By Willinois, on September 13th, 2012
 A few weeks ago I read the latest volume in Robert Caro’s epic four-part biography of Lyndon Johnson, The Passage of Power. The depth of insight about Johnson’s life and Caro’s theme on the use of power is so impressive that other historical biographies now feel more tedious by comparison. In The Passage of Power, he describes an event I’d never heard of that stuck with me: The Adolphus Hotel incident.
Four days before the 1960 election, Johnson was greeted by an angry, booing crowd of several hundred Republicans outside his campaign event at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. The mob had come from a Nixon gathering and were led by ultra-conservative Texas Congressman Bruce Alger. Their signs called LBJ a traitor and accused him of selling out to the “yankee socialist” JFK.
Johnson decided to walk through the hotel lobby with his wife, Lady Bird. He acted above the insults as he slowly pushed his way through a crowd that hissed, booed and spat at them. He was quoted in papers saying, “I only hope the day never comes when a man cannot walk his lady across the street in Dallas.”
So far this sounds like just another day on the campaign trail. A Democratic candidate for national office being greeted by a crowd of booing people with nasty signs calling him a socialist traitor is no big deal. The only unusual thing is that they were allowed so close to the event. In a post 9/11-world they would be kept across the street for an Obama event, or out of view several blocks away when Bush was President.
Here’s the part that blew my mind. In 1960 this kind of behavior actually bothered people! The rude manner in which LBJ and his wife were treated was scandalous. It’s credited with encouraging Texas to rally around its mistreated native son and delivering the state to the Kennedy/Johnson ticket. There were still independents and moderate Republicans who felt a sense of shame about a crowd of ignorant, hateful jackasses. What happened?!
Today they would be celebrated on cable news as the hot new political movement. They would whine about liberal bias until the press gave them favorable coverage and their own show on CNN. Continue reading The Failed Tea Party Rally of 1960
By Jeff Rosenzweig, on July 26th, 2012
 ONE: Issa Muggin’
Following his failure to bring down the Obama Administration with the Fast and Furious pseudo-scandal, Congressman Darrell Issa found himself faced with a choice: do something worthwhile with his time, or occupy himself with more ephemeral crap. Can you guess which he chose?
Issa has gone back and revived an idea that got no traction on multiple previous occasions; he’s trying once again to persuade fellow legislators to rename America’s coastal waters, to exchange the drab moniker “Exclusive Economic Zone” for the super-duper ain’t-that-America gee-whiz red-white-and-blue hyper-patriotic name “Ronald Wilson Reagan Exclusive Economic Zone.” Catchy, n’est-ce pas?
Other than sabotaging the nation’s future prosperity with voodoo economics and more than tripling the national debt, ruthlessly shutting down mental health facilities and leaving their patients to fend for themselves, trading arms for hostages and then lying about it, ignoring the AIDS epidemic, invading Grenada for the mucho macho cred, unleashing a crack plague on inner cities, and shrugging off global warming, just what did Reagan do to deserve Issa’s proposed encomium?
Well, back in 1983, he issued Proclamation 5030, which created the EEZ in the first place. The proclamation reads in part:
Within the Exclusive Economic Zone, the United States has, to the extent permitted by international law, (a) sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, conserving and managing natural resources, both living and non-living, of the seabed and subsoil and the superjacent waters and with regard to other activities for the economic exploitation and exploration of the zone, such as the production of energy from the water, currents and winds; and (b) jurisdiction with regard to the establishment and use of artificial islands, and installations and structures having economic purposes, and the protection and preservation of the marine environment.
Gosh. That sort of brings a patriotic tear to my eye, I’ll tell you. Yet the point of Issa’s exercise isn’t really to rename the EEZ, or even to honor the sainted, Grecian Formula-enhanced corpse of Ronald Reagan. It’s simply about Issa keeping himself busy with matters of absolutely zero benefit to the nation. That’s pretty much been his specialty since he was inexplicably elected to office, and in that, he has no end of company in the 112th Congress.
But what about the Exclusive Economic Zone? Isn’t it time a little creativity was brought to bear on this? Why should 12,500 miles of coastline all be named after one guy, even if he did tear down the Berlin Wall with his bare hands? Why not have a Slappy White Chesapeake Bay, to commemorate the legendary Baltimore-born comedian? Or a Biscayne Eat, Pray, Love Bay, in recognition of million-watt megastar Julia Roberts having a residence nearby?
Come to think of it, why not open up corporate bidding for naming rights to different areas? How about Puget Sound by Starbucks? Or the MGM Grand Banks? Sure, most of the latter is under Canadian jurisdiction, but if the Canucks put up a fuss, just invade ‘em, Congressman. That’s what the Gipper would have done, right? You could even call it the Ronald Wilson Reagan Commemorative Invasion and Total Ass-kicking of Canada. If you’re going to pretend to be doing the people’s business, at least pretend with a little vigor.
TWO: Drive, They Said
Speaking of Congressional wastes of space, ThinkProgress did an investigation recently into seven teabagging House freshmen, and found some fascinating information:
Though they campaigned on a platform of reducing the deficit and ridding wasteful spending, more than a half-dozen Tea Party congressmen have collectively spent over $100,000 in taxpayer money on personal vehicles.
ThinkProgress examined spending records for the 112th Congress and found seven GOP freshmen — Reps. Chip Cravaack (R-MN), Sean Duffy (R-WI), Bill Flores (R-TX), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Bill Johnson (R-OH), Mike Pompeo (R-KS), and Steve Womack (R-AR) — who had spent an average of $15,000 on cars for themselves. All together, their taxpayer bill totaled $106,643.
There is nothing illegal about the practice of using taxpayer money to lease personal-use cars, but it smacks of hypocrisy for Tea Partiers like Duffy who promised to “lead by example” when it comes to deficit reduction.
ThinkProgress tersely notes that the spending totals were:
… compiled from the House of Representatives’ official Statement of Disbursements, a quarterly publication regarding all expenditures for House offices, for the 112th Congress.
And when the lame duck session gets underway, don’t be surprised if the munificent seven propose eliminating the Statement of Disbursements in the interest of saving taxpayers some money…
THREE: Razing Arizona, part I
Of course, teabaggers in Congress can be fairly said to be mirroring the folks who sent them to Washington in the first place, a demographic characterized by astonishing ignorance, revolting bigotry, cringe-inducing paranoia, putrid hypocrisy and a world view as narrow as one would expect the vista from inside a colon to be. The recent dustup over Michele Bachmann and four other members of Congress accusing Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood leads to a case in point.
The controversy began outrageously enough, and went quickly downhill from there, reaching what one would fervently hope would be its nadir on Monday, when Wes Harris – who heads the Original North Phoenix Tea Party – told the Arizona Capitol Times that John McCain’s spirited defense of Abedin warranted a recall petition, and maybe more:
While Harris has many problems with McCain, a mass email he sent out focused solely on the senator’s recent defense of Huma Abedin…
Harris said he plans to circulate recall petitions against McCain. In his email, he said, “We must find a way to get rid of this embarrassment.”
The email Harris sent includes a forwarded item from the blog Bare Naked Islam that castigates McCain for defending “Islamic enemies of America” and attacking U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican and tea party favorite. The blog piece ends by saying, “Go to hell, Senator, it’s time for you to take your final dirt nap.”
What specifically prompted the blog’s call for the Senator’s death were McCain’s remarks on the Senate floor:
“I have every confidence in Huma’s loyalty to our country, and everyone else should as well. All Americans owe Huma a debt of gratitude for her many years of superior public service. I hope these ugly and unfortunate attacks on her can be immediately brought to an end and put behind us before any further damage is done to a woman, an American, of genuine patriotism and love of country.”
Bare Naked Islam’s banner slogan, by the way, is: “It isn’t Islamophobia when they really ARE trying to kill you.” Now, if you’re like me, you absolutely despise taking John McCain’s side on anything, but it’s impossible not to here.
Harris had plenty more spleen to vent, of course:
“Have you ever read the Quran? I suggest you do so, because anyone that is a Muslim is a threat to this country, and that’s a fact…”
Harris said he believes Abedin has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. But ultimately, he said it doesn’t matter whether she’s linked to the group or not because he doesn’t believe Muslims should work for the federal government…
“Is she a Muslim? Is she an active Muslim?” Harris said. “I rest my case. That’s all she needs to be.”
Harris offered no definition of an “active Muslim” and I strongly suspect he couldn’t do so if challenged, but in the post-fact America Harris and his fellow bigots are working so hard to create, actual knowledge and a capacity for critical thought are unnecessary. Ironically, John McCain’s 2008 candidacy did a lot to move all this, uh, forward. Continue reading Take Five (Joke on the Water edition)
By The Desperate Blogger, on March 30th, 2012
 Jesus Christ, the renowned Jewish philosopher and religious scholar viewed by many as their Lord and Savior, will address a nationally televised joint session of the United States Congress this coming Tuesday, April 3, at 8 PM Eastern time.
According to officials, neither the purpose nor subject of Jesus’s historic address will be known in advance. When asked if this most unprecedented appearance is in any way related to a possible pending apocalypse, a representative of the enigmatic church leader cryptically responded, “Does He look Mayan to you?”
The announcement was made following a reportedly heated closed-door session of the Republican Congressional Caucus which was necessitated by a division within its ranks over whether or not to adopt the concurrent resolution necessary to convene a joint session.
Action on Capitol Hill was fast and furious Friday afternoon after the surprise request to address Congress was submitted by representatives of Mr. Christ. Initially, House Speaker John Boehner’s office indicated that the Speaker sought to move the address to Monday evening — a request which was flatly rejected by the Son of God who expressed concern over the possible alienation of millions of His followers if the address were to preempt ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘The Voice’.
Less than one hour later, it appeared as though the first appearance by a Holy person in the House chamber in recent memory was in jeopardy when Speaker Boehner was informed by members of the GOP’s Tea Party Caucus that they would not support the measure because they feared that an appearance by Jesus on the Capitol floor while Barack Obama is still in office would be perceived as a victory for the President. Continue reading Jesus to Address Joint Session of Congress
By Jeff Rosenzweig, on January 30th, 2012
 Tomorrow’s Florida primary probably won’t result in Rick Santorum or Ron Paul heading for the exit sign, but it will move both of them a step closer to it.
That pleasant thought got me wondering what the other Republican dropouts were up to these days. Turns out they’re all keeping busy, though probably not without some regrets here and there about what they’re busy with.
Michele Bachmann has set her sights on another term representing the Minnesota 6th. Well, maybe:
Speaking on Fox News, Bachmann seemed caught off guard when asked directly if she’d be running for a fourth term.
“I, very — yes,” she said.
However, Bachmann quickly qualified her response to indicate that it was an option she would be considering.
“I believe I’ll be looking at that, very seriously looking at coming back for a fourth term.”
Her hesitance seems to be contagious:
The contentious nature of the primary season, coupled with some high-profile missteps, sent her back to Minnesota with a low favorability rating in her home state.
According to a statewide Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday, only 34 percent of those polled have a positive view of her, while 57 percent have an unfavorable view.
Only 37 percent said she should run for reelection.
She can look forward to some traveling, at least:
Former Republican presidential candidate and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann has been named as a witness in a messy, multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit in Nashville.
Led by prominent Republican fundraiser and millionaire Bill Hemrick of Brentwood, a group of Middle Tennessee conservatives sued California businessman Anthony Loiacono for $19 million in November over a failed venture to create a television network devoted to the tea party movement. The plaintiffs claim Loiacono used their investments as his “personal bank account.”
Loiacono first responded by challenging Hemrick to a “lie detector challenge.” He has since formally responded to the lawsuit and claims Hemrick and co-plaintiff Mel Martin are primarily responsible for Tea Party HD’s demise. He has countersued the plaintiffs for $1 million alleging defamation and abuse of process.
He also filed a lengthy list of 50 anticipated witnesses in the case, including Bachmann and other prominent conservatives such as commentators Ann Coulter and Phil Valentine; Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips; and state lawmakers Rep. Glen Casada and Sen. Jack Johnson of Williamson County.
Great stuff. The report goes on to note that Tea Party HD produced Bachmann’s response to the 2011 SOTU. That was the response where she looked earnestly at a spot somewhere off-camera, as if she were speaking not to you, the viewer, but to your neighbors. Tea Party HD will be missed.
You’ll be delighted to know that the former candidate still finds time for fun, and one thing she’s always found fun is denying non-heterosexuals their rights:
Eagan, Minn. — Minnesota pastors and lawmakers who support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman aim to develop varied strategies to win voter support.
At a strategy session [Friday]… the Faith and Freedom coalition discussed ways to sell the marriage amendment to people who may not hold their fervent views.
… the room came to its feet for a last-minute appearance by Republican U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who first proposed a marriage amendment when she was a state senator…
“I think if you want to talk to people who are not interested in talking about the morality you can also come at it as “should people be allowed to vote,” Bachmann said.
A minister in the back of the room offered up a prayer for Bachmann. A pastor from Minneapolis asked for advice on how to talk about the amendment with parishioners who are parents of gay children.
Bachmann said she wasn’t an expert, and switched back to her main line of argument, that people should get to decide the laws they live under.
Coincidentally, Bachmann had appeared on The O’Reilly Factor the night before to share her lack of expertise about running for the presidency. Some snippets:
I loved the debates. I wish I could have been a part of every single debate. I wanted to answer every question. It’s a wonderful process because it helps to explain positions to people across the United States and explain why Barack Obama can’t have a second term. It’s a wonderful process…
… if you go all the way back to August — whoever goes to the top, they don’t stay there very long and they go straight down. And people have a very short shelf life. And it’s almost like the voters have whiplash. They go from one candidate to another and they — they completely go with one candidate and then they’ll hear some information and they’ll move away. And so people are looking for perfection…
The fact on the ground is that you have to have money to be able to keep the mother ship going.
Bachmann’s not the only ex-candidate to return home with a tarnished reputation:
Governor Rick Perry has gotten a rocky welcome home to Texas, facing low poll numbers and criticism over state expenses related to his failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Travel for Perry’s security team cost the state nearly $800,000 between September and November, according to a new report from the state Department of Public Safety.
Money well spent, I’d say, since it indirectly helped the nation remain safe from a Perry presidency by keeping him on the stump week after uproarious week. Texas Democrats are demanding that he reimburse the state, but Perry’s probably more concerned over a different sort of fallout from his face-plant on the national stage: Continue reading Slouching Towards Tampa (Where Are They Now edition)
By Joan Ruaiz, on January 21st, 2012
 I so wish I could tell you that the upcoming general election will be close, and that it will be due to the life-and-death seriousness of the issues as they relate to our economy, the environment and our foreign policy — but I cannot honestly say this. I do believe that the 2012 election will be close, but for the wrong reasons; one being that it is how media conglomerates generate large sums for themselves during an election year. So when the media crows again how this will not only be close, but the most expensive ever, don’t think they aren’t at the same time counting on the millions they will earn throughout.
We must understand that the protracted Obama-Hillary primary wars of 2008 were a boon to media coffers! Couple that with the birth of the limitless Super PACs (thanks to our Republican-dominated SCOTUS), and you can easily see what I see: media mavens relying on their potential earnings after facing lean advertising years. If you hadn’t thought about it before, think about it now, while closely observing how desperately reporters are handling the Republican primaries. It may seem quite entertaining at the moment (to some of us), but I would respectfully suggest that we ought to be preparing for what is to come in the general.
 Speaking of the current sorry-ass Republican primaries, it is mighty strange that although there is only one halfway electable Republican left standing, we are now witnessing a media-termed “horse race” as we head toward Super PAC-spending Tuesday. It’s not because the alternative candidates to Romney are actually worth anything (because they aren’t); it is because the faster the Republican Primaries end, the less money the Super PAC will spend, and that would greatly reduce the media’s anticipated advertising windfall.
Look, it’s no accident that the media has been all over candidate Romney since his big win in New Hampshire. At the exact time the announcement was made that Mitt held an insurmountable double-digit lead in South Carolina polls, the corporate media got hella serious! To add to the media’s trouble, GOP candidates were dropping like flies, Mitt Romney reeked of the inevitable stench, and the primary season was ending before it had started. But by golly, all was not lost, as we witnessed the re-resurrection of the twice-fallen Newt in just 7 days! I will add that this wasn’t an easy get by any means. Just ask Ginger Chuckie on MSNBC; he seemed quite exhausted with that renewed Newt surge!
Yes, truth be told, our poor corporate media has had the hardest time coming up with a plausible scenario to get that primary GOP Super PAC money bomb coming their way, considering what they were given to work with! It isn’t typical of our media to get so resourceful as to report on the manner in which a GOP millionaire candidate built his fortune, or to just allow GOP candidates to be dumb enough to literally destroy each other, after all that St. Reagan preached on that subject! The media corporations, after all, are not left-leaning, nor have they been for quite some time. No, the media corporations lean green with greed, and we shouldn’t allow ourselves to forget that.
As for the general election of 2012, we have already been repeatedly warned that it will be close due to the economy, and it has been left at that. It is a mantra that too many of us sheepishly agree with. But, come to think of it, wasn’t it the Republican Party who brought upon this nation the worst recession since the Great Depression? Wasn’t it largely Republicans who deregulated our financial institutions, which brought us to our knees? And aren’t they now promising us more of that, and calling it “restoring America”?
Wasn’t it the Republican Party who started an unjustified war via lies trumpeted by our media, and kept the war’s spending off the books for all the years they could, while still to this day proclaiming “cowboy diplomacy” as the only way to go?
Wasn’t it the Republican Party who brought us the tax cuts for the rich, and yet is still proposing tax cuts for the rich as the remedy to the original fiasco? And what about the Medicare drug programs that wasn’t paid for, meant to destroy Medicare by not allowing government drug price negotiations in their legislation?
Wasn’t it Republicans who recently claimed that deficits were their priority concern, deficits that they themselves expanded widely during their eight years of power?
Isn’t it the Republican Party which now vilifies American victims of the great GOP recession, using unemployment benefits as a bludgeon against the jobless, shaming those in need of food stamps, and using outright racial stereotypical slurs in so doing?
Aren’t those Republicans, who, with one hand on their bible, refuse to even consider lending the other hand to their brothers and sisters who happen to be “the lesser” among us? Continue reading Why 2012 Will Be a “Close” Election
By Sandy Todd, on December 22nd, 2011
 Recently a cousin left a comment on his Facebook that our troops fought and died “so we could say Merry Christmas.” I don’t know why the right finds it necessary to conflate patriotism and Christianity, or pretend that Christ has gone missing from Christmas, or that anyone in America doesn’t know “the reason for the season” or at least the reason in this country.
In their quest, they miss so many joyous moments from other cultures and religions. For instance, we are in the Hanukkah season, the Season of Miracles. While I don’t know a thing about the religious customs of Hanukkah, or whether various cultures bring different perspectives to the holiday, I find it odd that these Christians can’t find enough camaraderie in this holiday to delight in the biggest Christian miracle of all, Jesus Christ. Certainly Hanukkah has nothing to do with Jesus, I know that, but I can rejoice in the celebration of miracles. Any Christian should be able to do that.
The biggest miracle of this holiday season will likely be in the homes of thousands of children whose parents will be home from war. I don’t think those children will particularly care what greeting mom or dad gives, or whether they say anything at all, just that they are there to say it will be enough. Especially when they can give a big hug and kiss and some giggles and tickles to go along.
Of course many of those same right wingers are not rejoicing, or worse, taking credit for the war ending while criticizing Obama for ending it. Confused? Well, Obama just carried out the exit strategy negotiated by W, doncha know? Never mind that the Tea Party opposes the exit strategy just as McCain does, saying Obama deserves “scorn and disdain” for pulling all of our troops out of Iraq. Continue reading Needed: One Christmas Miracle, Please
By The Desperate Blogger, on October 18th, 2011
Results of a study released today by the National Institutes of Health suggests that a non life-threatening illness which has reached epidemic proportions in some areas of the country in the last couple of years may have been transmitted to most of its victims electronically – via video and sound waves. If this suspicion is in fact correct, public health experts fear this might signal the beginning of a heretofore unimagined health crisis – one in which billions of people could potentially be infected by an ‘airwave borne’ disease simultaneously or an ‘internet borne’ one over time.
The study involved 917 patients in 37 states who suffer from ODS (Obama Dementia Syndrome), an affliction whose victims — most of whom otherwise show no signs of dementia or irrational behavior — suddenly suffer memory loss and display fits of anger and irrationality upon the mere mention of U.S. President Barack Obama. Believed to have originated with an unnamed Fox News employee who contracted the illness while vacationing at a militia training camp in rural Idaho, ODS quickly spread through the network’s midtown Manhattan studio and offices and then, astonishingly (according to medical experts), to members of their audience with whom no physical connection could be made to either Fox News, its employees, New York City, or even the Idaho paramilitary facility.
One symptom of ODS is a sudden loss of memory and time perception which manifests itself by the victim becoming angry and/or frustrated and lashing out at the current President over policies, laws, or political appointments that pre-date his administration. Most recently many such outbursts involve Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke who was appointed to the post in 2006 by then-President George W. Bush after serving as Chairman of his Council of Economic Advisers.
Another symptom is irrational outbursts that occur when the victim hears of something about the President that others like or agree with. Common examples include: “Do you know who else put people back to work by building roads? HITLER!” and; “You know who else was a charismatic speaker? HITLER!”
But according to Newton Toomey, a Professor of Dementia and Irrational Behavior at Pueblo State University and former NIH test subject, there is no cause for public alarm just yet.
“The study also shows a strong correlation between ODS and ACD — over 90% of ODS sufferers are confirmed to suffer from ACD, and it is believed the number may actually be between 95 and 98% or even higher. So it is reasonable to assume that unless one already suffers from ACD, it is unlikely they will contract ODS, particularly remotely – in the absence of direct contact with a person or mob of persons already afflicted.”
ACD – Anal-Crater Disorientation – which has seen a steady rise in confirmed cases since the 2001 passage of ‘No Child Left Behind’, but is still relatively uncommon — is also a non-life threatening disorder (in all but the most extreme cases) which renders it’s victims unable to distinguish their anal cavity from a hole in the ground. It is most common in areas with low graduation rates, large school class sizes, and media (print, radio, and television) all controlled by NewsCorp. Continue reading NIH Study Finds Evidence of Electronically Transmitted Disease
By Joan Ruaiz, on September 25th, 2011
The Wall Street protest, which started on September 17, 2011, had been planned for months. What started as a peaceful march onto Wall Street by 2,000+ protestors last week then morphed into a sit-in, as planned. Those passionate and dedicated in their efforts to send an important populist message to Americans, as well as to Wall Street, showed up determined and prepared. However, the protest has now been turned into a violent circus by those so good at doing such things, the American corporate media.
The Wall Street protest’s message was straightforward and could be boiled down to a calling-out of Wall Street as a symbol of corporations and the rich, who (with the help of politicians) protect themselves no matter what, while displaying a shocking lack of concern over the hardship faced by millions of regular people. One of the protestors on September 17th, there at the site, clearly stated, “You need a scorecard to keep track of all the things that corporations have done that are bad for this country,” notwithstanding the fact that American corporations hold 2 trillion dollars in cash, waiting for the next election while the country suffers massive unemployment, actions that are not merely unpatriotic, but treasonous.
But right on cue, even before the march had begun the city had closed down many sections of Wall Street near the New York Stock Exchange and Federal Hall. This undertaking wasn’t going to be made easy by the powers-that-be.
Initially our corporate media placed small news stories about the peaceful protest here and there, miniscule in breadth of coverage and misleading when they did occur. The media worked slowly but surely to portray people trying to make a difference as wild-eyed incoherents who were aimless and unorganized. As of this week, what was found reported in the media was, overall, negative, dismissive and superficial, and then – BINGO – came the arrests.
With those arrests came a sigh of relief from media offices around the nation, as the media had finally found its “hook”. They would now be committed to turning the public against the Wall Street protest, rather than ignoring it or simply talking the whole project down. Believe you me, they will not be letting go of this tantalizing overall theme any time soon, and it will work.
To understand media math, one only has to sum up that it takes 2,000 “Occupy Wall Street” participants to equal a tiny fraction of discontented Tea Party members at a townhall event. In fact, the bias of the reporting of the Wall St. protests, when compared to the Tea Party advertising campaign underwritten by the majority of the corporate media owners, should give anyone an additional clue that the media has, for years now, not been our friends, nor will they ever be. More important to note, what is reported is seldom by accident, but by design.
The Tea Party phenomenon, in stark contrast to the Wall Street protest, was brazenly built-up and slickly marketed by the corporate media itself. It’s debut starred Wall Street media figure Rick Santelli, who initiated a rant on the corporate media channel he worked for, CNBC. The rant he became famous for encouraged a protest centered around the fact that the Obama Administration had dared propose measures offering a lifeline to help ordinary citizens on Main Street, who were losing their homes due to the mortgage financial meltdown. Although some mistook the Tea Party rant as a call to protest the bank bailouts (which occurred in 2008), that was never its intent, and Santelli made that clear at time. Continue reading What The Media is Doing to the Wall St. Protest is What They are Paid to Do!
By Jeff Rosenzweig, on September 18th, 2011
ONE: Orly Said Knock Him Out
The juggernaut that is the Rick Perry campaign briefly screeched to a halt in a shower of lurid sparks recently, when Governor Perry’s newest high-profile backer emerged from the fetid swamp of her fever dreams to give the former Democrat her stamp of approval. Orly Taitz – dentist, attorney and enduring embarrassment to the INS – turned up at an Orange County rally for Perry on September 9th to urge the thick-haired, thick-headed candidate to imprison Barack Obama for Social Security fraud.
Scott Keyes of ThinkProgress conducted a brief interview with Taitz, who used the occasion to extend her 49-year streak of making no sense whatsoever:
TAITZ: … I told him that you will get Obama, you will have him in prison for Social Security fraud…
KEYES: Do you think he’ll be taking that message forward, particularly with the birth certificate issue? Are you hopeful that he will?
TAITZ: I’m pretty sure they will, but I’m also sure that their strategy will be to wait and use it at the last possible moment to make sure that there is no primary challenger in the Democrat Party.
And I’m pretty sure that there has to be a judge out there somewhere who will finally put Taitz behind bars, or – better still – revoke her citizenship and have her deported back to Moldova, but despite the sanctions her preposterous birther nuisance litigations have already drawn from various courts, she still walks inexplicably free.
Even more inexplicably, Rick Perry is still the presumptive Republican nominee for 2012, and now has a potential Attorney General. Hey, she couldn’t be any worse than Alberto Gonzalez… could she? Since I’ve tiptoed into the nightmare world of a possible Perry presidency here, perhaps I can suggest to the former Democrat that he consider Taitz for Surgeon General instead, her total lack of qualifications notwithstanding. First off, she could totally rock a C. Everett Koop beard, and second, Perry needs all the help he can get regarding health care. Dr. C. Bruce Malone, president of the Texas Medical Association (what is it with these doctors and their unused first names beginning with “C”?) recently told the Los Angeles Times:”
“Texas just hasn’t proven it can run a health system.”
Yes, while Governor Perry drags his unusually large and unusually empty head around the campaign trail, vowing to repeal PPACA by Executive Order the moment he plants his ass behind the Resolute Desk, the verdict on health care in the state he “governs” just gets worse and worse:
More than a quarter of Texans lack health insurance, the highest rate in the nation…
Insurance premiums have risen more quickly in Texas than they have nationally over the last seven years. And when compared with incomes, insurance in Texas is less affordable than in every state but Mississippi…
That has taken a toll, as nearly a third of the state’s children did not receive an annual physical and a teeth cleaning in 2007, placing Texas 40th in a state ranking by the fund. Over the last decade, infant mortality rates have risen in Texas while declining nationwide…
Seniors, despite guaranteed Medicare coverage, also are suffering, as nearly 1 in 5 ends up back in the hospital within a month of being released, one of the highest re-admission rates in the country and a leading indicator of system-wide problems.
Dimly, I seem to remember a former Texas governor who went to Washington with a passel of catastrophically awful ideas he then applied to the other 49 states and to a good part of the Middle East, as well, with unsurprisingly horrific results. Maybe it’s unfair, however, for me to compare George W. Bush to Rick Perry. Bush, after all, is much, much smarter.
TWO: Islamophobes for Perry?
Whatever his enthusiasm for having Orly Taitz in his corner, Perry is undoubtedly eager to garner an endorsement from John Stemberger, Florida’s answer to questions no thinking person would ever ask:
Florida evangelical leader John Stemberger is a step away from endorsing Rick Perry for president, a big coup for the Texas governor and a loss for fellow Republican Michele Bachmann…
“We really like Michele Bachmann She has stellar credentials when it comes to our issues. She is an amazing woman. Our primary drive is principle and the issues,” Stemberger said. “But we also have to be realistic, pragmatically, and determine who’s viable.”
Stemberger said that meant he and the Florida Family Policy Council, which has an email list of about 65,000 Florida evangelical voters, had two choices.
“This is a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. And there’s a growing consensus among evangelical leaders and, to some degree, among those in the tea party and pro-life Catholics that Rick Perry is the most trustworthy candidate on our issues,” Stemberger said.
(Parenthetically, I have to say it’s uproariously funny to see the words “trustworthy” and “Rick Perry” in the same sentence.)
The endorsement is still up in the air, though. News of Stemberger’s musings appeared, rather breathlessly, in the St. Petersburg Times back on September 9th, and I’ve found no follow-up stories since. Then again, perhaps Stemberger is busy, what with that $10-million lawsuit still pending in Ohio over his unseemly involvement in the Rifqa Bary case. Maybe he’s still conferring with his notorious crackpot anti-Muslim bigot buddy and co-defendant Pam Geller, and just hasn’t found time to endorse Perry yet.
Or maybe Stemberger is simply still pining for a candidate with George W. Bush’s intellectual heft. Continue reading Take Five (Big Wet Kisses of Death edition)
By The Desperate Blogger, on September 15th, 2011
Following his much ballyhooed dinner date with GOP front runner Rick Perry, Donald Trump wasted no time before his next high level tea party dinner powwow.
But when The Donald dined with tea . . . → Read More: Trump Tea-Party Dinner Series Continues with Bachmanns
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