Sunday Reading

The New York Times' Frank Rich comes through again with a sharp and intelligent op-ed on the political climate faced by President Obama, and how he can prevail. The bottom line: get tough and speak out, as Obama did with the Supreme Court's reactionary majority in the State of the Union message, and as he did two days later when he took the House Rethuglicans to the woodshed on live TV at their "retreat" in Baltimore. He won't get much help from hand-wringing Senate Dems, led by the ineffectual Harry "Sleepy" Reid, who despite the biggest majority they've had in decades, are (in Obama's words) "running for the hills," fearful of the teabagger mob and their enablers at Fux News.

Rich's piece should be mandatory reading for every Dem politician this morning.

Saturday Night Snowstorm Song

It's snowing more than predicted here in Maryland -- more than 6 inches-- so it's time for some nostalgic music.

I remember seeing this Ed Sullivan performance, and how cool it was when the orchestra appeared. Ignore Zal's mugging and the twit yelling "Zal!" from the audience if you can, and enjoy a beautiful song.

"Don't Ignore Your Base"

Colbert King has that message for President Obama in his op/ed today. How many times does he have to be told? And, moreover, how many times do Congressional Democrats need to be told?

In other words: Pass.The.Damn.Health.Care.Bill.Now.

Quote of the Day

"A lot of you have gone to ribbon cuttings for the same projects that you voted against." -- President Obama, pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of the Rethug House members who took credit for something they voted against.

Obama Spanks Rethugs at Their Own Retreat

President Obama spoke to the House Rethuglican retreat in Baltimore today, and clearly got the best of them. Think Progress has the details. Obama's focus was on defending the stimulus and the health insurance reform bills against numerous Rethuglican falsehoods, and he rebutted each false claim by the House members in a lengthy question and answer session. Several Rethug congressmen later acknowledged that he came out looking better than they did. Several Rethug staffers even complained that the session was televised and the exposure made them look bad. To which we say: bwahahahaha!

"We (Not) Teabaggin!"

When even certified loon Rep. Michele "I See Commies" Bachmann (Rethug-Land of Ten Thousand Flakes) pulls out of the upcoming tea bagger convention, you know the wheels have come off the cart. Maybe it's the $549 fee to get in? Or the internal squabbling that various tea bag factions are engaged in? Regardless, it will be interesting to see if the organizers will be able to pay Winky You Betcha the $100,000 speaking fee she demanded and still make a few bucks off the boobs, which of course is what this is mostly about for the organizers.

"I Don't Quit"

President Obama was in top form for his first State of the Union message last night. He was calm, direct, and didn't mince words for the Rethugs in attendance. Some of our favorite moments:

"I've been told that our political system is too gridlocked, and that we should just put things on hold for a while. For those who make these claims, I have one simple question: How long should we wait? How long should America put its future on hold?"

"If the Republican leadership is going to insist that sixty votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well."

"Each time lobbyists game the system, or politicians tear each other down instead of lifting the country up, we lose faith. The more TV pundits reduce serious debates into silly arguments, and big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away."

"To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills."

"We don't quit, I don't quit.

Also fun to watch was the Rethug reaction to Obama's plan to tax banks who haven't repaid the taxpayers, but who are giving out enormous bonuses: they sat on their hands! Good visual for the 2010 campaign. Same for the list of taxes Obama reduced: the Rethugs didn't applaud.

Finally, Justice Sam "Mosquito" Alito shaking his head and mouthing "not true" was priceless and a breach of protocol, as the President criticized the Court's right wing majority for siding with corporations on campaign ads. Mosquito has the least "judicial temperament" of any Justice in recent memory, and apparently hasn't forgotten the President's January 2006 vote against his confirmation for the Supreme Court.

(photo: NY Times)

Butthole of the Week

Well, the week's not over, but we're figuring that there won't be much to top this from (former) ESPN.com contributor, and former NBA player Paul "Humanitarian" Shirley, to the people of Haiti:

"If it's possible, could you not rebuild your island home in the image of its predecessor? Could you not resort to the creation of flimsy shanty-and-shack towns? And could some of you maybe use a condom once in a while?"

ESPN fired the clown after he posted his noxious "thoughts" on another blog. If we could only drop him off in Haiti with his "thoughts" tattooed on his small forehead.

"O'Keefe? We Don't Know Any O'Keefe"

It looks like hard times ahead for junior wingnut cub reporter James "G. Gordon Diddy" O'Keefe. Busted on felony charges stemming from the attempt to bug the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, G.G. Diddy is experiencing the doors of former wingnut allies slamming in his face. The latest is the Salt Lake County Rethug organization, which cancelled a speech by G.G. Diddy on "ACORN's unethical behavior." [Snicker, tee hee, nice turnabout!] Fux News was also disconsolate over their young hero's fall from grace as the pimped-out ACORN slayer of yore.

It's our fondest wish that G.G. Diddy serve time, but not before disclosing the Rethug operators who supported his caper.

(photo: G.G. Diddy's clever disguise as a telephone repairman didn't fool the Feds)

In Fux They Trust

Given the number of hardcore wingnuts, it's not surprising that a recent poll finds the Fux "News" Channel the "most trusted" source of television news. Not surprising, because these folks aren't looking for news, they're looking for a confirmation of their own biases and delusions, and Fux delivers the goods. As the pollsters put it:

"A generation ago Walter Cronkite was the most trusted name in the country because of his neutrality. Now people trust Fox the most precisely because of its lack of neutrality. It says a lot about where journalism is headed."

Ironically, ABC News finished last in trust in the poll; ABC News is the network of White House Correspondent Jake "Tippy" Tapper, who defended Fux News as a "sister organization" after it was called out by White House officials last fall.

Headline of the Day

"Man Caught At Airport With 44 Lizards in His Pants" (via HuffPo)

A little song, a little dance, a little party in his pants. And the security screeners thought he was just happy to see them.

Rethug Crime Blotter - Junior Wingnut Edition

James "G. Gordon Diddy" O'Keefe, the junior wingnut who "exposed" ACORN as the demofascistcommie fraud that it is(n't), was arrested by the FBI today along with three other stools when they attempted to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. O'Keefe and his ninja henchmen were posing as telephone repairmen when the caper went south. Look for RedState and the Freepers to start the legal defense fund toot sweet.

(Photo: "G. Gordon Diddy" O'Keefe, and his moll from the ACORN sting, in happier times.)

"America the Ungovernable"

...Ungovernable, if you have the current mix of nihilist, obstructionist Rethugs, spineless Democrats, and a largely clueless public. That's Michael Cohen's analysis in the current Newsweek. Can't say we disagree.

The question is, come tomorrow night's State of the Union, if the President will be counted in among the spineless Democrats, trying to mount the magic pony of bipartisanship and delivering rhetorical cream puffs to his audience, who badly need to hear some truths for a change.

Another Seat Down The Drain?

When Vice President Biden was elected, the Senate seat that he held for 36 years was filled on a interim basis by his long-time aide Ted Kaufmann, with the expectation that Biden's son Beau, Delaware's Attorney General, would run in 2010. The Rethugs are expected to put up popular Representative Mike "White" Castle. Unfortunately, Biden has announced that he won't run to fill his father's seat, so White Castle has a much easier race in front of him and is the new favorite to win.

Not to question Biden's intestinal fortitude, but compare his situation with that of Massachusetts Sen.-elect Scott "Centerfold" Brown who until the last couple of weeks was written off in the face of what was expected to be an easy Democratic win. The Rethugs are throwing caution to the wind and going for it; Dems are putting their finger in the wind and running from it.

Liars and Their Lying Lies

Conventional wisdom is that politicians generally spin the truth to their liking, but in the case of South Carolina Rethuglican Sen. Jim "Demented" DeMint, the truth never met Demented's acquaintance. And he lies even after hearing his own recorded statements.

Demented was caught in a blatant lie on ABC's This Week today when he denied -- even after hearing an audio tape of himself -- that he said health insurance reform should be the President's "Waterloo." Demented was later called out by New Jersey's Dem Sen. Robert Menendez, who said the Rethug's "whole political strategy is for this President and this Congress to fail." The Rethug approach is to use lies -- "death panels," "Government takeover of health care," "pulling the plug on granny" -- to obstruct reform on behalf of the insurance corporations, and assume that the broken mainstream media won't challenge the lies. Today was a rare instance where they assumed wrong.