Quote of the Day

"It would be interesting to see if Mr. DeLay can do the Perp Walk. Does he know that step?" -- Andrew Wheat, of Texans for Justice, the group that helped produce the criminal investigation of Tom "The Bug" DeLay, who will be on this season's "Dancing With The Stars."

Hands Off Our Pubes!

Clearly the wingnuts protesting the provision of health insurance to all Americans, decrying "socialism"/embracing Medicare, and the lowering of their health care costs, aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer -- they also formed the tea bagger movement that was protesting the President's policy of lowering their income taxes.

Here's a story from Wonkette that shows that some "deathers" not only have a problem with a public insurance option, but apparently have a problem with a "pubic" option, too. One which presumably would call for Gub'mint take over of our pubes. Now, that's socalesm for ya!

(hat tip to Germantown bureau chief Brian)

UPDATED WITH PHOTO!

One, Two, Cha Cha Cha

Think Progress reports that former House Majority Whip Tom "The Bug" Delay will be competing on "Dancing with the Stars." The Bug, a former pest exterminator from Texas, left the House of Representatives under investigation for money laundering, and was one of the nastiest thugs ever to descend on Washington, DC. What a hoot it would be to see him in leotards doing a jazz number, or better yet in a bright ruffled shirt and Cuban heels doing a flamenco.

To The Bug, we can only say, "break a leg!" . . .literally.

(photo: After The Bug got trapped)

Quote of the Week

"Ultimately, if the President decides he's going to go with a reform effort that doesn't include a public option, what he will have done is spent a ton of political capital, riled up an incredibly angry right-wing base that's been told this is a plot to kill Grandma, and he will have achieved something that doesn't change health care very much and that doesn't save us very much and won't do much for the American people. It's just not a very good thing to spend a lot of political capital on." MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Meet the Press yesterday, responding to reports that the White House might be willing to sign a health reform bill that didn't include a public option. Oh, and one more "downside:" it will let the Rethugs and everyone in the world know that this is a President who can be easily rolled.

Sunday WaPo Reading

It looks like both Fred Hiatt and Broderella have gone on vacation and let someone else write their op/eds today. On the other hand, Kathleen Parker, whose occasional bouts of sanity we've noted here, is back on the "Bush-good, Obama-not-so-much, media-biased" wingnut train.

Hiatt goes over the "three camps" in the health reform debate, concluding that the camp represented by the Rethugs and their insurance industry financers ain't got nothing but fear mongering.

Broder, who must be taking a colonic in Florida while someone writes his latest entry into the conventional wisdom, passes modest, albeit of course highly caveated judgment on the efficacy of the stimulus on stopping the economy's slide into Great Depression II.

Parker is back from her walk on the sane side to argue that Obama has not been "treated to the same scrutiny" as Dumbya was on the subject of a Faith-Based Initiatives program in the White House. Well, lady, the reason Dumbya was "scrutinized" was because of well-founded suspicions that the primary function of the initiative was to funnel money to his Christian religious right base (hello, Revs. Dobson and Robertson, have a grant Tony Perkins). Had he not been "scrutinized," Turdblossom and his minions would have run roughshod over the system. Nice try, though.

"The Return of Right-Wing Rage"

There's an op/ed getting a lot of play around the blogs today, and rightly so. It's by the WaPo's Rick Perlstein reminding us why progressives should never be surprised by right-wing rage, particularly after they lose power to the Democrats. And why we shouldn't be surprised by the media's collusion. Here it is.

Related issue: how long before Fred Hiatt Froomkins Perlstein for his apostasy?

Umm. . . .Oops!

A couple of high profile "detainees" have made the news:

First, Bob Dylan was stopped by police in Long Branch, NJ while strolling through a neighborhood back on July 23. He was peering in the window of a house for sale. "How does it feel, to be on your own, with no directions home, like a complete unknown. . ."

Second, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was detained for a couple of hours at the Newark Airport before the Embassy of India intervened, and Khan was released to continue his flight to Chicago. Indians regard Khan as we would regard a combination of Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and the Jonas Brothers. . . except viewed by a few hundred million more people.

"DON'T TASE ME, BRO!!"

It's A Fact, Jack

While on a day trip to Baltimore, we noticed that the Baltimore Sun actually has a sports columnist by the rather penile name of Peter Schmuck. Just thought our readers would enjoy that bit of trivia. (Could his middle name be "Dick?")

Whole-ly Shit

By now you've no doubt heard about (W)hole Foods CEO and flaming Randian John "Galt" Mackey's op/ed in the Wall Street Journal (where else?), slamming "ObamaCare", unions, and social responsibility in general. As you walk through the deconstruction of Mackey's rant by Sadly, No! keep this tool's pernicious, yoyo (you're on your own) philosophy in mind any time you might have the urge to step into a (W)hole Foods again. If you must think "upscale, overpriced produce," think: Bloom, Harris Teeter, Balducci's, anything but (W)hole Foods -- and please tell your friends, too. (BTW, in the Sadly, No! post, check out the list on the produce board behind Mackey.)

(Photo: Ass-Whole John "Galt" Mackey)

Speaking of Boo Hoo...

... Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert take on the assclown and his rapidly shrinking advertiser base. (h/t to Rising Hegemon and HuffPo)

"Unreasoning, Unappeasable Opposition"

That's how Paul Krugman describes the Rethug approach to politics -- past, present and future. He also scores the "mainstream media," having predicted earlier this year that every outrage, lie and cynical tactic employed by the Rethugs would be

"...dutifully given credence by major media organizations that somehow can't bring themselves to declare the accusations unequivocally false."

Along with most progressives, we hope the time will soon come when all the phony "bipartisanship" is put aside and we get the health insurance reform the country voted for.

Boo Hoo's Got Something To Cry About

We're seeing more and more advertisers pulling their ads from the excreable Glenn Beck Show, hosted by Fux's premier mental case Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck. Sargento Cheese, GEICO, and Men's Warehouse are the latest to pull their advertisements from the Dreck Boy's hour of hate. Proctor and Gamble, and Progressive Insurance had pulled their ads earlier.

Pressure needs to be kept on the remaining advertisers, who may be unaware of the Dreck Boy's unhinged daily rants and that their brands are being associated with his lunacy.

The Dick Takes Aim at Dumbya

The rift between former Preznit Dumbya and (Vice) President The Dick appears to be widening. In conversations The Dick has had with past colleagues, he's expressing disappointment with Dumbya for drifing out of The Dick's orbit in the second term, and becoming "soft" in the face of growing public dissent. Of course, The Dick's authoritarian nature objected to Dumbya listening to the people over his sage advice, for example, to invade an Arab country that had nothing to do with 9-11, among other excellent policy successes that The Dick can lay claim to. Of course, The Dick is still steamed at Dumbya for not pardoning his fellow felon, Scooter Libby, in order to assure Scooter's permanent silence about The Dick's central role in outing CIA agent Valerie Plame.

The Dick's memoirs should make interesting reading. However, everyone needs to understand that The Dick's disappointment in Dumbya is just the beginning: this sinister man really despises democracy and our most cherished institutions above all.

Vaya Con Dios, Les Paul

Sad news that guitar legend Les Paul, the virtual inventor of the electric guitar, has died at the age of 94. Paul's invention of the electric solid body guitar in the early 1940s paved the way for electric guitars, including the Gibson Les Paul, and rock and roll music. Paul is also credited with popularizing multitrack recording, which allows singers to record multiple tracks of themselves on the same recording. With his former wife Mary Ford, Paul also had a string of hits in the early 1950s, including "Lover", "Mocking Bird Hill," and "Via Con Dios." Quite a legacy.

The Wisdom of Solomon

With the release of documents relating to the Rove-inspired firings of U.S. Attorneys under the Bush Assministration comes evidence that John "Oink-Oink" Solomon, former Fred Hiatt fair-haired boy at the WaPo and now executive editor at the Moonie Times, was offering advice to the Bushies about containing damage as news of the political nature of the firings leaked out. What business do people like Solomon, Hiatt, and any number of anonymous hacks have being employed as "journalists" you might ask. Why indeed, since their only interest seems to be to serve the holy bottom line and cozy up to the powerful, Rethug-wired special interests that share their cynical view of life inside the Beltway.

(Photo: step away from the trough, Oink-Oink)