Up to this point, the Republicans have been riding a wave of what political scientists like to refer to as “Being Really Fucking Pissed Off”. Good for getting votes. Not so good for actually coming up with solutions.

House Minority Leader and tanning bed junkie John Boehner has called for repealing the Healthcare Reform Bill but little else beyond endless investigations of the Obama Administration.

What exactly are they going to investigate? Failing to live up to expectations is hardly a punishable offense. If it were, my mother would have had me arrested years ago. As for the HCR bill, he might as well have called for the end of Whoopi Goldberg’s overwhelming sex appeal. Both are pipe dreams.

David Frum recently wrote a more thoughtful, but slightly less humorous analysis.

Boehner is signaling, apparently, that the Republican congressional majority will arrive pre-exhausted, without ideas, ready to do business with K Street from Day 1. This is not good news.  It’s also unfortunately not surprising news. For 24 months, an emotionally intense opposition to the president has been unsupported by anything like a Republican policy agenda. The party is agreed on holding a vote on the repeal of Obamacare. Beyond that — it’s all a big void.

Politics abhors a vacuum however, and into that void all kinds of mischief can seep. We may be subject to endless investigations of petty scandals rather than measures to restart the stalled recovery.

The iron triangle [committee chairs, lobbyists and regulators] will assert itself; rather than a finite set of promises to redeem, GOP lawmakers will confront an open-ended set of deals to be made.

Republicans have done insufficient serious policy work over the past half dozen years. The legacy of this inactivity is a party on the brink of power, lacking an intellectual framework for the use of that power.

After blowing their wad, Republicans will have to live up to the hype of their big win, which according to Frum they are not prepared to do. And Americans have made a spectator sport of “Building Them Up and Then Tearing Them Down”. The left will get re-pissed off and turn out in 2012, when frankly it matters more.   All good for Dems.

And the endless political cycle of “Not That Guy” will continue.

I don’t know if any of these are really reasons to be optimistic, but I need some good news before I jump, damn it.

. . .a certain fatalism — that a double-dip recession is inevitable–has crept into a lot of economic analysis lately, and it may be overstating the degree to which we are in dire straits. In fact, there are some reasons for at least modest optimism. A roaring recovery is probably not on the way, but here are five reasons that a slow-and-steady recovery is likely to continue.

Is the GOP ready for prime time?- by David Frum

Boehner is signaling, apparently, that the Republican congressional majority will arrive pre-exhausted, without ideas, ready to do business with K Street from Day 1. This is not good news. It’s also unfortunately not surprising news. For 24 months, an emotionally intense opposition to the president has been unsupported by anything like a Republican policy agenda. The party is agreed on holding a vote on the repeal of Obamacare. Beyond that — it’s all a big void.

My name is Glenn Beck, and I need help – by Kathleen Parker

Beck’s “Restoring Honor” gathering on the Mall was right out of the Alcoholics Anonymous playbook. It was a 12-step program distilled to a few key words, all lifted from a prayer delivered from the Lincoln Memorial: healing, recovery and restoration.

Saturday’s Beckapalooza was yet another step in Beck’s own personal journey of recovery. He may as well have greeted the crowd of his fellow disaffected with:

“Hi. My name is Glenn, and I’m messed up.”

Moral of the story: Never let facts get in the way of a good bitch, on either side.

Driving around today in my new suburban-mobile, the song “The Beauty of Gray” from Ed Kowalczyk and the boys from Live came on the 8 speaker surround sound (I may not know much but I do know how to ROCK.) Wise.

We are all sadly familiar with the security-camera videos, the voice-of-doom narration and the horror-movie music that are the essential ingredients in a 30-second attack ad. But each campaign year, there are updates in the poll-driven formulas as media consultants grope for the right words to sell a problematic product.

He breaks down the ads so far to four categories.

Republican Cliché: Washington Destroyed a Booming Bush Economy
Democratic Cliché: What Stimulus Package? What Health-Care Bill?
Republican Cliché: I’m a Citizen Who Hates Politics
Democratic Cliché: Okay, I’m Not Perfect. But Have You Seen My Opponent?

None of these make my trousers tight, and that’s part of Shapiro’s point. (Although why he is commenting on my trousers is a mystery.)

As media consultants reach into their familiar trick bag, there is still a mismatch between what is being put on television and what general-election voters presumably want after being battered by recession and dispirited by dashed hopes.

It’s all so predictable. It’s all so tiresome. . .

Yes it is but at least the pizza boy got him some.

At a recent “Conservatives R Us” meeting, he said he expected a GOP controlled Congress to shut down the government. Because it worked so well last time.

At the Americans for Prosperity (AFP) summit he said, “There’s going to be a government shutdown, just like in ’95 and ’96. And we’re going to win it this time, and I’m going to be fighting on your side!”

I’m surmising that Morris thinks “we” are going to win it this time because “he” is now on their side. If you recall, Morris was a key campaign/political advisor to President Bill Clinton in 1995 and 96.

He was forced to resign because he was caught frequenting a prostitute, the key word being “frequent”. The GOP didn’t make too of a big deal about it at the time because Morris also had worked for many Republicans, including Sen. Trent Lott. Playing both sides against the hooker apparently. Good work if you can get it.

Morris is now a commentator on Fox News and Clinton hater, specifically Hilary Clinton – who didn’t take too kindly to his adventures. Jon Stewart and The Daily Show famously skewed him during the 2008 campaign.

Dick Morris (in 2008 on media coverage of Sarah Palin): ” a man would never have had to go through this…it’s the deep sexism that runs through our society”

Dick Morris (in 2007 talking about Hilary Clinton’s claims of sexism): “When a woman wants to be President, she shouldn’t complain based on gender…(mockingly) I’m gonna take my toys and go home cause the big boys are picking on me…what happens when the boys in the middle east, or the boys who run Russia, or the boys who run China start picking on ya’. Are we gonna have the Presidents of the Unites States saying ‘the boys are picking on me’? This is what Hilary always does. When ever she gets under fire she retreats behind the apron strings.”

Jon Stewart – “Now, now, now…In Dick Morris’s defense, he is a lying sack of shit.”

On to oranges and an interesting article in the New York Times about the changing demographic of Orange Co. California.

Orange County has been a national symbol of conservatism for more than 50 years: birthplace of President Richard M. Nixon and home to John Wayne, a bastion for the John Birch Society. . .

Overwhelmingly and reliably Republican no more. Immigration is one factor, as is a changing regional economy. As we wrote a few months ago, demographics are destiny. The Right is currently riding high, but at what long-term price? The nice thing about a small tent is that everyone is the same. The bad thing about a small tent is that everyone is the same.

And finally, my libertarian friends. Yesterday the Alaskan Libertarian Party voted to not allow Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski to replace their candidate on the November ballot if she loses the Republican nomination. Murkowski is currently behind in a close vote.

Good call on their part. How possibly would that have helped their cause? One of Libertarian Party’s strong points is adherence to their principles. And the fact that very few people actually know what those principles are. (I kid because I love.) My favorite part of this story is the 5-man “executive committee” who made this decision regularly hold their meetings at Denny’s. To be fair, it’s a really nice Denny’s.

UPDATE: Murkowski concedes the Republican nomination. Doesn’t appear to want to be a write-in candidate either. Maybe she can hook up with my good friend Millard Fillmore.

It has long been said that any political coalition large enough to aspire to majority status is an organization of factions, conflict and contradictions. That description defines the Republican Party today as it looks toward the November elections and beyond.

Do Moderates Need an Ideology? -by Rick Bayan

Today, in the capital of our unhappy republic, representatives of the wingnut right and wingnut left are staging dueling circuses. On the right, Glenn Beck and his overheated minions are assembling at the Lincoln Memorial, 47 years to the day after the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. told us about his dream. On the left, the Rev. Al Sharpton, race-card player extraordinaire, will be rallying his own troops. Vintage journalist and social critic H. L. Mencken, merry old cynic that he was, would have relished the spectacle. Me, not so much.

I have a confession to make. Let me announce it right here, on my very own marginal patch of blogosphere turf, in front of my moderate comrades and anyone else who might stumble across these words.

I envy the wingnuts.

Balanced Budget Amendment is ‘Phony’ – by Bruce Bartlett

It’s hard not to be cynical about the Republicans’ motives. They know that most Americans are justifiably concerned about the enormous budget deficit and rising debt levels. But Republicans also know that most Americans are opposed to cutting vital spending or raising taxes to close the deficit, so they don’t dare offer any meaningful program for actually balancing the budget. Republicans likely asked their pollsters what polled well and sounded like a serious response to the deficit problem, and what wouldn’t force them to support anything politically unpopular. The pollsters pointed to a balanced budget amendment.

A Test of Tolerance – by Christopher Hitchens

Let us by all means make the “Ground Zero” debate a test of tolerance. But this will be a one-way street unless it is to be a test of Muslim tolerance as well.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED? Maddow Talks Marriage, Mosque

Heidi Montag’s Breast Implant Woes

Elisany Silva, Tallest Teen In The World, Sets Sights On Modeling

Bikini-Clad Strippers Protest Church In Rural Ohio (wait, I do care about this one)

Amateur ghost hunter looking for ‘ghost train’ hit and killed by real train…

Scoop: Lohan back on Twitter with driving tips

Is your teen a ‘mutant’ Christian?

How can I get rid of ‘man boobs’? (what? what???)

Facebook sues firm for using ‘book’

Scientists Crack Wheat Genome

Levi Johnston Says He’d Make A Perfect Mayor Because He Has No Experience

And America’s intelligence dies a little more each day.

(Please add your own.)

And, “. . . as one observer put it to us: “Anyone running positive TV ads right now is better off giving that money to charity.” Positive doesn’t work until you’ve completely dismantled your opponent.”

What happened to the old American political axiom that American’s want leaders who make us believe in a better place? Hope essentially. Not Obama “hope”. Not not Obama “hope”. Just hope. Just better.

Presidents like Reagan and FDR were synonymous with hope, with the thought of a better future, with the best of America. Between the two, isn’t there something there for everyone? Weren’t their times full of uncertainty? Sadly the peddlers of the ugliness have taken those words and concepts, wiped their asses with them and thrown it at the rest of us. (I’m sure there is something Freudian with my description. My issues are for another dozen posts. Ok, two dozen.)

Before you call in the National Guard to de-bunch your panties, I’m not equating this with rational, intelligent disagreements over the direction of the country. Nor is this a defense or critique of any current policy. It’s simply an observation.

Will we look back at these times and equate it with other fear based low points in our political history? (See the Filibustering: Civil Rights, Internment: Japanese and Scare:Red). I don’t think we are there yet. But we’re only at the quarter pole.

Where will this all lead? I don’t know. But one thing is for sure – those who are stoking the fear, those who gain from the resentments are opportunists not leaders. They are not the best of America.

Along with the numerous ads for consignment stores, tattoo artists and Asian “massage therapists” were easily two dozens ads for medical marijuana. Full pages ads. Full color ads. Not fully smokeable ads however. (Note to self: newsprint is harsh.)

It looks like somebody placed one ad, fed it Miracle Gro and put it under a sun lamp 24/7. BOOM, we got ourselves a bountiful harvest.

There were ads with coupons and early bird specials. Ads offering choice, wellness and customer service. Ads with free gifts. Ads with special “recession” deals. Ads featuring Uncle Sam. Ads for a Cannabis College complete with photo of a conservative older man in a lab coat. (Professor Thai Stick. He’s not a grower, but he plays one on TV.)

For the record, medical marijuana is legal here in California and a measure to legalize non-medical marijuana is on the ballot in November. Polls have the proposition leading.

Marijuana marketing will be the ultimate growth industry. Don Draper would have a non-stop hard-on. Imagine the ads:

“For all you do, this joint’s for you.”
“Just smoke it”
“Have a Toke and a smile”
“Got bong?”
“If you can find it for less, my name’s not Columbian Joe.”
“You’re in good hands, with Still Tokin’ Smoke Shop”
“Don’t leave home without it…if you can remember where you put it.”
“Come on down to Crazy Mary Jane’s – where I will not be under sold!”
“If you have the munchies for more than 4 hours, call your doctor.”

Once it’s in a form Americans understand, maybe then it won’t be so scary.

Bringing up divisive issues that distract from fixing the country’s economic woes will only create cracks in the bridge between the two major parties and independents, said Omar H. Ali, an independent voting analyst and professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.

Independents, he said, are the watchdogs and “conscience of America” when it comes to issues like the economy. The blame game over who caused the economic recession only highlights what is wrong in American politics today, Ali said.

Wanted: A few stand-up candidates – by David Broder

The Democrats seem determined to teach us the price of vacillation, while the Republicans are bent on instructing us on the rewards of obstruction. What a helluva choice awaits in the November election.

This is my sour August reflection on the two months of travel ahead of me on the campaign trail — a search for candidates who may lift the gloom and restore some faith in the principled politics so lacking in Washington these days.

America Speaking Out for Centrist Agenda – by Nicholas R. Goebel

AmericaSpeakingOut.com demonstrates that Americans are not boxed into one ideology or party; they want common sense solutions to move America forward, whether the ideas are conservative or progressive does not matter. And that is great news for centrists. Because only centrists have enough independence to promote pragmatic solutions no matter which party proposes them or opposes them. All that matters is that America improves and gets on the right track again.

Real Americans, Please Stand Up – by Dick Cavett

Surely, few of the opponents of the Islamic cultural center would feel comfortable at the “International Burn a Koran Day” planned by a southern church-supported group (on a newscast, I think I might have even glimpsed a banner reading, “Bring the Whole Family,” but maybe I was hallucinating). This all must have gone over big on Al Jazeera news.

I like to think I’m not easily shocked, but here I am, seeing the emotions of the masses running like a freight train over the right to freedom of religion — never mind the right of eminent domain and private property.

The Whigs died out in the 1850′s, splitting over slavery. But in today’s crazy political climate, they’re back as the Modern Whig Party. I think it is safe to assume they’ve come together on that messy forced servitude issue.

According to their website the party was, “Revived by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, this grassroots movement has quickly attracted thousands of new members. We represent moderate voters from all walks of life who cherry-pick between traditional Republican and Democratic ideals in what has been called the Modern Whig Philosophy.”

You can read a profile of Jeff Vanke, a Modern Whig candidate in Virginia, at Rise of the Center.

The CZ is all for cherry picking, although their “state-ish rights-ish” stance doesn’t do anything for my Millard. (I am going to milk that joke until it looks like Dust Bowl era cattle.)

As I’ve written before, (you should really read it, ’cause it’s awesome) I’ve always been luke warm in general about third parties. (Unless that third-party is 21-year-old bi-sexual USC cheerleader.) I know that will disturb some of our readers. But I am a pragmatist. The U.S. has been a predominately two-party country its entire political life. The odds of a viable, sustainable third-party becoming a real player in U.S. politics are very very very long. Very.

Third party advocates will say this is because The Man is holding them down. I agree somewhat. But you can’t put all that at the webbed feet of Nancy Pelosi and Michael Steele. The market is also speaking.

Although polls show vast majorities are unhappy with the current parties, this has not translated into a groundswell of support for the Greens, the Modern Whigs or Uncle Bob’s Country Party either. People are not marching in the streets chanting for Schmitty and the CZ Party. And lord knows, I’ve tried. The best I’ve attracted is three hobos and a cat with a tumor on its ass.

Although I admire the balls it takes to put yourself out there as a third-party candidate, I think attracting and electing moderate candidates within the current parties is a faster, more effective way to achieve what I think we’re all looking for. Sorry if I’m taking a dump on your dream.

While you’re constructing your rebuttal, I need to go powder Mrs. Fillmore’s whig if you get my meaning. Every 50 years she comes up for air. I’ve got to strike while the Millard’s hot.

(One too many, huh.)

Principle and idiocy are non-exclusive lovers.  What’s old is new.  What’s new is old.  What’s cold, frosty and contains alcohol is good.

These two posts take on the right but the left is hardly a virgin when comes to good ol’ fashion American fear-mongering. (See Social Security, Medicare, abortion, Wall Street, Main Street, climate change. . .)

It’s My Shocked Face

Sex and Bacon

Go to their site to see this in it’s fully glory. (Thanks to loyal reader Lynn for the heads up.)

Sacramento’s local minor league baseball team is holding a bobblehead giveaway this Friday. But in this politically obsessed capital city, the freebie isn’t an homage to a famous ballplayer or a budding superstar.

It’s a choice between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown.

Fans can “vote” to select either the Republican former EBay chief executive or the Democratic attorney general as they enter the stadium. The candidate whose bobblehead runs out first wins.

This will probably be more popular than the Jock Strap giveaway for the primary. Whitman won that handily.

“Out of all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks in all of American history — have you ever wondered who the worst of the worst was? Well, we here at RWN wondered about that, too, and that’s why we decided to email more than a hundred bloggers to get their opinions.”

Ultra left-wing kooks are included. No ultra right-wing kooks, because there aren’t any. The top three results: Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, FDR. Timothy McVeigh, killer of woman and children, #9. Charles Manson doesn’t rank. Al Gore comes in at lucky 13. See the complete list.

We here at the CZ never miss the chance to jump on the bandwagon. We conducted our own polling of these same conservative bloggers. The answers are below.

Top 10 Greatest Figures in American History.
1 – Ronald Reagan
2 – Sarah Palin
3 – Jesus (what have you done for me lately)
4 – Sarah Palin’s Tits
5 – Scoobie Doo (crime fighter/patriot)
6 – Ronnie James Dio/Ted Nugget
7 – Poodles
8 – Zach Weinstein (Jesus’ Facebook page administrator)
9 – Richard Petty/Ricky Bobby
10- That guy on the corner holding the Obama Sucks sign

Who Would You Rather, Reagan or Palin?
Reagan 99%
Palin 1% (RINO)

Greatest American Achievements
1 – Red Scare
2 – Red Bull
3 – Freedom

Greatest Protector of Our Freedoms
1 – Fox News
2 – Me
3 – Rush Limbaugh’s pharmacist

Greatest Constitutional Amendment
1 – John 3:16
2 – The one’s I don’t want to change when I get mad

If you could be a tree, what kind of tree would you be?
1 – Dead

Maybe we should just let the children run the country, at least until the recession is over. They appear to be the only people not bubbling over with anger, anxiety and frustration.

According to a Gallup poll released on Thursday, 70 percent of U.S. students in grades 5 through 12 say they are thriving, 63 percent say they feel engaged and 53 percent say they feel hopeful.

Adults are a bit more bitter.

This week in baseless Reagan hagiography – by Steve Kornacki

After the ’82 vote, Reagan faced calls from his fellow Republicans not to seek reelection in 1984. Some outspoken conservatives even demanded — publicly — that he be challenged in the ’84 primaries if he went ahead and ran. (Jack Kemp, William Armstrong and Jesse Helms were all touted as would-be challengers.) Liberal Republicans (they still existed, sort of) were equally discontent; a pre-scandal Bob Packwood made a late ’82 trip to New Hampshire, teasing a possible bid of his own. And Capitol Hill Republicans began charting a course independent of the Reagan White House.

All of this stopped only when the economy — and, as a result, Reagan’s poll numbers — began showing life in ’83. There’s just no need to bend over backwards trying to invent reasons for Reagan’s post-’82 strength when we already have a perfectly good one.

Two Different Electorates – by Rhodes Cook (Thanks to Rise of the Center for the tip on this one.)

Compared to a highly focused, high-stakes presidential contest, a midterm election is often less dynamic and more diffuse – with myriad elections of varying importance happening within the 50 states and 435 congressional districts. As a result, a midterm can turn into a test of voter mobilization, with the outcome often dependent on two variables: each party’s ability to rouse their base, and each party’s success at wooing the large swing group of independent voters.

A party that can build an edge in both categories can score a congressional landslide.

DirtyScottsdale.com’s founder is claiming GOP Congressional candidate Ben Quayle was a founding contributor to the site, documenting his quest to find the “hottest chick in Scottsdale” under the alias Brock Landers. Brock Landers is porn star character from the movie “Boogie Nights.”

Really, he chose Brock Landers as an alias? Were “The Schlongmeister” and “Python Pants” taken?

Quayle, who is the son of former VP Dan Quayle, at first denied the accusation saying he was not involved in the site. However in an interview with a Phoenix TV station, he admitted “posting comments to try to drive some traffic”.

When asked what kind of comments, Quayle replied as only a Quayle can do, “This is four years ago. This is hilarious this is being brought up. … This is a smear. This is a smear on me from a smear website being pushed by a smear campaign.”

He added “smearty, smear, smear….smear smear smear.”

Quayle has some high-profile Republican contributors including former Pres. Bush (41), Bob Dole, John Sununu and Dirk Diggler. No word on endorsements from Roller Girl or Chest Rockwell.

In a related note, Democratic Representative Charles Rangel is rumored to play Dirk Diggler in the “Boogie Nights” remake. His performance yesterday on the House floor showed he has the biggest dick in Congress.

In a totally and completely unrelated note, I’m totally digging the whole Palin/Teacher video thing. My favorite part of the exchange is when the teacher says to Palin “Well, you’re certainly not representing the state of Alaska any longer” And one of the numerous Palin offspring chimes in, “She’s representing the United States”.

Did I miss that election? I took a nap last Saturday afternoon. Did it happen then, because I’m pretty good about keeping track of those pesky things.

First on the California Prop 8 ruling last week. Ted Olson, one of the lawyers arguing against Prop 8 and a consistent conservative, gives his reason for taking this case to Fox News. I do love how Chris Wallace infers that somehow Olson was corrupted by LIBERAL Rob Reiner – like Reiner invited him over for his nightly cocaine and gay hooker neighborhood b-b-q. You have some blow, join a conga line and next thing you know, you’re lawyerin’ it up to impress your new friend Rory (probably in assless leather chaps.) Fox News can’t seem to understand it when people don’t hate other people.

Fear the 'tache

Speaking of haters, Sunday was the 36th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s resignation. According to charter member of the Creepiest Moustache Ever Club, Larry Sabato, August 8, 1974 was exactly 6 yrs after Nixon won the ’68 GOP nomination and one year before his VP Spiro Agnew declared that he had never taken kickbacks & would never resign. (He had and he did.)

I have a very strong memory as a kid watching NIxon’s speech. My mother “highly suggested” I watch it. “Honey, you’ll thank me later. And maybe get a blog post out of it.” Mom was ahead of her time.

My other Nixon childhood memory was our 4th grade class voting for President in ’72. One of my friends’ mother brought in a sign for us that read “Nixon Killed 100,000 Babies in Vietnam”. “Gee, thanks for that Mrs. Hubbard. Ya might want to bring it down a notch. We’re fucking 8 years old.”

I was not in favor of the effort to have the courts invalidate Proposition 8. I felt that the integrity of the ballot initiative process in California should not be compromised, even if it meant maintaining a policy that some might not like.

Yet I always heard Liebman’s voice asking why I was not in favor of justice for same-sex couples, why I couldn’t see that Prop. 8 was a blatant violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Liebman’s voice asked if I even cared about basic human dignity, basic human rights, basic human fairness.

I did not know how to answer.

A Grand Unified Theory of Palinisms -by Jacob Weisberg

So far as I can tell, Sarah Palin has four core beliefs:
1. Things go better with God.
2. Yay, Alaska!
3. Let’s drill that sucker.
4. Curse you, political establishment.

Can The U.S. Keep Up In Clean Energy Race? – by Amy Harder

What can the U.S. do to keep up with China and other countries in the clean energy race?

The Senate has stalled action on legislation that prices carbon emissions and sets a renewable electricity standard, leading many energy experts to warn that the U.S. will fall far behind other countries, namely China and India, in developing clean energy like wind, solar, and “clean coal” technology, while continuing its dependence on fossil fuels.

What proposals in Congress right now would help spur the development of domestic clean energies? What can the administration do in this area to drive innovation and development? What does the U.S. risk in losing the clean energy race?

Go to the article to see smart responses to those questions by several experts.

Iran: Are Sanctions Working? -by Andrew Sullivan

And so Obama, again, is offering an open hand to the coup regime to open its nuclear sites for effective and genuine international inspection, and to move toward shared anti-Taliban goals in Afghanistan. This may come to naught, but it turns the tables on Ahmadi on the international stage. And in the end, this matters.

Some on the right want to repeal the 14th Amendment. Finally! – the silver bullet to solve all our ills. Stop the brown people. The good folks at the Wright and Left Report decided to find out who might have to leave if we delete 14.

Today’s winner, Michelle Malkin!

Michelle Malkin - So Hot, So Angry

Fuck ya. I’m suddenly feelin’ like repealin’.

In case you are unfamiliar with her, Malkin is one angry broad. A fixture on Fox News, she gives Sean Hannity the illusion he has a shot with a hot chick, or any chick at all. She makes Rush Limbaugh sound like a yoga instructor.

Why would she have to leave if 14 were repealed?

Malkin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the first of two children to Philippine citizens Apolo DeCastro Maglalang, a physician in training, and Rafaela (née Perez), a homemaker and schoolteacher. Her parents had arrived in the United States earlier that year on an employer-sponsored visa.

I’m sure Fox News will have their usual contorted logic about this. I’d love to see what that is, if only I had the stomach to actually watch.

These observations from Joe Scarborough’s Twitter feed earlier this morning. . .

For those who don’t understand King/Weiner debate, here are the facts….

1. You need 218 votes to pass a bill under regular order in the House of Representatives.

2. Pelosi had over 250 votes to pass the 9/11 bill to help NY firefighters and cops.

3. Pelosi and Democrats chose to bring up the bill in a way that would require a 2/3rds vote, effectively killing the bill.

4. This procedure is called a “suspension” vote and is for non-controversial measures like naming post offices.

5. Pelosi could have ruled Republican amendments out of order and still taken the majority-wins vote.

6. If Anthony Weiner wanted to pass the bill, he would have had more luck pressuring Pelosi than screaming at King.

I know many rabid ideologues don’t let facts get in the way, but House leaders chose to kill a 9/11 relief bill they could have passed.

Why am I still surprised that rabid ideologues are so blinded by dogma? To them, facts don’t matter.

I’ve been attacked by the far left and far right today. I feel sorry for those who are blinded by dogma.

For those who haven’t seen it, this is the screaming/debate Scarborough refers.

Maes’ is accusing Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s community bike-sharing initiative of a United Nations plot that “could threaten our personal freedoms.”

Denver’s B-Cycle program provides about 400 red bicycles for rent around Denver to promote green transportation. And that’s how the communists will be coming, on red bicycles.

“This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told supporters.

Maes said he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes ‘that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.’”

No word from Maes on replenishing your precious bodily fluids after a ride. Gatorade after all was invented by gay terrorists.

He quotes New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, “The simple fact is this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship.”The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right – and if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question – should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion?”

Either you believe in freedom all the time for everyone, or you don’t believe in freedom. Balls are not optional.

Sharron Angle

In an interview on Fox News, Nevada Republican Senate candidate and Teabagger favorite Angle said she refuses to do mainstream media interviews because, “We needed to have the press be our friend.”

Yeah lady and I need a bigger wanker and a smaller gut.  Ain’t happening.

Angle added, “We wanted them [the press] to ask the questions we want to answer. So that they report the news the way we want it to be reported.”

Even the National Review said, “Did she just say that out loud?”

She added (not really), “they hurt my feelings, reporting the things I actually say.” And “wahhhh”.

Every politician, everybody with something to sell, wants to control the message. That’s a big part of doing business.

But, like Palin, blaming the press for not glossing over the stupid shit that comes out of your piehole is naive at best, disingenuous at worst and dangerously cynical at more worst. (Worser?) (If Palin can make up words, so the fuck can I!)

In a democracy, we need the press to ask the questions you don’t want to answer.  That’s the fucking point.  Sadly, they don’t ask the right questions often enough.  If Angle wasn’t dimmer than a two watt bulb from 100 feet, she’d realize that and be able to handle it.
]]> http://centristzealot.com/2010/08/why-cant-we-be-friends/feed/ 0 http://centristzealot.com/2010/08/saving-civilization/ http://centristzealot.com/2010/08/saving-civilization/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:19:10 +0000 Schmitty http://centristzealot.com/?p=1981 We continue this week with more hot Republican-on-Republican violence. This time from former National Review literary editor David Klinghoffer in the L.A. Times. And you know how much Schmitty loves it when the political extremes get a good spanking from their less douchey brethren. “You didn’t say ‘thank you sir’ AND you will have another.”

Klinghoffer longs for the heady days of modern American conservatism with WIlliam F. Buckley and Irving Kristol. “Kristol…you are a madman. When you stole that cow…and your friends tried to make it with the cow. I want to party with you, cowboy. The two of us together, forget it.”

Instead we get, according to Klinghoffer, “figures on TV, radio and the Internet who make their money by stirring fears and resentments. With its descent to baiting blacks, Mexicans and Muslims, its accommodation of conspiracy theories and an increasing nastiness and vulgarity, the conservative movement has undergone a shift toward demagoguery and hucksterism. Once the talk was of “neocons” versus “paleocons.” Now we observe the rule of the crazy-cons.”

Klinghoffer loses me however when he goes, like all metaphysical and shit. “Conservatism wasn’t just a policy agenda, a set of partisan gripes or a football team seeking victory on the electoral field. Above all, it was a satisfying, sophisticated critique of modern, materialist culture, pointing a way out and up from liberalism.” Shut up, I like materialism.

He continues “When I became a conservative, that is what I signed up for: a profound vision granting transcendent significance to public life and hope in private life. The goal wasn’t to defeat Democratic officeholders or humiliate left-wing activists. It was, and still is, with those who remember, to save civilization.”

To save civilization, huh. Thanks, I guess. Saving civilization is what liberals think they are doing, saving it from you guys. Problem is, the true believers are ruining it for the rest of us.

Conservative economists and pundits warn of a Greece-like crisis in which America will be able to borrow only at exorbitant interest rates. So when an opportunity presents itself to cut those deficits by about a quarter — more than $300 billion! — permanently and relatively easily, you would think that these people would be leading the way. Far from it.

I don’t like our current tax system. It’s unwieldy, it taxes the wrong things (income instead of consumption) and its loopholes are legalized corruption. But we are not going to create the perfect tax code today. In front of us is a simple, easy way to bring America’s fiscal house in order, reduce our dependence on foreign borrowing, restore U.S. credibility and power, and provide a stable revenue base from which to make key investments for future growth. All we need is for Congress to do what it does so well: nothing.

And thus the thorough indictment of the GOP’s economic and budgetary shamelessness begins. Stockman, who knows a thing or seven about putting together a budget as a Republican, holds nothing back in his New York Times Op-Ed.

Stockman & Schmitty (which sounds like either a high-powered law firm or a mediocre seafood restaurant) are firmly on the side of not extending the Bush tax cuts. Bernard recently quoted his favorite bumper sticker (and the one holding his rear fender on), “No society has ever taxed its way into prosperity”. What he left out was the pithy piece of sticky dogma was probably made by a Honduran child and sold by a tax-sheltered billionaire. I have a sticker of a unicorn on my car. We all believe in fairy tales.

By fiscal year 2009, the tax-cutters had reduced federal revenues to 15 percent of gross domestic product, lower than they had been since the 1940s. Then, after rarely vetoing a budget bill and engaging in two unfinanced foreign military adventures, George W. Bush surrendered on domestic spending cuts, too — signing into law $420 billion in non-defense appropriations, a 65 percent gain from the $260 billion he had inherited eight years earlier.

Let’s not forget that budget surplus. And you thought you never wanted to hear Al Gore go on about his “lock box” ever again.

Of course, Senate Minority Leader Mitch “Quadruple Chin” McConnell is pushing the extension. Says Stockman,

McConnell’s stand puts the lie to the Republican pretense that its new monetarist and supply-side doctrines are rooted in its traditional financial philosophy. Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts — in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses, too. But the new catechism, as practiced by Republican policymakers for decades now, has amounted to little more than money printing and deficit finance — vulgar Keynesianism robed in the ideological vestments of the prosperous classes.

Even Fox News’ Chris Wallace sees through the hypocrisy, “the Republicans keep talking about being deficit hawks. This is $678 billion you are not going to pay for.”

Says Pat Garofalo of Think Progress “no one has proposed allowing them all expire [President Obama has proposed renewing the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts for the lower- and middle-class, while allowing them to expire on schedule for the richest two percent of Americans], and it’s incredibly disingenuous of Republicans to claim otherwise, especially since it was a budget gimmick by former President George W. Bush to include the ten-year sunset at all.”

Not extending the Bush tax cuts for the upper 2% isn’t about soaking the rich, it’s about reaching a rational and balanced tax policy. “Rational and balanced” do not appear to be a part of the right’s platform of late.

I’ll leave the last word to Stockman, “Under these circumstances, it’s a pity that the modern Republican Party offers the American people an irrelevant platform. . .”

if we are unwilling to have a full-scale debate over whether nation-building abroad is getting in the way of nation-building at home, we will accomplish neither.

The yacht vs. the pickup truck- by Joan Vennochi

It isn’t about having a lot of money. It’s about making people feel you are rubbing your money in their faces, while draining their modest assets for sketchy government programs funded by taxes you don’t want to pay.

Peter Orszag’s Parting Shots- by Dayo Olopade

His tenure in an increasingly gridlocked Washington took a toll on him. “I’ve spent four years in government,” he told The Daily Beast after his Brookings speech. “The government is not a nimble thing.” He described being in the room during heated debates over the size and scope of the 2009 stimulus package—a raw spot with liberals who feel the flagging economy is a result of not dreaming big enough. “I can personally guarantee you there was a 0.000 probability that it could have been any substantially larger.” That decision, he later conceded, was due to political imperatives that had nothing to do with economic ones.