VIDEO: Florida Lawmaker Caught Looking at Porn on Senate Floor

By GottaLaff

If I had to sit through endless senate sessions, I'd sneak peeks at The Daily Show, but to each his own:



B.Us.Ted:

On Thursday morning, Sunshine State News captured exclusive video of Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, looking at pornographic material on his state-issued computer on the Senate floor.

Ironically, as Bennett is viewing the material, you can hear a senator's voice in the background debating a controversial abortion bill.

"I'm against this bill," said the voice, "because it disrespects too many women in the state of Florida." Bennett defended his actions, telling Sunshine State News it was an email sent to him by a woman "who happens to be a former court administrator."

"I was just sitting there, bored as they were debating the abortion bill," Bennett said.

"I opened it up and said holy [expletive]! What's on my screen? and clicked away from it right away."

Sure he did.... after several seconds... after he realized someone might see. And he only reads Playboy for the articles.

Oh, but I kid the Senator.

His spokesperson said that Bennett thought he was viewing an email about an item being debated on the Senate floor. That would have been some debate.

There were other images he'd downloaded that were caught on camera, too, including at least two videos. He was also caught on camera watching a video of a dog. Apparently, nobody knows whether or not he also thought that was an email about a bill being debated on the floor... regarding spaying/neutering laws maybe?

When asked if he ever looks at pornography while on the Senate floor, Bennett responded, "You'd have to be insane to do that. It all goes through a server. I don't think anybody would be doing that."

Nah, nobody ever does that.

Journalists Required to Donate to Anti-Choicers In Order To Cover Palin’s Speech

By GottaLaff


PayMe McBlabFest is making one of her screeches at a fundraiser for the "faith-based" anti-choice group Heroic Media. And the press must pay admission in order to cover the event.

And who exactly is it who is intruding into the lives of U.S. citizens again? Oh, that's right. The "lamestream media" aren't really citizens unless they show their papers, so they have no freedoms. Only PayMe and her clan have them:

[I]n order to cover Palin’s speech, the Austin-American Statesman reports that journalists will have to make a contribution to Heroic Media:

Restrictions: Heroic Media will try to prohibit video and audio recordings of Palin’s appearance, and news organizations wishing to cover her speech must buy a ticket, the proceeds of which will go to Heroic Media.

[...] Earlier this year, after conservatives criticized Palin’s $100,000+ fee to speak at the Tea Party convention, she said she would donate the proceeds to “the cause.” Perhaps that’s what she is trying to get the media to do as well.

I posted about another event to be held on May 12th at which McBlabFest is charging the press:

The high-priced tickets for the May 12th event are still quite plentiful. For the rest of this week, WIND is just giving the tickets away. From 4:00pm-5:00pm, those looking for tickets need only show up at a given Merlin shop each day this week. The first 25 listeners to stop by the Merlin locations each day will receive a free pair of tickets to see Sarah Palin speak in Rosemont and a $30.00 gift certificate to be used towards service at a Merlin 200,000 Mile Shop. [...]

In a related note, by request of Sarah Palin's people, no Chicago press or media members are being easily allowed into the event. Those media outlets who wish to be there, will have to buy the expensive tickets themselves.[

As you can see, at that event, they are giving seats away along with gift certificates. Maybe the media contributions, should there be any, will compensate for the losses. So much for "free press".

If you recall, PayMe also pre-screens questions. I'm beginning to think she has a few control issues.

Meantime, who exactly are these "Heroic" types?

Think Progress:

The group’s Internet strategy tries to direct Google users to an anti-choice website:

Heroic Media utilizes an online strategy to purchase top listings on search engines, such as google, so when teens “google” the word “abortion,”… “I think I’m pregnant,” … or “terminate pregnancy,” one of the top web sites they’ll see is our partner web site http://www.teenbreaks.com

Teenbreaks.com provides information about abortion, communicating with parents, adoption, cutting and more.

Oh, it gets worse. Follow the Think Progress link. And when you get there, they won't even charge you.

Now they're giving Palin tickets away!

By GottaLaff

First the Tea Patriot event ticket prices were cut in half, now they cost nothing. Zero. Zilch. Maybe OverPaid McFreebie needs a ghost speaker.

Via Chicago Media and Radio:

This may not come as a surprise to some, but the upcoming WIND-AM event with Sarah Palin speaking is not selling very well. The high-priced tickets for the May 12th event are still quite plentiful. For the rest of this week, WIND is just giving the tickets away. From 4:00pm-5:00pm, those looking for tickets need only show up at a given Merlin shop each day this week. The first 25 listeners to stop by the Merlin locations each day will receive a free pair of tickets to see Sarah Palin speak in Rosemont and a $30.00 gift certificate to be used towards service at a Merlin 200,000 Mile Shop. The special Merlin locations for the rest of this week are:

Tuesday: 8504 S. Harlem Ave., Bridgeview, IL
Wednesday: 234 West Roosevelt Rd, Lombard, IL
Thursday: 400 Dundee Rd, Elgin, IL
Friday: 1911 S. Arlington Heights Rd, Arlington Heights, IL

In a related note, by request of Sarah Palin's people, no Chicago press or media members are being easily allowed into the event. Those media outlets who wish to be there, will have to buy the expensive tickets themselves.

The desperation is palpable. The media must pop for their own pricey tickets, and the audience has to be enticed with free seats and gift certificates. Gee, that's not embarrassing at all.

As for giving away freebies, sounds a little like... socialism!

I'm willing to bet she still won't be able to fill the house.

H/t: Windy City Watch

VIDEO- Sean Hannity to T Pain: "Say: 'Conservative victory 2010.'"

By GottaLaff

Ooo, lookee here. Sean Hannity found someone other than a nasty white person to share video space with:

Turns out that T Pain appears to be some sort of fan of the conservative movement, evidenced by his parroting of Hannity’s comment “conservative victory 2010!” at the of the video clip below.

Now say, "Good night, Sean."

"Good night, Sean."

UPDATE (h/t: profblmkelley) Jay Smooth responds:

So I’m not going to hate on T-Pain for this. But I am going to hate on T-Pain for the excuses that he made afterward. Listen to what he said:

1st off, I’m not even registered to vote, 2nd, this hannity guy was blocking the door to my bus just to get that drop from me…if you got back thru many interviews you will see I don’t give a sh*t about politics cus no matter who is in office, YOUR life is no different…

Now, see, I don’t judge people for being ignorant. But I do judge people for being arrogant about their ignorance. If you don’t follow politics, you don’t follow politics, that’s fine. But don’t pretend that you’re uninformed about politics on purpose as a political statement. Don’t try to tell me that you’re completely oblivious to it because you understand it so well. Because…NO. That’s not how it works. You can be oblivious or you can try to understand. You can’t have both.

VIDEO: "Tea Party Rap"

By GottaLaff

CBSNewsOnline — April 14, 2010 — Singer Lloyd Marcus performs the "American Tea Party Anthem" at a Tea Party rally in Boston, Massachusetts

Look! An African American at a Tea Tantrum rally! And he "raps" [sic]! Not much of a singer, though.

In fact, this is just embarrassing:



"I'm an America-a-a-a-a-a-aaaaan!!"

Hey Lloyd, if you have to insist that you're an America-a-a-a-a-aaan!, you're "not racists", you're "not stupid", and that you're "gonna win" that loudly and obnoxiously, then there very well may be room for reasonable doubt.

H/t: ahuntre

Palin Surrogate Disses Entire East Coast

By GottaLaff

Tactless McBadShow should probably instruct her spokespeople to start using some--What's it called again? Oh yeah-- tact.

"Real American Stories" garnered "unspectacular" ratings. So how does she cope?

Ahem...

How to alienate an entire segment of the American population, one that apparently doesn't fall into that folksy, patriotic, spunky "Real America" category:

“It’s not the kind of thing that’s going to excite you guys on the East Coast, but everyone else is dying to hear stories like these,” said one of her representatives who was not authorized to speak on the record but was authorized to slam the East Coast.

Look. The East Coast contains six of the country’s ten largest metro areas and is the region that created the damn country in the first place.

Thank you, Mudflats, for calling this to our attention. It's always good to know when a major pop culture (no, not political, that would be stretching it) figure disses a major swath of the country to assuage their own wittle feewings.

Maybe she should call her little show "AlieNation."

CNN Fails to Stop Fall in Ratings

By GottaLaff

Let's see now... CNN gets desperate and hires Erick Erickson. If you don't know who that is, here is a reminder from a previous post:

That was then.

This is now:

Health Care Suicide Bombers — Open Thread

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Saturday, March 13th at 7:34PM EST

33 Comments

Precisely.

Some things never change.

Yes, that's who CNN hired to prop up their sagging ratings.

They might want to rethink their strategy:

CNN continued what has become a precipitous decline in ratings for its prime-time programs in the first quarter of 2010, with its main hosts losing almost half their viewers in a year. [...]

[Larry] King, whose show has been regularly eclipsed by Rachel Maddow’s on MSNBC (and is almost quadrupled by Sean Hannity’s show on Fox), is now threatened by a new host, Joy Behar on HLN (formerly Headline News.)

If by inviting RedState to the family, they're trying to compete with Fox, that won't end well either:

At the same time, Fox News, which had its biggest year in 2009, continues to add viewers. Greta Van Susteren’s show was up 25 percent from a year earlier. Bill O’Reilly, whose show commands the biggest audience in prime time with 3.65 million viewers, was up 28 percent, and Glenn Beck was up 50 percent from a year earlier.

Maybe if hotels, restaurants, etc. would carry MSNBC, we might see some real competition.

Sorry state of affairs all around.

Dep't. of the Obvious: GOP Insiders Say Steele is a Liability

By GottaLaff

Um, duh?

The National Journal's Political Insider's Poll finds that when Republican insiders were asked whether RNC Chairman Michael Steele was an asset or a liability, 71% said Steele was a liability, while only 20% said he was an asset. Another 9% said he was neither or both.

Why would anyone think this guy isn't an asset?

RedState's Erick Erickson joins CNN: TWPNTOTV!!!*

By GottaLaff

When CNN had its old Sunday line-up, I used to post a regular feature that mocked them just as regularly.

They call themselves "The Best Political Team on Television." I referred to them as TBPNTOTV!!!... with three exclamation points to emphasize their emphasis on emphasizing their over-emphasized self-importance and self-congratulatory smugness.

I also tried to expose their not-exactly-fair-and-balanced approach.

And I used lots of snarky !!!!!!!!!!!!! Lots.

Just when I thought they couldn't get any worse:

Prominent conservative commentator and RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join CNN as a political contributor, appearing primarily on CNN's new show John King, USA¸ the network announced Tuesday. [...]

"Joining CNN is like coming home, and being in Atlanta makes the decision right for me and my family," Erickson said in a statement.

Erick the Red feels as if he's "coming home" to CNN. That pretty much says it all.

Under Erickson's leadership, RedState.com has become the preeminent right of center community online. [...]

"Erick's a perfect fit for John King, USA, because not only is he an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America, Erick is in touch with the very people John hopes to reach," said Sam Feist, CNN political director and vice president of Washington-based programming.

So he's "in touch". That's the definition of "in touch": Erick the Red Erickson. That's how CNN's political director feels, that Erick is the "in touch" go-to guy.

Erick.

RedState.

Erickson.

Sam Feist, you are woefully out of touch.

And CNN has now hit bottom. Officially. Out of touch, out of mind.

CNN: TWPNTOTV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*



*The WORST Political News Team on Television, with unlimited exclamation points.

UPDATE: Joeyess reminds me of a post I did back in 2009. Here's a sample:

And this is the unit insignia of the RedState Army's Strike Force:

Like many chickenhawks who struggle with what it means to be a man in the modern era, Erickson and the "soldiers" in his budding "Strike Force" have again tried to imitate serving in the military without actually having to don a uniform, pick up a weapon, or sacrifice much of anything at all.

Could that be any more embarrassing? Or offensive? Or childish? Or presumptuous?

And here's a photo that should have been included, of a typical soldier:


There. Now you're all updated.

"CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results" of straw poll

By GottaLaff

Via Taegan:

Politico: "CPAC organizers were plainly embarrassed by the results, which could have the effect of reducing the perceived impact of a contest that was once thought to offer a window into which White House hopefuls were favored by movement conservatives."

Because, you know, the attendees didn't already embarrass themselves before the straw poll results were announced.

VIDEO: The Big CPAC rap show embarrassing moment... *Cricket, cricket*

By GottaLaff

::Cricket, cricket::



Oh no, seriously, this is just deadly.

Painful.

Off the scale cringeworthy:

A few CPACers eventually walked in, looking for rap. They seemed bewildered. No one canceled the show officially, and no one knew what was going on. [...]

We hung around for a while, hoping for some hear some phat rhymes from headliner Hi Caliber, the tea partier rapper we profiled last year. He never showed.

I caught up with Hi Cal this afternoon to find out what happened. "The crowd disbanded early," he said, "so we moved the show."

The new performance will be tonight "after Ann Coulter," he said.

Yeah, because Ann Coulter is so hip and kewl and rad that all the rapper fans and awesome, with-it, gnarly Rushpublics will be drawn like flies to her rhythmically hott, pulsating, rapitude-inous aura.

More here.

H/t: Cody

Palin's bonus screw-up

By GottaLaff

I just got home from work, and found this in Comments via Pigboy. Thanks for the correction, which we gladly make when we find out our info is wrong:

UPDATE via Nicole at Crooks and Liars:

Looks like the original writer and I should have fact checked more closely. Per a comment at the original op-ed:

About Ms. Palin's HeroBracelet.

We sent her those bracelets during the last election. When we learned that her son, Track and Senator Biden's son were both being deployed overseas, we sent them both Deployed HeroBracelets with their son's names.

We've been providing Deployed HeroBracelets since 2004 for families to wear while their loved ones were serving. They can be made from sterling, copper, leather or bronze colored anodized aluminum (black is reserved for KIA).[..]

So she isn't out of line for wearing the Deployed HeroBracelet. There are ten's of thousands of families around the country wearing them right now. On the HeroBracelets web site, we've got hundreds of letters from families, many vowing to not take the bracelet off till their loved one comes home.

Chris Greta
Director HeroBracelets.org
www.herobracelets.org

Original post:

Just when you think Bonkette McIgnorant can't make herself look any worse... well, think again:

"The name on her black memorial bracelet -- one, like the gold star, a demonstration of a friend or associate who was killed in action -- is that of her oldest son, Track. Track served honorably in Iraq, and both he and his parents should be thanked for his selfless service to his country. He is also alive.

"Commemorating Track's service by wearing a black memorial bracelet which is reserved for those dead or even a red bracelet for those missing in action, demonstrates a horrifying contempt for those who gave their last full measure of devotion or an almost unbelievable ignorance of the importance of symbols in American history..."

"Sarah Palin, please take off the bracelet. Be thankful you have no reason to wear it."

Not only did she mega-embarrass herself again, she did it tastelessly.

Barbie wears live people. And the humiliation continues...

Video- Tom DeLay makes dancing debut

Holy crapola, it's worse than I could have imagined.

Tim Pawlenty Reads Out Phone Sex Hotline Number On Radio Show

By GottaLaff

Freudian slip? Wishful thinking?

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a slip of the tongue Friday morning on his weekly radio show, giving out a phone number that encourages people to call "for a good time" rather than the number for people to call in to talk to him on his program.

"Slip of the tongue"? Snerk! Good choice of words.

During the program, Pawlenty was giving out phone numbers viewers could call into, when he prefixed the call-in line with 1-800, instead of the prefix for WCCO Radio's call-in number, 1-866.

"0-0"? Oh-oh!

::cheesy porn music:: Hel-LO:

The 1-800 number Pawlenty inadvertently advertised features a voice-recording which instructs people who want to "call and talk to fun people" to call a second number. The second number is a phone sex chat line.

Congratulations, Tenther Tim. You have finally become a fun person.

H/t: The Plum Line

VIDEO: You Dork, You Dork-- Tea Party Express Destroys Sinatra Song

By GottaLaff

I once wrote a song parody that I called, "You Dork, You Dork". I hereby relinquish the title, gladly handing it off to these utterly humiliating TeaDeathers:



Wow. Cringe-worthiest video ever.

And isn't it swell that the woman at the end was so gosh darned "inclusive"?

::walking away, shaking head slowly::

America just ain't what it used to be.

H/t: Windy City Watch

Sarah Palin replaced as headliner for Republican dinner

By GottaLaff

She's in. She's out. She's in. She's out. She's in. She's... Oh. Sorry. I got carried away.

She's out:

Sarah Palin will no longer headline a major Republican dinner in June, a Republican official told CNN Tuesday.

Let's give credit where credit's due. It must have been really hard to screw up something this prominently publicized. Those Palin staffers, they're so on top of things. Their boss must be extra crispy yummy leadership material.

Oh well. Water under the volcano. I'm sure they found someone even better. Someone who holds a special place in the vacuum where all those Rushpublic hearts should be. Someone even more attractive, both physically and politically:

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich will replace Palin as the keynote speaker at a joint fundraising dinner held by the campaign committees of Senate and House Republicans.

See?

Oops: 'Friendly' Coleman Witnesses Backfire

By GottaLaff

D'oh! First the three judge panel throws out Toker Norm's evidence! Now two of his own witnesses provide all the wrong information:

This afternoon the Coleman team was bringing in rejected absentee voters to show that their ballots were improperly tossed. [...] They mostly seemed sympathetic enough, putting a human face on the disenfranchised Coleman voter -- but at least two of them [out of six] appeared to have been rejected properly under the conditions of Minnesota law.

One of the voters was Douglas Thompson, who admitted under oath that his girlfriend filled out his absentee ballot application for him, signing his name with her own hand and purporting to be himself. His ballot was rejected because the signature on his ballot envelope (his own) did not match the signature on the application (his girlfriend's). The Coleman team's argument appears to be that he is still a legal voter in Minnesota, as the signature on the ballot was his own, even if admitted dishonesty was involved in getting the ballot.

Good start. And this was the "friendly" direct examination by his own lawyer, James Langdon. And Langdon was well aware that this information would be revealed. Yes, he knew about it ahead of time. And he presented this witness anyway. Good lawyering, huh? Next:

Another one of the voters, an older man named Wesley Briest, initially responded that he voted at the polls -- not by absentee. Then Coleman attorney James Langdon showed him his absentee ballot envelope, reminding him that he did not go to the polls, too. Upon cross-examination by Franken lawyer Kevin Hamilton, Briest admitted that his wife, who served as the witness on his ballot, did not fully complete the witness section of the absentee ballot.

Mr. Toast.

Join the RedState Chickenhawk Army Strike Force

By GottaLaff

Jon Lester linked me to this post about a pathetic group of wannabes. More like neverwills or couldn'tiftheytrieds:

Erick Erickson, the editor of RedState, has just given us fodder to use for the rest of the year. In an attempt at being politically savvy--and by telling himself that what they do is somehow akin to being a "soldier" in a "war"--Erickson has decided that conservatives need to field-organize like progressives. And what better way to motivate the "troops" for activism than by inventing your own unit crest which, of course, replicates those worn by actual combatants in real wars?

This is the unit insignia of the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment:

And this is the unit insignia of the RedState Army's Strike Force:

Like many chickenhawks who struggle with what it means to be a man in the modern era, Erickson and the "soldiers" in his budding "Strike Force" have again tried to imitate serving in the military without actually having to don a uniform, pick up a weapon, or sacrifice much of anything at all.

Could that be any more embarrassing? Or offensive? Or childish? Or presumptuous?

Or Dwight Schrutey?

The Shoe Incident Most Embarassing?

USN&WR thinks not-

1. George H.W. Bush Vomits On the Japanese Prime Minister (1992)
2. George W. Bush Crashes Into a Police Officer in Scotland, Sending the Officer to the Hospital (2005)
3. Gerald Ford Falls Down the Steps of Air Force One in Austria (1975)
4. Ronald Reagan Falls Asleep While Meeting with the Pope (1982)
5. Bill Clinton Caught Celebrating a Favorable Ruling in a Sexual Case Through His Hotel Window in Senegal (1998)

Obama speechwriter's big oops

By GottaLaff

Oops:

Jon Favreau, future White House director of speechwriting, has so far been at a loss for words over Facebook pictures of him at a recent party.

Pictures of Favreau, 27, at a recent party appeared on Facebook Friday. In one of the photos, Favreau, who served as President-elect Barack Obama’s chief speechwriter during the campaign season, was dancing with a life-sized cardboard cut-out of future secretary of state Hillary Clinton. In a second photo, a friend was offering the cutout a bottle of beer while Favreau stood beside the likeness with his hand on the cardboard New York senator’s chest.

The picture was reportedly up for a scant two hours or so before Favreau removed it, along with every other picture of himself beyond his profile photo — but there’s no getting the Facebook genie back in the bottle.

Yes, it was disrespectful and distasteful. Yes, Favreau apologized. And Campbell Brown, being all "no biasy and no bully", was incredulous yesterday when Hillary accepted the apology and brushed it off:

The Clinton camp reaction? "Sen. Clinton is pleased to learn of Jon's obvious interest in the State Department, and is currently reviewing his application," Clinton aide Philippe Reines told the Washington Post.

Doesn't Hillary know that she's not supposed to be gracious/avoid another embarrassing news cycle? Doesn't Hillary realize that she's expected to exhibit any outrage she might feel about this publicly? Doesn't Hillary understand that Campbell Brown needs a juicy story to boost her ratings? The nerve.