Tweets Of The Day - History Will Remember Mark Halperin

Words came out of neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's mouth today, and some, like the putrid Mark Halperin, were impressed.  History won't remember the speech*, but history will remember Rump's enablers:

On his 2nd lifetime use of a TelePrompTer in public, @realDonaldTrump is already better than most politicians. Lot of research in here too

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) April 27, 2016

Yes, it was almost... Presidential!

The responses to Halperin's "analysis" are wonderful.  Here are just a few of many examples:

.@MarkHalperin yes, it must've taken him hours to dig through all of those Internet comment sections.

— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) April 27, 2016

@MarkHalperin @realDonaldTrump Are we watching the same thing?

— Paula Lawson (@pdlawmom) April 27, 2016

@MarkHalperin @realDonaldTrump ...please take your hand out of your pants when "reporting" on Trump's skills.

— JD Cornbluth (@BluthX) April 27, 2016

Count on a lot more of this from Halperin and others in the amoral media.  We'll keep track.

BONUS: Rump's sworn enemy, Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham had a few burning tweets about Rump's speech:

Question #1 for Trump: Are we sure the guy running the teleprompter has the pages in the right order? #notmakinganysense

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 27, 2016

Question #2 -- Did teleprompter guy actually write the speech? #notmakinganysense

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 27, 2016

*BONUS II:  Charlie Pierce takes apart Rump's big foreign policy debut.  And then there's this:

This isn’t presidential, this is “I paid a nerd to write my term paper.”

— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) April 27, 2016

Remember

Today, in a double broadside, the editorial board of the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle and columnist Dana Milbank provide loads of reminders why, in the face of an increasing number of Republicans (and media) cozying up to a "rebranding" neo- fascist bigot Donald "Rump" Trump, we need to "remember the real Donald Trump."

The editorial contains 25 (we counted) things to remember about Rump that demonstrate his manifest unfitness for the Presidency.  They forecast "multitudes of office- seekers and sycophants to follow Chris Christie's craven path to believing, or pretending to believe, in a presidential Trump," and conclude with this:

“Winning is the antidote to a lot of things,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said earlier this year. As Mr. Trump marches toward 1,237 delegates, others will emulate that amoral embrace.

So remember. Winning is not an antidote to bigotry, violence, ignorance, insults and lies.

In the spirit of Passover, Milbank offers his "10 plagues of Trump," recounting the most memorable of Rump's outrages, and notes that he and a colleague "are compiling a comprehensive list of Trumpisms."  He invites us to email our favorites to posttrumpisms@gmail.com.

He concludes,

But even if we only had these Ten Plagues of Trump, it would be enough — dayenu, as we say during Passover — to make Trump’s rebranding impossible.

Rump's rebranding may or may not be impossible, but there are plenty of suckers in the media, and craven shysters and amoral Republican Party hacks like Priebus, Christie, Michael Steele, and Rump's chief strategist Paul Manafort that will jump on his bandwagon as it rolls toward and through Cleveland.  They should be remembered, too, and we're going to do our small part to see that history won't forget those who lacked the moral courage to stand up to this appalling demagogue.

How Did That Rebranding Work Out For You, Republicans?

Check out the movement (percentage lead), in particular, of "Hispanics" and "whites under 40" from 2012 to 2015 (click on image to enlarge):

ANALYSIS: GOP efforts to draw a more diverse voter base have failed. pic.twitter.com/S7WGBgfWRd

— Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) December 30, 2015

We call that "demographic- assisted suicide."

Trump Trumps Republican "Rebranding"

We have several articles this morning with a common theme:  wig-stand blowhard Donald "Rump" Trump is the Republican Party;  he merely voices their id in an inconvenient manner that the party has now told him to tone down. (See Update below.) However, no one with a pulse could doubt that the Republican "brand" isn't already associated with reactionary prejudice and fear.

Jeb Lund:

The party has run so long on nativist anxiety about foreigners plundering lady liberty, stealing jobs and slowly strangling the republic to death that the next step is just calling immigrants rapists, thieves and murderers. And thanks to years of purity testing in Republican primaries, after trying to ignore the issue for weeks, the remaining candidates have only two options left: try to join or outflank Trump to the right or try to non-ignore ignore him by writing him off as “inappropriate.”

The rest of the world can just call Trump an idiot, a man with few ambitions outside of being Trumpy, whose remaining strands of what one might call policy are wisps of spun sugar extruded by hot air, reminding everyone of the tacky coif that sits atop his blanched Smithfield Ham of a face. The Republican Party can’t even luxuriate in ad hominem. Yeah, they could call him an empty suit and a bozo, but that stops working the moment anyone notices that he sounds like a slightly loaded version of themselves.

Dana Milbank:

But Trump has merely held up a mirror to the GOP. The man, long experience has shown, believes in nothing other than himself. He has, conveniently, selected the precise basket of issues that Republicans want to hear about — or at least a significant proportion of Republican primary voters. He may be saying things more colorfully than others when he talks about Mexico sending rapists across the border, but his views show that, far from being an outlier, he is hitting all the erogenous zones of the GOP electorate.

Anti-immigrant? Against Common Core education standards? For repealing Obamacare? Against same-sex marriage? Antiabortion? Anti-tax? Anti-China? Virulent in questioning President Obama’s legitimacy? Check, check, check, check, check, check, check and check.  [snip]

Now Trump is the one talking about Mexico sending us drugs, crime and rapists. His shift is hardly surprising given his audience — and his competitors. Scott Walker talks about self-deportation, Graham talks about ending birthright citizenship, Ben Carson blames illegal immigrants in part for the measles outbreak, Rand Paul describes as lawbreakers those who were brought to the United States illegally as children, and even relatively moderate candidates such as Bush and Marco Rubio have hardened their immigration positions. Ted Cruz actually praised Trump. 

Meanwhile, as far as the Family Rump is concerned, any business's attempt to distance themselves from the toxic brand is met with threats to sue.

That hole?  Please keep digging.

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog asks how Republican candidates will stand up to terrorists when they won't stand up to a blowhard.  Hee-hee.

UPDATE:  Rump doesn't seem to recall the conversation with Priebus the way Priebus is reporting it:

Totally false reporting on my call with @Reince Priebus. He called me, ten minutes, said I hit a “nerve", doing well, end!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 9, 2015

This is getting better all the time.

(Photo:  RNC's Priebus would like a word with Rump - "Shhh.  You're messing up my genius re-branding strategery!"/  via Raw Story)

How's That Republican Rebranding Coming Along, Hispanic Outreach Edition

No estan escuchando:

In an autopsy of Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential election loss, the Republican Party concluded it was “imperative” for GOP candidates to step up their engagement with Latinos in order to win back the White House.

Otherwise, the report said, “they will close their ears to our policies.”

An obvious place to start would be the nation’s annual “Latino political convention” here this week in Las Vegas, where more than 1,200 Hispanic leaders have gathered for, among other things, a presidential candidates forum.

Yet out of the GOP’s 16 declared or likely presidential candidates, only one — retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson — showed.  (our emphasis)

That's right.  Only Ben "On Meds?" Carson showed up. A guy who blamed the measles outbreak in California in part on illegal immigrants.

We fear for the rebranding.

At CPAC, Badlands Barbie Disses Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren

Here's "rising star" and Republican idea of someone who can "speak millennial," 22- year- old South Dakota broadcaster Tomi Lahren (a.k.a. Badlands Barbie) at CPAC today:

 I want to remind you, let’s look at the top three Democrats for 2016. You’ve got Hillary, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden? Old, rich, white, and if the pantsuit fits, male too?

Yeah, that'll go down well with everyone that's not at CPAC.

Dunce.

How's That Republican Rebranding Coming Along, Talking Rape Again Edition

The other day, West (by God!) Virginny Republican state representative Brian "Just Relax, Honey" Kurcaba said that a baby conceived through rape is "a beautiful thing."  He's since "apologized" for getting caught making the statement, but his pre-"apology" beliefs reflect a mindset within the far-right's theocratic, keep-wimmin'-barefoot-and-pregnant reactionary core.  It reflects the anti-medical science belief that women can't get pregnant unless they want to (see, Akin, Todd and "legitimate rape"), and that men will decide whether women have babies or not, rape and incest or not dammit!.  These deeply disturbing views are the norm in far-right Rethuglican theocratic circles, who want to dictate the most personal decisions a woman can make, while railing against a "tyrannical gubmint" that's giving people affordable health care for the first time.

(photo:  A woman wouldn't voluntarily have sex with this inbred hayseed, right?  WVHouse.gov photo)

Today's Cartoon - White Supremacist Party Edition

(click on image to enlarge)

(Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

As the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ White Supremacist Party continues to try to minimize the fallout from the scandal surrounding House Majority Whip Rep. Steve "David Duke Without The Baggage" Scalise, Lamar White, Jr., the person who first broke the story of Scalise's speaking at a neo-Nazi event in 2002, tells us how the Republican-orchestrated coverup continues.

To quote White House spokesperson Josh Earnest:

There's no arguing that who Republicans decide to elevate into a leadership position says a lot about what the conference's priorities and values are.  Ultimately, Mr. Scalise reportedly described himself as "David Duke without the baggage." It will be up to Republicans to decide what that says about their conference.

We already know what it says, thank you anyway.

If Our Wishes Came True . . .

. . . this man would be the next Speaker of the House.  That would be teahadist lunatic Rep. Louie "Screwy Louie" Gohmert (Peanut-TX), regularly cited as the Dumbest/ Craziest Person in Congress (and boy, is that a wide-open, competitive field!).  Gohmert's plan to challenge the gonad-free current Speaker John "Mr. Tangerine Man" Boehner isn't expected to amount to much (just like Gohmert -rimshot-), but it doesn't bode well for Senate Majority =hock patooey= Leader Mitch "Missy" McConnell's "main goal" for Republicans heading into 2016:  "don't be scary." Good luck with that genius strategy!

Just this one Republican Congresscritter has it in himself to explode Missy's well-laid plans to camouflage the bottomless nut dish that is the modern Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ White Supremacist/ Anti-Science/ Climate Change Denying Party.  They can try to put Louie under wraps, but there's a boundless supply of scary Louie's in the House and Senate eager to grift challenge "the establishment" (i.e., empty the pockets of gullible rubes).  For example, fellow teahadist Rep. Ted "Yahoo" Yoho (Swamp-FL) is also expected to challenge Boehner.  You just can't fix stupid/ crazy/ scary.

(Photo:  Rep. Gohmert - and yes, he's as stupid as he looks.)

Today's Cartoon - White Supremacist Party Edition

(click on image to enlarge)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

An honest mistake, of course.

BONUS: From Charles P. Pierce:

I happen to be in New Orleans at the moment, and the local political scene is roiled up over Congressman Steve Scalise and his inability to be surprised by the fact that so many of his friends sleep on bedsheets that have eye-holes.

How's That Republican Rebranding Coming Along, White Supremacist Edition

From the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle:

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white nationalist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of both congressional chambers. 

The 48-year-old Scalise, who ascended to the House GOP’s third-ranking post earlier this year, confirmed through an adviser that he once appeared at a convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. 

That organization, founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Scalise claims he didn't know at the time it was a white supremacist group, which would make him the only person in Louisiana who didn't know David Duke was a notorious racist and former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Republican Message To Gays And Lesbians: "Please Forget Previous Messages"

Here's Stephen Colbert on the latest Republican effort (via Weeper of the House John "Mr. Tangerine Man" Boehner) to "send a message" to gays and lesbians following the Supreme Court's declining to weigh in on same-sex marriage cases.  As Stephen says, the message being sent is "Please forget all of our previous messages" (lol), following the inevitable ad:

The Colbert Report
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As Colbert notes at the end, one day in the distant future, Republicans will claim they were on the side of gays and lesbians all along.  Once again, we despair of the rebranding.

The Republican War On Women: The Reckoning

From Politic-ho (via Daily Kos), reports of a reality check on how that Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party rebranding is coming along with women:

A detailed report commissioned by two major Republican groups — including one backed by Karl Rove — paints a dismal picture for Republicans, concluding female voters view the party as “intolerant,” “lacking in compassion” and “stuck in the past.” 

When female voters are asked who “wants to make health care more affordable,” Democrats have a 39 percent advantage, and a 40 percent advantage on who “looks out for the interests of women.” Democrats have a 39 percent advantage when it comes to who “is tolerant of other people’s lifestyles.” 

Female voters who care about the top four issues — the economy, health care, education and jobs — vote overwhelmingly for Democrats. Most striking, Democrats hold a 35-point advantage with female voters who care about jobs and a 26 percent advantage when asked which party is willing to compromise. House Republicans say jobs and the economy are their top priorities.  (our emphasis)

No one could have seen that coming.

Today's Cartoon - Republican Female Voter Outreach Edition

(click to enlarge)

(Matt Davies, via gocomics.com)

The Republican War On Women - Equal Pay Day

Today is Equal Pay Day, a day for promoting and taking action on guaranteeing equal pay for equal work.  Pretty simple concept:  regardless of your gender, you should receive pay equal to that of anyone else doing the same work.  A little background first, courtesy of the Department of Labor (the link has a lot more background, information and resources on the issue - please check it out):

When the Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963, women were earning an average of 59 cents on the dollar compared to men. While women hold nearly half of today's jobs, and their earnings account for a significant portion of the household income that sustains the financial well-being of their families, they are still experiencing a gap in pay compared to men's wages for similar work. Today, women earn about 81 cents on the dollar compared to men — a gap that results in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost wages. For African-American women and Latinas, the pay gap is even greater. 

Each year, National Equal Pay Day reflects how far into the current year women must work to match what men earned in the previous year. On National Equal Pay Day, we rededicate ourselves to carrying forward the fight for true economic equality for all. (our emphasis)

As you might suspect, Democrats get it, hence the proposed "Paycheck Fairness Act" and executive actions President Obama announced today:

President Barack Obama is marking Equal Pay Day by announcing two executive orders strengthening equal pay protections at federal contractors. One of the orders will prohibit employer retaliation against workers who inquire about or share pay information, making it easier for women to find out if they are being discriminated against, and the other will call for the Labor Department to collect pay information from federal contractors, with the data including race and gender to make it easier to identify employers who discriminate.

The troglodyte Republican response?

Republicans are mounting a counteroffensive against Equal Pay Day, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and indeed the very notion that equal pay is a serious issue. Since you can't straight-up admit to opposing equal pay, the substance of the Republican counteroffensive is essentially this: We support equal pay. Just not any efforts to actually make it a reality.  (our emphasis)

And what does Senate Republican Minority Leader and chinless wonder Mitch "Missy" McConnell call equal pay for equal work?

"Instead of focusing on jobs, [Reid] launched into another confusing attack on the left's latest bizarre obsession," McConnell said, adding that Reid was refusing to entertain GOP suggestions on the economy. "Democrats chose to ignore serious job-creation ideas so they could blow a few kisses to their powerful pals on the left."  (our emphasis)

And did the Stepford Wives token Republican women stand up for their fellow women?  Pssht.  Here's Kansas Republican Rep. Lynn Jenkins giving her sisters a kick in the ass:

"Many ladies I know feel like they are being used as pawns, and find it condescending [that] Democrats are trying to use this issue as a political distraction from the failures of their economic policy," Jenkins said.  (our emphasis)

And that Republican front group "Independent [snicker] Women's Forum" says what?

And talking about unequal pay is bad because, in the words of Sabrina Schaeffer of the Independent Women's Forum, "Perpetuating the myth that women are a victim class harms women and makes them feel weak." Heavens, no. Women are empowered by their lack of economic power, I suppose.  (our emphasis)

Sisterhood!  Solidarity forever!

We haven't seen so much embarrassing flat-footedness since Tom "The Hammer" DeLay was on "Dancing With The Stars."

The issue has been laid out in stark terms.  The government can and should act.  The only question remaining is "Whose side are you on?"

Not surprisingly, with their long history of looking out for reactionary bidness interests, maintaining socially regressive =cough= fundamentalist = cough= policies, and disenfranchising non-Republican voting blocs, we see Republicans once again on the wrong side of history.

Oh, and how's that Republican rebranding coming along?

UPDATE:  Also "Hummina, hummina, hummina."

UPDATE II:  We're shocked!  Shocked!  Senate Republicans block the Paycheck Fairness Act from proceeding.

How's That Rebranding Coming Along?

Not so well.  Here's Ayn Rand cultist and failed VP candidate Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan, philosophizing about inner city (cough cough shiftless black cough cough) men's alleged aversion to work.

“We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with.”

He goes on to cite the racist faux-social science of Charles Murray, who has claimed African-Americans are as a group inherently inferior intellectually to whites.  Memo to Lyin' Ryan:  it's a "culture problem" that your Party has helped to promote (see "Southern strategy" etc.) along with generations of right-wing political obstruction on education programs, job training, living wage, affordable health care, affirmative action, and on and on and on.

Maybe Lyin' Ryan was the guy asked to round up some black and brown faces at CPAC's "Minority Outreach" panel last week.  Keep up the good work….please!

UPDATE:  Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) heard Lyin's dog whistle: “Let’s be clear, when Mr. Ryan says ‘inner city,’ when he says, ‘culture,’ these are simply code words for what he really means: ‘black.’”

Rethug Rebranding: Wango Tango Edition

By now, we're used to third-rate former headbanger Ted "Crap My Pants" Nugent's racist and deranged outbursts, largely directed at President Obama, resulting in visits from the U.S. Secret Service.  For someone who's "patriotism" only extends as far as his cowardly ass, one would think former druggie Crap My Pants (who was also known for his preference for underage girls) would be avoided by the self-righteous, God-bothering Rethuglicans.  One would be wrong.

Rethuglican/New Confederate Party candidate for Governor of Texas, current Attorney General Greg "A Butt" Abbott, has welcomed Crap My Pants on the campaign trail.  A recent event in Denton, TX showed that Crap My Pants is a good draw among the teabagger crowd, who have a terminal case of Obama Derangement Syndrome in addition to hypocrisy.

So, wang dang sweet poontang, "conservative" Bible-bangers of Tex-ass.  You're being taken by a pickled-brain, draft-dodging, sexual predator in a camo hat.  And by one Greg Abbott.

How's That Rebranding Coming Along?

Rethuglican legislators are at a retreat on the Eastern Shore of Maryland this week to come up with some ways of selling the same old reverse Robin Hood policies to the middle class.  They will block minimum wage increases, yet claim they care about the working poor and families.  They will propose cuts to middle class programs in education and health, and claim it's wasteful spending or not the Government's job.  The Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky believes he has their plan figured out:

"1. Give a lot of speeches about the middle class and about poverty; look sincere, sound sad, regretful when you talk about how big government has failed people.

2. Propose a few tax credits, and maybe a small symbolic actual expense of some kind.

3. Watch the press roll over and carry on excitedly about how this is a new GOP."

Sadly, the chances of it working -- especially with the boosterism of the courtier press -- are good.

BONUS:  Weigel, talking about the Republican "framework" on immigration reform, says ". . . that the party needs to look busy on immigration but doesn't fear great suffering if it fails to pass an immigration reform bill."  So, yeah, that fits the m.o.

Republicans Meet, Remain Clueless

The reviews of the recently-completed winter meeting of the Republican National Committee are in, and they're not pretty:

A quick look at the media coverage confirms the party is still struggling: 

Politico: "After the 2012 election, establishment Republicans promised things would be different next time. They'd stop turning off women. They'd tamp down on rogue outside groups. And they'd get the tea party movement in line. But now that 2014 is here, those goals seem as elusive as ever and even insiders admit the party's got a long way to go — if it really wants to change." 

Reuters: "At the Republican National Committee's winter meeting this week in Washington, it was clear the panic that hit the party after the 2012 elections has subsided, although polls indicate that efforts to make the party more attractive to single women, minorities and gays, groups that favor Democrats by big numbers, have not made any headway." 

Associated Press: "Yet, awkward comments about contraception and women's reproductive systems and chatter over Michigan committeeman Dave Agema's derogatory comments about gays and Muslims obscured the party's attempt to feature its efforts at last week's meeting."

Let's not forget (and we won't) to add in the remarks at the meeting by potential Republican presidential candidate and gyno-fetishist, former Arkansas Gov. Mike "Huckleberry" Huckabee (R-Genitalia). Many electrons are still being used up across the internetz and on op/ed pages on Preacher Huckleberry's choice of language and, more to the point, how the "thinking" behind that language is in the DNA of the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party.  With DNA as strong as that, we (again) despair of the rebranding.

BONUS:  Meanwhile, let's see how well misogynist Republican attacks on Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis will go over.  This collection is particularly offensive.

BONUS II:   For the "Are you shitting me?" file, the Arizona Republican Party has censured Sen. John "Grampypants" McCain for... not being conservative enough.  These crackpots love to eat their own, don't they?  Maybe we should pass them some forks and knives.

Today's Cartoon and Flowchart - Republican Rebranding Edition

(click to enlarge)

(Pat Oliphant, via gocomics.com)

And, from the Iowa Republican Party, we have this (click to enlarge):

They just can't help themselves.