Awesome. Say hi to the Whig Party in hell, Republicans!

This just supports the saying:

The country is like an automobile. To move forward, put it in (D). To move backwards, put it in (R).

Death spiral.

Things will change once they get tired of losing elections. But from the looks of things, they haven't got anywhere near that point yet. Which is great news for the rest of us.

YOu wouldn't know it if you listened to NPR this morning. A "news" report about the f-22 that told us it was "really cool according to a flight simulator" and that if you cut the program it would cost us 90,000 jobs. Since it's a 65 billion dollar pork boondogle spearheaded by Saxy Chambliss the math that this equates to an average salary of $722,222 per job. This little factoid that puts the 65 billion number in perspective was conveniently left out of the "news" reports.

This segment was followed by a trashing of Obama's budget using exclusively GOP talking points and soundbites with neccesssary snark and derisive tone from the news anchor.

Hot on the heels of this was Maura Liasohn (Fox News personality but not named as such) reporting from the CPAC grabass summit. She led with a soundbite from the keynote speaker that was one lie after another, it was incredible, the lies were never pointed out of course and were only buttressed and made valid by Liasohn's "reporting".

NPR needs to have some serious pressure put on them as they've become more and more each day an arm of the GOP disinformation campaign.

The biggest problem Republicans have today is the internet.

Because of the internet, the general public is becomming aware of the reality of who/what Republican represents - and it is UGLY!

Heh, maybe the Refunkli-can'ts are ironically trying to both bash Obama and yet be "hip" around minorities. I saw the attributed quote below from the Nuke thread, it was incredible:

As Steele concluded his remarks, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann -- the event's moderator -- told Steele he was "da man." "Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man," she said.

Born in the USA

When I quit my local newspaper I wrote an email to the publishers with this paragraph:

In the interest of "fairness" you have allowed any old bullshit to be rendered into type. Your letters to the editor are often a bacchanal of noise. I expect morally sound and rational opinion. I don't want to read one single letter that claims Obama wasn't born in the USA. I am tired of paying for just any old bullshit in the name of false fairness. And I am tired of an "objective eye" that gives fair and equal time to the handful of losers who still don't believe climate change is real. Ugh.

If you get a newspaper, I suggest you get after the editors and publishers. It is on all of us to shoot this shit down before it get wings...

Clearly Bush's "No Child Left Behind" didn't work. These immature children are definitely being left behind...

It is my finding, based on anecdotal evidence of course, that the true believers still believe that George Bush was a good President and that it will be borne out over the course of the next 4 years.

It is similar to the Iraq "Tinkerbell" policy that the administration maintained over the course of the war, if we just clap louder, it will magically happen.

They believe things like Reagan lowered taxes and the economy turned around when the evidence says otherwise.

Finally, despite the fact that they preach "personal responsibility" notice that it is always someone else's fault. Enough "independents" and politically disconnected people have finally caught on to that fact and I think it will be very difficult to get rid of the stink of incompetency that follows them around like Pepe LePew.

And best of all....

They are holding the entire party hostage. Woe betide you as an office holder or candidate if you even hint you might veer away from their positions, crazy though they may be. They mistake the loud cheers of their followers for national approval.

Well after all, they are the most righteous people on the face of the earth. Why should we question them?

"There is perhaps no phenomenon which contains so much destructive feeling as 'moral indignation', which permits envy or hate to be acted out under the guise of virtue." - Erich Fromm

Mikado - that was good...easy for me to remember too....

The report from Liasohn made it quite clear that the CPAC attendees were giddy now that Bush was out of office according to one man interviewed Bush held Republicans back and compromised on their principles and core beliefs. Finally after all these years they can get back to being Republicans again.

They don't want 8 more years of Bush, he was a liberal after all. Haven't you all figure that out by now?

YOu wouldn't know it if you listened to NPR this morning.

Over the course of the last 8 years, the Bush administration has managed to replace a lot of the top brass at NPR in favor of conservatives who believed that facts and reality have a liberal bias. It will take some doing to get rid of these people - in the meantime, NPR, when it employs people like Liaisson and Williams who are "liberal" to Fox by virtue of appearing on NPR, will be just as fair and balanced as Fox itself.

They might as well change the name to Voice of America and get it over with :)

DBaker, I'm more than well aware of the revamping of NPR and the CPB. Actually from first hand experience. Still it is shocking to turn on the radio and hear NPR reports that are dripping with blatant right wing snark and propoganda for the Obama administration.

sorry, "...against the Obama admin."

"They don't want 8 more years of Bush, he was a liberal after all. Haven't you all figure that out by now?"

You guys can spin out the rewrites faster than a sitcom. All the self delusion just makes me wonder if it's possible for conservatives to believe in anything at all without denying it once it becomes inconvenient. For instance revenge in Iraq for 911, for instance the $1.6 billion cakewalk, for instance Sadaam's WMDs, for instance deregulation, for instance Social Security reform, for instance ALL of GW Bush's policies, except immigration reform.

Calling Bush a liberal now doesn't distract from the fact that conservatives, not liberals, supported Bush.

"They liked the old day just fine, thank you very much, are content to stay there, even as the country moves forward."

Isn't this the very definition of a "conservative"? What they really would like is for us to go back to the good old days of the 1950's when women and minorities knew their place and things were just fine for them. (except for the 90% tax bracket, that they would change.)

oops, the sarcasm, need more coffee. Scottie, beam me to Chiapas.

Love JTP on reparations: "Jews were slaves, but they're not asking for compensation from Egypt."

Um, yes, the compensation is called "Israel." You may have heard of it.

. . . wrong freakin' thread . . . :~/

Oh. No it wasn't. Must get coffee.

Capt Kirk & Fab Toad - the coffee's a'comin'!

As to the automobile analogy, perhaps, many Know Nothings would like to put it in (P).

At CPAC their circle jerk seems to be devolving into a circular firing squad.

Quick! Send more bullets. . .

You can hardly expect these people to question their own ideas or their own motives. Having God's unlisted phone number on speed dial means never having to doubt yourself.

These fools are reactionaries, so I expect no less. The comedy writes itself.

Nevertheless, as I laugh, a thought keeps nagging at me: 45 percent of voters supported these idiots and most, if not all, of their platform in the last election. One attack on US soil, even minor, a military debacle somewhere in the empire, or the economy sinking even deeper into despair, and these nutballs can demagogue their way to getting that last 6 percent. It's been done before.

In the end, I come down as optimistic that good sense will ultimately prevail amongst we, the people. But the chatter I'm hearing from friends, acquaintances,and even strangers (e.g., waiting in line together, overhearing conversations elsewhere)is telling me their is A LOT of anger out there right now, most of it unfocused. "Wall Street," "politicians," "immigrants,"the bastards," etc. I do what I can to help them focus on the facts, at least the ones I know for sure, and discuss issues a little deeper than base-level frustration. But I tell you, people are pissed right now and not just the xenophobic morons CPAC attracts. CPAC is a joke, but they are focused and ready to jump into the breach. Maybe they can't pull it off again, but I will not take that for granted. I laugh, but I take these people dead seriously.

I'm with Todd B. on this one. It's easy to laugh at the simpletons who seem to have taken over the Republican party over the past three decades, but the truth is that they're still very, very dangerous people who seem to have a direct line to Americans' lizard brains. Make no mistake...if given the opportunity they'd line the rest of us up against the nearest wall and then make our relatives cough up for the bullet. We can mock them all we want (and all they deserve), but we turn our backs on them at our own peril.

"If you get a newspaper..."

With the Rocky Mountain paper folding and the Seattle P-I and San Francisco Chronicle and, perhaps, the one in Minneapolis soon to follow, will there be any remaining by next year?

That's the silver lining from the Left's perspective to the Right's "Just Lie. Its easier" mantra. The more they lie, the more unhinged from reality the entire party becomes, the longer time they spend as a regional party. Yes. We've got to suffer through their persistent misinformation campaigns, but they suffer more by lying to themselves.

As an example, it was just delightful watching McCain convince himself he was going to win PA. Gee, that worked out well didn't it. :)

NPR "Morning Edition" got a sound-bite from The Huckster. He said something like "a lot of people, even conservatives like Obama personally, so we can't just say crazy stuff, or make stuff up. We have to explain that his policies are wrong and make suggestions."

I found it interesting that the "rational" thing to do is to just assume the policies are wrong and that explaining this will will make you sound not crazy.

I'm sure someone, somewhere will pull if off, but Obama has to actually start failing first, and it has to be his failure, not just left overs from the last eight years.

Isn't resistence to change sort of the hallmark of being Conservative. Just sayin.

...Jews were slaves, but they're not asking for compensation from Egypt."

We got our back wages when we left: Exodus 12:35 (King James version, but I'm in a hurry)

And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.

"I mean, Jews were slaves, but they're not asking for compensation from Egypt."

More recently, Israel took over the Sinai after the Six Day War. But since they gave it back 12 years later, I guess Egypt still owes them.

"and listen to Samuel Wurzelbacher explain why reparations for African Americans are a bad idea:" - Mr. Benen

JtP's 15 minutes of fame are running way too long. Bringing JtP back into the real world by using his name, Samuel Wurtzelbacher, is excellent Steve. JtP was, and is, a cartoon character. Samuel Wurtzelbacher is a demagogic shlub who hasn't earned any justification for notoriety.

It's past time for JtP to really go down the drain and see how long Samuel Wurtzelbacher can maintain any interest beyond his fellow demagogues.

Thanks, Ahistoricality

What the H-E-double hockey sticks is the world coming to when a liberal has to school CPAC in Biblical verse?

As for reparations... it WOULD likely be a potent stimulus.

Good thing it's coing up for a vote soon with the Fairness Doctrine and FOCA.

Call your Senator and let's grease the wheels, shall we? Most importantly, make sure Fox News knows you're doing it and make sure you have popcorn in the pantry.

I have mixed emotions about this.

I'm that the conservative leadership has been reduced to their core John Birchers.

I'm flabbergasted and relieved at the fact that the shape of the U.S. and the world isn't worse than it is, given that these kooks have had the presidency for the last 8 years and Congress for 14 of the last 16.

I'm extremely worried that somehow, someway, the powers that be will try to put these kooks back in charge.

I found it interesting that the "rational" thing to do is to just assume the policies are wrong and that explaining this will will make you sound not crazy.

I find it more interesting that he seems to publicly acknowledge without any qualms that the basic Republican strategy is to make stuff up and/or say crazy things, and that it is the fact that people actually like Obama that requires them to consider some alternative to this approach.

John Bolton -- wasn't he that Bush appointee who looked like Yosemite Sam, only not as rational or as even-tempered?

I've finally figured out what this canard regarding Obama's birth status is about. The Wingnuts are trying to whip their unhinged fringe into doing something despicable. But how do you convince people who would otherwise not break the law into committing crimes? Convince them that the seated President isn't constitutionally legitimate...even dangerous. This provides a paradigm under which wingnuts can convince themselves that crime, and dare I say assassination, in the name of their twisted sense of 'liberty' are viable, even honorable, actions.

Too bad they weren't all collected together in a stadium during a hurricane.

asshats.

C'mon, there are some decent, open-minded Republicans like Hagel, Collins, Snowe. Then too, the nut cases on the right are not any different from the nut cases on the left. Screaming and clawing at each other to the point where reasonable people in the moderate conservative-liberal realm can't hear themselves think.
The 'lizard' brain someone referred to responds to both extremes. While Bush and his cronies have done more damage than anyone imagined possible, people like Pelosi and Reid would also do us a big favor if they went off somewhere and took up another profession. I just hope that the radicals in the country-right and left do not undermine Obama's efforts.

"...45% of the voters supported these idiots...". Todd B @ 10:33 AM.
Most of these idiots have not, and never will, run for public office, thankfully. Many of those already in office may not be there after 2010. And you also have to remember that many voters, faced with the choice between the Old White Guy and the Young Black Guy simply couldn't see Barack Obama up there with Washington, TR, etc. Some people just have no imagination (although perhaps a tinge of unoonscious racism?).

"...the nutcases on the right are no different than the nutcases on the left." Jeff @ 5:39 PM.
Except that the equivalent left-wing nutcases are not in control of a major political party nor do they receive vast amounts of free media attention. Left-wing nutcases are taken for what they are: nuts; right-wing nutcases are considered Serious People - go figure.