A Spork in the Drawer

Hitlers! Hitlers Everywhere!

We should have seen this coming. The latest Hitler? Barack Obama.

Honestly, the Republican wingers need to be driven out of this country.

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Speaking Of Halliburton Heather

The GOP sure loves rewarding corruption:

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M.), who is fighting allegations she pressured a federal prosecutor to charge local Democrats with corruption in order to tar her opponent last fall, raised $325,000 in the first quarter of 2007 -- almost $100,000 more than she collected in the same period two years ago. In addition, she has $250,000 remaining in her campaign account, about 35 percent more than she had at the same point two years ago.

So much for the party of ethics and morality.

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No Comparison

NYT:

Memories of the rancorous 1995 budget fight between President Clinton and leaders of the Republican revolution are casting a distinct shadow over the current impasse between President Bush and Congressional Democrats on Iraq. Each side believes it can apply lessons learned from that earlier battle to its strategy in the current showdown.

Let's jump into the Wayback Machine and see what led to Newt's 1995 shutdown of the Federal government:

The speaker said Wednesday that tough terms in the government spending bill President Clinton vetoed Monday night were included partly as the result of pique he and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole felt on Air Force One during flights with the president to and from Israel for the funeral.

In 1995 Newt and Viagra Bob got all pissy about their seats on Air Force One. That's a little less serious than a disastrous war.

If I can remember this then surely the NYT's Carl Hulse can as well.

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Protecting Their Own

Senate GOoPers attempted to shut down today's Judiciary Committee hearing.

The attempt failed and the hearings are back on track.

What are the Repubs afraid of?

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Who Owns The GOP?

Mullah Dobson, of course:

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday. Related News

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination. [Emphasis added.]

Who the hell is Dobson to decide who's a Christian and who's not? Was he elected by some fundie version of the College of Cardinals? And why does the media consider Dobson and his ilk to be the True Voice of Christianity?

But these freaks have their own definitions:

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," [Focus on the Family spokesman Gary] Schneeberger added. "Dr. Dobson wasn't expressing a personal opinion about his reaction to a Thompson candidacy; he was trying to 'read the tea leaves' about such a possibility."

This ties in nicely with my earlier post about Zombie Republicans. When someone makes their home in Cloud-Cuckoo Land there's no talking to them - - would the "liberal" media come to understand that.

Finally, here's my favorite part:

Dobson's phone call to U.S. News senior editor Dan Gilgoff Tuesday was unsolicited.

Mullah Dobson wasn't speaking off the cuff during some interview; this was a carefully thought out Pronouncement.

To Hell with Dobson and to Hell with his media enablers and to Hell with all of those who don't speak out against this insane egomaniac.

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Zombies

Meyerson:

The truly astonishing thing about the latest scandals besetting the Bush administration is that they stem from actions the administration took after the November elections, when Democratic control of Congress was a fait accompli.

[...]

There are, I think, four possible, partial explanations. The first is Rudy-ex-machina-- the hope that the party will nominate somebody who is not perceived to be part of their current mess and who will sweep them back into power no matter how big a hole they may now be digging for him. The second is a strategy to make it impossible for the Democrats to pass any legislation, and then run against the do-nothing Democrats.

The third is that the alternative reality conveyed by the Republican media -- Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and their ilk -- has created a Republican activist base that is genuinely not reality-based, and from which the current generation of Republican pols is disproportionately drawn. And the fourth, pertaining specifically to the inability of the administration to stop politicizing government, is that good government is just not in their DNA. Bush and Rove are no more inclined to create a government based on such impartial values as law and science than they are to set up collective farms.

I think all of Meyerson's possibilities are spot on but I especially favor the third: Talk to any FOX "News"- watching, Rush Limbaugh-listening Republican zombie and you might as well be talking to a crazy person (OK, OK...). They simply live in a different reality where facts become "facts" (at best) and must conform to ideology. Anything that contradicts already held beliefs must be rationalized away or (more commonly) denied (and, it goes without saying, Bill Clinton is responsible for everything bad).

This is the fundamental problem with politics in 21st. century America: One side is utterly irrational. And there's no talking to a crazy person.

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Circling The Drain

The White House is on its own:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' allies on Capitol Hill grew scarce Tuesday as he left it largely to aides to carry out President Bush's order to straighten out the story behind the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

Senate Republicans exiting their weekly policy lunch no longer bothered to defend Gonzales' response to lawmakers' questions about the firings. At most, they mustered an appeal to withhold judgment until the attorney general testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 17.

If George wants to hitch his entire administration to Gonzo then I won't stand in the way.

On a related issue, the Senate setting a deadline for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, clammyc writes:

The republicans could have made a huge deal about this. Hell, they make a huge deal about everything – even when they were able to do everything without any consequences or anyone else even knowing. They could have fought this bill and stomped up and down and tried to make the Democrats blink. They could have made a big stink about “not wanting to tell the terrorists when they can come out and kill again”.

But they didn’t.

They hung Bush – “dear leader” - their leader out to dry. Twisting in the wind. Basically, by not giving him cover here, the message is, in no uncertain terms, “you can’t keep fucking us over like this anymore. If you want your funding, then you gotta figure a way out.”

The problem is that George and Dick have no intention of figuring a way out. Indeed, they may very well conclude that their only way of retaining power is to start another, bigger war - Iran. They're certainly rattling the sabres loudly enough. And if this does happen - next month? - then we'll all be going down with them.

May you live in interesting times, goes the saying.

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I Can't Imagine Why

Another thing George has wrecked:

Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged during George W. Bush's presidency, as attitudes have edged away from some of the conservative values that fueled GOP political victories, a major survey has found.

Heckuva job, Bushie!

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Count The Lies

(Click to enlarge.)

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Run, Jeb, Run!

The Repubs are looking for a candidate:

The pool of Republican candidates for the White House may already be standing room only, but a lot of conservatives still don't have a dog in this fight. For those who aren't too excited about the current prospects, there's one name that still crops up now and again: Jeb Bush.

...But Republican insiders say the nation may be suffering from "Bush fatigue," which could cripple a Jeb candidacy from the start.

"Bush fatigue"? Do ya think?

I, for one, encourage a Jeb! candidacy and hope the GOP nominates him to be their presidential candidate.

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Dionne

E.J. asks a question:

Really? Here's what Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) had to say about perjury: "Lying under oath is an ancient crime of great weight because it shields other offenses, because it blocks the light of truth in human affairs. It is a dagger in the heart of our legal system, and indeed in our democracy. It cannot, it should not, it must not be tolerated.''

Ros-Lehtinen made that statement not about Libby, but to justify the impeachment of Bill Clinton back in 1998. I have no idea where she stands on the Plame-Wilson case. But it's certainly amusing that so many who were eager to throw Clinton out of office for perjury and obstruction of justice when he lied about sex are now livid at Fitzgerald for bringing comparable charges in a controversy over the rationale for war. Do they think sex is more important than war?

Yes.

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Go, Joe

It's time to make Holy Joe unwelcome in the Democratic party. Beyond his siding with the Rethugs he's now taken to extortion:

So far, Lieberman is using his clout mostly in ways that discomfit his fellow Democrats, while his relationship with Republicans has involved more collaboration than coercion. When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Bush's State of the Union proposal for a bipartisan terrorism panel was redundant, Lieberman, who supported the idea, privately sent Reid a letter saying he was "upset." Within days, Reid backed down and negotiated the panel's makeup with the White House. And last month, after Lieberman told Reid he had stopped attending the weekly Democratic lunch because he didn't feel comfortable discussing Iraq there, Reid offered to hold those discussions at another time. Lieberman has started attending again.

If Weeping Joe caucuses with the GOP that would leave the Senate evenly divided with Delusional Dick as the tie-breaking vote. However, via BooMan, we find out that the Dems would still control the Senate.

As BooMan notes, forcing Lieberman out would enable actual Democrats to placed on several important committees including Homeland Security.

So go, Joe. Your extortion, your enabling of BushCo™, your colossal ego are no longer wanted. Just go.

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yay us

I feel so special:

Tony Snow, President George Bush's press spokesman, will be the keynote speaker tomorrow at the Republican Committee of Allegheny County's annual Spirit of Lincoln dinner.

The modern Republic party wouldn't know the spirit of Lincoln if he came back to life and ate their brains.

Then again, GOP brains aren't at all nourishing.

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Say What?

The WaPo picks up on the story of the fake Abraham Lincoln quote used in an op-ed by neocon Frank Gaffney and recycled yesterday by Rep. Don Young (R-Nuremberg):

During floor debate on the Iraq war yesterday, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) quoted Abraham Lincoln as advocating the hanging of lawmakers who undermine military morale during wartime.

"Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged," Young declared.

One problem: Lincoln never said such a thing.

Okay, that's settled. But...

"Now that he's been informed these are not the actual words of Lincoln, he will discontinue attributing the words to Lincoln. However, he continues to totally agree with the message of the statement," Kenny said. "Americans, especially America's elected leaders, should not take actions during a time of war that damage the morale of our soldiers and military -- and that is exactly what this nonbinding resolution does."

And no, Kenny said, Young was "not advocating the hanging of Democrats."

Hold on: Young "totally agrees with the message of the statement" but doesn't advocate "the hanging of Democrats."

If he "totally" agrees then, yes, he is advocating the hanging of Democrats. Even if we take hanging out of this Young is still advocating arrest and/or exile. Sound pretty fascistic to me.

And, one has to wonder, why do Republicans who vote for the resolution get a pass?

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The People Who Run The Country

Josh Marshall has the goods on some GOP Congresscritters who are pushing the idea that not only is evolution a lie but the Earth doesn't revolve around the Sun. These things are - get ready for it, you know it's coming - a conspiracy by the JEEWWWSS!1!

Yes, these freaks were actually elected.

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More Copywrongs

From kos, the Rethugs are all het up because Nancy Pelosi is using C-SPAN clips on her new blog. Writes the GOP:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brad Dayspring (202) 225-3484

February 15, 2007

Speaker Pelosi's New Blog Violates C-SPAN Copyright/Trademark of House Proceedings
Will the Speaker bring the gavel down on "the Gavel Blog?"

As you may have heard, Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a new blog entitled "The Gavel." Though we applaud the Speaker's effort to adapt to new technology, the blog violated copyright and trademark law on the very first day.

Not once, not twice, but 16 times?

As of noon today, the Speaker had posted at least 16 videos that are copyrighted
C-SPAN material from the House floor. The RSC spoke with C-SPAN today, who confirmed that these videos violate C-SPAN copyright/trademark of the House proceedings.

Using C-Span for partisan purposes?

In addition to using pirated material, Speaker Pelosi also has used the pirated C-SPAN footage for partisan purposes. The collection of C-SPAN footage used in her "first official blog" is an example and the other pirated C-SPAN trademarked material shows Democrat after Democrat offering their views of the non-binding Democrat resolution on the reinforcement and realignment of American troops in Iraq.

So, what does Speaker Pelosi believe the role of C-SPAN is?

"One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's first decisions was to deny a request by C-SPAN to be permitted to cover the House floor proceedings with its own cameras. Last month, Pelosi sent a letter to C-SPAN Chairman and CEO Brian Lamb saying she believed "the dignity and decorum" of the House "are best preserved by maintaining the current system of televised proceedings."

(CQ Weekly, January 15, 2007, Page 169)

Is the dignity and decorum of the House preserved by pirating copyrighted C-SPAN material for political purposes?

If not, will the Speaker bring the gavel down on "the Gavel Blog?"

###

Brad Dayspring
Communications Director
Republican Study Committee
(202) 225-3484
AIM: BDDACE2
www.house.gov/hensarling/rsc

The usual jackass behavior from the Rethugs aside, it never occurred to me that C-SPAN's coverage of Congress was copyrighted. Clearly, this is an outrage. No doubt, C-SPAN's original programming is copyrighted but what happens on the floors and committee rooms of the House and Senate should, with no exceptions, be in the public domain.

I agree with kos completely: Force C-SPAN to put Congressional coverage into the public domain or kick them out and install government cameras (the cameras are and always have been controlled by the Speaker so there likely wouldn't be any change in the coverage itself).

Like I said, it never occurred to me that this wasn't in the public domain.

---

ADDED: Matt Stoller has more. Short version: US copyright law is seriously screwed up. But you knew that.

ADDED LATER: Aaaand...The whole thing has blown up in the Rethug's faces. They withdraw the charges. (Via Think Progress.)

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You Lose

The Republic Party knows which way the wind is blowing:

"The debate should not be about the [troop] surge or its details. This debate should not even be about the Iraq war to date," Reps. John Shadegg of Arizona and Peter Hoekstra of Michigan wrote.

"Rather the debate must be about the global threat of the radical Islamist movement…. If we let Democrats force us into a debate on the surge or the current situation in Iraq, we lose."

They admit they can't win on the facts - so they have to introduce new, irrelevant facts.

Good going, GOoPers.

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Follow The Money

363 tons of cash!?!

Bills weighing a total of 363 tons were loaded onto military aircraft in the largest cash shipments ever made by the Federal Reserve, said Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

"Who in their right mind would send 363 tons of cash into a war zone? But that's exactly what our government did," the California Democrat said during a hearing reviewing possible waste, fraud and abuse of funds in Iraq.

[...]

"I have no knowledge of monies being diverted. I would certainly be concerned if I thought they were," Bremer said. He pointed out that the problem of fake names on the payroll existed before the U.S.-led invasion.

[...]

Republicans argued that Bremer and the CPA staff did the best they could under the circumstances and accused Democrats of trying to score political points over the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

"We are in a war against terrorists, to have a blame meeting isn't, in my opinion, constructive," said Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican.

Looks like the Republicans don't want to know where the money went. I wonder why that might be.

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Republicans

So much for "an up-or-down" vote:

Senate Republicans used a procedural maneuver Monday to keep Democratic leaders from moving forward with a nonbinding resolution opposing President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq.

A motion to proceed with the debate and vote on a bipartisan compromise measure failed on a largely party-line vote of 49-47. Under Senate rules, it needed 60 votes.

Oh, and here's a big surprise:

There you have it: Sen. Lieberman just vote 'against cloture', i.e., for the filibuster to prevent the anti-surge resolution from coming to a vote.

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Useful Idiot

I speak, of course, of Holy Joe.

Now it's official: Lieberman is a tool of the GOP.

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St. John McCain

[Bumped. See update.]

Straight-talking maverick St. John McCain and 27 other Repubs yesterday voted to eliminate - completely eliminate - the federal minimum wage.

He's always looking out for the little people.

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ADDED: The inestimable watertiger, in comments, provides Ted Kennedy's response:

Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?

C&L has the video.

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Black Hole

Novakula:

The sense of impending political doom that clutches Republican hearts one week after President Bush presented his new strategy on Iraq to the nation is stoked by the alarming intelligence brought back from Baghdad by Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and passed around Capitol Hill.

[...]

This hastens the desire of Republicans, who once cheered the Bush Doctrine in the Middle East, to remove U.S. forces from a politically deteriorating condition as soon as possible. "Iraq is a black hole for the Republican Party," a prominent party strategist told me this week. What makes his comments so important is that he is not a maverick Republican in Congress but one of Bush's principal political advisers.

The GOP in distress. Such a shame.

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al-Qaeda Is Our Friend

In what can only be considered another example of the Librul Media in action the LATimes gives space to respected conservative Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza believes that the Islamists are right to hate America (because we tolerate Teh Gay and baby killing and watch Baywatch) and thus domestic conservatives should team up with Islamists to oppose Librul decadence.

You know what? I'm not even going to bother. D'Souza is beneath contempt. That conservative institutions respect and support him tells you all you need to know about modern conservatism.

But if you wish watch Stephen Colbert utterly destroy D'Souza. If text is your thing read Jim Wolcott.

Life is too short to deal with such disgusting creatures.

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ADDED: watertiger brings us the visual.

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Unbelievable

Actually, it's all too believable. Following the Repubs' whinging this morning they're now demanding the passage of a "Minority Bill of Rights" so they're not treated the way the Democrats were treated by, well, the Republicans.

Ideally, I'd like to see Congress run on a fair basis for all but this latest spate of cry-babyism from the most authoritarian bunch in this nation's history makes me conclude: Screw the Republicans. Give them what they so richly deserve. Which is to say: Give them nothing.

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Cry Me A River

The only thing they're good at is whining:

But instead of allowing Republicans to fully participate in deliberations, as promised after the Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, Democrats now say they will use House rules to prevent the opposition from offering alternative measures, assuring speedy passage of the bills and allowing their party to trumpet early victories.

[...]

House Republicans have begun to complain that Democrats are backing away from their promise to work cooperatively. They are working on their own strategy for the first 100 hours, and part of it is built on the idea that they might be able to break the Democrats' slender majority by wooing away some conservative Democrats. [Emphasis added.]

Golly, Congressional Repubs are soooo mistreated. It breaks the heart.

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This Twit Works For A Congresscritter?

Josh Marshall brings us the story of one Todd Shriber, communications director for Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT).

I won't even attempt to summarize it except to say, pace Steve Benen, this guy is dumber than the average villain in a Carl Hiaasen novel.

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UPDATE: Shriber sacked. That was fast.

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Crazy Pills

That's what newspaper editors must be swallowing these days (see Krauthammer, below). How else can we account for this op-ed published today by the Daily Scaife:

Throughout, the Republican President Bush oddly failed to hold Congress accountable -- especially the Senate.

[...]

For good or ill, Democrats hail from the party of government. They are far better at getting their political way than Republicans are -- and far better at running government to their desired ends. [...]

For all their mouthings to the contrary, Democrats are less bipartisan than Republicans and more effective at imposing party discipline. As the past Congress has demonstrated, Republicans play better with Democrats, fight snippily among themselves -- and get little done.

[...] [Reublicans] cleave to Democrats, too often prefer Democrat positions -- and advance the game to the Democrats' ends.

Uh-huh. The GOP had a comfortable majority in both houses of Congress (and excluded Dems from decision making as a matter of policy), had the most unrestrained president in this nation's history, a compliant Supreme Court, and a brain-dead "news" media. Yet the Democrats are so powerful and evil that it all came to naught.

And the author of this brilliant exercise in delusion? Ross Mackenzie is the editorial page editor at the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.

Yes, newspaper editors are swallowing crazy pills like M&M's.

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Mitt

Would-be president Romney has a problem:

Mr. Romney’s standing among conservatives is being hurt by a letter he sent to the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts saying that he would be a stronger advocate for gay rights than Senator Edward M. Kennedy, his opponent in a Senate race, in a position that stands in contrast to his current role as a champion of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

“We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern,” Mr. Romney wrote in a detailed plea for the support of the club, a gay Republican organization.

[...]

“This is quite disturbing,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who had praised Mr. Romney as a champion of traditional values at the group’s conference in late September. “This type of information is going to create a lot of problems for Governor Romney. He is going to have a hard time overcoming this.”

Paul Weyrich, a founder of the modern conservative movement, said: “Unless he comes out with an abject repudiation of this, I think it makes him out to be a hypocrite. And if he totally repudiates this, you have to ask, on what grounds?”

Perhaps Mitt will claim that he was "brainwashed" like his father did.

At any rate, Romney doesn't have a chance. No matter how much he proves that he hates Teh Gay he's still a Mormon and the GOP's Christianist base simply won't vote for that "cult."

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Another BushCo™ Screwup

So how's the Coast Guard doing? Not so good:

A multibillion-dollar effort to modernize the Coast Guard's fleet has suffered delays, cost increases, design flaws and, most recently, the idling of eight 123-foot patrol boats that were found to be not seaworthy after an $88 million refurbishment.

The sidelining of eight of 10 Miami-based cutters worsens a patrol-boat crisis while the Coast Guard is preparing for an exodus of Cubans that could happen when dictator Fidel Castro is no longer in power, Coast Guard leaders acknowledge.

[...]

The program's failures are spelled out in a series of Government Accountability Office and Department of Homeland Security inspector general's reports and in congressional testimony, which point to the leeway given to the program's contractors, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Through their joint venture, Integrated Coast Guard Systems, the companies declined to comment, referring all questions to the Coast Guard.

Notice the word "leeway." I can't imagine who would give government contractors free-reign.

House Democrats have discussed exerting more control over Deepwater projects. But [GOP Sen. Judd] Gregg said the answer is more money to accelerate Deepwater, not less. "My view is, we're going to spend what it takes to get the nation up to speed," he said.

No oversight! More money for contractors! The Republican philosophy in a nutshell.

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A Good Idea

Rosa Brooks:

GOOD NEWS, fellow citizens: The federal government has created a new standardized test!

Designed by the Department of Homeland Security's office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, it will be used to determine which immigrants qualify for naturalized U.S. citizenship. It will rigorously assess immigrants' knowledge of "the fundamental concepts of American democracy," asking tough questions such as "Why do we have three branches of government?" "What is the rule of law?" and "What are inalienable rights?"

[...]

But there's no reason to restrict this test to immigrants. We should make native-born Americans take the test too — and deport them to their last known countries of ancestry if they flunk.

Fair's fair. Research suggests that most native-born Americans would probably fail the new exam — even though most of us are second-, third- or 10th-generation immigrants and have had generations to get this civics thing down. Why should we ask first-generation immigrants to know more about the United States than the rest of us?

[...]

Last spring, one survey found that although 52% of Americans could name two or more of the characters from "The Simpsons," only 28% could identify two of the freedoms protected under the 1st Amendment. Another recent poll found that 77% of Americans could name at least two of the Seven Dwarfs from "Snow White," but only 24% could name two or more Supreme Court justices.

In September, the Annenberg Public Policy Center released a poll showing that only two-thirds of Americans could identify all three branches of government; only 55% of Americans were aware that the Supreme Court can declare an act of Congress unconstitutional; and 35% thought that it was the intention of the founding fathers to give the president "the final say" over Congress and the judiciary.

[...]

THEY SAY YOU get the government you deserve — and as a nation of civics ignoramuses, perhaps we do deserve the Bush administration, which has made spitting on the Constitution a point of pride.

At various points over the last six years, this administration has claimed the right to detain U.S. citizens and hold them indefinitely without charge, trial or access to counsel; the right to ignore laws passed by Congress; and the right to evade judicial review of executive branch actions. Members of the administration, from the president on down, have made it clear that as far as they're concerned, there's only one branch of government and there's no such thing as inalienable rights.

But as the honest civil servants at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could surely explain, recent administration policies and statements reflect an understanding of American civics that's simply incorrect.

Sorry, fellas! Deportation time.

Donald H. Rumsfeld, the outgoing secretary of Defense, would be sent back to Germany, where his ancestors came from. He might end up indicted by a German court for authorizing the torture of U.S. detainees, but that's the breaks. For President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, deportation wouldn't be nearly so bad. Bush would be sent back to Fantasyland, where he spends most of his time anyway, and Cheney would feel right at home back in his native Transylvania.

The Administration aside, I'd like to see just how many mouth-breathing SuperPatriots! could pass a citizenship test. My guess: No many.

Bring it on!

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WAAAAHHH!

And the wingers cry like little babies:

Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh called it "The Iraq Surrender Group."

The conservative New York Post tabloid doctored a front-page photo to depict the co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group in primate fur, under the headline "Surrender Monkeys," inspired by a frequently quoted line from "The Simpsons."

And conservative commentator William J. Bennett vented in volcanic fashion. "In all my time in Washington I've never seen such smugness, arrogance, or such insufferable moral superiority," Bennett wrote on the National Review website. "Self-congratulatory. Full of itself. Horrible."

Howls of protest echoed across the right side of the political spectrum as conservatives voiced dismay with the findings of the bipartisan Iraq panel, released Wednesday.

The Oxycontin Kid, the NYPost, and Slots Bennett; there's some intellectual firepower.

That diagnosis has compounded the pain for conservatives who saw voters turn control of both chambers of Congress over to Democrats last month, largely because of mounting frustration with the war in Iraq.

Conservatives were particularly incensed at the study group's recommendation that the United States engage Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria, as part of a broad new diplomatic push to enlist other countries, even those that see themselves as enemies of the United States, to try to solve the Iraq problem.

Face it, boys: You're ugly and nobody likes you. Whoops! And a girl, too:

"It was about as interesting as a small-town phone book," said Danielle Pletka, a vice president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington think tank, on Fox News. "I was amazed by the report. There were very few concrete suggestions. There were very few deep ideas. And there were very, very few plans for victory."

The return of Pletka! If you desire more Pletka see here, here, and here.

Whiny bunch, ain't they?

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Classy

The reliably degenerate New York Post:

[Via Roy.]

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They Genuinely Don't...

...realize how stupid they sound. On the prospect of Congress working five days a week:

For lawmakers within a reasonable commute of Washington, longer weeks are not a burden -- although they are likely to cut into members' fundraising and campaigning activities. But for members from Alaska and Hawaii, the West Coast, or rural states, the new schedule will mean less time at home and more stress.

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."

Say, Jack, if you're that concerned about spending time with your family how about cutting back on the lobbyist time and corporate-funded junkets? And one more thing, Jack, I don't think the families working two or three jobs is going to be all that sympathetic.

You might want to think on that.

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Lousy To The Last

While Congressional Republicans can't be bothered to finish the budget they've somehow managed to find time to bring up an anti-choice bill.

In a just society the GOP would be shunned for a generation.

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Spot On

Atrios:

One thing our media never acknowledges is that conservative pundits play under a total separate set of rules than liberal pundits. Specifically, conservative pundits are generally indistinguishable from political operatives. They aren't just writing interesting columns about things they're interested in, they're advancing an agenda, which includes electing Republicans, often with little or no regard for truth. If they can get away with it, and they frequently do, they'll just make stuff up and lie.

If someone generally identified as a liberal (e.g., Paul Krugman or Keith Olbermann) were to make crap up like George Will it would fuel the "news" networks for days. Maybe the Sabbath Gasbags as well.

The center and the left have to realize something: The "news" media is not and never will be our friends. So don't try to suck up to them; the only thing they might understand is a rhetorical 2x4 upside the head.

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Soul?

Thanks for the advice. Now go away:

Wholesome crooner Pat Boone has gone from “Love Letters in the Sand” to lines in the sand, judging by his appearance Wednesday at the Heritage Foundation.

The soul-singer-turned-conservative-evangelist was in town to promote his book, “Pat Boone’s America,” as well as the agenda of the 60 Plus Association, the free market alternative to AARP.

Pat Boone is a soul singer? What does that make Marvin Gaye?

After warning of the “new order of Armageddon,” he delineated his vision of the new revolution. Referring to the Supreme Court justices, he said, “We need a new Boston Tea Party, only this time let’s not waste good tea — let’s heap a bunch of black robes into the harbor. It won’t hurt the robes. They can swim out and they can re-enroll in Constitution 101.”

Pat Boone, meet Ann Coulter.

Finally, noting that there were songs written for the Army, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, but none for the National Guard, Boone said he took the chore upon himself, penning “For Our Country: The Ballad of the National Guard.” He said, “Bruce Springsteen didn’t do it. Nelly, Eminem and Diddy and Piddy and Poopy and whoever the other rappers are didn’t — so I did.” And then he sang it.

No doubt the National Guard is grateful.

Say, Pat, you know what the National Guard would be more grateful for? Being brought home. Or at least some body armor.

Jackass.

Pat Boone and friend.

[Via Think Progress.]

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We Saw This Coming

On Nancy Pelosi:

"Come January, we'll take her head off every day," said a top GOP aide involved in the planning. "It will be a pure war of ideas over the next two years."

Leading the battle with be incoming House Minority Leader John Boehner and his conservative team. Insiders say that the goal is to pick at Democratic initiatives as pro-tax, pro-spending, or unworkable.

Let's face it: That's all they have. But it is going to be brutal.

Happily, we have a strong, skeptical news media to expose the Repub's lies.

On second thought, we're fucked.

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Free Tommy Chong!

LameDuck George picks another winner:

President George Bush announced yesterday that Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, has been appointed to a national post within the Department of Justice.

Ms. Buchanan, 43, will serve as the acting director of the Office on Violence Against Women.

She will continue to serve as the U.S. attorney here and will split time between the two posts.

From Amanda:

Unsurprising news: BushCo has an opportunity to appoint another flunkie to head up a federal office and that’s just what they’re going to do. This particular flunkie appointee is particularly distressing because she’s to head the Office on Violence Against Women. Her name is Mary Beth Buchanan and she’s one of those Ashcroftian “moral” crusaders more worried about people smoking pot and masturbating than in the privacy of their own homes than any real issues. How badly are her priorities screwed? She was a big player in the War on Drugs, spending $12 million to put 55 people in jail for selling bongs.

That last bit includes the infamous jailing of comic Tommy Chong.

Buchanan is no friend of the First Amendment.

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Requiem For A Cat Killer

Frist:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist will not run for president in 2008, Republican officials said Wednesday, as the field of White House contenders continued to shrink more than a year before the first convention delegates are chosen.

Frist's formal announcement was expected later in the day.

He won't be missed. But Americans of a feline persuasion should be on guard. MC KatKillah will have a lot of time on his hands.

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Cue Nelson Muntz

The Bugman screwed Texas over:

Not a single Lone Star lawmaker will hold a top-ranked job, a far cry from the days when Fort Worth's Jim Wright was speaker, or the more recent years when Republicans Dick Armey and Tom DeLay served back-to-back terms setting the agenda as majority leader.

"It's a low point," said former Dallas congressman John Bryant, a Democrat. "It's not like it was, there's no question about that."

Without exception, Democrats blame the redistricting Mr. DeLay engineered. Three veterans who lost their seats would have chaired major committees in the Pelosi House. But Texas Republicans take strong issue with the idea that the state's clout is diminished or that they're shut out of power.

[...]

One implication of redistricting is that six of the 20 Texas Republicans in the new House will have almost no seniority.

"I'm apprehensive about it. I've never been in the minority in this kind of a partisan atmosphere," said Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, who spent 16 years in the Texas House, including a stint as minority leader. "You don't get to carry bills. You don't get recognized in committee. You're not inconsequential, but you don't get handed the ball very much."

It would appear that the former exterminator turned his nasty chemicals onto his own state.

[Via Kos.]

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A Last, Desperate Wail

They get letters:

This PG editorial perpetuates Democratic myths

The Nov. 13 editorial "Balancing Act" made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Laugh because the Post-Gazette continues to perpetuate the Democratic myth that the economy is bad and that the people of this country want to "cut and run" in Iraq. And cry because this city continues to believe you.

The stock market, along with the GNP, has hit and continues the climb to record highs. Unemployment is at 4.4 percent, considered "full employment" ("Jobless Rate Hits 51/2-Year Low," Nov. 4). The federal government is seeing increased revenues that have cut the budget deficit in half, long before predicted ("Deficit Reaches Four-Year Low," Oct. 12).

Could the reason for the PG's attitude be that it exists in a city that is controlled by Democrats who have been unable to capitalize on the good economic news?

Did the PG ever stop to ask why U.S. Rep. John Murtha was picked by the Democrats to start the anti-war talk? Could it be because he could safely compromise the war effort and endanger our troops without losing his seat?

The results of the election were clear. With good intentions but dire consequences, conservatives stayed home, obviously unhappy with the straying of their party into the Democratic territories of scandals, runaway spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants and lack of border security. Hence the election of conservative Democrats and the repudiation of liberal ballot initiatives in many states.

I would suggest that the PG get a reality check before it becomes completely irrelevant.

DORIS GRADY
Shadyside

Doris: You lost. Get over it.

(That's so much fun to say! Now I understand why Rethugs were so fond of it.)

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The Democrats...

...should do something about this freak:

The Bush administration has appointed a new chief of family-planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services who worked at a Christian pregnancy-counseling organization that regards the distribution of contraceptives as "demeaning to women."

Eric Keroack, medical director for A Woman's Concern, a nonprofit group based in Dorchester, Mass., will become deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in the next two weeks, department spokeswoman Christina Pearson said yesterday.

[...]

The appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, was the latest provocative personnel move by the White House since Democrats won control of Congress in this month's midterm elections. President Bush last week pushed the Senate to confirm John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and this week renominated six candidates for appellate court judgeships who have previously been blocked by lawmakers. Democrats said the moves belie Bush's post-election promises of bipartisanship.

The Keroack appointment angered many family-planning advocates, who noted that A Woman's Concern supports sexual abstinence until marriage, opposes contraception and does not distribute information promoting birth control at its six centers in eastern Massachusetts.

Clearly, and despite talk of "bipartisanship", LameDuck George intends to continue to drag us back to the fifteenth century.

ADDED: The always excellent Michelle Goldberg has more.

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The Never-Ending Campaign

2008 has begun:

The political action group, which focuses on abortion rights and other privacy issues, decided to wait until after the election to air the ads, with the hopes of getting an early jump on the 2008 presidential race.

The ad -- which began airing Sunday, only in Pennsylvania -- asks viewers, "What is the Republican Party today? Is it the party of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan?"

Or is it a vocal minority of extremists?, the advertisement asks, flashing images of evangelists Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ted Haggard, as well as the ousted U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

[...]

The ad campaign begins in Pennsylvania, but the group hopes to be on the air in Iowa or New Hampshire -- the states with the earliest primaries -- within the next six months.

It makes you want to do an Elvis on your teevee.

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He's Baaa-ack

Trent Lott:

In a closed-door meeting of the Senate Republican caucus, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, a former Senate Republican leader, was elected to replace McConnell as whip. Lott defeated Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee by one vote, a party aide said.

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Tom Delay's Remains

The Hammer falls:

Shelley Sekula-Gibbs was sworn in as a congresswoman on Monday night and already she's a lame duck. Because of a weird electoral quirk, her brief term in office expires next month.

[...]

Tom "The Hammer" DeLay, the former House majority leader who was indicted on money-laundering charges, resigned from Congress last spring after winning the Republican primary. Last week, voters in DeLay's old district, the 22nd, got to cast two votes for Congress. The Texas voters elected Sekula-Gibbs to fill the remaining portion of DeLay's term -- but they elected Democrat Nick Lampson to succeed DeLay in the Congress that takes office in January, a race that Sekula-Gibbs had to run as a write-in candidate.

That makes for a very short congressional career for Sekula-Gibbs, 53, who is a member of the Houston City Council and a dermatologist -- probably two or three weeks, if you don't count recesses. But she'll retain all the perks that any other ex-member gets, such as use of the House gym and access to the House floor.

Helluva way to run a government.

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Annoying The Base

It would appear that LameDuck George's choice of Sen. Mel Martinez isn't sitting well with the Republican nutters:

Criticism of Martinez came Tuesday from several conservatives, including Curly Haugland, an RNC member from North Dakota, who said he believed the party was far too focused on pandering to minorities.

"We're losing our base in droves because they don't get campaigned to," he said, referring to GOP-leaning conservatives.

Apparently, the elections were also a defeat for grammar.

Randy Pullen of Arizona, another RNC member and an activist against illegal immigration, likened Martinez's selection to the episode last year in which Bush named his longtime friend and legal counsel to the Supreme Court, only to reverse himself after a furious conservative backlash.

"I'm hoping that it's not another Harriet Miers moment," Pullen said.

Another "Harriet Miers moment"? Bring it on!

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Gloating

Reg Henry:

Oh, I grant you, it is cathartic to counter critics with their own mocking words. What are the charming little phrases they used to fling at us after 2000 and 2004? Yes, now I remember: "GET OVER IT!" and "STOP WHINING!" This is still timely advice but saying it now must be resisted, even if a lower-case tone of voice is adopted.

It is not only because liberals are smarter, wiser, kinder and have more interesting pets than conservatives do -- surely that goes without saying. The high road must be taken because the low road is such a crass and obvious trail. Besides, to make conservatives feel resentful is to do them a favor. They love feeling resentful and put upon -- which explains why they are always in a lather about something. That is the fun of politics for them.

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Telegraphing

Holy Joe:

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said yesterday that he will caucus with Senate Democrats in the new Congress, but he would not rule out switching to the Republican caucus if he starts to feel uncomfortable among Democrats.

Joe crossing the aisle would give the Republicans effective control of the Senate.

Note to Connecticut voters: Don't say you weren't warned.

[Via kos.]

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Still Unemployed

Despicte earlier rumors about Michael Steele, LameDuck George chooses Sen. Mel Martinez to head the RNC.

There's no telling how long this will last as Martinez might well be Abramoffed.

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The Sadness Of Being A Republican

Gainful employment:

"It's probably been 20 or 30 years for some of these folks since they've looked for a job," says Nels Olson, who heads the Washington office of Korn/Ferry International, a headhunting firm.

On the other hand, in a few months these former members may be stinking rich in their new gigs, so maybe we shouldn't feel bad for them.

Washington's biennial job search is bigger than usual this year. In addition to members of Congress who are retiring or who lost their reelection bids, hundreds of Republican committee staffers may lose their jobs because Democrats are taking over the House and the Senate.

My heart breaks for them.

It would be nice if every last one of them were forced to live on the Federal Minimum Wage for the next five or so years.

A fella can dream, can't he?

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Joe! Joe! Joe!

Jack Kelly dreams:

Though the election clearly was a repudiation of Republicans, it wasn't an endorsement of a leftward shift. The only clear-cut referendum on the Iraq war was in deep blue Connecticut, where the Senate race was won easily by the hawk, Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

Dream, Jack, dream.

(What a maroon!)

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