Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Most of you should go to bed and try to be better Jackals in the morning.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Republicans do not trust women.

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Sleeping With The Enemy

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What is it about influential conservatives and radical Islam? They hate it of course, except when they don’t. Granted that George Herbert Walker’s kid “Bandar” Bush has no problem kissing up to the most repressive, religiously totalitarian leaders in the Muslim world, but he’s just looking after the family business. Others like Grover Norquist have the kind of longstanding, deeply personal stake in radical Islam that would provoke Goldbergian books of drooling outrage if done by a prominent leftist with similarly pervasive influence in ideology and in the government. Rudy Giuliani, mister git-the-islamofascist-Muslims himself, doesn’t mind lobbying for a Yemeni shiekh who helped slip 9/11 suspects out of the country.

Then you have the Sibel Edmonds allegations. Color me skeptical, but if true, yikes.

Edmonds described how foreign intelligence agents had enlisted the support of US officials to acquire a network of moles in sensitive military and nuclear institutions.

Among the hours of covert tape recordings, she says she heard evidence that one well-known senior official in the US State Department was being paid by Turkish agents in Washington who were selling the information on to black market buyers, including Pakistan.

[…] She claims that the FBI was also gathering evidence against senior Pentagon officials – including household names – who were aiding foreign agents.

Come on. It defies belief that Republicans, who hate terrorism and Islamic weapons proliferation more than anything, would sell out their principles for a little dough. Other than the president I mean, but like I said that’s family business.

I mean, seriously.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former congressman and delegate to the United Nations was indicted Wednesday as part of a terrorist fundraising ring that allegedly sent more than $130,000 to an al-Qaida and Taliban supporter who has threatened U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

The former Republican congressman from Michigan, Mark Deli Siljander, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for allegedly lying about lobbying senators on behalf of an Islamic charity that authorities said was secretly sending funds to terrorists.

To be fair Siljander’s Congressional term dates back to when channeling illicit resources to angry jihadis was a core Republican value. Maybe he didn’t get the memo.

***Update***

No rightwing humiliation is complete without a proper dose of Malkinfreude.

When the AP first noted that a “former congressman” was “indicted as part of a terrorist fundraising ring,” Michelle Malkin wrote, “Any bets on which political party and which state the former congressman belongs to?”

Of course, as it turns out, Siljander was a Republican. (Malkin responded, “Oops.”)

Hahaha. Morons.

***Update 2***

Commenters have correctly pointed out that the Malkin bit wasn’t quite as comical as the Benen link let on. The full quote:

And bets on which political party and which state the former congressman belongs to? Keep in mind–both parties have flirted with jihadis.

Now I’m curious to know which Democrats have flirted with jihadis. Bonus points will be awarded for actual Democrats (e.g., not loopy fringe Chomskyites like Ward Churchill), Democrats who matter, and a gold star if he or she had a credible way of knowing about the shady connections in question.

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Why I Can’t Stand Edwards

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Crap like this:

One more point about the Democratic debate in Las Vegas last night, specifically relating to the discussion of plans to turn Nevada’s Yucca Mountain into a nuclear waste repository. Obama, Clinton, and Edwards each stated their unequivocal opposition to this plan, arguing that science has already shown it to be unsafe. While even this point is highly contentious, what followed was even more problematic.

Edwards took time to clarify that he was the only one of the three to outright oppose nuclear energy. Considering Edwards’s positions on global warming, energy independence, and “Big Oil”, it is baffling that he would dismiss nuclear energy out of hand. As it stands, nuclear power is the only environmentally friendly, economic, and efficient source of energy that can help the U.S. wean itself off foreign oil. Solar and wind will never meet our demand, and bio-fuels are still years–if not decades–away from becoming viable.

And I will say it again, even though it always rankles people. Three Mile Island was a success. It was not Chernobyl. It was not nuclear armageddon. No, that does not mean I am pining for meltdowns everywhere, but I think some perspective is necessary. While it damaged the reputation of the nuclear industry, no one was hurt. No radiation sickness. No spikes in cancer rates. It was a disaster, but it was a success.

Excluding nuclear energy from the possible ways to fulfill our energy needs in the future immediately makes you an unserious person, in my book.

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Discussions With The Cab Driver

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I was talking to a cabbie who I ride with every now and then (some days I don’t take the bus), and remarked that I had not seen him for a while. Apparently he had a mild heart attack over the holidays (he is 61), and was admitted at around midnight on December 21st and released on the 25th. He had a number of procedures, to include having some stents put in, and he just got his bill yesterday:

$65,000.00

I asked him if he had insurance, and he just laughed and said he could never get it, but that is ok, because even if he could, he could not afford it. He’ll never be able to pay the bill, and he has to go back for some more procedures and is heading to the VA to see what can be done.

Our health care system makes no damned sense whatsoever. Not to go all pinko-commie, but with the markets about to go all Black Tuesday on us with the sub-prime and looming Alt-A mess, our never-ending adventure in Iraq sucking hundreds of billions of dollars, the boomers retiring, I simply don’t understand how reasonable and realistic people can assert that we can afford to pay triple what other nations pay for health care. Something is going to have to give, and quite honestly, I find it amazing that the Republican candidates never even talk about the subject other than to scare people with phrases like “socialized medicine” or “Hillarycare.” The Republican attitude towards health care right now isn’t just stupid, it is grossly irresponsible and negligent.

At any rate, my cab driver friend thanks all you out there with insurance, because believe me, he isn’t paying the bill. You are. And you are a damned fool if you think you aren’t.

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A List

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Things I have purchased dozens of but can never find when I need them:

1.) Toenail Clippers
2.) Cat brush
3.) Jeweler’s Screwdriver

I know when I move I am going to find a dozen of these things. My lens just fell out of my damn glasses while I was sitting here fighting the university library search engines, and, of course, my jeweler’s screwdriver is nowhere to be found. Instead, I am ruining the screw on my glasses and the blade on a kitchen knife. Did I say damnit yet?

I am blaming Tunch. I am sure you all have a list of things like this as well.

PS- My vacuum broke. Any suggestions on a replacement? Under $300.00, please.

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Yglesias on Russert

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This is the definitive description of Tim Russert:

Actually, the balls Russert favors may be hard, but the pitches he throws aren’t curveballs, which go someplace useful. They’re sillyballs, which go somewhere pointless. Russert has created a strike zone of his own where toughness meets irrelevance. John McCain entered the zone last May, when he went on the show and repeatedly asserted that the Bush tax cuts had increased the federal government’s revenue. Hearing this, a tough but conscientious journalist might have pointed out that this is demonstrably false. Russert, however, reached for a trusty hardball and sent it sailing. McCain, he pointed out, was now supporting extending the very same Bush tax cuts that he had once opposed.

Well, yes, but this was a bit like asking someone who says the world is flat why he used to say the earth was round. The contradiction Russert pointed out was real—but hardly central. In fact, if tax cuts actually had increased revenues, then McCain’s change of heart would have been perfectly logical. The real problem was that McCain’s theory of the relationship between tax rates and revenue wasn’t true. In Russertland, though, as long as you acknowledge the contradiction, the questioner is satisfied. “You say the world is flat, but just three years ago you said it was round.” “You know, Tim, yes, I used to say the world was round, but times change, and that’s why I support the Bush administration’s bill to construct a restraining wall to prevent ships from sailing over the edge of the sea.” And so on.

In a nutshell.

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Time For an Intervention

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Look, I like Andrew Sullivan. I have always defended him, have always thought he was interesting and fun and brought something great to the blogosphere, but after reading his live-blogging of the Democratic debate in Nevada from last night, I have decided it is really time for an intervention. Here is a snippet:

9.10 pm: Did Robert L. Johnson actually say he was “out of bounds” in bringing up Obama’s past drug use? That’s what Clinton just said. Did she just make that up?

(Update: if you read Johnson’s press release, you can see that Clinton was lying to maintain good relations with Johnson. She lied when she said that ayone who did such a thing would be disowned. She hasn’t disowned someone who both smeared Obama, then lied about it, then refused to back away from it. So that’s two lies. If it were her opponent, you can be sure she’d be taking notes. I’m holding her to the same standards she applies to others.)

9.20 pm: Clinton again said that she doesn’t want to inject the gender issue into this race. Again, this is easily disproved by any number of statements she has made over the last several months. She’s not as bad as her husband, but she reflexively makes stuff up.

9.30 pm: Just like Bush, she cannot talk about her own weaknesses. In her eyes, her weakness is being too aggressive for change! And then she pivots to exploit Obama’s own confession of his personal disorganization. The more you see her, the more calculating she is.

Notice anything missing? Like, for example, THE OTHER TWO CANDIDATES.

Andrew, I know you hate Hillary (your top two posts today make that clear), but put the keyboard down. No one I know really likes Hillary. I know I don’t. I still think of the Clintons as the folks who made triangulating a bad word. And yes, she is a liar. Yes, it will be sheer hell if she is elected. I personally would rather chew on glass than relive the nineties. And no, I don’t think she will change the fundamental culture in Washington- she will be far too get along/go along. I, and many others, essentially agree with you on literally everything you have written about her. And yes, I think Obama is probably a better person, a better candidate, and will probably be a better leader.

But you are obsessed, and it is has made you almost unreadable the past few weeks. Hell, at this point I would cheer five successive stories about Bear culture. Again, I am coming to you as a friend- I know we all get our little obsessions (see me and Sheehan, Schavo, etc.), but step away from the brink. Please.

It is because we care.

*** Update ***

I am not the only one who noticed the liveblogging last night:

I’ve always found Clinton hatred a bit of a baffling phenomenon. At times, I’ve disliked the political timidity of the Clintons, or thought that Bill Clinton allowed his personal appetites to overwhelm his public duties to the detriment of the country, or felt that Hillary Clinton approached the presidency too much like a middle manager and too little like a director, but I’ve never gotten the hatred. Which is why Andrew Sullivan’s blog has been particularly fascinating this year. Read his liveblogging of last night’s debate. Edwards never even makes an appearance. Obama, who Andrew is deeply committed to, hardly even qualifies as a walk-on character. Instead, it’s Clinton. It’s Clinton and Clinton and Clinton and Clinton. At 9:30 we learn that “Just like Bush, she cannot talk about her own weakness.” At 9:50 she “manages to pivot the sub-prime mess to pander to blacks, Asians and Hispanics…Her tone is a little hectoring as well.” At 10:57 we learn “You have to understand that she can tell lies almost as well as her husband.”

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