Olbermann on Scott Brown

Massachusetts, are you listening?

John McCain Will Burn For This One Day

This is the person they thought was qualified to be "a heartbeat away" from the Presidency:

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This ignorant, greedy, power-hungry idiot is now a major factor in American politics, because that old fool McCain thought she'd attract the Hillary voters. WTF was he thinking?? As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, Palin "just offers proud ignorance in all of its naked, fulminating glory. The odious humors regularly issuing forth from her gaping, defecating maw are unconstrained." My SO says that for her, as a woman, watching Palin speak gives her the same feeling that I get when I see in the news that the latest armed idiot running amok is African-American, best described as: "Oh shit, why did it have to be one of us??"

Of course, the wingnut community embraces Sarah as one of their own (take from that what you will). Rush Limbaugh, in particular, has been one of her staunchest defenders. However, he seems to have a selective view of any news about her:

The Rude Pundit:

Rush Limbaugh gleefully danced like a gelatinous circus bear on his show yesterday over the Reid and Clinton parts of Game Change. Man, he couldn't get enough of it, even laying out a buddy movie with Robert Byrd and Harry Reid, involving shoeshining: "The shoe shiners are dark-skinned Negroes, just to highlight the stars' tolerance here. In the background you'd have a light-skinned Negro serving a young Bill Clinton coffee." There's more, but who the fuck cares because it's just not funny. By the way, Limbaugh wasn't using "Negro" in quotation marks. He was just using it.

The point here is that Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, in Game Change, also describe some pretty devastating scenes with Sarah Palin. Like that she was prone to wild mood swings and didn't know jackshit about anything: "She couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and she did not know what the Federal Reserve did. She also said she believed Saddam Hussein attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001." And, of course, she kept calling the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate "Senator O'Biden." But that's just charming, you betcha.

Rush Limbaugh has called Sarah Palin "the most prominent and articulate voice" on the right, and he's defended her like a gelatinous bear might defend its brain-damaged cub. Yesterday, he dismissed the Palin sections: "There's nothing new in the book about Sarah Palin." Of course, he didn't mention any of those old things.

Nope, nothing new about "wild mood swings" and "catatonic stupor." Move along, folks, nothing to see here. Now, if Rush Limbaugh said that it was raining, I'd look out my window first. But I'm not one of his millions of "dittoheads." And these people, who run out and buy his books, and Sarah Palin's book (now available at DEEP discount at Amazon and Barnes & Noble!), seem to be to be almost as ignorant and deeply disturbed as Palin herself, and happy about it, too! "All of 'em," to coin a phrase.

Frankly, the idea that many of my fellow citizens think that this cretin is qualified to be President of the United States makes me wish we that we really had developed that lunar colony I saw as a kid watching 2001. I frequently wish there was somewhere else, far away, where I could go to get away from these fools--so, thanks alot, John McCain!

In the Midst of Massive Tragedy, Another Passing

R.I.P., Teddy Pendergrass:

Philly soul legend Teddy Pendergrass died Wednesday at a hospital in Philadelphia, succumbing to colon cancer at age 59. Known for hits such as “Close the Door” and “It Don’t Hurt Now,” Pendergrass was a multiplatinum artist at the peak of his career in 1982, when a car accident left him a paraplegic. Working with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and the production team Gamble & Huff, Pendergrass’ charismatic vocals and image helped define ’70s soul.

Damn, there goes another icon of my misspent youth. Fair winds, Teddy.

Haiti II: Disaster Brings Out The Assholes on the Right

I'm so angered by the remarks made by Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh about the earthquake in Haiti, and American disaster relief efforts there, that I'm tempted to ask "who will rid me of these troublesome pundits?", but I won't.....for now. I always knew that these two demons didn't give a damn about anyone other than themselves, but they outdid themselves with their remarks today about Haiti.

I can scarcely find words to express my anger and contempt for these two. Amidst the most horrific disaster since the 2008 tsunami, as a human tragedy unfolds in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, these two slimebags can't wait to pile on the hatred, racism, and ignorance that is their stock-in-trade. Haiti as a country has been literally destroyed, with no seaport, no services, no telephones (save satellite phones), no police, and no hospitals or schools intact. The most powerful earthquake the country has experienced in 200 years has left thousands of people buried alive in collapsed buildings, waiting for help that may come too late. Doctors Without Borders believes that they've lost most of their 800 people in the country, and thousands of American citizens are caught up in the disaster. The UN mission in Haiti estimates that more than 150 of their personnel are buried in the rubble, and dozens more are dead. In Port-au-Prince, the bodies of the dead are strewn about the city's streets, there's no electricity, water, or food, and the final death toll is estimated to exceed 100,000, yet Limbaugh and Robertson gleefully step feet first into the disaster with their patented evil.

Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh will sleep safe & sound in their beds tonight, while millions are left naked, fearful, and dazed, while the injured and dead lie in the streets and shantytowns of Haiti. I know who made a deal with the devil, and it wasn't the Haitians--it was these two walking shitbags, and I hope they burn in hell.

Help for Haiti

There are several ways to send aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti:

PRNewswire:

What: The quickest way to provide monetary relief to those affected by
the recent earthquake in Haiti is mobile giving. By texting a
keyword to a designated short code via a mobile phone, a micro-
donation of $5 or $10 can be made to aid the millions of people
affected by this tragedy. 100% of your donation goes to the
recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on your
carrier bill, standard rates may apply.

Who: There are several organizations that are responding to this urgent
need with mobile - giving efforts, including the following:

Text the word "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5
On behalf of the Yele Foundation, the leading contributor to
rebuilding Haiti founded by Wyclef Jean

Text the word "Haiti" to 85944 to donate $5
On behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International

Text the word "Haiti" to 25383 to donate $5
On behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee

Text the word "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10
On behalf of the Red Cross in the U.S.

Text the word "Haiti" to 45678 (In Canada Only)
On behalf of the Salvation Army in Canada
[...]
When: Please contribute now.

You can also send donatations to:

• Heart to Heart International [...] regularly sends humanitarian aid to Haiti and just this week shipped $2 million worth of medicines and other supplies to the country.

The organization expects to send more aid in the coming days.

“Haiti is a nation of tremendous need, even before the earthquake struck,” said Jon D. North, the organization’s chief executive officer. “We’re planning to send medicines and supplies that address waterborne and airborne illnesses, as well as minor injuries.”

People can donate financially to Heart to Heart online at www.hearttoheart.org or by phone at 913-764-5200.

The organization is also asking groups or businesses to assemble care kits made up of personal hygiene items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, bandages, washcloths and hand towels.

•The Salvation Army operates schools, clinics, a hospital, feeding programs, children’s homes and church-related activities in Haiti.

Spokesman Bob Brady said the Salvation Army was committing $50,000 to the relief effort and was preparing for a greater financial commitment along with providing food, water and other emergency supplies.

[...]

The organization is accepting donations for the relief effort at www.salvationarmyusa.org or by calling 800-SAL-ARMY (800-725-2769).

There's also an extensive list of charitable organizations participating in the Haitian relief effort at Rachel Maddow's site at MSNBC.

You Knew It Was Gonna Happen: Palin Joins Fox

Finally, someone dumber than Gretchen Carlson will appear on Faux News!

TPM:

It was inevitable. Fox News confirms to the New York Times today that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will become a regular contributor to the cable news channel.

In a multi-year deal, Palin will appear on the channel regularly. A source told the Times that while she will not have her own regular show, she will host an occasional series.

Looks like Levi Johnston was right, she's after the benjamins. Putting Palin on Fox, as one commenter put it, will give Jon Stewart multiple orgasm, and Keith Olbermann might elevate her to his "Worst Persons In The World" Hall of Fame. Hilarity will almost certainly ensue.

Now, the real question is: is Palin smart enough to read off a TelePrompter, or will they need a three-second delay to edit out the stupid?

Random Thoughts OnHarry Reid, Liz Cheney, and George Will

Harry Reid's comments were no more or less than what I'd expect from a white man of his age and region of the country. At this point, as far as I'm concerned he can call President Obama (and me too!) a coon, as long as he gets a strong public option through the Senate.

Liz Cheney has never heard any of her circle talking about black people the way that Harry Reid referred to then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama? Oh, PUH-LEEZE!! What a mealy-mouthed bitch she is.

And George Will, like a broken clock, is right sometimes.