Huckster Mike's Willie Horton?

Police in Takoma, Washington are seeking a man in the ambush killing of 4 police officers. The man being sought, Maurice Clemmons, was in prison in Arkansas a decade ago, when then-Gov. "Huckster" Mike Huckabee commuted his 95-year sentence for aggravated robbery in 2000. Guess Clemmons found the Lord in prison. Since his release, Clemmons has had a string of felony charges against him, most recently assault on a police officer and second-degree rape of a child. Guess Clemmons lost the Lord after being sprung from prison.

Time Magazine's Mark "Drudge Rules Our World" Halperin will announce this is "good for Huckabee" any moment now.

(photo: Huckster Mike announcing he's assigning Walker, Texas Ranger, to help find Clemmons)

John Harris: The 7 Stories Matt Drudge Wants Me to Push

"Politico" and political hack John Harris has "7 Stories Obama Doesn't Want Told" (helpfully spread like the contents of a used diaper by the yahoos at Yahoo). Harris, long identified as a Rethug-wired stooge enamored of RNC press release cut-and-paste "journalism," regurgitates the same lame Rethug talking points from the last year (the big spender/ not one of us/ narcissist, etc. memes). Enjoy the flashbacks! (h/t to Rising Hegemon for the Harris career recap)

(Image: John Harris, transcribing "his" "story" from The Drudge Report)

Letter of the Week

"If Roman Catholic bishops are going to start pressuring Catholic politicians to pursue the church's agenda in public legislation, by denying communion to politicians who don't 'toe the line,' they should not be surprised to find non-Catholic voters reluctant to vote for Catholic candidates. The fear that the church would try to influence public policy was a prime cause of the anti-Catholic prejudice of the electorate for many years. I guess they've forgotten." -- Kaplan Daily letter writer from Fairfax, Va., Nov. 29. They're also too busy trying to impose their notions of morality on everyone to pay much attention to the Church's priest pedophiles and their enablers in the hierarchy. Start taxing them -- that'll clear their minds quickly enough.

"Manufactured Failure", Cont'd.

Here's James Fallows' update on the "manufactured failure" of the Obama visit to Asia. Seems some of the mainstream media are wondering, gee, how could they've missed the behind- the- scenes stuff (it's called diplomacy) that's now bearing fruit. (Hmmm, Chinese set CO2 target reduction goal for the first time. Hmmm, Chinese join in censure of Iran nuclear program.)

Maybe these Rethug-wired geniuses should put down their Drudge Report tweets and put their awesome journalist skills to work on ... oh, right, they have no journalist skills.

A Warning Flag

The strange story of a social-climbing couple sauntering their way uninvited into last Tuesday's state dinner for the Indian prime minister should make your hair curl. We imagine extreme wingers and other haters with violent fantasies about the President are wondering if there's less than meets the eye as far as Secret Service protection is concerned. It's known that the White House has received more death threats against President Obama than any recent President, with all of the angry birthers/racists/militia types wanting to "take their country back."

The couple that penetrated White House security with apparent ease are a joke, with a history of faking their past associations and contacts. But there are undoubtedly sick people out there looking at this security lapse and wondering "what if I. . . ."

A Boo Hoo Boo Boo?

Deranged Fuxer Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck might be getting some hate mail from his homies today, after he dissed the Wasilla Wonderwoman on his radio show. When Winky was asked about a Palin-Beck ticket in 2012, she described Boo Hoo as "a hoot." Boo Hoo, who apparently doesn't like the word "hoot" linked to him (how about "nutbag" instead?), suggested a Beck-Palin ticket instead, and had this to say about Winky:

"Can you imagine what an administration with the two of us would be like?. .She'd be yapping or something, and I'd say 'I'm sorry, but why am I hearing your voice. I'm not in the kitchen.'"

Wow, way to fire up the base, Boo-man!! Knocking the sainted Wasilla Wonderwoman's qualifications to be President, since Boo Hoo would top the ticket (bwahahaha), and using a sexist stereotype of a nagging woman who needs to be kept in the kitchen. Better double up on the security, Boo-ster!

Happy Thanksgiving

... to all of you!

Word! It's a Rethug Rapper!

Help us out here. First, check out the video (via TBogg) of Rethug rapper "Hi Caliber" layin' down rhymes about his homeys, the patriots, versus dem cancerous liberals. Then help us out re-branding this dude. Let us know what you think about these possible new names:

BB Brain
Oxy Moron (Moran?)
Rapmaster Shit4Brainz
T Bag
Low I-Cue
Boehner Thug 'n' Disharmony

(PS - at the end of the vid, the shout-out to... Monica Crowley?!? What up w'dat?!)

Loopy Lou, Hacer El Payaso

If it were possible to invest money in political satire, this would be a great time to do it. With Winky on her book tour alone, that would generate a huge profit. Now, we have former CNN blowhard and Meskin hatin' Loopy Lou Dobbs, who is strongly suggesting that he may run for the Senate, and who would provide endless material for satire if he chose to do so (Hint for Loopy: get those dentures fitted properly! You sound like you're slurping soup). He's already trying to reverse his terrible relations with the Hispanic community over immigration reform, but most voters will through see his fakery.

Also, if Loopy were to run, there's a treasure trove of outrageous, extremist and dishonest statements from him on multiple subjects that would be an opponent's dream. And Loopy's smug, condescending, sneering persona would turn off voters in droves were he to debate an opponent. So, run, Loopy, run! You'd be a satire goldmine.

(photo: It's a little late to make nice with the Hispanic voter, Loopy)

Bankers Banquet

Another column in the blind squirrel/acorn retrieval category, this one from Dana Milbank at the Kaplan Daily, who writes a compelling piece today about how the banking/ credit industry is smugly confident it has already derailed the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency. See, the agency would police the practices of the industry, whose lending abuses led to last year's financial implosion. A no-brainer, right? Umm... well no. A wide range of pols are apparently "creating problems" for the legislation to establish the agency, unfortunately including Dem Sens. Michael Bennet (CO), Evan Bayh (IN), Tim Johnson (SD) and others, along with the usual Rethug Wall of Obstruction. Which goes to prove, when it comes to greased palms, there aren't many in Washington whose hands are clean.

The always-excellent Steven Perlstein also covers the financial and banking barons in his column today, singling out Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as too-beholden to the Wall Street order. These same institutions of greed are back to their old tricks, with CEOs reaping unconscionable bonuses, credit card companies upping their rates and fees or canceling cards for the slightest reasons, and Wall Street fighting to avoid having its catastrophic derivatives markets regulated.

As Milbank notes:

"Or, to put it another way, Don't regulate us now because the economy is still suffering from the mess we made because we weren't regulated the last time. Chutzpah, it appears, is recession-proof."

Abe Pollin

Sad news tonight that Abe Pollin, owner of the Washington Wizards (formerly Bullets) NBA basketball franchise and civic philanthropist has died at age 85. Mr. Pollin, an old school gentleman whose word was his bond, made his biggest mark through the redevelopment of downtown Washington, DC, notably the construction of the Verizon Center. Mr. Pollin and his wife Irene made countless other contributions to the Washington area community, not the least of which was being loyal to Washington sports fans. It was a feeling that was returned to Mr. Pollin, who was a uniquely admired and loved figure here. Rest in peace.

Chickenhawk Cheney At It Again

If anyone symbolizes the foreign and military policy disasters of the Bushit Assministration, it's the evil one himself: former (Vice) President The Dick, who is weighing in again about President Obama's Afghanistan policy. "You know, if you're out there on the line day in and day out," said the draft-dodging Veep, whose experience with "lines" was with the brunch buffet during the Vietnam War. The Dick was critical that the President's caution "may in part be inexperience on Obama's part."

I mean, really. That old turd wants us to imagine that he knows the horrors of war, and that he speaks "from the perspective of the troops." He sent thousands to be killed and wounded in Iraq, a country that wasn't involved in 9-11 and that posed no national security threat to us and he talks about "experience?" We don't need more of his "experience."

Give Props to Tin Man...Or Else!

Gangsta Rethug National Committee Chair Michael "Tin Man" Steele is upset he wasn't given enough credit for the November Rethug wins in New Jersey and Virginia (we won't mention the two Democrats who won Congressional special elections - we don't want his head to explode). How upset? Enough to fire his communications director, Trevor Francis after only 8 months on the job. Seems, in Tin Man's eyes, Trevor didn't do enough to flog the story line that it was he, the Gangsta cow-on-the-tracks Tin Man, who led the Rethugs into the Promised Land.

I personally feel Tin Man was correct in his decision to terminate Francis. After all, wasn't Tin Man the main draw on the ballots in New Jersey and Virginia? Wasn't it his organizational genius that brought victory home? His stature in the party that made him such a valuable vote getter?

Props to you, my man!

"Manufactured Failure"

You may have seen some of the instant analysis of President Obama's trip to Asia in the "mainstream media." The meme they're following so far? Failure! Failure I tells ya! The Beltway herd is well down the road to declaring the visit a failure based on... what?

Well, several people are pushing back, including Ambassador to China (and former GOP governor of Utah) Jon Huntsman, and James Fallows, who calls it "manufactured failure." Manufactured by the Rethug-wired "mainstream media." But why?

As many have noted, the media's main ticket seller is controversy and friction. It covers everything like a horse race - who's up, who's down (one need only check out "Dude" Chris Cillizza's weekly columns in the Kaplan Daily for a prime example of this Racing Form journalism). It gives the microphone to anyone causing a dust-up, from a few dozen shouting clown hall yahoos, to the trillion tea baggers storming the Capitol, to obstructionist Rethugs holding up health care reform. Push back against the lies and distortions? You must be joking! They can say or do whatever they want and never get called on it because the media loves the spectacle! It's also a lot easier than doing your job and holding people to facts, not propaganda.

(Image: Chuck Todd, Fred Hiatt and David Broder in a rare photo together.)

The "Dean" Is Dinged

Nice comeback from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Villager Media "Dean" David Broder, who criticized the health insurance reform package before the Senate, as a "retiree who writes a column once in a while" for the increasingly neocon Washington Post. The Dean never met a Rethug that he didn't want to compromise with, when he wasn't at Karl "Turdblossom" Rove's pretend "ranch" having dinner.

The Dean will need to change his Depends after that slam. Or not.