Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

This blog will pay for itself.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Bark louder, little dog.

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

We are aware of all internet traditions.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

No one could have predicted…

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Politics / GOP Death Cult / Saturday Evening Open Thread: There’s Just Not Enough Time To Call Out *Every* GOP Jagoff

Saturday Evening Open Thread: There’s Just Not Enough Time To Call Out *Every* GOP Jagoff

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Senator Cornpone Leghorn has surely earned himself some spotlight, though…

Senator Kennedy recently disgraced himself while attacking Saule Omarova, President Biden’s choice for next head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — but at least there’s an argument, however weak, about Omarova’s ideas…

Attacking Dale Ho as ‘too angry’ is just pure uncut bigotry — in Kennedy’s world, only white men are allowed to have strong emotions. This cheapjack xenophobia, from a man who has every reason to know better, but who wants to be all over the teevee spouting garbage to tickle the dumbest and meanest of his constituents.

To quote Mr. Charles P. Pierce, “John Kennedy Is the Biggest Faker in the United States Senate, and That’s Saying Something”.

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  6. 6.

    Raoul Paste

    They really have this fraud thing covered.

    TFG Is a stupid guy pretending to be smart, and this one is a smart guy pretending to be stupid

  7. 7.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    who is the audience for Kennedy’s Mr Foghorn T Haney schtick. How hard can it be for an incumbent Republican to hold on to office in freakin’ Louisiana, especially when you’ve held statewide office (as a Democrat until ’07) for twenty-odd years?

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told President Joe Biden’s judicial nominee Dale Ho that he won’t support his nomination because he thinks he’s too angry to be a judge.

    Is he confusing him with Justice Kavanaugh?

  13. 13.

    Haydnseek

    “Well Senator Kennedy, that’s up to you.  But now I have a question.  Do I address you with a friendly ‘hello’ or do you prefer a spirited ‘Heil Hitler?”

  22. 22.

    JoyceH

    @Gin & Tonic:  And those who knew him then report that his current ‘accent’ is entirely bogus. In real life, he has the very slightest of Southern accents, not that over the top hayseed drawl.

  27. 27.

    germy

    Conservatives have targeted Ho for defeat over past tweets and his advocacy work for groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. He is currently the director of the ACLU’s voting rights project.

    I think Ho’s work for voting rights is what scared Kennedy.  Kennedy can’t admit that, so he goes with the “You’re too angry” accusation instead.

  31. 31.

    burnspbesq

    Calling Kennedy “Leghorn” is deeply unfair to Robert McKimson and Mel Blanc, who created and voiced the beloved Looney Tunes character.

    if you need a cinematic reference, call him “honky-tonk cornpone jive-ass mutha-fucka.”

  34. 34.

    dan

    “Senator Kennedy recently disgraced himself …” GOP politicians can’t disgrace themselves. They can only ingratiate themselves with their base.

  41. 41.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Gin & Tonic:

    This is one reason I have to apologize so often when I’m in Europe. No, thanks, we are not all fucking insane. 

    Haha.  Was talking with my sister-in-law’s mom about this tonight.  A bunch of them went to Ireland in 2017 and had to correct people who thought they voted for Dump.

  43. 43.

    West of the Rockies

    Kennedy is such a congealed bowl of oatmeal, a wimpy hobgoblin of drab conformity…

    Kennedy, Lindsey Graham, Jeff Sessions… what a trio of wet crackers.

  45. 45.

    Procopius

    I’m surprised no one has mentioned Massey is holding what looks like an M-60 machine gun. Is that what he used for deer hunting?

  49. 49.

    Betty

    I’ll agree with Charles Pierce as long as biggest faker isn’t the same thing as biggest phony. That has to go to Susan Collins.

  56. 56.

    Geminid

     

     

    @eclare: A handful of Republican Senators have been voting to confirm President Biden’s judicial and U.S. Attorney nominations. So have Joe Manchin and The Wicked Witch of the West (D-AZ). So this nomination may well go through, Kennedy’s bluster notwithstanding.

  57. 57.

    Rusty

    @Chetan Murthy: Some of the biggest right-wing tools I know are engineers.  The field tends to attract a mindset that likes the certainty of conservatism.  I am not surprised at all.

  58. 58.

    Dan B

    @trollhattan: The young daughter of Massie is reportedly holding an Uzi.  He’s supposedly holding a M60 ( name?) that’s a macine gun.  I thought machine guns were illegal for civilians to possess.  Every one of these weapons cause immense damage to human flesh and bone.  They don’t just make holes.  The high velocity causes shock waves that spread the damage.  You don’t hunt game with these.

  60. 60.

    trollhattan

    @Dan B:

    Lord only knows if the M60 is modified to be semi, or being a congresscritter Massie has finagled a federal permit for owning a frealz machine gun. Those exist. Sadly. None of which explains “why?”

    Speaking of girls and Uzis, some folks will remember this.

  64. 64.

    Jeffro

    Kennedy is one where, if I ran into him at a UVA basketball game, I wouldn’t just pass by…I’d make the effort to tell him to his face what a fucking lying disgrace he is to the country.

  65. 65.

    Anonymous At Work

    QUESTION, since I am curious, bored, and aggrevated: Would you want the occupants of other cars on the road to be able to hear what you were saying about them, yes or no?  Plus side would be reactions, negative side would be them knowing what you were saying…

  70. 70.

    Dan B

    @Gin & Tonic: Chilling.

    The only consolation is they are playing their hand too early.  They seem to believe that acts like this will build a groundswell but like the Weather Underground you need to build a critical mass of people who love your beliefs and will accept the discipline necessary to create an effective force.

  75. 75.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: OT, but today marks 50 years since the Montreux Casino fire during the Mothers’ set – that inspired “Smoke on the Water.”

  77. 77.

    Miss Bianca

    @Gin & Tonic: Damn, now I feel old. I remember when “Smoke on the Water” came out! Tho it was years and years later when I found out what the lyrics referred to.

  78. 78.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Anonymous At Work:

    Heh. My cousin and his wife, on road trips, have often had the following conversation:

    Cousin (the driver): Jesus! That idiot almost cut me off!

    Cousin’s wife (the passenger): Here’s what we’ll do. I’ll tell him to go fuck himself, you give him the finger.

  81. 81.

    Dan B

    @raven: I believe the accidental bomb blast at the Greenich Village townhouse preceded by several other bombings turned off other radical leftists.  The dates were at the start of the 70’s.

    Chicago Gay Liberation rented the auditorium / venue where the Westher Underground split from the SDS at their convention.  That was 1970 (maybe 71).  We figured they’d rent to us if they’d rented to SDS.

  83. 83.

    raven

    @Dan B: Diana Oughton from Dwight, Il. Weatherwoman Diana. I don’t think they ever had that much of a following they just knew how to make it seem like they did.

  88. 88.

    Honus

    @Jeffro: as a UVA alum, I’d tell him he’s a disgrace to UVA.  I believe we were both there when the Dalai Lama lived on the Grounds.

  89. 89.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: That song is such a capsule of early ’70s rock.  The mobile referred to in the lyrics was a mobile studio that Deep Purple had borrowed from the Stones, just as an example.

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    In other sportsball news, Portland Timbers will host the MLS finals after beating Real Salt Lake in today’s semis. This game-winner was just like they draw it up (not).

    LFG

  95. 95.

    Honus

    @raven: that’s what I thought too, but there a lot of semi-auto reproductions of those.  I’m not aware of civilian versions of the M60, but nothing would surprise me these days.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @trollhattan:

    Well, there are postulates!

    One of my favourite things about that word is the way you can just keep beheading it and get another perfectly good word:

    PRELATE

    RELATE

    ELATE

    LATE

    ATE

    and then curtail it for:

    ATE

    AT

    A

  97. 97.

    zhena gogolia

    Gov just announced first Omicron in CT. Someone whose relatives went to an anime convention in NYC.

    I can’t go to a restaurant but people are going to anime conventions.

  99. 99.

    Spanky

    Well, a couple of sheriff’s deputies were just knocking on my door, ready to serve papers.

    Not to me, to the guy next door. The address on the summons was wrong.

    I’m happy they didn’t bring the SWAT team.

  107. 107.

    Dan B

    @raven: Im not sure SDS had that many followers either.  That’s why I wonder if the Proud Boys militant marches may turn off quite a few sympathizers who are not ready to risk their jobs and future for flaky showboating when there is no major supportive organization.  The Weathermen seemed to believe the Chicago Dem Convention protesters were ready for violent revolt.  The marchers on the Mall today seem to believe that January 6th was a sign of imminent revolution.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    Runny nose, sneezing, and coughing. Temperature 99.5.

    Home COVID test says negative.

    Should I believe it?

  110. 110.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Procopius:

    I forgot to include Massie in my wingnut bracket for 2021 madness.  I thought the final four was going to come down to Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, and Paul Gosar, but maybe Massie is the dark house lunatic who’ll end up taking the title.

  113. 113.

    Dan B

    @raven: GLF was associated with UC students plus the Blackstone Rangers, Chicago Seven, and there were a few short time SDS members.  I believe some had met Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers.  I don’t believe we ever got to UI, instead we advised Indiana University and University of Wisconsin students.

  114. 114.

    Another Scott

    @James E Powell: There’s a cold that seems to be going around (in the DC area anyway).  Could be nothing.

    I recently bought a couple of boxes of the BinaxNow tests, but haven’t actually used one yet…

    Hang in there!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  118. 118.

    Dan B

    @Spanky: AND I thought getting collection notices for someone in our single family house who lives in Apt. 36 was weird and creepy.  At least sheriff’s deputies would notice that we have no third floor or room for more than two apartments.

  119. 119.

    trollhattan

    @James E Powell:

    Accuracy of the short turnaround tests is said to be good (reliable) for detecting active cases, not good at all for pre-symptomatic cases. If you take one each of the next couple days and they are also negative, you are most likely in the clear.

    I am, in fact, a doctor of internet commenting.

    Best wishes, everybody’s nervous as hell right now.

    ETA Both Biden and my kid have had colds in the last two weeks.

  123. 123.

    Dan B

    @raven: I arrived in Chicago in 69 and felt I’d missed the action in 68.  Boy was I wrong!

    Chicago 7 trial and demonstrations, a few wild marches attacked by the police, SDS Convention with formal WU split, plus a boatload more.  It seemed there was something disruptive or historically significant every week or two.

  124. 124.

    Another Scott

    Helen Branswell at STATNews:

    As the world waits for studies that give a clear picture of the Omicron variant, early clinical data emerging from South Africa hint at a virus that may cause less severe cases of Covid-19.

    The South African Medical Research Council posted a report Saturday of the early experiences at several hospitals in Gauteng Province, where Omicron was first spotted in the country. Strikingly, most hospitalized patients who tested positive for Covid did not need supplemental oxygen. Few developed Covid pneumonia, few required high-level care, and fewer still were admitted to intensive care.

    Experts caution against reading too much into these early reports, which are based on small numbers of patients. They suggest it will take time for the true profile of the Omicron variant to come into focus. But several note that while early discussions about previous variants of concern have hinged on trying to figure out whether they caused more severe disease, with Omicron the questions relate to whether it is associated with milder infections.

    The report included an analysis of 42 Covid patients in the hospital on Dec. 2 which showed that most were actually hospitalized for other medical reasons; their infections were only detected because hospitals are testing all incoming patients for Covid. Many did not have respiratory symptoms. And the average length of hospital stay was 2.8 days, far shorter than the average of 8.5 days recorded in the region over the past 18 months, the report said.

    […]

    Much more at the link.

    It’s still very early, but fingers crossed!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  127. 127.

    Dan B

    @raven: Well put!

    Glad you had common sense!!

    It struck me that many of the most strident radicals had come from privileged backgrounds and they went around the bend when they discovered the true nature of the world.

  133. 133.

    Starfish

    @debbie:

    Here is my failed attempt to clobber together a Silverman post out of Tweets.

    I see Massie is a Class 3 automatic weapons owner. That would be the M-60 machine gun, the Uzi SMG, and Thompson SMG. Possibly all the weapons. These are federal-permit firearms requiring deep background checks to own and access not allowed to anyone who is not the permit holder. https://t.co/6S2aGHf97q
    — Jack’sHouseOfPancakes (@RegimeChangeInc) December 4, 2021

    Because an operational, fully automatic M60 machine gun with all the proper licenses and registrations and whatnot can cost up to $70,000.

    This is conspicuous consumption for pudgy, middle-aged right-wing mechanical engineers.
    — David “HINDSIGHT IS 2021” Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) December 4, 2021

  135. 135.

    Dan B

    @raven: Yep.  One ‘rage’ was surrounded by paddy wagons and cops in Riot gear in front of The Palmer House.  A matron and her two blond daughters emerged from the hotel, expressed outrage and were clubbed and thrown in the paddy wagon.  A guy 50 outside the protest screamed that he “was in Germany and this is worse than the NAZI’s!”

    Ah, warm fuzzy memories.  //s

  137. 137.

    Jim Appleton

    @gwangung:   I recently thought so too.

    Now it doesn’t matter.

    A tiny core of active, funded bad actors can wreak havock way out of preportion to their actual clout.

  138. 138.

    Dan B

    @raven: A few years later I was in a GI Counseling organization in Tacoma when they dragged our little protest on an I5 overpass onto the fort and arrested us for trespass.  We were protesting the GI’s we were counseling for Conscientious Objecter status being put in chains and shipped to Vietnam.

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    Reuters:

    Democratic U.S. Representative John Yarmuth, who chairs the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, condemned his fellow Kentuckian’s post.

    “I’m old enough to remember Republicans screaming that it was insensitive to try to protect people from gun violence after a tragedy,” Yarmuth wrote on Twitter, apparently referring to calls for gun control laws.

    “I promise not everyone in Kentucky is an insensitive asshole,” he added.

    It’s nice that fake concern about ‘bad words’ isn’t preventing people from speaking up about trollish behavior.

    I notice that Massie is sitting down. It looks like an M-60 weighs 23+ pounds, plus ammo. It’s good he’s not straining himself by trying to hold it while standing…

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    RaflW

    That ‘holy shit’ from my senator Tina Smith really brought her up a peg. Not that I didn’t already think highly of her!

  148. 148.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Another Scott: If omicron displaces delta but causes milder illness, that could well be a good thing. If it gets COVID-19 to be more like a bad cold, we’re lucky.  This article says that a virus with that many mutations would be “less fit” and may have adapted to not kill the host.

  152. 152.

    SFAW

    @Starfish:

    Because an operational, fully automatic M60 machine gun with all the proper licenses and registrations and whatnot can cost up to $70,000.

    Unless you “know a guy” in Saco, ME.

  154. 154.

    tokyokie

    @Gin & Tonic: At the last minute, I decided not to attend that concert. (I was at a boarding school in a nearby town.) Frank Zappa stopped in the middle of a tune, pointed to the ceiling and calmly said, “Look, there’s a fire.” He then instructed everybody in the audience to proceed calmly to the exits. And everybody did so, many thinking it was part of the show. Within 15 minutes, the casino was fully engulfed. When my roommate who attended the show came back, I asked how the show was, and he nonchalantly said: “Pretty good. The casino burned down.”

  155. 155.

    Ella in New Mexico

    @NotMax: Great!! I really miss Toys R Us stores!!

    Shopping there was a huge part of being parents of 4 kids in the 80’s and 90’s. From toys to swingsets to clothes to furniture to bikes and baby supplies, it was a one stop shop for anything your kid needed.

    I was so sad when they got shut down by yet another “Bane Capital” type manuver sucking all the value out of what was a very successful chain.

    Reading the article, sounds like the new owners feel that way too.  Awesome–just in time to start spoiling the 14 month-old grandaughter :-D

  156. 156.

    dnfree

    @raven: we were moving to Chicago during the 1968 convention because my husband was starting graduate school at the university of Chicago. So we were south of the convention.

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