"We are faced with Bush beating Swift Boated Kerry times a few billion"

By GottaLaff

The wonderful Ken Morris* is at it again, jangling our nerves by speaking the scary truth.

Previously, I posted about his rebuffed attempts to get Barbie McLipSchmutz to dine with him via an eBay auction. He did that in order to get her to speak frankly and honestly with him about policy issues.

You can stop laughing now.

This time he ties in the latest SCROTUS decision to a possible 2012 Palin run. ::shudder::

Hint: It's no longer amusing to daydream about her candidacy. More like a nightmare-in-waiting.

The Mudflats has the whole thing (a must-read), but here are a couple of excerpts to tantalize you:

With the Supreme Court positioned to overturn campaign finance laws in the Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission case now before it, corporate contributions to federal elections will be unfettered. In other words, Sarah Palin with the help of an unlimited dose of corporate funds might one day be president. Already she has what appears to be a heady stable of influential supporters: Fox News, Rupert Murdoch, Bill Kristol, Lawrence Kudlow, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. In other words, I take her prospects seriously. And, as she has chosen to be a spokesperson for, as she says, “American Main Street,” it is vital that she come out from behind her handlers and speak on the record in unscripted fashion. [...]

Strap her face and image in front of nefarious handlers (can you say, “Dick Cheney?”), record a few easy to remember sound bites (“Pallin’ around with terrorists” or “Joe the Plumber” or “Drill, Baby, Drill”), prop up her fictional Main Street Cred, and keep her off the Katie Couric show. That’s it. [...] In other words, we are faced with George Bush beating Swift Boated John Kerry times a few billion. No restrictions, no limits, no need to bother telling the truth, even less incentive to discuss political philosophy (assuming a candidate has one). Main Stream Media will follow the scent and report on the rumors because they know issues don’t sell ads (especially since advertisers are the ones paying for the production of all those salacious stories).

Now go read all of it. Bring the Pepto.

*Ken Morris, a former Wall Street Executive turned novelist (financial thrillers Man in the Middle and The Deadly Trade), founded Morgan Stanley’s International Equity Department in the mid-1980’s. As a senior capital markets executive, he traveled the world and managed operations in New York, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Sydney. His third novel, Evil Shall Break, is currently being shopped to New York publishers. Ken’s offer goes out to Ms. Palin sincerely and in the hopesdialogue might begin to replace rancor and name-calling.

Politics as religion in America

By GottaLaff

Neal Gabler has an op-ed in today's L.A. Times that he titled, "Armageddon politics". Take a look:

Perhaps the single most profound change in our political culture over the last 30 years has been the transformation of conservatism from a political movement, with all the limitations, hedges and forbearances of politics, into a kind of fundamentalist religious movement, with the absolute certainty of religious belief. [...]

The tea-baggers who hate President Obama with a fervor that is beyond politics; the fear-mongers who warn that Obama is another Hitler or Stalin; the wannabe storm troopers who brandish their guns and warn darkly of the president's demise; the cable and talk-radio blowhards who make a living out of demonizing Obama and tarring liberals as America-haters -- these people are not just exercising their rights within the political system. They honestly believe that the political system -- a system that elected Obama -- is broken and only can be fixed by substituting their certainty for the uncertainties of American politics.

As we are sadly discovering, this minority cannot be headed off, which is most likely why conservatism transmogrified from politics to a religion in the first place. [...]

Rationality won't work because their arguments are faith-based rather than evidence-based. Better message control won't work. Improved strategies won't work. Grass-roots organizing won't work. Nothing will work because you cannot convince religious fanatics of anything other than what they already believe, even if their religion is political dogma.

And therein lies the problem, not only for liberals but for mainstream conservatives who think of conservatism as an ideology, not an orthodoxy. You cannot beat religion with politics, which is why the extreme right "wins" so many battles. The fundamentalist political fanatics will always be more zealous than mainstream conservatives or liberals. They will always be louder, more adamant, more aggrieved, more threatening, more willing to do anything to win. Losing is inconceivable. For them, every battle is a crusade -- or a jihad -- a matter of good and evil.

There is something terrifying in this. The media have certainly been cowed; they treat intolerance as if it were legitimate political activity. So have many politicians, and not just the conservative ones who know that if they don't fall in line, they will be run over. This political fundamentalism has also invaded the general culture in deleterious ways. The ugly incivility of recent months is partly the result of political fundamentalists who have nothing but contempt for opposing viewpoints, which gives them license to shout down opponents or threaten them, just as jihadis everywhere do.

Those who oppose the religification of politics may think all they have to do is change tactics, but they are sadly, tragically mistaken. They can never win, because for the political fundamentalists, this isn't political jousting, this is Armageddon.

With stakes like that, they will not lose, and there is nothing democrats -- small 'd' and capital "D" -- can do about it.

Please follow the link to read the rest.

Introducing the FEC approved Swiftboat Network

By GottaLaff

Please, please, please read the entire piece here. This is major. Huge. And about as unAmerican as anything I can think of, all blessed by the FEC. Someone wake me up when this nightmare is over:

Buried deep within the Internet, there is a place called the Federal Election Commission. Buried deeper within the Federal Election Commission, there is a place where any interested party can view requests for advisory opinions, read both sides’ arguments for and against, comment, and listen to the audio of public hearings.

Buried deeper still, are the seeds of a plan to circumvent all election finance laws and everything we know right now about so-called ‘astroturf organizations’ in a perfectly legal, United States Federal Election Commission-approved kind of way. [...]

People who might otherwise make donations to 527 groups (which are subject to campaign disclosure laws), will instead incorporate on their own as Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs). Each corporation will advertise, take polls, or conduct direct media campaigns for or against Federal candidates as they choose. The corporation will not accept any funds from any outside sources. Simply put, wealthy donors will no longer be restricted to current contribution limits or disclosure laws because they will be acting individually as a corporation to put their message on the air. This has long been held to be a First Amendment right of individuals. They’re allowed to spend whatever they want. It isn’t new. [...]

It’s not difficult to imagine 100 different Swiftboat ads, each with the same message but a different messenger, a messenger who is a client of Black Rock Group and involved in the same campaign against the same candidate. [...]

[W]e will be inundated with negative campaign ads funded by shadow entities who will be shielded from the light of day. They will say whatever they want to say in whatever fashion they want to say it, including the usual smear tactics, but will never have to own one word of what they’ve said, because they are shielded by a corporate entity surrounding the individual.

That’s the real problem here. If a Goldman Sachs executive wants to go negative on a candidate and has the funds to pay for it, no one will ever be able to point back to Goldman Sachs, nor will that executive ever have to own the words. Now multiply that by a factor of many, all blasting the same message over radio, tv, push poll, polls, and other means. It’s lucrative for Black Rock Group, shields candidates from associations they’d rather not disclose, and inundates the rest of us with a barrage of ‘nattering nabobs of negativity.’

This isn’t astroturf. It’s a concrete firewall, intended to shield and protect the messenger who brings destructive messages.

Bye bye democracy.

Go. Now. Here.

VIDEO- Tea Party Express Guy: "This is AFRO-LENINISM! Coming to you on a silver platter! Barack Hussein Obama!"

By GottaLaff

Somethin's a-comin'! I don't know what, but... but... somethin'! It could be somethin' GREAT! Who the hell knows, man, 'cause I don't care! It doesn't matter!! Barack Hussein... He's... he's black! Gaaaaaaa!!! We're all gonna die!



How reassuring to witness adults-- these are adults, aren't they?-- who get so lathered up they can't see straight, yet insist upon spreading their unadulterated, seething, hateful spew on the Tee Vee Machine for children to watch while eating their Mac'N'Cheez din-dins.

But hey! Them Family Values, they sure 'nough do come through LOUD AND CLEAR!!

Barack Obama faces 30 death threats a day, 400% more than Bush

By GottaLaff

See, wingnuts, this is why you shouldn't be stirring things up so much. Oh wait. That's exactly why you're stirring things up so much:

Since Mr Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 per cent from the 3,000 a year or so under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of In the President's Secret Service. [...]

Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated meticulously. [...]

Instead of bringing in more agents - instantly identifiable because of their bulky suits, worn over bullet-proof jackets, and earpieces - the Secret Service directed agents to work longer hours to cover the extra load and to miss firearms training, physical fitness sessions and tests.

"We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters," a Secret Service agent told Kessler. "Headquarters' mentality has always been, 'You can complete the mission with what you have. You're a U.S.S.S. agent'." [...]

The Secret Service has increasingly cut corners after it was absorbed by the new Homeland Security Department under Mr Bush. Kessler said that when Mr Biden threw the first pitch at the first Baltimore Orioles game of the 2009 season, the Secret Service did not screen any of the more than 40,000 fans, stunning his agents and the local Secret Service field office.

The Secret Service is stretched, and they're cutting corners. This comes at a time when we have a president who needs them more than ever.

Great.

Free Republic slurs Obama girls: "A typical street whore... Wonder when she will get her first abortion"

By GottaLaff

Paddy posted about The Tee Shirt, expecting that something like this would happen:

"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."

There they are, folks. The Family Values Crowd. See how they value other people's families?

These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.

A... peace sign? A peace sign?! Really? No more killing? What was she thinking? These would have obviously been so much more acceptable:

The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."

Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing [...]

Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

I'm sure it was just an oversight. No, wait. Freepers don't believe in oversight.

"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.

"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.

How American of them. How inclusive and Big Tenty. Why, I bet their next convention will have at least two African Americans... if the Tee Vee camera can find/train on them long enough before the planted "ghetto thugs" slip out the back door to collect their paychecks. The Extras Union is fussy that way.

Now take a deep breath, because you'll need oxygen after you read the next part. Check out the Freeps' "disclaimer", and then take in how well the Commenters abided by the rules:

A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."

Ahh, the inevitable mention of guns. We all knew they'd make an appearance. There's that Very Special violent streak we all know and abhor.

After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.

But there's always that one deeply sensitive soul, in this case the Creepy Freepy Leader, whose wisdom is passed down to his Fellow Freepers:

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

His kindly influence was felt instantly. Why, just look at the resulting, er, empathy:

"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."

"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."

"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."

And then they all donned their fishing waders, joined hands in a show of unity, and dove back into the cesspool from which they originally oozed.

H/t: Misha1234 via Twitter

Eradicating the ugly Bush stain: Lawsuits filed over "right of conscience" regulation

By GottaLaff

We knew this was coming (original post here). Kudos to the seven states and organizations that are trying to eradicate this particularly horrendous ugly Bush stain:

Seven states and two organizations have sued the Bush administration in an attempt to block a federal regulation that would protect health-care workers who refuse to perform abortions or other medical procedures because of religious or moral reasons.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island.

Blumenthal said the regulation would put women's health care at risk and would undercut state contraception laws. [...]

The Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the American Civil Liberties Union, which was acting on behalf of the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association, also filed separate suits Thursday.

Coulter canceled

By GottaLaff

This and this prove that there is nobody more deserving of cancellation than the Madam's Apple:

Ann Coulter's appearance on the "Today" show has been canceled.

NBC had come under fire for booking Coulter, who had been scheduled to promote her new book, Guilty, on the "Today" show Thursday morning.

Score one for our side. What does the poor Madam have to say about this? Here's her website entry. Please note, the author [sic] can't spell either (Hey Madam, "canceled" has one L):

TODAY SHOW AND TODAY SHOW FOURTH HOUR: CANCELLED!

I guess this ends the "they just want to get ratings" argument about liberal media bias.

Disclaimer: TPC is proud of our liberal blog bias.

Coulter will appear on CBS' "Early Show" Tuesday morning to promote the book, according to her website.

CBS: Coulter Book Sellers.

H/t: Ellen

Exit: BushCo... still stonewalling

By GottaLaff

January 20 cannot come soon enough. What passes for the current administration is really nothing more than a remorseless gang of sleazy criminals:

True to its mania for secrecy, the Bush administration is leaving behind vast gaps in the most sensitive White House e-mail records, and with lawyers and public interest groups in hot pursuit of information that deserves to be part of the permanent historical record.

E-mail messages that have gone suspiciously missing are estimated to number in the millions. [...]

The deep-sixed history also includes improper business conducted by more than 50 White House appointees via e-mail at the Republican Party headquarters. Historians and archivists are suing the administration. We should be grateful for their efforts. Entire days of e-mail records have turned up conveniently blank at the offices of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Mr. Cheney, of course, retreats from sunshine with the wariness of Alucard; he is fighting to the last the transfer of his records to the National Archives, as required by law. [...]

[T]he Bush team, from day one, has flouted the requirement to preserve a truthful record, ignoring repeated warnings from the National Archives. In government agencies, the public’s freedom-of-information rights have been maliciously hobbled. [...]

It will take years to ingest before historians can truly get a handle on what is missing.

History is truly the poorer for the Bush administration. President-elect Barack Obama must quickly undo the damage by ordering that records be shielded from political interference, by repairing the freedom-of-information process, and by ending the abuse of the classification process to cloak the truths of the presidency.

The Nation of Dick, the Chimpenfuhrer, and their little band of democracy pirates have done more damage in the past eight years than we can possibly process or capture, even in an excellent year-end summary.

As optimistic as I am about an ObamAdministration, I'm queasy about their allowing BushCo to skate.

Numbers don't lie: Devastator-in-Chief Bush 2008

By GottaLaff

Cold statistics make it a little tougher for BushCo to squirm their way out of the devastation they've inflicted on this country:

To mark the passing of Bush’s last full year in office, ThinkProgress rounded up statistics on some of the most significant effects of Bush rule in 2008:

– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Iraq: 322.
– Number Of U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan: 151.
– Number Of Jobs Lost: 1.9 million.
– Number Of Banks Federal Government Now Owns Stock In: 206.
– Number Of Uninsured Americans: 47.5 million.

– Change In Housing Prices: declined 18 percent.
– Change In Health Insurance Premiums: increased 5 percent.
– Change In Number Of Delinquent Mortgages: increased 75 percent.
– Change In Use Of Food Stamps: increased 17 percent.
– Change In Dow Jones Industrial Average: declined 35 percent.
– Change In Bush Approval Rating: declined 9 percent to 29 percent.

Of course, this is all Bill Clinton's fault. And in about 3 weeks, it will become all Barack Obama's fault. Bush had nothing to do with it. It was out of his control. All he could do was stand by and watch it unfold.

Poor guy. I hope it doesn't affect his twinkly, unblemished legacy.

Employers ax 533,000 jobs in Nov., most in 34 years; unemployment rate rises to 6.7 percent

Duncan calls it a "Neutron bomb". This is f'ng scary.

WASHINGTON - Skittish employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, the most in 34 years, catapulting the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, dramatic proof the country is careening deeper into recession.

The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, showed the crucial employment market deteriorating at an alarmingly rapid clip, and handed Americans some more grim news right before the holidays.