A-fucking-men

Barney Frank demonstrates how nutjobs are to be handled:

Oh, how, will the Steve Doocy's of the world edit this to make Frank look like the bad person and not the person proudly holding up pictures of Obama as Hitler? Because, of course, they either will -- or they'll ignore it completely.

Ponderings...

I wonder if David Broder ever wrote a eulogy for I.F. Stone?

Let Freedom Reign...

More of those Kaganesque celebratory fireworks:

Baghdad was hit by at least six explosions within the space of a few minutes today as a series of devastating attacks hit the Iraqi capital.

Early estimates suggested the number of casualties was high. The attacks are believed to have been co-ordinated, and demonstrate that insurgents maintain the ability to carry out spectacular bombings at will.

Fucknuttier

The overcompensating assholes parading around an Obama event in Arizona turn out to not just be Timothy McVeigh impersonators, they turn out to be pretty much Timothy McVeigh wannabes.

While "Chris" was the guy who carried around the assault rifle at the Obama event in Phoenix yesterday, it appears to have been another guy, Ernest Hancock, who organized the whole thing. And Hancock, who was also on the scene with a holstered handgun, turns out to have had very close ties to a 90s-era Arizona militia group called the 'Viper Militia' most of whose members were eventually sent to federal prison on various weapons and explosives charges tied to plans to bomb federal buildings.

Meanwhile, remember the good ol' days of five years ago when you couldn't even wear a t-shirt the spoke mildly ill of George Bush in his majesty's general proximity?

Yes, it's true

If you as a corporation want to make sure you reach the craziest demographic possible, you should advertise on Glenn Beck. There are, at least ten to twenty-million total right-wing crazies in this country and they are clearly willing to go to the same source for their slop repeatedly.

If you're Cadillac or Lexus you advertise on golf broadcasts, if you sell viagra any sporting even will do, especially golf and football. If you sell soap, there's a reason they were originally called soap operas. Which is why Beck's most dependable advertisers are "home security" systems and "gold venders". If Sealy Posturepedic starts selling mattresses with special internal hidey-holes Beck would be an ideal source for them as well.

Try not to speak ill of the departed...

On the other hand, one shouldn't work too hard to falsely sing their praises.

America's greatest self-proclaimed bipartisan managed to take a break from tut-tutting those liberal sourpusses who favor unions, clean air and health care to type out a eulogy to Bob Novak. It failed to note little things like his role in outing a CIA-operative to serve a petty political grudge or in the case of Robert Hanssen relying upon an actual traitor for the same purposes. But I guess that's what we filthy bloggers are for.

The self-mocking parody of himself that Bob created as the Prince, a grumpy right-winger, was sometimes taken more seriously by his audience than he intended. Bob was pugnacious, when challenged, but his instinct was to help his friends whenever they needed it.

Indeed, and I wonder how often that "help" made its way into his columns, hell when did it not?

But how could 'Mr. Bipartisan' pass up this little bon mot to Novak and his long-time collaborator Roland Evans; observe closely the "bipartisan" hymnal according to the Dean:

Bob's conservatism was real. He grew up with an anti-FDR father in Joliet, Ill. As his doorstop of a memoir makes clear, he and Evans often argued over the tone of their column. Evans had a liking for liberal Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller. Novak preferred the more rigid right-wingers, like Indiana Sen. Bill Jenner.

It's bipartisan as long as it involves just Republicans.

Surely, the funereal dirge of the media in our time.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Peter King has turned into Jenny Sanford

Only he allowed the love of his life to lie to him three (or is it four) times before he finally felt spurned.

But his attitude is even whinier and more petty than Jenny's attitude toward the object of his affections.

King's perpetual contact with football's leading Wrangler pitchman hasn't helped him divine Favre's ins and outs. "So now I've been wrong three times," King lamented last month. "I thought he was retired last year and he played for the Jets. I thought he was retired this year, and I said he'll come back to play for the Vikings unless his arm is a problem. His arm wasn't. And he still isn't going to play. That's why I give up." After Favre's move to Minnesota this week, it's time to update the tally: King has now been wrong four times.

So...

You think with Favre coming back, John Madden suddenly feels a bit like Jenny Sanford?

Weren't they supposed to ride off into the sun together?

NOOOOOOOOOOO....

...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Lanny Davis

Is David Broder's kind of whore. He doesn't work any orifice that requires an extremity, he just blows your mind!

"Hey hon' do you have any of that freedom mustard?"

When NASCAR stereotypes are fulfilled -- the following is best accompanied by banjo music.

Lisa Mayfield, the stepmother of Jeremy Mayfield and a witness for NASCAR in defending its suspension of the Sprint Cup driver, was arrested Saturday night after an incident at her stepson's Catawba County house.

According to Catawba chief of police Cecil Cook, Lisa Mayfield was charged with public intoxication and had warrants issued for four counts of simple assault and second-degree trespassing...

"According to the officers she was pretty high," Cook said. "The officers took her to jail on public assistance ... to make sure she didn't cause problems to anybody or herself. The Mayfields came up [to the magistrate's office] and took charges out. She was arrested on those charges while in jail."...

Jeremy Mayfield was suspended by NASCAR on May 9 after testing positive for methamphetamines during a random drug test taken eight days earlier. He tested positive again during a random drug test taken at his home after the suspension was lifted, according to court records filed by NASCAR...

Jeremy Mayfield, in response to the court filing, argued that his stepmother's testimony was not trustworthy. He accused her of killing his father, who committed suicide in 2007, according to police reports. He also accused her of accepting money from NASCAR in exchange for her testimony. Lisa Mayfield has filed a civil suit against her stepson for defamation of character.

Ms. Mayfield did issue a statement, however, thanking the "Sears' Craftsman/Slim Jim/Old Grandad Division of the Catawba Sheriff's Office for having her arrest proceed so fast."

Stay tuned...you never know if this case may take an "unexpected" turn...as in to the right.







When your booking picture looks like a "last known photograph" it is truly a cry for help.

Totally Anticipated

Patricia Heaton, well-known Fox-News conservative.

And as one would completely expect...GIGANTIC MOR(A)N:

They've got Pat Boone (nsfw) & Pat Heaton.

The Left has George Clooney and Scarlett Johannson.

Golly, no wonder they are incredibly angry and overcompensating.

You know it's getting extra fucked up

When waffling on the "Public Option" stories make it a GOOD day for the White House because it took the media's attention away from Republican crazy lying points.

I believe Mr. Taibbi has a point:

I’ll say this for George Bush: you’d never have caught him frantically negotiating against himself to take the meat out of a signature legislative initiative just because his approval ratings had a bad summer. Can you imagine Bush and Karl Rove allowing themselves to be paraded through Washington on a leash by some dimwit Republican Senator of a state with six people in it the way the Obama White House this summer is allowing Max Baucus (favorite son of the mighty state of Montana) to frog-march them to a one-term presidency?

I disagree with the last sentence, if nothing else crazy is still crazy. But the frustration of constantly negotiating against themselves is fucking maddening. The GOP is NOT going to allow you jackshit, fuck them -- if you want to do so with a smile that's fine -- but one gets the feeling there will be a smile, but as for who is actually being fucked, well...

This is not going to end well

As Josh Marshall said, I'm sure we all remember all those times protesters packed heat outside a Bush rally. Oh right, we don't because it did not happen.

The Associated Press is now reporting that there were actually about a dozen armed people among the protesters in Phoenix

And since, I'm on a Josh Marshall quoting binge, this is fairly trenchant:

In a stunning amount of irony, Mansonite Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released from prison this week, after 34 years in prison. The gun she pointed at President Ford had no bullet in the firing chamber-- unlike Sarah Jane Moore, she never even pulled the trigger or fired. Presumably, these gun nuts showing up for the health care events have their weapons actually loaded. I repeat, Fromme did *34 years in prison.

But apparently, this is a-okay with Georgia Moron Phil "My Dickisthismall" Gingrey:

En-raptured

Mike Huckabee is in Israel engaging in the kind of foreign policy adventure the GOP pretended Nancy Pelosi was engaged in two years ago when she visited Syria (with some Republican Congressman). He's there to show how AWESOME he thinks it is that Israeli is building even more settlements in the occupied territories. Thereby undermining the expressed foreign policy not only of the Obama Administration, but the last several of both parties.

Yet, it appears that Wolf Blitzer just doesn't care all that much when a Democrat isn't involved.

But there are some protesters in Israel who have figured out the very creepy basis that Mike Huckabee and other Christian fundamentalists are so keen on more settlements as soon as possible:

Protesters chanted "go home" one of the banners they held up said: "Huckabee, we are not pawns in your Armageddon."

Yes, finally, and if only the true basis of the Christian Right's real interest in Isreal is stated. It all helps bring about the rapture -- it isn't about anything else, or anything that isn't disturbing.

(AFP/File/David Furst)

[Cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Not the Onion

I predict competitors' will meet tire irons:

Former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay will join 15 celebrities from the worlds of entertainment and sports in kicking up their heels on the new season of “Dancing With the Stars.

Hopefully there will not be too many twirls or that rug will go flying.

Shorter Ross Douchehat

The thing that makes me really upset about the current GOP lying points is the fact that I personally wish to put down as many seniors as possible. I've got a pillow and just enough strength to take out a sleeping 80-year old and yet, one of my few actual skills will be wasted.

Exactly

Tell it like it is Andy Stern:

"Waiting for bipartisanship has been like waiting for Godot," he continues. "And it won't protect them. No one thought stimulus was a bipartisan bill. Getting Grassley and Snowe isn't going to do it."

"I have no sympathy for the congressmen and senators who say they're taking too many hard votes," he continues. "The worst that can happen to them is they lose their jobs. Workers are taking much harder votes every day."

Chuck Grassley, Olympia Snowe, Harry Reid, etc. if they lose their jobs they are going to get a lovely pension the rest of their lives as well.

You this would have more impact

Upon me...

A group of Iranian clerics has issued an anonymous letter calling Iran’s supreme leader a dictator and demanding his removal, the latest and perhaps strongest rhetorical attack on him yet in the country’s post-election turmoil.

While the impact of the clerics’ letter, posted late Saturday on opposition Web sites, may have been diluted by the withholding of their signatures, two Iranian experts vouched for its authenticity. Its publication followed other unusual verbal attacks on the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in recent days.

Last week a group of former lawmakers issued their own letter calling his qualifications into question. A day earlier, a member of the state body empowered to dismiss Ayatollah Khamenei called for an “emergency meeting” to address criticisms.

...if I didn't hear yet another wanker on talk radio or FoxNews call Barack Obama of all people, a dictator or like Hitler.

Somehow in Iran this is supposedly a big deal, while in the United States its just considered quaint and harmless (unless a liberal does it of course, then it's treason).

I haven't watched the premier of Mad Men last night

So don't tell me if Don Draper found out who killed Laura Palmer.

Harvest of Lame

This morning Howard Kurtz is still wondering how the print media will survive?

I cannot believe that he is missing the business model that the New York Times adopted some time ago and which his own paper is now emulating.

The plight of the struggling wealthy taunted by their inability to have every luxury and convenience available to the even wealthier. And all this at a time when their local Costco has decided to stop stocking the 64-count Kirkland Brand tiny violins, or so their personal shopper tells them. Those poor suffering wealthy people are going to have to delay replacing that old Trinitron set in the guestroom with their fourth 58" plasma.

Why it's almost as if the editors and upper management of the Times and Post were fixated on their own six-figure salaries and smaller than the normal bonuses of recent years.

Imagine if Fred Hiatt only made in the high-five figures or less and had to worry about paying for his insurance premiums and the increasing tuition at a state school for his kids after he hasn't had a raise in five years?

Who would want to live in such a country where those concerns were common place, let alone report on them? The horror!

Certainly not the management our nation's most prominent newspapers.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Oh the things you see

I was channel surfing around the various sporting events a few minutes ago when I came upon the men's 100m in the World Championships held in Berlin -- the same stadium where Jesse Owen's stuck it to Hitler.

Usain Bolt ran a 9.58!!!!!

That's .11 faster than his Olympic time.

Un-freaking-believable.

At long-last somethings we all could have predicted

Chuck Grassley, liar and idiot.

complimented by...

Lanny Davis, just a liar - a pathetically weasel of a liar that proves just because you have a (D) behind your name doesn't mean that Dick Armey is all alone in his immoral world.

Update:

After a couple tries, the link to the Davis article is fixed.

Exactly

Rick Pearlstein author of the exceptional "Nixonland" actually got a few columns from Fred Hiatt this morning...and he didn't waste it:

The tree of crazy is an ever-present aspect of America's flora. Only now, it's being watered by misguided he-said-she-said reporting and taking over the forest. Latest word is that the enlightened and mild provision in the draft legislation to help elderly people whhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifo want living wills -- the one hysterics turned into the "death panel" canard -- is losing favor, according to the Wall Street Journal, because of "complaints over the provision."

Good thing our leaders weren't so cowardly in 1964, or we would never have passed a civil rights bill -- because of complaints over the provisions in it that would enslave whites.

A-fuckng-MEN!

MATLOCK!!!

Forget the fact that the evidence is clear that the stimulus is aiding in slowly turning around the economic disaster I pretty much ignored and never understood, some guys who I cannot understand said some stuff I cannot understand so I'm writing a column about stuff I cannot understand.

Where's my pudding?

Better late than never

I'm glad that Katie Couric took a moment to denounce the insanity and screaming of the right as they attempt to derail health care.

Watch CBS Videos Online

It would have been even better if CBS and other news outlets would have spoken out sooner when it was just as plain two weeks ago that this was happening.

I almost remember a time

When Chuck Grassley was not a complete tool, full-blown nutter and asshole.

Now he twitters with the spelling and grammar of a FoxNation message board participant (which is sub-RedState) and is a connoisseur of brain porn. And when he's not doing those two things he's puking up lies and condemning colleagues to fictional morbid deaths and making creepy sex jokes.

Doofuses Go International

Over the last two years, I, as a midwestern youngin' raised on all the traditional American sports have started to watch more and more soccer (the original and more aptly named football) on Saturday mornings. Naturally, I'm a complete ignoramus, but nonetheless I've gotten into the English Premier League -- I know enough of it now to know I'm supposed to loathe Manchester United (and laugh at their AIG sponsored shirts before I get angry about the fact I'm subsidizing that bullshit).

But picking a team to root for when you have absolutely no connections to the country other than vague historical ones we all do. That's difficult (stupid and pointless, yes, but still difficult).

So I and a few others had a chat and just picked teams the way stupid people do with only one rule. It cannot be one of the top-four teams in that league that dominate (see, I'm learning -- took two years but I'm learning). The real battle is to choose a lovable loser that won't get relegated (see, learning).

So, one friend chose Tottenham Hotspur because they liked the name and well, I was just happy the friend picked a team even though they really aren't a threat to lose big (learning!). Another friend, our twittering genius DeDurkheim picked Burnley (the mighty Clarets) and I chose Stoke (the Potters).

Feel free to choose one of your own based upon the rules (cannot be Man U., Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool) and as the season starts today we'll see how it ends up in mid-May. And remember, it's not so much about results as it is about picking a team for the most lovable reasons.

And yes, this is incredibly lame.

Liars

It's Pareene again. So very very shrill.

I think I love him.

(Be sure to read all the linkies.)

Meet The Angry Left

Oh, wait ...



I can't wait until that woman's face, wearing that expression, winds up in a campaign commercial next fall.

Thanks for 2010, Republicans!

The Kids Are Alright

Do you remember this budding young reporter from the campaign?



Well, he's still out there, working hard. This time, he met The Big Man.



Way to go, Damon!

Brownshirts

Pareene is shrill.

(And does that Gladney person look the biggest dork in the universe, or what?)

Leave it to J-Stew

This takedown of Glenn Beck was AAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWESOME!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

Too much fun last night

From partying with 'Yearly Attaturk' keynote speaker Roger Clinton.

(and yes, this has been sanitized so it's safe for work)

Better

Now, cable news talking heads, this isn't so difficult to frame...it being the truth and all:

"He's like the sons I already have..."

Andy Reid and the Eagles have adopted Michael Vick.

Philly fan and Michael Vick, that should go over well.

How about just a 6 oz can of whoop-ass?

Mr. President, you know I like you, I respect you. I know that occasionally we liberals are difficult to deal with because, well, somebody has to stand up for the person who is above drawing Hitler mustaches or screaming like a 2-year old. So people take us for granted, including you. Nevertheless, I didn't vote for you naively, I knew you'd let me down some. Still, you know you can count on us in 2012 to vote for you, with or without enthusiasm, because the alternative is opposition and look at them.

But that's kind of the lowest common denominator and not all that change-a-licious.

You sir, apparently have the patience of a saint and the blood pressure of some higher level zen master. After all, you have said you're still willing to negotiate with Chuck Grassley after he's spread patent lie after lie in addition to committing crimes against spelling and grammar on Twitter.

We get it sir, you style yourself a Gandhi-like figure, at least if Gandhi also launched the occasional missile into Afghanistan. And I know and you know that's really f*%$ed up, but this is America, and f*%$ed up is clearly how we roll.

But if I may sir, would you mind getting just a little indignant -- a tad angry? Not a Gandhi, but a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or better yet Billy Jack Goes to Washington? Because you doing scissor kicks that fall just short of John Boehner's tanning-bed-face would be, at a minimum, awesome I bet he'd cry.

I know it isn't your style, but those of us who supported and voted for you would sure like to see a little of it right now.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

David Frum is One of the Reasonable Ones

Right.

How do you read this paragraph?

It's not enough for conservatives to repudiate violence, as some are belatedly beginning to do. We have to tone down the militant and accusatory rhetoric. If Barack Obama really were a fascist, really were a Nazi, really did plan death panels to kill the old and infirm, really did contemplate overthrowing the American constitutional republic—if he were those things, somebody should shoot him.

Oh really? That's exactly what many Republicans believe.

But he is not. He is an ambitious, liberal president who is spending too much money and emitting too much debt. His health-care ideas are too over-reaching and his climate plans are too interventionist. The president can be met and bested on the field of reason—but only by people who are themselves reasonable.

One of the reasonable ones. Right.

Union Thugs

Something tells me that this is one group of union thugs that Republicans can get behind.

Does Chris Christie Have a Problem?

Is it irresponsible to speculate?

It is irresponsible not to.

Savor that, Peggy.

Do The Right Thing

Five more did just that today.

By "that", I mean dumped Glen Beck's ass.

Consider this when you spend your hard-earned dollars.

For the cable jabberers the barrel has no bottom

Hillary Clinton could cure cancer, end hunger, and solve the Middle East crisis and it would still be all about the size of her ankles.

The same press corps that can never get off of "process" can also never get out of high school.

Like most difficult marriages...

You know it's over when you can't even get it up for a grudge fuck:

"You Gotta Give 'Em Hope"

Well, it's that time a year again

Time to hide from the horde of people attending 'Yearly Attaturk'.

MATLOCK!!!

Broder almost writes a decent column today decrying the douchebaggers scream-therapy sessions as destructive.

But sadly, ol' Grandad just cannot gumption up the regularity or the balls to call them or the Republican Party what they are, a bunch of shrill liars and enablers hijacking the health care debate.

Because that would ruin Broder's fantasy world of bipartisanship.

In the worlds of Homer Simpson, "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try."

Modern Journamalism:

Robert Gibbs stated yesterday what we dirty effing hippies of the the internets have been saying for years, "the media bore some of the blame [regarding health care reform falsehoods] for doing too many “X said this, Y said this” stories, without rooting out, and pointing out, unambiguous falsehoods."

This response to his criticism was telling:

Jessica Yellin, CNN’s national political correspondent, commenting on Senator Cardin’s town meeting in Hagerstown, Md., pointed out what news people already know: when journalists cite outright misstatements by public officials, the American people “don’t seem to trust us.”

Ah, modern journalism now going by the mantra, "why even try?".

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles:

For the second day in a row, thousands of people lined up on Wednesday — starting after midnight and snaking into the early hours — for free dental, medical and vision services, courtesy of a nonprofit group that more typically provides mobile health care for the rural poor.

Cue Lee Greenwood.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]