Mitt Watch - The Most Brazen Hypocrite In Presidential History

Aug 13th, 2012

Well, Team Romney today released the latest ad smearing the President and misinforming the electorate about new flexibility allowed to the states in the administration of their benefit programs. There is coverage HERE and HERE and the ad is at the bottom if you are interested.

What makes this lie more egregious than almost all of his others is the fact that Romney fought hard as governor of Massachusetts for states to have the very latitude that he now attacks. Below is a screengrab from the RGA document, bearing his signature, pleading with then President Bush to support "increased waiver authority" in America's welfare system.

I don't expect any comment from Romney or his team explaining the hypocrisy as the entire campaign has become a surreal exercise in the mendacious.

Forget for a moment that the Obama order comes at the request of desperate Republican governors grappling with the ongoing financial crisis. This was something Romney thought was good policy when the economy was comparably strong.

None of this matters to a campaign which has shown its willingness to rile their own base by any means necessary. If that means preying upon white fears and coding propaganda with classic, right wing imagery of shiftless, lazy poor people (psst, "blacks") then so be it.

Quote Of The Day

June 15th, 2012

"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Neil Munro's Conduct Unbecoming

Jun 15th, 2012

"Why'd you favor foreigners over Americans?"

Let's all be really clear about today's vulgar display by the Daily Caller's Neil Munro; this was how he interrupted the President in mid-sentence during his immigration speech in the Rose Garden.

Set aside issues of respect or decorum. This was not journalism. Frankly, Munro's outburst wasn't even a question. It was an accusation. It was also bottom-feeding race-bait. Period. It's indefensible. Watch it for yourselves.



And just how did Tucker Carlson's rag deal with their bomb thrower?

Every time I think Carlson has hit bottom, his rabble dig deeper. HERE's the convoluted statement they issued shortly after their tweet.

Trumpney - A Love Affair, cont...

May 30th, 2012

Feel the love...

Trumpney - A Love Affair

May 30th, 2012

They complete each other. Colbert has noticed.

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Worth 1,000 Words

April 22nd, 2012

How dare you accuse FOX of using using racially-coded dog whistles.

Watching Fox "News" - Like Living Under A Rock

March 20th, 2012

You know the old saying "unless you are living under a rock"? Well, it seems we have more proof that exclusive Fox "News" viewers may as well be doing just that. Fox is the media outlet where the Treyvon Martin story nearly doesn't exist.

via ThinkProgress

Southern Voters "Unsure"

March 12th, 2012

A new PPP survey of Southern GOP voter opinions ahead of the next round of primaries is raising a few eyebrows. Yes, a staggering number are "unsure" about whether or not President Obama is a "Christian."

More depressing still, Benjy Sarlin notes something else they are "unsure" about:

"Interracial marriage laws were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967, but a significant minority of Mississippi and Alabama apparently still long for their return, or are at least ambivalent about the idea. In Alabama, 67 percent of respondents said interracial marriage should be allowed, but 21 percent said it should be illegal and another 12 percent were not sure. Mississippi Republican voters were even more divided: Only 52 percent said such marriages should be legal, versus 29 percent who said they should be banned and 17 percent who were unsure."

One more time, it's 2012... not 1812. We are "unsure" if some of these folks have factored that into their thinking.

Things You Can't Make Up - Obama Eligibility Edition

Feb 24th, 2012

You know how rational people always question the racial motiviations of the self-declared "birther" movement?

You know how "birthers" usually get really bent out of shape about that?

Not this guy --> Meet Gordon Warren Epperly of Juneau, Alaska.

Not content to merely traffic in absurd and uninformed arguments about PDF layering (which he also does), he has filed suit to challenge Barack Hussein Obama's Presidential eligibility on grounds that are far more honest (and likely more representative) for the "birthers."

Here's the crux of Mr. Epperly's argument...

"As stated above, for an Individual to be a candidate for the office of president of the United States, the candidate must meet the qualifications set forth in the United States Constitution and one of those qualifications is that the Candidate shall be a “natural born citizen” of the United States. As Barack Hussein Obama II is of the “mulatto” race, his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the [purported] ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of “Negro” or “mulatto” had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution.

As the fourteenth amendment is only a grant of “civil rights” and not a grant of “political rights” Barack Hussein Obama II does not have and “political rights” under any provision of the United States Constitution to hold any Public Office of the United States government."

Got that? The sitting President is, like, black. According to Mr. Epperly (PO BOX 34358 Juneau, Alaska 99803), that should preclude him from office.

Also, it's worth noting that Mr. Epperly refers to the historically factual ratification of the 14th Amendment as "purported."

After all, it was never shown on Fox! How do we really know it's not another Commie-Progressive-Nazi-Liberal plot?!?!

Wow.

Just... wow.

The Spirit Of Legitimate Conservatism

Jan 24th, 2012

Kelley Vlahos' column from last Sunday, firing back at supposedly "conservative" apologists for the blatant war crime of body desecration recently captured on video in Afghanistan, is arguably the finest critique in months of what has gone so horribly wrong with the right in our country:

"Writers at The Weekly Standard, National Review, The Washington Times and Commentary have been ruthless non-apologists for the indiscriminate killing of non-whites as a means to their ends, from the “shock and awe” invasion of Iraq and the flattening of Fallujah to the ethnic cleansing of Baghdad, today’s drone strikes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen, and all of the wars’ human repercussions (death, disease, displacement). In their world, these are always treated as time-wasting, politically motivated afterthoughts that merely muddy their own paper-white narrative."

Birthers Are Back

Jan 22nd, 2012

Beating all previous records for sitting, standing or jumping insanity comes this piece of news; Stephen D. Foster writes:

"And the birthers just refuse to go away. Ever since President Obama embarrassed the hell out of birther king Donald Trump by releasing his long form birth certificate, birthers have been desperate to keep their claims alive and have filed lawsuits across the country to have the President removed from the ballot in 2012. All of these filings have failed, that is until now.

A judge in Atlanta, Georgia has ordered President Obama to show up at a hearing concerning a complaint filed by a citizen of the state who contends that Mr. Obama is not a natural-born citizen and therefore should be removed from the ballot in the Georgia Presidential primary."

Got that? This a real judge in an actual courtroom.

"On Friday, Deputy Chief Judge Michael Malihi denied a motion for dismissal of a subpoena that requires the President to attend. The hearing is set for Thursday."

Something tells me President Obama will not be attending this bullshit freakshow.

Newt Wins SC - Which Is Flat Out Nuts

Jan 22nd, 2012

There's a line from Robert Towne's "Chinatown" screenplay that sums up Newt's victory in the South Carolina GOP primary perfectly:

"Politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."

Gingrich is, after all, two out of these three.

While some pundits are still treating this as a horse race, the latest Newt "surge" is more significant.

What Newt Winning South Carolina Will Mean

Jan 20th, 2012
by F. Grey Parker

I think it's clear that Newt is going to win the South Carolina Primary.

There you go. I am all in. I thought there was every reason to believe Santorum could take Iowa and, now, it's been reported that he actually did.

(I would love to see that kind of vote counting mix-up in an interparty contest met by so many GOP yawns. But, that is another story.)

In the first Public Policy Polling score ahead of the South Carolina primary, Newt was beating Romney by 6 points. After last night's "debate" and Romney's mind-blowingly poor performance, those numbers have pretty much held.

Quote Of The Day

Jan 20th, 2012

Image via

"Racism isn't born, folks, it's taught. I have a two-year-old son. You know what he hates? Naps! End of list."
-- Denis Leary

Santorum Is Simply An Asshole, cont...

Jan 1st, 2012

He has slammed President Obama for being pro-choice because the President is "black."

If You Think This Isn't Racist...

Dec 12th, 2011

Then you probably are looking at the wrong website right now.

At the bottom of this screengrab (via HutchNews) from the Patriot Freedom Alliance Tea Party of Hutchinson, KS website, there's a picture of a skunk with the following caption: "The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol for the president. It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks."

They insist it has nothing to do with race... in spite of the fact that it explicitly references race.

Although the PFA has scrubbed their site of the offending image after more than a little bit of pushback, there's still plenty of fun to be had. They prominently display one of Jerry Boykin's alarmist wingnut videos on their splash page as follows:

For those of you who aren't familiar with Boykin, he is a former serviceman of note who, upon retirement, went bat-shit crazy.

Right Wing Watch sums him up pretty well:

"Boykin is an anti-Islam activist who believes that Muslims do not deserve First Amendment protections and should not be allowed to build mosques in America. He also says that not only can there be no interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims, but that Christians must go on the offensive against Islam.

He also believes that George Soros and the Council on Foreign Relations intentionally collapsed the US economy in order to help elect President Obama, who is now using health care reform legislation tocreate an army of Brownshirt soldiers loyal only to him."

One begins to see that the PFA is consistently more than a little low on the cultural awareness ladder.

If you feel the desire to throw up in your mouth, you can head over to THIS THREAD at Free Republic and read the many comments defending the image... along with plenty of other "humor."

Arpaio Fails Another Smell Test

Dec 5th, 2011

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a busy man.

With frequent Fox News appearances, high profile endorsements for pet candidates, questionable immigration raids and other ongoing "corruption" problems, it isn't a surprise to learn that he has a history of time management issues.

Still, you'd think he'd at least have made room for his people to respond to cases involving child rape. Jaques Billeaud reports on "more than 400 sex-crimes reported to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office during a three-year period ending in 2007 — including dozens of alleged child molestations — that were inadequately investigated and in some instances were not worked at all, according to current and former police officers familiar with the cases.

In El Mirage alone, where Arpaio's office was providing contract police services, officials discovered at least 32 reported child molestations — with victims as young as 2 years old — where the sheriff's office failed to follow through, even though suspects were known in all but six cases.

Many of the victims, said a retired El Mirage police official who reviewed the files, were children of illegal immigrants."

Perhaps that's another way to get them to "go back to Mexico."

Obstructionist policies

Nov 23rd, 2011
by Nicole Zimmerer

"Voters kept telling reporters and polltakers that their fundamental concerns - about economic growth and job security, health care and their children's education - were not being addressed by politicians... All these things are true. But both despite and because of them, there are grounds for hope for the future of American politics. Popular anger at politics is, in fact, a thoroughly healthy sign, an indication that our democracy is going through one of its periodic phases of self-correction. … politics dominated by false choices and phony issues is something very much worth being angry about. That anger is beginning to have an impact." EMPHASIS ADDED
-- E.J. Dionne, Jr from 1992's Why Americans Hate Politics

Perennial concerns. The only difference between political parties is how they address these concerns. While "compassionate" conservatives call for privatization and deregulation, they do so while at an economic and social advantage over those whose lives will be devastated by such policies. They tend to take the side of faceless corporate entities, and as history has proven, these entities do not have human concerns, they merely care about the bottom line. Im not claiming that the liberal left has perfect policies, but they are slightly more grounded in reality and take more into account than simply numbers on a piece of paper. They tend to take the human variable into account.

Image via Addicting Info

Take US Crane, LLC, for example. Addicting Info reports that owner Bill Looman has added a commentary to his company vehicles in the form of a sign that states: NEW COMPANY POLICY: WE ARE NOT HIRING UNTIL OBAMA IS GONE.

Naked Racism

Aug 31st, 2011

If you think our country has gotten past race, you should read the comments section of this article about the MLK monument. Maya Angelou has drawn attention to the fact that part of the inscription is decontextualized. She has a point. However, a lot of people just couldn't pass up an opportunity to make the world a worse place. There are hundreds and hundreds of responses along the lines of the screencaps below. In fact, a vast majority of the posts are overtly racist.

Of course, these are the same people that are always accusing others of "playing the race card."

Here You Go, Dishonest Coward

August 6th, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

Dana Loesch

In the heady days which followed the Christianist assault on a gathering of youngsters at a youth-in-government Summer camp in Norway, there was a staggering movement by America's rightist Islamophobes to deflect blame.

Any potential blame. So many ugly and misguided articles were published that it was simply stunning.

Nothing, however, was as convoluted as a piece which Dana Loesch posted over at Andy's Joint.

You see, it wasn't enough for Dana to join the right wing chorus of those saying the killer "was not really a Christian." It wasn't enough for Dana to deny that venomous right wing pronouncements might actually have had a real world impact on a warped mind. It wasn't even enough for her to simply get behind all the circled wagons amongst her fellow rightists and make self-serving claims of "censorship" and conservative "victimhood" to avoid a discussion about the power of rhetoric.