Skeets Of The Day

 

The Trump - Epstein Files: Blanche defending his pedo client / boss, Maxwell loses --

Blanche really, really doesn't want to hand over these Epstein documents. Can't imagine why </s>

[image or embed]

— Allison Gill (@muellershewrote.com) August 24, 2026 at 4:00 PM

BREAKING: A federal judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's bid to overturn her sex trafficking conviction on "new evidence" grounds.

[image or embed]

— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 25, 2026 at 9:48 AM

 

Oh, Canada, we stand on guard for thee. And f*ck Trump -- 

Having failed at and then become bored with a shooting war, Donald Trump is returning to what really gets him up in the morning: an economic war. prospect.org?p=143351

[image or embed]

— The American Prospect (@prospect.org) August 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM

 

Stephen Marche: Canada accurately sees Trump's America as a pseudo-democratic fiscal basketcase of a nation, whose only apparent foreign policy objective has become domination for the gratification of its president’s slapdash vanity.

[image or embed]

— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 11:13 PM

 

People are missing something big about Trump's insane new trade war with Canada: Its impact will hit right in the heart of the Midwest, where many midterm races will be decided. I talked to Dems in the region. They're already using this against Rs. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2146...

[image or embed]

— Greg Sargent (@gregsargent.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 7:35 AM

 

Pathetic

[image or embed]

— Clara Jeffery (@clarajeffery.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 7:39 AM

"Against Canada, Trump is fighting a trade war that very few Americans support, under leadership that most Americans reject, to achieve results that virtually all Americans would dismiss as pointless if not crazy" Read David Frum: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

[image or embed]

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu) August 23, 2026 at 2:28 PM

 

Operation Epic Failure: farm economy hit hard by fertilizer, diesel costs. Winning!  -- 

 

“.. The [Iran] war has made so much uncertainty for us as farmers,” said Pam Johnson, a former president of the National Corn Growers Association. “It’s projected that farmers aren’t going to make any money for the next two years.” @financialtimes.com www.ft.com/content/acb6...

[image or embed]

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 5:49 AM

Make America Sick Again, measles edition -- 

Two people have died from measles in Pennsylvania. They are the first people in the state to die from measles in 35 years.

[image or embed]

— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 10:30 AM

Bari "Bad News" Weiss continues her project to destroy See BS News -- 

She's going to wind up hiring Mark Halperin, isn't she? At this point, why not?

[image or embed]

— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) August 24, 2026 at 9:38 PM

It's past 25th Amendment time to remove the mentally ill  Malignant Fascist -- 

He’s just days away from appointing his horse to the Senate.

[image or embed]

— Sanho Tree (@sanho.bsky.social) August 25, 2026 at 8:44 AM

 

This hurts so much. So beloved and undeserving of the times we live in --

Dolly Parton, the beloved global entertainment icon who sold more than 100 million records and whose songwriting prowess and sure-handed approach to her career reshaped the face of country music, popular music, and the entertainment industry at large, has died. 🕊️

[image or embed]

— Rolling Stone (@rollingstone.com) August 25, 2026 at 2:06 PM

 

BREAKING: Dolly Parton, iconic songwriter, singer and actor, dies at 80.

[image or embed]

— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) August 25, 2026 at 2:13 PM

 

Wanted: Pundit Job For Sexual Abuser. Takers?

Trump pundit fluffer and sexual abuser Mark Halperin has been on a rehabilitation tour lately, following stories of his groping women and other sexual misconduct while working at ABC News. Last spring, we noted that he was trying to work out a deal with MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski and her mate JoeScar, but once the cable network's management became aware of the talks, they shut it down.

Now, the Daily Beast is reporting that Halperin was angry at MSNBC's action against him and voiced threats to the channel's chief Phil Griffin. Griffin was furious at Halperin's arrogant self-entitlement and won't take further calls from the disgraced pundit. Halperin's reported to have approached The Hill for a job with them, with no luck. He's also publishing a book that a number of Dems were stupid and vain enough to contribute to, so his grubby fingers have been busy.

He can write books 'til the cows come home, just don't put this disgrace on the air.

(photo: Halperin's up got his back. So much in common.)

Tweets Of The Day -- Heapin' Helpin' Of Halperin

We noted yesterday the boomlet led by friends of disgraced Republican legacy hire Mark Halperin to get him back on tee vee in time for his astute observations about the 2020 race.  The reactions have been too good to pass up.  Here are a few examples:

V important that Halperin get back in the game for 2020 pic.twitter.com/w8szShFusL

— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 3, 2019

Yes, let's wave away accusations of sexual misconduct so we can all bask in the brilliance of a guy who told us John McCain's campaign gaffes were good news for John McCain.https://t.co/GwvPAj8QGV

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 3, 2019

OK, sure, he did all of that horrific disgusting stuff, but on the positive side, he gave us deeply brilliant insights like this: https://t.co/pjmx8fwsTI

— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 3, 2019

Just so no one forgets: Halperin is accused of pressing his erect penis against multiple women, grabbing a woman’s breasts, throwing a woman against a window & when rejected, calling a woman to tell her she’d never work in media again https://t.co/u1jBKhXPJg

— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) May 3, 2019

If only there were some women who could do his job, like binders full of them.

— Molly “not super smart” Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) May 3, 2019

Where is this generous sentiment for all the women whose professional careers were extinguished by workplace sexual harassment, through no fault of their own and often because they stood up for themselves? https://t.co/09JASimx6N

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) May 3, 2019

Dear all media outlets: have fun covering the liability on this dude if you hire him into your organization because he is a check you will have to write eventually for his misconduct.

— MB 👑🌞🕊🌹 (@MB2018Resist) May 3, 2019

Here's one where his good buddies yuk it up like the bunch of puerile jackasses they are when Halperin calls President Obama ... well, you'll see:

Nah. https://t.co/R27OAwCrCU

— G O L D I E. (@goldietaylor) May 3, 2019

Now, let's hope that's the last time we have to post about or think about this worthless hack.  (Maybe these Russian cutout bugf*ckers will hire him.)

With A Little Help From His Friends

Eighteen months ago, hacktacular smirk support system Mark Halperin was jettisoned from his lucrative gigs in the media, after his sexual advances / assaults on multiple women were made known. The disgraced hack once called President Obama a "dick," for which he was suspended by MSNBC. He has a long history of fluffing for Rethuglicans, including con man and sociopath Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump.

Of course, it hasn't taken long for Halperin's friends among the talking heads to stealthily prepare the way for his ignominious return, as the Daily Beast reports:

"Disgraced political pundit and television personality Mark Halperin has been spending the past several months on a quiet yet calculated professional rehabilitation campaign with the active help of MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

The 54-year-old Halperin—whose lucrative career imploded in October 2017 after several female colleagues, subordinates, and other women went public with allegations that he groped them and made unwanted sexual advances during his tenure at ABC News—has also received positive airtime from CNN and SiriusXM radio host Michael Smerconish. [snip] Throughout Halperin’s rehab tour, Scarborough and Brzezinski especially have been offering moral support and more concrete assistance. According to multiple sources at MSNBC—which, along with NBC News, dismissed Halperin as an on-air political analyst when the allegations surfaced—the network scrapped a plan for the Morning Joe anchors last fall to collaborate with Halperin on an online-only program analyzing the 2018 midterms.

According to these sources, Scarborough and Brzezinski didn’t seek prior approval to involve their friend and former regular panelist in the show, and colleagues reacted with surprise and concern when they got wind of the scheme." (our emphasis)

Brzezinski in particular likes to preen about her pseudo-feminist scam "Know Your Value," which for her was negated when she slept with her boss /co-anchor. The #MeToo movement seems to have caught her off guard, at least in the case of her friend Halperin, as she came to his defense immediately. It's also interesting how in two years she and JoeScar have gone from Friends of Donnie during the 2016 campaign -- when it was all fun and games to them -- to being his critics. But thankfully, there'll always be videotape to remind us of the role they played for Trump in 2016:

Mika teases story about Trump touching: “It kind of makes me want to share the story about Trump’s unbelievably inappropriate hug in our studio.”

She lied.

Check out this video of Mika flirting, touching and gleefully hugging Trump. It’s disgusting.pic.twitter.com/gPP8cBxoYe

— STAY WOKE! (@InactionNever) May 3, 2019

We're convinced that she and JoeScar will continue to work behind the scenes for their smirking buddy Halperin. If it works, maybe she'll give him the kind of welcome to the studio that she gave Trump, leg lift and all.

Trump Fluffer Fired From NBC/MSNBC

Beltway politics-as-horserace hack and Trump fluffer Mark "Handsy" Halperin was fired today by NBC and MSNBC, where he had served as a "both sides do it" yakker and reliable booster of Rethuglicans and pathological liar and sexual predator Donald "Rump" Trump.  When news broke last week that Halperin had sexually harassed numerous women while he was employed by ABC, both organizations suspended him. He's also lost book contracts and other gigs following the multiple allegations, which he's admitted to.

The #MeToo movement has succeeded in outing sexual harassers and predators in recent weeks, and again focused on the women who have accused President P*ssygrabber of sexual assault, after his own admission on the Access Hollywood tape that he felt empowered to grab women sexually because of his celebrity. The White (Supremacist) House's propaganda unit denied all of the allegations just last week.

(photo: Turds of a feather stick together)

Trump's Most Appropriate Memorial

As the cascading stories of sexual harassment and abuse of women by the predatory likes of, for example, producer Harvey Weinstein, hack Mark Halperin, director James Toback, and disgraced Bill O'Reilly, emerge, it's well to remember that as late as yesterday, the White (Supremacist) House was categorically denying the claims of 16 women who say that they were assaulted by President Crotchgrabber.

Good to see that the people at The Burbank Studios have commemorated the site of his infamous Access Hollywood tape (click to enlarge):

Alas, the memorial plaque was removed after a brief, but glorious life.

(h/t to Mock Paper Scissors)

Republican Fluffer Mark Halperin Accused Of Sexual Harassment

Long- time Republican fluffer, politics- as- horserace "journalist," and wanker emeritus Mark Halperin, who in his political coverage infamously and continuously lowered the bar for his bud Donald "Rump" Trump (see here and here also), has apparently been following his master's example:

Veteran journalist Mark Halperin sexually harassed women while he was in a powerful position at ABC News, according to five women who shared their previously undisclosed accounts with CNN and others who did not experience the alleged harassment personally, but were aware of it. [snip] 

...[W]women who spoke to CNN say he also had a dark side not made public until now. The stories of harassment shared with CNN range in nature from propositioning employees for sex to kissing and grabbing one's breasts against her will. Three of the women who spoke to CNN described Halperin as, without consent, pressing an erection against their bodies while he was clothed. Halperin denies grabbing a woman's breasts and pressing his genitals against the three women.

Halperin has been working for NBC and librul MSNBC as a senior political analyst (he's been suspended from on air duties for now), even though his brand of political "analysis" has been debunked time and time again. Now this, which frankly comes as little surprise to us.  Well, when you lay with dogs, you get up with fleas.

BONUS:

Mark Halperin hailed reports that Donald Trump sexually harassed women because they bolstered "Donald Trump's brand" https://t.co/VVcgwwRlJf pic.twitter.com/v3jDvjiie6

— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) October 26, 2017

(Photo: Let's see those hands, boys.)

Morning Reading - The Media And Trump

Two interesting reads this morning on the role of the media ("mainstream" and right-wing) in the rise of neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump.

Catherine Rampell says the only antidote to Trumpism in the Republican Party is to "dismantle" the right- wing media machine.

The sickness in today’s Republican Party is not confined to its current standard-bearer. It is therefore not curable by merely disavowing, however belatedly, the soon-to-be-defeated nominee. The sickness has taken over the Republican base, and there’s only one antidote.  

If Republicans truly want to save the Republican Party, they need to go to war with right-wing media. That is, they need to dismantle the media machine persuading their base to believe completely bonkers, bigoted garbage. 

It is, after all, the right-wing radio, TV and Internet fever swamps that have gotten them into this mess, that have led to massive misinformation, disinformation and cynicism among Republican voters. And draining those fever swamps is the only way to get them out of it. [snip]

In other words, Trump is not some black swan, whose unique cocktail of charisma, telegenicism and political fluidity landed him the nomination. His nomination is the product of years of race-baiting, conspiracy-theorizing, expert-delegitimizing right-wing media nonsense, which Republican politicians aided and abetted because it seemed politically expedient at the time. They helped the alt-right create the alternate reality that made a Trump nomination inevitable. 

And unless the party establishment grapples with its own complicity in misinforming, misleading and frightening the masses, it’s doomed to field more Donald Trumps in the future.  (our emphasis)

Somehow, we don't see the party establishment going to war with the likes of Fox "News," Drudge and Breitbart.  If nothing else, this election has proven how absolutely craven that "establishment" is in not wanting to offend its Stormtrumper base that lives and breathes in the right- wing media bubble, a monster it's created and encouraged for 40 years or more.  It would also require some level of honesty and introspection, traits we don't associate with today's Republican Party. So, not likely.

Focusing on the "mainstream media," Dana Milbank calls out the "lap dogs" of "horserace journalism" (which we've come to associate most closely with his friend and colleague Chris "Lizard" Cillizza, by the way), and goes after one particularly rotten apple:

“Morning Joe” has come in for a large share of criticism for cheering on the rise of Trump. And contributor [Mark] Halperin’s praise for Trump’s tactical genius has been particularly soulless. 

In March, Halperin declared on “Morning Joe” that Trump is “one of the two most talented presidential candidates any of us have covered.” In January, also on “Morning Joe,” he said Trump’s attacks on the Clintons were “politically brilliant.” 

In June on his Bloomberg TV show, “With All Due Respect,” Halperin asserted that “it’s not racial” for Trump to attempt to disqualify an Indiana-born federal judge as a “Mexican” because of his ancestry. His reason: “Mexico isn’t a race.” 

When Trump named Stephen Bannon to head his campaign, coverage noted the publisher’s strong ties to the racist alt-right. Halperin argued that Bannon “should not have let himself be so defined by others. The guy’s got an impressive résumé.” 

Earlier this month, when a New York Times lawyer responded to Trump’s threat to sue the newspaper, Halperin said the lawyer’s letter was a “big mistake” because “we have to be fair and even in this campaign and not basically take sides.” 

And when Trump was widely panned for calling on Russia to find Clinton’s missing emails, Halperin said, “There is a lot of fault on both sides.”

Halperin has long been viewed by progressives as a soulless and hardly neutral observer of politics (see here, here, and here just for the un- appetizer). It's good to see he's finally being called out on the pages of the Washington Post. Milbank goes on to explain why the attempt by many in the media to be neutral only served to "legitimatize the illegitimate."

But Halperin (and, Dana, feel free to call out your colleague Lizard in the future) is one rotten apple in a barrel of rotten apples that populate the cable channels, op/ ed pages, and internet. Once this election is over, the stain on their reputations that we would see as indelible may fade quickly as diversionary scapegoats (Rump as black swan event, as Rampell puts it), and the necessity for our political and its handmaiden media culture to "heal," push the question of culpability for Rump into the background.  We'll end up with the same cast of loathsome characters after as we had before, both in the media and the Republican Party, because it'll continue to work for them.

The Devil You Know Cartoon of the Day

(click to enlarge)

Hiring Steve Bannon, the scurrilous chief of the Breitbart sewer operation for your campaign's "CEO" should give neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump an additional boost with the alt-Right / white supremacists and anti-Semites. Just the shot in the arm that he needed.

It's only a matter of time before Republican-wired uber hack Mark Halperin tells us this is good news for McCain Rump.

Halperin's Latest Trump Suck-up

On this morning's Morning Joke, mega-hack and Trump fanboy Mark Halperin watched neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's unhinged rant yesterday, and proclaimed (along with some of his Joke colleagues) that Rump's type of angry, inchoherent performance was Rump getting "his groove back."  Watch the embedded video below and decide if this is a "groove" you believe is worthy of a Presidential candidate:

Getting his groove back? @MarkHalperin: If Trump's going to win, it's going to be with that, vintage Trump https://t.co/d2x7saJdCx

— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) July 7, 2016

The responses to that nonsense were not complimentary:

@Morning_Joe @MarkHalperin are you guys kidding with this? Is this like "good news for John McCain"? How do you still have a job?

— Brian D Halligan (@BrianDHalligan) July 7, 2016

@Morning_Joe @joanwalsh @MarkHalperin You mean Trump's racist, woman-hating, Neo-Fascist groove? He never lost that groove.

— Honorée Jeffers (@BlkLibraryGirl) July 7, 2016

@Morning_Joe @joanwalsh @MarkHalperin You think yesterday was getting his groove back. He sounded unhinged, bitter, and petty. Some groove.

— Peter Kohan (@peterkohan) July 7, 2016

And so on.  Here are many more dismissive responses to Rump-boosting Halperin. This image of Halperin spooning with Rump says it all, doesn't it?:

Tweet, Counter Tweets

Wanker Emeritus Mark Halperin attempts a thought experiment, minus the thought:

What would happen if Trump picked a popular, qualified vp, started talking only abt need to change DC, middle class, Hillary=status quo?

— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) June 19, 2016

What would happen if the Twitterverse rose up in collective mockery?

@MarkHalperin What would happen if you and I flew to Mars and opened a Bloomberg outpost?

— John Weaver (@JWGOP) June 19, 2016

@MarkHalperin What would happen if Le Cirque started serving bus station chili?

— Charles P. Pierce (@ESQPolitics) June 19, 2016

.@MarkHalperin would certainly make your job as White House press secretary easier

— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) June 19, 2016

Everyone would totally forget about everything Trump has said or done in the past forty years. https://t.co/OBjRFe9Bay

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) June 19, 2016

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

The Media Would Please Like You To Ignore Republican Extremism (UPDATED)

We're going for an extended dive into Paul Krugman's op/ed in the New York Times because it echoes the point many of us have been making for a long time about the insipid political press in this country.  While he doesn't name names, we and others have over the years:  Dan Balz, Chris Cillizza, Ruth Marcus, Maureen Dowd, Fred Hiatt, Chuck Todd, Ron Fournier, Mark Halperin, George Stephanopoulos (giants all!) and countless others in the print and electronic media. (Note that we're not even covering the objectively right-wing media here, simply the corporate  "mainstream media.")  And, no matter how deep into the weeds the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid Party goes, the media is there to assure us that everyone and everything is still normal:

The point is that while media puff pieces have portrayed Mr. Trump’s rivals as serious men — Jeb the moderate, Rand the original thinker, Marco the face of a new generation — their supposed seriousness is all surface. Judge them by positions as opposed to image, and what you have is a lineup of cranks. And as I said, this is no accident.

It has long been obvious that the conventions of political reporting and political commentary make it almost impossible to say the obvious — namely, that one of our two major parties has gone off the deep end. Or as the political analysts Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein put it in their book “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks,” the G.O.P. has become an “insurgent outlier … unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science.” It’s a party that has no room for rational positions on many major issues.

Or to put it another way, modern Republican politicians can’t be serious — not if they want to win primaries and have any future within the party. Crank economics, crank science, crank foreign policy are all necessary parts of a candidate’s resume.

Until now, however, leading Republicans have generally tried to preserve a facade of respectability, helping the news media to maintain the pretense that it was dealing with a normal political party. What distinguishes Mr. Trump is not so much his positions as it is his lack of interest in maintaining appearances. And it turns out that the party’s base, which demands extremist positions, also prefers those positions delivered straight. Why is anyone surprised?

Remember how Mr. Trump was supposed to implode after his attack on John McCain? Mr. McCain epitomizes the strategy of sounding moderate while taking extreme positions, and is much loved by the press corps, which puts him on TV all the time. But Republican voters, it turns out, couldn’t care less about him.

Can Mr. Trump actually win the nomination? I have no idea. But even if he is eventually pushed aside, pay no attention to all the analyses you will read declaring a return to normal politics. That’s not going to happen; normal politics left the G.O.P. a long time ago. At most, we’ll see a return to normal hypocrisy, the kind that cloaks radical policies and contempt for evidence in conventional-sounding rhetoric. And that won’t be an improvement.  (our emphasis)

This moment, with Rump Trump acting as the Republican id, is almost unique in our recent history.  The more polished demagogues/ cranks that occupied both the Kiddie Table and the main event last Thursday are the kind of "leadership" the party has fostered over the years:  as Krugman says, they cloak their "radical policies and contempt for evidence in conventional-sounding rhetoric."  And as a reward, the corporate "mainstream media" applauds them as having "talent" and being "well-qualified."  But it's much harder for them to ignore Rump Trump, so they try to make him an un-serious side-show, the better to hide both their lack of courage and their unpreparedness at the resultant birthing of an ugly political movement they themselves midwifed.

UPDATE:  Case in point - here's how the once-great Washington Post Bezos Bugle  "reports" on the Trump brouhaha this morning on the front page:

Republican leaders who have watched Donald Trump’s summer surge with alarm now believe that his presidential candidacy has been contained and may begin to collapse because of his repeated attacks on a Fox News Channel star and his refusal to pledge his loyalty to the eventual GOP nominee.

Fearful that the billionaire’s inflammatory rhetoric has inflicted serious damage to the GOP brand, party leaders hope to pivot away from the Trump sideshow and toward a more serious discussion among a deep field of governors, senators and other candidates.

Mix wishful thinking with cluelessness about the already-toxic "Republican brand" and stir with a "deep field" of "talent" and "well-qualified" candidates;  serves two Republican-wired stenographers at the Bezos Bugle.

Tweet Of The Week - Mark Halperin, Dick Or Clueless Dick?

I've read this like 19 times and it still doesn't make sense http://t.co/hhtBorL2gJ pic.twitter.com/wz1InmpQYY

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) June 12, 2015

At Millionaire Mitt Romney's weekend gathering for Republican fat cats, candidates and the hacks who shill for them in Deer Valley, Utah:  "Sunrise pilates with Ann Romney and Mark Halperin."  This won't put the final nail in Halperin's career of failed "insider" political analysis, carrying water for Republicans and general dickishness, though in a better world it would. (h/t Balloon Juice)

BONUS:  So you won't have to go to the sunrise pilates session, here's a vision of Halperin, courtesy (?) TPM:

TPM illustration by Christine Frapech. Images via AP and Shutterstock/wavebreakmedia.

Clinton Routing Potential Republican Candidates

With the usual caveats that the only poll that matters is 19 months away, this has to be bad news for the occupants of the Republican candidate clown car:

In general, Republicans see Bush as the best possible candidate to match up against the Democratic nominee in 2016, but in hypothetical general election matchups against Clinton, Bush trails by a large margin, as do each of the other seven Republicans tested.

Marco Rubio fares best against the former first lady, trailing Clinton by 14 points, 55% to 41%. Bush trails Clinton by 17 points, 56% to 39%. Christie and Paul fall 19 points behind Clinton, each putting up 39% to Clinton's 58%. Huckabee, Walker, Carson and Cruz each trail Clinton by more than 20 points.  (our emphasis)

The closest margin is 14 percent.  Wow.  (Can't resist musical editorial.)

Of course, as we note below, the Republican smear machine is just getting ginned up.  Numbers like these only ensure that the attacks will be desperate, loud, long and especially scurrilous.  But they're dealing with someone who's used to getting smeared by the far right, and who knows how to throw a punch with the best of them.

BONUS:  A reminder of the "competition." And here's how Beltway Horse Race Wanker Demeritus Mark Halperin breathlessly rates them.

Media Fluffing Of 2016 Republican Prospects Is In Full Swing

The 2016 Presidential election may be 2 years away, but that won't stop Republican hacks in the media and "non-partisan" weasels from catapulting bullshit into the public arena.  We'd like to share two examples that floated to the top of the bowl in just the last 24 hours.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog gives us an example of hack (and Republican legacy hire) Mark Halperin's starry-eyed fluffing of Jeb "The Bush Whose IQ May Be Higher Than A Shrub" Bush:

It's clear that Halperin wants to believe that Jeb will run. Breathlessly, he explains what a formidable general-election candidate Jeb would be in a race against Hillary Clinton:

Finally, the most macro significant question for any Republican putting him or herself forward to beat Clinton is this: what states can you win that Romney lost? For Bush, the easy answer includes Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Virginia. If he runs a strong campaign, Bush could perhaps compete in California and possibly New Jersey and Michigan.

No, that's nuts.

Steve goes on to perform a simple act of journalism (i.e., he checks the facts) that shows Clinton kicking Jebbie's ass in States where they've polled the match-up.  Verdict:  Halperin wins, hacks down.

Charles P. Pierce on Bush hack and "No Labels" twit Mark McKinnon's piece in Politic-ho (first McKinnon's chin stroker on "competence", then Charlie's rejoinder):

(McKinnon) It also means 2016 could become a referendum on Obama's competence. Democrats leave him out of the discussion, but Republican strategists are quick to tie the general theme to him, without any prompting. Even though some of the most recent incidents are clearly beyond his control - presidents can't personally oversee hospital workers in Dallas, for example - he has plenty of stumbles that did happen on his watch, like the Veterans Administration scandal and the sputtering launch of Obamacare last year. And Republicans believe the public is worried enough about the government's general track record that they'll be ready for a candidate who's just a good manager. 

(Charlie) At this point, anyone who is still defining the Affordable Care Act by its "sputtering launch" is just being a hack. But the rest of this swill is also simply rote memorization of the narrative that the Republicans want to sell, and I do mean sell, to a midterm electorate scared stupid by six years of the deliberate disinformation. The people selling that narrative are the people who purposely wrecked the government's "track record" in unprecedented fashion, and not simply to demolish the agenda of a Democratic president, but also because they are the creatures of a philosophy and of a self-contained political universe in which government is not supposed to work, at least not for the general good, anyway. So, now, having thrown a carload of spanners into the works, the same people point out that the mechanism was built to fail. It's a neat trick, and it almost always works.  (our emphasis)

So, every time you hear the words "competence" in the same sentence as "Republican,"  you can take it as a joke.  "Vandals" and "Republicans," now that's a different matter.

BONUS:  Here's Digby on what a worthless hack Halperin is.

Hacks On Parade

Despite the title of our blog, we defer to Salon's Alex Pareene in calling out and demolishing hacks with his annual hacktastic top ten "Hack List".  His top ten reads like a who's who of the courtier press:  Mark Halperin, David Brooks, and Peggy Noonan, among others. The most entertaining thing about Pareene's takedowns is that he writes them in the "voice" and style of the "honoree."  Take that!  Bwahaha.  It's definitely worth a read.

Grabbing the number one spot on this year's list is undoubtedly the most corrupt hack in the Beltway hackosphere:  Politico's Mike Allen.  Allen has been called out for essentially trading mentions in his "Playbook" for access to "insider" information and for fluffing his advertisers' causes (i.e., the corporate community) without any critical examination of their claims.  Then there's the symbiotic relationship Allen has with MSNBC's Joe "Joe Scar" Scarborough:  in return for frequent, inexplicable mentions of Joe Scar in "Playbook," Allen gets to appear frequently on the "Morning Joe" gossip fest.  Journalamism…it's what keeps our nation's politics crippled.

(photo: The "winner.")

Politicrap from Politico

From Politico editors Jim VandeHei and John Harris, the continuing Rethuglican narrative trying to de-legitimatize Barack Obama is taking shape:

"If President Barack Obama wins, he will be the popular choice of Hispanics, African-Americans, single women and highly educated urban whites. That's what the polling has consistently shown in the final days of the campaign. It looks more likely than not that he will lose independents, and it's possible he will get a lower percentage of white voters than George W. Bush got of Hispanic voters in 2000.

"A broad mandate this is not."

Hmmm. In other words, ballots come in demographically-coded colors. If you don't have enough of the white-male coded ones, you're not legit! Nice!

But it shouldn't surprise anyone that the "Tiger Beat on the Potomac" boyz are among the first to try to discredit a probable Obama victory tomorrow. VandeHei is married to a former staffer for Rethuglican hit-man ex-Rep. Tom DeLay (Felon-TX) -- although he worked at one time in Democratic Sen. Herb Kohl's office -- and Harris is an occasional collaborator with Hackwhackers' Wanker Emeritus Mark Halperin (son of Rethug sinecure Morton Halperin). Presumably the boyz hadn't been getting their calls returned from Democratic spinners quickly enough, so Politico has developed into a reliable source of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom wired heavily Rethuglican.

On a related note: in the pudnitz' arsenal of upcoming excuses for noted white boy Willard "I Like To Fire People" Romney's expected loss: Hurricane Sandy! Also: Massive voter fraud! Also: Nerds! But a broad mandate? Nah!

Wanker of the Week

Rethuglican stenographer and Wanker Emeritus Mark Halperin, for this both-sides-do-it gem regarding Willard "Romney Hood" Romney's birfer "joke":

"The level of vitriol and personal animus that exists on both sides over the flap is truly discouraging."

Yes, outrage over birferism is equal to the racism and ignorance of birferism itself! What's truly "discouraging?" Wankers like Halperin being given credence and a public platform.

Someone Else Beat Us To It

As The Twilight Zone's Rod Serling used to say, "submitted for your consideration." Here is Salon.com's list of 2011's biggest hacks.

We can't argue with the vast majority, and note that MSNBC's "Morning Joe" crew has a few regulars on the list including Mark Halperin (#1), Joe Scarborough (#14), and Jon Meacham (#18). The cases for why they made the list are usually hilarious, and spot-on.