Apparently, God has personally informed Michele Bachmann that He wants her to run for president. Otherwise, you know, she has absolutely no desire for the most powerful office on earth. But God, see, wants her to have it, so...
What that means, Christians, is that notice has been served: If you do not vote for Michele Bachmann and support her in the Republican primaries, YOU ARE GOING AGAINST GOD. Because if God's told her, he CAN'T have told anyone else to run! You betcha!
I think it's time Representative Anthony Weiner sue Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart just went on CNN and alleged that Weiner is having relationships with underage girls.
Breitbart said that Dan Wolfe, the source for a lewd picture that allegedly appeared on Weiner’s Twitter account, had been tracking the congressman.
“I don’t know him that well, he has been monitoring relationships that Congressman Weiner has been having with women, young women, who claimed to have relationships with him,” Breitbart explained. “I’m not saying what type of relationships, but people that @RepWeiner follows. Girls that are quite young — younger than the girl in question here — talk openly about Rep. Weiner, who he follows these girls.”
Following Breitbart’s interview, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin told host Randi Kaye that he regretted the network allowed Breitbart to make those claims.
“What Andrew Breitbart was insinuating about [Weiner] with young girls and stuff is outrageous,” Toobin said. “And frankly, it’s too bad that he got to say that stuff on CNN.”
Sarah Palin, apparently high on motorcycle exhaust fumes, has slammed Obama for calling our troops "one of the greatest" fighting forces the world has ever seen. Palin says that wording it that way "denigrates" our troops. Instead, she says, Obama should have called them THE greatest fighting force, you betcha.
She also made a slight dig at President Obama for saying Monday at Arlington National Cemetery that his "most solemn responsibility as president [is] to serve as commander in chief of one of the finest fighting forces in the world." Answering a question about Memorial Day, Palin said, "This is the greatest fighting force in the world, the U.S. military. It's not just one of the greatest fighting forces. And I sure hope our president recognizes that. We're not just one of many. We are the best."
Except that Obama HAS used that exact language.
OBAMA: Now, in recent days, the whole world has learned just how ready they were. These Americans deserve credit for one of the greatest intelligence military operations in our nation's history. But so does every person who wears America's uniform, the finest military the world has ever known.
And what's more, Palin herself is guilty of "denigrating" the troops because she also used "one of the greatest" instead of "THE greatest" a few times. What's more, she said "MAY be." What, she isn't sure?
America's military may be one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever seen, liberating countless millions from tyranny, slavery, and oppression over the last 234 years.
An anti-war veteran has been violently arrested... for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial. Apparently, just moving rhythmically at the memorial will result in cops violently throwing you to the ground.
This explains so much.
While President Obama was consoling the survivors and giving comfort to the bereaved in Joplin Missouri, Sarah Palin was promoting herself at an event designed to remember soldiers who are missing or being held as prisoners of war.
Here is Sarah Palin, in her own words (actual quote, not made up):
“OHHH IT WOULD BE A BLAST IF THEY WERE THIS LOUD AND IF THEY SMELLED THIS GOOD. I LOVE THAT SMELL OF THE EMISSIONS.”
Looks like Sarah Palin is kicking off her bus tour the same way she kicked off the second half of her term as governor.
Late last week Palin announced she would be joining the Memorial Day “Rolling Thunder” parade in DC, launching a promotional “One Nation” bus tour and driving from Washington D.C. through the north east coast to New Hampshire, that critical state in the primary campaign.
While the “One Nation” tour Is not specifically being called a presidential campaign effort, it sure looks like one. Palin released a “One Nation” video on Friday that was more slick than most campaign ads.
But many in the media – which Palin often calls the “lame stream media” – couldn’t even find the One Nation bus Sunday morning.
Michele Bachmann has a big problem: she's constantly getting things wrong. But she's finally stepping up to the plate and explaining to America why that is.
Michele Bachmann went on CNN with John King to talk about her possible presidential run and said that her decision was not going to be based on whether Sarah Palin gets in the race. Riiiiiiight. I highly doubt that she'll enter if Palin jumps because they have the same followers. But King then called Bachmann out on all the many false statements she made about Obama. Her response was to say that, well, she reads a whole lot (slap to Palin?), and then blamed the articles she read in the AP for getting all her facts wrong. King told her she shouldn't be blaming factually correct news reports for her mistakes. She admitted that she could use a little messaging discipline. Hey, at least she heard of the AP.
One of the big successes of our bailout orgy was the fact that the bailout of the US auto industry worked exactly as it was supposed to work. Thousands and thousands of jobs were saved, automakers are hiring back people they laid off, they're profitable again, they're making some of the best American cars ever, and they're even paying us back ahead of time.
Let's not forget that the Republican Party was wholly against it, and said that the auto industry should just go ahead and shut down. They were all for what could have been the biggest economic disaster in the US in our history.
High school student Amy Myers has challenged teabagstress Michele Bachmann to debate Bachmann's historical revisionism and the Constitution. So far, Bachmann has ignored the challenge, but big tough right wingers have responded by threatening to rape and kill Myers.
But another high school student has stepped up to challenge right wingers. Specifically, creationists.
Zack Kopplin, the son of Andy Kopplin, Mayor Mitch Landrieu's chief of administration, was featured on a segment of "Hardball with Chris Matthews" this evening.
Kopplin, a high school student, discussed his efforts to combat the Louisiana Science Education Act, a 2008 law that governs how local school systems can introduce supplemental materials into science lessons on topics such as evolutionary biology, global warming and cloning.
During the segment, Kopplin expressed his belief that Gov. Bobby Jindal, who graduated as a biology major from Brown University and signed the act into law, in his "heart of hearts" knows "how vital evolution is to biology."
You gotta love this video.
Mitt Romney asks the crowd, "Can I win Iowa?" and the fire alarm goes off and everyone has to leave the building.
For the God-believers, you have to be asking, "Did God just tell Mitt, 'Fuck, no!' when he asked if he could win?"
It's incredible how crazy black politicians have to be to be acceptable to the teabaggers. Herman Cain, Allen West...
Mitt Romney, the only Republican with a shot in hell of giving Obama a real challenge in 2012, is officially entering the race next week.
But he won't make it past the primaries. With Romneycare being even more encompassing and liberal than so-called Obamacare, and with the White House giving him "hugs" in thanks, the teabaggers won't let him in the building.
So, a governor who flirted with the idea of his state leaving the country, now wants to be the president of that country he wanted his state to leave.
Get your heads around that if you can.
James O'Keefe is now just like NPR. The IRS has granted his request to give non-profit status to his Project Veritas video punking club.
Question for right wingers: Isn't this socialism? Can you continue to support O'Keefe now that he runs a socialist outfit supported by suckling the government teat, and to not pay taxes like you do?
Here's another racist Republican who believes that Obama simply couldn't have won on his own terms, because a black man can't really have accomplished anything without help or cheating.
IL representative Joe Walsh says Obama won because of "white guilt."
"Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there's nothing racist about this," Walsh told Slate's Dave Weigel in an interview. "It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn't have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different."
The Illinois Republican added that journalists "were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that."
Walsh argued that the "white guilt" factor and Obama's African-American ethnicity is why media will continue to "protect" him in the 2012 election.
"I pity the candidate running against him, because it will continue," he said. "That profession will protect him, and they will crucify whoever the Republican nominee is."
Have you ever heard such whining as you do from today's crop of Republicans? They're learning from Sarah Palin how to be professional victims.
Karl Rove, aka Turdblossom, takes to Fox News and slams Sarah Palin again, this time saying that she thinks "the rules don't apply to her." Oh yes, there's video!
More right wing violence, but this time the threat was thwarted against reproductive clinics in Madison, Wisconsin.
A Marshfield man who planned to kill abortion providers in Madison this week was thwarted on the eve of the intended attack when his gun accidentally fired in a motel room, leading to his arrest for reckless endangerment, according to a federal complaint filed Thursday.
Ralph Lang, 63, confessed his intentions to investigators, saying his goal was "to lay out abortionists because they are killing babies," the complaint said.
He was charged with attempting to injure or intimidate a person who provides reproductive health services. He was scheduled for an initial appearance Friday.
Sarah Palin’s made a two-hour film praising herself and letting us all know just how great and awesome she is (and that she’s not egotistical and arrogant at all, not like that nasty black president), and she’s called it “Undefeated.”
Um, somebody remind me who won and who lost the 2008 election, please…
Even more good political news -- Rick Santorum will make his messy run for president official on June 6.
Just Google Santorum and find out all you need to know about him.
I am so excited right now -- this is the best news I've heard all day! It's looking more and more like Sarah Palin may decide to run after all! Yes, with her incredibly high negative ratings, but with the teabaggers worship of her, she's bound to split up Republicans votes, might even get the GOP nomination, and ensure that Obama gets reelected in 2012!
She's kicking off a bus tour this weekend. (Here's hoping she doesn't quit halfway through.)
Do you think she'll try to make the "experience" argument against Obama again? Will she hold up her half-term as governor against Obama's "no experience" (except for the whole being president for 3 years thing, that is)?
Right wingers who screeched about Obama "ramming laws through" and "taking away our rights" -- can you defend this?
The State of Wisconsin will begin requiring voters to present a state-issued photo identification before casting ballots, now that Gov. Scott Walker (R) has signed a key piece of GOP-sponsored legislation into law.
Walker's signature makes Wisconsin the 11th state to implement the voter ID rules.
Only five Democratic state senators had a chance to vote on Wisconsin’s voter photo ID bill before Republican Sen. Michael Ellis declared the vote closed. It passed by a vote of 19-5.
I'm laughing so hard right now...
Paul Ryan, right wing pundits and teabaggers are all whining about the loss in New York's 26th, and complaining about how the scary Dems "scared people with scare tactics about Medicare!"
Yeah, these are the same people who screeched about "DEATH PANELS!!!!!!! GAAAAAA!!!" complaining about scare tactics.
Too funny!
Because this, ladies and gentlemen, is the way right wingers think... Easy Rider star Peter Fonda, at the Cannes Film Festival, says he is training his grandchildren to assassinate Obama.
"I’m training my grandchildren to use long-range rifles,” said the actor, 71. “For what purpose? Well, I’m not going to say the words ‘Barack Obama’, but …”
Another bad sign for Republicans banking on the economy crashing again so they can blame it on Obama -- the US Treasury has announced that Chrysler has paid back its TARP loan 6 years early.
Chrysler Group LLC has repaid $5.1 billion in bailout loans and ended its ability to draw a remaining $2.1 billion.
The government committed a total $12.5 billion to Chrysler under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, and the company has now returned more than $10.6 billion of that in principal, interest and canceled commitments.
"Treasury is unlikely to fully recover its remaining outstanding investment of $1.9 billion in Chrysler," the department said in a news release.
Finally some interesting news about Tim Pawlenty. Unfortunately, it's interesting for the worst of reasons: He wiped the record of a serial child molester.
Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty formally announced his campaign seeking the GOP nomination for the presidency Monday morning, but by midday, his political past had already caught up to him. Reporting by Minneapolis City Pages' Nick Pinto brought to attention a pardon then-Gov. Pawlenty granted to a sex offender in October 2008, which is sure to haunt the candidate throughout his campaign: the man Pawlenty pardoned was later arrested again for molesting his daughter more than 250 times in an eight-year span, including six years prior to his pardon.
Harold Camping, once again failing in his doomsday prophecy, has gone missing and has apparently abandoned his followers.
Doomsday prophet Harold Camping, who predicted that the End of the World would come on May 21, 2011, has gone missing ever since it became increasingly clear that his prediction is going to fail, even as local churches willingly stepped in to provide counseling and help to Camping's devastated followers.
Camping, the head of the Family Radio, had predicted that the selected number of people on earth, approximately 200 million, would Rapture to heaven on May 21, 2011 while those left behind would witness the destruction of the earth which would come about on October 21, 2011.
Because Camping was certain "without any shadow of a doubt it (Doomsday) is going to happen," many of his followers sold their possessions and quit their jobs.
ANOTHER Republican is chickening out of the race in 2012, realizing also that the odds don't favor the defeat of Obama.
Mitch Daniels has decided not to run. His reason? Family blah blah blah.
The last time Harold Camping said the Rapture was happening was 1994. He was wrong. He says he made a mathematical error.
It's already past 6pm in New Zealand, and nothing has happened there, as he said it would. It appears he's wrong again.
So what will Camping's excuse be this time? One member on the Pulling To The Left discussion forum on Delphi says he'll probably play the "Nineveh" card -- "Because we turned to God and prayed, he changed his mind and spared you. So you should thank us for saving you!"
He could play the faulty math card again, but it seems he's closed the road on that one --
Camping, however, will be awaiting Jesus Christ's return for the second time. He said his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn't come true because of a mathematical error.
"I'm not embarrassed about it. It was just the fact that it was premature," he told The Associated Press last month. But this time, he said, "there is...no possibility that it will not happen."
So what excuse do you think he'll use this time?
A preacher who has taught that gay people should be put in prison and that it was "moral" to put gays to death, was invited by Minnesota Republicans to give the opening prayer Friday in the state House chamber. And he's a very good friend of Michele Bachmann's.
Bradlee Dean, an evangelist preacher and death metal drummer who is known for his anti-gay rhetoric, was invited by Minnesota Republicans to deliver an opening prayer in the state House chamber Friday.
Praying before the Minnesota legislature in a track suit, Dean suggested that President Barack Obama wasn’t a Christian.
“I end with this,” he said. “I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination and his name is Jesus. As every President up until 2008 has acknowledged. And we pray it. In Jesus’ name.”
Before President Obama released his long-form birth certificate, Donald Trump claimed he had "investigators" in Hawaii and that we "wouldn't believe what they're finding."
So, now that he's not running, has he ever told us what his investigators found? Has he even mentioned them again at all?
President Obama just may have outsmarted almost all his GOP presidential rivals with his health care reform package, by including an item that most Republicans were calling for the first time politicians fought over health care reform -- the individual mandate.
Many of the Republican front runners at one time supported the idea. It was their idea in the first place! Now in an era where conservative presidential aspirants must appeal to the teabagger base by being knee-jerk in opposition to any and every thing Obama says and does, they've been shot in the foot before they even begin the race.
Mitt Romney, the one Republican who stood a chance against Obama, fares worst of all since his own health care reform is, in many ways, more liberal and far-reaching than the national plan Obama was able to get through Congress. And every time Obama "thanks" Romney for his accomplishment, Romney sees the Oval Office move further and further away from him.
And surely this will make their heads explode all over again -- the black man was smarter than they!
Sarah Palin logic: Newt Gingrich calling President Obama a "food stamp president" is NOT racially tinged. But just asking him about the comment IS racially tinged.
Of course Republicans are watching out for Big Oil! High gas prices is something they'll blame on Obama, while at the same time making their Big Oil corporate benefactors richer and richer, while we suffer at the pump. The suffering of Americans is a win-win for the GOP.
Holy cow! It's so bad for the GOP that even Dennis Kucinich could beat Donald Trump or Sarah Palin! Trump actually fairs a little better against Kucinich than Palin... but he still handily beats either of them in a hypothetical presidential matchup.
This is NOT a good season for the Republicans.
The so-called "front runners" are too scared to run against Obama in 2012. And the Republican rank and file are sour on the candidates who are running. Things don't look so hot for the GOP going into 2012 at this point.
Running for president is not for the faint-hearted. The level of personal scrutiny is intense, the financial demands daunting, and the chance of winning iffy against a well-funded incumbent.
Maybe Donald Trump thought he could pull it off. But his reality-show campaign ran smack into reality. The larger plotline is that GOP candidates are dropping like flies—three of them bailing out in the last month, others barely dipping a toe in the political waters.
For any Republican eyeing the primaries, the man to beat is Mitt Romney, who for all his flaws is still the frontrunner with lots of money in a party with a history of nominating the guy whose turn is next.
Given these challenges, it’s not surprising that there are almost as many dropouts for the 2012 nomination as there are likely contenders. “This is the latest-starting early race I’ve ever seen,” says Glen Bolger, a Republican consultant. It’s not about Obama, he says, pointing out that the president is back down to a 46 percent approval rating in the latest Gallup poll. “What’s scaring people off is what it takes financially and how fraught it is.”
A GOP voter tells Newt Gingrich to his face that he’s an embarrassment to Republicans.
IOWAN: What you just did to Paul Ryan is unforgivable.
GINGRICH: I didn’t do anything to Paul Ryan.
IOWAN: Yes, you did. You undercut him…. you’re an embarrassment to our party.
GINGRICH: I’m sorry you feel that way.
IOWAN: Why don’t you get out before you make a bigger fool of yourself?
Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed he fathered a child with a household staffer ten years ago. When he acknowledged to his wife Maria Shriver earlier this year that the child was his, she decided to move out. They announced their separation last week.
The Los Angeles Times broke the story last night.
Part 1 is up at Media Matters -- Jon Stewart vs. Bill O'Reilly debating about the rapper Common being at the White House.
I watched it on TV -- I noticed, this being O'Reilly's show, that the interview was edited, so I'm wondering if they'll make the whole thing available unedited, the way Stewart does with interviews on The Daily Show.
O'Reilly, apparently, is saving more of the interview for later shows. No thank you, Bill. Don't intend to watch your show if I don't have to.
From the May 16 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'Reilly seems unable to see the difference between Common thinking that the people were innocent - convicted unfairly - and "supporting cop killing." He kept repeating that Common "supports cop killing," which is an outright lie. Common thinks the alleged cop killers are innocent. That's quite a different thing.
But conservatives aren't known for the intellectual capacity to see that kind of difference. At least, not when it's a black rapper saying it, as opposed to, say, Sarah Palin joking about shooting political opponents.
Wisconsin's teabagger governor: The sick and old should DIE and get out of our way. (This is Ayn Rand's philosophy, embraced by today's right wing.)
Even though the state has found itself to be in surplus after a revised budget analysis last week, Governor Walker is still advocating cutting funds to Family Care, managed long-term care for the elderly and adults with disabilities serving about 3,000 people daily. I’ve heard we call interference with health care “Death Panels”, and these are Walker’s. Over 400 residents will wait for necessary medical care for two years plus if Walker cuts the funding this June, mirroring the horror fable Republicans made up about the Healthcare Reform law, only this time, it would be true. People would be waiting in line for care and too many of them dying while waiting.
Fox News is aghast at scary and "vile" musicians being feted by politicians.
So which scary "vile" musician said the following, and which politicians and/or right wing pundits have feted him, applauded him, welcomed and defended him?
“I was in Chicago last week I said—Hey Obama, you might want to suck on one of these you punk? Obama, he’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on one of my machine guns… Let’s hear it for them. I was in NY and I said hey Hillary—you might want to ride one of these into the sunset you worthless bitch… Since I’m in California, I’m gonna find– she might wanna suck on my machine gun! Hey, Dianne Feinstein, ride one of these you worthless whore. Any questions? Freeeeedom!”
Answer: Ted Nugent, of course. Right wing pundit and music morality guardian Sean Hannity, as well as almost presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, just love them some Nugent.
So the right wing had a collective hissy fit over the rapper Common being at the White House, as they ripped one of his lyrics out of context to claim he supported cop killing (he doesn't, the song was actually anti-violence).
But yet, the right wingers never talk about this. I wonder why.
Newt boiled down: "Yeah, I was all for an individual mandate to buy health insurance. But now that Obama is for it, I'm completely against it and it's the single most evil thing in the entire universe and people should burn in hell for ever thinking it was a good idea, hate Obama hate Obama hate Obama GAAAAAAAAAA!!!"
Mike Huckabee took a look at President Obama, did not like the odds for beating him in 2012, and chickened out. And he was considered the GOP frontrunner.
A high schooler has challenged teabagstress Michele Bachmann to a fact-duel on the Constitution. I bet Bachmann will chicken out.
Dear Representative Bachmann,
My name is Amy Myers. I am a Cherry Hill, New Jersey sophomore attending Cherry Hill High School East. As a typical high school student, I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted. The frequency and scope of these comments prompted me to write this letter.
Though I am not in your home district, or even your home state, you are a United States Representative of some prominence who is subject to national media coverage. News outlets and websites across this country profile your causes and viewpoints on a regular basis. As one of a handful of women in Congress, you hold a distinct privilege and responsibility to better represent your gender nationally. The statements you make help to serve an injustice to not only the position of Congresswoman, but women everywhere. Though politically expedient, incorrect comments cast a shadow on your person and by unfortunate proxy, both your supporters and detractors alike often generalize this shadow to women as a whole.
Rep. Bachmann, the frequent inability you have shown to accurately and factually present even the most basic information about the United States led me to submit the follow challenge, pitting my public education against your advanced legal education:
I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.
Hopefully, we will be able to meet for such an event, as it would prove to be enlightening.
Sincerely yours,
Amy Myers
Google's blogger was down for 24 hours, and Google's techs are issuing apologies and explanations (see below). I'm still planning to go ahead and move this blog to Wordpress, because as I've been investigating it, I think it offers more features and nicer layouts.
Anyway, here's the the word from Google:
What a frustrating day. We’re very sorry that you’ve been unable to publish to Blogger for the past 20.5 hours. We’re nearly back to normal — you can publish again, and in the coming hours posts and comments that were temporarily removed should be restored. Thank you for your patience while we fix this situation. We use Blogger for our own blogs, so we’ve also felt your pain.
Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior. Since then, bloggers and readers may have experienced a variety of anomalies including intermittent outages, disappearing posts, and arriving at unintended blogs or error pages. A small subset of Blogger users (we estimate 0.16%) may have encountered additional problems specific to their accounts. Yesterday we returned Blogger to a pre-maintenance state and placed the service in read-only mode while we worked on restoring all content: that’s why you haven’t been able to publish. We rolled back to a version of Blogger as of Wednesday May 11th, so your posts since then were temporarily removed. Those are the posts that we’re in the progress of restoring.
Again, we are very sorry for the impact to our authors and readers. We try hard to ensure Blogger is always available for you to share your thoughts and opinions with the world, and we’ll do our best to prevent this from happening again.
]Posted by Eddie Kessler, Tech Lead/Manager, Blogger
Google's Blogger service was down for more than a day, and in the interim, everything posted on Thursday has been deleted.
This is unacceptable. So this blog will be transitioning to Wordpress.
Right wingers slammed President Obama for having rapper Common at the White House. Sean Hannity read some lyrics out of context that weren't about killing cops and claimed it was about killing cops. The song lyrics Fox News pundits keep claiming are violent actually come from lyrics calling for an END to violence in the street, but context doesn't matter to the right wing.
Furthermore, the same Sean Hannity who is appalled wasn't so appalled when rocker Ted Nugent called on Obama to "suck on my machine gun," called Hillary Clinton a bitch and said she should "ride" his machine gun into the sunset "you worthless bitch." In fact, Hannity praised and defended Nugent.
Further furthermore, George W. Bush honored classic songwriter and singer Johnny Cash, even though he has some violent and misogynist lyrics talking about cocaine use and how he "shot my woman down." But nary a peep out of Hannity about that.
And of course, back in October, Fox News did a spotlight on Common and praised his "positive rap lyrics."
But the best skewering of all comes from the Daily Show's Jon Stewart.
Oh, this is NOT going to go well for Romney... Romneycare covers abortions, Obamacare does not.
Table: ThinkProgress
Right wingers slammed President Obama for having rapper Common at the White House. Sean Hannity read some lyrics out of context that weren't about killing cops and claimed it was about killing cops. The song lyrics Fox News pundits keep claiming are violent actually come from lyrics calling for an END to violence in the street, but context doesn't matter to the right wing.
Furthermore, the same Sean Hannity who is appalled wasn't so appalled when rocker Ted Nugent called on Obama to "suck on my machine gun," said Hillary Clinton should "ride" his machine gun into the sunset "you worthless bitch." In fact, Hannity praised and defended Nugent.
Further furthermore, George W. Bush honored classic songwriter and singer Johnny Cash, even though he has some violent and misogynist lyrics talking about snorting cocaine and how he "shot my woman down." But nary a peep out of Hannity about that.
And of course, back in October, Fox News did a spotlight on Common and praised his "positive rap lyrics."
But the best skewering of all comes from the Daily Show's Jon Stewart.
Jon Stewart skewers Fox News for their latest ginned-up controversy.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Tone Def Poetry Jam | ||||
| ||||
President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election — caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years.
Comfortable majorities of the public now call Obama a strong leader who will keep America safe. Nearly three-fourths — 73 percent — also now say they are confident that Obama can effectively handle terrorist threats. And he improved his standing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the United States' relationships with other countries.
ThinkProgress has produced a new a detailed timeline of The Hunt for Bin Laden, covering the years 1993 to present day. You can check out the whole thing HERE.
Highlights from the Clinton administration:
EARLY 1996: The CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center creates a special unit focusing specifically on bin Laden. [Washington Post, 10/3/01]
LATE 1998: Clinton authorizes covert action against Bin Laden and al Qaeda. “In addition to a secret ‘finding’ to authorize covert action…Clinton signed three highly classified Memoranda of Notification expanding the available tools. In succession, the president authorized killing instead of capturing bin Laden, then added several of al Qaeda’s senior lieutenants, and finally approved the shooting down of private civilian aircraft on which they flew.” [Washington Post, 12/19/01]
Highlights from the Bush administration:
JANUARY 2001: Condoleezza Rice demotes terrorism czar Richard Clarke. [The 9/11 Commission Report. 7/22/04]
FEBRUARY 2002: Military and intelligence resources diverted to Iraq. [Knight-Ridder, 6/18/05]
LATE 2005: CIA closes unit focused on capture of bin Laden. [New York Times, 7/4/06]
SEPTEMBER 2006: Fred Barnes told by President Bush that the hunt for Bin Laden was “not a top priority use of American resources.” [Fox News 9/14/06]
Highlights from the Obama administration:
OCTOBER 7, 2008: Obama: “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
DECEMBER 7, 2009: Obama National Security Advisor James Jones stresses the urgency of finding Bin Laden and speaks “of a renewed campaign to capture or kill him.” [AP, 12/7/09]
Florida's teabagger governor and health company criminal Rick Scott is continuing his war against those most at risk but cutting unemployment benefits even further, and paying for that by giving even more money to corporations. Is this what Jesus would do?
Out-of-work Floridians would receive fewer state benefits while businesses pay less tax under a controversial proposal approved Friday by a divided Legislature.
The deal, which Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign into law, immediately cuts unemployment benefits by 11.5 percent.
Jobless Floridians would continue to receive a maximum payment of $275 per week, among the lowest of any state in the country. But they would be paid for no more than 23 weeks, instead of 26.
Uh oh. This is terrible news for Republicans. First Obama got Osama, and now this:
Some relief from suffocating gas prices will likely arrive just in time for summer vacation. Expect a drop of nearly 50 cents as early as June, analysts say.
After rocketing up 91 cents since January, including 44 straight days of increases, the national average this past week stopped just shy of $4 a gallon and has retreated to under $3.98. A steady decline is expected to follow.
It’s bad news for Republicans because they were counting on high gas prices to stifle the continuing economic recovery, which would have helped their chances of taking back the White House in 2012. Believe me, they do NOT want the recovery to continue or gas prices to come down.
Are Pawlenty staffers drinking so much because they’re so goddamned bored?
Colin Powell speaking at a stadium: "... President Obama took out his birth certificate and blew away Donald Trump and all the birthers!" The crowd roared in approval.
Two imams were removed from a flight because the pilot refused to fly them. Ironically, the imams were on their way to attend a conference about Islamophobia.
Masudur Rahman and Mohamed Zaghloul were supposed to travel on an 8:30 a.m. Delta flight, run by a subsidiary, from Memphis, Tenn. to Charlotte. They were traveling to attend a conference of the North American Imam Federation that, ironically, intends to address prejudice against Muslims.
Rahman, who is from India, and Zaghloul, Egyptian-born, were both dressed in traditional long shirts and have beards in keeping with Muslim tradition. Rahman said he and Zaghloul were screened in the security line and again at the gate Friday before they were allowed to board their Delta Connection flight to Charlotte.
They were kicked off because the pilot didn't like their religious garb and long beards. Yet, in all the examples of Muslim terrorists on board aircraft, not one of them was dressed this way. The infamous 9/11 terrorists did not wear religious garb or long beards.
Only the pilot objected. Airline staff were apologetic to the men and were angry about the pilot. They asked other passengers on the flight if they were concerned, and not one of them said they were. Only the pilot.
Conclusion: Hate and fear make you stupid.
Aside from making one lame joke about it on Twitter/Facebook, I'm not going to jump on Bush for not joining President Obama at Ground Zero today. It's consistent with his staying out of the public eye since leaving office. And since Bush has left Obama alone and not joined in the petty sniping at the president, I'm going to leave Bush alone.
"Anonymous sources" told right wing media that Bush turned down Obama's invitation because he was mad at being "snubbed." I think that's bullshit, and I don't think that's why Bush didn't go. Mainly because Obama did NOT snub Bush's team Sunday night, and inviting Bush to join him certainly isn't "snubbing" him, so whoever said that is full of crap.
In my humble opinion.
Only Sarah Palin would question the manhood of a president who just ordered the killing of the world's most dangerous terrorist.
Hmmm. Looks like President Obama made the right call releasing his long-form.
Following the release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate -- a document skeptics claimed did not exist because Obama was supposedly born in a foreign country -- the percentage of Americans who doubt Obama's citizenship has plummeted, according to two new polls.
In a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Thursday, only 10% of Americans said Obama was born in a foreign country. That's exactly half the percent who said the same last year.
And even among those who doubted Obama's citizenship, far fewer are quite so confident in that stance now that Obama's birth certificate has been released. Last year, nine percent of respondents said there was "solid evidence" to prove that Obama was born elsewhere. That number dropped to just one percent in the latest poll.
The biggest change came among Republicans, as 14% now say Obama was born outside America, down 17 points from last April when 31% of GOPers said the same thing.
Similar findings are being seen in other polls on the birther issue.
I have a question for those who think we should have captured bin Laden and put him on trial:
If we had taken him alive, we would have had to put him on trial, obviously. And we all know such a high profile trial would be a circus and it would take years.
In the meantime, how many American hostages all over the world would terrorists take and threaten to kill unless we released bin Laden? Imagine for five years the web being full of videos of terrorists killing bound and gagged because there's no way in hell we'd turn him loose.
And what other threats would they make to get us to release him? Claim to have suitcase nukes in American cities and we have 48 hours before they go off? If you were president, what would you do in that case?
That's why I believe killing bin Laden was the only result we should have gone for from the beginning, and why killing him was the best choice once we knew where he was and could go in to get him.
Only with a black, Democratic president could we kill the world’s most wanted terrorist and have right wingers bitch and moan about it.
We all remember Bush's infamous declaration that he wasn't really "interested" in bin Laden. It's getting lots of play in the aftermath of Obama getting Osama.What the hell is wrong with these INSANE Republicans?
Hold on to your hats...
The Democratic-led Senate passed a resolution thanking and praising the Navy SEALs for killing Osama bin Laden. The Republican-led House refused.
A Pakistani security official took some pictures of the immediate aftermath of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and those pictures have been acquired by Reuters. They're here (but server is overloaded for obvious reasons).
They were taken after the Navy SEALs had already left with the body, so they do not show Osama's corpse.
One shows what seems to be the tail section of the US helicopter that suffered a mechanical failure and was destroyed by departing US troops, but it appears to be an odd configuration, which implies a new type of chopper or new stealth technology used.
Presidential GUTS: Obama chose the riskiest plan for the greatest reward.
No guts, no glory.
The nail-biting, 40-minute clandestine operation that resulted in Osama bin Laden's death could have been a calamitous political and military failure; a bloodbath in Pakistan that left U.S. forces and scores of civilians dead or captured by America's most ferocious enemy.
Or, as it happened, it could unfold largely in textbook fashion – delivering a stunning success for the often maligned intelligence community, a political and national security coup for a struggling president and revenge for Americans still carrying vivid memories of Sept. 11.
By secretly sending a team of special operations forces into an enemy fortress in a suburban neighborhood of a sovereign country, President Barack Obama chose the path of greatest risk, but also greatest reward.
An early photo released claiming to be a death photo of Osama bin Laden, and which went viral on the web, is a fake and not authentic. The US has photos of Osama's body in its possession but has not released them yet. The release of at least one authentic photo could be made as early as today.
A graphic image of what was reported to be Osama bin Laden's bloodied face, which went viral on the Internet and was plastered on the front page of newspapers around the world, is a fake.
The lower part of the photograph, which shows his partially opened mouth and graying beard, is almost identical to another image of bin Laden published years ago. The upper half shows his wounds in detail greater than that of the rest of the photo and there are unusual and abrupt shifts in the coloration of his skin.
After Atlas Shrugged Part 1 tanked so badly at the free market box office, I didn't think they'd make part 2, but it appears I was wrong.
Sarah Palin gave a speech in Denver to a bunch of white-haired, white-skinned teabaggers, and refusing to mention President Obama by name when talking about the death of Osama bin Laden, thanked George W. Bush instead:
"We thank President Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory."
I wonder... If the operation had failed, would she have blamed Bush or Obama?
I think we all know the answer.
Sarah Palin waves to the crowd during her speech Monday night at Colorado Christian University. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)
Going back to just a few hours before the announcement of bin Laden's death, here's President Obama laughing loudly at Seth Myers' bin Laden joke -- and realize that as he's laughing, he knows he's been found and Navy SEALS will be landing in his compound soon!
Sweet!
On Facebook and Twitter tonight it seems like someone flipped a switch, and the hate and vitriol from right wing extremists is astounding. I've never seen such rage in my life.
Obama really is making them lose their minds.
Last night, when the news about bin Laden being killed was announced, a couple of right wingers came by my discussion forum and let fly a torrent of hate and some actual threats of violence against all us liberals and progressives.
I think this, more than anything else, shows us which side they’re really on. Back when the terrorists hit us on 9/11, I and my liberal friends all rallied behind our Republican president. But now… when America gets good news, they’re PISSED, and when America gets bad news, they cheer – because they love to blame Obama.
The biggest thing that seems to have them pissed off is how dare Obama get any credit at all. But we all know that had this operation failed, the idiots that now refuse to give Obama any credit at all would be the first and the loudest to blame him for it going wrong.
And it seems that somehow, Bush should get all the credit for this… even though Obama’s to blame for the financial crash that happened on Bush’s watch.
Right wingers are crazy. We killed Osama bin Laden, and they’re ANGRY about it.
This was the President's call... The military wanted to bomb the building. The President decided to make it a surgical strike.
He took the risk -- if this had failed, this would have been the end of his career. This was a ballsy move, and no one in their right mind who's being honest can deny that.
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Rick Santorum congratulated the President for getting Osama bin Laden, then turned right around and insinuated that the President is sympathetic to terrorists. Amazing.
Tonight, President Obama announced that US forces have killed Osama bin Laden and we have his body. The president learned last week of a lead on where Osama was hiding. He ordered the CIA in, and when they confirmed, he gave the order to take Osama out.
Crowds of people have gathered outside the White House, cheering loudly, singing the National Anthem at the top of their lungs.
Ironically, the announcement comes on the 8th anniversary of President Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech.
And during a presidential debate in October of 2008, President Obama said, “We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority.”
