Jumping the Sharknado with Jenghazi Rubin

Sure, Jengahzi. What the world needs now is Governor Goodhair.

Jan. 12, 2006

The governor of Texas is despicable. Of all the crass pandering, of all the gross political kowtowing to ignorance, we haven't seen anything this rank from Gov. Goodhair since … gee, last fall.

Then he was trying to draw attention away from his spectacular failure on public schools by convincing Texans that gay marriage was a horrible threat to us all. Now he's trying to disguise the fact that the schools are in free-fall by proposing that we teach creationism in biology classes.

- Molly Ivins

May Fred Hiatt be infested by the fleas of a thousand camels for hiring this whackjob. Jenghazi's approach to any politician is simple: Is this person more or less likely to get America to bomb the Likud's enemies? By October of 2011, she'd become convinced that Mitt Romney was the man, so she relentlessly attacked Rick Perry. The GOP bench is looking thin for 2016, so now she's warming up to him.

I have a theory that Brian Kilmeade's purpose on "FAUX and Fiends" is to make Steve Doocy seem slightly less moronic by comparison. I suppose Rubin serves the same function at the WaPo for Fred Hiatt and Jackson Diehl.

P.S. Relief from the hackitude:

Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.
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The Kraphammer of the Gods and the Dolchstoss

Warning: link is to the Daily Cruller, and it's not just Kraphammer, but also the Doughy Pantload explaining why polls of veterans show a preference for Rmoney.

"At the same time, it seems to me that if you were a traditional military voter, you might have some serious problems with Obama. The way he sometimes talks about the military, he talks about the troops — it can often seem narcissistic, political, and rub people the wrong way."

- the Doughy Pantload



"And we heard Obama today doing essentially doing penance for a country that spat on soldiers who returned from the Vietnam War."

- The Kraphammer of the Gods



Stabbed in the back! The past and future of a right-wing myth

By Kevin Baker (Harper's, June 2006)

Yet the cultural division that Richard Nixon had fomented to try to salvage the war in Vietnam would take on a life of its own long after the war was over and Nixon had been driven from office in disgrace. It cleverly focused on the men who had fought the war, rather than the war itself. If Vietnam had been an unnecessary sacrifice, if world Communism could no longer be passed off as a credible threat to the United States, then the betrayal of our fighting men must become the issue.

Vietnam, for the right, would come to be defined mainly through a series of closely related, culturally explosive totems. The protesters and the counterculture would be reduced to the single person of Jane Fonda, embalmed forever on a clip of film, traipsing around a North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun. The soldiers, meanwhile, were transformed into victims and martyrs. It became general knowledge that they had been savagely scorned and mocked upon their return to the United States; those returning through the San Francisco airport were especially liable to be spat upon by men and women protesting the war.

...

It would do no good to point out that there is no objective evidence that veterans were ever spat upon by demonstrators or that POWs were ever left behind or that Jane Fonda's addle-headed mission to Hanoi did anything to undermine American forces.



And there you go.

(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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Meegan for the Cure

Goldberg clearly disapproves of the decision. Though I'm pro-choice, I don't share the outrage that was roiling my Twitter feed this morning. It is, as Josh Barro noted, absurd to pretend that abortion is somehow incidental to Planned Parenthood's services, and since money is fungible, giving them money is probably helping to fund abortion provision. Since I think this is a very tough issue on which reasonable people can disagree, I can see why the federal government, and private foundations, would decline to fund their operations.

Today:



Stay tuned for the reactions of the Atlantic's senior editor who writes about business and economics. And yes, this is why there is a "the schaden freudes itself" tag.
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Rmoney Leads In Florida

Here is a video of Rmoney singing at a campaign stop in The Villages, Florida on Monday.



♪♫ I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect R-money.

I'd like to hire the world to work
then fire it immediately. ♪♫

(h/t to stoat and R. McGeddon at Eschaton.)

Meanwhile, Pig Newton wants to go back to the moon, and Mooselini Moonselini wants to help.



(H/t Substance McGravitas, IF that is his real name, for the pic.)

If for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for Newt; annoy a liberal, vote Newt. Keep this vetting process going, keep the debate going, said Sharia Plan.

Keep on rootin' for Pig Newton, says I.



(H/t GottaLaff. I have to go with two words, though.)

UPDATE: It just keeps getting better and better.

When Gingrich's bus pulled up, Dillard stood silently holding his sign and watched the news-media horde swamp the candidate. Gingrich stepped down from the bus and made a beeline for Dillard. He stopped in front of Dillard and his sign and parked himself for a round of handshaking and pictures with voters. The placement couldn't have been worse. There was Gingrich, standing with his wife Callista at their first event of the day, and a giant Ron Paul sign floated inches from their crowns.

Noticing the awkward optics, Gingrich aides and security personnel swarmed Dillard, trying to intimidate him into moving. One of Gingrich's security agents stepped in front of him. When Dillard didn't budge, the agent lifted his heeled shoe over Dillard's bare foot and dug the back of it into his skin, twisting it side-to-side like he was stomping out a cigarette. Shocked, Dillard kept his ground and took a picture of the agent with his phone, which was quickly knocked out of his hand. Dillard slipped off his flip-flop to pick up the phone with his foot, and a Gingrich supporter kicked the sandal away.

"Don't kick me!" Dillard said to the man who knocked away his sandal. More members of Gingrich's security retinue approached, shoving their shoulders and chests in front of him.

"Just block him!" a Gingrich campaign aide said. "Everyone step on his toes!"

(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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Your War Criminal Post At Work

Is everyone sufficiently nauseated yet? If I were the writing the lede...



"Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, the Ebony and Ivory of Sleaze, appeared at a mutual book publicity event in Texas today."

P.S. Some call it Fox on 15th Street, which isn't a half bad description.

(Cross-posted at Whiskey Fire. Mouse over pics for captions, and click them for larger versions.)
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Ohio In The News

Yes, my dear readers, the United States is the Greatest Country in the World.

Need proof?

While an Ohio Senate committee was completing hearings on the controversial SB 5, the anti-union bill bringing thousands of protesters to the State House, a House committee was hearing testimony for the equally controversial Heartbeat Bill. Two of the witnesses were still in the womb.



Since the fetus did not cooperate by letting the wingnut lady laser point to a beating heart, this is obviously one of them terrorist-anchor babies I've read so much about.



P.S. Bonus video, just in case you are not yet chanting "USA! USA! USA!:



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Sarah Palin Day, 2011

In further celebration of Mooselini's Day, 2011, I offer the assembled this youtuber, brought to my attention by fellow Buckeye Statianersian Blue Girl:



ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

UPDATE!:


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Pavlov's Wingnuts

Via Mock, Scissors, Paper I was led to this A.P. story about yoga classes being offered free of charge to the unemployed.






Pavlov's People

Does everyone see where the story points out that this is yet another example of freeloading parasites getting liberal government cheese thanks to YOUR TAX DOLLARS!?!1one11!?!?!











Perhaps, as is the case with orb-spotting, you need special training to see the libturd goobermint handout.
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Best Headline Ever!

Credit to DKW.

DKW (and possibly, his Mom) post here.
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A.P. Serves Up Another Sloppy Kiss for the G.O.P.

GOP wins House seat in Obama's home district

HONOLULU – A Honolulu city councilman has defeated two Democrats to give Republicans a midterm election victory in the U.S. congressional district where President Barack Obama grew up.

Nice of the A.P. to admit that Obama grew up in Hawaii. Their commentators will have none of this nonsense.

Charles Djou's win Saturday is the latest triumph for the GOP as it looks to take back control of Congress. And it came as a blow to Democrats who could not rally around a candidate and find away to win a congressional race that should have been a cakewalk. The seat had been held by a Democrat for nearly 20 years and is located where Obama was born and spent most of his childhood.

Did HERBERT A. SAMPLE, Associated Press Writer, write that paragraph, or was it Frank Luntz?

"This is a momentous day. We have sent a message to the United States Congress. We have sent a message to the national Democrats. We have sent a message to the machine," Djou said. "The congressional seat is not owned by one political party. This congressional seat is owned by the people."

Three paragraphs into this G.O.P. press release, and now it's time for some facts. Wait, I didn't mean facts, I mean what the Democrats say (hah!):

But Democrats believe the success in Hawaii will be short-lived. Djou will only serve through the remainder of 2010, and another election will be held in November for the next term.

Djou received 67,610 votes, or 39.4 percent. He was trailed by state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa, a Democrat who received 52,802 votes, or 30.8 percent. The other leading Democrat, former U.S. Rep. Ed Case, received 47,391 votes, or 27.6 percent.

Oh. So basically, when Djou runs against one Democratic candidate this November, he's toast. In other words, what Democrats say.

Republicans see the victory as a powerful statement about their momentum heading into November. They already sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts — a place that was once thought to be the most hostile of territories for the GOP. Now Republicans can say they won a congressional seat in the former backyard of the president and in a state that gave Obama 72 percent of the vote two years ago.

Not noted is that Djou is toast in November, and thus will not be contributing to any hypothetical G.O.P. takeover (no matter how hard A.P. tries to pimp same). And I do admire the way Mr. Sample and company carry Gooper water by ignoring Democratic victories over this time span.

Now is the time when we dance post some comments.





UPDATE: A.P. has updated their post, and now the third paragraph is a statement from Chris Van Hollen:

But Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., chairman of the Democratic campaign committee, said the result was "a clear case of local Democrats not being able to work out a solution where you could get one (Democratic) candidate against one (Republican candidate)." He said that would change by November.

Better, but A.P.'s initial impulse remains: whatever happens is good for McCain/Republicans/Plutocrats/Teh Peeps Who Sign Our Paychecks.
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Grifter Queen Sarah Addresses The Rubes

Thanks, A.P.!

Palin told the national "tea party" convention Saturday that America's national debt, which is held largely by other nations, "makes us less free" and "should tick us off."

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee got one of several standing ovations from the gathering of about 600 people when she said the nation is drowning in debt. The Obama administration argues that much of the nation's debt is being caused by tax cuts and a Medicare drug program enacted under former President George W. Bush.

Too bad there's no way to establish what the actual facts are, right, A.P.?


M.B. was liveblogging the spectacle, but I fear he has expired.

UPDATE: What Glennzilla Said!

That's one major reason why neocons such as Bill Kristol love her. Led by Joe Lieberman, neocons have repeatedly shown their willingness to cynically exploit extremist Christian Rapture dogma for greater American fealty towards Israeli actions, and Palin reliably spouts neoconservative dogma on virtually every issue. Almost every one of her national security pronouncements sounds exactly like Dick Cheney and The Weekly Standard (though her call for expanded Israeli settlements go beyond what even most neocons are willing to advocate openly).
...
All of this underscores both (a) the total incoherence of the "tea party movement" and (b) how it is, at bottom, nothing more than a cynical marketing attempt to re-brand the right wing of the Republican Party under the exact same policies and principles which defined it for the last couple of decades.

P.S.

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Feeling Sheepish?

The Pride of Hewlett-Packard, people!

P.S. If you have gotten off the boat and come to realize the mangoes aren't worth it, you can bail to about 2:25.
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In the time of chimpanzees Beck was a hamster

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The Hamster is the Lab Rat of Liberal Fascism

As inspired by Substance McGravitas

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