VP Debate Cartoon and Comment

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Here's Matt Taibbi on Biden's performance and some of the media quacking going on:

"I’ve never thought much of Joe Biden. But man, did he get it right in last night’s debate, and not just because he walloped sniveling little Paul Ryan on the facts. What he got absolutely right, despite what you might read this morning (many outlets are criticizing Biden’s dramatic excesses), was his tone. Biden did absolutely roll his eyes, snort, laugh derisively and throw his hands up in the air whenever Ryan trotted out his little beady-eyed BS-isms.

"But he should have! He was absolutely right to be doing it. We all should be doing it. That includes all of us in the media, and not just paid obnoxious-opinion-merchants like me, but so-called 'objective' news reporters as well. We should all be rolling our eyes, and scoffing and saying, 'Come back when you’re serious.'”

(Cartoon: Stuart Carlson, via gocomics.com)

Mitt's Mendacity, Cont.

It's Friday, so that means another collection of bald-faced lies from Willard "Mendacious Mitt" Romney, and another opportunity to ask the question, "How can this gilded turd be polling in the mid-to-upper 40's?" Frankly, it's just reached the point that he has no constraints on his lying -- none imposed by the media, none imposed by his "conscience." None. So, our favorite quote in Steve Benen's essential but depressing chronicle this week comes not from Willard, but from an Onion piece on Willard's campaign strategy:

"I'm lying a lot more, and my lies are far more egregious than they've ever been."

No truer words have ever been put in the mouth of Willard Romney! (That's the only way true words could end up in Willard's mouth, of course.)

And The Most Twittered Word From Last Night?

Joe's word for what Lyin' Ryan was spouting:

Weekend Song

Ease into your weekend with "Half Gate," a song by Brooklyn-based indie/folk rock band Grizzly Bear from their 2012 album "Shields."



(h/t San Francisco Bureau Chief Shauna)

Willard Gets All-Important Lohan Endorsement

Pharmaceutical expert and all-around washout Lindsay "On Parole" Lohan is endorsing sketchy Willard "No Caffeine" Romney, according to a tweet from her. It wasn't determined whether Lohan sent the tweet from jail or not, or whether she was "medicated" or not.

This vital endorsement will certainly give Willard the Spoiled Druggie Rich Girl vote. He's already locked up the Ted "Empty Head" Nugent / Kid "Rockhead" Rock white trash skin head vote.

(photo: Obama must regret losing this important endorsement.)

Joe Does His Job Well

There were a lot of wonderful, Joe Biden moments during his debate last night with Ayn Rand devotee and Eddie Munster look alike Paul "Lyin'" Ryan. One was the moment that Lyin' claimed falsely that we've had the types of massive tax cuts on the wealthy before, and mentioned President Kennedy. Joe shot back, "Oh, now you're Jack Kennedy." Lyin' looked as if suddenly developed diarrhea. Lyin' also stumbled on what he policy for Afghanistan should be, indicating that we should be committing more combat troops, not fewer, a very unpopular position. Finally, Joe did what the President failed to do in his closing statement: he called out the Rethug ticket on the "47%" statement and their dishonesty about tax policy and priorities.

You could tell the Rethugs knew they lost when they began yipping about Joe's aggressiveness and his grinning and laughing at Lyin's statements, even attacking the moderator, Martha Raddatz. But the VP did exactly what was needed: reenergize the base, and win some independent voters over. In focus groups held by NBC and CBS immediately after the debate, undecided voters gave the VP the clear win. We'll see whether the debate had any definitive impact over the next few days, but it's clear that Joe gave the ticket renewed energy.

(photo: the Happy Warrior)

BONUS I: It's well worth reading Esquire's Charles P. Pierce on last night's debate. He always has Lyin' Ryan pegged better than almost anyone.)

BONUS II: It's good to see the Obama campaign jump on Lyin's evasiveness last night in this video:

Shell Game Cartoon of the Day

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This is the most shifty and secretive candidate in modern times. He makes Richard Nixon look open and candid by comparison. He has such little trust in, and such contempt for, the American people that he won't deal honestly and openly with his own finances and on his regressive tax policy.

Rethug Drunk Blotter, Iowa Edition

The night after the first Presidential debate, diners at a West Des Moines restaurant were subjected to drunken wing nut Idelle Hunziker haranguing them about how President Obama was destroying the nation and Muslims were to blame. Police were called when she refused to leave the restaurant, and when they arrived the drunken lady woman creature declared that she was a Republican, so they weren't needed. Wonkette has this humorous take on an ugly display of drunken Rethuglican bigotry.

Oh, and she also informed the arresting officer on the way to jail that she was a "good mother," something that was hard to confirm since her daughter left the restaurant saying she was "embarrassed" during her mother's tirade.

(photo: West Des Moines' Mom of the Year. We'll drink to that.)

On "Too-Polite" Obama

Charles P. Pierce on President Obama's assertion that he was "too polite" in last week's debate, and that calling out Willard's lies would be "repetitive:"

"Has it dawned on you yet that you're holding down two jobs at the moment? You are president of the United States and you are a political candidate for re-election. Each job has different requirements and different emotional imperatives. In your capacity as a political candidate, nobody cares whether or not you find pointing out that Willard Romney was lying about his tax plan, lying about his health-care plan, and lying about virtually everything you've done as president repetitive — and, as long as we're being frank here, what a prissy academic word that is to describe what should be a full-throated defense of your own record against a truthless and dangerous mountebank. Calling a liar out on all his lies should be energizing. It should get your blood up. It is one of the most important things you can do in your job as a political candidate.

"In your job as a political candidate, you are not allowed to find things like Willard Romney's lying — and its unsightly offspring, his evolving positions on virtually every important issue of the day — too boring to be worthy of your time and effort. It is your job to turn this most ridiculous man and his ridiculous positions into the fuel for your campaign, the grist for your mill, the garbage for your flux capacitor. One thing you don't need right now is the lofty disdain of a man who's already president. Leave that stuff back in the Oval. You don't work there right now."

Perhaps the President and his handlers will absorb this lesson before the next debate.

How It's Done, Clinton Style

If anyone wonders why former President Bill Clinton is President Obama's most potent weapon, just watch this brief clip of him cutting to the essence of Willard "I'll Say Anything" Romney's performance last week:



If Obama ends up winning, he owes Clinton (actually both Clintons for different reasons) big time. BIG time.

Rethug Sex Blotter: Tea Bagger Congressman Edition

Another election cycle, another far-right Rethuglican tea bagger exposed for the foul hypocrite that he is. This time it's Rep. Scott DesJarlais (Creep-TN), a then-married, "pro-life," practicing physician, who pressured his mistress to get an abortion back in 2000. Apparently, it wasn't the first affair for DesJarlais, either. You can read the transcript of a call DesJarlais made to his mistress at the link.

Of course, to us it's not shocking or surprising any more for a Rethug to turn out to be someone different than what he/she projects (hello, Willard!). Do Democrats get caught in hypocritical acts? Of course they do. But for the most part they haven't positioned themselves as guardians of public morality; Rethugs do. That's part of the scam they run for their vaguely sentient base. But sometimes pious rhetoric can rear up and bite you in the ass, whether you're in office or just a Rethug water-carrier (hello, Rep. Newtie Gingrich, Rep. Bob Livingston, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Sen. Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, "Pills" Limbaugh, etc., etc. - look them up if they're not familiar). Now you can add this creep's name to that list. Oh, by the way, he's leading his Democratic opponent for the moment.

(Photo: Rep. Scott DesJarlais, prototype Rethug)

A Great Grift Idea

Snowbilly grifter and idiot philosopher Sarah "Winky" Palin has announced that "her family" is writing a book on fitness (it would have to be a family effort, since Winky's attention span is measured in nanoseconds). Although there's no publisher nor publication date mentioned, we're certain that Winky's book will be a smash among the morbidly obese, aging, angry white folks that comprise her fan base.

Everyone out of your Hoverounds! All together now, touch your toes! No? OK, let's start with touch your nose.

(photo: Winky and daughter doing some Christmas shopping. How do you like Winky's age-inappropriate outfit? Trying out for a revival of "Grease" are we?)

Willard's Continuing Makeover

With his Etch-A-Sketch plan in high gear, plutocrat prevaricator Willard "Weathervane Willard" Romney has shifted positions on tax cuts for the wealthy, on health care, and on other issues in an attempt to disguise his and his party's extreme right wing positions. Now, it's women's reproductive health. After lying in an interview with the Des Moines Register that, "There's no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda", Willard's staff had to walk back his new position to one more in line with his party's reactionary policy toward women's' reproductive rights:

"Gov. Romney would of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life."

Willard has clearly made the calculation that the rabid right wing base of his party has nowhere to go in November and will vote Rethuglican even if the candidate were a head of cabbage, their hatred of the President is so consuming. Thus, he feels free to lie, shift, misrepresent and dodge in order to convince enough undecided/low information voters that he's not the clueless, coreless job exporter that he really is. The next few weeks will be a test of voters' tolerance of deceit on Willard's part.

Willard Romney, Lovable Prankster

"Matt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor's second son, told how his father would present his children with a stick of butter, telling them 'it's so rotten you have to smell it.' When they leaned down he would gleefully shove their faces into the plate.

"Mr. Romney apparently repeated the trick recently with one of his grandsons, pushing the shocked child's head into a platter of whipped cream." -- from an article in the UK Telegraph. Actually, it's a prank many of us would like to pull on Willard.

Mid-Week Birthday Song

Today is our Washington, D.C., Bureau Chief's birthday. It's also the birthday of John Lennon, who wrote this song for his son Sean. So, when you hear this song, just replace the word "Sean" with "Brian" and we're good to go! Happy Birthday, Brian!