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Go Ron Paul!

by Darryl — Monday, 12/19/11, 12:27 am

Ask, and ye shall receive! Last Thursday, I gleefully wished out loud for Ron Paul to get his moment in the GOP spotlight:

And how ’bout that Ron Paul at 18%!?! Most of the other nutberger candidates have had their fling with the pole position…Ron Paul should get his shot, too. And to top the whole thing off like a layer of creamy chocolate frosting, we should get Rick Santorum [the] next week.

And looky here:

Newt Gingrich’s campaign is rapidly imploding, and Ron Paul has now taken the lead in Iowa. He’s at 23% to 20% for Mitt Romney, 14% for Gingrich….
[…]

Paul’s ascendancy is a sign that perhaps campaigns do matter at least a little, in a year where there has been a lot of discussion about whether they still do in Iowa. 22% of voters think he’s run the best campaign in the state compared to only 8% for Gingrich and 5% for Romney.

Romney is so unlikable that GOP voters can’t give him credit for running a persistent, reasonably professional, and not overly negative campaign in Iowa?!? Huh.

I’ll sure miss Newt as the front-runner. His reckless quirkiness, monster ego, and his deliciously rich past make him a dream opponent for Obama. Ron Paul makes a dream opponent, as well, but he has zero chance of becoming the Republican nominee. Seriously…if Newt crashes and burns, Mitt Romney is the only plausible alternative, and a lot of Republicans will be holding their noses supporting him.

(Seeing all the nose-holding, Mitt will, no doubt, assume they soiled themselves, throw ’em on the roof of the car, hose them down, and drive boldly onward to the general election.)

Yeah, I’ll miss Newt, for sure. But a Ron Paul win in Iowa has an acute payoff: GOP Mayhem! Don’t believe me? Let’s ask the Washington Examiner’s Timothy Carney, who recalls Pat Buchanan’s 1996 victory in the New Hampshire primary:

“It was awful,” Buchanan told me this week when I asked him about his few days as the nominal GOP front-runner. “They come down on you with both feet.”

The GOP establishment that week rallied to squash Buchanan. Just after New Hampshire, Gingrich’s hand-picked group of GOP leaders, known as the Speaker’s Advisory Group, met with one thing on their minds, according to a contemporaneous Newsweek report: “How to deal with Buchanan.”

No doubt, Ron Paul will be pummeled by his own party. In fact, I wouldn’t put it past them to start first thing Monday morning to head off any threat of a Ron Paul win in Iowa.

The most intriguing possibility out of all this is that Rick Santorum might get a brief stint as the next not-Mitt Romney. That would be awesome for a couple of reasons. First, every time the Republicans rally around a new not-Mitt Romney only to experience an abrupt case of buyer’s remorse, it diminishes the Republican primary process and, in particular, the Romney campaign’s credibility. That’s right…Republicans are engaging in an internal battle that can be described as (if I’m allowed to engage in a bit of hyperbole) mutual assured destruction.

A Santorum rally could also be awesome because of the timing of the Iowa caucuses. If the Republicans take out Paul before the Iowa caucuses, and Santorum hits the wave just right, he could actually take Iowa. And that would be an exquisite New Year’s gift.

I don’t know about you, but I’m just about out…so it’s off to the store tomorrow to stock up on more popcorn.

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Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

by Darryl — Friday, 12/16/11, 11:51 pm

Thom with The Good, The Bad, and The Very, Very Ugly.

Ed and Pap: Corporate courts will aid GOP’s efforts at voter suppression.

Young Turks: Christopher Hitchens is dead.

Roy Zimmerman Christmas Special:

  • I Won’t Be Home For Christmas.
  • Christmas in Crawford, 2004.
  • PeaceNick.
  • Oh Amazon:
  • Hula Yule.

Young Turks: Glenn Beck calls the teabaggers racist! Nutbagger Breitbart responds.

White House: West Wing Week.

Ann Telnaes: CEO pay bounces back.

Seattle police release videos they claim show Occupy protesters were violent & organized!.

Thom with more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Young Turks: Tim Tebow’s War on Christmas.

Sheriff Arpaio: IS illegal.

The Republican Circus Show:

  • Last night’s debate in 3 minutes. (via HuffPo.
  • FAUX News screws up debate candidates:
  • The SNL Trump debate.
  • Sam Seder: Trump fires self.
  • Stephen on Donald Trump pulling out of the debate.
  • The Colbert Nat Geo Wild debate.
  • Another Rick Perry-ish Strong ad (via Slog).
  • Ann Telnaes: Perry’s anti-gay ad.
  • Rick Perry: F***-hole Strong ad.
  • Actual Audio: Rick Perry’s ad.
  • Young Turks: Rick Perry on work hours, Monroe Doctrine.
  • Ed, Pap and Lizz: Rick Perry is the GOP’s favorite stooge.
  • Daily show: Newt and poor people:
  • Thom: GOP’s love affair with Dr. Strange-Newt.
  • Sam Seder: Newt’s “Invented People”.
  • Ann Telnaes: Newt promises to uphold the sanctity of marriage.
  • Newt: Fights for traditional marriage.
  • Thom: You’re a mean on, Newt Gingrich.
  • Lip Reading Newt:
  • Sam Seder: Newt gets mic-checked.
  • Liberal Viewer: Is Newt Gingrich a felon?
  • Jon tries to rason with GOP voters over this whole Newt Gingrich thing.
  • Alyona’s Tool Time: Newt signs fidelity pledge!?!
  • Young Turks: Ron Paul crushes Gingrich.
  • Mitt’s austerity (oh…the humanity!).
  • Guilianiskewers Mitt.
  • Sam Seder: Mitt’s $10,000 bet.
  • Mitt’s $10,000 problem.
  • Christine “Not-a-Witch” O’Donnell endorses Mitt
  • Jon on Mitt’s $100,000 bet.
  • Wall Street Veterans for Truth: Mitt’s greed is good.
  • Sam Seder: Some witch endorses Mitt.
  • Young Turks: The Progressive Mitt.
  • Mitt’s $100 bill problem.
  • Romney vs. Gingrich & Christmas: Review of the GOP Iowa showdown.

Thom: Wisconsin recall (or don’t mess with working people).

Young Turks: Bill-O is shocked to learn that military run by government.

Newsy: No buyers for the newest Palin family reality show.

Stephen with Wag of the finger, tip of the hat.

Thom with even more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Alyona: Manning’s first day in court.

Real people speak out for Darcy Burner:

The Nine-year War Ends:

  • Newsy: The end of the Iraq war.
  • Michelle and Barack speak to the troops at Fort Bragg.
  • Mark Fiore: Mission Accomplished-ish.
  • Young Turks: The Iraq war is over…the real costs.
  • Alyona: Back from Iraq—what we left behind.

Young Turks: Women have a Constitutional right to abortion and it’s being denied.

Alyona’s Tool Time: Congress doesn’t understand the internet.

Obama on ensuring fair pay for in-home care workers.

Thom: Who is winning the “corporate personhood” battle?

Newsy: Teabaggers defend calling Obama a skunk.

How Lowe’s Can You Go?

  • Alyona: Lowe’s pulls ads.
  • Lowe’s responds to All American Muslim controversy.
  • Olbermann: Lowe’s versus the House of Representatives.
  • Sam Seder: Muslum hating porn addict brings Lowe’s to their knees.
  • Robert A. Niblock, chairman of the board and CEO of Lowe’s, is Worst Person in the World.
  • Young Turks: wingdings extremists support Lowe’s.
  • Alyona: Calls for a Lowe’s boycott.

Alyona: TIME’s person of the year.

Young Turks: The New York Times defective coverage of Eric Holder’s speech about voter fraud.

Thom: Even more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Alyona: Voters are being silenced.

Joseph Farah, the proprietor of WND.com conspires his way to Worst Person in the World.

Stop detaining immigrants for profit.

Jon on the balls on Herman, Mitt, and Barack.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

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Open thread for the Republican melee

by Darryl — Thursday, 12/15/11, 5:45 pm

Yeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaawwwwww! It’s Crazy Train time. We have ourselves another episode of Candidate Roller Derby tonight in Iowa.

Yesterday everyone said The Newt was leading. Today Romney has a slight lead—they are tied statistically at Romney 23%, Gingrich 20%.

And how ’bout that Ron Paul at 18%!?! Most of the other nutberger candidates have had their fling with the pole position…Ron Paul should get his shot, too. And to top the whole thing off like a layer of creamy chocolate frosting, we should get Rick Santorum next week.

Unless The Donald comes back from the dead to do a 27 December debate, this one is the last of the year, and the last before the Iowa caucus. It’s gong to be fun.

I’ll leave some updates if anything fun happens.

The debate is sponsored by FAUX news, so you can be sure this will be the bestest, craziest debate ever…in the history of debates. You can find a link to the stream at FAUX News.

6:04: I’ve saved a bag of Cheetos for this debate. Mmmm, Cheetos. Before the debate is through, my fingers will resemble John Boehner’s.

6:05: The Newt argues his electability by giving the audience a history lesson.

6:07: Megyn Kelly tries suckering Ron Paul into making a commitment to support the ultimate Republican nominee. Will he fall for it? No! And he gets a pass!

6:09: Rick Santorum takes the first shot at Newt’s “personal issues”.

6:12: Come on, Michele…just say it. “I will win the independents by hypnotizing them.”

6:13: Rick Perry is asked about his debating skills and launches into a “things I did while not debating” speech.

6:14: Jon Huntsman, “we’re getting screwed as Americans!” Umm…Santorum? Any comment?

6:16: Note to Rick Perry: The Supercommittee was created by and for Congress, not Obama.

6:18: Mitt just admitted that “there are Democrats who love America.” He’s toast now.

6:19: “Leadership is important,” says Newt, the ousted former House leader.

6:21: The moderators are taking questions by Twitter. Fine print: No more than 140 characters and minimize polysyllabic words.

6:25: The intermission pundits are bored by the civility. They want some blood! Yeah…me, too.

6:27: Mitt defends his business failures by saying Obama doesn’t realize that not every business succeeds. I take it Mitt is okay with the Solyndrra thing then.

6:29: Newt worked with Habitat for Humanity. No doubt served as their official Speaker of the House.

6:31: Paul corners Newt who is forced to admit that there are many government-sponsored organizations that do good! Heresy!

6:33: Bachmann goes into histrionics over Newt’s Fannie/Freddy contracts. Newt says Bachmann doesn’t have her fact right. Bachmann goes to Politifact for fact checking! Remarkable.

6:36: My video feed locked up with the following image stuck on my screen. I think this is worthy of a Caption Contest. Leave ’em in the comment thread.
Newt

6:45: Okay…missed some stuff trying to get the video feed back and waiting through the fucking ads. We’re back now.

6:46: Did Rick Santorum just say he will repeal every single EPA regulation?!?

6:47: Mitt Romney Flip Flops! He criticizes Obama over Solyndrra, just 20 minutes after pointing out that some of his businesses failed, and that was okay.

6:48: “The courts have become grotesquely dictatorial.” and “Misreading the American people.” I thought they were supposed to read the Constitution rather than the people.

6:51: Bachmann: “We are now at the point that we think the final arbiter of the law is the courts.”

6:53: Even Ron Paul isn’t crazy enough to do a witch-hunt on the courts (subpoena judges, eliminate courts).

6:54: Mitt: “The only people that have less credibility than Judges is Congress.”

6:56: Santorum’s certifies his extremism by picking Thomas as his single favorite Justice.

7:05: Ron Paul suggests using diplomats a little more, bombs a little less. Totally sensible.

7:07: Santorum suggests that Iranian’s “principle ideology”, “mission” is martyrdom. What a fucking ignorant bigot.

7:09: Michele says Ron Paul has given the most dangerous answer she has ever heard.

7:15: Ron Paul schools some naive warmongers!

7:17: Newt suggests the UN is a terrorist training organization.

7:19: Rick Perry has the most muddled comment ever…something about “the most muddled foreign policy ever.”

7:22: Newt gets in a super anti-Obama speech. He has some factual errors in the answer, but maybe this is what we need for him to take the primary. GO NEWT!

7:26: I am totally lost by Neil Cavuto’s rambling question to Rick Perry. Rick Perry spews an incoherent, rambling answer back. Nice play, Mr. Perry!

7:40: Wallace ask Mitt if he is a flip-flopper.

7:41: Mitt admits he flip-flopped on gay rights and choice. Ohhh…and maybe guns.

7:43: Santorum: “Mitt Romney, personally, as Governor, issued gay marriage licenses!!!” You could just hear Santorum’s anal sphincter clamping shut as he said that.

7:47: Bachmann: “Newt offered to campaign for Republicans who support…partial birth abortion!”

7:49: Michele Bachmann doesn’t have her facts right. And she misspells her first name.

7:50: The Occupy FAUX movement has arrived!

7:51: Rick Perry corrected a fact of a moderator!

7:54: Ron Paul twists his face into a little pretzel and says, “I don’t like the demagoguery…the distortions.”

7:55: That’s it!

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A note in passing….

by Darryl — Thursday, 12/15/11, 11:35 am

Not to make too big of deal about it, but the Iraq war ended today.

mission_accomplished

Thank God the world is finally safe from Saddam Hussein’s nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction!

I mean, except for the nearly 5,000 U.S. soldiers and contractors killed in the conflict. And the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died as a result of the U.S. invasion.

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Recall election looks very likely in Wisconsin

by Darryl — Wednesday, 12/14/11, 11:51 pm

It isn’t official news yet, but the big announcement is likely coming on Thursday:

One month to the day after the start of the effort to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office, organizers have scheduled a Thursday press conference to provide a “special update” on how the effort is going.

And several liberal blogs and pro-recall Facebook pages said Wednesday that the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and United Wisconsin, the two groups spearheading the recall, already have collected more than enough signatures to force an election.

The effort to recall the Republican governor kicked off on Nov. 15, and organizers have until Jan. 17 to collect more than 540,000 valid signatures to force a spring recall election.

The blog New Dog Democrat reported Wednesday that more than 550,000 signatures have been collected and that organizers want to hit the 1 million mark before the deadline.

A million signatures?!? Just two weeks ago they were aiming for 750,000.

A million signatures would be, symbolically, a thermonuclear maelstrom. Even 540,000 valid signatures will be fucking huge!

Aside from likely derailing Walker’s harmful “stewardship”, and, you know…maximizing the possibility I can visit my family this summer, this is huge for Washington and other states.

The Walker episode sends a big shot across the bow of, what is almost certainly, a coordinated Republican Governor’s agenda.

For us here in Washington, what does this mean? It means Rob McKenna is put on notice. Walker made campaign promises that seemed quite moderate. Once elected, he turned to a radical Republican agenda. He cut education funding and betrayed public employees while giving out tax breaks to businesses, he did his damnedest to disenfranchise voters at the margins of society. And, in general, he steadfastly disregard the will of the people.

Would Rob McKenna really try pulling the ol’ switcheroo on Washingtonians the way Walker did to Wisconsinites? Well…if his decision to join the Republican AG lawsuit against the Health Care Reform law of 2009 is any indication…two years ago, I would have said, “absofuckinglutely!.” Now, with the events in Wisconsin, I think McKenna is forced to scale back on his agenda.

Should McKenna win next year, Washingtonians will owe Wisconsinites a huge debt of gratitude.

Update: They aren’t quite there, yet. The number of signatures gathered so far is 507,000, leaving a mere 33,000 more to gather. Practically, they will need something over 100,000 additional signatures to account for challenges and duplicates. Organizers have another month left to do that.

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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/13/11, 3:55 pm

It’s Tuesday, and ’round here that means Drinking Liberally. So please join us tonight for an evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks will show up earlier for dinner.

News from the Republican reality show:



Can’t make it to Seattle? There are also meetings tonight of the Tri-Cities, Bellingham, and Vancouver, WA chapters. On Thursday, Drinking Liberally Tacoma meets. And next Monday there are meetings of the Woodinville the Olympia, the Yakima, and the Shelton chapters.

With 232 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and six more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

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Republican voter suppression: Maria’s Story

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/13/11, 12:09 pm

The bad news is that up to 5 million voters may be disenfranchised by new state voting laws according to a recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice.

The good news is that the Justice Department has noticed:

The Obama administration on Tuesday will wade into the increasingly divisive national debate over new voting laws in several states that could depress turnout among minorities and others who helped elect the president in 2008.

A dozen states this year tightened rules requiring voters to present state-issued photo identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Although Democratic governors vetoed four of the measures, liberal and civil rights groups have been raising alarms about the remaining laws, calling them an “assault on democracy” and an attempt to depress minority voter turnout.

In Wisconsin, new voter ID laws, and the specific ID requirements have resulted in numerous anecdotes of hurdles and disenfranchisement that will disproportionality affect people who lean Democratic: the young, the old, the poor, those without a drivers license, students, and minorities.

It’s legalized election fraud brought on by a systematic Republican effort to suppress Democratic voting blocks.

I’ll add my anecdote from Wisconsin, where most of my family lives.

My niece—let’s call her Maria Elaine Valdez Holman—recently turned 18. Because of a disability, Maria does not drive. So she recently got a ride to a Department of Motor Vehicles office from her occupational therapist, to get a state ID card, specifically with the intent of using it to vote. When her turn came, she showed her birth certificate and a high school photo ID as proof of her identification.

She was told she would need a Social Security card. Without it, she could not get an ID card.

She couldn’t find her Social Security card, so she used her birth certificate and high school ID card to get a replacement.

After another ride to the DMV and another wait in line, she shows them her high school photo ID, her birth certificate, and the temporary Social Security card that is issued on the spot. And she is told that the temporary Social Security card is not valid for getting an ID. Yeah…you can use it to get a job but, apparently, not an state ID. She would have to wait until her “permanent” Social Security card arrived and try again.

Her “permanent” Social Security card arrives, and she gets another ride to the DMV and waits her turn. She shows them her high school photo ID, her birth certificate, and her Social Security card. This time she is told she cannot be given an ID because…her birth certificate has her four names: Maria Elaine Valdez Holman listed, in that order, spelled correctly, but it does not clearly identify what name or names are her middle name(s) and surname(s). She is told she would have to apply for another birth certificate that clearly labels each part of her name.

At this point she requests a supervisor, who sheepishly agrees with his underling, that her birth certificate just won’t do. Never mind that it was fine for getting her Social Security card. Never mind that her mother used it to get a passport when Maria was a small child (the passport is now expired).

She argued fruitlessly to the point that she got quite angry, and finally screamed out, “What are you? Scott Walker’s cock suckers?” (Oh dear! My sweet, demure niece. Has she been reading HorsesAss.Org or something?)

Her friend spirited Maria away before she did something rash…like plunge her hands into their chests and withdrawing their beating hearts. Or twisting their testicles off.

When my sister conveyed this story to me, I suggested that Maria renew her passport, and then see if showing her high school photo ID, her “faulty” birth certificate, her “permanent” Social Security card, and her shiny new, high tech, hologram-bearing Passport would be enough to get a state ID.

I believe a passport would be sufficient to vote, but I hope she pursues a state ID anyway. It will be interesting to see just how far Walker’s cock suckers will go to suppress the vote of a young, non-car driving, disabled, female student with a Hispanic surname.

Or is that her middle name?

Update: The story continues here.

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Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

by Darryl — Friday, 12/9/11, 11:58 pm

Thom with the Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very Ugly.

Young Turks: Right-wing elementary school cuisine bizarre freak-out.

The War on Christmas:

  • Jon and Bill-O in a War on Christmas.
  • Jon launches another salvo in the War on Christmas (via HuffPo).

Alyona: Mind blowing inequality figures.

Jon on the new go-to-jail-with-no-trial bill.

Corporate Personhood, Corporate Speech:

  • Thom: Corporate personhood for dummies.
  • Thom with Rep. Ellison: Amendment that corporations aren’t people
  • Alyona: LA votes against personhood.
  • Thom: Corporate personhood and talking money?
  • Thom with Rep. Ted Deutch on the outlawing corporate cash amendment

Young Turks: Blackwater asks for Sharia law?!?

White House: West Wing Week.

Greenman: It isn’t about the “hockey stick”:

Thom with some more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

Obama speaks on the economy.

Rockbottomcookie: The gay homophobes.

The Republican Primary Asylum:

  • Ed and Pap: Donald Trump and The Republican Freak Show.
  • Alyona’s Tool Time: GOP wants to rip apart families.
  • Young Turks with Al Gore on the GOP primary.
  • Ed and Pap: The dimwit Republican circus freaks march again.
  • Thom: Crazy alert for the New Hampshire ballot.
  • Suzie Sampson sits down with Pastor Jim Miller and talks candidates.
  • Stephen on The Trump debate.
  • Ann Telnaes: Herman Cain drops out.
  • Young Turks: Rick Perry’s “Hot Gas” moment.
  • The Rick Perry ad that is universally disliked.
  • Jesus responds to Perry’s disliked ad.
  • A response to Rick Perry’s ad:
  • Another response to Rick Perry’s disliked ad.
  • Sam Seder: Rick Perry’s Strong Save the Christians Ad.
  • Young Turks: Newt’s “food stamp credit card used for Hawaii vacation” bullshit.
  • Actual Audio: Newt on child labor.
  • Sam Seder: Newt is running for Asshole-in-chief.
  • Romney’s $100,000 taxpayer funded destruction of records.
  • Mark Fiore: Suzie Newsykins, the Antimitter.
  • Romney: A career politician.
  • What’s younger than Mitt’s political career?
  • Romney’s accidentally released anti-Gingrich ad. (via Slog).
  • What was Mitt Romney hiding?
  • Maddow: Newt’s gay half-sister supports Obama.
  • Mitt Romney through the ages.
  • Ed and Pap: Gingrich tries his hand at race bating.
  • Newt Gingrich credits Mitt Romney’s wealth to…Newt Gingrich (via TalkingPointsMemo).
  • Flashback: Politically Incorrect (ca. 1999) Newt and The Godfather.
  • The 3 minute hip-hopish evangelical attack on Newt Gingrich (via Slog):
  • Ann Telnaes: Newt Gingrich as frontrunner.
  • You’re a mean one Newt Gingrich:
  • Aloyna’s tool time: Rick Santorum suggests people die because of “bad decisions”.
  • Alyona’s tool time: Rick Santorum war on food stamps.

Sam Seder: Republicans to the unemployed, “Go pee in a cup”.

Thom with The Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very ugly.

“Behind the scenes” at Moveon.org.

Sam Seder: George W. Bush cancels trip to Switzerland over fears of being arrested for torture charges.

Sharpton: Rep. Dennis Baxley, sponsor of strict FL voting law, admits no widespread fraud (via HuffPo).

Bill-O’s umbrella attack (via Slog).
Obama speaks on the economy.

America Occupied:

  • Young Turks: Tea Party meets Occupy.
  • Alyona: Occupy San Francisco evicted.
  • Garfunkel and Oats with Weird Al Yankovic: Save the Rich:
  • Thom: 99 percenters occupy jail
  • Olbermann: Occupy protester assaulted by Bill-O’s umbrella.
  • Young Turks: Bill-O’s umbrella attack.
  • Olbermann: Occupy a Newt fundraiser.

Hanukkah at the White House.

Thom with some Good, Bad, and some Very, Very Ugly.

Stephen on corporate personhood and the S.C. referendum.

Rick Santorum oozes his way to West Wing Week.
ref=’http://youtu.be/Vy5GTQNZeew’>Worst Person in the World.

Young Turks: No abortions for raped military women.

Roy Zimmerman’s buy war toys for Christmas:

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

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Mitt Romney takes a stand: He would eliminate Medicare

by Darryl — Thursday, 12/8/11, 12:31 pm

Throughout the Republican debate season, former front-runner Mitt Romney has been long on platitudes, but less specific on his positions within the Republican weltanschauung. Romney has tended to verbalize adopted positions with near universal acceptance within the G.O.P. and then contrast himself with President Obama.

Now with Newt Gingrich surging in multiple G.O.P. primary polls, the Mitt Romney campaign is being forced to take concrete stances—offer some ideological nuance—in order to differentiate himself from Newt. Will Mitt tack to the left? Will he cut back to the right?

Apparently, it is that latter. Today, during the daily Romney for President press conference call, Mitt went right-wing extreme. Sen. Jim Talent and Gov. John Sununu took up the case for Mitt, spinning his previously wishy-washy stance on the Ryan plan for Medicare into something concrete.

The Ryan plan would eliminate Medicare as it exists now and replace it with a voucher system. The plan would, more or less, privatize Medicare.

Gov. Sununu starts out criticizing Newt:

For Newt Gingrich, in an effort of self-aggrandizement, to come out and throw a clever phrase that has no other purpose than to make him sound a little smarter than the conservative Republican leadership, to undercut Paul Ryan, is the most self-serving, anti-conservative thing one can imagine happening. He gave the liberals and the Democrats the ammunition they needed to moot, if you will, at least for the time being, Paul Ryan’s presentation.

He then asserts Mitt’s support for the plan:

Mitt Romney supports what Paul Ryan did. He endorsed what Paul Ryan did. Mitt Romney had his own package of entitlement reform, which Paul Ryan has praised. They both meshed together. They are both based on really understanding entitlement reform.

and later on:

Paul Ryan’s plan which Mitt Romney supported is the solid basis for moving forward on entitlement reform. And Newt Gingrich not only rejected it then, but he rejected repeatedly by saying I was right what I said that it was wrong and the fact is that Newt Gingrich to this day still continues to undermine Paul Ryan.

Okay…Mitt Romney, 8 Dec 2011, is pro-Ryan plan. That is, Mitt supports eliminating Medicare and replacing it with a voucher system.

Remember this, folks, because if Mitt wins the nomination, he’s got some major Mitt-flopping to do. The public overwhelmingly rejects this radical plan. Mitt owns it now.

I believe you can envision the simple modifications needed for this ad:

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Server issues

by Darryl — Thursday, 12/8/11, 9:29 am

HA was down for a little over an hour this morning.

I called Goldy and caught him in front of the U.S. Capitol, on his way to John Boehner’s office. He was pretty sure he’d been paying the ISP bills.

There was no evidence of a denial-of-service attack. A few minutes after submitting a trouble ticket to the ISP, the site returned.

In absence of any other obvious cause, I blame Carl Ballard.

Update: Oops. I was going to post something this morning before the server issue distracted me. As SJ points out in the comment thread, there is an extraordinary opportunity tomorrow evening when Sen. Maria Cantwell and Elizabeth Warren headline a reception titled, Fighting for Main Street. Admission is $40 at the Paramount Theater.

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In which Goldy plays in the mud before occupying K-Street

by Darryl — Thursday, 12/8/11, 12:09 am

Goldy engages in some gonzo-journalism in D.C., but finds…

…the police just stood by and watched. No riot gear. No pepper spray. No tear gas.

At least Goldy was able to stir up people’s anxieties by obsessively asking protesters about their prior arrest histories:

Fucking troublemaker!

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Drinking Liberally — Seattle

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/6/11, 4:35 pm

DLBottleThere are only 19 days left in this year’s War on Christmas. So please join the fray by wielding a pint this evening at the Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally.

We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but some folks will show up earlier for dinner.

Bye, bye, Herb Herm…we are soooo going to miss you:



Can’t make it to Seattle? The Tri-Cities chapter of Drinking liberally meets every Tuesday night at 7:00pm, and Thursday night, Drinking Liberally Bremerton meets at 5:00pm.

With 231 chapters of Living Liberally, including twelve in Washington state and five more in Oregon, chances are excellent there’s one near you.

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In which Goldy occupies Rep. Reichert’s D.C. office…

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/6/11, 2:42 pm

…and says things like:

“The guy’s got stamina.”

and

“Say what you like about Reichert (and I do), but at least he’s not a coward like Ryan.”

and

“And no, Reichert did not appear to be particularly brain-damaged…”

Obviously, Goldy is just there to parrot points from the other side.

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McKenna’s campaign of petulance

by Darryl — Tuesday, 12/6/11, 10:27 am

Why did Dino Rossi lose his second gubernatorial bid and his only U.S. Senate bid? The way I see it, Rossi lost because voters recognized something unlikable in him. The public’s first big taste of the unlikable side of Rossi came in his 2005 “concession speech,” following the loss of a bitterly-fought legal contest at the end of his first gubernatorial fight:

With today’s decision, and because of the political makeup of the Washington state Supreme Court, which makes it almost impossible to overturn this ruling, I am ending the election contest.

It wasn’t a moment of statesmanship for Rossi. In his subsequent 2008 and 2010 statewide elections, Rossi frequently exhibited a similar peevishness that left a bad impression with voters. Maybe he was deeply bitter (2008), or maybe he was annoyed at being forced to run a hopeless campaign (2010). Either way, he was unlikable.

Fast forward to late 2011. We have one Rob McKenna running for Governor. This is a man who has been elected twice to Attorney General, the second time with 59% of the vote.

This time McKenna has a serious liability in his run for Governor: He comes off as a petulant asshole.

We can all look back with bemusement that McKenna kicked off his campaign by excluding Goldy in his role as a reporter for The Stranger. Confronted by uber-legitimate Stranger reporter Eli Sanders, McKenna impishly replied:

“I don’t think David Goldstein qualifies as a journalist,” a miffed McKenna told Eli. “He’s a hack. He’s a partisan hack. He’s just there to parrot points from the other side.”

More recently, McKenna has decided that all Stranger reporters are personae non gratae:

Gubernatorial wannabe and anti-health-care crusader Rob McKenna is holding a campaign kick-off breakfast tomorrow morning, but The Stranger, if you can believe it, is not allowed inside. After I emailed the campaign to RSVP, I got a call back from McKenna-protector Adam Faber explaining, “Tomorrow’s event is for invited press only, and we didn’t invite The Stranger.” […]

“This is very simple and it is all I intend to say,” Fabar intentionally said. “The Stranger’s editorial director has made a $500 donation to our opponent and political blogger, Mr. Goldstein, is listed on the PDC reports as the head of a political action committee called the No Rob PAC. I think that speaks for itself.”

Well, Adam, it’s actually called the No Reversing Our Benefits PAC.

Dan Savage donated $500 to Inslee. Ooooohhh. Goldy, before he was employed by The Stranger created a PAC called “No Reversing Our Benefits PAC,” with the amusing acronym “NoROB PAC”. It was a fucking joke…unless you are a peevish and, perhaps, paranoid gubernatorial wannabe.

McKenna made a peevish spectacle of himself again when a Democratic videographer showed up to video tape his talk in a openly-advertised public venue. After his attempts to intimidate the videographer failed, McKenna terminated the presentation and beat a retreat to the “cupcake table.”

And then there’s the episode where McKenna had fucked up its own campaign cash rollover and bitterly complained about Jay Inslee’s query to the PDC about rolling over his federal dollars into his state campaign.

Recently a special session of the state legislature was convened that, by law, prohibits state elected officials, like McKenna but not Inslee, from fundraising. The McKenna campaign wailed like a spoiled child:

“At what point does Congressman Inslee start acting like someone following Washington state rules, instead of someone following Washington D.C. rules?” [McKenna’s campaign manager Randy] Pepple said.

(If McKenna wants a level playing field, perhaps he would agree to commute to D.C. for the work week….)

McKenna’s most recent display of petulance was last Friday when, at the last minute, he cancelled an interview with the Washington Education Association:

WEA members were disappointed McKenna decided not to share his opinions on education with the group, Lindquist said.

“The teachers here wondered why he wasn’t here. They were speculating that he was afraid to meet with us,” or that education was not one of his priorities, Lindquist said.

McKenna’s campaign manager, Randy Pepple, said the attorney general decided not to attend the WEA endorsement interview because he didn’t expect to have a fair hearing with people who were interested in hearing his point of view.

“It became very apparent yesterday that the WEA was turning today into `celebrating the endorsement of Congressman Inslee Day,'” Pepple said Saturday.

Lindquist said the WEA changed the date of its candidate interviews after McKenna said he had a conflict with the original Nov. 12 date. His campaign called the union on Friday afternoon to cancel his interview with the WEA-PAC Board. The union said he also refused to answer written questions about public education.

McKenna thinks he cannot win, so takes his ball and goes home. Maybe he got a cupcake.

Dissing the teachers was a stupid—and revealing—unforced error on McKenna’s part. For one thing, McKenna fancies himself as big on education. Apparently, he’s not so “into” it that he can communicate with teachers.

And dissing a teachers’ union raises a big red flag for folks who aren’t quite convinced that a Governor McKenna would do for Washington state what Governor Scott Walker has done to Public Sector employees in Wisconsin. Over the past year, we have seen a systematic Republican War on Workers. Would a Gov. McKenna bring the war to Washington? You know…the same way he forced us to join the multistate lawsuit against the healthcare reform law?

A better McKenna would have engaged the teachers, recognize common ground, acknowledge differences and made his best case. Instead, McKenna ran from the fight and then whined about it. And what we know from recent elections…the voters just don’t go for petulant whiners.

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Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

by Darryl — Friday, 12/2/11, 11:59 pm

Ann Telnaes: Grover Norquist on raising taxes.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA): 10th anniversary of Enron:

Mark Fiore: Hard science.

Ann Telnaes: The most wonderful time of the year.

Thom with more Good, Bad, and Very, Very Ugly.

White House: West Wing Week.

America Occupied:

  • Alyona’s Tool Time: Bloomberg’s army.
  • Occupy the Washington state’s special leg session.
  • Thom: Seattle’s Dorli Rainey on being pepper sprayed.
  • Olbermann with Jackson Browne on his performance at Zuccotti Park
  • Ann Telnaes: Speech is not created equal.
  • Sam Seder: GOP plan to neutralize OWS.
  • The Pepper Spray song.
  • Young Turks: Adam Carolla OWS rant.
  • Thom: GOP admits being frightened by the Occupy movement.
  • Olbermann with Markos on Republican’s summoning Frank Luntz.

Thom reveals some Good, some Bad, and Some Very, Very Ugly.

Jon on Obama’s war on Thanksgiving.

Ann Telnaes: Detainee provision trashes the Constitution.

Jon on elections in Egypt.

WA and RI Governors want pot recognized for medical uses.

Young Turks: Republicans won’t tax the rich to offset payroll tax.

Thom: Are lies and sabotage the only hope for the WI GOP?

An interview with Rep. Roger Goodman (D-WA-45).

Rupert Murdoch hacks his way to Worst Person in the World.

Why we need to protect voter rights.

The Republican Primary Asylum

  • Bashir: Who’s the biggest flip-flopper?
  • Sharpton: The party of gaffes.
  • Sam Seder: Herman Cain’s extremely simplistic view of foreign policy.
  • Lawrence O’Donnell with Ginger White: Gifts from Herman.
  • Rick Perry mocks Rick Perry
  • Young Turks: Rick Perry’s latest disaster.
  • Herman Cain’s brain.
  • Alyona’s Happy Hour: Women for Herman Cain.
  • Newsy: Cain launches “Women for Cain” site.
  • Young Turks: Cain’s hilarious sex scandal.
  • Sam Seder: Women for Cain!
  • Herman Cain’s 1986 sexual harassment training video.
  • Ed and Pap: Stupidity is Cain’s problem.
  • Stephen on the Cain scandal.
  • Jon: Thirteen years and can’t close the deal.
  • Conan’s new Herman Cain campaign adRep. Roger Goodman (D-WA-45).
    ngtonpost.com/2011/12/01/conans-new-herman-cain-ad-video_n_1122988.html’>on the economy (via recognized for medical uses.
    post.com’>Huffington Post).
  • Stephen defends Herman Cain.
  • Red State Update: Herman Cain should say, “Yeah, I Fucked Her!”.
  • Thom: Why do Republicans think an affair is worse than sexual harassment?
  • Young Turks: Was Newt a lobbyist?
  • Ed and Pap: Skeletons in Newt’s closet.
  • Bashir: Newt Gingrich is like a drunk who thinks he can control his drinking.
  • Young Turks: Newt’s brave new ideas for child labor.
  • Stephen: On Newt not being a lobbyist.
  • Young Turks: Newt the new front runner?
  • Young Turks: Ron Paul destroys Newt in new ad.
  • The Huntsman girls bring him back.
  • Mitt’s disastrous interview.
  • Stephen: Mitt’s new attack ad.
  • Young Turks: Mitt hates his FAUX News interview.
  • Romney’s Two Weeks.
  • NH voters on Mitt’s troubling attack ad.
  • Jon: Mitt Romney is his own mistress (via Huffington Post).
  • Young Turks: Romney stumbles on immigration.
  • Sam Seder: More Michele Bachmann stupidity on Iran.

Sharpton: DNC’s Voter Protection Director discusses ProtectingtheVote.org.

Alyona’s Tool Time: Rick Scott cares.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) urges extension of payroll tax cut for middle class:

Sam Seder: The problem of Republican ignorance.

Thom with the Good, the Bad, and the Very, Very Ugly.

USA Ammo shoots up to Worst Person in the World.

Actual Audio: Grover Norquist on Meet the Press.

Kimmel’s Week in Unnecessary Censorship (via Huffington Post).

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

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