Via TPM, here are the two leading stories on the CBS News website right now.
The two people quoted in the second piece are Marc Ambinder and a guy from astroturf outfit FreedomWorks.
Reader Interactions
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”
“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)
They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.
It’s the corruption, stupid.
Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.
Trump should be leading, not lying.
“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”
Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker
Giving up is unforgivable.
Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?
Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.
Books are my comfort food!
Damn right I heard that as a threat.
The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.
We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.
We will not go back.
A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.
I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.
You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.
Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.
I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.
Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.
Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.
General Winfield Stuck
And we are fixing to get hit with some grade A vile propaganda in the form of Teevee ads that will make the Swiftboaters blush.
The good news is, it isn’t an election and citizen votes are irrelevant to consider. The bad news is, we have more than a few lilly livered dems in office who will be voting. Especially in the Senate with a spineless leader, and others afraid of their own shadows.
Warren Terra
Bill Clinton is in Pyongyang and those are the top two stories?
Someone certainly know how to get the stories they want with the spin they want … too bad (if no surprise) that they’re on the side of the Rs and the insurance lobby …
General Winfield Stuck
Here is the wingnuts newest visual aid to help their cause.
Crazy Motherfuckers. One and all.
JK
Marc Ambinder is a lying sack of shit.
jwb
I don’t know. Kind of careless of CBS to be so blatant about it. I guess there A team propagandists must be on vacation this week.
Fwiffo
Had you asked me last year “If the Democrats get a huge majority in the house, 60 seats in the senate, plus the presidency, will they pass meaningful health care reform?” I would have answered “No, of course not.” Any Democratic voter or donor is an idiot to think it was going to happen.
That’s like asking if Republicans are going to ban abortion. Of course they won’t, how else are they gonna rile up the base?
Mike G
These fuckers should be made to wear jumpsuits with their corporate paymasters’ logos, like racing car drivers.
pattonbt
Not surprised. Ten to twenty years to go in my opinion.
Helathcare reform has nothing to do with healthcare or reform. Unless of course by healthcare reform you mean reforming the healthcare system to ensure the sustainability of private insurers profit margins. Thats healthcare reform the US wants and needs right now, dontchano!
Only when big business (non insurance company business) puts money behind real reform will it happen. We’ll get token reform (which will probably make things worse in the long term) in the meantime but real reform just is not possible. Theres way too few people in the game willing to have a serious discussion.
Plus its boring, also.
burnspbesq
Yanno, if you stay on the sidelines because you’re convinced that “the fix is in” and the “corporate whores” (whoever the fuck they might be) have the thing wired, that instantly becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
You want this? Get off your asses and fight for it!
GregB
By the way, the Obama as Joker graphic is really just another way to portray the president as a minstrel.
Racist pricks.
-G
Warren Terra
This is off topic, but Phil Nugent, whose blog I started occasionally reading because of something linked here at BJ a long time ago, has an excellent essay on race and the South, inspired by the news over the weekend that a majority of White Southerners believe Obama isn’t a citizen or aren’t sure.
I’d quote some of it, but no cut-and-paste on this device.
pattonbt
@GregB:
I dont know. I think its kind of funny / clever (in a juvenile way) and in the realm of acceptable satire. Plus the Heath Ledger version of Joker, I would imagine, has a little bit of cache in the ‘hip’ world today. So it wouldnt be taken necessarily as a slam and definitely not tied to racism.
Granted, part of what I find funny is the irony in the equation of the two, but, we’re probably dealing with morans here.
Brachiator
@Warren Terra:
Very good essay.
However, is it that white Republicans in the South believe stoopid crap about Obama, or all white Southerners?
It makes a difference.
Also, I think it’s more important to take the birther crap head on without trying to pin it on the South.
It didn’t originate there, and it’s not going to stay there by itself.
I’d like to see some Democrat play the patriotism card: attacking Obama gives aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States and is inherently unpatriotic.
You cannot support the troops and the effort in Afghanistan unless you support the president.
This should tie the birthers in all kinds of knots.
Comrade Luke
I love how in the last post I was attacked for suggesting that the fix was in, and now this.
Like I said over there, legislation will pass and everyone will smile, clap and shake hands.
And basically nothing will change.
shoutingattherain
@Warren Terra:
Thanks for the link to Phil Nugent. His post may be the best thing I’ve read all year, and when POTY time comes around let’s not forget that one.
He goes right on my daily read list.
KG
well, in defense (about quarter-heartedly) of the VA story, it seems more about the issue with acceptance of PTSS as an actual problem, rather than the guy being “soft.” And really, that’s just a follow up on the Walter Reed issues that we found out about a while back. Kind of sick that they’ll spend all that money on the DoD budget and then short change the VA.
And the second story at least points out that the “anger” is manufactured from right wing websites.
Mr Furious
That Nugent post was pure genius. Thanks for the link.
Ash
OT: Why are birthers so damn lazy? This “Kenyan birth certificate” is copied from some Australian guy’s birth certificate. Really guys, if you want to make a foolproof forgery, you might want to try at least changing the identifying numbers around a bit, or not just replace a few initials with some other letters.
[/birtherfail]
http://politijab.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2099
eric k
Ash,
And they could spend like 5 minutes on Wikipedia finding out when Kenya ceased being a British colony and became a Republic so they can at least get the name of the country right.
Sheesh better wingnuts please.
JK
@pattonbt:
I don’t think comparing Obama to a psychopath is clever satire. It’s delusional and totally fucked up.
General Winfield Stuck
Yea right. What it does is give racist wingers cover to paint Obama’s face like a Minstrel show caricature and claim it’s just a joke about the joker.
What was it not long ago comparing Michelle to a Gorilla when there was news about one that had escaped. Don’t be an idiot.
pattonbt
@JK:
I guess I see what you are saying, but for some reason I just cant get worked up about it. To me its benign. I mean we are talking about a popular role from a popular movie where many people saw the villian as the ‘hip’ character. Few people, if any, see (or view) the Joker character in the raw form of his philosophy (sure there are probably some hard core anarchists out there who fap themselves to sleep over it). I would venture for most they view it from the entertainment stand.
Now if it was more say manson-like with a swastika on his forehead Id go there with you.
pattonbt
@General Winfield Stuck:
I dont think Im being an idiot, and I dont think the comparisons you make are equivalent. Calling Michelle Obama a gorilla is explicit racist territory, i.e. blacks = apes.
The Joker? I dont see anything racist about the Joker. A court jester (in a more traditional garb than what the Joker wears)? Maybe. A lawn jockey? For sure. The Joker? I just dont get it.
Now that might not mean there wasnt that intent with whomever did this up, but I just dont think most people will automatically go to racism when they see the Joker.
General Winfield Stuck
@pattonbt:
Whatever.
JGabriel
JK:
You forgot: projection.
.
pattonbt
@General Winfield Stuck:
Seriously “whatever”? So just for the record, Obama in any makeup is racist? Check.
pattonbt
@JGabriel:
Projection I can definitely agree with.
pattonbt
@General Winfield Stuck:
Sorry, I shouldnt be snide like that. I just think theres no there there.
The only thing thing I see there is a boatload of stoopid.
MelodyMaker
I’m sorry, but Dennis Miller called it a loooong time ago:
Dick. Army.
JGabriel
pattonbt:
Portraying a man with half-white/half-black heritage, who identifies as black, in whiteface makeup kind of obviously has racial overtones, at minimum, don’t ya think?
.
PeakVT
I think it’s a bit hysterical to say the fix is in because the fix has always been in. Washington is “wired for Republicans” and the media has a rightward bias. The real fix or victory was delaying the bill until after the August recess. Spreading FUD works, but it takes time, and the Democrats suck at countering it (though to be fair its hard to counter dozens of simple, baseless lies with a non-existent but probably complex bill).
But it ain’t over until it’s over. If you haven’t written you Congresscritter, I have a sucky letter here that you can steal and send off. It will fit on one 8 1/2 by 11 sheet with proper addresses at the top and 1″ margins. But it is sucky, so you’d be better off writing your own.
A Mom Anon
Are our congress critters and senators aware of this Brooks Brothers Riot shit happening in their town halls? Someone needs to be talking about this to them at every meeting these selfish assholes show up to. This makes me furious. How dare these people do this. If they don’t want “government healthcare”,then fuck them,they don’t have to see a fucking doctor ever for all I give a shit. Seriously,just fuck these assholes with a rusty farm implement. GAH!
(OT: My husband is coming home today. I’m freaked out. He had an angioplasty to open up his LAD-something cardio surgeons call the Widowmaker-which was 99 percent blocked. Also,the IRS is auditing our 2007 return and I’m scared we owe them an assload of money. I’d like a fucking break please,jeesus)
harlana pepper
@A Mom Anon: You deserve a break! Dammit, I’m sorry to hear about this.
Keith G
@A Mom Anon: This may be small comfort, but focus on hubby. The IRS will, if need be, agree to a payment plan that will not be abusive. Considering husbands issues, they can be talked into waiving most, if not all, penalties.
That was my personal experience.
Shalimar
Re: Sotomayor
Demint was just on the CBS morning show and said in his personal meeting with her she seemed very concerned about precedent rather than following the constitution (in a grave voice suggesting this was one of the worst possible problems to have). Then in the very next sentence he said he was concerned she would be an activist judge. It must be great being a Republican, you don’t even have to think for yourself, just spit out conflicting talking points and pretend the mishmash makes sense.
harlana pepper
@Ash: Fucking clowns, teh stoopid burns
btw, good grief, how does one type properly with a large, ill-tempered tortie draped over one’s right arm?
Demo Woman
@A Mom Anon: I’m glad that your husband is coming home and remember to take care of yourself.
neil
As far as I can see, The Fix is never off.
kay
I just think your analysis is a little off.
The town hall meetings they’re disrupting are those of Democrats, and the tea party/birthers are the Republican base. I think it’s partly why they’re so angry, actually. Conservatism has been a huge disappointment to all of us, so I sympathize.
Democratic House members know two things: these people did not and will not vote for them, in any set of circumstances, and have not and will not support any initiative they put forth. Not health care. Not energy. Nothing. They’re knee-jerk opposed. To everything.
They’ll get a lot of media attention, but will they change House votes ? Remember, the Democrat is the incumbent, a huge advantage, and these people did not put him or her there.
Midterm elections, here anyway, are all about the reliable Democrats, because turn-out is proportionally less. We don’t even bother with independents or Republicans. Is that no longer true?
wilfred
Apropos of the correct stance to take see Al Franken’s response to T.Boone Pickens, underwriter of the SwiftSmear campaign and new darling of Democratic fundraisers.
It’s amazing how much a little decency stands out:
Montysano
@Warren Terra: Great read, Warren, and the New Yorker article that he links to is also excellent.
Morbo
Oh, good lord, Sully, just give it up already. If this is supposed to qualify as a defense of your ideology, your ideology probably sucks and you’re in denial.
kay
@wilfred:
We’re going to arrive early, fill up the room, and ask questions. The tea party/birthers will be outside, but they’ll have to give both groups coverage, although I know they’ll be drawn to the colorful and fascinating know-nothings screaming incoherently.
Maybe we should concentrate on highlighting the difference.
I’m as lazy as the next person, but I think we probably have to show up.
Comrade Jake
@wilfred:
Thanks for posting that. I suspect Franken is going to surprise more than a few people, and in a good way.
Demo Woman
@Warren Terra: Thank you for the link.
RememberNovember
The GOP is stealing tactics from Code Pink nutters. Desperate tactics from a desperate party with nothing to bring to the table except noise and obstruction. Perhaps we should leash them and drag them through the Capitol like an intransigent child in a Verizon store?
wilfred
@Comrade Jake:
I’m surprised it got so little play. Imagine, a Senator refusing to be a hypocrite – scandalous.
RememberNovember
@Morbo:
SUlly, like most Conservatives, cherry picks. There are at least 4 brand re-tools in that time period- he forgets New Coke, for one. Cognitive dissonance at work, ladies and gents.
RememberNovember
@General Winfield Stuck:
Just posted my comment , under “johnnymags” eponym. Lets see the wingtard congregate and dissimilate.
wilfred
The women of Code Pink are not nutters, they’re women with real guts and about all that remains of the American left.
They speak truth to power. The birfers speak bullshit to shitheads.
jibeaux
@A Mom Anon:
Give your husband some attention and know that a bunch of strangers on the interwebs wish him the best.
I’ve gotten those tax audits and I found it to be a very intimidating thing, it was called a “notice of tax assessment” or something and it tells you you have to pay x amount, but, oh, if you disagree you can send us what documentation you have. And I really couldn’t figure out what it was based on, but since they have the W-2s and there wasn’t any error there in the income, I figured out it was probably they wanted the documentation from my deductions. I sent in those receipts and eventually got a revised notice of tax assessment assessing me at zero. But it’s definitely phrased as if the default is “you have cheated on your taxes and you owe us money!” instead of “you have made the usual deductions that you don’t have to submit receipts for unless you’re audited and now you’re being audited so if you have documentation for what you’ve claimed you should be ok, so please send those in kthxbye.”
Punchy
Wait — aren’t they largely t-bagging Reps? And hasn’t the House already voted on this? Or am I mistaken?
someguy
I’m glad you pointed out that the tax hike lies are being put forward by wingnuts. The lies are getting too much life, with the WSJ and Fox repeating them. Obama said no tax hikes on anybody making less than 250k and I believe him.
Hunter Gathers
@Punchy: The 3 separate house bills have to be combined before it gets a floor vote in September. The bill is out of committee, farther than any health care bill in decades. Clinton never got this far with it.
Redshirt
We’re doomed. The media is what will do it, in the hands of RNC “Strategists”. What an absurd reality when an Australian can so thoroughly decimate America. Kudo’s Rupert — I know you got what you wanted out of it (money).
Bob In Pacifica
I just woke up. Who is Marc Ambinder’s daddy and mommy? How did he get to decide what our opinions are? Who put him in this position? Is Cokie dying and does her position in the Mighty Wurlitzer needs to be replaced?
RememberNovember
@pattonbt:
Guess those old Minstrel Show records of blacks in whiteface aren’t either.
It’s the implied undercurrent- there are more overt stabs of racism out there being propegated ( the Obama with a bone through his nose, racist emails…)
It doesn’t even work, because they put “socialism” under a photoshopped Obama when the Joker had nothing to do with it(socialism). Failed metaphors from a failed party.
RememberNovember
@wilfred:
Not from the demonstrations I’ve seen- some of their actions have hobbled their own cause. Raucous disruption of meetings does not win points for their side, or win arguments.
People like Cindy Sheehan have done far more, with far less noise.
RememberNovember
@wilfred:
Sounds like the guy in NY who props up whatever side suits his fancy and then has a hissyfit when things don’t go his way.
burnspbesq
OT, but of interest, I think.
I imagine that if it hasn’t happened already, Greenwald is going to go absolutely bat-shit over the Government’s amicus brief in the Supreme Court in the Mohawk Industries case.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/us/politics/04bar.html?hpw
(note that the word “filing” in the first line of the story is a link to a pdf copy of the brief)
The issue in the case is whether to allow immediate appeals of lower court orders compelling a party in litigation to turn over information that would otherwise be covered by the attorney-client privilege because the privilege has been waived. That’s a close call, and there are good arguments that can be made for both positions (for the record, I think immediate appeals should be allowed; I am convinced by what the D.C. Circuit said in al-Odah – once the cat is out of the bag, it can’t be put back in). The Government’s brief sees it otherwise, and that’s fine; as the busiest litigant in the Federal courts, it would be most heavily burdened by a rule that allows immediate appeals.
The part of the brief that is likely to set Greenwald and others of similar disposition off begins on page 28. There, the Government argues that the state secrets privilege is fundamentally different from the attorney-client privilege, and that immediate appeals from lower court decisions saying the state secrets privilege is inapplicable should be allowed.
I have to say that as a purely technical legal process matter, the Government’s position makes a lot of sense to me. That said, I can also understand how civil libertarians (I am one, FWIW) would get the heebie-jeebies from this; it’s easy to jump to the conclusion that the Obama Administration is getting ready to zealously assert and defend the state-secrets privilege. We’ll see. YMMV, but I don’t find arguments that are variations on “meet the new boss, same as the old boss” (see Townshend, Won’t Get Fooled Again (1971)) either compelling or useful.
someguy
Screw the government. We ask them to run the country for our convenience, not for theirs.
RememberNovember
@General Winfield Stuck:
love the posts from that cracker “kitchener”
“…Mr. Bojangles..”
sweet Christ on the Cross, if that ain’t racist I’m Al Jolsen
burnspbesq
@someguy:
“Obama said no tax hikes on anybody making less than 250k and I believe him.”
I regret to inform you that you are living in fantasy-land. There may be no tax increases for people making <250K this year, and next year, but in the long run this shit has to be paid for, and the additional debt that has been taken on to fight the current recession has to be serviced and eventually retired, and neither of those things can be done simply by raising income taxes on upper-income individuals and corporations. There is a VAT in your future, and I’m guessing that when it comes the rate will be somewhere around 17 percent.
Mooks Brothers
What about a Brooks Brothers Riot-style protest at the FreedomWorks offices? 20 people chanting “Thoughts yes, slogans no!” until the cops come. After the cops leave, 20 more show up and do it again. And again.
burnspbesq
@someguy:
“Screw the government. We ask them to run the country for our convenience, not for theirs.”
Interesting. Aren’t you the same person who just said they believe Obama when he says he won’t raise taxes on people making less than $250K? The only way to logically reconcile those two positions is to say that you expect the dozens of highly trained and experienced lawyers that DOJ will have to add in order to handle the increased workload that will result from a ruling for petitioner in Mohawk Industries to work for free. Have I misunderstood your position?
Napoleon
@burnspbesq:
I personally believe the state secret privilege is unconstitutional and absolutely contrary to the structure and intent of the constitution. The judicial branch is a separate and co-equal branch with the executive branch which can not tell it what it can or can not see, or do or can not do.
That is not to say the courts shouldn’t be careful when the executive branch says the release of info could harm national security (such as doing in-camera reviews, keeping certain information out of the public record etc) but that is for the judge to determine.
kay
If tea party/birthers are Code Pink, then Democrats should pay as much attention to tea party/birthers as Republicans do to Code Pink.
None. Because there’s not a chance in hell that any Code pink member is ever voting for any Republican. Has, will, ever.
This is the GOP base. Republicans have to pander to them. Democrats would be silly to do so. They’d piss off their own base and not gain a single vote. It’s a net loss for Democrats. There’s no pay-off, at all.
General Winfield Stuck
@RememberNovember:
IN fact at some point blacks also performed in black face, or, I guess blacker face. The content was always the same . To characterize blacks as bumbling lackey’s of little intelligence and servile.
The details of Obama in such makeup is not meant to depict technically true past use of black or white face. It is a subliminal message to reinforce the caricature portrayed in past, more explicit form known as minstrel shows,
Like Atwater said, they can no longer holler nigger, it has to be more subtle, and in this and other recent cases, also offer plausible deniability.
burnspbesq
@Napoleon:
I think we’re in agreement. The second paragraph of your comment seems to undercut the first. I’m not sure you meant to say that the state secrets privilege is “unconstitutional.” I think you meant to say that it’s “not constitutionally mandated.” With that, I would wholeheartedly agree.
And I agree that there is a role for a narrowly construed and carefully administered state secrets privilege. What I have consistently said for several years is that the state secrets privilege should be administered the same way the attorney-client privilege is administered: it has to be asserted on a document-by-document basis, and when asserted the unredacted documents have to be submitted for in camera review. Blanket assertion of the state secrets privilege in motions to dismiss is, to use a highly technical legal phrase, bullshit.
Ash
@wilfred: Ehrm………unfortunately, since I know a few ladies who participate in Code Pink, I’m going to have to break it to you that they do contain some nutters. And it’s annoying as hell when they pop up with their stupid signs in hearings or whatever. But it’s not like they make a concerted effort to totally shut down things all the time, so there’s no comparing them really.
Napoleon
@burnspbesq:
I am in exact agreement with you, and I do believe my edition of Black’s Law Dictionary had an entry for bullshit.
burnspbesq
@Napoleon:
You must have a more recent edition than mine. Nice to know that West is on the case, even after being acquired by Thomson.
RememberNovember
@General Winfield Stuck:
Blackface or Whiteface, it’s all about them appeasing a role.
The minstrel comment makes a lot of sense- you can even see Spike Lee ( tho an admitted race-baiter to me by all accounts) address this in “Bamboozled”.
wilfred
@Ash:
To each his own. I admire them for what they try to do and the fact that they really are not aligned with either political party.
They’re all that’s left of the left.