A Conservative Takedown Of "Comprehensively Wrong" Marco Rubio

This is from Daniel Larison in "The American Conservative":

It takes special determination to be as comprehensively wrong about something as Rubio has been about diplomacy with Iran over the last few years. Two years ago, Rubio was feigning interest in negotiations while insisting on maximalist conditions that would have made an agreement impossible. Had the U.S. followed his recommendations, there would have been no deal and Iran’s nuclear program would not be under the significant restrictions now imposed upon it. If the U.S. had demanded “zero enrichment” as Rubio wished, Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium would not have been shipped out of the country as it has been, but would have remained in Iran’s control and would have continued to expand. A year ago, Rubio was certain that Iran would never abide by any agreement that it made. This month, the IAEA has certified that Iran is in compliance with the agreement, just as it complied with the interim agreement that he also bitterly opposed. Despite his best efforts to tack on irrelevant amendments to the Senate’s oversight legislation to try to sabotage the deal, the deal went forward and has already yielded significant nonproliferation benefits in just its first few months.

Like other Iran hawks, Rubio is reduced to bemoaning non-existent “appeasement” while ignoring the substantial benefits for the U.S. that diplomacy with Iran has already produced.

Yes, young Sen. Marco"Glug Glug" Rubio (R-MIAmi), the corporate media's darling, a man of astute international strategery, called to account in... The American Conservative.  But remember, to the Very Serious People, he's one of the"well- qualified" Republicans running for President!

(h/t Lawyers, Guns, & Money)

(Photo:  "Gee, maybe someday I can grow up to be President!")

Today's Dispatches From The Stupid Party - The Gloom And Doom Sets In (UPDATED)

There are several dispatches to relay this morning (please have your popcorn buttered and ready!):

-- Neo- fascist fartbag Donald "Rump" Trump has a "very special guest" who'll be (we all presume) making an endorsement today* in Iowa =cough=sneeze= Snowbilly Grifter Sarah Palin =cough=.   Just the thought of it is causing some pearl- clutching on the right.

-- The looming inevitability of either a Rump or Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz nomination is driving "establishment" Republican hacks into heavy palpitations.  Driftglass covers David Bobo Brooks' cri de coeur:

[Brooks] The idea that most women, independents or mainstream order-craving suburbanites would back a guy who declares his admiration for Vladimir Putin is a mirage. The idea that the G.O.P. can march into the 21st century intentionally alienating every person of color is borderline insane.

Worse is the prospect that one of them might somehow win...

[Driftglass] Shorter David Brooks: Oh my holy stars and bars! When did the Republican Party fill up with all these... Republicans!

While over at the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle, former Dumbya hack Michael "Mushroom Cloud" Gerson despairs for the future of the party:

For Republicans, the only good outcome of Trump vs. Cruz is for both to lose. The future of the party as the carrier of a humane, inclusive conservatism now depends on some viable choice beyond them. 

For the response to which, we must crib Driftglass' shorter, above, for "Mushroom Cloud's" detached- from- reality vision:

 Oh my holy stars and bars!  When did the Republican Party fill up with all these... Republicans!

-- Meanwhile, desperate, professional Republican ratf*ckers like Karl "Turdblossom" Rove are busy trying to damage Hillary Clinton by (such geniuses!) boosting Sen. Bernie Sanders:

Sean Spicer, the chief strategist and spokesman for the RNC, spent much of the evening tweeting Sanders-friendly commentary on the debate, often with the pro-Sanders hashtag #FeelTheBern. At one point, Spicer gently chided Sanders for what he deemed a poor response to a question and added, “come on we are trying to help u.”

After the debate, the Republican political action committee America Rising promoted the narrative that Sanders won the debate. “Clinton needed a win last night. Instead, everyone is talking about how well Bernie Sanders, her chief rival, did,” spokesman Jeff Bechdel wrote to reporters.

Meanwhile, American Crossroads, a group co-founded by Karl Rove, is airing an ad in Iowa bolstering a core tenet of Sanders’s case against Clinton: that she has received large sums of campaign contributions from Wall Street, and therefore can't be trusted to crack down on big banks.

When your party and its candidates for President are toxic disaster zones, ratf*cking and laughable diversions about the best you can hope to do.

* UPDATE:  Well, it's official - Tweedledumb is endorsed by, well, Tweedledumber:

Just in: Politician turned reality show star endorses reality show star turned politician.

— Ari Melber (@AriMelber) January 19, 2016

UPDATE 2:  As our Silver Spring Bureau Chief notes in the comments, Mama Grizzly's son Trek Trap Turd Track was arrested on assault and domestic violence charges last night.  What a great American family!

UPDATE 3:  And who's to blame for Trash Trek Turd Track's domestic violence and general Palin-style assholery?  Why, President Obama, of course!

Those Voices In His Head

Former pizza executive and Rethug candidate butt-of-jokes Herman "Uzbeckibeckistanstan" Cain wants us to believe that there's a groundswell of support for neo-fascist fartbag Donald"Rump"Trump among…..black women!:

“And let me tell you a phenomenon I discovered on my radio show. I get callers who call up and say, ‘I am black, I’m female and I’m going from Democrat to Trump.'”

We suppose that black women nutty enough to listen to Uncle Herman's gibberish on radio would also be nutty enough to support Rump, but it's equally likely that the "callers" he's getting are coming from inside his head.

Rethugs Want To Select Press Coverage

One of America's emptiest suits, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwarmer Reince "Prepuce" Priebus has announced that the Rethugs will not allow NBC to host the February 26 Rethuglican "debate", replacing them with Fox lite CNN. Apparently, Prepuce was miffed that the CNBC moderators at the Rethuglican "debate" last October had the effrontery to ask, you know, actual questions of the assembled clowns. Having been selected by the RNC as a "safe" channel, we're presuming that CNN will dial it back to questions like, "Sir, you're an honest and upstanding person. What are your thoughts on failed Secretary of State and unindicted criminal Hillary Clinton?"

The Rethuglicans, who have been working through state legislatures to let Rethug politicians pick their voters through redistricting, are now blatantly picking the "news" outlets that they'll play ball with, and by "ball," we mean softball.  Working with Fux all these years, they've gotten used to their propaganda being disseminated without pushback.  Given the shallow, horse race mentality of the political media -- ever chasing "scandal" and smoke -- we're not surprised that CNN has agreed to substitute for NBC, but they might want to consider incorporating the RNC's logo into their own from now on.

On Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday, Some Bitter Irony, Courtesy Of Donald Trump (UPDATED)

Here's how neo- fascist Republican fartbag Donald "Rump" Trump opted to spend Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, surrounded by present and future Stormtrumpers:

Speaking to thousands at Liberty University on Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dedicated breaking the attendance record for the school’s convocations to Martin Luther King, Jr.

It was the only reference Trump made to the historic civil rights leader, who is celebrated on the third Monday of January every year. Instead of honoring King’s legacy, Trump gave what has become his usual stump speech — self-congratulations on leading the polls, followed by a lot of positions that King would have certainly disagreed with.

And Liberty University?  The family grift founded by "Moral Majority" (which was neither) leader Jerry Falwell, and currently run by his twisted spawn?  The friendly place where Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz chose to kick off his presidential campaign?  Calling John Fugelsang:

Today Donald Trump speaks at Liberty University, founded by a segregationist who defended apartheid. Happy #MLKday to irony everywhere.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 18, 2016

UPDATE:  Then there's one of the devout Rump's favorite Bible verses - "two Corinthians."  Was there ever a more transparent buffoon in public life in America?

UPDATE 2:  Inspired by our commenter, we offer this:

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon - Republican Dystopia Comes To Michigan

(click on image to enlarge)

(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

For anyone who hasn't been following this Republican- created disaster in Flint, Michigan, Charles P. Pierce has a little background:

The crisis has its roots in something fundamental to modern conservative government—the deregulated state. In 2011, under a controversial state law that he signed shortly after taking office, Governor Rick Snyder removed [Dayne] Walling, [Stephen] Benjamin's friend, and replaced him with an emergency manager. It was under this regime that the decision was made to change Flint's water supply from the Detroit water district to the Flint River, which required the water to go through the antiquated lead-lined pipes that have now poisoned a generation of the city's children. Everything else—including the alleged cover-up and the calls for Snyder's resignation that have come from everyone from Michael Moore to Bernie Sanders—has, well, flowed from that.  [snip]

"We have a governor who is a business exec, so he said he was going to run government like a business," said Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence, who represents Detroit. "This is a glaring example of decisions made on dollars and cents and on a budget and had a devastating effect on the people, especially the children, because the lead has a negative impact on the development of your brain. It's developmental. It's educational. Those children are going to need help for the next 15 years ... You cannot run a government without looking after the well-being of the people. On paper, he made a great decision, but look at the lives he impacted."

Yesterday, Kansas.  Today, Michigan.  Tomorrow, Kentucky.  And those are just three of the Republican- run states that are serving as "labs" for reactionary conservative "policies."  Enjoy the Freedumb!

Bomb, Bay

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has a good read on this past weekend's opening of director Michael Bay's instant- not- classic "13 Hours", a film about the Benghazi tragedy (more specifically the shoot- 'em- up, blow- 'em- up parts) that right- wingers are desperate to make all about the perfidy of Hillary Clinton and President Obama.  Steve notes that the movie was Bay's worst opening in a decade, and might fail to break even (it tallied a disappointing $16 million and finished fourth in the weekend box office charts).  This, despite heavy flogging by Republicans and a ubiquitous advertising campaign by Paramount Studios.  Here's the once great Washington Post's Bezos Bugle's Ann Hornaday on the Paramount effort to sell the film as innocent, hero- worshiping fun:

... Paramount has insisted that the film is “not political.” That’s a whopper, even for an industry that has so brilliantly perfected the art of relieving itself on consumers and telling them that it’s raining.

What Paramount only pretends not to have known all along is that, of course, “13 Hours” is political, even if it isn’t explicitly partisan. Despite its dog-whistle marketing, the content of the film might disappoint the most rabid Hillary haters. Secretary Clinton is never invoked by name in the film, and the president is only mentioned in passing, when a character says that “POTUS has been briefed.” Rather than a red-meat attack on the Obama administration, “13 Hours” engages in a kind of diffuse, all-purpose cynicism about Washington as a familiar metonym for incompetence, corruption and bureaucratic inertia.  [snip]

“It feels like it was hard for people to buy a ticket if they were more liberal leaning,” Rob Moore, Paramount’s vice-chairman, told Variety on Sunday. “It’s sad that this gets turned into a political debate as opposed to a conversation about who did the right thing and who was heroic.”

Of course, that’s what happens when you court a narrow market for your movies: The audiences you neglect don’t come...

The disingenuous Mr. Moore knew perfectly well this subject was a "political debate" (and soon, a failed Republican talking point) from the second the film was green lighted.  (He's a "devout Christian" who brought the Biblical epic "Noah" to the silver screen in 2014.  We suspect we know what his political leanings are.)  His company just made a very bad business decision thinking it could ride a wave of misdirected wingnut rage into box office gold. 

Finally, we couldn't help but notice in Steve's read where he quotes Gawker's Christopher Hooks' accounts of certain "13 Hours" film goers, including this psychopath:

... “Oh yeah. I’d shoot Hillary Clinton in the fuckin’ head. I don’t like the bitch at all,” said Len Toomey, who identified himself as a veteran of Desert Storm and Somalia. He’d seen the movie with some VFW friends. “Choke her. She should be in the pisser and I should be pissin’ on her every night.”

Let's hope the U.S. Secret Service pays this jamoke a visit soon.

New Clinton Ad: "Who Can Stop Them?"

Pretty good compare/ contrast ad featuring the bullies, crackpots, demagogues and empty suits running on the Republican side, and one of the several rational candidates running on the Democratic side.

Which Candidate Would You Want On Your Side In A Bar Fight?

Inquiring minds want to know, so Bitter Empire provides the analysis.
(h/t Princeton Election Consortium)

Tweet And Quote Of The Day - Likable, Inspirational Ted Cruz

My new line of inspirational posters aren't moving. 😕 pic.twitter.com/ApXzr4JrAF

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) January 16, 2016

Neo- fascist Republican fartbag Donald "Rump" Trump today on rival Sen. "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz (R-Calgary):

“The truth is he’s a nasty guy, nobody likes him.  Nobody in Congress likes him. He’s a very — he’s got a edge that’s not good. You can’t make deals with people like that. It’s not a good thing for the country. Very nasty guy.”  (our emphasis)

Pot, meet kettle.

Sunday Reflection: Martin Luther King, Jr., And The Arc Of The Moral Universe

On Monday we celebrate and reflect on the life and moral teachings of the great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr.  It's a time for all Americans to reflect on his legacy - and the legacy still unfulfilled.  This is an excerpt from his "How Long? Not Long" speech in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 25, 1965.  It's in these remarks -- which are part speech, part sermon -- that he uses the rhetorically resonant "the arc of moral history is long, but it bends toward justice" formulation (a line paraphrasing the words of abolitionist Theodore Parker) to great effect.  There are many more King speeches in film and audio archives (You Tube is a handy source), and we encourage you to experience them.

Iran Complies, Nuke Capability Eliminated

Iran has complied with the conditions of dismantling its nuclear weapons enrichment program, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which stated: "Iran has carried out all measures required under the JCPOA, to enable implementation day to occur." This represents a major achievement for the Obama Administration, which has sought, through diplomatic means, to eliminate Iran's military nuclear weapons capability. In compliance with the agreement, Iran has shipped 98 percent of its fissionable material out of the country, has destroyed the core of its plutonium-producing reaction by pouring concrete into it, and mothballed thousands of centrifuges that were key to enriching uranium to weapons-grade material.

This represents a major victory for the Obama Administration, which has applied serious economic and diplomatic pressure on the Iranian government by enlisting the support of its European allies, and Russia and China, in stopping Iran's development of nuclear weapons. For its part, Iran will have economic sanctions lifted (as long as their compliance continues), resulting in an influx of much needed resources to bolster its flagging economy.

Rethugs, of course, are unhappy at the success of the Administration's efforts, as are the neocons who wanted a "military" solution ("Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran") that would have sacrificed thousands of American lives and treasure without end, and a generation in yet another ground war in the Middle East (we're counting on Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu to voice some bullish*t excuse for why this agreement is a problem for his Likud Party nuclear-armed Israel).

The Master Debater

Clueless mainstream media discuss the last Republican debate, and pick a winner:  "Tailgunner Ted" Cruz, "master debater." Hilarity ensues. (MSNBC's Katy Tur gets the joke in the final clip -- a smile breaks over her face as her colleague Kasie Hunt speaks). Thank you, Stephen Colbert, for bringing us this gem of double entendre. A classic.

Americans Released By Iran - And It's All Obama's Fault!

News Item:

Several Republican presidential candidates criticized the Obama administration's decision to swap seven Iranian prisoners for The Washington Post's reporter Jason Rezaian and three other Americans on Saturday.

Horrible!  Swapping the four Americans for seven Iranians!  Another sign of weakness and failure!

Uh, except:

A helpful reminder that Ronald Reagan traded arms to Iran for U.S. hostages (plus that illegal war in Nicaragua): https://t.co/K1ynrTIJ7O

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 16, 2016

 St. Ronnie of Hollywood's Iran- Contra missiles- for- hostages? Now that was a deal!

UPDATE:  Wonkette has more commentary on reaction from right- wing shitsacks. 

Dirty Job Photo of the Day

Mwahahaha.

(photo: Same Sad Echo, via Balloon-Juice.com)