Yesterday's Results

Dems have a mixed bag to pore over after yesterday's primary elections in several States. The win in Arkansas' Dem primary by incumbent Sen. Blanche Lincoln only postpones the expected Rethug pickup of the seat in November, but it did send Lincoln and other conserva-Dems a message from the party's progressive base: if you call yourself a Democrat, vote like a Democrat or we'll primary you. She took progressive support 6 years ago, and then often voted like a Rethuglican; strangely, Bill Clinton supported her, despite her rejection of his arguments last November to vote for health care reform.

On a brighter note, Sen. Harry Reid's reelection bid seemed to get a boost after Nevada Rethuglicans voted for uber-wingnut and teabagger loon Sharron "Right" Angle as their candidate. Some of Right Angle's weirder notions include the abolition of Social Security. That won't go over big in a general election, regardless of the anti-incumbent mood.

Finally, conserva-Sikh Nicky "Sticky" Haley won the Rethug primary for Governor in South Carolina, despite allegations from two men that she had affairs with them. Sticky becomes the odds-on favorite in November, assuming video evidence doesn't surface later showing her hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Quote of the Day

"I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick. So, this is not theater." -- President Obama, pushing back on the Today Show's Matt Lauer, who, along with the rest of the media Village, doesn't realize that the oil gusher is not theater and wants the President to provide him with a good Teevee moment.

(UPDATE: Jason Linkins comments on the media's need for drama)

Apparently Oil and Tea Mix With One Another

Within days of President Obama's inauguration, being on the wrong side of the President's election mandate, the right wing mobilized to block any of his initiatives. As their icon Pills Limpballs said over and over, they wanted him to fail. The so-called "Tea Party" movement was whipped up by Rethuglican and right-wing corporate activists, among them an "astroturf" front for corporate interests calling themselves FreedomWorks. They provided buses, obtained permits, provided printed signs and conducted public relations for the assorted birthers, militia, taxophobes and racists that form the far right core of the "conservative" movement. Of course, the Fux Channel promoted the hell of of them as if they were a populist cause.

After BP's oil gusher erupted, the wingers were caught fumbling for a spin on their "drill, baby, drill" mantra, trying not to call for more government intervention while laughably blaming the mess on "environmentalists." Now, FreedomWorks' President is calling the oil gusher a "natural disaster," which should please his sponsors at BP. According to Think Progress,

"FreedomWorks worked with BP to build grassroots support for opening up large sections of both the East and West coasts to new oil drilling. BP listed the group as part its 'significant grassroots supporters' on a PowerPoint slide at a presentation by the BP-funded front group 'Consumer Energy Alliance' at a conference in 2007."

First it was the insurance industry fighting health care reform; now BP used the same astroturf organization to make it appear as though they had public support for offshore drilling. That's what the teabagger movement is in a nutshell: powerful interests using gullible and ill-informed wingnuts to serve as their shock troops to undermine what's in the interest of the public -- including teabaggers themselves.

Nuptials for Numbnuts

Over the weekend, the porcine prince of wingnut radio, Pills Limpballs, was wed to a clueless woman 26 years his junior, his fourth marriage. You would think that women would avoid him like swine flu, but apparently Pills' mega-bucks trumps the gag reflex. It will certainly come as a temporary blow (no pun intended) to the underage sex tourist business that Pills patronized.

Among the attendees kissing Pills' large rump were the usual mighty righties: Turdblossom Rove, 9-11 Giuliani, and Fred "Foghorn Leghorn" Thompson. What surprised us most was the participation of Sir Elton "Sir Smelt One" John, who was bought off with a cool $1 million to perform at the wedding of a person who has opposed gay marriage at every turn. Now we know the dollar value Sir Smelt One places on his soul. Hopefully his audience will take notice.

(photo: Pills in his bachelor days, comforting the young)

Tweet You, BP!

The catastrophic oil spill has led to some gallows humor using "teh awesome" system of twits and tweets. Crooks and Liars has the rundown of a fake BP Public Relations Twitter account with a series of jabs at B(ig) P(olluter). Very sadly, the wildlife that we see every time we turn on the news aren't laughing, nor are the residents of the Gulf coast who have had their lives turned upside down.

Sunday Morning Reading

This morning we've got, for your edification:

Frank Rich on why Obama needs to get with his inner Teddy Roosevelt on the oil spill crisis; and

Media Matters on how CBS News' Jan Crawford distorted Elena Kagan's record as Justice Thurgood Marshall's clerk. (This is but the latest example of how CBS News is bending over backwards to find the dark cloud in every Obama Administration silver lining, even if it has to invent one. We noticed, BTW, last week Katie Couric repeatedly throwing leading questions-cum-statements at Adm. Thad Allen on the now-dominant media narrative that the Administration's "failings" should be confessed and investigated. We wouldn't want to go beyond the superficial, near-term, who's-up-who's-down now, would we Katie?!)

"F---ing Raghead"

Why do so many Rethugs look like they were sired by pigs (eg., South Carolina State Sen. Jake "The Fatman" Knotts, left, and Greedy Greer, below)? What's worse, they act like pigs.

This porker Knotts is in deep slop for referring to fellow Rethug and purported serial adulteress Nikki Haley, who's running for Governor of South Carolina, as a "f---ing raghead" during an internet radio show. (BTW, he also used "raghead" to refer to President Obama during the same internet radio show, but that's so par for the course for Rethugs, it barely rates mentioning.)

God, we're so happy we're not Rethuglicans!

(Photo: You might want to refrain from the all-you-can-eat nights at Bubba's Barbeque.)

Quote of the Day

"This is a form of derangement, or of such a passionate commitment to a foreign country that any and all normal moral rules or even basic fairness are jettisoned.. . .There is no sense of the human here; just the tribe. Something has been wrong here for a very long time, and now it is inescapable. Until the discourse is rescued from the victims of Israel Derangement Syndrome, Israel and America will slowly be drawn into wars they cannot ultimately win, lose every other ally they ever had, and embolden and fortify the very Islamist forces we are seeking to defuse and defeat." -- Andrew Sullivan, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, referring to the despicable Neocon - Likudnik Charles Kraphammer's syndicated article, which turns recent events in the Middle East upside down, making the attackers the victims.

Rethuglican Crime Blotter

No major Rethug sex scandals this week, so that must mean it's time for a good old Rethug crime scandal. Former chairman of the Florida Rethug Party Jim "Greedy" Greer was indicted on six felonies for steering campaign contributions to his pockets. Greedy Greer had resigned his position with the Florida Rethugs earlier this year, after the allegations were made known. Interestingly, his indictment reflects on both Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent for Senator, and his Rethuglican challenger Marco "Boobie-o" Rubio: Crist for appointing him in the first place, and Boobie-o for reminding voters of Boobie-o's free-spending ways with the Rethug Party credit card.

With Greedy facing some 80 years in prison if / when convicted, Hackwhackers is sending him a complimentary soap-on-a-rope for those awkward prison showers.

Quote of the Day

"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is." Sir Paul McCartney at the Library of Congress Wednesday night to receive the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

Spill, Baby, Spill

Not to make this "Winky Week," but we couldn't let pass the latest twisted pretzel of thought from the snowbilly grifter and former half-term Governor of Alaska. She's making the stunningly dishonest claim that if oil drilling had been allowed in "safer drilling areas", like the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, drilling the Gulf wouldn't have been necessary. She's also tried to distance herself from her "drill, baby, drill" mantra, where she called for increased off-shore drilling (remember earlier this year when she said Obama's expansion of off-shore leases was too little, too late?).

Trying to pivot off of an unpopular position without anyone noticing is proving to be Winky's m.o. It's having the unintended benefit of providing valuable video tape of her hypocrisy, should she ever run for public office again.

Palin's Wrecking Crew

Half-term governor and snowbilly grifter Winky You Betcha is continuing her efforts to be a king(?)maker in the Rethuglican party. Having endorsed candidates ranging from establishment non-maverick Walnuts McCain to any tea bagger filing for office, she is now backing the tea bagger, Joe "Joe" Miller, in the Senate race in Alaska. But wait, you say, isn't that seat already held by Rethug Lisa "BP's BFF" Murkowski? You are correct, sir! Thus, Winky is going against the Rethug establishment while stoking the feud that started when she ousted Murkowski's father as governor several years ago. It's a two-fer!

We're happy to see Winky making mischief in the Rethug primaries. The more tea baggers she gets nominated, the better the chance the Democrat in the race will prevail in November. In this Alaska race, it would be a pleasure to beat either BP's BFF or the tea bagger.

Meet Michele Bachmann, Socialist *

After almost 18 months of non-stop idiocy, where she condemned the Obama Administration's "takeover" of the car and health insurance industries, among other "socialist" plots, crazy Rethuglican Congresswoman Michele "I See Commies" Bachmann is now demanding that the Obama Administration take over the oil leak fiasco. The Minnesota loon said:

"Where were the boats that could have been commandeered by the government to be sent into this region to deal with that oil plume as it was coming up in the water and destroying marine life?"

Get that? "Commandeered by the government." Isn't that heresy among the teabagger mob that Bachmann plays to?
________
*and still batshit crazy

Not That There's Anything Wrong With It

While still fighting a political storm over lying about his military record, Illinois Rethuglican Senate candidate Rep. Mark "Kinky" Kirk is facing a new allegation: he's gay (not that there's anything wrong with it). While the allegation was first made by a Rethug rival during the primary season, it has been raised anew by Mike Rogers (the gay blogger who outed Rethug hypocrites Larry "Wide Stance" Craig and Mark "Holey" Foley) who has "evidence" not previously revealed.

According to Rogers, he's reporting this not because of Kirk's sexual orientation per se, but because of Kirk's recent vote not to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," thereby placing him firmly in the large camp of sexual hypocrites of the right -- which is also why we're noting it.

News You Can Lose

Today's lowlights:

-- Who'da thunk it? Al and Tipper Gore are separating, while Bill and Hillary Clinton are still "together."

-- Bubba Netanyahoo's poorly-conceived, poorly-timed, poorly-planned, poorly-executed, deadly raid on the Gaza blockade-buster flotilla is having major repercussions for Israel, while the American Likud party (Kraphammer, Kristol and the Kommentary krew) cheers in lockstep.