The Funny: Nickelback "tribute"

It's a Trap: Stewart mocks Boehner over health care debate

(HuffPost)

With President Obama inviting Republicans to a televised summit on health care, many GOP leaders have been reluctant to attend, thinking it's an elaborate trap. This logic didn't sit well with Jon Stewart... or Admiral Ackbar.

Stewart jokingly agreed with the Republican sentiment, explaining that having a televised, bipartisan conversation on health care is so reasonable that it's actually an ingenious trap.

Minority Leader John Boehner expressed concern, worried about having to "walk into some setup... who knows what." To this Stewart responded: "It's a public dialogue about important legislation. Not Little Big Horn."

Stewart then called Boehner's bluff:

"The only way this health care meeting is a trap is if Boehner's got nothing. It's like a paper bag is only a trap if you can't punch your way out of it."

Lawrence O'Donnell tears into Bush speechwriter over torture

(HuffPost)

Fireworks erupted on the set of "Morning Joe" Friday, after MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell took umbrage with former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen's claim that President Obama is inviting a domestic terrorist attack.

Things started off rocky after Thiessen -- in the process of justifying the coercive counter-terrorism techniques used under the Bush administration and condemning Obama for "eliminating the CIA's interrogation program" -- insisted that his former boss was required to essentially start from scratch.

"You gotta think back to the period after 9/11," he said. "We didn't even know who hit us. We didn't know that Khalid Sheik Mohammad was the mastermind of 9/11 or the operational commander of al Qaeda. And then we started rounding up these terrorists..."

O'Donnell responded quickly, barking out his bewilderment with Thiessen's assertion that there was no pre-9/11 warning that an attack was coming.

"Isn't it true that the president you worked for invited the first attack by having no idea what was going on with al Qaeda? You just admitted that when you were hit on 9/11, you just said, 'We didn't know who hit us'. You were told who was going to hit you before 9/11. And your administration invited the first attack, for which you should live in shame."

Those charges were some of the milder in the heated exchange. Later in the segment, O'Donnell told Thiessen that he was hopelessly ill-equipped to talk about terrorism or torture.

"Marc, I'm wondering about your own personal experience with torture. I know you grew up in the richest zip code in America, in the Upper East Side. You went to the only boarding school in all of Connecticut that I know of that has its own golf course... And then you went to Vasser. And like all the torture-mongers in the Bush White House, the Cheney family included, you never served a day in the military. Never considered that. I'm wondering, with that background, what is it that gives you an expertise on torture? What makes you love it so much?"

Thiessen replied: "First of all, one, it is not torture. Second of all, [the New Yorker's] Jane Mayer said the other day I never had a security clearance... I had a security clearance. I was read into the CIA program. When President Bush did a speech in December 2006 to reveal this program, I was taken into a secure room in the National Security Council. I was given access to all of the intelligence this program produced. And I actually met with the actual interrogators who interviewed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and got the information to stop attacks."

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A heartbreaking work of staggering hypocrisy

One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project.

Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine (1961 recording)

(Steve Benen)

During last year's debate for the Vice Presidential candidates, Sarah Palin paraphrased a famous Reagan quote: "It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction.... We have to fight for it and protect it, and then hand it to them so that they shall do the same, or we're going to find ourselves spending our sunset years telling our children and our children's children about a time in America, back in the day, when men and women were free."

And then, this week.....

“Don’t cut Medicare. The reform bills passed by the House and Senate cut Medicare by approximately $500 billion. This is wrong.”

Newt Gingrich

* THUD *

(Benen continued...)

The problem with the (Palin) quote (of Reagan) was that Reagan was, at the time, condemning the very idea of Medicare. In context, Reagan actually said, "[I]f you don't [stop Medicare] and I don't do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free." The line wasn't about "freedom," it was about a program to provide seniors with health care.

Apparently, conservatives still love the Reagan speech in which the line was delivered, but overlook pesky details, such as context.

Paul Krugman

Why is this amazing? It’s not just the fact that Republicans are now posing as staunch defenders of a program they have hated ever since the days when Ronald Reagan warned that Medicare would destroy America’s freedom. Nor is it even the fact that, as House speaker, Mr. Gingrich personally tried to ram through deep cuts in Medicare — and, in 1995, went so far as to shut down the federal government in an attempt to bully Bill Clinton into accepting those cuts.

After all, you could explain this about-face by supposing that Republicans have had a change of heart, that they have finally realized just how much good Medicare does. And if you believe that, I’ve got some mortgage-backed securities you might want to buy.

No, what’s truly mind-boggling is this: Even as Republicans denounce modest proposals to rein in Medicare’s rising costs, they are, themselves, seeking to dismantle the whole program. And the process of dismantling would begin with spending cuts of about $650 billion over the next decade. Math is hard, but I do believe that’s more than the roughly $400 billion (not $500 billion) in Medicare savings projected for the Democratic health bills.

Thank Al Gore for all this snow. Haw, haw, haw.... and the internet I'm typing this on.

Colbert takes on the biggest meme that the right has put out in years: the "it's snowing where I live so global warming can't be real".

Do they really know how idiotic they sound? It's like saying "People aren't starving in the world, I just ate a steak, so that's impossible". Or as Colbert points out, "because it's dark out, we can only conclude that the sun has been destroyed."

Like with one-year olds, "whatever has just happened is the only thing that's happening". With that in mind, Stephen Colbert checks in with the peek-a-boo-ologists:

Stephen Colbert: "Sarah Palin Is A Fucking Retard"

Jon Stewart, Robert Gibbs on Palin's crib notes

Calling the Republican bluff on health care

Cesca; Willis

This is all playing out nicely. With this idea of a televised summit, the president called the Republican bluff about listening to their (ridiculous) ideas about healthcare. It's not even 48 hours into the announcement of the idea and the Republicans are already struggling to wiggle out of the thing.

And the latest word via Countdown is that the Republicans won't meet with the president unless reconciliation is taken off the table. Ezra Klein told Keith Olbermann that the president should agree with that demand -- but only if the Republicans agree to an up-or-down vote. No filibuster.

But beyond the finer points of the Republican demands, it's obvious that they simply have no interest in having any summit (televised or not), and they have even less interest in passing healthcare reform.

Bluff successfully called. Flawless victory.

Cognitive Dissonance Report: Unemployment is near 10% and the GOP is blocking the Jobs Bill

TPM

Democrats still don't have enough votes to overcome a filibuster, and unless they can win over at least one Republican, they may adjourn this coming weekend empty-handed.

What's the hang up? Republicans are working with Democrats on one key aspect of the legislation: tax breaks for employers who hire new employees. But beyond such a measure, Republicans are balking at supporting a full package. And with Democrats now one vote shy of a 60-vote supermajority, they will need one GOPer to break ranks if they want the package to overcome a filibuster.

So far, Democratic rhetoric has been gentle. Last week, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) said "You need two to tango. And you need Republicans for bipartisanship."

"Hope is prospective," he said. "We don't have bipartisanship at this moment. I hope we'll have it in a matter of minutes, hours, days."

Days later, they still don't have it. Which makes you wonder if and when leadership will pivot to directly call out Republicans for unanimously filibustering a jobs relief package when unemployment hovers at near 10 percent.

Sarah Palin's hypocrisy, Vol. 3

via Cesca:

Sarah Palin with Fox News' Chris Wallace on name-calling:

"Name-calling by anyone, I teach this to my children and you teach it to your children and grandchildren, too. Name calling by anyone is just unnecessary."

Again, name-calling, using language that is insensitive, by anyone, male, female, Republican, Democrat, is unnecessary. It’s inappropriate. Let’s all just grow up."

Literally seconds earlier:

"They are kooks. I agree with Rush Limbaugh."

Cantor insists the only way an 18-vote majority can pass health care is to totally cave in

Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) office has responded to President Obama's calls for a bi-partisan health care summit by issuing a statement that makes it clear that the only way it's going to get done is to scrap everything that's been done and follow the Republican plan.

After going it alone on health care reform for nearly a year, President Obama has decided he wants to bring Republicans into the conversation. Here’s the problem: unless the President and Speaker Pelosi are willing to scrap their government take over and hit the reset button, there’s not much to talk about.

Republicans believe the status quo is unacceptable, but so is any health reform package that spends money we don’t have or raises taxes on small businesses and working families in a recession. To that point, House Republicans have offered the only plan , that will lower health care costs, which is what the President said was the goal at the start of this debate.

THIS is why the Democratic party is in the dumps. They have a 59-41 majority - the largest in decades - and yet they can't find a way to pass basic legislation.

This is screwed. Really screwed. This is why the nuclear option changing the filibuster MUST happen. The minority is holding the majority hostage and blocking every attempt to go the business of the nation.

Q: Since when is an 18 vote majority a liability?
A: When Harry Reid and the Democrats are in charge.

Meghan McCain calls out Tea Party racism, Palin hypocrisy

Co-hosting The View today, Meghan McCain cited racism in the "tea party" as a reason why young people are turned off by the movement. She also cites Sarah Palin's hypocrisy is a "perfect example of what's wrong with this country today."

Congressman Tancredo went on TV and he was the first opening speaker and he said, 'People who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House whose name is Barack Hussein Obama.' And then he went on to say that people at the convention should have to pass literacy tests in order to be able to vote in this country, which is the same thing that happened in the 50's to prevent African Americans from voting. It's innate racism and I think it's why young people are turned off by this movement. And I'm sorry, but revolutions start with young people, not with 65-year-old people talking about literacy tests and people who can't say the word 'vote' in English.

Krugman: Fear mongering on the deficit

Paul Krugman

...the sudden outbreak of deficit hysteria brings back memories of the groupthink that took hold during the run-up to the Iraq war. Now, as then, dubious allegations, not backed by hard evidence, are being reported as if they have been established beyond a shadow of a doubt. Now, as then, much of the political and media establishments have bought into the notion that we must take drastic action quickly, even though there hasn’t been any new information to justify this sudden urgency. Now, as then, those who challenge the prevailing narrative, no matter how strong their case and no matter how solid their background, are being marginalized.
And fear-mongering on the deficit may end up doing as much harm as the fear-mongering on weapons of mass destruction.

Of course, each and every Republican voted against raising the debt ceiling. Now remember, from 1995-2007 the Republican-controlled Congress voted eight times to raise the debt ceiling. But not this time. Because they think their voters are idiots who can't remember anything prior to January 20, 2009.

They might be right, actually.

The Republican War on Science

(via Bob Cesca)

This is beyond stupid. The utter cynicism embodied in this spot is staggering. The Republicans are taking their voters for drooling, mouth-breathing nincompoops who will be easily tricked (ed note: are you sure they're not?) into believing "snow storm in Virginia" equals "cold everywhere on the planet."



To repeat, just because it's snowing on the east coast of the United States this weekend doesn't mean it's snowing and cold everywhere and for all time. Just so we're clear on that.

Republican voters -- if you have even the slightest brain in your head, please realize that your party is attempting to trick you.

Adding... It's cold in my basement. Does that mean global warming is a myth?

Obama's record on recovery

(via Bob Cesca)

The red bars represent recession unemployment under Bush, and the blue bars represent President Obama's jobless numbers. (Click to enlarge)



And people are actually thinking about voting for Republicans again? Really?! Not to be rude or anything, but what's wrong with you people?

And that's just "Main Street." What about Wall Street? I made this chart based on the Google Finance stock market ticker a while back. The Dow is steadily hovering above 10,000 now.



So we should what? Vote Republican? That's rich.

Sarah Palin's hypocrisy #2: the cheat sheet

From the woman who criticizes Barack Obama for using teleprompters comes this: she read her speech off her hand.

As Oliver Wills reports, at her keynote speech to the Tea Party Convention, she had her talking points cribbed onto her hand. Proof:







And yet she still said "conventional sources of resources."

Oh, and then she took a jab at Obama for the telprompter. "This is about the people" and "it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter," she said, jabbing at Obama.

It has to be willful stupidity. I don't think anyone could actually be this clueless.

Jimmy Fallon and Brian Williams slow jam the news

Good to see Fallon still laughs at his own jokes.

The Palin hypocrisy, it knows no bounds

Last week, media gadfly Sarah Palin demanded that President Obama fire Chief Of Staff Rahm Emmanuel for saying that liberal groups thinking of running health care-related ads against Democratic lawmakers were "Fucking retarded". She compared it using the "N" word and urged his immediate dismissal.

However, the rules are different in the party that genuflects before the altar of Rush:

But the former governor went to great and sometimes awkward lengths to insist that when conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh used the same exact term to describe the same exact group, it was simply in the role of political humorist.

"They are kooks, so I agree with Rush Limbaugh," she said, when read a quote of Limbaugh calling liberal groups "retards." "Rush Limbaugh was using satire ... . I didn't hear Rush Limbaugh calling a group of people whom he did not agree with 'f-ing retards,' and we did know that Rahm Emanuel, as has been reported, did say that. There is a big difference there."

Sorry....

Sorry about the 3 week absence. It's been a hell of a 3 weeks. Here's a recap:

The Republicans took Teddy Kennedy's seat with a former nude model who pledged to vote against the same health care bill that he supported when it passed in Massachusetts. Republicans rejoiced. Scott Brown then said he supported abortion rights. They've been kinda quiet about the whole thing ever since.

Obama was said to have lost his mojo. 8 days later, he found it again when he went after Republicans in the State of the Union address. And then he accepted an invitation to appear before the GOP House caucus - on camera - and went up and down the court on them for 90 minutes. This caused Fox to break away for the sake of the narrative.

The Supreme Court turned our political campaigns over to corporate America, paving the way for "Palin 2012, brought to you by Monstanto".

The Republicans are using the filibuster, of the threat thereof, as a blunt weapon.



Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is holding as many as 70 of Obama's appointments hostage until he gets his pork projects (earmarks) passed in the Senate. To break his hold, the Senate needs - you guessed it - 60 votes. It's time to bring on the nuclear option and change the filibuster to a more reasonable procedure - one that doesn't cripple the business of the nation.

As Steve Pearlstein opines:

After all, if the only things the party in power can accomplish are those that the minority power can agree with, then what is the point of having an election? No matter which side won a majority, "common ground" -- the things they all agree on -- would still be the same.

And it appears that "Don't ask, don't tell" is going away, paving the way for gays to openly serve their country. For years, the GOP said they'd leave it up to the military high command. I guess they figured that generals and stuff would never let fags serve. Well, last week they did. Adm. Mike Mullen told Congress that gays should be allowed to serve openly in uniform, arguing that it is "the right thing to do." And many, many Republicans lost their shit. John McCain backtracked on his comments of 3 years ago and Ollie North told Sean Hannity that if we let gays serve, the next steps was NAMBLA members. That's the North American Man-Boy Love Association, the group that advocates legal sodomy with minors.

Right.