Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

In my day, never was longer.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Bark louder, little dog.

When we show up, we win.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

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

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

We still have time to mess this up!

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

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Archives for 2009

We’ll File This Under “Culture of Life”

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Yesterday, big Media Matt highlighted Senator Ensign of Nevada telling us that the states just needed to cut back their “bloated” budgets:

Ensign (R-NV) — who began the show by saying that doing nothing would be better than passing this stimulus plan — insisted that states’ budgets are “bloated” and derided Frank’s concerns as “fearmongering,” denying that any teachers, cops, or firefighters would lose their jobs:

To get back to what Congressman Frank said, is that we’re going to be laying off teachers and firefighters. You know, that’s just fearmongering. We’re not going to be doing that in any of the states. … [The states’] budgets are bloated, the federal government’s budget is bloated. What we should be doing is cutting back.

Via Digby, here is an example of one of those simple cuts:

But now state governments — reeling from a historic free fall in tax revenue — have run out of tricks. And Americans are about to feel it.

In some cases, they already have.

Nevada resident Margaret Frye-Jackman, 71, was diagnosed in August with ovarian cancer. She had two rounds of chemotherapy at University Medical Center, the only public hospital in the Las Vegas area.

Soon after, she and her daughter heard the news on TV: The hospital’s outpatient oncology services were closing because of state Medicaid cuts. Treatment for Frye-Jackman and hundreds of other cancer patients was eliminated.

Apparently Senator Ensign is made of tougher mettle than I am, because if I were a Senator, I probably wouldn’t want to be glibly dismissing the trouble states are in while cutting the life-saving medical care for one of my constituents. Then again, I’m not an aspiring member of the Taliban, so our views on things might be a little different.

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The Cardinal Sin

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Faking your data:

The doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

The research was published in February 1998 in an article in The Lancet medical journal. It claimed that the families of eight out of 12 children attending a routine clinic at the hospital had blamed MMR for their autism, and said that problems came on within days of the jab. The team also claimed to have discovered a new inflammatory bowel disease underlying the children’s conditions.

However, our investigation, confirmed by evidence presented to the General Medical Council (GMC), reveals that: In most of the 12 cases, the children’s ailments as described in The Lancet were different from their hospital and GP records. Although the research paper claimed that problems came on within days of the jab, in only one case did medical records suggest this was true, and in many of the cases medical concerns had been raised before the children were vaccinated. Hospital pathologists, looking for inflammatory bowel disease, reported in the majority of cases that the gut was normal. This was then reviewed and the Lancet paper showed them as abnormal.

Hopefully Tim F. will have some time to elaborate on what this means, and although it should be enough to reset the autism/vaccine debate back to 1998 and be enough to trigger a fresh analysis by those who feel there is a link, I have my doubts that will happen. If nothing else, this has been a grave disservice to those with autistic children.

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Country First!

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Even the Washington Post clues in:

Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party’s liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all, its stand against a stimulus package that they are increasingly confident will provide little economic jolt but will pay off politically for those who oppose it.

After giving the package zero votes in the House, and 0with their counterparts in the Senate likely to provide in a crucial procedural vote today only the handful of votes needed to avoid a filibuster, Republicans are relishing the opportunity to make a big statement. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) suggested last week that the party is learning from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban, and the GOP these days does have the bravado of an insurgent band that has pulled together after a big defeat to carry off a quick, if not particularly damaging, raid on the powers that be.

The thing is, they are being so transparently cynical that it is hard to believe that the American people will fall for it.

*** Update ***

Gallup:

Doesn’t seem to be working out quite the way the Republicans want in the short term, although they are playing long ball here. They are hoping they can pin the economy on the Democrats in 2010 and 2012. And, in all reality, given Bush’s numbers the last few years, a 58% disapproval rating for Republicans IS a step in the right direction. The more important finding is that 66% of Republicans, 78% of independents, and 93% of democrats think that it is either “critically important” or “important, but not critical” that a stimulus plan be passed.

We will see how this plays out politically, but personally, I hope the plan just stops some of the economic bleeding.

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Business groups to Republicans: vote for the damn stimulus already

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I’ve been asking around a bit and everyone I’ve spoken to says that most business groups support the stimulus bill in the House (or even larger) form.  That makes sense, because businesses do obviously want to avoid a prolonged recession.  I wondered, then, why they’re not pushing Senate Republicans to vote for it.  Well, it turns out that they are:

the traditionally Republican-leaning business lobby is beginning to exert itself more as well.

In announcing his support Friday night, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) pointedly read from a Chamber of Commerce endorsement. The National Association of Manufacturers has also weighed in, telling Republicans that votes on the bill “including potential procedural motions” may be considered for designation as key votes in NAM’s scoring of their legislative record.

The main purpose of the Republican party is to support the interests of big business (this is also one of the primary purposes of the Democratic party). I’ve always thought, though, that some day the Republican party would become so insane that it would begin to frighten big business. That day may have arrived.

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Pro-Bowl Open Thread

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So far in the Pro Bowl, Chris Collinsworth has informed the viewers that despite the Steelers victory, what we should really focus on is how remarkable it would have been had Arizona finished the comeback, how remarkable the story would have been if Warner had won, and that if he had a vote for Defensive MVP, he would not have voted for James Harrison.

Why this guy still has a job is beyond me. And for those of you who do not understand what I am ranting about, having Chris Collinsworth do color for a football game that has anyone from the Steelers in it is like having Rush Limbaugh doing play-by-play for the NOW annual meeting.

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Feedback In The Echo Chamber

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From the comments section of another hilarious paean to Sarah Palin at Red State, a number of memorable comments, but this stuck out:

Do you realize that most of the people that voted for Obama thought that Palin was the one who said “I can see Alaska from my house” when it was actually Tina Fey?This has nothing to do with Palin but the stupidity of liberal and uninformed voters in general!!! It doesn’t matter who runs on the right, the media will go out of it’s way to smear them.

The author of that comment is, of course, merely echoing the results of the “poll” of Obama voters produced by John Ziegler (and if you missed his interview with Nate, you missed comedy gold) in which we learned that the reason Obama got elected was because “86.9 % thought that Palin said that she could see Russia from her “house,” even though that was Tina Fey who said that!!”

Did Sarah Palin say she could see Russia from her house? Absolutely not, as that was, in fact, Tina Fey. However, what the poll and the erstwhile Palinites at Red State fail to remember or refuse to concede is that she might as well have, and actually said the following just a few days before the SNL skit in question:

“They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.”

Tina Fey and the evildoers at SNL didn’t just make this up out of nothing- this was based on things Palin and her defenders said. We then spent a surreal few weeks in which Republicans all over the establishment defended Sarah Palin’s national security credentials/foreign policy experience based on her geographical proximity to Russia. Think Progress gathers a few of them:

ALASKA IS NEAR RUSSIA

“Alaska is right next to Russia. She understands that. Look, Sen. Obama’s never visited south of our border. I mean, please.” [McCain, 9/3/08]

“You know, the experience that she comes from is what she’s done in government, and remember, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia. It’s not as if she doesn’t understand what’s at stake here.” [Cindy McCain, 8/31/08]

“But the other thing about her, she does know about international relations because she is right up there in Alaska right next door to Russia.” [Fox News host Steve Doocy, 8/29/08]

FISHING ISSUES

“She worked with permitting issues and with fishing issues dealing with the sea fishing industry there in Alaska.” [GOP strategist Tyler Harber, 9/5/08]

OSMOSIS

“As that state’s governor, Sarah Palin would know more by osmosis –- if nothing else –- about the necessity for U.S. anti-missile systems than either Messrs. Obama or Biden.” [Neocon activist Frank Gaffney, 9/2/08]

And on and on. I could link more of this, as there were dozens of people taking to the airwaves to laud her foreign policy creds based on Alaska’s “shared borders,” (if I remember correctly, there was a period when they were talking about Sarah as Commander in Chief of the Alaskan National Guard). As I said earlier, it was surreal. I remember thinking at the time that they can not possibly be serious (and occasionally, there were moments of candor or times when the operatives thought the microphones were off, and some honesty would slip out. This sort of break from the company line was then swiftly retracted and “apologies” were issued.) And yet, there they were, seriously pushing this stuff as evidence of her foreign policy cred, as Palin herself kept feeding the meme (this, from two weeks AFTER the SNL skit):

We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state.”

The context of all of this is important, as well. This was after months of John McCain telling America that the number one requirement for a VP nominee was to pick someone with the requisite experience ready to take over at any moment, after months of McCain playing up his national security creds while attacking Obama’s, during the time of the Georgia/Russia flare-up that McCain seized upon as a campaign tool, all with Afghanistan and Iraq in the background, and Palin’s disastrous interviews with Gibson (in which she had no clue what the Bush doctrine was- surprise, surprise, movement conservatives had her back there, too) and then Couric.

Did Sarah Palin say “I can see Russia from my house?” Not in those exact words, but this is the problem for the Republicans- they have spent so much time and money pumping the wurlitzer that they no longer are able to separate reality from their echo chamber. When you look at them and think “My god, these people are not dealing with reality,” you are more right than you realize. They don’t believe anything they see in the media. They think they are the victims of malicious plots everywhere they look. This is what it looks like when a major party exists solely within an echo chamber of their own creation.

And what makes it even better is the sneering condescension in the comment- only the stupid “uniformed” voters think this. This, coming from the party of the people, who, we are told, will be riding a populist backlash to Washington in 2010. Not only are they deluded and wrong, but they think you are the stupid one. Fortunately, at least in the last election, the average voter was smarter than the average Red State commenter.

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