President Obama's Support Still Excellent With Jewish Voters

According to a report published in Talking Points Memo, Mr. Obama is doing just fine with Jewish voters.  Despite the lies and disinformation found on rightwing blogs that falsely claim that the Jewish community is falling away from him, the truth is that Mr. Obama's support is solid and way ahead of anything the GOP candidates enjoy.


"It looks like a sweet start to the Jewish New Year for President Obama. According to a new poll by Democratic PPP, the recent panic over Obama’s standing with Jewish voters is little cause for concern in Florida, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in the nation.

Obama leads Rick Perry with Jewish voters 82-2 in a general election matchup and Romney 78-11, huge margins in line with Democrats’ traditional edge with one of their core demographics.

PPP notes that it’s a relatively small sample size, but all indications are still positive:

Obama’s approval rating among Jewish voters is 76/20 and 61/31 on his handling of Israel."

The Derangement is Complete

The radical right wants to protect their children from the Muslim, Kenyan, Commie, Socialist, Fascist, anti-Christ Obumma whose speech includes talking about responsibility, studying hard, not giving up, exploring educational possibilities, treating people with respect and dignity, and setting admirable goals. 

The horror!   The horror! 

Whacko conservatives find this sort of talk "indoctrination,"  and demanded an "opt-out" for their children, so they wouldn't have to listen to an inspirational talk they would have approved of if it had been given by anyone other than Barack Hussein Obama.  (Say no more. Say no more. Nudge. Nudge. Know what I mean, know what I mean.)

Meh.  I say let them keep their children away.  We understand their values and what such values produce:

Enjoy your ignorance, Teapublicans.

Excerpts from President Obama's speech:

"[Y]ou’ve got a lot on your plates. You guys are growing up faster and interacting with the wider world in a way that old folks like me didn’t have to. So today, I don’t want to be another adult who stands up to lecture you like you’re just kids. Because you’re not just kids. You’re this country’s future. Whether we fall behind or race ahead in the coming years is up to you. And I want to talk to you about meeting that responsibility.

It starts with being the best student you can be. Now, that doesn’t always mean you have to get a perfect score on every assignment. It doesn’t have to mean straight A’s all the time—although that’s a good goal to strive for. It means you have to keep at it. It means you have to work as hard as you know how. And it means that you take some risks once in a while. You wonder. You question. You explore.

[skip]

That’s what school’s for: discovering new passions and acquiring the skills to pursue those passions in the future. That’s why one hour you can be an artist; the next, an author; the next, a scientist. Or a historian. Or a carpenter. This is the time when you can try out new interests and test new ideas. And the more you do, the sooner you’ll figure out what makes you come alive.

[skip]

So that’s a big part of your responsibility: Testing things out. Taking risks. Working hard. Engaging with the world around you. Those are the things that will make school more fun. And down the road, those are the traits that will help you succeed – the traits that will lead you to invent a device that makes the iPad look like a stone tablet. Or figure out a way to use the sun and wind to power a city. Or write the next great American novel.

Now, to do almost any of those things, you have to not only graduate from high school, but continue your education after you leave. That might mean a four-year university, a community college, or a professional credential or training, but the fact of the matter is that more than 60 percent of jobs in the next decade will require more than a high school diploma. That’s the world you’re walking into.

So I want all of you to set a goal to continue your education after high school. And if that means college for you, just getting in isn’t enough. You’ve got to finish. Our country used to have the world’s highest proportion of young people with a college degree. Now we’re 16th. That’s not good enough. And so we need your generation to bring us back to the top.

If we do that, you guys will have a brighter future. And so will America."


Dear Mr. President--not if these people can help it:

NRA's WAYNE LAPIERRE'S NEW HOME IN CRAZY TOWN

When we look at the individuals who make up the base of the GOP--the Tea Party crowd,--we see people who cheer when a governor brags about executing people, we witness people who whoop loudly at the suggestion that an uninsured man should be left to die; and most recently, we see these "Support The Troops" yeehaws BOO! a soldier serving in Iraq, because that soldier is teh gaii.

If those horrors aren't enough to curdle your kidneys, then the latest nincompoopery from the NRA will:

Wayne LaPierre, one of the NRA’s highest-profile leaders, speaking at the CPAC:


“[The Obama campaign] will say gun owners — they’ll say they left them alone,”

Possibly.  And if the Obama campaign were to say that, it would be the truth.  But LaPierre adds this:


“In public, he’ll remind us that he’s put off calls from his party to renew the Clinton [assault weapons] ban, he hasn’t pushed for new gun control laws… "

Another truth.  So what is LaPierre's point?

"The president will offer the 2nd Amendment lip service and hit the campaign trail saying he's actually been good for the 2nd Amendment.”

Which, of course he has.  President Obama has actually e x p a n d e d gun rights.

LaPierre surely knows this, but he can't get his NRA members to keep sending in those checks if the president he opposes actually, y'know, is not doing anything to endager the 2nd Amendment, not even hinting at it but, in FACT, expanding gun rights for Americans.  So where does that leave Mr. LaPierre?

LaPierre has decided to buy himself one of the biggest, ugliest, homes in Crazy Town and here's the address: 

“But it’s a big fat stinking lie!” the NRA leader exclaimed. “It’s all part of a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and destroy the 2nd Amendment in our country.

Whoa!  LaPierre is asserting that because President Obama is NOT doing a thing to curtail gun rights it means that he is actually in a conspiracy to destroy gun rights.  Got that?

But wait, LaPierre explains how this works:

“Obama himself is no fool. So when he got elected, they concocted a scheme to stay away from the gun issue, lull gun owners to sleep and play us for fools in 2012. Well, gun owners are not fools and we are not fooled."

“… President Obama and his cohorts, yeah, they’re going to deny their conspiracy to fool gun owners. Some in the liberal media, they are already probably blogging about it. But we don’t care because the lying, conniving Obama crowd can kiss our Constitution!”


So in LaPierre's twisted paranoia, if Mr. Obama were to suggest that everyone's guns be taken away, that would really mean that Mr. Obama is SUPPORTING gun owners' rights?   And he'd be qualified to be the president of the NRA? 

BTW, I just realized that Mr. Obama has recently said nothing about kidnapping college Republicans and eating their brains on the White House balconey, so it's obvious that's exactly what he will do!

Someone, quick, call Glenn Beck!

"50 REASONS WHY I REJECT EVOLUTION"

By Bobbi-Jean Pentecost.

This is too good to just link to.  I want to document her entire piece.

1.) Because I don't like the idea that we came from apes… despite that humans are categorically defined and classified as apes.

2.) Because I'm too stupid and/or lazy to open a fucking science book or turn on the Discovery Science Channel.

3.) Because if I can't immediately understand how something works, then it must be bullshit.

4.) Because I don't care that literally 99.9% of all biologists accept evolution as the unifying theory of biology.

5.) Because I prefer the idea that a (insert god of choice) went ALLA-KADABRA-ZAM MOTHAH-FUCKAHS!!!

6.) Because I can't get it through my thick logic-proof skull that evolution refers ONLY to the diversity of living organisms which reproduce with genetic variation, not to abiogenesis, or planet formation, or big bang cosmology, or whether God exists, or where they buried Jimmy Hoffa, or why the sky is blue, or how many licks it takes to get to the center of a fucking Tootsie Pop.

7.) Because the fossil record doesn't comprise the remains of every single living thing that ever existed on this 4.5 billion year old planet, even though fossilization is a rare process that only occurs under very specific circumstances.

8.) Because science has yet to produce any transitional species… except for the magnitudinous numbers of them found in the fossil record which don't count because… I uh, OOH LOOK! A SHINY OBJECT!!! *runs away*

9.) Because I know nothing about Darwin except that he had a funny beard.

10.) Because the theory of evolution (which, according to scientists, perfectly explains the richness and diversity of life on Earth) contradicts biblical literalism… ya know, flat Earth with a firmament that keeps out the water, talking snakes, people rising from the dead, bats are birds, flamey talking bushes, virgin births, food appearing out of nowhere, massive bodies of water turning into blood… etc etc.

11.) Because I think the word "theory" actually means: "random stabs in the dark" when it really means: "an explanation of certain phenomena that is well-supported by a large body of facts and often unifies similarly well-supported hypotheses" i.e. atomic theory, gravitational theory, germ theory, cell theory, some-people-are-dumb-motherfuckers-theory, etc.

12.) Because the fact that science is self-correcting annoys me. Most of my other beliefs are rigidly fixed and uncorrectable.

13.) Because I am under the severely mistaken impression that evolution implies someone in my very recent ancestry was a chimp.

14.) Because everything appears designed to my mind which was expertly tuned by nature to perceive design, probably as a survival mechanism.

15.) Because some secretly fabulous closet-dwelling televangelist (who unironically preaches hate towards gays) told me that evolution is Satan's way of leading me away from God.

16.) Because that same guy (who was also caught snorting blow off a male hooker's shiny naked ass) told me that God planted those fossils to test my faith.

17.) Because I'm 100% correct about everything 100% of the time and there is 0% chance that some snooty Oxford educated scientist with numerous honorary doctorates could possibly know something that I don't.

18.) Because I don't know that fossils are found in sedimentary strata corresponding to their age as one would expect if evolution were true.

19.) Because I don't understand why, if we share common ancestry with chimps, there are still chimps. And when someone with more than three brain cells in their head inevitably replies: "for the same reason Americans share common ancestry with Brits but there are still Brits, I can't follow the logic. It's just too big a leap. Who am I, Evil Knievel?

20.) Because my mom dropped me on my head when I was a baby.

21.) Multiple times.

22.) On purpose.

23.) Because the idea that life evolved naturally over billions of years is infinitely less believable than the idea that an 800 year old man crammed two of every species into a giant wooden boat when the entire planet flooded, an event for which there is absolutely no geological evidence whatsoever and also makes no fucking sense at all.

24.) Because Jesus totally rode around on a fucking t-rex. He's just that badassed. And also, did you know that t-rexes were vegetarians? Ken Ham says so and I believe it.

25.) Because I don't realize that saying "microevolution is possible but macroevolution isn't" is as stupid as saying "I can pick my nose for one second but I cannot pick it for 10 seconds."

26.) Because the education system failed me miserably.

27.) …and then took a big wet dump on my face.

28.) Because I think that knowing how nature works magically obliterates all of its beauty.

29.) Because I didn't know that evolution has been tested and observed in laboratories.

30.) Because when confronted with that, I refuse to believe it. It's obviously a scientific conspiracy aimed at turning everyone on the planet into atheists... even though evolution says nothing about god's nature nor whether he, she, it, or they exist.

31.) Because I'm too stupid to realize that Social Darwinism has nothing to do with evolution and is actually a pseudo-scientific bastardization that real science largely rejects.

32.) Because the planet and all the life on it was designed for humans… kinda like how the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY was designed specifically for the dust-bunnies that may accumulate on the floors.

33.) Because I don't realize that if we actually found croco-ducks in the fossil record, it would falsify evolution.

34.) Because plenty of respectable people like Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee (who are not scientists) don't accept evolution, and that somehow validates my opinion.

35.) Because my mother didn't know not to drink while she was pregnant. She also didn't know not to repeatedly throw herself down a flight of stairs in an attempt to undo the accident of screwing someone who voted for Bush both times.

36.) Because I don't know that "irreducible complexity" has been debunked a frazillion times by a frazillion different people and is no more credible an argument than "NEEN-er NEEN-er NEEN-er, I'm right and you're wrong."

37.) Because I have never seen a duck evolve into a cat over night, despite the fact that such a thing would be contrary to all known scientific disciplines.

38.) Because I have no imagination, learning is too much effort, I don't like proven facts, change scares me, and I think deoxyribonucleic acid is something I'm supposed to clean my bathroom floors with.

39.) Because evolution means that I absolutely MUST reject everything else I know, abandon all my beliefs, and start aping around my house like a fucking monkey. OOOh-ooohh-ooohohh -OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!!!

40.) Because I haven't put my cave on the market and moved into the 21st century yet. I'm waiting for the cave market to rebound from the recent financial meltdown.

41.) Because I don't know what an atavism is and if you told me, I still wouldn't believe it. Too weird.

42.) Because I don't know that evolution explains methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and also provides the answer in preventing it from turning into a superbug and killing massive numbers of people.

43.) Because I don't know that evolution is routinely used in medicine to diagnose and treat certain illnesses such as genetic ailments, bacterial infections, and viral infections.

44.) Because I believe there is a strong comparison between designed inanimate objects such as buildings, paintings, and watches (which we know were pieced together from identifiable components by human beings) and living organisms (which reproduce with genetic variation under the effects of environmental attrition).

45.) Because I see no significant similarities between humans and apes. *scratches my ass-crack then smells my fingers*

46.) Because I think I'm too special to have been crafted by any natural process and the entire planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe were created with me especially in mind.

47.) Because I unquestioningly swallow the ignorant anti-science bullshit spewed directly from the fraudulent stupid asses of people like Ken Ham, Ted Haggard, Fred Phelps, and Kent Hovind.

48.) Because I'm a freethinker and freethinking really means ignoring anything that contradicts what I already believe.

49.) Because I don't know what confirmation bias is.

50.) Because despite the fact that in all my years of life, I have never seen any magic, I still believe magic is the answer to anything I don't immediately comprehend.

Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case. Quod erat demonstrandum, I fucking win. Take that you EVILutionists!

~By Bobbie Jean Pentecost

Where is the GOP's public rebuke of the booing of an active duty American soldier?

Frequent commenter here on PE, Dave Miller, left this insightful comment about the audience members at the last GOP debate who booed the soldier serving in Iraq:

Dave Miller said...

We have watched over the years as many conservative pundits and politicians have tarred and feathered Muslims for their faith.

We have been told that in the absence of any public rebuke of extremist Muslim views, that we can safely view the entire religion as extremist.

We have been told that at least 10% of the Muslim people are terrorists.

And we have been told that we, as Americans, have a right to look suspect on an entire people group.

Why? For two reasons.

One, a relatively small number of the followers of Islam have gone off the deep end and believe in terrorism.

And two, the apparent lack of Muslim leaders who will publicly say that the actions of that relatively small number of terrorists are wrong and have no place in civilized societies.

It is time that those that advocate this type of stance, step forward and accept their due.

Unless and until we see national leaders from the Republican Party stand up and disavow the words and attitudes of people like Mr. Santorum and the crowds that cheered the death penalty, said "yeah, let him die" and then booed a gay serviceman, it is safe to assume that these views are representative of the entire party.

Where are the national GOP leaders that will say these people do not represent our party?

Where is one elected GOP congressional leader who will publicly state that what we have been watching the last three weeks is wrong?

Republicans, this is your dancing in the streets Palestinian moment. Your masses are booing US Servicemen, celebrating the death penalty, and saying let 'em die to your fellow citizens.

In the absence of any leaders stepping forward, why should we not tar your entire party with the same brush you have used for years to tar Muslims?


(NOTE:  Rick Santorum condemned the booing by the audience of the active duty soldier, but a day later--he claimed he didn't hear the booing.)

FROM "DEPENDABLE RENEGADE'S" BLOG:

"Jon-John Huntsman, who said it was "totally unfortunate and unnecessary when someone in uniform asks a question of a panelist in this case, the first response should be thanking the soldier for his or her service," and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson who said, "That’s not the Republican Party that I belong to,” said Johnson. “I’m embarrassed by someone who serves in the military and can’t express their sexuality. I am representing the Republican Party that is tolerant. And to me that shows an intolerance that I’m not a part of in any way whatsoever. ”Johnson added that he could hear the boos from the stage and believes that the other candidates – despite Santorum’s denial – could as well." (ABC)

Ooops!

THUS, conscience does make cowards of them all:

"Businessman Herman Cain declined to go into detail about the incident saying only, “If you don’t have time to explain your whole position on that, you can very easily be taken out of context so I don’t even want to comment on that.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s spokeswoman Alice Stewart said in an email to ABC News, “There was booing and cheering throughout the debate – Michele didn’t comment on any of it.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich also declined to comment, and Ron Paul’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Spokespeople from Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign did not return requests for comment, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign had no comment either."

GOP Audience Boos American Soldier at FOX News Debate

UPDATE:  Conservative pundit, William Kristol of the Weekly Standard writes this about the GOP-TP debate:

"Most won’t express publicly just how horrified—or at least how demoralized—they are."

"The e-mails flooding into our inbox during the evening were less guarded. Early on, we received this missive from a bright young conservative: “I'm watching my first GOP debate...and WE SOUND LIKE CRAZY PEOPLE!!!!” As the evening went on, the craziness receded, and the demoralized comments we received stressed the mediocrity of the field rather than its wackiness. As one more experienced, and therefore more jaded, observer wrote: “I just thought maybe it’s always this bad...they’re only marginally worse than McCain and Bush.”

Bad news for the Goopers:  Young GOPers agree with us Liberals:  The GOP candidates "sound like crazy people!"

Go here to read Andrew Sullivan's righteous post on the disgrace the GOP brought on itself last night.

On to my original post:

Another debate, another exhibit of what the GOP stands for.  At two previous debates we've watched GOP-TP supporters cheer when Gov. Rick Perry boasted about  how many people, innocent or not, he's executed in Texas; we've seen GOP-TP supporters cheer when a hypothetical question was put to Rep. Ron Paul about letting a young man die who did not have health insurance; and at last night's debate, a US soldier asked Rick Santorum about his position on DADT, and the GOP-TP audience BOOED the soldier and cheered as Santorum promised he would repeal DADT. Santorum calls being honest about who you are and treating people equally "social experimentation."


This is what the GOP-TP stands for:


The executions of people, whether they're innocent or guilty

The deaths of people who do not have health insurance

The return of DADT, where American military personnel are forced to lie about who they are.

We Are Respectable Negroes blogs on this subject as well.


(According to the reports I read, Rick Perry was outshone by Mitt Romney last night. Gov. GoodHair apparently isn't up to politics outside of Texas, and the former Massachusetts governor did better than Perry.)

The GOP and its supporters have provided a new level of disgust with this newest exhibition of its bigotry--booing a soldier in a war zone.   

After the last two debates, one would think we’d be immune to their self-righteous hatreds. 

The GOP represent exactly what is wrong with America today.

JUST SEEN OVER AT SMARTYPANTS' BLOG:

Remember the artery popping indignation over this photo of then candidate Sen. Barack Obama?

To Conservatives, this was proof positive that Mr. Obama was a disrespectful, America-hating Commie, Marxist, Alinsky-loving, Kenyan usurper who also hates America.  Did I mention that the Conservatives said he hates this country?  Yeah.  That's what the CONSERVATIVES claim is proved by this photo.

As Smartypants pointed out, at a recent GOP debate, we found another instance of America-hating Commie, Marxist behavior.  It's a disgrace, a filthy disgusting America-hating disgrace.  But wait!  Oh my!  Who is that man who refuses to give proper respect to the American flag?  Who?  Who?  Who?  O, THE HUMANITY!

How long before this photo of Governor Rick (Good Hair) Perry goes viral in the Conservative blogsphere with the caption stating HE DISRESPECTS AMERICA AND HER FLAG?!

Steve Benen asks the same question.

ANSWER:   It's disrespectful and America-hating only when Democrats do it.

I suggest to our Liberal blogger friends that they copy and paste this all over the blogsphere to show the rank hypocrisy that is endemic to the GOP.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent, by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone

UPDATE III, from the comment section of The Field Negro, by The Field Negro:

"Seven of the nine witnesses for the state recanted, and they stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured by the police to testify the way they did at the trial?

NO PHYSICAL EVIDENCE!


I REPEAT: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE!

NO DNA EVIDENCE!
Yes, he might have been a punk and he was running with some bad dudes. But you forgot the fact that the person who reported Davis to the police in the first place was with Davis that day, and was the person who first accosted and beat that homeless man.

Also,you might want to check on your facts regarding the gun:

"One of the state's key claims at trial was that the same gun used to shoot Officer MacPhail was also used in the first of two shootings earlier that evening in another neighborho­od known as Cloverdale­--and that this 'fact' implicates Mr. Davis -- has now been called into serious doubt. The state attempted to link the two crimes based on 'expert' findings. The state had a ballistics examiner, Roger Parian, testify that there was enough similariti­es between a bullet fired in Cloverdale and a bullet removed from the officer's body that the bullets may have been fired from the same gun...

The state's 'same gun' theory is no longer viable. A new report prepared by the Georgia Bureau of Investigat­ion years later at the request of the Board of Pardons and Paroles showed that the markings on the two bullets are insufficie­nt to determine that they were fired from the same gun. Former Georgia Bureau of Investigat­ion firearms examiner Christophe­r Robinson confirms that the 2007 GBI reports show that the state's 'same gun' testimony at trial was 'inaccurat­e and misleading­.' and that the 2007 GBI report 'indicates that it is impossible to tell whether the bullets were fired from the same firearm."”

There is a very good chance that the guy who fingered Davis was the actual trigger man.

But it doesn't matter now, does it?

Go read Infidel753 on this subject.

 (Radical Redneck: Stay away from this blog.  You're too stupid to understand how grindingly stupid you are.)

UPDATE II:  10:22 pm --Supreme Court denied the stay of execution.
UPDATE I:  7:12 pm  --  Execution delayed.   Waiting for Supreme Court to decide if they will issue a stay of execution.

Cross-posted: By (O)CT(O)PUS, The Swash Zone:


According to The Innocence Project, 273 ex-felons in American prisons have been exonerated through the use of DNA testing - including 17 who have served time on death row. In theory, our justice system is based on an assumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However, once you have been found guilty, the burden of proof is reversed: You must prove your innocence to a Byzantine bureaucracy before justice is finally served. Of those 273 wrongful convictions, innocent victims of a flawed justice system served an average of 13 years in prison before exoneration and release. Thirteen years! For crimes they did not commit! Attributable to false testimony. Faulty evidence! Police coercion! And/or prosecutorial abuse!


Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled for execution later today. He was convicted in the murder of Savannah police officer Mark MacPhail, who was working part-time as a security guard when he intervened between several men having an argument in a parking lot. One of the men, Sylvester Coles, implicated Davis in the killing. No murder weapon was ever found, and no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime.


Years later, 7 of the original 9 witnesses who linked Davis to the killing recanted all or part of their stories. New witnesses implicated Coles in the crime. State and federal appeals courts found those recantations unpersuasive and declared that Davis had failed to provide sufficient proof of innocence [my bold].


Among those who petitioned the courts for a new trial or evidentiary hearing: Amnesty International, NAACP, former President Jimmy Carter, Al Sharpton, Pope Benedict XVI, Desmond Tutu, former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr, and former FBI Director and Judge William Sessions.


One would think a continuing search for truth and justice should take precedence over a lust for revenge. However, once convicted, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent beyond a reasonable doubt. Yesterday, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Troy Anthony Davis a petition of clemency. His execution is scheduled for 7:00 PM today.

The End of DADT: September 20, 2011

Thank you President Obama and all who worked to overturn this terrible law.

"Today, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is officially over.


Gay men and lesbians in the military no longer have to hide who they are, and the servicemembers who were discharged under this policy can re-enlist.


This is one of the administration's signature achievements. Countless Americans fought hard to end this law over the course of nearly two decades, and President Obama is proud to have signed the repeal.


But today's news isn't just a policy promise kept -- it's a personal promise kept to the thousands of people who needed and deserved this change." --Jim Messina, Campaign Manager, Obama for America







AUBREY SARVIS, Executive Director, The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network: "The President directed his forces with precision, methodically insisting all options be examined and re-examined. He realized almost from the beginning that success would depend upon the military, that he would need Gates and Mullen and his senior commanders and the troops with him to bring about this change. And he also knew that would take time. He was determined not to be rushed. The last time this was rushed without a plan and military support the results had been disastrous. He would not make that mistake."

Americans Dislike Congress, But They Dislike The Republicans in Congress The Most.

Good job, Speaker Boehner.   You've done a terrific job of making Americans detest the Congressional Republicans.

The Democrats are not loved, to be sure, but the Republicans are positively hated according to the latest polls.

The GOP-TP's plan of obstructing everything President Obama proposes has backfired.  The American people don't think saying NO! to anything that would help this country through its financial woes is a good enough plan.

Americans, by large percentages, want the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, but the Republicans consistently say NO! to the American people. 

NO! taxing the wealthiest and YES! to the continued suffering of the middle class. 

The GOP-TP are willing to hurt the American people in order to remove Mr. Obama from the White House.  That's not a way to win the hearts and minds of the American people, and the American people are sending Congress that message.

"And the stat that should terrify congressional Republicans:

In keeping with Congress' dismal review, just 6 percent of registered voters think most members deserve re-election - the lowest percentage ever in CBS News Polls during the past 20 years, and a lower percentage than the 9 percent who thought so right before the 2010 midterms.

That is a direct indictment on Congressional Republicans, because fact is, "most members of Congress" are Republican.

Hence the current GOP dilemma—continue obstructing the president in hopes of weakening Barack Obama ahead of the 2012 elections, or actually show voters they have some ability to govern. And hey, a little pork from the jobs bill for their districts, in the form of infrastructure and transportation funding, would also go a long way toward securing reelection.

At the moment, it looks like Obama hatred is trumping self-preservation. We have to wait and see if that changes. Because if they maintain the status quo, expect huge Democratic gains in the House next year. No incumbent party can be expected to survive numbers like these. Democrats certainly didn't in 2010."

This is What They Are

In my post below the Elizabeth Warren announcement, I documented the Obama derangement that has infected and festers in FAUX NOOZ talking heads reports  and that has overtaken the once great Party of Lincoln. 

I document these atrocities that certain groups on the right continue to spread because of the fundamental damage I believe they do to our politics and to our country. 

Recently, the rightwing blogsphere spread the most slanderously vile lies about First Lady Michelle Obama.  None of the calumny is based on fact, but instead, on some filthy lie which these demented people THINK or IMAGINE she said to her husband, the president, during memorial services for September 11. 

I thought the disrespect and hatred that First Lady Hillary Clinton endured from the rightwing while her husband was in the White House was monsterous, but they now seem tame compared to the Right's all-out malignant campaign to defile Michelle Obama that the GOP and its lackeys promote.

Here is the latest sewerage coming from the Right (via Media Matters). 

"Right-Wing Lip Readers Take Michelle Obama Derangement Syndrome To A Whole New Level

Before today, when the right-wing media made up quotations to attack progressives, they at least had some audio to misinterpret. But now, they are reduced to lip-reading.

The Washington Times' senior editorial writer for foreign affairs James Robbins and right-wingbloggersare claiming that Michelle Obama likely disparaged the American flag during a ceremony commemorating the 9/11 attacks.

They have posted video of Michelle Obama whispering something inaudible to her husband during the ceremony and are speculating that she said "all this just for a flag," "all that for a flag," or "all of this for a damn flag." (They disagree on exactly what she said.)

Blogger Jim Hoft, still in the running for the Dumbest Man on the Internet, didn't even have the confidence to type the fake Michelle Obama quotation himself. He instead provided a link to an American Thinker post making the accusation for him.

The video the bloggers have posted has no audio of Michelle Obama at the relevant point, and their lip-reading is hindered by the fact that Michelle Obama's lips disappear behind a partition at one point:

But they still believe Michelle Obama must have said something extremely controversial. We leave you with the ramblingsof Debbie Schlussel, who seems to believe it doesn't matter what Michelle Obama said, because we all know what "she's thinkin' ":

"I can't really tell for sure, but a number of people are abuzz about this video of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Hussein Obama Idi Amin Dada. The consensus seems to be that the First Ms. Thang is saying to hubby Barack, "All of this for a damn flag." (She said this about the American flag -- you know the one brave men died for.) Wouldn't be surprised if that's what she said because we know she hates America and previously said she wasn't proud of our country until Obama had a chance to become Prez. Looks like that's what she said, but I can't tell for sure. I would need a deaf person or other expert lip reader to confirm. Watch and see if you agree (like I said, even if she didn't say exactly that, we know she's thinkin' it)."

So this Schlussel entity speaks for the rightwing in knowing what Mrs. Obama thinks?  And they project their hatred of America onto the First Lady in doing so.  For they do harm to our country in spreading and encouraging this malicious branding of a First Lady. 

And I will invoke Godwin's law right now in stating that these sorts of character assassinations are the same sort of tactics the Nazis used in dehumanizing Jews in the 1930s.  There is nothing this admirable woman does that earns her any respect from these people because they made up their spongiformed brains right from the beginning to hate and demean her and her family.

THIS IS WHAT THEY SEND AROUND IN EMAILS:

ELIZABETH WARREN FOR US SENATE!

Elizabeth Warren for US Senator from Massachusetts.


I've signed on to work in her campaign. 

Go Elizabeth!




Elizabeth Warren steals the show at Labor Day breakfast.

Berkshire Democrats want Warren to run, run, run.

Elizabeth Warren fires up labor leaders.

Thank you, Oklahoma, for the gift of Elizabeth Warren.

GOP-TPers Give Good Facepalm

Just when  I think FAUX NOOZ and the GOP-TP pols can't be any more dickish, more idiotic, more small minded, roiling in gallons of fetid bile and filled with more hate than a ballpark full of Yankee fans at a Red Sox game, they demonstrate to me that yes! Yes they can!

Let's examine the latest FOX fake outrage about President Obama's use of a clip to hold together his Jobs bill.  And no, I'm not kidding.  The meat-heads who pass themselves off as cable news reporters at that clown cable "news" station actually reported on this with indignation.  Is it possible that I have the misfortune to be living in an age of such  unimaginably  petty assholedness?  Well, the answer is yes.  I live in times that are not so much interesting as they are insane!  Do I have to draw a picture with my favorite crayolas to illustrate how deranged these people are? 

How about you just read this and then give yourself the hardest facepalm of your life.

"...Fox & Friends joined the New York Post in attacking President Obama for using a paper clip. Read that again: They attacked Obama for using a paper clip."

But wait, there's more. 

Rep. Steven King (Idiot-IA) wants President Obama's drunken uncle to testify before Congress.

What? Did I just type that incredibly stupid sentence?  Why yes, yes I did. 


"Onyango Obama, who allegedly does not have a valid visa, was arrested in Framingham, Massachusetts, on August 24 and charged in Framingham District Court with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. He is the half-brother of President Obama's father.

King suspects that Onyango Obama will get favorable deportation proceedings due to his relation to the President.

'We have to bring drunken 'Uncle Omar' in front of the House Judiciary Committee, drill down into this, and tell America what's going on,' the Iowa Republican told Fox News' Chris Stirewalt Monday."


Apparently Rep. King thinks Congress's time would be well spent, not in finding jobs for the American people, not in solving our financial crises, but in wasting tax payers' time and money on investigating some obscure half-uncle of President Obama's, because finding some way, any way, to embarrass or annoy the president is way more important than actually doing, y'know, his job.

Does anyone need anymore evidence of the complete mental and moral breakdown that has tragically overtaken the GOP-TP?  I don't think so.  This petty harrassment from the once great party of Lincoln is evidence of a party that has been overtaken by a rampaging group of racist ninnies hellbent on screwing over the president and not one bit interested in doing the right thing for America.

"Let'em die!" --Tea Party's Motto

At the last GOP-TP debate, the audience erupted in approving cheers and applause when Gov. Rick Perry talked about his execution record.

Last night, at another GOP-TP candidates' debate, Rep. Ron Paul answered a hypothetical questioned posed by Wolf Blitzer.  The question was asked about a young man who opted out of buying insurance because of the cost and then who became ill with a catastrophic disease.

"What do you tell a guy who is sick, goes into a coma and doesn't have health insurance? Who pays for his coverage? "Are you saying society should just let him die?" Wolf Blitzer asked.

'Yeah!' several members of the crowd yelled out.

Paul interjected to offer an explanation for how this was, more-or-less, the root choice of a free society. He added that communities and non-government institutions can fill the void that the public sector is currently playing."


In a country of over 300 million people, Paul stupidly suggested that churches and other private charities could cover the cost of someone's catastrophic illness.  Perhaps this is his sneaky way of putting religious institutions out of business?

Then Paul contradicted himself with this remark at the end of his answer:

. "We have given up on this whole concept that we might take care of ourselves, assume responsibility for ourselves ... that's the reason the cost is so high." 

Actually, the cost comes down when the risk is shared by hundreds of millions of people who pay into a system like Medicare.

Paul must live in a world where he sees no poverty or families that struggle with financial problems.  Those are real problems for real people.   Who goes to a church or other charity expecting those people to pay for long-term costly medical care to save a life?    That's why we pay into a system where benefits are there for those who need them--Medicare. 

The people in the audience who cheered at the suggestion that someone should die because he had no medical coverage are the same people who support  getting rid of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the ACA, the EPA, and the Department of Education.   They support the elimination of police, firemen, and teachers' unions.  They and the politicians they hope to place in power envision a Hobbesian nightmare for America--a nightmare of violence, abuse, and neglect.

Interesting comments on the HuffPost blog covering this issue:

"Ron Paul fails to point out the hospitals still get paid by tax dollars when they treat uninsured patients. People don't get turned away, not because the hospital is magnanimou­s, but because the hospital gets paid. They are also required, by law, to treat anyone who comes in the E.R. (at taxpayers expense)
You can keep your "every man for himself"/ "only the strongest survive" 1850's worldview.

Why is Paul (or any bagger) even in the Goverment? The Government is clearly a waste of money, has no authority or obligation to do anything, and is evil. Why do so many of them want to be part of it?"

And:

"When I was in magazine publishing­, we had a saying: 'Once is a mistake, twice is a new style.'

I thought about that tonight while watching the CNN Tea Party debate. Applauding Rick Perry's record on executions was one thing; applauding the suggestion that society should allow a 30-year-ol­d who lapses into a coma and doesn't have insurance to die ... that's absolutely and utterly appalling.

Once could be forgiven as an anomaly, as an outlier. Twice?

That's today's GOP for you." 


Go here to read Smartypants' take on the GOP-TP's shameful reaction last night.

"The Worst of Humankind"

After 9/11:

“Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don’t represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind.  The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.”  --Conservative President George W. Bush


The Worst of Humankind:

 "If America is ever the target of a nuclear attack, Dirty Bomb or an all out Nuclear Bomb, we must send these Dirt-Bag Pigs directly to HELL once and for all. And if this administration is NOT going to do anything against these Muslims, then we will have to deal with the administration and get them out of office, and put in someone will guts and the balls to do what is necessary. America can no longer live under the threat of these ANIMALS on a daily basis. Call me a right wing Islamophobe, or what ever else you want to, but enough is more than enough. Yes, Islam is a terrorist religion. You want proof? Read a newspaper! Read what these Radical Islimeballs are up to these days. They won't rest until they see us destroyed and dead. Let's not wait for that . How many innocent people have to be killed by these terrorist, until we do what we have to do? America is not used to have to fight a war the way that we have been fighting the past few. We have the capability of winning a war in a week or less, so why are our hands tied behind our backs? Where is the leadership of the past? Where are the Generals Patton and MacArthur of the 21st century? Are they only a memory?" --conservative blogger

"He [Bush] never said that we would close up Gitmo and release these animals! He never said let’s forget and forgive, and he would have never allowed the incredibly insensitive idea of a Mosque to be built on that site. Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil and those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11th, ...Yes, we are placating and appeasing the Muslim world, the same Muslim world that was celebrating and dancing in the streets on 9/11 and still do. The same Muslim that want to push Israel into the sea. . Instead standing up to those terrorist threats, we placate to them because we are afraid that we may offend these mass murdering radical Muslims. And we dare not offend them by even publishing cartoons about them. Sure it was fine to paint George Bush as a dumb Chimp and to criticize and make fun of the way he pronounced the word Nuclear. But don't dare to publish a cartoon of Obama as a Black anything. And don't dare to mention the fact that Michelle Obama has a big ass or that she and her Hubby love to pig out on Hamburgers etc while she preaches Healthy Eating habits." --conservative blogger 

Porochista Khakpour, Op-Ed, New York Times, 9/11/2011

"Just six days after 9/11, at the Islamic Center of Washington, President Bush said, “Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don’t represent the best of America, they represent the worst of humankind.” He added: “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace.” Did that assurance mean more to white Americans coming from someone who looked like them?
                   
Xenophobia and racism still abounded, but the lid stayed on the pot. Perhaps when Republicans held both the White House and Congress, conservatives weren’t sweating a thing; for them, people of color, along with all our white liberal friends, were lumped together in one misery-loves-company fringe. But now that the tables have turned, conservatives have positioned themselves as aggrieved victims. (I recall the advice of an older female relative: Always let men you’re in relationships with have all the power; it’s when they lose power and get insecure that your problems start.)
Indeed, has the most irrational breed of 9/11 payback emerged precisely because we elected an African-American president whose middle name — the name of cousins of mine — has turned into an H-word slur? A commander in chief whom the most misled and confused perceive in cartoon cahoots with terrorists, or at least as their religion-mate? As if that weren’t enough, take last year’s Fort Hood gunman, add a helping of the would-be Times Square bomber and top it off with “ground zero mosque” — and voilà, a boiling hot summer of anti-Islamic assault. Suddenly, anyone with skin as dark as President Obama’s could be a “secret Muslim,” and any Muslim must surely be a not-so-secret terrorist."      

Kevin McCarthy

Remembering him and all who lost their lives.

Kevin McCarthy

I measure every Grief I meet
by Emily Dickinson
I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing, eyes – I wonder if It weighs like Mine – Or has an Easier size. I wonder if They bore it long – Or did it just begin – I could not tell the Date of Mine – It feels so old a pain – I wonder if it hurts to live – And if They have to try – And whether – could They choose between – It would not be – to die – I note that Some – gone patient long – At length, renew their smile – An imitation of a Light That has so little Oil – I wonder if when Years have piled – Some Thousands – on the Harm – That hurt them early – such a lapse Could give them any Balm – Or would they go on aching still Through Centuries of Nerve – Enlightened to a larger Pain – In Contrast with the Love – The Grieved – are many – I am told – There is the various Cause – Death – is but one – and comes but once – And only nails the eyes – There's Grief of Want – and grief of Cold – A sort they call "Despair" – There's Banishment from native Eyes – In sight of Native Air – And though I may not guess the kind – Correctly – yet to me A piercing Comfort it affords In passing Calvary – To note the fashions – of the Cross – And how they're mostly worn – Still fascinated to presume That Some – are like my own –

"Pass This Jobs Bill!"

“Pass this jobs bill!"

It was a big, bold speech that challenged the do-nothing Congress to action.  Mr. Obama will take his message to the American people.

 “The question is whether, in the face of an ongoing national crisis, we can stop the political circus and actually do something to help the economy.”       

If the past 2 1/2 years have told us anything, it is that the TP-GOP will obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, and to hell with helping the American people.  The TP-GOP circus has not delivered on their promise of JOBS!  JOBS!  JOBS!  Now that Mr. Obama has challenged them, let's see what their excuses will be for not  giving Mr. Obama his proposed expansion in payroll tax cuts.  The TP-GOP believe in tax cuts, but the question is, do they believe in tax cuts when they're proposed by a Democratic president?

Mr. Obama ended his speech with this:

"Regardless of the arguments we’ve had in the past, regardless of the arguments we will have in the future, this plan is the right thing to do right now. You should pass it. And I intend to take that message to every corner of this country. And I ask -- I ask every American who agrees to lift your voice: Tell the people who are gathered here tonight that you want action now. Tell Washington that doing nothing is not an option. Remind us that if we act as one nation and one people, we have it within our power to meet this challenge."

I don't expect President Obama to get all he wants for America from this Congress, but the onus is clearly on Speaker Boehner for taking action and taking the proposals set out in last night's speech seriously.  No longer will we take "Hell NO!" as a policy for putting Americans back to work.

Via ThinkProgress:  "Top economic analysts are giving favorable estimates of just how many jobs President Obama’s new plan would create. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, predicts Obama’s “American Jobs Act” will likely add 1.9 million jobs and grow the economy by 2 percent. The nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute reported that it would boost employment by around 4.3 million jobs, with 2.6 million jobs coming from new initiatives alone.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman offered praise for President Obama’s announced jobs legislation, calling it ” significantly bolder and better” than he expected. However, he pointed out that “nothing will be done until the American people demand action,” noting that Congress will need to be persuaded to take action on jobs."

More Responses to Mr. Obama's speech here.

And the predictable assclowns of the GOP:

"While he didn’t yell “you lie,” Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) broke congressional decorum last night when he quietly shilled for the oil industry with a sign reading “Drilling = jobs” during President Obama’s jobs address to a joint session of Congress. Other Republican lawmakers boycotted the speech, even though Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) urged his members to appear."

Do we need further proof of the 2-year old mentality of the TP-GOP?

 

RICK PERRY

RICK PERRY: 

Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme and unConstitutional.  Now watch this nose-dive.


David Frum:

"The revelation from the Republican presidential debate: Rick Perry and his team utterly failed to prepare answers to utterly predictable questions on “military adventurism” and Social Security. Worse than that, Perry’s Social Security answer delivered President Obama the perfect clip for a 2012 negative ad: Rick Perry in his too-new suit and too-shiny tie denouncing Social Security as a Ponzi scheme. If Perry wins the nomination, expect to see that moment reiterated in as many TV ads as $1 billion in presidential campaign funds can buy."


RICK PERRY:

Do I lose sleep over the possibility of having killed  an innocent man?     HELL NO!

GOP AUDIENCE: YEEEEEEEEE HAAAAAAAW!

Alex Massie:

"[I]t was when Perry talked about the death penalty that you saw how his candidacy can tap into the conservative soul: he was utterly untroubled by the thought he might have authorised the execution of an innocent prisoner (as he almost certainly did in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham) and, what's more, the audience cheered him to the echo. I thought it revolting but it was popular stuff, delivered in the appropriate "alpha male" style of a man with balls big enough to fry an innocent man. And, in the end, that's what a large part of Perry's appeal rests upon: an idea of how a conservative Presidential candidate should look, talk and walk. Never mind the substance, feel the attitude dude."

Steve Kornacki:

"It's easy to read too much into a debate, but if Wednesday night did nothing else it proved that the biggest threat to Rick Perry's candidacy continues to be Rick Perry."
WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal and robust way of life."--Official Proclamation from Texas Governor Rick Perry – April 2011

“There have been 34,000 Mexicans killed directly attributable to the drug wars. It is a very dangerous place. Juarez is reported to be the most dangerous city in America.”--Rick Perry – Feb 2011 - Juarez is in Mexico


“Texas is a national example of how to best prepare our children for higher education and the workplace… I am a firm believer in intelligent design as a matter of faith and intellect, and I believe it should be presented in schools alongside the theories of evolution.”*--Rick Perry – 2010 THE VOTE: K-12 Education article. 9/11/2010

* Texas ranks 31st out of 50 states in Math and Science scores

Stick a fork in this dude.  He's done.