Who Pulls The Wingnut Strings?

My friends, you need to get familiar with the Koch brothers.

Who Does This Sound Like?

The California man who opened fire last night outside the Pentagon was a property rights extremist who railed against the government's ability to "confiscate the resources of their citizens to fund schemes that need only be justified by lies and deception," and wanted to "eliminate the role of the government in education."

In a recorded manifesto called "Directions To Freedom", the audio of which he posted online in 2006, John Patrick Bedell, of Hollister, California, praised private property as "the most successful basis for structuring society that humanity has ever known."

Bedell shot two police officers last night during the rampage, before being mortally wounded himself.

"Communist and socialist governments that abolished or disregarded private property," said Bedell in the recording, "created poverty, repression and murder on a truly enormous scale." But, he continued, "Even in the United States, however, there has been a continual erosion of protection of private property justified by the belief that government is an efficient instrument for the positive direction of society."

Bedell added: "Governments lack the profit and loss incentives that individuals and private organizations must use..."

And he warned: "When governments are able to confiscate the resources of their citizens to fund schemes that need only be justified by lies and deception enormous disasters can result."

Bedell also denounced the monetary system, a frequent bete noir of anti-government extremists. "When the government can control how private property is used," he said, "and especially when the government controls the monetary system that is use to exchange private property, the government has the mechanisms and the motivation to control individuals to the smallest detail."

Bedell even railed against the concept of public education. "Government control of the schools that shape minds is pervasive in today's world," he said. "The imperative to defend the freedom of conscience must lead us to eliminate the role of the government in education and leave parents and communities free to raise their children as they see fit." He denounced public education as "no more legitimate than a government-run church for universal religious training."

TPM

I wonder how many people are going to have to get hurt or killed before the mainstream media starts calling a spade a spade.

What's The Over/Under...

...on wingnut websites picking up this video and reporting it as fact? LOL

Wingnuts' Selective Outrage

Sometimes you just gotta love Gawker.


The nerve of that uppity negra putting his feet up on "our" desk....just like that great patriot Bush did....

Cue The Wingnut Freakout And The Cheney's On TV

The Obama administration will announce today that they will be transferring GITMO prisoners to a prison in Illinois.


I think I am going to turn off the TV and unplug for the rest of the week.

More Evidence That What Democrats Need To Do Politically Is Just Stay Out Of The Way

When it comes to going after incumbent Republicans or races where the seat is up for grabs, please please please Democratic establishment, just let them eat their own and then sweep in to take the seat. The only way we can fuck up the election next year is if we make ourselves targets of both the establishment GOP and the wingnut/teabagger factions. Otherwise they will beat themselves into oblivion and whomever emerges will be so far to the right as to scare average people. We dont need do anything other than watch, maybe giggle a little, and let nature take its course...

TAMPA - An increasingly fractious challenge to the Republican Party from its own conservative base could relegate the party to indefinite minority status, some Republicans fear.

It's showing up in the form of conservative primary challengers against candidates blessed by the party establishment - a strange phenomenon in a party known for tightly controlled, wait-your-turn politics.

Some Republicans fear the divisive primaries could leave GOP voters divided and dispirited, or push to the party so far right it alienates mainstream voters.

"If you tried to devise a strategy for destroying the Republican Party in Florida, you couldn't do much better than this," said retired University of South Florida political scientist Darryl Paulson, a Republican and a former Heritage Foundation fellow.

"The kind of narrow appeal they're offering would almost guarantee Republicans would become the minority party in Florida," Paulson said.

Charles Johnson Throws Up The Deuces

Charles Johnson, once one of the most influential right wing bloggers, has officially disassociated himself with the right today after moving away from them for the better part of this year. In my opinion this is a striking development as I personally could never see in a million years Johnson embracing any liberal or progressive policies. This guy is a conservative all the way make no mistake about it, but the right has gone too far for even him. I think his final two lines really sum up the state of the right wingers in this country.

The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.

I won’t be going over the cliff with them.

That to me is just another indication that you can throw all these generic ballots and polls out the window next year. When faced with the far right candidates likely to come out of many of the Congressional GOP primaries, I just really don't see most Americans going for that.

If they have lost Charles Johnson....

Just Stay The Hell Out Of The Way

By now hopefully most of you have heard that some members of the RNC and the Republican wingnut base want to conduct purity tests on candidates and current members of Congress so they can decide to deny funding to the campaigns of Republicans who do not pass said test. I think this is the greatest idea since sliced bread honestly and just about the only thing that will make this backfire on to Democrats is if we get in the way of what is sure to be a cannibalistic blood bath in the Republican Party next year.

What we need to do right now while they are having intraparty fights is concentrate on getting legislation passed. Oh sure we can do like we did back in grade school and when one GOP candidate challenge's another's conservative cred we can pump it up and make a big deal out of it in an effort to get the other guy to escalate the beef even further. But to me that should be the extent of it. These imbeciles are going to kill their electoral chances all on their own, they don't need any help at all.

Don't worry about generic ballots and polls right now, the mid term elections are still a year away. What Democratic strategists should be doing is tracking just how many contradictions all of the Republicans and I mean ALL of the Republicans are making in order to move to the right and win their primaries. As I said before the wingnut base doesn't give a shit about consistency. All they care about is conformity. So calling out their contradictions now don't really harm them at all, and it allows them to kind of catch themselves and not make too big a fool of themselves. Hell you already see Crist starting to flip flop BACK to his original position of supporting the stimulus. Thats not really what we want to have happen. We want him to stay on the wrong side of history and then bust his ass when the general comes around.

If we just keep documenting all the flip flopping it is going to be startling to general election voters in the middle how many hoops Republican candidates are willing to jump through in order to appease their base. Especially on issues having to do with global warming, something most people who aren't Republicans accept as reality. We want whomever to come out alive from a Republican primary to look like a wingnut right wing boogey man to the average person. And I can promise you that if we just stay out of the way and let them have at it, thats exactly what will happen.

Not only does this mean we won't lose as many seats as folks think we will right now, it also means we will pick up some seats that people aren't counting on. Arlen Specter had it right earlier this year when he switched parties (although I know a lot of people still aren't happy about that). He said that these wingnut groups putting wingnut candidates up to challenge Republicans who are already pretty far to the right by most folks standards don't really give a shit about winning and losing elections. For them its about taking the Republican Party as far to the right as they can go even if that means nobody trusts them to ever run the country.

So please folks, for the love of all that is good and cuddly, lets just sit on the sidelines for most of these fights. A little goading is ok once in awhile but lets not make ourselves a target that they can end up unifying behind. And lets not do such a great job of pointing out their hypocrisy NOW that they end up changing course and pulling back from the cliff.

Hell if they wanna jump, lets let em jump!

OF COURSE He Didn't Read The Bill!

Maybe its just me but I don't think anybody should be surprised that Dick Armey didn't read the stimulus bill. To revise a Chris Rock riff, these days Republicans "love to not know shit". If anything I am mildly surprised that he admitted it. But then again being against reading probably ups his cred with the wingnuts.

"I Don't Care About The Constitution"

Bill O'Reilly finally says what and other right wingers really think about our Constitution.



The more these dumbasses rail against putting KSM and other terrorists on trial here in federal court, the more they are going to reveal the venal cowards that they really are. It will be interesting to see if Bill O'Reilly tries to walk back his denouncement of the document that he and his cohorts claim to be upholding the values of night after night.

OOOOOOOOO This Is Gonna Get Good!

You want further proof that the Tea Baggers are gonna be the end of the GOP?

I was trolling memeorandum this morning having my cup of coffee when I came by this headline:

Dick Armey: Sarah Palin More 'Cheerleader' Than Captain...

Immediately I thought about how this could be the beginning of an all out, no holds barred, flame war between the Dick Armey astroturfed tea bagging crowd and the pro Sarah Palin, truth and knowledge don't matter, denizens. Alas when I clicked on the article Armey didn't really go after her like I thought he would although he did take some digs out of her for basically standing on the sidelines and also not doing the work necessary to become a viable candidate.

But then my dissappointment quickly evaporated as I remembered that wingnuts don't need any actual insults or slights to throw a hissy fit. So I go back over to memeorandum and sure enough there is a link to a post by "Conservatives 4 Palin".

Oh, its on BEYATCH! LOL

Armey really steps in it when he claims Governor Palin is just a "cheerleader". I don't know if he's being misogynistic or merely obtuse, but either way this is beneath the Dick Armey I thought I knew. I'd like to think he's simply having difficulty grasping the possibilities that technology allows in the hands of the right person. Governor Palin has always been a pioneer, both in spirit and in practice. This is who she is and how she has conducted her previous campaigns. She has never done things the conventional way. Perhaps Mr. Armey is unable to grasp the fact that yes, she can and is leading the modern conservative movement in a new and, perhaps, unconventional way. He is living in the past and needs to realize that there are new and better ways of doing things. As someone who has long supported Mr. Armey and his brand of libertarian conservatism for years, I hope this is the reason for his ill-conceived comments today.

snip

Today in a piece for Commentary Magazine, John Podhoretz writes that whatever Governor Palin's is doing to remain an influential player in American polictics is working just fine:

...Sarah Palin is dominating the news once again in advance of the release of her book. Which is to say, front-page stories, the lead stories on the morning shows, all using tiny tidbits of information about the book and a few clips from Monday’s Oprah. Whatever Sarah Palin is, she is also, as all this makes clear, a huge star. With the very prominent exception of Barack Obama, she’s the sensation in American politics this decade. And a person who can make news just by opening her mouth is a person to be reckoned with, a person who is not going away, a person who is going to play a role in American politics for a long time.

It is clear, to say the least, that Mr. Podhoretz has a much better grasp on Governor Palin's influence than Mr. Armey. Dick Armey can either get on board and help, or step aside.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

What makes this particular flame war perfect is that its between to people who are out of elected office and not likely to run again at least for the next 3 years or so. That means neither will have any motivation to hold back or apologize because there are no voters for them to cow tow to. This has all the earmarks of escalating, especially with Palin's history of not just letting things go. And it really doesn't matter who wins, as long as it keeps heating up because no matter what as long as it keeps going its gonna keep fracturing the GOP base.

Now all progressives and liberals, we need to for the most part just get the hell out of the way and let this happen. If we jump in and start antagonising for either side it may well backfire and derail this whole implosion by giving them a common target to unify against. Trust me on this one, they don't need any help at all to make this train wreck happen.

Instead I propose that we all hold back on criticizing Sarah Palin or at least criticizing her as much as we were. As everybody knows I have a moratorium on posting on any Sarah Palin stories (and technically I am still in compliance because this isn't about her per se, this is about the sychophants who follow her and the paid sychophants that follow Armey) and so far the world hasn't come to an end. At this point she has so destroyed her own credibility that you have the AP and even FoxNews jumping out to fact check her before some of our own blogs have a chance to do so.

So instead just sit back, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the fireworks that are sure to come!

The Abyss Comes To Florida

This is going to make things a LOT more interesting down here in Florida.

With Republicans grappling with the fallout of an intra-party battle that may have cost them a House seat, the head of the Senate Republican campaign effort is making a pledge that may ease some of the anger being directed at the party establishment. "

We will not spend money in a contested primary," Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told ABC News in a telephone interview today."

There's no incentive for us to weigh in," said Cornyn, R-Texas. "We have to look at our resources. . . . We're not going to throw money into a [primary] race leading up to the election."

Cornyn said his pledge extends to races for open Senate seats -- not incumbents who may face primaries next year. The NRSC so far has endorsed candidates in four open Senate seats -- Florida, Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.

Cornyn's commitment is most immediately relevant in Florida, where the NRSC's candidate, Gov. Charlie Crist, is facing an aggressive challenge on his right from state House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Some of the same conservative groups that supported Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd congressional district are making noises about backing Rubio, in a contest that could be the next showdown over the direction of the party. "We're seriously looking at it. We like Marco Rubio a lot. We think that Charlie Crist represents some of the same things that Dede Scozzafava represents," Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said on ABCNews.com's "Top Line" Monday. Scozzafava was the Republican nominee in the New York race.

Now understand that I believe that Kendrick Meek, the very likely Democratic candidate for the Senate here in Florida is more than equipped to dispatch Charlie Crist in a general election next year. But if the wingnuts come calling down here and push Marco Rubio past Crist in a primary it would be like a gift handed to us. The lesson they should have learned last night is that even in a reliably Republican district, if you push a Rush Limbaugh/Sarah Palin/Americans For Prosperity candidate you will lose. Instead these folks are now under the delusion that losing seats equals winning.

I can promise you that I won't be the one to try to snap them out of it either. As a matter of fact can someone send me some info on how I can help Rubio's primary campaign? I think its time for progressives to really get behind him in that race lol.

Two Words For You, "The Abyss"

I haven't posted much on the NY23 race mostly because I was too busy sitting over here laughing my ass off about it. This is the case study on why I predicted earlier this year that the GOP isn't headed into the wilderness, but into the abyss. This pretty much goes back to John McCain picking Sarah Palin as his VP candidate. She came to embody what a substantial part of the Republican Party thinks they should be, at least from all her rhetoric.

Proud to be stupid, inflexible, dogmatic, irrational, underqualified, and hyperbolic.

That is the "base" of the GOP now. And for them its all fine and good to lose elections as long as they ran as "conservative" a race as possible and polarized people. They don't give a shit about polls, or science, or the will of the people. All they care about is their own ideology and everybody else are the crazy ones for not subscribing to it.

Now you have what should have been an innocuous special election for a House seat in northern New York which by all accounts should have been an easy win for any Republican candidate. But you see Sarah Palin's GOP will not take yes for an answer. For them it isn't about whether or not the GOP can build their numbers back up. No, for them its about the strictest litmus test possible for the Republican candidate. When the woman who was nominated by the local GOP, Dede Scozzafava, didn't fit in that box because she held some moderate positions, the "base" of the party, you know the Tea Baggers who swear they don't care about the GOP, decided to put up their own idealogue, Doug Hoffman, who of course has no idea of what the hell the job entails.

Hoffman is quite simply a Sarah Palin clone. Proud to be ignorant of the needs of that district. Oh so proud to be an idealogue. And built up by people who don't really give a shit about NY23 but instead their own political futures. But hey why let that keep him from ruining the Republicans chances of winning a seat that has been in their possession for literally over 100 years.

I will just let the paper of record from that district, the Watertown Daily, which initially endorsed Scozzafava, take it away now.

The Watertown Daily Times initially endorsed Ms. Scozzafava as the best-qualified candidate in the race. We still think she is. However, in suspending her campaign she released her supporters' commitment to her. That left voters to choose between Mr. Owens and Mr. Hoffman.

Of the two, Bill Owens is by far the superior and only choice.

The Democratic candidate has demonstrated a willingness to listen to people about ways in which he could help the district as their representative in Washington. Mr. Owens has remained focused on the economy and job creation throughout his campaign. At the same time, he has shown an understanding of the military, a keen desire to help dairy farmers, an ability to work with labor unions and an eagerness to learn more about the vast, 11-county district that he hopes to represent.

Mr. Owens seems to approach politics and challenges with an open mind, a generous spirit and a can-do attitude. He has conducted a dignified campaign in comparison to Doug Hoffman.

Mr. Hoffman is running as an ideologue. If he carries out his pledges on earmarks, taxation, labor law reform and other inflexible positions, Northern New York will suffer. This rural district depends on the federal government for an investment in Fort Drum and its soldiers, environmental protection of our international waterway and the Adirondack Park, and the livelihood of all our dairy farmers across the district, among other support. Our representative cannot be locked into rigid promises and policies that would jeopardize these critical sectors of our economy.

For a member of Congress, there may be a time to promote reform in Washington, but there is also a time to work within a system that best serves the people you represent.

It is frightening that Mr. Hoffman is so beholden to right-wing ideologues who dismiss Northern New Yorkers as parochial when people here simply want to know how Mr. Hoffman will protect their interests in Washington.

The race has changed, but voters still face an important choice. Northern New York must send to Congress a representative who serves their interests first and foremost.

The Times endorses Bill Owens for Congress.

Now here is the rub. Should Bill Owens win on Tuesday the right wing base of the GOP will actually count this as a victory. Leave aside the fact that Scozzafava would have agreed with the GOP in Congress on probably something like 98% of issues. Better yet she probably would have voted with them 99% of the time. And we all know that ain't happening with Owens.

No for them as long as they don't have a "RINO" in office that is all that matters.

Now we Democrats have our own problems with DINOs. But the difference is we don't mind folks having a different opinion or point of view, as long as they don't obstruct their own party. The base of the GOP now wants nothing less than blind allegiance to what they claim are conservative views. Doesn't matter that their "god" Ronald Reagan had some of the worst economic ideas in our country's history. Doesn't matter that the "culture wars" of years past are now passing their party up with the younger generation. Doesn't matter that the demographics of the country are changing in such a way that their lack of minority outreach will only increase in importance going forward.

They. Don't. Care.

So if my fellow Democrats are smart we will largely just stay out of the way and let them eat their own. This one fire that doesn't need any more gasoline added. Just let the flame wars go and then sweep away the ashes when its time to count votes.

It is what it is.

Why Conservative "Media" Deserves To Be Ignored

This is the perfect illustration of why FoxNews along with most other conservative "media" outlets should be ignored by real media outlets.

And I just have to say, PEFECT timing too.

Charlie Crist Hopes His CRS Is Contagious

Evidently Charlie Crist has a severe case of CRS, Can't Remember Shit. And he is REALLY hoping that not only his base but also general election voters will come down with the same ailment.

There was a time not so long ago when Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and President Obama saw eye-to-eye on economic policy. But that was before Crist announced his bid for Senate.

Crist's first radio ads slam Obama over his plan to, as Crist says in the script, "spend our way into prosperity." The popular Florida governor once (literally) embraced the stimulus package and the Obama plan to, well, spend America back into prosperity. But a summer of attacks from the right, led by former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, appear to have brought that bipartisan spirit to an end.

The pair of radio spots are actually running in the very same market where Crist's stimulus-support summit with Obama took place back in February. The rally took place as other GOP governors that, like Crist, were considered on the short list for 2012 presidential runs were fighting the stimulus plan and even promising to refuse the funds. Crist bucked the trend and welcomed the money, a move seen by readers of political tea leaves as an attempt to appeal to a moderate national base.

LMAOOOOO This is getting increasingly comical from that guy. Its also another sign of why I think all these predictions of a Republican resurgence next year are totally bogus. The early polling totally discounts just how far to the right most Republicans will have to run next year just to win a primary. So far to the right in fact that they totally discredit themselves and any prior "bipartisan" stance they have ever taken. Its the same reason why John McCain was able to win the Republican nomination for President only by denouncing some of his best bipartisan work. And while that might work in a primary, people don't forget that kind of blatant pandering in general elections. Charlie Crist was at least the second most prominent Republican elected official in the country to publicly back President Obama on the stimulus and it really was and is a good move. But because his base is full now the fringe of America and because Crist never met an issue he wouldn't willingly flip on if the political winds shifted, this is what you end up with. Classic memory hole stuff in those ads.

The people of Florida are a lot smarter than this and they for damn sure deserve better. Agree or disagree with him on policy issues, Kendrick Meek is going to stand for what he believes it. That is the TRUE sign of leadership and that is what we need in our next junior Senator representing we the people.

But I Thought They Had Said It Wasn't About Racism

Somebody tell Carville and Greenberg to take that study and shove it up their ass!

WASHINGTON - The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency’s overall mission.

snip

The domestic threat is also growing, fueled in part by Obama’s election as the nation’s first black president, according to specialists who study homegrown radical movements.

Obama, who was given Secret Service protection 18 months before the election - the earliest ever for a presidential candidate - has been the target of more threats since his inauguration than his predecessors.

Two days before Obama’s appearance at San Francisco fund-raisers on Thursday, a 59-year-old Northern California man was indicted on charges of sending a racist, profanity-filled e-mail threatening to kill Obama and his family. The rambling e-mail included specific references to Michelle Obama and the phrase, “do it to his children and family first in front of him,’’ according to the indictment.

The Southern Poverty Law Center says that antigovernment militias and white supremacist groups have strengthened in recent years, responding to an increasingly diverse population and what they see as an expanding government.

A center study released in August found a nearly 35 percent growth in racially based domestic hate groups since 2000 - from 602 to 926. The center concluded that opposition to Obama’s election has only increased the phenomenon.

“A key difference this time is that the federal government - the entity that almost the entire radical right views as its primary enemy - is headed by a black man,’’ the report said. “One result has been a remarkable rash of domestic terror incidents since the presidential campaign, most of them related to anger over the election of Barack Obama.’’

Threatening language has also found its way into talk radio broadcasts and social networking websites, raising fears that individuals not normally considered threats to the president could be incited to violence.

For example, the Secret Service in recent months has investigated a poll posted on Facebook about whether Obama should be killed. It has interviewed a Florida radio talk show host after a caller mentioned ammunition, target practice, and the president, and federal officials have raised concerns about several instances in which protesters carrying weapons showed up at Obama events, including a man at an August town hall in New Hampshire.

“The racist extremist fringe is exploiting themes that strike a chord in the mainstream more than we have seen in the recent past,’’ said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino, citing several elected leaders who have questioned whether Obama is a US citizen eligible to be president.

I can't wait to hear these fucknuts try to explain this away as just "fear of big government".

The Congressional Asshat Caucus

Several members of the GOP Congressional Anti Terrorism Anti Muslim Caucus decided to hold a big news conference yesterday and accuse the group CAIR with a conspiracy to "infiltrate" the government with Muslims. Their evidence? A book written by wingnut World Net Daily author Dave Gaubatz who made this statement last year.

“a vote for Hussein Obama is a vote for Sharia Law.”

Please for the love God keep giving these people microphones so the rest of the nation can see what the Republican Party has become.

What Indoctrination REALLY Looks Like!

C'mon wingnuts, lets see you freak out over this!

Treasonous Right Wing Fantasies

I understand that NewsMax is a boil on the ass of America but even they should have higher standards than this. Its all fun and games until somebody gets snatched for making these kinds of dangerous and irresponsible provocations.

Republicans/Conservatives Do Not Live On The Same Planet As The Rest Of Us

Jon Stewart takes a look at what is most important to Republicans and their wingnut base compared to what is important to the rest of us.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
America: Target America
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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The shot at Tucker Carlson is an added benefit ;)