Quickies

This week in Republican rhetoric:

• Republican Representative Louie Gohmert  of Texas excruciatingly claimed that radical Muslims are "being trained to come in and act like Hispanics when they’re radical Islamists."  He also tried pin the Boston bombings on foreign nationals when at this moment no one knows who committed the attacks.  

• Republican and self-proclaimed Man of God, Pat Robertson stated on his 700 Club show compared gays to the illuminati.  

• In an email to other New Hampshire house Republicans, Rep. Peter Hansen (R-Amherst) referred to women as "vaginas."  Don't worry women, he was only calling evil Liberal islamofascist feminazi women vaginas.  Those that vote Republican and love their country are excluded.  

• Bob Davis, a Republican radio host in Minnesota, angrily stated on his morning show that the victims of the Newtown shooting massacre (20 children in first grade) and their families  that he is "sick and tired of seeing these victims trotted out,” and that “I would stand in front of them and tell them, ‘go to hell.’”

• Totally crazy nutjob conspiracy theorist and former Republican candidate for Texas House, Alex Jones (who is a total and complete idiot that hates America) has been on a rampage since yesterday claiming the Boston Marathon bombings are a result of a "false flag" operation by the FBI-- you know just like every other terrorist act of the last 80 years.  This guy couldn't fight his way out of a paper sack. What a joke.

Quickies

• Notre Dame's famed linebacker Manti Te'o looks like he has a lot of explaining to do.

• “People did not change their mind much in this election after February, March and April. That’s when those ads went on and we had to define Mitt Romney as what he was, a cold, robotic tax cheat from a polygamy cult."-- Bill Maher.  I'd have to say I do agree with him.  

• Crazy college professor who said it's legitimate to think the Obama administration was behind the Newtown Massacre just might be getting fired.  Not sure why it has taken them this long actually.

• Oh no, Reagan's SG says Obama has used his Executive Orders in a standard way and have been issued in a "benign" mode.  It's a good thing Reagan never supported gun control legislation.  Wait, never mind.  Makes you realize once again there's no way Reagan would win a Republican Primary today.  Not with the idiots controlling his party, no way.

• Didn't Dennis Hastert say that if a Speaker doesn't follow the "Hastert Rule" then they really don't have control over their caucus?  Well, once again John Boehner passes a bill through his chamber without majority GOP support.  It's clear he probably doesn't have control over his caucus.  I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It actually might be the best thing to happen to America this year.  Think about it.

Quickies- Fox News Cult Edition

• Fox News' Bill O'Reilly blames gays (and drug legalizers) for his make-believe War on Christmas.
• Fox News op-ed says women should feel liberated to be ruled by men and not give in to the pressures of its make believe War on Men.
• Fox News attacks the First Family for waging a War on Christmas because they have too many Christmas Trees in the White House.  In 2011 the First Family had 37 Christmas Trees in the White House. That was too many for Republicans who called it going over the top. In 2012 they placed 54 trees, which Fox News called way over the top with taxpayer money especially as we approach a fiscal cliff.  But in 2008, just days after the worst stock market crash and most dire economic crisis since the Great Depression, the Bush's had 49 trees and not one single word of admonishment from Fox News about how the Bushies were waging a War on Christmas or being extravagant with taxpayer money.  In fact, George W. Bush's outright religiosity only made him a better president and steadfast leader.  
• Fox News' Bill O'Reilly disparagingly admits Christianity is a religion. This squares against his War on Christmas theory that Christianity is merely a philosophy being practiced by different religious groups.  Of course saying it's merely a philosophy allows it to circumvent the Constitution's separation of church and state clause, which allows the "philosophy" to legally control our government.  

Quickies- Delay Edition

Sorry for the delay in writing.  Had to take some time off to travel.  And then I took pretty much all of today off to get caught up on everything I should have been doing while I was traveling.  It's good to see I have plenty to still write about.

• John Boner released his rebuttal to the president's debt reduction plan.  The full report can be read here.

• Boehner calls for $800 billion in new revenue, mainly through closing loopholes.  

• He also calls for raising the Medicare age to 67.  As you'll recall, I'm not against raising Medicare's age requirement.

• Boehner's plan also keeps the Bush Tax Cuts in place.

Quickies: Circle the Wagons Edition

Remember how the Fox News-led right wing promised everyone the poll numbers were skewed in favor of Obama?  Remember how they promised us a Romney landslide, a Republican mandate for the future?  Remember how they even setup websites dedicated to unskewing the polls Now that reality has set in and they were made fools in front of the whole world, guess how they have decided to move forward?  By claiming Obama only won because of rampant voter fraud.

Now remember point number #3 I wrote the day before the election detailing Republican claims that cost them the election?  Yep, voter fraud.  No I'm not that smart.  They're just that dumb.

Republican Preacher Man Pat Robertson told his faithful followers that he had talked to God days before the election and God had told him his blessed Party, the GOP, would not only win the White House but sweep Congress.  Turns out the voice he was hearing in his head wasn't God's.  Robertson chalks it up to missing God.  "So many of us miss God. I won't get into great detail about elections but I sure did miss it. I thought I heard from God; I thought I had heard clearly from God. What happened? "You ask God, 'How did I miss it?' Well, we all do and I've had a lot of practice."

Jon Chait does a superb job of completely dismantling Republican rhetoric before and after the election.  Here at The Fold Blog, we call that making them Own It. 

President Obama was reelected by a large margin.  His Party added seats in the House and Senate where they strengthened their majority in the latter.  In Republican John Beohner's world this means the president's signature legislation must be done away with quickly.  They haven't learned a thing.

Quickies

• In the wake of idiot Texas Republicans wanting to secede since Obama's reelection, the city of Austin is petitioning to secede from Texas.

• Pelosi will remain as Dem minority leader in the House.  Good.

• Cheer up Repubs, it could have been a lot worse.  Romney was by far your best candidate, agreeably a terrible candidate but by far your best. Do you honestly think Gingrich would have done better?  What about Santorum?  Or maybe Rick Perry?  Oh I know, Michelle Backmann would have won, right?  Seriously, y'all had nothing.  Be thankful you got Romney cause the alternatives were the worst candidates for president ever.

• Pretty good read blasting the media for ignoring the reality that the race was really not that close, not ever.

• The man who got the Romney tattoo on his face says Republicans paid him $15,000 to do it.  He's fine with it, because he claims to be a Republican too.

• *A bonus sixth item-- neat graph showing what states Obama picked up votes from 2008.  Hint: his biggest gains were in Alaska!

Quickies-- Delusion Edition

• Some elected Republicans in Texas are already floating the idea of seceding since Obama won reelection.

• Democrats retained the White House with a candidate who promised to raise taxes on the wealthy, added to their majority in the senate with candidates who vowed to do the same thing and picked up seats in the House.  Conclusion: the small GOP hold on one chamber of government it had before the election got much smaller precisely from the voters.  This can only mean one thing in the GOP Fantasy World: Americans want their policies and we shouldn't do what the president promised to do if reelected.

• Total Nut Job Glenn Beck went totally crazy after hearing about Obama's reelection.

• Republicans have figured out a way to make their candidates win Pennsylvania next time: Rig it.

• Fox News vows to "beat up Obama the next four years."  Wouldn't expect anything different actually.  But I will add, that their biased coverage the last four years did nothing but get Obama reelected.  

Quickies

• Right wing idiot and self-proclaimed Christian Moralist, Dinesh D’Souza, was forced to resign his post at The King's College for getting engaged while he's still married to his first wife.  This can only mean one thing: the gay Muslim terrorists are winning.

• Google's stock fell 9% to $68/share.  That's about $20 billion of loss in one day.  

• A federal appeals court in New York today became the nation's second to deem the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages, unconstitutional.  This can only mean one thing: the gay Muslim terrorists are winning.

• Ann Romney says Mormon missions and serving in the U.S. military aren't all that different.  As you'll recall, last time Mittens ran for president, at the height of the war in Iraq, when asked why none of his five sons had served in the military he suggested they were instead serving their country by working on his political campaign.

• In 41 minutes of speaking at the second debate, Mitt Romney told at least 31 lies.  

Quickies

• I don't think today was the proper day to release this editorial in the Times: Bush White House Was Deaf to 9/11 Warnings.  There will be plenty of time tomorrow to place blame.  Let's leave today alone.

•  The same applies to a very sad, weak and bitter old man.  Just die Cheney.  That's really the best thing that can happen for the whole world.  

• Thankfully, both presidential campaigns suspended political ads today.  Maybe there's still some decency left after all.

• 11 years later, Afghanistan is still a very real war.

Friday Quickies

• Horrible news out of Colorado last night.  Terrible.  People are nuts, and evil.

• More records plainly show that Mittens Romney was in charge of Bain until 2001.  "Interviews with a half-dozen of Romney's former partners and associates, as well as public records, show that he was not merely an absentee owner during this period. He signed dozens of company documents, including filings with regulators on a vast array of Bain's investment entities. And he drove the complex negotiations over his own large severance package, a deal that was critical to the firm's future without him, according to his former associates."  The Mittster just having it both ways.

• Speaking of having it both ways, Mittens' wife said the American public doesn't need to know anything else about their finances or lifestyles:  "“We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life."  Yikes.

• Senate Republicans filibustered another "bill that would give tax breaks for companies that 'insource' jobs to the U.S. from overseas while eliminating tax deductions for companies that move jobs abroad."  They would rather destroy the country than not be in charge.

• What does Fox News do when their poll shows President Obama being reelected?  Fail to ever mention it in their report announcing the poll.  It's called anything that might present the president in a good light is not a story on the Republican-run network. 

Quickies

• Big night for GOP.  Gov. Walker held on to his seat in Wisconsin's recall efforts, 53-46.  

• Probably the biggest winners in the recall were supporters of Citizens United.  Republican Walker outspent his Democratic challenger 8:1.  Over 65% of Walkers $30.5 million in contributions came from out of state sources.  The largest donors of course were billionaires David Koch and Sheldon Adelson, who both donated at least a million dollars of their own money to Walker.  

• Walker himself raised almost as much of the entirety of what was spent in the 2010 governors race in which he was first elected.  Money makes a difference.

• Dems might have regained control of the Wisconsin senate, however.

• How much does this recall and huge GOP victory play on November's presidential elections?  None.  

Quickies

• Want to know what counts as ignorance and incompetence in GOP circles?  When you refer to Nazi death camps in Poland as Polish death camps.

• When you misspell the word America, however?  That's no big deal.  Simply means you're a Great American Patriot.  

• Florida GOP is trying to purge thousands of eligible voters from the rolls.  One is a 91-year old WWII veteran who ain't too happy.

• Alabama Republican Roy Moore says secularism will lead to Sharia law taken hold in America.  He's a genius.

• The Times is reporting President Obama personally oversees secret drone attacks on terrorists around the world. 

Quickies

• The Republican-controlled House passed the latest NDAA with yet another round of indefinite detention.  If you're like me, you're more worried about the "forever war" clause contained in the NDAA than about indefinite detention.  Notwithstanding, it's worth pointing out the Small Government Conservatives not only, once more, passed indefinite detention they killed off an amendment that would have blocked the detention of U.S. citizens.  

• Probably the best part about the indefinite detention saga is how 2012 is the new 2004.  In arguing against the amendment that would have blocked citizens from being held without charges, Republicans used their familiar 2004 tough guy talk accusing anyone who didn't support their policy as being terrorist sympathizers. Yep, it's all about who has the bigger penis.  Writes Adam Serwer: "Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) accused the lawmakers of wanting to "coddle terrorists," while Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) warned that under an amendment they'd introduced, "as soon as a member of Al Qaeda sets foot on US soil, they hear you have the right to remain silent." National Review's Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor who has never heard of a same-sex marriage supporting, pro-financial regulation liberal who wasn't secretly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote that their proposal was the result of "libertarian extremists" teaming up with liberals with an "obsession" with giving "more rights" to "mass murderers."

• A top Republican says if you try to prevent billionaires from moving their money to foreign accounts in order to avoid American taxes you're a Nazi.  In other words, you're an enemy of the state.  No better than the terrorists.

• What do you call a budget that adds $10 trillion of new debt in ten years?  If you're Republican, you claim it's a budget that prevents a debt crisis.  

• The brilliant Sarah Palin does a robocall in Kansas to support a tea bagger running in Texas.  Brilliant!  They really do think she's smart though.  

Quickies

• Longtime Republican "opinion writer" John Derbyshire, who was fired last month from the Republican periodical National Journal for racist articles, wrote yet another racist article listing White Supremacy as one of the "better arrangements of history" for running government.  Totally crazy.

• Republican Rep James Lankford of Oklahoma said he believes someone should be able to be fired from their job if they are gay because it is a behavior-based issue.

• Republican Rand Paul: "I didn't think views on marriage could get any gayer," when talking about Obama's recent vocal support for gay marriage.

• When Republicans say they wanted presidential candidates vetted they really mean they want Barack Obama declared ineligible to be president.  

• The day MSNBC's Chris Matthews did his job.

Quickies

• Mitt Romney vowed to eradicate all porn from the internet.

• Jon Stewart: Republicans hate Obama more than they love Jesus.  Truer words never spoken.  

• Karl Rove says Bush's use of 9/11 for his 2004 reelection was totally nonpolitical while Obama's use of killing the person responsible for 9/11 is. 

• GM claims $1 billion in profits last quarter.  This can only be good news for Republicans.  

• The next book on my reading list: ‘It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With The New Politics of Extremism’ by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein.

• I haven't done this one in a while, but this video is clearly why the internet was invented.  

Quickies

• Axl Rose refuses his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  I'd have to say of all the bands that came out of the late 80s and early 90s, Guns N' Roses might be my favorite.  I was never in to the whole heavy metal-Metallica scene.  I'd take Guns N' Roses any day over them. Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II are three of the best rock albums ever created in my opinion.  And it's not like I'm a huge Roses fan because I'm really not.  What I do know is that there isn't a person between the ages of 20-45 who doesn't know every word to Sweet Child O' Mine, Welcome to the Jungle, Patience, or November Rain.  Their contribution to Rock is legendary.  I wish Axl could enjoy his time in the sun just for one day.  

• Fox News finds its Mole and fires him.  This surely won't be the last time we hear about this story.  My guess is look for Fux News to start a personal destruction tour of the guy to discredit him as much as possible before he's able to get his reports into the media storm.  

• Given all the successes Obama has had in fight against Islamic terrorists in Afghanistan, a majority of Republicans now believe the war isn't worth it anymore. Where were they 8 years ago?  Oh yeah, Bush was our Great Leader then and he was busy waging war in a country that had nothing to do with 9/11.  Repubs couldn't get enough of that.

• Josh Tucker says Romney will have no trouble getting the support of Santorum voters.  Tucker is right.  I've said for months now that Republicans will show up to vote for Romney.  No questions about it.  They will come home and vote.  That he really isn't a Christian, that he is the founding father of the individual mandate, that he believes the Garden of Eden is in Jackson County, Missouri, that he loves all the Amendments in the Constitution, that prior to running president was very moderate on social issues will bother Republican voters not one bit.  They will vote for him, end of story.  

• Nutjob Paul Ryan refuses to say what he thinks constitutes "wealthy."  Says we should just call them job creators and leave it at that.  So where are the jobs?  And why doesn't he ask them to start creating?

Quickies

• The Supreme Court plunged into debate today on the fate of the Obama administration's overhaul of the nation's health care system.  A ruling is expected in June.
• Republican Presidential Candidate, Newt Gingrich, said Obama acts like he's Muslim and is his own fault that some might believe it.
• Santorum told a right wing Christian news broadcast that he would for sure consider being the VP nominee.
• I picked 3 of the 4 Final Four teams this year.
• Mitt Romney's cousin tells BBC News that Mormonism is a cult.  “'There’s compelling evidence that the Mormon Church leaders knowingly and wilfully misrepresent the historical truth of their origins and of the church for the purpose of deceiving their members into a state of mind that renders them exploitable,'” he explained."  Yeah, things like the Garden of Eden is in Jackson County, Missouri.  

Quickies

• Over 140 companies have ended their ads on Rush Limbaugh's hate radio program.
• Small government crusader Rick Santorum says it should be illegal for candidates to use teleprompters.
• Small government crusader Ron Paul tried his hardest to violate someone's First Amendment rights.  Paul got smacked down by the courts.  
• The former head of Israel’s spy service told 60 Minutes in a much anticipated interview last night that it would be tremendously stupid to attack Iran.
• Another Republican Congressman suggests the president's birth certificate may be fake.

Quickies-- Tornado

The County I grew up in, in deep south Illinois, was hit with a massive tornado early yesterday morning killing at least six people and doing millions in damage.  Photos of the devastation can be found here.

In other news...

• The last quarter of last year grew at 3%.

• Mitt Romney's tax cuts cost more than Obama's health care reform.

• Outrageous Andrew Breitbart is dead.  For some reason I'm not buying the 'natural causes' line either.  Sounds more like a drug overdose honestly.

• Trying to relate to NASCAR fans, Mitt Romney tells them he wears garbage bags too when it rains.  Yes he's really that out of touch with average, ordinary Americans.

Quickies

• Romney had a good night.
• According to the delegate count, Newt should dropout now.  And After Super Tuesday Santorum should too.
• Despite what Rick Santorum says about gas prices causing the housing bubble burst, facts and reality prove him completely wrong.
• A quick reminder, again, that Barack Obama is a great campaigner.  It's true Republicans have a very short memory, and it's true they lie about history all the time and create false fantasy worlds to reconcile their disregard for facts, but have Republicans really forgotten that he draws extremely large crowds and raises money like no one in the history of American politics?  The quick answer is yes they have forgotten.  They refuse to believe it actually.  They think the crowds are brought in by busing in homeless people and paying people to show up.  They also think his campaign is financed by one person and one person alone, George Soros. They're insane.

• Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics says Romney's good night increases the chances of a brokered convention and means the race will drag on for a couple more months before Santorum, Paul and Gingrich drop out.  Let's remember, I've been wrong about this whole primary so anyone's guess is better than mine.