Tag Archives: Republican Bamboozlement

Answering Their Questions in Bullet Time

You know that there was some discussion of President Obama doing another version of Question Time with the Republican Senate Caucus. The response?

“We’re always happy to hear from the president, but I don’t really feel any compelling need to do it [on camera],” Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Republicans’ chief campaign strategist, told POLITICO.

Wussies. Jon Stewart provides the perspective on what the Senate repubs are working overtime to avoid:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Q & O
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From The Department Of Karma, Part 2

First term Democrat-turned-Republican Rep. Parker Griffith didn’t get the reception he hoped for when he switched to the Republican party. Griffith will face at least two challengers for the Republican nomination (gee, a newly-minted Republican doesn’t pass the purity test?), angry former donors and now faces the resignation of almost his entire staff.

The quitting staffers are chief of staff Sharon Wheeler, legislative director Megan Swearingen, senior legislative assistant Brian Greer, legislative assistant Will Crain, press secretary Sean Magers, legislative correspondents Arinze Ifekauche and Chase Chesser, staff assistant Mary Lou Hughston, Congressional fellows Dr. Anjali Shah Kastorf and Leslee Oden — and even an intern, Andrew Menefee. The only staffer remaining, Magers tells us, is the Congressman’s scheduler Leigh Pettis.

“Alabama’s Fifth District has deserved and has benefited from great Democratic conservative leadership since Reconstruction. And until now they had it,” Wheeler said. “But Parker Griffith has abandoned the legacy of conservative leadership provided by Bud Cramer, Ronnie Flippo, Bob Jones, Howell Heflin, Jim Allen, Lister Hill, John Sparkman, Big Jim Folsom, and so many more.”

You can find the whole press release at the link. I’ll say one thing for Parker Griffith’s party switch – I’ll bet he’s single-handedly prevented any other party switches.

2009: The Year in Right Wing Buffoons, Racists, Misogynists, Homophobes and All-Around Idiots

That is the title of this blog post from Ron Reagan’s Air America blog. I never get to to hear Ron Regan’s show, but he can be very good of even pretty wonky topics. So it was fun to hear him have on at the expense of wingnut buffoonery this past year. And as he notes, this list was sourced from the indispensable Media Matters , who did the work of rounding up the usual suspects. Give a listen to Ron Reagan’s discussion of the buffoonery directly on his blog (sorry, the embed from there did not work).

Tell us what you think the high point in wingnut buffoonery was in 2009! Bonus points for reminding us of the local Republican buffoonery.

Tedd Petruna, The New Chuck Norris

The tall tale of Tedd Petruna first emerged this weekend. Tedd Petruna sent an email that soon went viral about his brave actions thwarting a terrorist attack dry run on an airplane.

In an email account of his experience that went national on right-wing blogs last week, Tedd Petruna describes a group of 11 Muslim men “in full attire” who created a disturbance on a Nov. 17 AirTran flight on the runway at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport.

In Petruna’s telling, the men fanned out through the plane, and one of the men called a companion in the back of the plane, “talking in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively.” He ignored a flight attendant’s request to put away his phone before takeoff.

Petruna, who works as a diver at a NASA lab in Houston, says two of the Muslim men began “to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it.” It’s unclear what he means by “taped the night before,” and how Petruna would know what the men had been doing the previous night. But he describes porn viewing as an activity Muslims would be permitted to engage in only before Jihad. When a flight attendant objected to their use of an electronic device, she was told to “shut up infidel dog!”

Don’t ask me where Mr. Petruna gets his extensive understanding of terrorist porn-watching habits. Anyway, the airline completely debunked Petruna’s story. There was no law enforcement and the incident involved a Spanish-speaker who didn’t understand the direction to get off of his cell phone. Plus, the airline confirms Petruna wasn’t even on the flight.

Mr. Petruna is standing by his story, though:

Reached at the Johnson Space Center’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab this morning, Petruna told TPMmuckraker that despite AirTran’s assertion, he was on the flight. He wouldn’t say much, though, because “I’m in the middle of a lawsuit about this right now.” We’re not sure whether a lawsuit has actually been filed or what it would be about, though Petruna told Schlussel, the right-wing columnist, that he was mulling a defamation suit.

“The whole e-mail went out accidentally; it was not supposed to go nationwide,” Petruna told TPMmuckraker. “It was supposed to go out to family and friends, and the next thing I know it’s a firestorm.”

Yeah, I’m sure it was an accident. He accidentally didn’t want to get caught by the whole world lying. He just wanted to look like a hero to his credulous friends.

Top 5 Republican Lies for 2009

Even though the year isn’t over, TPM catalogs the Top 5 ways that the GOP stepped into the national conversation with lies, distortions, bad faith and plain made up data. This one may be my favorite:

Number Three: Republicans Try Math

It seems like so long ago that the House passed far-reaching cap and trade legislation. Before they did, though, the GOP did its best to raise the specter of another energy crisis, thanks to a new, and tyrannical “light switch tax.” To underscore their point, they claimed that, based on an MIT study, cap and trade legislation could cost the average household $3,128 a year. Too bad the author of that study claimed it was all hogwash. That didn’t deter leading Republicans, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, from repeating the number over and over again until the day the American Clean Energy and Security Act passed on the House floor.

One of the ones not here was the persistent claim that Obama would take your guns — and almost a year later there is no sign of this favorite wingnut apocalypse.

Seen in retrospect there is plenty to laugh at here, until you remember that the Liberal Media spends a great deal of time giving these lies and distortions alot of credence — stepping up to do some debunking only when pushed into it. By that time, they’ve already been played into getting the stupid into circulation and giving the stupid the kind of credibility that apparently comes now from being on TV. It’s really a shame.

So what is your favorite wingnut lie of 2009?

Does the GOP Purity Test Abandon Mike Castle?

Adam Nagourney at the NYT brings up this possibility in their political blog today:

Mr. Castle in many ways is a textbook example of why some Republicans think the party should avoid such purity tests. He appears to be, without dispute, the strongest candidate that the party could choose to take back the seat.

But in the course of his career, he has taken positions on abortion, energy and gun control that could, at least in theory, lead Republicans to argue that he has failed the test laid out in the resolution. If that were the case, the Republican National Committee might have to sit out a Castle-Biden race.

This is a way to back into a definition of “moderate” that makes Castle look good and reinforces his own press on the business of “moderation”. And NOT passing the GOP Purity test would likely be an advantage to Castle here — because the teabaggers and the wingnuts are not particularly many here. A purity test would help O’Donnell, though — who could really use the boost of national party support.

Castle could likely get his handwaving on to make the case for passing this test just to make the teabaggers and wingnuts happy — but that doesn’t seem especially smart. So what do you think? Will the GOP implement this purity test and shoot down their best chance at a Senatorial seat pickup?

Bush’s Term Was Only Kittens And Rainbows

Remember how we snickered when Dana Perino admitted she didn’t know anything about the Bay of Pigs? Her problems with history are more severe than that:

But Perino’s appearance last night with Sean Hannity was more noteworthy than most. The topic was the shootings at Fort Hood, and Perino, playing her usual role, criticized the White House for not having labeled the massacre as “terrorism.” She emphasized that the rhetorical description of the violence “matters,” though she didn’t say why.

More important, though, is what Perino went on to argue: “We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term. I hope they’re not looking at this politically. I do think that we owe it to the American people to call it what it is.”

Dana – who was president on September 11, 2001, the date of the biggest terrorist attack in American history?

Glenn Beck’s 100 Year Plan

Glenn Beck is crazy like a Fox:

– I have begun meeting with some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders. I am developing a 100 year plan. I know that the bipartisan corruption in Washington that has brought us to this brink and it will not be defeated easily. It will require unconventional thinking and a radical plan to restore our nation to the maximum freedoms we were supposed to have been protecting, using only the battlefield of ideas.

– All of the above will culminate in The Plan, a book that will provide specific policies, principles and, most importantly, action steps that each of us can take to play a role in this Refounding.

– On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

He’s going to promote a plan that none of his followers will be alive to see. That’s brilliant!

[BTW – Did you notice the date? It’s on the anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.]

No More Mister Nice Blog explains exactly what Beck is up to:

So now we see what Glenn Beck really is: He’s basically a televangelist. A huckster. A late-night pitchman selling seminars and book/DVD/audio combo packages that will allegedly help you get rich through flipping real estate. A human-potential-movement cult leader who promises life breakthroughs in exchange for participation in costly “religious” or “therapy” programs.

He wants you to attend one (or, surely, many) of his “conventions.” Will they be free? I strongly doubt it — oh, maybe the first taste will be free, but after that, I’d guess no. And he wants you to buy the next book (and, surely several after that). And there’s a “100 year plan” in the works — you can’t ever get off the mailing list because the good work he’s involving you in is never done!

Exactly! Beck is a scam artist, a snake oil salesman, collecting money from the confused and vulnerable. How far can he go before his followers become discontented? If history is any guide this can go on for years. I guess that means Beck is set for life!

Steve Benen points out that Beck has released a lot of products in the last year:

For those keeping score at home, Beck released a book in June, and then another in September, with plans for yet another in August. That’s three books in 14 months. That doesn’t include the Christmas book released last year, which will get an update with a photo companion book this year. It also doesn’t include the “An Inconvenient Book” that was published in May, or “America’s March to Socialism,” an audio book released around the same time.

I wonder how many books and conventions (plus coffee mugs, t-shirts, etc.) a 100-year plan will need? I’m betting a whole lot.

Learning The Wrong Lesson

Al Franken’s election was one of the pleasant surprises of the 2008 election. Franken is turning out to be an excellent senator. He’s already made an impact with his amendment that prohibits the Defense Department from contracts with companies that force rape and assault victims into arbitration – an instance when a lawmaker sees an issue (the case of Jamie Leigh Jones) and decides to do something about it. One thing he probably didn’t anticipate was that protecting rape victims is actually a partisan issue:

Thirty Senate Republicans voted against the amendment, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, liberal commentators and state Democratic Party chairs have been merciless.

Angry letters denouncing Republican senators have appeared in newspapers from Tennessee to Idaho. Unflattering videos of senators trying to explain their votes have gone viral on the Internet, including one of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) swatting away a hand-held video camera held by a liberal blogger questioning his vote against the amendment.

Of course, what did they expect? Here’s the web ad targeting the 30 GOP senators:

Below is the video of a rape victim confronting Senator Vitter on his vote on the Franken amendment:

Yes, it’s a vote that’s hard to defend. So what did the GOP learn from this completely self-inflicted mess?

Privately, GOP sources acknowledge that they failed to anticipate the political consequences of a “no” vote on the amendment. And several aides said that Republicans are engaged in an internal blame game about why they agreed to a roll-call vote on the measure, rather than a simple voice vote that would have allowed the opposing senators to duck criticism.

Yep, they should have just did a voice vote so that people wouldn’t know who is pro-rape. Disgusting!

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

I think I’ve started to notice a trend among conservatives: they like good-looking women. They like to hear what they’re thinking come out of the mouths of good-looking women – it’s sort of like money-laundering, idea laundering or something. Here is how it’s done:

1) Find good-looking woman who leans conservative, make sure that she does not possess a lick of sense or an ounce of compassion. Also make sure she professes to be Christian.
2) Put her through the political training process.
3) On the other end out comes a political icon in training with a healthy ego and little self-awareness and still very little sense or compassion.
4) Place her somewhere in your political machine, either as some kind of spokeswoman for family values (Carrie Prejean, Anita Bryant), as a talking head/pundit (Megyn Kelly, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham) or as a politician (Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann).

When you cross militant conservatism without self-reflection and a huge ego, you get results like Sarah Palin got in her VP bid.

Palin claims in her new book that she agreed to sit down with Couric partly because she felt sorry for her, after senior McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace told her that Couric suffered from self-esteem problems. It’s understandable that Palin would try to deflect blame for the interview: It was a disaster that hastened her unmasking as unqualified for the presidency.

The McCain/Palin feud has been vastly entertaining. Palin’s book will not calm the feud. Everything is someone else’s fault and if she had just been in charge things would have been so much better. Of course, the McCain people beg to differ.

“She lacked the knowledge base to stand in front of the press corps that was traveling with her and answer questions,” the adviser said delicately. “Because of the success of the convention speech, the feeling was that she should be exposed to as many people as possible directly, not through a media filter. The way to do that was to do interviews with the anchors.”

“The truth is, she refused to prepare for the Katie Couric interview,” the adviser continued. “She refused to engage in any preparation. And it was a disaster.”

The adviser also mocked a contradiction at the core of Palin’s claims: She’s simultaneously saying she was muzzled and kept from the press, even as she’s claiming she only did the Couric interview at the urging of McCain aides.

One commenter summed it up perfectly:

Anyone notice how perfect Palin is? It’s just her bad luck to run into so many mistake prone people.

Why It is OK to Call Out FOX News

“We don’t need The Washington Post to cover things anymore,” said staunch conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.). “Something can get on a conservative blog, then on Fox News, then it’s everywhere.”

Nevermind that that “something” is more likely than not to be a GOP-generated talking point AND that it is a straight-up lie (President Obama wants to pull the plug on grandma) or it is selectively edited to present a stroy that fits their narrative (ACORN). And the verdict on the traditional media who just picks up and repeats this crap without looking into it is not a good one. It doesn’t speak well for them that the collective case of the vapors that the traditional media came down with once the Administration started stating the obvious was completely MIA when BushCo went to war with the NYT or NBC or decided to exclude national media in favor of locals at on the road events. But here is a nice compilation of the “news” that FOX sees fit to print:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDR47EKTrCQ[/youtube]

Here It Is! The Republican Heath Care Plan!

Well, at first it was an outline. Then John Boehner got really mad after it was released and people made fun of him again with the outlines.  So now they’ve finished their homework (pdf), now take a good look at Boehnercare:

  • No national exchange
  • No mandates for employers or for individuals
  • Insurance companies still get to exclude people with pre-existing conditions
  • No tax credits to help middle class and lower income people to buy insurance
  • High-risk pools for states to cover people excluded from insurance coverage are included and some funds are provided.  Except lots of states have these and they are expensive.
  • Small businesses band together to get lower rates (don’t get me started)
  • Limit medical malpractice (but nothing about limiting the damage that medical mistakes can cause to people!)
  • Let people buy insurance across state lines — specifically knocking down state laws for consumer protection.

So basically if you don’t have insurance, are afraid you may lose your insurance due to high premium costs, existing conditions or your employer yanks your insurance — Boehnercare does not care about you, or your need for health care insurance.  This doesn’t do anything to rein in premium or actual costs.  This doesn’t even have the GOP endorsed elimination of the employer tax deduction for employee insurance.   But here is an interesting thing to consider about this bill — for all of the whining and wailing these Republicans did about needing a bipartsan bill, one that was done out in the open where everyone was included, a bill that took the best of everyone’s ideas and they did none of that.  And as this blog post from Tim Fernholz asks,  since the traditional media has latched on to bipartisanship as a measure of the health insurance bill’s success, I wonder when the same traditional media will start holding this repub plan up to their own criteria.