Dammit, Rahm!

Rahm Emmanuel is reportedly planning to leave his job as White House Chief of Staff by the week's end, to begin a run for mayor of Chicago. This sucks. What the hell, Rahm, are you jealous that your brother has been immortalized on HBO's Entourage? You don't leave right before the midterm elections, dammit! This smacks of disloyalty and opportunism, not to mention giving that image of rodents leaving the ship--sinking or not.

Leaving now is a shitty thing to do at this time, Rahm.

Contract On America 2.0

"Cowardice asks the question: is it safe? Expediency asks the question: is it politic? Vanity asks the question: is it popular? But conscience asks the question: is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular- but one must take it simply because it is right."
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Been hearing all day about the Repugs latestscheme, the "Pledge to America." Oh, this time around, it's a pledge, is it? But otherwise, they're saying the same sort of nebulous, non-specific, buzz-phrase-laden, out of context lies and bullshit that they did with the original "Contract On America" back in 1994. Who do they think they're kidding?

The Rude Pundit isn't fooled, either:

1. Could everyone just stop talking about the current crises in America as being caused by Barack Obama's agenda? Seriously, the right-wing drama queens act as if they've been living under years of oppression and hunger in a Soviet-era dictatorship instead of 19 months under a politically moderate, legally-elected president. We did live under eight years of Bush, though. Speaking of Americans "yearning to be free" and to self-determine shit, the Pledge says, "Whenever the agenda of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to institute a new governing agenda and set a different course." Hey, you know what, Mike Pence and the rest? We did vote to institute a new governing agenda, Obama's. Senate Republicans have prevented its passage. Maybe you could complain if we were, you know, being governed by it. But, fuck it. Why bother to really try Obama's agenda when we can just go back to the one that ass-fucked us in the first place? Kudos, Tea Party.

2. You know how you know your "Pledge" is bullshit? Easy test: scan the entire things for the words "cut" or "reduce." If you're serious about cutting or reducing spending, some specific things ought to come up, no? Sure, man, it's got all kinds of mighty phrases, like "cutting discretionary spending." But other than cutting Congress's budget (and not saying by how much), Republicans can "Pledge" to a vague notion and not say, "Oh, sorry, Nebraska, but that power plant's canceled."

3. You know how you know your "Pledge" to cut spending is bullshit? When you say that you're gonna shovel money into the defense budget like Casey Jones with a shovel and a pile of coal. "Fully Fund Missile Defense" is part of the Republicans' promise to make sure that, while your roads and schools may suck ass, military contractors get to keep sucking milk from the tax teat.

And so on. I really am losing the capacity for surprise this political season. No lie seems too bold, no obfuscation seems too deceitful, no hypocrisy is too brazen. And now with the wingnuts leading in many of the polls, all the crazy is coming out. Rand Paul wants to repeal parts of the Civil Rights Act, Sharon Angle doesn't want autistic kids to have mandated health insurance, and Christine O'Donnell just wants to stop eveyone from having sex, period!--and no one in the GOP even says "Hey waitaminute, dammit--that's going too far!" No, the ignorant wingers stomp their feet and applaud, shaking their signs reading "No Government Health Care, And Leave My Medicare Alone!"

Morons, all of them:

Fun & Games With The TV Machine

Sometimes I do watch other things on TV besides the news. Tonight, for example, I watched the premiere episode of some new show on NBC called "The Event." My man Tony Todd is in it, so I had to give it a look. And so, I wanted to post my conclusion here & now, so later I can say I was right.

The big mystery: aliens or mutants.

You heard it here first!

Even A Broken Clock Is Right Twice A Day

Al D'Amato--the senator formerly known as "Pothole Al" for his unflagging support for his constituents, was a somewhat controversial, irascible, and independent Republican representing New York from 1981 to 1998. Although he was a Republican, he supported the right of gays to openly service in the military, and was a strong supporter of Israel.

I have to give credit to D'Amato, he's an old school Republican, the kind that in the past you could work with. And unlike the current incarnation of the GOP, he still has some honor and integrity. Last Friday,.D'Amato unloaded on a wingnut racist on the little-watched Fox Business News channel, calling him out on his "racist bullshit."

HuffPost:

The blowup came during a discussion on Thursday's edition of "Money Rocks"about whether or not to privatize the US Postal Service. Though all of the guests appeared to agree about the issue at hand, several took offense at the comments of GOP strategist Jack Burkman.
Burkman launched the discussion by saying, "most of these guys working in the Post Office should be driving cabs, and I think we should stop importing labor from Nigeria and Ethiopia. That's the skill level."

Have a look, the fun begins at 4:58:



I just love the way that jackass's jaw drops when D'Amato begins to tear into him. And who's that crazy woman wanting to privatize Homeland Security?? Are you kidding me? At any rate--way to go, Al!

Huck the Schmuck

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, evangelist minister, talk show host, confidant of Chuck Norris, and hypocritical Republican weasel, today came out in favor of denying health care insurance to individuals with pre-existing conditions.

TPM:

 "It sounds so good, and it's such a warm message to say we're not gonna deny anyone from a preexisting condition," Huckabee explained at the Value Voters Summit today. "Look, I think that sounds terrific, but I want to ask you something from a common sense perspective. Suppose we applied that principle [to] our property insurance. And you can call your insurance agent and say, "I'd like to buy some insurance for my house." He'd say, "Tell me about your house." "Well sir, it burned down yesterday, but I'd like to insure it today." And he'll say "I'm sorry, but we can't insure it after it's already burned." Well, no preexisting conditions."

Speaking as a person with a pre-existing condition or two myself, I can only hope & pray that Huck someday finds himself personally....ahh,  "enlightened" about the difficulty of getting health insurance when you're already sick. What was that line about helping the sick and the poor again, Mike? Think you might have heard of the idea somewhere?

Alan Grayson was right, the Republican idea of health care truly  is "don't get sick, or if you do, die quickly."

Errrrr, Just a Second.....

A November upset in Delaware for the Tea Party? Regarding Christine O'Donnell, the newest Tea Party headcase to win a primary, The Rude Pundit by way of CNN says:

For anyone who wonders if O'Donnell can pull out an upset, let's put her numbers in context:
Number of registered voters in Delaware: 621,746
Number of registered Republicans: 182,796 (29%)
Number of votes O'Donnell received: 30,561
By the Rude Pundit's awesome abilities with a calculator, that means she received: 16.7% of registered Republicans.
Number of registered Democrats: 292,738 (47%)

 Sounds to me like she has the same chance that a tissue-paper dog has at catching an asbestos cat running through hell.