Poll-itics: Sestak Tied With Specter in Pennsylvania

By GottaLaff

Go Joe Sestak! He and Arlen Specter are now tied at 43% each with 13% still undecided.

This probably had a little something to do with it:



Tying Specter to Boy Georgie and Barbie McLipSchmutz in one 30 second ad? Ouch.

Part of his Wiki:

--Sestak has a 100% rating from NARAL and has stated his support for Roe v. Wade.^[12]

--He is the only Pennsylvanian congressman to have a 100% rating from the League of Conservation Voters and PennEnvironment. He has also been endorsed by the Sierra Club. He voted for the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2007 and the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security and Consumer Protection Act. He was also an original co-sponsor of the Climate Stewardship Act (H.R. 620) and the Safe Climate Act.^[16]

--Sestak supports gun control and has a 100% rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence ^[17] and an F rating from the National Rifle Association^[18]

Sestak has called for the reinstatement of the federal ban on assault weapons.^[19]

--Congressman Sestak is an original co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and supports the original version that includes card check. He created the Labor Advisory Committee to address the challenges facing working families in his district.^[22]

Win, baby, win.

VIDEO- President Obama: Largest Monthly Job Increase In 4 years

By GottaLaff

If you missed this earlier, here you go:

Tennessee Governor on Obama response to flood: I've “never seen this kind of response.”

By GottaLaff

President Obama is weak. President Obama is a terrorist. President Obama is a Muslim Marxist Kenyan. President Obama is clearly in over his head. President Obama isn't one of us. President Obama will not get health care passed. President Obama is ruining the country. It's President Obama's economy.

President Obama is slow to respond to disasters.

Wrong. Wrongwrongwrong, on all counts. Well, he is the president, that part is true. As for that snail's pace thing? Phil Bredesen, the governor of Tennessee, where all that horrific flooding is, would disagree:

“FEMA and the White House have been absolutely supportive,” he told reporters on a conference call.

Ding!

FEMA was quickly on the ground, and on Monday, “the president was on the phone with me before the sun came up,” he said.

Clang!

Bredesen, who has weathered his share of tornados and storms as a public official, said that he’s “never seen this kind of response.”

Ah-OOO-gah!

Dear Obama haters:

Please STFU.

Love, Laffy.

Unabashed Maddow fan girl geekitude time

By GottaLaff

Please indulge me. I'm a geek. I'm a Maddow fan girl. I admit it.

You can't imagine how proud ZenShadow and I are right now:

Our pals at the Political Carnival bring the awesome with this human response to Arizona's "Papers, please" bill.

You can view the video here. Click on above image to enlarge.

I am truly honored.

Okay, moment of fan girl geekitude is over. Regular posting will resume shortly.

VIDEO- Special BLUNT: "Do I Look Illegal?"

By GottaLaff

This webisode of Blunt was a bigger collaborative effort than usual, and for that, ZenShadow and I thank you.

ZenShadow is the one who came up with the concept for this amazing collection of videos, and I edited them together, and then some.

We put the word out on Twitter, and before I knew it, I had 60-plus videos filling my inbox. My video program couldn't handle the load, so sadly, some had to be cut. I apologize deeply for that, because I know the feeling that went into them.

Thank you to every single contributor. You may recognize some faces, and other ones you'll wish you knew better. All are wonderful, caring people.

But the trick question is, which ones are "illegal"?



Blunt is a lot like letters to the editor. YOUR take, short, to the point.

You have a voice, now use it.

(Click on image to enlarge)

For more information about Blunt, follow this link. If you think a video file is too big to email, then go here and use YouSendIt.com.

Please include a name you'd like to use, and a "title", if any, in your e-mail, as you'll see in the video graphics.

Remember: Try to keep the videos at 20 seconds or under.

It's your turn. Go.

VIDEO: Betty White flashes gang sign in new SNL promo

By GottaLaff



B Whi's so gangsta.

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.

VIDEO- Tea Party organizer: We don't tolerate racist behavior

By GottaLaff




Tea Bagger Jenny Beth (the national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots) claims that the group she pals around with will not tolerate racism:

"In Tea Party Patriots, we have no place for that," Jenny Beth Martin said on CNN's American Morning. "If we see somebody who's doing something racist, we tell them to leave our events."

Nope, to the contrary, she swearstogod the Tea Baggers are intolerant of such prejudice, while clinging to the three core values that really matter: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free markets.

And Martin said the movement is open to everyone, including racial and ethnic minorities, notwithstanding the fact that some national polls have indicated Tea Party activists and supporters of the movement are predominantly Caucasian.

And by predominantly, she means there were about 5 people of color that could be spotted at a recent event, per Keith Olbermann, if I recall. Oh let's be generous, let's call it ten. That way nobody can say it's an exaggeration.

Jenny Beth would have a whole lot more credibility if it weren't for blatant examples of Tea Bagger racism like these:

The Tea Baggers have a long way to go before they can replace those images with inclusive, big tenty ones showing their diverse membership kicking racists out of their rallies.

VIDEO: Don't "Judge" Hillary Clinton

By GottaLaff

Hillary has no interest in becoming a judge, Supreme or otherwise:

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

"You don't care to be on the Supreme Court?"

Hillary: "Never!"

Plus:

Hillary Rodham Clinton says she intends to serve as secretary of state throughout the first term of the Obama administration.

In January, she said she expects to leave her post after the first term.

VIDEO: Waffle, Baby, Waffle a la Rubio

By GottaLaff

First:

Please note that posting could be light today. Paddy is gone for a few hours, I'm on no sleep and have a huge video project ahead of me that got a bigger response than I ever expected, and that's a good thing. Between editing and Paddy's absence, things will be a little slower today.


With that, join me in watching Marco Rubio partake in the new GOP dance craze that I call the McCain Flip Flop:

The oil rig disaster has caused problems for the Republican candidate Marco Rubio, a drilling proponent. In 2008, Rubio told Newt Gingrich’s big oil front group American Solutions for Winning the Future that he was proud to join the “drill here, drill now, pay less effort.” (Rubio also promoted drilling In a spanish-language endorsement.)

Now, Rubio is waffling on drilling.

If this disaster makes proponents of drilling think twice, then there is a silver lining. The cost was way too steep, but playing the Glad Game can at least help us cope.

VIDEO: Federal officials forecast potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill

By GottaLaff

NOTE: Title edit. It's now over 200,000, worse than was forecast.

Sorry for double video. I can't get around it.

Word gets around fast, doesn't it. In fact, as early as April 22nd:

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration video, shot as officials coordinated response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, shows that federal officials almost immediately worried that the oil well could leak up to 110,000 barrels per day, or 4.6 million gallons.

The video appears on a federal Web site.

It was filmed in Seattle, at NOAA's Western Regional Center, as scientists and federal officials in Seattle, Houston and New Orleans engaged in telephone conferences, according to a companion document on the Web site.

Please go here for all the details.



H/t: jryanlaw

"Do I look illegal?"

By GottaLaff

My Twitter pal ZenShadow came up with a great idea. Please help out! I will be editing together as many videos as I receive, and all they are... are YOU.

Just point your cell cam, a Flip, or vidcam at yourself and say, "Do I look illegal?"

That's it.

Then send the file to Blunt at ThePoliticalCarnival dot net.

I'll do the rest.

I've already received some, including from Lizz Winstead and The Rude Pundit. Melissa Harris Lacewell, Rachel Maddow's wonderful "WillAtWork", and others have said they'll join in.

Once I post the Blunt webisode, I'll get it to the media.

Let's make a point together. It's one grassroots effort that only takes a second of your time.

Go!

VIDEO: BP's containment problem is unprecedented

By GottaLaff


Here are some excerpts I pulled from a few L.A. Times articles covering the horrific environmental disaster that BP's "oil exploration" caused to give you an overall picture from several perspectives:

Initial estimates that it was leaking 1,000 barrels of oil a day were upped to 5,000 barrels, a rate that could make the BP spill larger than the nation's worst previous oil spill, the 1989 wreck of the tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

This was an explosion, not a "spill". "Spill" has that innocent oopsie tone to it that implies a relatively quick fix. No, the problems this catastrophe caused are unprecedented:

[I]t isn't really a spill: It‘s a gush, like an underwater oil volcano. A hot column of oil and gas is spurting into freezing, black waters nearly a mile down, where the pressure nears a ton per inch, impossible for divers to endure. Experts call it a continuous, round-the-clock calamity, unlike a leaking tanker, which might empty in hours or days.

"Everything about it is unprecedented," said geochemist Christopher Reddy, an oil-spill expert and head of the Coastal Ocean Institute at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts [...] [W]e don't know when it's going to stop."

But the endless devastation isn't just environmental. No, "drill baby drill" is ruining entire businesses, and consequently, lives. It's a tragic domino effect:

As the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continued to spread Friday, Louisiana's $2.5-billion commercial fishing industry, which provides much of the country's domestic shrimp and oysters, is bracing for a virtual shutdown that could trigger shortages and price hikes for consumers nationwide.

As an armada of fishing vessels was dodging the oil-covered waters, seafood distributors, restaurants and grocery stores across the nation were on edge as well. [...]

[P]rices could jump 10% or more if supply diminished. [...]

[T]he Gulf region accounts for about one-fifth of the total U.S. commercial production and more than three-quarters of its domestic shrimp output, according to state and federal officials. [...]

This year's crab season had been subpar. Now the oil spill.

Even the fish he was using as bait were starting to smell faintly like a leaking car.

As I mentioned yesterday, in Santa Barbara, the odor still lingers from the 1969 mess.

Perspective

(Sean Gardner / Greenpeace / April 30, 2010)

Birds fly over oil on the water near Breton Sound Island on the southernmost tip of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf of Mexico south of Louisiana, where oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to spread.

In a previous post, I wrote about the Halliburton connection. Surprise!

Now we have more on that, too:

Investigators delving into the possible cause of the massive gulf oil spill are focusing on the role of Houston-based Halliburton Co., the giant energy services company, which was responsible for cementing the drill into place below the water. The company acknowledged Friday that it had completed the final cementing of the oil well and pipe just 20 hours before the blowout last week.

Of course, Cheney Inc., er, Halliburton is saying they did everything by the book. Is that the same book that should get thrown at them?

At the time of the accident, the Halliburton statement said, "well operations had not yet reached the point requiring the placement of the final cement plug which would enable the planned temporary abandonment of the well." Experts say cementing is a basic part of drilling, exploration and production of oil on the sea floor. [...]

According to experts cited in Friday's Wall St. Journal, the timing of last week's cement job in relation to the explosion -- only 20 hours beforehand, and the history of cement problems in other blowouts "point to it as a possible culprit."

Repairing the damage from this nightmare will take decades. As for repairing Halliburton's and BP's reputations? Eons. And that's being conservative.

Please follow the links for more details.

VIDEO: Rachel Maddow "Steins" Dan Stein... again

By GottaLaff

I posted the video of Dan Stein's little visit with Rachel Maddow here. It's gotten quite a response, including over at the Southern Poverty Law Center's site (Thank you SPLC, for acknowledging my new word "Steined").

For all those naysayers, for all those who blasted Rachel, and especially to Danny Boy himself, I dedicate this post. You've been Steined:

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

VIDEO: President Obama’s commencement speech at University of Michigan

By GottaLaff

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

IMHO: Killer speech.

VIDEO: Arizona deputy shot by alleged undocumented immigrant, officials say

By GottaLaff



Things are bound to get worse now. This is not a good sign:

A sheriff's deputy in central Arizona was shot Friday afternoon by an alleged illegal immigrant, authorities said. [...]

The Pinal County deputy, who was not immediately identified, contacted authorities after being wounded in the desert, saying he had been shot by an illegal immigrant with an AK-47, said Lt. Tammy Villar, a sheriff's spokeswoman. [...]

The shooting is sure to heat up the debate around the new Arizona law.

Watch the supporters of the Papers Please law use this as justification for racial profiling. Nobody is defending the bad guys, but even an event as horrible as this one does not provide an excuse to arrest someone for Breathing While Mexican.

VIDEO: "Can this doctor take this chicken to a gas station?"

By GottaLaff

Chickens for Check-Ups calls fowl on Chicken Sue (who, if you missed it, has backed off her inane, clucked-up bartering comments... sort of a poor man's Cash for Cluckers) with their first TV ad:




H/t: Greg Sargent

VIDEO- Gov. Brewer: "Arizona has been under terrorist attacks" with "all of this illegal immigration"

By GottaLaff

So by equating immigrants with terrorists, Governor Brewer thinks she can justify racial profiling. Sadly, attitudes like this are not surprising, considering the profiling that has gone on since the 9/11 attacks.

I suppose she's also advising the authorities to keep a sharp eye out for white people, like, you know, Tim McVeigh:

Sue Lowden finally chickens out: “Bartering Is Not A Policy”

By GottaLaff



Chicken Sue finally chickened out. Join me in the Chicken Dance to celebrate the end of her extended, and hilariously pathetic, clinging to the few feathers that remained of her health care barter system.


Via Greg Sargent:

[T]he candidate has now taken to her blog to clarify once and for all that she is not advocating for a chickens-for-checkups health plan:

I can understand why Harry Reid and his Washington allies and Hollywood friends are creating political theater rather than solving real problems. Bargaining, bartering and negotiating for health coverage is not a policy — it is a fact. It is occurring today and has been since the founding of our nation. If you want to see my policy on health care reform, it has been on my web page since last year -– and it remains there to this day. Nowhere in my health reform proposal do I discuss bargaining, bartering or negotiating, rather I offer real solutions that work without creating a new, government-run entitlement program that Nevadans don’t want and they cannot afford.

And people say Joe Biden has gaffe-itis.

VIDEO: Dep't. of No Kidding-- McCain: Bipartisanship is dead.

By GottaLaff



Not-Maverick John McCain has a real flair for the obvious. Gee, J Sid, how'd you ever figure this one out?

Bipartisanship was "for all intents and purposes" dead, McCain said in an interview with the conservative Newsmax magazine.

"I would say that, largely so," McCain added.

"There are certain areas where we can work together," said McCain, who pointed to his work on the Armed Services Committee. "But for all intents and purposes, yes."

Wowzers! How does he do it? Who could have ever concluded such a thing, especially after over a year of obstruction by the Party of No? He must have superpowers none of us knew about.

Yes, that's it. That's how he manages to flip flop so often without hurting himself.... physically, I mean.