A Spork in the Drawer

Saturday Palate Cleanser

Meanwhile, in Canada:

.

Yowza

First Lady Michelle Obama's official portrait has been released and the NYT's Jodi Kantor is going to throw a hissy fit.

.

Laugh Of The Day

An article on this year's CPAC conference by the NYT's Sheryl Gay Stolberg includes the following sentence:

To be a conservative in the age of Obama is to be thinking, deeply, about the movement’s future.

I hope Ms. Stolberg was able to keep a straight face as she wrote that.

Considering deep thinkers such as Michele Bachmann, Michael Steele, and Bobby Jindal makes me wonder what shallow thinking would be like.

.

The Republican Mindset - Summation

Pierce:

You want to rebuild your "Movement," such as it was? Then get it out of the f**king Phantom Zone. Come to the sad conclusion that it's not 1998 any more, that the country's in actual trouble, and nobody of any substance takes you and your "issues" seriously. You want to rebuild the Republican party? Lose the phone numbers of every one of these clowns. These are people who never learned that a sneer is not logic and that a string of adjectives is not an argument. All that matters is Pissing Off The Liberals. Do that, and they'll adore you. That's how a public Froot Loop like Michelle Bachmann gets a featured speaking role, and that's why any sensible Republicans would look at this gathering and feel the cold, dead hands of Zachary Taylor and the rest of the Whigs settling ominously on their shoulders. FWIW, Sarah Palin declined to attend. Maybe she is the future, after all.

The modern conservative movement in 25 seconds:

.

The Republican Mindset IV

This CPAC conference is pure, unadulterated wingnut gold. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-Boogedy Boogedy):

DeMint...told the CPAC crowd that conservatives might have to “take to the streets to stop America’s slide into socialism.”

From the same article:

[Yesterday] Mike Huckabee told the conference of conservative activists that “the Union of American Socialist Republics is being born” with the president’s stimulus package.

“Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff,” Huckabee said of the government bailing out financial institutions.

From Blue Texan:

It's been pretty clear for over a decade that the conservative movement is less an ideology and more like mass hysteria.

Keep it up, guys, gals (and Ann Coulter)!

.

Something To Hide

To be honest, I had forgotten about rightwing sugar daddy Dickie Scaife's ongoing and messy divorce. As it turns out, the case is now before a judge and things have gotten a bit fishy:

Last night, City Paper received word that Richard Mellon Scaife's divorce has moved to the trial stage -- but that arguments are taking place in a closed courtroom, with no access to the public or press.

[...]

We asked for a copy of the order closing the proceedings this morning, but were told that the order, too, was under seal. In other words, we don't know what's going on inside the courtroom -- and we don't even know why we can't find out.

News editor Charlie Deitch and I went to Hertzberg's chambers this morning, and were told that if we wanted to petition the court to open the proceeding, we would have to first serve notice to Scaife and his estranged wife about our intention to do so. A clerk in Hertzberg's office told us such notice must be given to both parties seven days in advance. We recieved similar instruction from the office of David Wecht, who is the administrative judge in charge of the county's Family Court branch.

Naturally, we are concerned that by that time, the trial may have ended, making the attempt to open the proceedings moot. City Paper is currently discussing our next step with attorneys.

Naturally, the local "news" media is both corrupt and lazy:

It is perhaps no surprise that the Trib isn't anxious to lift the lid on its publisher's travails. The Trib is also a "news exchange partner" with WTAE-TV, and Scaife owns an AM radio station, KQV.  But the P-G has been silent as well ... even though today's Post-Gazette features a front-page story about how the paper is seeking access to closed proceedings surrounding a lawsuit filed against West Virginia University.

But what of poor Beauregard?

[Tip o' the hat to dayvoe and Ol' Froth in comments.]

.

The Republican Mindset III

Mitch McConnell edition:

Who wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich when you can be with Rush Limbaugh?

Having "hung out" with Paul Krugman I know how I answer that question.

[Via, ironically, Paul Krugman.]

.

The Republican Mindset II

CPAC:

And check out this latest development in Steele's campaign to create a hip-hop image for the GOP. Michele Bachmann praised Steele's speech: "Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man."

And no, this is not from The Onion.

Michele is representin', yo.

.

The Republican Mindset

Chicago getting nuked is both desirable and HI-larious!

.

Hilarity

When last we heard from former Bush speechwriter and WaPo columnist Michael Gerson he was praising to high heaven the genius that is Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal just hours before Jindal, uhhh, spoke to the nation. Gerson returns today and naturally slams Obama's speech before Congress and in the process slams FDR's New Deal by quoting...wait for it...

Economic historian* Amity Shlaes reminds us, "Roosevelt did famously well by one measure, the political poll. He flunked by two other meters that we today know are critically important: the unemployment rate and the Dow Jones industrial average."

Oh Washington Post, how do you find such geniuses for your op-ed page?

*Once more, Shlaes is neither an economist nor an historian. Just because the Council on Foreign Relations claims something doesn't make it so.

.