The decline and fall of the Republican Party in recent years has been so widespread that the party has lost support among nearly every major demographic subgroup of likely voters across the country, according to a new Gallup poll - except frequent churchgoers, who apparently groove on illegal wars, torture, lying, smiting the poor and trashing our planet.
###
Breaking news on the teevee: Live coverage of a Michael Steel speech where he says, "The Republican comeback has begun!", "No more apologies", and "...You can see it, and you can feel it. This change, my friends, is being delivered in a tea bag. And that's a wonderful thing."
Was I out of the room when the Republicans apologized for the Bush years? Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele is planning to stop doing it, which means at some point they started. How did I miss that?
"The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over," Steele will say in a speech to the RNC's 2009 State Chairmen's Meeting, according to excerpts obtained by CNN. "It is done. We have turned the page, we have turned the corner. No more looking in the review mirror. From this point forward, we will focus all of our energies on winning the future."
Do you remember any Republican "apologizing" or in any way looking backward and identifying mistakes? If you can dig up a quote where anyone anywhere did so, please let me know.
###
The National Organization for Marriage, that ridiculous group that came up with the ad that was so ripe for mockery, has a new one. It features little kids acting all confused that someone could have two daddies, or that god might have created Anna and Eve. And of course, it has a new slogan that will have you laughing: "Our kids will be taught a new way of thinking". Oh noes…we can't have our children learning anything new!
These guys are so inept, it's got me wondering whose side they're really on.
Oh, and for any kids who are actually confused, here's how to tell who your parents are. They're the people who love you and take care of you and worry about you all the time. That's all that is important. Their anatomy? Not so important.
###
The cover-up to let the criminals run free continues
Remember those 10 million emails written during the lead-up of the Iraq war that 'disappeared'? Well, the court has ruled that the ones that have mysteriously been found can remain "secret."
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/05/19/white-house-emails/
###
Democrats won't fund closing of Gitmo.
The only way this isn't a betrayal of the first order is if it is a tactical retreat in the interest of serving the overall strategy. They may not be willing to die on this hill, since, you may recall there is no actual plan yet that lays out what, exactly, we are going to do with these guys when the prison camp is closed, and the reactionary chuckleheads of the GOP have been moaning for months that terrorists were going to be moved to American neighborhoods.
I'm not saying that torches and pitchforks won't be in order, but I'm not ready to go marauding just yet. Let's see how this plays out. It might be a betrayal, but it might be a tactical maneuver.
P.S. Remember how Dick Cheney spent Mother's day trying to scare the be-jeezus out of everybody who had the bad luck to turn on their teevee that morning? One of the many ridiculous things he said in his many minutes of face-time that day was when he blustered that he didn't "know a single congressional district in this country that is going to say, gee, great, they're sending us 20 Al Qaida terrorists."
Hmmmm. Perhaps Hardin, Montana isn't in a congressional district? I mean, it's the only way what Dick said can be true, because Hardin wants them. The town views the detainees currently confined in Guantanamo as a potential economic lifeline, and the town is lobbying to have the detainees sent to the facility that sits vacant at the edge of town.
The bonds sold to raise the funds to build the prison are in default.
That doesn't seem to matter, however, to Montana's congressional delegation. They are throwing up roadblocks at every turn, worried that Montana's reputation will take a hit.
Call me old fashioned, but I think sending reactionary idiots to congress does more to damage a state's reputation than housing prisoners ever could.
Update: Guantanamo detainees shouldn't come to America because "U.S. jails are typically for U.S. citizens," says Mitch McConnell, which will be welcome news for the 8 percent of our incarcerated population who are citizens of another country.
###
Feingold blocks measure to commemorate Reagan's birth
The 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's birth is just around the corner. Not surprisingly, Republicans are looking to pass legislation commemorating the centennial of his birth. But Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is standing in their way. The Wisconsin Democrat says his refusal to let the Reagan bill move to a vote in the full Senate has nothing to do with maligning President Reagan. Instead, he says he's trying to have a "noncontroversial" measure passed. Feingold wants to attach an amendment to the bill that would create two commissions to examine the internment and restrictions of German and Italian Americans and Jewish refugees during World War II. A similar measure passed the Senate in 2007 but failed when included in a larger immigration bill. Raw Story
###
How cool is this if it pans out?
Scientists have unveiled a 47-million-year-old fossilised skeleton of a monkey hailed as the missing link in human evolution: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8057465.stm
###
"Cheney, who had five deferments himself to get out of going to Vietnam, would rather follow a blowhard entertainer who has had three divorces and a drug problem (who also avoided Vietnam) than a four-star general who spent his life serving his country." - Maureen Dowd, NYTimes columnist/plagiarist
###
Surely I won't be the only one not surprised by this
Drugmaker Wyeth cheated Medicaid: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090518/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_wyeth_lawsuit;_ylt=AkuH4YNa.8zg3WNInEUuxrYD5gcF
###
One Party, One Mind
Remember back when we were "turning the corner" in Iraq? Republicans tend to rely on a sort of hive mind, driven by talking points, that often results in them all "staying on message." That message is generally delivered almost verbatim, making the distinction between conservative officials and pundits a technicality - it really doesn't make any difference whether that suit on a talking head show is George Will or Newt Gingrich or Peggy Noonan. They're all going to say what Frank Luntz - the GOP's "messaging guru" - tells them to say. So we get everyone on the right saying things like "turned the corner," "stay the course," "cut and run," etc. The hive dispatches the drones to spread the message.
http://griperblade.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-party-one-mind.html
###
Study: Happiness is being Dick Cheney
A new study (here) by Pew Research has found that the happiest people tend to be older, male Republicans. It turns out that, while sitting in an undisclosed location planning torture, Cheney was gleefully happy.
Lead researcher Yang Yang, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago: "Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life. The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people's needs." That is what Cheney has been trying to tell us for a long time: he was meeting people's needs.
###
For nearly forty years the republicans have gotten a lot of mileage out of pushing the bullshit assumption that republicans are better on national security than Democrats are, even though honest analysis of the facts puts the lie to it.
Fortunately, that idiocy seems to have run its course, according to the results of a new poll released today. The poll was commissioned by Democracy Corps and conducted by Quinlan Rosner. The methodology included a sample size of 1000 2008 voters, and was weighted to account for cell-phone saturation, with 160 (16%) of respondents being polled on their cell phones.
The results reveal a generational chasm that the republicans may not be able to bridge.
http://theygaveusarepublic.com/diary/2806/so-much-for-the-socalled-security-gap
###
Suckers and Parasites
When Obama proposed to put back the charitable deduction for people who make over $250,000 a year to what it was during Ronald Reagan's admnistration, it was universally accepted that this would spell the end of charity as we know it. Apparently, all these wealthy philanthropists will refuse to give money to their favored charities is their tax break is less than it is right now because it just isn't worth it to them. These are people who everyone reveres as being the smartest and most productive, generous people in the world.
Fine. But can we at least stop talking about these people as if they are doing this because of their generous hearts? Here's the evidence that it just ain't so:
America's poor are its most generous givers
In fact, America's poor donate more, in percentage terms, than higher-income groups do, surveys of charitable giving show. What's more, their generosity declines less in hard times than the generosity of richer givers does.
Keep reading: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/suckers-and-parasites-by-digby-when.html
###
With Friends Like These
Is there one right-wing hissy fit the Democrats can manage to ignore? I know, simple answers to stupid questions, the answer is no.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) declared in a press conference today, "We will never allow terrorists to be released into the United States." In several tense back and forths with reporters, Reid said he opposes imprisoning detainees on U.S. soil, saying flatly, "We don't want them around the United States":
Keep reading: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/with-friends-like-these-by-dday-is.html
###
Utah Rep says Obama nominee for ambassador to China (Jon Huntsman) will try to convert China to Mormonism: http://www.americablog.com/2009/05/mormon-utah-state-rep-says-obama.html
###
Karen Hughes spills the beans
Bob Fertik at Democrats.com points out something very, very interesting:
Karen Hughes was closer to George Bush than anyone except Karl Rove - perhaps even closer. She was Bush's press pitbull during his six years as governor and during his Presidential campaign, then became "Counselor to the President." So this is a startling revelation:
She acknowledged the current uproar over interrogation tactics and allegations of prisoner torture during the Bush years.
"I was very vocal in the internal debate," she said. "I worried about how that would make us look in the eyes of the world. But I had left the White House when a lot of that was taking place."
Then she paused, worried for the first time in 90 minutes that she'd made a gaffe. Whatever Sen. John McCain says about interrogation techniques, she added quickly, she has similar views.
That was a gaffe indeed. Let me count the ways:
1. There was an "internal debate" about torture, and at least one senior advisor to Bush was "very vocal" opposing it. So those who decided to torture (Cheney et al) cannot claim "everyone" thought it was perfectly legal and acceptable.
2. Hughes admits she was a witness to the debate. She can now be subpoenaed by Congress and a Special Prosecutor.
3. Hughes left her powerful White House job in July 2002 to return to Texas. Did she leave because she vehemently objected to torture and/or the invasion of Iraq, both of which were fully underway by that point?
4. Even after she left the White House, Hughes was a member of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), which was created by Andy Card in August 2002 to "market" the invasion of Iraq. Without a White House job, her work with WHIG may have been illegal. She may also be unable to claim Executive Privilege to avoid subpoenas about that work.
5. It's likely some of the "internal debate" about torture occurred within WHIG, so investigators should FOIA/subpoena its records. The other WHIG members were Andy Card, Karl Rove (who served as chair), James Wilkinson, Mary Matalin, Nick Calio, Stephen Hadley, Condi Rice, and Scooter Libby.
6. Larry Wilkerson told Rachel Maddow, "There's still grave doubt in my mind that the President was very intimately involved in the details of this process. I think it was almost exclusively the VP." As Bush's closest confidante, Hughes would know.
###
Campaign: Obama promises to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy."
Robert Gibbs's claim last week: Obama is currently "working with…members of the Joint Chiefs" to repeal the policy.
Pentagon spokesperson Geoff Morrell yesterday: "I do not believe there are any plans under way in this building for some expected, but not articulated, anticipation that don't ask-don't tell will be repealed."
###
Here's Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, fighting the gorilla, which he will do daily as long as this Waxman-Markey energy bill is up for debate. In today's session, Barton explains that fuel-efficient cars are not fuel-efficient, carbon dioxide is in the delightful beverage Coca-Cola, there is no evidence of higher carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, and of course, "you can't regulate God." Big round of applause for Joe Barton, everyone, because what the gays don't understand is that God put those coal-fired power plants on Earth himself, shortly after giving pet dinosaurs to Noah and Moses, and they're guarded by magical force fields so just bugger off already:
###
Pentagon munitions have leaked from Afghan forces to Taliban militants, enabling them to fight an insurgency for years against materially superior US and Afghan forces, The New York Times reported.
According to a Times study of ammunition markings, of 30 rifle magazines removed from the corpses of insurgents in eastern Afghanistan last month, at least 17 contained cartridges, or rounds, "identical" to ammunition the United States has provided to Afghan government forces.
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_arms_sent_to_Afghan_forces_in_Ta_05202009.html
TSA Reports Surge in Job Applications from Peeping
Toms to Operate Whole-Body Imaging Machines
No comments:
Post a Comment