Historic Quote of the Week

“If Dick Lugar -- having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy -- is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption.”

- John C. Danforth, a former GOP senator from Missouri, in 2010.

I guess the Republican Party is way beyond redemption at this point:  Tea-Bagger Richard Mourdock easily defeated Lugar in yesterday's GOP primary in Indiana.

Senator Lugar, in his concession statement, warned that Mourdock's "rejectionist orthodoxy" and "unrelenting partisan mindset" would lead to even more gridlock. Mourdock's response:

Well, what I've said is that I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view. [...] Bipartisanship means they have to come our way....

Well, a hearty Sieg Heil to you too, Asshole.

Pretty Much Says It All

Quote of the Week

Can you imagine what Bush would have done if he had gotten bin Laden?  I mean, this is a guy who played dress-up to celebrate a war he lost.  If he had gotten bin Laden, he would have spent his whole second term in a Batman costume.

And poor Mitt Romney -- trying to make hay out of this.  Mitt Romney -- who is on record saying he would not waste money going after bin Laden -- on record saying he would not violate Pakistan's border to get bin Laden. -- this week said: "Of course I would have gotten bin Laden."  Even his Etch-A-Sketch went, "Seriously?"

-- Bill Maher, commenting on the GOP criticism of Obama for having the nerve to run for president by using his accomplishments as President.

And while we're on the subject, this is hilarious.

We've Come A Long Way

Nine years ago:

Today:

Change We Can Believe In (And Obama Can Politically Exploit)

“I assume we’re angered by use of military successes for political campaigns because none of us were alive in 2008 or 2004.”

- Republican consultant and former Bush speechwriter Josh Trevino.
 
This is exactly what I was thinking as I was listening to all the Republicans criticize the Obama campaign for using the bin Laden killing in political ads.  Although the GOP probably did not invent the idea of using military and foreign policy successes for political purposes, they certainly perfected it during the Bush/Cheney years.  In 2003, George W. Bush actually pranced around in a flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier muttering "mission accomplished" and then declared the end to major military operations in Iraq -- and the war resulting from that colossal foreign policy fuck-up would continue on for another eight years!

Christ, GOP operatives would even make shit up in order to tout their party's national security "successes" while criticizing their opponents. Remember the Fort Hood shootings in late 2009, when Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 29 others?  Republicans went out of their way to brand that event as a "domestic terrorist attack" and then the GOP Echo Chamber followed up that effort by going on television in a desperate attempt to re-write history. 

After the Fort Hood shootings, Rudy Fucking Giuliani appeared on Good Morning America and actually stated: "We had no domestic attacks under Bush. We've had one under Obama."  In November 2009, former Bush White House Press Secretary Dana Perino similarly commented on FoxNews that "we did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term."  Not to be outdone by all this bullshittery, GOP political consultant Mary Matalin stated on CNN in December 2009 that the 9-11 attacks occurred during Clinton's presidency: "We inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation's history. And President Bush dealt with it."

For those of you who were sleeping during the last decade, the 9-11 attacks occurred on Bush and Cheney's watch, nine months into their presidency.  These attacks took place after Bush and Cheney were repeatedly warned by outgoing Clinton people that Al Qaeda would be the incoming Bush Administration's top national security priority and then after being specifically warned by the CIA in August 2001 that bin Laden was determined to strike targets in the United States.

And if that isn't enough GOP failure for you, Bush and Cheney then let bin Laden escape at Tora Bora, took their eyes off the ball in Afghanistan by deciding to invade Iraq, then -- in 2005 -- actually dissolved the CIA unit focused on the capture of bin Laden.  Obama, of course, re-started our effort to get bin Laden, and then actually killed that sonofabitch, accomplishing in less than two-and-a-half years what Bush and Cheney couldn't do in eight.

Face it GOP:  You guys fucked up big time when it came to protecting our country from terrorists, and Obama succeeded where you failed.  You all need to deal with the fact that this truth will come up from time to time during the run-up to the General Election.

A Bumper Sticker That Pretty Much Says It All

This bumper sticker goes after Romney in two ways. Mitt is, of course, famous for his "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt" op/ed he wrote in 2008, but he also opposed pursuing Osama bin Laden:

The Obama campaign isn’t shy about using the raid that killed Osama bin Laden as a political cudgel. But the White House’s record may get a boost from the GOP’s choice of nominee, whose previous presidential campaign included a spat with fellow Republicans over the relative unimportance of catching the Al Qaeda leader. In the campaign’s first major election speech on foreign policy, Vice President Joe Biden made extremely prominent use of an April 2007 Romney quote on bin Laden, in which he told the Associated Press “it’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” “I was a little more direct,” Biden said in his speech. “We will follow the SOB to the gates of hell.”

Back in 2007, Obama famously stated that if he had actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan and President Musharraf wouldn't act, then he would. Romney attacked Obama for that comment, comparing him to Dr. Strangelove.  Obama followed through on his campaign promise by sending Seal Team 6 into Pakistan to kill bin Laden without giving the Pakistanis a heads-up on the raid.

I'm glad to see that the Obama Campaign is going to make Romney pay for his weak position with regard to fighting terrorism.  I can't wait to hear Mitt try to explain this one away.

By the way, this is hilarious:

John Dingell is the longest currently-serving member of Congress (and the third longest-serving ever). The acerbic 85-year-old Michigan Democrat had long been contemptuous of Tea Partiers. He found them unruly and difficult to get along with. Dingell tended to refer to them as “tea baggers,” a phrase that has an alternate sexual meaning. This normally wouldn’t have been a problem in the hall of Congress, but when Dingell was booked to appear on The Daily Show with John Stewart, his staff felt the need to finally warn and educate him. When his chief of staff shared the other meaning of “tea bagger” with Dingell, the Congressman went through three different stages of reaction. At first, he said “hah,” then said “that’s disgusting,” and finally the octogenarian congressman reached the plain of acceptance and said, “It’s funny and I’m going to keep using it.”

A Surprising Benefit of Romney's Attempt to Shift To The Middle

Will this presdidential election season bring at least a temporary end to gridlock in Washington? It is early yet, but it sure seems that way. 

Student loan interest rates are about to go up in a big way, and President Obama is currently making a push for a continued low rate on these loans:

Courting college voters, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Congress needs to keep the cost of college loans from skyrocketing for millions of students, taking an important election-year message to three states crucial to his bid to hold onto the White House.

Obama told students at the University of North Carolina that he personally understood the burden of college costs, noting that he and first lady Michelle Obama had "been in your shoes" and didn't pay off their student loans until eight years ago.

"I didn't just read about this. I didn't just get some talking points about this. I didn't get a policy briefing on this," Obama said, recalling he and his wife shared a "mountain of debt" not a long time ago. "When we married, we got poor together."

My first thought on reading this is that there is no way the GOP will support Obama's proposal. After all, they haven't agreed with him on anything, even to the point of rejecting Republican ideas (e.g., Pay-Go, the Bipartisan Deficit Commission, the Individual Health Care Mandate, Cap and Trade, trying terrorism suspects in federal court) merely because Obama embraced them.

Well, the incredible just happened. The de facto leader of the Republican Party just embraced one of Obama's ideas:

"I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students," Romney said Monday, a day before five states hold primaries, though he did not offer specifics on how the extension should be paid for or how long it should last. He said he supports the extension because of "extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market."

In other words, Romney's need to shed his self-described severe conservatism in order to appeal to moderate voters may actually cause something to get done in Washington.  It's one thing for the GOP to oppose everything Obama supports, but it is going to be hard for Republicans to go against their presidential nominee during the run-up to what will undoubtedly be a very close General Election.

As politics go, this is a pretty amazing turn of events, and I hope -- for the country's sake -- we see more of it.

My Biggest Problem With Obama?

That's easy: He enacts health care reform -- the first president to do so after a century of other administrations trying and failing -- and then literally does nothing to promote it. The result of this failure is that the GOP has been able to frame ObamaCare as socialist legislation that will hurt small business, even though the centerpiece of the legislation -- the individual mandate -- was originally a Republican idea that the GOP proposed in order to solve the health care crisis while at the same time preserving the private market place.

I recently witnessed first-hand the result of Obama failing to promote his own policy. I was talking to a Republican friend of mine about ObamaCare, and this guy -- who is a small-business owner -- whipped out the GOP talking point that it hurts small business. I responded that it doesn't do so at all because the legislation contains health care tax credits for small business. My friend's response? He told me he did not know that.

This is Obama's fault, plain and simple; and ironically, this failure to promote his own legislation is actually hurting small business:

4.4 million small-business owners are now eligible for health care tax credits, yet only 360,000 have used them. These credits cover 35% of health care costs for small-business owners and up to 50% starting in 2014.

It's easy to be pissed off at Republicans for openly lying about ObamaCare, but being mad at the GOP over this is like being mad at a shark for biting your arm off. After all, prominent members of the GOP are openly bragging about their party's refusal to compromise with Obama and the Democrats on anything, and Mitch McConnell flat-out stated a couple years ago that the goal of the Republican Party is simply to defeat Obama in 2012.

So it should come as no shock to anyone that the GOP is lying about ObamaCare, and it's the president's duty to respond to these lies by promoting his own legislation. Obama has failed miserably in that regard.

Finally

From Mike Luckovich

The Soon-To-Be-Legendary "Etch-A-Sketch" Gaffe

I think they're gonna be talking about this particular Romney gaffe for a long time:

Now that he’s a few steps closer to winning the nomination, is Mitt Romney about to wipe clean all that he has said during the tough nomination fight?

Comments by his top communication’s adviser, Eric Fehrnstrom, suggest maybe so. And the “Etch A Sketch” gaffe, as it’s already known, has stirred a hornet’s nest on Twitter and a blast of criticism from Mr. Romney’s top rivals.

Speaking on CNN Wednesday morning, Mr. Fehrnstrom was asked if the campaign worried that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich “might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election.”

To which Mr. Ferhnstrom responded: “Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all of over again.” * * *

Christ, what is it with these people? Just when they start getting some momentum, something like this happens. I can see Romney making such a gaffe -- he's a walking gaffe machine. But his advisors should know better.

The DNC jumped all over this, and so did the Santorum and Gingrich camps. I'm not sure yet, but I have a feeling this will end up being remembered right up there with Dukakis in a Tank and the Dean Scream.

In fact, it's even worse than Dukakis in a Tank because it's pretty hard to waive around a tank during a campaign speech. But Etch-A-Sketches are easy to waive around, which is exactly what both Santorum and Gingrich did on the campaign trail today.

Then again, Romney didn't commit the gaffe himself, so that might help a bit. But handing your political opponents a prop like an Etch-A-Sketch is inexcusable.

Quote of the Week

"I’ll repeal Obamacare on my first day in office."

- Mitt Romney.

That's going to be a pretty busy first day in office for you, Mitt, given that before you'll be in the position to repeal ObamaCare on that first day, you'll initially need to find some way to abolish both the House and the Senate -- all on your first day. Good luck with that.

Obama Crushing GOP Re: Latino Vote

The results of this FoxNews poll was released a couple weeks ago, but it continues to get a lot of coverage on the Internets, and for good reason:

Despite growing disappointment in his handling of immigration issues, Latino voters favor President Barack Obama by six-to-one over any of the Republican presidential hopefuls, showed a Fox News Latino poll conducted under the direction of Latin Insights and released Monday.

The national poll of likely Latino voters indicated that 73 percent of them approved of Obama’s performance in office, with over half those questioned looking favorably upon his handling of the healthcare debate and the economy, at 66 percent and 58 percent respectively. ***

[T]he poll shows that the overwhelming choice among likely Latino voters is President Obama. In head-to-head match-ups none of the GOP candidates would garner more than 14 percent of the Latino vote come November, the poll said.

As Steve Benen points out, McCain lost the Latino vote to Obama by a whopping 36 percentage points in 2008. But according to the FOX poll, Obama's advantage over Romney now stands at 56%. When you combine this number with the fallout the GOP is currently experiencing with women -- Obama enjoys a 20 percentage point lead over Romney with female voters -- my only conclusion is that Romney will have to name a Latino or a woman as his running mate.

Porn Again?

What is it with this guy?

Rick Santorum has garnered quite a bit of attention recently for his animated remarks against pornography, and on two separate Sunday shows the Republican presidential candidate refused to cede an inch, doubling down on his crusade against “hard-core pornography.”

A recently added section on the candidate’s website declares that America is “suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography,” and laments that the “Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography and has refused to enforce obscenity laws.” The site goes on to say that the Justice Department “seems to favor pornographers over children and families.”

Asked to defend this odd claim, Santorum argued Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that the Justice Department is not enforcing pornography laws as rigorously as President George W. Bush’s DOJ did.

Although I thought it was strange that Santorum made those comments on porn recently, I just figured it was a one-shot deal to pander to his fellow members of the American Taliban. But it now appears that Santorum wants to really push this issue.

This Is Interesting . . .

Oral arguments on the U.S. Supreme Court challenge to the 2010 health-care law begin in a little over a week, and this Wall Street Journal piece details how difficult it is to score a seat for the proceedings. I found this intriguing:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, who helped draft the law, and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a top-ranking Republican on the Judiciary committee, say they have confirmed seats.

Senator Hatch, like all Republicans, currently opposes ObamaCare's central feature, the Individual Mandate. But this wasn't always the case:

Hatch's opposition is ironic, or some would say, politically motivated. The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, Hatch and several other senators who now oppose the so-called individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it.

Hatch more than merely supported the Individual Mandate -- he actually co-sponsored a bill (first introduced the late Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I.) that would have included it:

Chafee's plan, one of several Republican alternatives, created a universal tax deduction for health insurance and gave the poor vouchers to buy policies. It also required everyone to buy insurance -- an individual mandate.

Chafee's plan was backed by a group of Republican senators, including Hatch, according to news reports from the time. When the plan was formally introduced as legislation, Hatch was one of the co-sponsors. Two other current senators also co-sponsored the plan: Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.

The huge GOP flip-flop on the Individual Mandate is, in my opinion, the biggest under-reported political story since the under-reporting that occurred during the run-up to the Bush Administration's debacle in Iraq.

ObamaCare is probably the most important piece of social legislation enacted in a generation; so one would think it would be a big story that many of those who are now virulently opposed to the law once supported its central feature. Christ, even Radical Right-Wing Extremist Senator Jim Motherfucking DeMint (R-WV) -- who famously pronounced that the GOP was going to "break" Obama on this issue and that it would be the President's "Waterloo" -- actually supported an individual mandate on the national level as recently as 2007!

A major theme of the Obama reelection campaign should be that Republicans are so hell-bent on obstructuing Obama that they have willingly flip-flopped on issues that they not only once supported, but were once their ideas in the first place. There are many such examples of this, but the flip-flop on the mandate should be Exhibit A for the Obama team when it comes to the issue of GOP obstructionism.

Quote of the Week

"I always believed that when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter. Because all you're doing is reading someone else's words to people. You know, when you're running for president, people should know not what someone's writing for you after they've had pollsters and speech writers test it."

Rick Santorum.

I love how Republicans are always going after Obama because he uses teleprompters. Of course, what they are trying to imply is that this poor, unfortunate Negro is such an idiot that he can't even string a few sentences together without help from a machine -- and what they are hoping when they make such an attack is that nobody in their audience has ever watched an Obama press conference or tuned in to the 2008 presidential debates.

I like what Jonathan Chait had to say about all this:

[T]he Republican war on TelePrompTers has poetically backfired. It began as a quasi-racist meme among the fever swamps of the right, a way for right-wingers to express their belief that Obama is a brainless talking doll. By catering to it, Republicans backed themselves into a position where they can’t use TelePrompTers at all. The result is a series of rambling election night speeches that manage to be at once frightening and dull. The speeches, like the race, just go on and on and on.

Fucking-A.

I Like Bill Maher . . .

. . . but he's dead wrong on this issue:

Bill Maher continued to diminish Rush Limbaugh’s sexist attacks on Sandra Fluke and attack liberals for overreacting. On his HBO show last night, Maher said that liberals should “put this in perspective… a guy made a bad joke.” He added in that in America “sometimes you’re made to feel uncomfortable.”

Actually, Limbaugh launched hateful attacks against Fluke seventy times over three days. You can watch all of Limbaugh’s attacks on Fluke here. He doesn’t appear to be joking.

Maher insisted that he was not, in fact, defending Limbaugh but “defending living in a country where people don’t have to be afraid that they might go out of the bounds for one minute. Do we all want to be talking like White House spokesmen?” * * *

Look, I understand what Maher is trying to say, but in saying it he's equating himself with Rush Limbaugh, and there really is no comparison. I doubt Maher gets many calls from Democrats apologizing because they said something negative about him. Maher is a comedian, for Christ's Sake.

Limbaugh, however, is always receiving apologies from Republicans who criticize him -- an example can be found here -- and the reason he receives such apologies is because Limbaugh is the de facto head of the GOP -- at least he was prior to the recent dust-up.

Holy Shit!

I haven't posted at all on Rush Limbaugh's problems with sponsors -- I've been laughing so hard over it that it's been difficult to take a break to blog -- but this is certainly worth a post:

The fallout over Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comments about a Georgetown University law student continues. After dozens of sponsors said they would no longer advertise on The Rush Limbaugh Show, Thursday’s New York broadcast included five minutes of silence and an advertising lineup consisting almost entirely of public service announcements.

The dead airtime was spread out over four instances during the three-hour broadcast. WABC 770 AM in New York was silent for two and a half minutes before the show, save for one ad, then again near the end of the show’s first hour. Hours two and three each contained one minute of silence each, reports Think Progress.

Super Tuesday Prediction

The two states that Santorum has the best chance to win -- Ohio and Tennessee -- will both go to Romney, which will mark the end of Santorum's campaign and will essentially mean that Romney becomes the GOP's de facto nominee. Santorum was recently ahead in both states -- and still has a lead in some polls -- but Mitt has the momentum now.

In other words, the campaign for the General Election will start on Wednesday, which is fine with me. Bring it on.

Santorum had a shot at prolonging this thing, but he blew it by focusing on loser social issues for the GOP -- such as contraception -- and he helped damage the GOP brand in the process:

Four in 10 of all adults say the GOP nominating process has given them a less favorable impression of the Republican Party, versus just slightly more than one in 10 with a more favorable opinion.

Additionally, when asked to describe the GOP nominating battle in a word or phrase, nearly 70 percent of respondents – including six in 10 independents and even more than half of Republicans – answered with a negative comment. * * *

And perhaps most significantly, the GOP primary process has taken a toll on the Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Mitt Romney, who is seen more unfavorably and whose standing with independents remains underwater.

Conservative Website RedState Finds A Gem From Romney's Past

I enjoy checking out Right-Wing websites and television when things are going badly for the GOP, and this last week was definitely a bad one for Republicans. This post from Erick Erickson at RedState is pretty interesting:

Had Michigan not been as close, the Democrats would have waited to spring this on us in the general election. Luckily we have it now and I hope Ohio voters are paying attention.

In July 2009, Mitt Romney wrote an op-ed in USA Today urging Barack Obama to use an individual mandate at the national level to control healthcare costs.

On the campaign trail now, Mitt Romney says the individual mandate is appropriate for Massachusetts, but not the nation. Repeatedly in debates, Romney has said he opposes a national individual mandate.

But back in 2009, as Barack Obama was formulating his healthcare vision for the country, Mitt Romney encouraged him publicly to use an individual mandate. In his op-ed, Governor Romney suggested that the federal government learn from Massachusetts how to make healthcare available for all. One of those things was “Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages “free riders” to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others."

Needless to say, this is a disaster for the Romney Camp. Mitt, all throughout the current campaign, has taken the ridiculous position that RomneyCare was right for Massachusetts but wrong for the country. Now it turns out that he encourage Obama to pass RomneyCare on the national level, which is essentially what ended up happening.

We'll see if this particular story gets any play during the run-up to Super Tuesday. If it does, then it could affect the outcome of some of this Tuesday's too-close-to-call primaries (like Ohio and Tennessee).

Quote Of The Week

“Republicans being against sex is not good. Sex is popular.”

- Veteran Republican strategist Alex Castellanos.

The Big Takeaway From Last Night's GOP Primaries?

That's easy -- if the Republicans want to continue their War on Contraception, they'll do so at their peril:

CBS's exit polls show 37 percent of Catholic voters in Michigan supporting [Santorum] and 43 percent supporting [Romney]. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul won 8 percent and 9 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, CNN exit polls in Arizona show Romney besting Santorum among Catholic voters by a margin of 41 percent to 35 percent.

Remember -- these were GOP primaries; and even though Michigan was open to members of other parties, six in ten who voted there were Republican. One would think that Santorum, the poster boy for the anti-contraception movement, would have crushed as far as the Republican Catholic vote is concerned.

The fact that he lost the Catholics to Romney in both states should be setting off warning bells in the GOP about their War on Contraception. If it's a losing issue in GOP primaries, then they're going to get killed on this in the General.

I still expect them to drop this issue soon. It's true that Republicans suck at governing and have shitty ideas when it comes to policy, but I doubt the party is going to commit political suicide over The Pill.

Obama's Best Speech In 2012 So Far

Man, if this is a preview of the General Election campaign, I say bring it on:

Isn't Obama Supposed To Be The Elitist In This Race?

From ABC News:

The Democratic National Committee is suggesting that Mitt Romney made another out of touch remark this morning during a tour at the Daytona 500 in which Romney said that while he does not “closely” follow racing he does “have great some friends who are NASCAR team owners. ”

The remark came during a tour of team owner Richard Childress’ facilities, when Romney was asked by an Associated Press reporter whether he follows car racing.

“Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans, but I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners,” Romney responded.

Santorum: A Flip-Flopper For The Ages

"President Obama wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob. There are good, decent men and women who work hard every day and put their skills to the test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor. That's why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image."

- Rick Santorum, February 25, 2012.

"In addition to Rick’s support of ensuring that primary and secondary schools in Pennsylvania are equipped for success, he is equally committed to ensuring the every Pennsylvanian has access to higher education. Rick Santorum has supported legislative solutions that provide loans, grants, and tax incentives to make higher education more accessible and affordable."

- Rick Santorum's 2006 Senate Campaign Website.

Christ, what's Santorum going to attack next, apple pie?

From Jim Morin

And speaking of Santorum, you can put this one in the "Are You Fucking Kidding Me?" file:

Rick Santorum believes Obama wants to 'indoctrinate' students by encouraging higher college enrollment. The GOP hopeful sat down with Glenn Beck for a wide-ranging interview that aired Thursday, and he warned that higher education leads to secularization.

“I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely," he said. "The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country.”

Look, I can understand that Glenn Beck has an interest in keeping Americans uneducated, but I can't believe that a person running for President of the United States would actually say something like that on the record.

Car Czar Calls Out Romney On His Bailout Horseshit

This is pretty great:

The auto czar who led the bailout, Steve Rattner, has a simple challenge to Mitt Romney’s claim that private investors could have rescued Detroit: find me one.

Rattner, writing in the New York Times, wrote on Friday that Romney’s contention that American automakers didn’t need federal loans to move them through a managed bankruptcy intact is ludicrous given that the only financiers big enough to step in were barely hanging on for dear lives themselves.

“I know this because the administration’s auto task force, for which I was the lead adviser, spoke diligently to all conceivable providers of funds, and not one had the slightest interest in financing those companies on any terms,” he wrote. “If Mr. Romney disagrees, he should come forward with specific names of willing investors in place of empty rhetoric. I predict that he won’t be able to, because there aren’t any.”

Romney, who will be the eventual GOP nominee for president, is going to get crushed by Obama on this issue in the General Election. It'll be fun to watch.

And speaking of Romney, one gets the feeling that his campaign expected more people to show up at this rally at Detroit's Ford Field:

Quote of the Week

"They're not against it. If you're not against it, you're for it."

- Indiana state Rep. Bob Morris (R), in response to a request for proof to support his claim that the Girl Scouts support abortion rights.

OK, Let Me See If I Got This Right . . .

Paul Babeu, an Arizona county sheriff and Republican congressional candidate who is stridently opposed to illegal immigration, actually threatened his Mexican ex-lover with deportation when the man refused to promise never to disclose their relationship.

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

A Terri Schiavo Moment . . . On Steroids

After watching Republicans step on their own dicks yesterday on the contraception issue -- and then today watching Senators Boxer and Gillibrand make Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cal) pay a heavy price for his political malpractice in handing the Democrats this picture:


. . . I'm more convinced now than I was last Sunday that this is indeed a Terri Schiavo Moment for the GOP. In fact, calling it a mere Schiavo Moment may be understating the situation because that particular debacle had little if any effect on presidential politics, or even Mid-Term election politics.

I remember this lack of effect well because I was complaining in early November 2006 that Schiavo was barely registering as an issue in the run-up to the 2006 Mid Terms, even though Howard Dean promised it would be a big issue for Democrats. But the GOP's current contraception disaster is different because it is actually unfolding during an election year.

And the timing couldn't be worse for Republicans. As Greg Sargent noted yesterday from recent polling data: "After unmarried women dropped off for Dems in 2010 and were slow to return to the Dem fold in 2011, Obama is now approaching the 70 percent he won among them in 2008." If Obama is already nearing 70% support in this group, imagine how much support he'll have from unmarried women if the GOP continues to push this issue.

That's why I don't think Republicans will continue their War on Contraception much longer. Darrell Issa got his ass handed to him yesterday, and Rick Santorum is bat-shit crazy when it comes to birth control. He is absolutely opposed to it -- period. Go here if you don't believe me. And if these views get widely circulated, I think this issue could ultimately hurt Santorum even though it is arguably helping him now.

Bottom line: The GOP picked the wrong time to push on what is clearly the weakest position that social conservatives espouse. I still can't believe they think this is a winner for them.

Smart Move By GOP

From TPM:

Lawmakers sealed the deal late Wednesday night on yearlong extensions of the payroll tax cut, unemployment compensation and Medicare physician payment rates. It’s a political victory for President Obama and the conclusion of a no-win situation for Republicans that they were eager to move past.

The agreement was announced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the two lead negotiators in conference committee. Final votes are expected by the end of this weekend.

The conclusion comes at the end of a grueling series of negotiations that spilled over from last year. That led House Republicans to this week drop their demand that the payroll tax cut be offset with spending cuts elsewhere, paving the way for the agreement as the two sides had been deadlocked on pay-fors.

Although a definite win for Obama, this does help the GOP in the long run because Republicans have never been able to adequately explain why tax cuts for the middle class have to be offset by spending cuts while tax cuts for the rich need not be paid for. I think some folks in the GOP finally saw the Big Picture -- i.e., they realized that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire at the end of the year, and it was therefore probably unwise for them to insist that tax cuts be paid for.

And now back to our regularly-scheduled program about how Republicans are fucking idiots:

I still can't believe that the GOP is trying to make contraception into a wedge issue. That's a losing battle for them, and it doesn't help that morons like Santorum-supporter Foster Friess are out there talking about it.

From Mike Luckovich

Romney Has No Choice Now

He'll have to viciously attack Santorum, even though Republican leaders recently urged Romney to refrain from such attacks:

Two new polls out today show Rick Santorum leading Mitt Romney in Michigan, the state where the former Massachusetts governor was born and believed to have an advantage.

An American Research Group poll shows Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, leading Romney 33% to 27% among likely GOP voters. Santorum's lead over Romney is 15 percentage points in a Michigan survey by Public Policy Polling.

Incredible. Most commentators still believe that Romney is the front-runner; but if he loses Michigan, I have no doubt he'll lose that front-runner status to Santorum.

And with regard to my previous post on the contraception debate, it looks like the trap that Obama set is rapidly closing on the GOP:

While GOP senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to fight the Obama’s administration’s modified regulation requiring health insurers and busnisses to offer contraception coverage without additional cost sharing, the revised rule “appears to have won over” two of the five Republican women senators.

Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) — both of whom have sponsored legislation requiring insurers to offer contraception benefits in all health plans — are in favor of the new compromise, which would allow religiously affiliated colleges, universities, and hospitals to avoid providing birth control. Their employees will still receive contraception coverage at no additional cost sharing directly from the insurer.

Well-played, Barack.

The Contraception Trap

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles."

- Sun Tsu.

I've lost count of how many times I've criticized Obama on something and it turned out that Obama did the right thing. I was certain that this recent "debate" on contraception would hurt the President politically; and when this issue started to gain steam, the last thing I thought was that Obama was setting a trap for the GOP. Moderate Republicans saw this trap coming from a mile away, but I did not.

Andrew Sullivan is the latest political commentator to suggest that Obama did in fact set a trap. Sullivan writes:

The more Machiavellian observer might even suspect this is actually an improved bait and switch by Obama to more firmly identify the religious right with opposition to contraception, its weakest issue by far, and to shore up support among independent women and his more liberal base. I’ve found by observing this president closely for years that what often seem like short-term tactical blunders turn out in the long run to be strategically shrewd. And if this was a trap, the religious right walked right into it.

A friend of mine, Slic[k], stated last week that this was in fact a trap, and the goal was to create a wedge between Republicans given that RomneyCare contained a similar provision with regard to contraception. I was initially skeptical, but now I think Slic[k] was right.

As noted by Sullivan: "Romneycare can now accurately be portrayed as falling to the left of Obamacare on the contraception issue." I have no doubt that Santorum will be all over this in a few days, as will that former Pennsylvania Senator who is currently pursuing the GOP nomination (his name escapes me). Have fun trying to clean up that frothy mess, GOP.

It was certainly an elegant trap, given that it relied in large part on the GOP's refusal to agree with Obama on any issue. He gambled that Republicans would disagree with any compromise no matter how reasonable it was, and the gamble paid off big time. To paraphrase Sun Tsu, Obama knew his enemy.

Obama also successfully framed the issue as one involving contraception, and not freedom of religion like the GOP wanted. When was the last time the Democrats won a framing battle?

This debate reminds me of the Terri Schiavo debacle, the GOP's disastrous attempt to create a wedge issue based upon a wildly distorted view on the sanctity of life. Schiavo was a catastrophe for the GOP because every family in the country has either gone through something similar or knows someone who has.

Birth control presents the same type of problem for the GOP. As Sullivan notes: "Even in conservative Mississippi, a recent ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban the morning-after pill failed badly at the polls." In other words, the GOP should have seen this one coming, but did not. And neither did I.

Holy Shit!

This keeps getting better and better:

Riding a wave of momentum from his trio of victories on Tuesday Rick Santorum has opened up a wide lead in PPP's newest national poll. He's at 38% to 23% for Mitt Romney, 17% for Newt Gingrich, and 13% for Ron Paul.

Part of the reason for Santorum's surge is his own high level of popularity. 64% of voters see him favorably to only 22% with a negative one. But the other, and maybe more important, reason is that Republicans are significantly souring on both Romney and Gingrich. Romney's favorability is barely above water at 44/43, representing a 23 point net decline from our December national poll when he was +24 (55/31). Gingrich has fallen even further. A 44% plurality of GOP voters now hold a negative opinion of him to only 42% with a positive one. That's a 34 point drop from 2 months ago when he was at +32 (60/28). * * *

Although I disagree with Santorum on nearly every issue, I always get the feeling from him that he actually believes in what he is saying. I don't get that from either Newt or Mitt.

Want To Know Why There Is No Compromise In Washington?

It's because the GOP has no interest in compromise:

The first major speaker at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference . . . was Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who had a fundamental message for the base: compromise sucks.

GOPers on Capitol Hill should not be looking to work with Democrats to develop common solutions to the nation's woes, he proclaimed. Not at all. Not ever. And DeMint, with an I'm-so-clever smile, offered what he obviously thought was a killer analogy: the Super Bowl.

Referring to last Sunday's game, he said, "I can guarantee you that coach Tom Coughlin did not tell his Giants to go out on the field and work with those other guys....They weren't cooperating with Tom Brady."

DeMint explained that the New York Giants and the New England Patriots had "different goals." Consequently, compromise would not work. Continuing with this trenchant observation, DeMint noted that "compromise works well in this world when you have shared goals." You can compromise with a wife or with a business colleague. But not with Democrats: "We don't have shared goals with the Democrats."

Of course, there is nothing new here. "No Compromise!" has been the rallying cry for the Tea-Baggers for quite awhile, and the Tea-Baggers control the GOP.

What I find interesting is that members of the so-called liberal media still insist on blaming "both sides" for gridlock in Washington, when it is clear that the Republicans are not only responsible for it, but they're proud of it and openly boast about their refusal to compromise with Obama and the Democrats. It's their fucking policy, for Christ's Sake.

And the above-quoted Jim DeMint, perhaps the biggest asshole ever elected to the Senate, actually supported indivudual health care mandates as recently as 2007.

Maybe Mitt Should Lay Low For Awhile

Some results from a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll:

Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying. By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him. Even among Republicans, as many offer negative as positive assessments of him on this question. Judgments about former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who denounced Romney on Saturday night in Nevada, are about 3 to 1 negative.

Great Day For America, But a Horrible Day For the GOP

First, we hear that the U.S. economy added a net of nearly 250,000 jobs in January (exceeding expectation by almost 100,000), and now we find out that Susan G. Komen For the Cure cancelled its plan to cut funding for Planned Parenthood.

It's only 9 am on the West Coast, and the Obama-hating Radical Right is already having its worst day in 2012 so far.

Will the GOP Base Stay At Home in November? (With Update)

What are the three most important things for the Republicans in 2012? That's easy: turnout, turnout, and turnout -- and they're coming up short on all three:

Underneath tonight’s big win for Mitt Romney in the Florida Republican primary, is a statistic that might suggest enthusiasm is flagging among GOP voters in this large and crucial swing state: turnout was actually down significantly from 2008.

In the 2008 Republican primary in Florida, in which John McCain beat Romney by a margin of 36%-31%, a total of nearly 1.95 million votes were cast.

But in tonight’s primary, turnout was actually much lower. At time of writing, with 98% of precincts reporting, the total turnout is only about 1.65 million — a drop-off of 15% in terms of the raw number of voters. * * *

I think it is interesting that South Carolina, which gave Newt a big win, actually had pretty good turnout (i.e., the GOP base showed up at the polls) whereas Florida, a state Mitt won handily, had a low turnout, as did New Hampshire and Iowa.

Republicans just aren't all that excited about Romney, and the numbers are reflecting this lack of enthusiasm. But I think there is something else going on here, namely, I don't believe there is enough hatred for Obama right now. Sure, members of Radical Right hate him (or should I say, hate the Fantasy Version of him), but that's about it.

And that's a problem for Republicans. They don't hate Obama enough. They need to work on that if they want their people to show up at the polls in November, because Romney sure isn't going to bring them in.

UPDATE: Even the Idiot Limbaugh understands this. Here's what he said this morning about Romney's "I'm not concerned about the very poor” comment:

“Everybody knows what he's trying to say but he didn't say it and he makes himself a target with this stuff. He comes across as the prototypical rich Republican. And it's gonna make it harder and harder and harder and harder to go after Obama because this turns around on him. You know, all these Wizards of Smart in the Republican establishment say, ‘We can't have Newt out there! Why, Newt's gonna be the topic. We need Obama to be the topic. We need Obama to be the guy campaign's about. If Newt's out there, it's only gonna be about Newt.’ Well, what evidence is there that it's not gonna be about Romney with these kinds of statements?”

Best Attack Line of the Campaign So Far

"Romney cut off kosher food to elderly Jews on Medicare."

- Newt Gingrich (yes, he actually said that).

I am loving this. About a year ago, I told a friend that I was really going to enjoy the GOP presidential primaries; but to be honest, I had no idea they'd be this good. I really like how Santorum and Newt are attacking Romney for being a moderate. I never thought I'd see the day when politically moderate people would be attacked for their lack of extremism, but there it is.

Fantasy Obama

Inspired by recent Republican debates, I was going to write a post on this exact topic. But Bill Maher said it better than I ever could, so check it out.

My favorite part:

Republicans have created this completely fictional president. His name is "Barack X," and he's an Islamo-Socialist Revolutionary who's coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries, and taking his cues from Europe, or worst yet, Saul Alinski.

And this is how politics has changed. You used to have to run against an actual candidate. But now, you just re-create him inside The Bubble and run against your new fictional candidate. That's how Bush won in 2004 -- by running against John Kerry, a French war criminal.

And speaking of Bush, I know conservatives are saying, "Oh Bill, come on -- Democrats did the same thing to him." No. Say what you will about the Left's hatred of Bush. At least we were hating on the real guy. We didn't invent a bogeyman who tanked the economy, took us to war on false pretenses, and tortured prisoners -- that was the actual guy.

But run down the list of complaints about Fantasy Obama: He wants to raise your taxes (even though he's lowered them), confiscate your guns (even though he's never mentioned it), and read terrorists their rights -- yeah, like he did Tuesday in Somalia.

This "Fantasy Obama" to which Maher refers is apparently a big hit with the Barack-hating radical right-wing extremists who attend the GOP debates and who wouldn't vote for Obama if you held a gun to their heads. But do Republicans really think that General Election voters, especially Independents, will buy into this?

So Much For Romney's Florida Firewall (With Update)

From The Weekly Standard:

A new poll from Florida conduced by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research finds 34.4 percent of Republican voters going for Newt Gingrich and 25.6 percent for Mitt Romney. Ron Paul has support from 13.1 percent, while Rick Santorum gets 10.7 percent.

The poll is "Among Registered Voters Who Will be Voting in Florida's Republican Presidential Primary," and was conducted the day after Gingrich handily won the South Carolina contest.

The next few weeks are going to be very interesting. Newt's got the momentum, but Romney's got the money and it remains his race to win.

My only concern now is Newt's big mouth, which gets him in trouble every time. But if Newt can avoid saying something stupid just for a few weeks (a tall order, I know), then I think we'll have a real race here.

UPDATE: The latest Rasmussen poll gives Gingrich a nine-point lead in Florida (Gingrich 41% and Romney 32%). Expect to see Romney really go on the attack against Gingrich in tonight's debate.

Bonus Quote of the Week

“First Mitt won Iowa, then he lost Iowa? It’s a classic Romney flip-flop.”

- Stephen Colbert

Quote of the Week

"I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.”

- Mitt Romney.

The New York Times, however, reports that "in the most recent year, Mr. Romney made $374,327.62 in speaker’s fees, at an average of $41,592 per speech, according to his public financial disclosure reports."

The average working family might find it interesting that Romney considers $374,327.62 to be "not very much" money. I'll bet you $10,000 that this statement will come back to haunt him.

Gingrich Is Atop The Polls in Virginia

From Quinnipiac:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich jumps into a slight 30 - 25 percent lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney among Virginia Republicans in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. No other candidate tops 9 percent.

Great news for Newt, right? Well, not really:

In a major blow to their presidential campaigns, both Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich will not be on the ballot for Virginia’s March 6 primary.

Both candidates failed to meet the state’s requirement of 10,000 signatures, according to the state party, and thus do not qualify.

“After verification, RPV has determined that Newt Gingrich did not submit required 10k signatures and has not qualified for the VA primary,” the state GOP said via Twitter on Saturday. Perry’s rejection was announced late Friday.

Perry not making the ballot is no big surprise, given that he is an idiot. Gingrich, however, is supposedly the intellectual leader of the GOP. But given that recent history indicates the the Republican Party is made up almost entirely of morons, maybe this is Gingrich's ploy to appear more like a dumb-shit to the GOP base.

UPDATE: The stupidity continues:

After not making the ballot in Virginia, Newt Gingrich's spokesman said he would "work with the Republican Party of Virginia to pursue an aggressive write-in campaign to make sure that all the voters of Virginia are able to vote for the candidate of their choice."

But there's a problem, CNN notes: "Virginia state law specifically prohibits voters from writing in candidates not on the ballot in primary elections."

Merry Christmas, Newt.

Clever

Bad Lip Reading: Rick Perry's "Strong" ad - watch more funny videos

Quote of the Year

"The higher a monkey climbs up a pole the more you see of his butt. The Speaker is very high up the pole right now and we'll have to see if people enjoy the view."

- Chief Obama strategist David Axelrod, on Newt Gingrich.

Quote of the Week

“Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top Al-Qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement… or whoever’s left out there.”

Barack Obama, responding to insinuations from some GOP presidential candidates that he is an appeaser.

More please.

One thing that has pissed me off about Obama is his reluctance to tout his many foreign policy achievements. If George W. Bush had this many successes under his belt less than three years into his presidency, we would have seen him prancing around in a flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier screaming "mission accomplished" over and over again as he repeatedly pissed himself.

Maybe Obama thinks his successes speak for themselves, but if the GOP is stupid enough to go after him on foreign policy, I expect to see more of this from him.

By the way, isn't it great to have a president who isn't a pussy when it comes to foreign policy, particularly when it comes to dealing with Pakistan? Bush and Cheney's weakness in this area basically rose to the level of treason.

Quote of the Week

"Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods, have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday. They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal."

Class Warrior Newt Gingrich, defending his previously-stated position that child labor laws should be repealed (no wonder the Democrats are praying that this guy gets the GOP nomination).

And in a completely related story, GOP pollster Frank Luntz gives this advice to his fellow Republicans:

Don’t say that the government ‘taxes the rich.’ Instead, tell them that the government ‘takes from the rich.’

“If you talk about raising taxes on the rich,” the public responds favorably, Luntz cautioned. But “if you talk about government taking the money from hardworking Americans, the public says no. Taxing, the public will say yes.”

Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the ‘middle class.’ Call them ‘hardworking taxpayers.’

“[Democrats] cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers. We can say we defend the ‘middle class’ and the public will say, I’m not sure about that. But defending ‘hardworking taxpayers’ and Republicans have the advantage.”

Luntz is also counseling Republicans not to use the word "capitalism." It sounds like the Occupy Wall Street movement might actually be having an effect.

Sam Brownback Hates America (With Updates)

Not only should Ms. Sullivan refuse to apologize, she should attack Brownback for being a spineless wimp as well as an enemy of free speech (and the high school principal should be ashamed of himself). Via the AP:

A Kansas teenager who got into hot water last week over a disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback said she has received so much support from around the country that now she’s leaning toward rejecting her high school principal’s demand that she apologize to the governor in writing.

Since word of her tweet and the reaction by Brownback’s office and her school was reported in the media, people from across the U.S. have reached out to Emma Sullivan — mostly to encourage her to stand her ground, The Wichita Eagle reported.

“I knew it would cause some uproar, but I definitely didn’t think it would get to a national level or that I would have so many people tweeting at me,” she told the newspaper Friday.

The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Kansas Youth in Government program in Topeka when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback’s greeting: “Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”

She actually made no such comment and described the tweet as “joking around.”

Brownback’s office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor’s name, saw Sullivan’s post and contacted the Youth in Government program. Soon she was in the principal’s office for an hourlong scolding and a demand she send Brownback an apology letter.

The principal, who later called the situation a “disciplinary issue” that was not a public matter, even suggested talking points for the letter she was supposed to write.

Many have urged the 18-year-old to not write the letter, suggesting instead that Brownback or his representatives need to apologize to Sullivan for reporting her to school officials.

“I’m really glad most people have been supportive of me, regardless of their political views,” she said. “They’re standing up for the fact that it’s my … right to express myself.”

UPDATE: Good for her:

An American teenager who wrote a disparaging tweet about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Sunday that she is rejecting her high school principal's demand for a written apology. Emma Sullivan, 18, said she isn't sorry and doesn't think such a letter would be sincere. ***

The turd is now right where it should be -- in the pockets of Brownback and the school principal. Your move, assholes.

UPDATE II: Looks like somebody gave Brownback some good advice:

Gov. Sam Brownback apologized Monday for his office's reaction to a Kansas high school senior's disparaging tweet about the Republican during a visit to the Statehouse. ***

"My staff over-reacted to this tweet and for that I apologize," Brownback said. "Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms."

No Surprise Here

Fox News makes people dumb:

According to the latest results from Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind poll, some news sources make us less likely to know what's going on in the world. In the most recent study, the poll asked New Jerseyans about current events at home and abroad, and from what sources -- if any -- they get their information. The conclusion: Sunday morning news shows do the most to help people learn about current events, while some outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who say they don't watch any news at all.

My experience is that Fox News viewers -- like the asshole who occasionally responds to this blog -- actually think that being informed on the issues is anti-American. In fact, these people seem to celebrate their idiocy on a regular basis.

What did Herman Cain say the other day? He said that the American people "need a leader, not a reader." I bet you Fox News viewers loved that one.

Why Do So Many NASCAR Fans Hate Our Troops?

This is disgusting:

What Perry's Brain Freeze Really Tells Us About The GOP Mentality

OK, I admit that I've watched Rick Perry's screw-up in the debate over and over again. It was hard to watch the first time, but it got more hilarious with repeated viewings.

I recently told a friend that the reason Perry forgot the Department of Energy when he said he'd get rid of three agencies of government -- but could not remember the third one -- was because every GOP presidential candidate is competing with each other to demonstrate who hates government the most; and in Perry's zeal to out-hate the rest of the field, he jumped right in without really thinking about what he was going to say. It is this thoughtless approach to the issue of governing, I argued, that pretty much defines the GOP these days.

E.J. Dionne takes this basic idea and runs with it:

* * * Would Perry end all federal aid to education? Would he do away with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the part of the Commerce Department that, among other things, tracks hurricanes? Energy was the department he forgot. Would he scrap the department’s 17 national labs, including such world-class facilities as Los Alamos, N.M., Oak Ridge, Tenn., or — there’s that primary coming up — Aiken, S.C.?

I’m not accusing Perry of wanting to do any of these things because I don’t believe he has given them a moment of thought. And that’s the problem for conservatives. Their movement has been overtaken by a quite literally mindless opposition to government. Perry, correctly, thought he had a winning sound bite, had he managed to blurt it out, because if you just say you want to scrap government departments (and three is a nice, round number), many conservatives will cheer without asking questions.

This is a long way from the conservatism I used to respect. Although I often disagreed with conservatives, I admired their prudence, their affection for tradition and their understanding that the intricate bonds of community are established with great difficulty over time and not easy to reweave once they are torn asunder. At their best, conservatives forced us to think harder. Now, many in the ranks seem to have decided that hard and nuanced thinking is a telltale sign of liberalism. * * *

Fucking-A.

Bonus Quotes of the Week

"I do view China as a potential military threat to the United States....They've indicated that they're trying to develop nuclear capability and they want to develop more aircraft carriers like we have. So yes, we have to consider them a military threat."

- Herman Cain (note to Cain: China has been "nuclear capable" for about a half a century -- it currently has around 3000 nuclear warheads in its arsenal).

It troubles me that Cain is imploding so badly as of late because I really would like to see him give Romney a run for his money. But I love how radical right wingers like Limbaugh and Coulter are trying to blame Democratic operatives for leaking the Cain sexual harassment story, which makes no sense politically given that every Democrat knows that Cain has no chance of getting the nomination (i.e., every Democratic operative out there would do everything in his or her power to keep Cain viable for as long as possible because it hurts Romney, who will almost certainly be the GOP nominee).

Either this leak came from a rival GOP campaign (somewhat likely) or from someone who worked for or was once a business associate of Cain and has a grudge against him (highly likely).

And here is another quote from this week that I liked. It's from retired Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY), and he made these remarks yesterday while testifying in front of the so-called Super Committee:

“Just a quick note about Grover Norquist. If Grover Norquist is now the most powerful man in America, he should run for president. There’s no question about his power. And let me tell you, he has people in thrall. That’s a terrible phrase. Lincoln used it. It means your mind has been captured. You’re in bondage with a soul.

“So here he is. I asked him. He said, ‘My hero is Ronald Reagan.’ I said, ‘Well, he raised taxes 11 times in his eight years.’ And he said, ‘I know. I didn’t like that at all.’ I said, ‘Well, he did it. Why do you suppose?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. Very disappointing.’ I said, ‘He probably did it to make the country run, another sick idea.’”

Grover Norquist is, of course, the anti-tax crusader who has secured pledges from a majority of Republican members of Congress -- including all six GOP Super Committee members -- to never vote to raise taxes under any circumstances, even during times of war (which goes a long way to explaining why we have such a huge deficit right now). I've long felt that signing such a pledge displayed a deep hatred for America, and I'm glad to see that the GOP is starting to pay a political price for such lunacy.

Quote of the Week

"Our blacks are so much better than their blacks. To become a black Republican, you don't just roll into it. You're not going with the flow...and that's why we have very impressive blacks in the Republican party."

Ann Coulter.

Why So Many Foreign Policy Victories For Obama?

Former DNC Communications Director Karen Finney said it best: "Look at the foreign policy successes -- that is what President Obama can get done when the GOP cannot obstruct him."

This should be the central theme of Obama's reelection campaign.

"What The Fuck Is Wrong With You People?"

"Is there no Republican that can be gracious and statesmanlike in this situation? We removed a dictator in six months, losing no American soldiers, spending like a billion dollars rather than a trillion dollars, and engendering what appears to be goodwill to people who now have a prideful story of their own independence to tell -- not to mention oil (they have oil!). * * *
"What the fuck is wrong with you people? Honestly, what is wrong with you? Are you that small?"

-- Jon Stewart.

The Fox segment -- starting at 8:40 -- is particularly funny. Those poor FoxNews bastards are livid that Obama actually pulled off this thing in Libya! I think it is hilarious that there are people in this country who are furious today because Obama keeps handing America one foreign policy success after another (and it probably doesn't help that their guys -- Bush and Cheney -- were so utterly incompetent in this area).

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Bonus Quote of the Week

Remember hearing about the “blame America first” crowd? Well, say hello to the “thank America last” crowd.

Steve Benen, noting that in their rush to not give the hated Obama credit for his success in Libya, Republicans couldn't even bring themselves to thank the U.S. servicemen and women for the part they played in taking Qadaffi out.

I know these characters hate America and all, but their hatred for this country usually isn't so prominently on display (except, of course, when they intentionally try to bring down our economy, like they did last summer).

Quote of the Week (With Updates)

From Andrew Sullivan:

"To rid the world of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi within six months: if Obama were a Republican, he'd be on Mount Rushmore by now."

Fucking-A.

UPDATE: Marco Rubio is a steaming pile of excrement as well as a hater of American servicemen, apparently -- and it turns out he's also a goddam foreigner (yes, the Birthers are back!).

BTW, how do you know that Republicans hate Obama with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns? Because -- as the above Rubio link indicates -- they'd rather give the fucking French credit for the victory in Libya than give any credit to Obama (or to our men and women in uniform), and Republicans hate the French.

Of course, this isn't surprising -- they spent the last several months criticizing the Obama Administration's Libya policy, so what the hell else can they do, admit they were wrong?

UPDATE II: Well, at least two Republicans still have some honor:

“It’s a great day,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on CNN on Thursday morning. “I think the administration deserves great credit. Obviously, I had different ideas on the tactical side, but the world is a better place.”

Senator Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois, added, in a statement, referring to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, “The administration, especially Secretary Clinton, deserve our congratulations.”

UPDATE III: Kevin Drum nails it:

I understand the left's problem with Obama's national security policy. But the right? What the hell is their problem? Obama has escalated our presence dramatically in Afghanistan; he created a massive drone air force that's all but wiped out al-Qaeda in Pakistan; he killed Osama bin Laden; he approved a multilateral military operation in Libya that ended up killing Muammar Qaddafi; he sent a SEAL team out to kill Somali pirates; he assassinates U.S. citizens in foreign countries who are associated with al-Qaeda; and he's done more to isolate and sanction Iran than George Bush ever did. Crikey. Just how bloodthirsty do they want the guy to be?

Of course, it's also true that Obama has suggested that Israel should halt new construction in West Bank settlements, and he hasn't yet turned Iran into a glassy plain. I suppose the former is enough to make him the second coming of Neville Chamberlain all by itself, and the latter is something to keep pushing for. Hope springs eternal.

But seriously guys. How much more militaristic do you realistically think an American president can be, especially after the military fiascoes of the past decade that you so enthusiastically backed? Get a grip.

The Vote Was A Setback For Obama?

McClatchy is usually pretty good at political analysis, but its take on the GOP filibuster of Obama's Jobs Bill misses the mark:

Senators voted 50-49 on a procedural move to take up Obama’s plan, but 60 votes were required under Senate rules for lawmakers to proceed on the measure. * * *

The vote was a setback for Obama, who has been crisscrossing the country trumpeting the bill and predicting that its defeat would be the fault of obstructionist Republicans. * * *

WTF? I thought everybody knew that there was absolutely no chance of the bill passing in the Senate because that particular body now requires 60 votes to get anything done, and the GOP is filibustering everything these days. Christ, if Obama proposed a bill that both banned abortion and outlawed the ACLU, and the GOP thought that such a bill might help Obama politically, every Republican would still vote against it.

That's the whole point of last night's exercise. Get these America-hating GOP motherfuckers on the record, then attack them for not only opposing job creation, but also opposing higher taxes on the rich, something that a vast majority of Americans -- and a clear majority of Republicans -- actually support.

What I found particularly troubling about the McClatchy piece was that the word "filibuster" is found nowhere in it, even though that is exactly what happened last night. Pull your heads out of your asses, McClatchy-folk -- you're usually much better than this.

UPDATE: The Cincinnati Enquirer appears to get it: