VIDEO- Countdown: Republicans use Tea Parties to raise PAC money, spread propaganda

By GottaLaff

As if we didn't suspect:

Just days after the first widespread tea party demonstrators hit the streets a year ago Thursday, Joe Wierzbicki, a Republican political consultant with the Sacramento firm Russo Marsh + Rogers, made a proposal to his colleagues that he said could “give a boost to our PAC and position us as a growing force/leading force as the 2010 elections come into focus.”

The proposal, obtained by POLITICO, was for a nationwide tea party bus tour, to be called the Tea Party Express ...

Watch:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is the Politico article that is being discussed.

Will the Tea Tantrumers et al. ever wake up and realize what's going on? Oh wait. That implies that they'd be aware of, well, anything.

Palin Gets $100K for Magazine Photo

By GottaLaff

Via Taegan and Gryphen we see how Barbie McLipSchmutz finally quit worrying (yes, yet another thing she quit) about exploiting her kids. Whew! For a minute there, I was worried about all of Babzie's worrying, which was becoming quite worrisome.

How nice for her that she and her daughter can relax and revel in their brand spankin' fat new bank statements:

Sarah Palin and her daughter, Bristol, "earned an eye-popping $100,000 for their new In Touch Weekly cover, "the New York Post reports.

"For just eight hours' work at her own home, Palin pocketed nearly as much as her $125,000-a-year salary as Alaska governor. It seems her decision to quit her political role is making big financial sense. Palin also reportedly earns $100,000 per public-speaking engagement, while she has a multiyear deal as a Fox News Channel analyst. Reps for the magazine and Palin refused to comment on the deal."

Tripp, Trigg, Trak, Truck, Trek, Drek, Heck. They're all just one big happy family living off of their Paris Hiltonesque fame.

All Bristol had to do was give birth and stand next to her mom at conventions and such.

All Barbie had to do was talk about Bristol giving birth, speak in tongues, fail at potential Veepitude, acquire an odd accent that doesn't represent Alaska, talk about her lipstick, forget O'Biden's real last name, incite hatred, have her ghost writer write, and then charge a whole bunch of money for talking incessantly about all of that and other stuff.

The family that exploits together is maladroit together.

Tom Tancredo uses Haiti to accuse Dems of exploiting Haiti

By GottaLaff

Look what Shannyn Moore found:


Of course, the saints of the Rushpublic party would never exploit the Haiti tragedy. Not ever.

Oh, and Tom? It's spelled "Rahm Emanuel".

VIDEO: Hoekstra dodges questions about fundraising on terror

By GottaLaff

This video is from ABC's This Week, broadcast Jan. 3, 2010:

When directly confronted, Hoekstra was unable to defend himself. Attaboy, Petey, show us what you're made of:

Hoekstra opted not to directly respond to the question. "I'm proud of the role of making sure America is safe. I've been right on the facts all along," replied Hoekstra.

Moran soon gave up. (For more analysis of Hoekstra's depraved fund-raising, see Rachel Maddow.)

Colorado GOP State Senator Compares Obama To 9/11 Hijackers

By GottaLaff

Via Alan Colmes, we get a peek at yet another gracious, thoughtful, compassionate Rushpublic, Colorado State Sen. Dave Schultheis (R-Colorado Springs), who tweeted the following:

Way to callously exploit September 11, 2001, Ace.

Here's what he has up on his Twitter profile now:

See what being exposed as a classless scumbag can do to a guy?

TPM has more.

H/t: T1theinfamous

AUDIO: Laffy on the radio talking "Pro-Life Cupcake Day"

By GottaLaff

I was on the Radio Machine with the absolutely wonderful Angie Coiro (on San Francisco's progressive station Green 960) again last night, snarking about Pro-Life Cupcake Day movement. Seriously.

Right-click here to download the MP3.

Angie has hinted strongly at my becoming a recurring guest on her show. To say I'm flattered is the biggest understatement... ever.

TPC Psycho Watch! $ for publicizing tea parties + bonus AUDIO-- Beck: You're allowed "to secede", VIDEO: Children exploited to protest bailout

By GottaLaff


(via)

Is it me, or does it seem that lately, every psycho has been released from every nuthouse in America:

Now, organizers are doling out generous financial incentives to publicize the tea parties. In a Facebook message today, Erik Telford of Americans For Prosperity told supporters, “I wanted to make you aware of an opportunity. Americans for Prosperity Foundation and Heritage Foundation have teamed up to launch the Stop Spending Our Future project, which offers four contests and $5,000 in prizes“:

1) Spread the Word| Capture the stories of five people at one of the Taxpayer Tea Parties happening all over the nation on Tax Day, April 15. The person that captures the best testimonial will receive $1,000.

2) Make a Video| What’s your biggest frustration about the government’s appetite for more spending in the midst of the tough economic climate? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $500.

3) Write a Letter | Explain how you feel about the debt via a letter that your child, grandchild, or great-grandchild will open 30 years from now? The top 5 submissions will each receive a prize in the amount of $250.

4) Give It a Name| Convey the threat of government over-spending and/or excessive debt using 10 words or less. The single best idea-as voted on by visitors to this website-will receive $250 and be the basis for a new video.

Oh, it gets worse. Now they're exploiting children:

“Stop Spending Our Future” has also launched a promotional video using young children decrying the “Troubled Assets Relief Programs” and other “bailouts.”

Using very young children to do their dirty work is a about as low as it gets. Someone get out the butterfly nets and tranquilizer guns before someone else gets hurt.

H/t: Pigboy for Think Progress link

Maliki Suggests Bush Pushed To Extend U.S. Presence In Iraq To Help McCain

By GottaLaff

Think Progress exclusive:

Last July, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said U.S. troops should be out of Iraq “as soon as possible” and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) withdrawal plan. Obama “talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right time frame for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,” Maliki told Der Spiegel magazine.[...]

Negotiating the post-UN mandate security agreement with Iraq, Bush argued for more time and both sides ultimately agreed that all U.S. troops would be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, not 2010, even though Bush has said previously that “if they were to say, leave, we would leave.”

Why did Bush go back on his word? A source tells ThinkProgress that White House communications staff were concerned that Maliki’s endorsement of the 2010 time line would damage Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) presidential campaign.

Maliki:

Actually, the final date was really the end of 2010 and the period between the end of 2010 and the end of 2011 was for withdrawing the remaining troops from all of Iraq, but they asked for a change [in date] due to political circumstances related to the [U.S] domestic situation so it will not be said to the end of 2010 followed by one year for withdrawal but the end of 2011 as a final date.

[...]

But by endorsing Obama’s time line, Maliki indirectly slighted McCain, who has consistently and strenuously argued against setting a withdrawal date and has even said he wouldn’t mind having U.S. troops in Iraq for 100 years. But Maliki’s new position has left McCain scrambling, first saying its “a pretty good timetable,” but then denying he used “the word timetable” and later settling on “anything is good.”

These slugs would politicize their own kids if they thought it would help them win an election. Oh wait, they already have.

VIDEO: Bush's Motorcade Passes Up Parents of Dead Soldiers for McCain Fundraiser

By GottaLaff

Per one of our Anonymi:

This video shows the Bush motorcade on it's way to a McCain fundraiser, to sell pictures taken with himself for $5000.00. The motorcade passes people waiting, including many parents of military who were killed in Iraq.To my mind this would make a good ad against the repubs.

(via)

H/t: One of our Anons

Vice President Petraeus

By GottaLaff

J Sid is inconsitent on so many levels I'm losing track. Let's start with McHypocrite:

In May, Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen published a letter to uniformed soldiers warning that “the U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times.” Five days later, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was forced to publicly apologize for using a picture of himself with Gen. David Petraeus in campaign fundraising materials, saying, “It won’t happen again.”

Yesterday, however, the McCain campaign once again politicized the military and Gen. Petraeus, now the Central Command chief, by floating the idea of asking Petraeus to be McCain’s vice presidential pick:

People close to the campaign also floated a wild-card choice, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in Iraq. They said it was not beyond the realm of possibility that Mr. McCain would ask him to join the ticket, although General Petraeus has no experience in elective government and has said repeatedly that he is not interested in the vice presidency. … The adviser said the campaign was putting forth his name in part in a bid for attention.

He needs more attention? What, he's now 72 going on 5?

Unfortunately for McCain, Petraeus has said he would refuse to ever run for office.

So what J Sid is really doing is linking himself to the Iraq war debacle, the military, America's darlingest general ever, and the imagery of the two of them walking down the aisle in sweet wedded uniformed bliss.

You'll never see the corporate media give his hypocrisy its due. Had it been Obama who had floated Petraeus, he'd be accused of playing uppity presumptuous dress-up while exploiting the military for his ambitiousy presidentially biddy gain.