Off Limits?

July 28th, 2011

"I'm running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency. Neither are my children. Neither is our business."

So says Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Which is simply amazing on two levels. The first and the most obvious is that she has led nothing less than a campaign of character assassination directed at the current First Lady.

When Michelle Obama voiced her support for an initiative aimed at improving public health, Bachmann did more than screech in contempt. She curried favor with the rabid Tea Party base by conflating the First Lady's position with some secret, extreme conspiracy:

Stutter, Stammer, Mumble

Jun23rd, 2011

ThinkProgress puts Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on the spot for his inability to recommend the resignation of the whore-monger, and now alleged bribe-seeker, Sen. David Vitter (R-LA).


The official Santorum world-view: Clinton perjury? Bad. The sexual enslavement and debasement of women in violation of both explicit law and conventional morality? Well... um... uh...

Well, You Have To Draw The Line Somewhere

June 20th, 2011

A not-so-funny thing happened in New Orleans this weekend at the Republican Leadership Conference. One of the invited speakers was FOX-favorite and Obama Impersonator Reggie Brown.

From Politico:
"A comedian impersonating President Obama made racially tinged jokes Saturday at the Republican Leadership Conference before being pulled off the stage by an event organizer."

Here's what I found interesting:
"As Brown was preparing to make a Michele Bachmann joke, one of the conference’s officials came out to the lectern and told the comedian to leave the stage."

There is the appearance that Brown's act only became an issue for the organizers after he had moved on from racially based remarks about the President to roasting the Republican field. Others have noticed.

From Mediaite:
"On Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz asked his panel whether it was a big deal that a President Obama impersonator, Reggie Brown, spoke at the Republican Leadership Conference where he received laughs for his racially-sensitive jokes about the President, but was yanked off stage once he turned his attention to the Republican presidential nominees."

Oh, It's Different If THEY Might Have Done It

April 8th, 2011
Please CLICK HERE to petition the Justice Department to investigate "magic votes" in Wisconsin.
by F. Grey Parker
UPDATE: 4/9/2011 John Fund did the right thing today

An incredibly ugly thing happened yesterday in America. I am not explicitly referring to the discovery of "magic votes" that were previously uncounted due to "human error" in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. That is a factor in what disturbs me, to be sure. More troubling than this potential impropriety is that the previous day's media cycle began with a coordinated series of attacks

throughout the usual conservative outlets making baseless claims of "potential fraud" by Democrats in the race. At that time, it looked like the liberal was winning.

This is the modern, post-election playbook for the American Right. If they win, even by the slimmest of margins, it is called a "mandate." Ah, but if they lose, well then they goose step to their laptops and TV cameras and imply illegitimacy. It is red meat for those who believe that Americans with whom they disagree are, well, not really American.

Prominent right wing commentator and activist John Fund fired the first shot in Wednesday's WSJ. He laid the usual groundwork for mistrust and it was widely linked to by organizations like FOX.

Some selections from his agit-prop:

"Any recount will be scrutinized for irregularities and possible vote fraud. A recount in a similarly close race in neighboring Minnesota's 2008 U.S. Senate race stretched on for months, amid charges that some counties counted absentee ballots according to different standards than others did. Al Franken, the Democrat, was eventually sworn in after pulling ahead by 315 votes. His victory gave—for a time—Senate Democrats the critical 60th vote they needed to pass ObamaCare over a potential filibuster."