Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The revolution will be supervised.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

A consequence of cucumbers

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Hypocrites

Hypocrites

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Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich), a leading GOP critic of the Obama administration’s loans to Solyndra, pressed the Energy Department in 2009 to back a Michigan solar firm that filed for bankruptcy this week.

In a Dec. 2009 letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Upton and the rest of the Michigan delegation pressed the department to issue loan guarantees for a slew of energy projects. Included on the list was United Solar Ovonic, which was seeking a taxpayer-backed loan guarantee to produce rooftop solar panels.

“We believe these applications are worthy of serious consideration by the Energy Department,” the Michigan lawmakers wrote in the letter.

Upton’s letter underscores the fact that Republicans, many of whom have pummeled the administration over the Solyndra controversy, pressed the Energy Department to back clean-energy projects in their home states.

Does this surprise anyone?

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    Rick Massimo

    This is the same party that lets Newt Gingrich lecture on morality, religion and the family.

    I don’t even know whether they’re hypocrites anymore. About 20 years ago, they were. This bunch today, I’m really not sure they even understand the concept that your words should have anything to do with your actions.

  2. 2.

    General Stuck

    Depraved indifferent “hypocrites”/ That would sell out their own mothers for a few ounces of red meat for their equally depraved voters. This joke of a GOP oppo party needs a cannon ball tied to its sorry ass, and dumped into the sea, to sleep with the whale shit.

  3. 3.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    Projection is one of the few things they have. Unfortunately, considering how easily the fucking media falls for it, it’s one of the few things they actually need.

  4. 4.

    Samara Morgan

    pot kettle.
    you are the biggest hypocrite of all for pimping EDk.
    tell me again why i should respect you?

  5. 5.

    Howlin Wolfe

    They’ve no principles, conscience (either collectively or individually), or shame, save one: acquiring power and wealth for their constituents and themselves. We know who their constituents are, too.

  7. 7.

    Mark S.

    There’s this Solyndra thing and some 2 Fast 2 Furious scandal that I think involves Vin Diesel. I have no idea what either of these two scandals are about.

  10. 10.

    Democratic Nihilist, Keeper Of Party Purity

    “When the GOP does it, it is not illegal.”

    I know that Nixon said “the President”, but the whole party heard something different. Can’t blame ’em, really.

  11. 11.

    Ken

    Does this surprise anyone?

    Only in that it didn’t emerge as part of a broader ethics investigation triggered by finding a dead male prostitute in a rubber wetsuit chained to Upton’s bed, with the Honorable Representative slumped across the body with heroin in his system and dressed in a French maid’s outfit. But I’ve become relatively desensitized to Republican scandals.

  12. 12.

    Mark S.

    @Soonergrunt:

    Haven’t they been ignoring it? I’m sure Fox is all over this, but anyone else? I don’t watch cable news so I’m not sure, but I don’t think these investigations get any play.

  13. 13.

    McJulie

    Only tangentially related, but does anybody out there with the fortitude to read the National Review want to engage Robert Zubrin’s article accusing Obama of “wrecking” the Mars program?

  15. 15.

    Martin

    I don’t think the Solyndra thing is going to work out as the GOP intended. Solyndra is likely to actually prove the case that the loan guarantees were reasonably sound, but it was ultimately a failed effort because the Chinese were dumping solar panels on the market well below cost. We’re suing them over this, because it’s not just Solyndra but every single solar panel manufacturer in the US going out of business. And our case against the Chinese is all the stronger because even with US government backing, they couldn’t compete with a Chinese subsidized industry.

  17. 17.

    Steve

    The loan guarantee program isn’t even an Obama idea. The program, and Solyndra’s original application for that matter, dates back to the Bush Administration.

    Even though there’s no substance to the Solyndra “scandal,” I’m still quite surprised the Republicans haven’t managed to make a bigger production out of it. There was no substance to Whitewater, either. Have they lost some of their noise-making mojo?

  20. 20.

    Benjamin Franklin

    @Steve:

    Have they lost some of their noise-making mojo?

    Dems have been slow to adopt their tactics into the overall strategy, and so we keep them so busy, on so many fronts, they can’t get the depth they once had.

    So, they are forced to put out fires, rather than start them.

  22. 22.

    RD

    @Mark S.:

    I only know about them because I occasionally flip to FNC during MSNBC commercials.

    It’s their second favorite story line, surpassed only by the lacrosse dude who allegedly beat his girlfriend to death.

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Was Upton reading for a teleprompter while he condemned Obama for funding Solyndra? The only thing would surprise me would be if a Republican’s hypocrisy wasn’t total.

  31. 31.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Thymezone:

    John, is it true that you once drove to Canada with Ed Kain strapped to the roof of your car?

    I also heard Kain ran away in Canada too.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    Does this surprise anyone?

    I’m shocked, shocked, to find bribery, favoritism and back room deals going on among Republicans in the Congress.

  37. 37.

    Samara Morgan

    @RD: and pimping Erik “Beyond Unions” Kain on a soi-disant liberal blog is not hypocritical?

    wallah.

    and Cole has banned me plenty times. whats one more in the interest of preserving Kain’s livlihood Greenwaldian manner’d discourse?

  38. 38.

    Thymezone

    @efgoldman:

    What an ass. Hey, you know what? I’m into my eighth year here now, and I was banned once (sort of), and let me say this about that. The difference between me and John? No matter what stupid shit he said, I would never ban him. I am much more of a gentleman than that. Pistols at twenty paces, sure, but ban? That’s for chuckers.

    Other than that he does a pretty good job most of the time.

  40. 40.

    Thymezone

    So, then, what do we do about Ed? Well, we could give him a Lifetime Achievement Award and ask him to move into the Old Posters Home, then have him come by once every year or two and tell a few jokes like George Burns.

  41. 41.

    MattF

    Remember the business a week or two ago when wingers were calling Elizabeth Warren a hypocrite because she favored programs for poor people, even though she’s wealthy? The main reaction in the left-blogosphere was “that word doesn’t mean what you think it means,” but there’s another message: wingers just don’t think hypocrisy, as normally defined, is a bad thing. So it goes.

  45. 45.

    Thymezone

    Or, we coud send Ed off on a project, like writing a book.

    “Both Sides Do It,” a biography of David Broder, by E.D. Kain.

    With afterword by Glenn Beck.

  46. 46.

    Thymezone

    @uptown:

    I’m about thirty times funnier than he is. Don’t forget that. And also, I don’t live in West Virginia. Right there, twenty points.

  47. 47.

    RD

    @Samara Morgan:

    It is possible to read EDK’s posts without having much of an emotional investment. It’s kind of like watching an episode of Burn Notice.

    Interesting, and forgettable.

  51. 51.

    Thymezone

    @pragmatism:

    It’s a whatever we make it blog, asshole. Obviously. What the hell do you think it is? What do you think Hot Air means? Polite discourse? Agree With John and praise him every time he describes the dog’s bowel movements? What is your fucking point?

  52. 52.

    Samara Morgan

    @Thymezone:

    Other than that he does a pretty good job most of the time.

    i will agree with that…….but why is Kain his Achilles heel?
    does Kain know where the bodies are buried?

  53. 53.

    cathyx

    @TenguPhule: Funny, but I mean do hypocrites know they are being hypocritical and just don’t care? Realizing I am being hypocritical makes me stop being it.

  54. 54.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: now that is a bit funnier. unintentionally funny.
    personally if i want to laugh i’ll go to funny or die or such, not a political blog. but that’s just me. from now on i will laugh when i see you post. but not because you are funny.

  56. 56.

    Samara Morgan

    @RD: but the only reason Kain is here is because he quit his day job and wants to switch horses now that O is gunna win.
    Why should Cole exploit the loyalty of his commentariat to help Kain make a living blogging?
    isnt that….hypocritical?

    hahaha!

  58. 58.

    Samara Morgan

    @Thymezone: funny you should mention that.
    i believe Kain’s goal is indeed, to write A Book.
    that is purpose of him starting Yet Another Blog where he sukkz up to Stephen Colbert and tries to rebrand himself yet again.
    One can only assume Cole supports this endeavor wholeheartedly.

  59. 59.

    Citizen Alan

    @Samara Morgan:

    trust, i hate you enough at this point to never leave.

    OMG that’s hilarious! You actually come right out and admit that you’re a cyber-stalker! It’s like Fatal Attraction except that if she tried to boil Tunch in the stewpot, she’d get eaten in one gulp!

  60. 60.

    Samara Morgan

    @middlewest: sure. im aspergers positive.
    but aspergers renders me incapable of caring if anyone likes me.
    So its a perfectly symmetrical equation.
    ;)

  61. 61.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    Seriously? Cole’s Achilles heel is that he is too soft on people. He is just too nice a guy. He puts up with a lot of crap that he basically hates and bites his tongue. Back in the day, he used to bend over three ways to be polite to his old rightwing buddies that tried to weather his conversion to sanity — er, to Democrat. Unless Kain eats an abandoned pet, Cole will never take him down. Over the long haul, is it better to tolerate a wide range of front page posts, or to try to steer the thing? I would probably come down on tolerating the posts, no matter how much Kain irritates me. And just for the record, I was bashing Kain before it was cool, so I have no love for the guy. But I have gone from hating him, to just finding him a funny foil for my razor wit. See my post at #26.

  62. 62.

    Soonergrunt

    @Samara Morgan: Link or GTFO, to be judged by the commenters here.
    Since very few actual words mean what you think they mean, I don’t think that will go well for you.

  63. 63.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: your achilles heel is your mistaken belief that you are funny. perhaps a check up from the neck up is in order? or try an open mic night at the ha ha hole to test your belief?

  64. 64.

    Samara Morgan

    @Thymezone: well i knew him before you did.
    you think hes harmless…..hes not. Sully just linked him 3x on his front page, more than chait even.

    Trust, Culture 11 and TAS are dead.
    there’s no place for the embryo ross douthats and conor friedersdorfs to incubate anymore.
    That is why Kain is here.
    Cole is such a nice guy he wont even feel the alien encysted in his chest until Kain bursts out and moves on to the Atlantic.

  65. 65.

    RossInDetroit

    Well, I wanted to discuss the failure of this local business but I see there’s a hate fest going on instead. maybe later.

  67. 67.

    cathyx

    If everyone has a problem with Samara Morgan, then STOP ENGAGING HER. Then she will go away because it will get boring for her to stay.

  69. 69.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    But, nobody really pays much attention to the Edster. He’s kind of the Elmer Fudd of political commentary. If I were another front pager, I’d love the guy for making me look good. Heh.

    @pragmatism:

    Your Achilles Heel is that you wish you were as funny as I am, but you can’t bring yourself to admit it. Once you get that off your chest, you will feel better. For a few minutes. And then you will hate yourself even more.

  70. 70.

    Villago Delenda Est

    I am shocked, shocked!, that a bunch of Rethuglicans are hypocritical about this.

    As for m_c, I’m also shocked, shocked! that she’s persisting in her obsessive fangrrl stalking of E.D. Kain.

  71. 71.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    That Alien imagergy is kind of interesting, though. I never could get into those movies. The monster thing reminds me too much of several of my relatives.

  72. 72.

    RossInDetroit

    Since we’ve veered wildly OT, I want to know what’s up with Colbert. Did he break another arm or something? Better not be election law giving the network the collywobbles.

  74. 74.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: oh wait, i take it all back. you’re funny and can read minds. miss cleo and whoopi all in one.
    or you could be projecting…..

  76. 76.

    RossInDetroit

    @Yutsano:

    ’s gonna be that kind of day today. And I called out too! WHEE!!

    I keep trying to get a day off but entropy just doesn’t give a shit. Things break down and I load up to go bang them back into shape.

  79. 79.

    Samara Morgan

    @pragmatism: id rather have Douthat because hes a better writer…..but id take McMegan over Erik “Beyond Unions” Kain.
    She is a lot less slimey, and the Levenson cage fights would be mad fun.

  80. 80.

    Samara Morgan

    @Soonergrunt: dude, its an ISLAMIC Spring.

    that the current government led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has, while being an Islamic party, repeatedly upheld the secular state.

    no they dont. every two years the AKP tries to get shariah back into the constitution.
    eventually they will succeed.

    that scares the piss out of you doesnt it? because an ISLAMIC Spring will unite all the muslims, sunni and shi’ia and deobandi and barelvi, Twelvers and Ninthers, against a common enemy…..AmerIsrael.

  81. 81.

    Thymezone

    From the Twitterverse just now. Off topic, but …. it’s so hilarious, it just has to be shared:

    Jonathan Cohn @CitizenCohn
    Santorum backer Foster Friess just said this on @MSNBC: In his day, Girls used aspirin for birth control – they put it btwn their knees

    The GOP is putting on a 24×7 clown show. I may have to stop entertaining you bunch of losers and go watch tv.

  84. 84.

    Samara Morgan

    @Citizen Alan: heh.
    but its truthsay.
    Cole was a big liberal hero to me before i knew who he relly was.
    now i hate him too much to leave, because that would make him happy, right?

    i even said that to ABL– if you leave, the baddies win.

  85. 85.

    Brachiator

    @cathyx:

    If everyone has a problem with Samara Morgan, then STOP ENGAGING HER. Then she will go away because it will get boring for her to stay.

    If only it were that simple.

  87. 87.

    Thymezone

    @pragmatism:

    From the Thymezone pamphlet, How To Be Funny on the Internets:

    Number 79: Never write “teh.”

    I will send you the whole list for $7.95 plus postage.

    Edit: Alternative offer: One tip a week FREE for 4 weeks, then $2.95 a week for the balance of 3000 tips.

  89. 89.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: suggestion noted. Internets is ok though, apparently. again, the self proclamation of being funny or the arbiter of what is funny is a gigantic tell. stay away from teh poker tables.

  92. 92.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    Eddie is definitely a click whore. But he craves all attention including the negative kind. So …. the more we ignore him, the more he loses.

    And when do I get a laugh for that “top of the car” post? Come on, that was gold. Gold.

  95. 95.

    Samara Morgan

    @Thymezone: i do not think he wants my attention. i make it impossible for him to slip by the screens.

    you are amazing funnie. have you relly been here for eight years?

  97. 97.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    My seventh anniversary is right about now. My eighth year of entertaining the troops and bringing joy and sarcasm to millions is just beginning. When I came here, John was still officially a Republican, and George Bush still had an approval rating higher than 30. Al Franken was still a comedian.

  99. 99.

    Thymezone

    @Samara Morgan:

    No, what would make John happy is if we just agree that it’s his blog and he can run it as he sees fit. Then, give Kain a ration whenever he posts his treacle, as desired. Kain eventually will go the way of The Wire, and get cancelled for lack of ratings.

    That last is an inside joke.

  102. 102.

    Thymezone

    @pragmatism:

    I am sleeping on a pile of nickles. Otherwise they will steal all my money. Then I have to come down here to Kinko’s and type out these posts using a stick held in my teeth.

  104. 104.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: who are “they” to you? looters/moochers/takers? persons of other races or ethnicities than your own? underpants gnomes? reverse tooth fairies? college republicans? chupacabrae?

  105. 105.

    Thymezone

    @RD:

    Mister Ed, for starters. Come on, a horse that talks!

    Also “Mass For Shut-Ins.” It’s preachy, but it has a charm.

  107. 107.

    Thymezone

    @pragmatism:

    People who like Ed Kain. People who drive Chevy SSRs. People who eat pizza with a fork. People who think Ron Paul is running for president. Keith Olbermann. Supporters of the Fair Tax. Men who wear white belts. Women who hang around with men who wear white belts. Mormons on bicycles.

  109. 109.

    pragmatism

    @Thymezone: solid list. doesn’t reflect groups that want to take your nickles from your sleeping pile, but solid nonetheless. upon further reflection, i’d keep an eye out for Steve Forbes. he would break in and take your nickles.

  110. 110.

    Thymezone

    @pragmatism:

    Steve Forbes! Now there is a guy who is unitentionally funny, every time he opens his mouth. His dad must be embarassed,
    he jetted around with Elizabeth Taylor, but will be remembered for having an idiot son.

  116. 116.

    Danny

    Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich), a leading GOP critic

    Yeah, but OTOH his niece is in a dissappearingly seductive bikini on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

  117. 117.

    Thymezone

    @TenguPhule:

    You were MIA for a while, weren’t you? Anyway, hope all is well with you over there in pineapple paradise. Here in the desert, just the usual Red State business.

    I am staying out of trouble, which is boring as hell.

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