We See What We Want to See and No More --- Powerline Blog Edition

But ideological leftism, not pragmatism, best explains Obama's approach to concrete issues. Consider housing/banking. Obama aligned himself with ACORN as it pushed financial insititutions to make high-risk loans. A pragmatist could view this issue in various ways. He might conclude that ACORN's agenda was far too risky, given the strong pragmatic interest in a sound financial structure (that turned out to be the case). Alternatively, he might conclude that ACORN has it right because the risks are outweighed by the positive value of poor people owning homes. He might even conclude, as some leftists did, that creating a financial crisis, and seeing people kicked out of their homes, is a good thing because it will hasten a revolution, after which America will be a better place.

Right wing blogger named Paul @ Powerline Blog

Without commenting on the delusional reference to ACORN, I seem to remember that the official policy of the Bush Administration was to push for increased home ownership even if it meant high risk loans. From folks that compared George Bush an under appreciated Genius, this is a comparison that one should probably not make. Just an observation.

Let me offer a different perspective on the President. Maybe he is just a center left guy. He doesn't have to be a super-secret socialist or a follower of any other -ism. These bat shit crazy wingers just can't get that through their heads. Comrade Kurtz calls Obama a tricky socialist that does not practice socialism because he wants to trick people into believing that he is something other than a Socialist. Which, according to Kurtz, is due not to anything he has done or he said but what Kurtz thinks he wants to do if he were not busy being not a socialist.

Comrade Rightwing Blogger Named Paul at Powerline Blog, now dredges up 100 year old ideology to describe President Obama beliefs, throwing in a little Marx for fun, but ignoring his record. An easier answer would be that Obama is a center left guy who declined to nationalized the banks when folks were asking him to.

Of course, according to these nutters, Obama wanted to do this, but he was too tricky to actually follow through on his socialist goals.

These nutters are clinical.

Note to Comrade Rightwing Blogger Named Paul at Powerline Blog, the 1960s called. They want you to give the resentment a rest.

We are Doomed

Among the things Newt was able to do once he took control was effectively neuter the committees. The committee chairmen’s roles were diminished, their staffs were slashed, and virtually all power in terms of policy and legislative initiatives was centralized in the speaker’s office. The only committee Newt had any use for was the Rules Committee, which would often rewrite legislation in the dead of night and bring it up for a vote the next day. Consequently, members from both sides of the aisle had no idea exactly what they were voting on, which made it easier to hide earmarks and other special interest provisions from scrutiny.

There’s no way Boehner can hope to get away with that sort of thing. It’s clear that the Republicans in line to be committee chairmen are not prepared to be potted plants. They are going to reinvigorate the traditional committee system and make it once again the pipeline through which legislation flows. And if nothing else, the many Tea Party members expected to be elected will want to see more legislative transparency and strongly resist the sort of heavy-handed methods that were used to ram legislation through during the Gingrich era.

Another important difference between 1994 and today is that presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and Democrats in Congress had already done the heavy lifting of getting the federal budget onto a sustainable path. In the 1990 and 1993 budget deals — both enacted against the strenuous opposition of congressional Republicans — taxes were raised and strong deficit controls put in place that led naturally to surpluses so long as the budget remained on auto-pilot, with no big new spending programs or tax cuts. Under these circumstances, gridlock was just what the doctor ordered.

It should be remembered also that Republicans had the very good fortune to take power right on the brink of the 1990s technology boom, which raised the real gross domestic product 4.7 percent in 1995, 5.7 percent in 1996 and 6.3 percent in 1997 — which sent tax revenues cascading into the Treasury.

But today the situation is quite different. The economy is in the tank and the budget is clearly on an unsustainable path, in large part due to actions taken by Republicans when they were in power. They completely dismantled the deficit controls put in place by the elder Bush and Clinton so that they could cut taxes willy-nilly without paying for them, and in the process thoroughly decimated the government’s capacity to raise adequate revenue to fund its essential functions. Adding insult to injury, Republicans enacted a massive new entitlement program, Medicare Part D, without paying for a penny of it on top of every pork barrel project any Republican ever imagined.

The point is that gridlock under today’s circumstances will not be benign, as it was in the late 1990s, but toxic, preventing our political system from grappling with problems that demand action and will only get worse the longer it is delayed.

Ex-Comrade Bruce Bartlett - Expelled from the GOP for Counter-revolutionary activities

Thus is the coming of the Iron Rule of the Wingnuttariat. Time to stock up on Guns and Ammo and Water Purification Tablets and Dry Goods and Gold and any other product advertised on the Glenn Beck Show.

People may forget that the Economic Boom of the 90s was not due solely to wise stewardship of Bill Clinton and that other guy, but also due to the productivity increases from the 1990s Office Automation Revolution. Add a jobless recovery, global economic stagnation and vicious Teabagger Economic theory and we have a truly toxic combination.

Maybe it is not too late to open the imaginary FEMA Internment Camps. It is looking like a better idea all the time. [/satire]

[h/t Ex-Comrade Frum]

The Coming Rule of the Wingnuttariat

Time to meet some of your new Overlords. First up: Liberty Counsel.

"After November 2, it's my hope that some gutsy legislators in Congress will begin to look at this and other legally dubious actions by this president to determine if we may have high crimes and misdemeanors here on the part of this despotic man,"

~ Matt Barber, Liberty Counsel, in a tizzy about....... Gay Folks.

With Tea Bag Control, Wingnut Welfare Outfits like Liberty Counsel, which provides free legal assistance to right wing causes (ten commandments), is sure to gain more juice. In addition to Impeachment, it also specializes in crusades against Gay Folks (of course) and Harry Potter.

You see unlike Christine O'Donnell, they are familar with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment and its prohibition of endorsing any particular religion. And since “witchcraft is a religion," all public libraries out there are on Notice not to get to fancy with any children's reading program featuring the Harry Potter series and it's witchery. Because if they do, the Good Folks at Liberty Counsel will be there to smack that religious bigotry down.

First there will be Toxic Gridlock. Next comes impeachment. Then comes the long hard march toward the creation of Wingnutopia on Earth.

[h/t Rightwingwatch]

Crazification Factor Alert

It Strikes again.

A Recent Poll has found that:

just 27 percent, see her [Sarah Palin] as qualified for the presidency, also essentially unchanged. Sixty-seven percent say she’s not qualified; this peaked at 71 percent in February.

This is a spooky proposition.

Of course 27% represents the number of any given population that is stark raving mad. Which, by the way, is exactly the percentage of Registered Voters who believe that Sarah Palin is Qualified to for the Presidency.

A better question would be to ask just how many Americans think that Sarah Palin is qualified to manage a Walmart in Wasilla.

I know the answer and I’m thinking 27%.

Joe Barton - Speaking Truth to Power

"I'm a Texan, I'm an engineer, I'm an Aggie engineer, I'm an honest person, I speak the truth as I know it. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes it does ruffle feathers."

~ Smokey Joe Barton

"As he knows it" is the operative phrase, here because Smokey Joe also believes in Global Cooling. That's right - Global Cooling. Stupid Polar Ice Caps - Damn them for Melting!

If that isn't enough, here is what Smokey Joe has to say about the dark conspiracy surrounding the scientific consensus on Climate Change:

When you talk about thousands of scientist most of those are not original creator (sic) thinkers. They are implementers. They are facilitators. There are … only fifty to one hundred in the world that are in that are in the top tier and more and more it is appearing that they have engaged in either a conscious, uh, effort to withhold the truth from the world …. uh or maybe…. or maybe, maybe …. they’ve decided, uh, without realizing it that they have become so …ideology committed that they lost sight, lost track of the true scientific method… I don’t know, but its something that really does need to be investigated and I don’t make any apologies for trying to get that investigation started.”

According to Smokey Joe, who always speaks the truth (as he knows it), there is a dark conspiracy of 100 Scientists responsible for the global warming hoax. These Dark 100 then indoctrinate all the lesser Scientists (who don't know any better), who in turn indoctrinate the public at large. And Viola - The Greatest Hoax Known to Mankind.

How about that for speaking Truth to Power!

And now Smokey Joe wants to be the point man in Congress on Science and the Environment. Smokey's Joe's coming Congressional Hearings on the Global Waming Hoax will be a sight to behold. Poor Scientists ain't gonna know what hit them after Joe lectures them by reading talking points written for him by Industry lobbyists.

I have a sinking feeling that the coming rule of the Wingnuttariat is going to be BRUTAL.

Not White? Go Away!

Ex-Comrade David Frum continues his Blasphemy. Now He is Writing Bumper-Stickers for Democrats. Perhaps this future bumper sticker was inadvertent, but who can tell anyway?

Every election continues a long-term process of brand definition. In fact, the Tea Party can itself be understood as an exercise in branding: “That Bush guy? He’s not us. The housing bubble and financial crisis? Not our fault. TARP and bailouts and deficits? We’re against them.”

But branding can also be done unintentionally. Oldsmobile never intended to create an image as “your father’s Oldsmobile.” Things just added up that way. The Republican party does not want to send a message: Not white? Go away.

Read More

There it is: "GOP: Not White? Go Away."

But you know what the real risk here is, don't you? The real risk isn't that Democrats will use this simple message, but that some Republicans (Sharron Angle) may think it is a good idea and use the Bumper Sticker themselves.

Mischievous, that Frum is!

No wonder the Wingers kicked him out of the shrinking tent.

This is an Interesting Use of Tax Dollars

You know what they say: FAMILY VALUES!

The Coming Recriminations

After the election, there will be several internal GOP battles that will be fun watching--one will involve the economic populists versus the oligarchs, another will set the neoconservative military interventionists against the libertarian isolationists (whether to stay in Afghanistan is the likely battlefield). Republicans tend not to fight amongst themselves with the joy and bloodlust that marks the Democratic tong wars; but these battles should be fascinating, especially as the GOP struggles to find a presidential candidate in 2012.

Joe Klein

More to the point, once having had their say at the polls, will the teabaggers go peacefully back into the closet and allow the “grown-ups,” such as they are, run the show?

I don’t know the answer to that question however I don't think RINO hunting season will be ending any time soon.

Former Comrade Bruce Bartlett has worried that unholy teabaggery could turn on rich folks once the rhetoric of balancing the budget meets with the reality of deep cuts to programs the unwashed masses consider their entitlement. Now that would be rich. Teabaggers demanding tax increases on Wealthy folks instead of mean-spirited cuts to grandma’s social security and medicare and Ketchup Soup in the school lunch room.

But yes it should be fun to watch.

Miss Him Yet? They Sure Didn't back then.

How the Hell Did I Miss this: Fred Barnes Postmortem on the Bush Administration?

The postmortems on the presidency of George W. Bush are all wrong. The liberal line is that Bush dangerously weakened America's position in the world and rushed to the aid of the rich and powerful as income inequality worsened. That is twaddle. Conservatives--okay, not all of them--have only been a little bit kinder. They give Bush credit for the surge that saved Iraq, but not for much else.

He deserves better. His presidency was far more successful than not. And there's an aspect of his decision-making that merits special recognition: his courage. Time and time again, Bush did what other presidents, even Ronald Reagan, would not have done and for which he was vilified and abused. That--defiantly doing the right thing--is what distinguished his presidency.

Bush had ten great achievements (and maybe more) in his eight years in the White House……..

Here’s Barnesy’s List followed by a Wingnutspeak (bold Barnes) to English Translation [mine]:

1. He stood athwart mounting global warming hysteria and yelled, "Stop!" – i.e, Denying Scientific Consensus on Global Warming.

2. Enhanced Interrogation Techniques - i,e., Torture.

3. Rebuilding of presidential authority - i.e., If the President does it, then by definition it is Legal.

4. Unswerving support for Israel - i.e, No Translation available. The Army is Still Stuck in Mesopotamia Last I heard.

5. No Child Left Behind – i.e., Federally Mandated Standardized Testing and the like.

6. The Freedom Agenda – i.e., Insisting on elections in Gaza (and Hamas victory – See Number 4, above).

7. Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit, i.e, Medicare Part D which was fixed by the PPACA.

8. Justices Roberts and Alito – i.e., loyal and relatively young apparatchiks on the High Court.

9. Strengthened Relations with India Japan, South Korea and Australia – i.e., Strengthened Relations with India, Japan, South Korea and Australia.

10. The Surge, i.e., The attempt to achieve Political Reconciliation in Iraq by sending more troops, switching to counter insurgency tactics, and paying Sunni-Militias to switch Sides.

In other words Barnes is as much as admitting that the Aughts was a Lost Decade.

Now This is just Mean - Christine O'Donnell is NOT a Witch.......... anymore

Click at Your Own Risk..... if you dare.

[video]

This is a mailer is being sent out by the fine folks at the AMFSCME. Reportedly it contains a sound file that that is activated when voters open it up. Then they’ll be greeted not with Christine’s truly frightening proclamation on the existence of Mice with Fully Functioning Human Brains but with the just as scary sound of the high-pitched cackles and screeching of a witch.

Either way if you ask me, but Mice with Human Brains may actually be scarier.

In my effort to raise the discourse let me say that those Union guys can be pretty mean sometimes. Funny, yes. But still Mean and I don't condone such Meanery. But, Man, it is still funny. Really Funny..... but mean at the same time and not condoned by me, though I find it very funny..... but in a Mean way.

But will Goose Stepping be involved?

Word is just in that John Boehner (R-OH) is on board to attend a campaign rally to celebrate the candidacy of Nazi Re-enactor and Republican Candidate for Congress Rich Iott.

Not a good idea.

Rule of Thumb: When attending Rallies involving Nazis, make sure you are with the Counter Protesters and not the Nazis or those who may be sympathetic toward them. That is all.

One other thing: Don’t wear a Brown Shirt. Oh, two other things: Swastikas are bad, too. Also, three: avoid the confederate flag too. That is all.

Stupid.

God Bless Foxnews

Yesterday I caught a segment on Foxnews on Voter Fraud with a Foxnews Info Babe* interviewing the sweet and gentle soul known as Michele Malkin. Now I only caught a moment of the segment, but this was enough, in my opinion to lend a hearty shout out to Foxnews.

Why does Foxnews deserve a shout out?

During the Malkin segment where she spouted rage over the imaginary voter fraud sweeping the Country (I think Washington State in particular), the Foxnews split screen was displaying the actual rate of voter fraud from past elections showing Washington’s Voter Fraud rate at 0.00004. Now I am not a rocket scientist, but a rate that low equals 4 improper votes out of every 100,000 cast.

Foxnews was simultaneously showing Malkin barking about (imaginary) voter fraud while providing the statistics to show that this “fraud” was practically non-existent. Anyone watching with half a brain could surely put two and two together and see that she was the one engaging in the FRAUD.

God Bless Foxnews. Now if they would do something about the hosts of Fox and Friends. Perhaps they could send them to go live on a farm somewhere.

---

* Info Babe is a term used by Rush Limbaugh to described talking heads on Cable News. Since Rush is always right, no wingnut could possible object to this term without being suspected of being a vile RINO.

More Conspiracy Theory from Stanley Kurtz

I’ve looked through thousands of documents from the ACORN archive at the Wisconsin Historical Society and used them to piece together the tangled story of Obama’s involvement with the group, along with ACORN’s own larger-than-even-I-expected role in the origins of the financial crisis.

Stanley Kurtz – NRO Guy

Ah HA. So ACORN was responsible for the Wall Street melt down and global financial crisis and not greedy Wall Street Bankers, Deregulation and Lax Oversight! I knew it!

Or probably not. The Country of Iceland did not go bankrupt in 2008 because ACORN helped a poor fellow buy a house on the wrong side of the tracks when he couldn’t afford it. But these folks would have you believe otherwise. What can you say other than these NRO guys are predictable.

Kurtz, by the way, is the father of the Kurtz Fallacy for his conspiracy theory which holds that American Socialists do not try to implement measures to bring about Socialism as we know it nor do they advocate Socialism because unlike European Socialists, American Socialists apply deliberate stealth (i.e., they are tricky) to their efforts to implement Socialism. Thus one can not tell an American Socialist is a Socialist merely observing what they do or say (i.e., they are tricky).

The Kurtz Fallacy is this:

If Socialism requires the presence of sufficient levels of X, Y, and Z. The absence of sufficient levels of X, Y, and Z does not preclude the presence of Socialism if Kurtz says so. In other words, Socialism with respect to any country is what Kurtz defines it to be at that point in time.

GENIUS!

Oh the MEANERY!

This is Mean:

But it is also Funny. Really Funny. Still Mean though. I don't necessarily approve of such Meanery, but this is funny.

RINO Derangement Syndrome - is there no cure?

If there had been a mainstream conservative--conservative--candidate [in Nevada]. So let me put it this way: right-wing freaks don't email me going "you're a RINO, you're a RINO."

. . . The fact that Republicans put Sharron Angle up is the only reason this race is within 10 points. Delaware: we know, Mike Castle, right now Mike Castle would be measuring curtains and we would be talking about a Republican majority in the United States Senate.

I hope that Sarah Palin, and other people--Pat [Buchanan] is laughing--but I really hope that Sarah Palin is proud of herself. I really hope she is.

Because let me tell you something, Pat.

When Barack Obama selects his next Supreme Court justice, and Democrats are in charge by one, and it's Pat Leahy that's going to be running the Supreme Court nomination processes, I hope social conservatives like you are staring at Sarah Palin and saying "thank you, Sarah Palin, because you just made sure the person running this committee would be Pat Leahy from Vermont instead of someone from the Republican party."

Joe Scarborough, a Deranged Republican in Name only, in name only (RINO in name only).

Sounds like Joe Scarborough is a RINO. He has caught the fever - RINO Derangement Syndrome. The only cure known to man is banishment.

The Larger question is this: will this deadly dangerous disease, RINO Derangement Syndrome, infect more people after November's election leading to more denouncements and recriminations? I suspect yes. There will be large numbers of those deemed insufficiently pure. These "vile" RINO's as they are referred to amongst the Teabag Express Crowd, will see their number grow as the outbreak spreads. Perhaps the imaginary FEMA interment camps can be used for RINOs. I don't know, it's just a suggestion.

It looks like Salt of the Earth Sarah is good for something after all. Bless her heart then.

The End of the World is Nigh....or maybe not - Be Afraid Anyway

Word has it that a Muslim Truck Driver has sued his former employer, a Trucking Company, after being fired due to objections over transporting booze.

Question: Is Sharia Law is Right around corner or are Muslims entitled the same protections under the law on Religious Accommodation as all other religious practitioners?

Answer: It is Sharia law, baby. Because before you know it, there will be no trucks on the Road delivering Booze due to the risk of offending the random Muslim Truck Driver. And when this happens, how long do you think it will be before booze is banned all together? It’ll be Prohibition all over again.

Wait a minute. That prohibition thing was due to a different group of religious fundamentalists – not law abiding Muslims under Sharia. Never mind then about the Sharia Law prediction. But be very afraid anyway. Very Afraid.

Stabbed in the Back?

Looks like it to me. John McCain who rose to fame as a Mavericky Media darling who put “Country First,” has been exposed, since his presidential run, as a shallow mean old man who cares very little other than looking out for number 1.

Here’s J-Mac slipping the shiv to Lincoln Cafee:

Chafee was a one-term centrist GOP sentor who opposed the war in Iraq in contrst with McCain (Ariz.), who was one of its chief supporters. But the former senator said that when McCain campaigned for him in 2006, he spoke about "more troops needed in Iraq." And at an event with a group of environmentalists, McCain called for more nuclear energy.

"You talk about cold, calculating political opportunism — that's the way I felt at the time,'' he said on WPRO Radio, according to the Providence Journal. "At the time, it certainly wasn't helpful ... Those words were used against me.''

[…]

Chafee spoke in detail about how McCain upset him in 2006.

"This was when my whole campaign was based in opposition to the war in Iraq and my opponent, Sheldon Whitehouse, used those comments against me in a debate: 'Linc Chafee, you stood shoulder to shoulder with John McCain [while] he called for more troops in Iraq,'" he said.

"I could see [me] losing those environmental votes in front of my eyes, and I said to myself ... John McCain's coming here for John McCain 2008 presidential campaign."

McCain was preparing for the 2008 Primary Season and Chafee was a speed bump. What a guy.

That was then. And of course today, McCain, mavericky no more, is unapologetic in his support of unholy teabaggery having recently said something to the sort of [paraphrasing] - the crazier the teabagger the better - in terms of new congressmen coming to D.C. next year.

All is Quiet at the Corner

After a violent Teabagger Attack on a defenseless Woman Move On activist, not a pixel has been posted today at the NRO site, The Corner.

There were about 50 posts today. Not a one about this vicious attack, however. Odd. Violence against Women doesn't seem to bother these folks. Imaginary voter fraud however deeply concerns them, however.

Odd.

Nihilism and the GOP

Quote of the Day

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president"

~ Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on GOP Priorities during the Obama Administration.

Not Getting Folks Back to Work

Not Protecting the Country from Terrorism

Not Protecting our Troops in Afghanistan and Iraq

Not Ending the Housing Crisis

Not Shoring up the Economy

Not Fixing the Mess on Wall Street

Not preparing America to Compete Globally in the 21st Century

None of these things. The number one priority of the GOP is to bring down an American President. I could see why terrorists would want to do this, but why also the GOP?

If this does not qualify as nihilism, what does?

UPDATED: O’Connor Casts the Deciding Vote in Voting Rights Case

UPDATE: This Warning has been Downgraded to Yellow.

Wingnuttery Alert in Progress --- Go about your Daily Business --- Remain Alert

There is an Arizona Case that has been bouncing around for quite a while involving a state requirement for citizens to present documentary proof of their citizenship status when registering to vote, and further requiring qualified and registered voters to present additional identification at the polling place on Election Day.

In other words, it is another law that requires Latinos in Arizona to carry around the birth certificate like when going to the DMV to renew a driver’s license and registering to vote under the Motor Voter Act. What is it about these wingers and birth certificates these days, I wonder.

Well today, Justice O’Connor cast the deciding vote on this issue and ruled in favor of……. George Bush.

Just kidding. Actually O’Connor joined a 2-1 Ninth Circuit of Appeals opinion which found that Arizona's proof of citizenship requirement for all new voter registrants violates the National Voter Registration Act ("NVRA") because the NVRA mandates that states "accept" the federal voter registration form without additional documentation requirements.

I know what you are thinking, didn’t she retire? So what is she doing ruling and deciding on cases and such now? And that is just what Big Ed Whelan, Resident Law Expert over at the NRO and President of the Wingnut Welfare Outfit known as the Ethics and Public Policy Center, wondered a couple of weeks ago, too.

He posits:

Since the time of her departure from the Supreme Court, retired justice Sandra Day O’Connor has decided cases as a member of various panels of the regional courts of appeals, supposedly pursuant to the authority of 28 U.S.C. § 294. In this post, I will tentatively sketch an argument that Justice O’Connor’s participation in those cases has been unconstitutional. (The post continues below the fold; click either the title or “Full Story” to read the entire post.)

I emphasize that my argument is tentative. That’s in part because there may be facts unknown to me that would alter my conclusion.

Sigh. Looks like that not only do these miserable sons of bitches have issues with the honorable and decent Judges appointed by President Obama, now they’re after Reagan appointed Judges, too. Oh well.

Since we are on the topic of judges, or Reagan appointed judges to be exact, what ever happened to the Gay Marriage Judge, Vaughn Walker I believe? He was the one that issued the ruling on Prop-8 that caused such panic over at the NRO. Oh yes, I remember Big Ed’s passing shot at the Good Hard Working Law Abiding Patriotic Judge.

Big Ed accused him of corruption:

Applying Ockham’s razor, I will readily presume that Walker’s wild course of misconduct in the anti-Prop 8 case was driven entirely by his ideological fervor for same-sex marriage and that Walker wasn’t also trying to feather his own post-judicial nest. That said, if he were trying to feather his nest, his high-profile invention of a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, including his remarkable (and overturned) denial of a stay of his judgment pending appeal, would be one way to build a lot of goodwill among many prospective San Francisco employers.

You really can’t win with these guys. There is nothing you can do that’ll keep them from griping and complaining and carrying on. I tell you it’s getting to where you can’t live with them and you can’t round ‘em up and send them off to an imaginary FEMA camp using President Obama’s soon to be created Gestapo-like security force either.

Life Sucks.

Wingnut melt down in FIVE, FOUR, Three, two, o………

[h/t - ElectionLawBlog]

Violent Teabagger Attack in Kentucky at Paul Rally

Despite having been captured on Video, Police have not yet apprehended the assailant(s).

So far the wingnut-O-sphere has remained silent on the attack with the exception of Comrade Instapundit who post this:

CLAIM: MoveOn Supporter Beaten By Rand Paul Supporters. So far — see, e.g., Ken Gladney — the violence has come from the left, but it’s possible that this is true and not a setup. Whoever did it should be prosecuted, preferably with greater severity than Gladney’s assailants got.

Translation from Wingnutspeak to English [mine]:

The video is true but they are still meaner so it is OK for you, dear reader, to consider yourself the real Victim. Nothing to See here, Move On move along.

I’m still waiting for these Baggers to adopt a dress code or some sort of uniform. The risk of bagger on bagger violence due to mistaken identity seems pretty high. If the baggers all adopted a uniform it would reduce the risk of being mistakenly identified as a Move On activist or other dangerous liberal.

Something for them to think about.

UPDATE: Apparently I missed Comrade Gateway Pundit who posts:

Another day… Another unhinged leftist stalks and tries to harass a Republican leader. MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle wasn’t counting on this reaction by Rand Paul supporters... Look for the state-run media to make her into some kind of saint by the end of the day.

Contrary to Comrade Gateway Pundit, I suspect someone is going to jail for battery.

If I had a brother in Jail and another in Georgia, I’d bust the one out of Georgia First, Cntd

Reason 4,519: Nathan Deal (R-GA)

A strange breed of Republican Office Holder comes from Georgia, I tell you.

Georgia is also the Corporate Headquarters of RedState Blog. Coincidence? I report; you decide.

Newt Gingrich: Still a Douche bag

“At some point, people will learn to stop taking Newt Gingrich seriously...Newt is utterly unconcerned with the welfare of the country. ... He cares about (a) Newt and (b) power for Newt.”

Former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.), who served with Gingrich for 16 years.

That about says it.

It’s Official: Joe Miller is Unfit to Lead

Man Murkowski is Mean. Look at her beat up Poor Poor Joe amid cheers and jeers. Here are the closing statements from Last Night's Alaska Senate Debate:

Miller: [paraphrasing] I have always been not a Witch and I’m You. When I elected a vow to do things that need to be done even if they are really really crazy.

McAdams: [paraphrasing] Alaska is a new state lacking infrastructure - we need more help from D.C. [Hint-Joe Miller is crazy.]

Murkowski: "Scott is not ready to lead. Joe is not fit to lead. I have been leading this state --I have been leading this state for 8 years. And I will continue to do so, bringing the seniority that I have built, the work ethic that I have built, and the passion for a state that I love." [Hint-Joe Miller is crazy.]

[video]

God Made Me Do It.…. (because it feels so good)….

.....or at least this is what yet another Susan B Anthony List Candidate believes:

God is the reason that I’m running. If I didn’t believe that there were a cause greater than myself worth fighting for, if I didn’t believe that it takes a complete dying of self to make things right in this Election cycle I would not be running and when you die to yourself you rely on a power greater than yourself so prayer is what’s gotten us all through. The day that we saw a spike in the polls was a day that some people had a prayer meeting for me that morning for this campaign so I believe that prayer plays a direct role in this campaign and I always ask please pray for the campaign; please pray for our staff; please pray specifically that the eyes of the voters be opened.”

Christine O’Donnell, who is not a Witch, but is the Republican Candidate in Delaware for Senate.

Ya, Ya, Ya that’s what they all say. But that last half of the last sentence would be really counter-productive, I'd think. Better that they not pray "that the eyes of the voters be opened" any more than they are already, because this lady is crazy with a capital K.

But that aside why do so many right wingers hold up Susan B Anthony as a role model on abortion and other right wing views on the family and church and state?

There is no evidence that Susan B Anthony was an anti-abortion activist, and I don’t think there is any evidence that that Susan B Anthony opposed the separation of church and state. As a matter fact let’s see what she had to say about the type of folks that use the Good Lord to justify their own political ideology:

“I dislike those who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

Susan B Anthony

Yes, it really does, doesn’t it? And I suspect, with Christine, she doesn’t appreciate the difference between the two.

But I really like that the part of the interview where O’Donnell attributes a spike in polling data to a prayer meeting. Maybe its just the Elitist in me but I’d have to (without speaking for a historical figure) believe that Ms. Anthony would be spinning in her grave knowing that such a pack of yahoos (this is the elitist in me again) has adopted her as a paragon of right wing causes.

One thing I bet is that Susan B Anthony would be floored if she were to learn that there would be mice with fully functioning human brains in the 21^st century as Christine O’Donnell has said the case to be. Anyway, file this under better be careful for you wish for because I can see that Prayer strategy backfiring big time.

How Grover Nordquist and Co is spending their Donor's Loot

This one is odd:

I think if I was paying Grover's bills or was representing a Foreign power paying his bills, I'd be quite unhappy about seeing my $$$ wasted on Anti-Colbert propaganda.

I know Grover is way out there and once compared the Estate and Gift Tax to the Holocaust, but do these people really think there is a future in an Anti-Colbert Jihad. Just Saying.

What is in it for them - that's what I want to know.

Quote of the Day

That’s rather galling to me. They are not supposed to be in this country and are out trying to affect the public policy of this country?!?! They shouldn’t be empowered. They should be deported.

Erick Erickson, RedState Blog Honcho, huffing over the possibility that undocumented workers are involved in the GOTV effort this fall.

He is upset that minimum wage earning immigrants are knocking on doors to urge registered voters to vote for Patty Murray out in Washington State. God Bless ‘em; they’re doing the Lords work out there I tell you.

However Erickson is not (apparently) upset with the Millions in Foreign Money flowing in from China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and other dark and dangerous places (Iran, perhaps) to influence our AMERICAN elections in favor of one political party.

Question: Why would the Chi-Coms, the Soviets and the Mad Mullahs of the Middle East be backing the GOP this year? What is in it for them? What have they been promised? Rhode Island, perhaps, or some other portion of American Sovereignty?

There are things we know and there are things we know we don’t know and still there are things we don’t know what we don’t know. I guess I just don’t know what amount Sovereignty the GOP is willing to bargain away to foreign powers that do not have America’s best interest at heart. But I bet it is an outrageous amount of sovereignty.

And I thought Erickson was a committed Teabagger. But it looks like he’s just an opportunistic Teabagger looking out for number 1.

Sad, sad fellow.

The Definition of a Wingnut

A Hardcore wingnut, that is, would be this.

Hardcore, man. Hardcore.

What momentous event occurred 6014 years Ago on this Day?

On this day in History, October 23, 4004 BC at 9:00 am, the Earth was Created (according to certain elements within the GOP, including a fair amount of Teabaggers, I bet).

So that you don’t feel stupid, in case you run into a right winger today, I’ll let you in on the straight dope on just how we know that the Earth turned 6014 years old today.

The Bible says that the death of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon occurred 3442 years after the creation of the world (i.e., the Earth). Records indicate that he died in 562 B.C. By doing simply math and subtracting -562 from 3442 you get 4004 BC. From the book of Genesis we know that the Earth’s creation was finished after 6 days of work with the next day the Sabbath day and Earth's Birthday (i.e., Sunday).

In that year (4004 B.C.), the Sunday nearest to the autumnal equinox was October 23^rd. According to wingnutopian lore, this is when the Earth was created. Quite Simply Done.

If you didn’t know any of this, don’t feel stupid. It’s OK, really. Now you know how the unwashed teabagging masses feel after listening to one of those damned Liberal Scientists prattle on about some stupid Natural Law or “Scientific" Theory and such which doesn’t match up with what Good Book or Foxnews says. Anyway, it’s good to put yourself in the shoes of others from time to time. It keeps you grounded.

So if you see a winger today, shout out:

Happy Birthday Earth!

If given a Chance Bill Kristol will Kill Big Bird

He'll do it.

It is True and many other lowlifes would join him as willing accomplices in his evil plot:

Don't let these losers kill Big Bird.