., the econo-cylpse?

A startling 18% of the public blame Obama for the state of the economy, according to a Foxnews poll, while 58% blame Bush for the Great Bush Bust.

You'd think the spread between the two would be higher here, but it is a Foxnews poll after all.

I have a feeling that people will be blaming Bush for the things that broke on his watch for years to come.

(h/t)

A rising TIDE lifts all BOATS and it looks like we’re gonna need a lot of them, too

Last week climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg published an exceedingly lame article on the WSJ Online, arguing in favor of or against….…… I am not sure. Let’s let him tell you.

Global warming is a serious challenge that has captured the world's attention. But in the areas that will be worst hit by climate change, what do locals value and want prioritized?

The tiny island nation of Vanuatu speaks with a big voice on global warming, calling for larger countries to make immediate carbon cuts.

In a warning often repeated by environmental campaigners, the Vanuatuan president told the United Nations that entire island nations could be submerged. "If such a tragedy does happen," he said, "then the United Nations and its members would have failed in their first and most basic duty to a member nation and its innocent people."

Torethy Frank, a 39-year-old woman carving out a subsistence lifestyle on Vanuatu's Nguna Island, is one of those "innocent people." Yet, she has never heard of the problem that her government rates as a top priority. "What is global warming?" she asks a researcher for the Copenhagen Consensus Center. [em-mine]

Ms. Frank has more immediate concerns—problems that are not spoken about on the world stage, and that do not attract the attention of the media or environmental advocates.

[…]

Torethy's life would not be transformed by foreign countries making immediate carbon cuts.

What would change her life? Having a boat in the village to use for fishing, transporting goods to sell, and to get to hospital in emergencies. She doesn't want more aid money because, "there is too much corruption in the government and it goes in people's pockets," but she would like microfinance schemes instead. "Give the money directly to the people for businesses so we can support ourselves without having to rely on the government."

Vanuatu's politicians speak with a loud voice on the world stage. But the inhabitants of Vanuatu, like Torethy Frank, tell a very different story.

Let me get this straight.

Extremely poor subsistence farmers on pacific islands who had never heard of global warming before partly because there are no schools have a really difficult existence. This sounds true.

Further climate skeptic Lomborg notes, if you ask an Islander eking out a subsistence lifestyle of fishing and gathering, what is more important to her, a boat or carbon credits on rich countries, she’ll take the boat every time. So what’s all the fuss about? Concluding with the mother of all false choices, Lomborg then suggest that maybe this global warming thing ain’t such a big deal after all if what the common folk really want is boats. Priceless.

Well we better give’em boats, because if this all we do about rising sea levels they are gonna a shit load of them. Welcome to Waterworld folks, where Waterworld isn’t just a bad Kevin Costner movie, its some people's solution to rising sea levels too.

I have a better suggestion. Wouldn’t boats today, and land tomorrow be a better answer? What a beautifully pointless article. Oh, well. It is the WSJ and their standards are in free fall so you shouldn’t expect much.

Ordinarily, one would think such vacuity should go without much agreement on the wingnut-O-sphere. But that is what the Chamber of Commerce Blog is for.

Presumably, according to the Chamber, the free market will supply the solution to rising sea levels by matching Boat Supply to Boat Demand. You see in places where there is high boat demand, like say on an island slowly submerging below the waves, the supply of Boats will automatic increase to meet demand at an optimum price point. The magic of the market place should reassure Pacific Islanders that all will be well and not worry about these carbon credits and such. Awesome! Problem solved?

Don’t worry, the Chamber’s got you back.

Letterman just can’t help himself

"Sarah and Oprah. On the one hand, a very powerful woman qualified to be President of the United States, and on the other hand, you have Sarah." ~ David Letterman

Time for Sarahgedden to step up her game in her feud with Letterman.

She’s already accused Letterman of wanting unspeaking acts to occur between her 14 year old daughter and A-Rod. She really needs to come up with something better and soon. And it better be really outrageous, but bold and decisive.

Otherwise her weakness will be seen as an act of appeasement, just like what Neville Chamberlain did with Saddam Hussein or Ahmadinejad or who ever it was. Quick action is required before Sarah emboldens Letterman any further.