Picture of the Day - Mt. Denali

By order of President Obama today, the designation of the tallest peak in North America reverted back to Mt. Denali -- it's original name.  For more than a century, the mountain had been named after William McKinley by a gold prospector while McKinley was running for President because he favored the gold standard, as did the prospector, naturally.

The people of Alaska have been fighting to have the name revert back to Mt. Denali for over 40 years, but were blocked by Ohio Republican politicians, from whose state McKinley hailed.  The fight's been won, and now Mt. Denali has its rightful name back.

UPDATE:  Bezos Bugle columnist Dana Milbank notes that the renaming will become yet another molehill for Rethugs to whine about: 

More likely, the mountain will be added to other molehills of Obama overreach: Obamacare, the stimulus, Dodd Frank, the IRS, immigration, executive appointments and on and on. The common objection to all of these is less about what was done than who did it." (emphasis added)

(photo:  Al Grillo, AP)

Is That A Chicken About To Roost On Jennifer Rubin?

Here's one of the once great Washington Post's Bezos Bugle's house wingnuts, Jennifer Rubin, today on the Rump Trump phenomenon, citing "Republican operatives" (she's got nothing much more to say, so no link):

These Republicans, on one hand, despair that an egocentric bully with no discernible political principles should be leading in polls. They observe that his incoherent mix of authoritarianism, protectionism and cronyism is antithetical to the modern conservative movement, and in tone is 180 degrees from Ronald Reagan.

Hahaha.  Once again for her benefit, St. Ronnie of Hollywood and Donald "Rump" Trump speak the same language, only St. Ronnie spoke in dog whistles and symbolic staging ("tone") and Rump speaks with ear- splitting clarity.  And, horrors! ... how could anyone ever think that authoritarianism (=cough=  the entire Cheney/Bush administration =cough=), protectionism (=cough= Rubin idol Millionaire Mitt Romney =cough=) and cronyism (=cough= Google Republican cronyism =cough=) were part of the "modern conservative movement"/ Republican bloodstream! It apparently hasn't entered the vacant space between Rubin's ears.

Rubin, in the recent past, has bemoaned the "crackpots" and other chickens that have come home to roost in her beloved Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party.  Judging from her latest sad, she doesn't see the poultry about to land on her, too.

How's That Hispanic Outreach Coming Along? Chris Christie Wants To Track Immigrants Like Packages

Largest rock in the Republican presidential candidate box of rocks Gov. Chris "Krispykreme" Christie is working overtime to grab some attention away from front- runner and classy, gold- plated rock in the Republican box Donald "Rump" Trump.  He's got a plan to track immigrants that would make Heinrich Himmler proud:

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Saturday that if he were elected president he would combat illegal immigration by creating a system to track foreign visitors the way FedEx tracks packages.

The way FedEx tracks packages, of course, is with an imprinted bar code system.  So, like a tattoo?  Or maybe a microchip implant like for a pet?  This guy Christie is a big (and we do mean big) thinker stinker and another example of a "talented," "well-qualified" Republican candidate in their "deep field!"

BONUS:  As Tengrain notes, if Christie were a FedEx package, "there would be extra shipping charges."  Rimshot!

(Photo: Chris Christie - A block, a stone, a worse than senseless thing!)

How's That Hispanic Outreach Coming Along? Rump Trump Dept.

Here's today's eRumption, guaranteed to win the hearts and minds of Hispanic Americans everywhere.  It's raging Republican nativist blowhard Donald "Rump" Trump speaking to yahoos in Nashville, TN about his recent encounter with respected Univision journalist Jorge Ramos:

He got perhaps his biggest cheers of the day by boasting about his back-and-forth with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos during a press conference in Iowa.

“This clown, Jose Reyes, or whatever the hell his name is,” he said. “Ramos! Actually, Jose Reyes is a baseball player. Ramos got up the other day screaming and ranting.”

That's quite a "net positive," isn't it,  emptiest- suit- in- politics Reince Priebus?  YOOOGE!

Scott Walker: A Wall On The Canadian Border "A Legitimate Issue"

Hey, here's something idea- starved Ruth Marcus (see below) could be writing about:  Koch brothers puppet and one of 17 rocks in a box Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland), the Acheson of Appleton:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), a staunch advocate of beefing up security on the southern border, said Sunday he is open to building a wall on the U.S. border with Canada as well.

The Republican presidential candidate said the idea of building a northern wall was brought up to him during a recent town hall in New Hampshire. 

 "That is a legitimate issue for us to look at," Walker said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."  (our emphasis)

Too late!  "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz (R-Calgary) already crossed the border!

Another one of those "talented," "well-qualified" Republicans in their "deep field!"

(Photo:  Scott Walker - a hoser for sure, eh?)

More Washington Post Biden Boomlet Wanking

Today, it's the ever- appalling Georgetown salon dweller Ruth Marcus wanking about Joementum!  (Her op/ed is full of ridiculous Biden boosterism fueled by Clinton hate and the desire to muddle the Democratic race and reinforce the media's "Democrats in disarray" narrative.)  Since she's typically several beats behind the Conventional Wisdom, Marcus is coming a bit late to the once great Washington Post's Bezos Bugle's Biden Boomlet, because it would seem the latest Conventional Wisdom is that Biden is not going to run.  Presumably, Marcus can't find enough to write about in the box of rocks also known as the 17 Republican presidential candidates to fill her weekly quota of electrons.   That's your "liberal media," friends.

As an antidote to the Bezos Bugle's ongoing anybody- but- Clinton wankery, here's Ed Kilgore:

Notwithstanding attributions of “panic,” and despite heavy, heavy negative press for months now, Hillary Clinton is maintaining a lead over all potential Republican nominees in the RealClearPolitics polling averages. In the last national poll to be released, from CNN/ORC, she led Bush by nine points, Fiorina by ten points, and Walker and Trump by six points. In the Democratic nomination contest, she’s leading Sanders nationally two-to-one, even though pollsters are choosing to muddy the waters by including Biden in the surveys, and is leading Bernie in every state other than (in some polls) New Hampshire. Biden’s running a weak third at around 12 percent. Having run twice before and failed dismally twice before, amid signs he did not or could not raise the kind of money needed for a serious candidacy, he’s not exactly a natural magnet for moneyed or tenured elites, either.

The more you look at the Biden bandwagon, it looks more like a ghost ship being pulled through the mist by a combination of hungry political reporters, Hillary haters (including most of the conservative media), and Delaware-based Friends of Joe who, of course, would love to see him run. Plus there’s [Clinton- hating South Carolina Democrat Dick, and we do mean Dick] Harpootlian!

As Kilgore points out, pollsters are muddying the waters by putting Biden in the surveys (where he comes in a distant third);  with him not included, Clinton's "falling numbers" firm back up again.  But, when you want your narrative to be, "Clinton Flailing;  Joe Biden to the Rescue?", you can arrange it any way you want.

Sunday Sermon

As was pointed out here and on No More Mister Nice Blog, evangelicals really don't care that Rump is a divorce-happy, narcissistic, non-churchgoing hypocrite.  It's not surprising then that professional bigots are unafraid of the social conservative sheeple they exploit.  As hate merchant Ann "Ann Man" Coulter tweeted,  "I don't care if @realDonaldTrump wants to perform abortions in White House after this immigration policy paper."

Exactly.

Today's Cartoon - We Can Only Hope

(click on image to enlarge)

(Jack Ohman, The Sacramento Bee)

Hurricane Katrina - 10th Anniversary Of A "Manmade Disaster"

Hurricane Katrina, a category 3 hurricane, devastated New Orleans and the southern Gulf coast 10 years ago today.  What was initially a terrible natural disaster quickly morphed into a manmade disaster when the storm surge overwhelmed the levees and government, most egregiously the Bush administration, failed in their response to the flooding and human misery.  One of the lessons that remains to be learned is expressed in this long but riveting clip from "The Rachel Maddow Show" last week:  we should not rely on people who don't believe in government to run the government.  The clip (with closed captioning) reminds us of those days and what still, 10 years later, remains to be done.

Overstated Quote of the Day

"Does Hillary Clinton have a serious legal problem because she may have transmitted classified information on her private e-mail server? After talking with a half-dozen knowledgeable lawyers, I think this 'scandal' is overstated. Using the server was a self-inflicted wound by Clinton, but it’s not something a prosecutor would take to court." -- (emphasis added) formerly great Washington Post Bezos Bugle opinion writer and Beltway insider David Ignatius spilling the beans about the e-mail "scandal" that's being flogged by Rethuglican operatives and their Clinton-despising friends in the media.

What makes this article unusual is Ignatius' status as a Beltway opinion leader.  This article probably won't change many minds among his colleagues, but it may cause them to wonder -- for the first time -- whether they've crawled too far out on a limb on this story.

"Trust Me, It'll Be YOOGE"

Jimmy Kimmel has done billionaire buffoon Donald "Rump" Trump's job for him in preparing this ad delving into Rump's…um…less-than-specific positions.  Our wish:  may Rump go long -- very very long -- into the Rethuglican primary season and stay short on specifics.

Trump And The Hypocrisy Of The "Religious" Right

Sarah Posner writes in Religion Dispatches of the fascination for blowhard bigot Donald "Rump" Trump on the "religious" right:

Give Trump credit for one thing: exposing, in plain view, that much of the religious right is driven more by politics than by religion; that is, more by mythology than theology. The usual demands that candidates pledge their fealty to the Bible, to the Christian nation, to the idea that America is in decline because of secularism have been suspended for Trump. That’s befuddling many observers. But the Trump phenomenon exposes how the piety test is often a proxy for other, irreligious motives.

The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni, for one, was shocked by evangelicals whose support of Trump is antithetical to the sacred text they claim is the foundation of our country. As historian Kevin Kruse points out, though, the fact that Ronald Reagan was a divorced non-church-goer who once supported abortion rights didn’t stop evangelicals from supporting him, either.  (our emphasis)

One such prominent pharisee is the smarmy David Brody of CBN.  Ed Kilgore notes Brody's reaction to Rump's handling of Jorge Ramos recently:

That’s what voters want. They want a fighter. They want someone who is going to dish it back to agenda-setting reporters. You see, when it comes to the liberal mainstream media, conservative voters hold a true disdain for the lot of them but they don’t feel they have the power or bully pulpit to fight back against them. Trump is their bully pulpit. Trump is their voice. And that my friends, is the magic of Trump.

"Bully pulpit," indeed (and not in the Teddy Roosevelt sense).  So...  Christ- like!  Also, only the most delusional or meretricious fool (o.k., Brody) would detect a "liberal mainstream media."

The key point Posner makes is that the "religious" right isn't so much motivated by religion or religious precepts.  It's more of the same politics of inchoate grievance (Brody: "they don't feel they have the power or bully pulpit to fight back").  Rump pleases many of them because he is their angry id coming out in the most direct, hateful manner, always punching down at the less fortunate.  Unlike those one would normally expect to be the favorites of the "religious" right like Mike "Huckster" Huckabee, Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum, or even Ben "On Meds?" Carson, the very worldly Rump more satisfyingly broadcasts their hardly Christian, irrational anger over "those people" who are changing the face of America. 

BONUS:  Rump apparently hasn't cracked his self-proclaimed favorite book, the Bible.  To interviewers he says, "The Bible means a lot to me but I don't want to get into specifics."  That dodge spawned a few mocking tweets.

Weekend Summertime Bird Music

Had he lived, legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Charlie "Bird" Parker would have turned 95 tomorrow.  Tragically, the troubled genius died in 1955 at the age of 34, but not after having achieving greatness as a soloist and highly influential catalyst in modern jazz.  Known as one of the founders of the "bebop" jazz style which emphasized fast, improvisational riffs, Parker also had an interest in ballads and classical music.  An example of this interest is the 1949 "Charlie Parker With Strings" album, which contained this seasonally- appropriate George Gershwin classic, "Summertime."

Economy Surged In Second Quarter

From MarketWatch:

The U.S. economy looks much more vigorous in the second quarter than previously thought, as a report released Thursday showed businesses got off the sidelines and spent some money.

The acceleration in business investment, if it’s sustained, could add to the economy’s momentum in the months ahead. The data show why the Federal Reserve is considering hiking interest rates at its next meeting in September.

The U.S. economy grew at a faster 3.7% annual pace in the second quarter, up from the initial estimate of growth at a 2.3% clip, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

When folks like the right-wing cranks at "The American Thinker Stinker" saw the late July estimate of 2.3%, they were predictably gleeful at the "lousy" growth.  Now we have a little tune for them.

Thanks a lot, Obama!

Eyewitness News Cartoons of the Day

(click to enlarge)

The latest grisly "statement" by an armed, mentally disturbed person happened yesterday near Roanoke, VA when a reporter and her camera man were shot and killed during a live report by a former employee of their station, who accumulated grievances wherever he worked and finally exploded.

BONUS:  Grung_E_Gene has a broader perspective on gun violence, drugs, and white power.

(cartoons: top, Nick Anderson, center, Darrin Bell, bottom, Steve Breen)

Photo Of The Day - Marco Rubio Tries Out President's Chair *

(click on image to enlarge)

* Not really.  Sen. Marco Rubio at Grevior Furniture Store in Franklin, New Hampshire today.

He's a big kid now!

(h/t Digby)

Your Daily Biden Boomlet, Presented By The Totally Objective Washington Post

The Clinton haters objective reporters at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle just can't print enough of this stuff:

The possibility that Vice President Biden may jump into the 2016 presidential campaign is convulsing the network of wealthy Democrats that financed President Obama’s two White House bids, galvanizing fundraisers who are underwhelmed by Hillary Rodham Clinton’s performance.

A wide swath of party financiers is convinced that Biden will make a late entry into the race, and a sizable number are contemplating backing him, including some who have signed on with Clinton, according to more than a dozen top Democratic fundraisers nationwide.

Their potential support — driven in part by a desire to recapture the passion they felt in Obama’s campaigns — could play a key role in helping the vice president decide whether to make a third White House bid. The chatter among a cadre of well-connected party fundraisers suggests that he could benefit from an early jolt of money should he run.

"Galvanizing," "wide swath," "recapture the passion."  Ooooh, we're feeling the Joe-mentum, completely neutral Bezos Bugle reporter!

Here's what those of us in the real world, who don't have to depend on creating false narratives and blowing hot air into trial balloons, are looking at:  after months of assaults by Republicans and their media stenographers, Hillary Clinton still has a healthy lead among Democrats (48% to Bernie Sanders' 26%, with Joe Biden at 14%). 

Clinton is maintaining a clear, sustained lead against her Republican rivals (see post below).  Would Biden rise in the polls if he gets in?  Probably - and it would last about as long his first gaffe (we like Joe, but the reality is he's a certified, long-term gaffe machine).  They all look invincible when they're not running, and the media loves you until it doesn't, especially if you're a Democrat.

BONUS:  Laura Clawson at Daily Kos has more on the same subject.

Sorry, Media - Hillary Clinton Isn't Losing Ground

Despite the on-going media drumbeat suggesting Hillary Clinton's support is sagging, let's see what the composite trend lines are for her against the Republican field (click on image to enlarge):

Courtesy Daily Kos Elections

As David Nir notes:

The chart above shows a combined average of every single national poll taken since March 1 of this year that pits Clinton against the 10 leading Republican candidates—197 matchups in all, courtesy of Huffington Post Pollster. The key takeaway, as you can see from the blue and red trendlines, is that the race has been remarkably static.

In fact, at the beginning of March, Clinton led the GOP field by an average of 50.3 to 42.6, or 7.7 percentage points. Now, in late August, she leads 48.7 to 41.2, or 7.5 percent. Clinton's "collapse," in other words, is 0.2 percent! No serious analyst would consider that anything more than a rounding error. (And we're not cherry-picking the start date, either: The picture is the same if you dial it back to Jan. 1.)

And about those Clinton "unfavorable" numbers the media likes to quote?

Now of course any politician wants her favorability numbers to be in positive territory. But it doesn't matter nearly as much as you might think, because if you're running for president in this 50-50 nation of ours, there's a very good chance your opponent is also under water. Clinton's favorables, according to HuffPo's average, stand at 42-50 today—not great, but Jeb Bush's are quite a bit worse, at 33-47. Yet we haven't seen panicked media reports about Jeb's lousy numbers. That ought to tell you something.

What it tells us is something we've known for a long time:  the media (in particular the Beltway pundits, New York Times and once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle) has an obsession with taking Hillary Clinton down, and in that regard it's willing to be the stenographer for any right-wing Republican operation that feeds them bogus "stories."  It's been frustrating and aggravating to watch them flog this narrative, but knowing that it hasn't had any significant effect so far is encouraging.

Throw Him An Anchor

Failed Louisiana Governor and amateur exorcist Piyush "Bobby" Jindal likes to tell his story about being a son of immigrants from India, while blasting immigration policy and trying to get to the right of Donald "Rump" Trump on the issue.  Except now the immigration issue's a problem for him, given the rising nativist bigotry in his party. Yesterday, he was at a sparsely attended meet-and-greet in Iowa, and after telling the story of his mother coming to the U.S. five months pregnant with him, an audience member rose and asked, "Did I hear you say you were an anchor baby?"  To which Piyush could only answer lamely, "No, no I'm not."

The unpopular Louisiana Governor wouldn't win an election in his state today, and he won't win any primaries or caucuses. But he's won our award for the Biggest Hypocrite on Immigration.

Coming Home Mid-Week Song

Leon Bridges is an up-and-coming R&B / gospel singer from Ft. Worth, TX.  His music evokes the rhythms and sounds of '60s artists like Sam Cooke, as does the vintage clothing he wears while performing.  His first album, "Coming Home," was released last June, and this title cut from the album has since gone viral.  Enjoy.

Trump To Jorge Ramos: "Go Back To Univision!"

Here's Republican front runner and authoritarian bully Donald "Rump" Trump yesterday in Iowa telling respected Univision journalist Jorge Ramos to "Sit down, sit down" and "Go back to Univision," before having one of his jamokes escort Ramos out of the hall:



Trump:  Making America great again!

BONUS I:  Rump's picked up the endorsement of former KKK Grand Wizard (and Republican State Representative from Louisiana) David Duke, who says,

"...he’s certainly the best of the lot. And he’s certainly somebody that we should get behind in terms, ya know, raising the image of this thing.”

 "We" meaning white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and "this thing" meaning xenophobic racism.

BONUS II:  The New Yorker has a chilling article by Evan Osnos about Rump's raging nativist / neo-Fascist following.  Must read.

Get The Popcorn Ready - Trump v. Fox, Round 2

When Fux "News" anchor Megyn Kelly returned from a 10-day vacation, after Fux boss Roger "Jabba The Nut" Ailes made nice with billionaire narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump following Kelly's memorable debate questioning of Rump, there seemed to be peace (or at least a truce) between the two.  But as soon as Kelly returned to her program last night, the thin-skinned Rump unleashed a new series of nasty, misogynist tweets about Kelly, saying that she was "off her game" and "should be replaced," followed by some retweets from his rageaholic fans calling Kelly a "bimbo" and other charming epithets.

Ailes fired off a statement calling Rump's attack "unacceptable as it is disturbing," writing that "Donald Trump rarely apologizes, although in this case, he should." Rump later responded saying he did not think Kelly "was a quality journalist."

What makes this continuing dust-up so gratifying is the fact that Ailes & Co. have let Rump spew his venom for years at Fux's political adversaries.  Now, with the blunderbuss aimed at them, we'll see how Fux handles the monster that they had a large role in creating.

Quote Of The Day: Shaky Legs Frank Luntz (Updated)

Here's Republican pollster and "word doctor" Frank "Dunce" Luntz (described by Donald "Rump" Trump as a "low class slob") after conducting a focus group that Luntz said, "left my legs shaking":

“I want to put the Republican leadership behind this mirror and let them see,” he added. “They need to wake up. They don’t realize how the grassroots have abandoned them. Donald Trump is punishment to a Republican elite that wasn’t listening to their grassroots.”

No,  actually low class slob Frank, Trump is punishment to a Republican elite that wasn't telling the truth to their grassroots for the past, oh, forty years.  It's called "reaping what you sow."

And low class slob, Frank, you can take a lot of credit for pulling the wool over the sheeples' eyes, on Obamacare, climate change, etc.  Whenever there was an opportunity to tell the hard truth, you counseled using weasel words, lies and misdirection to maintain the anger and ignorance of the Republican  "grassroots."  Looks like your methods haven't changed.

BONUS:  Charles P. Pierce notices the same cognitive dissonance:

Luntz is chief among those in what is laughably referred to as a "Republican establishment" who are terrified of The Libidinous Visitor [i.e., Trump] when they should be more terrified of the audience to whom he is appealing, and the very large box of rocks that this now largely vestigial "Republican establishment" has spent almost four decades building.

BONUS II:  Nancy LeTourneau on the dangers of the right wing's "epistemic closure."
 
(Photo: Republican "word doctor" Luntz - physician, heal thyself)

Taxpayers Picking Up Krispykreme Christie's Campaign "Security" Costs

Expectations are that New Jersey Governor and never-gonna-be-President Chris "Krispykreme" Christie won't last much longer in the crowded clown car bus, with his poll numbers falling and his in-your-face, bully-boy shtick having been co-opted by billionaire buffoon Donald "Rump" Trump.  Once a rising star in the Republican / New Confederate / Stupid Party, Krispykreme saw his popularity among the raging base of his party drop after touring Hurricane Sandy damage in 2012 with President Obama and sharing a brief bro' hug with the Kenyan Usurper.  The pay-to-play political revenge saga of "Bridgegate" and New Jersey's Krispykreme-generated economic woes also served to make him an increasingly unpopular governor.

Now, New Jersey Working Families, a progressive advocacy group, is suing Krispykreme for using State funds on his campaign to provide "security."  Analilia Mejia, executive director of the group, put it this way:

"We do not believe that the residents and the taxpayers of the state of New Jersey should be on the hook for what is essentially the private decision our governor made to run for higher office. It is obviously within his right to seek another job. However, it should not automatically mean that New Jersey taxpayers have to redirect precious funds to his private gain."

We're certain the voters of New Jersey would like to see him "seek another job," even though he embarrassed himself earlier this year by saying that New Jersey voters didn't think he'd make a good President because they wanted him to stay as Governor.  If you believe that, we have a bridge to block.

Anchors Aweigh, Jeb!

John Ellis "Jeb!" Bush, scion of an over- indulged, under- brained patrician family, has been in damage control mode since he used the derogatory term "anchor babies" to refer to Hispanic immigrants:

 "If there's fraud or if there's abuse, if people are bringing, pregnant women are coming in to have babies simply because they can do it, then there ought to be greater enforcement," he said. "That's the legitimate side of this. Better enforcement so that you don't have these, you know, 'anchor babies,' as they're described, coming into the country."  (our emphasis)

On a quick trip Monday to McAllen, Texas,  Jeb! spied a shovel with which to dig himself out of a hole and proceeded to dig deeper:

"What I was talking about was the specific case of fraud being committed where there's organized efforts, and frankly, it's more related to Asian people coming into our country and having children in that organized effort."  (our emphasis)

We look forward to a visit from Jeb! to California to explain what he really meant was Canadian people (=cough= Tailgunner Ted Cruz =cough=).   Yeah, that's the ticket!

Meanwhile, this classic would seem to apply to all Bushes, all the time:

Wa Po On Scott Walker: He's Down, He's Up, He's Down!

Our elite political media at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle can't seem to get its narrative straight when it comes to Koch brothers puppet and empty vessel Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland).  In the course of three pages in today's paper, they either think he's floundered on the "anchor babies" "birthright citizenship" issue or that he's "gotten his groove back."  Here's today's play- by- play:

He's down!  Conventional wisdom faucet Chris "Lizard" Cillizza today:

Scott Walker can't seem to give a straight answer when it comes to the 14th Amendment and whether or not he believes in the idea of birthright citizenship.

In the last seven days he has been opposed to the idea, then revoked that support, then made clear to a donor that he wouldn't seek to end it, then said he has no position on it, then said he opposed repealing the 14th Amendment.

He's up!  Amber "Waves of Grain" Phillips today (no link):

Best Thing That Happened To Republicans
Scott Walker appears to have gotten his groove back.  With polls showing the Wisconsin governor's lead disappearing in key early states in the Republican nominating race, Walker appears to have rebooted his campaign.  He's focusing on his reputation as an anti-establishment governor, telling voters in a hectic three-day swing in New Hampshire how he has taken on establishment figures in the Republican party by defeating the unions in his home state.  If his reboot works, Walker may have helped Republicans figure out a way to surge past Outsider- in- Chief Donald Trump.

He's down! Jenna Johnson today:

GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker appears to have yet again shifted his stance on allowing the children of illegal immigrants to automatically gain U.S. citizenship.

In an interview on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday morning, Walker said he does not want to alter the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States." Nearly a week ago, Walker said he wants to end birthright citizenship, and he would not say then whether he agrees with the 14th Amendment.

These Beltway stenographers have their Hillary Clinton narrative written down, thanks to emptiest suit in politics RNC chair cushion Reince Priebus (she's "untrustworthy, secretive, scandal- plagued"), who's only accomplishment in his tenure has been the relatively easy task of spoon- feeding his anti- Clinton talking points to an eager and receptive media.  When it comes to pegging Scott Walker for what he is, a lot of folks have it figured out, including people in Wisconsin.  But for you perfesshunal analysts, it's hard work! So, let us give you some help with this visual:

How's that?!  You're welcome!

BONUS:  Scottie thinks it would be a grand idea to cancel next week's official visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House because….the drop in the stock market!  Why stop there, Scottie?  How about an attack on the mainland?  Scott Walker: Plays. With. Toes.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon, "Dam" The Facts

(click to enlarge)

Wildfires have cost the lives of firefighters (as we note in the post below) struggling with massive fires in Washington and California.  Climate change is responsible for the years-long drought in California and elsewhere on the west coast that is providing tinder for massive wildfires.  Yet, yesterday viewers of Chuck Todd's poo fling were subjected to nonsense from never-gonna-be-President and corporate job killer Carly "Snarly" Fiorina, who suggested that the fires were made worse by "liberal politicians," who wouldn't build more dams and reservoirs -- we presume to capture the non-existent rain that's not falling into reservoirs that are already dry.  As California Gov. Jerry Brown noted,  

"I've never heard of such utter ignorance. Building a dam won't do a damn thing about fires or climate change or the absence of moisture in the air and ground of California. If they want to run for president, they had better do eigth grade science before they made such utterances."

Photo Derp Of The Day

(click on image to enlarge)

(Photo: Elaine Thompson/ Associated Press)

This is a picture taken this past Saturday of Okanogan, WA, homeowner Brad Craig, thanking firefighters for saving his home from one of the wildfires currently ravaging the state.  If you can't read the message on his t-shirt, this is it: "Lower Taxes + Less Government = More Freedom." Fortunately, taxpayer-funded firefighters at the state, local and Federal government (U.S. Forest Service) levels were there to protect Mr. Craig's property and "freedom";  three firefighters have tragically lost their lives to protect the lives and property of others in the current fire season in Washington State.

People like Mr. Craig are all rugged individualists until they need something.  (See also, "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!")  We're sure this derpnozzle is 100% unaware of the irony of this situation. Because: Plays. With. Toes.

Delete Tweet of the Day

22 million emails deleted by the Bush/Cheney White House. Now please forget you read this and be outraged at Hillary Clinton. - your media.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 23, 2015

Beltway media resentment at Bill Clinton and now Hillary Clinton will be a fact of life through the election, and likely beyond.  They snubbed the major media's Georgetown cocktail circuit in the '90s, ably represented by Sally Quinn, Cokie Roberts and Maureen Dowd, and that clique has a very long memory.

BONUS:  Case in point - pearl clutcher emeritus Ruth Marcus.

BONUS II:  Here's Joe Conason (please read his entire post):

Obscured by sensational and often stupid media coverage, the fundamental facts are simple. There is no evidence that Hillary Clinton violated any law in her use of a private email server, however badly advised. There is no evidence that she knowingly sent any previously classified information to anyone at any time. There is no evidence that any national security breach occurred in her email system. And there is no statute under which she can be held liable for sending information that was retroactively classified, many months after she sent it, when the State Department was reviewing her emails for public release.

The true scandal is the Republican attempt to invent a scandal that will derail the Democratic presidential candidate they fear most, by misusing the oversight powers of Congress—and the eagerness of major media outlets, including the nation’s most important newspaper, to collude in that scheme.

Gen. Brent Scowcroft: "No Credible Alternative" To Iran Nuclear Deal

Gen. Brent Scowcroft, former National Security Adviser under Republican Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, voices strong support for the Iran nuclear agreement:

Congress rightfully is conducting a full review and hearing from proponents and opponents of the nuclear deal. However, the seeming effort to make the JCPOA the ultimate test of Congress’s commitment to Israel is probably unprecedented in the annals of relations between two vibrant democracies.* Let us be clear: There is no credible alternative were Congress to prevent U.S. participation in the nuclear deal. If we walk away, we walk away alone. The world’s leading powers worked together effectively because of U.S. leadership. To turn our back on this accomplishment would be an abdication of the United States’ unique role and responsibility, incurring justified dismay among our allies and friends. We would lose all leverage over Iran’s nuclear activities. The international sanctions regime would dissolve. And no member of Congress should be under the illusion that another U.S. invasion of the Middle East would be helpful.

He's not likely to find any support among craven, Obamaphobic Republicans in Congress, nor with the Likudnik warriors (with someone else's children) here and in Israel.  But maybe he can provide enough of a bipartisan fig leaf to sway one or two faltering, spineless Democrats.

* Take that, AIPAC and Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu!

George Will Aghast Trump Isn't More Subtle About His Deportation Policy

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(Mike Luckovich, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Republican establishment hack George F. "Effing" Will is in Official Panic Mode:

It has come to this: The GOP, formerly the party of Lincoln and ostensibly the party of liberty and limited government, is being defined by clamors for a mass roundup and deportation of millions of human beings. To will an end is to will the means for the end, so the Republican clamors are also for the requisite expansion of government’s size and coercive powers.

Most of Donald Trump’s normally loquacious rivals are swaggeringly eager to confront Vladimir Putin but are too invertebrate — Lindsey Graham is an honorable exception — to voice robust disgust with Trump and the spirit of, the police measures necessary for and the cruelties that would accompany his policy. The policy is: “They’ve got to go.”  [snip]

About 900,000 of America’s Hispanic citizens reach voting age each year. In 2012, less than half of eligible Hispanics voted, but Republicans have figured out how to increase Hispanic turnout.  (our emphasis)

Will rightly makes note of the "invertebrate" Republicans running against Trump, but apparently has sensibilities too delicate to note the other "invertebrates" who have led the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party to this pass.  One such "invertebrate" would be George "Effing" Will who, along with the vast majority of right-wing media, has fed hateful nonsense to the yahoos for decades.  Nonsense about immigration.  Nonsense about climate change.  Nonsense about Obamacare.  Nonsense about "voter fraud."  Nonsense about the Iran nuclear deal.  And on and on. For that, George "Effing" Will and his fellow fantasy bullshit artists deserve a great deal of credit.  (As Matt Taibbi notes below, "America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on.")

It's important to note that Will makes his argument against Trump's deportation policy in terms of "expansion of government's size and coercive power" and the electoral effect of firing up Hispanic Americans against Republicans.  Passing attention is paid to the "cruelties."  Also, if you go to the link and read his full op/ ed, he's perfectly happy to talk about "anchor babies" "birthright citizenship" once the clamor (and election?) has passed by.  Punctilious asshole. 

Trump and his far- right- wing nativist/ know-nothing/ fear- engorged claque has found a Petri dish in that part of the American political spectrum in which it has thrived and will continue to thrive.  The biggest problem for Will and his fellow establishment Republicans is that Trump is a blaring horn, whereas they would prefer a dog whistle. 

El Caudillo Quote of the Day

"I'd like to have the election tomorrow.  I don't want to wait." -- Billionaire blowhard demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump speaking to his sheeple yesterday in Mobile, AL (see post below).  We're sure that he considers elections a mere formality to his elevation as caudillo, and probably imagines abolishing elections after that point because how can America do better than him?  And his sheeple would be fine with that.

BONUS:  As further evidence that Rump feels entitled to the nomination, here's what he told an advisor of his: 

“If I’m going down, then Bush is going down with me. He’s not going to be president of the United States.”

And if he's nominated but not elected, a coup d'état by his pitchfork-wielding sheeple?

Trump Rallies The (Storm) Troops In Alabama (Updated)

No, we're not exaggerating.  Here are some snippets describing some of the estimated 20,000 (!) low-brows (some shouting "White Power!") who showed up for Republican front-runner and America's answer to Juan Peron, Donald "Rump" Trump's rally in the armpit of American sedition, Mobile, AL, yesterday:

On the street, Olaf Childress, a neo-Confederate activist, gave out copies of “The First Freedom” newspaper, which had headlines about “Black-on-white crime,” “occupied media” and “censored details of the Holocaust.”  [snip]

Cheryl Burns, 60, was on a road trip from California when she heard that Trump would be in Alabama. She turned her car around and got in line, warning people of what happened to states when liberals took them over.

“There is no more California,” Burns said. “It’s now international, lawless territory. Everything is up for grabs. Illegal aliens are murdering people there. People are being raped. Trump isn’t lying about anything — the rest of the country just hasn’t found out yet.”

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has more on Olaf Childress here.  Suffice it to say, he's a piece of shit work.

But wait, there's more:

“When he gets in there, he’ll figure it out,” said Amanda Mancini, who said she had traveled from California to see Mr. Trump. “So we do have to trust him, but he has something that we can trust in. We can look at the Trump brand, we can look at what he’s done, and we can say that’s how he’s done everything.”

Still, others said they had plenty of advice for the man they regularly identified in conversation as “Mr. Trump.”

“Hopefully, he’s going to sit there and say, ‘When I become elected president, what we’re going to do is we’re going to make the border a vacation spot, it’s going to cost you $25 for a permit, and then you get $50 for every confirmed kill,’ ” said Jim Sherota, 53, who works for a landscaping company. “That’d be one nice thing.”

So, when Rump's fans aren't actually beating up people, they're merely fantasizing about killing them.

We're not finished:

 "Donald Trump is telling the truth and people don't always like that," said Donald Kidd, a 73-year-old retired pipe welder from Mobile. "He is like George Wallace, he told the truth. It is the same thing.

Hmmm. Yeah, George Wallace.

Right-wingers in this country are overly fond of laughably, nonsensically ascribing Nazi tendencies to the Kenyan Socialist Usurper President, but if these Republican Trumpistas aren't brownshirts in the flesh, we're Tsar of All the Russias.

UPDATE:  Matt Taibbi nails it:

Trump isn't really a politician, of course. He's a strongman act, a ridiculous parody of a Nietzschean superman. His followers get off on watching this guy with (allegedly) $10 billion and a busty mute broad on his arm defy every political and social convention and get away with it.

People are tired of rules and tired of having to pay lip service to decorum. They want to stop having to watch what they say and think and just get "crazy," as Thomas Friedman would put it.  [snip]

Those of us who think polls and primaries and debates are any match for that are pretty naive. America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong, no matter who wins in 2016.  (our emphasis)

UPDATE II:  Andy Borowitz adds a bit of dark humor as well:

A rally featuring a racist speaker Friday night in Mobile attracted a crowd of just twenty thousand people, widely considered a disappointing turnout for a racist event in Alabama.

According to racist event planners in the state, a crowd of twenty thousand would rank the event as one of the smaller racist rallies in Alabama this year.

Republican Family Values, "Just Doing Research" Edition

The executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party has been caught up in the Ashley Madison adultery-facilitating website scandal, according to reports.  Jason Doré told a New Orleans newspaper that his $175.98 tab on the infamous website over two years was for "opposition research," trying to dig up dirt on opponents. Yes, and men only buy Playboy to read the articles.  Bwahahaha.

If there's a Mrs. Doré, we're guessing that Jason's wearing an athletic cup and helmet around the house these days.

BONUS:  We think he bears a faint resemblance to the Ginger Avenger.  It's the "Not Getting Laid Look."

(photo:  What woman wouldn't want to cheat on her husband with this movie star?)

Walker's Fall

Wisconsin Governor and bag man for Koch Industries Scott "Koch Head" Walker got some very bad news this week, news that may have his billionaire backers in an incontinent state.  With the rise of demagogic a-hole Donald "Rump" Trump among the pitchfork-wielding cretins in the Rethug base, Koch Head has dropped in the polls not only in Iowa (a third place 9%), but in the key, vote-rich states of Pennsylvania (5%), Florida (4%) and Ohio (2%).  As a consequence, he's desperately trying to get to Rump's right by simply mimicking him to syphon off some votes, but this polling indicates it's not working. To make matters worse for the ethically-challenged Governor, his favorability rating in Wisconsin is rapidly sinking, too.  Only 39% of Wisconsin's registered voters approve of Koch Head's job performance, the lowest level for him in 3 ½ years.

The more people are exposed to this ambitious empty suit, the more they'll realize he's well beyond the expiration date.

Weekend August Release Twofer

One of our favorite groups, Athens, GA based R.E.M., released two of our favorite R.E.M. songs in the month of August.  "Fall On Me" was released in August 1986 when they were still building a following.  "The One I Love" was released in August 1987 and was their first commercial success (we're featuring the original heavy-rotation MTV video here for the second time because favorites!).  Hope you enjoy them.

Trumpnado And The Remoras

Republican front-runner Donald "Rump" Trump's demagogic and racist assault on immigrant families has, as the New York Times notes, given the "talented," "well-qualified," and "strong" field of Republicans running for President an opportunity:

You could say the front-running Mr. Trump has put his opponents in a bind. Or you could say he has given them a gift: the opportunity to be specific in return about what they would do to fix the immigration mess. And to be forthright in rejecting his despicable proposals. Because his plan is so naked — in its scapegoating of immigrants, its barely subtextual racism, its immense cruelty in seeking to reduce millions of people to poverty and hopelessness — it gives his opponents the chance for a very clear moral decision. They can stand up for better values, and against the collective punishment of millions of innocent Americans-in-waiting.

Haha no:

But as Mr. Trump swells in the polls, his diminished opponents are following in his wake, like remoras on a shark. Several have shuffled onto the anti-birthright-citizenship bus, including Rick Santorum, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ben Carson and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey. Even Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who once fought for smart bipartisan immigration reform, wants to repeal birthright citizenship. As does Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, a birthright citizen himself. As for Mr. Trump’s other restrictionist proposals, several are firmly lodged again in the playbook of a Republican Party that briefly tried to reform itself after the Mitt Romney debacle. Some candidates are even willing to try to trump Mr. Trump in xenophobia: Mr. Carson is talking about using armed military drones at the border. That’s right — bombing Arizona.

But here's the real underlying problem for the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party:

But they're only responding to their electorate. Look, for instance, at this 2011 Pew Research Center poll, which made clear in its question that ending birthright citizenship would entail amending the Constitution. Thirty-nine percent of Americans overall said that's what we should do to make sure the children of unauthorized immigrants couldn't become citizens. Forty-seven percent of Republicans, and 57 percent of Tea Partiers, agreed.

So it may not be a clear majority of Republican voters, but it's plenty of them, and probably a majority of those committed enough to vote in the primaries. If the candidates are looking at the reception Donald Trump is getting for his anti-immigrant rhetoric and thinking they ought to get some of that action for themselves, that wouldn't be surprising. Within the next few days, polls testing this question will start being released, and I'd be shocked if at least some of them don't show a majority of Republicans supporting an end to birthright citizenship.  (our emphasis)

That's right!  You're dealing with nearly a majority of Republicans who reject birthright citizenship (see:  14th Amendment).  The same self- satisfied, rage- stoked "constitutional conservatives" who believe in the sanctity of the Constitution but don't have a clue what it says (and when they find out, they're agin' it!).  You have a significant portion of the population (see above) that, as Charles Pierce would say, plays with their toes.  At the same time, you have people who have been deemed by the corporate media to be "serious" contenders for the Presidency who are so clearly lacking in character, spine and -- what's that Ron Fournier- admired quality again?  Leadership! -- that they not only refuse to take on Rump, but are actually parroting his position.  Some Commanders- in- Chief there!

Meanwhile, Democrats have your video cameras rolling to capture all of the nativist, racist pandering for those short attention span voters!

Quote Of The Day - Hillbillies 1, Muslims 0

“I saw several of those gentlemen out there yesterday,” said [Muskogee County] Sheriff Charles Pearson. “The way they were holding their weapons, with the fingers on the triggers, you can tell a couple of these gentlemen have no idea about weapons safety. It’s like the Clampetts have come to town." --  from a news story about a gun- toting patriot hillbilly goober who accidentally shot himself in the arm while "guarding" a "Muslim- free" shootin' range with a bunch of other armed patriots hillbilly goobers in Oktaha, Oklahoma, this past Tuesday.  There's no word whether, when the bullet struck the ground, up came a bubblin' crude (oil that is, black gold, Texas tea).

Today's Cartoon - The Republicans' Deep Field

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(Ted Rall, via gocomics.com)

A reflection of Republican voters' deep thinking, with an assist from turd- polishing media.

UPDATE:  Speaking of Republican voters' deep thinking, check out how these two jamokes channeled Rump Trump.

Birthers Bite Some Rethugs

It was amusing to see the story of radical right-winger Sen. Ted "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz's campaign trying to deflect renewed "birther" accusations against him, now that front-running gasbag Donald "Rump" Trump has elevated the "birthright" citizen non-issue to the mouth breathing mob on the right.  With Rump and his Rethuglican colleagues expressing the false view that children born on U.S. soil of immigrants -- documented or undocumented -- are not automatically entitled to citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment, Tailgunner Ted, who was born in Canada, has had to again defend his status as a citizen.

The new birthers are also shining their spotlight on three other Rethuglican candidates:  Gov. Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio, and former Sen. Rick "Frothy Mix" Santorum. Piyush was born in the U.S. to Indian parents with student visas; Glug Glug was born in Miami to parents who only became U.S. citizens four years after his birth, and Frothy Mix was born in the U.S. to an Italian immigrant, whose status as a citizen has been questioned.

After years of nonsense and blatant racism from the right-wing questioning President Obama's citizenship, seeing some of their fellow wingnuts feel the heat from birthers is extremely satisfying.

"Bad Lip Reading" The Republican Debate

Great Moments in Republican Rhetoric, Six-Pack Edition

“Donald Trump, he’s got these Joe Six-Pack issues on his mind, and he’s got these Joe Six-Pack common sense solutions — he just happens to be an extremely successful and charismatic, with a very large platform, Joe Six-Pack.”  -- snowbilly grifter Sarah "Winky" Palin, coming just shy of endorsing billionaire "six pack" guy Donald "Rump" Trump on the Fux Channel.  If he's Joe Six-Pack, we have a bridge to nowhere to sell Winky.

Do you suppose Winky was just thirsty, or was jockeying for a never-gonna-happen cabinet post in a never-gonna-happen Rump administration?  Or both?

BONUS:  Winky may have been misconstruing George F. "F-ing" Will's latest screed on Rump for the beer reference:

"In every town large enough to have two traffic lights there is a bar at the back of which sits the local Donald Trump, nursing his fifth beer and innumerable delusions."

Snarly's Terrible Business Record Won't Wash

After the "kid's table" Republican debate, candidate and corporate job-killer Carly "Snarly" Fiorina saw a bump up in her poll numbers.  Her campaign strategy is to present herself as a successful business executive who has the skills to run the Government. The former Hewlett-Packard CEO is notorious for touting her failed tenure at HP as a success story, twisting and misrepresenting data to put her in the best possible light.  But as the New York Times reports, it was disastrous for the company and 30,000 employees that were let go, and the "success" she is touting wasn't a success at all:

"Hewlett-Packard is still recovering from the ill-conceived merger [with Compaq] nearly 15 years later, and recently decided to split the company up. There were some 30,000 layoffs. Its stock price plunged and badly lagged its competition... 

'When you manage in tough times, when you lead in tough times, sometimes tough calls are necessary, and yet we took that company from about $44 billion to almost $90 billion,' Mrs. Fiorina said to The Des Moines Register editorial board. 'We took the growth rate from 2 percent to 9 percent'...Here’s the problem: Those numbers she is referencing aren’t Hewlett-Packard’s profit. They are the company’s revenue. And if you make enough acquisitions — especially one the size of Compaq — you can inflate your revenue figures. You can also buy growth."  (emphasis added)

It's not just the verdict of many observers in the business world that Snarly's tenure at HP was an unmitigated disaster brought on by her bad judgement, listen to Arianna Packard, the granddaughter of HP's founder, in a 2010 open letter rebutting accolades by several Republican officials:

"I know a little bit about Carly Fiorina, having watched her almost destroy the company my grandfather founded.  So, allow me to disillusion you of a few of your stated reasons for supporting her….Most business commentators consider Fiorina's tenure at HP to be a disaster.  The stock price dropped by 50% only to rally 10% on the announcement of her firing. She fired 28,000 people before she herself was fired, departing with the 21 million dollar golden parachute that is financing her campaign.”  (emphasis added)

Of course with a low-information Rethuglican base ignoring Rump Trump's past and even current embrace of positions that are anathema to them, Snarly could go a long way with this crowd in convincing them that she's another Bill Gates.

Mid-Week Birthday Song

Happy birthday to former President Bill Clinton, who turns 69 today.  The first Democratic President since FDR to serve more than one elected term of office, Clinton was the target of a Constitutional coup in his second term by radical Republicans, who were determined to stop Democratic policies and gain political advantage.  The Rethugs also saw Clinton as a threat to their racist "Southern strategy," with his origins in Arkansas and appeal to working class Southerners.  Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" is the song indelibly associated with President Clinton, who featured the song prominently at his first Inaugural celebration.

Menendez Lines Up With Neocons

When New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez (Payola - NJ) announced today that he was not supporting the Iran nuclear agreement, it came as no surprise.  Menendez, who has been indicted on serious corruption charges, co-authored the bill that required the agreement to pass scrutiny of both the House and Senate, and had earlier been making mischief with sanctions against Iran while negotiations were underway.  Menendez has been a critic of anything short of Iran dismantling all of its nuclear facilities, which Iran has stated is not negotiable.  He joins Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-Wall Street) and a handful of other Dems who have been fiercely lobbied by Israel's representatives and neocons here in the U.S. to vote against the President.  Twenty-three Democrats have announced their support, leaving 11 more to reach the 34 votes necessary to sustain a veto by the President of any notice of disapproval.  Republicans in the House and Senate are expected to unanimously vote to disapprove the agreement.

BONUS:  Guess who is heavily supporting Menendez' legal defense fund?  Drum roll, please: Billionaire supporters of Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu and his Likud coalition.  Man of principle, indeed.

Giving Up The Game Quote of the Day

"The difference between Trump and his cohort is that he shouts his party’s ugliest views at the top of his lungs and without apology rather than sugarcoating them in Frank Luntz–tested euphemisms and code words. What the GOP Establishment wants is Trumpism — and Trump supporters — without the embarrassing spectacle of Trump himself. Now he has called their bluff and is holding the entire Republican Party hostage. The Establishment would like to blow him up so that he’ll stop giving up the game by calling attention to the extremist views and constituents in the GOP base, but every attempt to sideline him has backfired."--  (emphasis added) Frank Rich, writing in New York Magazine.

The only quibble with Rich's comment is that the infection has spread beyond "the GOP base" and afflicts the entire, dysfunctional party from top to bottom.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon - Republican Outreach To Women

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(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Jumping To Conclusions: One Hack's Form of Exercise

Beltway village hack and self-identified Republican Bob Woodward likes to name check "Nixon" and "Watergate" whenever he can, leaning on his long-ago claim to fame, along with Carl Bernstein.  Today on the Morning Joke club for lazy journalists, Woodward took on one of his (and the Beltway media's) favorite targets:  Hillary Clinton.  In a classic exercise of jumping to conclusions and projecting his own desires, he compared Clinton's e-mail "scandal" to the Nixon tapes, which resulted in uncovering impeachable wrongdoing on Nixon's part and led to his resignation:

"It, in a way, reminds me of the Nixon tapes. Thousands of hours of secretly recorded conversations that Nixon thought were exclusively his. ... Hillary Clinton initially took that position: 'I'm not turning this over, there's gonna be no cooperation.' Now they're cooperating. This has to go on a long, long time, and the answers are probably not going to be pretty." (emphasis added)

So he wishes. This was the courtier to the Bush Administration during the run-up to the Iraq war, one of the war's most prominent cheerleaders who took the handouts and statements by the Administration at face value and ran with them.  His credibility within the Beltway village assisted Dumbya and The Dick in selling the war to the public via a supine media, with catastrophic consequences that we're still dealing with.  Of late, Woodward's been at odds with the Obama Administration over his flawed reporting, actually referring to the President as "Nixonian."

So before we listen to Woodward's predictions about Hillary Clinton's e-mails, let's remember that he completely blew the second most important story of his career while he was too busy carrying Bush's water for him.

The Republican War On Women - Suffer The Little Children (To Give Birth) Edition

American Talibangelist and Republican- who- will- never- be President Mike "Huckster" Huckabee was asked this weekend about the recent case of a 10- year- old girl in Paraguay being forced to deliver a child that was the result of a rape.  Remember, this is the lard bucket who would use Federal troops to stop legal abortions.  Here's what came out of his grits 'n' gravy hole:

Gov. Mike Huckabee on Sunday put his support behind the decision to deny an abortion to a 10-year-old girl in Paraguay who was raped by her step-father, saying the while what happened was a “terrible tragedy,” it is best not to “compound the tragedy by taking another life.”

The GOP presidential candidate, who has been firmly against abortion no matter the circumstance – including rape, incest or a woman’s life endangerment – touted his consistency in his defense and used a sort of “two wrongs don’t make a right” argument.

Huckster, of course, isn't the only Republican in the race who would make no exceptions for abortion, even in the case of rape or incest.  Gov. Scott "Koch Head" Walker (R-Kochland) and Sen. Marco "Glug Glug" Rubio (Teabagger-FL) also take that extreme, out- of- the- mainstream position.

Isn't it helpful to know that Republicans would expand their war on women to include 10- year- old girls if given the opportunity?

BONUS:  The Onion covers Huckster in extremis (h/t Silver Spring Bureau Chief and Onion tracker Brian)