● Grizzly Sarah Palin: The easiest way to kill a vampire is to drive a stake through their heart. To kill an attention whore, deny them attention. The moment the media learned that they could kill Palin by simply not talking about her, she imploded as a national figure. She has been desperate to find a national platform ever since. While our little site here was on vacation, Palin was letting it be known that she would happily join The View... you betcha.
When her overtures were denied, she decided to try to incite the fringe again. This time she screamed “IMPEACHMENT!!” Not that she hasn’t screamed it before, but this time she assured that the time had real come, if only those wimpy Republicans weren’t doing the Democrats’ work.
Not surprisingly, Drudge’s mouth-breather audience is right there with her. A poll at his site had 72% of his readers saying Obama should be impeached NOW, 15% said he should be impeached but not yet, and 13% used their brains and said no.
Of course, it never occurs to these fools that they have a zero percent chance of success, that by the time they got it done Obama would only have a few weeks left in office, that the last Republican Congress to try this got their butts handed to them, and that the politics on this would be entirely against them. Indeed, the public really dislikes Obama now. They see him as a joke because of his never-ending failures. Impeaching him turns the focus on the Republicans and their motives. It would be a Godsend for Obama and the Democrats as it lets them deflect all of their failures. It would probably cost us the Senate and it would likely give the Democrats a fresh start for 2016.
But hey, it would help make Palin relevant again.
● Rape Ape Todd Akin: Yeah, Todd is back. He dun wrote a book. And in this book, he admits what everyone pretty much knew – he was lying when he said he had been taken out of context when he spoke about “legitimate rape.” In fact, he doubles down on his idiocy by embracing the idea of there being legitimate rape (real rape, unlike fake rape, which is when the unclean woman lies about being raped), and he lays out his ideology about how you can’t get pregnant from rape – an ideology which relies on the discredited opinion of a discredited doctor.
Todd is also attacking all those RINOs who didn’t defend him when he opened his mouth and spewed his woman-hating crap. FYI, he uses the same list talk radio uses.
And lest you think that Todd is just a lone lunatic screaming in the woods, Mike Huckabee wrote the forward to his book.
Whether this ends up meaning anything is unclear. I doubt any voters will embrace him, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be brought into campaigns, which is exactly what I would be doing if I were a Democrat.
● From The Crypt: Pelosi reappeared last week too. First, she went to Texas to try to claim that all those kids slowly working their way under Drudge’s bed from El Salvador are Americans!. Uh, no. She’s seriously out of step on this. Even Obama has repeating that these kids need to be deported. Nice work, Nancy, keep people scared of your party!
● Clinton v. Obama: Finally, a new book by Edward Klein on the relationship between Hillary Clinton and the Obama’s has knocked Hillary’s book out of the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list. This book is called “Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas,” and it outlines a very nasty relationship between the Clintons and the Obamas. It also lays out how the Obama’s have turned off people like Oprah, who has since been wooed by Hillary. The most interesting idea in the book is that Obama has promised too support Elisabeth Warren if she runs against Hillary.
While Klein is known for being a little sensationalistic and anti-Clinton, the things he says do seem to fit with things we can observe. And his conclusion that the Clintons are much better politicians and much better liked than Obama isn’t really a shock. Ultimately though, it will be very interesting if this turns into a feud between Obama and the Clintons through the primary.
45 comments:
Todd Akin's back. Oh joy.
On a happy note two separate judges hearing cases against the IRS also do not buy the lost email excuse either. These are in the discovery phases so could've interesting. Contempt of congress is meaningless but contempt of court actually carries some penalty. I know they will weasel out of it but still fun to watch them squirm.
I have the same problem with the in laws calling for Obama's impeachment. I keep having to explain the incompetence and being an asshole are not grounds for impeachment.
I don't think the crazies ever left.
Speaking of crazies, a union is ending support for the United Negro College Fund because they have taken money from the Koch brothers.
Its perfectly reasonable that anyone who enters politics in a big way is going to be hated by the other side, but retaliating against a nonpartisan organization for taking money with no strings attached from such a person is pretty extreme.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/10/united-negro-college-fund-koch-brothers_n_5574635.html
Last month, the college fund announced a $25 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries Inc. that would go toward scholarships for African-Americans and support for historically black colleges.
Given that the Koch name has become shorthand for right-wing political influence, Lomax was already defending the grant even as he was announcing its acceptance. He told PBS that the UNCF tries to operate without an "ideological lens" and is willing to accept funding from across the political spectrum in order to offer scholarships.
"Criticism is a small price for helping young people get the chance to realize their dream of a college education, and if I've got to bear the brunt of someone else's criticism to ensure that we have the resources to help those students, then I can handle it, and I can take the heat," Lomax said.
Klein is kind of like Dick Morris, a guy with real insider connections who says the same thing over and over again no matter if it true or not, but what he's saying in this case does fit with the known facts and common sense.
Not since Reagan has the record of the prior president been something the next guy wanted to run on. The gaffetastic Obama isn't going to be an exception to that rule.
You also forgot the statistic that said 52% of Americans want Palin to shut the hell up!
Was Hilary's book ever on top? I've read that sales were, shall we say, disappointing, and one website (albeit a conservative one) did a list of books that were outselling hers, including the Frozen sticker book.
P.S. Sent an e-mail yesterday, followed by a second one (the first was missing a link). Trust me, it was nothing of consequence! :-)
The commentary on AFSCME abandoning UNFC is confounding. Apparently, when conservatives (or rather, libertarians) give money to a black organization, that's racism in action. But when a liberal group pulls their support, well, they had good reason. And it's the conservatives' fault, besides. Why, the Kochs probably knew their donation (which, incidentally dwarfs AFSCME's support) would drive the Union away. It was all part of their nefarious plan!
From my perspective, having AFSCME turn its back on black students is a good thing. My dad was "represented" *cough, cough* by AFSCME, so I think I know what I'm talking about.
Kit, Yeah, he's back. I don't think he's seriously seeing himself as part of the GOP, but I get the sense he sees his chance to win over fringers to get them to buy his book or whatever.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to let a fool keep talking, whether we're talking about Palin, akin, Obama or Hillary. I really believe the people are starting to see through these people. I personally believe that Elizabeth Warren and Huckabee are also hacks when you get right down to it. If I were made "capo de tuttie capi" for say two weeks, this is how it would go on a few things. That border would be shut down, now, no more "You're an American because you were born here.", The 2nd Amendment would be enforced for what it is wand was meant to be, shall not be infringed..there would be a few infringements, but only for felons and others who have shown an inability to be responsible. You will have to show ID to vote, period. voter fraud will be 10 years in the Federal pen with no chance of parole. We are going to work on our country first, then we'll worry about countries that seem to take our money then bad mouth us...if you take our money you better kiss our ass. The IRS will be abolished as soon as possible and we will have either a national flat tax on adjusted income or a national sales tax. I lean toward the sales tax, if you want a Mercedes, you pay for it,,,it's your choice. We're going to spend some capital on our friends from the past, England, France, Germany, Poland, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others; Palestine can fall off the map for all I care. And a few more things, I think I would abolish the death penalty and substitute in it's place, life with no chance of parole at hard labor in a camp in the Aleutians or some other God-forsaken piece of the globe that we own. Everyone get's civil union, when you sign that marriage license at the courthouse, you are married; then if you want a church ceremony, find a church that will do it. But, the .GOV cannot force any church to perform a ceremony.
Koshcat, The IRS explanation just doesn't wash.
On impeachment, people seem to have come to believe that disagreement is enough to justify impeachment, and they don't think through the consequences at all.
Anthony, True. They never do leave. We just pay them different amounts of attention.
I saw that UNCF story and thought it was really a symbol of just how sick some people have become in this country. What a joke!
Anthony, That's my take on Klein as well. He doesn't know anything and he's cherry picking comments from people. BUT what he says seems to fit with what we can see from a distance, so I tend to believe most of what he says.
Scott, Palin will never go away, not as long as there's money to be made playing on people's fears and making them feel isolated.
Interestingly, the NYT Best seller list isn't actually a list of best sellers. It's a list of orders placed by resellers. So if B&N orders a million, then you have a million "sales" even though B&N has the right to return those books later. Where Hillary's book has shown actual sales numbers, it's done really, really poorly.
BTW, does the title "Hard Choices" seem a little... uh, odd. Does she mean she found her choices difficult? Does she mean she had to be "hard" to make those tough choices? (Presumably, that would mean something different than if Bill had written the book). And is she suggesting that her job was multiple choice?
tryanmax. True. To cut through it though, they are upset because they view blacks as belonging to them. So when someone like the Koch brothers donate to a black cause, that is seen as an encroachment on their territory.
I imagine the title refers to difficult choices. But when the porno parody is eventually released, what will it be called? Hard Choices was taken already. The porno company might have to take an opposite tack and call it Difficult Choices. :-)
Critch, And I would support you across the board, el Critche! In all seriousness, I think the things you've outlined would play very will with the overwhelming mass of the public. :)
Speaking of crazy: Anti-government Cop Killers
Sad story but typical writing by guys like this. This paragraph was a good example of what Limbaugh calls "drive by journalism"
"Such shameless bravado — online and off — and an exploding right-wing movement are creating anxiety about attacks against police"
There is no investigation or indication that this is either a part of right wing ideology or the people on the website are only right wing. Most of the cop brutality complaints come from the left but not all of them.
I'm not particularly anti-death penalty, but, with all the stories about people being freed after years of being on death row (do you notice how many come out of Cook County, IL) I just don't think the American people have a fever pitch for it. And, I'm concerned that a government may try using it to shush people up who know too much..I know; farfetched, but well I think it's been done. I am not pro-abortion by any means, in fact I do consider it a mortal sin, however, it should be very rare, but certainly should not be an option for birth control. I'm not an anarchist by any means, but I think government should be as small and as local as possible.
Koshcat, That's typical of journalists to just attach the label "right wing" to anything they don't like. But I'm not sure they're wrong in this instance. These jerkoffs are talking about teaching the government to fear them so they can have their "freedoms" back, whatever those are. That sounds a lot like the bozos who joined Bundy in Nevada.
In fact, in terms of brutality... these aren't brutality complaints at all, they are oppression complaints, i.e. "they should be our servants but they are taking our rights for the big mean government." That's the kind of garbage these groups spew.
As for them being right or left, they are generally neither. In my experience, they hide behind libertarianism to claim they have the "right to be left alone" but they live off government welfare and they tend to think the government should be giving them things.
Critch, In other words, you're reasonable... which means both ideological sides will see you as the Devil.
That cop killer stuff is disgusting. Skepticism about the cops is reasonable since most people naturally try to accumulate power 'for the greater good' but its worth keeping in mind most are good guys trying to do a hard, unpleasant job so celebrating their deaths (let alone killing them) is absolutely evil.
BTW, The problem I have with the death penalty is that I have seen how unfair the criminal justice can be when it has a reason to be -- and that reason is often just bureaucratic inertia, a desire to win re-election, or ego. In those circumstances, the system really does fail pretty miserably and does some awful things.
That said, I think death must be a punishment for truly evil crimes. I also have a problem with the anti-death penalty crowd in that they will use a vast number of unreasonable excuses, e.g. two guys beat another to death, but since we don't know which one struck the killer blow "it's not fair" to give the death penalty to either. Bullshit. Claims like that only make me hesitant to even talk about reforming the system because the opponents aren't rational.
Anthony, Agreed. I've met bad cops, but for every one of those, there are 100 great men and women who do a dirty, selfless job to protect people they don't even know. To target them as villains and the cheer (or advocate) their deaths is truly disgusting.
I worked for AMW as an operator for a couple years and I know that while everyone (including cops) loves a strong witness id, they tend to be BS (the best calls tended to be from people who didn't have all the details not the people who can parrot back all of the details given by the show).
People try hard to make things right and even the ones who are trying to be honest (which is most of them) can kind of accidently fill in blanks in their memories with data they got from other sources.
I'm sure innocent people are on death row, but honestly, the system can't give any of the exonerated back what prison takes away (Sorry about the lost years and the shower rapes!) so while it sucks I don't think the uncertainly is a reason to abolish the death penalty.
Andrew, on the anti-death penalty crowd, they lose me well before that point. They have a tendency to rally behind the most heinous, violent murderers for which there is no doubt of their guilt and usually a preceding history of violence, to boot. We're talking about the ones The Innocence Project (whose work I admire) won't go near with a 10-foot-poll. They have a real problem when it comes to picking their martyrs.
*I am not supporting this nut job*
I have been concerned about the increase in police aggressiveness over the last decade. This is a topic my father and I have discussed frequently. It seems that many cops are very quick to pull his gun and unfortunately pull the trigger. In 2011, German police fired a total of 85 shots in a country of 80 million with only 6 deaths. Extrapolating to 320 million is 340 shots and 24 deaths. Numbers are hard to come by but the real number is closer to 400 deaths per year. There are stories of cops using 90 or even 110 shots for one unarmed suspect.
I don't know exactly what is going on. Germany has some of the same problems we do with high unemployment, angry immigrants, and a lot of drug use. My dad's hypothesis is that many of the younger cops are retired military. I think it starts higher up and earlier with the training and attitude. We are also seeing groups packing who previously never carried a gun such as the Park Service and Fish and Game.
I'm not trying to vilify cops. It is a trend I don't like and I think as a community we should talk about it but it seems like the only people talking about it are the nut jobs. It doesn't help when the nut jobs start shooting as well.
Koshcat, Don't worry, I don't think anyone thought you were supporting this nut job. Our audience, more than most, understands nuance and that you can disagree without being 100% v. 0% and without necessarily advocating the opposite.
I agree with you on the increase in police aggressiveness. It is a bad and dangerous thing. Not only does it lead to innocent people getting killed or maimed, but it also ultimately discredits the police and makes things even more adversarial.
Where I think this comes from is this... with the feds struggling in the war on drugs, they decided to enlist local law enforcement. What they did was start supplying local law enforcement with military hardware and training -- all on the federal dime. Suddenly cities with only 100 residents had federally-funded SWAT teams that were trained to smash in doors and take suspects by force.
Since SWAT tactics are safer for the cops, little by little, the local cops started using SWAT rather than using traditional methods for their interactions with the public. Indeed, in the past, they would knock on doors serve a warrant. These days, they are just as likely to knock down the door and subdue those inside.
At the same time, other changes were made like letting local governments keep property they confiscate which was "used in drug crimes."
The result was that local departments got militarized by the feds and they were given two reasons to be abusive -- profit for the city and safety for the officers. We are now seeing the results of that.
Germany, which has much stronger revulsion at military tactics, hasn't followed that path.
Anthony, Ironically, in court, people tend to believe liars more than those telling the truth because the liars tell a better story.
To me though, the bigger danger is that too many in the system have the inventive to purpose guilt rather than truth. I would like to see reforms like eliminating elected judges and prosecutors.
You will not see me marching against the death penalty, I don't care for it, but I have other concerns. I do go to anti-abortion meetings, but most around here are very somber multi-denominational meetings. It's amazing how fast they got Timothy McVey dead, and he really needed it...but perpetrators of the September 11th attacks are still breathing...what gives? The far right and far left love to stir things up, the media loves them for the story...
I do however credit the proliferation of the internet with saving this country, at least so far. Let's face it, prior to the internet the Big 3, a few big papers and PBS controlled all the news...I talk to folks all the time who I know to be left or right of me and yet we are all seeing the same things in our governments.
Abuse of power, thievery, lying, just to name a few things..
tryanmax, True. The advocates pick the most heinous, evil monsters and champion them as heroes. It's despicable. But even beyond them, the more rational seeming ones still draw distinctions that tell me that they are not people you can deal with. In particular, they often demand absolute certainty and there's no such thing. They also take all defense claims at face value, which again is an impossible standard.
Critch, The internet has tremendous potential to let people be more aware of what is really going on. Unfortunately, it also allows some real fools (e.g. anti-vaccination people, other conspiracy nuts) to sell discredited theories true and rumors as fact.
I think it will take time still before the internet becomes more reliable at separating the good from bad actors.
Oh, I know it's also spawned a nut-job circus of immense proportions, but people are getting better at discerning what's real and what's not..it takes time.
Just want justice in the IRS case. Orange could be the new black for Lois, and if the WH knew, then those in the loop should pay the price.
Do we think the influx from Central America was not instigated by this administration to try and frame a debate for the fall elections? Much of what is going on from the left is meant to distract from the real issues. Most of the noise from the right is mainly intended to gain more power within the party. I will not forgive Santorum for 2012, however
I think your assessment of the SWAT stuff is probably right on. It's funny. There is this huge weepy outcry of NY police with their stop, talk, and frisk which is pretty benign if you really think about it. But crashing into private homes with flash granades and M16s is ok.
My prediction of the IRS is if the emails are truly problematic, Lois will fall on her sword to protect others especially president ding dong. She will be rewarded for her sacrifice later.
"Its perfectly reasonable that anyone who enters politics in a big way is going to be hated by the other side, but retaliating against a nonpartisan organization for taking money with no strings attached from such a person is pretty extreme."
Anthony, Andrew,
If one of the Koches saved a bunch of orphans from a burning building they would be attacking the kids for accepting their help.
I wonder if their donations are being done in part just to troll the Left now. Think about it, every time they donate to charity, the left protests the donation and the organization that received the donation. This makes the left look like jackasses and hurts them politically. Therefore, all the Koch brothers have to do is donate to charities, even ones the Left likes!
Kit-
If that is what the Koch brothers are doing than it is brilliant. Give the other guy the opportunity to be an a$$hole. It also screws with the whole left narrative of how evil they are. If they are so evil why do they keep giving their money to charities? Cynics will just accuse them of doing it for tax right offs and good press. The recipients really don't care why.
For all of the current admin's law breakers, don't forget the awesome power of the Presidential Pardon. Talk about wielding a pen!
So, Holder, all the IRS guys, F&F, Bergdahl and all the other hacks who broke the law during this administration, will be pardoned as our Lightbringer dances out the WH door. (And who's going to do something about it? You Boehner?)
Critch, Let's hope people speed up the pace.
Jed, I think it's really unlikely they instigated this intentionally. That would be rather Rube Goldbergian. That said, I think he caused it accidentally and now he has a real problem. In fact, they are starting to realize that this is undermining their entire strategy of making the issue about children.
Koshcat, Agreed about the IRS. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Kit and Kochcat, That would be funny if the Koch brothers were doing that intentionally.
On the topic of the death penalty, cases like this are why we have the death penalty:
LINK
What a terrible thing for that young girl.
I believe Obama should be impeached, but that won't happen as long as the Senate is controlled by democrats. Even if the GOP manage to take the Senate there most likely will not be enough republicans who would go through with it.
I don't think it helps when Palin says we should impeach him now. It's not a question that Obama deserves it for he has committed impeachable offenses and will probably continue to do so.
However, it can't be done. Most of the public don't care, sad to say and the political reality is that Obama will get away with his abuses of power.
At least as far as justice here on earth goes.
So Palin's advise in this case would only hurt the GOP. Bad idea. Her talk of possibly forming another party is another bad idea. If we can't reform the GOP from within I seriously doubt we can do it by forming another party.
Just ask the libertarians and theyhave theirown inner disputes.
Andrew, I also concur with your comment about the militarization of our police forces.
This is a bad trend, and hopefully it will be reversed.
Changes should be made in police training as well, concentrating more on community policing or what I like to call Dragnet policing.
Having been a reserve cop I can honestly say it's always better when the public trusts cops and that can only happen if cops interact with the public on a continual basis.
There's been too much paranoia being taught as an overreaction in attempts to get 100% police safety.
For example, I read a police chief recently saying that in every car a cop stops has the potential to carry a psychopath intent on murdering that cop.
A chief said this! That's ludicrous, and this kindof thinking makes coos, young cops in particular more paranoid than they need to be.
That's bad leadership. I'm all for increasing cop safety wherever possible and reasonable but not at any price.
Most cops know this, I think but not as many as used to.
Trust is a two way thing.
I'll also add anyone as scared as that police chief I mentioned shouldn't be cops. That mindset leads to trigger happiness.
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