Happy New Year!

That is all.

Newt Gingrich Really is a SHAMELESS douche bag, cntd

Example 4,391: The individual mandate for Health Insurance. He was for it before he was against it:

Events Happen

The Blogosphere says:

"The news coming out of Iran -- that it might block all oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to retaliate against U.S. economic sanctions -- is a reminder for all politicos that next year's issue matrix could change in the blink of an eye. After all, how many people in Dec. 2007 were talking about the perilous state of the U.S. economy? In Dec. 2009, who could believe that Republicans (with power from the Tea Party) were set to win back control of the House? And in Dec. 2010, was anyone talking about the Arab Spring? A U.S. military confrontation with Iran in the Strait of Hormuz would certainly change the landscape of the 2012 presidential election, no matter how high the unemployment rate is."

Of course if Iran does go to the front page of the newspaper for shutting down oil flow through the gulf, the GOTP would just use this as a ruse to invade Venezuela or Spain or whoever is on the list at that time . I think voters may see through this.

Guarantee of the Day

Rick Santorum on the Iowa Caucuses:

"If I finish dead last behind the pack I'm going to pack up and go home."

Hate to break it to Rick, but quitting is a form of appeasement. If he quits, his adversaries will just follow him home. Everyone knows this.

UPDATE: Word on the internets speaks of a (gasp) Santorum Surge. It is growing.

How to speak to a Libertarian on Climate Change

From the Wingnet:

Since reconsidering climate science, I’ve had a number of debates with conservative and libertarian friends, who oppose government regulation of carbon emissions in part because they believe those regulations will cost too much. Of course regulations cost; limiting ecological damage and preserving public health requires money. The issue is whether those costs are moral to impose. If no entity has a constitutional right to pollute, and if the federal government has a compelling interest in reducing carbon pollution, then how can those costs not be moral?

It cost money to pay for the night watchman's billy club. The tax payers will need to fork over cash so he can to pay for the night stick to strike down out of control thugs. This is a moral cost.

Rick Santorum is a Powerful Leader and will SMITE his foes.....old testament style

A Santorum Surge in Progess?

[T]he biggest beneficiary of Gingrich’s collapse appears to be former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who’s rocketed into third place with 16%, a dramatic 11-point climb in three short weeks. Santorum now leads among born-again Christians, and is tied with Paul and Romney among self-described conservatives and Tea Party supporters. The surge by Santorum, who’s quietly made stops in each of Iowa’s 99 counties and won the endorsement of some of the state’s top evangelical leaders, only adds suspense to next week’s caucuses, the outcome of which remains incredibly unpredictable.

Happy Holidays

Light Posting in Progress for the Holiday season, i.e., X-mas, Hanukah, Festivus, Sol Invictus , New Year's, MLK day and Kwanza. Of Course if you live in the Southern States you likely get to celebrate Robert E Lee day and MLK day on the same day.

Chart of the Day

If it feels good, just do it! Filibuster.

Chart of the Day

The Biggest Drag right now is the economy. Get folks back to work and Tax Revenue goes up and Government spending goes down

Merry Festivus Everyone

Today is the annual Festivus for the Rest of Us holiday. Enjoy the day with Family and friends.

Newt Gingrich Really is a SHAMELESS douche bag

Family Values!

In September 2009

Allison Vivas of Pink Visual received a fax from Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF) group, informing her that she’s been chosen for a 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award by his Business Defense and Advisory Council. From the letter obtained by ThinkProgress:

Newt would like to arrange a private dinner with you at the historic Capitol Hill Club on the evening of October 7, 2009 in Washington. You’ll dine privately with Newt at this exclusive venue and he’ll take the occasion to present you with your well deserved award and have your photo taken together.

This tremendous honor is a testament to your success in building your business and recognition of the risks you take to create jobs and stimulate the economy.As an award winner, you’ll be on the ground floor as Newt and his Council begin the work to turn this country around. … Newt is looking forward to hearing your ideas on getting the economy moving again and getting your feedback on his plans over dinner.

Pink Visual is a porn DVD superstore — not the type of company you’d expect Gingrich would want stimulating the economy.

I guess their idea about getting the economy moving again would be more porn. For all we know, Gingrich would have agreed with them.

Joe Klein is an elitist and may hate America

Case in point. Casting scorn on good hearted folks like George Bush Rick Perry:

Is it elitist to expect that a candidate for President of the United States have a passing familiarity with the English language? Rick Perry is a mud-track biker when it comes to fluency, slipping and sliding past proper usage into the realm of the nitwit ridiculous. Most of his malapropisms are of the classic kind: a not-so-smart guy trying to sound intelligent. Thus, in the first five minutes of his stump speech yesterday, he praised the 10th Amendment to the Constitution as “simplistic” and called the troops fighting in Afghanistan “sacrificial young people.”

This would be a minor, Dickensian curiosity but for the fact that Perry is sneaking up the polls in Iowa again.

He had a pretty good crowd in Davenport last night. He speaks softly, sidled up to the audience, left foot forward, right back, like a fencer. He speaks slowly, usually, because every sentence offers the opportunity for disaster. (I know George W. Bush would screw up from time to time, but he was Diogenes compared to this guy.) And then, there’s the substance of his remarks–which is appalling. Asked why Texas was first among the states in the number of uninsured children, he said, “Texas has chosen to have that sort of health care delivery system” and then immediately compared that Mitt Romney’s individual mandate in Massachusetts.

Apparently, Perry’s definition of “freedom” includes the freedom to allow children to get sick, suffer and die.

Sounds like a perfect candidate for the GOTP to me.

Dispatches from the Wingnut-O-sphere

Hinderaker Edition:

When Barack Obama became president in January 2009, there was no energy crisis in progress. The price of gasoline was a manageable $1.83 at the pump. Usually, when gas prices rise it is because the economy is booming and demand for energy therefore increases. During the Obama administration, the economy has cratered and gas prices have risen anyway–a double whammy that many would have believed impossible until they saw how Obama’s “green” cronyism suppressed energy development. Thus, while Reagan’s policies led to a 34% decline in the price of gasoline at the pump, by December 2011 the average price was up to $3.29, an 80% increase in the price of gas, even though the economy was in the tank, and recoverable gasoline in the ground was more plentiful than at any time in world history! One wonders whether any other administration could have produced such an inept result.

Gas Prices had fallen due to the law of Supply and Demand. In the free Market, demand for oil drops, so to does the price. Since Oil Prices are set globally, an economic crisis in China reducing the need for oil would mean lower gas prices in America. A Global Economic Crisis would cause a reduction in demand and lead to gas prices under $2.00 in the USA as was the case in January of 2009. As the global economic crisis stabilized, so to did gas prices which then rose to their pre-crisis levels. Not rocket science.

Here is how a winger at the NRO debunks the gas price canard:

The only policies I can think of that would surely accomplish the $2.00 a gallon target are:

1) The seizure by force and nationalized exploitation of a large proportion of the world’s oil supply.

2) The massive federal subsidization of fuel costs.

3) The fomenting of a second global recession as bad as or worse than the last one, complete with negative global GDP growth.

Am I missing something?

Let me say again: We should increase domestic production and expand drilling. But not because it will, by itself, cut gas prices in half. It won’t by a long-shot.

Folks, this what Derangement Syndrome will do to a person. Even the NRO guy can see through the BS that Hinderaker has fallen for. Blaming Obama for the global economic crisis that occurred before he was even elected as president should get one sent to a FEMA run re-education camp. But alas none exist. In a perfect world there would be such places. However, the world is not perfect.

Breaking……………..APPEASEMENT ALERT ! ! !

Newt Gingrich calls on House Republicans to surrender to Obamunist Strongman on the Payroll tax holiday:

“Incumbent presidents have enormous advantages. And I think what Republicans ought to do is what’s right for America. They ought to do it calmly and pleasantly and happily,” Mr. Gingrich said when asked about the clash between President Barack Obama and House Republicans over extension of the payroll tax cut…

He offered sympathy to House Speaker John Boehner for having to negotiate with “a Senate majority leader who is totally disruptive and a president who is basically campaigner-in-chief, who has no interest in solving the problems of the American people.”

But he said resistance was doomed.

“It’s very hard for the legislative branch to outperform the president in communications,” he said. “He has all the advantages of being one person. He has all the advantages of the White House as a backdrop, and my experience is presidents routinely win.”

This coming from Newt Gingrich who routinely saw defeat at the hands of President Clinton in the 1990s. This is predictable.

But what Newt fails to note is that this surrender will only embolden President Obama to do more and more popular things at the expense of the GOTP.

Think about it this way. If the house GOP rolls over and complies with public opinion, what is going to stop the President from following them home to their congressional districts and further subjecting them to more popular appeals? Nothing.

The House Simply Must Not Give in.

The Elitism of Lamestream Media Just Won't Stop

Of course Newt Gingrich is not an actual historian. Everyone knows this. If you want to discuss Belgian colonial education policy in 1960, Newt may be a resource, because this was his area of study in college. However, the guy is not a historian. Douche Bag, yes. But Historian, no.

With that being said why would one go this end to discredit the notion that Newt ? The Meanness of Liberal Blog-o-sphere:

"For openers 'historian; Gingrich could not get tenure in a minor institution, West Georgia College... When first asked, Gingrich fudged and said he didn't apply for tenure, then changed his story to having had a conversation with the dean who told him he was not going to get tenure 'under any circumstances. You've spent four years campaigning, you can't turn now and say, 'let me get on the track.'"

For starters I think there is more than just a whiff of elitism to imply that a small college like West Georgia College did not have standards for tenure. Of course this College did not offer Gingrich tenure. What College would?

Rick Santorum is a Powerful Leader and will CRUSH his foes

Santorum gets endorsed by Bob Vander Plaats of the Iowa Family Leader: Rick Santorum gets baccking from Hardcore Iowa Theocracy set:.

Influential Iowa conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats Tuesday endorsed fellow social conservative Rick Santorum for president, saying, "I believe Rick Santorum comes from us, not to us."

Vander Plaats made the announcement immediately after the Christian conservative organization group he heads, The Family Leader, said it would be staying neutral in the race. Fellow activist Chuck Hurley joined Vander Plaats is offering his personal backing of Santorum immediately after the announcement.

Now he must use this juice to crush his foes in Iowa and move onto South Carolina. If he is man enough he'll do it.

Rick Santorum is weak and pathetic and should, quite frankly, be embarrassed

A new Lamestream Poll in Iowa proves it:

Ron Paul - 24%,

Mitt Romney - 18%,

Rick Perry - 16%,

Newt Gingrich - 13%,

Michele Bachmann - 10%,

Jon Huntsman - 4% and

Rick Santorum - 3%.

Man, Gingrich's voters are there for the taking and they are going to Paul and Perry. This is Pathetic. Hasn't Santorum gotten around to telling folks that he wants to make America into a Theocracy? He'd need to skip the part about papal decrees and such, but really 3%. Such a loser.

Definition of a Sociopath

From the Super Mean Liberal Blogosphere:

What makes Newt Gingrich so entertaining is that he is able to combine an adolescent arrogance with a childlike capacity to live in the exact moment, with no sense of the past or the future. Everything is always perfectly obvious, even when it is the exact opposite of what he believed before. He can toggle between perfectly obvious conclusions at will….

For a self-styled historian and futurist, Gingrich has an unusually poor grasp of both the past and the future. He prefers to reside in a present in which he sees everything with perfect clarity.

This fits Newt to a core. If it feels good at the time, he'll do it and not have a second thought about any of it.

Occupational Hazards of Being a Douche Bag

Why are People so MEAN?

From the net:

A website that promotes adultery has endorsed Newt Gingrich for president, and even erected a giant billboard in Pennsylvania to announce it. Next to a picture of Gingrich making a “shh” gesture, the billboard reads:“Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband.” Ashleymadison.com, a dating website for people looking to cheat on their spouses, welcomes visitors with the tag line, “Life is short, Have an affair.”

I guess this makes Newt America's most famous Family Values Adulterers.

Iowa Republicans beginning to realize that Newt Gingrich really is a Douche Bag

A new Lamestream Poll shows Gingrich in free fall with Ron Paul in the lead:

Ron Paul - 23%,

Romney - 20%,

Gingrich - 14%,

Santorum - 10%,

Bachmann - 10%

Perry - 10% and

Huntsman - 4%.

"Gingrich has now seen a big drop in his Iowa standing two weeks in a row. His share of the vote has gone from 27% to 22% to 14%. And there's been a large drop in his personal favorability numbers as well from +31 (62/31) to +12 (52/40) to now -1 (46/47). Negative ads over the last few weeks have really chipped away at Gingrich's image as being a strong conservative -- now only 36% of voters believe that he has 'strong principles,' while 43% think he does not."

Note that Santorum is up to 10%! He may be a man whose time has come.

Politifact: Newt Gingrich "mostly" a Barbarian

Surprisingly Politifact, a fact checking outlet, is "mostly" backing Michele Bachmann's following charge against the odious Newt Gingrich:

"And also I think even more troubling, when he was in Washington, D.C., he made an affirmative statement that he would not only support but he would campaign for Republicans who are in support of the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion."

Well maybe it is not the same thing as calling Gingrich a "Barbarian," but it is close enough for me so I am rating Gingrich as "mostly" a barbarian. And in term of saving "civilization" or defending "civilization," which Newt prattles on about so much, it is ironic that to defend "civilization" one must defeat the barbarians which is this case is represented by Newt Gingrich.

BREAKING NEWS..........

Brittany Spears to join Gingrich Club with 3rd Marriage to some guy.

Good Riddance….Boy

Pending a Tea Party victory next year, the per capita IQ of congress will get a boost with news that Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) won't run for re-election "so that he can spend more time with his family," the Lamestream Media Reports.

Geoff Davis, who may or may not be named for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, is famous for referring to President Obama as - Boy in 2008. Now that's some real old school conservatism.

Kentucky's 4th congressional district has been a safe Republican seat. Good chance that it may be a tea party seat next time around

Back to the 90s

Willard spent the Vietnam War in France and Gingrich sat it out. Ron Paul takes a minute to remind folks about Newt:

After saying that Gingrich backed “all the wars in the Middle East a thousand times more than I would,” Paul brought up the fact that due to various deferments, Gingrich had not served in Vietnam.

“In the 1960s, when I was drafted into the military, he got several deferments,” Paul said. “He chose not to go. Now he’ll send our kids to war. But at that time, he said that one person wouldn’t make a difference. He didn’t know how he could make a difference. So I see that as important information people should know that and it reflects on him.”

It is looking more and more likely that we have hit Peak Gingrich.

Ex-conservative David Frum Assesses the State of the GOTP

The thing most wrong with present-day Republicanism is its passivity in the face of the economic crisis, its indifference to the economic troubles of the huge majority of the American population, and its blithe insistence that everything was fine for the typical American worker up until Inauguration Day 2009 or (at the outer bound of the thinkable) the financial crisis of the fall 2008.

It is the lack of concern to the travails of middle-class America that “reform Republicans” should most centrally be concerned with.

- Comrade David Frum

Yes. From a Reality Based Perspective, this is an accurate observation. The GOTP offers folks no solutions. Example: One of the House job proposal is to legal more pollution. This is Poppycock, yet it is the best it can do.

The problem with Frum's assessment, though, is his naiveté. You see Comrade Frum actually thinks that GOTP is concerned about the middle class. This is far from the truth, because it is not concerned about anything but the ideology of tax cuts. You cannot be interested in the middle class and be dominated by an ideology centered around catering to the mega rich. These are mutually exclusive objectives.

Cain Wants to be Secretary of Defense

His 999 plan and a Treasury post takes a back seat to Herman Cain's desire to rebuild the Military the right way. Hate to break it to Herman but knowledge of the outside world and say, China's nuclear capability are prerequisites for this job.

There is absolutely no self awareness. I'd say that this fella' is clinical, which made him a perfect candidate for the GOTP.

Foxnews Sticking It to Mitt Romney

Ah the art of subliminal advertising

This Woman is part of my Brain Trust now

Hopefully the Brain is not from a Mouse with a fully functioning human brain, but Mitt Romney has just welcomed Christine O'Donnell aboard his team!

“Christine has been a leader in the conservative movement for many years. Christine recognizes that excessive government threatens us now and threatens future generations, and I am pleased to have her on my team."

Payday Christine. Start Billing Willard for your time supporting his team. If he doesn't pay threaten to go public.

A Robot without a Soul?

BEER RULE UPDATE

Some prefer the Romney-bot 9000 to Gingrich.

“I’m just going by my gut. I shook the guy’s hand, looked him in the eye and he has no soul. I don’t see a conviction. I don’t see a leader. I feel like I’m talking to a robot. I’ve talked to all the other candidates and none of them gave me the vibe that Gingrich did. He is not a guy you want to go have a beer with,”

- Judd Saul, a Tea Party Activist

Looks like Gingrich gives Mr. Saul the creeps. Can't say I blame him for feeling that way, but I thought Romney had the market cornered on Robot references.

The GOTP Race Explained

If it is between Willard and Newt, Jonathan Chait, who writes very MEAN things, breaks down the choice for wingers:

"The robotic consistency of Romney's newfound conservatism does contrast sharply with Gingrich, who lurches between hysterical right-wing paranoia and bouts of bipartisanship. And yet the erratic character of Gingrich's swings suggests that they're unplanned, and thus that they spring from actual conviction, albeit momentary convictions. Gingrich actually believes what he is advocating at the moment he is advocating it. Nobody can plausibly say the same of Romney.

Romney is the handsome swindler who plots to win your mother's heart and make off with her fortune. Gingrich is like the husband who periodically gets drunk and runs off to spend a week with a stripper in a low-rent motel but always comes home in the end. Which one would you rather see your mother marry?"

ANSWER: Neither.

Interpretation: Gingrich is a political sociopath and Romney has no soul. Take your pick.

Willard just can't catch a break

The Fundies Ain't into the Willardism…....yet:

The new political director for Newt Gingrich’s Iowa campaign thinks that some evangelicals believe God would reject Mitt Romney because of his Mormonism.

Craig Bergman during a focus group on Wednesday with The Iowa Republican and McClatchy newspapers said he thinks Romney’s religion will eventually cost him votes.

“A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon,” Bergman said during the focus group, according to The Iowa Republican. “There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that.”

I wouldn’t want to be a practicing Willardite either, but I guess this was always going to be problem for the GOTP. Let me explain.

In the early 1990s or in the GHW Bush administration the GOP made the decision that in order to keep its southern strategy going it'd need to supplement the racists and segregationists who were either dying out or no longer in vogue with a new demographic group. They turned hard toward targeting white evangelicals and succeeded. Now that the GOTP is a largely a religious party, having a Mormon, who outwardly appears to live a good family life, is not acceptable. Willard just can’t catch a break, but then again, you can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Willard has picked some real doozies.

The Beer Rule Explained

Lamestream Media Figures often tell us that the candidate that we'd most like to have a beer with is the candidate most likely to be elected President. Think George Bush and Al Gore. The Lamestream media told us that more folks would rather sit down for beers with Bush and talk about baseball than hang with Al Gore. In my opinion this "Beer Rule" is just a theory as I don't think that liberal bi-coastal university professors have affirmed it yet through peer-reviewed research.

From the wingnet:

It's a pretty simple law. Here's what you have to do:

You have to act less weird than your opponent.

Note: Long's Law doesn't say you have to act normal. For most office-seekers, that's just not an option. Long's First Law of Winning Elections is, you have to act only slightly less weird than your opponent.

Think about it: Bush v. Gore. Clinton v. Bush. Obama v. Clinton. Even Obama v. McCain. All of these races were colored, primarily, as a contest between an awkwardly packaged and remote-controlled candidate and one who seemed more, well, human. Less weird.

In the epic clash of Mitt v. Newt, what we have is a perfect example of Long's Law. Both of these men are in a race to prove something that is, for whatever reasons, hard to demonstrate to the voters: "I'm less weird than the other guy."

This theory does not bode well for either Newt or Willard. First of all you can't have a beer or a diet coke with Willard and if you sat down with Newt, that'd be just too creepy. I've heard a lot of folks expressing dissatisfaction with the GOTP candidates this year, mainly because they all are either stupid, crazy or did not have a soul. But there is something to the weirdness factor.

That guy, T-Paw, from Minnesota was probably the best candidate they had. He had no personality and was as close to a generic Republican as there was. I think he could have made a perfect Warren Harding Character for the GOP. Just keeping quiet and trying not to offend anyone would have been a perfect formula for Victory in 2012. However the base wanted crazy this time and he couldn't fill the bill - in part because he was a generic republican. You see you can't grandstand and call for the Minnesota Border to be sealed to protect America from an invasion of illegal aliens some of who may be terrorizers to impress the Tea Party, and still be inoffensive to independent voters.

Mark this theory down as another drag on the GOTP.

GOTP Counter-culture on Soon to be on Display

Believe it or Not!

Glenn Beck TV plans to pump Militia Madness out to the Masses with a new reality survivalism show. Stock up on Bullion and Bullets. You'll need one when worthless paper money becomes worthless and the other when UN troops pour over the county line.

DeadlineTV: GBTV, Glenn Beck’s live streaming video network, has picked up its first reality series, Independence U.S.A. The show, which will premiere January 18 and air on Wednesdays, follows Frank Belcastro and his family as they try to become completely independent and self-sufficient and prepare for life “off the grid” in case of a major calamity like an economic collapse or a natural disaster. Belcastro’s projects include building a car that runs on wood in case gasoline supplies are interrupted, becoming an expert hunter when grocery stores are no longer in existence, and making his own alcohol for barter when the dollar collapses.

Paging Tea Party Titan Joe Miller. We have a casting call for you. Where are you Joe? You and your boys could make citizen's arrests on TV!

BREAKING …… Newt's former Yes-Man endorses Newt in GOTP primary…….

Tony Blankley:

after the GOP took back the House for the first time in 40 years (and the Senate, too, by the way), Gingrich's four years as speaker proved to be the most productive, legislative congressional years since at least 1965 to 1967, and they were led by Lyndon B. Johnson from the White House. Working against -- and with -- Democratic President Bill Clinton, we passed into law most of the Contract with America, welfare reform, telecommunications reform (which ushered in the modern cell phone and Internet age), we had the first balanced budget since before the Vietnam War, we cut taxes and lowered unemployment to under 5 percent.

Just who the heck do all these wizard political pros think managed all that? It wasn't us clever staffers or many of the now grumbling GOP K Street crowd. We helped, but Gingrich led.

Wow. I never saw this coming. Newt's Yes-man backing Newt and crediting Newt for the Clinton Economic plan and GHW Bush's 1990 budget deal which together balanced the budget? Just Wow.

/sarcasm>.

Late-Nite Comedians are Elitist and Stuff, cntd

"Yesterday, Newt Gingrich released a statement promising he would not cheat on his wife. Even better, he said he wouldn't cheat on his next wife either or the one after that."

- Conan O'Brien

I've believe Newt has apologized, repented and changed religions so he's in the clear for his past behavior. However, he may run out of religions to covert to if he keeps burning through wives.

Late-Nite Comedians are Elitist and Stuff

"Well, folks, Donald Trump has decided to cancel his Republican debate he was going to host later this month. The good news, he only has to tell two people."

- Jay Leno

Romney Scores another KEY endorsement….

…..who is not a Witch - Christine O'Donnell:

In an interview with ABC News, O'Donnell, the Tea Party candidate, said that she empathized with Romney has, in O'Donnell's words, been experiencing "nastiness" from Tea Partiers.

"I find the tone and nastiness of some of the things circulating around the internet about Romney extremely offensive," O'Donnell said according to ABC News.

O'Donnell said it was important that Republicans focus on Obama rather than each other.

"It’s politics of personal destruction aimed at our own and it’s got to stop,” O'Donnell said. “Right now a lawn gnome could beat Obama in 2012, so, yes, we can be picky, but not nasty or malicious. If we don’t stop the Republican cannibalism we’re simply turning this election over to the Democrats, who certainly don’t deserve it."

ABC reports that O'Donnell has donated $250 to Romney's campaign and plans to give more if Romney wins the nomination.

Maybe the O'Donnell magic will rub off on Willard.

Dispatches for the wingnut-O-sphere

The Clean Air Act was passed in 1970. President Obama was 9 at the time. The Law amended under The first President Bush in 1990. President Obama didn't have anything to do with this either. Yet some hold grudges.

Via Poweline Blog:

President Obama promised that if he became president, electricity costs would skyrocket. Of course, he intended to bring about that result by enacting cap and trade:

Today’s USA Today headlines: “Household electricity bills skyrocket.”

The increase reflects higher fuel prices and the expense of replacing old power plants, including heavily polluting — but cheap to operate — coal plants that don’t meet federal clean air requirements.

And, to his credit, Obama was able to fulfill his campaign promise without cap and trade!

Ah, yes. When old plants age out and need to be replaced, the new plant must be more efficient and clean. For some reason this is bad. Who needs to breathe anyway?

Let's remember that the clean air act is a success. It has reduced air pollution at the same time that energy consumption and automobile usage has risen sharply. But in today's GOTP, a job plan can be as simple as getting rid of the clean air and clean water.

YOU'RE FIRED!

Word on the internets has it that Donald Trump has fired himself as moderator for the December 27 GOTP debate.

Probably a good move on his part demonstrating his brilliance.

The Lamestream Media is still Elitist and Stuff

They just can't leave Poor Sarah alone:

Julianne Moore didn’t bring her research on Sarah Palin home with her. At Waterford’s Live A Crystal Life party Center548 in Chelsea on Thursday night, the flame-haired actress told us she “read every single thing” she could about the Grizzly Mama and “watched every interview” in order to prepare for her role as the former Alaska governor in next spring’s HBO mini-series, “Game Change.” But when we asked Moore if she’d developed a newfound respect for Palin after delving deeper into her life, the actress, 51, raised an eyebrow and sighed deeply. “No,” she said quietly.

Moore brightened when we told her that, earlier in the week, Rosie O'Donnell had compared her new fiancée, Michelle Rounds, to “The Kids Are All Right” star on Howard Stern's Sirius XM radio show earlier that week. “Oh! I have never heard this!” a surprised Moore said, adding: “I am very flattered, of course.

This reporting is of course MEAN.

Notice how the Elitists in the Media add the word "newfound" before the word "respect?" I did and note that it is a tricky way of hiding the obvious "oldfound" respect that so many already hold. I mean if your respect level is already at Maximum, there is very little chance of developing "newfound" respect. Did the Lamestream Media check this possibility out?

Just saying.

Chart of the Day - In it for the Benjamins

This is why Newt can hold out for a better offer. $1M to drop out of the race? Ha! That is just breakfast at Tiffany's. Why would he drop out for one morning of shopping when he is in this thing to go all out Imelda Marcos. Answer: he won't.

Right Wing Shock Jock Offers Gingrich $1M to drop out of the Race

Michael Savage, a bigot and grifter, offers this:

“Newt Gingrich is unelectable. Mitt Romney is the only candidate with a chance of defeating Barack Obama, and there is nothing more important than that for the future health, safety, and security of the United States of America,” the statement read. “Therefore I am offering Newt Gingrich one million dollars to drop out of the presidential race for the sake of the nation.”

[…]

“If Newt Gingrich really loves this country as much as he says he does, if he really wants what is best for America, he will set his ego aside, call me, and accept my offer,” the statement said. “His continued candidacy spells nothing but ruin for conservatives, Republicans and all true American patriots. One million dollars in exchange for preserving the nation, Newt. I say take the money and don’t run.”

So Willard over Newt? That is the logical play right now, but why should wingers play along now?

Here is the thing. If you make your living keeping wingers poor, dumb and lazy with AM radio diatribes, don't complain that someone else may also try to cash in on this same crowd. Newt is just playin' the game. The state of the GOTP electorate is piss poor. At one time or another, losers like Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Donald Trump have lead in the polls. Pathetic. But who can really blame these patriotic tea drinking smucks backing the train to loserville? These folks hear the wingnuttery on the Michael Savage AM radio program and the Foxnews. It is unsurprising that a fair number of 'em have bought into the bullshit. Newt Gingrich's support right now is an example of this.

While this sum could bank role a potential 4th or 5th wife, I think Newt needs to hold out for more Ca$h. Don't hate the winger. Hate the Game and Newt is nothing if not a playa.

PS…. Savage offer this passing shot at the Great White Hope that Gingrich could win an election with dazzling debate performances: Gingrich may please some but in the end he'll

“come off badly compared to Obama and look like nothing more than what he is: a fat, old, white man.”

Willard was always a Sneaky Bastard

Just redefine the Middle Class.

This: Romney's Plan to Help the Middle Class if you define the Middle Class as folks with $10 Million in Bonds.

Mitt Romney wants to offer a middle-class economic agenda. (Or anyway, his consultants have decided he needs to offer a middle-class economic agenda. Motives don’t matter for our purposes here.)

That agenda reduces itself to one point: elimination of taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends for Americans earning less than $200,000 a year.

How much benefit will this plan offer middle-income people? Precious little. Americans earning less than $200,000 (and by the way, at $200,000 individual income, we are rising well above the economic middle) do not receive many returns on invested capital. To the extent that under-$200,000s do receive capital income, it’s already protected from tax inside retirement accounts.

Retirees may benefit somewhat more. Some retirees may have accumulated significant assets during their working lives, and are now spending those assets down. For that population, the Romney plan will prove a windfall. But that must be a very small group of people – and a group that most Americans would regard as affluent, not middle class. It’s worth remembering that at current interest rates, it takes more than $10 million in government bonds to throw off $200,000 in interest income. It seems an ineffective means of aiding the troubled middle to allow a $10 million bondholder to receive up to $200,000 of interest tax-free.

From Romney's perspective the average middle class $10M bond holder is hustling just to survive and thankfully for these struggling few, Willard has got a plan.

Of course Newt called Willard out on this plan as too mean to those holding more than $10M in bonds. It is these people who Newt would help out. I'm still waiting for one of these clowns to propose a negative capital gains tax - start paying rich folks every time they sell a yacht.

That Explains It, Newt Never Grew Up

If one was wonder if there was an explanation for Newt immaturity, it may be because he never grew up:

Newt Gingrich assumes the mantel of the history professor when it suits the occasion. Other times he plays down his academic background. When in professor mode he likes to recommend books. None carry more weight in understanding his political and personal drive and his strategy to transform America more than the science fiction of Isaac Asimov. The greatest influence on Newt Gingrich, the conservative Republican, was the liberal atheist Isaac Asimov. Many in Newt’s generation, including me, read that stuff with great gusto and fascination. It was marvelous entertainment. Newt saw not just entertainment but a master plan using the Foundation trilogy as his political handbook, a guide to how one man creates a new force for civilized life. Two thousand years ago Cicero observed that to be ignorant of history was to remain always a child. To which we might add a Gingrich corollary: to confuse science fiction with reality is to remain always a child.

However, children can tell right from wrong, so Newt cannot use this as an excuse to explain away all of his misbehavior.

Notorious Deadbeat Dad in Trouble

Tea Party Favorite loses support from Club for Growth over Child Support Failures:

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) will run in a new Democratic-leaning district rather than challenge Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.) in a primary, he announced Thursday in Chicago.

Walsh, a Tea Party favorite with personal baggage stemming from alleged failures to pay child support, will face an uphill battle. Two strong Democratic recruits, Tammy Duckworth and Raja Krishnamoorthi, are already in a district that both President Obama and Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, would have carried based on the new district lines.

Walsh had originally said he would challenge Hultgren, and seemed to have the upper hand after the Club for Growth, a deep-pocketed fiscally conservative group, said they would back him should he run in the primary. But after it came out that Walsh’s wife was suing him for failing to pay years of child support, the group backed away from the congressman.

Hopefully his wife can garnish Walsh's pay before he hits unemployment. On second thought, he'll probably do just as well or better grifting on the Wingnut Welfare Circuit.

The Lamestream Media is in the Tank for Obama…..

…..according to Donald Trump:

"What they do with Obama is unbelievable. He goes to England. He makes all sorts of mistakes and gaffes and signs the wrong date by two years or so and everyone says, 'Oh, isn't that wonderful. Isn't that wonderful?'"

This is a definite symptom of Derangement Syndrome. The Donald has got it bad.

Bobo is in the Tank for Willard Milton Romney

Call him a Willardite:

In the two main Republican contenders, we have one man, Romney, who seems to have walked straight out of the 1950s, and another, Gingrich, who seems to have walked straight out of the 1960s. He has every negative character trait that conservatives associate with ’60s excess: narcissism, self-righteousness, self-indulgence and intemperance. He just has those traits in Republican form.

As nearly everyone who has ever worked with him knows, he would severely damage conservatism and the Republican Party if nominated. He would severely damage the Hamilton-Theodore Roosevelt strain in American life.

It’s really too bad. We could have had a great debate about the progressive-conservative tradition. President Obama is now embracing Roosevelt. Gingrich has tried to modernize this tendency.

But how you believe something is as important as what you believe. It doesn’t matter if a person shares your overall philosophy. If that person doesn’t have the right temperament and character, stay away.

When it comes to character, Newt is lacking. Understatement. Definitely an Understatement.

Santorum is Such a Tease

Yesterday News hit the Nets that there would be a MAJOR announcement from the Santorum campaign today. What could it possibly be? Turns out not much at all:

The major announcement tomorrow from Rick Santorum will be news that he has the backing of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz. As of today, Santorum is also one of only two participants in the upcoming Trump "debate."

Unless Santorum knows the identity of who Newt's 4th wife will be, he probably shouldn't tease us so.

Wingnut Dictionary - The Althouse Fallacy

A new Conspiracy arises…..Obama to take away your Guns…..all wingers beware...

From the Wingnet:

SURE LOOKS LIKE IT: John Hinderaker: Was Fast And Furious All About Gun Control? “We certainly want to be fair to the Obama administration officials who were involved in Fast and Furious. But a fundamental question has never been answered: why in the world did the Obama administration not just allow AK-47s and other weapons to be shipped across the border to Mexican drug gangs, but encourage and even finance such transactions, over the objections of jittery gun shop owners and its own veteran agents? If the Obama administration wasn’t trying to set up an argument for more gun control, then what was it trying to do?”

UPDATE: Ann Althouse: “If Hinderaker’s conclusion seems extreme, consider that it could be easily refuted by a clear statement from the Obama administration disclosing the true and legitimate purpose. The absence of such a statement propels us toward the extreme conclusion.”

CONTEXT: Within Right Wing Counter Culture there is deep suspicion that the Federal Government will eventually enact gun control limitations and then take away people's guns. So when a gun walking program begun under the Bush Administration to crack down on Mexican drug cartel derailed this year, some wingers, predictably started to see dark conspiratorial forces behind the program. It became a deliberate attempt to arm criminals who would kill patriotic tea drinking Americans in large numbers. After which, an outraged public would demand tighter gun laws which in turn would lead to UN Weapons Checkpoints on every street corner. Scary, sure, but still conspiracy theory stuff.

EXAMPLE of THE FALLACY: The Althouse statement, emboldening conspiracy talk can be explain like this: If there is a slight chance that a dark conspiracy exists, then the fact that Government Officials have not denied the existence of the dark conspiracy, indicates that the dark conspiracy is likely to exist. This is Beautiful Winguttery. It is not as good as Big Ed Whelan's claim that the Obama administration planned to implement Effete European Law and Sharia Law at the same time, making it possible for the Gay Folks to get married one day under Effete European Law and Executed under Sharia Law the next day. But still, it is not bad.

FALLACY DIAGRAM: If P then a very remote chance of Q. If no denial of Q, then Q is likely to exist.

RESOLUTION: Each of the speakers are right wing lawyers (Reynolds, Althouse and Hinderaker) and in theory each possesses the requisite intelligence and training to see the falsity of the rhetoric. Yet each persists. In a vacuum this would cause little concern, however by use of modern communication, this fallacy will reach multitudes of the unwashed teabagging masses. These readers, lacking education and training, will be susceptible to concluded that this fallacy, The Althouse Fallacy, is correct. Short of FEMA-run Anti-Obama Dissident Camps, there is little that can be done to prevent this type of rhetoric from permeating through right wing counter culture.

Recalcitrant Willardism Continues to Settle Over the GOP

From the Wingnet.

Erick Erickson discusses why he is no longer a Willardite expresses dismay over his choices:

I have made it clear over the past month for reasons there is no need to rehash that I am firmly in the not Romney camp. In the early days of the 2008 campaign I endorsed Mitt Romney. My endorsement was made based on so many people I respect having endorsed him. But it seemed every other day I was trying to defend him changing his position on another issue and eventually got so frustrated and started doing my own research that I just gave up and threw in the towel. I can’t get back on that train and I am frankly stunned so many never got off that train.

[…]

Some of the front page writers have endorsed. Others will endorse. Some of you will be convinced I am endorsing or supporting a particular candidate. That’s all well and good. But my intention is to vote for not Romney and that is the only intention I have had since settling into the position a while back that he would be a disaster of a nominee.

Lastly, and in all honesty, this field of candidates deeply depresses me. I have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we’re on the verge of having God hand us 1980 all over again and this time making John Anderson the Republican nominee.

I can see a day soon on the horizon where I just give up and focus on House and Senate races instead of the top race

Before we feel sorry for Erickson not having a candidate to endorse, let us recall that in addition to his other acts of vile teabaggery, it was Erickson who launched Operation Leper in the aftermath of the 2008 to shun all sane republicans that dared express an opinion on the disaster that was/is Sarah Palin. It was Erickson that helped lead the initiative to Teabag Utah Senator Bennett from office for the crime of being insufficiently pure. It was folks like Erickson who drove down the discourse to a level that limited the presidential field to all but sane republicans. The GOP presidential field is exactly what they deserve right now.

They Ain't Buying the Dog food

And they ain't buying Michele Bachmann's new memoir, Core of Conviction is not selling. As of yesterday the book is ranked 4,200 on Amazon's bestseller list.

Not really surprising. I think the Media may be to blame for all its meanness that it has shown toward Poor Michele.

In the end we are all Socialists, I guess

Even Newt Gingrich. From the Wingnet:

In an interview on GBTV, Michele Bachmann criticized Newt Gingrich’s support for the Medicare Part D prescription drug entitlement program, calling him a “frugal socialist.”

“It doesn’t help to have a frugal socialist,” Bachmann said. “That’s really what we’re talking about is managing socialism and trying to be a frugal socialist.”

Host Glenn Beck invited her to repeat the accusation, asking her pointblank whether she was calling Newt Gingrich a socialist.

“I’m saying a frugal socialist, yes! Because you’re looking at proposals and programs that are in effect redistribution of wealth and socialism-based, and are we going to have real change in the country or are we going to have frugal socialists?”

Young Conor Ponders the Propaganda Effect of Foxnews…..

….. and the Andrew Sullivan substitute makes some of the points I did earlier today, i.e., the poor quality of the GOP Presidential Candidates is reflective of the state of the Party as a whole.

Here's an incomplete list of how the network has been bad for conservatives, the Republican Party, and/or the American people. Call it The Costs of Fox News:

1) Fox News didn't launch when President Obama got elected. It was around for the whole Bush administration. Remember its endless apologia during what even many conservatives now concede was a disastrous eight years? As the network embraces the populist movement that is in part a backlash against Bush, no one should forget that Fox helped enable the Bush administration.

2) After President Obama's election, Fox News could've elevated critics of his administration like Mitch Daniels. Instead it elevated critics like Sarah Palin. And along with other factors, that affected the 2012 presidential field. The Tea Party might not have been possible without Fox News. Neither would Herman Cain.

3) Roger Ailes created a market for former and sometimes future GOP politicians to be highly paid on-air personalities, blurring the lines between politics and infotainment. This is problematic for the GOP because its politicians are incentivized to appeal to the cable-news audience more than the average Republican voter or the average American -- and because the most visible spokespeople for the right now model themselves after Sean Hannity more than Ronald Reagan.

4) Two words: Glenn Beck. Is it possible to broadcast hours of transparently absurd nonsense every day for months on end and for the effect to be almost completely salutary? Propaganda and misinformation have a cost.

5) Fox News makes a lot of grandparents needlessly anxious and pessimistic about stuff that they actually needn't worry about at all. For a certain kind of trusting consumer who lacks skepticism and media savvy, it is basically reducing quality of life for their last years on this earth.

6) Its coverage of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque managed to demonize innocent Muslim Americans and undercut the norm that religious groups are free to build places of worship wherever they want without government interference.

This is an incomplete list because anyone could spend hours going back through "The Daily Show" archives to the most absurd stuff Fox News broadcasts and pinpoint the particular harm each segment does.

Of some of the most vile things Foxnews does is to scare Old Folks. Maybe it’s the elitist in me, but I really don't think they need to be terrorized about the imaginary threat of the day. This really is vile when you think about it.

That aside, Foxnews really is corrosive, it is what gave us Teabaggers and it is the reason the GOP has such shitty candidates for President in 2012.

Once Upon a Time….

.….Newt Gingrich Endorsed Harriet Miers for SCOTUS:

Conservatives can trust in Miers

October 07, 2005|By NEWT GINGRICH

WASHINGTON -- Conservatives should feel confident with the selection of Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court for a simple reason: George W. Bush selected her.

Much has been made in the press about conservative unhappiness with the White House on issues such as spending and immigration and most recently with the selection of Ms. Miers. However, while these tensions are not insignificant, the president has stayed remarkably true to conservative principles on every major decision he has made since winning the Republican primary.

He unabashedly ran as a conservative in the election and even selected Dick Cheney - a man of impeccable conservative credentials - as his vice president. Once elected, he assembled a Cabinet of conservatives, including Donald H. Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft and Condoleezza Rice. He proceeded to cut taxes as promised, and did it again in 2002.

After 9/11, President Bush resisted the prevailing wisdom in Washington that terrorism should be dealt with as a crime, instead treating the attacks as acts of war that required a military response. And after the 2004 election, Mr. Bush put himself front and center as an impassioned advocate of transforming Social Security into a system of personal accounts.

In both of his presidential campaigns, Mr. Bush stated his intention to nominate judges who "will faithfully interpret the law and not legislate from the bench." And his appointments to the federal courts - including the hotly contested appeals court selections - fit that description.

Wingers were seriously PISSED off at Bush for nominating Miers instead of one who could be relied upon to be a loyal conservative activist on the Bench. I believe their anger was attributable to Sexism and Elitism. At least that's what Bush Administration Flacks said.

Ah, the Miers nomination saw some of the best winger on winger violence back in the day.

H/T: The Heretics at Frum Forum