June 2011
May 2011
“If it were not for Mitt Romney, with assistance from the Heritage Foundation and...”
– Ryan Lizza
Republicans paved the way for Affordable Care Act. The turned one-eighty just for politics, not because of what they believe to be correct.
Now they act like like contemptuous toddlers, call it Obamacare in an attempt to rouse their identity politic loving base, pretend health care...
Sarah Palin’s message to the President is this:
leftish:
‘You have to see the entire task through.’ It’s the sort of important political and Presidential advice that she had to quit her job as Governor to be able to tweet.
~ Jon Stewart
Seniors And Republicans Liking Obama
“Obama’s overall approval rating among independents and Democrats is virtually unchanged since late April, but among Republicans it is up 12 points, to 27 percent,” Holland says. “That 27 percent sounds pretty anemic, but it’s Obama’s highest approval rating among Republicans in over two years.”
The same pattern holds among age groups. “Bin...
Hypocrisy Of America
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) finally took his campaign to Iowa on Friday. He immediately endorsed ethanol subsidies, as is required by state voters.
Do you think Iowa farmers who take the Government subsidies and vote Republican, or Republican candidates who endorse these subsidies, realize how this destroys their small government rhetoric?
Nazism Archetypes/Symbols Then And Now
I seriously do not like comparing anyone in modern politics to Nazis, but history has lessons we should learn. Was watching a show on Nazis and was struck by how similar the narrative used by the Right Wing in 1930s Germany was to the Right Wing/Tea Party in America:
Concept of a Golden Age
Concept of a fall
Concept of suffering
Concept of redemption
Symbols of the Grail
Symbols of purity
...
“Sarah Palin represents a dangerous force in American culture that is startlingly...”
– James Howard Kunstler (via azspot)
Such a distraction, but totally ties into the non-serious nature of the GOP.
“…someone needs to say the obvious: inventing reasons not to put the unemployed...”
– Paul Krugman (via azspot)
The Fetus Focus Fallacy →
cognitivedissonance:
This article is long, but worth the read. I’m posting my favorite excerpts, all emphasis mine.
On personhood:
Besides the capacity to experience emotions, we generally think of personhood as possessing the qualities of intelligence, self-awareness, and moral responsibility. Fetuses do not share these characteristics. On a more practical level however, the term “person” is...
“The question is no longer whether Fox News is an arm of the GOP, but whether...”
– Eric Burns, quoted in Rolling Stone’s “How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory.” (via ryking)
Support Collapses for House Republicans
A new Democracy Corps (D) survey finds disapproval of House Republicans has surged from 46% in February to 55% in April to a striking 59% now. Disapproval now outnumbers approval two-to-one; intense disapproval by three-to-one.
The GOP enthusiasm gap is extinguished. Add to that that the Primary season will force the GOP to tack hard Right …. it’s all over for the GOP but...
“I think there are victories and then there are symbolic victories.”
– Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the New York Times, “who, at least for now, seems to be here less to make laws than points.”
When you’re that much out of touch and stubbornly defiant, selfish symbolic victories are all you can get. Rationalizer Rand, clown prince of the...
1 tag
WatchYou must watch this. Thom Hartmann destroys Fox Business Channel’s war on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
“President Bush was almost hit by a foul ball at a baseball game. Bush vowed...”
– Conan O’Brien
“Some call it Obamacare. I call it Obama Cares.”
– Senator Barbra Mikulski [D-MD] - @benpolitico (via brooklynmutt)
Despite What Boehner Says, Republicans Have Voted... →
“… the Ryan plan is turning into a political disaster for Republicans, not...”
– Paul Krugman
“The now-ubiquitous Republican notion that reducing spending during an economic...”
– Herbert Hoover Called. He Wants His Fiscal Policy Back. (via ryking)
Republicans and “zero serious intellectual support” are synonyms.
“I suspect that there’s a legend in the making — one that will come to dominate...”
– Paul Krugman (via pantslessprogressive)
Another Victory For Obama: Chrysler
Chrysler said Tuesday that it had paid back $7.6 billion in loans from the American and Canadian governments, marking another significant step in the revival of the company, the smallest of the Detroit automakers.
Chrysler said it made payments of $5.9 billion to the United States Treasury and $1.7 billion to Export Development Canada in a series of transactions completed Tuesday morning....
“As an Israeli citizen, I want to thank you…You should know that many Israelis...”
– A Sullivan Reader (via letterstomycountry)
Conservative Radio Is Tanking
“Right-wing talk radio may have worn out its welcome, at least for now,” reports Crain’s New York Business. A new Arbitron report shows Rush Limbaugh’s ratings down 33% from a year ago and Sean Hannitty down 28% over the same time period. Meanwhile, more centrist personalities — Don Imus in the morning and John Batchelor at night — were both up from a ...
The GOP Love Bibi Over Barry
“… a chess game … has been going on for more than a month, beginning when Netanyahu’s office arranged for the House Republicans to invite Bibi to the Capitol to address Congress. This outrageous (some might say) collusion between the right-wing parties of the United States and Israel was designed to box in the President by having Bibi set the stage for the next round of...
The Elephant In The Green Room
“The circus Roger Ailes created at Fox News made his network $900 million last year. But it may have lost him something more important: the next election.”
The wacko Republican “leaders” in Ailes’ employ are, well, wackos, and Ailes knows it.
When Doomsday Predictions Fail
Here’s an interesting one:
“After Baptist preacher William Miller predicted the end of the world on Oct. 22, 1844 — a date thereafter known as ‘The Great Disappointment’ when nothing happened — his followers struggled to explain their mistake. One subset decided that on that date, Jesus had shifted his location in heaven in preparation to return to Earth. This...
Republican's Mental Shangri-La
Jacob Weisberg tackles one of my favorite subjects in his latest column, asking, “Are Republicans losing their grip on reality?” As Weisberg sees it, “the current state of the national Republican Party” is burdened by a disturbing dynamic: “magical thinking trumps rationality.”
Some of this, he suggests, is the result of pandering. For example, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) refuses to...
Mitch Daniels Will Not Run for President
New York Times: “His announcement answers one of the most highly anticipated questions about the 2012 Republican campaign, but introduces new uncertainty into the race. He is the latest in a string of prominent Republicans to decline a presidential bid, leaving the field without a clear front-runner less than eight months before the first voting could begin.”
Add another to...
Not That I Wanted The Loser There, But...
“When George W. Bush declined President Barack Obama’s invitation to a ceremony at New York City’s Ground Zero after Osama bin Laden was killed, the former president cited his desire to keep a low public profile. But … in the week after Obama’s Ground Zero event, the nation’s 43rd president made time for three separate speeches to hedge fund executives, a Swiss bank ...
Popularity Plummets for New GOP Governors
“The cycle of over-reach and backlash is in over-drive these days — with significant implications for the 2012 presidential election. In pivotal swing-states where voters narrowly elected Republican governors in 2010 — like Florida and Ohio (with 47 electoral votes between them) — evidence of buyer’s remorse is piling up fast.”
The power grab failed....
“We’ve evolved in the space of a decade from “deficits don’t matter” to “defaults...”
– David Frum, former Reagan speech writer and current Republican pariah, on the GOP playing chicken with defaulting on the debt they created.
How Gingrich Can Win
The Rapture does happen this weekend, but only Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, and Jeb Bush ascend to heaven.
In this scenario, most of the GOP candidates and would-be candidates will be in the clouds with Jesus. Gingrich, a recent convert to Catholicism, probably takes an Amillennial view of Revelations, and will remain on Earth...
“[The Tea Party] was a handy force for rousing the voters in the 2010 election,...”
– Kevin Drum, expecting GOP elites to squash the Tea Party.
The death of the right wing fringe is hard to believe, but welcome. The ideology they push is so stale, the expiration date on most of their ideas are 40 years past due.