Iorny!

The weight of their ridiculous positions are starting to fold in on themselves like some kind of Star Trek Next Generation worm hole.

“Marco Rubio airs Spanish-language ad, despite promoting English-only policies.”

-Ian

Punk

I assume a smoking jacket and cravat were involved?

I suppose it’s possible that something like this might shame even the Breitbarts of the world, but it’s a small possibility really and I’d never put money on it.  The revealing thing, of course, is that these guys keep setting out to confirm their suspicion that the media are unreliable and have a liberal bent, but end up confirming, over and over, our suspicion that they’re insane assholes.

—Jason

Tax Fairy

Sorry Republicans, tax cuts still aren’t the answer to every problem.

CBO Director Doug Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee today and dropped something of a bombshell. Extending the Bush tax cuts, he said, will “probably reduce income relative to what would otherwise occur in 2020.” The reason is simple: Debt.

Elmendorf doesn’t deny that tax cuts stimulate the economy. But they don’t stimulate it that much, he says, and over the long run, the net economic growth from the tax cuts will be quite small. The net deficit impact won’t be.

I’m sure Doug can expect a visit from an O’Reilly producer soon.

-Ian

113

Remember all those right wingers saying that it being cold in parts of the Country was proof that Global Warming was a sham? Yeah, good times.

-Ian

Personal Responsibility

As a Producer my advice to this interviewer would be to try and come off as more smug.

-Ian

Agreement Reached!

I agree that Mike Pence is an idiot.

It’s unclear, though, whether any of these guys actually understand anything about the AACA, or whether they’re just so tied up in the politics of an election year that they’re pretending it’s the grandma-killing apparatus they’ve convinced the rubes it is.

—Jason

Taliban Dan

Your mileage may vary regarding this sort of thing, of course, and personally I think the “American Taliban” business is crude and broadly imitative of the worst characteristics of Bush-era Republicanism, but the uproar over it tells you a lot about where the Village’s head is at.  Hippie punching is okay, of course.  More than okay.  As is suggesting that liberals represent a Vast Treasonous Conspiracy, but comparing rightwing fundamentalist whackjobs to…other kinds of rightwing fundamentalist whackjobs is beyond the pale and also fainting counches.

—Jason

Unpossible

Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.

I don’t know that this is evidence of anything, really, and every generation believes that it’s the dumbest in human history…but c’mon.

—Jason

Not Evolving

Posted without comment.

-Ian

Fever Swamps Watch

You know your party is truly fucking lost when you have these kinds of quotes about your candidates.

Karl Rove: “She handled the witchcraft issue great”

This, of course, is not going to stop the American people from putting them in back in power come November.

-Ian

Tax Punt

Since the Dems have decided to punt on having a vote on tax extensions for the middle class and a separate vote for the upper class cuts the GOP has back off calling them tax hikers, right? Their plan worked, right?

Orrin Hatch: “It’s unfortunate that politics has gotten in the way of making sure the American people’s taxes don’t go up.”

The fuck whits how run the Democratic party should at least try and act like politics is their business of choice.

-Ian

Friday’s Random Ten

We should swim in a fountain.

10.  That Great Love Sound – Raveonettes

9.  Now or Never – The Roots

8.  She’s a Woman – The Beatles

7.  Helen Lundeberg – Sonic Youth

6.  Why Was I Born? – Ella Fitzgerald

5.  Do Me a Favour – Arctic Monkeys

4.  Clocks – Coldplay

3.  Life Is Better – Q-Tip

2.  Blind Love – Tom Waits

1.  I Love You – Anita O’Day

Bonus:

—Jason

Just a Note

If I sound pessimistic lately, it’s because…I am!  We’re going to take the walloping of a lifetime come November, and (though I hate to say it) we’re going to deserve every fistful.  I actually think that this Congress has been one of the most successful in recent memory and one of the most progressive in a generation, but the fact remains that we’ve completely allowed rightwing circus freaks to dominate our discourse.  Fuck all, man, you’ve actually got Republican pols running around the goddamn country campaigning on a platform of reversing rules that prevent insurance carriers from telling their customers to fuck off and die.  That’s message-loss, sorry.

So we’re going to get ours, and, come November, get ready for Speaker Boehner.  There’ll be yet more tax cuts for the rich and more investigations than you can shake a special prosecutor at, and we can all start talking about that forthcoming war against the New Hitlers in Iran.  And we’ll have asked for every goddamn bloody drop of it.

Assholes.

—Jason

Textbook Case

Man, these Texas motherfuckers are crazy.

As evidence of Islamic influence in textbook publishing, Mr. Rives cited a 2008 decision by the Dubai royal family to invest heavily in a company that owns the publishing house Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Boston.

But there’s no point in trying to talk sense into them at this point.  They’re convinced that they’re engaged in an End-Times Battle and that the sinister Mussleman influence is everywhere.  Of course, it was they who drove Thomas Jefferson out in favor of Phyllis Schlafly and the NRA, but omelets/ eggs and whatever.  In a way, I can’t see what they come up with next.  They’re already at war with Hollywood, television, popular music, universities, and now public school textbooks.  Pretty soon, you get the sense they’ll start turning on each other.  Or has the Tea Party already got that one covered?

—Jason

The Dickless

In a way, you have to admire Mark Thiessen.  Despite his obvious, and quite real, intellectual limitations, he’s managed to make convincing go of it in public life.  Why, they even let him issue forth his thoughts for public consumption!  Impressive.

But sometimes the reality of his condition is just too much and the limitations of allowing someone like Thiessen to express himself with anything more than crayon and feces become unavoidable.  Here, for example, he’s following the current wingnut vogue for SKREEing at everything the president says, yes, but he’s SKREEing over a pretty clear statement that America is the biggest, baddest motherfucker on the block and everything that you throw at us bounces off like we’re Superman.  Of course, had Obama said, for example, that America is a Mr. Glass-like character and that the next blow was like to destroy our society utterly and finally, well you’d be getting a column about that, too.

Naturally, all of this turns into a defense of torture, and it’s here that our liberal hearts begin to bleed and we almost feel sorry for Mark.  He’s obviously a small, frightened creature.  A soft little boy of privilege living in a grown man’s body and he appears to have spent much of his adult life casting longing glances at the dark space beneath beds.  You really do wish that his editors would take pity on him, take away his pen.  Or, if not the former, then at least the latter.

—Jason

Wanker of the Day

Megan.

The pain caucus really does Rule Our Little World, but it’s especially tough to swallow when a goddamned high-paid blogger is telling you to sell your shit, cancel your vacations, and get a second job.

—Jason

The Party Of Intolerance

Classy with a K. It appears that someone from the offices of either Sen. Saxby Chamblis or Sen. Johnny Isakson has sent Blogger Joe.My.God. a nice little note. What did it say?

“All f-ggots must die”

It is all being investigated and I am sure some low level staffer with fall upon his own sword.

-Ian

The Palinization Continues

If they can’t catch you, they can’t ask you questions.

Gonna be a fun election season.

-Ian

Family Members Are Off Limits Watch

I can never remember if they are or aren’t. Oh well, fuck it.

. . [Beck] ridiculed first lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to get people to eat healthier snacks like apples or carrots.

“Get away from my french fries, Mrs. Obama,” Beck warned. “First politician that comes up to me with a carrot stick, I’ve got a place for it. And it’s not in my tummy.”

-Ian

QotD: Surrounded by Liberty

I’m trying to steadfastly stay off 24-hour O’Donnell Watch.  TPM has secured the turf and those guys break legs.  (I hear).  Still this is pretty good shit and I want to share:

You see, a funny thing happened on the way to our seats on the sideline. Those who had toiled for years in the values movement suddenly found ourselves surrounded by Americans who had found the most important value of all: liberty.

Hey, I like a stemwinder as much as the next citizen, but you really have to wonder how long even the rubes can continue to swallow stuff that sounds like it was dreamed up by Eve Harrington for a Birchers roast.  I don’t know.  Maybe this stuff is more potent than I imagine, but results (and anticipation) have to count for something, too, and it’s more likely that O’Donnell will soon be filling a spot as an FNC backbencher than coming up with zingers to impress the Official Reporter of the Senate.

But that’s cool, too!  When she does lose, it will have been because the Lamestream Media committed the offense of recording (and rebroadcasting) all of the insane things she’s said on the television program she was duped into being booked on.  And that, in turn, leads to grievance.  And grievance, Fellow Travelers, is the coin of the Tea Party realm.

—Jason

Goldberg Variations: Switchers!

Shorter Jonah Goldberg:

When candidates agree with my policy positions, independent runs for public office are obviously heroic acts of selfless bravery, but Lisa Murkowski is just a selfish poopy-head.

Seriously.  That’s pretty much his argument.  Click through.  I dare.

—Jason

Friday’s Random Ten

See you inside, watching swans on TV.

10.  Life Is Long – David Byrne and Brian Eno

9.  The Card Cheat – The Clash

8.  The Stars of Track and Field – Belle & Sebastian

7.  Hardcore Hustle – Madvillain & Wildcat (NSFW)

6.  I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever) – Stevie Wonder

5.  4th Dimensional Transition – MGMT

4.  The Glow, Pt. 2 – The Microphones

3.  Save Me – Remy Zero

2.  (A) Touch Sensitive – Super Furry Animals

1.  Poke – Frightened Rabbit

Bonus:

—Jason

Wanker of the Day

Jennifer Rubin.

Accurate polling evidence of monkey-business in the polls!

Commentary‘s Shame has been an embarrassment for some time now, but this stuff barely rises to the level of something you’d find on a particularly stupid day at RedState and is yet another bit of evidence that the entire conservative project is now being driven by paranoia.

We Are All Christine O’Donnell

Well that didn’t take fucking long.

Update: I really should start reading my own blog.

-Ian

The Walk-Back

Here you go:

Meh.  He still seems awfully hedgy to me.  It’s going to take a visit to Limbaugh to really set things right.

—Jason