Video: Keyboard cat play off --GOP Chairman Michael Steele, a little fried chicken, with a side of potato salad

Play Michael Steele Off, Keyboard Cat - watch more funny videos

Video: Hey Paul Krugman, where the hell are ya man? Nevermind. There you are.

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says that if the Republicans filibuster the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, "They're going to seem to be the party of Rush Limbaugh, the party of Newt Gingrich, the party of completely crazy accusations..."

Adds legal analyst Jan Crawford Greenburg: "Republicans have only themselves to blame" due to "complete failures of leadership."

Gitmo North?

From CQ Politics by way of The Political Carnival:

Carl Levin, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that construction and staffing at a new maximum-security prison in Michigan could help his cash-starved state.

“If the governor and the local officials are open to it, that’s something that should be considered,” said Levin, making the point that each state should make its own determination.

Former Michigan Gov. John Engler, a Republican, suggested this month that creating a “Guantánamo North” in the Upper Peninsula could net the state upward of $1 billion per year, according to reports.

Now further along in the piece, John McCain is quoted as saying that the problem is that this whole idea of closing Guantanmo has been muddled in that the American public thinks that these detainees are going to be released onto the streets of American towns and cities.

If that is the perception, I can't for the life of me imagine where it might have come from. I think that was sarcasm. Yep. I'm pretty sure it was.

We had Timothy McVeigh in Indiana and we managed to keep him secure until he was executed for being being the master mind of the Oklahoma City bombing.

I would never suggest placing these guys in population with our own convicted murders, etc. They would likely die there. Jeffrey Dahmer, case in point.

Then there's an argument going around that housing the detainees would be like sending an invitation to terrorists to enter the country. That would be coming from this guy with some defending of his position starting at about 2:00.

Inhofe's argument is weak at best, especially in light of the fact that the Obama administration has announced it's intention to reinstate the use of military tribunals. I personally am not so much afraid of terrorists entering the country as Inofe suggests. But the GOP game, what's left of it, will forever be about fear and more fear.

And there's always Big Sky Gitmo.

The Day in 100 Seconds

Monday, Happy Monday, Cuatro de Mayo, Did our caution stop the spread?, Elbow Bump Fist Bump, Not a Good Idea, Pigs, Uncertainty, Stay the Course, Hand washing, Stay Home, GOP Members Are Dwindling, Tea Baggers, Nobody Likes Paying Taxes, Prison Time, Crack Down, Ronald Reagan, Go Away, Republican Party, Intellectually Dead, The Man, Huh.. that's kinda weird idn't it?

Unfortunate Sense

Bob Herbert talks some unfortunate sense regarding the Grand Old Party. I'm actually rooting for the Republican party to return, minus the nah nah nuh boo boo politics.

It’s not a party; it’s a cult. I’m no fan of Arlen Specter, but if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t be shoving him out the door and waving good riddance. This is the party of Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Newt (“I’m trying to rise from the ashes”) Gingrich, and the dark force who can’t seem to exit the public stage or modify his medieval ways, Dick Cheney.

It is losing all credibility with the public because it is not offering anything — anything at all — that could be viewed as helpful or constructive in a time of national crisis. And it has been unwilling to take responsibility for its role in bringing that crisis about.

please read more here

Yesterday in 100 Seconds

Thursday, Day 101, Chrysler Corporation, Mini Van, Time is Up, Necessary Steps Have Been Taken, New Lease On Life, Wow, Tough Language, The Vice-President, Confined Places, Run For Your Lives, OMG, He Would Say, Meant To Say, Republicans In Trouble, Regrouping, Surprised In 2010, Comeback, Weaker Than Anything, Michael Steele, Awkward, Wearing A Hat That Says GOP, That's How We Roll In The Northeast, Not Good, My Bad, Got It, Get It, Good

Jack Cafferty on the Republican Party and the Brink of Irrelevance

GOP = 'A guy who just got dumped by his wife'

Bill Maher has an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times. Yeah. It's a newspaper and so far so good, it's still in business.

Here's a snip:

It's been a week now, and I still don't know what those "tea bag" protests were about. I saw signs protesting abortion, illegal immigrants, the bank bailout and that gay guy who's going to win "American Idol." But it wasn't tax day that made them crazy; it was election day. Because that's when Republicans became what they fear most: a minority.

If that sounds good, please read some more.

The GOP Strategy

Talk smack, and repeat it over and over and over and over and over and over again.

No ideas. No solutions.

We will likely be hearing from the party of 'Borrow and Blow Economics' the phrase 'tax and spend Liberals' over and over again.

They really like that one.

Now this is coming from the party whose talking heads have been chastising President Obama for announcing a reversal of embryonic stem cell research policy, labeling it a 'distraction' from the important challenges we face in solving problems with the economy.

It looks as though they are planning a continual state of distraction as a strategy to win back seats in the 2010 election cycle.

From Greg Sargent at The Plum Line:

McHenry’s description is buried in this new article from National Journal (sub. only):

“We will lose on legislation. But we will win the message war every day, and every week, until November 2010,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., an outspoken conservative who has participated on the GOP message teams. “Our goal is to bring down approval numbers for [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and for House Democrats. That will take repetition. This is a marathon, not a sprint.”

McHenry’s spokesperson, Brock McCleary, tells me his boss is standing by the quote.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The 'Lord Help Us!' Diaries, Installment 1: Another George Bush on the move in the GOP

George P. Bush also known as Son of Jeb.

The story goes that he's one of the 'not ready for prime time' Republican party players, but he made a big speech, or so they say, so that sounds to me like a pretty serious grooming activity.

Since young George took the initiative (or instructions) to bash the Republican Governor of Florida without actually naming names, or in other words a cheap shot, perhaps this means that the a bid for the Governor's job is in his future.

Like father, like son, like Uncle like Grandfather?

Most assuredly someone to watch.

Bush, the son of former Gov. Jeb Bush, grandson of former President George H. Bush and nephew of former President George W. Bush, addressed a national conference of young Republicans and told them there is a rift in the party between fiscal conservatives and what he calls "D light" - Republicans who are trying to appeal to the political middle.

"There's some in our party that want to assume that government is the answer to all of our problems," Bush said. "I'm not going to name any names." source: Examiner

GOP House Leader John Boehner: It's a big bill... it's a really big bill

Rep. Wasserman Schultz says bipartisan effort was made in the House, but rejected

I would like to hear more about this from other Democrats in the House, although at this point, especially after having watched and listened to Republican Senators on the flloor and in interviews on the television, I'm kind of over the bipartisan stuff.

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz describes the House Democratic leadership's efforts to include their GOP colleagues in the process of crafting a stimulus bill, and how that effort was rejected. She also schools John King on the Constitutional system requiring a conference between the House and Senate. source: Oxdown Gazette

Begins around 2:00...

If you want the Bill to become a Law, you've got to call. Least that's what School House Rock says.

Nowadays you can call, fax, e-mail, and the snail mail is still available although rather slow.

It's a participation sport this Democracy thing.

Gee Bill, you certainly have a lot of patience and courage.

GOP CD of 'Barack the Magic Negro' fame, also mocks the Latino population

There they go again, or maybe that should be rephrased to 'still'.

source: Daily Kos

We all know and love former Tennessee GOP Chair Chip Saltsman as the guy who distributed the CD with the song "Barack the Magic Negro". Overlooked in the hoopla over that racist song was another song on that CD -- The Star Spanglish Banner:

It's nice seeing two of the top candidates for the RNC chairmanship show their true colors. Chip Saltsman openly mocks blacks and Latinos. Katon Dawson admits he became a Republican because he was forced to go to school with black kids during desegregation. Saltsman and Dawson personify the kind of disdain for our nation's pluralistic diversity that has relegated their party to rump regional status.

I'd rather the GOP didn't produce stuff like this, but if they are going to, I suspect theu will find themselves on the side of another losing election cycle.

Kos also includes these gems of research data in his post.

• The size of the Latino voting population should be kept in perspective alongside other subsets of the electorate. An estimated 11.8 million voters were of Latino ancestry, compared with 17 million African Americans, 19.7 million veterans, 23.6 million young people, 45 million conservatives, and 34 million born-again white Christians. source: Center of Immigration Studies

• The Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, will triple in size and will account for most of the nation's population growth from 2005 through 2050. Hispanics will make up 29% of the U.S. population in 2050, compared with 14% in 2005.
  

• The non Hispanic white population will increase more slowly than other racial and ethnic groups; whites will become a minority (47%) by 2050 source: Pew Hispanic Center

I've also heard somebody in the Republican party on my television blathering about Democrats pushing social programs so that they can win more votes and maintain permanent control of the branches of government.

That would be bull. We don't choose to be Democrats because we are in love with social programs or excessive taxation. We are Democrats because somebody has to fight for the bottom and the middle, and for many of us the GOP isn't on our side.

We want to work. We want to earn. We want a living wage for our labor.

Democrats have advanced social programs in order to lift people out of poverty not to win elections, but because we believe in the principle of looking out for the common good and opportunity for the least among us.

The fact that corporate CEOs paid themselves lavishly in bonuses last year, while their companies failed, and many took corporate welfare by way of the TARP funds, is another shining example of how the deck is stacked against everyday Americans.

Bonuses and golden parachutes has been an ongoing practice for many years. CEOs have been getting paid lavlishly whether or not their companies were successful. The economic catastrophe is just shedding a giant ray of light on something that is nothing new, but an ongoing outrage.

Huh?

I know I already said it in the head line but Huh??? Double Huh even?

This is the MSNBC headline that jumped out at me:

Bush cautions GOP to stay open-minded

He says the party can't afford to become 'anti-immigrant' as it regroups

Uh what? Could it be that George W. Bush even still fancies himself to be the 'Compassionate Conservative' of his 2000 election campaign cycle? Of course he does. What was I thinking?

And apparently he actually believed his own campaign rhetoric back then.

It seems comical to me that the Republican President is giving advice to the not so grand old party at this juncture.

"It's very important for our party not to narrow its focus, not to become so inward looking that we drive people away from a philosophy that is compassionate and decent," the departing president said in an interview broadcast Sunday, nine days before his term ends. "My call for our party is to be open-minded."

..."We should be open-minded about big issues like immigration reform, because if we're viewed as anti-somebody — in other words, if the party is viewed as anti-immigrant, then another fellow may say, 'Well, if they're against the immigrant, they may be against me.' We've got to be a party for a better future."

It's probably good advice though. I was watching the C-Span forum with the candidates for RNC chair today.

The candidates for RNC seemed to have a positive outlook for the future of the Republican Party. Some were commenting that the party will come back when the Democrats run up the debt so in actuality the GOP has a whole lot to look forward to as they strategise their way to a big comeback

Although the RNC candidates couldn't hear me through the television, I told them that we on the Left actually have some pretty compelling evidence that the financial situation that the United States is in right now, and will most certainly be challenged by for some time to come, will not attributed to Barack Obama.

Gathering Media Reports: Michael Connell and the Mysterious Plane Crash

This post is a gathering of media reports of the plane crash that resulted in the death of Michael Connell who was the Internet guru for the GOP, and whose political involvement began in the campaign of George H.W. Bush, but elevated in the last eight years.

Ohio.com article on the plane crash that ended Michael Connell's life on Friday night begins with the human side, -- 'the local side' of Mike Connell, and then frames connection to the Ohio election controversy, investigation and lawsuit as conspiracy.

...Mr. Connell's role as a witness has erupted a storm cloud of conspiracy theories about his death on left-leaning Internet blog sites.

Mr. Connell was subpoenaed in the 2006 case against former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, alleging that voter fraud helped steal Ohio votes and swing the 2004 election for President George W. Bush.

One of Mr. Connell's companies ran computer servers for Ohio on Election Night.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that by 9 p.m. on Election Night 2004, the results were switched from the state server to one set up by Connell's, in the former Pioneer Bank Building in Chattanooga, Tenn. It is alleged the same server was used to bundle and remove White House e-mails regarding the 2005 federal prosecutor firing scandal.

...It was through the fight over the subpoena that attorneys who brought the case learned that Mr. Connell and his wife had allegedly been threatened with federal prosecution by Rove.

Bob Fitrakis, one of the Columbus attorneys who filed the lawsuit, a former Green Party candidate for president and a political blogger known for his conspiracy theories on election stealing in Ohio, said word of Mr. Connell's death ''sent a chill down my spine.''

When the threats came to light, Fitrakis said he and co-counsel Clifford Arnebeck reported them both to the federal court and to the U.S. attorney general.

''There is concern on my part and I hope it spills over into an exhaustive investigation,'' Fitrakis said. ''He was the Bush family's IT guru. He had tremendous knowledge and information.''

The Telegraph-UK reports on the plane crash and Connell's death in this way.

Top internet strategist Michael Connell, 45, was the only person in his single-engine private plane that crashed three miles short of the Akron-Canton airport on Friday night as he prepared to land after flying from College Park, Maryland, close to Washington.

He had worked on Mr Bush's two presidential campaigns, advised John McCain this year and was also linked to allegedly missing White House emails in the 2006 controversy over a string of firings of US attorneys.

The death of the married father of four immediately triggered conspiracy theories amid speculation that he had been about to reveal embarrassing details of the complicity of senior members of the Bush administration in fixing an election and destroying incriminating emails.

In a blog posting entitled "One of my sources died in a plane crash last night...", Larisa Alexandrovna of The Raw Story revealed that Mr Connell had been talking to her about the Ohio case alleging that vote-tampering during the 2004 presidential election resulted in civil rights violations.

"Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened... I am not saying that this was a hit nor am I resigned to this being simply an accident either. I am no expert on aviation and cannot provide an opinion on the matter. What I am saying, however, is that given the context, this event needs to be examined carefully." source: Telegraph (United Kingdom)

Here is some local news coverage of the event. The questioning of 'sabotage' is mentioned in this report.

This is an initial report on the crash from local media.

GOP Jackasses Action Alert to GOP Senators instructs to bust the union

It is stunning to think that at this time, with all of the many problems we have, these Southern Senators would play politics with millions of American jobs.

Blame the union is a standard tactic used by the GOP. The union constitutes 10% of each automobile manufactured. The UAW made substantial concessions in 2007 and was prepared to do so going forward. Future concessions would only be made through negotiation and in concert with the auto makers. It should also be noted that the other stakeholders, for example the CEOs of 'The Big 3', were not being compelled to such stringent certainties in order to enable passage of the bill.

The Senators wanted specifics and date certain from the automakers. Nothing of the kind was expected from the corporation or the CEOs.

The unions did the right thing.

Hey Hey You You Get Offa My Blog - Enjoy 'My Friends, the Musical' while we wait for RNC ads to go away

My appologies for the stinky ads. They should be blocked shortly.

Since the RNC ridiculous ads are showing at this moment on my blog and it will take a bit of time for them to go away, while we are waiting, let's watch again 'My Friends, The Musical".

Here's a little 'John McCain vs. John McCain'

Voters are Mistaken: It's not President Bush's fault says John Ensign of the NRSC

I don't think the American voters are going to buy this. Not this time.

Overregulation? What overregulation?

Jed L of Daily Kos and The Jed Report

NRSC Chairman John Ensign of Nevada not only essentially concedes defeat at the presidential level, but also blames voters for the GOP's failures, saying that they have "mistakenly" blamed Bush for the nation's economic woes. The real culprits, according to Ensign? Congressional Democrats and their "overregulation."

Just another Republican living in the state of denial.

for source - click here

I'm a Democrat and I have a sense of humor. Do you?

heheeeee - you gotta have a sense of humor

Peon GOP Watch: GOP's very own Pawlenty has 'Pawlenty' of Praise for Barack Obama

MSNBC

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

GOP's Pawlenty praises Obama's positive tone

Possible McCain running mate says people want to follow decent leaders

ARLINGTON, Va. - Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, often mentioned as a possible running mate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said Wednesday GOP candidates would do well to adopt a positive tone like that of McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama. read more here