"The Myth Of Crime As A Big-City, Blue-State Problem"

 

Chris Hayes lays out the problem with the Republican lie that crime is only a problem in big cities in blue states:

Republican Governors Oppose Biden's Student Loan Forgiveness

 

As the old truism goes, you can tell if a Republican is lying if his lips are moving:

Nearly half of the country's governors have signed off on a letter to President Joe Biden asking him to withdraw his student loan forgiveness plan that would cancel up to $20,000 for federal aid borrowers.

"As governors, we support making higher education more affordable and accessible for students in our states, but we fundamentally oppose your plan to force American taxpayers to pay off the student loan debt of an elite few..." the governors said in a letter dated Monday.

The governors, all Republicans, argue that the lowest income Americans will be paying the debts of doctors, lawyers and professors "with the most debt, such as $50,000 or more..."

The reality?

... Biden's plan caps relief at $20,000 for those who received Pell grants – awarded to low-income students – and $10,000 for students who did not get Pell grants in college. Additionally, individuals who make more than $125,000 are not eligible for the one-time relief.

An inconvenient truth for the party of plutocrats and fascists, desperate to appear to be on the side of "the little guy." 

Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is popular with the American people, which means Republicans' only recourse is to fabricate the narrative above.  It's another mark of a party with no ideas and no purpose except to indulge a nihilistic thirst for power for its own sake.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

We know this is coming. So, in the spirit of forewarned is forearmed, McKay Coppins has an excellent report on the disinformation campaign to re- elect dangerous dolt Donald "Impeached Forever" Trump, starting with how clicking "like" on the Trump campaign Facebook page opened a Pandora's box of alternative reality:

I was surprised by the effect it had on me. I’d assumed that my skepticism and media literacy would inoculate me against such distortions. But I soon found myself reflexively questioning every headline. It wasn’t that I believed Trump and his boosters were telling the truth. It was that, in this state of heightened suspicion, truth itself—about Ukraine, impeachment, or anything else—felt more and more difficult to locate. With each swipe, the notion of observable reality drifted further out of reach.

What I was seeing was a strategy that has been deployed by illiberal political leaders around the world. Rather than shutting down dissenting voices, these leaders have learned to harness the democratizing power of social media for their own purposes—jamming the signals, sowing confusion. They no longer need to silence the dissident shouting in the streets; they can use a megaphone to drown him out. Scholars have a name for this: censorship through noise.

Because we know this social media strategy bleeds into the "mainstream media's" coverage, the effects are multiplied many times over, to audiences that would otherwise not have any exposure to Trump's campaign ads.  Trump's stooges will be deploying every weapon in their arsenal to maintain power for this loathsome creature and his enablers.  The Democratic Party is the only institution standing in the way of a president- for- life Trump. A failure to recognize and aggressively combat this disinformation strategy would be the most consequential case of political malpractice in our nation's history. Coppins concludes:

The political theorist Hannah Arendt once wrote that the most successful totalitarian leaders of the 20th century instilled in their followers “a mixture of gullibility and cynicism.” When they were lied to, they chose to believe it. When a lie was debunked, they claimed they’d known all along—and would then “admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.” Over time, Arendt wrote, the onslaught of propaganda conditioned people to “believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true.”

Leaving the rally, I thought about Arendt, and the swaths of the country that are already gripped by the ethos she described. Should it prevail in 2020, the election’s legacy will be clear—not a choice between parties or candidates or policy platforms, but a referendum on reality itself.

Forewarned is forearmed.

On a more positive note, political scientist Rachel Bitecofer, who nailed the results of the 2018 midterm elections, has a prediction for 2020:

[A]nd today her model tells her the Democrats are a near lock for the presidency in 2020, and are likely to gain House seats and have a decent shot at retaking the Senate. If she’s right, we are now in a post-economy, post-incumbency, post record-while-in-office era of politics. Her analysis, as Bitecofer puts it with characteristic immodesty, amounts to nothing less than “flipping giant paradigms of electoral theory upside down.”

Bitecofer’s theory, when you boil it down, is that modern American elections are rarely shaped by voters changing their minds, but rather by shifts in who decides to vote in the first place. To her critics, she’s an extreme apostle of the old saw that “turnout explains everything,” taking a long victory lap after getting lucky one time. She sees things slightly differently: That the last few elections show that American politics really has changed, and other experts have been slow to process what it means.

Sure, there will be Republican voter suppression and the aforementioned fire hose of lies, likely on an unprecedented scale.  But Bitecofer believes the threat Trump poses to the Republic is the unique motivating and unifying factor that will produce what wins elections, regardless of the Democratic nominee:  turnout.

Anytime you hear Trump boasting about "his" economy, remember this:

President Donald Trump has always exaggerated the strength of his jobs record, claiming to have brought about an unprecedented hiring boom when, in fact, payrolls have been growing at a somewhat slower pace than they had been during Barack Obama’s final years in office. But it turns out, the reality of it was even weaker than the official data let on.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest batch of employment numbers, along with its annual benchmark revisions adjusting its estimates from prior months. Before, the government believed that the U.S. had added 223,000 jobs per month in 2018, the year that the GOP’s tax cuts and new, higher spending levels took effect. It has now lowered that estimate to 193,000 per month, a significant drop.

Here’s how this changes the story of the past few years. Based on the old numbers, it looked like Trump had inherited a steady economy but gave hiring a boost in 2018 through some deficit-fueled stimulus. Based on the new numbers, it looks like he inherited a steadily growing economy and didn’t do much at all. Trump’s deficits likely juiced employment growth a bit, while his trade war likely undercut it. (The Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes probably muted growth in 2018 a bit too.) In the end, the economy has added fewer jobs in every year of his presidency than it did during Obama’s final one. There never was much of a Trump bump.

There are some good graphs at the link that illustrate the points.

On the Oscar beat, kudos to producers Barack and Michelle Obama for "American Factory", winner of the Best Documentary Feature (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert and Jeff Reichert):

Congrats to Julia and Steven, the filmmakers behind American Factory, for telling such a complex, moving story about the very human consequences of wrenching economic change. Glad to see two talented and downright good people take home the Oscar for Higher Ground’s first release. https://t.co/W4AZ68iWoY

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 10, 2020

Suck on that, Trump!

Finally, please check out Infidel 753's always- excellent link round- up for a much, much more comprehensive gathering of links to interesting posts from the last week.  He does the curating, you get to enjoy.

Lying Liars Lie -- Your Periodic Reminder

You'll recall pathological liar Donald "Cadet Bone Spurs" Trump memorably tweeted "All is well!" following the Iranian missile attack on Al-Asad airbase in Iraq last week?  And his Defense Department lackeys and enablers assured us there were no American casualties?  Riiiight!

Several US service members were injured during last week's Iranian missile attack on Al-Asad airbase in Iraq despite the Pentagon initially saying that no casualties had taken place.

"While no U.S. service members were killed in the Jan. 8 Iranian attack on Al Asad Air base, several were treated for concussion symptoms from the blast and are still being assessed," the US-led military coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria said in a statement Thursday.

A US military official told CNN that 11 service members had been injured in the attack, which was launched in retaliation for the US airstrikes that had killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani the previous week. Defense One was first to report on the injured service members.  [snip]

Last week, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper had said the initial assessment found only damage to property.

"The current (Battle Damage Assessment) is, if you will, again, we can get you details, things like tentage, taxiways, the parking lot, a damaged helicopter, things like that; nothing that I would describe as major, at least as I note at this point in time. So that's the state of -- of the attack at this point as we know it. Most importantly, no casualties, no friendly casualties, whether they are US, coalition, contractor, etc.," Esper said.  (our emphasis)

Simple rule of thumb: Trump and his criminal regime never deserve the benefit of the doubt on anything.  Kudos to Defense One for uncovering the lies, btw.

Meanwhile, we wish the injured service members a quick and complete recovery.

Closing Arguments

Eugene Robinson nails the contrast between the Republican Trumpist closing mid- term argument and that of the Democrats:

The Republican Party’s closing argument for the midterm election is a bit confusing: 

“It’s all about President Trump — unless he angers, appalls or disgusts you, in which case we’ve never heard of anyone named Trump. We have also never heard of policies we’ve voted for repeatedly, such as eliminating the guarantee of health insurance for those with preexisting conditions, or slashing vital programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Please forget that we cut taxes for millionaires and corporations but not for you. And please, please , be terrified of a few traumatized refugees, mostly women and children, somewhere in southern Mexico.” The party then pulls down its pants and babbles unintelligibly before being gently led offstage. 

The Democratic Party’s closing argument, by contrast, is simple and compelling: “Stop the madness.” 

Just stop it. Vote to give Democrats control of the House, the Senate, governorships, state legislatures, everything. Take a stand for decency, for civility, for sanity — and, in the long run, help the GOP recover the mind it has lost and the soul it has surrendered.

Frankly, we'd rather not "help the GOP recover" anything.  They're a bankrupt, rotted- out collection of cowards, sociopaths, misogynists, racists, homophobes, authoritarians, etc., etc., and we don't see any reason to believe that either their "mind" or "soul" are recoverable.

Paul Krugman looks at the lies Republicans are telling about menacing caravans supported by Jewish financiers, protecting the health insurance of people with pre- existing conditions, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and their wealthfare tax cuts for the rich and corporations:

The crucial thing to realize is that these aren’t just ugly, destructive lies. Beyond that, they shape the G.O.P.’s nature. It is now impossible to have intellectual integrity and a conscience while remaining a Republican in good standing. Some conservatives have these qualities; almost all of them have left the party, or are on the edge of excommunication. 

Those who remain are either fanatics willing to do anything in pursuit of power, or cynics willing to go along with anything for a share of the spoils. And it’s foolish to imagine that there are any limits on how far a party of fanatics and cynics will be willing to go. Anyone who might have had a sticking point, some uncrossable red line of bad behavior, has already taken the offramp. 

That’s why a Republican campaign built entirely on lies should itself be a political issue — a reason to vote Democratic even if you want tax cuts. For we’re not just talking about a party selling bad ideas on false pretenses. The addiction to lies has also — let’s be blunt — turned it into a party of bad people.

How could a party that has enabled and embraced the likes of Donald "Rump" Trump be anything but a party of bad people?

We have to believe there's still a majority of voters who don't want the Republican madness to continue and that they will take the time to cast a vote to save American democracy on November 6.  If anyone sits this one out for whatever reason, or worse, if they vote to keep any Republican in office, they're complicit in the damage that has been and remains to be done by these bad people.

As Robinson said, "Take a stand for decency, for civility, for sanity."

BONUS:

If Republicans have a good night on Tuesday and think they won the midterm on the basis of immigration/xenophobia/race-baiting, just imagine how much Trump is going to turn the dial up in 2020.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 1, 2018

BONUS II:  Remember their depravity --

Republicans,

11 people were KILLED. It was the largest antisemitic attack in US HISTORY.

Your monster of a President is complaining their deaths slowed his MOMENTUM. https://t.co/S3gu2pHWFD

— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) November 2, 2018

The Party Of Trump On Display In One Lying Ad

The Party of Trump, ladies and gentlemen:  authoritarians, sociopaths, nihilists, bigots, traitors, liars:



 He's already "fixing" it, you cocksplats.

There's no dealing with the likes of these pathologically dishonest Trump- before- party- before- country shitheels. We need a cleansing tidal wave to sweep them from American political life.

Who Lies More? (Spoiler Alert: Not Democrats)

Contrary to the preferred corporate media narrative of "untrustworthy Hillary," there are liars and then there's neo- fascist Donald "Rump" Trump and his fellow Republicans.  Look who holds down the top 14 spots in PolitiFact's grading system since 2007 (click on image to enlarge):



(Credit:  Robert Mann, dataviz)

This chart comes from a good read by Jon Perr, who proves once again that Trumpism is a feature, not a bug, of the descent of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party into the gutter over the past 50 years.

Aggrieved Republican Economics: It's The "Lazy Welfare Moochers" Problem!

Michael Grunwald has taken the time to speak with some of the Stormtrumpers at the Republican National Convention Sh*tshow, specifically asking them about last night's purported theme, "Make America Work Again," in light of the economic progress being made around the country for most of the last seven years.  (First of all, would you have guessed that was their "theme" last night with all the foaming at the mouth Hillary hate?  Us neither.) Their responses should surprise no one, nor that there was a common theme in their answers:

In fact, the most common economic critiques I heard from delegates — more common than taxes, trade, unemployment, the national debt, or immigration — were variants of Mitt Romney’s “free stuff” critique of Obama, the notion that Obama is expanding the welfare state for lazy moochers. They said Obamacare is increasing premiums for the middle class, although premiums actually are growing more slowly than they were before Obamacare, in order to extend insurance to the poor. McNulty, the Republican activist in Iowa, compared the Obama approach to feeding homeless people under the bridge, so they remain comfortable under the bridge.

There's a condition known as "confirmation bias," which translates as "a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs."  It's a condition that is endemic in the "minds" of Republicans when it comes to any analysis of information that might suggest something positive about, say, Democrats or progressive policies.  Grunwald's interviewees provide clinical proof of this.  It's also proof that, when it comes to almost any topic, you can be assured that racially-charged code words like "welfare" and "lazy moochers" will work their way into the discussion.

Keep that thought and these numbers in mind, as you hear the bullshit being catapulted every night about the "disastrous" economy of President Barack Hussein =cough= black Muslim =cough= Obummer:

Unemployment rate under Republican George "Dumbya" Bush in January 2009:  7.8 percent
Unemployment rate under Democrat Barack Obama today:  4.9 percent

Jobs created during the record 76 straight months of job growth under Obama:  14.8 million

Dow Jones average in January 2009:  under 8,000
Dow Jones average today:  18,600 plus

If that's "disastrous," we wonder how one would characterize the last two days of the Republican National Convention Sh*tshow?

(h/t Wonkette and P.E.C.)

(Image:  A generic Republican.)

"What We've Got Here Is Failure To Communicate" (UPDATED)

We were reminded of a continuing problem for Democrats when we read this:

Americans think the GOP would do a better job than Democrats handling the terrorist threat (46 percent to 34 percent) and the economy (42 percent to 37 percent). [December 2015 Pew Research Center poll]

Gulp.  Wow.

When you're dealing with a population whose memory apparently spans weeks rather than years, the tendency to forget that such apocalyptic events as 9/ 11 and the market crash and Great Recession occurred on a Republican's watch might be expected.   Or that Bin Laden and 30,000- 33,000 terrorists have been killed since Obama took office.  Or that since Obama took office, unemployment is down to 4.9%, 9.265 million jobs have been created, the stock market is up 139% and weekly earnings are up 3.4%.  Could we have done better?  Perhaps with a Congress that wasn't hamstrung by reactionary obstructionist Republicans.  So, while there's still a mixed bag on the economy, the notion that the trickle- down, tax- cuts- for- the- rich Republicans would produce better results is risible.

But that just highlights the fact that, compared to laser- focused Republican messaging, the Democrats are shockingly poor at message focus and repetition.   That focus and repetition is critical when you've got dedicated right wing media outlets as well as corporate "mainstream" media shilling for Republicans day in and day out.  One of the "narratives" the media is apparently eager to play out in this election is that of surging "populist anger" at "the establishment," and at grievances real or imagined.  When you're an incumbent (White House) party, that's a potentially self- fulfilling narrative you need to push back against -- hard.  E.J. Dionne, Jr., echoes that concern, a problem we think goes back far beyond the Obama administration:

Democrats need to insist that while much work remains to be done, the United States is in far better shape economically than most other countries in the world. The nation is better off for the reforms in health care, financial regulation and environmental protection enacted during Obama’s term and should be proud of its energetic, entrepreneurial and diverse citizenry.

If Clinton, Sanders and their party don’t provide a forceful response to the wildly inaccurate and ridiculously bleak characterization of Obama’s presidency that the Republicans are offering, nobody will. And if this parody is allowed to stand as reality, the Democrats will lose. (our emphasis)

Not only will lose, but will deserve to lose.  It's political malpractice to have accomplished what the Obama administration has accomplished and still have nearly half of the general public believe the do- nothing party is the better option on terrorism and the economy.   Democrats have to get into the same 24/ 7 campaign mode the Republicans operate in (they don't know how to govern, only campaign).  Otherwise, a failure to communicate for Democrats can have disastrous effects in 2016.

UPDATE:  What we've also got are some in the entertainment industry that view "The Donald" as some kind of mischievous rascal to be humored and humanized.

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon: Post-Truth Republicans

(click on image to enlarge)

(Tom Tomorrow, via Crooks and Liars).

See post below.

Monday Morning Read - Telling Ghost Stories

In this morning's read, Charles P. Pierce tells us that the lying "ghost stories" told by Republicans to their credulous base is nothing new:

As with so many things, this all began with Ronald Reagan. Those people who claim that Donald Trump is sui generis in this regard are very much the same as those people who find him a unique political phenomenon, instead of the logical end product of almost 40 years of conservative politics. Reagan was as full of crap as the Christmas goose, and in the same way that Trump and Carson are. Trump has dancing Muslims. Reagan had the fictitious welfare queen in Chicago. Carson had his attempt to stab a classmate. Reagan had his march into Auschwitz to liberate the death camp there. The difference is that Reagan slung his hooey with a smile and a wink. Trump has weaponized Reagan's fabulism and that seems to make a difference to some people. But nothing that has happened in this campaign, up to and including the latest spasm of outright bigotry and fear-mongering, is new in the recent history of Republican politics. It always is the person who tells the best ghost stories who wins.  [snip]

It is Trump, abetted by the initial cowardice of his fellow Republicans and by the pure bumfuzzlement of the elite political press, who has made this a campaign of competing ghost stories. American politics has been slouching toward the supernatural for three decades now, since Ronald Reagan marched into Auschwitz in his mind. The whole system is clogged now with corporate money and ectoplasm. Nothing moves. All ghosts are essentially spirits who find themselves trapped.   (our emphasis)

This is why truth and facts are of no concern to these people.  In reality, the bigger the lies, the more successful you are as a right- wing Republican politician.  That's because the Republicans' angry, frothing base likely has been living in an impenetrable right- wing post- truth bubble their entire lives.  They're been predictably susceptible to fearing any number of boogie men over the years:  unions, blacks, Hispanics, gays and lesbians, secular progressives, etc., etc. Therefore, nothing is "true" to them except their deepest gut fears and prejudices, which have been carefully nurtured by decades of right- wing misdirection and fabulism.  

Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

Rethuglican candidates for President are confident that their party's base will swallow any easily disproved statement, from immigration policy to the President's citizenship and religion, to Planned Parenthood.  One of the observations about the Rethugs after their 2012 defeat was that they lived in a fact-free bubble of their own making, and it's only gotten worse.  This summer, it was narcissistic buffoon Donald "Rump" Trump, now it's the up-and-coming job killer Carly "Snarly" Fiorina spouting the nonsense and falsehoods.  That seems to be the winning formula for attracting the Rethug base.

(cartoon:  Jim Morin, Miami Herald)

The "Rich Buffet Of Bullshit "At Fox "News"

While enablers in the "mainstream media" (notwithstanding the rare, self-serving wingnut epiphany) whistle past unassailable evidence that there is, and has been for decades, a Party of Crackpots, Jon Stewart takes aim at a major right-wing rage and victimization machine, the media arm of the Republican Party (a.k.a., Fox "News"):

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What Republicans Didn't Want Their Anti-Immigrant Base To Hear

While teahadist pig castrator Sen. Joni "Make Them Squeal" Ernst (Tea Party-IA) was giving the official Republican response to the President's State of the Union Address last night, Hispanic Republican Congressman Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Little Havana) was tapped to give essentially Ernst's rebuttal in Spanish.  See if you spot the difference between Cubelo's speech and Ernst's English version.

Cubelo:

 "We should also work through the appropriate channels to create permanent solutions for our immigration system, modernize legal immigration, and strengthen our economy. In the past, the president has expressed support for ideas like these. Now we ask him to collaborate with us to get it done."

Ernst:

= crickets = 

That was pretty easy, wasn't it?! Well, to be completely accurate, Ernst did say that "We'll work to correct executive overreach," presumably including the President's Executive Order on immigration. So, the Republican/ New Confederate/Stupid/ White Supremacist Party plan remains to try to undo the President's modest immigration reform executive action.  Certainly that's the message they want their white nativist base to hear, while Curbelos' Hispanic audience got a more conciliatory (albeit dishonest) tone.

We're counting on the Republican-wired "mainstream media" to make sure no one will notice the discrepancy.

BONUS:  Here's racist crackpot Rep. Steve "Cantaloupe Calves" King (R-Deport 'em) representing the true id of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ White Supremacist Party, demonstratingwhy Rep. Curbelo's wan and dishonest attempt to sell his Hispanic audience on Republican "permanent solutions" won't fly.

Flash: Republicans Produce Fake News

Blind squirrel emeritus Dana Milbank pauses in his analysis of President Obama's golfing habits to unearth yet another nut: 

The Republican Party has finally admitted what has been fairly obvious for much of the past six years: It produces fake news. 

This is not an earth-shattering revelation to anybody who has been paying attention, but, still, it’s an important step for the party to embrace the phoniness. 

“NRCC Launches Fake News Sites to Attack Democratic Candidates” was a headline in the National Journal on Tuesday. 

As Shane Goldmacher reported, “The National Republican Congressional Committee, which came under fire earlier this year for a deceptive series of fake Democratic candidate websites that it later changed after public outcry, has launched a new set of deceptive websites, this time designed to look like local news sources.” 

These two dozen sites, with names such as “North County Update” and “Central Valley Update” look like political fact-checking sites; the NRCC’s spokeswoman, Andrea Bozek, called it “a new and effective way to disseminate information.”  (ed. note: if by "information" you mean "lies.")

An NRCC official told me the sites are legal because, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, you’ll find, “Paid for by the National Republican Congressional Committee” in small print. “They’re not fake Web sites,” the official said. “These are real attack Web sites.” 

Real attacks, but fake news: This is a fairly accurate summary of what the GOP’s scandalmongers have been purveying during the Obama years.  (our emphasis)

What, Fox "News" wasn't putting out enough Republican bullshit?

BONUS:  And here's at least one Republican senator who thinks Fox "News" is full of it, too.

"Zombie Lies:" Republican Lies That Refuse To Die

Bill Maher on Republican lies that refuse to die ("like a plastic bag in a tree"):

Gallup: Fewer Uninsured Americans Today

Here's Gallup out with a poll showing Obamacare implementation is resulting in the fewest uninsured Americans since 2008.  (That 18.0 on the chart is approximately when the Obamacare rollout began.) But we know from experts like Republican Sen. John "Can't Spell My Name Without The Ass" Barrasso (Yahoo-WY) that they must be "cooking the books."  Collectivists!

(click to enlarge)

BONUS:  Ed Kilgore gives us the go-to right wing position on accumulating evidence that Obamacare is ... uh, working:

 But let’s remember there is a conservative fallback position if it does ultimately appear Obamacare is working as intended: it just means the number of Americans enslaved by dependence on the federal government is increasing. There simply cannot be any proximate point at which the Right accepts the law as a positive development. Heads they win, tails you lose.

See also "Monday Reading..." post below.

Today's Cartoon - Obamacare, Jobs, and Lying Republicans

(click to enlarge)

(Stuart Carlson, via gocomics.com)

The Obamacare Horror Story That Wasn't

Brian Beutler has some thoughts on "Bette," the woman cited by Rethuglican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Liar-Wingnuttia) as an Obamacare horror story in her response to the State of the Union address:

Take Bette: The reason she didn’t visit the Washington state health exchange was basically #OBUMMER. “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website at all,” she said. This didn’t start with her cancelation. This started years ago. Republicans told Bette, and others inclined to distrust Obamacare, that they’d face death panels and rationing boards. That their options would be unaffordable, and irredeemable. That the exchange sites would make their personal information vulnerable to hackers and that creepy Uncle Sam would sexually violate them. They said all this in the hope that people like Bette wouldn’t give the law a fair shake, then turned around and feigned outrage on their behalf when the plan worked. 

Republicans aren’t sincerely distressed about the things they hear from people like Bette. People like Bette are the goal.

Read the rest of Brian's piece because it really frames the position of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party extremely well.  They're not interested in the general welfare of the American public. They're interested in perpetuating their successful, decades-long grift of low-information people like "Bette," to keep the distance between the "makers" and the "takers" for as long as they can get away with it.  Because FREEDUMB!

(Photo:  McMorris Rodgers - she's lying when her lips are moving.)

Republican Bipartisan Bullshit

We can't remember a better, more apt, more thorough reaming of Republicans' "if only President Obama would work with us" mendacious twaddle than this masterpiece by Jon Stewart.  (Bonus points to Jon for calling out their "Total bullshit...collected and packaged by hand from the polished anuses of award-winning Texas longhorns...")

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