Advice from Bubba on Health Care Reform

Former President Bill Clinton has some advice for President Obama on the health care reform battle:

"I wouldn't even worry about the Republicans. I'd worry about executing."

He goes on to say in this Esquire interview that the Rethugs are "in la-la land." We think they passed throught la-la land months ago and are now in Batshitcrazy Land.

Column of the Day

"Time for the loons to shut up and listen," is the way the New York Daily News' Mike Lupica puts it, speaking about the wingnut reaction to the Obama school address. We also like the way he calls out Obama hater and WaPo resident crackpot Charles Kraphammer. Well done, Mike!

Quote of the Day

"One Party has no shame, the other Party acts like it has something to be ashamed of." -- Attaturk on the Rising Hegemon blog. And if that doesn't change, we're in for a dismal future.

Fuxed Up

Digby over at Hullabaloo has a take on the resignation of White House green jobs advisor Van Jones, formerly the head of Color of Change, an African-American organization which had the temerity to organize a successful boycott of mental case Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck's hideous program on the Fux Channel. To date, 57 advertisers have withdrawn their advertising from Boo Hoo's hate fest -- but not from the Fux Channel. Boo Hoo's far right screamers launched their own aggressive smear campaign to force Jones from his job. The Obama Administration appears to have caved to the pressure, and Jones resigned yesterday.

Bipartisanship/reaching out/reasoned discussion can't occur with the right wing, which effectively controls not only the Rethuglican Party, but significant chunks of the media. They seek the destruction of the Obama Administration, and whether it's tea baggers, birthers, gun-toting thugs at town hall meetings, or the wingnut parents objecting to Obama speaking to school kids, they won't compromise, and they can't be reasoned with. Most, frankly, are racists who can't abide the thought of a black man as President. The White House's strategy is apparently to "play dead" and let the thugs roll, rather than to push back hard. That strategy will lead to defeats in 2010 and 2012.

Bachmann Turns Up Over-Fried

Wingnut extraordinaire Michelle "The Loon" Bachmann (Wingnut-MN) has delusions that the Dems are "after her" because she. . .*cough cough snicker snicker*. . .might become President one day.

"They want to make sure no woman becomes President before a Democrat [sic] woman. They're doing everything they can to sabotage women like Sarah Palin, perhaps women like myself. . ."

Of course, we can't think of two more highly qualified Rethugs than The Loon and Winky You Betcha, and we'd love to see them on the national Rethug ticket together, especially for the Presidential and Vice Presidential debates. The Loon could debate the "Hoot Smalley" bill -- or "Poot Smelly" bill, or. . .nevermind -- and her idea of investigating Congressional Democrats to see how "pro-American" they are, while Winky could talk about her achievements as Governor of Alaska. Ten seconds should be enough time.

School Daze

Tristero, over at Hullabaloo, wonders why Dems aren't unloading at the crackpots making an issue out of Obama's upcoming school address ("work hard, stay in school," etc.). Given the Democrats' disorganized, deer-in-the-headlights non-response to rampant Rethug fear-mongering and hysteria this summer, one wonders why anyone would be surprised at the relative lack of forceful push-back on the latest craziness. This is how it starts: letting a virus into the body politic. It follows then that this is how you end up losing the debate; this is how you lose elections.

(Maybe they should hire Bill Moyers to spine 'em up.) (h/t Democratic Underground)

(Image: Democrats' Deer Leader)

Quote of the Day

"What it shows you is there are a lot of cynical people who try to fan controversy and, let's face it, in a country of 300 million people there are a lot of stupid people too, because if you believe that it's somehow unhealthy for kids for the President to say 'work hard and stay in school,' you're stupid! I'm not sure those parents are smart enough to raise those kids." -- MSNBC's John Harwood today on the "controversy" about a video from President Obama that is to be shown in schools, on a voluntary basis. Wingnuts are peppering their school districts demanding that the video not be shown, or are threatening to keep their children home on the day it is shown. Subject? As Harwood notes, "work hard and stay in school." Why that's Socialistic propaganda!

Macaca!

The lead of Rethug candidate for Virginia Governor Bob "Stealth" McDonnell has dropped in recent polling by half (down to 7 percent over Democrat Creigh Deeds). One reason to hope this "New Nixon"-type candidate will continue to plummet is a master's/law thesis he wrote 20 years ago, when he was a mere lad of...34. Seems the thesis, which McDonnell brought up himself to reporters, is full-bore American Taliban. (McDonnell, a long-time social right-winger who attended Pat Robertson's Regent "University", has been trying to tack to the center in the hopes of convincing enough inattentive voters that he's no threat to them.)

As Ruth Marcus points out, the "93-page, 176-footnote 'macaca' moment" presents all the ugly Christian right ideology made famous by Robertson and Jerry Falwell: anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-working poor. The thesis itself is a plan which McDonnell lays out for Republicans to use government to "strengthen the family." Hopefully, the Democrats will take this and run with it, ironically (as Marcus points out) using social wedge issues against a person and party that have long done the same. Turnabout is fair play, and all.

(Photo: "Stealth" McDonnell)

Tin Man's Shameful Behavior

Having followed Rethug National Committee chair Michael "Tin Man" Steele's political career for a few years, we're not surprised at his soulless, cynical opportunism -- after all, when running for the Senate in Maryland in 2006, he deceitfully tried to palm himself off as a Democrat to gullible voters. When Tin Man appeared at mostly black Howard University, he had to bus in a couple of dozen young white Rethugs to clap when he waved his arms during his "dialogue" on health care. When a young student told her story of her mother's losing battle with cancer, Tin Man mocked her and suggested she just wanted to appear on TV.

Of course, Tin Man's routine consists of telling audiences that everyone should have health care, but strangely never gets around to telling people what the Rethugs' proposals are that would curb costs and cover everyone. That's because the health insurance giants, in whose pockets Tin Man resides, don't want anything approaching reform, and will pay Tin Man's party handsomely to keep it that way.

Mom of the Year? Probably Not

Levi Johnston, ex-fiance of Winky You Betcha's daughter Bristol, is giving everyone some interesting views into life in Winkyville. Johnston, in an article in the current Vanity Fair, says that Winky and husband Todd the Secessionist bicker often and sleep in separate bedrooms; that Winky has the kids do all the housework and sends them out for her food (Taco Bell seems to be a favorite); that Winky never reads a newspaper; and that -- horrors for Winky's fanbase! -- Winky doesn't know how to shoot. Hard to believe, but Johnston also says Winky has referred to her Downs syndrome son as "the retarded one." Mom of the Year.

(photo: Winky respecting the flag, and ready to run away from her responsibilities)

Our Broken Media and Health Insurance Reform

Writing in the WaPo this morning (no link), E.J. Dionne explodes the myth, propagated by the ambulance-chasing media, that the rage at last month's town hall meetings was a reflection of America's dissatisfaction with health insurance reform:

"There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view 'boring') encounters between elected representatives and their constituents. It's also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support."

Dionne has it right. He tells of one North Carolina town hall meeting where a TV representative said if the meeting didn't "blow up" it wouldn't be covered. Nice journalism standards.

Next time when you hear a TV talking head commenting that the Administration is losing the battle for health insurance reform, remember whose side the mainstream media were on.

Rethug Sex Blotter - South Carolina Edition

No, not Mark Sanford. This time it's his appointed head of the State of South Carolina Board of Education, Kristin Maguire (she's since resigned for, you guessed it, "personal reasons"). Seems the "evangelical Christian" Maguire has been authoring hard core porn on various Internet chat rooms under the name "Bridget Keeney" (if you were making this stuff up, you'd want her to be "Ayneeda Weenie" or "Juwanna Dumey"). She's quite the busy hypocrite, since she also home-schools (!) her 4 kids, and serves as Executive committeewoman of the State Republican Party.

(Photo: Kristin "Bridget Keeney" Maguire)

"No Public Option, No Support"

That's what the rallying cry for all progressives should be who are concerned about Democrats negotiating (with themselves) the public option away. As it happens, it was voiced by Rich Trumka, the soon-to-be head of the AFL-CIO. Unfortunately, the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party doesn't seem to be in charge at the White House or in large swaths of Congress. The latest bullshit from an "unidentified Administration source" (Rahmbo?) is that the White House might want to screw progressives, just to show "independents" that Obama can buck his own party "to get things done." What makes us think of Rahmbo you ask? Isn't this the same kind of triangulation the Clintonistas thought they were so clever about -- abandoning traditional Democratic principles in the process? How'd that work out for ya?

Now if that isn't the most asinine, self-defeating "strategery" we've ever heard, not to mention a gratuitous slap at the folks who brung you to the dance, we don't know what is. One can only hope these are trial balloons, in this case filled with someone's fiddle farts, because if this turns out to be the "thinking" going on, the predictions of some wingnuts that the Obama Administration will most closely resemble Carter's might not be so far off.

(Photo: Rich Trumka, AFL-CIO)

Quote of the Day

"What we have to do today is to make a covenant, to slit our wrists. Be blood brothers on this thing." -- Lunatic wingnut Rep. Michelle "The Loon" Bachmann, speaking to a Colorado audience about defeating health care reform.

Please, you go first Ms. Loon.

Lizard's Loquaciouness

WaPo media critic Tom Shales has a good take on the hijacking of last Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" by The Dick's daughter, Lizard "Liz" Cheney. Lizard is in full screech mode on the program, refusing to shut up so that others can introduce inconvenient facts into the discussion. Shales notes that Lizard -- a "rising purple pundit of the right" -- continuously talked over other guests who were disagreeing with her dishonest statements concerning torture and terrorists. Shales writes:

"Cheney has a way onf continuing to talk, charging forward in single-minded determination, when someone else has the floor, even if that 'someone' might be moderator Stepahanopoulos. . .It may not matter to Cheney that her own argument can't be understood as she continues on her course of rudeness as rhetoric. . .this is 'discussion' as obfuscation, the use of language not to communicate but to obliterate."

Lizard's technique is not new; it's the standard technique of Rethugs and righties when "debating" progressives or simply answering questions. They've been to their "media school" and taught to talk and talk until the time is used up and their questioner can't follow up or pose more questions, or their progressive counterpart has no time to respond. It's also symbolic of their anti-democratic, authoritarian mindset which they used in the past eight years to stifle discussion, smear Dems and shout down the opposition. Letting them near the levers of power again would be very dangerous to our liberty.